I stood, stretched, and greeted Pri with a question. "Do they know where he's going?"
"No," she said, "and as you must have heard from Lobo, they aren't even positive he's on the road."
I nodded but didn't say anything.
"They assume he's off the island," she said, "because they tracked what they thought was his convoy and got lucky enough to see inside the center car; he wasn't in it. If he wasn't leaving, then why would he send a decoy?"
"So he's going to visit Matahi," I said.
"They believe so," she said, "though I can't imagine why he'd take the risk so soon after you diverted his last trip."
"I can," I said. I regretted the statement the moment I saw the look in Pri's eyes, though I wasn't even sure why I should.
"What is so special about that woman?" she said.
"I can't explain it," I said. Before she could say anything else, I continued, "And it doesn't matter anyway. What matters is that we may have a real opportunity to snatch him, and we have to take it."
She didn't seem happy, but after a few seconds she said, "I agree. What do we do?"
"You stay in Lobo," I said, "who provides backup. I check out her house, and if it looks like he's inside, I go in after him."
"Alone?" she said.
I shrugged. "It's not ideal, but it's the only option."
"No," she said, "it's not. Like every Heaven-born citizen, I served part-time for three years in our militia. I've been through basic weapons training, and I can follow orders."
"You can also get hurt."
It was her turn to shrug. "I know that, but the possible return is worth the risk." She smiled. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be good at this?"
"How good you are doesn't always matter," I said. "Bad things can happen to anyone, and they often do, particularly when people start firing at each other."
"Then having backup could be useful," she said, "in case something happens to you."
Wei had kidnapped her kid. She'd proven she would follow my orders, and she'd stood up to her own people.
I nodded. "Okay, but you do exactly what I tell you when I tell you."
"Yes, sir."
I considered correcting her—I'd never been an officer, so I hated that form of address—but I let it slide. "Lobo, take us to the nearest easy landing location you can find with proximity to both a shopping area and the park in front of Matahi's house."
"Moving," he said.
"What about us?" Pri said. "And, why shopping? What's the plan?"
"The plan?" I laughed. "I didn't expect this to opportunity to present itself so soon, and I haven't spent as much time in Matahi's house as I'd like, so I don't have a complete plan ready."
"Well," Pri said, "what part of the plan do you have?"
"We keep the team to the two of us," I said. "We hide our identities. We don't use any fancy tech that might make anyone look more closely at a recent visitor such as myself. We stick to tranks. We move fast."
"Pardon me for saying so," Pri said, her posture still formal but her battle for self-control obvious, "but is that it? That's not a plan; it's more like a set of tactics."
I smiled at her. "Of course I have more," I said.
"Good," she said. "What?"
"We hope for the best," I said, "and we prepare for a fight."
I turned and left while she was still in control of herself. Not everyone appreciates mission humor.
Chapter 29
Pri and I strolled down the road two streets over from Matahi's house, holding hands and talking with the low, concentrated tones of two people still trying to figure out if they wanted to keep seeing one another. Each of our outside hands clutched a collection of large shopping bags. We'd dashed through the sellers in the small market near our landing site, shopping primarily for gifts they would pack in big, durable bags and in the process making a lot of merchants happy. I'd dumped their contents—native melons, handmade stuffed animals, large pieces of fabric, and so on—back in Lobo.
We'd reloaded with very different supplies.
We reached an intersection with a clear view of the park outside Matahi's home and of her building. I stopped, pulled Pri close to me, and bent as if to kiss her neck.
"What are you doing?" she said.
I brushed my hand along her back and brought it up high enough that I could see through the small scope it held. "Recon," I said.
Two men in shirts, pants, and loose jackets stood on either side of Matahi's front door. They might as well have been wearing uniforms. They walked slowly in a small area, moving to stay loose, but they kept their eyes front. They scanned the area with a mechanistic precision and frequency that screamed, "We're guards, and we don't care if you know it." Depending on how far away they were focusing, they might notice Pri and me appearing to kiss. With both of us wearing hats and embracing, they shouldn't get enough data to be able to identify us later. Two more of Wei's team, a large man and a woman smaller than Pri, sat on a bench in the park, a backup duo trying to act like they were lovers but entirely too focused on searching the world around them to sell the illusion.
I pulled away from Pri and led her onward. No point in making ourselves as easy to spot as the two in the park.
When we'd passed out of view of any of Wei's security people, I stopped to think. I was grateful that Pri waited and didn't talk to me.
We had four outside. We could count on at least two, maybe even four inside. Wei had traveled before with eleven minders, but because he used a decoy we might get lucky and encounter fewer this time. If, however, he used the same type of transport as when I'd stopped them earlier, he'd need two or three vehicles to hold everyone. On even a half-decent team the drivers would stay with their shuttles to protect them and to have them readily available should Wei call. That argued for three men minding the transportation, the four outside, and four more inside—assuming the same eleven as last time. Matahi wouldn't like having that much external security in her house, so she'd probably insist on most of them staying downstairs on the first floor. Wei, though, would want at least one guard with him, so they'd be split.
That left us with four waves to handle: The four outside, two or three on the first floor, one or two with Wei, and the drivers, who would come when the action started. Lovely.
I didn't have a lot of options for dealing with the second team. This was the first real shot we'd had that could minimize collateral damage. I hated having to fight and probably hurt so many guards, but Wei was unlikely to travel with fewer, so this was as good a chance as I was going to get. If this attempt didn't pan out but I blew my cover while making it, I'd never get a job at Wonder Island, so I needed to stay incognito. I doubted I could remain that way and take out all four external guards before they could signal the ones inside. If I involved Lobo and any of this crew remembered him later, I'd have trouble getting off-planet; better to save him for emergencies or times when none of Wei's protection squad would see him.
I could, though, afford to let them spot Pri, because at worst that would cause them to focus on her and her party. She'd be fine as long as I kept her safe while we were together and afterward she left Heaven until her party was in power. I'd be putting her at risk, but she'd demanded to be involved, so she'd already made that choice.
"A man and a woman are sitting on a bench in the park," I finally said to her. I handed her a small ball from one of my bags. "They're your targets."
She nodded. "How and when?"
"I'll tell you over the comm," I said. "When I give the word, crush the gas ball in your hand; it should crumble and not cut you. You have to be less than a meter away from them, but show as little of your face as possible. Once you've gassed them, don't open your mouth until you're clear."
"What if they're wearing gas filters, too?"
"Then fall to the ground and hope I can shoot them before they shoot you," I said.
She stared at me for a minute. "Can you?"
I looked into her eyes an
d forced a smile. "You bet." Whether I could actually do it would depend entirely on how things went on my end, but there was no value in telling her that.
"How do I get close enough to them?"
"Convince them you're harmless and you need help," I said.
"How do I—"
I interrupted her. "I don't know," I said. "React in the moment. Improvise. Back on Vonsoir, you made me believe you were someone else. Do the same kind of thing with these two—but not until I tell you."
"Okay."
"When they're out, sit them side-by-side on the bench, then run to the house—but stay well to the left of the front door."
"Got it."
I stared at her, willing her to be up to this, hoping she was, then nodded and said, "Head back to the corner of the building, and get ready."
I put my hat in the outer bag, jogged to the end of the block, hung a left, and stopped ten meters short of the road in front of Matahi's house. I leaned against the building as if out of breath and looked all around, just another out of shape man embarrassed that he was breathing hard. No one was in sight. I was glad Matahi had chosen to live in a very quiet, private area.
I pulled a trank rifle with a folding stock from the inner bag, snapped it to full length, and held it next to my inside leg as I walked to the street. I crouched, checked my surroundings again, and then glanced around the corner. I could see both guards by the door. The park, though, was out of sight. Damn.
I needed a clear shot at the park in case something went wrong with Pri's approach.
I needed to be on the other side of the street.
I collapsed the rifle and returned it to the bag. I retraced my steps, jogging again. I turned left at the end of the street, went down another block, and took another left.
I never looked back at Pri; time was short, and I had to trust she'd follow orders.
When I was almost to the street in front of Matahi's house, I slowed to a stroll and crossed at a leisurely pace, a resident returning home or a tourist taking a shortcut through a new neighborhood. The guards would notice me, but a man a block and a half away was unlikely to strike them as a threat. Nonetheless, I had trouble not glancing at them; I hate being an unprotected target.
As soon as I was out of their view, I resumed jogging. I took a left at the first street, then the first left, and in less than two minutes I was on the opposite side of the road from where I'd stopped to check out the guards. I readied the rifle once again, crouched, and glanced around the corner. I now had a view of the park.
The two on the door were still on their post. So were the two in the park.
I stood, breathed slowly, and calmed myself. The cloudless sky bathed the old city in an even, sharp light. We'd find no cover in it, but I'd also have no trouble sighting the guards. I had as much of a plan as time had permitted. I'd done my best to minimize collateral damage. If all went well, the only civilian I'd hurt would be Matahi.
Yeah, just her. I had no reason to feel any attachment to her. I'd paid for all the consideration and affection she'd shown me. Though she might not have known what our target was doing, she had consorted with him. There was no way to keep her out of it.
So why did I feel so bad about attacking her house?
I closed my eyes for a second, then opened them. I was wasting time. I had to abort or commit fully; anything in between could get me killed or captured. Matahi didn't deserve what was about to happen, but neither did Joachim or any of the other kidnapped kids deserve what Wei had done to them.
I took half a dozen long, deep breaths, then said over the comm, "Pri, go."
"Moving," she said.
I gave her twenty seconds to cross into the park, then quickly glanced around the corner and withdrew.
As I'd hoped, the two guards by the door had focused on Pri. When you're stuck monitoring an entrance in the middle of a safe area, any diversion is a temptation. They could rationalize that Pri might be a threat, and indeed in this case she was, but mostly she provided them a break in the monotony.
I lifted the rifle to my shoulder. I stepped just far enough around the corner to be able to aim it; part of my body was exposed, but I couldn't help that. I sighted on the nearer guard's neck, inhaled, held the breath, and fired.
He crumpled, his head smacking hard into the pavement.
Pri had distracted the other guard enough that he didn't react to the movement of his colleague. To his credit, he turned quickly when he heard the sound of the man's head hitting the street, but by then it was too late. He was a big guy with a large neck, and it was in my sights. I fired, and he dropped.
Up to this point, time had been moving in slow motion, my focus so intent that every little action seemed to take forever. Now, everything snapped into fast-forward.
I sprinted for the guards' position as best I could with the rifle still high. Pri was hunched in front of the couple on the bench. The man was on the ground, coughing. The woman stood over Pri, covering her mouth with one hand and keeping a pistol trained on Pri with the other. They were prepared enough to have nose filters, but he wasn't well-trained enough to have kept his mouth shut. I stopped, sighted on her, and shot three times at her neck.
She fell backward onto the bench.
The man was still down and still coughing, but she'd been able to stand, so he'd be getting up any moment now. I shot three times at his neck.
He crashed to the ground.
I held my position long enough to verify that Pri was pulling the man onto the bench, then turned and rushed to the front door. The guards inside were unlikely to have been watching the external team, but it was possible they had been. If they hadn't, we owned the advantage of surprise. Either way, I needed to get inside. I collapsed the rifle as I moved, shoved it in one bag, and from another pulled a coiled sausage of high-yield, loud explosive. I wanted everyone in the building to be watching the front. I ripped off pieces of the sausage and stuck them on all hinged areas of the dark red door and then on other spots around its perimeter. I wanted it to blow inward so hard it would go right through the other door behind it. That wasn't likely, but the more noise it made, the better.
I finished, glanced back to see Pri running my way, and headed around the corner of the building. As I ran, I said, "Pri, stay three meters to the side of the door. Engage sound dampening. Put on your mask. Don't enter until I give the order."
"Roger," she said.
I walked down six meters, then pulled a different sausage from the same bag as the first. Darker and thicker, this one would eat its way into the wall for several seconds, then blow even harder than the other one. I made a large ring with it, a rough circle more than big enough for me to fit through.
I withdrew three meters toward the front of the house, turned on my own sound dampeners, and grabbed the activecamo mask from the bag that held the rifle. I pulled the loose cloth over my head. It sealed with my armored camo shirt. Anyone staring at my face would see only a quickly mutating reflection of the scenery behind me, the mask's rear sensors supplying video feeds to me and input to the camo material. A heads-up display appeared in my left contact: the feed from Pri's mask. She was in position and staring along a wall toward the front door.
"Lobo," I said, "transmissions?"
"None," he said. "No one moving toward you."
I opened the patch on my sleeve that covered the detonator trigger transmitters. I pressed first the one for the side explosive, watched as the circle ate its way into the wall about three centimeters, and then put my finger over the front-door initiator.
"Now," I said to Pri.
I pressed the trigger.
Chapter 30
In the feed from Pri I watched as dust and small shards of wood flew backward out of Matahi's house; the bulk of the door had indeed blown inward. I waited a few seconds. I didn't expect the inside team to be dumb enough to charge out into the street, but I'd hoped to get lucky.
No way. No one appeared in the smoke-filled doorway.
"Assume Matahi's security system has alerted her," Lobo said, "and that transmissions to Wei's team are leaving the building. Expect company soon."
"Toss the dark gas," I said to Pri, "but stay clear of the fire zone." I readied my rifle.
She pulled a pair of fist-sized black grenades from her outer bag, my contact momentarily disorienting me as it followed her gaze downward, and then she threw first one and then the other through the front door.
"Adjust her mask's external feed to show me only a heads-up view," I said to Lobo.
"Done," Lobo said.
A second later, the explosives near me blew. The shaped charge burst through the wall and sent fragments of brick and permacrete screaming inward. I took off before the dust could settle and covered the three meters to the hole in two long strides. I glanced inside. The grenades had done their jobs: The air in the house was thick and black with smoke.
I placed a small temporary transmitter under a piece of the wall that had fallen outside the house and turned on its explosive charge. In thirty minutes, longer than I could imagine us having a prayer of being safe, it would blow. In the meantime, it would provide a comm link to Lobo once I was inside.
I changed my vision to IR and leaned into the house through the lowest part of the hole. I didn't expect a team of this quality on a daytime shift to be ready for night work, but I wanted to minimize the size of the target I presented them just in case I was wrong.
Four men stood in two pairs on either side of the front door and a few meters back from it. Two appeared to be coughing, but none were down. In the dead silence their actions seemed eerie, inhuman. The rear two were facing the sound of my explosion and firing handguns, but they were aiming high, where an entering torso would be. The other two men were focused on the front door and firing through it.
I pulled in my rifle, sighted on the nearer rear guard, and double-tapped at his neck. He went down. His partner must not have been able to hear the sound of his fall over the gunfire, because the guy didn't even change his position. Another double-tap sent him to sleep.
Overthrowing Heaven-ARC Page 21