The New Spartans Book 1 - 1. Chapter 1

Kate slowly stirred the soup and half listened to the music coming from her son’s room. For the first time in the last few years she was content. After her husband had been murdered her son had closed himself off. It was only in the last couple of months he had started to come out of his shell. She put it down to the new boy in his life, Phillip. She sighed, thinking about her husband. She still missed him terribly even after four years.

He had been a reporter with Denver Globe and had been shot dead one night. She could still remember his smell and how gentle and strong he was. What she remembered most was the sense of safety she had always felt with him around. He hadn’t been physically imposing but emitted a sense of calm than made you feel safe. That had been ripped from them by someone. His murder had never been solved. She was always afraid the police would side line the investigation and that people would forget so she kept his death in the public view and worked tirelessly for victim’s rights.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a loud thump from above her and the sound of laughter. Going to the door she shouted,

“Robert knock it off, you nearly came through the ceiling.”

“Sorry Mom,” came the giggled reply.

She shook her head. Robert was sixteen going on four. He was tall like his father. In fact he reminded her so much, sometimes painfully, of Tom. He had the same shockingly untidy dirty blond hair and blue eyes, strong chin. He was tall and slender, clothes where a curse to buy as they seemed to hang of him like a ragdoll. He was a good kid, quiet and did well in school. He wanted to follow his father into journalism and was on the staff of the school paper. It had been hard on him when his father had been killed. He couldn’t understand why someone would do that. He had been afraid for the months that followed and had needed counselling after he started having nightmares. He stopped seeing his friends and slowly then drifted away. She had contemplated moving but couldn’t make herself leave this house.

Then three months ago he had come home and seemed different. For the first time in a long time he talked about another student. He had been asked to show a new student around and they had hit it off. She long ago suspected he may be gay and the way he eyes lit up when he talked about this guy confirmed it. It was obvious that he had a huge crush on the boy. Over the following months he seemed distracted and smiled to himself when he didn’t know she was watching him. Finally last month he had sat her down and told her he was gay. He had been so nervous and fidgety it would have been funny if it was so serious.

She had met Phillip the following night. She had to say her son had good taste. Phillip was also sixteen, slightly taller than Rob, dark hair, brown eyes and muscular. The best way to describe him was masculine. He exuded power, but seemed uncomfortable with it. He was polite, funny and when he looked a Rob you could see how much he care for him. She was happy for the both of them.

She was startled by the sound of the doorbell. She hadn’t been expecting anyone. Turning down the heat on the cooker so not to burn lunch, she headed to the door. When she opened the front door, there was a man with his back to her. He turned and smiled.

“Mrs Kelly, I’m Detective Markovich with the Denver Police Department. I wondered if I could have a couple of minutes of your time.”

“May I ask what about”, she replied her heart fluttered hoping.

“There has been some new information about your husband and we have a couple of questions we need to ask”

Pulling open the door wider she asked him in and directed him to the kitchen.

“Mom, who was at the door,”

“It’s a detective; he just has a couple of questions.”

“About dad?”

“Yes”

Rob started to come down the stairs but she shook her head and told him they would talk later. Phlillip came out of the room and put his hand on Rob’s shoulder and they went back into the room. She followed the police back into the kitchen and motioned for him to sit down. She offered him a coffee. He nodded.

“Black two sugars please”

She poured him the coffee has he opened an envelope and pulled some pictures out. He placed them on the table and took out his note book.

“Mrs Kelly, over the last few months we have been investigating group we believe may have been involved in the murder of her husband. What I would like to do is show you and your son a couple of photos and see if either of you remember seeing them around at the time.”

“I don’t know, it’s been four years but I will give it a go.”

“If you would call your son, we can get this over with quickly”

She went to the kitchen door and called her son down. Though there was something nagging at her. She couldn’t quite figure out what. She moved back to the stove and turned off the heat as she had no idea how long this was going to take. She could hear her son tramping down the stairs and she turned to the detective. He seemed to be watching her every move. She started to get uncomfortable about this. Was there something he wasn’t telling her.

She was about to say something when the kitchen door burst open and Rob came in followed by Phillip. The detective turned and looked at the boys. His eyes widened in shock and he jumped from his chair and reached for his gun.

“You….”

Was all he had the time to get out before Phillip raised his arm and shot him twice in the chest. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Rob ran over to her and hugged her. His mouth was open as Phillip calmly walked over to where the detective lay and shot him once more this time in the head.

He stood looking at the dead man for a second; then he spit on him, kicked him and said.

“Fucking Cocksucker”

“Watch the language” she said automatically.

He bent down and picked up the gun and turned to Kate and said,

“We need to get out of here, there are two more with him and they will come looking for him soon. Do you have a gun in the house?”

“Jesus, what the fuck”

“Look, Mrs Kelly, I don’t have time to explain. This asshole was here to kill you and Robbie. There are two more like him close by. If we don’t move quickly they will try and kill us too. Once we’re out of here I’ll explain.”

“He was a cop”

“No he wasn’t, did he show you a badge”

Kate was in shock but thought for a second and realised she had never asked for id. She had just accepted what he said. What the fuck was going on and who the fuck was this boy. This was fucking unreal.

“Look,” he said more forcibly, “We really don’t have the time we need to move.”

Phillip looked over at his boyfriend and his mother and seen disbelief and fear. He realised they were scared of him and he knew he needed to do something or they were dead and everything would be for nothing. He calmly walked over to them and handed Kate one of the guns.

“I know this is fucked up and you don’t really trust me, but please believe me when I say time is of the essence and we need to move. Gather anything you need quickly and any cash you have.”

She pointed the gun at him she moved over to the corpse and started to search him, she found no id on him and this seemed to confirm something for her. She realised what had been nagging at her. The guy had talked like a TV cop rather than a real one. She had talked to so many over the last few years she could recognise one from a mile away. She had been distracted by what he said and it wasn’t until she calmed down that she started to realise he wasn’t real when hell broke loose.

She then remembered the man had recognised Phillip just before he killed him. She looked at him and he nodded.

“Yeah! I knew him, he was sent here to kill you and Robbie.” He said.

He looked as if he wanted to say more but couldn’t. They looked at each other for a while and then Kate nodded to herself,

“Robbie, pack some clothes quickly and grab your fathers shotgun from the hall cupboard.”

They quickly and quietly packed, it seemed to take forever. Kate returned to the kitchen to find Phillip hugging Robbie quietly whispering in his ear. He tilted Robbie’s chin up gently and kissed him on each eye and then leaned his forehead against Robbie and said

“God, I love you”

She realise he had been crying and Phillip was comforting him. This should be bothering her. This boy had just killed a man in front of them and yet looking at them it seemed right.

Phillip suddenly pulled away and looked towards the back.

“Fucked we’re too late their here.”

He quickly looked around the room and pointed to the island and told them to hide behind it. The island would cover them from both doors into the kitchen. Kate and Robbie crouched behind the island but Phillip moved to alcove beside the back door created by the laundry room.

Hiding behind the island Robbie was starting to shake. He couldn’t believe what was happening. After his father’s murder he had been terrified that the men who killed him were going to come and kill him and his mom. He started to pull away from his friends because he felt the only person he could trust was his mom. For months after his friends had tried to get him to come out and play but he had imaged the bad men were everywhere and would grab him or kill him. Eventually they had stopped coming round. As time went by it got harder and harder to trust anyone and he found it increasingly difficult and when he began to realise that he was gay this became even more difficult to even have a simple conversation. He felt separate from everyone and struggled Then three months ago he had been called to the office, which was an unusual event as he was not a trouble maker, rather just one of the crowd; faceless.

As he walked up to the reception desk he spotted a boy sitting by the window. He was reading one of the inane magazines which were lying on the table. He was dark haired and wore jeans and a baggy top so he couldn’t judge his build. He shook head, what was he doing. He wasn’t interested in the boy; he wasn’t interested in any boy. But he couldn’t help but stare, but tried to do so using his peripheral vision. The boy seemed to sense that he was staring and looked over at him. He smiled and went back to reading the magazine.

Mrs Roberts, the secretary, coughed to get his attention.

“Sorry I was in another world. Mr Paulson sent a note that he wanted to see me.”

“Yes, you may go right in.”

He knocked gently on the office door and waited to be invited in.

“Come”

He opened the door and entered.

“Ah! Robbie, good please take a seat and I will be with you in a moment.”

Tomas Paulson had been a teacher for twenty years, the last five has vice principal. He felt he was good at the job and constantly read up on the advances in the area of education and child psychology so as to be even better. The boy in front of him was an enigma for him. He knew his story and had tried to help him to be able to come out of his shell. He had been working with the school councillors over the last few years trying to get him to interact with the other students. But nothing seemed to work. At their last meeting it was decided to try and force the issue by making him one of the students who showed newbies around. He hoped this would force him to interact with the new student and start the process. He hoped it worked.

“Robbie, I need a favour. A new student is starting today and no one else is available to show him around and be his guide for the next couple of days.”

Robbie baulked. He must mean the boy outside. He started to say no, but Mr Paulson stopped him.

“I know you don’t normally do this but I really need you to step up and help me out”

Robbie gulped and nodded. The man had been there for him over the last few years and been trying to help him. It was the least he could do.

The vice principal pressed the intercom button and asked the secretary to send in the new student. The door opened and the boy walked in and Mr Paulson signalled for him to sit in the seat beside Robbie. He then open a folder and glanced had it.

“So let me introduced you. Robert Kelly, Phillip Burnett. Phillip Robert is going to show you around the school and help you settle in over the next couple of days. Okay”

“Cool” was the single word reply.

It turned out the they had two classes together as well as homeroom. This continued to hang out even after the settle in period was over and slowly began to build a friendship. In that time Robbie, firstly got a crush and then fell in love with Phillip. He learnt about the other boy slowly and then came that day.

He was pulled from his reverie when the back door opened and a man, dressed in dark jeans and jacket, crept in pointing what looked like a machine gun. He saw the corpse and quickly scanned the room. He started to turn towards the island when Phillip stepped out and shot him once in the back of the head.

Robbie saw the second killer and come in through the front door and had had the drop on Phillip. He needed to do something. Not thinking he jumped up and shot the man as he was about to shoot Phillip. The man was thrown back against the door from the power of the blast. Philip turned around and looked at the man. Robbie couldn't take his eyes from the man he was just lying there. There was so much blood. He started to shake even more and tears became to fall. He couldn't seem to move. It was as if he was paralysed.

Phillip quickly walked over and gently pushed the barrel towards the floor and kissed his boyfriend. He knew from experience that Robbie was going to have a hard time of the next while but they didn’t have the time to deal with it now. He quickly searched the men and gathered the guns.

“We need to move the cops are going to be here any minute and we need to be gone before the get here.”

Kate looked at him and was about to say something.

“I know it seems we should stay and wait for the cops, but I need you to trust me. They can’t help us. All they will do is make us easier targets. We to keep moving and then we can contact the authorities. Okay”

Kate was sure what was real anymore. Men had come to her house and tried to kill her and her son. Her mysterious boyfriend and killed them and now they were about to run from the cops. Every bone in her body said this was the wrong thing to do. But she really couldn’t think straight so she gathered everything and they headed out.

“We can’t use your car and the cops will find us too quickly.” Phillip said as he pressed the button on the keys he had taken from the detective. The lights and beeper sound on a dark SUV parked 100 yards down the street. They moved towards it. They put the luggage in the back and Phillip hoped into the driver’s seat and sped away to the sound of incoming police sirens.