All he could do was watch the fast approach of the ground as he plummeted towards it.
* * * *
Pain washed through every muscle, every cell. Sam's whole body ached. It felt as if it were being stretched, being invaded somehow. Sam groaned, and even that hurt. Her throat felt like sandpaper and was as dry as a desert. Her tongue seemed swollen and rasped harshly against the roof of her mouth.Boot heels echoed softly against metal, coming towards her. She tried to open her eyes, but they felt so heavy they might have been weighted down by concrete. It took several attempts before she managed to open them, and even then, her vision was reduced to mere slits.
The harsh light made her blink back tears.
"I did ask if you'd do this the easy way," Jack said, somewhere to her left. "It would have been so much better."
The warmth had gone from his tone, leaving only harshness. Or maybe it had always been like that, and she'd never noticed it before now.
"What have you done?" Her question came out a cracked whisper. She tried to swallow, but she couldn't. Maybe he'd sucked all the moisture away, as easily as he sucked the life from others.
"Nothing much, yet. There are plenty of tests left to try."
He sounded almost jovial. The footsteps came closer, and then she could see him. His smile, like the light in his eyes, was one of a conqueror about to demolish his foe. Had she been able to draw enough moisture together, she would have spat at him.
"This isn't exactly a good way to get me to help you," she said. "I think it's achieving the opposite."
His smile was serene. "By the time I'm finished with you, my friend, you'll be begging me to let you help."
He certainly didn't know her very well if he thought she would ever beg. Still, the viciousness behind his words shook her. This man, this demon, called himself her friend, yet he was more than willing to tear her apart. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I prefer to be a leader rather than a follower. Because I'm sick of pu**yfooting around." He motioned to someone beyond her line of sight. "Now, lie back and enjoy the ride."
Like hell she would. She lashed out, trying to catch him unawares. Metal bit into her wrist, cold and hard, stopping her arm from rising any more than an inch or so. Similar metal clamps bit into her ankles and neck.
Jack laughed. "I'm not foolish enough to let you loose a second time. You'll stay here until I've finished."
"Damn you for this, Jack." Damn him for destroying a friendship she'd held dear. Even if it was a friendship based on a lie, she'd believed in it.
His laugh was edged with sadness. "I was damned a long time ago, Sam. Now I must live with it the best I can."
Heat began to creep through her fingers and toes, a tingling warmth that made her skin itch, made her heart leap uncomfortably in her chest. Then pain hit, sucking at her strength, leeching away her consciousness. Soon there was nothing but a well of darkness, and she fell into it screaming.
* * * *
He was in a boat that rocked gently back and forth, a soothing sensation that failed to ease the alarms ringing in his mind, forcing him towards consciousness. The breeze pulled at his hair cooled the warm moisture trickling down his face and back. Somewhere above him, leaves sighed, and branches groaned under the increasing strength of the wind.He became aware of something hard biting deep into his stomach. To his left, wood splintered, a sound not unlike the cracking of a tree branch.
Confused, wondering where the hell he was, Gabriel opened his eyes. The ground was a good twenty feet away, rising and dipping in sickening motion.
He closed his eyes, and then opened them again. No difference. He looked to his left and saw the long arm of a tree reaching towards him — and realized he was wrapped around it, arms and legs dangling on either side. That's what was biting into his gut — the shattered ends of an offshoot branch.
He twisted slightly and looked up. Smashed branches gave evidence of his descent, but the tree had undoubtedly saved his life. With the speed he'd been going, if he'd hit the ground, he surely would have died.
Somewhere off to his right, brush rustled. He stilled, listening. Something beeped, and then a voice rose from the silence like a ghost from the mist.
"I told you, I haven't spotted a goddamn thing. You sure he came down this way?"
The silence seemed to stretch, jarring against his nerves. Then the searcher spoke again, closer this time. "Okay, Okay, I'll do another sweep."
A man stepped into the clearing below him. Short brown hair, balding on top, and a hawklike nose. Danny Fowler, Gabriel thought, gun for hire. He'd disappeared from the circuit five or six months ago, and like everyone else, he'd presumed Danny's violent past had finally caught up with him. If he was now working for Kazdan, then something big was going down. Fowler was a loner from way back.
He watched Fowler walk across the clearing and disappear into the thick shrub. After several seconds of silence, he grabbed the tree branch, flipping his legs over. Wood caught at his stomach, tearing deep gashes. More pain flared across his shoulders as his arms took the brunt of his weight. The tree branched dipped slightly, and the crack of wood splintering echoed across the silence, as sharp as a gunshot. Cursing softly, he dropped to the ground, landing catlike, his fingertips digging into the dirt to steady himself. Hot lances of fire shot up the backs of his legs, and moisture began to run down his spine. He ignored both, listening. Shrubs moved to his left. He ducked behind the trunk of the gum that had saved his life.
Fowler reentered the clearing, his gun — a standard laser rifle — raised, and his beady eyes narrowed as he sighted. He studied the clearing for several seconds, then relaxed and glanced up at the tree. Even from where Gabriel crouched, it was easy to see the understanding dawn in Fowler's eyes. He had to act now, while he still had the advantage of surprise.
He launched himself at Fowler. The short man aimed and fired. The shot hissed though the air, burned past Gabriel's ear, and hit the tree trunk. He didn't have time for a second shot, because Gabriel was on him, tackling him to the ground and forcing the weapon out of his grip. Fowler cursed and punched, his blows landing thick and fast. Pain rolled through Gabriel, but he ignored it, ignored the blows raining on his body, and, with as much force as he could muster, chopped his hand down on Fowler's windpipe. Fowler was dead before he even knew it.