“Was he a crazy?” Myrikal asked.
Gill shook his head. “I don’t think so. After asking us for the third or fourth time about the other entrances I told him to leave.”
“Did he give you any problems?” Branch asked.
“No. It was weird. He just grinned, gave a little salute, and turned and walked away.”
A distant bang interrupted. Myrikal whirled around and spotted a flare erupting above the trees.
“That’s coming from the west where Ya and Bryan went,” Branch said. “Let’s go.”
Myri didn’t wait for his command, she took off ahead of him.
“Don’t worry about me,” he yelled sarcastically as he ran. “I’ll catch up!”
She smiled and put on an extra burst of speed. Branch could run almost as fast as her, but he’d never catch up with the head start she’d gotten.
Myrikal entered the clearing around the west gate and took in the scene with rapid-fire awareness. Ya, surrounded by three assailants—one of which was crumpled on the ground, bleeding from a head wound—held his own. He’d had extensive martial arts training before Myrikal’s quick defensive lessons. Bryan lay on the ground, struggling for control of a large knife held by the man straddling his chest.
From ten yards away, Myri left the ground, leaping toward his attacker. Her foot made contact with his head, pushing him off Bryan. Myri rolled once and jumped to her feet. The attacker rolled several times, limbs flailing, before coming to rest in a heap.
A quick glance at Ya showed her that he had things under control for the moment. She rushed to the guards, each held by a gatecrasher with a knife. She jumped over them, spinning in the air, to land behind them. Grabbing the assailants each from behind by the collar of their T-shirts, she yanked them away from the guards, smashed them into each other with a bone-cracking crunch, and dropped them to the ground. She retrieved the knives and threw them, end-over-end, at the nearest tree, embedding the blades into the trunk.
Ya incapacitated all but one of his opponents with whom he was locked in a close battle. Myri hesitated, not wanting to interfere if Ya could handle it on his own. She rushed in when the assailant gained the upper hand, locking Ya in a tight choke hold. She pulled his arm from around Ya’s neck and twisted it behind his back. She cringed at the sound of his shoulder joint tearing away from the cartilage and ligaments holding it in place. And again, when it popped as it dislocated completely. She hadn’t meant to use such force. She’d only wanted to restrain, not injure.
The now captive intruder screamed. Myri released her hold on him as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground, reaching for his dangling arm.
“Wow. Nice job.”
Myri spun toward the oddly familiar voice, hands outstretched in front of her, and froze. Some sort of recognition flitted across her adrenalin-hyped mind as she narrowed her eyes at the grungy man who held a gun to Branch’s head.
“Don’t move a muscle hero-girl, or I’ll put a large caliber bullet through his head.” He waved the gun in her direction.
“Okay.” She released a flash of lightning from her fingertips straight into the man’s shoulder of the arm with which he held the gun.
His body convulsed and he pulled the trigger as he fell. The bullet slammed into Myri’s chest with such force that she stumbled backwards, but kept her feet. Branch bent at the waist and clapped his hands over his ears, too late to prevent any temporary damage to his eardrum from the close proximity of the blasting gun.
Myri ran to Branch’s side while Bryan and Ya, with the help of the two gate guards, tied the intruders’ hands behind their backs. “Are you okay? Did you get hit?”
“I’m fine.” He straightened up. “I just can’t hear very well—except for the ringing in my ears.” He scowled. “Gah!”
“What?”
“I just realized the score is now nine to one. I’m never going to catch up.”
Myri laughed. “I can’t believe you remember ‘the score’.” She bent down to examine the man at their feet. He groaned and his eyes fluttered open. Myri leaned closer. “Huh. I knew I recognized this loser.”
“You know him?” Branch asked.
“Only as much as I’ve seen him before. He was one of the ones trying to take that little girl I told you about the day I finally left my dad.” She looked around at the others, her eyes landing on a crying female, blood running from her obviously broken nose. “And that one,” she pointed, “was with him.”
The man at Myri’s feet tried to scoot backwards by pushing against the gravel. Myri stepped on his chest, exerting just enough pressure to keep him from moving.
“You killed Mark.” His voice quavered.
“Was that the guy that was with you when you were trying to kidnap that little girl?” Myri’s voice did not quaver.
“We… you…” He tucked his chin to his chest to look at her foot still resting there. “I can’t breathe.”
“You’re breathing just fine.” Myri eased up on the pressure a fraction. “I didn’t mean to kill your friend. He should have backed off when I told him to.”
Branch knelt down and looked up at Myrikal. “Let’s get his hands tied behind his back and take these jerks to Cascus.”
Myri started to move her foot then stopped and tilted her head to the side. “What’s Cascus going to do with them?”
Branch stopped trying to roll the guy over—an impossible feat with Myri’s foot still pressed against him—and looked up her. “He’s going to keep them locked up until we can hold a trial in a couple of days.”
“A trial?”
“Yes. A trial. Like they used to do before the ‘quakes.”
“Okay. I guess.” Myrikal slid her foot off the guy in slow motion. The hair at the back of her neck prickled a little at the thought of Cascus.
As they gathered up the prisoners, the new guards arrived to relieve the two that had been attacked. It was slow walking with the injured prisoners limping and moaning, surrounded by the four DefCo team members, the now off-duty guards straggling behind.
“That was really amazing, Myrikal,” Ya said.
“You were pretty amazing, Ya.” She smiled at the older man. “Tell me again why I had to teach you all defensive fighting? You should have been the teacher.”
“I have a few decades of training on you, young lady. But I can’t come close to matching your instincts.”
“We make a great team.” Myri looked from Ya to Bryan and then to Branch. “All of us.”
Cascus stood outside the doors of the Central Building, a wide grin on his face. On his outside, human face anyway. Flashes of green writhed beneath his facial façade. Myri’s stomach lurched as the putrid odor emanating from the man dressed in robes hit her nostrils. She swallowed, determined not to show outwardly the effects he had on her on the inside.
“What do we have here?” Cascus asked. “I saw the flare and wondered if it was just a false alarm or the real thing. I see it was the real thing.”
Branch climbed the stairs leading up to the compound’s leader, a proud smile on his face. Under his breath, but still hearable by Myri, he said, “I told you Myrikal was amazing.” Louder, so everyone could hear, he continued. “This gang tried to force their way into the compound. Luckily, Bryan and Ya were rounding on the west gate at the time and were able to set off a flare and assist the assigned guards in keeping them occupied until Myrikal and I could get there to help.”
“I see.” Cascus narrowed his eyes and frowned at the prisoners. “Well, bring them in and we’ll lock them up. I’ll question them after they’ve had a while to sit in solitude and think about their actions. I’ll set a trial date after I’ve questioned them.”
Cascus opened the doors and motioned for the crew to go inside. He stopped the straggling guards and said, “I’ll need to speak with you two before you go, too.”
Branch herded the seven prisoners up the stairs, followed by Myrikal, Bryan, and Ya. The gate-guards stayed behind to talk
to Cascus.
The stairs ended on a small landing with a hallway that stretched both directions. The long hallway consisted of doors every five or six feet on either side. The doors appeared to be made out of the same odd material as the outside of the building. Myrikal brushed one of them with her fingertips. The tiny hairs on her arm stood at attention. She jerked her hand away. This material, whatever it was, gave her the creeps.
Branch slid a steel bar back on the outside of the first door, unlocking it. Myri glanced in while he untied the hands of the guy with the dislocated shoulder, then stepped back as he shoved him inside. The room, no bigger than six feet square, contained only a thin mattress laying directly on the bare floor and a bucket, she assumed, for going to the bathroom in. Branch shut the door and slid the bolt to lock it. The man inside cussed loudly, yelling something about being claustrophobic.
“What are you gonna’ do to us?” the guy who’d held the gun to Branch’s head asked. His hair stood straight up, giving him a wild appearance.
The other captives looked at Branch, wondering, Myri was sure, the same thing.
“You’ll be questioned and then face trial.” Branch opened the next door and turned the gun-wielder to untie his hands.
“Trial?” The guy looked over his shoulder at Branch. “There ain’t no trials anymore.”
“There are here. We’re starting over, dude. Cascus is going to make sure we do things right this time.” Branch pushed him into the small cell and slammed the door behind him, bolting it shut.
The other prisoners remained silent as he repeated the process with each of them.
DefCo’s official first day of rounds ended up netting one more rule-breaker. Connor and Donna hadn’t needed Myrikal’s help with this one. They led their prisoner up to the Central Building as Myri and Branch exited. The boy couldn’t have been more than eleven or twelve years old, eyes wide and frightened.
“What do you have here?” Branch asked.
“We caught Marcus here inside the battery shed. He’d unhooked one of them and was in the process of shoving it into a duffle bag when we walked in on him,” Connor said.
Myri crouched down to be at eye level with the young boy. “Why were you trying to steal a battery?”
A tear escaped the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek. He swallowed before speaking in a near whisper, voice shaking. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because… he…” The boy lost the tenuous control he had and choked out a sob. “He has my sister.”
“Who has your sister?” Myrikal tried to control the anger in her voice.
The boy shook his head and wiped his nose on the shoulder of his ratty T-shirt. He was definitely from outside the Compound.
“Will you tell me if I promise I’ll find your sister?”
The boy sniffed. “He’ll just kill you, too.”
Myri looked down at the ground for a few seconds and took in a deep breath. She returned her gaze to the boy’s. “Marcus, my name is Myrikal. I am really strong and whoever has your sister won’t be able to kill me. I promise.”
Marcus raised a shaky eyebrow at her. “Serious?”
“Very.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “Tell me who has your sister and where I can find him.”
“He’ll kill her if he sees anyone coming besides me with the battery thing. You won’t get a chance to save her.”
“Then you’ll just have to come with me.” She stood. “We’ll trick him.”
Branch spoke up. “We have to run this past Cascus first.”
Myrikal put her hands on her hips. “You can if you want to, but I’m doing it no matter what he says.”
Branch sighed and led the group back inside.
After Branch explained the situation to him, Cascus folded his arms and said, “This boy must face trial for what he’s done. I deny your request.”
For someone who insisted he wasn’t the “boss” he sure sounded like he was ordering her around. “Excuse me, Cascus,” Myrikal said. “But I wasn’t asking for your permission. I apologize if that’s how it seemed.” She turned to Marcus and put her hand on his shoulder as she led him toward the door.
“Myrikal…” Branch hurried to her side and whispered, “What are you doing?”
“The right thing.”
Branch stared after her but didn’t follow.
“What do I do if he looks in the bag before you get inside?” Marcus’s voice had lost its frightened quiver as he stared Myri directly in the eyes. He adjusted the bag’s strap on his shoulder. They’d found a rock about the same size and weight as the battery. Marcus had wanted to go back to the shed and get a real battery—and return it later—but Myri didn’t want to push her luck with Cascus.
“He won’t. I’ll be in position before you go in and I won’t give him a chance to get that far.” The man holding Marcus’s sister was hiding out in the bell tower of an old church. The roof of the building next to it was within jumping distance to the open belfry—jumping distance for Myri, anyway. “You ready?”
Marcus swallowed. “Shouldn’t I give you a head start?”
Smiling, Myri shook her head. “I’ll be ready and waiting by the time you climb all those stairs to the tower.”
The boy nodded. With one last look over his shoulder, he exited the alley down the street from the church. Myrikal waited until he entered the building before she left the alley from the opposite end, turning down the cluttered street a block over from the church.
She ran to the designated building, trying to push down the anger rising in her chest. People that messed with kids made her furious. A successful rescue depended on precise timing, and she didn’t want her anger to interfere with it. She leaped onto the fire escape ladder on the side opposite the church and climbed to the roof.
Now glad for the clouds that had interfered with the sun earlier in the day, Myrikal made her way to the edge of the roof facing the bell tower, hunching down, out of sight. Marcus should have been at least halfway up the tower stairs at this point, and Myri was counting on the kidnapper to be focusing on him. She’d told him to make a racket as he climbed. She peered up over the crumbling four-foot wall surrounding the roof. Most of the man’s body was hidden by the bell, somehow still hanging from the belfry. His back to her, he moved toward a door that likely led to the stairs.
Should she jump now? The plan had been to wait until Marcus got there, but the guy’s position was perfect. She watched the door, deciding to wait. She didn’t want to risk injuring the boy if he came through the door at the wrong time. She’d rather know his position before the leap. She wished she knew exactly where the girl was positioned, too. She figured he wouldn’t keep her right by an opening, though.
Myri’s senses perked up as the old door squeaked open. Before Marcus even had a chance to speak, the man asked, “Did you get it?”
“Yeah.”
“Did anyone follow you?” The man pushed him to the side and leaned through the doorway to look down the stairs.
Myri jumped. She flew through the window and Marcus dove to get out of the way. Her feet barely touched the floor before she leaped again and tackled the man, pushing him through the open door. They tumbled together down ten or so stairs before Myri grabbed the broken banister and stopped their frenzied descent. The man, stunned but not unconscious, lay limp beside her. She grabbed one of his arms and dragged him back up to the belfry as he groaned and cussed at her.
She slid him across the floor. His back hit against the rotting barrier around the bell.
“I’m gonna’ rip…”
He pushed against the floor to stand, but Myri moved beside him and planted her booted foot in the middle of his chest, pinning him to the floor. Without removing her gaze from the man’s face, she said, “You alright, Marcus?”
“Uhh… yeah. Yeah… I’m okay,” he stammered.
She turned her attention back to the man. “Where’s the girl?”
“I don’
t have to tell you anything.” He pushed at her foot. It didn’t budge a millimeter.
Without saying a word, Myrikal urged little electrical impulses to the surface of her skin, covering herself with intense static. She increased the pressure of her foot on his chest and leaned toward him as little yellow lights darted across her fingertips. His lips peeled back in a grimace and his hair straightened, standing on end. Eyes wide, he shook his head while trying to push it further into the floorboards.
“Okay!” he shouted. “I’ll tell you!”
Myri released the energy but stayed crouched close to his face.
“What are you, anyway?” he asked.
“I’m Myrikal. Where’s the girl?”
“Down… down the stairs, on the top floor…”
“Show us.” Myri grabbed him by the shirt and roughly lifted him to his feet.
“You’re… umm… a really strong girl,” the man said.
She pushed him toward the door. “I’m a really strong person. Now shut up and take us to the girl.”
Marcus tugged on her arm and whispered, “He had a gun… before.”
The man bolted out the door. Myri rolled her eyes and jumped, landing right behind him. He squealed like a hungry piglet as she picked him up by the waistband of his pants and slammed him to the floor. With quick, rough movements, she searched him for weapons. She pulled a gun out of the big pocket of his cargo pants and a knife from a sheath at his belt. She needed to remember to check for weapons in the future. They wouldn’t hurt her, but they could injure or kill innocent people nearby.
She emptied the bullets from the gun and handed the weapons to Marcus. “Put those in your bag. I’ll show you how to use them later.”
His eyes widened and he smiled.
“Now,” Myrikal said to the man. “Get up and take us to the girl. Any more nonsense from you and I’ll rid myself of you and find her myself.” She could easily have found Marcus’s sister on her own, but she wanted to take this loser back to Cascus in exchange for Marcus. She definitely wasn’t sure about the clan leader—she wasn’t even sure he was human—but she didn’t want to jeopardize her standing in the new community. She wanted to be where Branch was. And, besides, this slime-ball deserved to go to “trial.”
Myrikal Page 15
