Gwen looked around. “Where do I change into my suit?”
He grinned. “I’m only going to strip it off you as fast as you put it on.”
Her answering smile was all he could have wished for. “Better move that blanket into the shade, then. No use in getting sunburned in awkward places.”
The woman knew how to get a picnic off to a perfect start. And he planned on making the most of each minute they had left to them, hoping to build enough memories to last a lifetime.
Jake shifted in the Chevelle’s front seat. “Chase has been looking forward to this day for weeks. I guess now that he’s eighteen, he gets to register for the nonexistent draft and to vote.”
“That’s why Gwen invited us to the celebration. He’s officially a man.” It was also the beginning of the end for him and Gwen.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a birthday party.” Jake seemed oblivious to Jarvis’s mood as he reached for the radio.
“Touch that button and I’ll break your fingers.”
His friend sank back in the seat. “This may come as a surprise to you, but music didn’t die in the seventies. There are whole decades of music you’ve never heard.”
“I’ve heard it. I just don’t like it.”
“You’re showing your age, old man.”
Hmm. Considering Gwen was closer to Jake’s age, maybe he should try listening to something more current. He pushed a button and country western filled the car.
Jake covered his ears and moaned dramatically. “I surrender: Put the oldies station back on; I won’t complain.”
Jarvis laughed and turned the radio off. “We’re almost there anyway.”
“Thanks. But back to the party. What did you get him? My dad gave me a new sword for my eighteenth birthday, but you couldn’t very well do that. Not around Gwen, anyway.”
“No, although I thought about it.” He flexed his hands on the steering wheel to ease his tension. “Gwen and I went together on his present. She thought it was time he had his own truck, so I helped her pick one out. My part is to help him tune the engine, along with a gift certificate to the auto parts store. I thought he’d get a kick out of doing the work himself.”
Jake fiddled with the envelope in his hands. “Great idea. I know he’s a big Rams fan, so I bought him tickets to one of the games.”
“He’ll love that. Should make for some happy memories for his birthday.”
Jake turned serious. “Now that he’s eighteen, are you going to bring him to the Center for training?”
“Yeah. Tomorrow is the big day, unless he changes his mind.”
“You actually think he’d turn down the chance to finally see what we do for a living? He’s been champing at the bit to find out ever since we started training him.”
No, he wouldn’t back out, and Jarvis knew his duty was to introduce Chase to his future. There was satisfaction in knowing that they helped make the world safer for everyone, even if no one outside the organization had any idea the battles the Paladins fought.
But he had this awful premonition that the minute he took Chase to see the barrier, the death knell would start ringing for him and Gwen.
“Hey, buddy, don’t go all glum on me. We’re going to a party, not a funeral.”
“She’ll hate me when she finds out what’s in store for her brother.”
“I hate to point out the obvious, but that woman has some powerfully strong feelings for you, old man. Even Chase has made peace with the idea of you and his sister being involved long-term.”
Jarvis’s temper exploded. “And how fucking well do you think that’s going to work out, Jake? Are you looking forward to being the one to break the news to her that I’m dead?”
His friend flinched. “Hell, no. Are you crazy?”
“No, but I will be, and then I’ll be dead. Have fun with Gwen at my funeral.”
He could have cut the silence with a sword. He fought to control the anger boiling through his blood. “Look, I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t mean to take your head off.”
After a bit, Jake looked at him. “It doesn’t have to be that way, Jarvis. Look at your buddy Trahern and Brenna, and Devlin Bane and his Handler. Maybe things are changing for us. No point in digging a grave when you might not need it for a long time to come.”
That idea tasted a little too much like hope. But the jury was still out on how long those relationships would last. And neither one had a complication like Chase to deal with.
He slowed to turn into the driveway. As he pulled in, Jake had the last say.
“Let it go, Jarvis. No one can foresee the future. You’ve got something pretty special going. Don’t throw it away on the chance that something might go wrong.”
Jarvis had arrived at the house looking more grim than usual, which worried her. With the help of Chase and Jake, he’d soon shaken off the gloom-and-doom attitude. Her brother was so buzzed about his birthday, it would have taken a lot more than Jarvis to dampen his enthusiasm. He kept giving her a hopeful look, asking without words if it was time for presents.
She smiled. When it came to unwrapping presents, he still had a lot of little kid in him. Hopefully he’d manage to hold onto that excitement for years to come.
“Okay, birthday boy, do you want pie or presents first?”
There was no hesitation. “Presents!”
“Lead the way into the living room. You can start in there.”
Chase started to charge out of the kitchen, but then he stopped and waited for his two guests to go first. Jarvis shot her a bemused look before following Jake down the hallway, and the four of them settled around the room. She perched on the arm of the couch next to Jarvis and watched her brother try to hide his disappointment at the small pile on the coffee table. She supposed that at eighteen, two envelopes and a small box didn’t look like much.
Jake snagged one of the envelopes and tossed it at Chase. “Happy Birthday, brat!”
“Thanks, Jake.”
Chase pulled out a pocketknife to slit open the envelope. He quickly scanned the card and then opened the smaller envelope inside. Two tickets fell into his hand. He stared at them in shocked silence, then his face lit up as he turned toward her and held them up.
“All right! Rams tickets!” Then he studied them again. “Jake! Who did you have to kill to get these?”
“Chase! I taught you better manners than that.”
“They’re in the first row on the fifty-yard line, Sis.”
She could understand her brother’s reaction. She turned a suspicious eye in Jake’s direction. “Okay, like he said. Who did you have to kill?”
He gave them both a pirate’s grin. “That’ll be my secret. I wouldn’t want you to have to testify against me if the case ever comes to trial.”
Chase carefully put the precious tickets in his wallet before reaching for the next card. She and Jarvis had debated over what order they should have Chase open their two gifts. He was bound to think a gift certificate to an auto parts store was a pretty boring, practical gift until he found out it was so that he could work on his own truck. But if they gave him the keys first, he’d hardly notice Jarvis’s gift. They’d settled on letting Chase make his own random decision. It didn’t take long for him to fish the gift card out of the envelope.
The enthusiasm he’d shown for Jake’s tickets was missing when he politely said, “Thanks, Jarvis. The truck could use some new shocks.”
Jarvis gave him a solemn nod. “You’re welcome.”
Then Chase reached for the small package and the card from her. Despite the simple wrapping and stick-on bow, Chase took a great deal of time peeling away the paper. When he held the small box up to his ear and shook it, he frowned at the rattle it made.
Jake’s patience broke. “Come on, Chase, open it! At the rate you’re going, we’ll still be sitting here when you turn nineteen. Besides, I want pie.”
Chase lifted off the lid, then tipped the contents into his hand. His eyes loc
ked on to the pair of keys, his expression someplace between hope and confusion. He slowly raised his gaze to meet Gwen’s. When she nodded, his eyes went wide in shock.
“Where? What?”
The two men laughed and Jarvis clapped him on the shoulder. “I thought that gift card might help you with your sister’s present. Why don’t you head for Mr. James’s farm with Jake to see what that key fits?”
“Man oh man!” Chase stood immediately, jingling the keys.
Jarvis tossed the keys to the Chevelle to his friend.
“Thanks, Sis! You, too, Jarvis!”
As Chase charged out to the car, Jake looked back and rolled his eyes.
Jarvis waited until the car was out of sight before pulling her into his arms—right where she wanted to be.
“You certainly made your brother’s day.” He nuzzled her neck. “Think we could send him and Jake on a long drive?”
“I wish. But as soon as they get back here with his truck, you know all three of you are going to spend the rest of the evening with your heads under the hood, making plans to get all greasy together.”
“True enough. But you know I’d rather spend the time with you.”
Then he kissed her, curling her toes and making her want to drag him over to the kitchen table. She used her hands and her tongue to tell him exactly what she wanted, until they heard the crunch of gravel as his car and Chase’s truck made the turn into the driveway.
They broke apart when Chase came bounding across the yard to sweep her up in his arms and swing her around. He was hollering loud enough to raise the dead, and the dogs joined in the celebration by barking and jumping up and down.
Chase set her back down. “It’s perfect, Gwen! I couldn’t have done better myself. Hey, Jarvis, thanks for helping her. Can we go look at the engine now?”
Just as she predicted, the three males immediately disappeared under the hood to admire the arcane mysteries of the combustion engine. It was good for Chase to have two such men to hang with and learn from. Despite the secrets that surrounded them, they were good influences on Chase.
His volatile temper had dropped to a more manageable level, and just knowing that he wasn’t the only one with his amazing ability to heal had gone a long way toward helping him to feel like less of a freak.
Tomorrow, the two men were taking Chase to visit the place where they normally trained. Her brother had jumped at the chance. Between that and his birthday, it was a big weekend for him.
She took one last look at Jarvis’s backside before heading into the house, heartily approving of the way he looked in well-worn denim. She liked him a whole lot better naked, but there wasn’t any chance of that happening with Jake and Chase around. Maybe they could fit in an evening walk in the woods before he and Jake had to head home.
Meanwhile, there was pile of dirty dishes waiting for her. As she waited for the sink to fill with water, she puzzled over Jarvis’s odd mood when he’d arrived. Something had been bothering him, but there hadn’t been any chance to ask him about it. He seemed to be better, but more than once she’d caught him looking at her with a strange, almost sad look in his eyes. The last time had sent a shiver through her while at the same time making her want to hold him close.
It probably had to do with his job, so all she could do was make sure he could relax and enjoy himself while he was with her. Satisfied with her plan, she set out dessert dishes and clean forks. If she wasn’t mistaken, the guys had just slammed the hood down on Chase’s truck. Time to cut the pie.
What was going on? When they’d invited him to go visit their gym, neither Jarvis nor Jake had made mention of blindfolds. How long had they been riding around? It seemed like forever.
“Jarvis, is this some kind of joke? Are you driving in circles to make me think we’re really going somewhere, but we’re really only a mile from the farm?”
He cocked his head to the side, trying to detect some familiar sound over the blare of the radio. Jarvis had picked him up right after breakfast, telling Gwen that they’d be back after dinner. A short distance down the road, he’d pulled over on the shoulder of the road and ordered Chase into the backseat and handed him a black scarf. After telling him to tie it over his eyes, Jarvis had peeled out and proceeded to drive without a single word of explanation.
“No joke, Chase. I apologize about the blindfold, but it’s necessary.” The car made a slow left turn. “We’re almost there.”
“Almost where? I thought we were going to some gym where you and Jake train.” Though he normally trusted Jarvis, right now he felt as if he were being kidnapped.
“We are. You’re safe with us, Chase, but I can’t let you know exactly where we’re headed. For now, it’s against the rules.”
“Whose rules? You make it sound like we’re headed for some top secret government installation.” But what kind of government agency armed its agents with swords?
“You’re not far off the mark, except we’re in the private sector. I promise to explain everything in a few minutes. Right now it would only confuse you more.”
Damn straight he was confused. Could things get any more bizarre? The car slowed abruptly, slinging him forward against the seat belt, and he grabbed the armrest. Wait till he told Gwen about all this weirdness.
The car lurched to the side as the road surface changed to gravel, which explained the sudden reduction in speed.
He tried to count off seconds to judge how far they were traveling along the mysterious road. They hadn’t passed another car in a long time, so the main highway was pretty far back. Whoever ran this mysterious facility sure didn’t want close neighbors. Why? What did they have to hide?
The car slowed to a stop. “You can take the blindfold off now, Chase. And I’m sorry that I had to do that to you.”
Chase yanked the scarf off his face and blinked against the bright morning sun. They’d stopped just shy of a high chain-link fence with a double coil of barbed wire running along the top. A uniformed guard stepped out of the small building next to a closed gate. Evidently he recognized Jarvis’s car since he left his automatic rifle slung casually over his shoulder.
Jarvis twisted around to face him. “The security is necessary, but don’t let it weird you out. Jake’s expecting us, so you’ll be with friends the whole time you’re here. But I can take you back home now if you’re not ready for this.”
Chase gave it less than a second’s thought. There was something pulling at him, and whatever it was felt important, making him want to find out what the big mystery was. They were the only two men he’d ever met that had the same physical abilities he did. Maybe there were more like them behind that fence.
“I’m ready. Let’s go.”
“One more thing, Chase. I must have your promise that you tell no one what you’re going to learn here today. Not your friends, not your teachers, and especially not your sister. You’ll understand the need for all the secrecy before you leave here today, but you need to promise before we can go through that gate.”
The only other time he’d seen Jarvis look that grim was the day they’d tracked the mysterious footprints through the woods. Both he and Jake had looked like those highly trained military guys as soon as they’d picked up their weapons. He wanted some of that action for himself.
Jarvis was asking him for his word man-to-man, and he liked the feel of that. “You have my word, Jarvis. Everything I see here today will be kept secret.”
“Good.”
Jarvis rolled down his window and waved at the guard, who immediately pushed the button to open the gate. They drove through and headed for an unmarked building across the parking lot. Jake must have been watching for them, because he stepped out the door and waited for them to park.
“Hey, kid, welcome to our little corner of the world!”
He held the door open for them and then followed them into the mysterious building. Jarvis keyed a series of numbers into a security pad by an elevator door. After they stepped inside, th
e three of them rode down in silence. A flock of butterflies fluttered in Chase’s stomach, making him feel queasy, but he tried to look as calm as his companions.
He had the strangest feeling that this would be life-altering. For good or for bad, he wouldn’t be the same kid when he took this elevator back up to the top.
Chapter 14
Jarvis kept his eyes straight ahead, allowing Chase some privacy. The boy was doing a damn fine job of hiding his nerves, even though Jarvis could hear the pounding of his heart racing and the shallow rasp of his breathing.
The cave could wait. Before he exposed Chase to the beautiful bitch that would rule the rest of his life, he wanted to explain things and introduce him to some of the other Paladins. The kid had enough to absorb without showing him the door to another world first.
“My office is down this hall.”
Chase kept pace with him, his eyes open wide as he took in the strange surroundings. “How far underground are we?”
Good question. Jarvis had wondered if he’d realized how long the elevator ride had taken.
“About four floors. There’s another one below this.”
Chase reached out to drag his fingertips along the limestone wall. “Cool.”
Inside the office, Jarvis sat behind his desk and motioned Chase toward one of the two chairs that faced it. The boy perched on the edge, too wound-up to relax.
“Jake, why don’t you snag us something to drink and a few sandwiches? I don’t know about Chase here, but breakfast was hours ago and lunch is still a ways away.”
“Sure thing.” He patted Chase on the shoulder. “I’ll be back in a couple.”
Jarvis propped his feet up on his desk, trying to project a relaxed image, as if he wasn’t about to turn Chase’s idea of reality inside out. “Okay, I guess this is where we get down to the nitty-gritty. A lot of what I’m going to say will sound crazy, especially at first, but I promise I’m not yanking your chain. I’ll answer any questions you might have, but let me give you the basics first. Does that sound reasonable?”
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