by Mark Iles
Keying the room door open, she and Staff rushed inside and froze.
Jenks held Jas against the far kitchen wall, a knife pressed to her throat.
“Selena!” Jas gasped with relief.
“Shut it!” Jenks snapped, turning to glare at Selena and Staff, his face contorted with rage. “Stay where you are, or she dies.”
“You were going to kill her anyway. The difference is, now we know that you’re the killer, you don’t stand a chance. This building is locked down and my troops are outside the room. You’ve nowhere to run, Jenks. I’d give up if I was you.”
His steely-blue eyes shot back and forth, looking for a way out. But those eyes always came back to Selena, standing in front of him. His bearded jaw tightened and his unkempt mousy-hair shook as he spoke. “But you’re not me, are you! It was going so well until you decided to interfere. I’m going to kill this kid, unless you let me go.”
Staff’s bottom lip jutted and he raised his sidearm and cocked it, his free hand pulling free a long wicked-looking knife from his knee-sheath. “If you hurt that girl, Jenks, I swear I’ll cut out your eyeballs and skin you alive.”
Selena glanced at Staff. My God, she thought, he means it. Staff was literally shaking with rage. “Hold on guys,” she said soothingly, “let’s all calm down. There’s too much testosterone in this room for my liking.”
“Aye,” Jenks sneered, “and most of it’s yours.”
“Tell me,” Selena asked, ignoring the jibe. “Why did you kill all those girls?”
“I gave you a hint, you stupid bitch. The Forerunners made me do it. I’ve no idea how but they’d discovered I’d murdered women in the past and had gotten away with it, so they blackmailed me.”
Without warning, Jas kneed him in the groin and, as he gasped and doubled over in pain, she whipped one of her knives from her sleeve and rammed it into his left cheek, up to the hilt. As he screamed and reached up to claw the wound, she pushed him away and darted to safety, behind her friends.
Maddened with pain and shock, Jenks tore Jas’s knife from his face. Still bent over and ignoring the blood gushing from his wound and mouth, he swung the knife in towards Selena as she advanced towards him. She ducked backwards, allowing the knife to pass her by. She quickly stepped in and her left hand dropped over the inside of his elbow, her right-hand slammed into the gripped knife, forcing the weapon back in and up towards his throat. Unbalanced, he stumbled backwards, finding himself trapped against the wall in the young girl’s place.
“Get her out of here,” Selena grated.
Behind her, Staff quickly escorted Jas out of the room, to the troops waiting outside, while Jessica came in and covered Jenks with her sidearm.
“Tell me what they wanted with those girls’ body parts, Jenks. What did you do with them?”
When he replied, blood spattered from his lips and flowed down the ruins of his face. “The ForeRunners couldn’t come into the cities themselves because they’d be discovered by the Lenars, so they forced me to do the work for them. They need those parts to try and find a cure for this affliction of theirs that stops them procreating.”
He coughed and spat a mouthful of blood to one side. His tongue darted about his lip, the blade had obviously missed it. then he continued. “It’s done that way to scare you, to make you wonder who’s next. Sure, the ForeRunners on this world were eventually killed but others will come. In the meantime, the body parts they need are right here waiting for them.”
He spat blood again and continued. “In case you’re wondering why the Lenars didn’t pick up on me, it’s because their empathic abilities include a feel for different types of beings. They can tell aliens from humans. The ForeRunners taught me how to shield my feelings, so those creatures you now call our friends never caught me out. When the Sken arrived the drugs the Cetra gave me knocked me clean out. The Jellies couldn’t latch onto me.”
“Where are the body parts?” Selena demanded. “Tell me!”
“They’re in the freezer of a rented apartment. You’ll never find it.”
“Is that it? You killed those girls because the ForeRunners threatened to expose what you’d done in the past?”
“No, that’s not the only reason. They told me they’re going to attack Bernard’s Star. My family are there and they said they’d spare them if I complied. I can’t let them be killed. It’s my mother, father, my sisters…”
Selena felt her stomach do a flip. “They’re going to attack Bernard’s Star … you know this for a fact and yet said nothing?” Watching Jenks carefully, she keyed her hand-held. “Colonel? Warn Bernard’s Star—they’re going to be attacked. Tell them to go to full alert and inform the fleet.”
“How the hell did you know?” Delmar’s voice squawked. There was silence for a moment. “I’ve only just found out myself. You’re too late, Commander. The entire system’s gone. The Forerunners hit them a few hours ago and took out their sun. There’s nothing left now but plasma; seems they took a lesson from what you did to Mantis. God knows how many people we lost, billions I’d imagine. Then there’s the bases, shipyards and the fleet that engaged them. It’s-it’s just horrible. Have you got Jenks?”
“Yes, we’ve got him Colonel. I’ll call you back.” She faced Jenks squarely. “It’s too late. Bernard’s Star no longer exists. You could have stopped that, Jenks. You could have prevented those losses and saved your family, but you did nothing.”
“They’ll be safe,” he babbled. “My family, the ForeRunners promised…”
“You cut those young girls up!” Staff said in a choked voice from behind Selena, having come back into the room.
“You’re a fool, Jenks,” Selena snarled. “The ForeRunner’s used you. Now we’ve lost billions of people, let alone those children you butchered for them.”
“They insisted it was young girls. I had no choice!”
“There’s always a choice.” Selena said. Then she jerked the knife and twisted it, pushing the blade up against the underside of Jenks’ jaw, making him climb up onto his tip of his toes. His eyes began to look haunted and desperate. “Guess that just leaves just us now, and the question of what to do with you,” Selena continued. “Tell me, did the Queen know what you were up to, was she part of it?”
“Hell no, that evil cow would have killed me on the spot. You two are so alike. Bitches, both of you.”
“Please, let me,” Staff begged from besides her, his eyes almost standing out from his face. “Let me! I want to kill him.”
“Oh, I’m afraid not,” Selena said. “He tried to kill Jas, and that makes it personal.”
Jenks’ realised what was about to happen. “Wait, you don’t need to do this…”
“Oh, but I do.” Looking deeply into Jenks’ widening eyes she gave a slow, chilling smile, and with another jerk Selena shoved the blade up through the soft underside of his jaw, crunching through the bone and up into his brain. His eyes bulged, feet tap-danced on the floor and his hands beat agonisingly against hers. Selena watched calmly as his life slipped away, and only then did she release him and let him fall to the floor. He hit knees first, before face-planting with a sickening slap.
The others filed into the room at the noise. There was silence for a while, eventually broken by Jessica.
“I take it there was a struggle,” she said, her face grim.
“Indeed. Unfortunately, the knife went off in my hand.”
“Is that right, Staff?” Jessica asked.
“Yup, the bastard slipped in his own blood, fell and impaled himself on the knife the commander was holding. All rather sad really, can’t you see the tears in my eyes?”
Jessica put a caring arm around Jas, who was trembling and staring down at the dead body. “Selena, you’d better go see the colonel. We’ll take care of this little lady until you get back.”
“Thanks,” Selena replied. “Nothing personal but, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll have Staff look after her. I can’t think of anyone better sui
ted.”
Chapter Seven
“So,” Delmar began, studying Selena carefully as she stood in front of the colonel’s desk. “Jenks fell on his knife during a struggle and died. Is that correct?”
“No,” Selena replied. “If you want to know the truth, I killed him deliberately by shoving his own knife—no doubt used in his murders—up through his jaw and into his brain. But my official report will say it was an accident. You did tell me to deal with it by any means possible, and this was my way of ending the matter. I didn’t want that bastard getting off, or escaping somehow.”
She paused for a moment, considering. “The problem, as I see it, is that Jenks worked for us. You naming him as the killer could cause real issues.”
“I disagree. We need to be upfront and honest. The truth could come out somehow, which means we could end up with egg on our faces.” Delmar picked up a stylus from her desktop and fiddled with it, lips pursing. “His demise will reflect that the culprit was caught and killed during the arrest, as you suggest. The Queen threw a head-fit when we told her he was the killer but, thankfully, she seems to have calmed down now.”
Delmar put the stylus down, her eyes lifting to watch Selena carefully. “I understand she has a new beau and that it’s getting serious. Rumour has it they might even be getting married. What do you think about that?”
“I feel sorry for him, but she’s of no concern to me. Jenks exonerated her of anything to do with the murders, which has to be a first, and I have to admit it came as a surprise. As long as she stays out of my life, I have no problems with her. Why do you ask?”
“Just checking. Incidentally, how are you, if you don’t mind me asking? Jenks had mentioned some concerns. Said you were … becoming tetchy.”
“Ha, he was a great person to say that—look what he turned out to be. I’m fine, just tired and of course I’ve been concerned about Jas, but everything’s all right now. Any more news about what happened at Bernard’s Star?”
Delmar sighed and shook her head. “All we know is that several ForeRunner vessels appeared and that the fleet engaged them. There were just A.O.W. ships there at the time, and there was one hell of a battle from what we can tell, but we’ve obviously heard nothing since they hit the sun. Losing our headquarters has been quite a blow, but Admiral Van Pluy tells me they’re activating the reserve HQ on Loreen.”
She leant back, the chair automatically changing its contours as she squirmed into a more comfortable position. “Your old ship, the Vampyre, was engaged in the action and badly damaged. Luckily, she was sent away from the battle to seek repairs. Many of her crew were killed and, due to the ongoing battle, she was denied permission for repairs in system and told to seek help here. They left shortly before the destruction of Bernard’s and managed to arrive safely. She’s now at the City Port, undergoing repairs.
“Vampyre’s here?” Selena asked, with delighted surprise.
“Yes, she’s being rebuilt and upgraded. Crew replacements will be needed when she’s finally ready, and no doubt she will be thrown back into the fray. In a way, she was lucky. Not many ships got out.”
“Sounds to me like we’re getting a bit of a battering.”
“We give as good as we get,” Delmar replied. “Or we would, if we knew where their worlds were. We could destroy them the same as we did Mantis, and the ForeRunners are now doing to our worlds.”
“It was bad enough when we bashed each other with rocks or clubs,” Selena said, “then it was arrows, missiles, nuclear and chemical-biological weapons— anything else we could lob from a safe distance. Now we destroy entire planets and even solar systems. Where will it end?”
“That’s not for us to ask. Our task is to fight the enemy, how and when told. As for you and yours, Commander, you’re to continue with your current task until further notice.”
“But Jenks told us there are no ForeRunners remaining on Capulet, that they were all killed. So, why do we need to carry on with what we’re doing?”
“Because I want those teams of yours on top form, just in case,” Delmar said. “After all, one of the enemy agents could slip through any time and we can’t afford to drop the ball now.”
Selena found herself nodding in agreement. “Makes sense. But you don’t need to worry, they’re on the ball.”
“And find that flat Jenks mentioned. Recover the victims’ missing body parts and let’s give those kids a decent burial,” the colonel continued. “It’ll put people’s minds at rest and give any relatives closure. By the way, I’ve sent the remainder of Jenks’ team off-world. It’s not healthy for them here at the moment. It’s down to you and your team now.”
“Okay,” Selena replied. “We’re on it.”
***
Entering Jenks’ ID into the facial-recognition software allowed Selena to track his movements. She was soon able to narrow the location they were after down to two possibles. He’d visited both immediately after each of the killings. The first one turned out to be a simple clean-up pad, somewhere he could wash and change his clothes without arousing the suspicion of those in the military by his blood-splattered uniform, which he could have gotten from anywhere. From there, he’d moved on to the second address, where they hit the jackpot. When they raided the flat they found the parts of at least seventy people in strange looking translucent tanks, far more than those reported missing.
“What the hell?” Selena said, peering into the third packed tank. It resembled a very long freezer that ran almost from one length of the lounge to the other. The flat had three bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and lounge. Each, except the bathroom, was jammed full of the devices.
“This is bizarre,” Kes said. “There’s nothing wired in, no internal power source that we can see or any such wireless device. There must be one—where is it?”
“They’re a lot more advanced that we are,” Selena said. “It could be anywhere.” She called Colonel Delmar on her hand-held, to give her the good news.
“Are all the bodies accounted for?” Delmar demanded.
“Kes, what’s the body count?” Selena shouted.
“At least seventy-three, Commander. But that’s just by counting heads.”
“Heads? Christ, did you get that, Ma’am? Seventy-three. That’s a lot more than reported missing. Guess it’s down to the pathologist to determine which are from our girls, and who the other parts are from. I’ll give you a call once we finish up here.”
It was then that the local enforcement arrived. They looked around the room, stunned, with two leaving instantly. The sounds of their throwing up in the corridor outside didn’t help matters, but at least they hadn’t contaminated the room, Selena reasoned.
“Hey,” Selena said. “Can we get DNA tests arranged on all of these? And I want to see all of those reports.”
“Already in hand, Ma’am,” one of about ten officers replied. He wiped sweat from his brow with the back of one hand and looked both shocked and scared as he stared at the bodies. “These could be from anywhere. Let’s face it, people go missing every day, hundreds per year—in every city. This fellow Jennings could have been storing them as a stop gap for other worlds, who haven’t even realised yet what was going on.”
“Okay, this is your bag of chalk now. We’re out of here.” Selena pulled her team out. “Go get some rest, guys. Leave it to the locals.”
As they streamed out of the building, Selena used her hand-held to call Delmar back again. “Colonel? Yes, confirmed. Far more than we imagined. Local enforcement believes it was a holding area from other outposts. Yes, he must have brought them in somehow. There could be other killers in the colonies that we know nothing about, might be worth sending an alert.”
“Well done, Commander,” Delmar responded. “I’ll get that actioned. In the meantime, I’ve had some news of my own. The ForeRunners have gone on the offensive. We lost three other colonies so far, same as Bernard’s Star— the enemy took their suns out. They’ve also attacked Loreen—they must either s
ee it as a strategic world or know about it being the backup headquarters. The battle’s been going on for two days now. Nice of them to tell me. So far we’re holding our own, although it’s costly. Trouble is we’re having to protect the sun there too, which takes a large number of ships. Wait, there’s another report coming in.”
Selena heard disbelief in the colonel’s voice. “For God’s sake, now the Manta have attacked us on two worlds.”
“But … but they’re supposed to be our allies!” Selena gasped. She felt sick. Shuddering, she apologised to the colonel and paused her hand-held for a moment. Calming herself, she resumed the call. “I’m sorry, Ma’am, something came up. You were saying, the Manta?
“Yes, they’ve attacked several outposts. Our ‘so called friend’, Scar, says they’re from a splinter group, a hive who’ve failed to assimilate their data properly due to a technical hitch. They view the ForeRunners and ourselves as the same race, and are ignoring all updates and the command to desist.”
“The Manta attacking us…” Selena spat, biting back anger. “There’s a surprise.”
“From what we can tell, Scar’s own forces are engaging them. It’s now Manta against Manta.” Delmar’s voice still held that tone of disbelief. “They’re attacking them en masse, taking out all of their ships and slaughtering their forces. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Let them kill each other,” Selena snarled. “Fuck them all. I hope every last one of them dies, it’s the only way we’ll be safe.”
“Hang on,” Delmar said, and was silent for several moments.
She’s confused, Selena thought. Past it. Let someone new take over her post. Someone with enough fire in their belly to dampen out this alien menace, once and for all.
“The Sken are also attacking the Manta insurgents,” Delmar said, at length. She firmed up and once again became the Colonel that Selena had come to admire. “Let’s sit back and see what happens. I’m with you on this. I hope they wipe each other out, but we both know that’s unlikely to happen.”