A phone began ringing just as Jason was leaving the train station nearest to his home. Due to his shaken mental state, it took Jason a solid ten seconds before he realized it was his own. Much to his surprise, the incoming call was from his aunt’s company.

“Hello?” Jason picked it up hastily.

“I’m sorry to be calling you so late Jason.” Helen the secretary apologized.

“No you’re fine.” Jason checked the time. “Though it is a bit surprising that you’re still at the office after ten o’clock.”

“Well, after we spoke earlier, I really wanted to get you in touch with your aunt.” Helen’s voice shook slightly.

Jason felt goosebumps spring to life across both of his arms.

“As it turns out, Shannon never checked in with her hotel. In fact, according to the airline she never made her flight. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this Jason, but we don’t know where your aunt is at the moment.” Helen choked up.

The world spiraled around Jason. His unsteady feet and blurry vision forced him against a nearby wall for support.

“What… What does this mean?” Jason struggled to put comprehensive thoughts together.

“I’m so sorry hun, we don’t know anything yet. Don’t worry. I’ve already been in contact with the police department and they are going to put out a missing person’s report. A very nice detective spoke with me and told me that she was going to look after you until your aunt was found. Has she shown up to your house yet?”

“I’m not sure.” Jason shook his head and fought to keep his breathing controlled to avoid hyperventilating. “I’ve been out.”

It had to be her. Jason wanted to vomit at the thought. If Detective Anderson is involved then it has to be Adaline.

“Are you okay Jason?” Helen asked. “Do you need me to send someone to pick you up? Where are you?”

“N-no. I should be fine.” Jason said as his legs began to steady themselves. “I’m only a block or two from my house.”

They went back and forth a few times. Helen was a sweet older lady. She didn’t know Jason very well but she was still determined to make sure he was looked after and okay while Shannon was missing. After Jason finally convinced her that he was capable of making it home on his own, Jason hung up and slowly finished the journey. As he rounded the final corner, Jason spotted a familiar black SUV parked in front of his house. A flash of red hair was visible at his front door and Jason could hear loud knocking from the waiting detective. Jason set foot onto his walkway just as Ms. Anderson pulled out her phone. Jason felt his own vibrate in his pocket a moment later. The detective whipped around and relief filled her panicked face.

“Jason!” She rushed forward and embraced him tightly. “I got worried when you didn’t answer the front door. I thought maybe something had happened to you before I got here.”

The hug lasted a few seconds longer than it should have, but Jason was too distracted to notice the way Ms. Anderson’s hands lingered on his body. She had on a sleeveless black shirt and dark green pants. A small utility belt held her holster around her waist along with a small pouch. Her scarlet hair hung loose over her back. Overall, she struck a far more casual look compared to the last time they met.

“What happened to my aunt?” Jason asked the detective.

He knew that Helen had only reported his aunt as missing a few hours ago but Jason held out hope that the detective perhaps knew something Helen didn’t.

“We’re not sure.” Ms. Anderson pulled back from the hug but kept her hands on Jason’s shoulders. “But I promise you that I will look after you... until she is found.”

Jason didn’t catch the hesitant way the detective added the last part of her statement. However, Jason did notice a large duffle bag on the ground next to the front door.

“What’s that?” Jason pointed to the duffle.

“Well, I am going to need some clothes while I stay with you.” The detective chuckled lightly.

“You're going to stay here with me Detective Anderson?” Jason asked.

She nodded. “And please, call me Kylee.”

“... Okay… Kylee.” Jason responded slowly.

Small red flags lifted themselves in the back of Jason’s mind. Though his mind was being pulled in a thousand different directions, Jason was beginning to recognize worrying signs. Like the way Kylee blushed when he said her first name, or the nervous excitement she seemed to be feeling despite the circumstances of her visit. Jason’s instincts were crying out that something was wrong but Jason forced them to be silent.

Logic argued that there was no chance that the detective could have succumbed to his ability. Jason was turning eighteen next week, and as far as he could tell Kylee was at least twenty-three. Though he had never done formal testing of his ability nor its limits, Jason never had someone more than two or three years older become obsessed over him. That was the logical reason to ignore Kylee’s worrying behavior. The other, and far more dominant reason, was purely selfish. Jason didn’t want to be alone. He’d rather lie to himself and pretend that nothing was wrong than try and force Kylee away. She was offering him protection from a past that refused to leave him alone. Now that Shannon was missing Jason didn’t have many directions to turn for safety of mind.

“Thank you.” Jason told the red haired detective.

Kylee gave him another quick hug in response. “I assure you it's no trouble.”

Jason unlocked the front door but Kylee stopped him from entering.

“Just to be safe, let me check the house first.” The detective pushed herself past Jason and into the house.

Jason’s mouth went dry as he watched Kylee’s hand drift down to her holster.

“Do you think Adaline had something to do with my aunt’s disappearance?” He asked the cautious detective as she scanned the front room.

Kylee paused for a few moments before she responded.

“The timing doesn’t really match up. A hunter disappeared in the Atticutte Forest earlier today. Given the distance from the facility Adaline escaped from and the fact that the forest is on a direct line between where you live and her location, she’s the primary suspect in the disappearance. The hunter’s truck is gone as well. We’ve got the plate number and description in the system so hopefully we pick up her trail before she gets too far but…”

Kylee shot Jason a pained smile. “That’s for me to worry about though. I promised you that I wouldn’t let her get close to you and I intend to keep that promise.”

Jason nodded but recognized that something didn’t add up.

“So if Adaline is still at least a hundred miles from here, how could she kidnap my aunt? Doesn’t that mean she isn’t involved?” Jason asked.

Kylee shook her head. “Maybe Adaline isn’t involved. But until we know for sure she doesn’t have an accomplice I have to work under the assumption it's all connected.”

Kylee began to sweep the house, checking all of the closets and cupboards but found nobody lurking within. Only after she finished with the upper floor did she let Jason re-enter his home. Jason locked the front door and Kylee set her duffle bag on the long couch that Hayden had slept on last night.

“Okay.” Kylee placed her hands on her hips. “I was planning on ordering myself something to eat, are you hungry?”

“No, I actually ate with a friend before coming home.” Jason rubbed his eyes.

Kylee’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Ate with a friend? Was it that Hayden boy I met the other day?”

Jason didn’t like how suspicious she sounded so he decided to lie.

“Yeah. We wanted to try out a Korean barbeque place we hadn’t been to before.” He answered cooley.

Jason still didn’t think that Kylee could be affected by his ability.

So why lie? His brain asked him.

Jason pushed the thought aside. He didn’t want to consider the implications.

“Oh,” Kylee looked relieved. “That’s good.”

She cleared her throat. “But you should probably be a bit more cautious for the next few days. You’re fine to keep going to school but make sure you’re only traveling straight there and back, okay?”

Jason nodded. At least it would give him a solid excuse to avoid Courtney, Jessica, and Kirsten. Hopefully his situation will lead them to not be as confrontational with each other, as no one will be monopolizing his time above the others.

Yeah, hopefully… Jason scoffed at his own optimism.

 It was a nice thought, but Jason doubted it would be that simple. Either way, Jason needed that unencrypted hard drive back from Kirsten as soon as possible.

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Kirsten leaned back in her computer chair and shut her eyes. It had taken hours to dig into Jason’s hard drive and trick the device into disclosing its secrets. The tech was good, especially considering it was over a decade old. Kirsten hadn’t asked what it was or where Jason had got it from, but after all of the effort she went through to open it up, Kirsten was terribly curious.

Jason didn’t tell me I couldn’t look… She reasoned with herself.

It didn’t take much more convincing before she had the device hooked up to her computer and its contents opened up.

What is all this? Kirsten felt her heart rate increase as she clicked through the immense amount of files on the drive.

It was research of some kind. Research pulled from all over the globe throughout all eras of history. After a few dozen files were opened on her machine, Kirsten began to see a theme.

Why would Jason have this library about-

Kirsten’s monitor froze. She blinked and waited for a second but there was no change. Kirsten groaned and tried to hit a few keys to elicit a response from her beloved computer. The mouse began to move, only Kirsten wasn’t the one moving it. Kirsten jumped up in her chair, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Someone took remote control of my computer! Kirsten frantically mashed out commands but the computer was no longer accepting her inputs.

Meanwhile, the perpetrator on screen began to download a copy of Jason’s hard drive and transfer it elsewhere. Kirsten swore and dove down to the computer’s tower. Both the power button and the reset button proved useless. Though it pained her soul, Kirsten ripped the power cord out of the electric socket. The computer flickered briefly but died from sudden loss of power. Breathing heavily, Kirsten began her careful restart. She took every precaution, ready to kill the machine again if the perpetrator came back for round two. After reaching the home screen, Kirsten began a deep and thorough purge of her computer. She found the backdoor and crude software that had been used to take control of the machine and cut it away. It took another few hours of grueling work but in the early hours of the new day Kirsten could say with certainty that her computer was completely hers once more.

The most frustrating part for Kirsten, was the method of installation of this remote access. She hadn’t been hacked or tricked into downloading something she shouldn’t, Kirsten would never fall for something so petty. Instead, whoever had left this software behind had used Kirsten’s own profile to log in and insert it. The perpetrator had somehow gained physical access to Kirsten's computer, used her password to log in, and done whatever he/she wanted. To top it all off, Kirsten had failed to prevent them from fulfilling their goal. 

Jason’s hard drive and the contents were intact and not corrupted, which Kirsten was extremely grateful for, but she had failed to stop the data from being transmitted elsewhere. Whoever had done this, now had a complete copy of the contents of Jason’s drive.

JTNestman

Running a bit behind schedule so I'm forced to edit this after posting. If you see any issues feel free to call them out and I'll fix it once I get back to the chapter. As usual, thanks for reading.