Blood Relative by James Swallow Page B

physical and mental power, perhaps even extra-sensory abilities, all of it within my reach..."
    "I know what you are hiding!" the officer barked. "I know all about the off-book research and unreported testing you have been doing!"
    "Yes, your pathetic spies hiding among my staff," she said in a bored voice. "I wonder, has it occurred to you that you haven't heard from them in a while?" Schrader watched him carefully. "They all suffered a terrible lab accident when a seal vented unexpectedly. Quite tragic, really."
    The general bared his teeth. "You are relieved of your post, Madam Director," he said with venom. "Both of you are to consider yourselves under arrest! You will accompany me to Nu Nuremburg where I will convene an immediate court martial into your activities here... Perhaps if both of you throw yourselves on the mercy of the tribunal, you may avoid a firing squad!"
    "I think not," Schrader gave Volks a shallow nod. "Johann? If you would?"
    Volks hesitated for a moment, licking his lips. He looked to the woman for some kind of guidance.
    "Kapten..." Schrader insisted, her voice hardening.
    Volks gave the smallest of nods and then whispered into a communicator on his uniform collar. "Code one, expedite."
    "What-?" Rössa whirled as shapes moved outside the window. Troopers from the facility's garrison emerged to surround the parked flyers and robo-gunners floated into view. Although the armoured plastisteel of the dome was thick enough to turn away a las-bolt, the sounds of gunfire still penetrated. The general watched his personal guard cut down in a storm of laser blasts.
    Rössa's pistol was in his hand as he turned to face Schrader. The ornate Rheinmetall SonneHauk was a family heirloom that dated back to the earliest Nort campaigns on the Argentine Moons, and the heavy, blunt maw of the gun yawned before him. "You're insane!" The general squeezed the trigger, but the weapon emitted nothing but a harmless click. Rössa worked the gun fiercely without result.
    Schrader pointed up at the ceiling, where a lamp concealed a humming pack of circuits. "Beam polariser," she explained. "Negates all laser reactions within a fifty metre radius." The scientist stood, opening the sample case. "You're a victim of your own vanity, General. That antique you haul around with you like some ridiculous fetish is your undoing. If you had lowered yourself to the indignity of carrying a ballistic handgun like most senior officers, then you might have been able to kill me." She produced a pistol-like device made of plastic and glass. "As it is, your toy is now no more than an elaborate paperweight... Unlike this one."
    She pressed the skinny weapon into Volks's grip. "Let's finish this sordid matter now, shall we?"
    Rössa snorted. "You wouldn't dare. Kapten Volks, you are an officer and a member of the Nordland Party! You will obey me and surrender your weapon!"
    Schrader continued to speak as if Rössa had said nothing. "This is a bact-gun. I've loaded it with some of the less promising examples of my experiments. Show the good general, Johann."
    With an angry roar, Rössa launched himself at Volks, his greatcoat flaring open behind him like wide black wings. The Nort officer fired on reflex and the bact-gun spat a viscous plug of jelly into the general's face. Rössa fell back under the shock of the impact and shrieked. The gelatinous fluid burned into the bare skin around his throat and chin, seeping directly into the pores.
    Wracked with agony, Rössa crashed to his knees and clawed at his flesh. "What have you done to me? Stak! Nain!" Blood flooded out from his nostrils, mouth and eyes. "Aieeee!"
    Schrader stood and watched Rössa collapse to the floor screaming and convulsing; seconds later, he was dead. Volks pushed the bact-gun back into her hands with sweaty fingers. "He... he won't be the last. What will we do when more of them come?"
    She gave him a cool smile. "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it, Johann. We're beyond