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Detective Ray Sommers

Marshall, Texas, hadn’t changed much over the past decade, at least not physically. The diner sat in the same spot, the high school and football field remained much the same as when Ray had lived there, and the main thoroughfare still typified small-town America with its flags, flowers, shiny storefronts, and welcoming sidewalks. It screamed: Here’s a place where you could raise a family in peace and safety—at least from all outward appearances.

Stopping here was little more than a quick visit on his way to a four-day law enforcement conference in Las Vegas. This was his way of keeping a promise to an old Marine buddy without being forced to linger too long.

He’d promised his friend, Sheriff Elias Cooper, he’d come back for a visit one day. They’d served together in the Marines before returning to civilian life—as if anyone who knew better considered being a sheriff or homicide detective a civilian.

Being a cop was as fraught with danger as being in the military. A while back, the pair of them had been on the hunt for Fletcher’s missing brother, Kyle. Fletcher was one of the members of a semiretired team of Navy SEALs that lived on a compound on Fire Lake. In the course of the investigation, they’d shut down a human trafficking ring in Seattle in which Fletcher and Kyle’s parents were involved.

So here he was, back in the town he’d grown up in. The town that had expected him to take over as sheriff someday as his father had, and his grandfather before him. Due to a twist of fate and a few better offers, that reality had never happened. Instead, he became a cop in Seattle.

As he drove through town, old memories crept in. The street he grew up on to the left, the park he used to play basketball in, the corner store that sold the best candy, the skate park where he broke his first bone, and the bench where he got his heart broken.

It was all here in this town, and it was choking him. He felt imaginary hands circling his neck, growing tighter by the moment. He pulled at his shirt collar for relief, but finding none, he sped up.

Those fingers loosened once he made it outside the town limits, and his breathing evened out. A town shouldn’t have such a visceral effect on him after so many years that he’d spent thousands of miles away.

He took a calming breath and turned down the side road that led to his friend Brick’s lake house. He’d be meeting Elias and his partner, Fletcher, at their cottage on the property.

It’d been a couple years since the case they’d investigated together had been closed, and Ray had run out of excuses for not visiting his old friend. Being so close to his hometown had him planning his escape before he’d even turned onto the road to Fire Lake.

He knew the area well and didn’t require directions, but in his day, Sophia Matthews had owned the lake house. Her older brother, who was Brick’s grandfather, had moved away years before Ray was born and his father had taken over as sheriff. All of it seemed like a lifetime ago. A past he’d preferred to stay that way.

To say he was shocked when he pulled onto the driveway leading to the old lake house would be an understatement. What lay before him wasn’t the same place he’d left behind years ago. The house looked shiny and new, and the cottages dotting the property between the large oak trees reminded him of one of those idyllic scenes from a movie. Almost too perfect.

“Shit. Times have changed around here,”

he mumbled as he threw his truck into park.

When he got out, he spotted boats moored to a large dock, and he recognized Spencer, whom he’d met on Kyle’s case, fishing off to the side while a smaller man sat in a lawn chair reading a book. Doors opened on the lake house, and Brick, Elias, and Fletcher walked out onto the back deck.

“You finally made it,”

Elias shouted as he waved at Ray. “Thought you might’ve gotten lost.”

“Yeah, well, some of us have busy caseloads and can’t hop on a plane whenever they want,”

Ray zinged back as he changed directions and headed their way.

“Don’t give me that shit. You forget who you’re talking to,”

Elias said as he held out his hand for Ray to shake when he reached the top step. “How the hell are you, buddy?”

he asked, bringing him in and slapping him on the back.

“Good, good,”

Ray said. “You know. Same story, different day is all. How has small-town life been treating you?”

“Beats the hell out of living in the rat race.”

Elias laughed. “You couldn’t pay me enough to move to the city.”

“Good to see you again, Ray,”

Fletcher said as he shook Ray’s hand.

“You keepin’ this guy on the straight and narrow?”

Ray asked with a nod toward Elias.

“Hell, we wouldn’t be here if he was straight,”

Fletcher joked, making Ray laugh along with the others.

“So true. How are you, Brick?”

Ray asked, shaking the team leader’s offered hand. Brick led the team of semiretired Navy SEALs who lived and worked as private security out here on Fire Lake.

“Keeping busy. You know how things go.”

Brick smiled.

“Yeah, I do. I hear those missions have you guys pretty tied up lately.”

Elias had mentioned a bit about Fletcher being away with his military team, but had never gotten into specifics. Ray was aware that being semiretired still meant the government came calling now and then.

“Come on in. We’ll grab a beer and get you caught up,”

Brick said with a welcoming back slap.

“Sounds great.”

He could use a beer or two.

Ray followed them into the lake house, taking in how nice the place was given a bunch of men were living there. There wasn’t a coat lying across the back of a chair or an area rug askew.

“This house has come a long way since I was here last. Congrats on the renovations and the cottages. It’s really something.”

Truthfully, it was damn near picturesque.

“Thanks. We’ve worked hard and had help,”

Brick said. The look of pride on his face was well deserved.

A young woman walked in as if looking for something. This had to be the infamous Julia he’d heard so much about. The heart of the lake house and all its residents.

“Ray, I’d like you to meet Julia,”

Elias said.

Julia turned and smiled wide.

“Hello, ma’am. I’ve heard lots of wonderful things about you,”

Ray told her.

“Same here. I’m glad you found the time to visit us after helping out with finding Kyle.”

“These guys would’ve found him without me, but I’m glad I could help in some small way.”

Julia opened her mouth to speak, but something to her left side caught her attention.

“Found you,”

she hollered at the wall roughly ten feet away.

Ray was about to ask what she was looking at when a nude, slender man appeared out of thin air. Standing there as plain as day and as real as the table beside him.

“What the fuck is that?”

Ray shouted before taking a few steps forward to place himself in front of Julia.

The naked man’s eyes widened, and he screamed, but before another word was spoken, his eyes closed, and he slumped to the floor.

Julia pushed past Ray, and she and Fletcher ran to the man.

“Oh shit. Darren. Darren, talk to me,”

Julia said as she lifted his head off the hardwood floor. The man groaned and opened his crystal-clear blue eyes that stared at Ray in abject fear. A chilled gust whooshed through Ray’s body as he was overcome with a most unexpected and unwelcome feeling: the absolute need to ensure he never saw that expression on Darren’s face again.

Shit.

He turned to Elias for answers. “You forget to tell me something?”

“Yeah, we need to talk,”

Elias said, rubbing the back of his neck.

***

Ghost (Darren)

“You’re a freak. What the fuck is wrong with you? Crawl back under your rock, asshole. No one wants you around.”

Words he’d heard repeatedly over his twenty-eight years assaulted him as he paced the newly installed hardwood in his room. Darren had been staying at the lake house since the team returned from New Orleans and spent much of his time practicing to gain more control over the ability given to him by the scientists working for the Noah Group. “Given”

might not be the correct wording—forced on him seemed more appropriate. Genetic testing of unsuspecting people was the sort of thing the group thrived on.

Hated memories flooded him of a past spent in hiding. Hiding away from the other kids in foster care, and from his foster parents, who were perpetually angry. Hiding away from all the pseudo-concerned adults who’d tried to fix him over the years. Now, twenty-eight years later, here he was, hiding away again from the confused and angry looks of a stranger who reminded him of a lumberjack with piercing dark eyes and a thick beard.

Darren grew increasingly disgusted with himself by the second for several reasons, but his apparent cowardice was high on that list today. Just when he thought he was getting a handle on his issues, they came screaming back with a vengeance. Not only was the stranger freaked out and likely angry, but Darren had been naked on top of it all. Of course, he couldn’t camouflage himself while still wearing clothing, but the handsome stranger didn’t know that, and Darren never practiced when the kids were home.

Hell, he probably thought Darren was some sick freak on top of it all. Running around naked, getting his kicks from spying on people while invisible. Shit. No matter how he looked at the situation, it was hella bad from all angles. Maybe he’d stay in his room until the man left. Luckily, his room had a bathroom attached to it, and Julia could leave food outside his door. It could work.

He couldn’t even imagine the terrifying results if the lumberjack or the others only knew about his other ability. The one he hadn’t shared with anybody. The one he’d kept buried since the day he’d used it, and things went to hell. Darren would likely be kicked out of the house, hell, probably the town of Marshall altogether. Nobody wanted the sort of gift he could provide, even if they wished for its power. That other ability would stay locked away forever for his own and everyone’s safety.

Someone knocked on his door. He guessed his time hiding was up.

He stopped pacing and didn’t move, hoping whoever it was went away, but the knocking persisted, and Darren knew he was sunk.

“Darren, can I come in?”

Julia’s voice echoed from the other side of the door.

He couldn’t hide forever; she’d probably pick the lock. She was resourceful. “Okay. Hold on.”

Darren unlocked the door, and Julia took a few steps in before closing the door behind her. He was thankful she hadn’t left it open to inquiring eyes.

“Are you okay?”

she asked, looking as concerned as she sounded.

“I don’t know. Is the lumberjack still here?”

Julia smiled. “Yes, Ray is still here. He’ll be here for a few days.”

“You mean he didn’t cut and run from the house the moment he had a chance?”

“No. Ray doesn’t strike me as the running kinda guy. He was shocked,”

Julia said as she came over to sit beside him on the edge of the bed. “He and Elias served together in the same Marine unit; they go way back. He’s a police detective in Seattle and helped us save Kyle when he went missing.”

Great, he’d embarrassed himself in front of the war hero lawman who’d saved Fletcher’s brother. Damn, it kept getting worse.

“I was honestly trying to sneak away before anyone noticed, but I couldn’t break my oath to appear when I was found during a training session. So I was sunk. Stay hidden and break faith or appear, chance being pummeled into the wall.”

“I shouldn’t have called attention to you. I was too into the game and blurted it out without thinking. My fault.”

“No, it’s not. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. You can’t help I’m a freak.”

“Don’t ever say that. You’re not a freak. Promise me you won’t say that again, let alone think it.”

Julia’s hands sliced through the air as she spoke. She often spoke with her hands and became more animated the stronger her emotions became.

Darren was shocked by how upset she was. “I promise. Sorry.”

“You aren’t a freak. You aren’t responsible for what those horrible people did to you. You’re doing your best under extreme circumstances. I mean, you’ve already used your power to save several lives—several team members would have died if you hadn’t done what you did back in that factory. Without you, the Noah Group would have done irreparable harm to one of the only teams out there fighting to stop them.”

Darren snorted. “You give me way too much credit. I was simply in the right place at the right time. I’m sure Brick and the others would have figured something out.”

“No. You’re the one who gives yourself too little credit,”

Julia huffed. “I’ll get through to you eventually, but in the meantime, are you ready to meet Ray the old-fashioned way?”

“We’ve met. I’m good here.”

Why would the guy want to see me again?

“No, you’re not. You’ll keep stewing on what happened, making it ten times harder on yourself. The sooner you see Ray is a good person, the quicker we can get back to training.”

“I’m sure this Ray is a great guy, but there’s no way I’m going ghost while he’s here. I think I’ve given him enough shit to work out in therapy without adding to it.”

“I like that,”

she said, confusing Darren.

“What? Forcing people to seek therapy?”

That was odd.

“No. That term you use. Going ghost.”

“Seemed appropriate, considering that’s what it appears I’m doing. Vanishing into thin air.”

“That can be your new codename on the team. Ghost.”

“Code name?”

Why the hell would he need a code name?

“Yeah. You know how Brick, Stryker, Gunner, and Gator all have nicknames for various reasons like Brick is tough as bricks, Stryker never misses anything he aims at, Gunner is an amazing sniper and ordnance specialist, and Gator wrestled an alligator to save a kid. Well, yours can be Ghost as part of the team.”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“What?”

Julia asked with a shrug.

“You’re trying to make me feel better by including me in the team’s makeup.”

“You are part of the team, Ghost. So get used to it. We’re in the kitchen when you’re ready to rejoin the masses,”

Julia said before giving Darren a quick hug for encouragement and leaving.

He sighed. Was he truly part of the team? If he was or ever wanted to be, he had to start acting like it, and that could only happen if he managed to get his ass out of this room and face the world, mutation and all.