Reluctant Hero (The Dunamis Covenant Book 1) (28 page)

"We will not ruin an innocent life because we could not keep our affairs in the shadows. We're supposed to be the good guys." He looked at the girl and asked in a soft voice, "What's your name, sweetheart?" She looked up at him, still shaking, tears rolling down her cheek and did not reply. "It's all right, I promise, no harm will come to you. I'm Thomas, what's your name?"

"T...T...Tina," she stammered. "Please, I won't tell anyone anything." She began to cry again.

"It's all right, Tina. I promise you have nothing to fear from us. We've just been through a rough day and you surprised us, that's all. I can't tell you anything about what you saw, all I can say is that we are good guys and it's very important that our organization remain a secret. Can you do that for us?" He lifted her chin with two fingers, and looked in her eyes.

She looked back at him and nodded. "I think... I think I can do that. You're really not going to kill me?" She started to let hope rise in her that she would make it through this ordeal alive.

"No, of course not. What kind of good guys would we be then?" He looked at Liam and Trevor and added. "Two of my associates are even going to help you get safely off the mountain. For our safety, I can't tell you their names."

"But you told me your name." Tina replied, a little confused and still very frightened.

"Only because one of my friends already called me by name in front of you. It's all right. I promise you'll be safe." More trucks arrived while they were speaking, and Thomas knew he had to go. He knew that if he didn't get his wound treated soon, he'd be in trouble. He looked back at Tina and said, "I have to go, but I promise my friends will get you to safety. Everything will be all right, Tina."

Liam helped her up and they began walking with Trevor towards a pair of dirt bikes one of the pickup trucks provided them. Jan came jogging up alongside them. Tina looked frightened, but he held his hand out and said, "I'm really sorry I scared you, Tina. I promise you'll be safe with them." He pointed to Liam and Trevor and then quickly turned and ran to one of the trucks.

Once he was on the road, Thomas began to dose in and out of consciousness. John looked down at him, beaming with pride for his future son-in-law and wishing his best friend could be here to see the man his son had grown into. He was so thankful Thomas had been able to save Abby, although she was not out of the woods yet, he knew she would survive. He was beginning to feel weak from his gunshot wound, now that the adrenaline of battle had passed and he looked over at another close friend hoping they could save his leg. Jan looked exhausted and more than a little bit upset with himself. John looked over to him and said, "It's all right, Jan, you've never been in that type of situation before." He knew the young man was mad at himself for even bringing up the possibility of hurting an innocent girl to protect their secret.

"It's not all right, it's inexcusable. Thomas was right. We're the good guys; we have to be better than that." He put his head in his hands.

"Well then, thank Thomas when he wakes up and count yourself lucky that he stopped you from doing something you would regret forever." He placed his hand on Jan's back. Here was another son of a close friend and he doubted that he would have been able to carry out what he had suggested.

"I wouldn't have done it, you know."

"I know, Jan, I've known you your whole life."

"I'll still always regret that I even suggested it." He slumped back into his seat.

"It was a moment of weakness, it happens to the best of us." He thought about his own moment of weakness, recalling confronting Lucas after Lucas had killed Asaph.

"Are you here to kill me, John?" Lucas asked, a mixture of sadness and defiance in his voice.

"No, Lucas, I couldn't do that to Tommy. He cares about you too much. I might get myself into trouble for this, but I'm letting you go."

"What do you mean, he cares about me? I threatened him! I fought his friends, and I stood up for my insane father. How can he still care?"

"He never thought you were evil. He just thought you were stuck in a rough place. I agree with him. Still, you have shed the blood of light warriors, so you won't be able to come with us, but for Tommy's sake, I'm letting you go."

Lucas lowered his head, almost ashamed, "Thank you, John, and thank Thomas for me, too."

"I will, Lucas. Just one more thing, some advice, really. Antonio and Darcy have it in their minds to rule the Satarra clan without you. If you go back with them, I don't expect your lifespan to be very long. You seem like a smart kid and you probably have a backup plan in place. I suggest you use it. Sooner or later, Tommy will want to find you, and it's my hope that you'll still be alive when he does."

Lucas nodded his understanding. He had been thinking the same thing. He thanked John and melted into the shadows before John rejoined the group.

"What are you thinking about, dad?" Connor asked, putting his arm around his father.

Connor's question broke him out of his thoughts about Thomas' misguided friend. "Nothing much, Con, just hoping to get this bullet out of my shoulder soon." He frowned and Connor nodded while the truck continued towards the hospital. "We have to get a huge team up there to clean up that mess before the authorities get there. With some luck, Liam will help the girl forget for a little while to give us the time we need."

"He will, Dad, and don't worry; Grandpa, Mark, Dyson and William already have a team on it. For now, let's just rest. When we get to the hospital, we'll be facing the wrath of Grams for what happened to Abby." Connor leaned back and let out a sigh.

"And Thomas will be her new golden boy for saving her," John said with a thankful look on his face.

"I'm okay with that, dad, as long as I still have my little sister." He placed his hand on his father's uninjured shoulder, and looked at Thomas, Abby, and Pete all unconscious, and none of them in good shape.

*****

Trevor, Liam and Tina reached the bottom of the mountains. Trevor noticed that Tina was still trembling. She had just seen the worst the Ethereal world had to offer, and then expected to be killed for it. Who could blame her for being shaken? "So, Tina, what was your report about?"

"What?" Tina wasn't sure what to say, these guys seemed normal enough, but she couldn't get everything she had seen out of her head.

"The report you went up to the cave to work on, what is it about?"

"It's a report about uprooting indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands, for my anthropology class."

"I hope you get an A on it. I just finished my first semester of college out in Texas. I love it."

This guy is a college guy?
She wondered.
Maybe he is normal
. "I'm a sophomore over at UVA. I love it there. I want to be a forensic anthropologist like
Bones
."

"Who?"

"
Bones
, you know the television show."

"I've never seen it."

"You've never seen it? Well you're missing out then. It's about this super smart forensic anthropologist that works with the FBI to solve crimes. It's my favorite show."

"I'll have to watch it then," he replied.

Is this guy flirting with me? He is kind of cute, but he's one of them, whoever they are and they all frighten me, except the one called Thomas, and... maybe this guy
. "Are you sure you can't tell me your name?" She asked with a shy smile.

"Yeah, that would be a bad idea. Well, we're off the mountain, where to?"

"My car is about a half mile up the road."

"All right, hold on." He hit the throttle and the bike sped up.

This isn't bad, I'll wind up getting home way earlier than I even would have before all of this... whatever this was
. "I'm right here on the left, the powder blue Edge. Thanks for the lift, Texas guy."

"No problem, Virginia girl." He winked and Liam came over and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Now, Tina," he said after she put her backpack on her front seat and settled into the driver's seat. "You've had a very rough day, and even though it all turned out all right, you're really tired." His eyes began to glow slightly and then, Tina let out the biggest yawn she could ever remember having.

"I'm sorry, guys. I don't know where that came from. I must be really tired."

"Well, you have had a rough day," Trevor joined in. "Why don't you take a nap before you hit the road."

"That's a good idea, Tex, I think I need to sleep twenty minutes or so, before I drive back towards DC; my mom will worry if I'm not back soon, but I think I can spare the time." She gave them a shy frown and then put her car seat back and closed her eyes. Trevor made sure her car was locked before he and Liam got back on their bikes.

"Nice flirting, Trevor." Liam began, a little annoyed.

"What, she was cute and I'm a guy, what's the problem?"

"The problem is that she's a normal human that knows all about us. With any luck, she'll wake up tomorrow and think this was all a dream. Either way, you can never contact her again, for her safety and for ours. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I understand. And thanks so much for having this conversation with me right now. In case you haven't noticed, it's been kind of a rough day. A little fantasy might not have been a bad thing for me, but you had to be the dream killer." He pulled his helmet on and got on his bike.

"I'm sorry, man, sometimes I'm the wet blanket in the Fitzpatrick family. I didn't mean to kill your good time. It's just really important that she not know who we are."

"I know, and I'm sorry I'm so memorable." He laughed and fired up his bike. Liam just shook his head and followed.

*****

Asa was beside himself, his plan had been flawless. He had waited until the last group of light warriors were going to be transported back to civilization. Devlin was defeated. Thomas was injured and the warriors with them had been fighting for hours. His best men should have been enough.
Where did it all go wrong? I lost my father, Malachi, Bartholomew, Sam, Jake and Stephen. Thomas lived, Abby lived and even Lucas was allowed to leave alive and well, but not for long! He will pay for killing my father
. Asa mused over everything that had happened that day, and realized it would take some time to rebuild his forces before he could make the move he intended to make today. His inclusion on the Shadow Assembly would have to wait. His destruction of the Fitzpatrick family would have to wait, and if Rupert was still inclined to work with him, his domination of the Council of Light would have to wait.

He couldn't believe Devlin had revealed to Thomas that he didn't kill his family. It was true, although he was actively seeking their death at the time. He also couldn't believe Devlin had figured out it was him.
What was I supposed to do, Thomas' parents were too stubborn and I had a better plan for Thomas' safety.
Still, it was unfortunate that Thomas knew. Now, he would always be looking over his shoulder. He had no doubt that Thomas already dreamt of payback. That was just one more thing he would have to hide from until he was strong enough to deal with it.

While he thought about the best place to both hide and rebuild, his thoughts drifted to Thomas.
His powers were off the charts. His Mage abilities are far too strong to be secondary
. All of a sudden, the thought hit him; he
has two primary abilities. He must have inherited each of his parent's primary abilities and maybe their secondary abilities as well. His mother's secondary Paladin ability added to his father's primary Paladin power could be the reason his Paladin abilities are so strong.
Then there was also that thing he did where his hands glowed bright and he healed his fiancée. He thought some more about that, and realized,
I have never even heard of any Ethereal being able to do that. I had just assumed that the Ethereal race was losing power because of the number of Ethereals that have none, but it may be that the most powerful Ethereal of all is among us now
. He was going to have to capture Thomas, or at least his DNA to see if there was anything replicable there. He was also going to have to figure out how to get Devlin's plague and modify it to make normal humans subservient instead of driving them mad. He figured the Shadow Assembly was already destroying most of the infectious gas they had created, but he knew Antonio would keep some for himself, just in case.

Not many had shared Devlin's vision of killing off most of the world's population so they could rule the survivors, but that was just too big a weapon to let it slip away. That was a weapon that would no doubt be unleashed should there ever be another purge. Asa liked his idea better, instead of destroying each other, they would all serve him, and then, any Ethereals that did not fall in line behind him would be purged by his billions of human servants. Asa took some small comfort at the thought of that, and he left to go contact Rupert. He had to let him know how the events had unfolded. Their plans would take a bit longer, but Asa was optimistic.

Tina woke up to the sound of tapping on her window. It took her a moment to realize she was still in her car, but it was dark out. She squinted against the glare of the flashlight shining through the window. The badge pressed up against the glass let her know it was a State Trooper. She rolled her window down after the tapping came again. "Hello officer," she started, unsure of where she should go from there. She was still groggy and really tired.

"You can't sleep here, miss, do you mind stepping out of the car?"

"A... all right," she stuttered. "May I ask what this is about?"

"I need to check your identification, ma'am, I have a priority alert to look for this car."

"Okay, but this is my car. I just fell asleep after hiking all day and working on my paper. I... I didn't know you weren't allowed to sleep here, but I was too tired to drive home. I'm sorry." She handed him her license and wondered if she should tell him about what she had seen.
What did I see?
she thought
. It seems a little fuzzy. I better not mention it or he'll think I've been drinking, or worse.

"Tina Barlow, there are a lot of people looking for you, young lady."

"Me, why? My mom knew I was coming here, and I'm only a few hours late. I just fell asleep. My dad always told me that if you're tired, you should pull over and catch a nap before you continue driving. That's all I did." The officer speaking was a tall man with a little extra padding around the middle. He had thick cheeks and a kind face. She couldn't see the other officer very well because he was backlit by the police cruiser's headlights.

"Ma'am, it's four o'clock in the morning. Your mother said you left just before dawn yesterday morning. Do you remember what time you stopped to take your nap?"

"I think it was around three in the afternoon. I don't know exactly. That would mean I slept for thirteen hours, I wasn't that tired."

"Did anyone give you anything, did you take anything?"

"No, sir, I don't do drugs." She started to tear up because she didn't think he believed her. She knew she was going to be in trouble and she couldn't figure out why she had slept so long.

"It's all right, Tina, no one thinks you did drugs, we're just going to bring you to the closest hospital to run a few tests. Your sister is already on her way to meet us there."

"But I didn't do anything, I promise, I was just tired." She was really confused, and she hated that she felt so whinny, and that they thought the worst of her.

"We believe you, but unless you have a good explanation for why we found you in a dead slumber, thirteen hours after you said you began your nap, we think something might have happened to you. Besides, we're under orders from your sister, and we usually try to do what the FBI tells us. It'll be fine. We'll even get you some dinner while the doctor's run some tests."

"Okay," she conceded, even though she knew she didn't have a choice. Once Agent Melanie Barlow became involved, her free will disappeared. "What about my car, I'm still feeling a bit tired."

"Don't you worry about that, we'll get it to the hospital."

"Can I bring my backpack? At least maybe I can work on my paper some more while I'm waiting for my sister. My iPad died, but I'm sure I can charge it at the hospital."

"No problem, ma'am, do you mind if I have a look inside first?"

"No," she sighed, "Go ahead." It upset her that they wouldn't believe her.
As soon as the tests come back, they'll know I wasn't doing anything wrong
. Maybe by then, she would have a better handle on what she saw, and her sister might be able to help her figure out what happened.

The police car had just started off towards the hospital when she began to fall in and out of sleep in the back seat. It was quite comfy and it seemed they believed her enough to not cuff her.

She heard the one Officer talking, "She's really out of it, Bob," he began when he noticed how dazed she seemed. "What do you think she's on?"

"I don't know, but I can tell you this, if it is drugs, she didn't take them willingly. There was nothing out of the ordinary in her backpack except an anthropology text book. She had some granola bars, a bottle of water, her iPad, a notebook some sunglasses and an extra tee shirt. The front pouch had her charger, some pens and a flashlight. If she came here for a good time, she didn't bring the right stuff."

"She does seem like a good kid, so why the big search?"

"Classic combination of an overprotective mom and FBI sibling," Bob replied. "But something did happen to this girl, we just have to find out what."

"Maybe the doctors will have some answers," James said before they pulled up to the entrance to the hospital. "Time to wake sleeping beauty, again."

"Be nice, James, she may actually be sick or something."

"True, but what are the odds?" He shook his head. "I hated that this job automatically made him think the worst of people."

"I'm awake," Tina said, "and I didn't take any drugs!"

Bob felt bad that she had heard that whole conversation. He did believe her. He walked her into the emergency room and she was seen right away by the ER nurse.

Tina sat on the examination table, then the nurse stuck the needle in. She hated needles and cringed a bit. Soon, the nurse was filling several small vials with her blood that would be used for all kinds of tests. They also wired her up for an EKG and a bunch of other tests she couldn't remember the names of. They also kept asking her what her name was, which started to get irritating after a while. The only thing she cared about was that the test would say she hadn't taken any drugs. Then maybe officer Bob would believe her and leave her alone. She still felt really tired and that scared her, maybe one of those guys had given her something.
But they seemed so normal, and the younger one was really nice
. Then she caught herself,
those normal guys, who were also involved in some sort of huge battle in the mountains, where things happened that I can never talk about without winding up in a crazy house. If only Melanie would hurry up and get here, she would believe me.

She plugged her charger into the wall while she was waiting for the nurse to return. She had just remembered that she might have caught some of the battle on video with her iPad. She sat down in the chair by the wall, struggling to stay awake, then her iPad came to life. She went right to her videos and hit play on the most recent one. It all came flooding back as the sound of battle filled her ears once again. She had managed to get almost a minute and a half which included swords, guns, tigers, wolves and a bear. There was debris flying about and people dying, but she was pretty far away. The faces of the people were either out of focus or obscured, but she could see some of what was going on. Her sister would have to believe her. She turned her iPad off and let it continue charging. A few minutes later, officer Bob was back with some food.

She tore into her burger as if she hadn't eaten in days. She couldn't believe how hungry she was. She was sure officer Bob must have thought it was a drug side effect. After she ate, she grew less tired and as she became a little bit more alert, details of her horrific morning came screaming back into her mind. She began trembling and when she noticed Officer Bob looking at her, she wrapped her arms around herself and said, "I'm cold, is there a blanket or jacket I could use?" She finished her dinner and wrapped herself up in the blanket Officer Bob brought her. She was starting to like the burley police officer.

"I don't think you're a druggie," he said with no preamble. "Never did, but I am convinced something happened to you. You may not know what it was, but I'm sure your sister will find out if there was foul play involved."

"Thanks, Officer Bob, I appreciate that you believe me and all."

"In my experience, no one takes an anthropology text book to go party in the mountains." He left the room when his radio beeped. A moment later, he was back with her sister, Melanie and Melanie's partner, Jason.

"Tina," Melanie cried out and ran to her little sister. "We were all so worried about you, what happened?" She threw her arms around her and Tina leaned into her big sister's embrace.

"I don't know, Mel, one minute I was laying down in my car to take a nap before driving home, the next minute these officers," she pointed over at the State Troopers, "were knocking on my window thirteen hours later. I wasn't doing anything wrong, I promise. I was just so tired."

"It's all right, you're safe now and we'll figure it out." She continued to hold her sister tight. She took out her phone and dialed their mom. "Mom, it's me. Yeah, Tina's fine. They're just running some tests on her to find out why she was so tired. Okay, I'll call you as soon as we leave the hospital. Yeah, she's right here." She handed the phone to her sister.

"Hi, mom. I'm fine, I'm just really tired and no one knows why. I was careful. I didn't drive tired, just like dad taught me. I did, I got some great pictures for my paper. It's gonna be great. I'm sorry I worried you so much. I love you, too. Bye." She handed the phone back to her sister and began to tear up. "What's wrong with me, Mel? I've never been this tired before."

"That's what we're here to find out, kiddo." Jason came over to her and held out a package of Nutter Butters, her favorite. She gratefully accepted them and gave her sister's partner a hug. He was the closest thing to a big brother that she had ever had.

"Thanks, Jason," she said.

"You can thank me by giving me a couple," He said while holding out his hand.

"I knew I got you hooked on these," she said and handed him a few. He held up the cookie, looked her right in the eye and winked. The next thing to happen was both of themm racing to open the cookie up, eat all of the filing and then finish off the two cookies one by one. They had played this game since she was thirteen, and Melanie had just gotten Jason as a partner. He won and pumped his hand in the air in celebration. Tina frowned and said, "No fair, I'm tired."

"I'll take it!" He exclaimed. "Now you're only winning by three hundred or so. I'm on the comeback trail." He beamed in triumph and she hugged him again.

The Doctor came back in the room, looked at Melanie and asked, "Are you family?"

"Yes, Doctor, I'm her sister. What can you tell me?"

"There were no drugs found in her system, but her melatonin levels are very high."

"What does that mean?" Melanie asked.

"That is the cause for why Miss Barlow is so tired, but it's the reason for the high levels that have me concerned. Her heart rate is much faster than it should be and her stress levels are through the roof. She must be experiencing very high levels of anxiety. Is there anything going on in her life that could cause this?"

"Stress and anxiety? Doesn't everyone have that? She is in school, and she does push herself."

"Not at these levels, and I checked her tests from her check up a couple months ago, and they were normal. These levels are through the roof, so this is a recent development."

She looked at her little sister, compassion filling her eyes and asked, "What's going on, kiddo? What's got you so stressed?"

"Can we talk about this in the car, Mel?" Her eyes were pleading with her big sister to protect her from these questions, but it wasn't enough. There was no way Melanie could understand why she didn't want to talk in front of the doctor.

"It's okay, Tina, it's just you, me and the doctor and he's not allowed to tell anyone. What's up?"

"Doctor," she began, "Could you tell Officer Bob that it wasn't drugs?" She didn't know why, but she wanted him to have a good opinion of her. Her sister thought she was stalling and frowned while she made a '
hurry up'
motion with her hands.

"I will, ma'am, they need that information for their report," he replied, "Now, was there something else you were about to say?"

Yeah, but how can I tell him I saw people change into animals and throw things with their mind?
"I think I've been a little stressed since dad died, then with all of the hours I've been working and extra classes I've been taking. Maybe it's all just a little too much for me, I don't know." It sounded like a reasonable excuse, even if it wasn't true. She almost felt bad that her sister believed it. She could see the look of sympathy come across Melanie's face.

"Oh, Tina," she said, and wrapped her arms around her sister. "I was so worried about mom. You looked like you were doing so well with everything. I'm sorry, I should have checked on you more. Why don't you cut back on your classes a little, and maybe your work hours, too."

"I would like for her to stay and talk to someone, Agent Barlow."

Tina pleaded with her eyes and this time Melanie took the hint. "I think we would prefer to see our own doctor. He'll squeeze us in today or tomorrow, he owes me a favor." Tina was anxious to leave, and she knew Melanie knew it when she asked her last question. "Is there anything else we need to know, Doctor?

"No, she should take it easy for the next few days, nothing stressful, including school work. As long as she sees someone in the next day or so, I'm satisfied with that."

Tina didn't think he looked satisfied, but Melanie said, "Thank you, Doctor. Come on, Tina; grab your bag and your iPad. Mom is anxious to see you." Jason packed her iPad and charger into her bag and carried it for her. They thanked the doctor and were on their way.