The Seryys Chronicles: Death Wish Page 21

  The screen blinked to Trall’s gaunt—and now, angry—face.

  “I told you not to engage the targets until I said so. Not to mention the fact that you called off a military craft in pursuit and you let Khail escape and since you’re calling me that means you allowed Captain Dah to escape too!”

  “I’m sorry, Prime Minister. Khai proved to more resourceful than I anticipated.”

  “And what is your excuse for Dah?”

  “I-I was injured from my fight with Khail. Dah exploited that.”

  “What were Khail and Dah doing there?”

  “I don’t know,” Kay admitted. “But when I found Dah, his twin brother was doing something to a large door inside the facility on the lowest level.”

  “What did he do?” Trall’s voice betrayed both fear and anger.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, get down there and find out!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She did her scans of the door and waited for her ride. A group of engineers and soldiers were there within the hour. They also made scans of the door and transported Kay back to her home where she curled up on her brightly-colored bed and slept off her injuries.

  The next day, she reported to Prime Minister Trall’s office.

  “I have the reports from both you and my team. You know what it found?”

  “No, sir. I don’t.”

  “Of course you don’t! Because you’re an idiot!” Trall spat, slamming his fist on the desk.

  Kay recoiled. Despite her ability to snap Trall in half, she still feared the man, like a child fearing an abusive father. “I’m sorry I failed you.”

  “Captain Dah managed to the permanently seal that door holding back something very important to me! That was my last plan and you let them ruin it!”

  “I’m sorry, I was injured. I don’t even remember them leaving.”

  “If you were injured, why are you perfectly healthy now?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I woke up in the facility’s infirmary. The automated system healed me.”

  “And how did you get there?”

  “Captain Dah spared me. He knocked me know out and he must have left me in the infirmary.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Trall hissed. “You disobeyed a direct order, let both targets get away, allowed one of them thwart my plans and one of them saved you?”

  “Y-yes, sir.”

  “Great. Just wanted to clarify your roll in this complete failure.”

  “I don’t know what else to say, sir.”

  “You have failed me. Failure of this magnitude must not go unpunished.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Your family. Your family will pay for your failure.”

  “You… you can’t!” she sobbed, standing, balling up her fists with rage. “They have nothing to do with this!”

  “You should have considered that before you failed me!” he roared.

  “Kill me!” she cried. “Kill me instead, please!”

  “No,” Trall grinned. “You are still useful to me.”

  “Please…” she whispered.

  “Get back to your hole,” Trall seethed, standing and turning his back to her. “You’ll be contacted when I find a use for you. Now get out of my sight!”

  Kay sat on her brightly-colored bed, hugging her stuffed animals, rocking back and forth, crying and trying to figure out what she was going to do. She didn’t dare defy Prime Minster Trall, but if she didn’t, her family was going to die. She couldn’t possibly fight off an entire attack team. She could try to employ the help of another Agent, but she knew that it would be nearly impossible to get them to disobey orders or even go out of their way to help one another while on assignment. It took an act of congress to have another Agent “bump” into Dah and place a bug on him…

  “That’s it!”

  She knew where Dah was and she could ask him for help. He could bring the entire police department to bear on the military to save her family! She pulled up the tracking device on her computer. There he was; in the Residential Sector.

  She left her home and set out to find him, to get him to help. He showed her compassion once, why wouldn’t he show it again?

  Dack’Tandy Dah sat up in Medic’s private recovery suite attached to the main building. He got up and walked naked to the shower. Bria was still in the bed, and she stirred ever so slightly as he got up. The shower felt good and he needed it badly. After almost an hour, he turned the water off and stepped out into the bathroom. He toweled off and wrapped that towel around his waist. He stepped into the suite.

  “Last night was…”

  He couldn’t believe it! There she was, again! She had Bria in a chokehold with a gun to her head.

  “What do you want?” he asked the Agent.

  “I didn’t come for a fight, not this time.”

  “Then my question still stands.”

  “You showed me mercy before. Why?”

  “You’re just a kid,” Dah replied. “I don’t kill kids, and your disposition isn’t your fault. You were programmed that way. You still haven’t answered my question.”

  “Sorry,” Kay said. “My name is Kay’Lah Kayward and I need your help.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dah half chuckled. “Can you repeat that?”

  “I desperately need your help,” she pleaded. “Trall is going to kill my family for not succeeding in my mission to kill you. He said that I allowed you to thwart his plans by sealing that door in the facility.”

  “Why didn’t he just kill you?”

  “He said that I was still useful, and that killing my family would be a far better punishment.”

  “Okay,” Dah sounded like he was considering it, which filled Kay with hope. “Let Bria go first. Then we can talk.”

  Immediately, she let Bria go and she ran over to Dah. Kay dropped the gun without with being asked and sat down. Dah nodded and was pleased with her behavior so far.

  “Will you please help me?” she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

  “You Agents have been known to be very convincing actors. How do I know you’re not just luring me into a trap?”

  “I can’t prove it,” she admitted. “All I can do is give you my family’s address and hope you show up.”

  “Do you know when they’re supposed to be attacked?”

  “I don’t. I’m just going to sit there and wait.”

  “You’re not giving me much to work with here,” Dah said, heaving a sigh and crossing his arms. “But you didn’t come here looking for a fight. That I can tell.”

  “So you can help me? You can bring your police friends and help me?”

  Dah stared at her for a good long while. If she was looking to ambush him, she wouldn’t have asked to bring his “police friends” with him. Maybe she’s telling the truth. “I can’t bring any other officers into this. I’m on leave. Furthermore, without proof, they can’t do anything anyway.”

  “Oh.” Dah could feel the hope drain out of her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m afraid they may send another Agent, or a team of Agents, to do the job.”

  Dah changed gears on her. “How did you find me?”

  “On your way home from our first encounter, you bumped into a young man. That young man was an Agent and he planted a device on you.”

  “Is that how you found me at my brother’s mining facility?”

  “No. Trall’s people detected the facility’s beacon when Colonel Khail activated it,” Kay answered plainly, hoping that her being this forthcoming would help her case.

  “Tander said that might happen.” Dah nodded, thumbing his chin.

  “Look,” Kay said. “I know you don’t trust me, I wouldn’t either. After all, I tried to kill you— though it would seem that you have mostly recovered from our encounter.”

  “I would say the same about you,” Dah said, eyeing her.

  “That leads me to the other reas
on for coming here. Thank you.”

  “For what?” Dah was sincerely confused.

  “For sparing me. For so long, I’ve been brutally beaten and tortured to harden me for the life I was selected to live. My family has been used as leverage over me for the last four years of that life. If I ever deserted, they were as good as dead. Now that Trall has ordered their deaths, I have no reason to stay. No one has ever shown me an ounce of kindness since I was taken from my home until you. I owe you my life and in return I give it to you.”

  “Wait, what? You’re pledging your life to me?”

  “If you help me save my family,” Kay amended.

  Dah sat for a long while, his jaw twitching as he thought about her words and what they meant. She seemed sincere enough. Maybe she was telling the truth. There was really only one way to find out.

  “Okay,” Dah said definitively. “I will help.” Kay looked like she just opened the present she always dreamed of and was about to jump up to give him a hug. “But!” She stopped. “If I even smell a backstab coming, I’ll kill you myself. Understood?”

  “Perfectly,” she beamed. “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome.”

  She approached Dah, who immediately recoiled, then loosened up. She reached out and grabbed his sleeve. He tried to jerk back, but her grip was stronger than he anticipated. She jerked back and ripped the sleeve clean off. Before Dah could snap some colorful line of curses, the girl removed a small patch of transparent, fiber mesh that was stuck with adhesive from the sleeve. The fiber mesh was filled with microscopic circuitry that was used as a tracking device. When Dah looked at her, she smiled sweetly. “So they don’t find you and Medic.”

  “Thanks. Now, get out of here!”

  “Right away!” She dropped a piece of paper on the table and ran out the door so fast Dah could have blinked and missed her exit.

  “Are you crazy?” Bria snapped as soon as she was convinced the girl was gone.

  “A little,” Dah replied with a shrug. “Why?”

  “She’s going to kill you,” Bria stated frankly. “You realize that, right?”

  “I’m not so sure,” Dah disagreed. “I can usually tell when someone is lying.”

  “How so?”

  “I don’t know, it’s like a… sixth sense I get when they’re lying. Call it a gut instinct.”

  “So, you’re psychic?”

  “Oh, you’re funny. No, I’ve just been doing this job for long enough to know.”

  “You’re going, aren’t you?”

  “I have to,” Dah said. “It’s my job. If her family is really in danger, then I have no choice but to protect them… even it is from our own government. I just wish I could find Khai; I could really use his help right now. He was able to defeat her.”

  “But you were, too.”

  “I targeted the wounds that Khai inflicted. She should have been able to slice me into a hundred pieces in under ten seconds.”

  “Well that’s reassuring. Now she’s a hundred percent, and she may have friends.”

  “She could have done it right now…” Dah gave it a moment to set in. “And her friends would’ve definitely busted in by now. Remember? They probably want the both of us, since it was your late lover who discovered the truth and died for it.”

  “That doesn’t mean she can’t knock me off later after you’re dead.”

  “We’re just gonna play it by ear,” Dah said with a sigh.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was quiet. Dah couldn’t tell if Kay had seen him yet or not. If she had, she wasn’t making any move to attack him. But that didn’t at all mean that he wasn’t in danger. Even if she was telling the truth, that meant that other Agents could possibly be on their way. If she was lying, that meant other Agents could possibly on their way. Either way, his danger sense was prickling with… well, danger. He found a good perch on an adjacent building to that of Kay’s family’s. They were on the tenth floor of fifteen. The stealthiest way in would be achieved by repelling down the side of the building and going in through the window. Kay obviously felt the same way. She was perched atop the stairwell access point to the roof. Chances were very likely that the people coming may not even use the stairs; they would probably drop in from gunships or BASE jump from a higher building. But her position gave her the ability to defend from both high and low attacks.

  Dah had several thumbnail-sized motion trackers placed on several of the surrounding buildings to track any attack coming from those directions. Essentially, he was covering both his and Kay’s rears simultaneously. His only hesitation was whether or not to warn Kay if they came, or wait to see if they attacked her. If they attack her, then out comes the sniper rifle he brought with him to take them down from a distance. If they don’t attack, then he kills Kay outright and makes a hasty retreat. Either way, it was favorable for him.

  About an hour into the stakeout, Dah’s motion sensors picked up movement and displayed the information into the HUD through his sniper scope. Four individuals were approaching from the south, moving fast—faster than normal. She was right. Agents. Damn! He was north of Kay’s position, so he wasn’t in immediate danger just yet. As if reading his mind, Kay responded immediately. She moved into the shadow of night for cover. So far, her story was checking out. If she was acting this whole thing out, she was being most convincing. The four other kids leapt from a dangerous height and all landed, tucking into a roll that ended up with all of them on their feet. Kay was invisible.

  They started unraveling lengths of rope. Dah was right; they were repelling. Suddenly, Kay emerged, slowly and quietly sneaking up behind them. She unsheathed a new Kit’ra and threw it. The blade connected and plunged deep into a young blond boy’s back. Kay didn’t skip a beat to celebrate. She ran up, jumping into a front flip, planting her feet on the boy’s back, grabbing her sword and pushing off, pulling the sword out. The boy fell forward off the building as Kay landed on her feet after performing a back flip off the boy’s shoulders. Dah was wholly impressed with her abilities.

  However, the others responded immediately. The remaining three Agents (a boy, a redhead girl and a brunette girl) swarmed her. At that point, there wasn’t a doubt in Dah’s mind that she was telling the truth. And only then, did he provide assistance. He squeezed the trigger and the brunette girl’s blood splattered all over Kay and the other two Agents as the bullet passed through the right side of her chest, collapsing a lung and shattering several ribs. He still refused to kill any kids, even if they were trying to kill others.

  For about two seconds, which seemed longer than that, they all looked around with bewildered expressions. Then Kay realized what was going on and she smiled, pressing the attack. She thrust her sword forward and the boy twisted out of the way while the girl flew in with a flying sidekick that was blocked wide to the right by Kay’s foot swooping through an arcing kick.

  The girl tumbled to the ground and rolled to her feet as the boy swung horizontally with his Kit’ra. Kay bowed forward to duck under that attack and while kicking her feet back, connected with the girl to stop her approach. Kay landed on her belly and rolled out of the way as the tip, and about six inches, of the boy’s Kit’ra drove into the floor. Kay thought quickly and kicked the blade, breaking it into three pieces. Dah tried to get a clear shot, but with them moving so bloody quickly, it was hard to home in on one and he certainly didn’t want to end up shooting Kay, or killing the others.

  Suddenly, a proximity alarm displayed in his HUD. Another two Agents had flanked him and were less than twenty feet behind him. He expected that. The Agents weren’t stupid; they wouldn’t send in their entire force and give away their numbers. He had incapacitating charges placed around him to act as a buffer for just such an event. As they moved into range of the charges, Dah set them off and virtually shattered the Agents’ ear drums instantly—without causing damage to the roof or killing them. They may be deaf for the rest of their lives, but they wouldn’t die… and with any lu
ck, they’d be cut loose because they wouldn’t be of any use again. But, what Dah didn’t anticipate was the sheer number of Agents Trall sent. His proximity alarm went off again, two more from the west and one from the east.

  Dah risked being spotted by popping up from his prone position to survey the situation. He spotted the one coming from the east and took him down with a well placed shot to the knee that pulverized it. The other two made it to him quickly and pounced. Dah was outmatched basically ten to one. He used their overconfidence to his advantage. The first kid, a boy, simply grabbed him by the neck and tried choking him to death. Dah was superior in strength by three times. He simply grabbed the boy’s arm with both hands and snapped it. The boy yelped and fell to the ground, his radius and ulna protruding from the skin, blood gushing.

  The other saw what Dah had done and took a step back to reassess the situation. Clearly, Dah could tell that this boy now knew he had military training. He had already proven to be more cunning than he appeared. What other surprises could he be hiding? Dah had to grin, because now the boy was overestimating his abilities. After all, he was just an ex-soldier turned cop. Dah used that to his advantage.

  “Listen here, boy,” Dah said in the most intimidating voice he could muster. “You’re in way over your head here. Don’t make me hurt you.”

  “I must follow my orders!” he cried, his voice still squeaking from puberty.

  Dah felt an overwhelming sense of pity for this boy. His head is so fucked up…

  “What’s your name, son?” Dah asked.

  “That doesn’t matter! I have to kill you!” he cried again.

  “No you don’t!” Dah insisted. “You’re not a soldier, you’re a kid.”

  “I have to complete my mission at all costs!” he shouted, adolescent hormonal rage filling his voice. “You don’t understand!”

  “What’s your name?” The boy, no more than fifteen years old, started to shiver like it was a ten below zero outside. Dah took a step closer and he matched it backward. “Come on, kid. What’s your name? Mine’s Dack.”