A Changed Man (Altered Book 1) Read online

  Jackie returned to the car waking Remington from a light sleep when she opened the door. She put the bags in the back seat before getting in. "You want to climb in the back and get dressed?" she asked. "It's going to be tight but it's better than standing outside where anyone can see you. The back seat folds down, that would give you a lot more room."

  "Yeah, good idea." He said getting out of the car, He opened the back door and folded the seats down. He was surprised at how much more room there was this way; he could sleep back here if he had to. He crawled in, shut the door, and started going through the bags.

  "Sorry if it's not your style. I really had no idea what you would like so I just got the basics." She said looking at him from the rearview mirror.

  Remington turned and faced her reflection in the mirror. "Are you kidding me?" He said surprised. "You didn't have to do any of this for me. You could have bought me a bathrobe and I would have worn it gratefully!" Jackie smiled at him from the mirror.

  Remington went through all the bags and pulled out the clothes first. He squirmed out of his sweats and laid back to put the boxers on. He turned his head back and caught Jackie still looking at him in the mirror. "See something you like?" He said grinning at her.

  "Shit!" Jackie said in a low voice turning her head down and toward the driver side window. Remington laughed the loudest she'd heard him yet. It was a great laugh. A deep, but relaxed, not a trouble in the world kind of laugh. She loved the sound of it.

  He shimmied into his jeans, grabbed a shirt from the package, and put it on. Followed by the socks. He grabbed the hat and put it up in front of the mirror. "Do I look that bad?" He asked jokingly.

  Jackie turned her head back to look at him. "NO! No, I just thought you wouldn't stand out so much if you covered your stitches."

  "I appreciate it." He said seriously. "More than you will ever know." Remington put on his hat and went through the rest of the bags. "You got all this stuff for me?"

  "Well yeah! If I drop you off in the middle of nowhere I wanted you to have a few things. You can carry everything in the backpack."

  "You're an angel." He said softly. He removed the tags and packaging from everything and loaded it all into the backpack. He laced the sneakers and opened the back door so he could get his feet out to put them on. He left the shoe on his injured ankle untied.

  "Actually, not all of that is for you. Everything except a water and the candy bars are yours." She said turning around in the seat.

  Remington looked at her. "Candy bars? I didn't see any candy bars." He replied, trying to keep a straight face. He got out of the back, climbed into the front seat, and closed the door, setting the last plastic bag on the floor between his legs.

  "Oh? You didn't see any huh? Well what’s that between your legs?" She asked.

  "Now Jackie, you were peeking at me through the mirror. I think you already know what’s between my legs."

  Jackie turned toward him with her mouth hanging open. "Oh my god!" She said laughing. "I'm mortified!" She covered her face with her hands trying to hide herself, wishing she could crawl under a rock. She couldn't stop laughing.

  "Don't do that." Remington said honestly, pulling her hands away from her face. "You don't ever have to hide from me." He reached down, handed her a water, and both candy bars. Jackie saw such admiration in his eyes. No one's ever looked at her like that before. She stopped laughing and took the items he handed her. She set her water in the cup holder and handed him back a candy bar. "Let's get back on the road." She said, and started the car.

  They drove the last hour with only idle chitchat, mainly listening to the radio. Jackie wasn't sure how to respond to him after what he had said to her earlier. It made her feel a comfort that she was afraid to feel, having only known him for such a short time. She wanted to let it in but couldn't, especially knowing she was dropping him off in a few minutes and would never see him again. Her emotions were everywhere. She wanted her day-to-day life back, but at the same time, this man excited her. Although scared and wary of him at first, she really enjoyed his company, and to tell the truth it was nice just having someone else around. Then he goes and does something like that, says something like that, and she wants more. More of a stranger she knows nothing about.

  "We're about to hit the exits for Denver, any certain one you want to get off at?" Jackie said finally breaking the silence.

  "Yeah. Not this one coming up, but the next. There's not a lot of phone booths left but I know of a liquor store that has one."

  "Liquor store? You don't look like the liquor store type." She laughed. "More of a beer from the grocery store kind of guy."

  "You're right. I'm not that type." He admitted, looking at her like she surprised him. "But in my line of work, you're trained to know where certain things are. You may not always have a cell phone. This one; take this exit and make a left." Jackie did as he told her. They drove for about another mile when Remington pointed to the liquor store up the street on the right.

  "Pull in here." He said.

  Jackie parked her car and shut off the engine.

  "Well, thanks for the ride, and everything else you've done for me. I really don't know how I can ever repay you."

  "Don't worry about it. I just hope everything works out for you." Jackie said, not wanting to look him in the eye; afraid he would notice the disappointment on her face that she had to say goodbye.

  "Okay, I guess this is it." Remington got out of the car and opened the backdoor to grab his backpack. He started walking toward the phone booth when he stopped abruptly and turned around. He walked over to the driver side window and Jackie rolled it down. "Um, I don't have any change."

  Jackie laughed out loud and reached into her purse taking out her wallet. She pulled out a wad of money and handed it to him. "Here, you'll probably need this."

  "Oh, no, no, no. I don't want all that. I just need a buck in quarters if you have it, if not, just a buck and I'll get change inside." He said in a firm tone.

  "Well how about this?" She said. "How about I wait here while you make your call and if everything works out and your buddy can come pick you up, I won't give you anything. But if he can't, you'll take some money from me and not be a big macho baby about it." She smiled up at him.

  Remington couldn't help but smile back at her. She was teasing him and he liked it. He couldn't remember the last time he had such verbal fun with a woman. "Fine." he said with a smile and took the quarters Jackie was holding out for him and walked back to the phone booth.

  Remington dropped two quarters in to the slot and dialed Rick’s number.

  "Hello?"

  "Rick, it's me." There was a crackling of static over the line then silence for a few seconds.

  "Rem? That you? Hey man! Good to hear from you, how you been?"

  "I've been better, how about you?" Remington asked trying to feel him out. Remington knew that if his friend had any idea of what was going on now would be the time Rick would start warning him.

  There was another crack of static. "Oh you know, still rooting for the Broncos."

  That was Rick’s first warning. Rick hated the Broncos, despised them really. This was his way of telling Remington that they were not alone on the line.

  "Yeah? They looking good this year?" Remington asked. He was trying to figure out if Rick was under surveillance.

  "Still too early in the season to tell." He answered. Which Remington knew to mean, he wasn't sure.

  "Manning still playing it safe?" Remington asked.

  "No, no, he's all over the place." Rick answered. Remington was starting to put it together. Rick was telling him he was being monitored and that it wasn't safe for him to stay in Denver. "I just got back from a fishing trip up at my uncles cabin. Remember that place?" He asked Remington.

  "Yeah; I always loved that place, had some good times up there. Get any bites?" Remington and Rick were doing what they did best; communicating with each other about things that had nothing to do with wha
t they were actually saying. Remington knew that the cabin Rick was talking about had burnt down over five years ago.

  Another hiss of static came across the line.

  "I caught some small stuff, but the real prize was two large Brook Trout." Rick said with faked excitement. "You should have seen it!"

  "I bet; sounds like a good time. Well I better get going, just wanted to check in and see how you were doing." Remington said. Knowing the call was being traced. He needed to hang up without letting whoever was tapping Ricks phone know that he was on to them.

  "Well thanks for calling man. We should get together soon, where are you? You back in Denver?" Rick asked, knowing damn well Remington was smarter than that, but had to ask in hopes of throwing off whoever was listening.

  "Not yet, but I'll be back soon. Call you in a few days okay? Be good brother."

  "You too, and Rem? Take care of yourself." Rick said and hung up.

  Remington was confused as where to go from here, if they have Ricks phone tapped, then no one Remington knew was safe. He couldn't believe all this was happening to him, and for what? So some fucking Dr. Frankenstein wanna-be could experiment on him? He was growing more furious the more he thought about it. Remington slammed the phone receiver back down on its cradle. He could feel his blood heating up. He had a hold of both sides of the metal table that housed the phonebook from underneath. With his head down, he started breathing heavy. He knew what was coming and quickly let go of the table, driving his fists into his front pockets. It was too late. The top of the phone booth began to cave in; the sounds of twisting metal and cracking glass filled his ears. Remington quickly jumped out of the booth before glass exploded from every panel. Then everything went still. Well that's new. Remington thought to himself, stumbling backwards, almost falling off the curb.

  Jackie couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was watching Remington talk on the phone from her car and when he hung up, the roof of the phone booth started shaking, and then crumbled in on itself, making a horrible noise like nails on a chalkboard before glass blew out from every side of the booth. Remington jumped out onto the sidewalk and was just standing there, staring at it. Blood started to drip from his nose. Jackie jumped out of the car and ran over to him.

  "Jesus! Are you alright? C'mon, lets get back in the car before someone sees you." Jackie led Remington over to the passenger side and opened the door so he could get in. She made her way around to her side, got in, and started the car. She quickly pulled out of the parking lot just as a few patrons came out of the store to see what all the commotion was about. She hit the gas and sped off down the street, back toward the highway.

  Remington didn't say anything. It was like he was in some sort of haze. He hadn't even tried to wipe at the blood slowly trickling from his nose. Jackie reached over him and grabbed a handful of napkins from her glove compartment and held them out to Remington. He didn't move. He just sat there staring blankly out the windshield.

  "Hey!" Jackie said loudly. "Remington! Snap out of it! You're freaking me the hell out!"

  Remington turned to look at her. She was still holding the napkins out to him. He took then from her and held them to his nose.

  "Thank god! I thought you might have fried your brain there for a second. Are you ok?" She asked concerned.

  Remington pulled the wad of napkins away from his nose. “I did that." He said stunned.

  "Yeah; I know! I saw everything!"

  "You don't understand." He said, turning in his seat to face her. "I wasn't touching anything."

  "What do you mean you weren’t touching anything?"

  "What I mean is, I had my hands in my pockets when that happened. I wasn't touching anything." He said sounding scared. "Jesus what the fuck did they do to me?" Remington put his hands on his head and started rubbing at his temples.

  Jackie drove down the road for about a mile before turning down a dead end road. She then switched off the engine and turned to face Remington.

  "Tell me what happened." She said in the most understanding voice she could.

  Remington looked up at her; his eyes were sad. He looked completely defeated. "I was talking to Rick. They had his phone tapped; I could hear the clicking of the static. Even if I couldn't hear it, I knew from the way Rick was talking to me that something was going on. He said it's not safe for me to stay in Denver. Not in those words exactly, but I knew what he meant. He wants me to meet him in two weeks at a place we used to hang out and go fishing. I guess he's hoping to have more information for me by then.

  "I'm so sorry. I was really hoping he could help you." Jackie said softly.

  "It's okay." Remington said wiping the blood from his nose. He grabbed the backpack from between his legs on the floor and opened his door to get out. "I know I sound like a broken record, but thanks again." He gave her a small smile. "Shit, I got blood in your car, I'm sorry." He said.

  "For bleeding? You're sorry for bleeding?" She said looking up at him with her eyebrows drawn together like it was the most stupid thing she had ever heard anyone say.

  "Yeah. I’m sorry for bleeding, for scaring you, for your doorknob, the phone booth, and now your car. For everything." He sounded wiped out.

  "It's okay. At least you didn't have my shirt on." Jackie looked at him and winked. Remington couldn't help but laugh. Damn, this woman just kept surprising him.

  "So your friend is a no go." She said feeling bad for him. She couldn't imagine not having her best friend when she needed her most. Not being able to talk to Sarah would be about the worst thing in the world. The girl knew everything about her. Remington looked like he had just had his heart torn from his chest.

  "You can trust me." Where the fuck did that come from? She thought. He just looked so wounded; she had to give him something.

  Remington looked at her like she had just thrown him a life vest in a raging sea. He'd only known this woman a day but she had done more for him in less than twenty four hours than some people he had known his entire life. "What are you saying?" He asked her, with hopeful eyes.

  "I'm saying you can trust me. You can stay with me until you figure things out."

  "I don't think that’s a good idea. There are people looking for me. Dangerous people. I wouldn't feel right about putting you in a bad situation. You have done so much for me already."

  Jackie looked up at him with a scowl on her face. "I can take care of myself thank you very much!" She said, sounding offended.

  "Whoa! Don't get mad. I have no doubt you can, but you shouldn't have to because of me."

  "That's for me to decide! Besides, like you said, they will be looking for you around the Denver area."

  Jesus, was she really getting mad about this? He was just trying to keep her safe. This woman was unlike any other he had ever met. She showed him kindness, compassion, empathy, and strength all in such a short time. She was involved now, whether he liked it or not. If they ever got a hold of her, god knows what they would do to her. If he took her up on her offer he could at least try and protect her. No one has any idea where he is and that could buy him some time. He wished he'd never called Rick, now those bastards would know he didn't die from the fall off the cliff.

  "Okay." He said closing the car door. "I'll stay."

  Chapter 9

  Slade Thompson was sitting at his desk when he got the call.

  "Mr. Smith? This is Clay. We got something on the phone tap we put on Rick Davis's line about ten minutes ago."

  "Was it Remington?" Slade asked getting excited.

  "Yes sir, you were right, he contacted Davis."

  "What did they talk about? Did he say where he was?"

  "He said he wasn't in Denver but would be in a few days. They mainly talked about football and fishing."

  Slade was quiet for a few seconds. "That’s it?"

  "Yes sir. They also mentioned a cabin that belongs to Mr. Davis's uncle. I have my men researching it now, once we find an address I'll send out a team."

 
"Very well. Did you get a trace off the phone Remington called from?" Slade asked.

  "We're working on that too sir. It will be a few hours."

  "Send someone over to his apartment in case he shows up there, and contact me as soon as you know anything more. Also, have the tape of the conversation sent over to me right away." Slade hung up the phone. He sat at his desk chewing on the end of his pen. Remington Cross was alive. Slade had no idea how he managed to survive that kind of fall, he thought for sure he was going to get a call from one of his teams saying they had found the body washed up on the side of the river. Not only was he alive, he was reaching out. Slade knew he would have to send someone to monitor Remington's family. An alcoholic father and elderly aunt were the only family he had left. This was bad, very bad. If he couldn't retrieve Remington Cross all hell was going to break loose.

  "Your nose stopped bleeding." Jackie said looking at Remington. They were making the three-hour drive back to Jackie's house in Black Creek. "It didn't bleed as bad as it did before."

  "That's something I guess.” Remington looked over at her and gave her a small smile. His bleeding may have lessened but his power still exhausted him when he used it.

  "So are we going to discuss the elephant in the room?" She asked. She could see from the corner of her eye Remington tense up beside her. He was nervous. She knew he didn't want to frighten her. "It's okay, you can talk to me. What happened back there at the phone booth?"

  "I'm not sure," he said. "After I talked to Rick and realized what was going on I guess I got mad. I felt the rush through my body and I shoved my hands in my pockets so I wasn't touching anything. I thought that would stop it. It didn't. Next thing I knew the roof was caving in toward me and the glass was breaking."