This man worked for Mason, he was part of the group sent out to find you and grab you off the street. He was a bad man and still a threat to your safety. Stay safe, Tracker.
- Kindred.
This was almost worse than the others. If he was going to kill everyone Mason had on the street looking for me, there was going to be a bloodbath in the city before too long. He'd had nearly every person on his payroll trying to find me. If that's all it took to get Kindred to go after someone, there was no way I'd be able to sit out this investigation. Hannah would be upset, but I needed to help Alice get another monster off the streets.
"Jason, what did he leave?" Dustin asked from the bottom of the steps.
I walked down the stairs and handed him the note and picture. I didn't want to have to show it to him, but if he was going to be around me, he had to know the score. Now that Kindred surely knew about him, he was as much at risk as the rest of us. "Watch yourself whenever you're out," I warned. "I don't know what kind of crazy ideas this guy is going to get, but I don't want any of my friends to get hurt by him."
He nodded and replied sincerely, "I will be careful. You do the same. He can sneak up on you, so don't get too overconfident that you'll see him coming."
I gave a short chuckle. "That's not going to be a problem. The high I was on a few minutes ago flew away as soon as I realized Kindred had been here under my nose." I looked at him, not wanting to show too much vulnerability. "We may have to put off therapy until this is over. I can't be dealing with the past and this current problem at the same time."
"What about your blackouts?" he protested. "You need to figure out the cause, and work to get them to go away."
He was sincere in his desire to help, but there was no way I could keep myself together enough to deal with this and talk over the issues of my past at the same time. "They'll have to wait. Hopefully they won't strike at times that will get me killed," I said with a lightness I didn't feel.
"You need to take care of yourself more, Jason." Dustin sounded angry now. His eyes were narrowed and mouth turned down. "You have people who count on you to be here, and you won't be if you don't deal with your problems. Call me when you're ready to talk again," he said as he rushed up the stairs. I heard him talking to Hannah and Sam, and overheard Hannah reminding him that he couldn't leave until he'd talked to Alice and Dan. He didn't come back down, but he went into the living room and sat down. He was angry, and I regretted that my actions had made him mad, but saw no way I could have changed them. Putting it out of my mind, I checked on the prisoner again, strengthening the bonds that kept him in place. He'd stopped yelling, but was glaring at me through the basement window.
When I felt Alice and Dan's footsteps approaching the house, I went upstairs and outside to join them. "He's over here," I said, leading them to the side of the house. "I'll let him loose once you have handcuffs on him."
"Sure," Alice said. Dan grabbed the guy, pulling his hands behind his back and cuffing him. I knelt and the earth dropped away from his legs, allowing him to move. "What are you doing here?" Alice asked, leading him to the car. "Who are you?"
The man was still glaring at me, but it was more like he was angry he had to be there than that he was angry with me. "I need his help," he said tossing his head my direction. "After you took Mason out, his pet assassin went crazy… crazier anyway. He's been killing people who worked with Mason whether they deserve to die or not."
"Like this guy?" I asked, pulling the picture I'd just received and showing it to him.
"Geez, that's Mattie. He was a hothead; had a temper and hit his wife, but does he deserve death for that? I think not. Jail, maybe, but not death. Mason's assassin is out of control. We need you to stop him, like you stopped Mason."
I could feel my temper rise too, and narrowed my eyes at him angrily. "Why should I help? You all knew what Mason was going to do to me, and none of you stepped up. Kindred dragged me out of a collapsed building and probably saved my life, so why should I help you?" I thought about what he’d said, like I’d stopped Mason. He wanted me to… “You don’t want me to stop him; you want me to kill him! I’m not a killer!”
Alice looked at me and shook her head slightly; probably not wanting me to even interact with this guy. “Jason, settle,” Dan said calmly, still holding the man. “He’s not worth it.”
"Look," the unknown man said urgently, sensing that I was in no mood to deal with him. He was very astute this one. "We may have known what Mason was up to, but none of us had any power to stop him. Why do you think he kept a personal assassin? He'd send this guy at anyone who stood against him, and no one escaped once he was after them. We are criminals, but we were also scared for our lives. A lot of us were happy once you took out Mason, until we realized his pet killer would still come after us."
"He went through what I did," I said angrily. "Whatever he may be now, is what Mason made him… what Mason tried to make me. If I go after Kindred it will be on my terms, not yours. But," I said with less heat in my voice, "if you know anything about Kindred that could help me find him, it could go faster. I will go after him, but only because he is a killer. Keep in mind," I warned. "I'm also after any of Mason's men that I can get. You all belong in jail, and I've made it my personal goal to put you there."
The man smirked at that. "Good luck, kid. Some of Mason's guys are real hardcore. You won't get them all."
I shrugged as if it didn't matter. "It will probably take a while to find Kindred. He'll probably take care of some of them for me," I spoke callously with a calm I didn't feel, not wanting to air my agony to a common thug, but recognizing that I had just given a few things away to Alice and Dan. "Anyway, I believe the officer asked for your name. They'll find it out anyway, so you might as well come clean."
He nodded once, studying my face for a moment before he answered. "My name is Paul Daken. I worked in a warehouse that was owned by Mason, but it was one of his legit businesses. Until he sent word out about the freak—that's his word, not mine—that he wanted off the streets, I had no part in his criminal activity. I knew some who were involved, but I was not. I hope you keep that in mind before you allow this killer to stay on the streets."
"That was never the plan," I said coldly. "I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not doing it to help Mason's people. I'm helping the cops get a murderer off the street, and then I'll worry about the other criminals involved with Mason. Have a fun time in lockup while they confirm your story," without another word I stalked back into the house. Dustin, Hannah and Sam were watching from the living room window, and they turned to me when I entered.
"Who is that?" Hannah asked.
I shrugged. "He claims to be someone who worked for one of Mason's legit businesses, but I'm not convinced. He knew too much about Kindred to have not been involved more deeply," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I'll be downstairs. I just need to think. Tell Alice to come down when she needs to talk to me, but I need a little time to myself."
"All right," Hannah agreed softly. I wanted to say so much more, but I couldn't get the words out. She wanted more from me than I could give, and she deserved better. I was a mess, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon, so I turned and went down the stairs to figure out my next step.
NINE
Kindred
The Tracker's friends would be off limits to me. I couldn't kill the people he cared about, but there might be a way to warn them to be careful how they treated the kid. After what he'd been through, he didn't need them making him upset or scared. The man who'd gone to his house had brought out a different emotion than I'd felt from the Tracker in the past: Confidence. It was a nice change from the anxiety and fear I'd been sensing from him since I'd pulled him from the shed. His confidence had not lasted long, but the fact that it had shown, even briefly, proved he could get through the depression he'd fallen into. Perhaps knowing that I was handling his problems would help.
I pushed my thoughts of the Tracker to the back of
my mind as I watched my next prey. He would be a little trickier, but still attainable. The man walked between the Tracker's pretty detective friend and her partner, head down and shoulders hunched. Despite knowing he would get arrested for his crimes, he'd shown up where the Tracker could sense him and catch him in his earth trap. It was an impressive piece of work, and helpful to know that the kid could reach under the foundation of the house to raise the dirt and trap the scum who'd approached him. If it became necessary to detain him, it was good to know his abilities. What he didn't know, is that I knew his abilities almost as well as he did, and I could manipulate him to use them however I wanted. It was something I would not reveal to him unless I had no other choice.
I owed him for my freedom, but I would not give up this liberty for him or anyone else. If he did come after me, I would do what I had to in order to stay free. But I would not kill him. Threaten and use his own abilities against him, yes. Kill him, no. I owed him that much. So it was for his sake—not mine—that I warned him to stay away.
My future prey disappeared into the police station, and I pulled away from the curb into traffic, planning my next step. Slipping into a police station for a job was not new to me, but the Tracker's cop friends could be blamed if something happened to him while they were still in charge of him. For his sake, I would wait until they were off duty.
Once they were gone, there would be nothing holding me back from removing yet another threat to the Tracker. The only other thing I was a little concerned about, were the cameras in the holding cells. My abilities work on people, not machines. My face was different before my employment with Mason, so I wasn't sure they'd be able to find me, but to be safe, I would wear a mask. The people wouldn't notice me, and once they started checking for the person responsible, all they'd get is a random masked man on camera. They would know it was me, but they would not see my true face. No one had in a long time.
I felt a pang of regret for whatever my life could have been without Mason's influence. But you can’t truly miss what you don’t remember. So the regret never lingers long.
TEN
Jason
"Dan told me to invite you and Sam to dinner at his place tonight," Alice said when she returned from booking Paul Daken into holding for the time being. "The kids want to see you and Sam before they start school." And she wanted to take my mind off what had been going on, I'd bet.
It was a good idea. I needed to see that they were still happy in their current situation… to see that I hadn't made a mistake in giving up guardianship of three children I'd come to love. "Sure. Are you and Hannah coming too?"
She nodded. "We'll be there." Alice opened and closed her mouth, apparently hesitant to speak her mind.
"What's up, Alice?" I asked warily.
The corner of her mouth turned up slightly before turning serious again. "Just wondering what went on between you and Dustin. He seemed a bit…"
"Upset?" I broke in. She nodded. "Yeah, well. He probably has a right to be." I glanced down at the floor. "Look, I'd rather keep it between him and me if you don't mind. It's kind of personal."
Alice's eyes widened slightly in surprise; usually I would tell her what was bothering me, but I needed to figure it out for myself first. "Let's just say he doesn't think I'm taking proper care of myself, and leave it at that. Now," I said clapping my hands in front of me. "What can I do to help find Kindred?"
She shrugged, obviously not happy with the situation. "For the record, I think Dustin is right. You need to take care of yourself. Unfortunately, I also have this killer on the streets, and you could be our best bet in finding him, since he seems a bit… well, he seems a bit obsessed." Her tone was one of annoyance, but it was not aimed at me. It was probable that she, like her sister and Dustin, wanted me to have time to get my head on right before I had to deal with anything else.
But like she said, circumstances dictated that I once again face off with a killer. This one at least didn't seem likely to hurt me. Not when he thought I'd saved him. I shuddered, wondering what I would have become if Mason had succeeded in his plans for me. Would I have remembered my friends? Or would he have used me against them for his own amusement?
"Jason, don't think about it," Alice said. "It's not worth worrying about what could have been." I looked up at her confused. She shrugged. "You were on your way out. I figured if I could derail your thoughts, you'd stay here this time. Hannah told me about the blackouts." Her voice turned more urgent. "We will do whatever needs to be done in order to stop them, Jason. You shouldn't need to keep suffering through this alone. We are here for you through everything. Remember that, okay?"
I nodded and she put her hand on my shoulder as she walked out of the room. "Supper's at seven, so we'll leave around twenty to. Oh, and could you even out the ground outside your window again? It's a bit bumpy," she smiled and went to her bedroom to get changed into her usual after-work attire; jeans and a T-shirt. It was more comfortable than the business type suits she wore to work on most days.
It was different for me. I had a limited wardrobe, and stuck with jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts most days. They at least covered most of the scars. I hoped to be able to get some of the scarring on my torso repaired at some point, at least to the extent that I could feel comfortable in my own skin. It often felt too tight with the scar tissue still healing, and I couldn't remove my shirt or wear short-sleeved shirts with anyone around. It would always bring up the question 'what happened?' and would lead to me thinking too much about the past again. Not that I didn't do enough of that without anyone's influence, but I didn't need random people asking.
"Jason! Time to go!" Sam yelled down the steps and I looked around in surprise. Hadn't Alice just left me to get dressed? I should have had another twenty minutes to get ready. I looked at the clock in my room and felt my eyes widen. When had I come down to my room? I'd been upstairs when I was talking to Alice, and now it was time to go meet at Dan's for supper. Another blackout. This one for nearly twenty minutes, and I'd moved. That wasn't good.
"Jason, did you smooth out the yard yet?" Alice asked as I came up the stairs.
"Uh, no, I didn't," I said feeling hollow and frightened.
"Are you okay?" She asked looking up from the newspaper she'd been looking at.
I shook my head. "No, I don't think I am," I admitted.
She frowned and came a step closer to me. "What happened? Did you have another blackout?"
Nodding, I replied, "I started in the living room where you left me, and somehow ended up downstairs. I was out for about twenty minutes. Alice… I think I need help. I can't…"
"Hey, what's taking so long?" Hannah poked her head in the door. "Sam and I are—wait… what happened?" she asked looking between her sister and me. I looked down at the floor, allowing Alice to answer for me.
"He had another blackout, a long one this time. And he moved during it." She turned back to me. "Are you up to supper? We can postpone it."
I shook my head. "I don't know. What happens if I black out while we're there? I don't want to scare the kids."
"If you want my opinion, I'd say we should go," Hannah said. "It might be enough to keep your mind occupied and prevent another blackout." I huffed, but nodded in agreement. "And then you should talk to Dustin. Whatever he was upset about, he'll want to know what just happened, and help you through it."
"He thinks I should leave Kindred to the police; that I need to spend more time thinking about my own health and less time worrying about the killer that's following me. I don't know how I'm supposed to do that." Before they could respond, I shook my head to clear it and said, "I'm going to go smooth the yard before we go. I'll meet you in the car."
The sisters nodded and followed me outside, splitting to go to the car as I went around the other side of the yard to repair the damage I'd done while apprehending Daken. I dropped to my knees and dug my hands into the dirt, hoping to feel some of the lightness I'd felt earlier that day. But confidence and happ
iness were out of my reach. I was losing myself to what Mason had done, despite my escape from him. Kindred may be free, but I was trapped. Stuck in the prison my mind had created for me.
ELEVEN
Hannah
The three kids swarmed Jason and Sam when Dan opened the door to let us into the house. Paul was the most restrained, but he still gave both Jason and Sam a big hug, and he was smiling. An actual smile. I don't know that I had ever really seen Paul smile before. Granted, I hadn't spent much time with him before last fall and there had been precious little to smile about, but I got the feeling he wasn't big on expressions of joy before that either. It would do Jason some good to see his kids happy, and I could feel a smile on my own face as I greeted Ginny and Jeffrey.
Jeffrey had always been a quiet kid too, but he had come out of his shell quite a bit since moving in with Dan and June. They had done a lot of work with him and discovered that he had a slight mental disability. From what I’d heard it was a mild form of Asperger’s, but I wasn’t clear on all the details. With help from a private tutor they had already started making strides in getting him ready to go to school. He would take some special classes in addition to his normal schooling in order to attempt to get him caught up. Ginny, who'd become like a little sister to me, was currently attached to Jason. She had settled in well, but Jason had been the one constant in her life for the last few years, and she missed him.
I knew Jason had felt lost without the kids and was happy to see them, but when I glanced in his direction, he seemed uncomfortable. He returned the hugs from the kids awkwardly, and pulled away as soon as was prudent. He didn't want to hurt their feelings, but his blackout before we left had thrown him. My smile slipped slightly as I watched him, his brown eyes clouded with worry and fear, the smile never quite reaching them. I caught Alice's eye and saw that she'd noticed too, but she shrugged, unsure what to do about it. Thankfully the kids were too excited to notice, although Paul seemed to sense that there was something wrong. His smile fell as he watched his mentor, but he quickly recovered. His gaze dropped from Jason's face and he turned back to Alice.
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