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Desperately, Liliana dodged between two buildings, out of sight of the patrol, then leapt up, caught a windowsill, jumped again, and climbed to a roof of what looked like a two-story apartment building with red brick framed by yellow. She ran across the peaked roof past the ear-splitting siren mounted on it. She attached a line to the edge, before swinging out as far as it would take her.
The three soldiers searched far behind her as she kept running.
Liiana splashed her way through ankle deep puddles in a broad park-like space that left her frighteningly exposed to weapons fire as sirens blared from every building. No new patrol had found her yet. Her heart hammered as she raced across, expecting a challenge or a bullet at any moment. She ducked gratefully behind another building.
Just as she ran onto the hard blacktop of a parking lot, four more soldiers came out of the building in front of her that read Special Warfare Museum. They pointed guns straight at her and ordered her to “Halt!”
She put her hands up for a moment, as if giving up, but she couldn’t. Not really. If she stopped, everyone she cared about would die.
As the soldiers relaxed, she dove between two cars, then rolled over her shoulder. In an instant, she regained her feet. They fired as she ran in a crouch, dodging between cars. They chased her, shouting and shooting, but their bullets all missed her darting form in the pouring rain.
Their pursuit forced her off the direct trajectory toward the medical center. Those four soldiers chased her into a narrow strip of forest. Here, she was better able to avoid pursuit. She leapt into the tree branches and ran, just as fast on narrow branches as on flat ground. The soldiers searched through the forest, calling out to her over loudspeakers to give herself up, as she doubled back to get on the right path. She ran directly above their heads, ballet-slippered feet carefully silent. The rain that battered her also aided her by confusing the pursuing soldiers. Thunder and the many sirens hid the sound of rustling leaves.
The loudspeakers kept calling after her as she jumped and climbed over another fence, this one six-feet tall and made of wood. She landed in someone’s backyard with a swing set.
Detective Jackson had not been exaggerating when she described the base as another small town, nearly as big as Fayetteville itself. Liliana had so far still to run.
She wondered where her friends in the car were.
When will they arrive?
With her fourth eyes, she followed the course of the patrol car that Detective Jackson drove. The spider-kin knew she would cross their path soon. Even while Liliana hoped they would get to the lab in time to save Siobhan, she desperately wished they would slow down. She had only entered the base a few minutes after them, but she could not run as fast as a car, especially not with Detective Jackson driving.
She watched the car with her fourth eyes while her second eyes watched all around her for obstacles or more security patrols. The weird colors her second eyes saw washed out to white every time lightning flashed. She hated running while using her second eyes. The shifted color spectrums made her feel like she was living a nightmare. If she did not run fast enough, the nightmare would be real.
A few military vehicles felt their way carefully along the streets through the deluge. Visibility was limited to only a few feet by the driving rain. She had to stop, panting at the side of the road, hidden by a hedge in what appeared to be someone’s front yard. Sirens mounted on the corner street light poles screamed about her invasion of the base.
She sobbed for breath as vehicles with big knobby tires crept slowly down the road, search lights shining all around. She had to wait until they were out of sight, or she would be caught, but every moment felt like forever. Seconds could make the difference.
She couldn’t save them, though, if she were caught. She panted, trying to catch her breath as the big cars rolled by.
Go faster, go faster. Please go faster.
As they finally rounded the corner, she burst from hiding and ran again, fighting to ignore the pain in her leg that made her want to limp. She couldn’t limp. She had to run faster.
For a while, she didn’t see any more foot patrols. Apparently, even soldiers didn’t like to be out in a thunderstorm if they had any choice in the matter. Or maybe they still thought she was hiding in the little patch of woods. She didn’t have enough eyes to check.
Her fourth eyes watched her friends.
Pete and the others arrived at the medical center in the middle of the base. They jumped out of the police car into the rain and ran for the medical center’s back door, sirens blaring in the parking lot. The Fae prince met them there.
“Colonel,” Sergeant Giovanni said and saluted properly, ignoring the pouring rain as if unaware it was there.
The prince gave her a crisp acknowledgment of the salute and drew his sidearm. “Why did you order the base alarm to sound?”
Sergeant Giovanni looked confused. “We thought you did that, sir.”
Colonel Bennet’s lips tightened. “Liliana.”
“She got out of the car at the gate just like she said she would,” Pete told him.
“Of course she did.” Colonel Bennet put his wrist phone up to a sensor, and it popped open a door in the back of the huge medical complex. “Detective, this is a military matter. It might be best if you stayed behind.”
Detective Jackson snorted and drew her pistol from a holster under her jacket. “Not a chance.”
“She knows about Others, sir,” Pete told him.
Colonel Bennet shrugged. “Well, then. Welcome to the party. Don’t shoot any of my people, or I’ll shoot you.”
