by M. Lorrox
And here it finally is. “The prime minister wants me to leave them, but I think I want to bring them.”
Hecate shakes her head, but her heavily gelled green spiked hair barely moves with the violent back-and-forth motion. “Are you crazy?”
Charlie swallows and glances around. Owen and Stephanie are right behind Hecate, so Charlie steps out of the way and motions Hecate to follow. “Here’s the thing; we weren’t supposed to bring them. Somehow Melgaard knew we were going to Hawaii, so there’s a chance he also knew who was supposed to be on our team—”
Hecate is nodding. “Okay, so we may have an advantage there, but what good are they in a combat situation, and what risks do they add?”
“My son—unofficial squire/whatever—can handle himself in a fight. He’d be useful. I actually wanted to bring him from the start. July on the other hand… She’s a wild card.”
Hecate waits, but Charlie doesn’t elaborate. “So?”
Charlie leans closer to her. “Melgaard did those things to her, and he thinks she’s dead. If things go sour, she might come in handy… To Melgaard, she might not be expendable, while the rest of us most certainly are. So just by having her around might give us protection. Also, she might be…a powerful ally.”
“Oh, come on now, be real.”
Charlie takes a breath while some of the things he’s seen July do flash in his mind. The leaping up and holding a blade to his throat, the stabbing herself in the guts and instantly healing, and the change in her personality. Out of all the things he sees, one image holds him and doesn’t let go: the wildness in her eyes when she confronted him outside the hospital. A wildness just like Rusty’s.
“Sir?”
He frowns and looks at her. “She…they’re both coming with us. Besides, now that she’s in the same part of the world as him, I don’t think anything could keep her from trying to get to him.” He scoffs. “I bet if we did leave her, she’d just end up beating us to him.” He walks toward the hangar, and Hecate follows.
She shakes her head. “Well, good luck explaining to the prime minister.”
Charlie swallows, then he looks at Hecate over his shoulder. “Thanks.”
Inside the hangar, the team meets Les Strommer from New Zealand’s Geospatial Intelligence agency, GEOINT. The curly haired and buff-as-a-boxer intelligence officer waits for them all to set their gear down and make their way over to a presentation board he has set up.
Charlie walks up and introduces himself as the mission’s leader, and Les greets him with a very firm handshake. The team sits, and Les begins his presentation by pointing at a red dot on a large paper map. “The target we’ve identified is a very large facility, located in the mountains here. It’s in the middle of Fiordland National Park, so to build there, they must have jumped through a ton of hoops.”
Everyone listens to him intently, tired of waiting to get to work, and raring to go kick some demented-doctor-ass.
Les snaps his head in quick, jerky movements, and his curly hair wiggles in the whiplash. “We have imagery of the area before, during, and after construction, and we know that this place is huge. We estimate that it’s close to 450,000 square meters, and that it has at least five levels, only three of which are exposed.” Les pulls the map over the top of the board and reveals another image: a photograph of the facility taken from across the valley.
The building is inset into the rock face, and Eddy looks for something near it to sense its scale. All he can see are specs on the image far below the glass and concrete structure. Eddy points. “Holy crap, those are trees. That place is HUGE.”
“On paper, it’s a hydroelectric technology research station, but those aren’t the people who end up traveling, and living there.” Les grabs a clipboard. “We’ve tracked electrical engineers, which would make sense, but also a lot of biologists, roboticists, and even geneticists heading there. It’s entirely privately funded, accessible only by helicopter, and 100% off the grid.”
Balena studies the image and frowns. “There’s no cover leading up to the building. Snipers could inflict heavy casualties.”
Les sets the clipboard down and points to a thin black tower extending above one side of the building. It has a white dome on top. “From this tower, they have a 360-degree view of the surrounding area, and that’s a radome on top. On paper, the dome houses weather radar systems, but they very well might be hiding aircraft surveillance radar, making an approach by air a poor choice.”
In the image, a helipad sits on the left side of the facility, and right beside it on top of the giant building is a small, raised level. A roll-up door fills the entire width of the raised structure, and Les points to it. “Also, notice this higher level with the bay door. We have no information about what’s stored inside, but because the door opens to nothing but the valley and is the highest point of the facility, there’s a good chance there’s some type of weapons system in there. Of course, we can’t be certain.”
He flips the map back down into place over the photograph of the building, and he points to a body of water and a river to the west. “Bligh Sound connects to the Tasman Sea, and following this river brings you only about five kilometers from the target. We feel like that’s the best way to move a team in.”
Charlie frowns. They certainly know that too. “Instead of from the river off the tip of the sound, what if we came in from where the sound angles? Then attacked from the rear of the facility?”
Les looks at the map and points at the same body of water but a few kilometers north of its tip. “If you left here, you could hike up this shallow valley, and then around back. I’d say it’d be a...about an eleven-kilometer hike just to get to the wrong side of the mountain the facility is on. Then, you’d have to scale the mountain—right under their tower—and descend the other side almost a hundred meters to get to the building.”
Major Stephanie Dubois motions to the tower. “Do you have any other information about the tower? Is it large enough to be manned?”
“It’s large enough for a person to climb inside, but that might just be for maintenance.” He shrugs and motions toward Balena. “Or it could be just big enough for a detail of snipers.”
Stephanie frowns. “You don’t know if they monitor the ground from there, do you?”
He shakes his head. “We don’t have that information…” He motions back to the map. “Based on what we know, the shorter hike seems to be the better option for a surprise attack...from your team. Without evidence of any threat this facility may pose, the New Zealand government can’t involve its military.”
Charlie scowls. “Not yet there isn’t any evidence, but when there is, it’ll be too late. I just know it.”
Les folds his hands at his waist, and his muscles pull at his shirt. “I wish we could be of more help. As it stands, I never was here, and you’ll burn these documents. Understood?”
Everyone nods, and Charlie stands to shake Les’ hand once again. This time, Charlie matches the man’s strength. “Thank you, I’m really grateful for your assistance.”
“Ah, no problem. I’ll let Lieutenant Colonel Schermer know that you all landed safely.” He smiles and dips his head.
As Les leaves, Charlie studies the map.
Balena joins him at his side. “I don’t like this. It isn’t a facility; it’s a fortress. Look at the design of the building—even the windows are covered from the sides by concrete that juts out into the valley. See that shadow there?”
He squints and nods. “They almost look like arrow-loops in medieval castles. The sides and back of the building are guarded by mountain, the air is covered by the tower, and the only direct area for an assault—the front—must be covered by whatever is hidden behind that roll up door.” He shakes his head. “I don’t like this at all.” He sighs, then turns around to face his team. “Alright everyone, we’re all on the same page here, so what do you
think?”
Eddy shrugs. “Air would be easiest, but that tower will ruin the surprise.”
Ricochet removes his toothpick and points with it. “Could blow the tower up on our way in, but then they’d know we were coming for them and that we mean business.”
Johannes walks up to the map. “I have contacts in the Royal Navy; I can get us close by. In my experience, surprise attacks have the best chance of success, so I’d say you climb.”
Charlie turns to Johannes. “Do you have contacts in their air force?”
He shakes his head.
“Well, I suppose that makes this decision easier; we go by boat. I want to move on them as fast as we can; the longer we wait, the better they’re prepared.” Charlie smacks the map in the middle of Bligh Sound. “Work on getting us here.”
Johannes nods and jogs away. Charlie turns back to the map. Standing beside him, Balena rubs her chin.
Eddy notices July sitting and just staring. He walks over to her. “What do you think?”
She blinks and shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
Eddy smiles. “Your thoughts are just as valid as mine are, let’s hear it.”
She tilts her head. “No, what I mean is that it doesn’t matter how we get in there. When we do, I’ll find Dr. Melgaard and kill him.” She raises her eyebrows but doesn’t smile.
“Uh, I guess so, yeah.”
“While we’re waiting, will you help me practice some sword techniques?”
Eddy chuckles. “Totally, that sounds awesome!”
Qilin has just enough caffeine in her to survive, so she decides to not drink the last few sips of the awful coffee in her cup. Jambavan leads her into a meeting to discuss the mission’s details, but he never actually mentioned who is ordering the mission. When they enter the room, Qilin sees two young vampires in bandages laying in the hotel room’s pair of twin beds—Must be those prisoners.—and a tall woman talking to them. Is that? Oh god!
Besides being the interim prime minister—the de facto most important vampire in the world—Sadie is also married to the man Qilin’s brother almost killed in the American Civil War. Sadie still hasn’t turned to greet the newcomers.
Qilin gulps the last of the coffee, then she skips all intermediary steps and snaps into attention stance. “Good morning, ma’am.”
Sadie turns to her, opens her mouth, but pauses. You.
Jambavan, confused by Qilin’s immediate formality, follows suit. “Mrs. Prime Minister, this is Qilin, Knight of the Order, and she’s volunteered to help on my…this assignment.”
Sadie glances at the freshly minted knight and nods. “At ease.” She looks at Qilin. “It has been a while. The years have been kind?”
Qilin clears her throat. “They have, ma’am, and I’d like to mention that I spent some time with your husband last week at the other hotel.”
Jambavan’s eyes widen, and although he freezes, his eyes dart back and forth between the women.
Sadie raises an eyebrow. “Oh?” This is just grand!
Qilin groans an inhale. “I mean we met at the bar… I mean we had some drinks and made up…” She quivers and holds her head with her hand. “Oh my god, hold on. What I’m trying to say is that we talked. I apologized for my brother’s actions, and your husband and I chatted about knight stuff. We didn’t have sex.”
Sadie laughs. “Calm yourself down. Charlie mentioned he bumped into you. If you and he made up, then we have no issue.”
Jambavan just stares, and Sadie notices. She turns to him and gestures with her hand. “Qilin’s brother—what was his name?”
“Nigel.”
That’s right. “He and my husband, Colonel Costanza, fought each other in the American Civil War. You see, a past War and Defense Cabinet put knights on both sides of the battle.”
Jambavan frowns and furrows his brow. “They’d do that?”
Sadie shakes her head. “Not anymore, but they did do that.”
Qilin steps forward. “If I may continue the story?”
Sadie nods.
“After a great battle, while both sides were tending to casualties, they met in the woods while hunting for blood. Even after Ara…Charlie made a truce with Nigel, my brother betrayed him and nearly killed him.” Qilin looks at Sadie. “My brother got what he deserved.”
Sadie sighs. “Sometimes, death is all that is deserved, but such a call is devastating to make... That’s enough history. Jambavan, Qilin, meet Steve and Madeline.” She turns and extends her hand into the room, where both the ex-Red Fang members sit against the glued-to-the-wall headboards behind the beds.
Qilin sizes up their apparent wounds. She’ll be slow, and he’ll be…very conspicuous. What did I sign up for?
Sadie motions to the short, brunette knight. “Steve, Madeline, this is Qilin. She’s going to be leading this operation, and I’m giving her authority over you. You will do what she says, when she says it, and how she says it, or our deal is off.”
Steve nods—Madeline groans.
“You both committed crimes, and unless you want to spend some lonely time behind bars, you’re going to cooperate.”
Madeline shifts position and winces; although she is healing quickly, the stitches the doctor’s sewed her organs back together with haven’t yet dissolved, and it doesn’t feel great when they rub against nearby tissues. “We’ll cooperate. We’ll help you get to Li Chen.”
Sadie glances at Qilin, then back to Madeline. “He’s just part of the puzzle now. We don’t really need to apprehend him…right now anyway. What we must focus on, is getting to Lorenzo Bernardi and recovering what he stole. At the very least, you will retrieve the armlets that you found, Steve, in my trunk. Best case, you bring them, the trunk, Lorenzo, and Li Chen in.”
Steve nods. “You got it, but uh, Mrs. Costanza?”
“What?”
“What if we can’t get the armlets?”
“No no no, you have to. Those are the only things you must retrieve.”
He sighs. “But, I mean, what if we can’t for some reason?”
Sadie motions to Qilin. “It’ll be her call if that’s the case, and you better hope it isn’t.”
Steve shrinks and nods. One of the gauze wrappings on his healing scalp comes loose, and it falls across his face.
Qilin clears her throat. “I’m actually a little in the dark here. I could use a full mission briefing.”
Sadie nods to Jambavan. “He’ll fill you in, but the core is that a kid named Li Chen has pictures of a ring on a stolen phone, and Lorenzo has a set of stolen armlets. All of them are criminals, and the stolen goods must be returned.”
“Okay, sounds straightforward enough.”
Sadie winces. Mmm, not even close... She turns to Jambavan and bites her lip. “Stay here a minute. Qilin, come with me, will you?” She walks away, obviously not asking.
Qilin follows her out of the room and down the hall to a quiet corner. Sadie checks that they’re alone, then she leans down to the shorter knight and whispers into her ear, “I’m going to tell you a secret, and all you’re going to do is nod. You’ll never speak of what I say. Understand?”
Qilin nods.
“The armlets are part of a set of ancient jewelry that withhold an ancient secret. I need you to understand something. Those armlets of mine that were stolen MUST be returned. The images on the phone should also be recovered, or destroyed… I can’t emphasize this enough; they’re not just pieces of jewelry. They are more valuable than any of our lives. You will never speak of these items, nor of the details of this mission, to anyone, as long as you live.” Sadie leans up.
Qilin finds her eyes and nods. “I understand.”
Sadie sighs. “No, you don’t. But you will go wherever…those items go. Promise me you’ll protect them and do everything in your power to retrieve them.”
“I promise, but I have a question.”
“Go ahead.”
Qilin frowns. “Can you lean down so I can whisper it to you?”
Sadie smirks and leans her ear to Qilin.
She whispers, “If this is so important, why are you sending just two knights? There’s at least a dozen in line for coffee downstairs.”
Sadie whispers back, “Secrets are best kept by the few.” She leans up and smiles. “Besides, I believe you can handle it.” She starts walking back to the room. “Come on, Lieutenant Colonel Schermer is supposed to deliver some surveillance equipment, and then you’ve got to get rolling. The clock’s ticking.”
Dr. Melgaard yawns as he types a message to his department heads. He sends it, then he leaves his lab and walks to his apartment for a good night’s sleep.
Dr. Anne Kirchner is stepping into a bath with a glass of wine in her hand when her music is interrupted by Esther’s computer voice. “Message from Dr. Melgaard. At Anne, at Trinn, pull your teams together immediately. I just emailed you both new orders. You don’t have much time. I expect excellent progress in the morning. End of message.”
As her jazz music turns back up, she dumps the wine into the bathwater and stares at the red-stained bubbles. “Goddamn it.”
She calls her team together and reads Dr. Melgaard’s orders while she walks to the lab. She groans. “Unbelievable.”
“What is?”
Anne walks through the door to the lab and is met by her assistant, Dr. Ken Hayes. “Hey, Ken.” She lifts her tablet and gestures to it. “Over the next forty-eight hours, our team has been tasked with manufacturing tau-strain zombie virus.”
He yawns. “Oookay. That couldn’t wait until the morning?”
She shakes her head. “According to Lars’ notes, the process he used in DC to infect cells with the virus and harvest the resulting virions yielded a hundred thousand in an hour. So, in forty-eight hours, that equals four-point-eight million.” She scowls. “He’s demanding ten times that count, fifty million.”
He pulls his chin to his neck while shaking his head back and forth and furrowing his brow. “I don’t think that’s possible.”