Four more rounds, and the other two guards fell.
Everything was perfect so far.
I scanned as far as I could see in IR, but I couldn't spot anyone else.
I squared up to the hole, crouched, and launched myself inside. I hit the floor, rolled, and came up behind a pillar. Being careful never hurts.
"Sound," I said to Lobo.
The world popped into audio life, the small crackling and settling noises of the aftermath of an explosion providing a background noise to an otherwise quiet scene.
I stretched out on the floor, moved my head slightly to the right of the pillar, and checked the room again.
Empty.
Excellent.
For now.
"Enter," I said to Pri as I stood. "Switch your mask to IR, and double-time to me!" I stuck a second temporary transmitter under a nearby sofa and triggered its delayed charge; I should now be able to talk to Lobo wherever I was inside.
"External threats?" I said to him.
"Three men driving your way," he said. "ETA, one minute. Take out the vehicles?"
"No, I want them as bait to lure Wei downstairs. Air support from the island?"
Pri sprinted into position beside me. In my IR view she appeared headless, courtesy of the mask's thermal blocking capabilities. I must have looked the same to her.
"An aircraft just launched," Lobo said, "but I caused an air-traffic problem on the old city border that will force it to go a long way around that airspace to get here. You have at least nineteen minutes."
I wanted to ask him how he'd managed to crack into yet another municipal encrypted system, but now was not the time.
"Three vehicles pulling up outside," he said.
Matahi's staff would know we were here and be tracking us on IR if they had it; if not, they'd at least be aware that strangers had occupied the first floor. Either way, the temptation to trap us between them and Wei's external team had to be high. We had to remove that option.
"Cover the front," I said to Pri. "Aim for the head of anyone you see. Stay low."
I ran to the hole in the side wall, switched to normal vision, and took up a position on the left. The day outside glowed with a healthy brightness that stood in bright counterpoint to the darkness with which we'd filled the interior. I could cover a few meters down the wall if the guards stayed close to it as they approached.
"Vehicles here and three guards getting out," Lobo said. "One going to the front; two heading to the side."
They hadn't rushed in, so they were probably coordinating with the team upstairs. We didn't have much time.
The first guard, a tall, slender woman, appeared in my view. My angle was less than optimum and she was moving fast, so I shot on auto, spraying her in an upward arc with trank darts. She dropped hard and fast, her momentum carrying her forward so she fell head first and hit the ground with a thud. The man behind her was quick and turned as soon as she began to fall, but by then I had a clear view of his upper torso. I shot him on auto as well and left a line of darts from between his shoulder blades to the middle of his skull.
Even as he was hitting the ground face first I was leaping out of the hole and running toward the front of the building.
"Another approaching," Lobo said.
He'd be looking down the wall and expecting me there, so I swerved wide to my left and into the street.
He reached the corner and I shot him from almost parallel to him. I was still moving, so I initially missed and gave him time to turn and squeeze off a round from his pistol. I kept firing as I heard his round hit the wall of the building behind me. Enough of my darts slammed into his upper body and head that the momentum knocked him over backwards, as if someone had kicked his feet out from under him.
"All guards down," Lobo said.
"Turn and cover behind you," I said to Pri, my voice a harsh rasp. "Scan left and right." I assumed that Wei and Matahi's team wouldn't come down if they didn't get a go-ahead from the outside guys, but there was no point in taking a chance in case they made a break for the outdoors.
I bent to check the last man I'd shot. He was bleeding slowly from the back of his head, and his left leg was bent under him unnaturally. Neither injury looked life-threatening, and I hoped neither was, but even with good medtechs he wouldn't be working soon.
I dashed to the other two guards. The man's nose was a flat, bloody mess, and his left shoulder bulged oddly, but he was breathing through his mouth, and the blood from his nose was draining away from him, so he should be okay. The woman was the worst of the group, her neck bent too far to the right and her nose smashed, but her pulse was strong and steady. They'd live.
I entered the house through the hole in the side wall and went straight to Pri. The air was clearing as slight breezes from the two blast openings combined with the house's air system to remove the black smoke.
Pri started to speak but I held up my hand. I stared alternately at the elevator on the right and the spaces that concealed the two stairwells. Three exit points downward, the roof elevator upward, two of us down here, and Wei, Matahi, and a security team upstairs. The math was definitely not in our favor.
"Roof?" I said to Lobo.
"Nothing," he said.
I shouldn't have asked; he'd have told me if anything was happening there. He could cover any outside action, so I stopped thinking about it.
That still left three exits for Wei, two too many.
I had no real choice. I grabbed the rest of the explosives—grenades and sausages—from Pri's bag and added them to my remaining stash.
"Go to comm and mute sound," I said. "Scan from left to right and back again. Start shooting if you see anything, and yell to me the moment you do."
"Roger," she said over the comm.
I ran to where Matahi had shown me the elevator, stuck to the sliding door a string of sausages large enough to make a hole about a meter wide, stepped to the side, and set off the explosives. As they destroyed that path upward, I ran to the nearer stairwell area and repeated the process. The flying debris and dust appeared almost magical in the world in which the only sound was my own breathing. As soon as the stairwell hole was clear of debris, I glanced inside to make sure no one was there, then threw six grenades inside and ran toward the elevator.
I felt the explosion even though I couldn't hear it, but I didn't stop. I checked the hole into the elevator space; the car was not, of course, there. They'd have it standing by upstairs. I threw in my last four grenades and dove to the left for cover.
I waited until the floor stopped vibrating, then stood and went back to inspect the elevator damage. Wreckage filled the space, twisted metal support struts visible through gashes in the permacrete. No one would be coming down that shaft.
I worked on bringing my breathing under control as I sprinted back to the stairwell area. I was going only short distances, but when you're on a mission it's easy to lose self-control and find everything inside you is moving way too fast.
The stairway was a twisted mess from here all the way to the third floor. Chunks of permacrete and hunks of blast-scarred metal stood in piles in the small area. Scraps of what had once been pieces of art covered the floor. Anyone coming down this way would have to be desperate and would have a good chance of getting hurt unless they had climbing equipment.
That left only the far left stairwell.
One exit and two of us down here; Wei, Matahi, and a security team upstairs.
The math was improving, but we were far from done.
"On me," I said to Pri. "Bring the other bags."
I led her to the entrance to the last route upstairs. I stuck enough sausage on the wall to create an opening over a meter high and more than wide enough for two of us. We dashed a few meters to the side, and I touched the trigger.
More flying debris and dust.
I switched off muting. Pieces of permacrete were still falling and parts of the house were creaking as the building resettled onto its damaged skel
eton.
"Thirteen minutes," Lobo said, "and the elevator cage is rising above the roof. Should I pull close enough to trank them?"
If they were really planning to use the roof, then they were counting on the air shuttle, which probably meant the security team would gather on the top floor and try to pick us off or slow us until Wei had safely left. It was a sound choice for them, but it was also the one I'd hoped they'd make, because it would put them in Lobo's sights and save us the time of searching the building's other floors. They might, though, be testing the roof's safety, in which case they'd send either a guard or no one at all. If Lobo tranked one person, the rest of them would never go up; instead, they'd dig in and make our fight that much harder.
"No," I said to Lobo. "If someone comes out of it, fly close enough to see if it's Wei—but no closer."
"Next?" Pri said.
I dropped the bag I'd been carrying and pointed to hers.
"We reload," I said, "and then we head upstairs and hope we don't get shot."
Chapter 31
Standing on the threshold of the stairwell, I wished we could have afforded to have brought some of the milspec gear in Lobo. All we had left were our rifles, more ammo, and about two meters of the explosive sausage. A handful of recon spiders could eliminate a lot of risk and let me know what we'd be facing, and additional gas weapons and maybe a small grenade launcher would definitely have been useful.
I shook my head to clear it. Wishing during a mission is at best stupid and at worst fatal. You do the best you can with what you have.
The space in front of us was clear as far as I could see. I had only three meters to cover to be under the stairwell and safe from fire. I motioned to Pri to wait, backed up half a dozen steps, and took off at full speed. At the edge of the stairwell I dove forward. My left shoulder hit the floor, and I quickly rolled the rest of my body to safety. I sat for a moment, my shoulder aching until the nanomachines blocked the pain.
No shots. Good.
I switched my vision to IR, leaned out slightly, and stared upward.
Nothing. Still good.
I ducked under the stairs again and returned to normal vision. I brought up the rifle, sighted through it, and leaned out. I scanned upward quickly and didn't spot anything. I then took a few seconds to make a more thorough examination.
Nothing. Either the path upward was currently clear, or they were watching from somewhere I couldn't see. Odds were good that they were monitoring us, but I had no way to know where they were.
"The elevator cage is fully on the roof," Lobo said, "but no one has yet emerged."
I motioned to Pri to run to me while at the same time I said to Lobo, "Come as close as you can without being visible to them."
"New problem," Lobo said. "Someone reported the explosions to the police. The report is already on some publicly available data streams."
"So the cops are on the way?"
"No," he said, "which means the government intervened and might send its people to help Wei's. I suggest you shorten your timetable."
"Thanks," I said. "I'm trying. Out."
Security guards rarely earn enough to want to risk serious injury. For jobs protecting someone like Matahi, they expect to deal with misbehaving or bullying clients, not to face armed attack. Their focus would be on getting out of here, not on getting into a firefight.
"A hidden door has opened in the floor in the corner of the roof opposite the elevator," Lobo said. "An armed person is coming up it and checking the roof. I'm closing."
"Let me know as soon as you can tell if it's Wei," I said. It made sense that Matahi would maintain exits she kept secret from her clients; I was annoyed at myself for not thinking of it earlier.
I stepped from under cover, every nerve in my back tingling with the fear of being shot. Nothing happened. I aimed my rifle upward, motioned to Pri to follow me, and ran up the stairs. I took them two at a time, glancing down just long enough to ensure a clear footfall, then focusing above me again. I didn't look behind me to check on Pri; I couldn't afford to divert any attention in case there were snipers above. The second-floor landing offered a small spot of cover under the stairs, but I blew past it and kept going.
"Something odd," Lobo said.
I pulled into the covered space on the third-floor landing when I reached it. Pri joined me several seconds later; she'd done a decent job of keeping up considering my stride advantage. I flattened against the wall and stared upward. She did the same.
Now that I was paused, the mask, though efficient at wicking and letting through air, felt stifling and hot, and I wanted to rip it off. I ignored the feeling and said, "What?"
"News drones gathered around the aircraft from the island," Lobo said, "and it changed course so it will miss your location by multiple kilometers."
"Add Pri for this," I said. "Are news drones swarming us?"
"No," Lobo said, "so why did they go after the island aircraft?" Before I could speak, he continued. "Two ground shuttles are headed your way from a government building on the north side of the old city, and a single larger vehicle is coming at you from the east."
"Oh, no," Pri said.
"What?" I said.
"My people must have been monitoring the data streams for signs of an attack. They knew we were going to try for Wei, so all they had to do was watch and wait. They always track aircraft departures from the island. When they figured out what was happening, they must have told our local media friends that the Wonder Island people were up to something big."
"That's good," I said, "because now we don't have to deal with additional security from the island."
"That part is good," she said, "but the rest isn't. The shuttles from the north are the government's; Wei's team would have asked for help when they couldn't fly to him. The other shuttle, though, is probably full of security people from my team; it's coming from the right direction, and it's the sort of move Repkin would make."
"So your people didn't buy your arguments, and we're about to be caught in the middle of their fight with the government?" I said.
"Yeah," she said. "It looks that way."
I considered the situation for a moment. "It can still work out for us," I said. "We're heading upward, and we now own the roof, though Matahi's team doesn't know it yet. The others still have to reach this building, try the paths upward, and catch up to us; that'll take a little while. Plus, if the two groups arrive at anywhere near the same time, they'll slow each other."
"But if they run into each other," she said, "this place could become very unsafe."
"We can't stop that," I said, "and besides, it's not our problem. Our job is to get Wei."
"So move it," Lobo said. "You're wasting time. The man on the roof is not Wei."
"Agreed," I said. "Trank the man. Normal comm. Out." I didn't want Pri hearing everything Lobo and I said; no matter what she claimed, I couldn't trust her completely, so I'd control the data she obtained until we were back in Lobo. To her, I said, "On me. We're going to four."
I stuck my head out from under the cover of the stairs and quickly checked above us in both normal light and IR. All clear. I ran up the next flight, again pointing my rifle upward and focusing there as much as possible. I heard Pri behind me, but I didn't look back. I ducked under the cover of the stairs. She joined me in a few seconds.
"Stay and cover me," I said, keeping my voice low and using the comm. "I'm going to blow in that door and hope they're no more prepared for this than I think they are."
"Let me do it," she said. "You're bound to be a better shot, so you could cover me better."
"Which is exactly why I need to be the one shooting after the door shatters," I said. I didn't try to control the anger in my voice. "Stop questioning orders."
I didn't wait for her response. I sprinted to the fifth floor. When I reached it, I flattened myself along the wall. Pri stood with her back against the far corner of the stairwell, her rifle trained on the door. Good.
&nb
sp; I stuck a meter of sausage on each side of the center of the door, then stood as far to the left of it as I could get without falling off the landing. I triggered the sausages, muted the outside world, and dropped to the floor. I had only a meter and a half of wall between the door and me, but the sausage should eat its way into the wood and explode inward.
I hoped the explosion didn't hurt Matahi. None of this was her fault.
"Man on roof down," Lobo said, "and elevator cage descending. Hurry, or let me go after the shuttles."
I pushed aside my thoughts of Matahi as the door silently shattered, a huge wound erupting inward, with dust and small bits of wood and metal flying backward into the stairwell. Only parts of the frame still stood; the rest was gone.
I returned to normal sound, crawled closer to the opening, and listened hard. Coughing. A few rounds whizzed above me. While the smoke was still thick enough that they'd have trouble checking on me with the stairwell cameras, I risked a look around the bottom left corner of the opening. Three large guards stood in a basic triangle formation, their shoulders so wide relative to their waists that parts of the torsos of Matahi and Wei were visible behind them. Amateurs. I could see the people they were protecting, so I could shoot them. One of their team should have stayed to slow me while the other two retreated with their charges.
I double-tapped the front man in his rather sizable neck. He fell onto the man to his right, who tried to catch his colleague. I shot that guy twice for his trouble; one hit his neck, but the other went into his cheek. The two guards went down in a pile; a sick snapping sound suggested the first guy paid for the fall with his leg. The third man turned to run, but I got off three shots before he'd taken a second step, and he dropped like a stone. He hit face first with a wet smacking sound.
Wei moved behind Matahi.
That simple act of cowardice told me a lot about the kind of person he was.
"Get up here," I said over the comm to Pri.
I stood and kept my rifle trained on Matahi and Wei. Matahi stared calmly at me, as self-controlled as always. Wei fidgeted and eased further behind her, as if getting ready to make a break.
Overthrowing Heaven-ARC Page 22