Chapter 15 as it appeared
"Where have you two been?" demanded BD as Sam and Vicky were hustled into the hospital room.
"On the Atlantic if you must know," snapped Sam.
Vicky was already flicking through the notes clipped to the bottom of Bryn's bed.
BD gestured helplessly. "Why? On fucking election night? When we needed everyone we could? Why were you in a boat in the middle of the ocean?"
Sam and Vicky exchanged a guilty glance. Vicky handed the notes to Sam and then went and rather ostentatiously checked Bryn's pulse, not looking at BD at all.
"Why?" demanded BD, looking between the two of them with increasing suspicion.
"We think Cat and Gabby are out there somewhere," said Sam at last, when it was clear Vicky wasn't going to answer.
"What?"
Vicky finally looked up. "She's stable, like the notes say. I haven't a clue what's happened to her. That's probably more Sam's area, but I'm pretty certain she's not getting worse."
"Wait! wait! wait!" shouted BD. "What is going on with Gabby and Cat?"
Sam and Vicky exchanged another glance. "You know that vote rigging scandal that broke last week?" said Sam.
"Yes."
"That was Gabby," said Vicky. "Cat worked it out. We left a Trojan in Simon's computer network several years ago. Gabby got in and triggered it to release those files."
"Why didn't he say?" asked BD. "Where's he been?"
"He got captured," said Sam. "Cat found that out too somehow, through some old contacts or something."
BD groaned. "Don't tell me, he's on that flying fortress of Simon's."
"That's what Cat said," agreed Vicky. "Anyway Cat worked out this plan..."
"Why the fuck didn't she tell anyone?"
"Didn't want to disrupt all the election stuff," said Sam. "Particularly didn't want you letting up on the security detail. She was worried about the assassin." Sam gestured a little lamely towards Bryn. "Just as well really."
"Besides, she told us," said Vicky, "and Danny. He's still out there looking for them."
"Fuck! fuck! fuck!" said BD. "What's she done exactly?"
Vicky and Sam exchanged another nervous glance. "She went back to Simon," said Vicky. "Said she could knock him out, rescue Gabby and get the pair of them into the water. Then we were to pick them up."
"And you let her go?" exploded BD. "You let her go back to Simon."
"She can cope," said Vicky uncertainly. "She's a lot stronger than you give her credit for and she's not unprepared. She knows the layout of the fortress. We implanted some high tech weaponry and a transponder in her. She knows what's she's about."
"He'll kill her!"
"No he won't," said Sam. "She's right. Simon's obsessed. He'd have divorced her long ago otherwise. It's not like there haven't been plenty of sightings of both her and Gabby the past ten years. He can't be under any illusion she's been kept in a cage the whole time. She said she knew him well enough to handle the situation."
"And you believed her?"
"Yes actually," said Vicky. "We did. They'll be fine. Frankly, I'd be more worried for Simon. I'm not sure she's quite got the anger issues under control."
"This is un-fucking-believable."
"Really BD, once she hooks up with Gabby there will be no stopping the pair of them. I think you've forgotten what they were like in Malton."
"Malton was a long time ago."
"Gabby never changed," said Vicky.
"And you've seen what Cat is like these days," said Sam. "They may have been keeping a low profile but, if anything, I'd say she was more reckless and definitely more determined than she was back then."
Vicky nodded. "Gabby's a bad influence."
Sam shrugged. "Anyway, Cat was pretty scary when she came to us. Vicky's right. Save your concern for Simon."
Tarrok shook his head. "That fortress would have been useful too."
"Sadly not," said Ian, "it belonged to Simon personally, not the government. I'd never have got my hands on it."
Tarrok looked at him surprised. "Don't tell me you are behind this crash?"
Ian looked at the streaming images of the structure falling gracefully out of the sky, trailing smoke and flames in its wake. "No. I won't pretend it isn't convenient though. We'd never have done anything about Simon with his own private jurisdiction floating above the Atlantic."
They watched in silence for a bit. "Not good PR though, I guess," said Tarrok.
"That would be an understatement."
Suddenly there the sound of shouting and then BD burst into the room, Vicky and Sam in his wake.
"You have to mobilise a full search and rescue now!!"
Ian blinked. "To rescue Simon? I am touched by your generosity but slightly bemused. Rescue services are scrambled already though."
"Cat's out there somewhere."
"And Gabby," said Vicky.
"What?" said Tarrok.
"Gabby got himself captured and Cat went in to rescue him. They're both out there somewhere. You have to find them," said BD.
"I would appear to have missed a great deal of excitement."
"Cat didn't want you distracted," chipped in Vicky. "She's got an implanted transponder. Deist is already looking for them."
"I'll scramble the navy," said Tarrok, pulling out a phone. "Sheva can order them out there. Simon can't complain. It's an emergency."
Tarrok's car was military issue which meant he got waved through most of the checkpoints. In theory he could coordinate the search and rescue from Ian's campaign HQ but he knew he'd be closer to the actual information coming in if he could get to the nearest army base.
He'd set the car media centre to the military frequency and locked in audio. Right now, nothing interesting was happening. There was a lot of debris in the water apparently, but also a lot of survivors. The collapse had been slow and the place well equipped with parachutes, life-rafts and other survival equipment.
He was just turning off the highway when something landed on the top of the car. Conditioning took over and Tarrok accelerated, watching out for potential snipers or combatants. He hit the comms channel.
"This is General Tarrok. Unidentified assailant attacking my vehicle. Request immediate assistance. Tracking on." He slammed a second control on the dashboard.
Whatever it was on top of the car started to move. Tarrok couldn't quite believe it was a person, but nothing else made sense. He took a corner at speed, deliberately allowing the car to tilt up, there was a crash as whoever it was fell off. Tarrok set a GPS marker for the spot and glanced in his rear-view mirror as he sped away.
Something large, mis-shapen and indistinct lumbered into a side alley behind him. His instincts urged him to stop and investigate but training stated he should clear the area in case of a trap.
"This is General Tarrok. Assailant lost, repeat lost. GPS marker at the spot. How far away is back up?"
"You're a bloody idiot, Gabby. And so are you, Cat, for following him," Vicky said dryly, hugging each of them in turn. Gabby smiled at her as he shifted awkwardly to let her hug Cat - he was leaning on her shoulder for support. Sam was next out of the crowd of people surrounding their helicopter. He rolled his eyes and shook Gabby's hand, then gave Cat a hug, congratulating her for pulling it off. Much to their surprise, Ian emerged from the crowd, flanked by two presidential bodyguards.
"I'm not here, comrades. Congratulating two terrorists on breaking and entering, murder and massive property damage isn't really part of the presidential role."
"No murder," said Gabby. "I don't think anyway."
Ian pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'll be lucky if no one has died. But well done. Gabe, it might not be an exaggeration to say you saved the world. The information about the vote rigging changed everything. And Cat, I'm pleased you got our idiot friend out of there." Ian smiled warmly, clapping them both on the shoulder. Gabby smirked. The smirk faded as Bulldog burst out of the throng of bodies.
"Hey BD!" Gabby said brightly, hoping, in vain, to defuse him.
"Gabe, you're a fucking moron! What were you thinking? Me and Kulko are the combat officers! We could have fucking protected you! No, just run off on your own, fucking idiot! Did I teach you nothing in Delta?"
Jessica appeared in Gabby's field of vision, wearing a tight black top and a short skirt. Gabby grinned, ducked under Andy's outstretched arms, hobbling over to kiss Jessica.
"And you! He's not worth you risking your neck for!" Bulldog had turned to Cat, who looked about to explode back at him. Jessica pulled Gabby into another kiss, and Gabby lost track of the conversation. After a while attached to her lips, he felt his mind wandering from Jess, and cracked his eyes open slightly. Cat was arguing with Bulldog now. Gabby suppressed a smirk, because his mouth was busy. Jessica shifted her arm, brushing it against his ribs, and pain shot through him. He broke away, groaning.
"Honey! I'm sorry, I really am, does it still hurt?" Jessica babbled. Gabby gave a fake smile, waving her concern away, cursing his nanites for their slow action - Simon had starved him to make the healing slower. He glanced at Cat. She was talking to Vicky, her hair shining distractingly. Jessica was talking again. Gabby felt his heart wrench. He liked Jessica. She had been good to him. But...
"Jessica, babe. We need to talk."
"Any luck?" asked Vicky. She was sitting cross-legged on a hospital chair.
Sam looked up from his laptop and smiled apologetically but shook his head.
"What is all this shit anyway?" asked BD, gesturing at the equipment that surrounded Bryn's bed.
"Radio receivers mostly," said Sam.
"Why?"
"You know that Bryn's `cure' involved implanting a chip in her neck."
"To control the nanites. I saw the press release."
"Well we've known for a long time that the nanites could receive radio signals. They've basically got built-in mini-wireless connections."
"But they're defunct right? Uncontrollable. That was the whole fucking zombie problem in the first place."
"Yeah the API got corrupted."
"API?"
"Applications Programming Interface, think of it as the published list of instructions. You were supposed to be able to send a signal and the nanites would react in a particular way. It got corrupted somehow, the test subjects got out of Necrotech control and Malton was the result."
"We're with you so far," said Vicky, glancing at BD.
"Right well, pretty much all the research into cures has involved trying to find the new API, find out how to get the corrupted nanites to react predictably. Since they put a chip in Bryn's neck..."
"You're assuming it worked."
"Right, but what none of us really thought about was what other instructions did they get working?"
"So you mean it was the chip that made her go all zombie assassin?"
"Well as far as I can tell it's just a relay device. In fact it's not transmitting at all at the moment, and her condition is equivalent to a living human. We've a heart beat and body heat and so forth. So her nanites are obviously stable without any interference. The chip wasn't needed to stop her becoming a zombie again."
"Fuck!" said BD, as light dawned. "So basically the chip was only there so someone could send different instructions to her and flip her over into zombie control?"
"Maybe, or maybe she's currently in a coma because she isn't getting any signals. I don't know. To be honest, the chip could possibly work on any of us. I need to do some tests. What's more, although that chip let's people transmit instructions from some distance away, you wouldn't need a chip if you were standing next to Bryn. Just transmit a short range signal and bingo!"
"Jesus!" muttered Vicky.
"I want that chip removed," said BD. "It may not make things better but it sure as hell isn't doing her any good where it is."
Gabby sat on the couch and sipped at the beer Cat had thrust into his hands. It was blissfully good to be back at home, even if he was under house arrest for a string of crimes starting with the Beijing atrocity and ending with the destruction of the flying fortress. Cat sat curled up next to him with a beer of her own.
"Thanks for coming for me," he said.
She smiled. "Any of us would have done it."
"I dunno. You were the one who did come though, so I'm grateful."
Her smile was slightly sad. "As you once said to me, you don't owe me anything."
"No," he agreed. However, when he thought of her coming for him like that it twisted in his heart. "Cat, you do know I love you don't you?"
Her face fell. "Gabby don't."
"Why not?" He reached out and touched her face, letting his fingers curl around the line of her jaw and into her hair. "I love you. You love me. Why are we messing around like this?"
She sighed and it broke his heart. "Because I don't have the strength. You'll only dump me this time next year."
"I wouldn't dump you."
"Gabby, you've had three and a half girlfriends since you moved into my spare room three years ago."
Gabby frowned. "Who's the half?"
"Maria."
"She was just a one night stand! Well, more several one night stands, but still..."
"Not helping your case, Gabby."
"You're different, I promise."
"No, Gabby."
Gabby let go of her face. "Honestly Cat, why do you think I've not been able to hold a relationship together since, well, since I'm not sure." He glanced at her, but she was looking at her drink and her hair had fallen across her face. "I'm just going to have to sit here looking irresistible until you give in," he said. He laid his arms along the back of the sofa, closed his eyes and let his head fall back. He'd been told he looked good like that. After a minute he opened his eyes. Cat was looking directly at him and seemed a lot closer. He lifted his head. She closed her eyes but he could see tears beginning to run down her cheeks. For a second he thought she might kiss him.
"I'm sorry Gabby. I can't do this." And she was gone. He heard her bedroom door slam.
"Fuck!" he muttered.
"BD? Hi, it's Gabe."
"What do you want?"
"It's about Cat."
"What have you done now?"
"What makes you think I've done anything?"
"Gabe!"
"I declared my undying love," Gabby said dramatically, hoping BD would be too busy ridiculing him to be angry.
No such luck.
"Fucking hell! You're a god-damn menace. What the did you do that for?"
"I meant it, I love her!"
"Yeah right. Leave her alone Gabby. She's been hurt enough already."
"BD I'm serious! Give me a fucking break! She's shut herself in her room..." Gabby paused, listening for a moment. "I think she's watching `Gone with the Wind.'"
"Jesus! You'd better hand her the phone. I'll talk to her, but don't think I'm on your side."
"Well?" asked BD as Vicky checked Bryn's vital signs.
Vicky bit her lip. "No change."
"I'd hoped..." BD tailed away.
Sam patted him on the shoulder. "We all did BD. But honestly that chip wasn't doing anything. I retrieved the last signal it sent from memory. I think it was a shut down."
"She's still alive though," said BD. "If it shut her down, shouldn't she be dead?"
Sam shrugged. "Maybe they didn't have the signal quite right. It would be a difficult one to test. When they tossed that fixer concoction over the wall, back in Malton, it affected the nanites in the living and the undead differently. They obviously carried on experimenting on the undead and began cracking the instructions. But even so I bet there was a lot of guesswork involved. Fuck knows BD, I spent a lifetime researching the things. Reverse engineering the programming still looked like a remote possibility when I had to go underground. Things have progressed some since, but I've no idea what's going on here."
BD glared at him. "You're worried Bryn was just the first. It's not just the undead they want to control. If they've cracked Bryn's nanites, how soon before they'll be able to control all of us?"
Sam nodded. "I'm not the only one. Ian's concerned too. Believe me BD, everything possible is going to be done to find out what happened to Bryn and bring her back. It affects us all."
"That's easy for you to say." BD turned his back. "I got her back and then... this..."
Sam started to say something, but Vicky caught his arm and shook her head. Together they left the room.
"I can't persuade you to stay?" asked Ian. He was seated in BD's front room, surrounded by packs and supplies.
"Nothing for me here, not really. Kulko and I did OK running security for you, but it's not my area of expertise and you can access the top people now. I know Africa. There's plenty to keep me busy there."
"And you're sure about taking Cat? I gather she and Gabby had some kind of fight but I'm not sure that's a good reason for her to go to Africa with you."
"There's plenty of work for people like her down there; Lion economies or whatever they're calling them these days."
"And Gabby? Everything has been so busy, I've not had a chance to talk to either of them properly. What was the fight about?"
"There was no fight. Cat needed protection, even if she wouldn't admit it. Gabby had nothing better to do. However she's out of danger now. She doesn't need him any more. He's just taking a while to adjust to that."
"And since he's under house arrest until we sort out his involvement in Beijing, he conveniently can't follow her to Africa?"
"Why would he want to? His job's over."
"I may be celibate BD, but I'm not blind. They're close."
"They're friends. Gabby can pick and choose his women, always has been able to. There's nothing like that between him and Cat."
Ian stood up, dissatisfied with the conversation. "I had best be going. Take care of yourself BD. I hope you're right about Cat; I let her down once, very badly and I'd like to know she's happy."
"You're not the only one who's let her down. Don't worry about her, Ian. I won't let her get hurt again."