Deadly Paths

by Jack Parker

  The driver cried out in pain and pitched forward. The motion caused the hovercraft to steer off course and sideswipe one of the slowly opening doors. Jessica lost her balance at the turret and toppled backwards into the passenger seat. Her fall jerked the laser upward, and the blue light lanced a crescent moon shaped-hole in the ceiling. The roof started to come down as Victoria made a leap for the vehicle and scrambled onto its bow. She managed to pull herself into the speedboat-like seating area as the vehicle gained speed, and just as Jessica was righting herself from her fall. The driver clutched at his shoulder but resumed control. Victoria could hear the monstrous engines of the C-130 going full blast in the distance even over the noise of the hovercraft's strange engines and the wind whipping her hair like a shredded banner over her right shoulder. Jessica stood slowly and locked eyes with her.

  "It's over, Jessica!" Victoria shouted in a blatant bluff, pointing her empty gun. "Tell your driver to pull over!"

  Victoria didn't think for an instant that assassin before her would truly surrender. Jessica outclassed her in every way if it came to blows. That much was clear. Jessica knew this too. Victoria could see it in her eyes as the woman smirked and gave a small laugh.

  "Or you'll what? Throw your gun at me? You're out. It's obvious, dear."

  Over the wind Victoria heard a new sound. Sirens. Jessica glanced over her shoulder to see what Victoria saw. The approach of three security forces cars giving chase at full speed. The hovercraft darted across the taxiways and turned enough that Victoria could see the C-130 ready for them at the end of the runway. She didn't have much time if she was going to end this.

  "You willing to bet your life one that," Victoria snarled the last word. "Dear?"

  Jessica coked her head, and made a slight motion toward a ring of throwing knives secured in slits in the left leg of her body suit. It was a motion that would have caused Victoria to shoot the woman if she had a round in the chamber.

  "Of course! You would have shot me as soon as you hitched a ride if you could!"

  I'm screwed.

  Victoria twisted and bent over backward as far as she could as Jessica's hand came up. The knife gleamed blue and red in the light of the cars pursuing them as it passed inches above her face. A second small spaded knife buried itself in her right shoulder, and Victoria bit back her scream as she fell to her back, arched her hands behind her head, and did a kip-up that launched her feet first toward Jessica. Both feet connected the assassin in the lower abdomen, doubling her over and knocking her to the back of the seating area.

  Jessica reached behind to the small of her back and produced a long stiletto-style knife, while Victoria pulled the throwing knife from the shoulder with a grunt and tossed it aside. Jessica renewed her attack. Her blade hissed through the air as she made two cuts at Victoria, forcing her to duck, then bend backwards before she managed to catch Jessica's wrist during a third backhanded cut. The women grappled for position, with Jessica making a hungry drooling noise as the blade tasted blood on Victoria's cheek.

  Jessica switched from push to pull, and Victoria cried out in surprise as Jessica suddenly disappeared. Her eyes went wide as her head accelerated towards the laser turret. Stars flashed in Victoria's eyes and she spat blood from her mouth, but somehow managed to stay conscious. She held fast to an arm bar on Jessica's knife hand even as the woman stayed behind her, a tight grip on her hair. Victoria felt Jessica trying to bash her head against the weapon a second time, but turned and jabbed her free fist into Jessica's ribs. The women staggered apart from each other. Victoria shook her head to clear her vision.

  And found herself staring down the muzzle of a laser cannon. She ducked just in time, but not so quick that the smell of burnt hair and ozone didn't fill her nostrils. Jessica rotated the turret a few degrees, and Victoria watched in horrified fascination was the lead security forces cruiser was cleaved in half as easily as a block of cheese right between driver and passenger. He two pieces sent showers of sparks as they careened in separate directions. Victoria came up under the weapon and lunged at Jessica, tackling her to the floor of the passenger area.

  Jessica was a mass of pure muscle with easy access to countless blades in her suit. Victoria knew that if she got her hands free at all at close quarters it would mean death. It was like trying to subdue a crocodile by holding its jaws open with her bare hands. She struggled to pin both wrists and knock the stiletto dagger loose by slamming Jessica's hand repeatedly against the metal floor, but Jessica dug her heels in and rolled, and Victoria found herself on her back, with the assassin leader bearing down on her with the knife. Victoria pressed a forearm across Jesssica's collarbone, clutching tightly at Jessica's wrists in an effort to keep the point of the knife from burying itself in her throat.

  Jessica was wearing a victorious sneer as inch by inch Victoria gave ground. She was losing. Her opponent was just too strong and had all her weight behind the blade. Victoria tilted her head back and grimaced as the blade cut into the flesh of her throat. No! Not like this!

  Victoria let the arm across Jessica's chest slide down. Her hand searched desperately, patted studded metal, grazed over the bumps of the floor. Found the base of a chair and the lugnuts securing it to the deck. Something sharp nipped at her fingertips. Victoria took one last deep breath and wondered if it would be her last.

  "You should have become my sister, dear," Jessica taunted as she made ready to finish her kill. "But now you will die."

  Victoria dug the throwing knife into Jessica's side. Her enemy screeched and twisted away. Victoria wrestled the stiletto free from Jessica's grip and came up under the blonds chin with an open-palm strike that sent her opponent tumbling back onto her butt. Victoria pounced. She held the knife at Jessica's throat and snarled. Jessica only smiled up at her like an innocent schoolgirl as the environment around them suddenly changed.

  There was no longer any wind. The night brightened under the glow of florescent light. There was a new thunderous droning sound in Victoria's ears and the mechanical whirring of other machinery at work. They were inside the airplane. A noise below her made Victoria turn and look. The hovercraft was settling into place and powering down; the noise of its engines fading away like the end of an eighties retro song. Mako stood a few feet below and behind her, dressed in a jet black coverall that looked two sizes two big. He looked ridiculous except for the gun he had pointed at her.

  "Nice move," Jessica coughed. "Too bad you hesitated."

  "Shut it!"

  She didn't dare move as the wounded driver of the hovercraft struggled to lower a ladder over the side. It was a wonder Mako did not just shoot her. If he wanted to interrogate her he a few surprises coming his way. Yet the cargo door was closing and Victoria could still feel speed—the speed of an aircraft lifting into the air. She was trapped. The situation looked hopeless unless…

  Come on Jake. What in bloody hell is keeping you?

  * * *

  "Son of a bitch this thing is heavy!" Jake complained to himself as he struggled to climb the maintenance ladder on the outside of the hangar. Inside the remains of the weapon's original crate he had found a single nylon strap that could be clipped to either end of the laser and adjusted for easier carrying. Right now that strap was cutting into his chest and was sure to leave a nasty red mark. Parts of the weapon were also digging into his rear end and bouncing against him painfully. It was as if the weapon had the evil intent to pull him down and knock him from the ladder.

  Jake could hear voices and shouting behind him, and he wondered if he had been spotted. It didn't seem like it, since several armed security personnel ran by directly below him on their way to the flight line. Three police cruisers also drove under, lights and sirens blaring. If he had approached the flight line from the ground they would have caught him for sure. He had to hand it to Victoria. She knew what she was doing. He just hoped the laser could reach his target.

  He could hear the distant drone of the C-130's mighty engines hungering to lau
nch the mighty beast into the air as he neared the top. He pulled himself over the final rung and onto a catwalk that traversed around the slightly slanted roof, set the laser to the side for a moment and lay there panting. He wondered if the bad guys would wait for him to take a little nap.

  "Come on. Get up."

  His pep talk wasn't working.

  "Get up and move, lazy ass . . ."

  Jake groaned and hefted the heavy weapon onto his shoulder as he stood, preferring not t use the strap for the moment. Someone shouted at him from below.

  "Hey you! Get down from there!"

  Shit.

  Jake did the only thing he could think of as he looked down from the catwalk and saw the armed guard running for the ladder. He knelt, aimed the laser at the ladder, and pulled the trigger, sweeping downward. This time Jake noted that the weapon had very little kick to it, but still produced quite a punch as he melted away near five feet from the top of the ladder in single second-long burst. The laser continued from where he aimed all the way to the ground, scorching a black line. The guard on the ground cried out in surprise and dove for cover, thinking he was under attack. Jake could see all the way back to the Red Flag building parking lot from here, where ambulance lights were flashing. Hopefully, Charlie really would be fine like Victoria said.

  Jake got to his feet again and ran along the catwalk with heavy thudding steps that made him hope the flimsy metal grating could support all his weight. He made it to the end where he found another small ladder leading to the curved top of the hangar and climbed. The C-130 was taxing out to the end of the runway. The true top of the hangar was a short walk up the metallic roof. Its flat surface was the ideal place to fire from, as part of the hangar itself blocked his view of the aircraft from here. His legs screamed as he ran along the roof's upward inclined.

  "Victoria honey you are so gonna owe me big time for this," he panted.

  He nearly lost his balance and had to steady himself as the giant doors to the hangar rumbled open. A boat zoomed out from the hangar's maw like a bat out of hell and headed straight for the waiting aircraft, which had its ramp lowered. The three police cruisers, which had been headed out to the taxiway, perhaps to intercept the huge aircraft, turned and chased the boat. A flying boat.

  "The hell is that?" Jake asked

  Something was going on in the boat's passenger area. Jake fiddled with a nook in the top of the laser, trying to remember how to open something he had discovered back on the freeway.

  "Come on damn you, you stupid thing, open!"

  Jake pounded what he knew was a flip-open door with the side of his fist. It was a pressure release. The impact made the door hiss open and an aiming scope popped out.

  Jake hefted the weapon, his arms trembling under the weight as he looked through the scope, and saw Victoria grappling for a knife with Jessica, blood oozing from her shoulder.

  "Damn it. Her again!"

  Jake lumbered for the top of the hangar. He knelt and prepared to fire at the aircraft, and had to roll out of the way as a laser blast from the flying purple speed boat cleaved a police cruiser in to and traced upward, nearly doing the same to him as the electric blue beam scorched a flaming groove in the roof.

  "Jesus Christ!"

  Jake cradled the laser in his arms and quickly resumed his kneeling stance. He aimed at the tail section of the huge aircraft, intending to cleave it right off. He checked his aim through the scope. Victoria and the boat had almost reached the plane.

  "Well, I guess range won't be an issue," Jake said as he prepared to squeeze the trigger.

  "Don't move!" a stern voice behind him commanded.

  "Oh my God, really?" Jake whined without moving a muscle. How the heck had he gotten up here? "Officer, didn't you see that blast? I need to stop that plane."

  "Drop the . . . the . . ." The military cop stammered.

  "Laser gun works for me."

  "Just drop it. Hands on your head."

  "Look, buddy,' Jake tried to explain. '"I'm on your side. But I can't drop this thing. That plane is trying to escape our country with who knows how many more weapons just like this one here. You have to let me stop it."

  Jake could hear the young man shaking, his aim with his M4 unsteady. Dangerous.

  "You could be one of them. Giving them cover for their escape. The base is on full alert. Now drop the weapon!"

  Jake sighed. "Alright. Alright. Take it easy. I'm going to put it down slowly. It's really heavy. Then I'll show you some ID."

  Jake lay the laser slowly to the ground, and his very muscles seemed to sigh in relief and thank him for putting down the burden. Then he held his hands up slowly. Jake turned and saw a jumpy young kid not too far removed from high school pointing a weapon at him. His back foot was but inches from the glowing orange groove the laser from the boat had just cut.

  "Now move away from it!" The cop commanded. "Stand up slowly!"

  Jake did as he was told, but looked again at the groove. If he hit it just right . . . Jake stomped hard with his left foot as he stood. The metal roof under each of them buckled and curled inward, and the cop lost his footing and toppled sideways. He fell face first over the groove bracing himself like a bridge to keep from falling through. The fall would have been fatal, but Jake moved quickly to help him up—and then knock him out with a single punch. He dragged the guard a safe distance away from the unstable roofing around the grove and picked up the laser. He took aim as the C-130 gained speed and neared the end of the runway, and found as it took to the air that he couldn't squeeze the trigger. Victoria's words rang in his ears.

  "You shoot that thing down even if I am on board. Do you understand? It does not get off the ground. Promise me."

  Victoria and the boat were on board. He hadn't seen that happen. It was possible with all the technology that he had witnessed today that the hovercraft could turn invisible or something crazy like that, but Jake doubted it. Victoria was on the plane. He watched the aircraft grow smaller through the aiming sight ant took deep breaths. He just couldn't do it. Even if he didn't take the shot, she was not likely to survive now. Jake threw the weapon down in disgust. He screamed, pounding his fist into the cold metal below him.

  "I'm sorry, Victoria," he murmured. "I just can't keep my promise. I love you too much to do that."

  Jake looked skyward and regretted never telling her his real name. He tried to have faith that somehow, some way, he would still get the chance.

  * * *

  The driver collapsed from his wound after getting the ladder in place. He seemed like he may be of Arabic decent, and Victoria wondered vaguely just how many nations might be included in the group trying to pull of this weapons heist. The event took Mako's attention from her for a heartbeat, just long enough for her to haul Jessica to her feet and place her between herself and Mako—knife firmly in place at Jessica's throat.

  "Drop the gun, Mako!" she warned. "Or your woman gets a new smile."

  She poked Jessica slightly, making the woman grunt angrily. She felt Jessica fidgeting, and whispered a warning in her ear.

  "And you keep your hands up where I can see them, blondie. I've had quite enough of your tricks."

  Jessica's hands came up with reluctant compliance.

  Mako waved his gun around below as if it were a conductor's baton and laughed.

  "Go ahead! Slit her throat. She got in that mess so she probably deserve it."

  Victoria was a little taken aback. In front of the Mirage the two of them had acted friendly enough for her to think they might be better acquainted. Jessica made a rude noise.

  "Bastard," her prisoner croaked.

  "You do that, and I just kill you," Mako continued with a little shrug. "I was just going to have a chat. Since you are now. . ." Mako waved his gun around again, searching for a word. "guest."

  "Either way it's over, Mako. The Air Force will never let this plane get far now. Not with my associate on the ground directing things."

  "He won't be a
problem," Mako said as he walked over to the ladder and began to climb. "And please, call me Sasha."

  "Stay where you are!" Victoria barked. Mako ignored her. She pushed on the knife, forcing a small yelp from Jessica. Mako stopped halfway up the ladder.

  "I'm sorry Devotchka," Mako said after a short stare. "You should have not let her on board. Now I have to do things the hard way."

  Jessica strained to speak. Her hands tilted forward.

  "For the last time, I hate—"

  He pointed his gun and fired. Blood spattered Victoria's face and Jessica went limp in her arms. Victoria let her fall and dove for cover behind the laser turret mounting. Jessica fell to the floor on her back and stared lifeless at Victoria with a neat new hole in her forehead. A small blade concealed in her fingers fell free. Had Jessica known what was about to happen, or had Mako just saved her life? She would probably never know.

  Mako's boots thumped heavily on the metal floor as he jumped aboard.

  "Now Ms. Kinglsey, if we can be civil, let me show you the real value of these weapons."

  "How bout I show you the value of my foot up your ass?" she snapped as she inverted the knife in her hands and tried to figure out how she could get the jump on him. She could go for the laser, and maybe bring down the whole plane in the process. She also had one more game show gadget in her hip pocket. She slowly unzipped it and took hold of the small flashlight.

  "There's no need to be rude," Mako said. "I'm sure you realize I could have killed you twice already if I wanted. I will holster my weapon. Let us talk."

  She risked a quick glance around the turret and found him five feet away, keeping his word. She rose, but kept the turrent between them. She watched as he moved to check on the unconscious man by the ladder. Then he held up an index finger for her.