Chains of Freedom (49 page)

The battle lasted four hours before the Reliance admitted defeat and retreated. As soon as the last Reliance plane was out of sight, the survivors started their exodus for the island. When the Reliance returned with reinforcements, they would find nothing.

It was unlikely that they would think of the island. Topaz had worked hard to make it look abandoned and unapproachable. If they did, though, they would find some nasty surprises waiting for them. With sixteen laser cannons, all controlled by Marge, it would be nearly impossible for anything to get close enough to do any actual damage.

Mickey had insisted that they take Poley's body with them. He sat on the boat by the lifeless body of his fallen metal friend and wondered how many more of his friends were dead. He hadn't seen any of them. Not Sandra, Levits, Whitey or RJ. He could hear the others talking.

"David Grant did this."

"That girlfriend of his did this."

"Has anyone seen RJ?"

"No. She must be dead. If she weren't, someone would have seen her."

"I can't believe that Poley was a robot."

"You suppose RJ's a robot?"

"Whitey Baldor wasn't sleeping with a robot."

"Hard to believe Poley was just a robot."

That did it. Something in Mickey snapped. "Poley wasn't
just a robot
. He was my friend. He gave up his life so that I could sound the alarm. He loved life, and he loved his sister. If that don't make him human . . . Right now, I would gladly give any of you to have him back."

GA had been a disaster. Everything that RJ had predicted came to pass. The whole city was a trap. As soon as they arrived, Reliance troops crawled out of nowhere to surround them.

In the battle that followed David lost all but twenty-three men, and his left arm was broken. It hung, limp and painful, at his side. At the first opportunity, he led his shattered command straight for the rendezvous point where he'd left Kirsty, the vehicles and three guards. Their only chance for survival was a quick retreat.

When he saw the smoke, his tired legs found the strength to run. The sight of the burning vehicles and dead guards made little impression on him as he searched frantically for Kirsty. Calling, crying, searching. Ten minutes later the last of his small command struggled in and collapsed.

"You fool. You bloody fool!" a battered and weary man said from where he sat propped up against a tree resting what was left of his right leg on the ground in front of him. "She burned you, man. She burned us all. She used you, and fools that we are, we followed you."

"She couldn't . . ." David slumped to the ground. Could it be true? How could it be? He loved Kirsty. Kirsty loved him.
Then where is she? Where the hell is she? How did the Reliance know we were coming?
He buried his face in his hands. What the hell had he done?

"By now, Alsterase will be a black hole on the map."

"We didn't listen to RJ. Now she's dead . . ."

"NO!" David refused to believe this lie.

"Then where's your girlfriend, Grant?" the first man asked. "She burned us, and you can bet your sweet ass she burned RJ, too."

David stood up. "We'll have to go back. Help them . . ."

Several men laughed. "Help them do what?" one of the younger men asked bitterly. "Pick up the bodies?"

"We managed to live in spite of your 'leadership,' Grant," the first man commented. "I think I speak for us all when I say we're better off without you. Face it, Grant, the war is over. They won, and you helped them. We all helped them."

They left him there. Not one of them asked him to go along. For a long time he just sat there looking at his broken arm. He really should do something about it, but he couldn't be bothered. The longer he sat there, the more convinced he became of Kirsty's betrayal. She had never really loved him. She had used his love for her to pull him away from RJ. RJ had loved him, and what had he done to her? The answer to that question was back in Alsterase. He had to get back there. He got up and started walking.

Zark walked into Jessica's office. She looked up and saw no smile. For a moment, she thought he had failed. In fact, it was Right, who was sitting on the corner of Jessica's desk, who first saw the smug smile light up the GSHs face.

"Well?" Jessica asked impatiently.

The GSH walked over to Jessica's desk and dumped the contents of the cloth sack. RJ's chain rattled out, quickly followed by Poley's head. Jessica jumped up, clapping her hands in delight, and ran to embrace Zark.

"Is she really gone?"

"I cut her heart out and then set the building on fire. She's dead, Jessy," Zark said proudly.

Jessica moved back to the desk and picked up the chain. "Hard to believe that she would put such store in this thing. Hard to believe that someone as intelligent and powerful as RJ would become so attached to something like this. Or this, for that matter." She rolled the head around on her desk. Soon tiring of her new toys, she picked them up and set them on a shelf with her other trophies. She turned then to address Right.

"She and I were so much alike . . ."

"When she heard the girl scream she pushed her lover to the floor. She spent the last few seconds of her life trying to save him. If she hadn't, she might have beaten me. You and she were nothing alike."

Zark looked at Right, and the man bit his tongue to keep from laughing. The petty rivalry between them ended at that moment. They both knew they were in the same boat. Neither of them meant spit to Jessica Kirk. They were just toys, and toys are disposable. Maybe she had loved Jack Bristol, and maybe she hadn't, but she certainly loved no one but herself now. Now that RJ was dead, all that passion would leave her, too. She could return to a being of pure logic.

Worst of all, she no longer needed them. They would be kept like house pets—used for her amusement. They had helped her achieve her goal, and in doing so had made themselves unnecessary.

David walked through the day and into the night. Fever and guilt racked his brain. The arm, now swollen and blue, didn't hurt anymore. He didn't know why, he was just glad the pain was gone. In his mind scenes and words kept playing and replaying. Sick and tormented, he didn't even realize that he was walking in the wrong direction.

In his mind, he saw Alsterase in flame. He saw RJ lying in a pool of her own blood. He heard RJ saying, "I never thought in my wildest dreams that you would betray me, betray me, betray me, betray . . ."

"NO!" David screamed, and slumped to his knees on the ground. "Oh God! What have I done?" he cried. He lay down and looked up at the star-studded sky, which could just be seen through the trees.

The voices cried out at him from the night, and would not be quieted.

"Power corrupts."

"Help them do what? Pick up bodies?"

"If only you had your own army, David . . ."

"We were fools to follow you."

"You don't look at the big picture, David."

"She's not cast-iron . . ."

"Is she a hybrid?"

"Yes, and well shielded."

"Now you finally know how it feels, you bastard."

"Down with the Reliance . . ."

"Please turn the lights out." David now realized that he had never seen Kirsty unclothed with the lights on. No doubt because she wanted to hide the fact that her coloring, like RJ's, wasn't a tan.

"It was fear that allowed the Reliance to rear its ugly head."

"Ax murderer."

"Thank you, boy." An old man dropped a coin into his hand. A coin, bent coins on a chain. RJ's chain gleaming in the sun. A hand reached out for him, a man out of breath and out of hope.

"I'm not your enemy." He took the offered hand and found it warm and strong. He found himself being lifted up. He'd look up and see RJ's familiar grin and all would be right with the world. But when he looked up, all he saw was a grinning skeleton wearing a chain, with patches of platinum blonde hair straggling down from the few bits of scalp remaining.

David woke screaming and jerked upright. He was burning with fever despite the coolness of the night air. His shivering made the arm throb and ache again. He ignored it all, scrambled to his feet and ran as he hadn't run since the day, long ago, that he had broken out of prison.

He had to get back to Alsterase. RJ had to be all right. He would make it all up to her.

If he hadn't killed her.

Kirsty paced back and forth along the deserted stretch of road. She was, admittedly, early. It would have been nice if, just this once, the Reliance had been early as well. She knew she had nothing to worry about, but she still felt exposed sitting out here in the middle of nowhere. She gripped her bag of precious money and papers in one hand, her laser in the other. Nothing but darkness around her, so what was she worried about? She was a hybrid, a trained killer. She had nothing to fear. Yet she couldn't quiet the uneasiness of her gut.

"Brave heart, Kirsty," she said out loud to herself. "You are going to be one rich, blue-eyed Governor." She tried to laugh, but it got caught in her throat and she almost choked. How many people had died today because of her? People she'd known . . .
David
. So what? David was a sap. He fell for it all—hook, line and sinker . . .
Because he loved me. Because he trusted me in spite of what his friends told him. He stuck his neck out for me. He was willing to give up everything for me, and I made a fool of him. Then I killed them all. David, RJ, and all the others.
A cold chill went down her spine as she realized just what she'd become. She was evil.

She'd set David up right from the start. She'd played on his emotions and his naïveté. Her every move had been calculated and cold. At the time she originally chose her course, she told herself that it wouldn't bother her. But now that there was no going back, she was appalled by her callousness, cruelty, and capacity for treachery. The only evil in the night was herself. She felt unclean, as if a black cloak of wickedness were swallowing up her soul.

There had been several points at which she'd made choices. Good or bad, righteous or wicked, Reliance or Rebellion. She now realized that she'd made the wrong choices, but it was too late to do anything about it.

She'd thought she would be able to go through life without a single backward glance, but now she wasn't sure that she'd be able to live with all she'd done.

David ran on. Running on nothing but willpower and adrenaline. For the second time in his life, he was running for all he was worth, without direction. And once again it was fate and another human body that stopped him. As he fell, he saw a flying sliver of silver. He'd been in combat long enough to know what it was. He grabbed wildly and caught it. When he turned to face the person he'd run into, pain and night, fever and guilt couldn't hide Kirsty's face. She was every bit as shocked as he was. Without hesitation, he aimed the weapon at her head.

"I know it's not good enough, David. But I'm sorry." She held open palms out to him. "They made me do it, David. I was afraid."

"RJ was right about you," David hissed, "and now, she's probably dead."

"I'm sorry, David . . ." Kirsty cried. This time, her tears were real.

"RJ saved my life more times that I care to count. She told me things that I never knew. She carried me on her back for hours, and she never asked for anything in return because she was my friend. But you fixed that, Kirsty. I was a fool who got caught up in my own importance, and you knew just how to play on that." His finger started to close on the trigger.

"Please, David, I . . . There's enough money here for us both to live well. Think about it . . ."

"I don't want to think about it, Kirsty. If I think about it, I might
enjoy
killing you." He fired and the bolt hit her between the eyes. She fell, dead, but David didn't feel any better. Just then, he doubted that he would ever feel better.

Headlights appeared down the road. David ducked back into the woods and ran. He didn't look back.

It had been three days since the attack. RJ was alive, but still unconscious, and there was nothing to indicate that she would be coming out of the coma any time soon.

Her fingers didn't twitch; even her right arm was still. Her eyes stayed closed and didn't seem to be moving. No mutterings left her lips. She was unnaturally still and silent. While her vital signs improved daily, no one was reassured, they may have saved the body, but that didn't mean they had saved RJ.

The weather outside was a good reflection of the spirits inside—cold, wet and dark. The rebels had plenty of food and water, and the accommodations were better than any they'd had in Alsterase. There was ample booze and plenty of movies, but try as they might they couldn't erase the memories of that night. It was all too fresh and too horrible.