Invisibility Cloak

  “Understandable, ma’am. So where’s Ry?”

  Amanda shook her head. “I don’t know. I was waiting for him to come out.” Remembering the girls in the back seat, she raised up her index finger. “Oh! Detective Coolman, I have some little girls in the back whose parents I’m sure are frantic wondering where they are.”

  The Harbor Falls detective looked at her quizzically until Sammie hopped over her lap and explained everything that transpired that day.

  After listening patiently, Detective Coolman got out of his car and shepherded all of the girls from the backseat into his police-issued car. “Thank you, Ms. Harris. I’ll take the girls back to the station now.” After calling dispatch and telling them everything, Detective Coolman looked over at Amanda and her two kids sitting in Ryder’s Jeep. “I’m taking these girls in. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay, Detective,” Amanda promised before he drove away.

  Moments later, a black SUV sped up to a side door and a big goon pushed Ryder inside the dark vehicle. His hands were bound behind him and he dragged his left leg behind him like he was hurt.

  Ryder! Oh no, they got him.

  “Fubar!” Amanda squeaked out-loud.

  “Mom?” Sammie and Nickel said at the same time before they almost got their heads yanked off when Amanda slammed her foot on the gas pedal.

  “Nick, call the Harbor Falls Police. Ask for Detective Coolman.” She followed the SUV down Highway 9 Interstate. Amanda hung behind so she didn’t attract attention, which was hard to do because the road was empty except for two other cars; the black SUV carrying Ryder and a light blue truck.

  “Here, Mom.” Nick thrust his cell phone in her hand.

  “Ms. Harris, just what―” Detective Coolman hollered over the line, but she cut him off.

  “They took off with Ryder.” Amanda gave him the details and location and clicked off her phone. Detective Coolman told her in an irritated voice to go home and he’d get Ryder, but she knew he’d be too late. The ancient powder blue Ford truck was barely going forty miles an hour, in front of her, but she was okay with that because she had to think about how she was going to rescue Ryder.

  Fubar she hissed again. She had to do something to stop that car. But what? The scenery was totally flat out here and the only curvature in the landscaping was the Potrillo Mountains out to the north. Running along the left side of the car, the US-Mexican fence line followed the eerie, lonely terrain. She tried to stay inconspicuous behind the old Ford truck but the SUV took a left into a small station out in the middle of nowhere. She drove on by because it would’ve been way too obvious if she pulled in after them. After driving a few miles, she circled back and found herself in front of a small white aluminum house. A huge water tower lingered a mile to the east of the building and she glanced over at her son.

  “Honey, hop over to the driver’s seat and drive Sammie back to Harbor Falls.”

  “Mom.” Nick lowered his eyebrows. “There is no way I’m going to drop you off and drive away.”

  “Nick.” Amanda leaned over the dashboard. “Please. How about you give me fifteen minutes to check things out?” She smiled at her son. “I promise. I’ll call you in fifteen minutes, okay?”

  “Mom! You aren’t James Bond.”

  “Believe me, I know that, honey. But I have to help Ryder.”

  Nick nodded. “Fifteen minutes, Mom.” He picked up his cell phone and slanted it up toward her. And that was all she needed to walk inside the old building, patting her own cell phone in her back jeans pocket. Nick’s cock-sure expression on his youthful face gave her the confidence she really didn’t have. But she had to find Ryder and save him.

  Whether he liked it or not.

  The older weathered door creaked when she turned the knob to look inside.

  She grimaced. So much for being covert.

  She angled her head around the door, praying that no one heard her, and eyed the interior of the room. It was empty. Oh Thank God. Her eyes darted around nervously as she walked into the large empty space. Nothing here―except worn-out wood floors and white cracked walls, but it branched out to two other smaller rooms. She veered to her left. Same walls and floorboards, but a stained mattress lay on the ground right under a dirty window with three boxes lined up next to it. She could see people moving around outside, so she dropped down on all fours and peeked out the grimy glass.

  Ryder! Sophia had a gun pointed at him. Another large man stood off to the right.

  But Sophia Edgington? She ducked under the window lower and narrowed her eyes. Now, Mimi Carlyle appeared. She ran up and jerked on Sophia’s arm. What is going on? Mimi and Sophia. Huh, she really didn’t care for them that much, but they had a gun on Ryder? He was going to get shot because he wouldn’t go out with Sophia? No, this had to be about something else. Chewing on the side of her mouth, Amanda deduced that it looked like Mimi was trying to get the gun out of Sophia’s hand, but Sophia just pushed her away.

  Focus, Amanda! She had to save Ryder. Okay. So it looked like it was Sophia, Mimi and a bodyguard she had to deal with. She looked frantically around the small room and swiped at the bead of perspiration that glided down her chest.

  Glancing at the boxes, she prayed they had weapons of some sort in them. A nightstand was pushed up against the other wall with a cracked mirror above that. Quickly walking over to the bed, she flipped open the top of the first box. She’d need some heavy artillery if she was going to get out of here with Ryder. Eureka. She found her weapon―actually; it looked more like a miniature machine gun.

  Rifling through the box, she found three different sized guns. The first one looked like a toy. She turned it around and around before setting it on the bed. The second choice looked shorter, more like a pistol. The last was the largest and definitely scarier of the bunch. That’ll do nicely. She bent over to pick it up out of the box and man, it was heavy. No way could she carry this around, so she put it back down.

  So much for that one. Even the smaller machine gun was too heavy, so she grudgingly grabbed the smallest of the three. She’d never fired a gun before.

  I can do this. As soon as she touched the metal gun, it slipped through her fingers and fell back on the bed.

  Ohmygod! Sweat trickled down her forehead and she swiped it off. Cripes, what would have happened if she accidently shot herself? Ryder and her kids were goners―that’s what.

  Get a grip Amanda!

  Puffing out a breath, she tucked the gun into the back of her waistband like she’d seen Ryder do on a few occasions. There were two other boxes still left to explore and she reached for the second one. Stacks of white powder in plastic baggies were lined up neatly on either side. Amanda shook her head; pretty sure that was cocaine. Can’t use that, so she pulled up the lid of the third and last box and her breath caught.

  Prototypes from the Institute of Physics lab!

  A small laser attached to a board covered in deflective coating sat on top of numerous camouflage overlays. Carefully lifting the unfinished microwave model out, she set it on the mattress. Scrunching up her brow, she turned back to the box and dug out as many camouflage cloaks as she could. After setting them on the bare mattress she sat back on her heels to think about what she’d found. Obviously someone raided the Institute of Physics experimentation laboratory and stole some of the invisibility possibilities. But they evidently didn’t know what were the most effective and tested models.

  Well, duh. And Sophia Edgington and Mimi Carlyle were involved. Was Jeffrey as well? She fingered the camouflage covers, absently lost in thought. Picking up the wildly colored overlay with her left hand, her right hand laid passively on those underneath it.

  It was someone who didn’t know about true invisibility, because none of these prototypes went on to become further augmented. Turning the covering
every which way, her right hand rubbed the other material sitting on the soiled mattress, as she concentrated on how to use this camouflage to somehow storm outside and save Ryder. She lowered her head and looked down. Her right thumb and index finger rubbed against the coarse fabric . . . and yet . . . there was nothing there. Amanda’s heart sped up and her right hand forcefully grabbed at the unseen material.

  Eureka! Metamaterials. She bit down on her lip to squash the joy that fluttered through her as she maneuvered the heavy fabric around her body. The metamaterial cloak must have been lying next to the camouflage materials and been unknowingly packed away with them.

  Amanda couldn’t believe how lucky she got! Feeling her hands around to pick up the invisible substance, it astounded her at how heavy the material was, especially since she couldn’t even see it. Winding the invisible heavy mesh cloth around her was a challenge, but this was the only way to get outside without being caught or shot at. She pulled back one shoulder and fumbled to cover one side of her body before she attempted to swing it back around her other arm and side. Goose bumps rose up on her arms when she looked down at her own body and saw nothing.

  Nothing.

  She stood up and slowly walked to the cracked mirror hanging on the wall. Amanda had to be absolutely sure she was transparent. A thrill coursed through her again at the awe of wearing the invisibility cloak. Her arms and legs felt like they were pulling lead and walking through water at the same time as she made her way to check on her appearance.

  Unbelievable. She could see everything like before except she truly was invisible. Amanda shivered at the eeriness that skittered through her body. It was all so surreal.

  She shook her head as she clomped through the tiny room. They’d definitely hear her coming. Thank god she had her brace on because there is no way she’d be able to walk without it. Her left toe would’ve curved under or worse she’d have fallen flat on her face in front of Sophia. Not that Sophia would be able to actually see her fall, of course.

  She rolled her eyes upward. And some savior I’d be then.

  Flinging both arms out as if she was going upstream against a heavy current, Amanda made her way back to the front and only door in the building. Sluggishly she clomped around to the back of the building until she neared the rear, where Ryder was. Turning the corner, Amanda gasped out-loud at what she saw. Kneeling on the ground, Ryder’s arms were bound behind him and his head was lowered.

  Ryder yanked his head up sharply when he heard the soft fluttered inhale. His body vibrated and he pictured Amanda in his head.

  Amanda. God, please let her and the kids be in a safe place. He flung his head back and closed his eyes. But when seconds later he heard―what sounded like―footsteps, his eyes popped back open. Uneven shuffling had him on alert, but when he examined the perimeter there was only Sophia, Mimi and the big dark-haired guard dog beyond them who stared him down with his arms across his chest. Mimi was still softly trying to persuade Sophia to let him go, but it didn’t look like it was working.

  A movement behind Sophia caught his eye. The big guard arched his chest forward and shuffled to the dilapidated outhouse a few feet away. When the guard reached for the semi-automatic gun that was draped over his shoulder, he stopped abruptly looking dazed and he even turned his head frequently to look behind him with his forehead scrunched up.

  Huh. The guy must have to use the john. He eyeballed the big man’s movement until he went inside the building. And then a funny thing happened.

  The guard’s assault rifle floated out through the open wood door. Ryder shook his head to clear it, but narrowed his eyes to look closer at the slim weapon. As soon as the door closed, the narrow muzzle lodged itself into the hardware of the door. Was he injected with some drugs he didn’t know about?

  “Hey!” Sophia grunted and pulled her shoulders up straighter and he pulled his gaze from the slim gun jammed through the door handle on the outhouse back to Edgington.

  “What?” Sophia’s left shoulder turned at an angle, and she frowned. Mimi stared wide-eyed at Sophia as she cried out, “What is going on here?”

  “What are you talking about, Sophia?” Mimi finally asked.

  “No!” Sophia raged until a sound slid through the air. The whiz of a bullet slammed into the dry, brown dirt next to Sophia’s snakeskin loafers.

  Sophia cried out, “Oooh!” and jumped back.

  Amanda. She was here, her tiger-like attitude wrapped around him and her feistiness cloaked him like a blanket. He smiled and then he frowned.

  Damn little hellcat! Didn’t she know she could be killed!

  “Ah?” Ryder cleared his throat. Sophia and Mimi turned to look at him. “Untie me, now.” He spoke in a dark, lethal tone, “Unless you want to be riddled with more bullets and this time they won’t miss your toes or your head.” Ryder tilted his chin up and looked around for any distinguishable sign from Amanda. She was around there somewhere.

  Mimi scampered over. “Ryder you have to help Sophia.” She spoke quietly as she sliced at the rope that bound his wrists.

  “Come again?” He arched an eyebrow up. “I hope you are joking.”

  "Who is here?” Sophia called out from where she stood and waved her gun around until she aimed it firmly at him. “Or I could take you to Alejandro. Dead.”

  “Sophia, drop your weapon my team is already in place.” Ryder rubbed his wrists to restore the feeling back to his hands.

  She raised her eyebrows as she cocked the gun’s trigger. “Oh really? I think you’re bluffing.”

  Another shot sliced through her foot this time and Sophia screamed and threw her hands up in the air. “Okay! Okay!” She leaned forward and placed her gun down in front of her. Blood seeped out from the top of her shoe and she winced with pain.

  “Believe me now?” Ryder picked her gun up and stuffed it in the back of his pants waistband. “Okay let’s go.” He pushed both women around the corner into the white building.

  “Down on your knees. Hands on your head.”

  When Mimi and Sophia protested, “Ryder―”

  He roared, “Now!”

  Both women fell silent and did what he asked.

  He ran into the room that held the boxes and threw open the lids. He picked up the camo blankets and pulled out his knife and shredded a few into thin bindings and quickly bound their wrists and ankles, even stretching one over their mouth so they wouldn’t talk.

  Now he needed to find Amanda. He walked around inside the small building calling out her name a few times. “Amanda?” But when she didn’t answer he figured she must be outside. Double-checking the bindings he put on Sophia and Mimi first before he left them alone, he stalked around the corner to the back of the house. “Amanda?” he whispered harshly before he stopped dead in his tracks. “Ah, shit.”

  “Fubar,” she croaked out before the large guard tightened his arm around her neck.

  “Let her go.” Ryder held both hands up. “If you let her go, I’ll let you run.” He gestured out to the open space behind him. “Run?”

  “No,” he grunted. “Coche.”

  Ryder furrowed his forehead trying to think what that meant.

  “Vroom, vroom,” the man said loudly. “Coche!”

  Car. He wanted a car. Ryder pointed over his shoulder behind him. “Si, coche.”

  The guard dropped his hold around Amanda and pushed her ahead of him. “Las llaves del coche!” Pulling his black brows down, he snapped his fingers out in Ryder’s direction.

  Ryder ground his teeth together. This guy was impatient? Curling his hands into fists, he wanted to break the SOB’s neck, but instead he inclined his head indicating to go around the building.

  Forcing himself to calm down―he’d get the asshole when the time was right.

  As soon as he turned the corner o
f the house, Ryder was knocked to the ground with the wind knocked out of him. What the hell?

  A bullet hissed through the air and he looked up and prayed it didn’t hit Amanda. The big dark-haired guard dog that held her in front of him, dropped to the ground while Amanda was flung out to his left. A red hole blossomed right between his lifeless eyes as he lay sprawled out on the ground.

  “Amanda!” he called out. Pushing off the ground he ran over to her and picked her up, cradling her to his chest. “You’re not hurt are you?”

  “No, I’m fine,” she rasped out. “What happened?”

  Jeremy clasped Ryder on the shoulder. “See? I got here just in time to save your pretty little ass.” Detective Coolman shook his head at Amanda. “I assured you I had this. Is anyone hurt? Do I need to call an ambulance?”

  “No.” She looked over at Ryder. “Oh, maybe you should, but for Ryder, he was limping earlier.”

  “I’m fine, Sophia just grazed my leg.” Ryder grinned. “Good timing, ass-wipe.” He walked over and angled his head down at the ground to the man who seconds ago was calling the shots. “Why’d ya kill him, Jer? We could’ve got some intel out of him.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “I did, men.” General Holmes came around the corner with a sharpshooter rifle.

  Ryder cursed under his breath, what was the damn general doing here? And now?

  “Damn it, General Holmes.” Detective Coolman said, “All due respect, sir.”