Aya appeared in the doorframe. She stood silently waiting. Joshua did not look up from the file in his hands, but began speaking, "Your reputation precedes you. You are quite a warrior for one so young. You will be missed on the homeworld."
Aya remained at her post and responded, "As does yours. I have heard stories of the noble 'Joshua' since before I was walking. It will be an honor to serve at your side."
Joshua stood up and crossed the room until he stood in front of the girl. He looked her in the eye and continued softly, "I am surprised they still teach the concept of honor. I had thought it had been passed up with all the other lofty ideals our leaders had once aspired us to."
The girl continued staring straight ahead. "I am sure you will find me to be a shining example of the leaders' ideals. I am considered the best."
"The best at what?"
"The best of the acolytes, the best there is, the best-" she halted.
Joshua let a slight smile play on his lips, "The best there ever was?"
Aya turned her face to meet his gaze and blinked, but said nothing. Joshua walked back to the desk and asked her, "When do you think you will be ready?"
Aya came back to attention, "This husk takes some getting used to, but I think you will find I am highly adaptable. I am fully prepared to track down subject 117."
"117 is not your priority." Aya watched Joshua, "According to my orders, 117 is my only priority."
"Who gives you your orders, Aya?"
"You do, sir." He gave the girl one more glance before dismissing her. Aya exited down the hallway. Joshua picked the file up again. The most recent sighting of Gua Test Subject 117. Long gone from the vicinity. But sure to show up unexpectedly soon. That was the only thing predictable about Cade Foster... Joshua took the latest intel and headed off.
Aya was looking around the place when saw Joshua heading out. Curious to know what he was up to she approched him. "May I ask where you are going or what you are doing?"
Joshua continues walking as Aya falls in step with him. "You may go about your business and let me do the same." He's up to something, Aya thought. "All right." She stopped walking thenwaits for Joshua to walk a couple more paces away from her before she followed him outside.
After Joshua exits he gets into his car, pulls out, and takes off for Foster's last known whereabouts. He watches in the rearview mirror as Aya's reflection gets smaller and smaller. He just knows she is going to be trouble.
She stopped two feet outside the door when she saw Joshua drive away. "You better not be doing what I think you're doing Joshua!" Aya yelled even though he probably cant hear her. "Oh well there's one way to find out what you're up to..." she said to herself then walked back inside the building. Aya walked down the hallway then stoped in front a closed door. She looked up and down the hallway making sure no one was paying attention to her then she entered the room. She glanced around then shut the door "Lets see what you're up to..." She went over to the desk then sat down in a chair. Aya turned on the computer that sat on the desk and waited for it to boot up. After it's done she starts typing in a bunch of stuff. "Damn it!" She yelled when the computer had said all recent info had been downloaded and erased from this computer. "I'll find out...one way or another..." She stood back up, shuts off the comp then exits the room.
Joshua gunned the engine and kept glancing at the GPS hooked up to the laptop on the seat. It was calculating a pattern for him to use to pin point the general area where he could find Foster. He knew events were heating up back on the homeworld, or they never would have sent Aya, but he had to stay true to his cause-even if it meant the ending of someone else's. He passed a sign advertising a diner up the road and considered stopping there to check out the local yokels.
Joshua pulls over to the side of a dilapidated old diner and idles the engine. He looks down at the computer screen and then shuts it down. As he looks back up he notices a dejected looking brunette walking out of the restaurant. She has her head down and bumps right into a surly trucker who grabs her by the elbow. The girl looks up suddenly as he curses at her.
LJ swung the camera around her neck and let the breeze wrap itself around her hair as she sped down the roadway. The convertible she had borrowed from Tom was a piece of heaven. Hannah wouldn't have approved. Cade, on the other hand, would have liked the thrill. However, that was the Cade she remembered. She had not seen or heard from her uncle in almost 1 1/2 years. LJ passed a sign welcoming her to California and pulled over when she saw a diner. It had been a long drive from New York and LJ was tired and hungry. She walked into the diner and took a booth in the corner. She did not like stopping but knew that the GUA did not know much about her yet to consider her a threat. A fact she had very carefully tried to preserve.
"May I take your order ma'am"
"A cup of coffee, black. Thank You." she said. A tall, dark figure rushed passed her. LJ reached for her camera and took a couple quick shots. She recognized the man as Joshua. GUA. The only problem was she was not sure if he knew her. There paths had crossed several times before her. LJ threw a couple bucks on the table and ran out the door. Her bag was hanging loosely by her side and as she reached the door of her car she dropped the keys on the floor.
Joshua bent down and retrieved the keys, holding them out for her. He held a roadmap in his other hand. The striking girl with the sharp features etched on her angular face looked up startled. She gazed at him with dark eyes that hid any trepidation she may have felt from coming across a stranger in a parking lot. She took the keys from him. He deftly nodded and started for his own car.
LJ glanced after the retreating figure of Joshua and then inserted the keys in the door of the convertible. She turned the key and opened the door to step in when she decided to play a gamble - "Excuse me, sir, I notice you have a road map. Could you tell me the quickest way into town. I'm afraid I'm not very good with directions."
Joshua turned around and walked back slowly. He glanced down at the map and then handed it to the girl. "Then by all means take this one. I am sure it can lead you in the right direction."
LJ took the map, thanked Joshua and watched his retreating figure as he headed for his car. Her uncle, Cade, must be pretty near or the Gua wouldn't have sent their finest after him. After she lost sight of him, LJ turned back to the convertible, got in the car and revved the engine a few times. She had to get to town before Joshua. It wasn't that Cade couldn't take care of himself. She knew he could but she felt protective of him because of Hannah. She quickly grabbed her cell phone out of her purse and called Linda. Her aunt had to know something.
The phone rang several times but no one answered. LJ worriedly put her phone back in her purse wondering what had happened to her aunt. She hadn't seen her in years and didn't even know if she still existed. LJ turned the ignition and drove out of the diner. She did not like the circumstances that were unfolding. Linda, missing, Joshua hot on Cade's trail and herself diving further into the game. She turned on the radio to bide her time until she got into town. She still had another thirty minutes to one hour drive. A siren sounded behind her. "Damn!" she thought. "Just what I need, another speeding ticket."
Joshua took his foot off the accelerator as he noticed the red and blue lights up ahead. Apparently it was pulling over a convertible. He pulled off on the shoulder and turned off the headlights. Then he clicked on the laptop and snapped it into the modem, expediently bringing up the National Police Scanner Switchboard.
LJ pulled the convertible over and turned off the engine. A police officer walked up to her door and knocked on the window. LJ rolled her window down a crack and produced her ID and registration. "Do this a lot, ma'am?" he asked. LJ grimaced and sat stone faced staring out her window. "Can I go now?"
"I'm afraid not, Ms. Stone. This car was reported as stolen."
"Excuse me!"
"Could you please step out of the vehicle." LJ grabbed her purse and camera and reluctantly stepped out onto the roadway. "If you just call New York, i'm sure we can clear this up in no time."
The officer reported in to dispatch while LJ shifted her weight
impatiently from one foot to the other. She briefly wondered what sort of exposure she could use to capture some gorgeous shots of the silver moonlight filtering through the trees before the static of the radio brought her back to her current dilemma. The cop started typing in her info on his computer console and looked up at her while waiting. "I'm sure there has been a mistake," she forced herself to smile.
The cop did not break his expression as his monitor beeped and he read the screen. He got out of the car and handed her back her license, "You can go now,ma'am, sorry for the inconvience." LJ was a bit flummoxed, but decided not to question it. At least until she had put some distance between herself and the law. She thanked him and hopped back into the car and took off, seeing the squad car in her rearview mirror before she turned the corner. A moment later Joshua pulled up beside the cop car and got out. He went over to the officer who was in the front seat scanning onto his computer. He stood at the door and the cop glanced up. Josha reached his hands through the window and enclosing his hands around the man's chin and nape of his neck, he twisted hard.
The snap of the vertebrae and the glossy eyes would have been a telltale clue if the body had not disintegrated a moment later. Joshua ripped off the printout of Lara Stone's prints and deleted the file. The address of the recipient was listed as unknown, but Joshua had an inkling. He got back into his car, turned on his headlights, and headed down the road in the same direction as the convertible.
Aya remained at her post and responded, "As does yours. I have heard stories of the noble 'Joshua' since before I was walking. It will be an honor to serve at your side."
Joshua stood up and crossed the room until he stood in front of the girl. He looked her in the eye and continued softly, "I am surprised they still teach the concept of honor. I had thought it had been passed up with all the other lofty ideals our leaders had once aspired us to."
The girl continued staring straight ahead. "I am sure you will find me to be a shining example of the leaders' ideals. I am considered the best."
"The best at what?"
"The best of the acolytes, the best there is, the best-" she halted.
Joshua let a slight smile play on his lips, "The best there ever was?"
Aya turned her face to meet his gaze and blinked, but said nothing. Joshua walked back to the desk and asked her, "When do you think you will be ready?"
Aya came back to attention, "This husk takes some getting used to, but I think you will find I am highly adaptable. I am fully prepared to track down subject 117."
"117 is not your priority." Aya watched Joshua, "According to my orders, 117 is my only priority."
"Who gives you your orders, Aya?"
"You do, sir." He gave the girl one more glance before dismissing her. Aya exited down the hallway. Joshua picked the file up again. The most recent sighting of Gua Test Subject 117. Long gone from the vicinity. But sure to show up unexpectedly soon. That was the only thing predictable about Cade Foster... Joshua took the latest intel and headed off.
Aya was looking around the place when saw Joshua heading out. Curious to know what he was up to she approched him. "May I ask where you are going or what you are doing?"
Joshua continues walking as Aya falls in step with him. "You may go about your business and let me do the same." He's up to something, Aya thought. "All right." She stopped walking thenwaits for Joshua to walk a couple more paces away from her before she followed him outside.
After Joshua exits he gets into his car, pulls out, and takes off for Foster's last known whereabouts. He watches in the rearview mirror as Aya's reflection gets smaller and smaller. He just knows she is going to be trouble.
She stopped two feet outside the door when she saw Joshua drive away. "You better not be doing what I think you're doing Joshua!" Aya yelled even though he probably cant hear her. "Oh well there's one way to find out what you're up to..." she said to herself then walked back inside the building. Aya walked down the hallway then stoped in front a closed door. She looked up and down the hallway making sure no one was paying attention to her then she entered the room. She glanced around then shut the door "Lets see what you're up to..." She went over to the desk then sat down in a chair. Aya turned on the computer that sat on the desk and waited for it to boot up. After it's done she starts typing in a bunch of stuff. "Damn it!" She yelled when the computer had said all recent info had been downloaded and erased from this computer. "I'll find out...one way or another..." She stood back up, shuts off the comp then exits the room.
Joshua gunned the engine and kept glancing at the GPS hooked up to the laptop on the seat. It was calculating a pattern for him to use to pin point the general area where he could find Foster. He knew events were heating up back on the homeworld, or they never would have sent Aya, but he had to stay true to his cause-even if it meant the ending of someone else's. He passed a sign advertising a diner up the road and considered stopping there to check out the local yokels.
Joshua pulls over to the side of a dilapidated old diner and idles the engine. He looks down at the computer screen and then shuts it down. As he looks back up he notices a dejected looking brunette walking out of the restaurant. She has her head down and bumps right into a surly trucker who grabs her by the elbow. The girl looks up suddenly as he curses at her.
LJ swung the camera around her neck and let the breeze wrap itself around her hair as she sped down the roadway. The convertible she had borrowed from Tom was a piece of heaven. Hannah wouldn't have approved. Cade, on the other hand, would have liked the thrill. However, that was the Cade she remembered. She had not seen or heard from her uncle in almost 1 1/2 years. LJ passed a sign welcoming her to California and pulled over when she saw a diner. It had been a long drive from New York and LJ was tired and hungry. She walked into the diner and took a booth in the corner. She did not like stopping but knew that the GUA did not know much about her yet to consider her a threat. A fact she had very carefully tried to preserve.
"May I take your order ma'am"
"A cup of coffee, black. Thank You." she said. A tall, dark figure rushed passed her. LJ reached for her camera and took a couple quick shots. She recognized the man as Joshua. GUA. The only problem was she was not sure if he knew her. There paths had crossed several times before her. LJ threw a couple bucks on the table and ran out the door. Her bag was hanging loosely by her side and as she reached the door of her car she dropped the keys on the floor.
Joshua bent down and retrieved the keys, holding them out for her. He held a roadmap in his other hand. The striking girl with the sharp features etched on her angular face looked up startled. She gazed at him with dark eyes that hid any trepidation she may have felt from coming across a stranger in a parking lot. She took the keys from him. He deftly nodded and started for his own car.
LJ glanced after the retreating figure of Joshua and then inserted the keys in the door of the convertible. She turned the key and opened the door to step in when she decided to play a gamble - "Excuse me, sir, I notice you have a road map. Could you tell me the quickest way into town. I'm afraid I'm not very good with directions."
Joshua turned around and walked back slowly. He glanced down at the map and then handed it to the girl. "Then by all means take this one. I am sure it can lead you in the right direction."
LJ took the map, thanked Joshua and watched his retreating figure as he headed for his car. Her uncle, Cade, must be pretty near or the Gua wouldn't have sent their finest after him. After she lost sight of him, LJ turned back to the convertible, got in the car and revved the engine a few times. She had to get to town before Joshua. It wasn't that Cade couldn't take care of himself. She knew he could but she felt protective of him because of Hannah. She quickly grabbed her cell phone out of her purse and called Linda. Her aunt had to know something.
The phone rang several times but no one answered. LJ worriedly put her phone back in her purse wondering what had happened to her aunt. She hadn't seen her in years and didn't even know if she still existed. LJ turned the ignition and drove out of the diner. She did not like the circumstances that were unfolding. Linda, missing, Joshua hot on Cade's trail and herself diving further into the game. She turned on the radio to bide her time until she got into town. She still had another thirty minutes to one hour drive. A siren sounded behind her. "Damn!" she thought. "Just what I need, another speeding ticket."
Joshua took his foot off the accelerator as he noticed the red and blue lights up ahead. Apparently it was pulling over a convertible. He pulled off on the shoulder and turned off the headlights. Then he clicked on the laptop and snapped it into the modem, expediently bringing up the National Police Scanner Switchboard.
LJ pulled the convertible over and turned off the engine. A police officer walked up to her door and knocked on the window. LJ rolled her window down a crack and produced her ID and registration. "Do this a lot, ma'am?" he asked. LJ grimaced and sat stone faced staring out her window. "Can I go now?"
"I'm afraid not, Ms. Stone. This car was reported as stolen."
"Excuse me!"
"Could you please step out of the vehicle." LJ grabbed her purse and camera and reluctantly stepped out onto the roadway. "If you just call New York, i'm sure we can clear this up in no time."
The officer reported in to dispatch while LJ shifted her weight
impatiently from one foot to the other. She briefly wondered what sort of exposure she could use to capture some gorgeous shots of the silver moonlight filtering through the trees before the static of the radio brought her back to her current dilemma. The cop started typing in her info on his computer console and looked up at her while waiting. "I'm sure there has been a mistake," she forced herself to smile.
The cop did not break his expression as his monitor beeped and he read the screen. He got out of the car and handed her back her license, "You can go now,ma'am, sorry for the inconvience." LJ was a bit flummoxed, but decided not to question it. At least until she had put some distance between herself and the law. She thanked him and hopped back into the car and took off, seeing the squad car in her rearview mirror before she turned the corner. A moment later Joshua pulled up beside the cop car and got out. He went over to the officer who was in the front seat scanning onto his computer. He stood at the door and the cop glanced up. Josha reached his hands through the window and enclosing his hands around the man's chin and nape of his neck, he twisted hard.
The snap of the vertebrae and the glossy eyes would have been a telltale clue if the body had not disintegrated a moment later. Joshua ripped off the printout of Lara Stone's prints and deleted the file. The address of the recipient was listed as unknown, but Joshua had an inkling. He got back into his car, turned on his headlights, and headed down the road in the same direction as the convertible.