Tracker (5 page)

NINE

Jason

As we drove away from the hospital I could feel some of the tension melt away. I also became more aware of the moods of the people in the car. Thankfully Hannah seemed content to leave her anger behind for the moment and held my hand as we rode next to each other. Alice seemed tense and worried, and was constantly checking on Hannah. Why she seemed worried about her sister right now I had no idea, and with the headache I still had, there was no way I was up to putting in the effort to figure it out.

Dan seemed uptight, but the man was practically a stranger to me. I had known him for years but had rarely spoken to him. There were things he had done that spoke to his character, and I again told myself that he was not my father. It would take some time, but hopefully I would be able to give him a chance. He didn’t deserve to have me scared of him. He’d never given me cause to be afraid of him. I sighed and rubbed the non-bandaged side of my head, closing my eyes as I did.

Hannah squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring look, her brown eyes warm and caring. I squeezed back and smiled. A small smile, but she seemed happy to see it. Pain was searing through my skull and I felt nauseous by the time we pulled up to the house. Alice led the way into the house as Hannah led me out of the car. Once again I found myself nearly blacking out as I moved from sitting to standing. I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the bright light.

“Close your eyes, Jason. The light can’t be helping that headache,” Hannah suggested, speaking in a near-whisper to avoid hurting me further. “It’s dimmer in the house so you can open them again in there.”

I hesitated a moment, but did as she suggested. She led me without incident into their breezeway and I opened my eyes to walk down the stairs. I stumbled at the bottom, but was able to catch myself. “This is where you’ll be staying for now. There is a bathroom down here as well, next to the bedroom through this door,” she said leading me through the basement and pointing at the door.

We walked through another door and I nearly collapsed onto the bed. “Thank you, Hannah,” I said as she helped me remove my shoes and climb into the bed. The soft pillows and cool sheets felt like heaven on my pounding head and I nearly groaned with the relief.

Alice came in carrying a glass of water and set it on the bedside table. “Thanks,” I mumbled as I felt myself sink into the comfort of the bed. For this one time I would allow myself to relax on the bed without reaching down to the floor. I had Alice’s assurance that the house would be protected and Hannah would be keeping an eye out for anything out of place.

“I’ll pick up your medication after I finish my paperwork,” Alice said.

“All right,” I mumbled, sinking deeper into the pillows.

“If you need anything I’ll be upstairs,” Hannah said as she and Alice left the room. Right then, the only thing I needed was what my body had been screaming for since I’d awakened at the hospital: sleep. I heard Hannah close the door gently. Then nothing.

TEN

Alice

I hate paperwork; especially when it involved damage done to a friend of mine. Every minute I spent writing the report I also spent realizing how much Jason’s condition was my fault. As much as Dan and Jason would deny it, Jason wouldn’t have crossed Mason’s radar if I hadn’t asked him to look into the man’s organization. If I hadn’t asked for help, Jason’s abilities would have remained hidden from Mason, and he wouldn’t be at even greater risk.

Jason would not blame me, and that made things worse. When he had revealed his power to me after the first case he helped me with, I’d promised to keep it completely secret. In my own mind, I had promised to keep him out of situations where he might need to use the more… destructive part of his ability. In a single morning, Trevor Mason had made a liar of me. “I hate that man,” I said suddenly, which made Dan glance up at me in surprise.

“I don’t think you’ll get any arguments from anyone in this station,” he said mildly. “May I ask specifically what made you say it just now?”

“He made me break a promise,” I said. “When Jason started helping us with cases, I promised him that I would keep him safe. Mason made me a liar. I hate that he was able to do that. As long as he’s out there,”—I gestured toward the exit—“Jason remains in danger.”

Dan was looking at me curiously. “What is it about this kid?” he asked softly, and not for the first time. “He’s a runaway, but he seems to have gained both your trust and affection.”

“Not just mine,” I said mildly. “If I’m not mistaken, you're trying harder than normal to get a street kid to trust you.” He’d always had a soft spot for street kids, but somehow, the fact that Jason never trusted him seemed to hurt him more than any other kid we’d come across.

“That’s exactly my point,” he said, sitting straighter in his chair. “What is it about this kid that makes so many people want to care about him? You. Me. Your sister. Normally a cop would never even consider introducing an informant to their family, but you invited him to live in your house.” We’d had similar conversations before, but I had never responded with any reasons why Jason was so different from other kids.

I thought for a moment. “I think it’s mostly because he's unusual among the street kids we come into contact with. He’s never gotten into drugs, theft, or any of the other criminal activities so popular with street kids. He also cares about more than just himself and will sacrifice himself for the people he’s chosen to care about.”

“The kids,” Dan said nodding. “He would both kill and die for those kids.”

“Yes. And they would do the same for him—so would I, for that matter. He would never ask it of me, but I would.”

Dan studied me for a few long seconds before responding. “I believe you would. If you’d had a clear shot, you would have shot Mason; I would have done the same in that situation.”

I ducked my head slightly in acknowledgment, and—wanting to change the subject—asked, “Are you finished with your report? I need to get Jason’s medication before I go home.”

“Yeah, just about. I just need to print it and sign it.”

“Cool,” I said as I scrawled my signature on the report I had just finished printing. “You headed home after this?”

“Yeah. My wife would have my hide if I miss another supper this week. She understands and all, but she still gets upset. Oh,” he said as he set his computer to print. “She asked me to invite you and Hannah to dinner this weekend. She wants to do a cookout and play some cards. Jason is welcome to come too, if he’s feeling up to it.”

“I’ll talk to Hannah and Jason and let you know. Hannah said something about having a paper due, but I don’t think that’s the first priority with her right now.”

Dan chuckled. “Probably not,” he agreed as he signed his report. “Let’s drop these with the captain and get out of here.”

“All right.” I stood and stretched then grabbed the papers and walked to the captain’s office. We put our reports into his inbox and walked out of the precinct.

“What do you think Mason said to him at the end of the standoff?” Dan asked unexpectedly as we walked to our cars. “Whatever it was turned Jason white as a ghost, and he hasn’t said anything about it yet. He also hasn’t mentioned what happened to make the warehouse floor explode.”

“I don’t know,” I said.

It was true. I did not
know
what Mason had said, but I suspected it had something to do with why he didn’t kill Jason right away. Mason wanted to study Jason’s abilities, and that couldn’t involve anything good. And I obviously couldn’t tell Dan about what Jason had done to the warehouse.

“Maybe he’ll tell us after he gets some real sleep,” I hedged, hoping we’d be able to come up with something believable for how the warehouse had ended up with piles of broken concrete and dirt all over the formerly smooth floor.

“Are you sure about your plan?” Dan questioned, apparently accepting that I didn’t know any more than he about what had happened. “Jason won’t be up to hunting Mason for a while, and that will still give him time to find out where Jason is holed up.”

If he didn’t already know; the man was bound to have had someone watching the hospitals for Jason. We only knew about a handful of Mason’s employees; there could be any number of people willing to follow someone for the right price.

I could tell that Dan’s thoughts were going in the same direction. “We’ll do what we can, but there’s no way that we can keep everyone on the street from talking if Mason has guys asking about Jason. The only thing we
can
do is to keep him as protected as possible at your house, and if necessary, move him to a safe house.”

“I don’t know that Jason would go for that,” I argued mildly. “He doesn’t really even like being stuck at my house—and he knows and trusts me. He would never accept someone else as his primary protector.”

Dan sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair, the silvery gray strands parting around his fingers. “His fear of authority is going to make protecting him a nightmare,” he groaned.

“We’ll have to think it over tonight. If you come up with anything decent, let me know in the morning. Get home, Dan. Judy will be expecting you. Relax for supper with your wife, and maybe something will come to you. Have a good night.”

“You too. Stay safe, partner. And keep that boy safe too. From how he looked earlier, he won’t be able to protect himself if someone does come knocking.”

I nodded. I knew that we wouldn’t really have a great chance of protecting him if Mason did send people for him tonight, but I hoped we would have at least a little time before the man would get up the guts to attack a cop’s house. “We’ll be fine,” I said boldly, trying to hide my fear. My cell phone rang and when I looked at the caller ID I held up a hand indicating that Dan should wait. “It’s Hannah.”

“Hannah? Is everything okay?” I couldn’t hide my fear. We’d left my sister and a badly injured Jason alone.

“We’re fine,” she said calmly. “I was just wondering when you’d be home. Jason is still sleeping, but he’s starting to thrash around. I think he’s about to wake himself up, and when he does he’s going to need his meds.” Behind the calm I could read her worry.

“He’ll be fine, Hannah,” I reassured her as I indicated to Dan that everything was okay. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dan,” I said as I climbed into the car and returned to the phone call. “With everything he’s been through I’d be more worried if he wasn’t having nightmares.”

Hannah took a deep breath and from the shakiness I heard in that breath I could tell that she’d been crying. “I’ll be home soon, hon,” I soothed. “We’ll take care of him.”

“And then send him back out to find this monster, I guess,” she said bitterly.

I sighed and started the car, heading toward the nearest pharmacy. “I’m going to pick up his meds now, Hannah. If you need to talk when I get home, we can talk. I’d rather not do this over the phone. But I hope you know I wouldn’t do anything to put Jason in harm’s way.” At least I would try.

“Fine,” she said shortly. “See you when you get here.” Without waiting for a reply, she hung up.

I held my phone to my ear dumbly for a few seconds before flipping it closed and returning it to my pocket. Hannah was furious, and extremely worried. She rarely got truly mad at me, but for Jason she was willing to fight.

“How am I going to get us out of this mess?” I questioned myself out loud, hoping to trigger some response. Unfortunately, even by the time I had picked up the medication and returned home, nothing came to mind.

***

“Hannah? I’m home,” I called softly, aware that Jason might still be sleeping. I hung up my coat and walked into the living room.

“We’re in here,” she called from the kitchen. Her tone was less hostile than it had been over the phone and I suspected that Jason had something to do with it.

“Hey, guys.” I set the bag with Jason’s meds on the counter in the kitchen. Jason was sitting at the kitchen table while Hannah set out bowls and spoons. “Soup tonight?” I asked softly trying to keep my voice low in deference to Jason’s headache. He was looking a little better, but he’d only slept about two hours before I’d gotten back. He was still pale, the bruising around his wound standing out in dark blue and green. His eyes were shadowed and haunted, as if whatever had plagued him in the dream world had followed him into reality.

“Yeah,” Hannah replied. “I figured it would be quick and easy
.
”

It would also be easy for Jason to keep down; the ultimate in ‘I don’t feel good’ food. Hopefully the nausea would be gone and he’d be able to eat more than just soup, but if it weren’t at least that would put something in his system.

“How are you feeling, Jason?” I asked sitting next to him at the table.

He shrugged. “I’m all right,” he mumbled sleepily. He clearly needed more sleep, but after the nightmare that had awakened him, I wondered if he’d dare. I glanced at Hannah and noticed that she was busy at the stove.

“Jason…” I hesitated, almost compulsively looking at the kitchen to make sure she wasn’t listening. She would be furious if she knew I was bringing this up tonight, despite the importance of knowing as much as possible in order to stop Mason. At this point, Hannah wouldn’t care about the case. She was still stirring the soup, so I turned my attention back to Jason.

“Yeah?” he prompted sitting up a little straighter. He seemed worried and tense, but that was to be expected.

“What did Mason say to you?”