The Enclave (The Verge) (24 page)

Katherine’s eyes snapped open and her hands reached for the pouches of her utility belt.  She kept her eyes on Barkley as she searched.  He was intently watching her hands. 
At least Barkley had stopped talking. 
As that thought flashed through Katherine’s mind, the tips of her fingers found what she was looking for.  They closed around it.  Keeping it hidden from Barkley’s sight as the hand came out of the med pouch.  The other hand quickly probed the back of her neck.

And there it was.  A small hard lump sitting just below the skin near her neck bones. 
Bastards

Keeping her fingers on the lump, Katherine bought her other hand up to her mouth and used her teeth to remove the cap from the long metal object.  She spat the cap onto the floor and then adjusted the object to sit properly in her right hand.  It was a scalpel.

“What-” Barkley’s eyes widened as he realized what Katherine was planning.

“I’m going to cut out your monitoring implant Barkley and there is nothing you can do to stop me.” 

Except kill me, and it defeats your purpose to do that.

Katherine raised the scalpel to the lump at the base of her neck.  Of course he could also call the guards in to stop her, but Barkley had shown himself to be too much of a control freak for that.  The man had shown her his need to dominate her himself, otherwise he could have had
Doctor Ross do the testing.  He wanted her submission himself.  Of course, she could be wrong.

She pressed the scalpel to the skin above the lump and felt it sink through
the skin and flesh until it hit something hard.  Hopefully it was not bone.

Blood trickled down her neck and into the dirty grey material of her T-shirt and as soon as Barkley saw it his fingers flew over his datapad and the barrier dissipated in a simmer of blue.  He snatched up his own pistol and rushed towards her.

“Stop that you stupid-”

Katherine dug the scalpel around the object,
definitely the implant
, and used the blade to scoop it out.  She did not have time to retrieve it from the blood as the doctor choose that moment to slam into her, throwing her against the wall.  Again.  But this time she had a knife in her hand and Barkley was standing inches away from her.

“Too late Barkley, it’s out,” Katherine panted into his face,
and then she felt the muzzle of his pistol push up slowly under her jaw.

“Why rebel against the inevitable 72?  Why cause yourself more pain?”

Barkley’s face was close, reminding Katherine strongly of the man she fought in the corridor, 93.  He wanted obedient warriors, with no self thought, no free will, and no sense of self-danger.  A drone.

Katherine’s right hand was hanging by her hip and it still held the scalpel.  The doctor had not thought of trapping it. 
More fool him
.

“My name is Katherine Kirk.  I am a Commander in the Republican Australian Navy.  And it is in my nature to rebel against shit eating maggot munchers like you.”

The scalpel was small, but its tip was ultra sharp and when she rammed it up hard into Barkley’s groin Katherine knew she had cut the artery.

Doctor Barkley dropped the pistol and staggered away from her, staring down in horror at the small section of scalpel poking out from his hip joint. 

Katherine was disappointed; the scalpel was stopping the flow of blood.  The man was going to bleed slowly to death instead of quickly and painlessly.

Cosmic Justice at work.

Katherine did not move as Barkley stumbled back to the other side of the room and re-activated the barrier.

“You shouldn’t have done that 72.”

“I will not be anyone’s slave.”

Barkley collapsed into a chair and frantically loaded vials into a hypodermic gun.  He pulled up his shirt and injected the full load into his stomach.  Barkley breathed a sigh as the drugs took effect; he then punched up a comm link.

“Doctor Ross, can I please have your assistance.  And can you arrange for our ‘special guests’ to join 72.”

“Yes Doctor Barkley.”

To Katherine, Barkley did not look worried about his impending death.  Then the answer why came to her.

“Ross is a surgeon.”

Barkley nodded.  “That she is 72.  A very good surgeon.”

I should have jerked the blade more.

“Don’t be so upset 72.  It’s a mistake none of us will make again.”  As he spoke, the wall behind him opened and Doctor Ross came in wheeling a trolley full of equipment.

The door next to Katherine suddenly opened and two bodies were pushed into the room, landing roughly on the floor.  Katherine groaned as she recognized them.  The door shut quickly after them.

How the hell did they get here?

“Katherine!”

She looked down onto the face of Joshua Val Myra and beside him laid his brother, Daniel.

Katherine let out another groan and let herself slide slowly down the wall onto the floor.  This just could not be happening.
Why didn’t Steve stop them coming in?  If they were here, where was the rest of Alpha Squad?

Joshua scrambled to his feet.  Daniel stayed on the floor in the same position as he fell, cradling his head in his hands.

“Kath, are you okay?”  Joshua started towards her but stopped dead in his tracks as she looked up at him.

“You came after me didn’t you.”  Katherine said it as an accusation.  Joshua opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Daniel.

“I came after you.  Josh just followed me.”  He did not turn his head as he spoke so his words were muffled against the floor.

“Who are they?”  Joshua’s attention was drawn to the two figures on the other side of the barrier.  Katherine followed his gaze.  Ross was holding the Nanomite hypo gun ready in her hand, the remote scanner already in position over Barkley’s wound.  Katherine jerked her gaze away.  The use of Nanites meant that Barkley would be walking around pain free in no time.  She should have pulled the scalpel out and let the blood flow.

’56, you shouldn’t have come after me.  I ordered you not to.’

‘I’m not under your command 72.’

‘You still shouldn’t have followed me.  What did you both expect to do?’

‘I don’t know.  But it felt better than running away and leaving you.’

Katherine shook her head in frustration.  They were both back where they started.

‘Were you close enough to ‘hear’ Barkley speak to me of his plans?’

‘Yes.’

“Who are they?”  Joshua’s repeated question intruded into the Ontolic conversation.  Katherine looked at Joshua.

“They are the Doctor’s Barkley and Ross.  Barkley is in charge of this Guinea Pig factory and at the moment he is a little pissed that I tried to kill him.”

Joshua moved forward and Katherine put up a hand to stop him.

“There is a force barrier separating us.  You can’t get through.”

“We have to get out of here somehow.”  Joshua looked speculatively at the door but then turned and slumped against the wall next to Katherine.

“Remember that guards with big guns are on the other side of that door.”

“I remembered.”  He scrubbed at his face with the heel of one hand before letting it drop into his lap.  “What are we going to do now?”

Katherine found herself shaking her head again.  “I don’t know Josh.  At this moment I don’t know.  I just hope that the rest of the team doesn’t come back when they realize you’ve gone.”

“You know them better than I Kath.  We all thought you and Steve were setting charges.  The only one that might disobey your orders is Shepherd.”

“Tom.” Katherine tilted her head back against the wall and stared up at the white ceiling.  “God, I hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Joshua did not reply.  He had bigger things to worry about than a RAN officer.  Katherine’s thoughts drifted to Daniel and her hand moved across and clasped Joshua’s.  His hand gripped firmly around hers and she felt him relax.

If fate had wished her a normal path, Katherine might have had a ‘normal life’.  A normal life that could include Joshua; he was a good man, a man she could see herself enjoying the rest of her life with.

But fate had dealt her a different hand.  A dead husband, a dead son, a dead life.  What life she suffered herself to lead was devoted to a mother’s vengeance and claiming justice for those who were unable to get it themselves.

The brothers deserve a decent life of their own.  And she started to plan on a way out for both Joshua and Daniel.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

The nanomites did their job quickly.

In less than thirty minutes Ross had manipulated the microscopic robots into fully repairing the wound and was now packing up her equipment.  All the time Ross was working Katherine noted that Barkley’s eyes never left them.

They would not have been much to look at; herself and Josh slumped against the wall and Daniel cowering against the floor.

Katherine watched as Ross finally pushed her med trolley out of the room.  She should have killed the little witch when she had the chance in the corridor.  But if she had killed Ross then, she would not have been able to have her chance at Barkley.

It was a circular argument.  A good, old fashioned Catch 22.

’56, come and sit with me.  Stay near me.’

At first Daniel did not move.  Katherine could feel the fear locking his muscles, over the link as she spoke to him.

‘Come and sit with Josh and me.  We’re stronger as a group.’

Daniel began to stir as his muscles came back under the control of his logical brain and moved slowly to sit on Katherine’s left side.  Daniel sat still, his head hanging between his knees.

She felt her anger rise like bile in her throat when Barkley rose from his chair as if he had never been hurt.  His trouser leg gaped open where Ross had cut the material away to show bare, unbroken skin. 
Why did they have to have Nanomites? He would surely have died if -.
  Katherine interrupted herself.  Circular arguments got you nowhere.

“You see 72?  There is nothing that you can do to me that cannot be undone.”

“You won’t have a nano surgeon at your disposal all the time Barkley,” she spat.  Joshua stiffened beside her and Katherine tightened her grip on his hand, willing him not to do anything stupid.

“A true enough statement 72, which means that I will not let the same situation happen again.”

“Scared of me now?”  Katherine could not help the gloating that colored her tone.  She wanted this man to fear her.

“Scared of you?  No.  I just have a healthy respect for what you are capable of.”

Katherine could not believe what she was hearing.

I had nearly succeeded in killing the man and he is not scared of me?
 

She slowly released her grip on Joshua’s hand and pushed herself to her feet.  Joshua just silently watched her; there was nothing else he could do for the moment.  Daniel stayed huddled with his head between his knees.

“You don’t know what I am capable of.”  Katherine took a step towards the barrier and she got a sharp burst of satisfaction as Barkley’s hand automatically twitched towards the datapad sitting on the desk.  If not scared, the man was still wary of her.

“Bit twitchy for someone who is not scared of you Kath,” Joshua said.  Katherine smiled but did not look at him.  She kept her eyes on the man beyond their barrier. 

Barkley did not rise to their baiting.  Instead he asked a question.  “Are you wondering why I have added 56 and this man to our little gathering?”

Katherine frowned and stepped close to her side of the barrier.  Barkley mirrored her.  He stood close enough to her that she could break his nose with a swing of her elbow.  But the Barrier…

“You think that you can use them as leverage to get me to do what you want.”

Barkley shook his head.  “No 72.  I thought you were smarter than that.  Did you not listen to what I was telling you before?”

Behind her Daniel groaned and Katherine heard Joshua shuffle closer to him.
I have to think of something to get him out of here!

“I heard you.”

“But you still don’t believe me.”  Barkley then looked beyond Katherine.  “You know what I’m saying don’t you 56?”  Daniel’s groaning grew louder.  “Why don’t you tell her 56.  I know you overheard what was said earlier.”

“Don’t believe him.  He’s just talking out of his arse.”  Katherine still did not take her eyes from Barkley but she could hear Joshua trying to sooth his brother, trying to calm him down.  But Daniel’s groaning was only getting louder.

“I won’t do it.  I’ll fight it.  I’ll fight you.”

“It won’t be me you’ll be fighting 56.  I’m not your controller.”

Daniel groaned again.

“Don’t listen to him.”

“I know what’s coming.  Help me!”

The fear in Daniel’s voice caused Katherine to spin around.  He was clawing at his head like a dog scratching at fleas.  And he was clawing hard enough to draw blood.  Joshua caught Daniel’s wrist and was doing his best to stop his brother from injuring himself.