Fatal Blade (Decker's War#3) (29 page)

“And Kari?”  Verrill asked, knowing his next stop was one level down where her parents and brothers had set up housekeeping.

“Zack won’t leave without her, you can bank on that.”

“I wish I had your confidence, Hera.”  Verrill shook his head wearily.  “I really do.  But I’ve got to be realistic.  I’ll let the operations center know that they’re to send any further information directly here.  Maybe by some miracle we can figure out a way to get them back.”

***

Steiger watched helplessly while two militia troopers strapped a naked and unconscious Zack Decker into one of the interrogation chairs.  The antiseptic room in the basement of militia headquarters reminded her of an operating theater designed by a madwoman, and she fought to repress a shiver of fear.

“He’ll be out for a little while yet,” Kozlev said in a conversational tone, pointing at Decker’s recumbent form on the other side of the one-way window, “and with any luck, he’ll have a killer headache when he does.  It’ll help with disorientation, as you know from past experience.”

“Sure.”  Steiger nodded, but before she could elaborate, the same troopers brought in a sedated woman, young with long auburn hair and an elfin face.  They strapped her in a matching chair across from Zack.

“The girl should wake up any moment now.  We’ll leave her to stare at him until he comes around.”  A small giggle escaped Kozlev’s thin lips.  “Imagine how she’ll react.”

After a short pause, she turned away and motioned Steiger to follow her.

“We have plenty of time for a meal and a glass of wine, and we’ll need to discuss technique.  I’d like you to help me, but for that, we’ll need a game plan so there are no slip-ups.  The big boy in there is going to require a lot more than just a bit of a scare.  The girl, perhaps not so much, but why waste the chance for a bit of practice.”

***

A regiment of heavy artillery seemed to have taken up residence in Zack’s skull and was practicing mass bombardment techniques when finally came to.

Nausea washed over him, and he retched dryly, coughing until his throat felt beset by a thousand fires.  He dared not open his eyes yet.  The glow coming through his closed lids was enough to send shards of glass through his optical nerves.

Zack’s reaction to needlers had always been bad, much worse than most people’s, but the tranquilizer the militia had used turned it into an ordeal that rivaled being impaled on a hot spit.

As he tried to reconstruct the last moments before he passed out, a growing sense of horror supplanted the pain.

Kari
.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the hospice might be one of her bolt holes.  There was sweet bugger-all else around to attract his attention.

Which meant…

He forced his eyes open, only to snap them shut again when sheer agony burned through his retinas.  Someone was panting like a dog that had been run over, and it took Decker a few moments to realize it was himself.

Unable to use his eyes, tied down hand and foot, he took a deep breath through his nose and tried to analyze the scents.  Where he might have expected the bloody aroma of an abattoir, he only got a whiff of something vaguely medical.

That he’d landed in a militia interrogation room was not in doubt.  Zack tried to relax and let his body flush out the last of the tranquilizer.  He forced his breathing into a slow and steady rhythm, and that was when he realized he was not alone.  Another person was breathing nearby.

This time, his lids remained open while his eyes attempted to focus on their surroundings.  The chemically induced nausea was washed away the moment he caught sight of the girl strapped to a seat across from him.  A sick feeling of failure filled him instead.

She was gagged, her eyes overflowing with the kind of unreasoning fear that reminded him of a trapped, badly injured animal he’d been forced to kill many years ago.

A door opened to his right, and the sound of two pairs of heels on a hard floor echoed across the white-walled room.

He couldn’t turn his head, and so he waited until the first of the new arrivals came to stand in front of him.  She wore a militia uniform with captain’s stars and had a predatory expression on her face that seemed so natural she could only have been born with it.  Her dark eyes seemed eerily familiar, and he felt a shiver of horror run down his spine when we made the connection.

A second woman, also in militia uniform joined her and this time, Decker struggled to contain his reaction.

“I trust you’re feeling suitably miserable, Ser Skeen, or is it Whate today?” The captain held up his sheathed dagger.  “Or is it something even more deliciously military?”

Then she laughed as if she’d just heard the funniest joke ever told and Decker felt his weakened bowels turn to water.

THIRTY

“But where are my manners?  I’m Captain Rika Kozlev, the militia’s intelligence officer, on loan from the Celeste National Guard.”  She inclined her head briefly.  “And this is Staff Sergeant Miko Steiger, though I believe you two already know each other.”

When Zack didn’t respond, Kozlev seemed disappointed.

“I believe mere politeness requires that you introduce yourself in return, don’t you?  We know you’re not Skeen, the name Sergeant Steiger knew you under, and I don’t think the William Whate identification is genuine, but my compliments to whoever forged it.”

“And this?”  Kozlev held up the dagger again.  “I believe it’s issued only to Marine Corps pathfinders.  Did you earn it honestly or did you buy it in some tawdry surplus store on Cimmeria?  It certainly looks genuine.”

Decker raised a scornful eyebrow but otherwise kept his mouth shut.

“I guess you’re the silent type who prefers actions over words –
facta non verba
, which I believe is the motto of the Fleet’s Special Operations Command.  That’s okay.  We’ll get to know each other quite intimately over the next few days; that is to say, I’ll get to know every little thing about you.”

“I doubt that,” Zack said.

“It speaks!”  A beatific smile creased Kozlev’s pinched face.  “Are you bragging or…”

She snapped her fingers and then pointed at him.

“You’ve been conditioned, haven’t you?  What fun.  I haven’t broken a conditioned prisoner yet, but you may well become the first.”

She walked around Zack’s chair to examine his naked body from all angles, leaving a hint of expensive perfume in her wake.

“I’m curious who you really are, big boy.”

She ran slender fingers down his jaw line, triggering a surprisingly strong surge of revulsion in him.

“Your lovely muscles are almost a piece of abstract art, with all those old scars, the marks of a seasoned warrior.  You claim to have been conditioned against interrogation, you carry an authentic pathfinder knife and, oh yes, I almost forgot, an equally authentic Shrehari Imperial Armaments blaster, re-chambered for standard issue Fleet ammunition and power packs.  I get the feeling I should be hearing name, rank and serial number.”

She reappeared in his line of sight, and he gave her a sardonic smile.

“Hmm.  Gone mute again, have you?”  She pulled the dagger from its sheath and admired the tip of the blade.  “I wonder how sharp this is.  Shall we try?”

When Decker didn’t react, she chuckled.

“Not on you, of course.  There would be no sport in it.  But the young Sera Takan on the other hand…”

Kozlev stepped over to Kari’s side and examined her smooth face.

“It would be a shame to mar her at such a tender age.  Perhaps restorative surgery might help if, of course, I get the answers I want from those rosy lips.  Otherwise, life might be too short to worry about looks.”

The terror in Kari Takan’s face turned to shock, and she fainted.

“Not much of a challenge there,” Kozlev mused, shoving the dagger back in its sheath.  “I prefer to draw blood from prisoners who are awake to enjoy the experience.”

“Now, how shall I start peeling away the layers of your conditioning, I wonder?  Obviously, sitting there in your birthday suit isn’t embarrassing you in any way.  Bravo.  I like a man who’s comfortable in his own skin.  Your kind is unfortunately all too rare.”

She reached down to stroke the insides of his thighs, all the time watching Decker’s eyes.

“Perhaps I should take you to my bed and see if I can loosen your tongue that way.”  A throaty chuckle punctuated her words.  “I like loose tongues, you know.”

Her hand ran up his stomach and over his chest.

“I bet you’re trying really hard not to have a reaction right now.”  She glanced down.  “And so far, it’s working.”

“No.  You’ve probably had your share of dangerous lovers,” she continued, “so I can’t offer you any new sensations.  Perhaps I should start off by gelding you?”

“Wouldn’t help,” Decker said, hiding his alarm at her matter of fact tone.  “Being conditioned means even if I wanted to tell you something, I couldn’t, no matter what you do.  Push me far enough and I’ll only die.  It’s not that I want to, but my conditioning will decide when my time’s up.”

“It can speak in complete sentences.  I’m so pleased.”  Kozlev stepped back and considered him intently, her head tilted to one side like that of a curious bird.  “I’m a firm believer that what humanity has wrought, a human can undo, conditioning included.”

A soft moan escaped Kari Takan’s gagged mouth as her eyes fluttered open.  Kozlev glanced over her shoulder at the girl.

“Tell me, tall, dark and handsome, if I try some of my more exotic techniques on this lovely, virginal lass and let you watch, would that help loosen your tongue?”

“Like I said,” Decker tried to sound bored by the conversation, “even if I wanted to talk, I couldn’t, so torturing her in front of me won’t help.”

It was perhaps not quite the truth, but it would have to do for now, provided Kozlev believed him.

“Yet it might entertain me, and I know she’ll spill everything she can about the rebellion, but,” Kozlev sighed, “a mind probe is more efficient.  There’s no chance she’ll make up stories to please me and end the pain.  It’s just not as much fun.  I’ve never been thrilled by mind rape.  Of course, I’m sure a probe would kill you instantly, so I won’t even try.  It would be a shame to lose you too soon.”

She turned to Kari and removed her gag.

“Do you know who this gentleman is?”  She asked pointing towards Zack with her thumb.

The girl shook her head violently, and Kozlev reached out to caress a tear-streaked cheek.

“There, there.  Relax child.  I didn’t expect you to know him, which makes me wonder how he’d have proved to you that he came on behalf of your parents to save you from the evil militia.  Care to comment, big boy?”

“Considering that it’s a moot point,” he paused as if thinking about it, “the answer is no.”

“I do believe it has something like a sense of humor.  Good.”  Kozlev stroked Kari’s face again.  “Tell me, child do you know what a mind probe does?”

Violent head shake again.

“Do you?”  She asked Decker.  His eyes must have betrayed some sort of reaction because the predatory smile returned.

“Of course you do and through first-hand experience I’ll wager, before you were conditioned.  Would you like to describe the way it felt?  The violation of everything personal, every memory; the rape of the soul?  No?”

“You see,” she continued looking at Kari again, “it’s been described as the most horrible thing that could happen to you short of violent death.  Of course, a fair percentage of those subjected to a probe end up as animated corpses, their minds irredeemably destroyed.  Your father’s friend Mathias – you remember him, right?  He didn’t make it.  I slit his throat to end a hopelessly vegetative existence.  But he gave me your father’s name, and if it hadn’t been for tall, dark and handsome over there, Papa Takan would be in this chair instead of you so you can thank both of them for your fate.”

Kozlev turned to Steiger.

“Have the guards take Takan to her cell.  I feel like giving her the night to decide whether she’d rather have a friendly conversation with me or get the experience of a lifetime with my probe.”

“Yes, sir.”

“As for you, my warrior friend, I’ll have to think some more.  I wasn’t expecting a freelancer to be conditioned, and that means I need to plan how I’ll tackle your case.  Since you don’t need a quiet period to think things over…” she tapped her fingers on her chin for a few moments, “I’ll just leave you here with an all-night sound and light show.  Who knows, perhaps disorientation will blur the line between what your conditioning will let you say and what it won’t.  If you need to relieve yourself, go right ahead.  The guards will hose this room out first thing in the morning, and if they’re feeling charitable, they might even allow you a few sips of water and a bite of whatever rotting food the kitchen is about to throw out.  Have a pleasant night.  I know I will.”

“You’re a real queen among women, Kozlev.”  Decker blew her a kiss.  This time, her laughter sounded both delighted and genuine.

***

“Conditioned?”  Harend stared into his glass, swirling the amber liquid around.  “Rare for a civilian, no?”

“He’s likely ex-Commonwealth military,” Kozlev replied.  “Sometimes, it’s impossible to remove conditioning at the time of retirement or discharge.”

“And the weapons, especially the blade?”  He reached over and picked up the sheathed dagger she’d dropped on his living room table.

“A souvenir from a happier time in his life?”  Kozlev poured herself a glass of the Glen Arcturus and took a sip, smiling with pleasure at the smoky taste.  “An active member of the Services playing spy wouldn’t go around carrying something that obvious.”

“Perhaps.”  He put the dagger down again.  “But if he is from the Fleet or the Constabulary, then we have a very big problem.”

“Not if he can’t report back.”

“Shoot, shovel and shut up, you mean?  The governor wouldn’t be pleased.”

“Bugger Cedeno.”  She shrugged.  “He doesn’t have the backbone for a proper counter-insurgency campaign.”

“But he does have enough connections on the home world to make sure he can credibly claim his innocence when it comes to happenings on Garonne that cross the line.”

“Would you like me to drum us up some insurance?”

“Unless it involves Cedeno being accused of something so unspeakably vile that even his closest friends wash their hands of him, it won’t do much good.  The man may not be the most charismatic politician in the galaxy, but he’s got a good instinct for survival.”

“Pity.”

“Let’s leave Cedeno to the side for now and get back to the man you have in your dungeon.  What do you intend to do?  From all I’ve read, conditioning, especially if it was done by the Fleet, is damn near impossible to break.  You’ll have a corpse on your hands before you even get his real name.”

“And if I do, he’ll join Mathias in an unmarked grave, though it would be a pity.  He’s quite a specimen.”

“Hormones acting up again?”  Harend cocked a sardonic eyebrow at her.  “Try to restrain your baser impulses when it comes to the prisoners.”

“No fear, darling.  I don’t think I’m his type.”

***

After the first hour of loud, often discordant music, including snippets of Shrehari opera, matched to flashing, multi-color lights, Decker finally managed to drop into a meditative trance that all but shut his awareness off from its surroundings.  Though he hadn’t been given much training in the spy business after he’d been forcibly recruited by Hera Talyn, one of the few useful items they did teach him was this little mind trick.

He wouldn’t actually sleep through the night, but the guards would nonetheless find him relatively well-rested and completely sane come morning, not that he’d let them know; quite the contrary, in fact.  It would better serve his purpose if Kozlev thought she was weakening him.  There had never been any question in his mind that he would try to escape and take Kari Takan with him, but he knew that he’d get one chance and one only.

At daybreak, the music abruptly stopped.  One of the guards entered the interrogation room and immediately swore.

“The bastard’s gone pissed and shat himself during the night.  Get the hose, Otto.  Her ladyship will want everything to be clean and smelling like roses when she shows up, and that could be any moment.  I don’t think she’s the kind that sleeps much.”

Moments later, a steady stream of cold water hit his bare skin.  The guards, standing well away by the door, played the hose over him, his chair and the floor, until he was numb and shivering like a leaf in a storm, now fully awake.

“That’ll do, I think,” the guard named Otto finally said, shutting off the water.  “I hope he had his mouth open because I’m not in the mood to fetch him a drink.”

“Should I turn the heat on?”  The other man asked.  “It’ll help dry the place faster.”

“Nah.  He’d enjoy that too much.  Her ladyship won’t mind a bit of damp in a good cause.  C’mon, time for some breakfast.”

Just before shutting the door, Otto called out, “Have a painful day, asshole.  Rennie and me lost a couple of buddies in Holback the other day to your stinking lot, so I hope her ladyship makes it long and hard.”

Mercifully, the guards had forgotten to turn the sound and light show on again, and Decker promptly fell asleep once the shivers stopped.

He had no idea how long he’d been snoozing when a stinging blow across the face, delivered by an expert hand, woke him up with a start.

“Who said you could take your ease like an honest citizen?”  Kozlev asked.

“Wh-what?”  His eyes darted around the room as if he was disoriented by exhaustion.

“Rise and shine, big boy.  Today we get better acquainted.”

She removed her uniform tunic, exposing a white t-shirt that perfectly outlined her thin, wiry arms and hard-ribbed torso.

“Not interested,” he mumbled.