Finding Sage (The Rogue Book 1) (16 page)

28.

              Tariq pulled the SUV into an empty parking lot behind a deserted building.  Everyone got out of the car and they cleaned everything out, being sure to not leave any more of a trace than they had to.  Once that was done, Eli gave them instructions.

              “Alright, listen guys.  There’s six of us.  We obviously ain’t a family, ya know what I’m sayin?’”  Eli cast a glance at Tariq and Salah.  “So we gotta be smart ‘bout this.  Alice and Silas, you guys are about the same age, so you two with Lilly can pass for a family.”

              Silas wanted to burst out in protest, but he knew that Eli was right.  They would seem less conspicuous this way.  Eli continued.

              “Tariq and Salah, you two stick together.  I’ll look outta place with any of ya.  I’ll pass better as a hobo, so I’ll be by myself.  I know where we’re going so I’ll go in front.  Stagger behind me far enough that it doesn’t look like you’re following me.  Got it?”

              Everyone nodded.

              “Let’s move it.”

              As they moved into the city, Silas felt the weight of millions of consciences brush against his own.  He carefully controlled his breathing and his body movements so as to retain as much control as he could.  At first the weight made his vision blurry and threatened to overwhelm him, but he closed his eyes for a few seconds and concentrated on his immediate vicinity, which lessened the load.  He exhaled slowly, relishing his newfound relief.  He continued with this strategy, restricting his focus so that it only included Lilly and Alice.

              Silas and Alice walked close enough to each other so that they appeared together, but no closer than they had to.  Lilly walked happily between them.  She looked up at Silas in curiosity, wondering how he was reacting to this awkward arrangement.  She was speaking more to him, but remained distant. 

She was slightly embittered toward Silas for being so rude to Alice.  While she understood his hesitance toward her for following them and wanting to do him harm, she didn’t go through with it, so what was the big deal? 

She slowly dismissed this thought as she looked at Alice and remembered everything she knew about her.  There was something about remembering everything that gave you a unique perspective.  It was only in this moment that Lilly realized that Silas might not know what she did.

              Within five minutes they came to a main street.  Auto-piloted cars flew up and down the road at unprecedented speeds and enormous skyscrapers lined the sidewalk.  Soldiers stood at every street corner in royal blue uniforms, watching citizens carefully with AK-47s in hand. 

              Lilly watched the people in front of her with intent curiosity.  She noticed that as they crossed the corners, they edged away from the soldiers, as though they would be attacked if they came too close.

              “HEY!!!”

              Every muscle in Lilly’s body froze.  She squeezed Silas’ hand and held her breath.  Every impulse in her screamed at her to close her eyes and hide her head, but she fought it with a clenched jaw.  She lifted her head, trembling as she did.  Scuffling noises reached her left ear.  She looked and saw a boy no older than 12 years old being thrown against the wall.  The soldier bashed the boy’s head against the wall and snapped handcuffs on his wrists.  She saw a middle-aged woman, presumably the boy’s mother, watching with wide eyes from a short distance, but she did not move.

              “Jaywalking,” Silas said in response to Lilly’s unvoiced question.

              Lilly realized she was still holding her breath and exhaled with a tremor in her lungs.

              They kept walking, but Alice couldn’t take her eyes off of the boy.  After a few seconds, she turned and looked ahead for fear of unwanted attention from the soldiers.

              Eli led them across several intersections until they came to a large bus station.  They all looked around for soldiers.  The soldiers were busy surveying the crowds and didn’t seem to be watching them.  Silas, Alice, and Lilly joined Eli, followed shortly by Tariq and Salah. 

              Eli did a quick count to ensure that everyone was present, and then gave instructions.

              “Stay close to me,” Eli told them.  “We grab one of these trains and then we get outta here.  Got it?”

              Eli took their silence as affirmation and began pushing his way through the crowd with his allies close behind him.

              “They’re at the metro station on Babel Avenue.”

              Jefferson frowned.  Eli knew what he was doing.  He’d picked the busiest metro station in London at the busiest time of the day.  Bigger crowds made for more trouble.  Not that a crowd would stop them from doing their job, but he knew that Rodge would want as clean of a job as possible.  As much as he despised Rodge, he knew that it was in his best interest to give him what he wanted. 

              Jefferson spoke into the mouthpiece on his cell phone.

              “Are all units in position?”

              “Yes sir,” the soldier responded.

              “Keep a close eye on them.  As soon as they’re in a less crowded place, I want Rio on them immediately.”

              “Yes sir.”

              “And Rodriguez?”

              “Sir?”

              “If the brunette girl or Knight dies, it’s on your head.  Don’t disappoint me.”

              “Understood, sir.”

              Eli led the group through the crowd for several minutes.  He looked from side to side, surveying the trains and the train schedules.  He wanted a way out of this high-security area so that he could think clearly.  He knew that the trains would be monitored, so it needed to be a place that they could get out of sight as soon as they got off. 

              As he was in thought, a siren pierced through the air.  It was a high, wailing noise and within a few minutes, everyone was clearing out of the train station.  Eli restrained the panic that was screaming within him and tried to remain calm.  Then he realized that they were all standing still next to a train and most of the people were gone. 

              Salah perked his head up and fear filled his eyes. 

              “SILAS!!!”

              Silas felt what Salah was warning him of.  There was still someone in the train.  It was too late.

              The fire of a thousand flamethrowers struck Silas in the face and threw him through the air.  He landed on his back, followed by his head, with a hard and loud
snap
.  Immediately excruciating pain shot up his spine and the back of his head.    He lay there for a few seconds, and then forced himself to sit up.  By some miracle he was able to move, but he was unable to hear. 

After a moment, he saw Alice next to him.  She was cuddling Lilly with one arm and her other was grasping Silas’ ankle.  Alice’s body appeared limp.  He quickly rolled her over.  Lilly was sobbing violently and tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she appeared miraculously unscathed.  Alice, on the other hand, had bruises and gashes all over her head and arms.  Panic struck him and he put his ear to her mouth.  He could hear her breathing but her breaths were shallow and infrequent.  She was barely hanging on.

Eli was already on his feet and was looking at Tariq and Salah.  Tariq and Salah had been in the tail end of their group, so they had received the least of the blast.  In a few moments, Eli had them on their feet again and they limped to Silas and Alice.

“We need to get out of here,” Eli said.  “The soldiers will be here soon.”

Silas began to pick her up when they heard the sound of a sliding metal door.  Silas’ heart dropped.  It was the same entity that was in the train. 

Tariq pulled out a gun from under his shirt and Eli pulled a long hunting knife from his shoe.  A young boy of about ten years came out with his hands held out.

“Please don’t shoot!” he exclaimed.  “The soldiers, they put me in there.  I’m like you.”

Tariq began to lower his gun cautiously.

Silas tried to burrow his way into the boy’s mind, but he met some kind of mental guard.

“HE’S LYING!!!” Salah yelled.

The boy cocked his head slightly, then disappeared. 

Silas looked around in panic and saw him nowhere.  He appeared behind Eli with a knife and slit his throat, then disappeared again.  Eli covered his throat and gasped with panic while the wound closed up.  He coughed up blood for a second, then pulled another knife.

“SHOW YOURSELF!!!” he screamed.

He appeared again from behind and cut Eli in the back of the leg.  Tariq shot wildly, but the boy had disappeared before the first bullet left the chamber.  Silas concentrated and attempted to find the boy’s consciousness again and instead found others.  His horror grew as he found the minds of dozens of soldiers, running through the streets headed for the train station.  He wanted to do something to stop them, to go into their minds and interfere, but he was petrified with fear and horror.  He could only find the strength to say two words.

“They’re coming.”

The boy appeared behind Eli and slashed his back.  Eli released a blood-curdling scream and fell to his knees as the wound began to close up.  Eli was strong, but he was growing weak from the need of his body to constantly heal.  Tariq picked him up, ran to Silas, and laid Eli down next to Alice.

“I CAN FIGHT, LET ME AT ‘IM!”

“SHUT UP!” Tariq screamed in return.

He held up his gun and looked frantically, but the boy did not reappear.  The seconds crawled by and still they saw no sign of him.  Silas’ eyes grew wide with understanding.

“He wasn’t trying to kill us.  He’s keeping us boxed in.  We’re trapped now,” Silas said.

.              They could faintly hear footsteps of the soldiers now.  Tariq grabbed a large sheet of metal from the ruins of the train and handed it to Eli.

              “Bend the bottom of this.”

              “Wha?”

              “Use your freakish alien muscles and bend it!!!”

              Eli tried to bend the bottom of the metal inward.  Even with his strength it was a difficult task.  Sweat began to seep from his brow as he pushed against it.  It slowly shifted, making a small ledge at the bottom.  Salah sensed the fear of the first soldier coming into their vicinity. He knew that fearful soldiers were among the most dangerous things Hell could release. He ripped the metal sheet from Eli’s hands, and set it in front of them. 

Bullets showered over them and plowed into the metal sheet.  The bullets made dozens of dents in the sheet and the six of them huddled together to stay behind it.  Eli was the farthest to the left and had to push against Salah for cover, but was not covered enough.  A bullet struck him in the foot.  Eli screamed and grabbed his foot.  After a couple of seconds the wound started to close up.  Eli ripped a strip of fabric off of his shirt, bit on it, and dug his hand into his open wound to retrieve the bullet.  His jaw shook from biting on the cloth so hard and tears streamed down his cheeks from the pain.  After a few seconds he was able to pull it out and the skin again began to close over the wound.

“Tracers,” he said.

“What?” Silas had to yell over the deafening sound of gunfire.

“They’re tracers!” Eli replied.  “They’ve been onto us since Ishmael was shot!”

Silas’ heart sunk.  Ishmael’s body was buried behind the warehouse.  They’d been watching them the entire time, and now they had nowhere to go, like a mouse backed into a corner.  They were going to die here, like pigs lined for slaughter.

Silas raised his head.

No.  Not here.  Not today.  He refused to die.  He refused to allow his allies to die.  They would leave this place alive.  They got Alexander.  They got Zeke.  They got Ishmael.  Today, everyone lives.  Everyone.

Silas then realized that despite their location in the city, the deafening sound of gunfire, and the scores of consciences that were flooding into the train station, he felt no weakness; he felt no frailty.  He was strong.  So strong, in fact, that he felt like he was floating away from his own body, in control of the entire station.  All of their minds were at his command.  They would not succeed.

The gunfire abruptly stopped.  Nothing could be heard other than Lilly’s soft sobbing.  Silas held her hand tightly and smoothly stroked her hair.

“It’s all going to be okay, Lilly.  I’ll get us out of this.”

Salah used the silence to check on Alice, who was still barely breathing. Tariq was quivering slightly, afraid of what would happen next.  Eli darted his eyes from side to side, fidgety and unsure of what was happening. 

Every soldier in the train station, scores and scores of them, spoke in unison, the echo causing chills to run down the spines of Tariq, Salah, Eli, and Lilly.

“Prime Minister,  I am Silas Knight.  You have sought after the lives of me and my friends.  This is a mistake.  See what I am capable of.  If you do not stop, and I know you will not, I will bring all the hosts of Hell to your doorstep.  Your reign of terror is coming to an end and a new order is here.  Long live Sage.”