The Ascension Myth Box Set

by Ell Leigh Clark

  Molly quietly turned her stun setting up to maximum.

  I saw that.

  I’m going to stun the shit out of the asshole.

  Joel parked as close as he could, and the two of them got up and stormed up the steps. Molly suddenly had the sense that there was someone nearby. She stopped in her tracks, one foot on the top step then signaled for Joel to stop.

  She listened.

  Then she pointed to the front door. Joel placed himself tactically against the wall, weapon up and ready to fire at whomever stepped out.

  Molly knocked on the door.

  There was a shuffling, a couple of footsteps, and then the door opened.

  There stood an Ogg in a black atmosuit, weapon clearly held behind his back. When he saw Molly, he immediately tried to slam the door closed, but Molly was faster, and slammed her free hand against it, and then her foot.

  The Ogg shouted something and stumbled back, pulling his weapon on her. Molly dove in, drawing his fire, while Joel appeared in the open doorway and shot the Ogg. The stun hit him squarely in the chest, disabling him.

  “Nice shot, Mr. Dunham.”

  Joel stood in the doorway, paying attention to the surroundings and waiting for the sound of more movement. The look of admiration on Molly’s face didn’t entirely escape him, though.

  There was scuffling upstairs.

  “Oh, Lordy!” Henry appeared at the top of the wraparound staircase. Seeing that Joel had just taken Eric out, he squealed in panic, and ran back into the room he had appeared from and slammed the door.

  Joel started making his way up the stairs. “Check the downstairs for Paige. And close and lock that front door. Slow them down when they get here.”

  Molly moved back to the door and did as instructed. Gathering herself after nearly getting shot, she focused back in on the objective: find Paige, then get the hell out of Dodge.

  Thankfully she had found the strength in her limbs again. Her weapon in front of her, she started clearing the ground floor, scanning each area as her training had dictated.

  She swept through room after room until she came to the kitchen. She stepped inside and froze when she saw the figure standing there, just behind the central island.

  It was Dewitt. And he was holding a knife from the knife block. She couldn’t tell if he intended to use it on her or himself. Either way, he wasn’t getting out of this easily.

  “Back from the dead, I see,” he exclaimed, when he realized it was Molly.

  She had a lot to say to him. Heck, she had a lot of killing him she wanted to do. But now, face to face with him, his condescending smugness was the thing that made her consider her next words carefully.

  “I’m curious,” she began. “How do you justify your shitty actions, you fucking wanktard?”

  Yep. Got him up against the intellectual ropes there, Molly. Way to get to the moral high ground.

  Molly ignored Oz. She could feel her fury rising in her blood.

  “How do you justify all the things you’ve done, Ms. Bates? Last I checked, you weren’t exactly a saint.”

  “I’ve never kidnapped or murdered anyone to save my own skin.”

  She had fantasies of blowing his brains out as he stood there, casually handling the knife.

  “You haven’t yet. But there is time. You’re still so very young. And with your temperament, and your need to always win,” he raised his eyebrows in the most patronizing way imaginable, “it’s only a matter of time. You’re just like me, Molly Bates.”

  He grinned, “Just. Like. Me.”

  Molly shook her head, “I’d never do the horrendous things you’ve done. We’re nothing alike.”

  “On the contrary,” he told her, now sliding one finger over the back of the blade. “You’re me, just waiting to happen. Given the right mix of circumstances, you’ll bend the rules, twist what is right and wrong; whatever it takes to get a result.” He paused, enjoying the way her lip curled in frustration at his words. “Andus would have loved to have you on his team, I’m sure.”

  She moved slightly left, “Well, I’d never join a scheme like yours. Exploiting the innocent. Making people suffer for your own selfish gain. You fucking arsewipe.”

  Why don’t you tell him what you really think?

  Molly was realizing that the man standing in front of her really didn’t have a conscience; no sense of right or wrong. Then she briefly remembered Joel’s words in their fight earlier about her just changing the rules so she could win. A heaviness hit her stomach.

  Maybe Dewitt was right.

  She refined her aim on him. She was going to take him down and enjoy the blood splattering everywhere, and that would be that. She would feel so much better if she just let the anger out. She checked her aim again and started to pull the trigger.

  He noticed her hesitation.

  “You think it’s the right thing to do? To kill me?” He strategically put the knife down on the counter. He was going to either prove his point, or get her to let him go. One way or another, he would win.

  Either way, she would have to deal with this conflict within her for years to come.

  “Let me ask you something.” He started moving from behind the counter. She kept the weapon trained on him. “How do you justify the choices you’ve been making?”

  She answered quickly. “Because I’m helping people. I’m stopping you from killing and exploiting them.”

  “By killing.” He let his words linger, as he watched her take his point. She lowered her gun by a fraction of an inch.

  The Estarian smiled. “So, you’ve convinced yourself that you’re one of the good guys? That these people are innocent, and they’re the victims? But what if I told you I’m a victim? I’ve been used by people in this system trying to get what they want for years. YEARS!” He slapped his hand against the marble island. “Andus even made me kill my wife to get leverage over me so that I would be loyal to him. He convinced me I would be doing her a favor because she was sick. He made me believe that it was the drug companies to blame. And that’s how he got me into office. Told me I could do some good. And then once I was in, I became his bitch.”

  Molly was aware he had taken another step towards her. He kept talking.

  “And you don’t think that maybe he could have set you up to clean up one of his messes? Think about it. How did your client find you?” Dewitt looked at her like he knew something she didn’t.

  Molly’s mind whirred. She tried to think back. Was it possible? It wouldn’t have been the first time they had been used in a corporate war. Could Andus have set this up from the beginning?

  She dropped her aim another inch. Dewitt saw he was getting her to question and think. And thinking would slow her down. He took another step forward.

  “Stay right where you are!” she yelled, taking a half step backwards.

  Shit, where is Joel when I need him?

  “Think about it, Molly. How do you really know you’re one of the good guys?” He took another step.

  * * *

  Joel had gone up the stair case like a shot. He had followed Henry through to the bedroom. The room looked vacant, but Joel had seen him come through here. He stepped inside and opened the closet.

  Nothing.

  He sensed movement behind him. He spun around.

  There was Henry, with his butt in the air and head and shoulders under the bed, sobbing.

  “Get up out of there!” ordered Joel, not quite in his full military voice. This goon clearly wasn’t going to be a danger.

  Henry slowly pulled himself out with his hands in the air. “Please, please…don’t kill me. I’ll do what you say! Your mama didn’t raise you to go doing no killing.”

  Joel answered like he was on the damned military poster himself. “I was raised by the Central Systems Space Marines. Killing is what I do!”

  “Oh, Lordy… I’m going to die!” Sobbing, Henry turned to face his captor, tears runn
ing down his face.

  “I’m not going to hurt you. Where’s the girl?”

  Henry signaled next door.

  Joel reached behind him and pulled out some plastic ties. He secured Henry with his hands behind him and his feet bound in front of him, and swept through to the next room.

  Seeing the curtain tie round the closet handles, he knew right away where Paige was. He unwrapped the ties and opened the closet door to find a very tearful, scared Paige.

  “Can you walk?”

  She nodded, her voice breaking. “Yes, I’m fine physically.”

  Joel scooped her up with one arm, and hailed Molly on their comm system.

  “Molly, where you at? I have the package. We’re good to go.”

  Chapter 20

  Outside the Dewitt Residence

  “You and you,” the security team lead pointed to two of his people. “Around the back. The rest of us will go in at the front.”

  The two Estarians the security team boss had signaled took their leave and jogged round the back quickly and stealthily.

  Bob Russo had been looking forward to a day off for weeks, but now the shit had hit the fan and the Syndicate needed him and his team for damage control. When he got the call, something told him this wasn’t a situation he could leave his boys to handle on their own. Lucky he had made that decision. The media was blowing up, and he figured the authorities were, at most, a couple of minutes behind them.

  This had to be a quick in and out. Dewitt was the target. The orders were to leave no witnesses.

  He gathered the three remaining members around the heat app on a dedicated holo device. There were two warm bodies in the kitchen, and three upstairs. And one motionless and slightly cooler in the foyer.

  “Looks like they’ve been breached already.” He said, indicating the cooler spot. “My guess is that Dewitt will be one of those in the kitchen, and the girl will be one of those upstairs.”

  The team mumbled and muttered their understanding. “Johnson, you take the upstairs with Awad. The rest of us will take the downstairs. Then he clicked on the comm to talk to the two he’d just sent around the back. “Bravo team, we have our target in the kitchen. Be advised, I will be approaching from the front. You need to stop any escape from back there. Alert me when you’re in position.”

  “Okay, let’s get ready to breach the front door,” Russo announced to the team around him.

  Awad produced a door blaster from his kit belt, and they followed him up to the door.

  “We go on three,” Bob instructed in a loud whisper.

  “This is Bravo team. We’re in position, boss.” The Bravo team lead spoke through the comm system.

  “Received,” Russo acknowledged. “Let’s go!”

  * * *

  Molly, you should know that there are multiple groups descending on this property. I estimate the paramilitary people with shortwave comms who are just outside will be entering any moment. Front and rear.

  Molly thought for a second.

  Okay, bring the car to the second floor window nearest Joel.

  She clicked onto the internal comm to respond to Joel. “Joel, Oz is bringing the car to your position outside a window. We need to move. I’m on my way up”

  “Acknowledged.”

  I also detect government police assembling at the top of the driveway. They’re holding their position, though, waiting for someone.

  Got it.

  “So, what, you’re just going to kill me?” Dewitt brought her attention back to the room.

  “No. You deserve far worse than that.”

  Dewitt looked confused, and then worried, as she raised her weapon and fired. Twice. The stun hit him square in the chest, and he staggered backwards, shocked. Leaning against the kitchen sink his legs were straggling out in front of him, as he tried to catch his balance.

  Molly watched him, confusion, then anger in her eyes.

  Why isn’t he going down?

  My guess is a stun proof implant. Or vest maybe.

  Dewitt, recovered from the shock, was now smirking.

  “So you never intended to kill me?” His lip curled up on one side in a sneer. “Maybe you’re not quite the bitch I thought you were.”

  There was a blast from the front of the house. Molly turned her head instinctively.

  Recovered from the stun, Dewitt was back on his feet and scrambling out the back door. Shots were fired. Real shots. Not stun shots. Molly couldn’t make out what had happened. She counted at least three different weapons.

  Time to go, Molly.

  Molly was frozen to the spot, waiting. Processing.

  Molly. Joel is at the car! The front entrance has now been breached. You’re going to have to get past the troops and the police will be here in two minutes.

  Molly was about to move, when there was motion against the back door. Like a thud. Then someone grappling at the handle. Dewitt emerged back into the kitchen, this time bleeding from the left arm, and holding it with the other hand, which was also holding a gun. He slammed and locked the door.

  Molly kept her composure, even though she knew she had to leave. “Looks like someone else wants to take you out.”

  This was a moment to savor.

  Dewitt looked at her, panic in his eyes, as he slumped over the edge of the sink counter top, losing blood. He stumbled and grabbed for the counter on the island in the middle, but missed and fell on the floor. Turning over, he struggled to keep moving, as if he had somewhere to go. Somewhere where he could get to safety.

  But there was no safety for a monster like him.

  Not in Molly’s mind.

  “Not quite the bitch you thought I was?” She walked over to him, standing over him like a dominatrix in full role play mode. The fear in his eyes shifted, as he scanned her with his eyes: legs, then crotch, then breasts, in her atmosuit.

  Molly squatted down, fully aware of the effect she was having on him. She reached across to the hand holding the gun, and gently pulled it off the wound where he was bleeding out.

  “Let me help you with that,” she said, in a sultry tone, as she rested one knee on his crotch, and put her weight on it. He was hard. Despite the blood loss.

  “Seems you’re not going to lose blood fast enough to just bleed out,” she mused, calculating the rate of flow. “There will be time for an ambulance to save you.”

  Dewitt looked comforted, as some of the tension in his face relaxed. Molly still had hold of his hand. The hand that was still holding the gun. Gently, sexually, she wrapped her fingers around his. Dewitt was almost smiling again.

  Molly turned the gun and moved it under his chin. His finger, with hers on top, was still on the trigger.

  “And we can’t have that,” she told him, eyes narrowing.

  She squeezed.

  His eye widened, suddenly in panic. And then there was emptiness behind them. Molly was aware of blood and brains splattering everywhere. She released the gun, and used her bloody hand instinctively to try and remove the blood and skull and brains that had sprayed across her face and lips.

  “I can assure you, I can be every bit the bitch you thought I was,” she said out loud to the bloody mess that was Dewitt.

  She let go of the gun and let his hand drop down onto his body, then straightened up. Assessing the amount of blood all over the kitchen cupboards and floor, she was glad she didn’t have to deal with that.

  Speaking of not staying…can you move now please? Car is still upstairs.

  Best exit out?

  Police are on the property. They’ll be heading for the downstairs doors. Upstairs is better, but crawling with the shortwave comm guys.

  Molly thought for a second. It had been a while since she’d kicked the shit out of anything. And now, she felt kind of in the mood for it.

  Running through the rooms to the hallway and sprinting up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, she heard voices and military boots sw
eeping the upstairs area. Two guys emerged through the room she had seen the Ogg run back into.

  Now nearing the top of the stairs, she pulled her gun out and shot the first one in the head before he could get a bead on her.

  The second fired, but missed her. She ran towards him and he didn’t know what to do with himself. Without thinking she smacked him on the cheek bone with the butt of the gun, then shoved him back a little so she could kick him in the solar plexus.

  He hit the deck with a crack, landing on his knees.

  Ouch, she thought. She’d done that before.

  Quickly and playfully, now in full flow and remembering her art, she swung a roundhouse kick across the side of his head, whipping his head sideways on his neck. He fell forward and face-planted on the polished floorboards next to his friend.

  She looked up, hearing scuffling and voices down the hall. She checked the first room. No car out of the window.

  Two more black-suited guns for hire came out of the room at the far end. They immediately opened fire, but Molly managed to dive and take cover in the second room. Seeing the car outside, she sprinted for it and lunged out the window.

  The boots were coming after her. They appeared at the door and started firing just as she scrambled into the car. Oz dropped their altitude to catch her and to take them out of the firing line, while a shower of bullets narrowly missed her and the car.

  Settling her ass into the passenger seat, she grabbed the side of it and she shifted herself around enough to close the gull-winged door behind her.

  As soon as she had her balance, she shouted. “Drive drive DRIVE!”

  A moment later she had the door properly sealed and her seatbelt on. Joel punched the hyperdrive to get them onto the strato highway before anyone could follow them.

  At the same time, the police arrived on site, and flooded the building with SWAT and detectives. Letting witnesses escape was going to be the least of the problems for the remaining members of the security team.

  Strato highway between Kensington Quarter and Spaceport

  Molly stared out of the window up at the scattered old stars of the Loop Galaxy.

  At a different time of year she might have been able to glimpse the band of stars called the Pan Galaxy. The ancient humans had called it the Milky Way. Molly never had understood why.