Chapter 14 as it appeared
Part 2: In the Dark of the Night
Authors: Gabby, PCat
Acknowledgment: Based on an idea by Ian, Extra input from BD, Kulko and Tarrok
Malton +63
A brief moment passed, then the attacker recoiled visibly and dropped Kulko. It took a few steps backwards. Kulko gasped for breath and scrabbled for his gun. The figure was still standing there, a black shape against the night sky, some kind of rifle in one hand. Kulko raised his gun to fire and then the figure gave a great leap to another gantry, and then another, and then out of a window.
Kulko swore.
Brankin Plaza. Gabby had broken into Simon Brankin's homes twice in his life. Of course, previously, he had had a small army at his back, and once he'd had enough explosive to bring the building to the ground. Now he was alone. Luckily for him, he had enough contacts to swing a flight over the building. The pilot had refused to land, but after a long session of persuasion, involving Gabe parting with a lot of cash, he agreed to hover over the roof for a while.
Now he stood in the roaring wind at the back of the plane's cargo bay, the rain getting whipped into his face.
"Good luck," broadcast the pilot over the intercom. Gabe did not acknowledge the meaningless remark. He was too busy jumping into the slicing rain over New York City, wearing a hard helmet and a ridiculous-looking suit.
Gabby counted one, two seconds and spread his arms and legs wide. The flaps of nylon sewn into his armpits and in between his legs caught the wind and jerked him backwards, his speed disappearing almost instantly. Now gliding, almost gracefully, Gabe aimed towards the glass façade of Brankin Plaza, tucking his head into his shoulders.
The plan was suicidal. Gabby had seen that flaw when he had thought it out. Which is why he was wearing an explosive vest. If I'm going to die, may as well go out with a bang he had thought grimly.
The window was coming up fast. Gabe suddenly started worrying. What if he didn't die on impact? What if he broke his neck and lay paralysed while the nanites did their work? He would be a sitting duck. Gabby realised he hadn't really thought the plan through. He was mentally kicking himself as he crashed through the window. Alarms were screeching before he could even get to his feet.
"Fuck," he muttered, adding another item to the list of things he had not taken into account. Judging by the handsome desk before him, his luck was not entirely out, however. He had landed in the nexus. Simon's smarmy face was watching him, his portraits lining the room. Gabby groaned as he headed to the computer terminal. No time to lose. So long as he sent out the evidence, he didn't have to survive. There was nothing left to live for. Gabby typed in the code Haliphax had given him years and years ago, which was now scrawled on his palm - an activation key for a program Cat and Vicky had buried in Simon's computer network. Gabby prayed it had not been wiped. Hali had said he didn't think it had been. The words, "Sic Semper Tyrannis" flashed up on the screen. Gabby grinned. There were shouts from lower in the building. He didn't have that much time left. Biting his lip nervously, he typed in a system search for "2074 Elections" - the screen filled with results.
"Fucking hell," he groaned, punching the desk. No time to check them all. Haliphax's little program had another trick, though. With yet another 24-digit code, this one scrawled on the back of his hand, Gabby brought up a small dialog box - "Send System Backup?"
The elevator doors slid open at the end of the corridor. Gabby clicked "Yes", and crouched behind the desk. He had about twenty shots. It wouldn't be enough. Before hiding, he had counted five of Simon's elite guard approaching, with many more following.
"Thus always to tyrants", he murmured, glancing up at Simon's portrait. The backup was fifty percent done. It was automatically sending all the files to Haliphax. Hopefully the critical ones had already gone. Hopefully Hali would have the sense to check through them. Hopefully he would then distribute them to Ian's campaign, to the military, to the media and across the Internet. Hopefully it would have an effect.
Gabby burst out from behind the desk, Slasher ready. There was a chuckle. An assault rifle was levelled at his eye. All of a sudden, Gabby didn't feel so keen on the suicide run. The police officer snarled,
"Drop the gun, traitor."
There was a chiming sound from the computer. The display read, `Files sent.'
Gabby smiled, relief overcoming his fear. Slasher clattered to the ground. The rifle-butt took him by surprise, dropping him into unconsciousness.
Cat paged through the surveillance tapes.
"She shouldn't be here," BD continued to grumble in the background.
Kulko sighed. "Hali's tied up trying to monitor about 500 extremist groups and the security chatter."
Tarrok coughed discreetly. Kulko winced. "Obviously only by data mining official communications, of course."
Tarrok grinned. "Of course."
"If you really saw an assassin. He should be on this," complained BD.
"It's a big if... if it was an assassin, why didn't they kill me and then Ian? I couldn't have stopped them. Why did they just stop? It makes no sense."
"I've got something," said Cat. Kulko leaned over her shoulder. "See here?" Cat pointed to the monitor. "Can you see that figure moving in the shadows there?"
"Switch to the infra-red," said Tarrok.
Cat pressed a button.
"Nothing there. If it was someone we'd get a heat trace or a heart beat."
"Not if they were wearing thermal armour," said BD.
"In which case we'd pick up the manufacturer's ID tag. These are full-grade military surveillance systems. They have all the codes."
"Those tags can be removed."
"Not any more. The id is woven into the fabric."
"You also wouldn't pick up a trace," said Cat, "if the assassin had no heart beat and no body heat."
There was a small silence in the room. "You mean, like," Kulko paused, "a zombie? That figure moved with coordination and purpose. It was no zombie."
Cat shrugged. "I've been through these tapes with a fine tooth-comb. That's all you've got. There's a visual, but no heat trace and no security signature. It'll be why the security alarms weren't triggered. The AI will have assumed the visual was an error or distortion."
Suddenly her phone rang. She glanced at the number and then answered. "Jessica? No... no, he's not with me. I'm not even in the States. Did he say why he was going?" Cat pursed her lips. "I'm sure he's fine Jess. You know Gabby. He'll be back next week surprised you even noticed he was gone." She closed down the phone.
"Who's Jessica?" asked Kulko.
"Latest woman, you know Gabby."
"What's he done now?" asked BD.
"Booked a flight to the US. Goodness knows where he got the money. He was muttering something about Simon apparently."
"He can look after himself."
Cat snorted.
"I'll keep an eye on the security wire for you," said Tarrok. "If he gets himself in trouble, you'll be the first to know."
Gabby came to slowly. He struggled to recall what had happened to him but, after the raid, everything was a blank. He guessed he had been drugged at some point. His arms were stretched painfully up above his head and his feet barely touched the floor so that he was forced to balance half on his toes. Already he ached everywhere. He groaned.
"Ah! Mr. Mallows! I see you have joined the world of the living!"
"Simon!" Gabby's eyes flew open but he appeared to be standing in a pool of light and he could see nothing beyond. He blinked in the glare. His torso and feet were bare. All in all, he couldn't help thinking, the signs weren't promising.
"Indeed." Simon's voice drawled casually out from the darkness. Gabby could hear footsteps starting to circle him.
"Where am I?" asked Gabby.
"The Phoenix."
Gabby groaned inwardly. That was Simon's flying fortress, virtually no jurisdiction ran there except Simon's own. No records existed of what or who went in and out. If he was unlucky no one even knew he was here.
"It won't work you know," said Gabby with false confidence. "Your election rigging plot. It won't work."
"I had grasped that Mr. Mallows. Terribly inconvenient of you, if I may say so. But then you were always an inconvenience. I've had to spend the past week on damage limitation. Such a shame since I've been so looking forward to... interviewing you."
"A week!" Gabby wondered if there were any long term side-effect to whatever drugs had been used.
"Yes. And I'm afraid you are going to miss your opportunity to vote next week. Such a shame." The footsteps were right behind him now. Gabby turned his head round trying to see Simon.
Something came out of nowhere and hit him across the face. It felt hard and wooden. Gabby forced himself not to cry out. He found himself spitting blood and a tooth. "Torture is illegal," he croaked. "Even under your laws."
"No one knows you're here Mr. Mallows. Besides, within 48 hours there won't be mark on your body."
Something hit him across the back. It felt like a metal bar of some kind. This time Gabby did cry out. The footsteps started circling again.
"Well aren't you going to ask me something? That's what torture is supposed to be for."
"I wasn't really planning to. However, if you tell me where Kate is I might consider going easy on you for a day or two."
"Fuck off! She's safe from you!" Gabby hoped Cat had had the sense to move location the moment he went missing.
This time the bar swung low, across his knee caps. Gabby's feet were swept out from under him as pain exploded across his knees. He fell onto the restraints holding his arms, pulling them viciously in his shoulder sockets and scraping his wrists against the metal cuffs.
"Fuck!" he gasped once he'd stopped screaming. He tried to get back on his feet. Pain shot out from his knees up and down his legs as he put weight on them. He screamed again.
In the darkness Simon laughed. "I suppose I should take some comfort in the fact that she's safe from you as well. Have you been enjoying fucking my wife the past seventeen years."
"Oh yes!" said Gabby, unable to stop himself from nettling Simon. "She's not a bad fuck. I've known better and I've known worse."
The bar slammed into his stomach this time, winding him. For the first time Simon lurched into view, grabbing Gabby's face in his hands. Simon's face was twisted into an angry grimace. "Don't you speak of her like that."
Gabby's brain struggled, through the pain, to process the fact that in some bizarre way Simon was trying to defend Cat. But he hated the man too much to stop the attack now. "You know what?" he said lightly. "I think she was always grateful for the attention. Married for thirty years and I don't think she'd had a proper fuck the whole time. She begged me for more every time I screwed her. Spread her legs and promised to do anything for me, anything I liked." Gabby managed to summon up a smirk.
Through the blows that followed, a part of Gabby's brain angrily pointed out that if Cat ever found out what he'd just said he was in for a whole world of hurt worse than Simon was currently dealing out. After a while however, he stopped caring much about anything except enduring the pain.
Eventually he was half aware it had stopped. He tried to open his eyes and dimly made out Simon's hazy figure in front of him, a metal bar bouncing casually in one hand. "I think that will do for the time being Mr. Mallows. Your responses are slowing and I would hate for you to miss anything that is happening to you. After all this was just the start and we have all sorts of interesting pieces of equipment to play with."
Simon vanished into the darkness and then the lights came on. Not far from Gabby was a table and he gulped quietly at the array of bludgeons, knives and whips that were laid out on it. Ghost squad had once had something similar in the basement at Cotty Street, although nearly all their equipment had been improvised. Gabby had always tried not to think about it.
"Goodnight Mr. Mallows. Sweet dreams. I will be with you again as soon as I have a spare moment, but I'm a busy man."
BD was watching the media screens when Kulko came in. "Spot anything yet?"
"Not yet. Hali and Cat have rigged up some visual filters. Hopefully between us we'll spot what's going on."
Kulko shook his head. "Where is Cat? I've not been able to contact her for days. Not since that whole vote rigging thing broke, come to think of it. She wasn't behind that was she? There are rumours of an arrest."
"She's fine. I got an email from her yesterday with some more suggestions for the software. I passed them on to Hali. She's staying with Sam and Vicky. Said something about a project. Frankly I'm glad she's not here. She's still officially missing and Gabby is still officially wanted."
"Where's Bryn?"
"Headache, I left her lying down."
Suddenly an alarm beeped. "Goddam!" said Kulko. "Left-hand side of the stage."
BD checked his gun. "Let's get over there. Ian's not on for another hour or two. Not until the first of the results start to be announced. If we can catch this fucker before he shows up then all to the good."
There was the sound of a door banging open and a bright light. Gabby blinked. His arms were still chained painfully above his head. Surely the last beating had only just ended?
"I have a visitor for you," came Simon's voice.
Gabby squinted in the direction of the doorway. Two figures stood there, one Simon's immaculately dressed form and the other smaller, more delicate and female. Simon appeared to have his arm around her waist. Gabby's heart sank.
"Cat."
"Hi Gabby." Cat's voice sounded light but there was an undercurrent of tension.
Simon stroked her hair and placed a kiss on the side of her face. "You see, Mr. Mallows, she came back to me in the end. All that was necessary was removing you from her life."
"You lay a finger on her," Gabby threatened impotently.
"Really Mr. Mallows, for all your talk of bitches your understanding of the basics of the female psyche seems very limited."
Simon walked up close to him, calm and confident. "How do you think you train a good bitch, Mr. Mallows? The answer is a lot of love and a little firm discipline when required. Kate come here."
Obediently Cat walked forward. She looked pale but her face was expressionless. Simon caught hold of her waist as she approached and kissed her long on the lips. They were only a foot or so away from Gabby, but all he could do was watch as her hands wound themselves in Simon's hair and Simon leaned against her so her back arched and their bodies merged together.
"Now I can't deny," said Simon breaking away, "that it may take some time to clean away the taint of another man." One hand stroked Cat's face. "But I've always loved Kate and I always will and she's worth a little effort, I think. Marriage is for life, I believe. It's always been the one of the central tenets of my policies. I've waited all this time to get her back and I'm confident that between us we can work this out. What say you Kate."
Cat managed a smile. "I've missed you Simon and Gabby and I, we never..."
"Hush Kate," he kissed her once more. "Don't make me angry with lies. I've already forgiven you. That should be enough."
"You've forgiven her!" Gabby's outrage broke through the pain. "What about everything you did to her!"
Simon punched him, once, in the face. "What goes on between partners in a marriage, should stay behind closed doors. If Kate never complained it was none of your business... and I don't recall Kate ever complaining. We get back to the training of bitches, Mr. Mallows. Plenty of love and a little firm discipline and they'll reward you to the best of their ability. Our marriage was happy until you interfered and it is going to be happy again."
"In your deams," sputtered Gabby.
"Gabby!" Cat's voice held a warning.
Simon's face was pale and he looked to the table where the knives and lashes were laid out. "I think Mr. Mallows still needs to be taught a lesson."
"Simon!" Cat caught hold of him and kissed him once again. Gabby closed his eyes. "Simon, I meant it when I said I'd missed you. I came back as soon as I managed to escape. Don't you have better things to do than torturing him? You mentioned a reward if I was a good girl."
"Have you been a good girl, Kate?"
"As good as I can be."
"Do you know what the worst of it has been Mr. Mallows? It's been imagining you with Kate. Picturing your dirty little hands on her body and your lips on her skin and your..." Simon stopped short and paused a moment. "I want you to think of that Mr. Mallows. I want you to spend the next hour thinking about what I am now doing to my bitch and how she was never, ever really yours whatever you got her to do for you. And when I've finished I'll come back down here because I think it will be about time for our next session."
"Cat, you don't have to do this," Gabby croaked. He opened his eyes. Simon was holding Cat tightly in his arms.
"I came back willingly to Simon. Keep out of this Gabby."
"My Kate," Simon's voice sounded thick and heavy and he buried his head in her neck.
"Simon!" Cat's voice was barely more than a whisper but there was something like affection in it.
"Come Kate!" Simon said. He stood up tall and caught her hand. They swept out of the room together.
Left alone in the dark, Gabby felt sick.
BD was cursing as he pushed through the crowds, Kulko just behind him. They'd hired a big stadium for election night with big media screens set up to transmit the results. But the place had always been a bit of a security nightmare and they were reaping the cost now. Backstage, what seemed like hundreds of flunkeys, newsmen, and hangers on, thronged the corridors.
He was wearing security dataglasses, with an infra-red filter. As he passed people their ID information popped up over their heads in a little link, inviting further scrutiny. Superimposed over their figures he could see their heart beating and heat radiating. He was looking for a person with no ID tag and no heart beat.
He reached one of the locked doors leading into the more secure areas. Kulko cursed. "There's supposed to be a guard on this door!"
BD turned the handle and the door opened. "Even worse!" he commented.
The guard lay on the floor on the far side. He appeared to have been strangled.
"He fired his gun," commented Kulko.
"Probably didn't aim for the head. Looks like Cat may have been right."
"Let's head upwards. He had a sniper rifle last time. He'll be looking for a vantage point."
Gabby didn't believe in God. Ian had spent the best part of seventy years trying to convert him, but he didn't believe in a heaven. Nor the angels that inhabited it. He had called women angels enough times, but then if he truly meant everything he had ever said to women... there would be a hell of a lot more goddesses about.
Yet right now, filling him up with pain-killers, undoing his bonds and berating him to get moving, was a real-life angel, although her hair was black. Gabby suspected she was trying to leave behind her past as an angel. Possibly to move into a career as an exotic dancer?
"Gabby, you drugged-up twat, help me with this - I can't carry you!" Cat snapped, interrupting Gabby's morphine-induced reverie.
Gabby shook his head a couple of times. The morphine high remained in his mind, but one thing the nanites seemed to convey was the ability to resist the effects of drugs to a certain extent.
"Sorry, Cat. Why so weak? I've lost about twenty kilos here, and I was never that bulky - `lithe and finely-toned', I believe Heat called it," Gabby smirked.
"God's sake, Gabby, snap out of it. That was when you were on smack - nowadays, you just sit about and eat pasta. Stop distracting me, we need to move!"
"Why?" Gabby said suspiciously, suddenly realising the Cat was alone. "You've been all stealthy, haven't you? Did you off Simon? After what he said the other... day?"
"Let's go," Cat ordered, shoving Gabby forward.
"Look, as much as you may want to ogle me, I'm not wandering about in underpants, alright? Simon must have left my clothes somewhere near here."
Gabby lurched towards what looked like a supply cupboard.
"Gabby, we don't have time. Oh!" Cat broke off.
Gabby peered around the cupboard door. One of Simon's heavily armed bodyguards had entered the room and was staring at Cat, his gun lowered.
"Mrs. Brankin? You shouldn't be down here - and where's the prisoner?" he said nervously. Gabby slipped out of the closet and along the wall, while the guard advanced into the room. Gabby edged directly behind the guard. He slipped forward, put a hand on his throat and -
"No! Gabby, don't kill him," Cat pleaded suddenly. Gabe scowled and squeezed the man's throat as Anton had once taught him to do, knocking him out.
"Hey!" BD saw the figure now. No ID tag. No heart beat. A dark shape moving through the shadows.
It turned and ran, BD and Kulko in pursuit. "Back up! We need back up! Kulko was shouting into his radio. There is an intruder in area 6. Repeat there is an intruder in area 6. We are in pursuit."
BD pulled up a quick schematic of the area on his dataglasses. It was a set of VIP suites and media booths, joined by both a main corridor and a service corridor along which they ran. He could just make out the vague shape of the intruder ahead of him. He blinked and it was gone.
BD slowed and held up a hand for Kulko to stop. He listened. No running footsteps. Their intruder was hiding in the gloom somewhere ahead of them.
"Can we get any lights in here?" asked BD.
"Apparently they're down. This guy has an accomplice in the network. Hali's on it."
Cautiously the two of them edged forwards, checking between the boxes and cabinets as they went. Suddenly, some instinct made BD look upwards. He threw himself forwards just as someone, some thing dropped from the cieling. There was a grunt and an unpleasant cracking sound behind him. He rolled to his feet and turned. Kulko was already on the floor. He fired into the retreating back of the figure, two shots in the back, but he missed the head, and then it vanished around the curve of the corridor. BD looked down at Kulko.
"Can't feel my feet," croaked Kulko. "Broke my fucking neck. Damn! those things take weeks to heal."
"Just be grateful you're immortal."
"Ever and always. Go get him BD."
BD nodded and ran after the figure. "Man Down! Repeat we have a man down in the area 6 service corridor." He shouted into his radio.
It all worked rather well. Gabby was dressed like a bodyguard, his cap pulled low over his face. Cat was hurrying along beside him. Problem was, the place seemed huge. Cat seemed to have some idea where she was going, but only because she kept consulting a map Simon had loaded onto her dataglasses for her. Gabby got the impression it contained a lot of `No Entry' blank spots. Sirens had been sounding for about five minutes now, and running footsteps echoed in the maze-like corridors of Simon's flying fortress.
"Look! A red line on the wall - that's gotta mean something!" Gabby exclaimed, his pace faltering slightly - the morphine had numbed the pain for a while, but it was fading, leaving his body to deal with the effects of however long he had been trapped in this place.
"Keep up, Gabby," Cat urged, dragging him along, but he managed no more than a speedy limp.
"Halt! I will shoot if you don't stop now!" the yell froze Cat for a moment. Gabby groaned and turned around, his face grim and his assault rifle raised. A lone security guard stood down the corridor, a handgun trained on Cat. Gabby felt a protective urge and blasted the guard back into the wall.
"Fuck! Gabby, you just killed him!"
"Yes, I suppose I did," Gabby said vaguely, fighting the drugs, the pain and the fatigue. "C'mon, let's move", I can't go much further."
"Hang on a moment. I think I know where that vent leads," Cat said excitedly. Gabby lurched sidewards suddenly, clinging to her shoulder for support.
"Fuck that, I can't crawl through a vent" he mumbled with difficulty.
"I wasn't thinking of that!" Gabby watched confused as Cat began running her hands through the hair in her fringe. With a grunt of satisfaction she pulled one out, ran it through her mouth and then wrapped it round a pen from her pocket.
"What?"
"There's an explosive in my hair. It's genetically triggered." She tossed the pen down the vent. "The pen's for weight. Hopefully that vent goes straight to the engine room."
"I thought we weren't supposed to be killing anyone."
Cat scowled. "There are all sorts of back up systems and the engine room isn't constantly manned. I'm doing my best here."
"Not complaining," muttered Gabby. "Your rules anyway."
Somewhere below them there was a rumbling explosion.
BD was tiring of the Cat and Mouse game he was playing with the intruder. The security teams were being run ragged and had become spread out around the building. Hali still hadn't caught the intruder in the network and lights continued to switch on and off randomly.
Ian had to appear on stage any minute. A victory was looking like a foregone conclusion. The first results were in. The crowd were growing restless. The PR group and the security group were at logger-heads. Ian was immortal, the PR group argued. One shot wouldn't kill him.
Weaponry had come on a lot since he'd been in Malton. You could pack a nasty force into a fairly small sidearm these days. But even so, something powerful enough to kill Ian with one shot, would have to be at the level of a rocket launcher, at least. Those were still hefty. BD knew which vantage point he'd choose if he had to fire one.
He didn't even bother knocking on the door of the central news media booth. He simply shot out the lock and kicked it open. He was surprised to see the news team still alive, rather expertly tied together. The lithe form at the window holding a rocket launcher turned to face him.
She was wearing a balaclava but he'd have know that figure and those movements anywhere. "Bryn!" he groaned.
She raised one hand. It was holding a small pistol and she emptied a clip into him.
"A life raft and a parachute? I don't like this, Cat - I could pass out before I pull the tab, and I can't navigate the Atlantic in this state. Besides, this bastard has fighter planes on it, they could tear us to shreds!" Gabby murmured, his face pale.
"I'll sort you out. It'll be fine, Gabby, I promise," Cat said quietly as she strapped the parachute from the emergency locker onto Gabby's back. A bullet zipped past their heads, cracking the glass of the emergency exit door. Gabby moved to fire back, but Cat stopped him.
"Not worth it, they outnumber us." She yanked the door open and dragged him out onto a wind-swept observation deck.
The platform lurched suddenly and they both slid to the rail. There was a smell of smoke in the air. Instinctively Gabby grabbed the railing and stared, horrified down into the clouds below.
"Jump, Gabby!" Cat grabbed his hand, clambered up onto the rail and dragged him up after her.
"Fuck Cat!"
Cat jumped, pulling Gabby with her.
Miraculously, he stayed conscious until he hit the ocean.
Sy hesitated as he held his hand over the release button. He knew what all the polls predicted for the election. News was coming in that Simon's flying fortress was falling out of the sky. He was 90% sure his family was now safe which meant the time had come to make his own escape, if he could do so without being rent limb from limb.
"Can you hear me?" Sy asked cautiously over the intercom.
"Of course," came the bored reply.
"You've been watching the news?"
"We're both fucked Mr Scientist. Brankin will never let wind of this little place get out. I imagine he's got it rigged with explosives of some kind. Enough to kill the pair of us at least."
"Yes."
"There wouldn't happen to be a nice little door out there that you can't open on your own, would there?"
Sy cursed silently at the subject's undoubted intelligence. "Something like that."
"Aaah!" It was a long drawn out satisfied sound. "You're going to have to open my cell then aren't you and let me do the hard work."
"How do I know you won't kill me?"
"Well, to be honest, it's tempting. But you're the only person who knows exactly what's been done to me. Let's say I'm interested in obtaining that information."
Sy still hesitated. Where there was life there was hope. With sudden decision he brought his hand down hard on the release button. There was only silence within the darkness of the cell.
"Are you still there?"
There was a sudden movement and then Sy found himself slammed against the far wall of the laboratory. Sharp teeth glistened right next to his face. "I'm here," said the cultured British tones of the monstrosity. "Mmmm! It is very tempting to kill you now, but I meant what I said. I have a use for you, at least for a little while. But I think, perhaps, it is best if you aren't aware of where we are going."
Sy felt himself lifted away from the wall briefly and then slammed back against it. Everything went black.
BD forced his eyes open. The ceiling above him was a depressing shade of grey, modular pieces. The pain in his chest was excruiating but he'd acted through worse in Malton. He turned his head sideways. His automatic lay on the floor not far from his hand. He'd loaded it with experimental ammunition. It was soft tipped and explosive. It wouldn't penetrate much but it would make a mess of what it did hit. Empty a clip of it into the head of an immortal and they wouldn't survive. Hali had found out about it deep inside some military computer and Tarrok and General Utumbe between them had somehow managed to requisition a crate for Ian's security detail.
As soon as Cat had said 'zombie', BD had thought it would be needed. He hadn't anticipated who he would have to use it on.
He rolled over, suppressing a cry and picked up the gun. Then he staggered to his feet.
Bryn stood at the window. The rocket launcher resting on the sill. She didn't move as he staggered towards her; zombie awareness; zombie hearing. He placed the gun against her head. Her hands rested on the gun but she had not placed her finger on the trigger. She stood perfectly still and unmoving.
"Babe," whispered BD hoarsely, "step away from the gun."
She didn't respond.
"I can't let you stand here, holding that. Not with Ian about to come on stage. Please hear me. Step away!"
Her right hand twitched, as if it was edging towards the trigger. BD felt himself beginning to cry.
"Please sweetheart! Remember all those things we were talking about. I don't know what's happened, but I know you're in there somewhere. I've been a zombie. I know you can hear me. Just step away from the gun."
Her hand twitched again. Outside BD could hear someone announcing Ian's imminent appearance on stage. Carefully he flicked off the safety catch.
"I was going to marry you. Soon as we got this election over and Cat could come out of hiding. You said you'd have her as Maid of Honour, remember? We were talking about kids of our own. Bryn, please, if you're in there, put down the gun."
Suddenly Bryn jerked upright. From where he stood BD saw her eyes roll upwards and her entire body spasmed. Then she fell to the floor.
BD fell to his knees beside her. Outside the crowd erupted in an enormous cheer.
He held Bryn's lifeless body in his arms, against his still bleeding chest, and shouted into his radio. "No! Vicky Eames! I need Vicky Eames. I don't care where she is. I need her here now! It's an emergency."
He listened to the babbling voices. The security people were fighting with a sudden drop of bandwidth as thousands of people streamed pictures of Ian on stage into the infosphere.
Gabby regained consciousness to the sensation of rocking. He opened his eyes. Orange canvas was stretched above his head. He appeared to be in a survival bag wearing strange orange overalls. Some kind of emergency clothing, he guessed, packed with the raft.
"Have we escaped?" he asked.
"For the time being."
Cat was seated next to him in the close confines of the raft, also in a survival bag and an overall which was obviously several sizes too large for her. She was fiddling with some electronics.
"For the time being?"
"I've disabled the life raft transmitter, so Simon's people shouldn't be able to find us easily. We just have to hope Danny and the others get to us before they do."
"How will they know where to look?"
Cat tapped the back of her neck. "Passive sensor, implanted subcutaneously. It'll only send out a signal if it gets an incoming one on a specific frequency. Danny has the frequency. Once they're in range they can home in on us."
It occurred to Gabby that Cat might have had a plan. "When did you get it implanted?"
"Couple of days ago. Sam managed to get hold of the equipment. Vicky did the surgery."
Gabby disgested that. "How did you get away from Simon?"
Cat wiggled her fingers at him and smiled. "Same thing, neurotoxin filled dart implanted under the fingernails."
"Neurotoxin!"
Cat shrugged. "Enough to kill an elephant, according to Vicky. She didn't hold out much hope that it would kill Simon but she was pretty certain it would knock him out for a few hours."
"Did he survive?"
"I didn't hang around to find out."
Gabby thought about that. "So basically we stay here and hope Danny finds us before Simon does."
Cat nodded. "Pretty much. Odds are in our favour. The Phoenix is still up there but it won't be for much longer. If he's alive Simon will be all tied up with that little disaster."
Gabby digested that for a while. "Cat?"
"Yes."
"What do we do if Simon does find us first. I wouldn't put it past him to forget about the Phoenix and just hunt for you."
"We'll manage."
"He's going to be pretty pissed at you tricking him like that."
"I'll survive."
"Cat!"
"Honestly Gabby. Ian will know we're here. Soon as the others tell him, which they will once the votes are in. It will be a new politicial reality. Ian will then put pressure on Simon to release us. It's just a matter of holding out until the cavalry arrives."
Gabby thought about how long that would take. "He might just kill us."
"I doubt it. He still wants me back. I'll agree to be compliant if your life is spared."
"Be compliant? I don't like the sound of that."
"I had ten years' practice. I'll be fine."
Gabby was impressed that her voice didn't waver. But he realised that he was also very, very frightened. "Cat, you didn't have to do this."
"Well I did do it. I'll just have to live with the consequences."
"It'll be worse for you if you are trying to make deals for my life. If it's just you and I'm out of the way..."
"Don't you dare, Gabriel Mallows." Cat's voice was suddenly vehement. She put down the equipment she was holding and looked hard at him.
"What have I done now?"
"Don't you dare think about jumping overboard, or persuading Simon's men to kill you or whatever crazy scheme you're dreaming up. We'll both survive, OK. Promise me you're not going to give up."
"Cat."
"Promise me!"
Taken aback by her intensity, Gabby nodded. "OK, I promise."
She stared at him a moment longer and then nodded in turn, apparently satisfied.
"Good. I didn't go to all this trouble to have you commit suicide on me."
She picked up the electronics once more. "Ah ha! Got it."
A quiet tinny voice echoed round the life raft. "We have just been informed that Luxembourg has declared for Ian Carlyle. That's three countries now. All small ones but it seems indicative of the way the vote is going."
Cat put the minature radio by his head and then lay down next to him. "See," she said, "it's all going to be all right. We just have to wait."
"Hmm..." said Gabby and closed his eyes.
The life raft drifted in the Atlantic while election results rolled in from around the world. Up above them the flying fortress burned and gradually, back up systems straining with the effort, fell gracefully from the sky and into the ocean.