by Mikayla Lane
David’s Debt
By Mikayla Lane
Cover art by humblenations.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, affiliations, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Find me on Facebook at:
facebook.com/author.mikaylalane
Thanks so much for all of the reviews, suggestions, and comments.
As always, feel free to email me.
[email protected]
74,626 Words
Ver. 1.0 7-18-2017
Major thanks to the real Carol, Jenny, Kurt and T-Rex. You guys are the best! And to Scott, for just being you. Love you!
First Wave and Second Wave Series in Reading Order
Hunting Cari
Finding Jess
Chasing Dare
Grai’s Game
Viper
Taming Jax
Drago
Grounding Gracus
True Traitor
Mikal
Manipulating Mikey
Saving Koda
Chris
Niklosi’s Nightmare
Haruki
Alderic – Third Wave
David’s Debt
Coming in October 2017 - Declan
Chapter One
He exuded a mixture of fury, pain, and determination as he made his way down the hall. Lt. David Jacobs never noticed the hybrids and aliens giving him a wide berth or the man shadowing his every step.
Suddenly, David slammed into the conference room he’d been looking for and stared at Grai T’Alq, ignoring the others who had been in the middle of a meeting before David stormed inside.
“I need a week off,” David growled, his eyes daring anyone to deny it to him.
Grai stood slowly and sifted David’s energy to try and determine what had caused the usually unflappable Ex-Seal to lose his cool in such a dramatic fashion. Finding only a blind rage that he couldn’t penetrate with his senses, Grai knew he’d have to press the issue.
“Please excuse us for a moment,” Grai asked the group around the table and waited while they scrambled out the door before he turned back David.
“You can have all the time off that you need. Is this something we can help you with?” Grai pressed gently, trying not to enrage the man further.
David’s fists clenched and he shook his head.
“No, this shit is personal. It’s a debt I owe that has been called in. I just need the time off to take care of it,” David growled, unable to contain his anger.
“I’ll have a small transport readied for you,” Grai offered, still trying to figure out what had set David off.
David looked ready to bark out a response when he nodded his head.
“I just need an SUV and a drop in the desert near Nevada,” David replied, readjusting his plans in his mind.
The sooner I get this over with, the better for everyone, David thought to himself.
“You got it. I’ll have it ready for you within the hour. Is that OK?” Grai asked, still trying to ferret out any clues to what was going on.
“Yeah, it’s just dandy,” David growled before he stormed back out the door the same way he entered, never acknowledging the man behind him.
“What the hell just happened?” Grai demanded.
“He got a phone call while we were training,” Traze began, glancing towards the door with concern before facing his brother. “I’ve never seen him so pale. He looked like a ghost and literally crushed the phone in his hand.”
“What was the call about?” Grai asked, even more worried about the man he considered a friend.
“All I heard was an electronically modified voice saying that his legal debt was being called in and an order to meet at some coordinates by the end of the week. I don’t know if it was personal or what,” Traze replied, trying to figure out what it meant.
Grai pointed at the now closed door.
“That looked pretty damn personal to me.” Grai thought about the situation for a moment. “I don’t think it’d be wise for him to be alone. In the state he’s in, mistakes can be made that can’t be undone. He’s too vulnerable.”
“I’m following him. There’s no way I’m leaving him like that,” Traze countered, uncaring what his brother thought of it.
Traze loved David like a father/brother and wouldn’t let the man face whatever he was heading into by himself.
“Try to stay hidden. David doesn’t look like he’s in the mood to be followed,” Grai advised.
“He’ll never know I’m there,” Traze promised with a cocky grin as he headed for the door.
“You better keep me updated. I don’t want to see this on the comm’s or worldwide news before finding out from you!” Grai called out after his retreating brother.
Traze waved and grinned before closing the door behind him.
Grai wasted no time pulling up David’s personnel file, and all of the information gathered from his military records. He noted something he’d missed before and grabbed his comm to dig further.
Moments later, Grai cursed as he saw the separation papers and the legal debt David must have been referring to. He sent another call through the shengari’ to the only other person he knew might be able to help his friend. He grinned at Gibly’s swift response.
*****
David threw his duffel bag into the passenger seat and drove the SUV out of the transport. He tapped on the GPS and entered the coordinates he’d been given over the phone. He’d already checked them a dozen times before, seen the satellite images, and had memorized where he was going, but David refused to waste a second getting there.
I want this over with, David thought. It’s been 10 years too long in coming.
He struggled to bring the memories under control and concentrated on the dusty and desolate road that would take him to the finality of his nightmares. He drove another hour then pulled into a small roadside diner to get some information before arriving at his destination.
David pulled into the almost empty parking lot and strode inside. He took the table in the very back and sat facing the door as a small woman moved to stand next to him.
“What you want to drink, honey?”
“Coffee please,” David replied as he took the laminated menu from the table and began to peruse it.
“Coming right up,” the waitress muttered as she headed to the small but clean counter.
David barely read anything on the menu as his thoughts returned to why he was here.
“Here you go, honey. Have you decided?” the waitress asked, setting a steaming mug in front of him.
“The special is fine,” David answered, saying the only thing he’d actually read on the menu.
David never noticed the strange looks the waitress was giving the cook and the only other customer in the place.
A few minutes later when she returned to fill his cup, David finally looked up at the middle-aged woman.
“Do you know anything about this area? The best camping places or anything?” he asked, noting the way her eyes flared slightly at the question.
“Nope, we got nothing like that around here,” the waitress replied and headed back towards the kitchen.
Why is she lying? David wondered, knowing he was only two miles from his destination.
David saw the waitress and cook looking intently at one another and sifted the energy out of curiosity. He was surprised that he felt nothing. There was no immediate bounce back of the energy he’d released. It was as if his energy had disappeared. Curious and more than a lit
tle unnerved, David casually sipped his coffee and tried it again with the same results.
When the waitress was returning to the table, David made a point to brush his hand against hers as she set the plate down. Even the physical contact didn’t allow him to sense even a slight tremble of energy in the woman.
They’re blocking me, David thought in surprise.
He was a Prime. And although David was still learning his abilities, he’d never been blocked before while sifting. He looked more carefully at the retreating waitress and the only other customer in the diner. Both of them, including the cook, were intentionally avoiding eye contact with him and their body language suggested they were guarded and wary.
But why? David wondered.
He slowly sipped his coffee while he studied the others and picked at the food on his plate. David was waiting for the waitress to return to the table when he suddenly felt lightheaded and immediately knew he’d made a grave error.
David stumbled to his feet and grabbed the table to steady himself as he tried to fight the heaviness in his mind to call out on the shengari’. Instead, he was overcome with weakness and slid to his knees on the floor.
Through his rapidly blurring vision, David saw three figures approaching and knew it was the cook, waitress, and the customer. David pulled the throwing knives from the hidden sheaths in his pants and faced the three.
“You’re going to regret this,” David ground out in rage.
The largest shadow, the one David assumed was the cook, chuckled and shook his head.
“You better wake the hell up real damn quickly, son. Your stupidity stopped being funny years ago. It’s time you became the man you should have been before you ran like a coward from your responsibilities!” the man roared at David.
David was getting ready to respond, his body and beast fighting the drugs trying to paralyze him when the door burst open. A small black blur raced to stand in front of David while a familiar and welcome voice made David grin.
“Man, can’t leave you alone for a second before you become a victim of some inbred and mutant desert people!” Traze teased while his eyes remained glued to the trio backing away from David.
“He be OK!” Gibly called out and dropped a med kit in front of David.
As much as David would have loved to be angry at the two for following him, he was grateful they had and pulled open the kit for the drug reversal formulas recently created by Amun and Lauren. Seconds after slapping the band on his wrist, David’s vision began to rapidly clear, and he stood to face the defiant trio who’d tried to immobilize him.
“Who the hell are you and what did you mean? What do you know about that campground?” David demanded, clenching his fists while he stalked towards the cook.
The tall, broad man threw back his shoulders and glared at David in disgust.
“You should have let us take you there. Now you can face the Sentinel’s wrath!” the cook spat at David in fury.
“Sentinel? Oooh! I’m so scared!” Traze snapped back, leveling his gun on the guy.
The man David thought was a customer turned blazing eyes to the cocky Traze.
“I hope he takes that disrespectful tongue from your mouth,” the man growled.
Traze just laughed while Gibly poofed out his fur then slowly licked his paw as if they weren’t trapped in a standoff with some crazy local people.
“Look, I’m not here for trouble. I have some business to attend in that campground and only want to get it over with, then I’ll be gone. Why the hell did you drug me?” David demanded, pissed off that he’d been blindsided by the motley group and with no idea as to why.
The waitress cackled with laughter while the cook and customer chuckled. It did little to calm David’s increasing anger.
“We were trying to save your life!” the waitress finally spat. “The Sentinel has lost patience over the last years while waiting for you to remember your duty! We sought to make sure you’d live long enough to do the right thing.”
“What the hell are you people talking about? I think you got the wrong guy!” David snapped.
“Go to the grounds and take care of your business. If you try to run, you won’t make it far,” the cook snarled. “If you turn coward this time, it will be your last.”
“You have no damn idea who you’re talking too, dickhead, and the only thing that won’t make it out alive is you and your creepy diner of irradiated mutants,” Traze barked.
“We need to go,” Gibly advised as he swished his tail and headed to the door.
David signaled Traze to back towards the door and followed him, keeping his eyes on the still defiant trio in front of him. Once they cleared the door, both men ran towards the SUV as Gibly jumped inside through the open window and into the backseat.
Seconds later, they were roaring down the road towards the campground and what else, David didn’t know.
“You want to explain that?” Traze asked with a grin as they sped through the desert.
David shook his head, running every moment of the encounter through his mind to try and understand what had happened back there.
“I can honestly say, I’m more confused than you right now,” David admitted.
Gibly peeked his furry head between the seats and looked out of the windshield.
“It’s time to heal the past, and you’re a little late. But the Sentinel will understand,” Gibly pronounced.
David nearly ran off the road as he turned to look at the smiling cat.
“You know what that was all about?” David asked.
“You know as well. You just refuse to see. I try to help you, but you stubborn and a Prime,” Gibly replied with a snort.
“Will someone make some goddamn sense? Please!” David snapped, stomping on the gas pedal in his frustration.
They crested a hill, and David slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel sending the SUV sliding sideways until it came to a sudden stop. David jumped out of the vehicle to make sure he didn’t hit anyone and was surprised to see the line of people holding out their hands in front of them.
“What the hell?” Traze snapped as he got out of the SUV and stood beside his mentor and friend.
David took in the entrance to the campground, blocked by the line of people, and shook his head at how screwed up this had become.
“I don’t know who the hell you are, and I don’t care either,” David growled in frustration. “I’m here to see someone at their request, now step aside!”
No one moved or spoke as a large man made his way through the line of people to stand in front of David, a smaller woman beside him.
“You can’t even say who it is, can you? After all this time, you’re still as dumb as you were back then. Let me warn you, boy, you better man up this time, or I’ll personally rip off your balls and feed them to the vultures,” the man growled.
“Who the hell are you and where is Jodi Jacobs?” David demanded.
“I’m T-Rex, and you’re going nowhere near Jodi until the Sentinel allows it,” the large man growled back.
“Gibly!” a young voice called out from the back of the crowd and David watched in surprise as the cat bounded through the line of people and disappeared.
“What the hell did you get us into?” Traze asked David through the shengari’. Maybe we should call Grai?
The crowd began to part behind the man called T-Rex and David watched as a small hand appeared on the guy’s waist before he stepped aside.
David looked into the blue eyes staring at him and began to hyperventilate as his mind started to shut down, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
“Sentinel? Are you sure?” T-Rex asked the small boy.
“Yes. Gibly said he’s ready now, and Mom can’t wait any longer,” the boy assured the large man before he turned back to David. “It’s time, isn’t it Father?”
“Holy shit!” Traze whispered in shock as he stared at David, then the perfect miniaturized version of his mentor.
&n
bsp; “Where the hell is my wife?” David finally choked out.
“Your wife?” Traze asked.
He couldn’t believe that after more than four years together, David had never once mentioned that he had a wife and small son. Traze was going to ask more, when the child turned to him, raised a hand and sent a golden stream of energy to seal his mouth shut.
“Traze, I have seen you in my father’s dreams. I know you are a good man, but right now others need to speak,” the boy said as his eyes glowed with a familiar golden energy.
The boy turned to David.
“Father, it is time we got to know one another in something other than your dreams,” the boy said as his eyes glowed with the power of the ancient Prime beast that resided in his brain.
Chapter Two
David stared in shock at the perfect copy of himself as a child and struggled to understand what was going on. He looked to Gibly for an explanation and was surprised to note that the cat was purring loudly and rubbing himself on the boy’s legs.
“Who are you?” David croaked out.
“He’s not real bright is he?” the woman beside T-Rex asked with a disgusted snort.
“Patience, Crazy Carol. He’s just surprised that his dreams were real,” the boy whispered with a smile at the woman before he turned blazing golden-flecked eyes to David. “But we don’t have time for ignorance either.”
“What is going on? Who are you?” David snapped, tired of being insulted and desperate to know the truth about the boy.
“I am Tiernan Jacobs. You’ll recognize my name as the one you and Mom said you’d name your first born son. She kept her word,” the boy replied.
“You’re my son? How?” David asked stupidly, knowing the truth as he stared at the exact copy of himself standing in front of him.
“I told you. A hundred times in your dreams. Gibly even tried to help when you assumed they were only nightmares. He helped me lead you to Jax. Where you eventually found Abexis and learned of what you are,” Tiernan explained patiently.
“What the hell are you talking about? Where is your mother? I need to speak to Jodi,” David muttered gruffly, trying to piece it all together in his mind but nothing made sense.
