Chapter Six
Echo
Janie was compliant as I took down her statements and got everything into the system. But the moment she was free to go and call her parents, she made sure I hadn’t forgotten about our deal.
Call Phillip Griffin.
I wasn’t going to just give her his number and send her on her way, because I didn’t know what to make of their Hero Society yet. She was an innocent girl that’s wound up in shit, and I’ll be dammed if I let some superhero wannabes take advantage of her.
Not wanting to make the call inside the station, I suggested we go to my car for privacy, and have the call on speaker. She nodded, and we walked to my Camaro together.
“You sure?” I asked her one more time before entering in the number. She pulled her long hair to the front of her shoulder and started twisting it nervously.
“Yes.” Despite the actions of an unsure woman, her voice was completely confident.
Okay then. I finished putting in the number and hit dial.
Phillip answered after one ring.
“Afternoon, ladies, would you like to join me for some pizza at Pizza Pazza? I think this conversation is better suited for in person.”
Before I could say anything, Janie answered for both of us.
“We’ll be there!” I looked at her with a face that said what the hell, but she hit the end button and reached over to buckle her seat belt.
I sat there, trying to decide if I should drive us to the restaurant a few blocks over from here, or should I send Janie on her way and go back to just doing my job without messing with the Hero Society.
They did know who held me captive, so maybe this was my shot to talk to them about it without a proposal of joining them. I could maybe get an idea of what they are about, too. Something in me wanted to protect this girl, and that was also keeping me from ditching her to go about my own business.
“Fine. I’ll go with, but if I say we leave, then we leave right then and there, okay?” I was serious as I looked her in the eyes, and she nodded as her answer. I sighed and sped off toward the restaurant. My Camaro purred as we pulled up to the curb. I looked around for anything suspicious and didn’t see anything. So, I got out first, putting my gun in the holster and covering it up with my jacket.
I walked into the restaurant with Janie behind me, and spotted Phillip sitting at a table by himself sipping on his drink. His eyes lit up when he saw us.
“I ordered drinks for you ladies. Lemonade for you.” He pointed to Janie and she smiled.
“And a water for you.” He gestured to me. Water was my beverage of choice, lucky guess.
We sat down next to each other, across from him.
“Right. I’m Phillip Griffin, head of Griffin Enterprises and part of the Hero Society. Which you both know. My gift is I can see futures, but they are not set in stone so it’s more like percentages or odds. And before you ask, I don’t know which way this conversation is going to go, but I did know that having it in person was the best way.” He smiled, the movement lighting up his face. He was nice looking: blond, hazel eyes, regal looking, but he had a nerdy edge to him. There was some muscle underneath his sweater, but nothing that showed he worked out a lot.
“I’m Janie, and I’m like you guys. My power, um, came to me when I turned sixteen. Not sure why, but anything I look at, even in passing, I remember. I remember everything. A week ago, a woman came in to the library with a box of books. Her dad had died, and she was donating them. Most were nothing important, but one book was hand-written, like a journal. I scanned through it, so of course I remember everything, but when I came back from my lunch break it was gone.” Janie took a sip of her drink as soon as the waiter dropped it off, and then we ordered our food.
“The men who took me wanted to know what I knew. I’ve heard about you guys and knew I needed to be here. And I know those people still want me, so I need a place to stay. You said on TV after that fire that you could provide safety for people like us.” Janie looked around as if the men who took her were going to jump through the glass wall and grab her. A growl stirred in my chest. One of my animals did not like that look of fear in her eyes.
“Of course. I have an apartment ready for you. And whenever you are ready, we can talk more about the book.” His face was gentle as he spoke to her, but I recognized the protective instincts in him, too. Just seeing that made me believe that he was a good man.
“What do you know of my captors?” I asked, ready to get down to business and clear the air, truly figure shit out.
“A man named Emanuel was trying to create an army of people like us. They were doing experiments on people, attempting to steal their powers and then killing them. He was on the island when it blew up—which we didn’t do, by the way. That was all him, but he didn’t make it out. We thought it was over, but apparently, he was just working for someone, and we don’t know who yet. So, we train, keep trying to help mankind the best we can, and when the time comes, we will fight against the darkness.” Phillip just laid it all out there. I digested it and felt his energy out, trying to determine if he was lying. All my instincts inside told me he wasn’t. They really were just trying to help make the world a better place and give people like us a fighting chance.
“We also know so much more about our kind of people with powers. Why we have them, how we got them. If you’d like, we could talk about it at HQ.”
That was something I wasn’t expecting. They knew about why we had our powers? That was something I had always wondered but never had means to know. Had my parents had them, and it was passed down, or did something happen to me, and I didn’t remember it? I looked at Janie and saw what I would imagine was the same expression I was wearing. We needed to know why we were the way we were. Why us? Taking the initiative, it was my turn to speak for the both of us.
“Let’s go to your HQ, and then you can tell us everything.”