Freedom Incorporated (55 page)

“
Every move.”
Junior saw no sense in lying. “We have cameras. We watch all new
acquisitions until they’re accustomed to their
surroundings.”

“
So you were
just going to let him rape me?”

Junior almost laughed.
“Don’t be daft. I was the one who stopped it, remember?” He took a
step toward her.

“
Stay back or
I
will
stab
you.”

“
I don’t doubt
it.” Junior took a moment to collect his thoughts. “I want to help
you, but first you have to help me.”

“
How?”

“
Give
me
that
for
starters.” Junior offered an outstretched hand, willing her to
surrender the weapon peacefully. “If you give it to me I’ll make
things go smoothly for you here. Without help it’ll be a
nightmare.” He checked his watch. “Esteban’s already on his way, I
woke him when you got into trouble with Edward, but if he walks in
now there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“
Why’d you
call him?”

“
He wanted to
know if you got into mischief,” Junior replied smoothly. “He wants
you protected.”

“
I see…” Jen
said slowly with a crease on her forehead. “Until Dan turns up,
right?”

Junior’s
silence told her all she needed to know. On the surface, Junior
would say he was willing to help, but he was incapable of
delivering.
Unless he lends me his
chip.
She took a chance and lunged, the
icepick aimed deftly at his throat. If it connected, she knew she’d
have time to continue stabbing him until he stopped
breathing.

Surprise registered in
Junior’s eyes a fraction too late to avoid the blow entirely. He
twisted to one side and bashed her forearm with a defensive move,
something he’d learned in primary school karate class that had
worked into his reflexes. He wasn’t a skilled fighter, but the
block was effective enough to save his life. The tip of the pick
plunged agonisingly into the fleshy muscle on the side of his neck,
well clear of major arteries and critical nerves. His skin split
when the thick base of the pick entered the wound and it bled
profusely, showering his shirt with a river of sticky
red.

The sensation of pick
piercing human flesh was a memory Jen would rather have done
without. The feeling repulsed her and she fought the impulse to
drop the handle. She jerked her arm back and retreated, waiting to
see what would happen.

Junior predictably
clutched his messy wound, ferociously scowling at her and cussing
through clenched teeth.

“
You see.”
Edward was pushing to his knees, the pain in his testicles having
subsided to a dull throb. “I told you the silly cow was a
bitch.”

A sticky trail of blood
trickled down the pick and coated Jen’s fingers, making her weapon
even harder to grip. It made her ill and she wondered whether she’d
have the tenacity to dig out Junior’s spine. “Stay back.” Now it
was two against one, hardly good odds. She swallowed her fear and
planted her feet firmly on the carpet, ready to lash out at the
first person to come within striking distance.

Junior was trying to
reassure himself that his would wasn’t fatal. The pain throbbing
from his torn flesh was blindingly intense and a gong-like scream
for revenge went off in his mind. “You shouldn’t have done
that.”

Jen reworked the grip on
the icepick, daring him to step closer. She brazenly stepped an
inch forward, threatening to stab again if they didn’t back away.
It was gratifying to see two large men backing away with fear
clouding their eyes.

“
No, you
really shouldn’t.” It was a familiar voice and she turned to see
Esteban waltz into the room. He levelled a pistol at her and calmly
invited her to drop her weapon. “You want to put that down
now?”

“
I’d rather
not,” she replied, staring at his gun. “You’re not going to shoot
me.”

“
Oh no?”
Esteban smiled sweetly. “That depends how much you irritate me.” He
secretly enjoyed watching her stand there, fist coated in blood. It
thrilled him in ways that Michele and Claire were incapable
of.

“
You need me
alive.”

“
Yes, but just
because I shoot you doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll die.” Esteban
cocked both eyebrows. “How much do you like your kneecaps? I’ve
heard it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch to have them shot
off.”

Just standing in the same
room as such a monster revolted her. “Fuck you.”

Oh, you
will.
“Later perhaps.” He enjoyed the jolt
of fear that thought evoked in her. “Now be sensible and drop the
icepick. What do you think you’ll achieve against the three of us
anyway?”

Jen wasn’t sure anymore,
it just didn’t seem appropriate to surrender voluntarily. “Tell me
one thing first.”

“
Okay, what?”
Esteban couldn’t see the harm in entertaining her for a
while.

“
How do you
get away with this?”

Esteban was intelligent
enough to understand to what her question pertained. “You’re all
sanctioned apprehensions that have, shall we say, slipped through
the cracks. Every now and then, someone gets lost in the system and
ends up here.” He looked around. “Have you asked yourself why
nobody’s bothered organising a revolt? They have nowhere to go. If
they leave here, the only place they’ll end up is prison. Your
friend, Claire, she’s a killer. Ask her if you don’t believe
me.”

Jen felt the
determination drain from her body and she knew she was moments away
from defeat. She wasn’t yet ready to release hope, but neither was
she ready to give Esteban an excuse to kneecap her. She tossed the
icepick aside.

“
Good.”
Esteban waved at Junior and he reluctantly took his gore-drenched
hand away from his neck to grip Jen’s arms and twist them behind
her back.

Esteban tucked his gun
into its holster and drew a needle from his pocket. He used his
teeth to remove the protective plastic jacket and spat it to the
floor.

“
Oh no,
please…” Jen wriggled but Junior held her fast. “You don’t need to
use that.”

“
I beg to
differ,” Esteban replied with a tinge of malice. “You’ve woken me
up once tonight already and I’m sure Junior would like to visit the
hospital. This is my insurance.”

“
I’ll be good,
I promise, please.” Jen watched him draw the clear liquid into the
syringe and flick it to remove the air bubbles. “No, don’t.” Her
voice was getting shrill.

“
Shut the fuck
up,” Esteban commanded. “Or I’ll dig out your vocal cords.” He
prompted with his eyes, deliberately tempting her to test him.
“Have you ever seen a set of vocal cords?” He waited until she
shook her head, muted by the threat. “Well they’re really quite
fascinating, so if you’d like an impromptu anatomy lesson just go
ahead and keep screeching.”

Jen bit her lip when he
inserted the needle, standing as still as possible to minimise the
damage to her surrounding tissue. He injected the blend of drugs
with somewhat less than a surgeon’s precision and although it was
less painful than the previous time, it still hurt.

She was sobbing when he
retracted the chilly syringe and they walked her back to her room.
Her vision was already fading by the time they laid her on her
mattress and the last thing she heard before blissful
unconsciousness snatched her was Junior complaining about the gash
in his neck.

*

Saturday, September 18,
2066

International Portal
Terminals

20
:
0
8
Sydney
,
Australia

Dan couldn’t
believe his luck – or lack thereof, depending on how things went.
He checked his watch.
Damn, Chuck, what
sort of hours are you pulling?
Christopher
Delaney was at his usual counter, validating international
travellers.
Now what?
It made things tricky. If he picked anybody else’s counter
Chuck would be suspicious, but if he went through Chuck’s counter,
he would know Dan’s chip was fake. Dan had changed and tested his
new identities twice in anticipation of international travel. Both
tests had proved successful – nobody had suspected he wasn’t Tedman
Kennedy and Brent Bertrouney.
Either that
or they didn’t care to look surprised.
The
chip selector currently displayed Tedman Kennedy and he’d spent
half an hour memorising details such as the birth date, blood type
and medical history of the persona. It would be disastrous to
forget who he was pretending to be.

But Chuck
caused a new set of problems and Dan cursed the fact that his
frequent travel had made him such a well-known passenger. Dan
couldn’t afford to have anyone scan his real chip, it would
forewarn of his impending arrival.
No, not
acceptable.
He sipped a cup of bland coffee
at a nearby café to consider his options. It was his third for the
day and his mind was zinging with caffeine.
I could wait…
But that idea merely
piqued his desire for haste – Jen was in danger now. Besides, he
had no idea whether Chuck had just started his shift or was about
to end it.

Dan sighed and ran a hand
over his face before pushing back from the table and striding
confidently towards Christopher’s counter. “G’day Chuck, how’re
things?”

He smiled warmly. “Hey
Dan-the-man-from-Afghanistan, not too bad. You?”

“
I’ve seen
better days,” Dan admitted sombrely. “Say, what kind of freakazoid
hours are you working here?”

“
Yeah, I know,
it’s my turn for night shift.” He sighed and blinked sleep from his
eyes. “A ten day rotation every three months. It sucks, but it
comes with the job.”

“
When do you
get off?” Dan asked.

He checked his watch in
the hope that time was passing quickly. “Not until the morning guys
get here, around eight. But after my rotation I get a five day
break so it’s not too bad.”

Dan grunted. “Could’ve
fooled me.”

“
So where’re
you off to this time?” Christopher asked, indicating he should step
closer for the mandatory scan.

“
Actually, I
was wondering if you could do me a favour,” Dan replied
vaguely.

“
Sure, name
it.” Christopher didn’t even flinch. They’d developed a friendship
over the past few months. Or, at the very least, he’d call Dan a
close acquaintance. He passed through the terminal every few days
and always had time for a chat. Recently Chuck had joked that he
would have a ‘most-frequent traveller’ award printed and framed
especially for Dan. And a month ago they’d gone for beers and
watched the rugby final at the local watering hole.

“
It’s not
entirely legal,” Dan said, testing the waters. He nervously
wondered whether their friendship was strong enough to support the
tremendous weight he was about to place upon it.

“
Whoa there
big boy.” Christopher held up his hands. “Don’t ask me to do
something that’ll get me fired. I thought you were going to ask me
to water your plants or something.” He paused, gauging Dan’s
reaction. There was none. His stoic mask only betrayed his
discipline. Curiosity eventually got the better of him. “What is
it?”

It was Dan’s turn to
study Chuck. Trust was a luxury he didn’t have, so he had to be
very careful divulging information. “Somebody I know is in a lot of
trouble.” Dan started slowly, cautiously choosing every word. “For
now, just tell me what has to happen to let someone pass on a fake
chip.”

Chuck huffed. “It can’t
be done.”

“
You’ve never
looked the other way?” Dan asked, angered beneath his calm
surface.
Since when did you become so
sanctimonious?

“
Shh!” he
hushed. “Not so bloody loud mate.”

“
You won’t
help?” Dan asked flatly.

“
I didn’t say
that,” Christopher replied slyly. “What’ve you gone and gotten
yourself mixed up in?”

“
If I’m alive
in a week I’ll tell you over a beer.”

“
It’s that
bad, huh?”

Dan nodded solemnly.
“Yeah, it’s that bad.”

“
Must be time
you considered a new profession then.” He smiled. “We’ve got an
opening if you’re interested. I could talk to the boss?”

“
Pass.”

Christopher sighed. “You
don’t know what you’re missing.” He would’ve liked to have someone
interesting to share the monotonous night shifts with. The others
were okay, but they were into computer games and were always
talking about sorceresses, paladins, swords and armour. It drove
him crazy. “Just so I’m clear, we’re talking about you, aren’t
we?”

Dan nodded slowly,
wondering whether Chuck would blow his plans asunder. He had one
hand in his pocket, ready to press ‘next’ and revert to his
legitimate identity if things turned sour.

“
And I assume
you’ve got a good reason for wanting your name off the
records?”