“I am glad to be alive,” Jade said, her fierce eyes the color of the ocean at night.
I looked down at her. “I wouldn't let anything happen to you.”
She smiled. “I know. It was scary and we survived it.”
“Yeah, it was,” Sophie said.
As we moved up to the parked cars, Gale said, “I'll take the girls home.” A sense of dread spread through my gut. I didn't want Jade out of my sight. I wanted to see her safely inside her house with my own eyes.
I tried for casual. “I told her aunt I'd walk her home.”
Jade gave me a sharp look, what?
“Take Tiff and Bry home,” I suggested.
“... and me and the Jonester live by each other,” John added.
Nice move John.
“Okay,” Gale said slowly, knowing something was up but not able to put her finger on it, the logic of my suggestions clear. “Weller kids, Jonesy, John... follow me,”
That left me, Jade and Sophie with Garcia.
Jonesy turned around and waved to Sophie. “See ya, Soph!”
She waved back, looking pleased that Jonesy had singled her out. Jonesy had the hots for Sophie. Onyx ran over to the cruiser, hopping in the front seat (traitor).
We got in the back, Jade and I touching hip to toe when I leaned forward, as far as the plexiglass would allow, and asked, “What about McGraw?”
Garcia was silent for a heartbeat, and I thought, can't take back the pause, pal.
“He's on the take.”
“Corrupt?”
“Yes, he's the Graysheets eyes and ears, Caleb.”
I leaned back again against Jade, thinking about being a partner with someone I couldn't trust at my back.
“What about the other officer? Wade, I think,” Jade asked.
“Chuck's a good man.”
That's a relief, three good cops anyway.
The night slid past, Sophie and Onyx's profiles in the front seat, Garcia's cruiser moving through Jade's neighborhood like a silent trespasser. As Brett's house came into view, the yard still littered with the gopher mounds, a look passed between Jade and I, remembering.
Garcia broke the silence, “If I work with McGraw I have a chance to eventually expose these hypocrites.”
“What are they?” Jade asked.
“People bent on exploitation for warfare, controlling crime for gain. Instead of using these paranormals' gifts for the betterment of humankind, they're scheming up ways to control. It's always about control, about power.”
We parked in front of Jade's place; Garcia kept the car idling. “I'll stay here with the dog,” he winked.
Not half-bad for an adult.
The tall fence blocked our view of the façade of Jade's house, except for a portion of the porch and roof. We got out of Garcia's car, opening the gate, which I left ajar. We walked to the front porch, our hands entwined, the porch light casting a soft pool of pale color on the steps.
I grasped Jade's other hand and turned her to me pulling her close until she touched my body in a tight embrace, our bodies married together. Pressing my mouth on her lips, softly at first, my hands slid out of hers, moving to the small of her back. She wrapped hers around me. My free hand working up into the nape of her neck, the silky hair winding around my fingers as my mouth moved on hers.
The door wrenched open and Aunt Andrea stood there, anger making the planes of her face a brutal thing. As Jade and I jumped apart, her face flushed with high color, rosy under the glow of the light.
“Where the hell have you been?” Andrea said, anger twisting her words into a snarl.
Jade looked shocked and confused. “Ah... I pulsed you...”
“I wasn't going to get into it on pulse, but this boy,” she jabbed a finger in my direction, “is bringing you home too late. It's one-twenty in the morning and you're fourteen years old!” she huffed.
What-the-hell? Where did all this venom come from? I unconsciously pulled Jade a little closer to me, her back against my chest.
A bulky figure moved up behind Andrea... Jade's dad.
Oh shit.
A look of terror came over Andrea's face. That was it, the drunk dad had made an appearance, and she was covering.
Jade's dad said in a low voice, “Get your ass in this house right now. You and me, we got some talkin' to do.”
If he'd been shouting it would have been less threatening. But that soft voice promised bad-stuff-was-gonna-happen.
“Is there a problem here?” Garcia said, strolling up, Sophie peeking around from behind him, eyes like saucers in a pale face. Bet she knew old daddy dearest.
His hand hovered above the baton he wore on his utility belt, a whisper away from use. Jade's dad shoved Andrea aside, slamming her into the doorjamb.
“Jade!”she shouted in warning, clinging to the wood.
I heard the baton escape its sheath with a high whistle, at the same time that I threw myself backward, with Jade attached to my front. My arm was hooked around her waist, her dad's dinner plate sized hand, brushing the zipper of her hoodie as we flew, my body slamming into the grass behind us.
Every bit of air left my lungs in a whoosh, as I watched Jade's dad get past Garcia to come after us.
Slippery ass-monkey.
Garcia let him move past and landed a deliberate blow to the back of his knee. With a grunt, Jade's dad toppled like the tree he was, momentarily stunned.
He pushed him down to the ground, a knee planted in LeClerc's spine, the baton's tip piercing the tender flesh at the base of his skull.
Leaning down, Garcia said with soft menace, “We're taking a little ride, LeClerc. We're going to come to an understanding, you and I.”
“No we're not, Pig!” he said, his words muffled by the press of the baton forcing his face into the ground. “She's my girl! She's gonna stop being with that boy! He's evil! A dead-lover! Satan worshiper!”
Right, that was me, a star in the basement.
“He's AFTD, in case you're too slow to understand,” Garcia said, losing patience.
He got out his cuffs, slapping one side on a thick wrist. He was getting ready to secure the other when Jade's dad gave a last, great buck with his body, throwing off Garcia, launching himself at Jade.
I saw moonlight slide off the loose cuff as it dangled from his wrist swinging it down toward Jade. As I rolled her away from that descending hand with my body, his fist connected with her side and she screamed. I let her go, she lay flat on the grass, putting her hands above her face in a defensive position that broke something inside me to see.
Garcia wasn't going to get to us in time.
I rose up on all fours with him looming over us both. as he brought both fists up to mangle my face, I rolled back, placing my hands behind me and my feet wide, using one foot for balance, I slammed the other out just on his downward arc, barely missing the hands, hitting that defiant face square, his nose exploding with a satisfying crunch.
He staggered back. “My nose, he broke my fuckin' nose!” he spluttered, blood spraying out from behind his hands. If looks could kill I'd be dust.
Garcia jerked his hands behind his back, locking the cuffs, tightening them until LeClerc cried out, “Ow, that hurts!”
“Suck it up,” Garcia said.
Without his hands covering the nose, it leaked. His frantic breathing caused a big bubble of snot to grow, pulsing with each breath.
Jade moaned, her hair fanning out behind her, grass stains on her pink hoodie. My eyes burned with the need to cry. But I was the guy here and my Jade was hurt.
“Where does it hurt?” I asked, gently exploring her side, she made a pain sound when I got to her lower ribs on the right side.
I asked with my face if I could look and she nodded.
I pulled up the lightweight shirt and saw a terrible welt, bright red, in the shape of the cuff, with a grape-colored bruise, blooming at the edges of the mark like an obscene flower.
Looking at her dad I said the firs
t thing that entered my head, “You touch her again and I'll kill you.”
He looked back at me for the space of seconds. “You'll try.” and smiled with that nasty grin of his, the blood slowing to a trickle his swollen nose like a clown's.
It wasn't enough damage to satisfy me.
“Caleb,” Garcia started, “... what did you say?”
Andrea and Sophie had their arms twined around each other as my eyes met Garcia's.
“He said he'd kill me, you dumb-ass! He's the one you should be arresting, the zombie-lover!” LeClerc shouted.
“I didn't hear that,” Garcia said, trying for neutral and missing by a mile.
Garcia smiled and started hauling Jade's dad away, who shouted over his shoulder at Jade, “Keep your head down, girlie, get away from that loser.”
“Look who's talking,” Garcia said.
“Can I help you get up?” I asked.
She nodded and I braced my arm behind her back, lifting and holding at the same time. It wasn't an effort, she was so light.
Just then, Brett jogged up “What happened to Jade?”
I couldn't believe this night. There must have been a trouble-find-me-beacon flashing or something.
I opened my mouth to tell him to get screwed when Sophie smoothly interjected, “It's her dad, Brett.”
“Yeah, I saw him in the cop car,” a range of emotion swam across Brett's features. “What did he do to her?”
I didn't think he deserved an answer but he wasn't being an total dick. “He was pissed because she was with me.”
“Yeah, he wants her with someone normal.”
“Like you,” I scoffed.
“Maybe,” he admitted, giving me a look.
“Stop, both of you,” Jade said, her face pinched.
“Sorry, Jade,” Brett said.
“It's okay, don't start things with Caleb, please.”
Brett and I stared at each other. I could taste that we were gonna have trouble in the future; like smelling rain right before it started to pour.
I made myself turn away from him to take Jade inside and saw Sophie out of my peripheral vision, walking over to Brett as they spoke softly.
Andrea led us into the family room, Jade walking stiffly over to the couch. Pivoting, we lowered her together as Andrea propped pillows behind her. I looked around briefly, seeing a smiling Jade in every corner, photos framing her childhood.
“Don't look at those, they're dumb,” she said.
“Nah... you look cute,” I said.
She gave me a dopey smile.
Garcia poked his head through the door. “I hate to do this to you...”
“It's okay,” I interrupted. “I can walk home.”
“I just can't have you in the car, as it is, he's fighting it.”
I could hear Jade's dad, hammering his feet against the inside of the car door.
A prince of a guy.
I bent over Jade, giving her a kiss on her forehead. She grabbed a fistful of my shirt, jerking my mouth down on hers, kissing it softly. “There,” she said. “Now you can go.” She smiled through a wash of tears.
Garcia and I left Jade's house, walking back down the path that led to the front gate. He paused just inside the gate. “Did you mean what you said earlier?”
I could have pretended I didn't understand what he meant, a purposeful misunderstanding... but I didn't.
The silence rolled out, and he let it. “Yeah,” I said finally.
Jade's dad was still slamming his feet against the inside of the car. “That gonna hold?” I asked.
“Yes,” Garcia looked at me, taking my measure.
He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “You're a good kid, Caleb. Don't worry so much about what you'll be, just keep doing the right thing, and you'll get where you're meant to go.” With that, he turned, walking over to his cruiser, opening the front passenger side door.
Onyx flew out, bounding over to me, more than a little excited to be out of there. Stroking his head, I couldn't say I blamed him.
CHAPTER 33
I walked through my front door, Onyx at my heels, knowing he didn't need to go out and do his business. He'd peed on everything vertical the entire way home.
Mom spied me from her perch at the kitchen table and rushed over and gave me a bone-crushing hug. I stood there, finally giving her an awkward pat.
I saw Dad watching us, an expression I couldn't read.
“Garcia phoned,” he told me. People didn't phone anymore but my parents still used the expression. “And I think it's time you came clean with us, son. He let us in on a plethora of disturbing occurrences.”
Mom finally released me and we walked over to the couch, Onyx jumping up ahead of me. “Noooo... down, Onyx,” Mom said.
Onyx jumped down on the floor, giving mom the big-eye.
I sat down, my eyes burning with tiredness, grainy and itchy feeling. The pulse-clock read two-ten.
My parents looked tired too. “I know it's late and it goes without saying that you won't be having quite as much 'leash' from your mom and I in the future.”
Duh.
“We know there were extenuating circumstances...Garcia said something about Graysheets?” Mom asked.
I went through the whole story, starting with what was supposed to be a simple exploration of a ghost rumor, through the Graysheets showing up with Parker at their side.
Dad stopped pacing and interrupted with, “They thought they'd take you? Last time I looked, we were still living in America!”
Mom gave him the shush noise so I could continue, which I did. I thought I was tired when I began, but I was so tired at the end of my story my bones ached. I'd never wanted to sleep so bad in my life.
Mom rubbed her eyes and stood, arching her back, small popping sounds filling the silence. “Ahhhh...” she said. “Much better. Well, we can't solve all of this right now, in the middle of the night.”
Dad had his eyes closed, chin resting in the fist of his hand which was balanced on a knee. “Dad?”
He opened his eyes, bloodshot lightning running through them. “Mom's right, but one thing that keeps nagging at me is this EMP phenomena, and...”
Mom and I both rolled our eyes. Unbelievable! I had nearly been kidnapped and Dad was dwelling on the electrical snafu.
Mom was struggling with her patience. “Okay, enlighten us, quickly...what is an EMP?”
“Electromagnetic Pulse,” Dad said.
“Like pulse, pulse?” I asked, a spurt of energy chasing away cobwebs like a sudden breeze.
“No. Not like our pulse technology, but related. Have you asked yourself this, Caleb: what caused everything to stall? The helicopter, everyone's pulses, Garcia's police car? The Graysheets, or whoever they really are, they wouldn't have caused it. It stands to reason that they were well-thought out, planning this since when?”
Turning to Mom he asked, “How long has it been since our house was compromised?”
Mom thought about it. “A month at least.”
“See!” Dad exclaimed, resuming his pacing. “That's what you need to think about, it's the one puzzle piece that doesn't fit. And with that, I am saying goodnight.”
“Are we safe?” Mom asked, a frown on her face.
“For now. I think they'd be fools to attempt to reacquire him.”
Technically it was morning.
“Or maybe they think, we'll think that and then try to take him,” Mom said, worried.
“Don't be anxious,” he said to Mom, then turned to me. “Didn't Officer Gale say that her partner would be outside the house tonight?”
I nodded. “Wade.”
“A reprieve for now; off to bed, that's an order.”
My parents went into their bedroom, softly closing the door. Onyx and I climbed the steps to my room and as I opened the door Onyx nudged it aside and jumped up on top of my bed, circling to find the perfect dog-spot. He finally settled at the foot, giving me just enough room to sink underneath the cov
ers, which I did as I kicked off my clothes.
I was so tired that I was wide awake. It made no sense but that's the way it was; I'd tried to stay awake so long I had gone over the line. I pulled out my pulse and sent a message to Jade, my thumb swiping the pad:
Activated: Just so you know, I love you...CH
I powered it down, putting it on my windowsill, knowing that she was long asleep, that she would wake up to my words glowing on her pulse.
It'd be the first thing she saw.
I started to drift off just as Mom came into my room pulling up the covers until they were just under my chin. She hadn't tucked me in for years. I would have responded but was in that twilight of sleep, just as you're sinking under into unconsciousness but awake enough to be aware.
Her breath was warm on my face as she kissed my forehead, my thoughts ending as sleep pulled me under into dreamless oblivion.
CHAPTER 34
I woke up, feeling like I'd been in our washing machine on spin cycle... for a couple of hours. I opened one eye, trying to chase the blurry sleep out of it with a thorough rub. Ah! Seeing better, I squinted my eyes at the glowing numbers on my computer's monitor.
I leaned forward, one o'clock! I had a moment when I couldn't remember what day it was. Oh yeah, Saturday. I sat there for a second and then the whole night came rushing back in living color: the ghosts, Graysheets, Parker, escaping, Jade's dad and the cherry on top of the miserable cake, Brett.
I flung myself back down again, Onyx crawled up and gave my face a disgusting dog-lick. I absently petted his head, thinking.
I heard Mom downstairs in the kitchen and figured... pancakes.
Surprisingly, I wasn't that hungry. I powered up my pulse and messages came in:
Pulse-me, zombie-master.-MJ
We need a plan... like yesterday- John Terran.
Then, the message that was really cool:
I love you too... JLeC
The Death Series, Books 1-3 Page 36
