Assassination Anxiety (The McKenzie Files)

by Barry K. Nelson

  “And you?” Colin challenged.

  “Well, you know what I can do.”

  “The Enforcers. Are you with them?”

  “That’s kind of obvious, don’t you think?”

  Kelly took a step back. “Why did you help us back there, if you’re one of them?” he asked, raising his hands in front of him as if to attack.

  “I helped you because I thought there still might be some hope for you,” Driscoll said as he held eye contact with Colin. “Our orders were to kill you. But I was hoping that you might see reason and come join us.”

  Colin had to suppress an urge to laugh. “Join you? You can’t be serious. You’re the enemy. I’m working for the CID.”

  “Yeah, I know all about your fancy CID job and your fancy CID badge. Your badge will look great sitting on your chest before they shut the lid on your coffin. That badge might be the only part of you that’s recognizable after Poltergeist and the others are through.”

  “So ... that’s what happens if I don’t join you?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. You and your friends,” Driscoll said, turning to eye Diane and Kelly. “But my offer isn’t just extended to you. Your pals here are welcome too. It will be like one big happy reunion.” Frowning, he turned back to Colin. “Refuse, and you’ll all end up like Mertz and Garbo.”

  Diane and Kelly both stared at Driscoll, then looked to Colin. “What does he mean by reunion?” asked Kelly. “Were you a criminal like he is?”

  Driscoll beamed. “Take a break from polishing your halo, kid. You’re not exactly some angel with a spotless record. You’ve got blood on your hands.” Driscoll walked over and stood close to Diane. “You too, sweet cakes.”

  “What do you mean?” Diane asked.

  “You’d already know if it weren’t for the fact that you’ve all been reprogrammed,” Driscoll explained. “Then again, for your sakes that might be a good thing. Guilty memories can be hard to bear – if you actually care.” He shrugged. “I have to get back and try to explain how I let you all get away. I’ll tell them that the mishap with Vosh was an accident. Then you guys took me prisoner. But only temporarily. How does that sound?”

  Colin ignored Driscoll’s question. “You still didn’t tell me how you survived after being shot back on Meridan.”

  “Oh that. It’s a little bonus that comes with these Reploid bodies of ours. You have to use what you’ve been given. You’ll find out, if you haven’t already.” Driscoll stepped back, pointing a finger at Colin. “Oh, you might want to check your speed. You’ll be reaching the Monroeville station in a few minutes. It could get messy.” Driscoll turned and took unsteady steps as he ran to the door to the next car.

  “Wait!” Colin shouted. He pointed to Diane and Kelly. “Go after him!”

  The metal door had already slid open to allow Driscoll to dash through, closing behind him. With the train’s momentum, Colin found it difficult to maintain his footing as he ran past the four teenagers to join Diane and Kelly in the chase. Kelly was the first one to reach the door. He stopped in front of the door, expecting it to slide open for him as it did for Driscoll, but it remained closed.

  “It’s not working,” said Kelly. He slapped his hand against the door’s metal surface, but drew it back with a yelp. “This thing is cold.”

  A coating of frost spread quickly over the door, and the small window began to fog. The frost grew into a thick coating of ice. “Driscoll’s doing it,” Colin told them.

  “Then let’s blast the thing open and go after him,” Diane shouted.

  Colin was now apprehensive about chasing after Driscoll. “No. It could be a trap.” Then he remembered Driscoll’s parting words. Check your speed. Remembering the instrument panel in the control compartment, Colin turned and found it even more difficult to move as he wavered from left to right, making his way back. He looked over the keypad and saw the speed readout indicating 40 MPH, then 45 MPH, then 50 MPH. The number continued to increase. Then the instrument panel emitted a computerized female voice issuing a notice, “Now approaching Monroeville Station. Be advised of excessive speed.”

  “Not good,” Colin mumbled. He turned and shouted back at everyone, “Hang on!” as he pressed the brake key at the top left corner of the keypad. The sudden brake in the train’s momentum hurled his body against the panel and halfway out of the broken front window. He heard several screams amid the screeches of metal scraping the tunnel sides as he glared up ahead. The train was fast approaching the silvery rear section of another subway train, several yards away and closing. A violent collision was eminent. He jumped back and looked at the numbers on the keypad beginning to decrease to 40 MPH, 35 MPH, and 30 MPH as he watched the distance between the two trains continued to close at a slower rate. The screeching of the torn metal against the stone wall also began to slow, then it ceased as the train came to a stop just five feet away from the back of other train.

  Colin breathed a sigh of relief. He and his friends had escaped another disaster. He began to wonder how many more they had to go. He turned back to see everyone lying in a heap near the compartment’s doorway. The teenagers moaned and groaned as they rose to their feet, but at least they were still alive.

  Colin staggered over to Diane, who was just rising to her feet while rubbing her right hip. “I’m glad that’s over with.” Colin told her.

  Diane’s only response was to utter a low growl. Then she turned and walked off of the train.

  Kelly struggled to get back to his feet. He shrugged his shoulders at Colin. “I guess you can take that as a thank you,” he mumbled.

  Colin turned to the four battered and still frightened teenagers. “Are you guys okay?”

  Everyone nodded sullenly. The girl in the black dress managed in a meek voiced, “Yes, thank you.”

  Colin was silent for a moment, his mind struggling to find something to say. “Well, okay then. Enjoy the rest of the evening.”

  Colin joined Kelly as they both exited the train behind Diane. A small crowd of people were already waiting in front of the train and were now moving in closer to inspect the damaged lead car. “Can somebody call the police?” Colin asked out loud. There was no response from the crowd, but he assumed that someone would grant his request.

  Colin looked back to the lead car as the four teenagers walked out and moved past the crowd. After a night like this Colin was thankful to be alive after he and Diane and Kelly had fought against a team of enemies who were every bit as strong as Driscoll described – and much more ruthless. And then there was Eddie Driscoll himself, who was supposed to be dead. It was still a mystery to Colin as to how Driscoll could be alive. Driscoll’s answers only offered more mysteries ... mysteries that now included Diane and Kelly. Colin now wondered how he would stand in his next inevitable encounter with Driscoll – assuming the three of them survived their next encounter with the Enforcers.

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  Chapter 13

  There was a frown on Captain Melony Carter’s face as she stared down at Colin, Diane, and Kelly seated in front of the desk in their office back at CID headquarters. “You guys are killing me,” Captain Carter grumbled.

  Colin shrugged. “How? We should be heroes. We saved a group of kids. We stopped a near accident in the subway.”

  “Yeah. An accident that you nearly caused yourself,” Captain Carter snapped. “You think you should be proud of that?”

  Frustrated, Colin threw his hands into the air. “So, things got a little out of hand. We had to do something to get those kids out of there before we ended up with more civilian casualties. Those monsters we faced were ruthless.”

  “Those monsters we faced kicked our asses,” Kelly added dismally.

  Diane rose from her seat. As a defiant gesture she held her hands on her hips. “Look. Would you rather we all got ourselves killed in that tunnel along with those four kids? We were attacked. We fought back. We did the best we could.”

  “I’m not saying you didn’t,” Captain Carte
r retorted, waving a hand. “I’m just wishing that all this could have taken place in a more discrete setting, as well as being handled a bit more discretely. The report you gave the police won’t worry me so much. They’ll keep that classified as vital crime scene information. But as for those four kids ... it’s likely we’ll soon be seeing wild stories on the macronet about cyborg monsters terrorizing the streets.”

  “I’m sorry that we couldn’t have fought the monsters at a prearranged site away from the public,” Colin sniped. “They attacked us. We did what we had to do.”

  “I understand that,” Captain Carter replied. “I just would have preferred that the more arcane aspects of this case remain classified. What’s done is done. But these monsters. Are you certain that they were Reploids?”

  “They certainly possessed Reploid powers,” Colin told her. “And it was confirmed by Driscoll.”

  “A Reploid himself,” Captain Carter added.

  Colin rose from his chair. “What can you tell me about Driscoll? I thought he was dead.”

  “We thought he was dead too. When he was brought in, he was classified as subject 758. You were classified as subject 759, Diane was 764, and Kelly was 763. Driscoll was assumed to be dead when he was brought in. The rest of you were brought in alive. At that time, we were just beginning to understand the nature of you Reploids and what you could do. To try to use the Reploid threat as a weapon against the enemy, a project was created and headed by a certain Doctor Howard Fenlow. And we all know how that turned out. And that, we suspect, was how Ed Driscoll’s body ended up missing.”

  “There’s a difference between missing corpse and a walking corpse,” Colin clarified.

  “That’s the best answer I can offer. Solving the arcane elements of this case is your job. But in the meantime, what about these monsters, the Enforcers? Third generation Reploids. How powerful are they?”

  “Powerful enough to kick our asses,” Diane declared.

  Captain Carter crossed her arms against her chest and for a moment stared off into space. “This isn’t good. We could give you some backup the next time you encounter them.”

  “Your normal agents wouldn’t be able to stand up against them,” Colin said. “You’d be throwing their lives away. But the offer is appreciated.”

  “And Driscoll gave no information about this big plan.”

  “No. He never brought it up. His only interest was to warn us about the Enforcers. We’re still in the dark about this plan. But it seems that we do have a solid lead. Lieutenant Cynthia Corby, the wife of Lieutenant Ron Corby. I don’t think that it was a coincidence that we were attacked right after we spoke to her. The Corbys are the key to all this. All we have to do is follow them and keep an eye on them until we get some answers.”

  Captain Carter uncrossed her arms. “I can arrange for you guys to take a transport to the battle carrier Maelstrom. You might have a day or two to speak with Corby before the ship heads out on its mission with the rest of its expeditionary task force. Then Corby will be gone for up to a year. And President Drennan is planning to see them off.”

  That one detail Captain Carter revealed caught Colin’s interest. “Drennan will be aboard the Maelstrom?”

  “No. She’ll be having lunch and giving a farewell speech to an assembly of all the expedition’s children aboard the expedition command ship, Strider. The ship will be docked at Starbase Roosevelt. Security will be tight.”

  Colin began to think about all the events that led to this bit of information. “That’s very interesting. A person that we need to speak with just happens to be an officer and a pilot stationed aboard a ship that’s part of an expedition group that President Drennan is seeing off. What a coincidence.”

  Captain Carter narrowed her eyes. “Their plan is to attack the President during her visit. I’ve got to tell the Secret Service to increase security. We’ve got to do something to stop them.”

  “Any chance the President can cancel her meeting with the kids?” Diane asked.

  “It’s doubtful. This is one of the stops on Drennan’s campaign tour, and she feels very strongly about this entire expedition.”

  “What about Ron Corby?” Kelly inquired. “Can’t we have him arrested or something?”

  “On what charge?” Colin objected. “Lieutenant Garbo just gave us a name. And not specifically his name. There’s no proof that he did anything wrong. But this attack on us still gives us a lead. So our only option is to go talk to him and maybe keep an eye on him until after the President’s visit.”

  “I couldn’t have put it better myself.” Captain Carter’s tone seemed suddenly buoyant. “Let’s not waste any more time. I’m going to arrange for a transport ship to take you all to the Malestrom. Be prepared to leave in a few minutes.” Captain Carter immediately left the room.

  Kelly rose up from his seat. “So, now it looks like we’re going on another trip. What do we do when we get to the Maelstrom and find Corby?”

  “Same procedure as with the others,” replied Colin. “We just ask him a few questions. We can’t accuse him of anything without proof. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

  “And what about this friend of yours? Driscoll,” Kelly continued. “Do you think that he and his pals will show up?”

  Colin shrugged. “I have no idea. But with the President’s visit, and Corby serving aboard the Maelstrom, it seems likely they will.”

  “And what else do you know about this Driscoll?” Diane asked, stepping closer to confront Colin. “The two of you were friends? And what was all that stuff he was saying back in the subway? He was acting like he knew us.”

  Colin shrugged again. “Beats the hell out of me. I’m in the dark about everything just as much as you are.”

  With a grim frown, Diane stared back at Colin. “What the hell did we do before we were who we are now? I’d really like to know.”

  Kelly was also frowning as he looked at Colin and Diane, then turned his gaze to the floor. “Judging by this Driscoll guy, I’ve got a feeling we won’t like what we’d find.”

  Colin couldn’t disagree with Kelly’s comment. After delving into his own past, he’d already found disturbing issues he didn’t like. They all stared at each other in silence for a minute, and Colin guessed the same questions were rushing through each of their minds at the same time. Which were the worst monsters – the ones they’d been in their own pasts, or the ones they’d have to fight in the future?

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  Chapter 14

  Sitting on the hard, uncomfortable cushion of his seat while tight straps crisscrossed his chest, Colin stared out the transport ship’s side window to observe the wedge-shaped ships as they passed by. Diane, sitting on his right inside the small passenger compartment, had fallen asleep during the three-hour journey to the battle carrier Maelstrom. Kelly, sitting on Colin’s left, had been quiet for the past hour, also asleep.

  Colin had to give Captain Carter credit for arranging this trip so quickly. Fifteen minutes after leaving their office, she returned and instructed them to follow her to a car waiting outside the building. They were then driven to the Navarone Greater Spaceport, located two miles from the city. From there, Captain Carter ushered them to this small transport craft that would take them to the Maelstrom, which was currently docked at Starbase Argus. Captain Carter offered to have a few armed CID agents accompany them on this mission, but Colin considered a large force to be too intimidating and cumbersome for the sole purpose asking a man a few questions. Plus, if somehow they were to have another encounter with the Enforcers, the human agents would be the first ones slaughtered. Monsters like the Enforcers could only be fought with power against power.

  The crisp voice of the pilot amplified over the speaker above Colin’s head announced, “We’re making our approach. Docking time in two minutes.”

  Finally, Colin thought. He gazed out the forward window past the pilot’s head to see the ship approaching Starbase Argus, a huge gleaming whit
e column structure with docking arms protruding from its sides, standing tall in the vacuum of space, its hull adorned with myriad white lights. Attached to one of the docking tubes was an enormous oval shaped vessel with a pointed nose and metallic blue hull dotted with glowing white lights. Rectangular landing bays on its sides housed its complement of fighters and shuttle craft. Spacecraft, looking like fireflies from a distance, passed in and out of its landing bays.

  The Maelstrom. Colin was amazed by its size. One of thirty battle carriers in the Protectorate fleet, he found it hard to believe the government would assign such a powerful looking vessel to an exploration mission during a full-scale war. But that was not his business. His job was to talk to one of its crew members and hopefully figure out the plan to assassinate the President.

  As the transport ship drew closer, the Maelstrom grew larger, like a giant blue whale engulfing the darkness of surrounding space. The transport descended smoothly and glided into the landing bay, hovering along a runway lined with small red lights. Then the transport came to a stop over a large circular area surrounded by lights and made a soft landing that caused a slight tremor to rock its interior.

  Colin wasted no time unhooking his straps. Ducking his head in the confined compartment, he went over and shook Diane. “We’re here.”