Cage nodded. “Perhaps we could try talking to him. Rob, do you know who I am?”
The thing turned its head, and they could see the subtle lines of metal that showed his reinforced skeleton structure. Every part of him was thicker and stronger than it ever had been, and his voice was slow, dull, and lacked any emotion. Even so, Rose staggered back as she heard the familiar tone.
“You are Noah Cage.”
It then pointed its left arm at him. The fingers were ridged and jagged, covered in hard ribs of dull metal.
“My mission is to kill you.”
Chapter Nine
RedCorp Headquarters, Tharsis, Mars
They milled around the operations room, watching the screens relay the drama unfolding across the Martian surface. The public address system was a babble of confusion, yet things were going well. Director Laszlo smiled as report after report came in of heavy rebel casualties in different theaters across the planet. Military units from the five corporations were in action now, and he could smell victory. His eyes scanned the various units of Martian militia and regulars until stopping at his own elite RedCorp force. The smile faded, as he grew impatient.
“What’re our people doing?” he snapped to an aide, “Why aren’t I seeing our troops going into action?”
He swept his hand across to point at the nearest screen. “Look at them. They’re standing around on the surface, like they’re waiting for the next shuttle. They should be in there, killing rebels.”
The aide, a major, looked worried. “They are fighting, Director, but the main action is taking place underground.”
He shook his head, and his jaw tilted up in an arrogant pose. “It’s not enough, Major, not enough. I want to see some action, and I want to see it now. Call Colonel Hartmann. It’s time his squad joined the battle.” He hesitated, and then came to a decision, “Is Captain Laszlo with him?”
“Your daughter? Yes, Sir. She was amongst the first reservists to report.”
The smile returned. “I knew she would be. Call them in. Let’s stir things up a bit.”
The man hurried away, and General Hartmann joined him. “You’re calling in the A Team, Director.”
“Damn right I am. I don’t just want the rebels exterminated. I want the other corporations to see them exterminated. With your son and my daughter in the fight, we’ll have people we can trust to do their jobs properly, and kill these traitors and rebels.”
“They’d better get it right. They’ve enjoyed the rewards. Now it’s time to pay the bill. Joshua won’t let you down, Director.”
“Nor Alicia. You wait till you see her fight. She’s…” He stopped as the door opened, “Captain Laszlo, Colonel Hartmann. I see you’re ready to jump into the fight.”
Alicia Laszlo was like another person. The same pretty face, but everything had changed. Instead of the formal business suit, she was encased in a custom armored biosuit. Additional armor bulked up the suit, and she carried a modified railgun, carbine length, the dual barrel arrangement shortened to accommodate her smaller size. The effect was a body too large for the pretty head, which so far was uncovered. Her helmet hung on her belt, along with two handguns where most soldiers carried one. She was every bit the fighting soldier, and the feral expression made it clear she couldn’t wait to start the slaughter.
She nodded. “Father, General. We’re all set.”
Laszlo nodded. “I wouldn’t have expected anything else. Colonel, this is the big one. I’ll bet you can’t wait.”
“Of course,” the voice carried little enthusiasm. He glanced at the General. “Sir.”
“Son, you’ll make us all proud today.”
“Yes, Sir.” His expression was troubled. “Director, I’m not entirely clear about the noncombatants. They…”
“There are no noncombatants. There are Martian citizens, and there are traitors. Everybody, and I mean everybody, picks a side. They chose to fight against us. They have to pay the price.”
“The children, what did they choose?”
“Who knows? If they can’t be confirmed as loyal, then they’re no different. That’s all you need to know, Colonel.”
He looked uncertain, but Captain Laszlo grabbed his arm. “Joshua, you know what we all have to do. Our duty. We must end this…today.”
He gently pushed her away. “You’re right, Captain. That’s what it’s all about.” He regarded Hartmann and Laszlo. “We’re ready. Is there any news of Lieutenant Cage?”
“Cage?” Both men chuckled, “We sent in the first of the Janissaries to make sure of him, Colonel. You can forget Cage. The first fifty will be ready to go in a matter of hours. I’ll attach them to your squad, so you’ll lead them into the first attack, scheduled for midnight.”
He grinned, imagining the devastation this new unit would cause.
“We’ll catch the bastards napping, and those cybernetic creations of Colonel Travers are programmed to kill and keep on killing. They thought the Lifers were tough, these guys are not even the same species.”
The Security Director wore a satisfied smile. “More raw material for the next part of the Janissary program. You’re making history, people. This will be a new kind of warfare for a new world.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Both officers saluted, left the room, and waited outside. Laszlo smirked at Hartmann. “My daughter can help. Alicia could take a squad to hell and back, and rack up a bigger body count than most. They make a good pair, those two.”
“Yes, they do. Director, my men are champing at the bit. They can’t wait to get a slice of the action. Where can you use them?”
“The MPs? Yeah, we need a blocking force, in case any of them try to slip away when Colonel Hartmann starts his attack. I’ll assign them a couple of PDX transports, and you can position them on the surface, out of sight. There’ll be stragglers, have to be. Sounds to me like exactly the kind of work for military cops. Mow the bastards down before they sneak away.”
“You’re talking my language, Director. Sergeant Guzman!”
The door opened, and either Guzman had radar, or he was still listening at keyholes.
Well, that’s no problem. He’s an efficient NCO, and if he anticipates his boss’ orders in advance, what harm is there?
“Make sure they’re suited up, armed and equipped for surface combat. We’re going in, midnight tonight.”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Don’t forget, Son. No prisoners."
Alicia’s expression was fierce. “No prisoners.”
He waited for Joshua’s response.
“Copy that."
He went out again, and Hartmann fought down a twinge of unease. Guzman and the MPs would do their duty, but he wondered about his son.
I can see Joshua is uneasy. He never relaxed after I ordered him to launch those missiles. This is the future. With Alicia beside him, leading the new Janissaries, he’ll soon learn the way things are on Mars.
* * *
Ray Jamison ducked behind a pile of fallen rock as the gunfire smashed around him. The tunnel was a disaster zone, after the crawlers broke through and RedCorp troopers stormed after them. He leaned out and snapped off a quick burst, then ducked back as a barrage of railgun fire tore chunks of stone from the walls. The man behind him cried out and fell, and he cursed, as he poked the barrel of the Stryker rifle around the corner and fired blind, emptying the magazine.
His reward was to hear the screams of the troopers he’d hit, but his satisfaction was short-lived. The incoming fire increased, and all he could do was flatten against the rock and hope a stray ricochet didn’t hit him. The difference in firepower was overwhelming. The Stryker rifles were reliable and decent weapons, but the Martians were literally blasting through rock to hit them with their more powerful weapons. He looked for the man behind him, his lieutenant, and remembered he was dead. The face that stared back at him was Anna Ortiz. “Colonel, what is it?”
“How many do we have left? We can’t…” He flatte
ned himself again as a heavy weapon opened up and kept pouring bullets at them for what seemed like hours, but must have been less than a minute.
Ortiz was ready with the answer, “It’s not good. We stacked the bodies in a side tunnel, and most of the wounded we got out, but we’re down to less than twenty.”
“Twenty!”
She nodded. “Ray, they’re coming in from everywhere, crawling out of tunnels we’d forgotten ever existed. We need to pull back. There’s talk from some of the forward units about giving up.”
“No, we need to stop them getting near our civilians. We’re their last hope, Captain.”
“Colonel,” she put the emphasis on the rank, “If we’re all dead, we’re no use to them. What is the point of fighting if we cannot win?”
“Hold it. I hear something. Shit.”
They hadn’t returned fire for several minutes, and the Martians must have assumed they were all dead. He made sure his rifle had a full magazine and jumped out into the tunnel. Ortiz joined him and together, shoulder-to-shoulder, they emptied their weapons at the crowd of surprised RedCorp troopers advancing toward them. They were in time, just, and at short-range they took the enemy by surprise. Bodies piled up, and more troopers fought to climb over them and continue the attack. Tungsten slugs streaked toward the two rebels, and they ducked back into cover.
“There’s more of them,” Jamison said, his voice grim, “No matter how many we kill, they reinforce them and keep coming. Do these people never give up?”
“Not until we’re dead, Ray. Not until then.”
“Okay. We’ll give them another mag each and pull back. Pass the word. We’ll retreat past the next airlock, and hit them there again, keep wearing them down.”
“And after that?”
After that, Anna, I just don’t know.
“Give the order.”
He put another full magazine into his Stryker. The incoming fire was so intense all he could do was hold it around the corner and fire blind again. Then he looked back at Ortiz. “Run!”
* * *
Colonel Joshua Hartmann felt gripped by unease as he followed his wife along the corridors. They were heading toward the briefing room, where his men waited for the final orders to begin the attack against the traitors. Something kept nagging at his conscious, and with a start, he realized what it was. Déjà vu. He recalled another attack, years ago, on this planet. An attack that wiped out his own men, and almost killed Lieutenant Cage. That time, he was fighting for Earth, part of the PanAmerican Expeditionary Force, the PEF, fighting against the Martians, against the might of RedCorp.
But that wasn’t entirely true. When he gave the order to launch the missiles, it wasn’t because he’d wanted to. It had been under an operationally critical directive from his commanding officer, General Marius Hartmann. So there was nothing he could do, to refuse would have been tantamount to mutiny. And yet his father’s fascination for all things Martian worried him. Sure, they had a standard of living that was envied across the entire Solar System. Their technology was second to one. He and his wife, Alicia, had benefited enormously, a luxurious residence, and the power, wealth and influence that made them the toast of Martian society.
Following Alicia Laszlo, he thought of the times he’d watched her in training, the fanatical determination to be the best, the toughest, the most ruthless, and to make her father proud, not him, not her husband, but her father. What had he said, she’d ‘swim through blood’? Yes, she would, the blood of women and children as well as rebel soldiers. Was it a betrayal, not of her Martian roots, but of humanity? He knew he was guilty of more than betrayal, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake the guilt.
Noah Cage was one of his best squad leaders, a Lifer who had it all. Astonishingly tough, a clever tactician, hard fighter, and his men would follow him to hell and back. When every other unit was losing, Cage was in with a chance. Afterward he’d seen the reports that had shown the Lifer unit was hours away from breaching the refinery, and forcing a ceasefire; when it all went wrong, and General Hartmann, the commander of Mars Recon II, had done the deal with the devil. They were losing the war, and a long way from home. He’d secretly met with Laszlo, who persuaded him Earth was dying. The future was here on Mars. They just needed a little help to stop the Recon II from destroying the paradise they were building. ‘Like slashing a work of art, an old master,’ was his persuasive phrase. By saving Mars they would save themselves, and Earth with it. But to work, Cage and his Lifers had paid the price. He shook his head, but the images of the aftermath continued returning.
He’d gone on to paint an even more glowing picture.
‘The future could be more than Mars. When they’ve developed and completed the Janissary program, similar to the Lifers, but better, we’ll expand across the Solar System and bring in stability and peace, without risk to our citizens. A new drone designed for the future battlefield, a drone that looks and works like a man. There’ll be huge rewards for everyone, wealth, power, you name it.’
His father had agreed, and then came that infamous order to attack his own men. They didn’t know it, but Cage’s unit was nearing the development facility for the new Janissaries. He could have stumbled upon it at any time. They had no choice.
‘The future is in our hands, his father said to him, ‘You have to sacrifice them for the greater good. If they find the new weapons, this could start an atomic exchange.’
To his eternal shame, he’d given the go ahead to launch the missiles, two airbursts that wiped out an entire unit of elite veterans. The shame of knowing what he’d done.
Captain Laszlo stopped, and he realized he’d fallen behind. Her eyes were bright, almost like she’d been taking drugs. “You need to hurry, Joshua. We wouldn’t want to miss this.”
He nodded, unable to reply, and quickened his steps to catch up with her frantic pace. She marched with a fierce certainty he knew he couldn’t match. And wasn’t sure if he wanted to.
* * *
It was stalemate. Travers worked quietly as Cage lay on the stone slab. The atmosphere in the sick bay was tense. Rose watched the work on the repairs to his limbs and winced when Travers started work on the chest wound. There was a lot of blood, but he worked with speed and skill. It seemed like minutes before he was done, and he slapped a self-healing patch over the rent in his suit. From time to time, the noise of explosions shook the walls, and she looked over at the door where the Janissary named Rob was standing. Impassive, motionless, like the machine he was. A robot, programmed to kill. Yet so far he hadn’t.
Sheriff Vos leaned against a wall, chatting quietly to Bowen. At one time, it looked to Cage like they started to argue, talking in fierce murmurs, and giving the occasional glance at Rob. He wondered how serious the Sheriff was about his change of allegiance to the rebel flag. The extent of the Martian attack on civilians had sickened him. In fact, it was obvious he’d had more than a gutsful of Mars, and yet. He wanted to go home, Bowen wanted to go home. The question was whether they were prepared to sacrifice more noncombatants. How many deaths would it take to cement his new loyalty? How much innocent blood would soak into the Martian dust for him to keep his word?
Luther was pacing up and down, and he looked uneasy. Cage waved him over.
“What’s up, my friend, you’re not worried about being trapped?”
He looked confused, and an emotion like fear flickered across his face. “Trapped? Oh, yeah, by that thing. No, well…yeah. I mean, how’re we going to deal with it?”
The mechanical monster blocking the door turned to watch them, as if assessing their words.
Deciding if the moment has come to finish what he came here to do? Come to that, why is he hesitating?
“I dunno, Luther. There’s a lot I don’t know and don’t understand. As soon as the Colonel has fixed me up, we’ll take a look at the problem. Find a way to deal with it.”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t look confident, and he resumed hi
s pacing up and down the narrow cave. Travers continued his work to fix him up. Fortunately, he carried an emergency pack in the pouches of his suit. The chest wound felt a whole lot better, and Cage wondered why he’d strayed into the field of New Life technology. After all, it wasn’t aimed at any kind of altruistic motive. The program was to put dead soldiers back on the battlefield. The man had proved himself the equal of a battlefield surgeon anywhere in the system, somebody able to replace or modify the wrecked components. He was now fitting NuSkin over the last of the repaired legs. Though for some reason it looked thicker, and not quite as real as the original material. But that left the big problem. Rob. Standing in the doorway, and twice people had tried to get inside, and he’d said the same thing.
“No." That was it, just ‘No’, an automaton.
But he still hadn’t killed Cage. He could have in an instant, and yet he didn’t. Several times, Cage caught him looking at him, his ruined face devoid of expression.
Travers finished up, and the waiting was over. He got off the stone bench and tried walking. It felt good. Different, the fix was no more than field repairs, but he could walk. And he could fight. He inspected the ruined face of the monster, and for the twentieth time wondered if it was the Rob he’d known inside that body, Sergeant Rob Romero, or a monster, a creation from hell. It was time to find out, time for the confrontation that would either ensure their survival for a little longer. Or send them to hell.
He’d decided there was only one way to handle the monster, and that was to try to reason with whatever was left inside the wiped and reprogrammed brain. He loosened his handgun, ready for a fast shot. Then he walked across to Rob. Slowly. Casually. No threat. The strange, different color eyes stared back at him.
What’s going on inside that head? Is there anything, or is it nothing? Just a digital machine, a collection of algorithms skidding around a mass of circuitry, until it locates and confirms the instruction, and starts to kill.
Last Life (Lifers Book 1) Page 25