The detective and agent held their hands in front of their faces to protect themselves from flying glass. The men who’d entered aimed their guns toward them, ready to take them out while they were distracted. Thinking quickly, I hid the officers and myself from view. The confusion should buy some time for Sam and the others to get into the safe room.
There was a sudden lull as the men quickly looked around, trying to find us. Before long I felt Sam’s presence in my mind.
“I’m trying to break the hold on their minds,” he informed me.
Irritated, I snapped, “You are not supposed to be using your abilities, child. Do you have a death wish?”
“The opposite, actually,” he responded calmly. “I’m trying to survive, and to help you and my friends survive. I’m making progress. The guards are frozen for the moment. We could probably get out of the house before anyone else shows up.”
“Can you be certain?” I asked. I was intrigued, despite my desire to be angry. As Sam said, the guards were no longer moving. His power was incredible. It did seem he had doubts about going up against the powerful man in charge of the facility, but it seemed they were fairly evenly matched.
“Not completely, but if you can get the others out I should be able to keep the guards busy. We have to go now.”
“Detective, Agent, we should get the others and leave,” I suggested. “Sam is keeping them busy for now, but that can only last a short time.”
The detective’s sister and the older woman appeared at the top of the steps, slowly edging toward them. Sam stood between them, his eyes squinted closed and hands pressed tightly against the side of his head.
“Get him down here, and get into the car,” I ordered.
Detective Farrow and Agent Jones nodded at them, agreeing with my assessment. “Go, we’ll keep watch on the guards. I’ll drive,” Jones commanded.
The women rushed out the door, and I pushed Sam along, allowing the FBI agent to follow behind us. We made it into the vehicle before Sam cried out and slumped against Hannah.
Jones gunned the engine and we took off down the road. Unsure where we could go, the man simply drove around town, giving himself and the detective time to discuss options.
“How’s Sam?” Alice called back.
“Unconscious, but breathing well. His heart rate is really fast. I don’t know what happened,” Hannah answered, her voice verging on panic. Her hands hovered over Sam’s body, unsure what to do to help.
“The person who controls the guards is powerful,” I informed them. “He likely didn’t appreciate the boy’s interference with his plans. Sam doesn’t have the mental protections his brother does, and was ill-prepared for going up against him.”
Despite the lack of mental walls, Oblivion is still one of the most powerful people I have met. With Jason as his brother, it came as little surprise. For someone to be able to knock him down like this… it didn’t bode well for the rest of us.
“We should go somewhere he can rest properly,” Tessa interjected.
“Do you have any suggestions?” Agent Jones asked. “I’m open to anything at this point.”
She nodded slowly. “I own another property in town. It is usually rented out, but has stood empty for the last several months. We can go there. It is fully furnished and comfortable.”
“It has the added bonus of being nearby. Jason won’t have gotten far yet, so we don’t want to leave,” the detective agreed.
Our plan made, the agent set a course for the older woman’s property. Sam remained unconscious, but there was nothing specific keeping him that way. My suspicion was that the unknown Mastermind had sent a bolt of power at him, but that it should wear off with no ill effects. It seemed somewhat similar to a trap I’d laid at a warehouse a couple years ago for Mason. If someone with abilities attempted to find a trail, it sent a burst of power through their mind. It was meant to make it harder for them to concentrate on finding us, and forget anything they’d discovered within the warehouse.
When the trap was sprung, it had been before I cared what happened to Jason. He had been the enemy at the time. Now I wanted nothing more than to keep Jason safe. Right now, the way to do that is to help Sam.
I had failed to protect the Tracker. I could not fail to protect his brother.
TWENTY-FIVE
Sam
My head throbbed in time with my heartbeat. Every breath felt like needles tearing through my lungs. Everything hurt, and I had no idea why.
“Sam, are you okay?”
A woman’s voice broke through the pain and I groaned. Not moving seemed like a great idea.
“Leave him. He will rejoin us shortly.”
Another familiar voice joined the first, but it was followed by wonderful silence.
It was dark by the time I resurfaced, and I looked around the room in confusion. Nothing looked familiar, and I felt the beginnings of panic before the mumble of voices broke through the silence.
When I tried to call out, my voice came out as a tiny squeak. Nothing felt right. Where was Jason? He should have been sitting at my side waiting for me… Jason. The memories rushed back, and I groaned. As I rubbed my hands over my face wearily, the door creaked open.
“You awake?” Hannah asked softly. “How do you feel?”
“Broken.” My voice cracked and I wished I could wake up and everything would be back to normal.
Her breath caught, and she moved slowly into the room and stood near the bed. “You’ll be okay. Jeremiah said it was a warning attack to keep you from finding the Mastermind behind the group who took Jason.”
“I don’t care about the Mastermind,” I informed her bitterly. I sat up and rubbed my watery eyes. “I just…I want my brother back.”
Hannah made a small whimpering sound before sinking down onto the bed beside me and grabbing me into a fierce hug. “We’ll get him back, Sammy. We have you and Jeremiah on our side for this.”
Yeah, and wasn’t that a kicker? Kindred, Trevor Mason’s cousin and former assassin slave, now working with us instead of threatening us. Strange days.
“I still don’t know if we can trust him, Hannah. Not completely, anyway. He does want us to find Jason, but he is hiding something about his motives. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I don’t think he is purely on our side. Just not on the Mastermind’s.”
“I don’t know either,” she admitted. Hannah shook her head and brushed some hair from her face before continuing, “I think we all know to be cautious with him. He seems to have changed his ways, but I still think he’s too willing to kill to solve his problems. I’m afraid of what will happen if he decides we are one of his problems.”
“I assure you, that will not happen,” a soft voice broke in, sounding dismayed. “You are now my allies, and have never harmed me. In the last two years in my guise as Scott Nickels, I have seen how to be a better person. My improvement may not be complete yet, but I am trying. I hope you will allow me to prove it to you.”
I exchanged a glance with Hannah, and replied, “Help us find Jason and try not to kill anyone. Then we’ll see.”
A small genuine smile formed on the man’s scarred face. “Helping is what I’ve been doing. Without me, you wouldn’t have known where to look to begin with. As for killing… I will not kill unless it is absolutely necessary. Self-defense, or the defense of one of you. Is that satisfactory?”
“It beats you killing randomly,” I answered with a shrug.
He chuckled. “I may have killed many people, Oblivion, but they were not random. Although I would not have chosen to kill Trevor’s enemies on my own, they were targets given me by my former master. He didn’t exactly give me a choice in the matter.”
The former assassin fingered his neck where faint scars from his time with Mason could be seen.
Jason had similar scars, and I swallowed hard when I remembered that my brother could have easily become another Kindred.
Jeremiah shook himself out of his reverie, and fixed
his intense gaze on me. “Trust that I will do nothing to hurt your brother. Hurting you would hurt him. I don’t like what you’ve done to him, but I am also aware that it was done without malicious intent.”
“Ya think?” I muttered sarcastically. “Of course I wouldn’t purposefully take away my brother’s memories. At least not everything to do with me and our family. I’d love it if he could forget about some of the horrible things he’s been through, but everything worked together to make Jason who he is now.”
“That is true,” Hannah agreed. “You can’t take away part of him without changing him completely.”
Jeremiah shrugged. “He seems pretty similar to me. Still a good man, and still wants to help others.”
“So the basics are there but lacking the knowledge of how to properly access his powers or know his family and friends,” Hannah added, her head low and shoulders hunched.
Sadness permeated the room, and most of it seeped from Hannah’s defeated form.
I slowly placed my hand on her shoulder. “I’ll fix him, Hannah. He’ll remember all of us soon. But I need to find him first.”
“I think he’s nearby. I can still connect to him, but he won’t let me in. I could push through, but that could cause damage,” Jeremiah told us. “He also could see it as an attack.”
“Yeah, no,” I said with a quick shake of my head. “I’ve done enough damage as it is. Wouldn’t want to make anything permanent.”
Assuming, of course, that what I had done could be reversed.
“So, where are we, anyway?”
“Tessa’s other property,” Hannah explained. “Normally rented out, but there are no tenants for now.”
“Handy.”
“Yeah,” she muttered. She ran a hand through my hair gently. “You feeling better?”
I forced a smile. “Yeah, a bit.”
“Then we need to get downstairs and figure out how we can find Jason while keeping you safe from the Mastermind and his goons.”
Yeah, that would be important. I shivered when I remembered the feeling of helplessness that shook me when the Mastermind so easily pushed me aside. My power was not strong enough to stand up to his, and I got the feeling he felt as if I were only a pesky fly he wanted to swat. Why someone like him would want to capture me, I couldn’t figure out.
We made our way downstairs and found Mark and Alice moving around the kitchen making some sort of pasta dinner. Paul was in the living room, the TV turned on to a news station.
“You watch the news now?” I asked with a grin.
He smiled. “Glad to see you up. And yeah, I like to keep up with what’s happening. I was hoping to see anything about what’s going on in this town, but there’s nothing.”
“There wouldn’t be,” Mark called from the kitchen. “Not yet. Nothing has been noticed at this point.”
“He’s right,” I agreed. “They have the cover of the building being under construction.”
A picture on the news caught my eye. “Shh. There’s a missing girl from this area.”
“It says she’s a runaway. Not sure how that would have anything to do with Jason or the Mastermind,” Paul said after a moment.
“I’m not sure either,” I admitted reluctantly. “It’s just a feeling. Somehow it feels like she’s connected.”
Lena Dunley, a seventeen-year-old girl was considered an ‘at risk teen’ after acting out at home and school, and then disappearing while on her way home a few weeks earlier.
“It only says she’s suspected of running away. She could have been grabbed by someone.”
Paul sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Does it matter? We already have one missing person to find, and for all we know this girl doesn’t want to be found. Remember our own past, Sammy? We wouldn’t have wanted our families to find us.”
My tone sounded dejected, even to me. “True.”
“It’s okay, Sammy. We’re all ready to grasp at straws, but I doubt that girl has anything to do with what’s going on.”
A weak laugh escaped me. “Yeah, I guess that’s probably true.”
“Tessa knows of some places a runaway might hide that could also make decent bolt-holes for a person on the run,” Mark said, entering the living room and sitting on the sofa. “I think we’ll start driving around after we eat some supper.”
“And supper will be ready in a couple minutes,” Alice said with a smile.
Surrounded by my friends, I began to relax enough that the near-migraine headache eased to a mild throbbing. The ache drove me to ask, “Is there any Ibuprofen available? Or anything for a headache?”
“I have some Tylenol in my purse,” Hannah answered. She moved toward the door and poured out two pills. “What do you want to take them with?”
“What do we have available?”
“Water and chocolate milk. Mark had a craving,” the last was said in a stage whisper, her hand cupped near the corner of her mouth.
My lips twitched into a smile. “Yeah, who doesn’t crave chocolate milk? I’ll use some of the milk. It’s always easier for me to swallow these things with something that has some flavor.”
“Don’t get up,” Hannah waved me off as I moved to stand. “I’ll get it for you.”
“Thanks, Hannah. ‘Preciate it,” I slurred. My head suddenly felt too heavy to hold up, and my chin hit my chest. I couldn’t focus. Everyone’s voices blended together.
“Who are you?” a man’s voice thundered through my head.
I was vaguely aware of speaking out loud as I sent back, “I’ll answer if you do.”
“You already call me the Mastermind. Your brother calls me the Puppet Master. I’ll accept either, as both are true.”
My lip curled. He actually sounded like he was enjoying this. “I am Oblivion,” I answered him in disdain. If he wasn’t going to give me a real name, there was no reason for me to give mine.
“You are the Earthshaker’s brother. His true name is Jason, and he does not hide it. Why do you hide yours?”
The man sounded honestly perplexed, like he couldn’t imagine someone not wanting a dangerous man to know their true identity.
“I have no reason to trust you with my name. But you just gave me an opening into your mind. Take a guess why I’m called Oblivion!”
On the last word I pushed my fear and anger into my attacker’s mind and he recoiled. I sat up with a gasp. When had I been moved to my back?
“Sammy! What happened? Are you okay?” Paul asked, his hand hovering over my shoulder and eyes wide open.
“The Mastermind attacked me, but I think he underestimated me.”
“I wouldn’t underestimate him, if I were you,” Alice warned. “You were pale as a ghost and having difficulty breathing. We were about to drag you to the hospital.”
I looked around at all the pale faces surrounding me. “I’m sorry. I know this guy is dangerous, but I don’t think he knows as much as he wants us to believe.”
They all looked confused, but Mark was the one who asked, “What makes you think that?”
“He knows Jason as both ‘the Earthshaker’ and ‘Jason’ and I don’t think Jason could have told him about the Earthshaker nickname. He had to ask my name, and seemed aggravated when I wouldn’t share my true name. I also don’t believe he has a full picture of what our abilities are, or he never would have entered my mind. All that did was give me the ability to… well… mess with him, I guess.”
“What did you do?” Jeremiah asked. He alone seemed unfazed by what was happening, and appeared only mildly curious.
“Sent every ounce of anger and fear I could straight into his mind. He is more powerful than Hunter, but I think it should at least make him more hesitant to face me.”
Jeremiah smiled. “Well done, Oblivion. He will truly learn to fear your name as my cousin’s enemies feared Kindred.”
My eyes widened and I felt goosebumps rise on my arms. To be feared as Kindred had been… it wasn’t something I aspired toward. Neithe
r should it be a thought that made Jeremiah happy. Not if he was truthful in his desire to be a better man.
Schooling my features into a stoic mask, I resolved to watch the former assassin more carefully.
“Yes,” I answered calmly. “I will be feared.”
TWENTY-SIX
Jason
After being chained to a bed for a couple days it felt nice to be able to move around whenever I wanted. To stretch my sore muscles and examine myself in an old mirror I’d found in a corner.
Lena came up behind me as I stared at my reflection, hoping for answers.
“Here.” She handed me a small bundle of fabric, her eyes not quite meeting mine. “These might fit. I grabbed them when I left… Anyway, I think they’ll work for you.”
My new friend retreated to her bed corner and picked up an old paperback novel.
Unfolding the bundle I saw two short-sleeved T-shirts. “Thanks, Lena.”
My gratitude was genuine. I had been wearing the same dirty shirt since waking in our former prison. The muscles around my ribs pulled uncomfortably as I raised my arms to pull the old shirt off. I twisted to throw it into the corner near the mirror, and Lena gasped.
“What?” I asked, pausing with the new shirt in hand.
“Your back,” she pointed. “Look in the mirror, Jason.”
Warily, I turned my back to the mirror and peered over my shoulder. I had realized while at the Puppet Master’s compound that I had scars, but I had no idea how extensive they were.
“Your stomach too, and your arms,” Lena’s voice was horrified, and her face was white as a ghost. She slowly moved toward me, her hand stretched as if she wanted to touch the evidence of my abuse. “What… what happened to you?”
I sank to the floor in dismay, and leaned against the cool concrete wall. “I have no idea.”
Her hand hovered for a moment before she sat next to me and allowed it to rest on my arm. We sat in silence for a few minutes. “I don’t know if I want to remember,” I admitted softly.
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