Amy Maxwell's 6th Sense (19 page)

“River? Is that you?” I ask incredulously, not sure how in heaven’s name my old college friend (who isn’t actually old at all) and Jason Collins’ cousin, could possibly be here.

“Yup,” River replies, and I can see him clearly now as he steps closer and envelopes me in a warm embrace with his gangly twenty year old arms. I have no idea what he’s doing here, or if there’s any way he can rescue me, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see anyone in all my life.

“What are you doing here? And—”

“Trying to get me to cave about letting him have a dog. That’s what he’s doing,” another oh-so-familiar voice pipes in. My heart nearly stops. I lift my head away from River’s chest, my throat dry and scratchy. As my eyes adjust to the blinding light, I can make out his silhouette with the outline of a brilliant halo. This seems like one of those moments like when you’re trapped in a desert and mirages keep appearing.

Barely able to speak, I squeak, “Jason? What are
you
doing here?”

“Saving your ass of course.”

I can barely see his face, but I can tell by the sound of his voice that Agent Jason Collins is wearing his signature “I saved Amy Maxwell today” smirk.

“But how did you know? When did you…how did you find me?” This seems incredibly coincidental and fortunate…even for Jason who has a knack for being exactly where I need him when I’m in trouble.

“I followed you and saw those idiots put you in the boat. I was too far away to do anything, so I found Dennis here,” he waves his hand at the man with the dog. “I knew he had a motor boat, so I paid him to take me and River. We followed the boat you were on and waited until those thugs left.”

“We heard gun shots—it was really scary,” River interrupts. “I wanted to rush in then, but Jason made me wait.”

Jason dismisses him with a wave of his hand. “I knew she’d be fine.”

“You didn’t know that—”

“Could you shut up and let me finish?” Jason asks his cousin. River shrugs.

“Whatever.”

Jason turns back to me. “So anyway, I was all set to go in and get you out of that hut, when you came running out of it like your pants were on fire. I figured you had to be okay, so River and I did a little recon of the area while Dennis tailed you with the dog. We knew you couldn’t go far. It’s a very small island.”

Now you tell me. But at least if they checked everything out, they got Roger out of there.
I sigh with relief. Roger must be waiting in the boat for us to get back. I wonder briefly what they’ve done with Waynedell, until I realize,
Damn it, Jason’s rescued me again!

“Well, um thanks, I guess,” I manage to stammer.

“You don’t sound very thankful,” Jason says grumpily.
Geez, does he want a medal?

“Well, it’s just rather convenient that you happened to be around. I mean, don’t you have anything better to do with your time? You just stalk me?”

“Uh, no. I’m not stalking you, but what else would I do besides come to your rescue? It’s a rather common theme in our relationship, wouldn’t you say?”

The tips of my ears start to flame from Jason’s use of the word
relationship.

“I don’t know, Jason. Shouldn’t you be busy enjoying your
law enforcement
conference? How was it? Did you learn fun and interesting facts about law enforcement?” I retort, sarcasm oozing out of my pores.

Jason steps closer, and I can definitely see that smirk. If I wasn’t so damn relieved to see a gun toting law enforcement member, I think I’d smack that expression right off of his face. “You know there wasn’t any conference,” Jason remarks, narrowing his eyes at me.

“Oh really?” I plant my hands on my hips and purse my lips together. “I would have never guessed. Why are you here then?” I shoot a quick glance at River who is lurking in the bushes, trying desperately to stay out of my line of fire, while wearing a sheepish grin on his face. I know he secretly enjoys the banter between me and Jason. He says it reminds him of an old married couple on a sitcom.

Since he is also guilty of following me (although it is MUCH appreciated), I wave my pointer finger at him, too. “And you my friend…what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school? The semester cannot possibly be over yet.”

River lowers his head and mumbles something completely incoherent.

I cup my hand to my ear. “What was that? I can’t hear you.”

“I dropped out,” River mutters, staring down at his feet shuffling in the dirt.

Appalled, my inner mother comes shooting out. “What? Why would you
do
something like that? You were one of the smartest people in that place!”

River plunks down on the ground, his gangly legs folding underneath him. “I just got burnt out. Jason got me a job, and I was working nights because I thought I could do both—”

“A police job?”

River nods. “Yeah.’ Then he turns scarlet. “Well, he didn’t actually
get
me a job. I had to take the test and no matter what people say, I earned that job.”

“Of course you earned that job,” I say, puffing out my chest with the possessiveness of a mother bear. In the few months we were together in college, I felt like River was one of my kids. “Don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“A lot of the guys at the precinct think that just because Jason is a DEA agent, I got an unfair advantage,” River tells me, hanging his head. “All he did was tell me when the test was and that I should take it because there was an opening. I still had to jump through all the hoops everyone else did.”

“I’m sure you did,” I coo, patting River’s head—he’s almost as mangy as the dog.
Don’t cops need short haircuts?

“Enough!” Jason shouts, waving his hands in the air. “This is not the time nor the place for a heart to heart. We’ve got to get moving to get Amy out of here before those cretins come back.”

“Oh yeah,” River remarks, bouncing to his feet, suddenly remembering our location and his apparent purpose.

“Let’s go,” Jason instructs as he does an abrupt about face and starts off in the direction he came from.

River takes my arm. “Do you need help, Amy? You look like you got scraped up pretty bad.”

For the first time since I escaped from the hut, I actually glance down and take a look at myself. My wrists bear the marks from the rope, red and angry welts rising up. I can’t really see them in this light, but I’m assuming my ankles look the same way. There are long scratches dotted along both my arms and legs, several which are bleeding. My clothes are dirty, torn, and hanging off of my body in places. My hand wanders to my head and my fingers get stuck in a tangle; I can tell my hair is like a rat’s nest even without the benefit of a mirror. I can only imagine what my face looks like.

“I’m fine, River,” I tell him, forcing a terse smile. I wave his arm away and struggle to my feet. I’ll be damned if I have
him
rubbing my rescue in my face, along with Jason.

River shrugs his bony shoulders and gallops along ahead of me. I can’t help thinking that he walks a lot like Lurch. The mangy dog trots by his side.

“Where’d you get that dog anyway?” I ask as I push branches out of my way. River is oblivious to the fact that when he pushes through the path, he causes the foliage to whip back at me with such velocity that it nearly knocks me over.

“Oh, he was hanging around the back of the resort. That guy Dennis, the one with Jason?” River waves his hand toward his cousin and the man with the boat. “He says the dog’s been there for ages. He feeds him and makes sure he has water. Calls him Grover. I asked him why he didn’t take him home and make him his pet. Said it’s because he lives on his boat.” River shrugs.

“Oh. So how did you get him?” I ask, just as a branch hits me in the shoulder.

“I figured if he didn’t have a home, I could take him home and make him my pet,” River explains.

“No, you cannot,” Jason calls over his shoulder. “I’m allergic to dogs!”

I catch up with River. “Wow, he’s bossy. What does it matter to him if you have a dog or not?”

River frowns, his expression sheepish. “Well, I’m kind of living with him at the moment…”

I wrinkle up my nose. “Really? Ugh, that’s gotta suck.”

“Well, I’m making peanuts now and Jason’s got an extra room, so…” River trails off, eyes widening. His eyes dart around nervously, like he is hoping I didn’t hear what he said.

Confused, I ask, “Why does Jason have an extra room? He’s only got a two bedroom condo. One room for him and one for Sean.”

River grits his teeth and closes his eyes. “Awww, man. Me and my big mouth,” he mutters.

Panicked, I grab his arm and he stops walking. “What happened? Why does Jason have an extra room?”

River opens his eyes and glances around. Jason is now so far in front of us, all I can make out is the top of his head bobbing up and down through the bushes. We might even lose him if we don’t start walking, but I don’t care. I want to know why Jason has an extra room. “River, you better tell me.”

River sighs and leans down by my ear. “Okay, but you better not tell him that you heard it from me. Sean’s dad showed up and took him.”

“What?” I screech. My yelling causes Jason and Dennis to whirl around and River to clamp his hand over my mouth.

“Shhh! Jesus, Amy. I told you not to say anything!” he hisses.

I push his hand away from my mouth. “How is that even possible? He’s been gone for ages! Jesus he didn’t even show up when Sean’s mother died.” At least I don’t think he did. I didn’t know Jason and Sean then. “And besides, Jason adopted him. He can’t take him away just like that. Jason’s Sean’s father—he’s the one who raised him.”

“Minor technicality. Stacey—Sean’s mom—never actually put that in writing. Jason just applied for custody, and since his father never contested it, he was granted temporary guardianship until the adoption went through. Jason thought everything was fine and never got around to the formal adoption process,” River explains.

My eyes widen. “Holy shit.” I can’t believe Jason neglected such an important detail. It seems very unlike him. But he probably never thought it would be an issue considering Sean’s father never had anything to do with him. Jason has raised Sean and has been there for him for seven years when his father had been nowhere around.

“Yeah, no kidding,” River says with a shake of his head. “Gary, Sean’s dad, showed up about a month ago wanting him all of a sudden. Saw his picture in the paper.”

“What? Why was his picture in the paper?”
Crap, I hope he didn’t do anything illegal.
Sean is a really great kid, but he has Asperger’s so sometimes his actions are not exactly what one might expect from a sixteen year old kid. People can get very bent out of shape by the way he acts, not realizing that he can’t help it. In fact, the first time I met him…well, I was one of those people.

“He patented an app that helps parents keep kids safe on social media—”

“Wait,” I interrupt. “He has a
patent
?” I knew Sean was smart, but this is exceptional, even for him.

River nods proudly as we begin walking again. Jason is waiting for us…impatiently. He starts to walk back toward us. “Yeah. He won an award in school and—”

“Hold on.” I shake my head. “Allie didn’t say anything about it.” Sean and Allie are in the same grade at Roger’s school. “And Roger didn’t say anything either.”

“Well, Jason put him in Helmuth Academy over six months ago, so I wouldn’t think that they would have known about it,” River says.

I stop again and grab River’s arm. “I didn’t know that! Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?”

By this time, Jason has reached us. I glare at him. “Why didn’t you tell me about moving Sean to a different school? Or the fact that his biological father is screwing you over?”

“Jesus, River,” Jason scoffs with disgust. “You weren’t supposed to say anything.”

Hands on hips, I stare up at Jason. “And why not? I could have helped you.”

Jason snorts. “Oh, really? You’re a lawyer now?”

“Well no—” I stammer.

Jason shakes his head and grabs my arm. “Then what were you gonna do about it, huh, Amy? Go sneak around and poke your nose where it doesn’t belong again? Isn’t this little adventure enough for you?”

“I could have been there to listen,” I explain. “When you needed a friend.”

Jason peers down his nose at me. “A friend? Really? I’m a guy. Or have you forgotten?”

I am instantly reminded of our kiss on the beach and I blush.
Crap. Everything that Roger did for me and I’m still remembering kissing Jason. God, what horrible wife I am. I hope he’s not too mad at me.

“Whatever,” I say, following Jason who is now practically dragging me. “Was Roger okay? God, I hope he’s not too mad about everything.”
Thirty minutes later and you’re finally asking about him. You’re certainly not going to win any wife of the year awards.

“I guess,” Jason says. “He didn’t mention anything about being mad at you. Why would he be mad? Were you snooping again?”