Free The Catalyst (Targon Tales) by Chris Reher Page A

beneath his hospital whites. An adrenaline rush surged through Nova’s veins to banish any remnants of tiredness from her system.
    He did not draw the gun but instead took her wrist to turn her arm, his touch gentle and steady. When he twisted to reach for the object he had placed on the tray, Nova exploded from her bed to hook one knee around his neck, using her other foot to launch herself forward and throw him off balance. He stumbled and pulled her along when he crashed to the ground. It was an inelegant maneuver that relied mainly on surprise and was hindered by her disadvantaged position, but she managed to pin him face-down, his arms twisted painfully behind his back. She grasped his hair and slammed his head onto the floor, stunning him, before reaching up to snatch the item he had placed onto her tray. It was an ampoule similar to the ones Doctor Darshan had left with her.
    "Time for my meds?" she asked.
    He turned his head but when he tried to shake her off she leaned forward to twist his arm even further. Something popped. He groaned in pain but did not call out for help. Blood pooled under his face from a broken nose.
    "Who sent you?"
    "Fuck you."
    "You’re not my type." She placed the needle-tipped vial against his neck. "Who sent you?"
    "You don't have the balls."
    She stabbed the needle deep into his neck. He squealed, not quite loud enough to alert nearby hospital staff. "Stop! Don't! "
    "That's in your jugular now. I've had practice with these things, believe me. All I have to do now is give it a good squeeze. I suggest you hold very still."
    He made a small and unclear sound.
    "I didn't quite get that. Who did you say sent you?"
    "Pe Khoja," he said. "Some Caspian named Pe Khoja, out of Magra."
    "Why?"
    "I don't know. Take that thing out of my neck!"
    Nova knew that she was running out of time. She felt the body beneath hers tense as he overcame the pain of his broken nose and assessed her hold on him. There were only moments before she would have to shout for help. "Who else on this base is working with him?"
    "Not telling you anything, bitch. Go ahead, start yelling. I’m not alone here but you are. No one will come for you. The Colonel made sure of that."
    "Colonel?"
    He lunged desperately away from the hand that held the deadly capsule to his neck and tried to roll her off himself. Nova increased her now one-handed leverage on his arm but when he twisted to slide from under her the capsule between her fingers compressed. The liquid in the ampoule surged into his vein and she held him down while he convulsed beneath her for the longest twenty seconds of her life and the last of his. She tumbled away and expelled something between a gasp and a sob.
    What had brought this rebel here? Who was this Caspian, this Pe Khoja, if that information was true? She stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily. What had he meant when he mentioned the Colonel? There were thousands of people on this base and most certainly there were rebels among them. Were they operating at command level right here on Targon, the most vital military installation in the entire sector?
    "Keep moving," she murmured and struggled to her feet. Get out of this place, regroup, if only with herself, find safety, think. She went to the door and peered into the hallway. No guards, no one in uniform, just the occasional medic and a few patients. And no way to tell friend from foe. She looked down at herself. Her clothes had been taken away and all she had where these pajamas or whatever it was that they issued in this place. There was blood on one of her sleeves and more was smeared across her chest.
    She bent over the dead rebel on the floor and tugged on his smock. When she rolled him over to remove it she also took his gun and felt instantly safer. His lab coat hid the gun and the blood on her sleeve. Before heading for the door, Nova snatched her medication packet from the tray by her bed.
    She slipped into the hallway and joined some of the