by Eric Thomson
“Morrow.” Joubert hissed. “How the hell did you get here?”
“Drop. Your. Weapons.” Bonta growled in her deep, throaty alto.
The black-clad guard raised his carbine in her direction. A soft cough came through the open door, and a small, black hole appeared in the center of the man’s forehead. The back of his skull came apart in a spray of shattered bone, followed by an eruption of blood and brain matter. He crumpled to the floor almost instantly.
Decker winced in feigned sympathy.
“Ouch. Talk about a terminal migraine.”
“Don’t kill Joubert, Chief Superintendent,” Talyn said in an urgent tone, climbing to her feet.
“Put your gun on the floor, Colonel. You heard her. She wants you alive. Take the chance to live through this. Two feds against a Gendarmerie officer, one of those feds a champion combat shooter? Your chances of surviving if you don’t cooperate are somewhere between zero and minus infinity.”
“My sights are on Colonel Joubert’s sweaty forehead, Chief. Maybe his skin is sensitive enough to feel the caress of my targeting laser.”
“You have a wonderful way with words, Sergeant,” Decker said, climbing to his feet with a lurch. He held out his manacled hands. “Once you drop that gun, Colonel, how about cutting me loose?”
Joubert’s eyes shifted from the darkened doorway to his prisoners and back again as he calculated his chances.
“Drop your weapon,” Bonta shouted. “Do it now.”
Talyn took a step closer to him fists clenched. Then another. The barrel of Joubert’s gun wavered between her and the door for a second. Then he sighed and gently placed it on the table.
“All right. I surrender.”
“Unshackle them,” Morrow ordered.
Joubert, jaw muscles still working, nodded once. He touched Talyn’s manacles, crouched to release her ankle restraints, and did the same with Decker.
The moment both agents were free, Talyn seized Joubert’s left arm, forced him to turn around before grabbing and twisting his right arm into a painful lock behind his back. He bent forward until his upper body was hard against the tabletop.
“Where is the bomb?” When he didn’t immediately answer, Talyn twisted harder. “I don’t mind dislocating your shoulder before I get nasty. Where’s the bomb?”
Joubert gasped at the pain.
“Screw you. I surrendered, but it doesn’t mean I’ll betray Magda.”
“Are you willing to die for her, Alan? Because if we don’t find the bomb, I’ll order Locarno evacuated and leave you right here, wearing those restraints.”
She gave his right arm another upward jerk. This time, an involuntary yelp escaped his throat.
“You wouldn’t dare. Magda will own Cimmeria by tomorrow night, and I’ll become the head of her new security agency. Kill me, and she’ll avenge my death. If I’m alive, I can make sure you leave this star system unharmed.”
“Magda cares for no one other than herself. You’re a tool, just like the dead goon over there, or Hadar Wilborg, something to be used and discarded. Where is the bomb?”
Another jerk, an even louder gasp.
“The only way you’re getting out of this alive is by telling me where we can find the bomb. Sure, Magda might still become prime minister tomorrow, but her term in office will be the shortest in Cimmerian history. She won’t find and kill those who betrayed her. Especially if they’re sitting in Constabulary cells, well out of reach.”
“There’s a Navy ship by the name Mikado in orbit,” Morrow said, entering the room. “If you cooperate, Commander Talyn can arrange for your rendition to the Armed Services, which would put you completely out of reach.”
Decker’s face brightened at the news.
“Are buddies of mine aboard?”
“Number 6 Company, B Squadron. A troop is on the way to Locarno. They should land in about forty-five minutes.”
“Do you hear that, Alan? It’s over, done, finished. The Marines are landing. One company of special operators is enough to shut down the DSA and Magda’s dreams permanently.” When Joubert didn’t answer, she said, “I suppose it’s time to use more persuasive methods.”
— Forty-Three —
“Zack, please hold him while I loosen his tongue.”
They switched places, and then Talyn gave Morrow a meaningful look.
“You and the sergeant might want to go circle the hangar in case he has more CimmerTek thugs standing guard.”
A stubborn look hardened Morrow’s eyes.
“Sergeant Bonta and I are officers of the law, Hera. We cannot let you torture a prisoner.”
“Hundreds of lives are at stake tonight, and if the attack succeeds, thousands if not tens of thousands more might die during the inevitable aftermath. Go away, Caelin. I need a few minutes with this piece of trash. He’ll still be fit to stand trial for treason once I’m done, although he might be missing a few bits.”
“Good Lord, Hera! The ends never justify the means. Otherwise we become just like them. If he doesn't talk, then I’ll call Maras and ask her to organize an immediate evacuation.”
“Maras is here?”
“How do you think we entered the restricted zone? She’s a regular attendee.”
“You know the panic of evacuation will give Magda and her co-conspirators almost as much impetus as a massacre.”
“No time for an orderly evacuation,” Joubert’s muffled voice forestalled Morrow’s reply. “Bomb will detonate in less than an hour.”
Decker pulled the Gendarmerie officer’s upper body away from the table and then slammed it down with enough force to rattle his brain. Joubert yelped again as the impact mashed his right ear into the hard metal.
“Cease and desist, Major.”
“Doing what?” Decker gave Morrow an innocent stare while he lifted Joubert up and dropped him again. “Feel like telling us where the bomb is, Alan?”
“Don’t you carry interrogation drugs?”
“Yes. They’re hidden in my bag’s shielded compartment, but there isn’t enough time. And when I last used them, the subject died of cardiac arrest. Alek Mannsbach back on Mission Colony.” Talyn shook her head in exasperation. “Arrest me on charges of torture if you want. But after we secure the bomb.”
She picked her stiletto from the weapons lineup on the neighboring table and placed her left hand on Joubert’s head to hold it.
“Keep him steady, Zack. In deference to the chief superintendent and her sergeant, I’ll try to leave as little visible damage as possible. So here’s what’ll happen, Alan. I’m about to insert my stiletto into your ear canal. I’ll stop once the tip reaches your eardrum. Then, I’ll ask you again about the bomb. If you refuse to answer, I’ll push a little more and pop your eardrum. The pain will be excruciating.”
“Commander Talyn, I warn you.”
“Go away, Caelin.”
She gently caressed Joubert’s outer ear with the stiletto, then, with surgical precision, fed the tip into the canal. Joubert quivered under her restraining hand while his breathing became shallower and faster.
“Where is the bomb?” She applied more pressure. “You’re about to lose hearing in one ear, Alan, and for what? A sociopathic mass murderer like Magda Annear? By the time I’m done, the only way you’ll regain hearing is with a bionic implant, and that means you start turning into a cyborg. Stand by for pain. Three... Two... One...”
“No. Wait!”
She eased the pressure.
“You’d better not be jerking me around.”
“The bomb is in a standard cubic container,” Joubert replied in an urgent tone. “The container is in the convention center’s basement warehouse, to the left of the vehicle ramp.”
“How do we identify it?”
“A serial number.” He rattled off nine digits. “And the notation not to be opened without Magda Annear’s permission.”
“Pretty bold, isn’t it?” Bonta asked, her eyes glued to Talyn and Joubert with
an air of sick fascination.
“No one would dare touch her property, and once the bomb explodes, there won’t be anything left of the convention center, let alone the container,” Decker replied. “Where’s your ground car, Alan?”
“Hangar. Key chip is in my right trouser pocket.”
“If we don’t find the bomb, my friend, the next time it won’t be my partner’s stiletto tickling your eardrum. Let’s grab our stuff and move.” Decker rifled Joubert’s pocket for the chip, grabbed one of the discarded manacles, and cuffed him. “You’re coming with us, sunshine.”
**
The unmarked Gendarmerie staff car roared through Locarno’s deserted streets under Decker’s control. Talyn sat in the back with Joubert and Morrow while Bonta occupied the front passenger seat. Three cops in uniform aboard should help see them through any guard posts, even though the officer in blue had a gun pointed at his midriff, but the vehicle’s registration markings seemed to suffice.
The armored National Guard troopers posted at the roadblock a few hundred meters from a convention center blazing with light in the early evening gloom merely waved them through.
“You’ll find the basement warehouse ramp at the rear,” Joubert said in the passive voice of someone who’s run out of options.
“Who delivered the container?”
“I don’t know, but Wilborg probably made the arrangements. According to the log, it arrived a few days before Magda came home. Wilborg gave me enough information to make sure everything was as it should be, and earlier this afternoon, I was able to confirm it.”
“How do we get inside?”
“Wilborg provided the access code as well.”
Decker followed a narrow street around the sprawling complex until they saw the sign pointing to a closed, vehicle-sized door at the bottom of an incline.
“What’s the code?”
“Call up the entry for the warehouse on the car’s control panel. The AI will transmit it.”
Decker stopped at the top of the ramp and obeyed Joubert’s instructions. The door pulled away to either side, revealing an immense space half-filled with neat stacks of varying shapes, sizes, and colors between evenly spaced pillars.
“The bomb is near pillar twelve, to our left.”
“Leave the car here or drive in?”
“Drive in,” Talyn replied.
Moments later, they came to a halt near the indicated pillar, and Decker jumped out after shutting off the power plant. He found the right container within moments.
As Joubert said, a sign affixed on every side forbade anyone from moving or opening it without Magda Annear’s permission. It was as high as Decker, twice his width, and constructed so that one of the four sides could be removed to allow loading and unloading.
“Any anti-tamper or anti-lift devices, Alan?” Decker asked through the open car door.
“No idea, but I doubt it. Any of the warehouse employees might move it around for innocuous reasons, and a curious one might even take a peek. If it went off before tonight’s gathering, the effect would be wasted.”
Talyn frowned at the white cube.
“Do we risk opening it?”
“No choice.”
Decker pulled out his handheld sensor and scanned the latches before popping them one at a time. When he’d unfastened the last one, he gingerly lifted a surprisingly well-padded panel to one side and peered inside.
“They packed the device into a smaller container, approximately one cubic meter in size. The outer shell is no more than camouflage and a barrier against explosives sniffers. I figure we’re talking seventy-five kilos of MHX, tops, but still enough to scrape the Locarno valley down to bedrock.”
He scanned the smaller box and the foam padding around it.
“Nothing to suggest the presence of anti-tamper devices on the outside, but I’m not inclined to open this one. At least not here. Does anyone know what’s in the next valley to the north?”
“A wilderness preserve attached to the Locarno resort,” Bonta answered. “No humans allowed during the conference.”
Decker nodded.
“It’ll do. Everyone out and clear the aft compartment. Hera and I are taking the bomb away from here.”
“Can you manage?”
“Can you find me an exoskeleton in the next thirty seconds, Sergeant? If not, I’ll have to manage.”
“Don’t be a hero, Major. I’ll help.”
Between them, Bonta and Decker eased the smaller cube from its rigid foam nest, carried it to the car, and placed it on the rear bench seat.
“How long before this blows, Alan?” The latter asked.
“What time is it?”
“Almost twenty-hundred hours.”
“A little over thirty minutes.”
Decker caught his partner’s eye.
“You can stay here. Disarming bombs isn’t your specialty anyway.”
“Where you go I go.” She dropped into the passenger seat. “Let’s ride, Marine.”
“Strap yourself in, honey. I’m about to prove even a ground car can fly with the right motivation.” Decker sketched a salute at Morrow and Bonta standing to either side of the defeated Gendarmerie colonel. “Take good care of Alan. He came through in the end.”
Then he joined Talyn and slammed his door shut. The car backed up at breakneck speed, bounced up the ramp and vanished into the night.
“What do we do with Joubert?” Bonta asked her superior.
“Find Maras’ driver and tell him to bring the aircar around, then we head for home and stash Alan in one of our cells. But only after we’re sure our friends disarmed the bomb. I’ll need to tell the DCC something, and I’d rather it be good news, not something apt to cause panic.”
“I’ll call him. We compared notes as fellow shooting aficionados during the trip up here, so he’ll play nice with us. We might as well wait in privacy and comfort.”
Once they were in the back of the armored vehicle, Morrow pulled out her communicator, gave Joubert a thoughtful glance, then shrugged, and opened a link.
Inspector Galdi answered with commendable speed.
“How are things?”
“Decker and Talyn are moving the bomb away from Locarno in a ground car right now, looking for a safe spot to disarm it. As soon as they give us the all-clear, Bonta and I are flying home with a prisoner, one of Magda Annear’s crew.”
“I’ll let Mikado know to call them directly and ask if there’s any point in landing a team up your way.”
“Please do.”
“And the satellite’s tracking both locator signals. They seem to be moving faster than any ground car should try in the mountains.”
“Keep watching. I’d like to know when they stop and more importantly when they reverse course after neutralizing the device.”
“Will do, Chief.”
Twenty minutes passed in uneasy silence while everyone’s eyes were glued to the jagged, black horizon where a low ridge separated the Locarno valley from its nature preserve neighbor. Galdi called once to announce the tracking signals had stopped at the heart of the preserve.
Suddenly, without warning, a white so intense it seemed to come from the heart of a supernova blotted everything out. A few seconds later, an apocalyptic rumble washed over Locarno while the ground trembled.
“Shit.” Bonta turned her eyes away from the glare while afterimages danced on her retina. “So that’s what Mayhem does.”
The light faded at an almost incredible speed, plunging the mountains back into darkness.
Morrow thumbed her communicator to life.
“Arno, tell me you can still see their tracking signals.”
“Sorry, Chief. They stayed in the same place for ten minutes then vanished a few seconds ago. Why?”
“The bomb they took from the convention center just detonated.”
“Oh, God.”
“Call Mikado and ask if they’re receiving anything.”
“Will do. Wait,
out.”
An alarm siren began to howl while additional illumination came to life, bathing the conference center in a quasi-daytime glow. Morrow’s communicator buzzed with insistence. DCC Maras.
“Yes, sir.”
“What the hell was that, Caelin?”
Morrow sighed.
“Something that almost blew you and the other conference attendees into the afterlife, if it wasn’t for two insanely brave friends of mine who I hope weren’t standing at ground zero when it exploded.”
“MHX-19?”
“Yes. Major Decker figured around seventy-five kilos, enough to wipe Locarno from the map. We found it in the convention center’s basement warehouse thanks to an informant. Talyn and Decker took the device into the next valley where he hoped to disarm it, evidently without success.”
“So they’re dead?”
“We lost the signal from their location trackers when it happened.”
Maras didn’t immediately reply.
“The informant?” She eventually asked.
“Under my care, sir. With your permission, I’d like to take him home aboard your aircar. Call it protective custody for now.”
“Did the informant tell you who was behind this attempt to kill the Rim Sector’s most influential people?”
“Yes. Magda Annear.”
“What about proof?”
“Other than his word? Nothing, sir. Not yet. But there are persons of interest to question and Annear’s hunting lodge to search.”
“Which is properly within the Gendarmerie’s jurisdiction, Caelin. We must turn your informant over to them.”
“Sir, our informant is Colonel Joubert. His confession wasn’t exactly voluntary, but he led us to the device.”
“Damn.”
“That’s why I want him in our cells, out of Annear or the DSA’s reach until we clear this up. The most important thing right now is for someone to tell Prime Minister Calvo he should not, under any circumstances, ask the governor general to dissolve parliament. Talyn and Decker foiled the attack that was supposed to push him over the edge and a Marine Corps anti-terrorism company is in orbit, ready to eliminate the rest of Annear’s people.”