Brute Justice (Justice Series) Read online

  “Okay, whatever.”

  “And believe it or not, you ARE helping us, with or without your powers.”

  “How?”

  “First of all, with your electronics knowledge. We couldn’t be tracking Sara or the doc without your equipment. Plus, I wouldn’t have been able to install the security system to protect my family without you. So, thank you.”

  “It’s no problem.”

  “And more importantly, your flash logs are giving us more information on what is happening to us. If and when we find others, we’ll be even more prepared to help them understand.”

  “Okay.” Clint let out a sigh wrought with frustration.

  They got quiet again, focusing on the snow covered yards, waiting to see the retreating footsteps. What they saw instead made both of them sit straight up in their seats. Lexi and Leesha were visible, walking quickly down the street. Lexi’s face was covered in tears.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Both boys were instantly out of the car.

  “What’s wrong?” Clint asked, concern marking his features.

  Leesha popped the seat forward to help Lexi into the back. “She lost her powers,” she said quietly to Clint, knowing Sam could hear her just as well.

  “Oh.” Well, I know how that feels. Wow. I thought she was done.

  “When?” Sam asked, swiveling from the driver’s seat as he shut the door behind him.

  “Right after we had cleared the garage door.”

  “So the device is planted?”

  “Yes, Sam,” she scowled at him. “We got the job done.”

  “Okay, that’s good. Let’s get her home, then.” Sam glanced back at his sister, who had her forehead against the window, her cheeks still wet with tears.

  “Wait!” Clint said to Sam as he started the engine. He turned around to Leesha. “How far away did you get before you appeared?”

  “Not far at all. We had literally just stepped through the side door of the garage.”

  I wonder what would have happened if she had lost her abilities a split second earlier. As they were passing through something solid…

  Clint shuddered. He released the door handle and turned toward the house.

  “Where are you going?” Sam asked.

  “Meet me over on the next street. We need to get this car out of here before we attract too much attention, but I want to do a quick sweep around the house.”

  “Why?”

  “He had cameras on Charlie’s house. You don’t think he’s done the same thing here? If he has, we have to find out. We need to know if he can see the two of them outside Sara’s house.”

  “Oh. Right.” Sam nodded. “Okay, but be quick. I’m ready to get out of here!”

  Nothing else was said. Clint left the group and discreetly walked among the hordes of children throwing snowballs and sledding in the yards. He circled the house and passed through the lot behind to meet the car waiting at the curb.

  Yanking the door open, he flipped the passenger seat forward and nodded for Leesha to move to the front. Once he got himself folded into the backseat, he reached for Lexi’s shoulder and she turned to face him. Her head collapsed against his chest and he wrapped his long arms protectively around her.

  He caught Sam’s glare in the rear view mirror.

  You’ve got bigger things than this to worry about, man. There are cameras at all the doors. If Crain hasn’t already seen them by now, he will soon. You saw how quickly he worked when he saw us in Arizona…

  The drive back was quiet. Clint knew Sam and Leesha were discussing the new wrinkle the security cameras presented, but he didn’t care to be a part of the planning for now. His mind was on Lexi.

  I wish I knew what to do for her.

  “I know how you feel, Lexi,” he whispered in her ear.

  She wiped her face dry and took a deep breath. “I know. Thanks. I’ll be fine.”

  “You sure?”

  She nodded. “Thanks. How much danger did I put us in, if he sees us?”

  “First of all, you didn’t do anything… At least not on purpose. Don’t put this on yourself.”

  She looked up at Clint, her green eyes blinked with relief and gratitude.

  “And secondly, don’t worry about that just yet. We don’t know that he’ll see you. Why would he even suspect we were at Sara’s?”

  “I don’t know, but why would he have suspected we were at Charlie’s? And you saw how he reacted to that.”

  “True, but he was able to track us then. Our lack of mobility is what tipped him off. He’s not able to do that now. We’re a step ahead of him this time.”

  “If he does see us, do you think Sara will be in danger?”

  “There’s no way to tell. But she’s not given us any info yet, so why would he be angry at her? Did you two say anything he might have heard through surveillance bugs?”

  “No. We were silent the whole time in the garage. Then as soon as we reappeared, we only looked at each other – shocked – and took off for the car.”

  “Good.”

  “Why is that good?”

  “Because you didn’t leave any evidence that we’ve actually made contact with Sara. That she’s working with us.”

  “Oh. Okay. But Clint?”

  “Yes?”

  “If she does get in trouble with him?”

  “If she does, and she’s had no part in this, we’ll protect her.”

  “Just like Charlie,” Lexi smiled hesitantly.

  “Just like Charlie.”

  He followed the Volkswagen as it turned out of the middle class neighborhood. His old, beat up pick-up was not showy, so it blended in well with the traffic as he tailed them back to the Dixon house. They’d never notice him.

  He got a good look at the foursome’s efforts, the way the two girls worked together was impressive, he thought to himself. He wasn’t sure why they appeared as they left the house, but from the look on their faces, it wasn’t intentional. He toyed with the idea of stepping out of the truck to get a closer look, but with all the kids playing in the neighborhood, there were simply too many people around.

  “Okay, so I know Sam’s the one with heightened senses, his sister Lexi has invisibility,” he said to himself, tuning his radio to a different rock station. “Leesha can move objects with her mind and Clint can pretty much do anything physical when his strength is in full force.”

  He was checking off the facts as he moved through the evening commute. He’d been tailing them long enough to have witnessed all of them as they tested and used their powers.

  “And Jade… Lovely Jade,” he grinned, “the persuasive powers on that one! I wish I could have seen her in action in the early days. I’ll bet it would have been interesting to see her use her abilities without knowing she had them. Her mind interests me the most. I wonder how it works.”

  Finally he settled on a station which wasn’t running commercials. He switched on his headlights, as nightfall was taking too much of the light to maneuver safely without them. He dropped further back, not wanting to be spotted. He already knew the final destination, but was anxious to get there so he could eavesdrop on the conversation of Sam, Clint, Leesha and Lexi.

  “And last but not least, the man formerly known as Carl Blevins is now Donald Crain. Medical extraordinare. Experiment machine. He’s been watching the four. The four have been watching him. This much is clear. What isn’t, though, is which side is the good side?”

  There was still so much he didn’t know, so much to uncover before he determined his next move. He could only get a small amount of information from the peripheral. Thanks to his flash drive, he was able to gather all of the data from Leesha’s computer one weekend as the group worked, but left quickly after getting what he wanted. He did the same at Crain’s office, once he knew the address from Leesha’s notes.

  “I need to spend more time watching each of the players. I have to find out if either side is worth reaching out to. Whose motives are for the bet
ter good?” Almost as an afterthought, he muttered: “And whose house were we just at? What were they doing there?”

  He shook his head as he turned into the neighborhood he knew housed the Dixon residence. Parking in his usual spot, he quietly exited the truck, followed the shadows up to the side door and let himself in.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Once they got back to the house, Clint went straight to his laptop to check the signal from Sara’s car.

  I should have done this earlier. Could have in the car, but I forgot all about it. Damn women, sucking the focus out of your brain!

  He smiled.

  “There’s the proof,” Clint announced as the others settled into seats, joining him in the living room. “Mission accomplished. Great job, gals!”

  “Great job. Right.” Lexi huffed. “Isn’t there any way you can hack into the surveillance system and erase the few seconds of footage that reveals us?”

  “I’m not that good.”

  “It’s okay Lex,” Sam said. “We’ll be able to tell from the patterns – both Crain’s and now Sara’s – if he knows something is up. Right now he’s headed back to his place. I would think if he were suspicious of Sara or the activity at her place, he’d make a beeline there.”

  “Agreed,” Leesha said. “We saw how fast he got to Arizona when he knew we were there with Charlie.”

  “I just don’t want anything to happen to her because of me,” Lexi sighed. “You know what he’s capable of! We had to grab Charlie’s family from the kidnappers he sent, and then he killed the kidnappers…” She shuddered.

  Leesha patted Lexi’s knee. “We’ll keep an eye on the situation. If nothing has happened by the weekend, we’ll go and confront her. We need some answers.”

  “What if she hasn’t got any?”

  “We’ll figure out what to do next,” Clint said, trying to give her a reassuring smile.

  Just then the front door opened and Marcy Dixon walked in with her arms full of groceries. “Oh, hi kids!”

  “Hi Mom,” Lexi stood up and went to help her mom unpack the bags.

  “Thanks honey,” she said, and turned towards the family room. “Clint, your dad called me today.”

  “He did? Why?”

  “He told me he’ll be out of town for a while, starting this weekend. He asked if we would keep an eye out for you while he’s gone.”

  “Uh… Thanks, Mrs. D, but you don’t have to feel obligated. I can take care of myself.”

  “Nonsense, Clint. I told him you’ll be staying here with us until he returns.”

  “That’s not –”

  “It’s not negotiable, Clint.” She waved him off. The matter was closed. “I won’t have you staying alone.”

  Lexi smiled for the first time since they had gotten home.

  Well, alrighty then.

  “Dad, you didn’t have to call Mrs. Dixon today.” Clint set his backpack in the corner and plopped down in the recliner. The football game was on, but the volume was low so Hank could review revisions to a training manual sitting on his lap.

  “Huh?” He looked up at his son.

  “You know I’m fine to stay here alone.”

  “What are you talking about? I only asked her to check in on you every now and again.”

  “Well, apparently that’s not good enough for her. It looks like I’ll be staying there while you’re gone.”

  “Oh. Sorry pal. I didn’t mean to stick my nose-” he stopped mid-sentence. “Why are you smiling like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like some goofy kid who just got a new prize. I figured you’d be mad I even called. I know how you like to feel independent.”

  “Naw, Dad. It’s fine.”

  “Wait… Come back here! What are you grinning about?”

  “Nothing, Dad.” Clint shook his head and turned toward his bedroom, knowing he needed to study for his final tomorrow.

  I’d much rather be watching the game.

  He reached down to plug his laptop in to charge the battery. Unpacking his books, he sat down at his desk and looked around for his scientific calculator.

  Where did I put that? Oh. There it is. Wait… What is this?

  Clint stretched across his desktop to grab his calculator. Gingerly, he brought it closer to his narrowed eyes.

  Is that a… hair?

  His long fingers reached down and pulled a strand of red, shiny fiber lying between the seven and eight key. He twirled it between his thumb and index finger.

  Sure looks like hair. It’s not mine. Do I know any redheads?

  His mind wandered through his chemistry class, then his geometry class, but he could think of no one whose head this could belong to. He flipped the calculator over.

  Did I loan this to anyone?

  He shrugged it off, rationalizing that it must have dropped from someone at school, but couldn’t completely shake the uneasy feeling in his gut. He shook his head and opened his textbook.

  Two hours later, bleary-eyed, he slammed his book shut and called it a night. His steno was full of notes on organic chemistry, but his mind still hadn’t cleared from the uneasy feeling he had gotten when he sat down. He glanced down at the calculator and the hair he had carefully placed on a light yellow sticky note and picked up his cell. He texted Sam.

  Hey. What color is Crain’s hair?

  It didn’t take longer than about twenty seconds and his phone beeped.

  Salt and pepper. Dark brown with gray. Why?

  Clint shook his head again, trying to forget what felt like a chill of suspicion. He stared at his phone’s screen. Quickly he keyed in his response.

  Nothing. No worries.

  What the hell am I sitting here stewing about?

  In frustration more than anything else, he grabbed the sticky note, crumpled it and threw it into the trash can.

  “Everything okay, Bud?”

  He jumped at his dad’s voice. “Yeah, sure Dad. You off to bed?”

  “Yep. Early morning tomorrow.”

  “Chiefs win?”

  “Sure did, pal. You missed a good one!”

  “I’d rather have been watching the game than up here studying,” Clint shrugged.

  “I know. But I’m glad to see you buckling down, working on your grades. College is just over a year away, you know.”

  “Yeah, yeah. So you tell me. Night, Dad.”

  “Night, Clint. Love you. Don’t stay up too late.”

  “I won’t. Love you, too.”

  As he heard his dad shut the bathroom door, Clint leaned back in his chair, trying to clear his head. He heard an engine start in the street and glanced out the window to see the tail lights of a truck pulling away from the duplex down the street.

  Just then his phone beeped. It was a text from Lexi. The attachment was the picture of Crain’s face she captured at his office. She also had a note.

  Looking forward to seeing you Friday.

  He smiled and forgot his worries.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  After Lexi’s text, the rest of the week was excruciatingly long. Finals went as well as Clint could hope, and after long last, the holiday break began.

  Knowing he could always run back to his house, Clint didn’t over-pack for his stay at the Dixons. He parked the Bronco in the street and grabbed his one duffel bag from the passenger seat and headed up the front sidewalk. The curtains next to the door parted and he saw her long hair and left eye peek through the window.

  Just what I’ve been waiting for.

  And with that, the door cracked and Sam’s stern face popped right out the opening.

  Great. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

  “Well, deal with it. And watch your step, cause you know I’ll be watching yours,” Sam glared at him.

  “Shut it, Sam.” Lexi shoved her brother out of the way and opened the door fully for Clint. “Here, let me get your bag.”

  “I got it, Lex. Thanks.” He smiled at her, masking his internal t
houghts from Sam’s intrusive mind.

  “You’re going to be downstairs,” Lexi started for the stairs. “Mom’s got the bed set up and you’ll have your own bathroom.”

  It’s like staying at my own hotel. With home cooking. And eye candy.

  Sam’s fist caught him between the shoulder blades.

  Yep. Gotta watch that…

  Sam’s grunt followed him down the stairs.

  Clint looked around the family room. It was an eclectic variety of furnishings fit for a bonus basement room. An air hockey table, one that could be transitioned into a variety of different games, sat in one corner. The couch was unfolded and completely decked in holiday flannel sheets and extra pillows.

  Wow. Mrs. D really does it up right for guests.

  “Leesha and Jade will be here shortly,” Lexi said, sitting down on the corner of the hide-a-bed.

  “Jade?” Why is Jade coming over?

  Sam nodded in agreement to Clint’s question. “I know. But we may need her this weekend if we want to pick Sara’s brain.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Have you been watching the traffic?”

  “Yeah. I’ve really seen nothing out of the ordinary. He’s not been near Sara.”

  “Exactly,” Sam agreed. “You don’t think it’s strange they didn’t spend any time together?”

  “Um… No. Why?”

  “Clint!” Lexi looked at him, shocked. “He shopped for houses! And offices.”

  “Oh, right. I forgot. So?”

  “So… It means she’s not shopping for a new home with him.” Lexi crossed her arms, almost as if she were the one slighted.

  “So she’s not moving,” Clint shrugged. “It’ll make it easier to keep track of her, won’t it?”

  “Yes, blockhead. It’ll make it easier to keep track of her,” Sam said. “It also means she’s probably not aware that Crain’s trying to move. To disappear. To camouflage.”