“The lot is three hundred yards away, Nams. And from what I can see, Psi-Corp switches guard duty every hour,” Hitomi said. It was six p.m. and the night was cool. It began to drizzle.
“Sheesh, they have a new set of eyes patrolling every hour, for twenty-four hours a day,” Nami replied.
“Yeah, there’s gotta be some sort of blind spot, something we can use to our advantage,” Hitomi said.
“Hey that’s it!” Nami said.
“What is it?” Hitomi asked.
“There must be a…” Nami suddenly felt dizzy.
She could feel the blood rush to her head. She put her fingers to her temples. As she looked over, her sister appeared to be experiencing the same sensation. They both saw a shared vision.
***
Two Psi-Corp officers accompanied by two Chimera henchmen stormed up the stairs of the Cardale Inn. Their door was kicked in, and in came Slavo. The twins turned to look at the open window.
***
“Oh my god! What the hell was that?” Nami asked while panting for breath.
“I don’t know,” Hitomi responded, disturbed.
“That felt so real! Did you see Slavo too?” Nami asked.
“Yeah,” Hitomi replied.
“But what does it mean?” Nami asked.
“I have no idea. That was too scary. It felt so real,” Hitomi said, visibly shaken.
“I remember! Remember when Mom once told us about this strange feeling she used to get before Daddy would get mad?” Hitomi asked.
“Yeah! She was never wrong! She called it the—”
“The Eye of Rune!” Hitomi said, finishing her sister’s sentence.
“Wait a sec! You don’t think we have the same gift?” Nami asked.
“I’m not sure, Nams. But we just experienced what Mom did. She always knew when something would go down. No wonder she always knew when to protect us from Daddy. Maybe we should get outta here,” Hitomi said.
“Yeah, maybe we should,” Nami said. The twins heard a forceful knock on the door.
“Room fucking service! You exotics better be the fuck in there! Open this door, damnit!” the voice behind the door yelled.
There was no mistaking it; that dreaded voice belonged Slavo. Nami gasped before rushing to gather her things. Hitomi followed suit. They heard a single kick to the door. The deadbolt prevented the door from slamming open.
“Listen you little bitches! Open this fucking door now! I got money to make back and you’re gonna make it for me! Do you know just how much trouble I went through to find you?” Slavo belligerently yelled.
How did he know we were here? Hitomi and Nami thought to themselves individually. The twins were terrified. Nami remembered the window in the vision she and her sister shared just moments before. She tapped Hitomi’s shoulder and pointed to it. Hitomi’s face lit up and they snuck over to the window. Nami looked down; there was a fire escape.
They were only on the third floor. Hitomi opened the window and they both made their exit down the fire escape. About halfway down the first flight of the creaky metal stairs they heard the door of their room crack from the force of a battering ram from one of the Psi-Corp officers. The girls ran down the steps. Once they safely reached ground level, the twins ran. They didn’t bother wait for anything else to come their way.
Making their way toward the guarded lot where the hover sanders were, it was now or never for the twins. They only made it one hundred yards down the busy street before they saw some commotion up ahead. A group of four Psi-Corp officers rushed the sidewalks, appearing to look for them. Using the cover of the umbrellas being held by other pedestrians, the twins ducked under them and hurried in the opposite direction of the hover sander lot.
“Hito what’re you doin’? That’s our only way out!” Nami said.
“Not right now, it isn’t!” Hitomi said. They’d have to find another time to steal a hover sander.
“If we get caught now, we can forget about seeing the light of day ever again,” Hitomi said gravely.
They cut through the crowded sidewalks and back streets. They were making a break for it when Nami felt Slavo’s long skinny fingers grab her from behind. She yelped before his other hand covered her mouth. She bit down as hard as she could, surprising him.
Nami struggled to get away from Slavo. She elbowed his groin and he loosened his grip on her. Hitomi quickly followed as she struck him square in the jaw. The combined attack from the twins took Slavo by surprise as he was knocked down. The girls ran, successfully giving Slavo and his goons the slip. It was evident that their combat training paid off quite well. They jumped into a taxi and sped off.
“Sir, can you take us to Darkside, please?” Hitomi requested.
“Oh, shit! Why that dangerous place?” the cab driver asked.
“Just do it!” Hitomi yelled.
“Okay, okay! Sheesh” the cabbie replied.
“Hito, why back there?” Nami asked.
“There isn’t a safer place in the city! Plus, he promised he would help us get home. And this time we will make him help us!” Hitomi said. Nami sunk in the seat with both relief and exhaustion as they headed back to Home-base.
Like all other cab drivers, he didn’t want to linger in the perilous neighborhood. The twins paid him and he drove off. Despite their improved self-defense skills, as shown in how they dealt with Slavo, they were still vulnerable. Getting to Homebase was priority number one. They navigated the twists and turns of the elaborate path toward the four large boulders. Hitomi found the hidden access panel and typed ‘Red.Alpha.Violet.224.#’. Hitomi scooted close to the panel for the retinal scan.
The airlocks released and a door camouflaged with the environment surfaced from below. The twins entered, watched the door close and seal in front of them and then the elevator like entrance descended below. The door, perfectly blendedng back in with the environment around it. They were finally safe.
“Caiden? You here?” Hitomi called out with relief.
“Oh, he’s here! The door
