VECTOR (The Weaver Series Book 3) Read online

  Our eyes tightened as I mentally urged Silver to accept his apology without rancor.

  Her response wasn’t expected. “You hurt my feelings, both of you, although I understand you were trying to make a point. I notice you didn’t take back ‘bitch-tastic’…that’s okay, Romeo, I kinda like it.”

  The wide sidewalk in front of the long building let us stride side by side until a couple came from the opposite direction and we had to let James settle at our back to make room. In the dim light as they ambled by I could make out, better than James I was sure, a big white cowboy hat, a starched button up cotton collared shirt, dark denim and a dinner plate sized gold belt buckle. Accompanying the urban cowboy was a big-haired, bleached blonde with too tight everything on and about three layers of makeup that may have taken a trowel to apply. They were both obviously well into their revelry and having a blast as they waved hello to us in passing.

  After they were out of earshot James murmured, “I bet they drive home like that, too. Hopefully nobody dies tonight for their good time. There have already been one thousand one hundred and two deaths on the roads in Texas this year and it’s only May.”

  Silver cocked our head as she tapped the Web. “One thousand two hundred forty eight actually and they’re not all from DUI’s, some are just carelessness, but I get your point.”

  James’ suspicion flared. “How do you do that? Whose memory are you accessing so quickly that you can just throw that out?”

  My twin shrugged as we approached the small line of people waiting to have their ID checked at the door to Hazards. “I don’t know…sometimes things just come to me. I haven’t dug into anyone’s mind without their permission if that’s what you’re asking. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Romeo.”

  James put a hand on our arm. “That’s not what I meant.”

  A thought occurred to my sister and me at the same time.

  Silver said, “Give me your wallet.”

  His eyebrows arched curiously over his confused eyes but James complied, pulling his leather billfold from his back pocket and handing it over. Silver rifled through the slots until she found a credit card that matched the size of James license then gave everything back but those two items. We looked around to ensure nobody was watching—they were all too busy talking loudly and smoking to pay any mind to the subtle light show occurring in our palms. Slowly we engaged a small light field over the credit card, matching its appearance to James driver’s license until we held an exact replica then slowly the picture morphed into our likeness and the name matched our own.

  At our shoulder James gave a gasp then whispered, “I didn’t know you could do that! How long does it last? Will the effect continue if you aren’t touching it?”

  Silver chuckled as she handed back the real license. “It requires concentration and physical contact, so it isn’t foolproof but it works in a pinch. We haven’t exactly had time to get a driver’s license at the DMV. If the door guy takes it completely out of our hand we’re toast.”

  James cracked his knuckles and rocked on his heels. “Kara has an actual fake ID to work here. I took one away from her once but she just went and got another. My sister is nothing if not resourceful.”

  A barrel-chested round-faced man in his late thirties with short light brown hair was working the entrance and recognition flashed across his face as James held out his license for inspection. “Kara’s on a wild streak tonight. I let her have light duty so she can play in the tournament. Good luck getting her out of here before last call.”

  James tipped an imaginary hat brim. “Thanks for the tip, Bret.”

  Bret motioned with his fingers for James to turn over his hand and drew a big black ‘x’ across the top. When we moved forward Silver held our ‘license’ at eye level and after a quick read the doorman gave us the same black ‘x’ before motioning both of us to enter. How ironic that even though James was the older brother, his hands would be marked as a minor while Kara’s wouldn’t be. I wondered why he hadn’t just ratted out his little sister to management instead of stealing her license, but maybe he liked knowing where she was. Malcolm had said this place wasn’t bad for a bar.

  Silver thought at me, “We’ll see, won’t we.”

  Once inside we had another door to go through and then we were slammed with sound. Smoke filled the air in a low hanging cloud and it was wall to wall people, especially in front of the bar on our left. To the right, the room opened up considerably with two long rows of full size pool tables, all with games in progress. Some patrons stood around yelling over the music and others were sitting at low round tables straight ahead and slightly to the left on a raised area that could have doubled for a stage in a pinch.

  We earned a few curious looks but most of the crowd was a just here to have a good time. The general atmosphere was laid back thanks to the vein of middle-aged blue collar types participating in the pool tournament. If anyone caused trouble in here they’d probably find themselves frog marched out before anything serious could happen. The whole establishment was a long rectangle with the bartender serving drinks at the front and two bathrooms all the way at the back. Mirrors ran the length of the right wall so I used those to scan for any sign of Kara as James navigated the human obstacles.

  In the far right corner, at the last pool table right before the bathrooms, stood Kara with a stick in one hand and a lit cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth. Her t-shirt looked like it had mistakenly been purchased in the children’s section, leaving no doubt in the minds of her adoring audience of drooling male companions that she did indeed don a bra this fine evening. Her pants were so low slung the dimples on either side of her spine were exposed.

  Out loud I murmured to no one in particular, “Classy.”

  Silver smacked James in the arm and nodded our head through the crowd at Kara’s reflection in the wall mirror. Our trajectory changed as James aligned our progress with our target, but just as we drew even with the end of his sister’s table the faint smell of ozone drifted from the direction of the bathroom entrance marked ‘men,’ causing us to pull James to a halt.

  From out of the restroom walked an extremely tall, dark-skinned, man in a tight black t-shirt that seemed expensive, even to us, and dark denim jeans that hugged his long legs. Possibly shoulder length black hair was tied in a low pony at the back of his neck, exposing a strong jaw and two nicely shaped ears on either side of a handsome light field-covered face.

  Kara squealed in delight when her eyes fell on the stranger and she launched herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist to plant a long wet kiss on his mouth. Two hands on her behind held my friend securely in place and once the kiss ended Kara slid down his body but left her arms around his neck. How she managed not to burn herself or him in that burst of physical activity with the cigarette she still gripped in her fingers was a miracle and a mystery.

  James looked back a question in our direction at the same time that Kara’s ‘friend’ caught our eye, smiling wide like a cat who’d just belched a feather.

  We had never met Kal’s rebel nephew in person but Kal had shared his memories. Our heartbeat faltered and then restarted as Silver tugged James closer to our level to say, “Shiva just kissed your sister.”

  Chapter Six: Extraction

  The whites of James’ eyes expanded in surprised alarm. “That changes things.”

  Silver feigned nonchalance at that before she responded, “I think he wants to talk, so we talk. It seems to me a scene in such a crowded place would be detrimental to all of us.”

  “We’re not leaving here without her, Silver.” All of the blood drained from his cheeks but he meant what he hissed past his clenched teeth.

  If Shiva had formed an attachment through a romantic liaison with Kara, distance was a non-issue and that knowledge rankled. Saying it out loud to James wouldn’t help the situation.

  I murmured through our mouth into his ear, “Take the lead and act like you don’t know who he
is. Distract Kara while we talk to Shiva. And keep close. If we reach for you, grab your sister anywhere you can and we’ll ‘port out…I don’t care who sees us. The Council can add that to the list and eat my shorts while they’re at it.”

  James smirked just slightly at the last bit and turned to make a beeline for Kara, hopefully with a less serious look on his face than a moment before. I doubted Shiva would be fooled since the alien outlaw was a master of manipulation.

  Silver casually worked our gloves off, finger by finger as we followed in James wake between the green topped tables, furiously trying to formulate a plan. Based on what we’d seen the bastard do to Zik long distance, it was frightening to contemplate what he could do up close. Our Aniy friend and Sil’s one time lab assistant was still not safe—locked away in a cavern for his own good.

  When Kara caught sight of her brother the look on her face grew darkly mutinous but to our surprise Shiva leaned over to whisper something in her ear that made her emotions slide away into a vacuous, almost blithely happy expression. The speed of Kara’s emotional shift had been decidedly unnatural. The pair disengaged in front of us. Shiva leaned indolently against the wooden ledge mounted all along the wall to hold drinks and ash trays, as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

  A George Thorogood and the Destroyers song blared from the speakers mounted high up on the walls near the ceiling, causing Silver to think, “Too bad they’re playing ‘I Drink Alone’ and not ‘Bad to the Bone’, the soundtrack to our life sucks wind.”

  I plastered a bright fake smile across our face and addressed Shiva where he stood. “So…I see you’ve downgraded from fomenting rebellions to cradle robbing…how awesome for you.”

  Black eyebrows rose indifferently on his face at our remark and his hand reached out to stroke the top of Kara’s head as if he were petting a dog. There was no warning or verbal command given, as soon as Shiva removed his hand from her head, Kara dug into her pocket to retrieve a green plastic lighter, strike it up and hold the bright orange flame against her forearm without any expression of pain.

  James reached out with an almost imperceptible burst of speed, knocking the lighter from his sister’s fingers to land softly on the carpeted floor at their feet. An angry red welt bloomed on the sensitive skin of her inner arm.

  Kara bent down as if to pick up the lighter and begin again but James kicked the bit of green plastic across the room to be lost in the milling crowd.

  Silver took her turn with our mouth. “You made your point, dude…you’re super meavil and we should all be scared. There’s a reason for all of this, I’m sure. Could you just tell us without the theatrics?” For a bad guy, the tall alien was exceptionally good looking, at least with his light field engaged. His voice when he finally spoke was cultured but masculine with the same stilted accent as Kal.

  Shiva leaned forward. “What is this word meavil?”

  Silver spat in our head, “Pretty is as pretty does and this guy’s a dried up pus infected dick zit on the inside.” Out loud she said, “It’s slang for mean and evil, you’re showing your age, dude.”

  He reclined the upper half of his body on his elbows again, looking bored. “You think you are amusing, but you are a child and my uncle was a fool to send you back here. Earth is mine and now you are mine as well.”

  Silver took our naked hands out of our coat pockets, holding them up as if we were being arrested. “We’ve already got two lovers, honey, and frankly you’re not our type. Maybe you’ve forgotten just what we are? Annis makes herself known to those who listen…had any dreams lately?”

  Axsians believed the universe spoke to its children through dreams. If you insinuated a person had no dreams it was a rebuke, telling them they’d strayed from life’s path. Shiva believed himself to be enacting the Will of Annis. Apparently for him, that involved Axsa ruling the whole damn universe as supreme dictator—emphasis on ‘dic’.

  His shoulders straightened as he pushed himself into a standing position to puff out his chest. “My gemaetan are of no concern to one such as you.” A long arm extended to grab the back of Kara’s neck, shaking her like a rag doll before pushing her into James, almost knocking them both off their feet. “You may take this one for now—we are all tired of her.”

  Shiva gestured to the four other men that had been gathered around Kara when Silver and I first spotted her. Two of his ‘crew’ chuckled and grabbed their crotches. We turned our head and marked each face in our memory.

  Silver went a step further, checking the Web to discover the henchmen were all Weavers, making our anger ratchet up another notch to near nuclear in force. To top it off, these men weren’t spontaneous occurrences, culled and brainwashed from a family of Outsiders. My twin confirmed established family lines were present for each of them. That begged the question where were they from? Were they from the Warp faction, and if so what did that portend?

  James was struggling to hold his sister in his arms as she fought to regain her position at Shiva’s side. People were starting to pay attention to us now and two men, who looked like they might be off duty police officers, began making their way across the room.

  I took control of our body to slide us closer to James and Kara before taunting, “Next time one of your turncoats shows up at our house we won’t just break his arms, we’ll break his neck.”

  Shiva smiled and briefly pulled back the light field hiding his jagged dentition before clicking them in irritation. “I have no reason to attack your family. Perhaps you have made other enemies of which you are unaware. One shouldn’t leave one’s past so…messy. I see my uncle is a bad influence.”

  I murmured, “Bathroom,” at James and we started to shuffle with a fighting Kara in tow, toward the entrance to the women’s restroom. Silver guided one of our hands to the bare skin at the small of Kara’s back. As soon as skin to skin contact was established she collapsed against her brother’s shoulder as if overcome with too much drink.

  James grunted at the unexpected weight, stopping to slap her face lightly in concern. “Kara?”

  We weren’t going to make it out of sight before the approaching good Samaritans showed up. Shiva had resumed his casual pose against the wall with a quietly amused expression on his face.

  Silver nudged James with an elbow. “She’s fine. I induced sleep so she’d quit fighting. Just keep her upright.”

  A deep commanding voice that had no trouble cutting over the noise came from behind James. “Is there a problem here?”

  Sidestepping one of Kara’s long limp legs we put ourselves between James and the two interlopers. Silver ceded the floor to me since nothing rolling through her mind right at the moment would be remotely appropriate. “No problem, officers. Just a little bit too much to drink. We were just leaving.”

  The two men blocking the aisle in front of us were wearing collared cotton button up shirts tucked neatly into pressed denim with well-worn cowboy boots. On each of their belts rested a leather holster with police badges clearly visible.

  James spoke up behind us. “Officer Walters.”

  One of the men frowned before recognition lit his features. “You’re one of Moore’s kids aren’t you?”

  Out of the corner of our eye Silver watched as Shiva unfolded himself from the wall to approach us silently. I turned our body in response to keep the off duty policemen and the alien outlaw in a more direct line of sight.

  James was explaining Kara’s condition away as inebriation and the scene appeared calm but under the surface we could feel a mounting tension. Shiva’s henchmen were playing as if the pool game held their interest but we could see them discreetly watching as events unfolded.

  I snapped at Silver, “This is undesirable for defense, we need to leave. I don’t know why Shiva’s sidling up to us, but it’s doubtful his intentions are honorable. We need to jet. Interrupt James and ask the nice police officers to help us get her out to the parking lot.”

  Silver cleared her throat to speak right as Shiva reac
hed out a hand to touch our cheek. Without a thought to the scattered witnesses we raised our left elbow and forearm in a windshield wiper motion, warding off the skin to skin contact. Our right fist struck his solar plexus with a power loaded punch.

  Eight feet of alien flew back to hit the wall. A whole section of mirror shattered and the mounted wood counter below it splintered to pieces. Our arrest might have occurred right then and there if one of the men pretending to play a game behind us hadn’t swung wide with a pool cue, almost nailing an officer in the head.

  From there things devolved into utter chaos.

  Shiva, still down, tried to regain the breath we’d knocked from his lungs. His eyes never left ours as he gasped. The pain hadn’t been enough to shred his light field, so he still looked human. Too bad, it would’ve nice to kill him, witnesses or no.

  Out loud Silver and I combined our voices to boom over Soundgarden singing Black Hole Sun on the jukebox. “Fire! Fire!”

  The place was too crowded for anyone toward the bar area or the door to see any of the action but it was obvious something was going on. A delayed reaction took hold, like pistons misfiring for just a moment when the pedal gets pushed all the way to the metal unexpectedly. First one or two, then whole groups of people began to crowd toward the entrance.

  James had called one of our ‘rescuers’ Officer Walters, which meant he was Malcolm’s friend from the military. We just hadn’t recognized the man out of uniform. To be fair we’d only seen him once from a distance a long time ago.

  Shiva’s four henchmen may have been younger but they obviously had no combat training. Officer Walters and his unidentified companion had already taken out the pool stick swinging idiot who lay on the floor groaning.

  Silver growled one last time in Shiva’s direction before we grabbed James by the arm and pushed through what remained of the crowd after our false fire warning.

  We were about four people removed from the action when I engaged a light field to cover us all. Then James started bulling through people. It was hard going since he was basically dragging Kara at his side. A fireman’s carry may have been a better method but maybe he didn’t want his sister’s head dangling over his back, vulnerable. People looked around in confusion as they were shoved by an invisible arm or shoulder.