by Jody Klaire
“You haven’t been healing on your own.” Renee frowned. She put her hands on her hips. “Aeron, you promised.”
“I had a spotter every time,” Aeron said, holding up two fingers. “Scouts’ honor.”
“You were never a scout and you’re a terrible liar.” Renee tried to scowl. She really did. But something bubbled inside. It started in the pit of her stomach. It rumbled and rolled and built momentum up into her legs, her chest, her arms, her neck, and then the joy burst from her mouth before she could stop it. Laughter. She was laughing. She was laughing so hard her ribs ached.
“Some folks get a bit giggly,” Aeron said to Ursula who looked concerned beyond words.
Renee bent over at the knees, trying to suck in her breath. Pure joy, pure happiness, relief, and love.
She met Aeron’s eyes. Yes, pure unadulterated love. “God, I missed you.”
She flung herself into Aeron’s waiting arms. Soaked up the real feelings. Having the real thing was better than any dream.
“Missed you too,” Aeron said, gripping her tightly.
Something in her voice spread hope through every part of Renee and she closed her eyes to revel in it.
Ursula cleared her throat and Renee pulled back enough to look up into Aeron’s beautiful face. “You did?”
Ursula rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen, muttering under her breath.
“Course I did.” Aeron nodded. She shot a glance Ursula’s way and shrugged. “For a start, I’ve been starving.”
Chapter 30
I WAS DREADING saying goodbye to little Zack. So as I knocked on Martha and Earl’s door, the only thing I could think about was turning around and running away. We’d stayed on in St. Jude’s for two months while Renee rested up.
Although she’d been healed, her body was weak from all it had been through and I had made it clear as crystal that she was going nowhere until I knew she was feeling steady.
It would take a long time before her spirit, mind, and body rebuilt their strength. I hated that. I hated that she’d gotten so hurt. Maybe I’d been selfish for healing her, but the horrible truth was that I couldn’t not. Any day without her around was . . . well . . . it just weren’t right. So I fixed it. I could fix it and I did. Now if I could just quit thinking on it, I’d be able to concentrate.
We’d fallen into the same routine that we seemed to when left alone for any amount of time. Renee spent much of her time cooking up heaven in a hotpot and I wandered around with a hammer in my hand. I’d missed that.
In return for Martha and Earl putting us up for so long, I had helped Earl fix up a few of the other cabins that they rented out. He seemed pretty relieved. Earl weren’t really much of a handyman. Sure, he could fix a car or truck real easy but household stuff, not so much. Ronny was back in practice so I was more than happy to do some hard work. As a bonus, Martha had told me that Renee and I could come stay in “our” lodge anytime. When I’d asked what she meant, Martha had shown me the new plaque Earl had managed to put up. She’d called the lodge, “Heroes Hideout.”
It was the first time anybody put me and hero together in one sentence. And, once again, Martha had left me stunned. Renee had been too and both of us ended up in tears. Apparently Zack had an awful lot to do with it.
Two months just zipped past my eyes like I’d fallen asleep. Now, the CIG van was waiting at the edge of town and Franken-Frei, back to her old sour grapes, was gonna bust a gut if I didn’t hurry up.
Zack opened up the door, a beaming smile on his face as he launched himself into me for a hug. I lifted him up and carried him to the sofa, nodding to Martha, Earl, and Ronny who were busy at the breakfast table.
Busy but no doubt listening to every word.
“You know I got to leave, right?” I asked. I didn’t know how to make it soft for him so I was shooting for the truth and hoping it would help.
He nodded. His big eyes looked up at me like a puppy dog.
“You like it here?” I asked. Do not cry. The kid does not need to see you blubbering.
He smiled. I got a flash of Martha giving him hugs, Ronny teaching him about football, and Earl reading him a bedtime story. I tried not to let the lump in my throat choke my words. Do not cry. Nope, no crying.
“What if you stayed here . . . always?”
I glanced at the breakfast table. Martha smiled in reassurance. She had wanted me to tell him the news.
He beamed like I’d just given him a huge milkshake.
“Thing is. You’d be one of them. You’d have their last name.” I took a breath. “See my mother . . . she knows people and, well . . .” I fumbled with the FBI jacket Franken-Frei had made me wear. “They are your people to take care of now . . . if you want.”
Zack wrapped himself around my neck as he hugged me. I could feel the relief of knowing this was his home now radiating off him. I wasn’t surprised to feel tears trickling down my cheeks. Don’t let him see you crying, you dimwit.
“Thing is, I gotta go.”
Zack ran down the hall. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to stop them leaking. He returned with a picture. The one he’d drawn of me and Renee. He was sketched in at the bottom, holding our hands.
“Yeah,” I managed, blowing out breaths like a woman in labor. “See Renee has to go save people and I gotta help.”
Zack nodded.
The tears tickled my nose as they dripped off the tip. “But I’m gonna come back sometimes and see you, call you, maybe?”
He started signing something and I looked at Martha for help.
“He is saying that you can video call him, that way he can see you.”
“Well, um, if Renee can work it then sure.”
He laughed at my hesitation. He had probably seen how potent me and electrics were by now. I hugged him one last time and handed him back the picture. He shook his head and held it back out.
“I can keep it?”
He nodded. He touched my tears with his little finger and hurried off once more. He came back with a box of tissues.
I was a blubbering idiot. I couldn’t help it. The snuffling sobs stuttered out of me. “Man, I love you, kid. You know that?”
He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. He made a sign with his hands. I knew that one. He loved me right back.
Before I dissolved into hysterics and made myself look even more like a fool, I got to my feet. I gripped Martha in a hug as fast as I could. Maybe it would hurt less if I treated leaving like ripping off a Band-Aid.
“You’re always welcome here,” Martha said. “You make sure you visit, you hear?”
I squeezed her. “You try and stop me.”
Earl squeezed my shoulder. “You’re family now, girl.” He grinned. “So she’ll expect updates and cards.”
I was? I looked at Ronny who grinned. “You gotta come watch me play too.”
“Sure,” I managed, finding composure with his words. “Renee loves football.”
I squeezed Martha once more and fled to the doorway. Zack hugged me again. I took one more look in his eyes and strode away. I knew if I stayed any longer, I’d never leave.
“Hey, Aeron?”
“Hey, Mark.” He was with a woman I guessed or hoped was his wife. She looked . . . well . . . like he’d described. She was tall, beautiful, sure about the way she held herself.
“You heading out?” He looked a lot happier and a lot more relaxed. He looked younger. Maybe he slept better knowing his wife was around.
I nodded. Again the feeling prickled that I didn’t want to leave. The feeling that these people were my friends, this was my home.
“I gave Serena my number. You call anytime. Ah heck.” He walked over to me and gave me a bear hug. “This is Joanne.” He motioned for her to come over.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” She eyed me up and down in a way that made me chuckle. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
I had no clue as to why she could possibly be wary of me but I knew tha
t Mark noticed it too. He shook his head. “She thinks I’ll chase any woman in a tool belt.”
My laughter burst out before I could stop it. Mark was chuckling with me as Joanne looked from him to me and back.
“Oh, you two are a pair, aren’t you?” She shook her head at me. “Needless to say, you’re welcome at our house anytime.”
I smiled, knowing that she half meant it and half hoped that I’d never contact him again. “Thank you.” I wanted to try and say something to make her feel better. I mean why she was worried about me, I didn’t know. Must be her hormones. “Hope you are resting up ready an’ all.”
She looked at me blank.
“For the baby,” I said.
Both of them looked clueless. I clamped my mouth shut.
Oops.
“Uh, anyway . . . see you round.” I left them looking at each other and hurried up the street.
Simon waved at me from Mark’s shop. He was working there now. I was glad. He looked like he was keeping sober too.
I strolled by the station. The rescue crew honked the engine at me. I waved as Charlie and McKinley waved my way. Grace too as she hurried with lunch for McKinley.
“You give my best to Joyce?” I called out.
“Will do,” Charlie called back. “Tell your mother, thanks.”
I didn’t know what I was thanking her for but after my mother had gone to see her, Joyce was like a different woman. I guessed they’d had a seer-to-seer talk of some sort.
A loud woof alerted me and I grinned as Duke bounded over. He could sure move for a big guy. “You’re in charge of the rescue duties now, buddy.”
Duke cocked his head. A look that said, “I’ve alwaysbeen in charge, baldy.”
“Keep on thinkin’ that, fluff ball.” I reached forward and ruffled the fur at the side of his ear and he closed his eyes with enjoyment. A second later a large slobbery tongue soaked the side of my face. Nice.
“Think he kinda likes you,” Evan said, catching up to us. “He’s kinda sappy.” His aura jiggled about with nerves again and I chuckled.
“They say dogs are a lot like their owners, right?”
Evan shrugged. The kid was so cute. I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “You take care.”
I thought I’d seen every hint of crimson before but nope, he was inventing a couple of shades. Duke nudged him with his fluffy shoulder as Evan stood staring at me and touching his cheek.
I squeezed his shoulder and left him gawping. I glanced at the CIG van where Renee was smiling and shaking her head at me.
“Aeron?”
I turned to see Hal, Marie wrapped under his arm. “Thanks for what you did back there.” He smiled. “You sure are a special gal.”
“Hey,” Marie said, nudging him and then she smiled. “He’s right. I’m not sure what would have happened—”
“Hal would have saved you,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “I just stole the show is all.”
I was hugged once again and headed over to the CIG team, feeling like I’d run some kind of love gauntlet.
“The couple you rescued said to give you their regards,” Ursula said, sliding her aviators up her nose. “Oh and Serena Aeron is now Renee Aeron.” I stared at my reflection in her lenses. “A regular pair of heroes.”
She thumbed to the vehicle, the collar of her leather jacket rumpled as she did so. “Now get in.” Her tone now was as icy as always.
“Heroes . . . yeah sure . . . Good thing I’ve got you to keep me grounded,” I muttered.
Renee slid open the door. Every time I saw her since she’d come back, I felt the relief flow through me. Her eyes always twinkled when she saw my reaction.
“Come on,” she said. “She’ll get grumpier the longer we’re in public.”
I nodded and took a last long look at the place I’d felt so settled in. I was gonna miss it here.
“We’ll visit.” Renee held out her hand.
I got in beside her and soon we rolled out of town. The radio crackled into life with music and eventually the news.
“Here’s the news,” the reporter said. “Authorities are still searching for Yannick Boucher after the vehicle taking him back to the secure institution he broke free from was targeted on a deserted road. A spokesperson for the security service confirmed that no one was harmed in the incident. The tip of a finger has been found which has been confirmed as Boucher’s. The man known as the guillotine—”
Ursula shut off the radio and glared at me in the rear view mirror.
“You didn’t tell me they had found body parts,” Renee said. Her tone said she wanted answers.
“Hey,” I said, cutting in. “So did I pass the protection phase or are you taking me somewhere?”
Renee frowned. Then, she looked at me and relented. She knew I hated her thinking about Yannick and the past. I was hoping she would see it as just that.
She made a show of pretending to think. Her aura wiggled. It was pretty faint but it would get stronger, I was sure of it. “I think saving my life and a small town from a dangerous criminal is more than enough to satisfy me.”
“It is?”
“Of course it is, Dimwit.” She smiled at me.
I caught Ursula rolling her eyes over her glasses at the CIG officer in the passenger seat.
Renee took my hand and shifted around to face me. “What I can’t figure out, is why you believed in me when all the evidence pointed to me having shot an innocent man.”
“I just knew . . . deep in here,” I said, tapping my chest, daring Ursula to roll her eyes again. “I trusted you.”
“How?” Renee asked. “It was hardly as if I was entirely stable before it happened. How didn’t you think that I may have lost my mind? You’ve seen people do worse.”
Ursula smiled at me and focused on the road. I turned to look at clear grey eyes, knowing that no matter what freedom I was giving up, I was needed more in CIG. I had a place, a position, I had proved that to them but most of all to myself.
“How did you know?” Renee whispered, searching my eyes.
I shrugged. “I guess real trust . . . true trust,” I looked out at the thawing landscape, “is blind trust.”
About the Author
Jody Klaire is an author and a massive tennis fan. At the grand old age of thirty-one, she has been everything from a serving police officer, to recording artist/composer and musician until finding her home in writing. She lives in sunny South Wales in the UK with a lively golden retriever called Fergus and other furry friends. Oh, and she has a slight affection for cake . . .
Website: http://jodyklaire.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jodyklaireauthor
Twitter: @jodyklaire
The Above & Beyond Series, Book 3
UNTRAINED EYE
TEASER
The buzzer sounded.
“Matt, you need to take my hand. It’s not safe.” I reached out, hoping he would listen. The wind buffeted me about as I tried to keep my balance.
Matt, a weedy kid with red hair, shook his head. “You said you’d deal with me.” His beady eyes tracked over my arms as he swayed in the wind.
“Well, it’s either me or the vice principal. You want to explain to him why you attacked someone?” I edged closer.
He edged back.
The wind whipped around us. He was too near the edge. His foot slid but he rescued it in time. We were five stories up on a baking roof, trying to keep upright in the vicious blasts of wind.
I glanced down. There was only a small row of stonework around the roof edge.
“I need the notes!” Matt’s eyes were wild, panicked. “They won’t accept me if I don’t have them.”
Kids poured out of the buildings below. I heard someone call out. Matt must have too as he turned and wobbled. His foot slid again. He scrambled to keep his balance.
“Look at the drop, Matt. We need to get you down. We can talk about this. There’s another way.” I didn
’t know about him but the sun was so hot that I had sweat dribbling off the end of my nose. My hands weren’t much better.
“You’ll tell them if I come with you.” Desperation pulsed from his every movement.
I edged closer, my sneaker squeaking as it slid under my weight. Matt backed up again. A blast of wind hit us. His eyes widened. His foot went from under him.
I threw myself forward, clattering across the tiles, one hand reaching to catch hold of him, the other trailing behind with the hope I could catch the stone to stop myself. I caught his wrist as I dropped over the side, my clammy hand got a grip on the stone edging.
We smashed into the wall. My breath pounded out of me. Renee was gonna kick my butt. I felt the stone shift under the weight. I hung there, Matt squirming, praying I could hold on. What was it with me and dangling from ledges anyhow?
