MEET THE SHARPES

9. The Safe House

Maxim stored the holographic plate inside the purple package and stashed it, the severed hand, and the heptalock case in the backseat. He clung to his seatbelt as Antwan flung the SUV into a sharp left turn; and the slender's limp body thrashed in the whipping wind as the Bronco barreled through a four-way stop.

"Right on Moeling!" shouted Maxim.

"Moeling Street or Moeling Drive?" Antwan howled.

"Drive. Moeling Drive!" Maxim exclaimed.

Antwan exhaled his curses and jerked the wheel to the right. They launched into a right turn with a symphony of car horns rising into the air. Tires screeched and cars shuddered to hasty stops as The Sharpes careened down Moeling Drive.

"What now?" Antwan asked.

"Just trust me." Maxim said carelessly.

"Oh, so I have to trust you...now?!" Antwan rolled his eyes. "Which way, asshole?"

"Take Fitzenriter to Railroad Avenue and straight on 'til midnight!" Maxim fired.

"Copy." Antwan said. "Do something about her! She's waving around like the flag of our country!"

Maxim slid down in his seat. He pushed the dead slender out of the window with the heel of his boot. One final kick of his boot knocked her free and she flew past the Bronco in the whipping wind.

A curdling shriek ripped through the air and the other slender peeled back the hood of the Bronco. Sparks scorched the tattered upholstery and she clawed at them. Antwan let out a cry when her silver talons scraped the flesh from his shoulder. She barked out a wicked laugh and Antwan unleashed two copper bullets into the night air. The greedy wind claimed one, but the slender roared when the second copper bullet found purchase in her arm. Her painful cries only fueled her, and she slashed violently at him.

"And you made her angry." teased Maxim.

"Ugh." Antwan yelled. "Why won't she die?"

"Slender have to be decapitated. Did I not set a very good example?" he quipped.

"The first one counts for me, not you!" Antwan whined.

"I'm the one who told you to drive, my love." Maxim smiled.

"You make my ass itch." Antwan groaned. "Watch and learn."

"You watch the road and I'll watch your ass all night." Maxim bit down on his lip. "We're coming up on Railroad Avenue."

Antwan shushed him and unfastened his seatbelt. He rolled down the driver's side window in a huff and waited. He sat coiled for the slender's next metallic swipe, and she did not disappoint. She jammed her silver talons through the makeshift sunroof and Antwan pounced. He pulled her through the ceiling and launched her body across the driver's seat and out the window.

"Turn!" shouted Maxim!

Antwan spun the wheel and the Bronco streaked onto Railroad Avenue. The dark, abandoned street ran parallel to a set of train tracks. The railroad also separated the two-lane street from a dark cathedral in the distance. Maxim wrestled with the Slender's ankles from the passenger seat. Meanwhile, Antwan's hands were full of the steering wheel and the creature's head which dangled out the driver's side window.

"Jump the tracks." Maxim instructed.

And Antwan asked no questions. He cut the wheel to the left and the old SUV crashed through a tall brass hurricane fence as a bolt of golden lightning struck down behind them. The lightning chased them the length of the short pasture and Antwan steered them through a sea of overgrown grass. The Bronco swerved up a small gravely hill and onto the tracks as one last lightning bolt turned the spot behind them to ash.

The cab vibrated as the SUV raced down the railroad tracks. Antwan cursed as the slender lodged her claws in his forearm. He tightened his grip on the wheel as it jerked across the rocky terrain and a terrifying set of yellow lights switched on. A thundering horn sliced through the night air and Antwan fixed his wide eyes on his husband.

"Remember. Keep it steady. It's not real." Maxim said. "No matter what. Straight on til midnight."

Antwan mashed down on the gas. The pulsating lights drew closer, and the terrifying sound of a train reached Maxim's ears. Antwan fixed his attention on a copper pole jutting out of the gravel up ahead and veered the Bronco left. He snatched his hand in through the window and the slender's body went still in Maxim's hands. Antwan pulled the creature's body across the cab and out of the window before he turned his attention to the mammoth train that stared down at them. Its conductor tugged on the blaring horn and the ear-splitting screech rattled the car. Antwan looked to his husband and smiled.

"Straight on til midnight!" Antwan smiled.

The Bronco zoomed through the middle of the blinding lights and into a dark tunnel. The blaring subsided to a faint ringing in his ears and the SUV hurtled down the dark tunnel. The walls drew closer and the tracks beneath them depressed until Antwan steered them down a steep slope and onto a slab of even, polished concrete.

Antwan eased his foot off the gas and the SUV rumbled to a crawl. They crept along the smooth path of the dimly lit passage until they came to a Cul de sac with two large men stood in front of a violent hangar door. The towering entrance lay closed, and a crop of shimmering paisley prints danced around a circular crest bearing a gorgon's reptilian hair curling around a stately 'B.' The insignia was etched into the door in luminous bronze, and it pulsed with a faint light.

Antwan cajoled the SUV to a stop and the men approached the vehicle. Maxim grabbed Antwan's itching hand and squeezed it tight.

"Kill the engine." Maxim whispered.

His husband flipped the key and the headlights faded, and the guns inched toward the. Maxim nodded to Antwan.

"You know where we are." he whispered. "Calm heads."

Antwan relaxed his jittering fingers. He nodded back to Maxim, and they crept out of the SUV with their hands raised above their heads. Maxim could see a crop of locs poking out beneath a dingy scar when he tipped his gun to the ground. He motioned for The Sharpes to get on the ground, and they complied. Maxim held his breath as Antwan lowered himself to the ground.

"Invitation?" asked the gun with the locs.

"Backseat." said Maxim.

"There will be no need for that." someone announced.

The sultry voice grew louder when the writhing paisley print froze on the impressive violet doors. The hangar doors split down at the center to reveal a slender man in a green tweed jacket. A patch of gray rose against a sea of neatly trimmed, black hair and a well-manicured goatee framed his grimacing lips.

"We've been expecting you. After all, it's not every day that two of your brightest pupils come in from the cold. Together, no less!" His dark voice growled. "Falcon. Raven. Welcome back to Brimmens: School of Espionage!"

The Sharpes will return!