Enter The Nexus: The Nexus Trilogy, #1

Part One: The Arrival

Chapter 1: Jack Taylor

––––––––

OFFICER JACK Taylor ran at full speed when New York City disappeared. The street vanished, replaced by a black, smooth surface right in front of him, and he didn't have time to think about stopping before he slammed right into it. His chest cracked against the wall first, followed by his head. The wall felt as hard as rock or metal, but he couldn't tell which. He didn't have time to consider it as he staggered backwards. He landed on his back, where he lay, struggling to breathe from the pain in his chest.

As his breathing began to come back in gasps, his whole body trembled from the adrenalin still pumping through him. Only a few minutes before, Jack had been walking his beat in Brooklyn and had stopped to talk to his buddy Franklin at a newsstand about the last Knicks game when he heard screams coming from behind him.

Jack turned to see an old woman yelling My purse, my purse while a skinny teenager in baggy jeans ran away from her.

Go get him, Jack, Franklin yelled.

Before Franklin even finished the sentence, Jack broke into a run after the teenager. His arms pumped as he chased the thief down the sidewalk. A little girl in braids pointed and yelled as they went past the public library. A trio of teenage boys on a street corner howled as Jack flew by. The audience made him run faster, but the thief ran like lightning, arms and legs a blur as he kept going for three blocks. The thief even ran through a busy intersection without regard for the green light, leaping over the hood of a Mazda, and leaving it blaring its horn behind him. Jack felt a burning in his calves as his legs began to give out, but Jack wouldn't let him get away. He clenched his teeth and put in his last ounce of speed.

As they went down another street, the thief stumbled over a broken portion of the sidewalk. It gave Jack the chance he needed. As the thief struggled to regain his footing, Jack came within inches of the teenager's hood. Just as he had been about to reach out and grab the punk, Jack had been blinded by a bright flash of light. A second later, the black wall had come out of nowhere.

Jack rubbed his aching chest where it had collided with the wall. What in the—

The ground felt gritty like sand under his fingers. His eyes swept the area around him, trying to find something familiar. It reminded him of the corridor of some sort of stone castle from medieval times, but he wasn't inside or underground. The walls surrounding him seemed to be made of the same dull metallic gray substance.

The dim light came from torches mounted on the blackened walls every few feet. Jack looked up to see a gray sky hanging heavy with swollen clouds, but couldn't tell night from day. A cold wind blew endlessly through the corridor, chilling his exposed brown arms and face. Yet the air felt thick as if it had been breathed too long, and smelled of rotting vegetation.

Jack forced himself to brace his hands and sit up.

Jack felt an unsettling feeling from the environment. He couldn't pin down the feeling, but the air, the light, and even the way he moved all felt different from anything he had felt before. He couldn't make sense of where he found himself. He had never been out of New York, but he was pretty sure even Europe wouldn't make you feel lighter.

Jack focused his attention on the others in the corridor with him.

A middle-aged Caucasian man wearing an expensive tailored suit stood facing another wall. He held a leather briefcase in one hand. His other hand reached out with the finger outstretched as if pushing something. As Jack watched, the man seemed to have just noticed his surroundings, looking around while slowly lowering his extended hand.

A young Hispanic woman in a simple blue dress crouched in the hallway as if trying to get something low to the ground. She held a thick book in her left hand, and reached forward with her right hand as if about to grasp something. She, too, looked around herself in bewilderment.

Jack couldn't help thinking both of them looked as if they had been in the middle of doing something else before arriving here, just like he had. Jack imagined he probably had the same look of confusion on his own face. He felt a little relief in knowing he wasn't alone, invited to a party everyone else knew in advance.

The third person in the corridor, an Asian girl in her early teens, sat cross-legged on the floor. Her eyes remained closed as she smiled, seemingly oblivious to her surroundings. Her elbows rested on her knees with her arms extended, fingers pinched together, as she hummed softly to herself. Her tie-dyed shirt stood out brightly in the flickering torchlight. She looked like she belonged in a yoga class instead of a dirty floor in a darkened world.

The man in the suit shot Jack, the girl, and the woman a harsh glare through the lenses of designer eyeglasses. Where am I? This isn't the fifteenth floor.

The woman with the book slowly rose to her feet as her eyes widened. The book tumbled from her hand to the ground with a loud thud. She blinked and reached up to brush a lock of her brown hair away from her eyes. Who-who are you people? What am I doing here?

Jack didn't see anyone else. He knew from his time on the streets that chaos loved a vacuum. When a gang leader in his neighborhood had died in a shootout, the fight for the piece of the drug trade had been worse than the fighting between the established gangs. Jack couldn't allow them to fall into a panic. He needed to bring them together.

He pushed off of the wall behind him to rise to his feet. His chest continued to ache from slamming into the wall, but pushed the pain to the back of his mind. I was about to ask you the same question.

With his pain and disorientation fading to the background, he took a deeper look at the woman, and felt stunned for a moment. He had never seen a more incredible woman in his life. She wore little make-up, which only made her full lips, large brown eyes, and round cheeks even more enticing. Her brown hair hung past her neck, framing her face perfectly. Her dress reached her ankles, and seemed designed to hide the curves of her body, but he still saw enough to draw his eye. She seemed to be dressed with the utmost of modesty, as if desperate to hide her beauty. If so, she failed.

He forced himself to look away. This wasn't the time or place to be ogling a lady. He always made it a point on his beat to stay professional, even when women tried to flirt with him. This couldn't be any different.

The man in the suit turned his harsh glare back onto Jack. All right, I want to know why I've been brought here. Which one of you is in charge?

I don't think any of us are in charge. Jack looked down the corridors stretching to his left and right. Both ways ended in a turn blocking his view of what lay beyond them. He still felt some disorientation from his jump from chasing down a suspect to sitting in an empty hallway.

The businessman put down his briefcase and made a show of checking a Rolex gold watch on his wrist. Look, I don't know what's going on here, but it is now nine-twenty. I've got a very important meeting at nine-thirty. Someone better tell me how to get back on the elevator so I can get going.

Jack opened his mouth to respond when he heard a sound, a rumbling like thunder, but coming from the ground instead of the sky. He felt it in his feet, in his bones. It triggered a primal sense of fear inside him. He always prided himself on his cop sense, the ability all police officers had to sense trouble. A good cop could just look around a room and tell when things were gonna go down. He felt it now, an intuitive feeling of danger he could no longer deny. He unbuckled the holster on his belt. He hadn't had much occasion to use his weapon since he began walking his beat, but he felt he needed it now. You were on an elevator?

The man in the suit rolled his eyes. Yeah, I was on an elevator. And I'd like to get back on it.

Jack couldn't understand how the man could be so focused on a business meeting when their surroundings pointed to a greater mystery. At that moment, Jack feared for their very lives. The man in the suit seemed more worried about his job. But do you remember getting from here to there? Leaving the elevator? Walking here? Or were you just minding your own business, and then boom? You just showed up here?

The man in the suit threw his hands in the air as he snapped, Yeah, the latter. But I really don't have time to chew the fat about this. Right now, I have some very important clients—

The same thing happened to me. The Hispanic woman interrupted, holding up one hand. She shot her wide eyes at Jack. With her shoulders hunched, and her fingers trembling, she looked even more terrified. Of all of them, she showed the most fear. Well, except I wasn't on an elevator. Were you on an elevator, sir?

Jack shook his head as he looked up at the wall he had collided with moments ago. No. I was chasing a suspect. Walking my beat and started hearing screaming. Purse snatcher. Almost had him, too. Next thing I know, I'm running into this wall, and now I'm here. What about you, ma'am?

She slowly bent at the knees, lowering herself to reach the book she had dropped earlier. She picked it up, wrapped her arms around, and hugged it to her chest. I was in Houston. I'm-I'm a librarian. I was just restocking the shelves when I wound up here. It seems like we went from one location to the other, instantaneously. It's like we've been teleported.

Teleported? The man in the suit scowled. "What, like Star Trek?"

She nodded her head hard, making her hair fly around her face. Exactly.

I thought that was impossible.

She seemed to grow calmer as she waved a finger over her head. Well, I think the evidence suggests otherwise. I mean, scientists believe on a quantum level—

The businessman held up his hand with his palm out. Spare me the science lesson. I was just asking. The point is, how do we get un-teleported?

Jack looked into the woman's eyes and said what he knew they were all thinking. I think we're in trouble here, people.

He drew his 9mm Glock pistol out of his holster. The cold metal grip brought him some comfort, knowing he could defend himself in this new environment.

At the sight of the weapon, the woman's shoulders dropped slightly, and she seemed to grow calmer. Jack knew his pistol had that affect on that people, reassuring them he could protect them.

But the businessman seemed to have the opposite reaction. His eyes widened in terror at the sight of the Glock. He even took a step back, up against the wall behind him. You're a police officer, right? For real? That's not just a costume or something, is it?

No, it's not a costume. Jack tapped the badge on his chest with a finger. Jack Taylor, NYPD.

He snapped the safety off his pistol, and extended his arms with his gun pointing up at the sky, ready to fire.

The businessman leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. NYPD? The New York Police Department? Why are you in San Francisco? You don't have jurisdiction here.

That's the trouble, sir. A minute ago, I was in New York. I take it you were in San Francisco.

The sight of Jack's Glock seemed to have broken through the businessman's anger and arrogance. Maybe the weapon had driven home the danger they found themselves in. For the first time, he looked afraid and uncertain. His Adam's apple bobbed on his throat as he swallowed hard. Y-Yes. I was on my way to see a client. I-I entered the elevator of the Kumitsu Building, pressed the button for the fifteenth floor and ended up here.

Jack wanted to say he had no idea what the Kumitsu Building was, but let it go.

Finding out more about the businessman reminded Jack of the little girl still sitting outside of the group. She hadn't spoken a word or even moved since they appeared in the mysterious hallway. She just sat there with her ankles on her thighs, hands resting on her knees. He wondered if she had fallen asleep until Jack moved closer and heard her humming softly to herself.

Jack took another step towards her to poke her sandal-clad foot with his toe.

The girl opened her eyes, blinked, and reached under her braided pigtails until she dug out a set of white earbuds. She looked up at Jack with a scowl. Huh? Like, what's the deal, pig? Can't you see I'm in a totally—

She blinked and looked around herself. Jack expected her to react with shock and horror as the others had. Instead, a grin slowly spread across her face. Whoa, far-out. Like, what's the deal with this place?

Chapter 2: Brenda Martinez

––––––––

IN THE mysterious hallway, Brenda Martinez watched the teenage girl's braids bounce around her head as she jumped to her feet. Brenda guessed the girl to be around thirteen or fourteen. With her tie-dyed shirt and sitting pose, Brenda thought the girl was practicing yoga. But when Jack gently kicked her foot, the girl pulled earbuds out, which no true yoga devotee would be listening to. Brenda had read about yoga, and knew meditation and focus were core tenets to its practice. The girl's hands went to her pocket, and pulled out an iPhone connected to her earbuds. She seemed more surprised than scared. Curious, but not afraid.

On the other hand, Brenda kept her fists clenched, trying to hold down the scream threatening to burst out of her, the same scream she had been holding in since she left the library and ended up here. The others seemed to be handling things much better than she did. While they all stood around talking and arguing, Brenda just felt like running for her life. She didn't know where she would go, but she just wanted to go somewhere. She felt exposed. Fight or flight was the natural response in all creatures when faced with stress. It seemed like Jack and the man in the suit responded with fight. Brenda definitely fell into the category of flight.

She allowed herself another glance at the police officer, Jack Taylor. He seemed so commanding and in control. As the sole figure of authority, Brenda supposed he had to be qualified to take charge. He also looked gorgeous. A tall man with rich brown skin, broad shoulders, powerful arms and chest, and a strong jaw with blazing brown eyes.

When they first met, she thought she had seen Jack looking at her body. She knew she should have been offended, but she wasn't. In fact, she felt flattered, and admired him in turn, but she didn't know