Desperate Measures ~ 8/?

[hemrage]

Masterpost for the verse: here.

Chapter 7


Chapter 8

With the strung out kids and dealers on one side of the street, and the whores plying their trade on the other, there was nothing about the neighborhood that could be considered ‘safe’. Nothing about it that didn’t scream a warning that he was about to get car jacked, have a gun thrust in his face or a knife in his back. He wouldn’t have gotten out of the car if it hadn’t been for Sam because, from the moment Sam had stepped out onto the cracked and weed riddled sidewalk, there was no way Jared was willing to stay behind and wait.

No fucking way.

He followed Sam toward the old house which looked even more dilapidated than its neighbors. The condemned sign hung from one rusted nail on the front door, it was – hopefully – enough to keep your average squatter or transient from trying it out for the meager shelter it offered. Treading carefully through the yard, he avoided the detritus that indicated it had become the neighborhood dumping ground for syringes and used condoms.

They stopped when they reached the back porch.

Jared couldn’t get over how unworried Sam appeared as he strode purposefully up onto the groaning wood and knocked on the door. He attempted to emulate the calm – and failed.

Three taps.

Pause.

Two taps.

Pause.

Three taps.

Jared found himself in the unusual position of having to look up as a man answered. The smile the stranger had for Sam quickly vanishing as he realized the face he recognized had company.

Sam patted the large man on the stomach, “Hey Rosey, this is Jared. Be nice.”

Instinct, and his parents’ strict upbringing, forced Jared to hold his hand out but all he got was a toothy grin and a ‘tap’ to the shoulder that felt more like a punch. He’d have a bruise there by morning. “Uh .. pleased to meet you.” He rolled his shoulder. Maybe the bruise was already there. Sure as hell felt like it.

He squinted into the gloom and shadows as they entered and was just about able to distinguish between the holes in the peeling drywalls and the stains that adorned them. The doors that took them into the rest of the house were missing and cupboards clung desperately to their brackets for fear of falling to their doom. A surprisingly sleek looking laptop sat on top of a wooden table littered with gouges and splinters. An array of boxes with glowing lights and switches that Jared didn’t have a hope of identifying surrounded it.

Rosey – Nick Rose – had to be almost 7 foot tall and just about as wide. The stubble on his head suggested his hair was red, which, on a black man, looked – odd.

Sam held his hands out and circled, grinning. “Nice place you got here.”

“Fuck off.” The hand gesture mirrored the unheated words.

“What you got?”

Even though he was smaller than Jared, Sam looked like he could more than hold his own with the giant who’d just moved to sit in front of the machine. Large fingers dancing gracefully over the keys.

“Credit cards not been used in the last 24 hours, but there’s a pretty convincing trail all the way down to Texas.”

“Where in Texas?” Jared got nothing but twin glares for his interruption.

Sam leaned over Rosey’s shoulder and Jared felt brave enough to edge closer.

“First transaction on US soil was three weeks ago, on the 20th in Jameson, Montana. A diner twice a day for 2 days and a motel for 2 nights. There was a gas station and a few stores in a town 50 miles south of there and then a series of motels, diners, stores and gas stations over the last two weeks. He’s been holed up in Texas for the last 8 days.”

“Where in Texas?”

This time Rosey answered, much to Jared’s relief. “Some place just outside of Dallas.”

Jared sagged, the headache he’d been sporting for the last three days beating a tattoo inside his skull. It would probably go away if he could catch some sleep. “He went home.”

Sam frowned, muttering only just loud enough to be heard. “It’s not his home anymore. Maybe …” Sam turned to Rosey. “Any way of finding out if he’s purchased or paid for any medical care over the last 3 weeks?”

Rosey’s barely there eyebrows lifted to kiss his hairline. “You’re kidding right? These days I could probably find out what time he has his daily shit. There are no secrets in this fair land. Everything is recorded and catalogued.” There was no disgust in the words, just resignation and acceptance.

“Then find out.”

Sam approached Jared as Rosey began tapping on the keyboard. “What are you thinking?” Jared lowered his voice. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust someone that Sam seemed to hold in such high regard, but this was his personal business – and he wasn’t in a sharing mood.

“I’m thinking that maybe he hasn’t come home because he doesn’t know where home is. Think about it, Jay. If he was hurt, woke up confused, maybe he actually believes he is Ross Johnson.”

“You’re talking amnesia? It’s a bit far fetched isn’t it?”

“Been known to happen.”

“Yeah, in fiction. Not real life.”

---

Ross pulled his sleeves down as far as they would go, uncomfortable with the way the woman was looking at him. With the way she stared at his naked forearms as she handed him the key to their room.

“Uh… thanks.”

She placed her hand on his as he moved away, looked at him intently. “You’re welcome, Mr. Johnson.”

He didn’t feel threatened by her, not given her advanced years and slight build, but he definitely didn’t feel comfortable with the attention. He’d gotten used to the way some people regarded him. The hunger that made him cringe inwardly even as he held a polite smile on his face, but this was different. Her gaze held concern and pity and he couldn’t see why he deserved either. He was nothing but grateful when she pulled her hand away as Mike stepped towards the reception desk.

“You alright?”

“Yeah.” He picked up the bag at his feet and handed the key to Mike, feeling the woman’s eyes on his back as he walked up the stairs.

The Wayfarer Inn was by far the nicest place they’d stayed in while they’d been on the road, but Ross was suddenly reluctant to stay. Not that he’d say as much to Mike. How could he explain that he was freaked out by someone being kind and concerned?

The door to their room swung open and Mike threw his bag on the one king size bed before turning. “Well this isn’t what I asked for.”

“She said it’s all there was.”

Mike nodded, opening his bag, pulling out his toiletries and dropping his bag on the floor by his feet. Kicking it under the bed. “Fair enough. I promise not to molest you in your sleep – and you’d better do the same.”

Ross laughed. Mike always knew how to cheer him up. He’d needed a lot of that over the last few days - since he’d accepted Texas held no answers and they started travelling east. Not quickly, of course, Mike still wasn’t in any particular hurry to reach the Big Apple.

He shook off the unease. Mrs Murnihan was probably just a very maternal woman. She’d probably see anyone walking with a slight limp and feel sorry for them. It wasn’t personal and he was letting the paranoia he accused Mike of possessing creep up on him. He had to get his head on straight.

While Mike was in the small en suite he walked to the window and watched the goings on out there, in the real world.

There was a park just across the road. Once upon a time it would’ve been full of children’s laughter while moms and dads went about their daily business, secure in the knowledge that in small communities like this their neightbors could be trusted to keep a casual eye on them. Now children were cosseted, kept close. Abductions, though still rare, were becoming more frequent as childless, desperate couples stole their hearts desire from those more fortunate. Just one case on the news and parents started acting like bodyguards, while schools introduced more security than Fort Knox. The park wasn’t empty, but every child out there had two or three adults keeping a vigil.

What kind of world were they growing up in?

“Penny for them.”

He’d not noticed Mike reenter the room, towel in hand as he dried his hair. “Just watching those kids over there.”

Mike looked over his shoulder. “What about them?”

He shook his head, unsure of how to verbalise what he was thinking. “You ever thought of having any?”

Mike laughed, throwing the towel back into the bathroom as he sat on the bed. “Got to find me a girl willing to have them with me first. And there aren’t enough to go round, so I try to avoid thinking about it. Why?”

“Just… I don’t think I ever want kids.”

He waited for Mike’s reaction. It was one thing to not be able to, but he’d realized over the last few weeks that it was something else entirely – maybe even traitorous – not to want to.

Mike said nothing. He got to his feet and walked to the door. “Come on, I’m starving.”

---

Jared sat in front of the computer, and tried to remember the sequence of instructions Rosey had given him to connect to the phone lines. Remembering to turn on the encoding software hadn’t been entrusted to him, so he knew, assuming he could get through, the call couldn’t be traced or listened in on. Not if he kept it short.
He listened to the audible ringing from the other side. When the phone picked up all he could hear was crying.

“Hello?”

Gentle breathing from the other end, nothing else.

Jared was just about to give up when a voice he recognized said ‘Hello.’

“Donna?”

“Jared? Is that you?”

Jared relaxed, hearing his son being spoken to softly. Being told to hush now because daddy was on the phone.

“Jared.. have..?”

“I’ve not found him yet, Donna. But we’re close.”

Jared listened to the silence. Listened to the quiet babble of the baby he could imagine perched on Donna’s knee.

“Sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. Sarah answered the phone. Knocked her brother over in her determination to get to it.”

Jared accepted her change of topic for what it was. The only way she could cope. “He still a bit wobbly?”

Donna’s laugh sounded forced. “Not as steady on his feet as his sister, that’s for sure.”

“They wearing you out?”

“No. No, they’re fine. If Jamie wakes up in the night Sarah keeps him entertained. She’s a special little girl, you know that? So much like …”

Jared heard her daddy even if she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

He looked at the timer on the screen.

“I’m going to have to go, okay. Just thought I’d let you know what’s going on.”

“Okay, Jared.”

“I’m bringing him home, Donna. I promise.”

Jared thought she’d already gone, thought the promise was too much for her to believe but instead he heard her voice as if from a distance, a quiet gurgling sound in his ear. “Say bye, Jamie. Say Goodbye.”

Jared waited, couldn’t believe how much he’d needed it, when he heard the ‘bub bub bub’ coming over the headset.

They would be a family again.

They would.

He was going to keep his promise if it killed him.



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Comments

[serendip50.livejournal.com]

Nice to see another chapter up. I do hope Jensen is found soon though....I'm missing the interaction between the boys and Sam.

Not sure what this Mike is upto...but I think he knows about Jensen being a gestate. xx