The Last Days of Krypton - Kevin J. Anderson [29]
Though he was a large man, Nam-Ek could move with predatory stealth. Anyone who recognized him as Zod’s ward would no doubt assume he was on an important task for the Commissioner.
Using Zod’s access codes, the big mute could easily manipulate the systems. He understood much more than most people gave him credit for. In the sleepy stillness, he passed underground and descended winding staircases into the intake level of holding cells. He glided along as smoothly as a rain droplet trickling down a polished window. His first task at a substation panel was to deactivate the security imagers. Assuming it to be nothing more than a routine malfunction, the night staff would request that it be fixed during the next work shift.
As he came closer to his quarry, Nam-Ek’s big fists bunched and released, bunched and released. He thought of the Kandor zoo, remembering how much joy those animals had given him—the drang and its amusing antics, the ferocious-looking snagriff, the lumbering rondors. Zod had taken him to the zoo only two months earlier, and now Nam-Ek would never see those creatures again.
Extinct. What could possibly be a severe enough punishment for such an unspeakable crime? He had brought a long knife and a pulse scalpel, though he hoped he could do most of this work with his bare hands.
When he was in position, he used Zod’s access crystal to send a signal that called away the two guards stationed at the Butcher’s holding cell: a hint of smoke detected in a records complex three levels up. Nam-Ek lurked around the corner in a recessed doorway as the two armored guards jogged off down the hall, chattering with excitement and surprise at having something to do for a change.
As soon as they were gone, Nam-Ek moved in. He wasn’t sure how much time he would have, but he intended to accomplish as much as possible.
Using the guards’ controls, he unsealed the armored cell door and blocked the opening with his massive body. The Butcher of Kandor sat in the chamber, looking up with mad, bloodshot eyes and a deranged grin on his face. “Come to free me?” He sprang to his feet. “Shall we go on a hunt?”
Nam-Ek stalked forward, grabbed the Butcher by his clumpy blond hair, and yanked his head back. It would have been easy just to snap his neck and be done, but that would not be satisfying. Not satisfying at all.
The prisoner snarled and thrashed like an animal in a trap. Nam-Ek hauled out the pulse scalpel and jammed it into the criminal’s throat, dispensing a burst just deep enough to mangle his larynx, severing the vocal cords and cauterizing the wound at the same time. The man would die soon enough, but not until Nam-Ek allowed him to. Now they were both speechless.
Though the Butcher writhed and clawed, the big mute easily held him in place. Using the blunt fingers of his left hand, Nam-Ek scooped out one of the man’s eyes, plucking it free and setting the bloody orb on the cell’s cold, hard bench where it could be a lone witness to what happened next. He wanted to let the Butcher keep his other eye, for now, so he could see what would happen to him next…like the animals in the zoo had seen their bloody fates.
The Butcher snapped his teeth together and spat, but only hollow wheezing noises came from his mangled throat. When he clawed Nam-Ek’s cheek, the bearded mute grabbed the prisoner’s hand and broke all of his fingers—a small, petulant gesture.
And it was just the first step. Nam-Ek took out the knife.
In the end, what this heinous man had done to the poor zoo animals seemed gentle compared to Nam-Ek’s savage artistry….
Afterward, with justice and revenge served, he thought no more about the rare creatures or the man who had killed them. There would be an uproar about the shocking murder in the prison cell, but Nam-Ek did not worry. No one would suspect him.
CHAPTER 10
When his battered silver flyer finally arrived back in Argo City, Zor-El was burned, exhausted,