Different (a Manon Maxim Novel) by Mel Hartman - HTML preview

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5.

 

The coach house’s attic covers the entire upper floor and is so spacious you can at ease accommodate two families in it. Jabar had other plans with it.

In one half of the room are three computers, a ping-pong table and an original Wurlitzer jukebox. Diedie namely adores playing ping-pong, she thinks it lets her muscles work after hours of being behind the computer screen.

The Wurlitzer is my toy. It’s full of original singles. Music from the sixties until the nineties; pop, rock, classic, reggae, all kinds of genres mixed together. It took me several days to label the singles and to make labels that matched the position of the single.

On one wall are built-in cupboards that are crammed with books, comic books and records. For some extra atmosphere, I’ve put several plants there that don’t need much sunlight, since there are only two attic windows at this floor.

In the other half of the attic I get fight training and a punching bag hangs to the ceiling over there. Several ‘weapons’ are hanging on one half of the wall, from long sticks that have to represent swords up to short ones for the practice in the disarming of pistols. On the walls are still posters from my teenage years of the Spice Girls displayed. I urgently need to remove them. There are also two attic windows in here and further on the room is empty.

Next to that there are still two rooms at the attic floor of which Diedie uses one and which is spacious enough for a bedroom and living room in one. Following on she has her own bathroom.

A stair down eventually brings you to the meditation room.

Jabar immediately takes place behind a computer and contacts Ben, his connection in New York. I come to stand behind him and follow his ticking on the keyboard. God, I could kill myself for being so stupid!

‘I’m sorry Jabar,’ I start to apologize. ‘She said Ben retired and she was the new contact person.’

Jabar waves his hand, but keeps looking at the screen. ‘You couldn’t have known.’

‘I should have been more suspicious. Sometimes I’m so stupidly naïve and credulous!’

‘You’re still young. You’ll eventually learn.’

Ben appears on the screen. I’ve only met him once before and still it’s clear something is going on. He rubs with his one hand over his head, as if there’s a bump and pulls painful faces.

‘Jabar,’ he says. ‘Something happened to me.’

‘I was suspecting that already,’ Jabar says. ‘Are you alright?’

‘It isn’t something I won’t survive, but I think I better go and see a doctor. The smack on my head was a heavy blow and with a stump object. She also doped me. I’m only awake for fifteen minutes and I’m starving. I’ve been off the world for almost two goddamn days!’

Ben is a devil with high blond hair and a nearly invisible moustache. His face looks like a map consisting of wrinkles of which ravines even could be jealous.

‘Did you see who it was?’

‘A female piece with brown hair. I suspect she’s a vampire, because she was quite strong.’

Jabar nods. ‘Could be right. Manon has met her. She pretended to be the new contact person for New York.’

‘Shit. Unbelievable. Is Manon alright?’

I come in front of the webcam and wave. ‘Except for my ego, I’m okay.’

‘Luckily,’ sighs Ben. ‘She has hacked into my computer and read our messages to each other. That’s why she knew where, when and who would appear in New York.’

‘I wonder why. She didn’t harm Manon and properly dropped her at the devil’s house and brought her back to the airport.’

‘She even knew my favorite weapons where a Glock 17 and a blackjack,’ I add.

‘It’s strange at least,’ Ben endorses. He takes an aspirin in his mouth and swallows it through with water. ‘The entire fuss eventually didn’t bear fruit for her.’

‘Not that I know, no.’

‘So she isn’t out to catch me?’ I ask.

‘Maybe,’ Ben answers. ‘Not at first sight, but who knows.’

‘How could she know Manon would go to New York, anyway?’ Jabar thinks.

I can see at the frown on his forehead he’s tormenting his brains. It’s a strange situation, I can’t make head nor tail of it either.

‘Maybe we’re dealing with a hacker that keeps an eye on your computer,’ Ben proposes. ‘Let Diedie have a look at it.’

‘I will. Ben?’

‘Yes.’

‘You know what this means?’

‘Yes. There’s a traitor among us.’

There aren’t many otherkinds well-informed on our activities. Diedie, Jabar, Oded, Tony and me in Belgium and further on one contact person in the big or most populated cities. Jabar knows them all and I know he considers it to be impossible that there’s a traitor among us. He has screened them elaborately one by one, analyzed their personality and past with chirurgical precision. Above that, they’re royally awarded and that only to keep an eye on newspaper reports and gossip in the country, looking for indications whether an otherkind speaks beyond his book. When I put in at their country, they drive me around and provide me with the necessary weapons. That’s all they normally have to do.

‘Be careful,’ Jabar says to Ben.

‘You too. Meanwhile, I’ll keep an eye on everything. Did it work out with that devil, Manon?’

‘Yes, it went fine. You have to check whether he indeed brought the money back tomorrow.’

‘I’ll take care of that. I’ll let you know.’

Suddenly I hit upon something again.

‘I got the impression that Selena, that vamp, was interrogating me. I called your name, Jabar.’

Jabar looks up at me, luckily not offended. ‘Don’t worry about it, Manon, we’ll take care of it. Still said something else?’

I bite my lower lip and shake my head.

‘Manon?’

‘No, certainly not.’

‘Good.’

For centuries Jabar’s family has kept watch over the possibility for otherkinds to secretly live among the human beings. Passed on from parent to child. Why exactly Jabar’s family is also a mystery to him. He assumes his ancestors once pledged themselves to undertake that task because they have always been rich, powerful and influential.  When Jabar finally considered me ready for the task, after many years of training, he left the active part to me.

And now I, a stupid girl that isn’t even a relative of Jabar’s family line, may be responsible for the fact that everything comes to light. I’ll never forgive myself if everything gets out of hand.

Jabar sees my tormented look and softly lays his hand on my arm. ‘Manon, we’ll solve this. Really.’

He looks at me so confidently I just have to believe him. But it costs me a lot of effort.

‘Yes,’ I eventually say.

‘It could have happened to anyone of us, Manon, anyone of us,’ adds Ben and winks.

‘Ben, you need to move as soon as you can. And Manon?’

‘Yes?’

‘Change your number tomorrow.’

‘Okay’.

‘Than I’ll go and see a doctor and devour ten hamburgers,’ Ben says. ‘My head is about to explode. See you tomorrow.’

We shut down the computer.

‘Are you alright?’ Jabar asks.

I nod. ‘Would you blame me if I fucked everything up?’

‘Have I ever blamed you?’

‘Well.’ I pull a face. ‘Do you remember when I was five years old and we went to the children’s farm? You didn’t like it that much when I plucked all of your vegetables without telling you and above all gave them to the goats.’

Jabar smiles. ‘But was I angry?’

‘You can never tell whether you’re angry or not,’ I say chuckling. ‘But I didn’t get an ice cream that day and that said enough.’

‘If something goes wrong and you, unjustly, want to take the blame , you can as far as I’m concerned punish yourself by not eating an ice cream.’

‘Hm, ice creams don’t mean much to me anymore.’

‘No chocolate for an entire week than,’ he says in a seemingly severe tone.

‘Heh no. I won’t.’

‘I’ll never blame you, Manon, let that be clear.’ I can hear he’s being honest.

‘Let’s go to bed.’ Jabar stands up. ‘I’ll let Diedie take a look at the computers as soon as possible and maybe there’s even nothing wrong.’

I nod and kiss him goodnight. With my shoulders hanging down I slink off to my bedroom. I already know it’s going to be a restless night.