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Chapter -8- Descent Into Madness

Saturday, Christmas Day, 2049 3:30am Local Time US-13, Northeast Virginia, District Coast ...

"Head count," Karla announced. She walked a circle around the oddly transfigured Chevelle.

Reno Nevada was at the driver's seat. James and Conner Parker were in the back seats. "Reno," she said, "James Parker, Conner Poophead - er, Parker."

Conner glowered in reply but said nothing.

Karla counted herself as number four and walked to the oddly designed trailer. It hovered behind the Chevelle, floating on two large repulsing pads.

Karla levitated herself until she floated even with the back of the trailer.

Sitting inside, she counted out loud, "Rufus Darken, Kalen Kincade, Charlie Foster, Heimdallr, Sekhmet, Albert DeLioncourt, Evan Balmoral, and finally, Sinopa Guillot ... Sinopa, honey, are you sure you don't want to sit up front?"

"Iie, Karla-chan. I am told this trailer is designed to float. Should something happen, it will float in the ocean. The car will not."

Karla grinned. "Where's your sense of adventure, girl? Okay, you eight ... just relax. It'll be several hours of driving. Nothing I can do about that. If you guys have to take a leak, we have the intercom between the car and the trailer. Yes, we'll have to occasionally stop and piss. Sorry if that makes anyone uncomfortable - suck it up. We're saving the world, here."

Albert scoffed. "I'm only here because Lady Lion told me to come. But you guys are crazy as hell if you think you can drive into the ocean."

Karla offered Albert a grin. "You're surrounded by several deities, Mr. DeLioncourt. Have ... faith."

Karla lowered herself back to her feet, beneath the hovering trailer. She made her way back up to the Chevelle and teleported herself into the passenger seat and leaned out the window.

Down by the cargo bay doors, Rachel Razin and Wilfred Greg stood side by side. Karla waved to them. "Don't scuff my boat!"

Rachel frowned. "Bring my man back alive."

Karla leaned out the window, looking down at Rachel with a smile. "I will. Hey, if I die, just remember, this yacht was bought with Parker Bucks. So it changed my will recently - if I bite it, this boat belongs to you and Tamae and your boys. Don't let Fara or Watson pretend, even for one minute, that they're going to touch it. Ever. In a million years."

James leaned out the back window and said, "I'm coming back. You know I'm coming back. Art of War, hon - don't fight battles you can't win."

The Chevelle began pulling forward. Wilfred called up to the Chevelle, "Good luck, Inspector Nevada. I'm sorry I haven't been there more often, but thanks for dragging me into all this mess. I appreciate it."

Reno chuckled and put a hand out the window. He eased into the accelerator a bit more. "Yeah, Wilf. I hope you can fix this car when we have to salvage it out of the Atlantic."

"You bring it back and I'll figure something out!" Wilfred called back.

Rachel blew a kiss to James in the back seat. He returned the gesture.

Standing out on the dock was Steven in a raincoat, looking miserable.

Rama and Aimee held hands on the pier, standing together near Steven.

Karla looked around as the Chevelle barely cleared the top of the cargo section. "Damn that was close."

"It fit in here didn't it?" Reno said with a grin. "I honestly thought you were going to want to go back to Paris the night before we go after Falcon. You know, just to see the place one more time."

Karla shrugged. "Topaz gave me that place and I was a bad friend. After San Francisco was nuked, I signed it over to Sinopa - she'll need a place to live."

"You're going to live on the yacht?"

Karla grinned. "I'm Mary Anne and Ginger, all in one package. Who wouldn't want to go on a three-hour tour with me? I'm going to be the siren of the seas."

Reno chuckled.

Conner chuckled, even though he didn't get the joke. He wanted nothing more than to make this car trip as painless as possible. "Nice. Funny." Conner turned around in his seat and looked through the rear window, gazing up at the yacht bridge. He squinted through the rain. "I know Tamae and Patty are up there watching."

Karla pushed a lock of blond back behind her right ear. "Why didn't they come down to see you boys off?"

Conner shrugged. "Patty is afraid she'll start bawling. And Tamae is scared to death she'll be a widow so shortly after getting married. They're hiding up on the bridge. Don't worry, I will be back for my wife. We're going to live through this."

Karla grinned. "That's the right attitude, soldier!"

Reno stretched a bit. "I'm actually more worried about Charlie."

Karla tilted her head. "The telepathic kid? Yeah, he hasn't said much since he arrived."

"Yeah, that's what worries me."

Reno kept the wheel steady as they pulled the rest of the way out onto the pier. "I met him at Natalia's place when I went to pick up everyone. He was jovial and telling me about his new girlfriend who, at the time, I had no clue was Laura."

"Natalia said he's really upbeat and pleasant," Karla replied with a shrug. "You think Charlie hasn't been himself?"

"You think he's worried about dying?" asked Conner.

"He went from being an optimist, talking about how he'd save his brother," said Reno, "to becoming this quiet ... quiet kid." Reno paused, and then added, "Oh, and have you noticed? Kuda seems to be really curious of Charlie. I assume that's from the telepathy? That little animal is smart, but it probably confuses the hell out of him that a human being can understand him."

Karla shrugged. "I'm sure we'll be fine. Optimistic smiles, everybody." She rolled her window the rest of the way up with a weak grin. Her eyes zeroed in on the windshield wipers. "Damn, it's really coming down, huh guys?"

"Yeah," Reno said with a sigh. "James, what if this thing doesn't work? The staff thing."

James had both the cane and staff across his and Conner's lap in the backseat. "It'll work. You'll see."

"You guys won't believe it," Conner added. "This is like nothing you guys have ever seen."

Reno eased the Chevelle up a ramp from the dock onto the parking lot. He squinted down at a sign in the rain. "Which way?"

Karla reached up to a GPS navigation unit on the dash and pinch-zoomed the screen. "Hard to starboard, helmsman."

"Aye skipper," Reno said, turning right.

James grinned. "You know, you two make a cute couple."

Karla chuckled. "Thanks, babe." She looked back, between James and Conner, at the trailer behind the Chevelle. "I wonder if they're going to be alright in there."

X

X

Charlie gently closed his hand over Sinopa's and interlaced their fingers together.

Sinopa looked down at their hands and frowned. "I thought you were in a relationship with Laura Báthory?"

Charlie offered Sinopa a reassuring smile. "I sense that you are nervous. There is no need to feel such."

Sinopa looked down. "Yes, I suppose."

"There is no shame in fear. There is no dishonor in nervousness. The true show of your character is that you have chosen to take on this journey. You are facing your fears. That is decidedly honorable, is it not, Sin-chan?"

Sinopa swallowed. She cut her head, looking straight at Charles Foster. In the soft lighting of LED panels on the ceiling, she saw that his eyes were vertical slits over a golden amber hue.

Charlie offered her a knowing smile.

Sinopa licked her lips. "Does Karla know?"

"Only Sekhmet and Heimdallr." Charlie cleared his throat and announced to everyone in the trailer, "You are all brave to come on this journey. And we will need all the help we can manage. So I felt it necessary to possess Charles Foster's body. You will benefit from his ability, combined with my experience and fire. But, please, with all due respect, it is best we do not tell Conner of such, as it will only distract him. Also..."

"Karla," said Evan. "You guys are still beefing."

Charlie nodded. "Hai, Evan-san. We are ... we are 'beefing.' With all due respect, I never understood the etymology of that term in regards to quarreling. Is it something imaged by a ... how you say ... a brother of the color?"

Evan brought his hand to his face. Everyone cringed seeing his response. Evan erupted into abrupt laughter. The rest of the group immediately sighed in relief.

Charlie bit his lower lip. "Pardon my ignorance, you are all gaijin to me." As Tamamo, he feigned a smile to show he was joking. "Even me, today."

"Look, I know some people are still racist as crap, but I'm not. And yeah, you're probably right. It was probably something some black dude started saying in the 90's or something. Who knows - that word's been around since before my time. Tamamo, whatever happened between you, Karla, and Conner - well, it's a big deal that you're here to watch out for them. I suggest you apologize to them personally at one point, but just wait for the right time to do it."

"Charles. Please, call me Charles. And ... thank you, Evan-san. I will do my best to refrain from saying things that give myself away. Perhaps it would be best if I speak as little as possible. And thank you for your acceptance of me. You are a rare person and your wife is a lucky woman. You are accepting, compassionate, handsome and intelligent. All the best features in one package."

Evan chuckled, somewhat flustered by the praise. "Yeah, but I don't have a job." He held his hand up with a silly sort of grin, adding, "And it's not because I'm black."

He and Charlie laughed, but the others didn't know how to handle the humor.

Evan looked around. "Lighten up, guys. If you can't have a sense of humor, especially in the face of stupid stereotypes, then you're too uptight. I know I have a world to save. Being a superhero is my job. Heck, I was a business owner - had my own store and everything. I'm kidding, you guys."

Albert cleared his throat. "You're okay. If we get out of this alive, you bring the Jack Daniels, and I'll bring the Pabst."

Evan reached over and shook hands with Albert. "After that, we'll father our daughters."

"If they want to be fathered. You'll see. I don't think Aimee wants anything to do with me."

Rufus arched a brow. "Al, you don't know that. You took a bullet for her when she needed it. Now all you gotta do is treat her like she doesn't owe you her life."

"We'll see," said Albert.

Heimdallr reached for a duffle at his feet. He drew it onto his lap and rummaged through his armor. "Children are a blessing. And it is interesting to see all of you come together."

"All of you?" asked Kalen.

Heimdallr nodded. He swept his hand from Albert to Evan to Kalen, saying, "Lower, middle and upper class, sitting side by side. You are joining together to save the world."

Sekhmet smirked. Her whiskers eased back somewhat. "We also have a melting pot of races - Egyptian, African descent, Anglo Saxon, Japanese, Werewolf, Scandinavian..."

Evan frowned. "We're missing one."

"Excuse me?" Kalen asked, easing forward in his seat to see down the row to Evan.

"Spanish. Where is Raul?"

Sinopa offered a soft smile. "I have spoken to him. We will see him soon enough. He is in charge of the belongings brought back from the Parker Island."

Evan nodded. "That's a good thing. Important job and all that."

Rufus arched his back and craned his neck, peering through a porthole on the back panel of the trailer. "I see the beach. We've stopped. I think this is it."

"What is it?" asked Albert.

"We're going to see some biblical shit if the rumors are true. C'mon, gang. Y'all're gonna wanna see this." He opened the trailer door, hopped down to the sand, and helped people down to the beach, several feet below the hovering trailer.

Up on the beachhead, James Parker had his staff held aloft. James appeared stoic and his hair whipped about his face in the hurricane-force winds.

Rue made his way up to James and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You got this, bud."

Evan approached James from the other side and said, "You look awesome. The long winter coat whipping around like a cape, your hair all over the place - you look like a rock star superhero, man."

Conner grinned eagerly. "Wait until everyone sees this. You guys are in for a treat."

Karla and Reno exchanged glances. For once, Karla had little to say. She looked over at Kalen, over at Rufus, back towards Reno, and swallowed, remembering what Conner said to her the other day. She sighed, surrounded by so many ex-lovers.

Charlie approached Karla and whispered, "Do not let his words bother you. You are a wonderful person and I am honored to fight by your side."

Karla reached over and gave Charlie a hug. "Thanks. And I promise we'll find your brother. Johann is down there, he's alive, and we'll rescue him. We got Reno back. Johann will be fine. I promise."

Charlie nodded. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

James cleared his throat and everyone grew quiet. "Okay, everybody." He took a deep breath. "I was swinging with anger and aggression and a lot of frustrated emotions when it happened the first time."

Karla nodded. "That makes sense. Moses was being pursued by an Egyptian lynch mob of psychopaths hell-bent on..." she paused and glanced back at Sekhmet. "No offense."

Sekhmet glanced at Evan, remembering what he said about being able to take things in stride. She cleared her throat and replied, "No worries. I am pleased to be with the 'heroes' this time around. Being crushed by an angry sea is ... not how I 'roll.'" She turned to Albert and whispered, "Did I use that term correctly?"

Albert nodded. "Near's I can tell."

Sekhmet nodded firmly. "Good. I dislike feeling ignorant."

Evan chuckled and shook his head. He turned to James and said, "Just imagine you're being shot at by psychopath mercenaries, hired as Falcon's Coast Guard, in a manner of speaking, to keep people from ... yeah. Imagine the bullets flying at us, and remember how you felt on the island."

Charlie grimaced.

Sekhmet's ears perked.

A gunshot hit the beach between Evan and James. It landed in the wet sand near the waterline.

Evan swallowed. "Okay, okay, I meant keep the imagining in your head!"

"You got a whole beach, Evan!" Reno said in a commanding tone, "Make us a shield!"

Evan nodded. "Right." He turned away from the water and glared at the sand. A massive wall of glass rose up from the beach. It immediately became opaque from the rain against both sides of the large pane.

Glass supports came down at an angle, connecting with the beach to keep it stable in the wind. More supports formed on the other side, enforcing its stability.

The large wall created a wind sheer. Evan grimaced and turned back to the water. "Sorry about the wind-tunnel effect. Wind is redirected. Okay, James. You've got your chariots, and you have pharaoh's men. Let's do this."

Reno pointed to Rufus. "Start getting people loaded up. Show's over. We're running out of time."

"I'll handle it," Karla said rubbing her hands together. "Everyone hold still. We're going to teleport into the trailer all at one time."

"Shouldn't you do it one at a time?" asked Conner.

"No, because the weight, per person, will cause that thing to sink a little." Karla raised her voice to the group. "Everyone join hands and get into two rows like how you were seated in there a few minutes ago. C'mon, move your asses..." She looked towards Rue, Sekhmet and Sinopa, adding, "...And tails."

Meanwhile, James lifted his staff and brought it down with a shout of frustration. The hilt sank into the wet sand. Silence.

The wind howled, the rain continued steadily.

The waves came in but to the left and right of James' feet. White crests came at the beach in a 'V' shape, as if going around James.

The white caps shifted, going away from one another.

Two very distinct currents formed in two directions. The waves grew into two aggressive patterns, pushing away from one another.

A focused wind came straight down from above. The powerful blast of wind pushed the water apart.

Karla licked her lips. "Christ, it's like blowing air over a spoon of milk, it splits apart like..."

"God's cereal, huh?" Reno couldn't pull his eyes away from the sight of the waves parting.

Everyone stood by the trailer but had his or her gaze transfixed on the parting of the sea. The waves moved further apart until sand was easy to see, leading down at a gentle slope.

James looked back at Karla. "Get them in the trailer."

Conner nodded in agreement. "Uncle Jaye's right. Look at all the spider web marks on the glass wall."

Karla turned and focused on the group. "Hands! Hold them hands, people! Let's go!"

Everyone joined hands in two rows, facing one another.

Albert asked, "Should we sit or...?"

As if to answer his question, Karla tensed up. Her palms, wrists, and biceps glowed with the images of glyphs beneath the skin. They reached up along her biceps, over her shoulders, to her collarbone. Her back and solar plexus illuminated as well.

The group disappeared inside the trailer. A moment later, Rue's human hand reached out, pulled the door up, and sealed it.

Karla jutted her palms outward toward the glass wall. It lurched up from the beach and slammed into an armored truck up on the pavement, overlooking the beach.

The glass wall hit with such forward it flipped the truck, crushing down one side of it. Men with guns scattered. A man in a gun turret was thrown from the top of the truck.

Karla grit her teeth and clenched her hands firmly, leaving fingernail welts in her palms. The truck vanished.

"Holy shit," Conner whispered. "That thing weights ... a lot."

Karla tensed her body. The glowing carnation-colored glyphs appeared under her skin and clothes as far down as her abdomen. She ground her teeth together.

The truck appeared in the sky as a tiny dot. It came down from high above and slammed into the pavement, creating a crater. Men were thrown in all directions.

An armored quarter panel landed on the beach. A wheel and a piece of the axle struck the water behind Conner and James.

Karla exhaled through clenched teeth. "Everyone get in the car. It's time to go."

James swallowed. "That ... was awesome."

Reno reached for Karla's hand and gave it a squeeze. "You good?"

"I'm good. I've been teleporting things," she took a calming breath, "consistently for a hundred years. I'm getting pretty good."

"That truck appeared really high," James said. "Just look how hard it hit the ground."

Karla pointed to the Chevelle. "Get your asses in there." She exhaled again, blowing wet strands of blond from where they clung to her lips. "Not as high as you probably think. I used telekinesis to bring it down like a missile." She feigned a smile.

Conner's cane appeared in the sand next to her. James' staff appeared in the sand at her other side. Conner disappeared. James disappeared. Reno disappeared. Each staff disappeared, reappearing horizontally across the laps of the boys in the back seat.

Karla levitated herself into the air and looked down over the carnage up on the pavement, further back from the beach.

She shouted over the roaring storm. "However much Falcon is paying you ... it is not enough! Go start families. Settle down somewhere. If you follow us, you will_drown! You will be _crushed under the weight of over three thousand feet of water. You can turn around _right now_and..."

One of the men shouted up at her, "The guy we're following is backed by nukes! You're the one who's going to die! You're nothing but a stupid girl with a stupid power. You're not bulletproof!"

Karla teleported the man's gun out of his hands. The barrel appeared jutting out of his face, with the buttstock sticking out of the base of his skull.

The man dropped to the ground, flailing about. The spasms ended after a moment and he became motionless.

"That was a merciful death!" Karla exclaimed to the men, hovering over them. "It phased with his brain, right through the base of his neck. He felt nothing. But I'm done being a nice girl. The next person to backtalk me will die from pain. I'm a mother, and I do not tolerate backtalk. You think I'm just some girl? You little bitches don't know what it takes to be a mother, and ... so help me god, if a woman can bring you into this world, don't you think for a second that a woman can't take you back out of it."

One of the men lowered his weapon. "Why are you doing this??"

Karla narrowed her eyes in the hard rain, squinting through the powerful storm. "Because Aris Falcon has my children. And if you stand in my way, I will fucking end you!"

Silence.

Karla vanished.

She appeared in the Chevelle's front seat. "Reno ... they won't be following us. Take your time driving. Be careful, hon."

Reno nodded. "What did you say to them?"

"I told them if they get between me and my kids, Loki's nuclear bombs will be the least of their problems. Drive." Karla reached down to several folded bath towels on the floor panel by her feet. She handed one to Reno, then one to James and Conner, and used the last one to dry her hair.

"Wet and angry - that's a good look for you," Reno said to her with a wry grin. He toweled his face and stuffed the towel into the bench seat between himself and Karla. "Really, I mean it, babe."

She gave Reno a grin. "My good hair day was yesterday. You can't win'em all, Top Cop."

Reno eased into the accelerator pedal. The windshield wipers whipped back and forth, overburdened between the storm and the saltwater spray.

He drove down the slope, traversing into the trench. The Atlantic roared on either side of them.

In a matter of minutes, the water towered high over the Chevelle. Reno kept his eyes sharp, focusing on the blurry path ahead. He looked for signs of possible dips, hills, or even large pieces of trash that might hinder their driving.

James saw the look of consternation on Reno's face and said, "If we need to go around something, we'll make it work. I'll focus on shifting the course or something. Plus, you have the topographic map loaded in the GPS thing, there." James up-nodded to the display sitting on the dashboard.

"Sit back, kids," Karla said, quick to make a joke in a tense situation. "Don't make us turn this thing around."

"Are we there yet?" James said, adding to the joke.

"Look," said Conner, "I know I'm always the one to take things way too serious. I won't be that person today, but, I mean..."

Karla nodded with a shrug. "You're excused from laughing, smiling, and deflecting worries in a way that might prove you're human."

"God, why do you have to be such a..."

James gave Conner's leg a firm squeeze.

Conner licked his lips. "Why do you have to be such a goofball?"

"Because it's how I've learned to cope. My _children_are down there, Conner. I know you want to see your mother and father. I get it. But when you and Tamae have kids, you'll learn what it is to throw yourself between your child and any perceived danger."

"Not to mention," said Reno, "those people killed Karla's husband. They killed her best friend - the old man. They killed the first person she ever loved. They killed people that were close to her."

Karla nodded. "Peri, Judge, Jules, Conner - JC rather. They've killed people I respected. They killed Reno's fiancée; they killed Ulfey. They killed so many people. They've put all my other friends into stasis."

"I'm sorry, Karla."

"On the upside, we have a small army down there waiting for us to wake them up."

Conner nodded.

"So yes, I make jokes about things. You don't survive for as long as I have without a coping mechanism."

Conner glanced out the window. "Sorry."

Karla reached back and gave Conner's knee a firm pat. "You can have a coping mechanism, too. But pouting is beneath you."

"I'm not pouting," he snapped. Conner abruptly cleared his throat. "Sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice at you."

"Good. What were you going to say?"

"Just ... you've had almost five hundred years to develop your coping thing. I'm told I'm grumpy like my grandfather and pissy like my mother. I don't get this way when Tamae is around. I'm not always an asshole. I'm trying, okay?"

Karla grinned. "Yeah, I noticed you are a bit more manageable when Tamae is around. She brings out a better side of you. Topaz was only bitchy when she was separated from Fox. You get those two together and she became a real sweetheart."

Conner made a sour face. "Honestly, the thought of those two being together is a sore spot for me. They're twins for Christ sake. It's repulsive."

Karla smirked. "I've seen you naked. Your webbed feet are hardly noticeable."

"Jesus Christ, put me in the trailer. I'll switch with Evan or somebody. Have Charlie up here. That way you can sense if we're getting close."

Karla blinked. "I was joking."

"I'm not. That was ... I get it, you're joking. But that shit bothers me. The incest with my parents; the fact you and I did what we did ... I just want to sit in the back."

"Conner..."

"Now. Please."

Reno eased to a stop. "Okay, okay. Everyone calm down. Conner, send Charlie up here. Don't tell anyone that anything is wrong. Just tell them you had the idea that having a telepath up here with the driver could help us avoid subs, or sense when we're getting close or just ... whatever.

Conner opened the back door. He slid his cane out, holding it in the rain. "I'll tell them it's for the best. He can sense when someone has to stop and pee, or if anyone feels sick. He can sense if we're being followed, or if someone is stupid enough to come after us with a chopper."

"Realistically, it would be a drone," James said. "God knows my stepfather requests drone recon missions for USPRI ... or, rather, he used to." Jaye grimaced, realizing he added nothing to the already-growing tension in the car.

Conner gave James knee a firm pat. "Uncle Reno, Uncle Jaye, thanks for understanding. Karla, I just need to meditate. It's the Parker way." He slid out of the back seat and dropped to the sandy ground. Water whipped and sprayed from all sides.

The roar of the waves was impressively loud. The water rolled upward and lifted into the sky just several feet away. Conner could no longer see the beach. It appeared like a mountain in the distance.

Fish flopped about on the ground. One or two were flat, motionless in the tracks made by the Chevelle's driving system.

Conner came around behind the floating trailer. He reached his hooked cane up and snagged a handle on the rear door panel. Conner scaled up, put a hand on one of the edges and shimmied himself up onto the roof.

He opened the door and peered in from over the top. "Hey! Uh, Charlie, can you switch with me? It's safer to have a telepath up front so just in case..."

Evan laughed. "I was just saying it would make sense if Karla or you came back here. We came to a stop and Charlie, here, says I'm about to get my wish."

Charlie made his way to the end of the trailer and frowned. "How do you suggest...?"

"I'll help you." Conner reached for Charlie's hand and pulled him up.

Rufus put his hands beneath Foster's feet, boosting him up until he was on the roof of the trailer.

Conner guided Charlie across the top of the trailer. They held their hands in front of their faces to ward off the water spray and hard rain.

Conner dove down to the back of the Chevelle putting one foot on the trunk and one foot up on the roof. "Okay, I got you. C'mon! Hop across!"

Charlie looked over the edge and stared at the sand far below. He glanced left and right at the enormous walls of water.

"You want Karla to teleport you over? I'll tell her!"

Charlie shook his head. "No, Conner-kun."

"What? I can't hear you over the roar of the water. Speak up!"

Charlie shook his head and called back, "I can do this. I trust you. I know you will not let me fall."

"Exactly!" Conner welled up with pride. Feeling trusted was something he really needed. He hooked one end of his cane against the doorframe of the backseat. He reached his free hand up. "C'mon, just jump and grab."

Charlie took two steps back and dove at Conner. He threw his arms around Conner's waist.

Conner used his free hand to snag the waistline of Charlie's pants, holding firmly. "I got you, buddy."

They both held still for a moment to get their wits. Conner released the side of Charlie's pants and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Good job."

"Indeed," said the possessed telepath, secretly relishing the moment spent in Conner's arms. He stood up straight, slowly. "The vehicle is not nearly as slippery as I thought it would be."

"Yeah, it's made of some sort of carbon fiber material or something. They gave it a matte finish, so they wouldn't have to worry about waxing it, I think. Evan would know better than me. Okay, you need to move on all fours. A gust of wind could blow you right off the side. You'll want to go down, feet first, and keep your hand on the door. I'll have your other hand. You sure you don't want Karla to teleport you?"

"No, no I trust you, Conner. Ready?"

"Ready."

Charlie got down on all fours and made his way across the roof of the Chevelle. He put his feet in through the doorway and felt James Parker's hands latch onto his pants.

Conner helped lower Charlie down; James guided him into place.

Charlie pulled the door shut and sighed. "Sorry, Karla, I sensed he needed to feel useful, so I had him help me across the top. I know it would have been easier for you to teleport me. But what just transpired ... it restored Conner's mood."

Karla grinned. "God I love telepaths. Welcome to the Cool Kids car. Conner and I got into a fight and..."

"I know." Charlie nodded. "I ... sensed he is still very upset about the incident involving Tamamo."

"Yeah, well, the bitch betrayed him. You don't sabotage your relationship like that, you know?"

Charlie nodded and swallowed. "Also, he is extremely sensitive regarding his parents' arrangement."

The Chevelle grunted from Conner leaping off the trunk. Charles glanced through the rear windshield, watching until Conner was out of view.

Karla rubbed her left temple with a sigh. "I hit him hard with that. I think it affected him worse than the last two buildings falling on him. I won't bring it up anymore."

"He is now feeling better," said Charles. "It is now in the past."

"Understood. Moving on." Karla nodded firmly.

A moment later, Rue Darken's voice came over the intercom. "Okay. We're good. Let's move before those dudes up on the beach decide to follow or whatever."

"Hit it," Karla said. "Flank speed ahead."

"Rodger that, Skipper. Flank speed ahead, aye." Reno eased into the accelerator, although at a reasonable speed for driving on an unpaved area during a hurricane. "I'm glad Wilfred had the common sense to upgrade the wiper motors. Look how fast they go."

James passed Charlie the towel that Conner left in the back seat and placed his staff over Charlie's lap, the length of the seat, although wedged somewhat diagonal from its length.

Charlie dried his hair and face. "There is significant body heat in the back, but, being as that I am soaked, I appreciate having a heater up here."

"See?" Karla said. "We're the Cool Kids Club car." She reached back and gave Charlie's knee a pat. "Let's just hope we don't have to fight any strange creatures out here, right?"

Charlie frowned. "I cannot tell if you are serious or joking."

"A little of both," Karla said. "I've known Aris Sokolov for a while. I'm told his favorite childhood storybook was HG Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau."

Charlie nodded. "According to our intelligence briefing," he said, speaking of Natalia Kincade's think tank group, "Aris was the lab assistant for a man named Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov. They tried creating a hybrid man-ape army for the Russian Empire."

"Jesus," James said. "Seriously?"

"Hai. I am certain that is what fueled his desire to eventually create a super soldier program several decades later. Regardless, Russia eventually denied they had anything to do with his work and arrested them both. They were exiled to Kazakhstan."

Karla scoffed. "Exiled? Hardly. They were kicked out of Russia for five years, sure. But if Russia hates you, they send you to Northern Siberia. Kazakhstan, by comparison, is sunny with beaches."

Charles smiled somewhat. "Hai, although he was sent to the opposite side of the country, far from the Caspian Sea and its ... beaches."

"Fair enough," Karla replied with a grin. "Still, not much of a punishment." She tilted her head. "Did you, uh ... did you say high?"

"Oh, excuse me," said Charlie. "I said hai, the Japanese word for yes. I was having a conversation with Sinopa and was demonstrating to those in the trailer that I can speak foreign languages if I am near enough to someone who is fluent in a language. It works even better if that person has an exceptional understanding of said language."

"Like native speakers," James concluded.

"To a degree. But there are many people who speak their native language rather poorly. Regardless, I must have said 'hai' in place of 'yes,' after having been in Sinopa's mind. My mistake."

Karla laughed. "You picked up on her bad habit of struggling to remember to use contractions, too."

"Ah. Yes, perhaps that is so. My mistake."

"It's fine." Karla leaned forward in her seat and looked up through the windshield. "Fuck-a-doodle-do that is high. That's got to be ... taller than the tallest building in the world."

James looked up from the window of the back seat and cleared his throat. "Yeah."

"You sound like Kalen," Charlie said.

"Excuse me?" James tilted his head.

"He clears his throat excessively because he lived through an attempted decapitation."

James winced. "Good god."

Karla leaned forward until her bust was against her knees. She peered up and squinted through the windshield wipers. "How high is the Burj Khalifa?"

"What?"

"C'mon James, you're a Parker. It's in Dubai. I know it's not the tallest building anymore, but it's the tallest I can think of. How tall?"

"I don't know. A little less than three thousand feet? That's the one that Conner's mom free-climbed, right?"

"Yup," Karla said with a nod. "Topaz broke the official record, but she did it in secret. Well, it was a secret for the first fifty or sixty floors. Then people took notice, but nobody was timing her. She did it for herself."

James looked up at the top of the waves, which were higher than he could see. "We keep driving downward. I'm assuming that wall is higher than anything manmade. It's going to get pretty deep as we go forward."

"I've already had to swallow a few times," said Reno. "My ears were popping. And yeah, this navi-thing figures where we are by somehow figuring where sea level is. We've gone down about twenty-five hundred feet."

"Almost the height of that tower," Karla said. "We should be losing satellite soon. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet."

Reno frowned. "What? How will we know where we're going?"

Karla chuckled. "Because you have me. It guesstimates based on a plug in your dash how fast you're going and your heading. But every once in a while, I'm supposed to teleport way up there and let that handheld thing get its bearings. Then it will triangulate corrections or whatever."

"Seriously?" Reno cut his eyes at her for a moment. "How did I miss that?"

"It was part of the conference call with Natalia the other night. I didn't want you to worry."

"Good God." Reno leaned forward and gazed up. "Yeah, that's high alright. But we should eventually go a lot deeper than this."

Karla reached down to her handbag. She pulled out an eReader.

James leaned forward. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Mmhmm."

"You're seriously bored enough to read?"

"Bored? No." Karla smiled. "But it relaxes me."

James leaned back in his seat and peered up through the rear window. "How far have we gone?"

"Almost thirty miles," said Reno. "Sit back, relax, and meditate or something."

"I can't sit still," said James. "How can you?"

"I'm just glad we have all these flood lamps on the front of the car and beneath it. I need to focus on where we're driving. Hey, I have a question though."

Charles frowned. "I do not have an answer to that."

"What's the question?" asked James.

Reno stole another quick glance to the towering water walls. "The lower we go, the more wind pressure is needed to keep the sea parted. At what point does it become so much air pressure that we become crushed?"

Karla looked up from her book. "Hey, Top Cop, we have three deities in the back, and you're driving to a sunken Lost City that had the technological understanding to make the cane sitting on James' lap."

"Yeah...?"

She reached over and gave his knee a squeeze of reassurance. "There are some things we'll never understand, babe. But if air pressure was a concern, our resident mathematician, Peter, would never have let us try this. That's how his mind works. He probably has a chalkboard or a tablet full of equations on this matter. Stop worrying."

Reno chuckled. "You make a good argument."

"I know," she said with a smile and started reading her science fantasy novel. "I know how his mind works."

No one spoke for several moments.

Charles reached up and tapped Reno on the shoulder. Their eyes met in the rearview mirror. Charlie shook his head.

Reno cringed. "You heard that, huh?"

Karla grinned and looked up. "What?"

"Nothing," Charlie said. "Rather ... nothing appropriate."

"Now I have to know," Karla said with a grin. "Reno, were you thinking about the time I gave you road head when we were driving down I-81?"

"Heh, yeah. Just north of Roanoke."

James laughed and looked out the window. "Best part of a road trip. I don't take nearly enough road trips."

Charlie shook his head. "It appears I am not the only telepath in this car."

Karla grinned back at Charlie. "No, I just know how Reno's mind works. That's my thing - I figure out how people think. Methos, Reno - I might not think like them, but I know them well enough to know the gist of what they're thinking more than half the time. And, Reno, we could put those two in the back if you want to..."

"I need to be up front," said James. "At least I think I do. I'm not entirely sure how this whole thing works. So it's best I am in a place where I can see."

Charlie shrugged. "I have ... I've learned enough about people to never judge anyone."

Karla waggled her brows at Reno. "You want road head?"

Reno glanced back at James. His eyes cut to Karla. "It'd be a little weird with two dudes in the car, watching. How about we survive this crap, then ... on the way home. I'm down with whatever."

Karla grinned deviously. "If you change your mind..." Her eyes lowered to the eReader again.

Silence resumed.