The Tree of Knowledge, Daniel Miller [unputdownable books txt] 📗

the moment for which Turner had been training them for the last two weeks. Simultaneously, the two reached into their pants pockets and removed the one tool that could extricate them from the trap into which they had just walked: Gabe’s combat glasses.

Crossing the threshold of the elevator, Albert placed the spectacles on his face and turned to Ying, whose glasses were perched gently on the small bridge of her nose. He noticed that her spectacles sat slightly askew on her face and carefully adjusted them.

“Seriously?” said Ying, mystified at Albert’s OCD.

Albert just shrugged and gave Ying a final nod. It’s time.

Albert turned first, eyeing the two guards who had walked them into the elevator. Over their shoulders, he watched Cristina Culebra with a smug smile on her face. She leaned her head back upon seeing her guests’ strange eyewear.

“According to my calculations, at this moment, there is a twenty-five percent chance that you two are going to try to escape,” said Cristina. “Lest you feel that compulsion, I’ve taken the liberty of assigning my two best guards to escort you to the lobby, where you will find the Los Angeles County sheriff waiting to take you into—”

But before she could finish her speech, Albert shouted, “Now!” and hurled a vicious strike to the first guard’s groin. The security officer doubled over. Through his glasses, Albert could see a green halo above his head with “90%” floating above it. He shoved his palm against the guard’s forehead and slammed it against the stainless-steel elevator wall. The give of skull against metal sickened him. He spun to counter the guard on the left, only to see Ying striking him down with a measured chop to the neck.

Cristina Culebra looked on in bemusement.

Albert’s hands trembled with rage and fear. He saw the great, devious woman in front of him and wanted nothing more than to lunge forward and grab her by the throat, choking back the life that she had stolen from him. But Turner’s voice rang in his head: “Follow the Tree.”

He grabbed Ying by her sweat-soaked hand and dragged her through the elevator doors toward the stairwell. Albert burst through the door beneath the illuminated exit sign, and he could hear Cristina Culebra screaming, “Get backup, they’re headed for the roo—”

As Albert and Ying leapt up the steps two at a time, combat glasses affixed to their faces, Albert felt the same sensation he had in the ring with Brick Travis. Time had slowed. He was no longer an animal reacting to the world as it came to him. He was on a higher plane; he was in the Tree of Knowledge, a place where the future was known, and he was merely taking part in events that he had already foreseen. He sensed Ying’s grip loosen and her breathing slow, and he knew that she was there with him.

Albert and his sidekick leapt through the rooftop’s emergency exit to see the clear sky that he had witnessed so many times before in his plans. Except in his vision, Angus Turner was there to meet him with a proud smile on his face and a calming word.

“Where’s Turner?” screamed Ying, searching the speckled white roof for a sign of the wise professor. Her voice was carried away by the wind whipping across the rooftop. In the distance, the ocean danced and sparkled as the sun hid just below the horizon.

“Shit! I don’t know,” screeched Albert.

“What do we do?”

“Give me the rope.”

Ying removed the long black rope that Brick had given them and tied it securely to a metal post along the roof’s edge. Albert looked over the edge to the parking lot below. It was empty. Where are Brick and Gabe? They should be here by now to pick us up . . . Something’s wrong.

He attempted to collect himself, but could hear the slamming and banging of doors opening and stairs being climbed. They’re coming.

“We can’t leave without him,” said Ying, anticipating Albert’s thoughts.

Albert spun and looked at his assistant. “That’s not even an option. Brick and Gabe aren’t here yet.”

Ying’s eyes widened. The assured calm that had possessed them as they ascended the stairwell had vanished amid the swell of the unexpected. The steady lines of the tree in her mind’s eye turned to dust.

“Get next to the door. We’ll take them as they come,” shouted Albert as he shoved Ying next to the rooftop entrance.

Two guards clad in red body armor slammed through the door, each carrying a high-powered gun, but the sight of the two massive soldiers paled in comparison to what followed: Eva.

Channeling Angus Turner, Albert sprung from behind the door and grabbed the first guard’s gun. As he did so, his glasses once again illuminated green above the man’s head. He slammed the butt of the gun against the guard’s face, momentarily disabling him. Albert then turned to the next guard, whose stomach glowed green through the glasses. He jabbed the man in the gut and encircled his arm around his neck, depriving him of oxygen.

Ying watched as the other guard quickly grabbed Albert by the neck and shoulders and attempted to peel him off their partner.

Seeing both guards’ legs glowing green, Ying dropped to a knee and delivered two measured blows to the men’s knees, sending them tumbling to the ground. Albert kicked their guns away and body-slammed one of the guards, ramming his head against the ground.

The next thing Albert heard was the crack of limb against limb. His eyes shot upward to see Eva mercilessly beating Ying with her black-gloved hands. Ying’s glasses had been dislodged from her face, and the taller, more powerful woman tore at her hair, aiming furious blows at her face and body. Ying fell to the ground. Albert saw blood streaming from her lips and nose as Eva kicked her relentlessly.

“Stop!” screamed Albert with a newfound power. The plea resonated throughout the empty rooftop. Eva turned. Ying crumpled to the ground, moaning.

Eva pivoted to him. Her face simmered