“So then,” she dodged him, “where are we headed?”
“You play much chess?” he asked.
“What?” she looked back to him.
Michael hadn’t stopped looking at her, his arms still crossed across his substantial chest. “I said, do you play much chess.” His tone was flat and ominous.
She chuckled. “Can’t say that I do.”
“The only real defense, one-on-one, against an enemy knight is to close the gap. Get in close. Bring the fight to the enemy. Same thing as in a fist fight. Get in close and you minimize your opponent’s power.”
“All right, then…” her eyebrows were arched expectantly.
“Like I said. And we have to get the heck outta here.” He looked off into the distance, where the train had passed earlier. If we’re lucky, another train will come along soon…
“You said those fungus-types—”
“Anti-Cherubim.”
“Very well; Anti-Cherubim. You said they only come from one place?”
“I said they don’t come from just anywhere.”
“Right, and we’re taking the fight to them because it’s safer to do so, I gather.”
“Correct.”
So where’s ‘there’?”
“South Africa. For starters. Because they’re an Original Kind, very old…and if we don’t find them there, we might have to go all the way back to the Tigris and Euphrates, the ‘Cradle of Civilization,’ in order to find and confront—”
Kim interrupted them. “I need to pee.” She was standing up, holding her elbows, looking horrible and miserable. Airel stood by her with a look of concern on her face. Everybody looked at each other as awkward silence fell. “I’ll be right back,” she said, walking off toward the wreckage.
Most of the fire had burned out or burned down, and the rain had ebbed, the storm system moving on to drench other places. The massive logs remained, however, intact and strewn across the road. Kim rounded the end of one of them and disappeared behind it.
“Be careful!” Airel called after her.
“Yeah, yeah,” came the dull reply. “I’ll scream if I see a roach or something.”
Airel turned back to Michael and Ellie. “Have you two figured out what to do next?”
Ellie wore an undisguised look of surprise on her face. “You’re agreeable suddenly.”
“Yeah, well, this sucks. I want to get warm and dry.” Airel looked directly at Ellie. “I figure you two Type A’s would have some orders to bark, that’s all.”
Michael just shook his head and smiled. “Actually…I was hoping to hop a train.” He pointed to the tracks in the distance. “Just gotta make our way across that open range. Maybe a couple of miles across…”
“So we’re going for a walk,” Airel said.
“Yep,” he said.
“Do we all have everything we need?” Ellie asked. “Because we’re not coming back.”
In the direction from where Kim had gone came an exclamation of surprise. It sounded like she was in trouble.
Airel looked suddenly very worried. “Kim!” She bolted for her and the other two followed. “Kim! I’m coming, honey!”
Airel skidded around the end of the log to find Kim standing upright, holding a duffel. “Kim! Are you okay?”
“Yeah!” Kim said. “Look! I found my bag.”
“Oh, for—” Ellie cursed.
“Kim! You scared me,” Airel said. “I thought you were in trouble.”
“Nope!” Kim said. “No roaches. But I got my stuff!” she patted the loosely packed duffel now strapped across her shoulder.
“Good,” said Michael. “All is right with the world.”
Michael glanced at the smashed FBI car. He sighed. “Well, I guess we’d better get moving. We’ve got more than one kind of pursuer after us.”
CHAPTER VI
THE FOUR WALKED BACK up the road, right up the double-yellow, back the way they had come when he was driving. Michael wanted to leave as little obvious sign of their continued existence as possible. After about half a mile, at a curve in the road and a sign marked U.S. 97, they got off and took to the wilderness.
There were no fences. Just wide open high desert. The Cascades skimmed the moisture out of everything that came in off the Pacific, leaving their eastern side barren and dry, save for the fingers of green that crowded the draws—mountain streams and rivers that ran east, counter to the mighty Columbia.
That’s where they were headed: the Columbia River. A massive body of water, irresistible in its rush to the sea, wide, deep, cold, fast, dangerous. Right along the river, freight trains more than two hundred cars long snaked along, headed upriver and inland, probably every couple of hours as far as Michael knew. Once again, he had to rely on gut instinct to get by. He tried as hard as he could not to let his training affect him too much—all the demonic files of experience that now, he was thankful, could be turned inward against themselves, against all their past masters, in self-destruction.
He caught himself more and more crying out in his heart and mind to El. It was crazy. But somehow crazy made good sense, in a way unexplainable with words.
Michael walked close to Airel. He wanted to be near her, to see her face in the darkness, to feel her presence.
Ellie broke the silence. “You all should know…I was able to get my phone up and running. I texted a friend back there. He can get us a plane, but he’s at least a day away and we can’t meet him near any big cities.”
Kim looked confused. “Plane?”
“Yeah. You’ve packed your passports, I hope? My bloke can get us in but we’ll need a safe place to land; we’ve gotta figure that out on the fly. He’ll meet us in Arlington and we can take off from the Muni there.”
Kim laughed aloud but then choked it off, wide eyed. “I don’t have a passport.” She looked to Michael with a panicked look on her face.
“All the more reason to meet him away from an international airport, then. If we’re to hop a jet to South Africa, we’ll need to fly under the radar. Quite literally, maybe.”
“I don’t have a passport,” Kim said again.
“Michael,” Airel said. “What’s all this about South Africa?”
“Yeah, I meant to tell you.” He took a moment to try to explain to them why they had to go, why they had to take the fight to the enemy. “It may be safest for everyone involved.” He looked at Airel with a pained expression, hoping he wouldn’t have to say out loud that he was concerned for her family back home. Among a great many other things.
“I don’t want to go,” Kim said, trudging along. “I don’t want to go to Africa. Why Africa anyway?”
“Kim, I hate to say this…but you’re going to have to just trust me.” Michael said.
She huffed at him and stopped, forcing the rest of the group to stop as well. She crossed her arms.
“Kim…” Michael said.
“No. Just shut up! I’m sick of this. I’m sick of running, sick of walking, sick of crashing and freaking burning. I’m cold and wet. I need sleep and food—”
“Kim,” he interrupted, “we all feel the same. Trust me, I know what you need; we all need it. That’s why we’re headed this way. To the next train.” He gestured to the river, the freeway, the train tracks in the distance. “Things could be worse.”
Kim gawked at him. “How?!”
“You could be dead, for one. Kim, this is our last remaining option. And it’s a good one, considering where it’ll lead us. And you know what, you’re alive and you’re with friends.” He pointed to her bag. “And you found your stuff.”
“Are you serious? We’re hopping a train like a bunch of hobos?”
“Yep,” he smiled at her and then looked up at a clear sky, the Milky Way easily visible in the dark firmament from horizon to horizon. “Plus, it’s not raining, Kim. Come on.” He turned and began to walk. “We need to keep moving.”
Ellie followed him. Ariel stayed, her body half turned to go, half turned to Ki
m, a look of concern on her face. “I know it’s hard, Kim, but you’ve gotta keep going. I promise,” Airel said, touching her arm, “soon we’ll grab a hotel or something and try to rest. But for now we’ve got to keep going if we don’t want to…”
“What, die?” Kim asked.
Airel paused. “I guess so.”
Kim looked at her, the expression on her face complicated. “This sucks.”
Airel nodded and gently pulled on her to get her moving. They trailed along behind the other two.
Michael called back to them, “It’s not far now. Maybe another fifteen minutes of walking.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, I’m timing you, dude,” Kim said.
They sat under a bridge in the darkness, waiting near the tracks for the next train.
Ariel hugged herself and asked, “How far is—what, Arlington—from here?”
Ellie said, “Probably no more than fifty miles.”
“Yeah, and we’re jumping a freight train to get there?” Airel continued.
“Don’t worry,” Michael said, “they move pretty slowly on this slog of the railroad; it’s a long climb and they’re really heavy.”
Kim sat looking dazed, her hands playing in the dirt. The eastern horizon was threatening the sunrise.
“It had better hurry up and get here quick,” Airel said, “if we’re going to get away with jumping on board without being seen.”
Michael exhaled, releasing stress.
“Michael, are we safe now?” Airel asked.
He looked at her, considering things. “Yes.”
She studied his eyes. “You’re lying.”
“Airel—”
“No, I get it. It’s sweet. But you don’t need to protect me. I can take care of myself. If I haven’t proven that yet, I don’t know what I have to do.”
He wagged his head a little in acquiescence. “True. I guess you’re right.” He looked back at her. “Sorry. I’m not trying to keep anything from you. I want you to know that. I’m just thinking about lots of stuff, trying to process it all. I feel responsible for you. All of you.”
“Rubbish,” Ellie said. “You’re not responsible for me, demon boy.”
“Stop calling him that,” Airel said. “Don’t call him that ever again.”
“Have we got a problem, girlie?” Ellie said, bristling.
“You bet your pointy blue hair we do,” Airel said calmly, “if you keep insulting Michael like that.”
Ellie rolled her eyes and had a mocking expression that said, Wow, you’re ridiculous.
Airel moved very quickly, getting past Michael, who was seated between them, in an instant. There was a little plume of dust. In a crouch, she grabbed Ellie’s shirt front and pulled her face to within inches of her own. “Look,” Airel said, “I have had it with you, angel girl. Cut it out. You know what I mean, too.” Airel held her there for a moment.
Ellie turned her head away slowly, looking down and smirking. “Relax, doll. I don’t want your man-boy. Though he is pretty cute.”
Airel jerked her around. “Shut up.”
“No, really,” Ellie said, looking back up, meeting Airel’s threatening gaze. “I don’t. I’ll give you your little show of force this time round, girlie. But don’t do it again, ‘kay?” Ellie placed an index finger on Airel’s forehead. “Or you’ll regret it.” She pushed her lightly away.
Airel stood fully to her feet, releasing her. “Whatever.” She looked down the tracks and saw a faint light. “Hey…”
Michael stood up and joined her, looking down the tracks to the west. “Looks like our ride’s finally here.” His arm rested comfortably at her hip. He pulled her to him as they waited in the darkness under the bridge.
CHAPTER VII
“HERE IT COMES!” MICHAEL shouted.
My pulse was racing, but I tried to control myself, tamp the energy down a bit. The sunrise was on the way, but it was still dark enough for us to get away with what we were about to do.
The only one I worried about was Kim. I worried more and more about her, actually. What is going on with her? Poor thing. She just needs some rest. I hoped she’d be able to hop the train. Though it was only moving by us at about fifteen miles per hour, given how bad Kim was looking I didn’t give her much chance to actually make the jump when it came time.
And the time had come.
“This is it!” Michael shouted at us. “Get ready! Look for a handhold or a step or something!” Everyone tensed, bent at the knees beside the rumbling tracks as the train went by. We were all dialed in on the boxcar, “bird-dogging it,” as my dad would have said. I miss him, I thought, but immediately pushed the thought from my mind.
As it approached we all started jogging, pacing it.
To my shock, Kim took off first. At a dead sprint, she leapt up to the train car with ease, duffel and all. Standing on a foothold, she wrapped one arm through a handle and extended her free arm toward a small door, unlatching it, sliding it open and then jumping inside.
She poked her head back out. “Come on, guys! Let’s go!”
I guessed she was motivated for that hotel room I had promised.
Ellie was next. She moved gracefully, like an athlete. Before I knew it she was up and inside with Kim. Michael, running along beside me, said, “Ladies first.”
“Oh, you would,” I grumbled. I dashed for it and quickly made it inside as well. It was easier than I thought. I forced my way back to the door, nudging Ellie and Kim to one side, away, looking for Michael.
He was already up on the step and swinging in. He met me full force, crashing into me, wrapping me up and knocking me back inside the boxcar. “Oops,” he said, kissing me lightly on the lips. “Glad to see you here,” he said.
I blushed in spite of myself, and I could feel the heat crawl up my neck and spread across my cheeks. How can he do that to me, every time? I thought back to when we kissed on the side of the road and my skin prickled. He was so…so yummy.
“Hey! Where’d everybody go?” I called out to Kim and Ellie.
It made me nervous to think of waiting around in some small town knowing that the Brotherhood would be looking for us—and their missing Brothers—with bloodlust crazing their every action. Plus the FBI would be on high alert after the crash.
The train car was filled with large crates and boxes. We had to squeeze around some of them as we moved through it, looking for a place where we could all spread out a little, maybe even rest. The best we could find was a little nook created by the irregular shapes of different crates all shoved together.
A little patch of rough wood plank floor was ours, perhaps four feet by four feet. It was dry and we were all alive and well. I figured we would stay reasonably warm by staying close, using body heat. That it was dry made the most difference. Four of us crammed into the space, each one taking a corner. Michael sat at a right angle to me, our legs entwined together, his strong arm pressed firmly against my shoulder.
Ellie and Kim sat as far from us and each other as the small space would allow. It struck me then that Ellie was a misfit in our little bunch. I wondered why she stuck with us…or allowed us to stick with her…besides the obvious, anyway; that we were all looking for Kreios to some degree or another. She was definitely a square peg in a round hole. She didn’t like any of us; that much was true. I did have to wonder, though, how far I could go with her; how much I could trust her.
She seemed bothered, I thought, whenever she talked to Kim. And since Kim was my best friend, I was a little put out. I wanted to say, Hey, jerk face. Watch your mouth around my friend.
“So,” Michael began, “I’m still trying to wrap my head around how the Brotherhood nailed us.” The crate he leaned against was all marked up with stenciled Chinese lettering. “I thought it was just…odd, you know…how they could find us with such accuracy. And speed.”
“And that was only one small group, too,” Ellie said. “El forbid we should have run into many more, much less an entire clan.”
“Yeah,” I said. I had wanted to get to the bottom of that question from the moment the Brotherhood had shown up. “How did they find us?” I looked at the faces of my companions. Nobody knew anything as far as I could tell.
“Did anyone else think their strategy was a little off?” Michael asked.
“Like how?” Kim asked.
“I mean, they didn’t…they didn’t…” Michael dug around for words. “They weren’t shoot-to-kill types. Does that make sense? I mean, it’s almost like they were just there to waste our time, to harass us.”
“Yeah, but why would they do that?” I asked.
It was dead quiet for a second.
“It’s almost like they were there to see what we were made of,” Michael said. “I know if I wanted to size up my enemy…I mean, if it was my call, and I was up against an enemy force that was, say, an unknown quantity…that I would send scouts. Or a strongman, like they did. Throw something serious at the situation and see what happens.”
“Well, we saw what happened,” I said.
“Yeah,” Kim said, “Airel kicked butt.”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “And I’m just wondering if we won back there. Really. Or not.”
“I don’t get it,” Kim said.
“I do,” I said. “I guess what you’re asking is, ‘what did we gain back there’—right?”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “I mean, I know what it appears to be on the surface. We won, they lost. We took them out.” He paused. “But I’m unsettled about it…when it’s all said and done.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Michael looked into my eyes. “I don’t like that those three Anti-Cherubs showed up.” He gestured to Ellie. “I talked about that with her. Those kind only show up when there’s something really big going on.” He paused again. “I have a few ideas…but I don’t like what I’m thinking.”
Ellie’s eyes flashed and she shook her head. “Don’t look at me.”
Michael sighed. “We’re a walking target. Somehow.” He looked at me. “They could have been tracking us using your phone.”
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