“Yes,” Brad said. He could feel the anger rising in Wohl’s expression. “Yes, sir,” he corrected himself.
“Good. Grab some breakfast, get your things together, and be ready to move out in ten minutes.”
“Yes, sir,” Brad said. He returned to the conference room and noticed that all the breakfast sandwiches were gone. “This is starting out to be a really shitty day,” he murmured. But he looked back across the hangar and saw the CID unit with his father inside of it, and he smiled. “But my father is alive. I can’t believe it. I’m living in a dream . . . but I don’t care, because my father is alive!”
REINHOLD AEROSPACE ENGINEERING BUILDING
CAL POLY
THE NEXT MORNING
“Brad! What in heck happened to you?” Lane Eagan exclaimed when Brad entered the room. The others shot to their feet and gaped in horror when they saw the long, ugly bruise on the side of Brad’s head and face—no amount of ice had yet been successful in hiding it, although the swelling had gone down considerably.
“Hi, guys,” Brad said. They all came over to him, and he especially liked Jodie’s concerned touches. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”
“What happened to you?” Kim Jung-bae asked. “Where have you been? In a hospital? We have been worried sick about you!”
“You’re not going to believe this, Jerry: I was involved in a home invasion the other night, after we made our presentation,” Brad lied. Eyes popped and mouths dropped open in complete surprise. “Two guys broke into the house and whacked me on the side of the head with a club or baseball bat or something.”
“No shit?” they all exclaimed. “What happened?”
“No idea,” Brad lied. “I woke up and there were cops everywhere. Paramedics checked me over, I gave a report, and that’s pretty much it. They found drug stuff on the kitchen table and thought that maybe some crackheads wanted a place to get high.”
“Oh my God, Brad,” Casey gasped, “thank God you’re okay.”
“I’m good, I’m good, Casey,” Brad assured them. “My gyros tumble a little bit every now and then, but I can still ride the bike.”
“Where are you staying?” Jodie asked, and Brad thought he detected a twinkle in her eye and the hint of an eager smile. “You’re not going back to that house, are you, mate?”
“Heck no,” Brad said. “The landlord had a fit. He’s having workers move the furniture that didn’t get smashed up, and he’s going to board the place up. I’m not sure what he’s going to do after that. I’m in one of the all-suites hotels on Monterey Street. I might be there until the semester’s over and students blow town. I’m going to apply at Cerro Vista and Poly Canyon and try to avoid going into the summer dorms if I can.”
“Good luck with that, mate,” Jodie said. “Applications for Cerro Vista had to be in two months ago, and Poly Canyon’s apps had to be in last year. You might have to live off campus again if you don’t want to live in the dorms.”
“Okay, all that’s being worked, so let’s get to business before we have to scurry off,” Brad said, and their meeting got under way. It lasted only a few minutes, long enough for everyone to report their team’s status, coordinate their lab schedules, and put in requests to Brad for supplies or information for the upcoming week, and then they hurried off to class.
Jodie walked along with Brad. “Are you sure you’re all right, mate?” she asked. “That’s the worst bruise I think I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m good, Jodie, thanks,” Brad said. “I wish I could say ‘you should see the other guy,’ but I was out cold.”
“Why didn’t you call me, Brad?”
“There just wasn’t time, Jodie,” Brad lied. “I was out like a light, and then I had to deal with the cops, the paramedics, and then the landlord.”
“Then where were you all yesterday?”
“Sitting around with ice packs on my throbbing head, listening to my landlord shouting orders and ranting and raving about dopers and crime and the breakdown of society,” Brad lied again. “Then he helped me find a hotel. My head hurt so much, I just crashed after that.”
“Why don’t you stop by my place after classes?” she asked. “You don’t just want to go to a hotel by yourself, do you, with no one to look out for you?” This time, Brad didn’t have to guess her intentions—she reached out and touched his hand. “What d’ya say, mate?”
His head was swimming a bit with all the stuff happening to him in the past few days, so his reply was a bit hesitant, and Jodie’s smile dimmed. “That sounds great, Jodie,” he said, and her smile returned. “But first I have an appointment after our lab session.”