“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you crazy woman. He says he needs to talk about something so we’ll talk eventually, I guess. It’s that simple.”
Jessie gives me a look that tells me she thinks it’s anything but simple but she lets it go for now. “Why are we walking when we could be teleporting Gavy?”
“Because I thought we were having a nice conversation, besides it’s pretty nice out tonight.”
“Puh-lease! I’m freezing my ass off over here. Besides, it’s at least another five miles to your house.”
“Wow you’ve gotten really high maintenance and lazy! I need to talk to Parker about spoiling you with cars and warmth. He’s making me look bad.”
We’re still giggling when we land in the living room of my parents’ house, where Dad’s watching some war documentary. “Did you girls have fun?”
“Mr. Fleming, you would not believe what your daughter has put me through tonight!” Jessie starts dramatically. “Let me just tell you it was awful!”
I bust out laughing as she launches into a harrowing tale of the tortures I put her through tonight. And when she’s done, Dad just sits there for a moment as if needing to collect his thoughts before speaking, “Well now that doesn’t sound like the daughter I raised. Making her friend walk so far in the freezing cold.” He scoffs, “Gavenia, you should be ashamed of yourself!”
I laugh even louder, “It’s not my fault she’s lazy and gets cold easily! Seems like more of a personal problem to me.”
Jessie gives me a wide grin before flinging herself at me. We roll around for a few minutes, neither of us wanting to use our chip to gain the advantage just yet. She uses hers first and gains some ground for a few seconds but I wrestle her quickly back to the ground. “Ahem.” I look up and see Mom staring down at us with one of her famous glares. “You girls are worse than Reid and Corey sometimes. You should both know better! Get off the floor we’ve got a visitor. He’s a nice young lad, so I suggest you find your manners before you come into the kitchen.”
And with that she turns and heads back into the kitchen. You would think with my job that my parents would be more suspicious of strangers, but apparently they are undeterred by the amount of danger they could be in at any given time. My eyes roll when my check of who’s in the kitchen comes up with Jackson Adair. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Jessie gives me a wide smile, “Jackson’s here, isn’t he?”
I give her a glare and head for the kitchen ignoring her gleeful noises. “Jackson, what are you doing in my parents’ house?”
“I told you we needed to talk. I thought now would be as good a time as any.”
“So talk. It’s been a long day.”
His gaze goes between Mom and Jessie, “Alone.”
“Mom, could you give us some privacy?”
“Of course, dear,” she says, walking up to me and giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Be nice, I like him,” she whispers in my ear before leaving the room.
He looks over at Jessie and back at me with a raised eyebrow, “Jessie stays. It’ll save time later when I tell her what you wanted.”
Jackson sighs as if it’s a big concession letting Jessie stay, “Okay. I guess you guys should take a seat then.” He waits for us to sit before continuing, “I’m not sure how much you guys know about how they’re making new chipped now, but it’s pretty gruesome.”
“What do you mean? I mean I know they’ve started targeting younger dyslexics in the hopes that they can get more of us out on the streets and in the field to help the pressure in some areas, but I haven’t heard of anything gruesome.” Jessie says.
“So they aren’t telling you guys everything. That’s a bit of a relief.”
“Jackson, what are you talking about?” I ask anxiously.
He took a deep breath before continuing, “You guys know about the younger chipped coming in, but the Urics started taking kids that weren’t dyslexic and trying to chip them. It didn’t work out for most of them but the twelve that survived, out of the hundreds that were slaughtered, are said to be some of the most powerful chipped there are. Maybe even as powerful if not more powerful than you, Gavy.
“Because of this new intelligence, Lastner had been fighting for permission to start doing the same thing here. And about six months ago the President gave her the permission she needed. They’ve been working their way through some of the brightest minds in the country. All volunteers, all dead. My kid sister, Maralee, is sixteen and has her bachelor’s in biological engineering and computer science. She has one of the highest IQs ever recorded and Lastner’s lackies have been relentless in their attempt to recruit her. That’s why I left the Navy. I have to protect her because pretty soon they’re just going to take her whether she wants to go or not and I can’t lose her. Is there anything that you can do to help?”
The desperation in his voice causes tears to well up in my eyes. “I’ll start looking into everything you’ve just told me. I knew about the Urics, but I didn’t know that Lastner had gotten permission to go outside of dyslexic people. I didn’t think we would ever start simply because it results more often in death than what is deemed necessary. I’ll try my hardest to save your sister.”
“What do you want me to do Boss?” I turn to Jessie, whose eyes are filled with fresh tears too.
“When we get back we’ll fill Parker in on what’s going on and see what he has to say about it. He has a lot of friends in that department so he could find out what’s really going on over there. Listen to me though Jessie, I won’t ask either of you to do this if you aren’t comfortable doing it. I wouldn’t think any less of you if you didn’t want to do this, you know that right?”
“Of course I know that, but it doesn’t change anything. I’m still helping and so will Parker. I know he will.”
“So when do we leave?” Jackson asks.
“Oh no. There is no ‘we’ that includes you. You should go home and protect your sister, and Jessie, Parker, and I will look into things and go from there. We’ll keep you in the loop but you can’t be seen around because they’ll make the connection and go for you sister that much quicker.” Jackson starts to speak but I cut him off, “Jackson, I get it, you want to keep your kid sister from this terrible fate, but you have to sit back and be patient. Let us do some research and then we’ll go from there.”
His head drops into his hands and he rubs his face and hair with his hands before lifting his head and looking up at me, “Please just save her.”
I surprise myself when I reach out for him, to comfort him. “Jackson, we’ll do everything we can to save her.” He nods and stands to leave; I stand with him walking over to him. I wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest. I can feel his surprise but it doesn’t take him long to return my hug, squeezing me tightly to him. “Don’t worry, Jackson, we will save her,” I say in a muffled voice.
He gives me a quick peck on the top of my head, “I know you will, Gavy.”
Author: Kailan Counahan 