On the Prowl (Alpha & Omega 0.5)(42)

Too many. There were too many, pressed by too many others. She couldn't  -

Then a man in a khaki uniform slipped through the rush of people streaming the other way. Nathan. He bent and scooped Jackie up in his arms. "Get behind me!" he shouted. "Hold my belt."

Kai all but plastered herself against him. She gripped his belt as if her life depended on it, and rode in his wake as he cut sideways through the mob.

They broke out of the crowd near the fountain. Nathan didn't stop, but stepped up into the first stone tier, drained and dry now for winter. Carefully he laid Jackie down, running his hands over her much as Kai had done, then lifting each eyelid. "Concussed," he said, voice raised enough that she could hear. "What happened?"

"I don't know! It happened so fast  -  these people, the ones with ugly colors, they started yelling at us. At the Gifted, I mean, but I couldn't see what they did. Something that scared people, because all of a sudden everyone was  -  it was  -  " Kai found herself horribly close to tears. "I couldn't stop it. I couldn't."

He gave her a look, then rose and wrapped his arms around her. She started shaking.

He lowered his head so he could speak softly, close to her ear. "Adrenaline. You'll be okay in a minute."

"Jackie  -  "

"Can't do anything for her here. She needs the hospital. It's emptying out now," he added. "We need to go."

"Go?" She lifted her head to stare at him.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't prevent it. I..." He sighed. "A judge has issued a warrant for your arrest."

Nathan got Kai moving while she was still too stunned and shocked to protest. First he had to make sure her friend received care, though, so he carried the woman to the makeshift stage that had served as a podium. The speakers had made it to safety inside the Midland Center, but the television people remained, avidly filming. The local news anchor hurled questions at him, but she was easy enough to ignore.

Uniformed officers were clearing out the last of the crowd as he and Kai left, some tending the fallen. Sirens sounded. They reached Nathan's official car on Illinois Street just as a car he recognized pulled up halfway down the block. "That's Knox," he said as he shut his door. Kai was already in the car, but he suspected Knox had seen her. "He's got the warrant."

"He's got it? You mean... you mean you aren't arresting me?"

Stunned, Nathan forgot to turn on the ignition. How could she think that? "No. Good God, no." He pulled himself together and started the car. "I came to make sure you weren't arrested. The riot delayed me. Good thing it was a small one."

She made a choked sound. After a moment, he realized it was a laugh. He glanced at her, unsure whether this was a time when their humor diverged or if she was hysterical.

She seemed all right, though pale. "The riot delayed you. God. All right. If you aren't arresting me, what are you doing?"

"Keeping Knox from arresting you."

"But... Nathan, if they've got a warrant, I can't just hide. I don't want to be arrested, but it's a mistake. It's not like they have any real evidence against me. They can't, so they'll have to let me go. But if I evade arrest I look guilty, which will make it harder to persuade them..." Her voice wobbled. "How could they think it was me? This doesn't make sense. Are you sure there isn't a mistake?"

"I'm sure. The sheriff and I discussed the case with Chief Roberts. Roberts is deeply prejudiced against the Gifted. He knows about the meeting you had at your apartment last night, though he's mistaken about its nature  -  thinks it was a coven meeting. He has a witness who saw you leave The Bar with Jimmie Shaw last night just after midnight."

"The Bar?" She was bewildered. "But I don't go there. I've never been there."

"I told them I was with you at that time. The sheriff believed me. Roberts didn't. He said a jury wouldn't accept my testimony since I'm not human."

"You told them... but I was home at midnight, asleep. Asleep alone. You didn't get there until two o'clock."

"Yes," he said, patient. "But they can't know what time I arrived. Do you mind if they believe we're lovers?"

She waved that away. "That's not the problem. You tried to give me an alibi, and you meant well, but that witness  -  she couldn't have seen me. It's someone else, someone who looks like me."

Someone who looked like her, yes. Or something. "He. The witness is Ed Bates. He was your patient, I understand."

"Soft tissue trauma to the neck and shoulders. We had several sessions... but Ed knows me. He must know that wasn't... was he drunk? That's it," she said, sounding pleased that something at last made sense. "He must have been drunk."

"Three other witnesses gave descriptions of the woman who left with Shaw. I spoke with one of them. She has a poor memory for names, but a good one for faces. She described you perfectly."

Kai didn't say anything for several moments. He wanted to take her hand, to reassure her with the alchemy of touch. That was what he would have needed at such a time, but he didn't understand human rules for touching, which changed from one culture to the next, from one decade to the next. He wasn't sure when touch was welcome between friends in this era.