by James McEwan
Absolutely enraged at being fooled, he fired again, but this time, Kára was not ready to take another hit and she rolled to her left just as the bullet slammed into the concrete where she had been laying, showering her in dust and small chunks of concrete. “Shit!” Marcus cursed when he saw that he had missed. He was trying to reacquire her in his sights when there was a bright flash.
On the ground, the armored van driven by Quincy roared up and slid to a stop next to Kára. Meanwhile, Captain Hammer emerged from his hiding spot holding a death wind grenade launcher, and fired off a series of flash and smoke grenades to obscure Marcus’ view.
St. Claire jumped from the open door, grabbed Kára with his good shoulder, and pulled her into the van. Once inside, he yelled to Quincy. “Go, go, go!” Quincy mashed the accelerator and the van leaped forward, and just as St. Claire slammed the door shut, they heard the ping of the bullet as it mashed into the reinforced armor.
Kára’s helmet folded away and slid away into its storage place on the back of her armor. Her armor had a large dent right in the center of her chest. She was short of breath, but she tried to speak anyway. “That hurt a lot more than I thought it would. I think it broke a few things, my ribs feel like jello.”
Seeing that she was in pain, St. Claire tried to find a way to remove her armor. “How do you get this thing off?”
“Don’t, it will heal me and then self-repair. Now just leave me be…” her voice trailed off as the suit had given her a painkiller and some kind of sedative. She lay asleep in his arms, and St. Claire was amazed to watch as the armor repaired itself before his eyes.
Meanwhile, Eva Hammer and her granddaughter were running for the parking lot when she heard the first shot. Her heart sank, as she believed her husband was just murdered. She stopped and fell to her knees, and started to cry. Cassidy asked. “What’s wrong grandma?”
Before she could answer, a large black hover limo stopped in front of them. Then there was another crack of the big rifle and she was not sure what was going on. The front door to the limo opened and behind the wheel was Doctor Hammer. “Get in!” He yelled.
“But how?” Eva asked.
More explosions could be heard from behind them and when Cassidy saw him, she screamed out. “Grandpa!” She ran to him and he lifted her up and over him while Eva ran to the open back door. She jumped in and once Doctor Hammer placed Cassidy in the passenger’s seat, he closed his door and whisked them away from the ensuing battle.
Marcus couldn’t see anything through the smoke, and because he chose to use a non-powered scope to avoid detection, he had no thermal to see through the smoke. So he fired blind, he emptied the magazine as fast as he could. Once the smoke cleared, there was nothing there, but debris and holes in the concrete. Facing defeat once again, Marcus put his head down.
“Hey Marcus, remember me.” Thad said standing over him.
Marcus looked up and couldn’t believe his eyes. “That’s not possible! I killed you! I felt the knife sever your spine.”
“Yeah about that, I’m kind of like a cockroach, really hard to get rid of.” Thad said.
Marcus started to stand up when Thad, with a steel rod in his hand, swung it like a bat and connected with Marcus’ helmet. The force of the blow sent Marcus spinning through the air. He landed with a thud. His helmet took the full force of the blow, but it had a huge dent in the side.
Marcus pushed himself back up when Thad struck him in the faceplate of the helmet. This time, he was thrown backward and the face shield cracked so badly that Marcus could no longer see out of it. He pulled it off his head and this time, when Thad’s swing came he was ready and caught it with is robot arm.
“Shit!” Thad said, as his swing was stopped cold. Marcus, using his helmet as a weapon, swung it Thad’s head. The helmet connected with Thad’s head with a nasty thumping sound. Thad’s world went sideways for a second and then snapped back. A gash opened in his head, then healed almost as quick.
“That is interesting.” Marcus said, before trying to hit Thad again.
Thad, not really wanting to take another hit to the head, let go of the steel rod and dove to the side to avoid the vicious swing. Marcus, no longer hindered by Thad, was able to use his robot legs to jump onto his feet. Thad rolled and used his momentum to stand up. Marcus dropped the rod and his helmet. “You have caused me enough problems. I’m going to take you apart with my bare hands!”
“Really? I would think you would need hands to do that.” Thad said, not being able to help himself.
Marcus growled and charged him. Thad underestimated the speed of his robot legs and couldn’t get out of the way in time. Marcus slammed into him like a freight train and the two men crashed backward. They smashed into an unfinished interior wall. Their momentum carried them through the wall and into the next room, but that didn’t stop them. Marcus smashed Thad through two more walls before they came to a stop. Thad felt like he had been piecrust who had been rolled out by Marcus acting as the rolling pin.
They would have gone through another wall if Thad’s feet hadn’t gotten caught up on some metal wall frames that were lying on the ground. The two men fell to the ground in cloud dust. Thad held onto Marcus, and when they went down Thad pulled his knees up and pulled with his arms, the result was that Marcus was thrown off Thad.
Both men scrambled to get to their feet. Marcus’s robot limbs made him as fast as Thad so both men were soon facing one another. The two predators circled each other trying to find an opening to attack. Marcus struck first, his robot arms swinging with tremendous speed, and Thad blocked every blow. The bones in his arms were able to handle the bone shattering blows, but his flesh wasn’t, and tore. Blood ran down his arms and covered his hands. “I have to hand it to you. You are far tougher than anyone I have every fought with” Marcus said, as he paused to catch his breath.
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” Thad said, as he took advantage of the pause in the fight. He launched into an attack. He led with his feet, but Marcus saw the kick coming, caught his leg, spun Thad around, and threw him through another inside wall. Thad slammed through it, landed on the floor, and slid towards the open unprotected edge.
Marcus stepped through the damaged wall just as Thad was standing up. He ran towards Thad and with one leg kicked him in the chest. If it had been anyone else their chest would have collapsed, but Thad was thrown back, and he slid all the way to the edge and over it. As Thad was going over the edge, he frantically grabbed for anything and he was able to grab a piece of the exposed metal skeleton of the building.
Hanging floors above the ground, Thad swung his hand up and grabbed the edge of the floor in an attempt to pull himself up. Marcus walked over to the edge and stood over him. “No, no you don’t get to die that easy.” He bent down, grabbed Thad, and pulled him up by his wrist.
Thad knew that they couldn’t make skin-to-skin contact without major consequences. So he had to find another weakness to exploit. It hit him the same time that Marcus’ robot hand smashed into his jaw. After he shook off the blow he realized that the weakest part of Marcus’ limbs were where they attached to his body. Another blow struck Thad in the face and he thought he felt his jaw crack. His bones were tough, but not indestructible, so before Marcus could strike him again Thad had to act.
Marcus, using his right arm, held Thad up so he could strike him with his left. Thad swung himself up and wrapped his legs around Marcus’ arm. This move put Marcus off balance and he tried to let go of Thad, but Thad would not let go of him. Using gravity and Marcus’s bad balance, Thad was able to pull Marcus down. Thad’s back hit the ground and Marcus fell towards him. Thad used the momentum and spun Marcus over the top of him and he smacked the ground.
Marcus grunted in pain as his face smashed into the unfinished floor. Thad had the advantage now and he pressed it. Thad kicked his right foot under Marcus’s arm; firmly planting it in his armpit. His left foot he planted on Marcus’s neck just above the shoulder and wit
h every bit of strength he had he pulled and pulled. Marcus screamed out as Thad wrenched the robot arm free. The flesh around the implanted mount for the robotic arm tore and there was a popping, tearing sound as the arm came off, and when it came free, Thad scrambled to his feet.
Thad stood, his chest heaving as he fought to control his breathing. In his handwas Marcus’s robotic arm. Marcus pushed himself up and onto his knees. His other robot arm held the pressure on the torn, bleeding flesh of his other shoulder. Thad swung the limb like a club slamming it into Marcus’s midsection. Marcus doubled over when Thad swung it again smashing into Marcus’ face breaking his nose and throwing him backward.
Marcus lay with his head a mere inch from the edge of the roof. He was spitting blood and trying to breathe through his mouth. Thad stood over him, robotic arm in hand; he raised it up over his head ready to deliver the final blow. Marcus looked up at him and said. “Do it!”
Thad threw the arm away off the building. “No, you can change, I know it. Now I have spared your life, I have given you a second chance don’t waste it. Oh, and leave Doctor Hammer and his family alone, or I will find you and end you.” Thad turned his back and started to walk away.
During the fight, Marcus had forgotten that he was carrying a sidearm. He unholstered his pistol and got to his feet. “Thaddeus!” Marcus screamed. “You should have killed me when you had the chance, because I will never stop until I have finished my mission.”
Thad turned to face him and Marcus continued. “I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to kill Doctor Hammer and his whole family. But I want you to know that I’m going to make him watch as I kill everyone he cares about.”
Thad sighed. “That’s too bad.”
Not the response he expected. “Too bad?”
“It’s too bad that you have given up on yourself.” Thad said, trying to gain more time so he could figure a way to get out from in front of Marcus’ gun.
“Goodbye, Thaddeus!”
A single shot rang out and Thad watched as a pink mist replaced Marcus’s head. His headless body fell backward off the edge of the building. It fell several stories before landing on the ground in front of the reflection pool where he was to kill Doctor Hammer.
Thad turned around to see Captain Hammer standing on this side of the hole in the wall holding a scoped heavy cone rifle. “Thanks” Thad said.
“Least I could do for the man who saved my family twice.” Captain Hammer said, as he walked up and looked over the edge. “Apparently, I have made a bit of a mess. I hope the contractor will not be too upset over it.”
Thad joined him. “I think it best if we clear out before the authorities get here. They will have many questions, and for some reason, I don’t think they will believe my answers.” Thad said. The two men left as fast as they could with the sirens of the police in the background.
Chapter 34
Everyone met back at Doctor Hammer’s home and there were many hugs and kisses. Doctor Hammer explained everything to his wife, while his son curled up with his daughter and fell asleep in a guest room.
Quincy, St. Claire, and Kára were shown to rooms and they turned in, while Thad and the Hammers talked for the rest of the night. The next morning everyone made their way down to the dining room, which was set with a breakfast buffet. Thad found Eva to be very similar to his Eve and made a mental note to look up Eva’s alternate when and if he made it home to his own world.
Over breakfast, they watched news reports about the illegal black ops being exposed and the responsible people arrested. “It seems that Mr. Black was able to use his contacts to bring them out of the shadows and into the light” Doctor Hammer noted between bites of toast.
St. Claire was happy to see the people who had destroyed his life go down. Unfortunately, for him, there was no record of their involvement with his friend’s murder, which left him still on the hook for it. He pulled Thad aside. “Thad, I understand once Doctor Hammer has fixed the device that brought you here, that you are going to try to go home.”
“Yes, that is true, why do you ask?” Thad asked, in return.
“As you know my name is mud now and I’m a wanted man, so I figured maybe you could take me with you to your universe. There, I would be able to start a new life and wouldn’t have to worry about being a wanted man.”
“What about the St. Claire from my side?”
“I guess I will have to do my best to stay clear of him and I guess I will need a new name” St. Claire answered him.
“I’m not sure that I will be able to make it home, I may end up in another world, or I might not end up anywhere.” Thad said, thinking about the dangers.
“Well, if you end up somewhere else, then I’m sure that you wouldn’t mind having a friend to watch your back, and if the other happens ...” he paused. “Well, I’m willing to take that risk.”
“Don’t think that you are going to slip away to another dimension without me” Kára said, as she walked up to them.
“I didn’t think that I had the right to choose for you, so I didn’t ask” St. Claire said to her.
“You don’t, but where you go I go and that is that. Besides, I have experienced many of the wonders of this universe, a new universe sounds fun” Kára said, as she took hold of St. Claire’s left arm.
“Okay, if you two are sure” Thad said.
“We’re sure.” They said in unison.
“Fine I will talk to Doctor Hammer and find out if it’s even possible.” Thad relented.
The next few days seemed to fly by. Doctor Hammer spent his time in his lab repairing and testing the device that brought Thad here, while Thad spent time getting to know Eva, Cassidy, and Captain Thaddeus Hammer.
Thad had never been around children and at first, he was very uncomfortable, but her little brown curls and big brown eyes quickly won him over. Thad found her to be a remarkable young lady and she taught him that kids are just little people with their own personalities. Thad also found Captain Hammer to be as good a man as his father.
Thad also learned Captain Hammer was also a medical doctor and he was only out of medical school when he and his pregnant wife moved to one of the outer colonies. Cassidy was only a year old when her mother was killed in a raid by the Ralnia. It was the death of his wife that had pushed Captain Hammer to join the Terrain Marines.
It was finally time for Thad to leave for home. The trans-dimensional device was ready and Doctor Hammer had taken the liberty of booking passage back to Nueva Texas. St. Claire was not happy with the idea of having to go back to Nueva Texas, however. Doctor Hammer explained “I’m sorry Dominic, but for Thad to get home to his dimension he must be in the exact spot that he crossed over to this universe.”
“I’m still on The Most Wanted List on that planet and in New Dallas.” St. Claire reminded him.
“I know, but not to worry, I booked your passage on a private ship and the owner assured me of getting you into New Dallas without a problem.” Doctor Hammer said.
“Thanks, Doc” St. Claire said, with hesitation in his voice.
Thad walked up to St. Claire and Doctor Hammer who were standing in the driveway, waiting for the car to pick them up. “Anyone seen Quincy, I wanted to say goodbye.”
“He is around here somewhere. I’m sure he will turn up soon.” Doctor Hammer said while he smiled with his eyes.
“I hope so, I don’t want to miss him.” Thad said as he looked around, but not seeing Quincy anywhere.
Kára joined the group just as a black hover limo pulled into the driveway. “My driver will make sure you get to the spaceport on time.” Doctor Hammer said.
The limo stopped next to the group, the driver’s door opened, and Quincy stepped out. He was dressed in a fine gray suit and dark sunglasses. He walked to the back door opened it. “Your carriage awaits, Sir.” he said.
Thad laughed. “I like the new gig.”
“Much better than the last one. Better pay, much better ride, and oh ...” he p
aused and opened his jacket to reveal a machine pistol in a shoulder holster “and Doctor Hammer is sending me to executive protection school. It starts next week” he said.
“I would say that he is in good hands then.” Thad said, pleased to see Quincy happy.
Eva, Cassidy, and Captain Hammer joined the group to say their goodbyes. Hugs, kisses, and tears were shared, then St. Claire, Kára, and Thad entered the limo. Doctor Hammer stood at the door. “Here I made this just in case you need a consult in the future.” he handed Thad a device that looked a lot like a holodisk projector.
“What do you call this little number?” Thad asked as he looked over the device.
“It’s an inter-dimensional video conferencing projector.” he replied to the question.
Thad laughed. “Whether this dimension or in mine, you really need to work on your naming skills.”
“Why, what would you call it?”
“I have no idea, but I think I will call it my Hammer phone.” Thad said.
“Not sure I can market it with that name, but it will do.” Doctor Hammer laughed. They laughed together.
“Thanks again Doc” Thad said, as he shook the doctor's hand.
“No thanks needed. In fact, I am the one who should be thanking you for all that you have done.” Doctor shook his hand in return. “Now get out of here before you miss your flight.” He closed the door and watched them until they were out of sight.
Inside the limo St. Claire and Kára talked softly while Thad watched the buildings of London pass. He was deep in thought, torn between leaving the people he had come to know and love in this dimension and going home to those he loved there.