First Light (37 page)

‘So, you don’t think he cares about his unit?’

The man sighed impatiently. ‘He doesn’t care about anything. He can’t.’

‘But, you just said you thought he loved me. Bit of a contradiction, don’t you think?’

Andrews scowled, inhaling a deep breath through his nose. It was a good ten seconds before he spoke again and tiny beads of sweat were beginning to form all over my body.

‘I can’t comment on his feelings for you, or the selfishness of his infatuation. It’s not my concern. But I will tell you one thing before I leave: those boys are not soldiers – they’re killers. They’re dangerous, Veronica, and you are putting yourself and everyone you love in grave danger, not to mention breaking the law, by harbouring them. If you don’t care about that, then consider this: out in the world on their own, they have no means by which to fight the US government. They will all die. It is up to you to decide if we can at least save one of them – the one we both care for the most. Think it over.’

He turned away from me and walked towards my front door, dropping a card on the counter as he passed. It was blank apart from a hand written telephone number. I stared after him.

‘Five are already terminated,’ he called over his shoulder, ‘there are only eleven left. You have the chance to save one of them.’

Then he was gone. The door slammed behind him, echoing his departing words.

40 – Confrontation

I ran upstairs for my phone.
My heart was thundering, my hands shaking, but I hesitated. Andrews had said if I told Kalen he was here, he would run again, but I didn't think that was the case. Not now. Now, he would probably try to stay with me and because of that, he could end up dying. I didn't know what to do for the best. I had to tell him something, I had to get him away from here and as far away from Andrews and The Agency as possible. I typed out a text.

Need to talk. Pick me up from school at 4?

I needed to get my head straight. It seemed Andrews didn't want to hurt Kal. He had given me time to speak with him so at the very least I had a few hours to figure out what to do.

At school, I played out scenarios in my head. If I told Kal about Andrews, I knew he wouldn’t turn his friends in, but it might make him leave. But more likely, it might not, and once again he’d be endangering his own life and the lives of the boys just to be with me.

I thought about calling Alexandra, but telling her would put her in danger and that was the last thing I wanted. My mind formed two conclusions: I could tell him the truth and let him decide what to do, or I tell him nothing except that I want him to leave town. The second option broke my heart, but would mean Kalen would be safe. Away from Andrews and whoever was hunting him. The more I thought about it, the more I could see no other way. If I loved him enough, I wouldn’t want him to risk getting caught so we could be together. It was everything I could do not to throw up at the thought.

‘Veronica?’

Ms Jones –or Ruby, as I was now permitted to call her – was staring at me. I glanced around and saw the rest of the class was, too.

I gulped. ‘Can you repeat the question?’

As if to save me, the bell rang. Everyone rose from their seats and headed to the door. I took my chance and pushed my way through the crowd. Ruby called after me, but I ignored her.

Kal was waiting in the Audi as I jogged through the front gates, but his face wasn’t light as it had been yesterday. His expression was serious – urgent. I slid into the front seat and we pulled away quickly. I tried my best to appear nonchalant, but he could tell something was up. I felt his concerned expression flicking between the road and me, but he didn’t ask what was wrong and I had a full ten minutes to continuously change my mind as to my course of action.

As we arrived at my house, I groaned. We were faced with a new problem. The dark blue Mazda in front of the house told me Jared had come to visit.

Silently we walked indoors. Jared greeted me with a hug.

‘I just called round to talk to you about this house nonsense.' He looked at Kal. 'Do you mind giving us some space?'

Kalen looked at me and I nodded.

'I'll be in the kitchen.' He walked from the room, with Jared's eyes following him. Then Jared turned to me.

'I know you’ve spoken to Rachel about keeping the house, but I think that’s a bad idea. You and her are too close to this, you need me to take the reins.’

‘
Can we talk about this another time, Jar?’

His eyes narrowed. ‘This is exactly my point. You have your priorities all wrong. We’ll talk about it now.’

I sighed, sitting down on the sofa. ‘Fine. Well, I’m not ready to give up so easily. I think it’s a great chance for all of us to have something that will be worth a lot one day. If we sell it now, in this tough market, we won’t make anything and everything Dad worked for will have gone to waste. Please, let’s just try it for a year or so. I can pay for more than half of the mortgage repayments using my wages, I just can’t borrow the money is all. I just need your help.’

Jared remained standing, so he was looking down at me. ‘Ronnie, you’re talking like a child! I know you love this house, but you need to think realistically.’

‘I am thinking realistically, where will I live? You’re telling me to sell my home!’

‘You know you can live with us. You can look after Cloud while we’re at work, which would pay for your rent.’

Was I hearing correctly? He wanted me to sell my father’s house and move into their tiny flat so I could be their nanny?

‘I’m not asking you for anything. With Rachel’s job she can borrow the money by herself. This is her decision too,’ I pointed out proudly, in an attempt to disguise my hurt feelings. ‘You can’t force us to sell it.’

‘Actually, I’ve spoken to Rachel and she wants what I want. The sooner we can put all this business behind us the better. Without her, you don’t have a choice Ronnie, so I suggest you stop fighting this. I’ll have some paperwork for you to sign in the next couple of days.’

What felt like a fever swelled through my body, hot tears sprang to my eyes. ‘No please! I might be able to raise the money, perhaps Mae’s parents will help me get a loan.’

Jared shook his head and turned to leave. I pushed myself up and ran in front of him.

‘Rachel loves this house! I know this isn’t really her decision. You can’t do this! Daddy worked hard–’

Jared’s eyes blazed. ‘Oh, for crying out loud! I’m sorry to be the one to point this out Ronnie, but your father is the reason you’re both in this mess!’

Whether it was Jared's voice raising or the mention of my father, I wasn’t sure, but Kalen stepped into the hallway from the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe. He stared at Jared.

‘Jar,’ I said calmly, hoping my serenity would carry itself to Kalen, ‘Please, let’s talk about this with Rachel here too.’

‘Rachel has enough to deal with. I’m taking charge. We’re selling the house and you and Rachel will each get half of whatever profit is made.’

I opened my mouth to tell him there wouldn’t be any profit, but it was too late. Kal was in front of me and my heart sank even further.

‘This is none of your business, boy,’ Jared spat.

‘Kal, I’m fine,’ I said quickly.

‘No, Ronnie, you’re not.’ Kal’s voice, thick and deep, burned with anger. ‘Jared, if I may make a suggestion. How about, you back off and stop trying to intimidate my girlfriend, and I won’t throw you through the window.’

I watched Jared’s eyes widen in disgust. He would never have been spoken to in such a way before, especially not by someone he considered a child. I could feel the atmosphere closing in around me.

‘It’s Kalen, right?’

Kal’s lip curled in response.

‘Well,
Kalen
, don’t you dare threaten me! I’m not scared of you.’

‘Perhaps,’ Kalen said, stepping forward so they were toe to toe, ‘you should rethink your stance there.’

‘Please don’t!’ I wailed, suddenly terrified. I knew nothing would happen to Kal, but I didn’t want him to hurt Jared. Through all his faults, I had no doubt he was just trying to look out for my sister and I couldn’t hate him for that. They ignored me, continuing to stare each other down.

Eventually, Jared stepped back, glaring at us both before turning and heading for the door. Tears stung my eyes. I didn’t want any of this. It was too hard to think of my family hating me. I just wanted to make it better and I opened my mouth to tell him so, but Kalen cut me off.

‘Jared.’

Holding the front door open, Jared looked back.

‘Ronnie loves her sister and for some reason she loves you. I understand that she has a small family and she cares deeply about that, but I want you to know the only reason you are still able to walk, is because she wishes it so.’

Jared stood frozen, a look of pure shock written across his long face. With a final grimace in my direction, he walked out.

As the door closed behind him, I broke down.

‘That was so stupid! How are you and I ever going to work if you talk to my family like that?’ I yelled, storming into the living room.

He followed me. ‘You can’t be serious? We won’t work if I can’t get on with
him
?’

‘Kalen, it’s my family and I’ll handle it my way!’ I actually had no idea what I meant. All I knew was that I once held my family together and now it felt as if I were driving it apart.

‘Family,’ he muttered.

Kalen had no family, how could I ever expect him to understand? ‘How would you feel if I didn’t get on with any of your friends?’ I said.

‘Nothing and no one could ever change the way I feel about you.’

I swallowed back a moan. ‘You left once.'

‘I left because–’ he stopped himself, his eyes narrowing. ‘It’s different now. I can’t – I won’t let anyone talk to you that way. You deserve so much better. I’m trying to take care of you.’

‘I’ve managed to take care of my family and myself for the last six years without your help. In fact, I attracted a lot less trouble before you came along!’ Instantly I regretted my words, but it was too late, they were out there.

‘You’re right,’ he said, turning to stone in a millisecond. ‘I apologise.’

‘Kalen, that’s not what I meant, please–’

‘You’ll always put your family before me. I suppose that’s to be expected, though I won’t pretend to understand it. All I want is you and I’d take down the whole world if it meant we could be together.’

‘But we can’t go around treating people badly just to get what we want, Kal. It’s not right.’

He nodded and looked around, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. I knew he wanted to walk out, but I had called him out on doing that, so instead he was trying to decide what to do next. I had no idea either. Silence lingered.

‘Kal, I need to tell you something–’ I began, but that’s when I heard it. It had taken Rachel less than ten minutes to arrive. The sound of her car pulling up, the door slamming and her key being erratically forced into the lock were as familiar to me as my own name.

Kalen glanced at the door. ‘Shall I leave you to it?’ he asked quietly.

I nodded, cringing as I waited for the front door to slam and the living room door to fly open. Both things seemed to happen simultaneously. Kalen had slipped through the back just in time.

‘Where is he?’ she wailed.

‘Not here.’

‘I heard he threatened Jared! This has gone on long enough, Ronnie. You’re allowing him to split this family apart!’

‘Rachel. Please don’t do this. I’m not splitting anything apart, he’s done nothing wrong, I know he yelled at Jar but Jar was yelling at me! Kal was just defending me.’

‘Against Jared? Think about it, since when have you needed protecting from us, Ron?’

‘Rachel, he’s not a bad person, he’s my boyfriend and I want us all to get along.’ I pressed my fingers to my temples, to ease the pounding.