The Control Freak: A Kip and Ezra Novel

13.

My head was becoming more fuzzy and heavier as my arm leaned against the chair, my head propped up by my hand. My eyes threatened to slip closed but I wouldn't let them. For Carter... I wouldn't let them.

He still hadn't woken up. I had heard talks that said maybe he wouldn't. Ever since I had... ran away... from Sarah Bennett, I had taken to the chair by his bedside at the hospital. He didn't even look like himself. His eyes closed, his skin paler than it usually was. The oxygen tubes snaked out of his nose and across his chest, his arms by his sides. His hands... his hands which I often took in the moments I felt like I couldn't bear to sit there and not physically feel like I was doing something.

I jumped slightly when a knock on the door sounded and a young doctor soon walked in. I had seen him before but had never introduced myself. His hair was dark and his eyes kind but I also noticed something in them... something that told me he had seen too much at his age. He had seen... things that no man should ever have to see. I didn't want to pry and I didn't but it was hard for me to ignore it as he entered the room and approached me.

    "Doctor Asher Jackson, sir," He said as he shook my hand as I sat, wanting to get up but feeling stuck still.

    "Kip. Gordon Kip. Carter's... my uh, work partner."

I often concealed what we did mainly because we should but as I said those words to Dr. Jackson I uncovered another meaning: I was embarrassed. And embarrassed to admit I was embarrassed.

    "How is he?" I heard myself utter, but not recognizing it.

    "His tests are improving yet he still has not regained consciousness. We think..."

    "It's time for me to say what I've always wanted to say but never did?"

I looked up at Dr. Jackson and he didn't say or do anything- just stared at me with those eyes that had seen too much and I had my answer. He did a few more things to Carter- like checking his vitals, blood pressure, or whatever and then he left, the door softly clicking behind him, the room delving back into darkness. I was only left with my thoughts.

    "You know...they say that time? It heals all wounds so... why is it that I can never get out of my head what you did? What you did... to me?"

I hardly realized I was speaking but the way my vision was getting blurry and the way I was shaking and my throat burned... I knew I was.

"What you believe in... what I am starting to believe in... is going to destroy us. Now you... get better and make your way back to me cause it scares me what I would... I would..."

I left my sentence hanging there as I walked out of the room, the door closing behind me as I tried to reconcile my own feelings.  That mulling, however, was cut short when my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and brought it to my ear.

    "This is Kip."

    "Gordon, it's Regent. We have a lead on Estes."

I couldn't bolt out of the hospital faster. I closed the door to my car and hooked my phone up to my car.

    "What do you got?" I asked as I checked my mirrors and pulled into the traffic flow.

    "Your partner said Estes was targeting auto shops as a way to accumulate kill switches from cars?"

    "Yeah, why?"

There was a long pause of silence.

    "We think we know what he's after. And what he did to Michael."

I circled the detective as I grinned at him. All my life, all I had been wanting was here. And this guy was ready to do my every bidding. At any word I said, he would go to where and do what I wanted. I stopped circling him as he stood, still holding the bloody knife he used to stab that agent with. As far as I knew, he had killed him.

I know it didn't make sense who I was... what I was. I was almost a legend after the accident. A local celebrity. As if I wasn't already one. But I hated that life- cameras pointed in my face and a life goal to see me naked through a window or catch me at a time when I wasn't expecting it. It made me feel exposed and I'm sure my family felt the same way.

My family.

My grin turned to a dangerous scowl as I thought about my bastard father and as I shut my eyes for a moment, I could still see what he did to me, my mother, and my sisters almost every night when he got home from work. I was more than relieved that the paparazzi never picked up on it.

I shook the hated memories out of my skull as I turned back to the man in front of me. I needed another switch if I was gonna keep him going. My head pounded as I winced and brought a hand up to it. I needed a switch now.

I wouldn't last the night without it.

The real question... was where to get it.

I pulled up the precinct and got out of the car, a soft pinch in my side reminding me I had forgotten my wound. I again dismissed it and walked into the building and up to Regent. I noticed Sarah Bennett wasn't there for the first time in a while.

    "What's up?" I asked as I approached the table.

    "We hope you don't mind but we went into the room you and your partner were vacating before we left to go search the warehouse and we found this."

Regent handed me a textbook titled "Mind Control and Where It Comes From." I recognized the book- from the day Carter showed me the Estes article. It fell off my shelf. He must have packed it along for the ride. I closed my eyes for a second, thinking of Carter.

    "Agent Kip?"

Regent's voice stunned me out of my daydream and I shook my head as if to get rid of the memory and handed him back the book.

    "It's Carter's. He, uh, must have brought it along. What does it have to do with Estes?"

    "Pretty much everything, sir," Regent replied as I cocked my head.

He flipped the book open and searched it for a moment as I watched his eyes, furiously scanning for something he may have only seen moments ago.

    "Here."

He set the book on the desk before me and I perused it as he had done seconds before me:

People with these abilities are not  able to gravitate power from themselves. They have to have another source. Their minds will soon become worn out if not replenished by another source. They will continue to search almost as if they are a hungry, wild animal hunting for their next meal.

I didn't have to read further to know what Regent suspected. I just closed the book and thought for a moment.

    "If he needs to replenish himself, he'll need to hit another auto shop. If we assume the warehouse is his control area for a moment, then he'll target the nearest one. Regent, grab a couple officers and a tech and start grabbing me addresses."

He nodded and I sighed, turning around as I ran into the chief and another detective.

    "Gordon, just who I was looking for."

    "Chief. So sorry. Excuse me."

    "Gordon, wait."

I turned back around and walked back over to him.

    "This is Detective Spencer Paciotti from the 12th. He's here to... replace Detective Foxtrotter for now but he's got something to say to you so I thought I'd introduce you and leave you alone."

The chief nodded his acknowledgement at us and then left to go to his office. I shook hands with Paciotti.

    "Nice to meet you, Detective. I wish it wasn't under these circumstances."

    "Me as well, Agent Kip. I... know I was assigned to take Detective Foxtrotter's post but I feel... you would be more qualified to take the lead, Gordon."

    "Me?"

    "Not only do you outrank me... you seem more experienced. I'll follow your lead. Tell me where to go."

I glanced at Regent and then back at Detective Paciotti.

    "You can bet I can tell you where to go. We don't have much time. Follow me."