informed Franklin.'I didn't say,' Nicholai said. 'But I guess it's okay totell you… Trent called me in on this.'
He'd chosen the man he knew least about, even after all of his careful research, in the hope that Franklin wouldn't know anything about him, either. Trent was an enigma, skulking around the other top brass like some cryptic shadow. Nicholai didn't even know his first name. It worked for the sergeant. Franklin lowered his weapon, still wary but obviously willing to believe.
'So, you couldn't find Aquino? What about the vac-cine?'
Nicholai sighed, shaking his head and then deliber-ately looking to his left, a space hidden from Franklin's view by an overstuffed shelf. 'No sign of the doc… but this was his office, and there's a wall safe back here. Do you know anything about getting one of these things open?'
Nicholai knew that Franklin did – on his personnel file, safecracking was listed among his skills. Nicholai didn't give a shit whether or not Franklin could open the safe; what mattered was that to get to the safe, the sergeant would have to turn his back on Nicholai.
I'm better, better at this than Aquino or Chan or this fool, and this will prove it. I'd never turn my back on anyone, ever. Yes, that would be unworthy of him… Franklin nodded, bolstering the VP70 and walking toward the corner where Nicholai stood. 'Yeah, I know a little. I can take a look at it, anyway.' Nicholai nodded briskly. 'Good. I was starting to think that I was going to be stuck here for a while.' 'Maybe that's for the best,' Franklin said, stepping past Nicholai to a small safe inset behind the shelf.
'With the way things are going out there, I've been thinking about holing up someplace for a while, wait-ing until things die down a little.'
Nicholai took a silent step closer to Franklin, eyeingthe VP70's unsnapped holster. 'Not a bad idea.'Franklin nodded, frowning at the keypad. 'Chan isdoing it, he says the info will still be there tomorrow sowhy not, right?'Davis Chan!
Nicholai held very still, deciding – and then he darted forward and snatched up the 9mm, not willing to dance for what he wanted. He shoved Franklin at the same time, pushing him off balance, using the split sec-ond of his recovery time to sight the heavy handgun.
'Chan – tell me where he is, and you live,'
Nicholai barked. With his free hand, he reached into his pocket and touched the vaccine case, for luck. It had become something of a talisman for him, a re-minder of how good he was – and it was lucky, he knew it.
Franklin and now Chan, the only two Watchdogs with no assigned filing locale. Incredible. Franklin backed up a step, hands up. 'Hey, take it easy…' 'Where is he?' Franklin was sweating. 'At the radio setup, okay? At the cemetery. Look, I don't know you, and I don't care what you're doing…' 'Terrific,' Nicholai said, and shot Franklin in the ab-domen, twice. 'Uuh!' Franklin grunted heavily as blood splattered the wall behind him. The sergeant fell backwards and landed on his butt, arms still outspread, an expression of surprise on his dark features. Nicholai was a little surprised himself; he'd expected better from one of the soldier dogs. Nicholai raised the weapon, aiming it at Franklin's forehead…… when he heard the door open, boot steps jogging into the room. Handgun still pointed at the dying Franklin, Nicholai ducked down and peered through an opening in the shelf…… and saw Carlos Oliveira standing there, staring around wildly and hefting a.357 revolver, obviously trying to figure out where the shots had come from. It was a gift from the fates. Nicholai stepped into view, Carlos's stupid face targeted before the soldier even realized that there was somebody else in the room. 'Gotcha,' Nicholai whispered.
TWENTY-TWO
NICHOLAI HAD HIM, DEAD TO RIGHTS. CAR-los dropped the revolver and raised his hands. He had to buy some time.
Talk to him, get his attention. Jill needs you to comeback, with or without the vaccine.'Hola, dickhead,' Carlos said lightly. 'I wondered ifI was going to see you again, after our ride out of towngot blown to shit. A monster did it, believe it or not. So,what's your story? Kill anything interesting lately?'
From behind the tall shelf unit jutting out from one wall, somebody groaned in pain. Nicholai didn't look away, and Carlos could see that he'd taken the right tact. Nicholai was smug, irritated… and intrigued.
'I'm about to kill you – so no, nothing interesting. Tell me, has Mikhail died yet? And how is your bitch friend, Ms. Valentine?' Carlos glared at him. 'Both dead. Mikhail died on the trolley, and Jill contracted the virus. I… I had to put her down just a few hours ago.' He probably wasn't going to walk away from this, and he didn't want Nicholai going after Jill; he quickly changed the sub-ject. 'You shot Mikhail, didn't you?' 'I did.' Nicholai's eyes sparkled. He reached into his front pocket as he spoke, pulling out what looked like a metal cigar holder. 'And as luck would have it, this is the cure to what killed your other friend. If only you'd come sooner… in a way, I suppose you could say I'm at least partly responsible in both deaths, couldn't you?'
The sample. The only thing that could save Jill now, and Carlos was being held at gunpoint by the madman who had it.
Think! Think of something!
There was another gruff wail of pain from behind the shelf. Carlos tilted his head and could see a man slumped in the back corner of the room, just visible be-tween two stacks of files. Carlos couldn't see his face, but the man's lower half was drenched with blood. 'And that guy makes three,' Carlos said, desperately trying to keep the conversation going, trying not to stare at the silver case that Nicholai held up. 'Aren't you a go-getter? Tell me, is this a means to an end, or do you like killing people?' 'I enjoy killing people who are as useless as you,'
Nicholai said, slipping the vaccine into an open pocket.
'Can you think of one reason you deserve to live?'
Another moan came from the dying man behind theshelf. Carlos glanced between the stacks again and sawan impact grenade clenched in shaking hands, the ringalready pulled; Carlos realized that the man must havegroaned to cover the sound, and some part of him ad-mired the clear thinking, all in the instant before hestarted to back up, hands still raised. The grenade wasan RG34, the same kind that Carlos had tucked in hisvest, and he wanted as much distance as he could get.
Make it look good…'I'm an excellent shot, I have a generous nature, andI floss every day,' Carlos said, backing up another step,trying to appear that he was deeply afraid and coveringit up with bravado.'Such a waste this will be,' Nicholai said, smiling,extending his arm.
Throw the goddamn thing!
'Why?' Carlos asked quickly. 'Why are you doing this?'
Nicholai's smile stretched into a grin, the same predatorial grin that Carlos had seen him wearing on the transport, what felt like a million years before. 'I possess leadership qualities,' Nicholai said, and for the first time, Carlos could see the insanity in his murky eyes. 'That's all you need to know…' 'Die!' the bleeding man screamed. Carlos caught a flicker of motion behind the shelf, and then Carlos was diving sideways, trying to get behind a table as a win-dow broke and…… BOOM, folders and books were airborne and ex-ploded materials rained down, wood and paper and chips of metal, the heavy shelf tipping over with a thundering creak. It slammed to the floor with a tremendous crash, and then everything was quiet, and shit was everywhere. Carlos sat up, one arm wrapped around his throbbing rib cage, tears of pain in his eyes. He blinked them away and got to his feet, grabbing the revolver he'd dropped as he stood up. Nicholai was gone. Carlos kicked his way through the debris to the corner, remembering that a window had shattered before the grenade exploded. Although it was dark and rainy outside, Carlos could see the roof of an adjacent building one floor below. Bam! Bam! Carlos jumped back as two rounds hit the outer wall, hardly a hand's width from his face. He silently berated himself for sticking his head out the window, like some half-witted baboso. He backed away from the window and turned, only to find himself staring at the burnt, bloody remains of the grenade thrower. 'Gracias,' Carlos said quietly. He wished he could think of something else to say, but then he decided it would only be useless symbolism; the guy was dead, he wasn't hearing shit. Carlos walked back across the room, thinking, won-dering how he was going to catch up with Nicholai. It wasn't going to be easy, but there was no other choice…… and he saw the glint of metal from the corner of his eye, and stopped. He blinked, feeling a kind of awe as he realized what he was looking at – and then scooped it up, a giant weight lifting from his shoulders and from around his heart. He was going to be able to save Jill. The crazy pen-dejo had dropped the vaccine.
Nicholai moved quickly through the rain toward the front of the hospital. Everything is fine, he's dead at the
push of a button and I control it, I can shut down the power and trap him…
He laughed out loud suddenly, thinking about the containment tubes in the basement where the Hunter Gammas were stored, each floating in its own see-through womb. Shut down the power and there was au-tomatic
