A hand grabbed mine, and I turned to see a familiar face.
'Brodie!' I said, relieved that it was someone who didn't want to kill me. 'What are you doing here?'
'Looking for you.'
'How—'
'Now's not the time.' She glanced at the dead man on the car. 'Looks like we're too late to find Mister Swan.'
'You know about him?'
She shook her head. 'Later.'
We hurried away through a confusion of back alleys until we'd put some distance between Ravana and us. It couldn't happen soon enough for me. We eventually ended up in an area surrounded by abandoned factories and high fences. Then it started to rain, softly at first, but then hard after a few minutes, leaving us drenched.
A distant roll of thunder reverberated around the buildings.
'Where are we going?' I asked.
'I've got a place.'
'Is it your home?'
'I wish,' she said.
There was that twang in her accent again. 'You're English?' I said. 'Right?'
'No,' she said. 'I think I'm Australian.'
'You think you're Australian—'
'Later.'
Okay, I thought. Later.
She flashed me a smile, and for the first time, I noticed she was quite pretty. We headed down a darkened street as the rain eased to a fine mist.
'Where is this place?' I asked.
'It's close.'
'What happened to your motorcycle?'
'It ran out of fuel.'
'And you didn't fill up because…'
She raised an eyebrow. 'Because I have no money,' she said. 'And I didn't feel like robbing a bank to get some.'
Okay. This seemed reasonable under the circumstances. Brodie ducked under a wire fence, and I followed across a trash-littered vacant lot.
Reaching a double wooden door secured with a chain, she pulled up the bottom edge and created a gap for me to slide under.
Whatever the warehouse used to be was a long time ago. There were odd pieces of machinery all over the place that looked like sewing machines.
'They used to make shoes here,' Brodie explained.
'And before that?' I asked. The high ceilings were almost fifty feet above the floor. A crane and pulley system ran the whole length of the structure.
'Who knows?'
The rain had started again. Harder now. Lightning flashed through the glass skylights in the ceiling, illuminating the dark recesses of the warehouse, but other corners remained in blackness. I didn't want to imagine what lived there.
'We're safe,' Brodie said. 'At least for a while.'
'How long have you been here?'
She shrugged. 'About three days.'
'You don't have a home?'
Brodie shook her head and led me to a small office at the rear of the building. She lit a candle. Its flickering glow revealed a few piles of blankets, tins of food, some bottles of water, and a few books.
'This is home,' she said. 'Ever since I…arrived.'
Arrived?
'Um,' I said. 'What do you mean?'
'I woke in an abandoned building on the other side of town,' Brodie said. 'I had no idea who I was or how I got there or where I came from. I thought I'd been in an accident and so I started looking for a police officer.'
'Makes sense.'
'I had only walked a few hundred feet when a van pulled up behind me. Some guys jumped out and tried to kidnap me.'
My blood went cold. I felt the desire to beat the guy's brains out. Brodie must have seen the look on my face because she forced a laugh.
'It's okay,' she said. 'They got more than they bargained for.'
'What do—'
She threw a few punches into the air. She was fast. Incredibly fast. Unnaturally fast. I didn't realize it when she faced Doctor Ravana back in the room. Now, she dropped down low and kicked into the air. Leaping to her feet, she snatched up a piece of timber and tossed it into the air. Her hand whipped out, struck the center of it, shattering it into matchsticks.
I picked up a broken fragment and examined it thoughtfully.
'Remind me not to start any arguments,' I said.
'I only use my superpowers for good,' she said.
'Seriously,' I said, thinking of her speed. 'That's not normal.'
Being fast was one thing, but she was so fast I doubted any martial arts expert could keep up with her. And she knew what she was doing too. It was like she was born throwing punches.
'I think I'm about three times the speed of a regular person,' she said. 'Maybe faster.'
'Do you know what style you're fighting in?'
'Style?'
'Kung Fu, jujitsu…'
'Oh, that.' She waved the question away as she settled onto her makeshift bed. 'Not a clue.'
'So, you've got amnesia too.'
She nodded glumly. 'I know my first name,' she said. 'But that's about it. I have some ideas about favorite foods and movies. Places I'd like to visit. Not much else. Nothing about my past.'
'How do you know your name?' I asked. 'How did you work that out?'
'It's on my clothing.'
Huh?
I checked the inside of the back of my jeans and—yes! The name Axel was stitched onto a small label. I told Brodie about my experiences: waking up in the room, the guy on the floor, and everything that had happened since I woke. She listened silently until I finished. Then shook her head.
'Good thing I've been following those guys,' she said, sighing. 'Otherwise…'
She let the word hang in the air. I knew what she meant. Without her, I would never have escaped from Doctor Ravana. I owed her my life.
'Thanks,' I said.
'Don't mention it.' She thought for a moment. 'That book must be important. It might answer all our questions.'
'We'll retrieve it in the morning. I know where I left it.'
She nodded. 'Let's get some shut-eye.'
Brodie handed me blankets and a pillow. I didn't expect to sleep, but by the time she blew out the candle, I could barely keep my eyes open. I nestled under the blankets and listened to the steady flow of rain. The wind rose and fell, banging a tune on a piece of loose metal.
Then Brodie was shaking me awake. I peered up into her heart-shaped face and didn't recognize her.
Where am I?
'Time to get moving,' she said.
The events of the previous day came racing back. Unfortunately, that was all. My entire past life was still a mystery. Sitting up, I rubbed my neck. I had a cramp, and I felt cold.
Yep, time to move.
It was still early morning. Brodie handed me a light sweater. She'd said about not robbing banks, but the clothing looked like good quality, and I didn't care if it were stolen. I was glad of it.
We headed back towards where I'd left the book. The rain had stopped, but the streets were still wet. We walked a couple of blocks. Then Brodie nudged me and pointed to an old Ferrari. She produced a wire coat hanger from her jacket.
My eyes darted up and down the street. 'What are you doing?' I asked, although I had a pretty good idea.
'Getting us a ride,' she said. Within seconds, she had the vehicle hotwired, and we were driving through the early morning city. I shook my head in amazement. Whatever Brodie was before she arrived here, she was no girl scout. Still, I wasn't about to criticize her. Without her, we'd be walking twenty blocks. Now we were covering the same distance in a matter of minutes.
After a while, I told her to pull over. I wasn't entirely sure as to exactly which alley I'd left the book. Leaving the car, we made our way down an alley and into a street where I recognized a few landmarks.
A café.
A diner.
A used bookshop.
This is the area. Heading down another alley, my eyes analyzed the brickwork. Is this it? Making our way down to the end, I started to get worried. Maybe I've got the alleys mixed up. We started back the other way. Or maybe Ravana's men have already found it. Just then, I spotted a shadow near the ground. Easing the book out of the slot, I let out a sigh of relief. The rain hadn't gotten to it; the book was undamaged.
I started leafing through the pages, but my excitement slowly turned to disbelief.
'What is it?' Brodie asked, watching my face. 'What's in it?'
'That's the problem,' I said. 'Nothing's in it. All the pages are blank.'