by John Carrick
Von Kalt broke his silence. “So what? They’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“The order was for them to be taken Alive, Director.”
Von Kalt looked at the burning motel and the hovering assault vehicles. He snapped the communicator closed and tossed it over the nearby ledge.
Ross returned to St. Vincent’s at dawn. The sun's first rays revealed the extensive damage to the exterior of the motel, highlighting the wholesale carnage on the balconies. He noticed that several of the soldiers had been blatantly wired with explosives, right where they lie, like some macabre battlefield joke.
Ross triggered the remote for the garage doors and was greeted by the sight of a dozen more dead soldiers, dead and still wet. He noticed that none of them were armed and doubted they had arrived that way.
He took the cruiser off autopilot and found a section of floor where he wouldn't be setting the transport on top of a corpse.
The major cautiously picked his way past Ashley’s hasty-ambush lines and made his way to the basement.
He dialed the phone, but Ashley was already there, disengaging the shotgun and opening the door.
Ross killed the call and entered. He did a double take at all the assault rifles and handguns. He met Ashley’s eyes but said nothing.
Ross, Croswell, and Reid had all caught the same-streamed bits of Ashley’s interrogation of the prisoners.
Where was he supposed to start that conversation? Don’t break the fifth-wall? God give me strength.
"I have the papers. It’s time to go," he said.
"But we know who did it! We have evidence!" Ashley said.
"What evidence?" Ross asked.
"Their confessions! They told me..."
"Before you blew their faces off?" he asked.
Ashley hesitated to answer the obvious flaw in her logic.
"None of these cameras are spooling, so there's no recording of their confessions, and lucky for you, there's no recording of their executions."
Ashley had no reply.
"Now. Let's get out of here," Ross said.
Von Kalt had never called off the assault. Stanwood had been forced to take remote control of the op all the way from D. C. The deputy director couldn’t have cared less.
As Stanwood had promised, one of the Maxwells broke off and stopped to pick him up. He made no effort to board the flying pig. Two sergeants had to run out and half-drag half-walk him aboard.
The Guard Commander was incensed. He wanted to rescue the wounded or at least recover the deceased. He swore that this wasn’t over.
Apparently suffering from shock, Von Kalt made no attempt to reply.
They reached the armory sometime later, and Von Kalt was taken directly to the medical ward and treated for his injuries.
In the National Guard medical ward, Von Kalt held the Metachron. He became neuro-digital water; he flowed over the facilities’ systems, effortlessly filling the cracks and hollow spaces until he was the system.
When the two fully-loaded drones came online, the operators were already locked out. The soldiers panicked and alerted their superiors, who panicked even more, having less control.
The hangar doors opened and the drones lifted off, streaking away from the armory. Inquires as to the volume of escaping warheads only fueled the chaos of rising pulses and tempers.
Von Kalt was never suspected, as he, for all appearances, was fast asleep. He was greatly pleased with this solution, as he would no longer be required to deliver significant amounts of DNA to that snake Bergstrom.
Watching the chaos through various satellites and traffic cameras, Von Kalt wondered if he’d be able to distinguish between the pops caused by the warheads and those cause by the children’s failsafe devices.
"We're not just going to leave all these guns?" Ashley asked.
"We are leaving all these guns," Ross said.
Geoff threw himself onto the couch. "They're here! Get Down!"
Ashley and Ross looked at him as if he was crazy, but then two devastating explosions rocked the facility.
The structure screamed as it cracked apart in several places. Two more rockets hit, damaging the gravity drive and throwing the motel's horizontal balance into seizures. The plate's ability to stay balanced had been upset, and the facility was losing altitude.
The furniture slid fore and aft, threatening anyone trapped between it and a wall. They dodged the sliding mattresses, the table and various electronics as Ross corralled them toward the sedan.
Geoff made it in first, climbing into the back seat, followed by Ashley, who held the door open for Ross. He climbed in and got behind the driver's seat, starting the car.
Ashley pulled the door closed as the building took a rather severe tilt, throwing her against the glass. Ross triggered the remote to release the breakaway hatch, but the sedan refused to separate from the falling building.
Ross threw the vehicle into drive, trying to pull away by force, but the hatch wouldn't break free. He put the car back in park and opened his door. He'd have to do it by hand.
Before he got out, Ross reached inside his jacket and pulled out the diplomatic pouch, containing the false identification and reservations that would get them across the border. He handed it to Ashley without a word.
Ash and Geoff watched as Ross tried and failed to pop the hinges by hitting the emergency release levers.
Finally he pulled out his pistol and shot them off.
The first one gave easily, the second practically exploded.
The third and fourth ripped free as the car returned to its fixed elevation, rocketing away from the falling motel.
Ash and Geoff watched Ross fall away from them.
He stood at the hatch, shrinking as the distance between them increased. They watched as he continued to shrink.
The facility turned, they could no longer see him. The rockets and internal explosions had destroyed the motel's structure.
A few seconds later, it smashed into an oceanfront community. Any of the munitions that hadn’t been detonated went up in a series of booms and ka-booms.
The explosions were so forceful that none of the soldiers’ bodies were recovered from the wreckage. There were plenty of weapon fragments and bodies belonging to innocent civilians, but no evidence of what precipitated the attack.
Of course, neither Ross nor the children were found among the debris, as once the unit was far enough away from Ashley and Geoff; he’d activated his phase camouflage and flew away from the falling motel.
Things had definitely taken a turn for the surreal.
Croswell had just executed the White Hose Chief of Staff, after framing him for conspiracy in the entire Bergstrom mess.
Ross had been surprised; Croswell hadn’t filled him in on his plan. Maybe he’d made it up on the spur of the moment. My God, lunatics and mad men surround me.
It was little trouble for the experienced vet to keep up with the cruiser’s autopilot. He followed Ashley and Geoff and for now, as long as they were safe, he’d keep his word not to break the fifth-wall.
What the hell was Fox thinking?
Chapter 61 – Angel City Devils
Thursday, July 30, 2308
Ross was gone. Now Ashley and Geoff were completely on their own. Geoff tuned the scanner to the police band. The lack of pursuit was unnerving.
"They don't see us!" he said. "They must have been tracking Ross. They didn't know we were there. The whole time you were upstairs, they kept saying that they couldn't get a reading. It must have been the Micronix!" Geoff sat bolt upright. "Where is it?" He was panicked. "I left it on the table!"
Ash pulled the device from her pocket.
"It must be jamming their scanners.” Geoff said. He looked at her. "Are you using it?"
"No. It freaks me out. I don't want it in my head."
Geoff smiled. "I don't know how to say this, but I think it thinks."
"What about?" she asked, holding out at harm’s length.
&nbs
p; "It's very angry." Geoff looked at his sister, "That's why it likes you so much. You think about the same things."
Ashley raised an eyebrow.
"It wants revenge."
Ash smiled. "What does it want revenge for?"
"Same as you and me, for what they did to dad. And for being separated from its brother."
"Its brother? What are you talking about?"
"There were two of them," Geoff said.
"Who got the other one?" she asked.
"I guess whoever got Dad.”
Ashley smiled. She knew their names, Stanwood and Von Kalt. "If we're not careful, they're going to get us too."
"Then let's be careful," Geoff said.
Ashley pulled up the sedan's pre-programmed destinations and selected the nearest transfer car. She double-checked the black remote key Ross had given her and pulled the lever to recline her seat. Ash and Geoff slept until the autopilot gave its distinctive three rings, announcing that they had arrived at their destination.
Ashley sat up and looked around. They were in another parking structure, but much busier, more upscale. Ash looked over to the car next to them, a black armored hatchback. She triggered the key; the monster came alive, its lights winking, acknowledging the unlock command.
"Geoff, we're here," Ashley woke her younger brother.
Geoff looked around. "Here, where?"
"A mall I think."
"I'm so hungry," Geoff said.
"I know. I am too. We have to get some money," Ash said.
"We could try using Mom's cash station codec," Geoff suggested. "This is an emergency."
"This is definitely an emergency, but if we use it, we'll have a whole new set of them. That’s always how they get caught on the vid streams."
"They won’t catch us! We should go to a transit port," Geoff said.
"What are you talking about? You’re asleep."
"No. One time, on Simon Timex, they had to get cash and didn't want to be followed, so they waited till five minutes before a shuttle for Vegas and then used a cash station."
"We're not going to Vegas."
"Neither did Simon," Geoff explained.
"Ha." Ashley laughed.
"But the bad guys spent twenty minutes trying to figure out where he went. They split up, and he was already long gone."
"We're not going to a transit hub, Geoff. Maybe that works on vid streams and cartoons, but this is real life. Transit hubs are full of cops, it’s a bad idea."
"Not to hide out, just to get cash. That way, if they do pick up on us, they'll have to scan all the carriers to see if we even got on a shuttle. If we just go to some regular old bank, they're going to be all over us."
"Okay, okay. We'll try it. But the first sign of anything and we're out."
"The first sign of anything and it'll be too late," Geoff answered.
Ashley smiled. "As long as we're clear."
Geoff smiled back.
Reid joined Major Ross on overwatch, silently keeping an eye on the children from a few hundred meters above. Ross worried that, much as Geoff had said, at the first sign of anything, it may indeed be too late.
Two hours later, the siblings had parked, staked out and approached a cash station set next to a transit hub. People crowed the terminal. Each shuttle discharged a multitude of passengers and then sucked up the new fares, leaving the platform nearly empty.
Ash and Geoff spent fifteen minutes circling, watching the terminal from different locations. There were a dozen automated ticket stations, each doubling as a cash station. This particular platform also happened to be empty of uniformed policemen.
Geoff and Ashley both noticed other orphan children who had begun stalking them, but considering recent events, they weren't worried.
As soon as they stepped onto the platform, a tall, lanky boy confronted them. "This is the Devils' station. You want to use it, you have to pay the Devils' tax."
The Angel City Devils were a notorious street gang. Everyone had heard of them, many who had no affiliation claimed to be members. Ashley suspected the boy in front of her was of the later group.
All true members of the Angel City Devils bear the Devil's mark. At fist glance, she didn't see his mark. Ashley stepped toward him. "Unless you want to bleed red blood, you'd better step back."
Geoff noticed that Ashley's right hand was held behind her back, as if keeping Geoff away from the bully, but then he saw the black rectangle.
The tall boy laughed. His hair stuck up at odd angles, and he looked as if he hadn't had a shower or a picked up a brush in years. "You don't understand. We have to collect the tax. You don't pay us, we get beat."
Despite his unclean appearance in all other respects, the boy's teeth glowed a brilliant white. They were clean and straight and perfectly out of place in his filthy mouth.
"We're not paying, so get lost," Ashley said, moving back half-a-step, just enough to appear scared and push Geoff back a couple more.
"Oh, you're paying all right. You're paying."
He mistook Ashley's retreat for cowardice and stepped toward her, raising his hand to strike.
There were four other boys and Ash noticed that the others didn't seem as into it. They were all leaning back, turning away, hardly even watching. Ash was familiar with dangerous groups of bullies, and these guys weren't participating.
There were also several adults nearby, ignoring the incident entirely.
The boy with the pure white teeth swung at Ashley. He caught her right across the cheek. The CRACK, the volume of the slap, brought the entire room to a complete and sudden pause.
No one said anything, everyone looked over to Ashley and her aggressor. Lots of the adults were now watching.
Ashley recognized the same older Chinese man across the hall. He was the same man she'd seen in the park and the library.
Dirty face giggled. "Five across the eyes bitch!"
Ashley had allowed herself to be distracted. Her face burned, the skin raised where his hand had made such abrupt trespass. She felt violated. She felt helpless.
She felt fury, and then she moved.
Stepping forward with a powerful front kick, she caught him square in the groin. His sudden intake of air and silent, pained look confirmed her accurate impact with the target.
Ashley stepped back, letting him collapse to his knees.
She tried to resist the urge, but couldn't, and delivered several savage strikes to the boy's exposed face.
Over and over again, she brought her fist down into his nose and mouth. Blood exploded from beneath her hand.
After the flurry of punches, the boy collapsed to the station floor. His hands clutched at both his crotch and face.
Between the fingers, under the red ripped flesh, two rows of perfectly white teeth. Ashley hoped she'd chipped at least one but refrained from kicking him in the head.
Most people were watching, except for the Chinese man, who appeared to be studying the schedule board.
Ashley scanned the faces of the boy's friends.
None of them seemed interested in taking revenge against her, their eyes all found other things to look at.
The adults, who hadn't done anything when the boy hit Ash, likewise didn't do anything now. They turned back to their original conversations, and the busy air of the station picked up once again.
The boy had gotten into a sitting position, his right hand investigating the damage to his nose.
Ashley saw a nearby cash station and led Geoffrey over to it. She punched in her parent's code and took out five hundred republican talents.
No one noticed. No one came rushing over to arrest them.
No one cared.
Ashley looked for the white haired Chinese man again, but he wasn't in the terminal anymore.
Ashley and Geoff wheeled a cart through a massive grocery store. Ash had gotten a backpack from the Back to School aisle, and it sat in the center of the cart. Ashley had gradually filled it with camp supplies and less
-perishable foods; a variety of fruit, nuts, and granola.
Geoff was frustrated because his sister kept nixing his requests for candy, soda and chips. He wanted to get two backpacks full of stuff, but Ash had objected to that as well; so the single backpack remained open in the center of the cart, gradually being filled with what Geoff referred to as birdseed and other slowly rotting biomass.
"Sugar's not good for you," Geoff mocked. "Soda's too heavy to carry. Chips take up too much space. No matter what I want, you're going to say No," he complained.
Ashley almost blurted out, 'No, I won't' but realized that would prove his point. "I'll make you deal," Ash offered. "How about instead of coke, we get juice."
"Whatever, Mom."
“We need to think long term. After this, we are done. Total underground, understand?”
“What do you mean?” Geoff asked.
“After this we are not showing our faces in Angel City again. No more shopping. We get the evidence, and we leave. Deal?”
“Well, when the new comics come out, we could just wear masks.”
“Ha! No.” Ashley rolled her eyes, and the cart, deeper into the store.
Ashley’s Journal, Thursday, July 30, 2308
At the moment, everything is okay. Geoff and I are having a picnic, eating burgers and reading comics. Well, Geoff’s reading comics and we just finished the cheeseburgers. They were awesome. I swear I could live on cheeseburgers.
This morning we bought backpacks and sleeping bags, all the comics Geoff wanted and set off no alerts. We were using the secret emergency account, and it seems clean. We bought whatever we wanted.
I was looking through Geoff’s comics. He shoved one at me; it was a western - cowboys versus ninjas and pirates. I’m not sure how pirates and ninjas could end up in the old west, but I guess that’s the point of the story.
