Chapter 25

“THE Syndicate?” Chloe asked as she maneuvered around another car on the interstate.

I nodded and watched the mirror. The trucks were following but not trying to catch up to us.

“I thought the Syndicate was a myth,” she said.

I shook my head. “No, they’re real, and they’ve been attacking all over the place.”

“Well why the hell are they following us?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. Then I looked up as we passed an exit. “Take the next exit.”

“Why? We’re nowhere near the Dive yet,” she said.

“If they’re really following us, they’ll exit too,” I said.

She nodded. “Otherwise it was a coincidence that they followed us onto the highway.”

I nodded too. Part of me was glad we were on the same page, but another part realized that she wasn’t panicking as I was. Maybe, because she always believed them to be a myth, she didn’t realize just how dangerous they really were.

The next exit came up and Chloe took it, as smooth as silk. The problem was, they did too.

“Dammit,” I said with feeling. “How the Hell are we going to get away?”

Chloe looked at me as I looked up. She didn’t look scared at all. “You say they’re the Syndicate and that they’ve been attacking us all over the place, right?”

I nodded.

“Then let’s put a stop to it,” she said. At the light, she turned right, away from the heavier traffic. The trucks followed along.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Seth, we are not helpless,” she said. “We don’t even need to stop to cause them harm.”

“They have guns, Chloe,” I said. “And you’re car isn’t exactly a tank.”

“The Hell it’s not,” she said. Then I saw the way she focused and I realized that she was using her power to do something, either to the Jaguar or to their trucks – maybe even both.

I felt a wave of energy pass over me, but the car didn’t change shape or do anything out of the ordinary. I checked the mirror. The trucks were catching up to us. There were no cars coming and each truck took a lane to keep us from doubling back. I didn’t think Chloe wanted to double-back, not yet anyway.

“They’re coming,” I said.

“I see them,” she said with gritted determination.

“What are you planning?” I asked.

“If they’ve hurt anyone I know, they’ll pay for it,” she said.

Hell, she was going to get us killed.

All at once, Chloe hit the brakes on the car. We skidded to a stop. The truck behind us couldn’t stop fast enough and slammed into the back of the Jaguar. The other one sped past but then spun about and came back at us.

Chloe hit the gas. The Jaguar lunged into action and we were suddenly playing a very short game of Chicken.

The truck wasn’t going to swerve. It was taller than the Jaguar. If we hit, chances were, they’d roll up onto us and smash through the front windshield. Desperation forced me to call up my shield spell. I cast it on the front of the windshield just as we collided.

I don’t know what saved us. We hit the truck and the front grill rode up over the hood, hit the windshield, and our forward momentum drove us under the truck like a wedge. I looked back in time to see it fall on its side.

Chloe stopped the car and turned us around. Men were climbing out of the overturned truck. I looked at the hood of the car. There were scrapes in the paint, but that was the only damage. My shield hadn’t done that. I looked at her. “Good spell.”

She smiled as she stopped at the overturned truck.

The men were all armed. I reached out and enabled the safety on all their weapons. It gave Chloe enough time to get out of the car and disarm them.

One of the men pulled a knife and threw it all in one motion.

I watched it flip end-over-end on its way toward Chloe. I jumped out of the car, and grabbed the knife with my TK spell. It hovered only millimeters from her nose for a second before I let it fall to the ground.

Chloe looked over at me and nodded in thanks.

The men had also noticed, and also looked at me. Only their expressions were of pure hate. They reminded me viscerally of the bullies I faced back at home, only these bullies wouldn’t be happy to simply beat me up. They wanted me dead.

One of the men standing next to the truck twitched.

I didn’t have any time to think about what it meant, only to cast my shield spell again.

The men from the other truck, the one behind the wreck, came out with automatic weapons. They fired the instant they saw us.

For a heartbeat, I watched in amazement as the bullets made beautiful sparks all over my shield. Then it sank in. These men weren’t going to stop until we were dead. Fear and Anger flooded me. I wanted to ask why, but talking was out of the question at the moment.

I looked over at Chloe. She was watching her own shield too. She looked at me with a determined grimace. “Leave one alive for questioning,” she said and I heard her as if she were standing next to me.

I nodded and turned my attention back to the men. I thought about the weapons. They had to be running out of ammo soon. Then I saw one of them pull out something big, something he held on his shoulder. A rocket launcher?!?

I remembered Wilson, watching his head explode like a melon. I wasn’t going to end up that way, not if I could do anything about it.

And I could.

I reached out and felt for the trigger of the rocket launcher. He was squeezing it slowly, like he would with a rifle. I didn’t want to wait for the surprise though. I forced the point of the rocket up, making him point it at the open sky, and I pulled the trigger for him.

The rocket shot straight up into the air, reminding me of bottle rockets I had seen explode during the few Fourth of July picnics I was able to attend as a kid. Only, when I made this rocket explode, it was simply a big ball of fire rather than anything pretty.

To be on the safe side, I yanked the launcher away from that man and threw it out with the other weapons in the field.

The rest of the men with the automatic weapons were changing ammo clips.

I felt around for those clips and threw them to the field too. When all of their weapons were empty, those weapons went that way as well. It was a lot to track, but I was too bent with fearful fury to care.

Chloe looked over at me. “They will still kill us with their bare hands if they get the chance.”

The men pulled knives and started to move closer. One of them had a machete.

My anger burned with the idea. I was so mad that I wasn’t really thinking anymore. I closed my eyes and focused on my intent. My anger fueled my Will. Tension sang throughout my body, and a voice that I didn’t recognize filled my ears with song.

I had enough clarity of thought to realize I was casting a song spell, but I didn’t know what that meant, not really, other than it would be more powerful than my normal ability would allow, if I sang along.

I sang along.

My intent was to take away their weapons – all of their weapons, and then strip them bare. Most people refuse to fight while naked, especially outside.

The song was short, rose in crescendo, and ended. I had the strongest impression to let my power flow, which I did.

I opened my eyes in time to see the men, some no more than a yard away, as their weapons burned bright red and the metal start to melt. They quickly dropped their weapons and screamed in pain. Then their clothes didn’t come off of them as I had envisioned but shredded away. None of them were hurt other than the minor burns to their hands, but by the time everything was done, all of them were as naked as the day they were born.

The men quickly backed away and huddled around the wrecked truck. Fear had replaced the hate they had felt.

I looked over at Chloe and she was staring at me like she hadn’t seen me before. I sighed, not sure what to think of her reaction, and said, “They’re disarmed and disrobed. If there’s any fight left in them, it won’t be physical.”

She studied me for a few more seconds and then nodded. She raised her hand and pointed at one of the men.

He stumbled toward her like some large hand was pushing him along, forcing him toward her.

She looked over at me. “Keep the others busy.”

I nodded. She had chosen the one she wanted to question. I was fine with that. Really, I didn’t want to know how she intended to question him. As stupid as it might be to her, I was willing to leave these men here, alive. We had won the fight. We didn’t have to kill them.

I thought of Wilson. These were the men at that scene. The same ones. I had killed the man who killed Wilson, but their provocation was what bothered me most. What started this? Why try to kill us? I had so many questions about the Syndicate and their motivations. Sure Michael had filled me in on some of the finer points, but I just didn’t get why they were so willing to kill. Most people won’t kill unless pushed into it in the heat of the fight. What made these men so eager to seek us out?

I walked closer to the rest of the men. Though Chloe’s expression had cooled some of my anger, there was still plenty left. I looked around at them. “You were following us on the highway,” I said. “I want to know how you found us.”

They looked at one another and most grumbled under their breath, but no one spoke up.

“Talk to me, dammit!” I shot at them.

They backed away from me.

“Why were you trying to kill us?” I asked.

One of them, a tall, heavily built man, looked my way but didn’t meet my eyes. “Because you’re not normal,” he said.

I frowned at that. Sure, I agreed, I wasn’t normal, but I never saw that as a reason to kill. I shook my head. “That doesn’t justify murder.”

He looked around at the others. They didn’t look quite as scared as before. Then he looked at me again. “You took our weapons with a flick of your hand. Then you destroyed our knives and clothes by singing. You’re a sick, demented freak that should be put down.”

I let his last comment go. It was obvious he and the others weren’t going to change their minds about me or Chloe. But there was one other nagging concern. “How did you know where to find us?”

He grinned but didn’t say anything.

I looked at the others. All of them had the same knowing grins on their faces. They knew but wouldn’t tell. I shook my head. “I’m giving you the chance to tell me on your own. I’m giving you the chance to be human about this.”