“Ashes to ashes. Yeah.”
She bent down and closed his eyes. Her fingers stroked his still warm cheek before she stood.
Anger welled in her. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair.
Lights flashing, the ambulance pulled to a stop next to the water tower where the massive column of water was down to a slow flow.
Her teeth grated together as she brought up one of the Uzi. “No way, there’s no fucking way I’m giving you up without a fight.”
“It’s useless. Forget it.”
“No! Romax!” She moved the Uzi back to cover him. “Tell those men to get a litter over here and load John in the ambulance.”
Romax briefly met her gaze, then rose and waved toward the approaching men.
“You two, bring the litter. This man needs assistance.”
One medic went back to the ambulance and the other hurried to where Caitlin stood over John’s body. He knelt down and made a cursory examination. A few seconds later, he looked up. “There’s no pulse.”
The medic glanced around where at least three other people were moaning, screaming, and cursing in the night.
“Screw that,” Caitlin said as she put the barrel of the Uzi in the man’s face. “What’s your name soldier?”
His face paled, “Spec Five Murphy, ma’am.”
“Well, Murphy. You have a defibrillator. Use it!”
He nodded and shouted toward the ambulance, “Jerry, get the defib. Stat!”
Jerry was just pulling the litter from the back. He leaned it against the rear door and reached back inside. Removing a heavy metal case, he trotted through the snow toward them.
Spec Five Murphy opened John’s jacket, pulled loose the Velcro closures on his vest, and then tugged it off him. When Jerry dropped the case in the snow beside him, Murphy popped open the top and hit the programming button.
The defib’s screen lit immediately and instructions appeared. Without stopping to read them, Murphy attached the sensors to John’s chest and readied the paddles.
A moment passed before the defib completed its analysis and ordered shock treatment to begin. Murphy was ready. He placed the paddles against John’s chest and yelled, “Clear!”
He triggered the unit and John’s body lurched.
Murphy turned to study the defib’s screen.
“It’s not working. Tell him to give it up. You shouldn’t be sticking around here,” John transmitted.
“No, it will work. Hit him again!”
“It’ll take just a moment ma’am. The unit recharges while it determines how much voltage to use for the next attempt.”
“Just hurry it up, damn it!”
She turned to the second medic who was watching. “You, Jerry, he’s going to need blood. Get what you need from the ambulance and get back here on the double. Move!”
Jerry lurched back as the Uzi rose.
Caitlin watched him for a second then knelt next to Murphy. “Come on, come on.”
“It’s ready. Clear.”
Murphy held the paddles against John’s chest and triggered them.
Again his torso lurched as the current coursed through him.
Murphy read the defib’s screen and turned to Caitlin. She could see the answer to her unasked question in his eyes.
“No, charge it again.”
“It doesn’t recommend another attempt.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what it recommends. Recharge it and shock him again.”
Murphy bent over the defib and switched it to manual. “It’ll take just a moment to recharge. I’ve set it at the maximum voltage.”
“Caitlin, you’re wasting time. We should go,” John transmitted.
“No, not until everything has been tried.”
“Caitlin, I don’t mind. Really, I found you again. You even love me. That’s enough. I can go.”
“No you won’t you son of a bitch! You aren’t going anywhere until I’m sure.”
“Clear,” Murphy said.
“Wait!” Caitlin screamed.
He lurched back and stared up at her.
Caitlin tugged the chain to John’s translator over her head.
“What are you doing?” John asked.
“What do you think? If this thing could help you stay here to join with me then it should be able to help you get back into your own body.”
“But Caitlin. The shock from the defib could destroy it.”
“Yeah, I suppose it could. But I’m willing to risk it. Are you?”
For a moment, John was silent. “To risk everything to be able to hold you in my arms again? Yes, I’d risk it.”
Caitlin raised John’s head and slipped the chain over his neck. She lowered his head back to the snow and quickly kissed his lips for luck.
“Are you still there John?”
“I’m still here, still inside you.”
To Murphy Caitlin said, “Hit it!”
Murphy placed the paddles and triggered the discharge.
John’s body convulsed.
Caitlin felt a great wind blow through her mind. In an instance, it was gone. It left behind an emptiness that chilled her soul.
What had she done? Had she lost him completely?
“John?”
No response.
She dropped to her knees in the snow beside him and started to cry. Reaching out she cradled his face in her hands.
A jolt went through her.
His body convulsed again and he coughed.
The defib beeped a steady pulse.
“My God. John, you’re alive.”
His eyes opened. “Damn, I’d have to be to hurt this bad. Sweet Jesus, I hurt.”
She hugged him, then kissed his face tenderly. “But you’re alive.”
“Yeah, thanks, love. Look, I don’t want to put a damper on my resurrection, but we still need to get out of here.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
She released him and stood quickly.
Jerry was back with a liter of blood substitute and an IV.
“Jerry, you get him hooked up. Murphy, he has a gunshot to the knee and another in his lower side. Bandage them and then put him in the ambulance.”
Murphy nodded and the two men stripped John’s coat off him.
Caitlin turned. Romax was standing alone a few feet away. He’d been silent for the entire process.
“Did you mean what you said, about coming after us?”
He nodded weakly.
“If you go back on your word I’ll kill you myself. Whatever you wanted out of us, it’s too late. John released the files before he came here tonight. It’s too late to stop them.”
Romax glanced at John and found that he was looking up at him. “I suspected as much. He didn’t seem the type to surrender.”
“He’s not.”
“You better be going. Other’s will be coming, I can delay them for a while, but not forever.”
“I understand.”
When Murphy had the bandages in place, the medics put John onto the litter and lifted it between them.
Caitlin followed close behind until they reached the ambulance. “Put him in the back, and then take whatever you need to help those others. I’m taking the ambulance.”
“But ma’am, that’s government property,” Murphy said.
“This is still a democracy, isn’t it? Well, I’m one of the government’s employers. They’ll get it back when I’m through with it.”
Murphy eyed the Uzi, and then motioned toward Jerry. Together they set the litter in the ambulance and secured it. Then Murphy removed two emergency kits and closed the back door.
“Ma’am, he’s going to need a doctor,” Murphy said.
“I know. I’ll take care of it.”
Without waiting for another response, Caitlin hurried around the side and got behind the wheel. The engine still idled smoothly and she shifted the transmission into gear.
As the ambulance started to roll, the massive gates to the compound slid back
. For a moment, she thought they had taken too long. Then Romax stepped out of the guardhouse.
Caitlin lowered her window as she neared him.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about my part in all this. All this,” he indicated the ruined landscape around them. “Wasn’t supposed to happen. We thought we were doing the right thing.”
“Yeah? Well heaven protect us from right-minded fools,” Caitlin said and gunned the engine.
She turned right, toward the Navigator John had hidden.
“We’ll have to ditch the ambulance,” John transmitted.
“I know. Are you going to be able to walk?”
“No, but I have partial use of my right side. I can probably hop along if you support me.”
“How bad are you? Will you make it without immediate surgery?”
“I think so. Just get us away from here and then we’ll worry about my injuries.” He coughed and broke into a strained laugh.
“What the hell are you laughing about?”
“I was just thinking of what I’m going to say to Gunny when I see him.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to tell him he was right that ‘even heroes die.’ But he’s got to know that sometimes they have to die more than once.”
EPILOGUE
The black Labrador splashed through the cold waters of Victoria Strait north of Vancouver until he reached the floating Frisbee. He gripped it gingerly in his teeth, and then froze as a tall dorsal fin broke the water less than a hundred feet from him. He growled, deep and guttural as a second, larger fin joined the first.
“Bruno, leave the whales alone and bring me the Frisbee.”
Bruno cocked his ears and turned to face Caitlin. His tail shook water droplets as it wagged furiously.
“Come on, Bruno. Fetch.”
Bruno paused to cast one more growl over his shoulder as one dorsal disappeared and another took its place, then he raced back to shore.
Caitlin wore a cream-colored sundress of filmy cotton over her two-piece swimsuit. She waited at the edge of the water, letting the water swirl around her bare feet until the dog reached her. Then she backed away, as he appeared ready to leap against her.
“No, Bruno. Down!”
Bruno sat on the rocky beach, and dropped the Frisbee at her feet. An expression of breathless anticipation lit his face.
John laughed as she bent for the Frisbee.
“What’s so funny?”
“I think he’s teasing you. He had no intention of jumping on you,” John said.
John sat in a beach chair just above the high tide line.
“Yeah? Well I think you’re just being anthropomorphic. Dogs don’t have human reactions.”
“Really? I don’t think you’ve had enough experience with them to make that statement.
Caitlin flipped the Frisbee toward John and Bruno raced after it.
“Wait. Stop. Stay, Bruno, damnit,” John cursed as Bruno leapt for the Frisbee just as it reached John.
The dog crashed into him, knocking him backwards, out of the chair and into the sand. John sputtered, cursed again, and spit sand out of his mouth.
“Ah man, now I smell like wet dog.”
Caitlin laughed as she walked toward him.
John sat up and gave her a grimace. She ignored his attempted scorn and offered him a hand.
Their emotions mingled as they touched and she knew he wasn’t angry.
“Hump, how is anyone ever going to stay sore at someone while they wear these things?”
She pulled him to his feet and then bent to pick up his walking stick. “They can’t, or at least they can’t fake it.”
Bruno trotted back and dropped the Frisbee at Caitlin’s feet. She scooped it up.
“That’s what I mean. How can I ever go back to being the strong silent type when anytime I touch someone they know how I really feel,” John took the cane and put some weight on it. He leaned down and brushed the mixture of sand and dirt from his faded jeans.
Bruno growled and his hackles rose. As John came to his feet, he followed Bruno’s stare. Someone was walking up the beach toward them.
“Hey, isn’t that Gunny?” John asked.
Caitlin focused on the man. “Can’t tell. He’s too far off.”
“It’s him. I’d recognize that walk anywhere. Bruno, relax!”
Bruno gave one more short growl, then accepted the command, and went back to staring at the toy.
Caitlin waved a hand toward Zim and then sailed the Frisbee down the beach. Bruno chased it and caught it on the fly twenty feet from Zim. Rather than returning to Caitlin, he trotted to Gunny and circled around him.
“Hey, Gunny. You’re early. We weren’t expecting you until next week,” Caitlin yelled.
“Thought I’d surprise you,” Zim’s words sounded clear and soft in her head.
“Well, I’ll be. You have a translator.”
“It’s an early model from Intel. I pulled a few strings with an old friend to get one before they hit the market. They’re trying to beat Sony to the Christmas rush.”
Caitlin walked to meet him, taking her time so John could keep up. “I’m impressed. I thought no one could get a prototype out in eight months.”
“It’s amazing what can be done by throwing money at a target. Every electronic firm on the planet has been rushing to be the first to develop this technology. The government is still attempting to claim the patents, but three congressmen have introduced legislation to make the technology public domain.”
Caitlin reached him and stopped. She’d been about to hug him. What was it going to be like? The only person she’d ever had full contact with was John. She didn’t want to share that kind of intimacy with Zim. She had told him what it was like between the two of them. Would he be insulted if she didn’t hug him now that he wore a translator?
“What’s the matter?” Zim asked.
“I’m not sure what to expect. The translators can make a hug awfully intimate.”
“So you’ve told me. Well, we can just shake. I’ve done that with a few of the guys from Intel and while it was a new experience, I wouldn’t call it intimate.” He held out a hand.
“No way I’m letting you off with just a handshake.” Caitlin brushed his hand aside and wrapped her arms around his chest in a hug.
Their emotions mingled, telling them that their feelings toward the other was returned in kind.
“Wow,” Zim transmitted.
“We both love you, Gunny. If you hadn’t helped us we’d still have the government on our backs.”
“Ah, you’re not fooling me with that, Caitlin. I know you could have spread the blueprints over the Web just as well as I.”
“Has anyone been sniffing around our trail?” John asked.
“No, not for about three months now. The last one was a reporter.”
“Oh? Was he legitimate or a deep cover?”
“Hard to tell. He could have been legitimate. Lord knows his ugly face is on the box often enough.”
Bruno stood against John, bracing his forelegs against John’s chest and chomping the Frisbee in his teeth. He had to push Bruno down to keep from falling over.
“John, how’s the therapy coming?” Zim asked.
“They finished the injections. The doc tells me that the nerve regeneration should be complete in another month or so. It’ll be nice to be able to walk unassisted again.”
“It’s going to take a long time to build the muscles back, but the feeling has returned to my leg, and it burns like mad.”
Caitlin put an arm around John and shook him lightly. “He’s just being a baby about it. The doctors told him the nerves would activate slowly and that it would feel like when your foot has fallen asleep.”
“Hey, who’s telling this story?” John asked in mock anger.
Bruno dropped the Frisbee at Caitlin’s feet, leapt back a ways, and then barked.
“He’s getting impatient. Throw it for him,” J
ohn said.
“Throw it yourself. I’m talking with Gunny.”
John leaned hard on his cane to pick up the Frisbee. Standing, he flipped the disc toward the water. Bruno burst after it.
“Gunny, could you bring another translator and the encoder with you next trip?” John asked.
“Sure, but who’s it for?”
John watched Bruno catch the Frisbee in a splash of sea foam. As Bruno ran back through the surf, Zim and Caitlin felt his intentions.
“You can’t be serious,” Zim said.
“I don’t know. It would be interesting,” Caitlin said.
THE END
About the Author
Richard Bamberg was born in small town Alabama, to a great pair of middle-class working parents. After high school, he enlisted in the USAF. He earned a degree in engineering from Texas Tech and went on to work for Boeing and the Missile Defense Agency.
He sold his first novel, Emerald Eyes, to Books in Motion in 1994. Since then he’s published ten novels. His novels range from modern action/adventure, to horror, to urban fantasy, and finally science fiction. He’s had numerous short stories published, including one in the award-winning anthology Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction.
His hobbies, when not writing, have been fencing, shooting, fishing, RPGs, computer games, and reading. He’s an avid fan of SpaceX and their long-term goal of occupying Mars.
Other Novels
by
Richard A. Bamberg
Strega
Emerald Eyes (with Joy Bamberg)
The Nazi Legacy (with Joy Bamberg)
Doors Without End
Wanderers 1: Ragnarök
Wanderers 2: Apprentice
Wanderers 3: Garden of the Gods
The Hunters: Monster Hunting 101
Ancient Enemy
The Phoenix Egg Page 36