Chp. 26 “Close Call”

The silence in the car continued hours after we left my mom’s house, and even though it was slightly awkward, I didn’t mind. I needed to think, and I needed to sort through the information I had gathered from my mom. There was just so much I didn’t know before I talked with her, and now that I had I felt a sense of overwhelming.

I started with the thought of me inheriting my dad’s power, and how it was bizarre considering it usually skipped at least five generations. I knew there were freak occurrences in the world, they happened every day. Kids were born with genetic mutations and such, and a freak occurrence had happened to me, Andrea Brock.

So here I was with my now three powers, Healing, Electricity control, and now Telekinesis. It worried me because just recently I had been informed that if I absorbed too many powers it could be devastating, and although I was a Healer, I wasn’t taking chances.

Then I thought about Blaine and this guy Roger, and I knew there was a connection, there had to be. I knew better than to label it as a coincidence, and even though I decided to hold off on the phone call to Roger, I knew it would become inevitable. I knew once I spoke with him and made it safely to the Bureau everything was going to start making a lot more sense, but I wanted to process everything else first.

So my dad had been murdered by an agent from the F.P.S., and he was on a rescue mission to save a Healer, who I figured had to be Blaine. I remembered how he had told me he was captured by the F.P.S. because he was a Healer but what stopped me in my tracks was because he told us that they were trying to make Super Soldiers. My dad rescued Blaine just in time before the government finally found a way to give not only mortal people this power, but they wanted to make soldiers invincible.

The eeriness of the thought sent chills through my body. Imagining soldiers that could survive nearly anything, holding guns and marching through the streets…

That could absolutely not happen.

Avery’s hand slipped through mine as her head leaned on my shoulder, snapping me out of my daydream. I smiled, scooting in closer to where we would both be more comfortable. I felt protectiveness over everyone in this car, but it was on a high alert for Avery. I ran my hand soothingly through her soft hair, hoping that everything would be easier than we were all fearing. Finding this Bureau was important, especially to Avery, Max, and Gage.

If this disease got out of hand they wouldn’t be immune to sickness like I am, and I couldn’t watch my friends die that horrible death.

I noticed Max had started to doze off once again in the front seat as Gage started messing with the GPS. I watched curiously, seeing him pick a different route and selecting it. The monitor spoke, “Exit off at the next four exits,” and I watched the pink route change slightly.

I spoke up, “Gage, why did you change the route, we still have hours till were supposed to exit off?”

His eyes glanced to the rearview mirror but they didn’t look at me, and suddenly horrid thoughts came to mind. He had been completely silent the entire trip, and when I accused the government of all the atrocity he became defensive.

Was it possible that he was a Spy for the F.P.S. and we didn’t know?

Was it possible that we were being kidnapped?

My heart hammered in my chest thinking about Gage, someone who we had all trusted, to possibly be doing this. I didn’t want to make a scene, but right now he was acting extremely shady, and I didn’t want secrets.

I repeated myself with more aggression, “Gage, why did you change the route?”

He stayed looking forward, not answering me at first, and when his eyes looked away from the mirror he spoke in a demanding tone. “Andy, wake Avery up.”

By now Max was up and aware of his surroundings, and I nudged Avery, causing her to sit up quickly. Gage spoke again, his demeanor changing completely, “Put on your seat belts now.”

I snapped mine along with Avery, feeling the fear creep up and nearly cripple my ability to speak. Max looked at the GPS and caught the same thing I did, looking back at me.

Was he in on this too? There was no way…

“We’re being followed.”

As the words exited Gage’s mouth I realized I had assumed all wrong, but now I felt more anxiety well up in my chest. I questioned, “W-What?” Who would be following us? And how was he sure that we were being followed?

Then Gage hit the gas hard, sending the vehicle flying forward and nearly colliding with the rear of the car in front of us. My back pressed against the leather seat as my hands found the side of the door, gripping hard. Avery screamed slightly before suppressing it with her palm as Gage jerked the vehicle into the other lane, cutting off a huge 18-wheeler. He horned at us, causing me to jump from the sudden noise as Gage continued to speed down the lane.

I nearly yelled, “How do you know we’re being followed?!”

Although we were all freaking out, he was managing to keep his cool, but continued to ignore me. He was completely focused on the road. I heard the hum of the engine grow louder, causing a great amount of fear to constrict around my heart. I looked back, and to my surprise there was a black Dodge Charger nearly on our tail.

Gage was right.

I glanced back at the speedometer, seeing that we had now reached a little over 90 miles per hour. Avery’s grip on me tightened as Max’s hands were gripping the arm rests on the side of his seat. Then I began counting the exits, knowing that on the fourth one Gage would force the car off of the highway in hopes to ditch whoever was following us.

I was paralyzed by fear as I felt completely out of control by the situation, watching the speedometer hit almost 100. Every element in my body screamed but I could do nothing about this. Max’s knuckles were white with fear as they gripped his chair, and Avery was holding the handle above her head with a death grip.

This situation was completely out of our hands.

We passed the second exit quickly, cars horning furiously as us while Gage cut off yet another white Suburban. Avery whimpered next to me as we watched in horror, knowing if Gage had the smallest fuck-up and we would all die.

Then Gage slammed on the gas harder, moving the gear shift and causing us to accelerate more. Our vehicle shot off and he passed in between two vehicles, horning angrily for them to get out of the way. I looked behind us, hoping to see we had lost whoever was tailing us but they were only about five car lengths behind us.

I groaned in frustration, feeling the fear tighten around my vocal chords, disabling me from speaking. Then another exit signed flew by, along with the ramp to lead us off onto another side road. I knew the next exit would be the one we would have to take, but would we make it without the person behind us?

My heart slammed against my rib cage, and as I managed to suppress yet another yelp of fear, the car took off faster. Our speedometer now read 120.

I saw the warning sign come on as the engine threatened to overheat, but that didn’t stop Gage. The exit was just half a mile ahead of us now, and I knew if we could make it everything would be ok.

I looked behind us and through the back tinted window, seeing the black Dodge switch lanes and approach the backseat, passenger side door. I watched in horror as the exit approached quickly, making me fear that this person would cut us off and continue following us.

Then Gage spoke, “Hold on!”

He slammed on the brakes, catching the Dodge’s driver off guard and allowing him to continue down the highway at max speed. Gage swerved into the exit lane and continued to coast a trail of tire streaks across the highway. I watched in joy while we escaped the person that was following us while we continued off of the highway, leaving them to be forced to continue coasting.

Max looked back at me and Avery, but for some reason my heart was so slammed by adrenaline I figured it would take hours for it to slow. I leaned back in my seat as Max spoke, “What  The  Fuck?”

Gage looked at him, disbelief clear in his eyes, “Watch your mouth, really?”

Max slammed his hand on the center console, nearly scaring me, “Are you shitting me Gage? You’re telling me to watch my mouth when you damn nearly got us killed?!”

He continued down a back road and spoke, ignoring Max, “The next exits not for another five miles, that should give us enough time to ditch him. He’ll exit too but we’ll be long gone by then.”

“Gage, how did you know…?” My voice was desperate and confused but the fear had subsided and I could now speak.

He glanced back in his rearview and looked at me, “When we finished talking to your mom I saw that car parked down the street. I recognized the limo tint and his custom, bullet-proof tires. I mean it was obvious that, that car didn’t belong in the neighborhood. Then when we left they had been stupid enough to stay behind us and follow us for over an hour.”

I felt confused but relieved that Gage had seen all of that, knowing no one else in this car would’ve taken notice. I had been too oblivious and Avery and Max hadn’t been paying attention as well. If Gage wouldn’t have been paying attention we would’ve led this person right to our whereabouts.

Max spoke, “You don’t think they heard anything important when we were with Andy’s mom, huh?”

I felt a tiny bit of anxiety seep into me, praying to God that this person hadn’t heard the fact that I had the infamous Fred Mason’s power. If it had been a Spy from the F.P.S. then I would be completely screwed, and they would know who I really was.

And what I was capable of.

I knew if they had found out I was Fred’s biological daughter that they would know I had a possibility to develop his power. Would they set out to kill me because they were afraid that I would threaten lives just like they had assumed with my dad?

And because of that, would that put a bigger target on not only my head, but the rest of my friends?

I glanced behind us out of instinct but I knew that person was long gone and we were safe now. Gage’s reckless driving had ditched them and we were now on a new route back to Jacksonville, setting us back about another hour.

Gage addressed Max’s question, “I don’t think so but, you never know.”

I didn’t want to continue thinking about something like this because it was just adding more stress, although I knew Gage had a point. It was possible that they could’ve heard something important, and that could’ve led to them following and chasing us.

But for now I was going to try and think happy thoughts and pray that my secret was safe. Because I knew if someone from the F.P.S. found out who I was, my life was going to get a hell of a lot harder.