Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (17 page)

Cliff entered the room and sat on the
end of the couch opposite of Lauren. “I’m sorry, son. I know you have your own life to live and all, but this is kind of important.”

“So important that none of you could even tell me what’s going on?” asked
Thad.

With a dejected sigh, the old man replied. “I don’t think Prim wanted to tell you anything because he was afraid it would influence your visions.” He watched as
Thad’s clenched jaw relaxed slightly. Though he didn’t know for sure that it was in fact Prim’s intent, he knew that it is what he would have recommended had the opportunity for a recommendation presented itself.

Sitting back in the recliner,
Thad slumped into the chair. “I suppose that makes sense,” he replied. “Doesn’t mean I like being in the dark, but it makes sense.”

“Have you seen anything else since?” asked Cliff.

Looking at his watch, Thad replied sarcastically. “In the last two hours? No, I haven’t seen anything else.”

Cliff shot him a look that demonstrated a fatherly ‘
watch that tone’
sort of vibe.

“Sorry, Dad,” replied
Thad. “It’s just that my life was kind of getting back to normal since the last time you all paid me a visit.”

“I was just here a couple months ago,” replied Cliff.

“I was talking about the Union Station thing!” shouted Thad as he began to rock in the chair.

“You weren’t even there,”
countered Lauren with her eyes remaining locked on the television.

Gripping the arms of the recliner tightly,
Thad scowled at Lauren. “Are you serious?” he asked. “I had to put up with some crazy sh…”

“Enough,” commanded Cliff. “None of this matters. What does matter is that we find Agent Dawson.”

Without a word, Thad stood and walked towards the short hallway that led to his bedroom.

“Where’re you goin’?” asked Cliff.

“To get my laptop!” shouted Thad as he disappeared from the room.

Suddenly
, Lauren stood from the couch and spoke ominously. “You don’t need it.”

Promptly r
eturning to the living room with laptop in hand, Thad asked, “What did you say?”

Lauren pointed once again to the television.

All three of them stared blankly at the image of a man wearing yellow tinted glasses with tight, clean-cut hair. It was an older military photograph, but Cliff immediately knew who it was without even reading the caption or hearing the newsperson speak.

“Who the hell is that?” asked
Thad.

“Shut up!” shouted
Lauren as she bent down to pick up the remote from the coffee table. Frantically, she pressed the volume button and glared at the screen.

“… Dawson joins the nearly one dozen missing persons from the region in the last six months who have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The disappearances have been confirmed in Virginia, Massachusetts, and now Dawson is the second confirmed in New Jersey. Information from an undisclosed source states that all are suspected homicides and that, aside from the obvious conclusion that the perpetrator is moving north state by state, each of them seem to follow a familiar pattern. Attempts to get confirmation from state and federal officials have so far been unsuccessful.

“In other news, the cost of gasoline is set to…”

Lauren turned off the television leaving nothing but the sound of the ceiling fan overhead to fill their ears. “Well,” she said after a
moment of listening to the twirling blades. “I guess that clears that up.”

Having made his way ba
ck to the recliner, Thad took a seat. “Is that the guy?” he asked as he sank into the worn out chair.

“That was him,” replied Cliff.

After another pause, Thad glanced back and forth between Cliff and Lauren. “Are you sure?”

Cliff glared at his son
, images of the time he was held captive at the armory in Lincoln flashing through his mind. “I spent time face to face with that man,” he said sternly. “Yes—I’m sure.”

Thad
swallowed forcefully. Though he’d not seen this side of Cliff, it wasn’t hard to tell that he wasn’t in the mood for questioning. As he watched the old man stand from the couch alongside Lauren, he felt compelled to stand as well.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked.

Cliff glanced to Lauren. “We go home,” he replied.

“We need to get ahold of Prim,” said Lauren as she tossed the remote to the couch. “If all of these disappearances are from the northeastern part of the country, we have a pretty go
od idea of where the twins are. He should be able to get close enough that he would be able to feel them if they try anything again.”

With an assertive
nod, Cliff replied. “Agreed.” He watched Lauren as she arched her back with her hands on the small of her back. He saw it—the bump was unmistakable. Wide-eyed and nearly bursting to speak, he quickly looked away from her before she relaxed.

With a groan, Lauren laced her fingers and stretched her arms out in front of her. “We’d better get going,” she said.

Turning back to her and doing everything in his power not to stare at her belly, the old man replied. “You sure? Do you need to rest up a bit longer?”

Cocking her head to one side, Lauren glowered at the old man. “Will you knock that shit off!” she
shouted in disgust. “I’m fine.”

The room exploded with a blinding flash of white hot brilliance and then in a
n instant it was gone, taking Lauren with it.

Thad
rubbed his eyes and peered into the room through a giant black spot in his vision, realizing he was alone.

With Lauren gone, Cliff was left standing in the spirit world without a Shadow’s energy to provide him solid form. He glanced to the wall behind
Thad which housed the breaker box for the apartment. He’d used it as a source of energy before and it looked as though he would need to use it again. Taking the energy from the box, he was able to cross over and take a more solid form, though not to the extent as moments before.

Sensing his father’s presence behind him,
Thad turned to see the shadowy image of Cliff. “She’s a peach,” he said as he continued to rub his eyes.

With yet another concern on his mind, Cliff replied. “Yes, she is. But I’m afraid she’s bruised, son.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Thad, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Shaking his head
as if to shake loose reality, Cliff ignored the question. He looked up and, taking a step to his son, gripped his shoulders. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “You be sure to call Test if you see anything, you hear? It’s real important.”

“I will,” replied
Thad. “I will.” He watched as his father turned away; the old man’s expression was as faded and distracted as his ethereal form. “Take care,” he said.

Turning for a moment, just before releasing himself back into the spirit world,
Cliff nodded and gave a half-hearted wink. “You too, boy. You too.”

Alyssa and Aiden led the way through the dimming light of the forest. Though they could have traveled quickly, they didn’t. Instead, they allowed the serenity of the trees to calm their anxiety.

They stepped to the creek bank where Alyssa had stood only hours before; the spot where she first heard someone speaking on the other side. Aiden stood on Alyssa’s right side with his tiny hand clasping hers. Test stepped forward and held out his own hand for Aiden to take.

“Okay,” said Alyssa, trying not to let her nerves show. “We’re here. What do you want us to do?”

“I think it best if you two stay out of sight, but stay by my side,” replied Test.

“You’re just going to walk up into their camp?”
asked Alyssa.

With a sheepish grin, Test looked to Alyssa and then down to Aiden. “Pretty much,” he replied.

Taking a deep breath, Alyssa shrugged her shoulders. “Okay,” she said, squeezing Aiden’s hand a touch and leaning down to ask. “You ready?”

With a blank stare, the boy simply nodded.

Without a word, Test released his power and, as he did, he felt the touch of Aiden’s hand disappear. He stepped forward into the creek; it’s cool water a welcome comfort on his feet after the long walk. He could feel the two spirits walking closely; just behind and a little to the left.

Entering the tree line, he began to hear music playing and could just make out the faint glow of a campfire some twenty yards ahead. After closing the distance by half, he stopped and collected himself. Confidence was never his strong suit, but after a brief moment of hesitati
on, he shoved his hands into his pockets and took another step.

“Hello?” he shouted.

He instantly saw two figures jump from around the campfire.

“Hello,”
he said again, stopping for a moment. “I’m sorry if I startled you. Is it okay if I come into your camp?”

As he took another step, a small branch snapped beneath his feet and then he heard the sound of a shotgun cycle a shell into the receiver.

“What do you want?”

Test heard the man’s deep voice, but couldn’t locate him through the trees. “Just to talk,” he replied.

“Move along,” said the man. “We don’t know anyone from around here, so we’ve got nothing to talk about.”

Feeling the spirit of Alyssa and Aiden creeping closer to him, he glanced down to where he knew Aiden was. “That’s not true,” answered Test. “What about Aiden?”

The forest became instantly still; as though the gasp from the couple had stolen every ounce of life from within it. Suddenly, to Test’s right, a twig snapped and, as he turned, he found that he was looking down the wrong end of a twelve gauge. Behind it was the face of a man with a large black mustache and a furious red-eyed glare.

Remaining as calm as possible, Test couldn’t
stop the flinch that came when he saw the man. “Whoa,” he said, raising his palms. “I don’t mean any harm.”

The underbrush shuffled as a woman appeared at the man’s side.

“Damn it, Lisa,” said the man. “I told you to stay put.”

Lisa didn’t pay any attention to the man Test assumed was her husband. Standing directly to the man’s left and staying behind the shotgun, she spoke in a quivering voice.

“What did you say?” she asked Test.

Wetting his lips, Test replied. “I know this is going to sound crazy, and I’ve gone over this a million times in my head trying to figure out how to best show you without making you freak out, but I can’t think of anything other than to just show you.”

The man stepped forward, placing the tip of the barrel inches away from Test’s face.

“Robert!” cried Lisa. “Don’t!”

Test looked down the barrel and into Robert’s eyes. He could see the pain within them; the fear, the sadness…the anger.

“Sir,
” said Test. “I respect you for wanting to protect your wife, but I promise you. I mean you no harm.”

Reaching out with her left arm, Lisa placed her hand upon the barrel of the shotgun and slowly pulled it away from Test’s face until it pointed to the ground.
It was obvious that her husband provided little resistance.

Taking yet one step closer to Test, Lisa spoke just above a whisper. “You said the name Aiden, didn’t you?”

Though the gun was no longer in his face, the intensity of the moment hadn’t subsided at all. “Yes,” replied Test, a frog beginning to take up residence in his throat. “Your son.”

In a fraction of a second, Robert grabbed his wife’s arm and pulled her back. With the shotgun at his side, he stepped forward and stepped into Test
, nose to nose.

“What kind of shit are you trying to pull?” he asked.

Smelling the beer on Robert’s breath, Test knew that reasoning with him would be difficult in his inebriated state. Going for broke, Test replied. “What if I told you I could make it possible for you to see Aiden again—to tell him goodbye one last time?”

In a fit of fury, Robert leaned back, telegraphing his punch for Test to easily avoid.
As Test stepped to the side, Robert’s punch missed horribly and his momentum sent him tumbling to the ground. He scrambled to get to his feet as his legs seemed to forget their purpose. Bringing himself to a crouched position on a single knee, he felt his muscles tense as he prepared to tackle the intruder.

Holding his hands up, Test spoke ca
lmly. “Please. I know how this sounds, but I’m not playing any tricks. No games.” He watched as Roberts eyes glinted in the fire light. Without realizing it, night had fallen and the forest had grown as dark as it was silent.

Test stepped forward and offered Robert a hand. The man stared at it for a moment and then glanced around Test to his wife. Test looked over his shoulder to Lisa whose tears were only partially hidden in the darkness. Before he could turn back, Test felt Robert’s hand in his and he hoisted the man to his feet.