Shattered (The Protectors 11)

The kid and his father had disappeared, probably back into the house for safety.

I shoved Caleb into the passenger seat of the car and ripped the gun from his hand. He hadn’t said a word and I could tell he was going into shock. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to deal with any of that because I could hear sirens in the distance. I hurried to the driver’s side, scanning the surrounding houses as I did so. I shook my head at the clusterfuck I’d just been thrust into.

I was on the phone before I even got the car started.

“Go,” Daisy said. I could hear the distinctive clicking of her keyboard in the background. My team’s IT girl was nothing if not efficient.

A fact I was grateful for.

“It’s Jace. I’m at a house on the corner of Crescent and Maple in Bethesda. I’ve just wounded two cops. I need you to scrub any video footage of me and Caleb from any security cameras from the surrounding houses.”

To her credit, the girl didn’t react other than to say, “On it.”

“Thanks,” I said, and hung up on her. I knew it probably wouldn’t do much good to try and hide Caleb’s identity, since the guy he’d been holding the gun on had recognized him, but I’d rather get rid of as much evidence as I could before the cops could get their hands on it.

“Who is he?” I snapped at Caleb.

But he didn’t answer me. He was leaning against the car door, shaking like a leaf. He had his arms around his body. He hadn’t even removed his backpack.

“Caleb!” I practically shouted.

He didn’t even react. It was like he didn’t hear me. I focused on getting us out of the neighborhood. Several police cars raced past us from the opposite direction, but fortunately, none turned to come after us.

It meant the cops I’d shot probably hadn’t gotten a look at my car.

Fuck, I’d shot cops. Yeah, I’d made sure to only wound them, but still…

“Fuck!” I bit out in frustration. I was normally someone who managed to stay calm, even in the tensest of situations, but the thought of how close Caleb had come to getting shot was making me crazy. If I’d been just a few seconds later…

“He promised,” Caleb whispered. “He promised.”

I looked at Caleb and saw that he’d started rocking back and forth. He just kept repeating the words over and over again.

As pissed as I was, my worry for Caleb’s mental state was greater. I reached over to settle my hand on his knee. “Hey, look at me,” I said.

He didn’t.

“Caleb, it’s going to be okay,” I murmured.

It really wasn’t, because we were both fucked. There was no way Caleb would ever be able to go back to his old life now, since the cops would be looking for him. Despair went through me as I considered the life he’d have – always running, always looking over his shoulder.

I considered my options as I got us onto the beltway. I couldn’t risk staying in the D.C. area.

And I couldn’t do this alone.

I muttered another curse and then reached for my phone. Not surprisingly, Memphis answered on the first ring.

“Where is he?” Memphis asked.

“I have him,” I said. “But we need to get out of town. Far out of it,” I added.

Memphis was silent for a beat and then said, “Head west and tell me where you stop. I’ll meet you there.”

I glanced at Caleb. He was still rocking back and forth. “We can’t go for long. Caleb’s not doing well.”

I heard Memphis sigh just before he said, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I hung up on him and put the phone in the cup holder. I reached for Caleb and forced him to release the hold he had on himself so that I could link my fingers with his. “Hang on, Caleb. I’ve got you now.”

But as expected, he didn’t answer.

He didn’t do anything but rock back and forth, softly whispering the same two words over and over again.

He promised.

I drove only long enough to get us back to the mountains, but I didn’t dare head to the motel we’d stayed in the night before. There was just too great of a chance of the motel owner recognizing Caleb. I got us to the western side of the mountains and began the search for what I wanted.

I found it in the form of a remote cabin that appeared abandoned. Caleb had finally fallen asleep and while he’d looked incredibly uncomfortable pressed up against the door with his bulky backpack still strapped to his back, I hadn’t even considered waking him up to urge him to take the thing off. I left him in the car as I did a quick check of the cabin and confirmed there was no one around. It took just seconds to pick the lock and get inside. I was surprised to find that the cabin wasn’t as abandoned as I’d thought. It was decently furnished and had power. But there was a layer of dust on everything, so I figured the owner hadn’t been back in a while.