‘You do things I would never dream of,’ snapped Carter. ‘Do not try to make me out to be some fucked-up schizo freak. You are in my brain and you live your own life. You only say that you are me to try and stop me going fucking insane... but I will find you, Kade, one day I will find you and we will fight and I will kill you.’ Kade laughed, a cold chilling sound.
‘That would be... interesting.’
‘It’ll be fucking interesting when you’re eating worms.’ Kade laughed again.
‘I
will welcome the day, my friend. My saviour. My lifeblood. It is good to see you still carry such anger—it was that anger which earned you your title. The tide which scars your heart, Butcher.’
‘That was not me!’ Carter’s words were suddenly low, the tone unreadable, dangerous.
‘It was your hands that killed so many.’
‘That was you!’ hissed Carter.
‘How could you murder them all?’
sneered Kade, his voice mocking.
‘It was you, you fucking piece of shit, and you know it! Don’t condemn me with your fucking haunted past.’
‘I
am not haunted,’
said Kade calmly. He turned then, glancing over the dark desert at something in the distance that Carter could not see.
‘There is a bird called a plover that feeds on the meat caught between the teeth of a crocodile,’
said Kade softly. A smile danced across his lips.
‘The crocodile could kill the plover easily - with a snap of his jaws. But he chooses not to do so, because this bird performs a service for him and so he lets the bird live. And by performing the service, this plover helps the crocodile to protect his greatest assets - his teeth, which in turn keep him alive. So by keeping the bird alive, the crocodile extends his own life. They are symbiotic. They feed from one another; entwined, like lovers.’
‘And you think we are like that?’ laughed Carter coldly, eyes staring up from shadowed brows, all sense of humour gone to be replaced with a cold hard splinter through his heart.
‘Oh yes,’
said Kade, smiling.
‘But I want you to think carefully. Decide which you are. Are you the crocodile - or are you really the bird?’
‘Carter ...’ A shaking. The world tumbled, dissolved. Carter came awake to find Natasha’s hand on his arm. She was looking down into his face, worried. ‘We need to talk,’ she croaked, her face creased and screwed with pain.
‘OK, let’s talk,’ said Carter thickly, climbing to his feet.
He stirred the coffee slowly, the headache crashing against the shores of his mind and crucifying his soul on a cross fashioned from Kade’s bones.
‘You OK?’ came Natasha’s voice, weakened, jagged, almost unheard.
‘Yeah.’
Carter carried the sweet hot drink into the room, knelt in front of Natasha and looked up into her eyes. She had sat up on the couch, her face lined, her eyes hooded. Every movement brought a little grimace of pain and Carter sipped his coffee, drums thumping in his head, rippling across his temples, scoring his brain with steel claws.
Carter opened his mouth, and Natasha whispered, ‘Shh,’ with a finger against her lips. She met Carter’s gaze. There were tears in her eyes and she smiled warmly at him.
‘I’m sorry for bringing such trouble to your home.’
‘They were here for me,’ said Carter slowly.
‘Both of us, I feel,’ said Natasha. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she brushed them viciously away. ‘I thank you for saving my life. I ... I don’t know what I would have done without you.’
‘Die,’
chuckled Kade in Carter’s mind. Carter felt the demon squatting there, at the back of his thumping brain.
Natasha coughed, her face wincing; a finger came up, touched the sterile plaster covering the stitched hole in her throat; she smiled wryly. ‘You are a brave and strong man, Carter. I have come here to warn you.’ She laughed softly. ‘Your life is in danger... yeah, I know, a little bit too late, eh?’ Her gaze met Carter’s.
‘Do you know that Spiral_H has been destroyed?’
Natasha’s eyes went wide. ‘Spiral_H ... are you sure?’
‘It was on the TV; and part of Jam’s special message when he came to visit me was about how Spiral_H was assembling some kind of strike force to close down Spiral_Q. How’s that for a coincidence? And now the whole place - gone!’
‘Completely destroyed?’ Her voice was a hushed whisper. ‘How?’
‘They blew the fuck out of it. Nothing remains. The pictures looked like an atomic wasteland.’
‘This is bigger than I could have ever imagined,’ she whispered, horror lining her face like battle scars.
The fire crackled. Carter finished his coffee, and Natasha, head bowed, deep in thought, looked up, her face pale, lips trembling. ‘Listen, we need to move, Carter ... we need to get away from here. They will come for us!’
‘If we move you now, then you could die.’
‘Then I will die. If we stay, we will both die.’
Carter grinned, and it was a nasty grin. ‘They will have to send many,’ he whispered softly. His hand was against the Browning and bad bad twisted images flittered through his brain.
‘You’re not listening,’ said Natasha sadly. Her hand reached out, stroked Carter’s cheek. ‘They will send the Nex.’
‘The Nex?’
‘All I know is that they are Spiral’s oldest and best-kept secret. They are awesome killers. We thought them all dead - but they are not dead. They have... somehow survived the...
extermination
.’ The word tasted bad on her tongue.
‘Why now? Why me?’ Carter’s voice was cold as dread sank into his mind and he remembered Jam’s theory that the DemolSquads were being wiped out. The possibility passed like a chilling breeze over his soul, the certainty walked like dark demons over his grave.
‘You remember Count Feuchter? From Schwalenberg?’
‘How could I ever forget that cunt?’
‘Here goes,’ said Natasha softly. ‘There is a splinter group within Spiral — a group of individuals who have decided to betray everything that Spiral stands for. You think of me as a Tactical Officer — but I am more, Carter, much more.’
Carter met her gaze.
Natasha licked her lips.
‘I am part of a group — we have no name — who work within Spiral to root out and eliminate any who try and use Spiral’s power against itself. We look for the enemy within.’ She sighed.
‘You’re the fucking secret police?’
‘Something like that,’ said Natasha, smiling wearily. ‘But the enemy has hit hard and hit fast; we had only just discovered that Feuchter was one of them ... we did not think they were anywhere near ready to move ... I sent you on a blind mission to your death - but thank God you survived. Others were not so fortunate.’
‘And Feuchter?’ Carter’s voice was as cold as diamond ice.
‘Feuchter is one of the splinter group; as is another man, Durell. They’ve struck now because the QIII is practically ready, and with its awesome power they can use it to secure their stronghold. They can use the QIII to take over military installations, satellites, fuck only knows what else. It is so terribly, terribly powerful, Carter - I can’t explain how dangerous this processor could be in the wrong hands.’
‘I don’t understand why,’ said Carter gently. ‘Destroy the Demolition Squads? Destroy Spiral_H? It’s lunacy! Spiral fights to preserve what civilisation we’ve got left - I thought Feuchter was a good man?’
‘This splinter group, headed by Feuchter and Durell -they believe Spiral is weak: corrupt, like Rome at the end of her empire. They believe Spiral knows too much and does nothing about it; they believe Spiral is in the pay of the Big Boys - financed, controlled, governed. We both know Spiral was never meant to be that - it was alone, untouchable, worldwide and incorruptible! Feuchter and Durell think they can do a better fucking job. They think the NBC Laws and the URG Bill are not enough. And then, after the London Riots and the Siege of Qingdao -well, I think they lost all faith in Spiral. With the QIII processor and the Nex they think they can bring us the ultimate in world peace ... a new world order ... but…’
‘Yeah, “but”,’ snapped Carter. ‘In times of war there are always casualties, yes?’
Natasha nodded.
‘We definitely need to get the fuck out of here; they will be coming even as we speak.’
‘Yes.’
Carter reached up and kissed her softly on her lips. ‘There is only one person I can think of, one person who has the resources and the knowledge to help us.’
Natasha pulled back a little, her stare meeting Carter’s. ‘No,’ she said, shaking her head.
‘Yes,’ said Carter. ‘The world is fucking collapsing, Nats. Spiral is being force-fed its own entrails, the DemolSquads are being fucked left, right and centre - Gol used to work with Feuchter, and Durell. If anybody knows what they are up to and where they are, then it is Gol. If we can find the QIII, destroy it, then it will be a level playing field again - and if we can take out Feuchter and Durell on the way, then so be it. Gol is the fucker who will point us to the QIII, and the fuckers who want to abuse their power.’
‘We can’t go to Gol,’ said Natasha.
‘But he’s your father!’ hissed Carter.
‘Yes, but he’s also a
suspect.
He could well be one of them. He could well be working with Durell - with Feuchter - with the Nex! It would be death to meet him.’
Carter climbed to his feet. He withdrew the sturdy 9mm Browning, checked the clip, and rammed it back home as his eyes lifted and he took a deep breath. ‘If Gol is a traitor, then the death will be his,’ said Carter with grim finality.
Carter had removed the cannula and Natasha was rubbing softly at her hand. Her face was incredibly pale once more and Carter helped her to dress, wincing with her in her pain as she struggled into fresh clothes.
‘Tell me more about this Nex that they will send?’
Natasha shrugged weakly. ‘All I know is that the Nex were some kind of project from way back - started in the 1990s, I think, but based on work from much earlier. There is an assassin who is supposed to be awesome - a 5Nex, I think it was called; it was this killer who wiped out Demol14.’
‘Alone?’
‘Yes, alone.’
‘Without help?’
Natasha nodded. ‘So the encrypted files read - just before I fled and came here to warn you, and to ask for your help. This thing has spiralled out of control.’
‘The irony,’ barked Garter. ‘Look, I will go and tool up, check the monitors, throw a few things in a bag and we can get the fuck out of here. Is there anything you need?’
‘A bit more blood?’
Carter smiled. ‘Yeah, time would have been great.’ He turned his back on Natasha and walked towards the door leading to the stairs and the monitoring equipment beyond. He could sense her gaze on his back.
‘Carter?’
He stopped. Turned.
‘I love you.’
‘Really?’
Natasha nodded. ‘Really.’
Carter winked. ‘Get your shit together. We need to be moving in five.’
Carter glanced with a heavy frown at the PC monitors. Something was wrong.
Badly wrong.
‘She is coming,’
said Kade.
‘How do you fucking know?’
‘I
can tell these things,’
he said smugly.
‘Leave me alone, I can do without your input,
brother.’
Carter’s sarcasm was an almost tangible thing, but it had little effect on Kade.
‘Do you want to know what I think about Natasha? I think she will betray you
—
us!... Are you listening to me, Carter?’
‘Shut up. Something’s happening.’
‘I’m giving you my advice ...’
‘Shut up!’ Carter snapped.
There came a silence. Carter watched the screens. A sensor came alive, blinking with a proximity warning. By the south woods. Carter switched to video; darkness and snow welcomed him—
And he felt it—
A ripple of energy sang across the woods, a wave of
nausea
that ripped through the equipment and through his belly, making him want to vomit. The PCs instantly shut down... followed a couple of seconds later by the lights. The room was plunged into darkness. The PCs’ fans whirred to a halt.
‘Shit.’ Carter sprinted across the landing and down the stairs.
‘What’s happened?’ asked Natasha.
‘All the power’s gone. I find this incredible because I’m supposed to be furnished with automatic back-up generators.’
‘Give me a gun,’ said Natasha.
Carter tossed her a small black pistol, a 9mm Glock from his armoury. Stooping, he drew a narrow knife from a hidden sheath in his boot, then slid it carefully back. Metal was always a reassuring back-up option.
Samson whined from the darkness...
‘Sam. Here boy!’ The Labrador appeared, bright eyes glinting in the gloom.
Carter crouched and whispered something in the dog’s ear. Sam whined again, tail down. Carter led Sam to the stairs, down, and to the door where a cold wind howled. Carter opened the portal warily, and Sam disappeared into the snow.