Chains of Freedom (53 page)

Levits turned and fired then made a dash for one of the airworthy choppers. Shots rang out around him, but the guards' confusion was so great that he made it without a scratch. He piled into a chopper and took it up. Glancing down, he saw the men scrambling for the choppers, and he smiled. "Why not?" He aimed the laser cannon and fired. None of the few airworthy choppers made it into the air. As he started to pick off the guards and choppers, he became aware of discomfort.

"Oh, my God!" He scrambled madly, feverishly unstrapping his belts, and dug a handful of timed charges out of his pocket. White and shaking, he threw them from the chopper onto the roof and broke out in a cold sweat. "Damn! Careless of me."

As he strapped back in and resumed picking off the grounded choppers, he wondered briefly how many he'd thrown out. A check of his pockets assured him that they were all gone.

Mickey and his troops ran through the lower levels of Capitol, seeding them with timed charges, and killing everything that moved. They were having a good time. In fact, they were having so much fun that Mickey had a great deal of trouble getting them to leave when it was time. Their job was done, and they hadn't lost a man. Mickey just hoped RJ was doing as well.

David watched the time but remained silent. He said none of the things that were on his mind. Like, why didn't they just leave Jessica and her GSH to blow up with the rest of Capitol?

"Where is that damned freak!" RJ cursed.

"We could get Jessica . . ."

"He's more of a threat than Jessica," RJ hissed at Poley. "You know that as well as I do. I don't want him coming up behind us while we're trying to kill her."

Poley nodded. Then he cocked his head to listen. "I hear him. He's coming our way."

Zark heard something. He wasn't sure what, but it was unusual, and seemed to be coming from the roof. He went to investigate. After all, little things like power-locked doors, stalled elevators and no lights weren't likely to stop him.

He rounded a corner, and there stood Jessica. He laughed."What are you dressed up for?"

She just grinned, and walked over to embrace him. He opened his arms to engulf her, and felt something against his chest. He looked into the eyes of the impossible as the titanium projectile ripped through his heart and exploded. His lifeless body fell to the floor with a thud.

Poley ran out of hiding and started to cut off Zark's head with a laser knife. "Poley!" RJ protested.

"Since our sister likes trophies, I thought I'd bring her one," Poley said with a savage grin.

RJ took her chain from David and started to wrap it around herself.

"How could you be so sure that he would think you were Jessica?" David asked, curiously.

"Simple. He knew he'd killed me. It wouldn't have crossed his mind that I could be anyone but Jessica."

Poley walked over to them carrying Zark's bloody head by the hair. "So, let's go kill J-6," he said, happily.

"You're enjoying this too much, Tin Pants," RJ said.

Jessica was just finishing her wine. Suddenly, the door crashed in, and a head came rolling across her desk into her lap. She thought at first that Zark had located the android's head. Breaking the door would be just his style. Then the sticky liquid soaked through her pants, and the stench hit her nostrils. She looked down, and Zark seemed to grin hideously back at her. She threw the head down and jumped up just as RJ entered the room followed by Poley and David.

"So, we meet at last." Jessica failed horribly at sounding cool.

"I am disappointed in you. You sound surprised. If I had sent someone to kill you, I wouldn't have been surprised to find that he had failed." RJ raised the same weapon she'd used on Zark, and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Reacting instantly, Jessica leapt over the desk and ran for the door. Poley tripped her, and she sprawled for an instant before regaining her feet and running. She wasn't ashamed to run. RJ had killed Zark, and now RJ would kill her if she didn't get away. Something struck Jessica in the back, and she spun around hitting the wall. Then she saw the chain coming. It hit her in the head, and she watched with one eye as the other was ripped from her skull. She didn't stop; she regained her footing and ran a little faster, ignoring the pain.

RJ started after her, but Poley grabbed her arm. "No time, RJ. Come on." She struggled briefly, but Poley insisted, "There isn't time!"

Jessica realized that they weren't chasing her, and she knew she only had a second to get that thing out of her back. The two inch, knife-shaped projectile was lodged in her shoulder. The charge hadn't gone off yet, but it could at any moment. Still running, she reached back, pulled it out and threw it down the hall. Before it hit the floor, it exploded, sealing off that end of the hallway. She knew she wasn't in the clear yet. There had to be a reason that RJ hadn't tracked her down. No way would she have relied on that projectile to do the job. They must have seeded the building with explosives. She knew she didn't have long to get out of Capitol, and that's why she was surprised when she found herself heading for Right's room.

She found Right asleep with no idea of what was going on."Come on, Right! Get up! We're under attack!"

"We're what?" Right asked sleepily. Then seeing the carnage wreaked on her face. "Oh my God, Jessy!"

"RJ's alive, Right. She just tried to kill me, and she's planted a bomb somewhere here in Capitol."

David, Poley and RJ checked their pockets for the tenth time, making sure that they had disposed of all their timed charges, and cursed the elevator for being so slow, but what could they expect, since it was basically working on "Poley Power?" Levits was waiting for them surrounded by the smoldering ash of burning choppers and charred bodies.

"Been enjoying yourself?" RJ asked, getting in the chopper.

"Hey, I had to have something to do! I was getting bored waiting for you guys." With a sigh of relief, he took off with his precious cargo. "I was beginning to get worried."

"Soon, now," Poley said.

"10, 9, 8 . . ." David started the count. He stopped, staring in horror at the object rolling around under RJ's seat. "What the hell . . . Oh, my God!" He ducked down, grabbed the charge and tossed it out the door on 3 . . . Less than three seconds later Capitol went up as a smaller explosion rocked the chopper. They looked back to see the bottom levels of Capitol blown to pieces, and the rest toppled to the ground, breaking up as it fell. Dust and rubble flew into the air as high as the building had been.

Levits was fighting for control. "Sorry, guys. The explosion must have blown off part of the tail section. We're going to have to land."

Levits landed the wounded chopper with little difficulty, and they all got out to look back at the dust cloud that had once been Capitol.

RJ frowned. Vengeance had not quenched the bitterness in her soul. "Now it can never end."

"What's that, RJ?" Levits asked, looking up from his assessment of the damage to the chopper.

She didn't repeat herself. "The Reliance won't be able to dismiss us so easily now. They can't."

"This thing isn't going to fly." Levits kicked the offending chopper."So what's our next move?"

"We get help from the Reliance's other enemy."

"You don't mean . . ." David started to laugh, then he saw the look on her face. "But how do we get them to help us?"

"We are logical allies," Poley informed him as he took his own look at the chopper.

"The hardest part will be getting there," RJ said thoughtfully.

"Well, I have no idea what you're all talking about," Levits interjected, "but I was talking about getting home."

"Shh," RJ ordered, "listen." A few seconds later, they all heard it.

"You don't suppose . . ."

A lone chopper raced overhead, drowning out the rest of his sentence.

"Bet on it." RJ watched till it was out of sight.

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four