02-25-2023, 06:27 AM
Might wanna grab some water while you read this... It's one of my longer ones.
- - -
Chains clank and scrape across a cold cement floor. Heavy iron shackles are locked in place around someone’s wrists and ankles and footsteps retreat to another location. A female voice is heard shortly after.
“This won’t be an easy task.”
Her companion’s voice is male. “We’ve cracked tougher men than this.”
“He’s not like the others we’ve dealt with.”
“He’ll crack. Just like everyone else.”
The subject of their discussion finally starts to stir and goes to sit up, only to feel the weight of the shackles on his wrists. He looks around in a panic and eventually realizes he’s in a jail cell of some kind. “Is anyone here?” His shaky voice makes him wince but he tries again. “Hello?”
The woman who spoke earlier addresses him. “You’re awake. Good.”
“Who are you? Where am I and why am I here?”
“Your recent actions have resulted in people taking drastic measures against you. You’re here to answer a few simple questions.”
The chained man looks around but all he can see is what the light reveals. And it reveals that he’s shackled to a metal ring in the floor. “Why am I in chains if I’m just here to answer a few questions?”
Her voice acquires an edge. “You’re dangerous. We’ve chained you down for our protection.”
He can’t help a bit of dry humor. “You could have asked me politely instead of kidnapping me and chaining me to the floor in a jail cell.”
“We couldn’t take the chance that you’d kill anyone we sent.”
A mild electrical current travels the length of the chains to remind him who’s in charge and the man who spoke earlier does so again. “This is the safest option for all of us. Your behavior has become… erratic… as of late.”
Their guest catches his breath after the mild jolt to his system. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t remember acting erratically.”
The woman’s voice becomes gentle. “You were driving recklessly three weeks ago after a very public argument with a person of influence.”
Her male companion also speaks gently. “Two weeks ago, you were visibly drunk and trying to break into a mail deposit box. You were only kept out of jail by your family’s attorney.”
The incidents they’re referring to rise to the surface of his mind and he groans as he curls inward to put his head in his hands. “Now I know what you’re talking about… I’ve been under a great deal of stress for a while.” He sighs. “I guess it finally got to me.”
The woman speaks again in that same gentle voice. “Why have you been under a lot of stress?”
He licks his lips and does his best to get into a sitting position. “I don’t know if I can go into any detail… But it’s from what I’ve been doing.”
Her voice takes on a faint note of compassion and encouragement. “We won’t tell anyone… I promise.”
“Just knowing could put you at risk… Yeah, you took unusual steps to get me here but I won’t put that burden on you.”
“We can keep you and ourselves safe.”
The burden on his conscience coupled with the guilt he’s been carrying inside acts as a catalyst and he puts his hands over his face. “I’ve been hunting down criminals who pay their way out of jail and putting them six feet under.”
His hosts exchange incredulous glances. This unassuming man is the dangerous vigilante that’s been prowling their city at night!? Her voice is unchanged despite this information. “The press is painting you as a threat to everyone.”
“I’m only a threat to the people who escape conventional justice.”
The man speaks up in a voice similar to his companion’s. “You’ve been carrying this burden for God only knows how long…”
Their guest’s voice cracks and breaks. “It started with Gary Henderson.” Gary Henderson had been a sexual predator who’d always gotten away with it until the day he went after a twelve year old girl. He’d been found dead with his throat slit from ear to ear on Halloween night five years ago.
“Five years… It’s a wonder you’ve only been acting erratically very recently.”
“I lost someone very close to me a few months ago. They kept me in check.” He can’t keep the tears out of his voice. “Their killer was in the morgue last month.”
The woman speaks again and there’s something new in her voice. “You did the city a huge favor with that one.” She pauses for a moment. “He killed my sister and got away with it.”
“I’m sorry for your sister’s unnecessary death.”
“Thank you.”
Her companion talks again in the same voice he used earlier. “Why do you feel so guilty for protecting the people of this city?”
Their guest lifts his head and they’re shocked to see tears falling freely. “I didn’t have to kill them.”
“Them why did you?”
He’s crying openly as he answers the question. “I wanted to!”
“What?”
He lunges to his feet and is only kept in place by the chains around his ankles. “I WANTED TO!!!” His head drops and his voice becomes a hoarse rasp. “I wanted to…” He looks up. “And I liked it!”
Chance Owens sits up in bed with a hoarse scream caught in his throat, the sheet and comforter pooling around his waist. His hand is shaking as he turns on the lamp beside his bed. He’s alone for a few more days because Leo went in for surgery on his leg last week and they wanted to make sure the infection wasn’t going to come back.
“What the hell was that?”
He sits in bed thinking about what he’d just woken up from and glances at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand. The bright green numbers show the time as being 10:37 AM. He’d given his two weeks’ notice at the insurance company like he’d told Adam he would and he’s been sleeping soundly ever since. Mr. Gleason had been sad at the handwritten letter Chance had given HR but he’d understood why.
“Might as well get up.”
He rubs his face with both hands before throwing the covers off and getting out of bed so he can use the bathroom before getting dressed. When he comes back to his room, he pulls the curtains open to let the sun in and light up the room and save money on their electric bill. He’s just gotten dressed when there’s a loud pounding on his front door.
“Goddammit.”
He grumbles under his breath as he goes downstairs to see who’s pounding on his door.
“Who’s there?”
The voice is muffled but it sounds vaguely familiar. “Chance? It’s Kelsai!”
He blinks before unlocking the deadbolt and opening the door so he can look outside. There’s a large blue paneled truck with the logo of the furniture company he’d gone to back in January by the sidewalk… And there’s a Kelsai Adamson on his front step! “How did you find me!?” He remembers his manners and backs up so she can come inside.
She comes in and lightly rubs her shoes on the mat in front of the door. “It wasn’t hard because I knew what city you lived in.” Once her shoes are clean enough she turns and waves to the people in the truck. “They had trouble finding your place, so I volunteered to show them the way.”
Chance can’t help grumbling a bit. “They were supposed to be here last week!” He’s dressed more casually than usual in a grey t-shirt and matching sweatpants.
“Oh wow. Did they say why they couldn’t get here last week?”
“Said something about a shortage of available personnel.”
Kelsai wrinkles her nose in a sign of disgust. “Sheesh.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
The driver of the truck comes to the door with the delivery manifest. “I’m really sorry we couldn’t get here last week like we were supposed to, but most of us came down with a nasty stomach bug.”
Chance rubs his stomach with a grimace. He knows all about that damn stomach bug! “Are you all okay now?”
“Yes, sir.” He studies the manifest. “It says here we’re delivering two full-sized beds, mattresses and box springs?”
Chance can’t help the smile that comes across his face. “Yup. One for me and one for my brother Leo. The bedrooms are upstairs.” Then he remembers the state of his room. “Ah… Could you give me a few minutes? I wasn’t expecting you to show up today.”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.” Chance turns to Kelsai. “I know I’m taking a huge risk here, but would you help me get the mattresses ready for removal?”
She doesn’t even bat an eye. “Sure I will.”
“Thank you. I owe you big!” He leads her up the stairs and points to Leo’s room. “We can start there.”
Kelsai puts her hand on Chance’s forearm. “I can do it by myself. I’m a wrestler too, remember?”
He has to laugh at himself. “The bag for the mattress is on his dresser.”
“Thanks.” She playfully pushes on his arm to get him into his room. “Get busy.”
“Right.” Chance goes into his room again and grabs the bedding so he can take it off.
Kelsai can’t help herself as she watches him go across the hall. He sure has a cute butt. Then she goes into Leo’s room and opens the curtains to let the light in. “Where is he anyway?”
“He had surgery on his left leg last week and they’re keeping him in the hospital for a few more days to make sure there are no complications.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure his new bed is waiting for him.” And she starts humming as she carefully removes the blanket, sheets and pillow.
Chance watches her without being seen as he works in his room. “You’re something else, you know that?” She’s cute. That thought springs up unbidden in spite of his ‘three strikes’ rule.
“So are you!” She takes the mattress bag off Leo’s dresser and opens it like it’s a clear oversized garbage bag.
Chance hears the plastic flapping and smothers a laugh. Her comment registers as he bags his own mattress. “I am?”
Kelsai comes out of Leo’s room after bagging his old mattress and leans on the doorframe for Chance’s. “You are… I can’t explain how, but you are.”
Chance ponders that as he sets the bagged mattress at an angle on the simple metal frame the matching box spring is resting on. “You know… You’re the first person who hasn’t made that sound like an insult.”
His attitude is puzzling her but it doesn’t take her long to figure it out. He’s at home where he feels safe and relaxed. “How many times has it been an insult?”
Chance sighs and rubs his face with both hands. “Too many.” He studies his handiwork and nods faintly. “That’s done. Let’s get back downstairs, shall we?”
“We shall.” Kelsai smiles and moves so Chance can get out of his room.
Chance smiles as he takes the lead going back downstairs. “Hey, sorry we kept you waiting.”
The delivery truck driver laughs a little. “We made you wait a week. Ten minutes isn’t going to bother us.”
Chance laughs and takes the offered manifest. “Yup, that’s what I paid for.”
“Great.” He turns and waves for his companions to start unloading the truck. “You’re actually our only delivery today. Today’s other deliveries are on the other trucks.”
“Well that’s a spot of good luck!”
“Yup.” He goes to help them offload everything.
Chance notices Kelsai standing in the living room so she isn’t in the way. “You can sit down if you like.”
Kelsai smiles again. “Thank you.” She sits on the couch and angles herself so she can see Chance.
Chance remembers which set Leo chose and verifies the items before they’re taken upstairs. “Yup… That set goes into the bedroom on the right when you get to the top of the stairs.” That’s Leo’s room.
The delivery man in front nods. “Thank you.” He leads them upstairs and into Leo’s room.
Chance absently tucks his hands into the pockets on his sweatpants as he turns to look at Kelsai. “So what brings you to Denver, Kelsai?”
Kelsai doesn’t hesitate. “You did.”
“I did?”
“Yes. You did.” She gets up and comes up to him with something in one hand. “I got something just before my match started.” And she shows him the note he wanted her to get.
Chance can’t help a smile even as he injects a tiny note of annoyance into his voice. “You were supposed to get it sooner than that.” The smile and annoyance disappear. “Shame it couldn’t help you win.”
Kelsai puts the note back in her pocket. “And it’s a shame you didn’t win.” She’d been watching from backstage.
He’s had time to come to terms with it. “I gave him a fight he’ll never forget.” He absently rubs his neck out of habit because of how he wound up losing. Yes, it bothers him, but it could have been a lot worse.
“Chance, I have to ask you something…”
“Shoot.”
“Why were you so abrasive in our past conversations?”
Chance waits until they take Leo’s mattress outside before he responds. “I get like that in awkward situations.” The guy carrying the old box spring goes by. “It tends to make people not like me.”
Kelsai’s no dummy; she gets it right away and laughs a little. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Chance.”
That’s puzzling to him and he’s grateful for the distraction when the delivery guys come in with the bed set he ordered for himself. “That one goes in the other bedroom.” He waits until they start up the stairs. “What do you mean by that?”
The confusion on his face only makes him look even more attractive because it makes him look human. “I don’t not like you… You’re just” She trails off, not sure how to finish her thought.
She doesn’t have to. “I’m just an arrogant prick?” Her hesitant nod gets to him. “I’m sorry if I gave you that impression, Kelsai.” It’s his turn to pause in mid-thought.
Kelsai gives him a hard look as the men from the delivery truck finish what they’re doing. And as she’s looking at him, she sees something. It’s not very big, but she knows what it is. She recognizes the look in his eyes as the same one she had when she blew up on him. Dear God, he’s just as lonely as I am! That realization makes her step back a little. “So why be abrasive if that’s not who you are?”
“Awkward situation, remember?” He lets himself get distracted so he can sign the forms saying the delivery was completed.
“Awkward how?”
Chance leans on the door after closing it behind the delivery men. “Close quarters with someone who…” He swallows hard before he can continue. “With someone I can’t get close to.”
“What are you talking about?”
Chance closes his eyes and leaves his head resting on the door. “There’s this rule I live by. I call it the ‘three strikes’ rule. I don’t go near people who don’t like me. I don’t go near people who just got out of a bad relationship. I don’t go near people who are my coworkers.”
Every word clarifies his behavior and Kelsai finds herself staring at his back. He’s all but told her he’s interested in her. She understands him a little better now. I don’t go near people who just got out of a bad relationship. She can’t help herself and teases him a little. “You have a heart after all!”
He can’t help laughing a little. “Yeah. I do.” He straightens up and wipes his eyes before turning around. “Can I offer you breakfast before we start putting the beds together?”
Kelsai hears her stomach rumble a little and grimaces with a little laugh. “That sounds good! Um… You don’t happen to have coffee, do you?”
Chance laughs like he normally does. “I always have a pot of coffee on!”
“That’s great!”
“Come on, then. I’ll pour you a cup so you can have some while I cook.” He takes her the short distance to the kitchen and takes down two coffee cups.
- - -
Chance puts his back on the door after closing it behind Kelsai and can’t help the goofy smile on his face. Kelsai’s unexpected visit had given him a shot of something he didn’t know he’d been missing since he got back from Nashville…
It gave him hope. He’d been feeling pretty damn sorry for himself. He pushes off the door and goes into the kitchen to start washing the dishes from breakfast.
“Thanks, Kelsai.”
He starts humming as he works, the routine movements working their usual magic and helping him feel more stable. Once the dishes are in the drip pan, he goes to his computer and sits at the desk with a soft sigh of contentment. Kelsai coming over had given him a good distraction from the nightmare or whatever the hell it was he’d woken up from.
Footsteps come down the stairs and preface a familiar voice coming from the living room. “I thought I’d give you time to wake up before I came by.”
“What brings you here, Jericho?”
Jericho comes into the dining room and grabs a chair from the table to sit on. “You had a nightmare.”
Chance rubs his face with both hands before answering. “I don’t know what the hell that was.”
“Tell me about it.”
Chance hesitates visibly before sighing. “All right.” He leans forward and starts talking.
Jericho listens to him talk and starts frowning when Chance reaches the end where the protagonist admits to liking it when he killed criminals. “That… You’re right. That’s not a nightmare. That’s something else.”
“I don’t think it was my sight… I saw it all like I was watching from overhead.”
“You were in close range when they left Andre for dead, remember.”
Chance sighs again. “Wouldn’t I have known if it was because of Michael training me?”
Chance has had visions of current events since he helped Jericho find his son Andre. Jericho recalls Michael’s report and shakes his head. “Not necessarily. His training would only have helped you not get migraines.” His lips quirk a bit. “Adam still gets migraines and he’s been training with me longer than you’ve been training with Michael.”
Chance rubs his temples. “He has to deal with his memories before he can go forward… Those bastards gave him serious PTSD.”
Jericho scowls. “Of course we’d forget that!”
Adam himself comes out of the kitchen. “Forget what?”
“Your former employers giving you PTSD.”
Adam shakes his head as he reaches out to rub the top of Chance’s head. “What’s with the sweaty hair, kid?”
Chance laughs. “The beds arrived this morning along with one of my co-workers and she helped me put them together.”
“Oh, good!” Adam sits on the couch. “She?”
“Her name’s Kelsai Adamson.” Chance leans back in his desk chair. “Don’t you go getting any ideas! She just got through a divorce!”
Jericho perks a brow. “Chivalry?”
Adam grins and shakes his head. “He has a ‘three strikes’ rule. No dating people who don’t like him. No dating people who just got out of a bad relationship. No dating coworkers.”
“Ah.”
Chance rubs his eyes and stifles a yawn. “She thought I was an arrogant prick. She doesn’t not like me, as she put it.”
Adam sees him yawn. “Assembling two beds made you that tired?”
Jericho answers him. “Either he had a nightmare or he saw someone’s imprisonment.” And he proceeds to fill Adam in.
Adam sits back with a long, drawn out whistle. “That’s heavy stuff!”
“Yeah it is.”
“What do you think it is, Jericho?”
Jericho looks over at Chance before he answers Adam. “I think he saw someone’s imprisonment.”
Chance rubs his face. “Honestly… I think I just watched too many episodes of Arrow.”
Adam shakes his head. “Even if you did play that scene over and over again, that doesn’t make what woke you up just a figment of your imagination.”
Jericho raises an eyebrow again. “What scene?”
“Season five, episode seventeen. Adrian Chase had Oliver Queen in a situation much like what Chance saw, except Adrian killed someone in front of Oliver and shot him with three arrows before Oliver confessed the way the man in Chance’s vision did.” Adam looks at Chance. “The last bit you saw before you woke up was exactly how that part of the episode ended.”
Chance nods a bit. “That’s why I think it was from me watching too much Arrow.”
Jericho shakes his head. “I remember that episode now. Chance, what you saw was nothing like Arrow.” He leans forward and his face takes on a serious cast. “I’ve been subjected to too many prophetic visions to think this isn’t something that really happened.”
Adam leans forward as well. “I’ve seen too many potential disasters to ignore this.” He looks at Jericho. “Liam’s power manifested last night in spite of your best efforts. He can see the past.”
“Damn. I’ll have to see if Jarred can help him.”
Chance can’t help himself. “Maybe Liam can help with cold cases.”
Adam chuckles. “He joked about that and Jeremiah said he should.”
Jericho laughs quietly. “I’ll have Jarred talk to him about that.” Then the laughter fades. “I’m curious why you aren’t taking this one seriously, Chance.”
Chance leans forward and puts his head in his hands. “I was awake for all the other ones.”
Jericho leans forward and puts his hand on Chance’s back. “Adam and I have both been woken up by visions. It’s more common than you think.”
Chance sits up and looks at Jericho, then turns to look at Adam. “Really?”
Adam nods solemnly as he responds. “Really.” He coughs into one hand and shakes his head a little. “I woke Liam up with a vision I had last week.”
“It must have been really gruesome if you woke him up from your room in the basement.”
Adam puts his glasses on his leg and rubs his eyes, then puts them back on before getting up and stopping just in front of Chance’s desk. “It was about you.”
Chance looks up at his mentor, a man who’s quickly becoming one of his closest friends. “Me?”
“Yes.” Adam notes the interested look on Jericho’s face out of the corner of his eye. “I saw you… And Leo…” He gestures helplessly and turns away with a muttered epithet.
A chill so deep it makes him shudder wraps around Chance’s spine. “We were dead, weren’t we?”
Adam shudders as he forces himself to breathe deeply. “Yes.” He turns to look at Chance again and there’s a haunted look in his eyes. “I saw you beat Leo to death before hanging yourself.”
Jericho shoots to his feet and puts his hands on either side of Adam’s head. “Show me.”
Chance can only watch the silent communication between the two seers in wordless awe. The chill around his spine fades away as he watches. He can’t talk until Jericho moves his hands away from Adam’s head. “What led to what Adam saw, Jericho?”
Jericho hears something in Chance’s voice and puts a gentle hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Apparently you’d been affected by a medication you were prescribed.”
Chance turns and reaches toward a series of medication bottles on his desk. His hand is shaking so badly he knocks some of them off. “Dammit!”
Adam turns and picks them up, reading the labels in the process. One of them catches his attention and he holds on to it as he puts the others back on the desk. “This one.” The label reads paroxetine. “Since when are you on paroxetine?”
“Since I got switched to another doctor without warning.” Chance’s hands are still shaking as he rubs his face. “This doctor seems to think I have OCD. I haven’t started taking it yet and after Adam’s vision, I’m not going to. I’ll let it expire then take it in for disposal.”
Adam notices the prescribing doctor’s name and his face loses all color. “You’re kidding me… Chance, your new doctor is Dr. Perry!?”
“Yes. What’s wrong?”
Adam gives Jericho the bottle of paroxetine before he says anything. “Dr. Perry is the name of the on-site “doctor” at my old workplace!”
Chance shudders so violently he knocks the bottles off his desk again. “He did say he’d just transferred in from Little Rock a few months ago…”
“Where’s his office?”
Chance has to ball his hands into fists so he can get them to stop shaking first. “I have the address on my computer.” He holds up his hands and shakes his head because they’re still trembling.
Jericho puts the pill bottle in his pocket and turns on the monitor for Chance’s computer. “What’s your password?” He tilts his head down and hears the whispered word, then nods and types it in. Then he gently rolls the chair Chance is sitting in to the side. “Do you remember the name of the file you saved it in?”
“Yes. It’s the text file on the desktop there. I named it Medical Contacts.”
“Thank you.” Jericho opens the file and writes down the address for Dr. Perry’s office. “Has Leo found a new doctor yet or is he waiting until after the lawsuit?”
“He already found one. It’s right below Dr. Perry.”
Jericho sees the name of Leo’s new doctor… And he starts to laugh. “That’s one of Michael’s friends!” Then he gets an idea. “Why don’t you see if she’ll take you as a patient too?”
Adam can see Chance trembling. “That’s gonna have to wait…” He looks at Jericho. “He’s terrified.”
“I’ll call her on his behalf. She’s not going to like what we have to say.”
Leo’s new doctor is a headstrong Hindu woman by the name of Dr. Pradesh. Chance comes out of it a little. “If her receptionist asks why I’m not the one calling, it’s because I authorized you to do it.”
“Thank you, Chance.” Jericho tucks the paper with Dr. Perry’s office address on it into his jacket pocket. “Have you eaten yet?”
“Oh, yeah, I made breakfast before Kelsai and I put the beds together. You showed up just after I washed the dishes.”
“Good. Do you have a bag for all these pill bottles?”
Chance opens the drawer on his desk and pulls out a resealable plastic bag. “Right here.”
Adam takes it from him and reads the labels on the pill bottles before putting all but one in the bag. “That’s his sleep aid.” It’s the only one that doesn’t have Dr. Perry’s name on it.
Jericho nods faintly. “I doubt he’ll need it very often now that he has a new bed.”
“If at all.”
Chance gets up and puts his boots on. “It snowed a lot yesterday. I’m glad Leo’s still in the hospital.”
“He’ll be coming home to a comfy new bed.”
“Kelsai said we’d have to make sure his bed was waiting for him when he got home.”
Jericho grins. “It sounds like you went and made yourself a female friend there, kid.”
Chance laughs as he puts on his jacket. “Lord knows I could use more friends!” He comes back to his computer, closes the text file and turns off the monitor again before looking around for his phone.
Adam picks it up off the floor and holds it out to him. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” He puts it in the inside pocket of his jacket along with his wallet and house keys. “I’m ready.”
“Then let’s go. Jericho, would you do the honors?”
Jericho smiles with a twinkle in his eye. “I’d love to.”
Chance reaches out to touch Jericho’s arm and his voice doesn’t quite sound like it did only a minute ago. “We need to start with my old doctor.”
“What are you seeing, Chance?”
“Someone’s standing outside the clinic and it looks like they’re holding a gun.”
Adam swears under his breath and moves in a bit. “This is urgent.”
Jericho has to agree. “Leave your hand on my arm, Chance… I’m teleporting us there.” He can feel the younger man’s hand convulse a little before taking hold of his jacket sleeve. “Here we go.” In the blink of an eye, the three of them are standing outside the clinic Chance’s old doctor practices in.
Chance looks around slowly, still in the grips of his sight. “To our left in the alcove between businesses.”
Adam goes that way and sees the man Chance is connected to standing in the alcove between businesses with a gun in one hand. “Excuse me, sir, but can we talk?”
Chance snaps out of it then and puts one hand to his forehead. “Crisis averted, I think.”
Jericho sees Adam talking to the would-be gunman and looks back at Chance. “Yes. You stopped something terrible before it could even happen.” And he puts his arm around Chance’s shoulders.
Chance goes to say something when his sight explodes behind his eyes to show him the man he’d seen while he was sleeping. “It’s him.”
“What’s going on, Chance?”
“The man I saw while I was sleeping.” He can feel Jericho touching his head as the vision plays out. The man Chance is now seeing in his mind is standing near what looks to be an abandoned jailhouse. He’s wearing the clothes from before, but they look much cleaner. On one hip is a nasty-looking hunting knife. The man looks back at the abandoned jailhouse and takes a few steps away before he stops. “Oh, no, please keep walking.” Almost as if he’d heard Chance talking, he starts walking again. This time he doesn’t stop and Chance’s sight lets him go after the man’s out of sight.
Jericho moves his hand and looks at the younger man in concern. “Do you think he heard you?”
Chance looks at Jericho and the cold Denver air dries the sweat on his face right away. “I don’t know… If you know where he is, please have someone find him. I don’t like the feeling I’m getting.”
“I know where he is… And I know who he is. His brother just got an anonymous text message telling him where to go.”
“Thank you.” Chance rubs his eyes. “I should have known it wasn’t my imagination.”
“You’re new to this. Cut yourself some slack.”
Chance exhales gustily. “You’re right. I guess I’m still having trouble accepting it.”
“That’s normal. A lot of people have trouble accepting magic as being real.”
Adam comes back and gives Chance’s shoulder a shake. “This generation is so rooted in technology and social media it’s not really a surprise. We weren’t like this when I was your age.”
Chance can’t help a smile. “That’s true.” He looks over Adam’s shoulder and sees an empty space where the man with the gun used to be. “What’d you tell him to change his mind?”
“He was upset over his wife’s test results and thought the doctor falsified them. I told him violence wasn’t the answer and it would only put more of a burden on him and his wife… Then I told him calling the doctor and having a civil conversation would be much more productive.” He grins. “He agreed with me and is on his way home.”
“That’s a load off my mind!” Chance exhales softly. “I think I’ll ask the receptionist if she knows why I was transferred to Dr. Perry.”
Adam and Jericho look at each other and Jericho nods. “Did you want one of us to go in with you?”
Chance visibly hesitates before making a decision. “As much as I’d like to do this alone, I think Adam should come with me.”
Jericho smiles. “I’ll wait out here.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” Jericho moves to where the man with the gun had been standing and seems to disappear.
“I’ll never get used to that.” Chance exhales explosively. “May as well get this over with… Come on, Adam.”
Adam grins. “Right behind ya, kid.”
Chance suddenly pulls a disposable mask out of his pocket and puts it on. “I have an extra if you need it.”
“I have one.” Adam puts it on and nudges Chance with his elbow. “Let’s go.”
Chance walks into the clinic with Adam close behind and looks around in mute shock. There are no chairs in the waiting room! “What the hell…” He goes to the desk and lightly taps on the desk. “Excuse me…”
The nurse receptionist turns around and smiles when she sees Chance and Adam. “Hi Chance! What can I help you with today?”
“Can you tell me why I got transferred to Dr. Perry’s practice without warning a couple of weeks ago?”
Her smile fades and she looks down. “Dr. Garcia thought it was better for you if you were with another doctor.”
“When I came to Dr. Garcia five years ago, my old doctor warned me a month ahead of time.” His voice is gentle. “I’d like to know why I wasn’t notified, that’s all.”
She looks up to see a compassionate look in Chance’s eyes. “Dr. Perry pressured him to transfer you and a dozen others before the end of the month and implied there would be professional repercussions if he didn’t.”
“Did Dr. Perry ask for me specifically or did he just want thirteen of Dr. Garcia’s patients?”
A startled look comes across her face. “He asked for you specifically!”
Adam steps forward. “My name is Adam… Did he say why he wanted Chance as a patient?”
“I don’t remember if he did or not. You’d have to ask Dr. Garcia.”
“Is he here right now?”
Chance hears a soft ticking from one of the exam rooms and instinctively follows the sound.
“Chance, wait!”
He keeps going and finds the source of the sound. The ticking is coming from Dr. Garcia’s watch… And Dr. Garcia is lying on the floor! “Dr. Garcia!” He drops his jacket in the hallway before he rushes to the doctor’s side and immediately checks to see if he’s alive.
Adam and the nurse receptionist come in at Chance’s shout and Adam takes out his cell phone. “I’ll call 911.”
The nurse receptionist moves into the room to help Chance. “I didn’t even hear him fall!”
Chance’s voice is rough with concern. “People don’t always make noise when they collapse.” He puts his hand under Dr. Garcia’s head and his fingers come into contact with something unfamiliar. “Help me get him onto his back?”
“Yes, of course.” She helps him turn Dr. Garcia onto his back and sees what’s under his hand. “Oh my God.” Chance’s hand is touching Dr. Garcia’s skull. “The side of his face is missing!”
Chance suppresses his revulsion. “I did feel a pulse.”
She checks Dr. Garcia’s heartbeat and hesitates. “It’s weak but steady.”
“We’ll skip the breaths, but go ahead and start the compressions.”
Adam is talking to the 911 dispatcher and tells her that. “Dr. Garcia’s heartbeat is weak but steady. They’re skipping the assisted breathing and only doing the chest compressions. I don’t know how he’s still alive after having part of his face removed. She didn’t hear anything before he was discovered.” He listens for a moment and rubs his face with his free hand. “All right.” He lowers the phone a little. “Chance, I’m going out front to wait for the ambulance.”
“Okay.”
Adam goes out to the chairless waiting area. “I’m out front in the waiting area.” He goes to the desk and uses one of Dr. Garcia’s business cards to provide the address for the clinic. The nurse receptionist had been too worried about Dr. Garcia to give it to him.
Chance is holding Dr. Garcia’s head steady and ignoring his urge to vomit. “Come on, Dr. Garcia, stay with us.” He isn’t prepared for what happens next…
Dr. Garcia wakes up! “Dr. Perry did this to me.” Then he shudders from head to toe and his body goes totally still.
“Dr. Garcia! Dr. Garcia, can you hear me?” Chance shakes Dr. Garcia’s shoulder with his unbloodied hand. “Dr. Garcia!”
The nurse receptionist puts her hand over his. “He’s gone, Chance.”
Chance leans forward until his forehead is touching Dr. Garcia’s chest. “I’ll make sure Dr. Perry pays for this!”
She moves her hand to rest on Chance’s back while they wait for the ambulance to arrive. “I’m sorry, Chance.”
Chance sits back and looks at her. “Not as sorry as Dr. Perry’s going to be!”
The paramedics come in shortly after that and take over. One of them went to high school with Chance. “What happened, buddy?”
Chance swallows hard. “He woke up and told us Dr. Perry did this to him then he – Then he died.” He puts his clean hand over his eyes to hide the tears.
“Go ahead and take him back to his friend, Christine.”
Christine is the nurse receptionist. “Okay. Come on, Chance.” She helps him to his feet and guides him to the bathroom so he can wash the blood off. “Let’s get you cleaned up first.” His lack of protest tells her he’s starting to withdraw. She turns on the water and finds an acceptable temperature before putting Chance’s bloody hand into the stream.
The water on his skin snaps him out of it and Chance actively washes away the blood. “I’m going to have nightmares about this for a very long time.”
“So am I.” She sees him use soap to get the rest of the blood off his hand and reaches out to turn off the water when his hand is totally clean.
“Thanks…” Chance takes paper towels out of the dispenser to dry his hands. “Can I get you to get my jacket out of the hallway for me?”
“Sure. I’ll be right back with it.” She goes to get his jacket and keeps her gaze away from the exam room Dr. Garcia died in. Chance’s phone is poking out of the inside pocket and she tucks it back in before turning to go back to where he’s waiting. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” He’s shaking as he puts it on. “You remember my cell number, right?”
She knows why he’s asking. “I’ll give it to them if they want to talk to you.”
“Thanks. Walk me out there?”
“Of course.”
The first thing Adam sees when Chance and Christine come out is their pale faces. “Dammit. I’m sorry, you guys.”
Chance gives Christine a brief hug before he heads for the door on his own. “Dr. Perry’s going to be even sorrier. He did it.”
“What!?”
“Dr. Garcia woke up and told us it was Dr. Perry right before he died.”
Adam’s face darkens like a thundercloud. “That’s one more he’s gonna suffer for. Come on, kid. Let’s get you outside.” And he follows Chance out into the chilly Denver afternoon.
Jericho comes out of his hiding place and goes right to Chance. “We’ll stay out here until you can think a little better.”
Chance knows why Jericho said that and nods a little. “That’s a good idea… I don’t need to go to jail for beating that asshole to death.”
“Adam doesn’t need that either.”
Adam nods curtly. “Though I may swear at him a lot.”
“Swearing is encouraged.”
Chance is still shaking as he zips up his jacket and shoves his hands in his pockets. “What I saw and heard in there… That’s nightmare fuel.”
Jericho knows Chance is serious. “I believe it.”
Adam takes off his mask then removes Chance’s for him. “I don’t remember seeing that happen… Do you, Jericho?”
“No. I’d remember it if I saw something like that.” Jericho remembers damn near every vision he’s ever had.
Chance has to look away when the paramedics bring Dr. Garcia’s body out on the stretcher and he can’t stop himself from stumbling away to lean on the wall as he throws up everything he ate for breakfast. “Dammit…” He can feel two different hands on his back and arm.
Adam sounds worried. “Are you sure you want to keep going today, kid?”
The world is spinning and Chance has to close his eyes. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get another opportunity if I don’t.”
“Let us know when you feel stable enough to continue.”
“I will.” Chance keeps his eyes closed so he doesn’t make the nausea worse by staring at the snow. Several minutes pass before he can open his eyes. “Okay, I’m steady enough to keep going.”
Adam puts the paroxetine in the bag with the rest of the pill bottles and closes the bag again. “Dr. Garcia told him and the nurse receptionist Dr. Perry was responsible for what happened to him.”
Jericho growls low in his throat and an amber flame appears around his right fist. “Subtlety just went right out the fucking window!” He opens an amber gate off to their right. “This’ll take us right into the waiting room.”
Chance pushes off the wall. “Let’s pin a dirtbag to the wall!” He’s the first one to walk through the gate. Adam and Jericho are right behind him.
The sudden appearance of three men in the waiting room startles Dr. Perry’s receptionist and the patients sitting there. She hurries over to them and holds out disposable masks. “Please put these on…”
Chance takes one and puts it on. “Anger is no reason to ignore the rules, guys.” He can hear Adam and Jericho put the masks on without complaining and silently thanks his lucky stars.
“Thank you.” She knows who they are without being told. “Dr. Perry is in his office, Chance.” A subtle shifting of her body turns her to look at Adam. “Yes, this is the same Dr. Perry from Little Rock.”
Adam growls quietly. “I have a few choice words for him!”
“I’m not surprised after what came to light two years ago.” She turns to look at Jericho. “I’m confused, though. Why are you here, Mr. DeLioncourt?”
Jericho’s eyes are calm and his voice is gentle. “Chance and Adam are my friends.”
She doesn’t hesitate. “This way, please. I’ll take you to his office.”
“Thank you.” The amber gate closes without a sound and Jericho nods for Chance and Adam to follow the receptionist. “Why are you working for him if you know his past, miss?”
“My name is Nadine, Mr. DeLioncourt. I needed a job when he came here last year. I’ve been subtly checking the job listings on my off time, though.”
“There are a few doctors in town who need qualified nurses and assistants... Dr. Pradesh comes to mind.”
Nadine can’t help a soft chuckle. “I’ve already let her office know I was interested.”
“That’s good to know.”
Nadine stops outside Dr. Perry’s office and gives two sharp knocks. “Dr. Perry, there are people here to see you.”
Dr. Perry’s voice carries clearly through the door. “Show them in please, Nadine. Those patients in the waiting room are waiting for Dr. Gaines and Dr. Mills.”
“Yes, Doctor.” Nadine opens the door and steps to the side. “You can go in, gentlemen.”
Chance goes in first. “Thank you, Nadine.” He stops just shy of the chair in front of Dr. Perry’s desk and hears Adam and Jericho stop behind him.
Dr. Perry waits for Nadine to close the door before he looks up. “Hello. Chance, is it?”
“Yes. You might say I took a chance that you’d be available for a discussion today.”
“I’m always available for my patients. What can I help you with?”
Adam leans forward and puts the bag of Chance’s prescriptions on the desk. “Are all these pills really necessary?”
Dr. Perry looks at Adam at the sound of his voice. “I swear I know your voice from somewhere... But to answer your question, I’m testing these medications to see if they can help with the vestibular issues Dr. Garcia noticed.”
Chance opens the bag and takes out the prescriptions related to anxiety, depression and OCD. “These three medications have nothing to do with vestibular issues, Dr. Perry. Why did you give them to me?”
Dr. Perry notes the medications on the labels but he doesn’t touch the bottles. “I was concerned the medications for your vestibular issues would cause other problems.”
The other bottles get taken out and set on the desk so Dr. Perry can see the labels. “Please tell me which of these medications are actually for treating vestibular issues.”
Dr. Perry suddenly gets the feeling Chance knows something he doesn’t, but he doesn’t give anything away. He picks up a pen and pushes two of the bottles back toward Chance. “Those two are.”
“Can you explain the rest of the prescriptions for me?”
“Of course.” He pulls Chance’s file up on his computer. “These two” He pushes two bottles away a little. “Are for your balance issues. They’re good separately, but they’re very effective together and have no adverse effects.”
There’s one bottle Dr. Perry hasn’t explained. Chance points to it. “And that one, Doctor?”
“That one is for your headaches.” He knows Chance has been getting painful headaches for some time now. “I apologize for not explaining them before.” He then uses the pen to move the other pill bottles off to the side. “These ones aren’t necessary.”
“Why did Dr. Garcia transfer my file to you anyway?”
“He realized you needed better care than he could provide and asked me if I’d take you and a dozen other patients with higher needs than he could care for.”
That matches what Christine told him, except for one small detail. “Dr. Garcia’s nurse receptionist told me something slightly different, Dr. Perry... She told me you asked for my file specifically.”
Dr. Perry realizes Chance does know something he doesn’t. “When did you talk to Christine?”
“Less than an hour ago.” Chance leans in toward Dr. Perry and puts his hands on the desk. “Right before we found Dr. Garcia in one of the exam rooms.”
Dr. Perry sees Adam and Jericho move in a little closer. “Is he all right?”
“No, Doctor. I’m afraid Dr. Garcia is dead.”
Something about Chance’s behavior is puzzling him. He sees Chance’s arms trembling and he knows. “Oh Chance, I’m sorry you were the one to find him. That must have been a real shock to the system!”
“I’m waiting until I get home before I fall apart.”
Adam picks up the conversation. “Dr. Perry...” He waits until Dr. Perry is looking at him before he takes off his mask. “Do you recognize me now?”
Dr. Perry feels his world tilt sharply to the side. “Adam Brock. I thought you sounded familiar.”
The smoothness of his voice is a testament to Adam’s self-control. “What brings you to Denver?”
“I have family here. My sister suggested I come here and start a new practice with other doctors.”
“How did you not get charged for your participation?”
“Our former employers had good attorneys working on my behalf.”
“They won’t be fucking with anyone ever again. My brother and I shut them down when we found out they moved to Pittsburgh.”
Dr. Perry searches Adam’s face for deception and can’t help a sigh of relief when he doesn’t find any. “That’s a relief!” Then he has to ask. “Who’s your brother?”
“Liam Kendell.”
“I didn’t know he did that sort of thing.”
“He doesn’t like to advertise that. He’s happy running the Smelter and making music.”
“I’m glad he’s happy with what he’s doing.”
Jericho chimes in with a scowl. “Why are you so calm talking to him, Doctor?”
“I’m sorry...You are?”
It’s Jericho’s turn to take off his mask. “My name is Jericho DeLioncourt.”
Dr. Perry flinches at the hard look in Jericho’s eyes and realizes that this is what Chance knew. Chance knew Dr. Perry wouldn’t recognize Adam with a mask on and he certainly wouldn’t recognize Jericho! “Mr. DeLioncourt, I assure you I was not a willing participant! They were blackmailing me and wouldn’t let me leave when my work contract expired!”
Jericho sits Chance in the chair on their side of the desk before he says anything. “I’m having a hard time believing you.” He looks Dr. Perry in the eyes. “Adam had a lot to say about you and none of it was good.”
Dr. Perry looks at Adam and sees the truth in those unusually expressive green eyes. He looks at Chance and sees something lurking in the younger man’s eyes. “What’s bothering you, Chance?”
Chance looks down at his right hand as he talks. That’s the hand that was touching Dr. Garcia’s bare skull less than an hour ago. “Dr. Garcia told me something before he died.”
“What did he tell you?”
Chance lifts his head and locks eyes with Dr. Perry. “He told me “Dr. Perry did this to me.” Then he died.” He holds up his right hand. “My right hand was touching his skull when he died. His SKULL!”
Dr. Perry flinches at the raw emotion in Chance’s voice. “Why were you touching his skull, Chance?”
“The right side of his face was missing!”
Jericho mutters. “There’s why he threw up.”
Chance lays all his cards on the table, so to speak. “Christine told the three of us you threatened Dr. Garcia’s professional reputation if he didn’t give you my file along with a dozen others. You asked for me by name, Doctor, and I want to know why!”
Dr. Perry is so rattled by what Chance just told him his control slips. “I heard about your brother’s doctor and I wanted to make sure you didn’t fall through the cracks.”
“Fall through the cracks?”
“Dr. Garcia knew about your vestibular and balance issues for months. Did he ever talk to you about them?”
Chance figures out what Dr. Perry’s trying to tell him. “He was in league with Dr. Leopold!”
“I’m afraid so. They had it in for you and Leo but I haven’t quite figured out why.”
Adam steps forward. “Dr. Perry. Dr. Leopold is the defendant in a city-wide class action lawsuit and Leo Owens is the first plaintiff.”
“They may want to touch base with Grand Junction, Boulder and Pueblo too. Denver isn’t the first city in Colorado Dr. Leopold has practiced in.”
“We’ll make sure the DA knows about this.” Adam then takes an envelope seemingly out of thin air and puts it on Dr. Perry’s desk. “That’s a full documentation of every injury I sustained while I worked for those miserable tyrants.”
Dr. Perry opens the envelope and takes out a sheaf of papers. “Who did this documentation? It’s very organized.”
“Those documents were prepared by Jericho’s brother Michael. He’s the reason I’m standing here right now.”
Dr. Perry’s admiration is genuine. “I’ve always been fascinated by his work. He is a certified genius!”
Jericho can’t help smiling a little. “I’ll tell him you said that.”
There’s silence as Dr. Perry reads Michael’s documentation. He’s visibly shaken when he finally looks up. “Adam, I am so sorry.” He puts his head in his hands. “Please ask Nadine to distribute my patients between Dr. Gaines and Dr. Mills.”
Adam lets his anger through in his voice. “You’re sorry for what? For me calling you out on your lies? For all the agony you let me suffer through? Or are you sorry for all the people you killed?”
“I’m sorry for everything I did and didn’t do in Little Rock.” He sounds defeated.
Jericho puts his mask back on and leaves the office to find Nadine. She’s sitting at the desk putting information into the computer. “Nadine, I have a message from Dr. Perry.”
Nadine saves what she’s working on. “What is it?”
“He wants you to divide his patients between Dr. Gaines and Dr. Mills.”
She immediately shifts documents to begin the process. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“He won’t be going home after we’re done here. Did he say anything about Dr. Garcia or Dr. Leopold?”
One hand comes off the keyboard to open a drawer and take out a very thick envelope. “He wanted me to get this to the DA.” She holds it out to him. “It would have more weight coming from you.”
“So he was right when he said they were working together.”
“He was.”
“Thank you.” He takes the envelope she’s holding out. “I’ll make sure this gets to the DA within the hour.”
“Thank you, Mr. DeLioncourt. Did you want me to contact the police for you?”
Jericho gives a negligent wave and a burgundy portal opens in the waiting room. “No need.” Three members of the Denver Police Department walk through the portal. “He’s down the hall with my friends Adam and Chance, Officers.”
Nadine pauses long enough to point where they should turn before going back to work. “Which of your brothers is this?”
“Jarred. He’s the police officer in the family.” Jericho leans in a little. “Take Chance’s file with you when Dr. Pradesh hires you. She’s Leo’s new doctor.”
“I’ll be more than happy to.”
“Thank you.” Jericho leans against the desk and waits for Adam and Chance to come out behind the police officers and Dr. Perry. He sees the officers with their prisoner in custody and nods slightly. “Go back the way you came, guys. The portal exits into your precinct house.”
Adam and Chance come into view shortly after Jarred’s portal closes. Adam is wearing his mask again and he has his arm around Chance’s shoulders. “Let’s get you home. You’ve had a nasty shock.”
Jericho sees Chance nod without saying a word and he knows the younger man is pulling into himself. “I think you should keep an eye on him for a while, Adam.”
“I’m going to.”
Jericho nods and moves away from the desk. “I’m going to send you two back to Chance’s house and I’ll meet you there.” He taps the envelope against his hand. “I need to see the DA.”
“All right.” Adam guides Chance through the amber portal that opens in front of them and moves him right to the couch. The portal closes silently and he removes Chance’s jacket and boots. “Sit.”
Chance sits down and covers himself with his favorite blanket. “I’m afraid to sleep, Adam...”
“I don’t blame you. I would be too.” Adam goes to the front door and hangs up Chance’s jacket after taking out his cell phone, then puts Chance’s boots on the mat by the door. “Any trouble at Shannon’s after we went there?”
“Not a bit.”
“Good.” Adam comes back and puts Chance’s cell phone on the coffee table with the TV remote and Chance’s tablet. “You in the mood for some TV?”
“Would you find something?”
“Of course.” Adam picks up the remote and turns on the TV. He’s perusing the menu of available channels when Jericho comes in through a portal. “You’re just in time for a little distraction via TV.”
Jericho laughs quietly as he claims one of the overstuffed chairs. “If Chance left it up to you, you’d better make it good.”
“I’m going to.” Adam slowly pages down and pauses when he sees something. “How about a little basketball?”
Chance shakes his head a little. “No thanks. I find basketball to be incredibly boring and I don’t want to go to sleep right now.”
“Okay.” Adam keeps moving slowly through the listings and pauses again. “Looks like we have some B-roll horror films on tap here...”
“Maybe they’ll trick my mind into thinking earlier was just a nightmare. What’s up first?”
Adam grins as he navigates to the right channel. “Ghost Ship.”
Chance can’t help himself as he sits up and leans forward. “Oh, I love that movie!”
Jericho laughs as he wiggles his fingers and adjusts Chance’s blanket for him. “Andre loves it too.”
Adam laughs and switches the TV to the right channel. “Jeremiah has become obsessed with this movie!” He puts the remote on the table and settles into the other chair. “I like it too.”
Chance grabs his blanket and wraps it around himself so he can hold it closed in the front. “What about you, Jericho?”
Jericho grins. “It’s a masterpiece.”
“Oh good. It’s unanimous.” And Chance turns his attention to the TV. His mind is immediately distracted from what he encountered earlier and lets him fully immerse himself in the movie. Nightmares can come from anything... What matters is how you handle them.
- - -
Chains clank and scrape across a cold cement floor. Heavy iron shackles are locked in place around someone’s wrists and ankles and footsteps retreat to another location. A female voice is heard shortly after.
“This won’t be an easy task.”
Her companion’s voice is male. “We’ve cracked tougher men than this.”
“He’s not like the others we’ve dealt with.”
“He’ll crack. Just like everyone else.”
The subject of their discussion finally starts to stir and goes to sit up, only to feel the weight of the shackles on his wrists. He looks around in a panic and eventually realizes he’s in a jail cell of some kind. “Is anyone here?” His shaky voice makes him wince but he tries again. “Hello?”
The woman who spoke earlier addresses him. “You’re awake. Good.”
“Who are you? Where am I and why am I here?”
“Your recent actions have resulted in people taking drastic measures against you. You’re here to answer a few simple questions.”
The chained man looks around but all he can see is what the light reveals. And it reveals that he’s shackled to a metal ring in the floor. “Why am I in chains if I’m just here to answer a few questions?”
Her voice acquires an edge. “You’re dangerous. We’ve chained you down for our protection.”
He can’t help a bit of dry humor. “You could have asked me politely instead of kidnapping me and chaining me to the floor in a jail cell.”
“We couldn’t take the chance that you’d kill anyone we sent.”
A mild electrical current travels the length of the chains to remind him who’s in charge and the man who spoke earlier does so again. “This is the safest option for all of us. Your behavior has become… erratic… as of late.”
Their guest catches his breath after the mild jolt to his system. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t remember acting erratically.”
The woman’s voice becomes gentle. “You were driving recklessly three weeks ago after a very public argument with a person of influence.”
Her male companion also speaks gently. “Two weeks ago, you were visibly drunk and trying to break into a mail deposit box. You were only kept out of jail by your family’s attorney.”
The incidents they’re referring to rise to the surface of his mind and he groans as he curls inward to put his head in his hands. “Now I know what you’re talking about… I’ve been under a great deal of stress for a while.” He sighs. “I guess it finally got to me.”
The woman speaks again in that same gentle voice. “Why have you been under a lot of stress?”
He licks his lips and does his best to get into a sitting position. “I don’t know if I can go into any detail… But it’s from what I’ve been doing.”
Her voice takes on a faint note of compassion and encouragement. “We won’t tell anyone… I promise.”
“Just knowing could put you at risk… Yeah, you took unusual steps to get me here but I won’t put that burden on you.”
“We can keep you and ourselves safe.”
The burden on his conscience coupled with the guilt he’s been carrying inside acts as a catalyst and he puts his hands over his face. “I’ve been hunting down criminals who pay their way out of jail and putting them six feet under.”
His hosts exchange incredulous glances. This unassuming man is the dangerous vigilante that’s been prowling their city at night!? Her voice is unchanged despite this information. “The press is painting you as a threat to everyone.”
“I’m only a threat to the people who escape conventional justice.”
The man speaks up in a voice similar to his companion’s. “You’ve been carrying this burden for God only knows how long…”
Their guest’s voice cracks and breaks. “It started with Gary Henderson.” Gary Henderson had been a sexual predator who’d always gotten away with it until the day he went after a twelve year old girl. He’d been found dead with his throat slit from ear to ear on Halloween night five years ago.
“Five years… It’s a wonder you’ve only been acting erratically very recently.”
“I lost someone very close to me a few months ago. They kept me in check.” He can’t keep the tears out of his voice. “Their killer was in the morgue last month.”
The woman speaks again and there’s something new in her voice. “You did the city a huge favor with that one.” She pauses for a moment. “He killed my sister and got away with it.”
“I’m sorry for your sister’s unnecessary death.”
“Thank you.”
Her companion talks again in the same voice he used earlier. “Why do you feel so guilty for protecting the people of this city?”
Their guest lifts his head and they’re shocked to see tears falling freely. “I didn’t have to kill them.”
“Them why did you?”
He’s crying openly as he answers the question. “I wanted to!”
“What?”
He lunges to his feet and is only kept in place by the chains around his ankles. “I WANTED TO!!!” His head drops and his voice becomes a hoarse rasp. “I wanted to…” He looks up. “And I liked it!”
Chance Owens sits up in bed with a hoarse scream caught in his throat, the sheet and comforter pooling around his waist. His hand is shaking as he turns on the lamp beside his bed. He’s alone for a few more days because Leo went in for surgery on his leg last week and they wanted to make sure the infection wasn’t going to come back.
“What the hell was that?”
He sits in bed thinking about what he’d just woken up from and glances at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand. The bright green numbers show the time as being 10:37 AM. He’d given his two weeks’ notice at the insurance company like he’d told Adam he would and he’s been sleeping soundly ever since. Mr. Gleason had been sad at the handwritten letter Chance had given HR but he’d understood why.
“Might as well get up.”
He rubs his face with both hands before throwing the covers off and getting out of bed so he can use the bathroom before getting dressed. When he comes back to his room, he pulls the curtains open to let the sun in and light up the room and save money on their electric bill. He’s just gotten dressed when there’s a loud pounding on his front door.
“Goddammit.”
He grumbles under his breath as he goes downstairs to see who’s pounding on his door.
“Who’s there?”
The voice is muffled but it sounds vaguely familiar. “Chance? It’s Kelsai!”
He blinks before unlocking the deadbolt and opening the door so he can look outside. There’s a large blue paneled truck with the logo of the furniture company he’d gone to back in January by the sidewalk… And there’s a Kelsai Adamson on his front step! “How did you find me!?” He remembers his manners and backs up so she can come inside.
She comes in and lightly rubs her shoes on the mat in front of the door. “It wasn’t hard because I knew what city you lived in.” Once her shoes are clean enough she turns and waves to the people in the truck. “They had trouble finding your place, so I volunteered to show them the way.”
Chance can’t help grumbling a bit. “They were supposed to be here last week!” He’s dressed more casually than usual in a grey t-shirt and matching sweatpants.
“Oh wow. Did they say why they couldn’t get here last week?”
“Said something about a shortage of available personnel.”
Kelsai wrinkles her nose in a sign of disgust. “Sheesh.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
The driver of the truck comes to the door with the delivery manifest. “I’m really sorry we couldn’t get here last week like we were supposed to, but most of us came down with a nasty stomach bug.”
Chance rubs his stomach with a grimace. He knows all about that damn stomach bug! “Are you all okay now?”
“Yes, sir.” He studies the manifest. “It says here we’re delivering two full-sized beds, mattresses and box springs?”
Chance can’t help the smile that comes across his face. “Yup. One for me and one for my brother Leo. The bedrooms are upstairs.” Then he remembers the state of his room. “Ah… Could you give me a few minutes? I wasn’t expecting you to show up today.”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.” Chance turns to Kelsai. “I know I’m taking a huge risk here, but would you help me get the mattresses ready for removal?”
She doesn’t even bat an eye. “Sure I will.”
“Thank you. I owe you big!” He leads her up the stairs and points to Leo’s room. “We can start there.”
Kelsai puts her hand on Chance’s forearm. “I can do it by myself. I’m a wrestler too, remember?”
He has to laugh at himself. “The bag for the mattress is on his dresser.”
“Thanks.” She playfully pushes on his arm to get him into his room. “Get busy.”
“Right.” Chance goes into his room again and grabs the bedding so he can take it off.
Kelsai can’t help herself as she watches him go across the hall. He sure has a cute butt. Then she goes into Leo’s room and opens the curtains to let the light in. “Where is he anyway?”
“He had surgery on his left leg last week and they’re keeping him in the hospital for a few more days to make sure there are no complications.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure his new bed is waiting for him.” And she starts humming as she carefully removes the blanket, sheets and pillow.
Chance watches her without being seen as he works in his room. “You’re something else, you know that?” She’s cute. That thought springs up unbidden in spite of his ‘three strikes’ rule.
“So are you!” She takes the mattress bag off Leo’s dresser and opens it like it’s a clear oversized garbage bag.
Chance hears the plastic flapping and smothers a laugh. Her comment registers as he bags his own mattress. “I am?”
Kelsai comes out of Leo’s room after bagging his old mattress and leans on the doorframe for Chance’s. “You are… I can’t explain how, but you are.”
Chance ponders that as he sets the bagged mattress at an angle on the simple metal frame the matching box spring is resting on. “You know… You’re the first person who hasn’t made that sound like an insult.”
His attitude is puzzling her but it doesn’t take her long to figure it out. He’s at home where he feels safe and relaxed. “How many times has it been an insult?”
Chance sighs and rubs his face with both hands. “Too many.” He studies his handiwork and nods faintly. “That’s done. Let’s get back downstairs, shall we?”
“We shall.” Kelsai smiles and moves so Chance can get out of his room.
Chance smiles as he takes the lead going back downstairs. “Hey, sorry we kept you waiting.”
The delivery truck driver laughs a little. “We made you wait a week. Ten minutes isn’t going to bother us.”
Chance laughs and takes the offered manifest. “Yup, that’s what I paid for.”
“Great.” He turns and waves for his companions to start unloading the truck. “You’re actually our only delivery today. Today’s other deliveries are on the other trucks.”
“Well that’s a spot of good luck!”
“Yup.” He goes to help them offload everything.
Chance notices Kelsai standing in the living room so she isn’t in the way. “You can sit down if you like.”
Kelsai smiles again. “Thank you.” She sits on the couch and angles herself so she can see Chance.
Chance remembers which set Leo chose and verifies the items before they’re taken upstairs. “Yup… That set goes into the bedroom on the right when you get to the top of the stairs.” That’s Leo’s room.
The delivery man in front nods. “Thank you.” He leads them upstairs and into Leo’s room.
Chance absently tucks his hands into the pockets on his sweatpants as he turns to look at Kelsai. “So what brings you to Denver, Kelsai?”
Kelsai doesn’t hesitate. “You did.”
“I did?”
“Yes. You did.” She gets up and comes up to him with something in one hand. “I got something just before my match started.” And she shows him the note he wanted her to get.
Chance can’t help a smile even as he injects a tiny note of annoyance into his voice. “You were supposed to get it sooner than that.” The smile and annoyance disappear. “Shame it couldn’t help you win.”
Kelsai puts the note back in her pocket. “And it’s a shame you didn’t win.” She’d been watching from backstage.
He’s had time to come to terms with it. “I gave him a fight he’ll never forget.” He absently rubs his neck out of habit because of how he wound up losing. Yes, it bothers him, but it could have been a lot worse.
“Chance, I have to ask you something…”
“Shoot.”
“Why were you so abrasive in our past conversations?”
Chance waits until they take Leo’s mattress outside before he responds. “I get like that in awkward situations.” The guy carrying the old box spring goes by. “It tends to make people not like me.”
Kelsai’s no dummy; she gets it right away and laughs a little. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Chance.”
That’s puzzling to him and he’s grateful for the distraction when the delivery guys come in with the bed set he ordered for himself. “That one goes in the other bedroom.” He waits until they start up the stairs. “What do you mean by that?”
The confusion on his face only makes him look even more attractive because it makes him look human. “I don’t not like you… You’re just” She trails off, not sure how to finish her thought.
She doesn’t have to. “I’m just an arrogant prick?” Her hesitant nod gets to him. “I’m sorry if I gave you that impression, Kelsai.” It’s his turn to pause in mid-thought.
Kelsai gives him a hard look as the men from the delivery truck finish what they’re doing. And as she’s looking at him, she sees something. It’s not very big, but she knows what it is. She recognizes the look in his eyes as the same one she had when she blew up on him. Dear God, he’s just as lonely as I am! That realization makes her step back a little. “So why be abrasive if that’s not who you are?”
“Awkward situation, remember?” He lets himself get distracted so he can sign the forms saying the delivery was completed.
“Awkward how?”
Chance leans on the door after closing it behind the delivery men. “Close quarters with someone who…” He swallows hard before he can continue. “With someone I can’t get close to.”
“What are you talking about?”
Chance closes his eyes and leaves his head resting on the door. “There’s this rule I live by. I call it the ‘three strikes’ rule. I don’t go near people who don’t like me. I don’t go near people who just got out of a bad relationship. I don’t go near people who are my coworkers.”
Every word clarifies his behavior and Kelsai finds herself staring at his back. He’s all but told her he’s interested in her. She understands him a little better now. I don’t go near people who just got out of a bad relationship. She can’t help herself and teases him a little. “You have a heart after all!”
He can’t help laughing a little. “Yeah. I do.” He straightens up and wipes his eyes before turning around. “Can I offer you breakfast before we start putting the beds together?”
Kelsai hears her stomach rumble a little and grimaces with a little laugh. “That sounds good! Um… You don’t happen to have coffee, do you?”
Chance laughs like he normally does. “I always have a pot of coffee on!”
“That’s great!”
“Come on, then. I’ll pour you a cup so you can have some while I cook.” He takes her the short distance to the kitchen and takes down two coffee cups.
- - -
Chance puts his back on the door after closing it behind Kelsai and can’t help the goofy smile on his face. Kelsai’s unexpected visit had given him a shot of something he didn’t know he’d been missing since he got back from Nashville…
It gave him hope. He’d been feeling pretty damn sorry for himself. He pushes off the door and goes into the kitchen to start washing the dishes from breakfast.
“Thanks, Kelsai.”
He starts humming as he works, the routine movements working their usual magic and helping him feel more stable. Once the dishes are in the drip pan, he goes to his computer and sits at the desk with a soft sigh of contentment. Kelsai coming over had given him a good distraction from the nightmare or whatever the hell it was he’d woken up from.
Footsteps come down the stairs and preface a familiar voice coming from the living room. “I thought I’d give you time to wake up before I came by.”
“What brings you here, Jericho?”
Jericho comes into the dining room and grabs a chair from the table to sit on. “You had a nightmare.”
Chance rubs his face with both hands before answering. “I don’t know what the hell that was.”
“Tell me about it.”
Chance hesitates visibly before sighing. “All right.” He leans forward and starts talking.
Jericho listens to him talk and starts frowning when Chance reaches the end where the protagonist admits to liking it when he killed criminals. “That… You’re right. That’s not a nightmare. That’s something else.”
“I don’t think it was my sight… I saw it all like I was watching from overhead.”
“You were in close range when they left Andre for dead, remember.”
Chance sighs again. “Wouldn’t I have known if it was because of Michael training me?”
Chance has had visions of current events since he helped Jericho find his son Andre. Jericho recalls Michael’s report and shakes his head. “Not necessarily. His training would only have helped you not get migraines.” His lips quirk a bit. “Adam still gets migraines and he’s been training with me longer than you’ve been training with Michael.”
Chance rubs his temples. “He has to deal with his memories before he can go forward… Those bastards gave him serious PTSD.”
Jericho scowls. “Of course we’d forget that!”
Adam himself comes out of the kitchen. “Forget what?”
“Your former employers giving you PTSD.”
Adam shakes his head as he reaches out to rub the top of Chance’s head. “What’s with the sweaty hair, kid?”
Chance laughs. “The beds arrived this morning along with one of my co-workers and she helped me put them together.”
“Oh, good!” Adam sits on the couch. “She?”
“Her name’s Kelsai Adamson.” Chance leans back in his desk chair. “Don’t you go getting any ideas! She just got through a divorce!”
Jericho perks a brow. “Chivalry?”
Adam grins and shakes his head. “He has a ‘three strikes’ rule. No dating people who don’t like him. No dating people who just got out of a bad relationship. No dating coworkers.”
“Ah.”
Chance rubs his eyes and stifles a yawn. “She thought I was an arrogant prick. She doesn’t not like me, as she put it.”
Adam sees him yawn. “Assembling two beds made you that tired?”
Jericho answers him. “Either he had a nightmare or he saw someone’s imprisonment.” And he proceeds to fill Adam in.
Adam sits back with a long, drawn out whistle. “That’s heavy stuff!”
“Yeah it is.”
“What do you think it is, Jericho?”
Jericho looks over at Chance before he answers Adam. “I think he saw someone’s imprisonment.”
Chance rubs his face. “Honestly… I think I just watched too many episodes of Arrow.”
Adam shakes his head. “Even if you did play that scene over and over again, that doesn’t make what woke you up just a figment of your imagination.”
Jericho raises an eyebrow again. “What scene?”
“Season five, episode seventeen. Adrian Chase had Oliver Queen in a situation much like what Chance saw, except Adrian killed someone in front of Oliver and shot him with three arrows before Oliver confessed the way the man in Chance’s vision did.” Adam looks at Chance. “The last bit you saw before you woke up was exactly how that part of the episode ended.”
Chance nods a bit. “That’s why I think it was from me watching too much Arrow.”
Jericho shakes his head. “I remember that episode now. Chance, what you saw was nothing like Arrow.” He leans forward and his face takes on a serious cast. “I’ve been subjected to too many prophetic visions to think this isn’t something that really happened.”
Adam leans forward as well. “I’ve seen too many potential disasters to ignore this.” He looks at Jericho. “Liam’s power manifested last night in spite of your best efforts. He can see the past.”
“Damn. I’ll have to see if Jarred can help him.”
Chance can’t help himself. “Maybe Liam can help with cold cases.”
Adam chuckles. “He joked about that and Jeremiah said he should.”
Jericho laughs quietly. “I’ll have Jarred talk to him about that.” Then the laughter fades. “I’m curious why you aren’t taking this one seriously, Chance.”
Chance leans forward and puts his head in his hands. “I was awake for all the other ones.”
Jericho leans forward and puts his hand on Chance’s back. “Adam and I have both been woken up by visions. It’s more common than you think.”
Chance sits up and looks at Jericho, then turns to look at Adam. “Really?”
Adam nods solemnly as he responds. “Really.” He coughs into one hand and shakes his head a little. “I woke Liam up with a vision I had last week.”
“It must have been really gruesome if you woke him up from your room in the basement.”
Adam puts his glasses on his leg and rubs his eyes, then puts them back on before getting up and stopping just in front of Chance’s desk. “It was about you.”
Chance looks up at his mentor, a man who’s quickly becoming one of his closest friends. “Me?”
“Yes.” Adam notes the interested look on Jericho’s face out of the corner of his eye. “I saw you… And Leo…” He gestures helplessly and turns away with a muttered epithet.
A chill so deep it makes him shudder wraps around Chance’s spine. “We were dead, weren’t we?”
Adam shudders as he forces himself to breathe deeply. “Yes.” He turns to look at Chance again and there’s a haunted look in his eyes. “I saw you beat Leo to death before hanging yourself.”
Jericho shoots to his feet and puts his hands on either side of Adam’s head. “Show me.”
Chance can only watch the silent communication between the two seers in wordless awe. The chill around his spine fades away as he watches. He can’t talk until Jericho moves his hands away from Adam’s head. “What led to what Adam saw, Jericho?”
Jericho hears something in Chance’s voice and puts a gentle hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Apparently you’d been affected by a medication you were prescribed.”
Chance turns and reaches toward a series of medication bottles on his desk. His hand is shaking so badly he knocks some of them off. “Dammit!”
Adam turns and picks them up, reading the labels in the process. One of them catches his attention and he holds on to it as he puts the others back on the desk. “This one.” The label reads paroxetine. “Since when are you on paroxetine?”
“Since I got switched to another doctor without warning.” Chance’s hands are still shaking as he rubs his face. “This doctor seems to think I have OCD. I haven’t started taking it yet and after Adam’s vision, I’m not going to. I’ll let it expire then take it in for disposal.”
Adam notices the prescribing doctor’s name and his face loses all color. “You’re kidding me… Chance, your new doctor is Dr. Perry!?”
“Yes. What’s wrong?”
Adam gives Jericho the bottle of paroxetine before he says anything. “Dr. Perry is the name of the on-site “doctor” at my old workplace!”
Chance shudders so violently he knocks the bottles off his desk again. “He did say he’d just transferred in from Little Rock a few months ago…”
“Where’s his office?”
Chance has to ball his hands into fists so he can get them to stop shaking first. “I have the address on my computer.” He holds up his hands and shakes his head because they’re still trembling.
Jericho puts the pill bottle in his pocket and turns on the monitor for Chance’s computer. “What’s your password?” He tilts his head down and hears the whispered word, then nods and types it in. Then he gently rolls the chair Chance is sitting in to the side. “Do you remember the name of the file you saved it in?”
“Yes. It’s the text file on the desktop there. I named it Medical Contacts.”
“Thank you.” Jericho opens the file and writes down the address for Dr. Perry’s office. “Has Leo found a new doctor yet or is he waiting until after the lawsuit?”
“He already found one. It’s right below Dr. Perry.”
Jericho sees the name of Leo’s new doctor… And he starts to laugh. “That’s one of Michael’s friends!” Then he gets an idea. “Why don’t you see if she’ll take you as a patient too?”
Adam can see Chance trembling. “That’s gonna have to wait…” He looks at Jericho. “He’s terrified.”
“I’ll call her on his behalf. She’s not going to like what we have to say.”
Leo’s new doctor is a headstrong Hindu woman by the name of Dr. Pradesh. Chance comes out of it a little. “If her receptionist asks why I’m not the one calling, it’s because I authorized you to do it.”
“Thank you, Chance.” Jericho tucks the paper with Dr. Perry’s office address on it into his jacket pocket. “Have you eaten yet?”
“Oh, yeah, I made breakfast before Kelsai and I put the beds together. You showed up just after I washed the dishes.”
“Good. Do you have a bag for all these pill bottles?”
Chance opens the drawer on his desk and pulls out a resealable plastic bag. “Right here.”
Adam takes it from him and reads the labels on the pill bottles before putting all but one in the bag. “That’s his sleep aid.” It’s the only one that doesn’t have Dr. Perry’s name on it.
Jericho nods faintly. “I doubt he’ll need it very often now that he has a new bed.”
“If at all.”
Chance gets up and puts his boots on. “It snowed a lot yesterday. I’m glad Leo’s still in the hospital.”
“He’ll be coming home to a comfy new bed.”
“Kelsai said we’d have to make sure his bed was waiting for him when he got home.”
Jericho grins. “It sounds like you went and made yourself a female friend there, kid.”
Chance laughs as he puts on his jacket. “Lord knows I could use more friends!” He comes back to his computer, closes the text file and turns off the monitor again before looking around for his phone.
Adam picks it up off the floor and holds it out to him. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” He puts it in the inside pocket of his jacket along with his wallet and house keys. “I’m ready.”
“Then let’s go. Jericho, would you do the honors?”
Jericho smiles with a twinkle in his eye. “I’d love to.”
Chance reaches out to touch Jericho’s arm and his voice doesn’t quite sound like it did only a minute ago. “We need to start with my old doctor.”
“What are you seeing, Chance?”
“Someone’s standing outside the clinic and it looks like they’re holding a gun.”
Adam swears under his breath and moves in a bit. “This is urgent.”
Jericho has to agree. “Leave your hand on my arm, Chance… I’m teleporting us there.” He can feel the younger man’s hand convulse a little before taking hold of his jacket sleeve. “Here we go.” In the blink of an eye, the three of them are standing outside the clinic Chance’s old doctor practices in.
Chance looks around slowly, still in the grips of his sight. “To our left in the alcove between businesses.”
Adam goes that way and sees the man Chance is connected to standing in the alcove between businesses with a gun in one hand. “Excuse me, sir, but can we talk?”
Chance snaps out of it then and puts one hand to his forehead. “Crisis averted, I think.”
Jericho sees Adam talking to the would-be gunman and looks back at Chance. “Yes. You stopped something terrible before it could even happen.” And he puts his arm around Chance’s shoulders.
Chance goes to say something when his sight explodes behind his eyes to show him the man he’d seen while he was sleeping. “It’s him.”
“What’s going on, Chance?”
“The man I saw while I was sleeping.” He can feel Jericho touching his head as the vision plays out. The man Chance is now seeing in his mind is standing near what looks to be an abandoned jailhouse. He’s wearing the clothes from before, but they look much cleaner. On one hip is a nasty-looking hunting knife. The man looks back at the abandoned jailhouse and takes a few steps away before he stops. “Oh, no, please keep walking.” Almost as if he’d heard Chance talking, he starts walking again. This time he doesn’t stop and Chance’s sight lets him go after the man’s out of sight.
Jericho moves his hand and looks at the younger man in concern. “Do you think he heard you?”
Chance looks at Jericho and the cold Denver air dries the sweat on his face right away. “I don’t know… If you know where he is, please have someone find him. I don’t like the feeling I’m getting.”
“I know where he is… And I know who he is. His brother just got an anonymous text message telling him where to go.”
“Thank you.” Chance rubs his eyes. “I should have known it wasn’t my imagination.”
“You’re new to this. Cut yourself some slack.”
Chance exhales gustily. “You’re right. I guess I’m still having trouble accepting it.”
“That’s normal. A lot of people have trouble accepting magic as being real.”
Adam comes back and gives Chance’s shoulder a shake. “This generation is so rooted in technology and social media it’s not really a surprise. We weren’t like this when I was your age.”
Chance can’t help a smile. “That’s true.” He looks over Adam’s shoulder and sees an empty space where the man with the gun used to be. “What’d you tell him to change his mind?”
“He was upset over his wife’s test results and thought the doctor falsified them. I told him violence wasn’t the answer and it would only put more of a burden on him and his wife… Then I told him calling the doctor and having a civil conversation would be much more productive.” He grins. “He agreed with me and is on his way home.”
“That’s a load off my mind!” Chance exhales softly. “I think I’ll ask the receptionist if she knows why I was transferred to Dr. Perry.”
Adam and Jericho look at each other and Jericho nods. “Did you want one of us to go in with you?”
Chance visibly hesitates before making a decision. “As much as I’d like to do this alone, I think Adam should come with me.”
Jericho smiles. “I’ll wait out here.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” Jericho moves to where the man with the gun had been standing and seems to disappear.
“I’ll never get used to that.” Chance exhales explosively. “May as well get this over with… Come on, Adam.”
Adam grins. “Right behind ya, kid.”
Chance suddenly pulls a disposable mask out of his pocket and puts it on. “I have an extra if you need it.”
“I have one.” Adam puts it on and nudges Chance with his elbow. “Let’s go.”
Chance walks into the clinic with Adam close behind and looks around in mute shock. There are no chairs in the waiting room! “What the hell…” He goes to the desk and lightly taps on the desk. “Excuse me…”
The nurse receptionist turns around and smiles when she sees Chance and Adam. “Hi Chance! What can I help you with today?”
“Can you tell me why I got transferred to Dr. Perry’s practice without warning a couple of weeks ago?”
Her smile fades and she looks down. “Dr. Garcia thought it was better for you if you were with another doctor.”
“When I came to Dr. Garcia five years ago, my old doctor warned me a month ahead of time.” His voice is gentle. “I’d like to know why I wasn’t notified, that’s all.”
She looks up to see a compassionate look in Chance’s eyes. “Dr. Perry pressured him to transfer you and a dozen others before the end of the month and implied there would be professional repercussions if he didn’t.”
“Did Dr. Perry ask for me specifically or did he just want thirteen of Dr. Garcia’s patients?”
A startled look comes across her face. “He asked for you specifically!”
Adam steps forward. “My name is Adam… Did he say why he wanted Chance as a patient?”
“I don’t remember if he did or not. You’d have to ask Dr. Garcia.”
“Is he here right now?”
Chance hears a soft ticking from one of the exam rooms and instinctively follows the sound.
“Chance, wait!”
He keeps going and finds the source of the sound. The ticking is coming from Dr. Garcia’s watch… And Dr. Garcia is lying on the floor! “Dr. Garcia!” He drops his jacket in the hallway before he rushes to the doctor’s side and immediately checks to see if he’s alive.
Adam and the nurse receptionist come in at Chance’s shout and Adam takes out his cell phone. “I’ll call 911.”
The nurse receptionist moves into the room to help Chance. “I didn’t even hear him fall!”
Chance’s voice is rough with concern. “People don’t always make noise when they collapse.” He puts his hand under Dr. Garcia’s head and his fingers come into contact with something unfamiliar. “Help me get him onto his back?”
“Yes, of course.” She helps him turn Dr. Garcia onto his back and sees what’s under his hand. “Oh my God.” Chance’s hand is touching Dr. Garcia’s skull. “The side of his face is missing!”
Chance suppresses his revulsion. “I did feel a pulse.”
She checks Dr. Garcia’s heartbeat and hesitates. “It’s weak but steady.”
“We’ll skip the breaths, but go ahead and start the compressions.”
Adam is talking to the 911 dispatcher and tells her that. “Dr. Garcia’s heartbeat is weak but steady. They’re skipping the assisted breathing and only doing the chest compressions. I don’t know how he’s still alive after having part of his face removed. She didn’t hear anything before he was discovered.” He listens for a moment and rubs his face with his free hand. “All right.” He lowers the phone a little. “Chance, I’m going out front to wait for the ambulance.”
“Okay.”
Adam goes out to the chairless waiting area. “I’m out front in the waiting area.” He goes to the desk and uses one of Dr. Garcia’s business cards to provide the address for the clinic. The nurse receptionist had been too worried about Dr. Garcia to give it to him.
Chance is holding Dr. Garcia’s head steady and ignoring his urge to vomit. “Come on, Dr. Garcia, stay with us.” He isn’t prepared for what happens next…
Dr. Garcia wakes up! “Dr. Perry did this to me.” Then he shudders from head to toe and his body goes totally still.
“Dr. Garcia! Dr. Garcia, can you hear me?” Chance shakes Dr. Garcia’s shoulder with his unbloodied hand. “Dr. Garcia!”
The nurse receptionist puts her hand over his. “He’s gone, Chance.”
Chance leans forward until his forehead is touching Dr. Garcia’s chest. “I’ll make sure Dr. Perry pays for this!”
She moves her hand to rest on Chance’s back while they wait for the ambulance to arrive. “I’m sorry, Chance.”
Chance sits back and looks at her. “Not as sorry as Dr. Perry’s going to be!”
The paramedics come in shortly after that and take over. One of them went to high school with Chance. “What happened, buddy?”
Chance swallows hard. “He woke up and told us Dr. Perry did this to him then he – Then he died.” He puts his clean hand over his eyes to hide the tears.
“Go ahead and take him back to his friend, Christine.”
Christine is the nurse receptionist. “Okay. Come on, Chance.” She helps him to his feet and guides him to the bathroom so he can wash the blood off. “Let’s get you cleaned up first.” His lack of protest tells her he’s starting to withdraw. She turns on the water and finds an acceptable temperature before putting Chance’s bloody hand into the stream.
The water on his skin snaps him out of it and Chance actively washes away the blood. “I’m going to have nightmares about this for a very long time.”
“So am I.” She sees him use soap to get the rest of the blood off his hand and reaches out to turn off the water when his hand is totally clean.
“Thanks…” Chance takes paper towels out of the dispenser to dry his hands. “Can I get you to get my jacket out of the hallway for me?”
“Sure. I’ll be right back with it.” She goes to get his jacket and keeps her gaze away from the exam room Dr. Garcia died in. Chance’s phone is poking out of the inside pocket and she tucks it back in before turning to go back to where he’s waiting. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” He’s shaking as he puts it on. “You remember my cell number, right?”
She knows why he’s asking. “I’ll give it to them if they want to talk to you.”
“Thanks. Walk me out there?”
“Of course.”
The first thing Adam sees when Chance and Christine come out is their pale faces. “Dammit. I’m sorry, you guys.”
Chance gives Christine a brief hug before he heads for the door on his own. “Dr. Perry’s going to be even sorrier. He did it.”
“What!?”
“Dr. Garcia woke up and told us it was Dr. Perry right before he died.”
Adam’s face darkens like a thundercloud. “That’s one more he’s gonna suffer for. Come on, kid. Let’s get you outside.” And he follows Chance out into the chilly Denver afternoon.
Jericho comes out of his hiding place and goes right to Chance. “We’ll stay out here until you can think a little better.”
Chance knows why Jericho said that and nods a little. “That’s a good idea… I don’t need to go to jail for beating that asshole to death.”
“Adam doesn’t need that either.”
Adam nods curtly. “Though I may swear at him a lot.”
“Swearing is encouraged.”
Chance is still shaking as he zips up his jacket and shoves his hands in his pockets. “What I saw and heard in there… That’s nightmare fuel.”
Jericho knows Chance is serious. “I believe it.”
Adam takes off his mask then removes Chance’s for him. “I don’t remember seeing that happen… Do you, Jericho?”
“No. I’d remember it if I saw something like that.” Jericho remembers damn near every vision he’s ever had.
Chance has to look away when the paramedics bring Dr. Garcia’s body out on the stretcher and he can’t stop himself from stumbling away to lean on the wall as he throws up everything he ate for breakfast. “Dammit…” He can feel two different hands on his back and arm.
Adam sounds worried. “Are you sure you want to keep going today, kid?”
The world is spinning and Chance has to close his eyes. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get another opportunity if I don’t.”
“Let us know when you feel stable enough to continue.”
“I will.” Chance keeps his eyes closed so he doesn’t make the nausea worse by staring at the snow. Several minutes pass before he can open his eyes. “Okay, I’m steady enough to keep going.”
Adam puts the paroxetine in the bag with the rest of the pill bottles and closes the bag again. “Dr. Garcia told him and the nurse receptionist Dr. Perry was responsible for what happened to him.”
Jericho growls low in his throat and an amber flame appears around his right fist. “Subtlety just went right out the fucking window!” He opens an amber gate off to their right. “This’ll take us right into the waiting room.”
Chance pushes off the wall. “Let’s pin a dirtbag to the wall!” He’s the first one to walk through the gate. Adam and Jericho are right behind him.
The sudden appearance of three men in the waiting room startles Dr. Perry’s receptionist and the patients sitting there. She hurries over to them and holds out disposable masks. “Please put these on…”
Chance takes one and puts it on. “Anger is no reason to ignore the rules, guys.” He can hear Adam and Jericho put the masks on without complaining and silently thanks his lucky stars.
“Thank you.” She knows who they are without being told. “Dr. Perry is in his office, Chance.” A subtle shifting of her body turns her to look at Adam. “Yes, this is the same Dr. Perry from Little Rock.”
Adam growls quietly. “I have a few choice words for him!”
“I’m not surprised after what came to light two years ago.” She turns to look at Jericho. “I’m confused, though. Why are you here, Mr. DeLioncourt?”
Jericho’s eyes are calm and his voice is gentle. “Chance and Adam are my friends.”
She doesn’t hesitate. “This way, please. I’ll take you to his office.”
“Thank you.” The amber gate closes without a sound and Jericho nods for Chance and Adam to follow the receptionist. “Why are you working for him if you know his past, miss?”
“My name is Nadine, Mr. DeLioncourt. I needed a job when he came here last year. I’ve been subtly checking the job listings on my off time, though.”
“There are a few doctors in town who need qualified nurses and assistants... Dr. Pradesh comes to mind.”
Nadine can’t help a soft chuckle. “I’ve already let her office know I was interested.”
“That’s good to know.”
Nadine stops outside Dr. Perry’s office and gives two sharp knocks. “Dr. Perry, there are people here to see you.”
Dr. Perry’s voice carries clearly through the door. “Show them in please, Nadine. Those patients in the waiting room are waiting for Dr. Gaines and Dr. Mills.”
“Yes, Doctor.” Nadine opens the door and steps to the side. “You can go in, gentlemen.”
Chance goes in first. “Thank you, Nadine.” He stops just shy of the chair in front of Dr. Perry’s desk and hears Adam and Jericho stop behind him.
Dr. Perry waits for Nadine to close the door before he looks up. “Hello. Chance, is it?”
“Yes. You might say I took a chance that you’d be available for a discussion today.”
“I’m always available for my patients. What can I help you with?”
Adam leans forward and puts the bag of Chance’s prescriptions on the desk. “Are all these pills really necessary?”
Dr. Perry looks at Adam at the sound of his voice. “I swear I know your voice from somewhere... But to answer your question, I’m testing these medications to see if they can help with the vestibular issues Dr. Garcia noticed.”
Chance opens the bag and takes out the prescriptions related to anxiety, depression and OCD. “These three medications have nothing to do with vestibular issues, Dr. Perry. Why did you give them to me?”
Dr. Perry notes the medications on the labels but he doesn’t touch the bottles. “I was concerned the medications for your vestibular issues would cause other problems.”
The other bottles get taken out and set on the desk so Dr. Perry can see the labels. “Please tell me which of these medications are actually for treating vestibular issues.”
Dr. Perry suddenly gets the feeling Chance knows something he doesn’t, but he doesn’t give anything away. He picks up a pen and pushes two of the bottles back toward Chance. “Those two are.”
“Can you explain the rest of the prescriptions for me?”
“Of course.” He pulls Chance’s file up on his computer. “These two” He pushes two bottles away a little. “Are for your balance issues. They’re good separately, but they’re very effective together and have no adverse effects.”
There’s one bottle Dr. Perry hasn’t explained. Chance points to it. “And that one, Doctor?”
“That one is for your headaches.” He knows Chance has been getting painful headaches for some time now. “I apologize for not explaining them before.” He then uses the pen to move the other pill bottles off to the side. “These ones aren’t necessary.”
“Why did Dr. Garcia transfer my file to you anyway?”
“He realized you needed better care than he could provide and asked me if I’d take you and a dozen other patients with higher needs than he could care for.”
That matches what Christine told him, except for one small detail. “Dr. Garcia’s nurse receptionist told me something slightly different, Dr. Perry... She told me you asked for my file specifically.”
Dr. Perry realizes Chance does know something he doesn’t. “When did you talk to Christine?”
“Less than an hour ago.” Chance leans in toward Dr. Perry and puts his hands on the desk. “Right before we found Dr. Garcia in one of the exam rooms.”
Dr. Perry sees Adam and Jericho move in a little closer. “Is he all right?”
“No, Doctor. I’m afraid Dr. Garcia is dead.”
Something about Chance’s behavior is puzzling him. He sees Chance’s arms trembling and he knows. “Oh Chance, I’m sorry you were the one to find him. That must have been a real shock to the system!”
“I’m waiting until I get home before I fall apart.”
Adam picks up the conversation. “Dr. Perry...” He waits until Dr. Perry is looking at him before he takes off his mask. “Do you recognize me now?”
Dr. Perry feels his world tilt sharply to the side. “Adam Brock. I thought you sounded familiar.”
The smoothness of his voice is a testament to Adam’s self-control. “What brings you to Denver?”
“I have family here. My sister suggested I come here and start a new practice with other doctors.”
“How did you not get charged for your participation?”
“Our former employers had good attorneys working on my behalf.”
“They won’t be fucking with anyone ever again. My brother and I shut them down when we found out they moved to Pittsburgh.”
Dr. Perry searches Adam’s face for deception and can’t help a sigh of relief when he doesn’t find any. “That’s a relief!” Then he has to ask. “Who’s your brother?”
“Liam Kendell.”
“I didn’t know he did that sort of thing.”
“He doesn’t like to advertise that. He’s happy running the Smelter and making music.”
“I’m glad he’s happy with what he’s doing.”
Jericho chimes in with a scowl. “Why are you so calm talking to him, Doctor?”
“I’m sorry...You are?”
It’s Jericho’s turn to take off his mask. “My name is Jericho DeLioncourt.”
Dr. Perry flinches at the hard look in Jericho’s eyes and realizes that this is what Chance knew. Chance knew Dr. Perry wouldn’t recognize Adam with a mask on and he certainly wouldn’t recognize Jericho! “Mr. DeLioncourt, I assure you I was not a willing participant! They were blackmailing me and wouldn’t let me leave when my work contract expired!”
Jericho sits Chance in the chair on their side of the desk before he says anything. “I’m having a hard time believing you.” He looks Dr. Perry in the eyes. “Adam had a lot to say about you and none of it was good.”
Dr. Perry looks at Adam and sees the truth in those unusually expressive green eyes. He looks at Chance and sees something lurking in the younger man’s eyes. “What’s bothering you, Chance?”
Chance looks down at his right hand as he talks. That’s the hand that was touching Dr. Garcia’s bare skull less than an hour ago. “Dr. Garcia told me something before he died.”
“What did he tell you?”
Chance lifts his head and locks eyes with Dr. Perry. “He told me “Dr. Perry did this to me.” Then he died.” He holds up his right hand. “My right hand was touching his skull when he died. His SKULL!”
Dr. Perry flinches at the raw emotion in Chance’s voice. “Why were you touching his skull, Chance?”
“The right side of his face was missing!”
Jericho mutters. “There’s why he threw up.”
Chance lays all his cards on the table, so to speak. “Christine told the three of us you threatened Dr. Garcia’s professional reputation if he didn’t give you my file along with a dozen others. You asked for me by name, Doctor, and I want to know why!”
Dr. Perry is so rattled by what Chance just told him his control slips. “I heard about your brother’s doctor and I wanted to make sure you didn’t fall through the cracks.”
“Fall through the cracks?”
“Dr. Garcia knew about your vestibular and balance issues for months. Did he ever talk to you about them?”
Chance figures out what Dr. Perry’s trying to tell him. “He was in league with Dr. Leopold!”
“I’m afraid so. They had it in for you and Leo but I haven’t quite figured out why.”
Adam steps forward. “Dr. Perry. Dr. Leopold is the defendant in a city-wide class action lawsuit and Leo Owens is the first plaintiff.”
“They may want to touch base with Grand Junction, Boulder and Pueblo too. Denver isn’t the first city in Colorado Dr. Leopold has practiced in.”
“We’ll make sure the DA knows about this.” Adam then takes an envelope seemingly out of thin air and puts it on Dr. Perry’s desk. “That’s a full documentation of every injury I sustained while I worked for those miserable tyrants.”
Dr. Perry opens the envelope and takes out a sheaf of papers. “Who did this documentation? It’s very organized.”
“Those documents were prepared by Jericho’s brother Michael. He’s the reason I’m standing here right now.”
Dr. Perry’s admiration is genuine. “I’ve always been fascinated by his work. He is a certified genius!”
Jericho can’t help smiling a little. “I’ll tell him you said that.”
There’s silence as Dr. Perry reads Michael’s documentation. He’s visibly shaken when he finally looks up. “Adam, I am so sorry.” He puts his head in his hands. “Please ask Nadine to distribute my patients between Dr. Gaines and Dr. Mills.”
Adam lets his anger through in his voice. “You’re sorry for what? For me calling you out on your lies? For all the agony you let me suffer through? Or are you sorry for all the people you killed?”
“I’m sorry for everything I did and didn’t do in Little Rock.” He sounds defeated.
Jericho puts his mask back on and leaves the office to find Nadine. She’s sitting at the desk putting information into the computer. “Nadine, I have a message from Dr. Perry.”
Nadine saves what she’s working on. “What is it?”
“He wants you to divide his patients between Dr. Gaines and Dr. Mills.”
She immediately shifts documents to begin the process. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“He won’t be going home after we’re done here. Did he say anything about Dr. Garcia or Dr. Leopold?”
One hand comes off the keyboard to open a drawer and take out a very thick envelope. “He wanted me to get this to the DA.” She holds it out to him. “It would have more weight coming from you.”
“So he was right when he said they were working together.”
“He was.”
“Thank you.” He takes the envelope she’s holding out. “I’ll make sure this gets to the DA within the hour.”
“Thank you, Mr. DeLioncourt. Did you want me to contact the police for you?”
Jericho gives a negligent wave and a burgundy portal opens in the waiting room. “No need.” Three members of the Denver Police Department walk through the portal. “He’s down the hall with my friends Adam and Chance, Officers.”
Nadine pauses long enough to point where they should turn before going back to work. “Which of your brothers is this?”
“Jarred. He’s the police officer in the family.” Jericho leans in a little. “Take Chance’s file with you when Dr. Pradesh hires you. She’s Leo’s new doctor.”
“I’ll be more than happy to.”
“Thank you.” Jericho leans against the desk and waits for Adam and Chance to come out behind the police officers and Dr. Perry. He sees the officers with their prisoner in custody and nods slightly. “Go back the way you came, guys. The portal exits into your precinct house.”
Adam and Chance come into view shortly after Jarred’s portal closes. Adam is wearing his mask again and he has his arm around Chance’s shoulders. “Let’s get you home. You’ve had a nasty shock.”
Jericho sees Chance nod without saying a word and he knows the younger man is pulling into himself. “I think you should keep an eye on him for a while, Adam.”
“I’m going to.”
Jericho nods and moves away from the desk. “I’m going to send you two back to Chance’s house and I’ll meet you there.” He taps the envelope against his hand. “I need to see the DA.”
“All right.” Adam guides Chance through the amber portal that opens in front of them and moves him right to the couch. The portal closes silently and he removes Chance’s jacket and boots. “Sit.”
Chance sits down and covers himself with his favorite blanket. “I’m afraid to sleep, Adam...”
“I don’t blame you. I would be too.” Adam goes to the front door and hangs up Chance’s jacket after taking out his cell phone, then puts Chance’s boots on the mat by the door. “Any trouble at Shannon’s after we went there?”
“Not a bit.”
“Good.” Adam comes back and puts Chance’s cell phone on the coffee table with the TV remote and Chance’s tablet. “You in the mood for some TV?”
“Would you find something?”
“Of course.” Adam picks up the remote and turns on the TV. He’s perusing the menu of available channels when Jericho comes in through a portal. “You’re just in time for a little distraction via TV.”
Jericho laughs quietly as he claims one of the overstuffed chairs. “If Chance left it up to you, you’d better make it good.”
“I’m going to.” Adam slowly pages down and pauses when he sees something. “How about a little basketball?”
Chance shakes his head a little. “No thanks. I find basketball to be incredibly boring and I don’t want to go to sleep right now.”
“Okay.” Adam keeps moving slowly through the listings and pauses again. “Looks like we have some B-roll horror films on tap here...”
“Maybe they’ll trick my mind into thinking earlier was just a nightmare. What’s up first?”
Adam grins as he navigates to the right channel. “Ghost Ship.”
Chance can’t help himself as he sits up and leans forward. “Oh, I love that movie!”
Jericho laughs as he wiggles his fingers and adjusts Chance’s blanket for him. “Andre loves it too.”
Adam laughs and switches the TV to the right channel. “Jeremiah has become obsessed with this movie!” He puts the remote on the table and settles into the other chair. “I like it too.”
Chance grabs his blanket and wraps it around himself so he can hold it closed in the front. “What about you, Jericho?”
Jericho grins. “It’s a masterpiece.”
“Oh good. It’s unanimous.” And Chance turns his attention to the TV. His mind is immediately distracted from what he encountered earlier and lets him fully immerse himself in the movie. Nightmares can come from anything... What matters is how you handle them.
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^Banner courtesy of Mad Marlowe