Under My Skin

Under My Skin - Part 66

"Drop your weapon and back away from the door," said Zachs his voice as cold as the barrel against Will's head.

Will considered the risk of turning around and disarming Zachs, but took another glance at the blown out skull of the body before him and thought better of the idea. He dropped his glock and inched back with his hands up, Zachs' gun always on him. Zachs side-stepped around him and picked up the gun, putting it in his shoulder holster. Will swallowed hard; being held at gunpoint didn't get better the second time around.

"I really didn't want to do this," said Zachs. "But I can't let you leave with that BT."

"Okay," eased Will. "Then don't. Put away the gun and let's talk."

"Talk? You want me to monologue like a villain?"

"Well, you apparently killed one of your own underlings and have me, one of the good guys, at gunpoint. That qualifies you for villain status in my eyes."

***

"Okay, you get up to Will, I'll provide the distraction," said Reese, slipping an extra magazine into Beni's purse. Beni was still dazed from what Reese had told her, but she nodded, keeping an eye on the guards at the entrances and exits of the ballroom.

"You mean you're going to make trouble," she said.

"That is what I do best," said Reese. "Let's go."

Beni held her head high, walking past the security guard and into the lobby of the hotel. Seeing the crowd around the elevators she pursed her lips and strode towards the stairs. Once in the stairwell she took off her white high heeled shoes. Twenty floors she had to climb.

"This is going to murder my panty hose."

***

"What proof do you have that Zachs is behind all this?" asked the Head of Watch One through the communication screen.

"We have a trail of stolen data leading right to his computer!" exclaimed Cetz.

"Under his responsibilities he is entitled to check data encryption of other Watch bases for security reasons."

Cetz held up his hand, barely keeping himself from pulling his hair out, what little there was of it. "One moment, sir." He muted the transmission and turned to the workstations behind him. "Guys, is there anything you can give me?"

Olivia turned from her station. "I tried to get through to Will using the regular communicators; all I'm getting from him is dead air."

"Zachs could be using an electronic scrambler, like an E.S.S." said Grant. "That would explain how his men got in; they used a portable one to shut down the security and surveillance systems as they went through the base."

"But it's not working on the SkySprechts," realized Cetz. He brought up his control pad for the Sprechts and tapped his headset. "Louis, I need to concentrate on the feed from Will's Sprecht, so I won't be able to hear you for a while, but you'll be hearing what I hear."

"Fine!" snapped Louis. "Just get him out of there!"

Cetz switched to Will's Sprecht and remotely turned on the sonic hearing. Voices echoed and once through a sound filter he relayed the feed to his connection with Watch One. "You don't believe me? Listen to this."

***

"Villain or not," said Zachs. "I'm the one with the gun."

"Touché," said Will, trying his hardest not to tremble, trying not to think how easily a bit of metal could punch through a man's skull. "But I can't believe a man of your status in the Watch could have been easily swayed by bribes to become a leak for Retten. What did he threaten you with?"

"He didn't threaten anything; he offered me a better world."

"I doubt that." Will had to keep him talking. To his left were the windows, and behind him was the hallway that led to the other cluster of offices. The exit to the stairs was behind Zachs. He would have to go around the office block to get to the exit.

"Doesn't it sicken you," continued Zachs, his voice tinged with something akin to sincerity, but more passionate. "Seeing our own government spend billions on a new way to kill people when our own are dying from things that can be cured? All the red tape and approval an idea has to go through before it can be acted upon? The very laws and regulations I've upheld to keep people at a status quo also bind people to that status quo, unable to rise up and do something differently. Even our own Watch organization needs funding and approval that sometimes takes years to turn a machine of torture into a miracle. Retten works outside those constraints, and I'll admit he does a lot of bad things but the few discoveries he made will be beneficial in the long run. As long as he's kept under control he can be a great asset.

"It was thanks to him that I heard about Palmer's failed research on Pulse Emitters. I figured why not give the man the chance to do the good he was meant to do instead of working on disease for the government."

"You set up the deal for Palmer to turn to Kole with his virus?" asked Will.

"You can call me the director of good deeds."

"It was okay with you for a weapons dealer to have a biological plague?"

Zachs shook his head, clicking his tongue. "I would never let it go that far, William. Why else did you think I made sure there was a mission to retrieve the dangerous half of the virus?"

"And yet you killed Agent Ian. What went wrong there?"

Zachs' gun wavered ever so slightly. "They followed Retten's orders, not mine, when they abducted Doctor Devi."

***

On the screen Watch One sat back in his chair, eyes wide and jaw hanging.

"Do you believe me now?" snapped Cetz as he rerouted the SkySprecht feed back to his headset.

"We-we will have a full team at the Luvor in thirty minutes—"

"Not good enough!" Cetz snapped off the connection to Watch One and turned to Olivia. "Get me the pilot on call and have me meet me on the roof in five minutes. Call Rachel, update her on the situation, and tell her she's in charge."

He stopped to one place before going to the elevator, to his office to get a long black case from his closet.