Escape

 

            The beating of drums woke Jonah up. He groaned as he reached for his head, which was pounding right along with the drums. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was walking home with Jake and Seth after unloading the ship at the docks. It had been a dark night, and then there were those thugs.

            His head gave another pound as he thought of the four guys that had shown up with bats in their hands and steel in their eyes. Jonah wasn’t small in size, and working on the ship had left his muscles taut and hard, but he and his friends had been no match for the thugs. Ready for a fight, he hadn’t even gotten in one swing before something hit him in the back of the head, and everything went dark.

            Slowly, he sat up and gingerly touched the goose egg on the back of his head. Wincing, he stopped and left it alone. The drums continued as he slowly stood up. Where was he? It was almost completely dark, except for a light at the end of a hallway. He walked toward the light and up some stairs as the pounding drums grew louder and a new noise could be heard. An enormous audience was cheering along with the drums. What was happening?

            Climbing up several flights of stairs, Jonah finally reached a small door as sound thundered around him. Pushing open the door, he gasped in surprise when he found himself on the backstage of a concert. He could only stare as he watched a band playing to a crowd of 10,000 fans. The screaming was loud, but the drums that had woken him up now beat so loudly that he felt like the drums were inside his chest, fighting to get out.

            He stood there for several minutes, trying to figure out where he was or what he should do next. He noticed one of the thugs from last night, watching him from the other side of the stage. Without pausing to think, Jonah took off running around the stage toward the one place he knew he could escape—the screaming crowd.

            Plunging into the mass of bodies, he expertly wove in and around people as they cheered for the band. When he finally dared to look back, there was no sign of the thug anywhere. Allowing himself a smile of relief, he continued to run toward the nearest green exit sign. Once he made it outside to the hallway, the amount of noise lessened enough that he could hear other things. One of those things was running footsteps that were growing louder.

            With a yelp of surprise, Jonah ran for the door to the outside as another of the thugs started speeding toward him. He hit the door so hard, he knew it would leave a mark, but he pushed through it and went into the sunshine. He ran as he’d never run in his life. Once he figured out where he was in the city, he ran to the only place where he felt truly safe—Dad’s house.

            It was at least two miles away, but he didn’t stop running. Afraid that he was still being followed, he took as many shortcuts as he could. Sprinting through backyards and over fences, he finally made it to the house. Looking up at the imposing edifice, he hesitated for half a second before running up to the front door.

            As soon as he reached the porch, he felt familiar eyes on him. He waved and called out, “Hey, Jeff.”

            A hulking man dressed in a suit seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Hey, Jonah, long time, no see.” He slapped a great hand down on Jonah’s shoulder.

            “I know.” Jonah tried not to fall over at the force of Jeff’s slap. “I just need a place to lie low for a while. Someone’s been chasing me.”

            “I guess you know you’ll be safe here.” Jeff led the tired Jonah inside. “It’s funny that you should show up today, though. Your dad’s looking for you.”

            Jonah only had time to lift his eyebrows before he was forcefully steered into his father’s office. “Hi, Dad,” he said in a low voice, his eyes downcast. He might feel safe here, but there was a reason he didn’t live here. He and his dad didn’t always see eye to eye.

            “Ah, son, just the man I’ve been looking for. Avery here says you’re in trouble and he thinks you might be open to his proposal.” His father pointed to another man whom Jonah hadn’t noticed before.

            The strange man shook Jonah’s hand with a smile and what looked like relief. “Sorry that I didn’t reach you sooner, Jonah. I meant to meet you at the docks last night, but I must have just missed you. There are others looking for you right now that I don’t think you want to meet.”

            Jonah almost laughed. “I think I met them last night.” He rubbed the back of his still tender head. “They took me to a concert that I didn’t want to see.” He nodded to his dad. “It’s why I came here, actually. I’d rather not meet up with them again.”

            Concern flitted across his father’s face. “Are you all right?”

            Avery heaved a sigh. “Well, now that you’ve reached the age of 21, more people will be coming to look for you.”

            “Why?” Jonah was totally confused. Why would anyone come looking for him? He was nobody.

            The sadness in Dad’s eyes shone through the unshed tears as he said, “It’s because you’re my son.” He sat down heavily in his chair. “I was hoping that you wouldn’t have the gift, but now it’s obvious that you do.”

            “What gift?” Jonah was getting more and more confused.

            Dad stared at his son for a long moment before saying, “You and I both have the genetic gift to communicate with anyone and anything. That’s something that some people would pay lots of money for or even acquire through other, illegal means.”

            Jonah’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

            In answer, Dad whistled for old Bruno, his beloved hound dog. As soon as the dog came in, he looked right at Jonah and said, “It’s nice to see you, sir. Your father’s been really worried about you.”     

            Jonah’s jaw dropped.

            Dad smiled and said, “You hear him now, right?”

            Jonah nodded mutely.

            Avery cleared his throat. “So now that we know for sure that you have the gift, our facility is willing to train you to use it properly and to defend yourself.”

            Jonah glanced at Dad. “Did you do this?”

            Dad nodded. “They’re the best in the business, and I trust them completely.” He then proceeded to tell Jonah about how he had learned extreme self-defense when he turned 21. “I can handle myself in a fight, but it’s always good to have backup too.” He gestured over to Jeff. “That’s why this house is such a safe place for someone like you, son. Go with Avery. It won’t be an easy road, but I know that you’ll make me proud.”

            So, Jonah left with Avery a little while later. He hoped that they were going to teach him to be like Jason Bourne or something. Wouldn’t that be awesome? But he couldn’t believe that he’d never known that about Dad before. He shrugged as he thought, Dad always had a bunch of secrets. I guess I get to join in on them now, too. He whistled as he waved goodbye to Dad and Jeff. “See you soon!”

            And then he was gone, off to start a new adventure.