Breaking and Entering

By: SilvorMoon

The matter of technology in the colonies was a tricky one. The knowledge of how to make things had been carefully preserved over the years, but the resources to create some of them had become severely limited. Anyone who wanted something elaborate like a computer had to have the ability to either build it themselves or to fork over tremendous amounts of money to get someone else to do it. That was why security cameras were such rare things, even at the front gates of a colony where they would presumably be useful.

You could put something quite large just outside of a colony wall without attracting any notice.

Jack and his friends had been camped outside the walls of the Momentum colony for the last day or so. So had quite a lot of other creatures. Aki and Ruka had been taking turns at calling in every monster their limited strength could reach, while their dragon friends were flying in every direction to gather up every monster they could find. It seemed to be working. Within the first hour, small moving specks could be seen trundling across the wasteland or sailing through the sky. Soon there was a veritable host of them, shuffling and muttering with pent-up anticipation. Gossip was spreading among them. They were telling each other that the end of the storms might be at hand, that the one who had dragged them away from their homes was about to be made to suffer.

Jack was rather pleased with the result.

"Are we waiting much longer?" asked Crow. "These guys are getting restless." He stroked the head of one of the many birds that had taken to perching on or around him whenever he stood still. Jack had a vague impression that they were somehow connected to the centipede-like dragon that had carried Crow here.

"Don't ask me," said Jack. "Ask those guys."

He waved in the direction of Yusei and Bruno, who were crouched on the ground with heaps of papers spread out in front of them. Occasionally the wind would snatch one up, and the ever-present Kuribon would bounce off and catch it. The two men took little notice. They were deeply involved in refining their plans for creating permanent gates out of the computer systems. They spent a lot of time throwing large words around that Jack had no understanding of, so he had ignored them. As long as they eventually came up with workable answers, he didn't care what they did in the meantime.

"Wish they'd hurry it up," said Crow. "Between you and me, this is giving me the creeps. All those eyes..."

Jack looked around. There certainly were a lot of eyes looking at them, from creatures ranging from nearly human on up to things he didn't have names for. He didn't mind them staring, though. He found them comforting. It was nice to know he had all that on his side.

Rua came rushing out of the crowd. With nothing better to do, he'd taken to playing with some of the smaller monsters, a few of which had even more energy than he did.

"Hey, guess what!" he shouted. "We found Merina!"

"That's a relief," said Carly. "I was really worried about her."

"She's okay," said Rua. "She's pretty shaken up, but I don't think she's hurt or anything."

"Good. Let's bring her up here," said Jack. "She knows something about leadership. She can help us keep all of these in line."

Rua looked out at the assembled ranks of monsters. "Better her than me."

He darted back into the crowd again, and emerged a few moments later dragging Merina by the hand. She looked dusty and bedraggled, and her clothes were torn, but she was in good enough spirits to smile when she saw Jack and the others. Carly darted over to greet her.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Everyone was really worried about you!"

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm awfully thirsty, but if you have something to drink..."

"We have water," Carly assured her. "Give us a few minutes and we can even have teyva."

"In that case, I am perfectly well," said Merina.

"Good, because we're going to need your help," said Jack. "We're about to do something drastic."

Merina looked thoughtful for a moment. Her gaze scanned the crowd of monsters, which was still slowly growing as new arrivals joined the flock.

"I think," she said, "that you have reached the point where something drastic is the only thing you can do."

"Glad you agree," said Jack. "Carly, get Merina something to drink and fill her in on what's going on."

"You got it!" she said, and led Merina away.

Jack wandered over to where Yusei and Bruno were still at their plotting. He had been watching them out of the corner of his eye for a while now, and he had noticed that while in the beginning, they had been fiercely intent on their work, they were starting to relax now. They were sitting back and looking more at each other than at their diagrams, and they were diving for their pencils less often. He was taking this as a sign of progress, but he wanted to know for sure.

"What have you come up with?" he said as he drew nearer.

"I think we have it sorted out," said Yusei. "As much as we can without running extensive tests first."

"No time for that," said Jack.

"No equipment, either," said Bruno, in a tone that suggested he thought running tests beforehand would have been perfectly appropriate, if he could have. "We're just going to have to wing it and hope for the best."

"So what else is new?" Jack retorted.

Bruno laughed. "Not much! But to tell the truth, I'm glad to be doing it. It's like it makes up for helping them earlier, you know?"

Jack didn't, but he said, "I know," anyway.

Yusei stood up.

"Bruno, you go over the diagrams again and make sure we didn't miss anything," he said. "I want to talk strategy with Jack for a while."

"Okay," said Bruno, ever agreeable.

Jack and Yusei began to walk around the perimeter of the dome. They could get almost all the way around before they would have to stop and go back. This was one of the colonies prosperous enough to have its own sub-domes attached to it, meant for housing crops and animals. They spread out behind the main colony like a cluster of baby birds following their mother.

"Do we even have a strategy?" asked Jack.

"Bruno is probably right," said Yusei. "We're just going to end up winging this one, for the most part."

"Then why did you want to talk to me?" Jack replied.

"Because it seemed like I ought to," said Yusei. "We've been letting you call the shots this far, and everyone is probably going to go on listening to you for as long as you keep giving orders."

"So, what are you saying? I've been appointed leader? I don't want to be a leader," said Jack. "I just want to get this thing done, and if I have to shout at everyone to make them do it, I will."

Yusei smiled mirthlessly. "I think it's the same thing."

"So, what's your point?" Jack asked.

"Mostly, I just want to know what I'm getting myself into," said Yusei. "When we started out, I know you didn't want anything to do with any of this. You didn't want to get involved. Now we're all going into a life-or-death situation, and if your heart still isn't in this..." He shrugged.

Jack was quiet a moment.

"I'm not asking anyone to do anything I'm not willing to do myself," he said at last. "It's not like I'm going to be sitting on the sidelines while you all run off and get killed."

"I'm glad to hear it.'

Jack glared at Yusei. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"Not very."

They walked a while longer. It was strangely quiet in the desert. Even the constant muttering of the assembled monsters blurred together until it was no more intrusive than the murmur of a brook or the rush of the wind, or perhaps the familiar rumble of his cycle engine.

"Look," said Jack, "I know when this all started, all I wanted was to get out of it so I could go back to what I was doing. I can't do that now. My old life is over, and whether we win or lose it will still be over. This is all I have left. If I can't do this, then I might as well go lie down and let Kiryu bury me now, because there isn't any point in doing anything else."

"You could have let us all stay in the other world," said Yusei.

Jack looked at him narrowly, wondering if he was being provoked.

"No," he said. "I couldn't."

"Ah," said Yusei, nodding as though Jack had said something profound.

"Look," said Jack, "you can say I'm a leader all you want, but when it all comes down, it's you and Bruno who are the important ones. You're the only ones who can get the gates open and stable. The best the rest of us can do is to keep the locals too busy to stop you."

"So what are you saying?" Yusei asked.

"I'm saying you shouldn't be looking at me to lead you through this," said Jack. "You're going to have to do most of it on your own. I'll do whatever it takes to make it possible for you to get it done, that's all."

Yusei looked concerned. "I hope you aren't planning on doing something foolish, Jack."

"If you have ideas at this point for anything that isn't stupid, I'll listen," said Jack. He turned and started walking back to camp. "It's just that the way I see it, there aren't really a lot of other options."

By evening, things were more or less organized. Aki and Ruka had been relieved of their monster-calling duties and sent to take naps so that they would be refreshed by evening. The group had agreed that it would be best to strike at dinnertime, when everyone would be relaxed and distracted. Now they stood near the edge of one of the agricultural domes.

"Are you ready, Rua?" Yusei asked.

Rua nodded and patted his dragon friend on the leg. "We're ready! C'mon, Power Tool Dragon, do your stuff!"

The dragon gave a rumble of agreement and dove at the sand. Everyone jumped backwards, shielding their eyes with their arms as plumes of dirt flew up from the ground. The dragon was digging, messily and enthusiastically. Within seconds he had a little pit dug next to the dome wall. He kept digging. Soon he was beneath the sand and digging into hard-packed earth. Then the dragon was out of sight, though dirt and debris continued to fly out of the hole. Jack leaned against the wall and listened to the sounds of digging, growing first fainter and then louder again. There was a rushing, rumbling noise, and the digging sounds stopped. A moment later, the dragon popped back out of the hole again, shaking dirt off its body and looking pleased with itself.

"Thatta boy!" said Rua, patting the dragon. "I knew you could do it!"

"That was the easy part," said Jack. "Does everyone know what they're supposed to do?"

"We've been over this a million times," said Crow, but not with as much impatience as he might have. Everyone was nervous enough that they didn't mind some reassurance that they were doing what they were supposed to do.

"We get to the computer center," said Kiryu. "By any means necessary."

"That about sums it up," said Jack. "Bruno, you're in the lead. Yusei, Aki, Rua, stick close to Bruno. Everyone else, follow them and keep them out of trouble. No matter what, they all have to make it to the computers, got it?"

Everyone nodded. One by one, they began picking their way through the rough tunnel that the Power Tool Dragon had dug. They came up through the smell of onions - the dragon had dug straight into a field of vegetables. Jack supposed it was better than digging through a pigpen. He brushed dust off his clothes as he stepped out into the fresh air.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings. He had never actually been inside an agricultural dome before. It was very quiet. All the farm hands had already gone home for their evening meals, and there was nothing left but rows and rows of vegetables as far as the eye could see. He supposed he should have felt sorry about destroying the onion patch, but he'd never really liked onions and he couldn't bring himself to mourn the loss of a few.

They trudged in a ragged line through the fields of squash and tomatoes and peas. It reminded Jack of the teyva fields, and made him feel vaguely homesick. It was a strange thing to feel about a place that wasn't home, and he tried not to think about it. Instead, he kept his gaze fixed on the door at the far end of the dome. It would lead them through a long corridor that would, with any luck, take them into the main part of the colony. While the front gates might be heavily guarded, Jack didn't think anyone had ever tried digging under a colony into the farms before, and therefore no one would be thinking of guarding against it. They could walk right through the door and mingle with the townsfolk without attracting any attention. Probably no one would figure out how they'd gotten there until the next morning.

That was the plan, anyway. They walked down the long passage, which was unlit, and soon became pitch-black once they passed beyond the reach of the light from the dome. Why should they be lit when no one was using them? It was enough to give a person claustrophobia, but at least the floor was level and the walls went straight ahead without a single curve or corner. It all went smoothly until Jack suddenly walked into someone. It caused a momentary pileup as the people behind him collided with him.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" shouted Rua from the back.

"I didn't get any choice in the matter," Kiryu muttered.

They backed up and reorganized themselves.

"The door is locked," said Bruno. "I mean, I can't open it."

"They must have locked up after everyone went home," said Carly.

"Geez, what do they think - someone is going to come in here and steal the weeds?" Crow muttered. "Here, move outta the way. I'll make it open."

There was some jostling as Crow pushed his way to the front. Everyone stood back to give him room to work. Jack could hear him muttering to himself, the kind of narrative that meant he was working his way through a problem that was more annoying than troubling.

"Ah, here we go!" said Crow. There was a metallic scraping noise, and then a ping. A hairline crack of light appeared as the door popped slightly ajar.

"Good going, Crow!" said Rua.

Crow flashed a grin and made a showy bow. He dug his fingers into the crack and yanked, and the door slid open easily.

At the same instant, a bell began to ring. Crow slapped his hand against his face. "Oh, don't tell me."

"How was I supposed to know there was an alarm?" Jack demanded.

"Let's get out of here," said Yusei. "Follow me."

They ran, but not far. They made a lap around the nearest building and then slackened their pace, falling in with the other curious people who were coming to see what all the fuss was about. They mingled with the crowd, asking vague questions about what was going on, being told that no, no one had any idea. Eventually, some police turned up and began chasing people back into their homes.

"Come on, kids, let's go back inside," said Aki loudly, and put her hands on Rua and Ruka's shoulders, leading them away.

As the crowd dispersed, Jack whispered to his companions, "Split up and meet me at the town hall."

They nodded and scattered. There was no need to tell them where the town hall was located - it was always in the same place in every colony, precisely at the center of the main dome. It could be seen from anywhere in the colony if you looked in the right direction. He had been there several times himself, and as he walked the familiar streets, he felt as though everything he'd been through had been a long nightmare, and all he'd have to do would be to hand over a letter to some lesser functionary and walk out again. He'd find his cycle waiting for him back at the garage, and he could check into a rest house for the night and go right back to his usual routine. He was surprised how much he didn't want it to be true. It seemed like a small, dull existence to someone who had walked through a door in the world, and a cycle didn't compare to riding a dragon.

I won't go back. Maybe I'll die, but I won't go back.

He was the first to reach the town hall. He found a bench and sat on it, staring up at what passed for a sky in this place. The lights of the dome were changing color, from sunset orange to a deep blue. People didn't want to go out anymore, but they wanted to be able to pretend that they were outside. When night came, smaller lights would take the place of stars. It still wasn't very interesting to look at.

After a few minutes, the rest of the group began drifting over to join him. Once all of them were gathered, they began walking into the main foyer. A receptionist looked up at them as they entered.

"May I help..." he began, and stopped. "Aren't you Jack Atlas?"

"No, I'm his maiden aunt," said Jack sarcastically. "We look a lot alike."

"You're supposed to be dead!" the man exclaimed.

"Was I? Well, I never got the paperwork for it," said Jack. "Where's the man in charge?"

The receptionist looked wary. "Why do you want to talk to him?"

A flicker of movement went from the group to the receptionist's desk. Suddenly Kiryu was standing behind the man, holding a knife in each hand. He smiled his toothiest grin.

"Hello, there," he said. "Do you know who I am?"

"You... you're a Death's Angel, aren't you?" the man stammered.

"That's right," Kiryu purred, "and guess what? I'm behind on my quota this week. Maybe you'd like to help me out?"

"N-n-no, sir! Please, I don't..."

"Let me in to see Mayor Goodwin and I'll call him off," said Jack.

"The mayor is in a conference," said the receptionist nervously. "I really don't think he should be..."

"I don't think you're listening," said Kiryu pleasantly. "Maybe I should cut off your ears, since you aren't using them." He set one of his knives against the side of the man's head. "Which would you like me to do first, the left or the right?"

"All right, all right! He's in the conference room on the third floor! Straight up the stairs, down the hall, fifth door on the leftt! Now please don't hurt me!"

"Thanks for your cooperation," said Jack, and started walking briskly towards the stairs.

The others scampered after him.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Carly nervously. "I mean, these guys... they don't like you very much."

"The feeling is mutual," said Jack.

"Yeah, but..."

"Look," he said. "The idea here is to stall for time. I'm more likely to distract them than anyone else here is. It has to be me. Your job is to get to the radio transmitter and get the word out about everything that's going on. Understood?"

Her expression was sullen. "I don't like it. What if something happens to you?"

"Then you had better hope it doesn't happen until after you're done broadcasting, hadn't you?" said Jack. "Look, I'll catch up when I can, but what you're going to do is more important. Get it done and get yourself to safety." More quietly, he said, "I don't want anything to happen to you either."

"All right," she said, "but if this goes wrong I'll find a way to make you sorry!"

He laughed. Somehow, that made him feel better.

"Time to split up," said Bruno. "We're headed for the basement. That's where all the equipment should be."

"Any idea how long we need to stall?" Jack asked.

Yusei consulted a scrap of paper he produced from his pocket. "About twenty minutes, at the least."

"Right," said Crow. "Better make this some world-class stalling, then."

"We know you're up to the challenge," said Bruno, flashing him a smile.

"So are you," said Crow. "C'mon, guys, let's do this thing so we can all go home."

They split up, with Jack, Crow, and Kiryu going upstairs to the conference room, and everyone else heading down to the computers. It felt a bit strange to be splitting up even a little bit, after they had come so far together. Jack tried to tell himself that it was only temporary. He hoped it was, anyway, since the alternative meant that he'd be behind bars, or worse. Divine's prison had been bad enough, and that was a gilded cage compared to what these people would do to him.

So of course, he was going to walk right into the room with them.

They reached the conference room and paused outside, gauging the situation. Jack could hear two voices inside, conversing in low tones, and he put his ear to the door to hear better. One of them was clearly the rough voice of Rudger Goodwin, mayor of Momentum. The other was the more polished tones of his brother Rex, who has set Jack on this whole crazy ride. Good. It was nice to have everything all tidied together.

Rudger was saying, "I can't believe he just disappeared into thin air. There has to be some way to find them."

"There isn't," said Rex, in tones of long-suffering patience. "They passed through the door to the other worlds, and without more monster callers to direct the machine, trying to re-open the door could have disastrous consequences. We can't look for them. Even if we could, they've probably been eaten by a monster by now."

"I don't like it," Rudger complained.

"There is nothing to worry about," said Rex. "As I said, they're probably all dead by now, and even if they aren't, they aren't going to be able to come back."

"It's too easy," said Rudger. "Problems don't just lead you on a merry chase all over creation, leaving death and mayhem in their wake, and then just quietly take care of themselves. No, there's a loose end somewhere, and we haven't found it yet."

"You worry too much. I promise you, we've heard the last of all of them."

That was the moment Jack chose to open the door to the conference room. Two faces snapped around to stare at him. Jack walked confidently, his footsteps on the soft carpet the loudest sound in the room.

"Good evening, Mayor Goodwin," said Jack. "I've come to deliver your mail."

He took the letter, now much-folded and battered, out from beneath his jacket, and threw it at Rudger's feet.

The silence stretched on. Jack saw Rex's face go red as he looked from Jack to the letter and back again. He was clearly making rapid calculations in his head, trying to work out what was going on. Rudger looked annoyed at Jack's impertinence, but there was a clear glint of satisfaction in his eyes as well. After all, he had been right.

"What are you doing here?" Rex demanded.

"Keeping my oath," said Jack. "A courier delivers the letters he's given, no matter what. It's not my fault this one got broken."

"And I suppose you're going to tell me you didn't read it," said Rex.

Jack gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Someone told me what it said."

"And yet, here you are," said Rex. "What sort of game are you playing, Mr. Atlas?"

"Who says I'm playing a game? I told you, I'm delivering the mail."

Rex scowled. "I'll warn you, I dislike it when people are deliberately obtuse with me."

"And I don't like it when people take me for a fool," said Jack. "You should have known better than to think you could ask me to deliver my own death sentence and think I wouldn't figure it out. Did you think I'm stupid?"

"The fact that you're standing here tells me yes, you are," said Rudger.

Jack gave him a look. "What do you think I should do? Keep running away from you forever? Let you chase me down like a frightened rabbit? That's a fine way for the greatest courier alive to die."

"So you decided meekly turning yourself over like a good little lamb would be more heroic?" Rudger sneered.

"No," said Jack. "I came to bargain."

Rudger snorted. "As if. Kill him now, Rex. We can't trust him."

"You can use me," said Jack. "You're bound to need to communicate with other people in your organization. You're bound to need people to watch over the ones you don't trust. I can go anywhere and visit anyone, and no one will ever suspect a thing - and I can get there and back again faster than anyone else you have on your payroll. That's got to be worth something to you."

"Why should we let you live?" Rudger asked. "You know too much. We can always get more couriers."

"Sure, but then you'll have to kill them next," said Jack. "Couriers die in the field all the time, but sooner or later someone is going to realize that people who take jobs for you have an unusually high death rate for people who are only going to the next city over. On the other hand, no one would blink if you wanted to make a pet out of someone with a reputation."

"You make an excellent case," Rex drawled. He gave Jack a narrow look. "But you still don't explain why we can trust you. Why should we think that you won't start telling our secrets as soon as we let you out of our sights?"

"Because," said Jack, "I need you people to keep doing what you're doing. I'm a courier. I'm good at it. It's all I know. If someone stops you from doing what you're doing, no one is going to need couriers anymore. If I break up your act, I go from legend to nobody overnight, and that's one thing I won't stand for. On the other hand, if I'm working for you, I'll be better off than I was before. If all I'm doing is carrying messages back and forth between you two, I could pick a city and set up a household of my own."

"Do you hear this guy?" said Rudger. "I'm telling you, let's kill him now. It's the only way we'll know for sure that he'll keep his mouth shut."

Rex gazed thoughtfully off into space. "On the other hand, he may just be telling the truth."

"You really believe that crock?" said Rudger. "I didn't think you were that gullible."

"I'm merely considering the possibility," said Rex. "A trustworthy messenger would save us a lot of difficulty."

"The question you should be asking yourselves is, why would I lie to you?" said Jack. "If I double-cross you, I don't gain anything and stand to lose a lot. If I help you, I get to keep my life and keep my job, and everyone is happy. It just makes sense. Look, you blew up an entire city to keep me quiet. Do you think I can't see the writing on the wall?"

"Technically, we did it to keep the professor quiet," said Rudger. "It was just our good luck that you and your friends were there as well."

Rex shifted in his chair. "Where are your friends, by the way? I notice they aren't with you."

"They weren't my friends," said Jack. "They were just somebody with a grudge against you people, and I thought they could help me. I was wrong, obviously. All they did was lead me straight into prison and nearly got me executed."

"So you abandoned them? Where are they now?" asked Rex.

"Still on the other side, last I saw them," said Jack.

"Interesting," said Rex. "What's it like there?"

"Boring," said Jack. "There was nothing there but some filthy little stick-and-mud village where they expected me to stand out in a field all day grubbing for weeds. I wasn't having that, so I waited for the next storm and caught a lift with a passing monster."

"Now I know he's lying," Rudger scoffed.

"I am not," said Jack haughtily. "Monsters are no trouble. You just have to know how to handle them. Do you think I survived this long as a courier without having a few tricks to handle monsters?"

"I suppose that makes sense," said Rex. "You have a pat answer for everything, don't you? Almost too neat, really."

Jack felt a bead of sweat trickling between his shoulder blades. He forced himself to remain calm, keeping his expression neutral.

"You think I'm lying? Is that it?" he said, raising his voice. "You're a couple of paranoids. I walk in offering to help you and you want to kill me. You ask me to explain myself and you say I'm lying. What do you want, an oath in blood?"

"I want some proof you're really on our side," said Rudger. "Maybe if you do something for us, we'll be convinced."

"You mean some kind of test run?" asked Jack. "I can live with that. What did you have in mind?"

"I can think of a few places I'd like to start," said Rudger.

Rex steepled his fingers thoughtfully. "You say you can ride monsters through the storm. That would be an impressive feat, if it were true."

"Yes. What of it?" Jack replied.

"Perhaps you'd be willing to go through the door and fetch us something from the other side," said Rex.

"I can do that," said Jack. "What do you want? More of what that Divine was making us haul? You should probably know he wasn't even scratching the surface. He would only bring over what he could convince you he was getting from this world, but there are other things I could get that would make your jaws drop."

"A tempting offer, but not what I was thinking," said Rex. "I was thinking of asking you to fetch back your friends."

There was a tense pause. Jack waited, barely breathing, waiting to see where this was going to lead. Rex smiled at him.

"You can do that, can't you?" he asked.

Jack felt himself nod. "Alive or dead?"

"Whatever you can best manage," said Rex. "I am not particular. Of course, we would be sending a few helpers along with you, to keep you from... getting lost."

"Of course," said Jack. "I could have guessed."

Rex turned to his brother. "Does this plan meet your approval? If he goes along with it, we can assume he is being sincere with us. If he tries to betray us, he can be killed and his body disposed of in the other world where it will never be found."

"Sounds unnecessarily complicated," said Rudger. "You always liked pushing people around like your little pawns. It's going to get you in trouble someday."

"And you will learn someday that not everything should be solved with brute force," said Rex, without any particular condemnation.

Jack relaxed slightly, though he tried not to let it show on the outside. If the two men wanted to get into an argument, that was all the better for him. He was more than content to stand around and let them argue about his fate for as long as they cared to, because time they spent arguing was time that the others could spend setting up the gates.

It also meant that Kiryu and Crow wouldn't have to come in and rescue him just yet, which was good. He didn't have a plan for getting himself out of here, much less anyone else. Winging it would be easier if he was only worrying about getting himself out of the line of fire.

The argument didn't have time to go on as long as he would have liked, however. A rearward door to the conference room swung open, and a besuited man rushed in, carrying a radio.

"What do you want?" Rudger demanded. "Can't you see we're doing something here?"

The man made as much of a bow as he could while still holding on to the cumbersome machine.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but you have to hear this!"

He turned on the radio. Jack was displeased but not surprised to hear Carly's voice. She was speaking in her best "breaking news" tone, explaining briskly and factually the nature of the storms, the energy machines, and the monsters. Even as the group listened, she reached the end of her spiel and started over. Jack watched the expressions flash over the two mayors' faces.

Rex was the first to put the pieces together. He jerked around to glare at Jack.

"You've been lying to us," he said.

Jack smiled. "Guess your brother isn't as stupid as he looks, after all."

"You'll regret this," Rex snarled. "Seize this man at once!"

The only person available to obey the command was the man carrying the radio. He was an inoffensive looking man with a round belly and tiny half-moon glasses on his babylike face. Jack almost felt impressed as the clerk valiantly tried to get the radio under one arm while reaching for Jack with the other.

"Sir, I don't know what this is all about, but if you'll just..."

There was no time to mess around. Jack whipped his fist up and struck the man in the nose, sending him reeling backwards. The radio slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor, bursting in a shower of parts. The man himself stumbled on the carpet and fell onto his ample rear, hands clutched to his face as blood dripped through his fingers. The look on his face was one of pure amazement; probably he had never offended anyone in his life, and being hit was something new. Jack consoled himself by thinking that once his broken nose had healed, he could spend the rest of his life impressing people with the story of how he'd fought a desperate criminal, and perhaps attract more respect from now on.

He didn't have long to think about that, though, because Rudger was already coming at him. Fortunately, Rudger had been sitting down, and that gave Jack a second or two to collect himself before the man could get to his feet. Then Rudger was barreling towards him like a charging bull, and Jack had no choice but to get out of the way. He was an able fighter, but Rudger was big enough to give him cause for concern, and he wasn't about to take chances with him.

Dodge. Lead him on. Make him too mad to see straight, and wait for an opening.

"Then again," said Jack, "it wouldn't take much to be smarter than you look."

"We'll see how smart you look with your face broken," Rudger snarled.

"I know how I'll look," said Jack. "I'll still look better than you."

"That's it! The first thing I'm gonna do, I'm gonna tear off that smart mouth of yours," said Rudger. He made another lunge, and Jack danced out of the way. The temptation to stick out his tongue was almost overwhelming.

"You can try it, but it won't make you any smarter," Jack jeered.

Rudger gave him a wicked grin. Then he crouched, preparing to spring. No, wait, that wasn't it. What was he...

Jack didn't quite realize what was going to happen until it did. Rudger had seized the rug they'd been standing on and gave it a jerk, so forcefully that the fragile weave tore a little. Jack was pulled off his feet, and he fell hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Rudger laughed and threw the rug, so that Jack found himself trying not only to remember how to breathe, but to draw enough air through a thick, dusty piece of carpeting. He flailed vaguely, trying to find his way out from under it.

"Lesson learned," said Rudger. The floor vibrated with each step he took. "Don't assume someone is stupid because he's strong." Another step, closer now. Too close for comfort. "Too bad you aren't going to live long enough to make use of it..."

Jack made a desperate jerk and managed to roll over, rug and all. As he did, he felt something collide with his side - Rudger had kicked him. It hurt, but not nearly as much as it would have if he hadn't already been rolling away. He managed to get the rug underneath him where it belonged and pulled himself into a crouch.

"So, you've still got a little fight in you, huh?" said Rudger. "Come on, on your feet. I'm gonna pound a lesson into you that you'll never forget."

Jack grinned. "Like, never forget to watch your back?"

"Oh, no, I'm not going to fall for..." Rudger began, and stopped abruptly. He ducked and whirled around just as Kiryu and Crow lunged at him. A swing of his fist sent Crow staggering backwards. Kiryu's knife whistled over Rudger's head, and before he could make his next move, Rudger had straightened again and drove his fist at Kiryu's jaw. Kiryu blocked it, but the force of the blow was enough to drive him back a pace or two. Crow scrambled to his feet and braced himself for another charge.

"Where did you two clowns come from?" Rudger demanded.

Crow grinned. "Well, see, when a woman and a man love each other very much..."

"Lesson learned," Jack deadpanned. "Never assume that your enemy showed up alone."

"What happened to the guards?" Rudger asked.

Kiryu twirled his knife over his fingers. "We got bored waiting for you three to shut up, so we found the guards and stuffed them in a broom closet." He licked his knife. "Most of them, anyway, if you get my drift."

Rudger watched this performance with morbid fascination. It gave Jack just long enough to seize on an ornamental statue sitting in a niche and swing it at the back of Rudger's head. The statue turned out to be hollow, and shattered to pieces, but Rudger grunted and clapped his hands to the back of his head, dropping to his knees from pain and shock. Kiryu promptly struck him on the temple with the blunt end of his knife and put him down for a nap. Crow produced cord from his pocket and began tying up the unconscious man.

"Took you guys long enough to get here," said Jack. Feeling spiteful, he picked up the rug and threw it over Rudger. Let him suffocate under there for a while.

"We didn't want to blow your cover until we couldn't put it off any longer," said Crow. "Besides..." He began to say more, then apparently thought the better of it. Jack narrowed his eyes.

"Besides what?" he asked.

"You were doing some pretty heavy talking back there," said Crow. He was looking at his shoes instead of at Jack. "I mean, you sounded pretty convincing. You can't blame us for wondering if some of it was true."

"Some of it was true," said Jack. "Just not enough of it for me to really mean it."

"That's not very comforting," said Crow.

"Nothing about this situation is comfortable," said Jack. "Look, I don't like any of this. You know that. But I'm not going to turn on you. If I did that, I'd have nothing left." Not wanting to pursue that line of conversation any further, he added, "By the way, where did Rex go?"

Kiryu and Crow looked questioningly at each other.

"Dammit," Jack muttered.

To Be Continued...