Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

29 ∞ unknown bug

It was too late. The high-powered laser beam bounced back as multiple dancing rays, scorching or cutting through anything in their way, and bouncing off his glass shield for two incredibly long seconds before one of the men managed to turn the machine off.

Walters and Barrett had ducked. They rose slowly as Walters shook his head in disappointment and horror.

The plastic 'wall' of the office was partially shredded. One of the men lay writhing on the floor, screaming, a long clean tear in his protective suiting, the other man trying to help, while holding his own arm. Barrett glanced at Walters before rushing over to the men to lend a hand.

With a quick sweep of the eye, Walters saw evidence of other damage inside the building. Only his mirrored glass shield was unscathed. Clearly, trying to breach this thing by pure force was an invitation for it to defend itself; he needed to come up with a different approach. He pulled up his hand radio and pressed a button.

"This is Captain Walters. We need medics at Hangar Foxtrot immediately. I repeat, medics needed at Hangar Foxtrot!"

∞

That there was interest in how "Danny's girlfriend" was progressing with the motorbike was an understatement. Not only did the guys take turns checking if Mickmi "needed help", but Mr. Myers also came out of his office more often than usual to observe how she was handling the work.

Ray considered himself the lucky one: he got the request to rechrome, paint and polish parts for a gorgeous girl. He refused to charge for the labor—despite the fact that he knew he hadn't a chance with her. He was going to stay back for a couple of hours after work to get started on it.

By the end of the day, Mickmi had completely disassembled the motorbike, with all the pieces systematically laid out on the workbench. Danny was able to determine which parts needed replacement, and the ones needing machining he put in the truck.

"We'll drop these off next door." He smiled, shaking his head, still not quite believing that she hadn't shied away from getting her hands dirty. "So tomorrow—"

"I shall clean all parts."

He nodded, grinning.

Mickmi raised her hand to say goodbye to the rest of the guys and got into the truck, while Danny went to have a word with Mr. Myers. When he came out again, Aaron stood ready to intercept him and took him aside.

"What was going on earlier, Danny? I could see on both of you that something was wrong."

Danny tightened his jaw and shook his head. "Nothing for you to be concerned about."

"I am concerned. Here you've found yourself a nice girl and already you've managed to have this storm cloud over your heads? You know we're behind you. Don't screw it up."

Danny chuckled. "Don't worry. It's nothing like that. It's just something else we've got to deal with. Nothing to do with how we feel about each other. Or with you guys."

Aaron studied him, then stepped aside. "Okay, I hear you. But remember what I said: we're here for you, brother."

"Sure, I remember." Danny nodded. But he had no intention of getting the brothers involved in what was going on. That would risk exposing Mickmi's true background—and nothing good could come of that.

∞

"Mom, you really should go to bed early. Remember what Phil said? You're supposed to get extra rest. Doctor's orders."

"I will, dear. I'll let you take care of the rest. I'll just finish this salad and go."

"That's the subject's sister, Georgina," Weaver said, pointing to one of the eight monitors. Six of them were blank.