My
apartment hasn't been this wrecked since the last time Tread was here. Remind
me to stop inviting that guy over. Oh, wait, I didn't.
Looks
like Max cleaned out the equipment pretty well. She missed the surveillance
tapes, though. Possibly because I never mentioned them. I can't watch them with
all the equipment gone, but I take them with me. I'd really like to know
exactly what went on here. Matching Tread's story up to the visuals might help
me figure out what his deal is.
Only
thing I can do in the meantime is keep an eye on him.
I
head down to the bar, and open the door to the last scene I expected. Tread is
cleaning the face of some little girl, Lydecker is eating chocolate cake, and
the entire scene is being recorded by...
"Lacey."
D*mn.
I turn and leave the bar. Lacey is the last person I need to deal with right
now. I could grab the car and Tinga...
And
leave Lacey alone with Lydecker and Tread. Like Tread, she's better off where I
can see her. I can always have Tread knock her out.
I
did not think that. I didn't. I know she's annoying. But there's no way I
allowed myself to contemplate asking a genetic mutant with no conscience to
injure someone in cold blood. No matter how many times she's screwed up my
work.
I
turn back into the bar. Lydecker is muttering something about getting back to
base. Guy doesn't look too good. Once again, it's going to be a case of keeping
him where I can see him.
"Tread,
we should get going. Bring your military friend..."
"Zackdecker,"
he replies. Oh, a sense of humor too.
"Right.
Zackdecker, we can help get you closer to your base. And Lacey, we're heading
out of the city. Might be safer for you to come with us than stay here."
Lacey
looks speculative for an instant before her face goes innocent.
"Well thank you, I certainly appreciate the invitation."
"Let's
go then," I tell Tread.
"Sandy's
coming too," he tells me, gesturing to the kid.
I
consider arguing, but his expression shows there's no room for negotiation.
Seems he's got a soft spot for her. That could be an advantage.
"Fine,
just get everyone into the car."
Tread
works on arranging a limp Tinga, an excited Zackdecker, a chocolate-covered
Sandy, and a sweet-faced Lacey into the back of the cramped Humvee while I call
the cabin again. Bling answers.
"We're
on our way. We have an injured Tinga and Zackdecker, as well as Lacey. Let me
talk to Max."
"She's
not here. Went to go find you," Bling says.
"Well,
we'll catch up to her. By the way, don't let Cindy touch my computers, will
you?"
I
can hear her in the background. "Too late," Cindy mutters, "and
it was Kendra, not me."
"What???"
D*mn, I hate it when my voice goes up like that. But either of those women
touching my computers...d*mn.
"No
harm done," Bling assures me. I'm not buying it.
There's
sounds of a commotion and a female voice in the background.
"Remember me?"
It's
not Max, so it can't be good. I hear Bling again. "Brin."
"What??
Brin??" I say, although it sounds like he's too far to hear me. There's a
crash.
"Hello,
Logan. Bling's a little occupied right now."
Brin.
Brin, Bling, Cindy, Kendra, and my computers. And Max is gone.
D*mn.
Point of View: BLING*****************************************
My
head hurts… again… still… more…!
I'm dizzy and nauseous. Sure sign of a concussion. I try to get up but I
realize my arms are tied behind me. My legs are tied too. Brin has Cindy and
Kendra tied back to back.
She's laughing and spinning around in the only office style chair up here.
"I
can't wait to dangle you in front of big sister."
I
try to get to my knees… but I just fall over.
If I live through this I have to have Max show me a way to block a punch from
an angry X-5.
"Wakey
wakey?" I hear Brinn say.
I
feel the cold edge of the shotgun barrel dig into my cheek.
I
roll over and look up at her… she smiles sweetly at me.
She flops down on the floor next to me face to face.
"Hey
stud… think you and I could go to dinner some time. Ya know, since Tinga's out
of action." She chuckles.
"B*tch!"
I manage to get out.
She
rolls on her back arching it slightly and pouts at me.
"What's
a matter… You don't like me? Not attractive enough?"
It's
not intentional, it's the concussion. But it is a fitting reply…
I
throw up.
She's
on her feet before my vision is cleared…
"Oh
gross!!! A 'No' would have been fine you sonava…"
A
boot fills my vision and I'm back in darkness.
Point of View:
MAX*****************************************
Of
all the things to land in, it had to be mud. Mud. It took me an hour and a half
to get the mud out of my hair the last time. I want a hot shower, badly. But
I'm out here in the woods, with Tread's Harley, flat tire thanks to Brin. When
I get my hands on her . . .
Focus,
Max, focus. Fix the tire first. Then catch up to her. Although by the time I
fix it, Brin'll be long gone. Damn . . . Tread better have a tire kit, thought
I'm not relishing the thought of rummaging in his motorcycle's saddlebags. Who
knows what he has in there.
Taking
a deep breath, I reach into the first one. Something pointy pokes me. Pulling
it out, I find myself holding a key chain made from Red implants. God Damn!
How'd he get them?? Not something I'd like a key chain of . . . Reaching back
in, I find more of Tread's "treasures"; multi-purpose tools, an empty
canteen, some 9mm ammo, a pack of cinnamon Altoids, some papers . . .
Zack's
barcode catches my eye. What the hell is Zack's barcode doing on papers of Tread's?
They're classified memos and other papers all about Manticorny Gummies . . .
apparently Zack's memories are the active ingredient. Explains a lot.
Gotta
get these to Logan. Rolling them up and stuffing them in my pocket, I continue
to search for a tire kit. My fingers brush all sorts of things, including what
feels like a jelly doughnut . . . finally my hand touches a metal cylinder.
Fix-A-Flat.
Getting
to work, I patch the slash Brin put in the tire. There's a small pump in the
other saddlebag, and I refill the tire until the pressure is good. Picking up
the Harley, I wipe most of the mud off of it and move it to solid ground. Now
where did Brin go???
There
are tracks where she wheeled the Aztec out of the mud. She's headed in the
direction I came from. The cabin. Damn.
Jumping
on the motorcycle, I speed back on to the road. Damn, why'd I leave my cell in
the Aztec?? I need to call Bling, call Logan, warn them. Pushing the Harley as
fast as it will go, I race to the cabin.
Hiding
the bike nearby, I creep up on Logan's cabin. Looking in the window I see Brin
circling Cindy and Kendra, waiving a shotgun around. Bling's out cold. I can
hear Brin chatting with them in a maniacal manner.
"Three
blind mice . . . three blind mice . . . although you're not blind, are
you?" she leans down, putting her face in Cindy's.
"I
can see you a hot enough girl, but Original Cindy doesn't go in for the whole
bondage dealio." She's nervous, but trying to play it cool.
This
makes Brin angry. She bashes Cindy in the head with the butt of the shotgun,
causing Cindy's head to bump Kendra's. It wasn't hard enough to knock either of
them out, but they're both grimacing in pain.
That's
it. Taking a running leap through the window - sorry Logan, I'll pay you back
for it - I land in a roll, coming up to my feet. Brin swivels around to face
me.
"Aw,
you got here too quick . . . I wanna have more fun," she says, tilting her
head to one side then the other like a demented parakeet.
"Fun's
over Baby Sister," I growl, taking an attack position. I kick the shot gun
out of her hands. It flies in the air and I go to catch it, but Brin tackles
me, and the gun lands on Logan's desk. The impact causes it to fire, and the
shot ricochets off the plastic, taking a chip out of it.
Logan's
not going to be pleased.
Flipping
Brin, I jump to my feet and find Brin on hers. She throws a punch, missing me,
but immediately whips a spin kick that cracks me on the shoulder. She's not
holding back. Not at all.
She
grabs a chair and hurls it at me. I duck and it crashes against the wall.
Another chair is flying at me almost immediately. This one hits. While I'm on
the ground, she goes for the gun. I jump to my feet, ready to kill. The Brin
that was my baby sister is gone.
She's
pointing the gun at Kendra, Cindy, and Bling. "Which one, Maxie? Choose .
. . you can't have all of them . . . Which one is it? Tinga?" She points
the gun at Cindy. "Logan?" She points it at Bling. "Zack?"
She points it at Kendra. She's really lost it.
"What's
wrong, Brinny? Can't hit a moving target? So you've got to hit the ones that
can't?" She's fuming, but her attention has been drawn away from them.
"Catch me . . . if you can." I jump over the windowsill and run. I
know she'll follow.
Point of View: MAX******************************
50
Miles… Brinn has compromised this Cabin.
Going
to take me 45 min at least, that's if I can blow through sector checkpoints
without too much hassle.
Plus
the damn Hummer is overcrowded. WHY we're taking the civilian in beyond me, but
I don't have time to argue.
I
sit Sandy on the woman's lap. Prop Tinga up in the middle. And stuff Zackdecker
into other side behind Logan.
That's
another thing…
I
walk back around to Logan who's on the drivers side. He's got that look like
some one put him in charge of all this. I open the drivers side door for him.
"You
wanna drive? Boss." I glare at him. He's been talking down to me like I'm some
kind of sidekick.
"I
can't." He glares right back at me.
"ReeeeaAAAlly?"
I reply with sarcasm and slam the door.
I
walk around behind him and start pushing his wheel chair around to the
passenger's side.
"Wait!!!"
He says, slightly P.O.ed! "Can I unlock the wheels first?"
"Sorry…
Didn't notice." I respond.
"Freak."
he whispers sort of under his breath. I let that slide. He's got major cajones
talking to ME like that. I admire that. Lucky him.
"Logan,
don't call him Zackdecker. The Manticorny is laced with copied memory engrams
from … the real Zack I guess. I fed Deck a full bag. He probably knows 90% of
what the real Zack does."
"Are
you insane!!! Zack knows where all the X-5's are."
"The
memories are unstable, probably won't stick. In the mean time call him Zack. I
convinced him he had plastic surgery to make him look like Lydecker. Let's keep
him on our side at least till I have to kill him."
Logan
looks at me a little taken back. I open the Passenger door and start to load
him in.
"I can do it myself!" he barks at me.
"Fine." I say calmly, "But we're in a rush and I have to pack your chair."
I dump him out of it onto the street by the car gently enough to not damage
anything but his ego.
I
fold the chair and walk off in one motion, dumping it in the storage area in
the back as I go around.
I
get in as Logan struggle onto the seat, red faced and bordering on rage.
"Good
job! And you did it ALL by yourself."
His
glare focuses from me tot he road ahead.
"Drive!"
"Fasten
you seat belts people… Cause we ain't stopping!"
Point of View: KENDRA***************************************
It
didn't take long to set up the rest of the computer stuff. I haven't really
been around computers before so I decided to press the little green button to
see what it did. As soon as I did it, Original Cindy screamed at me, and the
phone rang. Bling answered it, I figured Logan was on his way back. Just then,
someone came in, I thought to myself, is that Brinn, just as Original Cindy
said her name.
Brinn
immediately attacked Bling. She ran up to him and punched him so hard he went
flying across the room and knocks him out. The she turns to Original Cindy and
me. At this point I'm starting to get a little scared. She grabs Original Cindy
and starts to tie her up. Original Cindy tries to fight back, but Brinn is to
strong. When I go to help Brinn kicks me out of the way and I land practically
on top of Bling. I shake him to try to get him to wake up and all he does is
let out a moan. I decide to try and run for it. I should warn Logan so he
doesn't get caught by surprise on his way back.
Brinn
seems to know what I'm thinking. She runs to me and throws me over by Original
Cindy. I think to myself dam this girl is strong. The next thing I know I am
tied up behind Original Cindy and Bling is tied up too.
Brinn
grabs a shot gun and starts chanting "Three blind mice ... ". I don't
think she could get anymore annoying. And then Original Cindy starts talking to
her. She's got the right idea by playing it cool; however Brinn seems to be
getting annoyed. Just when I'm about ready to tell Original Cindy to shut up,
Brinn hits her, and her head slams into mine. Dam I'm going to have a headache
for a while.
Then
Max jumps through a window and kicks the gun out of Brin's hand. I'm so glad to
see Max. I'm kind of getting the feeling that whatever going on here is the
past Max didn't fill me in about. I'm going to have some questions for her if
we ever get out of this.
Brinn
somehow got ahold of the gun again and poinst it at Original Cindy and me. I
don't really remember what happened after that but, Max was out the window and
Brinn was following her.
I
sigh with relief that Brinn is finally gone.
"Hey are you all right Original Cindy?"
She
replies "Yeah, ... sure."
"I
think we should try and find a way to untie ourselves before anyone comes back.
I don't want Brinn to have any more fun."
"I'm
with you girl"
We
start trying to scoot over to the desk that is near by in hopes of finding scissors
or something sharp that we can cut the ropes with. We hear something move. It
sounds like Bling is awake.
Point of View: LOGAN***************************************
All
I want to do at this moment is lock Tread and Lacey in a room and let them do
each other in.
Tread's
determined to humiliate me at every opportunity. And right now he's getting too
many opportunities.
He's
driving like a maniac. Fitting since he is a maniac. I should have done it
myself. But considering the number of head traumas I've had this week, driving
seemed like a bad idea.
At
least I can get us through the sector police. When I was in the penthouse I
grabbed all the passes I had stashed away. Fortunately there were some left
from Lauren and Sophie's tenure, so there were no questions about the kid.
Tread almost had a look of respect there, for a second, when I got us through
the sector. Almost.
We're
getting closer to the cabin and I have no idea what to expect.
Lydecker's looking out the window, pointing out landmarks on his way back to
"base." Tinga's still out, although she's occasionally muttering
something I can't quite hear. The kid is sitting on Lacey's lap, covering her
with chocolate and pestering her with ten questions a minute. Lacey's starting
to look less complacent by the minute. In fact, panic seems to be creeping in.
Good.
We're
getting closer. Tread's still doing seventy.
"Tread,
do you think we should try to approach quietly, see what the situation is
before we burst in there?"
"Nope."
Guess
not then. Tread roars up to the cabin, slams on the breaks, and jumps out. He
goes straight for his bike.
"Ly...Za...you,
can you get my chair please? We need to stop here before we move on to
base."
Lydecker
nods eagerly. Yanking out my chair, he comes around to my side of the car and
throws me into it.
"I
could have done that....never mind. Why don't you get the women out of the car and
stay here for right now?"
Lydecker
gives me some sort of strange salute and grabs Sandy from Lacey. I head to the
cabin. Don't know what I'll find, but seems like there's no one else to look
until Tread stops fondling his Harley.
What
I find is Cindy and Kendra reviving a half-unconscious Bling. Cindy looks up.
"About
time you got here."
"I
was delayed. What happened?"
"Someone
named Brin or something showed up, took Bling out, and tied us up. Max shows
up, the bad chick threatens to shoot us, Max jumps out the window, and she
follows. Kendra and me got ourselves untied and..."
I
don't hear anything past the part about Max out there with an armed Brinn.
Until
I hear the gunshot.
Point of View: MAX***************************************
"What's
wrong, Brinny? Can't hit a moving target? So you've got to hit the ones that
can't?" She's fuming, but her attention has been drawn away from them.
"Catch me . . . if you can." I jump over the windowsill and run. I
know she'll follow.
Sure
enough I hear her growl low in her throat and give chase. Good, got her away
from Cindy, Kendra, and Bling. Now I just need to hold on until Logan and Tread
get here.
Brin
is out for blood. She's gone off the diving board into the shallow end. She's
not holding back. I don't want to kill her, but I'd rather it be her than
Cindy, Kendra, Bling, Logan . . .
Something
hits my back, sending me sprawling. I roll, just in time to get out of the way
of a shot. Thanks, Sis, but I'm not looking to accessorize with a shot to the
head.
Jumping
to my feet, I spin kick, and the gun once again flies through the air. This
time I catch it. "Fist fight, no toys," I say, throwing the gun into
the woods. She watches it go, then turns on me with a malicious glare.
"If
you say so," she drawls, then her hands claw for my throat, my face, my
eyes. I grab her wrists. She tries to pull, trying to get my to move my center
of balance so that she can flip me. 'Angle, base, leverage,' I remind myself.
That's all there is to Siljat (Javanese Martial Art). Planting a foot between
hers, I dig my hip into her lower back and I can feel her shift, pulling
harder. A foot sweep takes her to the ground.
But
she grabs my ankles and I go down on to the cold ground. Ouch, that's gonna be
a nasty bruise where my leg hit rock . . .
Brin
leaps up, and throws her self on to me. We grapple, rolling over and over, each
one trying to stay on top, while she tries to strangle me and to scratch out my
eyes. Planting my feet firmly in her stomach, I kick, throwing her off me and
using the momentum to propel myself to my feet.
Brin's
on me in an instant, hitting and kicking and clawing. I kick her, but she grabs
my ankle and throws me back against the side of the cabin. I can hear something
crack. This is not good. Ignoring the pain, I go after her.
Sh!t!
She's searching the woods . . . she saw exactly where that gun landed. I start
after her, but I stop, clutching my arms to my chest and dropping to my knees.
Not a seizure . . . no . . . I'm shaking violently . . . Getting to my feet, I
stagger after Brin. She turns, shotgun in hand, and cracks the butt of it
against my head.
Ignoring
the throbbing in my head, I launch my self at her, tearing the gun from her
hands. I can feel my nails ripping below the skin as I pry it from her fingers.
I toss it aside.
But
it's not enough. Brin backhands me, sending me sprawling dizzily on the ground.
Every inch of my body aches, showing the marks of the battle. My lip is split
in two places, there's a bruise on one cheek, a possible broken rib . . .
Black
spots swim around my field of vision. They start to group, threatening to block
out all my vision. I can barely see Brin standing over me, shotgun aimed.
"Goodbye,
Big Sister," she sneers.
I'm
vaguely aware of what sounds like a Humvee driving up. Someone's yelling . . .
sounds like Logan . . . And then there's a loud crack that splits the air and
everything goes black . . .
