Die Back

by Richard Hacker

  She peered past Cameron's shoulder. "I was expecting Addison. What have you done to him?"

  Cameron ignored her question. "Where are they?"

  Maya, hands on her hips, stood in the middle of her trendy living room of native stone, hardwood floor and leather. The Astro Spire disappeared into an overcast sky framed by the window behind her. She glared at him, silently daring him to make the fatal move.

  Keeping his gun on her, Cameron glowered. "Do I have to kneecap you to get your attention? Where are the pens?"

  Her back straightened. For a moment Addison thought she just might charge at Cameron, forcing him to take a shot while she wrestled him to the ground. Addison tensed, ready to act. She spoke in a calm tone. "To the right, first door."

  As Maya took Cameron into her office, Addison crept to the doorway, Jules slipping behind him from the bedroom. Maya stepped beside her desk, facing Addison. Cameron, his back to the doorway, had his focus on Maya and a tooled leather box sitting on her desk. What Cameron didn't know was that the box was empty, Addison's pen safely hidden back at his house.

  "Let's have the key."

  She stood, silent–too silent for Addison's taste. Maya seemed to enjoy luring Cameron slowly and methodically into their trap. She turned her head, lifting a hand to the gold chain cascading around her neck.

  Impatience increased the urgency of Cameron's voice. "The key."

  She glared at him. Addison thought he made out the barest hint of a smile. She yanked a thin gold chain from around her neck. I need to stop this before she gets hurt. Addison stepped into the open doorway, but Maya waved him off with a look over her attacker's shoulder.

  "This key?" She tossed it onto the desk, the small, bronze patinated key clattered across the surface, coming to rest in front of the box.

  She scowled, her eyes intense, as if she could cut him in half with a stare. He grabbed a handful of her shirt, dragging her behind the desk, his voice growling. "Open it."

  The key turned in the lock with a metallic scraping. She lifted the lid to reveal four pens: Nikki's Memento, the pen stolen from Jule's mother, Specula, and the pens from Magnus and Yuji, Animus and Incogitata

  Maya has the pens? Or is this some kind of trick?

  Cameron eyed the cache of pens. "I see you've been a busy girl. Sit down and pick up a pen."

  Maya kept a nicely played tremor in her voice. "What do you want?"

  "I want you to pick up a pen."

  Addison stayed at the door. He wanted to stop this dangerous game, but who should he stop? Cameron killed the Inkers and stole the pens. Or did he? But he did have a gun pointed at Maya.

  "Join me, Cameron."

  "What?"

  "You heard me. They all think you're a monster, ever since you murdered one of your own."

  "How do you know about that? Thomas?"

  "Does it matter? It's all in the past. I'm offering you a future."

  "Shut up. This ends now."

  Maya's tone shifted to disdain, as if she wasn't the one being threatened with a gun. "You're a coward. You always were."

  This is not going the way they had planned it. Maya abandoned the script, moving in a new direction. She never said anything about fake pens.

  "You and I both know you don't have the guts to join me. Sure, you can come in here with a gun in your hand and act tough, but when you really have a chance to grab the world by the balls, you can't do it.

  "Enough!"

  Cameron sounded rattled, uncertain what to do. Maybe Maya had a strategy after all.

  "Oh, you want me to do as I'm told?” She leveled an icy stare at him. “Go to hell!"

  Cameron raised his weapon to her head. She stood defiant, daring him to pull the trigger.

  Before he could stop her, Jules, still following the plan Maya had left far behind, stepped past Addison into the doorway. "Maya, I can't find the shampoo." She glanced to Cameron and back to Maya. "Oh, you've got a guest."

  As Cameron turned to Jules' voice, Maya punched him in the throat. He doubled over, his gun falling to the floor.

  Addison strode past Jules into the room, gun aimed at Cameron. "It's over."

  Maya picked up Cameron’s gun. Cameron clutched his throat, gasping for air.

  She aimed the pistol at Cameron's head. "Where is it? Where's the sixth pen?"

  Addison took a step toward them, Jules at his side. "You're not a murderer, Maya. We've stopped him. That's what we wanted to do, right?"

  Cameron, on his knees, held onto the desk, the other on his throat. "Addison? I don't… understand."

  Maya's hard face turned soft, her eyes pleading with Addison. "Don't listen to him."

  Cameron grabbed the desk, using it to pull himself to his feet. "Addison," he coughed, still struggling for breath, "you don't understand."

  She flashed a nervous smile to Addison. "Cameron is a murderer, Addison." She glowered at Cameron, hissing out the words. "Tell him. You killed me before, you son of a bitch."

  He choked up a defeated laugh. "So, it is you again. You're worse than the Black Plague. Clearly, my plan to kill you didn't work."

  Addison couldn't believe Cameron just confessed. "I thought you were my father's friend. A member of the League. How could you do this?"

  "Your father didn't realize who had infected her mind, Addison."

  What's he talking about?

  Cameron sighed. "I'm afraid it's all up to you, Addison. I'm sorry I failed you."

  Jules leaned in, fists clenched. "Yeah, I'd call trying to kill us and murdering Yuji and Magnus a fail."

  "No." He nodded toward Maya. "She killed them."

  Maya's body tensed, her fury radiating toward Cameron. Addison's mind raced to understand the meaning of Cameron's words. With Jules still at his side, he lowered his gun, hoping to slow things down, to give them all a chance to catch their breath before the next move.

  "Maya, if we're going to get his pen, we need him alive."

  Cameron turned to Addison, with what almost looked like pity in his eyes. "Addison, I didn't kill them." He glanced to the open box. "She's the one who stole the pens."

  "Shut up, Cameron! Addison, he's a liar."

  Cameron continued. "You do know who she really is, don't you Addison? I didn't know the first time I tried to stop him, but now I know. His name is—"

  Maya turned, her eyes fierce with rage. In one swift motion, she raised up and struck Cameron across the temple with the gun. He crumpled to the floor moaning, blood seeping from a four-inch gash across his face.

  Him? Kairos? Is she inked? Addison raised his gun to Maya, but dropped it to his side in disbelief. "What the hell, Maya. You just…"

  Maya whirled around, her gun pointed at Addison.

  "What are you doing? Maya?"

  "Sorry, dear. I know part of me should love you, but the other part of me is spread across time. Seven centuries is a very long time. I hope you understand."

  "Who are you? What do you mean you should love me?"

  She hesitated, her lips trembling. "It's been too long and I've paid too high a price. He won't let me go, anyway." Maya's whole body shook, her shirt soaked in sweat, eyes darting with each erratic breath, as if fighting some inner demon.

  "Who won't let you go?"

  Jules pulled on his arm. "Addison, she's insane."

  On hands and knees, Cameron spoke through labored breathing. "Leave them alone. I've got what you want. With my pen you control the continuum. Just let them be."

  With a shove of her foot, she pushed Cameron to the ground, all the while keeping her gun aimed at Addison. The shaking had stopped, an arrogance rising in her voice. "You should have seen Yuji when I shot him in the face." She laughed maniacally. "Totally shocked." Her face hardened, eyes icy with malice. "Magnus at least put up a good fight. Oh, wait, you wouldn't know since you were playing with yourself in the street while the grownups took care of business. Although I suppose I should give you some credit for taking my man down when he tried to ste
al your pen. Nice throw."

  Addison took a step back, keeping Jules behind him, his mind finally allowing the pieces to fall into place. "Oh, my god. You killed the Inkers, not Cameron. It's been you. All along, it’s been you.

  Maya glared, gun aimed at Addison, finger on the trigger. For a brief moment, a softness passed through her, eyes tearing, lips parting as if to speak with tenderness, only to twist back into a furious scowl. A tortured smile creased her face. "My dear, Addison. No, I'm pretty sure I will."

  Before he could raise his weapon, her .357 flashed with explosive force. In an instant, lead ripped into his body, fiery pain erupting in his left arm. The jolt knocked him into Jules and they both crashed into the wall. Stunned, ears ringing, he looked to Jules, crumpled beside him, crimson spreading across her chest, her eyes filled with shock and pain.

  "Jules? No!"

  Maya pulled a pair of loose yoga pants and some flats from a messenger bag she had stashed under the desk, and emptied the box of pens into the bag. She quickly slipped on the pants and shoes, nudging a groggy Cameron with her foot. "Why don't you show me where you keep your pen, Cameron."

  Addison pulled himself over to Jules, ripping part of his shirt off, and pressing the cloth to her chest. He glared at Maya, who had forced Cameron to his feet at gunpoint. "You shot her!"

  Maya paused over Addison and Jules. "You've got a choice, dear boy. Do what you can to save the girl or come after me. Let's see if your girlfriend's right about love." She shoved Cameron out the door, following close behind.

  Addison held the woman he loved in this continuum, his partner in another. "Hold on, Jules. I've got you." Her warm blood oozed from the now soaked cloth, coating his hands. "Please, not again. Jules, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He pressed harder, as if he could force her to survive, but life drained away. Her tear-filled eyes lost focus, blood oozing from her mouth and down her cheek.

  She was gone.

  Once again, Addison looked into the empty stare of her dead hazel eyes.

  ***

  He had lost track of time. Holding Jules' cold hand, his entire body ached for her. Everything seemed dreamlike. He remembered Maya pistol-whipping Cameron and turning the gun on him. No. On Jules. She fired from point-blank range.

  She didn’t intend to kill me. Why would she shoot Jules and not me?

  He pulled himself up from the floor, the room dimly lit by a morning overcast. He found his way to a bathroom. Dried blood covered his hands, arms and chest. The bullet had grazed his arm, then slammed into Jules. He staunched the bleeding with some pads he found in a cabinet, taping his bicep up in a makeshift bandage. Holding onto the sink, he sobbed, then took several deep breaths, wiping tears and snot off his face with a brush of his uninjured forearm. Glancing into the mirror, a man who looked like he had been attacked by an ax murderer stared back at him. He looked weak. Defeated. "Fuck you, asshole." He turned away, resolved. He couldn't be here when the police arrived. They'd ask too many questions. He needed to find Maya. He needed to kill her.

  He arranged Jules’ lifeless body on the floor, placing in her hands a spray of flowers he found in the dining room. His prints and DNA would be everywhere, but he really didn't give a damn what he touched anymore. He kissed her one last time, and slipped out of the condo to race back to his house.

  In his study, he found the drawer holding the fountain pen's box had been forced, the wood splintered and the drawer half open. The box was gone. Addison stood, frozen, overwhelmed by confusion, anger, and pain. Maya, killing Inkers and taking their pens, now had his. She murdered Jules. But why? She seemed so in love with his father. His father trusted her, but how could he not know her true nature? She killed Magnus and Yuji. And if she could shoot Jules down in cold blood, killing his dad wouldn't be that difficult for her. She's fixated on the power of the pens. And now she has Cameron. If she kills him and acquires all of the pens, she controls the continuum.

  Jules' pleading, tearful eyes, her trembling lips, the mask of death slipping over her, haunted him.

  Jules…

  He sat at the desk where his father had worked for so many years safeguarding the world from the power the League's pens held. In a matter of weeks, his father's work had unraveled, total chaos a breath away. Addison had to find Maya and stop her.

  Before all was lost.

  Pursuit

  Maya would only keep Cameron alive if he had one of the missing pens. When she had scanned Addison's League ring, Cameron's name hadn't appeared. But he recalled her words with clarity—"Why don't you show me where you keep your pen, Cameron?"

  A secret sixth pen? Could it be true?

  Addison figured the first place she would think to look would be Cameron's office. He recalled the square-jawed and very serious security agent at the door and imagined Cameron would have many more just like him. How could she get him in the building?

  He ran to the AutoPod, but hesitated. The Citroën, if it ran, might go faster than the speed-governed AutoPod. Dashing to the car, he ripped off its cover. What? Instead of the expected Citroën, he stared at a sleek, curvaceous, low-slung sports car with a Porsche 911 badge. Another twist of the continuum. Opening the door, he couldn't believe his luck. The keys hung from the ignition. But will it start? I hope you kept this thing running, Dad. The engine fired to life with a throaty roar.

  Throwing it into reverse, tires squealed as rubber burnt on concrete. He spun into the street, shifted into first and gunned it. As he raced through Ballard, a hover SUV, black with blacked-out glass pulled behind him, changing lanes with him. He made an abrupt right-hand turn, the SUV driving past. Was it following me or am I just being paranoid? Settle down, Addison. Just get to Cameron's office. At the next roundabout, the same SUV swung in behind him. The police? Or Cameron's security? Whoever it is, I can't let them stop me. He pressed down on the accelerator, the Porsche's engine growling, as Addison and his pursuer charged through intersections, AutoPods and pedestrians dashing helter-skelter.

  Turning onto the main road to downtown, AutoPods lined up in two long columns to the right as the green steel drawbridge began to rise in the distance. Addison pulled into the now empty oncoming lane, the SUV trailing. The bridge angled up five, ten, fifteen degrees. He downshifted, foot crushing the accelerator to the floor, the fierce German beast thundering away from its pursuer. Fifty, seventy, ninety miles per hour when he smashed through the gate and hit the span's steel grating angled at twenty degrees. Sparks from the nose and undercarriage accompanied a banging impact, but the car, still increasing in speed, roared off the end of the span. Airborne for a moment, the 911 slammed to the downward side of the bridge, Addison fighting the steering to maintain control, the rear fishtailing back and forth. Behind him the SUV followed in pursuit.

  Looming in his rearview mirror, the black goliath hit the span's still-rising steel grating at high speed, launching skyward. For a moment, the SUV’s trajectory looked true, but the nose dropped and the SUV smashed into the opposite span at the windshield, shearing off the entire roof and the upper halves of its occupants, bursting across the grating like confetti. A second later, the remaining hulk, plummeting from a hundred feet in the air, crashed through a passing hovertug's deck, the big tug's fuel tanks rupturing and exploding in a massive fireball.

  Addison veered as the concussive blast overtook him, just missing the traffic waiting on the other side of the bridge. Regaining control, he accelerated down the street toward Cameron's office. In the distance, a Tre Venti, an Italian-made flying car with two engines fore and one aft, circled the roof of Cameron's tower, and landed. Minutes later, Addison screeched to a halt by the building's front entrance.

  The skyscraper looked deserted. He ran into the building. Once inside his footfalls echoed in the vast space of the lobby. Where is everyone?

  Silence.

  Once he got to the reception desk, he understood why. The security guard he had seen previously lay on the floor, his mouth filled with foam, his eyes blistered a
nd the air foul with the odor of urine and feces. She gassed them. My God. She gassed the building!

  He grabbed a sphere off the desk, and rode the elevator to the eighty-seventh floor—Cameron's floor. The sphere initiated its elevator ride-long presentation.

  "Grimes Industries provides the products and services which make the world a—"

  Addison frowned. "Mute."

  The sphere floated in silence.

  Reaching the office penthouse level, he stepped off the elevator, his gun raised, determined not to give Maya a chance to shoot him again. The reception room sat empty, except for Cameron's assistant lying in her own vomit on the floor, her face gray with death.

  Voices, a distant conversation, filtered from the inner office. He crept to a slightly ajar door, peering through the door jamb slit. Cameron sat at his desk. Maya, having exchanged her yoga togs for a white turtleneck sweater and a black leather jacket and pants, stood on the other side of the desk, aiming a pistol at his head.

  "Pick up your pen, Cameron. It's called Viator, isn't it? Traveler. I like it."

  "Just kill me and be done with it." He sounded impatient and pissed off.

  "You'd like that, wouldn't you? I admit, you were a clever boy. A sixth pen to give you one more chance to stop me in case I acquired the five. Very hush-hush, very secret agent of you. And I'll give you extra points for sending me into a child about to die of the Plague and then murdering poor Rebecca so I couldn't die back through her. How cruel. I'm almost jealous."

  He glared, his rage putting a tremor in his voice. "I clearly should have done worse."

  Maya paced, keeping her gun pointed in his general direction.

  "You might have snapped her neck, but I've kept Rebecca's consciousness alive with me." She hesitated, punctuating the silence with a guttural chuckle. "No, you didn't put her out of her misery. You provided the tool I needed to destroy the League."