“I’m sorry, Jase, come on back!” Bree yelled so Jason could hear her over the running water.
He stuck his dishes in the dishwasher and turned around.
Bree patted the chair next to her. “Come on, sit back down. I didn’t mean it. I’m just cranky.”
Jason sat. He pouted, but he sat.
“What else have you heard?” Bree rubbed her shoulders and neck muscles, trying to release the knots.
Jason shrugged. “A few people coming into the cafe seem like they’ve taken some kinda happy juice. Summer said that her neighbor stopped leaving his home. He just sits on his couch with a creepy smile and looks like he’s stoned or something, but she doesn’t think he uses drugs.”
Max finally joined in the conversation. “Any tourists or just locals? The happy people?”
“Locals.”
“Hmm… so some people are getting violent for no reason and others are going the opposite way?” Bree asked.
“Yeah, I guess. I mean, they were decent before, but not all weird like this. Kyle wanted to ask if they found some new strain of weed.” Jason laughed.
“Hardly likely that someone would get a hold of a new type of pot before Kyle.” Bree smirked. “When did you start noticing this change?”
“I don’t know. I guess a few days ago.” Jason shrugged and his legs started bouncing. “What are we doing today?”
Typical Jason. He couldn’t sit still for too long.
“What do you want-”
“Wait a minute.” Bree interrupted Max. “Don’t you think we should try to figure out what the hell’s going on around here?”
“No.” Max made eye contact. “I think we should let it go and stick with the plan to do something fun today.”
“But-”
Max gave Bree a look of warning, then flashed his eyes toward Jase.
“Okay, fine. I’ll drop it. You two decide what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna go shower.” Bree cleared her dishes and headed to the bathroom. Something was wrong. She cold feel it in her gut. And Max was acting weird - like he knew something. Given his former connections high up in the US government - despite the fact that it no longer existed - he probably did know something. She’d always trusted Max, so she decided that if he felt okay to go hang out, then she’d let it go. At least, she’d try.
4
“Shit! I don’t have anywhere to go.” Bree hung sixty feet up on the face of a red rock formation. This climb, one of Jason’s favorites - rated a five point nine in difficulty - shouldn’t be giving her this much trouble, yet she couldn’t see any way to move up. She was clearly out of practice.
“There’s a crevice about three feet up and to your right.” Jason yelled down from the ledge about fifteen feet above, where he and Max waited for her.
She needed to do something. She couldn’t maintain her grip for much longer.
Time to act.
Bree crouched and pushed off with the strength of her legs and launched toward the promised, but unseen, hand hold. Damn, too much power. She slammed into the rock, hitting her forehead. Despite the burst of pain, she got a good grip of rock jutting out from the small crevice with her right hand. Her left foot found purchase, then slipped.
Her feet dangled in the air, she hung on with the fingers of one hand. Sweat and blood dripped into her eye.
She could let go. The rope and harness would keep her from falling too far. But she hated quitting. And quitters. She scrabbled until she stuck her feet to the rock face and found a hold for her left hand.
Phew.
“Nice job.” Max smiled down at her.
“Thanks.” Bree looked up and saw a clear route up to the boys. She loved that part of climbing. One big leap of faith could open a whole new path. Huh, good motto for life too. She’d try to remember that.
Once up to the ledge, Bree gave Max a high five and then chugged some water from her hydration pack.
“Let me see your eye,” Max reached out.
“It’s nothin’. I’m fine.” Bree raised her hand to block his, but he gently pushed past.
“Let me see it.” Max tilted her head to examine the gash above her eye. “We need to clean this out. Maybe put some glue on it.”
Bree sighed. “Fine. If you need to play medic, let’s just get it over with quickly.” She sat down on a large rock. “You just want to justify carrying your fancy custom first-aid kit.”
“It’s better to have and not need, than to need and not have.” Jason and Bree joined Max in chorus. This was his life motto and he spouted it frequently.
Max smirked as he donned a pair of gloves. “Here, lean over like this.” He positioned Bree’s head to flush the cut with sterile water from a syringe. After patting the area dry, he applied a few drops of super glue along the gash and held it closed. “There you go, good as new.”
“Ok. You all done there, medic Max?” Bree tried to stand up.
“Whoa, hang on. Let me put a bandage on this so it doesn’t get infected.”
“I don’t need a damn bandage. You closed it up, that’s good enough.”
“Don’t be such a stubborn ass, Bree.” Jason put his hand out to keep her from moving.
“Oh for God’s sake, it’s just a little cut, I’m not gonna die.”
“Just a small bandaid to keep the sweat and dirt out. Okay?” Max pulled a bandage out from his pack.
Clearly outnumbered, Bree acquiesced.
The second half of the climb went more smoothly than the first part. No more injuries. At the top of the rock formation, they stood in silent wonder, enjoying gorgeous views from their perch.
“I never get tired of this view.”
“Me neither, Jase. It’s awesome. I missed this place.” Bree matched Jason’s hushed tone. Neither of them wanted to disturb the sanctity of the moment. “Thanks for choosing this today.”
“You’re welcome. I thought it might make you feel better.” He smiled and turned around to grab his lunch.
Her kid brother had a way of knowing what people needed. She did feel better. Bree lingered a few moments longer, admiring the view and absorbing the energy of the red rocks, before joining the boys to eat.
She washed a bite of turkey sandwich down with water. “I keep thinking about Ms. Worton.”
“What’re ya thinking?” Jason, again, talked with a mouth full of food.
“It just doesn’t feel right. My gut says there’s more to this than we know. Maybe I should look into it.”
“You might be right, but there’s nothing you can do about it, so let it go. Sometimes that’s the best… the only option. Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.” Max shook his head and looked down at the ground by his feet.
“I can help. Whaddya wanna do? I’m ready to kick some ass.” Jason stood up. Hands fisted by his face, he shuffled his feet and punched the air.
Bree laughed. “Ok, Lennox Lewis, settle down. We’re not gonna kick any ass right now. Not unless you wanna join Ms. Worton and all the others taken by the KG. Besides, Max might be right. It’s probably useless to get involved at all.”
“Oh, come on. We can do it. What if it was mom or dad? You’d do something then.” Jason continued his shadow boxing.
“Your dad and Kali aren’t gonna attack anybody. And I don’t wanna worry about the two of you getting into trouble, so let’s drop it.” Max glared at Bree and Jason then returned to slicing an apple to share.
Bree figured Ms. Worton had been about as likely to attack someone as her dad and step-mom, so that didn’t give her much comfort. She watched her uncle, wishing she knew what the hell had happened to him on his last mission. Something horrible happened - she didn’t know the details, but he’d retired right after that and hadn’t been the same since. The old Max wouldn’t have backed away from a fight or stood by doing nothing when innocents were in trouble.
“Don’t worry. We’re not gonna do anything to draw the KGs. Right, baby bro?” Bree looked at her brother.
&
nbsp; He glared back at her.
“Shit. Sorry.” She’d always think of him as her baby bro, but she understood his need for her to stop calling him that. “I meant right, Jase?”
Jase smiled. “Right. But, I still say you guys are wimps.” He rounded left foot high in the air for a nice chest kick - if there’d been a person there to kick.
They all laughed. Max threw his crumpled up sandwich wrapper at Jason, who caught it with one hand and threw it at Bree. It felt good to laugh and have some fun with family.
Standing at the meat counter waiting for some steaks to cook later, Bree noticed someone approaching out of the corner of her eye. He was coming too fast. “Look out!” She pushed Jase away, barely dodging the big man charging at them.
Jason stumbled, but spun around with his fist in the air, ready to swing.
Like a snake attacking its prey, Max’s hand flew out and caught Jason’s arm before he could throw the punch.
Bree reached for the attacker, but the raging jackass slipped away.
She looked at Max and nodded toward Jase. “Get him out of here.” No way would she let her brother get k-snagged because some crazy shithead had started a fight for no reason.
“Let go of me! I can take care of myself.” Jason tried to break free, but Max had a good hold of him. Knowing that Max would keep her brother safe, Bree focused on the problem at hand. She bounced on the balls of her feet a few times. A tiny part of her wanted to follow her family out of the store and play it safe. She could easily slip out now while the crazy man was busy knocking down a display of canned goods.
Thankfully, most of the customers had cleared the area, but this asshead was still a danger to himself and others.
She needed to stay.
Bree assumed the screaming woman behind her must be the big guy’s wife or girlfriend or sister, but she didn’t dare turn her back on the raging man. A growl emanated from the giant with crazy eyes as he looked up from the pile of cans to see Bree standing in front of him.
“What the fuck?” Bree mumbled, risking a quick glance to the crying woman to her left. “Calm down. Tell me what’s wrong here.”
The woman ignored Bree. “Mateo! Stop it.”
“Okay… uh, Mateo? Settle down. Tell me what’s wrong. Listen, Mateo, we need to calm down or the KGs are gonna come for you. You don’t want to leave…” Bree pointed at the woman.
“Cee Cee. My name is Cee Cee and I’m his wife.”
“Okay, good. Mateo, you don’t want to leave Cee Cee here all by herself, do you?” Bree spoke in a calm but firm tone. She’d had lots of practice dealing with out of control people.
Mateo lunged at her.
Once again, Bree side-stepped the attack. She whirled around, maintaining her defensive crouch. The man stumbled and fell. His massive bulk slid head first into a freezer case. She resisted the instinct to jump on him and cuff him. He wasn’t some scumbag attacking a client under her protection, nor did she want to risk getting k-snagged.
Cee Cee fell to the ground beside her husband.
The giant man rolled over and looked at his wife. “What happened? Did I fall?” His face softened and his eyes no longer glassed over.
Bree allowed some tension to bleed off and returned to a more relaxed stance.
“Honey, are you okay? Why did you attack those people?” Cee Cee looked small sitting next to his sprawled body.
“What do you mean? I didn’t attack anyone.” Mateo rubbed his head and sat up.
“You just charged these people. Oh, God. What were you thinking? I can’t lose you.” Cee Cee swatted his arm. “Don’t you dare leave me.”
Mateo pulled his sobbing wife in close for a hug.
Though no longer an active threat, he had just put a bunch of people at serious risk. Including Jason. The guy owed Bree an explanation. “Excuse me, I hate to interrupt the love fest, but what the hell just happened here?” She looked back and forth between the man and woman.
The big guy stood up and held his hand out to help his wife off the floor.
Bree backed up a step, not ready to trust him completely.
Confused, Mateo rubbed his head again, looking at his wife, but didn’t say a word.
“I don’t know. This is not like him. He’s typically an easy going guy. He’s never done anything like this. I’m so sorry.” Cee Cee wiped at the tears streaming down her face.
Bree raised her brows and stared at Mateo, waiting for his explanation.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I remember feeling really angry for some reason when we came in, but I don’t know why. The next thing I know, I’m on the floor and my head hurts. Did I fall? Did someone push me?”
Bree shook her head and snorted. “Hardly, big guy. You charged us like this was the fucking Super Bowl. Are you saying you don’t remember that?”
Mateo’s eyes got huge and he shook his head.
“Is everything okay here?” Max moved next to her.
Bree looked over her shoulder and let out a huge breath when she didn’t see Jason around. Max must have left him in the Jeep. The knot in her stomach loosened a bit. “I don’t know. Mateo here says he doesn’t remember charging us. Cee Cee, his wife, says this isn’t like her husband. I don’t know what the hell to make of it.”
Other than it seems like the other strange random acts of violence in the area.
She kept that part to herself for now.
5
Bree tended to the steaks on the grill as she mulled over the conversation she’d had with Mateo and Cee Cee before sending them home. She’d told Cee Cee to watch her husband carefully and call Rick Sloan if Mateo got agitated again.
Rick had agreed to put Mateo in one of the holding cells at the police station if necessary, to keep him from hurting anyone and getting k-snagged. Not an ideal solution, but for a quick fix, it’d work.
Bree took a long sip of her beer, draining the bottle. She pulled another bottle from the cooler near the grill. She’d keep drinking until the guilt for dumping the Mateo mess onto Rick disappeared. Or, at least, until she drowned the internal debate about the merits of investigating the strange outbursts of violence versus ignoring it all together.
The setting sun caused the red rocks to glow a deep red-orange, creating a perfect backdrop for grilling duty. A line of shadow moved across the rock face as a small cloud drifted by. The mouthwatering smell of the steaks brought Bree’s attention back to the grill. A quick touch indicated that they were cooked to medium-rare perfection.
“Meat’s on!” She yelled as she put the platter in the middle of the dining room table and plucked an olive out of the big salad bowl. Despite the Mateo fiasco, this hadn’t been a bad day. She’d had fun climbing and looked forward to a quiet night with the boys to shut her brain off and stop thinking.
“That was awesome! Bree, you are the master griller.” Jason sat back and patted his belly.
“You know it.” Bree smiled. “That was a rockin’ salad.” She held her beer up and tilted it toward the guys. “What’s for dessert?”
“Ah, that’s still a secret. How about you go out and relax while we clean up a bit in here. We’ll bring dessert out after we’re done.” Max gathered dishes to take to the kitchen.
Bree nodded. “I like the sound of that.”
After starting the fire, she arranged three chairs around the fire pit and sat down in one. Legs stretched out in front of her, head resting on the back of the chair, Bree inhaled deeply, appreciating the smell of the fire. Mesmerized by the dancing flames, her mind wandered to thoughts of Mateo and Cee Cee.
Damn it.
She sat up and pulled her phone out to call Rick.
“Ok… dessert is presented.” Max appeared with a large tray and lowered it for Bree to see.
“Nice!” Bree practically drooled at the sight of the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate to make s’mores. There was dark chocolate for Max and Jason and white chocolate for her because she was allergic to regular cho
colate. Bree slid her phone back into her pocket. Maybe Max was right. Life out here, away from people, might be a way to forget about all the Instant Karma shit.
Jason interrupted the moment of peace. “What do you think that asshole is doing?”
“Let’s not go there, JJ.” Max grumbled and placed his skewered marshmallow into the fire.
“I can’t stop thinking about him either. And his name is Mateo.” Bree looked back and forth between Max and Jason.
“For the last time, I’m telling you both to drop it. It’s not our business. We just need to focus on staying off the KG’s radar.” Max’s marshmallow caught fire. He pulled the skewer back to blow it out. “You made me burn my stupid marshmallow.”
“I hear ya, but I don’t know if I can ignore it like you. I keep trying, but it’s not working. The more I think about it, the more I feel like there’s something wrong. I mean beyond the obvious shitshow of IK. What if someone or something is fucking with people and causing these bizarre outbursts?” Bree stared at her beer as she talked.
Jason’s eyes lit up. “Cool! Whaddya wanna do? Where can we start?”
Max pinned Bree with a stare. “I. Said. Drop. It. That road will only lead to trouble. Your job now is to protect your family, and that means keeping your nose out of this and laying low. I’m serious, Bree.” His eye twitched. Then again, it might just have been a shadow. Max didn’t twitch.
“Don’t tell me what my fucking job is,” Bree snapped. “Besides, who says that playing freakin’ ostrich with your head in the sand out here in nowheresville is the right way to protect my family?”
Max stared at her.
“I don’t know what the hell happened to you, but I can’t believe you can ignore this.” Bree broke eye contact and shook her head.
“I’m choosing to focus on my family.”
Mind Sync Page 3