The handily decapitated, beautifully patterned body thrashed in the grass as James roared angrily, “If you don’t have anything better to do than taunt a venomous snake I’ll goddamn put you to work. You’ve all got double duty for the next two weeks. Go report to Control and tell them I sent you. Idiots…complete morons.”
Swindell continued to mewl in pain on the ground and her companion, a stocky muscular woman with coppery skin and short black hair, was kneeling down to check her leg but James was having none of it. He ordered, “Be still and stop whining. Martinez, scat.”
James turned with an almost frozen set to his features as Kara and I trotted up. I hazarded this was him in full command-mode. “Silver, can you help her?”
Most of the crowd was still lingering, waiting to see what would happen with their compatriot’s snake bite—at least they were loyal dumbasses.
Silver cracked, “I don’t know man…process of natural selection, survival of the fittest and all that. What if I curse generations with her stupidity ‘cause she’s still in the gene pool?”
Even as my sister cracked wise she sunk our body to its knees on the hard packed earth and pulled Swindell’s pale white hands away from her shin to reveal a rapidly swelling bite site. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face was beet red and splotchy. At least there were no pants to tear and we could get to the wound easily. The two spots where the fangs had sunk in were oozing blood but looked relatively shallow. It definitely wasn’t a dry bite based on the tissue reaction but maybe it was a lesser injection of venom than it could have been. Silver went into the Web as I placed our ungloved hands over Swindell’s smoothly shaved leg.
She gasped as the healing process took hold and Martinez, who’d ignored James command to leave, barked, “What’re you doing to Annie?”
In a wordless response I removed our hands from Annie’s leg and sat silently watching as the fluids leaking from her perforated flesh sped up as if invisible leaches were sucking on the wounds. We could sense the onlookers shuffling forward with shameless curiosity.
Kara squatted and harrumphed. “Does it hurt? It should hurt, Annie. James, you didn’t have to kill that snake. He was probably keeping the rodent population down. They aren’t very common around here.”
Flustered, James snapped back, “You want somebody’s kid to get bit for pest control?”
Martinez gasped as the swelling reduced and the areas where the fangs broke Swindell’s flesh began to creep closed. A general murmur circulated above our head and a twitchy itchy feeling started to form between our shoulder blades as our imaginary time clock ticked away in our head. We rose and waved down at James’ ex-girlfriend before I spoke in a tone clear enough to carry. “She’ll be fine. Let’s head out.”
Kara threw a thin, hairless arm upward for assistance so she wouldn’t flash her goodies in her dress as she rose to stand.
We all started to walk away until Annie’s voice cut the air, strident. “That’s it! I just got bit by a poisonous snake and all you’ve got to say is ‘she’s fine, let’s go’? It’s freaking burning!”
Martinez, we remembered her nickname was Hell, shushed her companion to say, “Look at your shin Annie. It’s healing. I bet that’s why it’s burning. Look.”
Hell changed her focus from her friend’s leg to our face, flinching almost imperceptibly when she noticed our lack of pupils.
Martinez demanded, “What did you do? How’d you do that?”
Silver’s mental resignation was curdling into something sour and sarcastic so I stopped our forward progress and made sure our voice would carry to the other mumbling bystanders. “Some of you are Prana students of Malcolm’s so you know Weavers are developing new talents. This is just another talent. It’s not magical and no we can’t fix everything, especially not without cost. Ask yourselves why and how.”
Our attention wandered to the grass, to notice the way the snake’s discarded, still carcass increased the sepia tone of the ground around it as if it retained a lingering amount of life in death. This compound was akin to a small town so word would spread of this little incident, perhaps even faster than word of mouth since we were what we were after all. Maybe we needed a new colloquialism—we could call it ‘word of mind’.
James swatted our sleeve and we all continued toward the front gate. Our hands weren’t bloody but I stooped to rub them in the dirt then dusted them off on our pants before reluctantly pulling our gloves out of our pocket. We were going to sweat something fierce unless Silver manipulated our circulation to regulate our body temperature. Even that would only help so much. Kara snorted at our method of water-less, soap-less lavation in imitation of her brother.
James shot a tentative smile our direction, saying under his breath, “God made dirt, dirt don’t hurt.”
A mental pull let us know someone was trying to reach us in the Web and by the twitch under our tall male companion’s eye he looked to be being hailed as well. Silver bounded off to see who was pulling our mental chain as we continued to walk.
Out loud I said, “Silver’s got it. They’re probably wondering what’s taking us so long at the gate.”
Silver popped back in seconds. “Change of plan, people. Cora couldn’t stall any more so to give us time they’re walking the authorities to the mudroom.”
We all turned down the next lane between houses without hesitation. Off on the horizon a huge bank of black looking clouds loomed in the north like an anvil waiting to be dropped on our heads. The cooler increased bursts of air came from that direction. All around the front edge of the storm a brownish orange haze marked the debris and soil being lifted into the sky as the cell moved over the loose tilled farmland.
Kara shaded her eyes with a straight palm and groaned. “Great that looks like a freaking haboob and it’s truckin’. Maybe it’ll pass while we’re inside.”
As we got closer to the training facility I bent some light around our eyeballs, trying to manufacture a fake pupil.
James looked back to say something and frowned. “They need to be a bit smaller…you look high or something.”
“You try doing this without a mirror.” We concentrated and flexed our visualization just a smidge. “How about now?”
Kara lengthened her stride to pull ahead and walk backward long enough to say. “Yup, you look completely normal except for the creepy black leather trench coat and gloves. Nope, you don’t look weird at all.”
The entrance was only about twenty five yards ahead so I thought last minute instructions might be a good idea. “Kara, let James and I do the talking. We’ll try to speak for you if we can get away with it. If you have to answer a question keep it simple, no elaboration. Silver…you don’t talk period.”
At the exact same time, Kara said out loud and Silver in our head, “Yes, master.”
James turned on his sister whip fast. “We’re trying to protect you, not imply you’re stupid. Don’t screw this up, Kara-mel.”
She waved a hand airily at her brother and kept walking toward the doors to force James into an about face. “Yeah, yeah I get it. I even appreciate it, but I’m just in a mood. I’m probably fired from Hazards and they’re gonna want somebody to cover for last night’s damages so I doubt they’ll pay me for the last two weeks. I really hate being broke.”
“I told you what you have to do before I’ll release your inheritance, Kara.” James wore an expression that indicated this was an old argument he was sick to death of. His sister didn’t attempt to make a rejoinder, but her face tightened up like an over-inflated balloon, holding something in.
James swung open the door marked as the entrance and we went in first followed by Kara. The benches that surrounded the walls for Weavers to shuck muddy shoes and stow them underneath were totally blocked from sight on one side of the room by a crowd of black uniforms and an assortment of plainclothes officers of the law which we assumed contained local detectives and the FBI agent Gerome mentioned.
Silver started counting as we
drew closer and made the total to be eleven not counting our allies. Cora Harris stood by Malcolm as he shot the breeze with an extremely tense Officer Walters who was still wearing last night’s clothes and looking none the worse for it.
All eyes were on us as we walked over to stand by Malcolm who was dressed in his DPS uniform as if he’d been about to go to work when the police showed up. One of his arms reached out to pull aside the lapel of our duster and read our shirt before hiding a quick appreciative smile.
Cora’s arms crossed over a different color cardigan but she still had the same loops of pearls on today as yesterday and fine hairs were frizzed all along her hairline. The councilwoman’s face was so tight in distaste and impatience it was amazing that she managed to get any words out of her mouth.
“It took you long enough,” she hissed.
Without addressing Cora’s snipe I turned us toward the assembled lawmen and gave a lame half wave. “I understand you gentlemen have some questions for us? I apologize for keeping you waiting.”
Walters cleared his throat. “Why the delay? We’ve been waiting for close to two hours.”
James answered, “We were making our way back to the compound part of that time since our vehicle got left at the hotel. Someone had to bring us back.”
Silver rolled in mental mirth. “Impressive….he’s lying without lying. Your boy is growing on me.”
I stilled our face in an effort not to betray my inner peanut gallery.
One of the plainclothes detectives with gunmetal gray hair and a slight paunch over his dress slacks asked the next question. “Why didn’t we see you come through the front gate then?”
Cora’s sharp voice lashed out. “You were waiting at the main entrance, not the only entrance. They hardly need clearance from the gate to return home.”
There was technically another gate at the opposite side of the compound but it was locked up tight and no one ever used it. None of the men seemed taken with our councilwoman. Her demeanor was going to make this more hostile than we needed it to be.
I decided to move it along and turned to Officer Walters. “Are we in trouble for defending ourselves against that man at the bar?” I made our voice sound small and innocent with just a touch of curiosity. Sometimes being short was an advantage; people assumed youth and helplessness.
His eyes looked tired but he managed a semi-genuine smile. “You did assault a person in front of two police officers. Maybe we can start this over and everyone can introduce themselves?” Walters shifted on his feet and to include the rest of the room.
I extended a gloved hand in his direction which he scrutinized before enveloping it with his larger meaty one. “Hi. I’m Cassandra Rainbow. Some of my friends call me Cass.” We motioned vaguely to the side at the Lees. “These are my friends James and Kara Lee.”
Officer Walter’s ended our handshake gently. “I’m Officer Walters and my partner’s name is Officer Johnson.” His finger pointed at a familiar face from the bar.
The same plainclothes detective with the dark gray hair that had asked about how we got in the compound went next.
“Detective Whisenhunt, LPD.”
The rest of the men went one by one, each raising a hand like they were taking an oath before stating their name but forgoing a handshake. We ended up with too many names to remember but the exercise did take the tension in the room down a few degrees.
The FBI agent went last and his demeanor was the friendliest although that could just be an interrogation tactic. His hair was trimmed so closely to his head the black hair follicles were more of a suggestion than a reality and his dark brown skin hinted at either a Hispanic heritage or an Asian one. Sometimes it was hard to tell just by a person’s skin color or facial features. His family could have been from the Philippines, Mexico or India.
The agent’s name ended the debate as he extended a hand to shake. “Agent Chavarria, Ms. Rainbow, or should I call you Cass? Can I ask what you were doing in the company of a suspected drug dealer?”
He rolled his r’s like a pro so we were betting on a bilingual upbringing. Silver was sorting through all of these observations in our head and I was glad my twin had such an exacting memory because I didn’t. Without a doubt she’d be able to recount every detail later down to the tiniest component.
I settled on our heels and hooked our thumbs in our front pockets. “Cass is fine. Bad break up. Kara was dating him and she got more than she bargained for but couldn’t shake him so we intervened. She’s seen the error of her ways…no more d-bag abusive boyfriends. I didn’t know he was a dealer. That tidbit makes me wish I’d hit him harder.”
James reached over to pull his sister to his side for a hug when Agent Chavarria turned his query to Kara. “Did you ever notice any illegal activity while you were in the company of your ex-boyfriend?”
I answered for Kara. “If you mean was she there while he made drug deals or does she know where he’s got a hidden meth lab, the answer is no. We thought he was just a regular asshole.”
Kara coughed into her hand and pointed a finger our direction. “What she said.”
At the mention of a meth lab Walters jumped in to head off another Chavarria question. “We’ve been cooperating with the FBI for months, assisting in surveillance and then you show up. Now we’ve got a suspect who’s disappeared into thin air…literally. One minute he was being questioned and EMTs were trying to offer first aid then the next he grabbed his head and screamed then poof…he was just gone. I wouldn’t even believe it if we didn’t have it on tape. How do you explain that?”
Outside thunder boomed, reverberating through the mudroom and we visualized the bluish purple lightning that would be zigzagging across the sky outside.
Silver and I both hummed internally with satisfaction at the news of Shiva’s reaction to our burnout. We wanted to ask Walters if he’s smelled any ozone but it would raise too many questions. The amount of pain we’d caused would’ve prevented Shiva Bending of his own volition so he must have had someone on standby.
Cora Harris jumped in like a pit bull lunging on a short leash. “Why are you asking us? You certainly can’t expect any of them to have knowledge of something they weren’t even present to witness. Perhaps you should concentrate on the suspect you lost and quit asking us to do your job.”
The door opened, exposing the dark billowing storm cell and lightning flashed in reality throwing our aunt’s profile into stark relief as she looked around the room frantically then strode forward in our direction. Behind Maggie the entrance remained open as a gust of wind grabbed the door, slamming it against the outside of the building. We felt an insistent mental tug as someone hailed us in the Web. Silver was gone in a nanosecond, trusting me to handle things in her absence.
From outside sirens began to wail.
Chapter Ten: Providence
Maggie was breathing raggedly, her chest heaving, and it took her a panic stricken second to gather herself enough to speak. “The twins are missing.”
James shouted over the sirens, “Why are the alarms going off? Is there a tornado?”
My aunt shook her head up and down then gasped, “About a mile from here a funnel hit ground. It looks to be headed this way.”
She grabbed the arm of our jacket, almost pulling us off balance in her haste to communicate.
Her eyes were wide and terrified. “Melody can’t find the twins. Tell me you can find them, Cass! They were outside playing and she had to take care of a student with a bloody knee and when she looked up again they were just gone. Gerome and I’ve looked everywhere.”
I’d been nervous about confessing our unprotected skin contact with the twins last night but apparently Maggie had already suspected. That was a weight off our chest.
Malcolm raised his voice over the noise. “Gentlemen I suggest we head below ground. Follow me.”
One of the uniformed officers, a young clean cut blond in his twenties looking fresh out of the military, raised a hand. “Can we he
lp people get undercover?” He directed his next words to Maggie. “We can also help search for your children.”
Malcolm answered, “There are only so many places the twins can be around here. Leave that to us. The rest of the compound knows the drill. They’ll start showing up momentarily.” Just to prove the point a flood of people rushed in through the open door with blankets and various keepsakes to head down the stairs toward the subterranean gym area. Malcolm took charge, directing everyone like cars in a traffic snarl.
The pressure in our head increased then stabilized as Silver rushed back. “That was Gerome. Weather service says the storm cell is massive and the tornado is producing winds in excess of a hundred miles an hour. We’ve gotta find Reb and Ray before it hits.”
We reversed Maggie’s hold on our jacket to grab her forearm. “It’s okay, we’ll find them.” I turned our body to face James and Kara. “Let’s go.”
Humans are funny creatures of habit. Even though this was an obvious emergency people were still only coming in the door marked entrance so the exit was clear. We needed to get out of sight before we could pull the twins to us through the Web and the extra juice from the Lees would be a big help. Outside had seemed like a good idea but Silver and I changed our mind mid-stride and headed down the stairs with the masses and then broke off to head in the direction of the women’s locker room. Agent Chavarria was hot on our tail but the pressure of bodies crowding the hall pushed him back into the open area of workout equipment. We weren’t going to have much time before he came to investigate. Maggie stayed at the door to the locker room as James, Kara and I continued inside. I knew my aunt would try to give us the time we needed.
Our gloves didn’t want to come off fast enough as I yanked them across our sweaty palms then stuffed them in our coat pocket.
James held out his hands but looked around the facilities and whistled. “You girls have way nicer digs. How come you get bathroom doors? Your showers even have curtains! I’m sensing a distinct female advantage here.”
VECTOR (The Weaver Series Book 3) Page 16
