“Are you aware the Chinese developed a new material that works better than obsidian?”
“I heard something like that,” he says.
“Interesting you only heard about it, but you were not given the same weapon from your Spellcaster.”
The guard behind me says, “She doesn’t shut up, does she.”
I wiggle my wrists to see if I might be able to get out of the cuffs.
Max leans in close as we near the ground floor. “I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work.” He grabs my hands to stop me from moving them. I feel his fingers touch my engagement ring. “Well, well, what do we have here? Miss Diamond Girl is engaged? To whom?”
“Take off my cuffs and I’ll tell you.”
“Yeah, right.”
The doors open to an empty foyer. No rescue team. Why can’t I get one of those unexpected rescues, like in the movies? I’m the only one who can save myself now. The best way would be to not get shot, and keep Max moderately happy.
The guard grabs my upper arm and directs me though the foyer to the door. Through the windows I see a man standing outside a parked car, waiting. Max holds the building door open. I notice sweat beads on his forehead as I walk by, his eyes dart this way and that.
He must be nervous, or scared. So am I.
The guard walks me to the back door of the car the driver has opened. To my right is another car identical to this one. I see Chris in the back seat. His head moves right and left, trying to get a better view of me around the driver. His lips are moving, but I can’t read them.
“Get in,” the guard orders.
I climb in, with difficulty because of my hands cuffed behind my back. The guard places his hand on my head and prevents me from hitting the door frame. I’ve never been arrested before, but I imagine this is what it would feel like. Max gets in the back seat from the other side and the guard takes the front passenger seat.
Max says to the guard, “Call base and tell them we’re on our way with a diamond.” Max pulls out a long knife with an obsidian blade from a side pocket on the outside of his leg. The blade is at least eight inches long. Judging from the size of the blade, I’d say this is why we lost our powers before getting the obsidian cuffs.
I say, looking at the blade, “My powers are already removed by the cuffs. More obsidian won’t remove more powers.”
“Oh, I think this will remove more powers.” He makes slicing motions in the air indicating his intentions to cut out my diamond.
No! How did I let myself get into this situation? I need to think clearly. I need to keep my head on, literally. I calm myself and say, “But Max, if you touch my diamond, you will die.”
He puts the blade right up to my neck, leans close to my face and says, “Not if you’re dead first.”
“Sir,” the guard interrupts. “She wants to talk to you.” He holds the phone toward Max.
Max moves away from me. My heart is beating so fast I feel like it’s going to explode. I take a deep breath and try again to calm myself.
“Yes,” Max says into the phone. Even though I don’t have access to my Hunters hearing ability, I can still hear the voice simply because the volume it set so high.
“Do not kill her there. Do you hear me?” the female voice says with a strong accent, one like Amenemhet’s.
“But we don’t need her, just her heart.”
“If you kill her, you’ll bring on the wrath of the goddess. Besides, we need Calli for her knowledge. That prize is larger than the diamond or the goddess.”
Max scrunches his eyes shut.
“Take her to the Bureau.”
“Not base?” he asks.
“The Bureau. I’ll send Bushman over to interrogate her. When we get what we need, you can do what you want.”
“Copy that.”
Max hands the phone to the guard in the front. “Call the other car and tell them we’re heading to the Bureau, not base.” Max then pulls a black cloth bag from a compartment between the front seats. He grasps the opening and says to me, “Can’t have you seeing where we’re going.” Then he slips the bag over my head, blocking my vision.
I’m left wondering who the woman is and how she knows about Crimson? What knowledge in my head is she talking about? Is she part of Vorherrschaft? Or is she a Diamond Bearer? I thought we’d uncovered all the dissenters. Why is she referring to Crimson as a goddess?
I also think about what kind of methods the interrogator will use. What will happen to Chris? We need to get the obsidian cuffs off him soon so he can heal his heart.
I’ve got to get a grip. Presently, Chris and I are in Washington D.C. which is where we need to be to talk with the Disaster Planning people. That is the goal. Maybe this will still all work out in the end. However, no one knows what we plan to do. Jonas and Maetha knew we were headed to D.C., but that’s all. Chris and I could be killed in a matter of minutes and no one would know any better.
My heart races beneath my ribs as terror freezes my lungs. I gasp for air. My wrists hurt from the tight cuffs and the unnatural angle of my arms. My hands burn hot. Why?
Max exclaims, “What’s happening? Where’s that light coming from?”
“What is it sir?” I hear the guard’s voice.
“I don’t know!” Max yells. “What are you doing, Calli?”
I can’t see anything because of the black bag, but my hands feel like they’re on fire.
“What’s in your hand?” Max demands.
“Nothing,” I say.
“Show me.”
“I can’t. They’re cuffed.”
“Should I pull over, sir?” the driver asks with a shaky voice.
“No. Keep driving.” Max grabs my shoulders and pulls my body forward.
I remember how I felt when I shocked Chris’s heart, how my hands burned. Technically, I shouldn’t be able to use any powers with the obsidian cuffs and with Max’s huge blade in the vicinity. Yet, clearly something is happening. Internally, I feel like a pressure gauge is climbing toward the red zone of the dial. I can visualize in my mind the electricity in my body, along with Max’s because he still has a hold of my shoulders. Somehow the healing power of the Sanguine Diamond has activated, allowing me to feel him. I direct my building energy toward Max into one big jolt and feel a zapping pain on my ring finger. I hear a strange yelping and then the weight of what I can only assume is Max falls on my lap.
“Sir! Sir, are you all right?” The guard cries out. “What did you do to him?”
I don’t know. My hands begin to cool down.
The car swerves left and right then comes to a halt. The driver’s door opens.
“What are you doing?” the guard shouts.
Car horns blare as they speed by. The driver says, “No one said she could electrocute people. I’m outta here.”
I hear commotion and movement in the front of the car. In the meantime, I wiggle my legs and knees, trying to get Max off them. It sounds like the guard moved to the driver seat. I hear the car door slam shut. He mutters to himself unintelligibly.
My body experiences an obvious energy drain like what happened after I shocked Chris’s heart. I need to get out of these cuffs somehow. I ask the guard, “Hey, is Max dead?”
The guard doesn’t answer. He puts the car in gear and begins driving. More car horns are heard.
“I won’t hurt you, sir, if you’ll take the bag off my head.” I start to feel dizzy.
No answer. My mind begins to spin kind of like when Brand pulls me back when he repeats. This isn’t quite the same whirling sensation, however. No, this is the “I’m about to pass out” feeling. “If Max is still alive, he won’t be for long. He probably can’t breathe at his present angle. You should help him.”
Nothing.
I wrack my brain for something to say that will get the guard to listen. The phone rings in the front seat.
“What?” the guard frantically asks.
“What happened to Roizen?” The
voice on the other end fills the car. The guard must have hit the speakerphone button.
“He bailed after she electrocuted Max!”
“What?”
“You heard me. Why didn’t you stop to help?”
“Too much traffic.”
I think to myself how it must have looked to have the interior of the car filled with the blue-green light accompanied with the bolt of electricity. No way would the other car stop after seeing that. I wonder if Chris saw it. He’d recognize the light from when we healed my shoulder, but I imagine he’d also be confused, wondering how I got away from obsidian so I could use the power. Then again, maybe Chris has a black bag over his head too.
The guard responds to the other car, “Are you watching for the goddess?”
What did he say? Hope builds in my chest at the possibility Crimson’s nearby. Maybe she’s been watching the whole time. Then dark clouds of anger dampen my spirit. She wasn’t going to help save Chris on the beach. She expected him to die. I have no reason to believe she would help him now either, other than to retrieve the diamond from him so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
“We haven’t seen her or the other invisible guy.”
“Copy that. I’m almost there.” The guard ends the call. He doesn’t say anything to me, not that I expected him to.
This situation is all my fault. I suggested to Chris we go to the government. I led us into this mess. I convinced him against his better judgment and now he could die. Even if they don’t kill him outright, if they keep him in the obsidian cuffs for too long, his heart will.
Why did I think nothing bad would happen to us? Why was I so naïve as to think we’d be fine? Have I let this power of being an indestructible Diamond Bearer go to my head? I can be controlled and stopped. I can be killed all too easily especially if I’m unconscious, which I’m about to be. No, I let my anger and emotions take control. I was so upset over Chris nearly dying and no help offered that I acted irrationally. And I dragged him into my irrationality.
How many times have I heard Maetha or Crimson tell us we need to control our anger and not let it control us? All it took was the possibility of the incredibly huge loss of someone I dearly love to get me to act against Crimson’s will—something I didn’t ever see myself doing.
The driver sharply turns the car right and I fall against the door, unable to hold my body upright any longer. As images swirl through my mind, my hearing muffles like I’m underwater. The last thing I think about is Chris on one knee, asking me to be his better half.
I’m so sorry, Chris.
# # #
Thank You
Thanks for reading my books! I hope you’ll take the time to leave a review on Smashwords or wherever you downloaded the book. I’d really appreciate it.
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The Diamond Bearers' Rising Page 28