Jebediah's Crime: A Heroic Supernatural Thriller (The Hinge Series Book 1)

by Vincent Phan Tran

  "Who do you think I am?" Jebediah asked.

  "There's some scary stuff in the Hinge, things that make grown men sleep with the lights on and their guns held close and tight." Lieutenant Riley gave a thin smile. "I heard you make those scary things piss their pants."

  Jebediah considered for a moment before speaking.

  "I'm a bounty hunter, a chaser and fighter, and when I work, I'm usually on my own. The Scrounge isn't a military force. It's a group of individual fighters. I've no experience establishing a House Guard, building a protected perimeter, or setting up proper facility defenses. But you, Lieutenant John Riley, USMC, retired, sort of, I'm guessing you know all about those things. I'm betting you know how to set up firing lines and killing zones. And I'm betting you'll need all those things, because Mei pissed off one of the more dangerous members of the Caiber's ruling class."

  "Mei pissed someone off? Mei?" Johnny asked with an incredulous expression. "She's the sweetest old woman in the world. Who the hell'd want to hurt her?"

  "She said 'no' to people used to hearing 'yes'." Jebediah related their encounter at the open market. Johnny listened quietly and his men crowded closer to hear. When he'd finished the story their mood was different.

  Palpable tension hung in the air, and something else Jebediah couldn't quite put his finger on. Johnny looked around to his soldiers—something unspoken passed between them. And when the Lieutenant finally spoke, his voice held barely contained anger.

  "When we first landed here, we had nothing. Mei couldn't be around us, and we all knew why, so we left each other alone. The boys and I were in the Warren living off menial jobs, or whatever we could find while we figured out the Hinge. And that's no small matter. Then, we started getting envelopes filled with money. They'd come to us from couriers with no sender listed. That money got us a decent place to sleep, ammunition for our weapons, body armor, and training materials. Next thing you know, we're getting calls from people who need men that know how to fight. We started making a living for ourselves." He turned to his men.

  "I think we all know where that money came from, don't we?" he asked.

  Rough soldiers dressed in camouflage and strapped with automatic weapons nodded their heads in respect.

  "I have to figure she was going through all kinds of crap, taking care of a little girl at her age, trying to find a place to live. But she didn't forget about any of us. And she never asked us for anything." Johnny looked at Jebediah.

  "Her son kept a bunch of us alive during the War. And on that last day …" The soldier's gaze drifted for a moment like he was lost in memory.

  "If his mother and daughter need us, we're in," Johnny finished.

  "Damn right," said a stocky sergeant.

  "I got a rifle and bunch of ammo. Anyone fucking with them, gonna get nice and tight with both," another soldier growled.

  The Lieutenant smiled at Jebediah. "Looks like you got yourself a platoon of emotionally invested Marines. What do you want from us first?"

  "Right now, it's more about what you want," Jebediah replied. "What do you need to secure this place?"

  Johnny gave a grim look. "We're at the bottom of a valley. It's pretty and all, but I'd have preferred high ground." He swept his hand away from the house. "All those trees and vegetation need to get cleared. We'll need a clean line of sight from the house. I don't want anything getting within half a mile without us being able to see it coming."

  He turned to the big sergeant who’d spoken before. "Rob, your thoughts?"

  "This place needs walls. We put up a twenty-footer with gun positions, then reinforce the house itself with steel and automatic cannons," he responded.

  "You're in charge of all this," Jebediah said. "All the planning, logistics, all of it. I have no background in this type of protection and no interest in learning."

  "We'll handle it end to end," Johnny agreed. "We're still figuring out how things work in the Hinge, though. We need someone to lead us when we're outside the valley. Someone who knows this place and how it runs."

  "That's me. Outside of the valley, I play lead. Agreed?" asked Jebediah.

  "Agreed," answered the Lieutenant. "When do we start?"

  Jebediah stared at the half-circle of soldiers.

  "You already have," he replied.

  Ray and Lee stared at Jebediah, gave each other sidelong glances, then drained the beers in front of them. There wasn't much of a crowd at the Scrounge diner, so they almost had the place to themselves.

  "So … I just … I wanna make sure I understand," Ray started in a faltering stutter. "You took a body guarding job, pissed off the world's scariest knife fighter and his dragon-lady sister, then made enemies of one of the most powerful houses in the Caliber. Just out of curiosity, are you trying to kill this old lady?"

  "We're in!" Lee exclaimed with a huge smile.

  "To be fair, I really wasn't trying to piss anyone off. All that stuff just sort of happened," said Jebediah. "And it's why I need some help."

  Ray leaned forward. "Not sure we want a piece of this fight. Last thing I want are the Rakashs coming after me."

  "You'll be one of a group of guardsmen, just like any number of other Houses. If you want, you can wear a uniform like the rest of them. No one's going to run around telling people you joined."

  "Let's get 'er done!" Lee cried. Ray shook his head at him.

  "Why us?" Ray asked. "There's others in the Scrounge more powerful than us. And I mean, you're Jebediah Creek. You could probably get whoever you wanted. So why us?"

  "Because of all people I could get from the Scrounge, I think you'll both be there when you're needed. Because everything I've heard about you, makes me think you won't leave."

  Lee smiled and winked over his glass at the waitress. She dimpled a smile back at him. Ray caught it all and gave Lee another irritated look.

  "The money is a better than most jobs," Jebediah said. "A lot better. And by the way, she makes some pretty amazing food."

  Lee nudged Ray with his elbow and nodded like a bobble head doll. Ray rolled his eyes in response, and held his hands up in surrender.

  "Yes, fine, we're there. You got us," he said.

  Jebediah shook both of their hands and stood to leave. Before he made it to the door, though, Lee ran up and stopped him.

  "Was there something else?" asked Jebediah.

  "Yeah, um, I just wanted to ask you …" Lee started.

  "Yes?" Jebediah prompted.

  "That other bodyguard, Ara … do you know if she's like, seeing anyone?"

  The weeks blurred with the clearing of ground and construction of the protective wall. It was twenty-feet high built with reinforced concrete. Barbed wire went round the top and gun positions stood at each corner. Lt. Riley established round-the-clock patrol patterns ranging across the grounds.

  Sergeant Rob brought in what seemed like an endless array of machinery they bolted, nailed, and otherwise constructed against the exterior of the home. The noise alone was enough to drive Mei and Magda out of their house and into a hotel. When they came back, they found themselves staring at an armored compound instead of their old home.

  "What if we just left, Mei?" Magda asked in Vietnamese, staring at the high walls.

  "And go where, girl? You think we should go to a place with police and presidents and lawmakers? We came from that kind of place, and look what happened. At least here we can control things. We can bring in people to help us. We trust ourselves and the people we pay. We will be taken care of."

  "What about school?" Magda asked.

  "You will go to a school in the Caliber. It will be safer there. Their schools are better, anyhow."

  "I don't like the kids there. I like the kids in the Warren better," Magda complained.

  "The Caliber's money means better facilities and teachers. You will learn to like it."

  Magda fell quiet. She'd heard that particular tone from her grandmother enough to realize it was time to stop arguing.

  "W
ill Jebediah take me to school?" Magda asked.

  "Yes. He and others, I suppose."

  "Good. I like him."

  "He doesn't scare you?" Mei asked.

  "At first he did. But not anymore."

  "Why not?"

  Magda cocked her head in thought before answering. "He's big and scary but also sad lots of the time. He tells jokes even when he's sad, though. They're all kids jokes and some of them are dumb, but they still make me laugh. He always has new jokes to tell me. I think it makes him happy when I laugh."

  "He has a son that's hurt," Mei said. "Ara told me he goes to talk to his son a lot but the boy can't answer. It's why he's so sad." Mei gave a quick smile. "But yes, he tells jokes."

  "You like him, too, don't you?" Magda asked.

  Mei nodded. "I trust him. He is a man trying to be better than he was."

  "He's so handsome, too!" Magda giggled. "He's old but so pretty to look at."

  Mei grinned and shook her head. "You're growing up too fast," she said. "Go clean up and get ready for dinner."

  Magda sprinted towards the house on her skinny, coltish legs. Mei worried she'd have to think about young boys visiting soon. She supposed that might be one of the benefits of tall walls and men with guns. Then she gave a small laugh.

  "Like that would have stopped you when you were young," she said to herself out loud. "My God, I raised some trouble back then."

  A noise made her turn. Three Marines patrolling the tree line beyond the cleared ground came into view. One waved at her, then as a group, they turned back and disappeared into the woods. She looked up at the towering wall and shook her head. This was all so unneeded.

  She was making the right decision by staying. This was her home now, and she wouldn't be pushed away by these ridiculous men and women. She and Magda were safe.

  But even as she thought this, she recalled the way the man with the knives had moved. The quickness of his hands and the almost unnatural speed of his movements.

  Even worse, she remembered the hatred in the eyes of the girl in red when she'd glared and spat at her. When the real face behind her beauty had slipped through.

  At that moment, a shadow floated across the sky and blotted out the warm sun. Mei couldn't suppress a shiver.

  Chapter 10

  Raja ignored the guards lining the wall of the hallway to his sister's room.

  The heavily armed men all eyed Raja, some staring with wariness at the knifeman's hands resting lightly near his waist and the holstered blades he wore there. Others dipped their heads in respect, usually older veterans who had served with him in the field, and had seen first-hand what he could do in a fight.

  But some of the other men, unbloodied in battle but powerful in stance and body, looked at him with the eyes of young bulls. They all wondered if the stories were true. They wanted to know if they could take the Ghostblade—the madman who went into combat armed only with knives.

  Though he paid the guards no attention, their presence reminded Raja that his sister's crimara was flying above somewhere. The projection left its host body vulnerable, and weakness was something Shira Rakash just didn't do. The number of soldiers guarding her room was large but expected.

  He arrived at his sister's room and reached to push at her door. But the closest guard grabbed his arm. Raja stared at the hand for a moment as if not comprehending, then turned to stare at its owner.

  He was a curly-haired man, taller than Raja with heavily built shoulders. Confidence seemed to ooze from the guard when he spoke. "Shira didn't tell me to let you enter," he said.

  Raja raised an eyebrow. "Yet here I am and ready to enter my sister's room. Did she tell you to stop me?"

  "She doesn't need to," the guard responded. "If she didn't say to let you in, then you'll wait until she calls for you."

  Raja smiled with genuine bafflement. "Who are you?"

  "I'm Boyd. New to the House Guard. But I'm sure others will know about me soon enough."

  "Do you know who I am, Boyd?" Raja asked gently.

  "Yeah, I know. You're the son. I heard stories about you from the older guys, pretty crazy stories if you ask me. See, the thing is—" Boyd stepped closer and let his larger frame shadow over. "—I was six years in the military. I know how stuff gets exaggerated. Besides, your sister and I have an understanding."

  "Oh," Raja exclaimed, slapping a hand to his forehead with a laugh. "I get it now. You're the latest muscle-bound idiot my sister is sleeping with! You think having sex with her protects you in some way?"

  Boyd sneered. "I don't need protection. I'm the guy with the gun, and you're the guy with the knives …." Boyd paused, annoyed, to wipe at his sleeve's sudden wetness. Only, his fingers missed and swept past for some reason. He held up his hand. His eyes widened at the bleeding stumps of his missing fingers.

  Raja gave Boyd with a sympathetic nod while wiping blood off his blade against the guard's shirt. His knife had flicked across at the same time Raja slapped his hand to his forehead, the movement so quick it'd taken Boyd a moment to even realize he was missing fingers.

  "My friend," Raja said, holstering his knife. "I have a few things to say. First, to pull the trigger on the guns you're so proud of, you're going to need a few things. Namely those …"

  Raja's arm swept out to indicate Boyd's severed fingers on the ground.

  "Secondly, you're just the latest idiot in a long line of idiots that's been with my sister. When you're getting patched up at the hospital, I'd get a crotch inspection if I were you. Best wishes now."

  He patted Boyd on the shoulder and brushed by him to enter Shira's room.

  Behind, the guard continued to stare at his bloody fingerless hand while making strangely high pitched, whimpering noises.

  Shira sat slumped down on a heavily padded chair in the center of her sumptuous living quarters. The red liquid of her returning crimara flowed and rolled towards her body. It entered her open mouth in a seemingly endless wave of crimson. When it finally disappeared, she opened her eyes and stood.

  "What's all that noise?" she asked, looking toward the door.

  Someone on the other side was yelling for a medic.

  "One of your guards may have gotten hurt trying to touch me," Raja responded.

  "Oh hell. He's not dead, right?"

  "No, but you two might have a hard time holding hands for a while."

  "What am I? Twelve? I don't hold hands." She gave a dismissive shrug. "I was pretty much done with that one anyhow."

  She reached both arms straight up and bent at the waist to stretch. The small of her back gave a crack and she let out a groan.

  "How long were you up there?" Raja asked.

  "Longer than I should have been. It's easy to lose track of time soaring above everyone. I see all the people running around, back and forth, like ants really. It gives me an amazing sense of balance in this world. Everyone is where they're supposed to be. When I take Father's place, I'll miss being able to just fly for enjoyment."

  I wonder what will happen to me and mother then, Raja thought.

  "I even flew over the Warren and Fulton Valley," Shira continued. "Mei is building walls, and she's hired a House Guard. I'm surprised she chose to build in that valley. The only thing that used to be there was an old mining operation. That's all long gone, though. "

  Raja gave a small smile. "She's not stupid that one. Or easily scared."

  "She impressed you?" Shira asked. "If we'd been anywhere except the market, I would have gutted the old woman."

  "Maybe," Raja shrugged. "Her bodyguard would've had something to say about that, though."

  "Jebediah?" she sniffed. "He's a man with a gun and a reputation."

  "A reputation earned. People think he's slightly crazy. They say what he did to those men that hurt his family unhinged him. I even heard he killed a Rain addict."

  "Didn't our guards do the same thing the other day?" Shira asked, flipping a hand in a dismissive manner while walking to a nearby water pitch
er.

  "Yes. Our guards. It took six men with automatic weapons, and two of them won't walk again. No one knows how, but Jebediah did it alone. That man's been fighting longer than everyone else, and by all rights he should be dead. But he just keeps going."

  Shira filled a glass and sipped the water. She looked over the lip of the cup with an eyebrow raised.

  "You sound scared, Raja," she teased.

  Raja flashed a look of annoyance. "There's no one better than me, no one. I could slice him into pieces before his gun ever left its holster. But I'm cautious, and you should be, too. Attacking isn't always the answer."

  "But there must be a lesson, brother. People saw what happened at the market. Our House's strength lies in their respect of our power. In their fear of us." She looked at him with a knowing glance.

  "Why am I here?" Raja asked, already suspecting the answer.

  "The old woman needs to pay tribute to us. The money is important, but there are other considerations. She said no to us in front of the masses. That can't be allowed."

  Raja walked to the large window in the corner of the room. His mother was walking in the grassy field below, toward a group of guardsmen. The rowdy crew settled down almost immediately. Several hats were removed and placed against chests in a gesture of respect. After a battle, his Mother would often spend time with the soldiers, inquiring about injuries and learning about the engagement. It made her a favorite among men used to being addressed only when it was time to fight and die.

  "You want to use me? To attack an old woman?" Raja asked without turning. "You and Father have an odd sense of humor."

  "It's not a joke, Raja. And you should do it without arguing. He's not happy you hesitated with House Mancini."

  "I'm a warrior, not a butcher."

  "You're a Rakash!" she retorted. "And the amount of time you spend pushing against Father is ridiculous. He is the head of this family. And he's smarter than either of us."