S.I.B.lings: Chapter 1

Richmond, Virginia

The cool summer breeze allowed the occupants of the home, Wade Tyson and his fiancée, Rachel Fontaine, the option of using the air conditioner or fresh air to sleep. The branches of the large maple trees that surrounded the back of the house hung protectively over the double windows of the bedroom, gently filtering the night breeze over them as they slept lovingly entwined with each other. Crawling in bed, only a few hours earlier, neither anticipated nor had reason to expect the choice of leaving the windows open, would be the catalyst for an attempt on their lives.

The locks were on the doors. All the downstairs windows were closed with latches connected and the security system was set to the highest sensitivity level. All in all, it was a peaceful night—until the voice spoke.

Son—son wake up.

Wade’s eyes popped right open. Lying still he listened to see if he would hear the voice again. He did not move or adjust his body in any way. Just as he was about to close his eyes, he felt a jolt. It caused his eyes to pop wide open again. This time he was looking down at himself and Rachel still entwined with each other on the bed. It was as if his body was floating above them. He was on the verge of freaking out at the sight when the voice spoke again.

There is no time. Go to the tree.

Wade’s vision turned to the large maple tree outside the window.   One of the large branches was now inside the room. Wade a grown man, figured he had to be dreaming. The branch had taken the shape of a large hand with its palm up. The walls nor the windows had been disturbed. Hell, even the drapes were still in place with a brief movement from the wind coming through. 

There is no time to waste. Go my son.

Reacting to the voice he believed to be his mother’s, Wade climbed onto the large branch. His body was immediately jerked through the window and perched securely within the large branches in the middle of the tree. The leaves and multitude of branches hid him from sight. A wind blew through, causing the leaves to rustle. As they calmed, he could hear whispers of voices below him. The leaves parted allowing him to see below. Wade’s vision settled on four men who approached from a vehicle parked across the street from his home. In the area where he lived, there were only four houses surrounding him. One next door had at least an acre of land between them and his two neighbors across the street. Each of the homes were modest million-dollar estates within the neighborhood. Seeing cars parked on the street at night was out of the norm. Most vehicles were parked in garages. The location of the homes was not one where cars would randomly drive through. You would only come to this neighborhood if you knew someone who lived in one of the four houses. To Wade’s knowledge, after living in this location for at least three years, none of his neighbors would have visitors at three in the morning. That fact and coupled with the four men dressed in dark khakis and hoodies, raised his curiosity. The reason his windows were open was because it was in the high seventies at night. Why would anyone be in a long-sleeved hoodie?

The four men walked into his front yard. They split into teams of two. One team walked towards the back then jumped over the locked security fence surrounding the yard. The other two men walked to the far side of the house. The scene from his vantage point was clear. They were attempting to break into his house. While their voices were low, he could hear the two on the far side of the house talking. That took him by surprise. He could hear them on the other side of a 3200 square foot home. His brothers had the ability to hear other people’s thoughts. He did not. So why was he able to hear these men tonight?

“What the hell?” He heard himself say but his mouth never moved.

Your brother is in danger, son. You must stop them.

Wade’s eyes followed the men on the far side of the house as they walked toward his guest house in the back. But why? Wade thought. Then the words he’d heard made sense.  His brother Monty stayed over last night. Taking the older brother protective role was simply a part of Monty’s DNA. He had pretty much made Wade’s guest house his home since the incident that took place in Bristol, Virginia a month ago. That adventure changed and endangered their lives. Wade believed it was probably the reason he was sitting in a tree watching men on his property.

“The two men are after Monty,” Wade murmured to himself. “I have to get down.”

To his surprise, the tree limb moved to the ground and gently placed him on his feet near the window to the guest house. Not thinking about the fact that he was talking to a tree he said, “Thank you.”

Dressed only in pajama bottoms, no shirt and his feet bare, he had no weapons he could use against these men. Mild-mannered Wade could handle himself, but he was not a fighter and there was a total of four men on his property. He could use a little back up. Instead of confronting the men, Wade climbed into the bedroom window of the guest house. In a low voice he called out.

“Monty.”

“Wade?”

He heard the question in his brother’s voice. “Yes, don’t turn on the lights. I need you to listen.”

As did all of his adopted brothers, Monty had the ability to hear other people’s thoughts. However, when it came to Wade it never worked. None of them could penetrate his mind. They had no idea why he was immune to their skillset, leaving them to have to always communicate with him through the traditional way of speaking.

“Why are you climbing through the window?” Monty sat up while wiping sleep from his eyes.

Wade walked over to the side of the bed. “There are men outside the house. I need you to listen and tell me what they are thinking.”

Monty, now alert, stood and listened then told Wade what he gathered from the men’s thoughts.

Both men need to be captured. Neither are to be harmed, the woman is expendable.

Monty relayed the message to Wade. “They are here for us.”

“Like hell,” Wade exclaimed. “We have to get to Rachel.”

“Weren’t you just with Rachel?” Monty questioned as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants.

“I was until the tree pulled me out. Now she’s upstairs alone.”

“The tree?” Monty questioned.

“Later, Monty, there are four men in the yard. Two are coming this way. The other two are trying to get into the house.”

“Right…Ross, Dane, and Drake are on their way.” Monty replied. “I’ll handle the two coming my way. You go after the two at the house.”

“Be careful,” Wade stated. “You know they attack with a needle.”

“I know,” Monty nodded as they walked towards the front door of the guest house. “You be careful as well.”

The two men exhaled then opened the door ready to battle.

It was over before it really began. One of the two men jumped Monty from behind, while the other attempted to distract Wade. Suddenly the trees began to ruffle, their branches swaying back and forth. Then a fierce wind came through, knocking everyone except Wade to the ground. Without a second thought, Wade reached down, gathering both men in his hand as if they were toy soldiers. Their legs and arms were kicking in the air as they attempted to get out of his hand that seemed to have grown to be ten times its normal size. The vision of his hand freaked him out so much he threw the men aside. Staring down at his hand, he didn’t notice that the men had landed with a thump miles away from his home.

“Wade?” Monty, who was still on the ground, looked up at him with a what the hell expression on his face. “Are you all right?”

Wade glanced at Monty then back at his hand. It was back down to normal size. The tree branch appeared. It quickly circled Wade’s body as Monty jumped to his feet. Wade saw his brother attempt to reach out to him, but the tree branch had swished him away, placing him at the door of the main house. Something must have alerted the men tampering with the lock on the back entrance to his presence, for they turned, ready to attack. One of them raised his hand with an object Wade could not make out. Wade simply raised his hands. Whatever the object was, it fell from the man’s hands and began melting on the patio bricks. He looked down at the liquid, astonished, as did the man who was holding the needle. While he was distracted with what had just occurred, the other man attempted to swing at him. Wade’s head snapped up with fire in his eyes. The heat from his angry glare stopped the man mid-swing. Wade stood there watching as the man’s skin began to burn as if he had been sitting in direct sunlight for hours. Wade wasn’t sure what was happening. When he took his stare from the man, he could see Monty running towards him.

“Stop, don’t come any closer,” Wade warned. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt it wasn’t safe for Monty to come near him. He slowly inhaled then stared at the one remaining man.

“Who are you and why are you here?”

The man never replied.

“Monty?” Wade called out.

“Stop using your energy.” Monty stated.  “I will handle him.”

Suddenly the tree branch circled his body again. This time the branch picked him up then threw him through the side of the house.

Wade’s body began tumbling down in the darkness. The bark of the tree, the leaves, even the branches were fading the deeper he fell. Just as he was about to scream out, his body hit the bottom. His eyes flew open as he jerked upwards in the bed.

His sudden movement caused Rachel to stir. The woman he would give his life for, glanced over her shoulder with droopy eyes. “Are you okay?” she asked groggily.

Wade glanced around the room as if assessing every item. The chair, the dresser, even the blanket that was at the foot of the bed, were on the floor as if nothing had happened. Could he have been dreaming? No, it was too real. He pushed the sheet aside, then rushed over to the window.

“Is everything okay? What’s happening Wade?” Rachel was now wide awake and alert.

Those eyes that he loved, quickly revealed the questioning look of the investigative reporter the moment they landed on him. He could tell she knew something was wrong. He did not know how to explain to her what had occurred. Hell, he wasn’t sure how to explain it to himself. 

Wade grabbed his shirt, then put on his slippers. “I’ll be right back.” He ran out of the room as he pulled on his shirt. “It must have been a dream” he said. He punched in the numbers to the security system, then ran out the back door. Monty was standing there looking down at the two men on the patio.

The front door burst open. Wade looked back over his shoulder to see his other brothers, Drake, Dane, and Ross come rushing through the door. A motion to his left brought his eyes on Rachel running down the staircase with a baseball bat in her hands. She was about to swing when Ross grabbed it from her.

“Give me that before you hurt yourself,” Ross hissed.

“Or me,” Drake chimed in.

“Where did Wade go?” Dane asked as he scanned the room. “Never mind, I can hear Monty thinking.”

The brothers always knew when one of them was in trouble. They were all professionals working in different divisions of Tyson Industries as executives but had no issues protecting each other. Dane tapped Ross on the shoulder, “This way.”  All three men ran out back ready to battle.