Tangled Intersections by Eva LeFoy Read Free Book Online Page B

his final expression. The chance
to gauge how it felt from Rister’s final seconds. So many things he
wanted to know but never would. Not if he melted at any
rate.
    Thirsty, he headed back
toward the lifts and away from C Deck. Back on the observation
deck, he found the place lively and all traces of the previous
nightmare vanished. Below his feet, the station hummed its normal
tune. Cah cahh nuh. Cah cahh
nuh.
    He returned to the same little café
he’d visited earlier, this time drinking down a cold beverage. As
he placed his glass in the re-cyc container, he heard his messaging
unit buzz. “What now?”
    He thumbed it on and Ballantine’s face
filled the screen. “Doctor, you’re still here. Why haven’t you
left?”
    Grison scowled. “Whatever
for?”
    “ Rister, he’s—”
    “ Dead,” Grison said
flatly. “I saw it with my own eyes.”
    Ballantine blanched a chalky shade and
her pupils dilated. “But, he’s… he’s…” The screen swiveled and
bounced, blurring the image. When it came to rest once more, Rister
held Ballantine in a headlock, a knife pressed to her
throat.
    A shiver of excitement electrified
him. “No. That can’t be. You’re dead, Rister. Dead.”
    He re-arranged his hold as the nurse
struggled. Finally he got her well immobilized. “Not yet I’m not.
You’re going to have to do better than that to get rid of
me.”
    The silent chant restarted
in his head and his hands began to shake from the veracity of his
need. Kill Rister. Kill Rister. Kill
Rister.
    “ Come down here and get
me, or Ballantine dies.” The camera clicked off.
    Grison lifted his head and
looked around. Nobody seemed to be staring at him or to have heard
his conversation. Dumbly he stared at the empty screen once
more. But how is this possible? I saw him
die. I saw it! Have I gone mad?
    Not wanting to contemplate the last
option, he headed for the lift. Surely someone in security would
help him. They had to be there now. All he had to do was notify
them. Everything will be fine.
    But it wasn’t fine. He was drawn to
Rister like a magnet, desperate to end his life. If he could just
get rid of Rister, he would be free to live as he chose. Damn him
for escaping. None of his other victims head fought back so
cleverly. Now it was time for him to die.
    Grison stepped off the lift and found
the security hallway empty once more. The lights were not only on,
the place was lit up like a sun. He listened at the door to the
cell chamber but heard no movement within. Standing well to one
side, he waved his arm in front of it. The doors whished open.
After a moment’s hesitation, he walked in to find everything as it
should be. Ballantine sat at the desk reading her notes. Rister
glared from behind the screen.
    “ What the…?” Grison
stopped, dumbfounded. This wasn’t part of the game. Rister had
broken the rules.
    Ballantine rose from her chair.
“Hello, doctor. Come to visit our patient today?”
    Grison backed away slowly, keeping his
eyes on Rister the whole time. The doors whished open and he passed
through them out into the hall. As he stood there, the lights
clicked off. A sick, terrible feeling that he was imagining all
this but that there was no escape turned his blood and bones to
thick slurry. In one raw second, his life flew before his eyes at
zoom speed.
    Yes, he wasn’t perfect.
Yes, he’d made mistakes. But was that really so bad? Had he really
done anything wrong that other people didn’t want him to do as
well? Gritting his teeth, he began to breathe though his trembling
lips. Kill Rister. Kill Rister.
    “ Stay focused,” he
whispered. “Do what has to be
done.”
    “ Oh yes. What has to be
done is final, permanent.”
    The nasally, low pitched voice
lacerated Grison’s last hold on control. He pivoted, putting his
back against the wall and peered into the darkness toward the
little devil’s direction. “Please, don’t.”
    “ Don’t what? Kill Rister?”
A floating form emerged from the