Chapter 7

Zella Mills - Los Angeles

——-

Since their car park encounter with the immortals, Solace had yet to leave the United States. Joe suggested they flee home as soon as possible, fearing that the immortals held too much power in the States. They were a protected group, after all. Zella and Khloe pointed out that there were loose ends to tie up before heading back to Naguela. Now, here they stood outside of the Arrivals terminal at LAX airport.

Their encounter with the immortals was too close for comfort. If things had gone differently, their lives could have ended right there. It pleased Zella that her training paid off. She realized the importance of Joe, Khloe, Elias, and Lola receiving extra combat training. Joe had already received some special training before forming Solace. But the dangers that the immortals presented required routine training to face. They had to be ready for something like the car park ambush to happen again.

The immortals had seen them and heard Zella’s name. That meant they would come for them. I will find you. Those were the words Zella read on Quinn’s lips. And she didn’t doubt for a second that he would. She would be prepared for him when he found her.

In the meantime, they could make the job difficult for the immortals. They immediately contacted Elaine Rowe after the car park incident. The immortals used Elaine Rowe to lead them right into the ambush. Zella had a feeling that Elaine hadn’t done this willingly. It made sense that they threatened her after Elaine Rowe leaked the Red Hounds footage. But whether or not she had set them up willingly, it was important that Solace got to her before the immortals could use her again.

On the phone, Elaine Rowe sounded elated to hear from them. She was apologetic and desperate for their help. They immediately planned for her to flee Chicago and join them in Los Angeles, where they could make their way to the border.

Khloe made eye contact with Zella. It was a look that showed where she placed her blame. The look was common. Her eyes fluttered away when Zella caught her. They landed on Joe Halili, and she turned her phone screen toward him. “Look at this crap. They’re already trying to spin this on us.”

The headline read: Driver found dead in NGR research car park. Solace involvement is suspected.

“What the—” Joe said. “Did they mention the immortals at all?”

Khloe shook her head. “Not once. Not even a sentence alluding to them being there.”

Zella bit her lip. She couldn’t help feeling some guilt over how things were panning out. She was putting people’s lives at risk. That driver was a father. Someone else had lost their dad. It was a pain she knew well. And it was the pain that reminded her why she did what she did to Zip. Loss was always unfortunate, but a greater plan was at stake. And if her own consciousness was to be ripped apart to follow her plan through, then so be it. “Maybe once we get Elaine to safety, she’ll be willing to help us spin these narratives,” Zella said.

Joe eyed his wristwatch. “The flight landed forty minutes ago. They should have made it out by now.”

He was right. Elaine didn’t need to go through immigration. Getting her luggage shouldn’t take this long. A person came into Zella’s peripheral vision. She shifted her legs instinctively. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wondered if you could spare a few dollars.” It was a man in rugged, tanned clothing.

Zella reached into her pocket and handed the man a dollar she had received in change. “Have you seen a woman with a navy-blue hoodie and flower face mask by any chance?” she asked him.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t seen anyone like that. But bless you, ma’am. Appreciate you.” The man hurriedly walked away.

“Wait here,” Zella told her partners. “I’ll go look around.”

*

Zella walked up and down the Arrivals section of LAX, looking for any sight of Elaine Rowe. She’d told them ahead of time to look for a navy-blue hoodie and a floral-patterned face mask. It would help them identify Elaine easier since few people wore such a pattern on their face masks these days.

She had thoroughly scanned the inside of the arrivals lounge, to no avail. Back on the outside, she passed Joe and Khloe once more. “She’s not answering my calls or texts, Z,” Joe called to her. There was something desperately wrong, and Zella knew it. She walked outside of the lounge one more time, searching every corner and crevice.

The man who had asked for money earlier was standing next to a trolley full of luggage. His eyes shifted between the luggage and Zella as she approached. Zella sized up the bags on the trolley, noting the bag that was often used to transport cameras and equipment. “Whose trolley is this?” she asked him.

“No idea. I was about to find out who left it here.” Whether the man was being honest, she didn’t know. “I’ll be back,” the man said, walking off.

Zella examined the bags to confirm that they belonged to Elaine. She found bundles of cables and USB adapters in the top bag. In the side pocket, she found a round tracking device with a blinking blue light. Such devices were used to locate someone’s goods when losing them. In the wrong hands, it could be used maliciously.

Zella walked back over to Joe and Khloe and told them about the abandoned trolley. They examined it for themselves. “This has to be hers,” Khloe said. “Do you think they got to her?”

“How could we miss that?” Joe said. “And why didn’t she call us as soon as she landed? That was the plan.”

“Look,” Khloe said, pointing up to a security camera. The camera was facing them directly, meaning that surveillance would have caught the moment the trolley was abandoned. “Let’s go find security and see what they have on that camera.”

“You think they’re just going to invite us in, offer us some coffee, and show us the footage?” Joe asked. “They’ll have questions for us too, you know. And what are we going to tell them? Are we gonna say we’re looking for thee Elaine Row?”

Khloe tapped her butt. “I have a little trick in my back pocket. I might not be with the EIA officially, but I still have my badge. And I know first-hand that when these people see an EIA badge, they don’t ask questions.”

“I really do love you, girl,” Joe smiled.

*

The security officers were receptive to them after seeing Khloe’s badge. Thomas, the security officer, walked them through the last few hours of footage. “So much goes on here that sometimes we just don’t detect things until later,” Thomas said, tapping away at his mouse. “We deal with so many false reports that we’re overwhelmed.”

“Right there,” Zella called as she saw the arms of a navy-blue hoodie appear on the corner of the frame. “Let it play.” They watched as Elaine Row stepped into the camera’s field-of-view, followed by a man in a gray sports tracksuit. His face was badly bruised. “That must be her producer,” Zella said. Another figure in an all-black tracksuit and a face covering followed Elaine and her producer and pointed toward the wall. Elaine pushed the trolley where the person had pointed and picked up a flat laptop carrier from the top of the pile of luggage. A black van pulled up on the road and the mystery person in black waved Elaine and her producer inside, leaving the trolley full of luggage behind. “Pause it,” Zella called. Thomas knew exactly what they wanted. He zoomed in on the van until the plate number was readable. Khloe typed it into her notes app.

Thomas let the footage continue to play until the mysterious woman in the face covering entered the van. She got in the driver’s seat and pulled off with Elaine and her producer in the back. “The van is self-driving,” Joe said, pointing at the driver’s seat. “Before the woman got behind the wheel, there was no one there.”

“That’s good to know. It just means it’s easier to stop in traffic,” Zella said. Even if Jade took the wheel for herself, self-driving vehicles had many vulnerabilities to exploit.

“But how are we going to find it?” Joe asked.

“Self-driving vehicle services have to be registered so you can look them up online,” Khloe said. “But that won’t help us. By the time we contact the service providers and get them to track down the vehicle, it will be too late. They would have reached their destination and possibly disappeared.”

“I have this,” Zella said, holding up the tracker in her palm. “Found it in her bag earlier. It’s for someone to track down their bag using their phone, but there’s a way to reverse track with this. Am I right?”

Khloe smiled at her. Something Zella wasn’t quite used to seeing. “Sometimes you’re a genius. Yes, I have a tool that I can use to reverse-track the device that they pair this to. Joe said her phone was ringing, so it’s definitely still on. I just hope she has it on her still.”

“We have to get moving now,” Joe said. He grabbed the door handle and nodded at Thomas. “Thanks, bro. You helped big time.”

*

Several cars honked at them as they cut off vehicles in their pursuit of the black van. “Go right at the intersection and the van will be in range,” Khloe called out from their rental. Joe was behind the wheel. Giving Zella ample time to ready her firearms. She felt her body jerk to the side as Joe took the right turn sharply. He immediately overtook a truck in front of them.

“Zella, get ready to do your thing. I see the van ahead.” Joe said.

Zella pressed the passenger window control button with the bottom of her fist until the window was all the way down. “Just keep me steady.” She waited until the surrounding lanes were clear of vehicles before popping her body through the open window and parking her butt on the frame. Joe Halili moved her to the angle she needed, slightly off-center to the van’s right taillight. With dual pistols in hand, she let off three swift shots at the van’s tires, popping the back left and front right tires. She had missed the back right tire, but it didn’t matter, for the driver panicked and lost control immediately.

The van came to a screeching halt. The traffic behind them stopped in their tracks immediately, allowing Joe to pull up in the opposite lane. Zella climbed out of the car through the window.

She found herself under immediate fire, forcing her to take a parked vehicle as cover. “They’ve got PDs, Z,” Khloe yelled from the back seat of their rental. A PD was a personal drone. A licensed person could carry a small PD to defend them if they found themselves under attack. Whoever had taken Elaine exercised that right. Zella peeped over the top of the hood to check its position. It fired on her as soon as it detected her movement, forcing her to dip low again. She heard a sub-machine gun, and seconds later the drone crashed onto the road.

“It’s down,” Joe Halili called.

Zella popped up and slid over the hood of the parked car. Another PD shot into view from the black van. Not wasting a second, Zella let both pistols rip toward the drone, shooting it down before it could lock onto her. The PD crashed to the floor just like the last one.

The kidnapper finally emerged from the black van. She faced Zella, eyes shifting between her and Joe. The face covering cut off just above her nose, leaving her eyes, forehead, and platted hair on show. She recognized the brown caramel skin that was a shade brighter than her own. It was Jade. And that meant Zella’s ammo would be wasted on her, as she could generate an energy shield to protect herself. Regardless, she needed to buy some time for Joe to grab Elaine and her producer from the van.

The green shield glowed over Jade’s body as Zella fired at her chest. She dashed towards Jade, closing the distance. The shield fell as Zella swung her fist at Jade’s head, nailing her clean. Jade slammed her palm against Zella’s chest, pushing her back. Before she could respond, Zella felt a sharp sensation on her side. Jade had cut her with something.

Blood stained her fingers as she felt the gash. Her peripheral vision told her that Joe was rescuing Elaine. And so she had to keep Jade distracted. She pounced on her, pressing her against the van. She slammed her head against Jade’s, stunning her. With the butt of the gun in her grasp, she whipped her hand across Jade’s face, drawing blood.

Jade responded by spitting in Zella’s own face, catching her just under the eye. Zella put the nose of the gun to Jade’s belly and heard her take a sharp intake of breath before her shield appeared to protect her.

A car door closed behind, and Zella stepped away from Jade, noticing that as her diaphragm relaxed, the shield fell. The shield is tied to her breathing; she thought.

As Zella continued stepping backward, Jade walked towards her. It was the emergence of a chopper in the sky that caused her to stop in her tracks. Zella had a feeling Jade wouldn’t want to be caught by a news camera while Zella was getting the better of her.

“What are you?” Jade asked, her eyes blazing with anger.

Zella had reached the rental now but kept her eyes on Jade as she circled around the back of the vehicle. “I’m determined,” Zella answered. “Tell Quinn I said I’ll see him soon.” As the chopper closed in, hovering above, Jade fled through a side alleyway. Zella made it back in the passenger's side of the rental. Adrenaline was running thin already, causing the pain from her gash to catch up to her.

Khloe handed her a T-shirt. “Press this against it, Z.”

“Thanks,” she said, accepting the shirt. Noticing the two additional people alive and well in the back of the rental. She grunted as she pressed the shirt against the wound. Halili was already hitting the gas to get them far away from the commotion before law enforcement showed up. One thing she couldn’t deny was that Halili knew how to drive.

-Mere Immortal is written by Gary Swift. If you see this on another website under another name, then someone has plagiarized it. Visit mereimmortal.com for official chapters. Subscribe to the Substack paid tier to read further ahead in the story.

-This version of Mere Immortal is written in US English.