“You killed Rick?”
I closed my eyes and let the darkness sweep over me. My whole body began to shake, not with fear, but with adrenaline.
“And if you still won’t talk,” Shannon said, “then we’ll bring Jin out here and start cutting him up… what’s left of him anyway.”
“Jin’s alive? Where is he?”
She motioned with her head, “Next door. I’ve been trying to get him to talk, but he hasn’t been very cooperative.” She smiled. “I’m actually glad that you came out here, because we were about to give up on him and come pay you and William a visit. From what you told me at the Council meeting, you and the boy were pretty close to figuring out how to control the satellite.”
My fists clenched and my heart raced. Nobody, not this psychotic bitch, not anyone, threatened William! I was about to charge when Nika turned to face us. I stopped and watched her coil the cord in her hand. I prepared to make my move.
“Put your hands behind your back,” she said to Kamish.
I looked at Kamish. I could tell that he was about to make his own move, so I readied myself. He glared at her, but he put his arms behind his back.
As she walked behind him, Kamish turned on her. In one smooth sweeping motion, he pulled a knife from the back of his belt and stabbed her. Nika cried out, but her voice was drowned out by the blood that began pouring from her mouth.
Shannon yelled, “Nika!” Then she lowered her cheek on to the butt of the rifle, aimed, and fired. The sound of the shot was deafening. Kamish let go of Nika and she fell to the floor. Blood oozed from a small hole in his shoulder. He charged at Shannon. Another shot, this one to the head. Kamish fell back on top of Nika, the knife flying out of his hand and sliding across the floor.
I went to him, but stopped when Shannon yelled, “I’ll shoot you too, Aron. Don’t think that I won’t.”
“Go ahead. Shoot me. When I’m dead, you’ll never get the information you want.”
“Oh I don’t know about that. William’s a smart kid. He can probably tell me what I want to know.”
Just before an ocean of darkness engulfed me, I saw a little girl walk out from a back bedroom.
“Mama,” the dark-haired toddler said. “I heard a scary noise.”
She began to cry.
Shannon looked over at her, “It’s okay, dear. Mama is here.”
She had barely finished her sentence when I buried my shoulder into her stomach. The rifle flew out of her arms. The little girl screamed, “Mama!” I slammed Shannon into the wall. She collapsed onto the floor, but immediately crawled towards the rifle. I scrambled to get it before she did, but she stuck her leg out and tripped me. I fell hard. Pain shot up my elbow as I hit the floor. She pounced on me, clawing my face. I ignored the pain and rolled over on top of her. I slugged her in the face… again and again. Blood spouted from her nose.
The little girl screamed.
I reached for the gun, but Shannon grabbed my ankle. I fell next to the girl. Without thinking, I scooped her up and rolled over.
“Let go!” I said kicking her hand from my ankle. I sat up facing Shannon. Holding her daughter in one arm, I used my free hand to scoot backwards. My hand landed on something. It was Kamish’s knife.
Shannon rolled towards the rifle and I yelled, “I’ll kill her! I swear to God, if you touch that rifle, I will slit her throat!”
Shannon stopped and I saw fear in her eyes. Then she screamed, “Put her down!”
I moved the blade a few inches closer to the girl’s throat. “Move and she dies.”
Shannon stayed where she was. I stood. The little girl cried and struggled to get free.
Holding her brought back memories of my own girls. I knew there was no way I could hurt her. My face must have given away my thoughts.
“You won’t do it, Aron,” Shannon said. “I know you.” She got up on her knees. “You don’t have what it takes to harm a child. You’re pathetic.” Spit flew from her lips. “You’re like the rest of them. None of you have the strength to do what it takes to survive.”
The girl leaned forward, squirming to get away. I almost dropped her. I managed to hold on, but the child shrieked. I looked down. Blood dripped from her arm. I had accidently cut her with my knife.
“No!” Shannon screamed. She moved toward me, but stopped. “Okay, I’m sorry. Just don’t hurt her. She’s all that I have left of Jamal.”
I looked at the cut. Thankfully it wasn’t deep, but it was still bleeding. I adjusted my grip on the girl by placing my hand over her arm and holding it tight against her body.
I didn’t mean to cut her, but Shannon didn’t know that. Now I was in control.
“I’ll let her go, but first you’re going to tell me something, like what the hell is going on.”
She glared at me, but kept silent. I shook the girl, not a lot, just enough to make her cry louder.
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you.” She looked at her daughter as she spoke. “I was on the Council so I could gather information about the inhabitants of the Maldives.”
“But what about the list? Who are those people you put on the list at the last minute?”
“The crazies… the religious nuts.” she said.
“I don’t understand.”
She shook her head. “Jamal started his army with Islamic fundamentalists from across the horn of Africa. He professed to be a prophet of Allah and they believed him. As his legend grew, his army grew with it. But they were becoming a liability. Like you said, Islam teaches something different than what we were doing. So Jamal recruited and trained others, survivors like me. Once he had enough people to carry on his mission, he told the crazies that Allah had spoken to him. He said that Allah wanted to send them to Mars where they would establish a new paradise, free from infidels.”
I felt my stomach tighten. If those fanatics made it to Mars, they’d kill William and everyone else up there.
“What did he plan to do with the rest of his army?” I asked.
She looked at me like I was an idiot. “We plan to use this place as a base camp so we can launch missions across the equatorial zone.”
“That’s why you want the satellite, isn’t it? You want to use it to see where other people are.”
A hint of that evil smile returned and she said, “You’re not as dumb as I thought. With the satellite, we’ll be able to crush the other bands of pirates and we won’t have to search for resources like a needle in a hay stack anymore.”
“Well, you’re not getting the satellite or anything else from me. You’re finished… all of you.”
She laughed and said, “You’re so cute when you’re trying to save mankind. But it’s too late, Aron. Even if we don’t get the salellite, we’ll take the islands in a few weeks. We have the list, remember? We know where everyone lives and who they are. And we have a few men inside the MDF, which you already know. So when the MDF responds to the attacks, we’ll be waiting for them.”
If not everyone in the MDF worked for the pirates, we still had a chance.
“Tell me who they are… the ones in the MDF,” I said.
“I don’t know. Viyaja was taking care of that part.” She laughed. “The dumb bastard actually thinks that he’s going to become their supreme leader on Mars. They’ll kill him on the trip out there, I guarantee it.”
I had to get back to the boat so I could warn everyone. But how? If I left her here, she’d warn the pirates. Anand’s ship was fast, but it couldn’t outrun their fast attack boats. And I couldn’t kill her… not in front of her daughter. Goddammit!
I glanced down and saw the curtain cord still coiled up in Nika’s hand. Keeping my eye on Shannon, I squatted and picked up the cable.
“I’m getting out of here,” I said. “So turn around.”