torg 03- The Nightmare Dream (10 page)

"I guess Decker left you two high and dry," Quin said, testing the waters. "How does it feel to be assassins before getting out of your teens?"

The younger boy leaped at Quin, slashing and kicking as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Don't you hurt him anymore," the younger boy cried. "Leave Coyote alone!"

Coyote and Rat, Quin remembered, that was what Conners called them. He subdued the boy and gently shoved him toward the bed. The older youth caught hold of him and hugged him tightly against his body. Through his sobs, Decker clearly heard the words the younger boy spoke.

"Ace didn't kill nobody, Coyote," the boy cried. "Tell him Ace didn't do it!"

"I'm not telling this guy nothing, Rat," the older youth said sternly. "They only want to believe the bad things, anyway."

Something wasn't right here, but Quin couldn't quite put it together. He was about to ask the boys a question when the door to the room opened. He decided to finish his act as the Spartan expected.

"Crying won't do you any good," Sebastian shouted angrily. "We're going to catch Decker without your help, and then he'll give us the evidence we need to put you two away as well."

He hated himself for that, but at least the Spartan seemed satisfied. He nodded to the agent, then went off to rendezvous with the agent named King.

23

I )ecker watched the wall of fire burn, its orange flames dancing wildly in the perpetual night. Some of the edeinos had been caught by the explosions that ripped along the forty-mile long storm front, but he didn't think they got too many of them. Now the crackling curtain of flame served as a boundary, preventing the invaders from emerging out of the storm.

He wondered how long it would hold them off.

Decker returned to his jeep. Julie was asleep in the passenger seat, Tal Tu was curled up on the ground beside the vehicle. Covent, he knew, was off meeting with Colonel Matthews, planning their next course of action. He had no idea where Kurst or Paragon had wandered off to.

Mounted on the back of the jeep was a heavy machine gun. It was the relatively new Mark 19 Model 3 40-mm gun. It fired high-explosive shells at a rate of forty rounds per minute. He didn't know if he'd be able to make it work on the other side of the storm, but it was the kind of weapon he'd want to have in case a rampaging horde of giant lizards charged his position. The ammo rounds combined anti-armor-shaped charges with antipersonnel fragmentation. He was confident the shaped charge could penetrate the thickest dinosaur hide.

Decker rested his hand on the weapon and thought about his options at this juncture. He could go with Kurst to help the people that had released him from the Gaunt Man's slavery, or he could try to find the stelae that was the linchpin in the coming battle. He hated no-win situations that had no clear-cut solution.

Decker tapped the fingers of his left hand against his leg, letting his old habit calm him, help him think. There was so much that needed doing, and there was so little of him to go around. He sighed, wishing the long night would end, taking this dark dream they seemed trapped in with its passing.

"I think I know what you're thinking about, congressman," Eddie Paragon said as he stepped out of the night. "I'd like you to consider something before you make any rash decisions, though."

Decker looked at the rock'n'roller solemnly. He still couldn't figure the man out. He had actually escaped from captivity in the Living Land, fought his way through a storm front on foot, for God's sake! Ace remembered his own passage through the wall of storm back in Pennsylvania and he shuddered. If not for the jeep they had been driving, he didn't think he would have made it to the other side. As it was, his driver was killed by the maddening sights that shimmered between the raindrops. Now this singer had agreed to come back to the battlefront to aid them in their struggle against the forces of the primitive High Lord. He had more guts than Decker had earlier given him credit for.

"The stelae is still in our reality," Paragon said, voicing thoughts that seemed to just come to fruition. "Anybody can deal with it. But to go into the Living Land again, that's going to take extraordinary people — people who can maintain their reality even as the alien reality batters them from all sides. From the stories I've heard, you're a man like that. Kurst, too."

"What are you getting at, Paragon?" Decker urged.

"Just this," the singer said. "You're the one who has to cross the storm front. And Kurst."

Eddie Paragon paused, stealing a glance at the wall of fire. Its light was a beacon in the unending darkness. Finally, he finished his thought.

And me," he said.

Decker was surprised. "Why you, Eddie? Why do you want to subject yourself to that again?"

"Because I can," he said quietly. "I realize that the reason I didn't join Baruk Kaah was because my reality was alway's with me. Sure, there was a time or two when the urge to throw off my clothes and roll in the grass was real strong, but I got through it. You need someone like that if you're going to make it through, and I've already been there once."

Impressed by the singer's decision, Decker grasped his shoulder firmly. "You're sure about this?" he asked.

Paragon smiled. "Not on your life," he admitted, "but I've made up my mind."

As an afterthought, Eddie added, "But if you want to try to talk me out of it..."

24

Quin Sebastian sat in the helicopter, looking out into the long night. Far ahead he could see the glow of a massive fire. It filled the horizon, reflecting off the cover of ash that hung low in the sky. Something wasn't right up ahead. He hoped they weren't flying into a lost cause.

Beside him sat the Spartan agent, Thomas King. King had abandoned his finely-tailored suit for a more functional jumpsuit, but he still wore his dark glasses.

"Can you see out of those things?" Sebastian asked him.

King ignored him.

The helicopter flew closer, and now Quin could clearly see the wall of flame rising out of the forest. "My God," he exclaimed, "how are we going to find Decker in that thing?"

"We'll get him, don't you worry about that," King

.issured him.

"Conners. was telling me about the two kids," Sebastian said, hoping to learn something from the Spartan. "What were their names?"

"Coyote and Rat," King answered, but his attention was focused on the flames.

"That's right, Coyote and Rat. Strange names."

"Gang names."

"Do you really think they had anything to do with Wells' death?"

King laughed. "Who cares? I got to knock the older one around a bit, and that's always good for a laugh."

Sebastian laughed too, but it wasn't as full-bodied a sound as the Spartan produced. Deep down, Quin felt a wave of nausea. He had a feeling that before this mission was over, it was going to get close to the borders of his personal moral standards. Dangerously close.

"Take us down here," King called to the pilot, and the helicopter made the lurching dip that signalled its descent.

25

The wall of fire was starting to lose its intensity by the time Julie awoke and Kurst returned to the jeep. Covent had returned as well, so the group was back together again. Perhaps, Decker thought, for the last time.

"So far so good," Covent said. "The wall of fire stopped their advance."

"For the time being," Julie observed, stretching to get out the kinks of sleep.

Kurst remained silent, watching the wall of fire intently. Decker knew that look. It usually proceeded some kind of trouble.

"Now what, Kurst?" Decker asked.

"Something is coming out of the fire," the hunter observed.

"That's impossible/' Covent stammered. "Even if the intensity has dropped, those flames are still hot enough to roast a man alive."

"What emerges are not men, Major Covent," Kurst said.

Decker watched as the shapes pushed through the flames. They were humanoid, whatever they were, and they burned brightly as the tongues of fire lapped at them. Once out of the burning wall, however, the fires upon them died. That's when Decker noticed something odd about the forms.

"They're carrying guns!" Decker shouted.

"Tal Tu said the lizards couldn't use our weapons," Covent said.

"They are not edeinos," Kurst replied. "They are gospog."

Gunfire filled the night, and men all along the line screamed as bullets tore at them. In a moment, the soldiers began to return fire, but a stream of the creatures were already through, and more were pushing forward.

"Take cover!" Covent ordered, for the group was in the path of the first line of gospog.

Decker leaped into the back of the jeep to man the machinegun. He fired a few test bursts, shredding the nearest plant creatures before they could get off any shots. Then he opened up, cutting a swath out of the attacking horde.

The others joined in, but the smaller pistols didn't pack the same punch as the heavy machine gun. Julie, for example, had to empty her .38 into one of the shambling creatures before it went down. They seemed immune to ordinary pain, and even the fire hadn't appeared to bother them once they got clear of its burning center. They didn't fall until they were unable to keep moving.

Decker fired more rounds at the creatures, blowing apart wave after wave of the things. Then, as suddenly as it began, the battle stopped. The remaining gospog retreated back through the dwindling wall of flame, leaving behind a fair number of dead and wounded.

"What the hell was that all about?" Covent asked no one in particular.

It was Decker who answered him. "That was just to get our attention, Charlie. We wasted ammunition, lost some men, and had the spit scared out of us. I thought you said Baruk Kaah didn't have tactics, Tal Tu?"

The edeinos tilted his head and peered at Decker with one reptilian eye. "I said he had no tactics as you defined them, no sweeping troop movements, no lines of battle. But he does know how to fight an enemy. You are right, Decker. This is only the beginning."

26

Quin Sebastian and Thomas King watched the exchange from behind a cluster of trees. The man at the heavy machinegun had been identified as Andrew Decker, and he had made a good showing of himself against the walking horrors they were fighting.

"What were those things?" King asked, a hint of fear and hysteria at the back of his voice.

"I don't know," Sebastian admitted, "but they had M-16s. I thought the invaders used spears?"

"I thought the invaders were lizard people," King returned.

They observed the rest of the group, trying to determine what they would be up against if they tried to arrest Decker immediately. There were a number of people with him — two army majors (one male and one female), two men in fatigues who looked nothing like normal soldiers, and a lizard man. Decker had fought beside them, and even now that the battle was over he stood at the ready. To Sebastian, he did not look anything like a man on the run.

"I don't think this is the best time for this," Sebastian said, looking for a way to postpone the mission until he could gather more facts.

"Nonsense," King exclaimed. "There's no time like the present." The Spartan pulled out his pistol, checked the clip, and started toward the group.

27

Once he saw that the immediate danger had passed, Decker leaped down out of the jeep. Julie ran to him, throwing her arms around him in an uncharacteristic show of affection. Paragon stifled a giggle at Decker's look of discomfort at so open a display, but the others ignored them.

The congressman caught sight of Kurst's sudden movement. "There is danger, Decker," the shapeshifter warned, turning to face the darkness behind them.

"Don't any of you move," said the man stepping toward them. He held an automatic pistol in his hand, and wore a pair of dark glasses. As he approached, he snapped the glasses off and pocketed them with one fluid, obviously practiced motion.

"What's this all about?" Major Covent demanded.

"This is about law and order, major," the man proclaimed. "And justice." He flashed a badge that none of them recognized. "I'm an agent for the Delphi Council. I've been sent here to detain one Andrew Jackson Decker for the assassination of President Jonathan Wells." He leveled his weapon at the congressman.

"That's ridiculous!" Julie exclaimed. "Ace didn't kill the president. He tried to save him."

"You shouldn't tell lies to protect a murderer, major," the agent declared.

"What lies? I was there. I saw the whole thing."

"What do you have to say, Congressman Decker?" another man asked as he appeared out of the darkness.

"I have nothing to say," Decker responded evenly. "If you're here to arrest me, get it over with. The sooner I get to talk to someone in charge, the sooner this misunderstanding can be corrected."

"Misunderstanding?" the first agent gasped in mock surprise. "I do believe you are attempting to resist arrest, Mr. Decker. It appears that the American people will be denied a proper trial in this case, but at least justice will be served."

The agent raised his gun and pulled back on the trigger. Ace's eyes went wide, but he could not move, could not react. There was no time. He heard Julie scream. He heard a shot go off. Then a second.