Visions

by Teyla Branton

  “On it,” came Dani’s hard voice.

  Could they trust her, or would she help the fringers escape with the doctor?

  Jaxon must have had the same thought. “I’ll head there too. That leaves you with the front, Eagle.”

  “The alarm has gone off at the train station,” Eagle said. “I’m monitoring the general local enforcement feed via one of Dani’s T-link back doors. Let you know in a minute if Special Forces diverts. If they don’t, we won’t have much time.”

  “They should divert,” Jaxon said. “With a threat to the sky train.”

  Reese thought so too. Santoni wasn’t a large city, and the enforcer division here was likely a subdivision, a smaller unit in place mostly to prevent fringer intrusion on their border.

  “Uh, Reba?” The receptionist’s voice penetrated Reese’s thoughts.

  “Yes?” Reese turned and strode over to the desk.

  “Bad news, I’m afraid.” The receptionist frowned, closing her desk’s holo feed. “Doctor Kentley just let me know he has been called to deal with an emergency. We’re going to have to reschedule.”

  Reese glanced toward the door where the fringers had disappeared. “I can’t reschedule. I really need to see him now.”

  The young receptionist blinked, as if it was the first time anyone had contradicted her. “Well, I’m sorry. He has to leave. I could put you in with his nurse in an hour, if that helps.” An image flashed from the receptionist’s mind—of Kentley, his eyes wide and his face scared. Was that how he’d looked just now when he’d talked to the receptionist on the holo screen, or had the image come from another day? Reese had no way of knowing.

  “Heads up, guys,” Eagle’s voice said in Reese’s ear, pulling her out of the sketch. “Special Forces is apparently not responding to the fire diversion. I repeat, they are not responding. When local enforcement contacted them, Special Forces exact words were, ‘If you let anything happen to the sky train, we’ll have you shot and thrown into the South Desolation Zone.’ Worse, I’m on the roof next door, and I can see a black shuttle coming down the street. We’ve only delayed them a little, if that. Looks like we’ll—”

  “Kentley’s going out the back!” Jaxon interrupted.

  Ignoring the receptionist, who was still trying to reschedule, Reese sprinted to the interior door and yanked it open.

  “Wait! You can’t go back there!” called the receptionist.

  On the other side of the door was a hallway with various doors. Reese sprinted past them all, pausing when a woman in blue scrubs holding an iTeev nearly ran into her. Reese pulled her stunner and pointed it at the woman. “Where’s the back door?” When the woman hesitated, Reese pushed the stunner close to her face and shouted, “Now!”

  With a little gasp, the woman angled her arm and pointed down the hallway. “At the end, turn left. Please don’t hurt me!”

  Reese pushed past her and ran to the end of the hallway, skidding a little as she careened around the corner. She dived for the door and pushed it open, nearly falling over a pile of old furniture just outside the door.

  “Hold it right there,” Dani shouted. She had her gun out, pinning the doctor and the two fringers in place behind the building near the border to the woods.

  Reese glimpsed Jaxon angling around to the side. Reese replaced her stunner with her Enforce nine mil and ran to help Dani.

  “You aren’t from Newcali,” Dani said to the fringers. “Where’d you get those uniforms?”

  “Whatever Newcali is,” said the taller of the men with a snort. “We’re fringers, though, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Please,” the doctor said, holding up his hands. “I don’t know who you are, but it’s a matter of life and death that I go with these men.”

  “No, it’s a matter of life and death that you come with us,” Reese countered. “Your life and death. And theirs. We’re here to help you, Dr. Kentley. El Cerebro sent us.”

  The shorter of the two fringers pulled his weapon, aiming it at Dr. Kentley’s head. “You let us go, or I shoot him right now. He’s no good to us if you take him.”

  Dani fired so fast the man didn’t have time to react. His gun went flying. He cursed, shaking his hand. Reese reached for her temper laser. She didn’t want to leave them confused for Special Forces to pick up, but she would if she had to.

  “Special Forces is here,” Eagle said in Reese’s comlink. “Two heading inside and four around back in full gear. I think they expect him to run. Should I start firing?”

  “It’s your call,” Jaxon said, “Dani, Reese, get Kentley into the woods.”

  Dani flicked a look at Reese. “I’ll distract Special Forces. You take care of them.” She turned, her body nearly blurring in Reese’s sight as she sprinted away.

  The taller man stepped behind Kentley, hunching behind him so that neither Special Forces or Reese had a clear shot. “I’ve got a gun at his back now,” he sneered at Reese. “Let’s see you try to hit that.”

  Anger burned in Reese’s gut as the man stepped backwards into the woods, pulling Kentley with him. “Jaxon, I don’t have the shot,” she said.

  “Neither do I,” came the response. “Follow him.”

  A gunshot blasted through the quiet morning, whizzing past Reese. Special Forces had apparently spied Dr. Kentley. “What about Dani?” Reese asked.

  “I’ll stay behind with her. Go!”

  Reese dived into the trees after the men, her heart thudding as a bullet ripped into the tree next to her. She glanced back to see Dani lunging at an enforcer, a patch of red blossoming on her right arm. Dani hit? The idea was inconceivable. Two enforcers were down but still moving, another was exchanging gun fire with Eagle on the top of the next building. Reese’s last view was of Dani flipping an enforcer up in the air and slamming him into the side of the next building.

  Reese ran. This uneven terrain wasn’t familiar, but her daily enforcer workouts had prepared her for endurance, at the least, and she’d keep up. The men were just ahead, with Dr. Kentley running with them. If he’d been under pressure to go with fringers, it didn’t seem like it now. Maybe he was more afraid of her than he was of the men. Branches whipped her face, growing thicker by the moment, until she couldn’t see the men but only hear them ahead of her.

  On any other day, she would have stopped to marvel at the beauty of the trees, the smell of the leaves, the feel of the bark. But now thoughts of her crew pushed all the wonder from her mind.

  More shots rang out behind her, and Reese was tempted to turn back. Her team was under fire, and if this was the event Jaxon saw in his premonition . . . no, she couldn’t think about that. Dani had said these fringers weren’t from her group in Newcali, but Reese had no way of verifying that because Dani hadn’t shared much intel about her group. They knew only that the Newcalians were located on the west coast. How many they numbered, their plans for the future, and most of their technology, Dani hadn’t shared.

  Abruptly, the forest began to change, as if taken by a sudden blight. The trees were set farther apart and their leaves were withered. Instead of earth and loam, the aroma was sulfuric and rotting. The rustling up ahead abruptly stopped. Reese pushed herself forward, her lungs burning. Dani should have been following the doctor. With her ability, she would have already caught up. Did that mean she’d meant for the fringers to get away?

  Reese burst through the ravaged trees into a tiny clearing. She stared around her, seeing no signs of the men. She stilled her breath, listening. Nothing. They had disappeared.

  Chapter 6

  JAXON LET OFF a couple shots with his pistol at the Special Forces as he tried to free his rifle from the nyckelira case. Dressed in enforcer blues, helmets included, they were completely protected, but a few well-placed bullets could incapacitate them at least temporarily.

  Dani had somehow lost her gun, probably when the bullet hit her arm, but she didn’t need it. She moved so fast, Jaxon was afraid he’d accidentally hit her. The two Sp
ecial Forces she’d already downed had learned the danger of getting hit by her fists. But the two from inside the doctor’s office had joined their companions, and they spread out, using the edges of the buildings to hide behind and protect themselves. One enforcer had made it to the black shuttle and was driving it into the narrow alley between the buildings. Jaxon guessed they planned to take Dani alive, or they would have placed a bullet in her head by now.

  “I can’t hit any more from up here,” Eagle said. “They know where I’m at. I’ll have to move. And with their armor, I need direct hits to do any good.”

  “Target their shuttle with everything you’ve got,” Jaxon ordered, ducking behind a mound of dead trees near the edge of the woods. “Something big. Hurry!”

  “Will do.”

  From Dani there was nothing over the T-link except the occasional grunt as she slammed her foot or fist into one of the Special Forces. She downed another, leaving only two standing, plus the one in the shuttle. Then a loud crunch! and all sounds from her stopped. Had her T-link fallen or been damaged?

  Hunching over, Jaxon began working his way to the end of the pile. The next second, he stumbled, falling to the bare earth as a sudden disorientation overtook him.

  Dani lies on the ground, staring into the barrel of an automatic rifle held by a man with a Special Forces patch on his enforcer uniform. A black shuttle moves up behind them, coming close to their position. A huge explosion rocks the alley. Dani and the enforcer disintegrate into pieces, taking half the doctor’s building with them.

  In horror, Jaxon gagged. Had it happened in real life or was this a premonition?

  He strained to see, realizing his eyes were shut. He was still on his knees. Vision, then, he thought.

  “Eagle,” he grunted, “don’t hit the shuttle. Whatever you do, don’t hit it!”

  No response. Was he too late? He couldn’t tell, he was still blinded. The first vision hadn’t shown any explosion, only Dani captured. Had Jaxon seen more of his earlier vision, or an alternate future? He couldn’t tell.

  Shouting broke through the premonition’s hold. Now he could see the real Dani sprawled on the ground, a gloating enforcer laughing over her like in Jaxon’s premonition. Why wasn’t she moving? The assault rifle could spit out bullets fast, but the first bullet would be limited by the reaction of the enforcer holding it. Surely Dani could use her faster response time to rush him. Even if one or two bullets hit her, she was wearing protective gear under the civilian clothes and with her ability could push past the pain. Or was she hurt more than Jaxon knew?

  Jaxon yanked his rifle from the nyckelira case and fired, drawing the enforcer’s attention. Run, Dani! he thought.

  Eagle appeared at ground level at the edge of the building next door. In his eagerness to free Dani, he was about to be overtaken by an enforcer coming at him from an angle. Jaxon shifted his aim and shot the enforcer in the chest, knocking him over. Eagle turned to retreat, but the man holding Dani at gunpoint shot him in the back.

  Eagle crumpled. The man Jaxon had shot was back on his knees, laying down cover fire as his partner dragged Dani to her feet and shoved her into the waiting black shuttle. Jaxon half expected it to explode, but it didn’t.

  Which meant his vision hadn’t come true. Had he changed the future or had the vision been from another time entirely?

  The shuttle started moving forward, and the man laying cover fire dived inside with his two partners and Dani.

  “Eagle, get out of there!” Jaxon shouted, firing at the shuttle. The bullets bounced off the armored surface. The shuttle rolled toward Eagle, turning partially sideways to protect one of their downed men as they jumped out to collect him. Eagle started crawling.

  Jaxon stood, spraying the shuttle with bullets. The men leapt back inside and the vehicle moved forward. Abandoning the pile of dead trees altogether, Jaxon ran toward Eagle, the nyckelira case banging against his hip. He dragged Eagle to his feet. Shots came again from the shuttle, but in the next instant the bullets stopped as return fire came from the trees.

  Reese, Jaxon thought, half carrying Eagle toward the woods. His friend groaned with each step, his face a mask of agony. The protective vests could only do so much. At least no blood showed through his green shirt, so as long as he hadn’t punctured anything vital, he’d probably feel better once the shock wore off.

  Reese appeared in front of them as they entered the trees. She let off another volley of bullets before looping one of Eagle’s arms over her neck and urging them deeper into the woods. “They’ll come after us,” she said.

  “Maybe not,” huffed Eagle. “I’m pretty sure we killed two of them. They won’t be anxious to face us alone. And they got Dani. They’ll think they can make her talk.”

  “They’ll still come,” Jaxon said, pushing them forward. “They want to find the doctor. And the local enforcers won’t be far behind.” He glanced at Reese, who shook her head.

  “The doctor and the fringers disappeared. Literally. One minute I was following them, and the next, they were gone.”

  “Tunnels?” Jaxon asked. He edged them around a fallen tree.

  “Has to be. I didn’t have much time to look around before you guys started yelling.” She gave him a hard look. “I made the choice to turn back.”

  He wanted to protest, but she was right. “We can’t go back to the C-lodge. They’ll look there for strangers.” Or Dani might break, but he wouldn’t say that aloud.

  “Nova,” Reese breathed out the name, her pace faltering for a few steps. “We have to tell her.”

  “And we have to contact Brogan. He should know of a place we can hunker down.” The Dallastar underground had connections everywhere, Brogan had reiterated so many times in briefings at the AED that Jaxon had stopped listening. That was before he’d known Brogan was El Cerebro.

  Sirens filled the air, signaling that at least some of the local enforcers were abandoning the sky train fire and heading their way. “They’re coming,” Reese said.

  Eagle moaned. “For once, I’d like Jaxon to be wrong about these things.”

  Reese chuckled. “Don’t worry. He’s wrong a lot. Just try and move a little faster, would you? We can swap Jaxon-is-wrong stories later to your heart’s content.”

  Eagle choked out a laugh and pushed harder.

  “Try not to break any branches,” Jaxon said. “We’ll be harder to follow.” He tapped the side of his T-link, which was miraculously still over his eyes. “Call Nova,” he told it. “Audio only.” He paused and added, “Someone did route her into this network, didn’t they?”

  “Me,” Eagle grunted. “Sort of. It uses a back door to link to her illegally manufactured iTeev rip-off.”

  Which sounded just right for an undergrounder.

  After a long wait, Nova picked up, also on audio only. “What?” she barked. “I’m not doing anything I shouldn’t, if that’s why you’re calling.”

  Which meant she was doing exactly what she shouldn’t, Jaxon was sure. “Fringers got the doctor,” he said, “and we had a run-in with Special Forces. They have Dani. You need to leave the C-lodge now. I don’t know if they’ll check there, or if our covers will hold up.”

  “What about you guys?”

  “We need to find some place to hole up until we talk to El Cerebro.”

  “I know a place in town,” she said. “When I lived here, my uncle told me I’d always be safe there. But it’s been a few years.”

  Jaxon considered a moment. It was possible the safehouse had been moved, but his team’s options were limited. Special Forces would have access to pre-Breakdown spy drones, and that made remaining in the woods dangerous. If the people currently occupying the safehouse weren’t allies with the underground, they’d simply have to take over the place.

  “Send us the address,” he said. “And try to contact your uncle to verify the house.” It’d be easier to have allies.

  “Sending the location to the three of you now. You need to approach fr
om the back to get in. But can’t you call my uncle?” A whine had entered Nova’s voice.

  “No. We’re a little busy at the moment trying to stay alive. You broke his rules, and you’ll have to deal with him eventually, so it might as well be now. We need the help.”

  The words had the desired effect. “Yes, sir,” she said. “I’ll send you a new address, if he has one. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Stay safe.”

  She was silent for an instant. “I will. You too.”

  Jaxon tapped the side of his T-link to end the call.

  Reese met his gaze around the back of Eagle’s neck. “We’re going someplace Nova recommends? Really?”

  “The tracking drones will be out. We won’t even notice them until it’s too late. Even if we turn off the T-links so they can’t trace the electronic signals and mask our CivIDs, these woods aren’t that big. They’ll find us. We need to get inside.”

  “Provided we can reach the safehouse,” Eagle put in. “I knew I shouldn’t have left my new drone at the C-lodge. It could have at least warned us if one of their drones was close.”

  “Nothing we can do about it now.” Jaxon’s T-link was already showing him the address. They’d have to circle half the city on foot to get close, but they couldn’t risk the cameras in town.

  Reese shook her head, pulling them to a stop. “There’s no way we’ll make it.” She removed Eagle’s arm from her shoulder. “We need a shuttle. You keep on going south, until I let you know where to meet me. I’ll run ahead and get a shuttle. One person alone will have a better chance of going unnoticed. But until we get there, we should mask our CivIDs completely with the skin tags. They’ll have recorded the ones we were using at the doctor’s anyway, and we’ll need to switch out before we’re seen in public again.”

  It was a good call. “Go,” Jaxon agreed, reaching for his skin tag, pressing two fingers against it. The tingle under the patch was almost comforting.