There was no doubt now. Tandy backed up to the wall and collapsed, sliding down, burying his face in his hand and sobbed. What was he going to do? He was so focused on finding the evidence that he didn’t think about what he’d do if he actually discovered that his brother was behind the resistance! Unfortunately, that decision was made for him.
“I sincerely had hoped you wouldn't have found this,” a very familiar voice came from beside him.
Tandy didn’t even have to look up. “Yeah?” Tandy growled. “Why’s that?”
“Because the last thing I wanted was to hurt you,” Tander said.
“Is that why you shot Kay and Brix instead of me?”
“Of course it was!” Tander responded defensively. “I couldn’t shoot my own brother!”
“But you’re gonna have to, now,” Tandy growled.
“It’s unfortunate, I know,” Tander said with true regret in his voice.
“How did you know I was here?”
“An alarm goes off in my room whenever anyone accesses these rooms.”
“Hm. I should’ve known,” Tandy remarked dryly. “There was no Reaper. I suspect that you started shooting up your library to make it a good story and when your security responded, you fired them for it.”
“Close enough,” Tander shrugged.
“The only question that I have that’s relevant is, why?”
“Money, Tandy. What else?”
“This was all for money?” Tandy didn’t bother to hide the disgust in his voice.
“What is my chief export, Tandy?” Tander shot back. “Ti’tan’lium! I’ve made a fortune off of this war. To survive, I had to ensure the war continued at all costs! Imagine my glee when I found that weapons cache at Alpha Centauri. I knew that if there was a race out there that could destroy the Founders, they would give us a real fight and both the Seryysans and the Vyysarri would come to me for my Ti’tan’lium for their ships.” Tandy frowned at him, baleful fire behind his eyes. “Oh don’t be so naïve, little brother! It’s business! Don’t judge me just because you didn’t have the entrepreneurial spirit that dad had!”
“You’re no better than Trall,” Tandy hissed. “And frankly, dad would be ashamed of you!”
“I beg to differ,” Tander said, raising a finger of contention. “Not only have I started another war that will keep me rich for a very, very long time, I’ve cleared Seryys City of all its inhabitants. My teams are already working on tunneling under the city to extract the Ti’tan’lium there.”
“You let the Reapers out?” Tandy shouted the question.
“Well, not personally,” Tander responded. “Stiprox hired a Vyysarri named Seryyk to release them.”
“But why?” Tandy whispered. “You helped us contain them four years ago! Why would you undo that?”
“To answer your first question, the time wasn’t right. I didn’t wish to see Seryys City destroyed, I still don’t, but I’d have been damned if Trall got the Ti’tan’lium! Plus, when the war ended, my profits and stocks plummeted. Releasing the Reapers served two purposes—though I only saw one at the time… it escalated tensions between us the Vyysarri—that was my primary goal—and when Prime Minister Puar called a general evacuation of Seryys City, I knew it was already lost, so why not claim the valuable resource beneath her abandoned streets?”
“You know I can’t let you get away with this,” Tandy said sadly.
“You know I can’t let you stop me,” Tander countered, equally sad.
“What about Bri?” Tandy asked. “She has nothing to do with this.”
“How do I know you didn’t say something to her?” Tandy answered with a question of his own.
“She knows nothing of this,” Tandy pleaded. “She’s still sleeping in our room. Please, leave her out of this.”
“I can’t,” Tander said sympathetically. “Now, get up nice and slow.”
“Where are we going?” Tandy asked.
“You’ll know soon enough. Let’s go.”
Tandy led the way out into Tander’s office. Through instruction, Tander started leading Tandy somewhere. It didn’t take long to realize that Tander was leading his brother to the library—no doubt to add to the story by having some of his guards die in the fight to explain the Seryysan blood on the carpet. Which made him think about another thing his brother had just said about firing his security staff was a “close enough” description. He might have killed the ones that showed up and fired the rest.
“You’re going to show me how to muss up the DNA in your blood so it’ll be assumed it belongs to the guards I had to kill,” Tander ordered, confirming Tandy’s suspicions.
“No, I’m not,” Tandy defied.
“Do it and I’ll consider letting Bri live,” Tander shot back.
“No, you won’t,” Tandy countered angrily. “I’ll do it for you and you’ll kill her just the same.”
“You’re right,” Tander said. “So let me sweeten the deal. If you don’t help me, the cloaking tech I sold to Puar will have a cataclysmic failure right in the middle of the fight with the F’Rosians.”
“You wouldn’t!” Tandy growled.
“Try me!” Tander shot back.
Checkmate, was all Tandy thought. He was going to have to help cover up his own murder and that of his beloved wife.
They got to the library. It was unchanged since Tandy had been there hours before. Tander shoved his brother into the center of the room and pointed the gun at him, the same gun Tander, moonlighting as Warthol, had pointed at him when they went to rescue Khai.
“Now, what do I add to your blood to muss it up?”
Tandy was being defiant. He thought about sacrificing all those men and women in the navy just to make sure his brother didn’t get away with this, but that would have only made him as bad as his brother. That’s when he noticed a shadow moving within the library. Inwardly, he grinned.
“How do I know you won’t sacrifice everyone anyway?” Tandy asked defiantly.
“You don’t, but your choices are somewhat limited at the present, wouldn’t you say?”
“I don’t know about that,” Tandy retorted smugly.
“Why so smug, now, little brother?” Tander demanded.
“You have no right to call that anymore,” Tandy said. “As far as I’m concerned, my brother is dead, replaced by a money-hungry piece of shit who uses peoples’ lives as leverage to turn a profit!”
“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way,” Tander said emotionless as he pulled the hammer back on his pistol. That was when a second click of a gun hammer sounded from behind Tander. Tandy grinned.
“Drop your gun,” a shaky, female voice ordered from behind him.
“I thought you said you didn’t tell her anything,” Tander accused.
“He didn’t,” Bri said. “But I know my husband well enough to see that something was really bothering him after something you said in the study. I saw his eyes and I knew that something very bad was about to happen.”
“Well, isn’t this touching?” Tander said. Then, without warning, he whirled about and backhanded Bri to the floor. She lost her gun in the transition and Tander pulled the trigger with the gun facing her.
Tandy growled with rage and lunged forward, knocking Tander off his feet just as the gun went off. The bullet grazed Bri’s shoulder prompting the smallest trickle of blood. She yelped and tumbled under a table. A fight over Tander’s gun ensued. Being a military man, Tandy began to win that fight. Just when Tandy had things under control, Tander kneed Tandy in the groin. Tandy’s breath left his lungs and he doubled over, but managed to wrest the gun from Tander’s hand anyway. Tander did the only thing he could do at that point: he ran.
Tandy crouched down to check on Bri.
“I’m fine,” she said through a clenched jaw. “It’s not bad.”
“Find a place to hide and don’t come out until I call with you the code word, got it?”
“Got it,” she said and made a b-line for the do
ors back into the mansion.
The code word was “M’Rill,” named after the lake where they had their honeymoon. With that, he picked up the gun Bri dropped, tucked it under his belt in the small of his back, pulled his shirt down over it and ran off after his brother to apprehend him.
Tander ran out into the early morning air. When Tandy reached the window through which Tander had jumped, he could see his brother a hundred yards out heading for the hangar. With a frustrated growl, Tandy leapt from the window and hit the ground sprinting. His legs could carry him faster that Tander could ever dream of running, but Tander had a commanding lead and Tandy was afraid his brother would be in a shuttle headed for the sky before he could even get there. But that didn’t stop him.
“Amber,” Tandy called out into his wrist band.
“Yes?”
“Get the engines hot, we may need to make a hasty lift off!”
“Starting preflight checklist now.”
“Good!”
Tander entered the hangar about twenty yards ahead of him. When he didn’t hear the high-pitched whine of engines heating up, he slowed his pace and proceeded more cautiously with a gun drawn. The lights were out, casting the room in deep shadow as the morning sun crept in through the window. Tandy put his specs on and instantly got a clear image of the hangar. With an infrared scan, he was able to spot Tander easily.
“Tander, come on out, I know exactly where you are. Give this up. If you come quietly, I’ll do everything in my power to avoid the death penalty. You have my word.”
Tander stepped out from his shadowy hiding spot. “Fancy glasses,” he said, raising his hands in defeat. “You promise that you’ll push for life in prison?”
Tandy produced a pair of restraints and made a move to apply them. “You have my word,” he repeated. Just as Tandy touched the restraints to Tander’s wrist, a jolt of electricity coursed Tandy’s body. He spasmed and fell to the floor still jerking about, conveniently, his gun slid right up to Tander’s feet.
“I learned a few things after Seryyk took my eye and half of my face,” Tander remarked angrily, bending down to pick up the gun he dropped in the library.
He wound up and kicked his younger brother in ribs. A satisfying, rasping gasp erupted from Tandy as several ribs broke. Tandy rolled to his back, the look of betrayal on his face was enough to kill a lesser man.
“I am truly sorry, little brother,” he went on, “but you know as well as I do what happens to those who commit treason during war.”
“You’re a fool, Tander,” Tandy wheezed. “You’ll never get away with this…”
Tander knelt down “I’m afraid that I’m about to,” he said handing him a com unit. “Now call Bri and tell her everything is safe and that you’ve caught me in the hangar.
Tandy snatched the com unit from his brother’s hand and keyed in the com unit he gave to Bri. “Is it over?”
“Yes,” Tandy lied. “I’ve got Tander subdued in the hangar and need your help.”
There was a slight pause. “Okay. I’m on my way.”
All Tandy could do was hope that she remembered about the code word and ran for her life.
“That’s better. So how about you get up and get into that shuttle over there.”
Tandy didn’t move at first. A muffled warning shot from the gun motivated him to move. He slowly got up and walked, hands on his head, to the shuttle where he would die. He wondered how long it would take for Tander to get suspicious when Bri didn’t show up. Hopefully long enough for her to get to the Bucket and get the hell out of there.
Tander followed, the gun in his brother’s back. “Sit,” he ordered. Tandy sat on the bench seat on one side while a dark reflection sat across from him.
“How long will it take?” Tander asked.
“How would I know?” Tandy growled. “She was hiding somewhere. She could be on the other side of the mansion for all I know.”
They sat in silence for a moment, when Tandy decided to try making a move. He lunged forward for the gun and was rewarded with a bullet through the left hand. He growled and grasped the wound as blood ran down his arm.
“I suppose I don’t need you alive to kill Bri,” Tander said, standing and pointing the gun straight at Tandy’s face. “I was going to be civil and let you two at least say goodbye to each other, but after that little fit, I’m afraid you’re too dangerous to be left alive. I’ll tell her you died honorably.” He pulled the hammer back when the hangar rumbled so hard they both fell to the floor of the shuttle. “What the—”
Tandy grinned and tried feeling around for the gun. What he found was Tander’s hand also feeling around for the gun. The hands locked and they stood growling at each other. Tander knew he couldn’t win this fight; he needed to find that blasted gun! Tandy squeezed and felt several pops as he broke his brother’s hand in multiple places, prompting a yelp from the man.
The building rumbled again and pieces of the ceiling began to clatter down onto the shuttle with deafening rings. Tander fell to his back and Tandy took the opportunity by leaping onto him and pummeling his scarred face. Blow after blow connected, every strike sent a stabbing pain deep into his heart, but that didn’t stop him. Two bludgeoning blows to the ribs and Tander cried out as blood splattered out through his teeth.
The building shook again and, to Tander’s amazement, the gun landed flush in his hand! He swung the gun up and cracked Tandy across the head with it, stunning him momentarily. He put the muzzle of the gun to Tandy’s temple and pulled the trigger. Tandy’s military and police training took over and he grabbed Tander’s wrist forcing the muzzle of the gun up all the while tilting his head out of the way. The gun went off inches from his left ear, causing it to ring, but otherwise affected no other damage. Tander twisted his arm to get the gun pointed back at Tandy, but Tandy was too strong. He forced Tander’s arm out of the way and kept going until he felt the arm give and heard a dull crunch. Tander cried out as he dropped the gun and his arm fell uselessly to his side.
Tander stood there, helpless, stunned, pained. Tandy wound up and put the sole of his boot solidly in the center of Tander’s chest sending him sprawling into the cockpit and tumbling over the chairs onto the control panel.
“Amber?” he called out. It only took the second volley for him to recognize the sound of the canons on his ship.
“You didn’t say the code word,” Bri’s lovely voice came over the com unit.
“Good girl,” Tandy smiled. “You weren’t a minute too soon!”
“Just saving your ass,” she joked. “Is it over?”
“Yeah,” Tandy said sadly. “It’s over. Just get down here and—”
He was cut off by an all-too-familiar pain as a bullet passed through his left shoulder, then another through his upper right chest, another through his right thigh and another through his right forearm. Paralyzed with pain, all he could do was make a half spin to land on his back with a wheezy grunt. His evil twin loomed menacingly over him, the gun pointed once again at his face.
Tandy was out of options. He tried, he really did, to end this without death, but Tander had forced his hand. He was barely able to get himself up to a sitting position and backward crawled to lean up against a bulkhead of the shuttle, the exit directly to his left. He braced himself up with his right hand slightly behind him.
“I’m sorry, brother,” Tander said to his disabled doppelganger.
“Me too,” Tandy responded. With a practiced hand, Tandy whipped the gun out from the small of his back and pulled the trigger, catching his brother on the left side of his chest.
A look of pure shock crossed Tander’s face. “You… shot… me?”
Overriding the pain of his riddled body, was the pain in his riddled heart as he watched Tander stumble back and collapse. Tears began to stream down his face mixing with his blood. “Oh, Tander! I’m sorry!” he cried out. With monumental effort, he crawled to his brother’s side.
“You know… I thought… it… would h
urt more… being shot,” Tander said between gasps for air.
“You’re going into shock,” Tandy said, sympathetically. “It’ll be over soon, Tander, I promise.”
“Don’t leave… please. Stay with me… to… the end…”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Tandy wept. “I can’t walk.”
Tander and Tandy both chuckled and gasped in pain.
“Remember when we were kids, Tandy, and we’d play cops and robbers?”
“Yeah,” he said with a sniffle. “I always played the cop.”
“I so badly wanted to play the cop, but I knew that even at that age I wasn’t a virtuous person.”
“That’s not true,” Tandy insisted. “You were a good brother and my best friend.”
“No,” he whispered. “I stole and cheated. Remember when you saved up three hundred credits for camp?”
“Yeah, I lost it.”
“You were devastated,” Tander reminisced. “But you didn’t lose it. I took it. That’s the type of person I was and still am.”
“Regardless, you’re still my brother.”
“Good…” he whispered barely audible. “I love you, little bro-ther…” Tander’s eyes fluttered closed and he released his last breath.
Chapter Thirteen
Bri was standing outside the shuttle. She had crawled over fallen debris to get to it and when she did she saw her husband, badly injured and cradling the body of his twin brother, wailing. Her heart broke at that moment. She quietly slipped into the shuttle and came up behind him. With a light touch on the shoulder, she grabbed his attention. Dah whirled about, ready for another fight. When he saw that it was just his loving wife, he relaxed.
“We need to go—now,” she said. “Security will be here any minute.”
“Let them come,” Dah said, defeated. “I’ll explain everything.”
The Seryys Chronicles: Steel Alliance Page 18