CHAPTER 14

 

 

 

"Search them," Jic said.

Groping hands—unarmored, clearly other normal soldiers had been hiding amongst the bigger super-soldiers—ran over Kari's body. They groped her as they looked for weapons. She glared straight ahead, at the lower leg of a super-soldier, refusing to let them see that it bothered her.

"You want to go a little deeper?" Ryker bellowed. "Maybe I hid one up my ass."

Kari's gaze slid to the side where a half dozen soldiers held Ryker down while another two ran their hands over his body. A small thing, she supposed, that the groping wasn't gender limited.

Unlike Kari who hadn't bothered to bring any weapons, they found three guns and two knives on Ryker and another dozen knives on Wren.

Jic clicked his tongue. "It's amazing how some people can't follow simple instructions." He crouched so that he was eye-to-eye with Ryker. "When you're finding your punishment especially harsh or unfair, remember this. Remember that you didn't follow my instructions and I could have killed you right here."

Ryker's face twisted in an expression that Kari knew all too well. "Ryker!" she barked, before he could spit in the captain's face.

Ryker's throat bobbed as he swallowed.

"Good choice." Jic pivoted so that he faced Wren. "You. After what you did to my daughter…"

"She did it to herself."

Jic lifted his hand, ready to backhand Wren's face, then let it fall. "No. I already know that you're about to suffer far worse than I could ever inflict."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kari said. "What are you going to do with us?"

"You'll find out soon enough, and then you'll probably wish you didn't know. But first, I think our little assassin here still has a few secrets." He pulled a small knife from his belt, short but so sharp that its edge gleamed. "Hold her."

More hands grabbed Wren. Even with six people holding her in place, Kari wouldn't have been surprised if Wren managed to throw them off.

"Leave her alone," Kari said.

"I will," Jic said. "Once she's given up all her weapons."

The soldiers pinned Wren to the ground. Jic slashed through the leg of her pants, exposing the scar on her thigh.

Kari's blood went cold, leaving her lightheaded. How did he know?

Jic pressed the sharpened tip of the knife to the top of the scar and dragged down, creating a narrow cut like opening a seam. He pressed his fingers to the gash, pulling the skin aside to reveal two tiny glass vials and five thin, metal needles.

Wren bared her teeth at him.

"It's a clever trick," Jic said, pulling each item out one by one, careful to avoid the tips of the needles. "But I'm afraid someone warned us about you."

"Who?" Kari said. Who could possibly have known about Wren's scar? Her skin crawled; their chances of escape got smaller every second.

"She'll find out soon enough," Jic said. He wiped his blade clean on Wren's torn pants and stood. "Dose them."

A sharp sting bit into Kari's neck. She tried to pull away, but strong hands held her in place while a soldier injected something. A chill spread from her neck, encasing her head and making it hard to think. Her eyelids drooped despite her best efforts, and darkness enveloped her.

 

***

 

"She's coming around."

"You've checked those restraints? We know she's a fighter."

"She's not getting out."

"Good."

Kari blinked, aware of a blinding light above her. Cold metal held her wrists and ankles in place. Her eyes sprang open. She was seated in a hard chair, partially propped up.

"Welcome back," Jic said, strolling into her field of view.

A bank of monitors lined the wall behind him, all dark.

"Where am I?" Kari said.

Jic spread his arms. "The cream of the Imperium fleet. My ship."

"You'll pay for this," Kari said.

"A fighter to the end. I can respect that."

"Who do you work for?"

"Work for?"

"There's someone behind all this. We know about FutureFarm."

Jic leaned on Kari's arms, crushing her wrists against the hard metal of her chair. "Who's to say that kidnapping my daughter wasn't reason enough for me to take you?" Dark violence seethed in his eyes.

"You're not working alone."

Jic sneered. "There are people who want to get rid of you. Don't doubt that. But they would have shot you between the eyes by now. You took my daughter. You'll pay for that."

"You were going to kill hundreds of people!"

"The price of progress."

Kari fought against her restraints. They bit into her wrists. "The rebellion will—"

"Die, just like last time."

Kari floundered. "Fine. Keep me, but let the others go."

"They have as much to answer for as you do."

"We didn't do anything."

A flush of red crept over Jic's face. "Didn't do anything? Didn't do anything? You destroyed a facility worth millions of tokens, not to mention killing all the soldiers inside. Do you know how long it took to find all those next-gens? Now we've only got a handful left."

"You were experimenting on people."

"You ruined this year's Tournament."

"You were forcing people to kill each other."

"You hurt my daughter!" Jic bellowed each word and spittle flew from his mouth, flecking Kari's face.

Kari's heart pounded. She wanted to rage and scream but the words got caught in her throat. They'd given his daughter back, but he and his Imperium friends had killed hundreds of people and planned on killing millions more.

"Do you remember what I said I'd do to you when I caught you? Last time we spoke."

Kari's mind raced. It might as well have been a lifetime ago that she'd spoken to Jic on Ghost's communicator. She'd been so confident then, everything had been going to plan.

Jic gestured at one of the enforcers who handed over a jagged set of pliers. A second enforcer clamped his hands around Kari's face and wrenched her mouth open.

"Let me jog your memory." Jic thrust the pliers into Kari's mouth, clamping them around one of her back teeth. Flakes of rust from the pliers coated her tongue. She tried to pull back but the restraints and the enforcer held her in place.

He couldn't. He wouldn't. She tried to cry out but the pliers filled her mouth, squishing her tongue.

Jic's lips twisted as he wrenched down and back. Kari's head would have followed if not for the hard, armored hands holding her skull. Instead, her tooth yanked free, trailing blood. Wrenching pain and the taste of iron filled Kari's mouth. She tried to scream. Blood poured over her chin.

Jic held up the pliers; her tooth, including the root, shone white through the blood. "That's one. I'll take the rest after the next phase of your punishment."

Kari's eyes watered. "You bastard." Her words came out muffled by blood.

"I always keep my promises. But as painful as that was, I think you'll find the next bit worse."

Kari's arms jerked but the manacles held them to the chair. "What are you talking about?"

Jic stepped back from the chair and gestured at the blank screens. "You pride yourself on being a good captain, don't you?"

Kari tried to pin her lips shut but she had to open them again to let blood dribble out. "I do my best."

"And you care about your crew?"

Kari didn't answer. He was toying with her and she refused to play his games.

"You were difficult." Jic's mouth twisted. "Some of us wanted to turn you into a super-soldier, the ultimate irony. But the nerds in the lab said it wouldn't take; something about your brain patterns which is why it didn't work last time."

Kari shivered as she remembered her eyelids being pinned open and the screen blaring just inches from her face with that horrible buzzing noise.

"You're no good to us as a soldier, but I knew the perfect punishment. You took my daughter. Forced me to watch on a screen as you threatened her life." Jic's nostrils flared. "Knowing there was nothing I could do. And so… this…" The wall of monitors behind him flared to life.

Kari squinted against the sudden bright light, then her chest constricted, making it hard to breathe. "No."

"Yes."