DAMAGED - A Bad Boy Romance (39 page)

“Look, dad,” Dion’s father spoke up. “I don’t want much more than the woman I love.” Dion’s mother and father held hands so tight their knuckles were white. “I’m willing to leave if it helps things. There is no reason for me to be around if it’s going to cause trouble.”

“You’ve caused enough trouble already, Marsh,” Dion’s grandfather said to him. “Not only did you marry a woman without my permission, but you married someone who is also an elemental worker. Do you have any idea what that means? Your children will either have no abilities or more power than you can ever dream of. Good lord, Marsh, you have two elemental powers, if she has ones you don’t, your son could become a fifth element worker.”

“I could become one too,” Seth snapped back.

“I’ve told you what I thought about that charlatan,” Dion’s grandfather said. “Think you’re going to become a grandmaster by working with him? There are no shortcuts to the fifth element. Either you are born with the ability to acquire it, or you spend a lifetime trying to acquire it. It can’t be obtained overnight.”

“I’ll go,” Dion’s father said, “I have enough money to start my own company and it will provide a means for us to live. June’s pregnant and I need to provide for the both of us.”

“If you must,” his grandfather told him. He turned to his other son. “But don’t think you’ll get off so easy, Seth. I will keep you on a tight leash. I know what you’re capable of doing and I’ll never turn my back on you. It disgusts me because I was willing to divide my entire business with the both of you. Now I don’t know what will happen.”

“I think we’ve seen enough,” Dion said to Lilly. “I would’ve wanted to visit some other places, but I feel we need to move on.” He looked up into the air. “Okay, Lou, send us back.”

Lilly blinked again and found herself in the room they’d left before the trip to Egypt. She and Dion were still seated in front of the older man with glasses. The same candles were burning and he was extinguishing another cloves cigarette.

“These things are addictive,” he told them. “Did you find out what you wanted to know? You paid for more time than you used. I can give you credit for any future time you need to spend if you return.”

Lou handed Dion another form to sign. “This one is for the attorney general. It says I did not force you to pay for any service you didn’t need and you came in here on your own free will.”

Dion looked at it and signed. “They sure make you go through a lot of paper.”

“Red tape,” Lou grumbled. “It’s getting so bad I spend most of my working day on forms. Maybe they’ll figure out a way to computerize it someday, but I doubt it will improve anything.”

“Have you been busy lately?” Dion asked.

“Not enough traffic coming through here. My best customers are people like you who want to experience and observe incidents outside the time circles, but I do get a lot of customers who physically travel. Not enough that would justify my little operation, but enough to help pay the bills. For instance, that door behind the curtain,” he said and pointed to a section of the wall, “takes you just about anywhere you might want to go, but it’s a one-way trip. You can’t back up, unlike my competition over in the other side of the mall. I have all interesting sorts who come through. Sometimes they pass through the door to the mall; sometimes they take another door to some place else. Depends on what form they have.”

Dion thanked Lou for his help and left the office, the door latching on its own behind them.

“So what did you find out?” Lilly asked him. She scanned the hall for any sign of Karanzen’s men, but didn’t see them anywhere.

“It left me with more questions than answers,” he sighed. “I did see why my parents left their town and went to California. Now I know why we had so little contact with the rest of the family. Father was worried about my uncle finding us. Looks like he had reason to fear.”

“You never knew very much about your uncle?”

“No, they wouldn’t speak much about him. I knew about his other brother, who wasn’t in the room we saw. And Uncle Rich never talks about the family. I understand why, with Seth doing everything he can to gain more power. I was always told you couldn’t acquire the fifth elemental power unless you had the other four. Even those of us who are born to ability need a lifetime to train for the ones we don’t have, so it’s beyond the scope of most people.”

“I’m still unsure about the meaning of the people carrying the torches,” he said to her. “It could be anything, but I’ll have to think about it. I don’t recall asking to be dropped any place which would involve them. They were right behind your namesake, but other than that, I can’t imagine what role they would play.”

“You need to tell me more about this Lilith person,” Lilly said.

“I will when we have the opportunity.”

“Well, if it isn’t our young conjure man,” a voice said behind them.

Dion and Lilly turned to face Detective Jones, the police officer who they’d seen the day before. He was standing there with a pack of playing cards.

Chapter 14

“Good day, detective,” Dion said. “I see you have a pack of cards ready. Is there something you wish to show me?”

“No, I don’t think I have anything which could match your feat yesterday. I was hoping perhaps you could show me a little something?”

“My list of card tricks is very small. The one you saw yesterday was one of the few I know. What I know tends to be physical rather than the mental tricks you perform. I can’t master the mental ones, too hard for me to remember all that information.”

“So what brings you back to the mall?” Lilly asked the detective. “Buying something else for your wife?’

“I wish. Today I’m actually working for a change. I’m here on a fact-finding mission and I think I’ve just located one very interesting fact.” He looked Dion directly in the face.

“Does this concern me somehow?” Dion asked.

“In a way. I found out this morning your uncle owns the mall. Now isn’t that funny? You transfer here from out of town because your parents disappear and move in with your aunt and uncle. No coincidence at all that your other uncle has fronted this entire building project.”

“Have I broken any laws, detective?”

“Not that I know about. It’s not you I’m interested in today. Your Uncle Seth, on the other hand, interests me very much. Him and his entire business empire. I see he’s done quite well for himself over the years. A lot better than most men could have done in similar situations. He took your grandfather’s company public five years ago and now he drops money all over the place.”

“I never even knew I had another uncle until recently.”

Lilly prayed he didn’t reveal how he knew about his uncle. Say the wrong thing and they’d both be carted off to an insane asylum.

“My father didn’t talk much about his family. I knew some cousins and my Uncle Rich, but just recently learned about the man that you are interested in today. I think you might know more about him than I do.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jones snapped. “All the money this guy has and his own brother don’t even acknowledge him?”

“All I know is that my father and he had a falling out and they never spoke again. By the way, detective, how do you know so much about my family?”

“You can find out a lot when you know other police departments. You can find out more if you have friends down at the FBI headquarters in Washington. You can find out a whole lot if there is an active investigation ongoing, which concerns someone who’s made an appearance in your little burg. A whole lot of people are interested in your uncle and how he accumulated so much money in a short amount of time. There are many questions being asked right now and my FBI friends want me to find out some things for them which won’t involve a search warrant.”

“So this is where Dion fits into the picture?” Lilly asked. “Why would he know anything?”

“I don’t know. I would like to find out how much he knows. Anything I can learn from him will be helpful. And it will save me the trouble of digging it out of public records. You can find a lot in public records, but it takes a long time to sort through them looking for what you want. It’s a real pain if you have to do it on your own time and don’t receive any overtime for the job. But sometimes it pays off if you find a rat and get to take him down. I may not be a cat, but I know a rodent nest when I see one.”

“Maybe we need to sit down and talk,” Dion said to the officer. “I see a table by that store with three chairs. If you spring for ice cream, we can have a conversation.”

“I can spare that much out of my pocket,” Jones said and they all headed to the table.

After Jones had ordered three sundaes, Dion began to talk. He told the detective about his parents’ kidnapping and how he was forced to move in with his aunt and uncle on the other side of the country. He talked about what he knew in regards to his Uncle Seth, which wasn’t much. He mentioned how his father and uncle had been rivals for his mother’s heart. He told the detective after they were married; his father started a business and had as little to do with his family as possible. All of which was true, but Dion neglected to tell him about element manipulation or how he’d used a mystical travel agency to jump around time to gain this information. He neglected to tell him about the meeting with his uncle outside the time circles.

“I know most of what you just told me,” Jones grumbled. “I didn’t know the exact connections, but you confirmed most of them to me. Now I suppose you want to know what I have.”

Dion nodded.

“Your uncle took over his father’s adhesives company before the old man passed on. The first thing he did when he had control of the company was to go around and invest in similar companies. Once he gained some control in them, he’d use his influence to have his company buy up all their stock and merge. How he managed to do this with all the anti-trust laws on the books still fascinates me. I think he either paid some people off or worked it in such a way that all the buy-outs happened under the radar.

It didn’t matter, because soon enough he had enough cash to start buying up more companies and make investments. He went into real estate in a big way and over-extended himself plenty of times. Somehow, he’s managed to keep his funds moving around to different shell companies in different states. I think it will all catch up with him and we think he’s crossed a line of sorts.”

“What do you mean?” Lilly asked him.

“He’s cooked up some deal which involved diamonds stolen out of a vault in Chicago. I don’t know the particulars, but there was a huge heist from a secure vault last year where many expensive rocks were lifted. We keep hearing his name mentioned in connection with the robbery. I don’t think he had anything directly to do with it, but he might have financed the operation.”

“Wouldn’t that be under someone else’s territory?” Dion asked. “I mean, why would the local police be involved in a crime on that scale? I thought the FBI was involved if it crossed state lines.”

Jones leaned back in his chair and gave a look of admiration at two college-aged girls who walked past him. He turned back to Dion and Lilly. “You are a smart kid. How is it that you know so much about criminal activity and law enforcement at your age? Thinking on becoming a cop someday?”

“It has crossed my mind once or twice.”

“Keep this in mind,” Jones told him. “The bad guys shoot back and they have better guns. But to return to what you asked, yes it would normally be a case for the FBI. As I said, they are looking into it at the top level, but sometimes they tap people like me where a local eye is needed. I had some people I know in Washington who needed a favor or two call me. We had a long talk and they told me the mall was attracting all kinds of attention because they suspected he was using it to get rid of money he’s not supposed to have. Happens all the time. You would be surprised how many dud records and lousy movies are the result of people dropping cash because they don’t want their accountant to ask questions.”

All three were silent at the table for a good minute. Each of them had more to tell, but were afraid of revealing too much information before they got what they wanted.

Dion couldn’t tell Detective Jones about the travels outside the time circles to Ancient Egypt and he suspected Jones knew a lot more about his uncle’s activities than he wanted to say. The only person who had little in the way of knowledge to contribute was Lilly. She had seen too much to just get up and walk away.

“So what do you want from me?” Dion asked him. “I barely know my uncle and we’ve only spoken one time.” Dion neglected to mention the one time was a few hours ago.

“Let me know if you find out anything that I can use,” Jones said. “I’ll watch out for you. I know you are still trying to find your parents and I might be able to find out some information you can’t. As I said, I know people in Washington. Kidnapping is a federal crime and it falls under the FBI’s jurisdiction, so they will have an open file on it. I’ll see what I can find out if you see what you can find out.”

“I’ll do what I can,” he told Jones. “You do the same.”

“Deal.” Jones turned to Lilly. “No need to tell your parents I said hello again. They’ll wonder why you’ve ran into me two days in a row down at the mall.”

He got up and walked away.

They saw him leave through the nearest exit doors.

“Does he change anything?” Lilly asked.

“Not in the least bit. All it means is that there is one more person to keep in mind. I don’t know if he’ll be of any use to me at all. Your detective friend doesn’t seem to realize my parents are imprisoned here.” Dion starred at the table in thought for a few seconds. “We need to go fetch Emily and Sean. They should be waking up soon.”

It was a short walk to the furniture store and the manager was on duty. As Dion and Lilly walked into the store, he signaled to them and they followed him to the back room. The store didn’t have very many patrons in that day and they passed into the section marked “Employees Only” without much notice.

“Been sleeping sound all day,” the manager told them while he opened the door. “I’ve checked in on them from time to time and they’re fine.”

Both were still asleep when they looked in. The manager didn’t turn on the light to the second back room where the display waterbed was kept. Emily was curled up to Sean and sleeping in peace. Sean had his arm around her and was in the land of Hypnos too.

“Both of you need to wake,” Dion said to them as he stood by Sean. “Time to go home.”

Sean opened his eyes a bit at a time and looked up. He seemed oblivious to where he was and rose up with a backstretch. Emily did the same and turned to look at Sean with confusion. She kicked her feet over the side of the bed, put her shoes on and checked to make sure her clothes were still in place.

“What am I doing here?” both of them said at the same time.

“Do you recall anything that had to do with the cheerleaders?” Dion asked them.

“The last thing I remember was facing down with them in the mall,” Sean told him. “I thought they had some nerve to try and corner us out there.”

“What about you?” Dion said to Emily who appeared to be a little bit groggy.

“It’s the last thing I remember too. We were standing there and they appeared, acting like they owned the place. What happened?”

“Elemental power,” he said. “They had a lot of it and tried to use what they had to get to me through both of you. Don’t worry, I’ve been granted mastery over the air element, so they will be of no further trouble.”

Dion turned again to Sean. “We need to talk later.”

Sean nodded in return.

“I hate to kick you out,” said the manager, “but I do need this room for customers. I’ve had to tell several people today where’re fixing a leak to get them to come back.”

“We’ll be out of here soon enough,” Dion said.

They walked Sean and Emily out into the parking lot with care. At one point Dion thought, he might have to hold onto Sean, as he still seemed to be in a daze. Emily was fully awake by now and kept her eyes ahead as if she tried to remember something. It was better she didn’t.

Once outside the mall and onto the walkway, which snaked down the parking lot, Dion sat everyone down and rested. The outside temperature had dropped, which worried him a bit as this was never a good sign in the spring. Dion looked up in the sky to see if there were any traces of the air elemental sylphs the miniature helicopter scared from the mall, but he couldn’t see them.

“When did you cut a deal with the elemental?” Dion demanded to know from Sean. “And don’t lie to me; I know she promised you a lot if you stole the map from me.”

Sean looked to the ground. Lilly thought he was about to cry.

Sean wanted to, but not in front of Emily. He’s laid there awake with her curled up to him waiting for them to return in the back room of the furniture company. If only he could repeat that hour over and over for the rest of his life, he’d know true peace. When he woke up he had a brief memory of what happened and how the cheerleader elemental had used him to get the map. He knew retribution was on the way, but he could deal with anything if Emily loved him. Although she was asleep, he didn’t care. Maybe someday she’d realize what he’d done and how it was all for her.

“You’ve got everything, Dion,” he snapped. “Both of these girls are crazy about you. Half of the girls in the school swoon when you walk by. I can’t even have one girlfriend. Do you know how many of them I’ve asked to the prom? Three, and I’m not going to ask another one. So, yes, I was pulled out by the hot cheerleader. I’m sorry that I don’t have your good looks and ability to work miracles, but it seemed the only way I’d ever have a girl show interest in me.”

Dion looked at him and tried his best not to feel pity. He’d just confessed to betrayal and for the most idiotic of reasons. Gifted? This ability was a gift? It was a gift to lose your parents and have to rescue them? He was talented because the very things he could do would have him branded a witch in the Middle Ages? All the poor fool had to do was learn how to dress right and be personable and he could live a normal life. Okay, his family might be a mess, but he wasn’t the only one out there with issues. Dion wanted to give him a lecture, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“I’ll let it go this time,” he told Sean. “No human alive can stand up to the combined power of twelve elementals of their class. We need to talk some more later.”