Legacy of a Mad Scientist (54 page)

"We've stayed away from the residence since you were
taken. We thought you were taken. We've been staking out the
neighborhood. Your place and here, waiting for something to
break."

The infrared footage revealed a thick-bodied man
entering the kitchen from a door on the back of the house. She
watched her mother enter the room, and their glowing silhouettes
merged as the intruder pounced. They struggled for a few moments
and Ashley watched liquid heat began to run down the legs of her
mother and the intruder. The white liquid pooled around their feet,
spread and faded to a cool purple-blue.

On the monitors, a streak of light rushed into the
room and drove the thick shape of the intruder from her mother's
from. Ashley recognized his shape; the new, quick moving light was
her father. The intruder fled through the same door he'd entered.
Ashley watched as her father caught her mother and together, they
sunk to the floor. More liquid heat pooled around them and then
faded.

Lee panned over to the side of the house, where the
intruder was entering an uninterrupted shot. He switched back to
full color, and the image snapped into focus, it was Martin
Dunkirk; he was covered with blood and grinning.

Lee scanned forward in time; they watched the federal
forces assemble on her front lawn. The front doors stood open. Soon
soldiers wheeled out someone in a white body bag, presumably the
body of Ashley's mom.

Ash watched as her father burst from the house, his
hands and shirtfront, covered in blood. The lead agent, the man who
was obviously in charge, Director Stanwood drew a pistol and raised
it.

Dr. Fox said something to Stanwood, but the agent
pulled the trigger, the pistol fired and Ashley's father fell,
mortally wounded. Lee rewound the footage and turned up the audio.
Microphones, set on the property, played back the words her father
said as he came out of the house.

"Joe, you have to help, Ana. Please, Stanwood..."

Then the pistol fired, it sounded so loud it may as
well have been in the room. Dr. Fox fell again.

Stanwood motioned for the soldiers to pack up Dr.
Fox's body. They rolled it onto a white frosted body bag and
carried it to one of the waiting transports.

"We need a copy of this," Cole said.

Lee selected the time range, less than four minutes
from start to finish, and exported a clip. He opened a network
browser and copied the clip into a dozen mirrored storage accounts.
Lee wrote a network address down and handed it to Ash, who smiled
and nodded, "Thank you."

Cole fixed one of the live cameras on a hostile
argument between Urich and Von Kalt across the canyon.

“That’s Director Von Kalt.” Ashley said. “He’s trying
to kill me.”

From overhead, Captain Anastasia Snow and Chief
Warrant Officer Reid watched Ashley and Cole leave the security
residence. It had been little trouble to eavesdrop on the
conversation.

Captain Snow found herself conflicted with relief at
how events were unfolding and furious about having so little
influence. It appeared that the only person who wanted Stanwood
dead more than her, was her daughter.

The cognitive dissonance caused by her simultaneous
joy and revulsion at the recent turn of events prevented her from
inserting herself. She couldn’t explain it and didn’t feel
compelled to.

Thankfully, Reid didn’t ask for any kind of
explanation.

Ashley and Detective Cole reached the police station
a little after dark. Once in his office, Cole logged in and had no
trouble locating Ashley's brother, Geoff. He was at a juvenile
holding facility not far from where he'd been picked up.

Cole filed a request for Geoff, a material witness,
to be brought up to his office ASAP. The facility supervisor sent
Geoff with a young social worker. Unfortunately, they were sent by
way of public shuttle, an hour's ride at least, maybe two if the
shuttle had prior scheduled deliveries.

Cole's phone rang. "What's going on?" he asked.

He walked over to the printer and pulled up a sheet
of paper from the tray. "Yeah. It's here. Office of the Director of
National Intelligence, it says. Material warrant for all persons,
property or information pertaining to the ongoing investigation
into Sixth Gate Citizen Dr. Andrew Fox, matter of national
security, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, there are twelve, numbered and
signed."

Cole listened for a moment. Ashley could hear was
frantic yelling from the other end of the line.

"What, Dunkirk? Yeah, sure, I'll triple it. Hold on,
I'll be right back." Cole set down the receiver and gestured for
Ashley to stay put. He rose and left the office.

Ashley found herself immediately bored. She picked up
the warrant. There were indeed twelve names and corresponding
signatures.

She opened the drawer to Cole's desk. There were two
guns, a small revolver and a pistol. Ashley tucked the revolver
into her belt and closed the drawer, pulling her shirt over the
butt of the weapon.

She leaned over to the terminal and pulled up one of
the storage mirrors Lee had given her. Ashley downloaded the
surveillance file and opened it. She watched it seven times before
the detective returned.

Cole paid no attention to the video clip running on
his screen and picked up the phone. "He's in our wing, strapped to
a bed. One leg is just destroyed. We've got four guys on him, he's
not going anywhere."

A large commotion at the doors to the office
distracted Cole from his call. He set down the phone.

The storm at the other end of the line had reached
them.

It was easy for the small man with the doctor’s bag
to slip past the chaos. Dr. Cedric Bergstrom moved through the
station with intent. The ACPD was beyond over-confident. No one
questioned him or even gave him as much as a sideways glance.

He reached the holding cell and nodded to the
soldiers. They didn’t hesitate either, promptly opening the cell
for the diminutive doctor.

Bergstrom nodded and smiled his thanks, waiting as
they closed the heavy metal door.

Dunkirk was unconscious.

Bergstrom opened his bag and removed several wicked
looking syringes. He pulled out his scanner and slowly examined
Dunkirk’s shattered body. He’d seen the news clip on his way to the
station.

Boy, that Ashley, she sure could kick.

Dunkirk’s body was a mess of superficial wounds, but
his legs had taken the worst of it in the fall.

Cedric calculated that he’d need to prepare
twenty-two injections to get the boy right. He went to work,
filling the syringes with his own proprietary formulae, purple, as
opposed to Dr. Fox’s more famous blue product. “When this is all
over, you’ve jut got to come visit me down at the work shop, my old
friend.”

Three uniformed officers tried to keep out a throng
of black suited agents. They pushed right through Urich and several
other detectives; they just couldn't hold them back.

The entire swarm of people flowed into the
detective's workspace, filling the open corridors between desks
with angry, shouting, law-enforcement officials.

When Deputy Director Von Kalt, who was at the center
of the fracas, saw Ashley, he froze and gave her leering predatory
grin.

A moment later he pointed at her and shouted, "This
is a case of National Security! You're obstructing Justice! You're
all under Arrest!"

Ashley pulled out the detective's revolver and
pointed it at Von Kalt with one hand.

The room fell silent.

No one moved or spoke, and to Ashley’s utter shock,
no one raised a weapon at her.

Deputy Director Von Kalt didn't answer, so Ash pulled
out the piece of paper, "This warrant says you're after me. You
killed my parents and now you want to kill me? You think I'm a
threat to National Security?"

Detective Cole reached down to his computer and hit a
button.

The video Ashley had opened was broadcast to the
wall-mounted screens around the room.

The sound silenced the onlookers.

The assembled officers and agents watched the
footage.

They saw Dunkirk emerge from the house, covered in
blood.

They saw Dr. Fox approach Director Stanwood, asking
for help.

Deputy Director Von Kalt was there, standing next to
Stanwood.

Dr. Fox called Stanwood by name and he shot him.

As the video started again, a new group of agents
arrived in the detective’s offices. There was hardly enough room
for all the angry law enforcement officials.

He entered with the second batch of Agents. It was
him: National Intelligence Director Joseph Stanwood. He was there,
in front of her, staring at her. He was limping and used a
cane.

Ashley smiled.

She folded the warrant and tucked it into her back
pocket, moving her aim from Von Kalt to Stanwood and taking hold of
the weapon with both hands. Ashley was positioned behind Cole's
desk, near an open hall door.

Cole stood next to her.

There were still no guns in anyone else's hands,
yet.

"What the hell is this?" Stanwood asked. "You're just
going to let a child stand there, holding all of you at
gunpoint?"

Over the speakers, a shot was fired.

Stanwood looked at the closest screen. He saw the
image of himself, standing over Dr. Fox's body.

Detective Urich stepped forward, confronting
Stanwood. "My witness isn't going anywhere with you. Neither is my
prisoner. I believe we have plenty of evidence to place both of you
under arrest."

"Is that a fact?" Director Stanwood said. "Habeas
corpus has been suspended? You are a homicide detective, if you
intend to charge someone with murder, you need the body, don't
you?"

No one replied.

"Might I also point out the fact that Dr. Fox
violated dozens of international laws and was threatening the
state? He was in possession of advanced weaponry and threatened to
hold the entire country hostage. The man was a danger to himself,
as well as those around him. The warrant is legal. Now, if you
obstruct me in any way, I will shoot you myself. Turn over my
prisoners, Both children," Stanwood glared at Ashley, "And The
Dunkirk." Stanwood referred to Dunkirk as if he were a thing, a
weapon or some sort of monster.

The small doors on the far side of the office opened.
A uniformed police officer entered first, with another officer
close behind.

The first man was scared. He'd been struck above the
left eye; his forehead was swollen and cut. The holster at his belt
was empty.

The man behind him, the somewhat mobile Martin
Dunkirk, wore a police issue vest and jacket as he held the young
officer with a gun to his back. "Looks like this is as far as we
go," Dunkirk said.

The officer swallowed.

Ashley switched her aim from Stanwood to Dunkirk.

The moment seemed to stretch into infinity.

Everyone else reached for their weapons now, but it
was too late.

Only a fraction of a second had passed.

The hostage officer was wearing a bulletproof vest,
Dunkirk hiding behind him. Dunkirk raised his shotgun.

Ashley fired, hitting him in the arm.

Suddenly the office came alive as agents fired and
dove for cover simultaneously.

Dunkirk jerked the trigger, blasting at Ash and Cole,
but Urich jumped in front of the shot, sacrificing himself for his
partner and the girl.

Cole flipped the desk.

Ashley swept her hand over eight light switches,
plunging the floor into darkness. As the light vanished, she marked
Stanwood's position and scrambled to avoid the officers pursuing
Dunkirk.

Dunkirk dragged his hostage down one of the nearby
hallways.

Cole tended to the wounded Urich. He'd taken some of
the scatter shot to his arms and shoulder, but his vest saved him
from mortal injury.

Von Kalt went with the agents and officers in pursuit
of Dunkirk.

Ash slipped through the shadows behind cabinets and
desks until she found herself just a short distance from Director
Stanwood. She held the Micronix in her right hand and the
detective's revolver in the other.

The sounds of the pursuit returned. Dunkirk had
become ensnared in the famous police department maze and was on his
way back to them.

They all turned toward the hall where Dunkirk would
emerge.

Ash crept closer to Stanwood.

There was a small credenza between the director and
what would be the oncoming pursuit, and he was further obscured by
a filing cabinet.

As Dunkirk and his hostage backed into the
Detectives' Hall, he did a double take, frustrated to realize he'd
simply moved in a circle.

Ashley leaned out from behind Stanwood, seeing
Dunkirk and being seen by him. She glared, taunting him.

Dunkirk abandoned his hostage and opened fire on Ash
with both weapons, hitting Director Stanwood several times.

Ashley hid behind the credenza and the Director.

Dunkirk's aim was off due to several police-fired
rounds. He replied with blasts from the shotgun. Pursued, the fight
raged on, into another section of the station.

It had all happened in a singular moment.

Stanwood, wearing terillium threads, was largely
unharmed. He’d gone down, but none of Dunkirk’s shots had even
drawn blood; at the worst, he might be a little bruised.

National Intelligence Director Stanwood clambered to
his feet with the help of his cane and was in the process of
brushing off his jacket when he first caught a glimpse of
Ashley.

She had noticed it was the left knee he was
struggling with and approached from that side. As he spun to
confront her, she stepped forward. Her right hand shot up to his
neck, punching the Micronix into the left side of his throat.