His escape happened spur of the moment. Thin pajama bottoms and hospital slippers on his feet proved this, both totally grimy and beyond saving, they now belonged in the dumpster next to him. Bent in half, hands on his knees, he had trouble staying upright as his balance wavered. Only a dark head of unruly hair was visible with his head down.
With his small build and physical ailment, he certainly looked like an easy mark, someone weak and vulnerable. But when provoked, he knocked the fire-wielding mages on their asses. We only showed up to see the end, so what he did exactly wasn’t clear. He may not even know. Perhaps newfound supernatural abilities confused him and caused him to run as he struggled to understand himself and the world, neither of which made sense anymore.
Then his head rose. Those dark eyes were stunning. They were also wild, alive,livid.
Clearly there were many details I was missing here.
“Ready to go, John?” Chase wondered, confirming he did recognize the man. “How about we stop at McDonald’s on our way back?”
The man, John, only scowled at him.
“Still don’t like me very much, huh?” Chase concluded, nodding to me next. “You try.” He went to survey the rest of the scene.
John steadied himself, preparing to face me, the unknown threat. With no background information to consult and him already so guarded and tense, I commented on the one thing we already had in common.
“I didn’t like Chase either when we met,” I spoke about the ‘charming’ detective who just left us. “Congratulations on having good taste.”
Sorry, Lucas,I apologized internally for insulting my brother inadvertently.
John didn’t tense or scowlmore, so that counted as a victory. I took a step closer to introduce myself.
“I’m Detective Lysander Temple.”
"Can’t you just let me go?" he whispered to the dirty ground, wrapping his arms around his middle.
"Do you have somewhere else to go?"
He stayed silent, for a second. Then he doubled over, coughing and leaning an arm on the dumpster for support. God, he was in no state to be out here and a far cry from the prisoner escape we thought we were dealing with initially.
His demons—metaphorically speaking at this point since I didn’t know the particulars of his case—led him to taking his chances on the street when he could barely stand. Which meant his location, whether a back alley or a secured medical facility, only mattered so much. No safe place existed for him. Was there any way to give him a measure of security?
“If we escort you back to the rehab center, our officers will be too busy shooting me death glares and cursing my very existence to even notice you.”
“Aren’t you an agent too?” His eyes narrowed, and I had his full attention as he puzzled through my words. “They don’t like you?”
“Chase does,” I admitted. “But he’s obligated to like me since he’s sleeping with my brother.”
He might not have even noticed that he’d inched closer to me. “Your coworkers hate you. What does that have to do with me?”
There were two options with a target on your back: stop whoever targeted you firstorshield yourself by offering up a bigger target.
I laid out my case for him. “It’s simple. I’m lying to you or I’m not. Either way, you’ll learn something by finding out the truth. Each piece of information gets you a step closer to your goal, giving you more to work with than you had before.”
“That only matters if I go back with you,” he said.
“Will you?”
I cursed myself for giving him a direct question to answer. An open-ended invitation for a lift back there would be best. He could decide in his own time and convince himself to come back. Instead I’d asked a question. Direct questions were so easy to refuse and forcing the issue would do nobody any favors if he said no.
Finally, after what felt like a small eternity, he nodded.
John inched forward on his journey out of the alleyway, unable to take larger steps or go without something to assist him. I stepped forward reflexively and raised my arm to help, and he began to tense instantly, just as he had before bolting into this alley when I offered my hand the first time. I hastily withdrew my offer.
Needing support and being able to accept it were two different things, something I had greater appreciation for after recent events.
I stayed close enough to help if he fell yet far enough to respect the gigantic boundaries he’d thrown up between him and the rest of the world. We were probably an odd pair as officers worked around us and we slowly approached our vehicle. Whatever was going on here, I had a feeling that this was the easy part.
~
