Merkiaari Wars: 04 - Operation Breakout Page 26

  “How much?”

  “Five million.”

  “Five?!” she gasped, that wasn’t the number she had been thinking. Five was... a lot. She didn’t believe for one minute that Paul had that kind of money.

  He nodded. “Three to cover my debts, and two for my wife. She needs it to keep the house, and then there are the kids to think about.”

  The poor sap. He was basically getting a lobotomy in Paul’s place so that his wife and kids could continue living the life they had become accustomed to. That kind of money would provide a life of luxury out here in the Border Zone. He could have simply declared bankruptcy and started again. Maybe sold the house he was so concerned about his wife keeping, and downsize his life. Get a job. Something! Anything but leave his kids fatherless this way. Mind-wiped he would be a different person. All former ties cut, a new identity and life provided to him far away from here. He would just disappear.

  Not her business.

  “Redding came to you with an offer. Five mil to take Paul Richmond’s place? And you said yes?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you know where Richmond is now?”

  “No. Redding must have bribed the guards. The fix was in and we switched places before leaving the courts. I never spoke to him or anything. Redding made us switch clothes, the guards put the chains on me, and that was it. I guess Redding will get him off world or something.”

  Kate grunted. There wasn’t much doubt of that, but she would have to check out Redding to be sure. No one set up something like this, spent so much money without expecting a return. Paul would be in hock forever for a favour of this magnitude.

  “You’re not going to kill me are you?”

  She pondered that. Was she going to kill him? She could right now. His body would find its way into the recycler eventually, so no need to even put herself out hiding him. He didn’t know anything that would help her, but then he didn’t know anything that would hurt her either. He was basically nothing to her; a nonentity.

  “If I say no, what will you do?”

  He swallowed. “Give myself up.”

  “And?”

  “And... and I won’t tell them anything about you. I don’t know anything!”

  Very true. “Good. In case you have a change of heart, remember this: If you talk I’ll kill your wife, your kids, and your fucking pets before I’m done. I’ll track your body down in its new life and tell it what I did before setting it on fire. Do you believe me?”

  His eyes were wide and his face very white. “Yes,” he whispered.

  “Very good! You’re a perceptive man. Sit there until I tell you.”

  His legs collapsed.

  * * *

  Kastoria City, Northcliff, Border Zone

  The man had walked by the shop twice before stopping to peer through the display window. The sun’s harsh light reflected back from the light grey plascrete sidewalk, and the shiny glass of the windows, but he didn’t seem bothered by it. His sunglasses had reacted as their nanocoat was programmed to do, darkening the lenses to a black that matched his obsidian skin.

  He touched the surface of the window and rubbed his fingers together at the tingling that caused. The glass was armoured against plasma and its surface had been nanocoated. Hutchinson & Gilbert Protection Specialists sold weapons and preferred people not steal them. The shop was open, but he didn’t enter right away, instead he peered inside looking for the owner. Felix Hutchinson. He located the little man after a moment and moved for the door stepping quickly inside.

  “Help you?”

  The man nodded. “Felix Hutchinson?”

  “That’s me. Do I know—”

  The bullet punched Felix in the forehead killing him instantly, but the assassin never left things that mattered to chance. He stepped closer, looming over the body and put another two rounds into its chest obliterating the heart. The suppressed slug thrower was nearly silent, and the targeting very precise—tightly grouped and machine-like. The man had bought his weapon from Felix’s biggest rival the previous day. He stared down at the body, assessing the scene.

  He pursed his lips briefly before putting away his gun and retrieving a different weapon from his coat. This one was a snub nosed pulser designed for close in work. He stepped over the corpse and aimed the weapon at the armoured door set beneath the counter. He triggered a long continuous burst, careful to burn the lock enough to make it appear he had failed to get through. This death was a random robbery attempt, not an assassination.

  Before leaving, he emptied the register of platinum and completely destroyed the security system. Locating and corrupting the data backups was child’s play to him, but he didn’t rush the process. Felix had kept copies of his files on the net. There would be no record of this visit or that of a tall woman carrying a long and heavy looking bundle the day before.

  The assassin left the shop, not looking back.

  * * *

  21 ~ Intervention

  Crowne Hotel, Kastoria City, Northcliff

  Kate returned to her hotel distracted by the news coverage on the net. The recapture of the fugitive, Paul Richmond, was big news right now and she was watching for any mention of the impostor Danny Cole. There was nothing, and that was good, but she would watch until his mind-wipe was confirmed. KSD, the entire department, were being hailed as heroes. No mention had been made so far of how easily they had lost their prisoner in the first instance, or the way said prisoner had turned himself in. All of that was glossed over in the city’s haste to reassure its citizens that everything was under control. A story was concocted to cover the recapture and life went on.

  She locked her door after pressing the do not disturb button. She needed a shower in the worst way. Her street clothes had the faint but lingering aroma of garbage. Her hair too. Charming. She would throw away the clothes, but not her sneaksuit. She would have to hope that airing it out would help. It was much too useful to discard, and replacing it would impact her dwindling funds too hard. She begrudged every credit now. She hadn’t anticipated a need for more money at this stage. She had expected to be aboard Harbinger with her brother on their way to jump, not contemplating yet another search and possible rescue attempt.

  She crossed the room already working zippers and buttons, heading for the bedroom’s on suite bathroom. Another headline flashed into the open window on her display, and she paused to analyse it, but it quickly became apparent there was nothing new. Citizens were advised that zone 5 was still off limits blah blah, and that ground traffic was being diverted over or around the affected area blah blah.

  “Yeah, yeah... old news,” she murmured and stepped into her bedroom.

  Snick!

  Kate froze, and looked down at the tripwire. “Well... fuck.”

  “Don’t. Move,” Stone said in his quiet and most dangerous voice.

  Her attention flicked to her traitorous sensors. Nothing. He wasn’t behind her as far as they were concerned. The room was empty. Neat trick. She would have to learn that one if she lived. She’d been monitoring her sensors for viper emissions especially since her arrival at Northcliff; all for nothing if Stone could spoof her systems so easily.

  “Reach for the pulser. Two fingers only. Do it slow.”

  “You said not to move,” she said dryly.

  Stone didn’t laugh. “Do not test me. You’re one step from being the latest ghost in my database.” He pressed the muzzle of his weapon hard against the back of her head. “Rogue, Richmond. I don’t need to do anything but put you down. Be grateful I’m even talking.”

  There was that. Standing orders for rogue units was immediate disposal often with extreme prejudice—the only way to take a viper down quickly. Scrapped for the good of the regiment was policy, not just words. He wouldn’t even need to justify the action. All he needed to say was: she went rogue.

  She delved into her pocket, and with thumb and finger she withdrew the pulser he was interested in. She held it out to the side, dangling for him
to take. He did so, but was taking no chances. Absolutely none. He kept his own weapon painfully hard against her skull, and reached carefully to take the pulser from her. She didn’t try anything. He would pull the trigger. She knew he would, and there was the tripwire as well. She didn’t know what it was connected to, but she had armed whatever it was when she stepped on it. She must have because it hadn’t done anything, like blow her legs off. Yet.

  “Back towards me,” Stone ordered already backing away himself. “Slowly.”

  “The tripwire?”

  “Sonic disruptor, set to paralyse not kill if you’re wondering. I’ve just disabled it. Step back, now.”

  She did as he said, but tried to keep him talking. “I’m surprised sonics work against us.”

  “When I build something it works, even against one of us. Most wouldn’t. Our processors automatically analyse and filter anything harmful if given the time. It depends how clever you are with cloaking.”

  “Inside knowledge must help.”

  “I couldn’t do much without it,” Stone agreed. “Keep backing.”

  Kate took another step, trying to come up with a plan. Stone was a MK1 viper. An original like Burgton. She was the latest and greatest off the line, making her faster and stronger, but even so she didn’t like the odds. She might beat him and survive the fight, but would she be in any condition to continue her mission?

  “...and subliminals are even worse, they can be a real bitch to filter out. They wouldn’t be subliminal if they weren’t. Stop there.”

  She stopped. “You were saying about subliminals?”

  Her eyes darted around looking for a way to get the drop on him. Her sensors were still blithely informing her that she was alone. He must be using ECM somehow. It was all she could think of. She had to guess exactly where he was from the sound of his voice. She conjured imagery in her mind and a window opened upon her display showing a still shot of the room. He was—should be—behind the couch with the windows at his back near one of the building’s support columns holding up the floor above. In his place, she would have her back hard against it to prevent surprises, like getting thrown through the window by a rogue viper unit.

  “Keeping me talking is a good tactic, Richmond, but it won’t help you. I know all your moves. I helped write the book you were trained with.”

  She snorted. “You think a lot of yourself, don’t you? I arrived on Snakeholme already well trained, Stone. You recruited me, dammit. You should know that.”

  “I do know, that’s part of why we’re still talking.” A set of restraints landed at Kate’s feet. “Put those on, and we can keep talking. Don’t put them on, and you’re done. Choose.”

  Choose. Just like that she had to choose captivity and transport home, or risk a fight and possible death? She had her brother to find! It wasn’t as easy as he made it sound. Choose, like she ever really had a choice where her brother was concerned. Her father’s death had wiped away any she’d had. She had tried to bring up Paul properly. Prepare him, as their father had prepared her, for life on Bethany, which had some particular challenges not found on other worlds. Society there wasn’t so much repressive as it was particular in its details. There’s a right way and a wrong way to behave in every situation. Smile with this degree for first meetings, smile with that degree for friends. Even insulting someone with a cultivated sneer was covered. She had taught him when it was permissible to shake hands, when not to, and when insult became outright challenge actionable in court. All of it was bullshit to someone like her, someone who had travelled the Alliance and seen how people were meant to live, but absolutely essential for any proper Bethanite wanting to live on Bethany’s World. Bethanites were very proper in superficial things like manner and dress, yet The Ten ruled like despots smiling with the proper degree of sincerity at all times of course.

  “Kate,” Stone said very quietly. “Put them on... please.”

  He called her Kate. He only ever used her first name when the conversation switched from business to personal. It meant something. It meant he wasn’t as unaffected by her decision as he wanted to appear. She took a breath and bent to retrieve the restraints from the floor. They were heavy duty plasteel manacles. He must have had them made special. She wouldn’t be able to break them. She hesitated for another long moment and then slipped them on.

  “You can turn around,” Stone said when the manacles clicked shut. He sounded relieved. “Sit.”

  Anger at his order flared and heated her face. She wasn’t his dog! But when she turned and saw his face the anger fled. He looked haggard. Tired and worried, but very obviously relieved that he hadn’t yet had to put her down. She read all that in the instant she saw his face. She knew him that well. It gave her hope that things would turn out, or it did until she sat on the couch and he asked another question.

  “How the hell did you manage to screw this up, Richmond? I provided you a ship and an opportunity for your little side project. I even supplied backup in the form of Fuentez.”

  “Is she here?”

  Stone shook his head. “She’s on Helios doing the job... where we should be. She’s covering our butts while I fix this. I saw the trial, and I see you here without your brother. What happened?”

  She told him. All of it. From the moment she arrived on Northcliff, to stepping on his tripwire. He listened without interruption. He had his V2 pistol in hand but down by his side. When she’d finished her story, he stashed the weapon out of sight under the light jacket he was wearing and finally took a seat. He perched on the edge of it, leaning toward her, but it was a good start. Sure he could leap into action in milliseconds; so could she, but she took his posture as a good sign.

  “My sensors tell me you’re not here, Stone.”

  He smirked.

  “Oh, get over yourself!” she growled.

  “I’ve lived a long life, Kate. I’ve picked up a few things in that time. Actually, Fuentez taught me this one... or part of it. She picked it up on Kushiel.”

  “Gina did?”

  “She had to shut down all her data ports when Sebastian tried to hack her systems. That had the effect of making her disappear as far as our IFF and other emissions are concerned. She turned into a black hole from Eric’s perspective. It gave him a bit of a turn apparently. Combining her trick with some of my gear set up to copy your output, and then bounce it back to you...” he shrugged. “I’m suddenly a ghost.”

  “Cool.” Her suite must be swarming with nannies broadcasting to spoof her sensors. “I hope you know how to counter your countermeasures.” He sent her a look that said of course he did, and she shrugged. “It would be a bit of a bastard if the Merki figured it out. Just saying.”

  He smiled briefly.

  “I’m glad Gina isn’t here.”

  “There’s more to your friend than her Marine Corps background, Kate. I wasn’t kidding when I told her she should pick up some of our OSI training.”

  Kate shook her head. “You had it right in the message you left me. She won’t ever be easy with collateral damage, Stone. She wouldn’t be able to do what we do, not without agonising over it.”

  Stone regarded her oddly, almost with pity. “What makes you think I don’t agonise?”

  Her jaw dropped.

  He shrugged. “It’s not about whether or not it bothers us to do what we do; it’s about whether or not we can do the job regardless. Anyway, that’s all beside the point. You fucked up. You went in to get your brother and came away empty-handed. It’s time for your post mission analysis, Richmond. Lay it out for me. What went wrong? How does it leave you exposed? Can the situation be retrieved? How?”

  She frowned. “You sound like you’re thinking of helping?”

  “Let’s just say that I haven’t decided not to help. It depends on what I hear out of you over the next few minutes. Make it good.”

  Feeling hopeful, she thought hard about what had gone wrong and how to fix it. The biggest thing was not knowing her brother had a p
owerful friend at his back. If she’d known of his deal with his lawyer and whoever was backing him, she could have stayed back and let Danny Cole be mind-wiped as he wanted. She explained that to Stone.

  He nodded. “So lack of Intel screwed the plan. Lucky I’m here then.”

  She growled at the insult to her abilities. “There was no indication, none.”

  “There’s always something, Richmond. Always. Is there anything to link you to the fiasco... excuse me, escape attempt?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You’re right about that, because I took care of it for you.”

  “Of?”

  “Felix Haliwell.”

  She frowned. “You killed Felix?”

  “You killed him. The moment you decided it was a good idea to buy a non-standard weapon from him he had to die. It can and will be traced back to him, Richmond. You left it at the scene didn’t you?”

  She nodded.

  “I cleaned up your back trail for you. Felix and those you spoke with to find him are no longer a factor. You made it necessary. You could have used a standard weapon and security would have learnt nothing from it. Haliwell’s death is on you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay? That’s all you have to say to me?”

  “What do you want me to say? Am I supposed to cry over that weasel? I needed an AAR and I needed it the next damn day! This is my brother’s life we’re talking about. If you think I give a crap about some little gun runner that fleeced me when he knew I was desperate, you can think again. I needed that damn gun, and it worked great. One thing I’ll say about Felix, he was a very good gunsmith.”

  Stone nodded. “Fair enough. I’m not going to bust your balls over him. All I care about is keeping your name and that of the regiment clear of any involvement.”

  “Okay then. As far as I know, there’s nothing linking me or the regiment to any of this. Is that clear enough for you?”

  Stone nodded. “The next step. Can we still retrieve the situation? Do you know where your brother is?”

  “No... no I don’t, but I have a lead. Malcolm Redding.”