“How does one become a family man of an offspring you didn’t know about?”
“The same as anybody else,” she stated. “Every father becomes a father before he finds out about it.”
When he looked at her in amazement, she shrugged. “Well, think about it. The woman always finds out first, unless you happen to be in the doctor’s office at the same time that the news is broken. The father will always be the one who finds out second, and so it’s always the same issue. You find out whether you like it or not. Whether you were looking forward to it or not. Whether this was a dream of yours or not. You find out, and you figure it out from there. It’s just, in this case, you might have actually found out first.”
“I’ve wondered about that. I don’t know if she even knows.”
“Or if she was being tortured because of you,” she murmured.
“God, I would hope not,” he replied. “To even think of what that woman went through makes me sick.”
“And you probably know what she went through, don’t you?”
“I do,” he confirmed quietly. “And, no, I’m not sharing, so don’t even ask.”
“God, I don’t want the details. I have enough nightmares already.”
He nodded. “We all do. There is actually a technique to get rid of them, or at least keep them under control so you aren’t impacted as badly.”
“I don’t know if that’s even possible.”
“It’s not only possible, it’s mandatory,” he stated, “like in Celia’s case. So I have blocked some of the harsher aspects of her torture. However, it’s also mandatory that you don’t ever completely forget because you can’t afford to let people get at you the same way. Also you can’t forget these times because you learn from them, because it keeps your humanity in place. It reminds you that shitty people are in the world, but also really good people are out there too,” he murmured.
“Like your brother.”
“Like my brother.” He nodded. “And the team he works with.”
“You know something? I find it odd that you, your whole team even, who have seen so much of the shitty parts of life, still trust all those people.”
“I do, as they trust me. Like to let them know if there’s anything amiss when they are out on missions.”
She gasped. “Oh, that explains a few things.”
He looked at her in surprise.
“Every once in a while, you zoned out in front of us, and sometimes what you were saying didn’t make any sense. I often thought you were talking about drinks or something because you would talk about ice.”
At that, he laughed. “Well, as much as I shouldn’t be laughing at that,” he admitted, “it’s kind of funny because that’s Levi’s partner. Ice and I talked all the time. However, it is very disconcerting to consider that I was zoning out while people were around me,” he murmured, obviously worried.
“Maybe,” she replied, as they stepped inside the mall, and she took a deep breath, realizing that they were far safer in a public place like this. “The thing to remember is that you also knew you could trust us.”
*
Damon quickly sent out a barrage of texts.
Tasha immediately got back to him, saying they were in the mall across the road because Terk had insisted they leave due to dangerous probes at home. Damon was getting the same mental message. Immediately he shut off the phone, slipped against the concrete wall, and went silent. Instinctively he sent out an alert, asking Wade for tracking. Within seconds he realized what he’d done—Wade was one of the team members who was down, although he was recovering faster than the others but not enough. Yet if anybody out there could find another energy around Damon and track somebody breaching their security, it was Wade. Swearing softly under his breath, Damon then heard a faint voice in his head.
I’m here, Wade replied. I’m here.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Damon muttered. “No, don’t. Somebody’s here. We’re under attack. Get out of here!” And he tried to block out Wade. Injured, Wade was already vulnerable to attack. “They can trace you, dammit. Don’t.”
No, I can trace them, Wade responded, his voice getting stronger.
No, dammit, Damon whispered in his head, they’ll find you and track you back.
I’ve got up a shield, Wade explained, his voice calm and gaining strength. Just like we have to trust that you’re doing what you can do, he argued, you have to trust me.
I can’t have you hurt any more, he stated. We’ve got enough guys in bad shape already. The last thing we want is somebody else down.
I may be down, but I’m not out, Wade snapped, and his voice was hard and determined. I’ve got the signature. Actual spores. They haven’t made it inside. They’re on the outside of the building.
Interesting, Damon murmured. Can you track it?
Yeah, I’m tracking it already. Looks very much like it’s—he stopped his voice hesitant—I think they found the warehouses, but I’m not sure how.
What do you mean?
Well, I don’t have any entrance or exit point where they entered.
Did they come in with a large group maybe?
Let me go take another look, he added. Unfortunately I’m weak, as you know.
I just assumed you shut him down, but maybe you can tell me if he’s still here before you go.
He’s gone. He tracked around the warehouse, but he couldn’t find what he was looking for.
Well, that’s a good thing. Terk and Tasha left to go to the mall.
That’s smart, Wade agreed. But you guys are definitely being hunted. Nobody’s there now. You’re safe at the moment. I’ll try to keep note of the spore. I’ve attached a tracker to it, in case it comes close. I hate to say it, but I’m out. And, with that, Wade’s voice faded away.
“Shit,” Damon whispered. But feeling better, he picked up his phone and called Terk. Quickly he explained what happened. “Wade says it’s safe now.”
“Okay, we’re coming back again, and we picked up a few groceries.”
“Of course you did. Tasha’s doing by any chance?”
Terk chuckled. “Yeah, she does eat, doesn’t she?”
“I think it might be stress eating.”
“I don’t care what you think,” Tasha called out. “A girl has to eat.”
“Fine. You guys come on back. I’ll check the monitors that we set up around the building and see if I find anything.”
“Well, if our would-be intruder was just distant viewing,” Terk stated, “we won’t see anything.”
“I know, but I’m worried they may have picked up on you guys. So track carefully on your way back.”
“We’re shielded,” Terk replied.
“I hear you, but if they’re watching—”
“I know, but we can’t wait for darkness. I’ve got just about enough energy to get back.”
“Okay, I’ll set up a perimeter guard.”
And, with that, he hung up and stayed at the door, sending energy circulating around and around in a vibrating motion. He would have to open up a doorway to let in Terk and Tasha, but that was just part of it. He could do very little else with transmitting energy, except things like this. He could transmit messages. He could transmit all kinds of stuff. But, if nobody was around to receive it, the energy just wobbled and bounced back and forth, and that’s exactly what he was doing now. He stood here, sending energy to himself. And he had set up an energy vibration level that was hard for anybody to trace.