Dangerous Games: Into the Heart of Texas
Title: Dangerous Games
Part 1: Into the Heart of Texas
Verse: Custom
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Action
Rating: R for Violence and Sexual Content
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Year: October 1998
Characters: Cassandra, Seth, James Gysborne, Various people
Synopsis: Cassie takes a job and ends up way over her head.
“Excuse me! Hey excuse me! Do you know which bus I can take that will take me to the Alamo?”
Cassie paused once she realized the voice was directed at her, “I have no clue, sorry but I can’t help you.”
She didn’t have a clue which buses would take anybody to their destination, nor did she care. Actually, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to be here. Ever since her high school graduation several months ago, her life took a severe 180 turn. One moment she was engaged to her Reggie North, her high school sweet heart and the next it was ripped away from her. I never should have went over to his house that day. Who knows what would have happened if I just stayed home.
“So you can’t even direct me to a bus stop?”
“Do I have tour guide director stamped on my forehead?” Cassie shook her head wondering why this person wouldn’t leave her alone.
If there was, one thing she learned was that actions led to consequences. Helping others just was not her cup of tea. Oh she tried it one time, and it ended in complete disaster. It taught her not to trust anybody because the only person who could watch your back is yourself. Cassie wasn’t necessarily bad, she was more about self preservation.
Her own self-preservation led her to where she was now.
“Thanks for the help!”
Cassie waved the person off as she turned a corner and found what she was looking for. The River walk. She didn’t need to look at her watch to know that the sun was dipping behind the horizon. She stopped in front of a seafood restaurant and shivered. Disgusted, she couldn’t even think about eating anything that came out of the ocean or lakes anymore. However, this was the restaurant she would meet her contact at.
Okay I can do this. It’s going to be my biggest job yet. I mean how hard can it be to break into a student building at Lackland and steal some lame microchip the cryptologist students think they’re working on for an assignment? Okay granted it’s going to be hard but I can do it. Okay stop psyching yourself up. Its time to put on your game face Cass…
She gave one last look in the direction of the kid who asked how to get to the bus before she walked into the restaurant. Why was that kid so stuck in her mind?
“Table for one?”
“No I’m meeting somebody here, Names Gysborne,” Cassie said. That was all she had.
“Right this way,” the server led her to a table outside where she could see the River walk.
His back was facing her, she could tell he was several years older than her and completely out of place in his Armani suit and shined shoes. Pulling out a chair, she worked hard to keep the disgust out of her face while he wrestled with the leg of a crab. The butter gleamed above his upper lip as he slurped the meat he fought so hard to eat.
“Cassandra Alexander,” He said wiping his mouth with a napkin.
“Yeah, so do I have the right person? Are you whom I supposed to be meeting, because if you think this is some kind of escort thing I’m going to have to I don’t kick your ass or something,” She said fighting back her nervousness. It was something she did, ramble, insert her foot in her mouth, say things she didn’t mean or get defensive. Since she wasn’t much of a fighter, she doubted she could ‘kick his ass’.
“No this isn’t an escort thing. I believe we both know why you’re here, Aren’t you going to eat anything?” Mr. Gysborne asked. Cassie recoiled at the crab on his plate shaking her head quickly. “Are you sure? They have some good crab here. Oh that’s right you don’t eat seafood.”
She narrowed her eyes, he was mocking her and that pissed her off. “Look lets skip the small talk and get on with it okay? I don’t have all day, I got places to go, people to see. So tell me what needs to be done and I can do it.”
“What makes you so special that you can get the job done?” He said attacking more crab.
Cassie smirked, lifted her hand, and let it partially transform into water. “I think that says it all.”
Gysborne suddenly stopped eating and out of nowhere, he slapped some strange cuff on her wrist. She felt a tiny current run through her, not painful, just enough to be annoying. The only way she could describe it was a cross between tingling and itching. “Hey whoa, slow down, I’m into that kind of-” she jerked backwards intending to explode into water and take a nice trip down the river walk but found she was incapable of doing so. She fell backwards in her chair, hitting her head on the cement. She thought it hurt like a son of a bitch.
What the hell is going on here? Did I lose my abilities?
Cassie had the psionic ability to transform organic and non organic material into liquid, herself included. Not only could she do this, but she could manipulate all forms of liquid. It made her cocky, arrogant and she never thought anybody would be able to get the upper hand on her. At least until now.
She just found her personal weakness. One small volt of current could render her powerless.
She worked at taking the strange cuff off but it was clamped onto her wrist and she couldn’t slide it off.
“That’s right,” Gysborne stood up grabbing her arm and yanking her to her feet. She felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket but she couldn’t think about it now. The patrons of the restaurant ignored them and went back to fighting with their food. “You can’t take it off, I doubt anything will be strong enough to cut through it. A single electrical current constantly runs through the bracelet and guess what? You can’t do your little water tricks anymore.”
“You double crossing son of a bi-“ she began but about a hundred yards away an explosion stopped her from speaking. Gysborne did not seem startled as he pulled her through the restaurant.
“Let me go,” she spat out at him. She could see the orange and yellow flames licking the nearby restaurants as the tourists began to panic. Somebody screamed directly in her ear.
He pulled out a set of Handcuffs and slapped one on her other wrist and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ve apprehended the subject. I’m ready for transport.” Two more commandos ran down the river walk as another explosion set off. With all the commotion, nobody would notice them shoving a tube up Cassie’s nose to sedate her. They held her wrist down so she wouldn’t pull out the tube as they attempted to cuff her hands behind her back.
She wasn’t going to make it easy for them as she struggled, stomped on their heavy boots with her own and even tried to head butt them from behind. Sure it hurt, but it was better than the alternative.
Another explosion rocked the river walk and Cassie found herself being flung backwards from the force. Normally she didn’t mind landing in the water, but with out her abilities and the tube running up her nose, she found herself sinking. One of the boats slowly floated down the river, still on fire from the explosion. She finally yanked the sedative out of her nose and swam towards the other side.
As she tried to pull herself out the river walk she realized exactly how much she relied on her abilities. I seriously got to work no the upper body strength she clung to the side trying to lift her foot, or pull herself out as the sedative wore off.
It wasn’t helping that the commandos were shooting darts at her. At least it wasn’t bullets. She felt one hit the back of her neck.What is wrong with these people? Are they so self absorbed that they don’t even see what’s going on around them?
She was set up, surrounded by fire and lacking her abilities due to this stupid wrist cuff. Quickly she pulled the dart out of her neck and rolled over, not enjoying the sensation of wet clothes and squishy shoes.
“Son of a bitch!” It seemed to be her favorite catchphrase of the day. Turns out the cuff on her wrist didn’t even short circuit. Water proof Dammit She turned around and gave the commandos a one-fingered salute before she stumbled through the crowd seriously, pissed off. The commandos ran down the opposite side of the river walk following her.
Maybe this was her own epiphany. That this was her time to stop being self-absorbed and to fight the ‘good fight’ whatever that was.
She just didn’t know how to do it.
“Don’t just stand there, GET HER!” Gysborne yelled at his men before smoothing down his hair. The commandos followed the line of the river on the opposite side as Gysborne spoke into his cell phone. “The Target is on the move, Permission to use deadly force.”
On the other end of the cell phone the man running Project Adam said, “Kill her.” He said snapping the phone shut.
Back in San Antonio Gysborne shoved, his phone in his pocket and tapped the head set that connected him with the commandos. “Shoot to kill; I repeat the orders are shoot to kill.” Pulling out his .44, he flicked the safety off, pulled the barrel back and ran through the crowd.
This sucks, Cassie detested the feeling of wet underwear more than anything. She felt foolish running with soaking wet clothes and a handcuff attached to her wrist. To top it off she couldn’t even get the wrist cuff off. She wasn’t sure what it was made of to be honest, plastic maybe. It didn’t feel cool against her wrist, so she knew it wasn’t metal. More like some sort of rubber, at least it was flexible if not uncomfortable.
Another explosion rocked the River Walk. Ducking down, she covered her face, thankful she wasn’t close enough to feel the shock this time. “Ommf!!” She wasn’t even sure what she was trying to say but somebody crashed into her and toppled over her back. It hurt like hell.
Flipping her head, she didn’t even have time to pause and feel sorry for the clumsy person. With the adrenaline pumping through her she forced herself to run faster than she’d ever run before. After a while she would pause and take a look around as she decided which direction to take and ran towards a section that looked like bridge that would take her to the opposite side.
“Excuse me, pardon me, and make a hole!” She yelled as she squeezed her way through the crowd and ran face first into the chest of one of the commandos. Now she wasn’t much of a fighter but they say in a life and death situation a person can do amazing things.
“Don’t move.”
Cassie didn’t listen to him, she ran straight towards him, ducked down, wrapped her arms around his waist and sent both of them sailing over the bridge and into the water below. If there was one thing she knew about guns, they don’t work well when they are wet. Quickly she swam to the opposite side and pulled herself up again.
The commando grabbed her by the back of the ankle and started dragging her back to the water. She rolled over and kicked him in the face with her free leg never once noticing the blood running down her leg, or the wounds on her face she suffered from falling on the pavement and being dragged across it. She’d feel the pain later, but right now the adrenaline was pumping through her.
She felt trapped and wasn’t sure which direction to take anymore. Sirens wailed in the distance as the Fireman made their way towards the River walk. Police officers would be coming as well. Did they have anything to do with the commandos? She wasn’t sure and she wasn’t going stick around and find out.
Then she saw a motorcycle coming straight at her and the only thing she could think of was Oh shit. What should she do? Keep running? Jump in the water? Dive out of the way? The only thing she was sure of was that it wasn’t a police officer, and it gave her mild relief. Maybe they had something that could cut the wristband off. Either way, she was going to have to make a decision quick. She waved her hands in a pathetic attempt to flag the motorcyclist down.
The explosions ceased for now, and she knew they must have been a ruse so the commandos could capture her. They sure went through a lot of trouble to find me. Why the elaborate game? Closing her eyes tightly she turned her head at the debris kicked up from the motorcyclist. At least he stopped, that was a good thing right?
“GET ON!” He yelled and revved the engine.
Normally she was opposed to hopping on the back of bikes with strangers, but since she flagged him down and this was her ticket out of this crazy place, she jumped on the back without hesitation. She could feel her wet clothes sticking to the leather of the seat. It wasn’t even that time of year where it was hot enough for her to dry off in 30 minutes or less!
“Thanks!” She held on tight and turned around to see more commandos coming after her as well as Gysborne. Won’t these guys just leave it? After all there were more dangerous people out there besides me right?
The commandos weren’t shooting darts this time, instead they open fired and shot bullets from their M-16s. She could tell these guys weren’t trained as well as they could be. And she hoped some of the bullet cases flew up and hit them in the forehead or went down the back of their shirts. The so deserved it.
A few bulletins ricocheted off the bike and one grazed her leg. ”Son of a bitch!” She looked down and saw the scrapes, and blood seeping down her leg. She really needed to get this wrist cuff off so she could heal.