Scorpion's New EQ

Chapter 21

  "Do me a favor and don't get yourselves killed please," Paige said as she pulled up by the garage. Her and Walter exchanged a glance and Walter looked down quickly.

  "We're just picking up Cas, nothing crazy is going to happen," Walter said as he went through his backpack. Paige looked at me in the rearview mirror and gave me the look that roughly translated to 'Don't do anything stupid'. I nodded in understanding.

  I dug my car key out of my pocket and got out of Paige's car, Walter followed closely. I stole one last glance at Paige, who gave me a quick thumbs up, before I opened the door and got into the driver's seat of my car.

  "Okay, so, this could be potentially hazardous," Walter said, as if we were talking about the weather.

  I stole a quick look at him as I fastened my seat belt and started the car. It roared to life immediately, courtesy of Happy I am assuming. "So we could be killed today, and you ensured Paige that everything would be okay?" I asked, backing the car out of the parking area and bringing it into the road.

  I didn't think Walter had heard me at first, but then he simply said, "There's a child's life on the line."

  I followed Walter's directions to the residence of Sabrina Goodman, the one that Katja hired to watch Cas for a short amount of time. I could tell out of the corner of my eye that Walter knew something was going to go down. He was tense and his hands were balled into fists, turning his knuckles pure white.

  When we finally pulled up in front of the house, it seemed untouched, there were no suspicious vehicles outside, and it looked like any other house on the long street. But if I had learned anything, it was not to assume that something was safe unless absolutely positive.

  We got out of my car and made our way to the house. Silence radiated from the inside of the house, which was extremely unusual for a seven year old boy.

  I hesitated before I knocked on the door. There was no answer, but I heard a shuffle of feet from right inside of the door.

  "Sabrina, I'm Taylor O'Brien. I am here to pick up Cas for Katja," I said, just loud enough that someone from inside would be able to hear me, but quiet enough that no neighbors would be suspicious.

  A bone chilling silence stretched out for nearly a minute before the door opened a few inches, bringing into view a brown eye. A visible chain showed me that the door was still locked due to distrust.

  "How am I supposed to trust you?" Sabrina asked, her voice dripping with venom.

  Surprisingly, Walter was the one that answered, "We work with the government, all you have to do is call Katja to confirm that, but I suggest you at least let us in, for safety reasons," he said it so convincingly, and after a moment of hesitation, unlocked the door and let us in.

  Sabrina had to only be in her mid twenties. Her hair was a golden brown color, extremely curly and placed in a bun on top of her head. The first thing I noticed about her once we were inside, was that she had a gun strapped to her waist.

  She noticed me staring and reassured me, "Don't worry, it's a just in case type of thing." Of course, that didn't do much reassuring on my part.

  Cas was sitting on the couch in the living room, his legs crossed underneath of him. He was fiddling his thumbs in impatience and obvious nervousness. As soon as we entered the room, he popped up his head and his eyes got wide.

  "Are you here to bring me home?" Cas asked, frightfully. I felt something ignite in my heart and I let a smile cross my face.

  "Yes. Come on," I said quietly. Cas was immediately up off the couch, grabbing his backpack off the floor.