The Twelve Stones (32 page)

“
See that?” He called out to Scott
.
“I’ve got your buddy’s little miracle stone here!”

Scott swallowed
.
OK, now he might be boned.

Scott around looked frantically for anything that might help him. His stomach sank when he looked down and checked the power level of his MISAMP. One, perhaps two shots left if he was lucky or turned down the intensity. Darting his head out from behind his vantage point, he caught a glimpse of Geoffrey approaching his position slowly.

Breathing hard, his mind racing, Scott smiled
.
I
t
wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all he could think of
,
and that was better than doing nothing.

Scott sprinted across the tiny college street and towards a set of Greek Ionic columns that stood monolithic in front of the
u
niversit
y
’
s
library.

Geoffrey, waiting for Scott to make such a move, didn’t quite catch him in time, but he did manage to get off two shots, one of which hit Scott painfully in his right calf.

Scott cried out in pain as his
right leg gave out, a few feet away from his goal. Falling a few feet short, he dragged himself the remainder of the way, his calf gushing blood generously. Hiding behind the marble column, Scott prayed his plan worked.

Rotating a dial on the MISAMP, Scott turned, facing the column in front of him
,
and went to work cutting the base of the column, ignoring the incredible stinging pain from his leg. If he timed this right, his wound wouldn’t be a problem for long.

Geoffrey smiled as he approached his cornered prey. The weapon had been a surprise, but once Geoffrey killed this annoying little nerd, he could take it, and use it on Kline if needed to complete his new plan.

Geoffrey walked confidently closer to the column, his pistol at the ready in case Scott popped out at any moment.

“
Enough of this,
” Geoffrey called out. “I have the stone, and you have nowhere to go.”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, and then a great moan emerged, a sound that Geoffrey could not quite identify. It sounded otherworldly. Alarmed, Geoffrey looked up, and saw the enormous Greek column falling down on top of him. The two
-
ton marble column fell to the ground with a great crash, landing directly on Geoffrey’
s
body.

Geoffrey screamed as the great column hit him dead on, crushing his chest and rib bones to bits. The pain was unbelievable. The black stone glowed brightly as his bones quickly began to knit back together into perfect condition.

Scott’s jaw dropped as he watched Geoffrey’s body repair itself. The smashed and broken body of Geoffrey Tate healed in an instant, nearly as fast as Alex did. For a moment, Scott was reminded of an inflatable man being blown up as Geoffrey’ body healed. The mammoth marble column rolled off of Geoffrey’s body, stopping as it pinned down his right arm and hand, which also
happened to
be holding the bodyguard’s pistol.

Scott approached the man cautiously, but he felt fairly safe. Geoffrey was well pinned underneath. It would take a heavy crane and maybe the Jaws of Life working together to get the mercenary free. Scott looked at his handiwork, appreciating the bad plan gone good. Geoffrey’s body was awash in the strange blue glow as the stone repaired his battered body. The stone worked for anyone
,
it seemed. Scott limped over to where Geoffrey was trapped, shaking his head. He knelt down
,
grabbing Alex’s stone out of Geoffrey’
s
left
hand
, and clutched it
tightly in his own
. The familiar blue glow extended down and quickly healed the bullet wound on his calf.

Thankful for the stone, Scott stood back up, exercising the previously wounded leg carefully, testing his healed appendage to see if there was any permanent damage. Finding none, he turned, scowling at Tate below him. Scott shook his head and kicked the man hard in the stomach.

“
That’s for trying to kill me.”

Scott kicked him again
in the gut.
“And that’s for stealing the stone.”

Beginning to walk away, towards where Alex lay prostrate on the ground, Scott stopped, turned back to Geoffrey
,
and kicked him several more times, each kick emphasizing each word.

“
That’s
.
F
or
.
S
hooting
.
Carl. I
.
liked
.
him.”

“
Scott…” Alex cried out weakly, “you think revenge can wait for a few minutes while you come help me out here?”

“
Oh, right, yeah, sorry about that
,
Alex.” Scott hustled over to his friend. “I couldn’t help myself. I owed him one…or six
,
or nine hundred.”

Groaning, Alex held his head and looked up at his approaching friend, “By the way, what the hell was that?”

Scott grinned like a proud father on his child’s graduation day. Hoisting his prized creation higher for Alex to see, he displayed it proudly
.
“I call her the MISAMP; she utilizes both microwave and sound energy…”

Alex cut him off.
“
No, not that
,
y
ou idiot, I meant that lame
-
ass line you said before blowing up our ride. That’s all you could come up with? ‘Goodnight, sweet prince?’”

Scott blushed
.
“Well, if I’m gonna be the sidekick here, I wanna have at least a few cool catchphrases.”

“
Well sure, I get that, but I mean why not go with something like, ‘I’m here to turn out the lights on this party,’ or ‘Don’t mind me, just passing wind,’ or hell, might as rip off something cool
,
like ‘Yippie
k
ay yay
,
mother…’”

Scott cut him off defensively.
“
Hey, this geek just saved your ass
.
H
ow
about a little respect
?
”
Scott dropped his voice, mocking his friend
.
“Ohh, I’m Alex, I get to be all super cool just
‘
cause I have a super
-
duper
-
secret stone that heals my wounds, oh I’m sooo cool.”

Alex laughed; his friend did have a point. If it weren’t for Scott watching his back, he’d have been toast by now. “Fair enough, but I’m just saying you might wanna look into…oh
,
I dunno…” Alex waved his hands around the outfit Scott was presently wearing. “De
-
nerdify
ing
or something.”

Scott looked down at his t-shirt. “This is an original
Battlestar Galactica
Toaster edition. I dare you to find anything cooler than that.” Scott put his hands on his hips, striking a cocky superhero pose. “Besides, what would you prefer I wear? Tight leather? Spandex?” He raised his eyebrow. “Underwear on the outside of my shorts?”

Alex laughed again. “Fine, I apologize
.
A
s
my sidekick, you’re allowed to wear whatever you want. And by the way, speaking of my coolio, super
-
duper
-
secret stone, where is it?” Alex asked, glancing around the parking lot.

“
Took it from your buddy in the desert
.
Y
ou
know, after I sent an express package full of whupass his way.” Scott grinned as he jabbed his shoulder into his friend’s ribs. “Signed, sealed, delivered, what up?!” Scott held up his hand for a high five.

“
Easy
,
guy.” Alex winced.
“But there you go
.
E
ven
that’s better than
,
‘Goodnight
,
sweet prince
.
’” Alex shook his head as he offered his handcuffs up to Scott
.
“Can you do anything about these?”

Scott ignored him, muttering to himself, “I thought it was a good line…”

Alex sighed, “Handcuffs?”

“
Well, if you’re done criticizing how I rescued you…”

“
I am…” Alex replied, without a hint of irony.

“
It shouldn’t be a problem.
I ran the MISAMP at half power to cut down the column. Should be plenty left for ya.”

Scott twisted the dial all the way to the lowest setting,
then
flipp
ed
the switch
.
T
he
cuffs instantly snapped apart.

“
Thanks
,
pal.”

Alex rose slowly, rubbing his sore wrists. His body was still suffering
from
Geoffrey’ vicious cattle prod attack. He needed his stone.

Alex walked over to the bald man pinned underneath the marble column. Scott handed him his stone, and Alex put it on around his neck, feeling the cool blue light flow through his body and fix the
remaining
damage
to his body
from
the
fight. Alex smiled and turned to his trapped prey. Now, what to do with him?

Geoffrey watched, his eyes betraying nothing as Alex came closer. He was trapped
,
and without some majestic feat of strength like his employer was able to perform, Geoffrey was going nowhere.

Alex walked up to Geoffrey and looked disdainfully at his fallen foe.

“
Scotty
,
my boy…”

Scott ran over to Alex’s side. “What up
,
Alex?”

“
What do you think we should do with Mr. I-Look-Cool-in-a-Leather-Jacket
-E
ven
-T
hough
-T
hat
-
Look
-W
ent
-O
ut
-I
n
-T
he
-L
ate
-N
ineties
?”

Scott’s eyebrow’s furrowed
.
“I’m actually not really that up on fashion this year
.
I had a girlfriend a few years ago that loved that
Project Runway
stuff
,
and she’d always make me watch…”

Alex punched Scott, whispering out of the side of his mouth, “Hey
,
dude, I’m doing an intimidating bit right now
;
mind playing along for a little bit?”

“
Oh
,
sure,” Scott whispered to back to Alex, his face dawning with comprehension. Scott cleared his throat and continued in a loud and booming voice that made Alex wince. “I don’t know
;
personally I think we outta kill him where he lays, maybe slap him around a bit, give him what he really deserves, like totally drawing and quartering him
,
or…”

“
Scott!” Alex said
.
“I’ve got this.”

Scott nodded fiercely, baring his teeth like what he imagined a psychotic meth
-
head looked like. “Keep me back
,
Alex!”

“
Easy
,
boy!” Alex said seriously
.
“
T
hings like this can get out of hand quickly…and then suddenly, you have a body to get rid of.” Alex leaned close, staring in the man’s eyes.

Geoffrey glared back, not flinching
,
his mouth defiantly screwed shut.
Killed by a bunch of Star Trek geeks. A first for this business
,
Geoffrey thought ruefully to himself.

“
Besides…” Alex said
,
leaning back and looking at Scott, now ignoring Geoffrey, “I think a worse punishment would be to get the police here and have him arrested.” He smiled as he watched Geoffrey’s face fall. “Would you like that? Find yourself having to explain all this? The death of a perfectly innocent man?!” Alex roared
,
Carl’s scowling face flashing before his eyes as he built up steam.