Death Whispers (Death Series, Book 1) (52 page)

“He's on the take.”

“Corrupt?”

“Yes, he's the Graysheets eyes and ears, Caleb.”

I leaned back again against Jade, thinking about
being a partner with someone I couldn't trust at my back.

“What about the other officer? Wade, I think,”
Jade asked.

“Chuck's a good man.”

That's a relief, three good cops anyway.

The night slid past, Sophie and Onyx's profiles in
the front seat, Garcia's cruiser moving through Jade's neighborhood
like a silent trespasser. As Brett's house came into view, the yard
still littered with the gopher mounds, a look passed between Jade and
I, remembering.

Garcia broke the silence, “If I work with McGraw
I have a chance to eventually expose these hypocrites.”

“What are they?” Jade asked.

“People bent on exploitation for warfare,
controlling crime for gain. Instead of using these paranormals' gifts
for the betterment of humankind, they're scheming up ways to control.
It's always about control, about power.”

We parked in front of Jade's place; Garcia kept
the car idling. “I'll stay here with the dog,” he winked.

Not half-bad for an adult.

The tall fence blocked our view of the fa
ç
ade
of Jade's house, except for a portion of the porch and roof. We got
out of Garcia's car, opening the gate, which I left ajar. We walked
to the front porch, our hands entwined, the porch light casting a
soft pool of pale color on the steps.

I grasped Jade's other hand and turned her to me
pulling her close until she touched my body in a tight embrace, our
bodies married together. Pressing my mouth on her lips, softly at
first, my hands slid out of hers, moving to the small of her back.
She wrapped hers around me. My free hand working up into the nape of
her neck, the silky hair winding around my fingers as my mouth moved
on hers.

The door wrenched open and Aunt Andrea stood
there, anger making the planes of her face a brutal thing. As Jade
and I jumped apart, her face flushed with high color, rosy under the
glow of the light.

“Where the hell have you been?” Andrea said,
anger twisting her words into a snarl.

Jade looked shocked and confused. “Ah... I
pulsed you...”

“I wasn't going to get into it on pulse, but
this boy,” she jabbed a finger in my direction, “is bringing you
home too late. It's one-twenty in the morning and you're fourteen
years old!” she huffed.

What-the-hell? Where did all this venom come from?
I unconsciously pulled Jade a little closer to me, her back against
my chest.

A
bulky figure moved up behind Andrea... Jade's dad.

Oh shit.

A
look of terror came over Andrea's face.
That
was it, the drunk dad had made an appearance, and she was covering.

Jade's dad said in a low voice, “Get your ass in
this house right now. You and me, we got some talkin' to do.”

If he'd been shouting it would have been less
threatening. But that soft voice promised bad-stuff-was-gonna-happen.

“Is there a problem here?” Garcia said,
strolling up, Sophie peeking around from behind him, eyes like
saucers in a pale face. Bet she knew old daddy dearest.

His hand hovered above the baton he wore on his
utility belt, a whisper away from use. Jade's dad shoved Andrea
aside, slamming her into the doorjamb.

“Jade!”she shouted in warning, clinging to the
wood.

I heard the baton escape its sheath with a high
whistle, at the same time that I threw myself backward, with Jade
attached to my front. My arm was hooked around her waist, her dad's
dinner plate sized hand, brushing the zipper of her hoodie as we
flew, my body slamming into the grass behind us.

Every bit of air left my lungs in a whoosh, as I
watched Jade's dad get past Garcia to come after us.

Slippery ass-monkey.

Garcia let him move past and landed a deliberate
blow to the back of his knee. With a grunt, Jade's dad toppled like
the tree he was, momentarily stunned.

He pushed him down to the ground, a knee planted
in LeClerc's spine, the baton's tip piercing the tender flesh at the
base of his skull.

Leaning down, Garcia said with soft menace, “We're
taking a little ride, LeClerc. We're going to come to an
understanding, you and I.”

“No we're not, Pig!” he said, his words
muffled by the press of the baton forcing his face into the ground.
“She's my girl! She's gonna stop being with that boy! He's evil! A
dead-lover! Satan worshiper!”

Right,
that was me, a star in the basement.

“He's AFTD, in case you're too slow to
understand,” Garcia said, losing patience.

He got out his cuffs, slapping one side on a thick
wrist. He was getting ready to secure the other when Jade's dad gave
a last, great buck with his body, throwing off Garcia, launching
himself at Jade.

I saw moonlight slide off the loose cuff as it
dangled from his wrist swinging it down toward Jade. As I rolled her
away from that descending hand with my body, his fist connected with
her side and she screamed. I let her go, she lay flat on the grass,
putting her hands above her face in a defensive position that broke
something inside me to see.

Garcia wasn't going to get to us in time.

I rose up on all fours with him looming over us
both. as he brought both fists up to mangle my face, I rolled back,
placing my hands behind me and my feet wide, using one foot for
balance, I slammed the other out just on his downward arc, barely
missing the hands, hitting that defiant face square, his nose
exploding with a satisfying crunch.

He staggered back. “My nose, he broke my fuckin'
nose!” he spluttered, blood spraying out from behind his hands. If
looks could kill I'd be dust.

Garcia jerked his hands behind his back, locking
the cuffs, tightening them until LeClerc cried out, “Ow, that
hurts!”

“Suck it up,” Garcia said.

Without his hands covering the nose, it leaked.
His frantic breathing caused a big bubble of snot to grow, pulsing
with each breath.

Jade moaned, her hair fanning out behind her,
grass stains on her pink hoodie. My eyes burned with the need to cry.
But I was the guy here and my Jade was hurt.

“Where does it hurt?” I asked, gently
exploring her side, she made a pain sound when I got to her lower
ribs on the right side.

I asked with my face if I could look and she
nodded.

I pulled up the lightweight shirt and saw a
terrible welt, bright red, in the shape of the cuff, with a
grape-colored bruise, blooming at the edges of the mark like an
obscene flower.

Looking at her dad I said the first thing that
entered my head, “You touch her again and I'll kill you.”

He
looked back at me for the space of seconds. “You'll try.” and
smiled with that nasty grin of his, the blood slowing to a trickle
his swollen nose like a clown's.

It wasn't enough damage to satisfy me.

“Caleb,” Garcia started, “... what did you
say?”

Andrea and Sophie had their arms twined around
each other as my eyes met Garcia's.

“He said he'd kill me, you dumb-ass! He's the
one you should be arresting, the zombie-lover!” LeClerc shouted.

“I didn't hear that,” Garcia said, trying for
neutral and missing by a mile.

Garcia smiled and started hauling Jade's dad away,
who shouted over his shoulder at Jade, “Keep your head down,
girlie, get away from that loser.”

“Look who's talking,” Garcia said.

“Can I help you get up?” I asked.

She nodded and I braced my arm behind her back,
lifting and holding at the same time. It wasn't an effort, she was so
light.

Just then, Brett jogged up “What happened to
Jade?”

I
couldn't
believe
this night. There must have been a trouble-find-me-beacon flashing or
something.

I opened my mouth to tell him to get screwed when
Sophie smoothly interjected, “It's her dad, Brett.”

“Yeah, I saw him in the cop car,” a range of
emotion swam across Brett's features. “What did he do to her?”

I didn't think he deserved an answer but he wasn't
being an total dick. “He was pissed because she was with me.”

“Yeah, he wants her with someone normal.”

“Like you,” I scoffed.

“Maybe,” he admitted, giving me a look.

“Stop, both of you,” Jade said, her face
pinched.

“Sorry, Jade,” Brett said.

“It's okay, don't start things with Caleb,
please.”

Brett
and I stared at each other. I could taste that we were gonna have
trouble in the future; like smelling rain right before it started to
pour.

I made myself turn away from him to take Jade
inside and saw Sophie out of my peripheral vision, walking over to
Brett as they spoke softly.

Andrea led us into the family room, Jade walking
stiffly over to the couch. Pivoting, we lowered her together as
Andrea propped pillows behind her. I looked around briefly, seeing a
smiling Jade in every corner, photos framing her childhood.

“Don't look at those, they're dumb,” she said.

“Nah... you look cute,” I said.

She gave me a dopey smile.

Garcia poked his head through the door. “I hate
to do this to you...”

“It's okay,” I interrupted. “I can walk
home.”

“I just can't have you in the car, as it is,
he's fighting it.”

I could hear Jade's dad, hammering his feet
against the inside of the car door.

A prince of a guy.

I
bent over Jade, giving her a kiss on her forehead. She grabbed a
fistful of my shirt, jerking my mouth down on hers, kissing it
softly. “There,” she said. “
Now
you can go.” She smiled through a wash of tears.

Garcia and I left Jade's house, walking back down
the path that led to the front gate. He paused just inside the gate.
“Did you mean what you said earlier?”

I could have pretended I didn't understand what he
meant, a purposeful misunderstanding... but I didn't.

The silence rolled out, and he let it. “Yeah,”
I said finally.

Jade's dad was still slamming his feet against the
inside of the car. “That gonna hold?” I asked.

“Yes,” Garcia looked at me, taking my measure.

He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “You're
a good kid, Caleb. Don't worry so much about what you'll be, just
keep doing the right thing, and you'll get where you're meant to go.”
With that, he turned, walking over to his cruiser, opening the front
passenger side door.

Onyx flew out, bounding over to me, more than a
little excited to be out of there. Stroking his head, I couldn't say
I blamed him.

CHAPTER 33

I walked through my front door, Onyx at my heels,
knowing he didn't need to go out and do his business. He'd peed on
everything vertical the entire way home.

Mom spied me from her perch at the kitchen table
and rushed over and gave me a bone-crushing hug. I stood there,
finally giving her an awkward pat.

I saw Dad watching us, an expression I couldn't
read.

“Garcia phoned,” he told me. People didn't
phone anymore but my parents still used the expression. “And I
think it's time you came clean with us, son. He let us in on a
plethora of disturbing occurrences.”

Mom finally released me and we walked over to the
couch, Onyx jumping up ahead of me. “Noooo... down, Onyx,” Mom
said.

Onyx jumped down on the floor, giving mom the
big-eye.

I sat down, my eyes burning with tiredness, grainy
and itchy feeling. The pulse-clock read two-ten.

My parents looked tired too. “I know it's late
and it goes without saying that you won't be having quite as much
'leash' from your mom and I in the future.”

Duh.

“We know there were extenuating
circumstances...Garcia said something about Graysheets?” Mom asked.

I went through the whole story, starting with what
was supposed to be a simple exploration of a ghost rumor, through the
Graysheets showing up with Parker at their side.

Dad stopped pacing and interrupted with, “They
thought they'd take you? Last time I looked, we were still living in
America!”

Mom gave him the shush noise so I could continue,
which I did. I thought I was tired when I began, but I was so tired
at the end of my story my bones ached. I'd never wanted to sleep so
bad in my life.

Mom rubbed her eyes and stood, arching her back,
small popping sounds filling the silence. “Ahhhh...” she said.
“Much better. Well, we can't solve all of this right now, in the
middle of the night.”

Dad had his eyes closed, chin resting in the fist
of his hand which was balanced on a knee. “Dad?”

He opened his eyes, bloodshot lightning running
through them. “Mom's right, but one thing that keeps nagging at me
is this EMP phenomena, and...”

Mom and I both rolled our eyes. Unbelievable! I
had nearly been kidnapped and Dad was dwelling on the electrical
snafu.

Mom
was struggling with her patience. “Okay, enlighten us,
quickly...what
is
an EMP?”

“Electromagnetic Pulse,” Dad said.

“
Like
pulse,
pulse?” I asked, a spurt of energy chasing away cobwebs like a
sudden breeze.

“No.
Not like our pulse technology, but related. Have you asked yourself
this, Caleb: what caused everything to stall? The helicopter,
everyone's pulses, Garcia's police car? The Graysheets, or whoever
they really are, they wouldn't have caused it. It stands to reason
that they were well-thought out, planning this since when?”