Jack And Anna - Back To Winnipeg

1. It’s My Turn to Drive-2

click.Jack couldn’t help but smile. His relationship with Anna had begun when she was an experienced Justice Keeper and he was…Well, the term “rookie” was being generous. Sometimes, she fell back into her old role as his teacher.

Rising with a grunt, Jack took one last look across the way. He was tall and lean: not exactly bursting with muscles, but toned. His square-jawed face was clean-shaven, but the messy brown hair with bangs crisscrossing over his brow gave him something of a roguish look. “On it.”

.He turned and went to the side of the building, using an old, metal fire escape to descend to the alley. After that, it was a quick jaunt across the street.

As he neared the fence, Jack jumped and grabbed the tops of those wooden slats. Splinters dug into his palms, but he ignored the pain, vaulting over the barrier with the enhanced strength of a Justice Keeper.

He landed crouched on the other side.

An instant later, he was on his feet and bounding across a field of gravel, stones crunching under his shoes. The dome-like ship loomed in the distance, its cargo ramp still open and pointed slightly to his right.

The three smugglers dropped their crate when they heard him coming, each man spinning around and unslinging the assault rifle that he wore over his shoulder. They ran for him, kicking up clouds of dust with every step. At about thirty metres away, they came to an abrupt halt and raised their weapons.

Thrusting his hand out with fingers splayed, Jack called upon his Nassai – the alien symbiont that resided in his body. Power burned through him as he twisted the fabric of space and time, changing the very nature of geometry.

The result was a shimmering haze that hovered about a micrometre in front of his outstretched hand: a distortion in space-time. Through it, Jack saw his opponents as rippling blobs that sprayed ammo at him.

Each one of those bullets looped around in a tight curve, heading back the way it had come. He angled them upward so they would pass over the smugglers’ heads. They hit the distant ship with a series of sharp, metallic pings. He didn’t want to kill those lowlifes. Only to scare them. And that should do the trick.

Jack let his Bending collapse.

Refracted light snapped back into pure, vivid clarity, allowing him to see a trio of men who were all down on their knees and cowering. One of them had his rifle held over his head like he was trying to shield himself from a rainstorm.

As he drew near, Jack leaped.

He flipped upside down over the rightmost man, seizing the i***t’s rifle with both hands, tearing it out of his grip. Landing with the scuff of boots on gravel, he spun to face the other two.

Both were rising and turning around.

Jack threw the rifle at the nearest man, hurling it with enough force to smash the poor guy’s nose. The big oaf went stumbling backward into his companion, and they both hit the ground in a tangle of limbs and guns.

The one he had just disarmed was back on his feet and snarling. Growling, he charged in with a wild, sloppy punch.

Jack ducked, a dirty fist passing over his head. He slipped past his opponent on the right, then spun around and grabbed the other man from behind. Grunting and groaning, the smuggler tried to pull free.

With a quick hand, Jack yanked the stun-pen off his belt and jammed it against the side of his captive’s neck. He flicked a switch to extend a needle that pumped a powerful sedative into the other man’s veins, stilling his thrashing.

Hissing, Jack whirled around to face the other two. They were just starting to rise, having recovered their guns and their wits. Their eyes fell upon him with murderous intent, but they hesitated when they realized that he had one of their companions as a human shield. As he suspected, they weren’t willing to harm one of their own.

Jack delivered a knee to the back that flung his captive into the other two, and once again, they all went down.

“Now then!” Jack said, planting his fists on his hips, smiling down at the lot of them. “I’m thinking we’re all going to stay nice and quiet. No reaching for weapons!” The oaf who had been inching toward his assault rifle retracted his hand. “And we won’t have any more trouble here.”

“You’re a fool,” the skinny man said in something that sounded almost like a Brazilian accent Almost but not quite. “There’s four more of us on that ship, and you’re about to die screaming.”

Jack’s grin widened. “Well, you were right about the first part. But you failed to take one thing into consideration.”

He gestured into the distance behind him. “I have a partner!”

* * *

Anna leaped from the metal storage crate, spreading her arms wide as she soared through the air on a pulse of Bent Gravity. Four men in ratty clothing emerged from the ship, all carrying crappy-looking rifles. Together, they scrambled down the ramp.

Gravel crunched under Anna’s shoes as she landed.

All four men stumbled to a halt, surprised that she would so brazenly attack them. In a split second, she sized up her opponents. Two in front, standing side by side with a decent gap between them. One further back and a fourth behind him. Easy peasy.

The smugglers lifted their weapons.

With a little help from her alien friend, Anna created a bubble of accelerated time around her body. She formed it into the shape of a narrow tube that ran between the first two men, ending only a few inches away from the third. Before they pulled those triggers, Anna charged up the ramp and slipped past them.

The third man was a hazy smear of gray and beige, standing just beyond the shimmering surface of her bubble. He was frozen in the act of aiming his rifle, his blurry face warped into a snarl.

Growling, Anna jumped and released her hold on time. The bubble vanished instantly. She kicked the man square in his chest, sending him backward into the fourth smuggler, and they both fell hard on their asses.

The two behind her let loose a storm of bullets that pinged off the metal crates. The cacophony ended after only a few seconds. Doubtless, they were wondering where she had gone.

Anna elbowed the one on her right, sending him into a drunken sprawl that had him tumbling off the side of the ramp. He landed flat on his face. The other one turned, trying to point his weapon at her.

Twisting around to meet him, Anna grabbed the rifle as he brought it around and tore it out of his grip. Then she continued her cyclonic spin and swung the stock into his cheek. Down he went, rolling along the ramp.

Anna hissed from the sting of hot metal, tossing the g*n up and catching the grip as it fell. She turned her attention to the other two. Both men were starting to rise, but they froze when they saw that she had a rifle pointed at them.

Anna quirked an eyebrow.

The nearest man – a heavyset fellow with a scar on his chin – bared his teeth with a growl. “b****y Keepers!” he spat, kneeling on the ramp and raising his hands above his head.

“Good,” Anna said. “Let’s all stay nice and calm while we return this stuff to its rightful owners.”

* * *

An hour later, the City Watch of Bekala was hauling crates out of the cargo hold and taking them to vehicles that had gathered at the edge of the spaceport. All seven smugglers were on their knees with hands cuffed behind their backs.

Anna did her best to remain quiet as she watched those men working. Every instinct compelled her to speak up, tell a joke, offer to help. Anything to rebuild the connections she had lost when she had been erased from their minds. But the people of this city didn’t trust her. Why would they? To them, she was just a stranger who had inserted herself into their lives.

Her eyes were drawn to an open crate that contained dozens of thin, jagged crystals. Each shard was about as thick as her fingernail and smooth like glass. And they glittered whenever a beam of light fell upon them.

Several Watchmen were inspecting them, no doubt trying to determine if any had been taken. One of them shot a glare toward Anna when he caught her looking. No, they didn’t trust her one bit. It probably didn’t help that she had the ear of one of their most respected city councillors.

Kalia Troval, a tiny woman with lovely, brown eyes, a delicate nose and long, dark hair, was talking with the Watch Captain. For five minutes, she just stood there, nodding along with everything the old man said.

Finally, she turned and sauntered over to Anna with a smile on her beautiful face. “I can’t thank you enough for this,” she began. “Those crystals were meant for the Rathalan war refugees. Without them…Well, let’s say a lot of good people would die.”

When shattered, each crystal released a wave of energy that would heal almost any wound. It took about fifteen minutes for a skilled Field Binder to make one of them, and the demand had skyrocketed now that people from other planets were aware of this world. Anna had heard of Field Binders working in factory-like conditions. She wanted to object to such inhumane practices, but again, no one trusted her. No one but Kalia.

Closing her eyes, Anna exhaled and bowed her head to the other woman. “You know we’ll always have your back,” she said, patting Kalia’s shoulder.

“And we’ll always have yours. Are you sure you have to go?”

“Yeah, I need to get back to my family.”

“Still trying to make them remember?”

Anna took one step backwards, a frown twisting her mouth. “Trying,” she said. “Which, at this point, largely involves thinking at my mother and sister and hoping they pick up the vibe. There could be legal trouble if I try to contact them again.”

Kalia threw her arms around Anna, squeezing her tight. “Things will work out for the best,” she murmured. “Here, take these.”

Opening her handbag, she revealed half a dozen of those magnificent, sparkling crystals. Anna couldn’t help but marvel at how they caught the light and reflected it in a rainbow of colours. “I made them myself. It’s the least I could do after you risked your lives to help us.”

Blushing, Anna grinned nervously. “I’m honoured,” she said. “But Jack and I heal fast. You should save those for people who-”

“Anna, please. Let me do something nice for you.”

“All right. Thanks, Kalia.”

The other woman leaned in to kiss Anna’s cheek. “Any time,” she said. “And remember, you’ll always have a home with me and Desa.”

“I know,” Anna whispered. “Right now, I think it’s the only home we have.”