“You think it’s gotten that bad?”
“When the President is personally requesting a task force like us and giving us free rein to get results, yes.”
“What will happen if they get away with the Mayor?”
“There’ll be a war. Police and Planetary Defence will have to invade District 11, giving the criminals the support of the public they want. There could be a revolt and general uprising, they’re clearly on the brink already.”
“Christ, how’d we get caught up in this shit?”
“It’s our job, Max.”
Kaufman tapped the intercom as he gripped his WARB gun tight, anticipating the fight that they were heading for.
“Denver, you need to have everyone armed and ready, you’ll need to hit the ground running. These three trucks are all fast but they have no armour, I need you to bring them to a standstill.”
“Sir, we’ll do our best!”
For another five minutes they pursed the kidnappers but weren’t able to close the gap that they had created, but at least able to keep them in sight. They were travelling over relatively low housing districts, only being eight to ten storeys high at the most. Each neighbourhood they travelled through was more run down and dirty than the last, many of the blocks abandoned and derelict. There was very little traffic anymore, few people ventured out to the lawless District 11.
Through the speakers piping in the exterior sound into the car they could hear the rumbling of a ship approaching from their rear, its wake kicking up dust and debris through the passing neighbourhoods. In the distance, just a mile away they could see the entrance tunnel and perimeter walls of District 11.
“It’s them! We may just pull this off yet!” shouted Kaufman.
The Intrepid roared past overhead, rapidly gaining ground on the kidnappers’ three vehicles.
“Denver, I don’t care what you have to do, stop those vehicles immediately!” shouted Kaufman.
“What about the Mayor, Sir?”
“Do what you can, but your number one priority is ensuring that the vehicles do not reach that district!”
The Intrepid stormed past the kidnappers and swept down into a hovering position, fifty metres in front of the tunnel entrance. The suspects continued to zoom towards the walls with all speed.
As the Intrepid lowered, the docking bay doors opened, revealing a line of IBI officers, all with their weapons shouldered and ready to fire. The suspects tried to veer off and around the ship, but it was too late. Submachine guns and shotguns fired off in a hail of shots, peppering the three trucks.
The first of the vehicles went into a spin and smashed into an apartment block, burying itself inside. The second spun around, its engines and stabilisers out of control, ramming the perimeter wall of the district and crumpling into a twisted wreck. The third vehicle began to smoke and the driver made a desperate attempt to land it on a rooftop, it bumped and slid across the flat top building until it came to a halt.
Kaufman’s vehicles had seen everything and arrived just in time to land at the scene. Their vehicles putting down on the roof of the building where the first vehicle had crashed.
“Denver, detain the occupants of that last vehicle, we are going after the other!”
Kaufman and Barski leapt out of their car followed by the six other officers that they had with them. After the brutal mauling they’d received in the initial gunfight, they were taking no chances. Kaufman had his WARB gun raised as they ran towards the rooftop entrance to the apartment block, or as fast as they could run and skip in the low gravity.
As they stepped through into the environmentally sealed tunnel entrance of the roof they could already hear Denver on the loud speaker barking orders to the men in the wrecked vehicle which were stranded on the rooftop. They could only hope that the Mayor was not in the vehicle that had been destroyed, and was still alive.
The door to the roof shut behind them, before the next opened. Red lights were flashing inside the building, the warning that there had been a breach of the wall. All rooms and floors were individually sealed for air and heat purposes in the case of such an event. For now they were on a level with air and warmth, but they knew it would likely not last, keeping their masks on.
“This is Denver, we have the suspects detained. The Mayor is not with them.”
“Good job, Sergeant, send a recovery team to the crash site of the other vehicle, see if you can ID anyone aboard,” said Kaufman.
He pulled open the pressure-sealed door to the stairs of the apartment block, running through. He knew that the truck had crash three floors down from the roof. They had no time to be cautious, as any delay could give the criminals enough time to escape or blend into the community. They reached the floor where they had seen the crash take place and charged into the corridor, looked up and down each way. The corridors were pulsating with the red emergency beacon lights. A door at the end of the right corridor opened, a man came out with a carbine in his hands.
“Put the weapon down now!” shouted Barski.
The man ignored the warning and immediately lifted his rifle to fire, but was hit by bullets from three of the IBI officers who didn’t hesitate to fire. They had seen what the kidnappers were both capable and prepared to do, their lives were now worth nothing.
The eight officers approached the open door cautiously, their weapons all raised and ready to fire. Barski leapt across the open doorway, two bullets smashed into the other side of the hall as the suspects took shots at him.
“This is Lieutenant Kaufman of the Interplanetary Bureau of Intelligence! Your friends have been caught and arrested, lay down your weapons and come in peacefully!”
“We’ve got the Mayor, you back off and let us go or he’s dead!”
Kaufman pulled out a tiny display module with a fibre optic pinhole camera that he angled around the opening of the doorway, so small it was not noticed. The first thing he saw was a man standing with a rifle pointing at the doorway. Twisting the device around and panning around the room, he could see one of the suspects holding the Mayor with a gun to his head, and another stood nearby.
Slipping the device back into his pocket, he held out three fingers to his officers, signalling to them the number of hostiles.
“Listen up, I’m laying my rifle down and coming in to talk to you. Please, lower your weapons!” shouted Kaufman.
He drew his trusty Hogswell & Simms pistol and pointed at it to his team, they knew exactly what he meant. He lowered the pistol to his side.
“I am putting my gun down! Please lower your weapons!”
He put down his WARB gun in the doorway in plain view of the suspects.
“There it is, I am entering into the room, do not shoot, I just want to talk!”
He went through into the opening presenting his left side, his pistol hidden in his right, down by his side. The two gunmen lowered their weapons slightly as he took a step into the room, but the man holding the Mayor maintained his pistol against the VIP’s head.
“You want to talk? Fine, here it is. You let us walk out of here, and I don’t kill the Mayor!”
“If you hand us over to him, you have a deal.”
“No! We keep the bastard, and you let us walk!”
Kaufman took two paces forwards and immediately lifted his pistol, firing a shot as quickly as it was horizontal. The bullet struck the man in the centre of the forehead, going straight through his mask and killing him instantly. The two other kidnappers raised their carbines to fire, but it was too late, Barski and Weber opened fire from a kneeling position at the doorway, firing across each other. The two men were riddled with bullets, dropping dead where they stood.
“Mr Nilson? Are you ok? Are you hurt?” asked Kaufman.
“No, no, I am fine. Thank you, all of you,” he replied.
The man was very shaken by the events, but he was physically unhurt. Kaufman sighed in relief. It was by no means their responsibility to protect the Mayor, but he could only imagine the shit
storm that would have stirred if it had happened in their presence.
“This is Denver, we are taking fire from the district, Sir. They aren’t too happy about us being here, over.”
“We have the Mayor, he is alive. Are there any survivors at the crash site? Over.”
“No. Sir, it’s a mess.”
“Ok, leave it be and come and pick us up, you’ll see our vehicles on the roof of the building. I don’t want to risk another transfer of the Mayor through the streets of the city, over.”
“Sir, do you have any idea who these men were that kidnapped you?” asked Kaufman.
“Rebels I should think. They have become ever more problematic recently, and the public are starting to support them.”
“Well I can assure you, after this bodged attempt, you will gain a lot of sympathy from the populace.”
The man looked up at Kaufman, relieved of some good news. It was apparent that he’d been fighting a gruelling uphill battle for a long time.
“Sir, may I ask, what is the reason for these rebels?”
“Unemployment, poverty, poor healthcare. We are nearing financial ruin. Things have been bad for a while, but these high profile robberies over the last year have worsened it. Not only have they stolen a lot of money and resources, but they have hit the confidence of industry and buyers, and created a lack of trust and faith in the authorities.”
“Right then, let’s get up top, we’ll be escorting you back to the city aboard our ship.”
“Lieutenant, it is strictly prohibited to bring ships into city limits.”
“Sir, I don’t give a shit, you are alive and well because we did what was necessary, if you don’t like it, take it up with the President.”
Chapter 8
“Sir, please hold for the President.”
“Kaufman?”
“Yes, Mr President.”
“Bloody well done, son, when you get back home there are medals waiting for you all. You have done us all a great service!”
“Thank you, Mr President.”
“I look forward to more good news from you, Lieutenant. Good work!”
The intercom was turned off and Kaufman turned to look at Barski who was sitting across his desk in his office. Barski’s expression echoed his precisely. For the IBI, it was a hollow victory. It did not relate directly to their intended purpose, nor further their progress in any way.
“Got any news?”
“Unfortunately, the lead that we got the locals to follow up on Mars, Maric’s address, when they arrived, the place was burning, everything destroyed.”
Kaufman could not believe how much bad luck they had received.
“What about the ship, Hopper?”
“Docking records show it landed a few hours before us, but left the colony within thirty minutes of us arriving.”
Kaufman snapped his head up, staring at his friend. It was a suspicious turn of events.
“You think that’s a coincidence?” asked Eric.
“No, I don’t.”
“So this gang got word we had landed, and at the same time also received news that we were onto Maric and his address on Mars?”
“He could have just been covering his ass once he knew we were closing in on him.”
“No, it’s just too convenient, especially when it all coincided with the kidnapping of the Mayor when we were with him. Anyone but a fool would know we’d pursue the kidnappers, taking our attention away from the gang and letting them get clear.”
“If that is the case, then you’re saying somebody aboard warned them of our operations?”
Kaufman looked up at his friend, neither of the men wanted to believe it, but both knew that it was the most likely explanation for what had happened.
“Alright, Max, so let’s assume for the minute that someone aboard has been feeding this gang information.”
“Eric, it would explain how they are so often a few steps ahead of us. They have gone beyond clever and lucky, with all the resources and efforts we have put in, it doesn’t add up,”
“We are going to have to start looking into our own people, where do we start? Who can we trust to help us?”
Kaufman sighed as he sat back in his chair, contemplating the tough decisions before him. He thought for a full minute before he came to the unfortunate realisation.
“No one. We still don’t know any of these people well enough, for now we’ll have to keep it to ourselves.”
“What about Nowak? He came in late and was your choice?”
“My gut tells me we can trust him, but a lot of our problems began after he came on board with us, Max.”
“But that was also when we started most of this work, it could easily not be related.”
Kaufman leaned over his desk and looked at his monitor, flicking through the reports of their activities over the last few days. He was desperately trying to find some correlation, some explanation as to who would have tipped off the gang.
“Get Nowak in here, but be subtle about it, he’s a good place to start,” said Kaufman.
Barski disappeared out onto the bridge whilst Kaufman lay back again in his chair. He could find no evidence of an inside man. It infuriated him that one of his own team had been working against them and it had taken him this long to realise it. This was ever the problem with large teams. Corruption was always a huge problem back in his precinct, which is why he had limited most of his investigations to him and Barski. The IBI team had been thrown together in such a rush, and knowing what he did, it was only a matter of time before they would hit problems.
The doors to his office opened again and Barski and Nowak came in. Nowak didn’t look at all concerned, not the look of a guilty man. His instincts told him that he could trust Nowak, but he had to be certain.
“Nowak, I want your insight into something.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“The gang today landed before us and yet lifted off the planet within thirty minutes of us arriving, just as we were dealing with the kidnapping, what would be your estimation of why that happened?”
“I’d say someone tipped the gang off. The kidnapping could have been coincidence, or perhaps helped along by Maric.”
“At the same time, Maric’s address that we sent uniforms to on Mars was burning by the time they arrived and everything destroyed.”
“I’d say the most likely explanation is somebody aboard this ship is feeding them information.”
Kaufman shot a glance at the old sergeant, he had been quick to reach the conclusion, and did not attempt in any way to convince them otherwise, hardly the actions of a guilty man.
“The address in Marsau, I asked you to contact the authorities, did anyone else contact Mars about it?”
“I told you at the time, Sir, after you recruited me, the cops there aren’t too friendly with me. Travers volunteered to do it, said he’d made a few friends there.”
Barski starred at Kaufman, it was the link they had been looking for.
“Listen up, Sergeant, Barski and I do indeed think we have someone feeding information to this Gadson Gang, but we had no idea who it was. Our operations have been hindered at every turn, if we have a mole, it is imperative that we uncover him immediately.”
“Glad to see I am off the suspect list,” replied Nowak.
“Nobody is until we find the source of this leak, but you are our best chance right now. I want you to check into the call records. See who Travers talked to and when, both in regard to the contact with Marsau and around the time of us touching down on Titan.”
“I’ll get on it now, Sir.”
“Sergeant, keep this between the three of us, we don’t have any idea who we can trust.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The sergeant walked out from his office, leaving Barski in the doorway.
“Keep on eye on him, I think we can trust him, but let’s not take any chances,” said Kaufman.
Kaufman sat back and lifted his Baracoo cigarette to his mouth. Th
ey no longer had any leads on the Gadson Gang. What was even worse, they likely had a traitor among them. Just as he had relaxed for a few seconds, the bleeping light of his intercom started. He leaned forward and hit the open channel button.
“Kaufman.”
“Sir, I have Commander Denton on the line.”
“Put him through.”
“Kaufman?” he asked.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Bloody well done on Titan. It’s a major win for us both politically and in the media. We will do everything we can to milk that one.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“However, it does not change the fact that we are no further forward, you still don’t have the Gadson Gang in custody do you?”
“No, Sir.”
“Explain to me how this happened, you landed on Titan to track them down, but lost their trail and ended up in a battle with kidnappers.”
“Sir, I believe we have a traitor among us, someone feeding Maric our leads and plans.”
“What? How? That sergeant you picked up on Marsau, Nowak. Have you looked into him?”
“Yes, Sir, Nowak is clean, we are pursuing leads now.”
“Well I suggest you get your act together, Lieutenant. The rescue of Nilson will go a long way with the President and Senator Wilks for a few days, but before long they’ll be asking serious questions about our progress again.”
“Sir, I have no doubt we will find the source of the leak, but when we do, we’ll be down two field operatives.”
“That’s in your hands, Lieutenant, I don’t care where you find new people from, just be certain they are trustworthy!”
The intercom cut out. Kaufman sat uneasily in his chair. He couldn’t believe that one of their own, someone he had trusted all their lives with, had betrayed them. The idea made him sick, for he had no stomach or tolerance for corruption. The door buzzer rang and he hit the open button. Nowak walked through into his office. The sergeant went to speak but Kaufman interrupted him.
“Hang on a minute.”
He hit his direct line button to Barski’s intercom.
“Get up here now!”
Kaufman sat looking at Nowak, who stood in front of his desk, clearly with important information. When he didn’t know who to trust he wanted to be certain that his one faithful friend was beside him when any important information was revealed. Barski entered the room and Kaufman signalled for them to both sit down.
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