The Evolutionite Chronicles Book Two: Dagger and Shadow Ninja in: Welcome to Las Vegas

by Timothy P. Callahan

  “I had them shipped in front of us,” Tanaka replied, taking the last sip of his frozen hot chocolate. “You going to finish that?”

  Daniel pushed his over to Tanaka then said, “That was smart thinking.”

  “Can’t really take a katana as carry on, and I sure didn’t trust the airport to deliver it. Figured we might need our uniforms, and we are a delivery company, so UPS it went.”

  “Good. After I call, we’ll head back to the hotel, rest, then come up with a plan.”

  Tanaka finished the last of his desert. “Well, I’m ready.” He put his one arm on Daniel and teleported him away.

  Nancy looked over. “Thanks for not teleporting me. You want to head back and I’ll walk?”

  “Nah. Let’s walk back. I really don’t want this night to end, and if this is the last time we can chat before all hell breaks loose, I’m going to take advantage of it.”

  Tanaka placed a $100 on the table and held his hand out. Nancy took it and the two walked out of the restaurant and back onto the strip.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Yeah, of course it would be at the abandoned fifty-seven-story hotel at the end of the strip,” Tanaka said into the microphone. He and Nancy sat in a car three blocks from where they had dropped Daniel off. Daniel was easy to spot walking down the street in his all white ninja outfit. A bright red buckler shield hung from a belt on his left side. A sheathed Katana blade hung from his right.

  “Turing isn’t doing a very good job of hiding a super villain vibe.” Daniel answered, his voice coming through the radio receiver. “Just to let you know, I can hear you just fine.”

  “Oh, right. Sorry. Test one, two, test-”

  “I can hear you.” Daniel said, his voice annoyed. “Can you see what I see?”

  Nancy looked at her iPhone and nodded. “I can see what you see. Glad you decided to ship all out this neat spy gear,” she replied, holding the phone up. The image bobbed up and down as Daniel walked down the street. The tiny, nearly-invisible camera was located in his mask. In front of him, she saw the building’s exposed steel beams. Construction equipment lay unused on the brown dirt where old boot prints could still be seen. Blue glass reflected the light from the sun, turning the shadows on the ground a pleasing navy blue.

  “Always like to be prepared since you didn’t give us any information on why you’d be in trouble,” Tanaka said.

  “I’m glad I didn’t tell you. This is neat,” Nancy said.

  “You two need to pipe down,” Daniel said. “I see people walking about in the darkness. Can you see them?”

  “No,” Nancy replied, looking at her phone. “It looks dark.”

  “Hope we don’t lose the signal when you get into the building,” Tanaka said.

  “If you do, just enter the building and try to find me. I don’t really want to do this alone.”

  “You’re not alone,” Nancy said.

  Daniel walked into the darkness and the screen went black. Nancy saw a few shadows but nothing more. She could hear Daniel’s breathing, heavy and excited. Soon he entered a room where the only light was from the sun shining through broken windows. Eight people were gathered together talking amongst themselves. They all turned to look at Daniel when he appeared.

  A well-dressed, older-looking gentleman waved at Daniel. His wore a gray suit with gray pants and a silver tie neatly knotted. A red handkerchief poked out from a pocket on his left lapel. “Is that him?” Tanaka asked. “Daniel, nod your head if that’s the guy.”

  The camera moved up and down, confirming Tanaka’s suspicion. He looked at the screen and focused his memory on the surroundings. When his powers had the right image of the room something inside him clicked. It was as if his powers were telling him they had the information needed to get him to where he needed to go. If he didn’t feel that particular puzzle piece fall into place, he couldn’t teleport into the room. As he studied the room he felt the pieces slide, but not click into place. “I can’t get a good read on the room. Look around some more. I need more details.”

  Daniel nodded again then held his hand out to shake Turing’s hand. At that moment, the picture went dark. “Oh no, we lost the image.” Nancy said.

  “Bet that Turing guy had something to do with it. Damn it. We need to get up there and I need to get inside.”

  Nancy nodded, placed the car in drive, and drove down the street toward the abandoned hotel.

  Daniel felt the slight electrical charge run through his body as he touched Turing’s hand. A second later he heard the hiss of static coming from his ear piece. Turing had somehow managed to destroy or disrupt the equipment. He figured Tanaka was driving up right now so he could figure a way to get in without being spotted. Tanaka wasn’t the stealthiest guy in the world so that could take some time. He needed to pretend that his plan hadn’t just fallen apart. “Turing. Would you like to introduce me to the rest of the group?”

  “No,” Turing replied coldly. “Soon all your minds will be merged and you’ll know these guys better than yourself.”

  “Ah, right.” Daniel quipped. He looked over the people. Six of them—two men and four women—were all of different races and ages. They talked to each other and appeared normal.

  One man stood out from the rest. He wore a blue silk robe with white fur along the linings. In his hand, he carried a six-foot-tall staff with a large crystal sphere on the top. A long white, wispy beard grew down to his chest. Even without his enhanced sight Daniel could tell the beard wasn’t real. It looked like something you’d buy in a second-hand costume shop. In fact, the entire outfit looked cheap. “Can you at least tell me about the wizard?” Daniel asked Turing.

  “I sense a little judgment in your voice,” Turing said with a light chuckle. “A man dressed as a ninja shouldn’t throw stones.”

  Daniel’s face flushed a bit. Turing was correct; he had judged the man based on his outfit. “Who is he?”

  “He calls himself Whitebeard the Wizard. He’s a young kid who I found walking around a con earlier this year. He’s got talent for someone who hadn’t even hit eighteen yet. He’s the catalyst for all this.”

  “He has mental powers?” Daniel asked. The Protectors used those with telepathy as a means to communicate quickly with people in the field. He had been connected to many of his partners while in the heat of battle. Last time he was with the Protectors, Peter was the connection. Now, though, they were training someone named Jason. He’d never worked with, nor met, Jason.

  “Yes. He’s the one who will connect us all. Please, go talk to him or anyone else in this room while I get everything ready.”

  Daniel walked over to the group. They all watched as he did. One of the woman, short, dark-skinned, curvy, crossed her arms and smiled. “I know you. You’re Shadow Ninja, right?”

  “That’s my code name, yes.” Daniel replied. “But you guys can call me Daniel.”

  “Aren’t you afraid of your secret identity?” another man, short, skinny, wore a pair of thick glasses, asked.

  “I never give out my last name, so Daniel is good enough for now. Plus, in Haven, me and my brother are public figures, so no secret identity.”

  The air in the room shifted and Daniel caught a familiar scent. He looked around, sniffing. Daniel found the point of origin quickly.

  A man wearing a pair of jeans and a black shirt with the image of a mountain on it walked in. On his back was a quiver of about three dozen arrows. He casually carried a compound bow at his side. He looked at Daniel with a grin. Daniel looked into the bow carrying man’s eyes and saw nothing sane. The man held his hand out. “I am very impressed you were able to catch my arrows. Let me tell you how much I respect that.”

  Daniel took the hand and shook. He never let his eyes stray, never looked down. “You were aiming for my head.”

  “You are not unknown to me. I knew you had the danger sense and you were fast. The first one was at your head; the others would have missed.”

  Daniel thought about ki
cking this man in the teeth. He played a dangerous game which could have hurt many innocent people. Now wasn’t the time though. Later, Daniel would make him pay for what he did. “Turing told me your name was Tracker. What’s your game?”

  “I can find anyone, anywhere.” From his pocket, he pulled out a business card and handed it to Daniel. “I’m still on the clock with Turing, but once this is done, you can hire me if you need my help.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Daniel said placing the card in one of his belt pouches. He kept a close eye on Tracker as he walked away, studying the way he moved, the way he balanced himself on his feet. He was graceful, like an acrobat. His arm and leg muscles looked powerful. If it came to a fight, he would be a difficult opponent to put down.

  Tracker walked up to Turing and the two shook hands. They talked for a few minutes then Turing said, “We’re all here now. Let’s all take a seat and get this started.”

  Daniel walked over to a chair and sat. To his left and to his right were two women, one rather skinny with large, thick glasses, the other had purple hair and a nose ring. She leaned over to Daniel and said, “Hey. You work out? You look good. Cute.”

  “Thanks,” Daniel replied surprised at how forward this stranger was. He got a closer look at her. Her skin was smooth, smothered with layers of pale makeup. She had traced black eye liner around her eyes and drew a small teardrop in the corner of left eye. He glanced down and saw what looked like the top of very colorful tattoo that disappeared into her cleavage.

  “Can I ask you something else?” Daniel caught a small metal glint from the back of her tongue.

  “Sure?” he said, more as a question than an answer.

  “How do your powers manifest?”

  “What?”

  “When you sense the danger, what happens?”

  Daniel wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her the truth. But, he realized, he might be the only Evo this woman has seen since she lived in Vegas. Might be a good idea to share some notes. “I get a headache, like a throbbing in the back of my head if the danger is sudden and immediate. If it’s something lingering, then it’s more of a dull headache that could last until the danger is over.”

  “Wow, that sounds tough to deal with.”

  “It was at first, but I got used to it.”

  “For me, it’s a tingling in my hands.” She held her hand up. It was shaking slightly. “And it’s happening now. How about you? Got anything?”

  Daniel closed his eyes and felt nothing. “No.”

  “Don’t you think that’s odd?” she asked, lowering her hand. “I asked everyone else and they told me the same thing. Nothing. But I’m sensing something. Figured you dressed as a ninja and all that you were probably one of those Protectors, or a Protector cos-player.”

  “I’m a Protector.” Daniel chuckled. “Well, a former one.”

  “Thought so. Shadow Ninja, right? Saw something about you and your brother on TV once.”

  “That was us,” Daniel replied.

  “Good. Just wanted to make sure that if anything goes down, we have a few people who can fight here.”

  Daniel nodded and was about to reply when Turing started his speech. “Ladies and gentlemen. It is nice to have you all here today. As I told each and every one of you when we met, I need your help. Each of you has a power, a power that can help you detect danger. That power isn’t some sixth sense. No, it’s a power to see the future.” He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. “Last year I had a vision that something bad was about to happen. Something to this city. Something to this country. Something to this world. I asked around, asked others with your powers if they felt something. No one had. I chalked it up to being just a dream, not a true vision. But the dream happened again. Then again. In the end, I decided I needed to know for certain. If something bad was going to happen, I needed to know what it was. That’s why I decided to gather as many with the danger sense as I could. Together we can figure out what this vision was and maybe figure out how to stop it.”

  Daniel raised his hands. “That’s very vague. What was this vision you saw?”

  Turing looked over at Daniel. “I don’t want to share that. It might influence what we are doing. Rest assured, it was not a pleasant vision or else we wouldn’t be here.”

  Daniel searched his feelings again, hoping to find some sign of deceit but he couldn’t. He didn’t trust this man, but he couldn’t sense anything from his body language that gave away his game. Turing’s heart beat was calm and steady. There was no sweat on his body and his face never twitched as he talked. If he was lying, he was doing a damn good job of not projecting his deceit. Daniel gave a final nod of approval and said, “Okay. Let’s get this over with. If it’s something real I’ll contact the Protectors, we can have a team here by tonight to help.”

  “If what I saw is true, the Protectors are more than welcome.” Turing looked over at Whitebeard who nodded. “Well, it seems we are ready. Whitebeard the Wizard, would you like to take over?”

  The man pushed his robe back and walked to the front of the room. When he talked, he spoke with a fake English accent. “Welcome, my friends. I am the great Whitebeard the Wizard. My powers are strong because my will is as powerful as the Hoover Dam is strong.”

  Daniel rolled his eyes and tried to image what Tanaka would be saying right now. It was then that he heard Tanaka’s voice, “Dear lord, what a world-class dork.”

  The voice was a whisper, not from his ear piece but from his own ears. He didn’t look around but nodded slowly.

  “Good, you can hear me. I’m in the rafters watching this weird scene play out. Nancy’s in the car. I’ll keep my eye out for anything dangerous.”

  Daniel gave another quick nod then continued to listen to Whitebeard.

  “-which is how I discovered my powers. Sad and tragic as that was I am now in complete control of what I can do and I’m ready to help. So please, all of you, close your eyes. This might feel weird.”

  Daniel closed his eyes, comforted knowing Tanaka was watching over him. A moment later he felt Whitebeard enter his mind then felt the connection to the other six.

  “Good, good,” Whitebeard said. “Now, I am going to connect Turing’s mind to yours.”

  Daniel waited a moment, but when Turing’s mind connected, all the other minds shut down.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Tanaka sat on a steel beam and looked down onto the group. He saw the weird kid with the robe raise his hands and tap his staff to the ground then watched as everyone’s head dropped. He knew it was some sort of mental connection but he’d never seen anything like that before.

  The kid walked over to Turing and the two talked. Tanaka tried to hear them but he didn’t have Daniel’s enhanced senses so all he could do was watch. The kid placed his hand on Turing’s head. Turing’s eyes closed. A few moments later his body started to shake. The guy with the bow ran up and held him up.

  Tanaka itched to teleport down there to see what was happening. He reached back to make sure his katana was in a location he could reach easily. Strapped to his right thigh was a throwing dagger. Daniel had decided not to wear his mask, but Tanaka took a different approach. He lowered his black mask over his head where it stopped at his nose. He adjusted the eye slits so he could see.

  Sweat formed form on his brow, dampening his mask. The building was hot thanks to no circulating air and a hot sun beating down on it. Tanaka felt his legs twitching, wanting him to spring into action. In his mind he thought about the best way to attack. Take out the bow guy first, then the weird kid, then Turing. Turing didn’t seem like a fighter. The guy with the bow looked tough and the weird kid just looked weird.

  Turing’s body fell limp and the bow guy struggled to hold him up. It made Tanaka think the bow guy was not as strong as he looked.

  Turing opened his eyes, turned to the bow guy and placed his hands on his shoulder. He said something, then walked away.

  The man with the bow took a step back, rea
ched into his quiver, and before Tanaka could even register what was happening, fired an arrow into the back of the weird kid.

  He was reaching for another arrow when Tanaka teleported behind him. The man turned, dropped the arrow, and swung the bow like a club, striking Tanaka in the ribs. He body armor absorbed some of the blow but it hurt like hell and he staggered backwards. “Oh, wow, you guys double crossed us, we’re really surprised,” Tanaka said between gasps of air.

  Tracker jumped back, grabbed an arrow, cocked and pointed it at Tanaka. “Do you think you could teleport before the arrow gets to you? I really don’t want to fight you. I was only told to kill the kid.”

  Tanaka’s ribs burned. He knew he could let this guy go, let him leave so he could get his ribs looked at. They weren’t broken but they were bruised, and it hurt to breathe. But he shot that poor boy and Tanaka couldn’t ignore that. “Sorry pal, can’t let you go.”

  “Look at your brother. Why do you think he’s not over here helping you?”

  Tanaka glanced over to where Daniel sat. His head was still slump, a small trickle of blood dripped out of his nose. He looked over at the others. No one moved. “What the hell happened?”

  “You can’t just snap a mental link without any consequences. You can save them, but you can’t fight me and save them both. What will it be?”

  “You’re an asshole,” Tanaka said, teleporting over to his brother. He touched his shoulder and tried to picture a hospital in his head. All he could see was the one in Haven and there was no way he could teleport them all there. So, instead, he teleported Daniel outside, then teleported himself.

  Nancy ran out of the car and toward Tanaka. “Call 911. Tell them to get here fast. We have five people who are unresponsive.” He laid Daniel down. “Take care of him. I have to see if I can catch the guy with the bow.”

  “Tracker,” Daniel whispered. “His name is Tracker.”

  “Such a douchey name,” Tanaka replied, teleporting back into the building.