Marked by Fate

by A J Kurtz

  He had an inkling that it wouldn’t take Jackson long to mess things up with Kensie, and that thought alone made him relax a little. Not that he wanted to see Kensie get hurt, it was just that Jackson used women until he grew bored of them...maybe he’s really changed for the better?

  With all his heart he knew that Kensie didn’t do this on purpose to hurt him. At the same time, he was aware that she still had feelings for him, and feelings didn’t just go away overnight. He held on to that shred of hope, it was all he had left.

  He walked around outback to try to make sense of everything, and knelt down by a small garden that Cassidy and he planted years prior. A place of solace for him when he needed time alone. Cassidy had been adamant about planting something in the back yard…

  Jaymes mimicked Cassidy as she transferred the flowers into the soil. He’d never planted flowers before and he had no idea what he was doing, but wanted to help her.

  She swung her long brown hair behind her and smiled over at him. He smiled back at her and noticed that she’d gotten dirt on her face, so he reached over and brushed it away.

  “Thanks. You know what, I never thought I’d see you planting flowers, like ever.” She chuckled.

  “You weren’t going to change your mind, so I figured I should at least help you. Unlike Jackson over there.” He nodded in his brother’s direction. They looked over to see Jackson lying out on a chair soaking up the sun with a pair of shades on.

  Cassidy shook her head. “Thanks for the help, Jackson.”

  Jackson waved them off as if they were ruining his time in the sun and they both started to laugh at him.

  When they were finished planting, they stood beside one another to admire their work.

  “I love it. Every time you look at it, you’ll think of me.” She smiled up at him. He took hold of her hand, pulling her into his chest, and kissed her.

  Seconds later, they heard a gagging noise coming from Jackson. They turned to find him trying to ruin their moment together. Jaymes flipped him off and continued kissing her…

  Jaymes reluctantly returned to the present, gently touching the petals of the flowers in front of him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, Cass,” he said like she was standing there next to him.

  The pain of losing his mother, Cassidy and now Kensie was too much for him to bear. He began crying. He let it all out and then tried to pull himself back together before he returned to the others. He also needed to speak with his brother, and figured he would go do that now, so they could get everything straightened out and not have it looming over his head like a dark cloud for the rest of the mission.

  As he turned and started walking away from the garden, his brother rounded the corner, most likely looking for him.

  “Hey, you have something on your mind?” Jackson seemed concerned.

  “Can we talk before we join the others?”

  “Of course, what’s wrong?”

  Jaymes had to put his brave face on for this conversation or he would fall apart. He needed to face her choice and accept it.

  “Kensie came to talk to me and asked for my blessing for both of you to be together.” He saw Jackson’s expression change to ‘oh shit’. “I told her that I was okay with it…” He drifted off. Every word was like someone shot an arrow into his heart.

  Jackson’s mouth fell open, surprised by the news. He scratched the back of his head. “Well...that’s interesting…,” he managed to say. “I take it that you’re not really all right with any of this.”

  Jaymes’s eyes connected with his. “It doesn’t matter how I feel. Just don’t ruin this chance that she’s giving you or I’ll make certain there’s not another.” His tone suddenly became a threat.

  Jackson stared wide-eyed. “Wow, tell me how you really feel for fuck’s sake. It’s her choice and I sincerely care for her, Jaymes. This isn’t a game, but if you feel the need to fight me or hit me, then now is the time,” he offered.

  Jaymes’s body tensed up, considering whether he should take this chance and take out his anger on him. He thought it over for a moment and then reached over and patted his shoulder.

  “Like I said, don’t mess this up or I won’t even hesitate to hit you then.” With that, Jaymes left him standing there confused.

  Why didn’t I just get it over with and out of the way? Oh, that’s right, I’m saving it for the right time and I know that time will come sooner rather than later.

  Once everyone met back up, Kensie filled them in on her plan and then they returned to the year 2075...

  14

  Kensie

  Kensie found herself not that far away from her parents’ home when they arrived back to her timeline. Oddly, she didn’t see the others who traveled with her, which had never happened before. She fought over whether to continue on without them or wait where she was, and she was already impatient, needing to see for herself that her family was okay.

  She started to run in the direction of their house, hoping that her sister, Serenity, was there with them keeping an eye on them like she said she would.

  As she drew closer, she noticed Serenity’s car parked in the driveway. She picked up her pace, running as fast as her feet would let her. She found the front gate open, which was odd since they usually had it closed unless they were expecting company. She ran up the driveway and rang the doorbell several times. That was when she saw that the door was opened. Her heart beat rapidly, as she was afraid that something might have happened to them,

  “Kensie, wait!” She turned around to find Jackson coming towards her with the others following him.

  “The door’s open, something’s wrong!” she told them as they met up with her.

  Everyone pulled out their guns, except Kensie, who didn’t have one. They split up and made Kensie stay where she was while they entered the mansion from different entry points.

  Kensie felt helpless and needed to be of some use, so she entered the front door and walked in to find furniture flipped over, papers covering the floor…every room was ransacked as if someone had been searching for something. In the dining room, the chairs were broken and there were bloodstains on the carpet. She couldn’t hold her tears back any longer.

  Jackson came over and wrapped his arms around her. “We’re going to find them, I promise you.” He walked her outside so she didn’t have to see any more of the blood. The others met back up with them.

  “We need to get to Morgan’s house as quickly as possible,” Jaymes said.

  “This is where we part ways. I’ll meet back up with all of you soon, be careful.” Agent Stone went his own way with another mission to accomplish.

  The others found a car that Jackson could break into and wire it so it would take his commands instead of whoever owned it. Then they were on their way to Aaron Kelly’s house blocks away.

  Kensie was devastated that Morgan and Aaron would bring her family into this. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think they would ever hurt them. It was clear that Kensie had made the right choice to break up with Morgan after all, and she no longer felt guilty for doing so.

  They pulled over less than a block away and walked to the house. Kensie knew it wasn’t the smartest idea, but if she made a dumb move she could jeopardize her family’s safety.

  There were bodyguards standing outside the front door and they simply walked right up to them. The tall guard put his hand out for them to stop where they were.

  “Is that the artifact?” he asked Kensie, who carried it with a blanket thrown over the top.

  “Yes, that’s why we’re here. They’re expecting us,” Kensie answered.

  They were led into the home with a detail in front of them and behind. They were taken into the living room where Aaron, Morgan and others were in the middle of a conversation.

  Aaron stood up and gestured for everyone to have a seat on the sofa. “We’ve been waiting for you to come to us.”

  With guards pointing guns at them, they weren’t able to try anythi
ng stupid. They needed to go along with whatever they said. Kensie stared over at Morgan wishing she could strangle her right then and there.

  “Where’s my family?” Kensie growled.

  Morgan smirked, but didn’t appear as excited as Aaron was about the artifact being there. Was there humanity left in her still? Doubtful.

  Aaron nodded his head, and guards left and returned with her family, who looked beaten up. They were all blindfolded and one of the guards began taking the blindfolds off. Once they saw where they were and who was in the room, they all appeared shocked. They were alive and now Kensie needed to get them out of there safely.

  “We came here to trade the artifact for my family,” Kensie stated firmly. She handed over the artifact to Aaron, whose face lit up like a child on Christmas morning.

  “Don’t give it to them!” Riah shouted.

  Aaron stood before everyone in the room holding the covered artifact. “That’s enough. Out, all of you. The first matter we need to discuss is Agent Jaymes Ryker.”

  Kensie was bewildered over this. She only wanted her family back and now something was going on with Jaymes? What could it possibly be?

  “Kensie, I’m afraid Jaymes isn’t who you thought he was,” Aaron said as a guard took the artifact and gave him an envelope. “In this envelope is everything you need to know about who he really is, along with his brother, too.” Aaron handed Kensie the envelope, and she opened it and pulled out papers and started to scan them over.

  “I have no secrets from Kensie,” Jaymes said.

  Aaron grinned. “Oh, but you do, and it’s a juicy tidbit, I may add.”

  Kensie wasn’t understanding what she was looking at, and what anything had to do with Kane Kennedy. She looked back up at Aaron, confused.

  “There’s proof of who their father is and he’s an Elite. They’ve been in touch—on the one page are their phone records, so who are they really working for?” Aaron grinned evilly.

  Kensie thumbed to the last page and started reading it out loud. “Kane Kennedy’s been working for the Elite for over twenty years…” She paused, taking in the information. She’d had a chance to get to know the Ryker brothers at this point, and although she found it strange that they never looked for their father, she refused to side with Aaron or let him get to her. Her choice was simple and she chose to believe them over the Kelly family.

  She noticed the phone calls that were made from Jaymes’s phone to Kane, but there had to be an explanation for all of it. She planned on finding out the truth, just not there in front of the enemy.

  Riah read the paper she was looking at and was surprised. She kept quiet and let Kensie come to her own conclusion about the issue.

  “You think I’m going to turn on them because Jaymes tried to contact his father? This doesn’t prove anything.” She stared coldly at Aaron and Morgan. Morgan always had something to say, so the fact that she was sitting back letting her father run the show proved that she was just going along with whatever her father wanted to do. But it didn’t change the fact that Morgan had her family kidnapped. That made her a cold-hearted bitch, and there wasn’t any way she would ever forgive her for what she’d done. She’d had every chance to stop her father and she did nothing. What was Morgan getting out of all this?

  Aaron hoped that Kensie would turn against them and side with who, them? There was no way in hell she would ever help the Kelly family.

  Aaron frowned. “I simply wanted you to see the truth, and these are the people you choose to trust in the end?” he asked.

  “As I said before, I’m giving you the artifact so you’ll let my family go. My family walks out of here and so does the rest of my team, deal?” she offered.

  Aaron seemed entranced by the artifact in his hands. He eventually looked back up at her. “It’s a deal.” He waved to the guards to release everyone. Riah and Jaymes helped her family get out of the house safely while Jackson lingered in the doorway waiting for Kensie.

  “The rest of you can leave, I need to speak to Kensie, alone,” Morgan said, and the guards and Aaron left them to speak in private. Both women had finally come face-to-face after all this time under such horrible circumstances. It wasn’t the reunion either of them had wanted.

  Kensie stared at Morgan with hatred as she stood there coming to terms with who Morgan really was.

  “To think, I felt awful about breaking up with you this whole time, only to find out that you were trying to kill me and my friends. I don’t regret my decision anymore. If you ever did really care, then we wouldn’t be standing here like this right now. You would have never allowed any of this to happen,” Kensie hissed.

  “Guess you never really knew me after all.” Morgan shrugged with grin on her face. “A mistake on your part. Stop pretending you’re naive because it doesn’t suit you. Plus, you don’t know everything, and I’m sure you wouldn’t give me the chance to explain myself either...” Morgan got cut off.

  “You don’t deserve that chance now or ever.” Kensie raised her voice. “You will leave my friends and family alone. If I ever find out that you’re responsible for hurting them in any way, I won’t hesitate to kill you.” She turned and abruptly left the house, meeting up with Jackson outside.

  Kensie’s hands were trembling with adrenaline, ready to kill her right then and there if she needed to, and she scared herself that she was willing to go that far.

  “I heard you yelling at her...are you all right?” Jackson asked, walking beside her. Kensie only shook her head no in response. They walked in silence back to the car and didn’t say much while Jackson drove them.

  “Whenever all of us cool down, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.” He glanced at her as she continued to stare out the window in silence. All she wanted to do was be reunited with her family, and know that they were safe.

  15

  Kensie

  They met back up with Riah, Jaymes and Kensie’s family at a hotel. Once she was reunited with her family, Jaymes, Jackson, and Riah gave them some space and left the room. Kensie sobbed as she wrapped her arms around her family in a circle and let out everything that she’d been holding in this entire time.

  “I’m so sorry you were all brought into this. I was trying to protect all of you.” Kensie sniffled. “Serenity, I know you tried your best, thank you.”

  Serenity hugged her tightly. “I should’ve been more prepared. I could have done better.” Serenity wiped her own tears away and let go of her sister.

  “Girls, there’s so much you have to fill us in on, but you did your best and you saved us. We’re safe now,” David, their father, said.

  They all sat down and Kensie started to explain everything from the beginning, hoping that maybe they would understand. Even though it was hard to believe, they listened to every word she had to say.

  “I’m the man of the family, and I couldn’t keep any of you safe.” David frowned. Elizabeth rubbed his back to make him feel better.

  “We’re together and we’re safe,” Elizabeth reminded her husband.

  “I don’t think this will be the last attempt at people trying to hurt you guys and plus, we have to worry about running into the Kelly family,” Serenity said.

  “I’m a time traveler and when I’m away, there’s not going to be anyone to protect you guys and I need to make sure all of you will be safe from now on. I’m going to go talk to the others and I’ll be back soon. Don’t let anyone into the room,” Kensie warned.

  She left feeling a little better about things and Riah drove them all to an abandoned house on the outskirts of town. When they walked inside, Agent Stone stood there waiting with the real artifact covered in his hands.

  “We pulled it off, but we don’t have long until they figure out the artifact they have isn’t real,” Agent Stone said.

  Kensie turned to Jaymes and Jackson. “I’m sorry I doubted you both about Morgan. You were right,” she admitted.

  “There’s no need to apologize, Kensie.” Jaymes s
miled and walked over to Stone, leaving her to speak to Jackson.

  “He’s right. You chose to believe the best in someone you cared about, and you did that with me, too. Nobody else would’ve taken the time to actually care about what’s really going on.” He smiled at her.

  “I hate to interrupt, but I need to clear something up.” Stone got everyone’s attention. “Jaymes and Jackson weren’t in touch with Kane Kennedy: it was me. It’s a long story, but your father needed to infiltrate the Elite, and the only way to do that was to push his family away, no matter how painful it was for him, to keep you all out of harm’s way. Everything he’s done was to protect his family. He wanted me to help keep an eye on you both and that’s what I’ve done ever since,” he explained.

  Jackson and Jaymes were in complete shock. All this time their father was alive and working to protect them from the Elite without anyone knowing except Agent Stone. Aaron Kelly had been wrong about them, and Kensie was relieved for them both. Now they knew the truth: their father was out there trying to destroy the Elite from the inside, and that was admirable.

  “That’s why you wanted us to join the MMEA...I can’t thank you enough, and I understand why you never told us.” Jaymes hugged him.

  Riah hugged Jackson and Kensie heard her saying how sorry she was about the way she’d treated him in the past, and he accepted her apology. He then shook hands with Stone, thanking him and then making his way back to Kensie. He scooped her up into his arms and kissed her right in front of everyone, then planted her feet back down on the ground.

  “I heard from a little birdy that you’ve had a change of heart? Did I hear that right?” he inquired, gazing into her sparkling blue eyes with the cheesiest grin on his face.

  Kensie nodded her head, knowing that Jaymes had told him at some point as she’d planned on doing so when the time was right.