A prison guard poked his head above one of the tables. “Are you with the Fleet?”
“No,” Erik called back. “We’re cops.”
“The door systems have been restored,” Jia announced. “An…associate of ours stationed in the docking bay can lead you to a safe place. There are some remaining nanozombies, but we’ve got them contained.”
“Nanozombies?” a bloodied prisoner asked. “That’s crazy. I kind of wish I hadn’t tried to rob that flitter dealer now.”
Another prisoner stared at the heap of corpses filling the hallway. “Screw this.” He put his hands behind his head. “I demand the guards take me back to my cell where it’s safe. I didn’t commit all those crimes just so someone could eat my face. That’s messed up.” He looked at the headless corpse near him, still leaking blood. “Really messed up.”
Other men raised their voices in agreement. The surviving guards were few in number. In a normal riot, the prisoners could have overwhelmed them with ease. Guards shook hands with prisoners and patted them on the back.
Each group had earned the respect that only facing death from a merciless undiscriminating enemy together could bring.
“Emma, can you lead the guards and prisoners back to their cells, where they’ll be safe?” Jia asked. “Erik and I will clean up the rest of the nanozombies, then we’ll go back to the Rabbit.”
“I didn’t want to distract you during the battle, but the Fleet has responded, and the uniform boys and girls are on their way. The UTS Lightning was in the area and is responding. They have infantry aboard and seem to be taking the situation seriously. Their ETA is one hour.”
Erik rested his rifle on his shoulder and wiped some blood off his face. “If Emma’s got the last few zombies contained, let’s just let the reinforcements handle them. I say we head back to the docking bay and wait. I’ve had enough of shooting zombies.”
Jia watched as a guard led a group of prisoners away. Weariness laced her voice as she kicked a casing toward the wall. “Yes. For once, let somebody else handle the cleanup.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Erik and Jia were about a minute away from the security checkpoint when a data window popped open in front of them. They skidded to a stop, exchanging glances before looking at the window.
“What’s going on?” Erik asked.
“I’m sorry,” Emma reported. “I thought this would be the most efficient way to get the information across.”
The data window showed a feed of Cho and Rich in the security station. Emma provided full audio as well.
“Can you believe this?” Cho commented with a smile. “We’re going to make it through this. We’re damned lucky Lin and Blackwell are here. Otherwise, we’d probably be lunch for those things already.”
“You idiot.” Rich sneered. “It’s because Lin and Blackwell are here that this is happening.” He reached under the control panel. “They’re screwing things up. They should have just died in that meeting with Esposito and saved us trouble.”
“Screwing things up?” Cho pointed to a feed showing the detectives advancing down the hall. “They’ve got some of the systems restored, and you saw what they did in the cafeteria. If they’d died earlier, we would have all been screwed. Nobody can get near the armory right now.”
“All they did was save a bunch of trash,” Rich muttered.
“Hey, our guys were in there, too.” Cho frowned. “Man, what’s wrong with you? I don’t know what happened, but they saved our asses. Somebody obviously dropped the ball, and it wasn’t Lin and Blackwell.”
Rich pulled a gun from under the control panel and pointed it at Cho.
The other guard raised his hands. “Whoa. What the hell are you doing? If you had that all the time, you should have been out there helping.”
“Why would I help something I put in motion?” Rich scoffed. “Just consider everyone sacrifices to my retirement.” He fired three times into Cho’s face and sneered as the other man slumped forward, dead.
“That was thirty seconds ago,” Emma reported as the feed vanished.
“We found our inside man,” Erik grumbled. “Surprised it was one of those guys, but a lot of things make sense. No way I’m letting that bastard get away after everything he did.”
The detectives sprinted down the hallway toward the security station, their weapons at the ready. The door to the inspection room and the door to the docking bay both stood open. Blood drops led away from the security station. Gunfire rang out from the docking bay.
“What was that?” Jia asked.
“I showed Mr. Durn what was going on so he had situational awareness.” Emma sighed. “I didn’t anticipate he would attempt to engage the guard.”
Erik and Jia ran into the docking bay. Cutter was on one knee, holding his chest, his jaw clenched. A pistol lay near him. They rushed over to him.
“It’s okay.” Cutter grimaced. “I’ve had worse. It’s not fun, but I’ll live.” He inclined his head toward the other transport. “He ran into the back, up the loading ramp. Give him a few lumps for me.”
“Damn it.” Erik pointed his rifle at the transport. “He probably can release the docking clamp himself.”
Jia reached into her pocket. “I’m out of medpatches.”
Cutter stood, his teeth gritted. “It’s fine. I’ll get one from the Rabbit. Like I said, this isn’t my first time getting shot. Or stabbed.” He looked up in thought. “Or thrown across a room.” He shook his head. “Maybe I’ve made poor life choices.”
“I question the wisdom of your engagement, Mr. Durn,” Emma commented quietly, “but I respect your bravery for facing that gun goblin. I would almost think it a net loss if you were killed. Almost.”
“Thanks, Holochick. That almost makes it worthwhile.” Cutter managed a pained grin as he headed toward the Rabbit. “Show the bastard what’s up.” He gave them a thumbs-up.
“He’s not getting away.” Jia clutched her rifle. “We won’t let him.”
“The Lightning can intercept him,” Erik suggested. “If he doesn’t surrender, they can blow his transport to pieces.”
“That wouldn’t be as satisfying,” Jia told him. “Esposito was part of it, but none of this would have happened without an inside man. Somebody put him up to this, or he works for the conspiracy. I’d like to ask him a few questions.”
Erik grinned. “I hear you. Let’s see if he’s smarter than the zombies.” He pulled the TR-7 around. “There’s no point in running,” he shouted. “If you surrender to us right now, we can guarantee you don’t end up dead. We need to interrogate you. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of interesting stories to tell us. Even if you can fly that thing out of here, there’s a Fleet destroyer on its way, and you can’t outrun them. They’re almost here.”
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from the back of the transport.
“I’m scarier than I thought.” Erik frowned, considering the other likely possibility. “I hope. Emma, do you have a visual on the back of that transport?”
“No, the cameras were physically disabled in that part of the docking bay,” she reported.
“Part of his plan, probably. Yeah, fun.”
Heavy footsteps thudded in the back of the transport, and a loud, inhuman growl filled the air. Something tossed Rich’s body out. It was missing its right arm, except for a bloody stump. The body landed, the remaining limbs bent in unnatural directions.
“You didn’t say anything about nanozombies being out here,” Erik complained, lifting his gun. “And so much for your interrogation, Jia.”
“I wasn’t looking inside the ship,” Emma replied. “There must be a compartment that is shielded, much like you have.” She sounded annoyed. “This was a rather thorough effort in many ways.”
A dark-gray form ambled down the loading ramp, its elongated body hunched over. The creature had once been human, but black veins covered its exposed, mottled flesh. Its solid black eyes took in the world. It snapped at the air, spraying thic
k black spittle.
“Is that what happens after long enough with those nanites?” Disgust took over Jia’s face.
“Who the hell knows?” Erik lifted his TR-7. “Won’t be our problem soon enough. Let’s send him to join all his friends.”
He fired. The creature’s head jerked to the side, but it didn’t fall, instead snarling in rage. When he turned back toward Erik, there was no large hole, only a few scratches.
“Oh, that’s new,” Jia commented. “Not good-new, annoying-new.”
“Concentrate fire,” Erik shouted. “It’s just a guy with a lot of nanites.”
Their combined efforts forced him back but again didn’t produce any serious wounds. The few seeping scratches on the super-zombie’s face began to seal.
“And I thought the hordes were their backup plan,” Jia griped. “This is truly annoying.”
“What’s above truly annoying?” Erik asked.
“I add colorful metaphors my mother wouldn’t approve of.”
“So, you talk dirty?” Erik grinned.
“Something like that,” she admitted, firing once more.
The super-zombie threw his head back and shrieked. The grating sound echoed around the docking bay.
There was no way they were going to beat the super-zombie the way they’d taken out the enemies within the prison. At this point, they needed something more powerful than the TR-7, something they might use to take out a vehicle.
Erik whipped his left hand to his carryaid and yanked off the laser rifle. He dropped the huge weapon on the deck with an unceremonious thud before running toward the super-zombie in a zigzag pattern and firing intermittent bursts, yelling at the top of his lungs.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jia shouted.
“Distracting it. You finish it.”
The super-zombie scurried toward Erik with an earsplitting shriek. He halted its advance with another headshot before shifting to a circular running pattern that momentarily confused his opponent.
Jia tossed her rifle to the ground as she sprinted toward the laser rifle. She dropped into a slide and tapped the side of the rifle to extend the tripod. With a grunt of exertion, she pulled the huge weapon until it was upright and rolled behind it, narrowing her eyes on her prey.
The super-zombie jumped, bringing back its arm. Erik raised his TR-7 to block the blow, but it knocked the weapon out of Erik’s hands. He only didn’t lose it because of the strap. He threw a punch with his left arm and connected, but the hit barely staggered the monster.
“Oh, that’s not good,” he muttered.
The creature responded by backhanding him so hard he flew backward and landed with a grimace several yards away, pain spiking through his chest and back from the hit and the carryaid slamming into him. Much like Cutter, he filed it under the “he’d had worse.”
Any hit that didn’t remove an arm or almost kill him was classified that way.
“Stay the hell away from my partner,” Jia shouted and pulled the trigger. The deadly invisible beam did its work, boring a hole through the chest of the super-zombie.
The creature responded with a loud roar and stalked toward her, twitching but not falling.
“Oh, come on. Die already.” She fired again, this time burning a clean hole through its head, but it kept walking toward her.
“This has moved to the top of the list of annoying.” Jia fired again, this time taking out its knee. The super-zombie fell to the deck but continued crawling toward her. She fired three more times into the monster, draining the cell and adding three new holes, including another in what was left of its head, but that somehow didn’t kill it, only slowed it. She dropped the laser rifle and backed up.
“There’s evidence of nanite-based regeneration,” Emma reported. “Both of you hurry to the inspection room. I’ll close it once you’re inside. I have a plan to dispose of the enemy that won’t require heavy weapons.”
“Is it a stupid plan?” Erik called to her.
“I prefer the term ‘desperate.’ Detective Blackwell, but take the laser rifle with you. Mr. Durn, secure the ship unless you want to die.”
The ladder retracted on the Rabbit, and the door lifted to seal the cockpit. Erik forced himself to his feet, ignoring his pain.
He limp-jogged toward the rifle and scooped it up with his left arm, continuing toward the inspection room. Jia sprayed the crawling super-zombie from the room with her assault rifle, but the creature continued moving, determined to punish her for her attacks. Once Erik stepped into the inspection room, the security door slid closed.
A feed of the docking bay appeared in front of them. The bay doors rumbled and began to part. Red lights flashed in the bay.
“Warning!” announced a soft female voice. “Oxygen field and backup grav field are inactive. Overrides are in place. Warning! Loss of atmospheric containment is imminent.”
Erik grinned. “Damn, Emma, that’s cold.”
“Yes, and soon, our friend will be too,” Emma replied.
The docking bay doors continued opening. Unsecured crates tumbled through them, sucked into space by the rapid decompression of the bay.
The patrol craft shuddered but didn’t move thanks to their docking clamps. Rich’s arm flew out of the docking bay, followed by his body. The super-zombie shrieked in defiance as it hurtled backward, waving its arms. It snagged a docking clamp with its fingers and continued its snarling and shrieking.
The sound died as the last of the air evacuated the docking bay. It wasn’t much longer before the creature slipped into the cold, dead darkness of space, flailing the entire time.
Erik laughed. “Nice, Emma.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Soldiers in exoskeletons clanked through the docking bay, inspecting each ship individually. They were ready to open up with armor-piercing death against any nanozombie popping up from a hidden cargo hold. At least a dozen soldiers had already boarded the larger transport to perform a sweep. There had been no gunfire or screaming.
All evidence suggested the super-zombie had been the last backup plan.
Erik sat in the cockpit in the Rabbit next to Jia and a pale but recovering Cutter. They’d already given their report to the commanding officer of the boarding team, a stern-faced and professional woman.
Emma had disengaged from the system but had repaired enough that the surviving prison guards could help coordinate the military cleanup of the remaining nanozombies. They’d tried to take a few alive, but in the end, the soldiers eliminated the few survivors and confirmed the surviving prisoners had all returned to their cells.
Erik turned toward Cutter. “You got shot. You think a few medpatches will be enough? We should get you to the prison infirmary or the sickbay of the Lightning.”
“Come on, Blackwell,” the pilot replied, gesturing at the patch on his chest. “It’s not like you go to the hospital every time you get shot. Sometimes a man takes some lead and just sleeps it off.”
“True enough. You know your body best.”
“Are you sure?” Jia asked him. “That isn’t a hangnail.”
“The bullet passed right through.” Cutter smiled down at his wounds. “I just need some rest and the patches. I’ll sleep on the way back and let the nanites do their things. After we get back to Earth, there’s a place I’ll go for follow-up.” His smile faded, and he winced. “Damn. After everything that happened, I kind of don’t like the idea of the nanites doing their things. If I come back as one of those things, don’t dump me into space. Blow my brains out, so I have a respectable death.”
Erik gave him a polite nod. “Full burst, four-barrels, right between the eyes. It’ll be quick. I promise.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that, Blackwell.” Cutter stood. He swayed as he made his way toward the crew cabin. “That makes me feel better. If I’m going to die, might as well be at the hands of a legend and not some random monster.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m a legend,” Erik called to the man.
Cutter shook his head. “The Goddess of Death wouldn’t want your help if you weren’t. It’s just, this time, you became a legend before the Directorate came sniffing around.” He turned back toward the door.
“Cutter, wait,” Jia called.
He stopped. “What’s up, Lin? Want to give me a kiss?”
“In your dreams.” Jia rolled her eyes.
“Probably not even then,” Cutter admitted.
Jia chuckled. “I wanted to thank you for not leaving. I have a feeling that docking clamp wouldn’t have stopped you for more than a couple of minutes if you had really wanted to go, and this wasn’t a normal situation, even by the standards of what Alina might have you working on.”
“Hey, I don’t bail on a job just because a few guys start eating people.” Cutter scoffed. “I’m a professional, and I have standards. I’d never live it down if I got a rep as a guy who cuts and runs when things get a little hot. For now, though, I need some sleep.” He slapped the access panel and stepped into the crew cabin, closing the door after him.
Jia laid her head back on the seat. “Did you imagine when you woke up this morning that something like this would happen?”
“Depends.” Erik ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth as he thought. “You mean, exactly like this? Nanozombies, and Esposito being the first one?”
She looked his way. “You’re saying you imagined something that was even in the same neighborhood?”
“Kind of.” Erik waggled his hand left, then right. “I figured it might be a trap. After Molino, I got the message I’d let myself forget during my career, that even the easiest milk run can end in something unexpected. But no, I was thinking more like Esposito might have implanted explosives, or something like that, not—”
“Nanozombies,” Jia finished for him.
“Yeah, nanozombies. I don’t know if they’re better or worse than yaoguai, but I’m not sure it makes a difference.” Erik watched a few troops walk past, rifles in hand and bored looks on their faces as they headed into the prison. “Sometimes I’m impressed by how together the UTC has managed to keep things. There’s a lot of stuff people can do with tech that they don’t officially allow. That doesn’t stop all of it, but it’s stopped a lot of it. I don’t imagine this is the first time someone thought of something like this.”
Cabal of Lies Page 37