Dark Solar Complete Trilogy: Oleander - Wolfsbane - Maikoa Page 5

  “Stop!” he called out.

  But the man kept running.

  When they turned the corner onto a quiet street just past Oxford University, the man suddenly stopped and turned around. He stood in the middle of the road, his hands in the pockets of his long black coat, waiting for Arik. His eyes sparked with an unusual yellow shade.

  Arik stopped running and kept his distance.

  “It’s been a long time, Arik. I have been looking forward to this meeting. As I said when we parted, one day, you will need me.”

  “I don’t need you. I never will. I only want what’s mine. I want my life back.”

  The man chuckled. “You’re asking for a lot, Arik. We had a deal. I hope you hold up your end of it.”

  “There was no deal between us.”

  “Yes, there was, and you’re a man of his word.”

  “I didn’t want to take what you gave me. You can have it back.”

  The man shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid. You made your decision. I couldn’t have imposed anything on you if you hadn’t accepted it.”

  “All right, that was my fault. But Grace didn’t have any part in this. Let her out.”

  “She has you. All her life, this is what she wanted. Why do you think you are in a position to take that away from her?”

  “She didn’t consent to this!” Arik snarled.

  “But she didn’t say no, either.”

  “Bastard.” Arik charged at the man. He grabbed at the man’s collar, but his hands went right through the man’s body. The man vanished and then reappeared behind him.

  “The only way you can tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not is to accept the gift, Arik. Many wanted to take your position—”

  “Then give it to them!”

  The man shook his head and smiled. “You’re very selfish.”

  “You took advantage of my situation and imposed your stupid gift on me to shackle me for life, and now you call me selfish?”

  “Well, I would say you took advantage of my compassion for you and made me give you the gift…without knowing you wouldn’t even appreciate it. I can’t take it back. I have one gift, and it has already been given.”

  “There has to be a way!”

  “Yes, indeed.” The man looked straight into Arik’s eyes. “You can get rid of my gift when you die. So you either kill yourself, or you wait until you die of old age. But as long as you live, you’ll do so with my gift in you. There are many people relying on that gift for salvation. You can live your selfish life for as long as you want—and die with it. Consider it my stupid mistake.”

  The man nodded a goodbye, turned around, and vanished into thin air, leaving Arik standing alone in the empty street. Then the song by Sabbath Bloody Sabbath began to pound again in his head. He kicked and punched the brick wall until his knuckles tore open. Then he heard Grace’s shaky voice.

  “Arik!”

  The music vanished.

  He turned and saw Grace shaking with the cold. He approached her and could see the tears in her eyes. She showed him the sandwich. “I got you some food. And I couldn’t find you in the room. I was so scared…” More tears rolled down her face.

  He embraced her. “I’m sorry. I won’t scare you like that again. You’re cold. Let’s get you back inside.”

  In the distance, in the misty air, Arik saw the shadow of the yellow-eyed man again. But he ignored him and took Grace back to the hospital.

  9

  Dinah tried her best not to shriek, but her voice still ended up in a high octave. “You’re Ciaran LeBlanc, king of Eudaiz!”

  “That’s right,” Ciaran said, glancing at her from the driver seat via the rearview mirror.

  “And you’re on a mission with your wife, with no guards, and driving a car yourself!”

  “This is not a car. It’s a Koenigsegg exclusive edition. And we are only here without guards because we need to do what we’re here for quickly and get out before everyone and his dog in the multiverse figures it out.”

  Madeline rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just admit you miss your collection of cars terribly and just want to drive because we don’t use cars in Eudaiz, Ciaran. We could have done with a less conspicuous vehicle.”

  “I’ll remember that next time, first councillor.” He smiled at Madeline, who was sitting in the back seat with Dinah. Dinah knew Madeline wasn’t there for company but rather to ensure she couldn’t shoot at them from behind.

  “If no one knew you were here, how could they deliver your car with just a call?”

  Madeline smiled. “He has a very extensive business set up here, and the system is always in place for him. But then again, the last time he used it, someone interfered with the signal. It might be more secure now, but we still need to be very careful.”

  “And you promised me a call to my friend in Iilos when we get to your place. We can use a more generic system, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Ciaran said.

  “Look out!” Madeline shouted and pointed ahead.

  “What?”

  “A man on the road!” Dinah yelled.

  Ciaran was traveling at an incredible speed. He slowed down but didn’t slam on the brakes. “I don’t see a man.”

  They felt an impact as if the car was being pushed to the side. Ciaran floored the brake and fishtailed. As soon as the car stopped, he bolted out of the car. Madeline jumped out from the back seat.

  “Oh hell!” Dinah muttered and slid out, putting her weight on her one good leg.

  “Behind you!” Madeline shouted.

  Ciaran swung a back kick and felt the impact, but he still couldn’t see the person. As soon as the man fell on the ground and rolled away from Ciaran, Madeline charged and attacked him. But he was a lot stronger than she was. After a few rounds of exchanging blows, he kicked her and sent her rolling backward.

  Ciaran prowled angrily. Judging from the direction of Madeline’s defense, he joined in for some wild hits—and misses.

  “Her left, and behind!” Dinah shouted.

  Ciaran pulled his gun and shot in that direction.

  “He’s been hit,” Madeline said and rolled away. But as soon as she did so, she was no longer an anchor for Dinah’s directions.

  “Coming from your right!” she shouted.

  Ciaran fired but missed.

  “Knife at front!” Madeline shouted.

  Ciaran jumped backward, shooting in front of him at the same time. But the man swiveled aside, and his knife slashed at Ciaran’s side.

  “Your back!” Dinah shouted in anticipation.

  Ciaran swung a back kick as he couldn’t change direction fast enough when she shouted out his move. He hit the man in his path. The man fell, rolling on the ground. Then he crouched and looked at Dinah

  “Oh hell! He’s going to charge at her,” said Madeline.

  Dinah limped backward.

  Seeing the movement, Madeline darted at the man, but he kicked her away with ease.

  As fast as lightning, Ciaran darted past the man he couldn’t see and scooped Dinah up, carrying her in one arm as if she were a doll.

  “Turn left!” Dinah shouted. Ciaran turned to his left, facing the man. She pointed her right arm and shot a needle from the sleeve of her suit.

  She hit the man between the eyes. He staggered and slumped to the ground. His body glowed, and Ciaran could see him now. He lowered Dinah to the ground and approached him. Crouching next to the dying man, he asked, “Who sent you?”

  The man looked at Ciaran, his eyes shining in a reddish shade. Grinning, he said, “The leader of the Xiilok rebels sends you his regards, Ciaran LeBlanc.”

  Then his body exploded into a whorl of red fumes, which enveloped Ciaran. Ciaran felt to the ground.

  “Fucking robot bomb,” he muttered. He lay down, gasped for air, and then passed out.

  Madeline rushed toward him. “Don’t! Stay away!” Dinah shouted at Madeline. “Stay away, Madeline.
They’re toxic fumes designed to kill Eudaizians.”

  “You want me to let him die?” Madeline paced the ground.

  “There’s nothing you can do. Leave him to me,” Dinah said and limped toward Ciaran. She flipped open a pocket on her left sleeve. If it was toxic fumes, she had an antidote for it. She pulled out a needle and sighed. This was her top-range needle, and she had only one. She hoped no one else got hurt before she could get back to Iilos and make more.

  She turned Ciaran’s neck slightly, found a vein, and jabbed in the needle. “Come on, breathe for me,” she said. She placed her palms on his chest and pressed. One. And two. And three. Then he gasped and resumed breathing.

  “He’s okay now.”

  Madeline approached. “We have to get out of here before more of them come.”

  They put him in the back of the car. Madeline got into the driver’s seat and stared at the complicated dashboard. She shook her head, squared her shoulders, and turned on the engine.

  The car roared and stormed forward. Madeline was going too fast, and the pedal seemed too sensitive for her to operate manually. She took her foot off the accelerator. The car stopped instantly. Dinah was thrown to the floor of the car. She braced herself against Ciaran’s body to stop him from rolling to the floor as well.

  “This isn’t going to work,” Madeline muttered.

  “You have the address?” Dinah asked.

  “I believe it would be installed in my wrist unit.”

  “Scan it to the operator panel.”

  Madeline followed her instructions. The car hummed slightly, and a soothing female voice came out of the speakers. “Have a safe journey.”

  Then the car rolled away, driving itself.

  Madeline waved her arms. “I should have guessed. He wouldn’t drive a lesser car!”

  10

  Cooper glanced around to be sure the long hallway in front of Dinah’s apartment was quiet. He didn’t want to surprise the neighbors. She hadn’t come to the office as she had promised. And she hadn’t responded to any of his messages. Calls to her went to the oblivion. It was very unlike her. Then he heard about the incident at the theater. After scrambling through security of a galactic scale, he knew she wasn’t among the dead. But Kate was.

  He knew Kate, and goddammit, he liked her. He got a small electronic pin and quickly jabbed at the lock. His device never failed him. Dinah would hate this, but the situation called for it, so he broke into her apartment.

  The small apartment wasn’t as he remembered it. It was like a war zone—as if Dinah had left in a hurry. She didn’t even leave me a message, he thought. He made his way to the blinking computer. He activated the computer, but when it asked for a passcode, he gave up.

  Cooper was a street-smart kind of guy. Technology wasn’t his friend.

  While he was looking at her journal on the desk, he noticed a chip in the computer. Her computer would ask for a passcode, but the chip wouldn’t. He smiled and pulled it out. As he tilted his head to grab the chip, a laser beam shot past him and hit a picture on the wall behind him. It exploded and fell to the floor in pieces.

  He pulled the chip out and lay flat on the ground. He heard someone push the door open and walk into the apartment. The person approached his position on the floor, and Cooper stayed as still as he could. He could see military grade boots, and he recognized the steps of a combat-trained individual.

  Your training is about to be wasted, he thought and pointed his gun. He fired. His beam traveled upward from the lower abdomen and through the body. It exited at the top of the man’s head and hit the ceiling above. But instead of seeing the splatter of blood, he heard a muffled sound as if he had hit a sandbag.

  “Damn you, robot,” he cursed and sat up as the body of the robotic assassin melted down into a metallic pool on the floor.

  “Dinah will really hate you when she sees the stains you’re making on her carpet. What a waste!” he muttered and stood up. He nudged the computer chip into his pocket and headed back to his apartment, where he knew his computer wouldn’t shout at him for a passcode.

  After plugging in the chip, his computer revealed the data. Dinah’s search journal was in a text file. She had tipped off Detective Tanner about a possible outbreak of attacks on people who had been through the apertures. Cooper leaned back in his chair. The apertures of the multiverse were not at all common knowledge. He knew of them but had never had an encounter with people who had been through them, nor had he handled any cases related to them.

  Dinah had searched for locations—Oxford, England. Professor Arik Bonneville? What the heck is this about? he wondered. But at least he could deduce Dinah’s current whereabouts from this data. It explained why his call to her wouldn’t go through. Inter-universal calls cost an arm and a leg. He’d have had to agree to terms, conditions, and, of course, payment before anything would connect.

  He sighed. If he could get to her and then take the Xiilok job, that would pay for the expenses. He was worried about her. That was the main reason he had tried to call her. Credits were just currency. He spent them, and he’d earn them back. But a friend like Dinah was hard to come by.

  He looked at the description of the contract from Xiilok. He understood the delivery part. But the chemical compound assembly process was gibberish to him. Maybe he should just forget about it. Dinah had enough on her shoulders. He’d just called to make sure she was okay.

  He connected and waited for the signals. After jumping through hoops, he finally got the ringtone of her wrist unit, but the sound coming out from it made his blood run cold. It was a humming sound in waves, a deep sequence in a language he didn’t recognize. It was the sound of space creatures.

  11

  Arik headed back to his office to get his cell phone. It was late. He frowned at the light pouring out of the windows of the hallway leading to his office. Who’d be working at this hour? he thought.

  He adjusted his scarf, pulled off his gloves, and pushed open the heavy oak door that led to the ground floor level.

  From the stairs at the end of the corridor, he could see light emanating from his office. He walked along the corridor, trying not to make any noise. His office door was open slightly. From inside, he could hear a bluesy guitar and Eric Clapton singing “Crossroads.”

  “I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.”

  “That’s enough, you bastard,” Arik snarled and kicked the door open. In front of him was a quiet office, neat and tidy as it always was. The coffee stains had been cleaned up. Grace’s scarf was still on the desk where he’d left it.

  It was as quiet as any other night. So quiet he could hear himself breathing.

  He checked his desk drawer. His cell phone was still there, waiting for him. He turned on the phone and checked the last call. It was from Grace, as she had said. There was another call from his mother. He sighed. The doctor had mentioned they had contacted his family in the US when they thought he wouldn’t snap out of the sedative’s effects. He called his mother. She picked up immediately. It was like she’d been waiting.

  “How are you, Arik?”

  He could feel the pain in his mother’s voice, and he was sorry to have caused that. He hadn’t talked to her for months, and then the first thing she heard after all that time was the doctor’s call.

  “I’m sorry, Mother. It was a misunderstanding. I should have called you earlier.”

  “Don’t worry, Grace called and said you were fine. She’s a good woman, Arik.”

  “Yes, Mother. I’ve never said any different.”

  “You’ve been going out with her for a long time…”

  “Mother!”

  “All right, I won’t mention that again.”

  “How is everyone?”

  “We’re all fine. Why don’t you call and ask them yourself?”

  “I talk to Jenny all the time.”

  “You mean you Facebook her.”

  “It’s a form of communication, Mother. It’s
efficient.”

  “All right. I’m glad you’re fine. But you have to do something about your students. They shouldn’t be playing truth or dare and causing accidents. There has to be discipline. It’s Oxford University after all, isn’t it?”

  “Is that what Grace told you?”

  “Isn’t that what happened?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, it is. Students are young, Mother.”

  His mother laughed. It was good to hear her laughter. “Yes, you did much worse when you were their age. Remember the van you had when you toured around with your band?”

  “Please don’t bring that up.”

  “No, no, it was very funny. Someone bought that bomb of a car you had and drove it past our house. Jenny recognized it. Didn’t she tell you—or Facebook you?”

  “People buy old cars all the time. It’s really not that big a deal.”

  “Your time here is a joy in my memories, Arik. That’s all I have left of you now.”

  “Don’t say that, Mother.”

  “Okay, you’re about to say you’ve got to go, so I’d better wrap up. There are a few letters here for you and a package. Do you want me to send them over?”

  “Who’s the package from?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t recall seeing the sender’s name. Let me check—”

  “Don’t worry, Mother. I may take a vacation soon. I’ll visit and take care of the mail.”

  “Really? When?”

  “Soon. In a couple of weeks if it’s okay with you.”

  “Oh Arik, do you need to ask? Anytime, son. Anytime. Do you want me to tell your father?”

  “That’s up to you.”

  “All right, you’ve got to go.”

  He chuckled. “Yes, it’s quite late here.”

  “Goodbye, Arik.”

  He held on to the phone for a short moment and then disconnected.

  “Are you okay, Arik?”

  He jumped out of his skin and cursed at Peter, who was standing at the door.

  “Goddammit,” he muttered. He heard “Crossroads” playing again.