Kala groaned. “Great. Are you going to try and kill me now?”
Penny looked genuinely alarmed at that statement. “Asmodeus tried to kill you?”
“No, he just wanted to sleep with me. That Malak guy tried to kill me. Look, they’re in the middle of some kind of Demon/Angel battle to the death right now, but as soon as they’re done, they’re coming after me. So, if you can help in any way?” Kala tried to hide the desperate hope out of her voice.
Penny, though, was apparently still stuck on Kala’s previous statement. “Did this Malak have a name?”
“Grautlin. He said I was weak and that a Malak should be the next Atlas. If it didn’t mean me having to die, I’d have to agree with him. He’s seriously kicking Asmodeus’s ass.” Even while talking, Kala surveyed the area like a soldier, preparing for an attack. She was still chastising herself for not seeing Penny before she pulled her off the street. Kala had been so focused on the crosswalk she had let her guard down temporarily. She promised herself that she’d never do that again.
Penny reached out and touched Kala’s forehead.
Kala felt a kind of shimmering flow through her body. “What was that?” she asked.
“A disguise of sorts,” Penny said cryptically. “I would have done it earlier, but Asmodeus already knew where you were.”
“You mean the DNA switcheroo thing? Asmodeus told me all about it,” Kala said it with confidence just to see the look on Penny’s face. She wasn’t disappointed, Penny was stunned.
“He confided that in you?” Penny’s voice was small with shock.
“I told you, all the guy wants to do is get in my pants,” Kala replied. “Can you do that whole ‘teleport’ thing, or did you have to drive here?”
“I have my little tricks, like turning invisible on cue, but only Demons and Malaks have the power to teleport. I’m neither,” Penny stated tersely.
“Good to know.” Kala knew she only had a small window of opportunity before Asmodeus or Grautlin started tracking her, so she tried something she wasn’t sure would work.
She snapped Penny’s neck.
Kala heard a passerby scream at the sight. More importantly, Penny actually dropped to the ground unconscious. Before Penny could wake up, or a crowd could mob Kala for “murder,” she ran for the crosswalk.
DNA fixed and Penny couldn’t teleport. Check.
Kala was almost home free.
Chapter Thirteen
Kala knew Penny would soon be on her trail if she didn’t get out of the area as soon as possible. Having never been to New York before, Kala found that the city was easy to maneuver.
Traversing through the busy streets of people and cars, Kala had that overwhelming feeling again that this was going to be the rest of her life. She’d be running forever. The thought made her feel more lonely than she ever had been in her life, and as a foster kid that was saying something.
Her first instinct was to call Jack. He was more involved in this Atlas thing than she was. Actually being the Atlas obviously made her as involved as one can get, but Kala still couldn’t fully commit to this being reality. After everything she had witnessed, Kala knew she was crazy for doubting, not crazy for believing. Nevertheless, the rational part of her brain just didn’t want to accept what was happening.
When Kala was sure she lost Penny (at least temporarily), she dipped into a small Internet café. Kala couldn’t do this alone. She needed help. Against her better judgment, Kala sat down at an empty station and signed into an email account she’d never planned on using. It was an emergency account she and Derek set up when they were first recruited to the team. Her connection with Derek had been instant. He was like the big brother she never had. Kala was sure Derek thought she was suffering from some kind of brain disease, but she also knew that he had her back no matter what (even if she was a raving lunatic). Deciding to be short and sweet, Kala simply wrote: Meet in our spot in four hours. She clicked send and stared at the screen, wondering if she had done the right thing.
Bringing Derek into the fold was very selfish of her, but Kala needed help.
In less than a minute a return email popped up with Derek’s response: I’ll be there. Almost every muscle in Kala’s body relaxed when she read Derek’s words. It brought tears to her eyes. The fiercest loyalty surged through her. She couldn’t wait to see him.
Groaning in resignation at the three hour train ride Kala had ahead of her, she headed out of the café. To avoid any unseen delays, Kala had added an hour to the meeting time, just in case. Shaking her head in frustration, Kala felt a moment of rage. Being transported to New York was a pain in the butt. Asmodeus was a royal a-hole. Kala found herself grumbling, something she rarely did.
Walking out onto the crowded streets, Kala asked someone where the train station was and was directed a few blocks away. She kept her eye out for Penny, knowing full well that whatever that woman was, she wasn’t human. Penny may not be able to teleport, but the lady always had a knack for finding Kala somehow.
Minutes later, Kala arrived at Grand Central Station. She’d always wanted to see the New York landmark, but not under these circumstances. At the moment she wanted to be as far away from this place as possible. The station was packed, yet even in the enormity of the cavernous room Kala still felt claustrophobic. The only saving grace was the light coming in through the Station’s arched windows, providing an illusion of some kind of openness to the outside.
Reading the list of trains to D.C., Kala found one that left in twenty minutes. If she was late to the meeting, Kala knew Derek would wait until she arrived.
Paying cash for the ticket, Kala hopped on the train and sat in the rear of a passenger car, where she could have a view of anyone that came in or out. Kala tried to relax as much as possible, but sitting in a train for three hours just made her nervous. It wasn’t like she actually had a weapon or anything, but Kala figured a gun wouldn’t exactly help her against a Malak or a Demon anyway. At this point, it was about getting away, not experimenting in supernatural battles.
Exhaustion was slowly started to overtake Kala. She fought to keep her eyes open. Running on adrenaline only worked when you were running. Fortunately, this wasn’t the first time Kala had to keep herself awake while dead tired. Being a sniper meant hours of sitting and lying around, waiting for a target to show up: caffeine and stimulants only worked so much. Kala had trained her body to do small exercises like clenching and unclenching her legs and arms in order to stay awake. It seemed to be working for the time being right now, too, but Kala knew she’d need to take a nap soon. Though Asmodeus knocked her out for… how long had she been out? Kala wondered.
Searching the train’s cabin, Kala spotted an old fashioned clock with antique wrought-iron hands. Of course, to Kala the standard numbers were gone and replaced with the countdown: 2d 19h 10m 33s. Doing quick math in her head, Kala was pretty sure that meant it was almost 11 A.M. So, she was on day two and only had two days left to kill Jack to save the world. Whatever that meant. Kala wondered what was the worst that could happen? A flood, a hurricane, a nuclear bomb? She shrugged and thought that worse things had happened before and people survived. The world would have to fend for itself as far as she was concerned.
Kala rubbed her hand over her face in frustration. To make the leap that the world would literally end seemed a little much.
It also seemed ludicrous to think that other Atlases in the past hadn’t refused to do their duty, and the world certainly didn’t end. It could’ve been times in history like Pompeii or Hiroshima or other terrible moments in history.
Kala started to feel a sense of relief at the thought. Those were horrendous events, yes. And Kala certainly didn’t want to be responsible for anything that terrifying. But it really wouldn’t be her fault. It was the Curse’s fault, or whatever it was. No one could blame her.
But Jack would.
Jack had trained his whole life to be the next Atlas. He had been ready to do whatever it took to make
the world whole. He’d never forgive her if he knew. But what if he knew that the only way to save the world was for Kala to kill him?
Kala shoved the thought from her mind. She knew exactly what he would do. He’d tell her to pull the trigger.
But she couldn’t.
She just couldn’t.
A woman entered the cabin from the adjoining train car. It was the entrance on the opposite side from where Kala sat so Kala had a perfect view. There was something about this woman that made the hairs on Kala’s neck stand up. Picking up a magazine from the seat in front of her, Kala pretended to thumb through it while following the woman’s progress through the corner of her eye.
Surveilling the room, Kala noted that there were five other passengers in various seats, either reading or sleeping. Only this woman was moving, and she was headed towards Kala.
Exits.
Aside from the front and end of the passenger car, all the windows could be opened or broken if needed.
Next, Kala’s opponent.
If this woman was a Malak or a Demon, Kala would be in trouble — but if she was human, Kala could take her easy. Or at least, easier. If this kind of thing was Kala’s life now, she was going to have to learn some kind of defense against the supernatural. Definitely not something they prepped you for in Seal training. Guns had no effect, except maybe to slow them down, and neck snapping only worked if Kala could take them by surprise. Both those options were out considering Kala didn’t have a gun and this woman was already stalking her.
As the woman approached, Kala kept her guard up while pretending to read the magazine.
“Is this seat taken?” the woman asked.
Kala smiled as warmly as she could muster, “No, go ahead.”
The woman smiled back and sat down across from Kala. Kala’s nerve endings were on overload. Something was definitely wrong with the woman. Since she wasn’t attacking, Kala sat there, waited, analyzed and strategized.
Information.
Whether it was made up or not, Kala decided to ask this girl some questions. You could tell a lot about a person by the way they lie.
“Where you headed?” Kala inquired as conversationally as possible.
“D.C.,” she replied softly. The woman sat back, trying to look relaxed.
But Kala noticed her hands were slightly clenched, a sure sign of being on the offensive. As if sensing Kala’s observation, the woman unclenched one hand and pulled a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She was average looking in the face, but Kala could see this woman was in shape. Medium length hair framed her face, and Kala wasn’t opposed to some serious hair pulling if need be. Her clothes were comfortable and flexible, khakis and a long sleeved stretch shirt.
Kala wished she was in similar attire, but she still wore her blue jeans from yesterday. They had some flex, but let’s face it, denim was always a little stiff and tight. Maneuverability was the key and this lady had the advantage.
“D.C.? Me too,” Kala said in a friendly tone. “I’m Jenny by the way,” Kala lied. She knew any name she heard back from this woman would be a lie as well, but Kala wanted to keep her talking to distract her, to disrupt her concentration as much as possible.
“I’m Virginia,” the woman said.
Virginia? Kala thought to herself. It was an old-fashioned name. Could be a Malak or Demon too out of touch to think of a modern name. Or the lady could have just thought of the state they were heading towards.
“What brings you to D.C.?” Kala asked as she casually rolled the magazine with one hand. Any weapon was better than nothing. She would swat her like a fly if she had to.
Virginia placed her hands in her lap in a seemingly casual way, but her arms were tensed. “Work,” she said with a half-smile.
“Work with no bag or even a purse?” Kala pointed out Virginia’s obvious lack of personal items.
SLASH!
Virginia swung a small club that sparked blue at Kala’s head. A taser-club.
Kala had been ready for an attack so she easily leaned back in her seat. It was the basics of Aikido, using the force of your opponent’s momentum to your advantage. When Virginia leaned forward and didn’t meet the expected resistance of Kala’s face, Kala used the force of Virginia’s fall and slammed Virginia’s hand hard on the seat next to her. The club was fully embedded in the wood framing from the force of Kala’s blow and electrocuting the seat. Kala wished she had turned it on Virginia as she could tell the thing was officially broken.
Virginia quickly recovered and tried to punch Kala in the face. Kala slammed the side of her open hand directly on Virginia’s throat.
Gasping for air, Virginia used her sitting position to an advantage by kicking out at Kala with both legs. Kala dove into the aisle, barely escaping Virginia’s stomping feet.
At this point the three passengers who were quietly reading noticed the outright brawl starting to take over their cabin. Kala knew it wouldn’t be long before one of them ran for help.
From the woman’s mundane fighting style, Kala at least knew she was fighting a human. She could already tell that Virginia was no match for her, but Kala needed information.
“How did you find me?” Kala said as she elbow-punched Virginia’s face.
Virginia was livid as she shrugged off the blow. “Grand Central Station? Really? It’s called surveillance.” She tried to upper-cut Kala’s chin, but Kala blocked it easily.
“They shouldn’t have sent a human. This isn’t even a challenge.” To make her point, Kala side-kicked Virginia in the chest sending her flying backwards to land forcefully against the exit door.
At this point the sleepyheads were awake, too, and making their way to the opposite exit. Kala knew security would be there any minute. She needed to get as much information out of her opponent as she could, then dump her off the train.
Virginia jumped to her feet, arms and hands rotating in a defensive position. “You really are off your meds. Human? What else would I be? An alien?”
This made Kala freeze. “Wait. Who sent you?”
Virginia took advantage of Kala’s momentary indecision and kicked Kala in the gut. “The mother ship, psycho.”
Kala felt the air escape her lungs as Virginia’s foot made contact. But Kala was always quick to recover. It was in her DNA (assuming her DNA disguise hadn’t changed it too much!).
Punching Virginia in the throat, Kala watched Virginia collapse onto the floor, trying to breath.
This was the moment when Virginia was most vulnerable. Just like her training taught her, Kala took one knee and pinned Virginia down with it. Virginia grabbed onto Kala’s leg, trying to remove the stabbing knee from her chest, but Kala had done this too many times to budge. To make her point, Kala put more pressure on Virginia’s ribs, causing a scream of pain.
“Who sent you?” Kala demanded through gritted teeth.
Virginia grunted in agony. “Who do you think?!”
“I don’t want to think. I want you to tell me.” Kala drove her knee in harder for emphasis.
Virginia screamed in response. “General Clifton!”
Kala froze.
“Why?”
“Because you killed the President and left town!” Virginia was trying her hardest to remove Kala’s knee from her chest.
Kala had heard enough. She punched Virginia hard in the face causing Virginia’s head to hit the floor, knocking her unconscious. Before the slowest-security-ever arrived, Kala quickly stood up and dragged Virginia’s body to the exit. The train was going fast, but Virginia would survive. Kala hated being so cold, but she couldn’t have Virginia waking up in the next few hours to start attacking her again.
Kicking open the door, Kala lifted Virginia up through the arms and tossed her off the train. With a couple of painful looking thumps, Virginia landed in an empty field of grass.
Then Kala calmly entered the adjoining train car, away from the direction her frightened fellow-passengers had fled. Just to be safe, she moved throug
h five more cabins before she settled on the last one. No one seemed to pay her any mind, so she figured she was safe for the moment. Sitting down near the back exit again, Kala stared out the window at the passing landscape.
I’m so screwed.
Chapter Fourteen
The last two hours of the train ride made Kala’s brain hurt. Like she didn’t have enough to worry about with this whole Atlas thing, now she had to watch her back with her own people?
The thought was terrifying. On the run from Demons and Angels is one thing (one very insane thing), but on the run from her own government, too? From an elite team that hunted down criminals in their sleep? That was real.
Being a part of that team, Kala knew that staying off the grid would be nearly impossible. How could she explain why she left D.C.? Oh sorry, General Clifton, I was teleported by Asmodeus, the King of Demons, to New York City. You understand. Those pesky Demons, there’s just no controlling them.
Kala groaned.
Getting to Derek was the only ray of brightness that Kala could hold on to. He would tell her how much trouble she was in.
Over and over in her head, Kala kept wondering what General Clifton intended to do with her. Maybe he just wanted to question her again. Kala remembered how he’d looked at General Turner before leaving the interrogation room. Clifton was jealous, he was angry, it was like he wanted to do the opposite of what Turner wanted just to be contrary. At the time, though, Kala thought that Clifton might let it go, that the scandal of the President’s assassination would be too much to deal with. She obviously underestimated his competitive nature. Clifton needed to be right. More importantly, he needed Turner to be wrong. What better way to prove Turner wrong than to expose the President’s assassin as a guilty runaway?
Kala just needed to explain.
But explain what? What on Earth could she possibly say?
Kala still hadn’t figured it out as the train came to a stop in D.C.
Atlas (The Atlas Series) Page 10
