The process of asking questions and drilling Americus’ feet, hands, arms, and legs continues for hours.
Anytime I tried to pull away to help or shouted for them to stop, the two guards holding me smacked me in the face. It makes me sick that someone would resort to torture just to maintain power. And it makes me sicker they’re doing it to Nav’s father.
Captain Bosu throws his hands up in frustration. “How can one man take so much pain?”
“I’ll give you one last chance, Americus. Tell me what I want to know, or you’ll regret it.”
I wonder what he could possibly do at this point.
Americus grinds his jaw and says nothing.
Bosu shrugs. “Hold her arms out.”
The two guards holding me pull my arms outward as Bosu steps up with his baton.
Americus’ eyes widen. “Don’t. I’ll tell you.”
“Too late.” The captain lifts his baton with a sadistic smile.
I cringe back, sick with anticipation.
He drops his arm with a growl, and the baton cracks down on my forearm. My arm snaps, and gut-wrenching pain shoots through me. I scream and try to pull away, only to have another wave of pain dominate me.
My vision darkens, and my body is shaky and weak. After a few terrible moments, I force the pain away, refusing to give in. The jagged edge of my bone sticks through my skin. Blood streams down my arm, onto the floor below.
“Now tell me,” says Bosu, “or I’ll break her other arm.”
Americus slumps and starts to talk. It sounds like he gives up every contact and asset he has.
“One more thing Americus, and I’ll put you out of your misery,” says the captain. “Where are Gabriel O’Brien and the Knights of Christ’s hideouts?”
Americus looks at me, a guilty expression on his face, but he says nothing.
Bosu steps up to me, lifting his baton, but rather than striking, he lowers it. “I don’t think the director will like it if I hurt her too much.”
Bosu rips a Trexstar forty-five APC with eight-round capacity from a holster at his hip. “Tell me, Americus, or I’ll take your pain to the next level.”
Americus scowls. “Rot in hell, scumbag. You got me?”
Bosu fires four shots into Americus’ left knee, then three more into his right.
Americus screams and writhes in agony.
“Give him a blood transfusion,” Bosu says to one of the guards. “We’ll keep him alive for days if necessary.”
To see such a powerful man as Americus groaning in pain threatens to break me. How long can he possibly last against this horrific torture? Even if he never breaks, they’ll eventually just install the Evo and get what they want anyway.
I summon all my rage and strength into one jerk of my uninjured arm. It tears free. My other arm pulls in unbearable pain but slips through the guard’s grip because it’s slick with blood.
I dart forward and hack my uninjured arm into Bosu’s wrist. His gun clatters to the ground.
I dive for it and scoop it up. I’ll end the captain for what he’s done.
“Fae,” says Americus. “Shoot me. I can’t give up Gabriel.”
If I shoot Bosu with only one bullet left, I’ll be out of ammo and easily recaptured. Americus will go through days of pain just to give up his friend and be killed anyway. And yet, how could I possibly shoot Americus?
“Please, Fae,” he pleads.
Feeling sick, I aim the gun at Americus’ head, and he nods. I force myself to pull the trigger. He drops to the ground.
I stare at his lifeless body, my mouth gaping. Poor Nav. I’m so sorry. Several guards grab me and rip the empty gun from my hands.
Bosu screams in rage. “Foolish girl. Break her other arm and beat some sense into her,” he says to a guard. “Screw the director. Just be careful not to kill her.”
My panic rises as I struggle to escape the guards.
The baton cracks into my other arm. Tearing agony floods my brain and overwhelms me. My legs buckle, and I collapse. Fists and kicks rain down until darkness washes over me.
CHAPTER 21
∶ HAUNTING REGRET ∶
The pink and orange evening sky looks like a wall of fire coming to immolate me as a guard ties the last rope around my wrist. He gives me a sad look, then descends a ladder and joins a group of guards in the courtyard. I’m tied to a cross beam at the top of a twenty-foot pole, my arms splayed out, looking like I’m being crucified.
How fitting that I should end up this way. At least they didn’t force nails through my palms. My wounds are bandaged, and my bones are partially healed, thanks to an injection of Bioplex’s bone-knitting nanobots. It’s enough to hold them together, but the pain is intense.
My torment means nothing, though compared to Americus’ death. Although he was flawed, he had all but promised to take care of me as a father would. I failed him and Nav.
I growl and pull at my bonds before I know what I’m doing. A wave of pain wracks my body, and I nearly puke. It takes all my will not to pass out.
If I had my q-link, I’d hack the turrets and incinerate those guards. When they run into the buildings, I’d commandeer their drone and devastate them with missiles. I’d direct the drone to cut me free so I could steal one of their towering Obliterator suits. The few survivors would flee in terror. Instead of using the cannons or rockets, I’d chase my captors down in three steps and rip them limb from limb until they beg to die.
My muscles are tense, my teeth gritted at the thought, but I can do nothing. I don’t have my q-link. I slump back again.
Captain Bosu walks up to the base of my pole with a smug smile.
I stare laser beams through his head, wishing I had the power to burn him. Why is he keeping me alive? They must want something else.
I open my mouth to talk, tasting blood from when they beat me. “Why are you holding me here?”
“Because your scrawny self will make excellent bait for the few rats that escaped when we raided your hidey-hole,” he says. “We like to keep our kill rate at a hundred percent. Thanks for wearing that tracker, also, by the way. Makes it easy for us.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut, and my eyes widen in horror. The few that survived.
A maniac’s smile stretches on his face. “Your friends were lounging around as if it was a day at the park when we ambushed them. They screamed and cried like children. It looked like a bomb went off when we finished. Blood, organs, and body parts were everywhere.”
Bile rises in my throat at the image.
“And thanks to Americus’ information, our teams decimated your other cells as well.”
“The Loyalist Militia is just a memory,” says another man, who steps out of the shadows.
He’s athletic, his white hair neatly parted to the side. His posture is commanding, his eyes reptilian. He looks like the career politicians did before the revolution.
“Hello, Fae. I’m Director Tempton. You were clever to discover our operation. I underestimated you, but I won’t do it again.”
I bare my teeth and lower my eyebrows, an uncommon rage burning inside me. This trash is the leader of the NIA, the one who tortured Barbra with hallucinations. “Why did you do this?” I demand. “Why take over the government?”
He barks a laugh. “Straight to the point. You don’t know then?”
“For power?”
“So you’re an outsider. You can’t possibly appreciate what’s at stake then,” he says, adjusting his red tie.
What is he talking about? I shake my head incredulously. “What does that mean?”
He waves a hand at my question. “Your group was just one obstacle in the way, but still an obstacle. Impersonating your asset, Gerald, served two purposes. One was to find your base. The other was to separate Americus from the others. We didn’t want to risk him dying since we needed information. You stopped us from getting everything, but it doesn’t matter. It will only cause a delay.”
My b
row furrows as I remember having to kill Americus. I hope Nav will forgive me…if she’s even still alive. Now, I’ve done two horrible things to her. At least Americus didn’t have to give up Gabriel.
A thought occurs to me. He said he wanted Americus alive, but wasn’t the drone swarm trying to kill us as we escaped with fake Gerald? No. I suppose not. They shot at us but were off the mark. It must have been a show.
“We started searching for the Loyalist Militia after you broke into Xyphotech,” he says. “We didn’t know exactly where your base was, but we knew you’d need food. That’s when we took over and monitored the supermarkets. We had your faces and considered scanning for them, but we knew you’d face-shift, so my clever team went back to the Xyphotech microwave Doppler recordings.”
I squint at him.
“Did you know that heartbeats can be used for biometric detection? It’s like how we scan for eyes or faces, but it’s a Doppler radar image created from the shape of your heart.”
Hell, I didn’t.
“Are you starting to see how much more advanced we are than you?”
I say nothing, not wanting to admit that he played us like fools.
“As far as you go. When we first disabled your bank and other accounts and then captured you, we just wanted to tie up loose ends. Then, miraculously, you escaped. We didn’t even know you were with the Loyalists until Xyphotech. After I watched the recordings from the distribution center and saw you hack a man’s Evo with just a q-link, I knew we had to have you. You’re one of them.”
My stomach crawls at the words and the gravity he puts behind them. “One of what?”
He chuckles. “You’ll see eventually. After that, you became a priority for us so I devised the Gerald swap and made sure you’d go on the rescue mission. How’d you like his mask? Creepy, right?” He waits for a response, but when I say nothing, he continues. “You’re going to regret ever getting involved with this.”
As if I don’t already? “You’re a monster. I loved my foster mother, Barbra. I’m going to escape, and I’m going to flay you alive.”
“What a wonderful spirit you have. But I don’t think you’re going to do anything from up there.”
I deflate. “Why did you do it to her? She didn’t deserve that.”
“That’s beside the point. I think you already know that she had dangerous information. Just a casualty of war.”
I grit my teeth at his nonchalance.
“Well, I have business to attend to, but Captain Bosu will take care of you,” he says, patting the man on the shoulder. “I’ll see you soon, Fae.” The old man waves and walks away.
Captain Bosu sneers up at me. “Have fun hanging there and watching your friends die when they come to rescue you.”
I spit at him.
He steps back, dodging the spit, then waves a finger at me. “I can’t kill you, but I can hurt you. Remember that.” He spins around and leaves me.
I scan the courtyard and count twenty or so armed guards and the two Obliterator suits. The four laser turrets on the buildings are active again but are non-responsive to me. The LR8 Liberator drone that caught me is parked on one of the roofs.
Will the remaining Loyalists be foolish enough to attempt a rescue? I imagine Nav, Alexander, and Sunny, charging in only to be blown to pieces by a missile.
But maybe they’re already dead. I seethe at the thought and remember the last time I was this angry. It’s something I tried to avoid thinking about for years, but now, nothing matters. The Archfiend killed my younger sister, Nyx, and I could do nothing to stop it.
I pull at my bonds again, despite the pain of my broken arms. I tug back and forth, trying to loosen them until I’m out of breath, and the pain threatens to overwhelm me. I slump, breathing heavily. There’s no way I could pull out of them.
I try to think of any way to escape. Maybe I can trick the guards into untying me. Or promise them something? Maybe if I ask for water, I can choke them with my legs and…no. That would get me nowhere.
I can’t think clearly anymore because of my pain, my fatigue, and the loss of my friends. I spit in anger, unable to do anything else. Then I remember that the evil that brought this hell on us still rests around my neck.
If I had the Evo in my brain, I’d tear this camp apart, turning every weapon against them. I’d march on the NIA with a thousand Liberator drones and scorch the agency with missiles until no trace existed.
It’s just fantasy, though. Even if I could stop them from taking over my mind, I’d never install this curse. I’d rather die.
I have no options. The realization stokes the fires of my rage, finally breaking down the walls that held back my anger. I scream like a child down a well until my voice is raw, and I burn myself out.
I’ve always taken care of myself, but now I find myself wishing someone would save me, despite the risks. How many Loyalists are still alive?
Did Alexander die in a blaze of glory as he rained death on all around him, his legend cut short? Is Nav no more, after she shattered skulls and rib cages with her enhanced arm, only to have lasers burn fist-sized holes in her chest? Is Sunny dead, after shocking anyone he could reach, crushed into the ground by tank tracks?
Even if they did somehow survive, they’d be massacred if they tried to save me. If only I could warn them somehow. I’m sorry, everyone.
If I told Americus my concerns, we could have interrogated Gerald, vetted his contacts, and scouted this place. When we discovered their treachery, we could have set an explosive trap at our base and escaped to a secure location. Instead, the Loyalists are destroyed, and I’ll be a puppet.
I want every guard holding me to burn until their flesh sears from their skeletons, and their bones turn to ash and blow away in the wind. I want to rip and tear at my bonds to free myself, then choke Director Tempton until his eyes pop out of his head.
I think about Nav and all of our times together, in Silent City, and after when I saw how warm and caring she was. She took me in when I needed her most, fed me, clothed me, and lent me her ear. I felt a stronger connection to her than any other human, including Barbra.
I picture Nav, her large brown eyes, her toned muscles, and her puff of hair that’s held back by a colorful headband. I imagine we’re together, researching a new game to play or brainstorming apps to create. Various holographic trees and exotic flowers of all colors fill the room. I try to feel her essence, her kindness, compassion, and confidence.
The scene morphs into another. She seems so close and lifelike as if I could reach out and feel her smooth skin. She’s standing in a dimly lit empty room, wearing a spider-silk vest. She holsters her cannon-pistol like she’s gearing up to fight the NIA…or to rescue me.
I want to be rescued more than anything, but I’d never want her to try. I glance at the menacing Liberator drone. Forget about me. It’s too dangerous.
Her gaze snaps up and seems to lock onto me. I gasp, and the image fades.
I shake my head and think of Alexander. He wanted to save the country for glory, of course, but also because he cared. I picture Sunny, my little buddy, who always wanted to protect me. Now I may never see them again.
Gusts of wind whip up around me, bringing the smell of a storm. I slump forward, and seconds later, the skies open up to pour down cool rain.
☼☼☼
I jerk awake to see a bearded man a foot in front of my face. I gasp and try to protect myself, but my arms are trapped. I inhale sharply in alarm before I remember where I am. Tied to a pole, tricked and captured. Abused and used for bait.
I squint at the morning sun, and the agony of my battered body sends me reaching back for sleep I can’t grasp. I grit my teeth against the pain and shake my head to clear my foggy mind.
“Captain Bosu wants you,” says the muscular guard at the top of the ladder. “I’m going to untie you. Don’t struggle.”
I blink my dry eyes, feeling a weariness that surpasses even the sleepless nights after Barbra’s death
. The night on the pole was the worst of my life. Wet, cold, and in pain, I desperately sought sleep. The hours felt like days. Finally, I must have passed out in my delirium.
I try to speak, but my mouth is dry, and the words come out as a garbled groan. I try again and manage to say, “Water.”
The bearded man’s stern look fades to pity. He peeks over his shoulder at Captain Bosu, who talks to some of his guards. The bearded man opens a canteen and holds it to my lips. I drink thirstily as I glare at Bosu.
“This will probably hurt,” he says as he pulls the knot at my wrist.
The scraping of the rope burns against my abraded skin. He does my other wrist and then left upper arm. It leaves all of my weight on my right shoulder. I gasp at the strain.
He puts a hand under my arm and unties the last rope with his other hand. I collapse onto him and cringe at the feel of his bare hands on my skin, only protected by my bra and underwear. He doesn’t seem to take pleasure in the task, though. He lowers me to two more guards, who grab hold and take me to the ground.
They’re foolish to untie me. It increases the chances of escape infinitely. I’ll just have to wait for the right moment.
Bosu walks up, a few guards milling about in the courtyard behind him. “Ah, Fae. How was your night? Did you have sweet dreams?”
“Yes.”
Surprise flashes on his face.
“I dreamed I was at your funeral, sipping champagne. But maybe it wasn’t a dream. Maybe it was a prophecy of the future.”
“I dislike you,” he says. “If I had my way, you’d hang from the pole until you starve to death. Director Tempton has other ideas, though.”
“What ideas? Why did you take me down? Did your plan to kill the rest of my friends fail?”
“No. We’re still expecting them. But I have some good news. Rather than waiting, Director Tempton decided we should install the Evo in you now.”
A jolt of fear hits me. “If you install the Evo in me, I’ll take over your networked weapons instantly, and you’ll all die. You’ve enslaved millions of minds, but you have no idea what I can do.”
The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) Page 30
