Suddenly a crackling sound pierced the quiet. She looked up to see old loudspeakers. Amazed they still worked, she heard a voice say, “Well done.” There was a sound like he was clapping. “You crept up like a stealthy tiger, but I know where you are.”
All at once, several bright beams of light shone on Ida. There were police droids positioned on the nearby buildings, and many air drones focused on her.
“You seem like a smart girl, but my droids see all. Now, be a good girl and drop your weapon, please. Let’s not take too long. The clock is ticking!”
Ida had no choice but to place her gun on the ground. She stood her ground.
“Now, time to come out and play. Make your way closer so we can talk.”
Ida started to move slowly forward toward the droid lights and Vance’s voice.
“Good, just a little further now. There. Stop!”
She did as she was told, realizing she had ended up in front of a massive stone enclosure that looked like replicas of canyon walls. There was a small iron fence in front of her, and below that, a large pit designed to keep whatever animals were inside from getting out.
The lights from the droids turned off, and a light from within a small, glass-enclosed room came on. Inside was Vance, microphone in hand. Behind him stood two men whom Ida assumed were bodyguards.
There was also a woman. She was thin and petite, with short brown hair and glasses, and didn’t seem the type who would be Vance’s girlfriend.
“Where’s Paul?” shouted Ida toward the glass room where Vance and his team were gathered.
From the loudspeakers, Vance said, “Do you really think you’re in a position to ask questions?”
Ida studied the group, weighing her options. She noticed something unusual about Vance’s attire. Even though it was a cold night, he wore a suit jacket with nothing underneath. Odd, since he was well tailored in his commercials, and from what she had seen on the news.
There was something else. She noticed half of his face, both hands and part of his chest glinted silver in the moonlight, like his droids. Gatz had mentioned the mayor had a prosthetic hand, but now most of his body?
He continued speaking through the loudspeaker, the glass window protecting him and his entourage. “I’ll ask the questions tonight. Understand?”
Ida nodded.
“First question. I’ve heard about your powers of healing. Is it true you can heal people’s injuries and diseases?
Ida wondered whether she should lie, but she didn’t think there was any point; he’d find out one way or another. “Yes, it’s true. I heal people.”
“Fascinating,” he said. The loudspeaker went off, and he turned and said something to his companions. There was some back and forth, none of which Ida could hear.
After a minute, he switched the loudspeaker back on. “As it turns out, I am in need a person with your…abilities.”
She nodded. “I’ll help you. But only if you let Paul go first. And I want to see him go safely before I help you.” Ida’s voice echoed slightly through the empty park.
Vance looked at her with amusement. After a moment, he said, “He’s here. And he’s free to go as he likes.”
Suddenly, loud music flooded through the loudspeakers. It sounded like old-time marching music. A large spotlight switched on and lit the tall stone enclosure. Perched on the top of a tall boulder was Paul. Below him circled two large creatures that resembled lions. Ida realized they were made of the same cybernetic steel as Vance’s police. With every turn, the machines roared and lunged at Paul. They were close to reaching him, and Paul had to try to move and kick away their giant paws when they came close.
Vance smiled from his enclosed viewing room. “I had them created for this special occasion. After all, what good is a zoo without animals?”
“Let him go!” Ida shouted toward the glass booth. She ran to the edge of what was once the audience viewing platform. She could easily scale the small fence, but there was a deep pit below. She didn’t think she could scale it unless she took a running leap. There just wasn’t enough runway for her to build the speed to clear it.
She looked again at the booth for a reaction from Vance. He’s testing me. The thought flashed through her. He wants to know how much I care.
The android lions were getting bolder. They started running from farther away so they could jump higher. The one with a mane nearly knocked Paul off the top of the boulder.
Paul shouted, “Help!”
Ida looked around. Her gun had been confiscated by the droids and was no longer an option. She needed a rope to scale the pit. Failing that, she needed a huge distraction.
She spied a pile of trash on the ground nearby. She ran over and found a small wastebasket container, into which she stuffed pieces of the trash—papers, cardboard, and small sticks. She put anything she could find inside. Then she drew a flask from her inside jacket pocket, along with a lighter.
She ran back to the enclosure where the lions were closer to knocking Paul from his perch atop the boulder. Ida opened the flask and knocked back a giant swig. Then she flicked her lighter over the wastebasket and blew a mouthful of whiskey into the bin.
The trash was like dry kindle, and immediately went up in flames. Ida waited a few seconds until it was starting to really flame. She looked across to the lions and waited until one was coming around on the side closest to her. She threw the burning trashcan with all her might. It landed square in the face of one of the lions, jolting it from its path. The direct hit seemed to have jarred something, and the creature ran off into a large cage that Ida hadn’t noticed until just then.
One down, thought Ida. But she needed to act fast because she knew the creature might come back.
She looked around again, and noticed several large rocks on the ground near her feet. She picked one up and hurled it at the second creature. She hit its hindquarters, knocking it slightly, but it continued to focus on Paul.
Ida tried again, using another rock, this time aiming for the face. She missed. Stepping back, she wiped the sweat from her face and breathed heavily from adrenaline and frustration. Running out of time.
She ran over to the booth where Vance was. She took one of the rocks and slammed it into the glass window. It bounced off. She slammed again and realized the material was bulletproof. One of Vance’s men moved toward the glass and flashed his gun at her.
Vance taunted her by pointing at his nanowatch and then toward Paul. She turned and ran around the main area, looking for something, anything she could use as weapons or a bridge into the lion’s den. She could try to vault across the pit and land near Paul if she had something tall enough to use as a pole.
The loudspeakers. They were fixed atop tall metal poles. If she could get one to come down, she’d have a way across. Ida ran to one of the poles and pushed on it. It moved slightly. She tried again, taking a running start and slamming into it. This time, the pole moved again, but only a few inches. At this rate, it would take all night.
She saw there was a small building—what looked like a former hot dog stand. She used an old trash can for leverage and hopped onto its roof. The roof of the stand was so old, the tiling fell off in slates, but she managed to get enough solid footing beneath her that she took a running jump and landed near the top of the pole, near the speaker.
She straddled the cold steel pole and leaned, using her body weight to try to pull the pole with her and take it down. It worked. The pole bent and the force and momentum caused it to snap near its base. She fell with the pole and luckily ended up in a grassy area that padded her landing.
She pulled the long pole from the ground and kicked off the loudspeaker, which clattered to the ground.
“That’s not playing nice,” she heard Vance say.
She took her pole back to the lion viewing area. It wasn’t long enough to act as a bridge, but she could vault it.
Here goes nothing. Ida walked back thirty feet to gain momentum. She ran at top speed toward
the lion enclosure, gloved hands clasped around the pole. Just behind the small fence, she jammed the pole into the ground and used the stick to propel her body up and across the deep pit. She landed in a rolling somersault and came to her knees.
The pole was meant to also be her weapon against the lions, but she had dropped it. She heard a metal clanging noise as the pole hit the bottom of the pit.
Damn.
The lion came around the boulder upon which Paul crouched. The creature moved slowly toward Ida, sharp teeth barred, red eyes blazing, and growled.
A hand came down in front of her, from Paul. She looked up and grabbed it. As he pulled her up, she kicked with all her might as the lion grabbed hold of her boot, scratching Ida’s calf.
Paul managed to drag Ida up onto the boulder. There was hardly enough room for two on the rock’s surface. Below, the lion continued to pace, and the other machine was back for round two.
Three loud claps came from the glass booth. “Bravo, well done.” Vance sighed. “Ladies and germs, thanks for the show.”
Paul looked at Ida, whom he had pulled to her feet so they could both stand and be farther from lion reach. “Are you okay?” he asked.
She looked down to see that one of the creatures had her boot, which had come off in her scramble onto the boulder. “Except for my boot and a scratch, I’ll live.”
Paul smiled despite their situation. “Thank you for coming to help me. I didn’t know…” He struggled for what to say, and had obviously been racked with guilt over what happened. “I went to your house hoping to find you and Lucy, and I didn’t know—I tried to get away, but they caught me.”
Ida shushed him. “It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. We need to concentrate on how to get out of this.” She touched him on his shoulders. “Think, Paul. Do you have anything on you that can be used as a weapon?”
“No, they took anything I had, even my Swiss army knife.”
“Then we’re royally screwed,” Ida said. She turned to face the glass case. Seeing the lion creatures below, she didn’t know what else to do, so she called out. “Call them off, Vance. Or do you want your precious healer to end up as kitty meat? All it takes is me jumping.”
There was silence from the booth.
She turned her head slightly back to Paul. “If I jump and they start attacking me, run like hell. I think you can make it up the cliff-side ledge.”
Vance’s voice crackled on again. “You are making this interesting for me. This is fun. Are you having fun?”
She thought about what an asshole he was. He better pray these lions kill me, because I will beat him to a bloody pulp.
As Ida and Paul waited, there was movement in the booth. A discussion was happening. Then they heard a loud metal clanging. Over in the cages, a police droid had signaled the creatures. They ran inside their cages, which were then closed.
Ida had a momentary flood of relief, but then hardened at the fear of what might come next. She whispered to Paul, “I’ll try to distract them. If you see an opportunity to run, take it.”
“But the droids, they’re everywhere.”
She looked around and saw that Paul was right. There seemed to be machines stationed in every direction, and several dozen in the sky above.
With the lion machines safely in their cages, Vance and his entourage emerged from the booth and walked toward Ida and Paul.
“You can come down now,” said Vance. “The kittens are locked away.”
First Ida and then Paul slowly lowered themselves off the boulder. Paul knelt on the ground, his legs wobbly.
Ida kept Paul behind her and said, “You got what you wanted. Take me away, but let him go. He hasn’t done anything to you. He’s just a kid.”
“True, he is a young fellow, and he has served a purpose.” Vance glanced around behind her to look at Paul again. “Come out, young man. Let me see you. Then you can go.”
Ida turned and bent down to Paul, whispering, “Do as he says and leave here as fast as you can.”
Paul nodded, and Ida slowly stood up and helped him to his feet.
“There you are,” said Vance with a smile. Ida could see that half of his face, and all of his neck and chest were completely covered with steel—the same droid material he used in his factory. She wondered what was happening to his body.
Vance turned and looked at his female companion. “What do you think, Nancy? Can we trust the boy to make it safely home on his own, or does he require a police escort?”
“No,” said Ida quickly. “The deal is I only help you if he walks out of here alive.”
“Hmm,” said Vance. “I choose the opposite.” He pulled a gun from his pocket and shot Paul in the chest.
Chapter 29
Gatz drove fast through the moonlit city streets. Beside him, Lucy was quiet. A dozen thoughts ran through her mind. What would they find once they got to the zoo? Would Paul and Ida make it out alive? She couldn’t deal with the thought of anything bad happening to them, and yet their situation seemed hopeless.
Gatz had placed a variety of weapons in the seat behind them. The backseat and trunk of the car were full of guns, knives, and grenades. There were also weapons Lucy didn’t recognize.
“What are our chances, Gatz?” Lucy asked, eying the speedometer, which read over ninety miles per hour.
Gatz kept his eyes on the road and didn’t answer right away. “I make the call whether we go in or not. Ida was a soldier and is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”
Lucy considered. “But we have to do something, right? To help?”
“We’ll try, Lucy.”
They were nearing the zoo, and Gatz slowed his car. On the road leading to the main entrance, they saw a row of police cars and flashing lights.
“Looks like a sheriff convention here,” said Gatz. “You’d think this would be surprising, but it’s Spark City, after all.”
Even to the optimistic Lucy, their odds did not look good. Gatz took a turn so they avoided the cop-infested road.
“What do we do now?” asked Lucy.
Gatz found an empty side road and parked his car, turning the lights off quickly. He looked at Lucy. “We walk.”
They got out, and Gatz grabbed several pistols, which he shoved into a holster around his chest and one on his leg. “You ever used one of these?” he asked Lucy.
She shook her head. “Ida was going to teach me, but we didn’t get to it.”
“Tonight, you learn.” He showed her how to load and unload her gun, and where the safety was. “And you just aim, point, and pull the trigger. Keep your eye on where you’re aiming. That’s key. Watch the kickback. Got it?”
Lucy was a fast learner. “Got it.” She took a pistol.
Gatz grabbed a shotgun and placed it inside his trench coat. He also pulled out a machine gun.
He stuck something else inside a coat pocket. Lucy couldn’t see what it was, only that it looked like a tiny hand-sized computer with two small antennae.
“You ready for this?” asked Gatz.
Lucy shivered and nodded her head.
The pair walked silently toward the zoo, Gatz’s coattails flapping in the night wind.
Gatz had said he knew a back route into the zoo. Figuring that Ida had surely been discovered by now, they hoped Vance’s forces were no longer on high intruder alert. However, they knew there would be enough droids stationed to make their entry difficult if not impossible.
Lucy knew that Gatz was not optimistic about her chances. She could read him well by now despite his animal tendencies. For some reason, he wanted to keep her, Ida, and Vera safe. She wondered why. Maybe there was something between Ida and Gatz, a history she didn’t know about.
It’s not like Ida made it easy to get to know her. In the time living with her, Lucy had discovered she was stubborn, mean, and angry.
She had noticed Gatz looking at Ida sometimes, but then look away if she caught his glance. The two of them had a lot of conversations that excluded
Lucy, and that hurt. They didn’t think she was grown up enough to understand things. Well, she would prove them wrong tonight.
Lucy and Gatz continued walking for several minutes, all the while watching for droids. They happened upon their first one as soon as they entered the woods along a winding path. Gatz made her wait behind a tree as he crept closer to the machine warrior. When he was ten feet away, he took the small gadget from his coat. He pointed it at the droid, the device flashed, and Lucy heard a quick pulsing sound. The droid started to turn, but then stopped and fell forward onto the ground, where it remained, inert.
Gatz stayed motionless for a few minutes. No other droids showed up. He motioned to Lucy to join him.
“What is it?” whispered Lucy, looking at the device.
“An electromagnetic pulse. Knocks out the power on machines.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Wow. For how long?”
Gatz shrugged. “Not sure. A few minutes maybe. I didn’t get much time to test this. Come on.”
They continued walking and happened upon two more droids, each of which Gatz put down again with the pulsifier. They were feeling braver, and Lucy stayed beside Gatz each time he used the weapon.
After a few minutes, they were inside the zoo’s perimeter. Gatz motioned for Lucy to slow down. They saw lights ahead in the distance, and heard a voice on a loudspeaker. They moved in that direction, but were careful to avoid the main path. Instead, they went on a small path that had once been used as a service route.
Finally, they came close enough to see what was happening. They found themselves in a small building, and climbed stairs to the second floor, where they found a broken window. It was a good vantage point, and Gatz said it would be a good spot if he had to use his long-range rifle.
After taking in the scene, Lucy was horrified to see Ida and Paul standing on top of a boulder with a machine lion circling. She could see a few people inside a glass room built into the fabricated stone facade. What a man to be hiding behind glass, leaving a woman and a teenage boy to face a lion, she thought.
Brink (Spark City Book 1) Page 14
