Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) (30 page)

‘
D-damn,’ Jessica shuddered, ‘your sister is a
bitch.’

Chris
moved from her side and reappeared with some sort of cloth. He
pressed it hard down on her wound and she moaned in
pain.

‘
We have to get her out of here,’ Anna cried.

Chris
looked at me, his eyes hooded, his demeanour helpless. The damage
was too much.

‘
Is there any way?’ I begged, but he shook his head.

No.

It took
Anna awhile to understand, but once she did, she refused to believe
it.

‘
Anna,’ Jessica gasped, ‘hey, listen to me. It’s
okay.’

‘
No,’ Anna replied.

‘
Hey, listen to me okay? This is fine, look at me, this is
f-f-fine.’

Another
fit of blood filled coughs racked Jessica’s body, and her hand
grabbed Anna’s.

‘
If I was to ever go out, this would be the way,’ she
continued.

‘
We need to do something….’ I whispered, but Jessica pursed her
lips and shook her head.

‘
No, I’m done tough guy,’ she said. ‘It’s my time, it needs to
be.’

I moved
my head to both sides in confusion, and she smiled.

‘
I can be with Penny now,’ Jessica gasped. ‘I can’t be a part
of this world anymore. Not the person I am. I’ve had my run, and
it’s time to go.’

‘
I don’t want you go,’ Anna said and squeezed her hand. Tears
streaked her cheeks.

‘
You have no idea how much you’ve already helped me, Anna, all
of you,’ Jessica whispered. ‘You set me back on the right path, I
was meant to help you. Now I need your help again, okay? I need one
thing.’

‘
Anything,’ Anna promised.

‘
Bury me beside my daughter,’ she replied and broke down, her
body wracked with pain and sobs. ‘Please?’

‘
Count on it,’ I replied.

Jessica
smiled and tried to suck in air. Her features crinkled with every
breath, and her pale skin was almost paper white.

‘
Don’t blame yourself for this one tough guy,’ Jessica said.
‘My death is not your fault. Y-y-you guys are-are the best things
that’s happened to me in a l-long time.’

I
couldn’t help but laugh and retort, ‘What’s with all the
sentimental bullshit. You make it sound like you’re
dying.’

A great,
genuine smile wrapped around her face.

‘
You tell anyone I said that, and I’ll-I’ll kill you,’ she
laughed.

Her body
convulsed, and her eyes widened.

‘
L-l-look after A-alex, look after……’

Jessica
Reed’s final breath slid from her body, and her eyes glazed over.
Her head tilted to the side, and the cold-hearted assassin we had
come to love, the woman whose true core wasn’t made of ice,
died.

I didn’t
try to stop the tears, neither did Anna.

‘
Guys,’ Chris whispered, ‘we need to leave. We don’t have a lot
of time.’

I nodded
wide-eyed.

‘
How?’ I asked. ‘I don’t know a way out.’

‘
There’s an emergency exit the way we came from,’ Anna said. ‘I
have no idea what’s happening out front, but if all attention’s
there, we could slip out.’

‘
Then let’s move,’ Chris said gently.

Anna
wrapped an arm around me and pulled until I was back on my feet.
Chris remained in his crouch as he found the best way to lift
Jessica’s body. As we got going we passed the table that had
previously been occupied by the blades my sister and I fought with.
The little vial was still there, and as we passed I lifted and
pocketed it. Why? I wasn’t sure, but with my powers gone, part of
me wanted it.

Then we
left the place that had claimed innumerable lives.

The Aftermath

Thankfully, we hadn’t met any resistance as we took the fire
exit out. The alleyway we had walked into was vacated, with bundles
of leftover possessions from whoever had been bunking there, left
by their owners, who had probably vanished when the gunfight out
front began. It took us awhile to get back. I was a wheezing mess,
and Chris carried Jessica’s lifeless corpse. I tried to listen as
Chris explained how he and Anna had escaped confinement.

‘
When all hell broke loose, thanks to you,’ he huffed as he
stopped and shifted Jessica, ‘the guards at our rooms thinned. They
wanted us alive, to try and trade us for Alex, or to force Brian’s
hand. I pretended to choke and collapse on the food they’d given
us, and the guard panicked, he rushed in and I blindsided
him.’

Anna
listened intently. She had been held elsewhere, and had been found
by Chris afterwards.

‘
I didn’t know Hazel had locked up your father,’ Chris
continued. ‘I have no idea how he got out.’

We
stumbled and made slow progress, but we got back to the hotel, and
as the elevator had rode up, I blacked out.

When I
finally woke, I was lying in the bedroom Anna and I slept in. The
room was empty, and it took a few minutes before my eyesight
focused. The sky outside was orange, sunrise in effect. Every
single part of my body ached in varying degrees. My head pounded,
my face stung, and the rest of my body chimed in periodically, as
if a painful composer was at work. Someone must have patched me up
though. My hand had been cleaned and bandaged, and there was a
strip of something that cradled my nose.

I
groaned as I moved to stand, dutifully ignoring the mirrors in the
room as I made my way to the door. I already felt like one massive
walking bruise, I didn’t need sight to reinforce it for me. I
grasped the door handle and pulled. As I walked into the War Room,
it was as if we had never been a part of a war. Anna sat with Alex,
a bottle to his lips. She had changed, and thankfully, there wasn’t
any sign she had been abused while in my sister’s care. Chris on
the other hand, limped. He paced behind Brian, who sat typing, with
a cup of steaming coffee at his side.

The all
looked round as I stumbled in. Anna smiled and let out a
breath.

‘
Thank god,’ she sighed. ‘Brian told us that you lost your
abilities, and you were beaten up good.’

‘
Good’s an understatement,’ I grimaced and moved to sit next to
her.

‘
How is it possible that you lost them?’ Chris asked. ‘I mean
the hell we were put through for them, and they’re
gone?’

I shook
my head, I didn’t have any answers.

‘
I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘Jessica thought maybe I’d just
tired them out. You know, dying, my heart restarting, having to
heal. Plus I was trapped underground for almost a week without
oxygen. So I don’t have a clue.’

‘
You’re alive,’ Anna said. ‘That’s all that matters. And you
all came through for Chris and me; even Jess.’

We
slipped into silence.

‘
You guys would never have been in danger if I hadn’t run off,’
I sighed. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘
You damn well should be,’ Brian snapped, but he never turned
to look at me.

‘
Enough, Brian!’ Anna bit back. ‘Just focus on what you’re
doing would you?’

He
pulled his lips back and kept whatever had been brewing locked
down. Chris stared at him, eyes narrowed. Not in an angry way, more
analytical, as if he was contemplating Brian’s new
attitude.

‘
I think we need to stop pinning the blame on each other,’
Chris said, his eyes never leaving Brian. ‘There is no one here to
blame for the situation we were thrown into, and each of us make
choices that won’t always be the right one. At the end of the day,
we’re here together. We help each other, no matter what’s thrown at
us.’

I leaned
back against the couch as Anna lifted Alex. The little guy had
fallen asleep, and after being changed – the process itself
difficult, but hilarious as an almost comatose Alex remained asleep
– Anna stood and gently lay him in his crib. No one spoke for a
while as Brian’s fingers smacked keys. I stood and shuffled over to
the kitchen.

‘
What is Brian doing?’ I asked Chris, deliberately keeping the
question away from its subject.

‘
Building a blackmail file,’ Chris replied, ‘your father’s
notes and the experiment videos, along with our
message.’

‘
What’s our message?’ I said as I stirred the instant coffee
I’d made.

‘
Come after us, and we release this,’ Chris stated, ‘try to
pick up where Richard Bishop and his group left off, and we’ll
release this.’

I nodded
and blew on the scalding liquid in my hand. After I’d finished, I
set myself the task of showering. Anna offered her help, but I
needed a minute alone. Emotions I hadn’t expected brewed in my
stomach, and the surprise caught me off guard. Once I’d stripped
and stepped into the water as it cascaded, I sunk to the floor, and
tears took over.

I cried
and my hand cradled my chest. I was distraught. It wasn’t only
Jessica’s death; it was my sister’s, my father’s. Both had been
despicable human beings, more than likely more monster than
anything, but they had been my family. I’d spent twenty years with
my father. He may have been neglectful, disinterested even, but
he’d been a huge part of my life, and he was gone. All of the
events of the past few months were a confused jumble. I always knew
my father’s motivations were mainly to complete his work, but the
fact he was adamant it was for me, was mind-bendingly
painful.

Was he
lying? Was it the words of a man whose plans had been scrapped, or
the honest words of a man who had everything he planned come to
fruition? What did it matter, he was dead, and the answers had died
with him.

But I
couldn’t help question. What about my abused sister? Whose entire
life had been dark, had been twisted and broken until she believed
the same things her abusers did. Who had raised her that
way?

Was
there more behind the curtain?

I
clenched my teeth as my tears continued to fall, and my questions
only multiplied.

*

I slept
the rest of that day and night, and only came back to reality
midday. Brian had completed his blackmail file. He had also made
several copies. The next step would be getting it to the right
people, but we had no idea who they were. It was doubtful the
entire government body of our country was actively involved, but
that didn’t help us narrow down on who was.

Chris
entered the War Room as I made something to eat. Anna bounced Alex
up and down in her arms as she paced, and it filled the room with
his chuckles.

‘
Sooner rather than later we’re gonna have to sort out those
two,’ Chris said as he pulled up beside me in the
kitchen.

Jessica
and Paul; the latter was decaying fast, and Jessica would catch
up.

‘
I agree, but we can’t risk going out to bury them,’ I replied.
‘Have you seen the news?’

Chris
nodded and sighed, ‘Yeah, naturally we’re getting the blame. The
amount of details they missed out.’

My toast
popped, and I grabbed the butter. Chris rolled a mobile phone in
his hand, his gaze aimed at the windows across the room.

‘
Whose is that’s?’ I asked and pointed at his hands.

‘
Jessica’s,’ he said.

My
eyebrows knitted together in question as I bit into my
food.

‘
There’s only one number on here,’ Chris shrugged and waggled
the phone. ‘It’s blocked, as in there aren’t any numbers attached
to it, but it’s contactable.’

‘
You’re hoping it’s Jessica’s group?’ I asked.

Chris
nodded.

‘
Why?’ I said and finished off my last piece of
toast.

Anna
wandered over with Alex in her arms, and I happily relieved her.
She went about gathering mugs, filled the kettle and let it
boil.

‘
Maybe they can help,’ Chris sighed in response, but his tone
conveyed his doubts.

For a
while I played with Alex, making strange noises as he cackled at my
expression. Anna joined in, and I was pleased that even after all
we’d been through that we still had the capacity to smile. The
little guy wore out, and I lay him in his crib. The sun had started
to set, and I gathered everyone into the room to discuss the things
that had been on mind.

The
group listened as I listed my worries about my father being one
gear in a mass of other bigger ones, of my thoughts that the fight
still might not be over. They listened, but they didn’t agree.
Brian was vocal; while I spoke he made several chuckles, several
scoffs and shakes of his head.

‘
This arsehole’s just begging for trouble isn’t he?’ Brian
spat.

‘
Stop it, Brian,’ Anna glared. ‘Your entire attitude is
beginning to piss even me off, and I have the patience of a
saint.’

I looked
at Chris evenly.

‘
Lucas,’ he sighed, and I knew he wasn’t with me. ‘Your Dad and
sister were constant liars. Mass murderers, and at the end they
were riled, they’d lost, we won. To me at least, all they were
trying to do was unsettle us again, to keep us trapped in our own
fear again.’