The Planck Factor

Chapter 23

Jessica Evans

I tried to remain calm and reason it out. What could Fred have wanted to tell me and how would it relate to the novel I was working on? It seemed too bizarre to think that the people who were after me were like those who were after Alexis.

I shook my head, as I opened my word processing program. I wanted so much to finish my novel. But doing so meant rehashing all the horrible similarities my life had taken to my work. Am I writing a novel or a thinly veiled autobiography? I laughed, but the sound was less happy than desperate.

If nothing else, it seemed wise to check my files and make sure nothing had been deleted. If my novel had been deleted, in whole or part, I'd need to find a geek to recover what was lost.

Resolutely, I turned to my laptop and scanned the chapters quickly to where I'd left off, after Alexis had slipped away from Swede and gone to New York.

* * *

Alexis

Alexis arrived at LaGuardia, feeling frazzled and more than a little ill at ease. She wasn't sure whether to feel triumphant or like a heel for ditching Swede the way she did.

As she toted her bag off the plane, she looked around for someone carrying a sign with her name on it. Her sister, Katie, had arranged for a car to pick her up. It was coming up on midnight and Katie lived in Manhattan, where owning a car was more expense and annoyance than anything. However, Katie said she'd wait up for her.

A short, balding man in a suit and hat, with broad, liver-spotted features and tired eyes, awaited her with sign in hand. Alexis walked up.

"I'm Alexis Sullivan," she said.

"Oh, good." The little man said it like he meant entirely the opposite. "I'm Mel. I'm your drivah."

If Mel was any indication, New Yorkers weren't terribly effusive.

"Got everything?" Mel asked.

"Yup." Alexis could match his lack of effusiveness with her own brand of taciturn.

Mel just nodded and looked relieved. "Well, dis way den." Alexis followed.

* * *

En route to Katie's place, Alexis and Mel exchanged few words at first. Alexis was too tired to think of anything to talk about and Mel seemed happy with that.

As they crossed the Queensboro Bridge, Mel spoke up. "So, your first time in Noo Yawk?"

"Oh, no. I've been here before. My sister's lived here a while."

"Uh huh. Where you from?"

"I go to school in Eugene. University of Oregon."

"Or-e-gahn, huh?" Or that's how it sounded to Alexis. "Lotsa rain, I hear."

"Well, sometimes, but--" She cut herself off. Oregonians wanted people to think it rained there all the time, so they wouldn't be overrun with transplanted East Coasters -- Californians were more than enough to handle as it was. "But you get used to it," she finished.

Mel shook his head. "Can't abide rain awl the time. Brings me down, ya know?"

Alexis could just imagine how far down Mel was capable of going.