INFERNO (New Perdition's Gate Omnibus Edition)

by James Somers

“Yes, sir.”

  “I’m approaching the target area. Go.”

  The H7 Counterpart flew instantly into motion, running toward the perimeter fence of the New Eden Complex. Alfred climbed the fence with ease. He spotted guards with attack dogs already running from security stations to intercept him. He smiled as he watched them. Phase one of Jason’s plan proceeded exactly as expected.

  Alfred made no attempt to avoid the guards. He dropped from the fence to the well manicured lawn, walking straight for the tall building where Oliver Theed resided in his luxurious penthouse. The guards yelled for him to halt, raising weapons to make their intent plain. The dogs pulled at the security servicemen, eager to be loosed.

  As the gap closed between them, Alfred produced one capsule pistol loaded with tranquilizer ammunition. If they could help it, his master intended on only one man’s death tonight. The guards instinctively fired on Alfred—shooting to kill. Alfred took quick aim and returned fire, dropping every security agent along with their canines.

  Alfred continued toward the building, walking through the line of tranquilized bodies. More guards responded with larger weapons. Ten security agents with machine guns loaded with armor piercing shells, formed a barrier between Alfred the Chinese assassin and the towering building behind them.

  Alfred suddenly darted sideways, running in a flanking arc around the security agents. He fired at them with unshakable accuracy. The agents attempted to track him, but he took them all down, before they could respond with any real show of the force they had been carrying.

  Alfred sprinted toward the glass entrance. Steel shutters had already closed behind the decorative glass. Alfred sped up and propelled his heavy robot body, like a missile, through the double-doorway. He hit the shutters head on and stopped.

  He placed his hands between a gap still visible in the shutters, pried an opening and slid through into the lobby. More guards waited with shock upon their faces—what kind of man could do such a thing?

  The entire lobby of the building erupted in nearly simultaneous gunfire. Security men fell left and right of Alfred, as he stood in the midst, taking hit after hit to his highly modified H7 exoskeleton. To the men firing upon him, he appeared like a god dropped down from the heavens, impervious to every mortal trifle hurled at him.

  One by one, Alfred cleared the large lobby of security forces. A thick haze hung in the air. Alfred walked on. He tapped the elevator key to go up and was accepted inside.

  The car began to rise and then halted abruptly. Alfred tapped the keys. As expected, the elevators were under security control and they now believed they had the assailant trapped.

  From the vents at the ceiling and floor, a deadly gas filled the elevator car. Alfred analyzed the billowing cloud as it wrapped around him and reduced visibility to zero. The gas was a potent mixture of several different chemicals, cyanide being the main component.

  Wasting no time, Alfred jumped to the ceiling of the elevator car and punched a powerful fist up through the lighting into the metal housing beyond. Alfred punched another hand through, giving himself a firm point of leverage. Then, finding no escape hatch, he proceeded to make one.

  He bashed his powerful feet upward into the ceiling, buckling the weak material until he had produced a hole that he could widen and fit through. Soon, he stood on top of the elevator and began climbing the alloy cables.

  Security forces stayed with him. Two thick alloy doors slid into the shaft horizontally from the walls and came together. Only the thin grooves that allowed space for the cables penetrated the strong armor plating. It appeared strong enough to prevent the ascent of an elevator car, if necessary.

  Alfred jumped sideways toward the nearest floor-access doors and proceeded to pry them apart. When he had created a substantial gap, a powerful metal alloy fist slammed into Alfred’s jaw, sending him reeling back. He used the backward momentum to catch the lift cables and swing himself around and back into the robot in the doorway, feet first. The H9 model Counterpart fell back, but managed to recuperate quickly and attack again.

  Lightning fast attacks raged between the H9 model robot and Alfred, still in his Chinese agent disguise. The H9 couldn’t be fooled by perceptor tech so easily though. It sensed the robot behind the mirage.

  Action and reaction between the two goliaths occurred in milliseconds. Alfred got the better of the H9, whipping it back into the elevator shaft by an arm. It fell and slammed into the ripped up elevator car, four stories below.

  Alfred took a moment to look down, as it got back to its feet, trying to decide what to do next. “Newer is better…indeed.”

  Any attempt by the H9 to catch him would be futile. Alfred had a good lead. By the time the newer robot got back to his floor, Alfred was already gone. His job had been to draw attention to himself, as he proceeded steadily through the building’s forty stories. So far, he had the security department’s full cooperation in the matter.

  Jason steadied himself on the small platform that was supposed to pass as a seat. The hang-glider wobbled and swayed. The black canopy perfectly blended with the black clouds over the city. He was near enough to allow him to parachute in now. With any accuracy, he would be able to land on the top of the High Representative’s high rise office building, touching down on his penthouse lawn.

  Jason removed his safety straps. He was ready. With a quick check of his weapons and his chute pulls, he slid completely out of the harness, plummeting down as fast as gravity could pull him. Jason wasted no time pulling the ripcord on his parachute. The black canopy billowed out, almost invisible against the darkly clouded night sky over New Rome. He made minor adjustments then settled in for a semi-routine night jump to his target—the penthouse grounds of Oliver Theed.

  The top of the high rise came up to meet him quickly. He now saw several guards stationed around the grounds. Four guards held the corner perimeter spots, and several others spread out over the rest.

  One stood near the pool, another was stationed at the sliding glass doors leading into the High Representative’s residence. Another stood inside a lush garden, complete with vine laden trellises. He decided on that spot.

  Jason made the necessary adjustments. He readied his capsule gun, thinking he might get off an accurate shot or two. As he descended toward the roof, closing the gap between him and the guards, he decided to go for it.

  Jason took careful aim and shot one of the corner perimeter guards. The man fell as Jason whipped his weapon around, barely getting off the second shot at the other corner position before bracing for his landing.

  The other guard went down like the first, a six hour tranquilizer implanted under his skin. Jason braced himself, bent his knees and prepared for impact. He grabbed the quick release switch on his harness. As he touched down, he pressed the catch on the harness and it fell away. He rolled across the ground. The wind carried the harness away with the chute, as it billowed and fought against the currents, ultimately disappearing back over the side of the building.

  Jason heard one of the security agents running to investigate. “Who’s there?”

  When the man found him, Jason shot him in the chest with a tranquilizer before he had time to realize what had happened. Jason wore his perceptor combat uniform, making him extremely difficult to see in the dark.

  He leaned over the fallen guard and laid a hand on the man’s shoulder. His perceptor uniform made the necessary calculations and modified his appearance. Now, he looked just like the sleeping security guard.

  Two guards remained at the far end of the rooftop at each corner, one at the door and one at the pool. Jason knew Alfred was already plowing through the security forces thirty floors down, but they probably wouldn’t pull any of these guards, no matter what happened in the other parts of the building. These men were Theed’s only personal protection, but they wouldn’t be enough tonight.

  Jason took the scenic route through the garden, down to the far corners of the roof. He made quick and quiet work of the other
two perimeter guards then headed for the last two. Jason came upon the one at the pool with the other in his line of sight. They looked at him curiously in his security guard disguise as he approached the pool.

  The pool guard started to chew him out for being away from his post, but Jason produced his weapon and took the man down in a blur. As that one fell, he shot another capsule over the fallen guard to the one stationed at the sliding glass doors. All of Theed’s men assigned to his personal protection would sleep for six hours.

  Oliver heard the messenger chime, and laid down his sandwich on the plate lying upon the desk in his personal library. He stood up, crossing the tastefully decorated room to the panel on the far wall. Oliver wore silk pajamas, ready to slip into bed after his usual late night snack. A fire from the gas hearth bathed the entire room in comforting shades of orange and yellow.

  As Theed reached for the panel to answer the message system, he heard a voice. “Don’t do that, Oliver.”

  The High Representative stopped in his tracks and whirled around to find a young man dressed in an agent’s combat uniform standing in the archway leading into his study.

  “Night?” He knew the agent’s face.

  “How kind of you to remember me, since we’ve never formally met.”

  “What is it you want, Night?”

  “How about world peace?” Jason grinned.

  Oliver looked nervous, but tried to play along. “Give me a little time and I’ll see what I can come up with.”

  “You don’t have any more time. I’m here for payback.”

  “I could pay you anything you want, just ask and it’s yours,” He wondered if he could tap the alarm on the message panel before Night killed him.

  “Now, Charlie.” Jason patronized the man. “You’ve sent me out to kill many a man who offered me untold wealth in exchange for his life. But you know what? I never took it.”

  Oliver knew what that meant. He watched the agent pull a long knife from the pit of his back—the matte finish was as black as death itself. Oliver panicked and slammed his fist into the message panel alarm in vain.

  The sting of the blade ignited every pain receptor in his body. Jason Night drove the lethal weapon home, somewhere under his sternum. Oliver saw the fire flicker in the young man’s eyes as his life began to seep out with every strained heartbeat. He fell into a vortex of everlasting darkness—a pit that he could not climb out of. All of his strength faded. The High Representative slumped to the floor with his life issuing out of the fatal wound.

  The silent alarm on the panel had been hit and more security would come. Jason waited long enough to find that Theed no longer had a pulse. His blood loss was definitely terminal. The High Representative, Oliver Theed, lay on the floor dead. No amount of resuscitative effort was going to change it now.

  Jason assumed the perceptor disguise of the security guard again and ran out of the main residence into the hall beyond. Security forces scrambled out of the elevators and stairwells, trying to get to the High Representative’s penthouse entrance.

  Jason cried out to them like a guard that had just made an awful discovery. The agents recognized him as one of their own. They hurried past him—recounting some of the other terrible things their people were still dealing with on the floors below.

  Jason called after them. “I’m going down to assist the others!” He took one of the elevators that was still in operation and descended. He would eventually make his way out of the building in disguise amid a mass of police vehicles and chaos. He had finished his mission.

  He called to Alfred on the ride down, finding the robot still engaged with security forces. “Can you get out safely?”

  “Of course, sir. Has the mission been completed?”

  “Yes, Alfred, the mission is a success. I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point as planned.”

  “Very good, sir. I’m going transparent now. I’ll leave quietly and meet you in three hours.”

  DISCOVERY

  Jacob Stein’s limousine slowed as it rounded the circular drive in front of the New Eden Complex. Security and police vehicles sat parked everywhere. A security agent in an orange vest directed Jacob’s driver to the side entrance. When the limousine came to a stop, Jacob’s driver got out first, and came around to open his door.

  Jacob exited the car. The sounds of turmoil filled the air. He thought about what Oliver had told him earlier in the evening—how he was safe here in New Rome in his strong tower. Now, that strong tower had been torn apart. Jacob gasped, trying to contain his excitement. Had the scriptures come true regardless—was his master’s plan still on track?

  A security agent met Jacob, identifying himself as the man that had called him to the scene. The fact that Oliver had not called himself seemed especially telling, but he had to be sure.

  Jacob followed the agent into the building, amazed at the sight. Shattered glass from the large panes that had resided inside the decorative metal framing, littered the lobby. The steel security shutters had been pulled apart in one place.

  The perpetrator had been met with considerable resistance upon entering the building. In fact, Jacob remembered a number of paramedics out on the grounds hovering over guards and their attack dogs. Whether they remained alive, he hadn’t been able to tell. The rest of the lobby wall bore pocks and scars from innumerable rounds of ammunition.

  On the other side of the lobby, several security agents lay on the floor with paramedics tending to them. The security agent led Jacob through the lobby to a private elevator intended for the High Representative’s use only. The agent used a pass card to access the panel. When the doors opened, both he and Jacob stepped inside. The doors closed, and the agent pressed the button to send them up to the penthouse.

  The High Representative’s private elevator ascended faster than normal. In no time, they had reached the highest level. The double doors opened, and a scene right out of his recent dreams came to life before Jacob. The apartment’s main door stood open. Police and security agents buzzed around like bees.

  Jacob entered with his security escort leading the way. He saw that pockets of activity were located beyond the sliding glass panes at the far end. Paramedics worked to revive tranquilized security agents. Jacob noticed a lot of activity inside Oliver’s private library. Camera flashes escaped through the archway.

  As Jacob rounded the corner, he saw a pale little man in an old suit, snapping photos of a body on the floor. Oliver Theed lay sprawled in a large puddle of his own blood on the honey colored hardwood floor. Above him on the wall, the message panel still flashed.

  Oliver’s eyes remained open, staring out from the abyss where he had been taken by the judgment of God. Oliver had been trying to avoid this exact scenario by refusing to go to Jerusalem in order to attend the dedication ceremony for the newly rebuilt Jewish Temple. His plans had failed in the face of prophecy.

  A voice spoke up behind Jacob. “This is simply dreadful, Mr. Stein.”

  He turned to find a familiar thin frame and gaunt face staring down at the body. Tears spilled from the man’s eyes.

  “Mr. Tussle.”

  Mr. Brody Tussle had been Oliver’s executive assistant. He was actually quite good at the job, and had always adored Oliver as the greatest leader in the history of the world. Jacob had often wondered if the effeminate little man didn’t secretly harbor deeper feelings for Oliver, but he’d always kept his place.

  “I can’t believe he’s really gone, Mr. Stein. How will the world ever get along without him?”

  “I’m sure we’ll find a way, Brody. Did you send for me?”

  “Yes, sir. Mr. Theed was very clear that if anything ever happened to him, you would take over his personal affairs. I suppose the worst has happened. I’ll need you to sign this form to show you’ve taken control of his assets as executor of his will. This will also give you the ability to coordinate the New Eden Security Council in order to hold new elections for the office of High Representative.”


  Jacob accepted the sheet of rigid vellum Mr. Tussle handed him and signed the digital form with a small plastic pen.

  Brody shook his head to clear it. “I’m not aware of any family that Oliver had, are you?”

  Jacob thought of Agent Wraith—John Theed—but did not reveal the fact. “No, Brody, I don’t know of any family that Oliver had. I do know that Oliver wished to have his body cremated, in the event of his death. If you don’t mind, I’ll have you arrange that for me. All right?”

  “Oh yes, sir. I certainly hope that my position as Mr. Theed’s executive assistant might be continued in your service. I could be a great help, especially with all of the duties as executor that have been piled on you now, with this tragedy.”

  Jacob smiled at the man’s greed. “I’m sure that will be fine, Brody. Just see to it that the cremation is set up quickly so we may honor poor Oliver’s wishes.”

  “Of course, sir. I’ll tend to it as soon as the medical examiner has released the body.”

  “Thank you, Brody. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll leave this situation for you to get settled with the police. I’m going to need some time to process everything that has happened. If you need me, just call.”

  “Yes, sir, and thank you, sir—for the job I mean.”

  Jacob backtracked out of the apartment, leaving the finer points of the clean-up to Mr. Tussle. Once the body had been released, Oliver would be cremated and that would leave room for his master’s clone to step in. Soon the nations would witness the greatest miracle the modern world had ever seen. They would see the resurrection of their beloved leader, Oliver Theed.

  Jacob stepped back inside the elevator he had arrived in, descending to the main floor where police were still trying to make heads or tails of the situation. Jacob had not heard who had done this. If there had been an answer, it wouldn’t have interested him. Oliver’s death had been the only important matter.