No ordinary hero (Keepers of justice # 1) (13 page)

Assassinate Dad?

No. That’s not true. It’s not supposed to be like this.

Scar is wrong. The
Blades plan to unleash a virus...not...no, it’s a lie.

My throat constricts. It feels like
someone slammed a fist into my stomach hard. The room’s getting dizzy. So damn dizzy.

“You’re lying,” is all I manage to say.

X shakes his head while Stretch says, “No.”

I clench my fists at my sides. They’re lies. All lies. I move toward the door.

“Where you going, Kale?” Stretch asks.

“To Scar.”

The guys follow me as I make my way to the Decoy House, out the door, and to the sewers. No one says a word. I want to punch something. To take Lightning by the throat and choke him to death. I want everything to be okay and normal. I don’t want to lose my father, too.

My feet splash against the water
y ground as I trudge through the sewers. I don’t know if the guys are behind me, until I hear them breathing. X doesn’t stop me when I make the wrong turns or pass the same spot over and over again. I don’t know, maybe he’s scared I’ll snap if he opens his mouth. But the three of us come to a stop when Blaze steps in front of us.

“You are not welcome here,” he says. “Invitation only. Scar didn’t ask to see you again.”

“I need to see him.” I’m not sure if I sound crazy, pissed, or if I look like I’m about to fall down on my knees and clasp my hands together. Maybe a mixture of all three. “Please, I need to.”

“Scar told you everything he wanted to. I think it’s best you leave.”

Let the boys in
, the familiar voice of Scar says in my mind.

Relief washes over me. I practically race
Blaze to the wall that leads to the hidden home. When the wall lifts, I dash inside, my eyes searching for none other than the king himself.

I spot him standing on the side, talking to two men. Before I re
alize what my body is doing, I lunge at him, my hands wide open, ready to wrap around his small neck.

Scar’s eyes flash to mine
, and I freeze in place. As much as I try to command my brain to move my legs, it won’t listen. “You son of a—!” I yell. “How dare you make up all these lies? Let go of me and let me show you what I think about—”

Perhaps I was mistaken to let you inside
, Scar says
. Blaze, please show these boys out. Make sure they never step foot in here again
.

“Kale,” X hisses. “Get a grip on your emotions. We won’t get anywhere with you yelling like this.”

X is right. I force myself to take a deep breath, then another and another. My gaze goes back to Scar. “Is it really true?” I ask.

Yes
. No emotion is attached to that word.

“No,” I say. “The Blades are going to release a virus that will kill all the normies. We saw that. That’s what they have planned.”

There is no indication of such. These villains indeed plan on assassinating Samson.
Again there’s no emotion.

“When? How?”

I’m afraid I do not know the answers. I only remained in your league official’s mind for a few seconds, for fear he or his telepath would sense my presence.

How convenient. The guy only knows that my dad will be murdered, but he didn’t bother to find out the when or the how. Why breach the block if he wasn’t going to find all the answers?

“Let me out of this hold so I can pummel your face into the
crappy water out there.”

The people in the room gasp. X stiffens while Stretch’s jaw drops to the floor—literally. Scar’s eyes flash again.

Show this child out
, Scar says to Blaze.

When
Blaze comes closer to me, I say, “No, wait.” I take another deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get so mad. Please, Scar, you have to help us. You have to come to the Tower and tell my dad everything you know. He won’t believe us, but he’ll believe you. Please.”

I told you I do not want to be involved in this. I placed blocks on your minds out of the goodness of my heart, as well as a favor to Ray. But in doing so, I have put my clan at risk, and I shall do no such thing again.

“Think about the future for people like us!” I say. “Think what will happen if my dad was...if my dad...” I can’t even say it. I don’t
want
to say it. “Not everyone can live in the sewers like you. How will the kids survive? How will any of us? The world won’t be a safe place for us. No one can take over my dad’s place. Lightning, my dad’s most trusted officer, is a traitor, is planning on
assassinating
him. Who else is backstabbing him? Who will look after people with powers? Don’t you get it? You’re the only one who can save my dad!”

Scar turns his back on me. He doesn’t even think about what I said. Maybe he doesn’t care. He probably doesn’t
give a crap what happens to others, as long as his family is safe. He doesn’t care that someone else’s family is about to die.

Tears gather in my eyes, and if I were able to move a muscle, I’d swipe them away before anyone
could see. But since I’m frozen, they roll down, and my sniffs fill the silent room.

“Please,” I ask, my voice so low I’m not sure anyone hear
s it. “My dad is all I have.”

Stretch comes to stand by my side. He doesn’t say or do anything, but having him near makes me feel a little better. But Scar’s back is still turned, so that means he has no intention of heading over to the Tower with us to talk to my dad.

“Please,” I ask again. “You know about my mother. You know how much my father means to me. I can’t lose him.”

Finally, Scar turns around and looks me straight in the face.
Stares at me for a few seconds, and the tears continue gushing down my cheeks, down my chin and plopping onto my T-shirt.

I will confer with some of the
others. If we believe saving Samson’s life will benefit the clan, I will speak to your father. Meet us here tomorrow morning. We will have an answer for you
.

I can’t sleep. I don’t want to. After we left Scar’s place, X, Stretch, and I returned to the Tower without saying a word. No one wanted to chill out in X’s room, or bust up zombies in the Game Room. So we separated. I went to Dad’s office and stood outside. I know I shouldn’t have pictured life without him, but I did. And I came to the conclusion that it’s not an option. My dad
can’t
die.

Why do I feel like we’re getting
crap poured on us? Why does it always have to be one problem after another? Life was so simple a year ago. There was no spy, no Blades, no Mom in a coma. And no Earth exploding.

“Kale? You awake?”

I open my eyes to see Stretch standing over my bed. I sit up and put my finger to my lips, eye signaling to Prizm, who’s snoring softly. He’s still mad at me for treating him like crap when he asked me why I acted weird. I still feel bad about it, but I’ve got bigger issues to deal with right now.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper.

“Couldn’t sleep. Came to check on you. To see if you’re okay.”

“
I’m fine,” I mutter. Even though it’s dark, I can see that he doesn’t believe me.

“Wanna get out of here?” he asks.

Not really. I don’t want to go anywhere or do anything. But I don’t want to lie in bed with all these thoughts and worries, either. “Yeah.”

I follow him into the elevator and we take it down to the kitchen. We sit around the table with glasses of water, but don’t say or do anything. We just sit there.

“He’ll do it, you know,” Stretch says after a little bit of silence. “Scar will talk to your dad.”

He sounds so positive and hopeful. I’m not so sure. I mean, Scar pretty much confirmed that he doesn’t
care what happens to Dad. He only cares about his family. “I don’t know,” I tell him. “I’d like to think he’s got some humanity in him, but I don’t know, man.” I push my hands through my hair and fist them.

Stretch doesn’t say anything.

“I kissed her,” I tell him, letting go of my hair and leaning back. “She kissed me—we kissed.” I don’t know why I blurted that out. Maybe because my life seemed relatively okay ten hours ago? Stretch’s eyes grow as wide as the globe in my history class.

“No
,” he says. I nod. “Dude.” He holds up his hand for a high-five, but I don’t move. “You gotta cheer up, Kale. Everything’s going to work out.”

“It won’t.” Not to sound pessimistic or whatever, but I really doubt
anything
is going to work out. My dad will be murdered, my mom will stay in a coma forever, and Lindsay will blow up Earth. Because I ditched her right when she felt she could trust me. She probably thinks all I wanted was to make out, and as soon as I got that, I ran.

She’ll never trust me again.
What if she gets so upset she blows up like soon?

God, I hope I didn’t screw things up.
I send her a quick text, explaining that I had stuff to deal with at home and that I’m sorry I ditched her. And that I really, really like her.

She doesn’t text back.

***

Morning takes forever to come. When it does, the guys and I slip through the Decoy House to the sewers. My feet feel like they’re on fire as they push me toward Scar’s place. My head is one big jumbled mess. Will he agree to talk to Dad? If he does, how will my father react? Will he be mad at me for not coming to him right away when I heard about the assassination plans? For putting my life and my friends’ lives in jeopardy? Will he not believe Scar and laugh in our faces?

We’re finally here. Wait, something’s wrong. No one comes out to greet us. Not Blaze, not Scar. What’s even worse is that the wall is lifted up.

“What the hell
?” X rushes inside. We follow. The place is trashed. Furniture is turned over; legs are cracked off the tables and chairs. Portraits are thrown around, papers cover the floor.

X walks further down, to the rooms. He opens each one and pokes his head inside. I’m not sure why when he can use his x-ray vision. Maybe he wants to see it close up to confirm
what we’re all freaking out about.

When he comes back, all three of us stare at each other. Finally, Stretch says, “What happened?”

“The Blades,” X says. “They trashed the place.”

It’s the only thing that makes sense.
I start pacing around. No, this can’t be happening. Scar’s clan’s been attacked by the Blades? Were they taken away? Had they escaped?

Who will save my dad now?

“But how?” I ask. “And did they escape?”

“
Who the hell knows.”

Stretch follows me as I pace around and crashes into me when I make a short stop. “What do we do now?” I ask.

X shrugs, too mad to talk, I guess. Stretch says, “I think they’re fine.”

“How you figure?”

“Scar’s a great telepath. He’d sense the Blades a mile away. And think about it. Would the place get trashed if the Blades got what they came for? They’d grab everyone and take off. But they trashed the place, either searching for something, or pissed off that Scar and his family escaped.”

I look at X. He shrugs again, his eyes getting darker and darker by the minute.

Ever since I found out about Lightning and the Blades, all I did was wait around for something to happen or for someone to do something. I didn’t
act
. I just sat there. Well, I’m done sitting.

“Where you goin’?” Stretch asks as I make my way toward the exit of the sewer house. The guys’ feet splash after me.

“Home.”

“What’re you gonna do?” Stretch asks, taking long strides to catch up to me.

“Act,” I mutter. “Kill Lightning.”

Someone grabs my arm and hauls me back. X’s face is in front of mine. “Don’t do something stupid, Kale.” I try to pull away, but he clutches the front of my T-shirt. “Don’t
screw this up.”

“Get your hands off me, man.”

“You’re not thinking straight.”

I clench my fists and my teeth. “We need to beat up that
SOB until he tells us
exactly
what they have planned and what they did to Scar.”

“No,” X says,
holding me against the wall as I try to break free. My back faces him, and he’s got my arm pinned behind me. “Listen to me.”

“I’m not going to let them
kill my dad.”

“Kale,” Stretch says. “
Hear him out.”

X loosens his hold, and I turn around and cross my arms over my chest. We’re wasting time here
arguing like this. I’ll listen to what X has to say, then I’ll go after Lightning. Alone, or with their help. Either way, he’s a dead man.

“
We don’t know for sure if the Blades did this to Scar’s place,” X says. “If they did, and we confront Lightning, I’m pretty sure they’ll come after us.”

“I don’t care.” I turn
around and head for the exit.

“Kale,” Stretch yells, his head catching up to me while the rest of his body is behind with X. “Dude, stop. Please stop.”

“You guys are idiots,” I say, quickening my pace.

Suddenly
, I feel something wrap around my feet, and I fall flat on my face. Stretch steps over me, a look on his face that I’ve never seen before. Confidence mixed in with anger and annoyance. His arms are wrapped around my legs like rope.

“What the
hell, man,” I say. Stretch looks at X, who’s still back there.

“He’s right,” Stretch tells me. “
The Blades didn’t come after us, so that must mean they don’t know how much we know.”

“What do you think the
Blades will do after they kill my dad? They’ll go after everyone else!”

Stretch nods. He still won’t
free my legs. “Yeah, they will. I say we tell your dad everything.”

“He won’t believe us,” I say. “Scar was our only hope.”

“Scar’s gone,” X says, stepping closer to us. “And we can’t waste time searching for him.”

“Your dad will have to believe us,” Stretch says.

“How?” I ask. “We got no proof. No Scar, nothing. Are we supposed to go over to my dad and tell him he’s gonna be assassinated?” I slam my fist on the ground.

“Yeah,” X says. “He’ll know what to do.”

“And if he doesn’t believe us?”

“He will,” X says, eyebrows creased like he doesn’t believe it himself. I can picture the scenario in my head. We tell
Dad that the Blades plan to assassinate him and he either: laughs and tells us that’s ridiculous because, as he told us, there are no Blades. Or he gets so mad he doesn’t want to see me for the rest of the night, or for the rest of my life. How dare I accuse Lightning of such a thing?

The third option is he’ll believe us, because I’m his son and he’ll see the look on my face.

We don’t have anything to prove to him, so a huge chunk of myself doesn’t have any confidence in option number three.

But what else can we do?