Page 35 of Stryker

Everyone ran for cover. When Strykerwas only a few feet from the house, an explosion shook the ground,sending John falling off the deck and into a nearby bush. When helooked up, smoke billowed through what was left of the storm cellardoor. He turned toward the house to find everyone staring athim.

The cat was well and truly out of thebag now.

“Are you okay?” Strykerasked as he came over and gently helped John out of the bush. “Doesit hurt anywhere?”

“No, I’m okay. What aboutyou?” John asked as he quickly scanned the man for signs ofinjury.

“I’m good,” Stryker saidbefore pulling John into his arms.

“It seems everyone is safebecause of you, John,” Brick said. It amazed John how calm the manwas, even though he knew he’d likely seen more explosions than anormal person. He guessed that’s what made him a goodleader.

Brick cocked his head at Stryker. “Itake it we’ve discovered what John’s gift might be?” He leaned inand punched Styker on the arm— hard. “And next time, leave thesuperhero stuff to a minimum. You had no way of knowing if thatbomb would have gone off when you picked it up.”

“I did what I had to,”Stryker muttered. “It worked, didn’t it?”

John spoke up, not wanting Stryker tohave to speak on his behalf or catch flack for not saying anythingsooner.

“Yes. I don’t know how todo or control it, but sometimes I can see through things if Iconcentrate hard enough. We planned on telling you afterbreakfast.”

“Holy shit. You have X-rayvision.” Shaw shook his head.

Despite all the stress over the lastfew days, John couldn’t help himself and broke into laughter.“Stryker said the same. X-ray vision, hell, now I’m a damned comicbook character.”

And a fucking test tubebaby. Talk about being one in a million.

“Let’s get this fire putout and figure out who the fuck is trying to kill us,” Brickordered. “Someone call Elias to head off that delivery truckdriver. We need to know who he is, where he came from, and wherethat package originated.”

“Yes, sir.”

The team got busy dousing the flameswhile Stryker took John inside to sit down. He hadn’t noticed hewas shaking until now. Julia brought him a glass of water. She waspale but still managed a faint smile.

“Thank you, John,” shesaid. “At least the boys were already gone to school.”

“You’re welcome,” Johnsaid because he had no idea what else to say. That bomb might havebeen meant for him, or the team, but the bottom line was he wasultimately responsible for putting everyone in danger.

Perhaps he could make up for it byusing his gift. Maybe he could help the team bring whoever washunting him, and them, to justice.

***

Stryker

Stryker could see John believed theexplosion was his fault.

It took a while, but between them,they convinced John this wasn’t so. Logically, he couldn’t havebeen the target, considering he was staying at the apartment. Ifthey wanted to hurt John, whoever sent the package would have sentit there. That left the rest of the team—any or all of them weretargets.

Shaw returned to the ranch, takingFletcher with him to watch over those living there. They’d set upsensors across the property to ensure no one got close enough tocause damage.

The delivery guy and his truck hadbeen found and were now under lock and key at the station underElias’s watchful eye. The driver pleaded innocence, but hisidentification was as fake as his story. Until they uncovered whohe truly was and who he was working for, he’d be sitting behindbars.

Whoever was responsible for this hadcounted on the team being eliminated in the explosion, but theyhadn’t expected John or his gift. Brick had cast a wide net,calling in favors far and wide. There’d be no place to hide; it wasa matter of time before judgment day came. In the meantime, as aprecaution, it was decided Stryker and John would stay in the lakehouse for the foreseeable future. They’d bunk in the bedroomStryker had been staying in before going across to John’sapartment.

“How are you reallydoing?” Stryker asked as he entered their bedroom. It was well pastmidnight, and he’d been conducting perimeter checks before handingit off to Gunner.

He wasn’t surprised to find John stillawake. It wasn’t every day you had bombs going off yards away fromyou, at least not for civilians.

“Fine, I guess,” John saidunconvincingly.

“Getting used to beingaround explosions and hostile situations is difficult,” Strykersaid.

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