Enlightened Ignorance

by Michael Anderle

  Jia flipped off her safety. Her heart thundered, but it wasn’t fear or excitement. It was awareness.

  Erik had told her countless times that when a person started treating a fight like a joke or a game, they would soon be dead. Even their tactical center training was treated seriously.

  Practice like it was reality, and reality would never be a surprise.

  The obnoxious cry of alarms rang out. It was followed by a melodious woman’s voice speaking in English followed by Mandarin, delivering the same message.

  “Warning,” the voice announced, “a violent incident is in progress. For your own safety, please shelter in place while law enforcement contains the threat. Failure to comply with these instructions might result in injury or death.” The alarm and the voice continued.

  “Initiating systems intrusion,” Emma reported.

  The door to the apartment slid open.

  “We’ve got movement,” Erik announced.

  A black-garbed man in a bulky tactical suit and full helmet, complete with breather mask, emerged holding a rocket launcher. Jia was comfortable calling that a military-grade weapon. Their terrorists were even ready for gas.

  Not what Jia would have preferred at the start of a major raid.

  She hoped she could track down Old Barbu someday and make him pay for setting up the terrorists. It didn’t matter if he’d indirectly helped them find Mont. If he hadn’t supplied the terrorists with weapons, the raid team wouldn’t be staring at an armored terrorist with a rocket launcher.

  “So much for the lockdown,” Erik grumbled. “They had their own overrides ready. No one gets armed up in seconds, and we’re also in crap position for our breaching efforts.”

  They had intended to close within ten seconds after sending the signal. They didn’t want to set up next to the apartment immediately and risk detection before the lockdown was in place.

  Erik’s shield expanded with a click. “Someone sold us out.”

  “Or something leaked.” Alina sighed. “Probably via the CID systems. It doesn’t matter now. Same difference in the end.”

  “Nothing we can do now but take them down,” Jia muttered. “We don’t get a second chance at this.”

  “Jia, remember that scenario we practiced with the Grayheads using Zitark beam rifles a while back?” Erik asked, a huge grin on his face. “Back me up until the CID guys get into position.”

  “I understand.” Jia grinned back. “That’s one scenario you couldn’t replace with a few women in bikinis. There’s no way they could hide anything decent in a skimpy outfit like that.”

  “I don’t even want to know,” Alina commented.

  “Death to all government dogs!” the man screamed, his message relayed by one of Emma’s nearby drones. “All who give them aid and comfort are enemies of humanity, and their lives are forfeit!”

  “Man, this guy’s obnoxious,” Erik observed.

  “All exoskeletons advance on my movement,” Alina ordered. “Other squads, back us up. His buddies are probably waiting to see what we do.” She sent her next words through a loudspeaker. “This is the Criminal Investigation Directorate. You are to lay down your arms immediately. If you don’t, you will be subject to lethal force.”

  Jia thought Alina announcing herself as being from the Intelligence Directorate might have scared the man more, but she understood the practical aspect of not announcing ghost operations over a loudspeaker. The terrorist ignored the threat, choosing instead to make a rude gesture, but he hadn’t fired yet.

  “Jia can put rounds in him,” Erik offered.

  Alina nodded. “Go ahead, Detective Lin. These aren’t the kind of people we can reason with. We gave him his chance. Snipers, set up while she’s covering us.”

  Jia dropped to one knee and activated the aiming interface between her rifle and her smart lenses. She squeezed off a round as Erik and Alina lumbered forward. They couldn’t risk indiscriminate fire into the apartment building with the heavier weapons at that range.

  Jia’s bullet struck the terrorist in the head, but although he stumbled back, helmet cracked, the man was very much still alive.

  “Is it wrong that I miss the guys on the transport?” she asked.

  Erik chuckled. “Can’t always depend on the bad guys having crap gear.”

  With exoskeletons and agents converging, the terrorist didn’t lack for targets. He howled a loud curse and fired. His rocket sped toward an HTR exoskeleton in one of the other squads. The exoskeleton twisted to avoid the rocket, but it clipped the shield. It didn’t explode, dropping instead to the ground and emitting a loud buzz. That exoskeleton and one nearby tumbled forward and crashed to the ground.

  Jia grimaced. “Tactical EMP rockets.” Old Barbu had really screwed them.

  Erik scoffed. “This is why I prefer the assault infantry model, but you kick ass with the gear you have.” His movement path grew serpentine and erratic, but his gun was never more than a few degrees from the door. Once the exoskeletons were closer, they could open up with less risk of collateral damage.

  Jia took another shot. Only twisted fate saved the terrorist since he leaned at the same time she pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed by his helmet and struck a wall behind him.

  The terrorist reached behind the door and came back with a new rocket. He shoved into his launcher, shouting more colorful obscenities exploring certain anatomical impossibilities.

  Jia ignored his taunts and took another shot. The bullet blasted chunks of his helmet off. The man stumbled into the apartment and slapped the access panel, and the door slammed shut.

  The CID agents groaned from their downed exoskeletons.

  The other teams reported no activity at the rear exits.

  The terrorists had made a brave stand but disabling a couple of exoskeletons wasn’t the same thing as winning the battle, especially when four more exoskeletons were left and plenty of agents were deployed on foot.

  “I have gained internal hallway camera access,” Emma announced to Erik, Alina, and Jia. “I’m proceeding with monitoring for suspicious activity. There is no one currently outside their apartment. There are no thermal capabilities on these cameras, so I can’t confirm apartment occupancy, but at least no one except weapons weasels should get caught up in the violence if you enter the building.”

  “’Weapons weasels?’” Jia muttered.

  Emma responded on a private channel, “Trying out new phrases. ‘Gun goblins’ gets old.”

  “We’re lucky it’s as empty as that,” Erik interrupted the conversation as he continued to close in on the apartment. “This could have been a lot messier.”

  Erik and Alina reached the apartment first, aided by the long steps of their exoskeletons.

  “I can have Emma do it cleanly,” Erik explained. “You’ll just have to explain it away later. Your call.”

  “Go ahead,” Alina suggested. “There will be more than a few details left out of a lot of people’s reports when this is all over.” She activated wider broadcast before ordering, “All rear teams, prepare to breach. Hold position at the exits while we enter.”

  “Breach it, Emma,” Erik ordered and jumped to the side.

  Other CID agents had set up for overwatch, aided by their own drones. With her job done, Jia sprinted toward the apartment. She didn’t want to hang back while her partner took all the risks.

  She’d had the choice not to come to the moon, but she had come, knowing full well something like this might happen. Expecting it, even.

  Someone like Alina Koval wouldn’t need their help for common crimes.

  The door slid open. Another rocket burst from inside, barely missing the moving Erik. It zoomed along until it struck a building across the street and crumpled with a loud buzz—another EMP. The terrorist stood a few meters inside the apartment with blood running down the side of his head under his cracked helmet. Erik and Alina’s guns came alive. The terrorist’s tactical suit managed to deflect the first few shots before their
rounds ripped into his chest.

  His body jolted with each.

  He fell to his knees, coughing up blood. His hand went toward a pocket. “Death…to…dogs!”

  Erik put another bullet into him, but it was too late. A blue-white explosion ripped from his pocket. The blast blew out the windows and ripped pieces from the ceiling, blinding Jia for a moment.

  Alina and Erik stumbled back, their shields and rifles blackened but their exoskeletons still active. Jia blinked. It had been a plasma grenade, not an actual blinder, but that wasn’t much comfort.

  “Tango down!” Alina yelled.

  “Always good to be reminded what it’s like on the other side of that kind of attack,” Erik muttered. He rushed inside, smashing through the doorframe, wrenching metal and blasting chunks of rock into the destroyed room. Everything was different on the moon, even the buildings.

  Jia continued closing. She didn’t need an exoskeleton to support Erik. Alina entered, her pace more deliberate, her movements not as practiced as Erik’s.

  Jia and the other agents caught up a moment later.

  There wasn’t much left of the terrorist but burned pieces. The grenade had done its work, leaving a charred and smoking living room and a half-burned kitchen. Pieces of furniture and the wall smoldered, but there were no serious flames in need of suppression.

  “I can’t get any thermal through these walls,” Erik explained. “The other teams will have to do this room by room. The space is too narrow for exoskeletons.”

  “Maybe that was it,” one of the CID agents suggested.

  “We know they had more than one guy. They have to be hiding in here somewhere, or our drone ring would have spotted them.”

  The agent shrugged. It was obvious he hadn’t paid attention during the earlier briefing.

  “Cover me,” Jia declared, heading toward a nearby hallway.

  Erik pointed his gun down the hall, ready to release a burst into anyone who appeared. Jia slapped the access panel for the door to the first bedroom, her gun ready, her expression grim.

  It was always a challenge to fight a man who didn’t care if he lived or died.

  The door slid open, revealing a strange mix of the spartan and the ornate: several nondescript gray cots on an ornate Martian rug. Apparently, the terrorists had a taste for luxury when they weren’t killing people.

  A CID agent rushed to a door across from Jia and opened it. “Clear!”

  Jia and the agent proceeded to the other bedrooms. They were all clear—no other terrorists. No Remy Mont.

  “Emma,” Jia murmured, “you’re sure you don’t see any of them?”

  “All of my eyes are surrounding the area, and I have access to the cameras,” Emma retorted, haughtiness in her tone. “Unless they’re as good as certain ghost girls, they haven’t passed through my line of sight. They did not escape on the surface.”

  “The arms smuggler might have gotten them a few toys,” Alina thought aloud. “I’d even buy that he got them a few special toys, but there’s no way he got his hands on enough of them for the entire cell.”

  “Wait a minute. The surface. That’s it.” Jia’s breath caught. “No, they haven’t passed through your line of sight.”

  “I just said that, and there are no underground exits. They must be in other apartments.”

  Jia shook her head. “No. If it was about hiding or taking hostages, they would already have made that clear. They’re not in their hideout because they escaped while we were watching them.”

  “So where did they go?” Alina asked.

  Jia slung her rifle over her shoulder, turned, and rushed back into the first room. The CID agents joined her. She pointed to a bed, picked it up, and threw it into a corner. Without question, the agents copied her actions.

  With the beds cleared, she grabbed the edge of the rug and pulled it back to reveal an open square passage and a ladder leading into a small maintenance storage bay filled with drones and wheeled bots.

  “Dammit!” one of the agents hissed. “These guys were prepared.”

  “This is why I like it when people build up instead of down,” Jia complained. “And I’m beginning to understand why they picked the apartment they did. Their people must have controlled maintenance in this building for no one to ever notice.” She grabbed a stun grenade and threw it down. After it discharged, she dropped into the maintenance room, landing with a crouch, her rifle ready.

  No one was inside, stunned or otherwise. Parts and tools were neatly stacked on shelves. There was no rug this time and only a single exit.

  “Emma, anyone outside this room?” Jia asked. “You said you had the hallway cams, right?”

  “Yes,” Emma confirmed, “and they aren’t in the hall adjacent to that maintenance room. There’s no evidence of spoofing. I’m examining the feed for possible optical irregularities and not finding anything. There’s very little reason to believe they’re waiting to ambush you.”

  A few CID agents jumped down to support Jia. Everyone slowly looked around, seeking evidence that might indicate where the terrorists had gone.

  “They couldn’t have just disappeared,” Jia observed, surveying the room. “We were watching this place. We would have known if they had already left. There’s something obvious we’re missing. These scum aren’t better than us.”

  “Jia,” Erik called over the comm, “mirror your feed for me.”

  “One second.” Jia tapped her PNIU to transmit from her smart lenses to Erik.

  “Turn to your left,” he suggested.

  Jia complied. “It’s a maintenance drone exit hatch, and…” She slapped her forehead. “Of course.” She walked over to the hatch. “Emma, open this for me, please.”

  The hatch hissed and released. It opened into the room. Jia peered into the darkened maintenance bot shaft. It was just large enough for a man to walk through slouching.

  “Emma, do these shafts go all over the complex?” Jia asked.

  “According to the blueprints for the complex, yes,” Emma confirmed. “Unfortunately, there aren’t many internal sensors in the building compared to a typical Neo SoCal tower level, so it’d be difficult for me to track their movement inside.”

  “Do the shafts lead away from the complex?” Jia continued, an idea percolating in her head.

  “Not according to the blueprints,” Emma began, “but there is close proximity to one of the shafts and an underground parking garage that has been closed for repair for several weeks, according to Chang’e public records. It’s not the closest structure to the complex, but it is the closest to a maintenance shaft.”

  “Do you have camera access to that garage?” Jia didn’t know whether to be impressed or annoyed with the terrorists, but she preferred the straightforward, less-well-equipped men on the transport.

  It made sense. If the terrorists were sloppy, they would have been caught long before.

  “The parking garage is not part of the apartment complex.” Emma was silent for a few seconds as she probed the systems. “In addition, its primary operating systems appear to be completely offline, but there are some minor secondary systems remaining, including emergency lights and gate control. The security of the systems is trivial.”

  “Cameras?”

  “No active cameras.”

  Jia snorted. “Can they be any more suspicious?”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  “Get back up here, Jia,” Erik suggested. “Let’s go check the garage out. The rest of the CID guys can finish locking the apartment complex down.”

  Jia scurried back up the ladder and out of the apartment. Erik, Alina, Jia, and two CID regular agents, along with the two remaining HTR exoskeletons, ran around the side of the complex to the out-of-commission parking garage.

  The trapezoidal entrance was sealed by a thick metal gate.

  “Open it when you’re ready,” Erik ordered. Emma would understand who he was addressing, and the CID agents would just think Alina was pulling ghost magic. />
  Jia had taken for granted how useful it was for most of the 1-2-2 to at least be somewhat aware of Emma and her capabilities. The AI liked to brag about being unique, but technology always improved.

  In twenty years, maybe every cop would have an AI like Emma aiding them. Emma would probably have an ego breakdown if she wasn’t unique.

  Or she would preen about how she was the first.

  The gate rumbled and pulled apart, the two main sections sliding into the left and right front walls of the garage. The light from outside spilled in and illuminated the dusty area. While it was tiny compared to what Jia was used to in Neo SoCal, the garage could have easily swallowed a couple of local apartments.

  A hovertruck and a half-dozen mini-flitters were parked in the garage. Two drill bots, each several meters long, stood inactive on their six legs, taking up most of the space. Power cells and other tools were scattered about in a haphazard manner.

  Jia’s suspicious gaze wandered the garage. “I’m not a construction expert, but why would you need two industrial drill bots to fix a garage?”

  “A very good question,” admitted Alina, her voice oozing caution.

  Jia crept forward, keeping a tight grip on her weapon, her breathing shallow. She pointed to a large rectangular hole in the garage wall. It was too short for normal use.

  “That must be where they connected to the tunnel,” she commented. “But even if the rest of them escaped through this tunnel, where did they go after that? This is turning into the world’s most annoying puzzle.”

  One of Emma’s drones whirred into the garage and moved toward a wall. It moved back and forth for a moment, then advanced into the wall, disappearing. The entire wall shimmered.

  “It’s a hologram!” Jia shouted.

  The wall disappeared, revealing a tunnel wide enough to fit a full-sized flitter through. Emma’s drone dropped to the ground, smashing into pieces.

  “And that was an EMP from the enemy inside,” Emma announced. “Contact.”