by M. Lorrox
Balena motions to Eddy. “That might be the way to go. It’s probably using radar or something to sense projectiles. It might not be able to block a bomb’s blast—if we can get it close enough.”
Hecate gets onto her feet and hops over to a weapons crate filled with explosives. “We’ve got polymer-bonded HMX, claymores, hand grenades, and a dwindling supply of 40mm ammunition.”
-GTKGTKGKTGKTGKTGKTT!-
Balena points at the new dents in the hatch. “It’s moving farther along the water’s edge. If it gets in line with the gap, its grenades can get inside.”
Ghost’s eyes blast open, and it’s clear to everyone that she has an idea. “Can’t we use that giant gun out there?”
Owen shakes his head. “The electric cannon’s targeting system is damaged. Unless someone wants to try holding it up, but that’ll never work.”
She sighs. “Well, we’re running out of time. Let’s make another exit and ditch the boat.”
Eddy points to the cockpit with his arm stub. “The windshield! Would a claymore blast it?”
Balena grimaces. “If it doesn’t, we’re all gonna be real sad.”
Hecate tosses a claymore bag to Charlie. “You know how to use these?”
He opens the bag and inspects the device. “It says front toward enemy.”
Owen grabs the bag and a roll of tape he was using earlier on the jammer. “I got it, everyone take cover.”
Balena slaps the ground. “Owen, make sure you blow the far window, not the one that is aimed toward shore.”
“Good call.”
-BOOM!- Everyone’s eyes squint through smoke that now swirls into the cabin from the last grenade’s explosion.
Balena covers her head with her arms. “Not sure if sitting duck fully describes the situation here.”
Owen runs out of the cockpit, trailing a wire that leads to a blasting cap that is connected to the claymore. He holds a clapper device in his hands. “Ready!”
Charlie covers his face. “Do it!”
-PRCHRROOOM!- The two-inch thick windshield explodes out the front of the boat and splashes into the water.
Charlie opens his eyes to an even more smoke-filled cabin. “Alright! Everyone to the cockpit!”
Ghost grabs Balena and moves her, and Hecate helps. Charlie grabs Eddy, but he resists. “Wait, I have an idea.”
-GTKGTKGKTGKTGKTGKTT!-
Charlie gets a better hold on him and rips him forward. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
Eddy hits his arm against Charlie’s. The pain slams into Eddy like a truck, but he hides it. “Look, if we bail, we’re screwed. Put a bunch of the explosives in a bag and throw it on my back.” He looks at his dad and swallows. “I’m the fastest runner we’ve got here, and I don’t need my hands for that. Keep that thing occupied, I’ll come up behind it and drop the bag, then we blow it up.”
Charlie frowns. You’re too smart—too brave—for your own good. “Owen, string up another claymore detonating thingy.”
He rushes past to the weapons crate in the back of the boat. “Way ahead of ya.” He grabs it and drags it away from the vulnerable rear gate.
Charlie places a hand on Eddy’s shoulder. “Do the best you can.”
Eddy laughs. “Come on, don’t softball it to me like that. I’m Leo, remember?” He finds a way to smile, even if it is completely bullshit.
Charlie smirks. “Don’t fuck up, otherwise we’re all dead. Try not to die—I hear it sucks.”
-BOOM! Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting!- Another airburst grenade explodes above the gap, rocketing more shrapnel into the cabin.
Eddy nods. “Deal. Keep that thing busy.”
Charlie grabs his rifle and a couple others, then the container holding the remaining 40mm grenade-shells. “Listen up! Leo’s dropping in the water and will swim around behind this thing. We need to draw its fire, but we can’t stay in the open. Watch for its airbursters or whatevers, and get back inside. Are we ready?”
Owen slips a battle pack filled with explosives over Eddy’s shoulders, then sticks the bundle of wire and clapper in Eddy’s breast pocket. “You might have to get creative to blast it, but I know you can do it. Just don’t pull the wire out from the bag.”
Eddy jogs to the cockpit, and everyone claps him on the back as he goes. He jumps onto the dash and pauses before climbing out. “Better fire at it when I drop in, otherwise it might see.”
Charlie heads to the back. “On it.”
-GTKGTKGKTGKTGKTGKTT!-
Charlie points a rifle out the widening gap. “Now!”
Eddy jumps into the water while Charlie repeatedly pulls the two triggers with both his hands—one on the M4’s trigger and the other on the trigger to the grenade launcher under the M4’s barrel.
Only a pair of Charlie’s volley of bullets are aimed true to target, and the armor plate blocks them. The grenade was aimed low, and it explodes a mist of sand ten feet in front of the target. The barrage was plenty distracting, and Eddy’s splash goes unseen.
FUCK! Eddy first realizes that salt water in his healing stumps hurts like they’re on fire, then he realizes that swimming without hands is significantly more challenging than swimming with hands. Finally, he finds that the forty pounds worth of explosive devices on his back makes staying afloat and not drowning a task. He kicks furiously, and even with his growing vampire strength and speed, he’s barely able to keep his nose above water.
Before the sand settles, Owen is extended out the front window, taking aim with his carbine, then firing.
Tricky, tricky. Multiple targets call for multiple viewpoints. Nicholas clicks his remaining teeth on a controller in his mouth and navigates a menu of commands, then selects to launch his viewpoint drone. An arm pops up from his back, and off rockets a small drone with a high-resolution camera. He switches his active view into the drone, then pilots it into place. Let’s put you alongside the boat, see if I can spot that big idiot in the back just throwing bullets at the trees... That’ll do. Put that feed on the left, grenade on the right... Alright blondie up front, how about an airburst in your face?
While the Ceramic Reactive Armor Module system blocks any incoming projectiles, the Integrated Targeting system is used to send some heat back. Nicholas’ weapons are still aimed at the back of the boat where Charlie just was. He selects the front of the boat as the target for the belt-fed grenade machine gun and sets the range. The system programs the fuse, and he raises the weapon to fire.
“Cover!” Owen holds his M4 tight.
Hecate and Ghost yank him inside and dive with him out of the cockpit, into the cabin. The airburst grenade explodes right on target, right over the window’s opening, and three pieces of shrapnel rip into one of the boat’s computer consoles.
Balena was watching, and she frowns. “This thing ain’t moving anymore. It’s fly-by-wire, and I think that was engine control.”
Charlie fires again, blindly, and misses with every shot. He withdraws again behind the gate and takes cover, fearing a blast of shrapnel. Instead, the back hatch takes another blast from a high-explosive grenade, and a piece of aluminum breaks free from the boat’s shielding and hits Charlie in the thigh as smoke fills the cabin. “Ugh! Come on, Eddy, you can do it.”
Eddy sees the drone hovering above the beach, its front aimed toward the boat. He swims as far down the bank as he dares, balancing the need to stay out of the drone’s view and the time he’s asking the others to draw the enemy’s fire. Just a little further...
When the smoke inside the boat clears, Charlie notices that there’s now a gap big enough for a grenade to be shot straight in. He runs to the front. “Incoming!”
-Riiinng…- Sadie Costanza’s phone rings while she’s talking with Vincent de Villablino. She checks to see who’s calling her. “Umm, I’m sorry, I should take this.”
“Tak
e your time.” Vincent returns his attention to his notes.
Sadie steps to the side and answers the phone. “Jules?”
“Good afternoon, Sadie, I have some troubling news. Are you alone?”
“Must I be?”
“Yes.”
Sadie covers the mouthpiece. “Vincent, I have to step into the hall, I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
He nods. “Very well.”
Sadie walks down the hall and enters a neglected fitness facility. “Okay, I’m alone.”
“Have you heard from the team since they left Hawaii?”
“Yes, after they landed in New Zealand, but nothing really since.”
“They had no trouble finding their fixer then? Johannes?”
Sadie smiles. “No, Charlie said that it was actually an old friend of his.”
“Johannes—the fixer—was found dead at Honolulu International Airport.”
“Oh no...”
“If this person impersonated the fixer, then besides the trouble it means for the team, it means that you have a mole.”
Sadie closes her eyes and leans against the exercise room’s large mirror. “Have you heard about this Væir video?”
“Yes. It’s very troubling.”
That’s an understatement... Sadie shakes her head. “Any ideas about how to proceed?”
“With Væir? I haven’t the faintest clue. But perhaps the answer lies with the mole. Let me ask you, how do you rid a home of a rodent?”
“Get a cat?”
“...I suppose, but I was trying to lead you into saying that you bait and trap it.”
“Right. Flush them out and be ready to act.”
“Exactly.”
Sadie smiles. “As usual, I am in your debt.”
“Friends do not tally debts. Call me anytime. Goodbye.”
“Thank you. Goodbye.”
-click-
Sadie slides her phone into her pocket, then shakes her head. “Porca vacca.” She sighs. There must be someone I can trust... She closes her eyes and groans. She opens them, pulls out her phone again, and makes a call.
“Schermer here.”
“Hi... How I can get in touch with Zaman?”
“I gave him a replacement phone, let me look up the number...”
Zaman knocks on Sadie’s hotel room door. She lets him in, then she describes the situation.
He sits on the edge of the bed, his vivid eyes piercing the dim room. “How many people knew the fixer’s name?”
Sadie shrugs. “I wasn’t in all the different meetings, but it could be dozens. The military wasn’t informed with those details, so that leaves only us. Do you think it’s anyone on the High Council?”
He shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe so. I asked Robert about each councilor’s involvement with Væir, and he at least believed that no other councilor was involved. Also, all the others were trapped inside the Pentagon with me.” He shakes his head. “It would be extremely unlikely.”
Sadie nods. “That leaves elders, aides, and knights.”
“You could put out misinformation, to see who acts on it, but as I understand it, time is of the essence?”
She nods. “The way you knew Robert was lying...could you do that to others? Could we hold...interviews with everyone?”
“Not really. I could do it with him because I had grown accustomed to his normal state... I’d know if any of the high councilors I’ve worked with for so long were lying, but not anyone else.” He sighs. “I’m reminded of an old, Indian saying. Its purpose is to dissuade one from drastic measures, but in this case... Let me ask you this: if your home had a rat in it, what would you do?”
Get a cat? No. “Bait them and trap them.”
“No. You lock the doors and set the house on fire.”
On the plane from Munich to Florence, Madeline and Jambavan again sit together next to a window. Madeline stretches out and can’t help but let out a sigh of relaxation. Jambavan glances at her, and she notices. “What? The threat of being spotted is gone now. Jesus, that was nerve-wracking.”
Jambavan nods and stretches out as much of his tall body as he can in the small, coach seats. “You are right. We should relax while we can.”
She shakes her head. “Are you always such a Debbie downer?”
“Who?”
“Never mind...”
Hmm. “So, pretend girlfriend, tell me—”
She tisks her finger. “Uh-uh, I’m not pretending anything right now.”
“Oh, well, would you like to have a conversation?”
“Okay.”
“I was trying to make a joke and ask about you. All I know is that you used to be in that Red Fangs gang.”
She sighs. “A girl’s gotta get by...” Why does he care? She gives him a side eye, and he smiles back. “Fine. I ran away when I was old enough to...go outside, then met Li Chen a couple years ago. I’m tough, and he pretends to respect tough, although he never respected me.”
Jambavan nods knowingly. “I was ignored as a kid, and I spent a lot of time getting into trouble on the streets in Cairo. Eventually, my parents got sick of bailing me out of situations I got into, and they contacted... Well, next thing I knew, I was a squire.” He shrugs. “Haven’t seen my parents in over a decade.”
Madeline sighs. “I still visited my mom for years—she was sick... I had a dad until I took off, but he hated me and what I was. He used to test my healing abilities, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh my... I’m sorry to hear that… That’s why you ran away?”
She nods. “After, my mom blamed him, and he took off too.”
Jambavan frowns, then tilts his head. “Hold on, you said your mom was sick? But, then that means—”
“My biological mother vas vampy, and that B took off as soon as I was born. A woman who was her friend took care of me and adopted me. She’s my real mom, but she died.”
“Well, I’m sorry about your…I guess all of that.”
She shrugs. “It was tough, but so’s life... Tell me about Cairo and the different places you’ve been? I haven’t traveled at all.”
Jambavan finds a smile and points past her and out the window. “Well, you’re traveling right now. Those are the Alps.”
She looks out the window at the snow-covered peaks, the valleys and rivers between them, and thin clouds in the distance. A smile grows on her face. “They really are pretty.”
“Do you ski? I don’t, but I know people like to ski in the Alps.”
She laughs. “Ski? Yeah right. The only sporty thing I do is lift weights and ride motorcycles. But when we’re done here, I think I would like to explore around a bit.”
Jambavan bites his lip, then leans closer to her and whispers, “I don’t mean to spoil the mood, but in case we get into a fight, do you know how to use weapons?”
“No, not really.”
Hmm. “How sneaky can you be?”
She turns to him and smiles. “Sneakier than you.”
He squints and furrows his brow. “I don’t know about that.”
She sits back in her seat. “Well I don’t know about you.”
Jambavan smiles at her. “Fine, then that makes two of us.”
Halfway across the world, Nicholas fires the airburst grenade Charlie has dreaded, and it explodes just inside the rear door. Shrapnel ricochets against the walls, filling the cabin with a storm of hot and sharp metal. Ghost takes a piece in the arm, and Balena takes one in her recently healed leg. “Goddamn it!”
Charlie pushes to the front. “Time we get bloody out there. We’re dead if we stay in here.”
On cue, another airburst grenade explodes in the back of the cabin. Owen takes a piece in the shoulder.
Charlie jumps straight out the window, lands on the hull
of the boat, and takes aim. “Pile out! I’ll draw its fire!” He unloads on the machine, and it drops an expended armor plate to the ground. Behind it, Charlie sees Eddy running up the beach. Yes! He raises his rifle, fires a grenade straight at the metal beast, then dives into the water.
-BOOM!- A replacement ceramic armor plate blocks the blast. Nicholas grumbles, and Hector’s voice comes over his radio. “You’re low on plating, but now that they’re in the open, it’s time to end them. Finish this.”
“GAME OVER.” He aims his machine gun at the water near the front of the boat, and switches that gun’s thermal imager to his full screen viewer. He sees splashing, and he fires.
Now he sees the heat ripping off his bullets and into the water.
The first bullet—or the fast-moving air and water beside it—skims Charlie’s forearm as he swims, and he dives, saving the top of his skull from the next round.
From the front of the boat, Owen fires a volley at the machine’s grenade launcher, and a bullet bounces off the barrel and smashes into the gun’s optics. He twists to aim at the other gun, but on the way, he sees the machine raising both arms to aim at him. Owen fires another volley, bends, and dives backward into the water.
These three bullets miss the machine entirely, and in response, it fires another grenade. The aim is off, and the airburst shell explodes alongside the boat and doesn’t do any damage to the team members. The arm swivels a few degrees toward the front of the boat, and it fires again.
Eddy is behind the machine, and he slips the battle pack filled with explosives off one shoulder. The pressure he puts on his upper arm stings, but he stomachs it and prepares to launch the pack forward. Just a little closer...
The drone alongside the boat flies up higher into the air. Eddy glances and notices the camera underneath the drone tilt as the drone rotates—the camera spins away from him. Close one! He takes another step, then throws his shoulder forward and rockets the heavy bag toward the machine’s back. Then, he spins on his heels and hauls ass, forgetting that he has the claymore kit’s spool in his pocket and that he was supposed to keep slack on the wire. As he runs, he pulls the wire out of the blasting cap—the only way he could detonate the explosives.