No Future Christmas (13 page)

“Here you are my lovely.
How about we blow this pop stand?”

“Mike?
What’re you doing here?
How’d you get away?” Shauna
rose from the chair.
“Why aren’t your hands cuffed?”

He laughed from the giddy feeling that coursed through him.
“Because the medic that just examined at me forgot to put the restraints back
on and left the door to the cell open.
I walked out.
Isn’t that great?” He
looked up and down the hallway.
“Let’s go.”

Shauna stood up from the chair.
“It won’t be easy finding
our way out.” She peered at him, leaned close to stare into his eyes.
As they
left the cell Shauna said, “What are you on?
You’re too happy.
Oh!
It must be
Pain Away.
Look at that lump on your forehead.” She touched it gently but Mike
felt no pain.

“I know the way out, sweetheart.
I paid close attention when
they hauled me in here.
Stay behind me.” Mike led the way down the corridor
away from the cells.
A couple of times he chuckled.
“Just like in the old
movies from my day when the prisoner escapes with the beautiful heroine.” When
they reached the end of the hallway they double-timed it to the nearest
elevator.
When he pushed the button they heard a clanging sound throughout the
lower floor.

“Warning.
Warning.
Escaped guests.
Lock all entrances and
exits.”

The elevator door opened, Mike and Shauna got in and Shauna
pushed the button for the top floor.
“Thank God for supersonic elevators.”

Chapter Seven

They walked out the front door.
No one paid them any
attention.
Mike and Shauna acted liked they belonged, they even pretended to
look for the escapees as if they were support staff for the Guardians.
Green-suited Global Guardians rushed through the building.

Mike, still high from his happy juice pain reliever,
laughed.
“This is the greatest escape ever.
What a bunch of morons.”

“Shh.
Don’t talk so loudly.
Someone will hear you brag and
we’ll get arrested again.”

“Darling, you worry too much.” Mike patted her on her cheek
and grabbed a hover scooter.
“Let’s ride one of these.
I’ll drive, since your
hands are still cuffed.” He said it as if it were an everyday occurrence.
Mike
helped Shauna on a scooter then climbed in front of her.
“Can’t be any more
difficult than a motorcycle.”

“Wanna bet?” Shauna leaned into Mike’s back and said, “Press
the red button on the right handle bar, then push forward on the bars.
The
scooter will rise up about six inches, hover and wait for the next command.”
Shauna glanced behind her.
A swarm of lime-colored suits raced out into the
street, looking up and down for them.
“And hurry.”

Mike did as he was told and the little engine hummed.
He
pushed forward on the handle bars and the scooter rose into the air.
“Whoa!
This is cool.”

“Shh.” Shauna pinched his back.
“I know you don’t need the
scooter to fly but I do.
God, how long ago were you injected with the serum?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Mike laughed.
“Hold on, sweetie!”
The scooter raced forward, leaning dangerously to the right.
Shauna bit back a
scream and grabbed for the belt in his pants to hold on.
“Uh, whoa there
horsey,” Mike said.
He concentrated really hard.
“This isn’t as easy as it
looks.
How do all those people,” Mike waved toward the other scooters around
him, “make it look so simple?”

“It is simple when you’re used to it.
Waaiit.
Lean left!”
Shauna shouted as they wobbled down the street.
She nearly fell off again.
“Goddamnit!
Keep this thing upright.
I don’t have any way to hold on except to
your belt.”

“I know, I feel as if I have a big wedgie.” He laughed as he
felt her pull him to the left but he followed her strong lead.

“What’s a wedgie?” Shauna asked.

“Never mind.”

The scooter flew along the streets, Mike turning corners on
Shauna’s command.
They watched the Global Guardians fly by in their skycars.
It
seemed no one thought to look for them on a hover scooter.
After a half hour
they turned toward the outskirts of the city.
Every so often a green and white
flew overhead but they were getting more and more rare.

“We’ll have to pull over before we get to the city limits.
I
need to get out of these cuffs and we have to change our appearances to get
through security at the gates.”

“Gates?”

“Yes, gates.
Security.
Tasers.
Get your light head wrapped
around what I’m telling you.
When you walk or hover to another city, you have
to go through a checkpoint.
When you fly there’s no place to stop and be
searched.”

Mike slowed the scooter.
It hovered, then dropped to the
ground.
“That is one neat vehicle.”

They left the scooter at a drop off point and headed toward
a building.

“How do you get those cuffs off?” Mike asked.
Now that
they’d stopped flying he felt as if the medicine was wearing off.
His head hurt
a bit and his happy feeling was draining away.
“Darn, I think the happy juice
is wearing off.”

“Oh, good.
Now I can have my Mike back.” Shauna grabbed his
arm with her manacled hands and led him inside the building.

“What’re we doing here?”

“I have a friend who can help us.” The elevator rose to the
eightieth floor.
Shauna knocked on a door right next to the elevators.

“Yeah?” a man answered.

“Johnson, it’s me Shauna.”

The door slid open and a tall, thin man stood there with his
mouth gaping.
He peeked up and down the hall then grabbed Shauna and Mike and
pulled them inside.
“Close door, lock industrial strength 4460.” The door slid
shut silently but the thumping of two locks could be clearly heard.

“There’s a worldwide manhunt for you.
Well, womanhunt in
your case.
Or should I say couple hunt.” Johnson laughed at his own joke.

“Funny,” Shauna said.
“This is Mike.
He’s been helping me
find my parents.
They’re alive.”

“Oh for joy!” Johnson shouted.
“I’ve missed them, Shauna
dear.” He glanced at her hands and said, “Be right back.”

Shauna turned to Mike.
“Johnson and I went to school
together.
He was always over at my place spending time with my parents.
He’s like
a brother to me.
And he worked on
The Real Truth
with Mom and Dad for
years.
Even traveled to other countries to get stories.”

Johnson came back with a gadget.
“Here, hold still.” He
slipped a bulky set of S tubes over Shauna’s cuffs and pressed a button.
There
was a click and Shauna pulled her hands out.

“Thank you.” She rubbed her wrists where three-inch wide red
marks showed.
“The jerk Guardian made sure to make the cuffs too tight.”

As she roamed the small apartment Mike took in his
surroundings.
A drab studio apartment with a sofa, a table and two chairs were
all the furniture in the single room.
But there was a stunning view of vast
plains and distant mountains.
Mike stared at the vista.
Only a few skycars flew
by and they were at a great distance.
“You live on the outskirts of town,
Johnson?”

“I do.
I like the feeling of space.” He looked around his
apartment.
“I know this is small but all I have to do is look outside and I
feel free, relaxed.”

“The view’s great,” Mike said.

Johnson turned to Shauna.
“Now dear girl, what have you
gotten yourself into?”

Shauna finished the story and sat back with her cup of
coffee.
Mike still stood staring at the view.
“And that’s why the Global
Guardians are after us.
Mike fell into this mess and has stood by me the whole
time.” She smiled at Mike who’d turned and grinned crookedly at her.
Her
stomach dipped when he did that.
She loved that rakish look where one side of
his mouth turned up and one eyebrow arched.

What Shauna didn’t tell Johnson was where Mike was from.
She
figured that didn’t matter and would only complicate things.

“Okay.
You two need to rest.
Make yourselves comfortable
here and I’ll go get some food, the fridge’s empty.”

“Thank you Johnson.
We really appreciate it.” When he left,
Shauna and Mike stretched out on the sofa bed.
Within minutes they were sound
asleep, curled in each other’s arms.

A noise woke Shauna.
Fuzzy from a deep sleep she wondered
why she was restrained.
The strength of warm arms wound around her and brought
her back to full awareness.
Johnson’s apartment and Mike’s arms.
She glanced at
the digital clock on the wall and realized she’d slept all night long.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Mike tenderly wiped a short lock
of golden hair off Shauna’s forehead.
Then he leaned in and kissed her.

Desire was a potent wake-up call and Shauna’s body came
fully awake.
And fully aroused.
She felt liquid fire race through her.
Her
breathing quickened, her heart pounded and she kissed Mike back with every bit
of love she had inside her.
“Morning.”

Mike’s hands roamed her body leaving tiny shivers along her
spine.
He licked her lips, nipped them then sucked on the soft bottom lip.
“God, I love your bottom lip.
It’s so lush, tempting.” Shauna groaned.
“One day
we’re going to finish this.
And when we do, fireworks will explode.”

Shauna couldn’t even answer.
Her mind fogged and she was
completely caught up in the wild feeling racing through her body.

She soared.
She craved.
She needed.

Desperately.

The door crashed open and Johnson rushed in followed by three
Global Guardians.
“There they are!”

Shauna and Mike were roughly pulled out of the bed.
Shauna’s
eyes watered from Johnson’s betrayal.
“How could you?” she whispered on a
ragged sigh.
“How could you turn on your life-long friends?”

“You were never my friend.
Your parents only tolerated me.
They gave me the worst assignments, put me in the most danger.
I’ve been
waiting years for this moment.” A maniacal light shown in his eyes.
For a
moment Shauna saw a yellow tint reflected from Johnson’s eyes.
It reminded her
of a feral glint from a stalking tiger.
It was the color of madness, of
weakness—of hatred.

The Guardians rushed forward.

The sound reverberated through the tiny apartment.
Three
loud booms.
Each Guardian fell to the floor, the color of red mixing with the
putrid color of lime.
Johnson gaped, spittle dribbling down his chin.
Then he
turned and fled.

Mike shoved his gun into his waistband and said, “Let’s go.
The noise has probably attracted attention.”

They ran out of the apartment and rushed down the stairs.
“The apartments are soundproof,” Shauna huffed as she raced to keep up with
Mike who led the way.
“Otherwise so many people wouldn’t be able to live
together peacefully.
We can’t run down eighty floors.”

“A few more levels, then we’ll hop an elevator like we
belong.
I’m sorry about Johnson, Shauna.”

She fought back tears.
There was no time for them now and
she couldn’t let them blur her vision.
“Thanks.
That was a shocker.
Mom and Dad
will be crushed.”

They reached the seventieth floor and stepped into the
elevator.
Shauna pushed the button for the ground level and leaned against the
wall.
She took deep breaths and exhaled slowly, hoping to calm her racing,
bruised heart.
When they reached the ground floor they walked out as if there
weren’t three dead Global Guardians lying on the floor upstairs.

* * * * *

They weren’t expecting the attack as they exited the door to
the apartment building.
Johnson flew at them with a taser blaring, a wild light
in his eyes.
The beam shot Shauna in the left shoulder.
She cried out and fell
to the pavement.
A second shot hit her on the side of her head and she went
limp.

Mike let out a yell of rage and pivoted.
The sound from the
perfectly placed shot reverberated down the tunnel-like street and people
turned.
Johnson fell to the ground, blood flowing from the center of his
forehead.
Mike dropped to Shauna’s side.
“Oh, God, love.
Don’t die.” He felt
for a pulse and found one, weak and unsteady.
He glanced up to gain his
bearings and saw a skycar rental place across the street.
Most of the
pedestrians had begun to gather around.
It felt as if they were forming a
circle, protecting them.
Mike picked up Shauna and carried her across the
street.

“We’ll help you,” a male voice said.
“I’ll rent the vehicle
for you.” A short, rotund man with thin strands of hair across his head ran
into the rental office and soon came out with papers for the rental.
“Here.
Take her and get her good care.
Rest assured, we won’t be telling the Guardians
anything.”

“Thank you.
You’re very kind.” Mike placed Shauna in the
passenger seat, strapped the restraint device over her and said, “Is there some
way I can stop this bleeding?
Some light thing?”