Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1)

by William Bernhardt

  "You honor me, Reverend," Jeremy said, voice soft.

  So this was the esteemed Reverend. If she'd been able to move she'd have let him know exactly what she thought of him and those like him. Fuming, she could only listen.

  The Reverend moved closer to her cage. "I regret that this location has been compromised. I find myself curious to discover Miss Leon's Shine and how she eluded our notice for so long." He turned abruptly and moved back to the door. "Is the new location ready?"

  The click of Jeremy's boots followed the Reverend to the room's door. "As we speak, Reverend."

  "Good. The Sheriff can't be allowed to discover any evidence that we were ever here."

  "He will find nothing." Jeremy assured the older man.

  The Reverend paused in the doorway. "You're sure the Sheriff’s boy knew nothing of the Ohm?"

  "He thought the Ohm was an object when we mentioned it. Knowing the man his whole life, I'm inclined to believe him. He swore he'd never been to the California desert and since he went to university at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, I doubt he's even been out of the state."

  "Very well, then. Carry on with evacuations. I'll meet you at the new location." The Reverend's steps echoed down the hall, but Jeremy's boots remained still.

  A bitter taste filled Camille's mouth as Jeremy's boots moved back to her cage and stopped. The thought of him simply staring at her, stabbed at her heart. She couldn't believe she'd fallen for him, actually believed they had a real connection. He was worse than his brute of a brother.

  Fabric rustled as Jeremy crouched down near her cage and whispered. "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

  Heat crawled up her neck as she forced herself to bite the mouthpiece in her mouth tighter. How dare he mock her. How dare he sully those cherished words with his voice. She longed to scratch his eyes out.

  He stood and his boots moved to the room's door where he paused. "Look beyond the surface, Camille. Things aren't always what they seem."

  Her stomach churned. What did he mean? She was in a cage and he had put her there. How else was she supposed to see it?

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Camille sat stiffly in a black SUV, Jeremy beside her with a hand taser pressed into her side. Only the lights from the door panels and the front console lit the interior. Afternoon had passed and the sun set while they'd been trapped in the church. Had Michael made it to his father? Jenny sat in the seat behind her, Gary holding a taser to her friend's side.

  "You're scum," she said, glaring out the corner of her eye at Jeremy. "I hope the Ohm finds you and makes you pay for hunting Shines."

  A squeal sounded from behind her and she could feel a vibration in her seat as if someone kicked the back of her seat rapidly.

  "Damn it, Gary, stop." Jeremy said, glaring over his shoulder.

  Camille turned her head to look over her shoulder to see Gary glaring at her. "She opens her yap again, and I'll taser her little friend again."

  Jeremy snorted in disgust and turned back to the front, pressing the taser harder into Camille's side. "For her sake, you'd better keep quiet."

  Camille glanced at her shaking friend as Jenni slumped in her seat, her desperate eyes meeting Camille's as if pleading for her to stay quiet. Camille faced the front once again, her hands clenched in her lap.

  Jeremy met and held her gaze, his hand gently squeezing her arm. She narrowed her eyes and jerked her arm away from him. Jeremy sighed then leaned toward Crooked Nose in the driver’s seat when he muttered his name over his shoulder.

  Something slammed into the back of the SUV with a loud crunch. Camille found herself jerked to the side as Gary flew over her seat and crashed into the back of Jeremy.

  "What the--," Jeremy shoved his brother back over his seat. "Buckle your seat belt before they h--"

  The other vehicle hit them again, sending the back of the SUV sliding until it was sideways on the road. Jeremy pointed out Camille's window. "Watch out."

  An oncoming diesel hit the front of the SUV and Camille was jerked forward against her seat belt. The SUV spun across the two-lane highway, sliding up onto two wheels before rolling down the embankment. Jeremy wrapped his arms around her, forcing her head into the crook of his neck as the vehicle rolled end over end down a steep embankment and glass shattered.

  Jenni screamed behind her. "Camille."

  When the vehicle stopped, Camille hung upside down in her seatbelt feeling as though she'd been beaten with a two by four, Jeremy's arms still tight around her.

  Jeremy ran his hands over her body. "You okay."

  "Get off me," she bit out, hitting the release on her seatbelt and falling to the SUV's roof.

  "Camille--" Jeremy started, but voices shouted outside the vehicle, silencing him.

  "Help," she screamed. "Please, help me."

  She scrambled under the back of her seat, seeing no evidence of Gary. She ran trembling hands over Jenni who hung limp from her own seatbelt. Holding her breath, Camille felt for Jenni's pulse and sighed in relief as the first face appeared at the SUV's shattered window.

  "Everyone okay in there?" a woman, dressed all in black, asked, using her sleeve to clear the jagged shards of shattered glass from the window's frame.

  Camille patted Jenni on the cheek, wanting to wake her, but afraid to move her in case she was injured. "Jenni, wake up."

  Her friend's eyes fluttered as she moaned. "Camille?"

  "Can you move? Turn your head for me."

  Jenni turned her head and pulled her arms and legs into her body. "I think I'm okay. Just bruised, but nothing serious."

  Camille reached for her friend's seatbelt release. "I'm going to release your safety belt. Get ready. Now."

  Jenni dropped to the SUV's roof and surged into Camille's arms. "Oh Cam, I thought we were dead for sure."

  Camille pulled her friend toward the woman whispering to Jeremy at the window. "Don't believe anything he says. We were taken against our will. Please help us."

  The woman glanced toward Jeremy and nodded. A chill crawled down her back. Was this another one of them?

  She pushed Jenni toward the window and leaned in close to her ear. "As soon as we clear the window, run for it. Meet back here when they stop searching for us."

  A barely perceptible nod, Jenni's only response, reassured Camille. Jenni crawled out first, then Camille rushed out after her breaking into a run as soon as she got to her feet. She had the command ready and released control of her Shine.

  Jeremy's voice yelled after her. "Camille, wait." But she ignored him and ran as fast and as far as she could into a field full of almost ripe wheat. Shot's fired behind them as Gary limped into the SUV's upside down headlights, gun firing in their direction.

  She slammed to a halt as Jenni screamed in pain behind her. More shots sounded. Gary’s body bowed backwards and he collapsed to the ground. Camille didn't have time to wonder where the shots came from. Her friend lay in the wheat somewhere behind her, possibly bleeding to death.

  Camille ducked into the wheat and called in a loud whisper. "Jenni. Where are you?"

  "Here." Jenni's weak voice came from the right. She'd been right behind Camille. The bullet could easily have hit either of them. Jenny lay on the ground, blood gushing from a wound in her shoulder. Camille's stomach flipped as she fell to her knees at her friend's side.

  "I don't know what to do." she cried, a lump in her throat.

  Jenni grimaced. "Put pressure on the wound."

  Camille looked around her frantically. She only had her shirt and jeans. Yanking the shirt over her head, she balled it up and pressed it to the wound. "What now?"

  Her blinked slowly as she fought to keep her eyes opened. "Artery. Can’t help. Go without me.” Her eyes closed and her voice whispered past pale lips. “We can't let them take both of us."

  Camille shook her head. "No, I won't just leave you for them to find."

  Her friend forced her eyes open and smiled weakly. "They won’t take me alive. Find the Oh
m. Help fight for other Shines.” Jenni’s eyes closed and didn’t open again.

  Tears poured down Camille's face. "No," she whispered struggling to swallow past the lump in her throat. "Please."

  She touched her forehead to her best friend’s as a sharp pain stabbed into her heart. “Please don’t go.”

  Flashlights swept back and forth across the wheat field, looking for the women. Camille kissed Jenni’s forehead. "I love you like a sister.”

  The flashlights drew closer and Camille could hear voices calling back and forth. She relaxed her hold on her Shine, so that those approaching would see Jenni. Maybe they’d be able to save her friend. She squeezed Jenni’s hand one last time and reluctantly moved away.

  As she ran, a shout went up. Silent sobs shook her as she stopped and looked back. Flashlights circled the place where she'd left her friend.

  She'd find the Ohm. And after she’d helped save other Shine, she’d make the SSS pay for Jenni’s death.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Camille hugged Michael. "Thanks for your help."

  He shrugged, his face ragged with his grief. Jenni's body had been found that morning, unrecognizable as it burned inside the black SUV, along with that of Gary and the driver, Crooked Nose. The cops still looked for the woman who’d held a gun on them at the church. Camille was the only one who knew Jeremy had been there. She kept the information to herself, his words making a fool of her. Look beyond the surface, Camille. Things aren’t always what they seem. She’d keep her promise to Jenni first, but someday she’d hunt Jeremy down and make him pay.

  Michael had shown up at the church with Sheriff Saunders, but no sign remained of the SSS. The room where Michael said the cages had been had held couches and a kitchenette that appeared to have been there for years. The walls hadn't even been white, but a dull, faded yellow. The church’s main office had been notified of the suspected activities occurring at the Clinton campus. The main office had sworn to do a thorough investigation of Brother Corey and fully cooperate with the police.

  No one could prove Jenni had died from anything, but an accident. They'd somehow made the bullet holes vanish. Camille's heart smoldered. The SSS managed to get away with the murders of her parents and her best friend. Grief swelled in her chest, her eyes burned with unshed tears.

  "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" he asked for the millionth time.

  Camille shook her head. "Someone needs to look after Dr. Pham."

  "I can have my father look after him."

  "This is my fight, Michael. You have a life here. Family." Camille turned to gaze out into the night. "I don't have anything holding me here. I promised her I'd find the Ohm. That I'd fight. That I’d become that damn lighthouse in the storm she wanted to be. And that's what I'm going to do." She turned back and reached out to squeeze his hand. "I'll contact you when I can to let you know I made it."

  Camille walked to Jenni's hatchback, parked in the Phams’ driveway, though no one but she and Michael could see it or her. It turned out she could control who or what was affected by her Shine. She climbed into the driver's seat, while Michael rounded her car to his truck also parked in the Phams’ driveway.

  She rolled down her passenger window. "I'll make them pay for her death, Michael."

  He nodded his head and climbed into his truck. She backed Jenni’s car out of the drive. After winding through town, she turned onto the highway and pointed the car west toward the California desert. She had a promise to keep.

  Episode Eight

  The Unfound

  by Burke Holbrook

  CHAPTER 1

  Lola slipped the skirt over her slim hips and let it fall. Leaving the over-starched military uniform on the floor, she pulled on the light dress she’d worn to the Grand Ole Opry a few weeks ago. The smell of Mexican food wafting up from downstairs would settle one of her cravings and the other one would be dealt with soon.

  After walking down the stairs, she locked the front door to ensure some privacy and used the mirror next to the garage entryway to put on a fresh coat of raspberry lipstick. She stopped in the hallway in front of the stairs and gazed at the photo of her wedding. Saul’s coarse black hair was out of its usual ponytail and flowed beyond the edges of his white tuxedo jacket. His brown eyes were as intense and deep as his Navajo heritage. Everything had been perfect that day, except she wore flats to match Saul’s short stature, and her loose brown curls were reacting to the humidity. The picture was only eight months old, but she thanked Saul for every second he’d saved her from becoming the 3rd generation of immigrants to live in her parents’ house. She kissed her fingertips and touched the frame.

  Saul was unloading Mexican food from the cartons onto three unmatched china plates. Sure, the food wasn’t going to be as good as her Peruvian mother’s Lomo Saltado, but that was a small price to pay for some privacy.

  “How was work?” Saul asked.

  “Enlightening.”

  “Come on. You have to give me more than that.”

  “You know I can’t. Why don’t you tell me about yours instead?”

  “No one wants to hear about the boring life of a history professor. They’d rather hear about the top secret codes the military’s intercepted. And don’t tell me that you seized another one of my relatives’ emails.”

  Lola held a finger to her lips. The NSA leaks had security stopping just short of daily cavity searches, and it was no small omen when her husband’s uncle, Naalnish, was red flagged on one of the security reports.

  The corners of his mustache turned upwards as he lit the candles. “How does it feel to be the youngest, smartest, and most beautiful code breaker the government has ever seen?”

  She wandered over to him, intent on shutting him up as her nineteen-year-old hormones surged. Her finger dipped into the mole sauce. She gently licked the spicy chocolate off as she sat down on Saul’s lap. With any luck, she wouldn’t be wearing her cute sundress much longer.

  There was a tremendous crash as the front and back doors flew open. The sliding door across from the dining room table smashed to the floor.

  Saul grabbed Lola and dove under the table. Glass shards cut into her knees and bare feet

  “Freeze,” a deep voice shouted as heavy boots crushed the broken glass.

  Lola didn’t dare move. She couldn’t breathe. The men were wearing all black, except for a patch on the right shoulder that showed an Eagle with a key clasped within its claws.

  “You can’t do this,” Saul said. “You can’t invade our home and our lives.” He got up from the floor, positioning himself between an assault rifle and his wife.

  “I’m afraid we can, sir. Supreme Court Opinion 14-1092 suspends the rights of all Shines and allows the states to confine the aliens as they see fit. Recent military testing identified Lola Zonnie as such, and according to the new law, we have to detain and neutralize her immediately.”

  “For what? What has she done?” Saul said, throwing up his arms.

  “For being a Shine, sir.”

  “She’s not a Shine. What are you talking about? That’s crazy,” exploded Saul. ”She’s my wife, she works for the freaking military at the Murfreesboro base. She has top secret clearance, for crying out loud.”

  Lola clung to the table leg. She had no special powers. Was being multilingual now some kind of mortal sin that endangered the world, or did she uncover something in her recent work that unleashed the government hounds? Her mind started tearing through this afternoon’s work: a mixture of Cantonese, Yemen, a new French dialect, and some mathematical formula. It was a complicated erratic message that would require either a cipher or a few more weeks to make any sense of it. She’d left the super computers at work to sort it out while she went home for the evening.

  The agent from the front door advanced to the foot of the table. “Come with me,” he said, motioning to her with his weapon. A third soldier stood in the kitchen’s entryway. Saul didn’t seem to acknowledge either of them
.

  Lola held firm to the table leg.

  The commanding officer gave a stern look to the tableside agent. “Get her out of here.”

  The agent grabbed Lola by the arm and yanked her out from under the table and onto her feet.

  On her way out, her head smashed the under-edge of the table, drawing blood. “Yeow,” she screamed.

  Saul ran to her aid. “Leave her alone.” He grabbed the officer’s gun. A string of shots raked the ceiling as he wrested the gun from the agent’s hands.

  The other two agents dove for cover.

  Saul head-butted the agent in the nose and judo-threw him down on the dinner table. The table collapsed; pork verde, mole, and salsa splashed across the floor.

  An officer near the kitchen door fired an assault rifle and hit Saul in the arm.

  Saul grabbed Lola’s hand and together they dove into the hallway and scuttled around the corner and onto the stairs as three more rounds lodged in the wall above their heads.

  “Get to the garage,” Saul said as he rolled back into the hallway in a sniper position and put two holes in the kitchen agent’s left hip. Then he dashed back to the staircase.

  Where was this coming from? Saul’s days as a collegiate judo champion weren’t too far removed, but that didn’t explain how he could use a gun that had been outlawed for more than a decade.

  A burst of bullets from the dining room shattered the vase just to the right of them. The antique nightstand that it stood upon turned to mulch.

  Two officers were down, but the commander remained. She glared at Saul, holding on to his arm, unwilling to leave.

  He specked her on the cheek, rubbed her belly, and then gave her a slight push towards the garage. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Lola sprinted down the hall and grabbed her purse off the end table. She heard the car door unlock and open for her as she dashed down the three steps and into the garage. “Start,” she shouted, and the vehicle roared to life.