EVO Universe 1: The First (23 page)

Some people turned their children away fearing what was going to happen next, while others continued to watch; others went further pulling out their cellphones to record the whole scene for a YouTube or Facebook exclusive.

Armitage stood there with his gun lowered for the first time unsure what to do; something told him to see if he could talk to her, reason with her to come in, except the gap between the two sides made it impossible for him to cross.

Before he could put thought to action, someone in the sea of pointed guns lost it breaking command and opened fire causing everyone except for Armitage and Mercer to open fire.

Screaming and yelling came from the civilians off to the side watching as bullets from all types of firearms pelted and ripped through Sophia’s clothes, only to fall like coins to the ground as they slammed against her hardened skin.

Seeing that ricochets were getting closer and closer to the native Texans watching on the side Mark decided enough was enough grabbing the bullhorn inside his car, “Cease-fire! Cease-fire! Goddammit! We have civilians in the damn vicinity! Cease-fire!”

The shooting came to an abrupt end with the target still standing, her clothes a lot worse for wear, but she was no doubt still standing and unscathed. She took her time backing up to the guardrail behind her, as every person looking back could feel her narrowed gaze. She was deliberately allowing people to take one final good look at her.

“No woman should have that much power…,” a male civilian driver from within the crowd uttered.

She then effortlessly hopped over the guardrail dropping a good two hundred feet below. Civilians all left their vehicles clamoring to the guardrail looking down to see her land safely at the bottom creating a sizable crater on impact. She casually sped off in a direction where no vehicle both land or air was capable of following her. Armitage walked as close as possible to the guardrail on his side unable to cross due to the huge gap between his side and the other highway.

“What was that? What the hell was that?!” Mark finally lost it on the Interstate 10.

“We’ll find her again…” Dustin said attempting to calm Mark down.

“And do exactly what Dustin?!” Mark threw his hands up hysterically pointing at every single agent and officer that fired a shot, “If you haven’t noticed every damn shot from those dumbasses over there is all over the goddamn Interstate! Why didn’t she kill him?!”

“Kill who?” Dustin looked around confused.

“She threw his car into the freaking stratosphere. Could have let it crash and burn into oncoming traffic for the perfect diversion, but she stopped, and does a superman save on his worthless ass,” Mark continued his pointing rant, “She could have torn us apart back her ex-father-in-law’s house…yet she chooses to run…where in that is a woman who butchered her husband over some money?!”

Dustin shrugged his shoulders unable to find a suitable explanation for his partner, “Maybe she found Jesus.”

Armitage gave Mercer a look as if he was about to shoot him, he then marched back to his patrol car.

“Where are you going now?” Dustin asked frustrated.

“Going to find out why she came back to Houston once and for all,” yelled Mark, “Bring Lieutenant Kenneth Scott in…and get me Doctor Charles Hampton…now!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, inside the break room nurses, doctors, orderlies, and patients all huddled near every flat screen television to view the incident on the interstate.

As reporters talked to commuters who gave their account of the phenomenon that happened during Friday rush hour traffic, Charles Hampton was the only one that stood way back with a visibly worried look on his face. No one but him knew that it was his best friend on that interstate out running the police, and throwing patrol cars like Tonka toys. As he wondered her whereabouts after the death-defying jump played for the umpteenth time, he jumped out of his skin at the sound of his “Pocket full of Sunshine” ringtone.

“Hello? Hello?” Charles whispered.

“Charlie…it’s me…” Sophia spoke holding a pay phone.

Hampton looked around as if all eyes were on him, then scurried off to find a safe place to speak, “Oh my god…are you alright…?”

“I’m fine…clothes look like shit…” she joked, “But I’m right as rain…found the last working pay phone in the world…”

“I’m glad you’re in a joyous mood while I’m having a heart attack watching you do your version of “Hulk Smash” on national TV…!” he raised his voice a bit scolding her.

“I’m not running anymore Charlie…” she got serious.

“What?” Charles asked now confused.

“I am tired of running like I’m guilty when I know damn well that I’m not, and I don’t have to,” she came to a decision, “I’m not running anymore. I’m not going to find Rob’s murderers while hiding in the shadows and ducking the police and F.B.I every two seconds…I have to call them out and really go hunting for them…”

“How are you going to do that?” he said hoping to talk some reason into her.

“I don’t know yet,” she looked around, “But I’m going to figure something out.”

“Let me come and meet you. I could bring some clothes and money, and we can figure this out,” he proposed.

“No…Charlie …I don’t need you to come, and I’m good on money…I took some out of the bag…the rest is yours,” she thanked him.

“I don’t want the damn money,” Charles fired back at her frustrated.

“Then just hold it for me,” she calmly returned with no time to argue with him, “But I need you to do me a favor.”

“You name it,” he said.

“The samples you took from me,” she requested, “I need you to destroy them.”

Charles paused as if hit with a body blow, apparently, he did not expect “I need you to do me a favor,” to mean that, “Soph….”

She cut him off before he could ask if she knew what she was asking him to do; reasoning with the doctor within her, “Charlie whoever killed Rob over this will kill you if they find out you have it. They have the ability to work behind the shadows without prosecution; they are that treacherous. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened. Not to mention it is dangerous. I know you see it as the ultimate cure, but at the end of the day, it’s just too dangerous. I am dangerous…can you imagine more people like me in this world; people like the ones who killed Robert? I think he found out how dangerous this was and tried to tell people…and they killed him for it…I have to finish what he started...I have to stop them for him.”

“You have five minutes for this call, please put in fifty cents to continue this call,” interrupted the automated operator.

“Charlie, time is almost up, and I have to go.” Sophia hurried up the call, “Promise me you will destroy it.”

Charles sighed giving his word, “I…I promise I will, but what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet, and its better you not know,” she huffed, “I got to go, thanks for everything. I love you.”

“Sophia!” Charles yelled forgetting where he was.

The phone went dead before he could respond. His heart leaped out of his chest from the last three words. He knew she probably meant it in the context of them being best friends, but he wanted to tell her he felt more, that he always felt more for her, and how much of a coward he was for not acting on his heart and telling her.

For making excuses of something always coming up, things never being the right time, or who she was dating at the time, or that she was in court facing a death sentence. The regret he carried after she married Robert, he thought she was lost to him forever. Right there in the mother of all insanity he had an opportunity to tell her how much he loved her, and no matter what happened to make sure she came back to him. His one chance cut off by a pay phone. He looked up thinking that if there really was a God, He was a cruel practical joker.

“I…love you too,” he said to himself letting all the air out of his chest.

On the other side of the ended conversation Sophia was composing herself, adjusting her bullet-riddled clothes. Some shells caught in her clothing as well as her dreadlocks fell hitting the floor like coins. She walked back out into the front of the diner with all eyes fixed on her. When she jumped from the interstate she just took off and kept running; she was not sure how far she ran, but she was sure it would be awhile before anyone would find her. She lied to Charles for the fourth and probably final time, she already had a plan, she just did not want him involved anymore at all, or talking her out of doing it because it was truly an insane idea, and she herself was terrified of doing it. First thing was first she thought to herself as she walked up to the now nervous waitress behind the counter; find out where the hell she was.

“Excuse me,” she put on the most innocent smile possible, “How much for some coffee and a bagel with cream cheese?”

“Two dollars fifty cents,” The waitress nervously answered.

“Okay…,” She nodded calmly, slowly she pulled out the money from the pocket of her jacket placing it on the counter; in the process some more bullets that did not ricochet, caught in her clothing fell out onto the floor. It also did not help much that the twenty-dollar bill had a bullet hole in it.

She pretended everything was normal, “And I’ll take that to go…skim milk with four sugars…you can also keep the change…uh…could tell me exactly where I am?”

“Waco…” the waitress answered her looking her up and down.

Sophia nervously smiled nodding her head, yep she ran pretty far. She then dared another question, “Do you know what direction Washington, DC is?”

“Do you need a bus station, or airport?” the waitress asked.

“No…” Sophia smiled, “Just need the direction.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On almost the other side of the country within the secret and fortified Mount McLoughlin, Director Rosen stood in his situation room alongside Dr. Archifeld Zimmermann as he watched an unedited replay of the confrontation on Interstate 10.

On the theater like screen, various different takes and angles of the footage played from distant and zoomed in frames as analysts and lab technicians with technology never seen in some of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world attempted to study and assess Sophia’s amazing abilities in hopes of finding a chink in her armor.

“She is amazing.” Dr. Zimmermann beamed, “She is holding a current speed of a hundred and ten miles per hour…I believe she can go even faster! The density of her entire anatomy must be greater than that of steel or tungsten! Pupils indicated that heart rate is at 40 beats per minute while blood pressure is operating at 120 over 80, no over excursion what so ever!”

“Fascinating Doctor Zimmermann, now how do we capture her?” Director Rosen drove to the point.

The good doctor scratched his head, “Physically…I don’t even think it is possible, even with the B.A.Ms.”

“Then we have no choice but to go with plan B,” contemplated the Director.

Almost as if on cue, the Director’s phone went off (his right tone being Hot N Cold by Katy Perry), slowly rolling his eyes as he pulled his Wi-Fi headset from his pocket placing it on his right ear turning it on, “Bonjour...”

The Director massaged his nose as he listened to the distorted and incoherent ranting on the other side of his headset.

“Well sir,” the Director tried to explain to the person on the other end, “Considering this is the first we’ve encountered such a situation, you should respect the fact that it takes time to devise an effective plan to deal with said situation.”

The Director massaged his nose again as he listened to more distorted and incoherent ranting.

He waited for it to end to give some reassurance, “Somehow she has managed to go off the radar, currently we can’t track her, that shouldn’t be for too long, and when she does show up again we will be prepared for her. Yes sir…yes sir…good day sir.”

Director Rosen quickly pulled the headset off his ear rolling his eyes while looking to the heavens.

A bewildered technician turned to him in confusion, “Sir…we are tracking her…she’s in Waco…”

“I know that…,” returned the Director, “I just wanted to get him off the phone.”

Ms. Barrett walked in with apparent news, “Sir, we have located the package. Agent Slater and assigned team have been dispatched to acquire it.”

“Excellent Ms. Barrett,” the Director praised her, “How goes the units’ training?”

“Steadily…#4 was not taking it seriously,” Ms. Barrett reported, “I was forced to give him a bit of motivation. I estimate that they should complete their training two hours before the forty-eight hour time period you gave them.”

“Thank you Ms. Barrett, please continue to monitor the units’ training along with real time updates on Ms. Dennison’s whereabouts,” he instructed before turning back to the doctor, “Dr. Zimmermann, let us discuss the operation once we’ve captured her.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Doctor Charles Hampton sat quietly looking around at the sterilized interrogation room that was no different from one of the many examination rooms he had worked in, aside from the large dull silver table, three chairs, and two-way observation mirror. He was wondering if this was what Sophia felt like when they took her in, for her he imagined it was probably a million times worse. No more than thirty minutes after he finished speaking to her, federal agents walked into his place of work for the second time and gave him the option of being escorted out with or without handcuffs; obviously he chose the latter as he was sitting in the room unrestrained…for now. Nervousness began to set in as he tried to tap a tune on the table with his nails while his right leg twitched uncontrollably.