The Quest (22 page)

“You won’t,” I promised. “If he sees you point a gun at him, he’ll take it out of your hands and shoot you with it. At least, that’s what I would do.”

“Just out of curiosity,” said Scott, “what does this man look like?”

“Oh…” I said, suddenly feeling stupid. “Um… Candace? You saw him, right?”

“Actually, I think he was a she,” said Candace, “but I can’t be sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t look human,” Candace replied uncomfortably. “She was really thin and bony, and she looked more like… like a scarecrow, or a witch.”

“You mean like someone with bad power balance?” I asked.

“Really bad balance,” agreed Candace. “Her hair was all white, and she really looked like a scarecrow.”

I had once seen a man at the end stage of bad psionic balance. He had been one of the Angel Seraphim who abducted Cindy from our penthouse two years ago. Despite his formidable telekinetic power, he had been all skin and bones, his physical body entirely reliant on his psionic power for survival. I had only seen him for an instant, but I would never forget his sunken eyes and shriveled, skeletal hands. It was a fate that I myself had narrowly avoided thanks to Terry forcing me to learn power balance.

“A scarecrow,” I repeated quietly. “That shouldn’t be too hard to find. Again, if at all possible, stay clear and let Merlin and me take care of her.”

Merlin said hesitantly, “Adrian, I’m guessing that you want me to take control of the telekinetic’s body, but if this Seraph is such a powerful woman, chances are she’ll have excellent mental defenses.”

“I guessed as much too,” I said. “Can you at least buy me a little time?”

“If I can catch her off guard, I might be able to keep her still for three seconds or so, but I can’t promise much more.”

“That’s plenty, Merlin,” I said reassuringly.

Merlin stared at me disbelievingly. “Three seconds, Adrian. I mean it.”

I grinned. “A lot can happen in three seconds.”

Of course, Merlin had promised his three seconds only if he could catch the telekinetic off guard, but I wasn’t going to be picky about that. Combat tested or not, Merlin was my only hope in this matter.

I looked around again. “Everyone okay so far?”

Candace asked, “What if they attack us before we even get to the side of the house?”

I shrugged. “Then the plan goes to hell and we storm the place anyway, but nobody shoots till I give the word. Understood?”

Had Mr. Simms been running this show, he would have explained what to do in the event of an abort and retreat. I hadn’t forgotten. I had deliberately ignored it. There would be no abort, no retreat.

Once I was convinced that everyone was still with me, I said, “Okay, so once we’re in position, I will call the breach. If by some miracle the balcony door is unlocked, Merlin and I will enter silently first. I’ll use my telekinetic blasts to quietly clear the second floor and have you all go noisy only after we’re discovered. But more likely, you’ll hear us breaking the glass door and that will be your signal.” I paused, took a deep breath, and finished quietly, “Alright, that’s it.”

“Sounds like a good enough plan to me,” said Merlin.

I stood up. “We’re going to practice.”

For the rest of the day, we went through every detail over and over.

How to quickly prepare the fire-extinguisher grenades. We decided to keep some tape already on the levers so all James and Scott had to do was pull the pin, press down on the lever and pull the tape around it to keep it in place. That still took nearly five seconds, and I wasn’t happy about that in the least.

How to enter through a broken window with drawn curtains. Rabbit Two spent an hour practicing this at the window I had blasted out earlier that morning. To avoid being cut by glass left on the windowsill, Mr. Richardson agreed to carry a thick woolen blanket which he would drape over the bottom of the window frame as soon as James heaved the fire extinguisher through.

How to break open a door with a battering ram. Scott busted every door in our house with his fire extinguisher, and got better at it each time. Rachael, whose burns were causing her severe discomfort, probably didn’t appreciate the noise, but she didn’t complain.

How to use the radio transceivers. I knew the protocols, of course, but James and Scott had to use them too. Fortunately, equipped with head-mounted microphones and earpieces, our radios were nearly silent and could be used hands-free.

How to clear a room as quickly as possible without getting killed. Clearing a room wasn’t nearly as easy as movie heroes made it look. You couldn’t just jump out, pistol drawn, into the middle of an open doorway. Doors were the most obvious of targets, and stepping through one, you could never tell who was hiding behind the wall just inside, ready to empty a scattergun into you. But nor would we have the time to use mirrors to peer into each room before entering. I wanted us to go from breach to clear in thirty seconds or less, which was impossible but nevertheless a nice target to strive for.

We ate another hasty dinner of takeout pizza, and then went back to practicing.

“Everyone study the map carefully,” I had said to them over dinner. “Burn it into your minds. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the house. What is to your left? What is to your right? Where are the doors? Which door do you go to first?”

Though no one complained, I could tell that they were beginning to tire, and I didn’t want to burn them out before they got the chance to fight.

“Enough,” I said at around 8pm. “Get some rest. Sleep if you can. I’m going to go check on Terry.”

I doubted anyone would be able to sleep, but I knew that my team would want to spend some time with their injured friends before we left – especially Scott, who had bravely put his worries about Rachael aside during our hours of practicing.

Heading out to Dr. Land’s house alone, I hesitated for a second before knocking on the door. What if Terry was already dead?

The door was opened by Dr. Land, who ushered me in, saying, “I saw you coming from the window.”

“How is she?” I asked anxiously.

Dr. Land shook his head slowly. “She hasn’t woken. She’s been pretty stable, but I’m afraid she might still have some internal bleeding. There’s little more I can do in my home office, and considering who she is, I can’t take her to the hospital.”

“We’re ready to go tonight,” I informed him. “We’ll get Alia.”

Dr. Land remained silent. I wondered if he thought I was crazy, risking my entire team for one life. Maybe I was, but it wasn’t just Terry’s life that I wanted to save.

I asked, “May I go and sit with Terry for a while?”

Dr. Land smiled. “Certainly. I’ll be in my study. Call me if you need anything.”

I entered the operating room and, sitting quietly on a chair by the bed, I listened for a while to Terry’s shallow breathing. Terry’s face was deathly pale, and her every breath sounded like it might be her last.

Was I right in waiting for the night? Would Terry really last another few hours? Would Alia even be there?

Back when I was going over the mission with my inexperienced team, I often wondered where we would all be now had I let Alia and Max accompany James and me downstairs this morning. But I didn’t regret what I had done. It had been the right thing to do under the circumstances, just like Terry had done right for me at the Holy Land. Besides, regret wouldn’t bring Max back from the dead, keep Alia from being converted, or save Terry’s life.

But of what I was planning to do tonight, I had nothing but doubts and fears. Against a team of trained Seraphim, I was going in with only one trained Guardian Knight, two untrained adults and four non-psionic CQC students, and not one of them had ever killed. When Alia had been kidnapped by Dr. Denman at the Psionic Research Center, I had gone after her alone. I knew that I would die, and I had been okay with that. When things got bad, I was usually okay with the possibility of my own death.

But this time, others might die.

Gazing at Terry’s almost peaceful expression, I whispered softly, “I’ve never needed you as badly as I need you now, Terry.”

I thought I saw Terry’s right hand twitch slightly, but it might have just been a trick of the light. Or maybe I just saw what I wanted to.

Why had I bothered to come here? Terry couldn’t even hear me, let alone help me.

I suddenly found my eyes wet with tears. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t cry. If I was going to pull this mission off, I would have to be stone hard. But I was never very good at keeping promises, and who would see me here anyway? I buried my face in my hands to keep myself from crying out loud.

A soft voice called from the doorway, “Adrian?”

I looked up, hastily wiping my eyes and saying weakly, “Hey, Candace.”

Candace didn’t ask me if I was alright. She just came up to me and gently grasped my hands.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered.

I couldn’t let Candace see me break down completely. She had already seen too much. I begged my eyes to dry up, but they gave me only limited control over my tear ducts.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Candace said again, crouching down in front of me. “You and Terry are the bravest Guardian Knights I know.”

I shook my head and said in a quavering voice, “If I had my own way, I wouldn’t even be a Guardian, let alone a Knight.” More damn tears! When would they stop?!

Candace nodded sympathetically. “Then you’re just as scared as any of us.”

“More,” I sobbed. “I’m no leader, Candace.”

Candace smiled softly. “You had us fooled.”

“Mrs. Richardson said the same thing. But I’m just repeating things I heard. And Terry didn’t even teach me that fire-extinguisher trick. I just made it up, and I don’t know if it’s going to work the way I think it will.”

“It opened the doors,” said Candace. “Just think of Alia. Think of how scared she must be.”

I looked up at the ceiling, blinking furiously. “Alia’s tough. I’m not worried about her.”

“I know she’s tough, but she’s still just a little girl. And you don’t have to be brave all by yourself, you know. We’re all in this together.”

I stopped fighting. As Candace put her arms around my neck, I let my tears fall freely, soaking Candace’s shirt. And with those tears, I slowly felt cleansed inside. The tension I had been feeling all day wasn’t lessened, but somehow just a little more bearable.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, wiping my eyes.

I felt thoroughly embarrassed by what I had just done, and terrified that no one would follow a coward like me into battle. “Candace, please don’t tell the others…”

Candace smiled and gave me a peck on the cheek. “It’s okay, Adrian. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“We should be getting back,” I said, hoping I sounded more businesslike and in control. “But give me a moment.” I didn’t want to return to our house with reddened eyes.

We sat silently together, and I listened again to Terry’s shallow breathing, but something was different from a moment ago. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what made me so sure, but Dr. Land was either dead wrong or flat-out lying. Terry wasn’t stable at all. She was slipping away, and fast.

I stood. “Candace, I think we’re going early.”

Candace followed me out of the operating room, and I quickly called Dr. Land out from his study.

“Have Terry loaded onto Merlin’s van as soon as you can,” I said to him crisply. “We’re taking her with us.”

“That is impossible,” said Dr. Land.

I turned my tone to ice. “Kindly do not use the word ‘impossible’ around me tonight, Doctor.”

“If we move her, she could die.”

“If we leave her, she’ll die anyway. I want her at the target so Alia can get right to her once we’re done. You don’t have to come with us, but we’re taking Terry.”

Dr. Land looked like he was about to protest more, so I sternly added, “I don’t have time to argue, Doctor. Don’t make me force you.”

“Alright,” he said resignedly. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

As Candace and I hurried back toward our house, Candace said, “Are you sure about this, Adrian? Dr. Land could be right.”

“He could, but this is my call,” I said firmly. “I’m sorry I lost it back there, Candace. But I’m still the leader of this damn suicide squad, and you’re just going to have to trust my judgment.”

“Wow,” said Candace, looking at me in wonder. “You really change fast.”

I was a bit surprised myself, but I shrugged.

We all do what we have to.

Chapter 10: Counterstrike

Things moved quickly once Candace and I returned to the house.

I was elated to discover that two more Walnut Guardians had showed up at the last minute to assist us. Both were fathers of Alia’s students and the Richardsons had shamed them into joining us. Neither would actually fight, but one was a peacemaker and the other a mind-writer, and I knew that both would come in handy.

After quickly rechecking our gear, we filed into two vehicles: Merlin’s van and the Richardsons’ SUV. Placed on a stretcher, Terry was loaded into Merlin’s van per my request. Dr. Land insisted on accompanying Terry, for which I was grateful, and he sat in the back of the van with Candace and James while I sat up front next to Merlin. Merlin knew the way to the Angel outpost, and Mr. Richardson followed us in his SUV with his wife and the rest of my team on board.

After an hour’s drive, we arrived at the house nearest the Angel outpost, and we quickly subdued the elderly couple living there. Thanks to our last-minute additions, we wouldn’t have to leave our vehicles on the side of the road, but could instead use this countryside house as our staging point. It also solved our noise problem, since this was the only house close enough for gunshots to be heard from.

“I’m very sorry for our intrusion,” I said to the elderly couple as our peacemaker tied their hands behind their backs with rope. “I promise that you won’t be hurt, and you won’t remember any of this in the morning.”

I knew that altering memory, like other forms of psionic mind control, was as dangerous to the elderly as it was to children, and I had been hoping that the residents would be a bit younger, but it was too late now. Hopefully, our mind-writer wouldn’t damage their minds when he erased their memories later.