Justice Keepers Saga - Books 4-6

Chapter 7-1

The residential street that bordered the small patch of woodland behind his school was quiet on a Tuesday afternoon. As he walked, he saw a young girl playing on the front lawn of a red-brick house with large front windows. He caught sight of a kid who must have been nearing the end of middle school walking a dog, but that was it. Nothing out of the ordinary except for him.

Kevin walked along the sidewalk with hands shoved into his pockets, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up to hide his face. Don"t make eye contact, he thought as he passed the house with the little girl.

Don"t make eye contact,She was about seven years old and blonde as blonde could be, dressed in a pair of shorts and a blue t-shirt. “Hello,” she said, waving as he passed. The fact that he refused to answer didn"t seem to bother her.

Kevin grabbed the brim of his hood and pulled it down further, making sure to avoid looking at anyone. They might have put your face on TV, he noted. You keep making slip-ups like that, and someone will recognize you.

They might have put your face on TV,You keep making slip-ups like that, and someone will recognize you.He flexed his fingers.

The device – or creature, or…whatever it was – that had attached itself to his palm was more than just a weapon; thirty-six hours of wearing the thing had been enough to make that clear to him. True, it could be used for destructive purposes, but it was so much more than that.

For one thing, he could sense the precipitation in the air, the electrostatic charge and the relative humidity. The device seemed to grant him a kind of intuitive knowledge of natural systems. Earlier this morning, he had touched a tree – simply touched it – and sensed its roots, its leaves, the sap flowing through it. Whatever this thing was, it had become an extension of his own body. He couldn"t give it up now.

Not far ahead, the road curved slightly, and just past the bend, he found a strip mall with a laundromat and a convenience store. Several cars and one big blue van took up most of the parking spaces.

Kevin shut his eyes, breathing deeply. Food, he thought to himself. You need to eat something before you faint from exhaustion. You can"t keep surviving on just one meal a day.

FoodYou need to eat something before you faint from exhaustion. You can"t keep surviving on just one meal a day.Keeping his hands hidden, he stepped onto the parking lot with his shoulders hunched up. Every trip to a public place left him feeling antsy. A black kid in a hoodie tended to put most people on edge, but if he let them see his face, he might find himself facing down a squad of cops.

Passing through the narrow space between two cars, he found a pair of young men standing beneath the strip mall"s overhanging roof. Kevin froze in place. He knew these guys from school.

Danny Roberts was a tall, lanky boy in ripped jeans and an old black t-shirt. Pale as they come, he wore his dark hair combed forward emo-style and sported a light dusting of stubble on his hollow cheeks. “So she nags me about eating the cookies,” he said. “I was like "I didn"t know they were for home-ec."”

Next to him, Brian Robitaille pressed a fist to his mouth as he shook with laughter. “Dude,” he said, shaking his head. “You ate her damn assignment.” Shorter than Danny, he wore shorts and kept let his red hair fall to his shoulders.

Kevin stepped beneath the overhang.

If he could sneak into the store and get away without these kids noticing him, he might just be able to avoid some unwanted complications-

“Hey, wait!” Danny spoke up. “Harmon?”

Kevin froze.

“What the f**k?”

He spun around to find that Danny had come forward and now stood with his arms spread wide, snarling at him. “You go missing for three days, and you think you"re gonna just pop by and score some smokes?”

“I"m fine,” Kevin said, backing away from the other kids. “I was just…Look, I"ve got…I need to take care of a few things, that"s all. I"ll be fine.”

“The whole damn school is looking for you.”

“I"m sorry.”

With a heavy sigh, Danny let his head hang. “Typical,” he said. “You know my dad always says people like you are god-damn irresponsible.”

“People like me?”

The other boy looked up with an expression that said he meant to do violence. “Yeah, you heard me,” he barked. “Miss Sutherland"s having a breakdown because you f*****g took off.”

Kevin felt heat in his own face. He reached up to grab the hood with both hands and slowly pulled it down. No sense in hiding now. “What I do and where I go is none of your god damn business.”

Danny was hissing, tiny drops of spit flying from his lips. “Yeah, I bet it"s not,” he said, striding forward at a brisk pace, closing the distance in a few seconds. “Someone"s gotta teach you some respect.”

He threw a punch.

Kevin caught the guy"s fist, and then – just like that – he had a flawless, intuitive understanding of the human nervous system. He could almost sense the electrical signals in Danny"s body, trace every nerve ending with his thoughts. It wasn"t hard to set them on fire. Every last one.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Danny threw his head back and screamed. He dropped to his knees, pawing at himself as if his clothes had suddenly burst into flame. God help me. What have I done?

God help me. What have I done?Brian came at him.

Kevin raised a hand, and the air in front of his palm began to ripple, distorting their images as if they stood behind a curtain of falling water. Both boys stopped short. Kevin"s reaction was instantaneous.

The shimmering curtain sped forward and hit the dumbfounded teens, knocking them flat on their asses. Somehow, he knew it was only a fraction of the device"s power. If he had wanted, he could have killed them.

Click.

Click.He turned to find a man in a denim jacket standing by the driver"s side door of the big blue van, holding a revolver in one hand. “Now, that"s enough, son,” he said, pointing the g*n at Kevin. “Drop whatever you"ve got there.”

Kevin shut his eyes, sweat oozing from his pours. “I don"t want to hurt you,” he said, backing up until he was pressed to the window of the convenience store.

“Drop your weapon.”

“Drop yours.”

The man was flushed, his face scrunched up. “I"m not gonna tell you again,” he said, gesturing with the g*n. “Drop your weapon and get on your knees.”

Kevin raised a hand, and the shimmering curtain reappeared. A barrier that would protect him from his enemies. Half a second later, the air was split by a vicious c***k! c***k! c***k!

CRACK! c***k! c***k!Bullets slammed into the rippling energy field, crumpled and dropped uselessly to the ground. Each mangled slug made a soft pinging noise that was distinct to his ears. Through the haze, Kevin saw the blurry image of one very frightened man.

He thrust a hand out.

The energy field sped forward with the momentum of a freight train, slamming into the man and sending him flying backward like a plastic bag in a gale-force wind. He went all the way to the edge of the parking lot before landing on his a*s.

“Help!” someone shouted.

A quick scan of his surroundings revealed Brian Robitaille crawling on his belly with a cell phone pressed to his ear. “Send help! 1409 New Sycamore Drive!” He gasped a few times. “We"ve got a guy with a crazy weapon!”

Kevin turned to run.

Danny slammed into him from behind, wrapping both arms around Kevin"s belly. “Come on, you mother fucker,” he whispered in Kevin"s ear. “You think you can just do that to me?”

The other boy"s weight threw Kevin down on his belly, driving the air from his lungs when his body his the concrete. He struggled and squirmed, trying to force Danny off him. “Let go.”

Kevin still had a free hand. He reached around behind himself, clamping his fingers around Danny"s wrist. That was all it took: flesh to flesh contact with the device between them. He was able to map Danny"s nervous system.

The human brain was a simple thing, really. A little oxytocin to make Danny bond with him, a little adrenaline to drown out the pain and leave the poor boy with an intense desire to do something. Stimulate the fight or flight response.

Danny stood.

When Kevin rolled onto his back, the kid who had wanted to knock him senseless just a few seconds earlier now stared down at him with perfect adulation. It was obvious that Danny was seething with rage, but he would never – not in a million years – direct it toward Kevin.

Danny stalked over to his trembling friend. “Put the phone down!” he shouted at Brian. “Put the f*****g phone down before I bash your skull in!”

Danny squatted down and seized Brian"s shirt. He then delivered a fierce punch to the other boy"s face. Then another. Then another. The sight of it made Kevin nauseous. What had he done? It had been pure instinct: self-preservation fueled by knowledge he had gained with the device. He hadn"t really been thinking about what he was doing. He never wanted this!

anotherthis!I have to get this thing off me.

I have to get this thing off me.Before he could even think, the harsh wail of sirens filled the air and two cop cars pulled into the lot, forming a makeshift barricade. There was no way out now. He could feel the urge to run and – if necessary – to fight for his life. You can"t let the damn thing control you, he thought as he cowered against the window.

You can"t let the damn thing control you,What was he going to do.

Anger flared up inside Anna, but she managed to keep it at a low simmer. Calling her had been something of an afterthought for the officers who had decided that the best way to handle a boy with an alien device was to corner him and point weapons at him. So far as she knew, the police had only been on scene for about five minutes before someone was wise enough to involve the Justice Keepers, but the status report she had been given suggested that they had the boy surrounded but were afraid to close in. Jack would call this a…something. Spanish Standoff?

Through the taxi cab"s windshield, she saw a narrow suburban street with small houses on either side. Everything looked quiet and peaceful on a sunny afternoon. You would never have expected a life or death situation to break out.

The convenience store"s parking lot was just a short ways off on her left, and she could already see two police cruisers blocking the entrance. Four uniformed men were using them as cover, aiming guns over the hood of each vehicle.

“You can stop here,” she muttered. “Let me out by the curb and then get out of here.”

The driver twisted in his seat to glare at her over his shoulder. “The fare is fourteen dollars,” he said with a thick southern accent. “You ain"t going nowhere until you pay for the service, little lady.”