I’m sorry. I need to get away for a while. Don’t worry, I will be back. I just need to figure out a few things. Please don’t look for me. I will be in touch soon. Tell Sam, I’m sorry for missing his first day of school.
Jason.
My hand was shaking when I finished reading Jason’s note. “He’s on his own. Why would he run away?”
Alice shrugged, trying and failing to keep her mask of professionalism in place. “He’s not really running. He left a note and said he’d be back. I’m a bit confused by this as well,” she admitted. “Dan suggested recently that Jason try to leave town in the hopes that Kindred would lose interest, but he and I both decided it wasn’t worth the risk. We thought Kindred might follow him, or do something drastic to get his attention and bring him back home.”
I frowned, bringing a trembling hand up to push my hair behind my ear as I let this new event sink in. “I can’t say I’m completely surprised. What has he done in the past when things got hard?” I asked. “He ran. Changed his name, and ran to a different city to get away from whatever his father had done to him.” I looked up at my sister from my seat on the bed. “What makes you think that this is any different?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t. Not for sure. But he has friends and a family here. And he specifically said he was coming back.”
I snorted. “Yeah, unless something happens and he can’t come back.”
Alice sighed and ran her hand through her long brown hair. “There’s not much we can do until he contacts us, so do whatever you were going to do today, and try not to think about it too much.”
“What are you going to be doing?” I asked, trying to accept her plan to do nothing.
“I’ll be doing what I’ve been doing this whole time; trying to find and stop Kindred. If we can get him off the streets, then Jason can come home without having to worry about him.” It sounded good, but what chance did she have against this person? He’d been several steps ahead, and was bold enough to come to a cop’s house to deliver his death pictures. He was able to sneak up on Jason, and had somehow picked up the name Tracker. Jason called himself that, but he’d only shared it with those closest to him. There was no way Kindred should have been able to use it. The man was spooky. And my big sister was trying to stop him, putting herself on the radar of a known assassin.
“Try not to worry,” her voice was gentle, and then she snorted in mild annoyance. “He doesn’t seem to see the police as a threat, so it’s unlikely that he’ll try anything.” Easier said than done, but I would attempt to forget that my sister and…well, best friend, I guess, were involved in something that could get either or both of them killed.
Instead of saying any of that, when I heard Sam moving around the kitchen, eagerly getting ready for his first day of school, I looked out my open door and asked, “What do we tell Sam? Jason promised that he’d be here to send him off.”
“Hannah, Officer Alice! Are you coming? It’s almost time to go!” Sam called enthusiastically.
“Just getting dressed, bud!” I answered. “Give me a minute.” I looked to my sister, hoping she’d have some idea, but she looked as lost as I felt.
“I need to get ready for work. Dan and I have a lot to do if we’re going to catch Kindred. I’m sorry,” she added quietly, her professional façade cracking for one moment, revealing how vulnerable she felt. “I just… I really don’t know what to say to him.”
And that was the problem. How were we supposed to tell a twelve-year-old kid that his brother had left him…again?
TWENTY-TWO
Kindred
The preparations for my new job hadn’t taken too long, so after paying for the motel room for the afternoon information drop, I decided to check in on the Tracker. It would only take a few minutes, and I might be able to tell if the detective’s words were true. Was he more depressed and hurt by what I was doing? Perhaps a glimpse at his mood would tell me. Or maybe it would simply confirm that he was already a troubled young man, still working through what Mason had put him through.
I drove the now familiar route to the lady cop’s house, and was surprised when I couldn’t sense the Tracker in the house from a few blocks out. Normally his emotions were clear to me by now, but perhaps he was still asleep. The thought made me frown. His brother was starting school. He would be up by now. Instead of simply focusing on the Tracker, I expanded my senses to include the others in the house, and felt the worry and anxiety coming from two people, but nothing from the Tracker.
My curiosity was not going to be ignored. I hid myself from everyone’s view and walked up to the house to listen to what was going on. What I heard was surprising. “Why would he run away?” The girl—the cop’s sister—seemed worried, and scared. A feeling I now shared with her. If the Tracker had run, who could find him? How could I protect him from the unknown dangers he would face wherever he found himself?
The cop. She wouldn’t even look for him. Some friend she was. A true friend would find him and bring him back in order to keep him safe from the dangers of the world. He had been through enough in his young life. He did not need to be separated from his family now. I frowned as a scene from my dream popped into my head. The young boy in the hospital room. A boy I didn’t know…or did I? He seemed familiar, and why would I dream of a boy I didn’t know?
Perhaps he was someone from my elusive past. I must have had a life, a family, before Mason came along. Was this boy a part of that past? The door opened, and I pulled myself free from thoughts of my unknown history to make sure my shield was in place before the cop left the house. She took a deep shuddering breath, trying to compose herself, and I realized the strong front she’d put on was simply a show for her little sister. And the same was true of the younger woman. She was putting on a show, trying to protect the Tracker’s brother from having to deal with the emotions of others, while he dealt with his brother leaving him.
Strangely, the brother’s emotions were clear and calm. Like he knew his brother would be okay, and there was nothing to worry about. It was something to explore. The only reason he could be so calm is if he knew that his brother was leaving, and possibly where he was going to be. It was something to look into. Meanwhile, I had a job to do, so finding the Tracker would have to wait.
TWENTY-THREE
Jason
The decision to leave had been impulsive, but when had I ever really thought things through? Any time I felt the need to run, I had to run. It was as ingrained in my being as breathing. I’d told Sam where I intended to hide, and that I would try to call later that day. Assuming of course that Kindred didn’t find me first. The only hope I had was that his abilities had limits, the same as mine. If I wasn’t where he expected me to be, maybe he would be unable to take over my mind.
Getting to my first stop, the farmland surrounding the city, had taken quite a while. I didn’t want to be found yet, so I avoided public transportation in favor of walking. More time consuming, but it was also easier to get out of town without being noticed. Walking, and the occasional jogging, was also good for the stress I felt about staying in one place for so long. So far, my bet that Kindred would be asleep had paid off. He hadn’t noticed my exodus, and I had stayed…well, me, for the entire walk.
But right now, I was exhausted. After so many nights of restless sleep, the long walk had drained me. When I saw an isolated patch of woods, I decided to stop for the day. It was time to get some rest, so I picked my way around fallen logs and underbrush to conceal myself deep within the wooded area. There was a slight clearing beneath two large pine trees, and I crawled under the branches, shivering slightly in the cool morning air as I dropped my duffel bag wearily. There was a field nearby, and I wasn’t sure if the farmer who owned it would be working that day, so I knelt and concentrated my energy on the ground around me.
By the time I was done, I had a comfortable little dirt cave under the pine trees. I had hardened the outer edge, packing it as tightly as I could as a layer of
protection in case anyone, or anything, came along. If my hiding place was discovered, I would have time to block the opening and harden the entire structure to shield me as I tunneled out. For now all I could do was drink some water and eat a granola bar I had grabbed from the house before I’d left.
There was a small town nearby that I would try to get to after I got some sleep. I would gather some supplies, and then disappear into the countryside. The area I was intending to go I figured no one would think of; Mason’s farm. It was remote enough to hide people to torture and kill, so it would suit my purposes just as well. And it was where I told Sam I would be in case something went wrong. If for some reason I didn’t call tonight, he was supposed to wait until morning and tell Alice to check the Farm for any message I’d be able to leave. I was only about a mile from there right now, at least as far as I could tell.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to stay away from my friends and brother, but I needed some time to myself to figure out my next move. That would have to wait; I was having trouble keeping my eyes open as I finished munching my granola bar, and adjusted my duffel bag to use as a pillow. I sent a little bit of power to work up the dirt under me to soften it so I would be more comfortable, then I laid down, relaxing at the lack of footsteps around me, and fell asleep.
I was startled from sleep only once during the day when a tractor drove around the field that was next to the woods, but I remained hidden and allowed myself to relax and sleep again for several more hours. When I woke again, I felt more rested than I had in weeks. For once I had been able to sleep without fear. It was the closest to free I had felt since Mason had entered the picture, and I had to be separated from the people I cared about in order to achieve it.
That thought made me frown as I sat up in my hidden cave. Was I being selfish by running away? Self-doubt plagued me, and I wondered if I should just go back. Sam would be expecting a phone call soon, so I would postpone my decision until I called him and had some supper. I cleaned up my campsite and flattened the ground back to where it had been before I got there, and started the long walk to the little town of Torsten, where I would get supplies and a phone.
The walk went faster than I thought it would, and I made it before sundown. There were a few people out, but I figured most of them would be having supper by now. I went to a little diner and ordered a burger with fries, opting for water instead of a soft drink.
As I was eating I started feeling a slight pressure at the back of my head, and my muscles tensed. How had he found me? “Tracker, you should not be alone.” The voice seemed to resound around the room, but as I looked around at the other patrons, I realized it was only in my head, so I grabbed the last bite of my burger and quickly walked out to find a quiet place. “Come back home, or I will be forced to find you.”
“Kindred?” My voice was soft, and despite knowing he was in my head, I still looked around, expecting to spot someone nearby. There was no response, and the pressure let up. My body shook as I leaned against the cool brick wall of the alley side of the diner. I couldn’t…How could he still talk to me? Would he be able to find me if he could still communicate with me?
He hadn’t taken over, so he hadn’t been able to see my location, at least in theory. Was it possible for him to access my thoughts, and figure out where I was? I rubbed my hand over my face as I considered my options.
Option one: I kept to my impulsive plan of staying away from my friends. Possible response: Kindred uses my friends somehow to get me to come back, or he follows me, making my life miserable wherever I went.
Option two: I go home, and continue helping the police find Kindred. Possible response: Kindred still makes my life miserable, but keeps my friends out of it, unless I actually became a threat to his freedom. Then I had no idea what he would resort to. If I went back…I would be his puppet. Another face for him to put on whenever he wanted the rush of power he probably felt at controlling another person so completely.
I needed to call Alice. She might know what I should do. At least she might once she calmed down enough to listen to me. Most likely she would be angry that I had run so soon after deciding it wouldn’t be a worthwhile option. The first thing I needed was to find a phone. Even a payphone would do. I pushed away from the wall, and emerged from the shadows onto the main street.
I got a few odd looks from a couple people that were strolling down the street, and I wondered if they’d heard me trying to contact Kindred. It had sounded like I was talking to myself. Or it could be that Torsten was a small enough town that they would recognize an outsider when they saw one. If that was the case, I’d better leave as soon as I found a payphone to call Alice. I glanced down the street in both directions and saw a gas station a couple blocks down, which would probably have a phone. And possibly a map.
A sort of plan was forming in my mind. I wanted to mark on the map when I was able to spend a full day without hearing anything from Kindred. Somehow I needed to figure out the extent of his abilities, and by staying away from home, I might get enough of a reaction from him to be able to gauge them.
Shaking my head, I realized it wasn’t going to work. If he decided to follow me, or got any kind of hint of my location when he’d contacted me, my distances would be off. Not to mention the fact that I wasn’t exactly sure where he was based, so the information was skewed from the beginning. “What should I do?” I asked myself quietly, ignoring the man walking past me on the sidewalk. His footsteps were unfamiliar, so he barely registered as I kept moving toward the gas station.
I only noticed him when the steps faltered, and he turned around to follow me. “Hey, buddy, you ok?” he asked, coming up behind me.
My immediate response was to run. I had one good experience with a helpful person last fall, but I had no trust built in me for people who approached me. When the only experiences you have to go on are bad, you tend to lose the desire to try. So run I did. The man bit back a curse and followed, confirming my belief that he was not a Good Samaritan, as he may have seemed at first.
“STOP! Police!”
His yell made me hesitate, but I didn’t stop until I’d looked over my shoulder. “Ahh, shit,” I muttered under my breath. Normally I wouldn’t use that language, but I was fed up with my luck lately, and frustration won out. The man I was running from was wearing a uniform, and he did not look at all happy about our little run. “Officer,” I said as I stopped running. “I’m sorry.”
“What are you running for?” he asked as he held me by the arm, preventing me from taking off again. The story was too long to get into, so I just waved my arm vaguely, not really sure how to respond. “Is it drugs?” he asked, having me lean against the wall of a house we were by and patting me down, looking for contraband.
“No. I don’t do drugs. I didn’t realize you were a cop.”
“You don’t?” he asked, as he cuffed me, and one hand went through my duffel bag. “Than what are these?” he pulled out a bottle of prescription medication I still needed once in a while when my shoulder acted up.
I sighed and leaned my forehead against the cold vinyl siding.
“My meds. Look, I understand you want to take me in, so go ahead. Just call Detective Alice Farrow when we get there. She’ll vouch for me.”
The officer had his car parked near the gas station, so we had to walk down the street a ways before he stuffed me into the back and we drove to their little station. It was tiny. Probably only about two or three officers worked in Torsten, and the building showed it. The bushes and flowers were all well-tended; the flowers newly planted this spring. The little brick building was clean of graffiti, and it looked like they spent every minute making sure the windows were spotless.
The inside was a bit more cluttered, but still neat. The paperwork stacked on the desks was orderly, and there was no dust on anything. “Not much happens around here, huh?” I asked.
The officer looked at me, but didn’t comment. “What’s your name?”
He smirked at me. “Then why are the meds listed for James McCoy?” the man practically gloated; he was that excited at catching me for something.
“Because, when I got them, that was my legal name.” I had forgotten they were in that name. And, technically speaking it still was my name, but not for much longer. I was only trying to come up with a last name that wouldn’t connect me to the man who called himself my father. I could practically smell the suspicion and disbelief coming off the officer, so I sighed again. “Look. I’ll tell you the whole story,”—or at least the parts that were relevant—“and then you call Detective Farrow in the city and she’ll confirm it. I am not a criminal.”
He gestured for me to begin speaking, and I told him what had happened the previous fall, and that I was a street kid. “The meds are for my shoulder. It still gives me grief on occasion,” I concluded. The man had been entranced by my story, but his face was still full of doubt.
It wasn’t about Mason. Every cop within a hundred miles knew that he’d died while in the process of injuring an informant. What they didn’t know was the identity of said informant. Alice had kept my name and picture out of the press, so the only ones who knew were the cops at her precinct.
“Tracker, I am going to find you. It will be better for you if you come back on your own.” I winced at the sharp pain going through my mind as Kindred once again made his presence known. Apparently, when he’d cut off contact before, it was by choice, not because of distance. How could he still reach me? I was twenty miles outside of the city. There was no way my abilities would reach that far, so how could his?
What would he do if I didn’t come back? Another question—what would he do when I did?
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