"If you choose to come with me, then you must understand that we"re fighting people who don"t belong in this world, and those people are killers. Make no mistake, if you choose to come with me, then you are choosing to fight them. The man you killed tonight will likely not be the last."
"But maybe we could get help, get the authorities to understand and to help us-"
"No. Their involvement would only end up costing more lives. Remember the two officers who detained those men when I first came here? Those officers ended up with their necks broken. If we call authorities to help us, those two will hardly be the last. I don"t know who is here from my world, or even if some from your world might be involved."
He hadn"t even considered that. "You think people in this world might be cooperating with those who have come here?"
"We can"t ignore the possibility. Evil people, and those willing to help them, exist everywhere. We can"t risk being betrayed. Our only safety lies in no one knowing about us.
"The authorities in this world wouldn"t believe that there are people from another world among them. I don"t have the time to try to convince them, and besides, I don"t have any way to do so. I can"t do magic here. I"ve already used precious time convincing you."
"But maybe I could help convince people-"
"No one will believe you. You have insanity in your family. They will a.s.sume you"re crazy, too."
Alex knew that she was right. How many times had he questioned his own sanity since first meeting Jax?
"Your grandfather was one who knew that sometimes the best way to fight is a small covert force, not a big battle involving a lot of men."
"How do you know that?"
"We learned a little about him, that long ago he served with such shadow forces. Did he tell you some of it?"
Alex nodded. He stood in the darkness for a time listening to the storm rage all around, thinking about Ben"s lessons.
"And if I choose to come with you, what then?" he asked.
"If you come with me you might have to face dangers I can"t begin to guess. In my world I would know what to expect, but in this world I don"t. We will have no help. Whatever comes we will be facing it alone. We very well might die."
"You make it sound pretty hopeless."
"I can promise you only one thing," she said with grim intensity. "If you come with me I will protect you with my life."
Alex blinked in surprise. "Why would you do that?"
"This is not the time to get into it, but know that I will lay down my life before yours is lost."
She had already saved his life. Her solemn oath seemed like a portent of some grim future lurking in the darkness waiting to envelop him.
"I could really use your help to try to figure this out," she finally said, "but I have to know that if you come with me you won"t be a liability. A lot of people, a lot of lives, are depending on me. I won"t risk my life lugging along dead weight. I need to know that if you come with me I can count on you."
He had protected her life the first time he"d seen her. He couldn"t imagine ever allowing harm to visit her.
"This may not be a choice you want to make, Alex, but it is the choice you face. We have spent too long here already. Are you coming with me or not?"
She leaned closer in the darkness. "Decide."
Alex gazed into her eyes, feeling as if he could see into her soul. He had always had the vague feeling that he never really knew who he was. It had always seemed like he had been waiting for something. It seemed now like he had been waiting his whole life for this moment.
"I knew from the first instant I saw you tonight-when I saw that you had come back-that I"m in this with you. Something is going on, something I don"t understand, but something deadly. This involves me. Somehow we"ve been thrown together from worlds apart. I can"t turn away. I won"t. I"m in this."
A small smile softened her expression. She reached out and gently grasped his arm, giving it a squeeze as if in sympathy for all the trouble that had found him, trouble she couldn"t shelter him from.
Her voice turned intimate and gentle. "Let"s go, then."
"Wait a second," he said as he hurriedly knelt down and threw the bedcovers back out of the way.
He reached under the bed, letting his fingers settle into the four tabs of the gun safe bolted to the floor. He pressed the proper sequence and the door popped open.
He reached in and pulled out the gun and all six spare magazines.
"What"s that?" she asked.
"A Glock 17."
Jax frowned. "A weapon made with technology?"
"Yes, technology that will help protect us."
In the dark, he ran his index finger over the tab behind the ejection port, making sure that it was raised, indicating that a round was chambered. He always kept the gun loaded, but this was no time to find out otherwise.
"What makes the three dots glow?"
"Tritium. The sights are made with it so you can aim better in low light."
"In my world I can make a substance that glows much like that." He noticed that she paid close attention to the weapon. He recalled how well she handled a knife. This was a woman who knew the value of weapons in staying alive. He retrieved the molded polymer paddle holster and pushed it down over his waistband. When he holstered the gun, the retention lock clicked into place. He threw on a light jacket to hide the gun, then took several boxes of hollow-point ammunition from a drawer and put them in the jacket pockets along with the loaded magazines.
He retrieved all the cash he had in the safe and stuffed most of it in his pockets. He handed some to Jax. She looked at it as if she were seeing some otherworldly secret.
"It"s money," he told her. "We"ll need money. You should have some on you just in case."
Without questioning, she folded the cash and slipped it into a pocket at her waist.
"We"re going to need to get you some clothes."
"I"m wearing clothes," she said.
"Yes, but you kind of stand out in that black dress and cloak. If we"re trying not to be found, then I think it would be best for you not to stand out. We need to blend in, be invisible among people."
She smiled. "Good thinking. Hurry, now. It would be bad if we were trapped here."
The whole idea of people from another world chasing them seemed like some crazy waking nightmare to him. At the same time, it felt more real than anything in his life had ever felt.
"Do you know who is after us?" Alex asked.
"Yes," she said. "Pirates."
WAIT HERE UNTIL I MAKE sure it"s clear and I start the truck," Alex said, gesturing out at his faded red Cherokee sitting in the drive.
Jax glanced back into the dark house from the kitchen doorway. "All right, but hurry."
She was clearly more focused on what might be behind them in the darkness. The intruders had come through the front door the last time. He wondered if she expected more of them to arrive and come up behind them through the house.
Alex carefully ducked his head out, took a quick look, then pulled back in. The rain wasn"t letting up. He looked out a second time, checking the other direction. The Jeep was parked right outside in the driveway that ran along the side of the house.
"I don"t see anyone," he told her.
She turned back from her survey of the darkness within. "That doesn"t mean a lot. It"s dark and hard to see in the rain. They could be hiding anywhere. But more than that, just because you don"t see anyone right now doesn"t mean they couldn"t show up at any moment."
That was a disturbing thought. "Can they do that anywhere they want?"
"Theoretically, yes, but as a practical matter, no. Queen Bethany and her thugs knew this location. They came to this world right here, in this place. It only makes sense that others might have this point plotted as well."
"You mean that to come here you have to know specifically where you want to go?"
"Not exactly. It"s not so much that it"s a problem having to do with coming here as it is knowing specifically where you want to be when you get here. The worlds-yours and mine-are big places. Imagine if you were to go to my world, not knowing anything about it. How would you find me, one person, in that whole world, among millions of people? Coming here is one thing, knowing where you want to be when you get here is quite another."
"I see what you mean. Sounds like it must be difficult."
"When I was trying to find you the second time I watched the area of the art gallery because it was a place I knew you went. It was where we first located you and at the time the only known place I had for you. That"s why we need to get away from your known locations."
"That complicates things."
"I didn"t promise you it would be easy."
"I guess not."
With his index finger he absently pressed the release lever on the side of holster and lifted the gun just enough to make sure that it was clear. He let the weapon drop back and click into place.
"Best if we stick to the plan, then. You stay hidden in the shadows and keep a lookout until I start the truck. And pull the door shut behind you when you leave the house," he added. "I"d like to have a home to come back to one of these days."
Jax smiled sympathetically. "I know how you feel."
Alex slipped out the doorway and into the rain. It felt to him like stepping out of his old life and into a new one.
Everything felt new to him, different, as if he were seeing the world with new eyes.
It seemed he could feel each individual muscle in his body as he moved. He thought that he could have counted every cold drop of rain that fell on him. He was aware of the different sensations of the rain on his face, of it matting his hair, of it wetting his pant legs, and of it spattering on the backs of his hands. He could smell the wet dirt, the concrete, and the trees. He could hear the rain beating against the roof of the house, gurgling down the gutters, splashing in puddles, whispering against the leaves of the big maple tree at the rear corner of his house, and drumming on the metal panels of the Jeep. Clouds lit from within by lightning revealed their greenish, roiling shapes before going dark again. He could feel the thunder in the distance rumbling through the ground. Lightning flickered closer in the west, illuminating the glistening, wet scene in stark, colorless contrast.
All of his senses were firing. The world was not just new to him, but an alien place.
He swiftly unlocked the driver"s door and popped it open only enough to turn on the interior dome light. He looked in the windows, checking that no one was hiding in the back. Once he knew the truck was empty he hopped in and hit the unlock b.u.t.ton so that Jax would be able to get in on the pa.s.senger side.
When he turned the key in the ignition he heard only a click. His pounding heart seemed to skip a beat. He tried again, and again it only clicked. The starter was resting in a dead spot. He knew from experience that he could turn the key all night and it wouldn"t start the engine.
Alex was furious at himself. He could hardly believe that he hadn"t replaced the starter when he"d had the time. With everything surrounding Ben"s death he had ignored the matter of the starter. The excuse was pointless. An excuse wouldn"t undo the mistake.
Jax ran from the house to stand in the open door of the truck. "What"s wrong? Does it always take this long?"
"It won"t start."
"Magic is a lot more dependable than technology," she said as she leaned in a little under the shelter of the roof.
"Really? How"s your magic working for you right now?"
She sighed when she realized she had no argument.
"I just need to roll it down the driveway to get it to start."
He always backed the truck up the sloping drive for just such an eventuality.
"I"ll push it to get it going. I do it often enough. It will be fine. Run around and get in the-"
Alex looked up just as a dark form slammed full force into Jax from behind. The breath left her lungs in a grunt. The violence of the impact drove her onto Alex, knocking him back over the center console. The armrest jammed painfully into his kidneys. His shoulders were pressed down against the pa.s.senger seat, his neck bent at a torturous angle. In such an awkward position, the full weight of both Jax and the huge man atop her prevented him from drawing a full breath.
Time seemed to stop.
The growling man had a meaty arm around Jax"s neck. Lethal rage lit his dark eyes. He was only an instant away from twisting her neck and snapping it like a twig.
Alex held his breath against the strain of monumental effort.
His gun had already cleared the holster.
He drove his fist past Jax"s head and rammed the end of the barrel into the man"s left eye socket.
Without an instant"s hesitation, before the man could react, before he could jerk back away from the gun, before he could snap her neck, Alex pressed the trigger.
The hot glare of the muzzle flash lit the inside of the truck. The sound of the gun going off was deafening. In the darkness Alex could also see the flash of the muzzle blast coming out the back of the man"s head, lighting a cloud of blood, bone, and brain as the hollow-point round blew through. The recoil snapped Alex"s hand back.
Most of the debris went out the open door, but some of it splattered against the inside of the windshield and side window in the back seat. The ejected bra.s.s sh.e.l.l casing ricocheted off the headliner, then pinged off the pa.s.senger window.
The instant the bullet tore through his brain, the hulk of a man went as limp as mud. He wasn"t thrown back like in the movies; he simply dropped dead in place. The man, who an instant before had been a blur of ferocity, was suddenly stone still.
Jax gripped the bottom of the steering wheel for leverage and with a growl of effort arched her back. Alex helped push her up. The dead man slid off her back and down into a heap at the side of the driveway. One arm splayed over his head, as if trying to hide the ghastly wound.
Alex at last drew a needed breath. His ears rang from the sound of the gunshot. The gun had been right beside Jax"s head when it had gone off. He hoped it hadn"t deafened her.
He hoped, too, that the gunshot hadn"t roused the neighborhood. On any regular, quiet night it would have awakened everyone within a couple of blocks, but with the thunder booming enough to shake the ground, a single gunshot was lost in nature"s mayhem.
It had all happened so fast. The night was suddenly back to normal. The rain droned on. In a blink the killing was over and done with, a man"s life ended.
Jax rubbed her neck with both hands as she twisted her head around experimentally. Blood dripped from sodden strands of her blond hair.
"Are you all right?" he asked, checking the darkness. "I was afraid that he might have broken your neck."
"He would have," she said, still catching her breath. "I guess that answers the question of whether or not I can count on you. Your Glock technology works pretty good."