Far Too Young To Die: An Astraea Renata Novel

by Wayne, Douglas

  We wasted no time getting back to Jace’s house, even though my stomach grumbled in protest every time we passed one restaurant or another. Try as I might to keep the noises to myself, they seemed to grow louder each time Aiden glanced at me.

  I parked the car in the driveway, ran onto his porch, and beat my fists on the door as hard as I could, desperately trying to wake him up.

  Jace is typically a night owl. Given the choice, he is much more at home in the dark than during the daylight. I was disappointed he hadn’t kept as close an eye on the tracking collar as I’d hoped, but what did I expect. It’s not like I didn’t know about his sleeping arrangements before we’d left.

  Jace answered the door wearing a plaid set of sleeper pants and matching plaid shirt. His normally disheveled hair was in worse shape than normal, almost looking like someone had sprayed hair spray on it while it rested on the pillow.

  “Is everything okay?” Jace rubbed his eyes.

  “The collar,” I said between panicked breaths. “They were able to track it.”

  “Impossible. You saw the signal before you left. It was working fine.”

  “Then why’d they end up at the place we dumped the collar? Why’d they kidnap her?”

  “Who?” Jace’s jaw lowered. He hadn’t expected the bombshell to go off. Given his skill with electronics, I hadn’t either. But it had gone off nonetheless, leaving us with one hell of a mess to clean up.

  “A woman. I slipped the collar in a trashcan at the Surf and Turf on Elm.” I explained how we’d kept a close eye on the streets, both outside the restaurant and on the next street over. Then Aiden filled him in on the van and how he’d seen it first, but how it had sped off around the corner to my location to take the woman.

  “I thought you said the signal was being sent three hundred feet to the east?” Aiden’s knuckles turned white as he spoke.

  “It was. You saw it before you left.”

  “Then explain how they were able to find it so fast.”

  “I don’t…” Jace looked lost, as if he was searching for words he’d never find. I knew whatever he’d done hadn’t been done on purpose. Shit, his face told me that much without already knowing how he was. He’d been shocked, much like us, to find out they’d been able to track the collar. But as much as I would’ve loved to get down to the truth, we weren’t here for Jace’s head, regardless of how Aiden was acting.

  “Is the collar still tracking?” I placed myself between the two boys, making sure Aiden couldn’t do anything he wouldn’t regret later.

  “It was before I nodded off. Unless they found my shutoff switch, we should still see where it’s at.”

  Jace led us through his house and into his computer room. A half-empty cup of coffee and blister of caffeine pills littered the counter that had been near pristine before we’d left. He’d done everything in his power to stay awake, but even the most toned physique has its limits.

  Jace sat at his desk, flicked his mouse around a few times, bringing the massive wall of screens to life. The screens were still set to the tracking map like it was before I left. But instead of the red dot being a block from here as it was earlier, it blipped over a line of houses just north of Riverdale.

  “Is it still tracking three hundred feet to the east?” I asked, taking a seat next to his computer.

  “Should be. Unless they already changed it back.”

  “How could they change it that fast?” Aiden’s face was still red, but his hands had relaxed. Yet his tone still held a hint of frustration. “Ast says you’re the best with this kind of thing and it took you a few hours.”

  “Honestly, I’m not positive they’ve changed the tracking on their end. If they were on the collar like you said they were, it’s possible I only ended up tweaking my receiver, not theirs. Maybe they had it set to the signal couldn’t be tampered with on their end.”

  “This is bullshit! You should’ve told us that before we left.” Aiden slammed his fist in the wall, putting a nice round hole in the drywall.

  Jace opened his mouth to say something, but I interrupted before he could. “Settle down. He isn’t the bad guy. They are.”

  Aiden huffed then stormed out of the room, punching the door on his way out for good measure. Jace stood up to follow him out, but I held my arm out holding him in place.

  I’d seen that look on guys plenty of times. In Aiden’s current state, he’d be quick to kick the shit out of Jace. I doubted he really believed any of this was Jace’s fault, but that wouldn’t stop him from doing something he would end up regretting later.

  Besides, Jace is anything but a fighter. Knowing him, he’d just stand there and take everything Aiden had to give. Back at the bar I might let a display of testosterone go on for a minute or two before jumping in to stop it, but only if I thought both sides had an equal chance. Sure, Aiden was beat up, but he was more than enough of a match for Jace.

  “Give him time. He’s just upset.”

  “I would be too.” He plopped back down in his chair and slumped forward, placing his head in his hands. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

  “Don’t blame yourself.” I placed my hands on his shoulders and massaged them. “Putting it in the trash was my idea. I should’ve put it somewhere else.”

  “Then they would’ve taken someone else.” He placed his hand on mine, looked up and smiled. “Still, I should’ve seen this coming.”

  “We can still save her. There’s still time. Can you print out a map of the area?” I pointed to the screen.

  “One sec.” He clicked a few buttons and within moments I not only had the satellite picture, but three different sets of directions in case they had one covered or otherwise closed off.

  We sat there for an hour going over all the images we could find, blowing them up as large as possible to get every ounce of detail we could. Call me paranoid, but I wanted to know every possible route in and out of the place in case something went wrong.

  “You should probably get your friend. He needs to see this too.”

  “I’ll go get him.” I gathered the trash from his desk and headed downstairs. The lower level of the house was empty, which I’d discovered after three full sweeps. I scoured every room, hoping he was just being nosy, but after a few minutes I wondered if he was even here.

  I opened the front door and stepped outside. My car was still in the driveway but there was no sign of Aiden anywhere. I ran out into the middle of the street and looked both ways, desperately hoping I’d find him walking away. But I realized, he was already gone.

  I hoped he wasn’t stupid enough to find, and free her himself. He’d already been caught once while trying to save me; Someone who personally stepped up to help him on my own accord. I could only imagine how he felt now that a total stranger was in the mix.

  Jace stepped outside, now fully clothed, and I wondered how long I’d been standing outside. He held a tablet in one hand and the stack of papers he’d printed in the other.

  “He gone?” he asked, traipsed across the lawn, trying to avoid stepping on the acorns scattered across the yard.

  I nodded.

  “Any ideas?”

  “Probably back to the house they had us locked up in.” It was the only thing I could come up with. He said he didn’t know if Walt had any other houses, so I doubted he knew about one on Pine Grove. I didn’t think he’d seen the satellite image, otherwise he’d know that wasn’t the right place.

  By leaving, Aiden put me in a bad spot. I was torn between looking for him or the woman. The rational side of me said he was a big boy and could fend for himself. It wasn’t like he stormed out on his own without knowing what he was getting into, unlike the woman who didn’t have a clue.

  Between the two, she didn’t deserve what would happen to her if I left her with them a moment longer than necessary.

  That wouldn’t have been a problem, except the other part of me wanted to save Aiden. He might have given them a reason for them to hate him, but he
didn’t deserve to die for it. Sure, he’d traveled the wrong path, but now all he wanted was redemption.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I have to save her,” I said, reluctantly.

  Jace nodded, then handed me the tablet and stack of papers. “The tablet is set to track the collar, just in case it moves. If they turn it off, it will continue to show the location of its last known position. So you have a good idea where to start.”

  I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.” Then I drove off, hoping I wasn’t already too late.

  - 23 -

  I waited until night to head to the house. Call it a hunch, but I figured it would be safer to look around in the cover of darkness instead of the middle of the day.

  The house was one of those two-story ranch-style houses with windows that seemed to protrude out of the steeped roof like a cat sticking its head out of a box. There was a one-story two-car garage on the side with a dented white vinyl door. A blue Ford truck and white SUV sat in the asphalt driveway, both new and in good shape with temporary tags where the license plates should’ve been.

  A gravel bed surrounded the front of the house, including the elevated concrete pathway that lead to the driveway. Spaced a few feet apart were bushes that stood about three foot high and were another two-foot around. On the porch, three white lawn chairs sat in front of a large picture-glass window that glowed through dark colored curtains.

  It wasn’t a mansion by any means, but it felt like the kind of place Walt might own to make his operation stand out a little less.

  There was also the possibility it was another one of those drug houses like before. Maybe they’d given the woman a dose of that purple shit they’d shot into me. If they did, there’s no telling what they were doing to her now.

  I walked by the house a half-dozen times looking for a sign that someone was being held inside against their will. Sure, I’d seen some of the after school specials showing what can happen after a kidnapping, but I always figured they made the situation look a lot worse than it was. Personally, I knew if I was being held like that, I’d do everything in my power to make a scene, even if I couldn’t escape on my own. But every pass I made just confirmed what I was already dreading. If they had her inside, they had her drugged like I was over a week ago.

  That, or she was already dead.

  Neither of which I would know without getting a closer look.

  I made one last pass down the street, this time watching the neighboring houses to see if anyone was watching me. Except for the house across the street that was lit up like a Christmas tree, most of the houses were dark or had fewer than three windows emanating a soft glow.

  Overhead, clouds obscured the moon, making it seem much darker than it was. I figured if had to get a better look, I better do it before the moon popped from behind the clouds and brightened things up again.

  Besides, it wasn’t like anyone was walking around to catch me peeking through a few windows this late at night.

  I walked on the grass on the side of the house away from the driveway, figuring there wouldn’t be a motion detector around. I tried to keep to the trees as much as possible, putting them between me and the street hoping anyone driving by wouldn’t notice, not that there was much I could do if they could other than run off behind the house and into the woods to get away.

  A light came on in the corner bedroom. Before panic could set in, I darted towards the bush in front of the window and ducked behind it. I watched the glow of the window as it illuminated the small, pine-like bush I was hiding behind. Through the branches, I noticed a shadow moving in the light on the ground. I watched it carefully, trying to see if I could tell what was going on inside. But, disappointingly, the light shut off shortly after.

  I leaned back against the house, took in a few deep breaths, and prepared my mind for what I was about to do. Never once in my life did I believe I would be in this position. In fact, if someone had even so much as suggested that I’d become a Peeping Tom when I grew up, I would’ve found a creative way to get back at them.

  No, not beat them up or even cast a hex on them. I’m more the ‘few drops of Visine in your drink when you aren’t looking’ kind of gal, not that I had any experience with it from the bar or anything.

  Once I’d settled my nerves, I pulled out my phone and flicked to my flashlight app just to have it at the ready then stood up and looked inside. Through the window was a makeshift office, with a desk in the corner of the room with an executive computer chair set up in front of it. Along each side there were a pair of file cabinets stacked on each other, probably so whoever used the computer had easy access to them. On the wall to my left there was a clean whiteboard that took up over half of the wall, below it a metal strip protruded just enough to hold an eraser, bottle of water, and a few different dry erase markers. Other than what looked like a small table under the window, the room was clear.

  With nobody in the office, I held the slightly illuminated screen of the phone against my chest and crept over to the next window. I stood up when I noticed the white glow of headlights casting shadows as a car moved towards me on the street. Without hesitating, I ducked down behind the bush in front of the window and waited for the car to pass.

  The car was moving at a good clip until it got in front of the house, where it slowed down to a crawl as it passed. I got a feeling in the base of my neck that something was wrong. My primal instincts screamed at me to run away, but the human part of me begged me to stay.

  After a few moments, the car went back to normal speed and drove down the street. Even though the coast was clear, I waited for a few minutes, making sure there wasn’t another one close by driving with its lights off.

  Sure that things were fine, I stood up and peered inside the next room. Unlike the first, this one was meant to sleep in. There was a small, made-up twin-sized bed against the right wall, with five pillows spread out at its head. A small wooden night stand sat next to the bed with a lamp and a digital alarm clock on top. Along the walls there were pictures or paintings, but I couldn’t make out what they were thanks to the lack of light inside. For a moment, I considered turning on my app, but decided knowing what was on the wall wasn’t worth getting caught over.

  The next room down was the main living area of the house. Shadow’s from what I believed was a TV danced on the curtain covering a large picture-glass window just past the door. As much as I wanted to peek inside, I opted against it for now. I figured I could always knock later after I’d searched the rest of the house.

  I tucked my phone back in my pocket and made my way through the gravel to the back of the house. I made it to the last bush at the corner when a bright white floodlight blinked into existence, focused directly on me. The light was coming from the direction that the car that slowed while driving away went earlier.

  Shit!

  Why now, out of all times, did I have to draw the attention of the police? I’d barely squeezed out of my last encounter with them, more out of a technicality than anything. This time was different. Instead of them knocking on my door well after I’d left the scene, this time I was neck deep in it.

  I looked to my left and noticed a shadow from a tree being cast over the front of the bush around the edge of the house. Judging by the other shadows, I guessed the car was too far away to see me if I were to make a run for it, using the shadow for cover. But, before I could, another light got me from the other direction.

  I covered my eyes to keep the bright light from blinding them as its controller swept it around to get a better view.

  Maybe walking back and forth down the street a few times wasn’t as good of an idea as I thought.

  “Get your hands up where we can see them,” I heard a distinctly male voice shout from the direction of the second light. I peered through my fingers and noticed someone standing outside of a car holding what looked to be a gun at me. For a tiny little second, I considered using magic to help me get out of the bind.
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  The only thing that kept me from it was not wanting to make a scene. With what’s happened in the rest of the US lately, I couldn’t help but feeling like he might shoot if I moved my hands to weave a veil. Instead, I did what he asked and held my hands above my head, then slowly stood up from behind the bush.

  “Slowly,” he commanded, “take a few steps towards me.”

  I kept my mouth shut and did what I was told. After a few steps, I was thankful I did, as it got me out of the blinding light. What I’d initially believed was one officer was actually two, both with their guns out. The one barking the commands was holding his loose and free, unlike the other who looked ready to fill me full of lead if I so much as sneezed.

  “Now, get down on your knees, then place the palms of your hands flat on the ground.”

  I dropped to one knee, followed by the other, then leaned forward and put myself into a push-up position before lowering myself slowly to the ground. He didn’t tell me he wanted me on my chest, but I assumed that was coming next.

  From somewhere behind me, I heard the clicking sound of the handcuffs being opened for my wrists. Whoever it was grabbed one wrist and slapped the metal bracelet around it, followed shortly after by the other. I felt a tug below the pit of my arm, like someone was trying to lift me up. Instead of pulling against it, I leaned back with the pull and got on my knees, then onto my feet.

  The officer by the car turned off the floodlight, put his gun into its holster on his hip, and walked over.

  “What are you doing here, ma’am?”

  My mind sifted through all the possible answers I could give him. Right away, I decided I couldn’t tell them about the tracking collar I thrown away or the woman who picked it up, knowing that would just dig my hole that much bigger. I also decided telling them I was looking for something was out of the question too. In the end, I decided to use the one excuse that didn’t guarantee me any jail time and hoped for the best.

  “I’m looking for my no good, two-timing, boyfriend,” I said, clinching my fists and stomping my foot.