Imperial Recruit (Book 2 of The Imperial Marines Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  The normally bubbly and talkative girl was sitting nearby, silently watching Andrea. Anytime she looked over, her friend just raised an eyebrow meaningfully. She might not know the details, but she knew Andrea was mixed up in it somehow.

  Maybe Andrea should ask her opinion on what she should do. Her friend could keep her mouth shut, she was sure.

  She was still considering doing that when Senior Sergeant Page stepped into the compartment, locked eyes with her, and made a gesture for her to come over.

  Andrea strode over to him. “Yes, Drill Instructor?”

  “Maintenance has fixed the hydraulic leak, and we’re clear to use the bay again. Get the platoon back in there and turn them over to the squad leaders to continue their training.”

  Since she knew damned well that there hadn’t been a maintenance issue, that meant that they’d gotten the body out. She hadn’t been able to see that for herself because someone had locked her out at the vid system. Probably Riggio.

  “Yes, Drill Instructor.”

  Without waiting for further instructions, she yelled for the platoon to form up and ordered the squad leaders to move their people back to the bay and get them back into vacuum suits to continue their training.

  Getting them in place only took about ten minutes. She started getting her vacuum suit out of its locker to put it on, but Page stopped her.

  “Bring it with you and come with me.”

  She wondered why but decided that she’d find out soon enough. Asking inane questions when a drill instructor told you to do something was an excellent way to get yelled at on the best of days, which this definitely wasn’t.

  He escorted her out of the bay and into a side compartment used for manufacturing parts for the cutters and pinnaces. At one of the tables stood Riggio and Senior Sergeant Gunnarsdotter.

  Now that she could see him more clearly, she could see that it wasn’t just marine coveralls he was wearing. They had rank tabs and everything. Had he gone back into the service?

  “Recruit Tolliver, it’s good to see you again,” he said cheerfully. “You find the damnedest things. Put your vacuum suit on the table so I can take a look at it.”

  She did so and shot a sidelong look at Page. He gestured for her to proceed, and she took that as permission to start asking questions.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. “Finding that dead guy makes me wonder if we got moved up here because something happened down on the ground. Does it have something to do with me?”

  He grinned at the two drill instructors. “I told you she was smart.”

  Even as he spoke, he was busy taking her vacuum suit apart. Not just in the ways that routine maintenance would require, but actually disassembling every part that could be taken apart and laying it out. What was he doing?

  “You’re not stupid, so you know it has something to do with you,” he continued as he worked. “Somebody tried to mess with your locker down on the planet. Tried to plant some drugs that would’ve gotten you kicked out of training. He got caught in the act of resisting arrest. Shot the barracks up and got killed for his trouble.

  “Senior Sergeant Page decided that it would be prudent to relocate the platoon up here without explaining the circumstances, and I don’t disagree with him. Even though I’m in uniform, I’m not serving as an active-duty marine at this time. I took a job with Imperial Intelligence, and they tasked me with overseeing your stay here to make sure that nobody tried to put their thumbs on the scales.”

  “Someone killed that man so they could get to my vacuum suit?” she asked slowly.

  “Not exactly. We think he was up here to mess with your suit. We’ve identified him as working for a criminal cartel on New Dallas. Someone paid them to make sure that you don’t graduate.

  “What I don’t know is who killed him and whether that person wants you dead too. I figure it won’t hurt to double-check your vacuum suit to be sure. Have you seen anything up here that seems odd to you? Is anyone asking you questions that they shouldn’t be? Looking at you strangely or with more hostility than you’d expect?”

  She laughed. “I’m not exactly Miss Popular, if you know what I mean. Still, I can’t say that I’ve gotten any strange looks that I didn’t expect. We don’t have a lot of interaction with people that aren’t trainees or drill instructors.”

  Her brain was racing even as she spoke. Who would be willing to pay the kind of money it would take to have her killed or barred from serving? That couldn’t be cheap.

  “Just who have I made an enemy of?”

  Riggio was plugging a device into the vacuum suit but stopped to shake his head. “You personally haven’t made an enemy. They don’t even know you. They think they know you based on where you’re from and are willing to do anything to make sure that none of the genetically engineered people from the Singularity are recognized legally as human in the Empire. That’s what they want to stop.

  “I’m not going to mention any names, even though I have my suspicions. Someone higher placed than me is busy investigating all the angles to catch the person ultimately responsible for all this. What you need to do is focus on graduating.”

  The device he had plugged into the vacuum suit beeped, and he grunted. “Or maybe you had better keep an eye out for more trouble. Someone sabotaged this suit so that once it was actually in a vacuum, it would vent your atmosphere after an hour and twenty minutes. By that time, you’d have been so far away from any kind of help that it would’ve killed you.”

  A chill washed over her. She’d been in vacuum in the bay, but it hadn’t been more than half an hour. Finding the body had disrupted their schedule. If it hadn’t, she might be dead now.

  Someone had tried to kill her.

  “That tears it,” Page said. “We need to wrap up the vacuum training as quickly as possible and get you back down to the surface, Tolliver.”

  “Is that going to make a difference, Drill Instructor? If they’re willing to kill me here, they’re going to have something in mind down on the surface as well.”

  Even though the man’s expression didn’t change, he clenched his fists. “I suppose we’re just going to have to double-check everything while waiting for the investigators on the surface to unwind this conspiracy.

  “Have you told anyone in the platoon what’s going on?”

  She shook her head. “No. It didn’t seem prudent.”

  “Then we’ll roll with that. Let them think that this was just a mechanical issue and that we’re continuing the training and nothing is wrong. We’ve got about another week up here, and that should give the investigators time to pin down what’s going on down below.

  “Since you’re now a target, we’re going to have to keep a closer watch on you, Tolliver. I don’t want you to be anywhere out into vacuum alone. We’re instituting something a little bit more stringent than the buddy system. Normally, you’d have one of the other trainees close by you at all times, but now we’re going to stick Gomez with you. Until you’re done with training one way or the other, he’s going to be there to make sure that nothing else happens to you. Is that clear?”

  “Clear, Drill Instructor.”

  She wasn’t sure how that was going to go over with everyone else. How could they hide the presence of a marine just hanging around her without some type of excuse for it? The story wasn’t going to hold up for very long. Hell, Diana would be questioning it in seconds.

  “What exactly am I going to tell everyone about this, Drill Instructor?”

  He smiled coolly. “I’m told that you’re smart, Tolliver. Come up with something believable and make it stick.”

  Perfect. Not only did she have to lie, but she also had to figure out something that wasn’t going to come undone in ten minutes flat.

  She sighed to herself. She’d figure something out.

  37

  Fei and Still Water arrived near the address they’d been given and landed the air car just up the street. Unlike the trip to the casino, this was more ak
in to confronting a lion in its den. If they made a wrong move, it could set off a chain of events that was completely out of their control.

  While her initial impulse might be to march right in and find somebody to slap around, that wasn’t the prudent thing to do, which Still Water had made perfectly clear on the ride over. They’d be going in but only once the place was secure.

  Imperial Intelligence agents and some affiliated security assets were gathering a couple of blocks away. They’d raid the place much like the police would have, and their warrants were just as valid. Considering that this was a criminal organization, she expected there would be resistance.

  The idea did not displease her.

  Even though they didn’t plan on directly confronting anyone personally, Still Water produced a flechette pistol and magazines for it. She immediately noticed that it’d been crafted by the same person who had made her stunner. It was small, sleek, and deadly looking. If it was as undetectable as the stunner, it was a very, very serious crime to even hold it.

  “I think I need to order one of these,” she said, more than a little jealous.

  “If we can shepherd Andrea through this crisis, you can keep that one. Consider it a reward for a job well done if we succeed. I’ll even get you a license.”

  “So, what’s the plan?” she asked with a smile.

  “My agents will rush the building in ten minutes or so. They’ll stun anyone who shows even a hint of resistance. If they give up, they’ll simply be taken into custody.

  “The local authorities will be notified after the operation is underway. I expect that the organization we’re dealing with has contacts within law enforcement, and I don’t want to tip them off that we’re coming.

  “While that happens, we’ll stay here and wait until the scene is secure. Then we’ll go in and find the most interesting people to ask questions of.”

  She checked to make sure that the weapon was loaded and its safety engaged before slipping it into one of her pockets and putting the magazines in another. Under these circumstances, she didn’t believe she’d need to be drawing it rapidly. In fact, if things went as planned, she wouldn’t need it at all.

  Pity.

  The raid started off with a bang. Literally.

  A couple of what looked like average citizens walking down the street in front of the building turned to go inside as one told the other some kind of story, complete with handwaving. Or at least that was what it looked like until they had the doors open and threw a couple of flashbangs inside the lobby.

  Flashbangs were nonlethal munitions that created lots of noise and light, as well as a pressure wave. That had the effect of disorienting anyone in the area who wasn’t protected.

  Even as that was happening, a ground van pulled up outside the building, its back doors abruptly opened, and a large group of armed and armored men and women rushed into the building.

  Other vehicles pulled up at various places along the block and disgorged people who began setting up a perimeter. She was confident the same was happening along the back of the building as well. They’d draw the net tight to make sure that no one escaped.

  It was interesting to watch the operatives make their moves because she could see some parallels with how marines would carry out a similar exercise, though there were probably things to be learned here. She made mental notes just in case she needed to reference them later.

  She was so focused on the operation taking place just up the block that she almost missed the door opening in the building beside the air car. A man and woman came out, and they wouldn’t have caught her attention except for their behavior.

  With all of the ruckus going on up the street, they never once turned their heads to look in that direction. Even when another flashbang went off inside the target building, it didn’t make them flinch. They just kept walking.

  “Heads up,” she said as she put one hand on the door handle and the other on her pistol. “Looks like we got a couple of leakers. If we want to take them out before they escape, it’s going to have to be us.”

  Without saying another word, the two of them opened their doors and stepped out, turning to follow after the man and woman.

  That got the pair’s attention. Either they had much better hearing than the average person, or they’d been keeping an eye on them somehow. The man whirled in place, his hand darting under his jacket for what she assumed was a weapon, while the woman sprinted forward and ducked into an alley just ahead of them.

  With all of her training, Fei still only barely outdrew the man. Her flechettes took him in the gut just as his pistol was coming to bear on them. He still got a burst off as he went down, but it was unaimed and missed both of them, peppering the back of their vehicle instead.

  Without waiting to see what Still Water did, Fei rushed forward to the alleyway, ducked low, and extended her head and weapon out to fire at the woman if need be.

  Only she wasn’t there. There was just a hint of rapid footsteps farther down the alley that indicated the woman had broken into a sprint and was attempting to escape.

  Fei took a chance and raced after the woman, but by the time she got to the street on the other side, there was no sign of her. Whichever direction she’d gone, she’d managed to escape.

  Somewhat disgusted with herself, Fei made her way back to where Still Water was examining the dead man. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

  “She got away,” Fei grumbled. “Hopefully, she’s not the one in charge.”

  Still Water shook his head and stood. “The man in charge of this organization is believed to be Peter Bryant. She didn’t look like a Peter to me.

  “According to my agents, they’ve about secured the entire building at this point. A fair number of people resisted and ended up being stunned. There are some injuries on our side but nothing too serious.

  “I should’ve given you a stunner to replace the one that Riggio is holding for you. This fellow might have had some interesting things to say if we’d captured him. I won’t complain about your reflexes, though. Thank you.”

  They could hear sirens in the distance. She supposed that meant that the local authorities were now involved. She wondered how much of an explanation they were going to need because of the dead man.

  Even as the security vehicles were pulling up in front of the building, Still Water sighed and shook his head. “Well, things just got much more complicated.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “My agents have found Peter Bryant in his office. It seems he was shot to death, probably within the last few minutes. This mystery just keeps getting more bizarre.”

  Fei turned back to face the alley down which the woman had escaped. “Do you think she was responsible?”

  “I’m not ruling anything out at this point. We’ll have to identify her, figure out how she fits into the organization, and see if anybody that we’ve captured can shed light on why someone murdered their boss.”

  Fei wasn’t holding out much hope that they’d get a straight answer with the way their luck had been going. “Let’s go find out.”

  They walked through the building and up to the office holding the boss’s dead body. Now there were regular security forces intermixed with the Imperial Intelligence assault team. Nobody was unescorted, and no one on the local side looked happy.

  Her sympathy for them was limited. Yes, it was rough when someone went around you to do something, but if they were as penetrated as Still Water had indicated, it had to be done, and they probably knew it.

  That likely only made them more resentful.

  She wasn’t sure what she’d expected a mob boss’s lair to look like, but this was a fairly spartan affair. The view out the window was nice, but the furnishings were plain and utilitarian.

  The one thing that stood out about the office was the blood spattered against the wall and the dead body behind the desk. Several people were already standing around the dead man, taking images and speaking into
recorders.

  They wore shoe coverings and gloves. She imagined that there were others on the way who would be searching the scene in more depth. Even though the man was a criminal, they’d do their best to figure out who killed him.

  Fei didn’t need to guess; she was already sure that she knew the answer. The woman who’d escaped had been identified as one of the lieutenants in the organization: Lucinda Drake.

  Considering that the dead man on the station had also occupied a leadership position in the criminal organization, that really only left a couple of options. Either somebody was trying to kill the leadership, or it was a coup.

  Personally, she was betting on the latter. The fact that the woman had fled before she’d even known that the building was being raided spoke volumes. The investigators could piece together all the facts in whatever order they wanted, but so far as she was concerned, the guilty fled even when no one pursued.

  The more interesting question was why the woman had felt the need to kill her compatriot and then her boss. Was this an attempt to take over the organization? If so, striking at the man on the Fleet orbital was a huge risk. Why not wait until he was in a place that she was more able to control?

  Or was this somehow connected to Andrea? At the moment, it was hard to see how, but she couldn’t rule it out.

  It annoyed the hell out of her that they still hadn’t managed to locate Dayton. How could she be hiding so effectively? She had to be somewhere. Maybe information in this building could point them to where the spider was lurking.

  “He pulled a weapon,” Still Water said from where he stood at the side of the desk. “It’s lying beside his body, so I’ll assume that he had little warning of the attack. Judging from the body’s condition and the blood’s relative freshness, this attack had to have happened very shortly before we arrived.

  “There is an outer office, so the man had somebody vetting his visitors. He let someone in that he trusted, and they killed him. Why didn’t the guard outside deal with the attacker after the fact?”

  “Because the guard was in on the operation,” Fei said without hesitation. “If I’m right, the big man I killed outside was sitting at that desk half an hour ago. Drake came in and spoke with Bryant. I have no idea what was said, but I’d call it a terminal conversation.