Kindred Spirit - Noah Harris Page 0,16

happen from time to time. I was mostly doing reports before to fill in the day.”

“Noted. And you’ve made contact with the subject?”

Jacob grunted. “As I said in my last report, he’s working as a handyman who showed up at my assigned room to fix the light. And before you ask, no, there wasn’t anything I didn’t include in the report. There was nothing supernatural or odd about him.”

They had seen one another a few times since the night at the diner, but it was usually just to stop and talk while Levi went about his business. There were times when Jacob thought Levi was distracted or off in his own little world, but nothing that would mark him as anything other than a daydreamer. There had been no odd occurrences, strange sounds, no bad dreams, nothing.

“That doesn’t change anything. The target needs to remain under surveillance. At the very least, for his own safety.”

Jacob frowned, wishing she would just use Levi’s name. “Has something else happened?”

“Nothing to set off any alarms, but 2218 have been spotted operating further north than we originally believed. There’s nothing to say they know of the target’s location, but there’s nothing to say they don’t either. Keep an eye on him, as close as you can.”

Jacob noticed she hadn’t said anything about whether or not 2218 knew about Levi’s existence. Then again, considering the monstrous size of the folder the DDI had on Levi, he wouldn’t be surprised if someone else knew about him. There were incident reports of strange and sometimes violent events surrounding Levi going back as far as when he was two-years-old.

The house fire that had started inexplicably when he’d been six had been the first time the DDI had tried to intervene. It happened after a string of incidents reported by neighbors and strangers, witness to broken windows, shouts among bangs and crashes, and in one incident, a rather sturdy chair being thrown through a bay window.

What happened after the DDI became involved was still considered classified, even for him. And he had no idea what occurred. The file skipped over large chunks of Levi’s life, though Jacob knew the man had lost his father within a year of the fire incident, and his mother several years later. There were no reports of Levi in any system afterward, save for the occasional blip of his name. The use of his original name was an odd one, but Levi’s last name had changed repeatedly over the years, and Jacob had a list of them at his disposal for whatever reason. Apparently, Levi was extremely attached to his given name, something noted in the file.

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Jacob assured her. “I may be ‘wayward’ to you, but I know how to follow orders.”

“Of that, I have no doubt. I haven’t officially been told to tell you to look out for 2218, only to alert you that they might be near. However, I’ve seen them operate in other sections of the country. They are almost never where we think they are.”

“And Levi has a big target on his back,” Jacob muttered, glancing toward his tablet.

“Precisely.”

“And if something does happen?”

“Prioritize keeping him safe and moving him away from danger. Alert us at the first available opportunity but above all else, keep him safe.”

It was a little strange hearing that come from a representative of the DDI. For the past few years, Jacob’s entire job had been to bring down or forcefully contain psychics and supernatural events. While they were technically ordered to do so as safely as possible for everyone involved, it rarely worked out that way. It was nice to know there really was a desire to protect some of these people.

Especially since he was growing to like Levi.

“I think I can manage that.”

“I thought you might.”

Jacob frowned, nagged by the sudden idea that he was missing something. “Anything else?”

“No, just checking in, officially, and unofficially giving you a warning. Be sure to file a report soon, say...next forty-eight hours?”

“Can do.”

A knock at the door brought Jacob around. “Yeah?”

Levi’s voice came through the thick wood. “I’m apparently on a mission. Could you open the door?”

“Uh, yeah, give me one sec,” Jacob called.

He turned his attention back to the call. “I’ll file another report soon, but I have to go.”

“Be safe, Agent Ryder. I’d hate to see this go wrong for you.”

And with that rather ominous statement hanging in the air, Jacob ended the call. Tossing his phone and headset back