Nurturer: TDU Series, #5

By Jyn West

Book Five of the TDU Series continues with the presentation of those recently found. Clues present for the recovery of those next in line and adventure awaits. Families real and gathered are growing. Please join us in Nurturer as the fulfillment of the prophecy continues and the TDU works to establish itself for use in the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jyn West
• Release date: Oct 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393710288

Book preview

Copyright Page

Copyright ©2019 Jyn West All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the Author. You must not circulate the book in any format. Thank you for respecting the rights of the Author. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

Dedication & Acknowledgements

Thank you to my family and friends who continue to encourage me and hold me accountable. For believing that I could do this and succeed. I could not have done it without you. Your patience and love carried me through the rough spots, and you rejoiced with me as hurdles were cleared. Thanks to Mom and Dad who were even willing to read outside their normal genre to support me, you are the best.

A special thanks to all my beta readers and their willingness to take me on as a new author and to share your views while the work was in progress. For helping me identify slang terms that not all regions would interpret the same. LOL Thanks for seeing it through. Georgianna Jonson and Dee B. you guys are the best interactive sounding boards ever. I am honored to have had you with me through the process. Justin, thanks so much for the books you were able to read for me before your move. Maureen and Gloria I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the series as much as you did the later books you read for me.

My family, friends and beta readers have heard this disclaimer many times but here it is for all you new readers too.

This series is a work of fiction. If details about locations are accurate, I may have passed through or I may have gotten lucky with my description. No need to correct perceived errors in the description, this is fiction. Some facts or observations are woven through the stories but for the majority of the series, this is fiction. *laugh* I hope you enjoy the books. I hope they do inspire you to explore places you have not been, but please don’t try to find places described except just for fun, because its fiction. May the wanderlust take you to places unknown by road or by reading. Encourage our youth to learn the joy and fun of reading, a vacation for our mind that can last minutes or hours as time allows. Thanks for checking us out. The TDU Series currently has 12 books with a 13th in progress and each will be released as it goes through final editing and touchups.

About: TDU - The Series

Tactical (strategic, planned, psychological, calculated, intentional)

Development (expansion, progress, advancement, training, education)

Unit (entity, division, group, company, organization)

The number of paranormal entities in the world are increasing and intermarrying with humans. Those humans and their friends and families are now aware of them and word is spreading. Who will help with peacekeeping and law enforcement as knowledge of their existence spreads. Who will help train local law enforcement agencies how to deal with these groups, who have until now been self-policed. With the increased numbers and expansion beyond the voluntary group boundaries of the past, an integrated human and paranormal force will be needed for the future. The Tactical Development Unit (TDU) is that force.

Book Five of the TDU Series continues with the presentation of those recently found. Clues present for the recovery of those next in line and adventure awaits. Families real and gathered are growing. Please join us in Nurturer as the fulfillment of the prophecy continues and the TDU works to establish itself for use in the future.

Table of Contents

Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication & Acknowledgements

About: TDU - The Series

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – Anticipation

Chapter 2 – BBQ and Real Estate

Chapter 3 - Presentations

Chapter 4 – Ponder This

Chapter 5 – Dreams

Chapter 6 – Abduction and Recovery

Chapter 7 – Hostage Rescue

Chapter 8 – Back to Normal

Chapter 9 - Extraction

Chapter 10 - Debriefing

Chapter 11 – Dream Walking

Chapter 12 – More Team Members

Chapter 13 - Prisoner

Chapter 14 – Rules and Compassion

Chapter 15 – Wounded Polar Bear

Chapter 16 – Know Your Neighbors

About the Author

Chapter 1 – Anticipation

Friday 0400

It’s Friday, I am so excited I just can’t lay in bed any longer. I’ve been up for 30 minutes already, answered all my emails, listened to all my messages, showered and dressed. Zachary will be awake soon, thank God. I need a distraction from thinking about the next three days activities. I go to Danny’s room and let the pups out, after they do their business outside I lead them back to our suite and bring them in with me to help wake Zachary up via hyper doggies. *smirk*

I count to three and all three of us jump on the bed and attack him with licks and bounces and tickles (those are just from me of course).

He feigns affront but can’t help himself and is laughing at the antics pretty quickly. Okay, I’m up, I’m up. He jumps out of bed and locks himself in the bathroom to get ready for the day.

I take the dogs back to Danny’s room and motion to them to wake Danny the same way. They race to his bed and jump on him licking him all over. Within minutes he is wide awake and laughing as well.

Zachary comes up behind me and wraps me in a hug, let’s go get some breakfast and see if we can reign in some of your excitement for this early in the day.

He sounds gruff but he is laughing so I know he understands and is not upset. We have a short meeting with Tomas after breakfast about the adjacent property.

We enjoy breakfast and talking about the final details for the next few days with the barbeque and the presentation. The meeting with Tomas was good news, the owners of the adjacent property are in town and would like to meet early Saturday morning and if all goes well we may be able to sign the papers finalizing the sale then as well. I asked if he has confirmation from the Redmond’s that they and the girls will be attending the festivities both days this weekend and he confirms they all appear to be excited and looking forward to it.

The only concerns shown were from the girls worried about whether they will be allowed to remain living where they do now.

I reach out and find the girls on the mini pack link and reassure them that they will be able to remain in their present home as long as it is safe to do so and ask if needed do they have room to house a few more that could act in a security capacity?

They both respond that they could easily house a dozen people if needed between the shelter and the Quonset hut.

Perfect, I said, we will see you all tomorrow then.

The rest of the morning goes quickly and soon we are on the road for our normal commute. Hal is excited for today too. He meets us in the garage as we drop off Danny and the dogs to confirm the schedule for the day. I also ask him how his reunion with Anya went.

He blushed like a teenager but said it was the best surprise ever second only to finding Justice again. He paused and said, well, maybe they are tied.

We all laughed, and I gave him a hug. I like Anya, and if you two can make each other happy, I am all for it, Hal.

We got to our office at the regular time, so it was business as usual until Lassiter picks up Justice and returns here with him. The plane lands at 0900 so we don’t expect them before 1000. He is scheduled with Williams first then with Zachary and I second. A break for lunch and then an afternoon of evaluations. The Comm Center keeps me occupied and I fill in longer than my normal hour to cover for Lassiter while he leaves to pick up Justice.

I leave the Comm Center at 0900 and decide to work out before Lassiter returns with Justice. Robert watched me like a hawk to make sure I didn’t do anything that could affect the pregnancy. I had to remind him firmly that I would be doing all of my normal activities except sparring and poisonous animal transformations.

He told me firmly that I needed to bring him a doctor’s note. Sigh. I can’t until it can be detected by a doctor. I cleaned up and went back to the TDU to work on some emails.

We know Justice arrived safely and is now in with Williams for the first interview. Zachary and I are waiting anxiously for our turn next. I can’t sit still and have been pacing for 5 minutes already. This will be the first time I can really talk to him without worrying about anyone seeing us together to give him away. Zachary’s desk intercom buzzes and I jump about a foot. It’s Williams saying that we can come escort Recruit Cloud to the TDU. We are out the door before he even hangs up the phone on us.

Zachary grabs my hand as we walk to Williams’s office. Not exactly professional behavior in the office but he knows I need the grounding influence over my excitement.

As we walk into the admin assistant’s office, Zachary lets go and places his hand at the small of my back instead. We are motioned to go ahead, Agent Williams and Justice both stand as we enter.

Williams says to him, you may already recognize these two, Agent Logan and his wife Dr. Logan.

Zachary reaches to shake his hand and the second he lets go I wrap him in a big hug. His eyes go wide and Zachary says "Just go with it, she’s been bouncing off the walls for two days waiting for your arrival. *grin*" He and Williams both laugh, and I finally let go and just shake his hand.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable at all. We are just so glad you are finally here and safe!! We are going to talk over in our unit conference room. Do you need anything to drink? We can stop in the cafeteria on the way there. I could use some iced coffee.

Zachary and Williams do the male chin lift thing and we are on our way. We stop and get some drinks and continue to the TDU conference room.

Once we sit down I ask him, do you prefer to go by Jack or Justice?

He looks at me in shock, I guess he didn’t realize we knew his birth name. It would be great to be called Justice again.

Justice it is then. Now as far as the agency is concerned you will be referred to as Recruit Cloud and then Agent Cloud, but you can put Justice down as your preferred name for more personal conversations and of course outside the Agency we will call you Justice. How did your interview with Special Agent Williams go?

It went well. It was pretty straight forward introductory information about my schedule today and probably Monday and Tuesday. He said you would give me more details.

Great. So you and I didn’t really get to talk on campus. We were trying to minimize your contact with me in public so that it wouldn’t draw attention to you from anyone who may have been watching. You were very quick to pick up on the signals we set up indicating that you should approach Agent Lassiter. That was very impressive and observant on your part. Before we overload you with information, we do have some necessary questions that we need to ask you first.

Zachary asks, Can you tell us what drew you to the handrum company that you visited and then emailed after their vendor fair in Wyoming?

Yes, Sir. My mother and my tutor from when I was younger taught me about the history of our people. My tutor had a tattoo or mark on his right hand that looks exactly like the one on your wife, Dr. Logan’s, hand. They also taught me about another tattoo like mark that would appear on the left hand of someone special that I should always watch for in my life and in the second music video I saw both of those marks on hands in the video. I found out from their website where they would be in person and was able to attend the one in Wyoming on a pretense of picking up supplies for one of my professors at college.

Then at the career fair the week before graduation, someone asked me if I had a twin sister attending there too, because they saw someone in the event building that could be my twin, or at least related. Then one of my professors asked me to deliver an envelope to the Agency tables. As I entered the building I felt drawn to that area. I saw Dr. Logan talking to Agent Lassiter and noticed that she had some physical similarities to me, and both marks. I noticed that she looked right at me for a brief moment and then patted his back, looked at me again and left. I figured those were pretty specific directions, so I followed them. Best decision I ever made.

Good answer young man, Zachary said.

I ask him the next question. Justice, can you confirm for us, what you are and your feelings about that. He looked very nervous at this point. So I said, I am sure your mother warned you not to not speak about it with others, but Justice, you have two hands of proof right here (I reached forward and lay my hands on his) that I am the one person you can most certainly talk to on this subject.

He nodded his head, took a deep breath and began, I was born Justice Tuttle to Jackson Tuttle who was an eagle shifter and Naomi Cloud a human Native American. At the age of 13 when I went through puberty my mother took me to my Uncle’s tribal lands to hide me from my father’s convocation of eagles, fearing for my life.

Within a month of leaving all the hair on my body had changed from a light sandy brown to what you see now, and I shifted into eagle form for the first time. Once she was sure I could control when I shift, she left me with my Uncle, giving me to him to adopt and told me to never shift in front of anyone or admit that I could, and to go by the name my Uncle would give me from that day forward.

She returned to my father to make him believe that I had died in an auto accident and lived with him until she died a few months later. I flew to her funeral in my eagle form and observed it from a distance so that none of the remaining convocation would notice me.

I graduated from high school with honors and enrolled in college and graduated yesterday also with honors. My mother before she left me, and my tutor before I was taken from him, taught me that I was special and would help fulfill a prophecy of my father’s people and others like them. They made sure I understood that not all of them believed as my father did, that only the pure should survive, and that had I stayed, I would have been killed by him when I changed. I am grateful for the sacrifice they made, and I would like to honor them by fulfilling my destiny.

Thank you, Justice. I know that was not an easy story to share. Your mother and Hal taught you well and true. I am the gatherer in that prophecy, and you are the fourth of the lost ones to be gathered in its fulfillment. Your father has also passed away recently in an auto accident and so you no longer need to fear him harming you. Hal is the last remaining member of that convocation that has not previously departed either through death or to relocate to where they were among believers or living independently. We estimate that there are 12 or more total to be gathered before the final work begins.

After the prophecy is fulfilled, our world will be a different place than it is currently. There will be a need for shifters to take an active part in peacekeeping efforts between the kingdoms in addition to the guardians. This agency is putting together a unit, the TDU, now so that they will be prepared to help stop criminal shifters from ruining the lives of normal law abiding shifters in the future. So you have the rare opportunity to not only take part in the prophecy fulfillment, but also to take part in the TDU after that, putting your degree to good use.

Zachary addresses Justice again, I know that is a lot to absorb in such a short conversation. Do you have any questions for us that you would like answered immediately? You will have opportunities tonight and over the weekend to ask all that you may have that are not urgent in nature.

You had Agent Lassiter show me a picture of my old tutor. Is he still alive and will I be able to see him?

Zachary answers, yes he is alive and well. Jeri, my wife who you know as Dr. Logan *wink*, thought you two would like some time to reconnect and has arranged for you two to share a condo for a few days through the balance of your interview and evaluation process. After that time we would like you both to come live on the pack property for security reasons and you will commute to work with us each day while you are in training.

That would be great, thank you both. You said pack property?

Yes, I am the Alpha of a large wolf pack.

I take over from Zachary and say, the three found ones ahead of you are a greyhound shifter, a cheetah shifter and a bear shifter. They all live on the pack property. We have also located the next two after you and they are a bobcat and a fox. So you can see that we will be living the ideal that you will be responsible for teaching to others.

Lassiter comes in and knocks on the conference room door. Recruit Cloud is due at his next evaluation soon, how much longer will you need him?

Unless he has more questions, Zachary says, we are good. He will have us all weekend to ask any other questions or concerns he may come up with.

Justice turns to Lassiter and says, I am good for now.

Okay, follow me then Recruit. *grin*

We didn’t see Justice again until the end of day. We had hoped to touch base at lunch, but they had him on a different lunch schedule. Lassiter brought him back to the conference room when it was time to leave for the day and told him he would see him again on Monday.

Justice looked tired and ready to leave for the day. The security team was waiting for us and already had his bags in the car. I called Hal and asked if he would order some dinner for five of us plus enough to feed the security teams as well, to share at the condo and have the café in the lobby put it on my account. We would be there soon. I texted Danny to walk the dogs and wait in the condo. We will be there soon and share dinner together. I let Mary know that we would not be on pack grounds until later tonight but are available by cell if anyone needs us.

Zachary was telling Justice about the area and how far the pack lands were and that he would get to meet Danny, the first lost one we found. Hal is also very excited to see you tonight. He never gave up on you. He always felt you were still out there somewhere safe.

Justice asked why we had so much security and I told him that two of the lost ones found so far had non-believers trying to harm them. We don’t believe anyone knows where they are, but we are trying to be proactive and do everything to ensure we are all kept safe. The more we gather; it will become more and more difficult to hide us since we all have physical characteristics that are similar. We will be able to travel only by private transport or in disguise once our opponents figure out the physical likenesses. I show him the picture on my phone that we took recently with six of us together.

Wow, I guess I am not so special looking after all, he laughed. Seriously though, we could all be siblings or cousins.

Yep, we are family for sure, except in our family every member changes into a different animal, I laugh.

Or in Jeri’s case, Zachary adds, multiple animals and insects and even extinct species.

Justice’s eyebrows furrow, questioning that statement and Zachary replies that we have lots of fun stories to share with him over dinner.

We arrive at the condos and remain in the car until the security team clears the area. Then we exit and we suggest that he grab whatever bag will get him through the weekend and we will deliver the rest to the pack house and have them put in his room there for him. He takes a bag and his carryon case.

I reach out to Danny and let him know we are here. Justice looks at me and says, I heard you when you said that. I smiled and explained the small pack link on the way up in the elevator. As we get off we let the guards know that we will be here awhile and that we ordered enough food for them too if they would like to eat in rotations. As we approach the door, Danny opens it and Hal rushes from the dining area to grab Justice in a bear hug like a long lost child who has been found. It is so touching we are all a bit teary.

Pretty soon Zachary suggests that we really should move inside for safety reasons and Hal startles and realizes he is blocking the entryway.

Of course, of course, oh my, come in. I cannot believe how you have grown. You must be at least a whole foot taller than when I saw you last and you were tall then, he laughed.

Justice answers him and says yes he went from 5’6 at age 13 to 6’6 now so exactly a foot. And you, my favorite tutor, are the same with just a few less hairs, and they laugh together.

We let the two of them visit in the living room while the rest of us continue to set up the dining area for dinner. We invite the first of the guards in to get his own plate and something to drink and tell