AGENT 23 BLACKOUT (Agent 23 Book 1)

CHAPTER 6

With the bus increasing speed through Coastal City, the interior lights switch off and cast us in a shadowy gloom. I shrink back into the seat cushion and lean into Kayla's shoulder. I feel her arm pushing into mine as we keep watchful eyes on the hulking figure of Agent 24. He's like a ghost in the darkness, his eyes glinting in the passing illumination of storefronts and skyscrapers as he twists his neck and glares back at us from several rows up.

We sit on the right side of the bus with Agent 24 on the left. He sticks one of his big shoes into the aisle and blocks our path to the exit door with his leg. A huge lump forms in my throat, and I try to swallow, but it lodges in my windpipe, intensifying a surge of anxiety building in my stomach.

As the engine moans, the driver stomps the clutch and slips the shifter into the next gear. The bus speeds up, moving at a decent clip down Main Street. It crosses through several green-lighted intersections while faster traffic passes on the left. I estimate the acceleration at close to thirty-five miles per hour, maybe a hair faster, right at the speed limit.

I didn't count how many people were on the bus when we boarded, but now I count nine heads in the darkness, one of them Agent 24. He stands and turns toward us, both feet in the aisle, hands using the back of the seats for balance.

I narrow my gaze. It looks like he's wearing the same twisted smile he got on the bus with. He's got us cornered, and he knows it. And he doesn't care if there are witnesses to his next act of violence, especially since he's cloaked in darkness.

"He's coming for us," Kayla says, her voice a whisper in my ear.

"I know."

Agent 24 lumbers in our direction.

My heart pounds against my sternum with each step.

Two rows away, he stops and waits. Something inside me, some inner instinct, tells me he's gaging my response, considering how I'll react. He'll expect a good fight because, in his eyes, I'm Agent 23, which is absurd.

Moments before he makes his move, my mind's eye visualizes his plan of attack. It's like he's creeping in slow motion as I calculate what he might do. He grabs the back of the seat and uses it for leverage. Then he rears back and swings. In a flash, the image vanishes. In a second movie reel vision, Agent 24 doesn't touch the seat but reaches for me with both hands, like he's going to yank me up and throw me through a window. But which is it? What's happening? What I am seeing?

Kayla squeezes my arm, snapping me out of my trancelike state.

As the big agent stands in the aisle, I realize something. Regardless of which plan he chooses, one thing is certain: he'll go for a quick end to the fight. He won't take unnecessary risks. He wants to put me down fast, snuff out my life before I can retaliate.

With a snarl, Agent 24 launches into action. His left hand goes for the seatback. It's the first scenario I envisioned, but the bus lurches as the driver slows through an intersection and then speeds up. He falters with the miscalculation.

I use it to my advantage.

As his left hand grazes the seatback, I snatch it and shove it aside, sending his momentum careening into the opposite row, empty of passengers. Before he rights himself, but as he turns, I jump across the aisle and smash my fist into his chin. Agent 24 brushes off the impact as if it's nothing. He backhands me into Kayla, and I collapse on top of her.

Glowering down at us, Agent 24 snatches me up by the collar—the second scenario I envisioned.

He smashes my back into the window of the rear emergency door and holds me there.

"Stay down." He glares at Kayla. "And I might let you live."

By now, the bus driver realizes a fight has broken out. He brakes and slows but doesn't stop, throwing Agent 24 off balance.

I thrust my hands down and into his wrists. Again, he's super strong, and my countermove doesn't break his grip but only loosens it.

I think of one thing that gives Kayla and I chance at survival. I have to act now, but it won't be easy.

Agent 24 reasserts his control of the situation by shoving me against the emergency door again. Behind my back, I claw at the handle, pushing at it, but I can't get enough leverage.

With his massive hands grasping my shirt, Agent 24 jerks me toward him and then crashes me against the door again. My head thumps against the window, and I see stars in the darkness. He's setting me up, about to drive his fist through my face, when Kayla jumps on his back and tries to pull him off of me.

Agent 24 slings her into an empty seat and turns back to me.

Just as he looks my way, I step up on the backseat and come down on the emergency handle with my other foot.

The door swings open. Before he can get ahold of me, I drop to the floor and try to weasel under him, but he snags my collar and stops my advance. With ease, he flips me over and forces me out through the opening. With an unsavory smile, he holds me above the fleeting city street, half of my body hanging out of the bus. I would try to vault him over me, but that would only send us both to the roadway.

Agent 24's maniacal grin morphs into a vicious sneer.

He draws me back into the bus, and I wonder what he's thinking? It's then he pulls me close. "Time for you to retire and for me to take over."

Something clunks against Agent 24's back.

He grunts and grimaces, then collapses on top of me. I look up to see Kayla holding a fire extinguisher and her glasses setting crooked on her nose. With an angry grumble, Agent 24 pushes to his feet but he stays leaned over, his hand reaching behind his back to the source of the pain. I meet his gaze and then do the next thing that comes to mind.

I kick him between the legs.

His eyes roll back in his head, and he groans, clutching his crotch.

With the bus finally slowing, Kayla plants her foot into his backside and shoves him out the door and into the street, where he tumbles along the asphalt, cars screeching left and right to avoid hitting him.

When the bus comes to a halt, I hop to the ground and help Kayla down. Motorists stop in the street and gather around the writhing form of Agent 24. As he struggles to stand and starts limping toward us, we flee into the night, hoping to never see the assassin ever again. But something tells me that's a wish that won't come true.