Brute Justice (Justice Series) Read online

  “How’s it going guys?” Leesha approached the table, glancing over Sam’s shoulder at the computer screen.

  “Oh, hey Leesh,” Lexi looked up. “I think we’re just about done logging Jade’s history of getting her way, post flashes.”

  “Getting my way? That just makes me sound spoiled!”

  Well, aren’t you? Duh. Don’t sound so offended.

  Sam looked up at Clint, muffling his reaction to only a half smirk. Then his expression sobered. “Dude! What’s wrong with your face?”

  Absentmindedly, he reached up to touch his cheek, which was still hot from the activity. He grinned. “Nothing. Just been pumping some iron.”

  I may as well sound tough, too.

  Sam leaned back in his chair to look beyond Clint at the bench press. When he saw the massive amount of weight on each end, his eyes bulged. “No way! You did not…”

  “Yep,” Clint grinned, then decided to milk it a bit more. “It’s a good thing we came here rather than working with your sissy home set-up.”

  “Shut up.” Sam hung his head, clearly green with envy.

  “He’s giving you a hard time,” Leesha said, patting Sam’s shoulder. “What are you looking at?”

  “The different parts of the brain and which sections control the various parts of the body. I was hoping to figure out which part of Jade’s brain has been altered, and then which part of other people’s brains she is tapping into to influence them.”

  “What did you find?”

  “I’m still reading, but my guess is whatever she was injected with was designed to change her limbic system here,” Sam pointed to the portion of the brain just above the brain stem. “This area of the brain is linked to hormones, drives, emotion and memory formation. I also think her cortex and frontal lobes are affected too. They are closely linked with making decisions and judgments, and I suspect this is where she is accessing her persuasive powers in others.”

  “Wow, that’s great stuff, Sam. Good thinking! Hey, send me the link, I want to read more on it tonight.”

  “Sure. We can touch base online to discuss if you want”

  “Look guys,” Lexi interrupted. “I hate to kill the party, but we’ve got finals this week and I really need to study.”

  “Oh right,” Sam agreed. “Plus, Mom and Dad will be home from their dinner soon. The good news is once Christmas break starts this weekend, we’ll have plenty of time to work on this stuff.”

  “Okay. Well, I’ll do more research on Sam’s link,” Leesha said. “Jade, can you work on testing your powers?”

  “Sure. I’d actually love to!”

  “Try and see if you can get people to do something without saying anything to them. Let’s see if you can access your powers mentally.”

  “Okay!”

  “Lexi?”

  “Yeah, Leesh – I’ll type up these notes from Jade’s interview and shoot them your way to review. I’ll also see if I can nail down a work and home address for Sara Milligan.”

  “Great. Clint, you continue testing your powers and be sure to log your results just like we did today. And can you keep an eye on the doc?”

  “No problem.”

  “I will too,” Sam said. “It won’t hurt to have two of us watching, and we both know his patterns. Clint, call me if you see anything suspicious. I’ll do the same.”

  “Roger that.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Clint looked down at his watch as he got off his bike. It was just after seven.

  I didn’t know we’d been at it that long. Dad’s home. I’m hungry.

  He walked into the kitchen from the garage and found his dad at the table looking over some flight logs.

  “Hey bud. Where’ve you been?”

  “Over at the Dixon’s.”

  “It’s dark. I was starting to wonder.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  Hank’s forehead creased as he shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess I should have.”

  “What’s wrong, Pop?”

  He sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure how to explain it. I guess it’s just... Well… I’m not used to worrying about you. And I know I’m probably overreacting, and I don’t want to nag you every minute of the day, but I need to know you’re safe.”

  “Dad, I’m sorry. I should have called. I didn’t know you’d be home so early, and I didn’t want to bother you at work.”

  “I know. I’m gone all the time. I’m a screw-up as a father, leaving you to take care of yourself all the time.” He bowed his head, not meeting Clint’s eyes.

  “Dad! You are not a screw-up. You’re the best father a kid could have. I thought when we lost Mom, my life was over. You got me through that.”

  “We got each other through.”

  “Exactly. We’re a team, you and me. And you’re always here when I need you.”

  “I just can’t believe I let this happen to you. And I hate worrying about you all the time. Makes me feel like a woman…”

  “Ha!” Clint grinned at his dad’s gritty sense of humor as he reached into the fridge for a frozen dinner. “I’ll tell you what… Let’s you and I make a point to touch base more often, okay?”

  Hank’s face relaxed a little. “Sounds great, bud. So, you don’t mind if your old man calls to nag you about where you are?”

  “Nope. Honestly Dad, I’m worried about you too. Hey, do you know how to text?”

  “What?”

  “Never mind, I’ll teach you. That way if you can’t call, you can send a note from your phone to mine.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Oh, Dad… For someone who can fix, fly and control all things related to planes, I can’t believe you’ve never sent a text message!”

  They laughed and the room got silent for a moment.

  “Clint, there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Mr. Fishman wants me to go to Denver and train his new general manager at the hanger there.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “He wants me to leave this weekend, and I’ll need to be gone for two weeks. I don’t want to be gone that long, not now, not over the holidays. I should tell him no.”

  “Actually, Dad, I think it’s a good idea if you go. You’ll be out of the area, so I’ll know you’re safe. And you can’t tell your boss no.”

  “But what about you?”

  “You know I can take care of myself. Besides, the next couple of weeks I’m out of school, so will be spending a bunch of time with Sam and the girls working on tracking down more information.”

  “Safety in numbers?”

  “Absolutely. Plus, this will give us a good excuse to work on our communication skills. Really Dad, go. I’ll be fine.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I am.”

  “Well, I’ll leave plenty of cash and the Bronco if you need backup transportation. And Lucy will be in the hangar, if you need her.”

  Clint smiled, stabbing at his dinner. Lucy was their pet name for the Cessna he and his father had rebuilt together.

  “Thanks Dad. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

  Ugh…I hate literature. Who really needs to read this crap anyway?

  Clint flung his copy of Julius Caesar on the floor and focused his attention on the computer screen. The blip on the map had been there now for just short of two hours. He picked up the phone.

  “Sam?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Have you been watching the GPS?”

  “Yep. He’s at the third location, isn’t he?”

  “Looks like.”

  “What were the streets we looked at for that house?”

  Clint opened the map, checked the notes. “Ravenswood Court and Edgewood Circle.”

  “Hang on, Clint. Got a hunch.”

  Clint paused as his end of the phone went silent. He heard Lexi’s muffled voice in the background, but couldn’t make out anything she was saying
.

  When Sam came back to the line, he was just laughing.

  “What was that all about?”

  “Lex finally got a bead on Sara Milligan’s home address.”

  “Uh-huh… And?”

  “She lives at 1517 Ravenswood Court.”

  “No way. That was her house, the third location?”

  “Yep.”

  “And this is the chick who was visiting him in prison?”

  “Sure was. And other than Charlie, she’s the only person we’ve been able to track down from his past.”

  “Looks like we need to pay Ms. Milligan a visit, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah,” Sam said pensively. “But if she’s involved with him –”

  “We have to believe she’s involved with him. He’s spending nights there.”

  “Exactly. Anyway, that being the case, she’s likely to be on the defensive. Especially if she’s connected to the research project.”

  “Huh. I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “I’ll bring Lexi and Leesha up to speed, and let’s all sleep on this,” Sam said. “We’ll need to come up with a plan. I’d like to try and make contact with her this weekend. Or at least during break.”

  “What about Jade?”

  “Well, I hate to admit it, but she may be our key to extracting information out of her.”

  “Can’t you tap into her mind?”

  “Maybe. But she can probably help in getting her to talk or think about whatever it is we need to know.”

  “I just wish we had a better handle on controlling her powers,” Clint pointed out.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  “Looks like we’ve got some work to do.”

  “Sure does.”

  They hung up the phone and three minutes later Clint’s phone beeped. He picked it up to read Sam’s text:

  Meet at our house after school.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Sam and Leesha were at the kitchen table when Clint knocked and walked right in.

  “Hey, man.”

  “Hi, Clint.”

  His response was almost a grunt as he handed Leesha a piece of paper and plopped down in the chair.

  I’ll pretend not to notice the glance she shot at him. I know they’re talking about me.

  “I’m sorry Clint,” Leesha reached over and touched his arm. “They’ll be back soon.”

  “What time?”

  “9:30 last night,” Leesha answered Sam, then turned to compare this new log to his older ones. “Seriously Clint, you’re really making progress.”

  Progress! Right.

  He sat there in silence listening to the other two make plans for contacting Sara.

  “So the question of the hour is whether or not Sara is working with him,” Leesha said. “We know she knew Carl Blevins, but we need to find out if she knows Donald Crain.”

  “She moved from Birmingham to St. Louis to be with him,” Sam said. “You don’t think she knew what – or who – she was moving here for?”

  “I don’t know, Sam. But Charlie never mentioned he had a new identity. He could be hiding this from her, too.”

  “Hmm… Valid point.” Sam agreed. “What about this? Now that we know where Crain is at all times, let’s find a time when Sara is home alone. I’ll dress up as a messenger and deliver a package to Dr. Crain.”

  “If she takes it –”

  “We know she’s aware of his identity change. If she doesn’t know who we’re asking for, she’ll just say I must have the wrong address. I turn around and leave. No harm, no foul.”

  “If she doesn’t know who Dr. Crain is, that could mean she has no idea of what he’s doing.”

  Sam smiled. “Exactly. My guess is, as secretive as he is, she doesn’t have a clue. I mean, think about it. If they’ve been together this long, why does he still have his own apartment? I have to think he’s keeping a separate life, to some extent, for a reason.”

  “We could always put a tracking device on her car,” Clint said, breaking his sullen silence. “That would at least tell us if she’s spending any time at his home or office before the weekend rolls around.”

  “That might work,” Sam said. “It would at least indicate how much he allows her into his life.”

  “Do you want to drive over real quick and see if her car is there? Hey, where’s Lexi?”

  “It took you that long to ask?” Leesha grinned. “Welcome back. I’m glad to see you’re snapping out of your funk.”

  “Shut up.”

  “She’s at cheer practice,” Sam answered, looking up at the clock. “She’ll be back in a few. We can take her car once she gets home.”

  Cheer practice? How did I not know she’s a cheerleader? I think I’ll start watching high school sports again.

  Sam kicked his shin under the table. Clint just grinned.

  Five minutes later, Lexi burst into the side door in a frenzy of energy. “Sorry I’m late, guys. What’s the plan?”

  “We’re heading over to Sara’s house right now to put a GPS tracker on her car,” Leesha said. “We’ll watch her activity this week to see if she spends any time at either of Crain’s places.”

  “We’re trying to see if she’s a part of Crain’s life – his life with his new identity,” Sam added. “If we don’t know anything by this weekend, we’ll try to make contact directly with her.”

  “Wasn’t Crain supposed to go real estate shopping this week?” Lexi asked.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Because, Sam, if he’s making major decisions like this –”

  “It would make sense to include her in the shopping,” Leesha finished her sentence. “Of course!”

  “So do you think they’re shopping for houses together?”

  “We’ll know for sure this week,” Leesha turned to Sam to answer. “If there’s no logical connection between Sara and Crain, we’ll move on to plan B.”

  “What’s plan B?”

  Sam looked at Lexi. “We go and talk to her.”

  The room got silent again.

  Great. They’re talking about me again. I’m sure Sam’s telling Lexi I’m down again. Fantastic.

  Lexi tossed her keys to Sam. “Okay, let’s do this!”

  “Clint, do you have your GPS kit?” Sam asked, catching the keys.

  “I don’t travel without it anymore. I’ll grab it from my bike.”

  By the time he had gotten the small case from his bike, Clint turned around to see Sam moving the driver’s seat of the bug forward to help Leesha into the back seat. Lexi was headed toward the passenger door.

  Just looking at her hurts today.

  She reached to open the door and his long arm grabbed it from her. He reached down to pop the seat forward and as Clint stepped back to let her by, Lexi turned and put her palm against his chest.

  I know that should feel comforting, like when Leesha patted me. But with Lexi, it feels different.

  Her green eyes met his, filled with more compassion than words could express. “Hang in there,” she whispered, then turned to join Leesha in the backseat.

  “Wipe that stupid grin off your face,” Sam projected to Clint as he shut the door.

  His smile only got bigger as he snapped his seat belt in place.

  The neighborhood was lively as they pulled in. It was before four o’clock, so there was no work traffic yet, but the season’s first heavy snow had bundled kids outside enjoying the flurry.

  Sam drove slowly by Sara’s house. “Jackpot! She’s home, and she’s alone. I see one car in the garage, so that makes it less complicated.”

  “Clint, give me a device,” Lexi reached around the seat, hand upturned. “I’ll slip in and out in no time. Passenger front wheel well, right?”

  “Uh, yes,” but he didn’t immediately hand the black button to her. The guys shot each other knowing glances.

  Sam turned around. “Lexi, I don’t want you going alone. Leesha, can you go with her?”

  “Sure.”
<
br />   “Sam, I’ll be fine. No one will see me.”

  “Listen, the snow is going to make things a little more difficult. People may not be able to see you, but you’re more than likely going to leave footprints. The way it’s coming down, I don’t think they’ll stick long, but if someone notices your movement, I want you protected.”

  I wish I could be the one to protect her.

  “I’ll keep an eye and ear on you the whole time,” Sam said, parking the car in front of an empty house with a realtor’s sale sign in the yard. “Keep talking to me, and I’ll let you know if I see anything you need to steer clear of.”

  “Okay,” they said in unison.

  “Get in and out as quickly as you can.”

  Lexi grabbed Leesha’s hand and they instantly disappeared from sight. Clint jumped when he felt Lexi’s fingers trace lightly across his cheek, then reach down and grab the button. There was the brushing whisper of them sliding across the seats to exit the car, through the bug’s metal wall.

  No door slams. No motion. Other than the fact our car is sitting here in front of a house for sale, we really aren’t attracting any attention.

  The car sat two houses away from Sara’s, and the boys watched as two sets of footprints made their way quickly across the front lawns. Kids were running and playing everywhere as the snow fell, so the new tracks would soon be trampled over.

  Ugh. I hate this.

  Clint leaned forward and put his forehead against the dash.

  “Look, I know you wish you were with her…”

  “It’s not just that, Sam. I feel like I’m back to square one. I’m sitting here helpless. There’s nothing I can do! What if something goes wrong? I’m powerless to stop it.”

  “Be patient, Clint –”

  “Would everyone quit telling me to be patient?! I’m sick of hearing that. And don’t tell me I’m making progress. I’m not making progress today, when it would matter!”

  The car was silent for a few seconds.

  “Are you done yelling yet?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Listen, I know you’re angry. I’ve been there. We all have. But trust me, we know from our experiences how this is going to play out for you. You will eventually keep your powers longer and longer, and they will finally stick for good.”