Status Updates From Rebel Mind (AKA Simon Lee #6)

Page 1 and Lee knows something is wrong. And I’m 90% sure already what that something could be...

Lee nodded and stood up. “Thank you.”
Cline grinned. “No, thank you,” he said, then he shoved his foot forward. But even as he was saying ‘thank you’, Lee was planting his foot on the center of his chair, just as Cline tried to kicked toward him.
But Lee had been on the other side of the table enough times to know what was Cline was going to try, probably before Cline did.

He looked like he was going to protest when Lee spun on his heel, grabbed his father’s arm, and pulled him back down the hallway. “Look,” Lee said, stopping and turning toward his father. “I don’t like him, so I hate to admit this, but he’s right.”
“It still doesn’t seem right,” he said. “The public deserves to know.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “But right now it’s not even out choice to make.”

“Oh, thanks!” he said, grabbing one of the pillows off the ground next to him and tossed it at Lee’s head.
“Hey!” Lee said, batting the pillow away.
“What?” he said, giving him his best innocent face. “They’re called throw pillows for a reason.”
“Oh, really?” Lee said, kneeling down and picking the pillow up. “Do you want me to test that theory?”
“No, I don’t think I do,” he said. “Now, carefully put the pillow down”

“Oh, thanks!” he said, grabbing one of the pillows off the ground next to him and tossed it at Lee’s head.
“Hey!” Lee said, batting the pillow away.
“What?” he said, giving him his best innocent face. “They’re called throw pillows for a reason.”
“Oh, really?” Lee said, kneeling down and picking the pillow up. “Do you want me to test that theory?”
“No, I don’t think I do,” he said. “Now, carefully put the pillow down”

“Thought I might find you here,” Winfield called up to him.
“Well,” Lee said, stretching out his legs on top of the ridge of the roof. “I wondered how long it was going to be before you came out to look for me.”
“Mind coming down here?” Winfield asked. “I could go up there, but I don’t think we could exactly have a comfortable chat sitting on the ridge of the roof.”
“It’s not because you’re too old to come up here?”

Lee didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he was literally falling. His eyes flew open and grabbed for something to stop himself. Before he realized what was happening, his chair tipped all the way back, and he hit the ground.
Looking above his head, he saw him standing there, grinning. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. “Very grown-up of you,” he growled, rolling out of the tipped chair.

“I thought his son was supposed to be with you?”
“He was,” he said, turning back to him.
“Wait!” he said, his eyes growing big. “You’re not his son, are you? You don’t really look like him, but…”
“What? No!” he said, shaking his head as he grimaced and held up his hands. “He’s not my father. My father… I… my…” He finally just stopped and sighed. “Let’s just say my family tree is a little tangle up at the moment.”

“I could give you about a dozen names I go by, but I’m not sure which ones you’ve heard. So I’ll just say my name’s Jason, and it’s nice to meet you.”
“Is Jason your name?”
“No, it’s not,” Lee said. “But you can call me Lee, I guess.”
She raised an eyebrow. “This that your name?”
“Well… it is, but it isn’t,” Lee said. “I go by it most of the time if that helps.”

"Contrary to what you might think, little man, you’re not in kindergarten anymore.”
“Really? Because so far you’ve all been acting like children,” Jimmy said, stepping closer. “And as far as I can tell, you’re only good at drawing pictures that no one could identify, drooling and taking naps. Enlighten me as to why I couldn’t have you shot for calling me a ‘little man'?”

He twisted around so his head was next to the sunroof.
Pulling the metal bar from the headrest out of his belt, Lee gripped it and slammed it down against the glass.
The glass shattered, and while the driver used his arm to protect his face from the falling pieces, Lee reaches inside, grabbed him by the back of the head, and slammed him forward and into the steering wheel.

He twisted around so his head was next to the sunroof.
Pulling the metal bar from the headrest out of his belt, Lee gripped it and slammed it down against the glass.
The glass shattered, and while the driver used his arm to protect his face from the falling pieces, Lee reaches inside, grabbed him by the back of the head, and slammed him forward and into the steering wheel.

The next second, the roof tipped, no longer a flat surface, but more of a ramp leading to the end. Lee reached the top of the broken piece and shoved off, just as it crumbled away and the roof fell in on itself.
This time he wasn’t able to prepare himself, and he hit the ground, knocking the air out of his lungs and stunning him. For a moment, Lee just laid there, grateful for the semi-solid ground beneath him.

“Very funny. I’m just saying, how much experience do you two have jumping off a building?” he asked, and Lee just smiled as he continued. “I have the experience, but just half an hour ago, I could barely stand!”
“You can either stay here and deal with them,” Lee said, just as the door was thrown open again and five Predator operatives spilled through it. “Or come with me.” With that, Lee moved back from the edge.

“I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with. You’re in over your head.”
“You obviously don’t know who I am,” Lee said, sneering at him. “Or you’d know I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Taking a step back, Lee hooked his leg around the leg of the operative behind him, then he threw his head back and smacked him in the face. At the same time as he slammed his elbow into the operative’s stomach.

“Normal people have a game room or those rooms where you hide all your junk,” Winfield mumbled to himself as he walked over to one of the walls. “But all of us have a secret room, and enough weapons to arm a small army.” He picked up one of the guns hand weighted it in his hand.
Maybe their kind of job just made them a little bit paranoid. It wasn’t like he didn’t have one of these in his own basement.

“You realize that’s going to kill everyone in here, right?” Tman said.
Killian ducked his head. “Yeah, I kind of figured,” he said. “Can you honestly say you’ve never had to do something like this before? I’m just following orders like I think we all are. Luckily for you, though. This is solely my responsibility.”
“No, it’s not,” Lee said. “Stopping these people is all of our responsibility. Whatever happens… well."

“Why haven’t you asked her out?” she asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ava. Why haven’t you asked her out?” she said. “She obviously likes you, and I see it in the way she acts around you. I’ve never understood why you didn’t move on after I… after I left. I’m sure Ava would say yes, if you asked her out.”
“Are you seriously trying to have this conversation with me?”

“Fine,” he said. “You’ve got five minutes.”
“I only need two. Not that anyone put you in charge,” he grumbled, his eyes soaking up the lines of coding as the slid past, and he quickly changed bits and pieces. “There!” he said, looking up at him. “See, I told you I didn’t need five minutes.”
Glancing at his watch, he smirked. “Yeah, but it was longer than two minutes too.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” she said, shaking her head at him as she moved to stand next to her computer and click away at it.
“Simon left me in there, with ‘It’s a small world’ playing in my head,” he hissed. “I think I think I have a right to be grumpy.” Speaking of the devil… he glanced toward Lee’s empty gurney and let out a low growl. “How long has he been gone anyway?”

“Morning,” Winfield said, giving him a nod. “Pierson’s got coffee.”
Davis raised an eyebrow and took one of the empty seats. “Coffee? At three in the morning?”
“That’s what I said,” Winfield said, grinning.
Pierson huffed. “We’re awake already, aren’t we?” he said, shaking his head. “What’s it going to do? Make us more awake?”

Staying low, Lee hurried across the room and behind the curtain, just as he heard the sound of the door opening. Lee rolled under the gurney and pulled himself up onto the metal bars under it.
Lee squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath as the sound of the door opening was replaced with the sound of footsteps again. He fingered the gun and realized, this time he might not get away with just wounding them.

“You know what?” Davis said, clasping his hands and giving home both a forced smile. “I think we’re getting a little off track.”
“You’re right, thank you, Davis,” she said, then she frowned toward Winfield. “Do you have any other snide remarks you make, or can we move on?”
“Nope, I think I’m good.”

He skidded to a stop. “Hey!” he said, grabbing at Lee’s arm. “That’s mine. I’m the one who found it.”
“Oh, don’t start,” Lee said, rolling his eyes. “What are you five? Which in that case, you really shouldn’t have something like this pen.”
“Right! Says the boy who tried to rob a bank when he was five,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not so sure you’re a better person to have something like that.”

It now has a synopsis!