I feel anger explode inside of me.
“Feck you, Ahmed! You’re the cockroach and before this day is over you’ll be smashed under my foot. No matter what, I swear I will take you down.”
“I admire your passion and determination, Agent, as misplaced as it may be. You would make a formidable ally. Too bad you’re too blind to the truths of this world.”
“If you think blowing up people by the millions is the right way to rebel against the system, you’re not very smart.”
There is a little silence and I am now on Eleanor’s right wing, adding my firepower to hers in an attempt to bring Ahmed’s shields down, but the damn things seem impenetrable. We are making a dent into them, but as soon as he manages to evade our locks for a few seconds, their quick recharge nullifies all our previous efforts.
“Please explain something to me, Agent Seeker. What is so great about this world? We have destroyed most of the atmosphere and ecosystem. And now the megacorporations have enslaved the world even more than they have been doing in the past two centuries. You’d think the people would learn, but no, they seem intent on being told what to do. What is there to look forward to under that rule? Where is the freedom Man once had?”
“It may be an imperfect world but people are alive; that should count for something.”
“Is that what you think from the top floor of your crystal tower, eating fine food in your luxurious living quarters? Do you ever stop to think how others are living? Or are you just content with what you have and you don’t care if others have to live in toilet-size accommodation, eating tasteless protein bars as their main food intake?”
That last remark stings, of course, and it hasn’t been long since I last asked that question myself.
“I’ve seen the size of your associate’s place downtown,” I retort. “You guys aren’t faring bad either, so spare me from your hypocritical bullshit.”
“I don’t know what she sees in you, but well . . . I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
What the feck does that mean? Who is he referring to? Is he working for someone I don’t know?
“What are you talking about? Who are you referring to?” I say, adding two rockets to my heavy raining of blaster fire towards his craft.
Keeping him engaged verbally does seem to diminish his evasive acrobatics and we manage to bring down the levels of his shields.
“You know very well who I’m talking about, Agent Seeker. You have seen her today; she is trying to make contact with you, but you’re so sure you know everything you’re looking for a glitch in your AI’s system instead of accepting the truth.”
“What is he talking about?” asks Tanya.
“Couple of times before, your holo-image and vocals were replaced by another girl.”
“Is that what you wanted me to run diagnostics for?”
“Yeah.”
“Who did you see, Cole?”
“Vassiliki . . .”
“As in your dead wife Vassiliki?”
“The one and only.”
“How is that even possible?”
“I wish I knew. Since it was a familiar face I thought it had to be some sort of bug in between your AI matrix and my neuronal link; some sort of electro-neural leakage of some kind.”
“That would be detected by my internal sensors, Cole. How sure are you that your wife is actually dead?”
“One hundred percent sure, Tanya. She died in my arms.”
There’s silence, but soon Ahmed breaks it.
“She is very disappointed in you, Agent Seeker.”
“Shut the feck up! You’re using her likeness to try to make me hesitate about killing you!”
My anger becomes a rage with the force of a thousand tsunamis. There’s so much adrenaline and testosterone flowing inside my body that it feels like it’s about to explode. I’ve never felt rage this intense before. My nemesis is talking to me about my dead wife as if she would know someone as vile as him. All I want is to punch him to death.
“I’m not using any deception, Agent Seeker, but believe what you will. I told her you’re not the man she thinks you are. She got into her head that you could actually be a force for change in this world, but you turned out to be the biggest thorn in the side of it, as far as I’m concerned. Poor Vassiliki! She really believes in you.”
“Don’t you dare utter her name! I’m going to kill you for this.”
“We’ll see about that, Agent Seeker; maybe you will, maybe you won’t. As resourceful and fearless as you are, you are blinded by the veil of lies that controls your entire existence, if one can call this existing anyway.”
Each and every word he speaks is like venom to me. It burns inside of me and only fuels my hatred to a state of paroxysm.
This has to be a trick. He’s gone through my file and found a way to exploit my weaknesses. There can’t be any other explanation.
“Can’t there be?” says Tanya.
“Don’t tell me you’re taking his side as well now?”
“Of course not, Cole, but you have to admit this is more than strange.”
“It’s just a pathetic attempt to make me lose my shit, so I make a mistake and he can escape once more. Crafty bastard.”
“Not to add insult to injury, Cole, but it seems to be working. Your vitals are all over the place again; you’re definitely not your cool, albeit crazy usual self. All signs point to you getting completely out of control, and I don’t like this one bit. The mission parameters and chances of success are low enough as it is, but they were calculated assuming you could keep a clear mind. With you in that state, clearly compromised, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Could Tanya be right? Could what Ahmed was doing be exactly geared towards breaking my concentration, making sure I act emotionally instead of logically?
Ahmed, once again, breaks the silence.
“I have a proposal for you, Agent Seeker. If you’re so fearless, why don’t you prove it to me? Just the two of us, hand-to-hand combat. None of that tech shit we’re employing at the moment. Firing at each other is so uncivilized, don’t you agree?”
“Sure thing, Ahmed. Land that craft of yours and let’s deal with this like men.”
“Who said anything about landing? Both you and I are perfectly able to fight on our vehicles, but you need to ask your friend to back off of my craft.”
This gives me an idea. While I know for a fact he has something up his sleeve and that this is some sort of ploy to get rid of me so he can finish his mission, perhaps we can use this to our advantage.
“I’m listening.”
“Have your friend and drone stop firing upon my ship. I’ll de-activate my turrets as well. Then I will drop my shields and we’ll fight, but I want you to give me your word you’re not going to use that opportunity to shoot me instead. Let’s see if you’re a man of honor or just a dumb drone blinded and bought by the megacorporations. Prove me wrong.”
“You have my word,” I say in between clenched teeth.
Eleanor, please stop firing on my signal.
What? Have you lost your mind? His shields are almost down now. Another three minutes and we can finally take him down.
Can we? It is why Ahmed is using this new tactic? It doesn’t matter; if I can get my hands on him I know I can send him straight to hell.
Just do it please, Eleanor. Tanya, same for Drone Two; cease fire when I ask you to.
I sure hope you know what you’re doing Cole, says Tanya.
Yeah, so do I.
He’s gone loco is what has happened. We almost had him! says Eleanor.
Eleanor, trust me.
That’s the second time you ask me this today, and I’m not much more confident this time around than I was the first time. You’d better not be screwing with me, Cole. I don’t know what you have in mind but you’d better have a good reason.
I do. I will create a diversion by fighting him in hand-to-hand combat, and you need to use that opportu
nity to grab back the data chip from him. Can you do that for me?
And how exactly do you propose we do that?
I’ll get the chip from him while we fight, then you grapple onto it. Think you can do that?
Yeah, but why don’t we just blow him to bits instead? Wouldn’t that take care of all our problems?
He might have contingencies in place. Something tells me this is important to him, and it could be invaluable to us to get access to the data on that chip.
That’s a lot of ifs, Cole, but, well, you’re the boss.
Be ready to grab the chip the moment I send you the mental signal.
Very well. Be careful.
“So, Agent Seeker,” interrupts Ahmed. “Are we doing this or not?”
“Cease fire, everyone, that’s an order,” I say over an open channel so Ahmed can hear.
We all cease firing at Ahmed’s ship and ten seconds later his shields are fully recharged. He drops them soon after and a side door on his ship slides open. He swings from it and lands on the flat top of the medium-sized craft.
My finger tightens around the trigger of my jet bike’s plasma canons. I could take the shot now and kill him where he stands, save the day and make sure that Ahmed is no more. I’m sure another fanatic zealot would take his place, yet the impulse to kill him is very strong. But I’ve given my word, something I never went back on before, and I am not about to do it today. Plus, I’ve bottled up way too much anger, and I need it to exit my system. Beating Ahmed to a pulp with my fists seems like an appealing solution to that problem right now. I loosen my grasp on the trigger.
I maneuver the bike and bring it in position to hover only a few inches above Ahmed. He is standing tall, waiting for me, his hair blowing in the strong wind. I jump off of the bike and mentally send it flying onto the wing of Ahmed’s fighter.
I use my internal sensors to locate the data chip. It is in a back pocket of Ahmed’s pants. No matter what, I need to acquire it. I should have listened to my instinct and beaten the shit out of Rasul and taken the chip without any fuss. But until Ahmed made contact I had no way to make sure if this was really worth it. Eleanor said it would, and it did bring Ahmed back into the fold.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” I tell Ahmed.
“I’m sure you have, Agent Seeker. If only you knew what I knew though, your attitude wouldn’t be the same.”
“Keep the recruitment chat for someone who gives a shit. I am just here to kill you.”
“If that’s all you want from this moment, then so be it,” he says, taking a defensive stance, and then fans his fingers inviting me to make the first move.
C H A P T E R
XIV
Mission completion time: T minus 141 minutes.
I launch myself at Ahmed with a roundhouse kick to the face. He dodges it and swipes my grounded leg from under me with a low circular kick, sending me crashing on the metallic top of his craft, back first. I back flip into the upright position and dodge three of his punches, grabbing his arm on the last one and using his momentum to smash him against the metallic ground.
Before Ahmed can get himself back up I kick him in the stomach, forcing him to roll three times over, and he nearly falls off the side of his own ship. He quickly gets back on his feet before I can press my advantage, and we’re both running towards each other. I throw a powerful right jab and he does the same. Both fists cross and we both get hit in the cheek. I get thrown backwards and so does Ahmed. We get back up and look into each other’s eyes for a moment.
I can feel my heart pumping blood and thumping in my chest. I feel the urge to activate one of my repulsors and just burn the sucker, but I have given my word.
I won’t tell anyone if you don’t, says Tanya.
My word is my bond. If I break it, I’m no better than him.
You are better than him, Cole. You’re not trying to blow up hundreds of thousands of lives to make a point. But you need to make sure you actually stop that from happening, and if that means going back on your word, well, know that you have my permission.
Permission? I don’t need anyone’s permission, Tanya.
Wrong choice of words, Cole. My benediction then.
I don’t need that either, but my code honor, that I intend to keep alive; I don’t expect you to understand.
She doesn’t answer and it’s just as well since Ahmed decides to make the next move. He goes for my neck with a high kick, which is a big mistake. I catch his right leg when it’s at shoulder level and crush his knee with a swift and powerful motion from my right hand. I hear his knee snap and I can see the amount of pain he’s under from the way his face contorts. I swipe his grounded leg off and he falls back on his arms. I’m still holding one of his legs, so I start dragging him in circles until I achieve enough momentum that he’s flying around me. I could just release him and he would be thrown overboard, but that wouldn’t help me recover the data chip, and it might in fact get lost.
My instinct tells me I need to get my hands on it, that it matters somehow. I don’t know why or what is on it; I just feel it’s vital to get it.
Therefore, I adjust Ahmed’s round trajectory by giving it elevation so I can smash his face atop the armor of his own craft. I do that and, to my surprise, he manages to stop most of the impact by protecting his face with his forearms. Yet, I hear bones breaking. In a one-on-one fair fight, this asshole has no chance of winning.
“Happy about your choice of a fair fight? How many bones have I broken in your body, Ahmed? I’m looking forward to breaking each and every one of them until this fight is over.”
He gets back up and cracks his neck.
“I didn’t think you were a gloater, Agent Seeker. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The company has built your confidence over the years, to the point where you think you’re indestructible.”
“Oh I’m not indestructible, but I’m very hard to kill.”
“I’ve noticed that trait of yours during our previous encounters. As for my bones, thanks for asking. Bones heal, and fast, as you know.”
I am guessing he’s also equipped with a similar regiment of nanites. They must be swimming in his bloodstream right this instant hard at work repairing the damage. But it matters not. I don’t intend to stop at breaking bones. I want to rip his heart from his rib cage and show it to him. Have him see it stop beating for himself and regret ever being born.
Cole, you really need to keep focused. You’re letting your anger drive your every move right now, warns Tanya.
It’s working so far.
I’m more afraid of when it might stop working. When that happens you’ll need all your wits.
Thanks for the warning, Tanya. Now, either shut up or turn yourself off for the remainder of this fight.
Cole, this isn’t you, please!
Confirm last order!
I think I hear a sigh in my mind before a beep echoes in it, informing me Tanya has deactivated herself. I feel a little sting in my heart, as I know I could have handled that with a little more tact, but I’m not exactly in the mood to justify my every move to my AI right now. I make a mental note to apologize for being so rude later.
“Can I ask you something, Agent Seeker?” says Ahmed bringing me back into the moment.
“If it can’t be helped . . .”
“Why do you do what you do? Why do you keep trying to stop me?”
Is he shitting me?
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m allergic to senseless murderers. So until I draw my last breath I will fight people like you and make sure I save as many innocents as I can.”
“Who said anything about innocents? People are just following the rules and accepting to be enslaved by a few so they can serve their plans, accepting to live in dreadful conditions without revolting. Is that what you call innocent? There should be a law declaring blind obedience as a crime, and you know it.”
I have no idea why he is trying to convince me that he is actually d
oing the world a favor by trying to detonate a nuke inside a big city like New Geneva, but then again I’m not sure trying to understand a mad man’s logic is something I can either grasp or care about.
I shake my head. “Terrorists the world over used that speech to no avail. You do know that?”
“You call us terrorists. We call ourselves freedom fighters. There’s a difference.”
“I guess it’s just a point of view. You use terror to try to be heard, but in the end all you do is make people fear you. In fact, you’re probably hurting whatever message you’re trying to deliver, giving even more power to the megacorporations who will take a stance against you, and require more surveillance to be able to stop your mindless acts. I don’t see people lining up to join your ranks. In fact, they hope people like me will find and eliminate each and every one of you.”
“And there lies the problem, you see. We are just trying to free them from their shackles. As long as humans accept that the ones with all the resources and power will dictate how the world must be run, the human spirit will be forever trapped, muted by the propaganda of the megacorporations and their thirst for greed. How can a human being evolve and embrace what it truly is to be human, to be free, to live in the paradise that this world could have been if they blindly accept whatever set of rules is imposed on them?”
“I take it you have the solution?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The world needs to revolt. If the ninety-nine percent that is oppressed take arms today and shout with one unified voice that they don’t want this charade to be all their lives can be, do you really think the remaining one percent will stand a chance against them?”
That is a thought I admit I had from time to time.
“Just for the sake of argument,” I answer, “and before I send you to meet your maker, let’s say I agree with some of what you’ve just said. Do you really think you will bring people to your side by killing them by the millions? When people are afraid, they are more susceptible to trusting their leadership to protect them and therefore accept even more drastic measures, even if these measures remove some of their acquired freedoms. In fact, a frightened soul will not act logically. Which makes me wonder why you think scaring the shit out of people will get them to revolt and carry your message across?”
Rewind 717: The Adventures of Time Traveler Anti-Terrorist Agent Cole Seeker Page 13