Metak Fatigue Part 24

The road surface was uneven and, when he reached DeKurzak's remains, slippery as well. As he negotiated the puddle of blood, he saw the b.l.o.o.d.y transmitter still in DeKurzak's lifeless fingers. Without breaking step, he picked it up and slid it into his coat pocket.

Then the sound of pursuit came from behind him. Cati's few seconds of confusion had enabled him to reach the base of the maintenance gantry unscathed. A flight of narrow, steeply-inclined steps led upward into shadow.

There was no way he could tell where they went, or how far, but he had no other option. On the flat, open surface of the road, Cati would rapidly overtake him.

He climbed as fast as his aching body would allow, taking three steps at a time. The killer's heavy footfalls made the whole gantry shake. Flakes of rust rained around him as he fled higher. The shrill, unintelligible shouts of Katlya floated after them.

He reached a junction. A walkway leading to the far side of the bridge stretched to his right. Another flight of steps beckoned higher to his left.

He continued upward, pa.s.sing girders, stanchions and cable housings - but nothing to suggest what the gantry had originally been for, years ago.

Maintenance, yes, but of what, [email protected] Could it possibly serve him to any advantage @ He reached another possible change of course. This o.isor;@ a walkway led out of sight behind a ma.s.sive girder. WC4- ducked along it and pressed his back against the MM metal. Cati's booming steps approached [email protected],,, and stopped at the top of the stairs. Roads could almost hear the puzzlement radiating from Cati's unseen figure. Which way? Up, or along the When Cati finally moved, it was toward his hiding place. Roads gritted his teeth and raised the metal bar in readiness to strike.

The killer stopped just before the girder, obviously wary of a trap. Roads waited impatiently, feeling sweat trickle down the back of his neck.

Movement from above broke the tableau. Something X fell onto the walkway by the stairwell, making it shake.

4 Cati grunted with surprise, and took a single heavy step back. A loud thud followed.

Roads risked a quick glimpse around the corner. The Mole was locked in a fierce embrace with the killer, stubbornly resisting Cati's attempts to break its back.

Protecting Roads ... He stole off along the walkway while Cati was distracted.

It led nowhere, ending in a cul-de-sac surrounded by thick, long-dead power cables. Looking around him, he saw the stairwell not far away. Only a few [email protected] gap separated him from safety. Swinging up into the cables, he began to climb across the gap. Far below, he could see the flas.h.i.+ng of torches as Barney and O'Dell ran along the western walkway to where Katiya and DeKurzak's body waited. They were still too far away to be of any real help.

He dropped down into the stairwell as gently as he could, but not gently enough. The battle below changed tempo the instant his boots touched metal.

Hurriedfootsteps from below suggested that the Mole had broken free and was leading Cati away.

No, not away, Roads realised as the stairwell began vibrating around him again. Leading Cati upward, directly for him.

Why? he wondered. The Mole had disposed of DeKurzak easily enough. What prevented it from doing the same to Cati?

There was only one possible theory, and he didn't like it.

He began to climb again, fighting a growing sense of futility. The diversion bad gained him valuable seconds, though, in which he could attempt a second ambush or simply find somewhere to hide.

He reached another junction. This time the walkway led in a straight line across the bridge. No chance of hiding there, although the complex tangle of supports and cables seemed even denser than before. He a.s.sumed he was nearing the top of the bridge. Above him, even through the closely-meshed metal web, Roads could see stars.

The stairs ended at that point and became a series of ladders. Roads climbed as fast as he could, ignoring twinges in his ribs and shoulders. His whole body ached, but he couldn't let the pain slow him down. Not far below him, Caei reached the ladders and also began to climb.

Roads risked a quick glance. Cati was alone. The Mole had disappeared again.

"Barney! Where are you?" "We've just found DeKurzak. Where the h.e.l.l are youe "There's a gantry further down that leads into the superstructure. If you took up, you might just be able to see me.

-What on earth - Cati's not far behind me "Oh, understood." Barney paused for a few seconds, to relay the information, then returned: "Is w with you?" "No. She's not down there?" "No. "Phil this is Martin." O'Dell's voice came clearly ii;i_ the cyberlink. "Barney's on her way to the gantry, iTR- I'm staying behind. I've brought the laptop with me 4 access PolNet again. From now on, I can tell her sTM happening without her disturbing you." "Thanks." Roads was grateful for that, at least. Not that the feed from his eyes currently made inspiring A viewing - ladders and more ladders, each leading further up into the scaffolding.

But not forever. Barely thirty seconds after O'Dell reopened the link, the ladders came to an end. Roads clambered upward onto a ten-metre-wide metal platform at the very summit of the bridge. He looked arou d, saw bird-droppings and nests, and the dim lights of the city to his right. The ragged remains of an old te t-like structure flapped from one [email protected] The wind was colder, whipping at his clothes like insubstantial hands trying to drag him from his perch. The maintenance platform had no guard-rails.

Curving down and to either side were the ma.s.sive, carbon-fibre suspension cables of the bridge, each wider than his thigh. He considered making his escape along one of them, but decided against it. Even with the killer's greater ma.s.s taken into account, Cati's agility far exceeded his own; he'd have to proceed at a near run just to keep ahead. His sense of balance wasn't up to the task.

It was time to make a stand. Taking a position at the head of the ladder, with the rusty bar gripped in bothhands, he waited for Cati to arrive. Height was his one advantage, and this his only chance.

Then a noise from behind him made him turn. Cati's ma.s.sive head appeared on the other side of the platform, followed by his arms and shoulders. Roads backed away from the ladder's summit, realising that he had been tricked. Cati had obviously antic.i.p.ated the ambush and taken the last few metres by another route. For someone who had proved his climbing ability on the roofs of Kennedy Polis, the detour wouldn't have been too difficult.

Yet ... Roads frowned, momentarily puzzled. The sound of someone climbing the second-to-last ladder came clearly from below. If that wasn't Cati, then it could only have been Katiya - or the Mole.

But as Cati swung himself up onto the platform, another Cati appeared at the top of the ladder.

Backing away from both of them, unsure which was the illusion, he cursed O'Dell and his d.a.m.ned machine.

When the second Cati had climbed completely out of the ladderwell, the first suddenly vanished, sending five small dimples scattering into the darkness.

Roads and the real Cati squared off and circled each other warily. Roads kept the iron bar poised between them, ready for the slightest move. Cati seemed content to wait for the moment, however, balanced between caution and the need to obey orders.

Caution ... or reluctance? Roads didn't want to hurt Cati, but could the reverse really be true?

When the attack came, it almost took Roads by surprise. Cati stepped back onto one leg and lashed out with his other foot to knock the bar aside. Roads ducked as the giant's right hand chopped at his neck. He drove his shoulder upward into Cati's stomach and heard a slight grunt.

Then Cati's elbow hammered down into his back, he rolled aside, riding the blow. A fist followed, glancingly with his shoulder and sent him too'

Both blows had been slower than he had perhaps indicative of Cati's unwillingness to re still the orders of his controller - but they we M. Another kick pushed Roads toward the edge of the grip on the shreds of iuvin, and he scrambled for Mt. Cati followed, reaching down to grab Roads' @outflung arm and tear it free.

Then an invisible force knocked the killer aside, giving Roads barely enough time to regain his footingCati staggered, enveloped by the Mole's whirling fieldeffects, confounded by something he could hardly get a grip on, let alone fight.

While he was busy, Roads scrambled hastily to his feet and ran for the ladder.

Before he could reach it, however, the Mole disengaged from Cati. Roads felt a tentacle of force wrap itself around his waist, tug him irresistibly back to meet Cati, then let go.

The biomodified killer's face displayed open confusion as they faced each other again, back where. they had started.

Roads circled to his left, to where the iron bar had fallen. Cati moved to cut him off, but too late. Roads s.n.a.t.c.hed the bar in one hand before Cati arrived, and swung it upward to strike the killer in the stomach. Knocked off balance, Cati staggered backward. Driving home the minor advantage, Roads delivered a double kick to the killer's stomach and knee.

Instead of falling as he was supposed to, Cati jackknifed down and forward, reaching out and across as he did so to sweep Roads off his feet. The metal barglanced off Cati's hairless skull as Roads fell, making the killer wince but doing little to ease his grip.

Caught in an ungainly tangle, they struck the platform together. With blood beginning to trickle down his face, Cati wrapped an arm around Roads' throat and squeezed.

The platform immediately below them, weakened by the weight pounding at it, abruptly gave way. The buckled metal plategroaned, tipped, then dropped with a loud crash into the superstructure of the bridge.

Roads experienced a moment of terrifying giddiness as both he and Cati scrambled for a hand-hold, the fight temporarily forgotten.

Cati grasped a stanchion with one hand as it went past, arresting his fall with a jerk. Roads' fingers slipped on bird-droppings and lost their grip. The iron bar dropped with a clatter into the blackness below. He too fell unchecked - until something wrapped itself around his hand and yanked him upward.

He rose rapidly through the air, was wrenched sideways, then landed awkwardly on an intact section of the platform. Winded, he clambered onto his hands and knees.

A swirl of energy darted away and disappeared into the background. "Martin,"

he gasped into the cyberlink. "Are you catching this?" .Yes," came back the voice of the RUSAMC captain. "I'm not sure I believe it, but -"

"It's trying to protect me, but at the same time protecting Cati because it wants him to kill me?" "That's what I thought might be happening. It can't kill you itself, so it has to use someone else. But it can't stand by and let you be killed, which is why it keeps saving you at the last moment. But it can't let you either - or Cati." O'Dell whistled. "The conflict @4 be incredible; it's a wonder the Al is still functionr !,at all."

a matter of time 'Yeah, wonderful. And it's only Msii;; Cati takes us both by surprise and gets past the rls guard. Then I'll be dead, and Cati won't last longer. Once he outlives his usefulness, the Mole V be able to return to the last orders you gave it, Me- were to dispose of him." Roads grunted as Cati's Ms sk appeared at the lip of the hole, dragging his ii11#11K body back into the night air. The bandage 17r, fallen off his injured arm, and blood flowed freely I again. "There has to be something we can do." "I'm sorry, Phil. I'm out of ideas."

Cati climbed slowly to his feet. Blood trickled in a hot, steady stream from his temple and down his chest. A ragged gash down his right thigh testified to the narrowness of his escape when the platform gave away. Skirting the wide hole between them, he came with arms outstretched while Roads, unarmed, kept well out of reach.INTERLUDE 1:20 a.m.

Warning pains trembled in the muscles of his left thigh and right arm, but he ignored them. More serious was the sensation of weakness spreading outward from his gut. The energy-expenditure of his body was enormous; he needed solid food and water soon, or his performance would begin to deteriorate. His breathing was already twice its normal rate, echoing his heartbeat - but oxygen alone wasn't enough.

The damage to his tissues could wait. There would be plenty of time to repair and recuperate once his orders were fulfilled.

His orders - Roads is a traitor - compelled him to attack, even though his mind screamed caution. The traitor had demonstrated evasive abilities he had never seen before: sometimes duplicating himself or vanis.h.i.+ng entirely. The traitor could deflect his blows as though made of a material stronger than steel, yet at other times injured more easily than he did. Inconsistencies like this were dangerous. He was being toyed with, used.

The traitor circled to his left, hunting for a weapon. Before it could complete the curve, he s.h.i.+fted position, cutt ng it o . The traitor feinted, and he responded with stabbing kick to the rib cage. Ordinarily, he would IA141A followed the move with a hail of blows, but he IWI rot on this occasion. Something held him back, that he had no cause to be considering when PiK orders were at stake. He focused his mind on the at hand - a threat to the security of the United States and struck again. This time, the blow missed completely, and he was appalled by his clumsiness. @S'What was happening to him? Why was he so slow, so uncoordinated?

he traitor took advantage of his disorientation and lashed out at his throat.

He knocked the fist aside, ducked under another blow. Reaching over his head, he grabbed the swinging arm and twisted the traitor off his feet. Something indefinable, only half-visible, swirled at the corner of his eye as the traitor crashed heavily to the platform but this time it made no threatening moves.

He was gratified to hear the distinct crack of snapping bone when the traitor landed. Regaining his footing, he skirted the hole in the platform to find a better position from which to attack. Not long now. The traitor was seriously wounded. One opportunity to press home the advantage was all he needed to finish him off, after which he could turn his attention to the rest of his orders.

The unidentifiable distortion threatened to take shape as he approached the traitor he had been ordered to kill. He ignored it. The fallen ... man, he forced himself to think, although it defied his programming ... tried to crawl away, scrambling crab-like for a safety that didn't exist. He followed it, every muscle in his body tensed for the final blow.

Behind him, the sound of feet climbing the ladder suddenly ceased. Suspecting that the traitor's allies hadfinally arrived from below, he raised his fists and prepared to leap.

But all he saw was a lone woman - the second traitor - struggling upright to face him, her mouth open and saying something he couldn't understand.

Sanctuary? Then the distortion moved, stretched out a limb to prod him forward. He stumbled toward the first traitor, his mind screaming rebellion but his orders - kill them botb - forcing the rest of him to obey.

The traitor had ceased trying to escape. He approached within an arm's-length and looked down at his intended victim. One blow would be enough - one kick downward too fast too dodge, and the traitor would be no more. It was almost too easy, at the end. And yet - Roads first and then the girt - so difficult.

He s.h.i.+fted his balance, ready to strike. Then the second traitor was between him and the first, beating at his chest, crying at him. He flinched, raised his hands to ward off the attack, but only succeeded in making her protests louder. The conflict in his mind made it difficult to think. The woman's voice cut deeply into him; he could hear her pain, her suffering, even though her words eluded him. He didn't want to hurt her, but the incessant echoes of his orders almost drowned her out completely. He winced, raised his hands to his ears, desperate for a respite, for release from his torment.

The traitor was on his feet again, beyond the woman. His orders howled at him to move before the traitor could escape - a tbreat to the security of the United States - and suddenly he couldn't hear the woman at all.

in his mind had given way under the OW43-illiN He finally knew what he had to do to relieve iri., tension. The pain peaked in resonance with the I M% final orders - kill them botb as he reached with both hands for the woman's throat.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

1:25 a.m.

Roads, hampered by his broken left arm, could do nothing to help Katiya.

Cati's hands wrenched, and the woman flinched as though struck. There was a tiny snap, almost inaudible over Katiya's gasp of fear, and Cati's hands fell away.

Then the killer shoved the woman aside. The object in his hands flashed at Roads, glinting in the starlight as it flew toward him. More by reflex than conscious intent, Roads clutched with his one good hand and s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of the air.

Trapped in his fingers was a necklace, from which hung Katiya's pendant. He could feel the edges of the solid, rectangular block of silver as he opened his hand and stared at it in confusion.

Cati moved silently away, his deep eyes watching him, begging im to do something. But what? Of what conceivable use was the pendant - the only present, Katiya had said, that Cati had ever given her? What he needed more than anything else was a weapon ...

Then he turned the necklace over. Engraved in the silver was an ident.i.ty code and three short words: I AM LUCIFER.

"Officer Roads!"

He looked up in time to see Cati draw back a MoRMT-1 fist, and ducked clumsily aside. He lost his on the platform and fell onto his broken arm.

11ri; darkness lit up as pain flashed through him. Hissing s clenched teeth, he forced himself to concentrate. @Ffflf, Cati's dog-tag clutched tight between his fingers, i- thrust his good hand deep into his pocket.

Cati loomed over him. One giant hand reached down for his face, blotting out the stars as it came.

For the first time in his life, the thought of blood MIN't make him hesitate as he brought DeKurzak's I portable transmitter to his lips. "I am Lucifer,"

he gasped. "Cati - listen to me! I am FLucifer! You don't have to kill us!"

The hand froze, but didn't withdraw. Uncertainty flashed across Cati's face.

Roads slithered aside. Katiya helped him regain his I' footing, glancing between him and her lover. "Phil!" O'Dell's voice burst into Roads' implants.

"Phil, your feed is breaking up. Can you hear me?" "Yes," he transmitted back.

"What's going on?" "We lost visual for a second, then audio as well, and now we've picked up another transmission on the CATI frequency _" "Yes, I know," Roads interrupted. As he stepped away from the killer, Cati's upper torso turned to follow him. The wide-s.p.a.ced eyes with their pinp.r.i.c.k pupils didn't once look away. "Just wait a second, Martin. I'm onto something here."

"But -" The line went dead with a crackle. "He's querying the order," said Keith Morrow, the artificial voice gliding smoothly into the silence. "He's what?" Roads asked. "I thought I put it clearly enough. Don't tell me I need a specialised language as well -?""No, but you have to phrase the order correctly. You must rea.s.sure him that 'Roads' is no longer a threat to the United States of America and that he can be allowed to live. You have to follow the protocol built into him."

Cati's depthless eyes watched Roads as he moved across the platform. The killer's fist had fallen to his side, but it remained at the ready. Roads raised the communicator to his lips again. "Cati, listen to me. Listen to me carefully," he said. "Your previous orders have been superseded: Phil Roads is no longer a threat, and neither is the woman with him. You are not required to kill them. Do you understand? They can live." He paused, then added: "Please indicate your understanding immediately."

Cati nodded, and straightened to a more relaxed posture.

Roads took a deep breath. At that moment, the Mole reappeared, ran across the platform and collided bodily with Cati, knocking him to the metal surface.

Katiya screamed and went to his aid, but the Mole dashed her aside.

The artificial image flexed and twisted as force-fields warped; fingers stretched, became talons like pointed daggers, impossibly sharp at the tip.

Cati rolled away as they stabbed down at him. One slashed his abdomen, but the others missed and buried themselves deep in the metal of the platform. The Mole twisted again, following Cati as he tried to escape. Its gait was no longer possible to mistake as human - like something out of a bad dream, impossibly silent and deadly - and far too quick for even Cati to avoid for long.

Then a voice shouted at both of them: "Freeze!" Roads, Katiya and Cati turned as one to face the voice coming from the ladderwell. Only the Mole ignored it.

While Cati was distracted, it stabbed forward with five rigid talons aimed directly for the killer's -MMM-17-1 throat. The gunshot blew it backward across the platform, wal, active field-effects at chest-height so it seemed f collapse inward upon itself.

Barney aimed again as its shape readjusted and came This time the bullet did not encounter anything and pa.s.sed through the illusion unimpeded. A third Barney fired, and kept firing until her clip was empty aiming at throat, hips and nipples ... She hit something with her last shot.

Sparks flew from a point somewhere within the s right chest, and the Mole froze in mid-step. With a fierce crackle, the image dissolved into static, then winked out completely. All that remained were the five silver b.a.l.l.s at its heart, hanging motionless in midA air and humming furiously with pent-up energies.