"Don't you care about anything other than yourself?"
She stood and walked close to me. "If I didn't care about the job I was doing, do you think I would have stayed undercover here for months? Or set up everything for you today? Exactly who are you to question my commitment?"
I backed away. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just don't enjoy your games, and I'm also ready to finish here."
She glared at me as if about to argue further, but then she nodded slightly and went back to the desk. "I've set up my part," she said. "I've convinced Wei to come with me and meet the new supplier who's bringing some trial test equipment for us to check out."
"So you persuaded him to come to that hangar with you?"
She nodded.
Everything was moving quickly and smoothly, amazingly smoothly, and as much as I love a good plan, it all felt too easy. "Doesn't that seem a bit convenient?" I said. "He hasn't gone to an open area like that since the failed kidnapping, he didn't do it much before, and now suddenly he's going to be where we need him?"
"Suddenly?" she said. "Suddenly? It's only sudden to you because you haven't been working on him for weeks like I have. I told you I would deliver him, and I did."
"As cautious as he's been," I said, "I'm still not sure I believe he'd take that risk. I don't like it."
"Would you please give me some credit?" she said. "I've been mentioning suppliers to him, ordering a lot of expensive gear that's been straining our budget, and encouraging him to use his clout to get us better deals. You have no idea how many times I've buttered him up about how influential he is. He's heard the arguments before; they just finally worked today."
Though I don't feel it in my gut, intellectually I know that sometimes my paranoia can go too far. She had indeed been working this angle for a while, and I needed to give her credit for that effort.
I nodded my head. "Okay. When?"
"I don't know exactly," she said, "but sometime in the next half hour to two hours. We give suppliers two-hour delivery windows, then they let us know when they're almost here by signaling a special relay sat."
"Any change in the guard count?"
"No. He'll have the usual three with him—usual since the botched earlier attempt—plus, of course, the two inside the hangar. Others will be watching the doors from the secure side, but as I said before, we can seal those entrances for at least a few minutes."
"So I have to deal with five guards?"
"After you take out the ones in the comm room," she said. "And that's as good as it gets."
I had to assume Ng assigned some of her better, more experienced people to hangar detail, because it was an obvious vulnerability and neither I nor any of the other new hires had worked it yet. That meant trouble. On the other hand, they wouldn't expect an internal attack, my rifle contained trank rounds, and Lobo would be jetting in before I had to fire the first shot.
"I can handle it," I said. "Walk me through the hangar layout again, go over your protocol for reaching me, and show me where the vendor ship will land, where you'll be, where Wei's guard team is likely to stand—all the key details."
She sighed. "You've been in the hangar before, so you know the layout. We have to stay here at least another twenty minutes to make your visit plausible. Can't we find something better to do with our time than rehash material you've already seen?"
"No," I said, "we can't. Preparation matters. Walk me through the layout and the guard positions again. This is happening any moment now, and we will be ready."
* * *
"The ship's here!" McCombs said forty-five minutes later, her face immediately tightening with tension. "I have to go meet Wei."
"Now's as good a time as later," I said.
"I guess," she said.
"Give me the comm room access, then get moving. You don't want to keep him waiting."
She leaned over the desk, which activated at the sight of her staring at it. She murmured softly, then turned to look at me. Her face had returned to normal, her training evident in her quick recovery. She nodded once and left.
I grabbed all the papers off the rear work area and tamped them into a tidy stack. I took my rifle and headed out at a trot. I wanted to beat McCombs to the hangar area, so I'd be done with the comm room before she and Wei had been in the hangar for more than a few minutes. The hall monitor systems might wonder why I was running and report the unusual behavior, but everything was in play now so I had to take some chances. I forced myself to breathe slowly through my nose as I jogged.
McCombs' directions were good, and the long, carefully designed route was as deserted as she'd said it should be. I blew by two guys I didn't recognize, waved the papers, and said, "She'll kill me if I don't get this to her." They barely noticed me, because I didn't matter; I was just another of those people who didn't contribute to the real work. That attitude usually annoys me, but today I was fine with it.
In a little over three minutes, I turned onto the hallway outside the main hangar entrance and slowed to a fast walk. The guard standing to the right of the door to the comm room made it easy to spot. My uniform and the casual way I carried my rifle were enough to stop him from coming to full ready, but he watched me closely as I approached.
I tucked my rifle under my arm as I drew within two meters of him, brought up the papers, and pointed to them with my other hand.
He relaxed, as security people often do when they see a weapon go out of play.
"Ng told me to take these inside," I said, waving the papers and pointing at them. "Now."
"She didn't tell us anything," he said.
"I can't help that. She gave me access and told me to go on in, so let me get to it, and I'll be out of your way in no time."
"Give me the delivery, and I'll take it in."
I shook my head. "No way. You know her: She'll have my ass if I don't do exactly what she ordered."
He smiled slightly and nodded. "You'll have to leave your rifle."
"No problem," I said, matching his smile.
He tilted his head to his right and watched as I leaned my weapon against the wall there.
I held up my hands. "Okay?"
He shrugged and stepped to his left and away from the door. He kept his rifle at a casual ready and his eyes on me, but he was clearly no longer worried.
One of the great weaknesses of any system is the huge amount of trust people place in automation. If the door opened to admit me, the system must have declared I was allowed inside, so I was no longer his problem. If it didn't, he'd deal with me—and I wouldn't be a problem then, because my rifle was leaning against the wall while he was holding his.
The door snapped open. I stepped inside, and like a good security door it shut almost instantly.
Two guards I didn't recognize sat at chairs in front of a monitor wall showing a dozen or more views of the hangar. Their rifles leaned against the panel in front of them, within easy reach but not in hand. They'd seen the guard outside let me in, and the security software had opened the door for me, so I must be okay. Both turned to face me, which was sloppy, because one should have constantly monitored the hangar while the other assessed the visitor. It also wasn't good for me, because now I had both of them focused on me, but I could manage.
"Ng said I had to show these to you," I said. "Something so secure she wanted me to courier it here on paper."
The one on the right waved me to him.
Instead, I stepped between them and bent over as if to show them both the sheets. I held the stack low enough that both had to bend forward to read it. As they did, I hit the one on the right in the throat, then snapped my left knee into the face of the one on the left.
Right reached for his throat, thought better of it, and grabbed for his rifle. I kicked him hard in the knee. He and his chair rolled away from me—and from his weapon.
I pivoted and checked Left. He had both hands on his nose. I grabbed him by the hair and slammed him face-first into the floor.
Right g
rabbed his rifle with one hand and pushed out of his chair with the other.
I turned and lunged toward him in one motion, grabbed the rifle's barrel, and used my momentum to shove it into his stomach before he could reach the trigger.
Air rushed out of him in a grunt, but he held onto the weapon's butt, as I'd hoped he would.
I continued forward into him, turned my right shoulder to him, and slammed it into his chest. I pivoted further and smashed his nose with a right backfist.
This time, he yelped and dropped the rifle.
I put my right foot in front of his left leg, grabbed his shirt, and threw him over my hip onto the floor.
He hit face first, hard.
Left had recovered slightly and was crawling toward his rifle.
I stepped to him and kicked him in the neck.
His head snapped to the side, and he was out.
Right moaned on the ground, still conscious.
I kicked him in the neck as well, and he also passed out.
Blood pounded in my ears. I forced myself to slow my breathing. I was far from done.
I glanced at the monitor wall. The room was, as I'd hoped, soundproof; the outside guard stood at his post, clearly bored. McCombs and Wei were talking in the hangar, watching as cargo loaders rolled the contents of the supply ship to shelves elsewhere in the large space. Wei's three guards stood in a rough semicircle about ten meters away from him; either he and McCombs were discussing something sensitive, or they always kept their distance when Wei was engaged in conversation. The main-entrance guards stood on either side of the door. A large container sat beside the man on the right of the entrance; it wasn't much, but it would provide cover from anyone on the right half of the hangar.
Several other monitors showed various angles of two simultaneous external disruption alerts that security team members were racing to address. In one pair, a woman was screaming to a crowd of fellow tourists. Another two displays showed a different woman reading from a scroll and gesturing madly.
I scanned for and spotted the comm controls, set the frequency, and said, "Ready?"
If McCombs was right, the jammers were offline, and Lobo would hear me.
"Yes," Lobo's voice said over speakers I couldn't see.
"Now," I said.
"Executing," he said.
The speakers went silent.
I checked the rifle Right had dropped. Damn: a live-round weapon. I couldn't take the chance they might wake up and be able to use their rifles to help the guards in the hangar. I could strip them, but I didn't have time to make sure the room held no more weapons.
The guards were probably out, but too much was at stake for me to rely on probably. I raised my foot and smashed the left hand of Right. I crushed his other hand and then the hands of Left.
I stepped to the wall beside the door. I was counting on the exterior guard to have returned to his post. If not, if he could see inside the room, then he'd shoot me, and I'd have to hope the nanomachines could keep me going while I fought him.
I took a slow, deep breath, then leaned toward the door.
It opened.
I inched forward so that I had one foot outside the room, one inside it, and was facing the guard, who was indeed back at his post and directly in front of me.
"I need your help," I said.
He tightened his grip on his rifle and turned to face me.
As he opened his mouth to speak, I grabbed his throat with my left hand and his rifle with my right. I stepped backward into the room and pulled him with me. I turned to my right as I moved, pulled him toward me, and head-butted him. The moment the hard upper part of my forehead smacked into his nose, he let go of his rifle and tried to scream. Fortunately, my hold on his throat kept the sound low; little more than a squeak emerged. I kept my grip on him and his rifle, pressed the weapon against his body, and used the two anchor points to turn him so he stumbled backward.
The door shut behind us.
He punched me in the stomach with his left hand and clawed at my left with his right, trying to get me to release his throat.
I pushed off my right leg and levered my knee into his groin.
Air rushed out of him as he sagged and stopped trying to hit me.
I yanked away the rifle and stepped backward.
"Wha?" he said. He didn't move toward me or look up.
I checked the rifle: a trank weapon, like mine.
I shot him.
He fell and was out.
I shot each of the other guards once with a trank round, just to be safe. My ears thrummed with the sonic residue of the conflict and the pounding of my own heart. I stared at the guards' ruined hands and knew I'd feel guilty soon enough for hurting them needlessly, but when I'd done it I hadn't known I'd have such a readily available and easy way to knock them out.
I shook my head. Now was not the time for this. If I wanted to succeed, I needed to get back to the cold, centered place that had carried me this far.
Lobo should be nearly here.
In the monitors, McCombs was still deep in conversation with Wei, his three guards remained where they'd been, and the main entrance pair stood on either side of the doorway, all the same as before. If anyone had sounded an alarm, I sure couldn't see any evidence of it.
No, everything was in play, and I was good to go.
Time to hit the hangar.
Chapter 52
In case someone had heard the guard's squeak, I dropped to the floor and told the door to open. I crawled forward enough to check first toward the hangar entrance and then in the other direction; no point in taking chances any earlier than necessary. All clear.
I launched myself up, slung the outside guard's rifle across my back, and grabbed mine from where it still leaned against the corridor wall.
I dashed to and then past the hangar door, staying well back from it on the off chance it was set to open automatically. I dropped to the ground once again, stayed tight to the corridor wall, and crawled forward, my rifle in front of me.
I reached the door.
Nothing happened.
I sighted the rifle at a spot just on the door's other side and about a meter and a half high, then told the door to open.
It did.
The guard on the far side turned to see who was entering.
Before he could look down and spot me, I shot him in the chest. As he was falling, I leaned away from the wall and pointed the rifle at the part of the opening directly in front of me and at about the same height as before.
The other guard leaned forward to take a look.
I meant to hit his chest but he was short, so I him in the neck.
He fell backward.
I rolled to my left and out of sight of anyone inside the hangar. I pushed up quickly and glanced around the corner of the still open door.
Wei and McCombs were staring at the guards I'd shot.
Wei's three guards were running toward them, shouting instructions.
I couldn't hear their words, though—I could only see their mouths moving—because right then a gigantic roar slammed into the hangar and smacked away all other sounds.
All hell broke loose as Lobo rocketed in hard, small-caliber weapons bristling on his front, rear, and sides, his thrusters loud to maximize confusion. He settled to a hover a few centimeters above the floor.
Over the machine frequency he said, "Status?" At the same time, the running guards dropped. He was fast; I never saw any of his guns fire.
"Green," I said. "Did you kill them?"
"No," he said, with no trace of the exasperation he had every right to feel because he'd agreed to take my orders and not kill anyone unless there was no other option.
I darted inside and to the cover of the large container to the right of the door, which slid shut behind me. "Anyone else in the hangar?"
"No," Lobo said, "within the limits of my sensors."
Wei and McCombs spotted me. Wei pointed at me.
"Tranking Wei," I s
aid. I raised my rifle.
"No!" Lobo said. "We have to leave immediately and head to the CC ship, so I won't have much time with him. I need to talk to him."
"Fine," I said, not lowering my weapon but relaxing my finger on the trigger, "but if he even annoys me, you trank him or I will."
"Agreed," Lobo said.
"You can talk while I go for the kids," I said, "though I won't have much time."
"After you've locked Wei inside me," Lobo said, "I estimate you'll have no more than twenty minutes. Worst case, though, I can run and use him as barter if they capture you."
Such an optimist. "Got it," I said.
Lobo settled to the ground and shut off his thrusters. My ears rang a bit from the noise they'd endured, but otherwise I could hear well enough in the now quiet room, and the nanomachines would fix the ear damage soon enough.
I kept my rifle pointed at Wei and McCombs and advanced on them. "You two!" I said. "Hands on your heads." No point in blowing McCombs' cover if I could avoid it; maybe she could fake an escape and come back later for any research data we were unable to retrieve today.
She complied immediately, her head swiveling between me and Wei in a pretty good imitation of terror.
Wei stared at me for several seconds, shrugged, and also placed his hands on his head.
A hatch opened in the side of Lobo nearest us.
"Get inside," I said.
"You're the one who tried before," Wei said. It wasn't a question. "You ruined so much of Andrea's beautiful house."
"Get in the ship," I said, "or I'll shoot you and drag you in."
"Thank you," he said, "for your restraint."
"Don't thank me yet," I said. "I still might shoot you."
Wei turned and walked slowly toward Lobo.
McCombs followed him.
I trailed her by a meter and stayed to the side so I had a clear shot at Wei. I felt the seconds dripping away like blood leaving my body. I had so little time. Some of the kidnapped children had to be alive, if not Pri's son at least some of them. They had to be.
Overthrowing Heaven-ARC Page 34