by Vicky Savage
“So what are you doing tonight?” he asks, a playful gleam in his eye.
“I’m sorry to say, I still have a million things to do before I leave. In fact, I’d probably better get back soon or I’ll be up all night. Shall we finish our lunch?”
We walk hand-in-hand back to the picnic blanket. The atmosphere between us has palpably changed. We met for a picnic as friends and now we’re dating, with all the wonderful and scary implications that go along with that.
Ryder stretches out and watches me while I finish my sandwich.
“You’re not hungry?” I ask.
“I just want to soak up these last few minutes with you. They’re going to have to last me for a while.”
My cheeks flush under his gaze, and I begin wrapping up the leftovers. We stuff everything back into the brown bag and fold up the blanket together. He takes my hand again as we follow the path back to the main entrance.
“So, I’m told you have a very high illuminosity,” he says as we walk.
“Eleanor needs to quit talking about me.”
“Well, it comes through strongly when you touch me. I feel it now holding your hand, and the kiss, well that was … nuclear fission.”
“I’ve got news for you, it runs both ways.”
“Really? You feel it too?”
“I do, but not with everybody. In fact, not with anybody …but you.” Now.
“I like that.” He squeezes my hand. We pass through the main gate and onto the sidewalk.
“I had a really nice time. I wish I wasn’t leaving tomorrow,” I say.
“At least let me walk you home.”
I hesitate. My plan is to stop by the art studio on my way home and pick up my restored sketch. It’s too much to try to explain to him. “Actually, I have a stop to make before I head home—something to pick up.”
“I don’t mind, if you’d like company.”
I shake my head. “I need to do this by myself, but thanks.”
“All right. Please call me if you can.” His eyes reflect the sadness at parting that I feel inside. I lean in to kiss his cheek and he draws me close. “Stay safe.” His warm breath tickles my ear.
FIFTY-SEVEN
It’s all I can do not to skip down the sidewalk like a child. I’m completely Ryder-stoned and high on the mind-blowing afternoon.
In my distracted state, I almost miss the small side street where the art studio is located. I catch myself just in time and hurry toward the colorful storefront. As I cross a little alley and step onto the sidewalk in front of the store, something jerks me backward, and a cold, hard object snaps around my neck. A dog collar. Panic swells inside me, but my startled scream is muffled by a large gloved hand pressed roughly over my mouth. My attempt to spontaneously shift to the Chateau is futile, as I knew it would be.
I claw at the giant mitt over my mouth, kicking and twisting to get free. A massive arm vises around my shoulders, and I’m violently dragged backward through the alley and into a stand of dense bushes.
My attacker forces me to the ground and pins my arms under his knees. He leans his face close to mine. Instead of the automaton I expect to see, I’m confronted with something barely human. Its lips draw back baring yellow and brown teeth.
“Jaden Beckett?” The voice is deep and growly, the breath noxious. Sunken coal black eyes stare out at me from a mass of wiry black whiskers.
In response, I shriek my lungs out. His meaty gloved fist smashes into my nose. Rockets of pain shoot through my head, and I choke on my own blood.
“Shut up,” he croaks, tugging off one glove. He jams the foul tasting leathery thing into my mouth. Ryder’s face floats across my mind. All I can think is: I don’t want to die. Not now.
My knowledge of self defense screams for me to get out from under him fast, but my efforts to flip on my side and wrench myself free fail miserably. The gargantuan ape man succeeds in keeping me pinned. He’s too large for me to try a headlock with my legs, so I continue to buck and squirm, hoping to free one of my hands and maybe use my illuminosity on him. All I succeed in doing is emptying my pockets of my polycom and lip gloss.
My poly! If I can push the red alarm button someone will come.
Although my arms are pinned, I open my palm and concentrate all my effort on willing the polycom to come to me. It sails into my left hand, but before I can press the button, Ape Man seizes my wrist and wrenches it until it snaps. The pain is agonizing. The phone tumbles to the ground once again.
He ignores the polycom and brutally yanks the TPD bracelet off my mangled limb. Clicking it open, he scans the inside. “Jaden Beckett,” he reads aloud. The satisfaction in his voice curdles my blood. “I knew it was you.” He tosses the bracelet aside.
All awareness of pain vanishes now as I numbly watch him draw a long blade from the sheath at his side. “Shall I carve up your pretty face or just do you the quick way?”
A strange calmness descends on me. So, this is what it’s like to die.
Using both hands, he raises the weapon high. “No time for fun today.”
A streaking flash of yellow fur pounces on Ape Man’s back with a snarling growl. Fierce jaws snap and rip at his neck. The Ape Man grunts, and his blade falls away, clunking to the ground beside me.
My screams for Callie to run are dammed up against the gag in my mouth. The Ape Man clutches at her. He wrestles her from his back and violently hurls her against a tree trunk. She yelps pitifully before her lifeless body thuds to the ground. My heart bursts inward with a fury I’ve never known.
I whip my head to the side, and a roar from deep within me propels the glove from my mouth. Then I turn my wrath on Ape Man “GET OFF,” I bellow.
Remarkably, he’s blown a hundred feet backward. I don’t know if the force came from my throat or my chest, or someplace else, but it worked.
With my limbs now free, I flip onto my stomach and scrabble across the ground groping for his fallen weapon. Ape Man is momentarily stunned, but rapidly recovers and quickly closes the distance between us. He grips my ankle and jerks me back toward him. Rolling onto my back, I raise my palm but realize I’ll be carried along with him if I send him soaring now. Instead, I ram my foot into his face. The heel of my sandal pierces his eye, and blood spurts from the socket, splattering me and gushing down his hairy cheek. He yowls in pain, hands flying to his wound.
I jump to my feet, and scoop up the weapon, bracing for another attack. Ape Man extracts a small knife from the side of his boot and charges me in a half-blind, half-berserk frenzy. I hold my ground as he lunges toward me. Feinting to his blind side, I draw the razor sharp blade across the back of his leg, severing the tendons behind his knee.
He stumbles for one heartbeat, then two, and at last crumples to the ground.
Searching the grass, I spot my polycom. It flies into my good hand, and I manage to press the red emergency button. “Help me, please. Emergency. Emergency. Somebody, help me,” I plead.
Not waiting for a response, I cram the poly back into my pocket and take up the weapon again, preparing for another onslaught. It’s clear, though, that Ape Man isn’t going anywhere. He awkwardly pulls himself up to a sitting position, blood puddling on the ground beneath his leg.
I point the blade menacingly at him. “If you killed my dog, you’ll pay for it.”
His lips draw back in a smarmy sneer. “Go ahead and do it. I’m dead anyway.”
Urick lands at my side with barely a sound. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he says. “What happened to you?”
My dress hangs in shreds and my nose and mouth are oozing blood. I gesture with the blade toward my assailant. Urick’s lupine eyes flare. “Garugian,” he mutters, as if the word tastes like excrement. He assesses my condition. “Are you all right?”
“I think my wrist is broken,” I say, holding my left arm close to my side. “And probably my nose, but other than that, I’m okay.
“I will take care of this filth. Go to the Chateau. Find Narowyn.”
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“No. Callie’s hurt, maybe dead. I’m staying with her.” The weapon falls from my fingers, and I trudge to the tree where Callie lies, dreading what I may find.
Urick uses his polycom to summon his team members. “Roper, bring Nila and come at once.”
I kneel at Callie’s side and lay my hand on her chest, unsure if she’s still breathing, “Callie,” I croak, tears pouring down my cheeks. “Please be okay.” I rest my ear near her heart and believe I pick up a faint beat.
Nila rushes to my side. “Jade, what happened?”
“A Garugian, I guess. Callie needs help.”
She quickly places a call for assistance. “Help is on the way,” she says. “They advised us not to move her. I’ll stay until they come. But you need to have your injuries tended to.”
“After Callie,” I say, using the back of my hand to swipe the blood and tears from my face.
“At least let me take that collar off you.” She reaches for the metal dog collar still locked around my neck. I lift my hair, and she unlatches it from the back and chucks it into the bushes. We sit on the ground on either side of Callie. I stroke her head gently and whisper desperate prayers into the ether. Please let her be okay. Please let her be okay.
Urick and Roper secure the hands of the Garugian, and we watch as they question him. He’s belligerent at first, cursing and spitting, but after a few minutes he calms and seems to be answering questions. Roper takes out his polycom and snaps some photos of the scene. The Ape Man hangs his head, using his greasy long hair as a curtain to hide his face.
“What are they doing?” I ask Nila.
“I don’t know. Maybe trying to get a recorded statement.”
The Garugian vehemently shakes his head and refuses to look up while Roper attempts to record him. After a minute, Roper stows the device back in his jacket. The Garugian holds up his bound hands pleadingly to Urick. I’m shocked when Urick uses his Throkken to slice through the plastic wrist restraints, freeing the man’s hands.
“They’re not letting him go are they?” I ask in disbelief.
“No. You may not want to watch this.” Nila lays her hand on my arm.
But I can’t tear my eyes away as Urick passes his Throkken to the wounded Garugian. The man grips the hilt with both hands and plunges the blade into his own abdomen, making a slicing motion from left to right. His body topples forward onto the ground.
“Oh my god, he killed himself,” I cry. “Why did they let him do it?”
Nila shrugs. “Garugians are wanted dead or alive by IGLE. His own people would have killed him anyway for failing at his mission. It’s their code.”
“What the hell is IGLE?”
“Inter-Galaxy Law Enforcement.”
“Geeze. So they don’t mess with any of the niceties like a trial or anything?”
“Not for their ilk.” She gestures toward the body. “Garugians know the price when they claim the title.”
Two men in white scrubs, carrying a small stretcher appear at the edge of the clearing. The sight of the Garugian stops them dead in their tracks. They glance warily at each other and then continue on toward Nila and me.
“Looks like you’ve had some trouble here,” a man with thinning brown hair and worried eyes says. “Is that a Garugian?”
“Yes,” Nila says. “Did you come about the injured dog?”
“She’s right here.” I get to my feet. “Hurry, please.”
While the men work quickly to strap Callie onto the portable stretcher, I explain what happened to her.
The brown-haired man uses an instrument to scan Callie’s chip for her vital signs. He gently runs his hands along her legs. “Her pulse is weak. She may have a broken bone or two and possibly some internal injuries,” he says. “We’ll take her to the veterinary hospital. Would you like us to call you?”
“Yes. She’s … I’m … we adopted each other. Please save her.”
“We’ll do the best we can, ma’am. Where can we reach you?”
“At the Chateau du Soleil. I’m Jaden Beckett. How do I reach you?”
He pulls a card from his pocket and hands it to me. “Pardon me for saying so, but you look like you could use some medical attention yourself.”
I examine his card. His name is Dr. Milo Lane of the Countryside Veterinary Hospital. “I know. I just wanted to make sure she was taken care of first. Thanks for coming so quickly, Dr. Lane.”
The two men carry Callie from the clearing as Urick joins Nila and me. He replaces the bloody Throkken in its scabbard.
“This is for you.” Urick dangles a metal chain with a disc attached.
“What is it?” I ask, taking it from him.
“ID tag for the pile of dung that tried to kill you. He told us who hired him, but he wouldn’t say it on video.”
“He told you? Who was it?” I ask.
“Director Canto, himself.” Urick’s eyes burn with disgust.
“Oh God, do you believe him?”
“He had no reason to lie. I promised I would let him use my blade if he gave us the name. We’ll deposit the body with IGLE.”
It’s all too much to process. The director hires a Garugian to murder me. The man commits seppuku right in front of me. What next?
My knees wobble precariously. “I think I need some help now.”
Nila grasps my uninjured arm. “Hold on to me,” she says, and Zzzt.
FIFTY-EIGHT
We alight in the middle of Narowyn’s office. She flies to my side. “Good God. What’s happened?”
“Garugian attack,” Nila says.
Narowyn eases me down into one of her chairs. “Are you certain? A Garugian in Arumel City? It’s unheard of.”
“The body’s in an area on the edge of Kistlethorn Park if you want to see it,” Nila says.
“Who’s with it?” Narowyn asks.
“Urick and Roper. They’re waiting for the rest of the team to transport it to IGLE.”
“I’ll see to Jaden’s injuries. You may join your team if you wish. Ask Urick to return as soon as possible, though. I’ll need a full report.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Nila vanishes.
“Can you stand, dear?” Narowyn supports me as I get to my feet. “I’m taking you to the infirmary.” She clamps an arm around my waist and Zzzt.
The infirmary is bright and completely deserted. Narowyn helps me onto an examination table, and lowers the lights. I realize I’m still clinging to the Garugian ID tag Urick gave me.
“Will you put this somewhere safe for me?” I hold it out for her. “Oh, and Callie got in the middle of the fight. She’s at the veterinary hospital. I need to know as soon as Dr. Lane calls.”
Narowyn pales as she removes the tag from my hand. “I’m so terribly sorry about all this, Jaden. I assure you we’ll ferret out who is responsible for hiring this assassin.”
“He already told Urick it was Director Canto.”
She clutches the colorful crystal beads hanging at her breast. “He actually disclosed that the director hired him?”
“Yes. But he refused to say it on video. So after they got all they could from him, Urick lent him his Throkken and the guy gutted himself. We just sat there and watched him do it. I don’t get it. It’s completely crazy.” I close my eyes, trying to blot the image from my memory.
“I know it seems unconscionable, dear. I’m certain it was terribly disturbing, but that is their code. If they fail in a mission, they either take their own life or it is taken for them. His death was a foregone conclusion.” She makes it sound so normal. Like the guy just turned in his resignation.
Narowyn slips on a pair of latex gloves and removes an instrument from a white cabinet in the corner. “This will show us the extent of your injuries.” She grasps the handle and passes it up and down both sides of my injured arm while watching the screen.
“You have a clean fracture of the radius, just here.” She shows me on the screen. The tiny break appears to be just above my wrist.
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“Although, it’s not a complex fracture, it is severe. To treat it, we’ll inject the bone with an osteo-adhesive to stabilize it while it heals. You’ll need to wear a cuff for a week or two. I suggest you wear your TPD on your other wrist. Where is your bracelet, by the way?”
“Oh god, it’s back where I was attacked. Can you ask Urick to find it for me?”
“I’ll get Dr. McDonald to send someone. She has all the devices on her tracking system.”
She lifts my arm gently. “I’m placing your wrist in a brace. It’s quite important that you keep it absolutely still during the procedure. The injections must be precise.”
