The light of the single working headlight pinned her in place, and she contemplated darting back into the brush at the edge of the road. She reached out with her mind and sensed no hostility from the two occupants of the vehicle and, in fact, caught a reverent joy from the one on the passenger side.
The passenger door opened slowly. The old man climbed out, apparently stiff and sore. He turned back and looked at the younger man behind the wheel and said something to him in a tongue Rajani could not decipher. Holding on to the open door so he would not slip in the gravel beside the road, he came around and smiled at her.
"Welcome. If you wish a ride, we will give you one."
The opposite door opened, and Rajani instantly got a twin blast of concern and fear from the younger man getting out. She noticed that both of them wore their straight hair long, with the youth's jet-black and the old man's steely gray. "Grandfather, stay away from her. She might be one of them." The young man reached into the truck to pull a shotgun from the rifle rack over the rear window.
The old man frowned. "The young ones, they know nothing. Come with us, little sister." The old man looked back at his grandson. "Will, this is a great day. Do nothing to spoil it. Leave the gun there."
Will shook his head but did not free the gun from the rack. "Picking up a hitchhiking gangbanger on a lonely road. I can't imagine what you would have done if I'd let you make this trip alone, Grandfather."
Despite the younger man's reticence, the warmth and happiness being radiated by the older man drew Rajani forward. She did not flinch at the gentle touch of the older man's hand on her back as he guided her around the door and into the middle of the bench seat. She smiled as sweetly as she could at Will, and his frown lightened a bit, but he remained sullen as he pulled his door shut. His grandfather climbed into the cab, and Rajani found herself slightly uncomfortable on the crowded seat.
Carefully avoiding her left knee, Will jammed the truck into gear and started them off. "We're heading to the reservation east of Phoenix. Okay if we drop you there?"
Before she could reply, the old man patted her right hand. "We will take you wherever you need to go, little sister. I am He Whose Antics Are The Light in The Eye of the Raven."
"Raven's eyes are both glowing tonight," Will grumbled.
"You may call me George, and this is my grandson, Will."
The pure joy in the older Native American radiated out and stilled the apprehension given off by his grandson. "I am Rajani."
"So, Rajani, what's your story?" Will jammed the truck into a higher gear. "Have to run from a drug bust in Flag?"
She tried to think of a plausible story to offer them, but she knew that what had fooled children would not pass muster with these two. She glanced over at the older man, and once she looked in his eyes she knew she could safely tell him the truth. "My parents were born on another world, but I was born here. I was named Rajani after a Hindu goddess in honor of Dr. Chandra, my parents' best friend. I have been in a stasis shell for the past two decades in a secret research facility maintained by the government, and I am traveling to Phoenix to stop someone from falling into a trap being set by a monster from outside this dimension."
The truck swerved a bit as Will hit the break and started to steer onto the shoulder. "You expect me to believe that?"
"Keep driving, Will. We will not leave here," George smiled sagely. "We will do everything we can to help you, little sister."
"Grandfather, she's nuts!"
The older man's voice took on an edge. "Will, only weeks ago you were told that what I have to teach you has value. You yourself saw the storm and the creature forming above Phoenix. You know that happened, and after that you started your studies."
"I know what I saw, Grandfather, but that's worlds away from a blonde bimbo from Betelgeuse." Will's face flushed. "I'm sorry, miss, but I can't buy your story."
Rajani sensed in Will a conflict that pitted himself and his self-image against his heritage and all the things his grandfather had tried to teach him over the years. Will wanted to be a man of the 21st century. He wanted to leave superstition and nonsense behind, but he kept experiencing things that suggested to him that his grandfather's ancient ways were still valid. A huge part of him wanted to be worthy of his grandfather's legacy, but the modern man laughed at his desire to master rituals and traditions that had been stripped of meaning by the real world.
"Will, reach out with your heart." The older man reached around Rajani's shoulders and touched his left hand to Will's forehead. "See her with my eyes. Look beyond her surface, and see inside her."
George gave Rajani's hand a squeeze and whispered conspiratorially to her. "Open yourself to him. Let him in."
Rajani nodded and purposely pulled her defenses down. She sensed his probing. It came feebly, yet with enough substance that she knew he would be strong if he learned how to control his abilities. She sent confidence and praise back through the link they had established, which made Will smile for a second before he blanched and stared intently out the window.
"He will learn, little sister. He will learn." George let a wheezy laugh spring melodically from his throat. "This person you are to warn, who is he?"
Rajani shrugged. "I am uncertain, but . . ." She recalled the search drones and their check-pattern for people. "I think I want to find Coyote."
Will stiffened and even George seemed to be momentarily sobered by her suggestion. Will's foot pressed down on the gas a bit further. "Coyote, did you say?"
Rajani nodded. "Do you know him? He's in grave danger."
George shook his head. "We know of him. He is a legend. Some say he is dead, and others say he has come back after he killed himself. He was instrumental in defeating the monster in Phoenix."
"Fiddleback."
"The Recluse." George smiled, and his eyes focused distantly. "An appropriate name for one who manipulates from afar."
"So you can get me to Coyote?"
The old man shook his head. "We do not know where he is."
Rajani slumped down into the shell of her leather jacket. "Oh."
George winked at her. "We do, however, know of someone who, rumor has it, knows him."
Will looked over. "We do?"
"Drive, Will. We are making a slight detour." The old man interlaced his fingers and bridged them outward, cracking his knuckles. "We may not be much in comparison to Fiddleback, but if I can be a pebble in his shoe, I will be very happy."
Rajani could not shake her feeling of unease as she and George walked down the dimly lit corridor on the 10th floor of Phoenix General. Will had parked at the base of the tower and let them out, but his grandfather refused to let him accompany them. "What I have to do is best done with only two."
She'd not known what the old man meant, but as they approached the tower she sensed his aura changing. It dulled, then expanded and enfolded her when he took her hand. George smiled and marched boldly on toward the hospital. He hesitated until two EMTs caused the automatic doors to open, then he pushed on through into the crowded emergency-room lobby.
Rajani watched in stunned silence as the Native American walked through the lines of bleeding and moaning patients without notice. He slipped around behind the admitting desk and quietly typed a name into the computer. Information came up over the screen, and he smiled. As the admitting clerk turned back toward her terminal, he picked up a pencil and dropped it, distracting her while he blanked the screen and retreated.
Without saying a word, he led her over to a bank of elevators. As with the doors, he waited until the elevator opened to let passengers out, then he and Rajani entered the box. He hit the button marked 10, then let her hand go. The doors closed, and they began their ascent.
"How did you do that? Did you make us invisible?"
George shook his head and wheezed. "No, I made us improbable."
Rajani frowned. "Improbable?"
"All of them, guards, nurses, clerks and patients saw us. What I allowed them to see wa
s an old Indian man walking hand-in-hand through the hospital well after visiting hours with an extraterrestrial fugitive being hunted by the government." He smiled as she blinked in shock. "Of course, such a thing is utterly improbable, and I increased their confidence in that conclusion. Because they knew they could not have, in fact, seen such a thing, and because at 2 A.M., the mind begins to play tricks on them. They refused to believe it."
The elevator's bell dinged, and the doors slid open. George started down the hallway, then took a turn around the nurses' station and headed off toward the northern wing. With her following closely and quietly, they walked down to Room 42 and, ignoring the 'No Admittance' sign, George opened the door. Glancing at the cardboard nameplate in the door bracket, Rajani trailed after him.
An undercurrent of physical pain ran beneath the troubled sensation Rajani got from the large African-American lying in the bed. Twin IV bottles dripped liquids into him, and another tube appeared to be sucking fluid from his left lung. In the darkness, his black skin became an ebon sheet pulled tight across his face. An oxygen tube ran below his nose, but the ragged sound of his breathing sent a shiver down Rajani's spine.
George's face focused down into a frown. He held his hands out as he approached the left side of the bed. They moved fluidly over the man's body, hovering an inch or so above him except where they dipped toward his chest. The Native American grunted, then shook his head. "He should be mending, but his will to live is ebbing."
The man's eyes fluttered open. "Who?" he croaked hoarsely.
Rajani sent out waves of reassurance as she approached the right side of his bed. "We have come a long way. I am told you know Coyote."
The big man nodded weakly. "Coyote." He snorted out a breath, and Rajani caught a flash of mental anguish. Images of a beautiful woman crystallized in her brain, then dissolved in blood.
Rajani stared at him, confused. "Coyote had your wife killed?"
"No, no." The man swallowed hard. "He couldn't prevent it. They only told me two days ago. Didn't know."
"I need Coyote's help, Mr. Garret!" Rajani gently grasped the fingers of his massive right hand. "Coyote is in grave danger from Fiddleback."
Something sparked in Garrett's dark eyes. "Fiddleback? Coyote is not here."
"I need to find him. Can you tell me where?"
Garrett shook his head. "There are people you need to meet, but I can't take you."
Rajani frowned. "Why not?"
"Little sister, his wounds are too grave." George lifted up the edge of the sheet and Rajani saw darkness tinging the outline of the tube in the man's chest, "It will be months before he goes anywhere."
"We don't have months," Rajani shot back.
"You don't have minutes," snarled a young, blond punk pushing the door open. He and a confederate slid through the narrow opening and allowed the door to close behind them. Each wore dark boots and gray jodhpurs with suspenders. The leader carried a submachine-gun of a particularly compact and ugly look, while the woman behind him held up a blocky automatic pistol with a thick cylinder grafted on to the muzzle.
She purred like a cat. "Looks like a three-for-one, Karl."
"Warriors," Hal whispered and slumped down in his bed. Rajani sensed his desire to fight, but hopelessness overwhelmed him.
"That's right, Garrett. We're here to finish the job. Waited a bit for the heat to come off."
Rajani smiled at Karl as she caught the image of a hulking man swim through his mind. "And for Mr. Garrett to be left helpless and alone."
"Save it, bitch. Defiance won't even make it into your epitaph." The gunman stepped back from the foot of the bed and waved his female companion forward. "Heidi, the honor is yours."
The blonde woman made a great show of mechanically pulling the slide on the pistol back, then letting it pop forward. The sound made Rajani shudder and she sensed a bit of pleasure from the woman at her reaction. Rajani glanced over at George to see if he had picked up the same sensation, but his eyes had glazed over, and Rajani felt nothing at all from him.
"Hal Garrett, you have been sentenced to death by the Warriors of the Aryan World Alliance." She extended her right arm and slowly let her forearm drop down so the gun pointed at Hal's head. "You are guilty of crimes against the Aryan nation, and you will pay for your treason. Your co-conspirators will die with you."
As Rajani saw the image of a bullet congealing in the woman's mind, she lunged toward the foot of the bed. The fingertips of her right hand slapped the silencer upward as the girl tugged on the trigger. Feathers flew as the bullet popped through the pillow.
Heidi snarled and tried to bring the gun to bear on Rajani, but she'd moved inside the larger woman's striking range. Rajani drew her right hand back, then shot it forward and hammered the woman's sternum. Coughing out a gasp, Heidi reeled back as Karl tried to bring his gun up.
Suddenly, a huge hole exploded in the door. Metal and splinters formed a cloud that blasted into the two white supremists. A yellowish tongue of flame stabbed through the hole, and the strobe light froze Karl in place as the shotgun pellets opened his chest. Heidi, who had caught most of the first load, smashed into the far wall and slid to the floor as if her bones had become as fluid as the blood leaking from her. Karl fell over her, and his gun clattered to the floor.
The shotgun held to cover the two racists, Will kicked the door open. "Saw them enter and pay off a guard. I followed." He looked at his grandfather. "I saw them with your eyes, Grandfather. Thank God the rest of you were clear."
Garrett grabbed Rajani's sleeve with renewed strength. "Go to The Pit. Speak with Bat. He'll help you. Go!"
"Let's go. They had backup downstairs." Will kicked the pistol out of Heidi's hand. "At least two more."
Rajani shook her head. "We can't leave you here. They will come and find you and kill you."
"I don't have much choice." Garrett's body started to tremble from the exertion. "Take the guns and get out of here."
"No!"
Rajani's shout startled all three men. She plucked the IV needles from Garrett's arm and hand, then pointed at the tube in his chest. "Pull it."
Will shook his head. "You are nuts!"
She looked up at George. "You trust me. Pull it."
The old man nodded solemnly. "She knows what she is doing."
Rajani turned and pulled both her sleeves up. She took Garrett's head in her hands and pressed both thumbs gently into the hollow of bone where his brows met. Her fingers splayed out along the sides of his head, and her palms pressed against his cheeks. Garrett stared up at her from the space between her thumbs and forefingers. "Trust me, Hal Garrett. Work with me."
The man nodded, then winced as George eased the tube out of his chest.
"Clear."
Rajani stared into Hal's eyes and projected herself down through them. She moved into his mind and sought what she had found in Mickey's father's mind. She worked in toward where his self-conception existed and found a scarecrow-thin doll with three gaping holes in it. Its limbs—save the paralyzed left leg—hung limply and flapped in an unfelt breeze. The fingers of his right hand swung back and forth barely above a shiny black coffin.
«You know better than that, Hal Garrett. You did not kill your wife. There was nothing you could do.»
The scarecrow's burlap face remained slack. «I could have done something. I could have gone away and made her safe.»
In the background Rajani saw the images of two small children. «You will not fail them, Hal Garrett. You are strong, and you fight for their future. Surrender now, and those who hunt you will be free to hunt your children. Capitulate now, and that which hunts Coyote will hunt us all.»
The scarecrow's arms slowed. «Not enough time to heal.»
«Work with me. Trust me. I will heal you.»
The scarecrow nodded, and Rajani shifted the focus of her vision. The mental images of his mind faded, and she replaced them with visions that Dr. Chandra had long ago worked her through. She saw Hal G
arrett for what he truly was: a community of multicellular structures. Each depended upon the other, and all had come from common stock. They fought together to maintain life, but Rajani began to work on them so they would actively pursue life.
She reached down into the neurons that made up Hal Garrett's brain and sent a trickle of electrical energy into certain cells. They dutifully passed the stimulation on down the line, spurring glands to produce hormones. Those hormones flooded through the body, triggering other cells to react. Dormant genes snapped on for a second or two, and cells began manufacturing proteins. These coded messages then drifted elsewhere in the body to prompt other actions.
In an instant, the community of cells that was Hal Garrett went to battle stations. Cells at the sites of his wounds went into near-cancerous rates of division, multiplying wildly to seal the two holes in his lungs and the one in his stomach. Bone marrow pumped out new cells to help oxygenate the blood, while leukocytes and macrophages began hunting in packs for lingering bits of infection. His body began to metabolize what little fat he had left and fed the mitochondria everything they needed to fill him with energy.
Fiddleback Trilogy 2 - Evil Ascending Page 13
