Part 5

The team comes together and KJ recieves some disturbing news

 

Part 5

 

 

CJ’s phone woke me again. This time I checked the caller ID to see who was calling. It was Kaki. Pulling both of my arms free of CJ’s embrace I opened the phone.

“Hello? Kaki?”

“KJ! Is that you? Are you okay?”

I smiled at Kaki’s frantic yet cheerful voice. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I told her. “A little battered and bruised, but I’m still in one piece.”

She sighed happily. “Well, that’s good. Hey, do you mind opening the door for me? We’re all here.”

“Oh. Okay. Just a minute.”

“Okay. See ya.” She hung up.

I dropped CJ’s phone on the bed beside me and gently shook the sleeping beauty beside me. “CJ,” I said softly. “Wake up. Kaki’s here with the others.”

She blinked up at me sleepily, a half smile on her face. “They’re here already?”

I nodded. “Yeah.” I looked over at the clock then back at CJ, surprised. “Yeah, I guess they are. It’s three o’clock in the afternoon. You know it doesn’t take Kaki that long to get anywhere. I swear she’s got turbo engines on that jet.”

CJ laughed softly. “I’ll bet she does. Come on then. Let’s get up and let them in.”

I was a little stiff so it took me a moment before I could actually get out of bed. When I did I had to lean on CJ for support. My whole body hurt worse than it had the night before and one of the gauze pads on my face was caked with dried blood that kept rubbing irritably against my face. Trying to ignore it I answered the door with CJ.

Kaki stood in the doorway, a tan knapsack over one shoulder. She looked me up and down before saying, “Oh my God KJ! What did they do to you?”

I laughed wryly but didn’t say anything. Kaki pushed us into the room and took my face in her hands. She turned my face back and forth, examining my injuries.

“God, he got you good,” she said. “I’ve never seen you get this beat up before.”

I shrugged. “He was…strong. And he had help.”

Kaki shook her head. “Damn. Where is he now?”

I shrugged again. “I don’t know, but I know he’s looking for me.”

“Well, the others have reserved a few rooms across the way. They came in as a hunting group.” She tossed her bag on the floor and sunk into the recliner near the window. “I have a feeling this isn’t going to be very easy. Do you think Chris is…inhabited?”

“He could be,” I said, sitting down gingerly on the edge of the bed.

CJ shook her head. “No, he can’t be.”

“CJ,” Kaki began, “don’t try to protect him just because he’s your brother. I mean, look what he did to KJ! He’s got to be inhabited.”

“But we don’t know that for sure,” CJ countered.

Kaki looked at me. “Did you sense anything?”

“No. But then again, I was too focused on keeping my pants on.”

Kaki’s eyes grew large and her mouth dropped open. “That son of a b***h tried to rape you?” she exclaimed incredulously.

I nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t let him.”

“Oh my God KJ!” She was out of the chair and hugging me in an instant. “That’s horrible. I’m glad you got away. I would have had to kick some serious a*s if he had.”

I chuckled wryly. “Yeah. I guess you would’ve.”

She let go of me and collapsed in the recliner again. “So, what’s the plan? Do either of you have any idea where he might be hiding out?”

“His house, one of his friend’s places.” CJ shrugged. “Who knows?”

Kaki sighed and ran her hands over her face then through her shoulder length brown hair. “That’s great. Just great. Can you describe him so I can send the others out to look for him?”

“Sure. He’s a little taller than I am, definitely more muscular than me. Looks to be about 23 or so, brown hair.”

“It’s black now,” I interrupted. “He’s got long bangs and the rest is all cut off short. And he had gauges. Blue ones.”

Kaki had produced a notebook and was scribbling away furiously. She looked up at us. “Okay. That should be enough. I’ll give this to the other guys and they’ll head out. Let me call Chester.”

She pulled out her cell phone, dialed a number and put it to her ear. “Hey Chester. Yeah, they’re okay. KJ doesn’t look it, but it’s all good. Hey, can you and the others come over here? I have some stuff to give you. Okay. See you in a few.” She hung up the phone and stuffed it back in her jacket pocket. “They’ll be right over.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later there was a knock on our door. Kaki answered the door and let in a tall man with an almost shaved head and dark sunglasses. He grinned at me and raised the sunglasses to show sparkling amber eyes. Behind him came another man, slightly shorter than the first with blonde hair pulled up into twisted spikes. They were followed by two girls, one with black hair styled in a pixie cut and another with blonde hair cut short on side and left to grow just past her cheek bone on the other side. They all gathered around me.

“God KJ, I’ve never seen you like this,” said the blonde man.

“Yeah,” agreed the blonde girl. “You really took a beating this time.”

Chester, the tall man with the shades held his hands up. “Okay guys, I’m sure KJ doesn’t want us standing around talking about the beating she took. We have a job to do, so let’s get to it.”

The others agreed and seated themselves. Chester and the blonde man sat on the footstool in front of the recliner. The black haired girl seated herself on one of the chairs at the small table with the blonde girl on her lap.

I suddenly realized that someone was missing and I looked at Kaki. “Where’s Sara?” I asked her.

Kaki bit her bottom lip. “She’s coming later,” she mumbled.

I looked over at the other two girls and raised my eyebrows. Rain, the one with black hair, winked at me and grinned. I nodded understandingly and looked back at Kaki.

“Oh,” was all I said.

Kaki ripped the page out of her notebook she’d been writing on and copied the information onto several more pieces of paper. Once done she handed them out to the others. “This is a description of Chris, taken from CJ and KJ. He probably looks something like CJ when it comes to facial structure seeing as how he’s her twin. But apparently he’s died his hair and now has gauges. What size would you say the gauges were?”

I closed my eyes and called up the painful images of his face leering at me. I didn’t want to do it, but I knew I had too. Finally I wrenched my eyes open, my heart pounding. “Size three,” I said before burying my face in CJ’s shoulder. She wrapped her arm around me and pulled me close.

“It’s okay,” she said, kissing my head.

“Okay, size three. Remember that you guys.” Kaki looked back down at her notebook. “He’ll probably have a black eye or some cuts and bruises somewhere. KJ showed him what she’s worth. So look for anyone who’s wounded.”

I laughed and lifted my head. Kaki looked at me. “What?” she asked.

“If you do that, you’re gonna have to bring in a lot of people,” I told her.

“What do you mean?”

“There was a fight at the party,” I said. “We started it when he punched me. Someone yelled ‘fight’ and then everyone was fighting. So I can assure you that a bunch of young people look pretty beat up.”

Kaki nodded slowly. “Okay then, don’t look for just that. Try to stick to the description I gave you. And be on the alert. I have a feeling he’s inhabited.”

The blonde girl on Rain’s lap gasped. “No way! What makes you think that?”

“I’ve never seen anyone give KJ such a severe beating other than someone who’s inhabited,” Kaki said. “KJ’s strong, and for her to get so beat up, there can’t be any other explanation other than that the person’s inhabited.”

“Well, did she sense anything?” Chester asked.

I shook my head. “No. But I was too preoccupied with keeping-with keeping him off me.” I kept my eyes on the floor, not wanting them to see the hurt on my face.

“So be careful,” Kaki went on. “And see if you can sense anything.”

The others nodded. Johnny, the blonde man and more commonly known as J5, folded his piece of paper and stuck in a back pocket.

“So, when do we start?” he asked.

“Well, I guess we could start now.” Kaki looked at me for approval.

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” I said. “Better now than-”

CJ’s phone chose that moment to start vibrating again. She picked it up and looked at it.

“Who is it?” I asked her.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “Unknown number.”

“Answer it,” Kaki ordered.

CJ opened the phone and put it to her ear. “Hello? Yes, this is her. How did you-yes, she’s here. Okay. Hang on.”

She pulled the phone from her ear and handed it to me. “It’s for you,” was all she said.

My heart was racing as I took the phone and put it to my ear. I swallowed once before saying, “Hello?”

“KJ? Is that you?”

I breathed a deep sigh of relief as Jack’s voice reached my ear. “Oh my God Jack, you scared me. Yes it’s me. How did you get this number?”

“I found your phone,” he said.

I frowned. “How did you find my phone? Chris took it from me.”

He laughed wryly. “Yeah, I know. He-I just found it. Now where are you? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

I frowned again. Something wasn’t right. Jack didn’t sound right. Alarms went off in my head and I suddenly feared that Chris had Jack and was trying to use him to find me. I decided to lie, even if that wasn’t the case. It was safer that way. “I’m at the Marriott,” I told him. “I went back to my room there after the party. Are you okay Jack?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. He didn’t sound like it. “Can I come see you?”

“Sure,” I said. “5 o’clock, the lobby. I’ll be near the bar.”

“Can’t I just come to your room?” he asked me. That confirmed that Chris was with him. Jack would never ask something like that. My heart began racing again and I gripped the edge of the bed until my knuckles turned white.

“Uh…okay Jack. Room 12050. It’s on the top floor. I’ll be waiting.” I swallowed hard.

“Okay,” he said. “Bye KJ.”

“Bye.” The phone clicked and I knew he’d hung up. I sat there for several moments just holding the phone before CJ gently took it from me. With her other hand she began running her fingers through my hair.

“What is it baby?” she asked my softly.

I turned slowly and looked at her, the tears beginning to brim in my eyes. “He has Jack, CJ. He has Jack.”

CJ’s eyes grew large. “How do you know?”

“Jack just wasn’t acting right. And when I asked him how he got your number he said he had your phone. And then I asked him how he got ‘cause Chris had it and he started saying ‘he’ but then just said that he found it. And he asked where I was and I lied to him and he wants to see me so I told him I’d meet him in the lobby but he said no he wanted to come to my room.” I shook my head as the tears started falling. “Jack would never do that! He’d just go along with me. I know Chris has him, I just know it!”

CJ hugged me tight and whispered, “It’s okay baby. It’s okay. We’ll get him back for you.”

Kaki stood up. “Well, I guess this makes our job a little bit easier. You told him the Marriott right?” I nodded. “All right then. And room 12050. Chester, you and J5 head over there and see if that room’s taken. If it is, head up there and see if you can get a hold of the people in it. You know how to do it.”

They nodded and stood up together. “We’ll scout the area too, see if anyone’s watching it,” J5 said.

Kaki nodded curtly. “Good. Now get going. Be thorough.”

Chester put his shades back on and grinned. “No need to worry about that. Come on J5, let’s go.” They left the room together, their heads already together and talking in hushed tones.

“What do you want us to do?” Rain asked.

Kaki looked at her. “You and Kris head out and scout around. See if you see Chris anywhere. If you do, follow him and report back to us on whatever he’s doing.”

Kris, the blonde girl, stood up and stretched. “I have a feeling I’m not really going to like this.”

CJ snorted. “You’re right, you’re not. Especially since Chris is involved.”

Rain stood and took Kris’ hand. “Come on Krissy. Let’s go stalk some people.”

“My favorite,” Kris said sarcastically. They headed out together, leaving Kaki alone with us. I took the opportunity to question her.

“What’s going on with you and Sara?” I demanded.

She sighed and looked away. “It’s nothing, okay? Don’t worry about it.”

“I am worried,” I said. “I’ve never seen you on an assignment without her. Now what’s going on?”

Kaki buried her face in her hands. After a few moments she said, “We got in this big fight and now we’re not talking to each other.”

“What’d you fight about? If you don’t mind me asking,” CJ added quickly.

“It was nothing,” Kaki repeated. “Just don’t worry about it. We’ll work it out.”
I stood and went to her. Putting my hands on both sides of her face I lifted it to look into her eyes. “Kaki, we’re your friends. And when one of us is upset, the rest of us worry. And you know how that can mess things up. You need a clear mind if you’re going to do this. Now tell me what this was all about and maybe we can help you guys get through it.”

She looked away from me. “KJ, please. I told you-”

“It’s nothing, I know,” I interrupted. “But it doesn’t look that way to me. And I’m not going to let this rest until you tell me.

Kaki sighed and ran her hands over her face then back through her hair. I removed my hands from her face and stood feeling awkward in front of her. Finally she looked up at me and said, “Okay, I’ll tell you.”

I sat down on the bed and slipped my hand into CJ’s.  

“KJ, please don’t get offended by this, but we got in a fight over you,” Kaki began. I opened my mouth to protest but she held her hand up. “Please, let me explain. Sara…she’s not very fond of the fact that I’ve been flying out to help you a lot lately when you go places. And after I told her why we were leaving she just lost it. She asked me why we all had to go help you fight off one guy. As she said, ‘after all, she’s a f*****g changer! Can’t she handle it herself?’ I tried to explain it to her, but nothing I said made any sense. We ended up saying things to each other that-well, I know I regret saying those things. She probably does too, but I don’t know. She’s not coming this time. She told me that. I haven’t talked to her since the fight.”

I felt a wave of sympathy for the young woman wash for me. I stood again, pulled her up and hugged me. “I’m sorry Kaki,” I said in her ear. “I really am. Do you think it would help if CJ or I talked to her?”

Kaki let go of me and straightened her jacket. “I don’t think it’ll help if you talk to her, but if CJ does, she might come around.”

“If it’s okay with you I’ll call her in a while,” CJ said after hugging Kaki.

“Sure,” Kaki said. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When she opened her eyes again she said, “Well, let’s get to work then. You two need to be presentable, and we have to set a trap for Chris.”

I nodded slowly, my heart beginning to race again. “Okay,” I said, my voice a little unsteady. Both girls gripped my hands.

“It’ll be okay,” CJ said.

Kaki grinned. “Yeah. We’ll kick his a*s for sure this time.”

I smiled back, still totally unsure about all of this. They let go of my hands and we began to get ready.

Reviews

[Amund Schofield]

I like how you're putting the supernatural in nonchalantly.

[Clark]

You've got some interesting developments here. It went from really interesting family drama with another layer to reeaally really interesting something else with an intriguing 'other' side. I'm curious and excited for the rest to come.