13 Degrees of Separation (72 page)

He listened to her issues when she hesitantly tried to
explain the problems. He nodded and had her make up a list. Somehow she felt
better. “See?” he asked, petting her as he held her chain. “I'm not all bad,”
he said, kissing her forehead. “Now go, get what you can done. I want another
report by morning,” he said.

She nodded and followed the goon assigned to guard her out.

<=={----------

Pope drank a rotgut or other alcohol nightly, listening to
smash music with a skeleton face mask on. He sat in his throne, resting while
his troops partied. For the most part Pope looked bored, even when one of the
girls made a pass at him. The slave girls knew he didn't like to share, if he
picked one of them they'd spend the evening on their knees sating his lust. It
was tedious, but it was much better than being gang raped. He propped his head
up with one fist and wrapped himself in the purple cloak he liked to wear. A
black cat sat in his lap, he occasionally stroked it. The cat purred, lulled
into a doze by such attention.

When Jane's keeper got bored, he dragged her back to the
throne room. She shivered, hiding behind the column the man chained her too,
and tried to fade into the shadows.

She picked up some things, her tired but still curious mind
teased information out of the conversation in the room. From what she had
gathered, Pope was fiendishly intelligent, and highly xenophobic. He had a
necklace of Veraxin and Tc'lock fingers, that she had noted the first day. He
wore a double bandolier made of leather covered in ammo packs. He was a natural
leader, giving credit where credit was due. He drove a hover bike. He had a
child chained to it. The child's job was to keep the bike clean and charged at
all times.

Pope wore a German ww1 style helmet complete with spike on
top. His visor was a white and clear skull mask made of plastic and glass. The
eyeholes were covered in reddish glass, they had a limited night vision
ability. Pope loved wearing the face mask, his men couldn't tell if his eyes
were open or not, and more than one had admitted the mask scared the bejeezers
out of them.

Jane came close once, she noted the soft snores. Pope was
napping she realized, using his motorcycle helmet and face mask as a cover.
When one of his bully boys woke him he admitted to it, stating they were boring
him. She learned that he had taken the name Pope because he had declared
himself the messiah, the man sent to Antigua to make order and chaos combine in
glorious battle. She knew now he was insane. He had an animal magnetism about
him, he was quite the leader, almost respectable, but insane.

<=={----------

On the evening of the fourth day of captivity Jane got the
security cameras going. She'd rigged a generator up to one of the horde's
cycles to do it. Pope had approved the plan as a temporary measure. When the
owner of the bike had protested, Pope had casually shot him and then kicked him
aside.

“There. It's free now. No problems. Anyone else want to
object?” he'd asked the room at large, holding the pistol casually in his hands
as he turned in place. No one said a word.

It took a bit of tinkering to get the cracked view screens
to work, but she got around the broken ones and found one that worked
reasonably well. When she turned it on she saw Adam's rescue party sneak into
the complex. She darted a look to her keeper. He rubbed his nose, dozing with
his arms crossed as he leaned against a piller. “You about done yet?” he
demanded.

“Um, almost,” she said. She didn't report the intruders.
Hope made her chest want to burst. Teela, Adam, his green Neotiger friend, she
realized. They'd come to rescue her! Her of all people! She closed her eyes,
fighting the tears. She had to keep her head, had to not give it away.

<=={----------

“Adam, what the hell are we doing in here?” Teela hissed
softly.

“Looking for the girl.”

“We should wait for back up!” she urged, hand on his
shoulder. He looked back at her. “Seriously! This is stupid!”

“The moment they realize your dad is outside, they will
either use her as a hostage or kill her and run.”

“They could do the same for us!” Teela said as they took
refuge in a storage closet. Adam nodded. He crept forward to the corner and
looked out down the hall.

Fist Keldor stumbled onto the intruders after taking a
leak. Casually the drunken killer zipped fly before he hit Adam from behind
with a double fist. Teela tried to sneak up on him, but her father came in over
the radio, alerting Fist to her approach. The big man turned, slapping her
aside and into the Neotiger. Teela lunged to her feet as Adam rolled clear,
wincing in pain. The woman fought the bigger man. Fist thought it was a game.
“I am so going to love breaking you bitch,” he snarled. “I love feisty,” he
said, eyes dancing. They turned, lunging at each other. Teela didn't use her
pistol, she wanted to kill him quietly.

They ended up with Fist's back to the closet Teela had been
coming out of. Golden eyes hovered behind him for a moment, then a massive
green paw reached out and wrapped around the man's head. He opened his mouth to
scream but he was pulled off balance and it was already too late. Kringer ended
up killing him by ripping his throat out with his claws. He discarded the body
right away, flicking blood out of his hand paws and claws.

“Can we get any noisier?” Teela hissed at them, avoiding
the spreading blood pool in disgust.

“No idea? Want to stick around to find out?” Adam demanded.
He found a map and looked for security.

“What are you doing?” Kringer demanded.

“Map. Security. We find the security room and take control.
Barricade ourselves inside and keep them from using it.”

“Or...we can find the girl,” Kringer replied.

“That too,” Adam said.

“Dad?” Teela asked, raising her radio bracelet to her
mouth. She spoke softly, a whisper would carry further and generate interest in
listeners. “Dad?”

“This is Duncan,” the voice replied loudly. They urgently
tried to shut it up. Teela put a piece of cloth over the speaker and tried to
turn the volume down. “Sitrep. Now you three! Where are you?”

“Inside,” Teela replied. “We got in through an air duct.
We're trying to find the girl now.”

“You...”

“Dad, hush, you're going to get us
killed
!” Teela
said.

“When this is over young lady...”

“Later dad. Out.”

“Don't call us, we'll call you,” Adam said over his
shoulder, looking around nervously.

“Definitely,” Teela said, shutting the communicator off.
“Leads?” she asked.

“She's that way,” Kringer said pointing to the right
corridor.

“And so is security. Let's go,” Adam said leading the way.

Teela looked at Kringer. Kringer shrugged. “I don't know,
but we'd better follow,” she said. Kringer growled and followed them.

<=={----------

Duncan arrived but was spotted by a group leaving the
complex. The group rushed back to warn the complex. A firefight erupted at the
front entrance and a few of the team were wounded, one soldier killed in fighting
but they drove the enemy back inside. The complex door closed.

Duncan however had sent a second team to the air vent. They
went in, following the directions Teela uploaded to them. When they met up with
the trio they set out to get to the front door and flank the enemy from within.

“Okay, by the book and by the numbers. Half squads over,
watch your flanks. Cover every damn door. Adam in the pocket, Kringer cover
him.” Teela frowned. “No, you two hit the front, find the girl.”

“Gotcha,” Adam said.

The squads moved in leapfrog. They found the throne room
where the slaves were being held. One of the men sleeping woke, he watched the
soldiers warily coming in but didn't react at first. He waited until they were
past him before he erupted out of the blankets and started shooting.

Chaos reigned for a moment as shots were fired. The slaves
screamed and ducked for cover. Adam and Kringer snarled, taking cover behind a
column. Kringer yanked on his leg and he looked down to see a girl there too.
Jane looked back up at him and mouthed a thank you.

“Don't thank us yet, we're not out of the woods by a long
shot,” Adam growled. He bashed the ring holding her chain to the column with
the butt of his pistol, then snarled and shot it. The lock snapped off. He
yanked the chain off and passed it to her. “Keep your head down Jane, try to
stay alive,” he said, nodding to a no nonsense Teela as she reported the
situation to her father.

“I didn't bring heavy weapons,” Duncan said, cursing
himself for the lack of preparation.

“Well, they didn't either dad, so we're good,” Teela said,
then saw a familiar snout of a plasma rifle coming. She crouched and shot,
forcing the gunner back momentarily. “Oops! Spoke too soon! Plasma guns! Take
cover!” she yelled.

Adam's body armor was shot up and set on fire by a plasma
round that came a little too close to hitting. The round chewed up the concrete
wall he had been hiding behind, lighting his vest on fire. He stripped it off
hastily, suffering some minor burns. He was fine, he continued the fight bare
chested. His example amused and enlivened the soldiers. Adam used the burned
armor as an improvised shield before getting smart and dropping it onto the
girl's lap. “Put it on,” he said. Jane wrinkled her nose at the scorched thing
but obeyed.

A soldier tossed a flash bang, the grenade bounced off a
wall and fell at the feet of the angry plasma gunner. He had a moment to
recognize the device and curse as he tried to turn and kick it away just before
it went off. He screamed as the concussion sent him back, blinding him. Teela
moved in, shooting him before he could get back up.

“Room clear,” a soldier reported. Teela turned back to see
the enemy had escaped in the confusion, or had been cut down. The slaves were
prostrated on the floor, whimpering. She curled her lip at such attitudes and
turned away.

Kringer was already on the move. “Hey! Where are you going!
Front door is that a way!” Teela said, pointing in the opposite direction.

“Yeah well, he's going that way, I'm following,” Adam said
pointing to the cat. He trotted, bare chested. A soldier tossed him a pair of
utility belts, Adam put them over his shoulders as bandoliers.

“You're nuts,” Teela said, shaking her head. He grinned.
“You both are. Good luck. Stay alive,” Teela said.

Kringer was on the prowl, he had a score to settle. Adam
followed in his wake, but for once the human was the quiet one, letting the cat
lead the way. Blood lust was in his system, it couldn't be denied. He found
what he had wanted, the ape man. He jumped him, tearing at his back but hard
hands grabbed him and threw him to slam into a wall.

“Leave off!” Biff said, trying to make his way out of the
building. “Look, truce, you go your way kitty, I'll go mine,” he said, hands
up. “I ain't got no beef with you. Keep it up I'll turn you into a rug.” he
shrieked, trying to make his way to the door.

Kringer wiped at his mouth as he got to his feet, eyes mad.
He growled deep in his throat. Biff sighed, shaking his head. “Have it your way
then. Don't say I didn't warn you kitty,” he said. He put his hands out, taking
a horse stance. “Come on then,” he growled, teeth bared.

Kringer gathered himself for a leap but then held off,
remembering his lessons with Teela, Adam, and Duncan. The thrill of fear was
there, it gnawed at his will, but he was in the fight now, there was no going
back. This time he wasn't going to run, he wasn't a cub anymore. He needed to
keep a cool head, to fight smart. He remembered Duncan's warning, remembered
his own mother's crushing death.

Kringer had a score to settle with the ape man. He tore at
him, they fought shrieking and snarling. Adam came running at the roars. He
fumbled with his pistol.

Kringer had Adam back off. “No! This one is mine! For my
mother!” he snarled, wading back in. The two Neo's slapped at each other with
hand paws and claws. Each fought dirty, biting and tearing at whatever they
could. Kringer tried to keep out of the ape's longer arm reach.

A slip was all it took to for the ape to fall on him. The
ape bear hugged him from behind. Ribs cracked and broke. Kringer's breath was
driven out of him but he wasn't finished yet. The cat twisted and bit his
enemy's head, sinking his lower canines into the ape's eye. The ape screamed
and let go. His hand went to his eye. “My eye! My eye!” he screamed, thrashing
about.

Kringer coughed, getting his breath, feeling blood and
saliva in his mouth he spat. He took a few breaths, he realized he couldn't
take a deep breath. He had to end this now. He turned and coiled, ears flat.
The ape stumbled back and away, his free hand up. “Leave me alone!” he snarled.

The cat readied himself and took the opportunity to  lunge
forward, dodging the waving hand as the other clutched at the ruined eye.
Instead of going for his enemy's throat he rebounded off the warding arm and
folded his lower body under it, ripping and disemboweling the ape with his rear
claws before he twisted away.