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Chapter 16

The bag lady shut the door behind her as transparent pink bubbles chased by blue cubes swirled around her. Nikki and I put oxygen our masks on as our opponent squinted at the visual clutter produced by the 3V machine. The safety on her shotgun clicked audibly in the quiet apartment; she proceeded to fire twenty quick shots all around her.

Swearing under my breath, I grabbed Nikki and we ducked down behind the counter in the kitchen. I wondered for a moment if the cabinet would absorb the impact of the shot.

The heavy thump answered my question. I was thankful we'd hidden in the kitchen rather than trying to remain concealed in the living room among the shifting 3V patterns.

After seventeen I'd lost track of how many shots the bag lady fired. Over the ringing in my ears I heard the empty magazine of her shotgun pop out of her weapon and knew that it was now-or-never time.

I picked up one of the bottles from the suitcase Nikki had opened. Walking like a duck along the kitchen floor to the doorway so I would remain--I hoped--unseen, I tossed the bottle into the living room.

The plan was that the bottle would break. It didn't.

Instead the heavy glass bounced on the thick carpeting and the bag lady got a good idea of exactly where we were. She slapped a fresh magazine into the shotgun.

"Take the lid off the bottles first," Nikki whispered and threw her bottle around the corner.

I followed her example and we both quickly chugged another pair of the glass bottles around the corner as shotgun blasts riddled the door frame. Some of the liquid spilled into the kitchen as we threw the bottles. The fumes were nearly overpowering even with our oxygen masks on. I held our breath, hoping Nikki would do the same.

There were three more blasts, then things became silent in the next room. Nikki started to get up. "Wait," I whispered. "She may be playing possum."

I opened four more bottles and threw them around the corner into the living room just to be safe.

Still quiet in the living room.

Had our plan worked? I wondered.

We waited a few more minutes.

All remained quiet.

And my bowels made me feel like the bathroom was more of a concern than the living room. Fear does not bring out the hero in my body, I decided, as I got up the nerve to peek into the living room through the peep hole.

The bag lady was crumpled on the carpet, looking like a pile of rags. Above her danced a group of red cubes that were slowly descending, looking as if they'd crush her.

"The old bat probably never quite realized what had happened." I told Nikki as well as Jake over the throat mike. "Looks like our plan worked and she just kept breathing until she passed out from the fumes. I hope. I'll check her out. Cross your fingers and come on up, Jake."

With my Beretta trained on her, I carefully walked up to her prone form (which wasn't easy with red and purple squares dancing through the room). I kicked the shotgun away from her then reached down and removed the flesh-colored ballistic mask from her face which surprised me since the woman was perhaps twenty-five and not unattractive.. Her eyes were closed and a soft snore greeted my ears.

Nikki turned off the 3V then brought out the plastic wrap machine and I covered the bag lady's body in a sheet of plastic so that only her head remained free. Once we were sure she wasn't going anywhere, we opened up the vents in the room to let air into it. After things had aired out, we removed our masks and let Jake in.

We tried to plan on what to do next. We knew that the assassin wouldn't be an easy person to break.

Fortunately, she helped us out.

"Look at this," Nikki said after she had dumped the contents of the bag lady's handbag onto the carpet. In addition to six magazines of spare ammunition, a small talkie, and two hand grenades, there was also a small medical kit of some type. Nikki carefully opened it. It contained a number of vials and a auto hypodermic gun.

"What do you suppose that's for?" I asked.

Jake laughed. " I think I know. Let me take a look." Nikki handed the pouch to him and he removed one of the vials and examined it. "Yep. I'm sure these are vials of truth serum."

"What?" Nikki and I said in unison.

"Yeah, they used to test us out with that stuff before they'd let us go into space. Tried to be sure we wouldn't steal them blind. Can't figure why she'd have that, though."

"Maybe this is the reason," I said holding up one of the rounds of spare ammunition she had in her bag. "These aren't ordinary loads she was shooting at us. Look at the marks on the walls. They hardly made a dent."

Jake pried one of the spent projectiles out of the wall. "Looks like a liquid-filled load. Poison?"

"I'll bet they're stun shells." I said.

"Maybe she was going to disable us and then..."Nikki started and stopped in mid-sentence.

"Then quiz us," I said. "That way she could find out if someone else knew about the rods."

Jake nodded. "Makes sense. There's one way to find out." He lifted the truth serum kit and his eyebrows.

"Can you get her to babble away?" I asked. "How will you know what dosage?"

"This stuff is pretty safe to use. The auto-hypo regulates the dose and you'd need a pretty high dose to hurt someone. Least that's what they used to tell us. Besides, she wasn't exactly out to give you a good time. Let's give her the drug before she has a chance to come to. That way she'll be less apt to resist if she's been programmed to resist truth serum."

"If you think you know what you're doing," I said, a bit dubious of the plan.

After giving her a shot and a few whiffs from an oxygen mask, she was ready to talk. Our questions were very straight-forward:

"Who do you work for?"

"I-don't-know."

"How did they communicate with you?"

"Over-my-talkie."

"After catching the people in the condo, how will you tell your boss you've succeeded?"

"Over-my-talkie."

"What will you tell him?"

"Mission-successful. Will-bring-in."

"Write that down, Nikki, the order of the words might be part of a code or something so they know it's really the bag lady. Do you know where some paper is here?" I said.

Nikki scrambled into the kitchen and returned with a pad, "Ask her again so we get it right."

We did and Nikki quickly wrote it down and continued to take notes as we questioned the bag lady.

"Bring them in to where?"

"Will-get-coordinates-with-call."

"Why did she have the truth serum if she was to just bring us in?" Nikki asked.

The bag lady answered the question before we could put it to her, "Was-to-question-all-of-them. Ask-about-others-connected-to-group-and-eliminate-all-but-one-who-knows-of-others."

We continued to question the bag lady until we'd gotten pass words, methods of doing things, and so forth. We tried to get everything from her that might be of help.

As we were finishing up with our questions, her eyes fluttered a bit and her face turned bright red. "She's coming around," Jake said. "We could safely give her another dose."

"I don't have any more questions," I said. "Do either of you?"

They both shook their heads no.

"Then why don't we--"

"What's she doing?" Nikki asked.

Good question. The woman moved her mouth and made a horrible face. Too late I realized what was happening. " I bet she just poisoned herself," I said. I tried to pull her mouth open but she held it locked shut and made an evil looking face at me until I quit trying. Moments later as we helplessly watched, the woman gave a shudder, exhaled a long breath, and was dead.

Her jaw relaxed and I pulled it open and I saw the hollow tooth that was loose on her tongue. An old but effective trick. I felt for the pulse on her neck.

Dead.

It was then that we realized just how ruthless the people were that we were up against.

It was time for the next step of our plan. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I thought.

Back | Next
Contents
Framed

Back | Next
Contents

Chapter 16

The bag lady shut the door behind her as transparent pink bubbles chased by blue cubes swirled around her. Nikki and I put oxygen our masks on as our opponent squinted at the visual clutter produced by the 3V machine. The safety on her shotgun clicked audibly in the quiet apartment; she proceeded to fire twenty quick shots all around her.

Swearing under my breath, I grabbed Nikki and we ducked down behind the counter in the kitchen. I wondered for a moment if the cabinet would absorb the impact of the shot.

The heavy thump answered my question. I was thankful we'd hidden in the kitchen rather than trying to remain concealed in the living room among the shifting 3V patterns.

After seventeen I'd lost track of how many shots the bag lady fired. Over the ringing in my ears I heard the empty magazine of her shotgun pop out of her weapon and knew that it was now-or-never time.

I picked up one of the bottles from the suitcase Nikki had opened. Walking like a duck along the kitchen floor to the doorway so I would remain--I hoped--unseen, I tossed the bottle into the living room.

The plan was that the bottle would break. It didn't.

Instead the heavy glass bounced on the thick carpeting and the bag lady got a good idea of exactly where we were. She slapped a fresh magazine into the shotgun.

"Take the lid off the bottles first," Nikki whispered and threw her bottle around the corner.

I followed her example and we both quickly chugged another pair of the glass bottles around the corner as shotgun blasts riddled the door frame. Some of the liquid spilled into the kitchen as we threw the bottles. The fumes were nearly overpowering even with our oxygen masks on. I held our breath, hoping Nikki would do the same.

There were three more blasts, then things became silent in the next room. Nikki started to get up. "Wait," I whispered. "She may be playing possum."

I opened four more bottles and threw them around the corner into the living room just to be safe.

Still quiet in the living room.

Had our plan worked? I wondered.

We waited a few more minutes.

All remained quiet.

And my bowels made me feel like the bathroom was more of a concern than the living room. Fear does not bring out the hero in my body, I decided, as I got up the nerve to peek into the living room through the peep hole.

The bag lady was crumpled on the carpet, looking like a pile of rags. Above her danced a group of red cubes that were slowly descending, looking as if they'd crush her.

"The old bat probably never quite realized what had happened." I told Nikki as well as Jake over the throat mike. "Looks like our plan worked and she just kept breathing until she passed out from the fumes. I hope. I'll check her out. Cross your fingers and come on up, Jake."

With my Beretta trained on her, I carefully walked up to her prone form (which wasn't easy with red and purple squares dancing through the room). I kicked the shotgun away from her then reached down and removed the flesh-colored ballistic mask from her face which surprised me since the woman was perhaps twenty-five and not unattractive.. Her eyes were closed and a soft snore greeted my ears.

Nikki turned off the 3V then brought out the plastic wrap machine and I covered the bag lady's body in a sheet of plastic so that only her head remained free. Once we were sure she wasn't going anywhere, we opened up the vents in the room to let air into it. After things had aired out, we removed our masks and let Jake in.

We tried to plan on what to do next. We knew that the assassin wouldn't be an easy person to break.

Fortunately, she helped us out.

"Look at this," Nikki said after she had dumped the contents of the bag lady's handbag onto the carpet. In addition to six magazines of spare ammunition, a small talkie, and two hand grenades, there was also a small medical kit of some type. Nikki carefully opened it. It contained a number of vials and a auto hypodermic gun.

"What do you suppose that's for?" I asked.

Jake laughed. " I think I know. Let me take a look." Nikki handed the pouch to him and he removed one of the vials and examined it. "Yep. I'm sure these are vials of truth serum."

"What?" Nikki and I said in unison.

"Yeah, they used to test us out with that stuff before they'd let us go into space. Tried to be sure we wouldn't steal them blind. Can't figure why she'd have that, though."

"Maybe this is the reason," I said holding up one of the rounds of spare ammunition she had in her bag. "These aren't ordinary loads she was shooting at us. Look at the marks on the walls. They hardly made a dent."

Jake pried one of the spent projectiles out of the wall. "Looks like a liquid-filled load. Poison?"

"I'll bet they're stun shells." I said.

"Maybe she was going to disable us and then..."Nikki started and stopped in mid-sentence.

"Then quiz us," I said. "That way she could find out if someone else knew about the rods."

Jake nodded. "Makes sense. There's one way to find out." He lifted the truth serum kit and his eyebrows.

"Can you get her to babble away?" I asked. "How will you know what dosage?"

"This stuff is pretty safe to use. The auto-hypo regulates the dose and you'd need a pretty high dose to hurt someone. Least that's what they used to tell us. Besides, she wasn't exactly out to give you a good time. Let's give her the drug before she has a chance to come to. That way she'll be less apt to resist if she's been programmed to resist truth serum."

"If you think you know what you're doing," I said, a bit dubious of the plan.

After giving her a shot and a few whiffs from an oxygen mask, she was ready to talk. Our questions were very straight-forward:

"Who do you work for?"

"I-don't-know."

"How did they communicate with you?"

"Over-my-talkie."

"After catching the people in the condo, how will you tell your boss you've succeeded?"

"Over-my-talkie."

"What will you tell him?"

"Mission-successful. Will-bring-in."

"Write that down, Nikki, the order of the words might be part of a code or something so they know it's really the bag lady. Do you know where some paper is here?" I said.

Nikki scrambled into the kitchen and returned with a pad, "Ask her again so we get it right."

We did and Nikki quickly wrote it down and continued to take notes as we questioned the bag lady.

"Bring them in to where?"

"Will-get-coordinates-with-call."

"Why did she have the truth serum if she was to just bring us in?" Nikki asked.

The bag lady answered the question before we could put it to her, "Was-to-question-all-of-them. Ask-about-others-connected-to-group-and-eliminate-all-but-one-who-knows-of-others."

We continued to question the bag lady until we'd gotten pass words, methods of doing things, and so forth. We tried to get everything from her that might be of help.

As we were finishing up with our questions, her eyes fluttered a bit and her face turned bright red. "She's coming around," Jake said. "We could safely give her another dose."

"I don't have any more questions," I said. "Do either of you?"

They both shook their heads no.

"Then why don't we--"

"What's she doing?" Nikki asked.

Good question. The woman moved her mouth and made a horrible face. Too late I realized what was happening. " I bet she just poisoned herself," I said. I tried to pull her mouth open but she held it locked shut and made an evil looking face at me until I quit trying. Moments later as we helplessly watched, the woman gave a shudder, exhaled a long breath, and was dead.

Her jaw relaxed and I pulled it open and I saw the hollow tooth that was loose on her tongue. An old but effective trick. I felt for the pulse on her neck.

Dead.

It was then that we realized just how ruthless the people were that we were up against.

It was time for the next step of our plan. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I thought.

Back | Next
Contents
Framed