I plugged the fucker who shot Xeon. Then I shot the other three people we'd stunned. I went back in the hallway. The stairs leading down were dark, and I turned the light on in my pistol. The stench was amazing. Something had died in that basement. A lot of somethings.
Three corpses were suspended from the ceiling of the basement. They were skeletons and guts and tendons, no flesh. What was left had a distinct pinkish color just like the jerky in the room above.
Sphinx looked me dead in the eyes. "There's a pit. We don't know how deep it is. It has more bodies in it."
"There are dehydrators upstairs," I said, "and boxes with Razdoran markings."
"We need to finish our sweep."
The three of us went upstairs. The place was empty, except for the four people Sphinx and Thomas stunned. The boxes on the first floor did indeed contain vacuum sealed packages of the pink jerky. This has to be against Interstellar Law.
Locals showed up in droves. They hauled the four in zip ties away. Medical personnel acquired a robot from the bomb squad and sent it into the pit to remove corpses one by one. In the end, they pulled over two hundred desiccated bodies out.
Thomas looked at me and sighed. "House arrest for you, buddy."
"I'm fine with that," I said. Should have killed the ones they stunned.
My room back in Phoenix was waiting for me. Emails from Nancy, Minos, and Heathers. No emails from Xeon though. Never going to be another email from Xeon.
I wanted to hurt myself so bad. Wanted to end it all. Did pushups until my arms burned. Sit-ups followed for what must have been hours.
Chapter Nineteen
I didn't sleep. They brought me breakfast, and it wasn't enough food. Needed sleep bad. The inquisition met for a few hours. Hell, those people were harvesting human flesh to ship off world. I didn't feel remorse. All I could think about was Xeon. I looked through the pictures I had of her over and over. By dinnertime, it came across the intercom that I was cleared of wrongdoing.
Dinner was over, and I retired to my room to watch movies. I started to cry, and I couldn't stop. They ran dry in the end. I went to Zen's door and knocked.
She opened the door without even a smile.
"Can I come in?" I asked.
"Yeah."
She produced a single bottle of Chor'Tan Ale, and we took turns taking sips.
"I didn't want to sleep alone," I said.
She nodded and held me until I slept.
Woke up before Zen. I stared at her beauty for a few moments then nudged her. She smiled at me. We were so close. She leaned in and kissed me on the neck. I pushed her away.
"Then get out," she said.
We went to the cafeteria. They were serving broasted chicken, and I acquired a pretty tidy sum of the stuff. I was sitting with GeoSix when a Chor'Tan female came through the food line. I always considered my Ussilla beautiful in her own way, but for some reason, this Chor'Tan was even finer.
She approached our table and asked, "Can I sit?"
I said, "Yes."
"Thank you."
She started eating quietly, one chunk of raw flesh at a time. "I am not familiar with human breeding procedures."
"It's not that different from Chor'Tan's," GeoSix said.
She turned to look at me. "You smell like a Chor'Tan male."
Her hand reached for my crotch, and I leaned away from her. Too damn soon after losing Xeon. "No," I said.
"What would it take to change your mind? Surely you must want something?"
Nothing came to mind. "I don't need anything. My lover is dead. No amount of money or anything will inspire me to do that with anybody."
"Think about it," she said.
I wasn't going to think about it. The last thing on my mind was sex. The last thing I needed was an alien lover who didn't love me back.
Chapter Twenty
I walked away from the Chor'Tan female. Didn't want to even know her name. I was surprised to find my afternoon free. In the past, it was always classes in the afternoon. One thing I had not tried yet in my rehab was the driving simulators. I jogged there.
Tried the machine on a low setting. Easy enough. I turned the setting up to max, which is where I usually trained. A good time for that level is about twenty to thirty minutes.
It always ended the same, you or your car a tangled mess. I lasted thirty-two minutes. Played it again. Beat my best time with a thirty-four-minute run. My opponents at that point had blast rifles.
Nancy spoke across the intercom. "Bear, Enigma, and Archangel to my office."
Jumped out of the traffic simulator. Took off in a run.
All three of us got there in a matter of two minutes.
"The computer situation is still bleak," Nancy said. "We have one central server cluster with six Chor'Tan faster than light devices."
"Six?" Enigma asked.
Archangel shook his head. "Those devices are faster than any computer humans have even invented."
"Any more than six, and Chor'Tan believe the auditors will get involved," Nancy said.
Then I let out a little hiss and glanced around for movement. "Are we going on a new mission?"
"A very dangerous mission."
"That's our favorite kind." More sleep would be kind of nice. Like a day off.
"There is a complex of structures in downtown Wichita, Kansas. Ralan went there after visiting the organ farm. There's a surgical operation in the building. We have a doctor's name but no face. He isn't in any records we can find."
Archangel started clicking his tongue.
I looked at him and knew what was on his mind. "The device we implanted in Ralan. It's still sending signals?"
Nancy took off her glasses and rubbed at her eyes. "It is uncanny. The signal has to travel all the way to the Chor'Tan homeworld by subspace. The fact that it's broadcasting on subspace is why Centurian's people haven't picked up on it."
"This is Chor'Tan technology?" Enigma asked.
Nancy held up four fingers. "We're four weeks behind him, and he's moving around more than that. He's got to realize we're taking out targets based on where he's been."
"He may not. He may never backtrack," I said.
"What we do know. What we have is a doctor's office with the doctor's name. Bear is going to bring him in."
I get the best jobs ever.
"You'll have a leather jacket, a 9mm in your shoulder holster, a stunner that looks like a cell phone and clips to your belt. Plus an FBI badge. But that's all. Enigma and Archangel will be closest to the exit."
"Scorch and burn?" Archangel asked.
"Definitely not," Nancy said. "We don't know who are innocent and who are guilty. You mustn't kill anybody."
"Is this a big doctor or a little doctor?" I asked.
"They keep a gurney in the hallway. Stun him, if you have to, but get him to the gurney. You're going to talk to him first, try and trick him into giving you information."
Yeah, because I'm so good at tricking people. "That's not going to work."
"You're going to try," Nancy said.
I bet Enigma would be way better at getting him to talk.
Nancy handed me my FBI badge. "You must identify him and be sure it's the right person before you bring him in."
I wanted to talk to somebody. I wanted to talk to Xeon.
"Your appointment is in seven days," Nancy said.
Plenty of time to wallow in self-pity.
It was almost time for dinner, and Nancy dismissed us. I had a nice vegan meal. Plenty of protein, pita bread with hummus and black beans. The lot of us were chewing food like we mostly did at dinner. Sphinx got up first. She put her tray away and went into the kitchen. She returned with a six pack of Chor'Tan Ale. GeoSix took one last bite. "I gotta go."
Enigma reached over to Zen's hand and kind of caressed it. Zen slapped Enigma's hand in a blur. They both said, "Bitch." At the exact same time. When exactly did I join the circus?
I pulled out my cell phone and paged Dr. Heathers. I felt
like I had no choice, and I didn't feel like it made me weak. I just didn't have anybody else to talk to. I could talk to Archangel or Tank or Thomas. Heathers answered the page.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I need to talk."
"I'm about to come through the food line. After I eat, we can talk."
I put the phone away and waited. She sat with some of the teachers. It dawned on me I'd seen her dozens of times in the eatery and never thought anything about it.
The rest of the team dispersed, and Heathers sat across from me.
"What you mean…" She said. "Is you want to talk about Xeon, and how you're supposed to deal with the loss."
"That sounds about right."
Chapter Twenty-One
"She died for the greater good."
That did not help me. "I miss her."
"If you're healthy, you'll miss her for the rest of your life," Heathers said, "but things will get easier."
It didn't seem like it.
Dr. Heathers grabbed my hands in hers. "She would want you to push forward, yes? Do more missions? Maybe even not grieve?"
"She wouldn't want to see me unhappy, that's true."
The good doctor let go of my hands. "Then it's settled. No more moping around. No more feeling sorry for yourself. You will kick ass. Do what you're called upon to do."
"I have a mission in a few days."
"If you can't shake the feeling of dread, or loss, I want you to join some group sessions in the afternoons."
No fucking thank you. "No, I'm fine. I just needed things explained to me."
"You're not taking any classes. You need to occupy your time with something."
"I will lift and run and play on the simulators. Train."
"Fair enough. If you need to talk again, don't hesitate to contact me."
"I will." Not.
She left. I went to my room and scrolled through the movies. Watched a love story. Did not cry. Slept good, up early.
The next few days passed quickly, and I soon found myself on a plane with Enigma and Archangel.
We spent the night in the Wichita Agency facility. I walked into the doctor's office at approximately nine am. The appointment was for nine-thirty. They gave me a tablet computer with forms on it to fill out. I lied as best as I could. Well, Nancy had spent time going over exactly what I was supposed to put on the forms. Soon enough I was ushered past the nurses' station to a scale.
They weighed me, took my blood pressure and temperature. I waited in a tiny little room. A man in a white lab coat stepped in with me.
He said, "I'm Doctor Bene."
"Nice to meet you." Bene was the name I was looking for.
"According to the file, your liver is failing you."
"Yes, they estimate I only have a couple more years. You're the transplant specialist?"
Bene nodded. "Do you drink alcohol?"
"Not a drop in ten years." Again part of the script.
"Because if you drink alcohol, we can't get you a new liver."
I knew that. "Look, I have money. Is there anyway…"
"We may never find a match among donors."
So far this guy seemed legit. Was I in the right place?
"But there are other ways. What do you do for a living?" He asked.
"I'm an investment banker."
"Maybe you would be useful. I'll have to check with my higher ups."
That was enough information for me. That was all I needed.
I pulled my cell phone/stunner out. "You can come along quietly, or I can zap you."
His eyes opened wide, but his right hand reached over to his left wrist and squeezed together two buttons on his wristwatch. A siren went off in the hallway. I pushed the button on the cell phone. A mass of electrified webbing danced out of the device at the good doctor. Bene twitched and fell.
I got him onto my shoulder and stepped into the hallway. While I glanced to the left, my heart raced. A mechanized bot was swinging an 8mm cannon to point right at me. I dropped Bene and pulled my 9mm aiming for the machine's sensors. I hit both of them, and the metal monster started firing off rounds at random. If a bullet goes right past you, you can feel the shock wave, and those bullets were going right past me. It was just like little breaths of air, but I had to move. I threw Bene onto a waiting gurney and pushed him down the hall, ducking low.
Another metallic armored robot stepped into the hallway in front of us. I took out the sensors, but the 8mm cannon started firing right at me. I pulled Bene into a room and paused.
The guns did not quiet. I waited. Silence other than the screams of some of the injured people who were in that hallway. I poked my head through the doorway. People crouched low, and a few others were bleeding out. I looked left. Two more bodies on the ground in pools of blood. The dreams were going to come back, for sure.
I raced down the hall pushing Bene in front of me. A nurse in a lab coat jumped in my way. I don't remember what happened to my stunner. This nurse was maybe thirty years old, blonde hair, and holding a clipboard. She shouted, "What are you doing?"
"I'm a federal agent. I'm arresting Bene."
"I want to see your warrant."
"I have a badge. I don't need a warrant."
She grabbed hold of the gurney and held on tight.
I grabbed some zip ties and secured her with them. She was strong, but I was stronger. I don't think I hurt her.
Enigma and Archangel met me on the way out.
Enigma pointed at a rip on my right jacket sleeve. A bullet had literally grazed me. "You're lucky," she said.
Lucky enough that you'll sleep with me? "It was close."
"Looks like an easy extraction to me," Archangel said with a huge grin.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Enigma pushed the button for the elevator.
Bene started moving around, falling off the gurney. I wrestled with him to get his arms behind his back, but I couldn't work the zip tie while fighting him.
"Stun him," I said.
"No, it'll stun you both," Archangel said. Then he leaned and grabbed Bene's forearms. He pushed the wrists together, and I slid a zip tie over them.
"I'm being kidnapped," Bene shouted.
There were a few people around, and they were mostly still ducked down low, shivering.
I spoke in a loud voice, "We're government agents. Bene is under arrest."
Some of them nodded. Others just stared.
The elevator pinged. I pushed the gurney to one side of the elevator, and Archangel, Enigma, and I squeezed in next to the gurney. I hit the garage button.
"Why are you arresting me?" Bene asked.
Enigma checked his pulse. "Talk to us about where you get the organs for transplant."
"My understanding is we grow them from stem cells in a lab. Perfectly legal."
"That method can take years to produce a viable organ and is hugely costly. Almost nobody is using that method except in some places in Eastern Europe."
Bene nodded. "That's where we get them."
"Bullshit," I said. "You're growing whole clones using Razdoran technology: a process which takes six months."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Our job is to bring you in, not pass judgment," Archangel said.
"But you've got the wrong guy."
The elevator pinged again, and we stepped out into the parking garage.
"You've performed 62 transplant surgeries in the last year alone. Each one took six months to find a donor."
Bene started to weep. "They have my family."
Damn. That sucks. This mission sucks. No, he should have gone to authorities when they came up missing. Yeah, that would have turned out well against Centurian. There would have been pieces via mail.
"We still have to take you in," I said.
"I understand."
Tires squealed in the garage. Two black sedans came around the corner and gunned right for us. I stupidly aimed for the windshield, and that did
not slow them down. Archangel shot out a tire on the left one. Enigma shot the tire on the second. Neither car stopped. I pushed Archangel and Enigma forward. I jumped straight up and tucked my knees into my chest.
The car bumped me up higher but did no damage. Both cars crashed into the gurney. Bene went flying. I was busy landing on my feet. What did I just do? Jumped over a speeding car and landed on my feet? I shot a tire out on the right car. Brake lights flashed on both vehicles. A passenger got out on each side. Between Archangel, Enigma, and me, bullets cut down both men.
The drivers must have figured they were doomed, because they stepped out of their cars with their arms up. I looked at Bene. He did not look good. Enigma was feeling for a pulse.
Archangel shouted, "On your knees. Hands behind your back."
"I'll cover you," I said. "Get the zip ties on them."
Archangel zip tied both of them and lifted them to their feet.
Enigma shook her head.
"Consolation prizes at least," I said.
We walked our captives to our vehicle. The van was big enough for all five of us. We drove to the Wichita Agency facility. When the guards took our prisoners away, I just stood there shaking for the longest time.
Enigma took my hand and held on. "You need food."
Like we're going to hop and skip together all the way to the cafeteria, hand in hand? I pulled my hand away and started walking. I did need food. Seems like I needed more food than I did before the Chor'Tan blood transfusion.
They had strip steaks off a grill for us, and two 300 gram servings of dead flesh ended up on my plate. The biggest baked potato they had went on next. Then I grabbed a huge chef salad that was likely a meal by itself.
"You're going to get fat," Archangel said.
I lifted my shirt up to show him my belly.
He laughed. "Get an apple and a banana, too."
That wasn't a bad idea, but I thought I had enough.
Once I was done with the food, I rang Nancy on my cell phone.
"Bene is dead," she said.
"Couldn't be helped," I said. Maybe if I had pushed on the gurney instead of pushing on Archangel and Enigma. Damn, second guessing is no good.
"The two you captured, we're giving them a low dose of synthetic MindBender."
Codename: Bear II: Secret Agent (Codename Universe Book 2) Page 8
