Assassination Anxiety (The McKenzie Files)

by Barry K. Nelson

  Colin held his breath when he heard Diane’s word. This whole scene seemed oddly familiar, down to her exact words. And then it hit him. The dream! Colin looked about. This entire scenario, from the battle they were in the middle of, to the triangle shaped wall they were hiding behind, had been in his dream.

  “What the hell’s wrong with you? Scared?” Diane asked.

  Crouched close to the wall on the other side of Diane, Kelly popped his head out. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said in a rapid, high pitched voice. “I can’t believe we came into the middle of this, just to talk to a few people who might be dead. Like we might end up.”

  Colin collected himself. Now was not the time for navel-gazing or dream interpretations. He’d save that for later. Right now they needed to get out of this mess. “Where the hell were you?” he asked Kelly

  “Where was I? “ Kelly spat out. “Where do you think? There were explosions. Shooting started. I thought this would be a great time to start a paper route.”

  “A what?” Diane asked.

  “Never mind that. We have to move our asses and get to the command center,” Colin growled. “It’s about a mile up the road. And the Brelac are cutting us off. We need a plan. Kelly, we can take cover behind one of your shields. Can you form one and run at the same time?”

  “Not very well. I’ve tried it before. Running distracts my concentration. I have to be stationary.”

  “Then just run slower,” Diane suggested impatiently.

  “Yeah. Like that’ll work,” Kelly snapped back.

  “Just give it your best shot,” Colin said. “Let’s go.”

  Moving in unison, the three of them jumped to their feet and charged around the wall, running onto the road. Kelly took the lead, holding out his hands to create a large rectangular panel of glowing blue energy that absorbed the incoming Brelac plasma bolts. Kelly continued running while holding out his hands to maintain his shield. The shield hovered a few feet away from him. Colin and Diane were forced to slow their pace in order to stay behind Kelly. Colin noticed Kelly’s shield beginning to fade. It began to blink on and off as Kelly continued to run. Then to Colin’s horror, Kelly’s shield faded out.

  Kelly stopped running. He thrust out his hands and the shield reappeared. It absorbed more incoming firepower from both the Brelacs and one of the Viperoids. A plasma bolt zipped past Colin’s face from the right. He turned and saw a large group of Brelacs charging forward. He raised his hands and fired two streams of energy to make a quick sweep of the area. With a blue flashes and bursts of sparks, he struck five Brelacs, hurling their bodies back several feet into the advancing crowd of their fellow soldiers and knocking a few of them to the ground in the process. Diane spun around and opened fire with her laser rifle. She gunned down three of the charging Brelacs, but her efforts proved futile as several more advanced to continue the fight.

  Kelly turned right, holding out his right hand. Another glowing rectangle of his blue shield blocked incoming fire from that direction.

  “This is no good! We have to keep moving!” shouted Colin. He looked up ahead, past the two advancing Viperoids. Behind them in the distance was a row of bombed-out buildings. They would have a better chance of moving in between the cover of those ruins rather than moving out in the open.

  Flying in a loose triangular formation, three Protectorate fighters soared overhead and began strafing the area with their laser cannons. Several Brelac soldiers were mowed down under the assault. Looking up the road, Colin saw several more Brelacs gunned down where they stood. However, the fighters inflicted little damage to the Viperoids. Both robots turned as the fighter passed over their heads. Their guns tilted upward to try to track and shoot the fighters down.

  “We’ve got a window,” Diane cried out. She dashed from around Kelly’s shield and ran down the road.

  Colin was confused. “A window? What are you talking about?”

  “Follow me,” she yelled.

  The Brelacs scattered and took cover among the bombed out ruins under the fighter’s assault. The two Viperoids stepped back, looking up while tilting their plasma guns up to try and shoot the fighters down. Diane was taking advantage of the distraction created by the fighters to charge forward and stage an assault of her own. She ran toward the Viperoids, at the same time blazing away with her rifle and gunning down three Brelac soldiers. She ran up to one Viperoid, dashed between its legs, and slowed just enough to reach down and grab hold of the Viperoid’s left foot. With her superhuman strength, she managed to lift the foot off the ground enough to make the mechanical monstrosity lose balance and stumble forward. As its heavy body struck the ground with a boom and churned up a huge cloud of dust, she continued running until she disappeared behind a ruined building.

  Colin was amazed at what he had just witnessed. I can’t believe she just pulled that off! Now it would be wise to follow her while the Brelac were still distracted. “Kelly, shield to the right!” he cried out.

  Kelly moved both hands from the front and held them up to his right. His shield in the front faded away while the one at the right grew larger as it continued to absorb the incoming Brelac fire. Colin’s hand’s took on a blue glow as he fired bolts of electric energy at the Viperoid that was still standing. The bolts struck the machine in its chest, and sparks shot out from its body as it staggered backward, but it remained standing. Colin fired two more bolts, and the robot staggered back again on unsteady legs. Colin thought for sure that it was going to fall as it leaned forward. Then two of the Protectorate fighters flew in and circled the robot twice before diving down to concentrate their laser attack on its head. The Viperoid’s head exploded into a shower of flaming debris as its body toppled forward and crashed to the ground.

  “That was easy,” Colin quipped, not believing his own words. He saw no signs of Brelac troops up ahead. “Kelly. Shield while running. Try again.”

  “It won’t work,” Kelly shouted to him.

  “Concentrate. We need to follow Diane.”

  Kelly sucked in a deep breath and tried again as he ran beside Colin. For a second, his shield faded out, until he slowed down. The rectangular section of his shield returned, hovering above the ground with him as he moved. The shield was effective in blocking the Brelac plasma bolts, but Colin wished Kelly could move a bit faster.

  Colin and Kelly approached the Viperoid that Diane had toppled. It was using its long arms in unison with its legs in a clumsy attempt to get back up on its feet. Colin heard Diane’s voice calling out to him from the left. He saw her standing near the large opening to a ruined building, with three troopers beside her. He and Kelly darted past the Viperoid to reach Diane. The machine was making a slow rise back to its feet, its four guns tilting down and taking aim. Kelly stopped and dropped his shield to aim his right hand at the robot. A burst of blame exploded out from his hand, and a large crimson beam of energy shot out and burned straight through the robot’s torso. Kelly thrust out his left hand and fired another beam of energy that burned through the robot’s head. The left side of the Viperoid’s head exploded. It staggered back and fell to the ground.

  Letting out a loud gasp, Kelly took a minute to inspect his handiwork. Colin grabbed him by his shoulder and pulled him along. They both rushed over to the building where Diane and the troopers were waiting. “What the hell took you guys so long?” Diane scolded. “I thought you were right behind me.”

  “You ran off by yourself and didn’t exactly share your plan with us,” Colin reprimanded.

  Lieutenant Everton stepped forward. “We don’t have time for arguing. We have to keep moving. The command center isn’t far. We lost one fighter. The other two will give us what air support they can. Let’s move.”

  Colin, Diane, and Kelly ran to follow Everton and the two other troopers over heaps of rubble as they passed through the ruined building. They felt the tremors and heard the booms of nearby explosions as well as laser and plasma fire. They exited the building through another lar
ge hole blasted in the wall and ran a few hundred yards across a field of broken stone and metal debris. The bodies of dead troopers and civilians were scattered about. They approached the two-story remnants of another bombed out structure and ran up a short flight of stone steps to reach a pair of twin glass doors with only the frames remaining – most of the glass had shattered, with only the bottom portion remaining. A swift kick from Everton’s boot smashed both doors open.

  Everton charged into the building without breaking stride as he stepped over a charred human body. The crunching of their feet against the rubble echoed off the torn, blackened walls of the building’s large interior. They passed a stairway to the upper floor when they heard another set of footsteps and a low growl. An armed Brelac soldier came charging down the stairs. Diane and Everton both turned and opened fire with their weapons, slicing through the Brelac’s body. The Brelac toppled down the stairs, letting off two random plasma shots from a plasma rifle as it hit the floor. For a moment everyone stopped and waited for more Brelacs to appear. They heard footsteps retreating back up the stairs and then across the upper floor.

  Colin blared out Kelly’s name. “I’m on it!” Kelly acknowledged, stepping back from the group to look up to the ceiling. He aimed both hands up and, with a flash of fire and a loud whoosh, two smaller beams of energy from his hands merged into one larger beam that he used to sweep across the ceiling. He burned a line ten feet long through the ceiling, leaving it flaming while glowing fragments fell to the floor as he burned a second longer line a few feet away to the right. Then he burned another line next to that one. Anything that was standing in those areas on the upper floor would be destroyed if it were hit by Kelly’s fire.

  Kelly stopped and looked at Colin. “I don’t know if I got him or not.”

  “I don’t want to go up and find out,” Colin replied. He looked at Everton, whose eyes were fixed on Kelly. “You have a way out of here?”

  Everton and the two troopers still had their gazes fixed on Kelly.

  “Lieutenant?” Colin repeated louder.

  Everton turned his attention to Colin. “A way out? There might be a door in the back. Just who the hell are you people again?”

  “Silencers,” Colin explained with little patience. “We’re a special unit with the CID. We already went through this earlier.”

  “Earlier you were just ordinary guys.” Everton looked at Diane and amended, “And a gal. But now ... I don’t know.”

  “That’s why we’re a special unit,” Colin said, glancing up at the ceiling. “Can we go? There’s no telling what’s hiding upstairs.”

  Everton nodded. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

  The group followed Everton as he ran to the far end of the building. They reached a hallway to the left and ran down it for a few feet until they were forced to stop. Their way was barred by a pile of debris and a huge metal beam that was torn loose from the ceiling and had fallen across the hallway.

  “Blocked,” said one trooper.

  “Let me in there,” Diane said. She brushed past the trooper and walked over to the metal beam. Reaching down with her right hand, she grabbed one end of the beam and easily lifted it above her head.

  Colin nudged Everton’s shoulder. “You first.”

  Everton hesitated, then walked under the beam, followed by the two other troopers. After Colin and Kelly passed under the beam, Diane stepped beyond it and released her grip. The beam fell back the floor with a loud thud that was sure to alert anyone who was lurking on the upper level. After running for a few more feet down the hallway, they turned right and found a gray metal door that would not move when the lieutenant grabbed its handle and tried to pull it open. He ordered everyone to step back, then blasted a few fist-sized holes into it with his laser rifle. After the third shot, the door came ajar.

  Everton kicked the door open and led the way outside to a large field littered with chunks of stone masonry and metal fragments. Thirty feet away, a row of ruined buildings stood like a sad monument to war’s destruction. The group charged out onto the field. Colin stuck close to Diane and Kelly, determined not to be separated from them again.

  As he ran, Everton turned his head back to the building. Then he spun around and aimed his rifle back toward a broken-out window on the second floor. “Snipers!” he shouted.

  Colin saw the barrels of two rifles pointing at them from the left and right sides of the window. The rifles disappeared back into the building just as Everton opened fire, sending three laser shots flying through the open window. The gun barrels reappeared and returned fire. Three plasma bolts zipped past Everton’s head. A forth shot hit its mark, striking his right shoulder. Everton took a step back and returned fire at the window, then turned and ran to catch up with the rest of the group.

  Colin looked back to see that the Brelac guns in the window had withdrawn. Seconds later, the huge metallic form of a Viperoid crashed through the wall, producing a large cloud of dust that rose around its feet. Dozens of howling Brelac troops charging out from the dust cloud at the Viperoid’s left and right, firing their weapons as soon as they were out in the open.

  Colin turned his attention back to the row of ruined buildings up ahead that he and the others were trying to reach. Plasma bolts flew past his head as he ran. With her laser rifle slung over her shoulder, Diane ran in front of him. As she approached a twelve-foot-high pile of rubble to her left, she grabbed hold of a protruding metal beam and lifted it off the ground, flinging it into the air like a spear at the Viperoid. The mass scored a direct hit on the robot’s chest, shattering upon impact with a loud report. The Viperoid staggered and fell back into the building.

  Diane turned and sprinted forward and caught up with the rest of them as they approached the row of buildings only a few feet away. A female trooper holding a rifle stood in between two of the buildings, waving her hand in the air as she shouted, “This way!” They all followed her across a debris-covered path between the two buildings. They turned left and reached five troopers, rifles at the ready, standing beside an open square hatch in the ground near the building’s wall. The trooper nearest the hatch waved everyone on. “Down! Hurry! Move!”

  Everton was the first one to climb down a ladder inside the hatch. As the rest of the group waited to make their descent, four of the troopers ran back and took cover behind walls at the left and right sides of the path. They opened fire as Brelac plasma bolts shot past them. Then a bright red beam of energy struck the side of the left building where two of the troopers were hiding. The large fiery explosion hurled chunks of masonry and body parts into the air. When the debris landed, Colin saw a wide section of the wall was destroyed. The two troopers were gone.

  “Psycho-gunners!” a female trooper shouted. “Move it!”

  Psycho-gunners ... Brelac troops wielding psionic weapons with massive power. Colin recalled General Larkin’s warning about them and dreaded an encounter with them.

  The remaining troopers ran back to the hatch, and everyone hurried down below ground. Diane followed the last trooper, with Kelly next to go, and finally Colin. Colin grabbed the hatch and pulled it shut, hastily securing it. The last to make the twelve-foot descent down the ladder, he reached the bottom and found himself crowded with the others in a dark tunnel. Several of the troopers pulled out thin, foot long rods glowing with bright white light to banish the darkness. Colin moved through the mob of troopers to reach Everton and asked, “What is this place?”

  “A utility access tunnel,” Everton replied. “It was on our map of the area as a secondary route to take us closer to the command center in case we were shot down, and things got too hot outside.”

  “A second route?” Colin asked. “Any chance that the Brelac might know about this place too?”

  “Probably. But they’re not going to follow us. Sergeant Brayburn’s people have set up explosive charges on the nearby buildings and are going to detonate them remotely.”

  The female trooper nodded, acknowledging
she was Sergeant Brayburn. “Everything’s set,” she said. “They’ll be here any second. We have to move.”

  Everton waved his hand forward. “You heard the sergeant! Let’s go! Move it!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the tunnel.

  The mob ran down the tunnel, the sound of many footsteps pounding Colin’s ears. Brayburn, running at Colin’s right, held a small black device with a keypad. She touched two keys. Instantly he heard the muffled thunder of simultaneous explosions from above, and the tunnel shook from the powerful tremors, bringing dust and bits of stone out from the walls and ceiling.

  Colin ran to catch up to Everton. “So what happens now?”

  “We’re only a few more feet from the exit. Brayburn said they have explosives set inside the tunnel. Once we’re out, they set off the charges and collapse the tunnel. That way the Brelac can’t use it. Once we’re outside we’ll only be a few yards away from the defensive zone around the command center. I’m glad that we’re traveling underground. This takes a bit of heat off of us, especially with the psycho-gunners up there.”

  “The psycho-gunners. Have you dealt with them before?”

  “Not yet. But I’ve heard stories about them. Bad stories. I was told that the rifles they’re packing have one hell of a mean punch. Just two of them can take down a battle cruiser. I’m not looking forward to facing something like that in the field. Not unless you and your pals are with me.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Colin said, grinning.

  The group continued running for several minutes before they slowed to a stop. A male voice up ahead prodded them forward. “Come on people, let’s move it! Keep moving! This place becomes a ditch as soon as we’re out!”