The Spinoza Trilogy by J.R. Rain Page A

he was no longer smiling bemusedly. Instead, he was unzipping the case and pulling something out from within. It was most certainly not a laptop.
    No. It was a small, stainless steel crossbow.
    And the young man wasn’t a man.
    It was Veronica.
     
    * * *
     
    She had, of course, cut her hair in a boyish way and was wearing men’s jeans and t-shirt, both of which had been hidden beneath the long white dress. Enough of a disguise to temporarily throw me off, especially since I had been locked on to finding a blond girl in flowing white dress.
    “Veronica?” I shouted. “Stop!”
    She had just rested the weapon on the brass railing, when her head snapped up. She scanned the area, spotted me from across the open space. She frowned, and then went back to her crossbow, squinting along its sights and ignoring me.
    Now I was running, not as fast as I would have liked, and certainly not very gracefully. I barreled recklessly around the first corner, dashed down an aisle crammed with reading glasses and cheesy-looking Velcro book covers.
    Veronica was now on my right, carefully taking aim. Ignoring me completely.
    The overweight old couple looked up, startled, as I swept past them. I dodged a low wooden bench at the last second. Back in the day I would have hurled it. Now, it was all I could do to just avoid it and not fall flat on my face.
    Already I was gasping for air.
    “Veronica, stop!”
    But she didn’t stop. Instead, she was taking careful aim.
    I turned the final corner. Now she was directly in front of me, about thirty feet away, ignoring me completely. The metallic crossbow gleamed brilliantly. I realized too late that she could have just as easily turned the weapon on me. If she did, there was nothing I could do.
    I also realized that I was now holding my own gun. I had no intention of using it, but maybe it would help convince her to stand down.
    “Stop!” I shouted. “Or I’ll shoot!”
    Yes, I actually said that. But she didn’t stop. She didn’t even acknowledge me.
    Instead, she pulled the trigger.
     
     
     
    Chapter Ten
     
     
    The bolt burst from the crossbow.
    I whipped my head around in time to see James P. Storm, who had been looking down and signing a book, reached up without looking and snatch the crossbow bolt out of the air.
    I gaped, dumfounded. That did not just happen.
    Storm looked curiously at the bolt, and then calmly looked up at us. Other people looked, too. No doubt they saw two people standing at the railing, one holding a gun, and the other holding a very medieval-looking weapon.
    And that’s when someone screamed.
     
    * * *
     
    Utter chaos ensued.
    People were now running in every direction. But Storm didn’t run; in fact, he hadn’t moved. He continued sitting there, staring up at us, holding the crossbow bolt.
    A mob of people passed briefly in front of him, screaming hysterically. When they cleared, he was gone.
    This can’t be good.
     
    * * *
     
    I had just turned to Veronica, had just reached out a hand to grab her, when I found myself flying backwards through the air. Yellow light burst through my skull as I crashed hard against an immovable bookcase. I crumpled in a heap, and might have blacked out for a few seconds.
    When I opened my eyes, I saw that Veronica was gone. Amazingly, I was still holding my gun. I stumbled to my feet and searched the area and found her silver crossbow and a single bolt. I retrieved both just as the two policemen rounded the corner and approached me fast. I slipped the small crossbow and bolt into my jacket pockets.
    “ What the fuck is going on up here?” asked one of them. He was breathing hard, but not as hard as I had been.
    My head was still groggy. Veronica was gone, and I wasn’t sure what the hell to tell these guys. I still had no clue how I suddenly came to be flying through the air.
    “I saw someone up here,” I said. “Someone with a weapon.”
    “ And who the fuck are you?”
    “ I’m a P.I. hired to find—”
    “