All in Good Time

by Mackey Chandler

  “Gun left!” Mackay called out. It was his side so he wheeled to confront the threat. Otis turned that way too but to snatch up Irwin and turn away from the threat shielding him with his body. He ran over to the façade of the hotel forming a corner in which Irwin sheltered.

  In his right rear camera, a figure in dark clothing had appeared from between parked vehicles and was advancing down the sidewalk yelling something in German. Mackay sent the two ball drones orbiting him towards the figure and the man lifted a stubby rifle and tracked one letting off a burst that disintegrated the drone to a cloud of fragments. It also shattered windows across the upper floors of the hotel.

  April adjusted the screen to expand that camera view.

  This was horrible. They not only had a gunman but one who could shoot and reckless of any collateral danger. Mackay cut power to his other drone letting it hit the pavement and bounce away rather than have the man spray more fire down the busy street.

  The man was advancing on Mackay and Mackay was advancing on him even faster. The fellow wasted precious seconds lowering his muzzle to track the unpowered drone before he realized it was no longer a threat and let it bounce past him. By that time Mackay was almost upon him.

  The man stopped advancing and took a shooting stance. He’d used a good portion of his magazine on the drone and centered his muzzle on Mackay holding the trigger down until he ran dry. April had to credit him with fearlessness even if it was stupid. He dropped the empty magazine and was trying to insert another when Mackay reached and grabbed the muzzle of his rifle.

  He had a bad grip holding the weapon one-handed trying to insert a magazine, and Mackay was not only gene-modified for extra strength, but wearing powered armor. He ripped the gun easily from the man’s hand and smashed it on the pavement. The first blow cracked the buttstock off in pieces; the second broke the receiver from the barrel. The small box of an optical sight went flying off detached. Jerking the weapon from his hands pulled the gunman off balance so he sprawled on his belly. When he turned, Mackay’s chest and helmet visor were smeared with streaks of bright copper and gray lead.

  “I’ll detain this guy. You call the car back and take Irwin to a different hotel. I’ll catch up later,” Mackay said. When the fellow tried to get up Mackay put a foot on his butt and shoved him back down. Irwin cut the video when their car pulled back to the curb and they turned to go to it.

  “What was that he was shooting?” April wondered.

  “I don’t know. Some sort of automatic rifle. I suppose if you cut an image of it you’ll get a match off a search. We are at the New Grand Pillows still downtown not far from where we intended to stay. Mackay said he might be awhile talking to the authorities. I’ll admit it left me rattled a little bit,” Irwin said.

  “I’m glad you’re OK. I hear them cutting power so we’re close to landing. I’ll talk to you later after we lift,” April promised.

  “That is most disturbing,” Joel said, “but I’m informing my people I’ve seen the video and it appears the act of a deranged individual.”

  The car sat down harder than they expected and the sudden silence was shocking.

  “That’s good but I doubt security professionals will back off on a preliminary ‘it appears’ basis. Why don’t we say goodbye now and you stay in the car? Keep your people happy and give Mylène our thanks for your hospitality,” Jeff suggested.

  “I shall, and you are welcome to call on it any time,” Joel said.

  They had their restraints off as quickly as the captain, so he only needed to offer them a hand to pull them out of the deep seats. April patted Joel’s hand in passing and there was already someone outside the open hatch to help them down. Bellinger was already in the lift with a soft bag and a couple of foamboard boxes. He looked as rattled as Joel had, but obviously still intended to lift with them.

  “Good morning, Monsieur,” April said, as cool as could be. If anything, her calm left him less assured than a little concern would have. “Have you had any breakfast? We were told you have been waiting from quite early in the morning.”

  “The security people shared a breakfast of hot sandwiches and coffee once they were satisfied I was an authorized person, thank you,” Herman said.

  April nodded as they lifted. “I’m glad. I’ll start some coffee as part of waking up the ship. We’ll be long enough setting up transitions and matching velocities with Home to enjoy it before we arrive. Did you bring a pressure suit?” April asked since he was in street clothes.

  “I’ve never owned a personal suit,” Bellinger said a little surprised. “It was always supplied as part of the project as much as the ship. I suppose that’s one more thing I’ll have to acquire and get used to being different.”

  “Probably one of the minor adjustments,” April warned him.

  * * *

  The police were exceedingly polite, but Mackay had experience in police work himself, having worked as station security on ISSII for some years. The courtesy was more easily explained by the fact that they’d just had demonstrated that Mackay was invulnerable to small arms fire, and it was terribly inconvenient to bring anti-tank weapons to bear on a prisoner deep inside police headquarters. He was pretty sure he was a prisoner. He was in an interrogation room and there was no reason to keep him and not release him if he wasn’t a prisoner. He’d already released a copy of his helmet cams to them and made a statement. That there was any delay in politely showing him to the door now was suspect.

  The door opened and a man in an expensive suit joined the uniformed officer on the opposite side of the table.

  “Mr. Christian, I am Adrian Mertens, Director of Cooperation under the General Commissioner’s office of the Federal Police.”

  “Cooperation with what?” Mackay asked.

  “With other police agencies and organizations such as Interpol,” Mertens said.

  “I see. Well, if you need to contact Home Police our Head of Security is Jon Davis. He can verify I’m not a wanted person if you have any concerns that way.”

  “Are you an officer of his force?” Mertens inquired.

  “I am not. However, I am a member of the Home Militia. Jon has a dual office and is head of the Militia too if you want to regard this as a military matter.”

  “I’m not sure how to regard you,” Mertens admitted. “I’m seeking clarification from my superiors. In either case, we do not appreciate outside forces operating within our jurisdiction whether police, military, or simply mercenaries. I’m going to keep you in custody until these matters are resolved.”

  “Does your concern extend to my partner and the gentleman we are charged with protecting?” Mackay asked. He could exude saccharine politeness too.

  “Again, that’s a matter for my superiors to determine and tell me,” Mertens claimed.

  “That creates a problem,” Mackay told him. “My partner and I were charged with protecting Mr. Hall while he conducts his business on Earth. He just was released from an unlawful detention in North America. It seems a failure of our duty to allow him to become the prisoner of another Earth nation.”

  “Who charged you with this duty?” Mertens asked.

  “We are employed by verbal contracts with Jeffrey Singh and April Lewis. They are both citizens of Home and Central. By extension, since they are peers of the Sovereign of Central you are engaging not only with sovereign citizens of Home such as myself, but with Lord Singh and Lady Lewis of Central,” Mackay warned him. “It becomes political.”

  “I suppose that means something in the heavens,” Mertens said dismissively.

  “I need to understand if you have a specific criminal complaint against us. All I’ve heard so far is you don’t like us because you see us as encroaching on your authority. I’m not growing any fonder of you by the minute either, but I don’t have an inflated opinion of myself to imagine that dislike is actionable.”

  “I can hold you on weapons charges,” Mertens assured him.

  Mackay just stared at hi
m a moment trying to think how he could rationalize that.

  “We were given leave to be armed in France, but cased our weapons under seal when we left France,” Mackay said. “We only had Air Tasers and were assured they were legal for private security in all European jurisdictions. In fact, if you examine my suit video, of which I gave you a copy, you’ll see I never activated those Tasers.”

  “Yes, but when you subdued your assailant you took possession of his weapon briefly before you destroyed it. Simple possession is illegal regardless of the duration of possession or your intent in doing so,” Mertens said. “Your associates can be charged as active accomplices in that act.”

  “This is dishonest. You are framing mischief by perverting your own law when you know there was no criminal intent. You force my hand by threatening my charge,” Mackay said, “I judge this has become a hostage situation. I have been sharing this interview with my partner. I’m instructing him to take Mr. Hall and leave your jurisdiction.”

  “This room has wireless blocking,” Mertens said. “You may have been transmitting but your associate won’t have received anything.”

  “We’ve been chatting back and forth,” Mackay said.”Our armor carries sufficient power to maintain contact through satellites on non-standard frequencies. Just to make it clear, it’s now a mutual hostage situation. You are not free to leave this room until I receive word my partner and our charge are safe across your border.”

  “Then you add kidnapping to the charges against you,” Mertens said.

  Mackay had to hand it to him. He didn’t look concerned at all. The junior officer with him didn’t look so comfortable. It was stupid of them. If they had asked him to step out of his armor and surrender on any reasonable basis he’d have complied. They could have asked him to answer to littering for the scattered rifle parts while leaving Otis and Irwin out of it and he’d have meekly complied, letting others sort it out in good time. Not now.

  Chapter 25

  After April offered a generic emergency pressure suit and Bellinger declined, she made sure he understood how the mechanisms around his couch would move and warning him to keep his arms inside. She set his screen to show what was happening, but not accept inputs. April then strapped in and informed Jeff they were both ready.

  “Macron departure, this is Dionysus’ Chariot of Home registry, Jeffery Singh commanding with April Lewis second and a passenger on your number three X pad. I’d like to request a vertical lift out of your controlled airspace and request Earth Control clearance to LEO per flight plan being transmitted now.” Jeff punched a square on his screen. The proposed return flight was pretty much the reverse of his entry path.

  “Dionysus’ Chariot, we were instructed by our civilian authority to hold your departure path clear of traffic until you have cleared our control. We are handing you off to Earth Control direct. Depart at their clearance. Macron departure releases you.”

  “Thank you, Macron,” Jeff switched frequencies.

  “Earth Control, this is Dionysus’ Chariot on final count to lift. Do you clear me for LEO as filed?” Jeff asked. He didn’t give license numbers. They were on his arrival flight plan and they could ask if they wanted to be picky.

  “Earth Control, hold five minutes, Dionysus’ Chariot. We have an objection from Ankara Control Center that their military is overriding civilian release. They object to your over-flight and threaten they will fire on your passage at any altitude. We have no control over sovereign states and can only inform you of their cooperation or refusal.”

  “Holding for five as requested. You mean the bloody Persians aren’t threatening us today too?” Jeff asked. “I tell you what. Just to show what a reasonable fellow I am we’ll refile. Note please I am aiming due east and will not pass over Turkey or Persia. I’ll correct for lunar inclination outside your control volume. Please advise me if anyone new raises objections to our passage. I’m uploading a new profile at two minutes into your hold.”

  Jeff waited a few seconds to make it exactly on the minute tick and touched the screen to give them an altered flight plan. Nobody had requested a radar transponder change.

  Earth Control waited a full minute to give local controllers an opportunity to object. The only one Jeff was really worried about was Russia. They might very well own beam weapons.

  “Dionysus’ Chariot, there are no objections to your revised profile. You are cleared to lift at the end of your hold. Earth Control out.”

  “What have we ever done to Turkey?” Jeff asked in a lower voice like he was speaking to crew, but with the mike hot. He touched the screen for the ship to auto-launch.

  Exactly at the minute tick, the Chariot lifted and ramped up to a moderate six g.

  Bellinger hadn’t been warned he would not feel the full acceleration. It had to be a wonder to him, and the uneven nature of it tugging differently on legs and torso made it obvious it was artificial. To his credit, he didn’t chatter casually on the command circuit.

  Dionysus’ Chariot rolled on its back giving them a lovely view of approaching Asia with very little cloud cover but far off to the north today.

  “Launch on radar,” April said, “out of the water, uh, Black Sea there.”

  “Note the launch site, please. I have contrails visually,” he confirmed. “Radar active?”

  “No radar shows from that location,” April said. “It’s probably a submarine launch from a shallow depth. Which means they will only be terminally guided.”

  “Vectoring towards us. It’s a hostile intercept,” April said. “Can you duck under it?”

  “No, we’re going too fast now.”

  “Target is resolving to two vehicles,” April said. “Put interceptors on auto?”

  “Stopping two for two is a bad bet,” Jeff said. “I’m going to do that thing we talked about.” He reached up and keyed a series of commands in the screen leaving one square glowing yellow.

  “Aye,” April said. Now was a really bad time to argue.

  “You have time. Drop a layered bombardment on the launch coordinates,” Jeff said.

  “Commanding orbital assets,” April confirmed fingers dancing. The white line rising to meet them was moving way too fast for her taste. Two were now clearly visible slightly separated. Soon they would turn west at their level to meet them head-on.

  “Done,” April called out as soon as her board confirmed.

  Jeff reached up in no seeming hurry and touched the yellow square.

  The curve of the Earth and the white lines racing at them disappeared. The sudden black was a shock to the eyes. In the back, Bellinger choked out a string of French in a tone that bordered on hysteria. April didn’t know any of the words and suspected she didn’t want to.

  “Well, that’s interesting,” Jeff said. “I thought it would work.”

  “Unlike the time you didn’t think it would work,” April said. She had an accusing tone.

  “You’ve never done that before?” Bellinger asked.

  “Not where there was still any air,” Jeff said. “I mean, it was still a pretty decent vacuum by some standards, but you wouldn’t want to orbit there. You’d see your orbit degrade in a day from the drag. We didn’t have enough velocity to orbit anyway, but you see what I mean.” He was keying in something and the ship did an auto-flip and a distant Earth rolled back into view with the Moon off-center to the right.

  “But not too much air to push out of the way?” Bellinger asked.

  “They really didn’t explain it well,” Jeff said. “You don’t go through it. You are here, and then you are there. But we will have dragged a bit of air along with us. I’m trying to jump back but just a little short. It isn’t that precise but I’d like to see April’s strike.”

  “The missiles won’t remain a hazard?”

  “We’re going to be higher, behind them, and have the sub-orbital velocity we did at a lower level, so we’ll actually be moving slightly retrograde. In any case, they should have burnt out and auto-destructe
d by now. Here we go.”

  The arch of the horizon appeared again and Jeff turned the ship nose towards the Earth and rotated it on the long axis.

  “You see? Up is north. We’re east of the Black Sea over there to the left, instead of it being ahead like before. We’re drifting towards it. Not quite as close as I wanted but good enough. We aren’t really orbiting and we’ll start to fall but not so fast we can’t deal with it.”

  There were still some remnants of exhaust trail to be seen lower, but the wind shear was breaking the lines up and it was much harder to see them from a higher altitude.

  “How long?” Jeff asked.

  “Just seconds…” There was a flash and a long smear of orange flame spread an expanding shape over the sea hiding the remnants of the rocket exhaust. It cooled quickly to gray and then got a roiled pearlescent gleam.

  “That’s to blind their radar if they surfaced. Three incoming,” April promised.

  A flash came through the cloud.

  “That was surface bursts at the three points of a triangle five kilometers apart. They were about ten kilotons so they’d have to be a lucky shot to actually kill the target. If they can launch anti-ballistic missiles from under the calcium cloud that should mess things up long enough. If they were surfaced it might even damage them. I doubt they can effectively shoot and run at the same time under those conditions.”

  “More likely they are already diving deep,” Bellinger said. “Long enough for what?”

  The silvery cloud suddenly lit brilliant white from below, bright enough to shock the eyes briefly before the viewports auto-darkened. The glow faded briefly and then an orange hot ball of incandescent gas rose through the artificial cloud, cooling to red and then a dirty dark purple and gray mass that spread out as it slowed.