After Dawn (Book 3 of the Into the Shadows Trilogy) (5 page)

A knock rang through the room and Stevens jumped, a squeak escaping his lips.

"Sir, are you okay in there? I thought I heard voices," his assistant Martin said. He pushed the door open. "I was just returning some paperwork to your office and was walking by."

Martin peered around the door. His eyes fell on Stevens crouched in the corner. Stevens trembled, unable to speak.

"Sir! What happened?" Martin crossed the room in a few quick strides and offered his hands to the President, pulling him to his feet. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"She was. She is," he sputtered.

"She who?" Martin asked as he led the President to his bed. He gave him a light shove to sit him down.

"The ghost. She knows about Phase III. How could she know?" His head dropped into his hands.

"Ghost, sir? Are you sure you aren't just suffering some effects from the stress of the pending war on Mexico?" Martin patted the President's shoulder. "I can call for your anti-anxiety drugs. They'll take the edge off for you. Or maybe a bourbon? That usually sets you right."

"Mexico is almost ready to go. Just waiting on a few more things from Bacon up in Canada. The Mexicans won't know what hit them." Stevens rubbed his face and took a shaky breath. "Phase III must start as soon as possible. Tomorrow."

"I thought you wanted to do the inspection yourself later this week?" Martin wrung his hands in his lap. "I'm not even sure if it's ready."

"It has to be. I don't want to see it. I can’t go there, I mean, she..." Stevens' strength returned and he pounded his fist forcefully into his palm. "They need to be gone before we start this offensive. I don't want to risk any escapees."

"Yes, sir." Martin nodded. "I'll get on it first thing in the morning."

*

Paivi and Peter Farmington were on overdrive. Whatever plans there were for escape needed to be acted on soon. If Stevens was hell-bent on murdering them, they needed no other motivation. She couldn't allow one soul in the camp to be killed in those showers.

We need to disable the showers.
Paivi pushed her thoughts toward him as she slurped her broth with a spoon. They were not using any words for fear of being overheard.

But what can we do? We need a fire or something similarly destructive.
Peter leaned back against the barrack. Molly sat between them, silently eating and observing the other prisoners. She had been left out of the conversation for the time being.

I think I can handle that.
She gave him a sideways glance. She hadn't disclosed what she was capable of. But he'd learn quickly. She was going to have a busy night. She had to warn Jason, Sterling, and the others that the escape was going to happen sooner than they thought. She also had a special someone to pay a visit to.

Tomorrow morning we have to act on the showers. Can you be ready?
He took a swig from a bottle of water.

No doubt. Just watch and see.
She met his eyes over Molly's head and smiled.

*

"What's your plan?" Sterling demanded when Paivi visited him later that night in his tent at the refugee camp. He was slumped on a stool and dragged a hand across his tanned face. His dark hair was long now; pulled back into a ponytail just like Jason had worn. Strands of it had come loose and hung around his face. His khaki tee shirt and green cargo pants were dirty and wrinkled and a layer of dirt and sweat covered his skin.

Sterling’s camp was in a remote area near Texas and far from the comforts of home. The Mexicans had erected this camp not far over the border and outside of a town.

"We've got to act now, Sterling. He's coming for us. You guys are safe a little longer, but we're out of time." Paivi stood in the middle of the khaki-colored tent. It contained nothing more than a cot and a small table stacked with papers. A camping lantern burned its fluorescent light in the corner, casting an odd glow over the tent. She wasn't much brighter than the light. She tried to conserve energy. She'd need a lot of it the next few days.

"We're going to burn the showers down tomorrow. If things escalate or get out of hand, I don't know if I'll be able to stop the momentum," she said.

"That's it? Burn down the showers? I thought we'd have a more concrete idea for escape by now." Sterling shook his head. "Are you really going to just rely on your own powers? What if you're not strong enough? You're barely visible in this room right now. What if your power is fading due to lack of food or sleep?"

"That's why I'm trying to conserve energy," she said, raising her hands in frustration. "I'm not going to see Torsten or Jason or Christian. Or your brother. Just you." She crossed the tent and placed a ghostly hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry you've got to do this on your own, Paivi, I truly am." He patted her hand but it passed through her skin. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be all right. I've got Peter. He'll see tomorrow what I'm capable of." She sighed. "I just hope I can count on him to have some powers to help me. Two would definitely be better than one. I'm going to go back now to look at the possibilities and gauge what kind of outcomes we can expect. I hope I can see something. I just wanted to let you know it was about to go down and say goodbye."

Sterling rose from his seat and attempted to embrace her ghostly form.

"It's never goodbye." His arms passed through her and a tear raced down his cheek. "We'll all see each other soon. You'll do great. We'll hold our ground here until the attack starts, but we'll do everything we can to get you all safely here."

"Say hi, or bye, or whatever to the guys for me, would you?" Paivi asked. Her lips lifted in the weakest of smiles.

"You got it. Now get back there and make us proud." He waved as she faded into the night.

She dropped into her body in the bunk and took a few deep breaths. She needed to see what was going to happen tomorrow, she needed to know if her plan would succeed or not.

With a few deep breaths, she brought herself into the rhythm of all the sleeping EOS prisoners around her. She closed her eyes, focusing on the safe room in her mind, in the in-between, where she could safely search for her answers. 

The room looked the same as it did when she last visited. It was a place she could visit comfortably with little effort, so it wouldn't affect her energy reserves much. She only hoped that she had the strength left to do her job when the time came. She couldn't bear to let anyone down. She longed to drop onto the couch that sat in the center of the room. That alone might give her some comfort and rejuvenating sleep that the wooden boards under her in the bed in the barrack did not.

With a sigh and look of longing, she brushed her hand along the back of the couch and trudged toward the thick door that led to all future things in the universe. She unbolted it, running a finger down the Tibetan carvings. The golden Buddha was cool to the touch.

She stood at the edge of the doorway, her toes hanging off over the abyss as constellations, galaxies, and planets spread out in front of her.

The Universe.

It knew all.

She sucked in a deep breath between her lips and forced one word into her mind in giant, clunky letters.

ESCAPE

ESCAPE

ESCAPE

With that she took a step, falling into the universe, welcoming it inside her mind. She grew dizzy as she spun, the view around her swirling her like a top until she crash-landed into the camp, her current home.

She spotted herself standing with a group a few feet ahead. They were near the showers. The sun was low in the sky. It was still early in the day. She followed the dream version of herself through the shower worksite. Dream Paivi scooped up a bucket of nails and a hammer and joined Peter.

Paivi studied herself. Her tanned skin was darker than she ever remembered as a child, and her limbs consisted of not much more than skin and bone. She had always been slender, but healthy. Yet now she was a twig doll, held together by those awful rags for clothes. Her cheekbones stuck out on either side of her face, the cheeks themselves sunken in. Not as bad as those EOS prisoners around her, like Peter, whose faces clearly showed they had lived there much longer.

 In the vision, Peter took a quick darting glance at their surroundings and slipped Dream Paivi something small, which she in turn slid into her pocket. No one around them noticed and they continued with the finishing work on the showers. The muscular ATC guard was back again and shouted from the front of the worksite.

"Let's go. We have exactly three hours to complete these buildings or there’ll be hell to pay." His voice echoed, aided by a megaphone. From the fear in his eyes, Paivi was sure it wasn't just the EOS that would pay if the showers weren't done on time.

Her gaze floated back over to Dream Paivi. She and Peter had made their way over to the back door of the structure. Workers were hammering nails and cleaning up supplies all around them. In the hustle, they were isolated for just a moment. Long enough for Paivi to pull the small box from her pocket and light a match. A small flame rose in her palm.

From the bucket of nails he carried, Peter pulled a paintbrush and a small container of paint thinner. He doused the paintbrush in the liquid and traced it carefully along the bottom edge of the wooden building. He appeared to be doing some final paint touch-ups. After finishing the first building, he walked calmly across the yard to the other and did the same. He reached the edge of the building and caught Dream Paivi's eye. He gave a swift nod.

Dream Paivi returned the nod and looked down at her right palm. She split the tiny flame into two and hid the other in her left hand. She walked between the two buildings and threw both her hands out quickly in the midst of the busy workers. The tiny flames flew through the air, unnoticed by the workers and landed on the edge of the buildings. They raced along the paint thinner and engulfed the rear walls of both shower buildings.

Paivi looked on in awe, still amazed that she had the power to do such a thing. EOS workers all around began to exclaim and shout as the flames startled them out of their mundane task.

The ATC agent on duty shrieked and ran toward a small bucket that the workers had been using to soak paintbrushes. He ran to the building and threw the contents on the fire. The paint thinner that had been in the bucket to clean the brushes only fueled the flames even higher, licking up the back of the wooden structure.

He screamed even louder, his voice echoing above the crackle of the flames and Dream Paivi stifled a laugh as he ran around frantically demanding everyone put the fire out. The only water available was in bottles from the lunch rations and he threw them at the workers. They attempted to put the fire out with them, but the small amounts of water had no impact on the rising flames. The ATC agent screamed into his phone for assistance with the fire and Paivi knew the response would be quick.

Dream Paivi must have had the same thought and in a motion meant to look like she was throwing the contents of a bottle of water on the fire, she raised her hands, forcing her energy into the flames and pushing them higher.

Then something happened that Paivi wasn't expecting. Some of the EOS prisoners looked at one another and made a break for the new gate in the fence. The electricity that normally coursed through the section had been turned off so they could work on it. They ran for freedom. Or death. The desert spread out before them.

The lone guard who had been lazily guarding the group of workers watched in disbelief. He stood, mouth agape, as thirty or so male prisoners ran straight through the opening in the fence. He finally found his voice and began to shout to the others. He drew his weapon and aimed.