Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

26 ∞ the job

He should go to bed. But he couldn't relax. There was too much adrenaline in his system. He decided to take a long shower and let the stream of water pound his head as he counted to one hundred. But the restless energy wouldn't abate. He went to his room and paced the short distance between the closet and the door several times. Eventually, he stopped and found himself facing his wall of scale model cars, motorcycles, and airplanes.

For a while he stood staring at them, remembering the long hours he used to spend as a kid assembling some of them from construction kits, finishing them off with detailed brushwork. Some were plastic model kit offers from Kelloggs Frosties—just six packet tops—the last being the SR-71 Blackbird. He wasn't a kid then. Others were plastic and die-cast models. His eyes wandered from shelf to shelf, giving each item a moment of his time. Then he turned, looking at the other three walls and came to a decision.

He was going to clear the shelf.

He went downstairs to the basement, located an empty cardboard box and some packaging materials, and brought them back to his room. One after the other he took them down, inspecting them before wrapping them in bubble wrap or old newspaper. He left one plane and one car on the middle shelf: a 1/72 scale model of a Fokker F27 Friendship passenger plane he'd built, and a die-cast 1/18 collector's item, the Aston Martin DB5. After a moment he changed his mind, dug out the Blackbird, and put it at the other end of the shelf. Then he took down all the posters, rolled them up and put them in the box too.

Finally. He regarded the empty spaces. Somehow the old memories had managed to settle him down. He sighed, grabbed a pillow and headed for the guest room. Right now, he didn't care whether Mother found out. He had passed that point.

∞

It came as no surprise to Lora that she would end up at the very same place that marked the beginning of her new life just two nights ago. It appeared to be a regular hangout for Jagg and his crew. Toni hopped off TJ's bike and came over to her. "You ever been to a club before?"

Lora was eyeing the small crowd under the neon lights and shook her head once.

"No? Well, there's a new experience for you. Just go with the flow and don't drink too much." Toni winked and patted her on the shoulder. "See ya later." She grabbed TJ's arm and headed for the entrance, followed by Ramiro. Pace wandered off down the block to look for some pals. Sleek shuffled backward a few steps, admiring Lora before turning for the entrance.

Jagg turned to her and studied her expressionlessly. "You said not to touch you," he said eventually. "I've respected that. But here you gotta stick with me or they're not gonna let you in." He offered his hand, palm turned upward.

Lora stood a while eyeing him, her face just as still. Then she placed her hand in his, allowing him to lock her to him with a firm grip and lead the way to the club. He bypassed the line and went straight up to the heavy-set bouncer, hailing him. Then he stuffed a bill in the bouncer's breast pocket, giving it a pat and took Lora with him inside.

As they came to the bar, Jagg turned to her. "What are you having?" he asked over the music.

Lora glanced at him, giving him a slight shake of the head, then continued sweeping her gaze over the dancing crowd.

"Something simple then." Jagg turned to the bartender. "A Screwdriver for the lady." He looked back at Lora as she turned her back to the bar, taking in the nightclub scene. "Scratch that... Should be something more interesting. Make it a Wallbanger."

"A Harvey Wallbanger coming up!"

"Make it two."

Jagg took the drinks and led the way to a table for two further in and waited for Lora. She sank down with her eyes focused on a disco ball high up in the ceiling. He pushed the drink over to her, removed the straw and garnish from his own glass and took a few sips. Then he leaned back, watching her as she tested a sip from the straw—and her eyes widened. The corner of Jagg's mouth lifted as she stared at her glass with a curious expression on her face.