by Teya Tapler
“A welcome message from Ranshen,” Emil said. ”We have to be very careful with our next choice.”
“I would go with door 1960.” Evan said.
“Why not 1690?” Emil asked.
“We have 2000 safes here. There’re total of ten doors that have the digits zero, six and nine on them.” Evan started.
“Please don’t be like Peter right now. Just tell me why you think that 1960 is the right door.” Emil said.
“Because it is right here to my right and-” she smiled showing Emil that the door was glowing.
“Your undercover name should be Smarty-Pants,” Emil unlocked the last door. The fifth pearl, waited for them there, glowing happily in the dark compartment.
Evan took two pearls and Emil carried the other three as they headed back to the foyer pearls in hands. They had in their possession the items they came for. Now they had to find a way to save their friends from the thickening force field.
***
Evan led the way bent under the weight of the pearls in her arms. Head down, she carefully watched her steps. As she entered the atrium with the colonnade, the distinctive buzz of a laser gun passed by her ear. She stumbled of her own two feet and dropped one of the pearls. The sound of the falling pearl resonated in the marble room and in the silence that followed one could hear the pearl spin and then wobble left and right as it rolled slowly away from Evan. She stood still, mesmerized by the sight of the straggler moving away from her until Emil pulled her away.
Another buzz of a laser gun passed by her ear as they took cover behind the nearest Corinthian column. In the distance Mort, Ranshen, Kevin and Alex were aiming at them, laser guns in hands.
“The pearl!” Evan insisted.
“Not yet.” Emil pulled a laser gun of his own and got into position. It didn’t take long before the 906 Inquisitors pummeled them with shots.
Zander! The force field! Evan looked toward the middle of the room. Amidst the renewed shootout, Peter, Mary and Zander were still trapped, their images becoming blurrier each time a stray shot touched the ever more thickening membrane. Their short and frequent breathing indicated the decreasing quality of the air around them. The three of them were visibly cold, rubbing their hands and arms. Mary and Peter were sitting in the middle of the isolated area, trying to warm each other with the little body heat left while Zander was jumping in place to avoid frost forming on his face.
“Here take your gun back.” Evan felt the distinctive handle of a transcaster gun being trusted in her hand and looked at Emil. “Just aim and shoot,” He said.
Evan hesitated for a second.
“Leave the pearl on the floor.” Emil pointed with his foot to the pearls he had left nearby.
Evan followed his instructions mechanically. Leaving the pearl on the floor was easy; her arms would be free … but the shooting part. She had never shot at a human being before. She had never shot at anything … living before.
“Just aim and shoot,” Emil repeated. “Don’t worry! Anything you shot will be send to our dumpster area. No one will be hurt,” he patted her back.
She nodded in reply then peeked from behind the column showing the gun first. Alex was right in front of her, at the other side of the room. Evan aimed carefully at him, took a deep breath and pressed the trigger. The blue haze engulfed Alex and Evan exhaled slowly and closed her eyes.
It wasn’t that hard. One down. She thought and opened her eyes.
The blue haze dispersed revealing Alex, standing at the same spot as before. She had missed!
It is going to be harder than I thought. Evan took a deep breath and her eyes searched for Emil. He had moved a few columns down taking aim at Mort and Ranshen being pounded with shots by both of them in return.
She peeked from behind her hiding place to see if Alex was still there, when a shot buzzed close to her head. She quickly duck and took cover. Then the buzz of a shot came from her left. Evan moved her eyes in that direction and saw Kevin with the laser gun pointed at her chest. It seemed impossible for her to escape: Kevin was too close. What she needed was something radical and unexpected, something that would catch Kevin off his guard.
Evan left her transcaster gun on the floor, stood up and looked Kevin in the eye… and smiled.
“Hi Kevin!” Evan spoke softly. ” It’s me Evan.”
She slowly approached him while her voice hugged every carefully pronounced word. He was focused on her stunningly beautiful face, her burgundy hair making her white skin stand out even more.
“D’you remember me?” Evan said.
He had forgotten how beautiful she was. How soft her voice was.
“We went to the prom together and then you kissed me on the lips in front of the whole school.” Evan almost touched the gun with her chest. She talked about their high school days and their relationship at the time. “D’you remember how we first met?”
Kevin fell under her spell and loosened his grip on the gun. She kept looking at his eyes as she took the gun off his hands and tossed it in the direction of where she had seen Emil last.
The laser gun hit the marble floor hard and the sound echoed in the stone covered room. It startled Kevin who quickly seized Evan and pushed her into the direction of the fight hoping that a stray shot would harm her. He couldn’t move his eyes from her face. The memories her words had resurrected brought up his mixed feelings from those days. She wiggled, trying to escape and Kevin pushed harder and pinned her back at one of the columns. He wanted to kiss her and kill her but not exactly in that order.
No one noticed when Kevin and Evan entered the middle of the room. Emil had found Evan’s “gift” and was keeping the remaining three members of the 906 group busy.
Realizing his physical advantage Kevin let one of Evan’s shoulders free and moved his hand to her neck. Her eyes widened as he pressed harder. Her lips parted and her chest started moving rapidly, desperately searching for air. The family crocodile smile shone on Kevin’s face. He was finally going to kill Evangeline Shtuttgart once and for all. She was going to pay for everything she had done to him and his family.
Knowing how tall she was, Kevin slowly pushed her up the column until her feet were no longer on the ground. He smiled wider and … then the pain entered through his crotch and crept up to his stomach filling his whole body. She had kicked him. His hands promptly let Evan go and instinctively moved to protect the sore area from the next kick.
Evan slid down the wall and pushed him against the force field. Being slouched down and distracted from the still intense pain, Kevin lost balance and spread his arms, hands stretching to catch something to support himself on. The only thing close by was the force field. When Kevin’s elbow touched the almost red shield, a high pitch, noise filled the room. Four pairs of eyes glued to the middle of the room. No one was shooting as the piercing sound reverberated between the walls, cracked some of the columns then subsided and stopped.
The force field broke up into tiny particles. The crumb-like fragments evaporated, taking Kevin’s arm with them. As the force field disappeared, Kevin rolled on the floor.
He was dead.
Overtaken by the inertia Evan continued moving forward, following Kevin in his journey toward the force field. She had pushed him so hard that her body couldn’t stop. When Kevin fell to the ground and the force field dissolved, Evan entered the area that used to be surrounded by it and rolled on the floor between Peter, Mary and Zander.
Her friends were alive!
Taking deep breaths and massaging their throats and frozen hands they were pleasantly surprised by the change in their surroundings.
Evan snatched the transcaster gun from the back of Zander’s jeans, “How d’you set it up to go back home?”
“Take Mary’s,” Peter said, “It should be already set up. Just show it to me.”
Three shots buzzed close to their heads and the four of them dropped on the floor. Mort, Ranshen and Alex had resumed the assault. Laser gun shots flew above t
heir heads, bouncing off the walls, forcing huge marble pieces to chip off the columns and shatter on the floor.
Noticing that he had lost the interest of his opponents Emil fired at Ranshen and hit him in the shoulder. Ranshen moaned and knelt on the floor. His voice echoed in the room as Mort and Alex turned toward him.
Evan used the pause and pulled Mary’s gun. Peter nodded approving the settings.
”See you there in a few minutes.” Evan transcasted her friends then ran to take refuge. Keeping cover behind a column, she looked around for the pearls. The four of them laid in a neat pile behind one of the still standing columns at her side of the room. The pearls were some 20 feet away. But they were only four and she needed to take all five pearls.
Leaving any of them to Mort would mean that…
Evan combed her hair with one hand and tossed the negative thoughts away. It wasn’t a good time to do any analysis. She had to act. She had to find the fifth pearl.
Her eyes scanned the room.
The fifth pearl, the one she dropped entering that area when the fight began, was nowhere close. Evan saw debris scattered on the floor, Emil hiding behind one of the columns barely able to ward off the attacks from Mort, Ranshen and Alex. The three Inquisitors were hiding at the other side of the room closer to the elevator.
Four pearls was still good.
Evan could send the four pearls to the team base then search and obtain the fifth one. She crawled toward the four pearls to send the whole group to the team base when someone touched her shoulder. She turned abruptly, transcaster gun pointed at whoever dared to disturb her.
Zander smiled sheepishly.
He didn’t transcast with Mary and Peter!
He had stayed behind to help her. Memories of times passed rushed through her mind and for a split second she was lost in her thoughts.
Zander was her Knight in Shining Armor.
No, that wasn’t it.
The image of Zander dressed in a white loose shirt with frilled collar, tall boots, red silk scarf and a saber on his waist, standing on the second floor balcony of the Country club came to her mind.
He’s a romantic pirate.
He was the only person who had been there for her every time she was in trouble.
Since that day in the Mayan pyramid.
“Nice work with the shield,” Zander said, “I saw what you did there.”
“What are you doing here? Why didn’t you-“ Evan started but his hand landed on her lips.
“I’ll go help Emil and you send the pearls home.” He left not giving her a chance to protest.
Evan turned toward the group of four pearls, eyes still searching the room. Laying low, hiding behind the scattered column fragments, she saw Zander dodging a few shots while moving towards Emil. The leader of the Anaconda team was sitting on the floor, back pressed at the wall, his left leg broken above the knee. If they didn’t leave soon, not being able to move fast would make him an easy target.
Evan put the transcaster gun at the back of her jeans and continued her way toward the four pearls. Her eyes moved from debris to debris, analyzing their shape and color, wondering where the fifth pearl could be.
Nothing looked round or smooth enough. The fifth pearl was nowhere in sight.
Evan didn’t know what to do. If they left the fifth pearl behind, the mission wouldn’t be complete. If they stayed any longer they would be killed.
She approached the four pearls, knelt in front of them and moved her right hand to pull the transcaster gun from the back of her jeans, her left hand touching the pearls. They started to glow in the usual pastel colors. Their light was low, calming and reassuring. Evan knew that she would have to send the four pearls home then continue the search for the straggler.
“And here we meet again, Lin!” Mort’s roar startled her and she lift her left hand. The pearls turned dark, Evan froze and raised her eyes. In front of her, on the other side of the group of four pearls was standing Zull Mort, the fifth pearl in his hands.
“Or should I call you Evangeline Shtuttgart?” He knelt and placed the pearl on top of the others then touched them gently declaring them his possession.
Sensing their other handler’s presence the pearls lit up again. Their glow was low and the light they emitted was red, the usual color they would lit up in when Mort prepared them for usage.
“Get up, and come with me.” Mort ordered her.
Evan prepared to get up when a laser shot hit the wall at the place her head was going to be. She sidestepped avoiding the hit. Another shot reached the wall before her face and she shifted her body lower. It seemed that there was no way out. She couldn’t turn to see what Emil and Zander were doing. Not having their support at the moment could be an indicator of bad news. There was no way for her to call for help. Thinking of what to do next, she lay on the floor and covered her head with two hands.
“She’s mine. I don’t need your help Alex.” Zull’s voice roared above her head and the shots moved to another area.
Mort grabbed the back of Evan’s top
“Get up missy!” he shouted. The front of the neckline cut into her throat and she thought that she would suffocate.
Mort pulled the collar too hard. The thick front edge began to dig into Evan’s skin. She started to get up, lifting her head and shoulders first, supporting her weight on her hands.
Her movement seemed too slow for Mort. Impatient, he moved his hand and grabbed her short hair and pulled her up. Evan saw red and screamed, her face twisted in pain and her body followed her head. She was up on her knees following every movement of Mort’s hand. She prepared to stand up on her own two feet when Mort suddenly let go and she fell on her face, arms spread unable to soften the fall.
“She’s mi-ine!” Mort’s roaring voice faded as he crushed on the floor next to her.
With the corner of her eyes Evan saw how the pearls went dark and Mort holding his arms, blood seeping between his fingers. Somebody had shot him.
“You okay?” Zander’s tugged her shoulder.
“Yeah,” their eyes met.
On the other side of the pearls, Mort moved closer and touched them. The five pearls lit up in the familiar red color.
Evan’s thoughts were no more scrambled. She knew exactly what she had to do next.
She was going to transcast all five pearls, with or without Mort at their side, then help Emil and Zander capture the remaining members of the Inquisitors gang.
And then it will be over and everything would go back to normal.
She and Zander would be back together.
Evan stretched arms and started to get up. As her hands touched the pile with the pearls, the sun shaped golden medallion around her neck slipped out from under her T-shirt and hit the closest pearl. From the hit, the adornment opened. It’s inside was smooth and sparkling, covered with deep violet blue lazurite. The medallion dangled on Evan’s neck and its blue mineral touched the closest pearl several times.
The pearls red glow stopped abruptly. It changed to the pastel glow, the color the pearls were usually emitting in Evan’s presence, and then suddenly turned white. A sizzling noise filled the room and everyone’s eyes turned towards the pearls. One after another all pearls turned white. They seemed confused, as if not knowing whose handler directions to follow.
“It cannot be!” Mort roared and touched the pearls with both hands trying to make them glow in red again, to make them his.
“Duck!.” Zander pulled Evan away and they lay face down on the floor as a bright ray of light came out of the pearls, scanned the room, then replicated off the remaining pieces of the glossy mural covering the walls and its numerous reflections hit the pearls at the same time.
Without a sound, the pearls blew into smithereens. The particles hit the floor, the still remaining columns, the walls and the ceiling, then shushed and turned into white dust. The powder coated the ground, covering everything and wrapping everyone, like a January snow storm. The room wrapped in sil
ence. No one moved, even their breathing wasn’t audible.
“You okay?” Evan heard Zander’s voice and opened her eyes. He laid next to her on the floor, his hair and clothes covered with white dust.
She wiggled her hands and feet then said, “Yeah, how about you?”
“I’m okay.” Zander got up and pulled her to sit with their backs against the wall.
They dusted each other.
All was quiet.
“What happened?” Evan looked at their surroundings. The two of them seemed to be alone in what used to be the gorgeous entrance to the Galactic Committee Building vaults. White dust was settling down. The elaborately decorated Corinthian columns were now scattered all over the floor and as a result of the shootout new stars had been marked on the shiny mosaic covered walls.
Mort, Ranshen and Alex were nowhere to be seen and Emil was lying on the floor closer to the vault entrance.
“Emil, you okay?” Zander shouted and saw Emil showing him thumbs up in response.
Zander pulled Evan in his arms, hugged her and kissed her forehead, “You ready to go home?”
Evan nodded a yes.
“Let’s get Emil.” Zander said and both of them moved towards the vault entrance to prepare for the transcast.
The sound of the elevator moving towards their floor made them look in that direction. The lights above the door marked its quick descend. Five more floors and the door would open, most likely bringing Mort or Ranshen or Alex or all three of them.
Zander aimed at his shoe and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked and didn’t fire.
“It’s out of bullets,” he said. ”D’you have any?”
Emil shrugged in response. Evan brought up her gun and Zander pulled it apart just to see that it was empty too.
A sharp cling echoed in the room and their eyes turned towards the elevator door. Zander pulled Evan closer, behind him, as Emil readied his laser gun to threaten whoever came out. They stood quiet, waiting for the newcomers to show up.
