by Gini Koch
Hurdled over the dead body that had one bullet hole in the head. Clearly this was one of Adriana’s hits. Mine rarely looked that professional.
Reached the front wall catwalk in record time and decided getting to the others might be the better part of valor. As I turned left, realized I was heading straight for Wruck.
This wasn’t good, because I couldn’t shoot him now. On the other hand, I could be shot in the back at any moment. In fact, I was sure of it, as Motörhead’s “Shoot You in the Back” came on. Algar was nothing if not literal at times.
Flipped into another somersault as bullets whizzed by. Wruck was shooting, too, but not at me.
Well, technically, I was sure he was going to say that he’d been shooting at me and I’d just fooled him with my clever rolling move. But he was spraying bullets well over where I was.
Rolled three times and was next to him. Jumped up and leaped behind him. “Do I take you hostage now?”
“Please.”
Grabbed him with a modified choke and put a gun to his head. “Stop shooting or I’ll kill him!” I bellowed as loudly as I could. I wasn’t up to Jeff’s standards—no one was, really—but I was pretty good. The sounds of gunfire slowed down. “I mean it! Stop shooting or I kill him!” Moved us so that my back was to the wall, so that, hopefully, Wruck was working as a shield for me from the front and sides, at least as much as possible.
“Kitty,” Reader called. “We have the lower level cleared. It’s only whoever’s up there with you.”
“So much for the Cuban hit squads,” I said quietly as my music changed to “Last Chance on the Stairway” by Duran Duran.
“They have done their damage already,” Wruck said just as quietly. Was pretty sure he was doing his best not to move his mouth.
“Kitty!” This was Adriana. “They’re escaping!”
Looked down my catwalk. Sure enough, the rest of the Crazy Eights were climbing out a window. It was high, but Lowe was using his air bending to lift them and himself up high enough to grab the bottom of the window and flip themselves over.
“He’s gotten really good,” I mentioned, while I shot at them and missed every single one. It was harder to shoot around my “hostage” than I’d have thought. Adriana was shooting and missing, too. Maybe Lowe was using his bending to keep the bullets away. That was going to be my story and I was going to stick with it.
“He has. Prison is an excellent place to practice.”
“Duly noted. I’m going to keep this fiction up, just in case. Adriana,” I called in a louder voice, “do we have any more unfriendlies upstairs?”
She ran over to us. “No. I just checked all the areas. No one is still breathing.”
“I don’t think everyone Tim and I took out in the upstairs room is dead. Ditto the first guy on the catwalk I dealt with but didn’t knock over the railing.”
As I said this, Wruck wrenched the gun out of my left hand, aimed it at Adriana, and fired several times.
Only he wasn’t actually aiming at her, but at the guy I’d just mentioned—the one I’d knocked out but not killed. Said guy was dead now, though.
“Thank you,” Adriana said, voice shaking just a little.
“You’re welcome. Someone needs to check on those you think might still be alive. And kill them.”
Adriana nodded and took off, back through the catwalks while I let go of Wruck. “Thanks, John.”
He turned to me and smiled. “You’re welcome, Kitty.” His smile faded. “Though you may not feel pleased shortly.” He nodded toward the stairs. “You will want to get into that room as soon as possible. There’s a reason it was heavily guarded.”
Headed down, Wruck behind me. White and Siler were pulling the door open, but I could tell that the adrenaline had worn off for Siler and that White was starting to feel the effects of infection, because they were having trouble.
Wruck waded in. “Allow me.” He shifted into a much bigger creature, one I’d never seen. At best, it looked like a Bigfoot, but without hair. He wrenched the door open easily, then went back to what I’d become used to.
“Meet the Martian Manhunter, everyone. He’s on our side despite how things may have looked for, oh, the last several years.” With that I went into the room, “Flesh and Bone” by the Killers now on my soundsystem.
That the Dingo and Surly Vic were in here wasn’t the surprise. How crappy they looked wasn’t a surprise, either. Siler hadn’t been kidding—they’d been worked over badly. As with Siler, their upper bodies were naked and the signs of torture were clear and rather horrific.
That they were both somehow still alive was the surprise.
But alive they were. “My Miss Katt,” the Dingo said, voice basically a croak. “I apologize for our failure.”
Hurried over to him and kissed his forehead. “It’s okay, Uncle Peter. Sometimes I get to save you, remember?” Dropped my Glock back in my purse and pulled out the adrenaline. “Not sure if this will help much, but it’s all we’ve got with us. Going straight into your heart. On the plus side, I’m really freaking good at this by now.”
Tim held the Dingo’s head and chest as he had with Siler, and I slammed the needle in. As with Siler, he didn’t make noise but he did thrash. Because he was human, he didn’t break his bonds, which was okay, because White and Reader were getting them off for him.
Siler supported the Dingo while I moved to Surly Vic. “Don’t let the Sith win,” he said to me. He sounded worse than the Dingo had.
“We won’t.” Kissed his forehead, too. “It’s okay, Uncle Victor. We’ll get it all taken care of. This sucks, but it helps.”
Tim and I did the drill all over again. Surly Vic shouted in pain, but didn’t thrash. Interesting differences that Tito probably would have been interested in. For me, it just meant I was hurting people who, frankly, I loved by now. But, Surly Vic seemed a little better, and that was what mattered.
Adriana rejoined us while Tim put all the used needles into my purse. “Upstairs is all clear, and I rechecked down here, too. All the Cubans are dead. While we may have hit the other Crazy Eights, none of them were here.”
“All seven made it out,” Wruck said. “I should go after them.”
“No, you’re our ‘prisoner’ now. Get used to hanging with the good guys, John.”
White and Reader got Surly Vic untied, then they helped him up, putting his arms around their shoulders. Siler and I did the same for the Dingo.
“We’re going to get you both to NASA Base. Tito’s there and he’ll get you fixed up. Since they infected all of you with the disease we need to get you to medical and that’s a quarantine area already.”
“Whatever you say, Miss Katt,” the Dingo said.
“Caroline’s there, too. I know she’ll be glad to see you.” It was potentially a lie, but I knew he still liked her and, after losing Michael, she might want to see him and, if not rekindle the flame, at least say hello.
“I will appreciate seeing her again.” He chuckled weakly. “Raul’s woman said you would never come for us. But we knew she was wrong.”
“Annette Dier?”
“Yes. She was our torturer.”
“Only her?”
“The Cubans worked us over,” Siler said. “But the torture? Yeah, that was all her. To his credit,” he nodded his head at Wruck, who was with Adriana and Tim, pretending to be their prisoner, just in case, “he kept on telling her that torture wasn’t the answer. But she didn’t care. She likes it.”
“Yeah, she’s an evil bitch.” Saliva’s “The Enemy” came on. Fitting. Dier was definitely an enemy I wanted to get rid of.
“And the only real link to your Mastermind,” Wruck said. “Which is why she’s still alive.”
“I don’t have a phone signal in here,” Tim said. “So we can’t call for a gate. We’re going to have to get outside t
o do that.”
“Then let’s get outside and out of here fast.”
Siler and I took the lead with the Dingo, and Tim, Adriana, and Wruck were in the rear. We couldn’t move as fast as any of us wanted to—Team Assassination was far too injured.
“We did gather information,” the Dingo told me as we walked slowly around dead bodies. “The disease is alien in nature. Its core is from another planet, and not one in this or the Alpha Centauri system.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. Raul’s woman was gloating, explaining that even if we could be saved by someone, we would all die, since there was no cure.”
“There’s always a cure.”
“Yes, but most cures take time to discover. And the world does not have the time.”
“Why did they escalate now, did they tell you?”
“They told me,” Siler said. “The Mastermind knows that he’s been discovered, and he’s angry that your side has been playing him like he’s played you all this time.”
“Our side.”
Both men chuckled as we stepped outside. “Yes, but grant us the fiction that we are lone wolves, my Miss Katt.”
“You’re my wolves, so not lone.”
“Not for long.” Dier stepped out from behind a pile of scrap, gun pointed straight at me. “Say goodbye for good, bitch.”
Then she pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER 84
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT was one of those slow-motion experiences I knew I’d end up reliving over and over again, usually in the middle of a deep sleep.
As Dier pulled the trigger it dawned on me that Algar had been giving me a warning with the Saliva song.
At the same time, the Dingo shouted, “No!” Then wrenched out of my and Siler’s hold and flung himself in front of me. Siler grabbed me and pulled me down.
The bullet’s impact meant the Dingo fell back and down into my arms.
Dier aimed again, but Surly Vic had already gotten free from White and Reader. He leaped over us, making me wonder if he’d been a hurdler way back when, and slammed into Dier. Which meant he took the next bullet in the gut but landed both of them against the scrap metal.
I’d been angry before, many times, really. But there were only a few times when the rage was so overwhelming that I was seeing red. This was one of those times. I put the Dingo gently on the ground. His eyes fluttered. “Never . . . let them . . . change you,” he gasped out. The shot was to his heart.
“I won’t, Uncle Peter. I promise.”
He smiled. “Always be My Miss Katt . . . with her nine lives.” He was still smiling, but I saw the light go out of his eyes.
Stood up and turned around. Dier had gotten out from under Surly Vic’s body. Whether he was alive or not I couldn’t tell. But she was still alive. Scratched up from the scrap metal, but alive. And everything I was seeing was still red.
My music changed to The Cure’s “Fight.” Okey dokey.
“You killed Fuzzball,” I said as I walked toward her.
She fired, but the gun just clicked. Surly Vic rolled over—he had the clip in his hand. He raised it up in his fist. “Jedi forever.”
“I promise to keep the faith and use the Force, Uncle Victor.”
His arm dropped, though the clip was still tight in his fist. His eyes were open and glassy, though I wasn’t close enough to see their light go out.
Looked back at Dier. “You killed Michael.” Walked closer. “You’re part of the reason Gladys and Naomi are dead.”
“You killed Raul.”
“And now you’ve killed my uncles.”
She smirked. “Just like I’m going to kill all of your family, starting with your mother and ending with your brats.”
“No,” I said calmly. “You’re not.” I was close to her, just out of arm’s reach. “Because you end now.”
Her eyes narrowed and she smiled a particularly evil smile. “I’ll end you in five seconds.”
“Yeah? You know what we say in Pueblo Caliente when someone says that? We say, bring it, bitch.”
She lunged for me, but I was ready and so was my music. “Prize Fighter” by the Killers was back, and I agreed that this was a title bout and I was ready for it. The rage was flowing and so were the moves. I wasn’t at hyperspeed, but I was definitely going for double black belt right now.
We traded hits for a while, sweeps the other jumped over, impressive kicks the other dodged or blocked, and so on. We weren’t talking, we were just trying to kill each other. And I was now listening to “Killer Queen” by Queen.
I’d moved her away from the others. Wasn’t really paying attention to where the other Crazy Eights might or might not be. That was what the rest of my team was for. I was only interested in getting Dier into just the right place.
Well, I was interested in one other thing. “So, you seem all confident that you’re going to outlive everyone.”
Dier smirked again. Definitely one of her fave expressions. “Some of us have been given the actual vaccine.”
“Good to know.”
We were now near a scrap pile with a particularly sharp and nasty-looking piece of rusty metal sticking quite far out. My music changed to Panic! At the Disco’s “Let’s Kill Tonight.” Totally agreed with the sentiment.
Dier punched with her right, I blocked with my left and slammed a palm heel strike into her face. Followed this with a knee to her sternum that knocked her back. She was winded and I didn’t hesitate. Kicked her knee out, hard, and sent my other knee into her chin.
Grabbed Dier as she went down and threw her toward the extended metal, and, as she was going back, I did a double kick that sent her back even harder.
The metal went through her chest. She stared at me, mouth open. But she was still alive. Barely, but more than the Dingo and Surly Vic were.
Pulled out my Glock and walked up to her. “Did you know that a person doesn’t have to be alive for someone to get a sample of their blood?” Put the gun between her eyes. “Which is good for me. Because this is the part where you die and go to hell, you murderous cunt.” Then I pulled the trigger.
My clip wasn’t empty.
CHAPTER 85
“KITTY?” Reader asked quietly from behind me. “Are you hurt?”
“Not really.”
He put his arm around my shoulders and gently backed me up and away from Dier’s dead body. “Okay. Emptying your clip into her face was an, uh, interesting touch.”
“I wish I could do it again. At least five more times.”
“But dead is dead, girlfriend. And before others we care about die, we need to do something with your uncles’ bodies.”
That snapped me out of it. “What do you mean?” Realized my music had stopped. Left my earbuds in, just in case.
“Siler says that you’re going to be a lot safer if no one can prove that they’re dead. I think he’s right.”
“Um, okay. What do you suggest?”
He grimaced. “Well, we’re at a place where they melt metal.”
“Oh, so the Darth Vader funeral pyre? Surly Vic would appreciate that, I’m sure.”
“You need to cry?”
“No. Not right now. I’ll cry later. Possibly for a really long time. But not right now. Right now we need to dispose of my uncles’ bodies and then go try to save the rest of our friends and families and the world.”
“So,” he said, as he kissed my forehead, “routine.”
Leaned against his shoulder. As always, a nice place to be. Reader took the hood off my head and stroked my hair. “Is it wrong that I’m as upset and angry about her killing the Dingo and Surly Vic as I was when she killed Michael?”
“No, it’s not wrong. They may have been top assassins, but they respected and then ultimately loved you. That you loved them back isn’t wrong, Kitty. I
t’s part of what makes you the person who can flip a bad guy to our side. Like Jeff says, you see the best in people.”
“There was no best in Dier.”
“No, there really wasn’t.”
“But now we’ve lost the link to the Mastermind.”
“Oh well.”
Looked up at him. “You’re not upset with me for that?”
“Babe, I’m glad she’s dead. Dead she can’t hurt anyone anymore. I also want to burn her body. Not to hide that she’d dead but so that there’s no DNA around to make a clone of her.”
“Presuming they haven’t already.”
He shook his head. “From what I’ve gotten, they’re kind of selfish with the cloning. Cliff, Reid, and LaRue, and that seems to be it. Other than the two clones we found on Beta Eight, that is. And they were cloned for usefulness, which is what I think they’d clone Dier for. Hence why I want her gone.”
“Yeah. Do we have to touch Dier’s body? I ask because I don’t think I can without rending her limb from limb.”
“No. I called in Field teams. They’ll do the cleanup. The other Crazy Eights were here, by the way. Lowe, Nerida, Casey, Kellogg, and Kozlow escaped—they ran the moment it was clear you were going to take Dier and only got away because Lowe held us off with his talent. Wruck is with us. Sam’s dead. Adriana shot him.”
“That’s my girl. We burning Dear Sam’s body, too?”
“Sure. Funeral pyres for all.”
“Oh, speaking of Dier DNA, though, we need to get some of her blood to Tito ASAP. She felt that she’d been given the vaccine.”
“On it.”
Reader had a Dazzler team come and take several samples of Dier’s blood, then head off to Tito. While Field teams came and helped moved the bodies, I put a new clip into my Glock and we discussed the little intel we’d gotten.
“What Dier said about the disease is worrying,” White said. “If it’s alien in nature, and not from our two solar systems, we may have no way of finding a cure.”