Ken Douglas - Death Glitch

Door open, Izzy moved into the dark garage, easing it closed after herself. She was surprised at how well she could see. Almost as if the room were being lit by a hurricane lamp. What was happening to her eyes? All of a sudden she could see in the dark and what she saw was a four door Ford sedan like the police drove. No extra antennas though, so it wasn’t an unmarked cop car.

The trunk was open.

Izzy approached, saw Amy inside, hands tied behind her back.

They’d found her. She didn’t know who they were, but there was only one reason she could think of for Amy to be bound and in that trunk. Somebody-who knew about what had happened to her, about her sudden youth-wanted the secret and they’d come here, hoping to capture her alive, but instead they’d gotten Amy.

She heard someone moving around upstairs. She took a breath, held it, listened and instinctively knew the sounds were coming from Alicia’s bedroom. How could she know that?

Seeing in the dark, enhanced hearing, what next?

Gun in hand, she started up the stairs, moved down the hall toward Alicia’s bedroom. Holding the forty-five out in front of herself, she moved past the bathroom, stopped at the door to Alicia’s master suite, peeked in the door, saw Alicia in the middle of the bed, hands bound behind her back with some kind of plastic cable tie.

“ Ouch.” Something stung her. She ran a hand to her rear, pulled out a dart. Turned and saw Lila Booth holding a strange looking gun. Izzy pointed the forty-five at her, but Lila ducked into the bathroom.

Why? She had that gun, it didn’t make sense. Izzy was thinking at the speed of light. It was a dart gun, like rangers used on bears. It only had one shot. Soon she’d be as out of it as Amy and Alicia. She couldn’t wait for that. She had to act. She had to do something. Now!

She tossed the forty-five on the bed, charged down the hall, reached the bathroom door as Lila Booth emerged, dart gun reloaded.

Lila pulled the trigger. The dart hit her square in the chest, just below her breasts. Izzy ignored it, grabbed the dart gun by the barrel, ripped it from Lila’s hand, tossed it behind her, heard it hit the wall as she shoved Lila into the bathroom.

But Lila was turning to the side as Izzy shoved on past. Izzy hit the toilet with her shins, fell, head hitting the towel rack.

Lila grabbed her by the hair, jerked Izzy to her feet, wrapped an arm around her neck, chocking her.

Air! She was suffocating. She needed air. She stomped on Lila’s foot.

Lila grunted, but held on.

Izzy slammed an elbow into Lila’s stomach, felt the whoosh of air flee the woman’s lungs, hot on the back of her neck, but still Lila held on.

Izzy hit her with the elbow again, then again and then she realized she wasn’t breathing. Lila had choked off her air, but instead of making one last desperate struggle, a sort of calm descended over Izzy. It was as if she were someone watching from afar, almost like she was outside her body, seeing the struggle from above, however she wasn’t, but somehow she knew exactly what to do.

She reached a hand over her shoulder, grabbed Lila by her long hair and with a strength she had no business having, she bent into a crouch and pulled Lila over her shoulder and finally Lila let go, her body landing on the toilet bowl.

Izzy, with her hand still fisted in Lila’s hair, backed out of the bathroom, dragging the stunned Lila Booth after her. She’d intended on dragging the woman into the bedroom and somehow binding her so she could question her. She was thinking at light speed again. She was in the present. She was in the future. She was in her body. She was out of it.

All of a sudden she felt dizzy, nauseous, her stomach muscles clenched, she gagged, then vomited all over her captive as she doubled over, letting go of Lila’s hair.

And Lila reacted like a scalded cat, cat quick and cat smart. Despite the fact that she was covered in vomit, she grabbed Izzy’s left foot, jerked and Izzy felt as if the ground was being jerked out from under her as she fell onto her back.

Lila jumped on top of Izzy, vomit from her hair dripping onto Izzy’s face. She grabbed onto Izzy’s wrists, tried to pin her, but Izzy bucked, driving her pelvis upward, knocking Lila aside.

Lila scrambled backward, back toward the bathroom, pulled a gun. She must have had a holster in the small of her back.

“ Don’t move!” She had the gun pointed at Izzy’s chest. Both women were sitting on the floor, facing each other. “How come you didn’t shoot me when you had the chance?” Lila Booth said.

“ I don’t know, maybe I should’ve.”

“ Tables are turned now.”

“ You’re not gonna shoot the golden goose.” All of a sudden Izzy couldn’t take in enough air. She started panting. Her body seemed to be demanding oxygen now and she was having a hard time getting enough. She felt a pain in her chest, right about where Lila had her pistol aimed. She still had the dart in her. She pulled it out, started breathing normally. “Not very effective.”

“ That would take down a bear.” Lila Booth was out of breath, too. “It put your friends right out.” She wiped vomit from her forehead with the back of her hand. “But it didn’t affect you and that makes me curious.”

“ Yeah.” Again thinking faster than any human should be able to, Izzy put it together. Lila was the one who’d shot her. She didn’t die and somehow her masters had learned of it. They needed her alive. “You shoot me in the heart and I not only survive, but I walk out of the hospital over half a century younger than I went in and you’re wondering why your tranquilizer dart doesn’t knock me out.” Izzy smirked. “Well, I’m wondering, too.”

“ You’re Isadora Eisenhower?”

“ Oops.” Lila hadn’t known.

“ Dr. Isadora Eisenhower, the seventy-seven year old heart surgeon?”

“ Call me Izzy.”

“ This is a shock.” Lila looked lost in thought for a second, but her gun never wavered. She sighed. “And I find it hard to believe.” Then, “You assumed I knew.”

“ You didn’t?”

“ I’m still not believing it. But at least it explains why Mansfield wanted me to drug you and the other one. He didn’t want me talking to you. He didn’t trust me.”

“ Mansfield Wayne?”

“ Yeah. The old bastard himself.”

“ Guess he thought you’d want the secret for yourself.”

“ He has cancer, so I can see how this would intrigue him.” Lila scooted back against the wall, got to her feet. “I’ll trade you cars.” She reached into the front pocket of her jeans, withdrew a set of keys, tossed them to Izzy. “Your friends are going to be out for a while. If I was you, I’d get the one in the bedroom back there, toss her in the trunk and get outta town.” She smiled, but it didn’t look friendly. “I’ll take the BMW, tell them not to report it stolen and I’ll forget to tell to Mansfield you’re driving my Crown Vic.”

“ Why?”

“ I don’t like being lied to.” Lila crossed the room, picked up the dart gun.

“ But aren’t you his stepdaughter?”

“ Not really, though he did kind of raise me, but I still don’t like being lied to,” Lila said. “Besides, he’s not really like a father figure, never has been. He’s a user, but then I guess I am too. I suppose we use each other.”

“ That’s kinda sad.”

“ It is what it is.” This time her smile did look friendly. “And something more, maybe I’m walking away because the girl back there has a Grand Palais. I’d like to meet her someday, maybe share a few recipes.” Lila Booth nodded her head, went for the stairs. “I’m out of this now. You’ve got nothing to fear from me.” Then she took the stairs to the living room, threw back the bolt on the front door, went through it and was gone.