The Way You Are (3 page)

“That fucking horse is protecting her!” Rebecca screamed.

“Don’t be stupid,” the man yelled.

Midnight huffed again, walking around Ruby and placing himself between her and the kidnappers, his ears flat against his head as he pawed the ground. They tried to move around him, but he charged them, keeping his body between them and Ruby. Rearing up again, he squealed, and the would-be kidnappers took off toward the grove of trees.

Ruby slowly stood, watching them go. She turned to Midnight, who huffed as he came toward her. She held her hand out, and he nuzzled it and grunted.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she stroked his nec
k.
“I think you deserve an extra carrot for that.”

She slipped her foot into the stirrup, heaved herself up, and grabbed hold of the reins. Midnight bolted toward the house without her urging. As he glided over the fields, her eyes stung with tears and her whole body trembled. If it hadn’t been for Midnight, she’d had been a kidnapping victim. Amateur or not, they’d still had every intention of tying her up and taking her away.

As they reached the outer gate, Midnight slowed to a trot all the way to the barn. When they entered, Hank was working with another horse and quickly moved out of their way.

“Ruby!” he scolded. “Honey, I told you not to come barrelin’ in here like that! Even a trot is too fast. We need to bring them in walkin’, darling. I don’t want any of …”

His voice trailed off as he gazed up at her. She pushed her hair out of her face and tried to compose herself.

“What the hell happened, Ruby? Did Midnight throw you?”

She shook her head and dismounted the horse. Her knees trembled, and she wondered if her legs would keep her upright.

“No, Hank,” she whispered. “Midnight just saved me.”

“What do you mean?” he asked as he pulled some dried grass out of her hair.

“There were two people down by the creek, by the trees. They came out of nowhere and said they were going to kidnap me.”

Hank’s face grew hard, his eyes narrowed. “I’m calling security and having them patrol down there.”

He turned and headed for the phone.

Ruby laid her cheek against Midnight’s neck and wrapped her arms around him. He whinnied softly. The tears of fear she’d been holding back finally fell as she listened to Hank order security to the outer perimeter of the property.

He hung up the phone and approached her, his tanned, lined face worried. “Are you hurt?’ he asked. “Should I call an ambulance?”

Scrapes and bruises slowly introduced themselves, but as far as being really hurt, she wasn’t. “I’m okay, Hank. Thanks.”

“We need to call your daddy, Ruby.”

She sobbed and gripped Midnight harder. “I know.”

Chapter 4

Garrett awoke, cursing the sun shining through the blinds. They’d gotten in around four in the morning and they’d both immediately crashed. As he stared at the ceiling, he knew today would be difficult as he needed to talk with Zach and get everything out in the open, things like “the explosion hadn’t been an accident,” and how everyone he’d talked to from the unit had been significantly altered and now possessed supernatural abilities. Brody held a deep connection with the ocean, while Lucas saw people dying before they actually did. Garrett shuddered as he thought about admitting he could turn into a bear.

Granted, he hadn’t talked to Zach about any of it last night, and he wondered if Zach had been affected by the explosion in any way, besides being blind. When he considered that a blind man could put two bullets in another man’s head with little effort, he had to think that yes, Zach must hold some supernatural ability. But then again, Zach had said his other senses had been heightened, so maybe there weren’t any supernatural abilities to be found.

Only one way to find out—ask.

He rolled out of bed and his body groaned as he hit the floor for twenty pushups. After using the bathroom, he slipped on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, taking a deep breath before opening the bedroom door.

“Here goes nothing,” he muttered.

He walked down the hall, the hardwood floors cold under his bare feet, and noticed Zach’s door already lay open.

He hung a right at the end of the hall and the smell of coffee greeted him. Zach wasn’t in the kitchen, but he’d obviously found where the coffee had been kept and how to work the coffee maker.

Pouring himself a cup, he glanced out the living room window in his sightline from the kitchen. A single-lane dirt road let onto the property, and the area had been cleaned of trees about a hundred feet all around the house. Beyond the clearing, large pine trees loomed, offering complete privacy for the houses’ occupants.

For a city boy, it surprised Garrett that he liked the house in the mountains so much. He’d grown up in the projects of New York, raised by his Nana after his father killed someone and subsequently met his demise in prison. He didn’t remember his mama as she had left shortly after his birth. Nana had raised him with an iron fist, determined that he make something out of himself instead of following in his father’s footsteps.

“My grandbaby ain’t going to be like his damn father!” she’d bellow if Garrett stepped out of line.

For someone who grew up in a concrete jungle, he never thought he’d find the silence and solitude of the forest so soothing as he had become used to constant sounds and the hustle and bustle of city life.

In the distance, he heard a horse whinny. Now, those beasts, he could do without. The cabin served as Joe’s private space, and Garrett had been surprised to find out Joe actually liked horses.

He heard footsteps in the living room and made his way there. Zach slowly walked around the room muttering to himself, his fingers grazing over the back of the black leather sofa and then gently brushing the lamp next to it. He continued around the room touching all the furniture. Since Joe used a wheelchair, furniture proved sparse. Savannah sat in the middle of the room, watching him.

“Aren’t you going to say good morning?” Zach asked.

Garrett noted he had showered, his hair perfectly combed, and the blue t-shirt he wore actually had creases in the sleeves.

“Didn’t want to interrupt your Lewis and Clark you got going on there,” he said, taking another sip of coffee.

Zach chuckled. “There’s not a lot of furniture in here.”

“Yeah, I know. The guy who owns this place, my boss, is in a wheelchair, so he keeps the decorations to a minimum.”

“It’s a big house. I’m assuming about four thousand square feet?”

He nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

Zach moved around the couch and sat down. “So, do you want to tell me why you came and got me and whisked me away to this nice house and all this country fresh air?”

Garrett sat down on the recliner matching the couch. “Well, the guy I work for is a stand-up dude. When I told him I wanted to find all the members of our unit, he thought it was a good idea. He’s going to want to talk to you, by the way.”

“What do you do for him?”

“He can explain it better than I can, but he helps rich people who get themselves in trouble. He offers them protection and … uh … if they want him to, he takes care of their problem.”

“It sounds illegal.”

Garrett shrugged. “I don’t know much about the problem-solving side of his business, but I work on the protection side.”

“And how is that?”

Frankly, he’d only had two clients, preferring on focusing his energy on finding the rest of the unit. Joe fed him the information as he received it, and driven by guilt from what had happened that night, Garret followed up on it. He felt responsible for the life-altering event, and wanted to find all the members of his unit and bring them under Joe’s wing and protection. It proved slow going, though, because the government had hidden and redacted everything on his platoon that had to do with the explosion in Guatemala and where they had placed the soldiers afterward.

“So far, the protection gig has been a cake-walk.”

“And you showed up at my door and brought me here for an interview?”

Garrett sighed. “I guess so. And I want to apologize to you for what happened. I should have aborted the mission. I felt something was off, and I—”

“Shut up, Garrett.” Zach’s shook his head. “You couldn’t have known anything.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“It wasn’t an accident, Zach,” he mumbled.

“I figured as much. When my sight was taken from me, it allowed a lot of time for introspection.”

“Why wouldn’t you think it wasn’t an accident?”

“Because it changed me.”

A chill ran up Garrett’s spine, having the feeling Zach meant he had been changed more than being blinded.

“How?”

“You asked how I could possibly have shot that man at my apartment.”

“Yeah. That was amazing. You were always a good shot, but damn, you’re blind now, and that was as clean a kill as I’ve ever seen.”

Zach smiled and Savannah wandered over to him, placing her head in his lap. He gently stroked her, and her eyes closed.

“I’m completely blind, Garrett,” he said, removing his sunglasses. “I know my eyes have no coloring, just white orbs. I also know it’s a little disturbing to look at.”

Garrett stared at his friend, remembering the touch of laughter almost always visible in his intelligent dark irises before the explosion. He now found his friend’s gaze—or lack thereof—a little unnerving, but he wasn’t about to tell him.

“However, a strange thing happens when I stand in front of a mirror.”

“What’s that?” he asked, leaning his elbow on his knees.

“I see snippets of the future, Garrett. They play for me, like someone is turning the channel. It’s just a few seconds of what will happen. That’s how I killed that fucker back at my apartment, and how I knew you were coming. I
saw
it. I saw that whole scene play out.”

Garrett sat back in his chair and let out a low whistle.

“Yes, it’s quite interesting,” Zack murmured.

A complete understatement if he’d ever heard one.

“And what about you, Garrett? What changed in you? What about the others?”

He cleared his throat. “Well, Brody’s got this connection with the ocean, and can control it. Lucas sees people’s death before it happens. I … uh, well, I can turn into a bear.”

Zach slipped on his sunglasses and folded his hands in his lap and Savannah laid down at his feet. “Fascinating,” he murmured. “It makes sense now.”

“What does?”

“I stood in front of the mirror after I got up, hoping to catch a snippet of some visions where I could get a layout of the house so I wasn’t stumbling around. I had a glimpse where I was in the kitchen having a glass of water while standing at the sink. A large black bear walked by outside. It almost seemed to be encased in a golden glow.”

Garrett chuckled. “If that bear was as good-looking as I am, then yeah, that was me.”

Chapter 5

Ruby sat on the window seat in her childhood bedroom waiting for her father to come home from work. Her mother had called him once Hank had informed her of what had happened, and now Mom flitted around like her ass had caught fire.

Ruby had tried to go back to her apartmen
t,
wanting to escape all the ensuing drama, but her mother wouldn’t allow it.

Her mom came into the room with a cup of green tea. Ruby hated the stuff, and preferred a cup of ho
t,
black coffee, but her mother insisted on the tea.

“After you finish that, you should get in the shower, Ruby. You’re a mess.”

She sighed, guessing her mother worried about getting dirt and dust all over the pink bedroom. As far as she was concerned, her mother had a little OCD going when it came to cleanliness and had no tolerance for anything she deemed ‘dirt
y.
’ Horses and dust definitely fell into that category.

“Are you sure you’re okay, honey?” she asked as she ran her hand over Ruby’s hair, as if she petted a cat.

“I’m fine, Mo
m.
Just a little shook up.”

“Good. Your dad will be home soon. He’s very concerned.”

“Well, I was almost kidnapped.”

“Yes, honey. I can’t imagine how frightening that must have been for you.”

Her mom sat down on the cushion across from he
r
.

“If it weren’t for Midnight, they might have gotten away with it,” Ruby said.

Her mother scrunched her nose, her distain for the ‘large, smelly beasts’ palpable. “Ruby, it’s a horse. I doubt it can process the need to aid someone. It understands food, defecatin
g,
and running around.”

She stared at her mother and shook her head. Mom had never really liked animals, finding them all dirty. “You’re wrong, Mom.”

“Well, I don’t think—”

“Ruby!” her father’s voice bellowed from the foyer.

Her mother rolled her eyes and went to the door. “She’s up here, Stewart!”

He quickly climbed the stairs and ran down the hall, his footsteps muffled by the carpet. Barging into the room, he looked her up and down as she stood. “Honey! Are you okay?”

She nodded as he embraced her and she laid her cheek against his crisp, white dress shirt.

A moment late
r,
he let go of her, holding her at arms’ length so he could study her again.

“I’m fine, Dad. Just a little freaked out.”

“I bet,” he said, just as she noticed the dirt smudges on his shirt. Her mother would have a fit once she saw them. “I’ve decided not to involve the police in this, Ruby. I’m going to handle this myself.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. She had almost been kidnapped, so it seemed a phone call to the police should be Priority Number One.

Her father sighed. “The police aren’t going to be able to give this the responsiveness that I’m going to require. They’re understaffed and overworked. I don’t want this to become another case number—I want someone’s full attention on this until it’s resolved.”

If the police weren’t called, then the kidnappers could never go to jail. Therefore, how would this be ‘resolved?’

“What does that mean, Dad?”

Her father pulled her to him again and she heard his heart thumping in his chest.

“It means, no one messes with my beautiful daughter. You let me worry about it, okay?”

Ruby nodded, uncertain if she liked the sound of that.