D2-670A
Part 17
Rene listened to the exchange between Rufus and the man who had murdered Kitara
while she hovered alongside Heather. She had suspected him to be a Retrieval
Team member by his actions, so was not surprised when his request for the D-keys
confirmed exactly that.
As much as she wanted to leap across the counter at "Edric", common sense
prevailed. If she was lucky, he would simply gun her down the same way he had
Kitara and the other man. If she was unlucky, he would wound her and then drag
her back to their dimension to face The Council.
So she signalled to Heather to stay low and keep quiet, and watched and waited
for her moment.
A part of her was tempted to make her move as Veronica charged the man
unsuccessfully. But the raven-haired woman's betrayal was too fresh in her mind.
Rene wanted to see what Edric had in store for the traitorous bitch.
She shouldn't have been surprised when Edric opened a portal on the spot -
thereby breaking the number one law of inter-dimensional travel. After all, she
had done exactly the same thing to escape from Marcus in the first place. But
for some reason she found it hard to believe that a professional Retrieval Team
member would resort to such a risky venture - even though he was surrounded by
enemies in a hostile environment. If the portal opened in the middle of a wall
in her home dimension, everyone attempting to use the portal would die as they
emerged from the other end. Their very molecules would bond with the wall as two
solid matter components attempted to occupy the same space. Likewise, if they
appeared above a steep drop or water ...
Regardless, Rene had missed her chance at Edric, and was forced to watch as she
shoved first Veronica and then a bound Lois through the red portal.
It was as Edric dragged a still-stunned Daphne to her feet that she propelled
herself across the guard station and leapt at him. She slammed into his back,
knocking him sprawling. The gun clattered from his hand, out of reach. Moving
quickly, she clambered up his back as he struggled to throw her off. She slammed
a fist into the side of his head - once, twice - but was then bucked to the side
as he twisted beneath her. Rene struck out desperately with a foot as Edric
tried to climb to his feet, striking him in the wounded side. He roared with
pain and lurched forwards, staggering into Daphne. The red-headed woman struck
him another blow to the face before he wrapped his arms around her in a tight
bear hug and spun her around. Rene quickly pushed herself up, but not before
Edric forced Daphne forward two steps and threw her through the portal opening.
"NOO!" screamed Rene. Even without the danger of where she would emerge in her
dimension, Daphne was now trapped. The D-keys opened a portal that was one-way,
meaning that the only way to rescue her was to travel through and then re-open a
gate back to this direction.
Which, in turn, meant that she had to take the D-key from Edric.
All of these thoughts passed through Rene's mind in a split second as the man in
question turned back toward her, eyes narrowed, blood trickling from the corner
of his mouth. "I was hoping to get my hands on you before I left. My whole
Retrieval Team is dead because you led us here. And I might be dying. So you'll
excuse me if I ignore my orders to take you back and just kill you on the spot."
"Like you did Kitara?"
"No, in that case, I was following orders. With you, it will be for pure
pleasure." He grinned, showing a mouthful of blood covered teeth. "If only I had
time to work on you like I did your little dark-haired friend. MMmmm ... what
was her name? Oh yes, slave-shana."
"What did you do to her?" Rene demanded.
"Just a short Q and A session. Then a trip back to our dimension." He smiled
again. "I'm sure she's enjoying herself there. I left her in the capable hands
of Councillor Kardel."
With a guttural growl, Rene again threw herself at Edric. But whereas she was a
naked and determined ex-slave, he was a well-trained and this time,
non-surprised, opponent. Rene tried to slam into Edric and again bear him to the
ground. Instead, he side-stepped at the last moment and hooked his ankle around
hers, tripping her up. Rene fell, but instinctively threw herself to the side as
he lashed out with his other foot. Edric pressed home his advantage by kicking
at her again and this time landed a glancing blow. Rene caught his next
attempted kick and twisted as hard as she could, forcing him to collapse to the
ground. They grappled together on the floor, but Edric's considerably larger
frame soon won out as Rene found herself pinned beneath him by his weight across
her stomach. She attempted to grab for his testicles, but he caught the
offending hand with one of his own and wrapped the other around her throat. She
felt his hand squeeze and was immediately unable to breathe. She gasped and
kicked and wheezed and flailed against him, but gradually felt her strength
diminishing.
"Die, you little troublesome bitch." Edric whispered harshly. "Die!"
Everything - even the physical sensation of being strangled to death - began to
fade away. She could no longer focus on the face of her murderer, nor think of
why being strangled was such a bad thing ...
Her last coherent thought concerned whether Rayelle, Goddess of the Willow,
would be able to find her soul in the middle of D2-670A.
*****
Having again reached the first floor, Rufus burst into the room through the set
of double doors that Kitara and the reinforcing guard had appeared from. He
heard the final echo of a scream and saw a portal had been opened in the middle
of the room. As he skidded to a halt, a woman dressed in a white shirt, tie and
black skirt slammed a gun into the back of Edric's skull. The Retrieval Team
leader slumped sidewards and off a naked woman lying on the ground. Rufus
recognised her as the original quarry of this insane day and a half: Rene. Of
Daphne, however, there was no sign.
Rene lay very still as Rufus approached. He could see red handprints around her
slender throat where Edric had evidently attempted to throttle her.
The woman with the gun spun around as she heard him approach and raised the
weapon threateningly.
"It's okay," Rufus soothed, "I wanted to shoot him, remember?"
The woman looked uncertain for a few moments, but then dropped the gun in
relief. "It was empty anyway. I would have shot the bastard. I swear I would
have ..." She knelt beside Rene and felt for a pulse.
"Is she going to be alright?" Rufus asked, one wary eye on Edric.
"Her pulse is a little irregular, but she'll be fine. I think she's even coming
round" She glanced around the room that had all but been destroyed by the
gunfight. "I'm not sure about anyone else though."
As if on cue, the man who had almost shot him in the elevator groaned loudly.
"See to him, I'll make sure about Edric."
The woman trotted over in her black boots to attend to the wounded man, while
Rufus dropped to his haunches beside Edric. "You can quit sand-bagging now," he
commented quietly.
Edric's eyes opened almost instantly. "I didn't think you'd fall for it." His
words ended in a weak cough.
"What did you do with the red-head?"
"Tossed her through the portal along with two other newly recruited slaves."
Rufus's eyes narrowed dangerously - something that Edric evidently noticed
because he rushed to continue. "I would have thought that was your plan from the
start. Cute little bitch like that would make a perfect slave."
"You know I can't go back now. And besides, my plans are my own." Rufus fumbled
through Edric's pockets until he found the two extra D-keys and palmed them. The
third, he took from where it had fallen to the floor during Edric's fight with
the sla- women.
"You've gone soft, Rufus. I can tell."
"Maybe," replied the ex-bodyguard as he stood, "but who's the one holding the
MP-432?"
Rufus looked over to see the woman in the white shirt supporting the other man
as they made their way toward him. He could see from the expression on the man's
blood-streaked face that he was not only in a great deal of pain, but that he
was also ready to dispense it. Rene, too, was sitting up and watching the scene
unfold while rubbing at her throat.
"Well," sneered Edric. "Get it done. Shoot me."
Rufus shook his head. "No, I'm not going to shoot you." He turned and pressed
the MP-432 into the injured man's hand as he came alongside him. "He is."
The man looked at Rufus in surprise for a moment and then nodded in silent
thanks. Rufus indicated how to fire the small weapon and then backed away,
motioning for the well-dressed woman to do the same. The injured man turned to
look down at Edric.
"After what you did to Kitara, this is too good for you ..."
Rufus saw Edric begin to relax ...
"... But since I don't have the time to enjoy making you suffer..."
He pulled the trigger.
*****
