Terran Realm Vol 1-6

by Dee, Bonnie

  “Naw. That’s okay. I got it.” Mira tucked the box under her arm and went into the building. She used the restroom then stopped at the vending machines in the lobby to make her breakfast choice. She nuked the only vegetarian item she could find, a bean burrito, and bought a large bottle of orange juice.

  Justin stayed by her side like a well-trained Doberman. His eyes never stopped shifting restlessly, watching every person in the lobby. He escorted her outside, stepping through the doors first so he could check for danger.

  Leaning against the wall of the building, Ian had a burger in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He took a huge bite of the burger, jaws bulging as he chewed. He swallowed it then took a drag on the cigarette.

  “That is truly disgusting,” Mira said, grimacing. “I thought you’d given up smoking?”

  Ian frowned. “How did you know that? I never told you I smoked.” He crumpled up the fast food wrapper and tossed it toward the trash bin.

  When he missed, Justin stooped to pick up the ball and throw it away.

  Mira blushed, caught. “I… When I did your healing, it wasn’t like I read your mind or anything, but random flashes of your thoughts struck me. One thing I could see was that you really wanted a cigarette but had given them up.”

  Ian tucked the cigarette between his lips and bent to pick up the cup of soda sitting on the ground at his feet. He seemed torn between keeping the cigarette in his mouth and sucking on the straw. For a moment, Mira thought he might try to do both at once.

  “What else did you just happen to pick up while you were rummaging around in my head?” Ian’s eyes narrowed. He blew a plume of smoke toward her.

  Mira remembered the barrage of thoughts when she’d entered Ian’s cluttered room. God she’s sexy. I wouldn’t mind a piece of that. I wonder if Haskell will get my money? Hope I didn’t hurt him too bad. I’ve gotta find a better way to make a living. Wonder how much Quinlan makes on the credit cards I bring him? Maybe I should be on that end of the deal? That was a great triple play tonight. Wish I could’ve stuck around for the rest of the game.

  “Nothing much,” Mira said. “I don’t look at peoples’ private thoughts. It’s rude and invasive.”

  “Look, we don’t have time for a cigarette break,” Justin interrupted. “We’ve got to get back on the road.”

  Ian pushed off the wall, tossing his barely smoked cigarette on the ground and grinding it under his heel. “Satisfied?” He raised a brow at Mira.

  She spread her hands. “Hey, it’s your vice. You decide whether you want to give it up.”

  “No. I’ll decide,” Justin said. “I don’t allow smoking in my car. Come on. Let’s go.”

  * * * *

  Ushered back into the vehicle, Ian again felt like a child forced to take a road trip with his parents. Foster was definitely a father figure, authoritative and overbearing. His air of natural command and clear expectation that they would both follow his orders pissed Ian off to no end. However, he didn’t see Mira as a mother. No, most definitely not, unless they had a really weird and unnatural relationship.

  He looked at the back of her head, admiring the thickness of the sheaf of black hair hanging down. She turned to ask Justin a question about a mutual acquaintance and Ian studied her profile. Her cheekbones were prominent and her nose wide above her full lips. God, those lips! He could imagine how pillow-soft they would feel yielding to his.

  Mira pushed a lock of hair impatiently back behind her ear and laughed at Foster’s comment about the mutual friend they were discussing. Her ear was small and close to her head. A gold ring curled around her lobe. Her black eyes sparkled and her teeth flashed against her brown skin when she laughed.

  Ian couldn’t take his eyes off her mobile, expressive face. How had the brainiacs at KOTE ever thought she’d make a good double agent? Her face was utterly guileless, every emotion passing across her features like shadows of clouds rolling over the ground.

  He usually hated people like that, the naïve, the unsophisticated, the foolish, the innocent. They needed to be slapped into awareness of life’s harsh realities just as he had been. They deserved whatever advantage a person like him took of them. Simpletons, easy marks, didn’t earn his pity. But Mira was different. She somehow managed to exude an air of ancient wisdom and a complete understanding of the way the world worked, yet still maintain peaceful composure and a sense of hopefulness. She was unlike anyone he’d ever encountered in his life.

  She glanced at him over her shoulder and smiled.

  Ian smiled back, a quick twist of his lips that he couldn’t suppress.

  Foster looked over at Mira just then and caught the exchange. He gave Ian a hard look before directing his attention to the road.

  Ian stared at the back of the man’s square head and linebacker shoulders. He hated the prick’s self-assured, superior attitude and wanted to goad him into a show of temper in front of Mira. But to push his buttons, he had to know Foster’s weaknesses.

  “So, Captain, what’s your story? Did you grow up burning to save the world or just kind of fall into it like a family business?”

  Foster cast him a glance in the rearview then ignored him.

  Ian tried another angle. “How bad would it be if Brody got hold of this box? Are we talking Armageddon? And why would Destroyers want to wreck the world? They have to live in it too.”

  “Destroyers delight in chaos,” Mira said. “And in the power of possession. When there’s war, famine, disease or cataclysmic events like tsunamis or floods, they feed off the negative energies.”

  “As well as turning a nice profit, I bet,” Ian said. “They sound like my kind of folks.”

  Foster made a sound in his throat, but still didn’t speak.

  This was no fun. Ian wanted to get him riled up. “So then the … Keepers, is it? … are supposed to keep the world and the elements in balance.”

  “Yes,” Mira said.

  “Well, damn! Ya’ll don’t do a very good job at it do you? There’s always some shit going down like you said, earthquakes, floods, drought. Aren’t you supposed to keep that under control?”

  “There are a lot of factors,” Justin said tightly. “Humans do plenty to upset the balances by their own actions. Wars and fighting can start a chain of negative reactions that culminate in natural disasters.”

  “Discord and disharmony are the root causes,” Mira agreed. “And the Destroyers do what they can to foster both. It’s part of my job as a Spirit Keeper to try to influence people and events in a positive way.”

  There was just no way to get these people stirred up. Ian cast around looking for a button to push. “Did you ever consider that your team might not be the right one? Maybe these guys you call Destroyers are in tune with the universe and you’re the ones trying to curb the natural flow of things.”

  Justin snorted. “I know you’re just trying to yank my chain, Black, but for the sake of argument I’ll play. Yeah, you’re right. The Destroyers have their part to play too—otherwise they wouldn’t exist. It takes both positive and negative forces to make a complete circle. Creation and destruction are both necessary. As a Protector, my function is to guard the Elemental Keepers. So that’s what I do.” He paused then added, “And yes, I do happen to believe the Keepers are on the side of good. You have to make a stand against creatures that threaten to destroy innocent lives and annihilate the world.”

  “Truth, justice and the American way. You could be the poster boy for the Marines,” Ian scoffed. “You gung ho types crack me up. Honor, duty, yadda, yadda. It’s all propaganda. The kind of stuff governments spout before they start dropping bombs on the other side.”

  Mira turned to Ian and skewered him with her gentle, demanding eyes once more. “There’s nothing you believe in? Nothing you think is important enough to sacrifice for?”

  “Nope.”

  Foster looked over at Mira, his profile like a granite statue that Ian longed to punch. “Don’t bother. You can’t reach s
omeone like him, even with all your psychic gifts. There’s nothing in there to touch.”

  “He’s right,” Ian agreed glibly. “I’m completely hollow. My head’s so empty you can hear the wind blowing through it.” He clapped his hand on the Protector’s solid shoulder. “On the other hand, Foster here is so full of pompous bullshit there’s no room to squeeze in another cliché.”

  The Protector shrugged Ian’s hand off his shoulder and turned his attention back to driving.

  There was a moment of silence during which Ian settled back into his seat before he started again, “You know, I knew this guy once, a lot like you, and he…”

  “Enough, Ian!” Mira said, quelling him with a look. “I know you’re bored and trying to amuse yourself, but … enough.”

  He shrugged and subsided into the deeply cushioned seat. “Could you put the radio on, please?”

  Without answering, Mira turned it on. The Bee Gee’s How Deep is Your Love oozed through the speakers like maple syrup.

  Ian waited for her to turn the channel, but she sat back in her seat and gazed out her window. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  Mira gave an audible sigh, but reached to tune in another channel. The thumping bass of rap boomed out of the speakers.

  “Thank you!” Ian said.

  A second later, Foster reached over and punched one of the pre-set buttons, returning the lush, flowing melody to the car.

  “I’m not going to listen to that crap for another two hours,” Ian said.

  “Plug your ears.”

  “Aw, come on,” Ian begged. “Mira!”

  “Does it really matter, Justin?” She turned the channel back to rap.

  “Yes.” He punched the button again.

  “Very petty for a super-hero,” Ian said.

  “A compromise?” Mira suggested. She leaned forward again and a moment later the Beatles’ were singing about strawberry fields. “There. Isn’t that better?”

  “Yeah, if you’re, like, fifty,” Ian said. “Turn it back to 50 Cent.” He was enjoying goading them, but suddenly the hair at the nape of his neck prickled and stood up. Something was wrong. Something was coming.

  He turned to look out the rear window. A dark SUV with opaque windows was close on their tail like a big, black shark ready to snap them up in one mindless gulp. “Uh, Captain? You might want to consider an evasive maneuver. There’s a vehicle coming up behind us that doesn’t look too friendly.”

  Ian glanced out the rear window again to see one vehicle turn into two. A second SUV pulled out from behind the first, moving into the passing lane beside them. The trucks were like a pair of relentless hounds chasing a fox.

  Foster suddenly braked and Ian jerked against his seatbelt. He faced forward to see the rear of a third SUV in the windshield. They were trapped on three sides by the moving cavalcade of big vehicles. The Lexus was low-slung, sleek and fast, but hemmed in by the big Suburbans. There was no place to go except off the road.

  “For fuck’s sake, get around them.” Ian leaned forward and thumped the back of Justin’s seat. “There’s an opening.”

  Foster hit the gas, racing toward the small window of opportunity between the truck on the left and the one in front, but the vehicle in front quickly moved over, blocking them back in. The black Suburban in the left lane crept steadily closer to their side. Its tinted windows were ominous and the driver was clearly not going to stop until he’d forced them off the road. The shoulder was a narrow strip of gravel with a guardrail before a deep drop-off.

  The SUV behind them pressed their rear. Foster braked and it nudged their bumper, jolting the Lexus and sending it swaying back and forth before he regained control.

  “Justin, get off!” Mira pointed at an exit ramp coming up.

  The Suburban in front of them braked, trying to block them from reaching the off ramp. The Lexus swerved to miss it. Foster cranked the wheel to the right, shot through gravel on the shoulder of the road, scraped the guardrail with the side panel of the car and made it to the exit ramp. The Lexus flew around the curving strip of asphalt with two trucks on its tail. The lead SUV had missed the exit and was forced to continue down the highway.

  He bore down on the gas all the way around the loop. The tires squealed as the car hugged the curve. Ian felt the drag of gravity pulling him sideways. He looked out the back window. Amazingly, the two Suburbans were still keeping on their tail, but once the Lexus reached the road it should easily outrace the bigger vehicles on the straightaway.

  The road they pulled onto was old, uneven and marred by potholes. The Lexus lurched and bumped over the rough pavement. Ian’s teeth clicked together hard and Mira bounced in her seat as the tires hit the edge of a gap in the pavement.

  “Step on it, Grandpa!” he yelled, kicking the back of Foster’s seat in frustration.

  Coming up ahead was a stop sign, a small cluster of buildings beyond it including a gas station and a few stores. The Lexus flew through the stop sign and past the tiny enclave. A pedestrian stepping off the sidewalk to cross the street, jumped back. Ian glimpsed his shocked face as they shot past.

  Behind them the Suburbans were side by side, tearing up both lanes. Clearly their engines were modified for speed.

  On the far side of the tiny town was nothing but open road. Foster pressed the gas pedal literally to the floor and roared ahead for a couple of miles.

  The two trucks fell behind.

  The road curved suddenly to the left and the Lexus’ tires squealed again as they cornered the sharp curve. On one side of the road was the rise of a small hill, on the other, a steep drop-off to a leafy ravine.

  Ian held his breath as Justin guided the car around the winding downhill curves, faster and faster, first one way then the other. He looked back in time to see one of the SUVs miss a curve, crash through the metal guardrail and go flying down into the ravine. “Jesus!” he shouted.

  The other Suburban didn’t even brake but smoothly pulled in behind the Lexus and continued to give chase. Once more it was gaining on them.

  Time seemed fragmented and disjointed as a dream. Before Ian had a chance to process what happened, the Lexus hit a slick of gravel and mud, a runoff from the side of the hill. It slewed back and forth across the road.

  Justin fought the wheel to keep the car on the road. The rear end fishtailed, scraping along the guardrail then there was the sound of grinding metal as the guardrail gave way.

  Ian felt the car tilt then fall. It seemed to happen in slow motion. He very calmly thought Oh shit! This is not good, as the Lexus rolled down the hill, shaking its occupants like a dog with a chew toy.

  Chapter Five

  Mira woke to a dull throbbing in her head, a much more painful ache in her neck and a hand gripping her shoulder. “Hey. Are you okay?” She wanted to slip back into sleep and the voice was irritating. She tried to lift her hands to swat it away but something was holding them down.

  “She’s conscious,” the too-loud, irritating voice yelled near her ear.

  “Let me get her. Out of my way.” Another voice came from farther away.

  “I’ve got her. Back off,” the first voice snapped.

  Ian. She remembered Ian. Then she remembered everything and her eyes flew open. She was lying sideways, her face and chest full of airbag, her head resting against the door. The vehicle was on its side and Ian was crawling in from the driver’s side door.

  The airbag deflated with a hiss. Ian wrapped his arms around Mira, unfastened her belt then began to drag her from the vehicle. He grunted at the strain of tugging her body up and out. When he’d wrestled her head and arms through the door, Justin stepped in and helped.

  The two men pulled Mira out of the crashed vehicle and laid her on a thick carpet of leaves among the scraggly undergrowth of the woods.

  “Are you all right?” Justin knelt beside her, touching her hairline. When he brought his hand away, she was surprised to see it was bloody.

  She reached her own hand up to he
r temple and felt wetness there.

  Ian squatted by her other side. “Anything feel broken?”

  Mira shook her head then winced. “My neck’s sore but no, nothing broken. Where’s the Suburban?”

  He gestured at the steep embankment. “The one that crashed is back behind us that way. The other is up on the road.”

  Justin looked over his shoulder. “They’re probably climbing down here by now and there might be survivors in the other SUV, too.”

  “The box.” Mira suddenly remembered.

  “In the car.” Ian ripped a strip off the hem of his already torn T-shirt and leaned over to press it against her wound.

  “I’ll get it, then we’d better get moving if you can walk.” Justin pushed off the ground and stood up.

  Mira’s head swam and dark spots floated before her eyes. She was overwhelmed by the car chase and crash and the inexorable pursuit of Brody’s people. “How’d they find us?”

  “Told you that box has a tracking device on it.” Ian helped her sit up, still holding the makeshift bandage to her head. He peered into her eyes and his face seemed really huge.

  Mira blinked and tried to focus. “Then why didn’t they find us at the motel last night?”

  “It’s broken and only works part of the time?”

  Justin climbed out of the ruined Lexus with the box. “Or they figured we’d be heading to San Francisco and assumed we’d take this route. It’s not too hard to find someone on the interstate. We should’ve traveled back roads.”

  Ian slipped his arm around Mira’s back and struggled to help her to her feet.

  She had no strength in her wobbly legs, and her neck hurt like crazy.

  Justin moved in on her other side, slung her arm around his neck and easily lifted her up.

  The two men supported her between them, guiding her stumbling feet over the uneven ground.

  After a few yards, Justin said, “This isn’t going to work. We’re moving too slow. Wait here. I’ll find out where Brody’s men are and take care of them so we aren’t attacked.”

  Mira was relieved when the men eased her back down to the ground. She squeezed her eyes closed against the pounding in her head and breathed deeply in and out to calm her fragmented nerves. “I’ll take the box.”