"I can't tell you." He continued running through the guard office, pulling open desk drawers and side closets, obviously searching for a better weapon. Cain took off rushing across the collapsed office desks, but his red flight suit caught on the corner of the last one by the door and he fell flat on his stomach.
Rav saw his chance. He jumped onto Cain and pinned him down with his knee on his groin and his laser pistol in his face. "Stop running. You're caught. Now, I want answers. You passed through the strictest security measures just to get to me. Why?"
"You wouldn't understand."
Rav pressed the barrel of the laser pistol against the side of his gunner's head. "Try me."
"They have my husband."
"Who? Azimandia? Valmoro? This isn't the way to get him back. You tell someone and we infiltrate. We gather a force and we find where your husband is being kept. Then we get him out. How is betraying your country going to save him? They lied to you, Cain. They're not going to give him back even if you do succeed in killing me. That's not how those horned savages work. They aren't capable of thinking or caring like we humans do. Azimandians are animals."
"Fuck you."
Rav squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened. The cartridge was empty. In that split second while he was caught off guard, he was thrown backwards as Cain kicked at him and took off back into the warehouse. "Cain! You won't win this. You won't!" Rav found his communicator and dialed the number to call for help, but all he got on the other end was an error message telling him that there was no signal on the destroyed planet. The slightest twinge of fear flickered to life in his veins. He was truly alone with a murder-bound traitor on an empty planet.
He could have run. Rav could have made it back down to the bottom floor and into the Galaxy Glider. Then he could have flown back to Elysia. But that would not be the way to deal with a man who turned his back on his country and attacked his commanding officer. No. Rav pulled himself to his feet and fished into his pocket for a backup laser cartridge that he had been handed earlier that day. With a click, he slid the cartridge into place. He took one step towards the door in front of him when the footsteps rushed up behind him.
Cain leapt onto his back, sending him careening to the floor and crashing through a burned-out desk. "Die! Let me kill you in a painless way. Not like this."
Rav shielded his face from the blows as Cain's fists collided over and over with his chest and arms. "Stop! Stop it." He swung the laser pistol, striking his attacker across the face. Green radioactive goo oozed from the cracked laser cartridge.
A purple glow filled the office as Cain gasped and covered his left eye. He scurried away into the corner. "Back. Stay back!"
Rav kept his eyes locked onto the man he thought was only some draft-dodging gunner from southern AX-97. He had seen that pale purple light before. "Your eye is glowing. Are you . . . Azimandian?"
Cain dove to the floor and picked up the busted laser cartridge. He threw it at Rav, sending the radioactive sludge spraying across him. He dashed back out of the room.
Rav cried out, stripping out of the coat of his dress uniform and wiping the sizzling goo from his face. How did Cain touch that without getting burned? Then it hit him. The gunner tape. "You clever bastard."
With arms covered in splotchy bruises and dressed in his pants and tight undershirt, Rav loaded another cartridge into the golden laser pistol and moved to the catwalk once again. He held his weapon in front of him as he walked as quietly as he could around the twisting maze of walkways and ventilation shafts, ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Come on out, you Azimandian monster. You would dare to disguise yourself as a human? You are sickening. So, your Warlord Tirlmayn hates me so much that he sends a spy to pretend to be my gunner just to assassinate me on this empty planet? No . . . he doesn't hate me. He fears me. This was an act of desperation on his part. He knows what I'm capable of."
He climbed up a ladder to the roof of the nearest guard office then pointed his laser pistol at the metal walkway above him. "Come out here and face me like a man, Azimandian. Don't be a coward like the rest of your spineless race."
Footsteps clanked on the catwalk above him, so Rav slid his laser pistol back into his belt then jumped up to grab onto the railing and pulled himself up. The catwalk spread from one end of the warehouse to the other, stretching across the boiling orange and red lava pit. Heatwaves glistened along the narrow metal platform below the wires and pipes forming the area below the hole-filled roof.
At the opposite end of the walkway, Cain held up his hands and dropped to his knees. The purple glow from his left eye diminished with the lesser levels of radiation as the goo evaporated.
Rav kept his pistol aimed at the man's chest. This was it. He had the traitor right where he wanted him. However, simply shooting him down would not be as useful or as satisfying as arresting him and getting much-needed answers out of him. If he was a spy for Azimandia, the information he had could be priceless. "Who are you really? You're not Cain Coolidge, are you? What is your real name? Tell me!"
The man kept one hand in the air as his other snaked into the front of his flightsuit.
Rav's fingers tightened around the trigger in case the traitor was retrieving a weapon. "If that's a gun, I will not hesitate to shoot you."
"It's not a weapon. You wanted my real name, so I will show you my real name." He pulled something out of an inner pocket then tossed it to him. The metal flashed in the light from the lava as the necklace landed a couple of feet in front of Rav's boots.
Raising an eyebrow, Rav stepped forward. A necklace? He kept his weapon trained on the man as he bent over to pick it up. He held the object up in the light. A single unfired .44 magnum round hung from the leather cord. The light danced across the roughly-engraved letters. Vance Trainor.
The golden laser pistol fell to the walkway. Rav's hands trembled as the realization slammed into him and took his breath away. But he was not ready to accept it or believe it. "No. Nice try. Who are you really? You stole this from a corpse. You found my best friend's body after that execution and you took this from him. Vance Trainor died on Star-World Delta with the rest of the Red Sand Rebels. Don't play games with me, Azimandian. Who are you?"
"Rav, it's me." Cain stood and removed something from his eyes then held out his arms. "It's me, mate. It's been me the whole time. They dyed my hair and gave me colored contact lenses. Look." He bit his left arm then peeled the skin back to show the metal arm underneath. "Metal arm. I'm Vance. I didn't die at that execution. Some of the rebels and I survived."
"No . . . no . . . not you. Vance, not you. Why are you doing this? What did Tirlmayn do to you to make you do all this? To make you turn against humanity? To make you attempt to kill me? Vance, you're my best friend. We've been through everything together. Yes, things got rough between us, but we came back together. We're indestructible when we have each other. We're Rav and Vance. Nothing can break us apart. What could possibly be more important than that?"
Vance's voice cracked in his throat. "Tirlmayn has Ben. If I fail my mission . . . if I don't kill you here tonight, he kills my husband."
"I thought Benjamin was dead."
"They saved him. Now Tirlmayn is using him to control me."
"You don't have to go through with this. Killing me won't give Ben back to you. Don't you see that? Tirlmayn will never stop using Ben as collateral."
He placed his fist over his heart as his voice grew more authoritative. "That's why I have to kill you then kill my father. I will take over Azimandia."
Was he serious? "That's craziness, Vance!"
"Is it? I have to protect my husband."
"What about me?" Rav screamed at him. "What about the man who has been there for you, saved your life countless times, been the shoulder for you to cry on, the one man who has stuck by your side? I gave up wealth, I was beaten, and I was locked in a basement for years of my young life because I took care of you when you had overdosed on the streets of Odyssia. Do I
not count for anything? Do I not matter? What about Nemo? He is your son too, Vance. How are you going to tell that little boy that you killed his father just so you could remain a slave to Azimandia? You are siding with the monsters who abused and raped him. How dare you?"
"Don't point a finger at me, Rav Tillman. Are you going to lie and tell me that you wouldn't kill me to keep Nemo safe? Family takes priority over everything. I took vows to keep my husband safe. Those vows mean something to me."
"You want to talk about family?" Rav asked, taking a step towards him. "How about brothers? That's what you were to me, Vance. You were my brother. Brothers don't kill their brothers. Oh, space. That's why you chose that name, isn't it? Cain? You knew what you were going to do. Is this a joke to you?"
"Absolutely not. Do you think I want to do this? To be forced to decide between my husband or the man I love most in this universe?" Vance clasped his hands over his mouth.
Rav stopped. "What did you just say?"
"N-nothing. I-"
"You love me? Oh . . . my . . . space . . ."
Vance hung his head in shame.
Rav flushed in embarrassment, but that quickly morphed into anger. "Are you serious? I took you in, I helped you out, I even shared my bed with you. I think I'm gonna be sick. I was fine knowing you were gay, but you loving me? Actually and admittedly being in love with me? That's sick. That's twisted, Vance. Ugh. I can't even say your name. What did you do to me in my sleep all those nights I let you sleep next to me?"
"Since the first day I remember meeting you, I have been completely and hopelessly attracted to you. I wanted nothing more than to be your lover. I still do, but now things are too far gone to go back to simple times. Yes, I am madly in love with you, but I never touched you. I never looked at you in your sleep or anything like that."
"I don't believe you. So, is that what this is actually about? You're mad because you know you will never have me, so you want to kill me because of it? If you can't have me, no one can?"
Vance shook his head. "No."
"You are an abomination."
"Enough of this!" Vance stood and wiped the sweat from his black spiky hair. "This fight isn't about saving Ben. It's not about pleasing my father. And it's not about how much I have always loved you with a passion that would never be returned. It's about stopping this war."
"Stopping the war? And how are you planning to do that? Huh? Killing me isn't going to end the war, Vance."
"But using an entire underground facility filled with fusion bombs will. I will kill my father and take the throne. Then I will use those bombs and drop them on all the war-torn areas. I will kill everyone on the front lines, any weapons manufacturing facilities, and any place where solders are being trained. I will destroy them all. Then I will take away the weapons of the citizens so they can never rise up. There will never be another war."
"But you'll be killing both sides. You'll slaughter innocents and civilians."
Vance held out his hand. "I will kill thousands if it means saving millions. It's the only way. I see that now. I will fight for the greater good."
How was this the same man Rav knew before? Looking at him and hearing the way he spoke so valiantly about killing innocent people was all wrong. "What happened to you? This isn't you, Vance. The Vance I knew would fight and die to save everyone he could. You're going to side with Azimandia?"
"I am Azimandian, Rav! Why have you never been able to understand that? Half of me is human, but the other half is Azimandian. I am prepared to kill as many as necessary on both sides to end this war and ensure that there will never be another war. We want the same thing, Rav."
"No. No, we don't. You want peace through fear and genocide. I want peace through diplomacy and compromise. I won't let you go down this road. You're actually going to go through with this? Then I hope you have a plan in place to take care of our son. You can't take me out and leave Nemo without a father."
Vance rubbed his neck. "Oh, I have many things planned for the boy. I'm sure Ben will love to have a son. He can watch Nemo when I'm not honing him into a weapon to defend my new empire."
"You're planning to use Nemo as a weapon?"
"I will use anyone to get what I want."
There was no way in hell that he could stand back and let that happen. "I will not let you become warlord."
"Then we fight to the death, Rav Tillman."
Rav stared into the mismatched eyes of the man he had once called his brother. "So be it."
Chapter 13
Rav and Vance both dove to the metal catwalk, scrambling to get to the golden laser pistol before the other. Before Rav could grab it, a bubble of lava burst, sending molten liquid spraying onto the platform. He fell back to avoid the burning fluid. Vance snatched the gun from the side, but he yelped when the lava burned through the arm of his flightsuit.
Both men watched in defeat when Masamba's laser pistol fell three stories and landed with a fiery splash in the lava lake. They let out a mutual growl of frustration then met eyes for a silent second. They stayed there, on their hands and knees, merely inches from each other with hatred smoldering in their eyes.
Vance made the first move. With a primal shriek, he lunged at Rav, knocking him onto his back and headbutting him. He ripped Rav's undershirt then tried to strangle him with it.
Rav rolled to the side, taking the traitor with him. He took Vance by his shoulders and slammed him against the rough catwalk. In quick succession, he pounded Vance's head onto the metal. The sound rang out through the warehouse. A sharp pain traveled up Rav's arm. When he looked down, he saw a trickle of bright blood dripping out of an open wound on his wrist where Vance's teeth were sunk in deep into a vein. Rav punched him in the face then crawled away once the teeth were dislodged from his arm.
He took off running. Knowing Vance so well for years meant that Rav knew the weaknesses of his enemy. Where Vance was more muscular and stronger than him, Rav's more slender frame allowed him to move faster and fit into places that his enemy could not go. The longer this fight went on, the more of an advantage he would have over Vance. He had stamina on his side.
Rav slid down the ladder to land on the roof of the third-floor guard station. He scanned the piles of rubble for anything he could use as a weapon. There had to be something in all that discarded trash.
He tripped when Vance latched onto his ankles from below, halfway up the ladder. How did he get down there so fast? Rav landed on his knees with his hands to catch him. He kicked at the attacker then crawled away from him. Rav found the opening to a ventilation shaft and gripped the edge of the cylinder tightly as Vance joined him on the roof of the guard station. When Vance swung a fist at his face, Rav blocked with his forearm and twisted, flipping Vance over his back, but he lost his footing in the process and they both fell into the tube.
Tumbling over each other and trying to land punches, Rav and Vance fell down the wide ventilation shaft towards an unknown destination. They hit, kicked, and scratched at one another while sliding in the bumpy tube. Rav lashed out blindly at anything softer than metal in the hopes that he would hit flesh. Beams of orange light briefly flashed into the darkness through the screw holes and cracks in the support bands.
Rav did his best to keep his head and face protected from both the ridged interior of the cylinder and his enemy's flailing arms. A solid hit smacked him on the back as a boot collided with his side, causing him to cry out. Just when it seemed one-sided, Rav's elbow made contact with what felt like a soft thigh. He jumped at that chance. Rav sent a powerful kick in that direction. He made contact, but there was no sound in response. No yelp, no cry . . . only silence.
A sudden cold wind filled the tunnel as Rav and Vance were dumped out of the ventilation shaft into a snowdrift at the corner of the warehouse. Rav landed with a thud on his back, sending up a cloud of white frozen powder. A second thud sounded to his right.
Vance was motionless on his stomach. Blood matted in his hair and was smeared
across his light tan skin. His flight suit was ripped around the knees and up the side.
Rav had a moment of grief, grief for the person who used to be his friend. Seeing Vance so defeated, so bruised and broken, so lifeless . . . it brought tears to his eyes. Tears of sorrow or tears of elation that the fighting was over? He was not sure, but he did know one thing. He was going to need a stout drink once he got back to base. It would take a while for the full impact of what happened there to set in.
Rav stood and brushed the snow from his wool dress pants. What now? He let his head roll back on his shoulders to stare up at the growing thick storm clouds. Tiny snowflakes drifted down to land on his face in the silence. It was strange, almost as if he was detached from the harsh reality of what just happened. He had taken a life. Not simply any life, but the life he had worked so hard to maintain. Rav ended the heartbeat that he had stayed up on sleepless nights to keep beating through the suicide attempts and drug overdoses. All that care, all that friendship, all that love . . . it was over. That troubled heart would never beat again.
As Rav made his way back to the Galaxy Glider, he took one last look at the warehouse. Then he remembered his revolver. That pistol survived through so much; it would have been a shame to leave it there. Fetching his leather pilot's jacket from under his seat in the fighter plane, Rav headed back towards the warehouse. He climbed up the icy rungs of the ladder then slipped back inside the door to the second floor.
"Where did he throw my gun?"
"Right here, mate."
The voice. The accent. Rav spun around to see a bruised and bloody Vance grinning at him a few steps away on the catwalk. He twirled the .44 magnum revolver in one hand as the other hand jammed a long syringe needle into his outer thigh where he filled his veins with a purple liquid.
The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10 Page 25
