Strangers and Shadows (20 page)

Jack said nothing, his face saying everything.

Desmond moved on, leaving Jack to sort out his feelings.  “Wizard, did you bring a tracker?” 

“You betcha,” the old man said, reaching his hand into his overcoat and pulling out a data pad.  He thumbed on the device and they waited as it booted up.  “Sorry, I’m afraid this thing is a bit ancient.  It’s all I had lying around on such short notice though.” 

The device finished its booting sequence and began to display a grid.  There were two flashing red dots and one blue dot in the center of the display.

“One of the red dots is our DNA key,” Wizard explained.  “The other one,” he pointed to the red dot closest to the blue dot, “must be coming from my jump-watch back at the Overlap.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the red dot disappeared.  

“What the fuck just happened?” Jack asked.  “Did the Overlap disappear?  Or was it the key?  Did they use it?”

“Relax, Jack.  They must have found the jump-watch and disabled it.  Regardless, we have a little breathing room for now
,
” Wizard said.

“I wouldn’t count on them staying gone for too long
,
” Celia said
. 
“They’ll wait until this verse’s law enforcement come and clean up the mess, but then more of them will come through the Overlap and start to hunt us down.”

“Why wait?” Jack asked.  “Why not come out guns blazing?  After all, it seems to be their standard operating procedure.”

“Oh, they would have little trouble with the police, that’s to be sure, but then more police would show up and then the army.  It’s easier for them to just wait it out and keep things as quiet as possible
,
” Celia said
. 
“Besides, they know we’ll still be here.”

“How’s that?” Jack asked.

“Because they have Wizard’s jump-watch, and Dad here can take you with him, but I can only teleport myself.  So unless we leave Wizard here, which they know we would never do, we’re stuck here until we find another way home.”

“And then there’s the matter of the other key
,
” Desmond said.

“I agree,” Celia said
. 
“If there’s a chance we can find out where they have Kid, or what they want him for, then I think we need to take it.”

“Alright, but we won’t have much time.  They’ll wait a few hours at most before they come back
,
” Desmond said.

They began walking in the direction of the DNA key’s red dot.  According to the tracking system, they were a little over a mile away.  Their pace was brisk.  Jack would have preferred they run the distance, but he supposed it would seem odd to any bystanders, and the last thing they needed was unwanted attention.  

There weren’t many people on the sidewalks, which was one thing to be grateful for.  It was a lot easier to keep an eye out for enemies when there were only a few to choose from.

The target seemed to be stationary.  The red dot hadn’t changed position at all, and they were nearly on top of it now.  

They had stumbled upon a small public park.  It was dimly lit, and a sign announced that it closed at dusk.  A playground with swings and monkey bars and some sort of obstacle course dotted the grass.  In the middle of the playground there was a large cement dragon embedded in the ground.  Its long body made it look like it was swimming through the grass.  The park was empty as far as they could see.  The only structure was a small utility shed about thirty yards into the park.  

Desmond checked the reading on the tracker and confirmed that the signal seemed to be coming from there.  He gave some unheard instructions to Celia and she sneaked off into the night.  To Jack, he motioned to fan out but stay out of sight.  Wizard was to remain where he was, just in case the target slipped by them.

Jack spread out about twenty feet from Desmond and moved in unison with him toward the shed.  He could see no entrance and no visible windows from his side.  When they were forty feet out from the shed, Desmond began to swing around to the other side and Jack followed, maintaining his distance from Desmond.

An entrance started to come into view, there was somebody standing in it.  It was too dark to tell if it was a man or a woman, but whoever it was was trying to get the door open and failing.  Jack could hear curses being uttered as each failed attempt occurred.  Jack heard Desmond give the telepathic “
all clear,
” and, with his hand on his sidearm, watched Desmond move in toward the target.

Desmond moved deliberately, as if to let himself be heard, as he walked up behind the target.  The target spun, revealing the face of a young man.  In his hand he held the key that they had been tracking.  He was wide-eyed and looked to be plenty scared.

“Relax, friend,” Desmond said, as the rest of the party came in closer.  “What’s your name?”

The young man was about to answer when Jack exploded, “
That’s him!
”  He launched himself at the man, only to be caught by the right hand of Desmond and held back.  Restraining Jack Spade was no easy task, yet Desmond had no problem.  “That’s the son of a bitch that took him!” Jack went on, “Him and that other bitch!”

“Alright, calm down, Jack,” Desmond said, as Jack wrestled to be free.  “Promise to behave yourself if I let you go?”

Jack’s answer was non-verbal as he stopped struggling and became still.  Desmond let him go and turned back to the young man.  “Let’s try that again, shall we?  What’s your name, son?”

The young man tucked his long hair behind his ear defiantly and said, “I’m not going back.”  He turned quickly and tried to open the door, but he still couldn’t get the handle to budge.

Desmond let out a laugh.  “You have no idea how that works, do you?”

The man
spun
back
around. 
“I’m not going back there.” 

“So you’ve said.”  Desmond projected calmness through his voice
. 
“Relax, we aren’t here to take you back.  In fact, we’d like to ask you a few questions about where you’ve been, but I assure you, we are no friends of the people you’re running from.”

“That man,” the long haired man said, nodding in Jack’s direction, “he was with the boy that the White lady wanted, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, he was
, a
nd he’s very upset about losing Kid.  I think it would be in your best interest to help him get the boy back.”

“All I wanted was to go back home.”  The man hung his head as he spoke
. 
“She said, if we helped her, she would help us get back home.  I didn’t want to take the boy, you have to believe me.”

“I believe you were manipulated, but that doesn’t change what you’ve done.”  Desmond
spoke as
a father patiently teaching his son a lesson.  “Now, let’s try this again.  What’s your name?”

“It’s Asher,” Jack said.  “I remember now, and your partner’s name, the bitch, it was Ava, right?”  Jack seemed calmer, but there was still steel in his voice.

“Yes, that’s right
,
”
t
he young man said
. 
“I’m sorry.”

“
Sorry
don’t bring Kid back.  You’re gonna have to do a lot better than
sorry
,
” Jack said.

“I’m willing to do whatever you want.  I just want to get home.”

Jack turned to Desmond, unsure of what to do next.  He
hadn’t expected
this to be so easy.  He
thought he was going
to have to rough someone up, and now he was a little disappointed.

“Right now, we need to go somewhere safe
,
” Desmond said
. 
“Somewhere where they can’t find us.  And we’re gonna need this.”  Desmond floated the key out of Asher’s hand and into his own.

Asher began to protest out of pure reaction, but quickly withdrew his objection as he caught Jack’s glare.  

Desmond tossed the key to Wizard
. 
“Can you reprogram this thing?”

The old man caught the key, almost fumbling it.  “I can, but I’ll need about thirty minutes, maybe more, depending on the coding.”

Desmond frowned
.  I
t was what he had expected to hear, but he had been hoping for an easier solution.  Wizard couldn’t program the key if they were on the move, which left only one alternative.  “We dig in here.”

“Is that a good idea?” Celia asked.

“No.  But it’s the
only
option right now.
 
Start securing the perimeter.  No telling which direction they’ll come in from.”

Jack was down to his last clip, and said so, as Celia sneaked off into the darkness.

“Bullets aren’t going to help us against what’s coming, sadly,” Desmond said.  “Your job will be to protect Asher and Wizard.  No matter what happens.  Is that clear?”

Jack didn’t like taking orders, but he couldn’t find a reason to disagree either.  He didn’t possess the skills of the Shadows and he didn’t have the firepower he needed.  Still, protecting the man who had helped kidnap Kid didn’t sit easy with him.

Desmond straightened, sensing something that was beyond Jack’s range of perception.  “They just came through the Overlap door.  They’ll be here in a few minutes.  How much longer do you have, Wizard?”

“Ten minutes, maybe more.  Where should I set it for?”

“Set it for my office in Cairo.  Here are the coordinates.”  Desmond flashed him the coordinates, mind to mind.  He turned to Jack, pulling something from his pocket and setting it on the ground.  “This shield will protect the three of you from projectiles, but if anyone comes through, it will be up to you to protect them.”  

“I understand,” Jack said, not at all sure that he did.

A half-sphere of light grew out of the object on the ground and spread all around the group.  The diameter was about ten feet.  The shield shimmered with blue-red light and then went clear.  “Whatever happens, stay with them,” Desmond said to Jack, then walked off.  The shield shimmered blue-red again around his body as he passed through it before going clear again.

With nothing else to do, Jack waited.  Asher looked out nervously into the darkness, and Wizard gazed into his data pad, tapping here, tapping there.

They’re here.
  Jack heard Desmond’s voice in his head, a moment before the first shots were fired.  Unlike the Strangers back at the Overlap, these Strangers were using energy weapons.  Deadly beams of light lit up the darkness around them.

“They must really want us dead, if they’re willing to risk exposure like this,” Wizard commented nonchalantly as he typed away.

Jack didn’t have time to think about what the old man was saying, he was too busy staring into the darkness.  In between flashes of weapon’s fire, he could see people running around.  Occasionally he would hear the screams of someone meeting whatever Desmond and Celia had waiting for them.  Jack could only guess what that was, but he was glad he wasn’t on the receiving side of the exchange.

How long this went on for Jack couldn’t tell.  It felt like hours and seconds at the same time.  His hand tightened around the grip of his gun.  And then, all of a sudden, everything stopped.  

Jack swiveled around, trying to get a bead on what was happening, making sure all his angles were covered.  As he was peering out into the dark, Desmond suddenly stepped through the shield, unannounced and silently.

Jack jumped, bringing his gun up and nearly firing, just out of habit.  

“You scared the shit out of me,” Jack said, lowering his gun and attempting to catch his breath.  “I almost shot you.”

Desmond seemed unapologetic.
 
“That was just the first wave.  More are coming through the Overlap door as we speak.”

“Where’s Celia?” Jack asked.

“I sent her back to the Overlap to slow them down
,”
Desmond said
. 
“Before the last few agents insisted on dying, I was able to glean part of their plans out of their heads.  They’re not trying to capture us.  Asher was sent as a decoy, a trap.  They only wanted us dead.  Apparently whatever plans Julia has for Kid, she doesn’t want anyone interfering with them.”

“
How long on the tractor beam there, old man
?”
Jack asked.  No one else got
his obscure reference.

“If you mean
the key
, young man, it’s nearly finished, five more minutes, tops
,
” Wizard said.  “But Desmond already knows that, doesn’t he?”

Jack looked at Desmond waiting for an explanation
. 
“That’s why I sent Celia to slow them down.  There’s more agents out there, but with our shield up, they know there’s no way for them to overpower us.  Which is why they’re bringing a portable EMF generator.”