Immortal (28 page)

Vanessa left the dead man as he lay in the
street, and ran back to her building. She ran up to the elevator
door and almost ran into it. It slid open at the last second.

“He can’t be dead.” She repeated to herself.
“He just can’t be.” Her voice quavered and her hands shook as the
door opened into the apartment. She stumbled inside, as she tried
to decide what she should do. She ran to the video wall, which was
still red. The same words, remain calm, continued to scroll across.
She reached out to tap the comm link on the wall, but hesitated.
She reached out again and tapped the depression that activated the
device. A window popped up on the video wall with a message.
Contact whom? She hesitated as she thought about it a moment. Who
should she call?

“Lily.” She said. The message changed to
read, contacting. Suddenly, the scene switched, and now in the
window, she could see a street view. Lily’s face was off center in
the screen.

“Help!” Lily screamed. The image shifted
jerkily, as her distraught face appeared and disappeared in view.
“Hello! Hello! Help me!” She screamed again.

“Lily! It’s me, Vanessa!”

“They’re after me!” Lily yelled into her comm
unit, breathlessly. The scene continued its jerky movements, as
Vanessa saw flashes of metal behind Lily.

“I’m right here!” Vanessa yelled back, as
suddenly the scene shifted dramatically, with a flash of blue like
the sky above, and then a crash. The scene was now sideways.

“Lily?” Vanessa said hesitantly. No response.
“Lily?” She yelled, as she realized that in the bottom corner of
the screen she could see her friend. She lay on the ground. Her
eyes were closed. Her mouth was open. Behind her head, Vanessa
could see the metallic legs of a Guardian, which began to move as
she watched. She heard the clank of its foot steps become louder as
it stepped over her friend. With a squelch of sound, the comm link
went dead. “Oh my God. Oh my God.” Whispered Vanessa to herself.
“Oh my God.” She began to pace in circles. She stopped and looked
at the video wall, then began to pace again. She stopped again and
ran up to the wall, and activated the comm link again. “Alonzo!”
She yelled at the wall. Contacting, read the window. The scene
shifted to that of the interior of Alonzo and Lily’s apartment. No
one was visible. No sound came from the device.

“Alonzo!” She yelled. “Alonzo! It’s Vanessa!”
Still no response. “Alonzo! Hey! I think Lily’s been hurt!” She
yelled, as a Guardian walked past the view. It dragged an inert
Alonzo behind it. Vanessa’s eyes went wide. She gasped and slammed
her hand at the comm unit, as she desperately tried to disconnect
it. On her third stab the scene went blank. She began to pace
again. “Oh, my God.” She said. “What is going on?” She reached out
to the comm unit again, hesitated, and then stabbed the button.
“Roger.” She said, as her voice shook. This time the window read,
not found. She slammed the wall, “Roger, damn it! I said, Roger!”
Again the window read, not found. A sob escaped her, and she
stepped away in frustration. Then suddenly, she had an idea. She
touched the comm link again. “The Premier.” She said. The window
read, contacting. She breathed a sigh of relief as she waited.
Seconds ticked by, and she paced a few steps before she realized
the window now read, unauthorized contact. Disconnected. She
screamed in frustration, and slammed her hands to the table. She
slammed her hand on the comm unit again. “Charles.” She said
expectantly, and shifted her weight from foot to foot as she
anxiously waited. Contacting, read the window. Then, connected.

“Hello!” She yelled. “Charles! Are you
there?” There was no video in the window, which read, image
disabled. “Hello?” She called again.

“This is Charles.” Came the reply, in almost
a whisper. She released a sigh of relief.

“Charles, this is Vanessa. You may not know
me, but-”

“I know of you, Vanessa. Look, I am quite
busy at the moment, Might you call me some other time?” He asked.
The impatience in his voice was quite clear.

“But I’ve got to tell someone.” She said
quickly. “They’re dead!” She yelled, as her voice broke again.
Silence ensued from the other side.

“Dead?” Charles asked.

“Dead!” She replied. The man across the
street. And Lily and-”

“How do you know this?” He asked, as he
interrupted her.

“I saw it.” Again seconds ticked by with no
response. “Hello?”

“I’m here. Are you in your apartment now?” He
asked. She looked around.

“Yes.” She said.

“Listen to me carefully, Vanessa. Remain
there. Do not leave your home. Do you understand me?” He asked.

“Ye….yes.” She said reluctantly.

“And stay off of your comm unit.”

“But, sir, they’re dead. Really dead-”

“I heard what you said, Vanessa. Can you do
as I have asked?” She paused, not sure how she should answer.

“But-”

“Can you do as I have asked?”

“I guess.” She said. “But my husband-”

“Ask him to do the same.” Charles answered,
as he cut her off again.

“But he’s not here.” She said. “He’s left.”
She continued. “He’s with those people you are looking for.” She
blurted out.

“People?” He asked. “What people?”

“The people. Oh, what did Jonah say you
called them. Uh…intruders, I think.”

“Jonah?” Asked Charles. The concern was quite
plain in his voice. “You’re certain that was the word he used?”

“Yes. Intruders.”

“And you say he’s left. With them?” Charles
surveyed the room from his vantage point, still on the skid. He had
seen a man and a woman. Two people. His two intruders, he thought.
Was there a third here?

“Yes…” She hesitated. “With them.” She
paused. “He wants to help them.” She finally said.

“Help them?” Asked Charles, with disbelief.
“Help them how?”

“To get away. To go away.” She answered, and
then added. “He knows, Charles. They all know.”

“Know what?” He asked.

“About rejuvenation.” She answered. His mind
whirled as he digested her words.

“You stay right where you are, Vanessa. Stay
right there, and you will be safe. Do you hear me?”

“Yes.” She said quietly. He keyed his comm
unit, disconnected the call, and took a brief scan of the room
again. He had seen the two, the man and woman, as they fought the
group of Guardians. But he remembered that there had only been four
Guardians in that group. The two from the front of the skid had not
joined them. He counted the ones that lay on the ground from the
battle, the one he sent to the door, and the one that stood beneath
him. He was missing a Guardian. He had brought six from the other
side, he was certain. He keyed his comm device.

“Yes, Charles.” Roger answered.

“Sir, I have them cornered.” Charles replied,
not able to see that Gabrielle, having scrambled for cover earlier,
had made her way close enough to his location on the skid to
overhear his conversation. She could not believe that Vanessa had
told this man, the one shooting at them, the one that had directed
the Guardians, that Jonah had helped them.

“It’s about time, Charles. Where are they?”
He asked.

“Sector two, sir.”

“I’m on my way.”

“And sir?”

“Yes.”

“We have an issue, sir.”

“What now, Charles?” Roger asked with obvious
contempt in his voice.

“Jonah, sir.”

“Jonah? What about him?” Charles paused
before he replied.

“His wife just called. He knows, sir.”
Charles said reluctantly. “And he may be helping the
specimens.”

“What?” Roger answered in disbelief. “Knows?”
He asked. “And helping them? How-”

“Sir, I don’t know how. But I know they were
in his apartment. His wife confirmed that, sir. And that he knows
about rejuvenation, sir.” Silence was the response from the
device.

“Where is he now?” he asked.

“I think he might be here with the specimens,
sir. We have them trapped, but it’s difficult to know for sure that
he’s here.”

“And his wife? Vanessa?”

“In their apartment, sir.” He answered.

“You keep them right where they are, and you
wait for me. I’ll take care of Vanessa.”

“How long should I wait, sir?” Charles asked.
“We can move on them now.”

“You wait until I get there. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” Roger disconnected the link and
keyed in a query to locate their apartment. The response was
instant. “Good.” He said to himself as he picked up his pace. He
wasn’t far away. Charles stowed his comm device, and scanned the
room again. Two or three, it didn’t matter. They were out
there.

“I’m here to help you!” He yelled out. “My
name is Charles! I am the Chancellor.” Gabrielle was motionless, in
her hiding spot near the skid. She could hear him, but not see him,
nor the Guardian at the edge of the skid. She remained silent.
Jericho, on the other side of the skid, slowly crawled along the
floor towards the skid. As he approached, he could see that Jonah
hid behind a stack a ways back. Jonah signaled to him that there
was one Guardian on the far side of the skid, the same direction
that the voice had come from. Jericho acknowledged this and
continued to crawl. He reached the Guardian that had been slammed
into by the skid when it had entered the room. He picked up the
control stick that lay on the ground and stuck it to the Guardian’s
chest. Blue sparks flared, as he applied pressure to the stick, and
drove it inside the chest plate as it melted the hard exterior.
Chunks of molten metal sparked off as he continued. Suddenly he
gained his feet, and sprinted towards the rear of the skid. A loud
explosion rammed into the front of the skid, and lifted the front
off of the ground. The whole thing slammed into the doors of the
tunnel, which slid partially open just as the skid bent them
inward. They screeched to a halt, and left the skid askew on its
track.

Charles lost his balance from the explosion,
and tumbled off of the skid to the hard floor below. The Guardian
posted there, moved to the front as it followed the sound of the
explosion. Jericho vaulted up and onto the skid, and around to
where Charles had stood, and watched as Gabrielle leapt from her
hiding place, and as Charles rose, she gently touched him on the
back with a control stick. His knees buckled as he fell. She looked
up. Jericho had picked up the gun that Charles had dropped. The
Guardian came back around the corner of the skid, and Jericho
pointed and fired. The Guardian exploded in a flash, as pieces flew
in every direction. The smoke began to clear, and Jonah, peeked
from around the stack where he had hidden.

“Wow!” He said, as he trotted across the room
towards them. “You guys, don’t play.” Gabrielle, knelt beside
Charles, and carefully checked to make sure that he stilled
breathed. She was disturbed that she had brought him down. That she
had harmed another human. She stood up slowly, the concern evident
in her face.

“You okay?” Jericho asked her. She looked
into his eyes a he stood on the skid above her. She told herself
that she had done what she had to do. That she had not wanted to
hurt the man. She had just wanted to stop him. She nodded up to
Jericho as Jonah came up beside her.

“Is he dead?” He asked her. She shook her
head.

“Just unconscious.” She answered.

“That’s what was different.” Jericho
said.

“What do you mean?” Jonah asked.

“I said earlier. That the Guardians we saw in
the street were different. They killed that man.”

“Killed him? Gabrielle asked, as she found it
hard to believe.

“Normally they just control you.” Jericho
said. “With the control sticks. They touch you and it knocks you
out. But the ones we saw earlier? They’re different somehow.
They’re deadly.” He turned. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of
here.” He said and jumped down into the tunnel. Jonah helped
Gabrielle up onto the skid, and followed. Soon they were all inside
the darkness of the tunnel.

The sound of the elevator as it slid open
startled Vanessa. She jumped up from her chair as Roger entered the
room.

“Roger?” She said, as the Premier approached
her and lifted his gun. He shot her point blank in the chest. The
gunshot rang out through the apartment, and echoed, as her
expression changed from one of bewilderment, to surprise, and then
to blankness as she fell to the ground.

“Bitch.” He said under his breath as he
holstered his gun. “You should have married me when I asked.” He
turned away from her and withdrew his comm device. “Charles.” He
headed back towards the elevator. The door slid shut behind him.
“Charles.” He said again, impatiently. The door slid open. He
exited and walked out at a fast pace. “Damn it.” He said. “Do I
really have to do everything around here?” He turned the corner,
and saw a group of Guardians as they marched ahead. He ducked back
quickly. He keyed the comm device again. “Amelia.”

“Yes, sir.” Came her response.

“Have you carried out my order?” He
asked.

“No. No, sir, I mean.” She replied.

“And why the hell not?” He asked, angrily, as
he peered around the corner, and saw that the Guardian’s had
disappeared. He ran across the street.

“He has not been back, sir.”

“I spoke to him just minutes ago. He said he
was in sector two.”

“Yes, sir. That’s where he was heading when I
saw him last, sir.”

“Well, where the hell are you?” He asked, as
he peered around the next corner, and he ran ahead.

“The other side of the tunnel, sir. It’s
where the Chancellor had stationed me, sir.”

“He said he had them trapped.” Roger said, as
he navigated the next turn. “Get you ass over there, and see to it
that they are finished.”