CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

I COUNTED TO twenty before approaching the front porch and opening the door the old-fashioned way. It’d been left unlocked. “Adel? Anyone home? It’s Buck. I’m unarmed.”

“Jim, come on back. You never seem to disappoint. Under the circumstances I can’t say I’m glad you’re still alive.”

It was Adel, although she sounded more irritated than the other times we’d spoke. “Where’s Evie? I want proof she’s okay.”

“First things first. You’re in my house now. What kind of host would I be without asking for a round of introductions?”

I stepped into the kitchen. Adel stood in the utility room doorway, pointing a handgun at what I assumed to be Marisol. Slowly Adel backed into the kitchen while nodding with her head. Marisol stepped into view, her own weapon leveled at Adel.

Shuffle-stepping, the standoff shifted into the kitchen until Adel positioned herself behind the granite island so she could see both me and Marisol. “I thought your beautiful assistant here had been working against you. Yet you’re not surprised to see her now.”

“We’re back on the same page.”

“Well, Jim, that’s too bad. ‘Cause once again, it doesn’t seem anyone’s consulted me.”

“I just want Evie back safe and sound. I still don’t know what you want.”

“What I want has changed, Jim. There’s only one way you’re still alive. At first I thought it could’ve been luck. Not anymore. I saw some of what you did at the bridge, before my driver was killed.”

Marisol shifted a step closer to me.

“I wouldn’t, honey. Not unless you wanna put Jim to the test. I’m pretty fast myself,” Adel winked, “and you’re on my playground now.”

“So you know what I’m capable of. You still haven’t told me what you want in exchange for Evie.”

“Unless I miss my guess, soldier lady here has done some of that for me. The rest, well, it’s sorta hard to explain.”

“Marisol and I have already destroyed the lab and the research. I’m all that’s left. What else could the THS want?”

“Really?” Adel remained focused on Marisol, although clearly thinking through the new revelation. “And she helped you?”

“Risked her life. Still risking it actually.”

“So that explains the eye. How touching.”

Marisol growled.

Adel ignored her. “Jim. Surely you’ve figured my connections extend beyond the THS by this point.”

I shrugged. “I only learned of the war a few minutes ago, how am I to know of the players?”

“Well, to be fair, not even your girlfriend has any idea who she’s dealing with. We’ve worked pretty hard to keep it that way. Thus our current dilemma.”

“What dilemma? You take us to Evie. Marisol takes my daughter, and I stay with you to continue the conversation.”

“Afraid that’s not possible, darlin’, for two reasons.”

I started to ask why, but stopped when I heard a car door slam in front of the house.

“One, someone without sirens appears to be after one or both of you. Two, where Evie is, your girlfriend can’t go. Non-negotiable.”

“Buck.” Marisol nodded toward a shadow outside the window. All three of us crouched.

Adel continued in a whisper. “This is going to get ugly fast. I’m ready to flush this whole damn operation and let you clean up the mess you’ve made. You’ve got one move left. Come with me now, alone.”

“It’s your call, Buck.” Marisol shifted toward the utility room door, keeping her weapon focused on Adel. “I can handle the admin.”

“With one eye and arm?”

“I’m too valuable, they’ll want me alive.” She winked.

I focused on Adel. “I won’t leave her behind.”

“Well, then, I’m sorry to have met you, Jim. I hope we never meet again. Scoot.” She waved me toward Marisol so she could slip into the dining room.

“What about Evie?” I grabbed her by the arm.

She curled her lip. “She’ll be better off without her idiot father.”

“Buck.” Marisol interrupted, whispering through clenched teeth. “I think it’s best we not be caught together. Go with her. Find Evie. Tell her I’m sorry.”

I turned to argue, but spotted a reflection on the polished surface of the stainless steel dryer. Mixing oil with water, I engaged both my minds with the urgent. In a blink I thrust the dryer through the back door and blocked the gap with the washer, giving Marisol some cover.

“Go.” She smashed the window with her pistol, firing twice. The exterior of the house danced with a combination of microwave pulses and small arms fire, unfocused and erratic. By the time I turned toward the dining room, Adel had ducked into the hall and a burly man bearing a 12 gauge had burst through the front door.

Spinning the man before he could discharge his weapon, I froze him in the entrance. With eyes closed, I focused on the man’s signature floating in the oil and water mixture. His four lesser senses were bound by his sense of sight, making what he saw easy to access.

Two others where fanning out in the lawn while two military Humvees approached in the distance. I needed to even the odds for Marisol. Jerking the man’s arm, I raised his weapon and fired. Quickly, I spun the man and fired again. Finally, thrusting the shotgun straight down, I forced him to remove his own foot with a third blast.

“I’m not waiting, Jim.” Adel dropped out of view through a hatch in the floor. The bedroom window shattered with an incoming tear gas grenade. I flicked the grenade back through the opening with a thought and followed Adel under the house.

After dropping into the darkness, Adel closed the hatch and spun two large bolts across it using a metal wheel. Nimbly she jumped down another level, slapping her palm against a button. The chamber surrounding us frizzed to life as a large electro-magnet whirred into operation.

“A private tube. How the hell—”

“Buckle up. This isn’t your standard commuter ride.” Adel yanked a lever. Two harnesses dropped from the ceiling, suspended like hammocks. “Put your arms here and here, and don’t get it tangled.” She slipped across the small spherical chamber toward what looked like the controls.

“Once the destination is punched in, there’s a ten second delay. If we don’t get out of here before they figure out where we went, they could pull the power. You ready?”

“If this thing is taking me to Evie, then yes.”

“You’ll be a hell of a lot closer in the time it takes you to spit.”

“Ready.” I locked my feet in the webbing, swinging gently in the harness.

“Go in ten.” Adel slammed down another button. A loud whine emanated from outside the sphere. “It might help to close your eyes.” She scampered into the harness next to me. “Six.” As she locked her feet in place, the sphere shook with a nearby explosion. She raised a brow, asking about the happenings in her house without saying a word.

“Marisol has a certain way about her. It rubs off on anyone who survives long enough.”

“I see.” Adel checked the readout, “three,” then looked back toward me. “She must be quite the woman.”

“Yes.” I realized the truth of the words genuinely for the first time. “She is.”

“Go!”

The dim yellow lights blanked out, or maybe my vision. The harness creaked as bright lights popped and swam through the blackness surrounding me. But where I had expected rough vibrations and the thrill of flight, I felt nothing except the pressure of the Earth’s rotation fighting against me.

I tried counting the seconds in my head. Before I’d gotten to two, the pressure of the harness against my skin began to shift. The spinning darkness faded back to yellow until I could focus on Adel smirking back at me from her own harness. “How could that—”

“Only the first of many. Gotta’ limit the g-forces for human transport, honey.”

And with that the lights went out again. This time I closed my eyes.