Justice Incarnate (23 page)

A stirring in the crowd behind Loomis caught her eye. The scene put a tight cap on her horrendous day. Brian, in dress blues and all his glory as Chief of Police, came into view.

And stood at the right of the Judge.

She couldn't breathe. The betrayal suffocated her.

Loomis gripped her arm above the elbow and turned her away from Larry's mourners. He shoved her across the neat lawn as if he wanted to force her to stumble. She wouldn't let it happen.

"Ease up Loomis," she growled.

"As soon as you get what you deserve," he growled back.

At the street he gave her a rough push. "This is a private party, you'd best keep running."

Okay, the man had lost his mind. Grief could do that. Jaden didn't bother with further protest. Legal routes had never worked before, why think this time could be different. If she couldn't even get Brian's help when he was a cop, the answer to ending the vicious cycle of her lives wasn't in a law book.

That left weapons. And the best tangible resource was the museum. With a sigh, Jaden headed off. No one could keep her from a private memorial for Larry at the scene of the tragedy.

Brian knew the jogger had to be Jaden. The slight favor in her stride, the swinging braid, and the fury shimmering around her. There could be no doubt.

Except in her mind, if she'd seen him here.

He eased away from the Judge, knowing the man noted his every move as he carried on politely with the other mourners. Maneuvering randomly took a great deal of planning, Brian mused, patiently waiting to exchange sympathies with Loomis.

Brian suppressed a satisfied smile over the smooth transfer. Now that the tracking device was in place, he'd always know Jaden's whereabouts.

Assuming she didn't throw it away when she found it.

Jaden ran, letting go of her grief with each jarring footfall. Grief from each previous life. Grief for parents, for innocence. For her friend, Larry. For the only woman she'd ever killed. For her only sister, murdered by the same demonic entity that currently wore judge's robes.

She caught a cab to Lakeshore Park and ran until her lungs burned and her hip insisted she slow down. Easing into an achy walk, she blamed her watery eyes and runny nose on the lake wind buffeting her. For lack of anything better, she wiped her face with her sleeve.

And froze.

Then swore, loudly, into the device attached to her sleeve. Loomis wired her–but why?

She began stretching, or rather, pretending to stretch while taking inventory of the people around her. She'd run for miles, lost in her mournful and useless thought. The lakeside greenway was as meticulously designed as the cemetery, but with happier people. None of whom appeared to care about her.

She worked the dime-sized disk off her sleeve and walked until she found an empty bench in an equally deserted clearing. She couldn't go anywhere she wanted to until she'd disabled the device. Slumping into the seat, she wished for the jeweler's loupe in her tool kit. But that was tucked safely away in the suite in Micky's warehouse and she wouldn't go there until she knew who wanted her tracked and why.

Loomis had to be working on orders from higher up. But whose? Jaden found herself wishing for something, someone else she should've left in the suite: Brian.

With an eye out for the likely tail, she rolled the edges of the flat tracking button between her thumb and fingers, jumping when a tiny holographic recording filled her palm. She'd not seen an upgrade like this.

"Keep this close. I'm on your side," Brian said on the wispy recording.

He was in his formal uniform, officially resuming his previous life. The life he missed terribly. The life that put them on opposite sides of the justice versus vengeance issue.

She tried to be happy for him and just couldn't muster the energy.

She played the hologram again, listening for vocal clues. And again, to study his surroundings. But there was only the striking image of him speaking those few words.

She got to her feet and continued on to the museum, pocketing the tracking communicator.

I'm on your side.

She wanted to believe it. To believe he agreed with her than Albertson must die. But that would mean a leap of faith she's not sure she could make in his place. Brian and the Judge had history, good history. It was unreasonable to expect him to throw it aside easily. Unreasonable to expect that killing the judge wouldn't hurt the orphaned, doubtful Brian.

She didn't want Brian to hurt.

Dammit, she wasn't going soft. She'd bypassed soft and dissolved straight into a squishy puddle of emotions. With a final look at the hologram, she cocked her arm and pitched the tracking device into Lake Michigan.

Brian scowled at the dark van sitting across the street. He hadn't ordered the extra protection. And he didn't need the invasion of privacy at the moment. Which meant someone else with enough clout to waste the manpower had ordered this extra watch.

Albertson.

Over a dinner the Judge insisted upon, they'd discussed the good old days. The continued message of loyalty hadn't flown over Brian's head, he just didn't care. The good old days seemed stained after the nasty discovery at the mill.

He walked through his house, nursing a beer. It didn't feel like home anymore. Nothing was obviously disturbed, but Brian understood dinner had been a delay to allow Albertson's men time to search the place. He was sure they'd wired him for sound too.

He checked the receiving unit on his wrist that showed Jaden's location. She was either still in Lakeshore Park or she'd found and dumped the tracer. Had she found the hologram? He tried tapping into a sixth sense, to feel her.

Nothing.

He scoffed at his overactive imagination.

He ached that she'd been right about so much regarding the Judge. At the funeral, he found himself mourning the effective loss of a man he considered family. No more. It was like being orphaned again, only this time he counted it as a blessing. She'd been right about it all. The man was a monster.

A monster in league with a power hungry scientist. He'd like to kill them both for their destruction against humanity and the tragedies on the horizon. The vigilante attitude went against everything he thought he believed about right, wrong and justice. But he felt it to his soul anyway.

Brian needed to get back to Micky's place and see how much progress Lorine had made. If the lady doc could prove Kristoff's fraud, the sting would require precise timing. But he wouldn't risk leading the boys in the van into the safe haven the smuggler had created.

Draining the beer, Brian pressed a button to draw the privacy screen across his front windows. He heard the el whisper by and checked his receiver again. The transmitter still hadn't moved.

Well, it was way past time to find out why.

Jaden slipped into the museum and cooled her temper in the massive marble foyer. Her nerves frayed from the day, she took a moment to pull herself together before heading to the weapons gallery. The missing piece of this millennia-old puzzle had to be here. She'd find it and use it to destroy the evil still running free in this world.

She refused to indulge in any more tears. She'd failed. Past tense. It would be different this time. Entering her favorite gallery, she walked toward the scabbard and etched sword of a warrior from the 15th century. It was a narrow, lighter blade, but just as deadly as the heavier broadswords wielded by mail covered men.

Her hand reached toward the case, longing for another touch of the elegant steel. This had not been hers. Her sword had been broken in front of her face as a broadsword split her back for treason in battle.

Jaden closed her eyes and recalled the singing of steel through air, the perfect match of hilt to palm. It hadn't been treason, but justice, if anyone had bothered to inquire. Ah, well, a little late to dispute facts now.

"Reliving the glory days, dearheart?"

Jaden didn't acknowledge Albertson immediately, nor did she open her eyes. She savored the memory of disarming him and running him through.

"Ah, yes. You cheated if I recall," he continued. "Waiting until I was spent to turn on me."

She sighed and faced the Judge. "And still you laughed all the way into your next life."

"You can change the future, dearheart."

She scoffed, turning away to view a model sized suit of armor. She recognized the coat of arms, recalled the captain she'd admired for his compassion.

"I'd settle for salvaging the mess you've made of the present." She viewed a painting of a gauntlet and felt as overwhelmed as the young man facing the challenge. "Where are the children?" she demanded.

"Safe." He held out a hand, a peace offering she supposed. She happily envisioned breaking each of his fingers. "You and I merely look at life and its options differently. Humanity spouts claims of tolerance, acceptance, and celebration of differences. Yet you refuse to keep up with society."

"No society wants what you're offering."

His laughter bounced off the marble, glass and steel. "Don't lower yourself with false stupidity. If they didn't want me, I wouldn't be here."

She hated it when he was right. Purging the world of those he poisoned was impractical if not impossible. If he was right...maybe it was time to give up. What was the point of continuing a losing battle?

"Reward yourself, dearheart," his whisper swirled around her. "Take hold of your life. Let go of the past and embrace the life you desire."

The gallery faded away and her view filled with green grass, a dog barking and happy giggles of children. Her children. She could see her own green eyes reflected in cherubic faces framed with their father's dark waves of hair. She gazed into the face of her husband and her heart stuttered with the weight of the love they shared. Real. Soul-deep. Forever.

Yes, her mind cried. Yes, her heart echoed. This was the prize she craved. Each life she'd been denied this irrefutable beauty, this most basic element of human nurture.

"It's yours, dearheart. Take it and live it." The words caressed her skin as smooth as silk.

Could it be that easy? Could simply accepting make it truth?

Yes. Her answer pulsed within her bloodstream.

She reached for her daughter in her husband's arms. Called to her sons. She would claim this happiness as her reality. She would let peace and love rule the remainder of her days.

"No." Her own voice sounded hoarse and unused. She struggled for air and tried again, "No!"

Then she felt it, the scarf around her neck. A scarf she'd not been wearing moments ago. She wriggled and it tightened. She threw an elbow back, but it got lost in the rolls of fat of the monster that'd used her own dreams to seduce her into complacency.

Anger surged within her and spilled over, empowering her. She dropped to her knees, startling Albertson into loosening his grip. She shot for freedom between his legs. On her back she raised both feet and kicked mightily. His bulk did the rest, carrying him into a case of catapult remnants. The display shattered under the assault and Albertson screamed as shards of glass and history cut into his fleshy form.

Jaden made a clumsy dash for cover as feet pounded toward the noise and mess. Her head felt too heavy, her legs like lead and her mind fuzzy from the blurring of truth and reality. Desperate, she put all her dwindling energy into escape.

Albertson cursed violently, knowing the incompetent men tending him would blame his injuries for the foul words and attitude.

He'd almost had her! Never had he been as close as today! He didn't bother to assess where his illusion had broken down. Just knowing he'd mastered a connection this clear told him he could get to her any time. She couldn't stop him now. She'd lost her tough edge and would soon lose their perpetual battle.

So close to over, he could taste it.

Absently, he licked his lips and cursed the tang of his own blood. She'd cost him dearly by diverting that slave shipment, but it was only money. She'd killed his best lieutenant and left the other guards to fate. He'd ordered a bullet into each lacking brain. Incompetent people were as disposable as money.

Hands dabbed at his face and hands. "Enough!" he roared, lumbering to his feet and out of the hall. He left the gibberish of apologies and promises in his wake.

No, she'd lost the battle already. He could feel her strength fading. He needn't worry about the completion of his plan. She'd never find the girls. This time he'd win. She was merely the last loose end. And he knew just how to clip her off.

Chapter Thirteen

"I say: Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle." –Sun Tzu

Brian's vision still reeled with the sight of Albertson strangling Jaden. Why remained a mystery, but his greater concern was what would've happened if he hadn't found her in time. He'd been ready to jump in, to do anything to spare her, but it seemed just his presence restored her enough to escape.