The cab skirted around one of the great stacks and indicated that it was about to land. We got ready to climb out. I noticed that Thor had been silent the whole time.
“Come on big guy,” I said. “Shit happens.”
He didn't acknowledge the remark. Instead, he waited with us, then clambered out when the cab had come to a stop in a landing zone. Eldritch left a command to wait. The vehicle's engines cut out and the doors locked.
“The cab isn't authorized to take us any nearer,” he said, adjusting his hood as the rain came down. “We'll have to walk the rest of the way.”
We set off in eerie silence. The place seemed deserted and even though it was late most industrial centres ran night and day. It didn't help that visibility had been reduced to only a handful of meters in front of us, a combination of the pollution and the downpour. I tried to look all about us, aware now that the chances were good that we'd picked up another tail, but I could see very little.
“Grim,” said Mason over the din of rain on thin metal roofs. “Reminds me of the Martian production facilities at Sigma 3 site. Just a bit wetter though.”
“When most of your employees are automated I guess you don't need to spend your money on aesthetics,” I replied. He nodded.
“I guess not.”
We approached the warehouse from the south, crossing one street wide enough to take a couple of decent sized tanks side by side. Then, at a right, we headed along a narrow pedestrian zone, one of only a few concessions for the scant workforce who oversaw the activity there. After that, we could just see the building up ahead because the rain slanted in from the east and was partially blocked by a smaller heat exchanger.
“That's it,” said Eldritch as we stopped in the shadows.
“So you think it was hit by the people we're looking for?” asked Mason.
“Yeah. Fits the evidence – and my gut which is rarely wrong.”
“Take me through it,” I asked.
“Well,” he began, leaning back against the wall and folding his arms. A shelf of concrete above our heads offered us a moment or two of peace from the downpour. “It only began to fit together when Argo got in touch. Until that point, all we had were a string of robberies that went nowhere. They bordered on being perfect crimes. Not a scrap of evidence, no witnesses, no trace on the stock. This isn't cheap crap, boys, this is high-end munitions and they have labels and tags and tracking systems. Not one of them in over 16 crimes triggered any of the security measures.”
“What time frame are we looking at?” asked Mason.
“They happened over a five-year period, Sargon calendar. Okay, thought the PD, they're new kids on the block, looking to make a name. Except that when we checked our sources in the Syndicate-”
“The what?” I asked.
“The Mob. The Firm. The Mafia here on Sargon. Every planet has one though this one is made up of a peculiar mix of natives and outworlders, specifically drug barons from Theseus IV. They've heard nothing about this 'new gang' and have heard even less about illegal arms deals.”
“Legitimate sources?”
“Oh yeah,” he laughed and shook the bottle of pills in his pocket so that I could hear them rattle. “Sargon PD has a good working relationship with the Syndicate.” He looked at the building and shook his head. “So Argo comes along and informs me that his sources point to an MIA team who might be on Sargon, having arrived in the last 5 years.”
“Did he say how he knew that?” asked Mason.
“Nope. He was very guarded with his information. Anyway, I put the pieces together and figure that they're the right guys for the job. They have the skills to pull off this kind of robbery and the resources to ship them off-world or sell them here as I told you before. Either way, stopping them would be a big deal otherwise there'll be war on the streets before the new year.”
“So why are we here if they haven't left a single trace?” I asked. Eldritch smiled.
“Not got much else to do, have we? Besides, after tonight it's clear that their story is coming to an end and thankfully you were just in time to see it. My plan is to wait here for our tails to catch up with us and see what occurs.”
“How did they find us so easily?” asked Mason. Eldritch shrugged.
“That's what I'd like to know. Maybe they already had tabs on me because I was on the case. Maybe they have eyes on the docking platform and saw you arrive. Take your pick.”
I took out the implant from my pocket. Eldritch had sealed it in an evidence bag to catch the fluids that continued to leak from it. Now I could see the back of the thing I was no wiser; if the device was doing anything we'd never know without a lab.
“Alice, my sister, sends me regular reports from Earth Gov's R&D departments. I think RUND still own the contract, right?” Mason nodded. “There's been nothing like this mentioned since Mars. Other than augmented body parts, the military has a strong dislike of anything that smacks of mind control or performance-enhancing neural interfaces. The moral argument and a history replete with bad examples, has always kept the mad scientists at bay, thankfully.” I shook the bag. “So if this is our team, what is this and why do they have it? And who gave it to them?”
“We might have known that had your bot not-” Eldritch stopped and shook his head. “It doesn't matter I guess.”
We waited and the rain continued to fall. Thor, standing further into the darkness to our left, said and did nothing. I felt sorry for the bot. He'd only wanted to help and yet, tragically, he'd done the polar opposite. If it were possible, I'd have sent him back to the ship but I didn't know then if I'd need that transmitter. Plus, the cannon would come in handy again if this went horribly wrong, another hunch I felt inside my gut.
I remembered then to fire off a message to Baz, asking for a sit-rep on the ship's repairs. Then we waited some more.
“What was the simulation protocol?” I asked Eldritch who had closed his eyes as he rested.
“The what?” he asked, then seemed to realise what I'd asked. “Existing cold cases for the most grievous Earth Gov. crimes over the last century.”
“Any reason?”
“I wanted the training. At that time, just as the technology was limited to experimental phases, the earnings were high and the risk not-so-low. If I put in 5 years I'd come out with the certification.”
“Did you plan on leaving to have a career?”
“Yeah, at first I did. Then, like the contracted developers intended all along, a female NPC was introduced to woo me and keep me under while they soaked up my wages from the Government.”
“You fell in love?”
“No, they're smarter than that. The NPC was to open up my mind to the concept of love within the simulation. Then they dropped the big bomb.”
“Which was?”
“Another user. Neither of us knew the other was real. She was an investigator too and we met on the same case, clearly a coincidence, right?”
“Right,” I laughed.
“So we fell in love, just like they wanted and the next thing I know we're married and adopting kids. NPC kids. The years slipped by until the law was passed and we were forced to exit. The trials were deemed too dangerous to both the mind and the body, specifically the brain.”
“Forced? How?”
Eldritch hesitated. He looked about to answer but brought himself up short.
“I'd rather not go any deeper,” he said. “Sorry.” I knew right then that he was holding on to the pill bottle in his pocket.
“Okay,” I said and lapsed into silence. My comms unit buzzed. It was a text-only message from Baz. All was well and Jo was fitting the nebulus buffer now.
I looked up and saw something ahead, just beyond the next unit. I undid the fastenings of my coat, freeing the pistol.
“Looks like they found us,” I said. Eldritch grinned.
“Can we keep one alive this time?”
15
They sent four this time. We hadn't been able to hear any transpo
rt fly them in because of the rainfall but no doubt, being skilled in these arts, they'd tabbed in on foot from a DZ further away; it's what we would've done.
The first one gave his position away because he wasn't trying to hide. He wore tactical clothing, all black and grey, overlaid with a combat chassis, the kind we used to see other PRT teams use for more covert ops. It offered some of the benefits of an exo-shell like speed, agility, increased carrying capacity, that sort of thing but lacked any real protection. It looked more like a full body medical brace up close but that didn't mean I was about to underestimate them.
“ZR-4 unit,” whispered Mason. “Made by ULTRA COMP. Built-in shield generator and refractors. Our pistols won't do us much good.”
“You see the two on the roof?”
“Of course I do,” he snapped. “One's already inside I reckon.”
“We're exposed out here. I say we bug out.”
“We can't,” he replied. “They're hunting us whether we like it or not.”
“What do you suggest?”
Mason looked at Eldritch and nodded his head in the direction of the door behind us. The freelancer took out his hacking device and went to work on it. We continued to stare at the one who now walked up and down outside the building, the decoy.
“He's not carrying a peashooter either,” I said. “What is that? It looks similar to one of those Thundercats, the 09 series maybe.”
“It's got twin cells on the breach and another in the stock. The barrel has been reinforced with SAGE filaments too.”
“You can see all that from here?” He grinned.
“No. I read the Python Munitions brochure while you two were bonding. It's their latest unit. I never entertained it for us because three cells with two that are linked is a recipe for catastrophic failure in the field. If those popped we'd be going home in a jar.”
“What's the damage output?”
“65 watts maybe. Put through the SAGE, I'd bump that up to nearly 100.”
“We're in,” said Eldritch who moved quickly into the darkness and went to work on the alarm system. He was good and I suspected that in spite of his time under, there was some kind of military background there.
We followed. Thor tread softly, taking up a position at the window with his arm cannon already activated. Mason and I continued to watch through the open door, grateful for the lack of ambient light.
“Plan?” I asked him.
“Ignore the decoy and take them piecemeal,” he replied, taking off his coat. I did the same. “Forget the shields, they're useless to us now. They'll just ghost our position in this weather.”
I drew my pistol and checked it over, making sure the cells were primed but as I did so I caught Eldritch doing the same – with the weapon we'd taken from the soldier earlier.
“I never saw you take that,” I said.
“You weren't supposed to. Four against four is fair odds.” Mason laughed.
“It's not fair to them. I hope you know what you're doing.”
“I've done a bit,” he smiled. “I'm no soldier but I can shoot reasonably straight. What's the plan?”
“Mason, take the east side of the building and come around, sweeping for the one we think is inside. I'll climb onto the roof and engage one of the two up there. The other will have relocated by now so I'll have to track him down.”
“And us?” asked Eldritch.
“Mop up. Once Mason and I engage it'll go loud. Take the decoy and help either myself or Mason.” I looked at the bot. “You got that, Thor?”
“Understood, sir,” he replied.
“Okay. Stay sharp. We'll communicate through Thor.”
“Good luck,” said Eldritch. I smiled.
“You too.”
Mason went right out of a different door while I ducked low and dashed out through the front, going left. Immediately the rain hit me, running down my neck and soaking me in only a few minutes. There was nothing I could do about that. I went wide, keeping deep in the shadows as I circled around the target building where I'd seen one of the shooters set up. He'd been pretty good at hiding his movements and maybe a civilian might not have seen him but we did. It gave me a small amount of hope that they didn't know who we were just yet.
I avoided another of those wide roads and chose instead to scale the adjacent building on the western side. On this planet, no building could escape the need for gutters and drain pipes and in spite of the anti-climbing measures, I was able to clamber up pretty quick.
At the top I paused, making sure I wasn't about to pull off the same mistake they had and announce my presence with a bull-horn. The rain battered me now, drenching me to the bone, running into my eyes like rivers from my brow. I blinked a couple of times to clear them, then waited.
“Eyes on tango,” whispered Mason across the comms. “In the building, north side. Same gear.”
“Decoy still in position,” replied Eldritch.
I continued to wait. Then, as the wind suddenly picked up, I saw something move in the darkness on the roof across from me. I didn't move. Holding my breath, I turned my head very slowly so that the shape was in my peripheral vision where things were sharper. It was my target, the first one, but the second was nowhere to be seen.
“Eyes on tango,” I muttered. “Zero on the other.”
“Don't engage until you've found him,” said Mason.
“Everyone hold their positions,” I said.
We waited. I was aware that my temperature was dropping. That would mean shivers, trembling, easily giving myself away. I scanned the rest of the rooftops very slowly, making no sudden movements, then pulled myself up onto the roof and lay prone, taking long, deep breaths.
“Decoy is moving,” said Eldritch.
“Where?” asked Mason.
“He's crossing the street, heading this way.”
“Has he spotted you?” I said.
“Negative. His weapon is low and he's just walking towards me.”
“Don't react,” said Mason. “Not yet.”
“Thor – take him silently only if he enters the building.”
“Aye, sir.”
I looked again. Still no sign of the other guy. I was running out of time.
“He's stopped,” said Eldritch.
“Hold,” I said. “I see him.”
From where I was I could just make out his position in the middle of the road. He looked idle, bored, just passing the time. His mouth was moving so I guessed he was talking to any one of his team. I scanned the roof again hoping for a response and I wasn't disappointed. The second guy suddenly rolled onto his back from a prone position overlooking the building Eldritch and Thor occupied and began searching his gear for something. When he found it, the glow from its screen faintly illuminated his features, or I should say her features. It was a woman and she was consulting a device.
“Woah!” cried Eldritch. “He's seen me!”
I looked and now the decoy was alive, his weapon up and storming directly into their position inside the building.
“She must have a tracker – engage now!”
I leaped to my feet and cleared the gap between my roof and the first soldier, landing hard and rolling in the water gathered there. Pistol up I ran towards him just as he tried to get up from where he lay. I fired a salvo of shot that hissed and spat in the rain. Only two found their target, enough to cause the shields to crackle but not much else.
“Engaging!” cried Eldritch and I heard his weapon discharge in controlled bursts.
“Tango down!” said Mason.
I closed the distance just as my target was aiming his weapon at me. The shot missed, passed me by on my right side and vanished into the night. I felt the heat of it pass my face.
I slid onto him, throwing my whole weight onto his frame and he found himself laid out on the roof with my bulk on top of him. I had moments to react because that chassis was capable of tearing me apart like I was made of paper. One hand clamped around his throat while the oth
er held on to the barrel of his weapon before he could turn it on me.
Grabbing someone's airway has a predictable response – they try to tear your hands away rather than attack you; unless you're expecting it and I was gambling on him not expecting it. In this case, his free hand shot out and clamped around my wrist. A split second later and he'd tear my arm out of my shoulder in pretty much the same way Thor had done earlier. But his mistake was made. In doing so, he lost focus on the weapon I held at bay in the other. I dove sideways, releasing my grip on his throat and dragged the barrel of the gun down with me, pointing it directly back at its owner. Then a quick jerk sent his elbow into the ground, closing the finger that rested on the trigger, blowing out part of his skull and incinerating the brain matter within.
Something snapped in my wrist as the hand released and a flash of white-hot pain shot up my arm. I rolled off him, grabbing it and stifling a yell.
“Tango down,” I snarled over the comms. “Heading for the next target.”
In agony, I yanked the medpack from my belt and tore it open. Then, grabbing the pain meds, I stuck the needle into my arm and hit the injector twice. My vision cleared and the torment subsided into a dull ache, long enough for me to wrap it in an insta-cast bandage which hardened my wrist in place. I only hoped the break hadn't misaligned the bones.
I picked up the weapon he'd been using and slung it across my chest so that I could still use it in my right hand without having to take the weight of it. My fingers still worked and once I'd wrapped another bandage around the stock and my forearm the thing became solid in my grasp. I couldn't aim down the sights but I could still hip-fire and I thumbed it onto its three round burst setting.
“Sitrep?” asked Mason.
“Thor grabbed him,” said Eldritch. “But he got a shot off. The bot doesn't look so good.”
“Alive?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Carter?”
“Wounded,” I replied. “Got my wrist. Back me up, pal.”
“On my way.”
I tucked behind one of the air conditioning units and looked to where the woman had been. She was gone.
“No eyes on the tango,” I said. “Holding my position.”
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