by S. T. Boston
* * *
Oriyanna remained silent, glancing back at the other car while she ran options through her head. Sliding the Glock from her waistband, she unclipped her seatbelt and twisted around in the seat. The dazzling lights made it difficult to see, but they did give her a point of reference to shoot at. Oriyanna raised the weapon and fired two shots at the aggressing car, level with where she guessed the windscreen would be. Before her finger hit the trigger guard on the first shot, the rear windscreen shattered with a deafening crash, and the bullet powered through the glass, relentlessly seeking its target. She fired again. It was hard to tell with the beam of the vehicle's dazzling headlights but Oriyanna was sure the second shot found its target and punctured clean through the windscreen. Even so, the pursuing car powered on, relentless and seemingly unstoppable.
* * *
Lucie heard both shots, even with the silencer, the usually soft-sounding Pffft of the gun going off seemed much louder in real life than it did in the movies. The sound of the silenced gun however was dwarfed by the splintering crack as the bullets slammed through her rear windscreen. Watching in the wingmirror she saw the pursuing car veer violently to the left before collecting up an unfortunate rider on a battered old Vespa scooter, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The rider landed square on the bonnet before rolling up over the top of the car and disappearing behind it, no doubt hitting the unforgiving ground hard . Lucie swerved, her full attention not focused on the road ahead, but the grim scene behind. The tardy old 125cc bike, the kind that Sam often scoffed at as being a Chicken Chaser, went spinning and tumbling down the road in a hail of sparks as the metal of the small engine found the tarmac, “My god,” she shrieked, “That was my fault!”
Their pursuer was almost level with the rear driver's side window. With both engines screaming, the two vehicles careered down a short slope and into the Blackwall Tunnel, disappearing under the Thames.
“Slow down a little,” instructed Oriyanna, climbing into the rear seat. Thankfully, the tunnel's lights were on, bathing the car in an artificial orange glow. Lucie did as Oriyanna instructed; there was no time for questions,.
The car drew closer, the front passenger window drawing level with the rear seat of Lucie's Mini. Before Oriyanna could put her plan into play, the pursuing driver twisted the steering wheel to the left, colliding with the rear quarter panel of the Mini. Oriyanna heard Lucie shrieking, over the sickening sound of metal hitting metal and the Mini begin to swerve uncontrollably down the road. The rear tyre hit the high kerb, sending them in the other direction, and the car lost purchase on the road. Lucie frantically threw the wheel towards the left, then right, in a futile attempt to gain control. Oriyanna glanced out the shattered rear window, saw the pursuing car brake suddenly and it ducked in behind them, narrowly avoiding a collision with the rear of a 4x4. It was now or never. Trying to account for the weaving of the Mini, Oriyanna got into position, rested her arms on the parcel shelf and fired, squeezing off round after round until the clip ran dry. The bullets left the gun and slammed through the front windscreen of the chasing car, which she could now recognize was a BMW. There was no time to tell if the shots had found their target, because the mini slid sideways, past the point of recovery. She twisted into the rear seat and rammed her feet against the opposite side of the car, jamming herself in. Over the sound of the chirping tyres, which echoed and bounced off the tunnel walls, she heard Lucie scream. The mini smashed up over the kerb, hit the tunnel wall and flipped. The wall prevented them from slipping into an unforgiving tumble, instead the car slid down the road on its side, metal screaming against the tarmac. As the car lost speed, it eventually tipped onto its roof, where it stopped, rocking back and forth for a few seconds, steam pouring from the tortured engine. Releasing her legs, Oriyanna fell onto the roof.
Lucie was in the driver's seat, held upside down by her belt, her long brown ponytail swinging like a rope over her face. Reaching over, Oriyanna touched her on the head and instantly knew she was alive. There was no need to feel for a pulse, she could feel her life force. There was no blood on her pale blue sweater, or on her legs beneath the line of her pencil skirt.
Leaving her wedged where she was, Oriyanna wriggled out of the rear window, splinters of glass biting at her legs and catching in her hair. The pursuing car had also crashed, though not as spectacularly as they had; it had front ended the tunnel wall and pirouetted a few times, leaving a series of rubber, snake-like marks dancing along the road. Small splinters of the tunnel's wall tiles were embedded in the grill, the BMW badge hung precariously from the bonnet, cracked and broken. Studying the car briefly, Oriyanna noticed there was a nice, head-shaped bulge protruding from the anti-shatter windscreen – it seemed whoever was behind the wheel had failed to secure their seatbelt. Very close to the mound of head-shaped glass were bullet holes, sporadically peppering the spider-webbed windscreen. Oriyanna covered the fifty yards fast, surveying the immediate area she saw the 4x4, which had skidded and stopped a hundred yards or so back down the tunnel. The occupants, a young man and a woman, were both out of the car and gawping down the tunnel toward them, taking in the scene of utter chaos. Sensibly, they had chosen not to approach. Reaching the BMW, Oriyanna wrenched the driver's door open. The guy behind the wheel looked to be in his late thirties, blood was gushing from his head, but small wheezing groans escaped from his lips. His colleague had been on the receiving end of two bullets. He was dead; one shot had obliterated his left cheek, his eye socket collapsed and a gooey white mess leaking down onto his blue shirt. The second round hit his chest. She could see the exit wound, the bullet had passed cleanly through his body and the seat, before disappearing into the rear backrest. Oriyanna unclipped the driver and pulled him free of the seat, placing her hand on his head, she found it sticky with blood.
She closed her eyes and concentrated; once inside his head she poked about in his mind for a few seconds before releasing him. “Earth-Breed,” she muttered to herself. There was no time to learn more, or find out if these men were part of the team she'd already encountered tonight. She positioned her hands in a cross position on either side of his face, and twisting her arms quickly she snapped his neck in one swift movement. From somewhere down the tunnel she heard a horrified shriek – the couple in the 4x4 had obviously seen her kill the guy. Leaving the body, she ran toward them, only too aware that she still had Lucie to deal with. “He was dying,” she called out as she approached them. “I had no choice, he was in a lot of pain!”
The male was well built, and as she approached he must have decided Oriyanna posed no threat due to her small stature – a major underestimation on his part. He stood his ground, glowering at Oriyanna as she rushed toward him. “I think you—”
He never got a chance to finish the sentence. Oriyanna drew her Glock on him, reached up and grabbed him by the throat with far more strength than should have been possible for a girl of her size. The man let out a surprised cry of fear as she slammed him against the side of his car. This wasn't her usual style, but time was short and they needed some new wheels.
“Don't move!” she shouted, pinning him against the driver's door and fixing the gun to his forehead. The woman had already clambered inside the 4x4 and she started screaming; thankfully the door was closed, muffling her cries. With her hand on his neck and the gun pointed in the general direction of his brains, Oriyanna stared directly into his eyes. The moment she had him, she let the gun fall to her side. She hated showing aggression to innocents like this, but she was in a pinch and needed to get things resolved, swiftly. Fixed on her deep blue eyes, the male was lost. Oriyanna filtered through his thoughts, his fear, and she hated herself for it. I am not going to hurt you, she spoke inside his head. Just walk away, leave the car, it's okay to leave me the car, just give me the keys and walk away. She released her grip.
The guy snapped back into full consciousness, opened the car door, took the keys from the ignition and handed them over.
It seemed she'd left Lucie alone in the car for ages; in reality, it had been no more than a couple of minutes. Time was short and any moment the authorities would be here, and they needed to be far away before that happened. Firing the engine, she sighed with relief to discover the 4x4 was automatic; she'd driven manual Earth vehicles before, but felt much more at home with what she liked to think of as a 'push and go'. Once back at the stricken Mini she parked the white 4x4 next to it, jumped out and forced Lucie's door open. Adam's sister was still out for the count, her breathing deeper, more rhythmic. Oriyanna unclipped the belt and slid her out of the car, lifting Lucie's slight frame easily into the other vehicle and laying her on the back seat. Checking the clock on the dash she knew they'd have plenty of time to make Wiltshire before curfew. Ignoring the fact she was driving the wrong way through the tunnel, Oriyanna spun the 4x4 around, and sped away from the scene. Not far down the tunnel they passed the couple she'd just carjacked. Amazingly, they offered her a polite wave as she drove by, which made her smile. Earth-Humans were easily influenced; she suspected they really needed to evolve and unlock the rest of their brain power.
As she drove the Nissan Juke out of the tunnel and into the night, next to what had once been known as the Millennium Dome and more recently the O2, Oriyanna bounced the large tyres over the kerb and onto the correct side of the road. She didn't know exactly how to get to the meeting place, but she knew the general direction and that was good enough for now. Reaching the A2, she saw blue lights heading for the tunnel; no doubt on their way to deal with the mess left behind by the brief battle that had taken place under the Thames – the second mess she'd left in her wake in under an hour.
Ten minutes later, with Lucie still out for the count on the back seat, Oriyanna swung the 4x4 into a petrol station, jumped out and looked at the array of different fuels on offer in confusion. Many of the pumps had 'Out of Use' signs on them. In frustration, she took a cursory glance at the back seat, willing Lucie back into consciousness. Not sure which fuel to choose, she popped the filler cap, relieved to discover a small red sticker on the back of the cover which said 'Diesel' . Two of the pumps displayed the same word on an identical red background. Not stopping to consider further, she jammed the nozzle into the opening and began to brim the tank, thankful that this station actually had a couple of working pumps. Tapping her foot impatiently, she watched the litres roll by, painfully slowly. The six euro a litre price tag didn't bother her in the least, she had no means to pay and as soon as the pump clicked off she fitted the filler cap, jumped into the driver's seat and sped off the forecourt, the wheels spinning. A few minutes later she reached the motorway, and being completely unfamiliar with the layout of the multitude of roads which criss-crossed every country on Earth, she relied on her sense of direction and turned right, heading west. Racing across the darkened countryside, London slipped further away in the distance. She lost count of the number of times she glanced over her shoulder at Lucie; despite everything that lay ahead, she experienced a pang of excitement at the thought of seeing Adam again. Even though her life had spanned many years, more years than even the oldest person on Earth could fathom, the last two and a half Earth years seemed such a long time ago. Her mind wandered back to the day he'd left. She'd wanted to go with him, take the trip back to Earth by his side, but there had been more pressing matters at home which required her immediate attention. Craft were being despatched for the invasion of Sheol daily, and the council had no intention of letting her take a trip back to the planet she'd almost lost her life trying to defend.
It had been a glorious sunny day when the two men had left. In all, they'd spent two Earth weeks on Arkkadia, and she'd hugged Adam and planted a kiss on his lips before they parted, unable to hide the tears welling up in her ancient blue eyes as the door to the scout craft silently slid closed. They'd maintained eye contact for as long as possible, but eventually all she could see was a gleaming ship's hull. As silently as the door had shut, the craft rose into the air – at approximately a thousand feet it had hung for a few long, drawn out seconds, Oriyanna straining her eyes as sunlight glinted off the bright silver craft. Then in an instant, it shot up, far faster than her eyes could track. He was gone.
Three Arkkadian days later, she was saying goodbye to her home once again, bound for Sheol. The fight had already begun, craft were on their way within hours of her coming through the Tabut, keen to strike hard and fast, leaving little chance of anyone escaping the miserable place. By the time she arrived the battle was almost done, only a few strongholds set deep into the planet's ninth level were proving difficult to take. Intelligence from the surface was grim; while many of the Elders had been captured and flown back to Arkkadia to face trial and probable execution, they believed the one they most wanted was gone, cowardly fleeing the planet even before the first strike vessels had arrived in orbit. A day or so later, she'd been on the Sheolian surface, heading deep into the bowels of the former mining outpost. Arkkadian troops had finally broken through and captured the last subterranean territory. Once every person had been accounted for, they were two Elders short, and more who had been created in the years since the Great War could also have fled. Just as they feared, Asmodeous was among the missing. It didn't surprise her or the council; he'd fled Earth just as quickly when his cities began to fall. He obviously valued his own self-preservation far above that of his misguided followers. What also struck her as odd was the craft he'd used; Arkus 2 was a long-range exploration vessel, and it had been under Asmodeous' command before the Great War. The ship was vast and could easily have offered passage to many people, but he'd fled with just a handful – proof positive of his selfish, narcissistic nature.
Once Sheol was back under the command of the Arkkadian Council, Oriyanna had been recalled. It had been a relief to leave the sun-baked planet. Sitting around two million miles closer to its large sun than Arkkadia did to hers, Sheol was a sweltering place. Despite the terraforming carried out thousands of years before, the atmosphere was hot and carried the faintest egg-tainted hint of sulphur. Below the surface things weren't much better, the purified air nasty, and almost suffocating to breath.
They had scanned the vastness of space fruitlessly, looking for the smallest trace of the vessel Asmodeous had taken. It was a pointless task, even if they'd only been a few hundred miles away from it, the Arkus 2 would be nearly impossible to detect. Plans had been found on the planet's surface which suggested any identifiable transponders aboard the ship had been disabled and replaced with jammers, making it virtually impossible to find. Even with their advanced radar and scanning systems, the situation was hopeless. It didn't stop them from trying, however.
As the weeks ticked by, it was increasingly apparent that their most wanted prize had slipped through their fingers once again. Soon after, Oriyanna approached the council, suggesting he might take refuge in the one place he longed for most – Earth. Oriyanna requested she be sent back to the planet with a small team, a team which could fly under the radar and search for signs that Asmodeous had indeed returned to Earth. The council had been reluctant to let her go, fearing her feelings for Adam would get in the way of more important tasks. Oriyanna countered that being the only Arkkadian who'd spent valuable time on Earth's surface during the modern age made her the best choice to undertake the mission. Even those who'd been in place before the four Watchers Finch killed held little knowledge of modern living. Sadly, the ones who would have been best placed to carry out such a mission were mere names on a memorial plaque in the council's chamber, the only Watchers ever killed in the line o
f duty.
Shortly afterwards, Oriyanna, along with three other Elders and former Watchers from the council, found themselves Earth bound, with Oriyanna receiving explicit instructions not to contact Adam or try to see him. There was a job to do, and with no clue as to how many Earth-Breeds still languished on the planet, they were given two tasks. Firstly, to establish if Asmodeous was on Earth, and secondly, find a way to track and kill as many of the enemy Earth-Breed as possible.
On their arrival, they'd set up what Earth's security services would classify as an intelligence cell. As Earth began to find its pulse once again, they combed through the accounts of Integra Investments, identifying exactly who was on the payroll. Information on the Earth-based business had been recovered, along with a wealth of other information held on Sheol. Not coincidentally, she found herself based in London, in the borough of Greenwich, just a few temptingly close miles from Adam's home. Although she hated herself for the decision, it had been her idea to use Sam as the tool to dispose of any Earth-Breeds they uncovered. None of her team had spent any modern time on the planet, and what little time she'd spent had hardly given her enough experience to fit in. It would be an almost impossible task to blend in, and they couldn't risk the exposure if things went wrong. Sam had proven himself extremely handy in such situations and in possession of the Gift, his chances of suffering a fatal wound were greatly reduced. She'd been wracked with guilt on the day they'd delivered the first target's details to him. From a short distance away, they'd monitored the house, and just as she knew he would, Sam went to work. The recompense for such a risky job had been large sums of money, which she deposited as payment for every kill, gleaned from the wealth built up over the long years the Watchers had been present on Earth. She didn't like what they were making Sam do, and the only way she could quash some of that guilt was to ensure the three of them – Sam, Adam and his sister, Lucie – lived through these testing times as comfortably as possible.