Jaden Baker

by Courtney Kirchoff

  Jaden woke when he heard someone fiddling with something. He opened his eyes and tried adjusting them to the semi-darkness of the room. This was a hospital, he remembered. Someone fussed with Libby’s chart at the foot of her bed. As his eyes came into focus, Jaden saw a tall man, and he wasn’t wearing scrubs or a white coat, but a suit. He put Libby’s chart back and walked to the bedside. The glow from the many monitors illuminated his face: Chad Dalton.

  Jaden was glad it was Libby’s heart being monitored, not his own. He didn’t change his position, but squinted at Dalton.

  More gray streaked through Dalton’s auburn hair, and his tanned face was etched with more winkles than when Jaden last saw him, but it was the same Dalton. He watched his daughter with fondness and sadness, evident in his electric blue eyes. Like Jaden, Dalton took Libby’s hand into his, kissed the back of it, and his eyes glistened.

  “Oh sweetie,” Dalton whispered, touching her shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

  She moaned and turned toward him, and Jaden knew she’d wake soon, aware that someone touched her.

  “Daddy?” she asked.

  “Hi sweetie,” he said, putting a hand to her face, smiling sadly at her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I was called. I’m sorry I couldn’t get her sooner, I was at a conference in Denver.”

  Jaden stirred and squeezed her hand, hoping she would remember Jaden was there, put the pieces together without asking Dalton.

  “Who called you?” she asked.

  Jaden saw Dalton look at him, but if there was recognition, it didn’t show on Dalton’s face. “I think it was your friend over there.”

  Don’t say my name, don’t say my name, Jaden thought, squeezing Libby’s hand. She turned her head to face him. He opened his eyes to connect with her.

  “Oh,” Libby said. She thought about something, then faced her father. “You came for me.”

  Dalton grinned. “Yes, as soon as I could get here. Oh Molly, honey, we’ve wondered where you were. I’m so sorry this is how I found you.”

  Jaden kept his opinion to himself, though he wanted to ask how hard could she have been to find? What, was there no record of a name change? It was the digital age, anyone could be found. Was a private detective never in their budget?

  “Didn’t you look for me?” Libby asked. Jaden was glad her thoughts matched his.

  Dalton hesitated. “We didn’t think you wanted to be found.”

  “Bullshit,” Jaden muttered before he could stop himself.

  Dalton looked up, and Libby turned her head to Jaden.

  Silence dominated. After several uncomfortable moments, Jaden cleared his throat and shrugged. “Didn’t mean to interrupt,” he grumbled. He shut his eyes, but he knew his cover was blown.

  “What’s important is I’m here now. I read over your chart and spoke with your doctors. They say you’re going to be fine.”

  Ten years and the only thing that changed was his appearance. Dalton was the same self-absorbed, arrogant, piece of crap he’d always been. Jaden fought to keep his face even and not smirk at the obvious lie and false sentiment he gave to his daughter. She deserved better than him for a father.

  Despite her being pumped full of pain medication, Libby was still lucid enough to detect his pompousness. When she next groaned, Jaden heard irritation. He wanted to apologize for calling, but the hospital needed her vital information, which Jaden didn’t know.

  “I’m tired,” Libby said, and that wasn’t a lie. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow morning,” she mumbled, already drifting to sleep again. “Kiss me goodnight,” she sighed, and Dalton pecked her on the cheek, smiling.

  Jaden’s face burned, and he wanted to kick Dalton.

  “No,” Libby muttered faintly. “I meant Jaden.”

  Dalton and Jaden locked gazes simultaneously, as if their eyes were on a trigger. Dalton stared in shock, Jaden in confidence. The proverbial ball was in his court now. The tables had turned. The tides had changed.

  Libby hadn’t recognized her error, but Jaden didn’t care. He was happy she wanted his goodnight kiss, not her father’s. He bent over, cupped her face in his hand and gently kissed her lips, smiling as she did.

  “Goodnight,” he whispered.

  “G’night,” she breathed.

  Dalton pushed away from the bed and left the room clumsily. Jaden kissed Libby’s swollen cheek then pat her shoulder and followed Dalton out.

  thirty-two

  Dalton had not gotten far. Jaden was fiendishly satisfied to see him jogging through the hall. Jaden pursued at a leisurely pace. When Dalton checked if he was being followed, Jaden made an empty gurney roll in his path. Dalton crashed, stumbled, and fell. As he scrambled, the gurney fell on top of him, tangling his legs. Jaden closed the distance.

  “Need some help?” Jaden asked, smirking despite himself. He picked Dalton up by his ear and coat collar, causing Dalton to cry out. “I’m sorry, does that hurt?” Jaden simpered.

  They came to a stairwell. Jaden threw Dalton into the door, pushing it open. Dalton careened into the stairway, tripping over his own legs as he descended, trying to get away. Jaden slammed him into a wall. Dalton grunted.

  “Oops,” Jaden said. “My mistake. Thought it was a door.”

  He knew his actions were infantile, petty, and not proportionate to what Dalton had put him through. But that didn’t stop him from taking pleasure in it. On some level this was justice—small, but immediate.

  Dalton tripped on a bottom step then fell to his knees and elbows. Jaden hoisted him up by his hair, spun him around, and shoved him against the wall, holding Dalton’s throat in his tightening hand. Dalton’s own hands scratched at Jaden’s.

  “Relax,” Jaden said as he searched Dalton’s coat. Pen, wallet, cell phone. “If I had wanted to kill you I could’ve done it a long time ago. But we all make mistakes.” Jaden stuffed his pockets with Dalton’s things. Today Dalton’s tie was green checkers. It made Jaden smile. “You and I need to have a little chat.”

  Dalton spluttered, his face turning purple under Jaden’s vice grip.

  “What?” Jaden asked. “I can’t understand you. Oh, silly me, I’m choking you.” Jaden eased up on his grip. “I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it must be to have something around your neck like that. Oh wait,” Jaden said, grinning, “yes I do!” He spun Dalton about and rammed him through a door, which opened when Dalton hit. He spilled to the floor on the other side.

  Jaden grabbed Dalton’s elbow, jerked him up.

  “Is everything okay?” asked a nurse, startled.

  “Peachy,” Jaden said, smiling at her. “We’re old friends. Go back a long way. Don’t we, Chad?” he asked, pounding Dalton’s back with his hand.

  “Yes,” Dalton answered, faking a smile. “We know each other.”

  Jaden gave the nurse a curt nod, then escorted Dalton into the cafeteria.

  Because the night was late, the room was sparsely occupied. Jaden led them to a booth in the far corner and tossed Dalton into it. “I’d ask if you wanted anything, but that would be polite,” Jaden said. “See, I didn’t have parents growing up, so a lot of the finer things, like manners, are lost on me.” He picked up a tray and loaded it with plastic wrapped sandwiches, potato chips, and a few bags of cookies, then got several bottles of lemonade. From Dalton’s wallet he withdrew two twenties, and tossed them at the cashier, insisting he keep the change.

  The tray was heavy with food. Battling Christine had depleted him of much needed energy, and now that he knew Libby was safe, it was time to replenish. He sat opposite Dalton and unwrapped the first sandwich. They had all night to talk; he had to eat first.

  “How long have you been in Seattle?” Dalton asked. The journey from Libby’s room to this booth had rendered him disheveled, and when he spoke it was with clear anxiety. Moving his mouth must have given Dalton some comfort. Dalton loved exercising his lips.

  Jaden chewed, wondering whether or not he
was going to answer Dalton’s questions. He decided not to. His life wasn’t Dalton’s business. This sandwich wasn’t as good as the ones Libby made. Once he finished it, he crumpled the plastic wrap and popped open a bag of potato chips.

  “Who’s Christine?” Jaden asked.

  Dalton blanched. “How do you know about Christine?”

  “She threw Libby in front of a car. Threw all kinds of other things, too. She’s PK, just like me. So who is she?”

  Dalton’s eyebrows went up. “Christine is here?”

  Jaden wasn’t equipped with the patience for this. “Yes, now answer my question before I get bored and mop the floor with your brains after I flip you upside down and beat your head on the ground.”

  He folded his hands and sat back in the booth. “We found Christine when she was fifteen.”

  “‘We’? Archcroft?”

  Dalton nodded. “You know the name?”

  “I ask the questions,” Jaden said. He unwrapped another sandwich, opened a bottle of lemonade. “Where did you find her?”

  “Sacramento.”

  Jaden made a face. “That’s it? Please, I know you better than I’d like. Brevity isn’t you.”

  Dalton swallowed. “We got reports, or I should say, heard rumors, of poltergeist activity in her neighborhood. Christine’s mother had died a few years previously, so she was living with her abusive stepfather and his teenage son.”

  Poltergeist activity. Jaden had done a little of that himself.

  “And?” Jaden prompted.

  “And when I got there to investigate it was too late. Christine had killed them both. They were found on the ceiling, held there with kitchen knives.”

  Jaden stopped chewing.

  “What did they do to her?” he asked, but suspected the answer.

  “They molested her for years. That’s how the PK manifested, and over time she got more control, until she had enough and eliminated both of her tormentors.”

  He resumed chewing. The image of two men tacked to a ceiling with steak knives was hard to drive from his mind. Libby said she was crazy. Christine had good reason to be.

  “So you took her. Why?” he asked. “She could have slaughtered your family, including Libby.”

  Dalton waited before answering, deciding on his words. “Claire took her from a group home and promised her it wouldn’t happen again. We gave her a lot of space and put her through therapy. She came around. She’s still slightly unstable.”

  “Claire?” Jaden asked. “Claire the orthodontist? She’s your wife?” Jaden asked, another mystery solved. His captivity had been a family affair.

  “Yes, she’s my wife. Christine trusts women, not men. So that’s Christine.”

  Jaden got the impression Dalton was withholding crucial information.

  “Why was she in Seattle?”

  Dalton shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s been living on her own for years, she does what she wants. Archcroft supports whatever lifestyle she needs.”

  “In exchange for what?” Jaden asked. “Was she sent here to find me?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “You’re their lapdog. You must know. Why else would she be here unless Archcroft sent her?”

  Dalton surveyed the empty cafeteria, as if fearing he’d be overheard. “She’s been looking for you for a long time.”

  “So Madrid sent her to find me?”

  Dalton pinched his nose, rubbed his face. Talking came easy to Dalton, but they were approaching secrets, Jaden was sure. Dalton’s voice dropped in volume. “I’m not sure if he did or not. Christine was naturally curious about you.”

  “Because I’m PK like she is?” Jaden asked. He gobbled the last sandwich and watched Dalton squirm in his seat.

  “That is piece of it,” Dalton said, his voice lower.

  “What’s the other piece?” Jaden asked, chewing.

  Dalton sighed and pinched his nose again. “Christine is your half-sister.”

  Jaden, who had been swallowing, choked. His eyes watered. He drank a bottle of lemonade, his face was red, his eyes teary.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Christine is your half-sister. That’s why she’s psychokinetic like you. You have shared DNA.”

  But that couldn’t be. It didn’t make sense.

  “Impossible. She’s my age. My mother never had other children. It was just me.”

  “You and Christine have the same father.”

  In his life, Jaden’s father had been discussed so rarely he could count the occurrences on one hand. Lynn Baker didn’t know who he was, could hardly recall his appearance much less a name. Because Lynn was also an only child and both her parents were abusive, Jaden had been placed in foster care. Everyone assumed Jaden’s father had been a vagrant, a dead-beat, a stereotypical bum, and no one paid much attention to his absence. It was expected, normal, cliché.

  “Who is he?” Jaden asked.

  Dalton made a face. “We don’t know. There have been three of you.”

  “Three of us? Three what?” Jaden asked.

  “Audrey came before you. She was eight when we found her. She showed enormous potential, but died of leukemia before we could learn more. We kept her DNA on file, and when we found you, we compared it. You, Audrey and Christine all have the same father. We expect there are more of you, but we only found three.”

  The knowledge was more than he expected from this conversation. Even if he didn’t have a mouth full of un-chewed food, words might have failed him. Eventually he found his tongue.

  “He’s psychokinetic?” Jaden asked.

  “Maybe. He might just be a carrier for the gene. We’re not sure. We’ve never been able to find him. I doubt we ever will.”

  “What does he look like?” Jaden asked. He’d been curious about his father his whole life, it was natural. After a time Jaden assumed he was a phantom. No one spoke of him, and he never asked about him.

  “From what we can gather, he looks a lot like you. You all have gray eyes. You and Audrey shared the black hair. You and Christine have the same nose. We estimate he’s in his early to mid forties now, putting him at just a teenager when he fathered the three of you, and however many more. That’s all we know about him.”

  Jaden opened the bag of cookies and munched on them as he thought. He had two sisters, both were like him. And his father, whoever or wherever he was, might also be just like him. The question that came next couldn’t be helped. He had to know, and he didn’t care that it was embarrassing, or that he asked Dalton for the answer. Dalton was always honest. Maybe that’s where Libby got it.

  “Does he know about us?”

  “Doubtful.”

  “How long have you known about him?” Jaden asked.

  “Since we found you. Lightening doesn’t strike that many times for it to be coincidence.”

  Jaden’s memory pulled up the file of when he first met Dalton. He said he doubted either of his real parents were looking for him. He’d known then.

  “If Audrey hadn’t died, would you have locked her in that laboratory, collared her and chained her to a table?” he asked, anger seeping into him. “And would you have done the same to Christine if she hadn’t been in control of her power when you found her?”

  Nose pinched again, Dalton sighed. “I guess we’ll never know.”

  “You fucking coward,” Jaden growled. “You would have. What kind of filth like you takes children and locks them away for six years to run tests on their brains, force them to do things all for your benefit?”

  “All three of you were miracles. Do you have any idea how better off this world would be if we could harness that power?”

  Jaden couldn’t believe he was hearing this speech. “Oh, so it’s okay to torture children if it’s going to make the world a better place? You abducted me and put me in a cage for six years just so you could ‘harness my power’? How dare you. What I have is my own. It’s not for you to package.”

  “You could have
saved lives. With the right training you could detect and dissolve tumors, destroy cancer cells, bring people back to life. You have incredible power, and it’s our responsibility not to waste it.”

  “I’m sorry I spared your life,” Jaden said, his lips thin across his teeth. “I should have killed you at the presentation. I spared your life because I didn’t want Molly to lose a father. You’re lucky for her, or I’d kill you now.”

  “You tried to kill me at that presentation,” Dalton said. “Everyone saw you.”

  Jaden’s grin was full of malice. “I could’ve stopped your heart if I wanted to kill you. I just wanted out of there. The thought of taking Molly’s father away from her stopped me. That’s before I knew she hated you, of course.”

  Dalton’s eyes darted from side to side. “So you didn’t try to kill me.”

  “No,” Jaden said. “That’s insulting. It would’ve been too easy to kill everyone in that room. But I’m not a monster like you or your friend, Joseph Madrid.”

  The name sparked a physical response from Dalton—his face flushed.

  “Finally we agree on something,” Dalton muttered.

  “Libby said you were friends,” Jaden said. She’d also mentioned they’d had a falling out around the same time she left home.

  “Were. You killed a man the night you got out. He was related to one of the Archcroft council. The council ordered your termination as a result.”

  Jaden blinked. “Kill me?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s the Archcroft council?” Jaden asked.

  “A group of seven men and women who determine how, where, when, and why our funds should be spent and distributed. They decided after your stunt that you were not under control—and a psychokinetic out of control was dangerous. Your termination order came swiftly, and Joseph Madrid, one of the seven, was sent to administer the lethal injection.”

  They had planned on killing him. Jaden had never considered that. He assumed his value to Archcroft, the efforts they had gone to his capture, made him invincible to all considerations of “termination.” Apparently he was wrong.