A time To Die - Dont Be A Hero Book 2

Apprentice

Jackson was nearly half way through his first cup of coffee as he sat with his long legs propped up on the rugged, wooden, farmhouse kitchen table. He was scanning through news clippings and bits of information he found online via his nano-crystal link to the web. He was looking for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary concerning the huge city of Sydney and its surrounding areas and towns. He intended to take Macy and pay a visit to the police department headquarters, using their credentials to attempt to gain some inside information. For the most part, cops rarely hesitated to divulge information to other cops no matter where in the world you were. If there was any useful information being kept from the public eye and ear, he was confident that he and Macy would have little difficulty coaxing it out of the authorities in Sydney.

It was still pretty early and, other than Jerome, he hadn't seen anyone else up yet. He leaned his chair back on its hind legs and sipped his coffee, his attention turned inward to the information on the virtual "desktop" inside his head. He started when a shadow fell over him and he let his chair fall forward with a loud thump before looking up to see who was there. He made a mental note to himself to be a little more careful while using the nano-crystal technology. He wasn't used to being snuck up on and was usually very aware of what was going on around him.

His hooded gaze fell on the tall, lithe form of Natasha, standing just a little behind him and to the side with her arms crossed. She gazed down at him expectantly and he returned the stare for a moment.

"What do you want, Natasha?" he finally asked when she didn't speak.

"You know very well what I want," she retorted.

"Uhh, yeah. You want to drive my partner to murder, for one thing. You want to cause a bunch of trouble, most likely because you crave attention and don't care whether it’s good or bad attention. You want..."

"Enough!" she barked, obviously irritated. Jackson didn't care. The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement. He enjoyed giving her a taste of her own medicine when she opened herself up for it. "I want to talk to him."

His eyebrow shot up and he scooted his chair back and stood to his feet. Eyes narrowed and locked to hers, he imprisoned her so that she could not look away. He watched as some of her arrogant resolve seemed to flicker and quell under the scrutiny. 

"Him?" he purred, his tone quiet and even.

She took a small step backward before squaring her shoulders and jutting her chin out a little more. She was trying her best to hold her ground and gain the upper hand with him, but Jackson was no meat-headed grunt to be pushed around by her intimidating persona and he was growing tired of having to remind her of that. He was also annoyed with the way she kept wedging herself between he and Macy, causing his usually good-natured, easy-going partner who openly adored him (until Natasha had appeared in their lives), to push him away, just when he had finally realized that he loved her.

"Y-you know who I am referring to, Detective," she said with an almost imperceptible tremble in her voice. "I want to talk to him. I need you to let me see him. What do you want from me in order to make that happen?"

He smiled. "Well, then... Wish granted. You want to talk to Father Time? So? Talk!" 

She looked at him, confusion crossing her features briefly. "You aren't him!" she snapped. "I want to talk to him! Not you!"

"What? Do you think he's sleeping? Do you think that when I'm awake, he isn't here, somehow? Where the hell do you think he is, Natasha? Taking a vacation on a beach somewhere? When you talk to me, you talk to him. He's aware of everything that I'm aware of. Probably more. No. Definitely more."