Take it away from them and wait for them to spill their guts.
Nancy sighed. "Truth be told. We think they're low-level junkies. They don't know anything."
"Find out where they get the drug," I said.
"They get it from a low-level dealer. It's not worth trying to climb up the food chain."
"I like climbing."
Archangel grunted.
Enigma grabbed the phone from me. "Are you taking good care of Lobster?"
There was a pause. "Ok," Enigma said. "So long as he's getting enough running in."
I snatched the phone back. "I think we should climb that ladder."
"There are thousands of low-level MindBender dealers in Wichita alone," Nancy said. "It's just not worth going after them one by one. Cut out the supply is the only answer."
And have thousands of junked out addicts on our hands that will die in 72 hours without a fix. Awesome. I was slowly beginning to realize why I retired in the first place, and at the same time realizing I could never retire again.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nancy and I disconnected. I looked at Archangel. "Do you feel like lifting?"
"Have I ever answered that with a no?" He replied.
We lifted for a few hours. Nancy paged me. I said, "Hello?"
"We do have a lead on the man who gave the order to the drivers you captured."
"What kind of lead?"
Nancy seemed to pause. Lobster barked a few times in the background. "A man left a message on the driver's voicemail to pick up payment for the job. We have an address."
I began to think. "A small house or could there be an army?"
"It's a small house."
"Enigma, Archangel, and I will hit it. Front and back door?"
"Accurate. We need them alive, and that's an order."
"Email me the address. We'll take stunners and side arms."
Nancy hung up the phone.
"A lead?" Archangel asked.
"We're going in with stunners."
Archangel nodded. I called Enigma and let her know about the mission. The three of us were at the armory, loading up on magazines and stunners.
"Grenades?" Enigma asked.
"Nancy didn't specifically say 'no grenades,'" I said.
"I'm bringing two."
So was I. Thinking ahead, I strapped a tool bag to my back. We made it to the garage. I plugged the address into the onboard computer. I drove fast, but not fast enough to get any tickets. There was an alley behind the house, and I dropped Enigma off to cover the rear. Archangel and I approached the front door. The house had peeling white paint, and the lawn was over a foot tall.
"Do we knock?" He asked.
"Kick it in."
He frowned. "That's not as easy as you make it sound."
"Try it, see what happens. Put your weight into it."
He took a step towards the door and kicked it. It crashed inward with a huge splintering sound. We stepped into the main room. A square stack of explosive bricks with a box on top stood out. I undid my tool bag. The top of the box was screwed into place. There was a timer stuck at 2:00, with a numeric keypad. I unscrewed the first screw. It came out easily enough. The timer counted down to 1:59. I did the other three screws within ten seconds. I lifted the top off. Car battery, integrated circuit, capacitor, wires leading to detonators under the bottom of the box.
I cut the wires leading down after checking for a trigger wire. But something wasn't right. That was way too frigging easy. I looked at the side of the box at an angle. The inside had a false bottom. I lifted the car battery out first.
Sitting there all innocent like was a mobile phone attached to another capacitor wired to a detonator plugged right into the explosive. The phone lit up and rang. I knew I had an instant before that capacitor was charged. I snatched up the phone and capacitor, ripping the detonator out with them. I threw the whole mess across the room. The thing exploded in a tiny ball of white fire.
Too damn close. Enigma stepped in from the other room. I didn't know where Archangel was. He must have been checking the rest of the house. My pulse would not slow down. I needed a nice valium or something similar. Maybe tequila. Enigma must have seen it in my eyes. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"I should have had the apple and banana at lunch."
"You're not making any sense at all. I have food bars."
Archangel rejoined us.
"A food bar sounds nice," I said.
She handed me one, and I ate it in one bite, just like a good Chor'Tan. No, I took little bites and enjoyed it. It was a flavor I'd never had before. "This is good."
"New kind," she said. "Apple Crisp with Cinnamon. Quite nutritious actually."
"I'll call the bomb squad," Archangel said.
Good, because I was too busy staring at Enigma's breasts. "Do you have more?"
She held out a second bar. I reached for it. She pulled it away. "They're mostly for emergencies."
"Damn it, woman, I'm hungry."
Archangel hung up the phone. "Let's exit before the squad gets here."
"Agreed."
We drove back to the Wichita facility. From there, we were ordered home to Arizona.
We were sitting around having dinner. The same Chor'Tan came through the food line and approached our table. She walked past me. She smelled really good for some reason. Kind of fruity. Reminded me of Chor'Tan Ale.
My dick started to perk up. She sat with us. The smell was overpowering, and my dick was getting harder and harder. Like embarrassing hard.
Thomas shouted, "Your perfume is an aphrodisiac!"
She smiled. "We use it on the really wild males."
"It's illegal! Run, Bear!"
I didn't need a second suggestion. I took off in a run, hitting the track. Ran for two hours straight. Hit the vending machines afterward.
I had an email from my Ussilla.
"Bear, all of our major religions say that someday our species will encounter a male from the stars. He will give us male children who can think and talk. The male will be our chosen one, and a new species will be born. You are that chosen one. You have to do it again. With love, Ussilla."
I needed a human woman. Chor'Tan did not love me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Slept that night. Dreamed of jungle and swamp and fucking in the mud.
Walked through the food line. Thomas was there with the Chor'Tan from yesterday. His eyes were clear white and almost had a glassy sheen. This may in fact be the first time I'd seen him sober. "Meet Ti'Kasha," he said.
She reached out to shake with her arm. I mean, Chor'Tan arms were arms for sure, but the hands were more claw than anything else. I shook her hand.
I sat down and started eating the first of three bowls of oatmeal I had. Getting hungry all the time was wrong, and if I had to start eating like Tank and Archangel, so be it.
I wanted to ask if Thomas and this Ti'Kasha were doing it now, but I really didn't know how to start that conversation or whether it would be appropriate to inquire. I had to keep it kind of in my mind that I was in a position of authority.
"Yes, Bear, we've been fucking all night," Thomas said.
"We haven't found a male species that the aphrodisiac does not work on," Ti'Kasha said.
So the whole, 'run, Bear' thing was just to get me out of the way!
I ate quickly, which is work when you eat so much. Nancy came through the food line. I went and sat with her.
"Yes?" She asked.
"I wanted to talk about this last operation."
"Give me time to eat."
I sat quietly. She started eating and said, "What is it?"
"I was thinking. Centurian had somebody watching that house. We should look at owners of the houses, maybe find out if one is a rental. Maybe somebody has another rental in the area."
"It could have been a simple webcam."
"What about arranging an Internet blackout at the time."
She took a sip of coffee
. "It's not a bad idea, but if it's a wireless connection, that won't help."
"Investigate the landlord who owns the house we hit."
"Today's was bank owned, but I'm beginning to see your point. There's definitely more footwork we could be doing in these instances."
I stole a sausage link off her plate. She looked like she was finished with it. She drew an iron rod and smacked me.
No, I ate the link. "Next time, can we at least try and investigate the landlord and shut the Internet down?"
"According to federal law, we can't simply blackout a neighborhood. If it's your whole team going in, we will next time, but we can only do that for ten minutes or so before calls start going into Internet service providers about the down time."
I wondered if she was finished with her coffee or not. I reached for it, and she slapped my hand.
"It's only going to work once or twice," she said, "or they'll just use a wireless connection."
"Can't we trace all of those connections within a grid?"
She shook her head. "Depends on the phone, the carrier."
"If we could disable a percent of land lines, set up a trace on a percent of wireless connections in the area."
"It's not bad, Bear."
"Thanks." I stood up to drop off my trays. Three Chor'Tan females walked through the food line looking like Ti'Kasha, and I could smell the perfume from there. I headed for the exit about as fast as humanly possible.
Thomas shouted. "That aphrodisiac is illegal on this planet!"
Laughter followed. Throaty Chor'Tan laughter.
I went to swim laps. Wondered if there were any classes I could be taking. Maybe this is why Thomas smoked dope. Boredom. I swam to the side of the pool and wedged my arms up over the edge, dangling my legs out into the water.
Nancy spoke across the intercom. "It has come to my attention that certain Chor'Tan have been polluting the air with toxic chemicals. They have been fined heavily, and please report them if it happens again."
I climbed out of the pool. A woman stepped out of the sauna. Brown hair. Nice breasts. I smiled at her and said, "Hi!"
She looked me up and down.
"My name is Bear."
"Sam," she said.
"Short for Samantha?" I asked.
"No."
I looked at her. She turned to leave.
"Wait," I said like a fool.
"You should be saying something like, 'Do you have a boyfriend?'"
"Do you?"
"I keep a male Chor'Tan in a cage when I need that."
I am a male Chor'Tan. "You should let that one go into the wild, and put me in your cage."
"Would you enjoy being caged?"
Hell, no. "If I got to spend time with you, it might be worth it."
"You don't even know me. I could be a terrible manic depressive."
I'll risk it. "Just tell me what your name is short for."
"SamFive. Can I go now?"
"You have some place really important to be?"
"Fuck yeah. Lunch."
Damn, I needed lunch, too. "Eat lunch with me."
"I usually play euchre at lunch with my friends."
"That's my best card game."
She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
Chapter Twenty-Five
She held my hand on the way to the cafeteria. I found the one for sure. She directed me to sit with a group of students. I sat across from her. They didn't even ask me my name.
"This is Bear," Sam said.
A man on my left, maybe 19, said, "I'm JackSix, but call me Jack."
A woman on my right with blond hair and blue eyes, like a perfect Swede, said, "I'm GreenMel."
"Do I call you Green or Mel?" I asked.
"You call me GreenMel just like I said it."
"Bear wants to date me," Sam said.
Jack's head bobbed up and down. "Has he seen your psych test scores?"
"I'm still in the Agency aren't I?"
GreenMel's eyes rolled. "Probationary."
Zen came through the food line as Jack started dealing cards. She looked at me, then at our regular table, then back at me. Zen walked over and sat down.
"We're just playing euchre," I said.
"These kids are what, 19?" Zen asked.
"We're not kids," Jack said with a high pitched voice. "We're agents."
"You go on missions?"
"Fuck no!"
Zen let out a little chuckle. "Are you a virgin?"
"Only if you want to fix it for me."
GreenMel said, "He's not, anyhow."
Nancy raised one eyebrow at me as she walked past. The euchre commenced. I ate and played at the same time, and there was little room left for talking. Zen finished first and left. Jack started putting the cards away. "Class," is all he said.
Sam stood up, leaned in, and kissed me on the forehead. Then she ran away.
Nancy waved at me. I dropped off my trays and sat down with her. She started, "It's definitely not against the rules since you aren't a teacher, and in fact, you should be in classes, but you've got to understand Sam is on psychiatric probation. She may not be around next week or next month."
I wanted to cry so bad. "In the business we're in, none of us may be around next week or next month."
"Ask her about the bats."
"What bats?"
"Ask her."
I stopped. "You have to give me more information than that, Old Woman." No, I didn't call Nancy an old woman. I had seen her work one of our submachine guns.
"It's so simple, Bear," she said, "ask SamFive about the bats, and she'll tell you about the bats. She can go on at length about bats."
Ok, I put my drooling penis away and changed the subject. "Can I get into classes?"
"You didn't think, oh just go to the computer and sign up?"
"I tried that, and the chipmunk that is turning the wheel inside our computer network was dead or on break."
Nancy took one last drink of coffee. "By go to the computer, I meant go to the main server room, and logon to one of the faster than light devices, and signup. There might be a line. Technically, you can use any of the older computers set up in conference rooms due to your clearance."
Screw it, I'd go see if Joe was working and say hi.
I descended to the main computer room. Joe was in fact there. He saw me, and we were alone. He got out of his chair so fast and approached me. He grabbed me by the lapel and almost lifted me. "Vending machine. Food. I need it bad."
"Put me down, and I'll see what I can do."
I went to the vending machines and punched the button for low sodium, cracked wheat snacks. Two hundred gram package. I stepped into the data center. Held out the food.
Joe glared. "I can get these myself."
"Yes, but you can only get so much, now you have a reserve."
"You're a good man, Bear."
"When was the last time you talked to somebody about the computer hardware we need?"
"Manufacturers on Earth are slowly going to come out with new hardware, but it's going to take time quite simply. They've only had five, six weeks, and it takes three to six months or more to design and manufacture a new device. It's not an overnight process."
"Which terminal can I use to get into some classes?"
Joe pointed, and I sat down.
I logged in. Classes were mid-term, and only a very small number would allow for late registration. I figured pottery would be better than trying to exercise eight hours a day, and I could read books or watch TV, but I'd rather be learning something.
All three gremlins heavy weapons classes were available. Three credit hours each. Tuesday-Thursday three hours set up right in a row. Intended to be taken together. Late sign ups welcome, but you can't earn a passing grade.
Perfect. I was still in the heavy weapons section, and they had a flamethrower training class. I was wow. Since when did we get to play with those?
I researched the class some more, even opened
the syllabus. There was a note that stood out to me. The flamethrowers are only issued if you are going to clear out a Gremlin nest.
Who has the nuts to go into a nest of those fuckers to empty it?
I signed up.
Nancy paged me. "Bear, conference room A," across the intercom.
Names of my teammates soon followed.
I reached the room, and Tank, Archangel, Thomas, Sphinx, Zen, Enigma, Lobster, and GeoSix were waiting.
The door was locked. It opened, and Nancy said, "Come in. Sit down."
We did.
"Recorders are on," she said with a certain tone of formality. "The top people who lead agencies like ours all over the world had a meeting today. It didn't last long."
None of us could even think to say a word, and it wasn't our turn to speak anyhow.
She said the most beautiful words I'd heard in what seemed like years. "It's time we went on the offensive."
Chapter Twenty-Six
"We know about a MindBender distribution point thanks to the drivers you captured," Nancy said. "It is a house on the north side of Wichita. We have two-person battering rams to use to knock down both doors."
"All of us?" I asked.
"Yes. We're thinking the people with the rams will go in first with stunners. The others will back them up with submachine guns in case there's a problem."
"Then what?"
Nancy hit a button on the computer. Sparks flew, and she sighed. "I was going to pull up a map. Zip tie everybody, bring them in. You'll drive minibusses. Each one will hold four prisoners, and you'll have four of the buses."
I nodded and smiled, as did the rest of my crew. "I want battering ram duty with Archangel on the front. Enigma and Zen backing us up. Tank and Thomas can do the battering ram in the rear, with Sphinx and GeoSix backing them up. When?"
"The clock is ticking."
We ran for the garage. Drove fast to the airport. Took off. I sent Sam a text, "On a mission, wish me luck."
She texted me back. "Have fun!"
There were eight of us, but we had no cards. I napped. Napping is very important. We landed in Kansas. Our gear was on the airplane, and the four minibusses were waiting right there for us. I drove one. Thomas, Sphinx, and Enigma drove the other ones.
Codename: Bear II: Secret Agent (Codename Universe Book 2) Page 9