Dead Opportunities: Book 3

Ride the Spiral to the End

Chapter 3: Again

"So where does this leave us?"

"You took a gamble. You lost. Time for me to fold you up."

"That's what you are supposed to do aren't you?"

"Yep."

"Are you actually going to do that?"

"…"

"One more chance?"

"Yep."

"Alright. Good."

Polanda shook his friend's hand, a mixture of gratitude and impatience in his eyes and a rubbery tremour in his hand. Atkins always enveloped his hand in his own and squeezed enough to remind him he could crush it if he wanted, and Polanda took in the silent message.

No fooling, Poledancer. I have a job to do.

He stepped out into the stale and brightly lit corridor and let his steely façade break. He was exhausted and the idea that not only his illustrious career but indeed his life was on the line was unsettling. One goes with the other as far as I'm concerned. It was not a feeling he was used to. He was accustomed to dishing out punishment and direction, not receiving.

Swallowing his indignation, he reminded himself Atkins was granting him a large favour. He was a friend.

Stewing over the day's developments, he walked to the medical lab and saw his familiar blue guardians. They looked so much alike with their blue skin, exacerbated by their brotherly similarities, but Polanda could tell one from the other like he knew his hands from his feet.

He stepped through the threshold and felt the tension in the air. One was pacing back and forth around his brother's bed where he lay with a heavy clasp around his leg. Two was not accustomed at all to this kind of paralysis or inactivity, and One didn't like watching his brother's discomfort. Polanda could see at once even before they met his eyes that they longed to jump out the window and pick up the search at once.

They're animals after all. They hate cages, even if it's for their own good.

Both of them refrained from speaking, letting their shimmering dark eyes bore into him, but Polanda broke the silence.

"You missed him." He said pointlessly.

Neither spoke. Two maintained the silent standoff, but One turned and stared at the caste on his brother's leg. Polanda followed his eyes.

"You both know I invented that." He stared back at Two. Two did not wavering, staring back unblinking and accusing, as though Polanda was to blame. "You should be thankful you will only have to stay in here for another half day and not weeks. A little gratitude should be forthcoming."

"I want to get him." Two muttered.

"Me too." One grumbled.

Polanda huffed and paced about the room, brushing aside curtains in the neighbouring beds. "Well, you had your chance to do so, but you both failed. You are lucky you are not dead. I'm sure Craig could have squashed you both flat with his new psychokenesis. Thankfully, his perverse desire to play seems to be the only reason you are alive. Seems he wants to accommodate you and let you have another try."

The two men relaxed, if only enough to blink and look at each other.

Polanda continued, "Last chance for the both of you. We've still got him tracked and he's in another town. You'll be driven there tomorrow afternoon. If you fail this time, we'll pull the plug on you."

"We will not fail." They said in eerie unison, almost cutting Polanda off.

XX

"Proceed with caution. He's due north, 600 metres."

"Copy."

"Copy."

Atkins and Polanda stepped into the same positions as before, overlooking the bank of screens and readouts intently and sweat gathering in various places indicating nervousness. Polanda still stood rigid and proud, certain his blue hounds were up to the task, but Atkins maintained his doubts and looked on his friend already with a sense of mourning.

Dodson stood at the back of the small assembly, wanting to observe, but not be observed. Never one for the spotlight.

Atkins leaned forward in his chair, "550 metres."

XX

The two shapes flittered silently amongst the scrub through the way forest, combining an ideal mixture of speed and stealth as they closed in. They were both nervous.

Craig it appeared was staying in the same spot again and was playing the same game.

Hide and seek.

But this time One and Two had a pre-prepared plan, which somewhat countered their nervousness.

At the same time, they were hungry for revenge and angry at their own embarrassment. They were supersoldiers. Unique and unsurpassed. Neither broached the prospect of imperfection without heady amounts of fury and determination. They did not like to lose.

Running side by side, One paired off to the left to flank as Two scanned the tree canopy for a suitable candidate to climb. He quickly saw one, a large long pine tree.

He slung his stun gun over his shoulder and leaped high up into the air. It was a leap that would have left the most able athlete stunned with awe, but Two had no time for petty personal pride and scurried up the tree like a squirrel, already over 20 feet up. Fingertips like metal spikes, honed hard and sharp by the serum dug into the bark and arms and legs of sinewy muscle pumped as his sailed up.

Quickly, he reached the top canopy and his eyes followed a trail of interlocking branches in his desired direction. Running across from branch to branch, leaping and balancing with unnatural ease, he unslung his stun gun.

He couldn't see his brother down below, but he knew where he was. His helmet contained an integrated GPS readout which showed his brother's green dot with his own and the red dot of their target.

Still it remained static.

Two slowed down as it came nearer and looked at the world down the barrel of his gun, amplified for mild night vision in the afternoon sunset.

"In position." One's whisper called into Two mic.

Two quickly found an ideal tangle of branches in the canopy and settled down into a crouch. "Copy that. In position." Although his left leg had been hideously broken only hours before, he comfortably sat on it and tensed it without any discomfort. Nor did he marvel at the ground breaking achievement of it or feel grateful to Polanda for pioneering the therapeutic caste he wore earlier. He had his mind set on the present task and nothing else.

"Mark." One's voice pierced through his mic again and Two waited for the plan to initiate.

Sure enough, the forest shook as a series of thundering explosions sent birds flying into the air and branches tumbling down to the ground. The low dusk was set alight as napalm fire tore into the forest up ahead with a roar.

"Heads up."

Two did not watch the spectacle, rather focussing on a dark figure rushing through the brush towards him far ahead. Down the barrel, he lined up the figure, only a man's head amidst the cover of ferns and trees and pulled the trigger.

A bright weightless surge shot down and engulfed the underbrush with a crackle of electricity that immediately set fire to dry leaves and dead twigs. But ferns and saplings wavering caught his eye and Two lined it up and fired again, sending several bursts down. The pulses smashed into the earth, lighting up the dark even as the napalm fire took hold in the distance.

Still Two saw the red dot on his GPS HUD moving and small plants disturbed by the blurred figure.

"Caaaan't catch meeeee-."

Two gritted his teeth and launch pulse after pulse. Blue shocks of light shimmered off droplets of water in the pine needles, made paler still by the orange glow of the napalm fire, dancing and swirling only to be shattered and blown away as another shard of blue tore the droplet's home apart without mercy.

Two was getting desperate. The target was trailing off away from him and he needed to get a shot home now or lose Craig again. Another blue pulse crackled down into the forest floor and a howling cheer in his ear piece made him pause.

"Target down!"

Two maintained his eyes down the barrel and glanced at his GPS readout to see the red dot had disappeared.

Xx

Atkins and Polanda jumped for joy as the red dot they abhorred disappeared from the screen. The GPS unit embedded in Craig's skin would be fried by the stun gun's charge as it surged through his body, knocking him out. 10,000 volts of nano guided electricity would chase through his body, distributing the charge throughout to ensure enough for incapacitation, and leach remaining charge away into the ground to avoid death.

They screamed and high fived, drunk on success in the moment. Atkins and Polanda hugged each other, thankful the general would not be forced to follow through on his threat.

Even One and Two, already tearing through the trees to locate Craig's still body were elated with victory.

But quickly they found the spot where Craig had been and found nothing besides singed and burning leaves. Craig was nowhere to be found. Polanda's jaw dropped and equal parts hopelessness and fury raked up and down his spine. He screamed for his blue hounds to resume the chase, even through there was no trail to follow and no GPS position to track. Atkin's sighed and fell back heavily into his chair.

Amidst the shock and confusion, no one saw Dodson leave the room and tuck a small device back into his pocket.