Terregon (Book Two of The Red Diamond Saga)

by Jennifer Janne

  His main interest was in Corinne's young clone. After Corinne was lost to their research as an infant Mr. Reynolds had commissioned another scientist to create a replica. Although he worked in the same facility as Conner, Mr. Reynolds made sure that Conner was not aware of her creation.

  It took several attempts and several years before they were able to create a successful duplicate, and Mr. Reynolds was the one in charge of how she was treated. She was completely isolated from others and not allowed to express emotion. She was dosed on a regular basis and given tasks to accomplish. If she succeeded she was given another. If she failed, she was forced to repeat the task until she succeeded.

  Not only was she as skilled psychically as Corinne, she was a genius. By the time the explosion occurred she could resolve any problem given to her and complete any task she was assigned.

  Now she was in Corinne's care, and it would only be a matter of time before her human nature contaminated his perfect specimen. Young Corinne was Mr. Reynolds' main concern. He leaned forward over the railing, so far that he ended up on the tips of his toes.

  A faint breeze rippled through his blonde hair and he felt a sensation of euphoria as he imagined falling. Perhaps one day, he thought, as he opened his eyes and stared down at the distant street below him, he would be able to fly.

  7

  “Corinne.” Daniel summoned her attention gently as she slowly woke up. “Corinne!” He repeated more urgently when with a sleepy glanced she turned over to try to fall back into her dream. His touch on her shoulder startled her, and her eyes flew wide open.

  “What is it?” She asked as she sat up on the bed. Daniel was already dressed and she could tell from his expression that something terrible had happened.

  “The chief has another job.” He said reluctantly, knowing that Corinne needed her rest.

  Corinne rubbed at her eyes and sighed. She was exhausted from spending the day avoiding Aaron and trying to connect with Cori. She felt as if the more she reached out to the young girl, the further away she pulled.

  “What's going on?” She murmured.

  “A call came in to the tip line that a heavily armed man is planning on attack on one of the bus routes. The chief has no idea which bus, and the routes start in-” Daniel squinted through the dim light in the room at his watch. “Two hours. If we don't figure out who and where, there could be a busload of passengers at risk.”

  Corinne had to admit that was a kid reason for waking her. She dressed as quickly as she could, though her mind was still craving sleep.

  Daniel went to wake Aaron, and Lisa was already up from the sounds of the two moving around in Corinne's room. She was still a very light sleeper. Cori was sound asleep in her bed.

  Corinne was just about to wake her when Daniel and Aaron stepped up behind her.

  “Let her sleep.” Aaron insisted as he swept his gaze over the slumbering girl. “She'll probably still be asleep by the time we get back.”

  Daniel nodded, for once agreeing with Aaron. “She'll be fine Corinne, we'll lock the doors. I'll even have Stanley come by when he starts shift in an hour and stay with her.”

  Corinne's heart fluttered with anxiety. It was easy for Daniel and Aaron to assume safety, but she had been Corinne's age in a girl's home and she knew the horror stories of what could happen to a young girl left alone.

  Aaron sighed in exasperation. “This is exactly what I am talking about Corinne.” He said sharply. “You treat her like she is a little girl, but she isn't.” He fixed his cold green eyes to hers and added. “She's never been a child, even if she looks like one.”

  His words struck Corinne hard, and though she wished to argue the point the truth behind them silenced her. She had been treating Cori as if she was a lost little girl, as she herself had been at her age, but Cori was not that. She had never been lost, she had never been given the chance to exist in the first place.

  Reluctantly, with the force of Daniel and Aaron's will overriding her own, she agreed to leave Cori alone in the house, for just a little while.

  Soon they were gathered in the police chief's office. “I am at a loss with this.” Ernie said, a touch of panic entering his usually authoritative tone. “If I call off all of the buses, the morning commute will be in chaos, people will lose their jobs over this.” He frowned as he tapped the map of all the bus routes spread out across his desk. “If I don't, then a whole bus full of people could die because of it.”

  Aaron rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You're sure the tip was credible?”

  “Very.” Ernie nodded firmly. “It came from a very well respected man.”

  Corinne was trying to focus on the matter at hand, but her mind kept drifting back to Cori alone in her bed. She glanced at her own watch to find that Stanley would be arriving within a half hour to stay at the house with her. Lisa reached out and touched Corinne's hand lightly. Corinne was surprised that Lisa had become so in tune with the needs of others. If she could be so empathetic, there was reason to hope for Cori.

  “Corinne.” Aaron said sharply, his annoyance just beneath the surface. “Do you have any input?”

  Corinne flushed shamefully as she glanced down at the map. She knew that Aaron could tell that her mind had been drifting.

  Daniel took the opportunity to ask Ernie to meet with the police officers coming on shift, to address the situation at hand. Once they had left the office, Corinne sat back in her chair. She let her eyes drift shut as Aaron spoke urgently.

  “He's probably angry, and a little off.” He peppered Corinne with suggestions that he hoped would allow her to pinpoint the energy of the attacker.

  “Maybe he's saying goodbye to his family and friends,” Lisa added. “He probably plans to end his life today.”

  Corinne was following the paths that they created, when suddenly she was struck by the image of two men. One was heavily armed with an assault rifle on one arm, a handgun tucked into the waist of his pants. He pulled on a trench coat to cover the weapons, and slung a bag stuffed with something over his shoulder. The other was a short man wearing a fancy fur coat, his slick bald head gleaming in the early morning sunlight. He shook the first man's hand.

  “No!” Corinne said abruptly. “He has been hired.” Her eyes flew open in horror as she suddenly knew what the man had in his bag. “He's not going to stay on the bus.” She gasped. “The weapons are just to get him on it so he can leave his bag.”

  When Lisa lifted her eyebrows questioningly, Aaron answered for Corinne.

  “A bomb.” He said breathlessly. Even he was not strong enough to withstand the force of a direct explosion, and he doubted that Lisa's healing abilities extended to piecing back together bits of bodies.

  “Can you manipulate him?” Aaron asked hopefully as Corinne attempted to seize the energy of the attacker. She was surprised to find that he was shielded, as was the man in the fur coat. As if they knew, that they had to protect themselves from Corinne, or people like Corinne.

  “They're cloaked.” She whispered through trembling lips. She knew that time was running out. Whoever the attacker was, he was going to get on a bus within the next hour, and he was going to leave a bomb behind him. Once he did, who knew what the next step in his plan was. If the bus struck a building, or was in the middle of morning traffic, the casualties that resulted would be astronomical.

  “Aaron, I don't know what to do.” Corinne said desperately as she tried to access the energy of the attacker. Somewhere beneath her fear she felt another sudden burst of terror. She assumed it was a result of what she was sensing, she had no idea that it might have been coming from another source.

  8

  The window in Cori's room slowly slid open. He had to work quickly. He knew there was someone on the way to protect her. The girl slept so soundly that it was easy to slide the needle into her arm. She was used to receiving injections, and did not even flinch in her sleep. With Cori sufficiently sedated, he lifted her body and slung it over his shoulder. He made his w
ay carefully down the stairs and slipped out the front door, moments before Stanley's patrol car pulled up.

  9

  Corinne was pouring over the map of the bus routes. All she had to do was figure out which bus he was planning to attack. Once she did it could be prevented from running its route. Of course that was no guarantee that the man with the backpack would not simply climb aboard another bus, but Corinne suspected they had a specific target in mind.

  Aaron was pacing back and forth in the office when Daniel and Ernie stepped back inside. Their expressions were grim as they looked between the three who were trying so desperately to come up with answers.

  “The buses have begun leaving the stations.” Ernie said with a frown. “I can still issue a call to pull them back in, but if we could just know which bus will be involved in the attack it will make things a lot easier.”

  Corinne felt the pressure as she scanned her eyes over the lines on the map. She pleaded inwardly for some sign of what bus would be under attack. She recalled the man in the image, and again attempted to seize his energy. This time, her desperation, drove her right through the shield that blocked him.

  Corinne's natural abilities had overcome the constructed energetic barrier. Instead of being able to manipulate the man's mind and emotions though, she could only access his thoughts. Most his thinking was focused toward the fancy cars and enormous boat he planned to buy with the money he was being paid to do the job. There was not a shred of hesitance or thought to the lives he was about to end. Corinne could see through his eyes, as he walked toward a bus stop, she began to rattle off the surroundings that she saw.

  “City street. Sidewalk. Tall trees.” She paused as if she was looking directly at something, then added. “It is a business district, no houses or apartments, office buildings and a few stores.”

  Aaron was studying the route map as she spoke, as was Daniel. Ernie was staring at her in awe as she continued to speak, though her dark green eyes were vacant as if she had left her body entirely.

  “A glass booth, with two benches. There are other people there. He's waiting for the bus.”

  “Can you see the number?” Ernie asked in a desperate whisper.

  Lisa put a finger to her mouth to silence him. It was never good to disturb Corinne while she worked, it could make her lose connection.

  “The bus is coming.” She said as her heart sunk, she could feel the excitement in the man as he stood with the three other people who were waiting. They filed on to the bus, one by one. The doors were just about to shut, when a man with two young children in tow came running up.

  “No!” She pleaded to the silence in the office. “Don't get on!” She screamed as if she was right in front of the man, who picked up his young daughter, perhaps three years old, and tugged the hand of his son who could not have been much more than six. The bus driver opened the doors back up for him.

  “Just made it!” The peroxide blonde said cheerfully from behind the wheel of the bus. She had religious paraphernalia scattered about her, from crosses, to cards tucked into her window with images of saints.

  “No.” Corinne said dejectedly as the bus began to pull away.

  She could not see its number. She could not pinpoint its location. She could only watch as it made its stops and collected the people who were waiting, none realizing the fate the closing of the bus doors sealed them to.

  “Number sixty-two!” Daniel shouted out as he slammed his finger down on the only possible location Corinne had described, and followed the path of the next stops it made, as Corinne rattled off what information she could gather.

  Corinne slumped down in her chair as a tear slithered down along her cheek. “It's too late.” She whispered. “He's getting off at the next stop.”

  10

  The police were already on their way to the bus, their sirens blaring, but the morning traffic was gridlocked. The next stop for the doomed bus was in the shopping district. It was also where many school children would get on, as the following stop was on a corner with an elementary and high school.

  It was likely where the man with his two young children was headed. The attacker would get off of the bus, undeterred, leaving his book bag behind to explode when the bus reached its capacity, not only killing everyone on board but likely taking the lives of those in traffic around it, and children walking to school.

  It was the worst case scenario.

  Aaron, Corinne and Lisa climbed into Daniel's patrol car and began racing after the bus. Daniel did his best to follow neighborhood routes to avoid the traffic of the main roads, but everyone in the car knew that they would be arriving far too late.

  “The bus driver.” Lisa suddenly said. She looked over at Corinne with her eyes wide. “Can you access the bus driver, get her to stop the bus, not make the next stop.”

  Corinne shivered a little as she recalled the intensity of the man's energy. “If I do, he may just set off the bomb.” She pointed out. “Still, it's our only option.”

  Daniel glanced in the rearview mirror to catch Corinne's eyes. “Corinne, no matter what happens, it is not your fault.” He said as firmly as he could, though he knew his words would mean nothing if the bus exploded with all of its passengers still aboard.

  Corinne nodded as she found strength in his determined gaze. She was comforted by his support.

  “I think Lisa is right.” Corinne said finally as they approached a cluster of cars backed up at a traffic light. Aaron glanced over his shoulder at Corinne, he was barely able to sit still in the front seat. He was so frustrated that he could not simply get there and put his hands on something or someone to make everything work out the way he desired.

  “We're here with you.” He said in a rare display of kindness. He had been so irritated with her lately, that she was surprised by his words. “Whatever it takes Corinne, we'll fix this.” He added and then shoved Daniel lightly. “I thought you were a cop, can't you arrest these people and get them out of our way?”

  Daniel rolled his eyes and gestured to the congestion of vehicles in front of them. “Where exactly do you expect me to move their cars once they are in handcuffs?” As the two quibbled in the front seat, Corinne sank back in her seat and began to reach out for the energy of the bus driver.

  “Shh!” Lisa commanded when she noticed Corinne's eyes slip shut. “Be as quiet as you can while she connects.” Lisa knew that Corinne would have to be very engrossed in the driver's energy to get the woman to stray from her normal route.

  11

  On the bus, the driver was humming quietly as she surveyed the traffic in front of her. It seemed a little worse than usual today, but she was still on schedule so she was not too concerned. The passengers were mostly keeping to themselves, however a man and his two children were engaged in a lively conversation about dinosaurs that she enjoyed eavesdropping on. In the back of the bus a man in a long trench coat was leaning his head against his window, gazing out at the cars that were moving inch by inch beside the bus. Across the aisle from him an old woman sat, her white hair short and curled perfectly.

  She was going to meet her first great-grandchild and was very excited. She could not stop smiling as she thought of how blessed she was to be able to have a long enough life to see a new generation born. Just in front of her two young men, neither yet in their twenties, were joking about their college classes and the girls they favored in each. They were looking forward to what the future held for them, and anticipating what the unfolding day would bring them.

  Across the aisle from them, huddled against the window, her eyes cast to her worn shoes, a woman in her thirties was listening in on their conversation. Their hopeful attitudes made her long for their youth again. She had thought, like them, that the world would simply open up to her, and provide her with the future that she dreamed of. Instead she had lost everything because of one simple mistake.

  Well, to her it had been simple, to her boss it had been criminal. With all job prospects wiped away, and an e
viction notice on her apartment door, she had used the last bit of change in her pocket to take a ride on the bus. She expected it would be a safe place to sit and think about what she could do next.

  Beyond her the bus was littered with business men and women, and a few early bird shoppers that were ready to hit the sales and get some great bargains. None of them were unfamiliar with the route. Everyone on the bus had ridden it once or twice before, and the bus driver even knew a few of them by name, whether through introduction or her just overhearing them in conversation.

  So when the bus driver, Amelia, began to turn at the light instead of driving straight on to the next stop. No one understood what was happening. At first a few people tittered quietly to each other. The man in the back of the bus, with the book bag strapped over his shoulder stood up slowly, his expression creased with annoyance.

  Amelia knew she should not be making a right. She was certain it would divert her off of her route and take her away from the populated downtown area. Children would be late to school because she did not pick them up, and shoppers would miss their sales because she did not drop them off.

  Still, she felt compelled to turn the steering wheel. She felt as if, though she could not remember why, she absolutely had to make the turn.

  “Amelia,” The old woman beside the man in the trench coat called, from the back of the bus. “Why are you turning?” She was a regular on the route and had become familiar with the driver. In fact when she had told Amelia the news of her great-grand child's arrival they had been equally as thrilled.

  Amelia shook her head faintly. She felt very dizzy and as if she had no control over her body.