Angela stood. “If you do this, the humans will retaliate. I’m a mother with two small children. I don’t want them targeted because of something we could have prevented.”
Pavel grabbed ahold of Angela’s arm. “Who cares about your children? Collateral damage happens in every war.”
She yanked her arm free and shot Pavel an evil look. “You people aren’t Kurgans, you’re monsters.” She turned on her heel, strode back to the two young technicians, and took her seat.
Lucy reached over and took Angela’s hand in hers. She fought back the fear in her voice. “Are we going to die?”
“Unless a miracle happens in the next few minutes, yes. I’m sorry.”
Tears welled up in the young woman’s eyes. “It’s not your fault.”
Angela let out a weary sigh. “I just wish my murdered friends were here, they’d know what to do.”
Chapter 36
Sheridan had lost count of how long he had been falling. He looked down and saw only darkness. Doubt gnawed at his mind. What if the altimeter was broken? What if the safety ball was defective? He didn’t have time to dwell on either question when a split second later, the world went pitch-black as gas from a canister inside his pack shot into the fabric of the ball, inflating it. His body felt as if he had just been kicked by an enraged donkey. Cocooned inside the safety ball, Sheridan felt his descent slow and then come to a complete halt as it hit the bottom of the elevator shaft. The ball bounced back up into the air before falling back. This time, the device rapidly deflated and deposited Sheridan in one piece onto the remains of several crushed elevators. Although stunned, he was surprised at how well the ball had worked. He switched on the light at the bottom of his carbine and shone it all around. Tangled wreckage from the destroyed elevator was everywhere. He shone the light onto the wall and swore when he saw that he was not where he expected to be.
Sheridan swung his weapon on his back and rushed to the nearest ladder. After a few seconds climbing, he came to a closed set of doors and placed his hand across the laser beam, causing the doors to slide open. He hauled himself up onto the floor and looked about for the stairs. The second he spotted the exit sign he was on his feet, running. With only one thought on his mind, he took the stairs two at a time as he raced to catch his friend before he got away.
Harry Williams stepped out of the elevator and ran to join his men waiting for him. There had been five people assigned to guard the virus, three of whom were among Williams’ most loyal followers. When he saw two of his people standing beside a small one-man shuttlecraft, he slowed down and began to walk. The men were dressed in high-orbit jump gear. They were going to drop from the station as soon as Williams departed.
He pumped a fist triumphantly in the air. “Our families have been released and are on the way to Kurgan space.”
“I knew you could do it,” said a man with a smooth-shaven head.
“Now you must bring about change, real change on our terms,” said the other man with the olive-colored skin.
“I will, you have my word on it,” said Williams as he took the case from the hands of the olive-skinned man.
“Not so fast,” said a black woman as she stepped out of the shadows. In her hands was a pistol aimed at Williams. “Place the briefcase down and step aside.”
“What if I don’t?” asked Williams.
“Then you’re a dead man,” replied Elba as she walked toward the three men.
“In that case, here it is.” Williams placed the case on the floor, raised his hands, and took a step back.
“All of you!” ordered Elba.
From behind her, a voice boomed. “Drop the gun or I’ll kill your friend.”
Elba froze in her tracks and peered over her shoulder. She swore when she saw Ng being forced out into the open. Behind him stood a mountain of a man with a rifle in his hands.
“Drop the gun, lady, or your friend is a dead man.”
With great reluctance, Elba lowered her gun to the floor and dropped it. She had just begun to raise her hands when the insurgent pulled the trigger on his weapon, blasting a hole through Ng’s midsection. The hapless guard staggered on his feet for a second before tumbling to the ground.
Elba dove for her gun. She scooped it up in her hand and rolled over on her shoulder, coming up on one knee. The big man fired but missed. The bullets flew right over her head. Elba was a crack shot and fired off one round straight between the man’s eyes. She pivoted on her feet and turned her attention back toward Williams. She was fast, just not fast enough. A bullet struck her in her right shoulder knocking her to the ground. Her pistol clattered away and disappeared from sight under a forklift. Elba had never been shot before. Her shoulder felt as if it were on fire.
“Foolish woman, you should have checked behind you before trying to stop me,” said Williams.
“What do you want to do with her?” asked the baldheaded man.
“Leave her, she’s going to die with everyone else when this place burns up.”
“Sir, I’ve checked and double-checked the coordinates in the nav-computer,” said the olive-skinned man, “and they are as good as they will ever be. You’ll jump from here to just beyond Orcus where a transport ship is waiting to rendezvous with you.”
Williams patted the man on the back. “Thanks, I couldn’t have done this without you, Kaisar.”
The operative smiled at the compliment.
“How long until the jump engine is fully warmed up and ready to go?”
Kaisar glanced down at his watch. “You can depart in precisely five minutes and ten seconds from now.”
“I guess I had best go and change into a survival suit then.” Williams picked up the case containing the virus and walked toward the shuttle.
The sound of a rifle firing echoed through the maintenance hangar. Sheridan stopped running for a second trying to discern where the shot came from. He turned on his feet toward the back of the massive room and continued running. When he passed the bodies of the two murdered Chosen agents, he knew he was on the right track. Within seconds, he was in sight of the shuttlecraft and the two insurgents standing next to in jump gear. He knew Williams had to be nearby. Sheridan never slowed or wavered, he ran straight at the men, firing his carbine as he ran. He dropped the baldheaded man with his first burst. The man’s partner saw Sheridan and tried to bring up his own weapon to fire, but was hit by a hail of bullets that sent him crashing back to the floor. He came to a sliding halt next to the dead insurgents. With his carbine tight in his shoulder, Sheridan scanned the area for any sign of Williams and the virus.
“I take it you’re here to stop me, Mike,” said Williams as he walked out of the shuttle. His demeanor was as calm as if he were about to go for an afternoon stroll.
Sheridan took in a couple of deep breaths to fill his aching lungs. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Well, here I am, Captain. Aren’t you going to arrest me?”
“Step away from the shuttle,” said Sheridan, motioning with the barrel of his weapon for his old friend to move to one side.
Williams shrugged and did as he was told.
“Where’s the virus, Harry?”
“In the shuttle. You needn’t worry. It’s safe and secure in a hardened case; there’s no danger of it getting free.”
“What’s your game, Harry? It’s obvious you’re not acting on the authority of the Kurgan government, are you?”
Williams shook his head. “Solari was their point man, so to speak. The operation to embarrass the president and force public opinion against the war was thought up by her and approved by the High Council. It was a foolish plan that only resulted in the deaths of thousands of good operatives. I, on the other hand, have a different vision of the future. I learned about the top secret installation on Eris and convinced her to raid the station so we could obtain the Alpha Virus. I told her that it was the reason why I had been brought back from the dead and smuggled across the border into Terran space. Can you be
lieve the woman actually thought I was telling her the truth? It was my also idea to free my family and all of the other hostages held in your gulag on Mars. That was how I was able to recruit all of those people to my side. Quite ingenious of me, wouldn’t you say?”
“Why do you want the virus?”
“That’s my little secret. Now if you hadn’t noticed, Mike, the station is in distress. In a matter of minutes, her orbit will be destabilized and she will fall back to Earth. I suggest you try and locate a pod before they’re all gone.”
Sheridan’s patience was wearing thin. “If all you were after was the virus, why kill a quarter of a million people?”
“I need a distraction while I get away.”
“You’re going nowhere.”
“Poor old Mike, always playing the hero,” said Williams.
Sheridan thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when Williams moved faster than any man he had ever seen in his life. His friend ran toward him, covering the ten meters between them in the blink of an eye. Before he could swing his weapon around to fire, Williams grabbed hold of the carbine’s barrel and bent it in his hand as if it were made of rubber.
Sheridan stared down at the wrecked weapon. He saw his friend smile at him before yanking the carbine out of his hands and sending it flying across the room. The next thing he knew, Williams grabbed ahold of his neck and hauled him up into the air until his feet were dangling beneath him.
“Goodbye, Mike,” said Williams as he threw his opponent against a tall stack of crates.
With a loud crash, Sheridan smashed into the boxes and tumbled to the ground, moaning in pain. He staggered to rise just as Williams ran over and kicked him hard in the stomach, doubling him over. Though the liquid armor absorbed most of the blow, still Sheridan’s innards felt like they had been turned into jelly. His feet began to wobble. Unable to stand anymore, he collapsed back onto his knees. He gasped and wheezed as he fought to catch his breath.
“Not only did the Kurgans give me an artificial heart, they also replaced my arms and my legs with mechanical ones as the old ones were too badly frozen to be saved,” said Williams as he shot his right hand out. He wrapped it around Sheridan’s neck and squeezed it tight. “You’re lucky I don’t have time to waste on you today, or you’d learn the true meaning of pain.”
Sheridan couldn’t speak. He was having a hard enough time trying to breathe. He knew he was seconds away from blacking out.
“Time to die, Mike,” said Williams as he tightened his grip on Sheridan’s throat.
From off to the right, a shot rang out.
Williams let go of Sheridan and staggered back. He brought a hand up to his head to stop the bleeding from a bullet that had grazed the side of his skull. He turned and ran back to the shuttlecraft before another shot could be fired at him.
Sheridan’s throat was on fire. He let out a wet cough filled with blood as he tried to get up onto all fours. His vision narrowed as his body gave in. In the second before he blacked out he saw a dark shape above him grab his collar and begin to pull him back.
Chapter 37
At the front entrance to the Dorset Station, two insurgents paced back and forth, keeping guard. They shuffled their feet trying keep them warm. One and then the next man stopped and peered out into in the falling snow. In the dark, an odd sound seemed to be growing closer. Both men exchanged a puzzled look before taking their rifles from their shoulders. They looked into the night, trying to see what was there. Before they knew what was happening, a dark shape raced out of the storm straight at them. They brought up their weapons and opened fire only to see their bullets ricochet harmlessly off the steel plow of a speeding vehicle. One man dove out of the way. The other was fixed in place with fear. He was struck in the chest by the plow and sent flying back through the front doors of the station. A second later, with a loud crash, the snow plow smashed through the doors and kept going.
The insurgent who had jumped clear watched in disbelief as a vehicle drove past him. He saw a woman at the wheel and ran after the plow, hoping to shoot the driver when the truck came to a stop. He had barely gone ten meters when a ghostly shape came out of the blowing snow and thrust a knife into the stunned man’s neck.
“Hang on!” yelled Tarina to Wendy as she kept her foot glued to the accelerator.
“I’m okay, just don’t stop, whatever you do,” replied her friend.
Door after door down the long corridor was turned into kindling. Behind them ran a platoon of white-coated soldiers. Dispatched when the crisis began to help guard the station, the soldiers had bumped into the women right after they had fired up the plow. Together they had hatched the plan to liberate the station from the insurgents.
Tarina saw the elevator doors leading to the control room and slammed on the brakes. The vehicle came to a sliding halt. She and Wendy leaped from the cab and rushed toward the elevator.
“Wait,” called out the platoon leader, a young second lieutenant. “It’ll be guarded. You won’t get out of the elevator alive.”
“Mister Kagura, if fleet is correct, we have less than two minutes to stop Tranquility Station from entering Earth’s atmosphere,” pointed out Tarina.
“There is another way.”
Angela sat in her chair and stared up at the roof. The sound of the truck barreling its way deep inside the base had made everyone in the room stop and look upward. The sudden silence foretold that something was about to happen.
“When the shooting starts, dive for the floor and stay there until it’s over,” whispered Angela to the two techs.
“I can fight,” replied the young man.
She shook her head. “No. Do as I say.”
The attack was sudden and swift. In rapid succession, two holes were blasted through the roof. Before the smoke had settled, soldiers jumped down into the room and opened fire.
Angela was right to drag the technicians to the floor with her, as the soldiers fired at anything that moved. Pavel and another insurgent died trying to stop the attackers. Miguel shot a soldier in the chest only to die a second later, cut down by Second Lieutenant Kagura.
A sergeant found the three survivors lying facedown on the floor. His orders, however, were clear he was to kill anyone they found in the room. He hesitated. They didn’t look like insurgents to him. He turned his head and called out, “Captain Pheto, are you down here?”
Tarina ran to the sergeant’s side and pushed his rifle to the floor. “Don’t shoot. They’re friendlies.”
“Thank God, I didn’t fire,” said the sergeant.
Tarina held out a hand for Angela.
“Praise the Lord that you showed up when you did, or we’d all be dead,” said Angela as she got to her feet.
Like a sprinter taking off, the female technician leaped up and ran to the computer console Miguel had been sitting behind. She pushed a soldier who had been checking the dead body for information out of the way and slid down into the seat.
Tarina and Angela ran to join her.
The timer on the clock read thirty-three seconds.
“Can you stop the station from falling back to Earth?” Tarina asked, her voice tense and scared.
The technician didn’t answer the question as she was too absorbed in what she was doing. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. On the screen, time faded fast. With a triumphant bang of her thumb on the enter key, she looked up at the monitor. The timer read fifteen seconds. Not another second ticked by. She had done it. The order had been canceled and Tranquility Station’s computers had been brought back online.
A cheer rang out from the soldiers huddled around the workstation.
“Enough of that,” barked a tough-looking staff sergeant. “We got work to do. We need to secure the bodies and the station until help arrives.”
Tarina felt a hand on her arm. It was Angela. “I’m so happy to see you. I thought you were dead.”
“Wendy and I are okay. Everyone else including Commander Roy is dead.”
“It’s not your fault. Hell, I’m not even sure whose fault it is.”
“Hey down there,” called out Wendy from above. “Is everyone alright?”
“We’re good as can be,” replied Angela with a wave up at her friend.
“One of the soldiers just told me that a company of Home Guard regulars will be here in the next ten minutes. I guess it’s all over.”
Tarina saw the look of melancholy in Angela’s eyes and saw that it wasn’t over for her, not by a long shot.
Chapter 38
Sheridan opened his heavy eyelids and blinked. The light in the room was bright. He brought up a hand to block the light and saw that he had an IV in his arm. His mouth was dry and tasted like he had eaten cotton for breakfast.
He looked around the room and moaned, “Not again.”
“That’s right, you’re in a hospital,” said Cole from the bed next to Sheridan’s. He was sitting up in his bed with a grin on his face.
He tried to think but found his memory was still hazy. “What happened? The last thing I remember was being used as a human pińata by Harry and then nothing.”
“You’re lucky I came by when I did or you’d be dead by now. You’ve got some broken bones. The docs had to open you up to stem the bleeding from a punctured spleen, or something like that.”
“Where’s Harry?”
“He got away with the virus.”
Sheridan shook his head. After all they had been through, they had failed. “Do you know what happened to Staff Sergeant Elba?”
“I’m here,” she said as she was wheeled into the room by an orderly. Her shoulder was wrapped up in gauze. “If it weren’t for Master Sergeant Cole, I would have been sucked into space when Mister Williams opened the outer doors and flew off.”
Cole smiled at Elba. “I found her on the way back with you and dragged her to safety as well. Unfortunately, the young kid with Anne never made it.”
Vengeance (The Kurgan War Book 4) Page 19