Justice Keepers Saga - Books 4-6

Chapter 3-2

“Do you know where Kevin is? Yes or no?”

The officer crossed his arms and spun to face the corridor wall. He let out a growl of frustration. “There"s a skate park on Emerson Street,” he said at last. “Kevin and his friends like to hang out there.”

“Thank you.”

The bowl of vegetable soup that sat upon a red tablecloth, sending waves of steam into the air, looked positively delicious, but Anna had no desire to consume even a single spoonful of it. Her stomach was tied in knots by worry and frustration, and it had killed her appetite. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Seth scolded her.

Across from her, Bradley sat in an ornate chair, looking positively dapper in a dark button-up shirt with short sleeves. His jaw was lined with dark stubble, and his black hair was gelled into spikes.

She paused for a moment, scanning the periphery for something to talk about that would take her mind off this latest case. Their small table was located at the edge of a patio with a wooden railing, and to her right, she saw a four-lane road with cars rushing in both directions under a starry sky. What kind of a name was US-41? It was like the town had never gotten around to naming this street.

Bradley shut his eyes, breathing deeply through his nose. “You"re not even going to finish your soup?” he asked, sliding closer to the table. “I know you like to play Super-Girl, but I"m pretty sure you need sustenance.”

Anna felt her lips curl, thin strands of hair framing her face. She tossed her head to send one flying back over her ear. “I"m just not very hungry. But thank you for coming all the way down here to see me!”

“And if I point out that I paid for the meal?”

She took a spoonful of soup and popped it in her mouth, savouring the taste. They used a little too much spice in her opinion, but it was still good. That seemed to appease him for the moment.

Bradley sat forward, leaning in close to smile at her. “So, you gonna tell me what you"re doing all the way down here in Tennessee? Or do I have to guess.”

Dabbing her mouth with a napkin, Anna closed her eyes. “Sorry. You know how it goes,” she said, scooching closer. “I"m down here on Keeper business. I can"t be any more specific than that.”

“It"s all right.”

Anna slouched in her chair with a grunt, looking up at the sky. “No it"s not,” she muttered. “I know it"s hard, me keeping you in the dark, but trust me, I want to tell you.”

His grin was infectious, and he bowed his head to stare into his lap. “We"re good,” he said with a curt nod. “I get it. This is the price of admission for dating Secret Agent Girl. So, are you coming home tonight?”

“No. I need to stay here and get an early start tomorrow.” A thought occurred to her, one that filled her with mischievous glee. “You could stay with me. We could have crazy hotel sex.”

Pressing a fist to his mouth, Bradley cleared his throat. The slight flush in his face only made her want to press the point. He was just so damn cute when he was dying of embarrassment. “I love how you"re not afraid to say it out loud.”

Anna rolled her eyes at the starry sky. “No point in hiding it,” she muttered with a touch of exasperation. “Seriously. Take me up on this. Otherwise I"m gonna have to convince the waiter to have crazy hotel s*x, and I am not willing to do any more work today.”

“Well…So long as it prevents you from doing work.”

It was the Anna Lenai guarantee; stick with her long enough, and she"d eventually say something that left you flustered and embarrassed in a public setting. Perhaps she should have been sorry, but she liked her candor, and she suspected that Bradley liked it too. Right then, the only thing she felt was exhaustion and a desire to take her mind off the wretched day she had experienced.

Trees rose up like shadows all around him, black against the darkness of a clear night with a crescent moon in the starry sky. The soft chirping of crickets should have been soothing, but every noise seemed to put him on edge.

Kevin sat with his knees drawn up against his chest, his back pressed to a tall tree in the small patch of woodland behind his school. He"d been on the move all day, unable to stay still. On some level he couldn"t fully understand, he knew that if anybody found him, they would take it away from him. He couldn"t let that happen; so he turned off his phone and kept moving.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Kevin thumped the back of his head against the tree trunk. “This is nuts,” he whispered to himself. “You can"t be on the run forever. Sooner or later, you gotta eat.”

He"d stopped at a sandwich shop for five minutes to grab some supper and use the restroom. The whole time, he had been afraid that someone would notice the ball in his jacket pocket. No one had paid him any mind, thank god, but that didn"t stop him from getting the hell out of there as soon as he could. He could keep this up for a few days, but eventually he would run out of money.

He held the ball in the palm of his hand, marveling at the warmth. This thing was alive; he could feel it. It hadn"t done anything out of the ordinary since that brief flash of light when he first held it, but somehow he knew it was special. Ancient and powerful. Most importantly, it was his.

his.The ball unfolded, becoming a flat sheet again and then conforming to the shape of his hand. Kevin felt the soft prickle of a million tiny barbs digging into his skin, setting his nerve endings ablaze with new sensations.

It was like a second layer of skin.

Breathing deeply through his gaping mouth, Kevin closed his eyes. “No…” he said, scraping a fist across his forehead. “What the hell are you? What are you doing to me?”

The…thing – whatever it was – made its presence known to him. It was like a new limb that he could control as easily as he could move his arms and legs. The knowledge of what to do was there in his mind.

Kevin thrust his hand out.

The air before his open palm began to ripple and shimmer like heat rising up from black pavement on a hot July day. Then it sped forward and hit a tree with enough force to c***k the trunk and send the whole thing toppling over.

The noise it kicked up was awful. Anyone within half a mile would have heard that as surely as they would have heard a lightning strike. He had to leave! If they found him, they would try to take it from him.

Kevin got up and ran.