torg 03- The Nightmare Dream

by Jonatha Ariadne Caspian

  "Sorry, Sebastian," one of the men said, "but we have different orders. Come with us."

  They turned to go and actually took a half a dozen steps before they noticed he wasn't following them. They returned, and already anger was flaring behind their dark glasses. Sebastian smiled. "I guess I haven't lost any of my style," he said. "Less than a minute and I've pissed you fellows off."

  One of the men made a motion for his shoulder holster, but the other man stopped him. He composed himself, then flashed a strange badge at Sebastian. The badge was a stylized sun, radiating daggers instead of beams of light.

  "What's that?" Quin asked. "Your cloak-and-dagger membership card?"

  "We're with the Delphi Council, Mr. Sebastian," the agent informed him coldly. "The director of the Council is here and she wants to speak with you."

  Delphi Council? Quartermain had mentioned something about a new branch of the spy services back in I louston, but he had dismissed it as nothing more than a think tank. Now he wasn't so sure. He shrugged. "Lead the way."

  They took him into one of the buildings, eventually leading him to a well-appointed office. Seated behind the desk was a woman with raven-black hair. It was styled short, and had the barest hints of gray.

  "Please have a seat, Mr. Sebastian," she said, smiling broadly.

  "Thanks," he replied, "but I'll stand."

  "Of course," she continued. "Let me get right to the point. You will report to me on the matter of Andrew Decker and his imminent capture. I will provide you with ..."

  Sebastian cut her off. "Don't take this the wrong way, lady, but who the hell are you and why am I reporting

  to you?"

  "I am Ellen Conners, director of the Delphi Council," she explained, her eyes boring into him with frightening power. He had heard of Conners, although he thought she was still in the Senate. She had a reputation as Old Lady Medusa, but she didn't look old. He imagined that it wouldn't be hard not to waver under the strength of her gaze, though.

  "The investigation of President Wells' assassination has been given over to the Council, and as you have been hired to perform services concerning said assassination, you will now report to me," Conners finished smugly.

  "What does reporting to you entail?" Sebastian pressed. He didn't think he liked the way this job was

  shaping up, but he owed it to Wells to see it through.

  "Very little, really. I will provide you with details concerning the assassination, Decker's subsequent flight from this base, who his traveling companions are, and where he is most likely to be found. In return, you will bring the congressman back here to me. I will be running the Council from this location until the Decker matter is behind us."

  "Where's the catch?" Sebastian asked.

  "Catch?"

  "What else comes with this little deal?"

  Conners laughed. "You are a bright man, Mr. Sebastian. Perhaps when this is all over you would consider becoming one of my Spartans. But you want an answer, don't you? Very well. Agent Thomas King will be accompanying you on your mission. Don't bother protesting. This is not a negotiable point."

  Sebastian looked at the agent. It was the one who did most of the talking. Great! "We leave in two hours, King," Sebastian informed him. "Be ready."

  Then Quin sat down to get his briefing from the director of the Delphi Council.

  22

  Sebastian checked his watch. The helicopter would be ready to leave in fifteen minutes. Conners' briefing took almost all of the two hours he had set aside for this stopover. He certainly didn't want to give Decker anymore of a head start, and Conners was adamant about not calling any of the officers at the battlefront in fear of tipping Decker off to their plans. Still, Quin desperately wanted to speak to Colonel McCall to get his version of what happened here, but the colonel was nowhere to be found. The base was fairly large, and he

  could be anywhere dealing with who knew what kind of

  crisis.

  As he wandered the hospital building, Sebastian came across another Spartan. This one was stationed in front of a door, standing guard. His curiosity aroused, Sebastian went over to talk to the man.

  "Get lost," the Spartan ordered.

  "Take it easy," Quin said, flashing a smile. "I'm one of you guys. Conners is sending me out to pick up that Decker creep."

  "You must be the mere," the Spartan responded.

  "Quin Sebastian," he introduced himself. "What do you have in there?"

  "Just the kids who helped Decker. We're holding them as possible accomplices."

  "Mind if I ask them a couple of questions, just to confirm some things Conners wasn't clear on."

  The Spartan nodded, pushing the door open so that Sebastian could enter. "Five minutes," he said.

  "That's all I've got to spare anyway," Quin said, and he entered the room.

  The room was illuminated by a single lamp. It had a single bed, of a style made famous in hospitals the world over, and a single chair rested near the single window. On the bed sat two boys. One could have been as old as sixteen. The other was no more than fourteen, but probably younger. The older youth looked up when Sebastian entered, displaying a shining black eye for the soldier of fortune to see.

  "Who did that to you, boy?" Sebastian asked.

  "Who do you think?" the youth sneered. "What are you here for? Are you going to play good cop? Well, don't waste your breath. I don't have anything else to say to you people."

  There were other marks on the youth's face. Sebastian cringed. The Spartans had worked him over. Anger flared in Quin's gut, but he held it back. After all, these kids could be guilty. They could have helped Decker.

  "I guess Decker left you two high and dry," Quin said, testing the waters. "How does it feel to be assassins before getting out of your teens?"

  The younger boy leaped at Quin, slashing and kicking as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Don't you hurt him anymore," the younger boy cried. "Leave Coyote alone!"

  Coyote and Rat, Quin remembered, that was what Conners called them. He subdued the boy and gently shoved him toward the bed. The older youth caught hold of him and hugged him tightly against his body. Through his sobs, Decker clearly heard the words the younger boy spoke.

  "Ace didn't kill nobody, Coyote," the boy cried. "Tell him Ace didn't do it!"

  "I'm not telling this guy nothing, Rat," the older youth said sternly. "They only want to believe the bad things, anyway."

  Something wasn't right here, but Quin couldn't quite put it together. He was about to ask the boys a question when the door to the room opened. He decided to finish his act as the Spartan expected.

  "Crying won't do you any good," Sebastian shouted angrily. "We're going to catch Decker without your help, and then he'll give us the evidence we need to put you two away as well."

  He hated himself for that, but at least the Spartan seemed satisfied. He nodded to the agent, then went off to rendezvous with the agent named King.

  23

  I )ecker watched the wall of fire burn, its orange flames dancing wildly in the perpetual night. Some of the edeinos had been caught by the explosions that ripped along the forty-mile long storm front, but he didn't think they got too many of them. Now the crackling curtain of flame served as a boundary, preventing the invaders from emerging out of the storm.

  He wondered how long it would hold them off.

  Decker returned to his jeep. Julie was asleep in the passenger seat, Tal Tu was curled up on the ground beside the vehicle. Covent, he knew, was off meeting with Colonel Matthews, planning their next course of action. He had no idea where Kurst or Paragon had wandered off to.

  Mounted on the back of the jeep was a heavy machine gun. It was the relatively new Mark 19 Model 3 40-mm gun. It fired high-explosive shells at a rate of forty rounds per minute. He didn't know if he'd be able to make it work on the other side of the storm, but it was the kind of weapon he'd want to have in case a rampaging horde of giant lizards charged his position. The ammo rounds combine
d anti-armor-shaped charges with antipersonnel fragmentation. He was confident the shaped charge could penetrate the thickest dinosaur hide.

  Decker rested his hand on the weapon and thought about his options at this juncture. He could go with Kurst to help the people that had released him from the Gaunt Man's slavery, or he could try to find the stelae that was the linchpin in the coming battle. He hated no-win situations that had no clear-cut solution.

  Decker tapped the fingers of his left hand against his leg, letting his old habit calm him, help him think. There was so much that needed doing, and there was so little of him to go around. He sighed, wishing the long night would end, taking this dark dream they seemed trapped in with its passing.

  "I think I know what you're thinking about, congressman," Eddie Paragon said as he stepped out of the night. "I'd like you to consider something before you make any rash decisions, though."

  Decker looked at the rock'n'roller solemnly. He still couldn't figure the man out. He had actually escaped from captivity in the Living Land, fought his way through a storm front on foot, for God's sake! Ace remembered his own passage through the wall of storm back in Pennsylvania and he shuddered. If not for the jeep they had been driving, he didn't think he would have made it to the other side. As it was, his driver was killed by the maddening sights that shimmered between the raindrops. Now this singer had agreed to come back to the battlefront to aid them in their struggle against the forces of the primitive High Lord. He had more guts than Decker had earlier given him credit for.

  "The stelae is still in our reality," Paragon said, voicing thoughts that seemed to just come to fruition. "Anybody can deal with it. But to go into the Living Land again, that's going to take extraordinary people — people who can maintain their reality even as the alien reality batters them from all sides. From the stories I've heard, you're a man like that. Kurst, too."

  "What are you getting at, Paragon?" Decker urged.

  "Just this," the singer said. "You're the one who has to cross the storm front. And Kurst."

  Eddie Paragon paused, stealing a glance at the wall of fire. Its light was a beacon in the unending darkness. Finally, he finished his thought.

  And me," he said.

  Decker was surprised. "Why you, Eddie? Why do you want to subject yourself to that again?"

  "Because I can," he said quietly. "I realize that the reason I didn't join Baruk Kaah was because my reality was alway's with me. Sure, there was a time or two when the urge to throw off my clothes and roll in the grass was real strong, but I got through it. You need someone like that if you're going to make it through, and I've already been there once."

  Impressed by the singer's decision, Decker grasped his shoulder firmly. "You're sure about this?" he asked.

  Paragon smiled. "Not on your life," he admitted, "but I've made up my mind."

  As an afterthought, Eddie added, "But if you want to try to talk me out of it..."

  24

  Quin Sebastian sat in the helicopter, looking out into the long night. Far ahead he could see the glow of a massive fire. It filled the horizon, reflecting off the cover of ash that hung low in the sky. Something wasn't right up ahead. He hoped they weren't flying into a lost cause.

  Beside him sat the Spartan agent, Thomas King. King had abandoned his finely-tailored suit for a more functional jumpsuit, but he still wore his dark glasses.

  "Can you see out of those things?" Sebastian asked him.

  King ignored him.

  The helicopter flew closer, and now Quin could clearly see the wall of flame rising out of the forest. "My God," he exclaimed, "how are we going to find Decker in that thing?"

  "We'll get him, don't you worry about that," King

  .issured him.

  "Conners. was telling me about the two kids," Sebastian said, hoping to learn something from the Spartan. "What were their names?"

  "Coyote and Rat," King answered, but his attention was focused on the flames.

  "That's right, Coyote and Rat. Strange names."

  "Gang names."

  "Do you really think they had anything to do with Wells' death?"

  King laughed. "Who cares? I got to knock the older one around a bit, and that's always good for a laugh."

  Sebastian laughed too, but it wasn't as full-bodied a sound as the Spartan produced. Deep down, Quin felt a wave of nausea. He had a feeling that before this mission was over, it was going to get close to the borders of his personal moral standards. Dangerously close.

  "Take us down here," King called to the pilot, and the helicopter made the lurching dip that signalled its descent.

  25

  The wall of fire was starting to lose its intensity by the time Julie awoke and Kurst returned to the jeep. Covent had returned as well, so the group was back together again. Perhaps, Decker thought, for the last time.

  "So far so good," Covent said. "The wall of fire stopped their advance."

  "For the time being," Julie observed, stretching to get out the kinks of sleep.

  Kurst remained silent, watching the wall of fire intently. Decker knew that look. It usually proceeded some kind of trouble.

  "Now what, Kurst?" Decker asked.

  "Something is coming out of the fire," the hunter observed.

  "That's impossible/' Covent stammered. "Even if the intensity has dropped, those flames are still hot enough to roast a man alive."

  "What emerges are not men, Major Covent," Kurst said.

  Decker watched as the shapes pushed through the flames. They were humanoid, whatever they were, and they burned brightly as the tongues of fire lapped at them. Once out of the burning wall, however, the fires upon them died. That's when Decker noticed something odd about the forms.

  "They're carrying guns!" Decker shouted.

  "Tal Tu said the lizards couldn't use our weapons," Covent said.

  "They are not edeinos," Kurst replied. "They are gospog."

  Gunfire filled the night, and men all along the line screamed as bullets tore at them. In a moment, the soldiers began to return fire, but a stream of the creatures were already through, and more were pushing forward.

  "Take cover!" Covent ordered, for the group was in the path of the first line of gospog.

  Decker leaped into the back of the jeep to man the machinegun. He fired a few test bursts, shredding the nearest plant creatures before they could get off any shots. Then he opened up, cutting a swath out of the attacking horde.

  The others joined in, but the smaller pistols didn't pack the same punch as the heavy machine gun. Julie, for example, had to empty her .38 into one of the shambling creatures before it went down. They seemed immune to ordinary pain, and even the fire hadn't appeared to bother them once they got clear of its burning center. They didn't fall until they were unable to keep moving.

  Decker fired more rounds at the creatures, blowing apart wave after wave of the things. Then, as suddenly as it began, the battle stopped. The remaining gospog retreated back through the dwindling wall of flame, leaving behind a fair number of dead and wounded.

  "What the hell was that all about?" Covent asked no one in particular.

  It was Decker who answered him. "That was just to get our attention, Charlie. We wasted ammunition, lost some men, and had the spit scared out of us. I thought you said Baruk Kaah didn't have tactics, Tal Tu?"

  The edeinos tilted his head and peered at Decker with one reptilian eye. "I said he had no tactics as you defined them, no sweeping troop movements, no lines of battle. But he does know how to fight an enemy. You are right, Decker. This is only the beginning."

  26

  Quin Sebastian and Thomas King watched the exchange from behind a cluster of trees. The man at the heavy machinegun had been identified as Andrew Decker, and he had made a good showing of himself against the walking horrors they were fighting.

  "What were those things?" King asked, a hint of fear and hysteria at the back of his voice.

  "I don't know," Sebastian admitted, "but they
had M-16s. I thought the invaders used spears?"

  "I thought the invaders were lizard people," King returned.

  They observed the rest of the group, trying to determine what they would be up against if they tried to arrest Decker immediately. There were a number of people with him — two army majors (one male and one female), two men in fatigues who looked nothing like normal soldiers, and a lizard man. Decker had fought beside them, and even now that the battle was over he stood at the ready. To Sebastian, he did not look anything like a man on the run.

  "I don't think this is the best time for this," Sebastian said, looking for a way to postpone the mission until he could gather more facts.

  "Nonsense," King exclaimed. "There's no time like the present." The Spartan pulled out his pistol, checked the clip, and started toward the group.

  27

  Once he saw that the immediate danger had passed, Decker leaped down out of the jeep. Julie ran to him, throwing her arms around him in an uncharacteristic show of affection. Paragon stifled a giggle at Decker's look of discomfort at so open a display, but the others ignored them.

  The congressman caught sight of Kurst's sudden movement. "There is danger, Decker," the shapeshifter warned, turning to face the darkness behind them.

  "Don't any of you move," said the man stepping toward them. He held an automatic pistol in his hand, and wore a pair of dark glasses. As he approached, he snapped the glasses off and pocketed them with one fluid, obviously practiced motion.

  "What's this all about?" Major Covent demanded.

  "This is about law and order, major," the man proclaimed. "And justice." He flashed a badge that none of them recognized. "I'm an agent for the Delphi Council. I've been sent here to detain one Andrew Jackson Decker for the assassination of President Jonathan Wells." He leveled his weapon at the congressman.

  "That's ridiculous!" Julie exclaimed. "Ace didn't kill the president. He tried to save him."

  "You shouldn't tell lies to protect a murderer, major," the agent declared.

  "What lies? I was there. I saw the whole thing."

  "What do you have to say, Congressman Decker?" another man asked as he appeared out of the darkness.