Travis Starnes
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No Good Deed (Destiny Saga #5) - Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2017-12-18 12:56:31 +0000 UTC We returned late Saturday night from our outing to Houston. Rachel offered to ride with Jawarski, so I could ride with the girls on the way back. She said she was curious as to what being a cop was like, and wanted to ask Jawarski questions on the way back; but I was pretty sure one of the girls convinced her to switch, so I could ride back with them. Which suited me fine.The harder part was convincing Jawarski that it was ok for me to ride back with them. Eventually, it was Rachel who won Jawarski over. She really did seem enthusiastic about getting to ride with my shadow, so maybe it wasn’t a sham after all. We had to promise to stay right with Jawarski the whole time, and not lose her, which we agreed to … although at that point, I would have agreed to just about anything to be able to ride home with the girls.
Zoe drove and I rode next to her, with Tami and Vicki in the back. We chatted about all kinds of things, but the lion's share was taken by the three of them excitedly filling me in on their plans for New Life. They hadn’t been hiding anything, but even I had to admit my attention had been pulled in so many directions over the last five months - what with all the stuff the company was up to, and the whole business with the CPS - that they hadn’t wanted to bother me until they were further along.
They had taken my idea of making local locations for things like food distribution and clinics and had run with it. Beyond planting the idea, I hadn’t been overly specific, and I don’t think they understood I had imagined separate, much smaller facilities, and not some massive branded center. But Zoe had a point that if one of the goals of New Life was to foster goodwill among the general populace as a bulwark against the day the truth of us came out. When that finally happened, this type of branding would be invaluable.
Tami was breaking down some of the thing's she’d been working out in Houston, over the food distribution, when Zoe spoke up.
“Uh-oh,” she said, looking in the mirror behind her.
I twisted in my seat to try and see what she was looking for and said, “What?”
I couldn’t see anything behind us, which I hadn’t been thinking about, but she realized there was a problem.
“I lost Rachel and Beth,” she said, continuing to look behind her.
I twisted around again and, sure enough, there were still no cars following us.
“She’s going to be so pissed at me when they catch up,” I said as we turned off into our neighborhood.
“I’m the one driving,” Zoe pointed out.
“I know, but she likes you guys. Hell, she likes pretty much everyone but me. She’ll definitely pin the blame on this squarely on me.”
“That’s not her fault though,” Tami pointed out from the back seat.
I made a grimace as we pulled into the driveway.
“I know, and I’ll just take my ass chewing like a good boy, but knowing why it’s happening doesn’t make me like it anymore.”
I slid out of the car and let Vicki out while Zoe did the same on her side.
“Think of all the benefits you get from your ... ‘condition’ though,” Zoe said, grabbing my hand to console me.
“I guess those almost ...” I started to say, and then stopped at a rustling coming from the side of my house.
I pulled Zoe around behind me, blocking her body with my own while I tried to see through the inky darkness on that side of the house. I was shocked to see the preacher burst past the shrubs next to the house and come storming towards us.
“What the hell?”
“Hell is right,” he said, stopping right in front of me, finger shaking in my face. “That is where you come from, devil spawn. I know what you are doing in this house of sin, corrupting the minds of these girls.”
“As opposed to convincing their parents to allow you to rape them you wrinkly old...” Tami yelled out from my left shoulder and then stopped in surprise as the preacher lurched for her.
My reaction was automatic. I pressed out with both hands square on his chest and pushed with every ounce of force I could muster. All my previous fights had been controlled, precise, thanks to Levi’s training. This was the first time I had acted out with raw force against someone since the change, and the effect shocked me.
The preacher lifted off his feet and sailed in a fifteen-foot arc through the air before landing with a rough thump, skidding across the grass. I surged forward, ready to do what I should have from the beginning, and damn the consequences when a pair of hands grabbed me from behind in a vice-like grip.
“Back off, Caspian,” Jawarski’s voice sounded from over my shoulder.
I didn’t know when she got there, but that was enough to get me to pull back. She released me and stormed over to the preacher.
“I’m going to sue,” he yelled as he got up.
“The hell you will,” Jawarski said. “I saw everything. You were attacking a minor, and he stepped in to defend her. We, however, will be filing for assault in the morning. If you try anything else, I won't stop him from making jail a moot point.”
The preacher grumbled but backed away from Jawarski’s fiery grip. He made a few more choice comments, comparing me with the Devil and then ran to a car parked a few houses down.
“Thanks,” I said as Jawarski walked back. “Do you think an assault charge would stick? He didn’t even lay a hand on her.”
“I told you to ride with me,” she said angrily, not answering my question. “Go get in the house before you get into any more fights.”
I saw the tail lights brighten as the preacher's car turned on and watched him drive away before turning and heading into the house.
Mom was waiting by the front window when we came inside. I went to dump my back pack in my room while Mom got the rundown on what had just happened from Jawarski, and was contemplating just going to bed when she yelled for me to come back downstairs.
“This is the last straw, Cas. I agree with Beth, we need to move somewhere more secure. Between that guy and the Syndicate, not even having your own bodyguard is working.”
“He wouldn’t have been able to lay a finger on Tami. We were never in danger.”
“What if he’d had a gun, and decided it was worth jail time to kill you? You’re able to heal fast, but we’ve already clearly seen that you aren’t invincible. What if he’d decided to shoot Tami instead? What if Beth hadn’t stopped you from beating him to death? No, I just can’t take this anymore.”
I opened my mouth to protest again and stopped when Zoe put a hand on my elbow. When I looked at her, she gave a slight shake of her head.
“Ok, fine,” I said, defeat in my voice. “We can look for a place to build this compound Jawarski wants. We’re going to have to figure out what to do about school and everything, though.”
“We have a little time for that,” Mom said. “I’ll go down next week and talk to the principal. We'll find out what our options are. It takes probably until the end of the school year to build what Beth is talking about, so we have time to figure it out.”
“Ok. You win. I agree. I’m going to bed.”
Mom looked at me with an expression of sympathy as I walked upstairs. It wasn’t that I had anything specific against moving somewhere, even out of town. I’d miss the friends we’d made, of course. But we would be within driving distance so they would have the chance to come visit. Mom had custody of me, Tina, Tami and Judy in addition to Zoe, so we’d all remain together. And it was a safe bet Vicki and her mom would end up moving with us. Her mom wasn’t working yet, although we’d talked about finding a place for her in the company; but it felt like we were being run out of town, and that didn’t sit well with me. Not even a little bit.
I got up fairly early the next morning but wasn’t allowed to go for a run. Jawarski had one of Carter’s guys sitting in the living room drinking a cup of coffee so she could get some sleep, and he definitely didn't seem like the running type. And it was pretty clear Mom wasn’t going to let me go out and run by myself.
I was a little disappointed. I’d grown to enjoy the runs after something like last night happened, so I could clear my head and think. I found the morning runs a great way to reflect. But I understood her point.
I sat down at Zoe’s computer and logged into my email account, just killing time while I waited for everyone else to get up and our day to get started. I was surprised to see an email from a sender that I didn’t recognize. The subject just said ‘Here’s what you asked for’ and the email contained the name and an address.
Damion Sanford.
That had to be the judge coming through with the name of a low-level member of the syndicate that I asked for. I went to the house phone and dialed Jawarski.
“Ya,” came a sleepy voice when she answered.
“Hey, It’s Cas, I got …"
“What the hell do you want?”
“The judge came through with the name of a guy. We need to talk about how to change him and get him on our side.”
“Fine. Great. I’ll be there in a few hours.”
The connection broke suddenly. She may have said it was great, but her voice sounded more like ‘I don’t care.' I would say it’s probably because Jawarski isn’t a morning person, but it just as well might have been her hatred for me.
Either way, after last night, I didn’t want to go out gallivanting on my own after this guy just to suffer the wrath of both Jawarski and Mom, who would almost certainly back up the ex-cop. Better to cool my heels and let them do the planning, and save the battles for when something important came up.
True to her word, Jawarski showed in just under an hour. I was sitting with Mom when she let herself in. Considering she was now responsible for the entire family’s safety, she didn’t really need to go around knocking anymore.
“Shut up and let me talk to Angela about this,” she said to me as I started to stand up and greet her. “So Angela, has Cas told you his latest reckless idea?”
“We were just discussing it. In this case, I’m going to have to side with Caspian. We do need to get a better handle on who’s messing with us, and this seems like the only valid option. I’m fine with it as long as he’s not involved in any personal way.”
“I’m going to have to be involved once he’s changed,” I protested.
“Yes, fine, although not by yourself. But everything else needs to be done by someone else.”
“I was thinking about that,” Jawarski interjected. “The deal last time of using one of his friends was extremely risky. Between Carter and me, we can work out a way to get him infected. He knows what's going on, now; so between the two of us, we’ll be able to make this work.”
“That works for me,” Mom said happily. “Although you please be careful too.”
“I also need you guys to look into this guy's life. Once he’s changed, I’ll need an in. There has to be something about his life that isn’t shit. I’ll need some kind of leverage on him. Some reason to convince him to do the right thing.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Jawarski said, giving mom a slight smile before shooting a glare at me and heading back out, presumably to talk to Carter.
Now, of course, we were left with the waiting. Surprisingly, everything then turned back to normal for a few days; or at least, as normal as anything gets. No more visits by the preacher, and his protesters had dwindled to the point where they no longer even bothered showing up.
Of course, Josh had to go and screw the two-day peaceful streak up.
I was standing at my car talking to Zoe before she had to go to practice and I had to go to the office when I saw Josh making a beeline for me, Amanda in tow.
“Shit,” I said under my breath, causing Zoe to turn and see them coming towards us.
“What does he want?”
“Probably to follow up on the threats, he made at Thanksgiving.”
“What threats?” Zoe said, alarmed.
There was, however, no time to actually answer her, as he had made his way to us by then.
“I promised we would finish our conversation,” he said menacingly.
“Josh!” Amanda warned, catching up to them finally.
“No. You know what he’s doing. It’s bullshit. If I had even half of what he gave Zoe here, I’d be all-state this year.”
“I’ve told you, Josh, there’s no way...”
“That’s bullshit, and we both know it. Did you forget Ted’s my uncle? Who got you that job in the first place? I’ve seen him. He’s healthier than he’s ever been. You know he was on his way to needing a bypass, and now he’s totally clear? Mom says it’s a miracle. Are you trying to tell me you slept with Uncle Ted?”
To be honest, I’d completely forgotten that Josh was related to Ted. Most of the people that had been changed other than the girls didn’t intersect with school, so I never thought about other connection points.
“He’s lost a lot of the pressure he was under, since I bought out most of his company last year. Do you know how hard he worked before, and how much stress he was under? He’s just able to lead a healthier life now.”
“You have to be kidding me! Do you think I would ever believe that? Working less doesn’t fix a heart that’s already damaged.”
“Look, Josh, I don’t know what to tell you.”
He started making a move towards me until Amanda tugged him on the back of the arm. Which was probably good for him, since Jawarski, who up to this point had been seemingly uninterested, leaning against the car waiting for me to get in, pushed herself off and started to move to intercept him.
Josh was as strong as an ox, but I somehow doubted he was ready to tangle with the former Marine.
“Josh, teachers are watching. You’re already on your last warning. Come on.”
He growled and turned to glare at Amanda before stomping off. She gave Zoe a look and headed after him.
“Maybe you should just take him. It will give you enough control to be able and get him to fix his life.”
“No it won’t,” I said.
“Why? It worked with the Judge.”
“The Judge already wanted out of what he was doing. It was eating him up inside, and he felt trapped. I was just able to offer him a lifeline. Zoe, you’ve seen how everyone’s reacted who’s been changed. It’s not mind control. I can’t just go tell someone who's been changed ‘go do this ’, and they listen like a robot. It just engenders an incredible bond of trust and loyalty between me and the person. I have to find a way to use that and convince them.”
“Yeah, and?”
“And, what Josh has, deep down, is a desire to find a shortcut. He’s a good guy, don’t get me wrong; but he just wants the easiest path to anything. Cheating in classes, steroids, his wanting to be changed. It’s all from the same problem. He doesn’t want to do the work. Josh already trusted me the first time I told him no. He’s only lost that as I’ve refused to give him what he wants. A hardwired trust isn’t going to make that attitude go away.”
“I guess.”
“I’m right, Zoe. Imagine him smarter, stronger, faster and still the drive to cheat his way to get what he wants. It’d be a disaster.”
“Ok. You’re right. I’m sorry I pushed you.”
“It’s ok, I get it. Amanda's been your friend for a long time, and Josh was your friend before you met me. You don’t like seeing him pull away from us, and take Amanda with him. I totally get it. But we have to think long-term.”
She nodded, kissed me on the cheek and headed off towards practice. I watched Josh disappear back into the school and worried what Josh would do long term. Shaking my head I got in the car, followed by Jawarski, who was also looking towards the school.
“He’s going to be a problem,” she said.
“I know.”
“Ok. Also, I got word from Carter just before you came out. They were successful in infecting the syndicate guy, so now we just have to wait a day or so for it to take effect, assuming it doesn’t drive him crazy.”
“Any word from Carter on finding me some leverage to use on him?”
“Not yet.”
And the conversation ended there. Mom had started an antibody treatment on Jawarski, to try and mitigate the effects of being near me, but so far her chilly nature hadn’t changed. Unless she had something specific she needed to talk to me about, she tended to ignore me.
The next evening after I got home from work, I found Carter sitting with Mom.
“Is everything alright?”
It was a question we seemed to ask too often.
“Yeah. I’m here about the Syndicate guy. He’s showing all the signs of the change taking place, and we think we have the leverage you were looking for.”
“Good,” I said. While the percentage of negatives we’d found so far hadn’t been that large, I was still worried we’d go to change someone who’d never been around me, and it ends up killing them or driving them insane like poor Margaret. “What’s the leverage.”
“His mom. She’s the born-again ultra-religious type living in Tennessee. From the phone call, we listened to last night, he calls her once a week like clockwork, even when he’s busy emptying his stomach right before and after. She did not mince her displeasure in his criminal ways, and it seemed like it was a regular topic between the two of them.”
“And how did he respond?”
“He seemed to be genuinely bothered by it, but it’s hard to tell over a tap without seeing body language. If I had to guess, he’s a little bit of a momma’s boy who doesn’t like upsetting her, but this is all he knows. I would guess he also has similar beliefs to hers and is having trouble reconciling the two. I’ve seen this kind of thing before.”
“Ok, that should be enough. After school tomorrow, I want to sit down with him as soon as he’s somewhere I can do it and not raise too many eyebrows. Not his apartment.”
“Yeah. I’ll keep an eye out, and call you or Beth as soon as he’s at a good spot.”
“I think this is a bad idea,” Jawarski said, and the look on Mom’s face said she agreed.
“I’ll have you with me, and Carter there, plus a few of his guys. Hell, ask Levi to tag along if it will make you feel more comfortable. We’ll brace him somewhere away from other people, and after he’s gone through the change. Everything we’ve seen says that will make it really unlikely for him to try something against me. The risk is low, and I think it’s worth it. We need this information.”
“I just wish you’d let someone else talk to him.”
“That won’t work, and you know it. He has never been exposed to me directly. He wouldn’t know me well enough to attach his new found loyalty to me, just by my name alone. No. For this to work, it has to be me, and it has to be in person.”
She didn’t say anything else, but it was clear she wasn’t convinced. She might understand the reasoning intellectually, but putting someone you’re protecting in direct contact like that, has to run against all the rules for protecting them.
The call came the next day well after school while I was in the office. When Jawarski and I arrived where Carter indicated, we found him parked on a side street behind an older model sedan.
“He’s down the block at the barbershop. One of my guys is across the street with eyes on him. That’s his car right in front of us.”
“A barbershop doesn’t really seem isolated,” I pointed out.
“No, but he has to come back to his car. No one’s around, it seems like a random stop, not some kind of appointment or anything related to his work with the Syndicate. Seems as isolated as we’re going to get. I figure we wait until he gets in his car, then you two go get in. I’ve fixed it so his back doors won’t lock while we waited.”
“That’s handy,” I noted.
Carter just shrugged, continuing to watch down the street.
“I’m going with you,” Jawarski said, as a command rather than a question.
“Sure.”
We sat and waited. He must have just started getting his hair cut when we showed up because it was a full fifteen minutes before he returned to his car. As soon as he got in, Jawarski and I were out and headed to his vehicle. He had just gotten the car started when I pulled open the rear passenger door and slid into the seat, Jawarski doing the same thing on the driver’s side.
“What the hell!” he said, reaching into his coat, presumably for a gun.
Jawarski’s eyes bored into him, her gun already coming out.
“Hold it,” I said, in an as commanding voice as I could manage.
To his surprise, he stopped reaching into his suit jacket and turned to look at me.
“My name’s Caspian Grey. I don’t know if you’ve heard of me from your employers yet, but I do know you're not planning on pulling out that gun.”
His hand slowly pulled out of his suit jacket, empty.
“What do you want?”
He sounded somewhat hostile, which was understandable considering how we approached him, but at least he wasn't physically hostile.
“I just want to talk to you for a minute. I’m worried about you Damion.”
“What do you know about me?”
“I know your mother's worried about you; about your soul. You should listen to your mother, Damion.”
“Have you been bothering her?”
I gave him a smile, trying to speak to him calmly like you would a scared puppy you didn’t want to spook.
“No, I’ve never spoken to your mother; but she’s right, you know, there is only one way this lifestyle you’ve chosen ends. Tell me, do you know anyone in the Syndicate who’s retired into old age?”
“How do you...”
“And that’s just your body. I know you went with your mother to church as a child. Aren’t you concerned the preacher was right about what happens to men like you’ve become?”
I actually had no idea if he went to church as a child, but considering what Carter found out about his mother, it seemed like a safe bet.
“I mean, it’s not like that. I just...”
“Damion, you know what you do for a living. Do you think that’s what your mother wanted?”
“No,” he said, his body language changing from that of a scared dog lashing out to one who was being scolded, but then back to hostile as he tried to fight what his body was telling him. “I don’t even know why I’m listening to you?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do. Because these are all thoughts you have had before, but you’ve been too afraid to confront them. Ask yourself, deep down, do you trust what I’m saying?”
“N...yes.”
“And am I right? Are these things you’ve been too afraid to ask yourself?”
“Yes,” he said, more confidently, finally looking at me directly in something other than disgrace or hostility.
“It’s not too late to change, you know?”
“It is. You don’t walk away from these guys. Ever.”
“You could if they weren’t around anymore.”
“How? That’s not even possible. You don’t know who these people are!”
“I know enough. I know they have their hands on everything; but I also know they’re vulnerable. You can free yourself from them if you’re willing to take a chance.”
“I can’t,” he said.
“Damion, look at me.”
He looked up, and his eyes were filled with shame.
“You can. I won’t let you do it alone. I have resources of my own. I’ll help you break free, if you’re willing to help yourself.”
He was silent, staring at me for a full minute. I could see the wheels turning as he thought about the personal danger this would bring, consider why he should listen to some kid who just showed up out of nowhere, and why he was listening, feeling an overwhelming level of trust.
“What would I need to do?”
“First, tell me about the Syndicate. Everything you know. Names. What you're involved with, everything. After that we will use what you know, and what we’ve learned from other people who have dealings with the Syndicate, and we'll figure out our next step.”
Just like that, everything he knew about the men who’d hounded me started spilling out. I held eye contact as he talked, making affirmative noises as needed. I saw Jawarski pull out a small digital recorder, about the size of a Walkman and hit the record button. It hadn’t occurred to me to ask her to do that. I was glad she’d thought of it. I knew she wasn’t going to accept putting her gun down, not until she was confident he wasn’t going to be a danger to either of us, so I needed to keep his attention focused on me. The change had clearly taken effect, but it seemed to get stronger over time, and this sudden transition was a bit outside of our experience so far, making this a tricky time before we could trust him completely. Which meant we had to have some way to get the names, addresses, and actions he was familiar with, so we could look into them later.
It was becoming clear that he was a small player in the syndicate, and his information was limited. Still, it would be useful in helping us map out the players, at least in lower and mid-levels of the organization, and building up some information on them we could use later. It seemed a safe bet that we would need him to get more information for us, later down the road. This would do for now, and would give the change a little more time to cement his loyalty to us or me at least.
“That’s everything I can think of. Man, the boss is going to have me killed.”
“No, he won’t. He won’t even find out about this. Just go about your business like you never talked to me. I know they are going to ask you to do more of those things you shouldn't be doing, but for now, you should do them. Don’t let them suspect you are having a change of heart. We’ll be in contact.”
I slid out of the car, with Jawarski right behind me. She started to shut the door, but I put my hand on it, stopping her. She gave me an annoyed look, but I ignored it and leaned back in the car.
“Damion, you’re doing the right thing. I’m really proud of you. You’re on the path to getting out. Just stay strong.”
The look that I'd seen on his face as I got out had been one of extreme worry. That expression changed as I offered a little extra encouragement. I even got a smile when I told him I was proud of him. I hoped it would be enough to help him hold it together, until we could figure out what we needed from this man.
“You’re proud of him?” Jawarski asked as we walked back to our car where Carter was waiting. “You realize this guy is a scumbag?”
“He was a scumbag. He’s gone through the change, and that makes me responsible for him. Yes, we need him to get to tell us everything he knows, but I meant everything I said. I know you see him as just a tool to get what we need from these guys, but I take the responsibility of what happens when we change someone, seriously. We are genetically forcing someone to be loyal to me, without their approval in this case. I’ve accepted the necessity of that; but in return, I need to offer my loyalty to them.”
“You realize that if we manage to bring these guys down, he’s going to spend some time in jail.”
“Probably, and he’ll do it. But once he’s out, we can rehabilitate him. Isn’t that the point of putting people in jail? He’ll be in a better place once he’s out of jail, than he ever would be if we’d never picked him as the one to change. He at least has a chance, now.”
“You really are a goody-two-shoes, aren’t you,” Jarwarski said as she pulled open the front passenger door and slid in next to Carter.
“Some days,” I said, getting in behind her, “but isn’t that preferable to the alternative?”
