As he walked, his eyes sought the locations for the sharpshooters they had hidden around the building’s perimeter. He saw a pair of Delta soldiers patrolling the perimeter, their drakeskin armor covered over by Alliance MP uniforms. He knew another pair was mixing in with the crowd behind the stanchions, their armor masked by civilian attire.
He and Sasha were dressed in discreet suits, a compromise they gauged would allow them to blend on either side of the stanchions.
Gabe kept one eye on his overlay, his other scanning the crowd as he strode along the far side of the institute, opposite its entrance. He felt like Pascal, all coiled energy, pacing back and forth, waiting for something to happen—what, he did not know.
Movement caught his eye a few blocks away. The figure’s actions were furtive as it slid into an alleyway. The action was enough to set his radar off.
He took off after the person, reaching out to Ell and Sasha on a private channel. {I may have spotted something,} he sent, dropping a pin on the alleyway his target had disappeared into. {Going to investigate.}
{Take someone with you,} Sasha suggested. {Risa is nearby. I’ll send her your way.}
She highlighted the woman’s icon on the team’s net.
{Tell her to hustle. I can’t lose this guy.}
Gabe sped up, reaching the corner just in time to see the man descend a set of sunken stairs. The area map Ell had supplied indicated they led to a subterranean tunnel system.
{Ell, you said summit security decided the tunnel system was too far away to be a factor?} he asked.
{Yes. It’s a few dozen meters away, through durasteel-laced ceramacrete. They figure the amount of work it would take to tunnel through all that would be high-profile, and ruled it out.} She sounded as if she were quoting from a report.
{This is your turf. Do you agree with that assessment?}
She paused. {Not to sound trite, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. You and I have both seen enemies go to great lengths to accomplish their goals.} She paused. {Also, I don’t think they were taking a bioweapon into consideration when they wrote that report. How large would a tunnel need to be to deploy a weapon microscopic in size?}
{Agreed.}
He reached the stairs and, after a quick glance behind him to see if he could spot Risa, began to descend.
He failed to notice the shadow that detached itself from a nearby wall. It waited for the Delta operator to pass after him, and then slipped from the shadows to trail behind.
* * *
Micah’s frustration built as he paced the back of the crowded ballroom. The press of bodies was stifling, and he adjusted his suit’s temperature for the third time since his arrival.
{This is ridiculous,} he reported. {This room is crammed, and this is just the protective detail people. It’s already next to impossible to get a search done in here. Once the brass arrives, you can forget about finding anything.}
There was no way he’d bring the animals into this situation. Sneaky Pete would freak out, and Pascal would likely swipe at someone with unsheathed claws out of sheer annoyance.
{Unless we can clear the room, the animals are a no go,} he added. {I’m not doing much good in here, either.}
{Copy that. We’ll keep the animals back with us,} Quinn replied.
Sasha’s voice came on the line. {I’ve been trying to convince summit security to give us one last shot at that room since Dent’s ship is delayed, but no luck so far. Just do the best you can. Maybe we’ll get lucky—or they’ll slip up.}
Micah could tell Foxtrot’s leader didn’t believe it any more than he did, but he sent her a two-click, and turned back to the ballroom with a sigh.
* * *
Ell listened in on the chatter from the combat net while her attention roamed the streets below. For this op, she’d once more donned the mantle she once wore as a Unit sniper.
She lay prone along the rooftop of the bank building across the street, her sniper rifle’s smartlink system connected to her drakeskin’s combat HUD. As her gaze swept those milling about on the street, her rifle’s reticle automatically followed. If she stopped to examine a suspicious person, the weapon’s sights locked onto them as well.
She hated using it, and had never done so when she’d been active duty, but she’d been NCIC now for two years, and the situation’s sudden escalation hadn’t allowed her the time to fully knock the rust off her skills.
Her gaze landed on the alleyway entrance down which Gabe had disappeared. She hadn’t heard from him since he’d descended into the tunnels, and she was beginning to get worried.
Ell heard a noise behind her and rolled, bringing her weapon up, but there was nothing to see. The barrel of her rifle tracked the shadowed wall of the building that abutted the bank as she sought the source of the sound.
A shadow separated itself from the wall, and resolved into a figure Ell had not seen in two years: the Akkadian assassin she’d hunted halfway across Hawking, only to have her slip through the team’s net.
The assassin stepped slowly forward, hands raised as if in surrender.
Ell knew better than to fall for that. Her finger moved toward her rifle’s trigger.
Then the woman called out in a voice low and filled with urgency, “Sergeant Cyr, wait! I’m here to stop the bioweapon.”
UNEXPECTED ALLY
Downtown Midland
Hawking Habitat
Gabe’s trip down into the tunnel wasn’t proving to be fruitful. His quarry had disappeared.
He nodded toward one of several locked doors that lined the walls. “He must have gone through one of those,” he told the Delta operator standing beside him.
The specialist looked as unhappy as he felt.
“We could go after him,” Risa suggested. “I have a set of LockPiks on me.”
“No,” Gabe said. “Most of these probably lead to basements in nearby buildings, and we have no idea which one he used. I’m not willing to break into private property without good reason. He could be legit for all we know.”
Risa nodded her understanding and fell into step with him as he called up the area map.
“According to this, we should be abeam the institute right…here.” He came to a stop and studied the tunnel wall.
All he could see were a few small access ports.
He stepped up to the nearest one. Placing his palm on the panel’s handle, he pressed it, only to find it locked.
He stepped back and motioned to Risa. “I’ll take that LockPik now.”
Risa stepped forward and applied the nano package. The panel swung open, and they peered inside, but saw nothing more than a junction box for a sewage line.
“Well, shit,” Risa muttered.
Gabe snorted. “Literally.”
She shook her head and sealed the box up, and they headed back toward the surface.
As they walked, Gabe pulled out the cylinder that held his surveillance microdrones, and sent the command to recall the swarm.
He thought he’d found something when they first descended, and the drones had registered a brief hit almost immediately. Oddly, the blip seemed to come from behind him, not in front. He’d tasked a few of the drones to investigate further, but their scans showed nothing more than a tunnel rat scurrying into a crevice.
Marking it down as a sensor glitch, he’d sent them forward to join the rest.
Risa hadn’t had any more luck with her drones than he’d had with his.
“Sorry this didn’t pan out, sir,” she said, her hand outstretched to catch her drone swarm as they dropped back into their container.
“Not your fault.” Gabe shot one last thoughtful look at the tunnel’s walls. On impulse, he reached out to Rafe.
{What can I do for you, Agent Alvarez?}
Gabe’s hand stroked his jawline. {Did I hear that your wife has something to do with Hawking’s cylinder maintenance?}
There was a startled note in Rafe’s voice when he replied. {Yeah, Cass is their chief engin
eer. You run into a maintenance problem down there?}
The agent’s eyes traveled the length of the tunnel. {Not maintenance. I need her to do a scan. There’s a subterranean tunnel a few blocks away from the institute. Protective Services dismissed it as a possible threat, but I’m not so sure about that.}
{You want her to investigate?}
{I’d like her to scan the ceramacrete between the tunnel wall and the institute, see if she finds anything suspicious.}
Rafe grunted. {You see anything that set off an internal alarm?}
{Nothing concrete.}
Rafe laughed, and Gabe grimaced. {Sorry. Bad pun.}
{I’ll get her right on it,} the major assured him. {Might take a few hours, though, so don’t be surprised if you don’t hear back from either of us immediately.}
{Understood.}
Gabe cut the connection and then, after a final look around, motioned up the stairs. “Come on. Let’s get back topside.”
* * *
Across the street, on the bank’s roof, Ell kept the assassin centered in her reticle as she thought through how she wanted to handle this stalemate.
The matter was taken out of her hands as the woman began to slowly step forward.
“Don’t. Move,” Ell ground out, and the assassin instantly arrested her progress.
“Sergeant Elodie Cyr. Special Agent Cyr,” the woman tried again. “We have been adversaries before, but in this, we are allies.” She made a show of carefully and slowly pointing to the institute, her palms remaining open, her feet rooted to the spot. “You know there is a faction that has targeted the summit. You suspect there is a bioweapon. Those policing the event believe you have found all the cylinders… You have not.”
Ell motioned the assassin away from the shadows. After a brief hesitation, the woman complied. When she stepped into Hawking’s bright sunlight, Ell could see that she was clad in Yinshen light armor, the Akkadian equivalent of drakeskin.
“If we really are on the same side and you truly do want to stop this bioweapon, then why are you jamming my wire?” Ell demanded.
The woman’s eyes were dark and unreadable. “I needed time to speak with you, to present my case.”
“Why me?”
The assassin cocked her head. “You are zhídé de duìshǒu. A worthy opponent.”
Ell lifted her gaze from the reticle to look the woman in the eye. “You called me that when you were here before.”
The assassin inclined her head ever so slightly. “It is an honor few receive.”
“Why me?” she repeated.
“Your assistant, Quinn. He knew of the beads.” The assassin turned her head, and the light caught her hair. Woven into the brown strands were beads of a similar color. They blended in, unnoticeable if one didn’t know to look for them.
“So?”
Unaccountably, a quick smile graced the assassin’s face, and her eyes flashed in amusement. “He is wrong on most counts. You will tell him I said so. But there is one thing he has correct about us. We live by a strict code of honor. There is no honor in a kill like the one planned here.”
Ell’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not buying it. You’ll use any means necessary to carry out your orders. Akkadia killed fourteen thousand on that yacht—what’s a few dozen more?”
The assassin’s head jerked up. “What yacht?”
“Didn’t you know? The seal on that last vial was broken before your people got hold of it. It ended up infecting a cruise ship. When your scientists altered it, it changed within those people, too. Fourteen thousand innocents, some of them children. All dead.”
The assassin’s expression didn’t change, but Ell could feel a strange tension ripple through her.
“We did not know.”
“It makes you no less culpable.”
“It makes them no less culpable.”
Ell cocked her head at that, but before she could ask what the woman meant, the assassin made a fluid motion with her hand.
Ell tensed, readying herself for an attack that never came. Instead, her wire came back to life.
“Contact your Quinn. Only him, please. Ask him if an Akkadian assassin would condone the use of a virus such as this to kill.”
Ell pinged her assistant, relieved to hear his voice flood her mind.
{Yeah, boss? You need something?}
{Need an answer, quick. What would an Akkadian assassin think of this bioweapon? I mean, they use poisons, don’t they?}
There was a brief silence.
{Boss? That’s an odd question—}
{Just answer it.}
{Well, the way the virus works, it’s not really the kind of weapon an assassin would use. It doesn’t fit their profile,} he replied, but his voice sounded uncertain.
{Elaborate,} she ordered, and she could tell her tension had telegraphed itself to him by the way his own responses sped up.
{Yes, they use poisons, but they’re quick ones.}
Quinn paused a beat, and when he came back, his voice sounded a bit out of breath.
{All their kills are fast—unless there’s a blood vengeance at stake. Plus, they’ve never been into mass murder. They like to do things one on one, up close and personal.}
{Thanks.} Ell ended the comm and stared at the assassin, who was standing perfectly still, hands raised in the air, patiently awaiting the verdict. “Say I believe you. How do we stop this?”
The assassin let a data chip fall from her hand to the rooftop’s ceramacrete surface. “The agents responsible will be at this location, but it must be your team that apprehends them, and you must bring Asher Dent as witness. He must see the treachery firsthand.”
The assassin’s eyes burned into hers. “If I see others, the deal is off. I trust only you and your people.”
The silence stretched between them, and Ell risked another look down at the chip that lay on the ground at the woman’s feet.
“Well, damn,” she whispered after another long moment. “Now what the hell am I going to do with you?”
“You’re going to tell her to lie face-down and place her hands behind her back so I can cuff her,” a hard voice said. Quinn stepped through the roof’s door, his weapon trained on the assassin.
A look almost of amusement crossed the woman’s face. “Tell Agent Alvarez his instincts are correct. The attack will come from below.”
In the next instant, she vanished.
BLINDSIDED
Akkadian safehouse
Midland
Hawking Habitat
The team that Colonel Marceau had assembled for the Hawking mission was made up of professionals handpicked from the Tèzhǒng’s best operatives. They were holed up in a safehouse near the institute, and it was here that Dacina had led Che the night before.
Their middle-of-the-night arrival was noted immediately. Had it been anyone other than him, Che knew the trespassers would have been dispatched with quiet efficiency. Instead, the ostovar leading the group bowed them inside and quickly cleared a room for Che’s private use.
It was now the morning of the planned attack. The ostovar in charge had just intercepted an update from a lookout and sought Che out to give his report. A lesser soldier trailed behind, carrying a ceremonial coffee set.
Che waved for the ostovar to join him and shot Dacina a questioning look. She refused as always, preferring instead to stand guard at his back.
The lesser soldier began the prep work, setting out the materials for the ritual grind-and-pour. Tradition dictated that business not be conducted until the first sip had been properly addressed, and so they waited in silence for the soldier to complete the weaving of the water over the grinds.
With a bow, he placed the cups before his superiors, and awaited Che’s sign.
The general waved his hand before the steaming cup on a slow inhale, scenting the bitter aroma. He nodded his approval, and the soldier gathered the ritual service. With another bow, he departed.
Che gestured to the ostovar’s coffee, a
nd the man accepted the invitation, his hand cupping the steam so that he might breathe the bean. The two completed their first sip, Che hiding a grimace as he nodded to the man.
He’d forgotten the hardship of deployment; the grind was never fresh, the flavor harsh.
“Please,” Che said, “begin your report.”
The ostovar wasted no time with pleasantries, jumping straight into the topic. “The canisters with the virus have been inserted into the channels we drilled through the tunnel. They are seated behind the ballroom’s walls, and will remain dormant until activated.”
Che felt the assassin shift behind him, and wondered about it. Her movements were always deliberate, detected only when she wanted them to be.
He made a mental note to ask her once the ostovar finished his update.
She had disappeared earlier that morning, no doubt to confirm for herself that their location was secure. His Dagger was nothing if not diligent.
To his utter shock, she spoke.
“And they will be enough to eliminate your target?” she asked in a low voice.
Surprise registered briefly on the other man’s face, but at Che’s nod, he answered the question.
“We will wait until the ballroom doors have been sealed, and everyone is seated. The virus should permeate the enclosed space within thirty minutes after the canisters are activated,” the ostovar said. “At that point, Asher Dent, and everyone else attending the defense summit, will have inhaled enough of the virus for it to qualify as a lethal dose.”
The assassin stepped back into the shadows and did not disturb Che or the ostovar any further.
Once the ritual coffee was complete, the ostovar took his leave. As the door closed behind him, Che rose and walked over to the window of the safehouse. He looked out upon the quiet side street that fronted the apartment building, his mind on Dacina’s unusual behavior.
The Chiral Protocol – A Military Science Fiction Thriller: Biogenesis War Book 2 (The Biogenesis War) Page 30