Hurt World One and the Zombie Rats (14 page)

Mischa glanced back at the black smoke
billowing off the helicopter’s wreckage further up the mountain.
‘Do you think the crew got out?’

Giselle shrugged. ‘It’s not likely a Search
and Rescue helicopter would have much experience of being shot
down. But we’d better take a look.’ She leaned into her collar
mike, ‘Suspect is descending to Par River. Armed and dangerous.
Search and Rescue helicopter is down.’

‘Engine failure?’ queried the base
operator.

‘Missile strike. Lock down the town and call
in the army.’

‘Roger that.’

‘The Hurt World technician is on his way to
the train station. The poacher is in pursuit. Expect carnage.’

‘Understood’

‘Put Kaptu Z on the fastest damned train out
of here. Do it now.’

*

Par Train Station was the third largest in
Switzerland and was heavily endowed with level upon level of black
glass set into arched bronze frames. The high ceilings and wide
open platforms and hallways added to the atmosphere of grandeur. It
was a building desperate not to be overshadowed by the surrounding
Alpine peaks. Kaptu Z saw it as an attempt to draw tourists with
the promise of a more comfortable skiing experience than the one he
had had.

He strode across the thinly populated foyer
to the Departures Board. Service Suspended notices glowed in red
against every route. No reason was given but Kaptu suspected a
rampaging poacher had something to do with it.

‘Excuse me, sir. May I see your PIC?’

Kaptu turned to see three heavily armed
police officers approaching him. Kaptu took a moment to realise
what he was asking for was his Personal Identification Card. They
were not used in Asylum City, it’s population having been out of
control virtually since its founding. Kaptu, however, had a United
Nation’s diplomatic card, which he handed over.

The police officer that looked over it
muttered, ‘You had better come with us.’

Kaptu was led to Platform One. He could see
in the foyer people being unceremoniously herded out the exit.
‘Have all the trains stopped?’

‘Yours hasn’t. In fact, it’s being
commandeered by executive order on the basis that the sooner we get
you away from here the better.’

They stopped at the beginning of the platform
where they were joined by a woman who was tall, olive skinned and
decked out in leather. She glanced at her watch and then at Kaptu.
‘My name is Gagel. I am here to see you board your train. And I’m
thinking of joining you too. You must be some sort of catch. In
five minutes, the train line from here all the way to Zurich will
be cleared for you. And you will be riding a snub-nosed AT Express,
the fastest train in the world. I like a man with those kinds of
privileges.’

‘To be honest, I have no interest in going to
Zurich.’

Gagel smirked. ‘That might be why I’ve been
asked to escort you there. I’m probably the friendliest of the
Alpine Special Forces that you’re going to meet but that doesn’t
mean I take no for an answer.’

‘And when you were asked,’ murmured Kaptu,
‘was it over a communication device?’

‘Yes, but don’t worry, we blew her
surveillance drone from the sky.’

‘She won’t be using that one anymore. She’ll
be using yours.’ Kaptu turned to the three police officers who had
led him there and patted his Cocoon 41 backpack. ‘You’d better tell
the perimeter security detail to get worried. She really wants this
dog.’

‘There are twenty officers patrolling the
station,’ said Gagel, ‘against one solitary poacher.’

‘Deer hunting a tiger are still just steaks.
She might come directly here or she might go

looking for some more weapons first. It
wouldn’t surprise me if your base received a visit.’

‘I’ve just come from there and I can assure
you it is all very calm.’

‘And it might still be very calm with the
slight difference being some of your sentries are now on the ground
with their throats slit. The Alpine Special Forces is a modern,
well equipped unit. So, why would Mas want to go shopping anywhere
else?’

The snubbed-nosed AT Express innocuously
pulled into the station beside them and Gagel gazed at the sleek,
polished red chrome just as though it were a blank canvas for her
thoughts. She went to her collar communicator and called the
sentries at the Alpine Special Forces base. There was no reply.’
Gagel looked to Kaptu before hurriedly making another call. ‘Base
has been breached,’ she declared. ‘Our assets are compromised. And
don’t ask me what we should do about it.’

*

‘Have the sentries evacuated the station,’
Giselle cried into her collar mike. ‘Tell them to run and keep
running. There won’t be anything left to guard anyway.’ Her
recklessness down the mountain was lighting up the snowmobile’s
control panel with alerts. Giselle, however, was more interested in
the weapon systems screen upon which Mischa was lining up the
Alpine Special Forces base with target selection.

‘Plenty of times I have programmed home base
into the navigation unit,’ murmured Mischa, ‘but putting missile
lock onto it is quite a different thing.’

‘I’m sure there has been many a day when you
would have enjoyed the opportunity.’

‘That’s true. If there wasn’t the possibility
of incapacitated personnel being on the ground, I would just send
one big bomb and wipe the whole place clean.’ Mischa hurriedly
completed target selection of all the vehicles and weapons storage
areas on the base. ‘None of the assets are moving,’ he said. ‘Are
you sure this is a good idea?’

Giselle gestured to the screen. ‘Two of those
vehicles are armoured trucks carrying nuclear missiles. By the time
they start moving, it will be too late.’

‘And the snowmobiles? They have some of the
best Search and Rescue equipment in Switzerland.’

‘Which Mas would use to destroy.’

‘Well, it’s going to be loud,’ murmured
Mischa as he pressed the missile launch button. With a shuddering
roar, the missiles shot together away from the snow mobile in a
flat trajectory towards the Alpine Special Forces base. ‘Pull over
and we’ll watch the show,’ Mischa said. ‘And bring the sniper
rifle.’ He sprung impatiently out of the snowmobile without waiting
for it to stop. He rolled through the snow and finished on his
knees. He stared through his binoculars at the base down at the
base of the mountain. The missiles struck, the balls of flame
brilliantly bright against the backdrop of the late afternoon’s
fading light. Mischa scoured the base’s perimetre for any sign of
Mas. Giselle joined him in a kneeling position, looking down the
scope of her sniper rifle. Amidst the fires taking hold throughout
the base, people began to emerge, heading for the perimetre gates
in dazed steps.

‘See anyone suspicious?’ murmured
Giselle.

‘They’re all our people,’ replied Mischa.
‘You don’t recognise any of them? They’ve been saluting you for
years.’

Giselle noticed a slim, dark figure weaving
through the flames. The movements were fast and fluid - a predator
in full flight.

‘Got her.’ Giselle fired several rounds. Mas,
however, did not slow, sprinting through the perimetre fence and
away into Par.

Mischa jumped up and spat, ‘How did she get
away? There’s no gate there.’

‘I get the feeling we weren’t the only ones
blowing up things on the base,’ murmured Giselle. She straightened
up and said into her collar mike, ‘Gagel, the target is coming and
there is nothing standing in her way.’ She waited for a reply but
all she got was silence. ‘Gagel, answer me. Mas is coming.’

*

Gagel was unconscious on the floor of the
snub-nosed AT Express’s lead carriage. Kaptu Z turned to the train
driver, who hadn’t yet noticed and shouted above the roar of the
engine, ‘Looks like she’s fainted. The pressure of the
situation.’

The train driver frowned. ‘I thought Special
Forces were made of sturdier stuff.’

‘I’m sure she’ll come good soon.
Unfortunately, we’re all heading for trouble unless we take evasive
action right now.’

The train driver was a short, blonde woman.
She looked incredulously at the streaking lights of the seemingly
endless tunnel. ‘We are travelling seven hundred kilometres per
hour deep within a mountain. I don’t think we have much to fear
now.’

‘Don’t be so sure. Mas knows where we are and
it’s not only communication satellites we can hack. The chances of
making Zurich are slim.’

‘Weapons satellites are not so easily
hijacked.’

‘Perhaps those over Switzerland would take
her some time. But there are other countries not so careful of the
weaponry in their skies. Italy perhaps. Eastern Europe certainly.
Mas can take over one of those devices and bring it within range.
Even at these speeds, the trip to Zurich will give her time
enough.’

The train driver was concerned. ‘What can we
do?’

‘Change course for the French border. And
keep it to ourselves. Go as far as we can before we’re
discovered.’

‘We’ll be discovered straightaway. Nothing
moves on these tracks without the System knowing it.’

Kaptu Z reached into his backpack. ‘I’m
carrying more than just a sick dog. He pulled out a thin
micro-wafer. ‘It’s a cloaking device from the CIA. It works.’

‘Alright,’ said the train driver. There’s a
junction beyond this mountain pass. We’ll change there. How long
will it take to go stealth?’

Kaptu moved to the control console. ‘Thirty
seconds once the micro-wafer is inserted.’

‘Shifting the points will be detectable. We
can be tracked through their movement.’

‘The cloaking device works like a local
anesthetic. We will not be detected.’

‘Then you have two minutes to insert the
chip.’ The train driver disengaged the auto-controls and glanced at
Gagel. ‘How long do people stay fainted for?’

Kaptu did not reply. He was busy inserting
the stealth chip.

9 On the run

The group of important people, huddled
together on red velvet sofa chairs, were drinking Napa Valley
sparkling wine and picking at platters of cheeses, olives and meat
shavings from silver trays. The vigil offered of the nightscape
from the San Francisco Tower’s penthouse lounge was every bit as
bubbly and pure as the ever so light nectar in their glasses. And
they made a point of keeping their glasses constantly refilled,
doing what the well of life could not.

Renaissance was at the head of the polished
black marble table and was joined by her assistant Spiros Pardos,
Swiss Ambassador Betz and Insurance Agent Chezel. It was past
midnight but no one had any inclination of retiring to bed. They
could not sleep for fear of what they might lose before they woke
up again.

‘It is only a matter of time before Mas is
caught now,’ said Betz, running his fingers along the rim of his
glass. ‘Our Government will be compelled to respond to her brutal
actions on Mount Par. And we will pursue her to the ends of the
earth to do it.’

‘Yes, I’m quite sure your Government will
apply for a death warrant on her at the World Court,’ said Chezel.
‘And they will be granted it too.’

‘There is already a death warrant current for
her,’ said Renaissance. ‘But such things are meaningless if there
is no target. And she is not on the System, don’t forget.’

‘The death warrant already issued originates
from East Africa. But she is in Europe now and there are no jungles
there to conceal her.’

There was a knock on the door. All eyes
turned expectantly that way, for there was only one person who had
been granted access to their door. McRaven strode into the room
like he was still carrying momentum from the jet fighter he had
just flown in on. ‘The train has been found at the border.’ he
said. ‘The driver and Sergeant Gagel are alive but unconscious -
drugged by some kind of barbed barbiturate.’

‘Barbed barbiturate?’ murmured Ambassador
Betz. ‘I’m not sure I’m familiar with such a substance.’

‘They are drugs designed to react badly when
antidotes are applied,’ Pardos explained. ‘In this case, it is a
sleeping drug. We’d best let them sleep it off for risk of
death.’

‘Sounds terribly primitive. Why wouldn’t your
man simply use a standard memory inhibitor?’

‘Because such drugs are not available in
Asylum City,’ said Renaissance. She turned to McRaven. ‘Any sign of
Kaptu Z?’

‘No. It is quite likely he has already
slipped into France. That seems to be the direction he is taking.
But with all due respect this is not my team’s specialty. We deal
with emergency extractions, not playing hide and seek.’

‘Perhaps, the adjusted mission statement
should read wanted dead or alive for the protagonists on both their
side and ours,’ snapped Pardos. ‘Kaptu is flaunting laws and is
completely out of control. If we condone this kind of behaviour,
our insurance premiums will not allow for another mission ever
again.’

Renaissance calmly sipped her wine. ‘It would
not do to try having him arrested. That would require diverting
resources away from the pursuit of Mas.’

‘Which I can assure you are considerable,’
added Betz.

‘Yes, quite. I do not believe we will hear
from Kaptu again until Blast has been revived from its cocoon. Two
whole weeks from now. If we haven’t got Mas by then, they will come
into play. For now, let’s just say that Kaptu has gone underground
more or less like he was instructed to do. A chance for him to take
a break from his grim existence. And who would deny him that?’

‘Mas,’ replied Insurance Agent Chezel
bluntly. ‘Pardos is right. Letting this play out risks bankrupting
Hurt World in its entirety.’

Renaissance smiled at McRaven. ‘Fetch
yourself a glass. I’ll pour you a drink.’