The chancellor smiled and stood from behind her desk. Average height with a compact body and rigid posture in a familiar black and red uniform. “Chancellor Kana will do, Miss Glenn. May I call you Jeanell?”
“Yes, um, of course.”
“Excellent. I’m sorry for the rough treatment you’re endured here, Jeanell. Sometimes my staff becomes overly zealous in the pursuit of my… satisfaction. But I never would have told them to torture you, or any of your friends.”
“One of them died, Tony Mathers, apparently trying to escape.”
The chancellor nodded. “So I understand. But of course, there’s nothing that can be done about that now; it’s not like I’ve got a time machine or anything… even comparable.”
Jeanell had seen this coming, and was ready to pursue her new suicide mission. But seeing that the chancellor was a woman threw Jeanell off her game, made her rethink her strategy. She couldn’t help but wonder. If this chancellor’s a woman, maybe she can be reasoned with.
Jeanell said, “Chancellor Kana, you’ve done so much with our country. Don’t you think it’d be best or everyone if the whole time hole thing just got overlooked?”
“There’s tremendous power there, Jeanell.”
“So I understand. My only concern would be that somebody might use that power against you!”
“But how can they, if I control that power?”
“Well, Chancellor Kana, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in all this, it’s that once power is unleashed, in can be really hard to control and to regulate. And I know how critical those things to your regime.” The chancellor looked on, unimpressed.
Jeanell went on, “I helped create the synthetic black hole tech sixty years ago, and now it’s everywhere. The cat’s out of the bag on that, I’d say. Once the time hole thing becomes practical, doable, somebody sometime somewhere is going to get that tech. If they do, who knows what the first name on their list will be?”
Chancellor Kana nodded, taking a few steps around the office. “I’m protected here in the tower.”
“Well of course, Chancellor Kana. And it really is some tower, so impressive. But you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in here, right? You’ve got the whole world to look after.”
“That’s true.”
“Better to leave these things undiscovered, don’t you think?”
“Okay, Jeanell, you make a good point.”
Jeanell smiled. “You’re so wise, Chancellor Kana.”
The chancellor nodded and turned to the armed guard. “Kill her.”
Jeanell said, “What? No!”
Chancellor Kana said, “I see now the logic of your position, Jeanell. And since you’re the onlyreal link to that technology, you have to be eliminated.”
“But, I can’t help you, or anyone, I explained—”
“The whole notion that you got here at all has to be erased,” Chancellor Kana said. “No trace at all of it should linger; that means taking care of you.”
Oh no, Jeanell thought, I should have stuck to the original plan, at least I could have struck a blow against her, maybe sabotaged that collider. Now it’s too late and I’m going to die in vain. Please, God, don’t let it hurt!
“Wait,” Brad said, “wait a minute.” He stepped toward Jeanell with that haughty, arrogant smile. He raised a hand to Jeanell’s cheek, gently stroking it with the backs of his fingers. “That would be such a waste of this pretty face. I’ve got a better idea.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ric and Reeves had no trouble getting into their new white suits, courtesy of poor dead Graham. They holed nearby and simply strolled up to the chancellor’s tower, as anybody still could at that time. Reeves drew looks, due to his dark skin, but otherwise all was promising.
Reeves did his part as they had planned, taking his place in front of the tower’s southeast entrance. He walked right up to an armed guard, stopped, and spat right in the guard’s face. Taken completely aback, the guard leveled his weapon to kill Reeves on the spot for his crime. But Reeves was fast and he cut around the corner of the building.
But the guard was no dummy, and though he left his post in front of the door, he wasn’t about to go running around a blind corner, one of the few as
the tower walls were solid and not transparent like most. So the guard stopped at the entrance of the alley, raised his machine gun, and prepared to blast whoever or whatever was in his sites.
But he didn’t count on Ric, who’d been looting unseen just a few feet away. He rammed the guard from behind before he could shoot, and the two men tumbled into the alley, where Reeves waited to finish the man off with a sharp twist of the neck.
The rest of the plan was just as elegantly simple. They dragged the guard deeper into the alley and Ric swapped clothes, donning the armed guard uniform and redressing the guard in his civilian whites.
Then Ric walked Reeves, with his hands behind his back as if he were handcuffed, right into the tower in plain view of everyone. The only risk was that someone would notice that the southeast entrance had been abandoned, and that was likelier to happen sooner rather than later. So Ric and Reeves wasted no time getting to the elevator to ascend to the upper floors.
But neither Ric nor Reeves had any way to know where Jeanell and the others would be, or what they’d be stepping into when they got off that elevator. And before they could find out, somebody else stepped into it—two chancellery officers. And they instantly focused in on Ric and Reeves.
One asked Ric, “What’s all this?”
Ric said, “This… thing spat in my face.”
The officers looked at each other. “Why didn’t you just shoot it? That’s what the damned gun is for!” The two officers chuckled, Ric and Reeves didn’t. “And why aren’t you at your post?”
Ric’s mouth went dry. “I got somebody else to cover for me. And I think this guy’s got some info for us.”
“Yeah? About what?”
Ric looked Reeves over, menacingly. “Not sure. But look at him; you know he’s hiding something. He’s a criminal!”
One of the officers shrugged. “Well, obviously.”
The other guard said to Ric, “Okay, we’ll take it from here.”
Ric said, “I’m sorry?”
The other guard said, “You go back down to your post and we’ll take the prisoner up from here.”
“But… he’s my prisoner.”
One of the officers snarled at Ric. “Are you disobeying a direct order?”
“Well, no, of course not, but—”
“Then surrender the prisoner and stand down or be shot!”
“Oh, um, okay,” Ric said, “I understand.” He and Reeves shared a quick glance before Reeves burst forth in an attack on one of the officers, wrapping his massive black hands around the man’s skinny white throat.
The officer went for his gun, but Ric grabbed it first and pistol whipped the other officer with two sharp blows, putting the man on the elevator floor, where his partner soon joined him. Ric asked, “Think there’s time for another quick change?”
The lights along the elevator doors indicated the third floor from the top. The elevator doors slid open, and Ric and Reeves realized they were out of options. Reeves took the officers’ handguns and daggers, Ric still holding the machine gun.
“Okay,” Ric said, “let’s do this.” After a tense silence and before stepping out into the hallway, Ric added, “See you on the other side.”
“Yes, you will.”
***
Chancellor Kana said, “No, she dies now.”
“But… why? I want her!”
“She’ll get loose, escape. We can’t afford that. I can’t afford it.”
“Where is she gonna go?” Brad looked her over. “I’ve waited a long, long time for this.”
Chancellor Kana said, “One more word and I’ll have you both shot.” She turned to an armed guard. “Do it, do it now!”<
br />
Jeanell’s instincts threw her legs into action, arms stretched out as she charged the guard. It was a desperate attempt, a Hail Mary pass, but soon enough, she clutched the machine gun between them, grunting and gasping as she tried to pull the gun out of the man’s hands, but he was almost twice her size and she had no chance of taking control of the weapon.
Vice Chancellor Haines shook his head, a pathetic half smile on his bony face. He said, “Give it up, Miss Glenn. You’re a national hero! The very least you can do is die like one.”
Jeanell ignored him, feebly pulling at the big machine gun. And even if she couldn’t wrest if from his hands, at least she couldn’t be shot by that automatic rifle from that position.
Chancellor Kana finally said, “Enough is enough,” before pulling a handgun from a black leather shoulder holster of her black-and-red uniform. She leveled the gun at the back of Jeanell’s head.
Bang! Bang! Jeanell’s legs buckled, but her legs didn’t give out. She remained on her feet, though for a moment she was sure that she was dead and that her body just didn’t know it.
Bang, bam, bam, bam! Both Jeanell and the chancellor behind her looked over to see their armed guard running across the office to the double doors. More muffled gunshots rang out behind that.
The chancellor wrapped her arm around Jeanell’s neck, pushing the barrel of the gun against her temple.
The vice chancellor asked his superior, “What are you doing, Heir Chancellor? Kill her, kill her now!”
“It’s too late, you fool! We’re besieged. We need her as a hostage now.” She turned to Brad. “You, get a gun and start shooting.”
Brad asked, “What? Wait, no.”
The chancellor said, “I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t do guns. I’m a terrible shot. Really, I’d probably do more harm than good.”
The chancellor smiled, glancing at Jeanell in her grip. She said to Brad, “You’re a lover, not a fighter.”
“Right, exactly.”
“Excellent,” the chancellor said, leveling her handgun at Brad and shooting twice. Brad took the first shot in the chest and the second in the forehead, his body flying back, eyes wide and stunned.
Jeanell’s heart pounded in her chest, her breath thin in her lungs even as a surprised gasp spilled out of her mouth. But she didn’t have time to think about it for long before the chancellor returned the gun to her temple and said to Vice Chancellor Haines, “Take a position at the door.”
“I should hang back, stay close to you.”
The chancellor thought about it, then nodded and turned to the double doors, gunfire and screaming muffled behind those golden gates.
They wouldn’t hold for long.
***
Outside, Ric and Reeves had cut a bloody swath down the gold-drenched hallways of the chancellor’s tower. Reeves wielding a machine gun and Ric two handguns, one in each hand. Bam, bam, bam! Two men fell to Ric’s bullets, and another three to Reeves’ barrage. But both men were quick to discard their weapons and replace them with those of their fallen enemies. They had still been one level below the chancellor’s office, and both were armed with machine guns. Rat-tat-tat-tat, their enemies fell, but not without a fight. Bullets whizzed by overhead, planting unto the walls nearby, the floor at their feet, scars dug into the soft gold walls.
Reeves pitched back with an oof! Ric provided cover fire, clearing the hallway before turning to Reeves as he bent forward. “Reeves, you okay?”
He winced, teeth gritted. “For now,” he said, “ain’t put me down yet.”
“Where?”
“Right thigh.” Ric knew how bad that was; Reeves needed those legs to survive the mission, and to accomplish his goal. There would also be a lot of blood loss, probably enough to seal the man’s fate.
“You can push on?” Reeves nodded, and Ric went on to ask, “Loaded up?”
Reeves peered down the hall. “That guy owes me a gun. Let’s go collect.”
They moved quickly down the hall, dropping their weapons and taking up new ones at every turn. Reeves winced again and nearly fell off his feet, but Ric braced the big man with a hand on his arm. They crept forward together, the haze of gunfire thick in the air. Though it was 2076, it could have been 2016, or 1926. That ancient weapon of death still reigned supreme, and no sophisticated building material or transportation device could stop its deadly power.
Some things never changed.
Two more armed guards stepped into the hall and called out, “You there, stop! What’s going on here?” But they had already leveled their weapons at Ric and Reeves, ready to mow them down in a kill-or-be-killed confrontation of shoot first, ask questions later.
But Ric and Reeves were ready too, crouched down and shooting for all their worth. Ric saw the two men in front of them snap back, their Kevlar vests ineffective against the severity of their own weapons turned against them.
The two men crumpled, one still shooting with the twitch of his death nerve. Ric’s heart pounded, hands slippery with sweat.
Ric turned to urge Reeves forward, but his partner was already slumped against the wall with a bloodied chest, eyes staring out for their last glimpse of the planet Earth.
Ric fell to him. “Reeves, buddy, I’m… I’m sorry.”
Reeves looked at him, eyes filled with blood. “Get her out, boy… get… her…”
Reeves slumped into death, tears rolling down Ric’s cheek. He set Reeves’ head onto the floor and whispered with a bittersweet chuckle, “Don’t call me boy.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
In the chancellor’s office, tension rose quickly as Ric made his way down that hall toward them. He was filled with vengeful passion, blasting away with two machine guns, one in each hand. Ric had so many deaths to avenge, so many wrongs to make right.
But behind those golden doors, Jeanell had no idea what was happening. She imagined it might be Ric, hoped it might be, but it was a hope against hope. She knew it couldn’t be any of the surviving captives; none of them had the strength or resources or opportunity to create the racket that was working its way toward them.
Could it be another country’s forces, Jeanell had to wonder, or a coup from the chancellor’s own forces, finally turning against her?
Her, Jeanell silently repeated. How can any woman wield such horror and tyranny over a people, a nation, the entire world? That’s what men do.
But Jeanell couldn’t deny that evil, corruption, desire for power and control, wasn’t only the purview of men. Jeanell herself had tasted the corruption of the sensual bath, surrounded by luxury, known that temptation. Jeanell knew she always had some hidden desire for power, for fame, which fostered her years of research.
But she hadn’t given in to these things, while Chancellor Kana had. But the chancellor who held the gun on Jeanell, and the chancellor’s arm wrapped around Jeanell’s throat, threatening to choke her off there and then, and leave her for dead. But Jeanell also knew that whoever was on the other side of that door would soon reach them, and that Chancellor Kana’s chances were really not much better than Jeanell’s.
Jeanell wouldn’t die in vain after all, and she’d have to be content with that.
That’s when the golden doors finally flew open, kicked in with a mighty blow. Jeanell and the chancellor behind her turned to see Ric pour into the room alone, eyes quick to sum up his adversaries.
First up was the vice chancellor, who pointed his gun dead-center at Ric’s chest and fired. But Ric came in fast and quickly ducked, barely missed by the vice chancellor’s deadly fire. Ric barrel-rolled out and, instead of shooting the vice chancellor, brandished one of the dead officer’s stolen daggers and planted it deep into Vice Chancellor Haines’ gut.
The men stared each other down, but Ric knew there was no time for any intense exchange. The chancellor already leveled her gun at them both. Ric jerked the dagger several times, the vice chancellor wincing in his death thro
ws. Ric dropped the vice chancellor’s lifeless corpse and turned his machine gun on the chancellor, Jeanell still in his grip.
It had happened in a blinding flash, but now the moment seemed to Jeanell to have slowed to a crawl, as time itself suddenly stood still.
Ric and Chancellor Kana stared each other down. Jeanell knew Chancellor Kana couldn’t afford to turn her gun on Ric again, lest Jeanell be able to wrestle herself free and leave the chancellor exposed. The pistol to Jeanell’s head was a good part of what was keeping her in Kana’s clutches. But both Jeanell and the chancellor knew that Ric wouldn’t open fire with a machine gun with Jeanell in front of the chancellor as a human shield; Jeanell’s accidental death would be certain.
They were deadlocked and both knew it.
“Ric,” the chancellor said, “I knew you’d come.” Ric offered no answer. The chancellor went on, “I’ve heard about you, young man, that you’re a real leader. Impressive.” Still no answer came back, but Jeanell was locked on the intensity of their interaction. Chancellor Kana added, “The fact that you’re here now tells me the stories I’ve heard are true, perhaps even understated.”
Ric snarled at the chancellor, fingers craning around that machine gun, silently calculating his next move.
The chancellor said, “You’ve got nothing to say for yourself? You murder my guards, assassinate my vice chancellor, hold me at gunpoint! All this and you have nothing at all to say?”
Ric gritted his teeth, rescuing the machine gun in his grip. “Hello, Mother.”
Jeanell silently repeated, Mother? What?
She said, “I should have known you’d come under circumstances like these.” Chancellor Kana looked Jeanell over, still pinned in front of her. “You show good taste.”
“Let her go,” Ric said.
“Don’t be absurd!”
A thick tension filled the room, no more gunfire in the outside hallways. Ric glanced toward the stillness of the door. “You said it yourself; your guards are all dead, Mother, your vice chancellor, your regime’s finished.”
Maruvian Bride (Alien SciFi Romance) (Celestial Mates Book 5) Page 37
