“Not exactly. I’m operating off my personal service generated from the house.”
He remembered seeing a chimney on the roof of her house with what he’d thought was a satellite dish above it. Clever. As they were turning to leave, he saw a booklet that was a map of California. He grabbed it. “We might need this.”
Then Bruce showed up with the keys and registration. He handed them to Mike.
He signed the registration and handed the items to Devlin. “You’re all set. Be safe out there,” Mike stated.
“The bike is in front of the shop, I have Chuck watching it,” Bruce added.
“Thank you,” Devlin said and shook their hands.
“Ah, one more thing,” Eva said to both men. “You might want to get out of here. There’ll be aftershocks worse than the quake itself.”
“How soon?” Bruce asked.
“Maybe a couple of hours, but they’re coming. Even if there isn’t, there are several buildings on this block that look like a stiff wind will bring them down. I’m sure a mandatory evacuation of this area will be declared soon, if it hasn’t already.”
The men stared at each other. “Someone I spoke to on the street said the National Guard is out and about, he saw them a few blocks over,” Bruce said, “and the fires seem to be spreading.”
Mike nodded. “Tell the guys they can leave, but lock everything down. And I want all the keys and codes placed in the safe.”
“Will do.” Bruce took off at a run away from them.
Mike escorted them to the door, and after letting the guard inside, he locked it behind them.
They got on the bike and Devlin took a moment to study the map. Already thinking they had to stay away from the highways and off any main roads but they needed to head to Palm Springs first.
“You know even on a good day it would take over an hour to get there,” Eva said glancing at the map over his shoulder.
“Yeah, I know.” Devlin said as he tucked the map into his jacket and they started out. They bypassed the traffic bogged down on the road by staying on the sidewalks for a bit, people just got out of the way. “Shit, hang on.”
He felt Eva’s arms tighten around his waist. Up ahead there was a break in the road. He used the upraised piece of sidewalk to launch them over the two-foot pothole and kept going.
“Do you think we should try for 101?” Eva shouted behind him.
“No,” he shouted back. “I think it’s easier for us to stick to the streets for now, back roads. The highways are nothing but a parking lot, even the emergency side lanes.” They’d crossed an overpass and looked down on the snarled traffic in both directions. As bad as it was most days, they both knew this was even worse. Maybe they could pick up I-10 farther down.
“Shit!” Eva groused. “At this rate, it’s going to be a couple of hours at least before we make it to Palm Springs. We might be racing the aftershocks.”
“I know, but on the plus side, we still have several hours of daylight left. I’m hoping to put a stop to it so it doesn’t get any worse than it already is.” Although he wondered how much worse it could get when he heard the sound of something exploding behind them. He glanced in his rearview.
“Oh Christ!” Eva exclaimed. “Two cars just went over the bridge.”
People were screaming all around them. He spotted a gap between cars and maneuvered the bike through them. Weaving in and out, then back on the sidewalk. He spotted an opening and took it. They drove that way for about twenty minutes, mostly traveling by feel.
They got off the street and traveled through a grassy area, most cars were getting stuck trying to drive across the uneven terrain. Only the four-wheel drives seemed to be making any headway. The bike had no trouble. But trouble found them.
Devlin had been maneuvering around a stuck car, when suddenly, the passenger door was thrown open. If he’d been going any faster or his reflexes were any slower, he might have been flung over the bike when the front tire bounced against the door. Instead, he and Eva were merely jarred on the bike as they righted themselves.
Three men jumped out of the car with guns drawn.
Chapter Sixteen
Eva was surprised something like this hadn’t happened sooner. She knew their luck couldn’t be that good. Still, she was shocked when the bike hit the door, she bounced against Devlin’s back. He stopped her from being pitched forward.
She reflectively was already reaching for the blade nestled in a special pocket in her saddlebag when the rear door opened just enough to hem them in. From her peripheral, she saw one of the men who’d existed the car reaching for her to tug her off the bike. She pulled the blade out and removed him of his arm.
He howled in pain as his blood spurted everywhere. “MY HAND!” he screamed over and over.
His two friends froze in shock for a moment. More than enough time for her and Devlin to make sure they wouldn’t try that with anyone else. Devlin cut off the hand of the man in the front seat, who’d been holding a gun on him. The third, the driver merely dropped the gun he’d been holding and turned around and ran. Leaving his friends, one in the passenger seat and the other leaning against the car screaming in pain.
She pushed the door against the guy behind them, giving them room so Devlin could back the bike up enough for them to maneuver around the door. Starting the bike up again, they continued on their way.
“Is the bike all right?” she asked.
“Yeah. You?”
“Fine.”
“Good. I’m surprised we’ve been traveling for as long as we have without some shit like that happening to us. We’ve seen enough of some of this being done to folks as we passed them by.”
What he said was true. They’d seen people looting stores and people grabbing things out of the looter’s hands. So the robbers were being robbed. They’d also seen people trying to hijack cars but not getting very far for those efforts.
They pulled down a side street in an attempt to get away from a clogged area. The homes on the street seemed well manicured but some of the trees were now lying across the yards, cracks ran up the side of some of the houses and the once green lawns were colored gray. But there were no cracks in the road they could see.
Devlin pulled over to the sidewalk, he kept the bike idling but took out his map.
“How much longer do you think?” she asked as he checked his map. They’d already been on the road for over an hour, they’d spent fifteen minutes at the dealership but they’d only made it as far as a neighborhood in El Monte. Thank goodness they didn’t have to get near LA, they could see the smoke rising into the air from a county over. They might not have made it through LA. She wondered if her store was still standing. Most of the traffic stuck on the highways were people evacuating from LA, they found out when they pulled up next to people in cars stuck in traffic and chatted with them. Still, at this rate it would be another two hours before they reached Palm Springs, at least the second location wasn’t far away.
“Depends on what’s ahead. But doesn’t matter, we have to keep going. If there’s a chance I can redirect any of the aftershocks or stop another one we have no choice,” Devlin explained.
“What do you plan on using as an explosive? I’m assuming that’s what you plan on doing, causing another explosion.”
“Yeah, I’m keeping an eye open along the way for what I might need. I didn’t dare risk going back to my place to get my stuff. Time is too important and I don’t know if my house in the Hills is still standing.” The least of his concerns.
He put the bike back into gear and they took off again, keeping off the main roads as much as possible and avoiding the interstate completely. They drove in stops and starts, some stretches when they could get up to thirty miles an hour. One stretch they hit fifty. Just beyond Beaumont, Devlin veered away from the road they were on and onto a dirt road.
“What’s going on?”
“Construction site, I’ve been looking for one that might be doing blasting work. I mig
ht be able to find what we need here.”
The site appeared deserted. There were two cranes in a large hole in the ground, a couple of dump trucks and two mobile offices side by side at the perimeter. Devlin pulled right up to the closest unit and stopped the bike. He got off and she followed glancing around. The road was still being built to the site, what was there was just dirt, enough for the trucks to drive on. The car clogged street was blocks away and barely seen through the foliage.
“I’m sensing someone in one of the trailers,” she whispered to him.
“Can you stay out here and let me know if anyone comes around?” Devlin asked.
“Sure.” She leaned against the bike and kept scanning the area but before Devlin reached the door of the unit, someone stepped out of the other mobile building. He was dressed in a gray uniform. Security maybe?
“Site’s closed,” the man said, his hands rested on his waist something long and dark dangled from his hand.
Devlin glanced at the man as he changed course and walked toward him. He didn’t appear to be carrying a gun, just what looked like a long stick. There were three steel steps that lead to the open door the man stood in front of. Devlin stopped at the bottom and captured the man’s gaze, until he’d grabbed his mind. “I need to see inside.”
The man backed up a few steps until he’d crossed the threshold, Devlin moved quickly so he was right behind him and shut the door. He scanned the room, they appeared to be the only ones here, but he wanted to be sure. “Are you here by yourself?”
The man stood rigid, unblinking under Devlin’s control. “No.”
“Who else is here with you?”
“Pete.”
“Where is Pete?”
“Just went to get us some dinner.”
“When will he be back?” Devlin asked.
“Not sure.”
“Guess.”
“At least twenty minutes.”
“Okay good. Where are the explosives?”
“In the next room.”
“Is it in a safe? And do you have the key?”
“Yeah, it’s in a safe but I don’t have the key.”
“Okay.” Devlin glanced around and saw the man might have been sitting on a couch, there was a table in front of the couch and cards laid out on it. “Continue your card game. There is no one here with you. I am not here. You are alone.”
“I will continue my card game. No one is here with me. I am alone.” The man turned away, returned to his seat, and picked up his cards.
Devlin moved in the direction of the back room the guard had indicated. He found the safe. He was hoping it would be a coded lock safe and not one that had a more sophisticated lock, like thumb recognition. The hunter who’d trained him had been by trade a locksmith and had taught him a few tricks about opening safes. It had been a few years since he’d tried to do this but he was sure he’d remember. It took him a bit longer to crack it but he got it opened and it had the things he needed. He found a canvas bag that he placed the explosives in and the charges. He went back to the main area.
The man was still playing cards, he never looked up when Devlin walked past him.
“Everything go okay? You find what you need?” Eva asked.
“Yeah.” He opened up the storage compartment under the seat where his helmet would be stored and placed the bag inside.
She handed him the bottle of water she’d been drinking. He finished the half bottle and tossed it in the trashcan near the unit. “Let’s ride.”
They put their helmets on, got back on the bike, and Eva wrapped her arms around his waist again. He loved the way she pressed against his back. Even in this situation, he took pleasure in being with her and her nearness was keeping him semi-hard. It could have been worse, it could have been blue balls, which would have made it damned impossible for him to concentrate and drive, and he needed to focus. He needed to get them to the ground site before the sun went down. He had to be able to see what the hell was going on. He agreed with Eva, his gut told him the worst was yet to come.
It took them three hours, but finally they got to the coordinates Eva had on her phone. Her GPS wasn’t working too well, so they used a combination of the map and her phone. They left the bike and hiked up the mountain trail for a couple of miles. He knew when they found the spot. There was a crater in the ground right on the fault line.
The ground beneath their feet began to shake a little. Not as badly as earlier but still, it knocked them off their feet. “You okay,” Devlin asked as he helped her up.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Is this natural?” she asked.
“It’s not. Someone set off an explosion here.”
“And you think setting off another explosion will stop it from getting worse?” she asked.
“Yeah, I do. But first, I have to check the other site.”
“Okay, then what?”
“Then I plant other explosives to try to shift the plates back in line with each other.”
“Can you do that?”
He shrugged. “In theory, but it’s worth a shot.”
They found the other detonation by using the map and Eva’s GPS. Then just damn well crossing their fingers, as he found two counter points. He bent down to divide the charges he’d set, hoping the blast would be strong enough to shift and settle the plates.
Together, they set the new charges and the timer. It was best they not be near the zone when it went off. He gave them enough time to get back to the bike and out of the area. By the time they returned to the bike, the sky was blown up in an orange blaze just before the sun set.
“We’ve got to get back to my place,” Eva said.
“Shit.”
The roads appeared even more clogged. Just as the sun went down, they felt the ground shake so hard, Devlin had to stop the bike in order to keep them upright. He prayed what he’d done worked.
They would know soon enough.
Chapter Seventeen
Michael had been conscious for a while, sending his senses outward to get a feel for the area around him. The sense of panic strong enough to have him licking his lips. He walked out of his room and found Scott and Chris in the living room watching the news with no sound on. But the images of the city on fire spoke for itself. The others came out behind him. “Explain,” he said to Chris.
Chris spared a quick glance at Scott. “There’s been an earthquake, me and Scott set it up. I thought it would please you, master.” He pointed to the television, the scene appeared frozen. The signal seemed to come and go. “There’s chaos in the streets. Lots of fear and death to feed from. The hunters will not be able to stop us, they’ll be too busy helping the humans deal with the earthquake and the fires.”
“We’re going hunting,” Michael stated.
The men in the room merely nodded their heads in agreement, Chris was grinning from ear to ear. The room shook and there was a loud crack that echoed around the room. They glanced up to see a jagged line running across the ceiling and down one of the walls in the living room.
Michael headed toward the kitchen and the back door, hungry for the thick emotions riding the currents tonight. He opened the heavy door and walked out into the alleyway. The sounds of sirens and the scent of smoke were thick in the air. He inhaled and drank it in. Without a backwards glance, he rushed into the night to sate his hunger. Assuming the others would do the same, but not really giving a fuck.
Scott was the last to leave. “Go and get the woman,” he told Chris. “Bring her back here.”
“What? I thought I was going to be able to kill her,” Chris whined.
“You will, but I need her first. Bring her to me.”
“Fine. But, aren’t you coming with me?” Chris asked.
Scott glanced at him. “Are you too stupid to do such a simple task?”
“No. I’ll get dressed.”
Scott watched the pathetic excuse for a man. After he pulled some clothes on, Scott followed him out of the house. He watched Chris get into th
e car parked across the street. Scott sensed what he needed not far. Someone was in emotional pain. The best kind.
He only spent half an hour gorging himself on the woman who’d lost her husband when the ceiling or something had fallen and cracked the man’s skull open. The sense of her loss was all he needed. The emotions were so potent he was high on them, and infused with power. He left her drained and dead in the bedroom beside her husband. He returned to the house and made his way to Michael’s room, knowing he’d be gone for a while. What he needed might be hidden there. If not, then it would be on Michael, either way he’d get the Chronicle tonight.
It wasn’t there. Which meant Michael carried it on him. Scott prepared in Michael’s room for his return. A little something Abel had left him with. He removed the vial containing the precious liquid and inserted a needle into it. It wasn’t much, but Abel told him just a couple drops would be enough to make a soulless as weak, or weaker than a human. He put a cap on the needle and put it in his pocket.
He left the house and headed toward the bitch’s place. He didn’t trust Chris not to fuck this up. The destruction he passed along the way told him he might beat Chris to her house. The roads were crammed. Didn’t matter, he moved faster than a human eye could follow and those cracks in the road didn’t slow him down nor did the fires he moved through.
Scott reached her house and slipped in through a rear window that had already been cracked, perhaps from the quake. The house felt empty, but he would be careful. It was rumored Chroniclers could block their probes. He searched the three-room rambler but found nothing of interest except for the sword collection in a drawer in her room and a few guns, but it looked like some pieces were missing. She was probably out hunting. He sat in her living room to either wait for the woman to return or that fool Chris.
He heard the faint scraping of a window being opened from the back bedroom. Perhaps the same one he’d gone through but without all the needless noise. The sound of footfalls were like drums to him. “Hello, Chris.”
“What…Scott? What?”
Angel Hunter- Redemption Book 2 Page 16