Got Thrills? A Boxed Set (A McCray Collection)

by Carolyn McCray

  Once she gathered enough beauty, peace, and universal love readings to rescue her faith in mankind, she headed up to the second floor where the French paintings were housed.

  As she entered the older part of the Louvre, Mia passed through the area where the temporary exhibits were housed. This month’s exhibit was the world’s largest collection of star diamonds. Mia rolled her eyes at the crowds that were gathered to peer at the tiny shards of rainbow-colored mineral. Seriously, they were like a murder of crows, flocking around a shiny object.

  Mia had heard that a star diamond chip that measured less than a twenty-fourth of a carat had just sold for a million and a half US dollars. What kind of insanity was that?

  Even the way they had to be mined by hand seemed barbaric. Star diamonds could be found only up on the moon, where asteroids filled with the shiny crystals had struck on the dark side. They were undetectable by any kind of location technology tested up to this point. In order to find the little suckers, diamond hunters had to pan for them the same way miners had done back two centuries ago during the Gold Rush, with the addition of spacesuits and oxygen tanks.

  Stepping through the crowds, Mia was jolted with another thought. What if she scanned the brainwaves of the patrons here? She could demonstrate that the star diamonds were invoking a more primitive animal response, versus the more elevated cerebral cortex activity that paintings and fine art caused. That would be an interesting addition to her findings.

  Mia pulled out the scanner and moved in closer to the mob of people, who she could now see, was the group that had bumped her upon entering. Up front was the icy blond with the determined eyes. The woman spoke to her group with an accent that sounded Swedish or Finnish…something Nordic, anyway.

  As Mia passed one of the plasteel showcases housing the diamonds, her scanner vibrated in her hand, indicating a completed scan. Strange. She hadn’t thought she was close enough to pick up a reading on anyone.

  Searching the crowd to make sure no one had noticed, Mia locked gazes with the tour guide. Steely blue eyes bored into her own, causing Mia to flush and duck away. She shoved the scanner back into her purse, trying to make the action seem as natural as possible.

  Mia scuttled off to one of the corners of the exhibit, waiting for a harsh voice of a virtual security guard to ask her what she was doing. When nothing happened, she leaned against the wall, allowing her heart rate to return to something resembling normal. That had been close. And more than a little strange. Her scanner had never done anything like that before.

  A quick check of the system revealed nothing out of order. The battery was charged, the scanner seemed to be working, and all of the other scans appeared normal. Maybe there had been some sort of interference from a nearby vidphone. Or maybe there was something in the security measures the museum was using on the star diamonds. They had to be keeping close tabs on those little glass chips. All told, they were probably worth close to a billion dollars. That had to be it.

  Reassured, both by her hypothesis and the fact that no one had come to search her purse, Mia prepped the scanner and got ready to step out of her darkened corner. Just as she was about to rejoin the group and start collecting data, the crowd around the exhibit started moving toward the nearest exit. Mia guessed the tour group was on its way toward whatever else was coolest this month at the Louvre.

  As the tour guide followed the group, herding them forward like so many sheep, Mia wondered at the woman’s tactics. Didn’t tour guides normally lead from the front? As the guide passed through the doors of the exit, she took a moment to pull them closed behind her.

  Mia started to move out of her alcove, but was stopped by movement from the opposite direction from which the tour group had gone. Two men entered through the doorway and closed the doors behind them. Mia felt a shock of recognition. One of the men was the older man that had scanned as aggressive. The other was wearing an army green coat.

  Something was definitely not right. Mia slunk back as far as she could into the tiny alcove and watched the men through their reflection in a rather gaudy Greco-Roman mirror. Mia could see bulges under their arms. The kind of bulge a concealed weapon might make. Mia shrank back, doing her best impersonation of being invisible.

  As the three approached the star diamond case, Mia cast her eyes around looking for an escape route or at least a hiding spot better than this barely-recessed alcove. Just around the corner was a large temporary structure containing all sorts of information on the formation of star diamonds. This was one of the push-the-button-self-tour maze structures found in so many museums that felt so very out of place at the Louvre. Out of place, but oh-so-welcome to Mia in this particular moment.

  The only challenge was entering the maze without being seen. There was twenty-five feet to the entrance, through an area that was very exposed and of course, brightly lit.

  Hunkered down, waiting for any opportunity to practice her museum sprinting skills, Mia watched the icy blonde type in some kind of override code to the star diamond case. The thing opened with a whoosh of hydraulics. Then all three thieves leaned into the case.

  This was her chance. Mia slid off her loafers and sprinted for the maze entrance. She slip-skidded across the slick marble floor, but entered the maze without a sound. Mia would have made her escape cleanly if her scanner hadn't suddenly gone berserk, vibrating away.

  Mia froze, her heart in her throat, waiting for the inevitable reaction from the trio.

  And they did not disappoint.

  “Did you hear that?” the blonde hissed.

  “Bloody hell,” the older man said in a clipped British accent. “That’s the sound I heard with that blasted woman near the Mona Lisa.”

  “The Asian?” the Belgian growled. “She interrupted me while installing slav cam.”

  “Damn it, didn’t you check the entire floor?” the blonde demanded. The Brit tried to explain, but the blonde overrode him. “Find her.”

  Mia heard the two men move off, looking for the source of the noise. The sound must have bounced and echoed, making her location more difficult to ascertain. Mia picked up her jade scorpion and pressed her lips on the stinger tail. A lucky break, just when she needed it most.

  She could still get lost in the maze. Once the blonde had secured all the star diamonds, Mia was sure the thieves would high tail it out of here. The scanner activated again, vibrating so violently it nearly fell out of her hands.

  “The star diamonds,” the blonde hissed. Then she raised her voice. “The Asian has found a way to track star diamonds.”

  Mia froze. That couldn’t be true, could it? Had she someone stumbled onto a way to find star diamonds? Remotely? The concept wasn’t unprecedented. The dessert Jell-O was well known for emitting waves very similar to brain waves. Did the star diamonds do something similar? Is that why her scanner could pick them up?

  Which would have been great, except for the whole fact that an international team of thieves now knew about it. And the heavy steps of men running didn’t help any. There was no way these people were going to just leave now. Not when the scanner in Mia’s hand was worth a thousand of those trifling baubles in the case.

  There was only one real option here, but the thought of it was terrifying. Mia had to take control of the situation. Now.

  Before she could talk herself out of it, Mia charged the wall, hitting the structure as hard and as low as she could. As she had suspected, the temporary wall was only magnetically sealed to the floor. The wall crashed into the star diamond display case, shattering the glass. Mia had just a moment to see the look of shock and recognition on the face of the Swede before she bolted back into the maze.

  But the flare of alarms and flashing lights announcing a break-in did not materialize. Bars should have come down over the doors. Virtual security guards should have popped up in every corner. The lack of any response gave her severe pause. Clearly, this trio had disabled any and all alerts set in the exhibit. There would be no help from the outside.


  But the die was cast. She didn’t have time to think of another plan. The tour guide had seen where Mia was heading, so she was effectively trapping herself inside the structure. What was done was done, though.

  Rather than bury herself in a back corner somewhere, which her attackers would almost certainly expect, Mia went high, climbing up on top of one of the displays. Her movements were smooth, silent. Her sensei would have been proud.

  And she listened. Soon enough, she heard the voice of the woman moving toward her. Her tone held more than a few traces of pain and irritation, giving Mia a perverse sense of satisfaction.

  Mia pulled back from the leading edge of the display where she perched, waiting for the first opponent to come along. She was used to facing them in the ring. With rules and a referee. Oh, and barehanded.

  The first person to appear was the older Brit, carrying some sort of ceramic gun. Mia took a moment to enter a code into her scanner and hide it on top of the wall before turning her attention back to the dapper thief.

  The man was wary, and by the way he moved, it was clear that he had not allowed himself to go to fat. She waited until the man had passed completely by her display, then leapt out, her foot aimed right at the back of the Brit’s neck.

  Some errant breath of air or sixth sense must have alerted the man, as he spun halfway around, catching Mia’s kick square in the side of his jaw. Rattled, but not down, the man roared, charging her. Mia dodged to the side, catching the Brit on the back of the head with her two fists knotted together. The hit sent the man careening into a wall where he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

  Not quite as quick or as soundless as she could've hoped for, but Mia would take it. She darted out of the area, seeking another dark corner from which to attack next. As she rounded a corner, she found herself face to face with the Belgian, who took on a fighting stance, his mouth contorting into a feral grin. From the stance, Mia could see this would not be such a quick win for her. She glanced around, seeking some sort of additional help with a much taller, much heavier opponent. She saw none.

  The man must have observed her failed search; his grin widened and he moved in with more confidence. Watching the man’s advance, Mia noted a hitch in his left foot and attacked just as it came around the second time.

  Her punch fell on empty air as the man dropped to the floor and swept Mia’s legs out from under her. As Mia landed, her breath whooshing out of her, she realized she had fallen for a feint. There was no limp. The man followed up with a fist to Mia’s face, splitting her lip. Mia had been fooled, and now she was hurt…and down on the ground, vulnerable.

  But so was he.

  Mia was nothing if not quick. And limber. She flipped herself up to standing and was ready to catch the Belgian with a roundhouse kick to the side of the temple. Well, she thought she was ready. But apparently, so was he. He caught her leg, forcing Mia to flip herself over to escape the inevitable next move that would shatter her ulna.

  She faced the man once more, respect for his speed and skill coloring her every movement. Her lip throbbed where it had been split. She wiped her hand against her mouth, seeing the streak of blood stark against her skin. The man’s smile became downright lecherous.

  “The pain. You like? I give more.”

  “Thanks, but not without dinner first.” The Belgian charged, but Mia was ready. She leapt upward, latching onto a hanging light fixture dangling from the ceiling. Her skin sizzled where it touched the hot metal of the lamp, but she kept her arms wrapped tightly around it.

  The Belgian’s charge forward took him right into the cradle made by Mia’s legs. She encircled his neck with her thighs and squeezed, bearing down as hard as she could, cutting off his airflow. The assailant's face turned red, then purple, then black, as he clawed at her legs before he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Second assailant down.

  Mia dropped to the ground, feeling some of her skin peel off as she let go of the lamp. As she landed, she heard a soft pop and felt a lance of fire across her left obliques. She clamped a hand to her side and whirled around in time to see the blonde woman toss aside her weapon. Apparently, the forced air pistols they carried were one-shot wonders…and not terribly accurate. Mia’s hand came away dripping red, but she wasn’t dead, and the wound felt superficial. Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a mother, though.

  The woman circled to her right, toward Mia’s injury, and Mia felt her last hope fade. The woman’s movements, stance, and fluidity bespoke decades of martial arts training. At her best, Mia might be able to take her. But Mia was far from at her best right now. And the woman knew it.

  There was no idle chit-chat. No knowing smile. These were two worthy opponents using every ounce of their concentration on taking down the other. Each knew the age-old saying that a white belt who focused would defeat the black belt who did not.

  The Swede made a lightning strike with her fist toward Mia’s face, which Mia managed to block, only to find that the attack was not the primary one. The woman brought her right knee up and connected with Mia’s side, right where she had been struck by the bullet. The pain flamed up and out from her wound, hunching her over in agony. The woman then took a vicious sideways swipe across Mia’s face, knocking her to the side.

  Mia fell against one of the walls, bracing herself to kick back with her foot at the blonde’s face as she advanced. The blow connected, snapping the woman’s head back. Mia followed up with a slicing thrust of her fist to the woman’s solar plexus. Impossibly, the blonde countered, knocking away Mia’s hand and slashing out once more at Mia’s left side. Pain blossomed anew, giving Mia’s sight a red haze that was difficult to focus through.

  The blonde pressed her advantage, blow after ringing blow landing on Mia’s face and neck, alternated with savage thrusts to the bullet wound. Mia retreated back out of the maze toward the star diamond display, blocking every blow she could, but she was losing. Badly. This would not end well, unless she could hold out for a little while longer…

  There. A beeping sounded from up above, where Mia had planted the scanner, set to go off in two minutes. The noise was enough distraction to cause the blonde to glance up.

  A moment was all Mia needed. She thrust her stiff fingers straight forward, catching the Swede right in the larynx. The woman stumbled back, clutching at her throat, trying to pull air in where air was no longer welcome. Mia followed the blonde one step forward, two…then spun around in a full circle, her heel slamming into the Swede’s temple.

  And then there was nothing in front of Mia but a smallish woman doing her best impersonation of a limp rag. Mia took a long moment to catch her breath, then leaned over to make sure the woman’s larynx wasn’t completely collapsed. She wanted the woman incapacitated, not dead.

  After making sure the blonde would be okay, but not anytime soon, Mia checked the room, taking in the collateral damage. Other than the three human-shaped bundles on the ground, there was very little. A couple of holes in the drywall, a temporary wall knocked askew, a display case tipped over. Could be worse. Much worse.

  Mia pressed her fist into her side, pushing against the pain that throbbed there. Time to go get the authorities. Mia began to shuffle toward the exit, not terribly anxious to continue with the next step.

  Despite the pain, Mia shook the wall hard, causing her scanner to fall from its hiding place. Hurrying before the authorities got there, Mia swiped the scanner over the star diamonds. It vibrated against her blood slicked palm. It really could sense them. Rapidly she turned the device off. Commotion on the other side of the doors. The authorities. Regardless of the fact that Mia was guiltless here, she was almost certain she would no longer be welcome here. One more museum from which she was barred. Awesome.

  That mattered little, anymore, as Mia hurried to find her purse and hide the scanner amongst the post cards and receipts. As the gallery doors opened, Mia felt a huge grin spread across her face in spite of the pain.

  It was time fo
r her to shoot for the stars.

  Or, perhaps, the moon.

  * * *

  MoonRush: The pulse-pounding near future adventure!

  PROLOGUE

  The meteor swirled through space, trailing frozen vapors like streamers of iridescent glory. It hurled itself, unheeding and uncaring, toward the glowing orb partially shadowed by the larger, bluer sphere beyond it. Some of its smaller traveling companions sped past the silvery surface, heading toward the lapis-and-milk-swirled planet face beyond. The larger rock sped into the shadowy darkness, a jagged shard of the heavens poised to wreak havoc on the terrain below.

  The impact was immense.

  Ribbons of smaller debris arced out in spiraling waves across the almost nonexistent atmosphere. Glittering shards dispersed themselves gradually, spreading out in even thinner bands.

  The crater carved in the moon’s surface by the massive stone dwarfed the others surrounding it. It was ostentatious, like newfound wealth amidst old money. Reverberations from the impact were felt by the stones on the opposite side of the cold globe, disturbing footprints from a famous walk now decades old.

  The sun broke over the edge of one of the bands, refracting the minerals deposited by the collision of meteor and moon. Rainbows sparked, multiplying moment by moment until the previously dark strip now evoked images of ancient otherworldly glory. Atlantis. Valhalla. Olympus.

  Above in the cold void, lights winked in counterpoint to the fiery display below. The satellite coolly observed, taking it in.

  CHAPTER 1

  24º 30' N, 77º 30' W

  Tongue of the Ocean

  March 18, 2049

  0900 hours, EST

  A sparkle glimmered in the space between Jarod and the sandy expanse before him. His feet dragged through the silt on the ocean bed, stirring up puffs of grains and clouding the water—as well as disturbing the occasional occupant. Rainbows of fish schooled past his vision, darting away from the perceived danger of this overworld intruder.