Chapter 11 - Jeremy/James/Deacon - Echoes of the Past

 

Chapter 11 - Jeremy/James/Deacon - Echoes of the Past

Jeremy, Present Day

Jeremy Newcastle couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was still a little torked off the cops thought he could steal money from his church. But what he was seeing right now was out and out wrong.

That Jax guy, whom he had never really trusted and Associate Pastor Gabe were watching footage from the church's surveillance camera.  Even from the hallway he could see what went down. Nick Ransom had kidnapped Faith and the man looked super pissed.

Why weren't Jax and Gabe doing something? Why weren't they calling the police? What was wrong with them?

"You have to get rid of that, Gabe said, shocking Jeremy. His eyes raised in horror. What were they doing?

"I'm making a copy for myself as a souvenir. Faith and I go way back and I like to keep pieces of her history just in case I might need it someday." Jax with his dark hair and eyes really looked evil in that moment. "Then I will cut out the footage and make it seem legit in case the cops decide to check the cameras.

“Why did Nick go after Faith?” Gabe asked. “We are supposed to all be on the downlow.”

“Faith has a tendency to stick her nose into places where it doesn’t belong. My guess is that she never trusted Nick despite all the outward appearances. She is one of those people who trust her gut more than what she sees or what people show her.”

“You sound like you like her.”

“Respect her, yes. I have known her for a long time. We’ve watched her for decades. She is about to come into her power and my superiors want access to it,” Jax said.

“Your superiors? Do I even want to know what that means?

“There are factions in The Legacy who don’t subscribe to the whole King Arthur / Camelot aspect of The Legacy. They want to use her to change things.”

“You realize she will never agree to that, right?”

“We’ll see.”

Jeremy didn’t know what they were talking about. The Legacy? What was that? Factions? He really needed to call his dad and see what he should do about this. This was totally above his pay grade.\

When Jax and Gabe finished, they left the building and Jeremy made his way into the surveillance area and phoned home.

“Dad, I have a problem and I need your help.”

Jeremy’s dad had been a pretty decent hacker back in the day but he was about to discover his dad was way more proficient at this than he realized.

***

James, Present Day

James was shocked by the email he had just received from a kid at his church. It was surveillance footage of Nick Ransom kidnapping Faith. He cursed under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Detective Danny Cornelius stood behind him peeking at his phone. James showed him the footage. “Is that at the church?”

“Seems to be.”

Suddenly, James’ phone rang. He answered it cautiously. “Yes?”

“James North aka Mike Rogers?” James looked at Danny in surprise and put the phone on speaker mode.

“You seem well informed. Who is this?”

“My call sign is Echo. Real name is Kain Newcastle. I work for The Legacy. Not sure if you're familiar yet but since you are a protector knight I’m sure someone will eventually get around to informing you,” Kain said. “Anyway. No time to explain that now. The footage Jeremy sent you… we’ve traced Nick Ransom’s movements to an abandoned building not far from the church property. I’m sending the location to your phone.”

“Who are you?”

“Just consider me a friend for now. Hit me up when this whole shebang is over and I’ll be happy to explain things to you. I'm already going to have to explain things to Jeremy. Kids don’t like it when you keep secrets from them no matter how well intentioned you are. Be safe, James.”

The connection ended and James and Danny just looked at each other dumbfounded.

“I’m kinda hating this,” Danny said.

“Yeah, me too.”

***

The grounds around the church were wet with evening dew. James and Danny watched the building from a place not far away. Binoculars showed they were in the right place. 

“I can’t believe this. The man’s a deacon.”

“I know. I was just thinking the same thing,” James said. “But it’s not just him. Jeremy saw both Jax and Gabe deleting the footage from the church computer. Kain Newcastle was able to retrieve it using some tech magic. Jeremy said his dad used to be a hacker back in the day.”

“What in the heck is going on at church?” Danny whispered.

“I don’t know exactly but we’re going to figure this out and nip it in the bud.”

***

Deacon, Present Day

Not far off behind the two men sat Deacon, aka Noah Stone, former pastor at Crossroads. He had been following Nick for months trying to get evidence on him. And Faith accidentally drew him out in one day. Why hadn’t he paid more attention to her insights? It wasn’t safe for Deacon to be seen right now. He’d given Hailey her walking papers putting her out of his FBI investigation since it was screwing up her marriage and their happily ever after.

Deacon did have an ulterior motive with this investigation telling himself he was keeping Faith safe. All that had done was drive a wedge between them and that wedge was now a great divide he wasn’t sure he could navigate. He’d screwed up big time and pushed her away. Now she was lying in that building unconscious and at the mercy of Nick Ransom.

He needed to get closer to the investigation. So he did the only thing he could think to do. He materialized behind James and Danny for a split second before reentering Danny’s body again. It had proved to be a good hiding place the first time around and now he was going to use Danny to help him save Faith no matter what the cost to himself. 

Today he had made the decisions. He was ready to fight for Faith’s love.