The Push Chronicles (Book 3): Incorruptible Read Free Page A

Twister, my sluggishness bit me hard.  I turned just in time to see that little white table that used to carry my food tray whipped at my head, a tremendous gust of wind behind it.  In that brief moment of clarity before it hit me square in the chest, I had a strange surge of longing as the cup full of pills that had been sitting on the table flew wild around the airlock.
    That longing passed as pain radiated out from my chest as the impact picked me up off my knees, throwing me against the hard steel wall.  As quickly as it came, the pain was shut off by my supreme mental focus.  It would make for a great bruise and maybe something inside was cracked, but I could still move and fight.  I'd have to act fast though, before either more guards arrived or Twister found something far heavier to hurl at me.
    The lawman wasn't being stupid and playing games with me.  Even as I pushed myself off the wall, grabbing the table in both hands, Twister gestured into the cell itself.  The creak of wrenching metal filled the air from the room.  I didn't want to find out what he was pulling loose to throw at me next.
    I threw the table at him as I sprinted.  It was just meant as a distraction, buffeted away by the corona of wind around the Crusader, and it succeeded.  Human instinct split his attention for just a moment.  That moment was all I needed to throw myself at Twister, passing through the twisting shield and crashing straight into him.  His head struck the floor violently but it was all of my weight dropping on his chest, his real chest, which made him cry out in pain.
    With Twister's concentration broken, the majority of the winds stopped, along with the tearing of steel.  A quick scramble brought my knees up, pinning the Crusader's shoulders to the ground.  Raising up my fists, I looked down him.  What did he see, I couldn't help but wonder?  A fellow hero straying from the proper path?  A wild-eyed psycho who needed to be caged for the greater good?  Or just a desperate woman with no choices left?
    "Stand down," I cried.  "I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to.  Just let me go."
    "You know I can't do that," he said with a wheeze.  "Any more than you would if the -"
    For the first time in these past months, I hated having to shut up a soliloquy, but I didn't have time for it.  I brought down my fists and Twister went limp under me.  There was a moment of swelling panic when he seemed far too still, a moment drawn out by my own altered perception, but then, thankfully, came a shuddering breath.  I hadn't killed him.
    The sound of movement behind me caught my attention.  I turned to see Dr. Aziz picking himself up, looking dazed.  Good, maybe he could help me out further than just the key he gave me.  Speaking of the key, I went wide-eyed when I realized that it had been knocked out of my hands.  I stood and spun to look around the room.
    Aziz was rubbing what was probably now a sore back.  The glint of metal at his feet was the key.  I must have dropped it when I tackled him.  Letting out a sigh of relief, expecting a pack of guards any moment, I called out to the doctor.
    "Come on, Doctor," I said.  "We don't have much time.  Get the key and get me free quick!"
    "Huh?"  The man was still a bit dazed.  "What key?  What are you talking about?"
    "The key you hid on me.  Come on, Aziz, it's at your feet and -"
    "I did no such thing!"  His eyes settled on Twister's unconscious form.  "Dear God, did you kill him?"
    "What?!  No, of course not!  I didn't even want to -"
    "I don't care and I don't want to know.  I'm no party to this and I don't want to be."  There was fear in his eyes.  "I only want to do what I need to in order to go home to my family tonight."
    There was a moment as we stood there, looking at each other.  He wasn't sent here by anyone and he hadn't slipped me the key, that was for sure.  But....no.  There wasn't time to think about it now.  I could hear boots