Obsidian

Chapter Eight

I gazed out at the sand beyond the walkway of the outside bar at the local restaurant. With the open layout, I was able to sit on the padded stool while enjoying the slight breeze and clear sky. Next to me was X, who looked in his element, with his tropical shirt and Banana Daquiri to match. The smell of the saltwater in the air was a welcome change from the musk that saturated X's basement laboratory/living quarters. I took in a deep breath and tried to keep the crisp air in my lungs to savor it. I finally sighed and exhaled, internally hoping I was able to push out my fears and doubts as naturally as my lungs pushed out the oxygen. The final phase of my plan was in motion.

I grabbed at my bottle of light beer and took a swig of the cold, bubbly pilsner, tracking the cold liquid as I could feel it make its way down my throat and into my belly. Normally, I preferred a variety of craft beers but those usually held a higher volume of alcohol and even though I had accomplished a lot, I still had a ton to do and preferred not to be inebriated while doing it. On the stool next to me, was my leather backpack. It had become an extra appendage over the last month and I would be glad once I was able to go back to the familiarities that were my home, and my students, and leave the bound leather bag in one of my apartment's storage closets for a very long time. I tried not to think of what would happen if I didn't succeed in my mission, and took another long pull from the glass bottle.

"Alright, Mac...Davis, sorry," X broke into my pity party I was on the verge of throwing myself. He had stood out of his seat and in the most touristy fashion, started shaking his shoulders to the music broadcast throughout the speakers that were lined around the massive canopy that was shading where they were. "We got about three hours until our event. You sure they saw your message?"

I nodded, "They saw it."

"How can you be sure?" X asked as he continued his impromptu dance routine.

"I went onto that Reddit thread and posted once a week. Every time I started a message, the first line was always the lyrics to the beginning of the Southmoor Alma Mater."

"Anyone that lives in that area could recognize that, Davis. And, maybe they noticed that's just a thing you do when you post, and they ignore it altogether."

"I was concerned about the same thing but in the four posts I had made, I had only one response and it was from someone named Carl's Jr Bologna 1988."

X pulled his sunglasses down to the bridge of his nose, revealing a look of uncertainty padded by the dark circles under his eyes.

"Believe me, it was Carl. For as goofy as he comes off, Carl is very smart. I was able to write a message in a combination of binary code and scientific algorithms, covertly putting the coordinates to this place in the message. His response was 'Righteous. Be there soon. I'll tell the Mrs. too.' He then followed on the same thread a few hours later a time that the Mrs. was on board too."

X stared at me for a moment, then pushed his sunglasses back up and started shaking the top half of his body to the calypso music, getting his head and shoulders in sync with the beat of the bongos, and adding his hips to the mix. "Quite a rag-tag group we got here, huh?"

I smiled, "Yeah, we sure are."

"Not the team I would be expecting to get the job done."

I kept smiling as I replied, "That is exactly why this is going to work."

No more than an hour after that, I heard rolling wheels from suitcases reverberate over the wood panel walkway leading to the patio entrance. I looked over in that direction and heard two bickering voices that I recognized that made my heart warm up, even before seeing them. I saw their shadows darken as their voices got closer. Tori turned into the walkway first and took off her sunglasses to look around. Her wavy brown hair now sat with noticeable highlights streaked throughout. Her skin had been lighter the last time I saw her but I could tell her bronze shading was natural, not due to fake-baking in a tanning bed. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust and once they had she panned across the bar until her jade-green eyes landed on me.