No Future Christmas (6 page)

After a while she heaved a sigh and straightened.
“Okay.
That’s what we’ll do.
I wish George was here too.
Let’s grab some food and get
going.”

There was a high-pitched buzzing in the apartment.
“What’s
that?” Mike asked.

Shauna fumbled in her pocket for her all-purpose electronic
device.
She pressed a button and the hologram popped up with a name and number
but no picture.
“Yes, Jennifer?”

“Get out.
Get out right now.
Twenty Global Guardians are
streaming up the elevator and the stairs.”

* * * * *

Shauna stuffed the note in her pocket, grabbed Mike’s hand
and raced out the apartment.
“Door lock, 2105, extreme barrier.” The door
clicked shut and two loud slams reverberated down the hallway.
Shauna raced to
the stairs and opened the door.

Mike understood immediately.
He grabbed his revolver out of
his waistband and followed Shauna up the stairs.
They raced up fifteen floors.
Mike had thought he was in shape but he gasped and held his unoccupied hand to
the stitch in his side.
They finally reached the roof and burst out into the
bright sunshine.
He shaded his eyes with his hand searching for the reason
Shauna had brought them here.

“Skycar 58062, emergency.” A gray and white skycar flew to
their side and hovered, the gull-wing doors automatically opening.
“Get in.”

Mike had one foot inside the vehicle when the door to the
stairway crashed open.
“Move it!” he yelled to Shauna.
He saw the first two
Global Guardians whip out their weapons and fired at them.
Five loud reports
shattered the air and the two men dropped to the ground, red splotches staining
their shoulders.

Chips of mortar flew off the building behind the other
Guardians streaming out of the door and covered them with shrapnel.
The men
ducked and rolled to the ground firing their laser weapons.
Red laser beams
appeared dotting the floor of the building’s roof and the skycar.
Mike ducked
into the vehicle.

“Sorry again, Mike.”

This time he knew he wouldn’t like the maneuver Shauna would
pull and mentally braced himself.

“Emergency ascent, ultimate angle, max speed.” The skycar
shot straight up like a rocket.
Mike was pushed back into his seat and felt the
G forces straining on his body.
He couldn’t move his arms, legs or head,
couldn’t put on his seat harness.
The skycar passed twenty thousand feet in
thirty seconds and began to level out.

Shauna fiddled with some controls and the car’s engines
smoothed.
He regained control of his body.
His breathing sounded harsh in his
ears.
With trembling hands he buckled his harness.
“Whew.”

“How’re you doing?” Shauna grinned and patted his knee.
“You
held it together pretty well this time.”

“Yes, lucky for you I kept my stomach intact.
I would never
live it down if I needed a third change of clothes.
Now I know what astronauts
felt when they sat atop a rocket pushing the space shuttle into the sky.”

Shauna’s head swiveled toward Mike.
“You actually saw a
space shuttle?
I thought they were legend.”

“It’s only been a hundred years, Shauna.
The space shuttle
flew, it was real.” Mike looked at the controls and saw they were flying at
thirty thousand feet.
“Not many skycars up here.”

“No, these skylanes are used for long-distance flying.”

“Don’t you need a flight plan?”

Shauna laughed.
“Yes but we wouldn’t have filed one anyway.”
The sound touched him, tickled, caused the tiny hairs on the back of his neck
to stand up.
He groaned.
She looked at him with concern.
“You feeling okay?
Aftereffects of the emergency ascent?”

“I’m fine,” Mike croaked.
He willed his body to relax,
fought to suppress the raging desire that had rushed through him at the sound
of her laugh.
“I think I have altitude sickness.
My body is reacting
strangely.”

Shauna glanced at him.
Her eyes studied his face then
traveled down his neck, past his chest and stopped at his erection.
She
smothered a laugh behind her hand.
“Not altitude sickness.” She smiled a Mona
Lisa smile.
“Nice to see you’re ready for any emergency.”

Mike’s hand shot out and grabbed Shauna’s.
“Stop tormenting
me.” But he grinned and took some deep breaths to calm his raging body.
“Keep
it up and who knows what will happen?” He lowered his voice to a whisper.
“We
might end up making wild, passionate love.
Would you like that?” He didn’t let
her answer.
“I would.”

Shauna’s face flamed.
She glanced at him and he saw stark
desire in her eyes.
She licked those full lips and lightly bit the tip of her
tongue.

Mike groaned in surrender.
He leaned over and pulled her to
him.
The kiss shattered any resolve he had left.
He plunged his tongue into her
wet mouth and swept the inside.
Shauna moaned.
Mike felt the air shift around
him and knew he’d seriously lost his heart to this stranger.
He cupped one side
of her face while his other hand teased her breast.

“Warning.
Warning.
Losing altitude.”

“Shit.” Shauna pulled away from Mike and said, “Autopilot.
Remain thirty thousand feet, course 1250, heading 1020.” The skycar changed
course and flew into the late afternoon sky.
“Don’t ever touch me again without
my consent.”

Mike started at her tone of voice but relaxed when he saw
her lick her lips.
“You want me, I can feel it.
Why don’t you admit it?”

“Your timing stinks.”

“I can’t help my reaction to you.” Mike straightened in his
seat.
“As a matter of fact I don’t want to.
I feel a connection to you, Shauna.
I want you.”

The simple statement hung in the air.
Shauna glared out the
windscreen at the setting sun.
“Put it away for now, Mike.
We’ll discuss this
when there’s more time.”

Mike studied the oranges, reds, yellows and faded pinks in
the western sky.
“We haven’t had a minute to discuss anything.
We’re barely one
step ahead of the Global Guardians.
And where are we going, anyway?”

“Well, since we can’t get to Simon at World Starbucks, we
have to find someone who can.
I have a friend who will help but he lives in
Dallas.”

Mike sighed.
His body still throbbed from their kiss and he wished
for twenty hours of sleep.
This had been one hell of an introduction to the
future.
He’d had no sleep, one semi-decent meal and no time to process his
growing feelings for Shauna.
When he’d signed up to be a police officer he
never expected to be chased by futuristic cops in flying cars.
He’d expected to
do the chasing, collar the bad guys.
Save the world.

When had it all gone topsy-turvy?

* * * * *

“Are we safe in this skycar?” Mike asked.
“I figure if every
car has a GPS system, we’re being tracked right now.”

“We’re safe.
This is an emergency vehicle, that’s why it’s
gray and white.
Anyone can call for an emergency vehicle at anytime for free.
They have GPS systems but these skycars are old, with older systems.
If the GPS
isn’t broken it can be turned off manually.

“The Global Guardians don’t like it but the citizens of the
world argued, demanded and finally rebelled years ago.
They wanted freedom not
to be tracked everywhere they went.
Commerce came to a quick halt and the
Fearsome Foursome got a taste of the power of the masses.
As corrupt as they
are, they know that if the world united, they’d be sunk.
I wonder why we
haven’t had a worldwide strike against their oppressive policies yet.
I guess
the population isn’t angry enough to want that fight.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Mike said thoughtfully.
“The
people hate the corporations who rule the world with mega-monopolies.
The air
is clean and fresh, nothing’s run by oil, thank God and Big Brother is watching
every move we make.
Right?”

“Who’s Big Brother?”

“Something from an old book,
1984
, by George Orwell.
Basically says that eyes are watching us where ever we go.”

“Then your analysis sounds about right.
We’re landing.”
Shauna settled the skycar in a lot on the top of a building.
“Skycar 58062,
lock against intruders, code 11134.”

“I like the voice activated stuff.
Very high-tech and
impressive.
But will that really keep out intruders or the Global Guardians?”

“Yes.
Mostly.
We’re pretty secure here, no identity theft,
no skycar theft.
But if the Guardians really want in, they’ll just smash their
way in.
Even now we can’t stop that.
It’d cost too much to make vehicles and
buildings smash-proof.”

They climbed down some exterior stairs until they reached
clear plastic doors to the interior of the building.
Once inside Shauna headed
for an elevator.
“This is a supersonic elevator.
Ready?”

Mike sucked in a breath to steady himself.
“I think so.
So
this build—”

The elevator dropped out from under him as it raced to the
bottom.
Mike willed his stomach to stay in place.
His white knuckles gripped
the handhold.
They were on the ground level in five seconds.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that,” he said.
But a
wide grin split his face.
“Look, Ma.
A clean shirt!”

Shauna threw back her head and laughed.
“See?
You’re already
getting used to the twenty-second century.
Let’s go find my friend.”

They stepped out the front door and turned left.
Mike looked
right and grabbed Shauna’s hand pulling her back against a brown brick wall.
“Guardians approaching,” he whispered.
He held her close and rubbed her arms.
A
hot wind blew Shauna’s short hair making it stand up straight.
Her earthy-sweet
scent wrapped around him, made more powerful by the hot wind and their close
proximity.
When the Guardians were within ten feet Mike lowered his head and
nuzzled Shauna’s neck.
She moaned just as the Guardians strolled past.

Mike didn’t stop when the danger was gone.
He rubbed
Shauna’s back, her arms and the small of her waist.
He kissed her eyelids, her
eyebrows and the upturned corners of her mouth.
Since Shauna made no move to
get away, Mike roamed her neck with his lips.
“You taste so sweet.
Hot and
sweet.”

Something nudged Mike’s leg and he jumped.
A German Shepherd
looked at him with soulful eyes.
Shauna pulled away.
Mike felt a gaping
emptiness without her in his arms.
“Well, boy, what do you want?”

The dog nudged Mike in the leg again and looked up the
street.
Mike glanced in that direction and saw a group of Guardians milling
around.
They were staring at him and Shauna.
“Time to go, Shauna.
Thanks
fella.” Mike patted the dog on his head and walked away.
Shauna followed
quickly and the dog trotted up behind them.
They rounded a corner and ducked
into a tan brick building.
Shauna pressed a button on the wall next to apartment
5531.

“Yeah?” a male voice boomed.

“Winston, it’s me Shauna.
I need your—” A lock clicked and
the door to the elevator opened.

“The dog is following us,” Mike said.

“Nothing we can do about it.
Let’s go.” Shauna and Mike
stepped inside the elevator.
The dog followed.
“This building is part offices
and part apartments.
All the elevators are supersonic.” She pressed the button
for the one hundred tenth floor.
The dog lay on the floor in a corner.
It
leaned against the wall, braced its paws on the floor, heaved a loud sigh and
put its nose between its paws.
The elevator shot to the sky and reached the
floor in six seconds.
“You okay?”