Grim Judgment

by Jennifer Reinfried

  “I...I appreciate you telling me this.” Bruce lowered his eyes. “I love my sons more than anything in this life. I only want what’s best for them. I know I’ve made some high quality fuck ups in the past, and regret many of them, but one that I’d never change is the birth of either of those boys.”

  Grant glanced at their employer, never one to be keen on personal drama or confessions, but kept quiet.

  “At first, I thought that staying hidden was best for them,” Bruce continued. “But I know now that it was just my cowardice talking. I was afraid. Afraid of how they’d react if they found out I worked for you. I didn’t know Shawn was Grim. I refused to even believe Shawn could do the things Grim has done. In all honesty, they scare me. I’ve seen what Jaxon can do. Felt how strong Shawn is. Together, they are a dangerous pair, but I also know what’s in their hearts. They’re misguided, and that’s no one’s fault but mine. I wasn’t there for them these last few years. If I had been, I could have stopped their attacks on other people, prevented them from using their powers. I’ve been such an idiot, sir. A lying, cowardly asshole.”

  Eager to move on, Grant reached forward and clapped the man on the back, knocking him off balance slightly in his enthusiasm. “But that’s what you’re going to go correct, right? Your cowardice?”

  Bruce let out a short laugh. “Yeah.” He stood as well. “It’s about time I do the right thing, even if confronting them scares the hell out of me right now. If I just talk to them, to Jax, I know I can get them to see reason. Once I find Duncan and wipe Jaxon, he’ll have forgotten his powers once more.”

  “Good man.” Vance shook Bruce’s hand once more, then led him out of the room, down the bunker, and to the only exit. With a nod from the Russian, the armed men guarding the door let Bruce slip out of his sight.

  “I’ll track him after finding Isaac,” Grant said once Bruce was gone. “We’ll get to this Duncan and wipe out his entire crew. But Bruce could just lead Jaxon here.”

  “All the more reason for you to hurry,” Vance replied. “I’m staying right here.”

  “Sir, I’d like to stress the importance of switching bases.”

  “And I will again decline.” Vance grinned. “If Volk cannot reason with the monster, take the fight out of him, then he will bring the fight to us. Personally, I would love to murder the piece of shit that has been ruining my life.”

  —-

  Shawn stared down at Isaac, who had frozen while sitting on the edge of his cot, elbows on his thighs, hands clasped between his knees. With Shawn’s new vision, he took in the boyish features, the curly brown hair, the intense green eyes of the man Jaxon said was Emma’s partner and possible lover. He felt his anger rise, but it wasn’t the solid rage he had felt any time he’d confronted other criminals as Grim. Instead, this anger had a green tinge to it, that of jealousy, betrayal, and hurt.

  “Unfreeze him,” Jaxon uttered from Shawn’s left.

  “Remember,” Mari said, “just scare him a little, see if that helps Aaron get any further answers.”

  “I know. I will.”

  She touched his shoulder, and he laid a hand on Shawn’s arm, who in turn clasped Aaron’s. Duncan reached out and lightly put his fingers on the blond man’s back. With the five of them surrounding Isaac, the already small room was quite crowded, and they hovered menacingly over the man on the cot. As time resumed, Shawn watched Isaac’s face as it first flashed with confusion, then sudden and intense fear.

  “The fuck?” Isaac sprung to his feet, his mouth open in shock. Before anyone could speak, Jaxon lunged forward, grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, and shoved him backward into the wall next to the cot. Shawn could hear the breath shoot out of Isaac as he connected with concrete, taking small satisfaction in the sound his skull made as it smacked into the wall.

  “Jaxon,” Duncan said quietly. He took a step forward, but otherwise stayed still.

  “Where the fuck is Vance, you piece of shit?” Jaxon screamed.

  Isaac’s eyes were wide, full of pure terror.

  “I...I...I don’t know!” he stammered.

  “Of course you do. You were there.”

  “He moves constantly. I swear, by now, he’s long gone.”

  “Then tell us where you were before.” Jaxon growled in his face.

  “Wa...Washington. Somewhere in Washington.”

  “Where?” Jaxon yelled, and slammed the man into the wall again, using the full force of his body.

  “I told you already, I was unconscious. Drugged. I don’t know!”

  Shawn watched as his brother ungracefully interrogated Isaac. He knew the criminal might be the key to finding and taking Vance out before the Russian could come after them, but what Aaron told him previously, which was matching up with what Isaac was still saying, brought a twinge of doubt to the back of Shawn’s mind. He stepped forward.

  “Where is Emma?” He placed a light hand on Jaxon’s shoulder. His brother started, then let go of Isaac.

  “I have no idea. I told you that already. She ran, left that same night.” Isaac looked into Shawn’s eyes with a pleading stare. “I was taken away, drugged, she said she was leaving but I couldn’t follow.”

  “He’s not lying,” Aaron said from behind Shawn.

  Isaac made a helpless gesture with his hands. “Look, man, we were just doing our job.”

  “Funny,” Jaxon snarled. “That’s the same thing the Nazis said. If you can’t tell us the truth about anything we ask, we are prepared to get what we want with force.”

  Shawn flicked his eyes at his brother, then looked back at Isaac, who was struggling to wipe the fear from his face.

  “I have told you the truth. He knows it!” Isaac pointed at Aaron.

  “He’s not lying, Jax.”

  “I don’t believe him.”

  Suddenly, Isaac screamed out and hunched forward. Shawn and Jaxon both stepped backward, letting the man crumple to the floor, one hand clutching the right side of his stomach.

  “That’s where you were stabbed, right?” Jaxon asked in a barely audible whisper that sent chills down Shawn’s spine. He looked at his brother again, wariness coupling with the doubt he felt.

  “Jaxon—” Duncan moved forward, but shied back as the man whipped around and glared at him with hatred.

  Isaac writhed on the floor, now on his side, sweat dotting his forehead, eyes squeezed shut. “Stop,” he gasped. “Please.”

  “Where is Vance?” Jaxon demanded.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where is Emma?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “Who killed Cassie?”

  “Alex! Alex!” Isaac gasped as whatever pain he was feeling seemed to vanish. He opened his eyes and stared forward along the floor, panting.

  “Get him up,” Jaxon said to Shawn, who knelt down and grasped Isaac by the arm.

  “Stop him. Please,” Isaac said softly, making eye contact. Shawn held his gaze for a moment, then easily pulled him to his feet. He stared around wildly, still breathing in heavy gasps. He stood with his back against the wall once again, inching away from the group, palms flat against the concrete.

  “I’m not finished with you,” Jaxon yelled suddenly, and his head twitched in a violent motion.

  Isaac screamed again, but the sound was cut short. His eyes widened, staring past Jaxon with a distant sheen. He made a choking gasp and clutched at his chest with both hands, pulling on his shirt. He fell to his knees without taking a breath.

  “That’s enough!” Duncan surged forward.

  Isaac continued to struggle, his face turning red.

  Shawn looked at Jaxon and felt a chill shoot through his intestines at the sight of his brother’s face, contorted in a manic, joyous grin. With an internal start, he thought, Is that how I look behind my mask? The feet of Isaac’s cot began to rattle against the floor, and the small table shook.

  “Mari! Mari!” Duncan yelled. Contact between the five was quickly made, with Shawn qui
ckly touching Jaxon, and then the world fell silent as it stopped.

  “What the fuck was that? Let it go!” Jaxon rounded on Mari, who shied back against Aaron.

  “I told you we aren’t monsters!” Duncan deftly moved between Jaxon and the other Synths. Shawn watched from behind his brother, next to Isaac. As the two exchanged harsh words, Shawn looked down at the agony in Isaac’s frozen face, and a thought crashed into his mind: Is this what we’ve become? Is this what I want to be?

  A wind slowly picked up in the small room, causing a fear beyond terror to wash over Duncan’s face. “No, Jax. No!” He reached forward, but was pushed back harshly.

  Aaron pulled Mari behind him, his eyes hard and focused on the threat in front of him. His face was flushed, causing his scar to stand out. He flicked his gaze over to Shawn, and when their eyes locked, Shawn knew what he had to do. He reached up with a fist and snapped it down on the back of Jaxon’s skull, knocking his brother unconscious in a fast motion. He reached forward and caught him as he fell, body limp, arms dangling. Shawn wrestled with conflicting emotions as he held his brother with one arm, looking at Duncan helplessly.

  Mari was the first to speak, her hair mussed as if she’d just woken from a deep sleep. “Goddammit,” she said breathlessly. “Duncan, we can’t—”

  “I know,” he replied, eyes on Isaac. “Let’s get him out of here.”

  Shawn pulled the overpowered Jaxon from the room, his face fixed in an expression that seemed to match everyone else’s, one full of disbelief and outrage.

  —-

  Mari appeared out of thin air in front of Isaac, who was sitting on his cot, head in his hands. “Jaxon wants to torture you to death,” she said harshly. “I’m not going to allow that asshole to do it. I can hold time for about half an hour, so you should have a good head start once I finally have to release it.”

  “What? What the fuck?” Isaac flew to his feet at her words, his mind recalling the agony he’d felt as Jaxon’s mind ripped into him earlier that day.

  “I’m sick of him blaming everyone else, sick of his revenge talk. He’s gone off the deep end, and I don’t want anyone in his warpath, even you.”

  “Why not? You guys seemed pretty hateful toward me so far.”

  “Because I wasn’t raised to treat anyone the way he just treated you. Yeah, you’re a criminal, but...oh, I don’t know, you’re not that bad.”

  “I’ve killed people.” Isaac flinched, unsure as to why he was trying to make himself sound worse.

  “So has Shawn, and he’s a great guy from what I’ve seen. I don’t know, I just...I don’t want to be a part of torture, or of anyone’s death. I’ve already gone through vengeful hate once before, and I don’t want to again. I just want things to go back to the way they were, with us and Duncan out here, and no one around to bother us. We were happy before we got involved with this shit.”

  “How can I trust this?” Isaac’s fingers began to tremble at the thought of Jaxon’s wrath being turned on him again, but he knew he had to get out of there whole, intact, if he was ever going to get to Emma.

  “You can’t,” Mari said in an exasperated tone. “But I’m letting you out regardless. It’s your choice.” She turned away, and Isaac realized for the first time the door was open.

  “How do you do that?” he asked as he hesitantly followed her.

  “Would take too long to explain. I will say, though, that it takes a lot longer than it seems to.”

  He shook his head as if to clear it. “Why do I have the feeling I’ve—”

  “Done this before?” Mari glanced at him over one shoulder as they exited the room. “Some people have more acute minds than others. Those affected by my freeze can have a very intense feeling of déjà vu, which I’m sure Naomi here will be feeling soon.”

  As they left the room, Isaac saw another woman, brown-skinned with pale grey eyes, leaning against the wall by his door, no doubt his guard for the night.

  “Hurry,” said a voice behind him. Isaac whirled, his stomach leaping into his throat. His eyes took in the shaggy brown hair and handsome face of Shawn.

  “The fuck?” Isaac cried, staggering back.

  “He’s helping me, dumbass,” Mari hissed.

  Isaac stared at Shawn for a moment, who simply stared back, unease and dislike in his gaze.

  “Oh,” he said. “Right.” Isaac turned and followed Mari again, casting a wary look here and there over his shoulder as Shawn kept up behind them. They moved up the basement steps and through the house. They passed the kitchen, where Aaron was frozen in the middle of a bite of cereal drowned in milk. A large drip of the liquid hung motionless between the bottom of his spoon and the bowl beneath it. They passed through a hallway, the front door in sight, standing open.

  “Why are you doing this?” Isaac asked as they stepped out onto the porch.

  “I already told you,” Mari said.

  “Not you.” Isaac turned to Shawn, who looked uncomfortable for a moment before he replied.

  “When I saw how wild with hate Jaxon had become, when I watched him hurting you, I realized that we’d become just like the monsters we wanted to take down.”

  Isaac blinked.

  “My entire life, I thought that ridding the world of criminals was the right thing to do.” Shawn frowned, eyes still locked with Isaac’s. “But I was wrong.” He looked at Mari, who stayed silent. “Before coming here, I killed someone. A cop on Vance’s side. She was going to kill me, had shot at me. It was self defense, and I didn’t think twice. Now, all I can think of is the fact that she left behind a family. The information we have tells me she was recently widowed.” His brow furrowed deeply. “I left a child to be raised as an orphan. That...that was not my right.” He looked back at Isaac, hurt and sorrow in his gaze. “It was never my right to pass that judgment on anyone.”

  “Emma didn’t hurt Cassie,” Isaac said quickly. “Neither did I. That was never our intent.”

  “So I’ve heard,” Shawn replied coldly.

  “We know you didn’t, Isaac,” Mari said. “Aaron was very clear on that.”

  “Neither did Emma.”

  “Well, we don’t have her here to ask, and you weren’t present during Cassie’s death.”

  “I told you.” Isaac continued to stare into Shawn’s eyes, which, he finally realized, stared back at him. Instead of voicing his confusion, he said, “Alex took her. Alex forced her to watch. Emma’s a good person. She’s never even killed anyone before.” He attempted to repress the memory of Emma stabbing her captor back in Redborough, just in case.

  “Where is she?” Shawn asked suddenly, almost pleading.

  Isaac paused. Aaron was frozen, but he thought only of Emma’s kiss on the roof. “I truly don’t know. I promise you that.” His heart raced. Shawn watched him a moment longer, then looked away.

  “Your coat is on the railing. There.” Mari pointed. “They busted your cell phone before bringing you here, though. In case you were being tracked. I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you, Mari.” It was the first time he’d addressed her by name, and at that, her gaze flickered.

  “Get far away.” Her voice was soft.

  “Won’t Jaxon kill you for this? Both of you?”

  Shawn smiled. “Jaxon might be unstable, but he isn’t evil. Besides, we’re just going to pretend you escaped. He’ll be pissed, but won’t be able to blame anyone.”

  Isaac turned to flee, then hesitated, eyes still on Mari. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

  “Go. Now.”

  He ran.

  —-

  Shawn stared at the spot Isaac had disappeared. “Well.” He glanced at Mari. “It starts.”

  She looked at him, an uncomfortable expression on her face. The cold night, which had been purely silent, suddenly sprang back to life. Stars twinkled again, and light, lazy snowflakes trickled down from the sky. Mari didn’t turn around when the front door opened behind them.

  “You’re sure we need to d
o this?” she asked quietly.

  Duncan put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Glancing at Shawn, he said, “I’m sure.”

  Shawn scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. “He’s right, Mari. We need to ensure Naomi’s premonition is right. Otherwise—”

  “Yeah, yeah. If we don’t have every single person present in the vision on the same page, we might fuck it up, and Jaxon could still kill us all. I get it.” She sighed. “How much of a head start do we give him?”

  “Not a lot.”

  “And Jax?” She finally turned her gaze on Duncan.

  He scratched his beard, looking nervous. “We stick to our story: Isaac escaped when Naomi was on shift and went to the bathroom. She, Lucas, Jax, and I will go to my cabin in Salt Lake City while I pretend to send you, Shawn, and Aaron to “capture” the escapee. We’ll convene in Salt Lake.”

  “My brother’s going to be furious.” Shawn frowned, still watching their snowy surroundings.

  “He won’t turn his rage on us if he thinks Isaac escaped,” Aaron said, finally stepping out onto the porch. He stretched. “Duncan and Naomi will be fine, especially with Lucas protecting them.” He turned toward the older man. “Right?”

  Duncan smiled faintly and nodded. “We need those with the strongest powers to follow Isaac. Lucas will watch over us.” He turned his gaze on Shawn. “Now go. Don’t lose track of him. And for God’s sake, don’t be seen.”

  —-

  Jaxon’s eyes fluttered open to the sound of silence. He blinked once, then again, hard, vision slightly blurry.

  “What the f—” He gasped as he sat up, a sharp ache in the back of his skull. A rustling sounded to his left, and he turned, eyes, careful to do so slowly to avoid another surge of pain.

  The room was shrouded in darkness, but Jaxon could just make out the shape of Shawn. He sat in a small chair next to the bed, asleep, head tilted back. A thin white blanket draped over the lower half of his torso and legs. His features were barely discernable in the dark room. He didn’t move as Jaxon quietly sat up, rubbing the back of his head where a small but impressive lump had formed.

  What happened? I had been questioning that prick in the basement. He remembered reaching into Isaac’s chest with his mind, finding his heart, squeezing. Duncan tried to stop me, and then...then...did I pass out? He looked at Shawn. No...he wouldn’t have...