Pandora's Succession (32 page)

Fox raised his head off the ground and coughed furiously and then spat out the dust and dirt that nearly caused him to choke. When he looked ahead, he saw the edge of a cliff facing the ocean no more than two hundred feet away. There was also the crashing of the waves on the rocks below and the smell of sea salt that he couldn’t ignore.

As he got up, he brushed the dust from his face and shirt and walked back towards the valley. He stopped between a set of boulders as the huge dust cloud blew about him, causing him to partially shield his eyes with his left hand.

He couldn’t see much through the dust, but the staccato shots had stopped and that’s what worried him.
Was anyone still alive? The young recruits of The Promise, Dr. Parris—my God, what have I done?

A weight came down on Fox from above, and it knocked him to the ground on one knee as he struggled to prevent himself from being pushed down flat on his stomach. His head was yanked backwards as thousands of microscopic teeth bit into his neck. He caught a glimpse of the sky and felt his right foot hit a rock as he tried to pull the teeth off his neck, but they bit deeper into his flesh. He managed to gain a bit of control over his attacker, as they both moved around in circles, but the teeth in his neck cut even deeper. He lost strength rapidly, as he couldn’t inhale no matter how hard he struggled.

He spotted a boulder in front of him. With little more to do, he kicked out his legs and pushed against the rock as hard as he could. Fox and the assailant shot back, they hit something hard that disrupted his assailant’s choke on him. Fox then threw his head back and butted his assailant, presumably in his face.

Fox ripped off the line of teeth from around his neck and stumbled forward as he gasped for air, breathing in as much air as he could without choking. He stumbled forward as he tried to regain his strength.

When he turned to face his white-haired adversary, he threw a series of combination punches at him. But he was still weak, and with little control, most of his punches didn’t make any contact. The October Man, despite the blow to his face, was far more agile and skilled in martial arts than Fox had anticipated, and he blocked all of his punches. The October Man then retaliated with a kick to Fox’s right shin, followed with a punch to his jaw, knocking him to the ground.

The October Man didn’t grant Fox a chance to stand, and he got a kick to his stomach, flipping him onto his back. Again, Fox heard the sound of waves as they crashed against the rocks below, and when he looked up, he was less than ten feet from the cliff’s edge.

“You see that ahead of you? That’s how it’s going to end for you. Not the same way we took care of your fiancée, but it’ll have to do. And after I’m done with you, I’ll take care of your girlfriend next.”

Take care of my girlfriend next?
The phrase was as unpleasant as a trumpet blast to the ears.
Jessica died because I wasn’t there to prevent it.
Parris wouldn’t stand much of a chance against this madman who’d snap her neck without a second thought
. No, I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.

When the October Man rushed him, Fox sprung up with a primitive war-like cry and managed to catch the man’s leg below the knee as it came at him. He quickly kicked the October Man in his opposite inner thigh, sending him airborne and crash-landing on his rear end. Fox looked into the eyes of his nemesis and saw the fire burn deep within. But Fox stared hard into them, hoping that the October Man would see the huge flames that burned in his as well.

The October Man quickly got back up on his feet and threw a punch at him, but Fox dove low to dodge it, and shot up with an uppercut to his chin. Fox then head butted him, breaking his assailant’s nose before he held onto him, pressed one leg on his enemy’s quadriceps, dropped backwards and catapulted him behind. The October Man landed out of control and rolled onto a slant that was full of loose gravel. Fox turned around in time to see the man grasping the surface trying to get a grip. But combined with the momentum at which he was thrown, it was impossible for him to stop himself from sliding to the edge of the cliff and toppling off.

Fox heard a loud yell that came from the direction of the cliff. He looked around for the AK-74 he had put down earlier and saw it. He coughed as he walked, and gently touched the cut wound around his neck, which bled slightly. He grabbed the AK-74, walked towards the cliff’s edge and looked down. Apparently the October Man hadn’t dropped the dozen or so stories onto the sharp rocks below. Instead, he had landed on a ledge that was less than two stories below.

The October Man looked up and saw Fox. He swung his arms about, screaming and cursing in Russian. His legs, bent to the sides, seemed immobilized.

He won’t be going anywhere, not with both legs broken.
Fox aimed the weapon at the assassin.
It would be so sweet to finish him off.
But he held back for a bit, wanting to see him suffer. “Tell me how to find the man who killed Jessica!”

The October Man stopped yelling and looked up at Fox. What was once anger had disappeared and was replaced by a half smile. “I thought you killed the man who murdered your fiancée, didn’t you? As for the one who gave him the orders, I don’t know where he,
or she
, might be right now. As for myself, I’ve killed lots of men. That’s what we both do.”

Fox lined up the October Man’s forehead in his sights. One single shot would pop his head like a melon. “Except I don’t do it as an act of cowardice. You like killing unarmed men, you fucking you son-of-a-bitch—don’t you? Like two of my partners at Hexagon. Do you remember them?”

The October Man hesitated as though in thought. He then smiled. “Oh, them. I cannot take credit for executing them, unfortunately. The man I sent to do the job told me they both cowered like baby kittens. You should ask him yourself if you don’t believe me. He’s coming right now.”

The October Man laughed just as Fox heard the loud sound of helicopter propellers. He then saw an S-76 approach from his left. It slowed down, turned ninety degrees, and hovered sideways as the back passenger door slid open. Fuck, it was Demyan, that psychotic bastard. He still had that sickening crazed grin on his face as he held what Fox recognized to be a Milkor MKL-MK1 multi-shot grenade launcher, aimed towards him.

Oh Shit!
Fox didn’t wait for the first shot before he bolted. He heard a loud popping sound and his first instinct was to cut to the right just like when he played football. He lost the AK-74 as the explosion threw him a few feet upwards and onto the ground where he landed on his right shoulder and ducked into a forward roll.

“Kill him!” Fox heard the October Man scream repeatedly.

Fox closed his eyes to avoid being blinded by the dust and smoke surrounding him, but he could still hear the helicopter. Another shot was bound to be fired to finish him off. Fox rolled over onto his feet towards the AK-74 and grabbed it just as he heard another pop. This time, the fire from the blast scorched him briefly, before he was thrown sideways into a rock face. He dropped the AK-74 again.

Something was wrong with his right arm—he couldn’t move it. During the first blast he must have dislocated his shoulder when he landed on it.
Adrenaline rush. Thank God for it or I’d be in agony right now.
Fortunately, he was left handed.

But the impact from being thrown against the rock did more damage. Fox realized this when he grabbed the AK-74 and tried to stand back up with only one fully-functional arm, and his left ankle was twisted. There was also another pain on the right side of his chest that Fox assumed could be a fractured rib or two. Nonetheless, he had to get back up, lest he would remain a sitting duck for Demyan and his Milkor. He couldn’t let it end that way. Not with the October Man laughing at him the way he had a few moments ago, and certainly not with Dobbs’s and Levickis’s murderer trying to blow him away.

He got up and put most of his weight on his right leg. He shielded his eyes with his left hand as he opened them slightly—there was still too much dust and smoke. He could hear the helicopter hovering between twenty to thirty degrees above and in front of him. He reached out with his left arm and touched the rock face behind him. This meant that the cliff was to his right.

Fox hopped and skipped forward with the AK-74 aimed diagonally below to the left of the sound of the propellers and unleashed a fury of bullets, hoping to damage the cockpit and hit the pilot. When he emerged from the smoke and dust, Fox stumbled to the ground, but continued to shoot until he heard the clicking sound. No more bullets. But from what he saw, he hadn’t missed his target.

Demyan didn’t appear to have caught a bullet, but the helicopter moved erratically making him drop the Milkor as he was tossed about inside.

Fox caught a glimpse of the pilot hunched forward. It would be only moments before the helicopter went down. Fox rolled over and watched the helicopter veer downwards away from him and brush the surface as it bounced up again and spun around. It bounced off the ground a second time and veered out over the cliff and spun as it dropped.

Fox caught one last glimpse of Demyan as he tried to make his way to the cockpit, before the helicopter disappeared below the edge of the cliff in the same direction where the October Man lay. “Good riddance to both of you.”

The ground shook as Fox watched a large plume of fire erupt beyond the edge of the cliff and rain flames around him. With the AK-74 in his hand he rolled on his back and rested it on his forehead, taking bit of time to catch his breath. When he did, he rolled over slowly, got up into a crouch and remained in that position for a while. It was then that he saw a familiar object beside him. He put down the AK-74 and picked up the October Man’s red pen and looked at it as though to study it. He turned it around slowly and saw the word OCTOBER written in bold yellow Russian characters. As he held both ends, he pulled it apart to see a thin sharp wire unwind in front of him. Fox released one end of it and it snapped back shut. It could make a good trophy. But the more he stared at it, it became nothing more than a reminder of the people that murdered Jessica, and they were still at large.

He stood up, keeping most of his weight on his good leg and limped his way closer to the edge of the cliff. Black smoke emanated from the wreckage below, on the rocky beach. The ledge that was once there, where the October Man lay was gone—vaporized from the exploding helicopter. He threw the pen out at the sea as hard as he could and watched it disappear.

“Impressive, Fox. You saved us all,” said a familiar voice behind him.

When Fox turned around, he saw Tanaka.
You got to be kidding me.
Most of the dust had cleared, and there he was with a Sig P226. Tanaka kept the Sig pointed to his chest as he stopped a few feet away from him.
After all of this, for me to see him now
. Fox could think to do nothing other than smirk.

“My bad luck doesn’t seem to want to end. If it’s not this guy, it’s the next. And if it’s not the next guy, it’s you.”

Tanaka smiled. “It seems to be that way for you, Fox.”

Fox tried to raise his good arm until a pain shot through his ribs. He spat on the ground in front. “So go ahead and shoot me. That’s what Dr. Marx wants you to do,” he shouted. “Go ahead and be their foot soldier.”

Tanaka shook his head. “No, not now. You’re too badly bruised and beaten. But why don’t you try to take a little walk with me.”

Chapter 34

The impact of the second explosion caused Parris to lose her footing and tumble down the rest of the hill. The dust cloud did not completely settle, but she covered her eyes and took shorter breaths to avoid inhaling the large amounts of dust. She heard less gunfire, but more explosions came from the same area where the landslide had originated.

“Fox,” she gasped as she looked in the direction of the blasts. Something told her that Fox had a lot to do with the explosions that she heard earlier. Lord knew the mayhem that he went through before and after they were reacquainted. And he was most likely doing it in order to lure the enemy towards him to allow her a safer passage. Hopefully he could hold them off long enough to allow either the Japanese or American troops to arrive.

She crouched and pulled the jacket of her pantsuit over her face as a strong wind gust helped to blow away the dust cloud. It was about a minute later when most of the dust had cleared that she spotted two bodies on the ground a few yards away. She released her jacket and immediately drew her HK. One sudden movement from either one, and she’d fire. To make sure she wasn’t being set up, she checked her surroundings before she got any closer. At about four feet away, she stopped. From there she was close enough to see them better and far enough not to be grabbed had either one been faking. She saw that neither were fighters from the same squad.

Parris saw the bullet wound to the ninja’s chest and the throwing star that stuck out from his attacker’s forehead. Convinced they were both dead, she holstered her weapon. The ninja was close to her height. She could easily fit into his clothes and his boots. And as an added bonus, the ninjas wore facemasks with mesh-covered eye slots. It was the perfect disguise.

Parris removed the ninja’s clothes and changed into them. She took out the case containing the vial of serum from her clothes and put it inside an outer pant leg pocket. She attached the scabbard with the M-11 to her waist and tucked the HK away in her pants. She then hid her clothes.