Joss the Seven

by J. Philip Horne

  “I’ve done a lot, Dad. A whole lot.”

  I gave him the short version as Mara drove us toward my house. It included most of the main points. Jordan ‘recruiting’ Mara. Searching for a Thief. Finding me. Making contact with me at the beginning of the summer. Being the Seventy-Seven. Training me at Battlehoop. Sending me on missions. Janey and I encountering the two guys from the Guild. I skipped over Bobby Ferris, and brought it forward to the past twenty-four hours. Suspecting Mara, then finding out the truth. Rescuing Isabella. Robbing a bank.

  “You robbed a bank!” Dad yelled it so loudly I couldn’t tell if it was a question or a statement. “You knew Jordan was some lunatic killer, and you provoked him? While your sister was with him? How could you? How… how dare you!”

  “We were wrong,” I said, “but Mara knows him, Dad. Thomas and I didn’t think he’d take the risk to expose himself. Mara agreed with us. I guess we were wrong.”

  Mara pulled into our neighborhood. We were about one minute from my house.

  “Joss, if Janey comes to harm…”

  “We’re here, Dad. Coming in the front door in less than a minute.”

  A moment later, we pulled up in front of the house. Mara put the car in park and turned to face me. “We’re coming in, okay? I’m going to see this through.”

  “Where did we go wrong?” I asked. “We were so sure he’d keep out of it. Not blow his cover.”

  “I have no idea, but it doesn’t matter. We’re going to get her, understand? Let’s go.”

  As we got out of the car, Dad stepped out of the front door. He was carrying my old little league bat like a club in one hand.

  “Your papá?” Isabella asked.

  I nodded and walked toward him. His face somehow looked tight and saggy at the same time. His mouth drawn in a hard line. I hesitated as we closed the distance, but he rushed forward and crushed me in a one-armed hug. With the other he pointed the bat at Mara, who had stopped with Isabella several feet back.

  “You’re the one?” he asked, though it sounded more like a demand. “Who got my kids tangled up with that madman?”

  “I am,” Mara said. “And this is my sister, Isabella. She got ‘tangled up’ with Jordan when he killed our parents and kidnapped her.”

  I hadn’t expected Mara to go head to head with my dad’s anger, but it seemed to work. The bat dropped to his side and his shoulders slumped as he let me go.

  “Dad,” I said, “can you tell us what happened?”

  Dad took one last look at all of us and turned back to the house. He waved us with him. “I want you to hear it from Thomas. I may have missed something.”

  “Wait. Thomas is here?” We stepped through the doorway and I shut the door.

  Dad didn’t answer, but led us to the family room. Thomas sat on the edge of the couch on one end. Mom was a blur as she swept over and hugged me.

  “Oh, sweetie. What are we going to do?” Her voice was low, tilted into my ear as she held me. “I’m so scared.”

  I hugged her back for a time, and then broke away. “This is Mara and Isabella. They’ve been held by—”

  “I know, sweetie,” Mom cut in. “I listened in when you told Dad.” She gave Mara a hard look, and Isabella a softer one. “I’m not happy about what you’ve done, but I’m also not happy about what’s been done to you.”

  Thomas had left his seat at some point and was hovering near me. I reached out to shake his hand, and he grabbed it and pulled me into a serious bro hug. His eyes were red like he’d been crying.

  “Thomas, can you tell us?” Mara said. “What happened?”

  “Yeah,” Thomas said. “You want to sit down?”

  “I need food and coffee while we talk,” I said. “Can we go to the kitchen?”

  “What’s this about, Joss?” Dad asked.

  “I need to kick my body back into gear. It’s been a long day.”

  We took seats around the breakfast table and Thomas started talking while Mom quietly wept and drummed up some food and coffee for us. “It started early on at Battlehoop. Jordan was acting weird. Real distracted when Mara didn’t show up. He kept his phone near him. There was a phone call at one point, then some texts. He had us practice on our own for a long stretch. I knew stuff was going down, and could only hope you’d pull it off.”

  “So that was while we were at Mara’s place, right?” I asked.

  “I’d guess so. Anyway, it dragged on. More texts came, and he got more worked up. He stopped training with us at all. Just gave us exercises to do.”

  “His second crew,” Mara said. “They had gotten to the apartment and passed information to him.”

  Mom put a sandwich and cup of coffee at my place. I thanked her and dug in as she took a seat with us. When I reached for my coffee, Mara put her hand over it. “Wait. Don’t drink it yet. Trust me.”

  I shrugged, but let go of the mug.

  “Anyway, I was nervous,” Thomas said, “but I wanted to get any info possible. I stayed close to him. Well, as close as possible. Toward the end, he was sort of wandering around in a daze, staring at his phone. The rest of us were up on the platform. I worked my way over to the edge, and he drifted by. I got a glimpse of his phone. It was some news site, and a big picture of him with two guns.”

  “Right,” I said. “That’s the bank, so—”

  Thomas cut me off with a raised hand. “And I swear I heard him mumble something like, ‘They’re gonna kill me.’ Then things went downhill. He disappeared into his office for a few minutes, then came out on a phone call. When he hung up, he walked over, handed me a note, then just grabbed Janey by the arm and walked out with her.”

  “What?” I yelled. “No one fought?”

  Thomas looked down at the table. “She fought. And yelled. Not at first, but she started up when he dragged her out of the building. It… it was just so casual. Happened all at once. We were in shock.”

  “Nobody tried to stop him?” I couldn’t believe it.

  Thomas looked up at me and shrugged. “We did, but it was too late. Frankie got to him first, right as he threw Janey in the back of his car. Jordan beat him. Hard. He’ll be okay, I think, but it was bad. It, it scared us. We kinda froze up. Then Jordan drove off with Janey.” His chin dropped to his chest. “I’m sorry.”

  “The note,” Mara said. “Let me see it.”

  Dad stood and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He unfolded it and set it on the table near Mara and me.

  Joss and Mara are to meet me at the closed down warehouse at the corner of Wilcox and Auburn to discuss arrangements. Enter through the door in back. Be there by 5pm or she dies. If the police get involved, she dies.

  Mara looked up from the note at Thomas. “You’re sure he said that? ‘They’re going to kill me?’”

  Thomas nodded. “I’m sure.”

  “Why?” Mom asked. “Who’s they?”

  Mara pursed her lips and frowned in concentration. Isabella reached out and took one of her hands.

  “The Mockers,” Mara said. “It must be. When Joss got tased and—”

  “What!” Mom said.

  “For real?” Thomas asked.

  Well, that was inconvenient. I’d left out that part of the story when summarizing things over the phone. Mara should have known better.

  “Yes, yes,” Mara said. “He was tased. And shot. Now focus!”

  “Dear Lord,” Dad said. He was staring at my shirt. The part of the shirt with a small bullet hole and a large stain of blood, barely visible in the black material.

  “I’m fine. Mom, Dad, really, it’s okay. I healed myself. It’s one of my talents.”

  “It makes sense,” Mara cut in. “How do the Mockers work? They must have oaths. Ways to enforce secrecy when using Sevens. We exposed Jordan at the bank. We knew the cops and FBI would go after him. Sure, there’d be complexities. He’d have an alibi, being at Battlehoop when it happened. So we made sure there was evidence of a Seven involved to add pressure from the G
uild. We wanted to make sure he was either in jail or on the run, too busy to go after us.”

  “Okay,” Dad said. “But the Mockers?”

  “Joss had been invisible. He popped into view when the taser hit him. It, I don’t know, must have crossed some line with the Mockers. Their internal code. Something like that. Why else would he say ‘I’m a dead man’? I don’t think the FBI and cops, or even the Guild, would make him fear for his life. The Mockers are going to take him out.”

  “So he has nothing to lose,” Mom said. “You pushed him too far. He’s, he’s capable—” She broke down into sobs, and Dad reached over and took her hand.

  “He’s capable of anything,” Dad finished.

  Chapter 26

  THE EAGLES ARE COMING

  “WE’LL GET HER back,” Mara said. “On my life, I swear it.”

  Dad stared at her with a hard look for a moment before slapping the table and standing up to pace. Mom slumped into his empty seat.

  “Promise me something,” Mara said. “If something bad happens and I’m, uh, well… take care of Isabella.”

  Apparently, Isabella wasn’t too happy about that, because she launched into a tirade in Spanish. Mara weathered it, then put her finger across Isabella’s lips to silence her, and gave her a big hug.

  My dad threw his hands in the air. “Yeah, we’ll do what we can. But how do we rescue Janey? He could kill her!”

  Mara nodded, then glanced at her phone. “It’s 1:00. We have some time, and we’ll need it. How far away is that?” She pointed to the note as she spoke.

  “It’s about fifteen minutes,” Mom said, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “It’s an isolated warehouse district. I’ve got the map up on my laptop. Want me to get it?”

  Mara shook her head. “Not yet. First things first. Jordan said no cops, right? And you’re sticking to that?”

  Mom and Dad both nodded.

  “I covered things with Frankie,” Thomas said. “To make sure his parents didn’t get the cops involved. Showed him the note. He doesn’t really know what’s going on, but he’s covering for us. He’ll blame his bruised up face on an accident when sparring.”

  Mara nodded. “Good for him. Joss, you need to go upstairs and lie down. Put everything you’ve got into healing. We can do this, okay, but we’ve got to do it right.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, “but I need to save what energy I have.”

  “Trust me, Joss. One reggie to another. I’m pretty sure everything’s going to hinge on you. We need you at your best.”

  I looked around the table. Thomas shrugged. Mom looked frail, broken down, and was staring at the note. Dad pursed his lips, then gave me a quick nod. I turned to Isabella and was greeted with a warm smile. Maybe being a hero wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it was.

  “All right,” I said. “I’ll lie down and put everything into a reggie, but then I’m coming back down and we’re going to get Janey. Understand?”

  “Sure, Joss,” Mara said. “Just make sure you really concentrate.”

  I pushed back from the table and headed for the stairs. I didn’t know what all this was about, but after the past twenty-four hours, I trusted Mara. I went upstairs and lay down on my bed. After a few deep, calming breaths, I turned inward. Heal. I put everything into it.

  Mom shook me, and my eyes popped open. “Joss. It’s time to wake up. We’ve got to go. Here’s that coffee I made for you. I reheated it. Drink it down.”

  What was going on? Wake up? How had Mom gotten here so quickly? I’d just laid down. I glanced at my clock. 2:34. What the heck? I sat up and stretched. I felt great. A little tired still, but the hollow ache was gone.

  “You’ve been asleep for an hour and a half,” Mom said as she handed me my coffee.

  “Mara…”

  Mom shrugged. “I don’t know about this Seven stuff, but I guess she knew what you needed.”

  “What about her?” I asked. “Mom, she got shot so many times. She’s been through a lot today.”

  Mom put her hand on my face for a moment. “Joss, I’m so scared for Janey, and then I find out I could have lost you today.” She fingered the hole in my shirt and shuddered. “Mara told us what she needed, then went to sleep on the couch for about an hour while we got it all together. She’s up now and ready to go.”

  I took a sip. The coffee was somewhere between warm and hot. Perfect for drinking quickly. I gulped it down. Mom stood, and I hopped out of bed and did some stretches. I was amazed at how solid I felt. I’d have to remember that trick. Big time reggie plus nap equaled feeling great.

  “Let’s do this,” I said, and followed Mom downstairs. As we entered the family room, my dad and Thomas stood face to face in a quiet but heated argument. Thomas seemed to have grown another inch this summer, and he was only a couple inches shorter than my dad. Mara and Isabella sat on the couch.

  “There’s no arguing,” Dad said. “No debate. You are not coming.”

  “So I just go home and wait?” Thomas said.

  “That’s exactly what you are going to do.”

  “And that’s safer than being with two Sevens? When some lunatic mobster is out there, who knows where I live? He’s got men who work for him. Who says one of them isn’t waiting at my house to off me now that I’ve delivered the note? You can’t call the cops. You have to keep me with you.”

  Dad glared at him for a moment, and then snarled and turned away. “I forget your mother is a lawyer. This is madness. You and Isabella are staying with Jennifer, understand?” He looked at Mom. “Whatever we end up doing, keep them out of it, okay?”

  Mom crossed the room and took his hand. “Count on it.”

  “Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

  Mara stood, and Isabella followed her lead. “Vamanos. We’ll meet you there. Joss, they can tell you on the drive over.”

  “I’ll lock up behind them,” Dad said. “Joss, we’re taking my car.”

  I shook my head and followed Mom and Thomas to the garage. We piled into Dad’s SUV. He showed up a moment later, carrying the baseball bat. As we pulled out of the garage, I decided I’d waited long enough.

  “So,” I said, “we’re just going to drive up and ask for Janey back?”

  “There’s no plan, Joss,” Mom said. “We’re meeting Mara about a half mile from the warehouse where Jordan has Janey. Mara’s going to scout it out. Then we figure something out.”

  “I’ve got all kinds of stuff in the back,” Dad said. “Hammers, saws, a crowbar, some rope, duct tape, that sort of thing. Anything we might need spur of the moment. It’s going to come down to what Mara scouts out for us.”

  “Oh, that should totally do the trick.” I said, feeling frustration and anger boil up. “They’re trained killers! They have guns! What good is some duct tape and rope going to do us?”

  “I have no idea, Joss, but it’ll have to do,” Dad said. “Now, tell me what happened today. Don’t skip anything this time, okay? No more secrets. No more surprises.”

  Thomas wisely kept quiet while we Morgans hashed it out. The drive took almost fifteen minutes, which gave me time to really freak Mom and Dad out. I had glossed over more of the details than I’d meant to the first time, so there were lots of surprises. Somehow, I’d completely skipped the whole bomb-vest with a dead man’s switch. Mom had to turn the AC way down and fan herself.

  “This, uh, is a bit more than putting your hand in a table,” Dad said. “I just don’t understand why you didn’t talk to us.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I desperately wanted to train. And then one thing led to another. You’ve got to remember I was being manipulated by a master criminal.”

  “I’m keeping it in mind, Joss. But I’m disappointed in you.”

  I was disappointed in me, too. I had nothing to say. Mom reached back and patted my knee. “I’m proud of you for rescuing Isabella. I got to talk to her a little bit while you slept. It was the right thing to do.”

 
; I gave her a grateful smile, but it didn’t last. “We’re going to rescue Janey, too, Mom. They won’t know what hit’em.”

  Dad turned the car onto a street with large, windowless buildings. Most were about two stories tall and looked like giant boxes with loading docks. He turned again and we cut between two of the buildings before pulling over next to a railroad crossing. Mara’s rental car was the only car in sight.

  Mara and Isabella were already out of their car. When they saw us, Mara waved and then shifted into hawk and flew off down the tracks. Mom made a choking sound, her hand to her mouth.

  “Never going to get used to this Seven stuff,” Dad muttered as he pulled in behind the other car and killed the engine.

  We got out of the car and waited. Isabella walked over to us and leaned against the SUV next to me. Thomas gave me a sideways look and raised an eyebrow. I glared at him.

  “Joss?” Isabella said.

  “Hmmm?”

  “You will be careful?”

  I thought about it for a moment. “No. Can’t say that’s my goal.”

  Her shoulders slumped, but then she nodded. “I understand.”

  “You’ll like Janey. Heck, I bet she could hang with you sparring, even if you’ve trained with Mara for a couple years.”

  “I will meet her soon, yes?” Isabella said, and offered me a smile.

  A motion caught my eye, far down the railroad tracks. A large bird flying toward us. “Yes, you will.”

  The hawk landed nearby and immediately twisted and blurred into Mara. We all converged on her.

  “Well?” Dad said.

  “Did you see her?” Mom asked.

  “Janey’s in there,” Mara said. “No injuries that I saw.”

  Mom and Dad had a serious moment together that involved hugging and crying. I felt like a weight had lifted off my chest.

  “Here’s the thing,” Mara said, after giving everyone a chance to quiet down. “There’s only a couple lines of sight into the building, but I saw her. They’d set it up so I could see her. Understand? It was a message, of sorts. She’s okay as long as we do what we’re told.”