A Desperate Plan
1518 Words
Angela realised immediately that she had made a mistake. Her father was standing right in front of her, surprised.
"Sorry, What did you call me?" he asked as if he hadn't heard what she had said.
Fortunately for Angela, Michael swooped in immediately.
"Pardon the young woman. " said Michael. "She's actually retarded. " he lied fluently.
"No I'm not. " Angela objected immediately. Michael gave her a look that seemed to say 'You can either follow my lead or end up exposing yourself to your father. ' Angela had no choice.
"He's right. " Angela agreed grudgingly, "I'm not mentally competent, and i forgot to take my pills today. Don't listen to a word i say. "
"Oh I'm so sorry." Jonathan Knight replied sympathetically. He left the two of them and went towards his friend, George.
"Are you alright? " asked Michael. Angela simply nodded.
"You have to talk to him." She said.
"Okay, but try not to talk to anyone while I'm gone." Michael said as he walked away.
Angela searched around for a place to sit. She sat and thought about the past few minutes. She had just seen her father without him knowing who she was.
"Angela! " she was snapped back to reality. She looked up, it was Michael's sister, Diana.
"What are you doing here by yourself? You should be dancing, having fun."
"No, I'm a bit tired. " Angela lied.
"I'm not letting you sit here. " Diana persisted. She didn't seem like the type of person that would take no for an answer. Angela got up reluctantly.
— — — — — —
Michael stood at a distance as he watched Jonathan Knight. He tried to think of what to say to him, but no thoughts came. 'Why did i even agree to this? ' Michael thought. He grabbed a drink and decided to talk to Jonathan.
"Hello, again " said Michael.
"Oh, you're the guy with the mentally challenged.... " Jonathan stopped mid sentence.
"Again, i just wanna apologize for that. " Michael said. "So, you a friend of Frederick? " he asked.
"No, no. His son and i, on the other hand are really close. How about you, do you know the old man? "
"Frederick Richardson? A brave soldier he was. I don't know him directly, but my dad organized this party so I'd be dammed if i didn't attend."
"So your dad's in the army. " Jonathan assumed.
"No, he was. I don't particularly like events like this. "
"Me neither, but it's nice to take a break from work and everything. "
Michael tried to think of a way to bring Darren Ark into the conversation without Jonathan getting suspicious.
"So, where are you from? " he asked trying to sound casual.
"Canada " replied Jonathan.
"Oh! " said Michael feigning surprise. "I spent some time in Canada as well. I met lots of important people there. " Michael paused as if waiting for a response. Jonathan didn't utter a word, so Michael went on.
"There was this particular scientist i met. I think his name is... um... Darren Ark. " Michael stared at Jonathan expecting some kind of response. Jonathan stared back with calculating eyes. Finally he said,
"Darren who? I've never heard of him. "
This time both men gave each other knowing looks. Michael knew Jonathan was lying ,but he couldn't confront him without revealing his own intentions. He had underestimated Jonathan. He was indeed a wise man. Wise enough to know if someone was trying to get information out of him. Michael felt uncomfortable and decided to find a way out of the situation.
"It was nice chatting with you, Jonathan, but i can't leave my friend alone for too long or she'll start harassing strangers. " Michael lied.
He walked away without looking back. He looked around for Angela . He found her standing awkwardly as if she were avoiding someone. He walked up to her.
"What are you doing? " he asked.
"Hiding from Diana. She made me dance. " Angela said, managing to make the activity sound bad.
"Did you find out about Darren Ark?"
"No, not really. Your Dad is smart. He knew i was trying to get him to talk. "
"Okay, we tried things your way, now I'm gonna do it my way. " Angela said walking towards her father.
"No! " Michael protested. "Trust me you're not going to have better luck than i did. " He assured her.
Angela stopped. "We can't just give up. "
"We're not giving up. " Michael assured her. "I know exactly what we need, or rather, who we need. "
"Who? "
"Diana. She great at getting information from people. "
"How is she going to get my dad to tell her about Dark. "
"Trust me, you don't wanna know. "
"No no no! I'm not letting Diana flirt with my dad "
"Relax, she doesn't need to. While we were growing up she learned a lot from many of my dad's friends, some of them were detectives. Trust me, she'll get the information we need. "
"You know we can't tell her about the future, right? " Angela asked.
"I know. "
Michael and Angela found Diana talking exuberantly with two young soldiers.
"Diana, we need to talk. " Michael interrupted without looking at the soldiers.
"How rude of you Michael. " Diana said with exaggerated annoyance. "Can't you see I'm talking to two of America's bravest heroes. " She said, pointing towards the two soldiers. The young men blushed.
""Diana , we don't have time for this. " Said Michael.
Diana stared at Michael then she turned to look at Angela, then she gave a long suffering sigh and said,
"What do you want?"
"We need your help. " Michael said, leading Diana away from the crowd.
"There's a man in this party, we need you to talk to him and find out the whereabouts of a man named Dark, i mean Darren Ark. "
"Okay, but whose this Darren Ark? " Diana asked.
"He's an old acquaintance I'm trying to track down. " Angela said. That, at least was the truth, to some extent.
"Let me show you where Jonathan is." Michael said, leading Diana towards Angela's father.
Angela waited impatiently for Michael and Diana to show up. She tuned out the conversations and laughters flowing around her. She was amazed by her current attitude. She used to love having fun and conversing freely with people, but right now all she could think about was stopping Dark. She had spent her past few years fighting and now the regular fun life seemed like hell. The atmosphere was still filled with festivities until Daniel Stark, Michael's father stood in the middle of the hall and called for everyone's attention. Mr Stark gave a long farewell speech for his retired friend, Frederick . Most people listened with sincere admiration. Others just sighed and grumbled because the festivities had been cut short. After Daniel's rather long speech, some people congratulated Frederick on his retirement. Others just went back to having fun. Much to Angela's relief, Michael and Diana returned just in time.
"So, what did he tell you? " Angela asked impatiently. Michael said nothing and simply stared at Diana who was busy playing with strands of her hair.
"Diana hasn't told me yet. " Michael replied finally. Michael and Angela stared impatiently at Diana while she played with her hair, staring at it admiringly like it was a priceless artwork in a museum. Finally, Diana looked up and said,
"I've got the information you're looking for. "
"So you know where Darren Ark is? " Angela asked. She was filled with hope once again.
"Yes " Diana replied. "But I'm not going to tell you. Not until you tell me what's really going on here. "
"I already told you. He's an old acquaintance. " replied Angela.
"I didn't insult your intelligence, Angela. Don't insult mine. " Diana said with a stern look on her face.
"You can either tell me what's going on or forget about this person you're trying so desperately to find." She added.
Michael and Angela stared at each other. Angela knew that Diana wasn't joking. She would withhold the information until they decide to tell her the truth. Angela knew she had only one chance to find Dark and stop him and she wasn't going to fail. She decided to accept Diana's demands.
"All right Diana, we'll tell you everything you wanna know as long as you promise not to tell anyone, but first, you're going to have to tell us what you know "
Diana sighed and then said "The man you are looking for works in a recently developed place called Ark Research Laboratory ... in Australia."
- Writer
