“I did no such thing.”
“Someone in the SSS did. Someone wanted her help.”
He appeared genuinely puzzled. “For what?”
“I don’t know. Don’t you?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was aware of the Shine you call Perfume, of course. And I was concerned when she escaped from TYL.”
“Or did you help?”
“Why on earth would I help a Shine escape from the place I worked so hard to have her sent?”
She didn’t have an answer for that. She wasn’t even sure Perfume was really a Shine. So she tried a different approach. “What’s Project Intensify?”
His face immediately hardened. “How do you know about that?”
At last. She touched a nerve. “Some of my associates are extremely talented.”
“Are you familiar with the experiments run by Dr. Estes?”
“No.”
“You should be.” He paused. “He had a auxiliary lab at TYL. Worked with Dr. Hope.”
“Don’t know him.”
“You should. He’s pulling Dr. Coutant’s strings.”
“Who’s pulling his strings?”
“A very good question. Which I can’t answer. Estes’s group has taken the lead in Shine-related research. They can outspend me a thousand times over.”
“Do you know why TYL was blown to smithereens?”
“I assumed some Shine lost control of her abilities.”
“Wrong.”
“Well, I give you my word—my solemn word as a Christian—that neither I nor my organization had anything to do with it.”
“But then—” Her voice was choked off by an ear-splitting squeal.
“Attention, Shines. This is the police.”
The cops were here. “You were stalling me.”
He spread his hands. “I won’t let my prize mare escape again.”
She ran to the panorama window behind Trent’s desk.
Far below, a ring of cop cars circled the building.
“We have you surrounded. You cannot escape.”
She tried to contact the Shines through the glasses link, but no one replied.
“We are authorized to use force if necessary. Come out now. Or we will come after you.”
79
Aura whirled on Trent. “So the mighty stud horse had to call the cops to subdue a teenage girl?”
“Do you blame me? You’re a fugitive from justice. And I’m a law-abiding citizen.”
“Who kept a dungeon full of hostages he hoped to turn into surrogate mothers. You turn me in, I’ll tell them everything.”
“They won’t believe you. Aura, the game is over. If the police capture you, you’ll spend the rest of your life in Mordock. And I can guarantee you won’t like it. But there’s still time for us. I can spirit you away from here in my choppercar. Put you somewhere safe.”
“And become the mother of your master race. I don’t think so.”
He shook his head. “Even if you escape from this office by staging some grand-scale battle in public…there will be no turning back. Public opinion will turn decisively against Shines, even more than it already has. Even if some of you escape, you’ll be hunted criminals.”
“We’re hunted now.”
“You’re hunted by the police now. If you do this—you’ll be hunted by everyone on earth. This is the tipping point. The point of no return.”
“I passed that a long time ago. I don’t want to be a criminal. But I don’t fancy spending my life in a maximum security prison either.”
Trent chuckled softly. “You don’t have any idea what goes on at Mordock, do you?”
A chill swept across her skin. “Not…precisely.”
“I can save you from that, Aura. But you’ll have to stop running and fighting. Come with me.”
She needed time to process, plan, decide what to do next. And of course, as always seemed to be the case, time was the one thing she didn’t have. One of several things she didn’t have.
She heard Harriet in her ear. Yes!
She turned away from Trent. “Harriet, what’s the sitch?”
“They have the elevators functioning. Five armed men are making their way to the penthouse.”
“You said twenty guards.”
“Some are forming a perimeter in the lobby, just in case you get off the top floor. Some are going elsewhere—stairwells, elevators, I’m not sure exactly. They’ve cordoned off the street outside. All exits are covered. You wouldn’t believe how many cops are outside.”
“You need to get out of there. Before someone identifies you.”
“No.”
Harriet said it so simply, with the same strange timid voice as always, that it took her by surprise. “Harriet, this could get ugly. And dangerous.”
“I’ll leave when you do.”
Calm, and not a question. A statement.
It seemed their Harriet had hidden reserves.
“Marshalling the troops?” Trent asked. “Surely you know you can’t possibly escape. You and your friends will be caught. Unless one of your Shines has the power of invisibility. Do they?”
Was he fishing for tactical information? “Anything is possible.”
“Not so far. And I don’t think you can heal your way out of this mess, either.”
“Maybe I could heal whatever pain has turned you into such an unfeeling beast.”
“Your time is running out, Aura.”
“Or yours.” Before he could react, she wrapped her arm around his neck in a stranglehold. He tried to resist, but with her free hand, she pinned one arm back.
“So this is the brave new Shine world? Using opponents as human shields?”
“I’m pretty sure they won’t plug you.” She strained to hold him down. He was not a strong man physically, but he was taller, and she was no physical powerhouse. She knew she couldn’t hold him forever. She—
With a sudden burst of energy, he brought his fist around and smashed it against her face. Blood trickled from the corner of her lips. She winced, but she did not let go.
Then he grabbed the letter opener from his desk and shoved it into her side.
She screamed. Blood oozed out. Almost instantly she felt weak, groggy.
“Seems you’re the one who needs healing now,” Trent said, shoving her arm off. “But that’s not the way it works, is it?” He pushed her back against his desk. Waves of pain cascaded through her body. She clutched her side, trying to stop the pain, trying to staunch the blood with her fingers.
He grabbed her by the collar and flung her down to the carpet.
She fell to her knees. Without hesitation, he raised his boot and kicked her in the stomach. She collapsed on the floor.
“Pretty damn violent,” she gasped, ”for a man of God.”
“Jesus threw the moneylenders out of the temple,” he said, clutching the letter opener. “I’m going to the expunge the Shines the same way.” He raised the blade into the air and brought it down.
80
Aura tried to raise a hand to stop it, but her side hurt too badly.
“Trent! You hurt Aura and I will personally put out your eyes.”
Trent froze, inches away from her.
She lifted her head. What?
Dream stood beside them. Aiming a knitting needle at Trent’s neck. Mnemo and Twinge were close behind her.
“Dream? What are you doing?”
Dream shrugged. “Providing a stitch in time?”
“Very clever. Help me up.”
She did. Trent circled around his desk, keeping his eyes on them.
Gearhead appeared in the doorway. “Sorry we took so long. Eleanor got suspicious and triggered a silent alarm.”
“You’re supposed to be in the getaway car.”
“I thought you could use some help.”
Couldn’t argue with that.
Twinge pulled up Aura’s blouse. “Girl, let me look at that wound.”
�
��I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ll live.”
“I’m going to stimulate platelet production. It’ll clot your blood. We need to vamoose before—”
The office doors flew open and five armored troops burst in. She was no military expert, but she knew these men were not ordinary office security. They wore combat gear and biohazard protection helmets with tinted-glass visors and gas filters. The antennae sprouting from their helmets made them look vaguely insectoid.
And they carried guns. Big guns.
Mnemo whispered. “AA-14 combat shotguns. Probably the deadliest assault weapons ever constructed. They can deliver three hundred rounds of 12-gauge ammo in half a minute. Metal-jacket slugs. One could take your head off.”
“Twinge, are you working on them?”
“Trying. The armored helmets make it tougher for me to get through.”
“They have some kind of anti-Shine shielding,” Dream said. “So far, all I’ve managed is that the guy on the far left has a recurring nightmare about showing up for duty in his underwear.”
“Don’t see how that’s helpful.”
“They’re pink frilly underwear.”
“Intriguing. But still not useful.”
“Surrender,” the one in the center said. “Immediately. Put your hands behind your heads and drop to your knees.”
“And if we don’t?”
“We have authority to take extreme action to prevent you from escaping again.”
She did not much like the sound of that.
“What are we gonna do, leader girl?” Twinge whispered.
“I don’t see that we have much choice.”
“If we go with them, we’ll go directly to Mordock.”
“Isn’t that better than being dead?”
“I’m not sure.”
“We’ll go with you,” she said, stepping forward, still clutching her side. “But I want some assurances in advance.”
“We have no authority to make assurances. You either surrender or we take you down.”
He said it as if he had no problem executing either option.
“Fine.” She held out her wrists. “We’ll go with you. We surrender.”
81
Aura stepped forward, offering no resistance.
A second later, a juggernaut poured through the doors, so quickly she initially had trouble identifying it.
Tank hurled herself into the air sideways and knocked down two of the guards at once. The other three swerved, redirecting their weapons. Someone fired, but Tank had long since left the position. Another tried to train a gun on her, but she kicked it out of his hands, while elbowing the other just under the chin.
Dream jabbed one in the back of the knee with a knitting needle. His gunfire went wild, giving Tank an opening to take him down.
Another aimed at Tank, only to abruptly start trembling and shaking from head-to-toe. Tank slammed his head back against the wall.
“Twinge, what did you do to that man?”
“You do not want to know.”
Probably correct.
The men Tank knocked down stayed down.
Two more soldiers rushed into the room. Tank jumped up on Trent’s desk, then sprang to the ceiling. She grabbed the overhead light fixture and swung on it like Tarzan. Each boot caught one of the men in the head.
“I see you’ve been taking your vitamins, Tank.”
“Energy bars. We need to get out of here. I had to fight through twelve guards just to get to the penthouse.”
She agreed. “But I don’t think we’re going to get out the way we came in.”
“What’s the alternative? Jump off the roof?”
“You might survive. The rest of us wouldn’t.”
Tank’s eyes turned toward the window. “Is that a freaking choppercar out there?”
“Indeed.”
“What’s that cost? A billion or so? Awesome.” She pointed at her neck. “That’s the same model as my tat. Maybe—”
Trent made a dash for the door. Tank stopped him cold. “Keys.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Not an option.”
He stared at her for a moment…then handed over the keys.
She decked him. He fell to the floor, unconscious. “Here are the keys, Aura.”
“Great work. You apparently know a lot about this car. Know how to drive it?”
“Not really.”
“Gearhead, you flew the choppercar that got us off the island.”
“That model was a scooter compared to this one.”
“Mnemo, you know anything about this model?”
“No. But I read a book about it once.”
“That may have to do. Gearhead, you’re in the pilot’s seat. Mnemo, give her all the help you can.”
“The ignition may require Trent’s thumbprint,” Mnemo cautioned.
Gearhead was succinct. “Then we cut off his hand.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“But how far can we go, even in a choppercar?” Twinge asked. “They’ll be able to see us in the air, Aura.”
“One thing at a time, okay? Everyone pile in.”
They lowered the window, extended the plank, and got in.
“Tank, can you bring Trent? I don’t want to lose him again.”
“Sure. What should I do with him?”
“I don’t know. Throw him in the trunk.”
This high off the ground, the wind blew relentlessly, but they managed to get into the craft and close the door.
Mnemo planted herself in the pilot’s seat. Gearhead sat beside her.
In her peripheral vision, she saw at least a dozen more security officers burst into the office. “We need to leave. Now.”
“Still working through the preflight checklist.”
“Scrap that. Go.”
“As you wish, Buttercup.” Gearhead inserted the key and gave Mnemo a kiss. “That’s for luck.” Gearhead turned the ignition. The engine roared to life.
Gearhead pushed several buttons in rapid fire.
The choppercar rose.
“Aura!” Someone patched into the car’s comm system. She recognized the voice. Taj’s father.
“This is Lieutenant Sharma of the LAPD. Aura, all the captives at Trent’s mansion are getting the medical treatment they need. A subpoena has been issued for Trent. If you turn yourselves in, I will personally see that you get the best possible treatment.”
She pushed the transmission button on the handset. “You can’t stop them from locking us up, Lieutenant.”
“There might still be a chance. But if you flee—I can’t do anything for you.”
She listened to his words. She didn’t detect any malice. Just the plain simple truth.
And she knew he was right.
“So…?” Mnemo asked. “What are we gonna do?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her hand clutching the bleeding gash in her side. This was her last possible chance to turn back. To not be a renegade.
“Aura? Decision?”
She opened her eyes. “Get us out of here.”
Gearhead leaned forward on the stick. The choppercar’s engine churned.
The guards were at the window now, guns trained on the escapees.
“They’re going to shoot us!” Dream cried.
“Moving as fast as I can,” Gearhead muttered.
The choppercar lurched forward.
“Not sure how to accelerate…” Gearhead hit a button, and suddenly the craft shot ahead, a spray of bullets ricocheting around the hull.
“Look out!” The City Hall building loomed in front of them, drawing closer by the second. Gearhead managed to swerve away just in the nick of time.
“Be careful!” Dream bellowed. “You’re taking the curl out of my hair.”
The craft lurched sideways, throwing them all to the right. A second later, they were spiraling.
“Can you n
ot level this out?”
“Working on it,” Gearhead said, pulling back on a stick. “Easier to criticize than to contribute.”
The choppercar swooped again, this time diving. The pavement drew closer with frightening speed.
“Look out!” Dream screamed.
Gearhead pulled back on the stick and came out on a perfectly level plane, just a few feet above street level.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” Gearhead said. “I might be able to get us home. If I can just—oh.”
All five eyes stared straight ahead.
Gearhead pulled back on the stick.
“What the flick is that?” Twinge shrieked.
Something huge and vaguely humanoid stood directly in their path. It made no attempt to move out of the way.
“Is that…a person?”
“It’s twice as tall as a human,” Dream said. “And look at that face.”
“Is that a face?” Twinge muttered.
“Pull out,” she said, grabbing Gearhead by the shoulders. “Pull out before—”
Too late. Gearhead swerved to the left to avoid impact, but the choppercar careened sideways. The right wing scraped against the pavement. Sparks flew. The craft skidded down the center of the street.
A streetfront coffeeshop lay dead ahead.
“Does this thing have a parking brake?” Twinge asked.
“Not that I know of,” Gearhead replied through tense tight lips. “Aura, what are we going to do?”
She wished she had an answer. But she only had a second to worry about it.
They crashed into the coffeeshop. Then everything went black.
82
Aura crawled out of the wreckage, stunned and squished, pinned like a sardine in a can much too small. Her side felt like Trent had run that letter opener clear through her.
But she didn’t have time to worry about wounds. They had to move.
“Everyone okay?”
She got faint nods from each of the Shines. Bruises abounded, but no one appeared to be seriously hurt. The right side of the chopper was scraped, but overall the damage was relatively light.
“That’s a miracle.”
“Not really,” Tank explained. “A top of the line model like this is heavily reinforced and designed to withstand serious impact.”
Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1) Page 35