Guarding Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 7)

by Kate Allenton

  Pete lifted his gaze toward the house, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Noah standing on the porch with a coffee cup in his hand. “He should have never come back.”

  “Talk about brotherly love. With family like you, I can’t imagine why he ever left.” Shaking my head, I shoved past him and headed back toward the house.

  He caught up and stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and raised a brow. Would it be bad manners to shoot him in the knee cap and keep walking?

  “He’s toxic. People around him tend to die.” Pete glanced down at my stomach. “If you were smart, you’d get as far away as possible from him to protect that baby of yours.”

  He sidestepped me and strode away. I turned and watched Pete grab a pitchfork, then disappear inside the barn.

  “Well, isn’t he just precious,” I whispered to myself and headed up to the house. Noah waited on the porch.

  “Don’t you just love family?” Noah asked.

  I rested my hand against his shoulder. “He warned me to be careful because people tend to die around you.”

  Noah met my gaze. “Well, he’s not wrong.”

  Chapter Three

  “Care to elaborate?”

  “Maybe later.” Noah sighed, keeping his gaze on the barn. “Justice is asking for you.”

  “I figured she might have questions about why I can see ghosts.” I opened the screen door and turned to ask if Noah was coming. He’d already left the porch, heading toward the barn.

  “I’m glad I don’t have any brothers,” I whispered and headed inside the farmhouse.

  The phone vibrated, and I glanced at the screen. The reminder flashed that it was time to take my meds. If it weren’t for technology, this baby might be vitamin-deprived.

  The first time I’d been in Noah’s mother’s house was when I was trying to save Sam from Homeland Security. My favorite IT guy was like my baby brother, and I would have moved mountains to save his life. The ranch had been our first hiding spot. A place so far off the grid that we were safe…well, until we weren’t.

  We seemed to be in the same predicament this time, hiding out from a world determined to harm us. Was this how I wanted to raise my child?

  I climbed the stairs and pushed the bedroom door open. The twin beds were in the same place, one on each side of the room. Justice was sitting up on one bed. Her arms were wrapped around a teddy bear.

  “I see you have a new friend,” I said and took a seat on the other bed.

  She looked down at the bear and nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Noah said you wanted to talk?” I asked.

  “You probably want to know how I ended up at your house,” she said.

  Justice was a smart girl. I’d say no older than eight, now looking at her all cleaned up. Her dark hair was pulled away from her face in a ponytail. Bandages stuck out from beneath her shirt, covering the slash marks I knew marred her chest.

  “Why my door?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Why not your door?”

  I leaned forward and clasped my hands together. “And here I thought you wanted to have an honest conversation.”

  I rose and headed for the door.

  “Wait,” she called out. “Please.”

  I turned and closed the door again and retook my seat. “Okay, why my door?”

  “Noah told me that if anything were to happen to him, I was to find you. He made me memorize your address. He said you were the only person who would know who I was.”

  “Okay, but why not his door? Why mine? Nothing had happened to Noah.”

  “I thought they killed him, too, so I went to you,” she said and lowered her gaze.

  I slowly nodded.

  “Okay, so how did you get to my door?”

  She began to run her fingers over the teddy bear as if it were a nervous habit.

  “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

  I rose again with a sigh.

  “Honest,” she called out, realizing I was about to leave. “I don’t remember how I got to your house.” Her eyes pleaded for me to believe her.

  “Probably from shock,” I offered.

  “I don’t know. Everything went dark, and then I was somehow out of my body and saw you were giving me CPR, and you yelled at me.”

  “It’s rude to just show up and die on someone’s porch,” I said as my lips curved in a smile.

  “I knew they’d come for me,” Justice said. “They’re never going to stop.”

  “Who?” I asked. “Who is it that you are afraid of?”

  “The men who killed my mother,” Justice said, lifting her gaze to mine. “She was just like you.”

  The hair on my neck stood on end. “Like me, how?”

  “Noah said she was in the same program before she had me. They killed her, and now I’m afraid they want to kill me too.”

  I tilted my head. “Why do they want to kill you?”

  “Because I can see the patterns too.”

  Maybe Justice had hit her head when she’d fallen. “What patterns?”

  “The same ones my mom could see. When the program made her special, it got passed down to me and made me special too. When they killed my mom, Noah gave me to Greta to raise. They changed my name. They tried to protect me.” Her lower lip trembled. “Greta was a good mom. She hid me for years, but they kept looking.”

  “We moved so many times I lost count, but they caught us anyway.” She picked at a thread on the shirt we’d dressed her in. “I was in the back yard helping in the garden when they broke into our house. Greta had guns stashed around in different rooms. She taught me to shoot, but she wasn’t strong enough. One of them caught me after I went to the kitchen to grab a knife. We’d fought, but I held onto the knife.” She touched her shoulder, swathed in gauze. “That’s how I got cut. I’d be dead right now, if it wasn’t for Greta shooting him in the back before she died too.”

  The room started spinning and my hand flew to my lurching stomach. My worst fear was that the governmental drug running rampant in my system could affect my baby. Was I going to have to hide my child the way Noah hid Justice? “How many years was Noah hiding you?”

  “Since I was two.”

  I swallowed past the anger bubbling to the surface. Noah knew about the experiments, about this little complication for almost a decade, and yet he’d never mentioned it to me. He’d known long before he’d ever met me. He’d never once mentioned that the drugs in my system, which had altered my DNA, could be passed down to my offspring.

  “Don’t be mad at him,” Justice said.

  What I felt went beyond mad. I was worried and hurt. If someone wanted to kill Justice because of her mom, what was to stop them from wanting to kill the sweet baby growing in me? That was life-changing important information to withhold.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said, rising from my seat.

  “Lucy!” she called.

  I jogged down the stairs, shoved the screen door, and stalked across the lawn, charging full steam ahead into the barn, whose color matched my out of control temper.

  Pete leaned on a pitchfork, almost keeping it as a barrier or maybe a weapon between him and Noah. The man had his fists balled as if ready to go three or four rounds.

  He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Lucy, we’re having a family moment. Can you wait up at the house?”

  “No, I can’t,” I said, storming into the middle of things. “You lied to me. You’ve been hiding that girl since she was two. People are after her, Noah. People who want to hurt her. You knew about the program long before you ever tried to recruit me into your little FBI group. Long before my brother-in-law made the suggestion, and worse than that, you didn’t tell me about these traits being passed down. Now that I’m pregnant, you might as well have signed my child’s death warrant.”

  Noah’s shoulders deflated, and he finally turned his gaze from Pete to me, as if realizing I was the deadliest threat within reach. “Ju
stice told you that?”

  “It’s true, isn’t it?” I growled.

  “Yes.” Noah sagged, like all the fight had fled his system.

  My heart hammered against my ribs. Without a word, I turned back toward the house. Noah’s betrayal raged through my body, hot and angry enough for me to have to fight the urge to kill him. My hand automatically went to my hair, in search of my trusty pen, before I realized I’d left my hair down. My mind raced with the need to protect my child.

  “Lucy, wait!” Noah called out.

  He ran toward me.

  I held up my palm. “Don’t. I can’t take my meds, and I’m fighting the urge to act on my anger. Don’t say another damn word.”

  Chapter Four

  I spun around and left him in the yard and jogged up into the house.

  “Donna,” I called out.

  She stepped out of the kitchen, drying her hands with a rag. “What’s wrong?”

  “I might need some restraints.”

  “Are you about to have an episode?” Her eyes opened wide.

  She’d experienced one of my “episodes” before. I’d given Pete a black eye when I’d tapped into anger without my meds on hand.

  I was struggling to breathe as I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “I’ve got her, Mom,” Pete said, grabbing keys off the holder. “Come on, Lucy.”

  I followed him, unsure that I should. Regardless, I didn’t want to hurt anyone else in the house. Pete, I might make an exception for, and he was strong enough to control me should I start to fight.

  I hopped into his truck. Pete hit the gas, throwing up dirt and dust as he sped out of the yard. He only stopped when the house was nothing but a tiny speck in the distance.

  We were in an open field when Pete got out of the truck, and I followed.

  “Okay, do your worst,” Pete said and held out his arms. “It’s only you and me.”

  My worst? His words made me pause. The drastic change of scenery around me calmed my rattled nerves. I think it was more that he threw me off guard than anything else—the need to kill slowly subsided, replaced by curiosity.

  “Why are you helping me? I thought you’d be thrilled I’m ready to kill Noah for his lies.”

  “Was it a lie or really an omission?” Pete asked.

  “Same difference,” I retorted.

  Pete shrugged and leaned against the side of his truck. “I brought you out here because I’ve seen you in action. I know what you can do, and I’m not helping you because I’m a nice guy. I’m stopping you from accidentally hurting my mom. It’s that simple.”

  I spun in place, rested my hands on my head, and clenched my eyes shut tight.

  “The way I see it is that it’s your emotions you need to be able to control on a dime. Once you figure that out, you’ll be safe around everyone else, no matter how bad the headaches get.”

  I spun to face him again. “You have no idea what I’m going through and the emotions that I’m picking up. If you did, you might understand.”

  “Right, because I’m just a dumb-ass cowboy. Not privileged enough to be in Noah’s secret little club.” Pete pulled the lever on the tailgate and lowered it. He hopped up to sit on it. “Let me know when your little hissy fit is over so I can take you back.”

  I ignored his taunts. He was trying to bait me. Maybe to see if I’d strike out at him. Or maybe he was doing it just for fun. His reasons didn’t matter. I didn’t care.

  I screamed up to the sky, tightening my fists at my sides. I knew about Justice, but how had I missed that she was like me? How had I missed that Noah had this secret that could eventually harm my unborn child?

  “You don’t have to babysit me. I can walk back,” I said to Pete.

  “My momma would shoot me if I left you out here all alone, and she scares me more than you, so I think I’ll wait until you figure out what you plan to do about it.”

  “What I plan? Ha,” I said, rubbing my temples, hoping a headache didn’t strike. “It’s not like I can just call a damn taxi out in the middle of nowhere. I’m pregnant, and the man who brought me here has been lying to me for years.”

  “You don’t have to be here, and you don’t have to call a cab. He lied to you like he’s been doing to everyone. You can just walk away. Hell, I’ll take you to the airport myself.”

  “Walk away? Right,” I said.

  “He deserves it, doesn’t he? He should have told you the truth. I mean, really.” Pete nudged his cowboy hat higher on his head to look me in the eyes. “You trusted him with your life. You deserved to know what you were walking into. You were putting your life on the line chasing all these bad guys just to make him look good. He uses people. That’s what he does best.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes. “Why do you hate your brother?”

  “Oh no, darlin’. This isn’t about me. This is about you and him, and you calming the hell down.”

  “Tell me why you hate him,” I demanded.

  “Just because I stopped you from killing anyone doesn’t mean I’m ready to braid hair and share secrets. And don’t even think about touching my blood and seeing inside my head. You won’t like what you find.”

  “No shocker there.”

  Pete rose and slammed the tailgate shut, locking it into place. “If you’re under control, I’ll take you back.”

  Was I under control? Did I want to kill anyone? I didn’t. For once, the full force of anger didn’t incapacitate me. Yeah, I was still pissed, and I had every right to be. Maybe without a killer’s blood in my system, I might be less prone to violent outbreaks. One could hope.

  I nodded and slid into the truck, slamming the door. “I think I’ll take you up on that offer. Let me grab my things, and then you can dump me off at the airport.”

  “You’re finally wising up.” Pete chuckled.

  I didn’t care what Pete or anyone else thought about my plan. When I got back to the ranch and grabbed my purse and suitcase, I was back out the door before anyone even noticed. I hopped in the truck and glanced up to find Justice staring at me. It didn’t stop me. She and I would always be connected now, but I needed time to deal with these new revelations. Time away from Noah and the others to figure out what Ford and I should do.

  I’d never walked away from a fight. I’d never had to. I rested my hand over my stomach and turned my gaze to the window, watching the Texas fields float by. I pulled out my phone and texted Ford.

  I’m on my way.

  Chapter Five

  I sipped my coffee as I stared into the fireplace. Being back in this town brought back haunting memories. The little burg was a constant reminder that Sloan, my one-time lover, had died because of me. I knew I’d eventually have to get used to it. It was my soon-to-be husband’s hometown. I’d be back often. Regardless of whether Sloan forgave me, those memories still tugged at my heart, but not enough that I couldn’t move on and let love back in.

  Ford was in a chair across the room, his gaze focused intently on my face, as if trying to read my mind. “People lie to get what they want, Lucy. You aren’t naïve enough to think any different.”

  I knew he was right. I shouldn’t be surprised. The heat from the fireplace warmed my skin as I met Ford’s gaze. “Noah has known about the risks from the program all along. He knew I could pass the effects of the program through pregnancies. He was worried enough to hide Justice after her mother was killed, but he didn’t bother to worry about me—about us. If he cared, he would have said something.”

  Ford nodded but remained silent.

  “What else is he lying about? What else is he hiding? He knew that the girl was in danger for over six years. Six damn years, Ford. And all I can think about is what’s going to happen to our child if god forbid something happens to us.”

  “Do you know why Justice’s mother was killed?”

  I shook my head. “Because of the program is all I know.”

  Ford rose from his seat and crossed the room. He sat ne
xt to me and slipped his fingers through mine. “Don’t you think that’s an important piece of the puzzle to find out?”

  I shook my head. “No. The more I dig, the more it puts us on someone’s radar.”

  Ford turned to me and cupped my cheek. “Baby, you’ve been working with Noah and our team for close to three years now. I think if there are any radars, you’ve probably already made the list.”

  I rose from my seat. “You want me to help him?”

  “I didn’t say that.” Ford gripped my hand. “Lucy, you’re so much more than the blood connections you’ve made. I’m behind you one hundred percent no matter what you decide. You and our child will always come first, before anything else, you know that. But…I’m of the impression that knowing the enemy will help us beat him or her.”

  I slipped my fingers free of his hold and walked to the window to stare down the long concrete drive. Ford’s parents' house wasn’t as cozy and comfy as my own. Having maids and staff milling around made me uneasy.

  “What time are you meeting your dad for lunch?”

  “In a half an hour,” Ford said, walking up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. “You know you’re more than welcome to go with me.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, turning in his arms. “I showed up unannounced. I think I’m going to catch a cab and go over to Glendale and check in on my other blood donors and make sure none have turned into killers.”

  Ford grinned like I was joking, but it was true.

  “I’ll meet you at the hospital when you’re ready.”

  “You don’t have to take a cab to Glendale. You can take one of the cars in the garage.” Ford kissed my lips. “I’m sure Gabby would enjoy seeing you again. I hear she received commendations for helping to find all of Sebastian Elliot’s victims. I’ll drive over with my dad to see my mom, and you can meet us at the hospital, and we’ll drive back together.

  Glendale was the closest town with a thriving metropolis and, more than that, an equipped hospital, unlike the little clinic in Ford’s hometown. It’s where I’d recuperated after the explosion that killed my last boyfriend and landed me in the hospital.