She must have sensed him watching. “Leave it alone, Cerbie,” she snapped without taking her eyes off the screen. “Mind on the mission.”
Nolan gave no answer; instead, he said, “Taia, call up the feed from Djinn Four and the master sergeant’s eye.”
In response, twin video feeds appeared on the holo-screen. One was an aerial view, heading south along the street where Nolan had spotted Agent Styver. The other depicted the interior of the service elevator, which opened into the parking structure where they’d left their two skimmer-craft.
“I’m losing him in thirty seconds,” Darren rumbled. “Building two blocks south is going to cut off my view from here.”
“Copy that, Troll,” Master Sergeant Kane said over team-wide comms. “In position in two mikes.” The feed from his cybernetic eye grew shaky as he sped up, heading toward the exit from the underground parking and onto the street west of the building. “Phoenix, don’t lose sight of him.”
“I’ve got him square in Djinn Four’s feed,” Zahra replied. True to her word, the flying drone had a clear view of the faint heat outline indicating Agent Styver’s movement. “I’ll hang back and stay high, make sure he doesn’t sense he’s being followed.”
Nolan watched both feeds. Master Sergeant Kane was moving fast down a street that ran one block to the west of and parallel to the one where Agent Styver was strolling at his leisure. Nolan had no idea where Zahra was, but he guessed she wouldn’t be too far behind. She’d take to the same street as Agent Styver and tail him from seventy meters back. In her too-thick black makeup and civilian clothing—a dusty-looking leather jacket over a tie-dyed shirt, purple cargo pants, and spiked platform boots—she looked like one of the odder denizens that frequented the Cyberwarrens. She’d elicit at most a cursory glance from Agent Styver. Her skill at espionage tradecraft was exceeded only by the master sergeant himself.
Warbeast Team’s plan involved a stealth infiltration of the Protection Bureau’s office. If Taia was truly out from under their thumb—a notion Nolan found marginally easier to accept now that she’d actually located Agent Styver—she could wreak fifteen different kinds of havoc on their servers. One well-crafted attack similar to the one Ex-Umbra had launched could give her total control of their systems.
If Agent Styver’s superiors played nice, Nolan would settle for a truce and agreement that they’d never bother him again. If not, the malware Taia had spent the last nine hours crafting would cripple or possibly demolish the Protection Bureau’s system. And, if Nolan got really lucky, they’d find all the intel the Protection Bureau had on him, and Taia would have a field day erasing or altering it beyond restoration, down to the last bit.
Either way, Nolan was determined to walk away from this free. Whether or not the Protection Bureau remained standing after he was done with them, well, that remained to be seen.
“Shit!” Zahra said over the comms. “I’ve lost him!”
Nolan’s attention snapped to the screen. There, the feed from Djinn Four showed a handful of visible heat signatures of passersby, pedestrians, and vehicles, but no faint outline of Agent Styver.
“I’m ten seconds out, Phoenix,” Master Sergeant Kane said. “Where’d you lose him?”
“That thirty-story building on the W-side,” Zahra replied. “One second he was there, then he was gone.”
“Taia, call up a map of that area!” Nolan instructed. The holo-screen displayed an aerial view of the Cyberwarrens. Sure enough, as Nolan had feared, there was an alley just north of the building. “Phoenix, check the alley fifty meters to Djinn Four’s southwest.”
The feed from the drone zoomed forward, approaching the area where a wall hid the alley from view.
Bex stepped forward. “Wyvern, the alley comes out just thirty meters in front of your pos. Cut him off that way.”
“Cutting him off,” Master Sergeant Kane growled. The feed from his cybernetic implant once again grew shaky as he ran, as indicated by the fast-moving, blinking red dot Taia displayed on the map.
Come on! Nolan watched both the drone’s and the master sergeant’s feeds as they converged, his heart hammering in his chest.
Suddenly, half of the screen went dark as they abruptly lost Djinn Four’s feed.
“Shit!” Zahra cursed. “Just lost eyes!”
Nolan sucked in a breath. “Another EMP blast?”
“On my way to find out.” Zahra’s voice was breathy, as if she moved at a fast walk. “Bast”—she used Taia’s call sign, which the AI had shared with them—“get me a pos on where Djinn Four went down.”
“Copy that,” Taia replied. “I’ll guide you to it.”
“I’m here!” Master Sergeant Kane growled. The feed from his cybernetic eye showed the alley behind the thirty-story building. Empty. A few faint threads of heat rose from a vent set into the floor and from an exhaust pipe that blew steam and hot air into the alley, but no sign of Agent Styver.
“Shit!” Nolan clenched his fists, wishing he had something to slam them onto. “Taia, tell me you’ve still got a lock on him.”
“Negative,” she replied. “The smart cells I planted on him just went offline in that exact alley.”
Nolan’s heart sank. “Goddamn it!”
Agent Styver had been their one lead, the one chance they’d had to get into the Protection Bureau, and they’d just lost him.
Chapter Eleven
Nolan fought to keep frustration from clouding his thoughts. His mind raced, trying to understand what had just happened.
“Phoenix, I need confirmation that Djinn Four’s down and out like Djinn Three,” he said.
“Ten seconds out,” Zahra said.
“Wyvern, come east through that alley and see if there’s anywhere he might have ducked out of sight.”
“On my way.” There was no hesitation in the master sergeant’s voice, no question of Nolan’s instructions. That was the way it went in the field. The master sergeant was in charge of the op, but he didn’t insist on having total control. He knew that Nolan’s bird’s-eye view made him best suited to quarterback at least this part of the mission.
“Taia, do a deep dive into that building, find out everything you can about it,” Nolan said. “Anything that could stand out as odd, I want to know about it.”
“On it!”
“Taia caught me up on what happened while I was out,” Bex said. “You think that building has the same EMP blast thing that knocked out Djinn Three?”
“No way Zahra makes two drones that malfunction in exactly the same way at exactly the wrong time.” Nolan shook his head. “Not even with Finagle’s law kicking in at maximum.”
Bex nodded. “Too coincidental.”
“Djinn Four’s toast,” Zahra said over the team-wide comms. “Same scorch mark. I’ll open it up as soon as I get back, but it’s pretty damned clear.”
“Got a back door here,” Master Sergeant Kane said. “And a service entrance that goes down to some kind of loading bay.”
The view from his cybernetic eye swiveled toward the small metal fire exit that stood at the top of a short staircase, then in the direction of a permacrete ramp that led into a subterranean level of some sort. Nolan had just a second to get a good look before Master Sergeant Kane’s view shifted forward and he moved on. Moving any slower would draw attention, so he had to keep advancing eastward along the alley at a steady shuffle. While passing the dumpsters, stacked boxes, and steaming vents, the master sergeant caught a glimpse of Zahra hurrying back the way she’d come before she disappeared in a flash of purple pants and long overcoat.
“Gonna do a lap,” Master Sergeant Kane said, “then I’m B-to-B.”
“Copy, Wyvern,” Nolan and Bex said at the same time.
Nolan continued, “Bast’s digging into that building now. Let’s see what she comes up w—“
“Hmm, this is interesting,” Taia said, cutting him off. “The building’s occupancy records show no sign of Agent Styver being a tenant. However,
I’ve found something that connects this structure to our target building. Through this man.”
An image popped up on the screen, showing a lean, angular face Nolan knew all too well. “Fineas Fuckface Derring?” Nolan’s eyebrows rose. “He owns both buildings?” A more worrying thought entered his head. “And why not say anything earlier?” Was this Derring guy somehow connected to the Protection Bureau, and Taia was simply covering his tracks?
Her answer set his mind somewhat at ease. “His ownership of our target building is public record,” she said. “However, until there was a link between him and this building where Agent Styver disappeared, there was no reason to give him a second glance. Beyond Detective Locke’s desire to eliminate him, of course.”
Nolan couldn’t fault her on that. Fineas Derring was incredibly wealthy, even by Imperial standards. Doubtless he had hundreds of similar holdings around not only New Avalon, but all the large cities of Exodus VI and other planets. Nolan’s past interactions with the man had been far from pleasant—including beating the snot out of some goons Derring had sent to teach Nolan a lesson—but nothing that would lead him to suspect the man of anything more serious than being a Grade-A cunt.
Detective Locke’s words had planted the seed, and now the connection between the two buildings—both of which happened to be potentially linked to the Protection Bureau—got Nolan’s attention.
“Do a deep dive on him,” Nolan said. “Find out exactly who he is and what his link to the Protection Bureau is.”
“Already searching,” Taia replied.
Nolan nodded, but from the corner of his eye noticed Bex looking strangely at him. “What?” he asked.
Bex’s expression remained inscrutable, and she remained silent for a full two seconds before she shook her head. “Nothing.”
Nolan narrowed his eyes. He knew her well enough to recognize the signs of her mind working, analyzing something. She wasn’t the kind to play coy, so if she said “nothing,” she typically meant it.
But there’d been something odd in that look she’d given him. He simply couldn’t figure out what was going on in her brain to elicit the response.
“Heiyerdahl’s coming around for another pass,” Darren rumbled from the window. “Back in the trench coat, like he thinks it’s cool.”
Nolan input the data into their log. Based on Darren’s observations, the Black Crows were rotating the people they sent out on patrol far more randomly than their patrol timeframe. That, at least, spoke of a degree of professionalism when it came to tradecraft. Not exactly top-secret spy work, but they were a cut above the average undercover Doof, at least.
“Here, big guy, let me take over.” Bex moved toward Darren and nudged his huge shoulder with her hip. “I’ve got next watch.”
Darren didn’t protest, but quickly vacated his perch in front of the telephoto lens. He groaned and straightened his huge shoulders, rolled his head side to side, and stretched his massive arms as he moved toward the container that held their MREs. Pulling out one, he dropped to a seat on another thermoplastic crate and popped open his ready-made-meal-in-a-bag. The smell of chili beef and beans wafted over to where Nolan stood in front of the holo-screen.
“So this Derring guy”—Darren shoveled a spoonful of the meal into his mouth, then talked around the food—“you’ve run into him before?”
Nolan snorted. “Uppity fuck literally ran into me in some bar. Then, after I rolled over his foot, he sent a few lunkheads to rough me up. Well, to try at least.”
Darren raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“Yeah.” Nolan shrugged. “Guy’s an asshole and a half, but this is the first time he’s dropped into my orbit.”
Darren took another bite of his meal, then gave a noncommittal grunt. “Fair enough. Just thought I’d ask, given you and the Protection Bureau have history. I figured if he was connected somehow…” He trailed off.
Nolan shook his head. “First I’m hearing of it.” He didn’t tell the big man why. If there was anything connecting the man to the Protection Bureau, Taia wouldn’t have been able to tell him about it before now.
Before either of them could push the matter further, the door opened and Zahra marched in. Her expression was hard as she marched toward the crate where the now dead Djinn Three lay, and set about connecting Djinn Four to her datapad. A few seconds later, she gave a low growl deep in her throat. “Motherfuckers!”
That confirmed their suspicions. The building where Agent Styver had disappeared was also protected by a targeted EMP anti-drone system.
“Totally crisped.” Zahra dropped the coin-sized drone next to its equally lifeless counterpart. “That’s two they’ve fucked up now.” Her dark eyes flashed. “If I wasn’t pissed at them before, I bloody well am now!”
A few seconds later, Master Sergeant Kane entered the apartment. “Confirmed?”
Zahra nodded. “Same EMP burst.”
The master sergeant removed his long, filthy overcoat and hat, dropped them onto the rickety table, and moved toward the holo-screen that still displayed Fineas Derring’s picture. “Who’s this?”
Nolan quickly filled Zahra and Master Sergeant Kane in on what Taia had found about the man. “Taia’s still digging, but if there’s anything linking him to the Protection Bureau, she’ll find it.”
Master Sergeant Kane nodded and glanced at Zahra. “In the meantime, Desai, can you jury-rig another couple of Djinns with thermal vision?”
Zahra’s expression grew pensive. After a moment, she shook her head. “Not without more equipment.”
Master Sergeant Kane ran a hand down his stony face. “Then one of us stays posted up watching that building at all times.” He turned back to the holo-screen. “Even if Taia lets us know the moment those smart cells come back online, I’ll want one of us keeping eyes on that building to confirm Agent Styver’s movements. He’s still our best way in.”
“I’ll go.” Darren dropped the now empty MRE bag onto the container where he’d been sitting and stood. “It’ll be good to stretch my legs.”
“Go,” Master Sergeant Kane said. “Ajeen will relieve you in four.”
“Copy that.” Darren plucked another coat from the pile of clothes that served as their disguises. The coat was as ragged as Master Sergeant Kane’s, but a different color and with a hood he could pull up to hide his blonde hair. The big man donned the disguise, scooped up a pair of compact thermal goggles, and slipped out the door without another word.
“Desai, get some rest,” Master Sergeant Kane said, his voice firm. “You’ll spell Ajeen at the lens when she switches with Askvig.”
Zahra looked up from her datapad, frustration evident on her face. But she didn’t argue with the master sergeant’s order. She simply put down the device and strode toward the bedroom with their two cots. Soldiers—and especially operators— knew to get whatever rest they could, as they could. There was nothing Zahra could do to salvage her two Djinns or upgrade the others without the proper tools.
“You’re up next, Garrett,” Master Sergeant Kane said. “Doesn’t look like we’ll be making a move anytime soon, so our best play’s to hunker down and wait for more intel.”
“Or,” Bex said from where she sat monitoring the target building, “we ask our favorite Doof.”
Nolan scowled. “That’s not just mission creep—it’s going totally off-book.”
“Not necessarily,” Bex said without taking her eye off her surveillance lens. “Think about it.” She held up a pair of fingers. “Two buildings that just so happen to be owned by Derring. One the potential location for the Protection Bureau’s offices, and the second a possible safe house or domicile for Agent Styver. What are the odds that’s just a coincidence?”
Master Sergeant Kane’s eyes narrowed. “Longer than General Arthin’s ballsack.”
A little snort-chuckle burst from Bex’s lips. “So Derring’s gotta be connected somehow,” she continued. “And Detective Locke’s offering to serve him up on a g
oddamn silver platter.”
Nolan wanted to argue—they couldn’t divert their attention from the Protection Bureau—but the more he thought about it, the harder it was to dispute her logic. “Shit, that makes a fucked-up kind of sense. The Protection Bureau disappeared from their Bolt Hole office almost from one day to the next, but there’s no way they could have just set up shop here unless the building was ready-made for something like this.”
“An operation of this scale would require serious data processing power,” Taia added, “which means huge server systems, not to mention space for however many people they’ve got running things.”
“And if Derring had something, they could just move right in.” Master Sergeant Kane’s expression grew pensive. Nolan had filled Warbeast Team in on everything that had happened since he first learned of Agent Styver’s deal to sell Wolfe and the White Sharks stolen IAF-grade weapons. “And if Black Crow’s somehow tied to him—“
“I can find no visible connection between Black Crow Security and Fineas Derring,” Taia said. “However, it’s possible that it’s simply too well concealed, like everything else connected to the Protection Bureau.”
“And if anyone’s going to put together a solid intel package on a suspect,” Bex added, “you know our Type-A detective friend will.”
Nolan frowned. He didn’t like it—he’d like the actual act of placing the comms call to Detective Locke even less—but there was a certain amount of logic to her idea.
“Sir?” he asked, glancing at his old team leader. Master Sergeant Kane wasn’t their commanding officer anymore, not officially, but if anyone could make the right call in a situation like this, it was him.
Master Sergeant Kane scratched at his gray beard, then slowly nodded. “Reach out, see what he’s got to offer.”
“Copy that.” Nolan nodded. “Taia?”
“Already connecting you to the detective,” she said.
Rampant Destruction (CERBERUS Book 10) Page 8