Second Chances (130 page)

“This time!” She said, distressed. “I'd thought I'd lost you once already! Honestly Mitch, why do you have to dance on the edge of a razor blade?!”

“Getting tired of playing doctor?” he teased, smiling despite the pain of his battered face.

“You want any more teeth knocked out?” she growled at him. He coughed. “We're going to have a hell of a time getting them fixed you know. I'm not a dentist.”

“We can make implants,” Dora murmured.

“I'll take em,” Mitch said. “Later,” he sighed, resting against the pillow. “I think I know what a prize fighter feels like. That smarts,” he said.

Sandra snorted. “No abdomen issues at all doctor?” She asked turning to Ventura. He shook his head. “I still want an internal scan to be sure,” she said, pursing her lips.

“Good idea,” Doctor Ventura said.

“I'm...”

“Shoosh,” Sandra ordered. “Had any of those hits or you moving about ripped the stitches inside you just wrong you would have bled out in minutes dummy!”

“I hadn't planned on getting into a fist fight dear. Honest,” he said. “I was just trying to save the day,” he said.

“Save...”

“I didn't go in confronting Dunn. Honest,” Mitch said. He related the hydrogen farm sabotage to them in halting sentences. Doctor Ventura took one hand and started cleaning it. Dora took the other off Doc and did the same.

“Okay, I forgive you this time,” Sandra said, mock pouting. “Just don't go doing it again!” She said fiercely. Cassie chuckled behind them.

“Yes dear,” he said meekly. She snorted, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He couldn't help it, he groaned in pain.

“So much for kissing your boo-boos,” She said. She chuckled in sympathy, hugged him, then went back to dabbing at his face.

------*------

Once the colonel was secure, they left Tina to check him over while Phyllis and the chief took Bob aside. They found a nearby storage room and cleaned it out to use as an improvised jail cell and interrogation room.

Phyllis knew they had to get it down and had to act fast since Bob was still in shock. She ordered a pair of camera robots in to record the event. They sat down as Bob gulped from a water bottle.

Bob admitted bitterly that he was angry that he'd been used and then set aside and ignored. “I come in, fly in risking my life and go around killing pests and do I get any thanks?” He shook his head.

“So that justifies killing people? Bob! Seriously!” Phyllis demanded.

The chief shook his head. “You have got to be kidding me. You honestly expected everyone to be eternally grateful to you for that? Hell man, we've all gone out of our way to do stuff! Grateful for a time is normal but forever? Talk about a crock of shit...”

“I didn't expect you to care or understand. You should have though,” Bob said, jutting his chin out.

The chief just looked at him in disgust. Finally Bob looked away. “Don't look at me that way. You know I did the right thing.”

“No. You killed people. Innocent people who were decent to you. And Mitch? He gave you a home! A place to live, to work. A roof over your head, food, stuff to have...” the chief shook his head.

“What...what are you going to do?” Bob said, voice quavering a bit.

“Well, if it was up to me I'd feed your sorry ass to the animals.” The chief let that threat hang for a long moment, savoring the beads of sweat on the man's forehead and the faint scent of urine. “But fortunately for you it's not. I'm not sure if we're going to bother with a trial or not.”

“You...kill me?” Bob gulped, practically in tears.

“It's not up to me like I said. Sit tight, that's all you can do,” Phyllis said.

------*------

A night's sleep and some pain meds Sandra insisted Mitch take helped him deal with some of the aftermath of fight. He felt worse in the morning though, stiff, sore, and even more battered than he thought possible. Tucker cried when he looked at him.

Mitch had a concussion, two black eyes with one iris fully dilated. With his bruised and battered face swollen, it was making it hard for him to talk. “You look like hell warmed over, Mitch,” Phyllis said, shaking her head. “You should have let me handle it,” she said in sympathy for his battered face.

“Hell I will,” he insisted, letting Sandra wheel him into the room. He talked with a lisp; he'd lost teeth and had a fractured cheek bone. The fight would leave permanent scars on his face.

“I'll heal. Vance and the others won't,” he ground out carefully.

“Jack and the others are here; they just got in,” Phyllis said, indicating the doors to the great room. He nodded then winced again. He nodded to Brian as he came in behind them.

Phyllis took over with a smile to Sandra. Sandra got the door as the security woman wheeled him into the room. Brian followed them in holding a tablet.

“You look the worst for wear,” Evan said, half rising out of his seat. “Mitch, if you are that messed up this can wait,” he said.

“No,” Mitch said. He fought the urge to spit or swallow. “Let's get this over with,” he mumbled.

“Okay...yesterday...” Brian stood and laid out the details.

When Brian was finished Mitch held up a battered hand. “Part of Bob's misconception was this whole king crap. I've tried laying it to rest. I am not a duke, warlord, king or emperor. I am a husband, father, and yes leader of my community. I have no intention of going beyond that, now or ever,” he said.

“Okay...” Gunny Usher nodded. “Glad you cleared the air. Not that it was needed.”

“A few people still think he's got delusions of grandeur,” John sighed. “And even after that they'll still think it even if they won't come out and say it,” he said. “But we've got bigger problems,” he said, voice going grim.

“You are talking about Dunn and that Norbert guy. Bob.”

“Yes.”

“I wasn't here to see it, but, no offense Brian, but you only saw the tail end of it. How do we know what really happened?” Adam said, looking at Brian and then Mitch. “After all, we only have your word for it, right?”

“Not exactly,” Chief Roberts said. Adam and others turned to look at him. “Phyllis here...” he nodded his head to the woman. “...recorded Bob's confession in my presence,” he said.

“Here it is,” Phyllis said, pushing a button to dim the lights and activate the big screen. The audience turned to watch.

“What the hell do we do with them?” Phyllis asked after she and the chief made their report and played the recording of their interviews.

Mitch looked at the conference. When no one said anything he rose slowly. “I think we do need to work on the constitution and what we plan to do for a justice system. But here...there is no doubt of their guilt,” he said. He stared at each of them, not saying anything. No one responded. Evan, Chief Roberts, John Duster, Jack, Mike, and Gunny Usher looked at him though.

“It happened in my community, under my watch. They killed three members of my community, maimed a fourth, and killed her unborn child. I can't let this stand. But as a victim...” he sighed.

“You have to do it,” Chief Roberts said. “I'll do it if you can't stomach it,” he said.

“You...” Adam protested, then stopped.

“No,” Mitch said, shaking his head. “No, we're not going to kill them. I have no problem with the death penalty, but I'm not going to do it here. No, I'm not going to have their blood on my hands. There is an easier and ...more elegant way to see justice is done,” Mitch said.

“And that is?” Evan asked quietly.

“Banishment. Exile. We're going to drop them in a nice nasty place and let nature take its course. If they've got so much energy trying to kill me and others, then they can use that energy instead to stay alive,” he said coldly.

“They can find their way back to a community,” John protested.

“Not if we make it an island,” Phyllis suggested. “We can also let their families go with them. Anyone who doesn't agree or supported them can go.”

“I...” Evan sighed. “I'm not happy about it, but it's a solution.”

“When faced with a series of bad choices, you choose the lesser of them and make the best of the situation,” Gunny Usher said, nodding. “Incarceration is out. I wouldn't do it anyway. I'd feed them their own worms and let them enjoy the experience myself,” he growled.

“Hell of a way to go,” Phyllis said as more than one person paled or gagged at the thought. “I'm all for it.”

“Pass,” Mitch ground out.

“What about Dunn? He is a community leader,” Yuri said.

“No one is immune. No one is above the law,” Mitch growled. Jack and Mike nodded.

“Agreed,” Yuri said, giving a choppy nod. “I wanted that out there though. Even we have to live up to the standards we set,” he said.

“When?” Phyllis asked.

“As soon as we have an island and the weather is clear. I'll have Jackie fly them out and drop them off,” Mitch said. “We'll make it a remote island, and she will be the only one who knows where,” he said.

“Good,” John said, nodding. “Hopefully with land just in sight on the horizon. That way they are taunted by it. And if they do try to swim or float it they can deal with the monsters in the water,” he said, savoring the idea. Mitch nodded grimly.

------*------

Cassie was bitter over the senseless death of her friends. She was even more bitter over her miscarriage, and to add insult to injury...”A full rotor rooter experience,” she ground out, pushing herself down the hallway in the wheel chair she was still stuck in. She knew she couldn't walk just yet; it wasn't a matter of the injuries as much as energy and distance. She didn't want to rip something either.

“Yeah, that sucks,” Phyllis said from behind her. “Menopause at your age...I'm sorry kid.”

“The really sucky part is it wasn't an accident. Someone deliberately did this.”

“I know.”

“I need to know. I need to know why. And if we were a target.”

“Kid...he's already confessed. We've got it all on tape.”

“I need to hear it myself,” Cassie said, looking at the other woman with a set expression.

“You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?” Phyllis asked her, looking into her eyes.

“What, from the chair?” Cassie sniffed.

“Are you sure about this?” Phyllis asked again.

“Just open the damn door,” Cassie snarled, pushing the wheelchair forward.

“Okay...” Phyllis drawled. She opened the door and then stepped aside.

Cassie wheeled into the room. She noted it was dark, and its occupant was across the room from the door sitting on the floor. He looked pathetic. He looked up at her and then blinked in surprise.

“Not much for quarters,” Cassie said, looking around the improvised jail. It had been a storage room at one point.

“Um...” Bob blinked at her.

“Why, Bob,” Cassie said coldly. “That's what I want to know. Why? Why did you do this?”

You weren't supposed to be hurt,” Bob mumbled. He couldn't meet her eyes. “It was just him.”

“Hurt,” Cassie said, tasting the word. “Oh, you mean have those things growing inside me? Ripping and eating me from the inside? Tearing apart my baby? My chance of ever having children again? Eating Vance? Jaden? Tisha?” She demanded, voice rising as she snarled. She threw her fury at the man.

“I'm...ssssorry,” he blubbered, breaking down. Cassie watched him sob, begging her forgiveness. Finally she turned, wheeling about.

“Seen enough?” Phyllis asked.

“Yes,” Cassie said tightly. She left the room. Bob reached out but then let his hand fall as the door shut behind her, dropping him back into darkness once more. “When does he leave?”

“In the morning. Him and Dunn. We radioed a warrant for Ciara and Tariq. Bob here gave us a full confession.”

“Great. Are they going with them?”

“No. Tariq won't answer the radio, and her people said they'd deal with her,” Phyllis said with a derisive sniff. “They'll probably give her a medal. She knows better than to come back here. Dunn's people are denying Ciara's involvement. She's keeping a low profile. Paul is blacklisting them for now. It doesn't seem to faze them though.”

“Whatever,” Cassie ground out.

“Cas, I know you want to see justice done. We all do. But short of going down there, hunting them down, digging them out...” Phyllis shook her head. “We could do it. Travis thinks he could get in and out, but I don't know. And I'd rather not risk any more lives for....revenge.”

“Justice,” Cassie replied. She put her hands on the wheels of her chair again. “And you are right. Eventually they'll have to come out. When they do, we'll make sure that justice is done. One way or another,” she said, wheeling herself off. Phyllis watched her go, worried about the future.

------*------

When Mitch was ready, he called a meeting with everyone in the community assembled in the courtyard. Mitch made certain Jolie was broadcasting the proceedings live for all to see and hear, as well as recording it.

Bob and Dunn were brought out, both in handcuffs and under robotic and human guard. “So it's come to this has it, death by what? Robotic firing squad? I should have finished you when I had the chance,” he snarled.