Freedom Incorporated - Peter Tylee (best biographies to read TXT) š
- Author: Peter Tylee
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Chuck tagged Danās weapons and noticed one missing. āWhereās your ray-gun?ā
He shrugged. āWhat does it matter?ā
āThe programās gonna ask, thatās all.ā Chuck jerked a thumb at his monitor. āIt doesnāt like unaccounted weapons, especially on frequent travellers. If youād been gone a month it wouldnāt care, but itās only been a couple of hours.ā
āSomebody stole it,ā Dan replied, remembering how the PortaNet guards had drooled over his pulse-emitter. He hoped theyād enjoyed it; theyād probably all lose their jobs when someone walked into Adrian Millerās office and found bloodstains and bullet holes, evidence of murder. Theyāll identify the blood belongs to Adrian and quickly start asking questions. But Dan had been meticulously careful to ensure there was no forensic evidence linking him to the killing. Heād left no fingerprints or DNA and the guards would only be able to give a rough description. But physical descriptions meant little. The police would seek the owner of the microchip, Tedman Kennedy. And they wonāt get far. He wondered whether anyone in the Guild would be human enough to deliver Adrianās body to his family for a proper funeral.
āAll right.ā Chuck sighed, looked furtively over his shoulder, and squared the records in the system. āAll taken care of.ā
āThanks Chuck.ā He took his remaining weapons and stowed them in their usual places. āGet some rest for me too, okay?ā
āYou mean youāre still not finished?ā Christopher asked, astonished. He wondered how much abuse Danās body could take; everyone had limits and Dan was no exception.
āNot yet.ā Danās eyes hardened. āThereās just one more thing I have to do.ā
āOkay.ā Then Chuck lowered his voice and added, āWhen you come back, use gate eight. Heās a rookie so he wonāt know your real name.ā
āRookie? Wonāt that mean heāll be paying more attention?ā Danās eyebrows fused over the bridge of his nose.
āYouād think so, but between you, me, and the rest of the guys here, heās not the sharpest tool in the shed.ā
Dan nodded. āGot it.ā His next stop was the portal station in the Parramatta business district, just one block from the police station. He found a public phone and dug Simonās number from his wallet, as usual refraining from paying extra for the video component. Only lovers used video. Who wanted to see their colleagues at eight oāclock on a Sunday morning? It was unlikely to be pretty. Overall, videophone was more trouble than it was worth.
āYeah?ā He sounded groggy. Few people used their names when answering the telephone. It invited too much trouble from unleashed telemarketers. That was the problem with having a personās every purchase itemised against his or her microchip: it was a statisticianās dream and a marketing departmentās orgasm, but it made profiling too easy and shat on civil liberties.
āSimon? Itās Dan.ā
āOh hi mate.ā He was obviously trying to clear his head. Heād only had four and a half hours sleep.
Guilt crowded Danās thoughts and he wished he didnāt need Simonās help, but knew heād fail without backup. āYou busy today?ā
āI told you to call me, didnāt I? Whatās happened? Where are you?ā
āIām in Parramatta,ā Dan replied cautiously, wondering whether even that was too much information to give over the telephone. āIāll tell you whatās happened when you get here.ā
āOkay, whereāll you be?ā
āIn the portal station,ā Dan replied. āOut the front.ā
āGive me 20 minutes.ā He hung up, presumably to take a shower and shovel breakfast into his mouth.
Food was also high on Danās agenda and he paid for a small bag of biscuits from a nearby stall. The biscuits were the only quasi-breakfast product that the vendor hadnāt deep-fried and Dan unenthusiastically crunched the time away until Simon turned up.
āHmmā¦ they look wholesome.ā Simon had chosen to wear jeans and a loose cotton shirt, less conspicuous than the suits he usually wore and more practical in combat. Heād also tied a warm grey training top around his waist in preparation for the frigid northern hemisphere if thatās where they were going.
āYou want some?ā Dan offered the bag.
āHell no.ā Simon held up his hands. āIām trying to trim down, remember? That stuff wouldnāt do me any favours.ā
Dan shrugged and tossed the remaining biscuits in the bin. āI killed Adrian Miller.ā Heād practiced that statement so often in his head that it came out with callous indifference rather than the gravity heād wanted. Heād been examining his feelings about it since pulling the trigger. It wasnāt the first time heād shot someone, but in the past itād always been in the heat of battle, never in cold blood. But this wasnāt cold blood; it wasā¦ warm blood. Thereād been plenty of provocation; billions of men wouldāve done the same under the circumstances. Heād expected to feel guilt, remorse, orā¦ something. But he didnāt. He didnāt feel relief or liberation either, nor did he feel as if heād served justice. Adrianās death had affected him no more than if heād squashed a bug under his boot. Dan had hoped for relief. Perhaps I need to kill the others first - Esteban Garcia Valdez and Frank Albert Hansen. Maybe then Iāll find relief. But then he remembered PortaNet. And if he somehow survived that, he still had to keep his promise to Hans. Peace, it seemed, was nowhere in sight.
āWhat happened?ā Simon asked in a low voice, urging Dan to walk. It was safer that way; there was less chance somebody could eavesdrop.
āI got the portal information,ā Dan said, trying to feel proud of something.
āOh, theā¦ uhā¦ MAC address was it?ā Simon had as much difficulty remembering the details as Dan.
āYeah, but Adrian called it a SAT.ā The emptiness in Danās stomach was slowly expanding to consume him. āThen I killed him.ā
Simon approached the subject as tactfully as curiosity would allow. āHe struggled?ā
āNo.ā Dan frowned. āThatās the bizarre part, he was being helpful.ā
āBut he killed Katherine,ā Simon prompted.
āYeah.ā The numbness was exacting an emotional toll. It left sadness in its wake and Dan knew it would affect his performance. āSo I couldnāt let him live.ā
Simon could see the damage it was causing Dan and shrank from the prospect of facing such a decision himself. āSo now what?ā
āWellā¦ā Dan swept his dishevelled thoughts aside. If he were alive later, heād sort through them then. āI expect thereāll be up to 20 men. Theyāre holding her in a place called the Guild, along with a number of other women.ā
Simon whistled softly. That many? āDamn.ā
āYeah, damn,ā Dan echoed. āAnd letās not forget the portal ride is dicey.ā He stopped, turned, and looked at Simon. āWhat are you going to do?ā
āWhat do you mean?ā he asked, suspicious that Dan was giving him the chance to pull out.
āSlime, you have a lot to live for. I donāt. Itās okay that Iām risking my life to save Jen - itās my fault sheās there in the first place. But you donāt have to. In fact, I donāt think you should.ā Then he mumbled, more to himself than anybody else, āItās bloody suicide.ā
āAre you trying to insult me?ā
āNo, Iām serious. Itās something you have to think about.ā
āWell I have, damn it. And I told you to call me, didnāt I?ā He waited for Dan to nod before saying, āSo stop this nonsense. Iām in. Okay? All the way.ā Simon remembered the times Dan had risked his life in order to save him. Back then, Dan had had plenty to live for, but it hadnāt stopped him from sticking his neck out - twice. Simon had been waiting five years to return the favour, and here was his chance. He certainly didnāt intend to shirk the opportunity to repay the debt.
āOkay.ā Dan gulped a deep breath. āThen weāre going back to Holland.ā
āHang on.ā Simon reeled him back with a hand on his shoulder. āAdrian had access to this place, right?ā
Oh fuckā¦ how am I going to explain this? Dan nodded, delaying the inevitable.
āThen you got his chip, right?ā It curdled Simonās blood to think about it, but the most sensible thing wouldāve been for Dan to rip Adrianās spine from his body.
āActually, no. I sent him through the portal.ā
āWhere to?ā
āTo the Guild.ā It sounded stupid now. Saving Adrianās chip wouldāve spared Simon the five percent risk of a collision when travelling through Hansās portal.
āWhat?ā Simon asked incredulously.
āWell, I was angry,ā Dan said hesitantly, trying to explain something he didnāt understand himself. āSo I stripped off his shirt and wrote āyouāre nextā on his chest before sending him through.ā
āHave I ever said youāre insane?ā
āA couple of times, yes.ā
āWell Iāll do it again - youāre fucking crazy Dan. Now they know weāre coming!ā
āNo, they know Iām coming. They think Iām alone. Besides, they knew I was coming already and now they can account for Adrianās chip. If they thought he was dead but couldnāt find it theyād be even more alert.ā
Simon snorted. āThat doesnāt change the fact that youāre nuts.ā
āGood,ā Dan said, marching for the portals. āBecause weāve gotta be nuts to do this.ā
*
Saturday, September 18, 2066
UniForce Headquarters
14:25 San Francisco, USAEsteban slapped a hand on his desk. Of course! He pounced on his keyboard. If Dan was in the building then I should be able toā¦ He accessed PortaNetās database, lamenting the fact that Adrianās back door would soon collapse. PortaNet would seal it as soon as they examined Adrianās computer and discovered what heād done. And that means thingsāll get harder. He sighed in frustration. Back to the old fashioned way. Tracking somebody was so much easier when you could see where he or she was zapping through the portals.
His search didnāt take long. There! Only one Tedman Kennedy had portaled into UniForce headquarters that day. Now I know which one you areā¦ youāre fucked. He reworked the grip on his pistol and fed the identity back through PortaNetās database, intent on turning the hunt around. He was tired of waiting for Sutherland to turn up, plucking off his team one by one. Esteban wanted to hunt too. According to PortaNet, he was in Sydney. Parramatta to be exact. But while Esteban watched, Tedman Kennedy portaled to the Sydney International terminal. Whereāre you going now, Sutherland?
He slouched into his chair, getting comfortable for the wait. He wasnāt going to budge until he was sure where Sutherland was heading. At least I have a clear advantage again. The tension slowly drained from his body and he relaxed for the first time since discovering Sutherland had switched identities.
The empire is global. There is nowhere to go to escape its corrosive barrenness.
John Zerzan
Saturday, September 18, 2066
23:42 Groningen, The NetherlandsDan knocked harder. āGod, weāre going to wake the neighbourhood.ā
āMaybe they found him? He could be deadā¦ā Simon preferred to suggest the worst. That way, things frequently turned out better than he expected.
āDonāt even joke,ā Dan said sternly. If that were true, heād lost his chance to free Jen forever. Heād been relying on Hansās portal. Maybe that was a mistake? Oh, bugger! I shouldāve taken Adrianās flaminā chip.
But Hanās put him out of his misery when he opened the door and said, āWhat do you do here this time of night?ā
āSorry,ā Simon mumbled.
āYeah, me too,ā Dan echoed. āItās morning in Australia and afternoon in America.ā It was just unfortunate for Hans that it couldnāt be daytime everywhere. Portals made things such as sleep inconvenient when someone was trying to co-ordinate affairs across several time zones. āWe have that code you needed.ā
Hans was wearing pyjamas
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