by Jan Domagala
* * * * *
“What about the local Constabulary, won’t they want to investigate what happened here?” asked Tanya as Hawk beckoned her to follow him out of the mall.
“They will but I’ve got a feeling that we’d be safer leaving before they get here,” replied Hawk.
“Where’re we going?” she asked again, a little of the shock of witnessing the brutal fight and the two deaths beginning to settle on her.
“Back to Earth, I’ve got friends who’ll assist us in getting there and I can assure you it’s where you’ll be safest,” Hawk said grabbing her hand and gently urging her on. “But we have to leave right now, okay?”
“My father’s responsible for this you know, my own father. How could he send someone to kill me, his own daughter?” she said and Hawk could see the shock beginning to take effect. She was unravelling before his eyes and if he didn’t act soon to try and bring her around, to snap out of it, she would be a gibbering wreck.
“Look Tanya, we have to move now. I’ve got some people who will meet us and help us get away to Earth where you’ll be safe and then we can work out what all this means, okay, but we have to move now,” he said and he added a slight pull on her arm to get her moving.
She responded slowly and as she began to walk with him he called Colonel De Boer through a sub space battle com. channel via his NI. “Colonel, can you give me your status please, am in need of immediate evac.”
The Colonel’s voice came through loud and clear to his ears alone, it being a battle com. channel. One marine had likened it to telepathy after using it for the first time. “We are in orbit awaiting your coordinates, latching onto your tracker code now. We have your location and are on our way to pick you up,” he said.
“Have encountered a hostile who is no longer a threat but the local Constabulary will be en route so we must try to avoid all contact with them. We don’t know just yet how deep any infiltration has gone so best to stay away from them,” Hawk warned.
“Understood. Will contact when we’re in the vicinity,” De Boer said then broke the contact.
They increased their pace as they went down the escalator to the ground floor and the exit. Hawk was pulling Tanya with him to some extent as they pushed their way through the thinning crowd. The entrance loomed before them and as they burst through into the cool night air he searched for an available sky-cab. There were always some parked outside the mall entrance ready for their next fare and he was banking on getting into the nearest one to escape from the scene as quickly as he could, taking Tanya with him.
Hailing one, he dragged Tanya inside with him after it had pulled up by the curb. Once inside he told the driver to take them to the Imperial Hotel. It was as good a place as any and it was purely random and away from the mall so it couldn’t be anticipated by OMEGA.
As the sky-cab left the curb and headed out into the flight lanes designated for sky-cab traffic they saw three Constabulary ground cars pull up outside the mall entrance, their sirens blaring to herald their arrival.
“Something funny going on there, did you guys see anything?” asked the cabbie in a friendly tone.
“No, there was some trouble inside, a fight I think but we didn’t see anything, did we honey,” replied Hawk smiling at the cabbie. Tanya looked at him and simply shook her head in agreement.
“There’s always something happening in this town,” the cabbie added. Hawk closed the screen between the two cabins and sealed it so they would have total privacy in the rear compartment. Accessing a secure sub space com. channel via his NI he called General Sinclair. “Sir, just reporting that I’ve got Miss Wilde with me despite an attempt on her life,” he said once the call was connected.
“How on Earth did anyone get to her so quickly?” asked Sinclair.
“Presumably her father knew where she had gone and he sent the clone to find her using that as a starting point.”
“Clone? Are you saying he sent another of those after her?” asked the General, a little surprised.
“Yes, sir, but this one was different in the respect that he looked bred for battle,” explained Hawk.
“How so?” wondered Sinclair.
“He was built with more muscle than the first one we encountered and his pain threshold was almost through the roof. It was like he almost didn’t feel pain at all; at least he never let it bother him. He was one tough mutha, sir, I’d hate to think of having to face an army of them,” said Hawk.
“That thought had occurred to me after our first encounter here in HQ but it seems more of a threat now that you’ve discovered there are some bred for battle,” said Sinclair.
“I think we ought to move pretty quickly on Jonas Wilde, sir, before he has time to take precautions. No doubt he’ll have an army of legal representatives to defend him if we try and take him to court. We may have to try another route,” said Hawk.
“We’ll discuss that when you arrive back at HQ. Keep me posted on your progress, Matt,” Sinclair replied before closing the connection.
“What are you planning to do to my father?” asked Tanya seeming to come out of her shocked state.
“I won’t lie to you. If he’s responsible for what I think, he’ll be brought to justice, one way or another,” Hawk replied simply.
“What exactly do you mean by that?” she wanted to know.
Hawk looked at her, saw a beautiful young woman who had found herself in the worst position of her life and felt sympathy for her, but he had to put that out of his mind. He had to steel himself for what was inevitable. “It means if he’s guilty, he’ll pay,” and he left it at that, turning to look away from her out of the side window so she couldn’t see the turmoil evident in his ice blue eyes.
Using her NI Tanya accessed a local com. channel and called her father. “Dad, what’s going on, what are you caught up in? Why did you send that man after me?” she said once the call was answered.
Hawk spun around in his seat when he heard her talking to her father, “What the fuck are you doing?” he said angrily.
“Who’s that with you sugar?” said Jonas Wilde not answering her question.
“Dad do you realise they’ll come after you now? Tell me it wasn’t you, tell me it’s all a huge mistake,” she pleaded.
Jonas Wilde was silent as he thought about the implications of this call. She was still his daughter, he remembered all the little things about her childhood, but as they ran through his conscious mind he realised that he didn’t remember too many of them simply because his career in Col Sec had kept him away from his wife and daughter for so many years. The bond that he would have had – should have had – simply wasn’t there. Yes she was his daughter and on some level he was certain he loved her but she may as well have been just another faceless employee as far as he was concerned and that saddened him. It was one more reason why he hated the Confederation.
“I don’t suppose for one moment that you are alone there my sweet and I do regret what you’ve just gone through and what is to come, but it is inevitable I’m afraid,” Jonas Wilde said, then broke the connection.
“No!” Tanya screamed as the call ended. It was like a door slamming on a portion of her life that she had thought so secure. Now, suddenly it had all changed and she had no future, with one simple call her life was over.
“From your reply then I take it that it could’ve gone better,” Hawk said, his anger receding. He saw her world, her reason for living crumble before his very eyes and his heart went out to her, even though he’d tried to keep himself at a distance.
“What am I going to do?” she said in a scared, little girl voice.
“You stay with me and we’ll work this out together,” he said after a pause, which seemed to comfort her a little.
* * * * *
Jonas Wilde sat back in his chair thinking about what he was going to do next. His plans seemed to be changing faster than he could adapt to them. Things were at a stage now where he was swiftly running out of options so th
e only thing he could think to do was to go on the offensive. He would have to implement Phase Two of his plan and bring events to a head a bit earlier; the result would be the same though, regardless of the time line. He contacted Maxwell Eisenhower through the internal intercom accessed through his NI.
“Sir, could you come to my office please, there’s something here I think you should see,” he said, injecting just enough urgency into his voice to get his boss’s attention.
“Okay Jonas, I’m on my way,” replied the owner and CEO of MaxCorp, one of the ten largest mega corps in the known galaxy.
Using his NI again Wilde contacted a Rover via a secure channel similar to the battle com. that Recon Delta used; a Rover who had been in the building for a while just waiting for the right moment to make his presence known. The right moment, which was to be heralded by a call from his boss. “Get ready, he’s on his way, we’re doing this a bit early but we’re doing it,” Wilde said to the Rover.
No answer was needed, Wilde knew the Rover was ready; he’d been ready for days just waiting for this call.
Eisenhower was soon at Wilde’s office and let himself in walking straight up to the large, ornate wooden desk where Wilde was waiting.
“What’s the matter Jonas, what’s so urgent? Has it to do with your investigation into the chamber incident?” asked Eisenhower as he stood in front of his right hand man.
“There’s someone here I think you should meet Max,” Wilde said and pressed a button on his desk which operated a hidden door in the wall to his right. Eisenhower glanced to his left as the panel slid open to reveal a room beyond. A figure came forward to stand in the doorway. It was shrouded in shadow and Eisenhower couldn’t make out the features clearly.
“I don’t understand Jonas, what’s going on and who is this?” said Eisenhower beginning to wonder just what was happening and frankly, a little worried by it all.
“Max, meet Max,” Wilde said and the figure emerged from the gloom of the secret chamber into the light of the office where Maxwell Eisenhower could see him, an exact replica of himself, another clone.
“I don’t understand… what’s going on here Jonas, who is this?” Eisenhower said, indicating the clone standing at the shoulder of his second in command.
“I thought it should be obvious, he’s you,” Wilde answered calmly and then from a drawer in his desk he withdrew a Sig P996 and aimed it straight at Eisenhower’s face.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Eisenhower exploded in anger.
“I thought that was obvious too, Max, we’re replacing you,” Wilde said with a half smile.
“But, for that, I’d have to be dead,” Eisenhower said.
“You are so right,” said Wilde and shot him full in the face. The maximum power plasma bolt struck him right between the eyes and blew his head apart, spraying blood and brain matter across the floor behind him.
“You can come in now,” Wilde said and two men came through from the hidden room. “Dispose of that, I want nothing to remain, and I do mean nothing, vaporise it so there’s no trace left. Do you understand?” he added to which both men nodded their assent.
The Rover replica of Eisenhower looked at Wilde and said, “I’d better get to work,” and left the office.
* * * * *
Phase Two was complete, adaptability was indeed the name of the game and the game had changed once more. Now he would implicate himself instead of Eisenhower. He would go straight to the underground base where they’d never find him, which he had secretly built using funds siphoned off from certain mega corp. accounts. He would be safe there and he could organise the attack against Col Sec with impunity. With his clone in place all the wealth and power Maxwell Eisenhower had amassed building up his mega corp. would be at his disposal and he would have an organisation in OMEGA to rival that of the mighty Col Sec itself, now all that remained for him to do was ready the forces.
13
The sky-cab dropped Hawk and Tanya Wilde off at the Imperial Hotel as instructed and they entered the foyer as casually as they could. Tanya was still in a state of shock over the incidents that had happened during the past few minutes of her young life, so Hawk covered for her the best way he knew how and that was to keep her away from as many prying eyes as he could.
The foyer was busy as one would expect in the premier hotel in the city and the carpet was lush beneath their feet as they slowly walked towards the bar.
“You need a stiff drink to calm your nerves,” Hawk said as he guided her with a gentle hand on her elbow towards the mahogany bar at the end of the long room.
“Good afternoon and welcome to the Imperial Bar, what can I get you?” said the tall barman as they reached the bar. He had a ready smile and an eager to please attitude. Hawk guided Tanya onto a tall barstool, looked at the barman and said, “Two scotch on the rocks please. Let’s keep it simple shall we dear?” This last comment was said to Tanya who, realising they were in company, returned Hawk’s smile albeit weakly.
“Two scotch on the rocks coming up, sir,” replied the bartender jovially and he turned to prepare the drinks.
Accessing a battle com. channel Hawk called De Boer. “We’re in the bar at the Imperial Hotel, we’ll meet you here,” he said as quietly as he could, not wanting to draw any attention to the call. The bartender returned just then with their drinks in tall tumblers, the amber liquid glistening under the lights of the room, the ice clinking musically as he placed them down on coasters before them.
“Can I get you anything else?” he asked, smiling.
“Not just yet thanks,” Hawk answered returning the smile cordially.
He paid for the drinks by linking his NI to the hotel’s account. Once they were alone and out of earshot of the bartender he turned to Tanya, “Our help will be here soon so we can relax for a few minutes. Why don’t you enjoy your drink, we’ll be moving as soon as they get here and I don’t know when we’ll get the chance again,” he said quietly, leaning in close to appear like they were a loving couple, an image he was hoping to cultivate for anyone passing by and watching them.
She picked up her drink with trembling fingers so that the ice clunked in the glass and she had to steady it by holding it with both hands. Slowly she brought the glass up to her lips and took a sip letting the amber liquid slowly trickle down her throat warming her as it travelled down into her stomach.
“God I needed that,” she said, acknowledging the stress she was feeling.
“Don’t worry, we’re almost home free here. Once we get picked up I’ll get you safely to Earth and then you can truly relax,” Hawk said with a reassuring smile. He took his drink and poured it down in one swallow savouring the warmth it brought to his insides. “Hmm, that was quite good,” he commented.
Suddenly a commotion at the entrance of the hotel grabbed their attention and Hawk turned to see three marines stride into the bar wearing full battle gear and bearing arms.
“Is this your idea of low profile Colonel?” Hawk asked when De Boer was in front of him.
“Didn’t have the chance to change into civvies. I thought we should come straight away considering the bind you found yourselves in,” replied De Boer with a deadpan expression.
“Perhaps we should leave now before someone complains to the hotel manager about the sudden influx of undesirables who seemed to have invaded his hotel,” Hawk added in the same deadpan way.
Grabbing Tanya’s hand, Hawk led her away from the bar in the company of the three marines. They walked straight for the foyer and out of the front entrance where a shuttle was parked. It was a small, sleek craft built for speed with the capability of holding only a few passengers, whilst its dimensions enabled it to land almost anywhere making it ideal for the task Colonel De Boer intended.
Once inside the shuttle Hawk and Tanya sat in the middle two seats of a row of six down the centre of the craft. De Boer took the front seat with the two other marines positioning themselves in the seats behind their charges. Straps from
hidden recesses inside the seats snaked out and wrapped around those sitting in them to secure them for take off. Within a few seconds of them boarding the shuttle it was airborne, streaking towards the upper atmosphere and the waiting Valkyrie.
* * * * *
Tanis Rygar and what was left of his team were at the spaceport on Cordoba wondering just what to do next when a call came through via his NI.
“Change of plans Rygar. The agent you failed to kill has once more escaped and this time he has my daughter with him. You will be joined by one of my Rovers and he will instruct you on how to proceed. You will follow his orders implicitly is that understood?” said Jonas Wilde through a secure com. channel.
“Perfectly, sir,” Rygar replied.
“Do not fail this time or you will face the consequences,” Wilde said and there was a sense of finality in his voice making the hairs stand up on the back of Rygar’s head.
“You can count on us, sir,” he replied. As soon as he’d said it he knew he shouldn’t have for he knew that Wilde would not stand for any futile excuses if they failed this time. There was only one thing to do and that was hope and pray that what this Rover expected of them was within the realms of human possibility and they could carry it out otherwise he would have no choice but to run and hope that he wouldn’t be found. That in itself was a lesson in futility, for the resources at Wilde’s disposal made it virtually impossible to hide from him. Rygar felt an overwhelming sense of doom and despair wash over him when the call was terminated. He felt like he’d just signed his own death warrant. This wasn’t far from the truth as Wilde had no further use for him and planned on using him and his team as cannon fodder in the upcoming battle against the Confederation.
* * * * *
Accessing a sub space com. channel via his NI, Hawk called General Sinclair. “Sir, I think we need to move on Jonas Wilde immediately and with your permission I, Colonel De Boer and some of his team can be at his office within the hour to make the arrest,” he said with some urgency.