"Or I could lock her on the medbed, sedate her, and we could release her when this is over," Lobo said privately. "While we're talking options, we might as well look at the simplest and most practical ones."
Ignoring him was getting harder.
"I said I'd help," Matahi said, "and I will."
"Then you should hustle to the SleepSafe," I said. "Get a two-bedroom suite."
"Do you have any idea what that costs?" she said. "And why do I need two rooms?"
"Yes," I said, "I know what it costs. I'll transfer to you enough of my money to cover the initial charges, and I'll give you more later as necessary. As to why, that's simple: So I can have a private space if I end up there. Okay?"
"Fine," Matahi said. "I'll do it."
"Thank you," I said. I handed her a fist-size field comm unit that Lobo had coded to my thumbprint, DNA, and oral code phrase. "Take this. Leave it at the SleepSafe unless Lobo or I tell you to bring it. Do not under any circumstances try to open it."
"Why?" Matahi said.
"Because it will explode with enough force to cut you in half," I said. I considered my statement further. "Actually, it probably wouldn't do that unless you held it at exactly the wrong place. It would probably just blow a hole in you."
"Jon!" Pri said. "Why are you so graphic?"
"I was only trying to be accurate," I said.
"I don't want that thing," Matahi said. "If you trust me so little that you're booby-trapping the items you ask me to carry, I shouldn't be here."
I sighed. "It's not about you," I said. "I've engaged its safeguards—which are standard on battlefield comms—in case someone catches you and tries to open it."
"Well, I don't like carrying weapons," she said.
"If you want to help," I said, "take it. If you don't, then stay out of the way while we work."
"The medbed is looking better and better," Lobo said, again privately. "It would definitely stop her from interfering."
I ignored him and watched Matahi stare at the device.
Finally, she picked it up. "I do want to help, so I'll take it."
"Thank you," I said. "Now, we should get going."
No one moved, and the silence stretched.
After several uncomfortable seconds, Pri said, "Did you get the job?"
I nodded my head and said, "Yes. I start in the morning."
Both women stepped toward me, but I held up my hands; I'd seen where this led, and I'd found it too confusing the first time to want to have to deal with it again.
"We really have to go," I said.
"You're right," Pri said.
For the first time since they'd arrived, she looked happy.
"Then I should give you this now," Matahi said. She held out the bag.
"What is it?"
"A present," she said. "Something I prepared after our first meeting. I'd planned to give it to you when you next came over, but . . ." She shrugged.
"Great," Pri said. "I finally get to see what you've been carrying." Her tone didn't match her words.
I took the bag, opened it, and pulled out a cube about a quarter of a meter on a side. Its exterior was an icy light blue metal that felt cold and strong to the touch but that also gave easily when I pushed on it.
"You made one for me," she said, "so I thought it only fair that I reciprocate."
I held it and stared at it, both curious to have her explain it and not sure I wanted to hear the explanation. I liked how it looked, though I couldn't explain why.
"You said we had to leave," Pri said. She sounded even less happy than when Matahi had handed me the box.
I looked up. "You're right," I said to her. To Matahi, I said, "Thank you. Thank you very much."
Matahi glanced at Pri, came up to me, kissed me on the cheek, and said, "You're welcome." She turned to go. "I'll head for the SleepSafe and wait to hear from you."
She left.
I stared after her until Pri touched my shoulder, pointed at Lobo, and said, "Don't we need to get moving, too?"
I nodded and started toward Lobo.
"I believe there are washing machines that are more adept with women than you," Lobo said, still privately. "Amazing."
"Enough," I subvocalized as I walked inside him. I went into my quarters to drop off the box.
Pri followed me into my room and stood in front of the door, which closed behind her.
"Now that you have a job close to Wei," she said, "I don't understand how I can help, and I sure don't understand what you need her for."
I leaned against the opposite wall. "I have a job on the island," I said, "providing I don't fail the training course. Even then, they'll start me with scut tasks; no way does the new guy get close to the main asset."
"So what use is the job?" she said. "Children are dying while we keep failing!"
"You think I don't know that!" I stepped close enough to her that she backed into the doorway. The door opened just in time to save her from smacking into it. "We've been living with that reality from the moment I agreed to help. Your people have known about it even longer. We're doing the best we can."
"Well, that hasn't been very good," she said.
I shook my head. "No, no it's hasn't. But we've been doing the best we could."
We stood in silence for almost a minute before she spoke. "So what do we do now?"
"I pass the training camp," I said, "get the job, and eventually figure out how to get close to and snatch Wei. You run surveillance routes in Lobo and also stay in touch with your people in case they have any useful intel."
"And if they do?" she said. "Or if Lobo and I spot Wei on the move?"
"You or he will leave the data for me at a drop Lobo will brief you on. He and I will set up a protocol that works via a public exchange, something I can check regularly. I'll also meet you periodically at the alternate landing facility we first used."
She covered her face with her hands and stayed that way for a while. When she looked at me again, her eyes were full of tears. "I'm never going to see Joachim again, am I?"
I stared at her. No, I thought, but if there is any chance at all that he is alive, I might need her help to rescue him. Even if he isn't, she might prove useful in saving the children who were. I wasn't sure if I was committing a kindness or being cruel when I finally said, "Don't say that, and don't believe it. Wei can't want to risk using too many children, because each one raises the chance of bringing to the public's attention the awful things he's doing. So he's probably keeping them alive. We're going to save them, all of them, including Joachim."
I doubt that she believed me, but she forced a smile and said, "Okay." She turned and left my small room.
Looking at the spot where she had stood, her expression still fresh in my mind, I knew there was no way I would fail that training class or anything else they threw at me. I would get close enough to Wei to grab him, and this time I would not fail.
The process would start in the morning.
I would not fail.
Chapter 37
I don't like you," Rhionne Ng, the head of Wonder Island security, said to the six of us standing at attention in front of her. Her voice echoed from the permacrete walls and ceiling of the cavernous, domed underground room in which we stood. She paced back and forth, her movements slow and powerful. "I don't trust you." She stopped in front of the woman on the far left. Ng stood almost my height, was easily as wide as I am, and wore her short black hair in a buzz cut.
The woman facing Ng sagged, as if a great weight were pushing down on her.
"I sure don't enjoy looking at you," Ng said.
I watched out of the corner of my eye as she moved slowly along the line, pausing to stare directly at each of us.
"So given how happy I am to have you all here," she said, "who can tell me why I let them send me such a worthless group?"
"I can!" shouted three of the people.
They were either idiots, lifelong civilians, or both. An officer or NCO addre
ssing a new squad rarely wants an answer to that sort of question, and certainly not on the first day with the unit. Though Ng wore no sign of rank, just the same plain black security uniform as the rest of us, she moved and talked like every sergeant I'd ever seen work a group of raw fish. Like I had in my days as a sergeant. But she wasn't the sergeant, because she'd introduced herself as the person in charge. The tall, dark, bald man behind her, Tomaso Park, stood with the calm, contained manner of the career NCO and the heavily muscled body of someone who prided himself on his strength. He was her sergeant now—that was clear—but she'd also been one once, I was sure of that.
"So you three are mind-readers?" she said. "Good. You can spend your afternoon duty shift with the maintenance crew, reading the minds of the larger mammals so you can more quickly find where they crapped." She put her hands on her hips. "Anyone else care to try to answer?"
None of us spoke. The other two were probably wondering the same thing I was: What should we call her? In the Saw, the right response would have been, "Sir, no, sir" if she was an officer, but I had no clue here.
Ng waited and watched us. You could almost see the energy coming off her. She wore her shirtsleeves rolled up to expose arms that were bigger and more muscular than mine. They twitched in the telltale rhythm of the muscle-activation treatments I'd seen both on field missions with the Saw and in prison.
"Well, meat?" she said.
We weren't going anywhere until somebody answered, so I took the gamble. "Sir, no sir," I said.
She appeared in front of me faster than I'd believed she could move. I wouldn't underestimate her speed again.
"Good choice, Moore," she said. "I guess they taught you something useful in the Saw, third-rate outfit that it was." She leaned forward until her nose was almost touching mine. "What, too weak to defend your old comrades?"
"Sir, no sir," I said. "Sir, the Saw can defend itself, sir."
She shook her head and stepped back.
"I let them send me you useless bags of meat because we're desperate, pure and simple. There couldn't be any other reason, could there, Tomaso?"
Ng never looked behind her, but Park still snapped to attention as he answered, "Sir, no sir."
"You're probably wondering," Ng said, "why we don't hand you a few sensors, a weapon, and a security guard badge and send you on your way. After all, we're not military, and we're not police. So let me lay it out for you." She ticked off the points on her fingers. "One: Wonder Island contains hundreds of animals that could kill a person without any effort whatsoever. If anything happens to the automated systems that control those creatures, our team is all that stands between those animals and our paying guests." She pointed upward; I wasn't sure how deep we were, but I knew Wonder Island's guests were enjoying themselves somewhere far over our heads. "Make no mistake: The animals that roam around up there must never be out of our control."
She dropped her hand. "Two: Wonder Island is the biggest single tourist attraction on any planet in at least a three-jump range. Heaven's government counts on the revenue from this place, and it's our job to make sure nothing ever interrupts its flow. Three: The tech that makes these creatures so attractive is confidential and proprietary, and one of our jobs is to make sure it stays that way. Four: The scientists and computer systems that work the tech are appealing targets for rivals, so we protect them and make sure that what belongs to Wonder Island stays on it."
It was a good sign that she even mentioned the protection assignments. I certainly wouldn't start on them, but the fact that she included them in our duties gave me hope that I could work my way into them.
"Park here is going to break you into groups, issue you some training contacts and weapons, and run you through some VR drills so we can see how well you perform." She turned and headed toward the door through which we'd entered the area. "I don't expect to see all of you at the end of the day."
Park stepped forward, snapped his cuffs, crossed his arms behind his back, and said, "Listen up, because I do not like to repeat myself. Here's what we're going to do."
The ponytails of the little girl whipped back and forth as she ran. The guard chasing her and the kidnapper were neck and neck and would catch her at about the same time. I couldn't get a clear bead on the kidnapper. The guard should have taken on the kidnapper, but he was so focused on getting to the girl he wasn't thinking clearly.
I thumbed the weapon to full auto and sprayed both men before they could reach the girl.
The terrorist and the girl winked out of sight. The contacts returned me to the training area.
The guard candidate was furious. He stalked toward me, his fists clenched.
"What'd you shoot me for, you idiot?" he said. "We're on the same team. I almost had her."
Park watched us from ten meters to our left. His expression remained calm.
"So did the attacker," I said. "You blew it by not taking him out, so I did the only thing that would be sure to save her."
"I would have protected her," the candidate said. He stopped half a meter in front of me.
"Given how foolishly you were already behaving," I said, "I couldn't count on that. Our mission was to save the girl."
He might as well have called me and told me the punch was on its way. He took time to plant his feet, torque his hips, and lift his right hand in preparation for it.
When it finally came, I stepped to my left, grabbed his right shoulder as he went past me, spun behind him, and followed him forward. I kicked the back of his right leg, and as he went down I wrapped my left arm around his neck and clamped on a choke. He clawed at my arms for a few seconds, but the uniform held nicely. When he was out, I set him on the ground more gently than he deserved.
"Shooting your teammates won't make you popular," Park said. I glanced at him as I stood. He hadn't moved, and his expression hadn't changed.
I shrugged. "Lose a few men in training or a lot in battle."
A man stepped out of a door a few meters away and walked over to the guy I'd choked out. The man's nametag said "Dan Lee," and he wasn't happy with me. I had him in height by about twenty centimeters, but he had me in width by at least ten. His arms strained against his shirt, and he wore his black hair long and loose, almost to his shoulders. He glared at me as he checked on the unconscious guy.
I ignored him.
Park smiled slightly. "We're not in battle. We're security guards."
"Sarge," I said, "when we're fighting, we're in battle."
"We have job titles and pay grades here," he said, "but not ranks. No sergeants, no officers."
I shook my head. "It doesn't matter what they call you," I said. "I know a sergeant when I see one."
"So do I," he said. When I didn't respond, he thumbed a control on his cuff, and all the groups scattered around the huge training area stopped moving. "Five-minute break, then we tour some of the grounds, and then we have some real fun."
"I'm kicking this one back," Lee said, tilting his head toward the man who was just now regaining consciousness.
"He might learn," Park said. "I'm willing to give him the rest of the day."
"You know how Rhionne feels," Lee said.
Park winced slightly at the informality.
Lee didn't notice. "The guy blew it," he said, "so he's out. As for this one—" he indicated me with a quick flip of his wrist, "he may have won the exercise, but he's still a jerk."
Lee stood and faced me.
"I think we should kick him back, too."
Chapter 38
No," Park said. He stared at Lee for several seconds.
Neither man moved.
Watching them, I wasn't sure if their confrontation was about what to do with me or about some preexisting issues between them. It sure felt like the latter.
"Look," Lee said, "Moore is lucky he's not joining this loser for attacking one of his training partners. We don't need any more know-it-all ex-mercs on this team."
"I don't agree," Park said. "As one of t
hose ex-mercs, I have to say that if we had more trained pros we might not have fared so badly in some of our recent—" he paused, "exercises."
"That's a load of crap," Lee said. "Nobody could have known—"
Park cut him off. "This is my training session," he said, "so it's my call. Moore saved the girl, and he defended himself when necessary, so he moves on."
Park turned toward me. "Don't push your luck, meat. Get some water, and join the others."
The light breeze felt wonderful after so much time underground. We'd come into the park via one of the hidden hatches, which closed as soon as we were all clear. At least a meter of dirt and grass covered it, and unless you knew to look for it you'd never spot it. We stayed away from tourists, moving on forest paths and entering only a few small exhibits whose animal occupants were currently elsewhere. I admired the dedication to preserving the user experience; unless something went wrong, the vast majority of the visitors to the island would never even be aware of the existence of a security team.
The hatches to the underground complex were all over the island, almost a hundred of them, so we could quickly appear wherever we were needed. The robotic sentries, like the ones I'd encountered on my visit with Pri, provided the first line of defense and could pleasantly deal with most cranky animals and misbehaving guests; they'd certainly handled me well.
"Don't come up here unless a supervisor orders you to do so," Park said. "If we do send you up, deal with the problem quickly and quietly. If it's a guest who won't cooperate, lead him to the nearest hatch, and a liaison officer will meet you and take it from there."
"How do we know where the hatches are?" a woman in front of me asked.
"Your contacts will show you the moment you go topside," Park said, "provided, of course, that you're up here under orders."
"What about opening them?" a man beside her said.
"You can't," Park said. "Your uniforms will tell the monitoring officers you're near one, and they'll decide whether to open it for you. The moment you head up, we start watching you."
"Is that—"
Overthrowing Heaven-ARC Page 26