He held out his hand, and I grasped it.
“I have enough sense not to want to mess with him. The name’s Joshua Collins, and I can think of a whole list of things I’d rather do in this Fallen World.”
* * * * *
Chapter 12
“So you woke up completely empty?” I asked.
“Not completely,” Collins said. “I knew some things. You know, basic geography, language, that sort of thing.”
“That part is never uploaded from the mind,” Jimmy said. “All the blanks have the basic package.”
“Blanks?” he asked.
“That’s what the doctors who showed up at the place where I woke up called them.”
“Jimmy woke up halfway through the process of transitioning between his original and corporate assassin. He still remembers who he is, but has the skills of the assassin.”
“Well, now, that’s like the best of both worlds, isn’t it?”
“Not really,” I said. “They’d removed the emotions to upload the package for the assassin when the bombs dropped. Jimmy has no emotions. He’s got the memories of having them, so he knew they were missing.”
“Damn.”
“He said the other guy who was in the other Imprinter got it much worse. The docs told him the whole database dropped into the guy’s head. Left him a vegetable.”
“Just when you start feeling sorry for yourself…”
“Both Imprinters were toast,” I said.
“Are you sure? There’s a lot of activity around where they were located,” Collins said. He looked disappointed. “I was scouting the place. That’s why I was in Philly to begin with. My people tell me the database here has my real identity in it. I want it back.”
“The database was destroyed,” Jimmy said.
Collins’ shoulders slumped. “Were all those clowns there when you woke up? My contacts said the clowns came from one of the imprints. If they’re making clowns, they have to still have the database.”
“I never saw any clowns,” Jimmy said. “It’s been a year since I was there. A lot can happen in a year.”
“Clowns?” I asked.
“Not like any clowns you see at a circus. At least some of them were Agents. They walked the same way you guys do. I barely got out of there.”
“I was wondering how you got so screwed up. Takes a lot to put down an Agent.”
“I got away from them clean. Ran into a bunch of guys on my way out of the city,” he said. “I got them, all seven, but they got a few too many bullets in me.”
“No Agents?”
“No, these were some ex-military types, but none of them were Agents.”
“And seven of them did all that to you?”
“What? There were seven guys.”
“What kind of Agent are you?”
“I don’t know. I heal fast. I can flood my body with adrenaline. That’s about it. Why?”
“You have no idea what you’re capable of,” I said, realizing why the man had been so impressed with Jimmy knocking down a horse.
“I have no idea what an Agent is capable of. I’m learning that I can do some things, but I’m not sure what all the hype is about.”
“They’re capable of knocking down a horse, for one thing,” I said.
“What?”
“You’re capable of the same thing.”
“You’re shittin’ me.”
“Maybe you might want to stay a little while and let Jimmy show you what you’re really capable of.”
“You keep talking about him and me,” Collins said. “What about you? Aren’t you an Agent?”
“I’m something else,” I said. “I’ll be training over the next few weeks with Jimmy if you want to join us. This is all new to me also.”
“Were you in one of the damned things too?”
“No, I was shot twelve times, and had planned to join my wife in the afterlife. Jimmy gave me a blood transfusion and changed my plans. The nanites should have killed me, but my DNA was close enough to his that they started fixing me instead. I’m still discovering the changes and plan to work with Jimmy so I don’t hurt anyone.”
“Holy shit,” he said. Then he looked at Jimmy. “So there were no clowns at the Mint when you left?”
“Mint?” he responded.
“Yeah, the US Mint.”
“I wasn’t at the Mint.”
“Where were you?” I asked.
“There was a zone where the chief of police had taken charge. His name was Thomas Wilderman, I believe.”
“Son of a bitch,” I said. “That’s one of the things I was going to talk to you about. We were in that zone, and there were some Obsidian people. One of them tried to use some sort of override code on me.”
“They tried that with me,” Jimmy said. “I was coming home, and they wanted to keep me there. It didn’t work. It didn’t work on the other guy, either. But I’m not sure if anything will help him.”
“So if you weren’t at the Mint, there may be a database still in Philly.”
“It’s possible. I’m unaware of another base in the city, but several corporate heads did survive. The doctors who showed up told me about them.”
“Then there’s still a chance I can get my imprint,” Collins said. “And if I have to face Agents, maybe I should learn what one can do.”
“Alright then,” I said. “I have to deal with something that came up while we were gone. When I’m done, we can get our first lesson in being an Agent.”
Collins nodded. “I’ll join you, if you don’t mind. I have an idea what you’re talking about. I do hear a lot better than it seems most people do. I’ve heard some things.”
I nodded and walked toward the main hall, where I had a thought I might find Hollis Drager. If I was lucky, Trip would be with him, and I could take care of both of them at one time.
The hall dropped into silence as I stepped through the door. Jimmy stepped in and stopped beside the door. He stood impassively, waiting for an order. Collins glanced at Jimmy and shrugged. Then he took up a position on the other side of the door. Both of the men I sought were standing amidst a group of people I remembered having seen them with before. Several were Farmer’s Guard. Jasper Tuck and Ferril Gaines turned to see my approach, and their faces turned ashen. I stopped about fifteen feet from them.
“Hollis, Oslo,” I greeted them. “There are some disturbing rumors going around, and I’m beginning to get the impression you don’t like the way things are being done on the Farms.”
“You could say that,” Hollis said with a scowl on his face. “We all voted to be a Democracy, and you just come in and took over. What do you expect?”
“I expected no less from you, Hollis, but this land you stand on belongs to the Pratts. There are twenty-three buildings that are built here. How many were built by you or yours? The builders who put those buildings up worked, and still work, for a Pratt. We tried to run this like the old world, and the first time we needed you to do something besides sit in a Council lording it over the rest, all we saw was cowardice. This new world we have to live in is no place for that. If we show fear or cowardice, this world will eat us and spit out our bones.”
“I don’t see anyone coming for us,” he responded.
“Because I killed them all, Hollis. If you didn’t have two children, I’d have put you in the ground already. Now you have a few choices, because the second you plotted to kill my father, you became my enemy. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have many enemies still breathing.”
I cocked my head to the side a fraction. “Choice number one, take your thirty days of provisions and leave. Your kids have done nothing to deserve this, so they’ll be given the choice of whether to go with you or remain here on the Farms.”
“You can’t—”
“I can, and I will,” I said. Several of the people around us began to scatter to get out of the line of fire. “Number two, reach for that gun on your hip and I’ll put you in the ground, where I re
ally wanted to put you after you cost Neave her life. My wife, Hollis. I’d love nothing more than to put a bullet between your traitorous eyes. Feel free to choose that option. Your children are innocent, and they’ll be cared for. You need not worry about them.”
I stood there silent for a full minute as I watched his face cycle through the full gamut of emotions.
“I expected you wouldn’t choose to face me yourself. Who’d you have in mind to convince to do that task? Tuck? Gaines? Or just one of the men under their command? Or perhaps you planned to use a whole squad of Guardsmen to do the deed.”
“Zebadiah Pratt!” The voice came from outside, where I heard quite a few people approaching.
“Now we’ll see who ends up in the ground, Pratt.” The self-satisfied smirks on both Drager and Trip’s faces almost got them both shot.
I didn’t recognize the voice from outside, so it must have been someone recently added to the Farms.
I raised a finger. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure you will,” Hollis said, with that same smirk on his face.
As I turned and walked to the door, Jimmy asked, “Would you like for me to take care of it?”
“No, I think this has been coming for a long time now,” I said and stepped out the door and off of the porch into the street.
There were ten men lined up in the street in front of the Main Hall. The guy in the center wore a Farmer’s Guard uniform, just like each of the other nine. He also wore an OAF beret with an insignia that looked familiar.
“Pratt, I am Colonel Kirby Janisek. We are here to place you under arrest.”
“No.”
Sometimes you just have to make a stand in this Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter 13
“I don’t think you understand the gravity of your situation, Mister Pratt.”
“I understand the situation a great deal better than you do, Colonel,” I said, “and if your Second there points that gun an inch further toward me, I’m going to have to kill him.”
“Hold steady, men,” he said. “I want this to go peacefully.”
“Colonel,” I continued, “you’re new here, and you’ve been told a few things about the situation we have here. The operating term here is few. I’ll give you a short run down of what has happened. Number one, you’re standing in the center of thirteen hundred acres owned by Kendrick Pratt. That farmhouse over there to your left is the home I was born in. Number two, when the bombs fell, we invited the others to come here where we could consolidate our forces to hold off the attacks of raiders who would take what we have. We wanted to keep the democracy we used to have in this country long before the corporations got their hooks into it. When a group of raiders took one of the councilors, his daughter, and a group of kids prisoner and shot their guards, the rest of the Council refused to go after them. That councilor’s daughter was my wife and the daughter-in-law of Kendrick Pratt.”
The look on the colonel’s face told me this wasn’t the story he’d been told.
“A total of five people refused that decision, and we pursued the riders all the way into the city, where we retrieved our people. My wife was killed in the crossfire. They’ve made it a point not to tell me what those men did to her before we got there, but I know what sort of men they were. I know what happened to her. And we killed them for it. If we’d taken the Guard into that city, they’d have released the captives without any gunfire. My wife would still be alive, and we wouldn’t be having this glorious conversation in the middle of the street.”
“That’s a horrible thing to have to bear, Mister Pratt. But the removal and threat of exile to the Council members?”
“Pop put the Council together because he thought it was the right thing to do. He dissolved it for the same reason. Regardless of where this goes from here, you need to understand this. He appointed them to the Council. Then he dissolved the Council. We stand on Pratt soil, and he’s completely within his rights to run this place as he sees fit. If anyone wishes to leave, they’re welcome to do so with a month’s worth of rations, a rifle, and a hundred rounds of ammo. From this point forward, Kendrick Pratt is the steadholder of this farm, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.”
I stopped for a moment to let him digest what he’d heard, then continued, “Where you stand at the moment is threatening to arrest the steadholder of this farm’s second in command, and the commander of the Farmer’s Guard, whose uniform you and your men wear. I’d suggest you talk to the people who’ve been here a bit longer before you go any further down this path. I don’t want to kill someone who genuinely thinks he’s doing the right thing.”
“I have a core of forty-four soldiers who came here with me; this is just the squad I chose to come with me to do the job,” he said. “But I’ll talk to the others before I continue any further toward a trial. I still need you to come with us.”
“That’s not going to happen, Colonel. I have three witnesses who’ve told me Hollis Drager attempted to hire them to kill the steadholder as soon as I’m arrested. You’re being used, and I’m not going to let it happen. If you proceed any further, it’ll be with violence, and I’ll respond. I’m very good at violence, Colonel. My brother, who’s standing just inside that door, is even better. He was a Corporate Agent, and I think you might be familiar with what that means. Hollis Drager will be exiled today. You’re welcome to join him if you think he’s worth following. He has a hundred acres south of here where you can set up if you’re so inclined. It’s land owned by him, and it’s the only part of the Farms he has any particular right to. I know you think you’re on the right side of this, Colonel, but you’re not, and Hollis Drager will get you killed.”
I could see the indecision on his face, so I made it even easier. I turned around and walked back into the Main Hall. Drager’s face turned ashen, and the sneer turned to fear.
“Drager, your decision is now. Exile or reach.”
I heard a gunshot from across the compound. Drager’s eyes widened, and his fear was replaced with that smirk again.
“You’re done, Hollis. That was a single shot from Pop’s Colt, not a shot from your killer’s gun.”
Oslo was looking at Hollis in horror. I didn’t think Trip would have been a part of the assassination attempt. Pop had been waiting with Gary and Grady at the farmhouse.
“Drop the weapon or draw it, Hollis,” I said. “If you do nothing, I’m just going to shoot you.”
He jerked as I said that, and his hand went to the belt buckle instead of the holster. I think it was this moment when he realized he’d lost the gambit he’d been playing. Up until this point, he could always plot a new way to get back into power.
I pulled a set of handcuffs from my vest. Grady had brought some with him when he left the Sheriff’s Department to move out to the Farms. Putting the cuffs on the man was every bit as satisfying as I’d thought it would be. We stepped out of the hall onto the porch. The colonel’s men were all gone, and he stood alone in the street. Jimmy and Collins fell in behind me, and we walked Hollis right down the center of the street. The colonel nodded as we walked past.
We walked straight to the farmhouse, where Pop stood on the porch, his Colt on his hip. Grady and Gary stood to his right and left.
“Hollis Drager,” Pop said, “for attempted insurrection and attempted murder, you are hereby exiled from the Farms. You have a hundred acres of land to the south; if you are caught trespassing on any Farm land besides that hundred acres, you will be shot on sight. Both of your children have chosen to stay on the Farms, with Sampson Chaney as their legal guardian. Genny is sixteen and old enough to decide for herself where she would rather be. Frank is twelve, and he has chosen to stay with his sister rather than join you. Rest assured, they will come to no harm here. It pains me to do this, Hollis, and I wish there was another way. I could look past the ploy to regain what power you had. I had even planned a punishment that would have been sufficient, as well as educational. T
hen you tried to have me killed. I can’t abide that. The sentence will be carried out immediately, and you have twenty-four hours to be off of any Farm lands.”
He turned to the others who stood around the house. “Oslo Trips! Step forward. Andrew Giles! Step forward. Panner Hutten! Step forward.”
The three ex-councilmen stepped to the front of the crowd with dread on their faces.
“For participation in the attempted mutiny, you are all going out with the run into the city that leaves tomorrow. I want you to get a good look at what’s out there before you attempt anything this stupid again. When you return, you are welcome to continue here, or you can join your co-conspirator in the south. You’re also welcome to move back to your former homes with the lands you brought to the Farms. You’ll be able to make your choices when you return. The elections of advisors will happen after you return, so you may still run for the office. I won’t have the elections while you are gone. Report to Kalet for assignments with the Caravan. If you are not with the Caravan when it leaves for the city, I will assume you already decided to leave the Farms, and will have your twenty-four hours to be off of any Farm lands.”
He looked out at the crowd that had formed. “Colonel Janisek! Step forward. You stepped into a big pile of shit, and I suspect you have regrets. Report to the Caravan. You’ll be working this run as well. I might suggest you talk to the other Guardsmen while you’re out there. If you still have issues when you get back, you will be welcome to leave as well.”
Collins turned to me. “He’s a hard ass. You came by it honestly.”
“Only as much of a hard ass as I have to be,” I said. “Sometimes you’re left with little choice in this Fallen World.”
* * * * *
Chapter 14
“I want both of you to run across this field,” Jimmy said.
We were standing at the edge of an open field that stretched about a hundred and fifty yards.
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