Terran Realm Vol 1-6

by Dee, Bonnie

  Brody hesitated. “I’d prefer if those in service to me gave their loyalty freely … as I thought you had done, Ms. Greenwood.”

  “With respect, sir,” Justin said, “you coerced me into working for you by kidnapping Trina. I promise I have come around to your way of thinking and I am ready to work for you of my own free will. Let us walk out of here today and both Trina and I will continue to support you without any external control.”

  Brody blew out a long sigh. “Now why do I have trouble believing that? I’m sorry, Mr. Brody, but I’m going to settle this permanently.” He glanced at his watch. “And quickly. My press conference is less than an hour away.”

  While Brody closed his eyes in concentration, Rivera sat at the computer keyboard and moved the cursor around, selecting commands. “Which target would you like me to select, sir?”

  Brody sighed again. “Oh hell. Make it Foster.”

  Trina sucked in a breath. “Please, don’t hurt him, Mr. Brody. I’ll stay with you. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  Brody opened his eyes and looked at her with something close to sorrow in his eyes. “You were just waiting for a chance to escape weren’t you? All the conversations we had were your way of manipulating me. I see that now. You didn’t mean a word you said.” He shook his head. “Ah, Trina. I thought you were something special for a human, but you’re like all the rest, conniving, lying, untrustworthy and so very primitive in your thinking. I’m not going to hurt your guardian, just teach him to heel.”

  He closed his eyes again. The room was silent as everyone waited for something to happen. Over at the computer terminal, Dr. Rivera’s hands flew over the keyboard and on the monitor jagged peaks and valleys representing Brody’s brain waves were displayed. Enlarging, pointing and clicking, Rivera isolated a single thought then began the process of splicing it into Justin’s brain pattern. “Um, sir, something’s wrong here,” he said after several long moments. “It’s not working. I’m getting an error message when I try to interface.”

  “What?” Brody’s eyes opened and he turned to face Rivera.

  “Computers. Don’t they just drive you crazy?” Justin broke his arms free from Murav’s grip, spun around and head butted the other man with his forehead. Almost simultaneously, Elyse turned on her guard, swept her leg around and knocked him into the wall.

  Trina gasped at the sudden attacks. Instinctively, she pressed back against the wall, out of the way of the action. It was all so fast and so different from watching an action sequence in a movie. Everything seemed to happen at once: Brody lunging up from his chair, Rivera letting out a scream and cowering against the desk, Elyse and Justin fighting the two guards.

  Although she knew Justin was a Protector with super strength and amazing fighting skills, Trina had never had a reason to see those qualities in action before. Justin was astonishing. He went Jet Li on the bad guys’ asses, flying through the air, kicking, hitting and whirling out of range of their equally powerful Terran strength.

  “Get her out!” he roared at Elyse as he grabbed Murav by the neck and drove his head into the wall, cracking the plaster.

  It took Trina a second to realize he meant her, then Elyse had her by the arm and was hauling her out of the room. “Come on!”

  Chapter Twelve

  Events hadn’t played out as Elyse had hoped, but they might just squeak through anyway. She spared a glance at Brody, who was on his communicator calling for backup. She snatched up the headgear that he had tossed aside. Grabbing Trina, she pulled the girl along with her as she raced from the room.

  “Hurry. If more security arrives, we’re screwed.” She hustled Trina along the corridor toward Jhoti’s office. A few curious faces appeared in office doorways, but no one stopped or questioned her.

  Elyse dragged Trina into Jhoti’s office and closed the door. The scientist was still on the floor where they’d left him, tied up and gagged. His eyes were round and frantic and he babbled a muffled stream of words into his gag.

  Crouching by him, Elyse pulled off the gag. “Cry out and you’re dead. Foster might have some kind of scruples about killing you, but I don’t. Got it?”

  Jhoti nodded, his gaze flicking back and forth between Elyse and Trina. “What happened? Did it work?”

  She nodded. “You disabled the program. It’s back to monitoring only. Now I’m going to make you an offer you really can’t refuse if you want to live. If you stay here, Brody will use you to fix the program—then he’ll kill you for crossing him to begin with. I’m giving you the opportunity to go with us. I’ll get you out safely and cut you loose rather than turning you in to KOTE. You’re not going to get a better deal than that.”

  Jhoti nodded quickly. “Okay. All right. But how?”

  Elyse hauled him up to his feet and began untying him. “Right out the front door. If we can get to the retreat guests and the media arriving for the press conference, we’re untouchable. They can’t make a scene in front of witnesses.”

  “Hurry,” Trina urged from over near the door. “I hear footsteps and voices out there. I think reinforcements are here. Oh God, how is Justin going to get out?”

  “Don’t worry about him, sweetcakes,” Elyse said with more confidence than she felt. “He can take ’em all on and walk away unscratched.” Fuck, Justin, how are we going to get out of here?

  Wrapping the headgear around her neck for easy carrying, Elyse moved to the door next to Trina, opened it a crack and peeked out. A door-to-door search of the offices was going on and the security guys were working their way closer. She closed the door and looked around the small room. There was no other exit and no place to hide. There was no access to ductwork and the ceiling panels would never hold their weight.

  “The window,” Trina said. “Maybe we can go out that way.”

  Elyse dashed to the window and looked out. They were only two stories up, possible for her to jump that far without breaking a limb but probably not for the humans. “Okay. Jhoti, you’re going to walk out of here, straight downstairs to the parking lot and your car. Bring it around to the side and pick us up. Remember, if you think you can earn your way back into Brody’s good graces by turning us in, you can’t. He’ll use you and then kill you. If you try to drive off without us, I’ll make sure KOTE hunts you down the rest of your life rather than giving you immunity.”

  It was a huge gamble, but Elyse didn’t see any other way. She couldn’t take both of them out the window with her and still land on her feet.

  Jhoti nodded again. His eyes were huge and round and he looked about ready to piss his pants.

  “Stop looking so suspicious. Just walk on through as quickly as you can without being obvious about it. Now go!”

  As the scientist slipped out the door, Elyse went to the window, opened it wide and pulled the screen out of the frame. Climbing into the opening, she reached a hand out for Trina. “Wrap your arms around me and hold on tight. We’re going down together. I’ll hit the ground first so you should be okay.”

  Trina hesitated.

  “Trust me?”

  “No. Not really.” The girl moved closer and slipped her arms around Elyse’s neck. She was as small and light as a little bird. “I fucking hate this idea, you know.”

  “Yeah, me, too.” Elyse grabbed Trina’s waist and held her tightly. She took a deep breath, counted to three and pushed off from the window frame.

  Air surrounded them and gravity seized them.

  * * * *

  Justin could handle two. He’d pretty much knocked Murav out of the fight by driving his head into the wall. The man was groggy and stumbling around. The other guard was quick and slippery, making it hard to get in a good solid punch, but Justin finally pinned him to the wall with an arm across his throat and kneed him in the groin a couple of times. Yeah, two was possible, especially since Brody stayed out of the fight, yelling but not getting physically involved.

  But when the door burst open and a couple more beefy guys crowded into the room, Jus
tin knew he was in trouble. He was boxed in and his ass was going to be soundly kicked if he didn’t get out of here.

  As he gave his opponent a last hard jab to the guts and turned to face the newcomers, Justin wondered how Elyse and Trina were faring. The most important thing was for them to get out of the building safely. Elyse carried not only the headgear for operating the program but a memory chip containing the entire design. They’d forced Jhoti to disable the control aspect of the program, leaving the tracking network intact for fear of frying peoples’ brains. Justin had then strong-armed the man into giving them all the research and blueprints. After tying Jhoti up, they’d been figuring out a way to steal the headgear in case the program wasn’t really disabled, when Brody intercepted them in the hall. Not the way they’d intended to get into the room, but it worked.

  Now, to get out again.

  Justin didn’t wait for the two guards to attack him. He rushed them, head down, plowing into one man with his shoulder and knocking him back into his partner. The pair went down like bowling pins. Justin leaped over their sprawled bodies, stopping just long enough to kick each of them in the head, leaving them stunned, and dove out the open door. Behind him, Brody howled, “Get him!”

  Justin felt better than he had in a long time. He was in his element, doing what he did best—fighting. And the fun wasn’t over yet. Men raced toward him from both directions once he hit the corridor. Before he made it several yards, he was tackled from behind. He hit the ground, sprawling under a heavy body.

  Twisting around, he faced his attacker. The man crouched over him had a taser in his fist. Justin grabbed the wrist holding the device inches away from his chest. Grunting with the effort, he flung the man off him and scrambled to his feet, but before he was upright, another pair of guards were on him. One grabbed his arms and the other plowed a fist into his face. The man’s knuckles drove into his cheekbone and Justin’s head snapped back.

  Using the man pinning his arms as a support, Justin lifted his legs up and drove both feet into the other guard’s chest, kicking him backward. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, he braced them and snapped his neck, driving the back of his head into his enemy’s face. The man yelled and let go of Justin’s arms to bring his hands to his broken nose.

  Justin made it out of the corridor into the open area by the reception desk. The door leading out of the restricted area wasn’t too far away. But a posse of guards barred his way. He’d have to fight his way through several men to make it to the door. Luckily, none of them had a gun. Gunshots in a retreat center would hardly instill confidence in the guests.

  Brody was in the hall behind him, screaming curses and orders. “Stop him! And find the girl!”

  The men ran toward Justin like an offensive line rushing the quarterback. There was nothing for him to do but try to ram past them. He barreled into bodies and began battering away, landing and receiving punches. He grabbed a three-hole paper punch from a desk and bashed it into someone’s head. The electric sting of a taser zapped his arm, numbing it.

  Justin was pummeled and hammered but managed to pull away from their grasping hands. The warm taste of blood filled his mouth and filled one eye, blinding him. He blinked it clear, focused on the door and with the all his strength, beat back his attackers and lunged for it. Gripping the knob, he tore the door open and stumbled out into the administrative office area. The guard, Carl, was no longer at his post, having joined the others, and Justin’s way was clear.

  He slammed the door shut behind him and searched in vain for something to block it with. Someone on the other side tried to open the door, pushing hard against it. Justin gave up trying to hold them back and ran for the elevator.

  He fumbled deep in his pocket for the tiny teargas grenade he’d hidden there. He hadn’t dared enter the Wellbeing Center with a weapon, but the small device was easily concealed and he’d thought it might come in useful in an attempt to free Trina. Damn, he hoped that Elyse had gotten her out of the building.

  The elevator was between floors so Justin raced for the stairs instead. Glancing back, he saw the security guards were close behind him. He bolted through the door to the stairwell, slamming it against the wall and threw the gas capsule behind him. When it hit the floor, it would detonate, emitting a cloud of noxious fumes to slow down his pursuers.

  Justin flew down the stairs, several at a time, practically leaping from landing to landing. In seconds, he was on the first floor and running toward the front of the building. Once he reached the area where retreat guests were gathered, it would be hard for Brody’s people to detain him without making a scene.

  He hadn’t counted on what a sight his bloodied face made. As he rounded a corner to the reception area by the auditorium, people turned toward him. There were shocked gasps and murmurs, wide eyes and whispered comments.

  “Fell down the stairs,” he announced loudly. He strode through the crowd that parted before him like he was a wounded tiger.

  “I’ll call 911,” someone called out.

  “I’ll be okay, thanks. Just a bump.” He glanced over his shoulder. A couple of Brody’s guys were across the room, glaring and rubbing their reddened eyes. But Justin was almost to the door, arriving just as a CNN news team approached.

  The crowd’s focus shifted from him to the news media, which included an anchor everyone recognized. Justin bumped past a guy carrying video equipment, then he was home free in the glass-enclosed foyer with the exit ahead of him.

  He strode toward the main entrance and pushed through the door.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Shut the fuck up, Jhoti, or I’ll put you in the trunk!” Elyse yelled as she sat drumming her hands on the steering wheel. “We’re not leaving without him.”

  Her shoulder hurt like a bitch where she’d landed on it and she might have broken a rib or two from acting as a cushion for Trina’s body. She and the girl had hit the ground with a thud. Elyse didn’t land like a cat as she would have on her own. But after a second of sucking in air and cursing through the pain, she’d stood up and pulled Trina to her feet. The girl gasped for the breath that had been knocked out of her.

  “Shake it off, baby. We’ve got to run,” Elyse said.

  Skipping two flights of stairs, they’d reached the outdoors long before Jhoti did, which was great because Elyse didn’t really trust him not to drive off without them. They intercepted the man as he came out a side door to the employees’ parking lot.

  “Give me your keys,” she demanded.

  Not knowing which door Justin might emerge from, Elyse cruised slowly around the building once, then twice, waiting for him. Jhoti started yapping about getting away before Brody sent someone after them, and she resisted the urge to punch him unconscious.

  On the second circuit, a CNN news van was pulling up in front of the Center. Elyse stopped the car for a moment. She was in an agony of indecision, sensing Justin would head for the front of the building, but not sure of it. What if she were wrong, and while she waited here he’d already emerged from another exit and run off into the countryside. His prime directive had been to get Trina safely out. He wouldn’t want Elyse to wait for him. Yet she couldn’t stand the thought of leaving him behind.

  “Come on. Come on,” she muttered under her breath, tapping the wheel and watching the camera crew unload equipment.

  “Oh shit! There they are,” Jhoti said, pointing behind them.

  A black Explorer emerged from around the corner of the building. The windows were tinted dark, giving it the ominous menace of a blank-eyed shark.

  Elyse’s gaze ping-ponged between the approaching vehicle and the front of the building. “Fuck it.” She took her foot off the brake and rolled forward.

  “No, Elyse! You can’t leave Justin.” Trina in the backseat leaned forward and smacked her shoulder. “Wait just a few more minutes.”

  “Shut up. I’m not leaving anybody.” Elyse pulled up right behind the CNN van then turned to face Trina. “Give m
e the camera. Quick.”

  The girl’s face registered understanding. She quickly peeled the micro-cam off her shirt and handed it to Elyse. “Hope it still works.”

  Elyse had never seen a camera like it, but was more or less technologically savvy and quickly figured out how to attach it to her cell phone and upload the footage. Once she was sure the picture was clear, she got out of the car. “Sit tight,” she told the others. “They’re not going to attack us in front of the media.”

  Elyse approached the last CNN crew member heading into the building. “Hey! I’ve got something you’re gonna want to see.”

  At the same moment the straggling techie turned toward her, Justin burst through the door. Elyse’s heart soared. “You made it!” she called.

  Justin trotted toward them. “Barely. Is Trina all right?”

  “Yeah, she’s in the car.” Elyse gestured to it then turned her attention back to the CNN guy, who stared at Justin’s bloody face. “Listen, you want your big break? I got it right here. This is raw footage of Raymond Brody in a very unflattering light. It’s going to blow his ministry out of the water and make whoever breaks the news famous. You want?”

  The CNN guy looked skeptically at Elyse’s cell phone, then at Justin’s damaged face, and nodded, accepting that they might have something newsworthy. “How much?”

  “Free. Just make sure it gets on the air pronto. This is some juicy stuff.”

  Elyse handed off the phone then turned to Justin. “You look terrible. Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” he said tersely, already heading for the car.

  She pointed out the Explorer idling near the corner of the building. “We’re not free yet. Gonna have to make a run for it.”

  Justin automatically headed for the driver’s side of Jhoti’s Jag, which pissed Elyse off a little, but there was no time to argue so she climbed into the back with Trina. Putting the car in gear, Justin pulled away from the curb with a roar of the engine. He drove like a bat out of hell down the drive toward the gate. The blind-eyed Explorer roared up behind them.