Child's Play: 10/10
by Linda Garrick
Edited and Revised by Nancy Smith
Mark limped toward the exit as fast as he dared, hearing the scrape of boots behind him intermingling with the sobs of the prisoners. Julia cried out shrilly and he grimaced at the emanations of pain from her mind. Resolutely, he turned his attention from it. To betray weakness now would be fatal. He must continue to act the part until they reached the aircar.
He could feel the fear of the patrolmen accompanying him. It was obvious that they thought their master to be in a foul mood and were not about to do anything to antagonize him. He could, in his present disguise, get away with practically any behavior and no one would question him.
Except for one person. Jael Martin was the fly in the ointment, so to speak. The man was dangerous. He alone had attempted to delay Mark. He alone had been willing to risk the wrath of the Jil, sensing, no doubt, the strangeness of the situation. Mark remembered Jael Martin from the Battle of Ladreen, six years ago. Then, too, the intuitive officer had seen through their ruse, bringing the Patrol down on the fleeing Undergrounders.
But perhaps this time wouldn't be the same. Linley had struck the man, trying very hard to knock him out, but Martin had instinctively ducked, damn him! And Linley hadn't dared to delay things any longer. Still, perhaps Martin would now retreat, rather than risk death by antagonizing a Jil any further.
A few more minutes to the aircar and they would be safe. At his bodyguard's command, the prisoners would be stowed in the rear seat and the Underground agents would disable the patrolmen and the doctor. Before anyone on the "Titan" realized what had happened, they would be away.
There was the airlock. Eldridge reached out to trigger the outer lock.
It was then that Mark sensed the presences behind him. He turned as Jael Martin entered the lock behind them, a blaster clutched in both hands.
"Hold it!" the Strike Commander barked. "Hold it right there, sir!"
Eldridge, Wilcox, the doctor and the patrolmen turned to stare at the man. Martin was accompanied by his Subcommander, Linley saw: a tall, muscular black man whose hand rested conspicuously on the hilt of the blaster at his hip.
Eldridge stepped forward, glaring. "What the hell are you doing, sir? Have you gone crazy? Take the blaster off M'Lord at once!"
Martin's hands were shaking but he gripped the blaster more tightly -- much too tightly for Mark to snatch the weapon with telekinesis. Linley saw him swallow convulsively and had to give him reluctant credit for sheer, raw courage. Martin was taking an incredible risk, and knew it.
"M'Lord," he said tightly, "if *you* order me to put the blaster down, I'll obey you." He hesitated and wet his lips. "*Order* me, sir."
The Strike Commander was smart, Mark thought bleakly. He'd figured it out, just as he had six years ago. But he wasn't sure. Maybe he could be bluffed out of it. It was their only hope.
He drew in a deep breath and took a step forward, assuming the most threatening expression he could. Eldridge spoke again.
"M'Lord, please -- he's gone crazy! He must be defecting -- trying to rescue the prisoners."
Wilcox added his voice. "Please, sir, no closer. He might shoot you!"
The man holding Julia addressed the Strike Commander. "Sir, put your blaster away! Are you nuts? It's M'Lord!"
"I don't think so," Martin said. "I think it's a Terran -- an Undergrounder dressed up as M'Lord."
The red-haired prisoner's head came up. He twisted his face toward Mark, a great light dawning on his features.
Jael Martin missed nothing. His gaze flicked briefly toward the little man and his expression hardened. "Sooo -- the Terran psychic has realized that your mind isn't that of a Jilectan, in spite o' all that perfume you're wearin'. Okay, on your face, mister. An' you too, Garcia, an' Smithfield, or whoever you are!"
What would Martin do if Mark simply refused to obey? Probably fire a stunbolt. That would decide it, of course. A stunbolt that would only jolt a Jilectan would render Mark unconscious.
Alan was aware of their dilemma and was moving. The aircar was coming toward the "Titan", but Mark could see no way that his partner could help without getting caught, himself.
But it never came to that. Jael Martin voiced a sudden howl of pain and flung the blaster away. It thumped against a bulkhead and dropped to the deck, and Mark was astonished to see the weapon glowing bright and hot. The Subcommander was pulling his own sidearm and Linley grabbed for it with telekinesis. It twisted from the man's grip, arched through the air and smacked solidly into Mark's hands.
Eldridge's blaster was out and leveled. "On your faces! Move!" He gestured to the two men holding the prisoners. "Down! Let 'em go and get down! You too, Doctor!"
With a scramble, the men obeyed and Mark covered them as Eldridge fired five stunbolts and then turned to the red-haired man. "Come on, buddy." He caught the fellow around the waist, half-carrying him toward the outer airlock. Wilcox triggered it.
Mark lifted his sobbing wife in his arms. "Alan's waiting. Hurry!"
He ran after Eldridge, down the boarding ramp to the waiting aircar.
There were no patrolmen on the field. Evidently, everyone who wasn't hunting for the missing five men was inside the ship. It gave them the critical time they needed to avoid pursuit.
Linley leaped inside, holding Julia tightly against him, and the others scrambled into the rear. The car lifted and shot away like an arrow into the darkness.
Mark let out his breath in a whoosh and tried to position Julia more comfortably on the seat. She recoiled, sobbing a name that he didn't understand.
"Baby, it's me!" He reached up to peel the Jil mask away and rubbed sweat from his eyes. Julia strained away from him, her face averted. "Jul, snap out of it! We're on our way to the station now!"
"Her name's not Jul," the little man they had rescued said suddenly. "It's Jiji."
"Are you nuts, mister? Julia, look at me!"
Her face turned toward him, thin, drawn, white and streaked with tears.
And Mark received a shock. It *wasn't* Julia. The woman he held was very like her -- so like her that he hadn't noticed the difference until it was called to his attention, but it wasn't his wife. This woman was thinner than Julia, and paler, and there were lines on her face, making her appear older. He saw Alan turn toward him and heard his partner's sharp, indrawn gasp.
"It's Jill! Holy heck, it's Jill!"
"Jill?" Mark gaped at the young woman he held. "Julia's sister?"
She was staring at him, wide-eyed. "Julia, my sister, is dead. She was killed by the Jils fourteen years ago!" She gave a sudden cry and clutched her belly. "Del, the baby's coming!"
Mark's head was spinning. The captive hadn't been Julia after all. Scotty's mother was Jill Austell, Julia's twin sister, who had supposedly died fourteen years before. But she hadn't. Through some miracle, she had somehow survived.
She screamed shrilly. "It's coming, Del! Help me!"
Mark checked with his clairvoyant power. Although foggy, since he was trying to read through living tissue, he could see that the baby's head was beginning to descend.
"Hurry, kid," he said. "We're runnin' out of time. I don't want to have to deliver another baby."
Del reached over the seat. "I'm right here, honey. We're safe now. The Underground's found us."
"You're her husband?" Mark turned to look at his new brother-in-law. "Scotty's your son?"
The man nodded eagerly. "Scotty! Is he okay?"
"He's at the station," Alan said. "You're Jill's husband?"
"Well, sort of." The young man flushed. "We were never legally married. There was no one to do it, but we had our own ceremony, years ago. I figured it was the best we could do. There could never be anyone for me except Jiji."
"Where did you meet her?"
"I've known her since I was eight. We were both at the Embassy the night of the siege."
"You *both* were!" Alan turned his head to stare at the young man. "You're Delbert Pinkerton! The Ambassador's son!"
"That's right." The little man grimaced, gripping Jill by the hand. "I'm right here, honey."
"There's the station." Alan brought the car down in front of the farmhouse. "Get her inside, Mark. I'll get the car under cover. Nobody's tracked us, and I want to keep it that way."
Linley scrambled from the car, reached inside to gather up Jill, and sprinted for the door of the Underground station.
**********
Chapter 11
"It's a girl." Wilma Eldridge emerged from the bedroom, smiling widely. "Pretty little girl with red hair."
Mark and Alan, who had been awaiting the news in the family room, got to their feet.
"Is everything okay?" Alan asked.
"Just fine. She's been through a lot, but she's a strong, young woman. You can see her now."
Alan and Mark entered the room, moving quietly. Jill lay on the wide bed, the baby in her arms. She looked up as they entered and smiled.
"Hello ... Mark, is it? And Alan ... little Alan Woodruff. I remember you."
"Actually it's Westover," Alan said. "Woodruff was just my cover name. And this is Mark Linley, my partner, and Julia's husband."
The young man got to his feet. "Those names sound pretty familiar," he said, extending a hand. "I haven't thanked you, and I can't, really."
Alan returned the smile. "Forget it. Our pleasure." He shook Del's hand.
"Where's Scotty?"
"He's still sleeping. The poor kid was up most of the night." He smiled wryly. "It was partly because of him that we were able to get you out so easily. He can tell you about it, later."
"Someone should get him. He's been so anxious to have a brother. Too bad we'll have to tell him that it's a sister." Del bent to place a hand on his small daughter's head. "I had a feeling all along that it was a girl."
"How did you escape?" Alan asked. "We thought you were both dead. Max Ducati told Julia that everyone had been killed. We never imagined that you were alive, Jill."
"And I never imagined that Julia was." Jill smiled weakly up at him. "It was Del who saved me."
"How?"
"He drugged us."
"He *what*?"
"Like in Romeo and Juliet," Del said. "I gave us both a dose of heptapropapine 4. The 'trols thought we were dead and dumped us in the lobby with the rest. I woke up as they were setting fire to the place, grabbed Jiji and got both of us out."
"You were just a kid," Alan said.
"Sixteen."
"Man!" Linley gave him a respectful look. "You got cool nerves, that's for sure. It was you that heated up the Commander's blaster, wasn't it?"
The little man nodded. "I can start fires with my thoughts -- and put them out, too. It's kind of a psychic ability."
"Yeah, we know," Mark said. "Go on. How did you get to Bellian?"
"We hid," Del told him. "For about a week, in a barn outside of town. Then, when I figured they'd probably forgotten about us, we snuck back at night and stowed away on an outgoing ship. We hid in some crates in the storage compartments. When we got here, we sneaked out and headed into the forest. I was afraid Jiji would be recognized. She's too beautiful."
Jill smiled at him, holding out her hand. He took the hand and kissed it.
"And then Scotty came along," Alan said. "Did you take her to the hospital when he was born?"
"I didn't dare. The Bellian immigration laws are very strict, and I knew they'd demand I.D. I delivered Scotty myself, and after that we were very careful that she not become pregnant again. I was afraid we wouldn't be so lucky the next time."
"That musta been fun," Linley remarked.
"Yeah." The young man had turned red. "As you can see, we weren't entirely successful."
Alan smiled. "What are you going to name her?" he asked.
"Jennifer, I think," Jill said. "After Mom."
"One of my daughters is named Jennifer," Mark said.
"Oh, really?" Jill surveyed Mark appraisingly and she smiled. "So, you're the guy that finally managed to snag my big sis."
"Yup," Mark said.
"Congratulations. I always thought of Julia as something of a prude. I figured she'd marry a Marvin Milquetoast, or something."
"Instead it was you that ended up with Mr. Milquetoast," Del said. "Your sis got Captain Trueheart of the Spaceways."
"That's me," Mark said, "but you ain't any Marvin Milquetoast, buddy. My hat's off to you."
"Mine, too," Alan said.
The door opened at that moment and Scotty entered the room, accompanied by Jill, Jennifer and Marky. Scotty gave a cry of delight and flung himself into his father's arms.
"Hi, son." Del kissed him. "You okay?"
"Yeah!" Scotty was staring at the baby. "Is that my brother?"
"No," Jill said. "It's your sister."
"A *girl*?" Scotty's face fell.
Jennifer glared at him. "You got something against girls?" she demanded hotly.
"Oh no," Scotty said quickly. "I like girls."
Mark bent down and slipped an arm around each of his daughters. "Me too," he said.
The End
