“And one that would make most people do exactly what you were doing,” Theron said. “Or at least, it would make them want to. Most people wouldn't have the courage to do what you're doing. It doesn't make you a monster.”
“Stubborn, hot-tempered, angry, impetuous – ”
“What are you talking about, Xavix?” I asked.
“I'm listing off your personality traits,” he said. “And showing you that monster, does not make the list.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes.
I wasn't so sure that what I was doing took courage. Madness, maybe. But, not necessarily courage. I thought back to all the people I'd shot out of the airlocks of ships we'd captured. That wasn't courageous. That was callous.
“Stop beating yourself up, Gemma,” Theron said. “Get your head on straight and let's finish this. Once and for all.”
“I hate to be the one to remind you,” Xavix said. “But, you are on a very tight time schedule. We have no idea how long Gyrn will be in with the others. If you are going to act, now is the time.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. They were right. The time for self-recrimination for my actions would come. But, now was not that time. I had a job to do.
“Okay,” I said, clearing my throat. “Moving in.”
The building was on the outer fringe of the city. It was a modern looking building, made of mostly glass and steel. Twenty stories tall and tastefully landscaped, it was nondescript enough that it could have been any of a thousand different professional buildings back on Earth.
The streets weren't overly crowded as I made my way toward the side entrance that Gyrn and the others had gone through.
“Two on the door,” Theron said.
He was stationed across the street on a rooftop. Theron was acting as my spotter and the one who would pull me out of trouble if needed. While I was thankful to have him with me for this, I wanted to keep him as far out of the line of fire as possible. I wanted him to get home to Shyrna. And I had no idea which way this fight was going to break.
“Can you do something about the two on the door?” I asked, pitching my voice low to avoid being overheard on the street.
“Already on it,” came Theron's reply.
I walked down the small side street with the target building on my left. I glanced over at the two large Etrosian men guarding the door. They eyed me suspiciously. All of a sudden, there was a blossom of crimson on the chest of one man and a split-second later, an identical spot on the chest of the second. Their eyes widened in shock as they put their hands to the bullet holes in their chests.
As if they'd practiced it, both men sank to their knees and then flopped face down on the concrete. Blood pooled beneath them and they didn't move.
“Damn, Theron,” I said. “Nice shooting.”
“Thanks,” he said. “But, I was aiming for head shots.”
I looked at the bodies and shrugged. “Close enough.”
“Thermal scans show a dozen life forms on the ground floor, Gemma,” Xavix said. “I can guide you through the hallways once you're inside.”
I stepped to the door and cursed under my breath. A handprint scanner had been installed beside the door. And as a second layer of security, there was an optical scanner to boot. Anger flared within me. Dyra hadn't told me about the security measures.
But then, as I looked closer, I realized it was because she didn't know about them. The two scanners had been installed recently. Very recently. I looked at the bodies behind me and gave brief thought to using them to get through the door. But, they were so large, there was no way I'd be able to lift them. And I wasn't about to cut off a hand and pop out an eye. Especially, not knowing if it would even work.
“Dammit,” I grumbled. “There's no way I'm getting through that door. Xavix, can you find me a workaround? Is there another way in?”
“Standby.”
I tapped my foot impatiently, looking up and down the street, my tension growing with each passing second. Anybody could come down the street at anytime. And I was going to have a hard time explaining away two dead bodies.
“Gemma,” Xavix said. “Every door on the ground floor has been outfitted with the hand and optical scanners.”
“Shit,” I growled.
“There is a staircase that leads to a subfloor ten yards from where you're standing,” Xavix said. “That door is not equipped with the security scanners.”
I looked up one side of the building and then down the other, spotting the staircase. I ran to it and bounded down the steps. There was a steel door with a standard electronic keypad lock attached to it.
“Xavix, can you – ”
“Already working on it,” the droid replied.
A moment later, there was a soft beep from the keypad and it glowed green. Xavix had successfully hacked it. Pulling the door open, I rushed into the basement of the building and looked around. There were several lights overhead but much of the floor remained in gloom and shadow.
It looked like a supply room. Or the sort of room all of the excess stuff people “would get to sorting through later” was kept. I didn't see an elevator or a staircase leading up though.
“Xavix, I don't see a way to the floors above me,” I said. “Do you see a way up?”
There was a pause for a moment. “I do not see one,” Xavix said. “No stairways or elevators are seen on the prints for the building and my thermal scans show nothing either.”
“Dammit,” I roared, my voice echoing around the basement. “What the hell do I do now?”
“Gemma, Theron,” he said. “Do you see support columns down there?”
I turned in a circle and there were indeed large, thick columns around the basement.
“Yeah, why?” I asked.
“Open your backpack.”
I took the backpack off my shoulders and knelt down. Theron had insisted on loading it for me, saying he wanted to make sure I didn't bring a knife to a gunfight again. And when I saw what he'd packed, my heart sank into my shoes.
“You can't be serious,” I said.
“I'd actually meant it as a joke,” Theron replied. “But, do you see another way?”
“What is happening?” Xavix asked, clearly not in on the joke.
I pulled one of the half dozen bricks of explosives out of my bag and looked at it, shaking my head.
“Theron is suggesting I blow the building up,” I said flatly.
There was a tense moment of silence on the comms before Xavix spoke up again.
“Given the circumstances,” Xavix said. “I must agree with Theron. There doesn't appear to be another way. And I hate to say it, but you may not get a better shot at this, Gemma.”
“Great,” I said. “Blow up the building. If I do it, you guys are never going to let me live that down.”
“Better that, than missing your chance, isn't it?” Theron asked.
I stood up and paced the room for a minute, trying to find another way around this mess.
“You can't risk a gun battle,” Theron said. “The odds are most definitely not in your favor. Not to mention, you'll bring the local cops down on you in a hurry. But, you can plant the explosives, walk away, and bring the whole building down on top of them.”
Indecision tore at me and there was so much adrenaline flowing through my veins that I was feeling shaky and jittery.
“You're running out of time, Gemma,” Theron said.
Grabbing the bricks of explosives, I started to plant them on strategic columns. If I was going to do this, I needed to make sure I brought the whole damn building down. I couldn't afford half-measures. Once I had the bricks hooked up, I primed them and inserted the timers.
“Gemma,” Xavix said. “Your targets are standing up. It looks to me like their business is concluding.”
“Shit,” I growled.
I set the timers and turned to the doorway. “Timers are set for thirty seconds,” I said as I got moving.
“Then, you
better move your ass,” Theron said.
“Your targets are moving,” Xavix reported. “It's going to be close.”
Feeling each second slipping by, I sprinted for the door. Climbing up the steps, I saw the other door – the secure door – opening. Gyrn and his friends were coming out. And I needed to keep them inside. At least for another twenty seconds or so.
“Theron, open fire on that door.”
Pulling out my gun, I squeezed off a few shots, the echo ringing up and down the alleyway like I'd fired off a cannon. I heard voices cursing and the door slammed shut again.
“Gemma,” Xavix said. “You have ten seconds to get out of there.”
“Move your ass, Gemma,” Theron yelled. “Get out of there now!”
I turned and ran harder and faster than I had ever run in my life. A few seconds later, the ground beneath my feet shook – giving me a strong sense of deja vu to the Old Town marketplace on Acrov. The sound of the blast reached my ears a moment before the shockwave hit me in the back, driving me forward. I stumbled and fell, landing on my chest in the middle of the street, driving the air from my lungs.
Voices, colored with shock and horror, sounded all around me. Groaning, I rolled over, trying to catch my breath. Debris, some of it flaming, some of it still smoldering, surrounded me. My vision wavered and darkness crept in at the edges as a wave of nausea rolled through me.
And then Theron was there, in my field of vision. Grabbing me beneath the shoulders, he hauled me to my feet. I was unfocused and wobbling on my feet, and felt like I was going to throw up.
“Gemma,” he said.
I looked at him and my vision wavered even more. I heard the crack of the slap a moment before I felt the sting in my cheek. Theron looked at me intently, his face full of concern. But the slap had the intended effect. My vision cleared and I began to come back to myself.
“Gemma,” he said again. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head, clearing out the last of the cobwebs. “Yeah, I think so.”
I turned around and looked at the building I'd just escaped from. Or at least, what was left of it. It was a pile of flaming ruin. There was an enormous crater in the ground and a thick column of smoke rose from the center of it. The crowd of onlookers gaped, their faces stricken, and excited murmurs running throughout the throng of people.
“Jesus, Theron,” I gasped. “What in the hell was in those bricks?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said, his eyes wide as he surveyed the wreckage. “Whatever it was though, I'd say it was pretty effective.”
I nodded, feeling stunned by the damage. “Yeah, I'd say so.”
Sirens sounded in the distance and were drawing closer.
“You okay to walk?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
“We need to go then,” he said. “Now.”
Turning, I followed Theron away from the scene of destruction and back toward where we'd docked the Umbra. The sooner we could get off Thysis, the better.
Chapter Fifteen
“Congratulations,” Dyra said. “You did it.”
“I take it you're now at the top of the food chain?” I asked.
She nodded, a smile touching her lips. “I am indeed.”
“Well, congratulations to you as well,” I said.
We were back aboard the Umbra, heading back to Acrov. We were all at our usual stations in the cockpit and Dyra's face filled the view screen. She'd made contact with us once we'd broken the atmosphere on Thysis and were heading home.
“I was impressed with your – thoroughness,” Dyra said, stifling a laugh. “I'm quite positive that we're never going to hear from Gyrn again. I'm not even sure they've been able to find enough pieces of him to make a positive identification.”
I cleared my throat and shot a look at Theron who merely shrugged. “Yeah, it was thorough,” I said. “Better safe than sorry.”
Dyra laughed and it was a high, musical sound. “Indeed,” she said. “I'm not sure how they're ever going to fill the crater you left behind. What in the world did you use, anyway? I may have to get some of that.”
I shot another look at Theron who grinned like a fool. “Sorry, proprietary secret,” I said.
Dyra laughed again. “Well, you held up your side of the bargain quite nicely,” she said. “And now, it's time for me to hold up mine.”
“I'm looking forward to it.”
“I'm sending you the encryption key,” she said. “You'll now be able to access the file on the data pad I gave you.”
I looked at the data pad and sure enough, the encryption key came through. I used it to access the file and read through what was in it, shaking my head the entire time. All I could do was laugh.
“You're kidding me,” I said. “He was on Acrov the whole time?”
“Hiding in plain sight,” she said. “More or less.”
“Unbelievable.”
“That file is current,” she said. “As of an hour ago, he is still in the same location.”
“Thank you for your thoroughness,” I said. “And your professionalism.”
“It just makes good business sense to keep one's word,” she said. “And now, I believe that concludes our business together.”
I nodded. “It does.”
She looked at me, that faint, mysterious smile on her lips again. “Keep the comm and the data pad I gave you,” she said. “I very well may be contacting you again about work in the not too distant future.”
I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but if she was determined to do what Kysos had said, and go more or less legitimate, while reforming Etrosian society, I wasn't going to shoot her down out of hand. I respected her and thought she was somebody I might be willing to do some work for. Or at the very least, I might consider it.
“I'll do that,” I said. “Good luck to you, Dyra.”
“And good luck to you, Gemma Sage,” she said. “My hope for you is that, however this all plays out, you’re able to find peace.”
“Thank you, Dyra.”
The screen went blank as our communication ended and I sat back in my seat, letting out a long breath.
“Acrov, huh?” Theron asked.
A wry grin touched my lips. “Apparently so.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, letting my mind wander back to everything that had happened – everything I'd done – since this crusade started. And I was once again confronted by the question I'd been dodging for so long – was I a monster?
With the end of my little war in sight, I knew I was going to have to face up to the things I did to accomplish my goals. I was going to have to confront myself and really think about the answer to a question I'd pushed away for far too long – how was I going to live with myself knowing the stain my little crusade had left upon my soul. How was I going to live with myself?
Despite the fact that everybody told me I was justified, that I wasn't a monster, and that I was simply doing what needed to be done, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd become something I loathed. Something dark. Something evil. I feared, more than anything, that by hunting Boygan and doing the things I'd done, that I'd inadvertently become the thing I hated the most – Boygan.
The time was coming – and it was coming soon – when I was going to have to confront myself and atone for the things I'd done.
Chapter Sixteen
I sat in the back of a seedy bar in the oldest and seediest part Old Town – which, given that it was Old Town, really said a lot. I wore a cloak with a hood pulled down low over my face. To avoid drawing unwanted attention to myself I made sure I sat in a corner where the shadows hung thick. I was waiting. Waiting and watching.
My belly churned with anticipation and a small sense of fear. This was it. This was going to be the moment I'd been waiting for almost a year for. The moment I'd bled for. Fought for. Killed for.
I was going to look my mother's killer in the eye without any fear or remorse in my face. He didn't de
serve it.
He didn't deserve anything but a slow, agonizing death.
I sipped my mug of ale and surveyed the bar. Like most of every bar in Old Town, it was gloomy and dirty. Like most of the others, it wasn't a place people went for the ambiance or to socialize. It was a place people went to either drink their troubles away, or conduct some dark and shady business.
I idly wondered if, once this was finished, I'd ever see the inside of a place like that again.
“Not if I can help it,” I muttered to myself.
I glanced at my chronometer and sighed. If he held to his schedule – and according to Dyra's notes, Boygan was almost fanatical about adhering to his schedule – he should be there any moment.
I glanced at my chronometer again, and, as if on cue, the doors to the bar opened and two large Zhakan men entered the bar. And behind them was a shorter, squatter Zhakan man. Boygan. The trio shuffled over to another booth, laughing and joking amongst themselves. They were smiling and acting as if they didn't have a care in the world.
They took a seat and the bartender hustled right over with a tray loaded down with food and drink. He set it down in front of them, giving them an awkward and deferential bow before turning and scurrying back behind the bar. The look of fear on his face was more than clear.
Seeing him again, after all this time, my breath caught in my throat. And seeing how carefree he was acting only made the dark, abiding rage in me begin to bubble up. The longer I looked at that piece of crap, the closer that rage came to boiling over.
My fantasies of stripping the flesh off his body, of making him scream and beg for his life began to play on an endless loop through my mind. I imagined his face contorting with pain. Saw the mark of agony in his features. In my head, I heard him screeching as I inflicted yet another wound.
Oh yeah, in my fantasies, I'd done some heinous shit to Boygan. And had enjoyed every single moment of it. And seeing him sitting there, I realized just how close I was to making those dreams become a reality.
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