Jack stood in the doorway of his house and looked around. He couldn't see anyone, but he knew that they were there. Again there was no real feeling of malevolence, but more of curiosity. Jack's hand rested on the butt of his gun as he stepped back into the house and closed the door locking it behind him. He wasn't frightened but angered that the thing whatever it was; was at his home. He found it ironic that it had appeared on the anniversary date that he had had to kill Emily. He waited a few minutes, went back to the front door and slowly opened it. Gun in hand he stepped out of the house and looked around. Whatever it was; it was gone.
*
Cherie watched Jack as he looked around and thought him attractive for a human. She liked his height, his dark good looks and the way in which he carried himself. She also felt his anger and knew that if given a chance he would try to kill her. But even so, she felt drawn to him and then she felt protective of him. She cursed under her breath and left. Her life had just gotten more complicated. Unable to stay away, she went back to watch the house. She thought better of it and vanished.
*
Jack stood watching and listening for a full five minutes before he went back inside. He changed clothes keeping his gun close by and went to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. While it brewed, he turned on his laptop and began to enter all of his notes so that he could save it on an external hard drive and a flash drive. The flash drive would go to Ben just in case anything happened to him and the hard drive would go into a safe located behind the refrigerator. It was a pain in the ass to move, but no one would think to look there for a safe. No one, not even Ben knew about it. His attorney had three letters that would be sent out in case of his demise telling where the safe was. The recipients, one of whom was Ben would know what to do from there.
He stopped entering his notes long enough to pour himself a cup of coffee and to take a sip. He was glad that he had gone over to Ben's. Ben's fresh eyes saw a few things that he had overlooked.
"This is an attempted coup," Ben said as they ate dinner. "Think about it- we know that there are clans in this area and that they're always bickering. We also know that some of the clans from the Midwest and other places are beginning to look in this direction."
"Shit," Jack swore. "The human woman was intentional."
"Yes and if it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else," Ben said. "Why he left a witness I don't know, but it wasn't planned. I think that whoever owns the lower rogue is the one behind this. I also think that he's going to have the rogue kill again and point the blame at one of the two major players here- Troy Cross and Xavier Dubois. If they're always at each other's throats, all he has to do is sit back and watch as they destroy each other. After that, he cleans up the mess and Pennsylvania's got a new boss."
It was beginning to make sense.
"I think that we're looking at someone from the Midwest," Jack said. "Philly has what the Midwest doesn't- major water access that is close by which means something else; he isn't going to stop here. He's got plans for any of the states that have ocean or river access."
"Probably," Ben agreed. "I'll make a few phone calls to see if anything pops up. My guess is that there have been some murders that have either been shelved as unsolvable or are being covered up. When the time is right, he'll have those clans at each other's throats too by using those deaths. He also knows that it will bring the slayers so he has to stay out of sight."
"He could be anywhere," Jack replied.
"True which means that we have to find that lower rogue if we want to know who's behind this," Ben said. "I think that it's time to call the slayers. I know that some of them are here, I just need to find out whom and then contact them."
"That sounds like a plan, but Ben; I don't need to tell you to be careful," Jack said. "My precinct has several people working for the monsters and you probably have a few in your office working for them too."
"I know for a fact that I do," Ben replied. "My boss is one of them as is my assistant and a few of the janitorial staff as well. They aren't aware that I know, but they are watching me because of my friendship with you."
"I don't like it," Jack said softly. "I think that you need to take a leave of absence or something. Come stay at my place or we can go somewhere else. The more we talk about this the more nervous I'm getting. We don't know who my captain or the medical examiner is working for nor do we know who your people are working for. For all we know it could be our unknown clan."
Jack kept talking when he saw Ben was balking at the idea of leaving work.
"Ben- I need you. You have been more than a friend to me, you're like a brother. If something happened to you, I swear to god; I'll walk into a bar and never leave. Take a sabbatical or something. Don't go in to the office tomorrow."
By the time Jack left, Ben had promised to think about it.
*
Jack was on his third cup of coffee when his cell phone rang. He answered without looking at the caller ID. The only person that would be calling him so late was Ben.
"Ben? Wh.....?
"Is the offer to stay with you still open?" Ben asked. He sounded calm, but Jake could hear the nervousness in his voice.
"Of course it is, but..."
"I'm on my way," Ben said and hung up.
Jack tapped his fingers on the table and made a decision. They couldn't stay at his house either. Ben's call combined with the fact that he had been watched when he got home told him that they needed to move to a safer place. He removed the hard drive from the laptop and placed it in the computer bag and packed the laptop up. He then moved the fridge, opened the safe and emptied it of its contents which included cash, an extra fire arm, ammunition and several external hard drives. On second thought, he left the flash drives. He had to leave something in case anything happened to the hard drives that he had with him. Everything else he threw into the laptop bag. He quickly packed enough clothes and toiletries for a few days and was ready to go by the time Ben was at the door.
"We're not staying here," Jack said when he opened the door. "I'll explain while we drive."
Instead of taking either of their cars, they took Emily's car that Jack had kept up but didn't drive unless it was to have it serviced. It was always hard for him to get into the car and tonight was no exception. The purple dream catcher that he had bought for her on their trip out west still hung on the rearview mirror. In fact, everything that she had left in the car was still there. He couldn't make himself throw them away.
Jack swallowed hard and blinked back tears when he caught sight of the red blanket that Emily always took to the movie theater with her. He started the car, backed out of the driveway and drove away.
"So tell me what happened," Jack said as he headed in the direction toward center city.
"After you left, I got to thinking about what you said about quitting and was about to call you. I picked up the phone and heard something outside. When I looked, there wasn't anything there, but there had been. I knew it, I could feel it. Something happened at your place too didn't it?" Ben asked.
Jack told him what happened and where they were going.
"Emily's parents owned a small storefront type building not far from downtown. When they died they left it to her. We had planned to sell it and put the money away for our kids, but after she... I couldn't do it. I come here every so often and spend the night here. There are a couple of sleeping bags and some basic food stuffs..."
