Chapter 25: More Than You Thought
Jesse Flores reached across the table and gripped her phone, answering the call quickly.
"Hello?"
She lifted her shoulder so that it would hold the phone up as she continued looking through the piles of mail on her kitchen table. Her partner, Detective James Ellison, spoke on the other line.
"How soon can you leave?"
Jesse's eyebrows furrowed.
"Um, I can leave pretty quickly. Why?"
"A couple of days ago Sarah and John Connor were found injured at a steel mill and taken to a hospital in Fremont, California. The director has given them time to heal but he wants us to travel up there to retrieve Sarah and return her to Pescadero."
Jesse dropped the letter she was holding and held the phone with her own hand as she turned around her, trying to find her shoes.
"What about John?"
"He'll go back into foster care. It's not good, Jesse. The poor boy will probably never see his mother again."
"Why not?"
"When local authorities showed up, there was no physical evidence of either the machines they were fighting or the pieces they stole from Cyberdyne Systems. It was just the two of them bleeding out with multiple injuries."
Jesse rose out of her seat and jogged to the laundry room, listening carefully before she cut in.
"Don't you have any evidence on security cameras or physical witnesses? John was with a friend at the arcade before he ran away."
"That friend hasn't seen him or gotten a call from John since."
Jesse grabbed her coat from the dryer, holding it in her arms as she walked back to the kitchen table.
"Okay, so try another lead. Didn't Doctor Silberman at the mental hospital see the machine?"
"Even if he did, he would be foolish to admit that crazy Sarah Connors was right. He would lose everything."
Jesse shook her head slowly with frustration as she set the coat down.
"Surely there has to be someone else."
"Look, Flores, I personally don't want them to be separated but the director doesn't want to send a 10 year old to a mental hospital to live the rest of his life. By separating them, we can give him the chance to live his own life."
"You really think he's going to live his own life after all that he just went through? He's scared, Ellison."
"I don't make the orders. I follow them. Be in Fremont, California at 6 P.M. Got it?"
Jesse let out a small sigh before she nodded.
"Okay. See you then."
She hung up the phone quickly and shoved it in her back pocket as she sprinted across the apartment to her bedroom. She flung the door open and changed her clothes as fast as she could before slamming comfortable shoes on her feet. Once she was ready, she grabbed her phone again and dialed another number.
"Come on, pick up! Pick up, damn it!"
"You are so impatient."
Jesse wasted no time as she scurried around her apartment, grabbing everything as quickly as she could.
"Get up and go to the Powers and grab everything you can and shove it into the truck with you. Ellison called. We're returning Sarah Connor to the mental hospital. If we don't her them now we are never going to."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure, Derek."
"You can't risk losing your job at the FBI… not yet."
"Sarah Connors is more important than my job! You know that!"
"Jesse, you hated Sarah Connor. Why are you bent on saving her now?"
Jesse froze in her tracks and drew in a slow breath. She had hesitated to tell him the full reason why ever since Derek Reese had showed up a couple weeks after her in the past. She knew that he had owed Kyle a debt before his brother had died in 1984 and Jesse hadn't told him that he had left behind more than Sarah Connor. But she drew in another quick breath as she grabbed her keys and walked out of the door to her truck.
"Look Derek, you're right, I don't like Sarah Connor but there's more to this mission than her. Back in 1984, your brother left behind more than you would have thought."
Silence filled the line as she heard the low hum of him driving in his truck, waiting for her to finish her explanation.
"Kyle fell in love with Sarah and she… she got pregnant. Your brother has a 10 year old son named John that is never going to see his mother again if we don't stop the government from separating them."
Derek replied softly on the other line.
"What?"
"That's why I need to get them out. That boy hasn't even been through the war yet but I can see the pain in his eyes that is in all of ours. He needs our help and so does Sarah. Our job is to rebuild the Human Resistance so that we are stronger when Judgment Day comes again and I think John could be the missing piece we've been looking for."
"You think my brother's son can end the war?"
"Yes, I do. And I know you will know that too once you meet him. He's a strong kid."
"You… you want me to get the Powers and guns and go to Fremont?"
"Yes and I'll meet you four there."
There was a small pause in sound and Jesse's heart beat nervously on the other line.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."
"It's okay. I… I know why you didn't tell me."
"I love you, Derek."
"I love you too, Jesse. I'll see you in a couple of hours."
"Bye."
Derek hung up the phone before saying goodbye and Jesse let out a slow breath. She was surprised he didn't want to ask any more questions but she knew he would call again soon so she placed her phone on the passenger's seat and drove as fast on the highway as she could go, hoping Derek and the Powers would understand the time crunch they were under. They needed to get there and out with the Connors, no matter what it took.