Relativity

by R S Penney

  “He's probably moving from house to house.”

  They'd tracked Kevin using the GPS on his disposable phone. So far, it seemed that she and Harry were the only ones who knew what to look for, and if Anna had any say in the matter, she would keep it that way.

  She strode up the driveway with a hand pressed to her belly, head hanging as she sucked in a deep breath. “Follow my lead,” she said, approaching the front door. “And remember, stay calm.”

  Inside the house, she found the wooden framework of what would probably be a long front hallway and a great big hole in the floor that would eventually become a set of stairs. A rectangular opening in the back wall led into…a family room or a kitchen. She really couldn't say with the house in this condition. “Kevin?”

  He stepped into the opening, dressed in the same dirty clothes he'd been wearing a few days ago. “Agent Lenai…” The expression on his face…The poor kid was frightened, unable to look at her.

  Anna shut her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose. “It's me,” she said with a bob of her head. “You're safe now, Kevin. My friend and I just want to get that thing off your hand.”

  In her mind's eye, she saw the silhouette of Harry standing just outside the front door, his posture stiff. “We're going to bring you to Station Twelve,” she went on. “The doctors there can help you.”

  Kevin let his head hang, fat tears running over his cheeks. “I'm so sorry,” he said, rubbing them away with his fingertips. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt. This damn thing…It overpowers you.”

  “I know.”

  “I tried to control it-”

  Anna winced, shaking her head in dismay. “It's not your fault,” she said, leaning her shoulder against a wooden beam. “Lots of people have come into contact with Overseer tech, and the effect is always the same.”

  Harry stepped through the door, reached up to grab the arm of his sunglasses and remove them. “These devices weren't designed for humans, son,” he explained. “No one can truly control them.”

  Baring his teeth in an angry snarl, Kevin scrunched up his face. “It's like…It's like a song in your head.” He pressed fingers to his eyeballs. “You can ignore it if you try, but when you get scared…”

  “We'll help you.”

  The boy nodded.

  Anna crossed her arms with a heavy sigh, frowning down at the floor beneath her feet. “Do you trust us?” she asked. “Can you stay calm long enough for us to get you up to the station?”

  “I think so.”

  “All right. Let's go.”

  Spinning around, she made her way back to the door. Bright sunlight hit her like a slap to the face, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. The afternoon was hot and muggy despite the fact that it was only the middle of April. She was beginning to grow weary of that. Hot weather could be wonderful when you wanted to relax on a beach, but right now she was aching for a crisp, cool afternoon. After months of winter, she wanted a little spring before launching straight into summer.

  Behind her, Harry and Kevin walked side by side as they made their way down the driveway. The boy was tense, his posture stiff and rigid, and he seemed to flinch at every unexplained sound. Anna couldn't blame him. Five days on the run, terrified that the very people who should have helped him might try to shoot him, and then there was that damn Overseer device that kept pumping up his adrenaline. It was enough to make anyone feel on edge.

  Anna made her way around the back of the car, opening a door on the driver's side for Kevin. “It's gonna be all right,” she said, glancing in his direction. “You just wait. In a few hours, you'll be free of that thing.”

  Kevin stood with one hand resting on the car's trunk, his face twisted into a painful grimace. “I know,” he whispered hoarsely. “I've got it under control. Let's just get all of this over with, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  A spike of alarm shot through Anna, one that was not her own. Sometimes Seth sensed things before she did.

  Anna spun around in time to see someone hop over the peak of the house across the street and land perched on the shingled roof. A tall woman in black pants and a matching t-shirt, she wore a ski-mask to hide her face.

  She stood up straight with thumbs hooked into the waistband of her pants, staring down at them. “I'm sorry to interrupt!” Isara shouted. “But I'm afraid that the boy will be coming with me now.”

  Harry was halfway around the car's front end when he froze in place and shivered at the sound of her voice. He drew aside his jacket, reaching for his pistol. “Anna, get the kid out of here!”

  She reached for Kevin, but he was faster.

  The boy spun around, thrusting one hand toward the house across the street, and a wall of rippling energy appeared before him, colours blurred into a hazy whirlpool. The force-field jerked forward.

  It sped across the street in half a second, struck the wooden face of the unfinished house and shattered it into hundreds of tiny fragments. A part of the roof collapsed.

  Isara leaped, somersaulting through the air, and then uncurling to drop slowly to the ground. Contact with Seth allowed Anna to sense the other woman's effort to warp space-time and weaken gravity's pull.

  Isara stood up straight, dusting herself off with a click of her tongue. “Bit quick on the draw there, isn't he?” she asked, striding through the muck that would one day be the house's front lawn. “Still, I have to thank you for leading me to him. I couldn't have done it without you.”

  There were shouts in the distance.

  The construction workers were too far away for her to sense with spatial awareness, but a quick glance over her shoulder revealed that they were scurrying about like bees from a hive that had been disturbed. Clearly some of them had witnessed Kevin's poorly-timed display of destructive power, and now they were reacting. Chances were good that some of them had already called 911. The cops would be here soon.

  “You're not taking him,” Anna hissed.

  Isara shrugged, hunching up her shoulders. “I don't really need him,” she said. “Just the device. Give it to me now, Kevin, and this can all be over.”

  Kevin shut his eyes, tears streaming over his face. “I can't,” he whispered, shaking his head. “It won't come off.”

  “A pity.”

  Anna stood in the street with a hand on her holstered pistol, sweat rolling over her face in sticky trails. “You really think I'm gonna let you take him?” she asked. “Might be time to review your history lessons. Last time we fought-”

  “You barely survived and had to rely on some of your police friends to chase me off.” The woman clamped a hand over the mouth hole of her ski-mask, trembling as she giggled. “I bet a dozen officers are already on their way here. I wonder how they'll react when they see Kevin.”

  The boy flinched.

  Anna glanced over her shoulder, snarling at him. “Get behind cover!” she growled, jerking her head toward the car. “And whatever you do, stay put! You run away now, and I can't protect you.”

  He backed up around the trunk, crouching low on the passenger-side. The frenzied light in his eyes…He was spooked. Right now, every instinct would be screaming at him to either run or lash out with the device again. The fact that Kevin had done neither was a testament to his strength of character.

  Isara strode forward with all the confidence of a queen descending the palace steps. “I'm not really interested in you, Kevin,” she said. “I'd rather you come with me of your own free will, but if necessary, I'll kill you.”

  “Kill me?”

  “Mmhmm.”

  Isara drew herself up to full height, lifting her chin to stare at them through the eye-holes of that ski-mask. “The device won't remain attached to a corpse,” she explained. “If you can't release it to me, I'll take it by the most efficient means possible.”

  Harry stood near the front end of the car with a pistol held in both hands, pointing the weapon at Isara. “Stay put, Kevin,” he shouted. “Anna and I will protec
t you. She can't overpower both of us.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, Detective.”

  Anna stepped forward with fists raised in a fighting stance, shaking her head with enough force to send strands of hair flying. “You're not getting anywhere near that kid.”

  Tilting her head to one side, Isara smiled at her through the mask. “Is that so?” she asked, batting her eyes. “Kevin, did you know that there are many different ways to kill a man with your bare hands.”

  The boy wheezed.

  “I prefer choking,” Isara went on. She was trying to psych him out, trying to make him run. For a moment, Anna wondered why her opponent would do such a thing – after all, if Kevin ran, finding him again would be much more difficult – but then the answer came to her. In chess, frustrating your opponent's gambits was every bit as important as successfully executing your own.

  Isara had to know that the chances of walking away from this with the device in her possession were slim. So if she couldn't accomplish her primary objective, she'd settle for keeping the device out of Anna's hands. Worst of all, Anna couldn't do a damn thing but stall and hope the cops would scare Isara off. If she started a fight now, Kevin would run. “This isn't going to-.”

  “Of course,” the woman cut in, pacing a wide circle around Anna to put herself on a line of sight with the boy. “You could just wait for the police to arrive. I think they would rather just shoot you.”

  “I think you'll be their first priority,” Harry said.

  Isara clasped her hands together behind her back, pacing a line through the middle of the road. “Perhaps,” she said with a halfhearted shrug. “But I think some of them want payback after Kevin put several of their colleagues in the hospital.”

  She covered her mouth with three fingers, closed her eyes and giggled once again. “Of course, I could be wrong,” she added. “Who knows? These men might be willing to rise above their less than charitable inclinations. They have displayed enormous amounts of tolerance and restraint. I suppose I should be worried that they might take one look at me and decide that I'm the real danger here. But then again…I'm white.”

  “Stay put, Kevin!” Anna barked.

  “Yes! Stay put!” Isara shouted. “Let the Justice Keeper lead you to the slaughter like the innocent lamb that you are.”

  Kevin turned and bolted, sprinting through the muck like a man with rabid dogs on his tail. He leaped through the front door of the house he'd been using as a hiding place. And then he was gone!

  Gritting her teeth, Anna winced so hard tears leaked from her eyes. “That was a mistake!” she hissed, tossing her head from side to side. “One that you're gonna pay for with a whole lot of pain!”

  Anna ran forward.

  The other woman jumped, flipping over her head and then uncurling to land in the space between Anna and the parked car. Isara turned with fluid grace, stretching a hand out toward Harry.

  The former detective raised his gun in both hands, snarling as he took aim. “Harry, no!” Anna shouted. “Don't do it!”

  A Bending appeared before Isara, colours stretched into a blurry smear, and panic seized Anna's heart. If Harry tried to shoot her, the bullets would reflect back at him, and then there would be one more-

  Harry raised his pistol to point at something above Isara's head, then fired with a CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Bullets passed right over her, flying uselessly into the clear blue sky. Why would he-

  He was keeping the bitch busy!

  Anna took the opportunity, closing the distance between herself and the other woman while Harry emptied half a clip. Isara would hear the roaring gunfire, but it would take a moment for her to comprehend Harry's plan.

  The woman let her Bending vanish, rounding on Anna.

  Anna kicked her in the belly. She spun and hook-kicked, one foot whirling around to clip Isara across the cheek. The other woman stumbled about in confusion, growling like a hungry wolf.

  Anna came round to face her.

  She jumped and kicked-out, driving a foot into Isara's chest. Driven backward by the impact, the masked woman wheezed as she was slammed into the side of the car. She let out a groan and doubled over.

  Drawing a pistol from her belt holster, Anna pointed it at her opponent. “High impact!” she barked and watched as the LEDs turned red.

  Isara became a blur just before Anna pulled the trigger, moving aside in the blink of an eye. A dent about the size of a man's chest appeared in the car's driver's-side door and smoke rose from the point of impact.

  Isara charged forward like a freight train. The woman leaped and used a touch of Bent Gravity to propel herself in a long arc that took her right over Anna's head. Do not let her get the drop on you.

  Anna spun around just in time to see the masked woman jump and snap-kick. An old gray sneaker came right at her face, and then she was stumbling, dropping the pistol. In her mind's eye, a foggy silhouette came at her.

  Isara threw a punch.

  Anna ducked and let the woman's fist pass over her head. She grabbed Isara's shirt with two hands. Bent gravity did the rest. Her skin tingled as she called upon Seth for a burst of power.

  Isara went straight up, then arced and fell flat on her back on the car's hood, landing with a harsh CLANG. The woman groaned and rolled onto her belly, pressing her body up against the windshield.

  CRACK! CRACK!

  Harry strode forward with the pistol in his hands, his face a mask of pure rage and hatred. “Stay where you are!” he growled, stopping about ten paces back from the car. “You can't fight off both of us.”

  Isara wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then turned her head and spat a gob of saliva onto the road. “You really believe that, don't you, Detective?” she mocked. “Would you like to know how long I've carried a symbiont?”

  “Oh good!” Harry said. “I haven't made enough small talk today.”

  “Hey!” Anna shouted. “I get the one-liners!”

  Before anyone could say another word, the harsh wail of a siren cut through the air. Two police cruisers turned onto this street from an intersection several blocks away and began speeding toward them.

  Isara leaped from the car, passing over Anna's head with a touch of Bent Gravity. She landed in the middle of the street with her arms spread wide. “I'm afraid we'll have to finish our little threesome another time.”

  The woman jumped, and suddenly, she was yanked upward toward the roof of the house across the street. She landed gently on the black shingles, then vanished behind the building.

  Anna pressed a palm to her nose, massaging her eyelids with the tips of her fingers. “She's not going after Kevin.” The words came out as a shrill squeak. “We've got to find him before anyone else corners him.”

  Harry stared at her with lips pressed into a thin line, sweat glistening on his brow. “Shouldn't we wait for the others?” he asked, gesturing to the approaching cop cars. “We should at least give them a status update.”

  “I don't trust them.”

  “Anna…”

  She bit her lip and tried to ignore the aches and pains in her body. “You tell them what they need to know,” she said. “I'm the only one here who here who has any chance of locating Kevin.”

  “How you gonna do that?”

  Anna smiled. “Parkour.”

  Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and focused her thoughts. Seth's presence was there in her mind, a warm comforting sense of kinship. Once the Nassai understood her plan, he reacted with approval.

  Anna jumped and back-flipped through the air, Bending gravity with the aid of her symbiont. She was yanked upward by an invisible tether and then deposited on the roof of the house Kevin had used as a hiding place.

  She turned and ran up the slanted rooftop, pausing at the very peak. From here, she could see the entire neighbourhood. The next street over was lined with more unfinished houses, as was the one after that.

  Only one thing to do.

  Anna leaped.

  H
er skin tingled as she called upon Seth for another jolt of Bent Gravity, and then she was flying over the backyard to the next house. She landed on the roof with a grunt, then took off in a mad dash.

  When she reached the peak, she took a moment to observe her surroundings. Yet another police cruiser was driving up the street below. Bleakness! How many officers did they send?

  She spotted Kevin on the sidewalk across the street. The kid was down on his knees with fingers laced over the back of his head, and even at this distance, she could tell that he was gasping for breath.

  The cruiser settled to a stop several houses away from him and then flashed its lights with a brief squeak of the siren. Both officers exited at the same time, each one drawing a gun from his holster.

  “No!” Anna screamed.

  Kevin heard her voice and looked over his shoulder. When he noticed the two cops, he thrust a hand out and protected himself behind a force-field of rippling energy. Damn it all! If those two idiots started shooting…

  So far Kevin had avoided doing anything aggressive. The force-field would protect him, but maintaining it for more than a minute or two would leave him exhausted. The cops could wait him out.

  Anna jumped from the rooftop.

  One more surge of Bent Gravity – and this time the tingling in her skin became a thousand fiery pinpricks – was enough to send her flying toward the officers. Both men looked up when they noticed her.

  Anna landed in the middle of the road, doubling over on impact. She wiped sweat off her brow with the knuckles of one fist. “Stand down, both of you. I'm taking Kevin to Station Twelve for treatment.”

  The two cops stood side by side in front of their cruiser, each man holding his gun in two hands, each wearing the intently focused expression you often saw on people at the shooting range. “I said stand down!” she growled.

  The one on her left came forward, squinting as he took aim. “Lieutenant Biggs has authorized the use of lethal force,” he said, marching past Anna. “If that kid puts up any resistance, we shoot to kill.”