They had no luck trying to meet with Lieutenant Paul Corby in Verona. When they arrived at his house, they were greeted by his wife and their three screaming children. That Corby was also away on duty.
We can’t find out which Corby is the one we want if we can’t meet them personally, thought Colin. And he was not eager to visit another war zone to speak to these people unless he had no choice. Right now, their only other option was to visit the apartment of Lieutenants Ronald and Cynthia Corby in McKeesport.
Night had fallen when Colin, Diane, and Kelly departed the subway. They walked for a quarter mile through the quiet streets of McKeesport, with its many store fronts and tall silvery buildings. Nearing their destination, they crossed a street and approached a five-story metallic blue building, entering the lobby through a set of glass doors. Diane examined the holographic list of residents above the row of mailboxes imbedded in the wall. “Ronald Colby, apartment three, first floor.”
“Let’s do this,” Colin said. He glanced at Diane’s gun and added, “Why don’t you let me do most of the talking? You hardly look like the diplomatic type with that cannon strapped to your side.”
They advanced down the corridor and reached the third door. Colin pressed the glowing red button located beneath the numeral three on a plaque beside the door and could hear a chime ringing inside past the door. After a few seconds, a young woman, close to Kelly’s five-foot-four height, with her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, opened the door just slightly. “Yes?”
Colin jumped back when a small gray and black striped cat darted from around her legs and went flying down the corridor, as if in a panic. The woman, dressed in gray camouflage fatigues with her trousers tucked into black knee-high boots, didn’t acknowledge the cat’s panicked behavior as she asked in a flat tone, “Can I help you?”
Colin glanced after the cat, but it had disappeared. He figured it was skittish around strangers. He took out his billfold and displayed his badge. Diane and Kelly did the same. “Good evening. I’m Colin McKenzie, and my colleagues are Diane Christy and Kelly Lytton. We’re with the CID and would like to speak with Ronald Corby.”
“Sorry. Ron has been away for about a week now,” the woman explained.
“Are you his wife?”
“Yes. I’m Lieutenant Cynthia – Cyndi – Corby.”
Colin’s attention shifted from Lieutenant Corby to a small blond-haired girl in white shorts and a blue blouse as she ducked around Cyndi Corby’s legs, gripping her mother’s trousers. The child looked pale with fear as she blinked her eyes and glanced furtively up at Colin. Colin smiled and gave the little girl a small wave. “Hi. What’s your name?”
The child ignored his question and, instead of ducking behind her mother for protection, squirmed in front of her, looking back over her shoulder into the apartment. Her mother grabbed her shoulders firmly. “This is my daughter, Audrey.”
“Where is your husband right now, lieutenant?”
“Ron’s in pilot briefings on Starbase Argus. We’re due to ship out next week. What’s this all about?”
“Your husband’s a pilot?”
“Yes.” Cyndi frowned, appearing upset. “Is something wrong?”
“We’re conducting an investigation. Do either you or your husband know a Lieutenant John Mertz?”
Cyndi hesitated. Her frown deepened. “No. Never heard of him.”
Colin wondered why the mother seemed so tense. Obviously her daughter was upset by something. Combined with the cat practically leaping out of their apartment, Colin felt guilty about upsetting their routine. He smiled down at Audrey, trying to ease her obvious apprehension. “How old are you, Audrey?”
Instead of answering or even acknowledging his question, the girl cowered against her mother’s legs and fisted her hands under her chin. “She’s seven,” her mother answered for her.
Colin started to feel awkward. Seven? Considering the fact that I’m a Reploid, this kid might be older than I am. “What’s your cat’s name?”
Remaining silent, Audrey stared at the floor. “Spikes,” Cyndi Corby answered quickly. “Is there anything else?”
Diane stepped closer to Cyndi. “So, your husband is a pilot. Small world. I happen to be a pilot myself. You might have heard of me.”
Here we go, Colin groused. “Yes, well...” he interrupted, quickly cutting off Diane’s familiar and annoying mantra. “You say that you and your husband are both shipping out together. Where will you be stationed?”
“We’ll be serving aboard the battle carrier Maelstrom. It’s part of the expeditionary task force assigned to explore and colonize new star systems for the Protectorate. We’re very excited to be a part of that mission.”
“Good for you,” Diane sniped. “But don’t you think that’s a big waste of time and resources when we’re in the middle of a war?”
“You’re only saying that because you’re not going,” Kelly said with a grin.
It was hard for Colin to determine if questioning Cyndi had gained them any useful information, and he was just about out of things to ask her. It seemed the lead Garbo had given them was turning into a maze of dead ends. “We’ve taken up enough of your time,” Colin said. “Thank you very much. Too bad that we missed your husband.”
“Too bad,” Cyndi repeated. She glanced over her shoulder for a second, then added, “During this mission, we’re expected to be away for up to a year. We’re all going. Audrey and Spikes too.” She swallowed, talking faster. “I have to make arrangements for all our furniture to be placed in storage because we’re moving out of this apartment. I’ve already got most of our stuff packed. I’m going to miss this place. But duty calls. Sorry that I couldn’t have been more help.”
“No problem,” Colin said, looking past Cyndi, into the apartment. He saw a large living room with light brown carpeting and bare white walls. At the right side of the room were five large white plastic crates. A small black flat-screen television sat in front of the crates on a black oval coffee table. He could hear the sounds of people talking from the television, but couldn’t see the picture from his angle. In front of the television sat a light brown sofa with two more crates standing behind it. Satisfied that everything was as she said, he smiled. “Sorry to have bothered you. It was nice meeting you. And you too,” he added, bending down slightly to address Audrey. The child shied away from him.
Cyndi backed into the apartment, taking Audrey with her, seeming unconcerned about their cat Spikes’ whereabouts. She closed the door.
“Another dead end,” Diane grumbled. “Who’s next?”
Colin took a folded paper from his back pocket. He glanced over the list of names and addresses. “The next subject is Captain Jennifer Corby in Verona.”
Kelly let out a tired moan. “Don’t tell me you want to head over there now!”
“Why not? Verona is only an hour’s subway ride from here.”
“And that’s supposed to be a good thing?” said Kelly, throwing his hands up. “It’s late. I’m tired. Aren’t you guys getting tired?”
“This will be the last one. Then we’ll call it a night,” Colin assured him. When he started thinking about what tomorrow would bring as they chased down the dead end of Corbys located in the far-off cities across the planet, as well as the ones that were off-world, he felt suddenly tired.
* * * * *
Cyndi’s heart pounded faster and harder when she closed the apartment door. She held onto Audrey, for a moment afraid to turn around and face what was in the apartment with them. Spikes had the right idea – get the hell out. She could only imagine the level of fear her daughter was experiencing.
A deep gruff voice addressed her from across the room. “That was very stupid.”
Cyndi held Audrey tighter. She turned around. “Stupid? I didn’t tell them anything. I didn’t tell them about Mertz.”
“True. But then you still told too much. Ron is on Starbase Argus. You’re both serving on the Maelstrom. Giving them that i
nformation could cause us problems. We don’t need any problems.”
“It’s information they could easily get,” she defended in a shaky voice. “Our assignment’s not a big secret.”
Cyndi backed against the door as the huge reptilian monster materialized from thin air in front of her. Similar to the Brelac, but larger, it stood eight feet tall, with dark blue scaly skin. It wore a long black hooded cape, the hood covering the upper half of its face. But Cyndi was still able to see the creature’s red eyes burning with fury down at her. The creature clenched its long pointed teeth, letting let out an angry snarl as it thrashed its long tail from side to side and growled, “You were told to get rid of them. But instead you gave them a major clue to our plan.”
Terrified, Cyndi gasped for air. “How ... how would they know? I mean ... they don’t know what’s going on. They were just asking about Mertz. That’s all they wanted to know.”
A chubby man with shoulder-length red hair emerged from the open doorway at the other side of the room. Dressed in gray camouflage fatigues and black knee-high boots, he walked toward her, wearing a sinister grin on his face as he said smoothly, “Poor Mertz. We’d hate for you to end up like him. Unless we no longer have a use for you either.”
The creature moved in, standing a mere foot away from Cyndi. She trembled uncontrollably as it leaned down, bringing its toothy mouth inches from her nose – so close that she could feel its hot breath and smell the rotting fish odor. “Mertz,” the creature hissed. “You remember what happened to Mertz. He made himself obsolete. He tried to run out on us. So we no longer had a use for him.”
Cyndi trembled harder, seeing death for herself and her child between every other word these monsters spoke. “No, no, I’m still with you. I’m still with the plan.”
“Good,” the creature said. It slowly raised its clawed right hand, bringing it up from Audrey’s terrified tearful eyes to Cyndi’s face. Cyndi felt an unseen force snapping loose the elastic band that bound her hair into a ponytail. That same force spread her hair apart. The creature poked its finger into her hair and pulled up long strands to hold up to her fearful eyes. Audrey began sobbing softly again, as she had been most of the time the Enforcers had been there. Cyndi stopped breathing, entertaining for a futile second the idea of grabbing her daughter and running from the apartment. “No,” she breathed. “Please, Poltergeist, please don’t hurt us! Please! I’ve done everything you asked. Please.”
His only response was a deep growl as the red-haired man continued to stare down at Audrey. He raised his right hand, and it took on a hot red glow.
“Mommy!” her baby screeched.
“No!” Cyndi screamed, swinging her daughter away, trying to shield her with her own body.
Behind her, she heard the red-haired man laugh evilly. “Remember what happened to Mertz. Another stupid mistake like that, and you’re next!”
“We’ve wasted enough time here,” Poltergeist growled. “Let’s take care of McKenzie and the other two.”
Terrified, Cyndi picked up Audrey, still crying, and fumbled for the door knob. She managed to fling the door open and bolted out of the apartment and down the corridor to escape the two monsters inside, who had complete control of her and her daughter’s lives. She knew she would never forget this night of horror, or the words of warning Ron had uttered like a curse: ‘Nothing can stop the Enforcers. You can’t hide from these monsters, and you can’t run. Not very far. Wherever you go, whatever you do, they will find you.’
back to top
Chapter 12
After sitting on a hard metal bench in the subway station for fifteen minutes, Colin looked back at the time-display panel on the gray brick wall declaring in bright red numbers that it was 10:37 PM. The next subway train to Verona was due to arrive at 11:00. Their last visit for the night would be Captain Jennifer Corby, providing that she was even home.
Diane sighed, sitting next to Colin, leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees with her chin resting on her fists. Kelly, leaned back next to Diane, had somehow managed to fall asleep on the uncomfortable bench.
Thirty feet above their heads, the twin rows of six-foot-long tubular lights running along the ceiling kept the area well lit. Two of the other benches at the station were empty except for a young man in a black suit with a briefcase resting at his feet, and a middle-aged blond woman in a blue dress, carrying a small black purse. The five-foot-high holographic sign attached to the floor nearby displayed a live video of a black jet-styled spacecraft, part of a new line sold by manufacturer Kinyu.
On the bench to the left of the sign, a blond teenage boy dressed in a black tee-shirt, shorts, and sandals, laughed while sitting on the lap of a blond teenage girl in a green dress and black shoes. She was laughing hysterically, trying to shove the boy off of her lap. A black teenage boy in a blue shirt stood in front of the bench with both hands in the pockets of his black pants. He had slipped his flip-flops off and stood in his bare feet on the stone floor. A teenage girl with long red hair, wearing a short black dress and black shoes, stood close behind him, with her right arm wrapped around his waist while the fingers of her left hand combed through his curly black hair.
A romantic scene, Colin thought to himself. For a moment he imagined Diane and himself in place of those two kids. Quickly he caught himself and realized how silly that was, hoping Diane wouldn’t notice those two and develop the same idea.
Minutes passed as Colin continued to sit and wait. Then from his right he heard a loud metallic screeching coming from the subway tunnel, which was odd, because the subway car rode above the magnetic strip in the tunnel, not against it. He saw the two bright lights from the lead car as the train drew closer, and the screeching noise continued. As the train came into view, Colin saw sparks flying out from its left side. The train reduced its speed and drew closer. The lead car’s roof was missing, while the sides of the car were shredded. Large sections of metal were missing from its sides, and long strips of bent metal scraped against the tunnel wall as the car slowed to a stop. Colin jumped up from the bench. “What the hell?”
Diane shook Kelly to awaken him. “Come on, kid. We might have trouble.”
Confused and groggy, Kelly looked about and was slow to move.
The man in the black suit stepped toward the lead car while the woman in the blue dress stepped back. “What happened?” he asked. “Was there an accident?”
A large creature covered by long, shiny metal shrapnel let out a roar and leaped from the damaged car, landing in front of the man. The man screamed and could do nothing else before the monster slashed at his head with the long metal blades protruding from its forearm. With a quick swipe, the man’s head was severed from his body. It flew over the head of the now screaming woman and landed out of sight. Spurting blood from the neck, the man’s body stumbled backward and fell to the floor.
Then an even larger monster appeared from the subway car – a reptilian creature with blue scaly skin and a long tail, wearing a black hooded cape. Lifted by an unseen force, the creature rose into the air above the car. Sections of torn metal, the car’s black cushioned seats, and the dead bodies of male and female passengers rose with it. Large sections of the subway car continued to tear themselves away and fly into the air to join the cloud of wreckage that began to spin around the creature. The creature pointed a clawed hand forward and shouted in a deep, gruff voice, “Kill them! Kill them all!”
The blond woman screamed again, then turned and tried to run. A large creature resembling a seddrax, with eight long legs and a long serpentine tail leaped out from the car and landed on top of her, forcing her to the floor as it thrust the pointed stinger of its tail deep into her back. The woman screamed again, struggling for a moment and then falling still.
Diane drew her Griffin-90 laser pistol and was about to squeeze off a shot at the seddrax creature, but it lurched forward. Moving at blurring speed, it vanished from sight. Half a second, later the creature reappeared at her lef
t. It bolted toward her, tackling her to the floor. Diane dropped her weapon when she fell. The creature’s tail with its deadly stinger headed straight for her face. She grabbed the tail and held it firmly as she jumped back to her feet. Still gripping the tail, she swung the creature around and hurled it back toward the lead subway car. The creature smashed into the holographic sign and shattered it, then crashed into the side of the subway car, falling to the boarding dock.
The hooded creature, still hovering, vanished, but the cloud of debris that had been swirling around it remained in the air. Suddenly the debris flew out toward Colin, Diane, and Kelly. Kelly raised his hands but was unable to erect one of his shields before the trio was bombarded by the heavy debris and thrown to the floor.
Colin hit the back of his head on the floor, and a seat cushion landed on top of him. He touched an aching spot on the back of his head and tried to get back to his feet. That was when he looked to his right and saw the four frightened teenagers standing by, watching the conflict unfolding before them – a conflict that they would soon be a part of, as victims. “Run! Get out of here!” Colin shouted at them.
Heeding his advice, the teenagers turned to run down the left tunnel, away from this scene, and reach the stairs to the surface. Before they got six feet away, a bright red glow appeared. Colin recognized that light. The intense heat that emanated from it caused the tubular lights in the ceiling to explode with a short burst of sparks. Colin knew what was about to appear next.
As the screaming teenagers ran toward Colin, the grotesque insect-like creature materialized and came crawling down the left tunnel wall. Colin scrambled to his feet and raised his hands to blast the creature with a bolt of electricity. That was when he caught sight of a man emerging from the open door of a subway car on his right. Caucasian, with short blond hair, he wore black shoes and pants and a dark blue shirt. He smiled and waved at Colin. His face looks familiar. “Driscoll?”
Assassination Anxiety (The McKenzie Files) Page 14