Dominant Species Volume Two -- Edge Effects (Dominant Species Series) (37 page)

Kelly ran
the rod between her thighs, back and forth lifting it up against her crotch as
he worked it.

“What are
you doing . . . ?”

“Shut
up!” he yelled.

Rachel
looked at John and tried to smile, but couldn’t quite do it. He saw that
offending rod going in and out between those perfect, strong legs and wanted to
scream his outrage.

“She’s
got some gams on her, doesn’t she Joey?” Kelly croaked.

“Yep. Not
bad for a girl,” Devonshire replied. “But a little porky for my tastes.”

She’d crush you like a bug, you skunk,
John
thought. “That’s not pork, Joey, that’s prime meat,” Kelly said, his voice
growing thicker. “Do you like that?” he said to Rachel. “Feels like a big cold
cock, huh?”

“I’ve had
better,” she said.

Kelly
chuckled.

“Joe, why
are you doing this?” she pleaded. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Shut up
. . .” Kelly said.

“What’s
in this for you, Joe?” John asked. “What’s your deal with Smith? Money? A sweet
contract? What?”

“Nothing
that plebeian,” Joe said. “He’s my uncle. Well, actually he’s my only uncle.
No, wait, let’s put it this way—I’m his
only nephew.
There.”

“That’s
no reason to commit murder,” Rachel said.

“Ummm . .
.” Joe mocked. “I’m not so sure . . .”

“You
don’t have to do this,” she tried.

“Ummm . .
.”

“Please.”

“Shut up!”
Kelly yelled and nearly lifted her off the
ground with the rod. Rachel put her hands on it keep from falling down.

“Stop . .
.” she pleaded.

Kelly
slid the rod out from between her legs. There was a clicking metallic sound and
the end of the rod unfolded, revealing three tentacles framing long blades
that chewed the air at random. Kelly grinned a sick little smile.

“What is
that . . . ?” Rachel said, backing into the wall to get away from it. Kelly
moved it until the grasping tips were just centimeters from the smooth flesh of
her abdomen.

“Kelly’s
little toy,” Devonshire’s thin voice said.

“Once
those little black tips sink in,” Kelly said, “it’s all over but the
screamin’.”

“Don’t .
. .”

There was
a sound like thunder and a bright flash of light. The spot where Kelly’s head
had been was turned into red spray, sending blood and pieces of bone all over
the kitchen. The nearly headless corpse stood motionless for a second then
turned to the side as if still alive, swiping Devonshire’s right leg with the
rod’s blades. Devonshire screamed as the blades cut deep, sending blood and
muscle flying. The corpse fell backwards onto the kitchen table, breaking it
from its mooring. John leaped up and grabbed Devonshire’s gun with one hand and
planted his fist in his face with the other. The little gun came away easily.
He pointed it at his head.

“I guess
he wasn’t counting on this,” Donna said to Joe, waving the business end of
John’s heavy pistol at him.

“Sit down
on the floor,” John told him.

“I can’t
bend my leg . . .” Devonshire whined.

John
pushed him roughly to the floor.

Devonshire
was gripping his thigh just above the ragged patch of flesh that was his knee
with a look of childlike misery on his face. A constant stream of blood ran out
his pants leg and onto the floor.

“You
gotta get me to a doctor . . .” he whined.

“I am the
doctor, you maggot,” Donna said.

“Then you
gotta help me. I’m bleedin’ to death . . .”

“You
don’t get any help until you answer a few questions,
Mister Nephew.”

“I’m not
telling you squat. You can all go to Hell.”

“You know
something—
Joey,
I’ve just spent almost a whole Earth-week in the green, fighting for my life
because of what your goddamn Uncle Ed did to me. And I’m just dying to get my
revenge on somebody about now, and you’re the best candidate in this room—now
that this fucker’s dead.” She kicked roughly at Kelly’s leg. It sounded like
she’d kicked a side of beef. She brought the gun close to Devonshire’s other
knee.

“Donna .
. .” Rachel said.

Donna
looked straight at her with a steady stare. Her blue-brown eye, which had
fascinated Rachel, now blazed in her head like some frightening and venomous
jewel. The look chilled her. Donna turned back to Devonshire and Rachel was
sure he was reading the same look of infinite will and resolve. “Donna . . .”
Rachel said again. “Don’t do this . . .”

“You
either tell me what I want to know, or I’ll turn this knee into mush.”

“Go fuck
yourself,” he said.

The blast
tore a hole in the room’s air and Rachel’s ears rang again. She looked over at
Devonshire to see his mouth open in a silent scream. The shot had missed the
knee, but the blast tore a smoking hole in the material of his pants.

“Did you
think I was kidding you?” Donna asked him.

“No . .
.”

“Put a
tourniquet on this one,” she said to John. “I don’t want him to die too fast.”

Devonshire
had turned ashen and his eyes were glassy. His lower lip trembled. Donna
reached out and put her hand on his head. “You’re cool, Joey. I think you’re
dying,” she said calmly.

“If you’d
like, I can run over to the clinic and get you a little something for the
shock. Hummm? Would that be nice?”

“John,
make her stop . . .” Rachel said.

“Donna’s
right, Rachel. This worm knows it all.”

“All the
more reason to keep him alive!” Rachel shot back.

“Maybe,”
Donna said. “Now, are you ready to tell me what I want to know?”

“I . . .”

“You
know—Joey, I’m a grade five nurse, I can keep you alive a lot longer than you’d
ever, ever want to. Are you listening to me?”

Devonshire’s
head barely nodded.

“Was that
a ‘yes’?” Donna demanded.

“Yes . .
.” he said weakly.

“Fine.
Now we’re getting somewhere.”

Rachel
wanted to faint. “I don’t want any part of this,” she said.

“You are
a part of it!” Donna snapped.

Rachel folded
her arms and slumped against the wall. It was slump or fall down. “This isn’t
right . . .” she said.

“They’re
gonna kill us if we don’t—get them first!” Donna flashed.

Donna
sighed and turned her attention back to Devonshire. He was still holding his
right thigh with both hands and looked like he might expire at any moment.

“Joe.
Make it easy on yourself. I can still fix your leg, maybe as good as new. Just
tell me who works for Uncky Ed.”

“He can
barely talk . . .” Rachel offered.

Donna
spun on her and her eye flashed in her head like a wicked light. The very force
of it drove Rachel tight against the wall. Donna was like a lioness with her
prey and she didn’t have to say a word to get her point across. Her point was
quite clear.
Stay back.
She spun on Devonshire.

“Talk!”

Devonshire’s
mouth began to move. “I . . .”

“That’s
right, Joey. Talk . . . who works for Uncle.”

“Everybody
here . . .”

“You know
what I mean, Joe. Who’s doing his dirty work for him? Who’s on the take?”

“You
gotta promise to help me first.”

“I
promise . . .” Donna sighed,
 
“ . . . to
kill you if you don’t talk.”

“Kelly .
. .” he said finally.

“Who’s
Kelly?”

Devonshire
nodded weakly at Kelly’s body.

“Him?
He’s dead, Joe. Who else?”

“Afshin .
. . Berger and Hiller.”

“That
figures. Who on the ground? Who in Security, Joe?”

“All
three guards.”

“We
guessed that, right?” John offered to Rachel. She glared back at him in
silence.

“What’s
the scam, Joe?”

It seemed
to take a moment to sink in, then Devonshire smiled an unpleasant little smile.
“Scam?” he said.

“That’s
right. Scam. What’s Uncle Ed up to?”

“There’s
no scam. Smith owns the planet. It’s simple,” he said.

“What’s
simple? Smith’s the franchisee. I don’t get it.” Devonshire nodded weakly and
his head sunk down onto his chest. Donna lifted it up with a finger under his
chin and looked at him as if she knew he was faking it.

“Smith’s
just the franchisee, Joe. He doesn’t own the planet. He’s working on behalf of
Richthaus-Alvarez.”

“Not in
this case.”

“What do
you mean?”

“That’s
the simple part,” he said.

“You’re
not being very clear and I’m getting very angry.” Devonshire smiled his twisted
smile. “Are you sure you want to hear all this?” he asked.

“Talk.”

“There’s
a group in the CG that has plans for this planet,” he said smugly.

“What
kind of plans?”

“Big
ones.”

She waved
the huge pistol in his face. “If you don’t clarify yourself, I’m gonna take
your head off with this.” She tapped his head rudely with the pistol’s heavy
muzzle.

Devonshire
winced then swallowed. “There’s growing panic back home—panic at every level.
They say another collapse is on the way. It’s coming from the Commonwealth
Government.”

“So?”

“So the
atmosphere back home has been fertile ground for the Sacred Bond.”

“Bondsmen?
What the hell do they have to do with anything?”

“Everything.
They’ve had members in and out of here since it opened scouting it, making
plans.”

“What
kind of plans?” she wanted to know.

“Wait a
minute,” John said. “The Sacred Bond of the Fervent Alliance is a religious
sect. Is that what you’re talking about?”

“Right,”
Donna said.

“They
want this planet” Joe went on. “They want to move their families here, settle
here—for good.”

“They
can’t do that,” Rachel said.

“Yes they
can,” Joe said.

“No they
can’t,” Rachel went on. “There are laws that prohibit that kind of thing.”

“Not
anymore.”

“What do
you mean?” Donna asked.

“Laws
change that’s all. Money works wonders.”

“They’ve
changed the laws?” Donna scoffed.

“Some.
Enough. Oh, they are coming,” Joe said.

“How
many?” John asked.

Devonshire
grinned.

“Ten
thousand a month. For years . . .” he grinned.

“What?”
Rachel said. “Are there that many?”

“More,”
he said proudly. “I said the conditions on Earth were . . . fruitful.”

“Are you
a member of the Sacred Bond, Joe? You are aren’t you?”

Joe
chuckled in a thin voice as tight as a violin string. “You’re pretty smart,
Nursey. Me,
Uncky.
We’re everywhere nowadays.”

“Smith,
too?” Rachel asked.

“Especially
Uncle Ed. He found religion about three Earth-loops ago. He takes it very
seriously. The Sacred Bond loves him—he’s a perfect front man, he’s making it
all happen. But he’s had to do a lot of what he does best.”

“What’s
that?”

“Scam . .
.” he said and chuckled. “He’s a natural. He’s so good at it, he doesn’t even
know he’s doing it. He’s scammed an entire planet. He’s had to keep the plan
out of sight of the CG atheists so he could set the stage and transport the
right housing and resources. It hasn’t been easy. The Department of Health has
been the biggest problem—as you know so well.”

“So
that’s why you were hired, you little bastard?” Rachel said. “To keep an eye on
me and . . .” she trailed off as it sank in.

“ . . .
and pave the way around those stubborn little laws surrounding bio-hazards and
such,” he said and smiled.

“Then all
this is just bullshit,” Donna said. “The surveys, the medical reports, all the
compliance with CGDH requirements—all of it—all crap?”

“All
crap,” he purred. “All a smoke screen. The idea was to do just enough to keep
from getting shut down. You know, ‘Confuse, Hide and Divert’—The 2nd Law of
Holy Power.”

“The
what?” Rachel asked, squinting.

“One of
their little axioms or some such shit,” Donna volunteered.

“Homilies,”
Devonshire corrected. “They’re called homilies.”

“You’re
trying to steal the planet,” Donna said.