Chains of Freedom

by Selina Rosen

  He fell to the ground and rolled. The spear missed, but his blast hit her square in the chest and sent her reeling. He took the opportunity to run, but he knew that a blast to the chest wasn't going to slow the freak down for long. He turned on his comlink, and there was Kirk.

  "You're not killing me!" he laughed maniacally.

  "Sikes, what's going on?" Jessica demanded.

  "They're all dead. But not me. You're not going to kill me, you freak!" He threw his comlink against a tree, where it shattered. He'd lost her for the time being, but she'd heal. Then she'd come to kill him. He laughed hysterically. "You won't kill me!"

  RJ had taken the full blast in her chest. She stopped and leaned against a tree. She tried to catch her breath, but ended up slumping down to the ground. She had to catch him, but it would have to wait. Hell, she could see her breastbone through the hole in her chest.

  "Oh, bother." She took another Pronuses and waited for the effects. "Pride goeth before a fall. Father always said that." She felt better. Glancing down, she saw the damage rapidly repairing itself, so she got up and continued the chase.

  The hunter had become the hunted, and as was so often the case, the hunter couldn't handle the role reversal. RJ found her quarry hanging limply in a tree with a rope around his snapped neck. She quickly took his jacket—he'd ruined hers, after all. She took his shirt and sidearm, too.

  Addressing the corpse, RJ commented dryly, "You know, if you start killing yourselves, you're going to take all the fun out of this little war."

  On the way back to get David she stopped just long enough to take the dead secondary's clothes and weapon. Then after she uncovered him, RJ traded David's wet clothes for the dry ones. Oh, the pants were a little wet from wading the river, but nothing compared to the wet, muddy mess that David had been wearing. David groaned as she changed his clothes.

  "Oh, just shut up and go back to sleep. A lot of help you are." She picked David up and started out again. Right now, her only plan was to keep moving.

  Jessica tried desperately to reach Sikes. She couldn't. She played back his last communication. The word "freak" echoed through Jessica's brain. She quickly erased the communication from the terminal's main memory.

  She was tired of playing. It was time to get serious. She put on her combat fatigues. If you wanted killing done right, you had to do it yourself. She wanted RJ dead, and if Sikes wasn't dead already, she had to kill him, too.

  It took all of RJ's skill to continue dodging the ever-increasing number of patrols in the area. Now there were helicopters, and that made it decidedly more difficult.

  After two hours of carrying David, she sat down for a rest. She slapped him a bit. Till then, all the bouncing and trouncing and tossing from one shoulder to the other like a feed sack hadn't made him so much as stir and mutter. Therefore, RJ was surprised that the gentle slap had any effect at all.

  David stirred.

  "Yes, it would be nice if you woke up now," RJ commented sarcastically. She rubbed her Pronuses-dry eyes as David rubbed the sleep from his.

  He was awake, and he looked around in a disoriented way.

  "Have a nice nap?"

  "What happened?" David asked. He felt nauseous and his ribs and stomach hurt.

  "You passed out." She got up and helped him to his feet. "Can you walk now? We've got to keep moving, and I'm tired of carrying you."

  He nodded, although he held his head when he did so, and looked a little green.

  "The water," he mumbled. It was like he was remembering some horrible nightmare. "Under the water . . ." He remembered hands grabbing him, pulling him out, a gasp for air, and then all was dark. He knew only that RJ had pulled him out of the river. If she hadn't, he'd have surely drowned. "Thanks, RJ."

  "Don't thank me yet. We've just been spotted." It wasn't her imagination, either. The helicopter flying just above the tree tops tossed out two brightly colored smoke bombs.

  "What the hell did they do that for?" David coughed out. "Now they can't see us."

  "Now every troop in the area knows where we are. By the time the smoke clears, we'll be surrounded. Come on." She ran, pulling him after her.

  Alexi saw the colored smoke, but he went towards it for a different reason than his fellows. If RJ died, almost everyone would know, and everyone who knew would care. Pro or con, no one would be indifferent.

  #

  RJ and David broke into the clearing. "Hit the ground and stay there."

  "Why?" David wanted to know. "What are you going to do? What can you do?"

  "Just stay down." She didn't have time to explain.

  She ran into the clearing. As she had expected, the helicopter spotted her. It swooped down for the kill. RJ waited till the runners were dangerously close. Then she jumped for all she was worth and caught hold of one of them.

  "Where'd she go?" the gunner asked the pilot.

  The pilot shrugged.

  "Where did who go?"

  Both men turned to look at the woman standing on the runner. Their mouths hung open in disbelief.

  "Oh, you meant me." She grabbed the gunner and jerked him out of the helicopter.

  The pilot drew his gun and fired point-blank.

  RJ looked from the hole in her jacket to the stunned pilot and frowned. "Damn it, I just got this jacket."

  The man screamed as she grabbed the front of his shirt in one hand. His scream rose to a shrill soprano as he was hurled out of the chopper, and didn't stop till he hit the ground with a wet thud.

  RJ finished climbing in, took the controls, turned the chopper around and set it down close to David.

  David didn't have to be told twice. He ran and jumped in, thinking that RJ would take off immediately.

  She just sat there.

  "What are you waiting . . ." then he saw the Elite with the rocket launcher.

  "Turn the bird off, and get out—slowly."

  There were three others with him, all holding lasers pointed directly at them.

  RJ turned off the helicopter.

  "OK, get out. Hands up!"

  RJ and David did as they were told. They stood before the group, arms held high.

  "So, you're the great RJ. You don't look so tough to me." He raised the rocket launcher, and aimed it at her.

  "In all fairness, you're not seeing me at my best," RJ replied dryly.

  RJ was probably the only one there to notice the badly battered trooper stumble into the clearing. One part of her mind processed his presence, and decided that he had come in for the kill.

  "Die, traitor!" The Elite's finger tightened on the trigger.

  RJ prepared to throw herself to the ground. Her laser should be dry by now, and with it, she could give these four a run for their money.

  Then two unexpected things happened. First, David flung himself on her, knocking her to the ground. Second, the soldier who had stumbled into the clearing shot the Elite before his finger could close on the trigger.

  In the pandemonium that followed, two of the remaining Elites fell to RJ's laser, and the third to a second bullet from the stranger's gun.

  The three looked at each other for only a second. No word was spoken.

  RJ grabbed the rocket launcher, slung it into the chopper, jumped in and started the engine.

  David grabbed up RJ's spears and got to the chopper only seconds after the stranger got into the back and sat behind RJ.

  They lifted off just as troops started pouring into the clearing.

  David had never flown before. He found the feeling exhilarating.

  "We're flying, RJ! Flying like a fucking bird!" He jerked on her shoulder in an excited fashion.

  "If you don't quit pulling on her, we're going to be dropping like a fucking turd." Alexi had flown before; he'd even had a few chopper lessons once upon a time, but he still didn't like it.

  RJ saw the chopper coming up on their tail. "Buckle in."

  For once, David complied without question. Alexi fastened himself into the gunner'
s harness. RJ swerved, but the blast came so close that it shook the chopper.

  "That was fucking close," Alexi said.

  "Hang on." RJ flipped the chopper upside down and came in behind the other bird.

  "All right!" David said, like a kid on a carnival ride.

  "Fire," RJ ordered.

  Alexi hesitated. That was a Reliance chopper. The chopper opened fire on them. One bullet shattered the windshield in front of RJ. She kicked the safety glass out all the way so that she could see.

  "Fire! Fire, or I'll kick your ass out of this chopper," RJ said with a hiss.

  Alexi had no doubt that she meant it, nor did he doubt that she could do it. He took careful aim and fired. Then he watched as the chopper exploded in flames, and knew that there was no going back now.

  The next chopper to come in pursuit was newer and better equipped. Their first rocket missed. RJ was a superb pilot, but she couldn't outmaneuver the super-chopper indefinitely.

  "Can you fly?" RJ asked Alexi.

  He nodded reluctantly. "A little."

  "Take over." She didn't give him much choice. She unstrapped herself, grabbed the rocket launcher, and stepped out on the runner.

  "Are you nuts?" Alexi asked, taking the controls.

  "She's nuts, but she's OK," David assured him.

  RJ braced herself and prepared to fire. The pursuit had the same idea, and the two rockets hit simultaneously. RJ's rocket hit them squarely, and there was no more pursuit. Their rocket hit the tail of the rebels' chopper, and blew off a piece. It rocked and spun the chopper violently, and RJ fell.

  "RJ!" David shrieked. He unbuckled himself, and moved quickly to the door. RJ was hanging on the runner. David hung on to his safety belt and with his other hand reached out and grabbed RJ. "No sense hanging around down there." He pulled her back inside as she cursed his sense of humor.

  RJ took the control seat, throwing the rocket launcher off her arm.

  "Out of rockets," she said as Alexi started to grab it.

  "So, now what? Here comes another one." Alexi pointed. He was beginning to wish he'd stayed on the other side.

  "Hand me one of those spears, David. Be careful not to nick yourself; I've poisoned the tips." He handed her one. She took firm hold, positioned the spear and slowed the chopper.

  "What the hell are you doing!" Alexi screamed in disbelief and terror. "We've got half our tail shot off. That means that we have damn little sideways motion. They've got a fully operational bird. Machine guns, rockets . . ."

  RJ slung the spear.

  "Yes, but they don't have a pilot." RJ said smugly, as the other chopper raced towards the ground.

  Alexi just sat there with his mouth hanging open.

  "Isn't she neat?" David asked lightly.

  RJ fled as another chopper came in. She was beginning to lose her cool. Enough was fucking enough. She was strung out on Pronuses. Her eyes felt like her lids were made of sandpaper, and her arm was jerking so much it was becoming increasingly hard to control. It had been a hard couple of days on the front, and she was starting to take this all very personally.

  "I want a bath," she said longingly.

  "What?" David asked.

  "Nothing," RJ said with a smile. She looked at David. "Ever wish we'd gone into another line of work?"

  David smiled and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Know what you mean, partner. The hours are a bitch, and the pay sucks."

  RJ patted his hand.

  "We can't outrun them, can we?"

  "No," she said. "But we're not going to give up, either."

  "Never crossed my mind." David looked at the rocket launcher, then he saw the smoke bombs. He was so excited, he couldn't speak. He picked both up. "RJ?"

  She smiled. "Find the rest."

  "It could work," Alexi said.

  "Of course it will. You load and prepare to fire. Get it in the cockpit."

  Alexi nodded grimly.

  David dumped eight smoke bombs on the floor between RJ and Alexi.

  "Fire on my command," RJ ordered.

  Alexi nodded.

  RJ slowed and dropped so low that it looked like they would crash into the treetops. As she maneuvered, she took time to be grateful that Earth had no War Birds. They would have been dead long since on one of the outer planets where the equipment was all-new and lethal.

  The chopper swooped in for the kill.

  "Fire!"

  Alexi's aim was right on the money. The first smoke bomb landed in the cockpit of the attacker, which immediately filled with smoke. The pilot was flying blind, and was too close to the trees. It crashed, and RJ pulled up.

  "Reload."

  The order was unnecessary, as Alexi was already doing so. There was one chopper left that they could see. They could run, but then they would be chased.

  "Fuck you," RJ swung around, heading straight for the last chopper.

  "What the hell . . ." Alexi was as shocked as the pilot of the other chopper.

  The chopper pilot couldn't believe it. Hell! Their tail was shot off, and they were coming after him. He didn't know whether to attack or to run away. While he was wondering, a smoke bomb landed in his gunner's lap. Suddenly he couldn't see.

  "Get rid of it!" he screamed.

  The gunner was trying to do just that, but it rolled off his lap and got lost on the floor. The pilot knew of only one thing to do. He went up. There shouldn't be anything to hit up there. The smoke was choking him and making him dizzy, sick. Something hit his gunner. He never knew what. The gunner fell from the craft screaming, still tied to the chopper by his half-fastened safety harness. The pilot's head was pounding. Who would have believed this shit could fuck you up so badly? No sense calling for help, there wouldn't be any. The rebels were getting away. Well, he thought, at least he wouldn't have to face Senator Kirk's wrath. He passed out, and the chopper went down, making him just one more of the casualties.

  Chapter Nine

  By the time Senator Kirk arrived, all she could do was assess the damage and try to figure out what had happened. To do this, she decided to go to the beginning and follow the rebel's trail. She took General Sacks with her, although at this moment she wasn't sure that she really wanted company—especially Sacks.

  "I really can't see what good following this trail will do us," Sacks grumbled.

  They stopped their bikes at the spot where RJ and David had set up their rough camp. Jessica got off her bike and started to look around.

  "We should be after them. We should be trying to find them."

  "And how would you suggest that we do that, Sacks?" Jessica asked hotly. "Should we ask them nicely? Yoo-Hoo! Oh, Rebel Terrorist! Could you please set off a smoke bomb or something so that we can find you?" She saw something on the ground, and moved towards it. "We must see just who we are up against. Obviously, these two people are a lot more capable than our soldiers, since a large number of them died out here trying to catch two Rebels. AH!" She reached down slowly and moved the leaves aside. She carefully lifted the discarded food tray with two fingers."So, RJ, you do occasionally make mistakes." She put the tray into her backpack. Then she got on her bike and they started out again. The next stop was the booby-trapped bike. Jessica seemed oblivious to the body of the man who had died here.

  From here, the rebels had gone on foot. She got off her bike again, this time taking her pack and the infrared scan with her.

  "Let's go," she ordered.

  "On foot!" the general shrieked. The three first class soldiers with them didn't seem any too pleased themselves.

  "You'll join me, General. You men will follow on the bikes." She was not in the mood to argue with the arrogant jerk, and with her rank, she didn't have to.

  "Whatever for?" Sacks whined.

  "Because I said so," she spat with venom. She turned cool eyes to him. "And, in case you've forgotten, I'm in command. If I tell you to shit, you had better drop a turd. Do you understand, Sacks?" she screamed.

  "Yes, of course,
Senator. A thousand pardons." He got off the bike and got his pack.

  "Double time," Jessica took off. She expected him to keep up, and he did—just. They followed the path RJ had taken as well as they could. The fire had wiped out part of the trail. She stopped and studied the ground.