Hidden Promises - Chapter 1 - Part 2

Jan ran along beside Ward and started to wonder if they would ever work again. She questioned if he could make the jump from protecting her, back into working with her. Jan had not tried to discover how any of his jobs were presented to him. She was pretty sure that his network of friends, or associates, was fairly vast. She was also quite sure that only important jobs were presented to him. These were people in great need, with no one else to turn to, but he had chosen to stay hidden away for a lot longer than he had ever done before all because of her.

All of a sudden Jan could feel a gentle tug at her thoughts and knew that Ward had started to look in on what she was thinking. She didn’t try to hide her thoughts. She watched his pace increase as he realized, from her thoughts, what was coming next. She had a bunch of questions; ones he didn’t want to answer, ones he wasn’t going to answer yet. Jan kept up pace with him as he started to pull away from her. They ran, slowly increasing the pace for another five minutes, before Jan finally said something.

“You can’t run away from this, from me,” Jan was keeping up with him and not even winded yet.

“I’m not running away from anything,” Ward calmly stated as he continued to increase the pace.

“I know you read my mind, saw my questions,” Jan took a breath, “We need to talk.”

“No good conversation ever started with those words,” and Ward increased his pace to a full run leaving her behind.

“You can fly, but not that high Eagle,” she yelled from behind. Eagle had been his code name from the department. She followed in short order, this time mad as hell.

With one burst of speed, she caught up with him and leapt out tackling him from behind. They rolled a couple times on the beach then came to an abrupt stop. Jan was on top, effectively pinning him down, his hands above his head. Ward stared into her eyes for a moment about to say something, and then said nothing. Jan stared intently into his eyes.

“We need to talk,” Jan stated again, with a firm hold on Ward.

“So I would guess,” Ward lay motionless on the sand, not trying to get up, yet every muscle tense, readied.

“When was the last time you meditated?” Jan stayed on top.

“A few days ago, why?” Ward was surprised by this first question but stayed nonchalant.

“For the last week I haven’t been able to meditate even though I have tried,” she looked into his eyes, “Want to tell me why?”

“I have a feeling I won’t have to. You’re going to tell me,” he said with a smug look on his face.

“Alright. You keep turning down jobs, and it’s because of me,” Jan relaxed her right arm for a second. That was all it took. Taking advantage of that split second, Ward was on top of Jan before she had time to stop him.

“You’re arrogant, you’re right, and you’re gorgeous when you’re mad. I have turned down jobs, but that was when we were both still recovering,” Ward shifted on top of her to get a better hold. Jan knew part of what he said was true, but not all. He had just got a job in the other day that was weighing heavy on his mind, and she had the feeling he was about to turn it down as well.

“Have you forgotten? I can read your mind just as easily. What about the job you’ve just gotten in?” Ward’s face hardened only for a split second before softening again. If Jan had not been watching carefully she would have missed it. His grip relaxed, but Jan didn’t take advantage of it.

“How did you know about that?” he asked calmly, as his mind betrayed the conflict within.

“It’s been on your mind a lot lately, and I just happened to pick up on it a few days ago as it floated through the air. What’s it about?” Her voice softened to encourage him to open up to her, the way they used to before she nearly died.

He had known they needed to set these boundaries if they were ever going to work together. Before now, whenever they had worked together it had been by orders, never by choice. Ward looked into her eyes, and then let his anger sail away on the next wave that traveled back out to the ocean. Ward rolled off her and lay quietly beside her on the warm sand of the beach. They stared up at the blue sky and wispy clouds.

Jan wasn’t going to rush him. If he told her now, or in twenty minutes, it wouldn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that he told her. This step would bring them even closer and she could tell that as she lay quietly beside him.

‘Eddy e-mailed the other day,’ he chose to let her read his thoughts so that if anyone was around they couldn’t be overheard. ‘Thought I might be interested in this job since no one else is doing anything about it. Seems like there are a group of coyotes that have found a new way of increasing their profits. After taking their fee to get the people across, these coyotes just make these people disappear, all of them women, and no one knows where they are going. Usually, in the past, the relatives would get ransom notes while they are held in a drop house, but they aren’t getting any of those from the coyotes either. This is what has made some people nervous. There are usually bunches of people that go missing. Not too unusual as the people who crossover illegally would rather not be found by immigration.

‘The underground network usually connects the families sooner or later, but a few of the relatives that have talked with Eddy say that they haven’t heard from them since before they crossed the border. They are sure something has gone horribly wrong. They are hoping someone can find their family members that are missing, but it is difficult, as they have no one they can turn to for help. They can’t go to the officials for fear of getting sent back and then they would be in an even worse situation than they are now. This group of illegals are pretty scared as a whole and even more so with what has happened,’ now Jan knew why they weren’t meditating. It was a pretty heavy case to say no to. It would mean saying no not just to this group, but also to Eddy. Not something that Ward would do.

Shadows of the Past - Book Trailer

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Shadows of the Past

Novel Ideas - Part 4

It's been a bit long in the tooth here getting this out but hope you enjoy the next installment! 

“It’s similar to the meditation we will be learning this week, only there training will be more intense.  I thought that this might get me through it,” Jack hadn’t even looked at him yet, but had seemed to look through him.

“It’s been an amazing two weeks, I can’t imagine what it will be like in six more,” Ward wasn’t what else to say.

“I probably won’t make it all the way through,” and before Ward could say anymore Jack raised a hand, “That’s just fine, my ancestors believe I’m here for another reason,” and with that he was quiet.  Ward sat there for a few minutes.  He realized that the fire was less of a fire and more like incense.  Taking a deep breath he focused on the scents coming from the sticks. 

“Nice,” Ward couldn’t help it. He sighed as breathed out and relaxed. 

“It’s going to be a hard week for all of us, but for some of us,” and Ward knew instinctually who Jack was talking about, “we will see hell.”

“A little over the top don’t you think?”  Ward couldn’t help himself as he closed his eyes and took in the spicy sweet smell again.  It seemed to take away the stress, doubts, and draw out all of the fear and tension as if expelling puss from a wound.

“You’re welcome to join me in the mornings and then you can tell me if my statement was exaggerated on Friday,” and with that the conversation was over. 

By Thursday Ward was beginning to understand.  They had sat in class after class, hour after hour on how to meditate. Then they had been put in a room for increasing times each day.  He wished he could tell someone what the room looked like inside, but he had been blindfolded on the way in and then once the door was closed it was darker than the dark side of the moon inside.  Temperature was under someone else’s control, as well as the conditions inside the room like fresh air.  After a few minutes to assess what the situation was he came to the conclusion that this was some type of sensory deprivation room.  They were supposed to put what they learned to work inside the room.  He had tried to sense to see if anyone was near at first and found nothing and no one so he got busy meditating.  At first it was easy, then as the time in the dark room increased it got harder.  Today, tomorrow, and Saturday there were no more classes.  In fact, at eight this morning they would be locked in what he now called the dark room to six in the morning on Sunday.  Ward was beginning to think that this was also some sort of modified SERE military training.  It was no secret that if they were able to read minds as promised, then the types of training they would need would be endless.  Today’s activities were nothing more than separating those who could and those who couldn’t use the meditation skills to survive.  Better they do this now than to get create a bunch of mind readers they couldn’t use. 

Welcome to my new blog where together we will figure out what writing is all about.  Depending on the day my opinion on what a writer is changes.  When I was younger writing was a way to escape daily life and the boredom of growing up in a small town in the Midwest.  As I grew what I discovered was that a writer's views and purposes change.  Some days I want to tell a story, some days I want to make a point, and some days I want to just laugh and be entertained.  
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