Catalyst (Dogs of War Book 4)

by J. M. Madden

  He nodded, though he doubted he would even be in a position to try it. If they were lucky Haven had gone outside and hunkered down in the cold, waiting for a pickup.

  “Keep your phone handy,” Wulfe told him. Noah nodded and they slipped out the front doors.

  For a second he paused to listen, but he’d already done that here, and he hadn’t heard anything. If he were honest, he had not the slightest idea which direction to even charge. Holding his hand up he pressed the series of buttons for the remote start on his SUV, parked in the lot across the street. Normally he parked in the parking garage beneath the building, but something had made him park here two days ago. He’d experienced too much weird shit in his life to write it off as just coincidence.

  They climbed into the SUV and Noah pulled from the lot. Rather than flooring it, he rolled down the windows to let in the cold night air and just idled down the street. He made concentric turns around the Elton Recovery Building, using every side street and alley, eventually going further and further away. Cars honked behind them occasionally, because Arlington drivers didn’t put up with any shit. They had a destination and they would do their damnedest to get there in the shortest amount of time as possible. Noah knew he was probably causing people to have heart palpitations, and if he concentrated he could hear what they were saying behind him, but he turned them off.

  Raine scanned the area, looking every direction she could. Which was good because if Haven had stopped in an alley or something and curled up, possibly comatose, there might not be any sound. Glancing at her, he realized she was damn near hanging out the window. Cranking the heat, he turned all of the vents her direction. It was probably above freezing right this moment, but not by much.

  Then he heard it. The aberration in the night. It was a man’s voice, strident and angry. “What is this you just put in my hand? It’s not cash. You owe me twenty-two fifty.”

  Noah couldn’t hear the passenger’s response, but some gut instinct prodded him that it might be Haven. The man had left with the clothes on his back, period. Noah sincerely doubted he had any physical cash. The company took care of everything.

  “I think I might have something,” he told Raine, turning toward the sound of the altercation. Horns blared behind him, making his ear drums pound but he didn’t care. If he didn’t get there quick the trail would be cold.

  Raine didn’t say a word as he sped through the night. Noah was glad that the traffic they did encounter was sparse, because it gave him a chance to narrow in. A voice responded to the driver, but it was too soft. Damn it.

  Scanning the streets, he looked for any cabs pulled over on the streets. He doubted Haven had happened upon an Uber or Lyft. When he’d left the building, he would have looked for the markings of something identifiable.

  “What the fuck,” a different voice cried. “Help me, help me put it out!”

  Following a hunch, Noah turned in that direction, which was just beyond where he’d heard the cabbie bitching.

  “Stop,” Raine cried, jumping out of the truck before he’d stopped completely. She took off running into an alley.

  “Damn it,” Noah cursed, jerking the vehicle into a narrow spot on the street. Then he was bolting after her. What the hell was she thinking?

  He found her talking to a group of men in the alley. One of the men looked like he’d just been startled, or something. His eyes were wide in his grimy face, and he stood in only a dirty flannel and T-shirt. He was looking around frantically.

  Noah stopped beside Raine. She glanced up at him, her eyes grim. “They just saw him. He thought his coat was on fire so he threw it off, and someone stole it. The guy took off in that direction,” she said, pointing toward the other end of the alley. Noah knew she was also directing him where to listen.

  He paused and filtered everything out of the night, and he heard it. Running footsteps. They weren’t going very fast though, like the runner was tired. Haven had to be wearing out. He sat in his room every day, barely moving. Where was he getting the energy to flee?

  A crescendo of sound reached his ears and he picked up the pace. The train was coming, the metallic screams of the wheels on the tracks making him grit his teeth with pain, though it gave him a very clear direction. There was a building up ahead that had to be the station.

  Noah entered East Falls Church station panting, slipping on a patch of ice. He listened for the running footsteps, but he didn’t hear anything. Scanning the people milling through, he looked for a guy with a dirty stolen coat…that he hadn’t gotten a description of.

  Fuck.

  Raine stopped beside him, panting. Her bright eyes gleamed with excitement. “It’s a dark blue trench coat, the guy said. He thought he started it on fire with his cigarette, so he ripped it off. There was no heat from the fire, though,” she gasped, grinning as she looked around. Her cheeks were bright pink with the cold and exertion.

  Noah motioned for her to head in one direction and he went in another. As early in the morning as it was, there weren’t a lot of people, but it was beginning to get busier. Arlington had a huge population that commuted to work across the Potomac in Washington. That commute took time, so there were some early riders, enough to make seeing one man a little difficult. Even narrowing it down to men in trench coats wasn’t much of a help. Most of the men on the platform, and some of the women, were wearing trench coats to protect from the frosty morning. Noah growled in frustration. There’s no way he could have missed him.

  But, like the man reacting to the fire, there was a very real possibility that Haven was presenting himself as something other than what he was.

  The train arrived and Noah had to bury his fingers in his ear canals it was so screaming loud. He kept his eyes trained on the people moving, though. When the doors slid open, he debated whether or not to get on. Had Haven come to the platform just to distract them? He glanced at Raine and he could see the indecision in her eyes as well. She made a motion toward the train as if asking him if she should get on, but he shook his head. There was no sense in them separating. She gave him a single nod and planted her hands on her hips as she looked around.

  The doors of the train closed and Noah finally spotted him. Haven looked exhausted and Noah could see regret in his face as he finally met his gaze. Haven lifted a hand in a small wave as the train left the station and they lost him.

  When Noah reached her Raine had a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide as she watched Haven pull away. It was obvious she hadn’t seen him either, so he had been cloaked somehow. On the one hand, Noah was extremely impressed Haven had literally walked through the crowd unnoticed. On the other hand, it pissed him off that he hadn’t been able to see through his disguise.

  Raine stopped in front of him. “Well, at least we know where he is going. Or at least what direction.”

  Noah nodded, turning away from the track. “Let’s go.”

  Raine hurried to keep up with Noah’s long strides. “I didn’t see anything,” she said firmly, “and it wasn’t like the platform was crowded. We should have been able to see him.”

  “I know,” Noah growled.

  Even though they were in a rush Noah took a moment to help her into the passenger side of the truck. Raine fastened her seatbelt, aware that they had a drive ahead of them to get across the river. She glanced at Noah as he settled behind the wheel. He looked angry and frustrated; his golden eyes narrowed as he thought about options.

  “We need to follow him,” he said simply, glancing at her.

  “I agree completely,” she said. “I’m actually amazed he’s made it this far. And I didn’t realize how physically able he had become. Paul said he’d been eating the past couple days, but I guess the information just didn’t make sense to me till now. He’s been getting ready for this.”

  Noah gave her a thoughtful look. “Seems like it.”

  They pulled into the early morning traffic and Raine pulled Maps up on her phone. “I have no idea where he’s going, but we can at leas
t map out the direction of the train and stops. We’ll just have to hit them all until we find him again.”

  “I know where the next stop is, why don’t you call Elizabeth see if there’s any reason why Haven would be headed toward DC.”

  Raine dialed Elizabeth, who answered on the first ring. Obviously, she’d been waiting. “What’s going on?”

  Rain reported what happened and Haven’s current description. “Is there a reason why he would be heading for DC?”

  There was murmuring on the other in the line and Raine assumed Elizabeth was talking to Wulfe.

  “Wulfe wonders if Cameron Hall was in DC for a meeting or something. We don’t even know if Haven knows that Cameron Hall was involved with the testing in the jungles. I don’t know if any of us actually mentioned his name in Haven’s presence. That’s a bit of a leap.”

  “Not really,” Raine said. “Haven has been surprising us for the past few months. Why would tonight be any different?”

  “True” Elizabeth said with a sigh. “I’ll have Wulfe check into Hall’s whereabouts and I’ll let you know.”

  “Yes, please do that.”

  “It might be a little while because I don’t know that any government offices are open yet.”

  “That’s fine. We’re heading in that direction, though.”

  She hung up and looked at Noah. “Let’s go, buddy.”

  It took them 20 minutes to get on 66 and to the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge. Traffic wasn’t bad but it was building, most of the population of Arlington commuting to DC to work. Raine was amazed at the sheer number of cars that were on the roads in the area. She hated driving anywhere, so her job as one of the live-in RNs at the Elton Building was ideal. Granted, Tennessee had its own congestion problems, but nothing like the bumper-to-bumper here. It was like rats in a tunnel…

  They stopped at the Farragut West station. Noah went to the platform and just waited, listening. She could tell when he returned to the truck that he hadn’t heard anything identifiable. Same with the next station, and the next. Raine could see the frustration building in his glowering expression, and she didn’t know how to help him. “Should we just go to the senate office buildings and find Hall’s office? Are we wasting time checking the stations?”

  His broad hands clenched on the wheel, making the leather crack. “I don’t know.”

  Pinching the bridge of his nose with his hand, he took a moment to just breathe, and Raine had a realization. Noah didn’t get out of the Elton Building much either. It was probably a barrage on his senses as traffic and people began to crowd around him. “Do you need me to drive for a while? I totally can.”

  He shook his head, running a hand over his close-cropped black hair. “No, I’m good.”

  They pulled out of the lot and continued into the heart of DC. When Raine’s phone rang she answered it quickly. “Yes, ma’am?”

  “Okay, lots of info. You ready? Where are you?”

  “We’re just getting into downtown DC. I think we’re near the National Mall. I keep seeing signs.”

  “So, Aiden has been going through all of the train cams he can find and he says a guy matching Haven’s description got off on the Capitol South platform. Aiden then picked him up on some of the traffic cameras.”

  Raine shook her head, wondering at Aiden’s computer ability. And Haven had been a prisoner long enough that he may not be aware of some of the advances in technology.

  “DC PD just had a report of a metro bus crashing into a store and people scattering. They responded to find people on the streets that had seen the bus disappear in front of their eyes. No one was hurt but people are asking questions. Kevin Rose is on his way to try to calm things down, but he’s not sure what he can do, exactly.”

  "I guess if you wanted to get someone's attention that could be a good way to do it," Raine murmured. “Or maybe he was almost run down by a bus and manifested.”

  “Hm. Not sure. Since then there have been a couple of other strange reports. Aiden found him on the cameras sitting on one of the benches within eyesight of the locations of the calls.”

  Raine looked at her watch, counting. “He’s working fast. We can't be any more than 40 minutes behind the bugger.”

  She glanced at Noah and he nodded his head in agreement. “Where was the last unusual report?”

  Raine repeated the question to Elizabeth. She gave them an address less than a mile away and Raine punched it into the GPS. Noah must've had a better idea because he was already heading in one direction. They arrived at the scene to find two Metro cops talking to a man, a bicycle parked beside him. They didn't see anything strange around the man and nothing damaged. Noah rolled down his window and pulled over. Raine gave him a minute to listen to the conversation the Metro cops were having with the bicyclist. Just when she was about to ask him what he heard he turned to her.

  “The guy swears up-and-down that he swerved to avoid hitting a zebra.”

  Raine gaped, a giggle escaping her. “Seriously?”

  “Says it charged right for him. He crashed to the ground and scraped up his knees but when he got up it was gone.”

  Raine looked around the area. Haven had to be close. There was no way he could expend this much energy and not be knocked on his ass. Or maybe he had deceived them all, acting like he was more exhausted than he actually was when he manifested. Raine thought back to all the times she had seen Haven react in a protective manner. All of the times he had created specters out of nothing. Had she read his physical state incorrectly all those times? Granted, she hadn't been a nurse very long, but the situation was making her second-guess herself.

  Since the truck was stopped, she stepped out onto the sidewalk, looking around. The cop noticed her but didn't say anything. Bundling her coat around her, Raine slowly turned. In the distance she could see the Washington Monument towering above everything. There were benches parked all along the sidewalks, a few of them occupied, though it was still pretty early. She looked at those people closely, because Haven had to be exhausted. She excluded the few joggers that she noticed, then realize that she couldn't do that. If he had fooled her on the train platform so easily, there was no limit to what he could be disguised as now.

  Out of the corner of her eye, something wavered in her vision, but when she looked more closely, she only saw trees. Deliberately she turned away and could see it again. She glanced at the truck. “Noah,” she said softly, hoping he heard her whisper. His head turned and he looked at her. “I’m seeing something beyond my right shoulder. Do you see anything?”

  Without turning his head Noah’s eyes flicked in that direction. A heavy frown settled on his face and he nodded slightly.

  “I’m going to walk kind of in that direction,” she whispered.

  He nodded again and deliberately turned his head in the opposite direction, but she knew for a fact he would be listening to her every footstep. Heading kind of toward the direction she’d seen the weird haze, she pretended like she was looking at the scenery around her. She’d gotten within about fifty feet of the whatever it was and it disappeared. The next time she looked the ephemeral thing was completely gone. She jogged to the point where she’d thought she’d seen it and looked around. There was not another person within a hundred feet of her. Whatever, or whoever, it was had disappeared.

  “Damn it,” she breathed. Still glancing around she turned and went back to the truck. Noah still had his head turned to the side, but she could tell he wasn’t hearing anything either. “What do we do?”

  He shook his head, resting his forearms over the steering wheel. “We know he has to be the one causing the crazy calls. A zebra? Really? You know for a fact it has to be a specter that Haven created.”

  “I agree, but why? Certainly not for protection. It’s like he’s trying to get someone’s attention. If this Senator Hall is actually one of the guys responsible for their torture, why would he be looking for him? Wouldn’t he be worried about being caught or kidnapped or something? The
y could take him again.”

  Noah looked at her for a long minute. “I just don’t even know.”

  They drove around the National Mall for an hour with their windows open to the frigid air so that Noah could hear any disturbances, but there were no more. Raine looked at every homeless person on the streets, hoping and praying that she would see something familiar, but she didn’t. She’d never been to DC but she couldn’t take enjoyment in the scenery they were traveling through. There were no more calls from Elizabeth so Raine wondered if Haven had maxed himself out and had retreated, deciding to hunker down and hide.

  “This is ridiculous,” Noah murmured. “He’s gone to ground somewhere.”

  Raine nodded. “That’s what I was just thinking too. He has to be tired. When he did that huge manifestation over Christmas it took him a solid week to feel better and recover his energy.”

  Noah rolled the windows up, turned the SUV away from the center of town and eventually pulled into the parking lot of a big box store. Shoving the vehicle into park he unfastened his seatbelt and leaned back against the seat. Raine knew that being out like that, actively listening, had to be so draining. He’d replaced the ear buds into his ears, but she knew for a fact they didn’t block out everything. Noah had told her that himself. She couldn’t imagine the pain of the constant bombardment. “Are you okay, Noah?”

  He nodded his head without looking at her. “I’m kind of like Haven, in that I haven’t had to deal with this stuff for a long time. Being catered to inside the building spoils you,” he said, opening his eyes and giving her a slight smile.

  “Isn’t that the truth,” she laughed. “I can’t even remember the last time I drove my car, and I think the last time I got out of the building was when you drove me out to gather decorations for the Holiday room.”

  “Yeah, I think that was one of my last times I was out, as well.”

  He glanced at her, and something morphed between them. The tension changed, somehow, becoming heavier and deeper. “We’ve both been busy.”