SYNCHRONICITY (The Lone Wolf)

41

On the way to his office, Sebastian passed through the lobby of Headquarters, where the remainder of his board meetings were taking place. He stared at his mobile phone and waited for his son to return the text. He didn't want to be stuck in the elevator when he called and so he found a comfortable chair to wait him out. Growing impatient, he scrolled through his contacts and found the secret number assigned to the fake contact that was actually the safe house. He pulled the phone to his ear and huffed as it rang repeatedly. Finally James picked up the house phone.

"House of the Rising Sun," James sang softly into the phone.

"Oh, think you're being funny, do ya...what if..."

"Dad, relax! Caller ID, remember? You're lucky I didn't say City Morgue, you stab em, we slab em or something equally funny like that..."

"Mmmm..." Sebastian grunted. "Is she there?"

"Yes! I am checking in their guest right at this very moment. So kindly let me get her checked in please? I'll. Call. You. Back. Goodbye!"

The line went dead and the Lone Wolf stood up and stared at his phone, wanting to throw it across the large lobby...and he would have too, except that now, he was a bundle of wild-canine-enabled nerves...and Topher would kill him for having broken yet another phone. She was two hours away with traffic, only five seconds if he emerged to the house...

He looked to his phone again. He began a text to his son: Is she still beautiful? and stared at it for minutes. Finally, he pressed send. And waited.

And waited...

And waited....

He sighed, sitting in the plushy chair, still staring at the dark screen, his right leg bobbing up and down rapidly.

Minutes passed by as he sat staring at the phone, silently willing letters to present themselves on the darkened screen. He groaned loudly, garnering him a concerned stare from the Intern, what's her name...at this point, he didn't care who she was and he sat back in the chair and sighed hard.

Nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds later, the phone vibrated in his hands causing him to flinch so badly that he nearly dropped it, his large hands struggling to catch it before it fell to the carpeted floor.

"About fucking time you rang me back, James Christopher! Damn it all!"

"Tsk, tsk...such language. Why Bast, I'm shocked, I tell you...absolutely shocked!"

Alison...

He felt his heart stop beating in his chest. And he took several quick breaths to regain his composure.

There was a long silence and she wondered if the call had been disconnected. "Bastian," she said quietly into the phone, "Are you still there?"

Sebastian sat red faced on the cushy chair, still attempting to regain his composure. "Kindly inform my traitorous son that he is hereby disinherited, please..."

Alison giggled.

Sebastian sighed into the phone. "Ohhh, I've missed that sound," he whispered.

He knew that there was no possible way that he'd be able to sit through several boring administrative meetings...he'd have to come up with something good like perhaps his kid losing a lung to be able to get out of them.

All too soon however, he was called for and slowly made his way toward the conference room.

Feeling completely defeated, he sat staring off into space and the third time someone had to repeat something to him, did he confess as he stood to his feet...what he really wanted to do was to emerge out of the room.