Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1)

by William Bernhardt

  “Guess you won’t be needing those grappling hooks. And the girls?”

  “We’ve detected some minor indications. A few of the lucky ones may have survived. I don’t think there will be many.”

  “How long until help arrives?”

  She monitored a police band frequency. “To an island? At least half an hour. Probably more.”

  “And when they investigate…”

  “They’ll discover that a gas main burst. We’re working on that now. Even if they are resourceful enough to scan for traces of explosives, they won’t find any.”

  “Excellent. I’m impressed at how well you’ve dealt with the surprises.”

  “Responding to the unforeseeable is part of every field op.”

  “And you still have much work to do. I’ll leave you to it.”

  “Thank you. I’ll deploy the soldiers for cleanup and acquisition.”

  “We can’t have any more snafus. No ugly gossip seeping out. No mistakes. You must achieve your mission objective.”

  “I plan to do so.”

  “And you understand what that means?”

  “No one left behind.”

  “Precisely.”

  53

  Good Gandhi, she’s an Amazon, Aura thought, as she watched Tank hoist an enormous boulder with her bare hands. She wasn’t sure a crane could do that job. Certainly not so quickly. She tried to assist, but she didn’t kid herself. Her puny little arms weren’t helping much. Tank sweated and strained like she was about to bust a gut. Her muscles rippled. Veins popped out on her neck. But she got the damn boulder up.

  Barbara lay underneath. With her face smashed in.

  Judging just from the remains, it would be difficult to determine whether Barbara had ever had a face, or what it might have looked like. She wouldn’t have recognized the woman at all but for her clothing.

  She averted her eyes. She had never felt anything but contempt for this woman. A complete and utter tool. But she wouldn’t have wished this clownfest on the lady. She wouldn’t wish this on anybody.

  “Let’s keep moving, Tank. There must be more survivors.”

  “Must?”

  Hope. She surveyed the rubble. Flat and dirty. No signs of life.

  “We have to keep looking.”

  “If you say so.”

  “What about over there?” She pointed toward a small raised bump in the surface of the debris. “Something’s under there.”

  “Rubble on rubble.”

  “Could we just look?”

  Tank tucked in her chin. “Okay. Zipping my lip. Forgive me for speaking. I’m just the grunt here. You’re the boss.”

  She’s the boss? When did that happen? Even after she botched the escape?

  She hadn’t meant to boss Tank around. But they had to try everything that might possibly uncover a survivor. And realistically, Tank was the only one who could do it.

  Tank bent over and grabbed an enormous chunk of roof. Her whole body shook with the strain.

  She tried to clear some of the side obstructions. It wasn’t much help, she knew, but at least she was contributing.

  Tank let out an enormous grunt and then all at once, she heaved the roof into the air. It landed ten feet away with a ground-shuddering thud.

  An overturned bathtub was visible where the roof had been. She remembered seeing that tub during the meeting…

  The tub moved.

  She heard muffled sounds beneath.

  “Tank, there’s someone under there.”

  “Already on it.” Tank wrapped both hands under one end of the tub. She let out another ferocious—or frightening—roar and flipped it over onto its side.

  She had hoped to find one Shine huddled underneath.

  She never dreamed there might be five.

  “Oh. My. Gandhi,” Dream said, rolling out of the pack. “I don’t ever want to be that close to any of you ever again.”

  Twinge pushed herself to her feet. Her knees cracked. “I thought we were dead and I’d gone to some overcrowded afterlife. What happened, Aura?”

  “I don’t know. A bomb, I’m guessing, given what Harriet said just before.” She scanned the pile of bodies. “Is Harriet in there somewhere?”

  Mnemo and Gearhead had their arms wrapped tightly around one another. They rolled away, leaving Harriet in their wake. That figured. The smallest of the five had been safely tucked underneath.

  “Are you okay, Harriet?”

  She didn’t speak, but she did eventually move. She coughed a huge quantity of dust out of her mouth. Then her hands started working the air.

  “Did you not hear her?” Dream asked. “Aura asked—”

  She tugged on Dream’s arm. “No, let Harriet work. We may need whatever intel she can intercept.” She helped Gearhead to her feet. “How did you all survive?”

  “Thank Mnemo,” Gearhead said, beaming. “Or blame her, depending upon how you look at it. She had the idea.”

  Mnemo shrugged. “I read somewhere that a bathtub is the safest place to be in a tornado. I thought the same might apply here. I was on the alert after Harriet made her comment about bombs. So as soon as I realized the building was going down, I dragged everyone I could reach to the tub—just before the floor gave out. We fell the distance, flipped over, landed hard. But I think the tub protected us from the crashing girders and concrete.”

  “That fall must’ve hurt.”

  “It did. Something sort of cushioned the blow, though.”

  “You had a pillow in there?”

  “Actually, I think it was Dream’s butt.”

  Dream whirled. “Are you saying my butt is big?”

  “Not big. Pillowy.”

  She cut off Dream’s angry response. “You survived. That’s the main thing.”

  Gearhead nodded. “But about a billion tons of rubble fell on top of us. We couldn’t budge. I thought we’d die from suffocation. Or starvation.”

  “Or excessive proximity to fellow inmates,” Dream added.

  “The important thing is that we made it out. I don’t think anyone else did.” She paused. “Though I think everyone who wasn’t in that meeting wasn’t on the island.”

  “Like they evacuated everyone else?”

  Long pause. “I hope so.”

  “Which would mean someone knew what was coming?”

  “Or the bomber created a diversion to protect the non-targets.”

  “Because we were the only ones they wanted dead?”

  She hesitated. “I don’t know.”

  “If Coutant and her gang are still alive,” Twinge asked, “does that mean they’re going to drag us to another twelve-step meeting somewhere else?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Thank Gandhi. I need some alone time. With no one’s body parts pressing up against me.”

  “No, that’s exactly wrong. We need some togetherness time. Working together.”

  Dream frowned. “Are you starting up again with the—”

  “Do you get that someone just saved your life?” She pointed. “Tank.”

  Tank shook her head. “I just did what Aura told me to do.”

  “And I’m only alive because Tank saved me. And you’re only alive because Mnemo had a brilliant idea. And she’s only alive because Harriet gave you enough warning to crawl to the bathtub. Do you not get it? We’re alive because we all worked together. So maybe we should continue with more of the same.”

  “I think what you’re saying is against the law,” Dream said.

  “I don’t care what party line the government is shoving down our throats. As long as we remain solo acts, people are going to have no trouble pushing us around. But if we work together, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

  “Last time we worked together, we got slammed. And you became a force to be tortured with.”

  “We learn from our mistakes. We’ll do better.”

  “You can’t rewrite the law. Shine is illegal. Who’s gonna let us get away w
ith Shine now?”

  “The question isn’t who’s gonna let us,” she replied. “The question is, who’s gonna stop us.”

  Twinge shouted. “Hey, look at Harriet.”

  She turned. The tiny girl’s hands worked with a frenzy, sculpting invisible sand castles in the air.

  “What is it, sweetie? Have you got something?’

  Her face looked cold, but not in an unfriendly way. In a terrified way. “They’re still coming for us.”

  She held the girl by her arms. “Who is, sweetie? Who’s coming?”

  “The soldiers. The one with the guns and the bombs.”

  “Then we’ve got to hide.”

  “Where?” Twinge asked. “Look around you. It’s all rubble. There’s no building. There’s no nothing.”

  “We have to think of something. Harriet, what—”

  The tiny girl looked up. “Too late. They’re almost here. They’ve been after us all along.”

  “But why?”

  “Because they want you, Aura. But they won’t leave any of us behind.”

  54

  Agent Coal led one flank of soldiers while her XO, Lieutenant Black, brought up the rear. They each had four armed soldiers, which should be more than enough.

  “Surround the perimeter,” she whispered. She resisted the temptation, borne of many years in service, to bark out commands. Unnecessary. They all had transmitters sewn into their ears. “The heat sensors are detecting movement. Make sure no one escapes.”

  The two groups separated. Coal took the front end, but sent Black to the other side of the island to make sure no one escaped.

  The soot and dust in the air, coupled with the darkness, made it difficult to see. Visibility was poor, though not so much that infrared would be of use. But they couldn’t wait for optimal conditions.

  Waving her troops forward, she led the way across the rubble.

  She heard a blip in her right ear.

  Damn. This was no time for chats with the Chief. She had a strict rule. Radio silence during all field operations. Emergency evac was the only exception. She didn’t have an exception for distant but powerful control freaks who like to micromanage their underlings without ever actually contributing anything.

  Her ear blipped again. This wasn’t going away. She should just get it over with.

  She pressed her glasses stem. “Coal here.”

  “Is it done?”

  “We’re commencing cleanup operations.”

  “Cut the double-talk. Are they alive?”

  “Readings indicate there are some survivors, identities unknown. We’re going in.”

  “Coal, we can’t afford to have anyone escape.”

  “I understand.”

  “Because if even one of those Shines escape, it could not only cause problems here. All over the world—”

  “I am fully aware of the ramifications of the operation.” Probably better than you, you pompous ass.

  “And the personal ramifications as well, I hope.”

  She kicked a piece of rubble. “Excuse me? And that would be…?”

  “That would be your ass in a permanent sling if you fail me on this. You’ve had a distinguished career, Coal. You don’t want to end it collecting intelligence data in a remote arctic way station.”

  “No, I do not.”

  “Bear that in mind. Contact me as soon as it’s done. I’ll want photos.”

  “Will do.” Another blip told her the conversation was over. The power freak’s version of “goodbye.” How had that man risen so far without learning to say “Roger, over and out?”

  “Sir. Over here.”

  She squinted, trying to make out which of her identically clad soldiers spoke. “Found something?” She pulled out her weapon and leveled it.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Hostile?”

  “Bathtub.”

  She lowered her weapon. “Excuse me?”

  “Found it in the rubble. It’s still intact.”

  She pursed her lips. That reinforced porcelain might provide sufficient cover to allow someone to survive the blast, assuming they had a little advance warning and were smart enough to take cover…

  “Knock it over.”

  The soldier in question attempted to overturn it with his foot. Without success.

  “Won’t budge. It’s buried in there.”

  She gestured to the other three. “Help the man out.”

  The others holstered their weapons and assisted, first two, then three, and when that didn’t work, all four of them, each taking one side of the tub.

  “Put some muscle in it.”

  They grunted and strained. A few minutes later, it started to budge, barely. She couldn’t understand what weighed it down. But they appeared to make headway. A few more inches…

  The tub rolled over on its side.

  No one was underneath. No one and nothing.

  Well, better safe than sorry. Now they could—

  She heard a tremendous rumbling behind them. The ground shook.

  She whirled around.

  An enormous girl—she thought it was a girl—rose out of the ground hoisting an immense piece of debris, revealing several other girls hiding beneath.

  “Surprise.”

  55

  Aura didn’t wait for the soldiers to reorient themselves. She gave Tank the signal. “Go.”

  Tank leaped forward. Before the woman in charge could aim her gun, Tank was on her. She put a stranglehold around the woman’s neck and whirled her around between herself and the other four soldiers.

  The woman fought back. She raised her chin, dug her feet into the ground, and delivered a reverse head-butt.

  Tank didn’t blink.

  The woman brought her foot back and kicked Tank in the shin.

  No reaction.

  The woman covered her fist with one hand and jabbed her elbow back into Tank’s gut.

  “Oh, stop. It tickles.”

  The woman’s anger was evident. “My name is Agent Coal. I’m on a duly authorized mission. You are in violation of the law. Surrender peacefully or—”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Tank replied. “Am I right, Aura?”

  “You’re very right.”

  Coal’s soldiers pointed their guns but did not fire. Tank tried to keep her human shield between herself and the bullets, but since the soldiers moved in opposite directions, and Tank was three times as wide as her captive, that became increasingly difficult.

  “Stand still or I’ll break her neck,” Tank said.

  Coal ignored the threat. “She won’t. First second you have a decent shot, take it.”

  “Don’t shoot,” Aura cried out, but she was too late. Two soldiers fired almost at once. One missed. Tank whirled and her hostage caught the other bullet in the stomach.

  Coal grunted but remained on her feet. A bulletproof vest, maybe?

  Another gunshot. Tank ducked but the bullet hit Coal on the side of her neck.

  Blood spurted out with hideous speed. Coal clamped her hand down on it. She did not pass out, which told Aura the bullet had not hit the jugular. But she couldn’t last for long, given how much blood spewed from her neck.

  “Drop your guns,” Tank grunted. They did not.

  With speed that took everyone by surprise, Tank lifted Coal into the air and hurled her lengthwise, knocking down two of the men. Before they could recover, Tank pounced on the other two. One after the other, Tank drove a powerhouse blow into their faces.

  She didn’t need to take their pulse to know those two would not be conscious for some time.

  The other soldiers scrambled, jockeying for position, rifles targeting.

  One pointed a rifle at Tank’s head. A blur ran up behind him.

  Gearhead swung a metal pipe she’d found somewhere in the debris. The soldier went down.

  Tank pivoted around to face the remaining soldier. But not quite quickly enough.

  The soldier rammed his rifle at
her, point blank. He had Gearhead in his line of sight, too.

  “Sorry,” the soldier said. “Orders.”

  “He doesn’t want to do it,” Dream shouted. “He had a daughter and he thinks she was a Shine but he never told anyone. She died. He feels responsible.” She paused. “He still has nightmares about it.”

  “That doesn’t mean I won’t take you out if necessary,” the solider grunted.

  “True,” Dream said. “But you’ll never get another night’s sleep if you do.”

  His trigger finger twitched.

  Then his whole body twitched. He let out a horrible groaning noise. He shook from head to toe.

  Tank flattened him.

  All five soldiers were down and stayed down.

  A pungent stench filled the air.

  “What happened to that guy?” Mnemo asked.

  Twinge remained straight-faced. “A sudden uncontrollable case of spastic colon.”

  “Eww.”

  “Yeah, well, it worked.”

  “For how long?”

  Twinge shrugged. “If he looks like he’s getting over it, I’ll start convulsive vomiting.”

  Tank didn’t wait for the men to recover. She gave each a decisive blow, ensuring prolonged unconsciousness.

  The leader remained face down in the rubble.

  “Gearhead. Can you find something to tie these clowns up?”

  “I saw some plastic binding strips on those book boxes. I could break that up and improvise some flexi-cuffs.”

  “Do it. Make sure they can’t follow us.”

  Harriet spoke up. “There’s another troop of soldiers on their way. And…someone else is coming, too.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know. They seem to be aware of me. They’re masking their wireless transmissions.”

  They needed to get away. But she had to do something else first.

  She gave the leader one quick but intense scan, the rolled her over. The neck wound still bled profusely. The leader’s eyes were angry and she trembled violently. Shock probably. She sensed the woman understood how close to death she was. She might’ve admired her fortitude—another time.

  She looked at the neck wound and concentrated.

  “Get away from me,” the leader growled.

  “You could bleed out in less than a minute.”