by Wesley Chu
The momentum of the push caused the officer behind her to stagger back. Ella felt herself falling, but she was ready for it. She twisted her body and reached out with her left hand. It missed the hilt of the dagger, and instead she got a handful of the man’s belt. It was almost as good. She used the leverage to pull herself to her knees and grabbed the gun from its holster. She turned toward Rurik and fired.
All four shots were errant, the bullets splattering in a horizontal line across the glass. Rurik probably didn’t even have to move from where he was standing to dodge. Regardless, he was more confident in her shooting ability than she was. The Genjix ducked and dove to the ground.
A hand grabbed Ella’s leg. She turned around and clocked the officer across the side of his head with the pistol.
Go. Get out of here.
Ella decided to grab the officer’s knife.
No, leave it.
She struggled with the strap and managed to free the blade. She gripped the knife in her left hand and turned to escape, only to find Rurik blocking the doorway. Ella raised her pistol and unloaded the entire magazine at him. Eight shots, and she missed every one.
The man knew where she was aiming and was somehow quick enough to get out of the way every time she pulled the trigger. It was an impressive display of reflexes. Ella would have complimented him if she didn’t hate him so much.
“Why don’t you just stay still?” Ella chucked the gun at his face.
He caught it, because of course he did. “I gave you a chance out of respect to your Holy One. Now your life is fore–”
Ella gripped the knife and dove toward his feet. The Russian almost dodged that as well, but almost didn’t count when it came to the sharp kiss of a blade. The edge bit into his flesh and gashed his ankle. Rurik stumbled, grabbing a fistful of her leg as she slid by him. Ella abandoned all technique and slashed back and forth at the man’s face.
Stay in control. Remember Manish’s training.
Io’s interruption snapped some calm back into her. Ella buried the frenzied panic growing in her gut before it could take hold. She focused her mind and locked in on the target. She sliced at Rurik again, this time cutting the back of the hand holding her leg. He let go immediately. She kicked out and scrambled to her feet, escaping to the hallway just ahead of the Russian’s clutching hands.
Ella picked a direction at random and fled, sensing Rurik a few paces behind her. She turned the corner and slammed the door to the stairwell open, dashing up the stairs immediately.
What are you doing? Go down.
“I’m not heading down into a battle.”
If you go upstairs, you will be trapped.
“But…”
The door behind her swung open with a bang and Rurik dove at her. Instinct took over. Ella jumped over the railing to the lower steps. She landed awkwardly and fell, her body feeling every step as she tumbled down. She was on her feet a second later, counting her blessings for not breaking her neck or knocking herself unconscious from that stupid stunt. Her small feet continued paddling down the stairwell as fast as they could move. Rurik came after her, each time just barely missing again as he bounded from landing to landing.
Ella crashed out into the first floor hallway and flattened to the ground. She found herself in the middle of a firefight between the police and an unknown group at the far end. Bullets sprayed the walls, kicking up puffs of drywall and cement. Glass exploded, raining sharp debris around her.
On hands and knees, Ella scrambled behind cover and came face-to-face with a police officer doing the same. They stared at each other, both surprised and unsure of what to do. They looked down at the assault rifle at his feet at the same time. They looked up again and locked eyes.
More gunfire exploded around them. For a moment, Ella thought they had come to a temporary truce. Then the officer shoved her away. He went for the assault rifle. Ella went for him.
As soon as he grabbed it and raised the rifle at her, Ella was on him. One cut to the elbow followed by a downward stab to the shoulder put him flat on the ground. Ella kicked the rifle away and, still on all fours, scrambled like a tiny pony through high weeds to the other end of the room.
She wasn’t sure who the police were fighting, but these cops had kidnapped her and sold her off to the Genjix. Anyone was better than them. Ella didn’t know why, but she harbored a deep-seated irrational hope that it was Nabin and his Prophus friends swooping in to save the day. If it were him, she would forgive him for everything. Maybe even tell him she loved him.
Can you not do that right now?
“I’m probably going to die any second. My last thought should be whatever I want it to be.”
Fair enough.
Ella stopped in her tracks when she saw a greasy tattooed older guy, in sunglasses, leaning out of cover. “Crap.” Of course it would be the yakuza. She turned and began to crawl to the wall instead. She reached the safety of a shredded-up cubicle and curled into a ball, her hands over her ears to drown out the loud automatic fire exploding close by.
Police on one side, yakuza on the other. Maybe hiding upstairs was the right decision after all. This place is a death trap.
“You are so not useful.”
Ella watched as the police began to rout. It started with an officer getting shot. Another ran out of bullets and abandoned his position. Then the panic spread.
The yakuza, sensing their opportunity, surged forward. Several roared and rushed past her position. More gunfire. Ella had thought they might have overlooked her hiding spot when one of the less eager ones walked past. He looked at her and frowned, pointing his rifle.
Ella prepared to leap at him.
No, he is too far out of range. You will never cover that distance.
Io was right. Ella reluctantly put her hands up.
The yakuza looked to the side and yelled to his associates. “Hey, I’ve caught her. I got the girl we’re looking for. I–” He stiffened and fell. Another yakuza was tossed like a rag doll and bounced off the wall. Two more charged past her position; two more were knocked over like bowling pins.
Rurik stepped into view a moment later. Ella froze, partially hidden under a desk behind an overturned office chair. The Russian sidestepped and tilted his head as a yakuza appeared from his side and fired several times. Rurik contorted his body and dodged the hail of bullets. It was like magic, almost. He proceeded to take the man out with a single shot.
Another yakuza appeared to his right, wielding a shotgun. Rurik grabbed the barrel and pushed the muzzle away from himself. The two struggled over the weapon, then Rurik struck him three times quickly in the throat. The yakuza gagged and staggered, clutching his neck. The jerk cover model snatched the shotgun out of the man’s hand and swung it, striking him down. He followed up with a double-tap into the unfortunate soul’s chest at close range.
The action fell into a lull. Rurik appeared to be listening to the air. Shouting and gunfire still punctured the night, but it sounded far away. Only the low creaks of the shattered office furniture and broken glass interrupted the temporary lull.
He has not seen you yet. Stay calm.
Easier said than done. Ella froze in place and waited. With just a little luck, he would overlook her and continue to the next room. Then she could go the opposite way and find an exit. The shotgun fell from his hand and Rurik took another step forward. Just as he was about to step out of view, he turned to the side and noticed her.
Ella was ready for it. She was expecting her luck, as it had been the past few weeks, not to hold up. She burst out of her hiding place, her knife slashing. She sliced only air, but it pressed him back far enough to give her room to run.
Ella took off, jumping over bodies and ducking under broken pieces of wire and lights hanging from the ceiling. She could sense Rurik just a few steps behind. There was no way she was going to outrun him. She had just neared the end of the hallway when a police officer stepped out to block
her way. Ella didn’t miss a step and juked to her left. Her knife shot out and nicked the man’s arm.
Grab his gun.
“Oh fine.” Ella again didn’t care for it, but her hand was right there. Besides, she had to get Rurik off her back. She pulled the gun out of the police officer’s holster and spun around to face Rurik, who was only a few steps behind. The Adonis vessel pulled up to a stop, but it was too late. He was in point-blank range, just outside of arm’s length but still so close Ella couldn’t miss even if she wanted to.
“Die, asshole.” She squeezed the trigger.
Nothing happened. The trigger wouldn’t budge.
Rurik smirked. “The safety, stupid.”
Watch out!
Ella looked up just in time to see Rurik spin gracefully in place. The last thing that occurred to her before his leg whirled around and smashed her in the face was that Rurik would have made a pretty good ballet dancer.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Last Hurrah
Unlike some of the other creatures I have inhabited, humans rarely mate for life. Sometimes I think they should, just to avoid having to deal with the repeated emotional trauma.
Ella took the breakup as she took most things: badly and angrily. At that moment, she had declared that she was done with the Prophus, and intended to strike off on her own.
This was a positive development.
Roen was worried they had arrived too late for the party. They had run into traffic on the way out of the city. Some Japanese three-letter boy band had just finished a concert, and the roads were crammed. Fortunately, it cleared at the city limits, and they were soon speeding dangerously down mostly deserted streets.
The wide and well-lit highway ended at the edge of the city. The roads began to snake and weave through the mountains and valleys of the Japanese Alps. To Roen’s distress, the van did not slow whatsoever as it cornered perilously close to the edge. He gulped at the sheer drop of the cliff and then looked uneasily over at Nabin, whose face was grim as his eyes focused on the road. The Nepalese’s hands were in a perfect ten-two position, his arms were taut, and the veins on his neck were bulging.
“We’re not going to do her any good if we drive off the mountain,” he said quietly. “My wife will definitely kill you then.”
“We’ve wasted too much time already, sir,” said Nabin. His tense arms shuddered and he hammer-fisted the steering wheel. “Ella’s probably already gone.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it. The yakuza will get there ahead of us,” said Roen. “They probably already have her. We just need to go in and clean up.”
“Not with the way they fight,” growled Nabin.
That much was true. If the amateur-hour display at their base was the best the yakuza could do, the Genjix were going to wipe the floor with them. Still, it was their best shot.
“Sir,” said Nabin. He stopped. “I need to ask you for a favor.”
“What is it, son?”
“I need a transfer. If we do rescue Ella, the Prophus are going to have to hide and protect her. You can’t lock her up. Hide her someplace safe where she can be happy. And…” he stopped and swallowed, “…and assign me to protect her.”
“Nabin,” Roen’s voice was soft. “That’s going to kill your career. You’re one of our finest. You’re up for host whenever you want. You’re on the shortlist for command operations. Cameron calls you the best agent he’s ever worked with.”
Nabin shrugged. “I don’t care. Can you pull these strings for me? Otherwise, I’ll just quit. I’ll still end up in the same place.”
Jill was going to kill him if Roen agreed. First of all, he’d never had the authority to promise anything, even before he was retired. Second, he wasn’t sure if the Prophus would or even could protect Ella. Wasn’t that what they were trying to do by enrolling her in the Academy? To allocate a high-value resource like Nabin to a rogue like Ella felt exactly like something Jill and the new Keeper would absolutely forbid.
Still, from what he had seen here, maybe this arrangement was the best course of action. The Genjix had committed tremendous resources to finding Ella, more than at any other time he could remember. As far as Roen could tell, the Genjix had two high-level Adonis vessels hunting her, and were leveraging not only local government, but local organized crime as well.
They hadn’t even tried this hard to assassinate Roen, and he had peaked on their top ten most-wanted list. It was almost insulting. Now that he thought about it, the Genjix hadn’t tried this hard to assassinate Jill, and she’d been numero uno on that list for two decades. Whatever they wanted – or needed – from Ella, they wanted it badly.
The girl had already proven difficult to control. Her stint at the Academy spoke to that. Maybe having Nabin – the kids were obviously still in love – watching over her would be the best thing. At the very least, she might listen to him. God knows she didn’t listen to anyone else.
“I’ll see what I can do,” said Roen. “No promises.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Nabin turned off the headlights as they climbed the crest of the last hill before reaching the police base. He pulled the car off to the side into a grouping of trees, and the team continued the rest of the way on foot.
Josie tugged on Roen’s sleeve as they walked up the hill. “Hey old man,” she said with a wry smile on her face. “We’re probably either going to die, spend the rest of our life in a Japanese military prison, or get captured by the Genjix. You know that, right?”
“Or, sunshine, we can rescue Ella Patel and spirit her into the loving arms of the Prophus.”
She snorted. “Fat chance.” She leaned in. Her voice fell to a whisper. “Listen, I think you should stay behind.”
“What? Get out of here.” He pushed her aside playfully. He actually tried to shove her for the outrageous suggestion, but he wasn’t able to nudge her very far.
She shook her head. “I would love to say I’m watching out for your welfare because you’ve served the Prophus for a long time and deserve to live out the rest of your life in peace, but that’s not it.” She grabbed his shoulders. “You once had the highest clearance within the Prophus. If they capture you, they’ll break you. You’ll leak and break faster than a fishing boat during a monsoon.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” said Roen dryly. “It’s not a suicide mission.”
“If you were running ops on this against these odds, would you send your people in?”
“Probably not,” admitted Roen. “However, it depends on the stakes, and I would say the stakes are high enough we have to at least try.”
“We don’t even know the stakes. We have no idea why the Genjix want the girl. For all we know, they just want to capture her because her Quasing was bunk buddies with the Genjix leader back in their alien spaceship.”
“I doubt our enemies want Io simply to reminisce about their old gassy alien days,” said Roen. “The Genjix have leveraged substantial resources over the past several months trying to find her. Tens of thousands of man-hours, we’ve traced over hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, and almost every single surveillance and spy network was tuned to finding her. Whatever she has or knows, they want it badly, and the more they want it, the more we want them to not have it.”
She shrugged. “Suit yourself, sir. It’s just that you’re one of our seniors. People look up to you. You’ve served the Prophus well for nearly half a century. You deserve peace and rest. I hate to see you throw your life away like this.”
“I’m not…” His voice trailed off as she walked on ahead. What was he doing here? Hadn’t he told himself that once he retired, he was done? He had served the Prophus and this planet, had given them everything he had. Regardless of what the Genjix wanted with Ella Patel, it should be someone else’s problem. Josie was right. What was he doing here?
Roen knew the answer. This was his last hurrah. He wanted to see if he still had it. Just because
he was retired, didn’t mean he had retired his sense of duty to the Prophus and humanity. He was also one to see a mission through. He hated letting the Genjix win. After fighting against them for most of his life, the idea that he would walk away and hand them a victory – after all that they’d put him and his family through – was completely unacceptable.
Not bad for an out-of-shape goof who hadn’t been able to throw a punch when the Prophus had found him. Tao would be proud. No, Tao was proud. “And Tao would definitely tell you not to attack that base,” he chuckled. “It’s too late now. We didn’t get all dressed up for nothing.”
“Sorry sir? Did you say something?” said Hekla, as he approached the crest of the hill and stood next to her. She handed him a pair of night-vision binoculars.
“Never mind.” He scanned the grounds. It was quiet, sleepy almost. Other than a few spotlights scattered along the fenced perimeter, there was little light and no movement. He became worried. “Did we get bad intel?”
“We’re too late. They already left,” choked Nabin. He clutched his head in his hands.
Then he heard it. It was the sound of a plane. He scanned the skies and found the blinking lights of a military transport. He followed its path as it landed on the far end of the base.
No sooner had it taxied than a row of headlights turned on to the right of the base. Several vehicles charged through the fence, and then the sounds of gunfire filled the night. Within seconds, the entire valley exploded into a battlefield.
Roen signaled to Asha. “You have your positions figured out?”
Asha was staring through the night-vision scope of her sniper rifle as she walked alongside him. She nodded and pointed into the distance. “The yakuza have two cars that fit the description Pek gave us. The kid’s not answering his phone, but don’t worry, I’ll find him. After I haul his butt out of the trunk, I’ll send him back to our car, and then take position on that mound further up the hill. I should have a clear line of sight on two sides of the building and the airstrip.” She paused. “Why did the kid hide in the trunk anyway?”