Tracker (10 page)

NINETEEN

Jason

The room was silent for several moments. I looked down at the hardwood floor of the kitchen as I searched for an answer. Alice and Hannah were looking at me expectantly, but nothing came to me. I had never been one for planning. For most of my life I had simply done what situations had called for. When living with my father had become unbearable, I had tried to escape. My attempt had failed, and I was sent back to live with him after a lengthy hospital stay. When he’d hurt me again, I ran. It wasn’t planned. I simply got as far away as I could, as quickly as I could. Somehow it had worked.

When Alice had come to investigate some disappearances shortly after my life on the street had begun, I talked to her when none of the other street people would. When I had found out the person who she was looking for was someone I knew, I had been able to help her find the girl. I was thirteen years old. From then on, she and I had helped each other. That made it all too easy for me to agree to help with the Trevor Mason case. Despite the risks, it was a logical step in my life. The only thing I could think of now was to get the man off the streets and find Sam. Any planning beyond that was out of my reach. A sigh escaped as I glanced up at the two women, still looking expectantly at me. “I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. This won’t be the first time I’ve had to hide from someone.”

I nearly laughed. I’d never stopped hiding. My life was all about hiding from the man who called himself my father. It didn’t matter how old I was. The man was insane. When I’d gotten out of the hospital he’d said that the only way I would die was if he killed me. If I attempted it again, he would save my life and make it look like he was a worried parent. Then he would make my life even more miserable than before. He would never let me go. It was mostly thanks to my abilities that I’d been able to stay out of his reach.

Hannah was shaking her head; tears running silently down her face. “Jason, please don’t go. It’s not safe, and you’re still injured. You may not be able to count on your abilities to help as much as normal.”

She was right. But it didn’t matter. I’d been called out by a killer, and the only thing I could do was get myself in the open and hope I’d be able to find someone to lead me to Sam. Looking Hannah in the eye, I said. “I have to… for Sam.”

I was repeating myself, but it was okay. It was nice to know that Hannah cared, but right now Sam was more important.

A thought occurred to me suddenly. “Alice, how did Mason escape the warehouse?” I asked. “Did you not have officers at the exits?”

“I did. They all claimed he hadn’t gone out by those doors. We still haven’t figured out how he got out without being seen. There has been a suspicion that one of the cops there that day was on Mason’s payroll.”

“Do you believe that?” I asked intently.

She considered it then shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t really know. There were some officers there that I don’t know personally. They responded to our call for backup. One of them mentioned seeing a man by one of the corner exits briefly right before we breached, but he disappeared quickly. The others… I don’t think so. I’ve known some of them for years, and none of them have had anything to do with the cases linked to Mason.”

“I need to go back to that warehouse,” I said softly. There was something I was forgetting about my time in the warehouse, and the only thing I could think of was to go there and check it out. Maybe it would jog my memory.

“Why? What are you thinking?” Alice asked intently.

I shook my head. “I don’t have anything solid. I just hope that the people in your department are actually trustworthy. If they told the truth, and Mason vanished without being seen by any of them, then I might have a theory. I want to check it out before I go into it. I need to get to the warehouse.”

“One problem… the warehouse is still a crime scene. Technically, I can’t let anyone in.” She sounded regretful, but I needed to get in.

“Can’t the investigators still go in?” Alice nodded. “Then wouldn’t you, as one of the investigating officers, be able to bring in your ‘civilian consultant’ to check out the crime scene?” She looked unsure, and I figured it was because I had been the victim in that particular scene.

Alice glanced at the floor before meeting my eyes. “I’ll take you in,” she said. “But when we’re done there, regardless of what we find, I want to know your theory.”

“Even if it turns out I’m way off?” I asked in confusion. “Why would you want to know?”

“Just promise me,” she demanded.

“Fine. I promise that even if I’m way off and just listening to my theory wastes your time, I’ll tell you. Can we go now?” I asked, suddenly feeling the need to go. Most, if not all, of the echoes would be gone by now. I wasn’t clear on exactly what I was looking for, but I needed to see the building again and at least try to figure it out.

“Sure, just let me grab my stuff,” she said as she left the room.

“Jase, please be careful,” Hannah said. “The kids in there,”—she waved toward the living room—“need you. Please make sure you don’t leave them alone.” There were no more tears, but she was clearly struggling with her feelings about my leaving.

I sighed and took her hand, wishing there was some other way. “I’ll be careful, but I won’t be back tonight. Once Alice and I are done at the warehouse, I’m going after him; I can’t leave Sam in his hands.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, her eyes closed for a moment. “Stay safe. Make sure you check in with Alice regularly.” Hannah threw her arms around me and held on hard. “Come back safe. I can’t stand seeing you hurt.”

Her open emotion surprised me, and I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I awkwardly returned the hug and promised to be careful. Knowing the risk I was about to take, the possibility of that promise being broken was high.

Alice came into the room as I extracted myself from the hug, and I went to say goodbye to the kids. They knew what I had to do, so it was a quick goodbye. Paul again promised to go for help if anything happened.

The drive to the warehouse was quiet, and I used the time to think through what I knew about Mason. He had never been caught. He had killed a business partner after nearly dying himself. He had abducted me after I had begun working with Alice. He wasn’t afraid to go after people I cared about to get to me. He was a sadistic killer.

None of these things boded well for me, but Sam was my main concern at the moment. No matter what happened to me, it would be worth it to get Sam away from the sadistic monster. It was too late to do anything for Erin, but Sam I could still save.

If I could also figure out Mason’s method of escape that would simply be the icing on the cake. Without a way to fade into the background or simply disappear, he would lose his ability to get away with murder. He would learn that hurting the people I cared about was a huge mistake. And then he would pay for that mistake.

“We’re here,” Alice said, breaking into my thoughts. The two of us entered the building through the same door I had been rushed through on a stretcher only a couple days ago. I looked around, seeing the piles of dirt and cement slabs that had been dug up by my power, and I shuddered. The destructive portion of my ability often scared me. If I was angry it seemed to take control.

It had happened only a handful of times, but I still hadn’t figured out how to hold back once my anger or fear built up to the explosion. There had been huge destruction each time, thankfully lacking in human casualties. One dog, a nasty thing that had helped to build up my panic, had gotten killed when I opened a massive sinkhole under it to get it away from me. The man who’d been egging it on had escaped with a broken leg. That time had scared me. He could have easily been killed, and no matter what, I never wanted to kill another person. I clenched my fist and felt the muscle in my jaw tense.

In this case, I wasn’t afraid of it. I wanted to use it to somehow tear Mason into shreds and keep him from hurting anyone else. If I could find a way to use it on him without hurting anyone else, or even killing him, I would. If I injured him badly enough, he wouldn’t be able to cause any more problems. Killing I had a problem with, seriously maiming—at least in his case—I definitely was okay with. The monster would no longer have any power. He would not harm another person I cared about.

“Which door did he go towards as he ran out?” I was trying to hide my rage, but judging from Alice’s look, I wasn’t too successful. I had been pretty out of it when he had gotten away, so the question wouldn’t be too unexpected. A bullet to the head is a pretty good distraction. Alice indicated a door to the left of what had been my prison. It was on the other side of one of the cement walls of the storage cage, so I hadn’t even noticed it last time I was here.

As I neared the door, a chill ran up my spine. I paused, frowning at the unfamiliar feeling and glancing around the empty warehouse before continuing to the door. When I reached to open it I felt a shockwave through my mind before everything went black.

TWENTY

Alice

I’d agreed to go to the warehouse for one simple reason: I trusted Jason. If he thought there was something there that could help, there probably was. His silence on the drive over had worried me, but he probably had a lot to think about. I hoped he was coming up with some sort of plan for finding Mason, and that the plan included calling me as soon as he found him. I wasn’t holding my breath on the phone call. Mason had murdered one of his kids. There was no way Jason would let that go without some kind of payback. With the power at Jason’s disposal, I shuddered to think what that payback would entail.

As we entered the building and were faced with the proof of Jason’s power, his face paled slightly, and I saw him clench his fist at his side. Apparently, the reminder of what had happened was unwelcome. Not only for him, but for me as well. Sure, I was comfortable asking him to use his tracking abilities to help me, but I had tried to avoid situations where he’d have to do more. The sheer devastation of the warehouse floor scared me, and, even knowing Jason as I did, it made me nervous to have such an obvious display of his strength. The destruction of the house had been less distressing simply because I had been more concerned with the children Jason had rescued than the method he’d used to do so.

When Jason asked about Mason’s escape route, I pulled myself from my thoughts and pointed him in the direction of a door he’d apparently not noticed before. Since he’d been kept in the storage cage the last time he was here, I wasn’t surprised the entrance had gone unseen. It was in a dark corner of the room, and he wouldn’t have detected it when faced with Mason’s thugs and the fact they had captured Sam.

He paused as he walked toward the door, a confused look flashing across his face briefly. Jason looked around for a moment before he shook his head slightly and continued on. Whatever had puzzled him, he’d apparently decided it wasn’t a threat, so I relaxed for a minute. I glanced around the room again, a bit shaken by the fact that so much destruction had come out of Jason. As I was about to turn and join Jason at the door he cried out in pain, grabbed his head, and collapsed to the floor in a heap.

I had my gun out in an instant, looking for the threat. Whatever had happened to him, Jason was out cold by the open door, and I needed to get him into cover. I dove forward and grabbed him by one arm, dragging him out of harm’s way. Once he was back in the building, I slammed the door and waited. I needed to know what the threat was before I could do anything about it, and Jason didn’t appear any more injured than he’d already been.

“Jason? Are you okay?” I asked, sitting over him and shaking his shoulder. He sat up with a gasp, pushing himself back until he reached a wall, where he sat breathing heavily his eyes wide with fear. “Jason, what happened?”

He shook his head, eyes darting around the room frantically, searching for an unseen threat. “I don’t know,” he panted, still trying to get his breathing under control. “I opened the door and it felt like something drove an ice pick through my skull.” His pupils were dilated and he was rubbing his head as he spoke.

“Are you okay?” I asked again as his breathing settled to a normal rhythm. His eyes began to react more normally, and I sighed in relief. The last thing he needed after the bullet grazing his head was another concussion.

“Better.” He hadn’t moved from his spot by the wall, but now he looked more thoughtful than frightened. It seemed as though he was trying to put some pieces of a puzzle together, his brow furrowed in concentration.

“Alice,” he said hesitantly. “I have no idea what that was. I was only hoping to find some echoes to see if Mason went through that door. Any idea what it could be?”

“You felt something as you were walking to the door, didn’t you?” I asked.

When he looked at me in confusion, I explained, “You stopped for a little while as you walked to the door.”

“Yeah, I think I did. There was a shiver running down my spine as I neared the door and then
wham
, ice pick headache. You know, there could still be some echoes left. I need to go out there and find out,” Jason said urgently. I helped him to his feet, and when he hesitated to open the door, I opened it for him, allowing him out into the cool darkness of the evening.

“All right, do your thing,” I said. I kept my eyes open for possible threats as Jason knelt on the ground, putting his hand on the cement. He had a look of intense concentration on his face, his eyes closed and every muscle tensed and ready for action. After a few moments he yelled in irritation, the ground under him rumbling in protest as if to say it wasn’t at fault.

“No echoes?” I asked quietly, not wanting to upset him further. I felt a small shiver of fear at his show of temper. He would never hurt me, I knew, but he had caused a slight earthquake just because he was discouraged that his plan hadn’t worked. Whether he meant to do it or not, I didn’t know and was afraid to ask.

“Too many,” he countered angrily. “And all so faded I can’t tell them apart.”

He looked so tired and disheartened that I wanted to be able to tell him everything would be okay. Unfortunately, both of us would know that for a lie. As long as Mason was out there, it wouldn’t be okay. Instead, I said, “You should come home with me tonight. Get a good night’s sleep before going out and looking for trouble.”

When he looked at me doubtfully, I added, “It can’t hurt.”

Jason still looked as if he wanted to argue. “I need to find Sam,” he said, his voice thick with the feelings he had kept hidden until now. “I can’t… he’s my family… I can’t lose him.” His emotion-filled eyes begged me to understand.

And I think I finally did. Both of them had dark hair and eyes, their faces bore such a strong resemblance that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. I felt a frown growing on my face, knowing if my suspicion was true, he would be more likely to do something stupid to get Sam back. “Jason… are you related to Sam?” I asked, wondering if he’d meant family in the strictest sense or just that he considered Sam and the others as his family.

Jason’s voice cracked and he hung his head as he said, “He’s my brother.”

His revelation left me reeling. In all the time I’d known him, Jason had said nothing about having a brother. When I had first seen Sam two years ago, Jason had told me he had just run away from a bad situation and needed protection. “Do the others know?” I asked hesitantly, not sure if Jason would reveal more or not. He had looked shocked by his own confession, and I didn’t think he’d really meant to tell me.

Apparently now that the cat was out of the bag, it no longer mattered. “Yes. It’s part of why they’re all so protective of him.”

Watching out for their protector’s little brother—it made sense. Sam would be Jason’s great weakness if others had known about his relationship to the man who defied criminals and street code by talking to the police. It was dangerous enough for the kids he protected, but if anyone had found out that Sam was a blood relative, it could be even worse.

“Jason…” I wasn’t sure what to say. He hadn’t trusted me with this information, but I couldn’t really blame him. Sam had only been with Jason for the last two years. Not for the first time, I wondered what had gone on in Jason’s home.

“I got him out as soon as I could. It was soon enough to save him from some of what had happened to me, but not all of it,” Jason said in a monotone.

“Jason, what happened?” I asked, forgetting my resolution to not push him on the subject.

“We should go,” he said, avoiding my question and deflecting as he always did when his past came up. “I want to get an early start tomorrow.” Without another word he headed back to the car, leaving me no choice but to follow him and hope that eventually he would open up to someone.

“Jason?” I asked before we left the warehouse. He didn’t answer, but glanced back at me with his eyebrows raised. “What were you looking for? What was it you suspected that made you want to come here?”

He threw up his hands. “I don’t really know. I feel like there’s something important that I’m forgetting, and it’s got to do with how Mason escaped. There might have been someone there.”

My eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. “There… by the door where you collapsed?” I asked.

“Yeah. I think someone was waiting there to help him get out, but I still don’t know how they got past the officers there. Can we go now?” he asked waiting by the door.

When I nodded, he pushed the door open and rushed to the car. I followed more slowly, looking around the destroyed warehouse once more. Whatever was coming, Jason would need help getting through it—whether he knew it or not.