by JL Terra
She wanted family, and not the notoriety that came with being the chosen figure in a long-forgotten legend.
Malachi might be some kind of ancient being, but Mei was just a girl who wanted a life that was peaceful, yet exciting. She wasn’t ever going to be normal. She already knew that.
Maybe she had no idea what she wanted.
Ben called back, “The driver is out cold.”
Shadrach opened the back door. “The second EMT is back here.”
Mei’s mom looked at her, then looked inside the ambulance. “Where’s Malachi?”
Chapter 11
Her mom, Taya, turned, pinning Mei with a stare. “Okay, spill. What’s going on?”
She opened her mouth to figure out some kind of lie, but it was all too reminiscent of being a teenager and sneaking out of the house.
Her mom seemed to come to the same conclusion and looked at Mei suspiciously. “Why did I just get some déjà vu of you going to a concert, or some party you shouldn’t have been at.”
Mei wanted to smile. “Which time?”
They hadn’t lived much in the US, choosing instead to spend a lot of their time on an island in the South Pacific. Which sounded glamorous, until you took into account the fact they’d been on the run from a murderous mad scientist for years. Hiding. No names, no electronic record.
But it all changed when the team dealt with him once and for all, allowing Mei and Taya to regain somewhat of a normal life. At least, normal for them. Her mom married Ben. The two had been childhood sweethearts, a long story on its own, considering an evil essence had appeared as Ben for years, murdering Taya’s father. Sure, her father had been a harsh and exacting man, but that didn’t mean he needed to die.
Amazingly, the three of them could go down a million rabbit trails of history and ways their lives intersected throughout the years. Going back even further for Mei’s life—back to the night Ben had found baby Mei in an alley in Shanghai. He’d rescued her. From what, she’d never been exactly sure.
Mei was more than a foundling now, given these two had filled the parental roles for enough years and in such a way that Mei finally understood what family was supposed to be. It hadn’t been perfect, but it was good. Ben and Taya loved each other, and they both loved her.
And she was going to mess all that up?
All because it turned out what she wanted and who she was would probably always be at war with each other.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning of all this? Tell me what’s been happening so far.”
Mei shook her head even though it was thumping. “You already know about the murdered redheads.”
“Is that why you dyed your hair?”
She turned to answer Ben and pointed at her head. “It did this all by itself. It’s not some bizarre attempt at solidarity.” She had to take a breath. “Don’t even asked me how this happened or why, because I have no idea.”
Mei turned back to her mom. “If you know about the women, then you know about as much as I do. Aside from that, a friend of mine is missing, and while I’ve been looking all over for her, people are coming out of the woodwork. To kill me.” She shrugged. “What else is new?”
Her mom frowned. It was a very “mom” look, one she had perfected over the years as Mei grew in strength and cunning—thanks to her mom’s education and training. As a result, she continually pushed boundaries whether she meant to or not. Given the kids she knew at the community center, she thought that maybe with some people, it was simply an impulse. It could be she was supposed to learn to control it, but she had no idea how. Nature. Nurture. Genetics, or the person she decided to be for herself. Mei had no time to even figure out which one it would be. Not when people were continually coming after her.
She could see something on her mom’s face. Something beneath all the concern for Mei. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Mei waited impatiently while Taya glanced at her husband, Ben. “I told you she’d know.” When she looked back at Mei there was a soft smile in her eyes.
“You’re pregnant.”
Behind them, Remy gasped. “You are? That’s so wonderful!”
Mei folded her arms.
Her mom said, “Aren’t you going to say congratulations?”
“This isn’t a good idea.”
Ben said, “I told you she’d be concerned,” to her mother.
“Well, you can’t always predict when these things happen.” She didn’t seem all that scared, even though she had every reason to be.
“Maybe not,” Mei said. “But you can generally prevent them. Especially when you’re…” She waved a hand in her mom’s direction.
“Old?”
“You said it, not me.”
Ben put his arm around her mom and hugged her to his side. “What’s done is done, and there’s nothing we can do but our best.”
“Of course you stand there looking all pleased with yourself.” Neither of them regretted this. They wanted to have a baby. After all they’d been through. The estrangement. Reconnecting.
He grinned. “Not interested in a little baby sister or brother?”
“What would I know about babies, for goodness sakes?”
He burst out laughing.
“I have enough problems without you guys adding diapers into the mix.”
It was clear that her comment had meant to amuse, but instead of laughing, they all sobered up at her poor attempt at a joke. The weight of Malachi’s whereabouts—unknown to them all—came crashing back to the surface. No one wanted Malachi to die simply because they’d been standing around laughing instead of actively looking for him.
“I am happy for you.”
Ben said, “Your mom is under doctor’s close care and they’re monitoring everything closely. It’s not unheard of for people our age to have a baby.”
Taya said, “And besides, we also have a doctor in the family.” She sent Remy an excited grin and was answered with a hug from the other woman.
“The EMTs are coming to,” Shadrach called out from the front of the ambulance.
“We should get out of here.” Mei looked around at them, wondering who would go where. Now that she knew her mom was pregnant, things had definitely changed.
Malachi had been shot because of his involvement in her business. At least, she was pretty sure that was the case.
If something happened to her mom and the baby she was carrying? She sent a pleading look to her father.
“Agreed.” Ben nodded. He understood her concerns. “The cops will be here pretty soon looking for Malachi. He’s their chief suspect in the mayor’s murder.”
“What?!” Mei couldn’t believe this. “What are you talking about...the mayor’s murder?” She knew nothing about that.
Before anyone could answer, more than one police siren could be heard in the distance.
“Taya and I will keep looking for Malachi,” Ben said. “The three of you run down Mei’s leads.”
“Copy that,” Shadrach said.
Considering Mei didn’t have any objections, she went with them back to their car. At the last moment, she looked back at her mom and found her looking over. Mei mouthed, I’m happy for you. Then she got in the car.
Three blocks away, Shadrach said, “Okay people, where to now?”
“Someone tell me about the mayor first.” Mei needed to know. “But head north out of the city while you do that.”
Remy twisted in her seat. “The mayor was killed outside a restaurant a few hours ago. Malachi’s face was clearly seen on the surveillance, and they must have tracked him down at his apartment. I found references to all kinds of evidence on their system. And there’s a warrant out for his arrest. Which is probably how he came to get shot.”
Shadrach said, “If he was arrested, the cops would have sent an officer with him in the ambulance. But they didn’t.”
“Because they thought he was dead?”
Shadrach shook his head. “We don’t know what happened
. We weren’t there.”
Mei might not have been there, but she had been somewhere with Malachi in his unconscious state. Just like before, she’d seen a vision of something from his past. A time when he had been bound in darkness and visited by the brightest light she had ever seen. After that, he was gone.
She couldn’t even begin to understand what it meant.
What she wanted to do right now was complain about the fact that her mom was pregnant. The problem was, she knew she would only come across as completely selfish, and a distraction to everyone—including herself. She had bigger fish to fry.
Sure, the timing of the pregnancy could be better. Her mom and dad could both be a whole lot younger as well. But they’d been separated for most of their lives and only found each other again a few years ago. If they wanted to have a baby together now, what business was it of hers? Yes, she would love her baby brother or sister. But she didn’t have the right to dictate to them about the safety of this decision and the potential danger to her mom’s life that was now present because they wanted to do this together.
Have a real family.
A child who was of their blood, and not discarded in that alley. Rescued.
“Are you okay?”
Mei didn’t know how to answer Remy’s question.
“Where are we going? Because ‘north’ is only going to work for so long.”
She wanted to kiss Shadrach for saving her from another emotional conversation.
Mei realized at that moment that she hadn’t given her mom the book for help translating it. She snapped a couple photos of the pages and texted them to her mom.
“The guy I found downstairs at the medicine shop, before Malachi was hurt—”
“How did you know he was hurt?”
Was she supposed to talk about the possibility that their having exchanged blood now meant that she could tell when he was hurt? Though, it did make her wonder what he could tell about her.
Where was he?
She stared out the car window. Trying to…tap into their connection.
Nothing happened. Maybe it only worked from his side first, because she’d drank his blood and not the other way around?
“Okay, how about this question,” Shadrach said. “What did the guy downstairs—the one who was gone when we got there, by the way—tell you?”
She explained to them about Ricardo’s house, the night club, and the attack in the alley by the two guys who, at that point, had had white hair. Plus, the visit she had paid to Ricardo’s bar. “I followed the guy here, and he still looked normal. Or he looked normal again.” She shook her head. “So he get the drugs, or whatever turned his hair white. Because Ricardo refused him.”
“So why did you let him go?”
“I don’t need deadweight with me, and I left the GPS on him so I can find him wherever he goes. Unless he changes his pants.”
“Huh.”
The fact she’d been in the throes of what Remy had called a “funky episode” was beside the point.
Whatever that meant. It wasn’t surprising she and Shadrach had different methods, considering he had been in the military. The subject of an experiment that essentially turned him into a walking drone, a human weapon.
“Ricardo’s guy referenced a high lord in charge of this whole thing, and he’s the one distributing these drugs.”
“The ones that turn your hair white?”
“Who knows what the point is of that. I only know that when he wanted more from Ricardo, the guy said it was the best high he’d ever had.”
Remy nodded. “It’s sad, but there are so many people trying to chase a rush like that.”
“We see it a lot in the community center kids,” Mei said. “It’s why I’ve been so worried about Bella. Especially when that guy showed up asking for her. She has red hair. She could be a target of whoever is murdering them.”
“So you think she’s in danger, but you don’t think you’re in as much danger as she is?”
Mei wasn’t sure it was exactly that, but Remy wasn’t far off the mark. “I just need to find her.”
She figured Remy was probably going to make another crack about someone’s life being not as important as Mei’s. But that wasn’t exactly what it was. She knew she could handle herself, and the world wouldn’t be that much worse for it if anything happened to her. Other people were ones she could help. Ways to make the world better, by saving lives, and keeping good people safe.
That was what it was about.
And maybe they were better than her. That wasn’t something she’d argue with. And if there was a God, then He knew for sure. But she could guess—given all the things she’d done in her life and the way she seemed to be tainted against the peace and happiness so many people seemed to find so easily.
Mei might actually be cursed.
She gave Shadrach the address, and he drove there in less than two hours.
“This is quite a ways from the city,” Remy commented. “Though, I don’t suppose you get houses like this in Manhattan, or any of the surrounding boroughs.”
Mei stared at the house as they drove past slowly. “Someone inside the house is watching us right now.”
She averted her face just in case there were cameras and noted the other two did the same. Shadrach drove nearly a mile before he found a spot to leave the car.
“I should text Daire and ask him to take my bike back to the office.” If it was even still where she’d left it. It had quite possibly been stolen by now, even with the security measures she had on it.
Neither commented on that statement. Shadrach said, “Remy, can you get into their security system?”
He was really asking that? “Has there ever been a system she couldn’t get into?”
Remy turned to her. “Of course you had to say that. One day there will be a system I can’t get into. Thanks.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Mei shrugged, despite the fact neither was looking at her from their spots in the front seats.
“I’m beginning to wonder if that’s not your whole deal.”
She ignored Shadrach’s comment. There was no way Mei wanted to unpack her issues with them in the middle of a stakeout. “Let’s just get into the house and we can find Bella. Once we’ve done that, I’ll be able to figure out who is behind this and stop their influx of drugs into the city.”
Even if they didn’t understand exactly what the drugs did to a person, or why this high lord had decided to flood the streets with it, they could still take him down.
And they would.
Remy tapped on her keys, staring hard at the screen of her laptop. From this angle, Mei was unable to make out what she was doing. Not that she’d have understood any of it.
“Huh.”
Shadrach shifted in his seat and turned to his wife. “What is it?”
Mei was glad he didn’t use an endearment. She probably would have barfed on the floor of the backseat.
“I might actually not be able to get into the system. I’ve never seen something like this before.”
Shadrach turned to her now. “Told you.”
“That doesn’t mean we don’t need to get in there.” Mei reached for the door handle. “So let’s go hotshot. Time to earn that paycheck.”
They slipped out. Each of them activated and inserted an earpiece. After a quick mic check from each of them, Remy said, “I’ll keep you posted on what I can do. But don’t hold your breath. And watch out, because if I had to guess, this guy’s surveillance starts at the end of the street.”
Shadrach lifted his brows. “Copy that, babe.”
Mei rolled her eyes.
“You’re just jealous that Malachi doesn’t call you that over comms.”
“No, I am not.”
Maybe she would be, if he’d had contacted any of them after he broke free of the ambulance. But he hadn’t. Hurt, presumably, and on the run, he hadn’t reached out to the team. Malachi had chosen to face what was happening on his
own.
They had no relationship. Despite how she felt about him, and how desperately she tried to fight it. Maybe she wouldn’t fight it so much if there was reason to be hopeful. But he’d said himself there wasn’t anything between them.
As for him going out on his own? Either Malachi knew something they didn’t, or he didn’t trust them.
“Do you think the teen you’re looking for is here?”
Mei studied the house in the middle of the street. “Who knows?”
The place was a giant mansion with a huge yard all around it. Any way they tried to enter, they’d be seen. It was going to be a nightmare to get inside.
She continued, “It’s possible she’s here, I guess. The high lord had guys out looking for Bella—” At least, she assumed that was who’d sent the man to the center. “—but he wanted me dead. If he wants her, but doesn’t want to kill her, she could be here.”
“And it doesn’t bother you that you could be six feet in the ground by now? You’ve narrowly escaped death so many times.”
And he thought that had made her blasé about it? “It hasn’t happened yet. One day it will, and I refuse to lose sleep over when that’s going to be.”
Before she was barely done talking, something hit her. A wave like electricity slamming a thousand volts into her body, causing her to stumble her next few steps and nearly fall to the ground. She gritted her teeth and tried to breathe through the sensation.
“What is it?” When Shadrach tried to touch her, the voltage surged through him.
“No—”
The hardware inside him was lit up with the electrical charge. His entire body whipped straight, and he fell to the ground.
Chapter 12
Malachi felt the disturbance the second he crossed the first barrier that surrounded the house. The security that the high lord had established was multilayered, and the first ring could be found situated several houses away. Everyone who lived within that boundary likely felt it. Who knew the knock-on effect it had?
He backtracked and tried to figure out where it had come from. If there was a break in the perimeter, he could get through. Anything that might tell him who was behind this.
