Chapter 9

Heidi Sheppard

April

On a small remote island in the south Pacific, a girl sat on a beach. The beach was narrow and sandy, overhung by palm trees and jungle foliage. Large breakers rolled in from the south, carried by a stiff warm breeze that rushed through the fronds overhead and scattered loose white sand above the waterline.

The girl was short, stocky, dark-skinned, her mother a native Hawaiian. Her shoulder-length brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, her eyes concealed by sunglasses. She wore a plain blue swimsuit and a headband made from a green bandana. From her wrist hung a crystal pendant, a special gift from Alan, her surrogate father.

Alan sat beside her, whittling a piece of wood as he leaned against the trunk of a palm tree. He differed from Heidi in appearance: tall, pale, close-cropped hair and well-trimmed beard, both fading to grey. The only physical trait they shared was muscularity.

Beside Alan lay their shortboards, the remains of their packed lunch, their shoes, and no fewer than four firearms: two rifles, two handguns. Some knives, too.

They sat in silence for some time, Alan whittling and Heidi staring out at the sea. Other islands broke the line of the horizon, but most of the sea touched the sky in a hazy far-off line.

“Waves are picking up again,” said Alan without looking up, his voice low and rough. “You gonna head back out?”

“I think I’m done,” said Heidi. She continued staring out. “What are you making?”

“Replacement chess piece.”

Heidi nodded. A white knight had gone missing last week. Monkeys, possibly. They had left the board out.

They sat for a few more minutes. Waves washed up on the beach, nearly reaching them, receding and undercutting fresh waves. Clouds scudded like sails, like snowy hills.

“How’s Manchester?” the man asked.

“Won last week,” the girl replied. “It was close.”

“Huh.”

Waves washed up the beach. And receded. The breeze blew. Little flakes of wood flickered out and down into the sand as Alan chipped away.

“I’m gonna get that boar,” Heidi said. “Been diggin’ up the garden already.”

“Trap him or hunt him?”

“Hunt. This island’s not that big.”

“Big enough it could take a while. Make sure you bring a tarp. Monsoon season. I’ll make some roast before I go.”

Heidi smiled. Alan made the best roasts. Her mouth watered just thinking about them. But her smile quickly faded.

The waves crashed, the trees sighed, clouds drifted across the sky. The sun was warm on her skin.

“What do you think?” Alan asked, handing the chess piece over for her inspection.

Heidi turned it over in her hands and held it up to the sunlight. Except for a slight variation in color, it appeared virtually indistinguishable from the lost knight. Which made sense; Alan had crafted the entire set. “Perfect,” she said, returning it. “Juice.”

Alan traded her the chess piece for an unfinished bottle of juice.

“Excited to see your friend in Chicago?” asked Alan. He leaned back against the tree and looked out at the sea. Heidi drank the rest of the mango juice. It was warm and thick and sweet.

Heidi nodded. “Yeah,” she said, sounding more confident than she felt. She was pretty nervous, actually, but she wouldn’t let Alan know that. Alan didn’t get nervous. He was leaving tonight to go do something dangerous, though he wouldn’t tell her what, and here he was looking at the sea, whittling chess pieces. Not a care in the world.

Heidi snuck a glance at him. She had flown around the world by herself before, but after whatever had happened in January, she was still surprised he was letting her go. Maybe Kate had something to do with it.

“I trust you, Heidi,” said Alan. Heidi quickly looked back out to sea. “Just be careful. I sent a package ahead. It’ll be waiting for you.”

“Thanks.”

They watched the sea rolling in. In and out. Birds called and whooped in the jungle. A cloud shadowed them for a while.

Heidi stealthily grabbed a nearby coconut. When she judged Alan to be least suspecting, she flung it into the air in front of them.

Alan’s arm whipped out like a snake, and a knife protruded from the coconut’s husk when it hit the wet sand. Heidi laughed and clapped. She could never get the drop on Alan. He frowned at the stricken coconut, probably thinking he shouldn’t have done that. If he’d missed, that would’ve been a knife out there somewhere in the surf. Dangerous. But he hadn’t missed, and she saw his face relax as he accepted this and moved on.

The coconut had landed in the darker wet sand, and each incoming wave nudged it. They watched it tilt back and forth a few times.

“You be careful too,” she said. She immediately regretted saying it. It sounded so sappy. And of course he would be careful. He was always careful. He was a damn professional .

He chuckled. “Of course I will,” he said.

As the tide came in, it threatened to carry the knifed coconut out to sea. Alan stood to retrieve the knife before this could happen, and that seemed to be the cue that their wonderful day—the wonderful part of it, at least—had ended.

They gathered their surfboards and other belongings, put their shoes back on, armed themselves, and trekked back to the bungalow. It was not far. Heidi took out a slingshot, created by Alan, and periodically paused to target coconuts, other fruit, or pestilential creatures like gulls. Not the lizards, though. She would never shoot at a lizard.

Two boats flanked the makeshift wharf that Alan had put together. One was loaded and ready to go; seeing it created a familiar dull ache within Heidi. But Alan had a roast to make first.

The breeze stirred the homemade wooden wind chimes clustered around the corners of the house. Heidi and Alan had made them together. They didn’t sound too great, from a musical perspective, but Heidi had become so used to them that she had a secret fear that she would find it difficult to fall asleep without them in Chicago.

Their bungalow seemed larger than it was because of all the windows and open space. A breeze usually drifted through, though sturdy storm shutters could be quickly installed. Alan had made numerous repairs and modifications to this bungalow. One room in particular was unusual: the computer room. It housed several state-of-the-art machines, a workstation for assembling, dissecting and repairing hardware, neatly stacked containers of parts, and perhaps strangest of all, high-speed internet.

This was Heidi’s workplace. She spent most of her time here when Alan was away, which was most of the time. She worked on computers, building and programming them. When she got bored with that, she hunted or kayaked out on exploratory expeditions to the nearby islands, whose secret landscapes she knew as well as her backyard. Sometimes she spent days out there. And when she became bored with this, she watched movies, or played videogames, or wasted time on the web. It became pretty dull sometimes. Most of the time. Especially since she did all of this alone.

Two months ago, a peculiar girl in England had messaged her out of the blue. Now she had friends to talk to, and doing so put a smile on her face, even if it also made her a little nervous. Except that one boy, Isaac. He annoyed her with all his silly, stupid word games. When Isaac had first heard the name of Alan Sheppard, he had gone off on a meandering tangent about some astronaut with the same name who was apparently the first American in space and the oldest man to walk on the moon. Which, yes, was pretty cool. But Isaac was still annoying.

After washing up a little, and while Alan chopped wood for the promised roast, Heidi sat down at a computer and saw that Elizabeth had messaged her.

EE: Heidi, are you there?

HS: I’m here.

HS: Hi Elizabeth.

EE: How are things? Any adventures planned?

HS: Yes. I just decided to hunt a boar.

EE: Haha!

EE: Wait, really?

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HS: Yes, it has been digging up my garden.

EE: You have a garden already? I still cannot plant yet.

HS: I live in a warm place.

EE: Near a beach, isolated from civilization. You have a tendency to make it sound idyllic.

HS: It’s pretty nice sometimes.

EE: So you are hunting a boar. Is that a great endeavor?

HS: It could take a few days. Lots of rain this time of year, which might make him difficult to track.

EE: That sounds exciting. My intention is merely to read books and practice.

HS: Practice Taekwondo? Or singing?

EE: Both I suppose.

EE: Who told you that I sing?

EE: It was Kate, wasn’t it?

HS: Jimothy, actually. He said you are very good.

EE: What?

EE: He’s never heard me!

EE: I did not believe so, at any rate. Perhaps AJ is the culprit.

HS: You shouldn’t be so shy about it.

HS: Even if you’re not that great, the best way to improve is to just do it.

HS: But, you probably are great. Just a hunch.

HS: In which case you’re just being selfish.

HS: That last part was a joke

HS: kind-of

HS: about you being selfish i mean not about you being great

HS: I just think you shouldn’t be afraid for people to hear you sing.

EE: I understand, Heidi. No offense taken.

EE: And I know, that is what AJ tells me on a regular basis.

EE: But even so...

HS: We may be able to meet in person soon.

EE: Really?

EE: When?

HS: I am flying to America in a few days.

HS: To Chicago.

HS: I’ll be staying with Eric for a while, but I’d love to make it over to where you live. It’s not too far.

EE: That is exciting news, Heidi!

EE: If you get the chance, I would love to have you over.

EE: Why are you going to Chicago?

EE: Is it just to see Eric?

HS: No. Alan is leaving for a while, and suggested I go somewhere too. I just thought of Chicago.

HS: Actually, it was Kate’s idea.

EE: Hmm...What is she up to?

HS: I don’t know. But it is definitely something.

HS: She has been hinting that something is going to happen.

EE: I am aware of this.

HS: It’s frustrating.

HS: I don’t like it.

HS: If she knows something, especially something about October Industries, why won’t she tell me?

EE: She’s just like that. Kate often hints about things she does not fully understand herself.

HS: What does that mean?

EE: She has SOURCES.

‎ EE: And I think she just likes being mysterious.

EE: Where is Mr. Sheppard going?

HS: He won’t say.

HS: He likes keeping me in the dark, too.

HS: I’m worried about him. He always goes off on assignments, but he’s been making this one sound dangerous.

EE: How long will you be in Chicago?

HS: I don’t know. Probably a few days, or until I hear from Alan. I think he might come get me. But I don’t know.

EE: Awfully adventurous of you, to travel to a new city on a whim, reside with a new friend you have never met, and remain ignorant of how long you will stay or what will happen after.

HS: Maybe. I’ve traveled plenty on my own before, though.

EE: I see. I imagine that our relative perceptions of what constitutes as adventurous are somewhat out of sync.

HS: I guess. Have you traveled much on your own?

EE: Only when I visited Kate last year. AJ was studying abroad and stopped in the UK on her return. So she visited Kate because she wanted to explore England a bit, and required a place to stay.

EE: I went to see them both, because I had not seen AJ in two years, and I had not seen Kate ever.

HS: That sounds like it was fun.

EE: It was. Kate is even more ridiculous in person. AJ was there with her alone for a day before I came, and I think she was a bit overwhelmed.

EE: Where have you traveled?

HS: Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, the EU, and Hawaii, that’s where my mom’s from.

HS: I’m sort of technically in New Zealand right now.

EE: All of those by yourself?

HS: No, just Hawaii and Europe by myself.

EE: You are 16, correct?

HS: 15

HS: But only for another couple months.

EE: I am surprised you were able to do all that at such a young age.

HS: Alan got me a fake I.D. I can be 18 if I have to.

EE: Ah.

EE: Heidi, it seems I never stop learning interesting things about you.

HS: Isn’t that just how it goes when people are getting to know each other?

EE: Yes, you are correct, but what I am saying is that you are extra interesting.

EE: I imagine Eric is excited to see you.

HS: I don’t know if he knows yet.

EE: ?

HS: Kate said she would tell him.

HS: This is sort of a last-minute plan.

HS: She said it would be no problem for Eric, though. She seems to know his schedule very well. I’m just taking her word for it that he’ll be okay with me staying.

HS: But it’s fine if that doesn’t work out.

EE: Do not worry. Kate’s word is as good as it gets.

EE: And Eric would likely remain unruffled even if a circus troupe appeared out of nowhere to stay in his apartment.

HS: Okay.

EE: I will leave you to your boar hunt. I wish you luck in bringing that garden-rummaging ruffian to justice.

HS: Thanks. I will let you know if I am able to make it down to your place.

EE: Understood. Goodbye!

HS: Goodbye.

Hmm. Heidi looked at the last word she’d typed. Should she have put an exclamation point after her “goodbye” as well? Did it seem a little standoffish? She wondered if she had come across as grumpy the way Kate sometimes teased her about. No, she shouldn’t worry. Elizabeth was smarter than to make assumptions like that. Right?

The smell of cooking meat and the crackling of the fire filtered into the computer room from outside, mingling in the air with the lazily scattered notes of the wind chimes. The smell made Heidi’s stomach growl. Yes, she was excited to go to Chicago and see at least one of her new friends. She also was nervous, especially about whatever Alan was going to do. But there was nothing she could do about that. For now, she would enjoy her meal, and enjoy spending a few more hours with him. One thing at a time. That was the Alan Sheppard way.