“Just freakin’ get on the damned floor already.”
He complied, still mentally out of it.
“You should’ve just shot them.” Dorian ran to the kid. “This girl’s short on time.”
Kirsten hurried over, stopping as close as she could get before the pyre became too painfully hot. The acrid fumes made her choke, though fortunately, they collected mostly at the high ceiling. Probably because the child wasn’t tall enough to reach the horizontal bar of the cross, the zealots had wrapped her in thick tow chain, pinning her arms to her sides. The heavy gauge links squeezed tight around her neck and waist, also looped through multiple holes in the steel, trapping her against the I-beam. Due to the brightness of the fire, Kirsten couldn’t see much of the girl below the stomach. She tentatively reached in toward her, but recoiled from the heat.
“Dorian, can you do anything about that fire?”
“Not really… I can make the kid feel colder, but it wouldn’t stop actual burning.”
Pain in Kirsten’s leg grew. She briefly glanced at a grazing wound that had torn a rip in the side of her Division 0 blacks, exposing an inch of bloody skin. “Grr.” She pulled a stimpak out of a belt case and stabbed it into her leg next to the wound.
The girl grunted, struggling to move and straining until the chain around her neck made her gag. “Please let me out of here! The woman in purple has keys. There’s like six padlocks. I don’t wanna die.”
“Animals,” muttered Kirsten. “Who could do something like this to a child?”
“It is a demon cloaked in the visage of innocence,” said one of the men.
The girl’s father and the dead zealot continued attempting to fistfight, but neither seemed capable of doing anything to the other beyond briefly dispersing their forms into fog.
“Do something,” yelled the girl. “Please… If I don’t burn, I’m gonna get poisoned. This stuff is full of chemicals.”
“Foul demon,” said the man. “The fires of hell will take you.”
Kirsten twisted toward him, aiming her E-90 for half a second before shouting, “Will you shut up!”
He glared at her with a mixture of rage and fear, moving his jaw around, but saying nothing.
I can’t get any closer to this kid… that steel is starting to glow red. Damn thing will melt soon. She blinked. Melt!
“Please help me!” The girl coughed as she squirmed side to side, barely able to move.
“Hold still.” Kirsten stepped left and aimed for where the uppermost spot of chain looped around a hole in the steel, angling the laser so she couldn’t hit the child.
“I can’t do anything but hold still!” shouted the girl, sounding more terrified than angry.
Kirsten fired, the laser melting a quarter-inch slice of chain into a spray of molten metal. The loop around the girl’s throat loosened. Kirsten fired at the next point where the chain passed through the beam, then the next, working her way downward. After the third, the girl wriggled an arm loose and pulled the links away from her throat. When Kirsten shot out the fifth loop, the child wriggled free of the unraveling chain, kicked out from the pile of burning junk, and hurried away from the flames. Upon reaching a safe distance, she slouched as if releasing a heavy burden, then fell to all fours, breathing hard. After a moment, she rolled around to sit on the floor and peeled the smoldering remains of sneaker soles from the bottoms of her feet.
Her skin bore compression marks where the chain had dug in, as well as welts from zip ties on her wrists and ankles—though no sign of any plastic remained. Kirsten instinctively went to scoop her up, but the child leaned back, raising her hands.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Shh, it’s okay, sweetie. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“No. It’s not that.” She sniffled. “I’m so hot I’ll burn you. I need to cool down.”
“Oh.” Kirsten exhaled in relief. “I had no idea pyrokinetics could do that… stand in fire and not burn.”
The girl lifted her head, offering a sheepish stare. “Neither did I.”
Her ghostly father walked over. “Please don’t let her go over there behind the boiler. She didn’t watch them shoot me, but she heard it. I don’t want her to see that.”
Kirsten nodded at him.
Twenty seconds later, the girl sprang upright, leapt into a hug, and burst into tears, muttering “They were gonna kill me” over and over. She remained hot to the touch, but not enough to hurt.
“Don’t be deceived,” said Green Shirt while struggling to overpower the psionic compulsion making him hug the floor. “She’s trying to trick you.”
Having a bawling child clinging to her pushed her over the line. Kirsten pointed the E-90 at him. “You go vertical, and you’re going right back down… permanently. Murder of one man, attempted murder of a child, and attempted murder of a police officer. Any other cop would’ve commenced a summary execution on all six of you.”
“Why didn’t you shoot them?” sniveled the girl. “They killed my daddy.”
“Because she’s too damn nice for her own good,” said Dorian, shaking his head. He sighed, then smiled. “But that’s what makes her, her. Just be damn careful, huh? These crazy bastards will stab you the instant that compulsion wears off.”
Kirsten glanced sideways at him, though the girl didn’t react at all to his voice.
Growling, Green Shirt kept trying to push himself upright, but his body refused to obey. “I’d rather be in the kingdom of the Lord than in a world overrun with evil. Take this witchcraft off me, demon!”
Kirsten lowered the E-90. “You haven’t seen a ‘world overrun with evil’ yet. But you’re going to. Attempted murder of a police officer is an automatic asteroid mining prison sentence—when it isn’t summary execution. You belong up there, surrounded by people every bit as fucked in the head as you are.”
“You said a bad word,” whispered the girl.
“Yeah… yeah, I did.” Kirsten backed toward the way in, moving the kid away from her father’s remains. “Can I put you down for a sec?”
“I’m scared.” She squeezed tighter.
“Just a sec, I’ll come right back and you can keep holding me.”
“’Kay.”
Kirsten set the girl down on her feet, then looked at the mute guy. “Take your shirt off.”
The man rolled around on the floor like a simple robot following a basic program. She kept her E-90 trained on the zealots in case one of them picked that moment to break the compulsion holding them on the floor. One by one, she navigated around them, searching them for weapons and kicking their handguns aside. She considered restraining one, but it didn’t seem worth the bother since she only had one pair of binders on her belt. Suggestion would work just as well until her backup arrived.
She grabbed the shirt and backed up to where the child stood shivering. “Here.”
The girl made a face at it, but need overpowered disgust and she pulled it on like a dress before once again clinging to Kirsten’s side.
For the next several minutes, Kirsten relied on Suggestion to keep the surviving zealots down, silent, and stationary. She also used one stimpak to prevent the woman she’d shot from becoming the third new ghost of the day. Eventually, the ground rumbled with the arrival of a heavy vehicle outside.
“Lieutenant Wren?” asked a man in her earbud. “This is Sergeant Corwin with Division 6. Your signal’s a bit fuzzy. Where are we going and what’s the situation?”
“Six suspects, one in need of medical attention, one down.” She guided them into the building and down to the basement over comms. As soon as the armored officers entered and secured the zealots in binders, Kirsten put her weapon away and carried the child upstairs to the former lobby.
Since the weather had become too cold to bring a kid wearing only a T-shirt outside, she summoned her patrol craft closer, and stood in the lobby waiting.
“What’s your name, sweetie?”
“Willow Stephens,” whispered
the girl.
“I’m Kirsten.”
“My daddy’s dead. They shot him again and again.” Willow lapsed into sobbing.
Kirsten picked the girl up and held her. The kid’s hair had soaked up the stink of burning plastic. Her father’s ghost sidled up beside them, attempting to rub his daughter’s back.
The electric whirr of ion engines roared outside. Four orbs of cyan light glowed from the underside of the patrol craft at each corner as the car oriented itself to land beside a massive blue A3V, its six-wheels taller than an average man.
Division 6 officers dragged the zealots upstairs and hauled them out to the waiting transport. The first two started shouting at Kirsten upon seeing her, but the armored officers arranged a few close encounters between their heads and the wall. The remaining zealots settled for smoldering looks of hatred, except for the woman in the purple dress—she went out on a stretcher, still unconscious.
“Where do you want ’em?” asked Sergeant Corwin.
Kirsten turned toward his voice, finding herself eye-to-pectoral with a large set of dark blue armor. “None of the suspects are psionic. An ordinary person attempting to murder a psionic isn’t technically our jurisdiction. This case can go through the normal channels. But… murder of one citizen, attempted murder on a minor child, attempted murder on me…” She peered at the father’s ghost, who remained close to Willow, trying to brush a hand over her hair.
“Surprised you didn’t just deal with it?” asked a big woman in Division 6 armor. “You Zeroes squeamish about that or are you a special case?”
“She’s a special case,” said Dorian, his voice coming mostly out of the Division 6 officers’ helmet speakers.
Corwin glanced around. “Okay, that was weird.”
“Not weird, Dorian… my partner. He’s a ghost.” Kirsten smiled.
“Riiight.” Corwin rubbed his visor, armored fingertips squeaking. “So…”
“Lieutenant Wren, Division 0. Tag me in the inquest record and I’ll crosslink my video feed.” She tapped the rank insignia on her chest, which also contained a holo-recorder. “Should be plenty of evidence that they fired on me. Oh, get an image of my leg. Don’t think Div 2 is going to come check out this crime scene.”
“Not in the grey, they won’t.” He chuckled and took a picture of where a bullet had torn open her uniform.
“All their weapons are dead… can you explain how the power cells in six magazines all failed at the same time?” asked the female trooper.
“I could explain it, but would you want to believe my ghostly partner did that?”
“It’s something to put in the report… seems anything goes with you guys.” Corwin chuckled. “Okay. So these are all norms?”
“Yeah. Their only mystical power is hatred.”
“Right.” Sergeant Corwin nodded. “Got you in the system. All right. We’ll send the paperwork over as soon as we can.”
“Thanks for coming all the way out here.”
“Anytime, Lieutenant.” Corwin gave her a back pat that knocked her forward a step. “Crap. Sorry. Too damn used to people in armor.”
“Ow…” Kirsten rolled her shoulder. “It’s… okay. Anything that doesn’t require a stimpak is no big deal.”
She followed the Division 6 people out and headed over to the patrol craft, easing Willow into the back seat before taking a standard grey police-issue blanket from the trunk and hopping in. The girl wrapped herself in it, and resumed crying. Her father’s ghost blurred into the car and appeared in the seat beside her.
“What’s gonna happen to me, now? My mom is gone.”
“Gone?” asked Kirsten.
“Martina, umm… left us.” The ghost sighed. “I never told her I had gifts, and when Willow’s power manifested, she didn’t handle it well. When she found out I was psionic, too… she left that night. Didn’t even take much of her stuff, she wanted out so bad.”
Kirsten let out a slow, sad sigh. “All right. I’ll need to get everything into the system on our side, meaning Division 0. What’s your name, and what happened here?”
“Darren Stephens,” said the ghost. “I was at work and got a call from Willow’s NetMini, only that bitch in the purple dress was on the other end. They had my daughter and pretended to be dosers demanding a small ransom. When I got here, they brought me into a room where they had Willow, but they weren’t dosers at all.”
“I know… I’ve run into these idiots before.” Kirsten scowled.
“Huh?” asked Willow, sniffling.
Kirsten’s heart thudded in her chest. “Honey, your father is right here with us. I’m an astral sensitive.”
“Daddy?” Willow looked around. “Why did they do that to us? What did we do?”
“Nothing.” Kirsten squeezed her hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Those people are insane.”
“Tell her I’m sorry. I should’ve enrolled her at the school you people kept pestering me about. I… didn’t really trust it. Those morons never would’ve been able to abduct her from a school run by the police.”
Kirsten nodded. “It’s all right. You’re not the only one who distrusts the government.”
“Anyone with a functioning capacity for critical thought should distrust the government.” Dorian tapped himself on the head. “Always question authority. Sometimes they’re right, but we shouldn’t follow them purely because they’re ‘in charge.’”
“I’d rather that than put Willow through being an orphan.” Darren sighed. “Don’t bother trying to contact my ex-wife. She won’t want anything to do with her.”
“Understood. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened next? How is it you wound up being shot?”
Willow collapsed into tears again.
Her father attempted—unsuccessfully—to hug her. “I tried to fight. I’m… umm. Well, was… I had Mind Blast. Read enough about it on the net to understand you guys are kinda shitty to people with it.”
“Some of us are.” Kirsten wagged her eyebrows. “Ask me how I know.”
Darren blinked. “You?”
“Yeah, but not that strong, only a grade two.” She smirked mentally at herself. Though, after my Princess Xiana escape from Konstantin’s mansion, I might rate a three now.
“Those crazy fuckers knew what Mind Blast was, too. I let that bitch in the purple dress have it… and out came the guns. Don’t see why people are so freaked out about that power, it just leaves someone loopy for a little while. It can’t even kill anyone.”
Kirsten cringed. “Not in a biological sense, but it can totally destroy someone’s mind, leave them a vegetable. Or erase an entire personality. That’s why people are afraid of it.” She glanced down at her armband terminal. “So, they kidnapped Willow to lure you in, then planned to kill you both.”
“Yes.” Darren hung his head, breaking up into tears at his continued inability to touch his daughter’s hand.
“What’s going to happen to me?” Willow shivered. “I can’t go home, can I?”
Kirsten lightly shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t let you go live alone, not at… ten?”
“I’m nine… birthday last month.”
Kirsten struggled to keep her voice from cracking with emotion. “You’ll be safe at the dorms with other kids like you… psionic. I grew up there, too.”
Her eyes welled up again. “I don’t wanna lose my Daddy.”
“Tell her I’ll stay with her,” said Darren. “I can do that, right? Or am I going to be sent somewhere now that she’s safe?”
Kirsten pulled the blanket-wrapped girl into her lap, holding her as she wept. “There is a place that spirits can go, but as far as I understand, it’s a choice. You aren’t forced to leave. If you want to, umm, ‘haunt’ her, you can. Dorian can help you out with ways to communicate.”
“What about my cat?” asked Willow.
“Your cat can absolutely stay with you at the dorm.” Kirsten smiled.
“Really?” The girl’s mood brigh
tened.
“Yep. And someone will take you back to your home so you can gather whatever things you want to keep.”
Willow wiped her eyes. “Did you have a cat when you lived in the dorms?”
“No… I was the cat. Spent most of my time hiding under the bed at first.”
“Really?” Willow grinned. “What were you scared of if you said it’s nice there?”
“Adults. The grown-ups I’d been around had not been nice to me at all. It took me a while to understand I could trust the people at the dorms.”
“Is my dad still here?”
“I’m right next to you, hon,” said Darren.
Kirsten nodded, snugging the blanket around the girl. “Yes. He’s sitting beside you. Now… we should really get out of this sector. Are you hurt? Did those people do anything to you?”
“Only kidnapped me and tried to burn me.” Willow shivered. “And they ruined my favorite shirt.” Tears started again. “Dad just gave it to me for my birthday.”
“We’ll get you a new one, okay?”
She looked down. “I’d rather have my father back.”
Kirsten closed her eyes, trying to keep herself from crying as well. “I know exactly how you feel. I miss mine, too.”
14
Near Death Experience
Evan’s astral body hurtled toward the plastisteel sky.
He cringed involuntarily at the moment of impact, though the lower surface of the city plate had no more solidity to him than a thick cobweb. The interior blurred by in the span of an eye blink, and he emerged in the middle of a large room full of people.
The glowing violet logo for Digital Creations Unlimited on the wall behind a reception desk suggested he’d found his way into a corporate lobby. Men and women in nice clothing walked by, some crashing into him—not that they noticed. Evan dodged the crowd and flew out the doors to the sidewalk, climbing higher to skim over the stream of pedestrians.
A few dogs barked, dragging their bewildered owners along in their effort to chase him.
Evan looked around at the cars, buildings, and traffic overhead, not recognizing the area. He peered straight up and ascended past the tops of the office towers. Hovering about 1,500 feet off the ground, he spun in place until locating the rather obvious Police Administrative Center in the distance.
Harbinger Page 15
