(Sadie)
Sadie Logan
knew she was being followed the moment she stepped off the train in Port Vega
and made her way out of the station.
She caught a
glimpse of her pursuers, both dressed in coats too heavy for the weather here
and wearing ballcaps and sunglasses. They were feds, she had no doubt about
that. They'd likely been?watching?the train station, waiting for her
to come off the?11:15 from New Augusta.
Walking
along through the busy train station, Sadie pulled out her phone and called up
a map. She was a strikingly beautiful woman, with long raven-black hair, blue
eyes and an athletic, yet shapely body. Dressed in a long black duster and
wearing a baseball cap, she was doing the best she could to avoid detection ¨C
but the government was determined to bring her in¡and they wouldn¡¯t give up.
Locating the
place she was trying to reach, Sadie pinned it on the map and stepped out of
the terminal and onto the busy street outside, where she began looking for a
cab.
Without
turning around to look, she sensed the two agents following her step out onto
the sidewalk and move into positions a few feet behind her, one to either side.
Sadie saw a cab pull up and saw there was no one who immediately needed it, so
she started toward the yellow vehicle, knowing full well she would not reach
the cab before the men behind her made their move.
Ten feet
from the cab, she could feel the first one move up on her and she spun around,
just in time to see a black-dressed man rush at her, a sparking stun baton gripped in his hand as he brought it up to swing at Sadie.?
The man swiped at her with the baton, both times the young woman dodged his weapon with lightning fast speed and on his third attempt to strike she caught his arm, yanked it violently back toward his torso and forced the electrical tip of the baton onto his chest.
After the man was violently jolted by the electrical charge, he dropped the baton and fell to the ground vibrating from the shock. Sadie didn't stop long enough the assess his condition as the second man came at her, also wielding a shock baton.?
He swiped at her with the weapon, which once again she nimbly sidestepped, then she chopped the edge of her hand down on his forearm, causing his hand to go numb prompting him to drop the baton. She then launched a kick up into his midsection, doubling him over and propelling him across the street and onto the hood of an approaching car. The vehicle slammed on its brakes, causing the man to roll off onto the street.
From the shadows, a third attacker appeared and raised a pistol with a long barrel, a weapon Sadie identified as a dartgun, probably fitted with a tranquilizer tip. She charged at the man, legs carrying her faster than most normal humans could run. The man's eyes widened as he took aim, realizing he would only get one shot.
As he pulled the trigger, Sadie came in under his aim and tackled him around his midsection, propelling them both several yards until they landed on the pavement, directly in front of an SUV which had to slam on its brakes to avoid hitting them.
The man, winded from the impact, was unable to resist as Sadie pulled herself up so she was sitting on his chest before she started pummeling his face with repeated blows from her fists. After several punches, the man's face was bloodied and bruised, his nose shattered and one eyeball bulging from his face after she broke the orbital socket of his skull.
"You killed him!" a young teenager on the sidewalk shouted as she stood up with blood on her fists. "Holy shit!"
Sadie grimaced. Killing had not been her intention but she sometimes couldn't control herself when the rage took her. The dark-haired girl looked around and saw no one else coming at her, but her gaze did fall upon a dark sedan parked alongside the road with its driver door wide open. It was the direction the third man had come from, so she deduced it was likely his car.
With the cab now long gone, the driver spooked by the fight he'd witnessed involving what he thought would be his next fare, Sadie decided?to take the car. Fortunately, it was still running with the keys in the ignition. She jumped behind?the wheel, closed the door and raced off down the street.
In a holder mounted on the dash was the goon's cellphone, a Google map displayed which she immediately reset to take her to the place she wanted to go to. A school for people like her, those with special powers.?
Several minutes later, Sadie watching her rearview the whole way, the car pulled up outside the Academy for the Extraordinarily?Gifted. She got out, grabbing the man's phone as she stepped out of the vehicle. As she stood up, the phone rang and she looked at the display.
"Agent Gray" was the name that came up on the phone. Glaring at it, Sadie swiped the answer button and held it to her ear, "I'm sorry, the asshole who owns this phone just had his face beat in. Can I take a message?"
"Killing that man was a big mistake, Ms. Logan," the voice on the other end of the line replied, calmly yet with a cold overtone. "We know where you are tanks to the GPS on that phone. You think you'll be safe there?"
"I do," she said, walking toward the entrance of the school. "You won't come here. They won't cooperate with you. The government is no friend of people like me."
"Perhaps," Gray said. "Perhaps not. You'd be surprised what some people, even people like you, will do when properly motivated. Money. Blackmail. Threats. Anything is possible, Sadie."
Sadie was quiet a moment. Maybe she should have run farther away. But this had been her plan and she wasn't going to abandon it now. Raising the phone back to her mouth she responded, "Perhaps."
