The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart: A Hart Brothers Novel (30 page)

“Hey, can you take me to the convent so I
can pick up my things?”

“Right now?”

“Yes, I want to get it over with. I don’t
have much, you know.”

“Let’s go.”

It only takes us an hour from beginning to
end. We stop by to see Father Anthony and he tells us that Sister
Helena is undergoing therapy and will remain hospitalized for an
undetermined length of time. The doctors aren’t sure what triggered
all her problems, but it seems she has a touch of dementia as well.
I’m happy I’m away from all of that and safe with Kade.

When we get home, Kade helps me put my
things away. His closet is so enormous, there’s not a problem
finding room for my meager amount of things. The first thing I’m
going to do with my paycheck is buy some clothes.

He watches me stow things and he’s studying
my belongings.

“I know. They’re not very nice.”

“That’s not what I was thinking. I thought
perhaps you’d like some work clothing.”

“Yes. My wardrobe isn’t exactly what you’d
call the career style.”

He smiles. “That’s the nice thing about
working at Living Free. You don’t have to really dress up. But if
it will make you feel better, we can go shopping this weekend.”

“No! I’m going to go
after
my first
paycheck.”

“I’ll advance you some money.”

I’m adamant about this. I refuse to take his
money.

“
After
my first paycheck. End of
story.”

He pulls out his phone and a second or two
later announces, “Well, Hot Shot, pay day is this Friday. So we’re
going shopping on Saturday.”

“Is it really?”

“Yes. So there. Now that’s the end of the
story.”

~~~~~

The next day, I arrive at work, ready to
start making my changes. I shoot an email out to everyone, telling
them when each system will be unavailable.

As promised, Kade has a talk with Kevin.
He’s decided for the time being to make Kevin my assistant. If
Kevin is smart, he will use this as a learning experience and maybe
when he leaves this role, it will help in another job
somewhere.

About forty-five minutes later, Kevin shows
up with a bitter look on his face.

“I like how you force your way in here and
take over my job,” he snarls.

“It wasn’t like that, Kevin.”

“Oh no? I’m not stupid. Don’t think I don’t
know you and Kade have a thing going.”

“That isn’t your concern. What is your
concern is that you could learn from me. I could teach you a ton of
things that you could use in your next job, if you ever decide to
leave here.”

He’s quiet for a minute. Maybe I’ve caught
his attention. I don’t know. “Why don’t you sit and see what I’ve
suggested. Then perhaps you’ll believe me.”

He flicks his head and begrudgingly takes a
seat. He pouts for a long while as he watches what I do, but
eventually, he stops. He has to admire some of my work. It’s
impossible not to. I’m not saying I’m brilliant. These are things
any average computer scientist could do. Kevin is not that, so he
wasn’t able to see it.

“I’ll hand it to you. I can see why Kade put
you in here.”

I smile. “I hope there are no hard feelings.
I just wanted to bring Living Free up to speed and make their IT
the best it could be. I saw some gaps and wanted to close
them.”

As the day passes, he asks a lot of
questions and I patiently answer, showing him tricks along the way.
When we get to the website, he’s really interested. He’s engrossed
in examining my changes and takes notes on everything I do.

“You’re a whiz,” he says.

Laughing, I answer, “Naw, this stuff was a
cakewalk. But I’m glad you picked up some new things.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he says eagerly. “Sorry I
was such an ass at the start.

“No hard feelings.”

We both check out the time and are stunned
to see it’s past seven.

“You need to get out of here. I have a few
things I’m going to wrap up here, then I’ll be done.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kevin grabs his stuff and leaves. About
fifteen minutes later I’m out the door. It’s later than I’d like.
Kade’s at an NA meeting tonight and I text him to let him know I’ll
be late.

His response:
It’s dark and
you were supposed to be home hours ago!!!! Be careful!!!!

The walk isn’t far, less than a mile. I
should’ve known something would happen. The shadow told me not to
walk alone at night. And then the incident with Sister Josephina
should’ve fired off another warning. But I didn’t listen.

A few blocks from Living Free, it happens.
I’m hit. It comes out of nowhere, like an invisible punch. My body
leaves the ground and I literally move about ten feet. I land on my
stomach and you know that phrase, “You don’t know what hit you?”
That’s exactly how I feel. My brains have been ruthlessly whisked,
my body disconnected from them.

Then I hear a snarling growl. This is
not
my shadow. This is something animalistic. Something
foul-smelling and vile. And it’s right next to my ear. Saliva drips
on me and runs down my cheek. I shudder in revulsion. I know I’m
going to die, my throat torn out by the mouth of this creature. But
I want to see what or who this thing is. So I lift my head.

As I do, something else happens. That thing,
whatever it is, is gone, knocked away by my shadow or shadows,
because now I hear struggles, fighting I think. It’s dark,
impossible to see clearly. Something descends over me, covering my
body. Then
he
murmurs in my ear. “Stay still. Don’t move.” I
am sheltered by the expanse of his massive frame. “I won’t crush
you. Only protect. Just don’t move.”

Whatever is happening over me is happening
to him, too, because his body jars every now and then and I can
feel his hot breath over my head. “Were they sent to kill me?” I
ask.

“Yes.” That’s all he volunteers. I need
more.

“Are they the ones who took my family?”

His body vibrates again and he curses.
“Yes,” he hisses.

“Who are they?”

“No more questions.”

He must be taking a serious beating because
a few times he puts his weight on me, but then it eases. And he’s
heavy. He could suffocate me if he wanted. Finally, things quiet
and he asks, “Were you hurt? Did he injure you before we
arrived?”

“No. Just slammed me to the ground then
drooled on me. Ugh. Why won’t you tell me more?”

“I can’t. For now.” Then he leans closer to
my ear, his breath brushing over me, “I told you not to go anywhere
alone at night. Why did you disobey me?” Anger pervades his
words.

“I had to work. Are you going to lay on me
all night, or what?”

“I just saved your ass, little girl, from
mutilation. And if I told you what else I did, you wouldn’t be such
a smart ass.”

“Then tell me. I’m sick of not knowing.”

“Oh, Juliette, you say that now, but you
don’t want to know about this.”

He must’ve stood up because my back is
instantly freezing. Then I’m lifted to my feet.

“Can you stand?”

“I … I think so.” I’m wobbly, but I’ll do. I
face him and he’s framed by the darkness so I can’t get a good look
at his face. But I get the feeling if I could, I would find a
startlingly handsome man. It’s in the way he talks, holds himself,
I don’t know, maybe intuition. My hand reaches for his face and I
find his lips to be curled in a smile.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t see you, so I want to imagine what
you look like.”

“You aren’t supposed to see me. Ever.”

“Why not?”

“That’s why we remain in the background,
Juliette. It’s for a reason. Now go home. Quickly. And stay in at
night. Do as I tell you, little girl.”

“I’m not a little …” But then I think about
it. To this giant of a man, I am little. I turn to go home, but
then stop and turn back. He’s walking away and I gasp and cover my
mouth. His coat is ripped to shreds and his back, bloody and
torn.

“Shadow,” I call out.

As he keeps walking he says, “I’m fine. Go
home. Now.” Then the darkness swallows him up.

Kade

Juliette is a mess when I get home. Then she
tells me why. First, I want to wring her neck for walking home
alone at night. Second, I want to hold her and never release her.
Third, I want to run away and never bring her back to this
place.

“Okay, your shadow saved your life by
risking his own. This necklace is the root of all evil. But I think
it may have some kind of tracking device in it. How else would
those men, and I mean the bad ones, have found you? And for that
matter, how would they have found your father?”

“I’ve wondered the same thing.”

The more I think about it the more it makes
sense. “Juliette, whoever made this thing, must have fashioned it
around some type of sensor or device.”

“What should we do?”

“Let’s see that note again.”

She runs upstairs and gets it. Then we look
at it together.

Necklace brought in by customer and left
with me. Unknown substance. Never before seen. Checked all data
entries to date and could not identify. Customer also gave me the
untranslatable note. Took to linguistics professor at Tulane and he
was unfamiliar with the language. Predates anything he’d ever seen.
My best guess—some ancient tribal torque. Stone seems to pick up
unusual traits when exposed to heat, cold, darkness and light.

And this one.

To the keeper: wear at all times. Let not it
fall into false hands lest ye face universal destruction.

“You said you held it up to the sunlight.
What about cold?”

“No.”

“Let’s put it in the freezer for a minute or
two to see what happens.”

“Okay.”

We try that, but the only thing that happens
is it changes color.

“Not much to go on. Maybe it’s like an
ancient symbol or a glyph.” I hold it up to the light, inspecting
it closely, looking for something, anything, that might reveal a
bit of information to a piece of this damned puzzle we’re trying to
solve. The chain consists of simple thick black links, nothing
special, but when I really look, the material isn’t like anything
I’ve ever seen. It’s dull, and has marks on it, almost like
etching. The stone itself is an oblong shaped sphere about a
half-inch in size. It’s bluish green, with some marbling on it. It,
too, is dull. If one saw it in a store, it wouldn’t attract a
second look, it’s that plain and simple.

“I don’t get it. What could be so important
about this thing?”

“Kade, when all this happened, I racked my
brain, trying to figure this out. My dad was a gemologist and even
he couldn’t identify it. I researched everything I could and came
up empty handed. I still try to find out what I can. I’ve been
doing this for over two and a half years now, and I haven’t found a
thing out. But tonight, those animal things were real, and when
that shadow man walked away, his back was torn up so badly that if
he hadn’t been protecting me, I wouldn’t be standing here right
now.”

Not thinking about anything but her words, I
grab a handful of her sweater and pull her to me. “I don’t ever
want to let you out of my arms. I just found you, Juliette. The
thought of losing you is more than I can take.”

The only idea I can come up with is to go
outside and call to her shadows. I take her with me and we walk out
there.

“Please. Come here. I know you don’t speak
to us, but please, we’re begging you.” I hold up the necklace in my
hand. “We have to know what this is.”

Nothing, as expected. Soon, Juliette begins
to shiver. “Go inside. I’m staying out here. Maybe they’ll see we
need them.”

The door opens and closes behind me and
Juliette goes in the house. I remain vigilant, waiting,
hopeful.

“You have to understand our position
here.”

Behind me, a voice answers, “And you have to
understand ours. Do not turn around. Listen to what I tell you. Go
back inside and put the necklace back on Juliette. We are
protecting you and will keep both of you safe.”

“But what happened tonight …”

“Would never have happened had she listened
to me. She was warned.”

“What is this?” I hold the necklace up in my
hand.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

“Who are you?”

“I can’t tell you that either. Now go in the
house.”

“What if I don’t believe you?” I’m filled
with so many doubts right now.

“That’s your prerogative. I can’t force you
to do anything. But you’ll make our job more difficult.”

“Why can’t you tell us?”

“Your last question. The less you know, the
safer you are. Good night Mr. Hart.”

I turn around and all I see is the vast
empty darkness of the back yard. This was supposed to ease my mind,
but it has sparked off more questions and stirred things up more
than I care for.

Blowing out all the air in my lungs out of
frustration, I join Juliette inside.

She waits by the fire. “Anything?”

“He came. I don’t know if he was your shadow
or not, but one of them showed up. He wouldn’t let me turn around,
and he wouldn’t answer my questions. All he said is they were
keeping us safe. You’re to put this back on. And no, he wouldn’t
say why. I’m more confounded than ever.”

She takes the necklace out of my hand and
puts it back around her neck. “I know how you feel, believe
me.”

“Did you ever do that image search?”

“No! I forgot.”

“Come on. Let’s go.”

A couple hours later, my stomach growls, and
Juliette says, “I’m starving too. Let’s take a break and eat. It’s
late already anyway.”

“No. You stay here and I’ll make some
sandwiches. Okay?”