Devolution

Having remained carefully hidden and in disguise for some time after the happy trio had left, Masterman’s spy stepped into an amenity cube and locked the door behind him. So naive, he thought to himself as he removed the pus yellow colored contact lenses from his eyes and placed them in a small plastic bag. The strange group of friends thinking they are going on some teenage road trip adventure which will somehow have a significant bearing on the future of earth. They know nothing and they won’t get very far anyway. It will be a waste of young life but who the hell cares about that anymore. Not me, he thought while peeling off the rags which constituted his disguise, and placing them inside another plastic bag.

He removed the last of his vagabond garments and put them together with the other items in a dark blue bag which he sealed and dropped on the floor of the amenity cube. A smoky gas filled the bag and slowly burned everything inside it. As the last of the clothes was destroyed the bag began to shrink as the air was sucked from the inside. In two minutes the bag and everything in it had been reduced to a few pinches of gray powder. He scuffed the powder around the floor then focused his attention on the mirror.

‘Stupid kids!’

‘Hello Freddy,’ said a digitized female voice. ‘You have been inside this cube for five minutes. Do you require any assistance?’

‘No.’

‘Do you require more time?’

‘Yes.’

He thoroughly washed his face and hands then combed his hair and smoothed out his jacket and pants. Finally he added a couple of quick squirts of deodorant then left the amenity cube.

Striding along Vishnu Avenue down towards the Mahim Bay, Freddy turned his attention to the next task. Someone was supposed to be meeting him on the ferry to take his report and give him a new set of instructions.

The street widened as it neared the foreshore as though the city planners had tried to emulate the mouth of a river as it spilled into the sea. It was a pleasant effect, pleasing to tourists and those locals who cared about aesthetics. Freddy’s main concern was always practicalities. What the hell use was a thing if it looked pretty but didn’t do the job. Like wide landscaped sidewalks with fancy paving stones and ornate garden boxes; fine for the people but what about the loss of road and parking space for vehicles? Damned local councils were to blame. Since the abolition of provincial governments, the local councils had swelled in numbers, self importance and excelled in the skills of obstruction and annoyance.

A tempting fragrance wafted by Freddy’s nose and drew him to a kebab vendor opposite the ticket office for the ferries. He checked his watch to make sure he had time for the diversion then proceeded to order a beef curry kebab with chili sauce, and a bottle of Coke.

Standing and watching the crowds flit around like gnats, he reflected on how much he had enjoyed his last assignment. What a fine challenge that young Deist had presented to him. What was his name? Jeremiah. A fast runner, tireless and wily, too clever for that meathead Eli, and he knew his way around the city very well and had many friends on whom he could call for help. Ironic that he should have met his current assignment albeit briefly and anonymously, before he was marked to die. Jeremiah’s cousin, Joshua was with the other two in that gaudy orange Monaro and all four may have had to die then and there on the freeway if it wasn’t for the untimely, from his point of view, intervention of the police.

Never mind, Freddy had learned patience and was not paid by the hour as his employers only cared that the job was done and done well. If he missed an opportunity or was unexpectedly foiled, there would be other chances. Sometimes that added to the fun, to the thrill of the chase. His was by nature a hunter and a straight kill rarely gave him any pleasure, it was just work. Trying to rub out young Jeremiah had been one of the more memorable chases in his career.

Finishing the rest of the kebab, he wiped his mouth then emptied the remains of the Coke into his stomach. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and tossed it on the ground.

Walking again, Freddy lit a cigarette and pondered when he might get the ‘go message’ to take out Joshua. Of course, he could have already done it several times as he had followed him around the city but his employer wanted him to wait. Freddy did not know what the hell for. It was obviously a timing thing and none of his business really so he remained content to do as he was told as long as he was paid and he already had been in advance for this job.

He bought a ticket and boarded the ferry which was bound for Prabha Devi, giving the attendant a filthy look when he told him that smoking was not permitted. Going to the escalator in the center of the main cabin, Freddy rode to the upper observation deck and took a seat towards the port side of the craft. Then he lit another cigarette.

Unobserved by Freddy, a tall man dressed in jeans and loose fitting black T-shirt also boarded the ferry and followed him up the escalator to the observation deck. Had Freddy seen him he would have recognized him from the earlier gathering in Borivali. He might have then wondered about the coincidence of them meeting again, and he might have thought it wise to catch another ferry or to not catch one at all.

As the ferry reversed away from the jetty, the engine rumbled and the man in the black T-shirt made his way towards Freddy from behind. Quickly and silently he covered the distance from the observation deck exit to the row of seats where Freddy was sitting, puffing casually on his smoke.

Now two steps away, he withdrew an electrogun from the inside of his left boot, and reached for Freddy’s unprotected back. Freddy leaned forward suddenly, causing the man in the black T-shirt to lose his balance and topple headlong over the seat. In an awkward tumble, he banged his head against the back of the chair in front and was momentarily dazed. Seizing the opportunity, Freddy pulled his own electrogun from a pouch inside his jacket and pressed it against the fallen man’s temple before he had time to recover and get to his feet.

Grabbing the shocked would be killer by the shirt collar, Freddy said, ‘Who sent you?’

The other man seemed surprised he was still alive and was unable to comprehend the question let alone answer it.

‘It’s a stun setting,’ said Freddy proudly. ‘My own little piece of innovation. Now tell me who sent you!’

Starting to recover, the man in the black T-shirt was able to focus on Freddy and he smiled.

Aware of the crowd which had gathered around him, Freddy knew he had perhaps only a few more minutes to extract the information he needed before the security guards apprehended him. They wouldn’t ask any questions; that was not their job. The man had to die whether he talked or not.

Freddy slapped him across the face with the handle of the electrogun and said, ‘Last chance. I’m going to kill you. Who sent you?’

Still the same idiotic smile which infuriated him. Switching the setting to kill, he quickly disposed of the bumbling assassin with a final jolt from his electrogun then stood up, and was about to back away through the crowd when he had a thought. Stooping down to the hot corpse he began to rifle through his jeans pockets searching for something to identify him. A good assassin would carry no such incriminating material but this guy was obviously not top shelf. Freddy found his wallet and quickly stuffed it in his own pocket before grabbing the dead man’s electrogun and pushing through the crowd, heading back towards the escalators.

Two security guards in the all gray uniforms of transit police were traveling up the escalators. Before they could get a good look at him, Freddy leapt down the moving staircase three steps at a time and bolted for the door. The attendant was just keying in the security code to lock the door and Freddy could see through the window that the ferry had turned on its stern and was fifty meters away from the dock. He was trapped.

The guards turned quickly to pursue him shouting at him to stop and telling him there was nowhere to run.

Freddy cursed himself as he raced around the enclosed space of the lower cabin trying to maintain some distance between himself and the guards. If he had killed the man in the black T-shirt immediately and left the ferry he would be safe, whereas now he was struggling to think of a way to avoid arrest. If the guards did not know he had an electrogun, two of them in fact, he could allow them to get close and then kill them, but they would know for sure. Electroguns were illegal weapons and part of the crime reporting process which all the citizens of Earth knew was to identify the number of perpetrators and the number and types of weapons they were using.

That’s why the two officers, no doubt of inferior intelligence and ability were taunting him; they had the upper hand.

Freddy backed himself into a corner and pointed his electrogun at the advancing guards. He tried to think what he would do if he was one of them. Tried to remember the weaponry and apprehension assistance devices they carried as standard and what extra surprises they might have: tried to anticipate their next move.

‘Man,’ said one of the security guards, ‘You’re wasting your time. There’s no escape. Nowhere to run.’

Freddy remained silent cautiously regarding the two law men standing before him while evaluating his predicament and searching for a solution. The second gun. Yes the second electrogun he thought to himself. They probably don’t know that I have another electrogun. Must act fast because some blabber mouth who witnessed the killing will come down and tell them.

‘Okay,’ said Freddy, ‘I’ll put the gun down on the floor. I give up. Take it easy.’

‘Carefully place the gun down, then turn around and put your hands on the wall!’

‘Okay. Okay,’ said Freddy meekly, keen to show them he was willing to cooperate. ‘Take it easy, I’m doing it, see?’

He laid the still active electrogun on the floor and as he turned to the wall he noticed the guards drawing nearer to him. A little bit closer please boys, he thought.

‘Face the wall I said!’

Freddy moved his left hand slightly to adjust his view in the non reflective rear-view mirror stuck to the back of it. When one security guard bent down to retrieve the electrogun, Freddy swung his foot around and connected cleanly with his head. The other guard immediately drew a NETT canister from his belt, aimed it at Freddy and fired. Diving to the ground Freddy pulled the other electrogun from his pocket and lunged for the guard just reaching his thigh. He fired the electric pulse into the man, instantly disabling him. At the same time he felt the net fall on his feet and cling to them, constricting with each movement he made.

The first guard who Freddy had kicked in the head was scrambling back to his feet and reaching for his NETT canister when Freddy managed to stretch out far enough to grab the first electrogun and make some contact with his body. Neither jolt was fatal as the electricity had not been delivered directly to the brain but both guards were nonetheless incapacitated which gave him sufficient time to take a pen laser from one of the guard’s belts and carefully cut the compressed netting off his feet.

Becoming aware again of the audience for this struggle Freddy heard some of the braver men calling to him and threatening him but he ignored them. Without weapons they would not try to attack him, not even with the advantage of numbers they held.

Freddy stripped both guards of their weapons belts and put them in a carry bag which he had pulled from the stow compartment above his head and emptied of its contents. He looked around at the faces watching him. Some shocked, some angry, some scared. Eventually they might decide to get brave, and join forces against him. There may be enough wannabe heroes aboard to still present a threat to him so he needed to get off the ferry. The trip to West gate port took twenty minutes. He looked at his watch and realized he had at least another five or six minutes to wait. Too long.

Gathering up his bag, Freddy walked coolly over to the door where the attendant was standing rigid.

‘Open the door,’ he ordered.

‘I’m sorry sir but I can’t open the door when the ferry is in motion.’

Impatiently, Freddy pointed an electrogun at the man and took a step closer to him. ‘Open the door. I know there is an emergency override, now use it.’

‘I need authorization from the pilot,’ said the attendant, stalling.

Noticing the intercom panel on the lapel of the attendant’s jacket, Freddy reached out and jabbed it with his finger.

A clear voice came from the tiny speaker. ‘Ship’s pilot here.’

Freddy gestured for the attendant to speak then realized the pilot would already know what was going on in the cabin.

‘I need this door opened now,’ said Freddy, ‘or I am going to kill your friend here.’

‘Okay,’ came the reply, followed by a brief pause. ‘Go ahead Stan key in the exit code and let him out.’

The door slid open and Freddy stepped out to be instantly refreshed by the rush of a stiff sea breeze and the salty spray of the waves. He grabbed a rescue ball pack off the outside wall, activated it, dropped it over board and jumped straight inside. Closing the hatch, he ordered the autopilot on and settled back to enjoy the ride across the wind chopped surface of Mahim Bay.