Judge Dredd (27 page)

“I said it once. Don’t ask me again.”

“Honestly, Dredd . . .” Hershey said.

“All right. I’m dropping all charges. Do whatever you want. You’re free.”

Fergie laughed. Laughing hurt, but what the hell?

“I knew that,” he said. “What are friends for?”

T
hey were waiting in the street.

Hundreds of them—Street Judges, Cadets, Judge Hunters. Dredd couldn’t guess where they’d come from, how they’d gotten the news so quickly.

The street was jammed with Lawmasters, blue, white, and green lights flashing into the night. The storm had moved off to the south, leaving the air clean and clear. Dredd walked out of the doorway and into the street. Hershey stood beside him, Fergie held up between them. Mediks hurried over to take him, easing him gently to a stretcher. He had passed out in the lift, but there was still a smile on his face.

An okay smile,
Dredd thought.
The guy was maybe all right, maybe just a
—He caught himself, tried to think about anything else.

The two Judge Hunters walked toward him, stiff, proud, their faces devoid of any emotion at all.

Dredd drew in a breath.

“Easy,” Hershey said.

The two Hunters parted. A third man stepped between them. He was taller than the other two, a darkhaired man in his forties. Dredd recognized him at once. He wore the white braid of Chief Judge Hunter across his chest.

The man stopped in front of Dredd. “I’m Judge Lackard.” He nodded curtly at Hershey. “You’re Joseph Dredd . . . ?”

“Yes, sir. Am I under arrest or what?”

Lackard looked at him a long moment. “That won’t be necessary. We . . . Central broadcast the Janus plans in the clear. After Griffin’s death. Everyone knows what happened in there. We, ah, owe you a debt of gratitude, Judge Dredd.”

Not Joseph Dredd this time. Judge Dredd . . .

Dredd looked out at the crowd, the men and women he respected, the Law, the only life he knew.

“We have to reorganize the Council,” Lackard said. “We’d like you to consider the position of Chief Justice.”

“Thank you. I’m honored.” Dredd nodded to his right. “I recommend Judge Hershey, sir.”

The Judge Hunter nodded. “Would you consider it, Judge Hershey?”

Hershey looked astonished. “I—are you sure?”

“Don’t be dumb, Hershey,” Dredd said. “It’s a good career move.”

“Let me think about it, sir,” Hershey said.

Dredd looked pained. “Don’t think, Hershey.
Do
it. Haven’t I taught you anything?”

Dredd turned and walked away. He spotted a Lawmaster standing ready and headed for it. Hershey followed him, stepped in his path.

“That’s it, huh? A near-death experience and no goodbye.”

“Hershey.”

“What?”

“Good-bye.”

Hershey grinned. “You’re hopeless, Dredd. Totally hopeless.” She touched the back of his neck, drew him close and kissed him full on the mouth, before he could pull away.

“That’s a Code Two-One-Two,” Dredd said. “Illegal Physical Contact with a Judge.”

“No. That’s a One-Three-Seven.
You,
impersonating a groon, Dredd. You’re
human.
You don’t have to fake it, friend.”

Dredd threw his leg over the saddle of the Lawmaster. He looked at Hershey and grinned. “Typical behavior, Hershey. I knew you’d say that.”

“Yeah? You think you know everything, Dredd. You don’t. There’s a hell of a lot of stuff you don’t know.”

Dredd thought about that. Decided she was right. He gripped the control bar of the Lawmaster, let the engine whine up to a roar, a thunder of raw power that trembled off the walls of Red Quad, and drowned every sound in Dredd’s world . . .

In Judge Hershey’s second year as Chief Justice, the Lady Liberty—or Statue of Liberty as it was known in the Way Back When—was ordered completely restored, and placed in a prominent position in the plaza across from the Hall of Justice.

While the Council felt this statue did not entirely reflect Mega-City’s current standards of Justice, it was the majority opinion—under the leadership of Chief Justice Hershey—that the presence of the Lady Liberty underscored the need for reforms in several areas of criminal and civil law.

—History of the Mega-Cities

James Olmeyer, III

Chapter XLI: “The Hershey Years”

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