Serial Saturday #2.12: What Angus Knows

Everyone watched as the eyes on the droid started flashing again and no one spoke until finally, Sarah could stand it no longer.

"What does he mean? The Treaty of Ganymede is in danger? What final analysis? And what the hell does this have to do with me?"

Harcourt and the others turned to look at her. Ema stepped forward and put out a hand to reassure her and then with a roar, the floor dropped out from underneath her and she fell for what seemed like forever, passing deck after deck. She slowed to a halt, caught in an anti-gravity beam. Two men were waiting for her: one a huge mountain of a man and the other an impatient-looking fellow with a bad haircut and a gun.

"Finally," the second man snarled. He grabbed her by the arm and, pulling her out of the anti-gravity beam, began to drag her along the hallway.

The mountain of a man followed. Must be one of his goons, the frantic thought ran through Sarah's brain.

"About damn time something started going my way."

"Who are you? What do you want? Where are you taking me?"

"I'm Angus and someone wants a few words with you," he said.

"I don't understand," Sarah squirmed in his grasp. "Why me? I'm nobody important."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," he snarled back. "You're the key to this whole damn thing and you've led me on a merry chase. Almost got me killed. Two of my best men nearly torn to pieces by that mob you stirred up on the docks."

"But I'm not even the Director of the Malagasy Authority," Sarah protested. "I'm the Assistant Director. Nobody wants to kill the Assistant Director of anything! It doesn't make sense."

Angus stopped and looked down at Sarah and she saw a flash of uncertainty cross his face. "You mean you really didn't know? The old fool didn't tell you?"

"I don't know anything!" Sarah protested again.

"No matter," Angus tightened his grip on her arm and kept walking. "They'll tell you soon enough."

"Tell me what?"

"It won't matter."

"Why won't it matter?"

"You don't know what technology can do these days," Angus said. "The neural links they can implant in you. They can override your neural patterns and if that doesn't work, they'll just kill you. Hell, I still might."

"Who? What am I supposed to do?" Sarah dug in her heels now, fighting harder.

"You know what?" Angus said as he dragged her around the corner. "I'll tell you."

Sarah twisted again and this time, she broke free. Frantic, she ran in the opposite direction, back around the corner, and bounced off of the unyielding, muscular frame of one of Angus's goons.

"Damn it!" She heard Angus shout. she pounded on the chest of his goon, who had grabbed her by both arms, lifted her a foot into the air, and carried her back around the corner. "I swear, I'll put a bullet in your skull myself if you do anything like that again." He jabbed at his goon with the gun. "You carry her, I'm tired of dragging her along." The goon grunted and they kept walking. 

Sarah began to scream as loudly as she could. Kicking and writhing were no good. It was like kicking a bulkhead. The goon shook her roughly before twisting her around forcing her face into his chest, which effectively muffled her. Angus just laughed.

"You're not going to get away now and once they're doing with you, you won't care," Angus shook his head as they kept walking. "The Director was dying and traded six months of life to do their bidding. You were going to be brought on board at the proper time, willingly or not. And then, they'd get what they wanted. Another loyal city, ready to deliver Venus to them."

"How many?" Sarah had stopped screaming and her voice was muffled in the goon's chest.

"More than you might think. They need them all to complete their takeover. The mineral wealth alone means they'll do just about anything to get what they want." Angus paused and she heard the dull, metallic thunk of a handle being pushed down the creak of a door opening. "And you're just another piece of the puzzle."

He opened the door and stepped out, the goon carrying her ducking down to fit through the door frame. From the corner of her eye, Sarah could tell they were near a docking bay of some kind and terror began to fill her once more. Last chance, Sarah. She began screaming and kicking as hard as she could, fighting and writhing, twisting and biting anything she could think of to break free. Then there was the sound of a single gunshot. A wet, meaty sound. She fell, covered in blood. Dimly, she saw Angus returning fire, saw the goon's headless body stagger, unseeing, fountaining blood everywhere before collapsing, and then everything went black.