The End of the Game - 6
Shaw busied herself in the subway and was checking the monitors when Root entered the subway car "J-J-John?" she said in a small voice.
"John's just gone out, Root" said Shaw gently "He'll be back soon". She turned back to what she was doing.
"Oh good, I thought he might still be around" said Root breezily, in her normal voice.
Shaw grew very still and turned her head only, to stare down the muzzle of Root's small, derringer-type pistol.
"What's happening Root?" she said slowly "Why are you pointing the gun at me?"
"She says that you're bad code, you might act like Harry"
"Did you kill Harold, Root?"
"Oh yes, he was bad too. He didn't want to be debugged"
"Why did you want to debug Harold, Root?" said Shaw, easing upright and away from the desk.
"She told me to. We argued a bit but she wouldn't change her mind"
"Did the Machine tell you to debug Harold?" said Shaw, licking her dry lips and not liking where this was heading, not in any way at all.
"Of course, silly" replied Root, her eyes shining and pleased to be helping her god.
"Did she tell you to debug me too?"
"Yes, she says you and John are both bad code"
Shaw's eyes flicked around for a weapon, aware that Root probably knew all her likely moves but determined to go down fighting. An unfamiliar, icy feeling gripped her stomach as she realised that, for some reason, the Machine had turned against Finch, Reese, and herself. She'd had that feeling only once before: when Control had targeted her and Cole and she'd had to kill colleagues and team-mates – people she knew and, if not liked, then tolerated - to escape.
"Will I like being debugged, Root?"
"I'm not sure" said Root in a puzzled tone "Shall I just shoot you, in case you don't?"
"We should wait for John, and then you can debug us both together"
"Hmm, John's very strong. I'd better not"
Shaw drove forward, pulling her throwing knife from the sheath in the small of her back and flicking it at Root. She saw it thud into Root's chest and, simultaneously, heard a bang and felt an enormous blow to her stomach. Root looked down in wonder at the knife, her brown eyes wide, and something human entered them at last.
"Sameen, I'm…" she said and collapsed.
Shaw cursed and curled into a ball, holding her stomach in agony. She shuffled over to Root, trailing blood and hissing at the pain, and checked her pulse but felt nothing. Damn, she'd hoped to keep her alive so she and Reese could find out what the hell was happening. She made a rough bandage to stop the bleeding but her medical training told her she had a bleak outlook unless Reese returned soon. She groped for the phone on the desk, grunting with the pain and effort.
"Reese, get back here. We've got more trouble"