Kinetics: In Search of Willow (46 page)

Roy spearheaded the way through the
cobblestone pathways between the townhouses, not reacting at all to
me slowing down in surprise. The house we stopped in front of was
like the others except that it had a colorful elephant ornament
sitting cross-legged in the lawn surrounded by white rocks. Roy
went right up the concrete walkway and opened the door without
knocking.

"Hey, we're here," he called into the
living room. I stepped in and copied Roy's action of taking off his
shoes and padding further into the room. Roy waved me toward the
semi-circle couch that faced a large-screen TV.

I melted into the overly soft cushions
and listened to the low tones of Roy speaking to some woman in the
kitchen that was further back into the house. I couldn't hear what
they were saying but quickly stopped caring when I heard Jack and
his father conversing as they came down the stairs.

"They should be starting the broadcast
in the next few minutes or so," Ashwater was saying to his
son.

"When did they get it?" Jack
asked.

"About an hour ago. They've decided to
revise tonight's broadcast to address it directly."

Jack plopped down into the couch
beside me. His mouth was set in a pressed line and his eyebrows
were knitted together. Ashwater rested his hand on Jack's shoulder
for an inexplicably short moment, but that moment was good enough
to make his tightly fused brows to ease apart.

Jack gave me a short smile and reached
between the cushions of the couch. He pulled out a thin black
remote and flipped on the TV.

"—recorded and will be
broadcast on this station for all members of the Legion to see.
Following the Alliance speech we will continue with our weekly
reports." A woman was speaking on the TV. She was sitting across
from another woman and two men around a glass table.

"Is it true that George
will not be speaking tonight?"
 one of
the men asked.

"So we've heard.
Apparently his condition has been deteriorating drastically in the
past few days. Because of that and now this message from the
Alliance, they've decided to finish the transfer process well in
advance of their previously planned date," 
t
he second woman said.

"What's this?" I said without
thinking.

Jack looked at me in surprise. "You've
never watched the ISTVN?"

"The what?"

"I. S. T. V. N. ISiroan Television
Network."

I cringed internally for my ignorance
of Isiroan culture. "No. Never heard of it."

Jack just nodded. "It's our news
network. Like CNN. Except you have to have a special receiver in
order to pick it up." He pointed to the silver box that was stacked
with a DVD player under the TV. A green light blinked on it. "Each
major language region has one."

Ashwater was still standing beside his
son and looked between us with an odd look on his face. I tried not
to pay attention to him and focused on the TV.

"Without further ado, we
bring you the message sent to our global network from the Anyan's
Alliance."

The screen flickered and Miriam
Lancaster appeared standing behind a podium emblazoned with the
Alliance insignia. Roy and Ashwater's wife came into the living
room and took up places in the living room. Roy sat beside Jack
opposite me and Ashwater's wife stood with her arms around her
husband's waist.

"Six thousand years ago,
humanity began the great fight against the Isiroan Legion in the
hopes of retaining our freedom and personal prosperity and safety.
In the past decade of my leadership we have not pursued you, but
merely defended ourselves against your unlawful enslavement of our
people. For years we have tried to make peace with you, for years
we have tried to negotiate, and for years we have tried to find a
median. But never have you met us half way. Always you have stolen,
killed and destroyed our families, property and sense of
well-being.

"Three weeks ago, the
Isiroan Legion carried out the kidnapping of a young healer by the
name of Willow Patterson. The Legion's intentions are clear. This
child, a promising entrant in the Healer Corps, was taken for the
sole purpose of infesting her mind and soul with the alien parasite
Isiro. She is not the first. The Legion has kidnapped many of our
number.

"Thirty-four years ago the
Isiroan Legion supported and condoned the actions of war criminal
Reginald Cook."

"Nearly twenty years ago,
one of our leading scientists and advocates for peace was taken and
used as a host for Isiro.

"Ten years ago our Chief
Minister, my predecessor, was brutally murdered along with his wife
and child."

"Liar!" Jack suddenly yelled, but his
father's hand back on his shoulder quieted him down.

"...the past few weeks,
multiple kidnappings of two of our children have taken
place."

"These acts are
unconscionable."
 Lancaster looked up
from her podium and stared right at us through whatever camera they
had used to film this. 
"But no
more."

"We, the Anyan's Alliance,
through the consensus of our Council and this administration's
executive authority, hereby declare war on the Isiroan Legion. Any
and all who oppose this declaration will be found in contempt of
our authority and will be dealt with under a new zero tolerance
policy."

"You who dwell within the
protection and wing of the Isiroan Legion will be freely welcomed
to the Alliance should you desire to surrender. Any and all who do
not surrender within the next 72 hours will be treated as enemy
combatants and will be dealt with accordingly."

The video cut out and the four people
who were talking before the broadcast were back. They all seemed
shaken. They started talking about the implications of open war and
the effect on society.

"That bitch," Jack snarled.

"Jack," Ashwater's voice was heavy
with warning.

Jack's fist clenched tight and he
looked ready to punch the next thing that moved. "I hate her." His
words hissed through his teeth.

I kept my mouth shut and didn't
participate in the conversation between the others. Jack didn't
participate either but stared down at his clenched fists with a
furious look on his face.

"And now we present
tonight's regularly scheduled live broadcast from Isiro's inner
circle,"
 one of the women said. The
screen again flickered and another podium appeared, but this time
it had the Isiroan Legion's insignia on it. But the person behind
the podium wasn't Lancaster's opposite, Isiro. It was some woman
whom I had never seen before. Text appeared under the screen
showing the woman's name.

Mercedes Gentry – Acting
Prime Minister.

"We had
hoped," 
the woman
began, 
"to use tonight's broadcast to
celebrate the decision to finally pass the torch from our beloved
host George to our new host Willow. But this broadcast from the
Anyan's Alliance has made us pause. Soon, my brothers and sisters,
the time will come for our battle to end. We will come out
victorious, that we know. But this new threat from the Alliance
endangers our mission. It is true that we have struggled against
them for thousands of years but the last decade has brought a level
of peace and prosperity. Or so we had thought."

Gentry looked up from the papers on
her podium.

"In recent weeks the
health of George has been deteriorating out of the control of our
best Healers. His time is quickly coming to an end.

"The stress and strain of
managing a war with his health in such a bad state would not be
advisable. Therefore, we will be performing the transfer tomorrow.
Our new host, Willow Patterson, will be one with Isiro in three
days' time."

CHAPTER 33

"He who exercises no
forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured
by them." ~Sun Tzu.

"Our new host, Willow
Patterson, will be one with Isiro in three days' time."

The Bonding was going to take place in
three days! I felt my blood turn to ice water. The next hour at the
Ashwater's passed in a blur. I didn't pay attention to Roy's
unveiled hostility toward me or any of the three Ashwater's
attempts to engage me in conversation.

After I had mechanically eaten dinner
and only half listened to the conversation around the dinner table,
I made a quick excuse and left the townhouse.

I was running.

I sprinted into the Records room and
found the papers that had all the financial information on it.
Within seconds I had found the papers with the unknown names. The
paper with the date closest to when Willow and Grey would have been
at Laramie showed that the next transactions had taken place in
none other than Buenos Aires, Argentina. I stuffed the paper in my
pocket and ran out, not caring if anyone saw me leaving.

I found myself scanning the scraggly
bushes that inhabited the outer edges of the base for the one that
looked like a flame, the place where I had hidden all the papers
and maps and, most importantly, the beacon that would allow Jacob
to know where I was and infiltrate the base. He would zero in on my
location and be here within only a few minutes.

I dug under said bush and pulled out
the small beacon that would transmit my location to my brother and
the Alliance. They had to come now. The bonding was soon. I
couldn't let it happen, but I couldn't do it on my own this
time.

I pressed the button and reburied it
under a light coating of dirt. I breathed in and out slowly so that
I would be prepared mentally when Jacob appeared.

Any minute now.

A small whoosh of air behind me
signaled a Teleport Kinetic was behind me. I turned to greet the
Alliance person, somewhat surprised that Jacob had yet to contact
me. My mouth opened half way and then shut when I realized that the
uniform in front of me wasn't an Alliance one, but that of an
Isiroan guard.

"You!" He snarled.

I stepped back but miscalculated the
distance from the bush and tripped into it. With the cracking
branches clinging to my clothes, I struggled to regain my
footing.

Two more whooshes of air followed
after the first and suddenly there were four men in front of me.
One of them grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me up.

"It was about time you slipped up,
spy," one of the men growled. He jerked his head at the others.
"Take him to the secure holding cell and contact Doctor
Ashwater."

'This should transmit your location to
us securely, Eugene. They'll never know that it was on.' Jacob had
chuckled a low laugh and had smiled almost smugly.

How did they find out?

One of the men grabbed my arm and I
was teleported quickly into a cement room with only a table and two
chairs in the middle. The man who teleported me was gone in a
whoosh of air and I had little time to protest. The walls were bare
except for a singular camera in one of the top corners and an air
vent in the opposite corner noisily pushing air into the
room.

My heart started to beat harder and
harder. I could hear my blood thrumming though my veins and my
heart beat into every bone. There was no door. There were no
windows. I ran my hands along the concrete walls hoping that I
would find a door hidden in the immaculately smooth
walls.

I pounded my fists into the wall and
screamed voicelessly in frustration. No one answered and no one
came.

"Let me out!" I screamed at the camera
which followed my every movement around the tiny room.

"Impossible." A voice behind me
breathed.

I whipped around and saw Ashwater and
three men, including the one who had teleported me into the room,
all standing on the other side of the table.