Chapter 10 – Shadow
Tyana leant back into her chair and nibbled her lip as she tried to take in what Bretski had said. It had been 4 days since she had arrived in this realm and after the first day had been spent resting to make sure Ty was on absolute top form the following three days had been spent researching, fitting together pieces of the puzzle and tailing a few suspected members of the team who were trying to re-launch The Witnessing. Tyana sighed, nodded her head and then leant forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
"Ok, now, let me get this straight. The chips that were collected and used to shut down The Witnessing the first time round are, like, not re-useable. And so all 45 have to be re-made exactly." Bretski was nodding along, showing her she was correct in what she was saying, "Each chip take 3 days to put together due to its size and complexity and they only have 5 people who know how to make these chips." Bret's head continued to bop, "That means we have, um, 27 days to make sure we stop all of the chips from being made and also make sure the people making them can't do so again, right?"
Bret nodded firmly, "Correct"
"Ok, one question?"
"Shoot"
"Do we have any leads as to where these people are?"
"Not a one"
"Frail" Tyana leant back in her chair again and began to nibble on her lip once more as she thought over it. She could hear Bret tapping away on one of his many computer's but she pushed the noise aside and concentrated, trying to think of ways to find out all the information they needed, trying to think of a plan of action. Bret watched her for a moment while he waited for his latest information update to load and was soundly so proud of how committed and mature she was. It was true that since she had rejoined this realm she had only aged two months, a huge contrast to the 7 years she aged the first time she crossed dimensions, but watching her sitting there like that, so focused and so determined he was just proud of her on the whole. He hadn't known what he was thinking when he had expected her to be totally preoccupied with Jeff but he now knew he had totally under estimated her. Tyana knew that she needed to concentrate now, this mission couldn't wait, but Jeff could, at least for a while. And he was proud. The bleeping of his computer that told him the update was now viewable snapped him out of his thoughts and he clicked on the links to open up each information file.
"Ok, we have updates" he started, pulling Tyana's concentration away from her thoughts and back to the present.
"Fill me in" she commanded, listening intently.
"Well, first of all we seem to have some information on the person running the whole scheme"
"Spill"
"His name is Ray Jackson, but he goes by the name of R.J—how typical. Anyhow, his great grandfather was the man who discovered that there was two realms, and his great grandfather as well as his grandfather were both on the original team who set up the witnessing, therefore making him saturated by it all as soon as he was born. His father continued at a very high position in the operation, therefore making it easier for him to ride to the top as well, on his coat tails I suppose. His father retired several years ago and R.J's been very high up ever since after taking his father's place. Now because we shut The Witnessing down, R.J must have decided he owed it to himself and his family to start it back up, heading up the under-ground mission to re-launch it."
"So it's kind of a pride thing for him"
"Yes, I suppose it is"
"I guess I'll have to take him down a peg or two" Tyana said grinning. Bret rolled his eyes and continued filling her in on what else he knew. R.J was known to spend most of his time in his favourite hotel suite in some joint up town—not exactly hard done by it seemed—and when he wasn't inside with the company of his co-criminals and a certain woman he apparently always had by his side, he was down town hanging out in a certain sleazy club that Tyana had a feeling she would be visiting real soon. "Right, ok, I'm off then" Tyana decided, getting up and grabbing her bag.
"What do you mean you're off? Where are you going?"
Tyana chuckled, "Bret, I'm starving, and room service is atrociously expensive here. I'm gonna go grab something to eat. I'll try to think about what we should do next while I'm stuffing my face, ok?"
"Oh" he chuckled, "Yes, fine, we'll speak later"
She blew a kiss towards the communicator with a laugh then said goodbye and switched it off. She slipped it in to one of the drawers of the dresser then locked up and headed towards the lift. She hopped inside and waited for the doors to close as she began to hum.
***
Jeff hurried Matt along, "Come on man, I'm so hungry, get a move on" he whined, banging on the bathroom door. Amy laughed at him.
"Why don't we just order in?" she suggested, knowing that Matt would be a while longer.
"No, I'm sick of this hotel room, I've been stuck in it all day, thanks to you two persuading Vince that I should be made to rest, I wanna eat out" Jeff moaned, slumping back onto his bed. Two days ago Matt and Amy had gone to Vince in pure worry over Jeff's strange black out incidents and although it hadn't happened since, Vince had agreed that it was best for Jeff to take a little time off either until the doctors knew what was wrong or until these attacks stopped getting to him. The thing was that Jeff didn't usually mind being given some time to rest and think and wonder and write but all he had been able to do for the past two days was think of that woman who plagued his dreams every time he closed his eyes. He felt as if all he saw was blurred turquoise and it was slowly eating away at him, not knowing who she was.
"Ok, ok, I'll be two seconds" Matt called back through the door but Jeff didn't register it; his mind had slipped back over the curves of that unknown beauty. Something inside told him he should know her, something told him part of him did, he just couldn't figure out how. Had they met some when? Maybe they knew one another when they were children? No, that couldn't be right; this woman was grown, most definitely grown. There was nothing child-like about her. So how had he known her? He continued to ponder it.
Amy watched her friend curiously; his brow creased, folded, and wondered what it was he was suddenly so engrossed in. She followed his line of sight but it was clear that it led to the middle of no where and he was caught up in his own thoughts, whatever they may be.
"Jeff?"
He snapped out of it, "Hmm, yes, what?" he looked momentarily dazed as he forced his eyes to meet hers, "Sorry, did you say something?"
"Er, yeah, what were you thinking about?"
"Uh, nothing. Nothing interesting." He smiled. Amy didn't it by it, but she let it go anyway. Finally Matt strolled out of the bathroom, his hair still damp from his shower.
"Ok, let's go" They all grabbed a jacket then ambled out of the hotel room, locking it as they went and headed down the hall for the elevators. One snapped closed just as they turned the corner. They pressed the button and waited for the next one. When they got to the lobby they turned in their keys and went to leave but Adam and Jay came bounding out of the door that led to the stairs, calling for them to wait up. Team xtreme did so but not before Jeff caught a glimpse of turquoise strolling out of the lobby onto the street. He knew the turquoise. But he shook his head, telling himself it couldn't be the woman that was always so mysteriously on his mind.
"God, maybe I do need a few days off" He turned back to the others and dismissed it.
***
Having grabbed herself a take away Mickey D's Tyana stepped out onto the street and began to wandered down the darkening sidewalks as she pulled her bag off her back and slipped her food into it. The hotel she was staying at was only a 10 minutes walk away, at most, so she didn't bothered rushing herself as the night around her continued to darken. The street was surprisingly void of any signs of life, it was even quiet as she walked along, glad she wasn't wearing heels because the click, click, click of them on the pavement in the quietness annoyed her. She continued along, rather indifferent to the time of day and the dimensions she was in because her thoughts had drifted upon a face known well to her mind, and more importantly her heart. Her mind swirled around the person she thought of, making her smile, but her short lived thoughtful bliss was interrupted when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, telling her something was wrong. Tyana continued down the street, as if she hadn't felt it, but every single one of her senses were more alive than ever now as she sought the darkness around her for the cause of her alarm. Her ears practically pricked up when she became aware of a very soft tapping of shoes on the sidewalk behind her, not too close but not far enough off for comfort. She slowed a little deliberately, finding that as she suspected the footfalls she was listened so tentatively to slowed also and then she sped up, finding once more they matched her pace.
There was no doubt about it, she was being followed.
Tyana carried on, trying her best to seem oblivious to her unwanted company, noting that there was a corner she had to take very soon. Her mind immediately slipped into action mode and told her slip around the corner with casual nonchalance, as it was the way back to the hotel, and then ambush whoever it was that was following her. She decided that was exactly what she would do and so turned the corner as she would without company but instead of pausing she found herself connecting with something solid and strong, forcing her to stumble back a few steps, back into the street. Tyana stared into the shadows of that corner, knowing she had run into a person, a person who hadn't been there on the off chance, a person who had been waiting. Slowly they moved forward, they facial features extruding gradually from the depths of the darkness they had hidden in and as they continued to walk further onto the sidewalk, illuminated by the street lamps, she realized she knew this person. It was the man who had tried to attack her in her apartment back in the other dimension. So she knew this was most definitely going to be an attempt on her knife. She slipped her hand round the back of her subtly, watching the twisted grin on the man's face turn up.
"We meet again" he concluded happily, unaware that Tyana was unstrapping a knife from a small compartment on the back of her bag. It slipped down her arm and she slid it into her sleeve and careful and subtly brought her arm back to beside her hip, gripping cautiously onto the knife beneath her sleeve.
"So we do, don't give up easily. First the street, then my apartment, you're a very determined" she commented, hoping to distract him for long enough to take in her surroundings and him to work this battle to her advantage. But his sick smile broadened.
"I never tried to kill you in the street" he revealed, a tad too happy about that fact for Tyana's liking.
"Then who did?"
"I did" a voice said smugly from Tyana's left. Tyana looked over at the man who had made his presence known but didn't let her eyes leave the larger man in front of her for too long. She reassessed the situation. Two, large, strong men, on one strong but possibly delicate woman. The odds were against her. But it got worse.
"And now I just feel so left out; what with me being the only one who never got a stab at you before you ran away" another voice, this time from her right. Make that three on one.
"I can't help but notice the only way you think you can kill me is to manipulate the odds" Tyana sneered confidently, still clutching her pathetic little back up knife. If she could just distract them for long enough to grab her laser gun from her bag then she could high tail it out of there. But that wasn't gonna happen, she knew it. The only way she could get that gun was it she knocked them down for long enough to grab it, do some damage and then run. The street was deserted hopelessly, that much she knew, and she wasn't sure whether that was good or bad. Bad, probably, because no one could hear her screams. Not that she would allow herself to cower in such a way. She slipped the bag off her back and dropped it to the floor behind her. And then they rushed her.
Tyana jumped high into the air, flipping head over heels backwards so that she landed behind the clutter of men as they collided with one another. They were only a little disoriented so Tyana took full advantage and charged them while they were a little confused. She ran back towards them and kicked the closest one with such a force that he went shooting backwards, landing in a heap on the sidewalk several yards away. The other two were angered by it but Tyana flipped backwards, making them rushed forwards, but then half flipped again so that she was standing on her hands then she kicked back towards them with everything she had, knocking them both down but landing rather ungracefully on top of them also. She jumped to her feet, ready to draw her gun, but was grabbed from behind. It was at that point she realized the first man she had kicked had recovered and gone straight for her. He had an arm snaked tightly around her throat and that it when she felt him trying to apply the pressure, trying to cut off her air. In a panic she tried to pull her knife out so she could stab him and run but it got caught in the fabric of her sleeve and toppled to the floor with a clatter of taunting pings. The pressure on her throat increased as he laughed at her misfortune.
"Tell the angels hi from Luday when you get there sweetheart" and everything began to go hazy in front of her.
"Well the devil sure as hell is gonna be glad to see you—no pun intended" who had said that? Tyana could barely see but she could distinguish voices and she knew that did not belong to one of her attackers. For one, it was female. And then she was cut loose from the deadening grip and Tyana dropped to the floor, gasping for air as the sounds of punches ad kicks and grunts filled the air behind her. By the time her vision had cleared and she was trying to get to her knees she could hear the angered cries of the other men who were back on their feet and apparently barreling past her towards her knight in shining armor. Tyana finally staggered to her feet but wavered as she heard the sounds of a man falling to the floor. That meant there was one still standing. Whether or not the others were alive, that she could not tell.
Tyana fell back to her knees again and one finally thud echoed around her and another thump implied the crashing of the man to the pavement. Or, what she hoped was the man. Tyana knew it must have been her enemy that had fallen when soft hands closed around her upper arms and she was hefted to her feet. A blur of pink. Tyana blinked repeatedly, trying to clear her dusty vision, and then stared, full of confusion, at the pink haired woman in front of her.
"Tyana Maleé, right?" the soft stranger asked, wrapping one of Tyana's arms around her strong shoulders and wrapping one of her own hands around the turquoise girls waist. Tyana nodded. "I'm Shadow, Bretski and the mission sent me when they realized your assassins had jumped through to this realm." She giggled a little as she moved Tyana slowly across the street to collect her bag. "I suppose I'm sort of your body guard—as well as your partner in crime" The pink haired woman stooped down in front of Tyana and hefted up her bag, slipping it onto her own back instead of Tyana's and then helped Tyana walk again. "Come on; let's go get you back to the hotel, I think you need to sleep"
Tyana nodded mutely and hobbled off with the friendly stranger, thinking in disorientation as she went, cute hair, nice shade of pink.
**************************************
*A/N* sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days. I went to a party and got almost no sleep so I was too tired Sunday then yesterday I had to go into college to enroll and today I had to go into college to do my key skills assessment but all is well now. So here's two chapters to make up for the lack of them over the pass few days and also to make up for the fact that I may not be able to update tomorrow morning because the vet is coming at 8 and I have tons to do before he gets here. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapters.
Shadow: ahh, the mystery, well, you'll just have to wait to find out what he's talking about, won't you? *laughs evilly* mwahahahahhaha! Glad you liked the chapter, now I must go update my other stories before I officially collapse and fall into a deep, deep sleep, lol. Speak soon.
