Oblivion Read Free Page B

I wanted Jeremiah to admit that he may need
help. “I may be able to help Jason remember. Fix his mind. But you need to
let us help you. My friends and I can help Jason and you.”
    “We are not
safe, and Jason may be in more trouble than even I can help him with.” Even
Jeremiah’s mental voice sounded disgruntled. “Very well. We are about three
hours north of you, in Silvan City. I will tell you more once you arrive. But I
warn you, one wrong move in your brother’s mind, and I will do what I must to
protect my friend.”
    Wanting to snap
that I would not hurt my brother, and that Kindred is definitely not Jason’s
friend, I instead took a deep breath and responded, “Fine. We’ll head that
direction. But I will warn you, if you try to keep me from my brother, I will
do to you what I did to Hunter. He is my family, not yours! You will not
prevent me from reaching him. Do I have your understanding?”
    Now I felt a new
emotion stirring in the assassin. Fear. It was a nice feeling, knowing I could
strike fear into the heart of such a powerful and dangerous man.
    “We have an
understanding, Oblivion. We do not trust each other, but we have the same goal
in mind. For now, at least, we will work together to save Jason. Then you will
set him right. After that? Well, we shall see.”
    Jeremiah
practically pushed me out of his head, and I almost stumbled forward. “Sam?
What’s going on?” Alice asked.
    “Nickels is
Kindred,” I told them bluntly. “He must have faked his death. Now he’s going by
Jeremiah. He told me where Jason is. They’re in Silvan City. We need to get
there, now! He didn’t say what was going to happen, but he did tell me that
Jason’s in trouble.”
    “Kindred’s alive?”
Alice asked. She took a quick step back in shock. “How?”
    Mark shook his
head. His emotions swirled between shock, anger, and wary acceptance. “Think
about it, Alice. His powers. He can make people see what he wants them to see.
Jason knew only that he’d been shot. Once he was away from the one person who
could see through him, he did what he had to do to remain free.”
    The agent gave a
huff of laughter. “Honestly, we probably shouldn’t be so surprised.”
    Alice shook her
head, acceptance finally settling in. “Why pose as another cop? Why pretend to
be Scott Nickels for so long? And why couldn’t Jason see it?”
    I honestly
wondered the same about Jason. As for Kindred… “He wanted to be Jason’s friend.
He posed as a cop to give himself credibility, and then allowed events to flow
around him so Jason wouldn’t suspect anything. The only thing Jase ever told me
is that Nickels always seemed a little too interested in his past.”
    “Sam, was there
anything else Jeremiah told you? Anything about how Jason is doing?” Hannah asked.
    She alone didn’t
seem to care about how or why Kindred faked his death, or what he would do now.
All she wanted was to know my brother was safe.
    I couldn’t tell
her what she wanted to know.
    Nothing about what
Kindred told me was comforting. The only good thing he said is that Jason is
still alive. We’d traded one psycho for another, and once again Jason’s life
was threatened. Unlike with Mason, Hunter, or even Kindred, we had no idea what
this new enemy might want.
    Whatever they
wanted with Jason had been complicated by my inadvertent actions. All I wanted
was for Jason to be safe. To be able to live his life without fear. I never
wanted to hurt him. I wouldn’t necessarily say it out loud, but my brother has
always been my hero. That I had enjoyed manipulating his emotions hurt me. I
didn’t want to become one of the monsters who harmed my brother. I couldn’t be
the same as one of them. It wasn’t possible. He always wanted what was best for
me, and I for him. When I’d wished for him to be able to forget all the bad
things in his life, I never meant for it to happen.
    So I didn’t want
to tell them what Jeremiah said. I didn’t want my family to