"Can you be Mom's friend now?"
"Yes, buddy," Jebediah swallowed. "I'm ready to be her friend now."
"Remember when you would sleep with me Dad? I liked that a lot. It made me be not scared of monsters."
Jebediah smiled at the memory.
"You're a good dad. You kept the monsters away. You made it so I wasn't scared," David said.
The boy reached out and petted his father's face in a slow motion. Jebediah grabbed his hand and kissed it. They sat quiet for a moment, then David spoke again.
"Dad, what's the difference a guitar and a fish?"
Jebediah looked at him with a small smile. "You said that one before, kiddo."
"Dad, what's the difference between a guitar …" David's voice trailed off and his eyelids drooped suddenly.
"David? Dr. Gaal! Help. Someone help!" Jebediah screamed.
David had dropped back into the bed, shrinking against the blankets and pillows. His mouth opened as if to speak, but his body spasmed and he stopped. Jebediah brought his face closer, trying to hear him say anything.
"I'll always take care of you … David? No, open your eyes, open them up son …" he pleaded and touched the boys arm to shake it. But David had fallen back and his breathing was again shallow and fast.
"Please … stay awake a little while longer, please …" his father begged.
Jebediah's cries were buried by the sounds of doctors and nurses rushing into the room. He felt them shove him away so they could work on the boy.
After moments that felt like a lifetime, Dr. Gaal turned to look at him. She didn't speak, and he knew what that meant. She had no hope to give him, nothing to say that watching his boy breathe couldn't tell him.
He nodded and stared with dull eyes at his now unmoving child. He lost track of time and stood rooted in place.
He didn't move until someone came up and touched his arm to turn him around.
He stared without recognition at the unshaven face of Lt. Riley. The soldier was sweating and trying to speak to Jebediah. His words seemed garbled as if from a great distance.
"Jeb!" yelled Riley into his face. "Did you hear me?"
"Wha …" Jebediah swallowed and gathered himself. "What?"
"Magda's gone! Two of my men are dead! Someone took Magda!"
A phone was shoved in his face. Ara's shaky voice came through.
"Jebediah, they took Magda from her school. A bunch of guys in masks with automatic weapons. They hauled her right out of the classroom. Even put a pistol to the teachers face! What the hell, Jebediah? No one does that."
The hunter's breathing had gone shallow and his skin cold. He hesitated, then whispered into the phone.
"I can't go."
"You don't understand. Mei's close to passing out, she's so scared. You're the only one that knows the Hinge well enough to find her. We need you. Now!" Ara cried.
"I can't … I mean, I can't leave … you don't understand …" he stammered.
"A bunch of men went into a school and put guns on a room full of kids! Magda's gone!"
"But … my boy … David …"
"This is why we're here. For god's sake, do your job! Come now!" Ara yelled.
"I can't I can't I can't!" he screamed, panting like a frantic dog into the phone, wide eyed with dismay.
The soldiers around him stood staring and uncertain. Riley looked back and forth between Jebediah and his son. The lieutenant opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking. He didn't know what to say.
Then Dr. Gaal walked up to Jebediah and placed her hand on his arm. She spoke loud enough for her voice to carry to Ara on the phone.
"He's gone back into a coma. Best I can tell, he's like he was before. There's no way to know when he'll wake up again. If he wakes, we'll call you. Immediately."
She looked around the room at the armed men.
"It sounds like there's something you have to do," she said.
He looked back at her. He wanted to argue, wanted to stay, but knew he had to leave.
Jebediah slowly nodded at Riley. The men began to file out of the room. Jebediah took a last look at David, then followed them out towards the humvee. All of them racked a round into their weapons.
The humvee took the potholes in the road like they weren't there. All throughout the hurried ride back to the house, the armed men took peeks at Jebediah from the corner of their eyes. The bounty hunter sat silent, staring out the rumbling car window while the landscape of ramshackle homes and dirty, empty lots sped past them.
He hadn't spoken since they left the hospital.
Instead, he gripped a Mossberg shotgun between his knees and took deep breaths from behind his mirrored sunglasses. His son had woken up. Magda had been kidnapped. His son had spoken to him. A school had been invaded and two good men were dead.
"How did they go down? The men guarding the school?" he asked.
Riley shook his head. "I'm not sure. Whatever happened, it was fast. They didn't even get off a round. It's possible they just weren't ready. I mean, no one expected this …"
"That's because it's never happened. Whatever issues the Caliber and the Warren have, schools are off limits. That's always been understood." He paused.
"Gun or knife?" he asked.
"Excuse me?" asked Riley, confused.
"Were the men shot, or were they stabbed?"
"Shot. Armor piercing rounds at center mass. Why?"
"Because it tells me who was there. And who probably wasn't," replied Jebediah.
The car stopped. The men jumped out and sprinted towards Mei's front door.
Jebediah passed the two armed men standing on either side and threw the door open.
Ara was standing over Mei. The older woman was sitting on the main stairwell, hunched over with both hands covering her eyes, wailing while she rocked back and forth. Mei looked up when he closed in, and suddenly lunged. Her speed surprised him, and he recoiled. But the old woman grabbed his hands with manic strength and jerked him down until their faces met.
"Help! Please," she yelled. "I do whatever. This my fault. I give whatever. Please!"
"Mei, we're going to get her back. I swear to god," he promised.
"My fault! All my fault!" she cried and wrung her hands.
Ara stepped forward to hug her, and Mei buried her face in the younger woman's chest. Jebediah was struck by how small Mei looked in that moment.
Ara led her back to the stairwell and gently pushed her down to sit. She walked back over to Jebediah and pulled him out of Mei's earshot.
"We've armored up here. Mei doesn't leave this place," she said. "The men will keep her safe. There's no way anyone gets in. What do we do now?" she asked.
"They wouldn't take her back to House Rakash. This is too crazy even for them. If it became broadly known, the authorities in the Caliber would have no choice but to go after them."
"So where?"
He closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
"We need intel," he said. "We need to talk to people from House Rakash."
Ara laughed. "Why the hell would they talk to us?"
"Because I'm going to ask them," he whispered, his voice deep and his hands unconsciously going to the guns at his waist.
"Then let's go," she said.
He shook his head. "You don't understand. Trust me when I say there's no part of this you want. I'll get the answers, but you'll be disgusted how I do it. "
Ara gave a bitter smile. It framed a cold look in her eyes. "I think it's you who doesn't understand. I love that little girl. You and I will do this. Together."
Her tone left no room for argument. He nodded his head.
"Where do we start?" she asked.
"With someone who knows how to find people."
Chapter 13
Jebediah's feet pounded through the alleyway behind Scrounge Hall.
"Flint!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the empty alleyway. It was normally full of activity, but now had gone silent. No doors o
pened, and no curious heads peaked out to investigate. Trouble had come and no one wanted any part of it.
His hand grabbed at the bounty broker's doorknob and he shoved the door open. Flint stood at his desk near the back of the room. He was in the middle of hanging up the phone, and he turned to glare at Jebediah. The look froze the bounty hunter. Gone was Flint's affable appearance and easy-going manner. In its place was a figure of anger, glowering and hunched forward. Jebediah started to speak but Flint cut him off.
"You know what Magda was doing when they took her? She was playing with a doll. Mei had these cloth dolls she'd made by hand, back before they could afford to buy toys. She was in a classroom, listening to her teacher lecture, and she had one of those homemade dolls in her hand. Men with masks and guns … they broke into a school and carried out a girl holding a goddamn toy!"
Flint's voice raised to a yell, and he lunged forward to fling papers off his desk. Jebediah had never seen Flint angry before, and it bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
Flint paused and breathed. When he spoke again, he'd forced a calm into his voice.
"Let's not waste any more time," he said. "Not when we need to act. You're going to get her back, Jebediah." The last was said as a flat statement.
He nodded. "Do you know where she is?"
"No," he replied, with a bitter shake of his head. "But I think I know who does."
He reached into his desk, pulled out a manila envelope and handed it to Jebediah. It contained two pictures. One was of Magda, smiling impishly to the camera. The second picture was a man with a scar on his face. Jebediah eyes widened in recognition.
"This is an ardati soldier!"
"You know him?" Flint asked.
"He was with the crew beating on Roberto and his son the other day. He's the one who ran off."
Flint laughed without humor.
"He told everyone a mob attacked them, and that he put down four or five Flashed thugs before he escaped." Flint pointed to the manila envelope.
"His favorite girl works the VIP room at the Gilded Lily. He'll spend a few hours with her. The normal crowd shouldn't bother you, but there's usually two men standing outside his room."
Jebediah scanned the dossier. A black and gold stamp verified legal bounty alongside sanction authorization. It wasn't really needed since Jebediah was already on the job, and he guessed Flint had done this more out of habit than anything else. He continued to read the document then stopped when he noticed something odd. Flint's name was listed as the issuer, not just the broker.
"You're funding this bounty?" Jebediah asked.
Flint didn't answer the question. "He knew Mei wouldn't pay him. She was a tough old bird that lived through things that would break either of us. So he took her granddaughter."
Flint pointed to the manila envelope. His fingers just happened to land on the picture of Magda.
"It's all in there," he said. "You find that son of a bitch. And you go get Magda back."
The bounty hunter raised an eyebrow at Flint's tone.
"You don't mess with kids when they're playing with dolls," Flint threw back.
Jebediah turned towards the door. He paused at the threshold when he heard Flint's voice.
"How are you staying so calm?" Flint asked.
Jebediah turned. "What do you mean?"
Flint looked at the papers he'd thrown from the desk in his fit of rage. "I'm so angry and scared I can barely breathe. But you? I mean, look at you."
Jebediah looked down at his hands. He realized there was no trace of any tremble.
Chapter 14
Raja gripped his daggers' rough hilts and stared out across the storage room. The half-drawn weapons peeked from their holsters. His ears strained for the sound of shifting feet that would announce an ambush.
He purposefully kept the building's storage room filthy and cold. A hiding intruder would streak the dirt and reveal their location, and the room's unpleasant cold would make their breath condense into white trails. The movement would alert him to an attack.
He relaxed when finally satisfied there was no danger. He ignored the disparaging glances from both men guarding the room. He'd learned long ago to tend to his own safety.
Raja was grateful for the weak light streaking from slits on the ceiling as he crossed the room. He stepped lightly past the boxes and dirty bags littering the floor before coming to a stop in front of an old table.
He stared at the girl inside a small cage on top of the table. He'd used the cage to carry dogs onto airplanes, and its metal sides were secure against someone lacking an adult's strength.
The girl inside the cage had large Asian eyes made larger by fear. She looked out between clenched hands. Her knuckles turned white from gripping the wire mesh gate, and her breath shot out in short gulps, quick and shallow.
Raja suddenly found himself recognizing her terrified expression. He'd seen it often enough in his own mirror as a child.
At about the same age, the yells from Raja's father had combined with large, callused fists, quick to lash out and punish a child's mistakes. His mother had watched on fearfully, helpless against Dipak's unpredictable temper. The beatings were strong enough to leave him bruised and limping, and the hard slaps left imprinted marks like great exclamation points across his face. These were stark reminders to every one of his failures.
It was after a beating that had almost broken his body when someone tried to kill him for the first time.
The assassin had penetrated the mansion's security like a ghost. He'd entered his room, his black clothing and mask making him almost invisible against the night. Only the presence of a night maid had saved Raja's life. Waking to shuffling feet and the sight of razor steel plunging down towards him, the boy shoved her in front of the blade and ran screaming from the room. His father's men rushed in moments later with their guns cannoning, dropping the assassin mere feet away from his bed.
His father ordered the body left on the ground, then told Raja to keep sleeping in the room. It was a lesson about the ever-present need for caution. For two nights Raja had stared at the body from a corner, shaking in terror and smelling its slow rot. The killing attempts continued throughout the years, counterpart to his father's beatings for offenses real and imagined.
He angered at the memory, and his hands slid unconsciously back to the daggers at his waist. A master blade smith crafted the weapons with premium grade stainless steel. They were surprisingly light. One blade was ramrod straight while the other was slightly curved like a half-moon.
His mother had given him the knives, her only way of comforting an abused and lonely boy. He'd used them to kill for the first time a year later. It was when he'd first realized, with wonder, that he hadn't been afraid.
When he was killing, he was God, and God feared nothing.
When he came home that evening with his new blades, his mother had stared at his shirt, its torn sleeves barely covering the red bleeding scratches along his forearms.
He'd smiled at her. She paused, looked at the knives, then smiled back, her dark eyes glowing with understanding. From that moment on, the blades became his constant companions, the hilts wearing thin and needing replacement from his constant practice.
When he turned eighteen, he started earning for the family by contracting his services. Odd jobs that further honed his skills. Now, at twenty-five, he was unstoppable. No one was his equal with a blade.
He looked back down at the girl, thinking about his father trying to humiliate him with this assignment.
The girl had tensed when he'd reached for the knives earlier, and her fingers were bleeding where the wire screen had bit into her flesh.
He put a hand on top of the cage and peered down into the girl's eyes. When he spoke, his voice was soothing.
"Magda, you'll hurt yourself. Please stop."
"My grandmother will give you money," she pleaded. "We have a lot of it now. We didn't before, but now we have a lot. She just wants you to lea
ve me alone. You scared her enough."
"I'm scared too, Magda," Raja replied. "Scared your grandmother will change her mind about the money. That's why you're here now."
He smiled at her, and came closer to the screen door. His face stayed kind as he spoke.
"Your voice sounds like a bell, did you know that? Like one of those small bells I hear during the holidays. We're going to be friends for a little bit longer, Magda. Only a little bit longer, though."
She paused and looked at him, then finally spoke.
"You're a monster," she said. "And Grandma keeps the monsters away."
Raja's hand flashed down and his face turned murderous. Magda shrieked. He popped the straight dagger from its holster, and with a speed defying her eyes, he spun and released the blade in a smooth, practiced motion. His other hand immediately drew the second blade in a streak of light. He crouched in a fighting stance and his eyes darted left and right.
His thrown dagger hung quivering and embedded halfway to the hilt in the far wall. A dead rat's body twitched below the knife, and its severed head rolled a few inches away. Raja had moved without thought to the sound of its scurrying.
He turned back to Magda, his eyes glaring, and she shrank to the back of the cage. When he spoke, his voice was calm again—deathly cold.
"I'm not a monster. But I know lots of them."
Magda hugged her knees against her chest, wrapped her arms tight around them, and began a piteous cry.
Chapter 15
The working girls at the Gilded Lily wore glittery strings stuck to patches of see-through cloth. The need to pay their rent emanated from them as they twirled and gyrated across the laps and hearts of paying customers. Some knew how to dance. Others could only bump and grind. But they all knew how to make money.
The air was humid with perfume and desire, made more urgent by music that demanded the women to be taken—taken and used.
Multi-colored lights played across a tall, light-skinned girl with jet-black hair and dark make up. She slinked her way toward Jebediah. Her smile promised him heaven, but her stare, quirked up over blue eyes, guaranteed damnation.
Jebediah's Crime: A Heroic Supernatural Thriller (The Hinge Series Book 1) Page 13