Kindred (5 page)

NINE

Kindred

The Tracker's friends would be off limits to me. I couldn't kill the people he cared about, but there might be a way to warn them to be careful how they treated the kid. After what he'd been through, he didn't need them making him upset or scared. The man who'd gone to his house had brought out a different emotion than I'd felt from the Tracker in the past: Confidence. It was a nice change from the anxiety and fear I'd been sensing from him since I'd pulled him from the shed. His confidence had not lasted long, but the fact that it had shown, even briefly, proved he could get through the depression he'd fallen into. Perhaps knowing that I was handling his problems would help.

I pushed my thoughts of the Tracker to the back of my mind as I watched my next prey. He would be a little trickier, but still attainable. The man walked between the Tracker's pretty detective friend and her partner, head down and shoulders hunched. Despite knowing he would get arrested for his crimes, he'd shown up where the Tracker could sense him and catch him in his earth trap. It was an impressive piece of work, and helpful to know that the kid could reach under the foundation of the house to raise the dirt and trap the scum who'd approached him. If it became necessary to detain him, it was good to know his abilities. What he didn't know, is that I knew his abilities almost as well as he did, and I could manipulate him to use them however I wanted. It was something I would not reveal to him unless I had no other choice.

I owed him for my freedom, but I would not give up this liberty for him or anyone else. If he did come after me, I would do what I had to in order to stay free. But I would not kill him. Threaten and use his own abilities against him, yes. Kill him, no. I owed him that much. So it was for his sake—not mine—that I warned him to stay away.

My future prey disappeared into the police station, and I pulled away from the curb into traffic, planning my next step. Slipping into a police station for a job was not new to me, but the Tracker's cop friends could be blamed if something happened to him while they were still in charge of him. For his sake, I would wait until they were off duty.

Once they were gone, there would be nothing holding me back from removing yet another threat to the Tracker. The only other thing I was a little concerned about, were the cameras in the holding cells. My abilities work on people, not machines. My face was different before my employment with Mason, so I wasn't sure they'd be able to find me, but to be safe, I would wear a mask. The people wouldn't notice me, and once they started checking for the person responsible, all they'd get is a random masked man on camera. They would know it was me, but they would not see my true face. No one had in a long time.

I felt a pang of regret for whatever my life could have been without Mason's influence. But you can’t truly miss what you don’t remember. So the regret never lingers long.

TEN

Jason

"Dan told me to invite you and Sam to dinner at his place tonight," Alice said when she returned from booking Paul Daken into holding for the time being. "The kids want to see you and Sam before they start school." And she wanted to take my mind off what had been going on, I'd bet.

It was a good idea. I needed to see that they were still happy in their current situation… to see that I hadn't made a mistake in giving up guardianship of three children I'd come to love. "Sure. Are you and Hannah coming too?"

She nodded. "We'll be there." Alice opened and closed her mouth, apparently hesitant to speak her mind.

"What's up, Alice?" I asked warily.

The corner of her mouth turned up slightly before turning serious again. "Just wondering what went on between you and Dustin. He seemed a bit…"

"Upset?" I broke in. She nodded. "Yeah, well. He probably has a right to be." I glanced down at the floor. "Look, I'd rather keep it between him and me if you don't mind. It's kind of personal."

Alice's eyes widened slightly in surprise; usually I would tell her what was bothering me, but I needed to figure it out for myself first. "Let's just say he doesn't think I'm taking proper care of myself, and leave it at that. Now," I said clapping my hands in front of me. "What can I do to help find Kindred?"

She shrugged, obviously not happy with the situation. "For the record, I think Dustin is right. You need to take care of yourself. Unfortunately, I also have this killer on the streets, and you could be our best bet in finding him, since he seems a bit… well, he seems a bit obsessed." Her tone was one of annoyance, but it was not aimed at me. It was probable that she, like her sister and Dustin, wanted me to have time to get my head on right before I had to deal with anything else.

But like she said, circumstances dictated that I once again face off with a killer. This one at least didn't seem likely to hurt me. Not when he thought I'd saved him. I shuddered, wondering what I would have become if Mason had succeeded in his plans for me. Would I have remembered my friends? Or would he have used me against them for his own amusement?

"Jason, don't think about it," Alice said. "It's not worth worrying about what could have been." I looked up at her confused. She shrugged. "You were on your way out. I figured if I could derail your thoughts, you'd stay here this time. Hannah told me about the blackouts." Her voice turned more urgent. "We will do whatever needs to be done in order to stop them, Jason. You shouldn't need to keep suffering through this alone. We are here for you through everything. Remember that, okay?"

I nodded and she put her hand on my shoulder as she walked out of the room. "Supper's at seven, so we'll leave around twenty to. Oh, and could you even out the ground outside your window again? It's a bit bumpy," she smiled and went to her bedroom to get changed into her usual after-work attire; jeans and a T-shirt. It was more comfortable than the business type suits she wore to work on most days.

It was different for me. I had a limited wardrobe, and stuck with jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts most days. They at least covered most of the scars. I hoped to be able to get some of the scarring on my torso repaired at some point, at least to the extent that I could feel comfortable in my own skin. It often felt too tight with the scar tissue still healing, and I couldn't remove my shirt or wear short-sleeved shirts with anyone around. It would always bring up the question 'what happened?' and would lead to me thinking too much about the past again. Not that I didn't do enough of that without anyone's influence, but I didn't need random people asking.

"Jason! Time to go!" Sam yelled down the steps and I looked around in surprise. Hadn't Alice just left me to get dressed? I should have had another twenty minutes to get ready. I looked at the clock in my room and felt my eyes widen. When had I come down to my room? I'd been upstairs when I was talking to Alice, and now it was time to go meet at Dan's for supper. Another blackout. This one for nearly twenty minutes, and I'd moved. That wasn't good.

"Jason, did you smooth out the yard yet?" Alice asked as I came up the stairs.

"Uh, no, I didn't," I said feeling hollow and frightened.

"Are you okay?" She asked looking up from the newspaper she'd been looking at.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think I am," I admitted.

She frowned and came a step closer to me. "What happened? Did you have another blackout?"

Nodding, I replied, "I started in the living room where you left me, and somehow ended up downstairs. I was out for about twenty minutes. Alice… I think I need help. I can't…"

"Hey, what's taking so long?" Hannah poked her head in the door. "Sam and I are—wait… what happened?" she asked looking between her sister and me. I looked down at the floor, allowing Alice to answer for me.

"He had another blackout, a long one this time. And he moved during it." She turned back to me. "Are you up to supper? We can postpone it."

I shook my head. "I don't know. What happens if I black out while we're there? I don't want to scare the kids."

"If you want my opinion, I'd say we should go," Hannah said. "It might be enough to keep your mind occupied and prevent another blackout." I huffed, but nodded in agreement. "And then you should talk to Dustin. Whatever he was upset about, he'll want to know what just happened, and help you through it."

"He thinks I should leave Kindred to the police; that I need to spend more time thinking about my own health and less time worrying about the killer that's following me. I don't know how I'm supposed to do that." Before they could respond, I shook my head to clear it and said, "I'm going to go smooth the yard before we go. I'll meet you in the car."

The sisters nodded and followed me outside, splitting to go to the car as I went around the other side of the yard to repair the damage I'd done while apprehending Daken. I dropped to my knees and dug my hands into the dirt, hoping to feel some of the lightness I'd felt earlier that day. But confidence and happiness were out of my reach. I was losing myself to what Mason had done, despite my escape from him. Kindred may be free, but I was trapped. Stuck in the prison my mind had created for me.

ELEVEN

Hannah

The three kids swarmed Jason and Sam when Dan opened the door to let us into the house. Paul was the most restrained, but he still gave both Jason and Sam a big hug, and he was smiling. An actual smile. I don't know that I had ever really seen Paul smile before. Granted, I hadn't spent much time with him before last fall and there had been precious little to smile about, but I got the feeling he wasn't big on expressions of joy before that either. It would do Jason some good to see his kids happy, and I could feel a smile on my own face as I greeted Ginny and Jeffrey.

Jeffrey had always been a quiet kid too, but he had come out of his shell quite a bit since moving in with Dan and June. They had done a lot of work with him and discovered that he had a slight mental disability. From what I’d heard it was a mild form of Asperger’s, but I wasn’t clear on all the details. With help from a private tutor they had already started making strides in getting him ready to go to school. He would take some special classes in addition to his normal schooling in order to attempt to get him caught up. Ginny, who'd become like a little sister to me, was currently attached to Jason. She had settled in well, but Jason had been the one constant in her life for the last few years, and she missed him.

I knew Jason had felt lost without the kids and was happy to see them, but when I glanced in his direction, he seemed uncomfortable. He returned the hugs from the kids awkwardly, and pulled away as soon as was prudent. He didn't want to hurt their feelings, but his blackout before we left had thrown him. My smile slipped slightly as I watched him, his brown eyes clouded with worry and fear, the smile never quite reaching them. I caught Alice's eye and saw that she'd noticed too, but she shrugged, unsure what to do about it. Thankfully the kids were too excited to notice, although Paul seemed to sense that there was something wrong. His smile fell as he watched his mentor, but he quickly recovered. His gaze dropped from Jason's face and he turned back to Alice.

"What's wrong?" I heard him ask quietly, not wanting Jason to overhear him.

"Later," Alice responded with a quick glance at Jason. Paul frowned, but nodded in agreement.

"Supper's ready," June called from the dining room. "Gather ‘round."

The kids quickly headed to the table, Alice and I trailed behind. Jason hung back for a moment, but waved me forward when I tried to wait for him. "Go. I'll be there in a minute," he said.

"All right, but don't take too long. They're already starting to see that something is bothering you."

He shrugged. "They're smart kids, and they know me. It's not surprising they'd notice something. Go," he said again. "I'll be right behind you." I nodded and joined the others at the table.

"Where's Jason?" June asked with a slight frown. She looked over the table making sure everything was in place, and the only thing missing was Jason.

I waved vaguely in the direction of the door. "He's coming. Just needed a few minutes to himself, I guess."

Alice glanced toward the entryway, an expression of concern on her face. She made a move to get up, but I waved her down. "He'll be here soon," I said. "Don't worry." Jason walked in as I was speaking. "See? Now we can start."

"Sorry about that. Just needed a breath of fresh air. What's for supper?" His voice was normal. He seemed completely calm, and I didn't buy it for a minute. But the look he shot me didn't welcome any doubts.

"Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread," June answered. "There's also salad and a chocolate cake for dessert."

"Wow, that sounds great, June. Thanks for inviting us tonight, everything smells delicious," Jason said with a smile that actually reached his eyes. I felt myself relax at seeing a true smile for once, and I accepted the bowl of spaghetti from Ginny who sat next to me. As Jason had predicted, the meal was delicious, and the dinner conversation was lively and entertaining. The kids were all excited to go back to school and get back to a normal life, but they were a bit nervous about being able to fit in with the other kids who hadn't been through what they'd been through. But at least they had each other to lean on if things got difficult. And they could always go to Jason for anything. He was still in charge, in their minds, and they would come back to him in an instant if he asked.

But he wouldn't. Jason would see how happy they were, and he would think that they didn't need him anymore; that they were better off without him. He would never see that they would rather be with him than with Dan and June. The only reason they were staying, or at least the reason Paul was staying, was because it was the only way to stay in constant contact with Jason. He was their big brother, their protector. They wouldn't forget that, and sooner or later, Jason would realize it too.

"I'm glad we went. We needed some time out of the house and with friends," Alice said as we drove home. She hadn't done much besides go to work and come home lately. Unlike Jason and me she didn't have the free time to go to a park or hang out with people outside of work, and I felt bad that even our normal outings had come to almost a standstill. Although she had gone out with Agent Jones a couple times since Jason's rescue. They seemed to get along pretty well, but she was noncommittal about what she felt about him, and in our girl talks never said more than that he was a nice guy and she liked him. He also knew about Jason's abilities, but Jason was close-mouthed whenever Mark was around. He didn't seem to take it personally. Mark had been the one to find Jason after Mason had tortured him, the first one to see just how badly injured the kidnapped police informant was. He understood Jason's inability to trust a near stranger.

"Yeah, it was fun, we should do this kind of thing more often," I said, glancing to the backseat where Jason sat quietly. He was shaking his head and looking confused. "Jase, are you okay?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Just confused," he said, his face mirroring what he said.

"About what?" I asked when he didn't continue.

He met my eyes and I could see the worry and fear as he said, "You guys are talking about having fun tonight, but we haven't even gone yet. Have we?"