“This is it,” Morrison announced from the front passenger seat, pointing to a pile of metal tucked up against the trunk of the largest tree.
Calling it a hide seemed a bit generous, in Jonathan’s opinion. The structure was little more than four corrugated metal walls listing drunkenly to one side, held together by an equally weathered corrugated metal roof.
Jonathan opened the skimmer’s passenger door, and Joule leapt outside, the black panther-like animal’s ears flicking in annoyance as leftover droplets of rain fell sporadically from the canopy of leaves overhead.
The humans followed her out, each grabbing a load from the back. When Jonathan stepped into the hide, he dropped his pack at the base of the nearest wall.
It wasn’t much to look at, and its interior wasn’t any better, boasting only two pieces of furniture: a cot, and a low table that ran the length of one corrugated wall.
Joule padded over to the corner where an animal had left a smelly pile of refuse. After one disdainful sniff, the big cat began to prowl along the perimeter, head lifted and mouth slightly open as she scented the air.
{No human smell, other than theirs.} The cat’s head swung around to indicate Morrison and Aviva.
“Any other animals we need to worry about?” Jonathan asked.
Joule gave a sneeze. {Scaly-crawlers. Naked rats. Taste bad. Too stringy. Dogs with bad breath.}
“Bad—” Thad turned to regard the midnight-furred animal and then pinned Jonathan with a look. “Wanna translate that for me, hoss?”
It was Aviva who replied. “I’m guessing she’s referring to lizards, mole rats, and… hyenas?” Amusement laced her voice. “By the sound of it, she’s not impressed.”
“How far are we from the prison?” Jonathan asked.
Morrison waved a hand. “Five klicks that way.” He squinted up into the sky. “Shouldn’t have to worry about any more rain, which ought to make your furry friend happy.”
Jonathan nodded.
“What about the skimmer?” Thad asked.
“We can’t hide its heat signature, so we don’t bother to try. That’s why he’s not wearing stealth.” Aviva motioned to her partner. “I’ll stay behind in the hide as your contact, while—”
“While I’m your alibi,” Morrison cut in. He pointed. “The mine shaft’s about three klicks west of us. Prison security monitoring the area might be a bit surprised to see only one heat signature leaving the hide, but we’ve varied the number of people in our party enough over the last several weeks to hopefully avert suspicion.”
“Let’s get started.” Aviva began rummaging through the box she’d placed on the table when she came in.
“Okay then.” Thad searched through the team’s supplies and rose with a camper’s shovel in his hand. Clapping Jonathan on the shoulder, he held it out to him and motioned to the smelly pile. “New guy on an op gets latrine duty. Have at it, ami.”
Jonathan shot Thad a glare he hoped promised retribution if he ever had the Marine at his mercy in a small aircraft.
Snatching the shovel out of the other man’s hand, he stalked toward the offending clump of manure. With a heavy sigh that turned into a cough when he caught a good whiff of the stuff he was to remove, he set himself to the onerous task.
When he stepped back inside, Jonathan heard Aviva instructing Thad and Ell on the placement of security devices around the hide’s perimeter.
“With the active sweeps the prison conducts, all we can afford are passive recon sensors around the perimeter,” the agent explained, handing them each a stack of the tech. “Anything else will set off an alarm.”
Thad and Ell nodded and disappeared to set out the sensors.
Turning to the two agents, Jonathan spread out his hands. “Anything else I can do to help?”
From where he was seated on the cot, Morrison shook his head. “We keep things pretty simple out of necessity. The less complex it is, the less there is to go wrong.
“Speaking of which, it’s about time I headed out to check the mine. I’ll be sure to move about plenty, keep their eyes off you as best I can.” He stood just as Thad and Ell reentered, and sent the Marine a questioning look. “Will two hours be long enough?”
Thad glanced at Ell and then Jonathan before nodding at Morrison. “We’ll make it work.” The Marine captain turned in a circle, and then shot Jonathan a questioning look. “Where’s Joule?”
He hooked a thumb outside. “She’s familiarizing herself with the area.”
“Call her back. It’s time to send her to the shaft.”
Jonathan nodded, and a few minutes later, the cat came loping toward them.
He stepped forward and dropped to one knee as she came to a stop. Taking her head between his palms, Jonathan stared into the cat’s big green eyes. “Be careful out there. Don’t take any chances. If you spot any humans, behave exactly as one of your wild siblings would, and get the heck out of Dodge.”
Joule reared her head, eyes narrowing in irritation. {Don’t know Dodge. Humans show up, I leave. Not Pascal. Not stupid, either.}
“Not saying you are, just making a point.”
The cat brought her paw up and rested it on Jonathan’s knee. {You want point?}
He felt her claws flex, the tips piercing his pant leg ever so slightly.
“Okay, okay! I get it,” he said hastily. “Retract the claws already. I apologize for ever questioning you.”
The cat made a noise Jonathan swore sounded satisfied, chuffing lightly as she sat back on her haunches.
{I wear that?} She nosed at Jonathan’s hands.
He looked down at the black collar he held. “Yes,” he said, then reached around and fastened it behind her scruff. It blended in seamlessly with her black fur.
Evenly spaced around the accessory’s length were several holorecorders that had been harvested from a set of surveillance drones. These would transmit back to the hide, allowing the team to see what Joule saw.
“Collar in place.” Jonathan stepped back, looking questioningly at Thad, who gave him a thumbs-up.
“Signal’s five by five.”
“Alright then. Looks like you’re good to go,” he told the animal, ruffling the fur behind her ear. “Just… stay away from humans, and don’t pick any fights. It’s their territory, you’re just a guest here.”
If the cat were capable of rolling its eyes, he was pretty sure Joule would be doing it about now.
{Not Pascal,} she reminded him once again. {Pascal is punk.}
Thad chuckled. “Pascal the punk. I like it.”
{I tell him you said that.}
A look of alarm crossed Thad’s face, and he rapidly shook his head. “No need to do that. We’ll just keep that between ourselves, okay, cher?”
{Not share. Nothing to share.} Joule’s head swung to stare pointedly at Thad, her eyes narrowing into slits. {Pascal not share any of his steaks.}
Thad groaned. “I knew it. I knew I wasn’t getting out of this without being blackmailed. Damn cats.”
Joule’s jaw dropped, fangs flashing as the big animal gave the feline version of a grin. {Human not think fast as cat.}
Jonathan decided now would be a good time to get things back on track. He turned to Joule. “Are you ready to go?”
The big cat lifted her head and sneezed once. {Been ready. Back soon.}
With that, she slipped off into the savannah.
* * *
They followed the cat’s progress visually as she slid between clumps of switchgrass, bluestem, and thatch. With its angle so low to the ground, the feed from the cameras gave the impression of great speed as the panther-like animal raced through the grasses.
The view became dizzying at times, with the cat leaping over bushes, skidding around rocky promontories, and dodging trees. Thad had to close his eyes more than once.
“Damn cat,” he muttered, but there was no heat in his voice.
“Look at how fast she’s going. Won’t that be a red flag?” Ell asked.<
br />
The data coming from the cameras around her neck showed Joule’s pace topping out at thirty kilometers per hour.
Aviva shook her head. “I’ve seen leopards chasing down prey. They easily reach fifty kilometers an hour.”
Thad cocked a brow at the agent. “Think she’s on their radar already?”
“Oh, you can be sure of it. But they’re used to the wildlife around here, so they’ll dismiss her as soon as they identify what she is.” She sent a sideways look Jonathan’s way. “Good training, by the way. Her behavior’s very natural; it won’t raise suspicion.”
Jonathan nodded but refrained from any further comment.
{Okay, am here.} Joule’s mental voice cut into the video feed as the cat slowed to a walk.
Ahead, they could see a round patch of switchgrass, rising a little more than a meter tall. The cat paused to sniff around the base of the nearest clump.
“Too uniform to be natural,” Ell murmured, and Aviva nodded.
“They planted that grass to cover the shaft.”
The recorders gave them a good view of the smooth metal column, rising almost to the tops of the stalks. Joule lifted her head and scented the air before pacing carefully around its circumference.
{Humans here hours ago.}
“They patrol the area physically twice a day, weather permitting,” Aviva explained. “In the morning, and just before sunset.”
“What about SIs?” Thad asked as Joule reared up onto her hind legs and hooked her front paws around its rim.
The agent bent down, reaching into one of the bags. Thad heard the slight clink of metal, and when she held out a hand, he saw she had several Bravo Charlies resting in her palm.
He took a pair from her, and Ell did the same.
“Breaching canisters, updated with the prison’s latest security routines.”
Thad pocketed the BCs in his tac vest with a nod of thanks. “And the SIs?” he repeated.
Aviva smiled mysteriously. “They’ll already be offline when you infiltrate.”
The sound of nails scraping against metal brought his attention back to the video feed.
“Careful,” Jonathan warned, both audibly and directly to the cat via their connection. “Don’t give them a reason to think you’re too interested in that.”
The cat made a sound halfway between a chuff and a grunt. {Metal stuck. Won’t come loose.}
Her words confused Thad until she leaned further in, and he could see a grate covering the top.
“That grate’s not your problem, kitty,” he told her. “Just give us a quick look down in there, and then back away.”
Joule obligingly stretched to her full height and then peered down. They could hear sniffing sounds as the feline made her own scent study of the human-made artifact.
The recorders in her collar had plenty of time to capture the view inside, and Aviva cycled them through the full EM spectrum before nodding in satisfaction.
“Okay, we got what we need. Get out of there,” Jonathan instructed the hunting cat.
Joule gave another chuff and pushed herself off the grill, landing lightly on the ground.
They heard the sound of claws scratching against dirt, and then the sound of liquid hitting metal.
Ell turned to Jonathan, one brow lifting. “Did she just pee on it?”
Joule’s tone managed to sound offended. {You said act natural.}
“That’s fine, just fine,” Jonathan said hastily, laughter in his voice. “Move on. Keep scouting around, see what else you can find, and then make your way back here.”
Another chuff was their only response.
Aviva unfolded a flat, 2-D display and spread it out on the cot. The simple low-tech device had minimal energy requirements, rendering it untraceable. Triggering it on, she accessed the recording Joule had captured.
“Here’s what she saw.”
The view shifted, zooming past the grate as the big cat leaned forward and peered down inside.
“Enhancing,” Aviva said.
Details appeared over the top of the image. It measured a little more than a meter in diameter, and Thad could see handrails welded to one side. Between them, slight indentations in the metal formed rungs, the toeholds roughened for traction.
“Look,” Ell pointed to the center, where something rotated in the distance. “Ventilation fan,” she guessed.
Aviva nodded her agreement. “You’ll have to use a breaching canister on its motor, too.”
“Agreed,” Thad murmured. “Any idea what’s beyond it?”
Aviva flipped the image over to a diagram she’d acquired of the prison. “According to this, that shaft leads directly into environmental.”
Thad scrubbed at the stubble of his jaw with the flat of his hand, eyeing the 2-D image thoughtfully. He nodded. “We can work with that.” Turning to Ell, he asked, “Ready to go spring a prisoner, cher?”
DAGGER’S DOZEN
Junxun Training Center
Central Prefecture
Eridu, Akkadia
The Junxun cadet school was a long-standing fixture within Central Prefecture. The Dagger had lived within its walls years ago, as a raw recruit. Now, she studied its austere lines as she approached its rear entrance.
These were the killing fields. The sparring arena had earned its moniker in the usual way—via the spilled blood of students not fast enough to dodge the deadly blade.
A set of sturdy metal stairs affixed to the back of the building led up to the observation platform, where instructors stood weighing the merits of each pupil’s prowess. As Dacina mounted them, she stepped firmly, deliberately, her boots heralding her arrival. Their tread’s open weave lent her footsteps a hollow, bell-like ring, an audible warning to those above that someone approached.
Another individual had preceded her up these steps. The woman she’d come to meet stood at the forward end of the observation deck, resting her hands on the railing as she looked out on the field. Below her, the current crop of Junxun candidates sparred.
The institute’s headmistress was someone Dacina knew well. Citizen General Serae Etesav had progressed through the cadre two classes behind her own. The woman excelled in both spycraft and close-quarters combat.
Rather than following Dacina into the ranks of the Tèzhǒng, it had been decided that Serae’s skills were best used elsewhere. She’d been ordered to pursue the path of an officer, regardless of what her personal preferences were.
Serae knew how to play the game, though, and the woman swiftly rose within the echelon. It had been a few years since the two women had crossed paths, and yet the Dagger knew Serae’s skills remained honed to a fine edge.
She also knew, thanks to her contacts within the loyalist group, that Serae held no love for Asher Dent.
The other woman pressed a button set into the railing as Dacina came to a stop beside her, and an isolation screen sprang into place.
It wasn’t unusual to invoke such screens at the academy; they enabled drill instructors to discuss the progress of their students below. Over the years, they had also been used to mask conversations between ambitious officers, seeking to elevate themselves.
Today, it could be argued that this one cloaked talk of treason.
{How many warriors do you need?} asked Serae.
{A squadron, no more.} Dacina turned, allowing her gaze to follow the progress of the cadet who had just been defeated as he was assisted off the field, clutching a bloodied arm.
The casual head turn also allowed her to make brief eye contact with Serae. {They must hold your highest confidence, and unwavering loyalty.}
{Understood.}
The Dagger caught the slightest headshake from the other woman, and the flavor of her tone turned bitter with her next words.
{Political infighting, assassination, uprisings. None of this is particularly new to the Akkadian people. But never would I have thought I would be at the forefront of such an endeavor.}
{You know nothing.} Daci
na’s voice cut her off sharply. {It is safer that way. The less you know, the less you can give up should we fail.}
Serae sent Dacina a world-wise look. {Let me help. There are packets that will need to be delivered. Proof you’ll need to present. I can take care of that for you.}
After a moment’s hesitation, Dacina acknowledged this with a silent nod.
A moment later, an alert flashed on her overlay, signifying that a file awaited. She granted permission for it to download onto the data partition of the implant embedded inside her head.
She stared at its icon a moment, knowing that this was the first of many steps of trust she must take. Opening the file could trigger a cascade that would lead to brain death, if she had made an error in judgment and Serae was not the Loyalist she believed her to be.
On a silent inhale, she opened the file. The relieved breath that she exhaled was featherlight, but no less intense despite the fact it was hidden.
On her overlay were displayed twelve names.
{The Dagger’s Dozen,} Serae’s voice sounded inside her head with a dark chuckle.
Dacina lifted a brow. {You make that sound as if it holds a special meaning.}
{Only that your reputation precedes you. They will be honored to hold that title.}
Abruptly, Serae pushed away from the railing. {The necessary forms have been drawn up, and we’ll doctor the records after the fact. Officially, they will show these men and women were transferred over to serve a tour with the prison guard. Unofficially, they report only to you.}
Dacina inclined her head in thanks. {You gave them the code to contact me once they arrive at Shar-Kali?}
The slightest lift of her head was the headmistress’ response. {They will be ready when you arrive.}
Dacina straightened. She had a rendezvous with Rin Zhou to keep; a meeting she dare not miss. She turned to go, but stopped when Serae faced her.
{May these twelve warriors be the weapon you wield to free us from the abomination.}
The words, spoken so formally, struck a chord deep within Dacina.
She turned to fully face Serae. Folding her hands at her midriff, one atop the other, she bowed formally over them. {The People are in your debt.}
Chiral Justice: A Hard Science Fiction Technothriller (The Biogenesis War Book 3) Page 24