The Twelve Stones (50 page)

Emily knew she didn’t have long. Tate’s grip on her throat was tightening. She needed control of this situation as soon as possible. The next words out of Tate’s mouth
,
however, stung more than anything physical he had done to her at that point.

“I’ll bet you trusted your little boyfriend out there to come rescue you
,
” Geoffrey snarled
.
“I’ll bet you trusted your little boyfriend to stay in love with you too
.
” He laughed
.
“Isn’t it funny? You trusted someone so much that instead of marrying you, they preferred to go off and pretend to be dead.”

Emily saw red
and exploded. Suddenly, everything around her slowed. Bracing her legs against the wall, she pushed as hard as she could. Exploding off the wall, she shoved Geoffrey Tate to the ground, knocking the paralyzing needle gun out of his hands and across the tunnel floor
,
losing it in the darkness ahead. Using the momentum from her gymnastics off the wall, she curled into a ball and rolled safely to her feet. She whirled around
,
readying herself to attack
,
and watched as Geoffrey slowly climbed to his feet.

“So, there’s still fight in you, huh?” Geoffrey asked menacingly. “All right
,
then.” Geoffrey removed his bomber jacket, throwing it in the corner. His tight black shirt revealed muscles and a bright pink scar that lined his forearm. Emily’s nervous energy transformed into adrenaline, and she focused.

Smiling, Geoffrey advanced on the smaller girl. His brute strength should be enough
,
he reckoned, but, he was looking forward to some exercise. The frustration of losing not once, not twice, but
three times
in one day to Alexander McCray and his friends had tested his patience. He was a winner, and yet he’d been dealt three humiliating experiences one after the other. For now, he’d take
it all
out on the man’s girlfriend.

Tate jabbed the air playfully a few times in front of him, Emily dodging each punch easily. The two were testing each other, two warriors sizing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

It was Tate that made the first move. Stepping inside her stance, he dropped and rushed for Emily’s knees. Unfortunately for h
i
m
, she was too quick, and saw Tate coming. She countered
by
dropping to floor to Tate’s right and tripping his ankles. Falling forward, he threw up his arms
,
trying to protect himself, but wasn’t quick enough. The crown of his head bashed into the solid rock wall hard. Emily smiled, enjoying her victory, but there was little time to savor it. They had to get out of
t
here and away from these two sociopaths.

Pushing herself up, Emily dashed over to Christina
,
who had taken refuge from the fight.

“Christina!” Emily gasped, “Come on
!
W
e’ve
gotta get outta here!”

Christina didn’t respond, only raising a crooked finger, pointing to something behind Emily’s back.

“He’s back up
,
isn’t he?” Emily sighed
.
“Stay down, I’ll be right back.”

Emily flipped back on her palms into a handspring. She land
ed
with
her arms up, ready to defend. Geoffrey touch
ed
his head tenderly, examining the damage she had inflicted on him,
and then
just laughed.

“Lady, I outweigh you by a hundred pounds
.
D
o
you really wanna take me on just because you got in one lucky shot?”

“Let’s find out how lucky that was.” Emily hissed back.

It was Emily that attacked this time. She flew at Tate, battering him with a flurry of arms, elbows, knees, feet, and anything else she had available. The combinations flew
fast
and furious, striking Geoffrey several times before he was able to even put up a defense.

Surprised at her onslaught, Geoffrey tried to fight back, but was quickly overwhelmed by the fists of fury thrown at him. The anger unleashed from the little brunette ball of energy was kicking his ass all over the mineshaft. For
that
moment, Emily was winning, kicking the hell out of a man three times her size. She pushed Geoffrey up, ready to finish him.

Holding her palm flat, Emily threw it with all her might into Geoffrey’s nose. He cried out as his nose flattened, an audible crack sounding in the cramped tunnel walls. Crying out in rage, Tate forced himself forward, grabbing Emily by her waist, lifting her above his head like a pro wrestler and throwing her against the tunnel wall opposite him.

She landed against the wall with a sickening thump. Crumbling to a heap to the ground below, Emily struggled to catch her breath through the tears.

She lost. She was about to die, but what the hell; she had put up a good fight. That’s a
ll
anyone could have asked from her. Tears blurred her vision as she watched Geoffrey Tate stand over her, his face twisted in rage, blood pouring down his face. She smiled, seeing him so frustrated, so defeated
.
Y
es
, she had lost the fight, but she had damn sure won the war.

“I’ll tell your boyfriend hello.” Geoffrey snarled. He reached down, ready to snap Emily’s neck
,
when he felt a sharp sting slap the back of his
own
neck.

“What the…?” Geoffrey only managed to turn around halfway when he saw the little Asian girl, the one who had never given
him
any trouble, pointing the neurotoxin gun at him. Her face
,
once streaked with dirt and tears
,
was now twisted in determination. It was her eyes that were the most striking transformation
;
gone was the terror, totally absent of the thousand yard stare she had since arriving at the Mesa. Her eyes blazed with fire as she pulled the trigger several more times
,
sending a swarm of paralyzing needles into his chest.

Geoffrey Tate didn’t even feel it when he hit the ground. He watched, helpless in his own body
,
as the signals between his nerves in his spinal cord began to shut down.

Emily moaned
and lay there
,
her vision blurry from the knock
to
her head. Christina moved towards her, crouching as she approached, listening for any possible movement in the tunnel.

“Em?” Christina asked her friend. “You ok?”

“Remember that night you and I decided to go to Vegas on the spot
,
and we spent the weekend drinking?”
Emily said
as she weakly raised her body from the floor. “It’s kinda like that.”

Christina laughed in relief. If Emily was joking, she was OK.

“By the way, nicely done playing possum all night
. That probably saved our lives,
” Emily said as she hugged her friend fiercely. “How’d you think of that?”

“The smart thing to do is to wait f
or your enemy to make a mistake,
” Christina replied quickly.

“Where’d you learn that?
The Art of War
or something?” Emily asked.

“Racist.” Christina playfully returned. “You think cause I’m Asian, it means I read Sun Tzu?”

“There’s some good advice in there
,
you know
.
L
ike
knowing when to get the hell outta
D
odge
.” Emily said, her faculties beginning to return to her. The dull roar of a headache raged in the left side of her head, where she had collided with the rock wall. Emily reckoned she had a concussion, at the very least, but that was survivable for now.

“Which way?” Emily asked her friend
.
S
he
tried to stand up, but found it too difficult at first. Christina caught her, supporting her arms.

“Easy,” Christina cautioned. “It’s this way.”

Christina raised her friend up and over her shoulder as she walked them both up towards the tunnel mouth. They could feel the cool nighttime breeze blowing down. They were close.

A small cough sounded behind them. Emily and Christina glanced
over their shoulders
, and saw the
D
evil
himself.

Kline
smirked at the pair
. He shook his head. “I’m afraid you can’t leave yet
,
ladies
.
T
here’s
something I need you for.”

“Run!”
Emily yelled at Christina. “Run!
G
et help, now!” Emily grabbed the needle gun out of Christina’s hands and pushed her up towards the cavern’s mouth.

“Em…” Christina’s eyes pleaded with her friend, but Emily ignored them as
she
turned towards the advancing Kline.

“Stand still!”
s
he barked as she pulled the trigger on the needle gun.

Puffs of tiny CO2 smoke flew out the end of the flat
-
paneled edge as several dozen tiny aerodynamic needles flew towards Kline’s body and face.

Grinning widely, Kline began swatting the needles down. His hands
were a blur as they
flew through the air, slapping the tiny needles
away
.

Emily stopped, looking at Kline. He laughed quietly. “My dear…” Kline drawled as he began plucking stray needles out of the leather
-
like palms of his hands. “Do you really think I’d allow any weapon that might be used against me anywhere near me?”

“You let me get close enough,” Emily spat in defiance. She ran towards Kline, intent on throwing every ounce of strength and kung fu know
-
how her defense classes had taught her.

But
no matter how much will she summoned,
her body could
only take so much abuse
,
and her injuries from the last fight with Geoffrey Tate had taken
their tol
l
. She
ran
towards Kline, intent on throwing the perfect jump kick for which she had always received high marks from her sensei, even once hitting the kick bag so hard
that
it broke it off
of
the ceiling. But, even with all her training, the blood loss and concussion
w
ere
too much for her body
.
A
s
Emily jumped, she faltered, and Kline easily sidestepped her clumsy attack. He shook his head at her.

“It’s almost sad to watch
,
” Kline sniffed as Emily
tried to attack him and fell again
. “Pathetic
,
really.”

Emily’s injuries were simply too much, and she collapsed on the tunnel floor, breathing heavily, the blood matting her beautiful chestnut
-
brown hair. The curls wrapped around her face, and she stared defiant
ly
at the man who had taken her against her will.

“All right,
are
you all done now?” Kline asked, raising an eyebrow. “Excellent. Come along
,
my dear
.
I need your assistance.”

With that, Kline scooped Emily up off the floor and
carried
her down further into the dark tunnel below
.

Chapter Thirty-
Eight

Christina scrambled out of the tunnel mouth, stumbling over the three dead bodies of the workmen. She screamed in horror, bile pushing up her throat
and
threatening to erupt in protest of the disgusting scene.

“Oh
,
God…” she whispered. “These poor men.”

Shaking it off, she scrambled to her feet and began dashing down the desert trail. The rising moon in the east provided her with some light to get down the path quickly. She moved over the stones, stepping lightly
,
trying to make as little noise as possible,
but
traveling as quickly as she dared.

Ahead, something moved, and Christina stopped, quivering slightly. She stopped breathing and crouched lower, willing her heart to stop
making so much noise
. It pounded loudly in her ears, like a thousand drummers given rock songs and told to practice.