While I was dealing with Kindred, the policeman was observing me skeptically. I didn’t care. What I did care about was that he believed enough to call Alice. I gave him the number, and he dialed. When he finally stopped arguing and called Alice, I sighed and leaned back in the chair, relieved that he would get confirmation of my story, and I could be on my way.
What I didn’t count on was another man coming into the station. He could have belonged there; I wasn’t at all familiar with the staff of this little building. But his actions told me he was an intruder. He had come in confidently enough, and started moving around the office as if he was looking for something. After a few moments, he walked up behind the cop and struck him in the back of the head, knocking him forward with enough force to daze him. I sprang to my feet and tried to run, but got my foot caught on the rolling chair. I was suddenly falling forward, unable to catch myself because my hands were still cuffed behind my back. I had enough time to turn my head so I didn’t smash my face into the hard tiled floor, but the force of the hit was enough to make my head pound.
It wasn’t enough to make me give up. While the stranger was taping the cop to his chair, I crawled away, sliding on my stomach toward the door.
“Not so fast, Earthshaker,” the stranger growled. “You have a lot to answer for.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Hannah
Sam knew. It was the only explanation for how calm he’d been when I told him Jason had run. His face had shown a small amount of concern, but mostly he trusted that his brother would be okay and that he would come back safely. I envied him that confidence. With everything that had happened in the last year, my ability to believe he would be safe on his own was gone. He had no protection out there. With how much he disliked using the destructive and frightening part of his abilities, he would hesitate to use it as protection for himself. And as far as I knew, he had no training in self-defense. Something I thought would have to change sometime in the near future.
Alice and Dan would have to show him some moves. My sister had made sure I knew how to protect myself as soon as she’d become my guardian. It was only basic self-defense, no fancy martial arts, but it was useful. And Jason would be less vulnerable if he could physically protect himself. “Hannah, we just drove past Dan’s apartment,” Sam said, looking out the car window in confusion.
“Sorry, kiddo,” I said with a cringe. “My mind was elsewhere.”
He shrugged slightly. “It’s okay. But you shouldn’t worry. My brother will be fine. You’ll see.”
I turned to him after I’d parked the car, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. “What did he tell you? Do you know where he’s hiding? What’s his plan, Sam? Why did he think he had to run away from us to succeed?”
The little boy cringed slightly at the onslaught of questions, and looked down at his feet. “I don’t know much,” he hedged.
“That’s okay. Just tell me what you do know.”
He shook his head. “Hannah, I promised. He made me promise not to tell. But he’s not going after anyone. Jason just wants some time to think, and he does his best thinking when he’s alone. When he’s here, other people make him think what they want instead of what he wants,” he seemed unsure that I’d understand what he was saying.
“He has too many people’s opinions forcing their way into his planning. So on his own he can figure out what to do without other people trying to force their will on him. Is that right?”
“Yeah,” he was nodding enthusiastically. “So once he figures it out, he’ll come back. He promised.”
I ruffled his curly brown hair affectionately. “Thanks for sharing that much, Sam. I know you promised Jason you’d keep his secrets. For what it’s worth, I think he’d be okay with you telling me that much.”
Sam smiled as he grabbed his new dark blue backpack. “Get going, Sammy. I’ll pick you up from here when I’m done with my classes. Have a good day,” I leaned in and gave him a hug.
“Thanks, Han! I’ll see you later!” The enthusiastic kid was back at the thought of going to school, and I had to smile at his eagerness. After the serious talk of a moment ago, it was good to see him truly happy about something again. “Oh, Hannah!” He turned back toward the car and opened the door. “Ginny wants to know if you’ll go shopping with her next weekend, and maybe bake some cookies. She wants to look nice for school, and said she wanted some snacks to bring for her classmates.”
After thinking for a moment I smiled. “Tell her I’d love too. I’ll stop in when I come back later, and we can figure out when.” Ginny had become a little sister to me, and I loved that she opened up to me. She’d had a hard life so far, with a mother who kicked her out for being ‘too much competition’ with her boyfriend. I shuddered at the thought, but with some positive role models she could look up to, she would turn out okay.
I didn’t pull away until I saw June open the door and let Sam into the house. She waved, and I headed to school. It was yet another thing that was apparently put on hold because of the situation with Kindred. Jason was supposed to be attending classes, but since the note had arrived about the murder of his father’s friend he hadn’t made a single class. Dustin and I had covered as long as we could, but at this point, Jason would be so far behind he’d have a hard time catching up.
Most likely he’d have to start over next fall. Hopefully this situation would be resolved by then, and he could get back to his pursuit of a normal life. Or, at least as normal as his life could be. Meanwhile, I’d have to hope that he knew what he was doing, and trust that he’d be back when he was ready. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long for that to happen.
The drive to campus was uneventful, and I immersed myself into my classes, hoping to get my mind off Jason. Of course, that plan was derailed as soon as Dustin asked me where he was. The class we were in was one that Jason was supposed to attend as well. “He’s…thinking. He went off on his own sometime last night.”
“He ran away! After what’s happened so far with Kindred, are you sure that’s all it is? It could be that he’s not himself, and he ran off without wanting to.”
I shook my head. “He told Sam before he left that he was going. I doubt that Kindred would be thoughtful enough to have eased Sam’s mind before forcing Jason away from us. Hopefully he'll call us to let us know he’s safe.”
“And if he doesn’t? How long do we wait before we start looking for him?” Dustin sounded frustrated.
“He’ll be okay, Dustin. It’s not the first time he’s been on his own. And he doesn’t have anyone else with him to slow him down if he needs to get away quickly.”
My friend knew me too well. “You’re trying to convince yourself. Look,” he said urgently. “Jason has started telling me things that I don’t think he’s ever told anyone before. His mental defenses and walls are weakened. Sure, he needs some time to rebuild and figure things out. That’s fine. But he shouldn’t be out there,” he gestured toward the door emphatically, “on his own right now. At this point he’s susceptible to all kinds of mental harm. What he really needs is a professional helping him through everything. And who knows whether his emotional state affects how Kindred is able to connect to him.”
There was nothing he was saying that I hadn’t thought before, but Jason was his own person. He wouldn’t live his life the way someone else thought he should. “He’s stubborn,” I said, not meaning it in a derogatory way. “And he’s strong. There’s no way he’s going to just sit here and allow Kindred easy access to controlling his mind. If pulling away, even for a couple days, is enough for him to build up his protections again, maybe we should just accept it and let him be. Jason has a family here. He has a life. When he’s ready, he’ll be back.” Somehow I felt more confident of that now than I had even moments before.
“You may be right,” Dustin admitted grudgingly. “But the walls he had before talking to me weren’t enough to keep Kindred out, so why would they be now?”
I took a moment before responding
thoughtfully. “His mind is starting to recognize the attacks now. If he has time to rebuild what was there before, he may be able to fortify against Kindred. Maybe he’ll be able to keep him out.”
Dustin looked at me considering what I had said. He had only known Jason for months. I’d known him for years. It didn’t give me much of an edge, really. It was only recently that Jason had started opening up even to me, and he was not sharing much of his history with anyone. But from his actions in the past to his actions now, I’d have a frame of reference.
Jason hadn’t run away from us before. This was a first, and it showed me how shaken he felt by current events. Since he’d taken Sam away from their father, he hadn’t left his brother either. There had not been anyone he trusted to keep Sam safe. Now, he left Sam with us, knowing we would do whatever was needed to keep him from harm. He may not admit it out loud, but when he left Sam in our care, he was telling us he trusted us with what was most important to him.
One thing he remained close-mouthed about, were his powers. He hadn’t told anyone he was practicing, but he was able to trap a man outside from the basement without destroying anything. It explained some of the rumblings we heard from the basement over the last few months. Alice and I thought he was having nightmares or flashbacks that caused him to lose control, but apparently he was attempting to take charge of his abilities so he would no longer worry about them destroying things without his input.
I was deep in thought when Dustin responded. “You’re probably right. I don’t know how their powers work, and I don’t know if a part of Jason’s is able to be used to protect him against other people with abilities or not. Or if he is able to block him, whether Kindred will be able to break in again or not. What I do know is that right now Jason is an emotional wreck. And, Han, if I can be completely honest with you?” he sounded worried, and maybe a little scared.
I nodded. “You can tell me anything, Dusty. You know that.”
“I’m in way over my head with him. My family is as normal as they come. Parents are still together, and I get along with my brother and sister pretty well. There were some arguments, but we never got violent with each other. I’ve never known anyone with Jason’s past history, and I don’t know how to deal with it. I thought I could handle it at first, but…” He looked down at the floor while he spoke. “I’d rather be his friend than his shrink. I think he’s in need of friends to talk to and hang out with to have fun, and if he’s telling me all his deepest darkest secrets he’s not going to want to do that with me.”
Dustin’s admission shook me. “What can I do?” I asked. “He said he’d only talk to you. I don’t know how to change his mind about that.”
He shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know either. But we need to keep trying to get him to accept professional help. It will do him more good than I can.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked gently. I didn’t want to push him, but Jason was not going to tell a stranger his problems. “A professional wouldn’t know about Jason’s abilities, or about Kindred’s power to control him. What would happen to Jason if Kindred happened to take over his mind while he’s with a psychiatrist?”
Dustin’s sigh was one of both defeat and acceptance. “You’re right. He’d end up institutionalized and treated for the wrong problems. They’d probably think he was suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder, or something.”
“Jason likes you, Dustin,” I assured him. “If he didn’t, there’s no way he’d open up to you. Give him a chance. Most likely, he’ll still want to hang out and play ball.”
I checked my watch, “Shoot! It’s time for me to go pick Sam up from Dan’s. Walk me to my car?” I asked.
We walked out the doors to the main parking lot and I froze when I saw a white envelope, identical to what Jason had been receiving, settled under the windshield wiper blade. “What’s wrong? You just turned white as a sheet.” He hadn’t seen the envelope, so I pointed to it.
When he realized that I wouldn’t, or couldn’t, pick it up, he reached over and opened it. There were no pictures in it, a fact for which I was very grateful. But Dustin read the note, and I knew it was from Kindred.
“Get the Tracker back home, or I will come for you.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Kindred
I had tried keeping myself busy. To keep my mind occupied on the job I’d been hired to do. The package had been delivered to the motel room without incident, but the information failed to hold my interest, because knowing the Tracker was out of my protective reach was driving me crazy.
My intentions had been to let him have a day or two to figure out he wasn’t safe out there alone, but I felt he was in trouble of some kind. He was too far away for me to find him or to figure out exactly what was happening, but I had felt a flash of fear from him this afternoon, and nothing since.
When I tried to connect to him to send him a message, I couldn’t be sure if he heard it or not. The distance was making it impossible for me to hear him if he responded. So once I figured out that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate while he was gone, I wrote a note and found the cop’s sister at her school. She was inside, talking to a friend of hers, and I slipped the note onto her car.
The girl was one of a handful of people I knew the Tracker would fight to protect. His feelings for her ran deep, and I wondered sometimes if he even realized just how important she was to him. What I did know was he had looked at her on occasion and believed he was too damaged to ever be able to be with her. That she was too innocent and clean to deal with everything he’d been through in his life.
To some extent I believed he was right. Despite losing her parents at a young age because of a drunk driver, the girl had a naïve outlook on life and believed every problem could be solved if they simply talked it out. What she didn’t realize was just how deep the scars ran and how fragile the Tracker was, how close he came to shattering at any given moment. But even with her innocence and his scars, the two cared for each other, so if the Tracker heard that she’d been threatened, he would come back.
It was the best plan I had, and it didn’t require me to go running around the state looking for him without any clue as to the direction he’d gone. When he contacted them, they’d tell him about the note, and he’d come back. Then I could get on with my life. But he’d have to be shown that he couldn’t just take off like that. There would have to be some kind of consequence to his actions.
I wouldn’t kill him, that much was true, but pain was a lasting teacher. When he was back in my reach, he would learn. Life would be easier for him if he’d stay where I could find him.
TWENTY-SIX
Jason
The cop was still unconscious as the unknown assailant dragged me to a cell and locked my handcuffs around the bars outside of the cage. They were low enough on the bars that I could stand normally, but high enough that I couldn’t sit. Cuffed and at the mercy of a madman. I laughed at myself as I rattled the chain on the bars. This was getting ridiculous. Wasn’t there anywhere I could go where no one wanted to attack me? And had this been planned, or just a crime of opportunity? He apparently didn’t have access to the keys to the cells, or I would likely be locked in one of them.
My current captor was checking on the cop, making sure the tape remained secure. “What are you laughing at, Freak?” he snarled.
Any fear I may have felt in this situation on a normal day was nowhere to be found today. My dark humor kept me from feeling the anxiety and panic I’d felt in my previous experiences with captivity. “You,” I answered, still smiling darkly. “You think I should be scared of you? Trevor Mason, one of the cruelest human beings to ever walk the earth, tortured me last year—and look how he ended up. What hope do you have? I’ve never even laid eyes on you before today. What exactly is your plan?”
He smirked. “You didn’t know me because I was working another important job for Mason last fall. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Brayden Mitchell. Not a name you recognize, I
’m sure. But it’s one that will become as well-known as Trevor Mason. You see, he considered me his protégé. Taught me everything he knew about running his empire, and everything he knew about you.”
“Right,” I scoffed. “That’s why you weren’t included in what was going on at the Farm in November. Mick seemed more important than you. He at least got to participate.” I didn’t see the blow coming, but it wasn’t a complete surprise when the back of his hand connected with a smack across my face. My head whipped around, and my laughter died, turning instead into a glare that could kill. “You’ll regret that, Brayden. Guaranteed.”
He smiled. “I’m sure I will. If you get the chance to do anything about it, which you won’t. Now,” he said, clapping his hands together in front of his face. “I’ve heard rumors that Mason’s assassin has been…working freelance in the city. And that he’s been in contact with you.”
My anger turned to confusion. “Yeah, so?” Why was he asking about Kindred? When he’d first arrived it had seemed like he was here to punish me for what I’d done to Mason, not to interrogate me about Kindred. “What does Kindred have to do with any of this?”
“As Mason’s successor, I am entitled to all of his property. Although the name is different, this Kindred belongs to me. You might be interested to hear that you also belong to me. Despite your incomplete training, you belonged to him at the time of his death.”
A harsh chuckle escaped. “I belong to no one. I do not belong to you or anyone else. Mason found that out, and if you insist on trying to prove otherwise, you’ll find it out as well.” My voice was rough, but sure. The matter-of-fact way he called me his property grated on my nerves, and some fear had appeared. If he tried anything with me, he’d find out what this ‘Earthshaker’ was truly capable of.
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