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The city was dark and cold. In the hills, the air would still
plunge into below zero digits each night, the sap freezing in the trees. Here,
it was barely below forty. Anna shivered at the bite of damp chill coming up the
river from the Bay.
Powers nodded at a bar. “Antone’s Place. Your boy, he works
there, nights. Dishwasher.”
Anna smiled. “He was raised right. A man needs a job to stay a
man.”
“Amen.”
A man wearing light-absorbing clothes was standing near the door.
Around the corner she caught the ‘sight’ of several other auras.
An air cab floated down with a blast of warm air and the tingling
shock of magnetic motors.
Whispers of warning in her ears, Anna scowled at it. The car held
three passengers. She put a hand up. In a blaze of red heat and white joy, Benny
was trotting up the street.
The car landed. When the thing left, the passengers were standing
near the bar door, and Benny had faded out of sight.
A chill entered Anna’s stomach that had nothing to do with the
damp air.
The three stopped, looking back. The men in black closed in,
crowding them. One, a Southerner, was arguing with one of the men. He was struck
on the head and fell hard. The woman shouted. Anna’s eyes widened.
“Cindy McAllen VanTur, the Beltway bitch.”
“Ma’am?” Eyes wide with alarm, Power edged back from Anna.
“Janissary Project. She’s very close to the top of the Party
in America.”
Powers choked. “Sweet lamb o’ God.”
“More akin to owl vomit, if you ask me.”
Anna stepped away, but Power yanked her back.
“No. I’m sorry, sacred-light, but she takes you.”
“Not me, bud. Cindy knows better.”
Anna ran to the men throwing on her cloak. She was shaking and
bitter, and that was no way to stay cloaked.
Anna stopped. She calmed herself and waited for permission to
move.
Wait.
She nodded at the voice. They, the Tsi:ge:Yu:i, knew the future
like she knew her teeth.
Trying to shield Anna, Powers edged out, and a man in black
shouted. Powers stopped, but was belligerent.
“I going in there,” he said, nodding at the door.
“Leave us.” Chong stepped away from Mike’s fallen body.
“Wait until we’re done, friend, then return.”
Powers snarled. “Can’t.”
From his side, Anna whispered, “Wait around the corner.”
He spun, staring, but didn’t see her.
“Go,” she said.
He backed away, then sprinted for the corner.
Anna saw Benny on the rooftop. He was scowling, and his lips were
drawn back in a snarl.
An owl floated to the street behind Anna. It arose in the form of
a man to open dark robes. Tommy stooped out and came up near her. He raised a
club. On the roof, Benny shouted a warning. Anna turned, and stars exploded in
her head.
©2004 StoriesByEmail.com
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