by Elsa, Sandra
Evading The Tempest
By
Sandra Elsa
Copyright 2015 Sandra Elsa
Foreword: This is not a stand alone book it follows directly after book one Evading The Tempest.
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Chapter 1
Water Water Everywhere and not a drop to drink.
Massive quantities of water on all sides and even at times underneath the road had me gawking with excitement. The trip had been worth it, if only to see this sight and we weren't yet at a place where the ocean would fill the horizon. I squeezed Harrison's leg. I wanted to stop the car and stick my toes in the saline water.
The Subaru crept along as Harrison and I ogled the landscape. Jerry harrumphed impatiently from the back seat.
A bridge spanned a section of muck. Shards of crystal lined the shores where long ago plant life had transformed. The people that lived here must have been determined to do so. Keeping the roads drivable had to be an incredible task. I wondered if anybody dared boats outside the dome. The books we'd been reading since leaving the Founding-Two-Hundred spoke of alligators, snakes, armadillo's, wild boars, deer, and closer to the ocean, crabs, terns, starfish, urchins, even dolphins and various other fish and birds. Plant life had been thick in this part of the world.
Along with crossing what used to be the Smokey Mountains--District Eighty-Six most assuredly fell into the Not-A-Mountain category--a crystal forest of cypress trees had been one of the highlights of the journey. The land and water here appeared as barren as the rest of the world, but I couldn't be certain of that. Not until we were safely distant from the traveled way.
No sooner did that thought cross my mind than Harrison stomped on the brakes. "Frankie, look!" I followed his pointing finger to a speck floating in the water. He opened the car door and looked down the long stretch of road before dashing over the bank, down to the water. We’d spent enough time outside domes the thin air no longer presented a challenge.
I joined him as he stirred a breeze into existence which coaxed the floating speck closer to our position. When it was at our feet, I bent to pick it up. Brown, green, and coated in the slime of decay, clearly it had, in the very near past, been alive. The question was had it been grown within the dome and somehow ended up out here? Or had it grown in the ocean? Plant life in the ocean would certainly account for the oxygen we were breathing.
Harrison brought it to his nose and smelled it, then glanced around. There weren't any other signs of life here. The sand, crystal, and gravel lining the edge of the water held no scurrying crabs. Harrison stared at the barren sands. A vehicle moving into sight from the west, ended our inspection. Harrison carried the plant to the car, slid behind the wheel and pulled back onto the road.
He drove slowly. We didn't think it’d be a problem since the dome catered to tourists. They must be used to people scrutinizing the alien terrain. A Hummer pulled up behind us and slowed. Harrison pulled to the right to give them plenty of room to pass but they remained behind us for over a mile before finally turning on their light. Harrison glanced over at me and pulled off the road, Jerry feigned sleep in the back seat.
We sat and waited, while the trooper in the passenger seat donned a rebreather and got out of his vehicle.
Protocol said to leave your rebreather off until the officer stood beside the car. The young trooper approached my window and I slid over beside Harrison and turned to stare at him. He held the muzzle of his forty-five up near the window as he examined us. Then pointed down to the pocket in the door where rebreathers were generally held. I reached for mine even as Harrison shifted behind himself to grab his and pushed the button raising the window between the front and back seats making it unnecessary for Jerry to open his eyes. Once the rebreathers were in place, Harrison opened the window.
"Get out of the vehicle," the trooper ordered, his voice muffled by the thick rubber and charcoal filters..
Without a word, Harrison opened the door behind himself and stepped out, drawing me along. "What seems to be the problem, trooper?" he asked, wrapping an arm around me just under my breasts.
The trooper's partner waited at the back corner of the vehicle. "What were you doing out of your vehicle?"
"It's not illegal to get out of your car on a desolate road," I said with just a touch of bitch in my voice.
Harrison's arm tightened. "We were only imagining what it used to be like. If you search the car you'll find books about the plants and animals indigenous to the area before they became extinct."
The trooper at the back of the car sniffed the air, a nearly useless action with a rebreather on, unless you were Were.
The young trooper on the far side of the car opened the passenger door and reached inside. Three of the books were lying on the front seat. "What is the nature of your business here?"
Even through the muffling of the rebreather, I heard the rumble in Harrison's voice as he leaned his cheek against mine and said, "We thought we'd visit the ocean for our honeymoon."
The young trooper nodded at Jerry. "You brought an extra on your honeymoon?"
"My cousin wanted to come along. We gave him a ride, but he'd better have his own ideas about entertainment once we get there."
"And all the other items in the vehicle?"
Fortunately we'd dropped our live plants well off the road before venturing across the causeway to District Two-Three-Seven; along with the shovels and a couple other larger items we'd brought from the Founding-Two-Hundred. We had thought about how odd it would be, to be seen going in and out of the dome toting everything we'd packed. "Clothing. A few belongings. When we leave here, we plan to travel to District Four-Seven-Three. Our families didn't exactly approve of us getting married thought we'd try another district." Harrison's calm replies had my nerves on edge, I wanted to cuss and tell them they had no right to detain us. But then, he was the politician's son.
"Which one of you used magic while outside the vehicle and what was its purpose? And Ma'am what is the bulge by your shoulder."
"The magic was a cooling breeze. Nothing more. And that'd be me." Harrison raised his hand.
The young trooper gestured with his pistol. “Open the jacket slowly, Ma’am.”
“It’s a Berretta 92, nine millimeter. You’ll find a couple more pistols in the rear of my vehicle. All registered with the proper permits. I’m a private investigator.” Didn’t want to upset the gun happy young trooper. I slowly lifted the jacket and kept a rein on my temper while the Were approached and removed it.
With that out of the way, they turned to Harrison. "Are you registered?"
Harrison's glib tongue stumbled. He was registered, but Daniel Bromer most assuredly was not.
"The high and mighties aren't interested in somebody who can stir a little breeze," I filled in as he faltered.
"I'll need your idents. Passenger too."
"Since when is it against the law to get out of your vehicle on a public road?" Anger slipped into my voice and the trooper raised his pistol, pointing it at me.
"Since we've been having a problem with drugs being brought into our District, Ma'am." Damn punk. Just 'cause he still needed a nanny to wipe his ass didn't mean he had to call me Ma'am.
"We don't have any drugs. I'm sure your partner here can ascertain that. I've worked with enough Were, I know he can probably tell you what I had for breakfast and exactly what's in my car so why don't we just cut the crap." I tossed my Angela Landis ident at the Were. Angela was also a private investigator. Harrison took the Daniel Bromer out of his pocket and handed it over politely. Daniel Bromer was a young man of wealth from District Fourteen.
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br /> "Your last names are not the same, the Were stated the obvious."
"What part of honeymoon don't you understand?" I snapped at him. "We just got married. Haven't done much of anything except drive."
Harrison's thumb started moving in small circles on the side of my breast. He was trying to calm me, but we'd been on the road for the last five days. Sleeping on blankets under the night sky. Checking several of the places Harrison remembered his father had considered as potential colonies. Jerry had been worthless. My leg itched like hell under its cast and I was not in the mood to be cross-examined standing here in the roadway wearing hot, unnecessary, rebreathers. With all that working against my serenity, I still smiled as Harrison's response to the actions of his own thumb, as it pressed against my rear.
I pressed back into him and the Were sniffed and turned. "We'll follow you to the district. We'll want to see your marriage license and run your idents through the system."
The younger trooper appeared reluctant to leave, but the Were growled and he holstered his forty-five and headed for the Hummer. We closed the doors before ripping off rebreathers and locking lips. I straddled Harrison's lap and he nipped gently at my breast before slapping my rear and laughing. "Who'd have thought a little interrogation in the middle of nowhere would get me this hot and bothered?"
"Knew you were an excitement junkie. That's why I married you."
"Dear God, woman, look what you do to me. If they weren't waiting for us to go, I'd be ripping your clothes off right now."
Jerry groaned, "Must you? When does this phase end?"
"Well, I did tell Papa I was going to fuck his boy 'til he couldn't walk, and he's still mobile."
Jerry bolted upright. "You said that? To Jordan? My god you're irreverent. Did he blow a gasket?"
"Close, but we had an audience."
Jerry laughed. "No wonder he's left you alone. But you know it won't last."
"I'm sure of it, but we bargained for a year of peace. He's already waiting for grandchildren."
"You know if you two didn't have to stop and find a sandy bed to do that in every fifty miles or so, you wouldn't have the nice gentlemen of the watch, waiting for you to pull out now."
"One of these days, Jerry, you'll find the right woman to make you understand what I'm going through." Harrison's voice was a low purr as he paused between words to kiss my neck.
The trooper hit his siren briefly and I kissed Harrison then clambered back into the passenger seat.
We didn't fly along just because there was a Hummer behind us, we were still tourists, and they wouldn't ruin my honeymoon. A quick glance over my shoulder ascertained they'd backed off enough the Were should be out of hearing. "Do you suppose your father figured out where we were heading and had people watching for us?"
"It's possible. It's also possible the District has a drug problem."
"Hope Angela, holds up to inspection. I've never handed one of my false Idents to the watch before."
"What about me?" Jerry said from the back seat. "You never did get one made for me and he said he wants to see mine too."
I groped under the front seat until I found the packet of false identities I used while working. I thumbed through them and came up with Terry Dunston. I reached under the seat and groped in the springs for my ident forger and began feeding Terry's info into it changing female to male and making him younger than myself. It was better than starting from scratch as some of the background had been setup to make these appear real. Unfortunately, there were things a professional forger could do that I couldn't; particularly while sitting in a car being followed by the watch. I snapped his pic with my handheld and clipped it onto the legal photo background stored in the machine.
He whistled as I handed it to him. "Who knew this was so easy to do."
"It's not. I paid good money for this machine and put time and effort into my idents years ago, and it's not perfect. Ten minutes ago Terry was me and I’m sure there are bits of info I've floated about her that will still say she's a her but the name could go male or female. I suppose I should let Harrison talk us through this, because if they run either of our idents too closely they might blow up in our faces. Daniel Bromer is solid, and Harrison is more level-headed."
"Got that right."
"Look, Sleeping Beauty, I don't care to be harassed when I haven't done a damn thing wrong. They had no legitimate reason to stop us back there."
"I agree, but you don't know the watch down here. It'd probably be best to play the game their way. If it's Jordan already on your tail, what can you do? He’s the most powerful mage alive, no sense antagonizing his lackeys. If it's not, we'll get this sorted and be done with it and finish our vacation. Either way, antagonizing them doesn't help."
"They knew I used magic." Harrison tossed a random comment into the discussion before Jerry could get around to my last nerve.
"The young guy at the window has his own talent," Jerry said. "Probably a sensitive."
"Well in case you can’t guess, none of these idents belongs to a mage," I told him. "Best stick close to me. I can hide you from being seen or felt but only in a short sphere around myself."
"I know. I've watched Harrison walk in and out of your null field for a couple weeks now. If the trooper visualizes, he'd have taken a bigger interest in me and probably Harrison, although you stuck to him like glue. Trooper must be able to feel magic in use."
"From a pretty good damn distance too," I agreed with him. "We'll consider this a learning experience. No experiments anywhere close to a dome. He's asking if we're registered. Wonder if he is? Does your father assign mage's to be sent to watch precincts throughout the world? And if so, do they maintain a home in District Seven or are they exempt from that requirement."
"Good questions." Harrison flicked his glance from the road to the rearview mirror. "I had assumed we wouldn't run into anybody worrying too terribly much if we were registered this far away from District Seven."
"Doubt he's very strong, talent-wise," Jerry said. "Being Watch, he's obviously registered and I can't imagine Jordan letting any powerful registered mage out of his range of influence. Look what we're planning to do. Imagine if there were others he couldn't keep tabs on."
"We're?" I couldn't believe he was including himself in our plans. I'd spent much of the time in the car educating him about what I knew of other districts. How to spot trouble from a safe distance and how to use the pistol I'd brought along for him. I'd rather hoped he'd take his education and his money and head out to destinations unknown.
"I know I'm not your favorite person in the world Frankie, but yeah, I think I want in on this gig."
"Couldn't tell it by your enthusiasm on the trip here."
"What do you expect me to do? Follow the two of you around while you decide where the best place to make out is?"
Harrison snorted. "He's got you there, Frankie."
"Maybe if he'd come along we'd have focused on the job at hand a little better and I wouldn't have a pound of sand inside my cast. I have got to get this thing off. It's killing me."
Jerry reached into the back and rooted through belongings. We were all familiar with what was where by this point in time. He grabbed a hanger from one of my boxes of clothing and straightened it out, handing it to me. I stared at it a moment then took it and jammed it inside my cast, gleefully spending the last bit of the trip scratching the lower part of my leg, glad to note that even when I brushed up against the ankle, pain was minimal.
The picket at the gate waved us through, then saluted our escort, who immediately pulled alongside us. The young trooper rolled down his window and waited impatiently while Harrison lowered his window. "Follow us, please." They pulled around and Harrison followed as requested.
Outside Watch Precinct Two-Three-Seven, they pulled up next to the door and waved us into an empty spot beside them. The Were stepped out of the Hummer and leaned down to open my door. "Please come with me while we run your Idents, Ms. Landis. Or should
I call you Mrs. Bromer?"
"Angela," I told him, I had after all been Angela for half my life. Falling back into responding to it wasn't hard.
When I stood beside him he opened the back door and beckoned Jerry into the parking lot holding his hand out. "Ident please." Jerry handed over the Terry ident. "Very good, Mr. Dunston. Come along."
Harrison fell into step on my left, his arm wrapped around my waist. Jerry stayed glued nearly as close to my right side.
The Watch precinct had a lackadaisical air to it. Six troopers sat behind desks as we walked to the back of the building. They glanced up and nodded to the Were in charge of our little group, then went back to their computer screens. One of the female troopers followed Harrison appraisingly with her eyes and I stared daggers at her, wishing I hadn't left my real ones back in the car. The female's eyes swung from Harrison to Jerry.
Another trooper watched her ogle the men around me, his gaze settled squarely on my chest. Then flew to Harrison's face, he leaned over and tapped his neighbor on the shoulder then nodded at us and pointed down at his computer screen. The second man's eyes went from the screen back to us, widening, he bent his head back to his screen. I started to get a bad feeling. The first man tapped his keyboard furiously.
Chapter 2
A man wearing Captain's bars stepped out from behind a gray cubicle; he glanced at us, then at our escort. "Trooper Ralston?"
The Were snapped to attention. "Yes, Captain?"
"What are you doing with these people?"
"They were out of their vehicle, out where we found that packet of drugs and Trooper Gerrill felt at least one of them use magic. Just brought them in to run their idents."
"Did you ask them their purpose?"
"Claimed to be honeymooning but the man--" he glanced down at our idents, "Mr. Bromer is an unregistered mage."
Harrison's arm tightened on my waist. The Captain stared at Ralston as though he had just shifted into a pile of dog turds instead of a wolf. He turned to us, extending his hand. "Our apologies, Mr. Kendrel; Mrs. Kendrel. Please enjoy your stay in our District. Allow me to make up for this little misunderstanding by taking the two of you out to supper tonight."