Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

44) Jack and Carli Explain

Immediately, Jack and Carli start to fill me in on what is going on, but first Jack says, "Damn, I shouldn't have given that jeep away. We need to find something that can catch Gus and Torin." Jack looks at my bike propped up on the porch steps. "I bet you are fast Eliot, but even with two more bikes, we probably couldn't catch that golf cart."

"Hmm, where can we find a car?" asks Carli. "Got any ideas, Els?"

All the cars left around here are too rundown to hit the road, or they'd be gone already. The reliable mommy vans and the daddy big trucks mostly left with families piled in the back. Even, the vintage collector items are gone. Except. I have an epiphany.

Mr. Thomas's favorite obsession on earth, other than my mom, is a motorcycle that he has been restoring since he moved next door. The last time he showed it to me, it was sitting on blocks awaiting new tires, but that was months before the EMP. If there is any luck, that motorcycle has tires on it now. I did remember mom saying one Sunday night, that she had promised Mr. Thomas he could take her for a ride. I don't know if she got a ride around town or not because I was on my way to Steven's house.

Right now, I'm praying that Mr. Thomas, 'ol Clementine himself, got to give his girl a ride on his Harley.

We go next door to Mr. Thomas's garage as Carli lets me know about the true Gus. This is what she says:

"He lied to his dad because we did see him in High Point. That other agent was already dead though. Gus said some soldiers jumped them, and the agent was hit by a car as they were running away."

Hmmm? This is the third story I've heard about how Agent Davies died. Weird.

Carli continues:

"Jack knew his dad, so we hitched a ride with Gus back to Mount Airy. We got some weird vibes from him early on though."

"Like what?" I ask.

"He knew people. He said his dad and he split up before either of them got to Mount Airy or High Point, so he should not have made friends in Mount Airy already."

"We got a bad feeling at the library," adds Jack. "We knew something was going on. Carli saw Gus talking to Mr. Thomas and some others there. We had a strange feeling, but since Carli knew Mr. Thomas, we shrugged it off."

Carli continues:

"I hid from Mr. Thomas because the whole situation seemed like something sneaky was going on. Another guy got in with us there. He was creepy. Looking me up and down. Then, when we got to the newspaper, it was just even more strange. Gus acted like he was in charge. He told Jack to wait outside and guard the door. It was a good thing too because I found a poster that looked like Jack. I knew something was about to go wrong when the creepy guy started hitting the man. I snuck outside, and me and Jack decided to dump our ride and go find you ourselves."

"The newspaper," I ask. "Did Gus stay there?"

Oh Lord, please don't let the man I was kissing last night be the man that killed Ned. The editor was beaten to death by a man, a bad man who killed him before Ned could find his wife and see his new baby. Please, don't let this be true.

"He was there," Carli says, "at least when we left. There with the other man and the editor guy. Gus was mostly asking questions. And then later, we saw Gus again when me and Jack were in the showers. Before someone shot at us."

"Was it Gus?" I ask. "Gus who shot Torin?"

"No way to know for sure," says Jack. "But, he was there."

"Gus was there when Torin was shot," I repeat.

"He was," says Carli. "He yelled at us. We didn't want to tell his dad because we don't know for sure, but we don't think Torin is safe with Gus."

Jack shakes his head in agreement. "We need to find them, quick as we can. And this will definitely help us."

Jack throws the cover off of Mr. Thomas's motorcycle that, thank goodness, is sitting on tires. I guess my mom got her ride that night. I get a mental picture of her on the back hanging on for dear life to a man who she can barely reach around. I bet that was a romantic ride.

Jack whistles at the ride. "Sweet."

We find the keys in the house, and quickly discover that it will be impossible to sneak up on someone on this bike. It is loud. We also realize that someone will have to be left behind. It only holds two people. I want to go find Torin and rescue him, but Carli and Jack have been a team for awhile, and besides, Carli won't leave Jack.

I tell Carli and Jack that Gus lied to me too. "He said that you were Torin, and Torin was Jack. He said you switched sometimes to fool people."

Here is where I see that Torin and Jack even have some of the same mannerisms and actions because Jack looks embarrassed just like Torin did. He says, "We used to do that all the time, but I assure you, I am Jack." He grins and bows, just like Torin would do. "I promise."

Carli laughs and kisses his cheek, "Jack, you are so funny."

I can tell that she loves him so much, and he loves her right back. I think she is so lucky that there are no secrets between them.

"What else did he say?" asks Carli.

"He said, the prince is bisexual, and there is nothing wrong with that, but Gus said the prince prefers men."

We all laugh at that and then Jack says, "Well, if Gus is confused about Torin and me, then maybe he is confused here too."

Carli laughs.

"What do you mean?" I ask. 

"Torin loves women, he always has. He has loved many women. Too many to count. He's not bisexual. Gus is wrong there."

"Whew," I say like I am joking, though I am secretly thrilled to hear this voiced by the person who knows Torin best. Though, I'm a little unnerved by the "many women" comment.

"And, Jack is not bisexual either," Carli blurts out. "He is 100 per cent gay."

Joke is on me. I wait for the laughs. None. Dead silence. Jack nods.

It's true. I've never hidden it, but, you know my private life is not under the microscope like Torin's. Thank God," says Jack, "though I have nothing to hide."

"Yes," says Carli, "very gay, despite my best efforts and all my feminine wiles and attempts to bring him over to the dark side."

They both laugh again and kiss each other which confuses me even more.

"But?" I say, "I thought..."

"He's my hero," says Carli kissing her hero's hand.

"And she's my girl, only my girl, and I will always love and protect her."

They look at each other, and I know what they say is true. You can't help who you love. Their love for each other might be stronger than any romance I've read about in a book. I know Jack would die for Carli, and Carli knows it too.

"My hero," she says. "Always my hero."