Of Broken Things

Chapter 4 - scene 2.

Aiden stopped passing back and forth and groaned in frustration.

"I can't trace the bloody call! According to the phone company, there was no call at all. It's like my own house called itself and spoke to me in a man's voice." He ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath to calm down. "Any luck on your end?"

"Afraid not. Whatever this Project Cassandra is, it's not on public record."

Ricky had been running a search through every open database and visibly getting nowhere. And he was just as visibly frustrated about it.

"How do we even know it's not a hoax? Or a false trail designed to send us on a wild goose chase?" he asked Aiden.

"We don't. But something tells me it's genuine."

"Gut feeling, huh?"

"That and the fact that I can't trace this call. My house is on high security setting, remember? Somebody went to great lengths to contact me with this information."

"And speaking of that, what do you think - friend or foe?" Ricky's tone was joking, but his eyes were dead serious.

Aiden shrugged.

"Can't tell either way. Not enough information. I'll put him in the "third party" category for now."

"Well, it's all good and well, but I have to head back to the precinct and work on the cases I'm actually getting paid to investigate," Ricky said getting up. "But to answer the question you didn't want to ask, I'm still on this case with you, if you need me. No matter what. So what do you want me to do?"

Aiden smiled, trying not to show the relief that flooded him knowing that Ricky would still be here to cover his back.

"Can you see if there's anything on Project Cassandra in the police records?"

"Sure. I'll see what I can find. What's your next move then?"

"I'm going to call Hikaru. If this project has anything to do with the military, he will be able to tell me."

"Assuming he is willing to help you with what is possibly classified information..."

"Of course he will," Aiden looked at Ricky in surprise. "We are Patrol Pilots."

"You know, I never understood that faith you guys have in each other..." Aiden was surprised to hear wistful notes in Ricky's voice.

He never had that type of camaraderie, he is an orphan, you idiot. Of course he would be wistful.

Now Aiden felt guilty for poking at his friend's old wound, but he still decided to explain.

"When you fly a tiny metal box with pressurized air through the vast cold vacuum, you have to trust your fellow pilots. Because they are the only ones who will always come to your rescue when shit hits he fan. It's a lonely and deadly emptiness up there, Ricky, and it wants to kill us, so you hold on to your friends no matter what."

And by God, I miss it, even after seventeen years...

"Anyway, let's meet here tonight and compare notes," he said a bit to quickly, trying to bury away the echoes of that particular old pain. "Unless, of course, you have other plans for tonight?"

Ricky sighed and rub his eyes, "Yes, I had other plans for tonight. They involved sleep. Pulled an all-nighter yesterday, remember?"

So did I, Aiden thought with a brief flash of irrigation which he immediately felt guilty for.

"Alright, let's meet tomorrow morning, but this time you're buying breakfast," he said.

"You're going to make me go broke," Ricky laughed, then continued in a more serious voice.

"I will try to find out what I can. Meanwhile I have something else for you."

Ricky tapped a few buttons on his transmitter and sent a screen floating towards Aiden.

"Whose address is this?"

"That psychologist, Jerry McDermoth I think his name was? Found out he has a mountain cabin. That's the address. Sounds like a good place to go into hiding..."

Aiden picked up the screen and sent it towards his own transmitter.

"You think that McDermoth might have learned about the other deaths, came to the same conclusion as we did, and went off the grid?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"Good point. Alright, I will check this cabin out later today."

"And I will contact you when I learn anything about this Project Cassandra. But that will be tomorrow. Tonight, I sleep."