Gateway Worlds

Trial and Error - 2

He was right. She knew it, but with the drug in her system, she didn't care. Maria flew down the next alley gaining even more speed and turned on a dime at the end. She turned once more at the next intersection and prepared for an all-out run toward the empty warehouses. The unused buildings no longer served a purpose in modern society, except as a maze of underground corridors and storage areas. Maria had a small section within the dilapidated buildings that would house her for a few days while she figured out what to do next.

"Maria!" The voice sounded out of breath, the officer started to lag. "Don't run. I can promise leniency if you stop running now, but if you continue, we will have no choice."

That caught her attention. "No choice of what?" She called back, realizing that she was sealing her fate even as she did. They had no proof of her identity yet. She might be able to hide – to claim that Maria Donna had nothing to do with any of this.

"You're going through the gateway, Maria, it's just a matter of what world you end up on."

She missed a step. Her surprise turned into a hard fall scraping her badly against the asphalt of the road. Maria tried to recover, but she couldn't do it and rolled into a heap of pain. The drug in her system made her too hyperactive to rise immediately, though the scrapes barely registered.

She struggled, dropping away from the officer as he came into range. "Stop. Please, stop. I don't deserve the gateway. I can't." She waved a hand, her eyes too frenzied to focus.

"What did you take?" He wrapped one arm around her back, flipping her flat onto the road.

"No. I haven't broken the law."

"You just stole a statue." The man's voice remained less than sympathetic.

"You don't understand. I had no choice. They would have killed my brothers."

"Your brothers?" He paused in his movements, then locked down her second wrist with handcuffs before moving off. "What do your brothers have to do with this?"

"My brothers are being held by some rough guys." She saw a glimpse of hope. She just needed a good story that dodged the whole truth. "These guys called me and said I had to steal this or else they'd kill my brothers."

"Why didn't you come to the police."

Valid question. She searched for an answer. "Because they got into something they shouldn't have."

"Ah, lawbreakers." The sympathy deteriorated as the sound of sirens approached. "Be glad you didn't keep running. We had your warehouses staked out after last time. I'll say you stopped running and cooperated and they'll go light on you."

"Wait." He lifted her to her feet and she fought him lightly, "Wait, you can't put me through. I haven't broken the law three times."

The man snorted indelicately. "Nine months ago you stole a laundry-list of items from nearly a dozen homes."

How? "How could you know that?"

"We're good at what we do." The man seemed uncomfortable. "The point is, this isn't your first offense."

"It's not my third though." She felt triumph rising. "The law says three offenses are required before the gateways should be considered."

"And when you were twelve you shoplifted a shirt from a department store in your hometown."

Maria's jaw dropped. "Oh come on, I was a kid! Besides, that wasn't even me. My friend Caroline did it and she shoved it into my backpack when I wasn't looking."

"Perhaps you need to choose better friends." He jerked her arm toward the squad car as it squealed to a stop.

An older officer exited, huffing even though he hadn't run at all. Grey hair lined both sides of his head while the top remained brown. "Well done Shaw." He opened the back door for his partner and reached for a shoulder unit. "We got her boys, you're free to go home, thanks for your support."