Out of Reach (18 page)

“And if all hell breaks loose do you really
want her to be halfway around the world?” Z asks with an intuitive
look.

* * *

Three buckets of chicken and several two
liters of soda later Basal, Z, and I sit and study the schematics
of Preston-Ward. Zafir has been there a few times but doesn’t
really know the interior layout and this will be Bass’s first trip.
Their job will be to breach Mr. Taylor’s office and recover the
sphere.

“What if the Sylph isn’t in his sphere?” Z
asks, shooting a glance my direction.

“He was inside last night. Or at least the
bulk of him was,” I say assuredly. A Wanderer’s primary ability is
being able to sense a Sylph’s sphere and the essence of the Sylph
inside of it. This ability wanes the further we are from the actual
sphere itself, though.

Our job will be to ransack Lab 4B and
confiscate every shred of Sylph evidence, then to stage a break in
vandalizing offices and equipment in order to throw off suspicion.
Scratching my head I concede, “I still don’t know how to deal with
the harvested pieces. Once thawed, will they coalesce with the main
body of the Sylph?” I futilely search my partners’ faces for
answers they don’t have. None of us knows.

“Let’s just hope they don’t become evil
Sylphlings,” Z says, slamming a cooler down on the table in front
of us. “That’s why I bought this. To keep the little bastards
frozen until we get to Utah; we can figure the rest out there.”

“Ingenious!” Bass smiles and slaps Z on the
back.

“Okay, let’s do a verbal run of how this is
gonna go,” I announce setting my pen down. Basal and Zafir share a
look before Z jumps in.

“Bass and I will collect the sphere from
Taylor’s office and turn the place inside out looking for anything
you might have missed yesterday. But we leave the entire place
exactly how we found it, not a hair out of place.”

Nodding my approval, Bass picks up where Z
left off. “Next we’ll stop off on level 2, vandalize a few randomly
selected offices, being sure Gwen’s and Joe’s offices are not
involved.”

“Excellent,” I chime in. “Then the two of
you will meet me in Lab 4B, and hopefully I will be done collecting
the last of the evidence by then so we can turn over Lab 4A and be
done.” Barking like a drill sergeant I ask Z to walk us through the
getaway next.

“I will incapacitate the security guard
manning the front desk as we leave, implanting a false memory that
he was jumped by some young guys and got knocked out sometime
during the altercation.”

Raising both eyebrows when I don’t
immediately respond, he asks sarcastically, “Did I miss
anything?”

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I
answer, “No, Z. Thank you. Make sure this—” I toss the cooler at
him “—and the bags with the spray paint make it into the Yukon. We
move out in twenty, gentlemen.”

I step outside on the
balcony and leave the guys to their own devices for a few moments.
I allow my thinly restrained thoughts of Gwen to roam free. I
haven’t the strength to contain them any longer and I cannot have
them clouding my vision once our mission begins. So, standing alone
in the cold night breeze with my guard down, I let myself feel what
must forever remain locked in. Z’s right—I could defy Adil, force
Gwen from her life, thrust her into the middle of a world she
doesn’t understand under the guise of protecting her should the
resealing fail. But I won’t.
Coward.
Her human life is so short
she deserves any amount of happiness she can harvest from it before
her candle burns out.
Coward.

Poking his head outside, Z announces, “Kade,
it’s time. Let’s go.”

* * *

We leave the Yukon parked on the street
knowing tomorrow the security footage from every area of the
facility will be carefully scrutinized.

“It’s 1a.m.—remember, in and out in one
hour, guys.” Cloaking ourselves in a cloud of concealment, we slip
up the front steps and through the main entrance right under the
guard’s nose. Stealthily taking the stairs we climb, parting ways
on level 4 when I exit, heading for Lab 4B. Moving silently,
fingers crossed, I breathe easily when I see the lab is empty and
appears to have been cleaned earlier in the evening. One of the
main reasons for coming in this late was to be sure the custodial
crew had finished the bulk of their work so we could move about the
labs undisturbed.

I flip on the lab’s lights and pause on the
landing, just inside the door, giving the fluorescent bulbs a
minute to warm up. When the soft glow brightens, illuminating the
entire space, I venture off my perch. Without a moment’s
hesitation, I make a beeline for the closest freezer. Setting Z’s
cooler at my feet I open the doors and start scanning the shelves
for anything marked compound 253B.

“Holy shit,” I mutter under my breath as I’m
confronted with row upon row of frozen compound. Luck favors the
prepared, though, and I find once the packaging is removed the
samples are quite small. I’ll be able to fit the whole lot into the
cooler.

Staring at the empty shelves a few minutes
later I close the door before tipping the whole contraption on its
side for good measure. Moving onto the next freezer I don’t find
anything useful. I unplug the unit while leaving one of the doors
ajar, ensuring there will be a nice mess by morning. I quickly
check the cabinets next to me, scattering their contents onto the
floor before moving across the room to check the refrigerators.
Desperately hoping there’s no half-stable Sylph-essence-thing
inside, I yank open one of the doors, breaking the vacuum seal, and
peer inside.

Nothing
, I sigh.
Well, nothing out of the
ordinary anyway.

The few unlabeled things I find I toss on
the floor before moving on. Halfway through the next fridge
something sparkly catches my eye when I turn my head to the right.
Standing up I don’t see anything except the fire extinguisher
housing and a bare wall. I turn back to my task but again something
glittery captures my attention. Stalking over to the wall I open
the glass door, exposing the emergency equipment.

There, tucked behind the firehose is the
empty sphere.

“Oh shit.” The expletive slips from my lips
the same instant my brain processes the purple smoke gathered
around my feet, which is a half-second too late.

Gwen

As I roll over in bed for the hundredth
time, I check the alarm clock on the nightstand: 12:01 a.m.
Punching my pillow in frustration, I sigh, realizing the Sand Man
isn’t coming for me anytime soon. Whatever sleep I do manage to
garner tonight will be hard won and not very peaceful.

Throwing the covers back I make for the
bathroom and turn on the shower. If I can’t sleep I might as well
be productive, or so I tell myself. And since the root of my
insomnia (he Cleveland Fire) is a situation out of my control, I
will focus on a dilemma I can conquer: compound 253B.

* * *

This isn’t the first time I’ve broken into
work in the middle of the night. Well I have a key so technically
I’m not breaking anything. Still, after-hours work is frowned upon
because of some company liability thing if we get hurt or what not.
Looking at my cell phone I read 1:30a.m. as I pull into the parking
lot.

“Perfect,” I whisper. The building looks
quiet. Other than the security guard manning the front desk and a
few custodians, the whole place is completely empty. Locking the
Mini I power-walk across the parking lot, constantly scanning my
surroundings for signs of trouble. I’m a tad paranoid walking alone
in the wee hours. The sooner I get into the building the better I
will feel.

Hopping up the front steps two at a time I
reach the main entrance in no time. I engage my key in the lock and
slip through the front door, being sure it pulls closed and locks
behind me.

“Good morning, Bill,” I say, smiling at the
stout, middle-aged security guard sitting behind the front
desk.

“Gwen, don’t you ever sleep?” he asks,
rolling his eyes at me. “If I wasn’t so fond of you, I’d kick you
out more often, lass. There’s more to life than work, ya know.”

“I know, Bill, and I appreciate your
sentiment, but I couldn’t sleep and for some reason work relaxes
me.”

“Go on then, and try to be out before sun
up, alright?” Winking at me, he returns his attention to the
magazine in his lap.

“Will do.”

I make a beeline for the elevators since the
stairs are dark and creepy at night. As the doors of the lift slide
shut behind me, I roll my notebook around in my hands and try to
settle into work mode. My last shift was an utter failure and I do
a quick recap in my mind. As the elevator dings and I step out onto
level 3 and head for my lab, I’m already constructing a game plan,
devised from what had gone wrong and what had gone right the last
time. I’m so lost in my own head that I don’t even notice the
lights are already on inside.

Stepping through the door and onto the lab’s
landing, I look around and drop my notebook.

I have just stepped into a war zone. The
destruction and sheer chaos are astounding.

I continue to stand there, mouth agape,
convinced I must be dreaming. Broken glassware and instruments are
strewn about. Cabinets lining the walls are dented with doors
askew, some barely hanging on by their hinges. One of the giant
refrigerators has been knocked over, and its contents are now
seeping out across the floor. The mayhem is reminiscent of a World
War II movie, only instead of dead, mangled bodies, test tubes and
beakers litter the floor.

And at the heart of the room, behind what’s
left of the central worktable, two men are wrestling in the
debris.

Gripped by fury and without regard to my own
safety, I charge down the steps screaming at them, “What the hell
are you doing?!”

Both men look up at me, startled. “Look, I
don’t care which one of you walks away with the UFC title tonight,
just get the fuck out of my lab!”

Heedless of the danger in confronting these
men, I march ever closer to them, righteous anger overriding
self-preservation. “Kade!?” I shout, shocked when I realize who the
smaller of the combatants is. Without warning, the larger man
bounces back, away from me, shrieking like an animal in pain. The
ear splitting sound stops me dead in my tracks. Shaking my head and
blinking twice to clear my vision, I stare at him again.

Impossible, but I could have sworn his
outline became fuzzy for a second, almost like a mirage. The
smaller man capitalizes on my brief lapse of attention. Moving with
inhuman speed, Kade pushes a table out of the way and grabs me,
pinning my back against his chest. I’m totally immobilized. I
struggle in vain against him while we both continue to stare at the
larger man who has taken another step back. Shaking me until I stop
moving, Kade leans his head closer to my ear, his hot breath making
my skin crawl.

“Do not be afraid.”

Leaning back against his chest, I try hard
to take his advice, but this whole situation is completely fucked
up. What the hell is going on? Despite my complete and utter
confusion, I choose to trust his steady voice. I step with him,
willingly now, as he begins to walk us across the room, essentially
trapping the larger man in the corner. Anger and fear war across
his face, which again begins to blur around the edges the closer we
get.

When we are within about eight strides, the
larger man lets loose another wail and dissipates into a beautiful
purple gas.

“I’m going to let you go
now. I have to get something, but I will be right back.
Do not move
,” Kade tells
me, emphasizing the last three words. Stone still I watch the vapor
hovering before me; it still somewhat maintains the outline of a
man.

In the blink of an eye, Kade is back
standing beside me. I feel him forcefully place a round object in
my hand.

“Hold that out in front of you and step
forward.”

I hesitate and glance up at him.

“I’ll be with you the whole time.”

Stepping out on faith, I close my eyes and
take the last few paces forward.

A hand on my shoulder stops me three steps
later, before I crash into the wall. The gas is gone. Looking down
I see the sphere I’m holding glows purple and black, the colors
swirling across the surface like a living flame.

After a minute, the light dims, the movement
of the colors becomes sluggish and then stops completely. The
purple and black marbled mineral sphere I now hold seems completely
ordinary.

I know a set of amber eyes watch me
still.

I turn and look up into those eyes.

It feels like I’m seeing
him for the first time and I’m scared. Maybe this guy isn’t really
Kade or he’s an evil twin or something.
No.
My brain steps as I begin to get
worked up, calming my irrational fears. There can be no mistaking
those luminous eyes and the deeply penetrating timbre of that
voice, a sound that promises to be your best friend or your worst
nightmare.

Yes I’d know that voice anywhere, but do I
really know this man?

“Kade?”

Whatever else I was going to say falls by
the wayside as my thoughts are derailed by a ruckus on the landing.
Two additional strangers have come bursting into my lab as I
forcefully push the sphere-thing back into Kade’s chest, desperate
to be away from it all of the sudden.

“What in
the hell
is she doing
here?” the shorter of the two men asks. Angry on principle alone, I
storm toward these new intruders.