The Elders (Mind Dimensions #4)(54)

Please don’t flip, I think desperately as I run toward the van.

The vehicle makes it halfway into a ditch and stops, without flipping.

Kate is near the right side of the car. I didn’t even see her get up.

The door opens. A monk—who must’ve attempted to exit the van—is on the floor convulsing from Kate’s strike.

“Kate, the passenger door,” I scream when I see another monk exit.

In the next moment, Kate is holding two strange, elongated guns.

She shoots one inside the van and aims the other one at where the driver shows up.

Panting, I sprint toward the van, with Hillary on my heels.

The driver monk dodges Kate’s shot. Belatedly, it hits me that she’s using a tranquilizer gun.

I recognize the monk she missed. He was assisting the Master monk during the attack at the Miami airport.

Kate switches her attention from the door to the assistant monk, which turns out to be a mistake. Another monk’s foot strikes her through the open door. If Kate were me, she would’ve tripped over the unconscious body of the first monk she neutralized. Kate, however, isn’t me, so instead of falling, she lets the momentum of the kick carry her body into the assistant monk. I watch her with envy, my martial arts knowledge once again drawing a blank when it comes to Kate’s fighting style.

There’s no time to dwell on her technique, though. Springing into action, I kick the leg of the monk who just kicked Kate. I hit a bone near the guy’s knee, and my big toe feels like it’s on fire. I wonder who’s hurt worse—me or my opponent.

“Step aside, Darren,” Hillary yells.

I do, and a dart hits the monk’s shin, right where I just kicked him. Why does Hillary have one of these nifty tranquilizers and I don’t?

In my peripheral vision, I see Kate execute a number of moves, and the assistant monk joins his brothers on the ground.

Kate then turns around, aims her gun, and shoots the next monk as he’s exiting the car.

Strangely, the monk doesn’t fall. He must be more resistant to whatever drug is in the darts.

The monk faces me, the dart sticking out from his neck. His eyes are slightly glazed over. Without a second’s hesitation, I punch him in the stomach. Though the hit wasn’t all that powerful, the monk doubles over and hits the ground. The lack of oxygen must’ve finished the job the tranquilizer started.

I look around and see that while I was distracted, Kate took care of a couple more monks.

I look inside the van. The only two people left are my moms, and they’re both unconscious. I check their pulses, and when I find it, I feel like a man who’s come across a feast after a long fast. At the same time, I’m more than a little angry that they were kept sedated for so long. I hope the monks drugged them when the chase began and they haven’t been kept unconscious for the past twenty hours.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kate shoot darts into the monks she forcefully knocked out.

“Wait, Kate,” I say, but she shoots the last one anyway. “We might have needed one.”

“Too late,” she says. “What would we need them for?”

“I only vaguely recall where the Temple is,” I explain. “We could’ve asked them some pointed questions.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Hillary says. “We have so many police officers helping us that we can scout the woods for the Temple. These monks aren’t Readable, as you found out, and I won’t let them be tortured.”

“Shouldn’t we go after the other van?” I ask. “The one with Thomas and Mira in it?”

“They have a big start,” Kate says. “They’ll be halfway to the Temple by now.”

“So I guess we’ll need your team’s help after all,” I say, frustrated.

“Yeah, and now our job will be even trickier,” Kate says. “When this van doesn’t show up, the Temple will be put on high alert.”

“So what do we do?” I ask.

“Nothing. We’ll manage it,” she says. “I’m just thinking out loud.”

“Before your team gets here and we start looking for the Temple, I want my moms taken somewhere safe.” I glance at the two unconscious bodies inside the van before turning to my aunt. “Hillary, do you think you can do me a huge favor? Can you take them? You could take a bunch of cops with you and drive someplace where no one would think to look for you.”

Hillary frowns. “What about the Temple? I want to help rescue the others.”

“This is the best way for you to help,” I say. What I don’t add is that this way, I can ensure she’s safe too.

“Are you getting rid of me so you can do something violent at the Temple?” Hillary asks, her eyes narrowing.

“No.” I shake my head. “I’ll pinky swear to do as little harm as possible. After all, my grandparents are there. What kind of monster do you take me for, Aunt?”

She sighs. “Take my tranquilizer gun. And make sure the others use theirs.”

I take the weapon and stick it in the back of my pants as Kate demonstratively waves her guns in the air.

Hillary rolls her eyes and walks toward the police blockade.

Ignoring her, Kate walks over to what’s left of Hillary’s race car and looks for something inside. Then she waves for me to join her.