Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

“You saying that, Luther,” Rubin said carefully, “I think that’s exactly what the soldiers who took Jonquille are. They’re just too fast. They aren’t flying from tree to tree, they leap, but it’s so fast, they’re a blur when they move. Even getting a shot at them, they’re already gone. Their clothes blend into their surroundings. They have weapons that can tear up the ground and literally explode trees apart. They have instruments that can move a storm overhead and then feed that storm so they can blast the area with lightning.”

“Why do they want your woman?” Luther persisted. “Tell me about her again.”

Rubin frowned. “I don’t know why they want her. She doesn’t know. She was working at a research facility, studying lightning. That’s how we met. I can only surmise it has something to do with that. At first, we thought they were after me. I occasionally give talks on various theories I have at conferences. We were together, all three of us, and had no idea they had more than a five-man team hunting us. That’s how good they are in the woods.”

“Diego was with you?” Luther was all business now, no longer even trying to put up any kind of a front. He was deadly serious.

“Yes. We had eyes in the sky. You know we’ve hunted with birds. They didn’t spot the others either. Not until we realized Diego was targeted. Then it was no longer our hunt, we had to scramble to stay alive. At the last moment we comprehended the real target was Jonquille, but we couldn’t get to her and she couldn’t get back to us. They put a dart into her and dropped her like a stone. There were so many of them, although Diego killed a couple before they used that blasting weapon on him.”

“How did he get away?” Luther asked. “If they have this great weapon and they’re that fast, how did Diego get away?”

“There was a buildup of energy, almost like before a lightning strike.” Rubin was honest.

“I always look around me for escape routes,” Diego added. “When I knew I might be in trouble, I dove for the nearest crevice and hoped it was deep enough to save me. I got lucky.”

“They control the clouds and try to use lightning,” Luther mused. “She worked researching weather, lightning in particular. Could she have stumbled onto something that would have been useful to them to help them weaponize lightning? That’s been talked about for years.”

“She would have told me,” Rubin said. “I don’t think she has any knowledge of making weapons.”

“What else can she do? I presume she’s quite intelligent or you never would have taken a second look at her. A man like you wants a woman with a brain, someone he can discuss things with. She has talents, Rubin. What are they?”

He’s as sharp as a tack. What happened to the stereotypical old recluse coot with the still, which, by the way, I never even caught a glimpse of? Diego said.

“She has a gift for healing although she isn’t trained. She went through medical school to become a doctor, but was never able to finish. She wasn’t given the chance. She has problems if she’s around others too long.”

Luther regarded both men in silence. He shook his head. “None of this is adding up. They would have been better off grabbing one of you. She has to have something they need.”

“We were unexpected. We came a month early. I don’t think they know who we are,” Diego offered.

“I don’t think I’m violating any big government secret when I ask if you two can still communicate like you did when you were kids. I could tell back then, you’d look at each other and suddenly one of you would do something right quick. You had a way with animals too. If you can reach out to the woman …”

Is he fishing? Diego asked.

Who knows? He’s helping us. And he’s a government secret same as we are.

“We’ve always been able to talk to each other. We just always had that, like twins or something.” Rubin was casual about it. “Diego is stronger than I am with it. He can reach much farther. But, no, we can’t contact Jonquille that way. I think those squirrel men—that’s what we call them, because they remind me of flying squirrels—can feel telepathic energy.”

We do need to contact her. Find out how far out they are, Diego warned.

I’ve been thinking how to send a short message to see if she understands. I want her to know we’re here waiting for her. I just don’t want to chance tipping them off.

“We’ll find a way to get a message to her, Luther,” Rubin said. “I’m thinking on it. A code of some sort, to let her know we’re waiting for her.”