Page 50 of Possessed By Shadows

Chapter 15

Iadmit to screaming my head off and doing a half-roll back through the debris. Not Lukas, not a person. At least not a living one. My mind pinged with terror-filled check boxes. Not unfamiliar either. Like that kid I kept running into ever since that day in the deserts of Afghanistan.

I must have gone the wrong way as I was suddenly falling. A half second drop and I hit the floor with a thud, landing in a mix of debris and water. I worried for a minute that I’d punctured something, but other than aching a little, I didn’t feel bad.

Shining the light upward I stared above at the second floor, and a gaping hole. I hadn’t fallen far, landing on a long desk or something, but stayed there a minute, debating how I felt.

“Alex?” Micah called from a distance.

It took me two tries to call out, “Here!”

I could hear him moving, at least I hoped it was him, and he shined a light down the hole from the second floor. For a few seconds I’d been afraid it was something else, but the white of his mask was obvious in the glow, not the ghoulish gray of something else.

“You hurt?” He asked.

“Um…my pride?” I looked down as he shined the light over me, searching for injuries, and finding nothing. “Going to really feel this tomorrow.”

“Police department! You’re trespassing! Come out with your hands up!” A booming voice suddenly echoed from a ways away.

“Fuck,” Micah grumbled. He tried to find a way down. I slowly got up.

“We’re coming!” I called back, not wanting them to come in guns blazing to such a small area. Standing up made my back ache, and my hip screamed at me, promising retribution for the intense movement. Micah crawled down, half landing on the desk I’d fallen on, half on me as I tried to catch him. “Glad you’re light,” I told him, steadying him.

We headed toward the door. Were we going to be arrested? I’d been arrested a few times when I was on the streets for loitering, but never kept more than a few hours. Maybe we’d be lucky and find Lukas already there, behind bars, waiting for us.

“We are almost there,” Micah called as we got closer to the half-broken entry. The cops shined lights in at us that made it hard to see. Micah held his hands up, and I mimicked him, not letting go of the flashlight, but praying the whole time we didn’t get shot.

“We’ll have to climb out,” I called to them.

“Anyone else in there with you?” One of them demanded, not lowering their light or stepping away from the entrance.

“No.” At least we didn’t think so. If Lukas was in there, he was dead in a corner somewhere we hadn’t found. Because all that noise would have woken anyone.

The light hit me, and I squinted, looking down because it was too much. The cop let out a string of curses, but stepped back. “Get out here,” he instructed.

I climbed out first, hoping that if they shot me, Micah would still be safe. Once we were outside, the narrow overhang barely keeping us from being half drowned by the downpour, I waited. Hands up, very still. Micah beside me, keeping close, but working hard to use his smaller size as a sort of shield. I really hated that his instincts said he needed to do that.

“You’re trespassing,” the cop said again.

“Looking for my brother,” I said. “That’s his car out front.” I got the feeling from the broken door, the graffiti inside, and the quick response of the cops, that trespassing happened often, and perhaps the area was watched by the locals. I slowly tugged my mask down, and Micah did the same, trying to show we weren’t on something or crazy.

“Caine?” The cop asked.

“Alex Caine,” I agreed. “Do you know Lukas? He’s my twin. Don’t suppose you’ve seen him?”

“We’re going to search you. Do you have anything on you like drug paraphernalia? Weapons?” The cop said instead. He looked very mundane, mid-thirties, short trimmed dark blond hair, with that sort of boxy head and shoulders type. His partner was oddly enough, small and female, closer in size to Micah. Latina with her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.

“We don’t. Micah has camera equipment, and food supplies.”

I let the first cop manhandle me against the wall, patting me down and forcing me to my knees. I waited there, watching as Micah put his hands on his head and the second cop searched him, taking the backpack.

She carefully poked through it.

“You really Caine’s brother?” The second cop asked.

How else would they explain us looking alike, I wondered? The first cop pulled out my ID. “Says Alex.”

“Maybe he’s gone that far off the rails?” The female asked. “Fake cover?”