A Broken Jewel (Jade Book 1)

by Lucy Rains

  When Kyson released me I let out a shaky breath and staggered towards the front porch. My heart was pounding in my ears and my tongue was thick. I needed to regain my focus, pull my energy together.

  I heard the garage door closing. Kyson walked in front of me and opened the front door. The other guys ran across the front sidewalk and bounded up the porch.

  “10 minutes,” Pierce ordered. “Make it count.

  Chapter 37 Jade

  Tension radiated through the air. My entire body felt it, all the way into my bones. The guys were shouting to each other, ignoring me as I plowed up the stairs and into my room. I threw off my swim clothes, pulled on jeans and a black v-neck tshirt. With barely any time to mentally prepare my packing list, I grabbed the first three shirts I could find, a jacket, under wear, and my purse, shoving them all into the sports bag that had come with me when the guys had abducted me.

  I looked around my closet, my room, for short term planning there wasn’t much else I needed to take with me. Going into the bathroom, I threw in a few toiletry essentials like a toothbrush, toothpaste, face wash and hair ties. I rummaged around in my closet for another minute, grabbing some sweats and sneakers.

  After I looked around my room a few more times, I closed my door behind me and went downstairs. I realized that while I had been packing, I had not heard any of the guys come up the stairs to their rooms. They weren’t packing suitcases, or grabbing tooth brushes. They had spent all of their time in the office, packing up electronics, cords and paperwork. As well as their essential weaponry. My eyes watched them fly around the room, zipping up cases and backpacks. Speaking quickly and directing each other to what they needed to remember.

  Suddenly Pierce stumbled in his steps, pausing, eyes closing. Everyone froze in place, stopping to stare at him.

  “Shit!” Alex hissed.

  Pierce came out of it quickly, shaking his head like a dog, “Out the back door!’

  My arm was being pulled, Kyson led the way, down the hall, through the kitchen, out the back door and into the yard. We raced through the grass, my bag swinging awkwardly on my shoulder. My dead weeds had never been cleaned up, still laying in piles next to flower beds.

  “Over the fence!” Pierce directed, putting his arms through his backpack straps and securing the bag on his back.

  My feet faltered as I stepped up to the fence. Going over it would put us onto a street that led deeper into the neighborhood. I didn’t understand how this would help us get out of our situation.

  I watched Kyson scale the six foot wooden fence in a single jump. When I reached out to grab ahold and lift myself over, strong hands gripped my hips. Gavin practically tossed me over and Kyson caught me on the other side. The other three guys landed beside me a second later.

  Before anyone could say anything, our eyes widened to hear tires screeching in the distance. My head turned towards the house, car doors slammed. Male voices. My breath caught in my throat and I looked to Pierce.

  “Jog!” Pierce urged. “Don’t sprint.”

  It was a Sunday afternoon and we looked oddly out of place. Five adults jogging in a group down a sidewalk with backpacks.

  “We need to slow down, and split up,” I suggested. We passed an elderly man out mowing his lawn. The opposite side of the street had toddlers rolling large plastic cars around their driveway, their mother nearby in a camping chair. They all stopped to look at us.

  “We are drawing attention,” I said quietly.

  Thankfully the guys listened to me and stopped jogging.

  “Alex and I will walk up front. Gavin and Kyson you guys trail behind with Jade.”

  “Where are we heading to?” I asked. “Does this road take us out of the neighborhood?”

  “No,” Pierce answered, and then left me behind with Alex.

  Gavin, Kyson and I walked, watching Pierce and Alex closely. Letting them get up ahead of us and then resuming our pace.

  “Where are we going?” I whispered again, urgently.

  “Just walk,” Kyson said.

  Shutting my mouth and holding in my reservations, I walked. My eyes darted everywhere. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn’t help it, I looked over my shoulder every 20 seconds, preparing for a black SUV to come around a corner or maybe someone dressed in black chasing after us. They would find us. Follow us. Walking instead of running was painful to my anxiety, like nails on a chalkboard screeching in my mind.

  “Stop it,” Gavin snapped. “You look guilty.”

  I wanted to snap back at him, but he was right.

  We kept walking around the neighborhood for several more minutes, winding deeper into the houses. Anytime a car came up behind us my steps would stutter and my shoulders locked in anticipation of a dart in my back. Trying to keep focused, I stared at Pierce’s back, letting him pull me forward like an invisible tether.

  When we turned down a cul de sac that deadended, I began to doubt Pierces plan.

  “What are we going to do now?” My tone raising in pitch.

  I looked to Kyson, then Gavin, expecting answers. But their faces remained forward, their eyes set on something in front of us. When I turned to see what they were looking at, my steps slowed.

  At the very end of the road was a large house currently under construction. The property was taped off, the main walls erected and sheetrocked, doors and windows still had their warranty stickers on. Debri and building material scattered the property. The house was set on a nice large lot, with no close neighbors and wild trees met the west and south side of the property. This was where we were going.

  My feet picked up pace again, now that I knew our destination and Gavin grabbed my hand to slow me back down. Frowning, I tried wrenching myself out of his grip but he held firm.

  Pierce and Alex reached the house, walking straight through the front door, leaving it open behind them. We followed in a minute later, stepping over the plastic perimeter roping, avoiding nails and wood chunks. Once in the house, the smell of fresh lumber filled my senses. No flooring or inside walls had been installed yet, the interior was still raw and bare bones. Pierce and Alex had ducked into a side room angled right off of the front foyer. They stared out the front window, their eyes narrowed like hawks for the kill.

  “Do you think anyone saw us come in here?” Alex asked.

  “I didn’t sense any outside presence,” Pierce answered. “Someone would have had to be watching out their front window to see us. If this doesn’t work, we head out through the back and into the trees. At least we can run out there. And they can’t follow in vehicles. We would be able to outrun them easily.”

  Gavin leaned against the wall, also looking outside. Kyson kneeled to the ground and dug through his backpack. I paced. My fists clenching and releasing, over and over. I tried taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart. I hated holding still, feeling the need to keep moving, keep running.

  Kyson closed up his bag and said he was going to keep eye out back. I followed him, then paced back to the front. This allowed me to walk between him and the others, giving me more space to walk and stay within their reach.

  After a few minutes when I had finally gotten myself calmed to a lower level of stable thinking Alex spoke. “There.”

  I turned quickly, facing the window. The black sedan was turning slowly up the road and heading towards the house. My feet wouldn’t move, so Pierce yanked me backwards against a wall, to get me out of direct line of sight from the window, and we slid to the ground, Gavin and Alex doing the same.

  We all held our breath as we heard the gravel crunch beneath the tires, then the sharp screech of the brakes. My eyes flew to Alex’s, he shook his head. Car doors clicked open and footsteps tapped lightly on the sidewalk. There were low male voices murmuring softly to each other.

  Rapid images flitted around my mind. Bullets. Glass. Blood.

  “Pierce,” I whispered, pleading.

  A few more seconds ticked by, my lungs beginning to ache from the stressed breathes I w
as taking.

  The footsteps came closer. “Unit 7 at Downey Woods courtt.” A robotic male voice spoke. Radio Static. “Looking into a possible lead, Standby.”

  “Gavin,” Pierce muttered, low.

  My eyes flicked to Gavin as he slowly stood up against the wall. Cold sweat pricked my forehead as I watched him. I shook my head, Pierce pulled me tighter against him.

  Gavin glanced at me, held my gaze and then went back out the window. The footsteps were right outside the window now, coming up the sidewalk. In two seconds they would be opening the front door.

  No more death, I pleaded mentally. With all the blood and violence I had witnessed over the past two weeks, I should be immune. Killing just a couple more name less people shouldn’t bother me. But a sick feeling tightened my stomach at the thought of taking more lives.

  Gavin’s eyes narrowed and his head tilted slightly, he was staring at the men. He had only stood halfway up, bent at the waist. His fingers lightly touched the ground. He blinked, lowering back down. The footsteps began moving again, this time away from the house.

  I continued holding my breath until I heard the car doors slam and the car drive away. Air left me in a rush, my head falling back on the wall.

  Kyson walked into the room, sawdust billowing around his grey running shoes. “That was close.”

  Gavin looked to Kyson and then back to Pierce, pulling himself all the way up. “Hopefully the persuasion holds and they don’t come back.” He folded his arms, pushing his muscles out from his body, leaning back against the wall. His mouth pinched together in a tight frown.

  Pierce dropped his arms and I came to a stand as well, ready to move out. “Now what?”

  “We wait till dark,” Pierce said.

  I spun to look at him. “Dark? But,” I looked to the other guys, weren’t they going to protest too? “I’m starving. And thirsty. What are we going to do all that time? The sun won’t go down for several hours, and even then it won’t be dark.”

  “Alex grabbed a few snacks,” Pierce nodded towards Alex who was now unzipping his bag, “and water. We wait till dark.”

  Glaring at Pierce, I begrudgingly thanked Alex for the protein bar, water bottle, and went to find a corner to sit in.

  Alex and Kyson followed me. We rounded the corner into the back room that had a large rounded out window seat installed. I sat down on one side and they also sat, leaning back against the window. Saw dust stuck to the bottom hem of my pants and I tried flicking it off.

  I looked at them, as we all chewed on stiff protein bars, and noticed they had not shaved in a couple days. Stubble lined their jaws, Kyson had much more, growing down onto his neck.

  I could hear Gavin and Pierce talking in low tones in the front room, keeping watch out the front window.

  My mind drifted to our house, knowing it was being searched, probably ripped apart. Thoughts of strangers in my room, my room, turned my stomach sour. I didn’t realize until that moment I had claimed sentimental ownership of my short lived bedroom.

  “So, those guys,” I moved food around in my mouth as I spoke, “Jason and the agency, they’re probably going through your office. Computers.”

  Alex leaned his head back and tilted it up towards the ceiling. “Good thing our hard drives are encrypted with a virus to detonate when someone tries unlocking our computer.” He turned his head to look at me.

  “You had time to do that in the 5 minutes we were packing up?” I asked. “As well as grab snacks?” I lifted my half eaten bar as an example.

  “We’ve been planning this a long time. Don’t you think we would be prepared?”

  “And the house? What will happen to it?”

  Kyson sat up off the window, pulling the wrapper off the last bite of his chocolate Cliff bar, “We’ve paid up for the next 6 months. By that time, someone will notice the house is vacant and do something. Utilities will shut off by tomorrow night.”

  I raised an eyebrow. They had been prepared.

  “What happens tonight, after the lab?”

  “We’re going to track down Vera’s office,” Alex answered. “I was getting close before we went swimming this morning. Had just gotten into her bank accounts. We need to make sure we destroy as much information as we can in her possession.”

  I thought about his answer, thinking about my mother. Invading her lab, and then office. A flicker of realization hit me, “You realize we’re probably going to run into her tonight.” I looked between both of them, “At one of those places. I mean, if she’s not going home, where else would she be if not at one of those places?”

  “I hope so,” Kyson said in dark tone I didn’t recognize from him. “That serum is nasty stuff.” He rubbed at his arm in irritation, where the needle had hit him earlier.

  Footsteps sound softly behind me. “Will you be ready?” Gavin had walked into the room and leaned on the door frame. His face blank, yet his emotions curious.

  I looked at him for a second, letting my eyes lose focus as I thought about his question. Would I be? The nightmare images flickered into my head, her white lab coat, her flat voice. Her lifeless eyes the last time I had seen her. Her apathetic concern for me. The bloody lab coat in that laundry hamper. Her lies.

  My eyes refocused on to Gavin and I copied Kyson’s words. “I hope so.”

  Gavin didn’t say anything, didn’t nod. I turned back to Kyson and Alex, taking a drink from my water bottle. “Do you guys have cash? Sure can’t use credit cards, and I’m sure Jason is watching all of your accounts.”

  Alex smiled and looked at his feet, brushing off saw dust from his pants. “We have money.”

  I waited for more information but he didn’t say anything, I looked to Kyson, “What does that mean?”

  He let out a sigh and shot Alex a look. “We have cash. Lots of it. We’ve been withdrawing it at a steady pace for the past 6 months. We knew we couldn’t just withdraw thousands of dollars in a week, it would set off red flags to anyone watching our account, and we’re not dumb enough to hope it would escape Jason’s notice. We’ve also been transferring money into offshore accounts in the Caymans for over a year.”

  “We also have credit cards opened under our new names, with identification to match.” Alex smiled.

  Both my eyebrows raised and I couldn’t help being impressed. “So where are we going?” It was a question I was surprised I hadn’t thought to ask till now. But the last few days events hadn’t left much time for wandering thoughts.

  “We won’t settle in one place for a while,” Kyson answered. “We’ll fly to South America first, hole up in a village for a few weeks. Somewhere remote in Argentina.”

  “Then we’ll fly to Switzerland,” Alex continued. “We have a cabin picked out in the Alps. We’ll hang there for another few weeks and then head to Aruba and try to settle down there.”

  I glanced back to Gavin, who still stood in the doorway, remembering his own personal preference for mountains and a farm.

  “Is that set in stone?” I asked, turning back to Alex and Kyson. “Or is there room for discussion on our final place we settle in?”

  “Jade.” Gavin said my name in a tone that meant to stop me from saying anything else. I ignored him.

  “It’s just a question,” I said innocently.

  Alex glanced at Gavin and then to me. “We have a house picked out but,” he looked at Gavin again, “Nothing’s in stone.”

  I nodded and chewed on the inside of my cheek. “What about your schooling?” I asked both of them, and thinking of Pierce. “What about your degrees you’ve been working towards? You’re leaving that all behind.”

  Kyson shrugged and smiled. “Going to school was more of a gesture to Jason and his superiors that we were living a normal life, with the intention of behaving and settling down into society. We knew we wouldn’t be here for long. Especially once we had you.”

  My cheeks warmed at the knowledge that they had been planning for me, waiting for me. While I, on the other hand,
had been waiting for puberty and living with a emotionally vacant mother.

  Alex rolled his wrapper up in his hand, “We earned enough money, to live off the grid for many years. Wherever we end up, we can look into small jobs, be drivers, bartend, or who knows, maybe open a jet ski rental.”

  “I could always help in a medical lab too,” Kyson said. “My ability gives me an edge. And if we’re in a low income area, they wouldn't be too strict on credentials and paperwork.”

  “How much money did you guys make with the Agency?” I asked, trying to add up how many tens of thousands the guys must have to be able to afford all of our temp homes.

  “They paid well,” Gavin said from behind me, “anywhere between 5 to 15,000 a job.”

  “For each of us,” Alex added.

  “And if we all have one, sometimes two jobs a week, 4 to 6 jobs a month,” Kyson shrugged, “for four years. It adds up.”

  “And then Alex and I were working on the side, so there’s that money too.”

  I understood now. Money was not an issue.

  “So we disappear? Just get on a plane and head south?”

  “No,” Alex shook his head, “They’ll be expecting that. We have a car waiting for us at the north side of D.C. After we’re done tonight we’ll drive north to Pittsburgh. On the way, we plane to purchase bus tickets, plane tickets, and rental cars all under our current identities, wirelessly, as a way to throw off the agency. Keep them busy for a while.”

  I nodded. My eyes began to drop and my body sagged into the wall I leaned on. I looked out the window and blinked, watching the trees sway in the wind at the end of the lot. Dark clouds were in the distance, threatening to come our way.

  Alex got up and left the window seat, going over to talk to Gavin. I curled my body up and leaned into the corner, using my sports bag to soften the wood.

  Kyson leaned into the opposite corner of me, and motioned for me to come over to him. I glanced at his open arms, his thick body, and knew he wanted me to sleep on him. My shoulders sagged and I gave in to the request. Settling into him and letting my eyes drift closed.