by Jan Domagala
“It was up the track some distance away,” she replied.
“You never answered my question. Who sent you?” he asked again.
“Are you always this suspicious of callers asking for directions?” she countered.
Stryder glanced at her, and then returned his concentration to the road ahead. It was obvious to him that he would not learn much from her if he pushed too hard. Ahead of them was the small town of Haven. It stretched out along the coast with an array of shops and restaurants, many of the latter actually on the beach.
The main narrow road snaked its way through the town with several streets branching off and leading farther inland.
They were a few hundred feet from the town’s limits when plasma fire struck the rear compartment of the sports hatch.
“They are getting serious about us not getting away,” Hardy said, becoming concerned when the plasma fire made the car buck and stutter across the narrow road.
“Losing some of their team has a tendency to do that,” Stryder replied.
He corrected his steering towards Haven and once more plasma fire rocked their car.
“Now they’re beginning to piss me off,” Stryder snarled.
“But what can we do about them?” Hardy asked.
“This,” Stryder said, and grabbing the emergency brake, he pulled it on and spun the wheel throwing the car into a sideways skid which he controlled perfectly, bringing the car to a stop across the road and effectively blocking it.
He opened the glove box and reached inside to find a Sig P996 before opening the driver’s door and tumbling out of the vehicle.
“Come on,” he told Hardy and quickly she unfastened her harness and climbed out after him.
The following SUV just had time to screech to a halt to avoid slamming into Stryder’s vehicle. The three gunmen tumbled out of the SUV still holding their Arnov mini assault pistols.
Stryder by that time had positioned himself at the side of his car using it as cover. He stood with his arms outstretched on top of the sports hatch holding the Sig in a two-handed grip resting his arms on the roof of the car to steady his aim.
Having already checked and primed the battery clip in the Sig, he was ready to rock and roll.
Once the gunmen appeared out of the SUV he didn’t give them any warning. They had already opened the hostilities so he simply aimed and fired a two-shot burst at each gunman.
The full power pulsed plasma bolts struck each gunman in the face knocking them backwards in a mist of blood as their heads were obliterated.
They were dead before they hit the ground.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Hardy said as she looked across at him.
He smiled at her when he saw her reaction to the cold way he had dispatched the three chasing gunmen and then said, “We’re going to have some trouble explaining this little incident to the local Constabulary.”
“I agree,” she said looking across at the SUV and the three dead bodies lying there.
“As much as I hate to admit it I think we’re going to need some help with this,” he said activating his NI.
9
After he made the call and put Sinclair in the picture as to what had happened, Stryder returned to the villa along with Hardy to await the arrival of the clean up squad.
The clean up squad was split into two teams. The first team dealt with the most urgent issue of an abandoned SUV with three dead bodies alongside it on the road just outside one of the most popular resort towns on the planet and everything that entailed, whilst the second team went directly to the villa where they found Stryder and Hardy waiting patiently.
The team, consisting of four men, entered the lounge and fanned out to reveal a fifth member, General Sinclair.
Stryder was standing on the veranda, the blast-scarred patio doors wide open to allow the smell of death to escape, leaning against the railing his back to the ocean, his powerful arms folded across his chest. When he saw them arrive he smiled and said, “Why am I not surprised?”
“Afternoon Kurt, seems you’ve had a busy day,” Sinclair said smiling.
“General, I should’ve expected you to show up soon, especially considering all the trouble you went to placing Hardy here,” Stryder said.
Looking down at the two dead bodies Sinclair said, “Any idea who these people were or who sent them?”
“None, sir. Why did you send Hardy to keep tabs on me?” he asked after leaving the veranda to stand next to the General.
“Who?” asked Sinclair in his dull monotone voice, giving nothing away.
“The young girl over there. You might as well tell me General. She’s good from what I’ve seen so far. Now we can play games with this if you want; I can pretend it’s purely coincidence when I keep running into her over the next few days until this is sorted. Or you could recall her, and try with someone else. Or you could come clean and leave her with me and the two of us could work together, it’s your call.”
Sinclair glanced at Hardy, then back at Stryder. Placing the girl on Celeron had been a hasty decision, he had to admit, but one that he had been forced to make. He had wanted her to get to know Kurt before the Alliance made their move. She was supposed to act as his back up and as a liaison to Sinclair personally, should they have trouble keeping tabs on him. The attempt to take Kurt out came as a bit of a surprise to them all. His plans had not taken root and now it seemed were in danger of unravelling. It went against his best instincts but he came to a decision.
“Okay, she can stay.”
“What’s Hardy’s security clearance for this, sir, has she been briefed on the project?” Stryder replied, remaining where he stood. Hardy was sitting on a lounger on the far side of the veranda out of earshot, nervously clasping her hands as if unsure what to do with them.
Sinclair barked a few instructions at the clean up team then walked out onto the veranda leaving them to get on with their work.
“Not thoroughly,” he said as he came and sat next to her.
“Don’t you think you should, considering you sent her to keep tabs on me?” Stryder said following the General onto the veranda.
Hardy looked up at Stryder and a hint of a smile fleetingly crossed her lips, which she quickly suppressed.
“Excuse me?” she said, keeping to her cover story as she looked from Stryder to Sinclair.
Sinclair gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head, which told her that the game was up. “It’s okay Miss Hardy, he knows the truth,” he said.
“Are you ordering me to stay, sir?” she asked.
“I’ve already told you that you won’t get out of our dinner date so easily,” Stryder said with a smile.
She looked away turning her gaze to the floor and still trying to process what she had seen earlier. Had she really seen Stryder’s face heal in the blink of an eye, or was it just a figment of her imagination brought on by the adrenalin rush of the action? She had an idea that whatever it was she had been ordered into was something strange and that she would soon learn what she needed to know.
“Yes, I suppose so, seeing as you’re in place and that you two seem to be getting along. Kurt, I authorise you to bring her up to speed,” Sinclair said.
“Okay then, well in that case we have to consider that the Alliance had something to do with these guys. I mean they would’ve learnt fairly quickly that Howard was dead and it wouldn’t take much for them to learn that the project had been abandoned.”
“And what, you think they sent someone to find out if that was true?” Sinclair probed raising an eyebrow.
“Most definitely. Who else was on the project they could get near to? All the technical staff have been reassigned, the other test subjects have died, so that just leaves me, and I’m at home on leave. You don’t have to be a genius to work that one out, sir.”
“I’m glad to see your thinking processes weren’t damaged by the project,” Sinclair said. Stryder smiled then said, “But of course you already came to that c
onclusion, hence Hardy being here.”
“Just needed to see if you’d figured it out as well,” Sinclair said with a hint of a smile, then added, “Have you figured out what their plan was?”
“They were ordered to take me some place where presumably whoever was paying them would take me off their hands. From what I can gather they were expecting me to be on my own; they were thrown a little by Hardy being here, but I got them to concede they were just ordered to make a smash and grab. The weapons were just to intimidate. When I told them it would be foolish to kill her, they said that their orders didn’t include killing anyone, but that they’d take her along and let whoever was paying them decide her fate. It was only when I pushed them that the weapons came into play, when they had no other choice.”
“So whoever paid them is going to be rather upset that they got stiffed on the deal,” Sinclair said with a smile.
“Upset is putting it mildly I’d say, and I would expect them to try again. I can’t imagine them giving up just like that. If it was the Alliance, they will have to verify our claims.”
“That puts you two in the firing line. I’ll assign a detail to watch over you,” Sinclair said.
“That won’t be necessary, sir. I know somewhere we can go and be safe,” Stryder said with a wave of his hand.
“Do you think that’s wise Captain?”
“I think it would be best if we appear to act as normal as possible, sir. If the Alliance send anyone else, seeing a team protecting us will tell them two things – firstly that we need protecting because the project worked, and secondly, that we’re on to them. If we act normally, carry on as if it was just a burglary that failed, we get to draw them in and force them to make another move. Then we nail them.”
“I’m sorry, Captain, I cannot allow that to happen.”
“And why not, sir, might I ask?”
“You know the reason; you’re a soldier with the Confederation Recon Delta for heaven’s sake. If that wasn’t enough, your knowledge of the project makes you a very valuable asset and one I cannot allow to be taken captive by a hostile force.”
“Damn it, I knew this would happen. I’m no longer Kurt Stryder. Now I’m a commodity, an asset. Well I quit. I formally tender my resignation sir, effective forthwith. As of this instant, General, I’m a civilian.”
“Okay, if that’s how you want it. I’ll order the team to put the bodies back, and I’ll inform the local Constabulary you’re ready to make a statement about them and those you killed up the road. Hardy, you’re with me. Seems we’re no longer needed here!” Sinclair said and turned to leave.
“Do you really want me to make a statement with all the juicy facts about the project I’ll be forced to divulge under oath?” Stryder asked. They each knew the other was bluffing but neither could or would back down. It was left to Hardy to come up with the answer.
“Sir, what if I went along with the Captain here to his secure place? I could send you sit-reps through the NI via an encoded channel. That way you don’t have to worry about him going rogue on you and you’ll be informed of our situation. Kurt gets his freedom and you keep a modicum of control, so everyone wins.”
“Okay with me,” Stryder said, knowing that Sinclair would be more likely to agree if he agreed first, giving the General the final say and not making it appear that he had given in; diplomacy.
Sinclair stopped, turned around to face them and said, “Okay, but you have to keep the sit reps coming in on time. We’ll process these goons and see if we can’t learn something from them. It’s fifteen hundred now, let’s say you make your first sit rep when you arrive at your destination then every twenty-four hours thereafter,” and without waiting for a reply he turned and left the room.
Hardy turned to Stryder and joined him at the railing.
“Well, that was easy,” she said. “Never thought he’d go for it. I thought he’d want to know where we are at all times,” she added.
“He will,” Stryder replied.
She looked at him and smiled as the realisation dawned on her.
“Our implants,” she said. All Recon Delta Marines NIs were fitted with a nano chip homer initiated straight out of Basic. The chips could only be read by certain sensors; something the Alliance had not been able to crack.
“He knew there was nowhere we could go without him knowing exactly where we are,” Stryder said.
“We just got played,” she said, beginning to realise why Sinclair was so highly respected.
“Oh yes, the General is indeed a master of the game,” Stryder said. There was something else he had wondered about again came to mind, which was, how had the project affected his implant? Had it affected his implant? Was that why Hardy had been sent to him with orders to keep him close? Were they finding it difficult to read his nanochip? It would make sense of Hardy’s orders to stay as close as possible.
These thoughts he kept to himself for future reference. He might need to make use of that knowledge in the future, but for now he would act like he was unaware until he could test its validity.
“Come on, let’s get moving,” Stryder said.
He packed a few things into a travel grip and said, “What will you do for clothes?”
“I have some in a bag in my car not far from here, we can pick them up on the way,” she replied.
“Okay, then let’s go,” he said and led the way downstairs to the garage.
“Are you thinking of taking the sports hatch? I mean, it’s a little conspicuous, don’t you think?” she asked.
“No, we’ll be taking the ATV, it’s possibly better suited for our needs,” he replied.
When they entered the garage she noticed the ATV. The first time she had entered the garage under different circumstances all her attention had been focused on survival. This time though she was quite relaxed and noticed a lot more. She could see that the beautiful red machine Stryder had indicated was their way out of there.
The garage was just that, a garage. A room large enough for his two vehicles, with enough space around them should the need for any maintenance arise. In one corner was a workbench with an array of tools arranged on shelves and that was it. She noticed the garage didn’t take up as much space as she’d imagined and wondered what else was on the ground floor.
Stryder noticed her expression and said, “I’ll give you a proper tour of the villa when all this is over if you’d like?”
Hardy smiled when she realised he’d read her mind and said, “Yes thanks, I’d love that.”
“Okay then, let’s get moving,” he replied and threw his travel grip into the rear compartment of his CIV Champion ATV and climbed aboard on the driver’s side.
Hardy looked at the All-Terrain Vehicle they were going to use. The CIV Champion was based on the military version called the Juggernaut, which was almost exactly what it was because once in motion it could handle almost any terrain. The Juggernaut was manufactured by the Rand Corporation, possibly the largest corporation in the Confederation who leased out patents to the manufacturers such as Celeron Independent Vehicles but retained control of the rights.
The Champion was not as large as its military counterpart, for there was no need for the troop carrying facility or weapons in the civilian version, but it could still seat seven comfortably. Sleeker than the Juggernaut, with more rounded edges, the Champion nonetheless still exuded power and stability and when Hardy climbed aboard and strapped herself into the large, comfortable front passenger seat, she felt safe.
Stryder turned to her and asked, “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” she replied and actually found herself smiling. In spite of the danger they were in and all the threats to their safety they were about to face, she found herself enjoying it all. “Okay then, here we go,” Stryder said as he gunned the powerful engine and pulled out of the garage.
10
On Dalos IV, news of the failure to capture Stryder reached Captain Nokorovic, and he was furious. He’d, personally, picke
d the agent for the mission, and from these results he began to think his judgement might have been faulty.
If General Solon learned of this he would have his head, of that there was no doubt. He would have to see if this was salvageable before he informed the General.
As he sat at his desk pondering the situation, he reviewed his options. Undoubtedly this Captain Stryder and his new companion would have gone to ground somewhere they deemed safe. The asset he had in place had lost them and all the mercenaries he chose to use in his operation. This Stryder was fast becoming a serious pain in the ass and the harder he proved to capture, only bolstered the belief that perhaps the project had been a success after all.
If the asset on the ground couldn’t locate them, then perhaps what they needed was some extra help.
It was well known that Recon Delta Marines were each implanted with a nanochip tracker, which, so far, Alliance technology couldn’t duplicate or crack the codes enabling them to be tracked.
What he had in mind was risky but as he viewed his situation, he decided he had little choice.
Through his NI he accessed a secure comm channel and contacted Captain Pavel Temic.
Col Sec Headquarters was on Earth, the centre of the Confederation in New York. Over the last five centuries, the city had changed beyond all recognition, but Col Sec HQ was situated approximately where the old United Nations building used to be.
The HQ was a sprawling complex that stretched out over five city blocks. It had to be so vast because all Colonial business was conducted there. Its full name was actually the Colonial Confederations Headquarters. Col Sec, Colonial Security, the section that dealt with the security of the Confederation was, as the name implied, just a part of it and was situated below ground away from the prying eyes of everyday personnel and shielded from sensors.
Col Sec itself was divided into two sections: Starforce, which was entirely military, and Intelligence Division, which was staffed by members of Starforce but was completely separate.
General Sinclair was in charge of Intelligence Division.