Read Online Major Karnage by Gord Zajac - Free Book Online

Corporation.”
    “Thanks for your help. You some kind of engineer or something?”
    “Nope. Just a Lineman from the old C&E.”
    “Communications and Electronics Branch?”
    “That’s the one.”
    “You’re a military man.”
    “Was. Corporal Russel J. Stumpton. Haven’t been military in
over twenty years.”
    “That how you lost the hand?”
    Stumpton nodded wistfully, absently rubbing his stump. He
shook it off. “But that was a long time ago. Now I’m just another
veteran, like you.”
    “What do you mean ‘like me’?”
    “You’re Major Karnage, aren’t you?”
    Karnage eyed him suspiciously. “How do you know my name?”
    “Oh, come on, Major. Don’t look at me like that. Of course I know
who you are. They said your name enough times when they brought
you in here. Besides, even if they didn’t, I’d have figured it out for
myself. Nobody’s talked about anything but you for a while now.”
    “They been talkin’ about me, have they?”
    “It’s all anyone’s been able to talk about for days. ‘Where is he?
How do we get him? What do we do when we’ve got him? Do we even
want to catch him?’ They prepared that cell especially for you, you
know. It’s been quite a show.”
    “Sounds like you’ve been enjoying it.”
    “You’re damn right I have. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not
a lot to do for fun around here. I take my amusement where I can get
it. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, that Riggs fella
showed up and threw a monkey wrench into everything.”
    Karnage’s pulse quickened at the mention of the name. “What do
you know about Riggs? What can you tell me about him?”
    “Not too much. Just what I’ve heard through the grapevine.
Apparently he was brought in by the brass to take care of you
personally.”
    Karnage scowled. “Oh he was, was he?”
    “He’s been talking up a storm about how easy you’ll be for him to
take down. Apparently you’re nothing he can’t handle.”
    Karnage cracked his knuckles. “I look forward to proving him
wrong.”
    “You’re going to have to get in line. Nobody here likes him much.
Especially Sydney.”
    “Who’s Sydney?”
    “The former captain of this precinct. Sydney got pushed aside
when they brought Riggs in. There aren’t many people here pleased
about that, least of all Sydney.”
    A door opened in the distance. Karnage looked down the hall.
Riggs came striding into the room. He smiled at Karnage. “Good. I’m
glad to see that you’re—” Riggs’s eyes darted to the screen behind
Karnage’s head. His features darkened and he turned to Stumpton.
“Did you do this?”
    Stumpton’s eyes went wide. “How could I? I’m locked up.”
    “Disseminating information on circumventing systems security
is a class five felony under the Dabney Intellectual Property
Ordinance.”
    “You make one hell of a bureaucrat, Roach.”
    Riggs winced at his nickname. He turned to Karnage and smiled.
“Nobody calls me that anymore, John.”
    “Oh yeah? Why not? Looks to me like it’s still true. Things go
to shit and you come out smellin’ okay. Just like old times, isn’t it,
Roach? Oh, except for the part where you stabbed us in the back.”
    “I didn’t stab anyone in the back, John.”
    “No. You just dropped your dog tags and ran.”
    “It’s a lot more complicated than that, John.”
    “How complicated can it be, Roach? You’re here. You’re alive. You
ran. End of story.”
    “I would have been killed!”
    “You don’t deserve life, Roach. And one day, I’m going to make
that happen for you.”
    “Warning. Sanity Level upgraded to Lemon Breeze. Please refrain
from violent behaviour.”
    “John, please.” Riggs sighed. “Look, you’ve been through a lot. I
understand that. And I’m sure you had your reasons for doing what
you did.”
    “Doing what I did? What the hell are you—? Oh, I get it. You
think I blew up the asylum.”
    “I didn’t say