Erasing Time (36 page)

Sheridan wanted to shrink back but couldn’t pull herself away from the view of the men marching up the hill. “I thought Reilly couldn’t get those to work.”

“Apparently the search apparatus wasn’t the problem.”

With each step the Enforcers took up the hill, Sheridan’s heart beat faster. Where was Mendez? Where was Joseph? Did they see what was happening?

The ripping sound of shots cut through the air. Flashes of light sizzled around the Enforcers’ legs like tiny fireworks. One of the Enforcers fell to the ground, then another toppled beside him. Both grabbed their knees, moaning.

“ALL down!” Helix yelled, and the remaining Enforcers knelt, their laser boxes pointed in front of them. Helix set the QGP on the ground and unclipped a laser box from his belt. “Stun setting only. I want no one killed until we have Tyler Sherwood bound.” He pointed at one of the Enforcers. “Scan the area and find the sniper.”

The man pulled a silver box from his belt and held it in the air, taking readings.

Sheridan expected the Enforcers to help their wounded, but the men kept their lasers up, surveying the area, seemingly unconcerned with the two who lay writhing and moaning on the ground.

The Enforcer with the scanner said, “I’m not getting any readings. The sniper either fled or has no crystal.”

Helix grunted, as though the Enforcer had just admitted to being incompetent. He squinted at the forest. “They’re here.” He turned his head to the left and then the right, still searching. “Try every known scan until you find that sniper, then kill him.”

Sheridan peered down the hill, wondering if Mendez had heard this pronouncement and if his covering would hide him from every scan.

Helix waved one hand in the direction of the wounded Enforcers. “Give them a pain eraser. Their yells will bring every viker from here to the city.”

Two of the Enforcers took kneeling steps over to their companions. Instead of being relieved by the help, the wounded men seemed more nervous about Helix’s command. “You’re not going to leave us here?” the first asked. “The vikers will take us if we’re unconscious.”

“I don’t need an eraser,” the other said, pulling himself to a sitting position. “I’ll be quiet.”

No one answered them. The two kneeling Enforcers unsnapped a small box from each man’s belt, took out syringes, and then inserted one into each wounded man’s knee. The men went limp. The only sign they were alive was the movement of their chests rising and falling.

Helix motioned to his remaining men. “That should be warning enough for the rest of you. If you’re stupid enough to let a sniper take you, you’ll end up as dinner for the vikers. Now find Tyler Sherwood.”

Step by kneeling step, the Enforcers moved up the hill. Each kept one arm straight down, the other straight out, swinging their laser boxes in front of them like sideways pendulums.

No more shots came from behind them. They weren’t giving Mendez a target anymore.

How long would it be until they reached the hiding spot? Keeping her voice low, Sheridan said, “Can you think of any way out of this?”

Taylor gave an almost unperceivable shake of her head. “If we run, they’ll shoot us. If we stay put, they’ll find us. Joseph isn’t around to use the disrupter, and even if he was, we’re outnumbered and they’re wearing armor. Mendez already shot at the QGP and nothing happened to it. They must have some sort of armor on it too.”

“Taylor, you need to think harder.”

Taylor scowled. “Now I know why you always got so mad when I told you that.”

Sheridan didn’t comment. She had just thought of the option Taylor wasn’t mentioning.

Joseph had said that Traventon trackers couldn’t distinguish identical twins from each other. They picked up whoever was closest. The same thing probably held true for the tracker on the QGP. Which meant that in order for Taylor to have a chance to escape, Sheridan had to be closest. She needed to draw the Enforcers to herself.

“I’m going to crawl down the hill and to the left,” Sheridan whispered. “You crawl up the ridge to the right. When you get out of sight, run. You’ll be able to get away while they’re tracking me.”

“I can’t just—”

Sheridan didn’t let her finish. “If you keep going east, you’ll meet up with the group from the clinic that was coming for us. They must be close by now.”

“No,” Taylor said. “Maybe Mendez will—”

Sheridan didn’t waste any more time arguing. “Go,” she said. “Don’t let my sacrifice be for nothing.” Then she shimmied out from under the camo tarp, leaving it for Taylor.

Sheridan moved slowly, stayed low so as not to draw the Enforcers’ attention too soon. Dry pine needles poked into her palms. Helix’s men were halfway up the hill, moving only inches with every kneeling step they took. Still, each second brought them closer.

Sheridan kept crawling, ignoring the pain from the pine needles, twigs, and rocks that dug into her hands and knees. She tried not to wonder if she would ever see Taylor again, or Joseph. She couldn’t let herself focus on anything but crawling. A minute passed. Maybe two. She looked up the ridge to see if she could spot Taylor moving. She couldn’t. Good. That meant the Enforcers couldn’t see her either.

“There! On the hill!” one of the Enforcers yelled. He was pointing to Sheridan.

She dropped to her stomach, flattening herself as much as she could. Shots ripped the air around her. She didn’t dare move.

Down on the mountainside a man screamed. One of the Enforcers must have stood to chase her and had his knees shot. Either that or Mendez had been found.

The firing stopped. She lifted her head to peer down the hill. Through the foliage she could see black patches—Enforcers—three on the ground now and three still moving toward her on their knees. Helix took up the rear, glancing over his shoulder.

If she could slither away faster than they could move on their knees, they’d have to stand again, providing Mendez with a target.

She pulled herself along the ground, scraping across grass and rocks, pushing through clumps of weeds that caught around her arms. It was like swimming in dirt and not nearly fast enough. Her hands stung; the green dye on her skin was dotted with drops of blood.

More shots crackled around her.

Then a shot found her.

Her body was slapped with pain. Her muscles went so rigid, she couldn’t breathe. She felt herself falling, rolling down the hillside, and couldn’t put out her hands to stop herself, couldn’t even shut her eyes.

She heard one of the men say, “We hit her.”

And another said, “Finally.”

She came to stop against a tree trunk, her face upward, staring into the sky. A few limp clouds floated forlornly above her. Below her, pine needles crackled. They were coming.

She needed air and couldn’t draw it. The ache in her lungs grew into a sharp pain. She would pass out soon.

She concentrated, used all of her strength, and was able to gasp in some air. More pine needles snapped below her. She blinked. Some of her feeling was returning. Her back stung from where she’d rolled over rocks and sticks on the way down the hill.

She tried to move her fingers, but couldn’t. Her hands felt as though they weren’t connected to her body.

She heard one of the men call out, “I found someone else on the scanner.”

“Take care of it,” Helix said.

It had to be Joseph. He was probably in his hiding place on the other ridge, not even aware of what was happening to them. Sheridan jerked her head so that she could see the hillside. One of the Enforcers was creeping downward. Helix and the other two were taking kneeling steps toward her. They were only a dozen feet away.

“She’s moving,” Helix called. “She didn’t get a full stun. Shoot her again.”

An Enforcer raised his laser box, pointing it at Sheridan.

Nothing happened.

“Shoot her,” Helix shouted.

The Enforcer’s thumb pressed down on the black box.

Still nothing.

“Are you waiting for a moving target?” Helix yelled.

“It won’t fire,” the man said.

Which meant Joseph was nearby. He had used the disrupter. Sheridan smiled. The feeling had come back to her lips. She looked down the hill to see if she could spot Joseph. She saw someone in camouflage coming up the hill but couldn’t tell if it was him or Mendez.

Helix set down the QGP and aimed his laser box at Sheridan. He gave her a daggered look as his thumb came down on the button. He was close enough now that she heard it click.

Nothing happened.

“Sangre!”
Helix took the laser box in two hands, pressing the button so hard, he could have snapped the box in two.
“Sangre! Sangre! Sangre!”
He threw the box to the ground, his face flushed with rage. On hands and knees he came toward Sheridan like an angry, black-and-gray-striped dog.

Sheridan glanced downhill again. Joseph—she could make him out now—was still far away, but rushing up the ridge. Relief and fear mixed together inside her. He was coming to help her. They were still outnumbered, though, and one of the Enforcers was headed straight toward him.

Off to Sheridan’s left side, the pine needles crunched. A moment later Mendez appeared in her view. Instead of a laser box, he held a large stick.

Helix looked at him, unconcerned. “Rossmar, Graham, kill the sniper while I bind our prisoner. We need to find the other girl and return to the city quickly.”

The first Enforcer lowered his head and ran toward Mendez like a football player going in for the tackle.

Mendez sidestepped him. As he went past, Mendez brought the stick down on the back of his neck. A sharp crack sounded, and pieces of bark flew through the air. The Enforcer was knocked to the ground. Mendez turned to face the next man.

Sheridan didn’t see more because Helix knelt in front of her. He pulled a silver rope from his belt, tugging it outward like a spider laying a web. “You’ve cost me time and men. I’ll see to it that you suffer before your memory wash. I’ll shatter you a hundred times.” He rolled her over so she was facedown in the dirt, then yanked her arms backward to tie them. She tried to move away from him, but her limbs were as motionless as the stones beside her. “Then when your memory is erased,” he said, giving her arms another tug that shot pain across her shoulders, “I’ll tell you that you’re my daughter.” He turned her over and took hold of her chin so that she was forced to look into his cold eyes. He smiled to let her know he was enjoying this. “You’ll do everything I tell you to do then.”

Joseph had spent several minutes crawling up the ridge on his hands and knees to avoid being seen. His coming up the hill that way was perhaps more dangerous than helpful.

As long as the Enforcers knelt, their shields protected them from his laser fire. The coverings diffused energy and scattered it with a harmless flash. But if the Enforcers detected Joseph, he’d be shot. He didn’t even dare use his disrupter, because even without laser boxes, the Enforcers would be hard to beat. Their armor had a stiffness to it that could take several more blows than Joseph’s unprotected head and torso.

Joseph needed to wait until he and Mendez could bring down the Enforcers’ numbers before he used his disrupter.

Joseph kept moving forward. He was breathing in dust and dirt. It coated the inside of his mouth. He watched as the Enforcers discovered and stunned one of the girls. He couldn’t tell which.... No, that wasn’t right. Even though he couldn’t identify her from this far away, he knew it was Sheridan. She had come out of the camo tarp to lead the Enforcers away from Taylor.

He crawled faster, the disrupter gripped in his hand. He had to keep reminding himself that they wouldn’t kill her.

And then he heard one of the Enforcers yell out, “I found someone else on the scanner!”

Joseph couldn’t wait any longer. He switched on the disrupter, left it there pulsing on the ground, then stood and ran up the hill toward the group.

One of the Enforcers headed downhill toward him, but Joseph had the element of surprise. The man held out his laser box and pushed Fire. Nothing happened. In the time it took him to push it again, Joseph picked up a rock and heaved it at the man. It hit him squarely in the chest, and he staggered backward.

Out of the corner of his eye, Joseph saw that Mendez had appeared from behind the trees, a thick stick in his hand. A stick, yes. They would have to fight like vikers now, with any weapons they could find. The armor might shield the Enforcers, but it made them move slower too. If he could get in enough hits, he might be able to stop the Enforcers long enough to rescue Sheridan.

Joseph spotted a low-growing tree branch. He would rip it off and use it like a club. He reached up and grabbed hold of the branch, trying to use his weight to tear it off. It didn’t tear. It only swayed downward. He pulled harder. How could a tree branch that was smaller than his arm support his weight this way? He didn’t have time to ponder the physics; the Enforcer ran toward him.

Still holding on to the tree branch, Joseph swung both his legs forward and kicked the Enforcer’s chest.

The man sprawled backward, hitting the ground. Joseph didn’t wait for him to get up. He leaped on top of him, wrestling like he’d wrestled Echo a thousand times. Only this time it mattered who won. In a few swift moves, Joseph pinned him facedown. Joseph’s arm wound around the man’s neck in a move that had always been illegal. Too much pressure, and you could break someone’s neck. The man’s armor protected him from that, but the Enforcer knew he was at a standoff. He called out for help.