by Justin Sloan
Glancing around at the decadence, he finally understood. He turned to Veles as he entered with a broad smile.
“The glamor, all of this,” Intrepid said with a glance around, “it’s a front?”
“Would they expect one of their happiest citizens to be behind so much?” Veles said and shook his head. “Come, the others arrived in random increments, as discussed. They’re below.”
“Below?”
“This way.”
Veles led him to the back room where a bowl of chicken breasts was thawing and Set was cutting vegetables. Seeing Intrepid eyeing the food hungrily, Veles said, “Just arrived yesterday. This is the guise for our little get-together, in case anyone’s asking. We’re celebrating my latest business venture and, of course, we’re doing so by wasting money on high-end steaks from Earth.”
“As opposed to the crunchy ones on Titan,” Intrepid replied.
“Make jokes and you might not get yours,” Veles said. At Intrepid’s look of surprise, he added, “Of course you’ll really get one when this mission is a success. I believe in a solid system of rewarding those loyal to me.”
“That and our payment, of course.”
“Of course.”
Veles went to the fridge and opened the door, smiling to show Intrepid it was lined with various imported beers. Veles then closed the door, hit a series of buttons and opened the door again. This time it wasn’t the inside of the fridge at all but a narrow stairway behind. Blue lights lined the way down, and Intrepid could honestly say this was his first time stepping into a fridge.
At least it wasn’t cold down there.
Veles followed him down and showed him the setup where team members were already taking spots at computers. A quick glance around showed Intrepid there was no computer for him.
“Where do you need me?”
Veles gestured to the stairs. “Aren’t you the inside man? Once you’re on board, you get the intel we can’t access from outside, and then we move in and out as fast as possible.”
That made sense, but he didn’t like it. He glanced back to see Swinger giving him a shrug. The others were already aware, apparently. Scorpio wasn’t there, as expected. He’d agreed to hang out in the guild on his own computer, waiting in case they needed him.
“Let’s do it then,” Intrepid said, and went back up the stairs. Before exiting, he turned back to his team and added, “In and out, guys. Don’t get me locked up.”
“That’s a promise, boss,” Swinger said.
Intrepid noted that Swinger was the only original member of the Looking Glass left in that room. He sighed and turned to find Set ready, as well as several others gathered in the kitchen. Worm was there, along with another guild member he recognized—a stocky, dark-skinned man they called Beetle.
“Good to see you,” Intrepid said, and they all clasped hands in turn, welcoming him. When the niceties were over, Veles held up a glass, waiting for Set to pour everyone else one and hand them out.
“To our grand venture,” Veles said, then drank up.
The rest followed suit. It was a solid drink, one Intrepid had never tried before, but it went down smoothly. Probably too high end for his general tastes or bank account.
After the toast, Set gave them each green worker jackets, then led them back out the main way, joining a group of other workers making for the docks. Apparently, they were going to have to do this as the real employees went about their normal work. Interesting.
Docks here were nothing like what he remembered. On Earth, a dock meant waves crashing, seagulls overhead, and the distant sound of children laughing as they ran across the sand or made a sandcastle. On the space station, it meant the low hum of transport ships, the chatter of PD soldiers, and the sounds of the so-called city in the relative distance.
On the other hand, instead of the vast oceans of the docks back home, there was endless space to stare out at. Earth wasn’t so far off, and looking at it from this perspective was a reminder that Marick and Alicia were out there, somewhere. He hoped. The fact that the Taipans hadn’t returned yet was, by his guess, a good sign.
Feeling that the whole scene was surreal, Intrepid followed Worm and Beetle into the transport ship from the rear. It wasn’t so unlike the one Marick had escaped into, though much larger. That one had been for inter-station trading, which usually wasn’t done with large quantities of goods. These ships, however, made stops at the mining operations on the asteroids and also at the terraforming operations when necessary. New Origins, New Hope, and the others had it all down to such a well-oiled machine that it would be hard to imagine Earth’s governments being able to step up and do anything remotely as efficient.
Yet, they were going to have to. As Intrepid and the others broke off from the rest of the group, he was bothered by a little voice asking if the governments would do any better. At least they hadn’t tried to take his memories, he told himself. But he couldn’t ignore the reasons private enterprises had risen up in the first place—more efficient and not being dissuaded from progress by politics and borders. There would have to be a new system, one that removed the negatives on both sides.
A look from Beetle silenced a regular worker they passed, who frowned but didn’t question them. They turned again, this time into a section of the ship with a door that was secured by two PD soldiers.
Worm glanced back nervously. Those PD soldiers weren’t supposed to be there. The others fell back, as was planned, to keep others from entering this part of the ship, but they seemed unsure of what to do in light of this new situation.
“You’re in the wrong part of the ship, friends,” one of the soldiers said, stepping forward. Intrepid recognized the young captain, a man he’d known in his past life as a Marine. Captain Legorn. At the time, the pompous jerk had been a young lieutenant, earning himself a reputation among the lower ranks when he had undermined a sergeant from another section and found a way to pull their operating funds into his own. Legorn prided himself on his wit and political skills, but as far as Intrepid knew, everyone else just thought he was a dick.
“Sorry, friend,” Beetle replied, not breaking his stride. “We must’ve taken a wrong turn.”
“Then you’d best turn around,” Legorn said, raising his rifle.
Since Beetle wasn’t stopping, neither would Intrepid. Worm’s hand went for his concealed pistol and Intrepid did the same, though he knew at least one of them was going down, if not more.
Captain Legorn braced himself and said, “Halt!”
Beetle had no intention of doing so. The captain’s finger went to his trigger and he was about to squeeze when the soldier at his side pressed something to his neck. Legorn shook, dropped the rifle, and then collapsed.
“One of ours?” Intrepid asked, freezing in surprise and seeing Worm glancing back at him with wide eyes. Worm shrugged.
“Not yet,” the PD soldier said, removing her helmet to reveal a dark-skinned woman with short hair. Her eyes darted about and she licked her lips, quickly stowing her stun baton and working to move the captain out of the way. “Someone going to help me here?”
Intrepid jumped to it while Beetle moved to the door and got to work, communicating with Swinger and the others via his earpiece. Apparently, he figured moving on with the job was the priority over asking this lady who she was and why she had just turned on the captain for them.
“You said ‘not yet,’ so…?” Intrepid asked, moving over to help her.
She stood, eyeing him, and nodded. “I was hoping this could be a sort of initiation.”
“I look familiar to you?” he asked, noting the way her eyes kept moving across his face.
“From somewhere. Just not sure where.”
“You’re looking at one of the main technical assassins of the Looking Glass,” Worm said, grinning.
Intrepid shot him a scolding look. That wasn’t information he needed proclaimed to every PD soldier that came their way.
“The group responsible for Stealth�
��s escape?” the woman asked and stuck out her hand, smiling.
“Marick is his true name,” Intrepid replied, accepting her hand and shaking it. “And you are?”
“My name’s Trish. Taipan, or… was. Marick and I worked together briefly. He pissed me the hell off with the way he hightailed it out of there, but I gotta admit, he made me think. I mean, I was already thinking about all this stuff with serving and being okay with not having many memories from before. Well, I wasn’t okay with it, and—”
“You always talk this much, Trish?” Beetle asked and waved Intrepid over. “You’re up.”
Intrepid nodded for her to come with him, pulling up the screen Beetle handed him as the doors opened. He made a few quick motions, checked for maps, and found the cargo log. Nothing to it.
“There,” he said, handing the screen back to Beetle, who noted it, swiped his hand forward, and then smiled as a line of light formed from the screen in front of them, leading the way to the prize.
As they jogged forward, Intrepid turned back to Trish. “So, Marick wasn’t the only one of you who had a problem with losing his memory?”
“Many of us aren’t,” she admitted. “You hear it in the dreams, the nightmares. But get a bunch of former Marines, soldiers and whatnot from around the world who are all tougher than the next, all trying to prove their loyalty and what good soldiers they are, and this is what you get.”
“A mindless hive of jackassess?”
She laughed. “Actually, yeah. But not Ste—er, Marick. And not me.” She paused for a moment, glancing over hesitantly, and then added, “And, I hope, not my brother for much longer.”
Following the line for a few more beats, they came to a cargo hold. There it was—the crate they were looking for. As Intrepid helped Beetle with it, Worm and Trish grabbed the sides for extra support.
“The brother’s one of you all?” Beetle asked as they moved.
“They call him Pete, since that’s his name.” She chuckled, but it was sad. “I’m not just doing this for me but for him, too.”
Intrepid asked, “And what exactly is it you’re doing?”
“Switching sides. I want to help. We were tipped off that you all would make a move for this, last minute like, so the captain came for me since the other Taipans are still gone, hunting down Marick. I hope they fail.”
“We can use all the help we can get, especially from the inside,” Worm admitted.
“But what you just said raises another question,” Intrepid pointed out as they reached the door where the others were waiting to take the crate off their hands. “You were tipped off. Means we might have our own traitor, right?”
He glanced down at the captain, still unconscious in the shadow against the wall.
“Which also means my betrayal won’t be secret for long,” Trish said. “At least, unless you all find out who it was ASAP.”
“Or you’re here to infiltrate us, sew doubt, and who knows what,” Beetle said, removing his equipment from the door.
Worm pulled out his pistol, aiming it at Trish. “Is that so?”
“Whoa, whoa,” she said, backing up and holding her hands high to show she wasn’t going for her weapon. “All I want to do is help, to teach these sons of bitches that taking away who we are isn’t cool, that it violates our rights as human beings.”
“Give her a chance,” Intrepid said, placing a hand on Worm’s arm to calm him. The man lowered the pistol and nodded.
“If you say so, yeah, sure,” Worm said and nodded, moving backwards for the door. “But we gotta move. Now.”
“She with us, then?” Intrepid asked, glancing back at Beetle since he seemed to be the most in charge in this little group.
Beetle scrunched up his lips, considered her, and then nodded. “Yeah, at least until we see what Veles has to say.”
Intrepid nodded, liking the idea of having a PD insider, one who knew the ropes. And who couldn’t like her after the way she’d knocked out Captain Legorn? A good kick to the face would’ve been a nice addition, but nobody was perfect.
Plus, he figured that if there was a rat in the group, she could be quite useful in finding out who it was.
“Welcome to the team,” he told her as they made their way out. “I’m Intrepid.”
She nodded. “Thanks. I look forward to taking down these bastards with you.”
He laughed. “You’ll fit right in.”
With that, they walked back out onto the docks with purpose, as if they belonged there. It probably didn’t hurt that it now appeared as if they had a PD soldier as an escort. Having her on the team felt like another reminder of why this was important. As long as there were others among the ranks who were questioning the system and who didn’t like having their souls yanked away from them without permission, he knew his fight was just.
16
Istanbul
Shrina couldn’t believe she was actually in Turkey. Stepping out of the plane, she glanced back, worried some agent would tackle her and put her under arrest, or worse, for misusing federal resources. Everything she had just done could get her kicked out of the FBI, ruin her shot at SIA, and likely destroy her chances at ever having a normal career.
But she’d made it and was close to finding out if her sister was actually alive. At the airport exit, she checked the coordinates she’d received against a tourist map. It looked like they belonged to a hostel between the palace and an old mosque that had once been a church. The water wasn’t far off, and she had to smile. Her sister knew she didn’t travel much, at least not like Alicia had, and she imagined this location had been picked as a way of rectifying her lack in the sight-seeing department.
Aside from a bit of illegal use of her position and a chance to be a tourist, she was about to either learn the truth about her sister or be caught in some sort of Taken-style trap. Whatever happened next, she was excited.
The west side of Turkey enjoyed all the advancements of the Americas—fancy hyperloop trains, flying pod cars, and also everything one would find in the less advanced countries, complete with old-style bikes. She hadn’t seen one of those except in pictures. Making her way to the hyperloop, she listened intently to the sounds of heavily accented English mixed with random words of Turkish and thought it a shame that so many people had moved away from their traditional languages. Cultural centers still taught mother tongues, but overall the world was moving to a unified language, and fast.
She bought her ticket with credits, glad they didn’t live in a draconian system where people had to exchange money, and then found a spot on a train headed for the large mosque. A tall, scruffy man with gray hair made room for her, offering up his seat and insisting when she refused. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she thanked him and took the seat, pulling her backpack up close to her chest as she stared out through the window. Everything about this place was beautiful.
The train moved off without a jolt, the magnetics of travel pulling them along smoothly and quickly. Spires and domes in the distance shone beautifully in the morning light, and she couldn’t help picturing herself back there hundreds of years ago when many of the spires hadn’t been metal and the domes not made of glass that flashed lights along the buildings. The remnants of an ancient civilization were certainly there, but she could already see the bridge that was now covered top and bottom with boxed housing and trade units, likely full of black-market types and worse. Gleaming skyscrapers that had likely risen up in the last fifty to one hundred years spoke of the change that was taking over Istanbul, though her wrist computer told her that much of Turkey was still like the old days, and much of the eastern half of Istanbul as well. If she had time and wasn’t killed or thrown in jail, she’d like to see for herself.
In spite of all this, she couldn’t push down the worry. Her younger sister was alone with their absent-minded grandparents. If Shrina didn’t return, how would that affect her? But if she did return with the news that their other sister was alive after all this time, that wou
ld have been well worth it.
The train rounded a bend and the closest hill was out of their way, leaving clear the view of the great mosque with what looked like spears on the sides of it, still as it had been for centuries. She pulled up the image of it on her wrist screen, glancing over the details. Once, it had been a Greek Orthodox Christian church, then a mosque, and it was now a museum, actually. Glancing over the images of old paintings and views from inside, she knew had to go there, at least.
Finally, she found her stop and paused at a cart for a gyro, amazed that anything could be so delicious. She wiped sauce off of her chin and headed for the hostel, eyes glancing over at the mosque from time to time, wishing she were there at the moment.
A gentle breeze blew across the city and the sun warmed her from where it had started to rise toward its zenith. She had no idea what would be next. She had the coordinates, but what if the other side got held up? Arrested en route? Killed? For all she knew, she could be waiting forever. But if she left, she would always wonder.
With another glance around, she noticed someone in an alley between two houses, looking her way, but when she stared, he stepped away and disappeared into a doorway. Turning back, she made her way to the hostel and hesitated at the doorway, realizing she didn’t want to check in as herself. She wasn’t sure what steps to take next.
As she stood, perplexed, a pebble fell from above. She glanced around, then up, and debated. With a sigh, she walked right in as if she were already staying there, passed the front desk and an elderly woman who didn’t even bother to look up, and made for the stairs. The hostel was only three stories tall, but when she exited onto the roof, the view blew her away. From up there, she could see the water and a lighthouse straight ahead, the mosque on one side, and another building that looked like a palace on the other side. It was stunning.