by Andria Stone
“Kick it into high gear, Captain. We might be in a race against time.”
He left to harness up for the quick trip to a new country, much preferring it as a vacation destination than a rescue mission. On some level, he believed Axel had a plan. Still, Mark regretted not sticking close to him once they’d landed in London.
A dire premonition wormed its way into Mark’s gut.
What if Axel’s plan didn’t include an exit strategy?
Ohashi broadcast Axel’s coordinates to everyone on the ship, including a separate file on Padhi’s plant to Kamryn and Mark. On a tip from one of his former copilot’s in Space Command, Captain Malone finagled permission to land directly in Kalyan on a small, private spaceport. After a trip to their weapons locker, Mark and Kamryn disembarked, prepared for any confrontation imaginable.
The exclusive spaceport’s fees included a round-the-clock limousine service for the duration of the ship’s stay. As they climbed in the back of a gray limo, the driver handed a list of amenities to Mark. The 24-hour service offered access to attorneys, physicians, child care, escorts, plus a host of other conveniences.
Mark handed their BOIT destination to the driver, forewarning him, “We’ve come to pick up a friend who may need a doctor before we take off.”
The attentive young man, dressed in the same shade of gray, nodded. “I shall send a notice, sir. One will be put on standby.”
Kamryn closed the transparent partition behind the driver before spreading their weapons on the floor in the back seat. They received an update on Axel’s chip location.
“According to the building’s schematics, he’s been in Padhi’s office for hours,” Kamryn said. “Maybe Axel’s waiting for Valerie, or he could be torturing Padhi. Hell, he’s had enough time to disembowel the little scumbag, chop him up, and toss the pieces out a window.”
“He wouldn’t, would he?” Mark asked.
Veiled amusement spread across her face. “Well, Padhi is colluding with the person who killed Maeve, so what do you think?”
As the limo circled BIOT’s perimeter, Kamryn used the monocular to scan the exterior. “I spot two.” She handed it to Mark, pointing to both hulking metal figures. “Why can’t we find just one location where there aren’t any cyborgs?”
Mark brushed the hair off his forehead to touch the receding bump. “Amen to that.”
Kamryn gave a suppressor to Mark, then attached one to the gun drawn from her right thigh. “Stealth mode. Don’t want to go in guns blazing.”
The driver swung around to the front and parked down the block, but maintained an unobstructed view of the main entrance. They waited. The car’s air conditioning kept them cool under their vests and layers of leather. Mark sipped water while his eyes remained glued to the BIOT building. He longed to know if his friend, his brother, was still alive. In reality, he should’ve been wondering if Padhi were still alive.
When the workday came to a close, vehicles streamed out of the parking lot until it was vacant, leaving a single car in a reserved spot. None entered. Mark became restless. He fidgeted, bouncing his leg.
Kamryn stilled it with her hand. “Chill.”
Mark turned to look at her.
“Remember what we talked about.” Kamryn’s tone bore all the trademarks of an experienced combat veteran; firm, concise, and leaving nothing to question. “I lead, you follow. When we enter, I go right, you’re left. We see a cyborg, I shoot at the right eye, you take the left one. We’re a team. I’m counting on you. If we do this right, maybe we all leave here in one piece.”
Their tablets pinged in unison.
Ohashi’s message indicated a ‘hijacked’ facial recognition program had flagged a possible candidate who’d landed in Kaylan within the last thirty minutes. Valerie’s impending arrival propelled them to high-alert as they surveilled the passengers in every passing car.
Then it happened.
A taxi pulled into BIOT’s parking lot, stopping in front of the main doors.
Mark’s gut clenched while his heart pounded in his ears.
Kamryn slid open the partition. “Get us over there, quick. Park on the right side of the building, but leave room for us to enter the car from both sides.”
In the early stages of twilight, they slipped out of the limo, moving toward the main entrance. Kamryn disabled the security camera with a quick plasma burst. Mark’s adrenaline spiked as he used his to ‘unlock’ the front door. Dim light filtered inside for a few yards, fading to pitch black farther away. The schematics on Kamryn’s tablet directed them to their desired location, the soft light from Mark’s helping them maneuver through the hallways.
***
Valerie hurried down to Samar’s office and stormed in the door. She stopped in her tracks, shocked to find a strange man sitting across from him.
They stood. Samar spoke first. “Valerie, this is Mr. Hyde.”
The stranger’s face creased into a disarming smile, but his eyes bored holes straight through her. It would’ve been quite disconcerting, if she hadn’t seen the same expression on numerous other mercenaries. Although he dressed better than the normal hired gun, Valerie suspected he belonged in that category.
“Miss Parker, you have no idea how much I’ve looked forward to meeting you.” His voice was soft and honeyed. “I delivered a load of supplies to your brother, Victor, in Polaris, but I believe he said you were in Aurora at the time.”
Valerie tossed Samar a withering look before turning back to the newcomer. “I don’t recognize your name, Mr. Hyde.”
“As I’ve already explained to Samar, I was in Victor’s office when he conducted this conversation,” Hyde said, offering the tablet to her, “which is how I knew of your relationship.”
She watched the vid while keeping one eye on Hyde. It looked as if her stupid brother had indeed allowed someone to record him engaged in an incriminating conversation.
“Please, sit here.” Hyde gestured to his chair with a flourish. “I’ll be glad to explain.”
She walked over to place her bag on it while she stalled. “Victor might have done business with you, but what makes you think I will?”
“Because the top six members operating Argus Island Spice Enterprises have just been taken into custody by the Terran military. I happen to be in possession of their entire inventory. I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse, and I’ll even waive the delivery charge—as long as it’s not off-world, of course. I have a catalogue of models, if you’d care to take a look.”
Well, now she understood his motivation. Money. It made the universe go ‘round. He probably needed to unload a considerable amount, and without delay. No wonder he was waiting for her.
A thought flashed through her mind. “I might be inclined to consider your proposal if you can prove you’re worthy of my trust.”
“And how might I do that, Miss Parker?” Hyde asked.
“Eliminate a problem for me.”
“Name it,” he said, spreading his palms wide.
“Mark Warren, a former TMD scientist.”
“Permanently?”
“Yes.”
Hyde tipped his head to hide a smile, pressing a hand to his chest. “It would be my pleasure.”
“Good. Let’s take a look at your inventory.”
“It’s on this chip.” Hyde pulled a minuscule drive from his pocket and looked at Padhi. “May I?”
Dollar signs had returned to Padhi’s eyes as he waved Hyde over to the desk. He gave up his chair for Valerie. She sat down.
Hyde moved behind them.
Neither Padhi nor Parker saw what happened next.
Chapter 24
In a split-second, Axel had delivered simultaneous knifehand moves to both Valerie and Samar, rendering them unconscious. He gave them a jolt from his stun baton, retrieved their tablets, and hefted their bodies over each shoulder before making his way back to the plant section of the building. He kept a tight rein on his emotions, concentrating solely on the task
s at hand. He’d celebrate when his mission had been completed.
Axel had memorized the plant’s schematics; its open design allowed for a clear view of the front half. He suspected the human cloning was conducted behind the walled section to the rear. At the metal doors marked Research & Development, he lifted Padhi’s eyelid for the required retinal scan. He swung open the door, and froze.
Cyborgs.
Dozens of them. Maybe 50 more, standing at attention on the left side. Row upon row of empty cryopods on the right side.
With luck, he could take out one cyborg. If he were very wily, he might outsmart one, or two. But Buddha himself was no match for this many.
Shit on a blue moon.
Axel backed out of the room an inch at a time. He ripped the doorknob out with his augmented hand, in case he wanted to return and Padhi’s retina wasn’t available.
Axel carried his prisoners up a metal stairway to the second floor, looking for a suitable location for the next phase of his plan. The first room was a spotless white lab full of stainless steel, glass beakers, and microscopes. They covered the counters as well as the center island. It looked perfect.
He taped both prisoners to chairs. Without the aid of AZ2 to chemically induce Samar from his stupor, Axel smacked him twice to bring him around. The minute his eyes popped open, Axel gave the Indian a dose of Quazar. Padhi coughed and sputtered for a while before he became lucid enough to interrogate.
Mimicking Kamryn’s style, Axel asked an easy question. “How long have you been engineering human clones?”
“Twelve…years,” Samar gurgled. His head listed to the right; a trace of white froth leaked out of his mouth, dribbling over his cheek.
Axel flashed back on Petra’s kidnapper, who’d died while being interrogated. He meant to get every bit of information he could from Samar before the same thing happened.
“How long have you been producing clones for the Parkers?”
“Two…years.”
“Tell me the reason you create human clones.”
“The money…it pays more than plants or animals.”
That’s what he needed to know. Axel fished out Samar’s tablet, had him identify his bank and passcodes. After imprinting Samar’s thumbprint on the screen, he emptied the Indian’s accounts into a Swiss account Axel had established on the flight to Mumbai.
“If you supply clones to anyone else, who are they?”
Between fits of wheezing and choking, Samar gave up the names of three people: an American, a Russian, and an Asian. As he finished, more white froth bubbled out of his mouth. A slight tremor passed through his body. His eyes rolled back. His head slumped forward.
Axel checked for a pulse. Padhi had died.
One down. One to go. Now to his prized prisoner.
He prepared for combat. With an iron will, Axel purged all emotion from his system. He tamped down the loathing he felt inside until ice ran through his veins.
Axel stepped up to Valerie. He didn’t see a woman. On the contrary, what sat in front of him was barely human. He had fantasized about ending her life in every way imaginable since Victor had revealed Valerie as Maeve’s killer. The time for restitution was at hand. For the dead to find peace, this had to be done right.
He stabbed his knife through her left hand, nailing it to the chair’s arm.
Valerie awoke from her stupor screaming obscenities, her eyes big as moon rocks, spittle flying everywhere. Axel backhanded her across the face. She shut up, though the hate and agony on her face spoke volumes.
Axel stepped aside, pointing a gloved finger at Padhi’s corpse. “You no longer have a business partner.” He withdrew his second blade, toying with it while he spoke in an easy-going, melodious tone. “In case you were wondering, Hyde is not my name. I’m not an arms dealer.”
Valerie snarled, tried to squirm, but the tape held her in place. Blood oozed up around the blade in her hand, a thin crimson rivulet dripping to the floor.
“Do you remember the three Terran soldiers you and Victor murdered in your electronics shop on the Mars Space Station, then stashed their bodies in your bakery’s cooler?”
For a millisecond, a light flared in Valerie’s eyes.
“Answer me,” Axel demanded, “or I’ll hack you to pieces, starting there.” He pointed to her impaled hand.
“It wasn’t me,” she wailed. “My idiot brother did that.”
“Strange, Victor said you killed both the Asian and the woman.” Axel took an ominous step closer. “The woman, Colonel Maeve Sorayne, was incredibly special to me. I’ve been tracking you ever since. Because, today, I mean to watch you die, just as you watched her die.”
Valerie blanched, the color draining from her face. Desperation transformed her features into those of one who feared the end was near.
Axel went for the kill shot. “Beth Coulter murdered your parents. She brainwashed you and Victor to do her bidding. Except you two were Plan B, because she didn’t trust you to be successful, so she made clones of herself. They were Plan A.
“Nooo!” she howled.
“Oh, yes.” Axel savored the sting his words left. “Warren and I hunted Coulter like a rabid dog until he finally killed her, but not before she had her merc blow off two of my limbs, which made me a human cyborg.” Axel scooped a microscope off the island with his left hand, squeezed it in half, shattering pieces over the floor. He grinned as the terror grew in Valerie’s eyes.
“When we docked on the Martian Space Station, you had an MPLE undercover agent murdered instead of Mark Warren. That’s how we discovered you and your relationship to Coulter. We found Victor, got him arrested, disrupted your plans for the coup, and stopped Dreghor’s attempted sabotage of the Martian communication satellites. It’s been us all along. Your stupid, vindictive screw up caused your own downfall. I want you to take that to the grave.”
Valerie began to shriek, howling atrocities in at least two languages, before he jabbed her with the Quazar. Then she shut down, as if someone had pulled the plug. Her eyes drifted a bit, then glassed over.
“Where’s your money?”
No response.
Axel thought for a second. “Miss Parker, this is your financial institution. For security reasons, we need to verify your account information.”
Valerie recited her Luxembourg account data and obligingly pressed a thumbprint on her tablet’s screen, transferring everything to Axel’s new Swiss account.
After his thorough grilling about additional cyborg or clone manufacturers, arms dealers, crooked politicians, and neural implants resulted in no additional intel, Axel broached one last subject.
“Miss Parker, who were your military contacts on Mars?”
“Major Braxton Fisher and Cyber Dushane Wright.”
Axel knew too well the penalties for shoddy intel, which forced him to ask the last question.
“And who were your military contacts on Terra?”
“Colonel Oliva Rushing.”
This rendered Axel dumbstruck.
A moment later, he heard a noise and spun around to see Kamryn recording the scene on her tablet and Mark standing in the doorway. “That bitch!”
***
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Mark raised both hands in surrender, knowing he never should have surprised Axel while he held a weapon. “You were doing so well. I was just blindsided. That hypocritical, duplicitous bitch Rushing accused me of treason.”
Axel look annoyed, but not surprised. “How’d you find me?”
“We’re smart,” Mark said.
“And we have a limo waiting,” Kamryn added, feeling antsy. “We should go.”
“I’m not finished,” Axel said.
“Okay, we’ll wait.” Kamryn crossed her arms, nodding toward the Indian. “What happened to him?”
“Pre-existing condition.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve encountered those.” Mark frowned. “We saw your handiwork on the door to Fort Cyborg downstairs. Think we ought
to address that situation?”
“I had considered a little firework display to celebrate.”
“Well, we didn’t bring any Roman candles, but let me see what I can find.” Mark rummaged in the cabinets for any useful chemicals.
Axel tossed his knife to Kamryn, and pointed to the Indian. She sliced the tapes, freeing Padhi from the chair while Axel pulled the knife out of Valerie’s hand and cut the tapes to release her. “We’re taking these two back to Research & Development. Meet us there.” He flung a semi-conscious Valerie over his shoulder. Kamryn followed carrying the Indian.
Downstairs, they slipped into the room, careful not to disturb the immobile cyborgs. Skirting the wall to the right thirty feet down, Axel spotted several open cryopods. He dumped Valerie in the first one. Kamryn discarded the Indian into the second.
Mark appeared holding beakers full of different colored liquids. He whispered, “How big a Roman candle do you want?”
“Blow ’em all to hell.” Although Axel’s chiseled features appeared serene, the fire in his eyes spoke to the depth of his emotions.
Kamryn stood close to Axel. They watched Mark stay as far away from the metal giants as possible while pouring his impromptu concoction around the perimeter of the large R&D section. He joined them with one half-full beaker and a big grin. “Just say when.”
“Wait for me outside,” Axel said. “I need a minute.”
They took up sentry duty in the hall on either side of the door, glancing at each other first, then looking straight ahead. In the stillness of the all but deserted building, Kamryn wondered if her friend would walk out of there intact, or be scarred forever. He needed to do this his way. She knew that, and she respected it. Only, she had no idea what kind of long-term effect it might have on him.
Axel had always been the rock. Everyone relied on him for strength, courage, and support. Since Maeve’s death, he’d floundered, become withdrawn, secretive. He’d had a crush on Maeve before losing his arm and leg, but the TMD prohibited fraternization between ranks. After Axel’s surgery had resulted in his discharge from the service, Maeve had surprised everyone by making the first move. They’d become soulmates. Like Major Torance had said, they were made for each other.
