Rebirth (Cross Book 1)

by Hildred Billings

  “Don’t fucking lie to me!” Syrfila did not relent. “I know this bitch took it the other night, and your old man would never keep it because it would make Earth way too unstable. So it has to be here somewhere.”

  “I don’t know!” Devon made a fist. “Don’t you think I would tell you if I did?”

  “Hmm…” Syrfila slowly backed out of the bedroom and toward Danielle. “This puts a wrench in a few things. Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

  Devon lunged for the doorway. Syrfila planted her foot before him and clicked her tongue. “I may not give a shit about what happens to you, but that doesn’t mean I’m still not supposed to do my job.” She shoved Devon down onto the bathroom sink. With him now heading toward the floor, Syrfila dug the bottom of her boot into his chest and held him there with all the strength in her thighs. If there was any time to have a spontaneous regression, then that was it.

  It seemed his old soul answered his prayers. He did not have a weapon on him, but he did have enough strength to make one last escape.

  “Go to Hell!” He smacked both guns from her hands. While Syrfila dove for them, he reached for his tattoo, escaping that plane of existence as soon as he passed through the nearest doorway.

  Syrfila turned around. “Fucking coward!” she shouted into the empty bathroom. But it did not matter, for she had the bartering chip she was after. She may not have the ring, but she had Danielle. She knew two people who would fight tooth and nail to get her back – even if they were both cowards now.

  ***

  “Boss, you might wanna turn your feed over to the Federation News. Things are about to get super crazy.”

  Marlow flipped his monitors over to the news and dropped his jaw upon seeing footage of military ships treading into Earth’s airspace.

  “…This is the last attempt to evacuate Federation personnel and civilian citizens before we possibly see the end of a pet planet adored by trillions.” The female news anchor maintained a blasé expression, although her mouth continued to twitch. “Earlier today, the President of the Federation ordered a mass migration of military ships to Earth’s atmosphere to conduct a double mission – to salvage as many innocent people as possible, and to apprehend Nerilis Dunsman and his accomplices in the off-chance that they can be captured. Of course, what everyone wants to know now is if Earth can be saved at all. For more insight we go to our panel…”

  Marlow turned the volume down in disgust. “Where are the mercenaries,” he muttered.

  “Getting shot at!” Devon appeared, falling to his knees as he entered the office.

  “What is going on with you two?”

  Devon struggled to catch his breath. “They took Danielle. They’re trying to get the Third Piece from her.”

  Marlow remained silent.

  “What do we do? Tell me!” Devon’s face flushed red as he came down upon Marlow with every trick he ever learned about intimidating someone unlucky enough to be in his custody. “Tell me, goddamnit! How am I supposed to trust you if you won’t trust us? They’ve got Danielle now, and I better know what’s going to happen to her!”

  “They’re using her as bait to get you to hand everything over.”

  “Maybe I should!”

  “How…”

  “I’m serious! We’re fucked, right? We’ll always be fucked! If Sulim and I couldn’t stop Marlow ninety-eight times before, what makes you think we’ll be able to do it this time? We’re so fucked!” He clasped his hands around his head and let out a bitter sob. “Don’t you get it? He’s always going to win!”

  Marlow continued to sit with his back straight.

  Devon wiped his face. “Where would they have taken her?”

  “The only stable place would be Nerilis’s hideout. It’s probably an interdimensional safe space much like here.”

  “How would I get there?”

  Marlow held up his hands. “Even if you could get there, it would be the most dangerous place you could possibly be. If Earth is destroyed while you are both there, you could be trapped in the Process forever.”

  “So then I guess I better go get Danielle so we can die on Earth, right?”

  “Devon…”

  “Stop this patronizing bullshit! Tell me what to do!”

  Marlow said his next words with caution. “The only way you could access Nerilis’s place is if you managed to find the object he’s using on Earth to transport his cohorts there and back. It would be somewhere innocuous, and who knows, maybe a natural disaster has destroyed it by now. But that’s the only way, aside from him taking you there himself.”

  Devon sucked up his pride and called upon his old self again to get the job done.

  “Well, I should go kick some fucking ass.”

  Marlow sifted through a stack of papers when the embittered mercenary clobbered him on the back of the head with his righteous fist. The sorcerer gasped for air and crumpled on top of his desk. Devon shook out his hand.

  “Guess you shouldn’t have trusted us after all.” Devon opened Marlow’s guarded drawer. As Charlie growled beneath the desk, Devon stared down at the key and written codes that would give him access to the safehouse where St. Lucia the Relic was stored. Sonall was in control now. Sonall didn’t give a damn about what happened next besides saving the planet.

  And Sulim with it.

  While Marlow slowly twitched to consciousness, Devon transported himself back to Danielle’s apartment. Where Syrfila failed, Devon’s instincts won. Located at the bottom of Danielle’s private drawer were the batteries once belonging to her vibrator. He popped open the battery compartment and emptied the ring into his hand. Finally, he had something to barter with.

  His cell phone was cold against his ear. Devon did not give the other person time to speak the moment they answered.

  “I’ve got a deal to make with you. Will you listen to me?”

  A perturbed silence. “Perhaps. What is it?”

  “They’ve taken Danielle.”

  “Who is they?”

  “They’ve taken her, and I’ve got the ring and access to the other Relic. Help me get in.”

  “What makes you think I can get in?”

  “Because you work with Dunsman.”

  Miranda laughed on the other line. “You’ve got the ring, right? Put it on. It should take you to his hideout.”

  “Oh, really? Because when Danielle did that, she didn’t disappear. She went into a regressive attack.”

  “Because that was Danielle. You don’t have an emotional connection to the ring.”

  Devon paced back and forth in front of Danielle’s dresser. “You’re going to tell me how to get in just like that?”

  “Well, like you said, they’ve got Danielle. I can’t have that, now can I?”

  “Will you actually help me, then?”

  “Maybe. I’ll think about it. It will depend on whether or not your wants overlap with mine.”

  “I think we have a common goal.”

  “You won’t stop Dunsman. Not this far in. We’re all going to die.”

  “Then at least you should want us to get Danielle back to Earth before we all die, and she gets trapped in the Process forever.”

  “You go on ahead and I’ll catch up later.” Miranda hung up.

  Devon grunted, his mood in no way improved and his spirits definitely not lifted. He looked down at the ring in his hand and assessed the small band. He supposed he could cram it onto his pinky finger, but even that stretched it.

  He looked around the room and found Danielle’s gun next to her dusty purse in the corner of the bedroom. After checking it was loaded, he made a makeshift holster out of his belt and took off, grabbing her car keys off the hook on his way out.

  ***

  When conducting an operation on this level, it was best to let old habits take over.

  More like old confidence, Devon thought, as he drove Danielle’s car to the outskirts of the property housing St. Lucia in its depths. Even the drive re
quired an old confidence he hadn’t espoused since his days as a weathered mercenary on a planet filled with old, rusty vehicles that required extensive tinkering.

  Sonall Gardiah once flew close-terrain jets and interplanetary ships by himself or with the aid of only one other person. Usually Sulim. Driving a simple car was no problem. Obeying the traffic laws so he wasn’t caught driving without a license, however, was.

  He put the car into park and reminded himself why he was doing this. For you, Sulim, he thought. For Danielle. The door opened with purpose. The trunk popped up, ready to abscond with a piece of Earth’s soul once more.

  Get in. Get out. Just like half the missions he did while a mercenary. Only the stakes were much, much higher than stealing intel from a rivaling faction or assassinating someone’s mortal enemy or abusive family member. This time it was personal – and a whole planet was at stake.

  If Devon bled back into his own subconscious, he could say goodbye to success. No, his best chance was to accept Sonall’s instincts and silent instructions. If instinct said to duck as soon as he saw a Federation-regulated string hanging from a tree, then he ducked as if his head were about to be snapped off his body. (It was. Evan, who had personally set up the traps around the property, couldn’t take enough precautions.)

  He didn’t care about being caught on camera or alerting the authorities. He only needed enough time to grab the Relic and get out.

  Alarms sounded as soon as he crossed an invisible boundary. Commands, both in English and in Basic – a language Sonall could no longer interpret after a thousand years had passed – told him to step away before Federation Forces arrived. Kneel beneath a tree. Put his hands on his head. Try not to cry.

  No. No crying, no kneeling. Only his fist through foliage, knocking open a keypad where he punched in the first of many codes that opened the door to the unassuming house.

  It might have taken about five minutes, tops. That included kicking down the door when it didn’t open quickly enough, and the whirling blades of a helicopter approaching quickly from the city center. Federation, Devon thought, although he had no basis for that assertion other than that’s what Sonall assumed. Good enough for him.

  The Relic had been buried deep in the basement of the small house. More keypads with codes. Bio scanners that would either take a mercenary’s DNA codes or could be hacked with the grip of Danielle’s gun – or, if absolutely necessary, shot with one bullet and rendered useless. Devon Anderson had never fired a gun before. Sonall Gardiah didn’t think rudimentary Earth-based firearms were that different from the high-tech weaponry he used a thousand years ago.

  If anything, Earth weapons were more fun. But that delight could be enjoyed later. Devon was fueled with his desire to save Danielle – and Earth. That kind of focus allowed him to punch out a lonely guard standing in the room with St. Lucia. Devon would have never guessed a living soul was in the house. Sonall, on the other hand, would’ve been disappointed if he didn’t get to punch someone.

  Once the Federation guard was on the floor, Devon shook out his bruised hand and deactivated the deadly lasers aimed at St. Lucia, currently sitting on a small pedestal with a silk handkerchief draped over its head.

  Poisonous gas erupted from the base of the pedestal when Devon yanked the statue into his hands. He knew that was a possibility as well, and was ready to run the moment he touched the statue.

  The door to the basement threatened to close in his face, locking him in a poisonous hole. The only thing keeping it from latching shut was his shoulder shoving his whole body through, statue still in hand.

  The helicopter had begun hovering over the property by the time Devon reached the front door again. There was no time to make it to Danielle’s car before he would be apprehended by half a dozen feds with weapons more advanced than anything he used before. He could practically see the golden F pendants glittering on their collars as they descended from the helicopter, their voices shouting at him in Basic to lower his weapon and to put the Relic down.

  Yeah, right.

  The small contingency of Federation Forces, deployed from a nondescript downtown office meant to house those intergalactic agencies the common Earthling wasn’t supposed to ever know about, were not trained to deal with one of Cerilyn’s highly trained mercenaries. Devon may not have had the finely honed body he died with a thousand years ago, but he was strong and coordinated enough to run back into the house before any of the feds could stun him. He dropped his now unloaded weapon and raised his hand.

  He hadn’t even noticed that his tattoo burned from the Relic’s presence until he slipped the Third Piece onto his finger and disappeared into another dimension.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  Time was absent in Nerilis’s hideout, where Syrfila sometimes crashed when she needed to hide from bounty hunters. Nerilis had other arrangements for his daily life, but Syrfila found a few storage rooms, a bedroom, and a dirty bathroom to suit her occasional needs.

  “Here you go, sleeping princess.” Syrfila shoved Danielle’s lifeless body into a chair and tied her up using a rope stained with blood. She admired the knots holding Danielle to the chair, her hanging head a sight to behold. “Should only be a matter of time now before that little whelp comes to rescue such a fair and brutish damsel in distress.”

  Tucked in the corner of the room was a security scanner that would quickly tell her if she had any company. Syrfila took a panoramic shot of the room, careful to exclude Danielle.

  “Life form detected nearby,” the female voice quipped.

  “Excellent. He should be here soon.”

  “Female.”

  “What? Oh, goodie.” Syrfila put the scanner away. “Hello, babe.”

  Miranda leaned in the doorway, her hair veiling half of her face. “What are you doing?”

  “Finishing my job. What are you doing here?”

  She stepped forward with pursed lips. “I seem to recall getting a phone call this morning inviting me over.”

  “How did you get here? They took the Third Piece from you.”

  “The clock in the warehouse.” Easy enough to find, if a half-julah used her instincts.

  “Ah.” Syrfila moved out of the way so Miranda could get a hard look at who silently joined them. “Happy you came now?”

  Miranda considered Danielle’s blond hair, tousled and sticky. She slouched over in the chair like a rag doll, wrists and ankles tied down.

  “You’re a couple weeks late, but I appreciate the birthday present. Do I get to play with it?”

  “That’s more like it.” Syrfila extended her hand to fix Miranda’s blouse button. “I much prefer my dirty girl to anything else.”

  Miranda pushed past her to see how Danielle held up. She cupped the invalid’s chin between her fingers and lifted her face. “How do you plan on taking care of her until that boy shows up with the Relic?”

  Syrfila snorted. “Ha! I could let you do that. Feeding her, combing her… bathing her… it will be like having a nice, big, living doll.”

  “You’re so sick.”

  “Babe, we’ve had this conversation before.”

  Miranda released Danielle’s chin, her head bobbing back down into limp unconsciousness. “What are you going to do when Earth is obliterated? Wait here?”

  Syrfila shrugged. “Maybe. Do you think he would let me?”

  “You don’t even have proof that this place isn’t located somewhere on Earth.”

  A sudden, thoughtful frown. “What do you mean by that?”

  “You know what I mean…” Miranda suppressed a smile. “How do we know we’re not in Brazil, or Ghana, or Indonesia right now?” She enjoyed Syrfila’s gasp. “It’s so cold and unfriendly down here that we’re probably in Siberia.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “He told me.”

  “When?”

  “I don’t know. Fifteen years ago? Back when he used to like me?” In truth, Miranda did not know any of this for sure. She once overheard h
er father say something about Marlow’s office on Terra III sounding awfully like the “interdimensional” one she had been in before. But it was a lot more fun to watch Syrfila believe she was still in danger.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Fine, you don’t have to. But someone as concerned about surviving this as you are should think about an alternative plan.”

  Syrfila turned her back on Miranda. “I’m going to talk to him about this.”

  “You do that. I guess I’ll wait around here.” Miranda waited to continue until Syrfila walked away. “If there’s an earthquake, I’ll let you know!” she called after her.

  Alone with a comatose woman, Miranda took a picture of Danielle with her cell phone and sent it to the last person who called her. Eventually, Devon would turn a corner and his cell phone would ring into life. Miranda could not see any other choice at that point.

  She abandoned the room and closed the door behind her. As much as everyone knew that Miranda was a traitor, it was not prudent to raise too much suspicion yet.

  ***

  “Boss! What happened?” Evan threw down his folders and ran to Marlow’s side, the old sorcerer groaning as his assistant got a look at the welt on his head. “Who did this?”

  Marlow grasped the edge of his desk. “That little ass!” He pulled open the drawer next to him. “He went after the Relic!”

  “Who took what? What’s going on?”

  “It was Devon… Sonall… whoever was in control of that ridiculous tirade! He went after the Relic to give to Nerilis’s cronies.”

  “What? Why would he do that?”

  “Because… because I don’t know.” It was not the time to go into past-life politics with Evan. “Why are you here?”

  Evan picked up his folders, the cords around his neck swinging like the pendulum with each stretch of the arm. “Because you’ve got guests, Boss.”

  “Guests?”

  “Master Ramaron Marlow…” Behind Evan came a trio of uniformed individuals, their leader an older man with a stern face that reflected years of service. “Do you know who I am?”