TangleRoot (Star Sojourner Book 6) (20 page)

Her eyes widened. She scooped the boy into her arms, and ran down the hallway.

I leaped the steps three at a time. “Sophia!” I shouted when I reached the third floor, and banged on doors. Below, a thunderous explosion from the lab blew the door off its hinges. The fire must have reached the propane for the Bunsen burners. Fire spread through the hallway.

“Jules! I'm here!” Sophia rattled a door. “It's locked.”

“Get back.” I smashed the door with a kick. It took a few more tries but finally the lock broke and the door swung open.

“C'mon. I started a fire.”

“Oh.”

We ran down the steps and into the hallway. Flames shot from the wooden floor, but there was room to run past them.

“Fire!” I yelled as we passed three men running up from the first floor. We went down the staircase and continued into the basement.

The fire house must've been close, because I already heard the wail of sirens through the narrow high windows. People shouted as they poured out of the building.

“No use waiting for the team,” I said and pushed an empty box under a high, narrow window. Red flashes of light from the trucks illuminated the dirty glass.

Sophia went up first on the box and opened the window. She hefted herself without my help and squeezed outside.

I climbed on the box and grabbed the window ledge, but something dragged me back to the ground from behind.

“What the hell?” I swung around.

Zach had me by my shirt. He pointed to his eyes. “I see good with these. I see you run down the stairs with
comare
.” He drew back a fist.

I reached down, grabbed the box and smashed it across his head.

He staggered back, but still clutched my shirt. I tried to pull his hand off. The shirt ripped.

“Ay,
paisan
, he grinned,”thatsa no fair."

I ducked as he swung, and threw myself away from him.

He looked at the piece of shirt dangling in his hand and shrugged. “Itsa nice handkerchief now.”

I got to my feet but stumbled over a row of pipes and went down again.

“No. No.” He grinned and spread his arms to stop me from crawling past him.

I picked up a rusted pipe and swung at his stomach. The pipe cracked. The end dangled. He laughed and shook a finger at me as he grabbed the pipe from my hand and flung it aside.

I tried to run but he grabbed my arm in a vise-like grip. I kicked him in the groin. He grunted, but it only slowed him. He lifted me and slammed me against the wall. Pain shot through my head and back.

“Jules!” Sophia cried.

He let me go. I went to my knees, grabbed another pipe and braced it at an angle against the wall. I used the leverage to knock him over. He went down like a dazed gorilla.

I scrambled to my feet but he grabbed my ankle and yanked. I found myself on the floor again. I blinked to clear my vision as he drew back his fist. I blocked his blow with an arm across my head.

Suddenly he howled like a stricken bull and staggered backward.

I pulled myself to my feet and watched him slump to the floor. Sophia stood behind him clutching a lead pipe in two hands. Zach moaned and tried to roll to his stomach.

“No, don't,” I said as she raised the pipe and smashed it across his head.

I heard bone crunch. Zach lay still with blood oozing around his head like the devil's own halo.

I stared at Sophia for a split second while sirens wailed their fire song.

“He won't be following us,” she said.

“No.”

We went out the window, wearing only our pants and shirts, into a frigid night where snowflakes swirled in heated air from the spreading fire.

Flames shot out of windows from the first floor.

“Is everybody out?” I asked a fireman who was taking off his helmet.

“We got everybody out.” He wiped a hand across his sooty brow and jammed on his helmet.

“Do you carry blankets?” I asked him. My teeth were chattering. I put an arm around Sophia. She was trembling. I rubbed her shoulder.

“Jules!” She pointed to a man on the ground being given CPR by a medic. “Isn't that Don Rastelli?”

“Sure is,” I said.

Al kneeled beside him, holding his hand. Others from the compound stood silently by and watched the medic give Rastelli CPR. Snowflakes swirled and landed on Rastelli's face. He lay motionless.

The medic sat back, shook his head and looked around.

Al stood up and glanced in our direction.

“Uh oh,” I said as he unholstered his stingler from under his jacket. I took Sophia's arm. “Let's get out of here.”

We backed behind the fire truck, then ran.

“Hey, tags,” the fireman called and extended two folded blankets.

“Where are we going?” Sophia asked.

“I don't know. Just run!”

I looked back as we crossed a road. Cars had stopped along the shoulders and people stared at the blazing building. Al was a vague figure behind a curtain of thickening snow and passing ground cars.

“There!” Sophia said and pointed to a convenience store with a car parked in front. It was the only building in sight.

“It's going to have to do,” I said as we ran toward it.

“Maybe he doesn't see us.”

“Yeah, maybe.”
Sure,
I thought as Al headed in our direction.

I threw open the door and went into the store after Sophia. “Lock it!” I told a pudgy man behind the counter.

He stood frozen. “Are you thieves?” he asked in a squeaky voice.

“Hurry up!” I said as Al came out of the snow curtain and trotted toward the store.

“There's a serial killer out there,” Sophia told the man. “Lock it! He intends to kill everybody in here.”

The man's pasty complexion drained to white. He grabbed a set of keys off a hook and lumbered to the door.

I heard it click as I ushered Sophia into the bathroom.

“You need the bathroom now?” she said.

“We need a mirror.”

“OK, a mirror…why?”

I grabbed the mirror over a sink and ripped it off its hinges.

“Now what?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“The back door.”

“Are you going to rip the door off, too?” she asked as we ran toward it.

“Just follow me.”

I went out the door first and skidded to a halt. “Stay back!” I told her. Al had come around the store. “Get inside. Christ and Buddha!” I muttered and followed Sophia back into the store.

“He's dead, you fucking piece of garbage!” Al shouted in his high, hollow voice. “You killed him.” He raised his beam weapon. I put the mirror in front of me and crouched behind it like a shield. “Now it's your turn,
bastardo
!” he cried.

“Go back!” I told Sophia. I imaged the red coil of my tel power. Growing. Spinning as Al approached and I backed behind stacked boxes where Sophia crouched.

Quiet your mind, Jules,
Spirit sent.

OK, Spirit. Stay with me. OK?

I am here.

I lifted the mirror as Al fired. The beam bounced harmlessly off glass.

I spun the tel coil within my head, focusing all my energy, as I had when I was forced to kill my friend Priest to save him from the flames of a slaver's bonfire.

I groaned as my head began to beat, but I forced the coil to tighten and spin faster. A small, tight tornado, twisting and heating within my skull. A tel death blow is the most powerful of sends.

Al paused. “I won't kill you fast. You deserve a slow death.” He fired again.

I screamed as a hot burn grazed my thigh. It broke my concentration.

“You destroyed an old man's dream to live a little longer,” Al yelled and took a step forward.

“Oh God!” Sophia huddled behind me.

I took a chance and closed my eyes to picture his brain stem. That was my target. I screamed again as a hot beam grazed my arm.

“Call for help!” Sophia yelled to the owner.

Concentrate, Jules!
Spirit sent.
You must concentrate or die.

I put a hand over the wound in my arm.
I'm trying,
I sent. My head burned as though a hot poker had been rammed into my brain, but I tightened the coil down to a fierce knot of power.

Now throw it,
Spirit sent,
and don't miss.

Al grinned and moved closer, enjoying the moment, I think.

Throw it!
Spirit ordered.

I aimed for Al's hindbrain, pictured the brainstem column, and threw the intense beam. I felt it slice through his stem.

He stopped as though he'd hit a glass wall. His face contorted into a look of surprise. His jaw went slack. His eyes rolled up. I think he was dead before he hit the ground.

I felt dizzy. Sophia steadied me as I slid to the floor.

“He's dead,” she said in disbelief.

“I sure hope so.”

A brown truck swung around the back of the store and skidded to a stop in front of the door.
You Soil We Toil
was painted across the side.

“It's Joe!” Sophia said, “And the team. Oh, Jules, we made it.” She squeezed me. “Oh, God, I love you so much!”

“I love you, too,” I said, “but watch the arm!”

The truck door slid back and Chancey and Bat jumped out.

Bat ran over with his medkit, looking concerned.

“I'm OK,” I told him. “But if you have some pain pills…”

“Where are you hurt?” he asked.

“My arm.” I pointed. “And my leg.”

He examined the wounds. “Doesn't look too bad.” He snapped open his medkit.

Chancey strolled over with two blankets and grinned. He nudged the mirror with a toe. “You always check your hair before you fight the bad tags?” He handed the blankets to Sophia.

She draped one over my shoulders and the other one around herself.

I watched Joe get stiffly out of the truck. “Is he pissed at me, Bat?” I asked.

Bat chuckled as he applied salve to my arm.

“Easy!” I said.

“Well, he didn't say, bubba,” Bat told me. “But he's been pretty quiet.”

“He's pissed at me,” I said.

“When did that ever stop you, superstar?” Chancey asked. “You could've waited for us, man.”

Bat opened a small bottle, shook out two pills and handed them to me. “Soph, you want to get your guy a glass of water?”

She got up and went to the coffee dispenser. The owner was gone, probably out the front door. The ground car was gone, too.

“Where's Huff?” I asked.

“The fur ball's shaking so bad over his Terran cub,” Chancey said, “he's afraid if he stands up, he'll pee himself.”

Joe got out of the truck stiffly and paused to inspect Al's body.

“You'll live.” Bat hummed as he wrapped my arm with a bandage. He looked back at Joe. “Maybe.”

Huff jumped out of the truck and trotted up on all fours. He plunked down beside me and stared with his snout almost touching my nose. “Are you all right in the liver?” His face was wet with tears.

“I'm OK, Huff. Don't worry.” I wiped his tears.

He hugged me with furry arms and rocked me.

“Watch the arm, Huff,” I said.

"Jules, my Terran cub, my liver ached for you! JoeBoss said you are making him old. I think you are also making me old.

“Ah,” Chancey said, “Mommy and her cub.”

Sophia returned and handed me a cup of hot coffee.

I took the pills and sipped it. “Uh oh,” I whispered as Joe strolled over, grim-faced, and stared down at me.

Chancey stepped aside. “You're in the line of fire, Bat.”

“Oh, be quiet!” Sophia told him.

Chancey touched his forehead. “Yes, ma'am.”

“Hi, Joe.” I bit my lip. “I was going to wait for the rescue, honest, but things got out of hand, you know?”

“And you were in a mess,” he said.

“Yeah.”

I heard Spirit chuckle.

Thanks!
I sent.

“Is he going to live, Bat?” Joe asked.

Bat shrugged and tied the bandage around my thigh. “Guess so, boss.” He looked up and grinned. “If you let him.”

Joe squatted beside me. “Do you have any idea the red tape I went through to organize this rescue mission?”

I shook my head.

“Of course not!” he said.

Chancey chuckled.

“Shut up, Chance!” I told him. “It turned out all right, Dad.”

“Joe,” Sophia put a hand on his arm, “he destroyed all the bristra in that fire. What more could you ask for?”

Joe squinted at me. “You got
all
of it?”

“I'm pretty sure. The tanks with the customers' names had small shoots that were still growing. They weren't ready to sell. Mature roots would bring in a much higher price.” I shrugged. “They're for show, after all.”

Joe frowned. “So there's none left for you to study?”

I lowered my gaze.

“To quote a source,” Chancey said, “uh oh.”

I took the salt shaker from my pocket. A tiny new shoot had squeezed through one of the holes and was wiggling, looking for a hold. “Well,” I said, “there's this very tiny little guy.”

“To study at the Lab.” Joe came closer.

I leaned back. “To study at the lab,” I said. “Joe, it's a spectacular lifeform.”

“I would not shake that salt,” Huff said. “There is a creature crawling inside.”

Joe shook his head. “Just can't leave well enough alone, can you? But this time, your project will be under tight government security.”

“OK.” I let the tiny tendril wrap around my finger. The little shit extended teeth and dug them in. “Uh,” I said, “who knows what potential it carries in its DNA, Joe?”

I do,
Spirit sent.
As usual, Terran, you are looking for trouble. You will find it in this creation of mine.

Since you know its properties, Spirit, maybe you can help me.

The next time you find yourself in a mess, Terran, call Star Speaker. She has it nice and easy in Nirvana.

Ah, c'mon, Spirit, you know you enjoy helping me.

As you Terrans say, I'd rather have foot canal.

Foot…root canal.
I chuckled.
Spirit, I have to get you an Earth dictionary.

Joe called the local police department on his comlink to come for Al's body, then we all piled into the laundry truck.

“Those bastards are in for it, too,” Joe said.