The Reachers Collection

Chapter 6

She was a Reacher and she was still alive.

She had lived in S"aven for seven years, sharing a house with a cop, and she was still alive.

Charlie couldn"t understand it. Reachers had to keep running, settling anywhere for long was too dangerous. He learned that from his own tragic experience. You never knew when the patrols would come for you. All it would take was one suspicious neighbour, or somebody with a grudge, and they were carting you off for the good of humanity. It didn"t matter if you were male, female, young or old–the only way to escape was to run. One year, two months, and nine days ago they had come for him, taking his daughter, an innocent child, but still a Reacher in the eyes of the government. As soon as you settled it was too late. But somehow Rachel had stayed in the same city, the same apartment, the same job, and she was still using her powers. He was in awe of her and at the same time overwhelmed with the idea of shaking her and telling her to get out before she was spotted.

He could see her clearly now, bringing in patients with the other doctors, and he realised that was how she had stayed hidden: it was her talent, her Reacher skill. He could turn on taps with his mind and she could make herself seemingly invisible in a room full of people. Somehow she had been there all along and he had just been unable to see her. Only now he knew this. There she was, as vibrant as the blood spatter up the wall. Only now he wasn"t the only one who was looking for her. He thought back to the day his daughter was taken and his whole chest started to hurt; he couldn"t let that happen again.

They needed the job and the money, but Charlie couldn"t give another Reacher up. There was a code, one he lived his life by, about protecting his own kind. But it was more than that. He"d been to the laboratories; he knew what happened to those born with powers, those they called Reachers, psychics, plague-bringers. You could get a big pay-out if you found one. Was that the reason Pinky wanted her? Charlie swallowed. How could he hand her over, risk her being dragged off to spend the rest of her life in an empty white cell, with electrode burns over her body? He couldn"t, but he"d already told Pinky that he had her.

“David Jones!”

He had to tell John. His head was all over the place, but John would be able to think straight. He"d know what to do.

“David Jones!”

It should have been a simple job. Father Darcy had promised them a simple job. Why couldn"t it have been a simple job?

“Last call for David Jones!”

Charlie paused and looked at the doctor shouting his alias. He wasn"t even surprised it was Rachel calling his name. With the way his luck was going he half expected John to be waiting at the door, watching the whole sorry affair unfold.

“Sorry, that"s me,” he said sheepishly.

“Good. You nearly missed your turn there, Mr. Jones. Come on, I don"t bite.”

She led the way through the terrace of closed curtains and muffled cries, until she reached an empty bed, with a disinfected plastic sheet over it.

“Hop yourself up Mr. Jones, I"ll just get the paperwork.”

“Actually I just came in for a prescription,” Charlie started, holding out his bottle like a beggar.

“Well you"re in luck, today we"re giving free examinations with every bottle of pills. I"ll be two seconds, don"t you go away.” She swiped the bottle from him, probably to check his non-existent record.

Charlie scowled to himself. She was a good doctor. Things were going from dire to disastrous.

She returned with a professional, knowing smile. He"d been tracking her for two weeks but this was the first time he had seen her in the flesh. Her photograph had made her look older, but up close he could see the city hadn"t totally robbed her of her youth. And she was sharp too; he could tell that just from her eyes. There would be no chance of getting one over on her and she wouldn"t appreciate him trying.

Charlie realised he was staring. He turned away and tried to decide what he was going to do. If her powers were stronger than his she might be able to read his thoughts, and then there"d be nowhere to hide. He had to think quickly, but his mind went blank.

“So, repeat prescription is it, for the leg?”

“Eh, no, it"s for my back.”

Her pencil tapped against her clipboard. “And what"s happened to your back?”

“It"s an old wound, happened a year ago.” One year, two months, and nine days to be exact, he thought to himself. “Nerve damage.” He didn"t like talking about it, especially to her.

One year, two months, and nine days to be exact“I see, and you"re still getting pain?”

“Yeah.”

“What are we talking here, bad pain, sharp twinges, rolling on the floor in agony?”

“Very bad pain.”

Rachel sat on the bed beside him. He"d never been good at the mind reading side of his powers, sure he could have lifted her into the air back in the day, but he would have no idea what was going on in her head.

“Would you mind if I took a peek, make sure all"s healing well?”

“There"s no point, I just need the prescription.” He tried to squirm away from her. If she wasn"t strong enough to read him from a distance, touching him would probably do the trick.

“If it"s an old wound and it"s still giving you so much trouble that you have to take a daily morphine pill, I need to make sure everything is okay.”

She had his shirt up before he could protest further. Charlie slumped forward, feeling like a child getting ready for his jabs. She had a way about her. It was forceful but at the same time friendly. Her hands hovered over his skin. She wasn"t wearing gloves, probably due to cutbacks, so she was trying to avoid making skin contact.

“A knife wound,” she stated. “Stabbed three times, nasty. Healed up nicely though. You must have had a good surgeon. But I"m thinking, given you"re still on medication, that you didn"t bother with the aftercare.” She pulled his shirt back down and stood with an air of empathy about her.

He sighed. She didn"t suspect he was a Reacher, just another useless junkie after a fix. Relief almost set in and then he realised she was going to have to know the truth – the whole truth. She was a Reacher, he couldn"t just leave her to her fate.

“I take it you didn"t get any counselling?”

“My budget only ran to the surgeon.”

“Well if you"ve got to spend your money you might as well get stitched up first.”

“There"s not much point getting follow up care if I"m dead.”

“Exactly. I"m going to level with you Mr. Jones. You know as well as I do the medication you"re taking is way too strong for an injury like yours. The pain you"re in is likely to be psychosomatic…”

Charlie put up his hands. He had to do something. “A lecture isn"t necessary. Listen I need to talk to you.”

“Okay, if that"s what you want.” Her smile stayed, but her eyes betrayed her unease.

She was going to read him, or press a thought into his head. Then it would be over. He had to act now. He needed money, so much so he was contemplating leaving her in Pinky Morris"s hands, but he couldn"t do it. He"d lost nearly everything in his life–giving away his morality would finish him.

“You need to get out of the city tonight,” he said quickly.

Her smile faltered. “I"m sorry?”

“I know what you are,” he whispered.

She started backing away. Charlie jumped off the bed, meaning to stop her but his leg buckled. He fell into her and was amazed she managed to catch him and help him back to the bed.

“It"s okay,” he assured her. “You"re safe. We"re the same. I"m not going to tell anyone.”

She didn"t believe him and why would she? Reachers were rare and getting rarer. Charlie hadn"t seen another one in years, apart from his daughter. But then her senses got the better of her and she could feel, just like he could, that bond that only exists between their kind. It was like coming home, a warm comfortable sigh in the bottom of your stomach.

“If you"re not going to tell anyone why do I have to leave the city?”

“Because people are looking for you already. You won"t be able to hide here anymore. Not now that they"re looking. I have to go,” Charlie said.

“Wait–you just came here to tell me to leave?”

“Actually I came for my prescription. If you don"t mind.”

Her face tightened and she looked like she was about to argue, to try to convince him that popping pills wasn"t going to solve anything, but the longer they were together the less time she had to get to safety.

“You still want the drugs, even though they"re causing you more harm than good?”

He shrugged, feeling even more pathetic than usual. “I can pay.”

“I shouldn"t give it to you.” Shaking her head she handed him his prescription. Their hands brushed and they both felt the connection surge. Charlie closed his eyes; the familiarity between them was instantaneous, as though their powers were magnetic. The urge to protect her would just get stronger, and she was probably feeling the same for him. He had to push his instincts aside if he was going to make it out of the hospital.

He put his pills in his pocket and dared to glance at her one more time. She was so young, but already the world was taking its toll. He"d warned her, but that would never be enough. Eventually she would stop running and they would catch her. She would die alone; they always did. Taking his crutch he left her at the bed, feeling like a coward.

He found John three streets down from the hospital, eyeballing the car that was trying to reverse park in front of their rented vehicle. If John had the power the driver"s head would have exploded already. Charlie got into the passenger seat and assessed John"s mood. His younger brother was clenching the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were going blue. Charlie sighed, it couldn"t get any worse.

“We"ve got a problem,” Charlie began.

John turned his head, and if his eyes kept darting back at the offending driver, Charlie ignored it.

“She"s a Reacher. I guess that explains why they want her.”

John scowled. “They hired you, why would they want her?”

“I"m not sure.”

John"s fingers rapped against the wheel. “A Reacher … that complicates things. Gives you one hell of a moral issue too. What do you want to do?”

Charlie pursed his lips awkwardly. “I may have told her to get out of the city.”

“I see,” John was using his restrained I"m trying to suppress the urge to kill you voice. “So you made contact with her?”

I"m trying to suppress the urge to kill you“Only after you did, asshole.”

John wasn"t laughing. “And you told her?”

“I was unspecific. I said she was in danger and she had to leave.”

“Okay, so when we meet Pinky in,” he checked his watch, “forty minutes, what are we going to do?”

Charlie folded his arms. “I"ll think of something. Always do, don"t I?”

“We"re not going to get paid, are we?”

“We"ll get paid, I promise.”

“We"re not going to get paid,” John groaned.

“John, listen to me, man, we will get paid. And if we don"t I"ll give you my share.” Charlie winked.

John started the car, grumbling to himself. “First shitty job we do and we don"t even get paid for it.”

Charlie decided to ignore him. He had forty minutes to come up with something. As long as Rachel was moving she would have enough time to get out of the city. He just hoped she was as smart as she looked.