Soldiers of Fame and Fortune Full Series Omnibus: Nobody’s Fool, Nobody Lives Forever, Nobody Drinks That Much, Nobody Remembers But Us, Ghost Walking, 12 Book series...

by Michael Todd

  When the sun finally set and twilight gave way to night, she stripped down to the tight suit she wore beneath her shirt and pants. She removed the glasses, donned her headset, and settled the small visor over her eyes before she activated the comms. “This place is child’s play. I’m going in.”

  Marcus sighed dramatically. “Nice of you to come back online. Finally.”

  Billie pried the front window open carefully and pulled herself onto the sill. She triggered a device in her hand, which emitted an EMP pulse strong enough to disable the camera completely. Once the light on the front turned red, she slipped inside and crouched in the dark shadows. She waited to see if anyone would investigate, but after a few minutes, it was obvious that her entry had gone unnoticed. Focused and alert, she moved forward, stepped over the trip wires, and deftly disabled the laser alarms on the steps.

  With silent, measured steps, she made her way up the stairs and down the hall to an open doorway. There, she paused and retrieved a small drone from her pack. She sent it aloft and waited as it slipped into the first room. She could see the guy inside facing in the opposite direction The data transmitted revealed her target seated at a shabby desk. The man focused intently as he edited footage and muttered to himself. “This shit is insane. All the fucking conspiracy theories haven’t even come close to the truth of this shit. Fuck. It’s gonna blow the world away.”

  Marcus whispered into her comm. “Shutting it down in three, two, one.”

  Billie smiled as the lights flickered a couple of times before everything went dark and she moved seamlessly into the room. The light that seeped in through a window barely illuminated the space but it was enough for her to see the target. She whispered to herself as she tiptoed forward, “Let’s have a little chat, shall we? See what exactly you plan to blow the world away with.”

  The man thumped the side of his computer and cussed fifty shades of blue. “What the fuck? I was right in the middle of this shit.”

  He froze at the faint swish of fabric as Billie folded her arms in front of her. Slowly, he swiveled his chair and blinked at the fully suited apparition before him. “Oh, fuck!”

  Hickok launched forward to land on his lap. His hands clutched the chair instinctively and she used her legs to lock his arms down, which were now conveniently close to his sides. She clapped her hand over his mouth and shook her head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. For a spy, you sure are loud and unprepared. I would have sat here with a gun in my hand the whole time.”

  The man’s eyes were wide and he stared at her, paralyzed by fear. Billie returned his gaze for a moment and realized that he was younger than she’d expected. “I’ll take my hand off your mouth because I want to ask you some questions. If you choose to yell, call out, or make any noise other than the answers I need, I cut your fucking throat. Do you understand?”

  Billie drew a dagger from her hip and pressed the point to his neck. He nodded vigorously and she smiled and slowly removed her hand from his mouth. “Now, that’s better. When I ask you these questions, I don’t want bullshit answers, do you understand? I want real truth here. I know a bullshitter from a hundred miles away and I have no problem removing itsy bitsy pieces of you until you get that straight.”

  He swallowed hard and nodded a little more cautiously this time. Billie drew a deep breath in through her nose. “What branch of the government do you work for and for what country?”

  The target frowned. “I don’t work for any branch of government, I swear.”

  She narrowed her eyes and increased her pressure on the knife. “Then what company do you work for? I know it’s not Shou. Their spies are streaks ahead of you.”

  The guy shook his head slightly. “No, you don’t get it. I don’t work for anyone. I work for the world. I work for truth.”

  Billie rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that self-righteous bullshit. Tell the truth.”

  He whimpered. “I am. That is the truth. I used connections and lied to get into the Zoo area. I was able to pilfer technology and other information that is super-classified. It wasn’t hard because I have training in all kinds of different cyber techniques. I don’t even have a team that works with me. It’s fucking dangerous shit, I knew that, and I didn’t want to risk anyone else’s life in the process.”

  She shook her head in real disbelief. “I don’t get it. Why, if you don’t work for anyone, would you want the information? Do you plan to sell it to companies or governments? Is this all a way to get rich?”

  The man swallowed hard. “No. I don’t want their money. I also don’t think any one person should have it either. I don’t think any single person or even entity should hold on to this kind of information. It should be shared with the world, despite the consequences. Everyone on this planet has the right to know what the Zoo holds and what it’s capable of. They have the right to know there are technologies that could save lives out there. This should be public knowledge. Instead, the governments allow the money to abuse the freedom of the people and their right to truth.”

  Billie slumped and shook her head. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re a fucking renegade. A martyr for the people. You are one of those guys. Fuck me. I guess there is a first time for everything.”

  She stared at the fear in the young man’s eyes. Usually, she never took the time to think through any piece of information she had discovered, but this really bothered her. It meant that the idiot was merely fucking naïve and stupid. He wasn’t some black-hearted scum-sucking pawn of evil. The sad reality was that he didn’t understand the backlash that would come if he released that kind of information on the world, but he had every good intention in the book. He wanted to disseminate the knowledge so people would know the things the government and the corporations did that could—and probably would —affect them.

  It infuriated her that this was the assignment she had been given—as if the bosses knew what she’d been thinking and had put her to the test. This kid was nothing more than a protester with an ability to dig to the real root of the information. She was sure that at that point, he was shitting his pants.

  Anger raged inside of her. “How did you survive in the Zoo? Most people like you who go after this kind of shit end up jag meat, if not worse. We find idiot bodies like yours all over the place.”

  The target shook his head. “I didn’t go into the Zoo, only to the towns. I took the information from the outside—from the companies, the government servers, and from other spies who couldn’t hold their liquor. They all saw me as one of them, although my planned outcome was completely different.”

  Hickok groaned. He was not only an idiot, he was an intelligent one. All along, he’d known that going into the Zoo would kill him so he used his skills to obtain what he had from outside opportunities. He fed off the backs of those who had gone in and survived and brought information out for study. She didn’t know if that made him a coward or absolutely genius. Honestly, she couldn’t decide, but none of that mattered at that point. He was her target and there was nothing that she could do to change that. She had to finish the job.

  With a long sigh, she shook her head and fixed him with a hard stare. “The shit you saw will unfortunately never be released to the world. Going into the Zoo—even if only the infrastructure around it—was a death sentence in itself. Why don’t you people understand that not everything is healthy for the whole world to know? When will you understand that some of this information will cause problems so incomprehensible that by the end of it, we will destroy each other out of fear and anger? You might not care about the consequences, but I can promise you, there are people out there who very much do.”

  The target scoffed. “Like whoever you work for? Which is probably the owner of these companies and simply out to protect their billions.”

  Billie shrugged and shoved him in the chest. “I don’t know, but now, you won’t either. Close your eyes.”

  He shook his head. “I wanted to do something for the people of this planet that would have helpe
d them realize how fucked-up this world is. Governments and companies and even the fucking military that is sworn to protect them work together to keep things from them that would change their lives. The poverty and death we see all around us isn’t necessary. Worse, there is an alien foothold that expands so fast, the people of the world may never see their children grow. That is not okay.”

  She sneered as she drew a syringe out of a pocket in her suit and held it at her side. “That is not one man’s choice to make.”

  The target chuckled ruefully when he finally realized that the end was inevitable. “You know, when I went to the Zoo, I thought I’d be fine because I didn’t intend to go into the jungle. I wouldn’t walk into the hands of death. But after I’d been there for a while and heard the stories, watched the people… I realized that with the Zoo, death might come to you.”

  Billie nodded her head. “At least you saw that.”

  She jabbed the syringe into his neck and injected the contents in a single swift movement. His eyes widened for a moment and she released her legs to draw him in and hold him close. His eyelids closed into an unnatural sleep a few moments before he took his last breath. She sat there and cradled him for a minute or two before she stood and fumbled for a drive in her pocket.

  “Power on,” she said quietly into the comms. Marcus obliged a second later and she sifted quickly through the documents and downloaded all the material from his computer. She shoved everything else that looked relevant into her pack, including his handwritten notes and a wad of documentation, which was more than she expected to see.

  When the download was complete, Hickok withdrew the drive and returned it to her pocket. She pulled some drop cloths off the old furniture around the room, bundled them down beside the wall, and yanked out the wall plug. It took only a second or two to start an electrical fire. She lingered a few moments to ensure that the walls were ablaze before she left. If she’d missed anything, it would vanish into the ashes with the target.

  In the doorway, she turned and stared at the young man in the office chair. Flames licked hungrily around his body. It took considerable effort to thrust aside the surge of regret and Billie slapped the doorframe in frustration before she jogged down the steps and slipped out through the window. She snatched her clothes up, threw them on, and shoved her headset back into her pack. A scant while later, she slipped out of the alley and onto the street, dug her hand in her pocket, and strolled casually away from the scene.

  Cut it out, Billie. He was a sanctioned hit. She could see the logic in it but it still left a sour taste in her mouth. Her footsteps seemed loud in the silent darkness, a lonely sound she’d never been aware of before. They seemed to echo her realization that she really needed to consider whether she wanted to stay in this job. If she didn’t, she needed to figure out how she could leave.

  Yeah, bitch. Best you think hard, too. Unlike Marcus, you haven’t managed to stash your own version of a fucking severance package. All you have is your badassery and maybe a fucking hero complex.

  Chapter Six

  Holly watched nervously as Amanda pulled up to a large chain link fence that seemed to surround a substantial complex. The sides were draped with some kind of green material and cameras were stationed along the top of the fences. Still, it sat almost in the center of the town and people walked the streets without any interest in it at all. There didn’t seem to be any real security at the gate. Her companion slid out and opened it, then returned to the vehicle and eased through it before she stopped once again to close it behind her. Given that passersby seemed to pay no attention at all, Holly assumed that the cameras and fence were for times where the compound was empty or at night when everyone was off duty.

  It was definitely more secure than anything she had seen since she had arrived there but not military grade, that was for sure. She wasn’t really certain what she expected, though. They were a large company comprised of mercenaries, not the SWAT teams or Seal Team Six.

  Amanda stopped in a parking spot immediately inside the gate and they scrambled out and retrieved their bags from the back. Holly stood and looked around what might have been called a street when she realized it was a lot larger than she had originally thought it would be. “This is big.”

  Her companion chuckled and slung one of her bags over her shoulder. “Yeah, it’s definitely grown a lot. When they first started, there was practically nothing here, but they recently purchased three more buildings. They are constantly expanding but that’s what businesses do, right? They expand and grow, and Salinger, Madison, and Courtney really know how to work a business.”

  Holly was impressed. She put her bag on her shoulder and took one of Amanda’s since she had three. They walked down the sidewalk toward the middle building. At a strange creaking sound—much like metal rubbing together—Holly looked up and gasped in surprise. She immediately stopped, stepped off the sidewalk, and backed onto the asphalt. A mech towered high over the buildings. It looked far larger to her, for some reason, than the one she had seen in the Zoo. At the same time, though, that could simply have been because the jungle was so enormous.

  She shook her head, shocked at how it stood there out in the open. At first, she wondered if that was how they stored them—until it moved. She shook her head and did a doubletake as the mech’s arms moved high and then lowered again. Its giant head turned from side to side, and if she squinted hard enough, she could see the person seated up in the control area. They were tiny up there, but she could imagine that they could see for miles from that high up. Instantly, it made her want to get in one, but she knew that would probably never happen.

  Amanda strolled casually to her and looked at the mech. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

  Holly nodded. “Yeah. I saw one in the jungle with my team. What do they need it here for? Are they training?”

  The armorer shook her head. “Heavy Metal takes their security very seriously. With that on display and a lot of shit not on display, very few of the players—and there are a lot of them—try to fuck with Salinger’s group. That’s why they don’t worry to have a gate guard or even solid security for the gate. There is enough with the mech and the buildings that they don’t have to worry about it.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Well, it definitely makes you stop and rethink your entire life.”

  Amanda chuckled and nodded toward the door. “Come on. Let’s get inside. Trust me, that beastie won’t go anywhere.”

  Holly nodded and stared at the mech as she followed her companion to the door. Amanda set the bag in her hand at her feet and stepped up to the palm scanner on the front door. She pressed her palm against it and it lit up beneath her hand before it turned green. The door clicked and Amanda picked her bag up and pushed through. For some reason, Holly wasn’t even shocked that the woman had her own identification for the scanner. She seemed to be at home there.

  “So, you still have full entrance privileges here?” She hurried to catch up to the other woman.

  The armorer nodded and walked briskly down a long corridor. “Yep. And I have my own room too. I am here a lot and I told you, once a Heavy Metal, always one. They let me keep my room.”

  She slid a keycard through the scanner on the door and opened it to toss her bags down and look around. The room was large—bigger than Holly’s apartment—and decorated in deep shades of blue with a huge king-sized bed in the middle. “You can leave your clothes and stuff here. We won’t need them out there.”

  Holly nodded and tossed her bag down—which contained no clothes as she hadn’t even thought to grab anything before they left. Amanda checked her watch. “So, Salinger and Madigan are out right now and Courtney is in the US, but they should be back soon. Are you hungry?”

  She realized she was starving. “Yeah.”

  Amanda walked past her and held the door open. “Cool. We’ll go grab food from the kitchen.”

  The large kitchen looked homey and not at all what Holly expected. She had pictured more gal
ley style. Amanda grabbed sandwiches and sodas and wandered into the dining area. “We like to keep things comfortable here. Most of the mercs don’t eat here anyway, so they made it more homestyle than military style.”

  Holly sat and nodded. “I like it.” They focused on their food for a moment, the silence comfortable.

  Before she could say anything more, the door opened and a man entered. He was laughing, and the woman with him had her arm latched around his and whispered in his ear. She let go and remained in the doorway with a mischievous smile. He reddened and called back to her. “I guess we’ll have to try that. I’ve never—”

  He stopped when he saw the two women at the table. “Uh…oh, look. We have a visitor!”

  Amanda stood and he swept her into a brief hug. “I like seeing you here more often. It feels good—like you’re back.”

  She grinned and waved a hand before she gestured at Holly. “Salinger, this is Holly. She’s my tenant but also—”

  Salinger extended his hand and shook Holly’s with a warm smile. “I know who Holly is.”

  Holly tilted her head. “You do?”

  “I do. I know a lot that goes on around this place, even if I would sometimes rather not know. I’m caught up on the details, though, and I’m glad you came to talk to me.”

  She nodded, unsure of exactly what he did and didn’t know. He glanced at the food. “Are you guys done? We can head into my office and talk more candidly where there aren’t curious ears.”

  Amanda grabbed their almost empty plates and took them to the kitchen. “Yep. Let’s head that way.”

  Holly followed behind Salinger as they made their way to the other end of the building. He glanced back at her and pulled a card key from his pocket. “How do you like the compound?”

  She chuckled softly. “It’s impressive, especially the mech out front. Those things get me every single time.”

  Salinger grinned as he approached the office door. “Yeah, they are definitely neat. And we can all feel secure knowing they watch our backs here on the base and in the Zoo. Their invention has been priceless in the continuation of what we do here.”