by Lane Hart
I swallowed the worry back as we made it into the city limits. I’d been to Jack’s house for some firm Christmas parties, so I knew which streets to take to get there.
The clock on the dash said it was nine-thirty a.m. We’d made good time, and luckily hadn't run into any road blocks or traffic stops.
I pulled up through the semi-circle driveway in front of Jack's large estate. I could see a couple of lights on, so I figured him or his wife were already up.
Everyone was tired of being in the car, so we all walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Jack opened it still in his pajamas. I could tell he was surprised to see all of us, and it was probably even stranger that we had all changed our hair color and looked like we’d been run over.
“Emily? What’s going on?” he asked.
“Hi Jack. You haven’t seen us on the news this morning have you?” I asked seriously.
“Jesus Emily!” he exclaimed. “Get that car out of the driveway. Just drive it over a few blocks and walk back," he told us.
My dad volunteered for the job and the rest of us went on into the huge and beautiful house. Jack led us to a sitting area in the screened in porch near the side of the house. It’d give us a view of the road in case there were any unexpected visitors.
“The suspense is killing me, so start talking,” Jack said after we all sat down.
I went through the whole story, going back to when I’d found out I was pregnant and Ben had first told me about what he was, all the way to the drive this morning. I told Jack I was serious about the news and asked if he’d turn on the TV and check to see if there were any stories.
We only watched CNN for a few minutes before Ben’s picture popped up on the screen. I felt sick as they said he was wanted for the murder of a government official in Florida, and should be considered armed and dangerous.
“Shit, you’re serious!” Jack shouted as he jumped up. “So it’s true? Everything? Even the animal part?” he asked, still skeptical.
“Yes Jack, but Ben has never shifted and hurt anyone before last night. He was protecting me from an evil asshole who almost shot and killed both of us. They are hunting my husband and they took my son and father-in-law because of how they were born!”
My mom and Susan were silent as they watched our conversation. My dad finally came back in and said he hadn’t seen any unusual cars, which was a relief.
Jack was pacing as he rubbed his head. I knew he was thinking about what, if anything, we could do in court. Finally he stopped and looked at me with a grave expression.
“If you want them back, they’re going to have to come out of the closet.”
“What?” Susan asked. I knew she’d spent most of her life helping David and Ben hide their secret from the world. But what good was it now? We’d lost them and Lucas.
“Susan, I know this sounds crazy, but what is there left for us to lose? We’ve had to leave our homes twice in a year, there’s a manhunt out for your son, and we have no freaking idea where David and Lucas are!”
“What do you think will happen when the world finds out about them? Someone will kill them out of fear and we’ll never be safe!”
“My PR person can take care of that,” Jack said, and we all turned back to look at him.
“How?” I asked.
“Most of the public is anti-governmental control nowadays. We'll spin this story for them, and they’ll side with the underdog minority that’s being wrongly persecuted by the feds every time,” he said. “When we show them the face of a sweet baby boy who was taken from his parents because of how he was born, the public will be on our side. And when we tell them Ben killed a rogue agent who was going to sexually assault his wife, in her defense and his own self-defense, he’ll walk. I guarantee it!”
I was shocked. Jack seemed confident that this could really work. I was ready to do whatever it would take to get my family back. If we could get out of this disaster then I’d be glad to deal with whatever life threw at us.
I looked at Susan to see if she was swayed. I didn’t want to out Ben’s family without her support.
“Susan?” I asked. She stared out the window as if looking for the answer. Finally she responded.
“Do what you have to do to get my husband and boys back.”
It was time to share their secret with the world.
Chapter Nine
There was no time to waste, so Jack put in a few calls to some civil attorneys that owed him favors. They came over and talked with us right away, getting all the information they would need to file the complaints for a civil lawsuit. The case would be David Hunter, Benjamin Hunter, and Lucas Hunter v. the United States of America. Their suit would allege discrimination and violation of their Fourth Amendment rights and freedom as citizens. The short version was, David and Lucas were being held against their will for no reason other than having supernatural genetics.
Since Ben was being hunted after he killed an agent in self-defense, Jack had made calls to the United States Attorney in the Western District of North Carolina, explaining the situation and asking them to instruct the federal agents to call off the manhunt. The story Jack had to give them was a hard sell, but eventually we started making progress.
The U.S. Attorney agreed to call off the search for Ben when Jack told them he'd get him to turn himself in. They were going to indict him on a murder charge, but agreed to a meeting with me and Jack to explain what had happened.
By Monday morning I was beyond exhausted from an agonizing heartache and days without sleep, but I had to pull it together to meet with the U.S. Attorney and try to save Ben.
The United States Attorney, Bill Woods, seemed like an honest and straight up prosecutor. He had two agents with him in the meeting, a younger guy and an older, white-haired man. Apparently they were from Florida and had investigated Rhodes's murder.
I felt nauseous from nervousness. Jack told me to be honest and tell them everything, without leaving any details out. Otherwise they wouldn't believe me.
I first begged them to tell me if Lucas and David were okay, and they assured me that they were fine, and would not be harmed other than taking some blood samples from them.
I started my story from the very beginning, as I had done with Jack, and stopped when we showed up on Jack's front porch. I wasn't surprised by their mistrusting attitudes and disbelief. They had to know about the shifting since they had David and Lucas in custody. Maybe they just hadn't seen it for themselves.
"If you don't believe they are shapeshifters, then why did you kidnap and detain them?" I asked angry.
"There was a concern that they were a threat to the public well-being. We couldn't have sat back and done nothing on the chance that they were dangerous. But we're still skeptical about the "shifting" aspect. Neither your father-in-law or your son have shifted since they've been in our custody for three days," said the white haired agent.
"Then there must not be any animals around Lucas, because he has zero control over it," I told them.
The three men looked at each other and then to Jack, to see if I was to be trusted.
"Go ahead," Jack told them. "Make the call. Tell them to show the boy someone's pet and see what happens."
We sat and waited while the younger, quieter agent made the call to Florida. He was told they would call him back when they were able to try the experiment. About twenty minutes later the agent’s cell phone rang. Oh, this was going to be good.
"Agent Jones, you're on speaker for the room," he warned him.
"Sir, you won't believe this shi-, I mean you won't believe what just happened," he said. "I brought my German Shepard and showed him to the baby. It wasn't a heartbeat later that the boy turned into a dog identical to Bullet, I mean my dog." I could understand his fluster. At least he hadn't passed out.
The agents looked at me and I gave them the "I told you so" look. Jack even looked a little on the surprised side, but tried to cover it.
"Okay, you've made your point
Mrs. Hunter," said Woods.
"So now will you consider that the rest of what I've told you is true?" I asked him.
They hesitated. I couldn't image how hard it was on the other agents to see their colleague killed "in the line of duty". They didn't know him very well since he was from North Carolina, and I was sure he was an aberration in their highly esteemed group of individuals.
I had a sudden thought that might win them over to our side.
"You both investigated the crime scene where Agent Rhodes was found, right?" I asked them.
They both nodded, and looked a little ill from the memories.
"Then you should have noticed that Rhodes's pants were unzipped and he was probably, um, exposed," I asked. I couldn't look at them out of embarrassment.
Jack jumped in on that piece of information that shouldn't have been overlooked. "Well, did you?"
The two men looked at each other and then the older one finally told the U.S. Attorney it was true.
"What reason would my husband or I have to do that after he was dead?" I asked. "We only touched him for the handcuff keys, then left immediately. You could probably see some of it on our video surveillance system that Rhodes said the feds had been monitoring. I know you also found his gun was missing two bullets from when he shot at my husband. He would have killed him if he'd been in human form, and you know it."
If they didn't believe me I wasn't sure what would happen to Ben. He'd probably sit in a jail for months waiting for a trial. I had faith that a jury wouldn't convict him, but how long would that be from now?
Finally, the white haired agent spoke up again. "Sir, Agent Rhodes was not acting under orders and did not have the court's permission to access the Hunters' security cameras or disarm their alarm system when he went in to detain the man and boy," he told Woods.
Whew! That was a relief. They knew he'd stepped out of line but were going to overlook it because of his death, and the strange situation. Not anymore.
"I've heard enough," Woods said surprising me at the abrupt ending of our meeting.
"Now, hold on just a minute," Jack started in.
"Jack, I believe Mrs. Hunter. Agent Rhodes overstepped his orders in his entire pursuit of this matter, including the day he first showed up to the Hunters' residence. He led us to believe the Hunter men were dangerous, which we now know was false. I'm dismissing the indictment against Mr. Hunter and our office and agents will help you however we can in the civil suit."
My mask of self-possession broke at the overwhelming relief I felt in that moment.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Hunter but I can't return your son and father-in-law," he said, with a genuine frown. "They're being held under a Florida federal judge's order, based on the inaccurate information provided by Rhodes. It's going to take another judge to overturn it."
I was disappointed he couldn't do more, but I had never imagined our meeting would make this much progress.
"Thank you sir, agents," I told them as I stood up and left the room before falling apart in front of them.
Chapter Ten
The next few days were excruciatingly painful when I didn't hear anything from Ben, or anything about Lucas and David. At least we knew where they were, thanks to the Florida agents, and they had even let me talk to David for a few minutes. I couldn't wait for Ben to check in so I could tell him to come home.
At least I was able to go back to our real home again. Ben had paid up our mortgage for a year in advance, so all I had to do was get the utility companies to turn everything back on.
A week and two days later I finally got a call from Ben. I'd told Jack's office to be expecting him to try and reach me there, so he'd instructed his staff to tell him to call me at home.
I cried in relief when I finally heard his voice.
"Are you okay? Where are you?" I asked him.
"I'm fine. I think I've found where they are. Are you sure this phone line is secure?" he asked.
"Yes and come home! The FBI has called off the search for you and they are dismissing the murder charge."
He was silent a second. "What? How?" he asked. "Jack?"
"Yes, we met with the U.S. Attorney and the Florida FBI agents over a week ago. They believed me, and told us where your dad and Lucas are. They said they are fine and wouldn't hurt them, but the court order holding them is out of Florida," I told him quickly.
"So what does that mean?" he asked impatiently.
"We've got a federal civil case filed against the government. If we can get the judge here to order them to be released then hopefully the district court in Florida will abide by it," I told him. "And there's something else you need to know." I bit my lip, afraid of how he'd take the news.
"What is it?"
"To put pressure on the court, the civil attorneys and I held a press conference last week and told them about our case." I braced myself for the storm.
"You didn't tell them .... Emily, what have you done?" he yelled. I knew he was going to be upset.
"I'm doing whatever I can to get your dad and our son back!" I screamed back at him.
"What the hell were you thinking? I can't believe you'd ruin our life without even asking us first!" he said, and his words hit me like a slap to my face.
"Don't you blame this on me! If what you are had stayed a secret then the government could do anything to the three of you without repercussions. Now the public knows and they want to help you!"
"Help us? That's bullshit! Everyone will be afraid of us now, and some may try and kill us!" I had thought about the chances of that, but the likelihood of it actually happening seemed slim compared to what we could gain.
"I worry about that too, but I miss Lucas and it’s killing me!" I told him defensively. "Oh, and by the way, your mom is not having a picnic either. She's been a basket-case since we picked her up that night!"
Uh-oh. Susan had been staying with me in our spare bedroom so we would at least have each other for that little comfort. She'd probably heard the entire conversation. I turned around from where I'd been standing in the living room and she was waiting anxiously in the hall to hear from Ben.
I winced. "Sorry Susan, but your son is pissed off about how I've handled things."
She stepped forward. "Here, can I please talk to him?" I handed her the phone without another word. I knew she had been worried sick about him too.
"Ben, are you okay?" she asked. "I gave my blessing to Emily before she did anything, so if you're going to be upset with someone, be mad at me or the people who have your dad and son. But don't take out your anger on your wife. She's done the best she can, and she was able to get rid of the charges against you. What more do you want her to do?" I guess she'd finally found another emotion other than sad.
"Here sweetie," she said as she handed me back the phone and walked back to the bedroom.
"Ben, I'm sorry. But the public support has been strong and positive, which is what we need to put pressure on the court. There's even a Facebook page with over thirty-thousand supporters. There are protests being held here every day in front of the federal courthouse with signs telling the court to release them."
"Oh," he finally said. "I didn't know. I didn't think it would go over so well."
"Yeah, I didn't either, and I'll take whatever problems come from this being out in the open to government secrecy any day. At least now we won't have to keep running and hiding."
"That will be a nice change of pace. I miss you," he said softly.
"I miss you to, so come home. Fly all night if you have to. We've got a hearing on Friday."
"Are you sure I shouldn't stay here and keep an eye on the facility where they're holding them?"
"It's not going to do any good. You can't barge in and get them, so come home."
"Okay, I'm on my way. It'll probably take me about five or six hours."
I looked at the clock. He'd be home and in bed by ten o'clock tonight. Finally!
"I love you. Be careful. I don't want any other anim
als eating you or anything," I told him, not totally joking.
"I'll be fine. I love you too," he said before he hung up.
"Susan?" I yelled for her. "Ben's on his way home!"
Chapter Eleven
I was trying to find something on TV while I waited for Ben, but was too excited to really pay any attention to it. It was nine-thirty and he should be home any minute. The doors were all locked with our high tech security system, but I heard it unlatch when Ben entered in the pass-code.
I launched myself at him before the door opened all the way, wrapping my arms around his neck. His arms went instantly around me, holding me. I forgot that he'd be completely naked from shifting. Then a thought crossed my mind, and I let him go.
"What were you wearing when you called me?" I asked as I leaned back to look up at him.
"Well, hi and I've missed you too," he said with a grin. "I found a pair of pants and shirt hanging on a clothes line. I promise, I didn't walk down the street like this."
"That's good to know," I told him as I pulled his face to mine. After a long kiss, I reluctantly pulled away from him.
He stroked a strand of my hair. "I see you were finally able to get your blonde back. I missed it. But baby, when was the last time you slept?"
I knew he was saying I looked like shit. I sure enough felt like it.
"How can I sleep when all I do is worry about Lucas? Worry about who is taking care of him. Are they feeding him? Is he crying because he misses us and he doesn't understand why we're not there?" The waterworks started up again, but at least now I had Ben to hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
"Maybe it won't be much longer, and he's so young he won't ever remember being away from us," Ben said as he wiped the tears from my eyes. "Oh, yeah, and who exactly are those men with your dad standing in our driveway?" Ben asked.
Ah. I'd forgotten to mention them. "They are, um, supporters, that take shifts to guard the house all day and night," I told him.
"Wow," he said. "If you would have told me a year ago that the world would know what I am, and that people would be willing to guard our house, I wouldn't have believed you."