They promised they would and ushered Finn inside.Archie watched until the door closed behind them, then let out a long breath.
“There are other kids,” he said.
“Yeah.”
They got back in the car.Archie didn’t start the engine right away.He sat there, hands on the steering wheel, staring at the Henderson house with its warm lights and the reunited family safely inside.
“I’m a PI,” he said after a moment.“I did the job I was hired to do.We found Finn.Case closed.Martinez and his people can handle the rest since they’re hunters.”
Jasper turned to look at him.“You don’t want that.”
Archie sighed.“Those kids out there are just as scared as Finn was, but maybe they don’t have parents with enough money to hire someone like me.No one will come for them, but I’m sure they’re still waiting for someone to save them.”Archie ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself.“It’s not my job.”
“No,” Jasper agreed.“It’s not.”
Archie thought about those kids Finn had mentioned.He thought about how young some of them probably were, about all the cases he’d turned down over the years because they didn’t pay enough or seemed too dangerous or just weren’t his problem.None had involved kids, but this one did.
“I’m going to make it my job,” Archie said finally.He turned to face Jasper.“This case isn’t closed.Not until every single one of those kids is home safe.”
Jasper smiled.It was soft and proud and one of the reasons Archie was making this decision.“Martinez will want to be involved.”
“Then we’ll work with him, or around him if he gives us trouble.”Archie started the engine.“Braith’s going to kill me for taking a case with no paying client.”
“I think he’ll understand.”Jasper reached over and squeezed Archie’s hand.“For what it’s worth, I’m with you.Whatever it takes to find those kids.”
“I know you are.”Archie squeezed back.“That’s why I’m doing this.”
As he drove them back, Archie was already thinking about the next steps.How many kids were still out there?How involved were the hunters?Would Archie and his friends be able to stop them if they were more deeply involved than they expected?Archie hadn’t been planning on taking on the entire hunters’ organization, but he might have to, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
The only way was forward, though, and not only because of the kids.Something told Archie that the hunters, and specifically Leroy, had been involved in whatever had happened to Jasper’s birth parents, and eventually, Jasper would find out.
Archie dreaded that day as much as he anticipated it.
Chapter Nine
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JASPER COULDN’T BELIEVEwhat he was hearing from the TV anchors.In all of his years as a hunter, he’d been on the news several times.Reporters had never shied away from mentioning what the hunters were up to, usually in a good light because it was a hunter’s job to save people.Jasper hadn’t agreed with that, especially as the years went by.Tonight, though, it wasn’t only hunters being praised.Someone had gotten word that monsters had been involved in rescuing the kids from that warehouse, and the anchors made sure to mention it several times.
It was confusing.
“Several monsters were seen on site,” the woman, whose name Jasper didn’t remember, said, turning toward the man she was sitting with.“What do you think about that?”
“Well, it’s clear that these monsters were working with the hunters.The ones involved in what was happening were taken away, but others were free to go and were seen talking to hunters.Considering how many hunters and later police officers were there, that wouldn’t have happened if they’d been involved.No, to me, it looks like they were actually working together, and I think it was about time.A few monsters are giving their entire species a bad reputation, but I know some of them who are very nice people.”
Jasper snorted.He’d bet his entire paycheck that if the guy knew monsters, they were people he encountered at a grocery store or something like that.There was no way he had friends amongst monsters, but Jasper could be wrong.The preppy man on screen just didn’t look like the type.
“It does sound like they were working with the hunters,” the lady agreed.“But I wonder if this might be the start of a new vigilante type of justice.”
The man frowned.“I agree that would be a bad idea.Monsters need to be kept under control, and while it’s good that some of them are working to get the bad apples reported to justice, they shouldn’t do that themselves.It’s what the hunters were created for.We trust them, and monsters should do the same.”
This segment was going from bad to worse.Didn’t they understand why monsters couldn’t trust hunters?They probably didn’t.They were human, and it was easy for them to ignore everything the hunters had done.Hell, the general public didn’t know about most of those things.Hunters were great at showing the world what they wanted, but behind the scenes, they could be as bad as the monsters.
The screen behind the two anchors was showing images of what had happened the other night.Jasper wrinkled his nose when his own face appeared.He’d managed to mostly stay out of this stuff when he’d been a hunter, but it hadn’t been easy.He’d forgotten that reporters liked being on scene when something happened that involved hunters, and now, here he was, plastered all over the news.
Jasper grabbed the remote control and turned off the TV.He didn’t care if they wondered why he’d been there.As long as they didn’t try to contact him, he was happy to stay out of the spotlight as much as he could.That was why he’d become a mechanic after he’d left the hunters.It would’ve been easy for him to open a PI agency like Archie and Braith had, but he’d wanted nothing to do with any of that anymore.He’d enjoyed working with them, though.He’d definitely been satisfied with the work they’d done saving those kids.He wasn’t sure that continuing to be involved with them would be a good idea, but he didn’t have to decide now.
The apartment door opened.Jasper frowned because no one was supposed to be home, and he sat up, glancing in that direction.Cullen walked in, his shoulders slumped, his backpack sliding off one of them as he closed the door behind himself and sighed heavily.
