Guarding Justice
Fractured Minds Series Book 7
Kate Allenton
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
About the Author
Other Books By Kate Allenton
Copyright © 2020 Kate Allenton
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Published by Coastal Escape Publishing
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Chapter One
Lucy Bray
Ford’s quick departure out of town wasn’t because I’d told him we were pregnant.
He’d been shocked, but happy if the tears were any indication.
Not that we’d had much time to discuss and make plans for our future.
Our future. It sounded so foreign.
I’d never been a team player, and now I wasn’t just part of a team, I was growing us to a team of three.
Ford and I would celebrate, but now wasn’t the time for that.
His mother had taken a nasty tumble down the stairs last night, and he’d gotten the call. I was supposed to go with him to be his rock, only the baby in my stomach protested my recent food choices.
My tardiness might be forgiven when we shared the wonderful news. Maybe. I hoped his parents would be as happy about the news as us. If I made my flight, I’d know for sure in just a couple hours.
My phone rang, and I smiled when I saw the caller ID. My baby daddy was calling to check up on me.
“You on your way?” Ford asked as a greeting.
I moved around the house, checking the stove and other appliances to make sure I’d turned everything off. When I spotted my bag of meds on the kitchen counter, I grabbed them and headed back into the foyer where my purse and bags awaited.
“Yeah, I’m packed and about to walk out the door. I almost forgot my prenatal and migraine meds.” I tossed them into my purse on the foyer table. I kept out one of my prenatal pills and popping it into my mouth before chasing it with the last of the water in my bottle.
My migraines came and went with the blood connections I’d made while working for the secret government group. My job on the team—there was that word again—was to help hunt serial killers. I did this by absorbing and connecting with their blood. As a tracker I used those blood bonds to connect. The problem was, once I developed the blood bond, the killers I tracked stayed in my brain until death do us part.
With so many people in my mind, it was a miracle I was a functioning adult.
“How’s your mom doing?”
“She’s stable,” he answered.
The doorbell chimed through the house, and I turned toward the door.
“Who’s at the door?” Ford asked.
“It’s probably just my cab. Our family and friends know to call first. Hang on while I check.”
I kept the phone to my ear as I unlocked the door and pulled it open. A young girl I’d never met in person, but known to me from my visions had collapsed on my stoop. She didn’t look any older than about nine or ten. Blood smears drew stark contrasting lines over her pale face. Her opened jacket revealed jagged slashes in her white shirt, which was also half covered in dark bloody stains. “Ford, I’ve got to call you back.”
“Lucy, wait. Who…”
I hung up on him, dropped to my knees, and rested my fingers on the girl’s neck. No pulse. “This is not happening.”
I dialed 911 and gave them my address and requested an ambulance telling them I was starting CPR before I hung up. I opened the little girl's coat further to give me better access and voice dialed Noah.
He answered on the second ring.
“Why aren’t you on the plane?” Noah asked. The sound of a radio playing in the background indicated he was probably in his car.
I rested my hands over the bloodstains and began compressions on her fragile, broken body. One, two, three. “I don’t have much time. Justice May isn’t breathing and I’ve already called 911. An ambulance is enroute.”
“What? How do you know she isn’t breathing? Hell, how do you know about her at all?”
I continued counting out loud before I breathed into her slack mouth.
“She collapsed on my porch. I’ve started CPR,” I said.
I couldn’t tell you what was said after that. I tuned it out, having to fight the urge not to tune into the blood seeping into my hands. I needed to focus if I was going to save her life.
An SUV idled on the other side of the street. Smoke drifted out of the tailpipe up toward the sky. The dark-tinted windows hid whoever was behind the wheel.
Ignoring them for the moment, I focused on Justice. I wasn’t supposed to know about her. She was Noah’s closely guarded secret. He never discussed her and never indicated why he kept her presence a secret, but like the other guys, if I’m around them long enough, I can tune in to what they’re up to, similar to how my blood bonds worked, only with them I’m able to cut the connections.
Once I’d accidentally tuned in on Noah, just long enough to see him and another woman making pancakes for Justice May.
“Hang on, Justice. Stay with me!” I continued compressions, only stopping to offer breaths.
A siren sounded in the distance. Noah would never let Justice be taken into such a public place. I’d taken that decision out of his hands regardless of why Justice was a secret that had to hide in the shadows. Noah hadn’t trusted me with the truth of that yet. Now he didn’t have a choice.
One of my neighbors was out on the lawn dressed in a robe. He had the morning paper beneath his arm and a phone in his hand. He’d likely called 911 too, yet the good Samaritan never came over to offer help.
Twelve, thirteen. I continued to count, only giving a glance toward the SUV once more.
“Breathe, damn it,” I growled to Justice’s prone body before lifting my gaze to her ghostly apparition hovering above. Sheer panic and fear covered Justice’s face. “You aren’t going anywhere. I won’t let you. Do you hear me? Now get your ass back i
n your body and help me save you.”
I’m sure I looked like a crazy woman yelling into thin air. But that didn’t stop me. I continued, pressing and counting and yelling until the apparition vanished.
I did two more cycles before stopping to feel for a pulse.
The movement beneath my fingers was faint but unmistakable.
I sat back on my haunches and said a silent prayer as I turned my gaze to my neighborhood, looking for any signs of threat. I was met with an empty yard, a street devoid of nosy neighbors, and idling SUVs.
An ambulance pulled up to the curb and parked. The flashing lights danced off of my brick house and bushes. Paramedics jumped out, pulling a gurney along with them.
“What happened?” one of them asked.
That was the question of the hour…one I couldn’t answer. “I found her like this; only she wasn’t breathing. I administered CPR, and now she has a faint pulse.”
The EMT driver nodded. Her hair was pulled back tight into a bun. She and the man she was with moved Justice to the gurney.
“Are you hurt?” the paramedic asked, gesturing to my hands.
I glanced down at my blood covered palms. “This isn’t mine.”
I barely restrained hysteria wondering whose blood it was. I hoped to hell it didn’t belong to whomever Justice had run from. God forbid it was the attacker’s blood with the way I could tap into anger and killer tendencies.
She nodded. “Is this your daughter?”
I shook my head. “No, but she’s related to a friend of mine. He’s on his way.”
I lied.
“You can come with us and call him to let him know to meet us at Chapman General,” the male EMT said.
I grabbed the phone and stood. I snagged my purse from the foyer inside, taking one last look at my suitcase. I slammed the door shut and locked it.
My trip would have to wait. I couldn’t leave, not yet.
Chapter Two
Noah swooped into the hospital like a man on a mission, shouting orders, and pushing things along with a speed and command I’d never seen from him before. Within six hours, Noah had whisked Justice and me aboard a plane and out of town.
I was mildly angry when I found I hadn’t been delivered to my original destination… to be by Ford’s side.
Not even close.
I sat on a porch swing, swaying gently and overlooking a Texas field. A bright red barn visible in the distance.
Male voices drifted through the screen door. The ranch hands inside were finishing their lunch.
I wasn’t alone. I knew that better than most. I had family, and even though Noah wasn’t related by blood, he counted on me, and that was why he’d brought me here.
The door squeaked and a glass of tea materialized in front of me. I took it and smiled at Noah’s mother. “Thank you.”
She was a pretty woman. Age had been kind to her. Gentleness only barely masked her underlying strength. She reminded me of my own mother.
“I hear you’re the person I need to thank for making Noah come home.”
I wasn’t. Not fully to blame or to thank. Noah had a closely guarded secret who’d almost lost her life. It was time he returned to his roots. I just had to poke him in the ass to remind him he had people he could trust.
“I wouldn’t say that, Mrs. Roth.” I took a sip from my glass, which turned into a large gulp as I appreciated the ice-cold refreshment sliding down my throat.
“Call me Donna, and that little girl told me otherwise,” Mrs. Roth announced.
Neither Justice nor I were related by blood to these people or to each other. A year ago, Noah had hidden Sam and I on his mother’s ranch. Sam’s life had been on the line and Donna had really came through for us.
So now I may not be connected by blood to the woman, but I was connected by choice. She was like distant family who’d I’d drop everything for and go running to help. That’s how I was wired.
“Noah needed somewhere safe to bring her, and I thought of you and the last time I was here. I tried to ease Justice’s fears and tell her you were good people. But I’m a virtual stranger to her.”
“You might have been a stranger to her, but she knew enough about you to make it to your door. Good thing, too. Thank you for saving that little girl's life,” Donna said. She took a seat on the porch swing and set in motion with a little push of her foot. “You were right to tell him to bring her here.”
Her gaze turned toward the barn where Noah’s brother, Pete, was working with the horses.
“She said she died, and you yelled at her to fight.”
I turned my gaze toward Mrs. Roth and shrugged. “I couldn’t let her go. Not after everything Noah has done for me.”
“The others from your team will be here soon, and I need to go get some of the rooms ready.” Donna patted my knee then stood.
“You need help?” I offered.
“No, dear, I’ve got this. You’ve helped my boy plenty already. I can handle the rest.” Donna disappeared inside the house, leaving me all alone again with the squeak of the swing as my only company.
The others in the team would drop everything to help Noah. All of them but the one I needed most. I dialed Ford’s number and pressed the phone to my ear.
His voice was quiet and somber as he answered. “Did you get to Texas?”
“Yeah.” I stood. After a brief stretch, I jogged down the porch steps.
“Lucy, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“And the baby?”
My lips curved. “Our baby is fine, and Justice is recuperating,” I answered, unsure how I was going to tell him the important detail about touching the blood, which I’d yet to reveal. “How’s your mom?”
“Stubborn,” Ford said on a sigh. “She broke her hip, and her face is all bruised. They admitted her to the hospital. They’re administering antibiotics and running tests.”
“I’m sorry I can’t be there,” I said, meaning it as I headed toward the side of the barn. I sat down in the grass and leaned back against the red-painted wood.
“I know, Lucy. It’s okay. I’ll call you if things get worse.”
I picked at the grass, pulling several green blades at once. “Ford, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Ford didn’t reply immediately. Grim silence lasted for seconds, but seemed like an eternity. His voice was tight when he said, “That doesn’t sound good.”
“Justice was covered in blood when I found her on the porch. In order to give her CPR, I had to touch her. I wasn’t wearing gloves, if you know what I mean?”
The line was quiet again. My doctor had told me that absorbing additional blood could send me back to the loony bin or, at worst, kill me. As it was, I had more than enough people in my head.
“Say something,” I said, knocking the back of my head against the barn.
“You put yourself and our baby at risk.” His words were said in a deceptively calm voice, a storm that could soon break free.
“It was the right thing to do. I had to save her life. You would have wanted the same thing if our child needed help and wasn’t breathing.”
“You’re right,” he said, clearing his throat as if testing the words to see if they were true. “I’m just worried. Dr. Cline said you couldn’t take your migraine medicine. If it was her blood or her attacker’s, you might have an episode…”
“I know,” I whispered, cutting off his train of thought.
I had just gotten the news that the serial killer, Sebastian Elliot, had been found dead in his cell. With his death, only six people remained inside my head now. Six people, including myself, were manageable, especially without tracking killers. The headaches had started to let up. Ford and I thought we were home free. Even closer to a normal life since I was no longer able to hunt. And now this.
I looked at my hands. The bloodstain had been washed off several hours ago, but the damage was done. The decision to help Noah find this new threat, wasn’t mine any
longer. It was a potentially life changing necessity.
“The baby and I may suffer the consequences of saving Justice’s life if the perpetrator attacks her again and I tune in. You might have to restrain me from whatever comes next.”
Pain and visions. That was what came next. We both knew it.
“I know,” Ford said. “I’ll leave here just as soon as Mom gets the all clear. Lucy…just be careful. Your decisions affect us all now. You, me and the baby.”
“I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you too. Please stay safe.” His tone was quiet, but not soft enough to mask his desperation.
“Always,” I answered and hung up
I rose from my spot to find Noah’s brother leaning against the barn just feet away.
I gasped, and my hand flew to cover my heart. I hadn’t heard him approach, and that was the scary part. “You startled me.”
Noah and his brother, Pete, were as different as night and day. Noah was a good guy who’d recruited me to chase the scum in this world. He’d saved me from a life in the psych ward, even if he’d only been trying to prove himself to his higher-ups.
Pete, on the other hand, looked like he’d worked long hours in the hot sun and was hard around the edges. His dark tan and scraggly hair hung down into his hazel eyes. He looked like he could fight a bull and would probably win, whereas Noah would just shoot it.
“Yeah, well, the house is too crowded for me.”
If he thought that now, in an hour, the house would feel suffocating.
“We’ll be out of your way pretty soon. We’re devising a plan to track the people responsible for hurting Justice.”
Guarding Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 7) Page 1