by Jana Janeway
“I told them I was going to give them the information,” Shea admitted, “but I never actually did! I was never going to! It was the only trump card I could think to play to get our parents back!”
“You little shit!” Jeramey spat. “Are you the only person you ever think about?”
“I was thinking about my parents, not myself!” Shea pushed off the ground, facing Jeramey head on.
“Because it’s what you wanted! If it had been anyone else’s parents, I doubt you’d give it a second thought!”
“You don’t know me! How dare you insinuate—”
‘Craddock?’
The second he heard her voice inside his head, Craddock tuned out the argument happening around him.
‘I’m here, baby. God, I was so worried.’
‘What happened?’
‘You were shot. Don’t you remember?’
‘I remember… pain, but everything after… s’fuzzy.’
“You think just because I’m a Late Convert that you’re better than me?”
“Oh, fuck you! I’m not a fucking Purist, you asshole!”
“Shut up!” Craddock shouted over top of them. “She’s coming to.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jeramey and Shea ceased their fighting, their anger on hold as they, along with everyone else in the room, slowly approached the couch.
Since Jessica showed no outward sign of being awake, they all knew Craddock had sensed her gaining consciousness.
‘Why do I feel so… weird?’
Craddock brushed the bangs from off her forehead in a comforting manner. “They gave you saccharin, to help with the pain.”
‘Not in any pain.’
Despite his worry, he smiled. He could easily feel how loopy she was; she could barely string her thoughts together.
“That’s because of the saccharin.” ‘They gave you two packets.’
‘That’s… a lot… right?’
‘It is, but they had their reasons.’
It was obvious to Marcy that they were carrying on a conversation telepathically. “Out loud, guys.”
“I’m not sure if she can.” He only glanced up at her. “She’s really out of it.”
“Ask her if she feels up to talking about what happened,” Jeramey requested. “We really should have an idea of things, so we can decide if action needs to be taken.”
“She can still hear, idiot,” Marcy teased him. “That can wait till she’s a little more lucid,” she added seriously.
“Or Shea could just level with us.” Jeramey’s glare on him grew harder.
“I did level with you!” Shea snapped. “Can I help it if you’re a stubborn ass who refuses to believe me?”
‘What’s… going on? Why are they… fighting?’
‘Jeramey is worried. He thinks Shea told the Registry about Pardaze Ahme, and this safe house.’
‘He didn’t.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘We were never apart.’
Craddock’s gaze remained on Jessica as he informed the room, “She says Shea didn’t tell them anything.”
Shea’s triumphant, gloating expression didn’t last for long.
“Did…?” Jeramey hesitated, looking uncomfortable, now, rather than angry. “Did she?”
“No, she didn’t!” Shea defended her, fists clenched. He seemed ready to start throwing punches at any moment.
‘No. I swear.’
‘I believe you, baby.’ “She says she didn’t, either.”
“That’s enough for now.” Marcy’s concern for her patient’s welfare superseded the need for knowledge. “We can get the details later, after she’s had time to recuperate. Let’s just give them some privacy, okay?”
Craddock turned a little, facing Marcy while still on his knees. “Thank you. For everything.”
Her smile was kind. Empathetic. “You’re welcome. I told you everything was going to be okay, didn’t I?”
“You did. I’m sorry I wigged out on you.”
She dismissed his apology as unnecessary with a wave of her hand. “You held together pretty well, under the circumstances.”
He wasn’t so sure he agreed with her – at the time, it felt like he was about to lose his mind – but he nodded appreciatively all the same.
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” She smiled again before walking away.
It was only after they were alone that he finally allowed himself to grieve, the magnitude of all that had happened catching up with him in a storm of unwanted emotions. He felt like the weakest man in the world.
Guilt raged inside her. Her actions had been foolish, and had nearly cost her everything. Of course they wouldn’t release her parents. Of course they would imprison her.
With a shaky sense of self, due to both the saccharin and the trauma, she lifted her hand to stroke his face, comforting him.
‘I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t cry.’
‘I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop thinking about what my life would have been like without you. And the baby… And then you got shot…’
‘Are you mad at me?’
‘No. A little. How could you have put yourself in danger like that?’
‘Shea was going to do it with or without me. He needed my help.’
‘Meaning he guilted you into it.’
‘Please don’t be mad at him. He’s just worried about our parents. We both are.’
He sighed heavily, swiping at his tears in an attempt to compose himself. He understood their motives, but that didn’t mean they were wise.
‘I know why you did it, but that doesn’t make it right! It’s not just you anymore, and it’s not just me. It’s us. And baby makes three.’ He placed his hand on her abdomen. ‘From here on out, decisions need to be made by both of us, and for the good of our family. Promise me.’
Even though she still felt a little loopy, the seriousness of the conversation sobered her quite a bit.
‘I promise. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.’
When she began to cry, it instantly made him feel guilty for reprimanding her the way he had. Gathering her into his arms the best he could from his position on the floor, on his knees, he shushed her consolingly, his forgiveness and absolute love for her expressed by gentle affection.
Within moments, the faint sounds of arguing could be heard from in the kitchen, and then they began to grow louder. While Craddock didn’t necessarily care, he didn’t want the tension of it to upset Jessica. He had done enough damage in that regard, though he did feel better for having gotten it off his chest.
Resolved to put an end to the bickering, Craddock kissed Jessica’s lips softly, promised to be back quickly, then stood and marched with purpose through the swinging door.
“What the hell are you all fighting about now?”
All conversation and heated debates in the room stopped instantly.
Bibi nudged Wade forward; judging by her expression, she was not happy. “Tell him.”
“I just got a text message from the Registry.” He held up his cell phone for emphasis. “They said that if we turn in Jessica, the rest of us will be free to live our lives as we wish, with no repercussions.”
“Which is an obvious lie!” Shea spouted angrily. “They’ll say whatever to get what they want!”
Craddock was quiet for a moment, thoughtful. “And there’s someone here who thinks this should happen?”
“No,” Elsa answered at once, “but Shea is under the impression that we’re considering it.”
“Why? Why is he under that impression?”
Shea marched towards Craddock, his angry stride a bit unsettling, but when he got to right in front of him, all he did was lean in to answer.
“I told him to text them back and tell them to fuck off, but he refused! They’re considering it, Craddock!”
Wade sighed in frustration. “I didn’t refuse because I’m considering it, I refused because they can trace cell phones by
the towers they connect through! They do have tracking equipment for this!”
“He’s lying!” Shea insisted. “He didn’t say that before! He’s only saying it now because you’re here!”
“You didn’t give him a chance to say it before!” Jeramey snapped. “You just started shooting off your big mouth!”
“Excuse me for trying to protect my sister!”
“You didn’t seem so concerned with that when you dragged her along with you into enemy territory!”
Seething, Shea shot back, “I’m gonna kick your ass!”
“Oh yeah?” Jeramey laughed derisively. “You and what army, little man?”
The tension that had been building between the two men since they had first met a year ago had reached its peak. The thread snapped and it was almost tangible.
Shea lunged for Jeramey, but before he could even land the first blow, he was yanked away, by Craddock. Marcy then physically stepped in front of Jeramey and threw her arms around him, stopping him by clinging to him.
They were so preoccupied with this, Craddock hadn’t sensed Jessica drawing closer or entering the room; he startled when her voice rang out above the noise and chaos.
“Oh good, kill each other! Let’s see how far that gets us!”
Instantly, Craddock let go of Shea and rushed to Jessica’s side, helping her to stand. She was leaning heavily against the doorjamb, favoring her injured leg.
“Baby, you shouldn’t be up! You should be resting!”
“Who can rest?” Even as she answered him, her stern gaze remained on her brother, chastising him with her eyes alone.
Shea was set to argue, but when he saw how angry she was, he thought better of it. He then grabbed Stacy’s hand, who was near about cowering in a corner, and dragged her with him out of the room.
A weird sort of quiet followed, like no one knew exactly what to say or do. It was Jessica who finally spoke up, her tone meek in comparison to the one she had been using seconds before.
“Look, I know he can be an ass – I should, I grew up with him – but he isn’t usually this bad. He’s just… stressed.”
‘I told you he was going to get his ass kicked some day. He almost did! If I hadn’t grabbed him…’
“No offense, Jess,” Jeramey was, in equal measure, calm and still on edge, “but we all are.”
“I know,” she sighed. ‘Thank you. For stopping him.’
‘I might not be around to do so next time. You should talk to him.’
‘Later. Let him cool off first. There’s no talking to him when he’s wound up like this.’
“Maybe if we had some more details, about what happened out there, everyone would calm down a bit.”
Elsa’s suggestion was not well received; both Craddock and Marcy were about to object, but before either of them could, she continued.
“We’ll keep it brief. We won’t keep her from her rest for long.”
‘I can tell them it has to wait.’
‘It’s okay. I’ll tell them now. They must be anxious. If it’ll help ease the tension…’
“You need to sit then.” Really, she should have been in bed, recovering, but at least sitting was better than standing.
He helped Jessica limp across the room, and the amassed audience parted like the Red Sea, creating a path to the unoccupied kitchen table. There had been just a few stragglers in the room before the fight broke out, but as the angry words grew louder, the number of onlookers grew larger. Now they stayed to hear what Jessica would say.
Once she was seated, Craddock dropped to his knees beside her; his hand sought hers in an attempt to ease her nervous fidgeting. Not only was she the center of unwanted attention, but she also felt guilty for her part in the failed rescue attempt. Her and her brother had both taken liberties they should not have.
“We hiked up to the convenience store to make the call. Shea told them that we had information about an underground group of people, and that we would give them that information if we could discuss them releasing our parents. We weren’t going to,” she insisted. “He had a fake name and address already figured out to tell them.”
“You didn’t mention our name?” Jeramey asked tersely.
Jessica shook her head. “We never got that far. They told us to go to Westport, and we would work something out. As soon as we walked through the doors, they jumped us.”
“Did they hurt you?” The mere thought of it had Craddock shaking.
Jessica shook her head again, but then almost immediately, she nodded. “Not me so much as Shea. I didn’t know what to do when they grabbed me. Shea started to fight. They punched him in the stomach to subdue him.”
“Which adds to why he’s so angry right now,” Elsa said. “We should all cut him a bit of slack. Don’t engage him if he gets pissy.” This was mostly directed at Jeramey, but everyone else either muttered or nodded in acceptance.
“It wasn’t a bad plan,” someone from the back mentioned. “Problem was, you went without backup.”
“And unarmed,” someone else added.
“And the trump card was too weak,” Wade interjected. “There have been rumors about our existence for a while, drifting about Registry Intelligence, but we aren’t their top priority.”
“And changing that isn’t beneficial to us at the moment,” Elsa said, scowling in thought.
Kiffen’s scowl mirrored Elsa’s. “We need a trump card they’ll respond to.”
“Yeah, but what do they want?” someone asked.
‘Are they doing what I think they’re doing? Are they trying to work out how to rescue my parents?’
‘Sounds that way.’
When Jessica burst into tears, Craddock squeezed her hand tighter.
“We can try, Jess.” Instinctively, Marcy knew why she was crying. “That’s the best we can offer.”
Jessica could only nod due to her emotional state. She thought that rescuing her parents was a lost cause; she had resigned herself to that, back when she was at the Westport Registry office. Shea seemed to have, too, though at the time, they both thought they would forever be prisoners.
“She should get some rest now,” Elsa suggested as she moved towards the pantry. “And she should eat.”
As she began to dish up food, Josiah stepped up. “Do you want some help, helping her back to bed?”
Craddock nodded, then stood and scooped Jessica into his arms. “Get the doors for me?”
Josiah ran up ahead to make sure all obstacles were out of the way, including opening the doors to the kitchen and master bedroom. Watching Craddock gently place Jessica on the bed, he lingered in the doorway, at the ready to be of further assistance.
When he realized he wasn’t needed any longer, he bowed his head a little. “I’m sorry you got shot, Jess. And I’m sure glad you’re back safe.”
Jessica smiled at him, but before she could respond, Elsa entered with a bowl of food.
“You need to keep your strength up.” She gave Jessica a wink as she handed the bowl over to Craddock.
Jessica instantly tensed. ‘She knows? She knows I’m pregnant?’
Craddock thanked Elsa before answering. ‘Everyone knows now. When they wanted to give you saccharin, I asked if it was okay for fetuses.’
Elsa nodded, then turned and left, but Josiah remained.
The way he stood there, looking somewhat dejected, told Craddock his friend had something on his mind.
“What’s up, Joe?”
“I guess I should say congratulations,” Josiah somewhat muttered, his gaze on the floor.
It wasn’t difficult to determine why Josiah was behaving that way. “We didn’t want to tell anyone until she was further along. It just… slipped out earlier.”
“Wade knew. Marcy and Jeramey, too.” Josiah finally looked up from the ground. His stance was far from combative. He just looked sad.
“Because the Registry was eavesdropping, not because we told them,” Craddock explained patiently.
‘He’s like a lost little boy sometimes, isn’t he?’
‘Yeah.’ “Look, Joe, I’m sorry, okay?” Craddock apologized, but with a hint of exasperation. There was no way he could mollycoddle him at that moment. He curbed it before continuing, however, after Jessica asked him to. “You know you’re like a brother to me. You and Bibi were the first people we were going to tell, I swear.”
Though subtle, a pleased expression lit up Josiah’s face. Still, Craddock could see the twinkle return to his friend’s eyes; Josiah was sufficiently placated.
“I’m gonna go see about the plan they’re trying to put together,” Josiah said as a way of excusing himself from the room. “Want me to come get you if they come up with something?”
“Yes.”
With her answer, Jessica was suddenly crying again. Uncomfortable with the display, Josiah gave Craddock an upnod before sprinting out the door.
‘Are you mad at me? Because I told them?’
Her current crying jag eased as another swing of mood brought about a sort of melancholy seriousness.
‘Under the circumstances, no. I wish I could have told them with you, but I wish for a lot of things I know will never happen.’
‘Such as?’ He settled the bowl of food in the middle of the bed before joining her.
‘I want our child to have a normal life. And I just don’t see that happening.’
Knowing she was right, and that there was no counter argument he could make, he just tapped the bowl between them. ‘Eat.’
She did as he kindly ordered, since she was hungry anyway. ‘What did Bibi do when you let it slip?’
‘I don’t know. I wasn’t watching her at the time. But she hasn’t done anything odd since, so I can only assume she’s fine with it.’
It was the least of her worries, so she dropped that thought and focused on something else.
Craddock knew she wasn’t asking his opinion. Her thoughts were just bouncing about, like she was weighing out the pros and cons of the situation. It seemed an easy answer to him, but since she was obviously conflicted, he gave her a nudge in what he felt was the right direction.
‘If you tell him now, and they can’t come up with a suitable plan, won’t he just get angry again?’
