by Peter Tylee
“No I mean he’s gone. He escaped through the portals… but not before killing Mindy.”
Dan hung his head and sent a silent prayer to wherever people went after death. He hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to her but he’d sensed she was a decent person. Take care of her, Katherine.Dan thought his wife must know her way around the afterlife and was therefore the perfect person to help with Mindy’s transition. If an afterlife exists, that is.The jury was still out, and would be until the day Dan died.
Now that the danger had passed, other women started to appear. They tentatively stepped into the lounge room and eyed the intruders with as much suspicion as they’d lavished on Guild members. Simon took charge and tried to reassure them by holstering his weapon and resting the Cobra-KT next to the couch. He waved them closer. “It’s okay, you’re free now.”
“Free?” Restrained hope twinkled in the speaker’s eyes. She was short, shorter than the others. The Guild had so thoroughly beaten hope from her spirit that now it’d returned, it stung her. Tears were forming in her eyes and she wrapped her arms around her body for comfort. “We’re free?”
“You will be soon,” Jen affirmed from the couch. “We’re all getting out of here.” She sat up with Dan’s assistance and looked at him askance. “Any chance you brought microchips?” Or do we have to go spine gouging?
“We might have to make a couple of trips,” Dan said and handed over the device. Jen wasted no time cracking the case and handing out the precious rice-like chips.
One of the women did a headcount and said, “Someone’s missing.”
“Mindy?” Simon asked.
She nodded. “That’s right. How’d you know that?”
There was no easy way to say it. “She died.”
They met the news with grim silence, but also an acceptance that Simon had never before witnessed. These women had seen enough hardship, violence and death to grow a thick emotional defence that one more death couldn’t scratch.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Simon said, waving them toward the portals. He was nervous that the Guild members might return better prepared. Or maybe Esteban will come back with…The thought, unfinished, still sent a chill down his spine.
“Wait a minute,” Dan stopped them. “How will we get back in?”
Jen looked at him in confusion. “Don’t you have chips with proper access?”
“Ah, actually… no.” Dan shook his head.
“Then how did you get in to start with?”
“Long story,” Dan replied evasively.
“I don’t want to do it again.” Simon swallowed hard. “That’s pushing our luck too far.”
Dan nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. You go ahead to the portal while I… find a chip we can use.”
Simon masked a shudder and led the procession to what he considered the front of the compound. The short woman sidled up to him on the way, slipping an arm around him and pulling herself close. She liked him; it was obvious. And while Simon found it flattering, he was thoroughly embarrassed. Before they were halfway to the portals, he was everyone’s hero and they showered him with attention.
Jen, who’d stayed behind, looked at Junior’s vomit- and blood-covered corpse. “Is that where you’re going to…”
“Yes.” Dan nodded distastefully. “You can go ahead if you’d like. It’s not going to be pretty.”
Jen shook her head. “No, I’d like to stay if that’s all right.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” He didn’t know what else to say. He’d prefer to work alone; it’d be easier that way. He stripped the clothes from Junior’s torso and rolled him onto his stomach. Then he gripped the handle of his Ka-Bar and carefully selected the correct vertebrate. Parting Junior’s skin felt like peeling a peach. And when his knife struck bone, it felt as though he was grinding seed. A knife wasn’t the preferred instrument for removing a segment of a human spine and it took him five oath-filled minutes to remove the hacked and blood-smeared bit of bone. “This had better be the right one.” It was the segment from beneath the tiny scar, but Dan wasn’t a butcher and didn’t really know what he was looking at.
Jen was watching expressionlessly from the couch. “I think that’s it.” She didn’t know either, but it looked about right. The corpse had a messy hole in its back, the surrounding tissue massacred by Dan’s knife. He rolled Junior over for no other reason than to hide his untidy work. Next, he cleaned himself with help from the bar sink and wrapped the spinal segment in a tea towel.
“Okay, let’s go.” He helped Jen to her feet and supported her to the portals. When they arrived, the first six women to receive microchips had already gone. Simon keyed the destination and invited Dan to follow them. He flashed away, collected the chips, and reinserted them into Jen’s chip selector to mask their signature for the return trip. Junior’s microchip worked perfectly and he reappeared a minute later, and they only had to repeat the process once more to get everyone out of the underground nightmare.
Jen turned to Dan when the last of the women were gone. “I need to say something.”
“Uh, guys…” Simon interrupted incredulously. “This isn’t the place. Can’t you wait for another two minutes?”
“I suppose so,” Jen said with an uncertain expression. She deeply searched Dan’s eyes and found understanding there. Maybe I don’t need to say it at all.But she intended to anyway, just to make sure.
*
Sunday, September 19, 2066
9:42Sydney, Australia
The Raven snarled at his change of luck. He hated the shackle of his omen. It hadn’t come. Yet. He’d hoped to eliminated Samantha Lee and David Coucke while Dan was busy. Now he had to contend with all of them again. On the up side, at least he knew where Jen was. Her absence had begun to bother him – since he had to get rid of them all to collect his two million Credits.
The neighbourhood was the perfect cover, for which he couldn’t have been happier – the kind of deserted urban landscape he thrived in. A raven’s paradise. Ravens haunted deserted and barren landscapes. He was a human raven, so it made sense that he’d operate best in barren human environments.
Still, it was a dismal place. So desolate.Hideous, pitiable creatures scratched a forlorn existence from the rubble. Why do they bother?He couldn’t honestly answer that question; it was beyond his capacity for reason.
The Raven was crouching in an abandoned house, which someone had deliberately converted into a dump, or so it seemed. Someone had mistaken a corner of the room for a latrine and defecated there many times, leaving a huge pile of shit. So the air reeked, but he could filter that distasteful sense through his embedded computer, attenuating his disgust at his surroundings. Indeed, the overpowering stench made it the perfect place to hide. Nobody would voluntarily come within 50 metres of the rancid hole. The flies were worse. They buzzed incessantly and frequently landed on him with their shit-caked feet. Yet he had a good vantage to observe the house where Dan and the others were hiding.
Due to an alarming lack of video equipment installed in this area of the city, the Raven was relying primarily upon his eyes – something that made him intensely uncomfortable. It was easier to trust cameras and he could use them to observe multiple angles simultaneously. Now he felt hampered, but accepted the assignment conditions without complaint.
The omen however… that was something else entirely. It frustrated him greatly that his protector hadn’t given him permission to swoop while his quarries had been apart. And still he was waiting. He was willing to take them all if the omen would just give him the opportunity. The house didn’t deter him. He’d accessed the schematics from the New South Wales Police Department’s database and he knew where contractors had skimped to complete the contract on time and budget. There were always vulnerabilities. It was just a matter of knowing where they were and how to exploit them.
So the Raven waited, and watched.
*
Sunday, September 19, 2066
9:49Sydney, Australia
Jen and Samantha embraced as soon as they saw each other, though Samantha was the only one to shed tears as the pent up tension from the past several days came rushing to a blissful conclusion. She just couldn’t contain the overwhelming urge to cry. She didn’t know why, but it felt good.
“Shh,” Jen soothed her. “I’m okay, I promise.”
Samantha wasn’t so easily reassured. “Are you? Really? Did they hurt you? I swear if they-”
“Most of them already are,” Jen said. “Dead I mean.”
Except for Esteban,Dan thought bitingly. I still have to remedy that.
“I’m fine,” Jen was saying. “Really.”
Samantha’s relief came with another torrent of tears, which required both Jen and Cookie to soothe. Dan and Simon just felt awkward, watching the reunion uncomfortably from the kitchen. But they stayed respectfully silent instead of whitewashing the moment with sarcastic or light-hearted remarks.
The headaches and nausea, Jen’s constant companions, were gone. Though she had the uneasy feeling another bout was near. She’d learned to recognise the preliminary signs and didn’t want to be standing when the next round struck. “I have to lie down.”
“Come on then.” Samantha began helping her to the bedroom. “You need rest.”
“Dan?” Jen turned back to him. “Can you come?”
He hid his surprise well. “Sure,” he said nonchalantly and followed her into the second bedroom where Samantha was helping her into bed.
“It’s the drugs, I’m going through withdrawals,” Jen explained.
“Drugs?” Samantha’s eyes popped wide. “Did they addict you to something?”
Jen shrugged. “I s’pose so.” It was a disturbing thought but it’d been fact for long enough that she no longer flinched. “They’re wearing off I think. They injected me twice. Once at the start and once last night, I think.” Time was a blur and she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t even know with any degree of certainty what day it was.
“Is there anything we can do?” Dan asked, as concerned as Samantha. “Do you want to go to hospital?”
She gently shook her head. “No, I’m on top of it. Give me another few hours and I’ll be fine.” I hope.That was what she’d been telling herself all along, so that’s what she’d come to believe.
Samantha reassuringly squeezed her hand. She knew when she wasn’t welcome. “I’ll leave you two alone then.” And she closed the door on her way out.
They remained silent for a long time, studying each other. Jen had wondered what she’d feel if she ever saw Dan again, knowing that he’d killed Adrian Miller. She wondered whether Dan knew Adrian was trying to help. But she surprised herself with her reaction. She didn’t care. It didn’t seem to matter a damn.
Dan read her thoughts, or part of them. “You’re thinking about what I did to Miller.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I suppose I am.”
Dan nodded too, but mutely. He didn’t blame her for holding it against him.
“I wanted you to know that it doesn’t matter,” Jen said, trying to get the words out before the next wave of gut-wrenching nausea.
“It doesn’t?” Dan frowned, not sure he understood. “But I killed him and carved a… that doesn’t disturb you?”
“A little,” Jen admitted. “But I think I would’ve done the same if I were you.”
Dan absorbed the news. He wanted to reassure her too; he wanted to say that it didn’t matter to him if they’d raped her. Doesn’t matter?Dan began to frown. They’re not the right words. I mean, it doesn’t bother me… No, that’s wrong too. I mean, I should say: I think no less of you.Deep down he believed Esteban had raped her, but he couldn’t broach the subject with his mind so muddled; he didn’t want it to come out wrong. Maybe later.
“I just wanted you to know, that’s all,” she said as her limbs began to twist with pain.
“Thank you, Jen.” And he sat beside her throughout the tremors, offering comfort by talking about trivial things in a soothing voice until she fell asleep.
*
Sunday, September 19, 2066
16:55Sydney, Australia
The Raven fumed. He was starting to wonder whether his spiritual protector deliberately intended to vex him before setting him loose. If that’s true, it’s working.He’d killed Dan a thousand times in his mind and imagined nuclear warheads detonating on the house. He was hungry and irritable, not the perfect frame of mind for carefully planned slaughter.
Hurry up, damn you.
*
Sunday, September 19, 2066
19:12Sydney, Australia
Jen emerged to the sound of laughter and, for a moment, she wasn’t sure where she was. The ceiling was different. Then she remembered and it all came back in a rush that left her giddy with relief. The laughter was from Cookie; she recognised his voice now and smiled at his distinctive mid-breath rasp.
For the first time in days, she felt rested. And safe.
And hungry.It felt as though her stomach was a bottomless pit. She staggered out to the kitchen where the others were hunching around the table, an open box of cold pizza in the middle.
“Hey, Jen, how’re you feeling?” It was Dan and he gallantly helped her to a seat.
“Much better,” she said, looking hungrily at the pizza.
Samantha read her mind and nuked two slices in the microwave before setting the plate in front of her. “Here, you need to eat.”
Jen made short work of the first slice and vowed to eat the second more leisurely – but then quickly forgot. She spoke around a mouthful of pepperoni and ham. “So what’s happening?”
Nobody answered.
That means something bad.“What?” The half-eaten slice of pizza remained anxiously frozen in front of her mouth. She hated waiting for bad news.
“We’re waiting for three o’clock,” Dan said cryptically.
“In the morning?”
Dan nodded.
“What happens then?” Jen wanted to know, suspecting she wouldn’t like the answer.
Dan took a long, deep breath before saying, “None of us will be safe unless we finish this, and it won’t be over until we deal with UniForce.”
Jen had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Escaping the Guild had been the easy half of the equation – she still had to remove the threat of future kidnappings. And that meant neutralising Esteban and most of the UniForce management team. There were no other options. And fleeing?She scoffed. That was a temporary fix, which would ultimately lead to a fragmented patchwork of a life. Because once she began running, she knew she would never stop. Her life was in tatters and the only way to recover a semblance of order was to smash the instrument of doom itself.
“What’re you planning to do?” Jen asked. “You must have some idea.”
“We do.” Dan raised his palm to accolade Cookie. “Maestro here’s found enough dirt on UniForce management to put them all away for life.” Which wouldn’t be long – and an infestation of viruses wouldn’t kill them. The instant the other prisoners discovered who they were, inmates would take great pleasure in butchering them. “We can’t legally arrest them,” Dan admitted. That was the darker side of jurisdiction and international law raising its ugly head. “But we have enough for a convincing bluff.”
“A bluff?” Jen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re joking!”
“No.” Dan wished he were. “We can’t arrest them. It’d take weeks to get authorisation for that. And if we tried, they’d pull strings to block it.” Dan shook his head. “All we have is bluff. But it’s a convincing one. You should see some of the stuff Cookie unearthed.”
“So… what exactly are you planning?” Jen repeated, trying to wrap her mind around Dan’s ludicrous suggestion. “March into UniForce headquarters, walk past security and blackmail our way to freedom?”
Dan shrugged. “UniForce security isn’t as good as you might think.”
Jen
laughed and wiped a tear of mirth from her eye before saying, “They’ll know you’re bluffing. They know they can make us disappear.”
“I can be convincing,” Dan said almost inaudibly. “So can my Colt.”
So if bluff doesn’t work, you’ll threaten?Jen pinched the bridge of her nose, desperate to find another solution. “We can’t run, can we?”
“Where to?” Dan asked. “For how long do you think we’ll be safe? I can assure you Esteban won’t rest until we’re dead. And the Raven’s probably tracking us down now.” He had no idea how close he was to the truth. “Before, when you were just another target to apprehend, running was an option. But now? Well… now it’s different.”
Jen felt miserable. The hope for the future that she’d cultivated after escaping the Guild was faltering. She’d imagined a future that included both of them. Somewhere warm… by the beach. With a boat…It was a fabulous dream, but that’s all it was – a dream. The real future looked bleak. But Jen didn’t intend to pass on her one opportunity to turn her dream into reality. She gritted her teeth and said, “Then I’m coming.”
Dan glanced at Simon and saw they shared doubts. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea Jen.”
“Why?” She arched a regal eyebrow and brushed her hair behind her ears. “Because I’m a woman?”
“No.” Dan uncompromisingly shook his head. “Because you need to rest.”
“I’m fine.” It was true, she felt fine. The pizza was working wonders, fuelling her rapid recovery. Besides, there were seven and a half hours to rest. “I’m coming,” she repeated with conviction, glowering at them each in turn and daring them to demur.
Dan opened his mouth as if to speak but remained silent when he saw her determination. It wasn’t just in her eyes, it radiated from her whole body. So nobody objected. They whittled the hours away with light conversation, which periodically returned to what they’d do with their lives after settling the score with UniForce – the corporation charged, ironically, with making the planet a safer place for all.