Fade-out: Take 2 of the Kanyon and Daylen Series, page 15
“Just wanting to make sure you realized that he did two good things today.”
“Two adda-boys in one day? We don’t need him getting a big head, then next thing we’ll know he’ll want my job,” Kanyon stated.
“You know, that’s not a bad idea. He doesn’t mind paperwork and we went out into the field and came back without any fires, chases, and no one wanting to kill us… So, maybe?” Daylen teased.
“Hey,” Kanyon protested as she held the door open for Daylen. “That doesn’t allllwwaaayyys happen when we go out. It was like one time.” And maybe one time when you weren’t around, she added silently, thinking about this morning’s events that she hadn’t gotten a chance to tell her about yet.
Inside, Kanyon stepped ahead of Daylen and took in the shop in one slow assessing sweep of her eyes. Clean, organized, and… she looked at the rows and rows of books organized by color, size, and content, someone’s down with the OCD.
Daylen stepped alongside Kanyon, taking in the space as Kanyon had, noticing the shopkeeper’s overly organized and clean store. “Neat.”
“Freakishly,” Kanyon confirmed.
“Just a moment,” a man called from the back room.
“All these books are about real people, memoirs, or biographies? There is not one book about travel or…” Daylen trailed off as the man entered from the back of the room.
Kanyon leaned into Daylen’s ear. “I’m going to wash that grey right out of my hair, I’m going to wash-”
Daylen backhanded Kanyon across the stomach, cutting off the next verse, then stepped forward to greet the unnaturally tan, unnaturally black-haired man, who Daylen was guessing was at least seventy-five.
“Is your friend okay?” the man asked as he and his unwrinkled, bright white suit and multi-colored scarf came toward them.
Daylen reached out a hand to greet the man. “She’s perfectly okay.” She turned back to Kanyon and muttered, “Physically, anyways.”
Kanyon winked. “Thanks, you’re not so bad yourself.”
Daylen rolled her eyes before refocusing her attention on the man whose hand she was still embracing.
“Sorry,” Daylen apologized. “We were told you have a book about Doris A. Hoyt. Doris’ Dynasty? Our colleague called earlier and asked you to hold it.”
“Yes, I remember. I have had two calls about that book today. I’ve never had a call for that book in the forty years I’ve been in business. I’ll be right back.”
“Thank you,” Daylen said to the man’s retreating back. Then to Kanyon, “Two calls?”
“Whole lot of interest in Doris lately,” Kanyon offered.
They both wandered aimlessly around the store waiting for the owner to return.
After a long moment, Daylen asked, “Should we go back and talk to him?”
“Something is off and I’m not talking about the bottle color and hair plugs,” Kanyon advised as she walked to the counter, looked behind the register, and leaned back not finding anything of interest. Her senses were screaming and she moved closer to Daylen. “Drop your shields and read this guy when he comes back out.”
“Okay.” Daylen turned to watch the room’s back door. Another several minutes passed. “I think we should go back and talk to him.”
The man returned, a confused look on his face. “I am so sorry for your wait, but I can’t seem to find the book. I know that I pulled it but…” He walked over to a bookshelf. “But, I’m getting to be a senile old man, so maybe I just thought I did.” He ran boney, tan, fingers down the spines of the books. “It’s not here either.”
“Did anyone else come in asking for the book, you said you had a second caller?” Daylen asked, following him toward the counter.
“Well, I had a young lady come in asking for a book about the Blue Dahlia, that is one of our most popular books. Elvis, Marilyn, and OJ of course, are also popular. Kurt Cobain is more of interest with the young ki-”
“Anyone else?”
“Oh, yes. A fine looking young man. Pretty.” He wiggled his also dyed eyebrows, which resembled two wooly caterpillars inching across his forehead.
“What was he looking for?” Daylen asked.
“He came in, looked around, and didn’t buy anything, but, I did not mind.” He fanned himself. “He had the sweetest country accent.”
“Country accent?” Kanyon looked at Daylen. “Rodney?”
Kanyon took another scan of the bookstore, while Daylen twenty questioned the owner about the who, what, and where’s in an effort to determine if it was Rodney who could have gotten to the book. She glanced out the front window just in time to see the flash of a red truck fly by. “Ah, Daylen, I think we need to get out of here.”
“He might have video,” Daylen protested as she followed the owner into the back room.
“We need to get out of here,” Kanyon ordered, grabbing Daylen’s elbow to stop her.
Daylen eyed Kanyon’s grip on her arm. “Are you telling me the big bad Guardian is scared of an old man?” Daylen asked.
Kanyon gave her a narrow-eyed glare. “I’m not worried about Wannabe Mr. Roarke, but that’s not going to be Tattoo coming through that door.” Kanyon shot a thumb over her shoulder at the same moment the front door chime alerted.
They both turned to see a whiter, taller, blonder, hick-a-billy version of The Rock. The man was wearing a dirty white t-shirt under a pair of well-used overalls, and leather work gloves, which was a good thing, because the death grip he had on the wooden axe handle would have definitely caused blisters.
“Well, I can’t wait to hear how you pissed off Paul Bunyan,” Daylen stated as Kanyon pulled her toward the back room.
“This is so not my fault,” Kanyon protested as she crashed through the back door, depressing the ‘Emergency Only’ bar with a swift kick of the heel of her boot.
“Right, this happens all the time to other people,” Daylen yelled as an alarm squealed to life and Kanyon pulled Daylen into the back alley. “Seriously, why are people always chasing you?” Daylen asked as she glanced both ways. Not finding an immediate escape, she took off running to her right.
Kanyon looked left, thought that was the better direction, but didn’t have time to argue as Daylen was already sprinting to the right.
“Why do you always assume they’re after ME?” Kanyon asked as she ran past Daylen.
“Oh, I don’t know? Maybe because THEY ALWAYS ARE!” Daylen shouted, right on Kanyon’s heels.
They jogged along the long back alley, taking a right between two brick buildings, dead-ending at a closed loading dock. “Dead end. Super fun times.”
Daylen came to a stop right behind her. “Crap.”
Kanyon took a quick spin around, looking for an escape route. She might be able to scale the fifteen-foot wall, but didn’t know if she could get Daylen over before their pursuer caught up to them.
Daylen looked at Kanyon. “Any genius plans?”
“Seeker gig, doesn’t that come with any special powers like, I don’t know, maybe something like,” she waved her hands like a magician, “itpso factso presto you’re a Lego. Or something?”
“A Lego?” Daylen asked, unimpressed.
“Give me a break. It rhymed and it’s non-deadly for the most part sooo…”
“Sorry, no special gifts that turn people into small choking hazards,” Daylen stated as she spun again, combing their surroundings for a way out. “You’re the Guardian. Don’t you have some special powers to get us out of here?”
“Ahhh, little reminder, I’m kind of new at this so yeah, I have no flipping idea.” She looked toward the sky. “Again, handbook, quick reference field guide, super helpful!” Then back to Daylen, “When we get out of this, we are going to fill the Guardian-Seeker suggestion box.”
“Kanyon, I think I hear him coming. We need an idea.”
“Here,” Kanyon said whipping her fist out toward Daylen.
Daylen looked at her confused.
“Bump.” Kanyon waved her fist.
Daylen fist bumped her.
Kanyon squeezed her eyes shut, shot them back open a second later, then looked down assessing herself.
“You just tried the Wonder Twin thing, didn’t you?” Daylen questioned, disbelievingly.
“It was worth a shot,” Kanyon said with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Yes, I could see where that was a logical option being that we’re Asian-y looking alien twins with pointy ears… oh, and cartoon characters!”
“You so wouldn’t be complaining right now if I was a platypus.”
“A platypus? Of all the animals in the world, you think of a platypus?”
“Short notice and I just watched a special on them last night on the Discovery Channel. They are soooo cute; no one would hurt a platypus.”
Daylen just looked at her critically with her hands on her hips.
“Fine, a really big platypus, prehistoric man-eating platypus, with big husk like fangs.” Kanyon illustrated fangs with her two index fingers dangling at her mouth.
Daylen rolled her eyes as she threw up her hands. “You are really, truly, unbelievable at times.”
“That’s what she said.” Kanyon wiggled her eyebrows.
“Seriously, now? In the middle of the chase? Or almost fight scene?”
“James Bond always has time to-”
“Stop, please stop,” Daylen said as she searched the ground for a weapon to create her own escape option that didn’t involve superpowers and pre-historic fang wielding seal, duck what-ever creatures.
“Well, now you’re just being negative,” Kanyon said.
“Negative?” Daylen swung back to face Kanyon.
“Yes. It’s the opposite of positive.”
“Okay, I’m positive that you’re ridiculous.”
“Have a little faith.” Kanyon gave her a quick smile then turned and began searching the walls, running her hands over the exposed brick.
“Please tell me you are not looking for a trick brick to open a secret passage to the conservatory?”
“Neg-a-tive.”
“Sor-ry,” Daylen mocked Kanyon’s singsong tone, as she saw their pursuer turn the corner. “Ahh, Kanyon, I don’t mean to rush you or anything but there just happens to be a really big guy coming down the alley at us.” She shuffled back to stand next to Kanyon.
Kanyon found what she had been looking for, pried the loose brick from the corner of the wall, and turned to face their pursuer while tossing and flipping the brick in her hand.
“Kanyon with a brick in the alleyway,” Daylen stated five seconds later, as she looked down at the unconscious guy who was doing a great impression of a dead snow angel minus the snow.
Kanyon kicked the brick at the guy’s feet. “Game over.”
They walked back the way they came. “You really have no idea why he was after you? You’ve never seen him before?”
“I haven’t seen him but I saw his truck this morning.”
“Where?”
“In my rearview mirror as it was chasing me down the hill from the museum.”
Daylen grabbed Kanyon’s arm and pulled her to a stop. “Excuse me?”
“That’s why I was late. I left the museum and halfway down the hill, here comes a red truck. It crashed into my bumper, then...” she trailed off. Daylen didn’t look too happy about the little bumper-to-bumper action; she was really not going to like the fact the guy shot at her.
“Then what?”
“Then Marcus showed up.”
Daylen narrowed her eyes. “Marcus showed up?”
“Yep. He was there the whole time.” Thinking that fact might lessen the fear and anger she saw taking over Daylen’s face, Kanyon began to head toward the store again. “We need to get back to the bookstore and talk to…” She stopped when she realized Daylen was not following her. Turning back, she huffed. “I’m fine. All is good. Car just got a few scrapes, nothing that can’t be fixed. So let’s go back-” She swung an arm in the direction of the bookstore.
Daylen crossed her arms across her chest. “Small fun fact: to date Marcus has only shown up one other time and that was in a life or death situation.”
“Maybe he was in the neighborhood?” Kanyon offered weakly.
Daylen’s only reply was irritated foot tapping.
“Okay, fine. But I do think he was just stopping in to say hi, take a ride, and bond a little. Oh, and hey, he fixed my…” She lifted her right hand, fingertips up, stared at them, and thought about Daylen. She let the warmth rise from deep within her and her fingertips burst into flames. “My fire starter issues.”
Daylen’s arms dropped as she stepped forward, mesmerized by the sight of the flames and the woman before her. “That’s… you’re…”
“Pretty freaking cool, right?” Kanyon finished for her.
Daylen tentatively touched Kanyon’s wrist then slowly moved her fingers to the flames. She ran a quick hand through them, then back.
“Careful,” Kanyon said softly.
“They feel cool. I don’t think they will burn me,” Daylen uttered.
She reached her fingertips to the edge of the flames. At her touch the flames began to burn brighter and more powerful.
Kanyon felt the heat within her change, melt into her, course through her body as it had when Daylen had been against her on the motorcycle. “Daylen?” Kanyon spoke softly.
At the sound of Kanyon’s voice, Daylen broke contact with the flame and met Kanyon’s eyes. “I don’t know,” she answered Kanyon’s unasked question. “But, I feel it too.” They stood there for a long moment, letting the connection between them build and pulse, and the flames flicker and crackle with power.
Daylen let her hand drop. Her eyes closed as she let out a ragged breath then leaned into Kanyon.
Kanyon let the flames extinguish and wrapped her arms around Daylen, holding her tight against her.
Daylen sighed into Kanyon’s hold, her mind reeling like a Las Vegas slot machine. Though part of her still wanted to fight it, her brain couldn’t fight what her heart already knew. They weren’t just Guardian and Seeker, their bond was so much more and she would just have to figure out how to deal with it and protect the woman she loves from the same fate as her uncle. Resolved, she pulled away. “We need to figure out what exactly is going on.”
“We need to figure out what all this means; the motorcycle, just now. That was…”
Daylen nodded. “We do. We will. But right now we need to figure out why that guy is after you.”
Kanyon reluctantly nodded and started back to the store.
They arrived back only to find the lights off and all the doors locked, with a hastily written sign that read, “Store closed for remodeling” hung in the front window.
Daylen kicked the front door. “Crap.”
“Interesting timing,” Kanyon muttered, as she tried to peer through the windows. “Looks like the guy did a quick little number on the store before he came after us.”
Daylen stood beside her, looked in, and saw a knocked over bookshelf. “You think he’s okay?”
“Hair Club for Men? Yeah. Otherwise who put the sign up?”
“True, but…?”
Kanyon took a couple steps back to check out the side parking lot. “Plus, his car is gone.” She pointed at the empty “Reserved for Employees” spot along the side of the building. “I bet our guy told him to beat feet, so we couldn’t get our hands on the video.”
“You’re probably right.” Daylen agreed, starting for the car.
“So there has to be something in the diary that someone thinks is important, but this seems like a whole lot of work.” Kanyon thought for a minute. “What do you think about the Jolly Green Giant we left back in the alley? You think he’s the guy?”
“No. I dropped my shields for a second while you were playing catch the brick with him and I didn’t get anything sinister, evil, or even bad from him.”
“Big guy, menacing look, chasing us with an axe handle and you didn’t get anything sinister, evil, or bad?” Kanyon hit the unlock button to Daylen’s SUV and started for the driver’s side door.
“Yeah, I don’t know. It was weird, I got more of a glimpse of confusion and frustration, then there was simply nothing.” Daylen opened the passenger door and crawled in.
“Nothing? Like you lost his signal or something?”
“No. I was connected with him and where there should have been emotions and feelings, there just wasn’t.”
Kanyon started the car. “Like a psychopath?”
“No.” Daylen shook her head as she tried to figure out exactly what she had felt, or more accurately, not felt. “It was more like…” She contemplated for a moment, then the answer hit her. “Like he was under a spell.”
“Awww, like someone made a little diary entry with a certain little ink pen that said ‘Go harass the pesky little detectives that are onto something’?” Kanyon asked.
“Exactly like that,” Daylen confirmed. “Now we just need to figure out who would’ve wanted to do such a thing.”
“Rodney?” Kanyon asked.
“Maybe. More than maybe if he was the one that stole the book. It would help if we knew who that guy was and maybe we could find a connection. We should have checked him for an I.D.”
“I don’t have his I.D., but I do have a license plate number.” Kanyon grinned.
“That’ll work. Since we’re not that far from the police station, why don’t we stop in and ask Lt. Boston to run it for us?”
“Works for me, but I need to make a stop first.”
Chapter 9
“Exactly how many tickets do you have?” Daylen asked as she held open the door for Kanyon to maneuver the seven boxes of donuts through the opening.
“A couple,” Kanyon said.
“How many times have you done this donuts for tickets routine?”
“A couple,” Kanyon said smiling. “Hey, Jordan!”
“Miss McKane, we missed you last week!” The officer behind the x-ray machine said.
“I know, I had a good week. Can you make sure that Officer Roe and the rest of the guys get these? We’re actually here to see Lt. Boston.”
