Boring. Everything was boring. Even hunting had lost its appeal. The prey couldn’t fight back, so it wasn’t much of a sport. There were so many ways to cheat; planting trail cameras, putting out corn or other treats, etc. But the animals still couldn’t fight back when the person after them had a gun. I’d spiced it up a bit with a new kind of prey who could fight back, but even that was beginning to bore me.
So many just gave up once they were taken. They lost the will to fight because they had no confidence that they’d be able to get away. But the thrill was still there for a moment when they finally did try. They took the weapon I gave them and tried to get away.
Inevitably, they would fail. And the game would be over. “You have another caller,” Keith, my manager, called irately. The line had been blinking.
I waved a hand at him in acknowledgement and answered the call. Going on autopilot, I barely had to listen to the caller to know how to respond. Dull.
Instead, I concentrated on the most recent participant of my game, who was waiting in my shed in the woods. He would be fun. The young usually were for a time. They would go into the game with the firm belief that they were too young to die, and in the end I would make them beg to die before I finally went in for the kill shot. The biggest thrill was watching the moment when the hope for life faded from their eyes, and the shock that entered them in the brief moment when I fired. Or slit their throat. Either method excited me.
What could be better?
What could I find that would last longer? There had to be some way to make the thrill continue beyond the game. Some challenge that would stave away boredom for an extended amount of time. If there was, I had yet to find it. And I’d been looking.
This job was only temporary. I had in mind to try my hand at police work, so I’d been taking the necessary steps to get on the force. I had only a few tests left to pass before I would be eligible, and those were simple. The psych tests were easy to fake, and the detective’s exam was cake. I’d seen a copy of it and would have no trouble passing. Then I would be able to see if the challenge of solving crimes while still living a life of crime would be enough to keep my interest.
Speaking of keeping interest, I got out my phone and texted Sharon. Meet 2nite, nrml plc. She texted the affirmative while the complexities of holding two relationships made me shiver a little. My wife was home, but she would be clueless. Always had been. I supposed I loved her, since I never left to avoid boredom, but she wasn’t enough to hold my interest full time.
I entertained the thought that she might be a fun addition to my hunting trips, but realized she would be one who would practically lie down and die. Boring. Nothing entertaining about killing a beast that wouldn’t fight back. Maybe Sharon and I would meet at my house tomorrow. My wife would be working, and it was always more fun knowing I was in our bed with another woman.
Sharon wouldn’t argue. I could hold some of her other affairs over her head if she did. She could be fired for sleeping with the husband of one of our managers. Or for meeting some of her affairs on company property. Whatever I had to do to make her do what I wanted.
The phone kept ringing, and in the sheer monotony of the day, I decided: the hunt would be this weekend.
FOUR
Jason
As I expected, there was not much to be found along the missing boy’s route. But there were several paths into wooded areas that would have made it a prime area for a predator to lay in wait. I knelt along the trails to feel for any remaining echoes, but the results weren’t promising. The most recent prints had mostly overpowered the fainter vibrations left over from when the boy was taken, and if he was taken in a car, none of the prints would be useful.
The mother was waiting on the sidewalk for me to rejoin her after my short excursion onto one of the trails. “Anything?” she asked anxiously.
“Not yet, but it is definitely possible that he was taken through one of the paths to a hunting lodge or cabin, but there are several around. It could take some time. How about you head home; I’ll start looking and contact the police to see what they are able to share with me. I’ll keep you informed.”
She took a step back, nodding quickly. “Okay. Did I give you my number?” Her shaking hands reached into her purse for a pen, which she used to write her number onto the small pad of paper I carried with me. “Here’s the down payment,” she said, handing me an envelope of cash. Not many people like paying a PI with anything other than cash. Something I didn’t argue about.
“We charge…”
“Fifty an hour. I saw in your office. I’m okay with that. Just find my son,” she interrupted.
“I’ll keep records,” I assured her. “You’ll get at least a basic accounting of how we spend the time while we search. And if it turns out we can’t help you, I will let you know.”
There was no need for her to spend her money on an impossible search. She nodded and walked back to her car, leaving me to begin my hike down the trails. I’d never met her son, so there was no way I’d be able to recognize his steps. It might not even make sense for me to wander the wooded trails, but if I found nothing, I wouldn’t charge her for my time.
For my own peace of mind, I needed to try to find any signs of struggle. And if I found something, it could lead to a son being reunited with his mother. I checked my watch and decided I would only stay out until dark. It wasn’t worth searching in pitch-blackness, even if I technically didn’t need to see in order to find something.
At least it was a nice day for a walk. My lightweight spring jacket was enough to keep me comfortable without getting too warm, which was good because I only had a T-shirt underneath. Wearing them at all was a recent development, but only with Sam. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been paying attention when I grabbed clothes this morning, so I’d ended up with a shirt that showed off all the obvious scars on my arms. Sam had grown accustomed to me walking around the house in short-sleeves, so he hadn’t mentioned it when I walked out the door.
Wearing short sleeves was something I rarely did when leaving the house. I hated the looks I got from people when they noticed the scars, and the inevitable questions from people I would talk to. Some wouldn’t ask verbally, but the questions were always there in the quick glances and hushed whispers.
I paused and knelt on the trail near the end of where I had checked earlier, before I’d rejoined my client. And she was my client. Joe didn’t know about her yet, and I had been her contact. He’d told me before that if he didn’t know a client, he didn’t want to have to be involved in the case unless I got stuck or needed him to help me track someone. Although he did need to know about it and be kept in the loop as I worked. So far, I hadn’t needed help. I also hadn’t gotten any of my own cases. I’d helped with most of Joe’s since I’d started with him, and after the first few where I’d proven that I could handle myself, he’d decided if I caught a case when he wasn’t around I should be able to be the primary on it.
When he was sober, he was actually a nice guy. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too attached to the drink after his wife’s announcement, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if he were. That would be a good reason to move on. I couldn’t stay and work for a man who got that angry when he was drunk.
Hannah’s voice came back to me then. “I’ll be here when you’re ready to come home.” She hadn’t hesitated to call her house my home, which made me wonder if I could go back. The only time I’d gone back to a place after running away, was when I’d gone back to my father’s house to get Sam. And I hadn’t completely decided to take him with me until I saw him limping and holding himself like he had bruised ribs. He’d looked so small and helpless that I couldn’t help but take him.
Returning to Alice and Hannah’s home would be completely different. It would be returning to something familiar and positive, and I actually wanted to be there. I wouldn't be counting the minutes until I could get away again, like some places I’d been. I knew Sam would love to go back, but something prevented me fro
m following through. It had never been my intention to cut them out of my life completely, but it was hard to let them back in.
I sighed and stood again, walking around the maze of trails confidently. One upside to my ability was that I rarely lost track of where I was. I could always find my way back, because I could follow the echoes of my own footsteps. The same thing that kept me from getting lost, kept me from wasting time going over the same areas more than once.
Even with that advantage, I was unable to get through all the trails before dark, and I found myself in the middle of the woods when the last of the daylight faded to black. I lowered myself so I was sitting under a tree, and enjoyed the solitude I currently found myself in. No one was around, and I couldn’t see anything past my hand in front of my face. It was strangely relaxing knowing that nobody could sneak up on me no matter how dark it was. I would always feel them coming.
That being said, it was probably time to get out of the woods. Sam, despite my warning that I’d be home late, would be waiting for me, and I was getting hungry. But I’d found nothing, so I wouldn’t charge for the several wasted hours of my time. My walk back to the sidewalk outside the woods took almost an hour; followed by another fifteen minute walk to the office where I’d left the junky little car I’d been able to afford after helping Joe for a while.
The house and Sam’s school were mostly thanks to the work I’d done for the police back home, when I’d found and stopped Trevor Mason and then Kindred. Alice and Dan had worked the system so I could get the normal fee for consulting along with a reward for ultimately stopping two very dangerous men. I’d also received the gift of the city paying for my hospital bills once all was said and done, so I wouldn’t have to worry about having any huge bills to attempt to pay off.
“I’m home,” I called as I stepped through the door at about ten o’clock. Sam was sitting in the living room with the TV on. “How was your day?”
“Good. School let out early today and I did some studying,” he answered without glancing away from the TV. “I called Alice,” he said, his eyes flickering to meet mine before going back to the show.
I kept my voice even as I answered, “How’s everything there?”
“Fine. They wanna see you whenever you’re up to it. Or at least hear from you directly.” His voice was slightly accusing, but his face showed understanding. “Why don’t you just call?”
My gaze dropped to the floor briefly before meeting his eyes again. “I… I don’t know. If I call them now, I’m going to want to go back. I can’t go back yet, Sammy.” My voice took on a slightly pleading tone that I didn’t like.
“Why?”
The muscle in my jaw twitched as I answered. “I don’t feel safe there anymore. Too many people know what I can do, and a lot of them are criminals. Nobody has tried to hurt either of us since we moved here, Sam. I want to keep it that way.”
FIVE
Sam
As much as I wanted to argue, to say that the people who tried to hurt him were either in prison or dead, I couldn’t. He hadn’t shared many of his worries with me, and I didn’t want him to stop because he thought I’d fight him on it. Though it seemed to me if he wanted to stay out of trouble and safe, he wouldn’t have chosen to be a private eye. He must have read that thought from the look on my face because the next thing he said was, “I can’t sit back and watch others get hurt or lost because I’m afraid to get into trouble. And I’d rather be my own boss than have to follow orders given by people I’ve never been able to trust.”
His emotions were in a whirl, bouncing around from shame, fear, self-doubt, guilt, and determination. Hoping to calm him, I nodded and motioned to the seat next to me for him to join me. “I made some pizza. It’s on the counter if you want some.”
We spent the rest of the evening sitting in front of the TV and eating snacks. “Oh, I forgot to ask,” I said as we were getting ready to go to bed. “Jake asked if I could come over tomorrow to play some video games and go to the park.”
“Jake, which one is he?”
“The tall skinny kid with dark hair. You met him once when you decided to walk me to school.” One of the days following a bad nightmare of when Mason had kidnapped me, I assumed. Those were usually the times when he didn’t want to let me out of his sight.
“Right. If you want to, go ahead. I’ll probably be working anyway,” he said with a yawn. “Do you need a ride?”
I shook my head. “Nah. He said his dad would come and get me around ten if I didn’t call him to tell him otherwise.”
“Okay. Let me know if you need me to pick you up when you’re done. If it’s after dark, no walking home.”
I promised, and then went into my little room, which was still pretty bare of personal possessions besides school supplies. Old habits die hard, I guess. Neither of us had accumulated much due to our former lives as street kids. We were used to all of our belongings fitting into a backpack, so we kept the practice of only keeping things that were important to us. I fell asleep pondering what had been deemed important.
I woke hours later, unsure what had disturbed me. The house was dark and silent, as was normal with me and Jason here, but there was something on the edge of my awareness. Jason. Something was wrong, so I got up to investigate. As I neared his room, which was slightly down the hall from mine, I heard him moving around restlessly. I flipped the switch in the hall so I’d be able to see; hopefully not disturbing Jason more than he already was when I opened the door to his room.
A nightmare. It was the fear that had disturbed my sleep, although from Jason’s tense muscles and gasping breaths it hadn’t disturbed me as much as it should have. Normally when he was afraid, I felt it and understood it immediately. This time I hadn’t figured it out until I saw him. “Jason!” I called, knowing not to touch him to wake him up. He’d come up swinging more than once, and had almost collapsed the house on everybody several times when we still lived with Alice. “Wake up. It’s just a dream,” I kept my voice calm, although I had to wonder at the cause for his nightmare tonight.
We’d both had more than our fair share of nightmares, but he’d been free of them for several weeks. What could have prompted their return tonight?
“Jason!” I raised my voice as his panting and thrashing continued. He sat up suddenly, gasping for breath with tears rolling down his cheeks. I gave him a moment to calm down before asking, “Are you okay?”
He nodded quickly, not assuring me in the slightest. “Fine,” he rasped. “Did I wake you?”
I almost nodded, but he hadn’t been making any noise I could have heard from my bedroom. Not that he’d know that, but I didn’t want to make him think the nightmare had been worse than it was. “I got up for a drink and heard you thrashing around,” I said instead, wanting badly to ask him which monster had starred in his dreams that night, and why.
After rubbing his hands over his face and breathing deeply for a few minutes, he seemed to pull himself together. “Sorry, kid. Not sure where that came from.” His eyes dropped from mine as he spoke, and I could feel the deception. He knew. He just didn’t want to tell me.
He’d been afraid this afternoon. The duration had been brief, but he had been afraid. “Go back to sleep, Sammy. You have plans tomorrow. I’m fine now. Thanks for waking me up.” He smiled warmly at me, and I decided to let it go for the moment.
“Okay. See you in the morning.” With no other choice, I headed back to my room and lay in my bed. Eventually I’d have to tell him. He would be upset, both because I hadn’t told him before, and because I’d always been aware of what he thought he was hiding, but I had to tell him. Falling asleep the second time wasn’t as easy, but apparently I managed, because the next thing I knew Jason was knocking on my door for me to get up and get ready.
“Your ride’ll be here in about half an hour,” he said.
“Weren’t you going to work?” I asked. Normally he would have been gone already.
He grinned sheepishly. “I ove
rslept. But there isn’t an official start time today. I just need to get some information about the case I got yesterday, so I want to go to the police station to see some files, and then wander some trails for a while.”
“If it’s someone who’s missing, have you gone to their house to try for some echoes?”
“Wouldn’t work,” his head was shaking. “Too much time has passed. There could be some little vibrations left, but they would be distorted and indistinguishable. Good idea though, for future reference,” he smiled and patted my head. “Now, get ready. You’re having some fun today. You don’t need to hear about my work.”
Yes I do, I said silently when he left the room. His work was interesting, but dangerous. If something happened to him, I would be alone. He wanted me to have the typical thirteen-year-old’s life, but refused to acknowledge the facts. After everything we’d been through, I wasn’t capable of being a typical teenager. Just as his experiences had changed him, mine had changed me. Sure, I could still have days to hang out with friends, but I wasn’t like them.
“Breakfast.” Jason handed me a microwave breakfast sandwich when I got downstairs.
I accepted. “Thanks. Be careful today, okay? If someone took that kid, they may not want you, or anyone, finding them.”
“I’ll be fine. You just concentrate on having fun with your friends, and I’ll see you tonight. Remember to call if you need a ride.”
He grabbed a light-weight jacket and the sleeve of his T-shirt rode up to show the shiny M scar on his arm. I shivered, remembering the emotions that had pulsed through when Mason had my brother captive. Both his emotions and mine had mingled together so strongly, and I had been sure I wouldn’t see him again. Thankfully he proved me wrong by beating Mason and holding on until Agent Mark Jones found him, for which I would be forever grateful.
Hunter Page 2