Friday, July 27, 2012

Crook Q Part 39

The dead body of the the United leader remained animated involuntarily by the electricity jumping through his body. Nic began to chuckle....he had stopped laughing, and said calmly through his mustache. "I've been waiting decades to laugh like that."
Neither the elder Smyrna nor Ephesus knew how to react to that. Nic just knelt down and began going through his pockets. The clothes emitted a nasty combination of burnt flesh and sweat. In disgust Nic drew back his hands. "He's bit too messy to go through." Calmly he took the gun out of the dead man's hand. With the electrical shock, the man's hand hadn't gotten a death grip on it.
Nic ejected the magazine. "There's only one bullet in here."
Smyrna asked, "Why would a man carry a gun with only one bullet?"
Ephesus answered quietly, "It's probably a suicide weapon. If he needs to shoot himself. Or else just bring someone down with him. Suicide or revenge."
Smyrna swallowed in disgust. Nic smiled, "Your son knows more about the life in the Outside than any of us would expect, or so it seems, doctor. Now that I have my gun, you can load up on the explosive flasks."
Nice emptied his pockets of all but three of the glass tubes of fire, giving a dozen to Ephesus, and a few to Smyrna. Nic continued, "In the event of capture, just through crack one of these open on your head, and it will all be over. The explosive goes off on hard impact. I assume you both have hard enough skulls for that."
Smyrna muttered back, "We don't believe in suicide."
"No matter. If they catch any of us it will be straight to the chop-block, if we are lucky."
Smyrna replied, "We don't believe in luck, either."
"Well, I hope for your sakes that if favors you anyway. Luck isn't so malevolent as to curse all who don't believe in it, unlike other ruling powers of which I had heard. Now out the doors. Ephesus, throw the switch."
Ephesus bounded over to his computer screen, impatiently waiting as the monitor turned on. With one click all the lights in the building flashed and sirens blazed. "Not a bad hack job if I do say so myself. Until they catch on pretty much door towards the exits will be open."
Nic took charge, "Now for Plan A. To the stairs!"
There would be hundreds of other lab coat clad scientists exiting the building. All they had to do was keep their heads down and pass through unnoticed. At least for Plan A.

Next post is from Phili: Part 23

2 comments:

  1. I just love the banter here. Only with someone like Nic can you pull off stuff like that during a high-tension scene. *delighted grin*

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    1. I was sort of feeling like these were too actiony of sequences to have dialogue, but with how quick all of these reactions are, it isn't too bad for pacing. Smyrna's responses are quick because they are short and flow from his deep beliefs. Nic and Ephesus are just quick witted.

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