PHOENIX (The Weaver Series Book 4)

by Vaun Murphrey

  Tim had a point; he was a day late and a dollar short on cleaning up his act now. In his mid-sixties and aged like a fine wine, to hear him tell it, his potbellied body had settled into the comfortable expectation of the nicotine fix burning slowly by his knee. It seemed cruel to deprive himself of it now. The damage was done.

  James asked, “Do you have anybody in mind, Tim?”

  The grizzled mechanic took a drag from his cigarette, making the embers on the end flare a brilliant orange as the shredded tobacco was consumed. He let the smoke drift past his whiskered upper lip and inhaled it through his nostrils before blowing a cloud in our direction. Tim frowned as his effort to annoy us was confounded by our shields. “Nah, I don’t know of anyone interested. These young’uns just wanna type on their computers and play their video games. Ain’t a one of ‘em interested in getting their hands dirty. I’ve got some classics to mind, and you can’t hook them puppies up to some machine and run diagnostics. You gotta be willing to work it out on your own, ya know?”

  Silver kicked my heel with her toe. I could feel the shockwave as the force was absorbed through my thin film of energy.

  James pulled on my hand and started urging me backward as he said, “We’ll ask around, Tim. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, okay?”

  The other man nodded as he extinguished the burning end of his stubby smoke with calloused fingertips. “You do that. By the way, Cass, my mother keeps coming in my dreams and telling me to warn you about somethin’ or other but I can’t ever understand her. She keeps mumbling like she’s talkin’ through water. A word is coming through that sounds like gnat or nit; that ring any bells?”

  I clenched my jaw and whispered, “Nieta?”

  He grunted and scratched his sternum through his white undershirt. “Yeah that might be it. I hope it means somethin’ to you.” His joints popped loudly as he got up and opened his storm door. “Well, my coffee’s kicked in so I gotta go.” To accentuate the point he lifted a leg to break wind with impressive force, scratched his left butt cheek and let the door slam closed behind him.

  Silver started braying like a donkey and slapping her knees. I walked past my twin, shaking my head at the universe’s sense of humor.

  Chapter Sixteen: Hissy Fit

  The atmosphere in the lobby area of the security building was tense. The cool greens and blonde varnished wood furniture were supposed to induce the opposite. Hell Martinez was standing behind the counter with a hand shoved in the front of her short black hair. A generic gray polo shirt was tucked into her stiff looking tan slacks. Her normally warm copper skin was tinted with the red heat of anger, and she had her lower lip clenched in her white teeth so hard I thought we might see blood in a second. She and her brother Enrique weren’t known for possessing the most level heads in the world, but by the look of it she was containing her cool.

  Hell pointed at James’ closed office door. “He’s in there.”

  I shot her a look of sympathetic apology and followed James with Silver close behind. Hell wasn’t the secretarial type so I wondered how she got stuck on this duty. It didn’t suit her at all, but we all pulled our weight one way or another in Weaver society. Maybe she’d be interested in working with Tim in the garage? Hell was tough and physically fit and she could stick it to Tim, no problem. I made up my mind to ask her on the way out.

  I switched gears when the door opened to reveal a pacing Detective Koenig. His thick skinned hands hitched up the back pockets of his pants every five seconds and the front of his shirt was untucked on one side. His splotchy whiskered cheeks made him look like a person suffering from a severe allergic reaction. Electric gray eyes focused in on us, and I threw back my shoulders in response.

  James maneuvered around the furious lawman in a slow sedate manner as he asked, “How may we help you, Detective?”

  Koenig snatched a manila folder from the edge of the broad desk and slapped it with a smack on the glossy finish. “You can explain the bullshit Chavarria passed off as the truth with my Department Head’s blessing, and why I’m suddenly getting threatened with forced retirement if I don’t shut the hell up! Are you gonna get them to hang me out to dry like Saenz?”

  Saenz was the officer that spoke to the papers—against orders—about our human/Axsian scuffle at the old compound. As far as I knew he’d been reassigned for insubordination, not fired.

  Silver earned a double take from Koenig where she stood at the side of James’ desk. My sister leaned her hip on the desk edge and hooked her foot behind her straight knee. She pretended to pick her nails through her shield for a moment then stared at the detective with serene eyes that had gone liquid amber.

  “Who the hell is this?”

  Silver cracked her lips just enough to speak. “We met last night, honey, but don’t worry yourself about it. People change, blah, blah, blah and so on.” Her fingers danced in the air.

  I leaned against the closed door, crushing the spare coat James had hanging on a hook while eyeing our opposition. Technically his current situation was our fault, in part. This man had lived in a mostly explainable world before he ran afoul of us.

  That didn’t mean I was going to put up with his adult temper tantrum, though. “First of all, no one here bears you any ill will.” He started to yell over me and I got pissed. “Shut your face if you want answers, otherwise Martinez and I will boot your ass off our property with pleasure. I’m sure she’s already had enough of you!”

  A fist banged on the door behind my head, and I heard Hell give a muffled shout, “Just give the word!”

  An overgrown graying eyebrow crept upward onto Koenig’s wrinkled forehead. “I want answers now, not tomorrow or next week, Rainbow!”

  I pushed away from the door and went toe to toe with the bigger man. “Well alrighty then, but you can’t come here acting like Koenig Kong,” I paused to beat my chest for emphasis, “and crap all over my people on your way!”

  Silver snorted to my right, and I heard James growl a warning at her.

  The other eyebrow joined the first and almost crept into Koenig’s steel colored hair. “So?”

  I clasped my palms together, all prim schoolmarm lecturing a misbehaving student. “So, what?”

  He hitched his pants up on his butt again. “SO are you gonna tell me what the Sam Hill is going on or what?”

  James started to laugh and when we both glared at him he smothered his grin with a hand rub over his lips and chin and then gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Would you please have a seat so we can be more civilized about this, Detective Koenig? Cass, you sit too.”

  Silver wove her fingers together then flipped them palm outward to crack multiple joints and stretch her shoulders. “I’m already sitting so do I get points for being ahead of the game, James?”

  “Be quiet, Silver.”

  Koenig frowned at the familiar name that didn’t match my twin’s current face.

  I swallowed the anger and adrenaline pumping through my body, expanding my rib cage with a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah.”

  When I pulled the white leather chair out and plopped into it Koenig stood slapping the bent folder on his thigh and thinking. Eventually he decided to sit but he didn’t look comfortable perched on the edge of the chair as if he were a turkey preparing for flight.

  He ground out, “What’s Chavarria to you people?”

  James steepled his fingers under his chin then took them away from his face to smooth his palms over his desk calendar as he spoke. “Chavarria is an obstacle to work around as he represents certain parts of the government that haven’t determined if we’re a threat or an asset at their disposal.”

  Koenig rolled the folder in both hands, realized what he was doing and set the bowed mess on the front part of James’ desk to teeter with every rotation of the ceiling fan. “Why would the United States Government view you and yours as a threat? What is it about your little community that’s so different from the rest of us?”

  James
’ upper lip twisted in a small self-deprecating smile. “Well, I guess I’ll let Cass and Silver provide a demonstration; seeing is believing after all.” His jade eyes got serious as they locked on mine then Silver’s. “Nothing violent.”

  Silver and I blew simultaneous raspberries before I objected, “We’re not stupid. Give us some credit here.”

  My twin gave a tiny half-bow and rolled one forearm out with a flourish. “After you, Sister.”

  Koenig shifted in his chair to fully face us and barked, “Get on with it!”

  I lowered my lids to concentrate on bending the light around me into the semblance of a shape I knew well. When I opened my eyes James was running his tongue over his front teeth behind closed lips and attempting not to laugh. I realigned my focus on Koenig. He was leaning against the arm of his chair and frowning at the grizzled countenance of our compound mechanic, Tim.

  The detective’s voice held doubt and cynicism. “That’s just some kind of high tech trickery. You could have a gadget planted somewhere in here that projects an image over her body.”

  The ceiling was at least ten feet high and the book case shoved against the wall in the right hand corner was wide enough for me to sit on if I dangled my legs. I gathered the image of where I wanted to be and then bent myself there, Tim-seeming and all.

  From my new vantage point I had a good view of Koenig’s thinning gray hair, James’ perfect part and Silver’s nearly translucent white locks. I cleared my throat and said, “Is this more fantastic? Explain how I got up here,” I paused to teleport myself in a cross-legged position on the desk with my arms thrown out dramatically, “and then presto change-o!” One of my arms smacked Silver’s shielded shoulder and she swatted it down.

  James shoved me between my shoulder blades. “Get your feet off my desk, Cass.”

  I turned my head and winked, which I’m sure looked strange on Tim’s borrowed features. “Whatever, I’m shielded, dude.”

  He pointed at my vacant chair in answer.

  I tore the light field down like an abandoned spider web and hopped to the carpet. Folding a forearm over my middle I gave a short bow to Koenig in an imitation of my sibling’s fake courtly manners earlier. The man’s mouth was hanging open, displaying the metal fillings in his bottom back molars, again. I lifted his chin with a gentle tap of my index finger and he jerked at the unexpected touch, angry that I had taken such a liberty.

  He faced James. “How did she do that? Are you aliens?”

  I sat in my chair, leaning forward with my bony elbows propped on my legs and my hands folded one on top of the other. “I’m not an alien but I can certainly introduce you to one or two. My sister’s boyfriend is wandering around here somewhere. I’m sure Mez would be glad to make your acquaintance.”

  Silver started picking at her nails again. “I doubt it.”

  James threw his upper body against his chair and the whole thing rocked for a moment. “We are most definitely human, just like you but not just like you, Detective. We name ourselves Weavers, and we’ve lived side by side with an unwitting, unharmed populace for centuries on end. The time for our silence and secrecy may be coming to a close though, for multiple reasons. Yes, there is a great big universe out there with other sentient life you haven’t met yet. No, they aren’t bent on world domination and exterminating us to consume our planet’s resources, that I know of. Welcome to the truth, sir.”

  His eyes went pinched as if our news was causing him physical pain. “I don’t suppose you’re all just an insane cult of illusionists or I’m having a stroke?”

  I regarded the middle-aged officer of the law with a small amount of sympathy but my voice came out pitiless. “You aren’t that lucky, Koenig.”

  James shot me a narrowed glare, and I widened my eyes in feigned fear. He turned to Koenig. “Will that satisfy you for now?”

  Calloused fingers picked at his freed shirt and he stood to tuck everything where it belonged with reddened cheeks. “No, I’m not satisfied at all, dammit! What was all that mess in the interrogation room? How and why did that man kill himself? What war was he talking about?”

  I craned my neck. “Sit down, Koenig Kong, and we’ll give you the Cliff Note version.”

  James took over, explaining about Weavers and their split into two factions. He went over it all in concise no nonsense sentences that brooked no interruption. It turns out he was a pretty good storyteller. Silver crossed her arms and attempted to seem bored but I could see her surreptitious eye flicks of interest. The version of the Soul Eater he told was minus the scary title, and he claimed ignorance of how the mechanism of body hopping was accomplished by the Warp Faction leader.

  James finished with, “And that is all I have to offer you at this time. If you will excuse us, we have other things to attend to. Martinez can escort you to your vehicle. Please do not show up again on our doorstep the way you did today. I’m a reasonable man, Detective, but I don’t take kindly to threats or bullying.”

  The idea of such a young person dismissing him with polite words rankled and even more color stole into Koenig’s face and neck. “I’m an officer of the law, Lee, and I’ll go where I see fit in the pursuit of justice. The law is for everyone, not just who Chavarria decides it should apply to. I’ve served with the LPD for twenty years and I was military before that. I earned my place because I don’t give up.”

  I stood, putting my chair between us as a barrier with my back to Silver. “No one here asked you to stop investigating, Detective. James warned you to be civil in a hell of a lot nicer manner than I would have.”

  Silver barked out, “Amen to that, buster!”

  I raised my voice to carry past the closed door. “Hey, Martinez!”

  She was in the office faster than I could close my mouth. One muscular tan arm gripped the doorjamb as Hell leaned in.

  Her brown eyes sparkled at the prospect of removing Koenig bodily from the premises. “Yeah, you ready to kick his butt out?”

  James shook his head. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary. Please escort Detective Koenig to his car?”

  The seasoned lawman snatched his almost forgotten file folder off the front of James’ desk. “I’m not done with any of this. You can bet money I’ll be back, Lee.”

  I smiled, a broad tooth baring snarl. “As long as you’re a gentleman we don’t care if you come back, but if you mistreat any of our people I can guarantee you’ll get to find out what we did to Chavarria that made him pee his pants.”

  He blinked and rolled the bedraggled file into a tube in his fists. “You made him pee his pants, for real? What the hell did you do to him?”

  Silver threw her arms over my shoulders from behind. “Be an asshole and find out first hand.”

  Martinez motioned with a stiff arm at the lobby. “Let’s go, sir.”

  After the door closed with a soft click, James aimed green eyes glowing with worry our way. “I think that could have gone better but all in all we handled it.”

  His desk phone rang and we jumped then shook our heads at one another. James squinted at the caller ID and I moved where I could see the tiny square screen of the sleek black unit around my twin—the call was blocked. He pushed the speakerphone button and we all waited for the unknown person on the other end to speak. No Outsiders were supposed to have James’ direct line.

  The hiss and crackle of blowing wind came through first and then Chavarria said, “I hear you had a visitor. Come meet me for breakfast at the CIS and we’ll talk about it.”

  CIS stood for Cast Iron Skillet and it was a locally owned eatery right off I-27 on the edge of downtown. Malcolm had made us all go there once on a Saturday morning. The place was full of sassy wall plaques like the one over the glass dessert case that read, ‘Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy pie and that’s almost the same thing.’ Waitresses did a graceful dance through packed tables in jewel pocketed jeans, figure baring t-shirts and pointy toed cowboy boots that would never be used to rustle cattle or slide
in a stirrup. The food was good and the atmosphere was smiles and a down-home welcome for every person that came in the door.

  An older gentleman with dusky skin and deep basset hound eyes shined shoes at the front while customers read the local paper in his chair or waited in line to be seated by the hostess and owner, a cute blonde with a genuine smile and crow’s feet that only added to the charm of her round face.

  My mind bent back to the present as James spoke.

  “We already ate but thanks.”

  Chavarria did something to eliminate the sound of the wind. The hum of myriad conversations in the background clued us into the fact that he’d most likely entered the restaurant.

  “Watch me eat then. There is something you should see here that will interest you. Come quickly or they will be gone.”

  The Agent disconnected the call and the buzz of the dead line filled the office. James stabbed at the phone with a stiff index finger and cut the noise.

  Silver spat into the silence, “What an asshole!”

  Chapter Seventeen: Let’s Do Brunch

  Silver and Mez insisted on coming with us to town. Mez just wanted to try new food. I got the feeling he wasn’t as big a fan of Cocoa Puffs as my sibling. Corinne volunteered to hold down the fort and call us if anything came up. We were all shielded so the chances of us coming to harm were fairly slim. When James and I walked out the front door, Mez and Silver were waiting on the sidewalk, holding hands and looking like high school kids playing hooky.

  My twin had changed into an artfully faded black t-shirt with ‘GOT MILK?’ in block letters right across Kara’s small breasts and a purple long sleeve boyfriend sweater over the top. Mez had his foreign features disguised and I wasn’t used to it, so my gaze kept going back up to his altered face. He looked like a darker skinned, young Will Smith and I missed his sharp toothed smile. His black collared button up shirt pulled tight at the shoulder seams every time he moved, and the minimalist nickel-plated belt buckle at his slim waist caught the light with a dulled glint.