Shake It Out (Rick Tyler Book 2)

Chapter Nine

"Morning Di." Larry said as Dinah came down the stairs.

"Morning." Dinah grumbled.

"You didn't get much sleep either?"

"No." Dinah said with a sigh as she sat at the table. "I just couldn't stop replaying what happened."

"I stayed up trying to figure out how we could get him released but I don't know how we can explain it away without revealing you guys."

"So what do we do now?"

"The only thing we can do, keep trying to figure out how to stop Eclipso."

Later that day, Dinah called Cameron.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cam. How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while. I was getting worried."

"I'm just going through some stuff right now Dinah."

"Oh okay. How's the mural going?"

"It's going good. I'm almost done."

"That's good."

"Listen Dinah, I really need to go."

"Oh okay. I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah."

"Okay bye."

Shortly after Dinah got off the phone, Larry walked into Dinah's room.

"Dinah, I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

"Pat, Barbara and I haven't been completely honest with you kids."

"Completely honest about what?"

"How the JSA stopped Eclipso the last time."

"What happened?"

"Before I tell you what happened, I want to make it clear to you that your mother, Pat and I did not support this decision. After what happened, your mother and I stepped back from the JSA."

"Dad, you're scaring me."

"There was this explorer named Bruce Gordon."

"I remember that name. He's the one who wrote those books we've gotten a lot of information about Eclipso from."

"Bruce Gordon was Eclipso's host for years. When Bruce went to Diablo Island, he found the diamond and Eclipso made Bruce his host. Eclipso was getting stronger and stronger. You kids already know he killed Dr. McNider's daughter but what you don't know is after that, Eclipso threatened everyone's families. A lot of the team felt that the only way to stop Eclipso so nothing bad happened again was to kill Bruce."

"What?!"

"The team put it up to a vote. Jay, Pat, your mom and I voted no but everyone else voted yes."

"So they killed Bruce Gordon?"

"Yes."

"Why did you guys not tell us?" Dinah asked, hurt evident in her voice.

"Because we didn't want you guys to view the JSA differently. We felt if you guys knew the truth, your opinion on the JSA would change. Plus we're not just talking about the team, we're talking about Rick's dad and your mom."

"But mom wasn't a part of it."

"She still stayed on the team after it happened. The whole team just fell apart and disbanded after it happened. They were never the same and they didn't come back together until the ISA resurfaced."

"So why are you telling me this now?"

"Pat, Barbara and Mike were targeted by Eclipso earlier. Pat, Barbara and I agreed everything needs to be out in the open if we're going to successfully stop Eclipso. No more secrets."