Enhanced
Page 32
Blood drenched Sinclair as she watched on. Dread filled her as the clone pointed the gun at her.
With a flick of its wrist, it handed her the gun. “I always had my doubts about him; still I can always trust you, Jane.”
She smiled again as she worked through her options in her head. The clone repeated its orders to the pilot and the chopper once again headed towards the battle.
The chopper was still a good quarter of a mile from the mayhem, when the clone spotted the real Dominic. It pressed its face hard against the window, like a child staring into a sweet shop.
The clone whipped around violently and faced Sinclair.
She was sure she was going to die.
The clone grabbed the gun, which she still held in her hand.
She closed her eyes.
There was a single gunshot and the chopper began to spiral violently.
Sinclair opened her eyes — she was still alive, but for how long?
The clone had shot the pilot in the head and was now pushing him out of the cockpit door. It clambered into the pilot’s seat and directed the chopper straight at the ground ahead.
Sinclair stared out of the window, then realized what the clone was doing. It was trying to crash the chopper into Dominic!
She lunged forward and grabbed the clone around its neck and pulled back hard.
However, like Dominic, the clone could make its body stretch and contort. Its neck bent to avoid breaking. Its left arm stretched just enough, allowing it to elbow her in the face. Sinclair slumped back in her seat.
The clone tilted the chopper so that the rotor blades faced directly towards its intended target. Its eyes narrowed as the chopper hammered towards the ground.
37
Zac looked up to see a large chopper heading straight for them, its rotor blades only feet from the ground. It was crashing, and they were directly in its path!
Zac had no time to think, and nowhere to go. He had only one option — straight up!
He reached down and grabbed Dominic under his arms — this was going to take split second timing. Jump too soon and they would land in the rotor blades. Jump too late and the chopper would cut them to shreds.
Everything seemed to slow as he prepared himself. He could see each of the four rotor blades as they spun. With each beat of his heart, the blades came closer to the ground.
When the first blade made contact with the soil, it instantly started to splinter.
By this time, Zac was in a crouching position, and as the first blade began to shatter, he pushed up with all his strength. He needed to clear the full span of the spinning blades, which was at least forty feet.
Dominic’s eyes moved from the fast approaching chopper to Zac’s face. Zac could see fear in his eyes, which was something he hadn’t expected.
As his feet left the ground, all four blades of the chopper began to spray lethal shards of metal in every direction.
Gunfire broke out behind him as the subjects tried to break through the lines held by his friends. The subjects were attempting to outrun the rapidly descending helicopter.
As Dominic and Zac shot higher into the air, the main body of the chopper slammed into the ground. A great cloud of dust erupted in the direction of the gunfire, obliterating the battle from view.
Zac pulled Dominic close to his body in an attempt to gain a few more precious inches of height between them and the ravenous beast of a machine, which devoured all in its path.
Dominic wrapped his arms around Zac’s mid-section as they began to rotate through the air.
The chopper was passing under them now, and as they began to spin, Zac had a clear view of the side of the chopper. Someone was jumping out of the pilot’s door, but he couldn’t get a clear look to see who it was.
They were beginning to hurtle back down towards the ground — both had cleared the main rotors, but large pieces of the blade still shot past them as they began to descend.
A feeling of relief rushed through Zac’s mind — they’d made it. However, as fast as the feeling had arrived, it left again, forced out by a feeling of panic — the chopper was beginning to turn as it slid along the ground. They were now heading directly for the chopper’s tail rotors! The two were only a matter of feet from the fast moving, skyward pointing human blender.
Zac pushed at Dominic, trying to force him clear.
Dominic hadn’t seen the blades; his back to the ground, he gripped Zac tighter, clearly thinking he was up to something.
“Look out, behind you — the blades!” Zac screamed. This time, he used his knee as well as his arms to push him away.
Dominic began to move to the right, his eyes now fixed on the machine below; Zac moved left.
Zac watched as Dominic’s face creased with pain, and he let out a gut wrenching scream. The blades devoured his legs — everything below his knees shredded like mince meat.
The moment his legs hit the damaged blades, they exploded into a thousand pieces. Although the shards this rotor threw out weren’t as large as the main blades, they were just as dangerous.
Four pieces tore into Zac’s body, two in his chest and shoulder, one into his abdomen. The last tore straight through his thigh, leaving a large gaping hole; it was his turn to scream with pain.
Dominic hit the ground a split second before Zac. He grabbed for his legs the moment he hit terra firma.
As Zac’s body slammed into the ground, he turned his head towards the chopper. It was still sliding away from them, as everything seemed to return to normal. The sensation of time slowing down was replaced by the burning sensation of the hot shrapnel in his body.
He looked down his length as he lay on the ground. Three jagged pieces of metal protruded from his flesh.
He grabbed hold of the first in his shoulder and yanked it free. His head swam with pain, but he needed to continue. He grabbed the second, the one in his chest, and pulled. There was more resistance with this one — it didn’t want to come out. He roared with pain as it slowly, reluctantly, released its hold on his flesh and bone.
His head fell back to the dirt as he dropped the large splinter of metal onto the ground beside him. He rolled onto his side and vomited, overwhelmed by the pain and the physical exertion. He lay there panting, his cheek covered in dirt and vomit. He felt like he couldn’t go on — his body had gone through too much. Even with his accelerated healing speed, he couldn’t take much more.
He lay staring at the chopper as smoke started to pour from it. His eyes flicked from one hacked and shredded body to another, the only remains of the subjects who hadn’t been fast enough to escape its destructive path.
I could just close my eyes and sleep. Would anyone even care now?
Zac struggled to keep his eyes open.
Suddenly, a pair of feet dashed past his face, only inches from his nose. Instinctively, he raised his head to see who they belonged to.
He saw the back of a man as he rushed towards Dominic’s body. Dominic hadn’t made a sound for a while, and he assumed he must be dead. The man was carrying something but what was it? He craned his head higher as he looked down the full length of his body in Dominic’s direction. He blinked his eyes, trying to force them to focus. The man had something, long and flat. What was that thing?
Then, as if to answer his thoughts, the man rammed the thing into Dominic’s midsection — it was a large piece of the chopper’s main blade!
Dominic roared — he was alive, but for how long? This man, whoever he was, wanted him dead!
Zac felt all his strength flowing back into him; he hadn’t gotten Dominic this far just to let some madman kill him now.
Zac struggled to his feet as he ripped the last shard of metal from his stomach. He held it in his right hand, like some obscene and jagged blood-soaked dagger. Just as the man was about to thrust his weapon into Dominic again, Zac charged into him from behind.
As the two flew over the top of Dominic, Zac looked down. Doc’s son didn’t look good.
Dominic’s assailant hit the dirt hard, but didn’t release his grip on the piece of rotor blade, which he wielded like a mediaeval sword. The man had hardly hit the ground before he was on his feet again. He spun on his heels to face Zac, the large piece of the helicopter blade raised, ready for the attack.
Zac skidded to a stop as he finally got a look at the man’s face. What was going on? He looked back at Dominic, still on the ground, soaked in blood. Then he looked at the man stood before him. Another Dominic! What the fuck was going on?
He had no time to consider the conundrum. Whoever this man was, he was now charging in his direction, and he had murder in his eyes!
Zac readied himself for the attack, but it soon became clear he wasn’t the intended target. The attacker’s whole will seemed focused on the injured Dominic.
Zac needed to stop him. He was certain the injured man was the real Dominic; he had felt all his hatred towards him. However, from the man before him, he felt nothing. It was as if he were empty, hollow in some way. Nevertheless, he seemed intent on causing the real Dominic’s demise.
As the fake Dominic charged past him, Zac grabbed his arm and jerked him to a sudden stop.
His feet flew into the air as Zac rammed his body down and into the ground. The improvised weapon he carried flew from his hand.
Zac pinned the duplicate to the ground; the pinned man’s eyes never left the injured Dominic. He flailed wildly at Zac with his hands, but he made no real effort to hurt him; he just wanted to get to his target. Zac knew as long as this man drew breath, he would try to kill Dominic — he couldn’t allow that.
He looked the man in the face and said, “I’m sorry.” He drove his makeshift dagger deep into the doppelgängers chest.
His eyes fixed on Zac; he looked confused. Still, Zac felt no fear, anger, or any other emotion coming from him, except one — confusion.
As its eyes began to close, Zac could hear the familiar shouts of Martinez coming from the direction of the burning chopper.
He looked in his direction.
Martinez, Lea, and a small group of locals made their way around the downed chopper with their guns raised. As soon as Martinez spotted Zac, he lowered his gun and ran over. By the time he’d reached him, Dominic’s doppelgänger was dead.
“You finally killed the bastard,” Martinez said, as he stared at the dead man.
“No, I didn’t.” Jumping to his feet, he headed for the real Dominic.
Martinez did a double take as he looked from one Dominic to the other.
“We need Doc and we need him now!” Zac shouted as he dropped to his knees beside the real Dominic.
He looked pale; he’d lost a lot of blood and was now unconscious.
“I’m on it!” Martinez shouted as he grabbed his throat mike.
Lea joined Zac at Dominic’s side. She flung her arms around him as he tried to slow the bleeding.
“Thank God you’re alive,” she whispered as she pushed her face into his neck.
Martinez was soon at Zac’s side and helped him as he tended Dominic’s injuries. Martinez used his and Lea’s belts as tourniquets on his shredded legs.
“Doc is on his way,” Martinez said as he tightened the tourniquets. “Oscar’s bringing him in the chopper. He should be here in minutes.”
“Where are Matt and Jacobson? Are they okay?”
Martinez nodded. “They’re fine. The chopper impact killed most of Dominic’s people. The others headed into the jungle. James and Matt have taken some of the local fighters and headed off to round them up. It shouldn’t be too hard — as soon as they saw Dominic losing ground to you, all the fight seemed to just leave them.”
At that moment, Zac heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. He looked up and saw a small chopper descending towards the camp with stretchers strapped to its landing skids. The opening scene of the old TV show, M*A*S*H, flashed through his mind as he watched it descend.
From the other direction, he heard Jacobson shout.
Jacobson, accompanied by Matt, led a young and scared looking male. The young man looked out of place — he was definitely un-enhanced. The three walked quickly towards him.
“We found this guy in the jungle. He hasn’t said a word and he hasn’t offered any resistance. We thought it best if we brought him back to the camp,” Jacobson said, as he came to a stop.
All three men looked down at Dominic.
The young man’s face turned deathly white as he started to mumble.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to do. I thought he was going to kill me. He killed Chester. I thought I was next.” The young man’s eyes never left Dominic.
As everyone stared at the frightened and incoherent man, Doc arrived and dropped down at his son’s side.
The old man began to sob as he held his son’s hand.
“Dominic, can you hear me? I love you, son.” He laid his head on his son’s chest and wept shamelessly.
Once again, the young man with Jacobson began to mumble.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I just wanted to escape. I shouldn’t have implanted the instruction to kill him.”
Zac’s head snapped in his direction. He stood quickly and grabbed the young man firmly by the shoulders. “What do you know about this? What did you do?”
The young man began to weep.
“Dominic made Chester and me create that clone.” He pointed to the other Dominic, who lay dead on the ground. “At first we thought Dominic had good intentions, but it soon became apparent that we were wrong about him. Dominic killed Chester a short time ago; I knew I would be next, so I implanted a command in the clone. That command was to kill Dominic if they met. I was terrified; I didn’t know what else to do.”
Doc stood bolt upright and stared from one Dominic to the other. Then he rushed over to the young man. Pushing Zac to one side, he grabbed the weeping man by the lapels. “Where’s your lab, Does it have a maturation chamber?”
The young man stared back at Doc. He seemed stunned, unable to take in what was happening.
Doc shook him hard and shouted, “Think! We still have time to save him. Now think!”
The young man suddenly seemed to spring to life. He had obviously realized what Doc was going to do.
“Yes, of course, follow me. This way.”
The young man broke free from Matt’s grip and sprinted off. Doc was hot on his tail. He shouted over his shoulder, “Bring Dominic — and the clone!”
“Martinez, Jacobson, you grab Dominic. I’ll get the clone,” Zac shouted as he ran over and picked up Dominic’s duplicate.
He headed off after Doc. As he ran, he looked over in the direction of the others. Martinez and Jacobson already had Dominic in their arms and were moving quickly. Matt had Lea by the hand as they followed.
38
Sinclair woke to the smell of burning; she opened her eyes and looked around.
She was still in the chopper and O’Brien’s dead body lay slumped on top of her. His body had most likely saved her life, absorbing most of the force of the impact. He had worked like a giant and gruesome air bag. She pushed the dead man off her.
The burning smell was getting stronger; she knew she had to get out of the downed aircraft, and fast! She looked up at the door, now above her head. She clambered up the seats and reached for the handle.
Thank god, she thought as it opened. She had feared the force of the crash might have jammed it.
She slowly looked out of the open door. She needed to get out, but she didn’t want to run into any unwelcome hands. She looked to her right and saw Zac facing off with the clone. His back was to her, and she knew he wouldn’t notice her.
She scanned the area quickly, but couldn’t see anyone else to pose her any problems. She quic
kly checked her breast pocket and sighed with relief as she felt the rectangular shape of the small hard drive, which contained her fortune.
Her gaze turned to the jungle as she smiled to herself. Seconds later she bolted for the undergrowth.
Moments after she left the wrecked chopper, it exploded into flames, the force of the explosion knocking her to the ground.
Sinclair was back on her feet in a flash. Quickening her pace, she started for the jungle once more. She moved quickly and silently through the jungle as she headed for a village ten miles from Dominic’s base. She had already arranged and paid for transport from the area, she just needed to get to the village. The plans had been put in place a year before.
While working as a war journalist for the BBC she had learned many lessons, the most important of which was … always have more than one exit plan.
* * *
The doors to the lab were already open when they reached the building. The young man, who had now introduced himself as Josh Mullen, led the way, closely followed by Doc.
Josh headed straight for a computer terminal as he shouted, “Take off all of Dominic’s clothes and place him in that chamber.” He pointed in the direction of a large glass cylindrical chamber.
He pulled something from his pocket and shoved it into the front of the computer, then typed rapidly on a keyboard. “Give me a few seconds, I have to run the OS off the thumb drive. It will be a little sluggish but it will still work.”
About ten seconds later, the cylinder began to rise into the air, allowing Martinez and Jacobson to lay Dominic on its base. Then they quickly began tearing off his clothes.
Josh left the computer and rushed over to join Martinez and Jacobson. He picked up a long pointed probe attached to a number of thick cables. He examined the probe quickly, then plunged it into Dominic’s navel. His two on-lookers winced as the probe sunk deeper into Dominic’s flesh. Josh then ran back to the computer terminal.
Doc shouted, “Zac, put the clone on the table.” He pointed to a large table, which resembled something that might be seen in an operating theatre. “Josh, where are the syringes?”