by Wesley Chu
It is good to feel loved.
“Hah, more like I’ve been institutionalized.”
Welcome to Tao Prison. The only escape is death.
“Speaking of dry delivery, that got morbid quick.”
Ella sucked in her breath as an even bigger ship with even more guns passed by. She turned to Cameron. “Are these all here for you? What did you do that makes them want to catch you so badly?” She paused. “You must have a big price on your head.”
You broke the millions last time I checked. Congratulations, I could not be more proud.
He grinned. “Massive. I’m a seven-figure fugitive. Want to catch me and share the loot? Seventy to thirty?”
She made a face. “Awful split. I’ll hold out for better. Besides–” she took out a folded piece of paper, “–this one wants to pay me a hundred million for you.”
Cameron took the poster from her and grunted. “Old picture. I haven’t looked that good in years. By the way, it’s seven figures in Euros, not rupees.”
Her eyes widened. “Gods, why do the Genjix want you so badly, anyway?”
“Tao and the leader of the Genjix, Zoras, go way back. They have had a long and glorious history of killing each other’s hosts.”
Cameron pulled her down as a smaller ship hugging the coastline passed by Metal Mountain. He checked the time and tapped the back of his wrist twice, and then the two of them retreated deeper and came out on the other side a few minutes later near ground level. They followed the waterline east until they reached civilization and then looped back south to walk the outer perimeter of the docks.
Ella had gone out by herself in the morning to the yarn market and purchased a secondhand oversized Hindu headscarf and some loose-fitting robes. Cameron’s half-Asian eyes were a dead giveaway, but that wasn’t anything a pair of sunglasses wouldn’t fix. When forced to step out in public, he wore a pair of old Ray-Bans his father had given him, and Ella wore a pair of fake Chanels with one of the arms broken off and taped back on. Crate Town was multinational enough that few would give the odd couple a second look. Until the authorities started advertising the price on Cameron’s head.
Dusk was settling over the slum, and most of the workers had left for the day. If the team planned to infiltrate the facility, now would be the right time. Their plans had not changed much even with all of Crate Town on lockdown. The way Cameron figured, it might even be easier, since the Genjix had to pay attention to a lot more real estate now. All they had to do was determine an insertion point, put a bullet in Surrett Kapoor and sneak out before any Genjix were the wiser.
And maybe take a look around that Bio Comm Array facility.
“If we have time.”
Your priorities are upside down, do you know that?
“Yes, and in this case, I don’t care.”
Cameron and Ella climbed an eight-story container cluster half a block away from the site to get a better vantage point. Later on, if the opportunity presented itself, he was going to try a test run and break into the site to poke around.
As soon as they reached the roof and he scanned the grounds with binoculars, Cameron realized that something was very different. His luck had run out. The construction site was now crawling with military and police. Security had quadrupled overnight, and the place had transformed into a fortress.
“It looks a lot busier down there than normal,” Ella said.
“That’s an understatement,” he muttered.
This is not good.
Cameron cursed. Was he too late? Had he blown his chance of nabbing Surrett? Ten more minutes of observation told him he probably had.
Check another location.
“Ella, can you take me further south to another safe spot?”
She nodded. They traveled six blocks south to where the old Dumas neighborhood bordered the original build site perimeter. If anything, security here was even denser. There were soldiers and checkpoints everywhere.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Air support. They have an attack helicopter.
Cameron radioed the rest of his team and received similar updates. He knew there was a possibility that the Genjix could have stepped up security because of his presence, but this was overkill. Perturbed, he decided to see if this was perhaps a temporary measure. He cut off the day’s surveillance early and treated Ella, against her wishes, to some American food.
“This pizza is disgusting,” she spat. “American food is the worst.”
Cameron was inclined to agree. “This isn’t good. I’m telling you, pizza is the best, but the folks here just don’t know how to make it. Trust me, I’ll take you back to the States one day and get you some deep dish or something. You’ll love it.”
Ella did not look convinced. “I feel like you’re trying to pull one over me. I don’t trust any of you Prophus when it comes to food. Why don’t we try some Indian food? Your treat.”
“Sure,” Cameron grinned.
She dragged him through a crowded back street, between buildings and down a narrow passageway that could either have been a sewer or a road. The few times they had to cross a main street, she kept them huddled with large groups until they could break away. They saw at least six manned checkpoints along the way, but Ella knew the slum well enough to get them around everything, and the frequency visualizer he carried allowed them to steer clear of the two checkpoints that had Penetra scanners.
They reached a place she called the Ayurveda Alley, where she proceeded to scare the crap out of him with some of the more exotic Indian street food. Cameron had to admit, he wasn’t as adventurous as his father, Roen, when it came to food, but he had been raised to always give everything a try. The hilsa eggs were… all right. The frog legs were… all right. The chutney that looked like ants made him spit when he found out they were actually ants. The tilli made him actually throw up.
Fortunately, one dish, the paya, was delicious, and he made up for the other dishes by eating three helpings of it. The entire time he was sampling the foods, Ella wore an ear-to-ear grin. He was pretty sure he was a victim of a prank, but the paya was worth it.
He patted his lower abdomen. “If I get some health problems tonight,” he warned, as they left the alley, “you’ll suffer as much as I will.”
She laughed. “Just remember, we don’t have anything to wipe with.”
Cameron pulled a half-roll out of his pack and waved it in front of her. “A good operative never leaves home without it. That should be your first lesson in secret agent training.”
“What’s the plan for tomorrow, boss?” she asked, as they headed back to Metal Mountain.
Cameron sighed. “I want to go over the patrol schedule one more time, and then make a decision. But if the site is as hot as it was today, we might not have a choice. We may need to start looking at our exit strategy.”
We need to discover what they are building here as well.
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” she said.
Cameron patted Ella’s shoulder. “I love your eternal optimism.”
“Optimism, my ass,” she said. “I don’t want you guys to leave without nailing that jerk who shot Burglar Alarm.”
Her priorities are as off kilter as yours.
“I guess that’s why we get along so well.”
Unfortunately, the security on the site was just as busy as the previous day, if not worse. Cameron, feeling as if he had missed his window of opportunity, cursed as he hit up six separate locations and reached the same conclusion at every one. The entire Bio Comm Array site was completely locked down.
He radioed Lam. “Call the rest of the team. Meeting at the bar. Twenty-two hundred tonight.”
“What’s going on?” Ella asked.
Cameron looked west and sighed. “There’s too much heat. We’re aborting.”
* * *
Congee’s gaze followed Ella when she and Cameron walked into the Cage that night. She waved. He jutted his jaw out and squinted
even harder. One of these days, he was going to forgive her. Not today.
He shook his finger, pointed upstairs, and then rapped the counter three times with his left fist. He turned away and was back to pouring drinks, her presence already forgotten.
As usual, Ella scanned the bar. It looked like all the regular patrons. It was probably suicide for police or military to be in here at this hour, especially after the ruckus they’d been causing in Crate Town. All three Fabs were conducting business in the corner. Little Fab acknowledged her with a nod, and she noticed Mogg holding court with a bunch of her crew in the opposite corner.
Ella grabbed Cameron by the wrist and led him through the crowd and upstairs to the second floor. They continued down a narrow hallway to the third set of doors on the left, which incidentally was the same room she had conned those Pakistani gangsters in. Something she hadn’t gotten to capitalize on very much, by the way.
Are you still sore about that?
“Little Fab bragged to me about the final numbers. They made a killing. I got ripped off, thanks to you.”
You had more important things to do than be a drug dealer.
“It’s the principle of the matter.”
She tried to enter the room, but it was locked. She banged her fist on the metal door. A sharp, high-pitched voice barked at her from the other side in a strange guttural language. Ella looked down both sides of the hallway. Did Congee send her to the wrong room? She banged on it again.
This time, the voice came back in Hindi. “Go away or I’ll shoot your eye out, asshole!”
“Here, step aside.” Cameron put his mouth near the door. “I’m looking for a Red Ryder carbine action model air rifle.”
There was a sharp click, and the door swung open. Jax poked his head out and looked both ways. He ushered them in and closed the door behind them. He took a sniff and gagged. “Are you guys hiding in the sewers?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” said Cameron.
Ella smelled her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Never mind.”
Lam and Dana were sitting at a round table in the center of the room. A lone ceiling lamp served as their only source of light. Cameron put his ear to the wall and rapped it with his fist. “Is this place secure?” he asked.
“Not as secure as the bath house, but Wiry Madras won’t let you and Ella back,” said Dana. “She’s scared to death they’ll catch you and shut her establishment down.”
“Don’t blame her,” said Cameron. He took out the frequency visualizer and placed it on the table. “Can you please check the walls for any brown signatures, Ella?”
Ella nodded and took up position near the back wall.
He looked around. “Where’s Nabin?”
“We split up to cover more ground,” said Dana. “He found something, and will catch up.”
“We got some good intel,” said Lam. She pulled up her tablet and showed him several files. They were a few clear stills of Surrett standing in front of the administration building, having a smoke on a second-floor balcony, lounging at a table in front of a container, and walking out of a small building on the shoreline. In all these pictures, he was alone and looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.
“It’s too bad we don’t have a sniper rifle,” said Jax. “I could take him out from five hundred meters and we’d never even need to step foot on the site.”
“It’s too bad we don’t have a lot of things.” Cameron turned to Dana. “What’s Nabin’s ETA?”
“He told me he was fifteen behind me half an hour ago. What’s up, Commander?”
Ella’s chest clenched when she heard those words. Had the Genjix or the police caught him? Was he dead? She was tempted to head downstairs and search for him. She resisted the urge to pace and planted her body against the wall.
“Get him back here ASAP. We’re aborting,” said Cameron.
“We’re not going for the minister?” Dana asked.
“The site’s too hot. I’m not risking my people on revenge.”
“It’s more than that,” said Lam. “I looked this guy up. Surrett could be the linchpin to India going Genjix. They’re saying he may be the next prime minister.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Cameron. “We get the hell out of here, call in the cavalry, and we do it right. Killing him isn’t worth risking my team.”
A few minutes later, Nabin banged on the door and rushed into the room, gasping for air. Immediately, the rest of the team drew their sidearms, ready to fight their way out.
“No,” he huffed, in between deep breaths. “I wasn’t being chased or followed. I think.”
“Then what’s wrong?” asked Jax.
Nabin held up a finger, and collapsed onto a chair. He took Lam’s cup of water and drained it. Then he pulled out his tablet and slid it to the middle of the table. Dana picked it up and studied it. The color drained from her face. She passed it to Cameron, who passed it to Lam, who passed it to Jax. All of them looked stone-faced.
Ella got the tablet last and looked at the dozen pictures Nabin had taken. They were images of the building on the western edge of the site tucked behind the main Bio Comm Array facility. She enlarged the picture and saw three people walking in a line. They were being escorted by people wearing black clothing that looked more like suits than uniforms.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Prisoners,” said Cameron, somberly. “That’s K2. He’s captain of the recon team that went missing.”
“They’re still alive?” said Ella.
Lam nodded. “At least some of them.”
“His team scouted for my battalion in Finland. Good guy. Had an abnormal love for snow,” said Jax.
“What does that mean then, Commander?” Lam asked.
Cameron’s knuckles were white as he pressed them onto the table. He pounded a fist and shook his head. “I can’t, I can’t,” he muttered over and over. “All right, this changes everything. I’m postponing your vacation again. We’re getting our people back. The odds are looking impossible. Find a way to make it possible.”
“That’s a lot of guys with guns to get through,” said Ella.
“Cameron doesn’t leave anyone behind,” replied Dana.
“Damn straight,” added Lam. “None of us do.”
“I want some ideas,” said Cameron. “Pool the data and find a weakness. Let’s get to work.”
The group huddled over the map of the site. “The problem is there’s something like a thousand soldiers now,” said Nabin.
“What if we draw them away?” said Dana.
“Bomb threat?”
“Stage an attack on the docks?”
The ideas came fast and furious, and almost all of them involved destroying Crate Town in some way. Ella stood there and imagined what would happen to her slum if they collapsed a building or set a fire, or caused a power outage. All of these ideas would end with her people more hurt than the Genjix.
“What if we incited a protest?” Nabin said. “The people are pissed at the site as it is. Shouldn’t be too difficult to rile them up.”
Lam shook her head. “That takes a level of organization and time we don’t have.”
Ella perked up. These guys may not have the organization and time, but she knew someone who did. “Cameron, do you still have boatloads of money?”
He looked wary. “I have access to funds, but it depends on how big the boat is.”
“Actually,” Dana said. “The Keeper got wind of your recent spending spree. She sent you a very strongly worded message demanding an explanation.”
“Crap.”
“She also says you have to cut up your Black Card.”
“Over my dead body,” he muttered.
“I think she said that too.”
Ella stood up. “I’ll be right back. I think I know someone who can help make some noise.”
She left the room and ran downstairs, hoping the person with the time and organization was still carousing with her pe
ople. Luckily, Mogg was. It didn’t take too much work to convince her, and soon a group of tough-looking dockworkers followed her back upstairs. They took position next to the door as Mogg came inside.
“The Black Cat says you want to give me more money,” she said.
“Maybe. Depends on the price.”
“Oh, I think it will be,” she smiled. “We’ll make it right.”
Ella stood in the corner and watched as Mogg negotiated circles around Cameron. In the end, he got what he wanted. Mogg was going to walk away from this a wealthy woman, but at their order, she would gather the entire union and bark loud enough to draw attention to the gates of the Bio Comm Array.
“Is that going to be enough?” asked Jax after Mogg left. “I mean, she’s got a couple thousand people, but she made it perfectly clear she’s only staging a riot, and won’t actually fight the military. A bunch of yelling can only get us so far.”
“It’s going to have to be,” said Cameron. “Unless you have another idea.”
“Actually,” said Ella thoughtfully. “I might.”
Cameron shook his head. “No, Ella, I’m tapped out. I don’t have any more money to throw around.”
“You won’t need to. I’ll be right back again.”
Ella went back downstairs and found the Fabs where she had last seen them. They were in talks with Sodhi the textile importer. She nudged her way to their table.
“We’re in a meeting,” said Fab.
“This is bigger.” Ella slapped a thousand rupees into Sodhi’s hand. “Go buy yourself a drink. I just need a moment.”
The textile merchant was about to protest, then thought better of it. Ella waited until he was out of earshot before leaning in to all three scowling Fabs. “Hey, I reconsidered that offer you made me a few days ago. These people are trying to escape the slum. Setting up a meeting on the east side next to the Automart. Seventy-thirty deal?”
Little Fab smiled. “Don’t they know? Nothing escapes Crate Town. Fifty-fifty.”
On pure principle and to appear realistic, Ella negotiated tough, and finally, finally got a good deal.