Doss rubs his neck and looks down at the pavement. "I don't have the best track record with kids."
"I don't understand."
"Forget about it. Looks like you should get ready."
Katarina sees her chance so she reaches out and touches his arm. "Doss, I'm sorry."
He doesn't say a word as he walks off and places his arm around Dmitri's shoulders.
When the horn sounds, Katarina takes off running as fast as she can to get far away from the initial bombardment and slaughter. Blue and yellow plasma fly past her, but she zigzags and ducks under a street vendor cart while the other competitors run by. She'll catch them later. For now, she needs to remain undetected and take stealthy shots when the opportunity presents itself. Besides, she only has one goal for tonight: to take out Isidore. She will reclaim first place and make him pay in the most degrading way possible. If he can fight dirty with emotional manipulation, then she will too.
Securing her goggles over her eyes, Katarina switches through the various modes until she finds the plasma signatures given off from the minuscule amounts of radiation in the plasma. She scans through until she finds the bright green of her father's plasma. Well, well, he's still near here. What is he doing? He's not moving. She goes up to a clothing store nearby and scales the side, using her fingertips and the toes of her boots in the spaces between the bricks, then shimmies up the rest of the way by climbing up the gutter.
On top of the building, she looks out over Paradise. For miles in every direction, the pulsating energies of neon and plasma line the thousands of streets and avenues, all filled with cars, pedestrians, and maintenance robots. Even encased in this cave, Paradise is alive and Katarina can nearly feel it breathing with excitement and promise. For as long as she can remember, she has felt a deep connection with the city. It calls to her, enticing her, and providing an endless sea of possibilities.
A ball of green plasma collides with the window a foot below her on the side of the building. Isidore. Where did that come from? His signal is still stationary where it had been, about two blocks to the east of her location. What is going on? Then she notices the radio transmitter on the media building next to her. Of course. It's interfering with her signal. She has to get a new one when she can. Just as she tosses her goggles off, Isidore reaches the edge of the roof and pulls himself up, plasma pistol already aimed at her.
"So, I see Byron didn't punish you too much last night."
Katarina clicks a plasma cartridge into her pistol. "Shut up. You're going to die now."
He stands up and grins at her. "I've already taken out two others. Too bad my partner went down early. How many have you killed?"
"None yet. But after I take you down, I'll move up into first place again." Katarina is not going to give him the opportunity like she did before. She pulls the trigger and jumps off of the three story building before confirming the kill. She can't take that chance. Every second counts when dealing with Isidore.
Katarina slips down beneath the ledge of a building and hides in the shadows. She takes this chance to take a drink and read the note she got from Doss.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:31-32.
So Doss has forgiven her. This is just his special way of telling her when he can't do it himself. It makes her smile. Perhaps they can mend their relationship and eventually go back to being friends.
When more people scream nearby, it's time to take off again. She dashes past an abandoned building, sending a group of Inquisition surveillance butterflies scattering up into the glistening lights of the night. Something tickles her shoulder and she brushes it away, but she is soon surrounded by the black and blue butterflies. They swarm her and she hides her face from them. What is going on?
When the butterflies finally dissipate, Katarina looks around at the large group of inquisitors with their machine guns aimed at her. The men in tan trench coats emerge from the shadows all around her. Up on the tall office building to her left, she spot the glint of a sniper's scope in the window trained on her as well.
One of the inquisitors steps forward and shouts at her. "Drop the weapon, get down on your knees, and place your hands behind your head."
"What's going on?" Katarina asks.
"We're warning you. Drop the weapon or we will be forced to shoot."
"Okay." Katarina lets the plasma pistol fall to the ground and she kneels down as the inquisitors ordered.
They surround her and secure her wrists in handcuffs. "Katarina Williams, you are under arrest for murder."
Murder? What are they talking about? What murder?
One of the inquisitors picks up Katarina's plasma pistol and fires twice into the sidewalk where the pink plasma eats through and leaves a large gaping hole. "Yep. Nanobots. This is the murder weapon."
How did it do that? Plasma isn't capable of killing anyone unless it is tampered with. Then she remembers. Dmitri augmented one of her pistols to be lethal. She must have brought the wrong one. "Oh my God. It was an accident. I didn't know. It was an accident!"
* * *
The inquisitors throw her down on the floor in a white room where a glowing barrier passes over the doorway. The room is bare and she feels completely alone. Her thoughts immediately go to her father. She stands and goes up to the door. She reaches out to touch the barrier with her fingers when a shock jolts through her and she pulls back. Okay, so there's no getting past that. She resigns to sitting in the corner and attempting to gather her thoughts.
What happens now? Surely Dmitri will tell them about the mix up and someone can get her out of here. Maybe Doss still has some say in the Inquisition. Will they even believe her? Did she kill Isidore? He might be an android computer, but he can still die . . . especially to destructive nanobots like that.
When the inquisitors return with another prisoner and toss him inside with her, Katarina loses all hope.
"Hey, Sis."
She goes into the corner away from her brother. "Dmitri, didn't you tell them that I had the wrong gun?"
"See, that's why I'm in here. They said I'm a conspirator."
"You're just a kid. Surely they'll let you go. What about Dad?"
"I don't know." Dmitri says as he comes up to her. "I'm scared, Kat."
She takes him in her arms. "Shh. It's gonna be okay. I won't let them hurt you. I'll take all the blame. Did you hear who I killed?"
"It wasn't Dad, was it? I know you were going after him first."
"I don't know. I only shot at one person and that was Dad." Then it really hits her hard. "Oh God, I killed him."
"Stop crying. We'll figure this out."
"Where's Doss?" Katarina asks. "He's supposed to be protecting you, right?"
"I don't know. He was right there with me then the inquisitors showed up and took me away. He didn't even try to stop them. Why would he just let them take me?"
"I'm sure he had a reason."
"He told me that he would never let anything hurt me as long as he was alive. Do you think something happened to him? Did those mean inquisitors take him away?"
They can't think like that right now. She has to stay strong for him. "The inquisitors are just doing their jobs. They're not mean, Dmitri."
A loud alarm blares out in the building as inquisitors in riot gear rush past. People are screaming from down the now crowded hallways. An explosion shakes the building as the outside wall of the cell collapses, sending bricks and electrical sparks into the room. Out of the dust steps Doss with his sword drawn and wings out.
"Doss!" Dmitri runs to him and wraps his arms around his waist. "You came for me."
"Of course. Katarina, get to Zach's lab immediately. There's no time to explain. I'll meet you there. Stay hidden and far away from the metro station." He picks up Dmitri and slings him onto his back before flying off into the night.
/>
It takes Katarina a few minutes to process what he told her. Zach's lab. Okay. She can get there down the back alleys close to the residential area. She starts running as the sirens grow louder, filling Paradise with panic and the screams of citizens. When the gunfire starts, she knows that this isn't just some accidental murder. There's no time for her to go investigate. She finds the entrance to the lab and waves at the camera. The metal doors slide open and she runs inside to the lounge as they slam shut behind her. Everyone is gathered here with the news turned up loud on the television. "What's going on?"
"Tell me you've heard from your father." Kazimir says.
"No. Did I kill him?"
Zach tucks his blonde locks back up under his red beanie. "He's not the dead one. Master Director Monroe is."
"What? He wasn't even a competitor."
"We know." Byron says. "The thing is, you didn't actually kill anyone. It was a setup to frame you. Monroe was already dead and his body was placed where you shot at your father. The killer used pink plasma to make it look like you did it."
The news report on the television is interrupted and replaced with static before switching to footage of a man with a face mask hiding his identity standing in a room with the walls all painted black. A single bright light shines down on the empty room. The man spins a bloody machete in his hand as he speaks. "Greetings, citizens of Paradise! Welcome to the first of many meetings we are going to share in the next few hours. I'm sure everyone found the bombs we planted in the metro station and the fires we started in the biogenesis spheres. That is only the beginning of this punishment. Speaking of punishment, I'll give one hundred dollars to the first caller who can tell me whose blood this is on my machete. What's that? You really want to know? Oh, okay. I'll go ahead and show you." He snaps his fingers and four men in black drag a man into the room. "If you want your beloved president back alive, then deactivate the security barriers for the front and back gates into the city. Disband the Inquisition and join the Imperial Galactic Empire. Until our demands are met, we kill an android every ten minutes."
"I thought you said it was an android killing all those androids." Doss says.
Zach shakes his head. "I could have sworn . . ."
Isidore is pushed down on his knees, his arms bound behind his back, with a blindfold covering his eyes and dark red blood has soaked the entire front of his jeans. Deep gashes and welts cover his bare chest and arms. Tears, dirt, and blood are smeared on his cheeks and he is noticeably trembling. Two men with machine guns stand on either side of him as another man injects a purple liquid into Isidore's arm. He screams out in agony and crumples to the floor as he convulses and the terrorists kick him.
Doss pushes Dmitri out of the room. "Come with me. You don't need to see this."
Katarina covers her mouth as tears fill her eyes. "Who would do something like this?"
"Shh." Kazimir snaps at her.
The man on the television continues speaking as the others beat Isidore. "Time is running out, people of Paradise. Don't think that we'll just kill this android and stop. No. Even if we kill every android in Paradise, Isidore Williams will be right here suffering every second until our demands are met and we will stream it live to you as we are right now so you can know that we mean business." He turns to the men who have thrown ice water on Isidore. "Get the electrodes. We're going to give these spoiled Paradise bastards something to appreciate. Make him scream, boys."
Kazimir turns the television off and throws the remote control across the room where it crashes against the wall.
Zach crosses his arms and leans in the doorway. "Damn."
"What do we do?" Remiel asks.
"What can we do?" Zach asks. "We can't do what they're asking."
Remiel looks to be on the verge of tears. "We can't let Isidore die!"
"Or those androids." Kazimir says.
Doss enters the room again. "How bad is it?"
"You made the right call getting Dmitri out of here. No boy needs to see his father brutalized and tortured like that." Kazimir sits at a computer in the corner of the room and pulls up a program on the screen. "Dear God. Even if we get Isidore out of there alive, he's never going to be the same. The psychological trauma is going to ruin him."
"What do you mean?" Byron asks.
"These are his vital signs. I can monitor the condition of his body and mind from a sensor he let me install a few years ago. Well, I know why there's so much blood on his jeans."
Blice lands on Kazimir's shoulder and studies the screen. "You don't mean that they-"
"Yes."
"Hell. They're not messing around, are they?"
"Isidore's regenerative skin is the only thing keeping him from bleeding to death from that right now. Get the Inquisition on the phone."
"They won't work with us." Doss says.
"They won't work with you. Get Inquisitor Samuels on the phone. He'll be taking over as Master Director."
"How do you know that?" Doss asks.
"Because I founded the Inquisition over two hundred years ago." Kazimir says as he types on the keyboard.
Doss gasps and bows. "You're the Founding Father?"
"Yes. Now do as I say and get Samuels on the phone. We are going to get a plan together."
"Just save Isidore." Blice says.
"I'm not making any promises." Kazimir says as he leaves the room.
Katarina watches Blice's tiny wings droop as he sits alone where Kazimir put him. "Blice, are you okay?"
"Seeing Isidore like that really bothers me. No smartass comments or insults, Byron. I know what I did."
"I wasn't going to say a word, Brother." Byron says as he loads his shotgun.
"Sorry. Isidore is mine, damn it. They have no right to touch him. I own him. He's my property."
"Well, it was almost sweet, but I guess that's all we'll get from you."
"What are you babbling about?" Blice asks.
Byron shakes his head. "Calling him your property kind of takes away from how caring you finally seemed to be."
"Why? Can I not care about my property? I love Isidore. And Byron, you should know what I did to save him. So don't even try to tell me what I am or am not feeling."
When Kazimir enters the room again, he claps his hand together. "Okay, I need Byron, Blice, and Katarina to get ready to go. You're going to be my tactical squad. We're not going to get any help from the Inquisition. They are overwhelmed trying to set up a medical triage for the bomb victims and locating the missing people. Also, Katarina, these terrorists aren't taking the blame for Monroe's death yet. Until further notice, you are to stay as far away from Inquisition forces as possible. They're still searching for you. That's part of why I'm sending you with Byron and Blice. You need to get away from this central sector of the city. All right, people. Doss and Remi, you two guard the entrance to this laboratory and don't let anyone enter. Zach, you're on the monitors and I'll get the communications up. Let's go save Isidore."
15
Katarina sits next to her husband who is driving the car as she programs his watch communicator. She presses the blue button and holds it up. "Come in, Zach. This is Kat."
"I hear you loud and clear, baby. Go ahead and make sure both yours and Byron's are set to take any incoming calls from this side without having to manually answer. We don't need to take any chances. These terrorists are dangerous and unpredictable. At the first sign of trouble, you are ordered to get out of there with or without Isidore. Blice, can you hear me?"
"Yes. I have a communicator in my mind."
"Good. You have a special task to do that the other two can't."
"First, how are we getting into this place?" Blice asks.
"That's where you come in, my butterfly friend. You're going to fly into the oxygen filtration system then down into the control booth right inside the doors. There should be a guard there, but you won't have any issues dispatching him, will you?"
"Not at all."
"Cool."
Zach says. "Byron, pull over up next to that warehouse and try to hide the car. We were able to override the environmental simulator controls so it will be perpetual night until you guys make it out. That should provide some extra cover. You need to hurry up and get moving. The head guy just pulled out some long razorblades and I don't want to watch what he's going to do with those. Right now, Isidore is unconscious in the middle of the room. From what we can tell, he is lying in a rather large and concerning pool of blood. Kazimir has been monitoring him and according to him, Isidore has lost about half of the blood in his body. We're running out of time. Although they said they're not going to kill him, he will die if they keep this up. Even androids have their limits."
After they park the car behind some shipping containers, Katarina follows Byron across the street and up against the walls of armory entrance. The tall metal doors in the ground will only open from the inside. This isn't going to be an easy escape. If Isidore isn't able to climb up the ladders leading out of this place, there's no way out. Hopefully they won't have to drag him up. Blice can't lift much, Katarina certainly can't, and then Byron is the only one who is strong enough to carry Isidore in one arm, but he's hurting. Not only that, but the emotional trauma and physical exhaustion is starting to wear on Katarina. She wants to do nothing more than to eat something and go to sleep, but she knows this night is far from over. She will do whatever she has to in order to save her father.
In the past few years, they may not have been the closest, but she still loves him very much. Sure, they have their problems like any family. Sure, they say things that hurt the other one. However, there is a bond between them that was forged from that first moment Isidore held her in his arms and she knows it. Up until she was fifteen, he was her entire world. They would do everything and spend every moment of the day together, no matter what it was. They were inseparable. Thinking back on it all, Katarina misses that closeness they used to have. Then one day, Isidore . . . changed. He was quicker to anger and harsh like he never had been before. It hurt her to see her father acting this way. What hurt more than that was watching him suffer with his emotions and regret. Perhaps it was survivor's guilt from all he went through on the surface before coming down here with the new Paradise. He hasn't been one to speak freely about his past, but what Katarina could gather from her occasional conversations with Blice, Isidore went through a lot. Maybe he just couldn't cope with it anymore. Still, he could have come to her. She wants to help him if he will only open up to her. Deep inside, Katarina knows he never will.
Paradise Awakened Trilogy Page 11