Paradise Burns (15 page)
THIRTY-TWO
The moon had
risen and was bright and clear in the night sky, bathing the whole area in a
pale, white glow. I stepped out onto the gravel, my arms out to the sides like
a cross and my palms open.
‘Get your men to lower their weapons,’ I
said. ‘We can sort this without any more violence or bloodshed.’
I thought I’d try the diplomatic
approach first. It rarely works, but it buys me more time.
Ketranovich laughed.
‘You have some balls, Adrian Hell, I
give you that,’ he said.
He motioned for his troops to lower their
guns, which they all did. Apart from Natalia. She kept hers trained on me the
whole time. Our paths had crossed before, and she knew better, it would seem.
And she was right. If it came to it, I
could have both pistols drawn and the first bullets fired in less than two
seconds. You can be damn sure I’d take out Ketranovich and Salikov before I was
cut in half my machine gun fire. I’d count that as a victory as well. If you
cut off the head, most organizations like this will simply crumble.
But let’s try and remain optimistic and
hope it doesn’t come to that, yeah? I have no fear of dying, but I also have no
wish to do so any time soon.
Roman Ketranovich was an impressive man.
He was tall, with short graying hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a green vest
and camouflage pants. His arms were covered in tattoos, and were huge - his
muscles toned by years of combat and killing. He had a scar down his cheek. I
wondered if I’d have one similar now, thanks to Jimmy Manhattan and his
scalpel.
He was unarmed, though he had little
reason to be when he was surrounded by his own army. He looked at Natalia, then
spoke to her in Russian. I have no idea what he said, but it made her lower her
weapon.
‘I have heard a great deal about you,
Adrian Hell,’ he said. ‘It is an honor to meet such an accomplished soldier.’
Normally, this would be the point where
I’d wind him up, but under the circumstances even I recognize that would be a
stupid idea.
‘Thanks,’ I replied. ‘Can’t say I’ve
ever heard of you.’
He smiled.
‘That’s okay, Adrian Hell. Soon, the
whole world will have heard of me.’
‘Yeah, about that... I’m not sure I can
allow you guys to carry on with your crazy plan for world domination, or
whatever. Sorry.’
He laughed loudly. I frowned.
‘I’m sensing you’re not taking me seriously?’
I said.
‘We have partnership with your military.
Our “crazy” plan will happen regardless of what you do,’ he said.
‘Your liaison with them is dead and they
never finalized the deal to sell you this land. So your plan is dead in the
water.’
Ketranovich’s smile faded.
‘That was... unfortunate, but no matter.
We will begin mining here in a couple days regardless.’
Natalia took a step forward, raised her
gun at me and began shouting at me in Russian. She was spitting and,
presumably, cursing at me, and had a wild, dark look in her eyes.
I took a step back and lifted my arms a
bit higher, to emphasize I was unarmed. Ketranovich turned to the other guy
stood with them and nodded at Natalia. The guy let go of his rifle so it hung
by its strap and walked over to her.
He was a little shorter than
Ketranovich, but similar in build. He had buzz-cut blonde hair and blue eyes.
He shouted something at Natalia, and she turned to him - the anger still
present on her face. He placed his hands on her shoulders and began talking to
her in Russian.
I noticed the soldiers at the back were
looking at each other and shifting nervously back and forth, watching and
muttering between themselves. Ketranovich himself looked on, but with far less
concern than the rest.
The blonde guy was calming her down, but
it was so weird how she went from zero to psycho in the blink of an eye.
Natalia has issues, and she’s definitely not the type of person I’d trust with
an automatic weapon. But, hey - that’s just me.
‘Forgive me,’ said Ketranovich. ‘Little
Natalia sometimes gets wound too tight. Her brother relaxes her.’
‘Hey, I’m passing no judgment,’ I said. ‘I
kill people for a living.’
He laughed again.
‘You are funny man, Adrian Hell. I like
you. Would you consider joining our cause, maybe? We could use a soldier like
you.’
‘Thanks for the offer, Roman, my old
friend, but I’m not a terrorist. I’m not going to let you profit from this
land, and I’m not going to let you manufacture nuclear weapons. I
will
stop you.’
‘I’m afraid you are, how you say,
pissing in the wind, my friend. No-one can stop what is already in motion. It’s
a shame you won’t be around to see my plan come to fruition. It will be a whole
new world.’
He pointed at me, and everyone raised
their rifles once more and aimed at me.
I breathed out heavily and closed my
eyes tight. Content that whatever small plan I had hadn’t worked, I prepared
for a shower of bullets to rain into me.
Seconds passed, and still I lived. I
opened one eye and looked around.
I don’t know if I heard it first, or
they did, but the sound was unmistakable. There was a helicopter coming. More
than one as well. I looked up to the sky, and saw the faint lights in the
distance.
Ketranovich looked up as well, in time
to see all three black helicopters approach and hover above us, forming a
triangle over our little showdown. The noise was deafening, and everyone had to
shield their eyes against the dust that was being thrown around by the rotor
blades.
Inside the helicopters were soldiers,
all dressed in black and red, aiming guns at Dark Rain. Each helicopter also
had a mounted mini-gun on one side, which was manned and again, aimed at Dark
Rain.
The helicopter nearest to me dropped
lower, and a rope ladder came down and stopped next to me. I had no idea who they
were, but I didn’t need much convincing to think I was better off with them
than where I was. I stepped onto the ladder and hooked my left arm through the
rungs.
I shouted over to Ketranovich.
‘Hey, Colonel,’ I said. ‘You know what
they say about people who piss into the wind: they always get their own back!’
I flipped him my middle finger.
‘Be seeing you soon, you commie bastard!’
I yelled with a smile as the helicopter ascended and flew off in formation with
the other two. I carefully climbed up the ladder, making sure I didn’t look
down - I’m not too big on heights.
I wonder who my new friends are?
THIRTY-THREE
The chopper ride
was short and silent. After I’d climbed into the back, I was ushered into a
seat, flanked by two men with guns. Their uniforms were devoid of markings, so
I couldn’t identify them. I’m working on the assumption they were friendly,
otherwise I’d have been left to fend for myself against Dark Rain. Which wouldn’t
have ended well for me.
After what felt like only a few minutes,
the other two choppers peeled away and flew off in different directions. I
watched the one on my right fly off in the moonlight until it was out of sight.
We carried on straight for another
minute before setting down on the roof of a building. It was late, easily after
midnight. I couldn’t tell what building we’d landed on at first, but as we jumped
out of the chopper and entered the fire door, I realized we were in a hospital.
Keeping pace, I followed my rescuers as
they descended down three flights of stairs, with two men in front of me and
three behind. We came out on the fourth floor. The armed men moved into a
formation which meant I had a guy either side of me, two behind and one in
front. I was completely surrounded.
I could smell the disinfectant that you
only ever smell in a hospital - that sickeningly clean smell that reminds you
being ill. I hate that smell! It was also eerily quiet, the only sound being our
footfalls on the permanently-waxed tiled floor. Nobody had offered any
conversation, and I had complied with their non-verbal requests of when and
where to move.
We turned a corner and came to the front
desk, which had two nurses stationed there. They looked up curiously, but they
said nothing.
‘Wait here,’ said the guy in front. He
walked off, leaving me surrounded by the other four.
After a few minutes, the guy re-appeared
with another man I’d not seen before. He was dressed in a nice navy blue suit,
with his white shirt un-tucked and no tie. He had thick, dark hair parted to
the side and was clean shaven. I reckon he was in his early forties. He headed
straight for me, smiling. He extended his hand, which I made an exception and
shook.
‘Adrian,’ he said. ‘I’m glad you could
make it.’
‘Not as glad as I am,’ I replied. ‘If it
weren’t for your boys, I’d have been cut to shreds back there. I owe you my
life.’
‘Don’t mention it. I’m actually hoping
you can do us a favor? Look at it as paying us back for earlier.’
‘And who exactly are you?’
‘Forgive me. My name’s Robert Clark. As
of yesterday, I’m now Head of Finance and Development for GlobaTech Industries.’
I hadn’t expected that.
I quickly assessed my options. There
were five men with guns surrounding me, and I was in a hospital, probably on
CCTV. There were nurses nearby who were witnesses. I had my guns at my back,
but there was zero chance of success if I pulled them.
So, violence wasn’t the answer. What a
strange concept. I’ll have to settle for talking. For now.
‘GlobaTech? As in the same GlobaTech who
are funding Dark Rain and selling land to them so they can mine uranium to make
nuclear weapons?’
Clark smiled.
‘That’s the one, yes.’
‘You’ll have to forgive my hostility. It’s
just I’ve spent the last few days getting my ass kicked all over this city by pretty
much everyone I’ve come into contact with. I came here on business and I ended
up being shot at and tortured by seemingly everyone I meet.’
‘Yes, I’m well aware of what your
“business” is, Adrian,’ said Clark. ‘I appreciate you’ve certainly had a rough
couple of days. I’d like to thank you for disposing of Ted Jackson, by the way.
I’ve been promoted to his old job, which pays a lot more than my old position
did.’
‘You’re welcome, I guess?’ I said.
The nurses who were looking at us
suddenly found something to do elsewhere, and left hurriedly.
‘Listen, Adrian, you obviously have a
lot of questions. I completely respect everything you’ve done so far, and you
absolutely deserve some answers. But before we get to that, I want to show you
something.’
‘Well, you certainly seem nicer than Ted
was, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but that’s a little
forward, don’t you think? Maybe a drink first?’
Clark smiled.
‘I see you’re a fan of using humor as a defense
mechanism. It’s nice to see that the money we spent compiling a psychological
profile of you was well spent.’
‘You spent money on what?
‘I like to know everything I can about
the people I do business with. I’m sure you of all people can appreciate that?
What with your history of paranoia and borderline O.C.D. when it comes to
research.’
‘Okay, stop talking like you know me –
it’s freaking me out.’
He smiled and held his hands up, as if
to convey his apology and explain he meant no harm, then turned and walked back
the way he’d come. When I didn’t follow, he looked over his shoulder at me.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘It’s fine. You can
trust me. If I wanted you dead, you already would be.’
While trusting him was a little
optimistic on his part, he had a point about me not being dead. I’d not even been
disarmed. So I followed him.
We walked down the corridor to the end and
turned right. Ahead were a set of double doors that were locked, with a keypad
on the wall for access. Clark produced a card from his pocket, swiped it then
entered a code. The doors swung open and we walked through.
This corridor wasn’t as brightly lit as
the others had been. It was a dead end, with three doors on either side. We
walked to the second one along on the left. He knocked and opened the door,
holding it as an invitation for me to go through.
I stood in the doorway and looked around
the room. It had no windows, but a nice air conditioning unit that was keeping
it nice and cool. There was a TV mounted on the wall to my right as I looked
in. There was a couch against the wall facing the door, and chairs just to the
left of where I was stood. Against the left wall was the bed.
I raised an eyebrow in surprise.
‘Hey,’ said Clara.