“I’m not leaving this state until we have this guy.” Sawyer hissed, bristling at the idea of running. “He wants to play games in the dark? I’m going to show him just how dark it can get.”
She stepped around Jasper, who stuttered for a moment. She walked back into the main room and looked to the rest of the team.
“What’s our plan?” she asked, looking around. Jasper came up behind her and she wondered what he did, because Vincent cracked a small smile and Zander grinned. Elijah was nodding appreciatively.
“You and Jasper are going to start stalking Stevenson. Dig into everything. Find out who he is, how he’s unregistered, what’s his story. All of it. I want that man to have no secrets when you’re done,” Vincent began. “We’re already talking to Dallas, they’ve been notified of him. They’ll clean up the mess.”
“You think it’s coincidence that we had the probable killer come so close right after we found out Stevenson’s status?” Jasper asked, finally moving around her. He sat down on the closest bed, and she watched him rub out his left thigh.
“I didn’t even think about that,” Elijah groaned. “I outed that we knew he was a Magi, because we aren’t idiots. I never considered that he could possibly be unregistered.”
“Of course, you didn’t,” Sawyer told him. “Because no one in their right mind considers that a grown-ass old man could possibly be unreg in a position of power he’s not supposed to be in. None of this makes any fucking sense. You know how many unreg Magi I’ve met?” She could count them on one hand. “Three. All of them were in their late teens to early twenties. They were all also found out and registered within months because they couldn’t keep their heads down for long. Readers, however they do it, are always on the look-out for people who aren’t in their books. Always. They have like a sixth sense about it.”
“It’s an enchantment on the Registrar,” Jasper informed her quietly. “Any Magi with reading is attuned to the enchantment and gets a… I’ve heard it described as a vibe from a Magi that had reading. So, if they don’t get the feeling, they know a Magi isn’t recorded. It’s old magic, created centuries ago.”
“Can we call a Reader out here?” Zander asked. “There could be more. Like our killer.”
“I can try.” Vincent sighed. “One will have to come out eventually for Stevenson, anyway.”
“Doing it with the killer on the loose, though, could put the Reader at risk and give us more work,” Jasper reminded them.
“Or could scare them all into deeper hiding, and chase Stevenson off. We need him where we can see him,” Elijah mumbled.
“Still think this is an easy case?” Sawyer asked Vincent across the room. He gave her a dark smile before falling into his cold mask, but she saw something in him seemed to come alive.
“No.”
Sawyer reminded herself that Vincent loved games, and this was getting more complicated by the hour. He was thrilled with the idea of picking apart the inner workings of what was going on in this Podunk town.
It was kind of hot, in that very Vincent way. Disheveled appearance, dark thrills in his eyes, cold mask on his face, the five o’clock shadow… Yeah, Vincent was a good-looking man, and now that she knew just how not like Axel he was, she could seriously appreciate it.
They were all dismissed to get some extra sleep after that. Sawyer and Jasper would be heading out at daybreak to begin messing with Stevenson. They didn’t even know where he lived yet because there was no public information on him, and Jasper hadn’t found anything online.
She didn’t enter her room alone, though. Shade trotted in after her and she stared as the wolf jumped onto the extra bed. Shortly after him, Quinn and Scout entered.
“Quinn,” she groaned. “You have your own room.”
“You were targeted in your sleep,” Quinn said roughly. “So, now we’ll protect you so you can rest easy and go back to sleep.”
Sawyer felt a twist of her heart at that. She hadn’t been planning on sleeping again. Sleep was never easy for her in new places, and the night’s events had made sure she wouldn’t for the rest of her stay in Texas.
But here was Quinn, realizing this, and coming to make her feel easier. It possibly wouldn’t help, but she appreciated the gesture. She couldn’t bring herself to turn him away. Something like this from Quinn was a gift.
“Lie down,” he said gruffly, pointing to her bed. She noted the book he held in one of his hands. “Sleep. Be easy.”
She nodded slowly and went. She watched Scout jump up on to the extra bed with Shade and expected Quinn to follow them. He didn’t. Once she was under her own blankets, he took the other half of her bed, staying on top of the blankets, and began to read, a quiet mumbling as he sounded out the words.
She did get a couple more hours of sleep that night, lulled by Quinn’s steady presence.
She promised herself that she wouldn’t forget this gift from him.
17
Jasper
Jasper suited up and met Sawyer as the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. They were both in black cargos and black tees with their sidearms.
Jasper had the sneaking suspicion that she had more than just the Sig, though. He just couldn’t see where she was hiding the daggers. He knew they had to be there, because he knew who she was and what she was capable of. He wasn’t going to ask, though.
“Ready?” He asked as she shifted the shoulder holster around. “We’ll have eyes up there too. Kaar will be following us at a safe distance.” He pointed up as Kaar took off into the still-dark sky.
“I’m ready,” she told him with a nod. He searched her face and didn’t like the lack of emotion on it. “We’ll probably find him somewhere near his office.”
“You’re right,” Jasper said with a nod. “We just need to maintain our distance, so he doesn’t feel us.”
“I think we have about thirty yards,” Sawyer told him as they began to walk. The town was small enough that the Explorer was more of a hindrance for this sort of work, Jasper knew that. Sawyer wouldn’t cloak both of them until it was necessary because it would drain her too quickly to be very useful. They were doing this together because they could both phase, and Jasper could make some impressive illusions if they needed a quick distraction. He was ready for it.
“Thirty?” Jasper frowned at her. How did she get that number?
“How close we can get before he realizes we’re nearby? Based on our strength and his, he’s so weak that we needed to be nearly on top of his head to notice his power. He would notice us a little farther out but… his own strength would hinder even that. His Source can’t reach out far enough to notice others. So, I’m guessing we can get within thirty yards before he really notices us, unless he actually sees us.”
Jasper kept frowning through her explanation. There were some things Magi just dealt with. The fact that a Magi knew another Magi the moment they felt each other’s magic was one of them. But Sawyer had it down to a science. He wondered how important that knowledge had been for her. And how much she had abused it like this before.
“Jasper?” Sawyer gave him a confused look. “What?”
“When did you start learning how to judge that sort of thing?” he asked quietly. He watched her expression change from confusion to a cold, hard mask.
“Work,” she bit out and picked up her walking speed. “How to sneak through and past Magi guards to get to my targets,” she continued, and Jasper was hit in the gut with the information. He’d guessed, but every time he heard the confirmation of her old work and what she’d learned from it… it all came back. He was in love with a criminal who was on her last leg to living freely. She was only here because they had caught her, she was exposed, and it was better than prison.
“Should come in handy today,” he muttered, looking at her face when he caught up. She kept the mask, refused to let anything show through; refusing to let him know just how much he upset her.
“Let’s hope,” she whispered, noddin
g her head toward something ahead of them. Her hand touched his arm and his world became black and gray. He nearly pulled away, but a quick shake of her head made him hold still. He finally looked in the direction she had indicated.
They were already on South Main Street, and there was Stevenson, talking to another local in front of a place called Vintage Vanilla, an old school soda fountain that served as a deli as well.
It wasn’t interesting, but they had eyes on the target already, and that was something. Jasper figured Stevenson was just picking up a bite to eat for later in the day, or just doing his work as the local sheriff. Sawyer turned them slowly around the corner of the old bank on Main Street on to South 1st Street. Jasper felt her drop the cloak, and color returned to his world.
“Does it always do that?” he asked, taking a deep breath.
“Yeah,” Sawyer whispered, looking back around the corner. “It does. We’ll stay here. I’ll keep an eye out for him and any movement. I’ll cloak if I think he’s going to turn in my direction. You just…stay there. I’m going to have a smoke and look casual. You do the same. We’ll pretend we’re waiting on a ride if anyone asks, but the town is pretty dead right now.”
Jasper nodded once and watched her light up. She had this down to an art and he was… impressed and uncomfortable.
“How long until you want to hit his office and dig through it?” he asked softly.
“Later in the day, or at night,” she replied. “Preferably in the middle of the night. Let’s just find out where he lives today and see if he might have a schedule we can follow. Who he goes to see, what he does.”
“How many times have you done this before?” He needed to know.
“For every IMPO agent stationed in a city. Like I said, I like doing this sort of ground work.” She sighed. “I just never thought I would have to keep doing it for you all. I thought I was done with this.” He didn’t know how to respond, and she just continued to talk. “He’s moving down Main, we can follow at a good distance and just pretend we’re enjoying the sights of the town.”
“Alright,” he groaned, leading the way. He frowned when she slid her arm in his.
“Show,” she whispered. He went with it, pulling her a little closer. So, they were going to play the couple thing. “I need to be with a guy like you or they’ll… well. I don’t belong in this part of the country.”
“You are extremely aware of yourself,” Jasper noted, “and how these locals probably would look at you.” It was almost disheartening that she was aware of it. Sawyer missed nothing, from her past and how it had changed her, to her appearance and how people looked at her.
“We grew up in Georgia, in the Southeast below the Bible Belt, Jasper.” Sawyer sighed. “The World Trade Centers were a national tragedy… along with two wars the United States went into after it. I can’t blame people for looking at me and seeing all of that, it just sucks. I plan for at least something to come up at any point because of how I look. It’s all a part of the game.”
He felt a little cold at that. He remembered. He remembered the bullies and the looks she got as they grew up. He remembered how people would ask her about her religion or if she was an American. A lot of fights between her and Zander and the other kids. Jasper dragging them away to keep them out of trouble.
They walked down South Main Street, arm in arm, lost in those memories as their eyes took in the world around them. Jasper made sure to get a good look at the sheriff when he needed to. They were nearly fifty yards behind him, and Jasper couldn’t feel the old Magi’s Source from that distance. Sawyer had been right. Stevenson didn’t seem to notice them at all.
It felt like it was nearly an hour before they watched him climb into his truck and drive off. Jasper glared at it. Stevenson had talked to a lot of non-Magi, but they didn’t run into any other Magi in the town at all. He’d shaken hands and waved, but nothing more. Well, except one phone call he’d made, but they didn’t have a chance to get close enough to hear it.
“Let’s get back to the motel.” Sawyer sighed. They were near the town’s old clock tower and courthouse at this point, wandering through the park that surrounded it. It wasn’t very much of a park. The grass was mostly yellow from lack of rain, and the patches that were green weren’t going to last much longer. “No reason to just sit outside the sheriff’s office and wait for him to go do something, especially since we’ll need a car to follow him anywhere. I think we’ll learn more from breaking in tonight, maybe even get his address off his personnel file.”
“I agree,” he responded. People milled about, and some shot them glares as they turned around to head back the way they came. The man they saw talking to Stevenson outside Vintage Vanilla glared at them as they passed by.
He didn’t like this.
“Go back to your own damn country,” the man hissed as they got further away. Jasper felt Sawyer tense up. “Good boy like you, disgracing yourself with a woman like her.”
That pissed him off, now. The town seemed so normal, but underneath it was something rotten, he could feel it.
“Go fuck yourself,” Jasper snarled back at him. The man sneered at them. Sawyer sighed deeply, turning slowly.
“I was born and raised in Georgia, sugar. I am in my own fucking country. I thought all of us Southerners were raised on good old Southern hospitality, but I can see your mother failed you.” Sawyer smiled at the end, and Jasper watched the man turn beat red. She was so at ease with it. He knew she was prepared, but he wondered how she didn’t get pissed off like him.
“We don’t like your kind around these parts. You would do best to move along,” he told them vehemently, and Jasper saw spit fly from his mouth. “Go back to where you came from, Georgia or whatever.”
“Let’s go, Jasper,” Sawyer chuckled. “We’re obviously not wanted here.”
“I can see that,” Jasper fumed, glaring at the old man. He threw his arm over her shoulder, and they walked together. As they moved further away, he pulled her a little closer. In boots, he was still only an inch taller than her, which made having an arm over her slightly uncomfortable, but he wanted to keep it there.
He was proud of her. She’d remained calm when he had wanted to jump the country fuck. It made him remind himself that she wasn’t all violence. She was also patience, and kindness, and a disarming smile when someone tried to give her a hard time. She wasn’t just a more dangerous version of Zander’s hot temper.
They made their way back to the motel together, keeping a steady pace. The temperature was starting to climb to dangerous levels again. Jasper wasted a bit of his energy and made a small breeze around them.
“Thanks,” she told him, removing herself from his hold.
“Not a problem,” Jasper replied, smiling at her. He felt more comfortable, every step they got away from the center of the tiny town. “You feeling better from last night?”
“Yes and no,” Sawyer answered softly. “It’s one thing for you to get pulled in on accident. I would understand you coming in. Something about a stranger, though… and the behavior? All of it was just wrong. Everything about last night was wrong.”
Jasper agreed. When she leaked nightmares to him, it was awful, and he just wanted it to stop. He’d never even tried to jump in and really see it. He would never do that since it was such a violation of another’s privacy. It was like stalking or creeping on someone. A bit of a taboo among Magi-like mind reading without permission. It was considered rude and not done by the more civilized or kind members of their community. Definitely frowned upon.
Their killer didn’t seem to care about any of that. Didn’t understand the taboos that came from having certain abilities.
“He shrugged, Jasper,” Sawyer whispered. “I asked him if it made him feel powerful, and he shrugged.”
Jasper swallowed that bitter pill. He didn’t know what to say to her. There was no way for anyone to stop it from happening again. He knew that, and he was sure Sawyer knew it.
“On th
e topic of my nightmares,” Sawyer said, louder, less shaky. “The entire house knew I was leaking them to you, except me?” He winced.
“I haven’t gotten much sleep since you moved in,” Jasper mumbled. “And before Axel, there were a lot of unknowns. I wanted you to come forward with it, not bring it up because I was seeing flashes of stuff I didn’t understand. Since…”
“Since, you’ve been preoccupied with a lost leg, my real past, and… other things,” Sawyer finished for him. He didn’t like the side eye she was delivering.
Other things.
“Let’s not go there,” Jasper continued to mumble, feeling like a child caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. He realized they were going to go there, whether he liked it or not, so he continued. She had him cornered. “I like you. We’re friends. I have… issues I need to get over with regards to your past, and you have things you’re working on. I’m fine.”
“You need time to reconcile my work history.” Sawyer whistled and kept walking. Jasper wished they had brought an Explorer. The walk was feeling too long at this point, and he wasn’t a guy to talk about this kind of stuff. He let Zander do the talking. It was easier, even if Zander had a tendency to screw up. “It’s okay. I get it. I’m also not ready to… dive into all those feelings from our younger years. They’re there, Jasper. I won’t lie to you and say they aren’t. I crushed on you both pretty hard, and it was obvious. They still make everything complicated. Shit, everything is more complicated now…”
He thrilled for a moment at hearing that she had also liked him and still did. And then he registered the rest of her statement.
“It is more complicated,” Jasper groaned. “Sawyer, some of the things you know and can do… they scare me. I don’t know how to handle it.”
“It’s okay to judge me. I do,” Sawyer whispered.
The Redemption Saga Box Set Page 53