Burn Page 2

  She could read the truth in my words, and accepted it easily. I could feel her thoughts turn toward Laurie and Tray. She wondered exactly what they’d gone through in their time with the geokinetic man. Tray had become almost obsessed with the guy over the last few years.

  “They’re done there,” I answered her unasked question. “Tray and Laurie will meet us at the fire station if they need to, or at the hotel if you and I manage to convince the chief to let us get involved. Everything turned out okay. I guess Jason—the geokinetic guy—was injured, but is healing. They were at his welcome home party when I called.”

  Rae smiled. “Good to hear. I can’t wait for them to tell us everything about what they were up to.”

  “Yeah, from the bits and pieces I’ve heard, it was quite an adventure. Should be interesting, getting caught up.”

  “With your old friend too,” she answered slyly, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “You seem pretty excited to see him again. Made a bit of an impact, did he? Besides the trouble with his powers, that is?”

  My face heated up a bit at the implication. “He was, like, seventeen when I first met him.”

  “And you had just turned twenty. Not exactly an insurmountable age difference.”

  She was right, but it wasn’t a thought I’d allowed myself to entertain before. He’d been a hurt kid, and I’d been able to save him. Maybe things would be a bit different now, but it was hard to say. He had sounded older, but still uncertain. Still a hurting kid under the tough shell he’d constructed. Maybe he’d be able to learn to accept all parts of himself and truly move on from his horrific childhood.

  The abuse he’d suffered at the hands of Greg Anderson, the loss of his parents, the loss of trust he felt after his final confrontation with Anderson… So much had happened that he hadn’t allowed himself to process. He’d formed a close bond with his adoptive father initially, but Detective Hanson’s inability to keep him safe from Anderson had nearly severed that bond.

  The change between the two had a strong mental backlash that I’d felt as soon as Brennan and Hanson had seen each other at the hospital. If the break had been jarring for me, it had to have nearly destroyed Brennan and his ability to trust again. I could only hope we could convince him to trust us enough to truly help him.

  We would find out soon enough, I mused as we passed the city limits sign. Or we would watch this city burn.

  FOUR

  Tray

  “Home, sweet home,” I said, tossing my bag onto the bed in my hotel room.

  Laurie had gone into her room, which was conveniently located next to mine, and we would soon head to the fire station. Cade and Cole’s room was across the hall. They would arrive within the hour. My phone chimed, and I smiled to see that Jade and Rae had already checked in and would be with us shortly. We’d meet in Laurie’s room shortly to decide on our plan of action.

  In the meantime, I slipped my rubber ball out of my pocket, pushing it to dance around the room. The now-simple trick was good for centering my thoughts and focusing my control. As much trouble as Jason had with his powers, I’d had similar issues when mine first manifested. Uncontrolled bouts of telekinesis had caused me problems for years. The first occasion being when I’d sent a lunch tray flying into the face of a boy who’d been picking on me and one of my friends all day. It had smashed him in the nose, and I’d gotten detention and a new nickname from the incident. Of course, everyone thought I’d thrown the tray, but the bully hadn’t bothered me again. So… silver lining, I guess.

  My phone chimed again, and I allowed the ball to float down into my hand. It was time to meet up with my friends.

  I made the short walk to Laurie’s room and found that Rae, Jade, Cole, and Cade were already in there with her.

  “Hey, bud!” Cole greeted me as I joined them. He ran a hand through his dark hair and pulled me into a quick, one-armed hug. “Long time, no see. How was the geokinetic guy?”

  I grinned at my pseudo big brother and returned the hug. “It was amazing!” I answered. The jolt of energy I had from the reminder of Laurie’s and my most recent adventure had me shaking almost every object in the room.

  “Calm yourself, Tray,” Laurie cut in. “Deep breaths and just stop the outflow of your power.”

  “Sorry.” I concentrated on my power on the little ball in my pocket, allowing it to slip free and float around. With my concentration focused on the small object, the other furnishings settled back solidly on the floor.

  Laurie watched, an approving smile crossing her face. “Well done, Tray. You’re getting better at that.”

  I smiled sheepishly. “Yeah… thanks, Laurie.”

  “Anyway, glad you guys had fun on your adventure. Now, onto the next one,” Jade broke in. “We are here to help Brennan Peterson figure out how to handle his powers, and determine whether he has somehow been the cause of several fires in the area recently.”

  “He doesn’t know?” I asked, frowning. “That sounds…”

  “Oddly familiar,” Laurie finished, her finger tapping at her leg thoughtfully.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “But we stopped him. So this has to be something different.”

  “Stopped who?” Cade asked. “What’s so familiar?”

  “The man we fought when we met Jason,” I explained. “We all called him the Mastermind because he could take control of people, and if he let them go, they would have no memory of it. It’s not him, so it doesn’t matter. This isn’t the same thing.”

  Laurie pursed her lips, but nodded agreement. “You’re right. Maybe some sort of odd feedback from his refusal to learn his powers? Somehow they push to the surface and he doesn’t remember using them?”

  “We can’t say for sure until we get a read on him,” Cole said. “And I’m guessing all of us showing up at his workplace would be unwelcome, so perhaps Jade and Laurie ought to head that way to get us an official invite to the arson case?”

  Other than Laurie, Cole was the member of our group with the highest seniority. He had been the first of Laurie’s recruits, followed closely by his little brother Cade. Both had similar abilities. They could use an object to see through another’s eyes, or at least get a sense of who they were. It was extremely handy at crime scenes. Sometimes Cade was able to sense victims randomly as well. They’d been utilized by police even before joining us, and had a proven track record for helping to find both victims and perpetrators.

  “While we’re doing that, how ‘bout you and Tray take a look at a couple of the arson scenes. Maybe you’ll pick something up to tell us who started the fires,” Laurie suggested.

  “Wouldn’t it make more sense for Cade to go with him?” I asked. “I can’t help with sensing things.”

  “No, but you can move stuff around to help him get to something that might help,” Jade said. “Everyone else, meet up at Brennan’s house this evening. I texted all of you his address. We’ll hopefully be part of the case officially by then, and will be able to get some files to look over.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, pocketing my ball again. “Ready to go?”

  “I’d like to join you anyway, if that’s okay,” Cade offered. “Having both of us there increases the odds of finding something useful.”

  Laurie nodded. “Go for it. Rae, that leaves you. Do you want to hang back or join one of the groups?”

  “I’ll head to the station with you and Jade. I might be able to help us get in on the case. Especially considering they haven’t even admitted there is a case yet.”

  “At least not to the general public,” Jade agreed. “Though it seems Brennan is concerned he’s going to be openly accused at any time.”

  We could do this. Together, all of us could help this guy. If he was being fully honest with us, we should be able to find out the truth and solve his problem. Or at least start him on the process of figuring out how to solve it. Either way, he would be better off with us here.

  Judging by how Jade was acting, it could be just that Brennan�
�s life would be better with her in it.

  Cade clapped his hands together. “We ready to go?”

  His brother nodded, and the rest of us followed suit. “Yeah, let’s get going,” Cole gestured to Cade and me to follow him out.

  “Good luck getting us on the case,” I called back. My eyes narrowed with a sudden thought. “Hey, should we wait to enter the scene until we hear from you? We don’t wanna get busted for trespassing or something dumb like that.”

  Laurie frowned. “Good idea. We’ll make it to the station before you get to the scene, so hopefully it won’t take long. I’ll text when you’re good to go in.”

  Shooting her a two fingered salute, I grinned. “Sounds good. Catch ya later.”

  FIVE

  Brennan

  The first part of the day passed fairly uneventfully. Just a minor car accident we were called out to. One person trapped by the dented in door, but the only injuries were bumps and bruises. They’d be hurting the next few days, but it seemed they would be fine.

  We had only been back for a few minutes when there were visitors to the station. I recognized one right away.

  Jade. She’d made an impression three years ago, despite how injured and out of it I’d been. Her red hair was shorter now than it had been then, only barely brushing the tops of her shoulders. When she spotted me, her face brightened into a smile.

  “Brennan!” she exclaimed, walking quickly toward me. “It’s good to see you.”

  She seemed uncertain now how to greet me, but before long just pulled me into a hug. “I’m glad you called,” she whispered.

  “I should have kept in touch better,” I whispered back. “Sorry it took so long to reach out.”

  One of the other two women who’d arrived with Jade cleared her throat. “Oh, right. Sorry,” Jade gestured toward the slightly older blond woman. “This is Laurie, and that,”—she pointed toward the dark-haired woman with a pixie face—“is Rae. They’re some of the friends I told you about.”

  “Nice to meet you both,” I said, shaking their hands. “Where are the others?”

  “Waiting on us getting officially involved before searching one of the arson scenes,” Jade said. “On that note, we ought to go talk to your boss.”

  I gestured toward the back office. “My captain is Paul de la Santos. He should be back there.”

  My lieutenant approached, and I realized that almost everybody was watching as I greeted Jade.

  “Friends of yours, Peterson?” Quentin asked, one eyebrow raised. “I’m Lieutenant Quentin Daniels. Anything we can do for you ladies today?”

  I answered the first question with a nod. Laurie answered the next. “We’re here to see Captain de la Santos. We’ll definitely let you know if there’s anything you can do for us, though. Thank you.”

  “See you later,” I said as the three women made their way to the captain’s office.

  Quentin slapped my shoulder lightly. “Back to work, Peterson.”

  I grinned. “Sorry. Haven’t seen Jade for a while. Just wanted to say hi before she talked to the captain.”

  “No problem. I’d say hi too, if I had visitors like those.”

  The alarm blared, and I saw Jade glance back toward me before I turned to get back on the truck.

  Jim moved quickly toward the vehicle as well. “Let’s go, Brennan. House fire over on Fortieth Street.”

  I picked up my pace a bit more, and soon the sirens were screaming through the streets. A second truck followed ours, and an ambulance was not far behind.

  When we pulled up to the two-story house, two police cars were already in front and several people were gathered around the scene. One officer worked to block off the area around the house to keep bystanders out. Another rushed to talk to Quentin as we emerged from the truck and took in the smoke pouring out the windows.

  My… extra senses, allowed me to tell that there was a fairly large fire burning in the inner parts of the house. As we got geared up, I could see the flames licking at the walls on the outside of the house.

  “The fire is growing,” I muttered.

  “Peterson and Davis, there’s someone trapped inside,” Quentin told us. “From what the officer said, the parents tried to get to the kid’s bedroom, but couldn’t get through the flames. The bedroom is upstairs. Move quickly and carefully.”

  “Got it, boss,” Jim answered.

  I gave a curt nod as I fastened my oxygen mask over my face and followed Jim into the building.

  The staircase was to the right of the entrance, and—other than being filled with heavy smoke—was clear to use. Squinting through the smoke I noticed there were bedrooms to both sides of the hallway. “Do we know which room?” I asked.

  Jim shook his head and motioned for me to go to the right and he would check the left. The first bedroom wasn’t a kid’s room, but I checked anyway to make sure the child hadn’t tried to sneak into her parent’s bedroom for safety. Further examination proved it was likely a guest room. No indication of the bed having been used recently or clothes hanging in the closet.

  Sweat dripped down my face as I moved to the next room, which was the master bedroom. The king sized bed and adjoining bathroom gave it away, although there were flames licking at the window coverings coming from the outlet below. A search of the bathroom and main room didn’t show anyone. When I called out for anyone to respond, I heard nothing. That didn’t mean no one was there…

  I dropped to the floor to look under the bed, and hiding there was a small, dark-haired girl clutching a teddy bear. She was curled on her side and not moving. Urgently, I reached to pull her out.

  Watching her carefully, I was happy to see she was still breathing, but probably wouldn’t be for long with this much smoke. That she’d been on the floor may have saved her life. I got her up and rushed out of the room back to the stairs. “Jim, I’ve got her!” I called into my radio.

  By the time I reached the stairs, the flames had engulfed them. Jim met me at the top and made the same realization I had: we weren’t making it down the stairs.

  “Windows are tricky,” I said, following his gaze to the bedrooms. “The fire was taking over around the frames.”

  “Wait here a moment,” he said. “I’ll check the last room. Maybe…”

  “Go,” I said, happy for the moment alone to take care of the issue as I guarded the child from the fire that was already trying to engulf the hall where we stood.

  He rushed to the room, and I slid one of my gloves down my arm, revealing a small patch of tattooed skin. Taking a deep breath, I held the exposed skin over the hungry blaze, watching as the flame tattoo appeared to come to life as the fire on the stairs seemed to disappear.

  The heat—which had seemed overwhelming before—now almost sent me to my knees in a fit of heatstroke. Only sheer willpower and the desire to keep the girl safe kept me on my feet. By the time I was done absorbing the flames, Jim had returned. The grim look on his face became one of disbelief before we rushed down the now flame-free staircase.

  As soon as we were out, I handed the girl off to a paramedic and staggered to the truck, removing my helmet and face mask before dropping to my knees. Breaths coming in heavy pants, I blinked my eyes against the encroaching darkness.

  “Brennan!” I jumped, almost face planting when I spun my head around to face Jim. “You okay, kid?”

  His eyes were crinkled at the corners as he studied me. When I didn’t answer, he continued. “You look terrible. I’ll get you some water. Don’t move, okay?”

  I may have managed a slight nod, but he didn’t seem to be waiting for a response. He was back within seconds, holding two bottles of cool water. One he handed to me. “You’re overheated,” he told me. “Get your jacket off.”

  I pulled at the buttons and zipper, only managing to remove it with Jim’s help. The breeze felt cold against my hot skin. My gaze caught on the flame tattoos around both my forearms as the sleeves of the jacket were removed. They no longer appeared as liv
ing flame; instead, one section simply had a small, irritated spot.

  “You won’t like this, but it will help,” Jim said before upending the bottle he still held and pouring it over my head.

  The shock of it was enough to pull me from my stupor, and I glared at him. “Thanks for the warning,” I snapped.

  “There you are,” he grinned widely, the worried look fading.

  Still glowering at him, I wiped the dripping water from my hair and face.

  “You weren’t very with it,” he explained with a shrug. “Figured a warning wouldn’t really help anyway. Drink up,” he said, gesturing at the still unopened bottle in my hand.

  Doing as ordered—I wasn’t dumb enough to risk dehydration after overheating the way I had—I drained the bottle in one long drink. Fiddling with the empty plastic, I avoided looking at Jim when I said, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Thanks for your help.”

  The weight of his hand on my shoulder had me snapping my gaze up to him and rising to my feet to avoid the touch.

  His eyes held some emotion I couldn’t quite read. “It’s no problem,” he answered finally. “I probably should have tried a bit harder to make you aware of what I was about to do.”

  To be fair, he had sort of tried to warn me, even if he hadn’t given me any time to react to the warning.

  “Peterson, you okay?” Quentin asked, moving to my side after having conferred with some of the other guys as they aimed the hoses toward the blaze.

  “Better,” I answered with a nod. “Just got a bit overheated.”

  He eyed me critically and exchanged a quick look with Jim before giving a curt nod. “Good. When you feel steady enough, get back to work. We’ve got a fire to put out.”

  “I’m good. Where do you want me?”

  He cocked his head, eyeing both the fire and me. “Take another hose and get around the back. We can’t let this spread to the neighboring houses.”