Mitch leaned his elbows on the counter, and drank his milk in silence. Victor thought his cellmate after getting out might have a plan of his own, people he’d want to see, but he had only looked at Victor over the hood of the stolen car and asked, “Where next?” If Mitch did have a past, he was clearly still running from it, and in the meantime, Victor was more than willing to give him something to run to. He liked making people useful.
His gaze eventually wandered past Mitch’s reflection to the Merit night, the ice in his nearly empty drink clinking as the glass shifted in his grip. The two had been in each other’s company for a long time. They knew when the other wanted to talk, and when they wanted to think. The only problem was that more often than not, Victor wanted to think, and more often than not, Mitch wanted to talk. Victor could feel Mitch beginning to fidget under the weight of the quiet.
“Quite a view,” he said, tipping his glass toward the windows.
“Yeah,” said Mitch. “Been a long time since I’ve seen a view that grand. Next place we go, I hope it has windows like this.”
Victor nodded again, absently, brought his forehead to rest against the cool glass. He couldn’t afford to think of next, or after. He’d spent far too long thinking of now. Waiting for now. The only nexts in his world were the short, quick ones standing between him and Eli. And they were falling away so fast.
Mitch yawned. “You sure you’re okay, Vic?” he asked, returning the carton to the fridge.
“Dandy. Night.”
“Night,” said Mitch, wandering back to his room.
Victor watched Mitch go in the glass, before two pale smudges—his own eyes, ghosted against the darkened buildings—brought him back. Victor turned away from the wall of windows, and finished his drink.
A folder sat on a side table beside the leather couch, a handful of papers escaping from within. A face gazed steadily out from a picture, the right eye and cheek obscured by the folder’s front, and Victor set the empty glass on the table and flicked the cover back to reveal the rest of the face. It was the page from the copy of The National Mark he’d bought that morning.
CIVILIAN HERO SAVES BANK
Below ran the article on the young, precocious man who had been in the right place at the right time and had risked his life to stop an armed robber at a local branch.
Smith & Lauder Bank, a landmark in the northern financial sector of Merit, was the sight of a foiled robbery yesterday when a civilian hero put himself between a masked assailant and the money. The civilian, who wishes to remain nameless, told authorities that he noticed the man behaving suspiciously several blocks from the bank, and that a bad feeling was all that led him to follow. Before he reached the bank, the man pulled on a mask, and by the time the civilian caught up, the robber had already plunged inside. In a fearless display, the civilian went in after him. According to the customers and employees trapped inside, the robber at first appeared unarmed, but then proceeded to fire an undetermined weapon up at the stained-glass ceiling, shattering it and raining shards down on the captured populace. He then took aim at the bank vault, but was derailed by the arrival of the civilian. The bank manager reports that the robber took aim at the civilian when he tried to intercede, and then chaos erupted. Shots were fired, and in the mayhem the customers and employees managed to escape the building. By the time the police reached the scene, it was over. The robber, later identified as a troubled man named Barry Lynch, had been killed in the firefight, but the civilian was uninjured. It was a bad day with a happy ending, a remarkable display of courage by a citizen of Merit, and there is no doubt the city is thankful to have such a hero on her streets.
Victor had blacked out most of the article in his usual fashion, and what was left, was this:
**** ***** **** a ******* * ****** ******* **** **** * ** sight * ***** ***** ******* *** a civilian hero ** ***** ***** **** ******* * * **** * ******* * **** ***** nameless, *** ********* ** ***** * * ****** ********** ***** **** ** * *** * *** a bad feeling ** * ** * * ***** **** ***** * *** * * **** **** * * ** * ****** **** * * **** * ***** ***** ***** fearless ******* * ****** ** *** ** ******* * ******* * ******* ***** ***** * **** *** ******* unarmed * ** ******* ** ********** **** * ***** *** ****** ******** * ***** **** ** * ****** ******* ** ** * * ** **** * * ****** ***** * ******* * ** ***** ***** ** * **** ** * * ****** ** *** ******** * ** *** ****** **** -*** ***** and in the mayhem ** ******* * ******* ***** **** * ******* * ** * **** ***** * **** * *** * * ***** *** ******** ******* *** *** *** **** * ** **** * ******** * * ****** ** uninjured. It was * * ** **** ****** a remarkable display * ***** ****** **** * *** ****** * ** ****** ** ** *** * *******