"Enough of this silliness," Urbus said in a high, piping voice. "As Brother Mungo indicated, McCade, we see little point in your continued existence. However in deference to Sister Lowe, we're inclined to release you if you'll promise to get off the Rock and disappear. As Captain Fagan, I believe you'll have adequate funds at your disposal and a good ship. That is the bargain you made with Keaton, is it not? We'll even throw in your brutish companion for good measure." Unseen hands opened a side door and shoved Van Doren into the room. His hands were bound. In spite of that, he moved toward Mungo, but stopped when he saw McCade.
"Well?" The frown of impatience almost disappeared into the gnome's already wrinkled face.
To his own surprise McCade found himself seriously considering the little humanoid's proposal. He had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Five million credits plus a good ship would make a very good start indeed.
Actually better than what Keaton had offered. Just as quickly he rejected the notion, wryly noting that Swanson-Pierce and Keaton had chosen their tool well. Whether it was the importance of stopping Bridger and the War World, the years of conditioning at the Academy, concern for Sara, or just his own stubborn personality, he didn't know. But somehow it seemed important to finish what he'd started.
Stalling for time, McCade said, "And Sara Bridger?"
Before either man could reply, the door burst open to admit Marvin Wong. His normally unlined features were creased with worry as he hurried over to Mungo and Urbus. Leaning over, he whispered urgently in their ears. Then at the sound of distant shots and confused shouting, he whirled and ran for the door. McCade turned to watch him go. He turned back to find himself staring straight into Mungo's glittering eyes. "Sorry, McCade. All bets are off. It seems we're taking a sudden trip, and you're excess baggage."
With that he produced a small blaster and aimed it at McCade. There were two loud reports as both Mungo and Urbus slumped sideways out of their chairs.
"Well, now the fecal matter's hit the fan for sure," Laurie said matter of factly as she withdrew the still smoking slug gun from under the table. She stood and leaned over to pluck the blaster from Mungo's nerveless fingers. Tossing it to McCade, she said, "We'd better haul our fannies outta here before somebody comes along and blows them off." Then she was out the door and running down the corridor.
McCade looked at Van Doren and shrugged. He didn't trust her, but there weren't a whole lot of options. Van Doren held out his bound hands. A second later the blaster had burned through the plastic restraints and some of the skin on the marine's wrists. He didn't seem to notice. Together they bolted after Laurie.
The fighting was getting closer. The loud ripping sound of automatic slug throwers and the sizzle of energy weapons were punctuated by shouted commands and screams of agony. McCade and Van Doren caught up with Laurie where another corridor intersected theirs. She peered cautiously around the corner for a moment before snapping off a couple of shots at an unseen adversary.
"Where are we going?" McCade shouted over the noise of the conflict.
"You came to find Bridger, didn't you?" she yelled in reply without looking back. Just then a man wearing a red arm band backed around the corner firing short bursts from an automatic slug thrower. Laurie pulled him down beside her and said something in his ear, to which he nodded in agreement.
Turning to McCade and Van Doren, Laurie said, "Get ready. When I go, stay right behind me. And for God's sake, don't blast anyone wearing a red band."
McCade and Van Doren nodded in agreement. A moment later the man with the auto slug thrower stepped out from the protection of the corner and opened up. Laurie jumped up and ran across the intersection with McCade and Van Doren right on her heels. As they ran McCade heard a cry from behind as the slug thrower fell suddenly silent. He was already turning when Laurie's hand reached back to jerk him forward. Without hesitation she led them down corridors, up stairs and through a maintenance tunnel before coming to a halt and motioning them to silence.
As she carefully peeked around a corner, Van Doren retrieved an energy weapon from a tangle of bodies almost blocking the hall. Three wore uniforms with the words "Planetary Police" woven into the dark fabric. Lying dead a few feet away was a young woman, a girl really, a red band around her head and a snarl of defiance twisting once pretty lips. An empty slug thrower lay inches from her fingertips.
McCade turned in response to Laurie's touch. "There's two of them, Sam. They're guarding Bridger's room. Chances are his daughter's in there too. I don't see any way to take them except head on."
McCade risked a quick peek. What he saw confirmed Laurie's report. "I'll take the one on the left, you get the one on the right, okay?"
"Okay . . . but be careful."
McCade nodded and checked Mungo's blaster, making sure the safety was off and the charge indicator showed full. Looking up to meet Laurie's eyes, he winked. She winked back. Wordlessly they tensed, and then jumped into the open, instinctively spreading out. Both landed in the combat stance the Academy had drilled into them, feet apart, weapons raised with both hands. Laurie's guard was looking the wrong way and died without seeing who shot him. McCade's man was not only looking the right way, he was damn fast. His first shot blew air into McCade's left ear. His second went into the ceiling, as half his chest disappeared, and he toppled over backward to skid a few feet on the slick floor. Seconds later they were across the hall and through the door of a small anteroom which had evidently been used by the guards. Plates of half-eaten food, ash trays full of cigarette butts, and cheap skin mags littered every surface.
"There could be more in there," Laurie said, indicating the door to Bridger's room.
"Right," McCade replied. "Amos . . . cover the hall . . .. Okay, let's open it very slowly." Raising the blaster, he aimed it at the center of the door.
Laurie picked up a plastic chair and used it to slowly push the door open. Without warning a hand suddenly grabbed the chair and jerked on it, pulling Laurie through the door and into the room. Denied a target McCade rushed through the door to find that Laurie's assailant had her down with a hypodermic needle touching her jugular vein.
"Freeze or I'll drain her dry!"
McCade laughed and lowered the blaster. "That won't be necessary, Sara. She's one of us—at least for the moment."
Sara stood and tossed the needle into a corner. She extended a hand to Laurie and helped pull her up. "You might knock next time," she said with a crooked smile.
"Laurie, meet Sara," McCade said, looking around. Against the far wall he saw a hospital bed, almost hidden by a jungle of tubes and wires.
"Charmed, I'm sure," Laurie said, rubbing her neck reflectively where the needle had pricked her skin.
"You two will have to get acquainted later," McCade said, striding over to the bed. "Right now we've got a few problems . . . like how to get Bridger out of here." Looking down, he hardly recognized the gaunt old man who lay there with eyes closed. His chest barely moved with each shallow breath. McCade waited for the rush of hatred and felt cheated somehow when it didn't come.
"He's dying of Millette's disease," Sara said, moving to McCade's side. "They brought me here hoping I could make him talk."
Millette's disease. A rare form of blood infection first contracted by Lt. Jim Millette a hundred years earlier during an unauthorized landing on a survey planet. Unaware that he was infected, the young scout spread it to a number of planets before the first symptoms showed up. Scientists throughout the human empire had been working on a cure ever since . . . without much luck. So each standard year a few people died. Soon, it seemed, Bridger would be one of them. It certainly explained why Bridger had grown increasingly irrational, McCade thought. One of the effects of Millette's disease was a gradual deterioration of brain tissue.
"He wasn't rational enough to tell them what they wanted to know," Sara said softly. "So they brain pumped him."
It took McCade a moment to absorb the implications of what she had said. Brain pumping was illegal even in the secret interrogation chambers deep beneath Naval Intelligence Headquarters on Terra. But where knowledge exists, there are always those who will exploit it for a price. And for the completely unscrupulous, the temptation was irresistible . . . the complete transference of another's memory and knowledge, a form of theft often more profitable than any other type of crime. However the process was not without risk. From what McCade had heard, the donor usually died from neural trauma and the recipient was quite often rendered insane. It takes an unusually strong individual to deal with the complete memories, loves, hates, likes, and dislikes of another person superimposed on their own. It was said the second set of memories eventually faded, but few recipients remained rational long enough to describe how it felt.
"They made me watch while they did it," Sara said hollowly. "He recognized me, Sam . . .. I know he did. He saw me and smiled. Then this man made them begin."
"Mungo?" Laurie interjected tersely from across the bed.
Sara nodded and McCade felt her shudder. He put an arm around her. "Mungo was the recipient?"
Again she nodded and tears ran down her cheeks.
No wonder they were willing to turn me loose, McCade thought. They weren't bluffing. They really did have all the information they needed. All safely tucked away in Mungo's head. His estimation of Mungo went up a bit. Having all of Bridger's thoughts and memories in your head wouldn't be any picnic.
His thoughts were interrupted by shouted commands and the answering sound of Van Doren's energy weapon. Outside, two security men were stupid enough to turn a corner without looking first. The rest of their squad didn't make the same mistake. Firing from every scrap of cover they could find, they turned the anteroom into an inferno.
Slamming the door behind him, Amos said, "Time to go, boss . . .. Seems they won't take no for an answer." He aimed his weapon at the opposite wall.
McCade felt the blaster being jerked from his hand and turned to see Sara bum a hole through her father's head. Laurie screamed, "No!"—but jumped forward too late.
"Even he deserved that much," Sara said, handing the blaster back to McCade.
"Damn, you little fool!" Laurie said. "Now we'll have to do it the hard way."
"Let's go!" The voice was Van Doren's. Laurie was gone in a flash. McCade turned and pulled Sara after him. Van Doren had already followed Laurie through the glowing hole he'd created in the hollow plastic wall. McCade and Sara were right behind. Laurie led them through a maze of corridors and rooms, sometimes using existing doors and sometimes calling on Van Doren to make new ones. Before long, McCade was completely lost. So when Van Doren burned his way through another wall and they emerged into a conference room, he didn't recognize it at first. Then he saw Mungo and Urbus still sprawled where they'd fallen.
"This should be the last place they'll look for a few minutes," Laurie said. "Here, let me borrow that for a moment." She indicated McCade's blaster.
McCade made eye contact with Van Doren, who nodded. Curious, McCade handed Laurie the blaster. She took it, adjusted the beam to fine, turned and neatly sliced Mungo's head off. McCade stood stunned as Laurie bent over to pick up the head by one ear with all the nonchalance of a grocer handling a choice melon. The beam had cauterized the severed neck.
"What the hell?" McCade asked in amazement.
"If we freeze this quickly enough," Laurie replied matter of factly, "it may still be possible to retrieve what we need to know."
"Why you bitch!" Sara shouted, shaking with rage. "If I hadn't shot my father through the head, you would have done the same thing to him!"
"And why not?" Laurie replied calmly.
"That's enough," McCade said. "We don't have time for this. But before we go any farther, I'd like to know who's who. Let's start with the guys in the uniforms. The ones that keep shooting at us. Who are they?"
Laurie shrugged. "They're planetary police. Supposedly they work for the Brotherhood, reporting to Mungo, who was Chief of Security. Over time Mungo corrupted many of them. The one who calls himself Wong is a good example. Anyway they were acting on Mungo's orders."
"Not the Brotherhood's?"
Laurie shook her head. "As far as I know, the full Council doesn't know about the War World. As you no doubt realize by now, I was placed in Naval Intelligence as a sleeper years ago. But when Bridger disappeared, and I figured out why, Mungo was the first to know. He took Urbus in as a partner, and they planned to use the War World for their own purposes."
"And the others?" McCade asked. "The ones with the red arm bands?"
"They're members of the Committee for Democratic Reform," she replied. "They want to overthrow the Brotherhood in favor of a democracy."
"And you're a member?"
Laurie nodded. "The founder actually. I thought it would be a good idea to have some troops of my own . . .. As you've seen, I was right."
The unvarnished cynicism of it appalled and surprised McCade. This woman seemed so different from the one he'd met in Swanson-Pierce's office.
"Then why are you helping us now?" Sara asked.
"Good question," McCade added, "but you'd better hurry the answer. It sounds like they're getting closer."
Laurie shrugged. "I didn't think Mungo planned to take me with him. So I killed him before he could kill me. Plus I figure if we give them what they want, the Empire will go easy on me. Who knows? Maybe Swanson-Pierce'll give me my old job back."
"You make me sick," Sara said.
McCade watched as the blaster in Laurie's hand began to come up in Sara's direction. But before it had traveled more than an inch Van Doren hit her with a massive, openhanded blow that sent her reeling sideways as the blaster flew one way and Mungo's head another. As he helped her up, Van Doren relieved her of the small slug gun. Having retrieved the blaster McCade aimed it casually in Laurie's direction.