by Michael Todd
Billie shook her head and tried not to think about what the poison darts from the plants could do. It had been a really long time since she’d even had a glimmer of a thought about that. It irritated her that she allowed irrelevant thoughts to distract her. Thankfully, the raucous screeches of monkeys above her brought back to the present. “Troy, I want you to find all the chips in the Zoo with those first three identifier numbers on the code. Link them all to my comm.”
While the software ran, she took a moment to evaluate her situation. Her major advantage was that she had the element of surprise. The hunters had become the hunted, although they wouldn’t know that as yet. Their arrogance had overlooked one simple fact—she was by far the superior operative and always would be. Leaving the organization didn’t simply erase a lifetime of training and experience. Plus, she was a veteran on the Zoo which would, in this instance, be an ally if she played it well.
Hickok smiled with real satisfaction. She had known the moment she had stepped in to rescue Marcus that confrontation was inevitable. The message she’d sent had been loud and clear. It had been a direct challenge and it was only a matter of time before they tracked them down. That they’d succeeded so quickly wasn’t exactly rocket science. They’d had months to confirm that the fugitives were not in the ‘real’ world, as shady and underground as it might be. The organization had spies and informers in every city and across every country on the globe.
It really was simple deduction to arrive at a very obvious conclusion. If their quarry wasn’t in the real world, there was only one place they could be—the Zoo, with which Billie was familiar and in which a person might easily submerge an unwanted identity.
The first agent had arrived barely a few days after she and Marcus had returned. That had been the organization’s first mistake because Billie had worked with her on a few missions and the woman hadn’t bothered to hide her identity. She’d made a conscious decision to follow the agent and allow her to send the confirmation that brought the other members of the team hot-footing it to the Zoo. The second mistake had been when the agent decided to drop into FUBAR for a quick one. Paula and Dan, forewarned by their friend, had risen superbly to the occasion. Their hushed discussion had been conveniently “overheard” and the agent had been able to send through details of when their quarry would be alone in the Zoo.
Surprisingly, the woman hadn’t once questioned how easily the information had fallen into her lap. She had, apparently, simply assumed that her superior skills had won her the advantage and never once questioned it, even when she looked death in the eye. In the seconds before she died, the idiot had clung to the arrogant assurance that between her fifteen comrades, Hickok was already as good as dead. It was amazing how much useful information was often spewed in useless vitriolic.
Billie sighed. She hadn’t really regretted the fact that she’d had to schlep the corpse into the Zoo so a handy vine could have an unexpected snack. She hated the fucking things, but they were extremely useful for clean-up.
A map appeared in her HUD and one by one, the agents and their locations lit up. She could see their movement and their current locations. Her lips twitched with real amusement. “Troy, mask my location.”
“Location masked,” he responded immediately.
“Open comms with all agents.”
“Comms initiated and clear.”
Hickok grinned. “Good evening, agents of the organization.”
Every dot froze, almost as one. She was relaxed now, confident that there was no way they would be able to track her.
One voice spoke quickly. “You need to give up and let us take you. You do that and we will give you a respectable death. No pain, only a syringe in the neck.”
Billie rolled her eyes and her lips curled into a half grin. “Or you could hear me out first. The reason you’re out here to kill me is because I faked my own death and left the organization. It wasn’t to use classified information. It wasn’t to show the world what was going on. It was simply and completely because I decided I would no longer fight and kill blindly anymore.”
One of the agents scoffed. “That’s our job. You knew what you were getting into when you signed up.”
She shook her head. “I suppose you’re right. I guess I was naïve about it all. I thought I was fighting for mankind. But then I started to really pay attention to whom I killed. I realized that I didn’t have a seat on the board to decide if the punishment was warranted. I killed people who didn’t need to die. So you see, I am not a threat to you or the organization. I am simply trying to live my life.”
There was silence on the comms for several seconds. From the map, Billie could tell that no one had moved. Finally, one of the agents spoke. “You know, it may make sense, sure. But you do understand that our mission is to take you down. There is no way I want to take on the responsibility to determine who deserves to die or who doesn’t. It’s not worth making myself a target by going rogue. My job is to find you and kill you and that’s what I’ll do.”
Several other agents agreed. They might not believe the order was right, but they weren’t willing to risk their own lives to fight against it. Billie realized that convincing five people was a hell of a lot easier than a large group also fearful for their own survival.
She sighed. “And the rest of you?”
Another voice spoke, this one familiar. His name was Agent Dark Hollows and he gave zero fucks about anything. Billie was fairly certain he was a psychopath and used his career as a cover for his thirst for blood. His killing tactics were gruesome, and even though he had received several warnings about it, no one had the balls to put a stop to it.
DH laughed. “Personally, you are a legend and I want your head on my wall as a way to show everyone that I am the best agent. I want to look up at your head when I drink champagne in my mansion.”
Agent Cinders, who had a flair for pyrotechnics and was Dark Hollows’ bestie, cackled loudly. “Oh, DH. That would be sweet. We could dress her head for the holidays.” She laughed again, the sound malevolent. “Look, Outlaw, you’re too old. You don’t have the best technology, and there is no way you are strong enough or have enough stamina to keep up with us. You are pleading for your life because you don’t want us to run your ass over like a fucking freight train. I get it. If I were your age, I would do the same. Face it, you are over. Now, can we get back to the hunt? I want to go back home sometime in this century.”
Billie shook her head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
She closed the comms, stood, and drew her pistol. “These motherfuckers will learn just what the New Hickok is made of.”
“The first real super-soldier,” Marcus intoned cheerfully.
The agent growled as he slashed through the tall grass and tried to find where Billie had snuck off to. His shoulder bled and a small piece of metal had lodged in his left side from the grenade she’d rolled toward him barely minutes before. “Come out, you fucking bitch. I’ll show you what a real agent looks like.”
Billie yelled from somewhere above him and her voice echoed a little eerily. “Is a real agent short and furry with claws?”
He sneered. “No, you fucking bitch. You’re looking at a real agent.”
The man whirled at a tap on his shoulder. She stood in front of him holding a monkey in the air. “Well, shit, what do I do with this guy? He’s pretty pissed. Here—you hold him.”
She tossed the monkey at him and it immediately freaked out and scratched and clawed while it emitted vociferous shrieks of protest. The dome of his helmet cracked and she laughed in earnest as the creature made one last slash at his head and vaulted off to sprint toward the trees. She sneered as she stepped forward and aimed her weapon. “Now who’s the real agent?”
Hickok aimed for the area between his armor and his helmet and squeezed the trigger. The bullet bounced off and Marcus called, “A quarter of an inch higher!”
She glanced at her pistol and raised it a fraction to slice a slug thro
ugh his neck and out the other side. Unlike the beasts out there that writhed and scratched when they died, he went straight down. Billie chuckled and holstered her gun before she brought the map up once more. A red dot appeared immediately behind her and she spun instinctively, but the agent had already slid her dagger between the plates of the armor and into her stomach.
It had been an incredibly lucky blow and found purchase in the almost invisible seam. Thankfully, the suit itself impeded the strike and limited its penetration. Also, Amanda’s design was less body-hugging than Billie’s previous suits to allow greater freedom of movement. That miniscule space between her body and the armor literally saved her life.
It didn’t, however, leave her unscathed. The blade had penetrated enough to leave a wound without damaging vital organs. Billie groaned and bent forward as her hand gripped the dagger. With a dramatic moan, she stumbled back into the middle of the clearing and put both her hands out. “Why, sweet monkeys of the Zoo? Why?”
She lowered her arms and yanked the dagger out as she grinned at her attacker. “Just kidding.”
The agent gasped and backpedaled smartly, but her astonishment had slowed her responses. Hickok threw the dagger with a violence that pierced through the armor plating and into her heart. The woman lurched against a tree and slid slowly as her body went limp when her heart immediately stopped.
A bullet zinged past Billie’s head and she ducked instinctively. Another sliced across her armor as it skimmed by. She grimaced but a quick glance confirmed that only a faint scratch marked the surface and she continued forward. She had been hit several times through the day, but although the odd impact might have left a bruise or two, the suit had held up well and met the promises Marcus and Amanda had made.
“So much for your everything-proof fucking armor,” she snarked at Marcus and clamped a hand over her stomach as a sudden shaft of pain flared.
“Bulletproof,” he reminded her but sounded defensive. “Maybe blades need a little attention, but— Three steps to your left, behind that tree,” Marcus warned sharply. “The bitch dropped her gun and only has a dagger left.”
Billie’s eyes sparkled with mischief. She snapped her hand over her shoulder and drew what she thought was the M-16. “Wait…this isn’t like the others I’ve fired.”
Marcus chuckled. “Because it holds your exploding rounds.”
“Well, isn’t that simply precious?” she asked gleefully. “Barbecued fucking agent.”
She aimed at the tree and fired, held up her fingers, and counted down. “Three, two, one…”
The bullet exploded and ripped through both the wood and her adversary. Hickok dodged hastily to the side to avoid being struck by the falling tree. Where the tree had stood, only the agent’s legs from the knees down remained. The rest of the body had blown completely away.
Billie grimaced. “That’s seriously fucking gross.”
Marcus made a gagging sound. “Fuck. Get a move on before something else decides to fight you.”
She pulled the map up once more and hurried through the jungle, her hand pressed to her side. It hadn’t been a killing strike, but the pain was real enough. Of course, she did still have the goop in her, so that no doubt accounted for the fact that the effect of it wasn’t as severe as it could or should have been. As she jogged steadfastly toward her next target, the blood seeped between her fingers.
Marcus watched her vitals. “You need to grab food out of your bag and eat. The blood loss isn’t critical but you need energy.”
Billie groaned and slowed to retrieve a protein bar from her bag and gobble it as quickly as she could. She dropped the wrapper on the ground and set off in pursuit of two red blinking dots barely five hundred feet away. Soon, she could see them through the trees where they stood in the clearing with their backs to her. They seemed to be focused on the jungle in front of them but had removed their helmets for some reason.
As she crept closer, one of the agents spoke to the other. “I thought these fucking suits came with cooling capabilities. It’s hotter in here than Satan’s fucking ass crack.”
His companion laughed. “Yeah, I had to take that bitch off for a second before I suffocated. It shouldn’t be long, though. This chick will wander randomly into the wrong spot. Hopefully, I get to put a bullet into her cocky ass.”
Billie slowed and crept closer until she was directly behind them. She extended both hands and tapped their shoulders. “Are you looking for me?”
They both turned, startled, and she slammed her fists to strike them both in the noses. They grimaced and their eyes watered. She grabbed each man by the neck and smashed their heads together. As they fell back, she whirled and snatched the hand of the one on the right, raised his arm, and aimed his gun at his partner.
She put her finger on the agent’s. “No, what are you doing? Killing an agent? Are you mad?”
“Bitch,” the man yelled as she pressed on his finger and fired a barrage at the other man, who dropped without a sound and with an expression of bewilderment on his face. Billie grimaced when she realized that the other man’s arm had been almost completely severed. “Well, now he can’t exact revenge. I guess you’ll have to show him how remorseful you are.”
The man tensed, ready to fight free, but Billie slammed the flat of her hand into his nose once more and he cursed as blood spewed. She grasped his hand and yanked it upward and in the same smooth motion, turned it toward his own chest and pulled the trigger. When she released him, he staggered back and snapped his neck on a boulder as he fell. Billie hissed in mock sympathy. “Ouch, bro. That has to suck big time.”
“There is an agent following the path you took.” Marcus’ voice intruded and refocused her attention
Billie rubbed her hands together. “I guess I’ll meet them in the middle, then.”
She headed back the way she’d come but remained behind trees until she located the agent. Silent and motionless, she watched him walk forward. Suddenly, he paused and dropped on one knee beside the protein bar wrapper she had dropped. Before he could stand, a vine snaked around the tree and spat acid on him. He screamed as it entwined around him and struggled frantically against the tightening coils. With the slight but sibilant hiss that Hickok recognized as its trademark sound, it dragged him relentlessly into the Zoo. The wrapper floated to the ground and smoked visibly before it melted into the soil.
Hickok chuckled with real satisfaction. “Well, that one was simple. I like it. So, seven down, seven to go, baby.”
“Yeah, but first, more food,” Marcus instructed firmly.
Billie rolled her eyes and scrabbled for a handful of jerky from the front pocket of her pack. She raised her helmet, shoved it in her mouth, and chewed as loudly as she could in Marcus’s ear. “There. Are you happy?”
Marcus sniffed. “Just get going. You are such a child.”
She grinned. “I like to think I am full of life. The spirit of a wistful child.”
When he made no response, she headed out and pressed on toward the three blinking lights in a clearing ahead. She stood at the tree line and stared at them as she considered her options. None of them looked happy to be there and all looked terrified. Billie smirked and stepped out, her guns aimed at them. “Well, hi there.”
The three agents swung toward her, wide-eyed, and immediately threw their weapons down and raised their hands. The one in the center switched her comms to Billie. “We don’t want to fight you. When we heard what really happened, we realized it was complete bullshit. You don’t deserve to be terminated. All you did was try to get your life back. No matter what the consequences, we won’t fight you.”
Billie clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes. “I appreciate that. Now, pick up your weapons.”
They stared at her, clearly anxious and more than a little suspicious. She nodded firmly. “Go ahead.”
The trio retrieved their weapons with obvious reluctance, and she stepped forward and gestured with her hand. “Go straight ahead in th
at direction. Don’t turn. It will take you out of the Zoo and there will be someone there waiting to escort you.”
They backed away hastily, their gratitude very evident in the way they looked and acted. “Good luck.”
The three agents ran as fast as they could to escape the Zoo before something in there—or one of the other agents—reached them. One shook her head as she ran. “We are now traitors. They will come after us.”
The others stopped abruptly. “Stop,” one said with an edge of both warning and fear. “I think that is a much bigger problem right now.”
They stared, horrified, at the face of a very angry jag. Years of training clicked in automatically and overrode their initial fright. They leapt forward and used their strength to haul the animal to the ground while they struggled to hold its jowls closed. When they finally had the creature trapped, one of the agents drew her pistol and pressed it to the beast’s temple. “Sorry, dude, but we are out of here.”
She pulled the trigger, and the jag went limp as blue and black goop seeped onto the ground. As if she couldn’t quite believe what they had done, she stood and stared at it until her companions grabbed her and dragged her forcefully away from the carcass. “Come on. We’re almost out,” one muttered impatiently and shoved her along as they ran.
They sprinted through a final clearing and thrashed through the last stretch of vegetation and out of the Zoo. There, they halted abruptly, their weapons drawn, as they confronted four members of Heavy Metal. One man held a clipboard and asked their names. He scanned his list and checked them off as they answered cautiously. “Come with us. Ghost said to escort you out of this hell.”
Chapter Nine
Billie slashed at a thick patch of vines and stuck her head through to look cautiously around. A bolt whizzed past her, scraped on her helmet, and impaled itself in the tree beside her head. She snapped her attention along the line of its trajectory and snarled at an agent who stood calmly with his crossbow raised and his laser still focused on her head. He saw that she’d seen him and panicked almost immediately. He realized in that single split second that he hadn’t reloaded and fumbled desperately at the bolts on his back. Although he managed to retrieve one, he immediately dropped it and cursed.
