The policemen whispered to each other and laughed quietly. Denning glared at them, and paced once again in front of the container. Kara looked nervously at the men around her.
"Last night, all you wanted to talk about was soul resurrection. You'd give anything to make sure your daughter's life and future were secure. Now, the next day, you've completely changed your mind?"
She nodded sheepishly.
"Well, you can't do that, Kara. You can't go to a restaurant, order a meal, have it brought to your table, exactly as the waiter said it would, and then change your mind. Not without consequences."
"Ryan!" Tonya said. She flew above the container and touched souls with Ryan. An attempt at a spirit hug, perhaps. "Please, you have to do something."
"We're souls, Tonya. There's only so much…." He trailed off as something caught his attention. "Oh, shit."
Connor clenched his fist. He wanted to shout out to Ryan, ask him what he was seeing, but could only lay next to Brooke, useless.
"We have to go," Ryan said. "Connor, hang tight. We'll be back as soon as we can."
"I can't leave my Mom."
"I need your help. Come on."
Both souls flew away. Kara reached up and shouted for her daughter. Max kept a hand on Kara's shoulder, making her stay put. Denning heard noise behind him and turned, a startled expression on his face.
"And what is this?"
Brooke shifted and tensed as Andy, the other of Denning's men, led Amber to the group. She struggled to pull out of his grasp, and finally did so as Andy pushed her next to Kara.
"Let go of me!"
"I found her sneaking around," Andy said.
"Amber?" Denning said. "What are you doing here?"
"I know these two assholes," she said, gesturing to Max and Andy. "But do I know you?"
He laughed. "Well, we've never met in person, but I'm your boss. You've been working for me."
"Screw you. You're not my boss."
Kara touched Amber's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. They brought me here."
Denning frowned. "You two know each other?" Realization flashed across his face as he looked at the two policemen. "They're here. What are their names again? Connor and Brooke?"
Three of the men went in different directions, presumably to search, leaving only Andy and Denning behind with Amber and Kara. Andy pulled out a gun and held it at his side. Brooke's hands shook as she held the phone.
"What do we do?" she whispered.
Connor didn't have an answer. His simple plan to record them near stolen soul resurrection equipment was gone. They would be lucky to escape with their lives.
"Amber," Denning said. "I'm disappointed. You do a service for me, and you get paid. I thought what happened to your apartment building would have shown you what a guilty conscience gets you."
Amber lunged for Denning, but Andy grabbed her. He pulled her back by the waist and wrapped an arm around her neck.
"You killed my friend!"
"Actually, she killed herself, from what I hear. Jumped out of a window?"
She fought again, but Andy held tight, running a hand through her hair. Brooke buried her head in Connor's shoulder, trembling.
"And you," Denning said, facing Kara. "I thought we were friends. But I guess you've got new friends now."
"Please—"
Connor jumped when Brooke screamed. She was dragged back away from him, from the other side of the trailer. He twisted and reached for her hand, barely missing it.
"Brooke!"
There was laughter and muffled cries as Connor crawled on the ground. As he poked his head out from under the trailer, one of the policemen pulled him to his feet by the shirt. Connor barely registered seeing Max, holding Brooke with a hand over her mouth, before a fist slammed into his stomach. He bent over, and a knee shot up, catching him in the forehead.
Connor half walked, and was half dragged around the trailer. Max carried Brooke, who continued to kick and fight. Amber called Brooke's name and tried to get to her friend, but Andy didn't let her go. It was only when they shoved Connor to the ground did they release Brooke and Amber.
Brooke dropped to her knees, staying in front of Connor to protect him. Amber stood next to Brooke, keeping a hand on her shoulder. Kara couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face. Denning and his men formed a circle around them, three of them holding guns.
Denning knelt down in front of Connor, who struggled to catch his breath. Brooke didn't back away an inch, holding his head protectively against her chest.
"What exactly is going on?" Denning asked.
Andy held up the phone Brooke was using to record them. "This, Rob."
Denning grabbed the phone and threw it against the container, shattering it.
"You two are a lot of trouble." Denning turned his attention to Brooke. "I'm dying to know how you went from dead, to stealing a body from my warehouse."
"I have some questions, too," Connor said.
Denning jumped to his feet. Connor pushed Brooke aside, not wanting her to get hurt. Denning kicked Conner in the ribs, and then the face. Amber and Kara tried to push Denning away. His men stepped forward, but he motioned for them to stop.
"I'm just a businessman," he told Kara. "I only wanted to do business with you. Your daughter will never be alive again. You know that, right? Look, she's already gone. And now, here we are."
"What do you want do?" Max asked.
"Look around. We're at a construction site, with dirt, shovels, concrete. Use your imagination."
"You don't have to do this," Kara said.
"You haven't left me a lot of options. Look at it this way, you'll be with your daughter soon, doing whatever it is souls do."
"Hey, Connor!"
The voice came from above. Connor looked up to see a solitary soul floating above the construction site. Denning looked up as well, curiosity on his face.
"Dude, get ready."
One soul joined Ryan, followed by four more from another direction. Connor heard their voices, angry and loud. Slowly, more souls joined together, coming from everywhere. There were groups of two, three, ten.
"What the hell is this?" Denning asked.
More souls poured in. The light was so bright it could easily have been mistaken for the sun. Hundreds, maybe a thousand souls floated in the sky.
Their voices blended together, like he was at the ballgame once again.
"Is that the guy that can hear us? Down there?"
"Yeah. He helped me out once, made a phone call for me."
"They need our help."
"I think I saw them on the news earlier."
"Are they in trouble?"
"Those cops don't exactly look like they're making an arrest."
"Alright, guys," Ryan said. "Let's see what we can do."
The souls descended upon them. Max actually shouted in fear and dove on the ground. Everyone covered their eyes, blinded by the light. Connor had a double assault on the senses as so many voices touched his ears at once.
"Stay near their eyes, so they can't see!"
"I think they're trying to kill these people here."
"Mom! Are you okay?"
"Connor! Run, man!"
He grabbed Brooke's hand and helped her to her feet. He squinted through the light to see Amber shielding her eyes.
"Let's go. I'll get Kara."
Connor went to Kara's side and pushed her gently by the shoulder. The four of them ran, unsure of which direction they were going. He saw a pair of legs on either side of him. His heart beat faster when he heard gunshots behind him.
A sudden pain ripped through his shoulder, dropping him to one knee.
He'd been shot.
*****
Connor didn't know where he was. His vision was blurred, spots everywhere. Panicked voices spoke all around him. His head smacked back against something hard and cold. A pair of hands gently held his face.
"Connor? Are you okay? Come on, get with it."
He was sitting on the ground, his back against a bulldozer. More gunshots fired not too far away. Kara covered her cheeks with her hands, her eyes locked on Connor.
"He's been shot," she said, over and over.
Brooke gently stroked his hair, her gaze never leaving his face. She was so beautiful. The souls randomly moving behind her gave an amazing glow. He tried to adjust his position, only for his shoulder to throb in agony.
"You're very gorgeous."
Amber was standing on the side of the bulldozer, cautiously looking through the cab at Denning and his men. She glanced down at him, shaking her head.
"At least he still has his taste."
Two souls were next to Kara, only a few inches off the ground.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Tonya asked.
"He's busted up his shoulder before," Ryan said. "He'll be fine."
Connor smiled. "Yeah, I know. This must be my bad luck shoulder."
"He's mumbling," Brooke said.
"No, I'm fine." Connor leaned forward. "I'm okay."
"You've lost blood. You're still bleeding."
Brooke and Kara helped Connor to his feet. Amber jumped down to join them. Ryan floated next to Connor as he peered around the side of the bulldozer.
Denning and his men wildly swatted at the souls around them. It was a strange sight. It looked like a mass of growing and shrinking light attacked them. Other souls broke away from the mob, while others joined in.
One of Denning's men, Andy, lay on the ground motionless.
"They've been shooting wildly," Ryan said. "I think they killed him."
"Trying to shoot souls?"
"They're scared."
More souls continued to flow in from the sky. Connor listened to them, talking to each other, asking what was going on. The story of Denning trying to commit murder spread through the crowd, and those new souls did everything they could to keep Denning from doing harm.
"How did you do this?" Connor asked.
"I know a lot of souls, and those souls know a lot of souls. Believe it or not, you're kind of famous, man. Spirits know you. It didn't take much to get a good group going."
Connor could only guess as to how many souls had converged on the construction site.
"Good group? That's an understatement."
"You'd better get moving. All we can do is blind them, but that won't last forever."
He nodded, and gathered the women as Ryan and Tonya flew upward. He spotted the closest gap in the fence, about a hundred yards away. Kara and Amber led the way, with Connor and Brooke behind. Every step he took was excruciating, but he pressed on. Kara and Amber pulled ahead a bit, but Connor couldn't keep up. Brooke didn't leave his side.
A shot rang out, and sparks flew as the bullet struck the fence, narrowly missing Kara. She was nearly to the sidewalk when three squad cars pulled up. Chaos broke out as officers rounded them up. Connor howled in pain as he was shoved against the fence, his hands forced behind him. Something tore in his shoulder.
"Be careful with him!" Brooke yelled. "He's hurt."
News vans rounded the corner, stopping near the fence. People walking the streets showed up, curious as to the soul movement in the sky. There were people and spirits everywhere.
"Thank God!" Denning shouted, making his way to the scene. "These people broke into my site. They killed one of my security guards."
Kara was crying. "That's not true!"
"I would have been next, if it wasn't for these two officers."
Denning smiled and patted his men on the back. Connor looked over to the container to see Max slowly closing it. They had no evidence. It would only be their word against Denning's, and Brooke and he were wanted for murder.
"Never before have souls been seen to act this way," a news reporter said behind them. "Hundreds of souls, all moving over town, and gathering here at the site of a future parking garage."
"The police are taking a group into custody. All are suspected to be involved in the death of Brooke Martin, a young woman who was murdered a month ago."
"I'm Brooke Martin!"
"We're innocent," Kara added.
Connor caught Denning shaking hands with other police, with a hand to his chest in a mock show of relief. How many of them worked for Denning? He tried to think of something, anything at all he could say or do. Nothing came to mind. Even if he were interrogated by honest cops, they wouldn't believe he'd helped solve Brooke's own murder with her spirit's help.
The police led them through the crowd. Tonya stayed closed to her mother, not leaving her side. The officer leading Connor slowly broke away from the group and headed for an ambulance.
"This man needs to go to the hospital."
"I'm going with him," Brooke said.
She tried to pull away, but was herded along with Amber and Kara. Connor kept his eyes on Brooke, and despite everything, he smiled. All the trouble they were in, and she only cared about his well-being.
He noticed Amber behind Brooke, looking strangely calm. As they approached the squad car, a female news reporter shouted her name.
"Amber! Amber Johnson!"
"Here! That's me."
The woman fought her way through the crowd, a microphone in her hand and a cameraman behind her. Connor watched with curiosity, feigning more pain to stall for time as he neared the ambulance. Brooke and Kara were as intrigued as he was.
"I'm Rebecca Marsden," she said. "We spoke on the phone, earlier today."
Amber nodded. "The cameras are exactly where I said they'd be. In the cab of the forklift by the fence, on the ground by the wood pile, and in between two of the bathrooms."
Rebecca nodded and looked at her cameraman, motioning for him to kill the camera. "We'll get them, and then we'll be in touch."
Connor smiled, and glanced back at Denning. He was watching them with interest, no longer amused. Brooke did the best she could in hugging Amber with their hands behind their backs, but all she could do was put her head on her shoulder.
"We'll be just fine," Amber said. "Why do you think I was late?"
He would have hugged her too if he wasn't handcuffed, and his shoulder wasn't on fire.
CHAPTER 19
Brooke parked in the nearly-deserted lot outside Soul-Ful. It felt good to drive her own car once again. She still had no job, and was broke. She was staying at Connor's place while he was in the hospital. The media hounded her all hours of the day.
But she was alive, and not in jail. Denning and every person that worked for him had taken her place in that respect, all behind bars. She was halfway done the paperwork required to be declared legally alive. Amber and she were on their way to being friends once again. She visited Connor every day, and even as beat-up as he was, still made her smile.
After a trip to the locksmith, her car was hers once again, driver's license be damned.
Soul-Ful was eerily quiet. Being a Saturday afternoon, the main offices were empty. There was only the quiet hum of the occasional computer. Brooke approached Wesley's door and knocked a few times before cracking it open.
"Uh, Wesley? You in here?"
She opened the door enough to see him at his desk, looking up at her with confusion. Opening the door all the way, he finally broke into a smile.
"Brooke? Is that you?"
"This is me."
"Oh, wow." He laughed heartily. "This is amazing."
He circled around the desk and embraced her. Brooke tentatively returned the hug, smiling at him. He held her at arm's length, looking her up and down, before shaking his head. He gestured for her to have a seat and sat across from her.
"I saw everything on the news, and of course, the cops were here fifty times to investigate the thefts. This is all just so surreal. You look great."
She looked down at herself. After they pumped Connor full of drugs at the hospital, he mentioned he loved seeing her in cut-off jeans. She wore them once again for him, for her visit later in the day. The shirt was borrowed from Isabel, and a l
ittle short, showing off her belly button. She ran her hands through her white hair. It was still a strange experience looking into a mirror, but she liked her new body.
"I've definitely looked worse. I guess I've actually gotten a year younger, haven't I? Not quite sure if I should celebrate a birthday or not."
He laughed. "Have you heard from Amber? I hate to sound like this, but I'd probably smack the shit out of her if I ever saw her again."
"She's definitely in a lot of trouble. But it looks like she's gonna make a very sweet deal. If it wasn't for her, I don't know what would have happened. She saved me, Connor, Kara, everybody."
"Are you okay? Do you need anything? Once you're legally alive again, you know your old job is waiting here for you."
"I really appreciate that. Thank you, Wesley."
"Is it true what I'm hearing on TV? This guy Connor, he can really talk to souls?"
She choked back tears at the thought of Connor. He'd risked everything for her. She was still getting to know him, yet when she looked in his eyes, could see he genuinely cared about her, about her soul. It was almost frightening. She knew that in her time with him as a soul, she'd fallen for him, and it was happening all over again.
"Connor is…very special. You wouldn't believe how smart he is. Even now, in the hospital all messed up on painkillers. We talk every day, and he keeps telling me we're missing something. Something isn't adding up."
"What do you mean?"
"I went from getting this new body, to running for my life, in just a few hours. The next morning my picture, both my pictures, and Connor were on the news. Denning and his men knew who I was, who Connor was, where we were, everything. But I didn't talk to anyone. Except you, on the phone that night."
Wesley said nothing. He simply sat in his chair, his hands folded across his lap, watching her carefully.
"You let Amber steal those bodies from here. She didn't even know you were involved."
Finally, he let out a small smile. "I thought it was pretty smart, at the time. Why would I be involved? It's my company. The perfect alibi."
It took everything she had not to lunge across the table and attack him.
"Why?"
"I was part of some of the first soul resurrections. It was an exciting time, humanity conquering death. I proposed some of the first drafts for soul insurance. But soul resurrection has moved from science to business, and I'm tired of watching everyone make money but me. Owning Soul-Ful? It's nothing. Complete trade-ups, that's where the future is. Blind people no longer have to be blind. Missing an arm or a leg? We can fix it. But the current laws say you have to be dead to resurrect. The money isn't in the resurrections. It's in the bodies."
Soul Insurance Page 29