by S. S. Segran
“Are you back?” Mariah asked, face puffed in concern.
Aari flopped back, groaning in response.
Marshall stared at him in awe. “You were gone for almost fifteen minutes. Your eyes were open but we still had to check for a pulse just to be sure. Good thing this place is empty or people might’ve gotten spooked.”
Aari started. Fifteen minutes? Oy.
“You saw everything?” Tegan asked, gray eyes gleaming.
“Yeah. I—”
Kody clamped a hand over his mouth. “If you could, ladies and gents,” he interjected, “please wait until we’re in the car.”
“Why?” Aari asked, voice muffled.
“Just pack everything up.”
Once in the SUV, Kody took the passenger seat, put his finger to his lips as a warning to the others, then turned the radio volume on full blast.
“I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure,” he whispered, “but seeing as we might have really valuable information right now, methinks I’m as sure as can be.” He inclined his head toward the back of the SUV. “I think Reyor’s guys are tag-teaming. There are at least two cars, if not three, that seem to always be around. One is usually by Danny’s house, normally in the multi-level parking lot of the apartment across the street. When we drive out to Haifa, another one is with us. And I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure a third car sometimes shuffles with the first and follows the third when we’re on the move. They’re always super quiet when I search around. Like, they don’t talk. That’s why I could never really pinpoint them. And I’m worried that they have listening devices, so let’s keep the radio on, okay?”
Aari, sitting behind Marshall, nodded approvingly. “Clever.”
“Aw, shucks. Thanks, Captain Smartypants. Gimme a kiss.”
“Get away from me!”
“Okay, okay, behave,” Tegan said. “Aari, where did Lucius and Carmel go?”
“Egypt,” he answered, pushing Kody’s head away. “They were at a marketplace not far from the Pyramids of Giza, but I can’t imagine why. Asa said they were running away from the Romans, but Egypt was controlled by the Empire at the time. Why would they go there?”
“Whatever the case, at least we have a place to start searching again. Could you see anything beyond the pyramids?”
“The memory only stretches that far. As Elder Nageau said, maybe getting close to the geo-markers of significant events will reveal more clues. Right now, that next marker is near the pyramids.”
“Then that’s enough for us,” Marshall said.
Mariah lifted a finger. “Reyor’s people will still follow us. It’ll be hard to throw them off without giving away the fact that we can locate them now.”
“We’ll work out a plan,” Tegan said.
“I’ll get us tickets and we’ll pack up,” Marshall decided. “While you were traipsing in Lucius’s memories, Aari, I checked the news. Turns out Egypt is one of several countries that’ll close their international airports tonight.”
“Talk about luck,” Kody breathed, then added meekly, “Guess Jag’s not coming, huh?”
The Sentry grimaced. “Afraid not. Can’t have him trekking through Egypt with a broken leg when we still don’t know the endgame.”
“He’s gonna be so bummed when we tell him,” Mariah said, pouting.
Aari ran his hand over the canister in his lap. Reverence had overtaken him. “It’s incredible. By some providence we decided to check out these artifacts by the Bay of Haifa where Lucius and Carmel lived for a while, almost at the exact spot where the emotional geo-marker was created when they decided to leave for Africa. Seriously. What are the odds?”
“As I said, if you’re on the right path, the universe will open its doors for you guys.” Marshall turned the volume up just a little more. “Now let’s start planning our way out of here. This should be interesting.”
41
Kody trotted toward the parking lot of the apartment building across from Daniel’s house, whistling. A tubby orange cat ambling beside him hissed. He glanced down at it, hissed back, then whispered, Fine, I’ll stop whistling. Party pooper.”
All anyone observing would notice was a cat padding by its lonesome across the road—exactly as planned. Tegan, mindlinked with the animal, had joined forces with Aari in the novasphere so that he could use the cat’s sight to reflect light away from Kody, rendering the teenager invisible to any other onlooker.
Armed with two wooden boards with metal spikes protruding from them, Kody entered the parking lot and went up to the third level. I’m on my way, little piggies, he thought giddily, and boy do I have a surprise for you suckers.
Most of the slots on the third level were filled. Kody narrowed his eyes until the world became dark gray save for some brightness, indicating cars that had just been in use. Thermal vision is the coolest, Hopefully X-ray is next. I’d be such a terror with it. He snickered to himself.
Since they’d received Victor’s broken warning a week ago about possible watchers, he’d been hyper-suspicious of everyone and everything. His sensitivity to the surroundings caused him to notice one car in particular that seemed to always remain around the area, though sometimes he would not be able to find it. It was, as far as he could tell after days and nights of observation, the only vehicle that was constantly incredibly bright in his vision. There would be no reason for a parked car to project a heat bloom, unless there were occupants who needed a little extra warmth in the cooler autumn nights.
Kody spotted the car now, a dirty white sedan parked between other vehicles. He picked up heat signatures from two bodies inside, something he was never able to catch through the half-walls of the parking lot that overlooked the houses across the street.
Beside him, the cat meowed softly and he smiled down at it. As he placed the spiked boards behind both of the car’s rear tires, he tuned in his hearing.
“I hate this,” the tattooed giant in the driver’s seat whispered. “The loud music they’ve had going for the past few hours in that house . . . this parabolic mic is useless with all that noise. If we had any doubts that they knew they were being followed, this definitely wipes it all away.”
“Hardly matters,” a second man whispered back with a touch of a Russian accent. “They can’t make a move without anyone knowing.”
“Sir, what do we do? They’re scheming, I’ll bet on it. They must have learned something on that beach. And don’t forget about that one car that pulled into the garage two hours ago. It hasn’t left.”
“Shh, Elias. We sit and we wait. If something happens, the others are just a few blocks away. Now stop talking.”
“Yes, Mr. Ajajdif.”
Kody crept out of the parking lot, scampered to the house and crawled through an open window in the back. Once inside, both Aari and Tegan ceased their exertions. As Kody shut the window to avoid annoying the neighbors with the blaring music, Tegan nudged him. “Well?”
“Definitely Reyor’s people,” he affirmed. “I’m pretty sure these guys were at the mining site on Ayen’et, too—the big security man and his boss.”
In the dining area, Marshall raised his arm. The friends sidled up to him, joined by Daniel and one other IDF soldier, a small but fit brown-haired woman in her early twenties who Kody tried to play eye-tag with. She looked more amused with his attempts than anything else.
“Alright,” Marshall said. “Everything’s in place. We’ll be leaving soon, so I suggest taking this time to say our goodbyes.”
The friends turned to each other, lips pursed, and busied themselves with rechecking their packed bags for the umpteenth time. Kody patted the pocket of his black cargo pants, hearing the crinkling of the last two power bars Victor had given him. He pulled one out and turned to Jag, but the taller boy had stolen into the bathroom with a toothbrush, leaving the door open.
Kody joined him at the sink to splatter his face with cold water. Wordlessly, he passed his friend the power bar. Jag took it gratefully as he br
ushed his teeth. “You okay, Kode-man?”
“Yeah. You?”
“Never better.”
“Liar.”
Jag spat into the sink. “Yup. I’m surprised my pants haven’t caught fire yet. I just don’t like leaving you guys, you know?”
“Hey, Superman, we can take care of ourselves. We may not have your speed, strength or agility, but we can still manage. Honestly, we’re more worried about you.”
“Why? Danny’s taking me to a safe house. I think the worst part about it is that I’m just additional weight with this bum leg. I can’t be with you guys in Egypt. I’m useless.”
“You’re far from useless.” Kody wiped his face with the sleeve of his t-shirt. “We’re gonna miss you, man. It’s been years since we’ve been split up.”
“Except for most of junior year, when a handful of people talked smack about our amnesia and we stopped hanging out to avoid the attention.”
“Not gonna lie,” Kody said, “I’m kinda really disappointed with all of us about that. Why didn’t we stick together? It’s what we’ve always done.”
“I guess when you hear others say that there’s something wrong with you over and over, jokingly or not, you start to believe it.” Jag’s tone picked up a faraway tenor. “But you’re right. We should’ve stuck together.”
“No. Nope. Nopity nope. Stop it, you.”
“Stop what?”
“I can hear it in your voice. You’re gonna start reminiscing about all our fun little misadventures before Dema-Ki and the prophecy. You’ll get emotional, then I’ll get emotional.”
Jag turned on the tap and flicked water at Kody, who squawked and splashed him back. Mariah poked her head in. “Hey, you toddlers, some of us still need to use the bathroom. Move it or lose it.”
When the clock struck eight p.m., they reconvened by the dining table. The friends held each other in a group embrace. Kody closed his eyes, a small smile on his lips. This feels right. This is family.
As they grabbed their bags, Jag gave Marshall a quick hug. “I know you’ll take care of them,” he murmured. “Just make sure to take care of yourself, too.”
The Sentry regarded him warmly. “You too, kiddo.” He held up his thumb to everyone else. “Let’s go.”
The IDF woman left first, backing her decoy car out of the garage, and idled on the street. Marshall brought their SUV in from the side of the road, shutting the garage door to hide from Reyor’s men; then Kody, Mariah, Tegan and Aari piled in. Jag and Daniel slid into Daniel’s truck and together, both vehicles exited. Kody tuned his hearing to the two men watching them from the apartment parking lot. They spoke softly, but now that he knew where to direct his abilities, he could catch them easier.
The giant sounded disconcerted. “Sir, I’ll say it again. I don’t like this. Three cars, all with tinted windows. We don’t know who’s in which vehicle. We don’t know if they’ve split up.”
“Start the car,” Ajajdif instructed. “We’re following them. I’ll call the others.”
Daniel and Jag took off down the street, tailing the decoy car for some distance before splitting off. In the SUV, Marshall stomped down on the gas and flew in the opposite direction. Kody, sitting on his own in the third row of the SUV, tilted his head toward Reyor’s men.
“Go, Elias!” Ajajdif shouted.
There was a mere second of silence before two resounding blasts were heard, followed by alarmed curses. “What was that?”
“Sir, our back tires are trashed!”
“What? How?”
A door slammed.
“What in the—how did this happen? Who put these here? Elias!”
“I swear, there was no one, sir. I don’t know how, but those punks got one over us.”
“Damn it!”
“That’s one down,” Kody told the others. “I’m naming them Huey. If I’m right and they’ve only got two other cars at their disposal, then Dewey and Louie will be coming after any one of us soon.”
“Nice work, Kody,” Marshall praised.
“Ehh, all I did was place the boards with the nails. This was all Tegan’s idea.”
They raced down the street, merging with the few vehicles on the main road bearing north. Kody kept watch out of the rear windshield. A dusty, dark gray truck screeched out of a side road and fell in a few cars behind the SUV. “There’s Dewey, folks.”
Mariah, sitting in the middle row with Aari, hummed pensively. “The only advantage we have is that they don’t know we’re taking a flight to Egypt. But if we head toward Tel Aviv, they’ll know we’re aiming for the airport.”
“We’ll have to shake them off before that,” Tegan said. “Any ideas?”
Mariah peered out of her window. “Traffic’s slow enough. I could spin a couple of cars around and cause a pileup, but I’d rather not risk injuring anyone even at low speed.”
They followed a gentle bend and a tunnel appeared ahead. “The turn-off to Tel Aviv is in four miles,” Marshall informed them.
They zipped through the tunnel and everything narrowed into darkness and flashes of yellow from the overhead lighting. Kody tuned his hearing again and heard an Israeli man in the truck ask, “What do we do? They’re four cars ahead.”
Over what Kody suspected was a phone, Ajajdif barked, “Stay on them. Don’t mess this up.”
“I think they’ve got local baddies on their payroll,” Kody called.
“Wouldn’t be a stretch,” Marshall said. “They need allies wherever they go.”
The exit of the tunnel came fast and they were back under the night sky. Oblong concrete planters with shrubbery and multihued flowers decorated the sides of the two-way road and arching street lights.
“We need to shake ’em,” Aari warned. “Now.”
“I’ve got an idea.” Mariah shimmied into the back with Kody and looked out the rear windshield.
The four cars behind them sped out of the tunnel. As the gray truck emerged, Mariah dragged two fingers through the air. One of the concrete planters swung onto the road, grinding against the asphalt. Kody, his senses still heightened, clapped his hands over his ears, recoiling. Augh! Jeez! It’s like nails on a chalkboard amplified a million times!
A second later he heard panicked yells from the truck’s occupants just before they collided into the planter. Parts of the fender and the hood blew off. The windshield had shattered and smoke erupted from the engine in a thick curtain.
“We’re clear!” Mariah hollered.
They tore down the road and turned onto a freeway ramp under a sign for Tel Aviv. Kody kept an eye for any more tails but he was cautiously optimistic that they’d made it. He pushed against Mariah’s arm triumphantly. “I think we’re good, guys!”
Aari grinned. “See? We’re not helpless without Jag.”
“Speaking of whom,” Tegan said, “the big guy just checked in. He and Daniel are out of danger. Louie went after the decoy.”
Marshall puffed out a breath. “Nice.”
Kody settled in the backseat comfortably, looking out at the city lights in the horizon. It’s funny, he thought. We’ve gotten so used to our abilities that it’s become second nature. But if anyone else saw us, they’d freak. The corners of his mouth lifted. Man, have we changed.
* * *
“I really don’t envy you, sir. This is not a call I would want to make.”
Ajajdif was hunched over in the passenger seat with his head in his hands. “Shut up, Elias.”
His phone rested on top of the dash, beeping as he waited to be patched through to his superior. There was a click, then a modulated voice said, “Vladimir.”
Ajajdif swiped the phone and turned the speakerphone off. “Hi, Boss.”
“I hope you have good news.”
Ajajdif would have rather had a drill bore through his head than deliver details of the mishap. The Boss only listened as he gave the full rundown. All the while, he fought the urge to give excuses. There was an uncomfortable, prickly silence onc
e he finished but he dared not utter a sound.
“So,” the voice finally said, “you and Elias don’t even get in the game because your back tires blew. One of your teams gets bested—by a flower pot—and the other one had to choose between two cars and went for the one that led them to a McDonald’s drive-thru in Jerusalem. We’re a multibillion dollar outfit outwitted by a few kids. Is this what you’re telling me?”
Ajajdif couldn’t bite his tongue any longer. “These are not normal kids. They’re smart and sharp, and”—he glanced at Hajjar, then stepped out of the car—“they have abilities. I got a concussion from that battle at the mining site two summers ago, remember that? I know I didn’t throw myself head-first through the ceiling of my office. Now, I’m not sure if it was the girl or the woman with her that did it, but these kids have abilities just like you do, and—”
“Enough!”
Ajajdif swallowed. He’d never heard that tone used on him before. There was a mortal threat in that single word. He immediately regretted opening his mouth. He, along with Dr. Nate, were the only people in all of Phoenix Corporation and the Inner Circle who truly understood the extent of their superior’s capabilities. Even Tony Cross, the ever-faithful personal lapdog, had no clue.
Vydiot, Ajajdif thought. You’re an idiot for comparing the Boss to those kids. You’ll probably get your tongue cut off now.
“I’m sorry,” he stammered.
The Boss disregarded his apology. “It’s a good thing I didn’t put all my eggs in one basket. Again.”
“You’ve always been prepared like that. So what do I do?”
“Nothing.”
Ajajdif’s breath hitched. “What?”
“I’m sending Tony back into the field. You are to standby until you get further instructions. If you fail me again, you will not see the outside of a Sanctuary, ever, until your last days—if I’m feeling gracious.”
And yet, after Tony’s ridiculous failure, all you did was demote him. I suppose you pick your favorites, too, just like everyone else. Instantly, he felt guilty for his thoughts and vehemently expelled his bitterness.
