“Dammit, that bastard never gives up!” Annie slammed her foot on the accelerator and the buggy shot forwards.
Behind them, Sonja Watt spotted the danger.
“Get in the back and take cover!” She powered down the hillside, her teeth rattling.
D.B. crawled between the seats and into the rear. He pulled Emily from her seat and threw himself on top of her.
And suddenly Dan realised he was back, lying on the floor of a bouncing vehicle. Back in the middle of another disaster, with a woman he didn’t know trying to drive him to safety.
Behind them Potter was gaining. The soldiers rattled off staccato shots, trying to steady themselves in the pitching vehicle. Sonja zig zagged along the gulley, tracer bullets flashing past her head. The windscreen shattered and Emily gave a horrified whimper
The ground sped past. They were five hundred metres from the base. Then four hundred. Then three hundred.
“We’re gonna make it!” Sonja shouted. Seconds later she gave a strangled gasp. The buggy spun in an arc and ground to a halt.
Dan lifted his head. Sonja Watt was slumped over the wheel, a bloody patch spreading across her back. Potter’s vehicle skidded to a stop and the soldiers began pulling at the ropes keeping them in place.
D.B. lifted Sonja’s pistol from her holster.
“Stay down,” he said to Emily. “I don’t want you to see this.”
He stepped out of the buggy. Emily grabbed at his arm and missed.
“Don’t do it Dan!” she cried. But D.B. was already heading towards the enemy.
The soldiers in the back of Potter’s buggy had put down their guns in order to unstrap themselves. Emily watched her husband marching towards them, like some old time gunslinger. Spotting his advance, the soldiers gave up on the restraints and scooped up their rifles.
Once again, Dan Walton was willing to sacrifice his life to save her. This time he had no chance of succeeding.
D.B. positioned himself sideways to present the smallest target possible. Emily covered her eyes.
Hearing the rattle of rifle fire, she peered tearfully through her fingers.
D.B was still standing.
The gunfire was coming from a thicket of gorse on the other side of Potter’s buggy. A boy wearing a felt trilby and large camouflaged pants burst from the undergrowth, eyes wild, wielding a rifle that seemed far too large for him. Panicked, the soldiers swung their weapons towards the intruder.
D.B. fired four times in quick succession, so rapidly Emily could hardly follow his arm. The men jerked upright and then swung back, hanging from their makeshift harnesses like puppets with their strings cut.
D.B. glanced back at her.
“I’ve had plenty of time to practise.”
In the buggy, Potter sighted his pistol over Naish’s shoulder and took aim.
“Dan!” Emily yelled. “Look out!”
He spun round, too late, as Potter squeezed the trigger.
Naish slammed an elbow into the Brigadier’s face. He jerked back into the driver’s seat, the shot whistling harmlessly into the air.
“I’ve been wanting to do this since I met you.” The woman landed a sickening punch on Potter’s jaw. “You fucking war-mongering bastard.”
The Brigadier’s head slumped forward onto his chest. Naish got out of the buggy, patting herself down. Emily jumped from her vehicle and approached the boy.
“And just who are you?”
“Millar Watt. All round fancy pants and genius in residence.”
The teenager politely raised his trilby and burst into tears.
D.B. was staring at Naish.
“I recognise you,” he said finally. “You helped them do tests on me.”
“That I did,”
“You still work for them?”
Naish glanced back at Colonel Potter, unconscious in the buggy behind her.
“I reckon I just quit.”
The Showdown
Corporations and companies dominate every aspect of western society. Yet their legally defined mandate is to pursue their own interests, regardless of who suffers. According to Joel Bakan, University of BC law professor, this means that all Corporations can be defined as sociopathic.
As far back as 1935 Major General Smedley Butler complained that he had never been more that a ‘high-class muscle man’ for US corporations – adding ‘like all members of the military I never had an original thought until I left the service.’
At the time of his death he was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.
58
MacLellan Base, Kirkfallen Island
Edward Stapleton pulled up outside MacLellan Base, driving over the smoking remains of Yellow Troop.
“Grab as many weapons as you can carry,” he shouted to the Stopwatches, who were emerging from the entrance. “We have to hold this place.”
“What for?” Deep Singh materialized from the shadows, soaked with perspiration and covered in grime. “Nobody’s coming to help us.”
“He’s right.” Annie wiped sweat from her brow. “Edward, we gotta surrender. Potter must still have over two hundred soldiers surrounding us. We’ve got what? A dozen adults left?”
“We could hold out for a day or two.” Deep Singh agreed. “But what good would it do? With the chopper gone, there’s no way off the island.”
“Just keep them at bay,” Edward barked. “Is Colin Walton here?”
“He’s downstairs. What difference does it make?”
“I’m mad as hell, and I sorely want some time alone with him.”
Edward’s eyes were blazing. He unclipped the holster at his belt and pulled out his sidearm.
“Got a problem with that?”
Deep Singh shook his head miserably. The sound of pounding boots rattled along the corridor of MacLellan Base and Wentworth Watt emerged into the light.
“Where’s my wife?”
“I’m sorry Wentworth. She didn’t make it.”
Watt’s mouth twitched. He nodded once. Then twice. Then he leaned forward and whispered into Edward’s ear.
“There’s something you need to see.”
Colin was waiting in front of the Communications Room. Without breaking his stride, Edward slammed the man into the wall and shoved the pistol under his chin.
“You played me for a fool, Col.” Edward pushed the gun further into the man's fleshy neck. “You came here to kill our kids because you figured they were just like Kelty’s daughter.”
He cocked the pistol.
“You were counting on us meeting overwhelming numbers and getting wiped out.”
“That was a last resort, yes.” Colin didn’t blink. “To be used if my main plan didn’t work.”
‘Your main plan?”
“Yes. The real reason I brought Apathy here.”
“Edward.” Wentworth ushered his Commander to the door of Quarantine Room One. “Look in there.”
Edward peered through the observation slit.
Apathy Walton was sitting on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chin. Her hair was plastered to her head and sweat dripped from the end of her nose. She rocked back and forwards, moaning softly to herself.
“She’s gonna release her pheromones any second.” Wentworth stated the obvious. “And now that MacLellan is filled with kids, the quarantine is useless.”
“Get in there and shoot her.” His Commander shut the hatch.
“What?” Colin pushed away Edward’s gun and threw himself in front of the door. “Don’t be stupid! In a few minutes Apathy will release her pheromones and Potter’s men will go crazy and kill each other! But they won’t affect you or the kids!”
“The children aren’t immune!” Edward shouted into his face.
“Of course they are,” Colin stammered “They’ve all got sociopathic parents. They must be!”
“You utter moron!” Edward roared. “The children aren’t ours!”
There was silence in the corridor. Wentworth Watt looked away.
“What are you talking about?” Colin whispered.
“Even army intelligence wouldn’t expect us to give up our own offspring, you idiot! All we did was bring them up!”
He pulled Colin out of the way and flung him down the corridor. The man stumbled and fell onto his knees. Edward turned to Wentworth.
“Get in there and kill the girl.”
“Wouldn’t that mean we’d have to kill Gene as well?”
“Damn you, Wentworth!” Edward recoiled “My son is dead.”
“Eh? Gene’s in here.”
Wentworth pulled open an identical hatch on the next door.
“Fred Wolper set him down in the valley when the boy started to freak out in the copter. Before he flew back to the village.”
Edward pressed his eye to the slit, his heart hammering.
His son was on the floor, curled in a ball, crying to himself. Like Apathy, he was soaked in perspiration.
“And you didn’t tell me?” His fury and relief compounded themselves into an outburst of emotion the man didn’t know he possessed.
“We were fighting a pitched battle, in case you hadn’t noticed!”
“How did he get here?”
“Colin found him on the hillside. Joined the convoy and carried him all the way.”
Edward yanked on the handle of the door.
“Don’t go in there!” Colin scrambled to his feet. “That’ll ruin everything and you still haven’t heard what I got to say. Please! I’ve got a way out of this!”
Wentworth and Edward looked at each other.
“I told you! I didn’t come here intending to kill the kids!” Colin raised his hands. “I had a plan to save them!”
“Which now won’t work.” Edward snapped. “The chopper is gone.”
“Forget the bloody chopper! That wasn’t my original idea!”
“If this is some feeble attempt to save your niece…”
“Exactly!” Colin grasped at the lifeline thrown him. “Do you think I’d lure Apathy here just to have her shot?”
“What was your original plan?” Edward levelled his gun at the shorter man. “And you have run out of time to bullshit me.”
“You have to get your wife down here. And Dan and Emily Walton.” Colin lowered his hands. “You have to do it now!”
“Explain.”
“There’s no time for that! What have you got to lose?”
Edward holstered his gun and grabbed Colin by the collar.
“Come with me.”
He yanked the man up the corridor.
“Put Apathy and Gene in the same room!” Colin yelled as he was bundled away.”
“Do it,” Edward ordered, dragging Colin towards the entrance of MacLellan Base.
Children lined the corridors, wide eyed and terrified. They watched silently as Edward marched Colin past. One or two reached out tentatively, then withdrew their hands.
“Where’s my dad?” Bob McCombie asked in a small voice.
Colin began to shake.
“Whose kids are they?”
“Take a good look.” Edward swept his hand in an arc. “Don’t they seem kinda familiar?”
Colin scanned the passageway. It was the first time he had seen all the children together. Most had straight, dark hair, bright blue eyes and a gap between their front teeth.
“Think of all the times the Stopwatch experiments failed.” Edward said. “There was only one person the army had hold of who they knew had DNA capable of absorbing a massive injection of pheromones.”
He whirled Colin round to face the line of exhausted, fearful faces.
“You!”
“Don’t you dare!” Colin backed away.
“You poor fool,” Edward whispered. “They’re your children!”
Colin fell against the wall, digging fingers into his cheeks.
“Oh no. Oh, Jesus, no.”
Edward pushed him up the corridor. The children watched Colin leave with haunted, uncomprehending eyes.
The pair reached the entrance of MacLellan Base to find the surface in turmoil. The few remaining members of the Stopwatch Unit were laying down covering fire as D.B., Emily, Millar and Naish ran towards them. Fifty yards out, the remains of Black and Red Troop were advancing.
Naish clutched at her arm and fell. D.B. grabbed the woman and pulled her to her feet, staggering on, Naish leaning on his shoulder. They reached a large boulder and scrambled behind, bullets flicking chips of rock from the top.
“They’re not going to make it.” Deep Singh growled in frustration. “We’re totally outgunned.”
“We got any heavy firepower at all?”
“Molotov cocktails, but we can’t get close enough to use them.”
“Yes we can.” Colin began grabbing the petrol filled bottles and piling them into the passenger seat of the buggy.
“What are you playing at?”
“Light these,” he said. “Light every one.”
“You can’t throw them all and drive this thing,” Deep protested. “You’d never make it.”
“You and your wife.” Colin turned to Edward. “Take the Waltons, go below and get in the room with your kids. Act calm. Act relieved. Act happy.”
He pulled a Zippo lighter from his pocket and began igniting the rags in the tops of the bottles.
“Con them.”
Deep Singh moved to stop him.
“Let him go.” Edward removed his pistol and handed it to Colin.
“You know what I’m getting at.” Colin accepted the firearm. “Don’t you?”
“I reckon I’ve figured it out.”
“I’m so sorry Eddie.” The man tucked the gun into his belt. “I was only doing what I thought was right.”
“I realise that.” Edward put a hand on Colin’s shoulder. “Thank you for carrying Gene to safety.”
Colin climbed into the driver seat and turned the key in the ignition.
“Give them hell, kid.” Edward said softly.
Colin slammed his foot on the gas. The buggy’s rear wheels spun and the vehicle shot towards the advancing soldiers.
“That’s my brother!” Emily shouted, instantly recognising the driver roaring towards them, despite the passing of years.
Colin glanced at them, as he sped past their shelter, his expression unreadable.
“Colin! NO!” Emily tried to break away, but D.B yanked her back. He broke cover himself and began firing at the enemy in a doomed effort to save his best friend.
Colin drove with one hand. With the other he pulled bottles from the passenger seat and flung them in front of him.
Explosions erupted on either side of the vehicle. Black Troop leapt out of his path, pouring a hail of fire at the speeding vehicle. Colin headed for the heaviest concentration of soldiers, holes erupting across the hood and sides of the buggy as the bullets found their mark.
One caught his shoulder and an arc of crimson splashed across his cheek. There were still a dozen Molotov cocktails on the seat beside him.
Colin raised a bottle in his hand and smashed it on the floor.
The buggy exploded.
A sheet of flame spread out across the grass in an arc of destruction. Before the oily smoke could drift away, the group behind the rock raced for the safety of MacLellan base and collapsed in the doorway.
Edward Stapleton folded his arms. Then he unfolded them again.
Finally, he gave a salute.
Behind him the survivors of the Stopwatch Unit got slowly to their feet and followed his example.
Ash drifted across Jackson Head and covered the silent men and women standing to attention in the fading light.
59
MacLellan Base. Kirkfallen Island
Edward strode down the corridor with Dan and Emily in tow.
“Hold the rest of Potter’s men as long as you can,” he said. “Close every door and cut out the noise of the fighting. Have someone get me soap, towels and a comb.”
“I don’t t
hink a wash and brush up will stand you in much stead when we go to meet our maker.” Deep Singh commented dryly.
“That’s not who I want to impress.” Edward pulled off his jacket. “I know what Colin had in mind. But we’ve got to get this blood off ourselves.”
Apathy and Gene were sitting side by side on the floor of Quarantine Room 1, their foreheads touching.
“Sorry I’m… not more talkative,” Gene gasped. “I have to say, I’ve felt better.”
“That’s… all right.” Apathy bit her lip until she tasted blood. “I like the… strong… silent type.”
The door to the quarantine room swung open. The teenagers lifted their heads, though even this was an effort.
Edward Stapleton stepped through the doorway, his wife by his side.
“Dad! Mum! Gene tried to struggle upright. “You’re alive!”
“You better believe it.”
Gene’s parents rushed over and knelt by their son, sweeping him into their arms. Apathy squinted past them, trying to clear the blurriness of her vision. Another couple stood in the doorway.
Her sight crystallised.
“Oh, my God.”
Her father’s hair was short and brown and he looked years younger, like the man in her photograph. Emily, holding on to her husband’s arm, was absolutely radiant.
They too hurried over and seconds later Apathy was in her parents’ embrace.
“We’re here baby.” Tears of joy flowed down Emily’s face. “We’re here.”
“We won Gene.” Edward kissed his son on the forehead. He couldn’t get near the rest of the boy’s face because Annie had his head in a bear hug. “Everything is going to be fine!”
“Were here and we’re never leaving you.” Emily stroked her daughter’s cheek and smoothed back her hair.
“I’ll never desert you or your mother again,” Dan said. “Never.”
“You promise?”
“I promise with all my heart.” Her father’s eyes sparkled. “If you’ll both have me.”
Emily let go of her daughter and grabbed him by the back of the head. She pulled him roughly towards her and kissed him full on the lips.
“That answer your question?”
The Kirkfallen Stopwatch Page 23