Judge Dredd

now.”

Griffin didn’t look at him. “I believe you agreed to… consider the project, along with the others.”

“I withdraw that agreement!”

“I… don’t believe procedure allows for that,” Judge Silver said.

Esposito glared. “I don’t give a damn what procedure says.” He jerked his head toward Griffin. “What he’s doing is criminal. You’re fools, both of you, if you let him continue with this.”

“Carl…” McGruder leaned in and laid a hand on his arm. “Carl, it’s a presentation. We agreed to that. It doesn’t have to go any further.”

Esposito started to speak. He looked at the others, shook his head and placed his hands on the flat surface of the desk. Griffin glanced at him, then turned to the shining sphere.

“In what quantity, Central? Give me a projected number of incubated and completed subjects.”

“Laboratory Number One of the Janus Project is currently equipped with one hundred subjects. Under fully operational conditions, seven hundred subjects could be completed in seven days.”

Silver stared at Griffin in disbelief. “That many? This is true? Why, we could replace our losses in one day!”

“Exactly,” Griffin said. “We could regain adequate control of the city almost at once, clean out the riotous elements in every sector. Before the week is out, we could reinforce trouble spots at such a strength that these unruly dissidents would think twice about showing their faces in the streets again.”

“These unruly dissidents you’re talking about are people, Chief Justice.” Esposito watched the blurr of data flashing across the sphere. “People. Not numbers.”

McGruder shook her head. “He’s right. We shouldn’t even be considering this. It’s… it’s inhuman, the whole concept was inhuman from the beginning. It is madness, sir. It is not the Council’s job to play God.”

“Judge…” Griffin spread his hands and smiled. It was a weary, patient smile that reflected a teacher’s concession to a backward child. “We sit in judgement of our fellow citizens because we must, because order is necessary for the continuation of a peaceable Society. If there was no need for such supervision, we could disband and go frolic in the park.”

“Don’t you patronize me, Chief Justice!” McGruder came to her feet. She glared at Griffin and jabbed her arm at the shimmering globe. “Central, restore the Security Blocks on the Janus Project. At once!”

Griffin smiled. “I’m afraid you can’t simply vote all by yourself, Judge. We are a Council here. We act together.” He looked at the others. “I find it most painful that I have to handle this myself, without your help and support. I am deeply hurt that none of you have the will, the strength, these dangerous times require.

“Central…” Griffin spoke without looking up. “Janus will remain unlocked. My command only. Authority: Override Mega-City Emergency One-Niner-Five.”

Esposito came to his feet. “This is treason, sir!” His eyes were dark with rage. “You have gone too far, you have sealed your fate here, Chief Justice!”

“No,” Griffin said quietly, “I’m afraid you’ve sealed yours. Rico—in here!”

He spoke without moving his eyes from Esposito. He felt a great sense of satisfaction, of completion, as the color drained from his face, as the meaning of the name he had spoken was reflected in the taut lines of fear about his lips, as he knew and understood what he had done, that it was finished, over, that there was nothing more for them now.

Rico walked into the great room. He wore the full-dress combat black of the Judges. He held the Lawgiver straight down at his side. He looked at the Council and smiled.

McGruder’s face was drawn, frightened. “Damn you, Griffin. Damn you to hell for this!”

“That kind of talk is not constructive, Judge,” Griffin said.

“Send-him-away! Stop this horror at once!”

“Judge.” Griffin let out a breath. “I have to ask you to—”

McGruder’s left hand dipped beneath the table. Rico seemed to make little effort at all. McGruder’s head slammed into the massive slab at her back, spattering the marble red.

Silver cried out once. Esposito didn’t move. His eyes were on Griffin as he died.

Rico smiled, studying his weapon as if he’d never seen it at all. “Who said politics is boring? I might run for office sometime.”

A pall of acrid smoke hung over the room. Griffin sniffed the air and turned away from the carnage.

“I want you out of here. Now. I don’t want anyone to see you near this place. Go out the way you came. Ilsa will be there.”

“Ilsa is getting on my nerves.”

“Get out of here, Rico. Do it now!”

Rico shrugged. He laid his weapon across his shoulder, gave Griffin a mock salute, and disappeared behind the marble slab.

Griffin walked quickly toward the doorway to the hall. Judge Hunters would hear the gunfire. They’d be on the run by now. If he hurried, there was still time to—

The big wooden doorway exploded, slammed to the ground. Griffin stepped back. Dredd stalked into the room, the weapon smoking in his hand. He looked at Griffin, then past him at the horror of the Council table.

“No… Nooooo!” Dredd tried to grasp the sight, tried to comprehend what had happened here. He raised his eyes slowly, aimed the Remington squarely at Griffin’s head.

“You murdering bastard, you—” Dredd stopped, shook his head. “Rico. He did this. You wouldn’t have the stomach for it, would you? Where is he? Where is he, Griffin!”

“Don’t be foolish,” Griffin said. “Rico’s dead. He’s been dead for years—”

“Talk to me. Where is he?”

“Dredd, listen to me, all right?” Griffin raised his hands and backed away. “Things are going to change, whether you like it or not. Nothing’s going to stop this. Not you, not anyone.”

“Janus. Is that what you’re talking about?” Dredd turned his thumb straight down. “I won’t let it happen. I will stop you any way I can.”

“There’s nothing you can do. Not now. Nothing that—”

A shout echoed through the corridor. Heavy boots pounded the granite floor. Dredd jerked around and faced Griffin.

Griffin smiled, grabbed his belly, doubled up and writhed on the floor.

“In here,” he yelled. “Hurry, for God’s sake!”

Dredd stared at the man, then suddenly understood. He cursed Griffin under his breath and ran, dodging into the small anteroom off the Council Chamber. Half a second later; Judge Hunters swarmed into the room, Lawgivers at the ready.

“Get him!” Griffin pointed shakily from the floor. “Damn it, go—he’s murdered the whole Council!”

The Hunter squad turned and charged out of the room. An officer bent down over Griffin. Griffin recognized his face.

“We’ll take care of you, sir. I’ll get Mediks on the way—”

“Captain, never mind that. Get Dredd! Kill him!”

“Sir—”

“I’m not badly hurt. Do it now!”

“Yes, sir.”

The officer hurried away. Griffin waited until his footsteps echoed down the hall. He stood and walked to the black table. He looked into McGruder’s dead eyes. He touched her with his finger, then drew a red smear across his chest. Word would get out that he was wounded, that he wouldn’t even let the Hunters stop to give him medical care. He smiled at the thought. He could picture them, at dinner, in their barracks. It was pleasant to imagine the things they might say.

THIRTY-SIX