Kindred (15 page)

THIRTY-EIGHT

Kindred

It wasn’t easy ignoring my desire to check in on the Tracker. He consumed my every thought for the last six months, and trying to focus on something else was remarkably difficult. There was a paying job waiting for me, yet I still found myself sitting in my car, and watching the Tracker at his house. His attempts at acting normal were amusing, now that I was more concerned with my own well-being than his.

I was seeing him clearly for the first time since he freed me. The Tracker was not a hero. He had simply lost control. His power took over, killing the man who held both of us captive. The power was strong, but the man—no, the boy—was weak. My gratitude blinded me to that reality.

Even with that knowledge, the boy continued to haunt my thoughts, and I felt the need to know what he was doing. What he was feeling. Somehow those thoughts would help me figure out my own path, I was convinced of it. Despite my new feelings of contempt for him, I felt he held the key to my past. He would not die by my hand, and until I figured out how he and I were connected, I would allow no harm to come to him.

Let him have his dinner with the girl. After that, he would be mine, and I would figure out anything he could tell me about my past.

THIRTY-NINE

Jason

Through the entire evening, I felt myself tensing in anticipation of something going wrong. Hannah tried to keep me relaxed, but it was hard to concentrate on the conversation. Kindred was out there. I couldn’t feel his footsteps, but his presence lingered on the edge of my consciousness. Somehow, I knew he was watching me. For what purpose, I had no idea, but I suspected he no longer felt the desire to protect me. After our confrontation, he likely saw me as a threat.

“We can go home,” Hannah suggested, gently putting her hand over mine on the table. “There’s time to do this once everything has calmed down.”

“No,” I answered too quickly, startling her. She removed her hand from mine. “Sorry,” I folded my hands on the table in front of me. “No. I don’t want to have to put my life on hold. Not anymore.”

She nodded, glancing down at my folded hands, once again placing her hand over mine. “Then put it out of your head. Be with me. Not only physically, but mentally as well. Please, Jason,” her warm brown eyes pleaded with me to agree.

“I’ll try.” She smiled.

“That’s all I can ask for now. Are you done eating?” I nodded, and she took my hand to lead me outside. “Let’s go for a walk in the park,” she suggested as we entered the cool darkness.

As we walked, her hand found its way into mine, and we looked at each other, a shy smile on her face. I suspected a matching one was on mine. The lights in the park were out, so the only light we had was from the moon and stars. I felt Hannah shiver. “You cold?” I asked, ready to remove my jacket to help her stay warm.

She shook her head. “I’m good.”

I narrowed my eyes thoughtfully. “You shivered, are you nervous? There’s no one around right now. I would tell you if there was.”

I felt her lean against me as we kept walking. “I know you would. You should know,” her voice was somber, “I feel safe with you Jason. Despite everything you went through, or maybe because of it, I know you’ll keep me safe.”

She spoke confidently, and I wasn’t sure how to respond so I simply nodded and put my arm around her shoulders. We walked for about ten minutes in silence before I spoke again. “You’re right.”

“About what?” she seemed confused when I broke the silence.

“I will keep you safe. No matter what happens, I will keep you safe.” I stopped walking and faced her, putting my hands on both her shoulders. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You and your sister,” I amended. “No matter what I’ve been through, you believe in me. I can’t even begin to tell you what that means to me.”

My eyes dropped from hers as I continued. “I…” I hesitated, unable to continue. I was too unsure of myself to know exactly what to say.

She put her hand on my face, gently pulling my gaze back to hers. “It’s okay. You need more time to figure everything out. You mean a lot to me, Jason. I’ll still be here when you figure out what you want.”

I chuckled and glanced down again. “That’s what I love about you, Hannah. You’re always willing to put my feelings ahead of yours. But I don’t want you to need to do that.” She was about to protest, but I continued. “I’m not leaving yet. It’s not safe with Kindred on the loose. But sometime soon I’m going to get some kind of job other than working with the police so I can concentrate on school. And hopefully I can eventually get a place for me and Sam.”

“There’s no hurry,” she assured me. “You’re welcome to stay at our house as long as it takes for you to get on your feet.”

“Trust me,” I said, pulling her in for a hug. “I’m in no hurry to leave the one place I’ve ever been able to call home.”

I felt the soft touch of her lips on my cheek. “You can always call it home. No matter where you go, you are always going to be welcome back. Just remember that, okay?”

Having a home. It was something I hadn’t had since…well… I guess I’d never really had one. The thought of having one, it was amazing. But believing it would last was something else. Eventually, she’d get tired of putting my problems first, or of the threat raised anytime someone noticed my abilities, or just of me.

She must have seen something in my expression, because her joyful smile turned sad. “Oh, Jason,” she sighed, running her hand down the side of my face. “You deserve some happiness. Let yourself be happy. Even just for tonight. Please?”

After everything she put up with, I couldn’t deny her a simple request. “I’ll try.” She nodded, accepting that I couldn’t just completely put everything out of my head, even for one night. “So, what should we do now?” Having a night out was not something I was accustomed to, so I had no experience figuring out activities.

“We could bowl, or do mini golf,” she suggested.

“Uh…” I looked at the ground sheepishly.

“What?” she asked with a laugh. “Too little kid for you?”

My gaze remained focused on the ground, and my mouth quirked into an embarrassed smile. “Actually, I’ve never done either.”

She seemed a little taken aback by my admission. Despite what she knew of my childhood, it still surprised her how few ‘normal’ things I had actually done in my life. “Wasn’t exactly my father-son bonding experience,” I spoke wryly, but some wistfulness snuck through. Regardless of what my father put me through, I still longed for some semblance of a normal relationship with him. Something that was no longer even in the realm of possibility since Kindred entered my life and ended my father’s.

“Good,” she said, forcing cheer into her voice. “Then I get to teach you. It’ll be great! Which one would you like to try first?”

I scratched the back of my neck nervously. “How ‘bout bowling?”

FORTY

Hannah

It never ceased to amaze me how such a wonderful person could have come from such an awful one. Jason’s father was a horrible man, and Jason’s look of longing as he talked about him broke my heart. But I was determined not to let it show. He had enough of me feeling sorry for him. What he needed tonight was fun. “Come on,” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the dark park, toward downtown where we’d find a bowling alley.

About halfway back out of the park, Jason tensed and dropped down to one knee, his hand reaching for the dirt in the crack of the cement. His eyes were wide, and his breathing was fast at the hint of something that could be a threat. “What is it?” I asked after a moment, looking around the dark, straining to see a danger that may or may not even exist.

He shook his head as he stood, “I don’t know. I thought I felt something, but it’s gone now. Could have been a stray dog or something, but it didn’t feel that way.”

“It wasn’t…”

Jason shook his head again, more emphatically. “It wasn’t Kindred. I’m sure of that. His steps were even lighter than these. I still don’t know why.”

Frustration once again took over his expression, and I soothed him. “It's fine. If it’s gone now, it isn’t a problem. Let’s go have some fun.” I forced my voice to be cheerful, despite my desire to grab him and take him somewhere he would be safe from any kind of danger.

It wasn’t a new thought. Similar lines of thought occurred to me the first time Alice introduced me to her thirteen-year-old informant. Why, I wondered, would my sister not try to get this kid, who was my age, off the streets? Now I realized, at that age, Jason would not have welcomed any kind of authority figure trying to impose their will on him. If she brought it up, and I suspected she did, then he probably would have either taken off running, or simply refused the offer. It was even possible that by introducing me to him she was trying to talk him into letting her help him get off the streets.

After the encounter with his father last fall, I could understand his desire to remain off the radar.

The light on the streets was almost blinding after the darkness of the path, but I could feel some of Jason’s tension melt away as we entered the light. I didn’t comment on it, but it was definitely a noticeable change. “So, where are we going?” he asked.

“Just down the block,” I said pointing to the left. “There’s a place right on the corner.”

Jason walked silently for a moment before stopping and looking at me. “Should we invite Dustin? Bowling is something normally done with more people, right?”

I shrugged. “Normally, I guess. Would you like to call him? I could invite another of my friends so we could do teams of two.”

He hesitated, and I could see the desire for normalcy warring with the desire to keep it to only people he knew and trusted. “Sure,” he finally said. Before he could change his mind I called Dustin and Rachel, both of whom agreed that a night of bowling could be fun.

We went in and reserved a lane, grabbed some sodas and nachos and waited for the others to join us. “These shoes are ridiculous,” Jason said with a laugh.

“They sure are,” I responded with a smile. “Do you want to get a couple practice frames in before Dustin and Rachel show up?”

“Couldn’t hurt,” he agreed. “You first,” he gestured to the lane and watched closely as I showed him the basics.

“Of course if you’re learning from me, you won’t be the best,” I admitted after knocking over only six pins. “I’m not good at this.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just want to not completely make a fool out of myself.” He grabbed a ball and aimed carefully, releasing to get nine pins down. He missed the last one on his second attempt, but it was a very good first throw.

“Beginner’s luck,” I scoffed.

“Nah,” he said with a shy grin. “I’m just that good.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it,” I laughed, glad to hear the unfamiliar joking from my normally somber friend.

“You’re up, I believe,” he said. “I’ll prove it when it’s my turn.” We continued the ‘practice’ session for about fifteen minutes before Dustin showed up, then about ten minutes later Rachel arrived. Jason grew quieter when Rachel arrived, and I worried that inviting her was a mistake.

We paired up boys against girls for the first round. Rachel was surprisingly good and we kept the game close, even pulling ahead for a while, but the boys ended up winning. Jason remained pretty good, getting a few spares and a couple strikes to help the cause.

The second set we played Jason and me, against Rachel and Dustin. Jason opened up a little during the second round, never speaking directly to Rachel, but not acting like she was out to get him either. Jason’s sleeve slid up briefly, and I knew by her reaction that Rachel had seen the edges of the scars that were revealed. Thankfully, I was able to wave down her response before Jason saw it. We shared a glance, and I knew she’d be asking me about it when we were alone. What I wasn’t so sure about was what I would tell her. The police were aware of what happened to Jason, but for his protection nothing was publicized. All the general public knew was that Trevor Mason was in a shed on one of his properties when it collapsed.

Our second set finished with Dustin and Rachel winning, mostly due to the fact that I was a hopeless bowler. Jason was smiling and joking around with Dustin as we walked out of the bowling alley. Rachel and I were slightly behind them when Jason stopped and backed up a couple steps, a look of apprehension crossed his face as an unknown man approached us from the street.

The guy held out both hands as he approached, he held no weapons, but I still stood near Jason in case he needed to protect us. “You don’t know me, Earthshaker, and I only know you by the name Trevor Mason gave you, but I know you are in danger.”

“You worked with Mason,” Jason’s voice was hard, and his face set and emotionless. “Why should I trust you?”

I tapped him on the shoulder, which he ignored so I whispered into his ear, “What reason would he have to come to you unarmed to warn you of danger? Maybe you should hear him out.”

He nodded tersely, finally acknowledging me. “Talk. I’ll decide later whether I believe you. Keep in mind, now that I’ve seen you, I can follow you anywhere. So if you are a threat, I will hunt you down.”

“What’s going on?” Rachel stage-whispered to me.

“Shush, Rach. I’ll explain later.”

Dustin remained silent, watching Jason closely as he continued the confrontation.

The man was nodding, a slightly concerned look crossing his features as he continued. “I am not after you, or your friends. When Mason was killed, I was able to reassess my life and I got out of the organization. But I’m in contact with some of the people who are still in, and some of them are not too happy with you for killing their boss. As you already know, some of them came to you for help with Mason’s assassin. Their original hope was that their two main problems would take care of themselves,” he paused, shaking his head and scratching his eyebrow, squinting up at Jason as he spoke.

“Some of them were hoping he’d kill you and save them the trouble, but it became obvious that he was after those he previously worked with, and not you. When they figured that out they found another person Mason had hired before. I don’t know who it is, I was never high enough in the organization to know, but I know they are after you.”

Jason huffed, his eyes the only thing betraying his panic. “Great. Now I have to worry about someone other than Kindred trying to kill me. That’s just wonderful.”

Before his tough mask could fall away completely I stepped in front of him. “You’ve delivered your message. Thanks for the warning. You should go now.” He nodded slightly, turning away. It occurred to me that he could be in some danger himself if someone discovered that he’d told us. “Hey,” he turned toward me. “Watch your back, okay? There’s been enough bloodshed already.”

He gave a slight smile in response and winked. “Thanks. I will. You all do the same and the danger will be worth it.”

We watched in silence as he walked away, and I shivered, leaning back into Jason’s warmth for comfort. His or mine, the result was the same. His arm wrapped around my waist protectively. “Why me?” he whispered, leaning his face forward into my hair.

“Okay,” Rachel said, getting in front of all of us and spinning to face us. “What was that? Who was that guy and why did he call Jason 'the Earthshaker?' And what does he,” she pointed to Jason, “have to do with Trevor Mason?”