by Jan Domagala
“Those are the same men who attacked me on Celeron sir. Does that confirm this OMEGA involvement?”
“I’m afraid it does, yes,” Sinclair confirmed.
“We have to do something sir. Has the local Constabulary been alerted? Is a SWAT Team en route?” Kurt asked urgently.
“Yes to all of those questions, I totally agree, we have to do something and,” Sinclair said then held up a hand to indicate he wanted to halt the conversation. His expression altered as he listened to something.
“What’s up sir?” Kurt asked.
“I have just received a call from the Communication Section, they are rerouting something to the main monitor,” Sinclair replied and he turned to the huge screen where another image replaced the security feed from RandCorp they had been watching.
The image changed to that of two men standing in an office. One of them was holding a Remm assault rifle to the other man’s head. The older man had the confident demeanour that came from wielding power and the knowledge that he could handle anything life would throw at him. The other man had a slightly manic look in his eyes which made them worried for the older man.
Norsky said, “Hello General Sinclair and is that Kurt standing next to you? Good to see you both, bet you never thought you’d see me again did you Kurt?”
“What do you want?” Sinclair asked before Kurt could say anything.
“Straight to the point I see. I’ve heard that about you General, direct. Well, to the point then, I want Kurt to come here. We have unfinished business and I think it’s time we got to it,” Norsky said looking straight at them through the video feed he had accessed via his NI. He had isolated one security camera when he had found the office he wanted and used it for this conference call.
“I’m sorry Pavel but I cannot allow that to happen. You are a professional like me and you know that we do not negotiate with terrorists. If our positions were reversed you would do the same,” Sinclair said steadily not wanting to agitate him any further.
“There is one huge exception though that you are not taking into consideration. You are not me, you would not do this,” Norsky said as he pressed the assault rifle hard into the temple of Able Rand’s head. Before he could fire Kurt shouted, “Okay Pavel, you win, I’m on my way.”
Sinclair spun around to stare at him, his eyes cold and hard. “What?” he said through gritted teeth; clearly he was not used to being disobeyed.
“See General, Kurt knows me better than you. He knows what I’m capable of, he has just saved this man’s life,” Norsky said with a smile of victory.
“Let’s get one thing clear Pavel, if you hurt anyone else, I will kill you,” Kurt said calmly without any emotion.
“That I would like to see,” Norsky said then added, “I may kill a few more up here just to see you try.”
“You may think you are in control at the moment Pavel but you’re not. You are in a position that is not easy to defend, you have hostages, granted but they are only valuable to you if you keep them alive. The moment you hurt any of them all bets are off, you have to know that. You have to know that we can take that Penthouse any time we want, you are just one man, a small force could storm your position in seconds and you would not be able to stop them. So please, don’t think you’re in control, you’re not.” Kurt said calmly, almost condescendingly.
“Nice speech Kurt but we both know that if you send any size force in here against me you must expect to find a lot of dead bodies. There is only one man who stands a chance against me and that’s you Kurt. So shall we spare all those other lives and just keep this between you and I?”
“If that’s what you want Pavel, I’ll be there,” Kurt said. He glanced at Sinclair and shook his head slightly.
“I’ll be waiting Kurt, and don’t keep me waiting too long, you don’t want me to get bored and start killing people,” Norsky said then the video feed was cut off before anything further could be said.
Kurt looked at Sinclair and shook his head. “I have to do this sir,” he said.
“I agree, I just did not want him to think he had forced our hands into doing what he wanted.”
“You know I can’t take any back up, he’ll see it coming a mile away. I have to go in alone,” Kurt said He was testing the general to see how far he could push this, how much he would trust him to get the job done.
“You’ll have back up waiting at the limit of his range. You can call them in when you have the situation under control or if you need them.”
“Jake and his Team?”
“Yes, at the moment they are on board the Pulsar in orbit over us. I’ll instruct them to go and wait in high orbit over Washington so they can drop down when needed, they can leave shortly after you. If he has eyes on you approaching I don’t want them seen approaching at the same time or he may start killing hostages.”
“Give me an hour’s head start then tell them to follow sir,” Kurt said then turned to leave the office.
“Kurt, I don’t understand what he meant about you being the only one who stands a chance against him, but I have my suspicions. If they have any validity then he is a very dangerous individual so be careful. Good luck son,” Sinclair said. Kurt nodded his head and left the office.
22
Standing on the bridge of the Lempinski Hermes was keeping an eye on the scanners targeted at the area in Nevada where the signal from Zara’s sub dermal tracker was originating.
“Sir we have a jet fighter leaving a base out in the desert over where the tracking signal is coming from,” said ops.
“Prepare the assault team, I’ll lead them myself,” Hermes said then using his NI to access a secure channel he called Norsky.
“He’s on his way, you know what to do,” he said then closed the connection without waiting for a reply.
A smile crossed his lips as he strode of the bridge. When he reached the docking bay he was greeted by his assault team of thirty Rover5’s. The samples were preloaded into the shuttle that was sitting in the docking bay. They had been sedated with neural suppressors clamped onto their heads. At the moment they were deep in REM sleep but the moment they were turned off they would come awake fast and with a thirst for revenge and a fury to fuel that need.
Anyone standing in their path would not stand a chance.
All the Rover5’s were dressed in battle suits with patch pockets on arms and legs that carried extra battery clips for the Remm assault rifles and the Sig P996’s they all carried. The moment they saw Hermes approach they all filed into the shuttle and strapped themselves into their respective seats ready for departure.
Hermes joined them and sat down strapping the harness around him. The shuttle’s pilot released the clamps holding the craft in place then operated the docking bay doors. The shuttle dropped free from the docking bay and the pilot fired the main engines sending it hurtling toward the planet below.
*****
Josh Rand knew his father had gone off the grid. He knew the only reason that that would happen would be if he was in trouble.
His heart jumped into his mouth at the mere thought of that happening and he found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move, to even think.
“Where’s Dad?” a voice asked from behind him. He turned to see his sister standing there. She was almost as tall as her brother standing at a little over six feet and had the same turquoise eyes but her hair was lighter, a true blonde. It hung down over her broad shoulders almost to her waist in a cascade of wavy curls. Her normal friendly open expression had been replaced with one of concern. She wasn’t afraid for her own safety; Able had reared them both to be independent individuals and because of their upbringing nothing much scared them. Yes she was worried for the safety of everyone on this floor and in particular her father but she wasn’t scared. She was too busy being pissed off to be scared.
“I’m not sure, last I heard he was in his office,” Josh replied.
“We have to help him,” she said reaching for her pistol. She r
acked the slide priming the battery clip then walked toward the door. They were in her office; she helped with the day to day stuff while Josh was in charge of Special Projects. Mitchell Ryan was the head of security, an ex Recon Delta marine. He was on the same floor as them and was organising the evacuation of the other workers into the escape chutes, special elevators built into recesses of the outer wall of the building. Ryan was standing by the chute furthest from Able’s office on the far side of the building.
“I was waiting for Mitch to finish up with the staff before trying anything,” Josh said standing in the doorway blocking her path. She was more impulsive than him and quite capable of rushing to their father’s aid without thinking and end up putting both of them at risk.
“We can’t afford to wait Josh, we’ve gotta go help him.”
“Sis, we have to wait for Mitch. He knows how to do this stuff, we don’t. If we go in there we could get Dad killed, not to mention us too, is that what you want?” Josh placated.
Jess shook her head declining to say anything. She knew her brother was right and it burned to admit it.
“Mitch’ll know what to do; he’s got years of experience in this sort of thing,” Josh said trying to calm his sister down.
“Tell him to get his ass over here quick then,” she snapped, she was worried that her father could get hurt by their delay and was furious at the temerity of the man who had come here and attacked them.
“Sis, calm down. Mitch is doing his job, you know, what we pay him to do. He’ll get here as soon as he can.”
She tried to access a comm. channel through her NI but found that something was jamming transmissions. “I can’t reach him, something’s jamming the comm’s,” she said. She went over to her desk and said, “We’ll have to do this old school.” She activated the intercom on her desk; it was a hard line system with connections in every office and at strategic locations around the floor. She said, “Mitch, the bastard has Dad in his office. What shall we do?”
“Nothing, I’ll be there right away,” said a voice that was calm yet firm.
Mitchell Ryan was in his mid forties with jet black hair cut short. His deep brown eyes were intense and his jaw firmly set in determination. He had his game face on as his old training had kicked in the moment the alarm had gone off.
There were still a few of the staff who needed to get away from the Penthouse but now his priority had to be getting Able Rand away from the man who had attacked them all. He waved the rest of the staff into the chute and said, “I’ve gotta go, just get into the chute and the compressed air will ensure you get to the ground floor safely. There will be members of my security team that will meet you down there, just follow their instructions and you’ll be okay.” As soon as he knew they understood his instructions he left them to it and headed for Jess’s office. Luckily he didn’t have to pass by Able’s office on his way to where the two Rand siblings were. When he entered the office Josh turned toward him and the relief at seeing him was spread across his face.
“Mitch, am I glad to see you,” he said.
“About time too,” Jess said which garnered a stern look from her older brother.
“Sorry,” she said when she saw her brother’s expression. “What can we do?” she added.
“Look he wants your father alive, he’s a hostage and his only value is him being alive. That’s the good news, he’ll keep him alive as long as he thinks he’s gonna get what he wants. Do any of you know if he’s contacted anyone with his demands?” Mitch said.
“If he has he must’ve done it before the jamming device was initiated,” explained Josh.
“What about the SUT?” asked Jess.
“The Single Unit Transporter? What about it Jess?” Josh asked wondering where his sister was going with this.
“What’s a single unit transporter?” Mitch asked slightly confused.
Josh turned to his friend and said, “The SUT was a device we were developing, it enabled a person to transport from one place to another. We dropped it from development because we found it too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous, in what way?” Mitch asked a plan forming in his mind.
“We found that the person using it was subject to cellular degradation. It was so severe that after three trips the damage was so great that it was irreversible and the subject died in agony shortly after. Since then it’s been put on hold until we can figure out how to find a way around this problem.”
“How dangerous is it to use just once?” Mitch asked.
“I know what you’re thinking Mitch. Use the SUT to get into Dad’s room behind the terrorist before he knows what hit him but it won’t work, trust me,” Josh said.
“Why not, I’m willing to risk the damage to myself to save your father,” Mitch said.
“You don’t understand Mitch. The first time anyone uses it there is severe disorientation, so you see if you did get in behind him you’d collapse and wouldn’t be able to do anything to help anyway. You’d just be handing him another hostage,” Josh explained.
“Damn!” exclaimed Mitch angrily. “Thought we had something then,” he added.
“We may have,” Jess said. As they turned to look at her she had a smile on her face.
“What’re you thinking Jess?” her brother asked, knowing that look on her face.
She smiled then told them her idea.
23
Before Kurt took a modified F215 Hornet from Area 15 to Washington, the Wildfire Team took the Pulsar’s forward section up to the main body of the craft in orbit. The Hornet was the fastest fighter jet in Col Sec’s armoury and had a passenger seat fitted behind the pilot’s. Once he was airborne the shuttle left the Lempinski heading for the airstrip Kurt had just taken off from.
On board the Hornet Kurt was strapped into the rear seat by a harness that crossed over his chest and fastened in the middle. The ‘G’ forces from the take off pressed him firmly in place in the seat as the after burners sent them hurtling through the air.
He accessed a comm. channel via his NI and called the Pulsar. “Jake I want you to co-ordinate your drop with my arrival at RandCorp HQ. When I land on the roof I want you and your team to go in the front and take care of the hostiles in control of the lobby,” he said.
“Copy that Kurt,” Jake’s voice said in his ear.
The trip to Washington would take less than two hours at their present speed and Kurt was prepared for his arrival. He was fitted with a parachute and when he was over the general area he would be jettisoned.
He had no idea what he would face on arrival, whether it would be a force of Rover5’s or simply Norsky on his own but face it he would. He was prepared to meet whatever lay ahead and knowing that his regenerative powers were at their height gave him the confidence to proceed. The fact that he faced Norsky, someone who quite possibly had the same abilities as himself did not faze him. It just meant that the odds would be equal for both of them.
He had come prepared with a Sig P999 and a Remm assault rifle which he would take with him. He was wearing a battle suit of Kevlon blast resistant body armour and had the Sig strapped to his right leg in a holster and the Remm strapped across his chest. It was uncomfortable as the harness and the ‘G’ forces pressed the weapon into his chest making it harder to breath but he was willing to put up with it all to complete his mission. He knew that Jake and his team had his back so everything was in place to complete the mission successfully.
Things could go wrong with any mission and this was no exception, he just had to trust his abilities and skills and those of the team that would be helping him.
All he could do for now was sit back and wait until he was ready to get into the game. He closed his eyes and centred his mind, the time would come soon enough for him to spring into action, until then it was best he remained calm.
*****
The shuttle containing the Rover5’s and the samples swooped in low over Area 15. Pulsed plasma bolts from the forward mounted pulse cannons strafe
d the ground. Guards had emerged from the complex that was Area 15 only to be cut down mercilessly by the strafing run of the shuttle. Blood stained the ground where they fell, their weapons discarded.
Landing thrusters controlled the landing of the shuttle allowing it to land softly near the base. The moment the shuttle hit the ground the doors opened and the Rover5’s poured out, assault rifles up at the shoulders ready to fire on anything that moved. They moved like a well oiled machine covering each other as they approached the complex. The doors were soon unlocked and a squad of Rover5’s stormed inside. Several marine guards were waiting for them. They fired Remm assault rifles at the clones; plasma bolts scorched the air between the two battling parties. The Rover5’s ducked behind whatever cover they could find and continued to return fire.
The guards tried to hold off the advance but their limited numbers meant that they were outnumbered and out gunned. They tried to contact the base below but all comm. links had been jammed by the shuttle on its descent.
The guards were effectively cut off, on their own.
Before long the other clones joined the fray firing from all angles catching the guards in a deadly crossfire. Within a few seconds of them joining the battle it was all over and all the guards lay on the floor, dead from the wounds inflicted by the assaulting forces.
Once the complex was secure Hermes called to the shuttle for the clones guarding the samples to bring them to them.
The Rover5’s back in the shuttle herded the three samples out of the shuttle toward the complex. Hermes watched the three creatures slowly lope across the ground from the shuttle toward the complex. Three octofelines from the planet Tartaran with the neural inhibitors strapped to their broad flat heads came out of the shuttle. Their heads moved from side to side as they sniffed the air tasting it, using their enhanced sense of smell to locate and recognise all the clones around them. Their bodies were long around thirty odd feet long with a long tail that whipped from side to side. Two sets of forelegs at the front had paws the width of a man’s head with claws as long as the average finger. At the rear of the beast were two sets of hind legs each as powerful as those at the front.