Gap Year - 94. Chapter 94

April 21, 2004

Escorial

Palo Alto, CA

Will

The big Escalade limo drove up the stately drive and stopped at the porte cochère to deposit its passengers. I got out and smiled, happy to be home, while Travis followed me, pausing to stare at this massive house. “This place is like the Buck Mansion,” he said.

My first reaction was to point out that Escorial was way nicer than the Buck Mansion, but I managed to stop myself from doing that and thus sparking an argument over which one of our ancestral homes was more glorious. “Pretty much,” I said.

We followed Grand and Stef into the house and found Grandmaman waiting to greet us. “I have missed you,” Grand said to her warmly, and gave her a friendly hug. I smiled at their timeless love.

“I have missed you as well, JP,” she said, and then moved on to greet the rest of us.

“Travis Buck, this is my grandmother, Isidore Crampton Hayes,” I said a bit formally.

“I have heard so much about you,” Grandmaman said to Travis. “Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said shyly.

“Is he not as handsome as I told you he was?” I asked her in French, getting a dirty look from Travis.

“He is, indeed,” she agreed. “I am assuming that since it is almost one o’clock, you would like to eat?”

“Good assumption,” I said.

“We delayed celebrating Marie’s birthday until tonight, so you should dress accordingly,” she pronounced.

“We missed Marie’s birthday?” Travis asked, all freaked out.

“It was on the 18^th,” I said casually. He gave me an odd look. I guess birthdays were a big deal to him. “I called her and told her we’d celebrate when we got back. She’s fine with that.” We were all so busy that it seemed that at least one of us was usually out of town, especially in spring, so Marie wasn’t overly sensitive about our missing the actual day.

“Oh,” he said, and I could almost see his mind adapting to how my world, and my relationships with my family, worked.

“Grandmaman wasn’t trying to make me feel guilty about missing Marie’s birthday; that was her way of telling us we have to dress nicely,” I said as I led Travis off toward my room.

“That’s not a problem, thanks to Stef,” he said.

I opened the door to my room and ushered him in. “This is home,” I announced.

“Nice digs,” he said, even as he peeked out the window with its great views.

“Let’s eat, then I’ll show you around.”

“Sounds good,” he said. We went up to the kitchen where I introduced him to Carmen, then we had a quick lunch. After that, we went back to my room to unpack, and to ask the staff to iron his new gray suit.

“Let me show you Escorial,” I said. I led him back up to the Great Hall and told him all about how Ben, the hunky carpenter, had restored the wood on the walls; showed him the suit of armor that Ryan had assaulted; pointed out the artwork; then dragged him all through the main floor and the second floor. When we were done with that, I took him down to the basement.

“This pool is awesome,” he said. “Super cool that it’s inside!”

“Makes it nice when the weather sucks,” I said, although the weather in Palo Alto was usually pretty nice anyway. “Check this out,” I said. I led him through the ‘tunnel’ that went under the driveway to the gym.

“This is fucking incredible,” he said, admiring all of the equipment.

“I want you to meet someone,” I said. “After that, we can work out if you want to.”

“Who am I going to meet?” he asked.

“Come on,” I said, ignoring his question. I led him back to the kitchen to grab a couple of carrots, then took him out to the stables.

“We going riding?” he asked skeptically.

“You know how to ride a horse?” I asked, surprised that it hadn't come up before.

“I mean, I can do it, but it’s been a while, so I’m not sure I’m all that good at it,” he said.

“We can solve that problem now, if you want,” I said. We walked down to Psyche’s stall to find her all excited to see me. “This is Psyche.” She was doing her normal routine when she saw me, where she all but jumped up and down.

“Dude, that horse totally loves you,” he said, and gently petted her nose. I was stunned that Psyche let him.

“She likes you, and that’s pretty shocking,” I said.

“Why?” he asked, then smiled. “Everyone loves me.”

“Everyone except your father,” I joked, making him laugh.

“True that,” he agreed.

“I won Psyche in a bet with some dudes who were abusing her pretty badly,” I said, and felt my rage at the Dalby cousins rising. “She doesn’t usually respond very well to men. That’s why I’m surprised that she likes you.”

“Maybe she only likes gay dudes,” he said.

“Maybe,” I said, chuckling at him. “I think it’s more likely that she senses that you’re a good person.”

“Right,” he said modestly.

“Want to go for a ride?” I asked hopefully.

Travis looked at me, then at Psyche, and shook his head. “You go for a ride. I need to make a few phone calls now that we’re back in the States.”

“Awesome,” I said. “I’ll meet you back in our room.” He smiled at how I’d referenced my space as ‘our’ room, then ambled off toward that destination. I helped Juan saddle up Psyche, then took her out on our normal route, starting at the Dish and letting her run off some of her energy.

After about fifteen minutes of that, we settled down to a more relaxed pace, so I pulled out my phone and called my father. “Hello, Will,” Grace said as she answered the phone. “Your father is in a meeting.”

“I don’t want to bother him; I just wanted to let him know that I made it back home,” I said.

“Hang on just a minute,” she said. I heard the phone click, then my father answered.

“You’re back in the country, eh?” he asked cheerfully.

“I am,” I said. “Gave Travis a tour, and while he’s talking to his lawyers, I’m riding Psyche.”

“You definitely got the better deal,” he said. “Jake should be home in a couple of hours. He wants to brief you and Travis on security while you’re here, so don’t go out until after you talk to him.”

“I’m riding Psyche right now,” I said. He paused for a second, since I’d already screwed up their security plan and he was trying to figure out how to deal with my impulsiveness.

“Just stick to our land until you talk to him,” Dad cautioned. “You’re not the prime target here, but with Travis there, the risks are increased, so it’s better to be safe.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, then ended our call. I’d actually wandered off of our property, but to make sure no one popped a blood vessel, I headed back to our land. We were on top of a hill when Psyche evidently found some grass that was particularly tasty. I let her pause and munch for a bit, while my eyes wandered down to a scrubby, wooded area that surrounded a creek. I was about to prod Psyche to move on when some movement in the wooded area distracted me. I stared at the scrub, forcing my eyes to take in the detail, when the object moved again. At first I thought it was a deer or something like that, but it was actually a person. Whoever he was, he was wearing clothes that, while not technically camouflage, blended into the landscape perfectly. I forced myself to remain calm, and looked away from the woods, acting like I hadn’t seen anything. While I was doing that, I pulled out my phone and called Escorial. It took me no time at all to get through to security. The guy who headed our security systems was named Kenny, and he was a pretty cool dude.

“What’s up, Will?” he asked.

“I’m riding down by the creek and there’s a dude down there,” I said, describing his clothes.

“We’re on our way,” he said. “Hang up the phone and get back to the house.” The security staff was extremely polite unless there was a crisis, and then they were direct and to the point, just like he was being now. After the disaster at Goodwell, I knew the drill, and that meant I did what they said.

“Done,” I said. I prodded Psyche and she grudgingly gave up grazing and broke into a trot, which seemed to be an appropriate pace. We’d barely gone any distance at all when two security dudes on motorbikes tore past us, followed by another guy on an ATV. I paused to look at the woods, wanting to see what happened, until I heard Kenny’s voice.

“Get back to the house!” he shouted. I nodded and spurred Psyche back into a trot. We got back to the stables and I left her in Juan’s capable hands, disappointed that we’d had such a short ride. I was walking toward the house when I heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. That prompted me to hustle my ass inside.

As soon as I got through the door, I heard the subtle alarm, the one that went off when Escorial went into lockdown mode. The only time I’d heard this before was when we’d had drills, so this was not a little freaky. “We’re on lockdown,” a security guard said, even as he breezed past me.

I walked into the kitchen to find Carmen almost in a panic. “We are being attacked!” she exclaimed.

“We’re not being attacked,” I said calmly. “I saw some dude hiding out down by the creek. It will be fine. Relax.”

“If you say so,” she said skeptically. At that moment, the alarm got much louder, which was our signal to go to the safe room.

“Go to the safe room,” I told Carmen. She looked panicked again. “It’s probably just a drill. I’ll meet you there.” I hurried down to my room and was lucky to find Travis.

“What the fuck is happening?” he demanded, freaking out.

“Come on,” I said. He stared at me blankly, so I grabbed his hand and all but dragged him out of my room and down to the basement. “We’re on lockdown.”

“Why?” he asked, his panic growing.

“I saw a dude by the woods when I was riding,” I said. “This is just a precaution.”

He stopped walking and stared at me. “You saw a dude?”

“I will tell you about it in a minute, now come on,” I snapped at him. He picked up his pace and we managed to get to the safe room just as Grandmaman and Frank arrived. The room filled quickly with Stef, Grand, and the household staff. The room itself was fortunately pretty spacious. We migrated over to a plush seating area, while the staff took seats around what was basically a dining room table.

“Do you know what happened?” Stef asked.

I told him that I’d spotted someone in the woods, relating what I knew, and then I told him I’d heard a gunshot when I was walking to the house. “A gunshot?” Travis asked. “You didn’t tell me that!” I gave him a frustrated look, because he was freaking out and no one else was doing that, not even the staff.

“I’m telling you now,” I said calmly.

“We are totally safe here,” Grand said evenly, and that finally got through to Travis.

“Sorry,” Travis mumbled.

“That’s fine,” I said, and put my hand on his shoulder. “I’ve had more practice with this shit than you have.”

“I am quite certain that is nothing to be proud of,” Stef said.

“This alert does give me an opportunity to note how nicely you have decorated this room,” Grandmaman said to Stef. “For what is basically a vault to hold humans, you have made it quite comfortable.”

We chuckled at that, then Grand and Grandmaman got up and went over to talk to the staff, which was our prompt to mingle with them to help keep their fears to a minimum. We had been in the room for almost 45 minutes before the door opened and Kenny came in. “All clear,” he announced abruptly.

“What was it?” Carmen asked.

“There was a man lurking in the woods,” Kenny said. “He is neutralized.”

“Neutralized?” I asked.

“He’s no longer a threat,” Kenny said dismissively. “Dr. Crampton, I would like to discuss our security response with you, if you have time.”

“Of course,” Grand said. We all left the safe room, and while the staff went back to work, the rest of us went up to Grand’s study. Travis and I snagged a seat on the couch, then I got up to get everyone drinks.

“Perhaps now you can explain what happened,” Stef said to Kenny.

“Will spotted a man down near the creek,” Kenny replied. “We responded and located him. He was armed, and when he pulled out a weapon, Gabriel fired at him.”

“Was he injured?” I asked.

“It was a good shot,” Kenny said proudly. “Gabriel hit him in the arm, so it was not life-threatening, but the shot knocked the gun out of his hand.”

“Then that was indeed good shooting,” Grand observed. “Who was this man?”

“We’re still working on that,” Kenny said. “He was taken to the hospital, and he’s being questioned by the police. They’ll want to talk to me, so I need to get going.”

“They can wait,” Stef said. “What do we know about this man?”

“Before the cops got there, we rifled through his clothes,” Kenny said. “He had no ID on him, only a gun, a phone, and this.” He handed Grand a piece of paper that looked like it had been only recently unfolded, as it was heavily creased. Grand raised an eyebrow in alarm, then handed the paper to Stef, who gasped slightly, then passed it on to me. I looked at it, stunned. It was a picture of Travis, with an inset that gave his height, weight, and other pertinent data.

“He was after me!” Travis said, although it was almost a shout.

“That is the logical conclusion to be drawn from this,” Grand said calmly, but this time, his placid demeanor had no impact on Travis at all.

“I have to get out of here,” Travis declared, and made to stand up. “None of you are safe as long as I’m around.”

“You are kind to worry about us, but I think that what happened shows that we are indeed quite safe,” Grandmaman said.

“Our security systems seem to be functioning at top notch with one exception,” Grand said, then zeroed in on Kenny. “How was it that we did not spot this man when he was by the creek?”

“That’s not part of our perimeter, Dr. Crampton,” Kenny said respectfully. “I am sure that we would have spotted him once he crossed the line.”

Travis looked at me, confused. “Escorial has a security perimeter, and it is studded with sensors and the like to detect anyone who crosses it,” I explained.

Grand got up, walked over to his desk, pulled out a piece of paper, then walked back, handing it to Travis. “That is a map of Escorial’s security system,” he explained. “You can see the positions of the sensors, and how they create a virtual wall around the main house and the outbuildings.”

“Just like you said, the creek isn’t covered,” I said, pointing to an area outside the perimeter.

“It really isn’t necessary,” Kenny said, and went on a relatively long-winded diatribe about how far from the house the perimeter would have to be to give them adequate response times.

“That may be the case, but based on this event, perhaps the perimeter should be expanded to cover that area,” Grand said. “In any event, that is not something we have to handle right now.”

“You’re going to talk to Mr. Pike about this, right?” Kenny asked nervously, worried that we’d sideline Jake.

“Absolutely,” I said. “The key thing I took away from this whole event is how you guys did an awesome job, and that the system we have set up worked.” Grand looked briefly irritated because he hadn’t thought to say that first.

“Thanks,” Kenny said.

“I completely agree,” Grand chimed in. We all thanked Kenny, then finally let him leave to go talk to the cops.

Grandmaman stood up, which was our clue to stand up as well, out of respect for this awesome woman. “While that was certainly exciting, I think I will retire to my room, confident in the knowledge that I am quite safe.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” I said. We had just started to walk toward the door when there was a knock. It opened and Jake breezed in, looking pretty frazzled.

“I came back as soon as I heard what happened,” Jake said hastily. I went to greet him with a big hug, then I froze. What happened after that was one of those strange scenes where everyone reacts in an identical way. In this situation, I stared, first at Jake, then at Travis, then back at Jake again, then back at Travis. And with each look, each comparison, my mind got blown just a little bit more at how much they looked like each other. My eyes flickered briefly to the others and I saw that even Grand looked shocked by how much alike they looked.

What was so incredibly bizarre was that now that Jake and Travis were here, in front of me, their similarities were so obvious that I didn’t get how I’d missed it. I decided that their prominent features, like their noses, chins, cheekbones, and even their ears were damn near identical, but the rest of them, the glue that held that all together, was different enough to act like a veil to keep the resemblance hidden. I remembered how my father had looked at Travis a bit oddly when he’d first met him, and wondered if he’d noticed it. I shook that off. He would have said something if he’d been able to put his finger on it, and I was fairly confident that he would have told Jake. Based on the shocked expression on Jake’s face, I was positive Dad had said nothing to him.

Jake’s reaction began to change from shock to panic, and I forced my mind to anticipate his next move. When my father or I were in a situation where we were basically cornered, our instinct was to fight, but that wasn’t how Jake worked. Jake’s instinct was to bail, and that’s just what he did. He turned and headed toward the door and started running as soon as he left Grand’s study.

“Call Dad. Get him home now,” I said to Stef, then turned to Grand. “Take care of Travis.” I got brief nods from both of them, then I tore out of the study and ran after Jake. He had a head start on me and he was fast, but I did my best to keep up with him. He ran down the hall to the stairs and as he started to climb them, he spotted me.

“Leave me alone!” he snarled. Of course, I ignored him. He tore up the stairs and ran to the room he shared with my father. He made it through the door and tried to slam and lock it, but I got there in time to force it open enough that he couldn’t do that. “Leave me the fuck alone!”

“You don’t get to hide,” I shouted back at him. “This isn’t just about you!” It bothered me that Jake hadn’t even considered how this was impacting Travis. The poor guy had been floundering in uncertainty, and it seemed that everyone got their rocks off by leaving him hanging.

“Goddamn it!” he yelled, but I managed to get more leverage than him. I pushed the door open, which sent him flying backwards so that he landed on the floor. I went in and shut the door behind us.

“Travis has been through hell. No one will tell him who his father is. All he knows is that the guy who was supposed to be his father hates him, and it looks like he sent a guy to take him out,” I yelled back at him. “I don’t know what is going on, but you need to pull your head out of your ass and help him try to figure this out. Stop being so fucking selfish.”

“I am not being selfish!” he shouted. “This is a big fucking deal to me. Fuck!” He put his head in his hands, and I suddenly felt really bad for him. This wasn’t his normal mode of avoiding an issue; this had really impacted him.

I went over, sat next to him, and put my arm around his shoulder and squeezed him in a sideways hug. “I’m sorry. I’m the one being the selfish asshole.”

“It’s fine,” he said dismissively, even though I could tell from his voice that he was all choked up.

"I’ve been so worried about Travis. Having Curtis Buck hunting him down has made him paranoid. I guess I've been so protective of him that I forgot the other people in my life who are important to me," I said sincerely, the guilt all but oozing out of my mouth.

He took his head out of his hands and turned so he was facing me, and even though I knew he’d been upset, I was completely unprepared to see him crying so bad that his face was totally wet. I impulsively leaned in and gave him a hug, then held him while I felt him slowly start to pull himself together. I didn’t understand why this had caused him to become so upset, but his reaction suggested there was more to this than finding out he was Travis’s father. “I need a favor.”

“What?” I asked, ending our hug so we could look at each other.

“I’m going to explain things. I’ll tell you and Travis why Travis and I look so much alike, at least to the best of my knowledge,” he said, speaking slowly and deliberately. “But I don’t want to do that until your father gets here.”

“That’s fine,” I said. I stood up and held out my hand, then helped pull him up from the floor too.

“I just need him here for moral support,” Jake added. I got that, and it was really sweet that he and my father were doing so well.

“I understand. I’m going to go check on Travis,” I said. I turned and left their room, then hurried back downstairs to Grand’s study. I was surprised to find it empty, but for Grand. “Where’s Travis?”

“He expressed a desire to retreat back to your room,” Grand said. I was annoyed at him for not sticking with Travis, but I guess it would have been pretty hard for him to do that when Travis wanted to be alone, at least without being rude. I exited his office and tore down the halls until I got to my room.

I walked in to find Travis with his suitcase out, packing up his clothes in a really slow way. “Hey there,” I said. I walked up to him and put my arm around him. “What are you doing?”

He stopped what he was doing and stared at me, then a single tear fell out of his right eye. “I don’t know.” He was like a zombie; it was not a little scary.

“It looks like you’re packing,” I said gently.

“I was going to leave, because this situation is so fucked up, but I realized that I have nowhere to go,” he said in a strangely sad tone that was mostly monotone.

“You need to stay here,” I said, and took his clothes out of his hands and led him over to my seating area. I sat down on the fake bearskin rug and gestured for him to join me.

“What good is having cool chairs if you sit on the hard floor,” he said, smiling slightly as he joined me.

“I actually have a lot of history with this bearskin rug,” I said.

“Who did you fuck on this thing?” he joked.

“Actually, the most vivid memory I have of it is a conversation I had with Robbie,” I said, smiling softly as I remembered him. “We had been fighting, and it had been really intense, and sitting here on this rug was the time when we started to work things out.”

“If you weren’t here, I would be totally alone,” he said.

“That’s pretty much true, since we’re the only ones in the room,” I joked, getting an annoyed look from him.

“You know what I meant,” he snapped.

“I do know what you mean,” I said, then made him look at me. “I love you. I am here for you.”

“I’m sorry I’m freaking out on you,” he said. He was so sad, and so dejected.

“Dude, you have every reason to lose it,” I said. “We went on lockdown because some guy was stalking you, and evidently he was armed. Then my stepfather looks so much like you it can’t be just a coincidence.”

“Yeah, it’s been a pretty intense couple of hours,” he said. “Why did Jake run away? Does he not want anything to do with me?”

I leaned forward and hugged him tightly. “This really isn’t about you, or at least I don’t think it is.”

“How can you say that?” he demanded, pulling away from me.

“Seeing you jarred something in him, and upset him big time,” I said. “So much that he promised he’d explain everything to both of us, but he wanted to wait until my father was here.”

“He needed to have his rock there to support him,” Travis concluded. I nodded in agreement. “Just like I need you.” He pulled me back into a hug and held on to me like he was a drowning man clinging to a life preserver. We held that embrace for the longest time, until a knock on the door interrupted us.