Anything but Ordinary (8 page)

Strangely, she did not resent the actions they had taken.  In their place, she would have done the same.  And they had not hurt her.

She wondered if the lack of resentment was because she felt that, in a way, they had done her a favour. 

It
was
interesting here. She could see the possibilities. She had wondered how to escape the notoriety that had descended on her and continue to work in secret, and they had shown her a way.  She did not ignore the fact that this advantage had been shoved down her throat as a strong piece of propaganda and that there might well be more to it. But she could give this place a chance and see what developed.  After all, she had a way out if she ever needed it. 

So why didn’t she take it and go home? 

She faced the truth; she was not ready to go home.  Being brought here, although she had not planned it, had given her a chance to stand back and think about things. She would never have taken such a course of action on her own, preferring to stay and face things head on, but now that she
was
here, there was no point in not taking advantage of the situation.  She
liked
it here. It was peaceful and, unlike the current situation at home, there were no problems here that she was not more than equal to solving. 

Like the Crettins. 

Back to business. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She had to admit, having a definite area to focus on did make it easier; in any case, it took her about three seconds to isolate the Crettins’ location. 

She held out a hand to Melissa. ‘Ever tried
real
teleporting?’ she said. ‘All grab hands and
hang on
!’

 They had been transported from the teleportation room to a hangar full of interestingly high tech aircraft that made Tamar feel even more like she was participating in a comic book adventure.

‘Sod that,’ she had decided. She gave the gang no opportunity to argue. Her way was better.  And after all, she was supposed to be team leader. This was why they had wanted her, because what she did
worked
.

The reactions of the group varied from Slick – ‘Cool! Can we do that again?’ to Melissa ‘I think I’m going to throw up.’ Ray admitted that it was more efficient than flying, but could he have some warning next time?  David maintained a taciturn silence. He had said almost nothing from the beginning, in fact. Tamar had the impression he was keeping mental notes on her. 

‘Sod him,’ she decided. ‘We have work to do.’ 

They were on a dusty road, apparently deserted apart from a stalled bus full of both people and livestock. A buffet for the Crettins; all it would take to stall the bus was one Crettin in the gas tank burning off the fuel. 

A man staggered from the bus looking oddly shiny. His eyes were glazed he was clutching desperately at his stomach.

‘Any minute now,’ murmured Tamar.

‘Is that …?’ said Melissa looking slightly sick. 

‘He’s had it,’ Tamar confirmed. ‘It’s too late for him. I wouldn’t look if I were you.’ She did not, however, avert her own eyes. She wanted to see the moment when the Crettin emerged. 

‘Ray, Slick,’ get on that bus and get everyone off,’ she ordered. ‘And be careful. Anyone who looks like
him
is to be avoided.

The man who had staggered from the bus exploded.  And Tamar saw it; a shape against the air, almost invisible, shimmering like the air around a heat mirage, moved fast and with deadly accuracy toward Ray.  No time to think, Tamar moved, lightning fast, into the Crettin’s path and swayed backwards as it entered her. 

‘
Tamar
!’ Melissa had seen it too. 

‘I can handle it,’ said Tamar between gritted teeth. ‘Get on that bus like I told you.’

No one moved.

The heat was building up inside her; it felt like she had a volcano in her gut.  And this was only the beginning.  She was vaguely aware of the faces staring at her in horror. 

‘Well,’ she thought, ‘I daresay I wouldn’t win any beauty contests at the moment.’ But that was no reason to… they were just going to have to get used to this sort of thing.  The heat was unbearable even to her. Had she been human, she would have been ashes by now.  She felt her skin split under the intense heat; her eyeballs felt like they were boiling, flames flickered under her fingertips.  No more choices, she could not hold it back any more. She burst into flame, knowing, as she did so, what would happen next. 

The Crettins swarmed, attracted by the intense heat she was creating. She was punted backwards violently as three more entered her, within seconds, she was a mere pillar of fire. Melissa was screaming. 

For a minute there, Tamar had panicked, but she had it under control now. The pillar of fire stabilised and began to burn steadily.  She was in more pain than she had ever believed possible.

‘Set the bus on fire,’ shouted Slick.

‘
No
,’ thought Tamar but no words came out. It would not matter anyway. The heat radiating from Tamar was hotter than any fire they could hope to create. The only thing hotter than Tamar right now was the Earth’s core itself or possibly the sun. 
The sun, now there was an idea.

The very air around her seemed to be on fire, and the ground for several yards in every direction was scorched. Trees caught fire and people from the bus began running and screaming, no need to set the bus on fire, it caught by itself.  The team backed away helplessly keeping their eyes on the now complete wall of fire that had been Tamar.  Time to end this, thought Tamar, she was sure she now had them all.

From the point of view of the team, the flames suddenly vanished, and Tamar, black as a sweep, came screaming through the air from high above like a comet, hitting the ground hard enough to dig a deep trench along her path. 

She sat up grinning, and allowed Ray and Slick to haul her out. ‘Not exactly what I had in mind,’ she told them dusting herself off. ‘But it pays to be flexible, I always find.’ she smiled at their stunned faces. She would never tell them, she decided, that she had not been at all certain that she would survive.  It would completely spoil what had been, by anyone’s standards an impressive début. 

* * *

What had possessed her to say such a stupid thing?  Cindy castigated herself. How was she ever to face him again after
that
? It had been bad enough before, when he had only had a vague suspicion, now it would be impossible.  She must have lost her mind. 

‘Cindy?’ she jerked her head up in shock. It was Denny. Denny who always avoided her like the plague for at least a week after she so much as hinted at her feelings for him, who never wanted to know about it so that he could pretend it was not real, who skirted round the subject if it ever came close to coming up, to make sure it was never said.  It was not possible that he had actually sought her out after such a huge blunder as she had just made. Was it?

‘Cindy, are you in there?’  It
was
him. 

‘Er, come in.’ she said uncertainly, all embarrassment forgotten in surprise and curiosity. 

He shuffled in awkwardly, and sat down gingerly on a pink satin chair and gazed past her ear out of the window. 

‘Not handsome at all,’ thought Cindy.  ‘He dresses like a scarecrow, he never shaves, and just look at him sitting on that chair for all the world as if he thought it was going to break.  There’s no way he could ever fit into my life.’

He ran long, thin fingers through his hair nervously and let out a sigh. 

‘It’s nice,’ he said gesturing around the room.

‘He thinks it looks like a tart’s boudoir,’ thought Cindy. ‘And normally he would say so, what’s up with him?’

‘How’s our guest?’ she said.

Denny looked relieved.  ‘Better, I think, it’s all been a bit of a shock for him. But he’ll be okay.’

‘Give him a day,’ said Cindy. ‘He should have sorted things out by then.’

Denny nodded. ‘I wanted …’ he began. ‘I mean, I never said thanks for y’know, sorting him out.’ he stopped and looked almost plaintively at her. 
Please,
his expression seemed to say,
can’t we just pretend it never happened, let’s just go back to how it was before, when I could pretend I didn’t know.

Now she understood; she had gone too far this time. He had come to try to erase what she had said. He shifted awkwardly on the fancy chair and gestured unconsciously to his clothes, his hair, his three-day growth of stubble. 

Look at me,
he seemed to be saying,
why would you want me anyway? I don’t fit in here. 
It was what she had been thinking a moment ago.  But it was no good. She still wanted him.

She took pity on him; didn’t he have enough on his mind at the moment?

‘Could you stand up a minute,’ she said grabbing a towel and placing it on the chair as he rose. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘It’s silk.’ Denny grinned in relief; this was the Cindy he knew. 

‘Where’s Jack?’ he asked conversationally. ‘I haven’t seen him.’

‘Oh, didn’t he tell you? He has a new case on hand. He and Hecaté are looking into it. Some spontaneous human combustion cases I think he said.’

‘Oh, it’s probably Crettins,’ said Denny.

‘That’s what I thought,’ agreed Cindy.

There was an awkward silence. 

‘Well, I’d better go and see what Agent Whatisname is doing,’ said Denny eventually. 

‘I wonder why Tamar sent him here,’ mused Cindy. 

‘I think it was a message,’ said Denny his voice vibrating with hope. ‘Of course she may just have wanted us to help him,’ he conceded. ‘Hard to imagine her needing rescuing really.

I know what you mean,’ said Cindy.

‘She … I mean why wouldn’t she come home, if she could?  Mind you, we
were
arguing a lot,’ he answered his own question. ‘All that “being normal” crap,’ he continued,  ‘Facials and shopping and stuff like that … not that I blame you of course.’

There was a frosty silence. 

‘What’s
that
supposed to mean?’ said Cindy. 

‘Well, nothing, I just …’ Denny backtracked desperately.

‘You think this is
my
fault?’ Cindy was outraged.  ‘After all the stuff
you
did. Acting like a chauvinistic prat, telling her what to do all the time, lightning bolts in the kitchen.’

Denny was furious.  He leaped angrily to his feet. ‘
You
were the one who got her into all that stuff in the first place.
And
you encouraged her, even though you must have known that it was driving me mad. I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t done it on purpose, just to drive a wedge between us, you’re quite smart enough for
that
!’ he went on relentlessly.  ‘That dumb blonde routine of yours might fool the others, but I know better.’

‘Why would I do that?’ snapped Cindy. ‘God knows she’s welcome to you,’ she continued hurriedly before he could answer. ‘I saw the way you treated her before she left. She was in tears some nights after you had been having a go at her. 
You
drove her away. It had nothing to do with me. And I don’t blame her for walking out. I wouldn’t have put up with it either.’ She stopped. Denny’s face was white. He knuckled his eyes to stem the sudden tears that had sprung up. 

Cindy was horrified. 
What had she said
?

‘Was I really that bad?’ he stuttered.

‘No-no, I didn’t mean it, I was angry. I’m sorry. Don’t
…’

‘I
was
,’ said Denny. ‘Jack warned me I was behaving badly too, only he put it a bit more tactfully than you did.’ he slumped back into the chair and covered his face with his hands.

Cindy put a tentative arm around him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated. ‘I miss her too.’ There did not seem to be anything else to say. 

‘I just want her to come back,’ said Denny.

‘She
will
,’ said Cindy vehemently. It was terrible seeing this side of the normally laid back Denny. 

Denny looked up at her face.  ‘I’m sorry I tried to blame you.  I didn’t mean it. I guess I’ve treated you pretty badly too. I just didn’t want to face the truth – that it was me.
I
drove her away.’

‘I’m not at all sure that you did,’ said Cindy thoughtfully. ‘I mean it’s not like her to just leave like that. You can forget all that stuff I said before. I was just being emotional. I guess we’ll know more after that Agent tells you what he remembers.’ 

‘You don’t have to be nice to me,’ said Denny. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’m a shit.’

‘You
are
a shit,’ said Cindy but without accusation in her voice, ‘lately anyway.  But you didn’t use to be. And I don’t think you’ve changed that much, not deep down.’ she took his face in her hands and turned it gently towards her as if he was a small boy. ‘What’s wrong with you Denny?  What’s happened to you?’

‘I don’t know. It’s like it’s not really me saying those things. Only I know it is.’

‘All
I
know,’ said Cindy. ‘Is that you have always been one of the sweetest, gentlest, kindest men I ever met. And Tamar knows it too.
I
wouldn’t have left you over a few silly arguments …’

‘Cindy …’

‘… and I don’t think
she
would either.’ finished Cindy. ‘She’s too wise for that. If
I
can see that you haven’t been acting like yourself lately, if
I
can see that something is wrong, that this isn’t the real you then
she
certainly can.’

‘I don’t think she did see,’ said Denny miserably.

‘Tamar knows the real you,’ said Cindy firmly. ‘She’ll be back.’

Denny risked a smile. ‘You don’t think you’re biased?’ he asked wickedly.

Cindy stiffened imperceptibly.

‘I mean because you want her to come back too,’ he added.

Cindy relaxed. ‘I
know
she’ll come back,’ she said. ‘She can’t do better than you.’ she touched his face lightly. ‘If there’s a better man than you out there,
I
haven’t met him.’

This was dangerous ground. ‘Maybe
she
has,’ he said glumly.