Sui Generis – 9

 

"What are you doing?" Brand asked.

"I'm going to call work to say I'm sick. And—" Mag shot a defiant look at Brand, "—I'll do it every day until we stop Fedor. That way I can sleep during the day and spend the nights on the street with you." He smiled slightly as he punched in the number. "The only thing we won't do is skip school. Got that?"

"Got it," Brand replied softly, amazed—and yet not terribly surprised—Mag was willing to do this for him. He knew, although Mag had never come right out and said so, that Mag had feelings for him that went beyond friendship. Once, before Fedor, Brand might have—probably would have—reciprocated and acted on his own feelings for Mag. Now—I'm not certain I have it in me anymore. I care for him, but is that enough to overcome how Fedor… changed me?

Brand was brought out of his reverie when Mag said, "Done. Now all we need is a plan."

"More than just hanging around alleys and rooftops?" Brand commented with a small smile.

"Exactly. If it wasn't some asshole who vandalized my garden… if Fedor was responsible, I'd say he knows about me. I'm hardly your invisible housemate. If I had to hazard a guess, even though he didn't let us know he was around, he probably saw the two of us together sometime during the last two nights."

Brand nodded. "Unfortunately, I'm sure you're right."

"So we play into that but… yeah, that would work. We do it separately tonight and for as long as it takes."

"Uh-uh, no way. All he'd have to do is grab you and he's have the leverage he needs to force me to come to him on his terms."

"I'm not saying we stay ten blocks apart, but if you're at one end of an alley and I'm at the other, that should make him think he could get to me before you could do anything about it. I see him coming, I yell for help, hopefully he runs, and then you follow him. Done deal."

"Possible," Brand said thoughtfully. "But… we make it seem as if we really have split up. When we get downtown I take off in one direction, you go the other, then I double back and hit whatever alley we decide on, but carefully, so he doesn't know I'm there. You're more overt about getting up to one of the roofs."

"Like the last two nights?" Mag said, grinning. "That never was my thing, if you remember rightly. I was always one to find a spot behind a dumpster or in a doorway, because I hate heights. I'm surprised he didn't see us going up there. If I'd been alone, then for damned sure he would have."

Brand chuckled. "Got that right, and that's what we're going to play into." And hope Fedor falls for it. That he does think we've split up and I'm somewhere else, because he knows I'm looking for him.

"Then let's do it." Mag shivered, murmuring, "Now's when I wish I had some Dramamine."

"I thought that was for motion sickness," Brand said, giving him a fast hug. "You'll be fine. Just don't look down when you get up there."

"That sort of defeats the purpose of why I'm supposed to be on the roof, doesn't it?"

Brand grinned. "Then close your eyes when you do. He won't know the difference, if he sees you."

"That'll work."

*****

If he could have, Mag would have closed his eyes as he climbed up the fire escape. When he was with Brand, he knew he was safe because his friend was there to make sure he didn't fall. But now…

He made it to the roof in one piece then crawled down to the far end. When he got there, he huddled against the parapet, trying to regain his composure before chancing looking over it into the alley three stories below him.

Finally, gripping the edge of the parapet as if it was a life-line, he peered down. Despite Brand's suggestion, he wasn't willing to keep his eyes closed. If he was going to be any help at all, he needed to see who was in the alley.

Everyone and their brother. Guess they figure the cops aren't running a sweep this far down, or they've been through already and so it's safe.

Every doorway, every place behind and between dumpsters, seemed to have an inhabitant. He wondered if he'd even realize Fedor was among them if the man chose to disguise himself as a homeless man.

Not that he really did the one time Brand saw him out here, but still… He shook his head in dismay. Blond. I'm looking for a blond. Still gripping the edge of the parapet as tightly as possible, he leaned forward a bit more, then pulled back quickly, feeling dizzy. I'm about as much help in finding him as a… a ditzy blonde.

He was damned if he was going to give up however. Fedor wouldn't know he was there if he didn't show his face, so to speak.

An hour passed. Every few minutes Mag took another fast look at the alley below him. All its denizens were asleep, as far as he could tell, and none of them were Fedor—as far as he could tell.

Suddenly he was aware there was someone behind him.