D2-670A
Part 7
Rufus heard a door slam as he stepped over the threshold and into the apartment.
Splinters of wood crunched beneath his massive heel as he stepped forward,
holding his MP-432 between thumb and forefinger and sweeping it across the
living room in a covering arc. The tiny button-like weapon had made mince-meat
of the door and it would do the same to any person who had the misfortune of
being on its receiving end.
Rufus spotted the woman down amid the remnants of the door, but a second glance
proved it wasn't Rene. The rest of the room was empty and had only two other
exits - a hallway leading down to the back of the apartment, and a closed door.
"Clear, boss."
Marcus entered the apartment swiftly, his own MP-432 palmed and ready for use.
"Anything?"
"Just her," Rufus nodded at the motionless woman, "and I think Rene's hiding
through that door there."
Without wasting any further time, Marcus darted toward the closed door while
Rufus trailed behind. The bodyguard had never seen his boss in such a state
before - upset for one reason or another, sure, but never actually desperate.
Marcus was, generally speaking, the most level headed man Rufus had ever worked
for. And yet here he was scampering through a strange world to find a female
slave who had ducked out on him.
Rufus snorted. As far as he was concerned, it was all a spectacular waste of
time. They could be home, tying and using any of the many slaves Marcus owned
(or had leased for a limited period), but instead they were playing Retrieval
Team in this shit of a dimension.
Not that Rufus would ever complain. He had built a reputation as one of the best
in the field, so he wasn't about to jeopardize it by complaining out of turn
now. No, he'd just grin and bear it, and with any luck Marcus would reward him
with an extra bonus at the end of it all. At least, Rufus sincerely hoped Marcus
was considering bonuses for all concerned, because it would be a great pity if
The Council ever got wind of this little venture and who had organized its
conception ...
The door was locked when Marcus tried the handle, so he stepped back and pressed
the firing trigger on his MP-432. Rufus watched in appreciation as another door
all but disintegrated into its component parts, which in turn were propelled
into the next room at speeds faster than the human eye could register.
Wasting no further time. Rufus dodged past his employer and stepped into what
turned out to be a empty bedroom. He cursed and ran over to the open window to
see if his quarry was climbing down the outside wall.
She wasn't, but three figures were moving about on the grass below him in an
interlocked struggle. The darkness and his poor viewing angle made it difficult
to tell, but Rufus was almost positive that the one on top with lighter blonde
hair was Rene. He was about to turn and inform Marcus when he noticed the
semi-circle of dark shadows closing in on the women. Narrowing his eyes, Rufus
peered intently at the shadows to see that they were actually combat dressed men
carrying what looked to be some kind of primitive assault rifle.
His suspicions were confirmed a moment later when a stream of bullets exploded
into the wall beside him and sent him diving back into the bedroom for cover.
*****
Christian and his hastily assembled security force of six reached Daphne
Arnold's home address only 20 minutes after Veronica's company vehicle stopped
moving one block over to the east. He just hoped she hadn't yet had time to
break in and make the snatch.
"Remember, Veronica's the target," Christian addressed his men. "Any other
witnesses are to be rendered unconscious and then bound securely. Understood?"
Silent nods answered him.
"Good. Go to it."
As quickly and quietly as possible, the security force filed out of the back of
the van and disappeared into the night. Christian started the timer on his
watch. He'd given them fifteen minutes as a target. If they came in under,
Davidson Global would add a nice bonus to their pay slips.
Lighting a cigarette, Christian slipped out of the driver's seat of the van and
idly wandered across the road. Smoking was a bad habit he'd gotten into while
waiting for anything slightly tense to occur. Like so many others, he found it
helped to calm his nerves.
Which may have helped to explain why Christian barely raised an eyebrow when he
happened to glance into the parked car that he'd chose to lean against and saw a
bound and gagged woman lying with her eyes closed across the back seat.
Or then again, his lack of surprise may simply have been due to he fact that he
was more than slightly habituated to the sight of a trussed up woman.
His curiosity getting the better of him, Christian pulled out his Colt .45 and
used its butt to smash in the passenger side window. The bound woman jumped and
screeched into her leather cover-all gag as she was started awake by the sound
of breaking glass.
Christian noted with a smile that beneath her lock of red hair, the woman
appeared quite pretty in a petite sort of way. He imagined that a similar
picture would be revealed when he eventually removed the woolen coat she was
wearing and got a look at her body. But that was for later. Right now,
introductions were in order, so he poked his head in through the broken window
and said: "Hi there. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything, because right now
you're going to be coming with me."
*****
Veronica had just decided that two captives was better than one for what she had
in mind, and was drawing one set of handcuffs from her belt, when something
heavy slammed into her upper back. She was shoved forward and down beneath the
weight, falling across the stunning girl she'd been about to handcuff. To make
matters worse, as she landed she lost her grip on the gun and saw it land on the
grass almost six feet away.
Realizing that her only hope of salvaging this situation was to get the gun
back, Veronica began to claw her way toward the weapon. Her progress was more
than slightly impeded, however, by the girl beneath her and by the weight that
was beginning to squirm about on her back.
A hand caught up in Veronica's hair and another cupped her chin before
proceeding to pull her head back. Instinctively, she responded by throwing
herself to the side and trying to roll her assailant beneath her. The stunning
girl who'd been on the bottom of the pile rolled with her, evidently caught up
in the confused jumble of feminine limbs.
Veronica struck out with fist and elbow, hoping to break away before she was
pinned between her two assailants, and felt solid connections with both. She
heard a whispered "Bitch!" from above her, before a fist slammed into her own
stomach.
Suddenly, the roar of automatic gun fire filled Veronica's ears, causing her and
her assailants to freeze on the spot. Confusion and uncertainty tore through her
as she looked over the shoulder of the girl on top of her and saw a dark shape
approaching them at a fast pace ...
*****
Rene knew from the primitive weapons that the men encircling them were not a
Retrieval Team. But that thought served to comfort her only a little, since it
was obvious that the dark figures did not have her best intentions at heart.
One of them reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her free of Shana and the
woman who had threatened her with the gun. As she came to her feet, Rene tensed,
expecting the figure (who was obviously a man) to bring his weapon to bear on
her. But instead, he suddenly produced a small can and sprayed it directly into
her face.
Rene turned her head away and coughed in an effort to clear the spray from her
airways. But it was far too late. By the time she'd stopped her forced coughing
to take in a breath of air, she could already feel her eyes growing heavy and
her legs starting to buckle.
The last thing she registered before falling unconscious was a sudden extreme
blast of air as the man beside her took a hit from a MP-432 right in the chest
...
*****
Having squeezed off a single destructive shot, Rufus again ducked for cover
beneath the window sill as an answering hail of bullets ricocheted around him.
"One down!" he yelled at Marcus over the roar of gunfire.
"Keep them pinned down," his boss yelled back. "I'll get Rene."
Rufus nodded his understanding and watched as Marcus darted back out into the
lounge room. He stayed down long enough for the inevitable pause in the gunfire
being directed at him, and then leapt up to fire his deadly weapon again ...
****
The "commando" holding Shana released his iron grip on her arm as a second man
exploded into particles of blood, bone and clothing not ten feet away from them.
Glancing round, the young university student saw all of the commandos firing up
at the window of Daphne's apartment. Rene was out cold on the ground and the
woman they'd fought together was slumping to the ground, evidently another
victim of the knock-out spray.
Realizing that her only chance was to move while everyone else was pre-occupied,
Shana abruptly turned and ran. She expected to be cut down at any second by gun
fire, or worse, hit by the weapon that was ripping through the commandos. But
her luck held. She made it to the corner of Daphne's apartment block without so
much as a "Halt!" from behind her.
For just a moment, as she rounded the corner and made it to the relative safety
of the communal washing line, Shana wondered if there was anything she could do
to help Daphne or Rene. She quickly came to the conclusion, however, that they
would be much better off if she could get away and find some help. The only
thing she'd accomplish by going back now would be to get herself caught as well.
With that thought firmly in mind, Shana began to run toward the nearest side
street.
*****
Christian had just finished securing his new captive into a tight hogtie in the
back of the van when the echo of automatic gunfire reached him.
Given that he'd ordered a covert operation, Christian automatically knew that
his men were in trouble.
In an instant, the Davidson Global Head of Security was out of the van and
sliding the door closed on the tightly bound and gagged woman still inside. He
drew his .45 and sprinted across the road in the direction of the firefight.
*****
"Back! Back!" Marcus heard one of the commandos yell as he rounded the side of
the apartment building. He saw two of the men hurriedly dropping to their knees
and pulling Rene and another unconscious woman outfitted in a leather catsuit
across their shoulders. The other two commandos were maintaining their covering
fire, and doing a good job of keeping Rufus pinned down.
All of the men, however, were too preoccupied to have noticed his arrival.
Knowing he couldn't shoot at either of them men carrying the women without
killing them as well, Marcus took careful aim at the closest man firing his
weapon and squeezed off a shot with the MP-432. His aim was true and a pulse of
pure energy slammed into Marcus' target, splattering the bulk of his torso him
across his partner in a scarlet and ivory shower. The second man was knocked to
the ground by the forceful deluge, affording Marcus an oh-so-easy target.
Just as his finger started to squeeze the trigger, Marcus heard another weapon
being fired and almost instantly felt something slam into his shoulder with
enough force to knock the wind out of him. Marcus staggered a few steps to the
side, his mind trying to grasp who had shot at him and where his attacker was.
He glanced around wildly, trying to make out shapes through the darkness, but
all he could see was the rapidly retreating figures of the men carrying the
women.
Another shot sounded and, as a bullet whined past his right ear, Marcus finally
caught sight of a man behind a nearby tree. In response, he tried to bring his
arm up to fire the MP-432, but found that he could no longer feel the right side
of his body. He knew that shock was setting in, but had no idea how to stop his
body's automatic response.
Dimly, Marcus heard a third shot and felt a sledgehammer crack against the side
of his head.
Then, mercifully, he felt no more.
*****
