The Deck's Ace

Part one, Chapter 3. Winter Stripes

“That was Shit! If I’d have been a real opponent you would be dead. Try again.”

“Well then I am going to die if I can’t use the Curse!  And I really didn’t want to get wet today.”

“Then use it. If you get sent to Afganistan or some other god forsaken shit hole, do you think a fuckin hodje is going to go soft on you because you have a nice ass? No, they are going to rape you and then kill you.”

“If I use it now, I will kill you and then we would have to find a brand new trainer.”

“Smart ass. What is rule four?”

“Your enemy always has a plan. Make a better one.”

“You can say the words, but you need to live it. You and your enemy are almost always in the same environment. They can use the same shit you can. Don’t let them.”

“Yeah I learned that when you set me on fire!”

“You will always watch a kitchen stove now wont you.”

“Only when I’m around you, Luke. Lets go again.”

“That’s my little Spartan.”
__________________________________________

January 16th, 2002

The crew made it to the airport at a decent time, but that was about the only thing that went right. As no one in the party was over 18, they were all considered minors, and the overly attentive ticketing agent had required an adult to sign them in. It had been hell, but luckily Torrance always carried her emancipation documents. After raising Kane and speaking with a supervisor, Torrance was able to get their boarding passes.

Then in Security, Ryan lost his ID. They wasted twenty minutes looking for the card before Logan, who was in charge of the boarding passes, remembered that he had taken it.

Of course Torrance had no room to bitch, because she had forgotten about the utility knife in her backpack. That was promptly confiscated, and her bag was searched. They also tried to confiscate her watch, which didn’t happen, but Torrance went into a simmering rage that she would have to sleep off on the plane.

They had arrived in Aspen at around 7am. Torrance rented an SUV under an assumed name, and they all checked into their cabin before hitting the slopes. They were able to get a solid day of snowboarding under their belts before the storm hit. Everyone was pulled off of the mountain for their own safety, and the gang was about to call it a night when Ryan was invited to a cabin party.

After a quick pit stop at their cabin to change, the gang headed to a large cabin at the base of the hill. They had to park quite a bit down the street, because a line of cars had already formed.  None of them cared about walking through the snow, but they were unprepared for the severe temperature drop once the sun went down. The girl’s blue jeans did very little to protect them from the cold. Logan and Ryan laughed as the girls jogged through the snow to get inside. Ryan was from Maine, so he knew how to layer clothing, and Logan was simply covered in a thick coat of blond fur.

At six foot two, and one hundred-ninety pounds, Logan was the tallest member of the Dovolo gang. He was muscular, but it was more lean muscle than Ryan or even Donovan. He was a wide receiver for the Varsity football team. His blue eyes were softer than Tori’s but they shared the same dull blond natural hair color. That hair covered most of his body, but he kept it well groomed. He was one of only a few boys in school with the ability to grow and maintain a full beard, which he shaped into mutton chops and a gotee.

Many people thought that Logan was just Dovolo’s lap dog, but those close to the group knew that Logan was so much more. Aside from being Tori’s public boyfriend, he was also the closest thing to a medic the group had. He was quiet more often then not, but when the mood struck him, he would talk his friend’s ears off. In school he was seen as ruthless, almost as untouchable as Torrance, but in actuality he was very kind. He had a tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt, and a second chance at a good impression was something he believed everyone deserved.

“Well we can’t all be baby gorillas!” Rae yelled as she and Torrance opened the door to the cabin, not bothering to knock. As they entered, they were hit by the sounds of loud rock music, the stench of pine and alcohol, and the heat of over thirty bodies in close proximity. It was nice.

No one greeted them, so they made themselves at home. Logan went to find food, Ryan went directly to the covered hot tub, and the girls went to score some drinks. They all mingled and flirted on the way to their destinations.

Rae found the keg and started filling a cup. She knew better than to fill one for Torrance. If it were just her close friends, Torrance would drink. However in such a large group, with several people she didn’t know, she wouldn’t risk it. Besides she had to drive home, in the snow and ice. She needed to stay sober.

Several young men noticed the two girls at the keg and decided to try their luck.  Torrance and Rae were soon surrounded by a group of men trying to strike up a conversation. They both ate it up until Logan appeared, wrapping his arm around Tori protectively. The guys got the signal and backed off, deciding to focus their efforts on Rae.

“A little over protective are we?” Torrance said, slightly annoyed.

Logan either missed the tone or was trying to spin the situation, “When my girlfriend is the most beautiful woman at the party, I have to protect what’s mine.”

“Uh huh.” Torrance said, pulling away. For some reason the comment and the action made her hateful more than annoyed. She ate it and decided that she needed some space. The best place, she concluded, was the hot tub area where Ryan was entertaining a harem.

“Hey Sweetie, was just talking about you.” Ryan said as she opened the sliding glass door and stepped onto the covered patio. He was rather large for seventeen, as if he had filled out when he was ten. His dark, thinly dreadlocked hair hit well below his shoulders and was just a shade darker than his skin. His fathers side was Jamaican, but his mother was Korean. It gave him a beautiful completion and an impressive facial structure. Rae and he often joked about making beautiful babies together.

He had a mischievous look in his eye that told Tori something was afoul. “Oh yeah?” She raised an eyebrow. What on earth was he up to?

“This is Chris Vortey, he led all those kids against the feds back at the McMillan Military Academy. The man is a living legend! I told him you would love to hear some of his stories.”  Ryan almost spilled his drink with his flamboyant hand gestures. He used the wrong name for the Academy on purpose to test Vortey, but Torrance had come upon this thing before.

The incident at the military academy had been the greatest embarrassment to American Law Enforcement in history.  In Waco they got gun happy, but in Kentucky they were paralyzed by forty-one kids. The incident was so big, and there were so many people involved that it was hard for the general public to remember names. Sometimes they came across kids claiming to be from McMannis, but it was rare to have someone claim to be the leader. The lie was too easy too break down. Of course, Torrance was sure that he never bet on meeting her.

Chris Vortey puffed out his chest and leaned back in the hot tub, “Eh, the real credit goes to my soldiers.”

“You led it huh? Hmm, if I remember right, I think a girl led that.” Torrance said, not giving it away too soon.

“Urban ledged.” Chris dismissed, intriguing the crowd around him.

Torrance turned around and lifted her shirt, exposing her back. There was a collective gasp on the patio and all other conversation stopped.  Her back was covered in 40 thick long scars, as if the Wolverine had taken out his anger on her. They were whipping scars, “Fill him in Ryan.” Torrance ordered with a deadly tone.

“This is Torrance Dovolo. She is the McMannis General, with the scars to prove it.” Ryan grinned, pulling a tipsy blond over by the waist to sit on his lap.

Torrance put her clothes back in place and turned to Chris. His face was bright red, and his eyes had that deer in headlights motif. He knew that he had been caught, “Now, I am not saying that you’re lying. You may have been at McMannis, but is so; you left before any of the real fighting started. I know that you weren’t part of my forty, because I am very close to every one of my soldiers.
“No it’s probably just a way for you to get chicks and to cover up the void you feel inside for being such a worthless individual. Have a nice party.”

She gave Ryan a kiss before she headed back into the cabin. This party was starting to get on her nerves.

_________________________________________________


Torrance was the first one to wake the next morning. She had slept with Logan in the master bedroom, while Rae and Ryan took the loft. Ryan and Rae weren't an item, but everyone was very close, so no gave a second thought about sharing a bed.

Logan was snoring away, comfortably wrapped in a comforter cocoon. That was what  woke her, she was freezing! Her body was wrapped around itself in a tight little ball, trying to conserve body heat. She growled and grabbed an edge of the blanket. She tugged hard, but Logan was wrapped too tight.

"Fucker." Torrance muttered as she rolled out of bed. She hit the floor and almost crumbled. Despite two hours paintball and another two hours of PE every day, she was almost crippled by ten hours of snowboarding. Her calves and thighs screamed every time she moved. Her lower back and ass made her feel like she had been rear ended by a bus. Muscles in her washboard abs that she didn’t know she had were on fire. Was this what fat kids felt like after her PE class?

She crawled out of the bedroom and rooted around for something to wear. She found a pair of her workout warm ups and a t shirt.  She groaned as she slipped them on, not bothing to muffle the volume in any way. If Logan was going to steal the covers, he was going to hear about it.

She clawed up to the loft, attracted by Ryan's snoring. Rae and Ryan were both sacked out under several blankets, despite the growing light from the sunrise. Torrance didn't hesitate to crawl between them and under the covers, waking the two in the process.

"Tori, whatcha doin?" Ryan asked groggily, covering his eyes with his hand.

"Cold." Torrance muttered in a rather childish voice as she snuggled into both of them.

Rae jumped, "Fuck, you're freezing!" She tried to scoot away and then moaned, "Oooooh I'm sore."

Ryan laughed, pulling Torrance closer to him, "I thought I was the only one."

"Count me in on that party." Torrance said, enjoying the warmth.

"Where is Logan?" Rae said, sitting up. The day was young and despite her sore muscles, Rae wanted to enjoy her time away from Banfoul.

"He's stolen the covers and is putting up a hellava defense." Torrance said darkly, watching her friend search for a pair of warm ups. "Nice thong," she said, reaching over to snap it.

Ryan laughed as Rae stepped out of reach and smirked, "Thanks, it’s yours."

This cause Ryan to howl in laughter. Torrance wrinkled her nose, and then snuggled back into the covers. Ryan wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, letting her snuggle into his body. Rae herself watched the pair and hopped back into bed, deciding that she could brush her teeth later. They chatted about this and that as they slowly woke up. Their conversation soon turned into laughter, as it usually does when friends spend much time together.

The noise woke Logan, who came stumbling into the living room. He looked up to the loft and called, "Hey, when are we going? Its already ten."

Torrance yelled against Ryan’s spectacular chest, "We were waiting for your happy ass to wake up!"

"Well let's go!" Logan said, searching for his gear.

Thirty minutes later, they were on the chair lift heading towards a black diamond run. They were all crammed on a single chair, but no one was complaining. While the other three wore helmets, Torrance stuck to sunglasses and a cap. The helmet threw her off balance, and she was of the opinion that if she was stupid enough to hit a tree, she deserved the head injury.

While the other three joked, Torrance couldn't shake the feeling in the bottom of her stomach. Her gut was telling her that something was wrong, but she couldn’t place it. Could someone have found out about Arianna? Or was she just worried about trips black diamond run?

The storm covered the slopes with a fresh coat of powder. It would make the trail a little hard to distinguish, but the unpacked snow would be worth it. Because it was the middle of January, the mountain was devoid of anyone save the locals. The sky was still cloudy, but hopefully it would burn off by mid day, avoiding a whiteout. The group couldn't ask for more perfect conditions.

They hopped off of the chair at the top of the mountain, gliding past the pile up that was common at any chair drop.

"Last one down buys lunch!" Rae called as she took off down the slope, not allowing her friends any time to acclimate to the mountain.

Torrance was not one to be beaten, especially by a cheater, so she took off after her friend.

Ryan and Logan looked on, "Sometimes I wonder about those two." Logan said as they began their decent at a more leisurely rate.

Torrance and Rae raced down the mountain. Rae had a few feet on Torrance but she was gaining fast. While Rae moved around slower skiers, Torrance just pushed them out of the way. As they turned sharply on the curves and launched over mini ramps, the girls struggled for the lead.

Unfortunately for Torrance, the snow pack covered the signs and ropes that marked out the trail. The powder coated the rocks, keeping her from realizing that she was out of bounds. In her attempt to beat her friend, Torrance missed the warnings. Of course, that was until she was airborne, falling seventy yards down the edge of the mountain.
_______________________________

Rae came to a skidding stop at the base of the mountain. She had never gone so fast on a snowboard in her life. She had done some things that she wasn’t proud of, and she was getting dirty looks from fellow boarders coming off of the run. But none of that mattered, she had won!

She threw off her helmet, screaming in triumph. “I won I won I won,” She sang and did her jig.  She shook her booty, but she was careful not to move her feet, which were still connected to the snowboard. It may have looked awkward and humorous, but that would only rub the defeat into Tori’s face.

She turned her body and watched for Torrance. It was hard to pick her white and blue jacket out from the other skiers. She thought she spotted her a couple of times, but every time it ended up being another skier. Tori’s jacket was really popular this season.

She saw Logan casually making his way down, and no one could miss the big black ox that was Ryan. They slid down the hill together, but Torrance was no where around them. They both stopped next to her, clicking one boot out of their boards and taking off their helmets.

“So who’s buying lunch?” Ryan asked, rubbing his stomach.

Logan squinted back up the hill, “Where’s Tori?”

“She went to find another boyfriend.” Ryan laughed, but quickly moved out of his friends reach.

Rae missed the joke, her eyes still searching the hill. “Did you guys pass her on the run?”

“Na, she probably sittin' in the lodge waiting for us.” Ryan said. He turned his board towards the ski lodge.

“Yeah, she would do that wouldn’t she?” Rae sighed. She leaned down to pick up her helmet and glanced once more up the hill. Something didn’t seem right. There was no way that anyone could get down the hill faster than her, but Torrance had been known to pull off some super stunts.

Logan tapped her shoulder and said, “Come on, let’s get out of the way before the ski classes trample us.” He motioned to the group of junior skiers holding onto an instructor. They both moved well out the way and let the munchkins through before heading towards the lodge.

________________________________________________________________________


As Torrance flew through the air, one thought was predominant in her mind, this is going to hurt. Of course while her mind grasped her fate, her mouth could not control itself. 

“Shit” She screamed on the way down.

She hit several trees before landing rather roughly on the edge of a protruding rock at the base of the cliff. Her snowboard broke in to several pieces, but her boots were still locked in their bindings. She landed on her head, but gravity had forced her onto her side. The impact caused her forehead to cave in, her wrist to shatter, and her left shoulder to violently pop out of its socket.

The fall, as well as the shock of her injuries, made her to black out.It was her body’s way of protecting her. But with such extensive injuries, and the cold temperatures, if Torrance stayed unconscious for too long, she would die.

________________________________________________________________________

“She’s not here.” Logan said as he looked around the cafeteria once more.  They had searched everywhere, the lodge, the cafeteria, the gift shop, bathrooms, parking lot, and even the medical stations. But Torrance wasn’t around.

“Maybe she is looking for us up on the runs. Has anyone called her cell?” Rae suggested, pulling her cell phone from her waterproof pocket.

“Which one? She has like 9 of them.” Ryan scoffed. It was true; Torrance had at least 2 phones from every major carrier, plus several prepaid phones. It made getting in touch with her difficult, but Dovolo had too many irons in the fire to get caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Oh hell, try them all.” Rae said as she started going down the list. She hung up every time she was transferred to voicemail, and then moved onto the next one.

Logan suddenly had a moment of clarity, “Which carrier does that angry high pitched scream whenever someone radios?”

“Nextel.” Rae said between dialing.

“She had one of those in her jacket last night.” He knew that Torrance had stripped for bed as soon as they got into the cabin, so the phone should still be in her pocket.

“Let’s hope it still has a charge. I’ll try it.” Rae said, skipping the numbers in her address book until she got to the entry marked, TORI NXTL 1.

______________________________________________________________________

Torrance heard the angry chirp from her cell, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She was vaguely aware of her surroundings, but the pain in her head clouded her thoughts. She couldn’t open her eyes, or move her body, and that made her feel trapped. Her mouth felt full, stuffy, as if she would choke if she didn’t open it. She couldn’t make full thoughts, but she recognized the ringing.

The angry noise went off again, followed by Logan’s voice, “Papa Bear to Polar Bear,”

Torrance wanted to move, but again, circumstances would not allow it.  There was a pause and then another chirp, “Hey baby, where you at?”

_______________________________________________________________________

Rae took the phone from Logan and said, “Tori are you there?”  She let go of the walkie talkie button and waited. 

When they heard nothing in response, they all knew that it was time to make a game plan.  Surprisingly, it was Logan that took the lead, “Ok, Rae you go to the Ski Patrol, Ryan and I are going to check the run. Maybe she got lost or something.”

It was strange to see Logan take the control like this. Usually, when Torrance wasn’t present, Rae was the one in charge. But the disappearance of his girlfriend had kick started some leadership instinct in him.

Because it sounded like a good plan, Rae and Ryan went along with it. Rae jogged off towards the Ski Patrol shack, while Ryan and Logan went to grab their boards.

The boys scoured the run half a dozen times, but they came up empty handed. There were so many people on the run that following tacks was useless. It was getting late in the day and the kids were starting to get worried. No one more so than Rae.

Torrance didn’t just disappear without a trace, especially without telling someone first. The last time this happened was at the military academy. She had been captured and beaten within an inch of her life, and none of her friends were the wiser. Without their leader, the kids didn’t stand a chance against the faculty and Feds. Everyone had told Rae that it wasn’t her fault, but she still blamed herself. She was second in command, but she couldn’t save Torrance or the rest of their friends.

And what about now? If they lost Torrance, who would keep things together in Banfoul? Torrance ran the drug scene, paid their tuition, kept the OR and the Deck in check. Hell she was the Captain of the paintball team and the Golden God of Banfoul. Without her, how would the gang keep their place in the school society?

Because Torrance hadn’t been gone very long, the Ski Patrol assumed that she was just another teen separated from the group. It took Rae some very intense negotiations to even get a description of Torrance on the emergency frequencies. 

Rae knew that if they were going to have any chance of finding their friend, she would need better help. She would need someone who could triangulate her cell phone signal. She needed an OR.

___________________________________________________________________

Joel was trying to get a nap in before he pulled an all nighter. He hadn’t slept since yesterday morning, when the guards had found Ari in the sound room. She was alive, but no one knew how, or how long she would stay that way.

Everyone was trying to figure out what had happened, and it fell on Joel, as the head OR, to give them answers. The technical answers were easy. The cameras hadn’t been tampered with, and they clearly showed Jeremy Myers taking out his anger on Ari. But why? 

Sure the two had some classes together, but from the camera records, Myers and Ari didn’t seem to interact much.  The kid mostly kept to himself, lurking in the shadows of most major school functions, engrossed in a journal.

Joel knew that those journals were the key to figuring out what was going on. They had to know if he went after of Ari for personal reasons, or if he was paid. They also needed to know if he knew about the OR. That would require going through Arianna’s OR records.

Retrieving the journals would have been a job for Dovolo. Unfortunately she decided to take an impromptu vacation.  So he had to go to the next best person, another OR named Reese. 

Joel had only been the head OR for nine months, before that he was Dovolo's OR. Jack Galliher, the old lead, had given him the position after he graduated. Joel should have graduated with him, but the school kept holding him back,particularly headmaster Hart. He didnt know why he stayed, but at nineteen he had enough credits to finish highschool and be half way done with a bachelors degree.

He was an ominous force in the school, not as feared as Dovolo, but none the less respected.  His pale skin and natural black hair, along with his solitary attitude made him a gothic girls wet dream. There were rumors as to why he stayed in school, but the real truth was that he had no outside family. His mother and sisters had been killed by their father when their Dot Com buisness went south. Joel was only saved because he was at boarding school. His grandmother had given him a large trust, but she was dead too, leaving only Joel.

The OR had become his family, and he was afraid of abandoning them.There wasnt anyone in the group mature enough to take the lead position, and he would not leave them to their own devices.

Joel would go through the records himself, after his nap. Next time Dovolo invited him along on one of her adventures, he might just take her up on it. He was a computer nerd, not a criminal investigator, a shrink, or a parent.  The only thing that kept him from riding into the sunset like Torrance was that he had six kids grieving for their friend.

He was almost thirty minutes into his rest when his cell phone went off.  It was the ring tone dedicated to all fourteen numbers associated with Dovolo. Damn it, of all the times for her to call. He grumbled as he grabbed the phone from the night stand, ripping it off the charger before answering it.

“What do you want Dov?” Joel growled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Joel, its Rachael Harper. I need help.” Rae said over the phone.

She sounded stressed, which made Joel sit up. The fact that she used her real name was a red flag. “What is going on?” He asked.

“We lost Torrance. She’s not answering her phone and the Ski Patrol aren’t doing their jobs!” She said the part about the Ski Patrol a little too loud. It must have been a passive aggressive dig at whoever was with her.

“Ok, what do you need?” he asked, getting out of bed and padding to his computer. He wouldn’t ask the circumstances, because he knew that would just waste time. Someone would fill him in on what was happening, eventually.

“Can you triangulate her cell phone location?” she asked.

Joel’s mind began to click into gear. “I can, but you would have to call her, and it would have to go through. If the phones dead I can’t do anything.”

“She has her Nextel phone, so it’s going to be the walkie talkie, will that work?” Rae asked.

“Yeah I guess. Which number is it?” Joel asked, getting into the satellite linkage program. Nextel was pretty difficult to hack into, but he had done it last week, so he still had the coding that was needed.

After Rae gave him the number, he said, “Ok hang up and give me about five minutes, then call it.”

“How many times?” She asked.

“Just keep doing it until I call you back.” He instructed, getting past Nextel’s security and firewalls.

“Ok, thanks, bye.” Rae said and then hung up, not waiting for Joel to give his goodbyes. He wasn’t offended, because he had done it to her on several occasions.

Rae was the only one out of Dovolo’s group that he could stand, aside from Torrance herself. He might have even entertained the thought of dating Rae, but that was complicated. She was too close to Torrance, too good with the cameras, and about two years younger.  Besides, Dovolo was too protective of her. If Joel didn’t know about their pasts, about the pseudo sisterly bonds they shared, he would say they had a thing for each other.

He let the program load while he searched for his own Nextel Walkie Talkie. They might overload Torrance’s phone, but he would buy her another one.

He pulled the ESN numbers from the Nextel database. As the program came up, Joel entered in the phones information. A world grid appeared on his screen, and Joel sent a message to the phone.

As his message went through, the grid narrowed, now isolating the central United States. It zoomed in yet again, now targeting Colorado. Good, Rae had started.

The image continued to zoom into Angel fire, but for some reason would only go to the tower that was servicing the phone. Shit.

He got back on his cell phone and called Rae again.  She answered the phone by the end of the first ring, “Did you get anything?”

“Yeah I think I have it in about a half mile radius. The trace won’t go to the phone itself, just the cell tower that is servicing it.  She is on the west side of the mountain, and my guess is that she is not moving much.” Joel said, still sending messages to the cell phone.

He heard Rae sigh, and whisper, “I don’t know what to do.”

Now he was forced to ask, “What’s going on?”

“Tori and I were racing down a hill and I lost sight of her. We can’t find her, and she’s been gone a while. We have gone up and down the ski runs, and can’t find her and the ski patrol won’t send out a search team.” Rae said, in a hurried tone.

If it were anyone else, Joel wouldn’t have worried, but Torrance did not just disappear for no apparent reason. She was too valuable, too important to vanish. It was just not in her personality to worry her friends like this, especially Rae.

Joel thought for a second and then smiled, “Have you told the ski patrol that she is…diabetic?”  It wasn’t true, but rather a tactical measure. It was just a little extra incentive for the Ski Patrol to find Dovolo.

Rae understood immediately, “No I haven’t, let me call you back.” Again the line went dead.

This time Joel decided that if he couldn’t get a nap in, he might as well go take a shower. He still had to go through all of Arianna’s over rides, and because she was Dovolo’s OR, it meant watching a lot of Dovolo’s sex life.  He didn’t want to think about it.