Hindsight

by Jody Klaire

  Praise for The Above and Beyond Series . . .

  For Untrained Eye

  “Jody Klaire manages to mix up a thriller crime drama with a psychic whodunit and an ever so slowly burning romance. Add in humour, great dialogue, brilliant writing and these books are just a joy.” —Velvet Lounger, LRR

  For Blind Trust

  “From snow bound mountain rescues to the gentle rescuing of those locked in their own minds, you’ll be spell bound and on the edge of your seat as Aeron does her thing. Loved this—gobbled it up in a few hours (hours when I should really have been sleeping…)—and can’t wait for more.” — Review, Tales of a Librarian

  For The Empath

  “I’m not giving anything away but, The Empath is a taut tense thriller proving that there is two sides to every story and that everybody has their armour. How this series isn’t in mainstream bookshops I don’t know . . . Bring on book two!”— The Book Lovers Library

  “Jody Klaire’s debut novel is an exhilarating rush, a cross between the best of X Files and Orange is the New Black. Fast-paced, sharp, and very, very smart.”—Marissa Cohen, She Magazine

  “The twists and turns kept things interesting and always moving forward. Even events that you wouldn’t expect to be related to the crime were deftly folded into the plot and given purpose. It all made sense. It was crafted well.” —Carleen Spry, Frivolous Views

  HINDSIGHT

  Jody Klaire

  The Above & Beyond Series

  Book 1: The Empath

  Book 2: Blind Trust

  Book 3: Untrained Eye

  Book 4: Hindsight

  Book 5: Noble Heart

  Book 6: Black Ridge Falls

  Book 7: Full Circle

  © 2016 Jody Klaire

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

  reproduced or transmitted in any means,

  electronic or mechanical, without permission in

  writing from the publisher.

  978-1-943837-28-1 paperback

  978-1-943837-29-8 ebook

  Cover Design

  by

  A Mindancer Book

  a division of

  Bedazzled Ink Publishing, LLC

  Fairfield, California

  http://www.bedazzledink.com

  The lock is the key . . . Escaping your past isn't always easy.

  General Ursula Frei goes missing and the Criminal Investigations Group is thrown into turmoil. Aeron and Renee follow the last eyewitness reports and trace Frei’s footsteps on a journey that takes them deeper through the hardship and heroism of Frei’s old life. But with the Internal Affairs Team digging for answers and the foes from Frei’s former life closing in on them, Aeron and Renee have to use all their skills, faith, and cunning to find her.

  Can they get Frei to safety and keep her past’s secrets hidden? Or will the truth mean she loses the freedom she fought so hard to have all these years?

  Dedicated to:

  Sandra (Sunny, SFH) who helped Aeron find a home.

  For:

  Mum and Em who go above and beyond.

  And,

  For anyone who is that little bit different.

  Acknowledgments

  Whether these people have helped me directly or indirectly while writing this book, my thanks is as big as my smile.

  To you, the reader, who has stuck by Aeron or is meeting her for the first time. I hope that you love this book. Welcome in, enjoy spending time with the girls, and have a slice of cake. I hope you don’t mind her being fashionably late . . .

  Katherine Hetzel, John Taylor, and Debi Alper. Thank you for keeping me smiling, for your friendship and your support, for coming to the launch, visiting, sending socks and sending love. It made a difference when I needed a smile, thank you.

  To Liz McMullen, you always make me smile. Thank you for cheering me on, letting me take part in your projects, letting me be on your show and generally being awesome.

  To Ann and Salem, thank you for being so cool, for caring, for dropping in to say hi and all the support. Ferb sends big slobbery kisses.

  To Cheryl, I hope that this book goes some way to keeping you entertained. I hope it makes you smile and you know how a certain someone made a big difference.

  To Lynn—you definitely rock a cover. I love it. I love what you did with it. It fits, it feels great to look at. Can’t really give you more smiles than that!

  To the wonderful overworked typesetter—Sui, you may not always get the accolades but I notice you. I know how hard you work and it’s a real pleasure knowing you’re a part of the team.

  Ian, Pat, and Eleanor. You make certain I’m fit enough to write and keep me moving, improving. Thank you for all your hard work and your smiles.

  To Dr Dhanjal, thank you for listening, thank you for your patience and for suffering my questions with a smile.

  Team Truth: Paths often merge for a while then split off in their own directions. You are all very talented, very much appreciated and I am very thankful for all the love and friendship you give me. A special thanks to Pam Shaff and Karen Kormelink for the sessions on Baltimore. It’s lovely to hear a city brought to life by someone who knows it so well.

  Brie Burkeman, for your guidance, your patience, your faith in me and my writing. I said it before and I’ll say it again, it made the difference, thank you.

  Debi Alper and Emma Darwin, you are wonderful teachers in such distinctive ways. I’ve learned so much, continue to learn and you both always get me excited to learn more. You help me to get better at something I love. I hope that your hard work shows!

  Dr Hilary Thomas, auf Deutsch: Danke für deine Hilfe mit Deutsch. Du hast viel Geduld, Deutsch macht Spaß mit dir und du lehrst mit einem Lächeln. Ich denke diese ist richtig. Sowieso, vielen Dank! In case that didn’t quite make sense . . . thank you for your help and input on all things German, for having the patience to teach, for making it fun and for doing it all with a smile.

  Claudia, for taking a chance on me, liking Aeron enough to give me a huge smile and for coming up with the fantastic idea of starting a publishing company. PS—Renee said she needs more tips on power-walking, Frei keeps lapping her.

  Casey, for caring enough to talk me through American geography, patiently point out participles, listen to my dumb ideas and do it all sober. I love our Skype “have you got five minutes” sessions.

  To Revd. Sue, Mr B, Fr. Mike, Revd. Jayne, Mr H, Revd. Pauline and all in the CNB parish. It is an honour to know you and a blessing to learn from you.

  Moira Spence, thank you for being a fantastic guide and cherished part of my journey through the meditations. You taught me so much and continue to. Thank you very much to both you and Ian for supporting my writing, reading each book, and being kind with your thoughts on them.

  Sandra “Sunny” (SFH.) Inspiring, much loved, much missed. I hope the fish market makes you smile even if it has moved . . .

  My family, those here and in the next room. Your lives and stories inspire me. I hope that my work makes you smile.

  Em, for trying not to glaze over when I’m talking about writing, again; for loving Aeron enough to read each book and sounding like you enjoy them; for putting up with me and Ferb; loving the gerbs as I do; spending hours and hours in waiting rooms, and for doing all the everyday stuff that you think I don’t notice.

  Mum, for texting me mid-read to tell me you found something funny; for reading at Frei-speed; explaining grammar, walking Ferb, spending hours and hours in waiting rooms all over again; giving the best hugs and for doing all the things mums do without thinking.

  To THS: You watch over me, you love me, you answer every prayer. I hope all my works, my actions, thoughts and the meditations of my heart shine with your light. Thank you
for Aeron, for loving me unconditionally and for every blessing you give me. I hope this book makes you smile and it shines with your love. I believe in you.

  Jody Klaire

  August 2016

  Foreword

  Every book marks points on a journey. I wrote Hindsight at a time that seemed to echo through its pages. Some of it was tough, especially as it was originally due to contain locations that meant so much to a dear friend.

  It was down to that friend that Aeron found her home; that I found Bedazzled Ink, and it was possible that I could share my stories about Aeron with readers.

  A dear friend who had the machine-like energy of Frei, the loving heart of Renee, and the utter coolness of Aeron. In hindsight, (pun intended) I know I am very blessed to have known her; blessed to have called her friend, and blessed that she took the time to mentor and care about a little Welsh woman from across the pond.

  So it’s only right that this book, filled with the strength, loyalty, and joy that friendship inspires, is dedicated to her.

  Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed;

  blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

  John 20:29 [NIV]

  Chapter 1

  LIFE IS A journey.

  Searching for something or someone can reveal to you how much they mean: A treasured item like my violin or a cherished friend; Maybe even your favorite set of sneakers. Some things and folk fill your heart.

  The list of folks I cared about was growing. The cool thing about love is that it keeps building. The more I put it out there, the more I got back. Maybe not in the same way I always wanted but the giving of it felt pretty good.

  I’ve been through a lot in my journey so far; at sixteen I was locked up for a crime I didn’t commit in a mental institution. I was there over a decade. Somebody, who I ain’t even gonna waste time thinking about, targeted young girls and I’d had to prove I was innocent all over again.

  You’d think that would have bought me some peace and quiet, huh?

  I’d been forced to join the Criminal Investigations Group—long story—and during training, I’d taken on a madman in a snowy town in Colorado. On my first assignment, I’d helped my team break out a whole academy of kids from a slave school, and so I figured I was due a vacation.

  I travelled home to Oppidum to see my folks, my half-sisters, and a pesky little critter called Mrs. Squirrel. I was excited to see my dad. Considering all we’d been through together, he was the one person I’d known longest. I didn’t really know my mother. She’d left when I was a kid and disappeared until after I’d proved I weren’t hurting nobody. But, things were easier with her in some ways: Seeing how blissfully happy she made my dad had won me over.

  Not that I was telling her that.

  She cared for my half-sisters and my dad in a way that showed more than her words ever could. Nan’s cabin was filled with music, laughter, and an energy that I thought had been lost with Nan.

  That should have filled me with joy but . . . I felt more distant from them than ever. I retreated to the river more and more and looked up at the twinkling windows. Why did it make me feel so lonely?

  Had my mother felt the same? She’d had to watch on from her role in CIG. She hadn’t been able to contact us. I hadn’t even known she existed. She’d made mistakes, spent years on the outside but she’d done it to help others. How could I argue with that?

  Life’s detours sometimes threw up some treasures of their own. General Ursula Frei, Frankenfrei, or Icy, as Nan liked to call her, was one of those treasures. She was the boss of CIG and, from her spiky blonde hair to her icy blues, she epitomized cool. Seriously cool. She acted all detached but I had nothing but love and respect for her. She was a hero. A role model on how to get your butt out of a pothole in the road and turn it into paving a smooth path for others. The bravest woman I’d ever met. Yeah, cool, brave, heroic, selfless, and an inspiration.

  I could see a lot with my burdens: the past, present, and feelings of folks around me but I hadn’t seen half of the amazing qualities she had. Those burdens were dimmed and some were missing. It was a way to teach me that I couldn’t just go thundering in and helping for no good reason. I couldn’t displace ailments like I had. I could still heal myself though, which I guessed was some kind of a safety clause.

  It was all part of the journey. I knew I had a lot to learn. I was starting to trust in that.

  Each part had helped me find new friends: the folks in Oppidum who’d once been scared of me; I’d found a second family in St. Jude’s—a little cute guy called Zack in particular. He’d sent me letters and drawings. He was doing good in school and he still loved strawberry milkshakes just as much. Then there were the kids from the slave school in Caprock. They were something special. To stand up and fight for your own freedom was one thing but the way they risked everything to save the other students just gave me goosebumps. Even the smallest of them, Jessie—a wiry shortstop with wild brown hair and wide eyes—hadn’t hesitated when we’d asked them to help free the others. I was glad they were safe at the CIG base for now but I kinda did wonder what my mother was going to do with them. Frei and her had some weighty decisions on their hands.

  I weren’t alone neither. I had my guide in Nan. There was nothing like feeling her swoosh in with Tiddles, her new furry feline friend, and say hi. Her card game was still real tense. My grandpa was fighting back. All it did was make her giggle like a love struck teenager and make me beam all over. It was nice to know that they still were head over hind in love.

  The best part of the journey was having someone to walk down the road with. Somebody extra special who had, so far, kept me company even in the hard parts:

  Commander Renee Black.

  Sure, she drove me crazy with her moods sometimes. Yeah, she’d despised me at first sight and confused the molasses out of me but she’d stuck up for me when no one else believed. That was Renee I guess, she’d shut me out, let me in, shut me out again, and let me in a little. There was something about her energy that kept me fixated. Even with her rollercoaster moods, there weren’t nobody else like her. She was my direct commander but she was also the closest person to me. We were still trying to figure out how to work together.

  I told her when we’d arrived in Oppidum that we weren’t agents there. Nope, no protection team. No missions, no yelling, and no protocol.

  We were officially on vacation.

  She’d responded by making it amazing. I hadn’t had so much fun ever. We’d been hiking and exploring and she’d dragged me to every tourist spot she could find. She had laughed and filled up the space around her with light. I’d laughed just with the joy of it. Being around her was healing. She’d not even got tetchy when we’d sunk a row boat together.

  It felt good. Renee understood now that the scenery on my path was different. She had her own share of my burdens. I wasn’t sure why but Nan had told her it was only temporary. It did feel kinda funny having her stare at my aura. I could see why it had taken her some getting used to.

  Renee understood I could see a lot further than the folks around me, even with dimmed blessings, yeah, maybe they were more blessings than burdens? Our life as agents meant that we had to protect people. My job was to stop my team and the Person of Interest, POI, veering off the road.

  Problem was, my mother kept finding nice treacherous tracks to send them down, meaning I had to use every bit of blessing, burden or otherwise, to keep them on track. At least that was the theory.

  It didn’t always work out that way. Sometimes Renee spent more time rescuing me. A valiant hero who jumped and shrieked when Nan breezed on in.

  Even with all these folks I loved about, something rumbled around inside me and I couldn’t figure it out.

  I felt . . . restless, lonely, isolated.

  The problem was, with my ability to see everyone else’s path, my own was starting to feel unsteady. I just hoped someone would be able to stop me if I w
as veering off the road.

  Chapter 2

  THE EVENING WAS hot, sticky, and buzzing with bugs. It didn’t seem to matter how much I asked the suckers to stop chewing on me, they weren’t listening. In fact, they kinda sounded like they were laughing at me as I missed them with my huge mitts and smacked myself.

  I sat alone on the bank of the river, a little way from Nan’s cabin. The hazy shadow of Blackbear mountain stretched high into the sky, the greens deep but with the speckles of gold beginning to signal it was leaf peeping season. Oppidum was a beautiful place. The grumbling of the waterwheel mixed with the hum of life in the forest, the birds nesting down, and the river sloshing through. It had a calmness about it now, a tranquility. Its energy had changed to a gentle, restorative whisper.

  That should have made it real easy to meditate. I’d been trying during the beautiful sunset and when the stars twinkled but . . . I still felt restless. Trying hadn’t turned into doing. I felt fidgety and I was itching from the suckers.

  “Hey.”

  I opened my eyes to see Renee standing with an offering of pop. The stars twinkled above her and I heard that strange faint sound of violin music. Renee always made me hear music.

  “Nan send you out here again, huh?”

  She turned to look at the house and back to me. “How did you get that from hey?”

  “Your necklace is hanging out. You hold it when she gives you the jitters.”

  Renee took a seat beside me, balancing the can on my knee. Her eyes drifted down to her necklace, the Saint Christopher that she wore.

  “Correction, it’s actually your necklace,” she whispered, running the pad of her thumb over it. “And you should be wearing it.”