Stones: Experiment (Stones #3) (18 page)

Even though he’s in time-freeze mode, she may still sense his presence.

On the left, a string of new buildings looks freshly painted in blue and white. Ten meters directly across from them, on the other side of the road, there’s an older section of apartments, its colors indistinguishable from the thick dust that coats people and buildings alike.

Glancing at his holo map, Ryzaard walks past two more side streets. He bumps into the rigid form of a solider with a pulse rifle dangling from his shoulder and turns sharply to the right, out of the crowd, down a crooked alleyway narrow enough for him to stretch out his arms and run fingers along both sides. Under his feet, a black rat the size of a Chihuahua stands in the middle of the cobblestone path, frozen in the act of darting into a crevice between buildings. Ryzaard looks closely and sees a kitten hanging from its mouth.

Mice eating cats. The world truly is upside down.

He moves on and passes another crevice marking the end of one building and the beginning of another. He glances at the jax. Five more paces and there should be an open doorway on the left.

He looks up, and there it is. Dr. Kamel lives in this building, three floors up.

Letting go of the present moment, time starts again. The sound of nighttime hustle and bustle filters in from the main street he has just left. Shadows move in both directions at the end of the alley. The rat disappears into the walls with its doomed quarry.

Ryzaard balances the killing device in his right hand, palm underneath, steady and comfortable. The Stones burn with a low blue light, barely visible through the transparent surface in the darkness. With the exact GPS coordinates of Dr. Kamel’s apartment, he could easily jump there. But it’s too risky. If she is as well-trained in the use of the Stone as he fears, she will immediately sense his presence and react.

The element of surprise will be lost.

Better to approach slowly, carefully. He checks the holo image on his jax coming directly from hidden v-cams in her apartment. Dr. Kamel is asleep in bed, tired from a long day’s work.

Ryzaard moves past an open hallway to the right and lifts his foot, resting it on the bottom step of a stairway leading up. He slowly ascends twelve creaking steps and comes out onto the second floor. A random voice yells at the far end of the hallway, and a door slams shut. He freezes in the darkness.

A man in long, dusty robes walks the hallway toward him.

Turning and stepping onto the stairs leading to the third floor, Ryzaard moves upward, closer to his destination.

When he reaches the fourth step, he hears the man stop behind him at the foot of the steps.

Ryzaard keeps moving.

A hand grabs his shoulder.

“
Ana bhajh ela almal.
”

Ryzaard turns, inhaling the smell of cheap gin and looking directly into the crazed eyes. “No, I don’t have any money, but I’m happy to give you what I
do
have.”

He grips the sphere and thrusts it forward, making contact with the man’s chest. At the same time, he pours his mind into his Stones. Four faint lines of jagged yellow shoot out of its center and into the man’s body.

Bloodshot eyes look up at Ryzaard for less than a second before an intense fire illuminates them from within. The man’s mouth opens into a round O. A second later, his face and hands vanish, along with the rest of his body.

Empty robes and gray ash drop to the steps.

Ryzaard cocks his head and stares at the pile. Turning, he ascends the steps into darkness. At the top of the stairs, he walks down a corridor, passing closed doors on the right and left.

He stops in front of number 313 and checks the image on his jax one more time.

Dr. Kamel is still asleep.

The door abruptly opens. “Come in, Dr. Ryzaard.” It’s a woman’s voice coming from within the apartment. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“C
an we go?” Yarah jumps in place, arms flapping like a chicken. “We could have so much fun with her in her world.”

Leo looks away from Jhata. “I don’t know. We promised we’d stay here until Matt and Jessica come back. If they come back and we’re gone . . .”

Yarah focuses her eyes up at Jhata. “We won’t be gone long, will we?”

“Of course not, child.” Jhata bends and smiles at Yarah, reaching out a hand and stroking her long black hair. “Just a few hours. You can come back whenever you want. I’ve got so many interesting things to show you. And I just might be able to help Leo.” She stands up and touches him on the shoulder.

Leo looks up from the ground. “Do you really think you could show me how to create my own world?”

“It’s not that difficult.” Jhata smiles to show two lines of perfect teeth.

Yarah pulls on Leo’s arm and screams with delight. “Let’s go!”

“OK,” Leo says. “But just for a little bit. Then we have to come back.”

Jhata stretches out her arms. “Gather around, children. I’ll take you there now.”

Leo and Yarah each walk to the side of Jhata. She puts her hands on their shoulders, squeezes her fingers and pulls them in close. They all close their eyes.

“Here we go,” she says. “You’re going to love it.”

“W
here do you think they’ll land?” Jessica points the barrel of the pulse rifle at the ground and stops, out of breath.

Matt drops his backpack and stares at the map of the camp he ripped off the tent wall. A large open field at the center catches his eye.

“Here.” Matt points at the field. “It’s the only place large enough for attack-helis.”

He swings his gaze, trying to get his bearings. Through the trees, he can see the water of the bay a hundred meters to the south. A massive boulder juts out of the ground to the height of the treetops just on the right of the tent. Its top tapers to the water like a giant wedge.

The roar of heli-transports is noticeably nearer, beating a rhythm that resonates in his chest. An image of burning trees and tents flashes before his open eyes.

His muscles tense, and he freezes.

Jessica grabs the map out of his hand. “We’re here.” She points to the red dot, and then looks up. “The open field is due north. This way.” She runs off through the trees with the map in one hand and the pulse rifle in the other. “Come on.”

Matt pulls his backpack off the ground and sprints to catch up.

As the two of them run hard through the forest, under the towering canopy of the cedar trees, a throng of hundreds of men and women, some pulling children with them, runs toward them from the opposite direction. The eyes of the crowd grow wide with surprise and fear when they see Matt and his blue skin, and they part to the right and left to let them through.

Matt and Jessica stop in the center, watching the people move past them like a flood toward the city.

Good,
Matt thinks
. Eva’s getting the word out.

“What about the Stone?” Jessica drops the pulse rifle and leans on the reddish bark of a cedar tree. “You know we don’t have a chance without it.”

Matt nods and looks in the direction of the fleeing people, chest heaving. Walking to Jessica, his hand reaches out and touches the bark close to her head. He leans in close.

Their lips come together.

He slowly pulls back and looks again to the right. “Go with them.” He holds up his blue hands and arms. “I have this to protect me. You have nothing. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Good try.” Jessica puts her hands on Matt’s chest, her fingers twisting into his shirt, pulling him close. “But I’m not leaving you.” She presses her lips to his one more time, and then pushes him away, bending to pick up the pulse rifle. “Besides, I have this.” She slings the rifle over her shoulder and jogs off. “I’ve got to keep you alive so you can save the world.”

As they run, the trees begin to spread farther and farther apart.

“We must be getting close,” Jessica says.

Here and there, pockets of people move past them in the opposite direction, always staring at Matt and giving him a wide berth.

They pass a large black boulder with an overhanging ledge. At the same instant, the roar of heli-transports grows loud overhead. Matt glances up. An immense dark shape floats just above the treetops, blotting out the sun, like a black killer whale prowling the sea for prey.

He grabs Jessica and pulls her under the ledge of the boulder.

The next instant, scattered bolts of lightning rain down on them, splintering trees and sparking fires.

A man sprints past them, twenty meters away. “
Abomination!
” he screams.

A white finger of lightning pricks him in the back, exploding out the front of his chest in a sea of red mist and blue flame. His body slams into a tree trunk and drops out of sight to the ground.

Matt gazes at the spot with wide eyes. “They’re using heat-sensor EM lasers. Tree cover isn’t enough.” He slips off his backpack and moves deeper under the ledge, pushing Jessica ahead of him.

A scattered group of men and women run past the boulder less than ten meters away, their faces looking up in terror.

“Get under this rock!” Matt yells.

The hair rises on his head and the back of his neck. A thick bolt of white light shoots through the trees, breaking into multiple fingers just meters above the heads of the runners. It explodes in a flash, leaving mounds of smoldering flesh and blackened bone.

A young woman runs through the forest to the boulder, her eyes on Matt.

He gets to his feet, stooping under the ledge, arms outstretched. “Hurry.” he yells.

A delicate vein of lightning slams into a cedar tree three meters above her head, snapping the trunk in half and showering sparks and splinters down on her. She stumbles and falls, and then gets up again.

“Help me!” she screams.

Jessica jumps to her feet.

“No,” Matt says. He pulls her back with both hands. “You can’t go out there.”

Ten feet from the boulder, the young woman stumbles again and reaches up with her arms.

The hair on Matt’s head rises.

The air flashes white and burns hot with searing heat from a laser canon. A white tongue of fire shoots down and enters the young woman’s shoulder, explodes out of her hip on the other side. Her eyes gaze upward, arms still outstretched.

Matt holds Jessica close as the young woman screams and then goes silent.

Through the howl of the heli-transports, they hear the faint cries of a child.

Then they see her, a girl five or six years old in a torn white dress, wandering through the trees alone twenty meters away, staggering and falling, in an obvious state of shock.

Matt jumps to his feet.

“No!” Jessica screams.

Matt turns and holds her face close to his. “You. Stay. Here.” He sprints out from under the ledge in the direction of the girl.

R
yzaard walks through the open door. Now that the element of surprise is gone, there’s no longer any point in doing otherwise.

The door shuts behind him.

His eyes make a quick scan of the apartment, wary of a trap, prepared for the unexpected. It’s going to be good practice using the killing machine against an able foe.