Big Girls Don't Cry by Becky Rock
Summary:

This is the story of how OC's BJ, Todd and Amethyst joined G-Force and their relationship with Jason.


Categories: Battle of the Planets Characters: Chief Anderson, Colonel Cronus, Don Wade, Jason, Keyop, Mark, Original Character, Princess, Tiny Harper
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst
Story Warnings: Adult Situations, Death, Mature Content, Sexual Dialogue, Sexual Situations, Strong Language, Violence
Timeframe: Mid-Series
Universe: Alternate Universe
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 14 Completed: No Word count: 42221 Read: 36122 Published: 12/28/2011 Updated: 10/04/2014
Story Notes:
This work is fiction and is written for fun and not profit. All OC's are either mine or are being used with their owners' permission.

1. Chapter 1 by Becky Rock

2. Chapter 2 by Becky Rock

3. Chapter 3 by Becky Rock

4. Chapter 4 by Becky Rock

5. Chapter 5 by Becky Rock

6. Chapter 6 by Becky Rock

7. Chapter 7 by Becky Rock

8. Chapter 8 by Becky Rock

9. Chapter 9 by Becky Rock

10. Chapter 10 by Becky Rock

11. Chapter 11 by Becky Rock

12. Chapter 12 by Becky Rock

13. Chapter 13 by Becky Rock

14. Chapter 14 by Becky Rock

Chapter 1 by Becky Rock

BJ sat on the blanket on the floor with her little seven year old brother Todd and looked at the last of their food. There was a half empty bag of white corn tortilla chips in front of him and he was pulling one chip out at a time, chewing it up slowly. She’d told him if he ate slowly, it would trick his stomach into thinking it was fuller than it was. She had read it somewhere.

  

She was scared. It had been two weeks since their friend Ian left for a meeting with the gang they provided stolen cars for and he hadn’t come back. What little money they’d had left she’d stretched out for as long as she could and now there was nothing left.

  

She could approach the gang and ask for help, but feared what their response would be. Ian hadn’t allowed her direct contact with them: she could help him steal the cars that he gave to the gang for payment, but not be around them. He had told her he didn’t trust them: he hadn’t given her details, but she figured it out herself. They knew she existed, but not where. Being twelve and on the streets, BJ new what happened to girls who didn’t have a protector and she had no desire to be raped or forced into prostitution by the older boys. She had no idea what’d they do to Todd and didn’t want to think about it.

  

At the thought, she fingered the knife she had on her belt that Ian had given her. He’d spent the last several months showing her how to use it so she could better protect herself and Todd.

  

She took a drink of her water. They’d scrounged some bowls, plates, glasses and utensils from the dumpsters behind nearby restaurants. They didn’t care if they were chipped or bent. The house they had hidden in the last few weeks was empty but still had running water. She knew they couldn’t stay forever: eventually, someone would realize the water bill wasn’t being paid and come out to turn it off. If that person saw them, they’d call the police and her and Todd would end up back in the orphanage, where scary men came in the middle of the night and children disappeared.

  

She didn’t want to think about the orphanage and why she and Todd had been in it. The very idea of having to go back to it made her sick to her stomach.

  

Todd stretched his hand towards her with a chip in it. She absently took it, put it into her mouth and chewed.

  

She did have one option that she hadn’t shared with Todd. It was risky.

  

Ian wasn’t happy working with the gang, but they hadn’t had much choice if they wanted to stay out of the orphanage. One night, while looking for cars to steal further away from their hideout, he’d come across a garage run by a group of drag racers. He’d started hanging around, watching them. Eventually, one of the men had pulled Ian over to talk to him and Ian had somehow become an unofficial mascot.

  

Thinking the association might be a way to get out from under the gang; Ian had brought BJ and Todd with him one day and introduced them to the group. They group had been amused by BJ’s interest in cars and Todd’s interest in their computer designs.

  

The man in charge had called himself Carzilla, Car Z for short, and even though the name was scary, he’d seemed nice enough. If she stole a car, would he be willing to act as a go-between with the gang for a cut, or would he be the one to contact the police on her?

  

“Todd, I need to go talk to Car Z,” she said and her brother smiled one of his rare smiles.

  

‘Can I come?’ he signed. He enjoyed watching them work on their cars as much as she did.

  

“Not this time. I need to talk business.”

  

Todd cocked his head at her as he chewed. ‘I can give them my helpless look,’ he offered. He then showed her the look, which made her smile. Todd was a cute boy with his blonde hair and gray eyes and was very good at looking innocent. Just because he was mute and seven didn’t mean he didn’t pay attention to everything happening around him. He had taken to the boxing Ian had taught him and memorized the knife moves Ian had taught her.

  

They had used that cuteness to their advantage when they’d first been on the streets. All Todd had to do was bat his eyes and point at the white scar on the front of his throat to get a few coins or even a dollar bill handed to him. Until someone wanting to help beyond giving him some change called social services, that was. 

  

“I don’t want to corrupt you,” she told him, not wanting him to do that ever again. They’d been on the streets long enough for her to know Todd’s cuteness attracted just as many crazies as her being a girl did.

  

‘What does ‘corrupt’ mean?’ he asked.

  

“Look it up in your dictionary.” Todd stuck his tongue out at her. Even though they were living day to day, she had insisted on sharing what she had learned in school with him and required him every day to find a new word in the dictionary she had scrounged and study it. She did the same and corrupt had been the word she had studied two days earlier.

  

“I’ll be back in an hour or so. You’ll be okay?” She asked, actually not comfortable with leaving him alone. Every time she’d left him alone since Ian disappeared, she’d been afraid something would happen. “You know how to hide if you have to.”

  

Todd nodded and showed her he did. He concentrated and BJ felt her eyes unfocus as he blended in with the blanket and walls to the point she had trouble seeing him. It was an ability they both had and it had saved their lives several times in the last two years.

  

BJ wasn’t sure how they did it, but making themselves camouflaged with their surroundings had started out as game when she was eight and Todd three. They used to hide in plain sight from their parents and were only given away by their giggling.

  

“I’ll be back as fast as I can,” she promised and pointed at the bag. “Don’t eat all that. It might be dinner.”

  

Todd reappeared and very carefully rolled the open end of the bag together to close it, placing the bag in the box off to his right, where they kept their food in case they had to get out fast.

  

BJ leaned over and kissed the top of his head. Todd pulled back and gave her a yuck face look. He stuck his tongue out again and mimicked making a gagging noise.

  

“I’m your big sister. I can kiss your head if I want,” she said and left the house after making sure no one was about to see her.

  888  

BJ hid outside the garage until she was sure all the customers were gone. Car Z did a Pimp Your Ride business that helped to finance his drag racing interest. Ian had insisted they never let the customers see them. Some weren’t the kind of people they wanted to mix with.

  

She entered through a side employee entrance door and looked about. She immediately spotted Car Z’s niece, Luca, sitting on an empty oil drum across the garage, swinging her legs. The other girl was BJ’s age, with dark hair, a tanned complexion and big brown eyes. She saw BJ and jumped down.

  

“Where you been?” Luca asked, walking over to her. BJ wanted to groan. She hadn’t wanted to see Luca. Luca had no idea what she and Ian had to do to survive. She thought they just lived nearby and were bored like her, so the garage was a fun place to hang out.

  

“Busy,” was all she could think to say.

  

“Where’s Chas and Bobbie?” Luca looked towards the door. They had all used fake names in the garage. Ian was Chas, Todd was Bobbie and she was Annalisa.

  

A pang of fear and growing grief tugged at BJ’s heart. Knowing the chances of Ian returning after two weeks was slim, but having to face it in the presence of someone else, made it more real.

  

“Chas is sick and Bobbie is keeping him company,” she responded and cleared her tightening throat.

  

“Had to get away from the guys, huh?” Luca winked and linked her arm with BJ’s. “You outta see the car Uncle Z’s been working on. It’s so cool.” Luca pulled her through the garage to one of the work areas and stopped in front of an old sedan that was painted with a neon shade of purple and sparkles.

  

BJ forced herself to show interest as Luca told her about all the add-ons going into the vehicle. She even ‘wowed’ the purple leather interior. The owner definitely had a thing about purple.

  

“Is Car Z here?” BJ finally asked, her nervousness reaching a crescendo. “I need to talk to him.”

  

“Yeah. He’s in his office.” Luca led the way and BJ followed, trying to find something to do with her shaking hands. She didn’t have a choice, she kept telling herself. She had to take care of Todd.

  

Car Z was in his office and he looked up from his cluttered desk when she and Luca walked in.

  

“Hi Anna. How are things going?” The big man asked. He had a shaved head but bushy, brown eyebrows and wore T-shirts that were too tight for his muscular chest.

  

“Not well. Can I talk to you?” she asked, wringing her hands I front of her. Z frowned.

  

“Are Chas and Bobbie okay?” he asked, noticing they were absent. She looked at the cement floor. “Luca, would you give us a minute?” Z asked, rising from the desk. Even his legs were muscular, straining the seams of his jeans.

  

The other girl frowned unhappily. “I wanna hear,” she said petulantly, but Z gave her a stern look.

  

“Luca,” Z admonished. The girl snorted and left the room. “And close the door!” Z called. She stormed back over and slammed the door behind her.

  

Z walked around the desk and guided BJ to the nearest chair. He sat down beside her. BJ kept her eyes on the floor. Now that she had his attention, she was afraid to say what she’d come to say.

  

Z had never talked down to them, never treated them like children. He reached over to lift her chin. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently.

  

She suddenly felt like she was going to cry. She could feel her eyes burning. Ian really wasn’t going to come home.

  

“Anna, you can tell me,” Z said as the tears spilled over.

  

“Chas went to meet with the gang and didn’t come back.” She reached up to wipe at her tears.

  

“When?”

  

“Two weeks ago.”

  

Z sighed heavily, his jaw tightening. “I told him to stay away from that crowd. I told him they were bad news.”

  

BJ sucked in a deep breath and shuddered. “They helped us.”

  

Z’s stare tightened. “Only as long as it was in their best interest to do it.” He released her and rose, looking down at her with concern. “There’s been some crazy shit going on with that gang the last few weeks. Some outsiders are taking territory. Rumor has it Caesar disappeared.”

  

BJ was shocked. Caesar was the leader of the gang. “Who’s in charge then?” She wiped the rest of her tears away. It was a good thing she’d come here instead of seeking out the gang, if Caesar was no longer in charge.

  

“One of the new people.”

  

“Do you think Ian got caught up in that?” BJ felt as if ice water was running in her veins at the thought. Z nodded. If Ian had been present during a takeover, he would have been obliged to assist Caesar along with the rest of the gang.

  

“Maybe.”

  

“Are they still trading stolen cars?” she asked, throwing it out there. Z frowned, crossing his arms over his wide chest as he regarded her.

  

“Why?” he asked hesitantly. Now that she’d opened the can of worms, she dove in. She knew there was a chance she would lose any respect or concern he might have had for them or he would call the police or social services. She squared her shoulders.

  

“We used to supply them with cars for money. We’re broke and I’m afraid to approach them myself.”

  

Z’s blue eyes widened and he stared at her, opened mouthed, until he could find his voice.

  

“You kids have been stealing cars and selling them to that gang?” he asked in shock. BJ nodded. “Are you crazy?”

  

“We didn’t have a choice!” she insisted. “We were starving!”

  

Z turned away, his whole posture that of a man needing to hit something. His hands fisted and opened at his sides as he paced the room, not looking at her. BJ cringed, afraid he was going to turn the anger she could tell was brewing on her.

  

“Jesus, Anna.” He turned back to her, reaching up to rub his hand over his shaved head. He walked over and crouched down in front of her, putting him at here eye level. “I don’t want you having anything more to do with that gang.”

  

“But we’re out of money and food!” She felt her eyes stinging again.

  

“What were you expecting me to do when told me this?” he wanted to know. She hitched in a breath and shrugged.

  

“I was going to ask you to be a go-between. I can steal a car and you could take it to them for me?” She knew it sounded horrible and he didn’t look impressed with her idea.

  

“How many cars have you stolen?” he wanted to know. BJ had to think for a moment.

  

“We’ve stolen seventeen,” she said and he covered his eyes with his hand.

  

“Anna, God.” He shook his head and lowered his hand. “I can’t do that.”

  

BJ stood, feeling as if she’d just been kicked in the gut. He wasn’t going to help them. She stepped away from the chair, her heart racing with a mix of fear and sadness. She had so much counted on his being willing to take the car to the gang for her. She stepped backwards.

  “Anna.” Z reached for her and BJ ran. She heard Z yelling for Luca to stop her, knew he was on her heels. She did the only thing she could think of: she blended with her surroundings to escape.
Chapter 2 by Becky Rock

BJ ran as fast as she could away from the garage, going in the opposite direction of the abandoned house they had been using, not wanting to lead anyone to it. Once she was sure she wasn’t being followed, she ducked into a doorway and tried to catch her breath as her heart tried to pound its way out of her chest.

  

Now what were they going to do? Z helping them had been her only idea. Not her only one, but the one that she had felt was least dangerous.

  

She heard footsteps behind the door she was leaning against and got away from it, nearly bumping into a man hurrying by. His angry “Watch it, kid!” set her in the direction back towards the house.

  

As she walked, she tried to simultaneously keep track of her surroundings and come up with some idea that would keep her and Todd from starving. She hadn’t realized she was in the ethnic restaurant section of town. Some were eat in and others just take out.

  

They usually threw out still edible leftovers once the lunch crowd had dispersed. BJ walked past a few, looking in the large plate glass windows, noting the number of patrons. From experience, she thought she had only a half hour to wait.

  

BJ cut down the next alley to get to the alley that ran behind the restaurants. She slipped up next to a dumpster and tried her best to ignore the smell coming from it as she hid behind it. This dumpster was so full bags were sitting on the alley next to it.

  

She heard a car enter the alley and ducked back, not wanting to be seen. The car passed her position and continued on, stopping a block down behind the Mythos, a Greek take-out.

  

The car was a black sedan and her heart nearly stopped. It was Nissan, a black Maxima. She knew because Ian had brought back several car magazines one time so they could study them in order to know what it was they were stealing. The gang tended to like sedans: she had no idea what they did with them and didn’t care, as long as they paid them for them.

  

The driver’s door opened and a young man got out. He was tall, with light brown shoulder length hair that seemed to have some red highlights in the sun. He was wearing a black leather jacket over a dark blue shirt and jeans. He looked around for a moment, as if he was looking for something. That made her blend in with her surroundings, wondering if he actually had seen her.

  

The passenger door opened and a boy whomappeared to be her age got out. His hair was more of a medium brown and in total disarray, as if it had never seen a comb before. His jacket was more like a wind breaker and was gold. He, too, was in a blue shirt and jeans.

  

The young man apparently hadn’t seen her. They closed the car doors and walked to the rear entrance of the take-out. The young man opened the door and they walked in.

  

It was a sign – this was her chance to set her and Todd up for months. If she could steal the car and get it to the gang, they’d have to give her something for it, wouldn’t they?

  

BJ assumed they were picking up an order, so she didn’t have much time. Since Ian’s disappearance, she had started carrying her lock-picking kit with her at all times. She didn’t know if the car had an alarm on it. If it did, she’d have to scramble away. She ran over to the car and made quick work of the lock, holding her breath. No alarms sounded, so she opened the driver door just enough to slip in and closed it. The interior was black leather and she spied a large bag of dog food in the back seat. Thank goodness the dog wasn’t there, too. She leaned down to reach the wires under the dashboard and attempted to start the car.

  888 

The moment he was through the door, Jason called for the owner, Sal. The Greek ex-patriot was a friend of the family’s and Jason frequently got carry-out to share with the Chief and the rest of the team. He loved Greek food and thought eating something he loved might help with the headache that was starting to pound over his left eye.

  

“Jason,” a deep voice replied and an older man with salt and pepper hair appeared, wiping his hand on the white apron around his waist. He was of average height and weight, his complexion a little ruddy from years of hard living. When he reached them, he extended his hand and Jason shook it. Sal then turned to Keyop and they also shook hands.

  

“Your order is ready,” Sal said in accented English. “The Baklava is fresh out of the oven.”

  Jason grinned as much as he could and rubbed his hand together in anticipation. “That’s great.” 

“Give us a minute to get it into the bags,” Sal requested. Jason handed him some bills. Sal didn’t even bother to count it.

  

“Did you…get the leaves?” Keyop asked, referring to the Stuffed Grape Leaves he enjoyed.

  

Jason nodded. “Of course.”

 

 

A moment later, Sal reappeared with two large bags. “Enjoy,” he said as he handed them over.

  

“We will. Thanks, Sal.” Jason shook his hand again and started for the door. He opened it and stepped out, Keyop on his heels with the second bag.

  

Jason remotely unlocked the Maxima’s doors and opened the driver’s door to find a smaller face surrounded by dark blonde hair looking up at him in surprise.

  

“What the hell?” Jason sputtered as two feet were kicked into his gut unexpectedly, driving him back just far enough for the smaller body to dive out of the car and take off running.

  

“Keyop, stay with the car!” Jason ordered and dropped his bag, taking off after the form. He could see now it was a young girl and she was fast. She ran down the alley and cut left. He followed, even though the kick of adrenalin was also kicking up the pounding of his headache.

  

She ran down the alley out onto the main street. She was fast and Jason had to run full out to keep up with her. “Stop! Now!” he yelled, used to his orders being followed, but she paid no attention.

  

The girl darted between people, eliciting startled gasps and yelps. Jason was more agile and managed not to bump anyone in his pursuit.

  

What the hell had she been doing in the car? How had she gotten into it? He’d been stupid not to set the alarm. If it had been anyone else, he’d say they’d been trying to steal the Maxima. The Chief would have loved that about as much as he would have loved getting his teeth pulled, since the Maxima was currently merged with the G-2.

  

The girl startled him by running out into the street, squeezing between several slow moving vehicles, obviously having been watching them to time her move. Horns sounded as Jason ran after her.

  

“Stop, dammit, before you get hurt!” This was getting dangerous. He pounded over the front hood of one car: his choices had been to jump over it and attract attention or get hit.

  

She ran into another alley and Jason followed, only to stop dead because she wasn’t there.

  

Jason turned, looking back towards the street, his head pounding in unison with his heart. He knew she had entered they alley and it was too long for her to have gotten to the end of it before he entered. There were several doorways on both sides, so he slowly walked the alley, looking into each doorway to see if she was hiding there or maybe had slipped through one.

  

In one doorway, he startled a gray cat, which hissed at him and walked away, swishing its tail. He watched the cat for a second and noted it abruptly changed its course into the opposite direction when it neared the opposite wall. He frowned and stared at the spot where the cat had turned. There was nothing there that would have forced it to turn.

  

Or was there? There seemed to be something strange about the spot. It didn’t quite look right. Even as he stared, it seemed to ripple and Jason could swear, for just a second, he had seen the outline of a form.

  

He narrowed his eyes and pulled on his implant, even though he knew what it would do to his headache, to try and discern what the distortion was. He walked over and put his hand out.

  

The girl suddenly appeared right in front of him, as if she had transported in alla Star Trek, and tried to kicked him in the groin. He side-stepped and grabbed at her, only to have her pull a knife from her belt and stab it at him.

  

“Wowe!” Jason put his hands up, palm out, trying not to frighten her more. “I’m not going to hurt you!” he said, even though he was considering wringing her neck.

  

“Leave me alone!” she yelled at him in a high pitched tone that actually hurt his implant-sensitive hearing and made him see stars as the headache flared.

  

“You tried to steal my car,” he reminded her and she swiped the knife at him. He knew he could easily disarm her, but he wasn’t sure that was the right move yet. She was just a kid, but was waving the knife as if she knew what she was doing. How had she learned to use a knife like that?

  

“Stay away from me!” She stabbed at him again and Jason decided he couldn’t risk her hurting herself or him. He grabbed her wrist and twisted, forcing her to drop the knife. She tried to kick him again as he pulled her to him and pinned her against him. She screeched, literally screeched, like some kind of demonic Blue Jay and started kicking his shins for all she had.

  

“Stop it! I’m not going to hurt you!” He shook her a little, trying to get her to settle down. “I swear I’m not going to hurt you!”

  

“You’ll call the police!” she cried and struggled.

  

“Not if you talk to me. Why did you try to steal my car?” If she was afraid of the police, he suspected she was living on the streets. He knew the street kids who stole cars were part of gangs who dismantled the cars and sold the parts, but they tended to be teenage boys. Girls didn’t last long in the environment and this girl only looked to be about ten or eleven. “Talk to me and I won’t call the police. I swear.”

  

“I don’t believe you,” she said and Jason grit his teeth as she renewed her kicks. What was the saying about stubbing your toe to get your mind of your headache? It wasn’t working.

  

“You don’t have a choice,” he told her and she settled, breathing heavily, her body trembling. He eased his hold on her a bit. “I want your promise you won’t try to run if I let you go. I just want to talk.”

  

Her chest was heaving and Jason waited. After a minute, she nodded.

  

“My name is Jason. What’s your name?” he asked.

  

She stayed silent but then whispered, “Annalisa.”

  

“Annalisa?” Jason asked to make sure he had heard right. She nodded. “Okay, Annalisa. I’m going to let you go and we’re going to walk over to that doorway and sit down and talk, okay?” he requested and she nodded.

  Jason let her go.
Chapter 3 by Becky Rock

BJ ran. She didn’t trust strangers, especially not male strangers. They usually only wanted one thing and she didn’t want raped or worse.

  

The young man, Jason, swore colorfully and came after her again. He had longer legs and unless she could lose him fast, he was going to catch her again.

  

How had he seen her? She was able to blend with any surroundings and couldn’t remember the last time someone had been able to pick her out. It had to have been the cat. She wished she could go back and kick it.

  

Her heart was pounding like a freight train as she’d reached another alley and turned left into it. This section of the town was crisscrossed with them and she hoped to lose him in them.

  

She’d barely gotten ten feet when she was tackled. She landed hard, but Jason partially shielded her and rolled them, but with her ending up on the bottom and him astride her.

  

BJ started to scream and he clamped his hand over her mouth, repeating his litany that he wasn’t going to hurt her, yet here he was, on top of her. Starting to panic, she bit his hand as hard as she could. Some men thought it was okay to have sex with a street girl, that it wasn’t any harm to them even if they weren’t willing. They didn’t think it was rape.

  

She saw his pale blue eyes become ice.

  

“Stop biting or I’ll bite back and I. Bite. Harder,” he spit out through clenched teeth. The menace in his eyes was very real. BJ stopped biting and swallowed hard, wishing she had never left Todd to talk to Z. What would Todd do if something happened to her? She had to survive, no matter what was done to her.

  

“Okay.” Jason said, pulling his hand back from her mouth. She kept her lips fastened shut, trying to breathe through her fear. “Let’s try this a second time. I’m going to let you up and we’re going to talk,” he said and winced. “I have a really bad headache and if you try to run again, I’m going to knock you flat and tie you up like a cooked goose.”

  

BJ had no desire to be tied up. Survive. She nodded.

  

Jason slowly moved off her and she sat up, pulling her shirt, which had ridden up half of her stomach, down. She had started developing her breasts the previous year and crossed her arms over her chest nervously because she didn’t have a bra. It was an unimportant expense.

  

“Are you cold?” Jason asked, as if he actually cared. BJ shook her head, even though she was, a little. It wasn’t quite summer yet, so the evenings still got cool sometimes.

  

“Annalisa, why did you try to steal my car?” he asked, rising to his feet. He reached up to rub his forehead, and then extended a hand to her. She ignored it and got to her feet herself, only to have her right ankle give out with a sharp pain. She started to fall but Jason grabbed her.

  

“Why didn’t you say you were hurt?” he demanded, easily lifting her into his arms. BJ squirmed, not wanting him touching her.

  

“Put me down!” she demanded. “Don’t touch me!” She pounded her fists against his chest.

  

“You’re a little bitch, you know that?” Jason snapped and carried her over to a door that had a stoop out in front of it, He deposited her on the stoop and stepped back, rubbing his chest where she had hit him.

  

BJ glared at him, wanting to retort about his bitch comment, but her ankle was really starting to hurt. She must have twisted it when he tackled her. She’d heard the word enough around the garage to know what it meant, but couldn’t think of a good retort.

  

He stared down at her and raked his fingers through his hair before crouching down to grab her ankle.

  

“Don’t touch me!” she repeated and tried to pull back, but he held her fast.

  

“I’m EMT trained. I need to find out how bad it is, so stop squirming.” He carefully pulled her sneaker and sock off and began to run his hands over her foot and ankle, making her cringe as he turned it this way and that.

  

“You still aren’t answering my question,” he persisted as he continued examining her. BJ ground her teeth. She hoped he felt guilty enough about hurting her to maybe give her some money.

  

“I don’t have to,” she retorted. He released her foot and rolled back on his heels.

  

“I think you only sprained it a bit.” Jason stared hard at her. “Did you really think you could drive off with my car? You’re what? Twelve, thirteen?”

  

 “I’m twelve and I know how to drive a car,” she answered indignantly. He looked skeptical.

  

“Who taught you?”

  

“My brother Chas,” she responded, almost having slipped up to say Ian.

  

“Where’s he?” Jason asked, putting the sock back on her foot. He extended the sneaker to her. “You’re ankle is swelling, so no shoe.”

  

She slowly took her sneaker back. They were her only pair of shoes.

  

“Your brother?” Jason pressed.

  

BJ looked away. “He’s gone.”

  

“What about your parents? Do they have any idea what you’ve been up to?”

  

There was burning behind her eyes. She was tired of always hiding, of always being afraid.

  

“They’re gone,” she whispered and decided she needed to get back to Todd. She pushed herself up and tested putting weight on the ankle.

  

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jason warned but she ignored him. She tried to take a step and hissed at the pain, losing her balance. He caught her and eased her back down. “You’re stubborn as hell,” he commented and she glared at him.

  

“I have to go home,” she told him, wondering how long it would take to crawl. Maybe if she kicked him in the side of his knee, she could get past him. As she contemplated it, she noticed Jason was starting to look as if he was going to throw up. “You’re sick,” she said, edging away from him.

  

“I told you, I have a bad headache. I get them sometimes. Chasing you hasn’t helped.”

  

“My little brother gets bad headaches,” she found herself saying. “Especially when he reads a lot.”

  

“You have a little brother?” Jason asked and she knew she’d just messed up. She again contemplated kicking him in the knee, but suspected even then, he’d still be able to grab her before she could get past him. “Where is he?” She looked at her sneaker, starting to feel sick herself. “Annalisa, how old is he? Is he alone somewhere?” He sounded genuinely concerned, but she had no idea why he would be. He didn’t know anything about her, other than she’d tried to steal his car.

  888 

Jason wanted to reach over and shake the girl. Maybe this was karma and he was getting a taste of his own medicine. How many times had he given the Chief the silent treatment when he was being questioned?

  

It was clear she still didn’t trust him and could he really blame her? At first he’d wanted to thrash her for trying to steal his car. He hadn’t intended hurting her but he had inadvertently when he’d tackled her. He now knew there were no parents involved and she’d let slip she had a little brother. Had they been abandoned? Were they orphans?

  

She was going to get herself killed if she wasn’t careful.

  

“Annalisa, what do think’s going to happen to your little brother if something happens to you?” he asked, trying to convince her to let him help. He knew he’d hit a nerve because she turned away, starting to look like she was going to cry.

  

“Tell you what.” He reached over to tilt her chin back so he could see her face. “Let me carry you back to the car. The kid I was with is my little brother, Keyop. He’s fourteen.”

  

“Keyop?” she asked, frowning. “That’s a weird name.”

  

“It’s his name,” Jason countered. “What’s your little brother’s name?” He’d shared, hoping she would.

  

“Bobbie,” she finally said, clearly still unhappy.

  

“When was the last time you two ate a good meal?” he asked, knowing Tiny was going to be upset that he was going to give the girl and her brother their Greek food.  “We’ll get into the car and you can give me directions to your brother. I’ll share our food with you.”

  

“Why?” she asked. Her large blue eyes bore into his with more knowledge and age than any twelve year old should have. It was suddenly as if he was looking into a mirror.

  

“Because I was like you once,” he answered quietly. “A man found me and helped me. If he hadn’t, I would have died. I think they call it paying up. Please let me help you and your brother.”

  

She stared for a moment, and then nodded. Jason released the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding.

  He stood and tried not to sway as the blood rushed from his head. He pulled on his implant to fight the migraine and leaned down to help her up, easily lifting her into his arms. She was light and boney, maybe eighty pounds at the most. He started walking.
Chapter 4 by Becky Rock

Annalisa was stiff in his arms as he carried her back towards the car. Some people were watching them and he gave them a ‘mind your own business’ look. He was half expecting someone to call the police, but since Annalisa wasn’t fighting him or screaming for help, they must not have thought it necessary.

  

“How old is Bobbie?” he asked as they crossed the street. She finally started to relax against him, actually resting her head against his shoulder.

  

“He’s seven,” she said and Jason shifted her a little in his arms.

  

“You like Greek food?” he asked. She nodded. “Does Bobbie? If he doesn’t, we can get him something else.”

  

“He’ll eat anything you put in front of him,” she answered and he chuckled.

  

“Keyop’s like that.”

  

They rounded the corner to the alley where he’d left the car. Keyop was sitting on the front hood and he stood as soon as he saw them.

  

“I was…just about…to call…the Chief,” Keyop said and he stared opening at Annalisa. “You…caught the…kid.”

  

“She twisted her ankle when I tackled her,” Jason told him. “Open the door so I can get her into the back seat.”

  

Keyop quickly complied, opening the rear passenger side door, opposite the bags of food and the bag of dog food. Jason gently placed the girl on the seat.

  

“Okay?” he asked, standing back up slowly as his vision went white. He swallowed the bile rising in his throat and pulled his keys out of his jeans pocket. He barely noticed her nod. “Keyop, this is Annalisa. We’re taking her home. She and her little brother are alone and need our food. I need you to drive,” he said, extending the keys. Keyop frowned at him.

  

“Migraine?” he asked. Jason didn’t dare nod, afraid he might throw up if he did. He opened the front passenger door. “Get in,” Keyop said and closed Annalisa’s door before walking around to the driver’s side.

  “He can drive?” Annalisa asked as Jason fell into the front passenger seat. He pressed his head back into the headrest and closed his eyes, concentrating on settling his stomach. 

“Yeah. Put on…your seatbelt,” Keyop answered as he climbed in. He had to adjust the seat. Keyop was nearly a foot shorter than Jason, still waiting for his growing spurt. Jason clicked his own in and forced his eyes open as he heard the one behind him clicking.

  

“Annalisa, give Keyop directions,” he requested. He listened to her name a few streets and left, right turns. He recognized where she was talking about and heard Keyop acknowledge.

  

“What’s a migraine?” she asked as Keyop stared the car and pressed the gas to get them moving. Jason had expected her to protest Keyop’s driving, but she didn’t seem to be the least bit disturbed by the idea. He still had a hard time believing she had tried to steal the car. More than likely, she had been looking for money or a cell phone to steal.

  

“That’s what this type of headache is called,” he explained. “It hits fast, hurts like hell, affects my vision, and makes me sick to my stomach.”

  

“That’s what happens to Bobbie,” she said. “I thought it was because he was straining his eyes reading. He loves to read. Or because he was too hungry,” she added as an afterthought. She sounded embarrassed to him.

  

“How…old?” Keyop asked. Jason felt their direction change as Keyop made a turn and his stomach rolled. He took deep breaths and began the process of pulling on his implant more to ease the pain. He wasn’t supposed to do it, but right now didn’t have a choice. He had a feeling they weren’t going to be getting home for a while. His nice quiet, dark room was going to have to wait.

  

“Bobbie’s seven,” Annalisa answered.

  

Jason smiled. He had hoped that bringing her back to the car to Keyop would help her feel more at ease. Then he remembered something she had said. “You said you had another brother, Chas. You said he was gone.” His enhanced hearing picked up on her deep sigh.

  

“He disappeared two weeks ago,” she said quietly, her voice not quite steady. “I don’t know why.”

  “How old is he?” Jason asked. The pain in his head was beginning to ease a bit. 

“Fourteen.”

  

“Your parents?” Keyop asked and Jason felt the car change directions again. His stomach didn’t threaten to rebel this time.

  

“They’re gone.” He could hear the pain in her voice. He knew how that felt.

  

Annalisa gave Keyop more directions and after a few more minutes, Jason felt the car stop. He opened his eyes and winced at the sunlight, but at least he wasn’t having any vision distortions. They were in the back of a house with boarded up windows. All of the houses had high fences. The fences afforded privacy and easily allowed kids to sneak in and out. There was a door in the fence.

  

“You…live here?” Keyop asked skeptically. Jason turned to look back at Annalisa. She gave Keyop a perturbed look.

  “Beggars can’t be choosy. It still has running water.” Annalisa opened her door. 

“Hold on,” Jason ordered as he got out. “I don’t want you putting any weight on that ankle.” He almost added ‘until we can get it x-rayed’ but didn’t want to frighten her again. He had absolutely no intention of leaving her and her brother here and was going to need some help. “I’ll carry you in and Keyop can bring the food.” He gave Keyop a pointed look. Keyop nodded understanding as he got out.

  

Jason was expecting an argument, but Annalisa allowed him to pick her up again. She did make a face: he figured her ankle was hurting a lot. He could see it was quite swollen.

  

He pushed his shoulder against the fence door and it opened without a sound: they must lubricate it regularly so no one would hear them coming and going.

  

The backyard was overgrown: tall grass, a few rose bushes to the right that hadn’t been pruned in years. A large tree shaded the house, giving more privacy.

  There were three steps leading up to a small landing. Once there, Annalisa knocked on the door four times, waited a moment, then knocked three more times. His enhanced hearing picked up some rustling on the other side of the door. 

“Bobbie, it’s me,” Annalisa said. “I have two people with me. Everything is hunky-dory,” she said and at Jason’s quizzical look, she mouthed ‘passwords’. He heard the deadbolt released and the door opened a crack. Jason spotted a small boy with blonde hair peeking out.

  

“This is Jason,” Annalisa said and she pushed on the door. The boy backed up enough for it to open. “That’s Keyop,” she said and motioned with her head at him. “He has some Greek food for us.”

  

Even with the interior dark due to the boarded up windows, Jason could see the sudden spark of interest in the boy’s eyes. He stepped over the threshold and moved in far enough for Keyop to come in. Keyop used his foot to close the door after him. They were in a kitchen that was missing all of its appliances. There was a sink. She had said the place still had running water. There was a lantern on the counter, the only source of light.

  

Bobbie’s fingers flew. It took Jason a moment to realize he was using sign language. Was he deaf? But he couldn’t be, as he’d heard Annalisa’s password.

  

“I fell and hurt my ankle,” Annalisa told him. “Jason helped me.” He wasn’t sure why she didn’t tell him what had really happened, but maybe she didn’t want to frighten him.

  

“Where can I put you down?” he asked. She pointed at the doorway leading out of the kitchen. Bobbie picked up the lantern and led the way into a large room that could be either a dining room or living room. There were three sets of blankets on the scuffed hardwood floor along one wall. Jason assumed this was where they slept. There was another blanket on the floor opposite that had a bag of tortia chips on it and a picture book. There was one window in this room.

  

Annalisa pointed at the blanket with the ships bag. Jason placed her there. She grimaced. Jason should have had Keyop stop to get some ice.

  

“Hi,” Keyop said to Bobbie as he placed the bags of food on the floor next to Annalisa. Bobbie was eying the bags. Keyop crouched down and pulled out a container. He opened it. It held several skewers of grilled chicken. Bobbie licked his lips and started to reach for one.

  

“Bobbie, what do you say?” Annalisa snapped in embarrassment. Jason had a moment of de ja vue: Princess sitting at the dinner table, maybe ten years old. Keyop, five, sitting beside her, reaching for the fried chicken before the Chief could say grace, Princess yelling at him.

  

Bobbie signed and Keyop nodded with a smile. “Sure, you can have it.” Jason had read the sign as well. Bobbie had asked if he could please have one. The boy grabbed the container and plopped down beside Annalisa, placing the container between them. He grabbed one of the skewers and dived in, tearing the meat off in a big chunk.

  

“Slow down. You’re going to make yourself sick,” Annalisa admonished as she picked up the second skewer and took a more delicate bite of the chicken.

  

Jason pulled more items out of the bags: a container of yellow rice, one with sautéed green beans, more with potatoes, salad, the stuffed grape leaves: Keyop looked wistfully at those.

  

“There’s plenty,” Jason said, opening another container with skewered pork. He placed on the containers on the blanket and reached for a skewer himself. Eating would fuel his implant and help with the migraine as well. Keyop took one of the stuffed grape leaves.

  

Annalisa and Bobbie were really digging in. When was the last time they’d had a real meal? Jason got Keyop’s attention and pointed at his bracelet. Keyop nodded and asked Todd if he’d like some Baklava.

  

When he rose, he tolerated a momentary rise of the throbbing in his head. He also noticed Annalisa’s eyes on him warily. She was shoving the long green beans into her mouth, chewing them slowly as if to savor them.

  “Remember when I said someone had helped me?” he asked her. She nodded. “I’m going to call him because he can help you, too.” Her eyes filled with alarm and food started to fly as she tried to get to her feet.
Chapter 5 by Becky Rock

Author's Note: OCs not owned by me are being used in this fic with the permission of their creators.

He was ratting them out. She knew it! Some people just had to be good Samaritans, thinking they knew better than you did what was best for you.

  

BJ made it to her feet, swaying, reaching for Todd’s hand. She pulled him up away from the food. He protested by pulling on her arm to try to sit back down. He didn’t understand.

  

“You’re not sending us back to the orphanage!” she snapped at Jason, ready to try to run past him with Todd in tow. If his headache was as bad as he claimed, she could whack him one good in the head to slow him down.

  

“Hold on! No one said anything about an orphanage.” He raised his hands, getting ready to stop her.

  

There was a crash from the kitchen, cracking wood, the sound of a door being kicked in. BJ jumped, startled.

  888 

Jason didn’t have to tell Keyop to grab Annalisa and Bobbie. As Keyop maneuvered them further into the room, towards the window, it shattered, spraying them with glass chips.

  

“Two!” Jason yelled, instructing Keyop not to transmute unless he absolutely had no choice. Keyop pulled out his bolas to cold-cock the armed green clad goon trying to climb through the window as Jason fired into the kitchen, where several more armed Spectran troopers were coming into the house through the shattered door. Keyop yanked the automatic rifle out of the slumped goon’s hands as he hung half into the window, looking to see if any more were trying to get in that way.

 

 888  

BJ covered Todd protectively as the glass sprayed them, her heart in her throat that their former safe haven was no longer safe. She pulled her knife, the one she had taken back from Jason when he was carrying her back to his car, ready to fight for her little brother if necessary.

  

She watched in a combination of awe and fear as Jason produced a gun to shoot at the men coming into the house through the kitchen door. The number of armed men pouring into the kitchen seemed not to end. She pulled Todd away from the window as Jason continued to shoot the men coming in.

  

He jerked and cursed loudly as some of the men fired back. “Get them out of here!” he yelled at Keyop, then raised his left arm.

  

“Come…on!” Keyop grabbed her arm to practically throw her into the next room, Todd right behind her. Keyop stayed between them and Jason and the men, but where they now hid did not give her a view of what was happening.

  

Bullets were slamming through the walls, sending wood chips and bits of drywall into the air like projectiles. There were shouts and yells and curses coming from the kitchen as well. Todd was starting to cry as he huddled against her.

  

BJ tried to see around Keyop, to see Jason, but Keyop was keeping them pinned down where they were.

  

Suddenly, there was silence, the dust floating in the air to burn her eyes and make her cough.

  

“Jase?” Keyop hissed, still crouched in front of them. There was a flash that made BJ wince as it echoed on her retina.

  

Jason came out of the kitchen, a scowl on his face. “Damn goons,” he muttered, looking, at his left arm in disgust. “This was a new jacket.”

  

 “You hit?” Keyop rose from his crouch. BJ started to rise too, her knife in a death grip in her hand, Todd latched onto her like a leach.

  

Jason poked at a slice in his jacket, his fingers coming away bloody. “Nicked me.” He turned his attention to them. “You all okay?” he asked in concern.

  

BJ stared at the blood. His words just hit her. He’d been shot by those men?

  888 

Jason’s arm was stinging annoyingly where the bullet had clipped him. Annalisa was staring at him with wide eyes, her knife – how had she gotten that back?- in her hand. He had expected to see her cowering in tears, maybe even hysterical, but she was none of the above. Bobbie, on the other hand, was behind her hanging on for dear life, his face streaked with tears.

  

“Keyop, check the goons,” Jason ordered, walking over to the kids. He knelt down to be on eye level with Bobbie. “You okay?” he asked. Bobbie’s blue eyes shifted to try to look around Jason in order to watch Keyop. “Those men can’t hurt you. I won’t let them,” he told the boy to try to alleviate his fear.

  

“Who are they?” Annalisa asked, her grip on her knife easing. Jason couldn’t believe she was asking, but then realized they didn’t have a television to see the news reports. They might not even know or understand there was a war going on. They had more important things to worry about beyond watching television, like where their next meal was coming from.

  

“They’re Spectran troopers,” he told her, impressed that she was keeping it together. Put then again, she’d pulled a knife on him earlier.

  

“All dead…but one,” Keyop declared from the kitchen. Jason didn’t nod: his head was pounding painfully. He had tried to leave one alive and had succeeded.

  

“Tie him up,” Jason said over his shoulder. “I’ve got some questions for him. Call the Chief, too, to report what happened. We need a clean-up crew.”

  

“Right.”

  

Jason turned his attention back to the kids. He couldn’t think of any reason Spectran troops would have had for following him and Keyop. He knew they hadn’t blown their covers. He doubted Zoltar was trying to kidnap them to try to blackmail the Chief with his own children. They had tried to kidnap Princess two years earlier and had learned the hard way how lethal she was out of Birdstyle.

  

That left the kids.

  

“Spectran? What are they?” Annalisa asked. Jason sighed, his pounding head reminding him he had a migraine brewing. Transmuting back and forth so quickly was going to compound it. He really didn’t have time to explain before he started throwing up.

  

“Annalisa, A Galactic Security team is going to come to take them away and to place you and Bobbie into protective custody.” At her frightened look, he tried to smile. “They are not police, not will they take you to an orphanage, I promise. You’ll stay with me and Keyop. We need to find out why they came here after you and Bobbie.”

  

She stared hard at him for a full minute before nodding. She pointed at his arm.

  

“We have a first aid kit. I can fix your arm,” she said and asked Bobbie to go get it. Jason stopped the boy, not wanting him out of his now blurring sight.

  

“Keyop,” he called. “I need you in here.” Then to BJ, “Where’s the first aid kit?”

  


“In the bathroom.” She pointed to the right to show him.

  

As soon as Keyop came back, Jason stood up. The change in his blood pressure made his head spin as it pounded anew. Bile rose in his throat.

  

“Got this,” Keyop told him in understanding.

  

Jason headed for the bathroom, fast. He only felt marginally better after throwing up. His vision was all over the place.

  

He didn’t have time to be weak. He called on his implant again. It took a few moments for his vision to clear. He was able to find the first aid kit and brought it back to the room.

  

He had no doubt Keyop had reported both his migraine and knick in the arm. A medical unit would be with the clean-up crew. In the meantime, he might be able to get more information out of Annalisa if he let her treat his arm.

  

“Okay?” Keyop asked as he came back into the room.

  

“For the time being.” He sat down on the floor in front of Annalisa, noting she was leaning on her brother, holding her injured ankle up. He’d forgotten about her injury. Anger welled up at himself. “Annalisa, you need to sit down, get off that ankle.” She didn’t argue. She slowly sat down in front of him, Bobbie following her example. “Here.” He extended the first aid kit to her. Bobbie was still wide-eyed but no longer crying.

  

Annalisa took it, fighting the clasp for a moment to get it open.

  

“How do you know about first aid?” he asked her as he shucked off the jacket. The movement sent an additional annoying pain up and down his arm.

  

She shrugged, taking out a small bottle of alcohol, wipes, gauze and tape. “I have to take care of Bobbie,” was all she said. Jason rolled up the bloody sleeve, examining the two inch long slice that was only a few inches above his elbow.

  

“Gonna need…stitches,” Keyop said after getting a look at it.

  

“It’s not that bad,” Jason retorted. “How’s our friend?” He leaned his head towards the kitchen to indicate the last remaining trooper.

  “Waking up…gagged him.” 

Annalisa poured alcohol onto wipes to clean the wound. Jason sucked in air at the severe burning sensation. Bobbie winced in sympathy and signed. Jason only caught the end of it.

  

“I’m a baby?” he asked the boy, somewhat indignant. Bobbie shook his head and signed again.

  

Annalisa interpreted. “He said Chas was a baby,” she said. Jason winced again as she wiped the area around the wound as dry as she could. Bobbie hadn’t signed Chas. He’d signed ‘Ian’. Maybe the brother’s name was Charles Ian, he wondered.

  

“Why was Chas a baby? That’s your older brother, right?” Jason asked, watching her work. She seemed to know what she was doing and wasn’t the least bit skittish.

 

“Yeah. I had to patch him up.”

  

“How’d he get hurt?” Jason wanted to know as she started to place butterfly stitches over the cut. She was cautious and methodical; making sure the skin was closed but not puckered.

  

“He got into a fight,” she answered as she picked up the gauze to cut an appropriately sized section.

  

‘Knife fight,’ Bobbie signed. Jason shared a look with Keyop.

  

“So that’s how you know how to use a knife,” Jason noted as Annalisa placed the gauze over the wound and taped it into place.

  

She eyed him for a moment before putting everything back into the first aid kit. “I didn’t ask you how you know sign language.”

  

He looked at Keyop. It was his story. Keyop shrugged.

  

“If you haven’t…noticed…I have…a speech…impediment,” he said. Annalisa nodded. “When I was…little, I hated…to talk, so…I signed.”

  

“We all had to learn to talk to him,” Jason added.

  

“We?” Annalisa was sharp, Jason thought.

  

“We have two other brothers and a sister,” he told her. Maybe that would make her even more comfortable.

  

He was just about to ask how Bobbie was mute when they heard pounding from the kitchen. “Guess our prisoner is awake,” he said, getting to his feet. “I need to talk to him.” He thanked Annalisa for patching him up and reached over to rub Bobbie’s head. The kid was starting to grow on him already.

  

“I’m going to have a chat with him. Stay in here with Keyop,” he told them. Annalisa’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she didn’t say anything.

  

There was a door between the kitchen and the room the kids had been sleeping in. It was damaged from the firefight, but intact enough to be closed. He didn’t want the kids to overhear the conversation.

  

The trooper was lying on the floor with his dead compatriots. He rolled towards the door as he heard it close. Keyop had pulled off his car face helmet before gagging him, so Jason could clearly see the hatred in his eyes.

  

Jason gave him a patented Condor smirk as he crouched down near his head and reached over to remove the gag.

  

“I know who you are,” the Spectran immediately spat in heavily accented English. That meant he wasn’t normally stationed on Earth. For some reason, every Earth-bound Spectran they’d met spoke flawless English. Jason filed that away to ponder at another time. “I’ve seen your face, Condor. “I’m going to tell everyone.” There was a manic gleam in the man’s eyes.

  

Jason made a tsking noise and flicked the Spectran’s nose with his finger. The Spectran cried out in pain.

  

“That’s going to be hard to do, considering where you’re going. Why don’t you tell me why you’re here? You guys seemed shocked as hell that I was here.” Jason smiled at him as he pulled out a shuriken. The man’s eyes widened, but he gave no sign of being frightened.

  

“I’m going to yell the press. Everyone will know. You will be useless to your precious G-Force.”

  

Jason tsked and flicked his nose again. He howled and tried to get free, tears in his eyes.

  

“Gonna be hard for you to do from a cell eleven stories underground,” he told the trooper, flipping the shuriken between his fingers like a baton. “Now, if you tell why you’re here, we might be able to make arrangements for three floors down with a TV.”

  

The trooper spat at him, so Jason flicked his nose a third time before putting the gag back in place. He’d let the interrogators have him.

  

Jason’s enhanced hearing picked up multiple vehicle sounds, followed by a squeal of tires and brakes. He cautiously looked out the door to make sure it was the clean-up crew and not more goons.

  

Several unmarked vans and cars pulled up behind the house, blocking in the Maxima. He recognized them and relaxed.

  

“They’re here,” he called back to Keyop as he opened the kitchen door back up.

  

As the clean-up crew disembarked from their vehicles, Jason was surprised to see the Chief and Cloud, their reserve member, getting out of one of the sedans.

  Must have been a slow day at the base, he thought as they approached.

 

Chapter 6 by Becky Rock

Cloud immediately headed for him, worry in her eyes. He knew she was picking up on his migraine and sore arm. He used to be innerved by her empathy, especially when he was trying to hide his migraines or an injury from the Chief and Mark; it took him a while to figure out she was genuinely trying to help, not sabotage him.

  

Before she could ask, he just offered up the information, ignoring the stern look from the Chief. They had more important fish to fry than his pushing his implant’s limits.

  

“Did Keyop tell you about the kids?” he asked, motioning for the clean-up crew to wait before entering the house.

 

“He said a little girl tried to steal your car,” the Chief answered with some skepticism, moving in to take a look at his arm. “That you caught her and learned she and her little brother have been living on their own for a while. Then a Spectran squad showed up. You suspect the Spectran troopers were after them?” So that was why the Chief had come.

  

Jason nodded. It dawned on him Keyop had probably asked for ether Princess or Cloud, Mark’s twin sister, to come to help make Annalisa feel more comfortable.

  

“Her name is Annalisa. She’s about twelve. Her brother is Bobbie and he’s seven. She’s scared and they had no food. I don’t have the full story. She’s pretty cagy about answering questions. I get the impression they may have been abandoned.” He turned to Cloud. “We thought she might be more comfortable if a woman was here while we talked to her.”

  

“I’ll see what I can do. You’re right,” Cloud said, looking into the open door. “I can sense their fear from here, but also she’s in pain. Her ankle.”

  

Jason sighed as the Chief let go of his arm, apparently happy with Annalisa’s triage work. “She twisted her ankle when I tackled her. She had a knife and I didn’t want her hurting herself. She’s got some experience treating knife wounds and fixed my arm.”

  

“Did she stab you?” the Chief asked of his arm. He shook his head.

  

“No. Bullet nicked me.” Anderson’s eyes filled with displeasure. “I know. The migraines affect my reaction time. I swear, once we get them settled, I’ll go see Doctor Rafael.”

  

The Chief regarded him for a moment. Jason knew he didn’t believe him, but he was just going to have to take his word for it.

  

He led them into the house, making a path through the bodies. He pointed out the trooper who was still alive. “He’s seen me flip,” he told the Chief, knowing he was going to hear about that later, too. While the Chief directed the clean-up crew to remove the bodies for possible identification and to take the surviving trooper into custody, Jason led Cloud back to the rear room, where Keyop was with the kids.

  

“Annalisa,” he said, getting the girl’s attention as she sat on the floor rubbing Bobbie’s back as he leaned into her side. They were both watching the men filing into the house with understandable trepidation. “This is a friend of mine. Her name is Cloud.” He moved to the side so Cloud could crouch down in front of the kids to be on their eye level.

  

“Hi,” Cloud said, smiling warmly. “Jason said you and your brother are alone?” she asked. Annalisa looked up at Jason. He smiled at her encouragingly.

  

“Are you a social worker?” Annalisa asked warily, side-stepping the question. Cloud shook her head, her short dark hair bobbing back and forth with the motion.

  

“No. I work with Jason. He thought you might be more comfortable having a woman here while we figure out why those men came after you.”

  

“Why would they come after us?” Annalisa directed her question at Jason. “I didn’t steal anything that could have been theirs. We’re just kids.”

  

That made Jason wonder what else she might have been up to, but he’d have to ask some other time.

  

“Where are your parents?” Cloud asked, trying to get them to talk to her by broadcasting reassurance at them.

  

The girl looked at Jason, then Keyop. When her eyes came back to Cloud, she shrugged.

  

“I don’t know,” she said as she hugged Bobbie. “We came home from school one day and they were gone.”

  

“When did that happen?” Cloud asked. The girl was looking decidedly uncomfortable. Jason was crouched down beside her. Cloud nudged him with her arm. He wasn’t telepathic but through training, she could sometimes drop a thought into his mind if they were touching. ‘Keep talking to her,’ she requested. ‘I’m getting some images from her.’

  

“Annalisa, I said you won’t be going to an orphanage or to social services. But in order to help you, we need to try to find your parents,” he told her.

  

“They already tried to find them,” she answered stubbornly.

  

“Who did?” Jason asked.

  

“The police. When they couldn’t find them, they put us into the orphanage.”

  

That meant there were records somewhere they would be able to access. The Chief had the authority.

  

“How did you come to be in this house if you were in an orphanage?” Cloud asked. Annalisa squirmed. She glanced at the door in the room that had to be the front door. Jason could imagine she was considering leaving. He moved just a little to the right be in her way, should she try it. If she noticed, she gave no indication.

  

“We left the orphanage,” she said after a moment.

  

“Why?” Jason leaned in closer, frowning as he exchanged a look with Cloud.

  

“They kept bringing in strange men.” Bobbie moved out from under her arm to sit in her lap. Annalisa wrapped her arms around him protectively. A cold knot was forming in Jason’s stomach.

  

“What kind of strange men?” he asked, fearing the answer.

  

“They were in suits. They had cold eyes. After they came, kids disappeared. We were afraid they’d take us away, too, so we ran away first.”

  

Cloud closed her eyes, concentrating on what Annalisa was seeing in her mind. The men were suave, polished, fake. They had lying eyes. Cloud opened her eyes.

  

“They could have been adopted,” Jason surmised. Annalisa shook her head.

  

“Why did those men frighten you?” Jason asked. Annalisa looked down.

  

“Honey, you’re safe now,” Cloud tried to assure her, slowly putting her hand on the girl’s arm that was hugging her brother. “We won’t let anyone hurt you.” Cloud looked at Jason and mouthed ‘Spectrans’.

  

Jason ground is teeth. He tried to exude safety, wishing at that moment he had Cloud’s abilities. He had a sudden thought. “Anna, we can’t try to help the other kids still at the orphanage if you don’t tell us what happened.”

  

Annalisa looked down at Bobbie, taking a deep breath. “When people came to look at us for adoption, it was always married couples. When a kid got adopted, we’d have a party for them. Not when those men came. The kids disappeared at night. They were there when we went to bed and gone when we got up. They mostly took boys, but sometimes a girl.”

  Jason saw Annalisa stiffen, her eyes turning to the doorway. He knew who was there. 

“We need to know what orphanage that is,” Anderson said, not coming any closer.

  

“It’s okay, Anna,” Cloud told her. Jason surmised she was sensing renewed fear from Anna. “That’s Dr. Anderson.”

  

“My adopted father,” Jason added to try to ease her fear.

  888 

BJ didn’t know what to do.

  

First, the guy who caught her trying to steal his car didn’t have her arrested. Instead, he introduced himself and offered to help her and Todd. He gave them the food he had just picked up from one of the take-out places that was obviously meant for his family, because he had his younger brother with him.

  

Then those crazy men had broken in and Jason had killed them. Killed them. She didn’t want to know how. That should have frightened her, but it didn’t. He was obviously dangerous, yet he was treating her and Todd like he really cared.

  

But now more strange men were there, removing the bodies. Jason believed the men who had broken in had been after her and Todd. He’d called a friend, a woman with an interesting name, to help her feel at ease. But they were questioning her, asking things she didn’t want to talk about.

  

Then the man in the doorway wanted to know what orphanage they had run away from. She glanced at the front door, the one they never used. How fast could she get it open and get Bobbie out before they tried to stop her?

  

But then Jason said the man was his adopted father. ‘I was like you once,’ he’d said. Did that mean he had been on the streets once?

  

“Annalisa, running again isn’t going to solve anything,” Cloud said to her. What was she doing? Reading her mind? “It’s dangerous out there and those men,” Cloud pointed at the kitchen, “have friends. I think they work with the men you saw at the orphanage.”

  

BJ was starting to feel naseuous. How could she protect Todd?

  

“Tell you what.” Cloud rose and extended her hand to her. “Let’s get you and Bobbie out of here to someplace safe.”

  

“Where?” her nausea was getting worse. Maybe she’d eaten too fast.

  

Jason looked at his father. The man nodded.

  

“Camp Parker,” he told her.

  

“You live at a summer camp?” she asked in confusion. Todd perked up. She suspected he’d love the idea of going to a summer camp.

  

Jason laughed. “I wish, although we do have a huge lake and horses.”

  

“So it’s not a summer camp?” she asked, still confused.

  

“It’s an estate and that just happens to be the name,” he explained. An estate? Wasn’t that where rich people lived?

  

“Are you rich?” she asked.

  

Jason laughed again. “It’s a long story. You and Bobbie will be safe there.” She looked at Cloud. The young woman was smiling in encouragement. Jason stood and extended his hand too.

  

“You’ll both be safe with us. I guarantee it,” Dr. Anderson added. He looked like a very serious man to BJ.

  

Should she trust them? Keyop was smiling and nodding as well.

  

“You’ll like it,” Keyop said. “I can get … Mrs. Vermillion to…make…macaroni and cheese.”

  

That won Todd over. He climbed out of her lap and motioned for her to get up. Could she trust them?

  

“Anna, I’ll never let anyone hurt you or Bobbie. I swear.” Jason’s blue eyes were so intense, her reservations started to take a backseat. 

  

“Okay,” she finally said, taking his extended hand. He pulled her up, holding her as she tried to put weight on her ankle. It still hurt sharply. At her wince, he swung her up into his arms.

  

“Cloud, could you drive?” he asked. “My vision is coming and going because of the migraine.” She rose to her feet and nodded.

  

“Get them to medical when you arrive to have that ankle treated,” the Chief ordered as he moved out of the doorway to let them pass. “Mac and cheese will be waiting,” he added, giving them a small smile as they passed him. BJ looked round Jason to make sure Todd was there. He was right behind Jason, reaching up to grab one of his belt loops. Jason didn’t seem to mind.

  

Jason placed her in the back seat again, with Todd and Keyop. Cloud took the driver’s seat as Jason got into the front passenger seat. In moments, the vans moved to allow them to pull out.

  

BJ watched the house get smaller as they drove away, praying she was making the right decision.

  

A short time later, they were driving along a lake. She’d never been outside of the city that she could remember, so she stared out the window, wondering what it would be like to go swimming in it. They turned off that road onto one that led into the hills. A few minutes more and they came to a guarded gatehouse.

  

Cloud lowered her window to talk to one of the uniformed men. He looked into the car, checking out her and Todd. BJ tried not to sink down into the seat at his intense gaze.

  

The gate was opened so Cloud could drive through. They rode for another three minutes before the road came out of the trees to a field with a huge building in the center of it.

  “Welcome to Camp Parker,” Jason said.
Chapter 7 by Becky Rock

Cloud stopped the car in the circular driveway in front of the main building. There were four people waiting in front of the door, two men and two women. One of the men was standing behind a wheelchair. She assumed the Chief had called ahead to alert the base they had unexpected visitors, one of which was injured. He had probably also warned them of Jason’s migraine.

 

 

She saw no sign of her brother, Princess or Tiny. She knew Tiny, who was her boyfriend, had gone fly fishing. It was one of his ways of dealing with stress. Mark was still reeling over the loss of the Research Center and a good bit of Center Neptune to a Spectran sneak attack. He and Princess had probably gone off for some private time. With Jason ill, she could only assume the Chief had also called Mark back in so the team would have leadership if they were called out.

 

 

Annalisa and Bobbie had been quiet most of the drive, taking in where they were going. Cloud noticed Annalisa’s eyes darting about; she could imagine the girl was nervous and frightened. Cloud felt badly for the girl: she’d obviously had trust issues, but Cloud also knew Camp Parker was the best and safest place for them. They would be well treated until a decision was made what to do for them. 

 

 

Cloud glanced at Jason: he looked as if he was trying desperately not to throw up in the car. They might need a second wheelchair. She’d stayed out of his mind, not wanting to make matters worse or accidentally have her mind mirror his migraine.

 

 

Jason swallowed hard and turned around in his seat to face the back, his eyes narrowed against the sunlight. “Annalisa, Cloud is going to accompany you and Bobbie to Medical. They need to X-ray your ankle, then you both need physicals.”

 

 

Annalisa opened her mouth to protest, but Jason wagged a finger at her, closing his eyes.

 

 

“Jason?” Cloud asked worriedly. She could sense he was reaching the end of his endurance of the migraine.

 

 

“Anna, we need to know you’re both okay. I’ve got to see my doctor right now, before I keel over. I’ll be indisposed until tomorrow. Keyop -”

 

 

“I’ll stay…with them, too. Go…see Doc Rafael,” Keyop said.

 

 

BJ could see Jason was in pain and his skin was tinged an interesting shade of green. She knew her ankle could be broken. Neither she nor Todd had seen a doctor in years. They hadn’t been eating right for a long time. She didn’t want Todd suffering because she was being stubborn.

 

 

“Okay,” she said. She looked towards Cloud. “You’ll stay with us?” she asked, trying not to sound too desperate. Cloud smiled and nodded.

 

 

“For as long as you need me,” she promised.

 

 

BJ’s door was opened, startling her. She turned to see the man with the wheelchair. He smiled at her. Everyone seemed to smile at them. There was no way everyone could be that happy.

 

 

“Need some help getting out?” he asked. He was dressed in the kind of clothing she had seen in the hospital when Todd was there three years earlier after being shot in the throat. It seemed like a lifetime ago now.

 

 

“I got it,” she told him as Keyop got out on his side, opening Jason’s door for him. Jason had his head back against the headrest, his eyes closed. He was making no move to get out.

 

 

A tall, large man with a beard came out of the building. He walked around the front of the car to the passenger side. BJ watched him warily as she pulled herself out of the car to sit in the wheelchair. He looked like an upright bear. He stopped at Jason’s door.

 

 

“Do you need a wheelchair?” he asked in a deeply accented resonating voice. Jason opened one eye to glare at him.

 

 

“No.”

 

 

“You are a stubborn cur, you know that?” the man said. BJ wondered who the man was to talk to Jason like that. Jason just continued to glare with his open eye.

 

 

“Stop badmouthing Howler,” Jason countered. Who was Howler? BJ wondered.

 

 

“That dog has more sense than you do,” the large man retorted.

 

 

Todd got out of the car. He climbed into BJ’s lap, clearly not liking the large man talking to Jason. She wrapped her arms around him, hoping the man stayed away from them. There was no way she could fight someone that big.

 

 

“Don’t blame me if you pass out and crack your skull when you fall.” the man said as he stepped back apparently to give Jason room to get out of the car.

 

 

Feeling the renewed unease from both Annalisa and Bobbie, Cloud got out of the car, knowing Jason was in the best hands, even if the two children did not. She closed the door so she could accompany the children to keep them calm.

 

 

“Is he going to be okay?” Annalisa asked as the wheelchair was turned towards the building. She twisted to look over her shoulder at the car.

 

 

“Yes,” she assured the girl. “He just needs some medicine and to sleep for a few hours.” Cloud walked beside the wheelchair. Keyop followed.

 

 

“This doesn’t look like a camp,” the girl said, turning her attention back to where they were going.

 

 

“No, I suppose it doesn’t.” Cloud wondered if she should actually tell the girl it was a military base, but decided to leave that to the Chief.

 

 

They entered the building, going past a desk with an armed guard. That did catch Annalisa’s attention, but she didn’t say anything. She’d probably seen many buildings with guards: it was common in the area where they had been living for both the office buildings and apartment buildings to have them.

 

 

They came to a bank of elevators. They stopped in front of them to wait for one.

 

 

Annalisa was holding onto Bobbie as tightly as he was holding onto her. Once they were in the elevator, Cloud laid her hand on Annalisa’s shoulder.

 

 

“I know you’re scared,” she told her, trying to convey calm and reassurance. “We’ll do everything we can to make you comfortable.” The girl nodded, but Cloud sensed her skepticism. She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

 

888

 

Jason’s head hurt too much to argue with Rafael when the man ordered him a gurney. His reputation as a tough guy would take a blow, but the idea of trying to walk to medical was out of the question. He was afraid if he stood up, he’d pass out. It was a good thing Colonel Cronus and his Red Rangers weren’t about. They’d never let him live it down.

 

 

“You’ve been overtaxing your implant again,” Rafael accused as he leaned against the passenger side of the Maxima while they waited for the gurney. Cloud and Keyop had already escorted the children from the car to the building.

 

 

“I didn’t have a choice.” Jason sat with his elbow on the center console, his head resting in his hand. Nausea was building again, making his head pound even harder.

 

 

“I guess by now your stubbornness shouldn’t surprise me. You’ve got too much of Katherine in you.” Rafael reached in to pull Jason’s right arm out of his jacket, then rolled up his sleeve. Jason felt a sting in his arm. “That’ll help with the pain,” the doctor told him. “I’ll knock you out as soon as we get to the recalibration chamber.”

 

 

Jason didn’t dare nod.

 

 

“At least I don’t have to worry about you disappearing on me like Keyop did the last time I recalibrated his implant.”

 

 

Disappearing…damn! He’d forgotten to tell the Chief about Annalisa’s disappearing act. He opened his eyes enough to squint at Rafael.

 

 

“I’ve got to talk to the Chief before you knock me out.” He swallowed down the bile that rose with his movement. “I have to tell him about Annalisa.”

 

 

“The girl? I’m sure Cloud and Keyop can fill him in,” Rafael assured him as the two corpsmen arrived with the rolling gurney.

  

 

“No. I have to tell him,” Jason insisted, starting to feel a bit woozy from the shot Rafael had given him. He felt like he was swaying. Painkiller his ass.

 

 

“You’re in no shape to tell him anything.” Rafael watched as the corpsmen maneuvered the gurney alongside the passenger side of the car.

 

 

“She’s an escape artist,” Jason told him, ignoring what the doctor had said. “She can disappear.” He was starting to lose the battle with his consciousness.

 

 

Rafael chuckled. “I’ll tell Matt an extra eye needs to be kept on her,” he promised. “Can you get to the gurney or do you need help?” he asked.

 

 

“That won’t be enough,” Jason warned, closing his eyes against the dizziness now assaulting him. “She can literally disappear like the Invisible Woman.” The blackness swallowed him.

 

 

Rafael caught him as he slumped over, keeping him from falling out of the car. He motioned to the corpsmen to lift Jason onto the gurney. They fastened him in and raised the gurney to its full height before wheeling it towards the building.

 

 

“Go ahead and prep him for recalibration,” he instructed them. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

 

 

He followed the gurney into the building but took a turn that led to the stairs. He hated waiting for elevators. He went up the stairs to the medical floor and sought the examination rooms.

 

 

Rafael found Cloud and Keyop conversing with the children. He hadn’t paid much attention to them earlier. The girl looked to be a preteenager. She was sitting in the wheelchair, her right foot bare, and her shoe in her hand. The boy was several years younger, standing only a few feet from his sister.

 

 

Cloud sensed his approach and turned to him with a smile, which he knew was for the children’s sake, as they were gaping at him.

 

 

 Esteban Rafael was used to that reaction to his appearance.

 

 

Mark had nicknamed him The Bear back when G-Force was children. His large six foot six inch frame and muscular build was accentuated by his long beard, longer hair and bushy eye brows. Most people’s initial response to him was fear, but they quickly learned he was really just a big teddy bear.

 

 

Except when protecting G-Force. Then he became a grizzly bear.

 

 

“Hello Dr. Rafael,” Cloud said brightly, turning back to the children. “Annalisa and Bobbie, this is Dr. Rafael, one of our specialists,” she told them in introduction. “You saw him at the car. He’s Jason’s doctor,” she added.

 

 

He smiled his brightest smile to try to put them at ease.

 

 

“I’m very pleased to meet you both.” He extended his hand to the boy, who had edged closer to the girl as soon as he’d seen him. The boy looked to Keyop for reassurance. Keyop was grinning, probably remembering his own first meeting with Rafael. At least this boy wasn’t screaming in fear.

 

 

“You’re Jason’s doctor?” the girl asked. Rafael nodded. “Is he going to be okay?” She was staring at him pointedly. It was clear to him she had taken a liking to the G-force second-in-command. That could be a problem.

 

 

He pulled his hand back, joining his hands behind his back. “Yes, I am. I’ve given him some medicine to counteract the migraine. He’ll get a good night sleep and feel much better in the morning.”

 

 

Just then, Dr. Marilyn Martin entered the room, followed by a nurse.

 

 

“Why hi there,” she said to the children. She was one of the program’s original doctors, so she had plenty of experience in dealing with children. She stopped beside the wheelchair. “I understand you had a bit of a row with Jason and injured your ankle,” she said. The girl nodded. “Then the first thing we need to do is get your ankle X-rayed to determined how badly injured it is. Is that all right?”  

 

 

The girl looked at her ankle before nodding. It was visibly swollen so Rafael imagined it was hurting quite a bit. He’d have to hear the whole story of how she had a ‘row’ with Jason later.

 

 

The nurse went to the back of the wheelchair to push it. Rafael motioned to Cloud that he wanted a moment of her time. She motioned back as they walk with them to keep the children at ease. He leaned down to her ear.

 

 

“Jason was insistent the girl be watched closely,” he whispered. “He said she’s an escape artist. He actually referred to her as the ‘Invisible Woman’.” Cloud nodded acknowledgement, so Rafael excused himself. He had his own patient to take care of.

 

 

888

 

Three hours later, Annalisa had been diagnosed with an upper ankle sprain. Her ankle was wrapped and she was given crutches to be used for at least a week. Several vials of blood were taken from both of them for various tests prior to feeding them macaroni and cheese. Once they’d eaten a modest amount – Dr. Martin explained to them eating too much too fast when they hadn’t eaten much lately could make them seriously ill- she said they could have more in a few hours. Then they were given physicals.

 

 

BJ waited tensely as the doctor looked over Todd. She of course zeroed in on the scar across Todd’s throat.

 

 

“Annalisa, how did Bobbie get this scar?” Martin asked. Todd was very uncomfortable any time it was brought up. He wore turtle necks to hide it. He turned his head out of the doctor’s hands.

 

 

BJ took a deep breath. This wasn’t something she could just make up a convincing story about. “Someone shot into our house three years ago. Bobbie was hit in the throat.” The memory still made her heart skip a beat.

 

 

Martin looked genuinely shocked. She looked at the scar again, much to Todd’s discomfort. “Did they arrest who did it?” she asked.

 

 

BJ shook her head. “Not that I know of. The police thought it was just random violence.”

 

 

“Bobbie, you’re lucky to be alive,” Martin told him, but they had already heard that many times.

 

 

“And it was a year later that your parents disappeared?” Cloud, too, had been shocked when she’d seen the scar, but had tried to hide it. BJ had to remember she had told Jason, Keyop and her about their parent’s disappearance at the abandoned house she and Bobbie had been living in. BJ nodded.

 

 

The physicals were completed. More macaroni and cheese was brought, along with bowls of chocolate and vanilla frozen yogurt.

 

 

As they ate, BJ kept her eyes on the doctor. She was consulting a computer screen, talking quietly at times with Cloud and Keyop. At one point, both Keyop and Cloud looked at the watches on their left wrists to check the time.

 

 

They probably had things they had to do. They couldn’t stay with them forever.

 

 

Martin left her computer to rejoin them. She pulled up a chair to the table. BJ was working on her frozen yogurt. It was delicious. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had ice cream. Maybe it had been her tenth birthday party.

 

 

“Considering you’ve been on your own for two years, you’ve both not done too badly,” she told them. BJ stopped eating. That was actually a relief. She’d feared Todd’s health would suffer from the way they were living. “A little malnourished and anemic, but we can take care of that with some good, healthy food. I’ve arranged for some clean clothing and it should be here in a little while. We’ll have to see about getting you some new shoes and more clothes tomorrow. In the meantime, you can use these.” She produced slippers: one pair pink, one pair blue.

 

 

Todd took his and immediately pulled off his tattered, taped together sneakers to put on the blue ones. He smiled happily, signing ‘Thank you”. BJ took hers but made no move to put them on. Now that her ankle was taken care of and they’d eaten, she was wondering what was next. Social services or the police?

 

 

“We’re arranging rooms for you for the night. In the meantime, how would you like to watch a movie?”

 

 

The nurse who had assisted the doctor earlier came in with a handful of DVDs. BJ let Todd choose, wondering if it was a delay tactic.

 

 

“Anna.” She looked up at Cloud. “You really are safe here. Spectra was after you for some reason. We’re not going to let them get their hands on you or Bobbie.”

 

 

“Why?” she asked. “What’s in it for you?”

 

 

“It’s our duty…to protect people…from Spectra,” Keyop answered. BJ frowned. What did that mean? “Camp Parker is a…military base. The Chief, the man…you met at the…house…is the Security Chief. He’s…mine and Jason’s…dad. Adopted dad. He’ll…protect both of you.”



“Military base?” BJ looked around. It certainly didn’t look like a military base to her, but it did explain the gatehouse and guard in the front entrance. Was that how Jason had stopped those men who busted into the house? Spectrans, they had called them. Was Jason a soldier?

 

 

Both Cloud and Keyop looked at their watches again.

 

 

“Anna, Keyop and I need to go to a meeting,” Cloud said, waiting for the girl’s reaction. She seemed to be stewing on what Keyop had told her. “We’ll only be gone about an hour.” Keyop tapped her arm. Cloud read his mind and nodded.

 

 

“Since Jason’s sick,” he said, “someone has…to take care of…Howler.”

 

 

“Howler?” Anna asked. Cloud had the uncomfortable feeling the girl was considering running, now that her ankle was wrapped. She wouldn’t get far if she tried with all of the guards around. Cloud decided not to mention that, to accidentally turn it into a suggestion.

 

 

“Jason’s dog.” Keyop grinned. “Actually, still a puppy…so he needs watched… over. He likes to chew…on stuff.”

 

 

Cloud was happy to see Bobbie’s eyes light up at the mention of a puppy, but Annalisa was still cautious.

 

 

“Does he bite?” Anna asked. Cloud could see in her mind an incident with a large dog as she was scrounging for food that had frightened her.

 

 

“Naw. He’ll lick you…to death, though.”

 

 

Cloud was glad Keyop hadn’t added Howler was in training to be an attack dog.

 

 

‘What kind of dog is he?’ Bobbie signed. The boy was definitely interested.

 

 

“Malamute. Jason…rescued him.”

 

 

Bobbie turned his big blue eyes on Annalisa. She sighed in defeat.

 

 

“I guess we can watch him, but you have to walk him.” She pointed at her bandaged ankle.

 

 

Keyop nodded. “I’ll get him.” He zipped out of the medical section.

 

 

“Jason said he was like us,” Annalisa suddenly said, totally changing the subject. “This Chief guy adopted him? Why?”

 

 

Cloud exchanged a look with the doctor. To her knowledge, Jason had never lived on the streets. Would he have lied to get the girl to cooperate?

 

 

“I don’t know, Anna. I only came here a year ago.” Cloud hoped the girl could see she was telling the truth. Bobbie was pulling on the sleeve of Annalisa’s hospital gown, pointing at the movie. The girl turned her attention to that.

 

 

They set up some blankets and pillows on the floor for the movie. Annalisa and Bobbie made themselves comfortable. One of the nurses brought in milk and oatmeal cookies for them. Trying to keep in mind what the doctor had told them about eating, Annalisa made sure Bobbie didn’t eat too many of the cookies too quickly.

 

 

The movie had just started when Keyop returned with Howler on a leash. The dog was already close to his adult size of one hundred and twenty pounds. Brown in coloring, his pale blue eyes were vivid. His tongue was hanging out of the side of his mouth. Cloud remembered hearing he had an unusually long tongue, which gave him a slightly off appearance.

 

 

His tail was wagging as he approached the blanket. Annalisa immediately pulled back the plate of cookies when the dog’s eyes settled on it.

 

 

“Howler, no food!” Keyop ordered. The dog turned to give him a sorrowful look. He walked over to Bobbie. Bobbie reached up to pet him. The dog immediately laid down beside him on the blanket.

 

 

After a moment, Annalisa’s hand joined Bobbie’s in petting the dog.

 

 

Satisfied, Cloud nodded to the doctor and gathered Keyop to go to the G-Force conference room.  

 

 

 

888

 

Cloud walked into the conference room to find her brother Mark, Princess and Tiny already there. Keyop had to make a stop first. She returned Tiny’s smile when he saw her and joined him. He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

 

 

“What’s this I’m hearing that Jason brought home some homeless kids?” Mark asked. As the Commander of G-Force, he could be imposing, but she had been born first. By Rigan custom, that meant she was in charge. She had ceded that authority to him, having had no desire to lead the combat team.

 

 

“I came into it after the fact,” she told him.

 

 

At that moment, Security Chief Matt Anderson and Keyop strode in. Keyop closed the door behind them.

 

 

“Everyone take a seat,” the Chief requested. As they sat, Mark voiced his statement again.

 

 

“Yes, it’s true,” Anderson confirmed.

 

 

Mark leaned forward with a stunned look on his face. “Why?”

 

 

“Keyop, tell us what happened,” the Chief requested, leaning back in his seat.

 

 

Keyop explained how they had found Annalisa trying to steal the Maxima while they were getting dinner.

 

 

“A twelve year old girl your size was trying to steal the car?” Tiny asked with some skepticism.

 

 

Keyop nodded and told them how she had run and Jason had gone after her. He had returned about twenty minutes later carrying the girl and sporting a raging migraine, which Cloud knew could sometimes hit him in a matter of minutes. The girl had hurt her ankle when he’d tackled her.

 

 

“Cloud?” Anderson asked her way. She thought about the feelings and images she had gotten from the children.

 

 

“Annalisa thought Jason was going to hurt her, maybe even rape her. That’s why she ran.” Mark snorted as Princess’ mouth gaped open in disbelief. “We know Jason would never do that,” Cloud pointed out, “but she didn’t. Those kids have been on the streets for two years. They’ve learned to be cautious and expect the worst.”

 

 

Keyop picked up the story, telling them about going to the house and meeting Bobbie.

 

 

“They…dug into the food. Annalisa said…that’s why…she tried to steal…the car. They were…completely broke.”

 

 

“What did she think she could do with the car?” Mark wanted to know. “She’s twelve?”

 

 

“Sell it?” Keyop supposed. “She said their…older brother used to…do that so they…had money.”

 

 

“Older brother?” the Chief asked with a frown. Cloud hadn’t heard anything about an older brother, nor seen anything in the girl’s mind about one.

 

 

“She said he…disappeared…two weeks ago,” Keyop told them.

 

 

Mark leaned forward, looking exasperated. Cloud could sense he was still frustrated over the loss of the Research Center the week before, still coming to grips with the loss of life. He was on a short fuse. She was going to remember not to push him too much until he had calmed down.

 

 

“Just tell me why they’re here and not with social services,” he requested in a tone that was more like an order. Cloud could tell the Chief didn’t like it, but she didn’t know if Anderson would call him on the carpet for it.

 

 

“Because the…Happiness Boys came…after them,” Keyop answered. That got Mark’s attention.

 

 

“Keyop, are you sure they weren’t after you and Jason?” Anderson asked, reaching up to lift his glasses so he could rub his eyes.

 

  

“We saw…no sign of them. We would have…seen a tail.”

 

 

“You said Jason had a migraine. He wouldn’t have noticed,” Tiny said. Princess gave him a side-long look.

 

 

“I would have,” Keyop told him indignantly.

 

 

“Tiny, you know Jason gets hyper-sensitive when he has a migraine,” Princess added. “Any shade of green would have set him off.”

 

 

“But why would the goons be after some kids?” Mark asked the obvious question.

 

 

“Chief, when I addressed Annalisa, I sensed an underlying unease with the use of the name,” Cloud remembered. “I don’t think Annalisa and Bobbie are their real names.”

 

 

“Annalisa said…the older…brother’s name was…Chas, but…Bobbie signed Ian once.” Keyop shared a look with Cloud. He’d sensed it, too.

 

 

“No last names?” Anderson asked. Keyop shook his head. “What about information about their parents?”

 

 

“She said they came home from school one day and their parents weren’t home,” Cloud answered. “They hadn’t come home by nightfall and hadn’t called, so Annalisa went to a neighbor’s house. The neighbor called the police.”

 

 

“She also said strange things were happening at the orphanage they were placed in,” the Chief said. “That they ran because they were afraid.”

 

 

“From her description…it sounded like…Spectra was going…in picking out…kids. They disappeared…in the middle of the night,” Keyop said.

 

 

“I want the name of the orphanage,” Anderson told them. “We can set up surveillance, find out what’s actually going on there.”

 

 

Cloud had seen it in Annalisa’s thoughts. She told him the name, Saint Angela’s.

 

 

“I asked Marilyn to do a full blood work-up, including DNA,” he told them.

 

 

“You think they might be Spectran?” Mark asked, sharing a look with his teammates. They had seen many cases of Spectrans who tried to escape from their own people, trying to save their children from being indoctrinated into the war, only to be hunted down and killed as traitors. In most cases, the Spectrans took the children back to Spectra. In some rare cases, if they really wanted to make a point, they killed the children, too.

 

 

“Could some of the children being placed in St. Angela’s be Spectran?” Princess stated what they were all now thinking.

 

 

“We’ll know soon enough,” the Chief said.

 

 

“Chief.” He turned to Cloud. “Jason told Rafael to warn us that Annalisa is an escape artist,” she told him. “I’m not sure what he meant by it, since he caught her. There was also something else” He motioned for her to go on. “Bobbie had on a turtleneck. When they undressed him for his physical, we saw a very nasty scar across his throat. It explained why he was using sign language.”

 

 

Keyop nodded vigorously. “It was clear…he wasn’t deaf because he…knew what we…were saying. We didn’t ask…about it.”

 

 

“What did Marilyn say?” the Chief wanted to know.

 

 

“She asked Annalisa how it had happened. She said a year before their parents disappeared, someone shot into their house and Bobbie was hit in the throat. The police investigated but never made an arrest. They said it was just random violence.”

 

 

“A warning.” Mark sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. “We all know how low Spectra is willing to go.” He locked eyes with the Chief. “I now agree that we can’t let Spectra get their hands on these kids.”

 

 

Anderson’s left eye brow rose. “I’m glad you agree, Commander,” he quipped sarcastically. Mark visibly bristled but didn’t say anything. Cloud sent her brother a telepathic warning to not antagonize the Chief. He turned to stare at her. His telepathy wasn’t as strong as hers, but his thoughts were clear to her: stay out of it.

 

 

“Since we can’t ask Jason what he meant about the girl being an escape artist, I want them closely monitored while they’re here. It’s for their protection as well,” Anderson added. “Once we know more, we’ll do what has to be done.” At that moment, the phone to the left of the Chief buzzed. He reached for it. “I told Marilyn to call as soon as she had some results.”

 

 

They waited quietly as he spoke to the doctor, picking up some information from his side of the conversation. It sounded as though the children were healthy enough, considering what they had been through. The girl’s ankle was sprained and would heal within a week or two.

 

 

Anderson hung up. “They’re not Spectran,” he told them. “We’re waiting for the full DNA results. The orphanage should have entered their DNA into their database used to match children with other family members.”

 

 

“What if the orphanage didn’t record their charges’ DNA so they couldn’t be traced if the Spectrans took them?” Tiny asked. It was a good question.

 

 

“If St Angela’s has no record of them, we’ll have enough evidence for the authorities to go in and investigate. Once we have their names, we can look into who their parents were and what happened to them.” The Chief rose. “I’ll let you know when we know more.”

 

 

It was clearly a dismissal.

 

 

Mark started to rise from his seat. He wasn’t happy about having two children of unknown origins on base They might not have seen Jason in Birdstyle as he fought the Spectran troopers who had come after them, but knew he had managed to incapacitated them on his own. Maybe they were just too young to put two and two together.

 

 

He also couldn’t help but notice his twin was already getting attached to the children.

 

 

His mind seemed to black out, freezing him in place. He closed his eyes, allowing the vision to come forward. While Cloud’s main ability was telepathy, with limited empathy, his Rigan gift was clairvoyance with limited telepathy. He had no control of when the visions came to him. Sometimes they were as clear as watching the television: other times he needed Cloud’s help to decipher what he was seeing.

 

 

This vision was clear as day.

 

 

First he saw two people standing in front of Camp Parker’s main building. Children, a boy and a girl. He assumed they were Annalisa and Bobbie.

 

 

They morphed from children to young adults, still standing in front of the building. The girl didn’t change much other than acquiring more feminine curves. The boy, however, was taller, now a teenager.

 

 

A car appeared behind them, a candy apple red Challenger. The girl was leaning nonchalantly against it.

 

 

Their clothing morphed to Birdstyles. The girl’s was nearly identical to his but with blue cape lining instead of red cape lining. The boy’s was brown, black and white. The code names Blue Jay and Griffon Vulture came to his mind.

 

 

There was another change. They were now standing in front of a ship that resembled some of the drawings Mark had seen of the Phoenix’s future replacement. It was silver in color instead of blue and red.  The Challenger was there, but in dark blue with black striping. The girl’s Birdstyle was now black where it had been white. The teenaged boy was now a man, taller still. He was sitting on a motorcycle, a sleeker version of Princess’ Galacticycle, in black. Even though the girl’s uniform and car had become black, just as the Galacticycle was now black, Mark didn’t feel it was a negative change.

 

 

Mark’s visions were of a possible future.

 

 

“Mark, what did you see?” he heard Cloud ask. As he snapped out of the vision, a last picture came to his mind; Annalisa and Jason arguing about cars.

 

 

He described the vision, waiting for the Chief to confirm he was, in fact, having the children tested for implant compatibility.

 

 

“If they are orphans, they would be perfect candidates,” Anderson told them.

 

 

Mark grinned. “Hate to tell you this, Chief, but you’ve got another Jason on your hands with that girl. She’s a hothead and she loves cars.”

 

 

“Thanks for the warning,” Anderson quipped, not looking happy about Mark’s prediction.

Chapter 8 by Becky Rock

BJ slowly woke, the sun shining through the window blinds just enough brighten the room. It must have been morning.

 

 

She took a deep breath before opening her eyes and stretching, not sure if she hadn’t dreamed the past day.

 

 

She smiled to herself. The bed was so much softer than a floor. She looked down at the pretty comforter covering her. It was decorated with big flowers in pink and purple. She would never have chosen it; it was too girly, but that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate it.

 

 

Todd was curled up against her. They had been given adjacent rooms, but Todd had quickly snuck over to her room, afraid to be alone in this new place. He told her there had been a guard at the end of the hall, but the guard either hadn’t cared or didn’t see him.

 

 

Each room also had a private bathroom, with hot water. She imaged this was what it was like being in a luxurious hotel.

 

 

While they were watching the movie in the medical center, someone had come with some fresh clothes for them. She hadn’t asked where they’d come from. She was just happy to have something clean to wear. The clothes fit relatively well. They were also given a T-shirt and shorts to wear to bed.

 

 

There was a knock at the door. Todd stiffened, opening blue sleep-filled eyes as a second knock sounded.

 

 

“Annalisa?” BJ recognized the voice as that of Dr. Martin. “May I come in?”

 

 

BJ got up to go to the door. There was no peephole for her to look out to make sure the doctor was there alone. She stared at the door, trying to decide if she should open it.

 

 

“Anna, we know Bobbie’s with you. It’s okay,” Martin said.

 

 

They were in foreign territory. This wasn’t their turf. She was going to have to trust these people to a degree, unless they did something to destroy that trust. She unlocked the door to let the doctor in.

 

 

Dr. Martin smiled at her. “I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.

 

 

BJ shook her head, moving out of the way so the doctor could enter. Todd was sitting up in the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

 

 

“I brought some things for you,” Martin said. “Toothbrushes and paste, soap.” She held out a bag. “Why don’t you and Bobbie get showers and brush your teeth? You can wear the clothes from last night again. I’m going to take you to the cafeteria for breakfast, then Princess and Keyop are going to take you shopping for some new clothes.”

 

 

BJ sat down on the bed in shock. They were going to buy them clothes? New clothes were expensive.

 

 

“We don’t have any money,” she pointed out in a low voice.

 

 

The doctor took the bag into the bathroom. “It’s okay. This is on ISO.”

 

 

“The ISO? What’s that?”

 

 

“The Intergalactic Security Organization. This is one of their bases.” BJ still wasn’t sure what she meant. It must have been clear on his face because Dr. Martin chuckled. “You really have been out of the loop, haven’t you?”

 

 

‘Who’s Princess?’ Todd signed. BJ translated. It was just automatic for her to do so. Actually, she wanted to know, too.

 

 

“Princess is Jason and Keyop’s adopted sister. There’s also Mark and Tiny.”

 

 

“Is her name really Princess?” BJ asked. She wouldn’t want that kind of name. It would result in too much teasing.

 

 

“It’s her nickname. Her real name is Sondra, but hardly no one calls her that anymore. Aren’t you getting hungry?” Martin asked, changing the subject.

 

 

Actually, BJ was. They had been given small turkey sandwiches with the fixings, as Keyop put it, shortly before going to bed.

 

 

Todd nodded vigorously, almost falling out of the bed in his eagerness to get out of it. BJ had to smile. He signed ‘Me first’, heading straight for the bathroom. That was one thing about the house they had been living in: it had still had running water, so they risked taking quick cold showers weekly. She hadn’t thought about the fact they probably stank from body odor. The thought was embarrassing.

 

 

While Todd got cleaned up, Dr. Martin asked to check BJ’s ankle. She had actually forgotten about it. It hadn’t hurt when she got out of bed to open the door. “It didn’t ache all night, did it?” she asked, sitting beside her on the bed. BJ shook her head.

 

 

She shook her head. She had tried to stay awake all night to guard Todd, but had finally fallen asleep at four. The clock told her it was now almost nine.

 

 

By nine-thirty they were in the cafeteria. BJ couldn’t remember having seen one let alone been in one. Todd was looking around with wide eyes. They were both getting stares from the various workers and military personnel, being the only children there. Todd’s scarred neck was exposed, but he didn’t seem to care at the moment. He was looking at all of the food with awe. BJ was too busy getting the knack of using crutches. Dr. Martin had insisted she use them for another day or two even though her ankle wasn’t hurting.

 

 

Dr. Martin deposited them at a table with seating for four while she went to get the food.

 

 

She returned a few minutes later with a full tray. She placed a bowl of cereal, glass of milk and a bowl of mixed fruit in front of each of them.

 

 

“Don’t overeat,” she advised as she deposited the same on the table for herself. “Stop eating as soon as you feel full. You’re still going to need a few days to adjust to steady meals.”

 

 

BJ stared at the food. They hadn’t had fresh fruit in a while. Todd was already digging into his.

 

 

She liberally sprinkled sugar over the Cheerios, then poured some of the milk from one of the glasses onto it. She’d only taken a few bites when she heard a familiar voice.

 

 

888

 

Jason slowly woke, so groggy at first he wasn’t sure if he was really awake or not. The pitch black room didn’t help with that assessment. He knew there was a clock on the nightstand beside the hospital bed he was in, set only to illuminate if touched.

 

 

He lay for a moment in the silent dark, accessing how he was feeling. His head felt as if it had cotton in it, but that was ten times better than the one thousand strong drum line that had been in it before. A combination of the drugs that allowed Dr. Rafael to adjust their cerebonic implants usually left the cottony feeling behind.

 

 

He reached for the clock; he knew exactly where it was from memory since he had been in the room so often over the past three years he no longer counted the times. 

 

 

The migraines had started just as they were ramping up for the war with Spectra. Diagnosed as stress-related, they had quickly become debilitating.

 

 

The Chief found no record of them in his family, so they had turned to Dr. Rafael, the inventor of their cerebonic implants. He had tweaked Jason’s implant to combat them. The first try had made them worse and ‘Jason’s Cave’ had been born to remove the sights and sounds that aggravated the condition. The second try had worked, but they’d found time wore on the tweak so that the process had to be repeated every so often.

 

 

Jason reached for the lamp, also on the nightstand, turning its control to gradually bring up the intensity to test his eyes. There was no pain, so he turned the light up full.

 

 

The chair beside the bed had a clean change of clothes for when he felt like getting up. The room also had a private bath. He really needed a shower, so he slowly got out of bed. To his relief, he wasn’t dizzy, which sometimes happened after having his implant tweaked.

 

 

Once he was cleaned up and dressed, he left his cave, finding one of the nurses manning the station to the restricted G-Force section of Medical. She smiled when she saw him.

 

 

“Glad to see you up,” she said. Jason recognized her as Veronica. “Feeling all right?”

 

 

“Yes. Much better,” he answered. She reached across the desk for a piece of paper and handed it to him.

 

 

“It’s from Chief Anderson,” she told him. He opened it and read. “I’ll tell him you’ll be there?” she wanted to know.

 

 

“Yeah. No problem.” He had expected the Chief would want his version of what had happened. But first, he needed some breakfast.

 

 

888

 

“Hey.” BJ looked up to see Jason standing next to the table, a tray of food in his hands. “Good morning. Care if I join you?” he asked.

 

 

She couldn’t help but smile. He looked a lot better than he had the day before.

 

 

“Feeling better?” Martin asked as Jason took the seat beside her. BJ looked at his plate. He had a stack of pancakes, two fried eggs, a pile of hashbrown potatos and toast. His cup was steaming with dark liquid, so she assumed it was coffee.

 

 

“Yeah. Rafael worked his magic.” He looked over at her and Todd. “I heard it was a high ankle sprain. I wanted to tell you again that I’m sorry I hurt you.” He seemed genuinely chagrined.

 

 

BJ shrugged. “That’s what I get for trying to steal your car.”

 

 

“Regardless, I’m still sorry,” he said. “I heard Princess and Keyop are going to take you shopping.” He reached for his toast and the butter.

 

 

“Dr. Martin said Princess is your adopted sister?” she asked around a mouth full of cereal. She was hungrier than she realized. It was as if her stomach knew food was readily available now and had every intention of making her eat as much of it as possible.

 

 

“Yeah.”

 

 

“So you, Keyop and Princess are all adopted,” she continued, still curious about what he had said about being like them.

 

 

“Yes and we have two other brothers, Mark and Tiny.” That was what Dr. Martin had told her.

 

 

“Hope you’re not using my name in vain.”

 

 

The voice was deep, boisterous and joking. A large man had stopped next to Jason. He wasn’t as tall as Jason but had girth to make up for it. He had wild brown hair and large brown eyes and a huge smile.

 

 

“Tiny,” Jason acknowledged, motioning with a fork holding a large amount of pancake at them. “This is Annalisa and Bobbie,” he said in introduction.

 

 

Tiny’s smile got bigger, if that was possible. BJ felt right off the bat he could be trusted.

 

 

“Cloud told me all about you two.” He grabbed a chair from the next table to pull over so he could join them. “Sounds like you’ve had a rough time but you’re safe here now.” His hand slapped the table in emphasis.  The table shook with the impact, drinks sloshing.

 

 

“Easy there, big guy,” Jason requested, grabbing his cup to keep more coffee from spilling.

 

 

“Just burns me up when Spectrans start messing with kids,” Tiny said, reaching towards Jason’s tray to snatch one of the two pieces of toast. Jason slapped his hand.

 

 

“Get your own,” Jason snapped, grabbing the piece of toast back.

 

 

BJ had to laugh. It was clear the two had a good relationship and Tiny having mentioned Cloud made BJ feel even more disposed towards him.

 

 

“Jeez. Touchy.” Tiny leaned towards BJ, cupping his hand to his mouth conspiratorily. “He gets that way after a migraine for a little while, so just take him with a grain of salt,” he advised. Jason’s eyes narrowed at him, which had Todd shaking with silent laughter.

 

 

“He’s been as nice as he can be to me,” BJ countered with a smile that she got a wink from Jason for.

 

 

“Bobbie, right?” Tiny directed at Todd. Her brother nodded. “I told Keyop to make sure he got you both tablets so you can play games with us.”

 

 

‘Tablet?’ Todd signed with a frown. Tiny frowned for a moment, then nodded.

 

 

“That’s right. You can’t talk, can you?” he asked in a gentle voice. Todd shrugged.

 

 

‘Could be worse,’ he signed, which got a laugh from Tiny.

 

 

“That’s true. A tablet’s a hand-held computer and phone, this big.” Tiny formed a rectangle with his hands several inches across. “They have fantastic graphics.”

 

 

“You mean for video games?” BJ asked. She’d seen something like that in a store once. Her parents had promised her one for her next birthday, but their disappearance had ended that possibility.

 

 

“And lots of other things, huh Jase?” Tiny elbowed Jason just as he was placing a forkful of hash browns into his mouth. He nearly impaled his cheek.

 

 

“Tiny…” He gave his brother a glare that had Tiny out of his seat in a heatbeat. Todd was shaking with laughter again. BJ couldn’t help but join him. In his haste, Tiny nearly fell over another chair.

 

 

“That’s my cue to get some food. See ya later,” he promised as got his balance and backed away.

 

 

“Don’t encourage him,” Jason requested, still glaring at his brother’s retreating form.

 

 

“There you are.” BJ heard. She turned to find a dark haired young woman coming up behind her, Keyop on her heels. BJ had no idea who the woman was talking to until she stopped beside Jason. The woman was pretty, BJ thought, with vivid green eyes and a pale, flawless complexion that was at odds with her dark hair.

 

 

“Hey,” Jason acknowledged after swallowing what he’d had in his mouth.

 

 

“How are you feeling?” the dark haired young woman asked, reaching out to lay her hand on Jason’s arm with a familiarity that had BJ frowning.

 

 

“Better, but these migraines are getting old,” Jason responded with a deep sigh. “So you’re going to take Annalisa and Bobbie out shopping?”

 

 

That got BJ’s attention. This was his sister? That somehow made her feel better about the touch.

 

 

“Guess so.” The young woman turned to her. “Hi. I’m Princess,” she said, sticking out her hand. BJ shook it, not getting the feeling Princes was happy about the idea. Actually, she looked to BJ as if she was rather put out about it.

 

 

“Annalisa and this is Bobbie,” BJ said, motioning to her brother. Todd waved. At least when she looked at Todd, Princess’ eyes softened.

 

 

“Hi,” she told him, then turned to Dr. Martin. “When can we go?” she asked the doctor.

 

 

“Use my car,” Jason said, fishing keys out of his pocket.  Princess took the keys with raised dark eyebrows.

 

 

“Which one?” she asked. What did she mean, BJ wondered.

 

 

“Your choice,” Jason said with a smile. A look passed between them that BJ didn’t understand.

 

 

“They’re ready to go as soon as they finish eating,” Dr. Martin answered Princess’ question. BJ was pretty much done. Todd finished his milk, signaling he was ready.

 

 

“I’ll get the car and meet you out front.” Princess pointed at BJ’s crutches. “The garage is around the back. It’s too far for you to hobble.”

 

 

“Thanks,” BJ said, smiling. Princes turned to walk away without returning the smile.

 

 

Keyop stayed, immediately reaching a hand towards Jason’s plate. Jason smacked it away.

 

 

“What is it with you two,” Jason said as Tiny came towards them with a full tray. “Get your own.” He raised a fork in a threatening manor. Keyop backed off with a laugh.

 

 

“He gets…touchy - ”

 

 

“After having a migraine,” BJ finished for him, getting her own glare from Jason, “according to Tiny,” she added.

 

 

‘They hurt,’ Todd signed, his amused look turning serious. ‘Real bad.’ BJ translated for Dr. Martin.

 

 

“That’s right. Anna said you get them,” Jason said, turning to Dr. Martin. “You might want to check him over for them.”

 

 

The doctor had sat up straighter, her eyes becoming serious. “You’re awfully young for them, Bobbie,” she told him. “Did you have them before you were shot?”

 

 

Todd shook his head.

 

 

“He started getting them this past year,” BJ told her. “I thought it could be his eyes, or we…” She looked away, suddenly embarrassed. “We weren’t eating well.” Her eyes suddenly stung. If her inability to provide Todd with the proper food had permanently affected his wellbeing…

 

 

She felt a hand on her arm. BJ couldn’t look up. If she did, the tears would spill over.

 

 

“It’s okay now, Anna. We’re not going to let anything happen to either of you,” Jason told her. His hand squeezed comfortingly.

 

 

“Anna, poor nutrition can cause really bad headaches, but once the nutrition has been restored, the headaches go away,” Dr. Martin said, adding her hand to Jason’s on her arm. But there are many things that can cause headaches. I’ll run some more tests tomorrow so we can find out what’s going on.” BJ opened her eyes to see the doctor was also directing her words to Todd. “Do you get auras?”

 

 

Todd frowned at her.

 

 

“Lightning bolts,” Jason said, his hand still on BJ’s arm. It was warm and reassuring.. By the time he pulled it back, she had regained her composure. “That’s my warning I’m going to get a migraine,” he went on. “I get this squiggly line that appears in my vision. The line moves up and down like the drawing of a lightning bolt. It flashes like a strobe light.”

 

 

BJ had watched her brother. He had listened to Jason’s description and halfway through began to nod vigorously.

 

 

“The pain hits about ten to twenty minutes later,” Jason continued. Todd kept nodding.

 

 

“Those are classic symptoms,” Dr. Martin confirmed. “We’ll check further tomorrow. How often do you have them?” Todd turned to her.

 

 

“Three or four times this past year. I’m not exactly sure,” BJ supplied. Dr. Martin nodded.

 

 

“We better…get going,” Keyop interrupted. “Don’t want…to keep Princess…waiting.”

 

 

BJ saw Jason sign at Keyop as she reached for her crutches. Keyop smirked. It took her a moment to realize Jason had signed the letters ‘PMS’.

 

 

“What’s PMS?” she asked, rising from her seat with the help of the crutches. Jason’s face reddened as Dr. Martin chuckled.

 

 

“Serves you right,” she told him, then turned back to BJ. “Anna, we need to have a long talk about becoming a young lady later,” she told her. BJ shrugged.

 

 

“Okay,” she said, wondering what that meant.

Chapter 9 by Becky Rock

Anderson accepted the call from the CSI unit, excusing himself from the weekly meeting in order to do so. To his relief, they had found no evidence Jason and Keyop had been the Spectrans’ targets. The interrogators confirmed it only moments later. The Spectran Jason had left alive was now singing like only a Spectran who’s had a close encounter with the Condor could.

 

 

The children had been the targets. The troopers had been told to take them alive, but they hadn’t been told why. The last thing they had expected was to find the children being guarded by G-Force.

 

 

The next call had been from Dr. Martin. They had gotten a positive identification of the children from the Galactic DNA Registry. They had detected attempts to destroy the children’s DNA records prior to and during their searches. Someone, presumably Spectra, didn’t want G-Force to know who the children were.

 

 

But now they did know. Anderson ordered the investigation expanded to find out everything they could about the children’s parents.

 

 

He contacted Princess, asking her to bring the children to the team meeting room once they were done shopping and had dropped off their purchases. He then told the rest of the team to be ready to come to the meeting room when he called.

 

 

888

 

Keyop carried all of BJ’s packages for her as they took them to her and Todd’s rooms. He was loaded down since Princess wasn’t helping at all. BJ had the distinct impression, regardless of whatever the ‘PMS’ that Keyop and Jason had been talking about was, that Princess didn’t like her at all.

 

 

“Just put it all on the beds,” Princess instructed, her arms crossed over her chest. “We have to go to a meeting. You can get everything out later,” she ordered. Keyop dropped BJ’s then helped Todd take his to his room.

 

 

“I’ll show you…the tablets…after,” Keyop promised. “Play some…games.” Todd nodded his head vigorously. He’d been smiling ever since they’d started shopping. Todd’s memories of their parents and home life were waning because of his age; he hardly remembered not wearing old clothes until they wore out, scavenging for food, reading by candle, freezing at night in the winter. He was still in awe over their good fortune.

 

 

BJ was still taking it all in with a grain of salt.

 

 

“Come on,” Princess implored with disdain. “Keyop, we’re going to be late.”

 

 

“Keep your…pants on,” Keyop responded as he and Todd laid his packages on his bed.

 

 

BJ hobbled on the crutches behind Princess as she led the way through the living quarters of the building back into the business wing. She’d mastered the crutches during the day but still didn’t like having to use them. She hoped her ankle would heal quickly.

 

 

After several minutes of walking, with uniformed and business people moving around them without batting an eye, they arrived at a closed door. Princess opened it and motioned for them to enter.

 

 

As soon as they walked into the room, BJ’s hackles rose.

 

 

Jason and Tiny were already there, along with the mustached man Jason had identified as his adopted father. Dr. Marti was also there, indicating she and Todd should sit beside her. There were two other men in dark suits and a young man with dark shoulder length hair and bright blue eyes sitting on the right of Jason’s father. The dark haired young man reminded her of Cloud, making her wonder why the young woman wasn’t there as well.

 

 

“Please have a seat,” the mustached man instructed, so she and Todd sat. “I know yesterday was an extremely stressful day, so I just want to reintroduce myself. I’m Security Chief Matt Anderson of Galaxy Security. You’ve already met all of my adopted children except Mark.” He motioned at the dark haired young man, who nodded as she stared at him.

 

 

“I wanted to talk to you both more in depth about what happened and how we’re going to be handling it,” he said, joining his hands in front of him on the table.

 

 

“First, I want you to know we know who you really are,” he said. BJ tensed. How could that be? “I understand you felt you needed to make up names to hide from the authorities, but you’re safe here and have no reason to hide who you are: Beverly Jo and Todd Michael Beck.

 

 

BJ’s heart almost stopped. “How did you..?” She grabbed Todd’s hand, wondering if they could make it to the door without someone stopping them.

 

 

“We ran your blood samples through the Galactic DNA registry,” Dr. Martin said. “It’s standard procedure for lost children.”

 

 

“We’re not lost,” she countered, turning towards Jason. He didn’t seem surprised by the announcement, so his father must have already told him.

 

 

“What we found interesting was there’s no missing persons or runaway reports on the two of you,” Anderson went on as if she hadn’t interrupted them. “We checked the records of the orphanage you told us about. It has no record of either of you.

 

“We were there,” she protested, both fear and anger rolling in her. “For about six months. They’re lying!”

 

 

Anderson raised a hand. “We know. We have the police reports from when your patents failed to come home that show you were taken to that orphanage.”

 

 

“So it’s like she said.” BJ turned to Jason as he spoke. “Kids were disappearing from the orphanage and no one on the outside knew because the records of those kids having been there were destroyed?” he asked.

 

 

Anderson nodded. “Exactly.”

 

 

BJ thought over what they were saying. “So you believe me now?” She fixed her eyes on Jason. He was really the only one she needed to believe her.

 

 

He smiled at her. “I knew you were telling the truth, but to be on the safe side, we had to confirm it.”

 

 

“Beverly.” Hearing her real name, BJ turned to Anderson, shaking her head.

 

 

“BJ,” she corrected him. “I go by BJ.”

 

 

“All right.” This time Anderson smiled at her. It was a kind smile. “BJ, we’re also looking into the shooting that injured Todd and your parents’ disappearance.”

 

 

“The police already did,” she pointed out. He continued to smile.

 

 

“We have resources they don’t. BJ, do you have any idea what your parents did for a living?” he asked.

 

 

BJ thought about her parents. They always wore suits to work, or her mother had a nice dress. They drove to work together. She had answered calls where the caller asked for Dr. Linda Beck or Dr. John Beck.

 

 

“They’re doctors,” she said. “Not doctors like at a hospital.” That much she did know.

 

 

“Do you know who they worked for?” Anderson asked. She tried to remember but didn’t know. She shook her head.  He nodded, his smile fading. The loss of his smile made her uneasy. She wasn’t sure why, but it did.

 

 

“Your parents worked for a bioengineering firm that specialized in biological weapons. The company was called Dietech. The company went bankrupt about six months after your parents disappeared. We’re looking into whether or not your parents had any financial stakes in the company.” BJ took in his words. He already knew more about her parents in one day than she had learned in ten years.

 

 

“The company went under because they disappeared?” Tiny asked. BJ didn’t understand that.

 

 

“We’ll know more, soon,” Anderson promised. “We do know Dietech had a contract with Galaxy Security that wasn’t completed due to the bankruptcy.”

 

 

“What was the contract for?” Mark asked.

 

 

“Tear gas isn’t effective against Spectrans, so we were looking for a gas that would incapacitate a Spectran but not affect humans or the environment.”

 

 

“In other words, a Spectran specific biological weapon,” Jason surmised. BJ listened, unsure what they were talking about.

 

 

“BJ’s mother is a biologist, her father a chemist. I suspect they were working together specifically on that project.”

 

 

“Which made them prime candidates for Spectran attention,” Mark said. BJ still didn’t understand what they were talking about.

 

 

“I don’t understand,” she told them, looking from one face to another. “Who are the Spectrans?”

 

 

“You’re kidding, right?” Princess asked, her eyes wide with disbelief. BJ bristled. She didn’t like to be talked down to. She remembered one time when she was angry about something she couldn’t remember anymore. In response to her anger, her father had reached over to tussle her hair.

 

 

“Are you sure you’re not a redhead in disguise?” he’d asked. She had to ask her mother what he meant.

 

 

“It’s a stereotype that red haired people have bad tempers,” her mother had told her. “You have a temper, honey.”

 

 

BJ hadn’t bothered to ask what a stereotype was because her mother’s explanation had made her even angrier.

 

 

“I wouldn’t be asking if I was kidding,” she snapped at Princess. Eye brows rose. BJ saw Mark start to smile as he looked at Anderson.

 

 

“I warned you,” he said, getting a sharp look from Jason. Anderson sighed.

 

 

“Warned him what?” Jason asked. “What’d you see?”

 

 

“Later,” Mark said. Jason’s pale eyes narrowed.

 

 

“Mark--”

 

 

“I said later,” Mark replied with more force.

 

 

“You do know there’s a war going on?” Princess pressed, ignoring the other exchange. “That the Federation is being invaded.”

 

 

“I heard on the streets. We didn’t have a TV or radio,” BJ told her, thinking Princess should already have figured that out. “We were more worried about getting enough food and clean water to stay alive. As long as the war wasn’t affecting us, I didn’t pay attention.”

 

 

“Well, guess what?” Princess was giving her a look of disdain. “It has affected you. Who do you think those men who broke into the house were?”

 

 

“Princess,” Anderson said, interrupting her tirade.

 

 

“I don’t know who those guys were!” BJ snapped back.

 

 

“BJ,” Anderson then admonished her.

 

 

BJ didn’t like his tone. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She wanted to snap ‘She started it!’ but bit the words back. She and Todd were guests here. Anderson and Jason and the others were helping them, even though she still didn’t understand why.

 

 

Ian had once told her not to kick a gift horse in the mouth when Car Z had bought everyone hanging out in the garage pizzas that had things on them she didn’t like, Ian had said ‘Eat it and be grateful’.

 

 

BJ, we believe Spectra found out what your parents were working on,” Anderson told her, his brown eyes softening again. She crossed her arms over her chest, not mollified by his change in tone at all, but she wanted to know what these Spectrans had to do with her parents. “They may have tried to scare your parents into cooperating by shooting into your house.”

 

 

The aliens were the ones who shot into the house? They were the ones who shot Todd? BJ redirected her anger at Princess towards the Spectrans.

 

 

“We doubt they were trying to mill any of you,” Anderson went on. “Hitting Todd was probably an unintended consequence.”

 

 

“They shot into our house to scare us?” BJ looked at her brother. He clearly didn’t understand what they were discussing, but now she was starting to.

 

 

“We’re speculating, but based on our knowledge and experience with Spectra, they use violence and scare tactics to make people do what they want them to do.” Anderson was still looking at her with the soft eyes.

 

 

“I still don’t understand. Why are they trying to scare us?” She turned to Jason, wishing Cloud was there. Princess was still looking at her as if she was a waste of the older girl’s time. Todd was hanging onto her arm, even more confused.

 

 

“They either want to make your parents work for them or stop them from completing the weapon they were working on,” Jason told her in a soft voice. “They tried to control your parents by threatening you and Todd.”

 

 

She took a moment to think it over. The Spectrans sounded like bullies, like some of the older kids at the orphanage who had beat up younger kids to scare them all.

 

 

“They’re bullies,” she said, voicing her assessment.

 

 

Jason snorted. “That’s one name for them,” he agreed with a roll of his eyes.

 

 

“I want to stress again, BJ, that this is speculation on our part based on what information we have at this time,” Anderson said. “We’re continuing to investigate. It’s possible Spectra took your parents two years ago.”

 

 

BJ gaped at him. “You mean kidnapped them?”

 

 

“Was there anything out of place at your home when you returned from school? He asked. BJ’s heart was racing. She closed her eyes to try to think. She pictured that day in her mind.

 

 

Todd had been petulant by the time she opened the door. He was hungry because one of the older boys, a bully, had taken his lunch.

 

 

“The door was open,” she said, remembering she had promised Todd her after school snack, a banana, so he would have two to eat.

 

 

“Was it always open when you got home?” Anderson asked. BJ opened her eyes in surprise. She’d had her key in her hand, but she hadn’t needed to use it.

 

 

“No. We always got home before Mom and Dad, so I had to unlock the door.”

 

 

“When did your parents normally get home?”

 

 

BJ shrugged. “An hour later?” She knew she sounded unsure, but she really hadn’t paid that much attention to it back then. “I got a snack for me and Todd. He watched cartoons while I did my homework.”

 

 

“Nothing was out of place?” Anderson asked again. BJ closed her eyes again. They had put their coats away in the hall closet, and then gone to the kitchen. BJ grabbed two bananas for Todd, and then sat him down in front of the TV, finding his favorite channel for him. She’d retuned to the kitchen to do her homework on the kitchen counter.

 

 

“No.”

 

 

“So they broke into the house but didn’t disturb anything,” Mark said.

 

 

“They had to have known the Becks weren’t home. Why didn’t they wait for Anna – I mean BJ and Todd,” Jason corrected, “to get home?”

 

 

“They must have heard from their cohorts they already had their parents?” Mark responded, looking at her thoughtfully. It made BJ feel uncomfortable.

 

 

“But why not take the kids to use as hostages to keep the Becks in line?” Tiny asked. Hostages? BJ felt a spike of fear run up her spine.

 

 

“You know as well as I do some of the goons have the IQ of a slug. Luckily or BJ and Todd, the thought probably never crossed their pea-sized brains,” Jason answered as Anderson started to wave his hands.

 

 

“Let’s discuss this at another time,” he implored, giving Mark, Jason and Tiny a look BJ didn’t understand.

 

 

“But the fact remains they did finally come for them.” Anderson nodded at Mark.

 

 

“We need to find out why,” he agreed.

 

 

“It sounds to me as if you all have things to do,” Dr. Martin interrupted. “I’ll take the children down to the playroom in the Daycare Center.”

 

 

Daycare Center? BJ didn’t need a babysitter and she watched Todd, but before she could protect, Anderson was agreeing. She didn’t want to go to a Daycare Center.
Chapter 10 by Becky Rock

“Come on,” Dr. Martin said, motioning for BJ and Todd to leave with her. As BJ reluctantly started to stand, leaning on the table until she could grab her crutches, Jason spoke up.  

“BJ, before you go, I want you to show them that disappearing act of yours,” he said, totally catching her off guard. Her heart started pounding hard again. He remembered her blending in with her surroundings? 

“That’s right,” Anderson said. “You did tell Rafael to tell me she was the ‘Invisible Woman’.” He looked at Jason. “You do know it was your migraine visual distortion, don’t you?” he asked. Jason cocked his head at the older man. 

“I didn’t have the aura yet,” he told him, sounding perturbed. “I chased her into an alley and she just disappeared. Literally.” He stretched out the word to make his point as he turned his eyes back to her. 

“What?” she asked, pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. His eyes widened with disbelief before narrowing at her, as if he was expecting her to continue denying what he had seen. 

Being able to blend in with her surroundings had been her personal secret since she was eight years old. It allowed her to go to places she wasn’t allowed or really shouldn’t go without being seen. She had used it when desperate to steal food, although she hated using the ability for that. It was still stealing and stealing was wrong. If things had turned out differently, if she hadn’t tried to steal Jason’s car, she might have resorted to blending to get the food she and Todd needed to survive. 

“You somehow hid from me in plain sight,” Jason persisted, much to her chagrin. “You were standing right in front of me but I couldn’t see you. If that cat I scared hadn’t walked away then abruptly changed its course as if it was avoiding something that wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out.” 

“Hid in plain sight?” Dr. Martin asked, looking at BJ curiously as she sat back down. BJ’s shoulders slumped as she also sat back down. The way everyone was looking at her left no doubt she wasn’t going to get away without showing them. She bit her lower lip as she turned to Todd. He looked as uncomfortable about the subject as she felt. She had been showing him how to do it recently. So it really was both their secret. Or had been. 

“I can blend into my surroundings,” she said quietly as she stared at the top of the table, wishing the floor would just open up to swallow her. 

“What do you mean you can blend in with your surroundings?” Anderson asked with interest. She raised her eyes to meet his. She’d never had to explain it to anyone before. She had never shown her parents, afraid they would think she was weird. She’d never shown Ian what she could do. Some sense of foreboding had always made her keep it close, so Todd was the only one who knew about it. 

She didn’t know how to describe it because she really didn’t know how she did it, just that she could. 

“BJ, it might just be easier if you show them,” Jason suggested, his earlier ire when it was suggested he really hadn’t seen what he claimed gone. 

Defeated, BJ rose from her seat again. She took the crutches and moved around the table towards the door, blending in as she did it. There were sudden shocked exclamations from everyone except Jason and Anderson. She stopped a few feet behind Jason, staying a foot away from the wall. 

“Holy crap!” Keyop chortled. “Where’d she go?” 

“I don’t believe it,” Princess said, looking around the room almost frantically. “No one can disappear like that. I don’t even see the crutches.” BJ smiled evilly, half tempted to go over to pinch the older girl. Everyone was twisting and turning, trying to see her. 

“Very interesting,” Anderson said, rubbing his chin with his forefinger and thumb. 

“Now do you believe me?” Jason asked with a self-satisfied smile. 

“Since we can’t see the crutches, I’m assuming you can make anything you touch disappear as well?” Mark asked, his eyes wide as he turned his head back and forth trying to see her. “BJ, pick something up so we can see if it disappears,” he requested. 

Rather than answer and give her location away, BJ hobbled back to the table, reaching between Anderson and Mark to pick up the pen that was sitting there.  

“That pen just disappeared,” Tiny said as he pointed at the table where the pen had been. Everyone turned their attention that way, so she walked back towards Todd, twirling the pen between her fingers. She sat back down in her seat, still holding the crutches so their appearance wouldn’t give her away. 

“BJ, you just sat back down, didn’t you?” Jason asked, squinting directly at her. How did he know? How could he see her? No one had ever spotted her before and he’d now done it twice, even though a cat had helped him the last time. She allowed herself to stop hiding. There were gasps of amazement throughout the room. 

“That is….so cool!” Keyop reached over to touch her to make sure she really was there. 

“How did you know?” she asked Jason as she rested the crutches back against the wall and set the pen she had picked up back down on the table. She had to know how he had seen her in order to figure out a way to counteract it. Jason opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it. He shared a look with Anderson. After a moment, the older man nodded. 

“I heard you moving,” he said, getting looks from the rest of them that BJ couldn’t decipher. She thought for a moment. She knew she had been quiet as a church mouse, as her mother used to say. She looked down at her clothes. Had she rubbed something together that made more noise than she had noticed? “Since I already knew I couldn’t exactly see you, I decided to try one of my other senses,” he elaborated. 

It was like someone smacked the back of her head. Of course. She’d heard of people who were blind that were able to improve their other senses to make up for their lack of sight. She’d never thought about it. How could she counteract it? She’d have to wear tight clothing that didn’t rub together to make noise if she ever knew she was going to use her blending ability. 

She noticed Anderson was looking at her with speculation again. She wasn’t sure she liked it. 

“How can she do that?” Princess asked, looking at her now as if she were a freak. 

“That’s what I’d love to know. Todd, can you do that?” Anderson asked her brother. Todd turned to BJ, not sure how to answer. She didn’t want anyone knowing she’d been teaching him, just in case they had to leave in a hurry. 

“He can’t do it,” she said. “I’ve tried to show him how, but he can’t.” At least that was a partial truth. 

“How do you do it?” Mark wanted to know. 

BJ saw the eagerness in their eyes. It was almost as if they wanted to swallow her up. Their looks sent a chill down her spine. 

“I don’t exactly know,” she said. She really didn’t know how it worked, just that it did. “I can just do it.” 

“How’d you…figure it…out?” Keyop asked. She liked Keyop, but she wasn’t going to tell him anymore than she was going to tell anyone else, even Jason. 

“I got in trouble one day and I just wanted to hide, so I did.” That really was how it had started. She’d learned how to control it over time, but she had no idea how she did it. “No one could find me even though I was just sitting in a corner of the room watching them freak out. I finally got tired and let them see me again.” 

“BJ, with your permission, I’d like to work with you to determine how you do it. Would that be all right?” Anderson asked as his eyes locked on her. What could she say? He’d helped them by giving them a place to stay, food and clothing. She owed him. She glanced at Jason. He didn’t seem to be surprised by Anderson’s request or concerned about it. 

She nodded. 

Anderson smiled at her. “All right.” He nodded a few times than grew serious again. “I have one more question for you.” He steepled his fingers in front of him. She sighed. What else was there? She was getting tired and her ankle was starting to ache. “You told Jason and Keyop you had an older brother who disappeared two weeks ago.” BJ nodded, thinking of Ian. It hurt to think about him. “According to the records we found, you don’t have an older brother,” Anderson flatly stated. BJ lowered her eyes. They were stinging as her fear and worry for Ian returned twofold. 

“No.” 

“Then who was the boy you were speaking of?” 

BJ bit her lip again, reaching up to rub her eyes. She didn’t want to get Ian in trouble, but maybe the people Anderson had looking for her parents could look for him, too. 

“We met him at the orphanage,” she said, looking back up at him. Anderson motioned for her to go on. “His name is Ian. He’s a few years older than me.” 

“Do you know what his surname is?” 

“Fraser,” she answered. “The other kids were really mean to us. They made fun of Todd, teasing him. Some would even push him around since he couldn’t call for help.” Her voice hardened as she remembered. “I got into a fight with one of them. The head mistress was a really mean blonde haired woman. Ms. Esnine.” 

Everyone’s eyes bugged. 

“Esnine?” Anderson asked for clarification. BJ nodded. 

“There’s your Spectran connection,” Mark declared, folding his arms over his chest. For the first time, BJ saw sympathy in Princess’ eyes as she looked at BJ. 

“That woman’s…a witch,” Keyop said. 

“You know her?” BJ turned to him. He looked surprised and then sheepish as Anderson shook his head. 

“We know of her,” he revealed, steepling his fingers in front of him on the tabletop. “How did she react to your getting into a fight?” 

“She sent me to the laundry to wash clothes, but that left Todd alone with those bullies. She didn’t care.”

‘When they sent BJ away,’ Todd signed, ‘the bullies wouldn’t leave me alone. Ian came over and made them stop.’ 

“Ian started looking out for us. He was like a big brother. The bullies were afraid of him because he knew how to fight.”

 
“You said he showed you how to use that knife you pulled on me,” Jason noted. BJ nodded. She’d forgotten she’d done that. Thank goodness she hadn’t hurt him. 

“He helped you leave the orphanage?” Anderson asked. BJ’s neck was starting to hurt from nodding and turning back and forth between everyone in the room. 

“When the other kids started to disappear in the middle of the night, he gave me the knife and showed me how to use it so I could protect me and Todd if he wasn’t around.” 

‘They took the bullies,” Todd added to his sister’s answer. 

“That stands to reason,” Tiny said as he leaned back, lacing his fingers over his large stomach. “They were looking for the ones naturally inclined to be mean.” 

“It does make sense,” Mark agreed. Anderson motioned for her to go on. 

“Ian was afraid they might try to take one of us, so we figured out a way to sneak out of the orphanage,” she said, remembering that night. She had been terrified, but Ian was been a rock. They never would have survived without him. 

Anderson opened a manila file that had been on the table in front of him. “This is a list of the children who had been taken to the orphanage over the past five years that we obtained from their files.” He didn’t say how they had been obtained as he flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning the names. “As I stated earlier, neither you nor Todd are on it.” he continued scanning until he came to the last page. “There is also no reference to an Ian Fraser.” 

“But we were there for weeks and Ian said he’d been there for around a year,” BJ protested as Todd nodded. 

“For some reason, they didn’t want there to be any record of the three of you having been there.” He closed the folder. “BJ, if I have one of our sketch artists work with you, would you be able to help us get likenesses of Ms. Esnine and your friend Ian?” he asked. 

“Sure.” 

“If we have that, we can verify Ms. Esnine is who we think she is and search the Federation databases for information on Ian. You said he disappeared two weeks ago?” BJ nodded. “What was going on at that time?” 

“We were running out of money. Whenever that happened, Ian would go to the gang to find out what kind of car they wanted us to steal. Ian would deliver it and they’d pay us.” 

“So Ian was part of a gang?” Jason asked, tapping his right index finger onto the table, She nodded. “Was he a part of the gang before going to the orphanage?” She shrugged. 

“I don’t know.” 

“Do you know what the name of the gang was?” Anderson asked. BJ shook her head but Todd started signing. 

‘He said the Riders,’ Todd offered. 

“Riders?” Anderson repeated as BJ turned to her little brother. 

“He told you that?” she asked. 

‘Everyone forgets I’m not deaf just because I can’t talk and have to sign.’ His fingers flew. ‘I heard him talking to some guys one night when he thought we were asleep. They said something about riders.’ 

“Motorcycle riders?” Princess asked. Todd looked at the ceiling for a moment before shrugging his small shoulders. 

‘They never said motorcycles,’ he signed. 

“Did Ian know how to ride a motorcycle?” Princess asked. BJ had no idea why she wanted to know, but the others seemed to be interested in her answer. 

“We didn’t have one,” she told them. “I never saw him use one, either.” 

“I think we’ve talked enough for now,” Anderson interrupted, barely shaking his head at Princess. “Jason, would you mind taking BJ to meet Fong to do the sketch of Ian?” 

Jason nodded, rising from his seat. BJ noted Anderson hadn’t mentioned Todd. She grabbed her crutches. 

“Come on, Todd,” she said, using the crutches to get up out of the seat. Todd rose as well. 

“Want to play…a game?” Keyop asked Todd. “We can …go to my…room. I have…a really great…system.” 

Todd gave her a wistful look. He’d been dying to try the iPad Keyop had gotten him on their shopping trip. Her little brother had been happy all day, for the first time in a long time. She liked to see his smile. She turned one on him. 

“Go ahead,” she told him. “I don’t know how long it’ll take.” 

“Keyop can give a yell if they need anything,” Jason said, motioning for her to hobble ahead of him towards the door. Keyop nodded vigorously. 

“When you’re…done, we can…get pizza,” Keyop said and Todd’s eyes grew wide. He joined his hands in front of him as if he were getting ready to pray. He mouthed ‘please’ at her. BJ couldn’t say no to that. 

“Okay. Just listen to Keyop,” she requested. Todd grinned ear to ear. He and Keyop were out the door before she could even get moving. Jason held the door for her, lading her away from the office towards the nearest elevator.

Chapter 11 by Becky Rock

The past two weeks had been a whirlwind for BJ. She and Todd had been officially placed into Security Chief Mathew Anderson’s custody as the ISO continued to search for their parents. The more she talked to the Chief, the more she liked him; he was kind to them and seemed to be genuinely concerned about their wellbeing. 

 

They had more medical tests. Todd’s headaches were found to be due to food allergies. Her poor brother was allergic to dairy products, peanuts, tomatoes and eggs, so his diet was immediately adjusted. BJ felt horrible about it, but Dr. Martin said everyone had different reactions to allergens. She had been found to be allergic to peanuts, dust and molds. Dr. Martin said some allergies were common in families. 

 

The Chief had supervised several experiments regarding her ability to blend but had yet determined how she could do it. 

 

She and Todd had also taken tests to determine where they were academically. At the time they’d gone to the orphanage, BJ had been in fourth grade and Todd in kindergarten. They were now behind by more than two years. A vigorous tutoring schedule had been devised to start immediately to get them caught up as soon as possible. 

 

She hadn’t seen Jason or the others much. She assumed they were busy with their lives; they were all adults except for Keyop. Although they had rooms at Camp Parker since they were the Chief’s adopted children, she assumed they all had places of their own somewhere nearby. 

 

Once her ankle had healed, she started to go outside to explore more of their new home, sometimes with Todd, sometimes alone. 

 

Today, Keyop had stopped by so he and Todd were playing video games. Bored by them, BJ decided to take the road off to the left of the main building that led into the forest for her walk this time. 

 

It didn’t take her long to start hearing the clanging coming from the garage and decided to see what was going on. As she approached, she could hear three voices, all male. One of the voices she recognized as Jason’s. She walked faster. 

 

The garage had ten doors; the last three doors were up. The clanging and voices were coming from them. 

 

BJ stopped in front of the first open door to look in. Jason and two other men were gathered around a quarter panel in a vice that looked as if it had been through a demolition derby. There was a very battered off road truck in the next stall missing a front quarter panel and the associated tire. Howler was lying on the cement floor nearby, not bothered by the clanging. 

 

“Hey Jay,” she called as she entered through the open door. The three men, who had been arguing, if their tones of voice were any indication, turned towards her as one. Howler raised his head from his paws, his tail wagging. 

 

“Jay? What happened to the rest of my name?” Jason asked, a rubber headed hammer in his hand. 

 

“It’s easier for Todd to sign, so it’s just Jay.” She shrugged as she got close enough to see the dented quarter panel better. “What happened to that?” she asked.  

 

“Jason happened to that,” one of the men said, getting a scowl from Jason. 

 

 “The tire blew. It wasn’t my fault,” Jason countered. 

 

“You could have kept her on the road,” the third man said, adjusting the cap on his balding head that read ‘Firebrand Racing’. “You didn’t have to flip her. I swear you enjoy flipping.” 

 

“I do not,” Jason growled at him with indignation. “It triggers a migraine sometimes.” 

 

“You flipped that truck?” BJ asked as she came closer to get a better look at the truck. There was a blazing dragon drawing on its sides with a stylized Firebrand Racing emblem on it. 

 

“Yeah, he did,” the man with the hat said, staring at her curiously. “And you are?” he asked. 

 

“This is BJ. She and her younger brother are our latest foster siblings,” Jason answered, an edge still in his voice as he started to pound on the quarter panel with a rubber sledge hammer again. 

 

“The Chief’s at it again, huh?” the other man commented. He looked to her to be in his late twenties, with dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was in dark coveralls. The hand he held out to BJ was dirty with grease. BJ didn’t care.  She shook his hand. “Welcome to the zoo,” he told her. BJ grinned. In a way, that was how the past two weeks had felt. “Jeep,” he said. 

 

“Excuse me?” BJ asked in confusion. 

 

“Everyone calls me Jeep because I started out working on military Jeeps and Humvees,” he told her with a charming smile. 

 

“BJ, this is Mike,” Jason interrupted, cocking a thumb at the man in the hat. He looked to her to be in his thirties. He was in coveralls also, but his were mostly clean. 

 

“Nice to meet you,” Mike said with a grin of his own. 

 

“This is your truck?” BJ asked Jason as she walked around the truck. It looked as if it’d been through a war. 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“It’s a Rally truck,” she said as she rejoined them, recognizing the design from some of the magazines she’d read to learn about the cars she used to help steal. 

 

“Yeah, I’m a Rally driver.” Jason crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the vice that was holding the quarter panel. 

 

BJ felt a thrill run up her spine. “What have you raced?” She was trying hard not to bounce up and down on her toes in excitement. Ian had brought a number of car magazines home so they could familiarize themselves with the cars they would be stealing. One of the magazines had been a racing magazine covering many different types of racing. The idea of driving as fast as possible intrigued her more every time she had looked through it. 

 

“What Rallies do you run?” she pressed. “Baja, Dakar?” 

 

Jason looked surprised she knew anything about them. “Uh, yeah. Pike’s Peak and a couple others. I also do endurance racing, so I’ve driven in the 24 hours of Sebring and some others.” 

 

BJ turned to see what the other cars in the garage were. One was a GT. She walked over to run her hand down its side. “Is this from Sebring?” The GT also had a Firebrand Racing logo. 

 

“I like this kid,” Mile said with a grin as he nudged Jason with his elbow. 

 

The next car was an open wheeled high speed racer. “Formula One or Indy?” she asked. 

 

Now Jeep was laughing. “Jason, you didn’t tell us you had a protégé,” he said as BJ leaned into the cockpit to get a better look. 

 

“Indy,” Jason answered. Now BJ turned back around, her eyes alight as she smiled at him. 

 

“All three?” She was stunned. 

 

“He can drive anything on four wheels,” Mike told her with pride. 

 

“But just four,” Jeep emphasized. “He’s lousy on two.” 

 

“I am not,” Jason snapped at him. 

 

Mike tsked. “I don’t know. You damn near killed yourself the last time you tried to race Princess on bikes.” 

 

“I did not!” 

 

“Skidding two hundred feet across the pavement at two hundred miles an hour is inherently dangerous for most people,” Mike argued. 

 

“You’re lucky to be alive!” BJ’s heart had pounded hard with the news. She hadn’t seen much of Jason over the last two weeks but found she quickly come to care for him a great deal as a friend and protector. 

 

“It wasn’t that bad,” Jason told her in dismissal. 

 

“How’d you come to join the Anderson clan?” Mike asked. He finished cleaning the tools he had been using, turning his full attention to her. 

 

“I caught her breaking into my car,” Jason said, some of the anger that had been in his voice at the other men’s teasing dissipating. 

 

“I was stealing your car,” BJ corrected, crossing her arms over her chest. 

 

“Stealing his car? No way!” Jeep’s disbelief irked her. 

 

“Yes way,” she directed at him before returning her look to Jason. 

 

“BJ-” Jason started with a deep sigh, but she interrupted him. 

 

“You still don’t believe me,” she accused him, unfolding her arms to place her fists on her hips. “I was stealing your car and I can prove it!” she challenged. Jeep was chuckling again. 

 

“She’s a little spitfire,” he commented. BJ turned to glare at him. “No offense,” he immediately added, his hands up in defense. 

 

“Where’s your car?” she turned back to ask Jason, not seeing the Maxima anywhere, determined she was going to prove it to him right then and there. She started down through the garage through the other bays until she came to a black Ferrari F12. She stopped to look back at him. 

 

“Who owns this?” she asked in awe, wanting very badly to run a hand down its sleek length, but it was so shiny and lean she didn’t want to mar its surface. 

 

“It’s mine,” Jason answered. BJ couldn’t hide her surprise. They cost a fortune. How could he afford it? She’s thought when she first met him he was in his mid-twenties, but she now knew he was just twenty. How had he gotten the money for this car? 

 

Then it hit her. Jason Anderson. 

 

She gawked at him. “You won the Triple Crown,” she said, remembering the article she had read in the racing magazine. “You won the Baja, Dakar and Africa 9000 last year. No one else ever has.” 

 

Jason had been tailing her as she strode down through the garage, but he stopped dead as she spoke. He looked surprised but then unhappy. 

 

“Yeah. It’s no big deal,” he told her. Both Mike and Jeep were behind him, making cutting motions across their throats as they shook their heads at het that Jason couldn’t see. Then Mike mouthed ‘Drop it’. She wasn’t sure why they were doing it. She’d have to ask them later. 

 

She looked past them and pointed. “Where does that road go?” She’d never gone further than the garage. The road passed the garage and disappeared over the next rise. 

 

“It’s just an access road,” Mike answered with visible relief that she’d dropped the other subject. 

 

“But if you take the first left, you go to the practice track,” Jeep added. 

 

Practice track? That would be perfect, she thought. She started to look around for the control to the garage door in front of the Ferrari’s bay. When she spotted it, she walked over to press the open button. The garage door started to roll up quietly, letting in a wealth of sunshine. 

 

“Don’t encourage her,” she heard Jason telling the other men. “She broke into my car while Keyop and I were getting take out to find something to sell or pawn to get some money to buy food for her and her brother,” she heard as she rounded the front of the car to open the driver’s door. Once she stuck her head under the steering wheel to hot wire it, she could no longer hear them. She quickly moved the seat up to where she thought it would work for her before starting it. 

 

Once the engine roared to life, she yanked the door closed, locking it as she got into the driver’s seat. She could hear shouts as she stretched her foot out to the gas pedal. She pulled the car out of the garage with a squeal of tires, turning right to go down the access road to the entrance to the practice track. 

 

BJ let out a scream of exuberance as she cleared the turn onto the road leading to the practice track. Jason wouldn’t doubt her ability to steal a car and drive anymore. 

 

Jason cursed at the back of the Ferrari as BJ drove off, both embarrassed that he let her pull it off such a stunt and angry and afraid she would crash the car and maybe be killed just to make her point. 

 

He snarled at Mike and Jeep as they doubled over with laughter as he made for the Porsche BJ hadn’t noticed to go after her, but Mike grabbed his arm to stop him. Jason turned on him with fury in his eyes. 

 

“Hold on, Jason. You go after her and she might decide to up the ante by trying to race you and get you both killed,” the older man advised, standing up to the Condor’s anger and protectiveness. 

 

“What’s going on?” 

 

Jason twisted out of Mike’s grip to see Mark entering the open garage bay door, his hands stuffed into his jeans pockets, a perplexed look on his face when his eyes settled on Jason. “Who’s driving the Ferrari?” he asked. 

 

“BJ,” Jason ground out, glowering. “She stole it.” 

 

Mark stared at his second’s red face for a moment before bursting into laughter. Jason turned furious eyes on him. 

 

“It’s not funny. She could kill herself!” he stormed.  

 

“I doubt it,” Mark managed to get out. “I told you about my vision,” he said as he got control of himself. 

 

“It’s just a vision. It’s not set in stone,” Jason countered, his nostrils flaring as he marched past Mark to leave the garage bay. He stopped in the center of the road, facing in the direction of the practice track, hands fisted at his sides. 

 

“How old is that girl?” Jeep asked, watching Jason with concern. 

 

“Twelve.” Mark chuckled again. “She’s gotten under his skin.” 

 

“That’s for sure. He’s going to brain her when she gets back.” Mike leaned against the nearest pillar, crossing his arms over his chest to wait for the show. 

 

Ten minutes later, BJ drove over the rise on the access road towards the garage. Driving the track had been unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. She had felt free in a way she’d never felt before. 

 

That feeling of euphoria dissipated, though, when she saw Jason standing in the center of the road, blocking her way back to the garage, waiting for her. His eyes were spitting fire. 

 

She slowed the car, suddenly feeling like running for her life, but the feeling passed quickly. She’s brought the car back without a scratch. The only thing he could be angry about was the fact she had been telling the truth. 

 

BJ brought the Ferrari to a stop ten feet in front of Jason, putting it into park before shutting it off. He marched straight over to the driver’s side of the car to yank the door open. 

 

“What the hell do you think you were doing?” he yelled. Before she could open her mouth, he went on. “You could have gotten yourself killed!” 

 

His ire sparked her own. BJ glared up at him, now equally angry.  “I told you I was stealing your car! If you had believed me, I wouldn’t have had to prove it!” 

 

“Out!” he ordered, reaching for her arm. BJ slipped out, eluding his hand. 

 

“Don’t tell me what to do!” she spat back. 

 

Mark watched the exchange as they continued to yell at each other. He wasn’t even listening to what they were saying because he was seeing the scene from the vision he had had upon BJ and Todd’s arrival of she and Jason arguing about cars. One had come true. Would the rest? 

 

It was over in a few moments. BJ stormed off, almost running back towards the main building. Jason watched her for a moment before getting into the car to return it to the garage. Once he had parked it, he joined Mark to watch her retreating form. 

 

“I screwed that up,” Jason said under his breath in a calmer voice. 

 

Mark nodded. “Yup. What are you going to do about it?” Mark raised an eye brow in inquiry in a far imitation of Mr. Spock. Jason sucked in a breath and blew it out. 

 

“Take her out a few times to make sure she’s driving properly and get her in the junior cart circuit.” 

 

Mark laughed. “Chief’s going to love that,” he quipped as he slapped Jason on the shoulder. “You gonna tell Keanu about his car being stolen?” 

 

Jason looked at him in alarm. “Hell no. I told BJ it was mine. That’s why she took it. He’ll kick my ass if he finds out.” Mark chuckled as he turned to head back towards the building. “Don’t you dare,” Jason warned. That made Mark laugh even harder. “Mark…” 

 

“Don’t worry. I’d hate to see him kick your ass, too.” But he kept laughing.

Chapter 12 by Becky Rock

BJ shivered as she stuffed her hands further into her jacket pockets. It had become unseasonably cold late October. She was going to have to ask for coats, hats and gloves for her and Todd.

 

Otherwise, it was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky and no breeze. Having finished her school work for the day, she went for a walk, taking one of the many trails that crisscrossed Camp Parker. The tress had changed and the mountain was awash with intense yellows, oranges and reds.

 

It had been a long but rewarding six months since Jason had caught her trying to steal his car.

 

Cramming two years of school work into one was grueling. The knowledge that it would only catch her up the two years that she had missed and she would still be behind for the current year didn’t help.

 

She and Todd were now taking martial arts training. The Chief – she called him that now just like the rest of her foster siblings – wanted them both to be able to protect themselves. Keyop sometimes helped them with the moves.

 

Much to her delight, Jason was teaching her how to race because she’d really scared him when she ‘borrowed’ the Ferrari to prove she could drive. He’d decided to evaluate her driving ability to make sure she knew what she was doing. He’d been impressed enough to take her under his wing when he had the time. When he didn’t have the time, she’d been teaching herself how to drag race. She was going to surprise him.

 

Her thirteenth birthday had come and gone. A party had been held and she’d gotten a good bicycle and other things, but the best thing had been Jason allowing her to take his rally truck on a spin at another rally driver’s private practice track. Jason had sat in the co-driver seat to give her pointers.

 

Then it had been Keyop’s fifteenth birthday. He’d been gifted with a vintage yellow FJ cruiser. Since he couldn’t legally drive yet, even though she knew he was just as good a driver as she was, she’d found the gift odd.

 

Next had been Todd’s eighth birthday. He, too, was given a bike and more games for his gaming systems. They took nice long rides together sometimes to explore the outer reaches of the base.

 

She hadn’t seen much of their foster siblings over the past several weeks. They all seemed to have accepted her and Todd, even though Mark sometimes looked at her strangely as if sizing her up. Princess accepted but tended to ignore her. BJ had no idea why. She had thought having an older girl around would be nice, but Princess only dealt with her when she had to.

 

She also hadn’t seen much of the Chief. He usually tried to at least have dinner with her and Todd to discuss their schooling and anything else they might want to talk about. If the others were around, dinner became a big, noisy affair that BJ enjoyed.

 

As she neared the main building, BJ noticed several vehicles in the front circle that she didn’t recognize. There were always various people dropping in that she didn’t know or hadn’t been introduced to.

 

One time she’d seen Jason escort a very old woman and a gray haired man from the entrance to a waiting limo. He’d left with them. BJ had called out a greeting, but he’d ignored her.

 

When she’d asked about it later, he’d been surprised but then she really shouldn’t try to talk to him when he was with very important people. He’d then told her the elderly woman was the owner of Firebrand Racing, who was his racing sponsor.

 

As she reached the steps that led to the building entrance, a flood of men and women came out the doors, all either in military uniforms or suits. There must have been some big meeting.

 

Drivers suddenly appeared out of the parked cars. BJ watched the people file into them until the doorway was empty so she could go in.

 

There were still several people milling about in the small lobby, talking quietly. She walked past them to take the elevator up to the living quarters.

 

Todd was still with his tutor working on something. The Chief had put one room aside for them to use as a classroom, filling it with everything they would need. The rest of the living quarters were empty. That didn’t surprise her as it was only three in the afternoon. But she was hungry. She decided to go down to the cafeteria to get a snack.

 

As she came out of the elevator and turned to go to the cafeteria, she saw her foster siblings down the hall talking to a tall young man she’d never seen before. She hadn’t seen Jason and the others in nearly three weeks.

 

Jason was the tallest of her foster siblings, but this young man was at least an inch or two taller. He was heavily built; not like Tiny, but not overly muscular either. He just looked strong. His hair was thick, a mix of brown and blond, falling to his shoulders. His visible skin was tan, as if he’s spent a lot of time in the sun. She thought he might be a mixed race. He glanced her way, but didn’t show any sign he cared that she was there.

 

She then got a good look at the others and they looked as if they’d been in a car crash. All were sported livid bruises. Tiny had crutches and Mark had a brace on his right wrist. What the hell had happened?

 

The young man shook Mark’s left hand, then clapped a hand on Jason’s left shoulder, the touch eliciting a grimace from Jason. Since Jason didn’t react beyond that, she made the assumption they all knew each other. She doubted Jason would let anyone he didn’t know very well do that to him.  

 

The group started down the hall with the man in tow, and then turned to the right out of her sight.

 

As soon as they were gone, BJ blended with her surroundings to follow them, her curiosity taking control. No one had ever told her not to use her blending to sneak about.

 

Her foster siblings walked down the hall, crossing into an area marked Restricted. There were guards who didn’t even bat an eye at their presence.

 

BJ slipped past the guards, trying to be as quiet as possible.

 

They came to sealed double doors. Mark did something at the keyboards mounted on the left of the doors. The doors slid open for them to pass through.

 

Fearing the doors would close quickly, BJ had to risk getting closer to be able to get through behind Tiny. She held her breath, only releasing it as the doors closed behind her.

 

BJ had never been in this section of the building before. It looked the same as the rest but for the blue foot wide strips what ran down the center of both walls. The walls were lined with closed doors. It was rather quiet except when one of the doors opened. The she heard voices until the door closed again. She didn’t know the man who had exited, but he acknowledged her foster siblings for a quick moment before going on his way.

 

They continued through another set of sliding doors. She looked back at the doors after they closed, starting to wonder how she was going to get back out.

 

The hall had a red stripe on the walls.

 

They stopped at the second door on the right. Tiny opened it, holding it for the others to enter ahead of him.

 

BJ was going to have to get dangerously close to Tiny again in order to slip in. She held her breath as she did so, barely managing not to have the door run into her as it closed.

 

The room was a conference room with a large table. She quickly counted fourteen chairs around it. Three were already taken by the Chief, Cloud and a man dressed in a red uniform BJ hadn’t been officially introduced to the man in red yet, even though she’d asked around after seeing him about a lot. He was Colonel Cronus of the Red Rangers.

 

BJ smiled and almost said hello and waved at Cloud, whom she hadn’t seen in a while, but caught herself from giving her position away. She settled near the wall without touching it, out of the way so no one would bump into her. There was a counter on the opposite wall with trays of drinks and snacks. The sight made her hungry, but she couldn’t partake of it as the others were. They each carried something to the table where they sat.

 

Everyone took a seat, some making faces indicating they were in pain, all except the tall man who had come in with them. What the hell had happened to her foster siblings?

 

“Cronus,” the Chief said to the Colonel, not using his title from years of familiarity. BJ had learned they were old friends, even comrades in arms, as Tiny had put it. “I want you to meet Keanu Kamamalu of the Atlantis covert team.” The Chief motioned to the man BJ didn’t know, but she recognized the first name. So this was Jason’s friend who owned the Ferrari?

 

After their fight over her stealing the Ferrari, Jason had revealed the car wasn’t his, as he had originally claimed, but instead belonged to a friend of his named Keanu. He liked to work on cars and sometimes worked on those owned by his friends. The name was unusual enough that this man had to be him. And what did the Chief mean by ‘Atlantis team’?

 

“It’s good to meet you, Colonel,” Keanu said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” That comment elicited a twist of the Colonel’s lips.

 

“I can imagine if you’ve been hearing it from Jason and Katherine,” Cronus said, giving Jason an annoyed look. BJ had no idea who Katherine was.

 

Keanu seemed nonplussed but Jason began to scowl.

 

“Everything I say about you is true,” Jason countered, getting a chuckle from Cronus, which only added to Jason’s ire. He turned towards the Chief. “Why is he here?” he asked in annoyance.

 

“Jason,” Mark snapped, a scowl of his own materializing.

 

“Considering the fact my Rangers will be taking up the slack while all of you heal and your new ship is completed, I think I have every right to be here,” Cronus countered with steel in his voice.

 

“All right. Both of you,” the Chief interjected. Jason opened his mouth to reply, but apparently thought better of it, so he crossed his arms over his chest, grimaced, then uncrossed them.

 

“You all know we had already started on the next generation Phoenix,” the Chief said.

 

Phoenix? BJ’s eyes bugged. Did he mean the Phoenix, the G-Force command ship?

 

The lights dimmed as a screen descended from the ceiling of the wall to her right. Everyone turned that way. BJ slinked further away, back into the shadows in the rear of the room. It was too hard for her to blend into constantly changing lighting.

 

“I know you’ve all seen the blueprints, but I think you’ll find the nearly completed product much more appealing,” the Chief said.

 

A picture of a sleek blue ship with red and gray markings appeared in a hanger. BJ’s mouth dropped open. It was gorgeous. It looked like a more modern version of the pictures she had seen of the Phoenix on news casts.

 

Tiny whistled appreciatively.

 

“You said nearly finished,” Mark said, surprised. “I thought it was still six months out.”

 

“I wanted its completion to be a surprise.” The Chief pushed his glasses up his nose. “If I’d known we’d need it even sooner, I would have pushed for a faster completion.”

 

“When will she be ready?” Tiny wanted to know.

 

“In about three weeks.”

 

BJ ran everything they’d said through her mind. She, like everyone else on the base, knew the Chief was the coordinator for G-Force. Rumor had it they were occasionally on the base, but she’d never seen them.

 

Why would her foster siblings care when the ship was ready? Why would they even be involved? Only G-Force would care…Her mind was racing. It had been all over the news that last few days that Spectra had beaten G-Force in a recent battle, damaging the Phoenix so badly they had crash landed. It would stand to reason G-Force could have been injured in the crash.

 

Her foster siblings were in a meeting about the replacement ship for the Phoenix, sporting bruises, crutches and braces. What had Colonel Cronus said about his Red Rangers? ‘My Rangers will be taking up the slack while all of you heal and your new ship is completed’.

 

BJ clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from squealing. Five foster siblings – four young men and a young woman. Five members of G-Force - four young men and a young woman. It was so obvious, it was ridiculous. Her foster siblings were G-Force!

 

“All of your stations have been upgraded,” the Chief was saying as graphics of the interior of the ship appeared. “Your G-machines will be as well.”

 

As they began to discuss that fact, BJ watched the graphics of those new vehicles flash on the screen. The Condor’s car appeared, both the old and the new versions. BJ almost lost it laughing. Car. Of course. Jason was the Condor. That was how he’d taken care of those Spectran troops who had broken into the house she and Todd had been staying in. That was why Keyop had those clackers. He was the Swallow, whose weapon was a bolas. Tiny was the Owl and Princes was, of course, the Swan. She wanted to snort at that one. Princess was far from serene in her mind. So that meant Mark was the Eagle. Wow.

 

“Jack will be here tomorrow to go over the final designs before your machines are completed,” the Chief was saying. That seemed to make everyone happy. BJ had no idea who Jack was, but she’d try to find out. “And that brings up to our next subject.” The screen went black as all heads turned towards the Chief. “We got the go to create the second team.”

 

A second team? BJ looked around. Mark was nodding, looking speculative. Jason leaned back and crossed his arms, this time not wincing, his lips thinning.

 

Colonel Cronus snorted. “Too little, too late,” he said, crossing his legs as he reached for the cup of coffee in front of him. He took a drink. “It’s going to take years to get another team ready. You should have had multiple teams from the beginning.”

 

“We’re not going through this again, Cronus,” the Chief answered tiredly. “Things have changed.”

 

“So instead of taking ten years, it’s going to take what?” The Colonel asked. All eyes turned to the Chief, including BJ’s. She couldn’t believe she was actually hearing all of this. Spectra would give almost anything to be privy to it. That thought poured ice water over her excitement. This was serious business that people could die over.

 

“We believe it’ll take four to six years because we’re not going to start with very young children this time. The youngest we’ll be starting with are eight and thirteen,” the Chief answered.

 

Jason’s head snapped his way, his eyes wide with shock. “You can’t mean BJ and Todd?” he said, startling BJ so much she almost allowed herself to become visible. She saw the shocked looks on everyone’s faces that matched what she was feeling, all except Mark. When Jason noticed Mark’s lack of reaction, he turned on him. “Don’t you dare tell me you saw this,” he snapped. All Mark did was shrug. Jason was quickly getting furious, if the fire in his pale eyes was any indication.

 

“BJ is the waif Jason brought home, is she not?” The Colonel asked.

 

“Chief, you can’t be serious,” Princess declared. When he didn’t answer, she turned to Mark. “Mark, you didn’t see this!” she denied. See what? BJ waited for him to respond, but he just shrugged again.

 

“You could have told us!” Jason snapped. “I hate it when you keep your visions to yourself.”

 

“I don’t want to influence anything by voicing them,” Mark countered.

 

“You’re influencing the situation by not voicing them, too!” Jason countered.

 

“Wait a minute,” Keanu interrupted while chuckling. “Is this the girl that took off in my Ferrari? The one you said could out screech a blue jay?” he asked. Jason turned his angry eyes to him.

 

“That’s going to be her call sign,” Mark admitted. It seemed to BJ his eyes lost focus. “Blue Jay. Todd’s will be Griffin Vulture.” While BJ mulled over that, Jason threw his hands up into the air.

 

“Is there anything else you want to share now?” he challenged.

 

“She’s what? All five feet of nothing?” Keanu asked.

 

BJ started to jump to her feet for her own angry tirade. She was five foot two, not five foot. Who said she was five foot nothing?  And she screwed up.

 

Both Jason and Mark were suddenly squinting in her direction, which meant they appeared to be squinting at Keanu. He looked down at himself. “What?” he demanded.

 

She froze. She was still blending, but she had lost concentration as she started to jump up. Had they somehow seen her? Then she remembered the time she had shown them her blending, at that first real meeting. That time, Jason had spotted her because he’d heard the rustling of her clothing as she moved.

 

Jason worked his jaw, took a deep breath and hissed “BeeeeeJayyyyyyyyy!” with a rising voice full of threat as Mark burst out laughing. Every head now turned in the direction they were looking. She shrunk back down to sit on the floor. “I know you’re there,’ Jason growled.

 

“What are you talking about?” The Colonel demanded, looking around. “Have you gone daft?” he directed at Jason, and then looked where Jason was looking as Mark wiped at his streaming eyes. “There’s nothing there.”

 

“That’s what I hope Spectra thinks,” the Chief said, smirking. To BJ’s amazement, he didn’t seem to be the least bit upset. “BJ, I suggest you stop blending before Jason starts throwing shuriken at you.” He said in warning. Shuriken? What was a shuriken?

 

Her shoulders sagged. She’d almost succeeded. If she hadn’t jumped, Jason wouldn’t have heard her to pick up on the distortion she knew her blending left behind. He’d seen it before and knew what to look for now.

 

She was busted!

Chapter 13 by Becky Rock

BJ allowed her blending to dissipate. Both Keanu and the Colonel practically jumped out of their chairs in surprise when she appeared before them.

 

“What the hell do you think you were doing?” Jason demanded, rising from his seat until Mark place a restraining hand on his arm.

 

“I…I just wanted to know what was going on,” she stammered with embarrassment as her stomach rolled. She didn’t like it when Jason was angry with her.

 

“Well now you know and guess what? Spectra would kill you to get that information!” Jason continued. She cringed back from his ire, now wishing she hadn’t followed them in. She had no right to be in a secured area. She’d broken the law. They would call for Security to take her away. What would happen then? The anger she’d felt at Keanu’s comment about her turned to alarm.

 

Keanu was staring at her speculatively. The Colonel was rapidly blinking his eyes, rubbing them as if he still couldn’t believe what he’d seen.

 

“Jase,” Mark said softly. “The cat’s out of the bag, so there’s no use in getting upset.” No use? BJ didn’t understand why the Chief was still looking at her solicitously and Mark looked amused.

 

Jason turned towards Cloud, his nostrils still flaring. “Did you sense her?” he asked pointedly. BJ wasn’t sure what he meant. She’d almost forgotten Cloud was there she’d been so drawn into the fact they were G-Force.

 

Cloud shook her dark head. “I had no reason to expect anyone else being here, so no,” she answered. Now BJ wondered what Cloud was doing in the meeting. She didn’t think being Tiny’s girlfriend would be enough. She’d never asked Cloud why she’d come to help Jason calm her down when he’d first found her. Now she wanted to know more about Cloud.

 

“Jason, please sit back down,” the Chief requested as he continued to smile at her. “BJ, that was very impressive,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better test.” Test? BJ was feeling more and more confused.

 

“Test?” Jason sat back down. “You set this up?” he asked in disbelief. Set up? Had the Chief known she was around to see everyone heading into the secure area? Had he wanted her to follow her foster family, knowing she would use her blending?

 

“No, but this will do. I assumed her curiosity would eventually get the better of her.” BJ groaned. How did he know her so well already?

 

“How did she do that?” the Colonel demanded, pointing at her. “Is this a joke?”

 

“No, Cronus, this is no joke. I hadn’t planned on revealing this yet, but I guess now is as good a time as any. BJ, find a chair,” the Chief said, waving his hand at the empty chair beside Keanu.

 

BJ looked at each of them unsurely. Jason still looked perturbed, but he had settled down. Everyone else was curious but Princess. She was glowering, her arms crossed over her chest.

 

“So you didn’t see this?” Jason directly at Mark as she took the seat the Chief wanted her to. Mark shook his head. “Good.” He smirked with satisfaction. There was too much going on that BJ just didn’t understand. 

  

“BJ, do you remember the conversation we had when you first joined us about what your parents were doing?” the Chief asked. She did and nodded. “We’ve learned more over the last 6 months that has reinforces my theory of why Spectra came after you and Todd.”

 

“What did you find out?” She leaned forward eagerly. This was the first time she’d heard anything else regarding her parents. She’d been told ISO had so far found no leads about what had happened to her parents. The Chief leaned back, getting comfortable in his seat.

 

Cronus grunted and sighed as he reached for his coffee cup. He rose. “Might as well get a refill.”

 

“What’d you find out, Chief?” Mark repeated her question as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

 

“Don’t keep her hanging, Chief,” Jason put in, finally having calmed down enough to consider her feelings.

 

“You mean don’t keep us hanging,” Tiny said with a chuckle. Jason gave him a look.

 

“The company your parents worked for, Dietech, had a contract with Galaxy Security,” Anderson started.

 

“We already…know that…Chief,” Keyop said for all of them.

 

“What we didn’t know was what they were working on. We speculated and now we know more. They were developing a biological weapon to use against the Spectrans.”

 

“What kind of weapon?” Princess asked as Cronus sat back down, full cup in hand.

 

“At first we thought they were looking for something to take out Spectrans that wouldn’t affect humans. Maybe a version of mustard gas or Ebola that would only affect Spectrans. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

 

“That would be awfully difficult and dangerous.” Princess’ voice showed her unease at the suggestion. “An error could poison humans instead.”

 

“I agree so we’ll keep researching. It’s possible Spectra found out,” the Chief said. He joined his hands on the table. “The random shot into your house that injured Todd was probably a warning. When your parents either didn’t take the hint or ignored it, they went a step further.”

 

“They took them,” BJ surmised from what he’d said, her stomach now churning for a different reason.

 

“We still have no proof, but it’s an educated guess. There’s no other viable reason for Spectra to have attacked the house where you and Todd were squatting. They may have been looking for the two of you the whole time you were on the streets.”

 

“Squatting?” She didn’t know that term.

 

“It means moving into a place that someone else owns without their permission,” Princess supplied with annoyance. BJ could only stare at her. What was so she being so testy about? She wasn’t the only one who noticed. Jason was looking at Princess with narrowed eyes.

 

“That’s all we know at this point,” the Chief told her. “But now we need to discuss some other things, so I want you to go to my office and wait for me there,” the Chief instructed her. “We’ll discuss things further then. I don’t think I need to tell you not to disclose anything you’ve heard here to anyone, not even Todd, at this point.” His eyes were no longer gentle.

 

She nodded solemnly. “Yes sir,” she answered.

 

“Cronus, would you be kind enough to escort BJ?” She looked to her right to see the Colonel’s lips thin.

 

“I know a dismissal when I hear one,” he said, draining the rest of his coffee before moving his chair back.

 

“I appreciate your loaning the Rangers to us until the ship is ready.” The Chief was sincere, but the Colonel blew it off with a wave of his hand as he rose.

 

“G-Force has helped us often enough,” he answered, motioning at BJ to follow him. “Come on, girl,” he said.

 

BJ didn’t like his calling her ‘girl’ instead of using her name, but she didn’t want to create any further scene, so she got up to follow him.

 

“I think that’s my cue, too,” Keanu said with a smile. BJ liked his smile. It reached his oddly colored eyes. Now that she could more closely see them, she wasn’t sure if they were green or brown. “But don’t expect any favors from us.”

 

“Of course not,” Cronus said over his shoulder as he placed his hand on her shoulder to steer her towards the door. She didn’t like that, either, but hopefully, he’d let her go once they were out of the secure area. “Heaven forbid Katherine would want to help.”

 

“I’m the one who makes the decisions regarding my team, Colonel.” Keanu’s voice was no longer friendly. “I enforce the Charter. Katherine only provides the means.”

 

“Whatever.” Cronus waved his free hand. “Money talks.”

 

“Better watch it, Colonel,” Keanu said with an evil smile. “I might sic Jake on you.”

 

That got a snicker from Jason as the Chief sighed heavily. The Colonel actually looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment.

 

He propelled BJ out the door. She heard Jason’s comment of ‘ass’. It was obviously he didn’t like the Colonel. She really wasn’t liking him much either at the moment. His grip was so tight, he was going to leave a bruise.

 

“Don’t try any disappearing acts on me, girl,” he said once they were in the hall. BJ was tempted to do it just because he said not to, but his hand on her shoulder would tell him where she was. “Although I’d love to see Zoltar’s face if a grenade suddenly appeared in front of him before being shoved down his purple knickers.”

 

BJ turned to look up at him in shock. Knickers? Did he mean pants? Ewwwwww!

 

888

 

While BJ was being regaled with Cronus’s whit, the Chief was being grilled by the team.

 

“There’s only one thing the Spectrans would gain from taking BJ and Todd,” Mark said as soon as the door was closed. He fixed an intense look on the Chief. “You think the Drs. Beck are still alive in Spectran hands.”

 

“That’s a possibility or it could be something else,” the Chief hedged.

 

“Why didn’t you say something earlier about BJ and Todd being added to the team?” Princess interrupted angrily.

 

Jason rolled his eyes. “That was a smooth change of subject,” he muttered. Princess turned her angry eyes on him. He glanced at Cloud to see what she thought. She was frowning at Princess. He was going to have to ask Mark’s twin later what had made her frown.

 

“BJ and Todd both tested positive for implant compatibility,” the Chief answered, allowing the change, using the remote to shut down the monitor screen. “That didn’t mean they would automatically be considered for the team. That’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

 

Jason rose, cup in hand. “Then I need more coffee. Better yet, an expresso. Can we get an expresso machine for in here?” he asked facetiously.

 

“Yeah, with cocoa,” Keyop added.

 

“You are going to reprimand her,” Princess continued, lifting her cup towards Jason as he passed her.

 

“What am I, your maid?” He glared at her, put off by her pressing the Chief about punishing BJ. He’d been angry at first regarding her escapade, more out of fear that knowledge would put her into even more danger from Spectra. But hell, he’d have done the same thing if he was in her shoes. “That’s why you have Mark,” he added as he poured his cup.

 

He was still mad at Mark, too, for not telling him about his vision. Mark said he feared telling someone who was involved in what he saw would have an effect on the outcome. Jason believed fate was fate and nothing could change what was going to happen. Mark didn’t like to think of his visions as fate.

 

They usually had to agree to disagree about it, but not this time. Jason planned to stay mad for a while.

 

“I don’t plan to. I’m going to chew her out, but that’s all.”

 

“But you have to!” Princess insisted, not liking the Chief’s answer to her demands. She turned to Mark, looking for support. Jason ground his teeth as he poured her cup.

 

“Why?” Jason asked before the Chief could respond further. “If she might be on the team, we need to know how she can infiltrate with that ‘blending’ she can do.” He carried both cups over, placing Princess’ cup down in front of her before returning to his seat.

 

“Jason’s exactly right.” The Chief nodded at him. “I’ve been trying to come up with an appropriate test of her ability, so her curiosity today solved that problem for me.”

 

“How does she do it?” Jason sipped his steaming cup. He’d wondered that from the moment in the alley when he’d realized she was hiding in plain sight.

 

“We still don’t know for sure,” the Chief admitted, reaching up to rub his eyes under his glasses. Jason hadn’t noticed before how tired he looked. The crash that had severally damaged the Phoenix had physically injured all of them, but the Chief had been emotionally affected. Anderson would never admit it to them, but Jason had seen the look in their adopted father’s eyes as they were brought in. He’d later admitted he’d though the crash was the end of G-Force.

 

“As I said we’ve been learning more about what her parents had been doing. Dietech’s contract was to develop a way to stop the Spectrans in their tracks, but there’s more I didn’t want to share in mixed company.

 

“We’d made the assumption, since the Drs. Beck is a biologist and chemist, that they were working on that project and were creating a biological weapon. Contrary to what I said earlier, we’re not so sure.”

 

“What do you mean?” Mark asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. Jason was getting the impression something more was up, too. “Then why did you say it?”

 

“I wanted to see BJ’s reaction, to see if maybe she did know more than she’d been letting on,” the Chief admitted. “I also didn’t want Cronus or Keanu to know what I’m about to tell you.

 

“When we were trying to identify BJ and Todd, we used their DNA. While checking their implant compatibility, an abnormality was found in BJ’s genome.”

 

“An abnormality?” Alarm flared across Jason’s nerves. Was something wrong with BJ?

 

“Further research has shown the abnormality is associated with BJ’s pigmentation production,” the Chief told them.

 

“Pigmentation…you mean her skin,” Princess said with widening eyes as Jason came to the same conclusion. “Her ability to ‘blend’ is because of that abnormality?”

 

“We don’t know,” the Chief admitted ruefully. “More research will have to be completed regarding the abnormality. It could just be a coincidence.”

 

“What about Todd?” Tiny wanted to know.

 

“He, too has an abnormality, but we haven’t determined what it’s associated with yet. Now, I don’t want any of you mentioning this to BJ or Todd until we want more,” Anderson warned them.

 

“How does this relate to their parents’ work?” Mark wanted to know.

 

“Just speculation on our part.” The Chief leaned back in his seat, looking thoughtful. “What if the weapon they were developing wasn’t biological, but genetic? What if they wanted to develop warriors who could sneak up on their targets or sneak to wherever they needed to be in plain sight?”

 

Jason was shocked. “The abnormality,” he whispered. The Chief nodded.

 

“Again, this is just speculation,” he emphasized. “The last thing I want right now is for BJ to think her parents were experimenting on her and Todd.”

 

“Great. And they’re probably in Spectran hands?” Jason really didn’t want to contemplate it.

 

“We’ve gotten no further in our investigation of their disappearance beyond what the police had already determined. Hopefully, we’ll learn something more soon.” The Chief straightened up in his seat. That usually meant he had something else important to tell them.

 

“In addition to BJ and Todd as candidates for a second team, there are others who will be joining us here over the next few weeks for evaluation and training. One of them is Jack Putman’s niece Amethyst.”

 

Jason was surprised. In addition to designing their G-machines, Jack Putnam also designed his off road endurance trucks and endurance race cars through his racing team sponsor, Firebrand Racing. He’d met Amethyst at Jack’s ranch a few times when he’d stopped by to look at designs.

 

“How old is she now?” he wondered out loud.

 

“You’ve met her?” the Chief asked in surprise. Jason gave him a ‘duh’ look.

 

“Jack designs my race vehicles also, so I’ve been to the ranch several times. She loves cars, so Jack always includes her in our talks. Jack gave her an old Mustang to restore. She always shows me what she’s done when I’m there.” The thought actually made him smile. She was tall and gangly, not having grown into her adult body yet. He thought she was a few years younger than him, so probably sixteen or so.

 

It’d been a while since he’d seen her last. She hadn’t been there the last time few times he’d visited.

 

“She’s seventeen now. We’d already identified her as a prospect, but there’s been a complication.” The Chief’s eyes had become serious again. Jason didn’t like the sound of it.

 

“What kind of complication?” Mark shared a look with Jason. He didn’t like the sound of it, either.

 

“This stays in this room,” the Chief ordered ominously. He waited until each of them had nodded. “Last year, Amethyst was attacked and raped by her Driver’s Ed instructor.”

 

Princess gasped in shock as Jason felt his stomach drop. That was why he hadn’t seen her the last two times he’d been to Jack’s ranch. How could someone take that kind of trust and abuse it?

 

“Is the son of a bitch still alive?” he growled before he could stop himself. What kind of animal raped?

 

“Yes, but only. Amethyst had been on her way to softball practice when the attack occurred. Following the attack, the man didn’t pay attention to her. She was able to get to her gear, took the bat and nearly beat him to death with it. He is now in prison.” The Chief sounded as if he felt prison wasn’t sufficient, but he didn’t voice it. Jason was glad Amethyst went after her attacker, but the damage was done.

 

“I hate to ask this, but has she cleared her psych eval?” Mark wanted to know, glancing at Princess. Jason had been avoiding looking her way.

 

Princess had been the victim of rape at Spectra’s hands the year before. Jason knew what she had gone through to work through the shame, humiliation and anger. They had killed her attacker; they hadn’t known that at the time, but it had come out in the investigation.

 

Princess had developed a method of dealing with her fear – the application of copious amounts of explosives, but Jason knew she still feared it could happen again.

 

Mark never allowed her to operate alone anymore. That helped her deal with her fear but also grated on her nerves as it made her feel smothered at times.

 

“That’s one of the things we’ll be evaluating,” the Chief told them. “Jack said she’s become introverted. She’s very nervous around men she doesn’t know or trust and the list of men she trusts fits on one hand right now. And the bat has become her best friend.”

 

“I can talk to her,” Princess offered quietly. Jason could see Mark reaching for her hand under the table in a rare public show of affection and support.

 

Although not acknowledged, everyone knew Mark and Princess were a couple. The Chief didn’t like it; he spouted rules and regulations about non-fraternization. He had reminded Mark how he’d gone ballistic when he learned of the rape, that the Commander of G-Force couldn’t be compromised by his feelings.

 

But it was hard for the Chief to enforce his own words when he’d been enraged by it, too.

 

“Amethyst’s specialty is computer programming,” the Chief went on. “Jack said she’s good at hacking. We could use that in a second team.”

 

Jason couldn’t argue with that. Princess and Keyop had proven many times it was invaluable being able to not only get into the systems on Spectran mechs but to also sabotage them.

 

“I’m going to ask BJ to be a kind of sponsor for Amethyst until she acclimates.”

 

“Should BJ be warned about Amethyst’s sensitivity towards men?” Mark asked. Jason had an idea what he was thinking. Over two thirds of the base complement were men. “It’s not normal to be running around carrying a baseball bat.”

 

“She knows me, sort of,” Jason said, an idea forming in his mind. He owed Jack for all the help he’d given him regarding the mechanics of engines. “Maybe I should help get her settled, too.”

 

“If she knows anything about your reputation, she might take that bat to you,” Tiny quipped, getting an eye brow from Keyop.

 

“Thanks Keyop.” Jason glared at Tiny. “Reputations aren’t always the truth. Everyone thinks you’re a teddy bear,” he countered. “The rest of us know to duck and cover.”

 

“Ha, ha,” Tiny snarked back.

 

“She already knows me and I won’t push her,” Jason added.

 

“I can get to know her, too, Chief,” Cloud offered, now elbowing Tiny herself. “I could get a reading on her reactions to the men she encounters,” she said.

 

The Chief nodded. “That’s a very good idea, Cloud.

 

“Jack and Amethyst will be arriving at about nine. We’ll meet with Jack about the vehicles while BJ and Cloud start showing Amethyst around. I’m going to put Amethyst into the room across from BJ.”

 

“What about the other prospects?” Mark wanted to know.

 

“There are about ten, which includes BJ, Todd and Amethyst. The other seven are military, aged eighteen through twenty.”

 

“How much are they going to be told about us?” Jason asked even though his mind was still on helping Amethyst out as much as he could, as much as she would allow. It really sickened him that she’d had such a horrible experience. He’d always been a proponent of rapists being put away for life. Add castration to the mix and he would be even happier. What happened to Princess had only strengthened his resolve on the subject.

 

He wondered if Amethyst had completed the restoration of her Mustang. He could help her with it if she hadn’t.

 

“We’re sticking to our standard cover scenario.” The Chief was answering his question. “Outside of Birdstyle, you’ll have limited contact with them.”

 

“But BJ and Todd…know us,” Keyop pointed out.

 

“Which only makes sense because I’m also their guardian,” the Chief pointed out. “As for the rest, there’s little reason for G-Force to have contact with them any time soon.”

 

“But Amethyst--” Princess started, but the Chief raised his hand.

 

“That might be a different story. Cloud will be assisting her while conducting her evaluation. You’ll be talking to her. By virtue of being around BJ and probably Todd, she’ll have a little more contact with the rest of you. That would be a natural progression.” He turned to Jason. “I like your idea to help her as well, if she’ll let you. I know you’ll back off if it makes her uncomfortable.” Jason nodded, recognizing the warning for what it was.

 

“I’ve sent the bios of the other seven prospects to all of you. Please read them. Let me know of any concerns you may have. All have been fully vetted, but I value your opinions.” The Chief nodded at them before rising. “Now I have a very nosy teenager to reprimand,” he said with a deep sigh. “We’ll meet back here at nine thirty tomorrow morning. Dismissed.”

 

“He’s going to chew BJ’s head off,” Tiny predicted as he stretched. “But that was pretty cool, what she did.”

 

“I thought…the Colonel’s eyes…were going to…pop out…of his head,” Keyop added with a laugh.

 

“She better not have done that to us before,” Princess snapped as she rose from her chair. “If I find out she’s been spying on me…”

 

“I’m sure she hasn’t,” Mark quickly said to sooth her. Jason wanted to snort. They all knew Princess had taken an instant dislike to BJ for some reason and her actions only made it more apparent.

 

Jason rose to rinse out his cup. He was feeling peevish again; he was both angry and amused over BJ’s antic, but still angry over what had happened to Amethyst. The best way to work it out was to go for a drive and he knew where he was going to go.

 

888

 

“How old are you?” Cronus asked the girl as he escorted her back to Matt’s office. He’d been told about her, alluding to her almost getting out of Jason’s clutches, but actually seeing how she had done it was eye opening. She could be a helluva weapon for anyone who got their hands on her. No wonder Spectra was after her.

 

“Thirteen,” she said, her voice edged with tension. Cronus smiled. Matt was more amused by what she had done than upset, but he’d let her stew until Matt talked to her.

 

“Commander Kamamalu is right. You are a wisp of a thing.” She was barely over five feet tall and might weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet. Her head snapped up at his words, her blue eyes shooting fire at him. “But you’ve got gumption,” he continued. The fire eased a bit as she took in the complement. “You’re going to need it if you’re going to be on G-Force.”

 

She stared up at him for a moment, uncertainty overcoming the anger. “He’s serious?” she asked.

 

“Very. He sees a certain spark in you. It’s quite a complement.” Cronus knew that was true. He’d been part of the vetting process for determining who would become prospects for the program. He had helped to choose the seven out of over one thousand who tested implant compatible. Twelve of his Red Ranger pilots had been on the list to be the pilot of the second G-Force ship, yet to be named. Only Ashton Ouris made it through.

 

“But it’s not going to be a cakewalk,” he warned her.

 

“I can do it,” she told him with conviction. The words and her look reminded him of another thirteen year old girl he’d know several years earlier with green tinged dark hair and large green eyes. He told BJ the same thing he had heard Matt tell Princess at that time.

 

“We’ll see.”

 

888

 

Jason pulled onto the narrow paved road, slowing down as the area was heavily wooded so he couldn’t see around the turns. He doubted there would be a combine on this road, but he wasn’t going to bet his life on it.

 

The road was a half mile long. He saw out buildings first; he knew some held farm equipment and others held some of Jack’s workshops. There were also a few barns. A saddled horse was being led out of one of them. Then there was a large garage, a bunkhouse and the main house.

 

Jack Putnam worked out of his farm, to a degree. He had an office at the ISO for his work on their G machines.

 

Jason had called ahead to make sure Jack was home. He’d explained he wanted to see Amethyst ender the pretense of looking over some new designs for his off-road rally truck. He thought Amethyst might be more comfortable breaking the ice with him on her own turf.

 

As he drove up to the house, he saw an antique Mustang parked in the circle in front of the house. The car looked immaculate. He smiled. So Amethyst had completed her restoration of the car.

 

Jack was sitting on the porch, whittling a price of wood. He looked up as Jason pulled up beside the Mustang.

 

Jack Putnam was pushing fifty. Working on a farm, he was fit, but sitting at a desk working on designs the last few years had added a few pounds to his six foot frame. He was starting to gray at the temples and his desk job was also giving the weathered look of his skin time to return to a more healthy hue.

 

Jason got out of the car, holding the door open for Howler. The Malamute jumped out, immediately looking around. His training as an attack dog was starting to tell in his growing skills. Then he started to pant with excitement, his overly long tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, giving him a comical look.

 

Jason took a deep breath of the air, picking up on the telltale scents of a farm as he walked over to the porch, Howler at his side. Jack rose from his seat, flipping his whittling knife closed to put it into his pocket.

 

“Hi Jack,” Jason said with a smile as he walked up the steps.

 

“Good to see you, Jason.” Jack extended his hand to shake Jason’s. “I was a little surprised by your call, but the more I thought about it, the more I think you’re right. I’d feel better if Ame had someone that she at least knows some to look out for her in the program.” He looked down, his hand reaching to per Howler. Howler’s tail wagged. “She’s had a rough time.” He smiled at the dog. “So you’re the famous Howler.” Howler’s tail wagged harder upon hearing his name. “I hear you’re a lot of trouble.”

 

“Only if you have a shoe he likes,” Jason commented, remembering an incident a week after BJ and Todd arrived. BJ had left her bedroom door open. Howler had wandered in, finding two pairs of her shoes on the floor. Howler found them to be wonderful chew toys, much to BJ’s ire. She’d stormed into his room, screeching she only had three new pairs of shoes and Howler had chewed up two of them. Her screeching had reached ear piercing decibels, giving Jason a horrible flashback to the Dirty Name 5 incident.

 

Mark’s declaration her code name would be Blue Jay fit her perfectly.

 

“I thought he might come in handy. Most people like dogs.” He’d thought Amethyst might trust him more knowing he had a dog to take care of.

 

“Ame did show some interest when I told her you were stopping by. She’s been following your racing career ever since the first time you stopped by when she realized I was designing your racing vehicles,” Jack told him.

 

“Actually, I thought she could show me what she’s done with the Mustang since the last time she showed me.” Jason cocked a thumb back at the vehicle.

 

“Just don’t ask her for a ride,” Jack advised warily. “She won’t get into a car with a man other than me or my son Will.”

 

“I can understand that.” Jason felt the anger he had felt earlier resurface.

 

“But let’s do the official part first.” Jack led him into the house, back through it to his office. Jason had been there enough times to know where they were going.

 

They spent an hour going over his endurance truck’s current design, only making minor tweaks to it for the next race.

 

They adjourned to the kitchen for cool glasses of sweet tea, Jack promising he would get the adjustments to Firebrand after the meetings at Camp Parker the following morning.

 

Jack’s son Will, whom Jason had met once, came in for his own glass of tea. He and Jason shook hands.

 

“I read you’re going to run the Baja 1000 this year?” Will said as he poured.

 

Jason nodded. “Plan to. That’s what Jack’s helping me with. The truck I used for Dubai isn’t going to work on Baja due to the mixed terrains,” he answered with a smile.

 

“Is Ame around?” Jack asked, rinsing out his and Jason’s glasses.

 

“She was in the living room searching the internet for something for her car,” Will noted then drained his glass. Jason could tell he had been working outside as he was dirty and sweaty.    

 

They found her there, sitting on the couch, her pad in her hand. The moment they entered the room, she looked up, her green? Eyes wary until she saw it was Jason. He tried not to stare at the bat leaning against the couch and her right leg.

 

“Ame, you remember Jason?” Jack asked. It was clear to Jason Jack was trying to treat the situation normally. He would take his lead from Jack; he’d do the same on base, unless Cloud’s evaluation suggested otherwise.

 

“Yeah.” Amethyst put down her pad, but she didn’t move otherwise.

 

“I know it’s been a while,” Jason said to help get the dialog going. Ame nodded, still a bit wary and Jason could tell she was tense. She also looked more like a young woman than a gangly teenager now, even in a t-shirt and sweats.

 

“Ame, let’s show him the Mustang,” Will called from the kitchen. “Being a race car driver, he’ll appreciate how well you did on it.” Will joined them, grinning. Jason glanced at him, trying to express his appreciation of Will’s aide in getting Ame out of her comfort zone. Will’s presence would be like a security blanket.

 

“Uh, yeah, sure.” She hesitantly pushed up off the couch. She was tall, about five foot nine. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail.

 

She mechanically moved towards the door that led to the front porch, stepping into a pair of sneakers next to the door before going out. Jack also gave Will a grateful look as he and Jason followed Ame.

 

Amethyst was very formal and stiff at first as she described what she’d done, but then warmed up. After an hour, she seemed to be totally comfortable, but Jason made sure he didn’t invade her personal space or touch her.

 

“What were you looking for on the internet?” Will asked as they lounged near the car. Jack had brought out ice cold bottles of Frosty Root Beer. Jason had never heard of it but found he liked it. Will and Ame were leaning against her Mustang as Jason leaned against the Maxima, Howler at his feet. To Jason’s surprise, Ame really hadn’t paid any attention to the dog.

 

“I want a new gear shift,” she answered. “That pool ball looks ridiculous.”

 

Jason chuckled. He had to agree whoever had put an eight ball there had bad taste.

 

“You’ve really done a great job on the car,” he told her, meaning it. He couldn’t have done better.

 

“Thanks,” she responded with a weak smile. He could almost see her pulling up her wall again since they were no longer examining the Mustang.

 

“I really appreciate you showing what else you’d done,” he told her. “It’s great talking to another car enthusiast. If you’re interested, I can show you the truck Jack is designing for me once it’s been built,” he offered. Her eyes lit for a second, but then the wall came up even thicker than before.

 

Jason didn’t want to be pushy or have his offer misinterpreted, but he did want to establish they would be seeing more of each other.

 

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but Chief Anderson of ISO is my adopted father,” he told her. Her eyes widened at that news. “He mentioned this morning that you’re moving onto Camp Parker for some program. I spend some time there, so maybe we’ll see each other. He said my foster sister BJ is going to show you around.”

 

Amethyst looked surprised but he wasn’t sure what part of it was surprising her.

 

“Dr. Anderson did tell me his foster daughter would be helping me out,” she finally offered after a few moments of silence.

 

“He probably didn’t realize we’d met before,” Jason noted, hoping she didn’t pick up on the lie. She didn’t seem to, but she offered nothing else.

 

Feeling things were starting to get awkward, Jason pushed off his car.

 

“I’ve got to be getting back. It was nice seeing you again, Amethyst.” He nodded her way, then turned to Will, extending his hand. “Will.” They shook. “Come on Howler.” Jason opened the front passenger door for Howler to leap in.

 

Moments later he was pulling out, hoping he had started the framework for a good relationship with Jack’s niece.

Chapter 14 by Becky Rock

By the time the Chief arrived at his office, BJ was ready to crawl out of her skin from nervousness.

 

She was having a hard time accepting her older foster brothers and sister were G-Force. At first the idea had been cool, but picturing them in her mind in the G-Force uniforms fighting the Spectrans just didn’t seem right. Tiny was too sweet to be killing people. Keyop was a kid like her. Jason was a race car driver. But the Chief, Colonel Cronus and that Keanu had all acted as if it was the truth.

 

The Colonel had left her in the Chief’s office with the order to ‘stay put until Matt gets here.’ Like he could order her around.

 

She watched the Chief take his time, putting things away before taking his seat behind the desk. He steepled his fingers under his chin as he regarded her. She couldn’t stand the silence.

 

“Were you serious that Jason and Keyop and the others are G-Force?” she asked. He nodded. “And you want me and Todd in G-Force?”

 

He nodded again. “You both have the potential.”

 

“What does that mean?” She knew what the words meant but she didn’t know how they applied to the situation,

 

The Chief smiled at her. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. “You’ve both been working very hard to catch up on your school work,” he said. “I threw in some classes that are above your levels to evaluate how you handle challenges. You’ve both adapted and overcome your homelessness and the difficulty of understanding such advanced material rather easily. You’re both physically fit, also despite your homelessness. You’re both progressing well with your martial arts training.”

 

“But we’re just kids,” BJ protested, fear filling the pit of her stomach. “Todd’s too young. I’m too young.” It was her fear talking. Todd was eight. How could he possibly be put on G-Force? Weren’t there child labor laws against that kind of thing?

 

“You are right now, but it’ll take years of training before either of you will be ready to fight Spectra.” He leaned back, his chair creaking with the movement. “Mark, Jason, Princess and Tiny started their training just a little older than Todd. Keyop started his even younger, but that’s a story all on its own.”

 

BJ did some math in her head. Keyop was now fifteen. She had learned the war had started two and half years earlier. So Keyop had been twelve, younger than she now was, when G-Force became active. How could that have been possible?

 

“BJ, you and Todd have proven you have an inner strength that is needed in the G-Force program. You know how to evaluate a situation and think on the run. You survived on your own for two years. Not everyone can do that.” He chuckled, but then he sobered. “Jason wasn’t kidding when he said Spectra will kill for the information you now have: the identities of the G-Force team. In fact, they already have killed people they’ve known and that has laid heavy on their shoulders. Particularly Jason’s. You can’t tell anyone.” She wondered what he meant about Jason as he sat back up in order to lean in closer to her. BJ held her breath because he looked more serious than she seen him so far. Whether he intended to or not, he was frightening her. “You can’t tell Todd. If you both make the second team, then we can tell him.

 

“But this also presents a problem. You’ll be the only one of the recruits who does know their identities.” BJ sucked in air as the weight of what she now knew began to sit on her shoulders. “There will be eight other candidates arriving over the next few days to begin training,” he explained. “You and Todd will join them. Some of the training will be conducted by the team. You can’t, and I mean you can’t, show any familiarity with them when they’re in uniform. No arguing with Jason or Princess. It’ll be yes, sir and yes, mam. Do you understand?”

 

BJ swallowed hard as she nodded. This was real. It was really happening. She and Todd were going to train to maybe become members of G-Force.

 

“I have a favor to ask,” the Chief said, pulling her out of her thoughts. His words were so far from their discussion, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

 

“Pardon me?” she asked, shifting her weight in the chair.

 

“The first of the other candidates is arriving tomorrow. Her name is Amethyst Putnam. She’s seventeen. I’ve assigned her the room across from yours. I’d appreciate it if you met her when she arrived and showed her around for the next few days. She’s very shy. Cloud is going to work with her on that,” he explained.

 

Another girl, closer to her age than Princess. That was something welcome. Maybe they could even become friends.

 

“Sure. That would be great,” she responded.

 

“You’ll like her,” the Chief went on, pushing his seat back to stand. “She loves cars and will be bringing her vintage Mustang.”

 

Vintage Mustang? BJ grinned. “Cool.”

 

“I have some other things to do. Remember everything I’ve told you,” he implored. She nodded.

 

“I will.”

 

“Don’t say anything to Todd just yet about training for the team. I’m going to talk in the next few days.” He walked over to where she was sitting to place his hand on her shoulder. “Your life is about to become much busier and harder, so go enjoy some of the last free time you’re going to have for a while.”

 

BJ knew a dismissal when she heard one. She rose and he ushered her out of his office, closing the door after her. BJ stared at the closed door for a moment before deciding to go find out what Todd was doing.

 

 888

           

As Jason reached the fork in the road that led to either the garage or the main building on the base, he slowed. He felt he needed to talk to BJ. She needed to understand why he had reacted the way her had to her stunt. She really didn’t understand the danger she and Todd were already in from Spectra. He was sure the Chief would be emphasizing it in his talk to her, but Jason thought BJ’s personality would brush it off because she and Todd were currently safe.

 

He had blurted out at some point during their initial meeting that he had once been like her, but he’d never elaborated on that confession. He knew she’d asked both Cloud and Dr. Martin about it, but neither woman was privy to his early history. He didn’t know if she’d asked anyone else as no one had mentioned to him that she had.

 

He didn’t relish explaining his comment to her: it had been stupid of him but he had felt he had to establish a kinship with her to get her to cooperate.

 

How he had come to be a member of G-Force was a closely guarded secret. The only ones in the G-Force program who knew the truth were the Chief, the team and Colonel Cronus. He would be breaking the secrecy agreement by telling her, but it was his secret to tell. He just didn’t plan to tell her one hundred percent of it.

 

He took the fork to the main building, parking in the circle in the front. The guards knew better than to question his doing it. He rubbed Howler between his ears, ordering him to stay as he went into the building. He didn’t know where BJ currently was, so he had the receptionist make an announcement on the intercom for her to come to the front circle.

 

Jason returned to the Maxima, leaning back against it with his ankles and arms crossed to wait. Howler placed his head through the window, his extra-long tongue lolling out of his mouth as he nudged his owner. Jason reached over to rub his head some more. It was just as comforting to him as it was to Howler.

 

 888

 

BJ was halfway to her and Todd’s rooms when the intercom came on, ordering her to the front circle. Frowning, she turned about. She’d rarely been advised by the intercom to go anywhere.

 

She didn’t take her time but she didn’t rush either. When she exited the building and saw Jason, she stopped. He looked her way, dropping his hand from Howler’s head. Seeing her, the dog started to wag his tail. Jason’s eyes narrowed at her. That wasn’t good. She could now superimpose the helmet of the Condor over his features. No wonder Spectra was afraid of him.

 

“Get in,” he ordered and opened his door, not even waiting to see if she was going to comply. Her stomach flip-flopped as she jogged down the steps to go around the back of the car to the front passenger seat. As she opened the door, Jason was ordering Howler into the back seat. The dog huffed but complied. BJ sat down, closed the door and reached for her seat belt even as Jason pulled out.

 

She waited tensely for him to speak, but he was silent as he drove back out the road that led off the base or to the garages. He took the turn off that led to the garages.

 

Once there, he pulled into one of the empty stalls but kept the motor running. Only then did he turn her way. He didn’t exactly look happy but neither did he look as angry as he had been.

 

“That was a really stupid stunt you pulled,” he said with a trace of the anger. “If you had been caught in the secure area, you’d be in a cell in the basement right now,” he continued. BJ bit her lips, knowing better than to argue about this after everything the Chief had told her. He was right. She knew that now. She deserved more ire than the Chief had given her and had expected punishment. Maybe he’d left that to Jason.

 

“Or worse, shot,” he emphasized, his eyes going icy, but then the ice melted a bit. “I don’t know exactly what the Chief told you, but you’re now in a very small group of people who are witting of who we are. It’s very small.”

 

“I know,” she said quietly, still biting her lips. “I won’t tell anyone,” she promised.

 

“Even when a Spectran agent is holding a gun to Todd’s head?” he asked. BJ’s heart nearly stopped. Could they do something that horrible? “They’ve done it before. BJ, you have to be ready for that possibility. I know because I’ve seen them do it. They don’t give a damn if they hurt a kid.” She could only stare at him, unable to find words. What if that happened? What would she do?

 

“You’ll both be trained to try to make sure a situation like that doesn’t happen, but we have been in situations where Spectra has been able to use one of us against the rest. With the fate of the Federation in the balance, we’re expendable. Do you understand?” he pressed. She swallowed hard and nodded a little. Keyop faced this as the Swallow. She was strong. She could too. She’d learn everything they had to teach her to keep herself and Todd safe.

 

“We still believe Spectra had something to do with your parents’ disappearance,” he went on. He was starting to look distinctly uncomfortable with the direction of their conversation, but he must have felt he had to tell her these things. She listened, owing him that. “If you and Todd had been home at the time, they would have used you both against your parents to make them do what Spectra wanted.”

 

Jason took a deep breath. He reached up to rub his mouth, and then pulled at his lower lip. BJ watched him carefully. He looked out the car window for a moment.

 

“I need to tell you something and it isn’t…easy for me to talk about,” he said more quietly, swallowing hard as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t talked about it in a long time.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “After I chased you down when you tried to steal my car, I told you I had been just like you once. I hadn’t meant to say it, but I did. This is why I know what Spectra is capable of.” He was visibly nervous now. BJ waited for him to go, starting to chew on her lips again.

 

It took him a few moments to find his voice again.

 

“When I was a kid, I really didn’t pay much attention to what my parents were doing,” he started, his voice staying lower than it had been. “I didn’t think late night calls or people showing up on our doorstep all hours of the night was strange. I noticed my parents acting strangely at times, but I had no idea why.”

 

Jason shifted his weight in the driver’s seat, his eyes losing focus on her as he went back into the memory. Howler moved forward, pushing his head up between the seats with a whine, as if sensing his unease. Jason uncrossed his arms, lifting his hand just enough to rest it on the dog’s head, feeling the dog’s warmth through his fur.

 

“One day my father took me aside and told me there were bad people in the world that lied to hurt other people. He and my mother were trying to stop those kinds of people, but the bad people didn’t want to be stopped.” Jason drew in a deep breath. Even after twelve years, the memories still hurt. They still made his adrenalin spike and his stomach churn. He had a hard time speaking as his throat got tight. “He told me that if something happened, that if he ever told me to run, I was to do it.” He swallowed hard as he fisted the hand not on Howler, his fingernails digging into his palm. “I wasn’t to look back. I wasn’t to stop for anything. I was to run away as far as I could and hide. He told me not to trust anyone but one man and he showed me a picture of him.” He pulled himself out of the memory to focus on her again. “That man was the Chief.”

 

Now BJ swallowed hard. That sounded so ominous. She was afraid of what he was going to say.

 

“One night, I was in my room, doing my homework, when I heard my mother scream and my father yell to run. Then I heard the gunshots.”

 

BJ’s breath caught, fear of what he was describing rushing through her like a freight train.

 

“Since he had told me again and again about running when he told me to, I didn’t think about it. I went to the window, got it open and jumped out.” Jason laughed a little; it was the kind of laugh that really wasn’t a laugh. “I ran. I didn’t know if they were following me. I ran until I couldn’t run anymore. I was eight.”

 

“I’m sorry,” she told him, visualizing a younger Jason hunkering down behind bushes, raggedly breathing. “You must have been scared to death.”

 

“Yeah,” he admitted quietly. “All I had were the clothes on my back. I hid. I was afraid to trust anyone. I stole food.” He grinned at her even when there was sadness in his eyes. “The days turned into weeks. Part of me wanted to just go home and take my chances, but my father had made me promise not to, that someone bad could be waiting there for me.”

 

“You were by yourself.” Chills ran down her spine. He had been eight, Todd’s age. She’d at least had Todd and then Ian. How had he survived?

 

“Winter was coming and I was starting to give up. I was starving; I wasn’t as good at stealing as you are. I tried to steal a guy’s wallet from his pocket, but he caught me.” He chuckled under his breath. “Fate was with me. He grabbed my wrist in a vice grip and turned around. I started kicking him, but then he said something that froze me in my tracks. He said my name.” It was still so fresh in his mind. The first time he met the Chief. “The man was the Chief, the only man my father had told me to trust.”

 

Fate was an understatement, BJ thought. But then again, had it been fate the car she had tried to steal was his?

 

“So I ended up here, under the Chief’s protection. Kind of like you,” he added with a half-smile, but then he sobered. “I learned my parents had been Galaxy Security agents and they had been working on determining what Spectra was up to. Spectra found out and it cost them their lives.”

 

BJ felt like she had been punched. They died. Jason’s parents were murdered by Spectra. Her parents…

 

Jason reached over Howler to grasp her arm when he saw her go pale. “If they had meant to kill your parents, they would have done so right then and there,” he told her. “The fact they had apparently been searching for you and Todd can only mean they want to use the two of you to force your parents to do what they want them to do. We’re still looking for them, BJ. We won’t give up until we find them.”

 

All she could do was nod.

 

“I just thought you should know.” He released her arm. “You don’t have to agree to take the training to become a member of the team. You and Todd can just stay here, safe from Spectra.”

 

But if they didn’t and Spectra somehow got to them…”

 

“I’d rather know how to fight. I’d rather Todd knows how to fight. I’d rather we could protect ourselves and help.” She put as much conviction into her voice as she could. After a moment, Jason smiled.

 

“Good. Now I have something I want to show you.” He shut off the car and got out, holding the door open until Howler jumped out. BJ got our as well, coming around the front of the car. Jason ordered Howler to go lay down on a small rug off to the side that had been put there for the dog’s use. Howler did as he was told, although BJ thought the dog didn’t look happy about it.

 

Jason walked down the length of the garage to the end where there was a car with a tarp over it. BJ hadn’t even noticed it. Jason whipped the tarp off to reveal a dark blue Dodge Challenger. BJ saw the SRT marking on it and squealed. She didn’t notice his wince. She kept forgetting she could reach decibels that hurt other people’s ears.  

 

“Is it a Hellcat?” she asked, almost jumping up and down.

 

Jason nodded. “Of course. Want to take a spin?”

 

“Are you kidding? It’s seven hundred and seven horsepower is as high as an Indy car-”

 

“Actually eight hundred and fifty, but I’ll explain once we get out on the track.” He motioned for her to get in on the passenger side. BJ didn’t hesitate. When he started the car, she closed her eyes to savor the roar of the engine. She felt Jason reach over the test her seat belt. “Make sure it’s good and tight,” he advised and backed them out of the garage.

 

Once he got onto the track, he accelerated, quickly bring the car up to a high speed. BJ watched the scenery go by in a blur as they speeded down it, her heart racing with excitement as she saw the speedometer rise towards two hundred. She’d never gone so fast in her life. She looked forward, amazed the track was a clear as day considering how the scenery was blurring. She glanced at the speedometers again to see it exceed two hundred. She wanted to squeal with exuberance but didn’t want to distract Jason when he was driving at such a high speed. She watched the way he drove, paid attention to when he up-shifted and down-shifted. After several laps, he slowly brought the car to a stop.

 

“You enjoy that?” he asked. BJ laughed. He knew darn well she’d enjoyed it. “We had the car enhanced to get it from the seven oh seven to eight fifty. Want to know why?” That was a stupid question. Of course she wanted to know why and she told him so. “Okay. Get into the center of the back seat.”

 

“Why?”

 

Jason gave her a look she had never seen before and didn’t want to see again. “Because I’m now your superior office and I said get your ass in the center of the back seat.” He pointed. BJ swallowed and squeezed between the front seats to get into the back. “Make sure you have your seat belt on.” She did as she was told.

 

She could see Jason in the rear view mirror smirking. He raised his left hand as much as he could in the confines of the car and brought it down, saying ‘Transmute.”
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