He immediately noticed the difference in their connection. It was at once the same and yet infinitely deeper than their chiral connection, a melding of their two consciousnesses into one.
The fidelity was such that their enhanced senses immediately intuited the surface-to-air missile that had just been launched at them from below.
{{Incoming!}} the Jonathan/Micah merge shouted. {{Brace for maneuvers!}}
In the same instant and without conscious thought, the Micah/Jonathan merge side-slipped the Firestrike, and the missile rocketed past. It was a move no human could have replicated.
Boone was on it in an instant, the ship’s lone operational laser slicing through the missile as it wobbled, seeking to acquire lock once again.
{{There they are,}} Jonathan/Micah sent, and a heat map showing five figures appeared on the main screens.
Micah/Jonathan sent the ship into a corkscrewing dive as another missile launched, pulling up just short of the trees’ canopy.
There, a barrage of automatic fire pinged against the hull. The merge saw a telltale light indicating Asha had popped the port hatch. She and Thad were braced on either side, their P-SCARs aimed down at the terrain below, laying down covering fire.
{Can that big brain merge manage to drop our load on those yahoos without getting us blown out of the air?} Thad asked.
{Or we could just keep playing shoot-the-Firestrike until they run out of ammo,} Asha quipped.
You maneuver, I’ll handle scan.
Micah wasn’t sure where the thought originated from, him or Jonathan. At the moment, he didn’t really care.
The merged man sank more deeply into the connection, and with it came a hyper-awareness of the hillside below. The part that was Jonathan brought up the image of a tree that had split down the middle. He rotated it and then tagged its base.
Five-second burst, the Jonathan merge sent.
Micah saw immediately what his other-self meant. The merge knew they were communicating too quickly for the team to follow, so they consciously slowed their thoughts long enough to transmit to Boone.
The sniper nodded his understanding, and the Micah part of the merge called out for the team to brace once more.
Will need to be fast, the Jonathan part warned.
May get bumpy, the Micah part agreed.
The merge turned the ship into a modified strafing run, and the Firestrike went hurtling down toward the Akkadians taking cover beneath the trees. At the last instant, with ground fire streaking up to meet them, Micah/Jonathan whipped the Firestrike up into a knife edge, the ship skidding between two trees as Boone let loose with the laser.
A series of well-placed short bursts toppled a tree on top of where the Akkadians huddled. They scattered, and the Firestrike kept pace, the Micah part of the merge slaloming between trees as the Jonathan part handled the release of red fire retardant.
A steady stream poured out, coating the terrorists. Immediately, the tracking nano Asha had injected into the bladder began to light up, and Thad connected with Gabe to pass along the trackers’ telemetry.
Time slowed, and then resumed its normal march as Micah separated from the merge, his thoughts his own once more.
DEBRIEF
Merki Institute
Midland, Hawking
Thad dropped Micah off at the Merki Institute before he and the team headed back to Ceriba on Wraith. Three virologists from the CID’s Hawking branch were waiting in full hazmat dress, and Torgen had spirited both Pascal and Sneaky Pete in through a side door. All that remained was for Micah and the chiral animals to run a sweep of the ballroom.
It was unfortunate the Akkadians had been clever enough to clad the canisters in mimetic material programmed to project its surroundings onto its own surface when probed. It would have been much more convenient to simply scan the walls to identify their locations.
The virologists had shot down Protective Services’ suggestion that they cut into the composite sheeting to reveal the space behind the walls. Though everyone assumed the canisters were situated down low, where wall met floor, no one was willing to risk cutting into one if their intel was incorrect, or if they guessed wrong.
That left the low-tech animal detection method. Micah could tell the virologists weren’t thrilled with this unorthodox approach.
Stepping into the ballroom, he set Sneaky Pete down by the nearest wall. “Okay guys, you know the drill.”
Pascal began prowling the perimeter of the room, head lifted, lips pulled back slightly as he scented the air. The ferret alternated sniffing the wall and the baseboard, tiny hands patting the surfaces.
He came to a sudden stop. Patting the wall, he sent, {Bad-sweet, here, here!}
Micah bent to examine the wall, marking where Pete had laid his paw. He pulled a laser cutter from his pocket and began working it around the ceramacrete surface.
{Careful, sir,} one of the virologists called out.
Micah ignored him, prying the plug he’d etched from the wall. Behind it gleamed a dull metal shape. He reached in, extracting a cylinder that exactly matched the ones they’d found yesterday, and placed it in the glove box one of the scientists held open for him.
{That’s one down, ten to go,} Micah sent.
{Nine,} he corrected, as Pascal called out that he’d found one, too.
{How’s it going in there?} Rafe’s voice intruded on the search inside Micah’s head.
{Three down, seven to go,} Micah reported as he knelt by the next spot Pete indicated.
{Thought you might be interested to know we found an Akkadian shadow ship snugged up against one of the access ports on the backside of the Belly Band.}
Micah sat back on his heels. {No shit? Is that how the assassin got here? Those ships aren’t big enough to have carried the entire terrorist group. Don’t only seat one, two at most?}
{Yes, and Asher Dent is demanding that we hand it over. He and General Josza are heading back to Akkadia soon, and they’ll be towing it behind the diplomatic ship.}
Micah stood as Pascal swung his head over to look at him. {Hope someone manages to get some good scans of it before we do that. What about the terrorists?}
{Dent wants them extradited to Eridu, but we used the ship as a negotiation point. Since the attack occurred in Alliance space, they’ll be tried here.}
Micah handed the next canister off to the virologists. {I’m surprised the Coalition didn’t want a piece of that.}
{Oh, they did. They’re sending representatives to Parliament House to contest the decision.}
{Popular guys,} Micah muttered, moving to the next spot where Pete was patting at the wall.
{It doesn’t matter who doles out their punishment, I suppose, as long as it happens. Speaking of which, do you have any idea how long it took the Olympic Park firefighters to remove that red goo from the prisoners?} Rafe’s voice shook with laughter.
{They’re lucky we used the fire retardant on them, instead of the stuff that depletes oxygen. Don’t think they would have survived that,} Micah retorted.
{Don’t think the settled worlds would have missed them, if you had.} There was a pause. {So, you’re letting Yuki handle Wraith all by herself these days?}
Micah had wondered if Rafe would ask about who was piloting the ship Micah normally flew. It felt odd to keep Rafe in the dark about his cloning, especially since Thad had just blatantly violated the ghosting mandate that kept him and Jonathan from appearing in public together.
Despite this fact, Micah knew he still didn’t have clearance from Valenti to let Rafe in on the facts about Micah’s existence. That meant he couldn’t know Jonathan had been the one to fly the Helios to Hawking.
He phrased his response to Rafe’s question with care.
{Well, after me, she knows Wraith best—but she’s not alone. Snell asked us to help train a new Shadow Recon pilot, a chief warrant, named Hyer. My guess is that Snell sent her along, and she’s flying left seat.}
Contrary to conventional spacec
raft, the Helios pilot sat right seat, and the copilot sat left.
{Ah, gotcha,} Rafe responded. {Soon as you’re done there, bring the menagerie and head to the hangar. Everyone’s regrouping there.}
{Will do.}
Rafe dropped the connection, and Micah did a swift count of the recovered canisters, realizing they’d completed the task while he and Rafe conversed.
“We’ll take it from here, Captain. Thanks for your help,” one of the virologists said.
Micah nodded and then turned to Pascal and Sneaky Pete. “Ready to go?” He reached down for the ferret as Pete patted his pants leg with a paw.
Pascal stropped Micah’s legs, depositing black fur on his pants in the process. {Yes. And that was a three-steak job.}
“I’ll be sure to pass that along to Colonel Valenti when we return. Did you do another sweep, just to make sure you didn’t miss anything?”
The Ceriban hunting cat shot him a look from baleful green eyes. {Cats don’t miss.}
“Humor me, and I’ll get the colonel to throw in another steak.”
Pascal huffed but obligingly strolled the perimeter one last time.
Micah knew the assassin’s information reported ten canisters, but he preferred to ‘trust but verify’ before giving the heads-up to the other teams to come in and check their work. He knew none of the star nations’ protective service details would be comfortable letting their charges in without first having eyes on, themselves.
The big cat’s jaw dropped open as he scented the air. He padded slowly about the room, pausing occasionally, his head swiveling. After a complete circuit, he came to a stop once more before Micah.
{Was extra careful. Six steaks.}
* * *
Sam envied the team’s ability to grab sleep wherever and whenever they could. The almost six-hour journey from the base where she’d been imprisoned had seemed interminable.
Then there had been the unexpected three-hour stopover at Hawking, where she and the Unit teams were told to lay low and not leave the ship. Thad had yet to explain what went down there, but when he, Asha, and Boone returned, the Marine had a satisfied look on his face.
Finally, they were on their way back to Ceriba.
The Marine’s laugh broke into her reverie, and she looked over to meet his amused gaze.
“Bit impatient are you, cher?”
At her confused look, he pointed to her knee, which was bouncing as if it had a mind of its own.
She blew out a breath. “I’m… just ready to put this all behind me. And I have a lot to go over with Admiral Toland and the rest of the CID.”
“Yeah, about that….”
His humor fled, and Sam felt herself tensing.
“There’s been an incident. The colonel asked me to brief you before we landed.”
He began to tell her about the thief who had stolen the vials, only to keep one for himself. As the tale unfolded, Sam felt horror grow within her. Alongside that horror came a terrible guilt.
* * *
Rafe had a ship waiting at the Belly Band to deliver Micah and the animals back to the hangar, where the team was waiting for them aboard a Nimitz Helios. Ell was there too, at Valenti’s request.
Their return flight was a quiet one, everyone taking the time to decompress in their own way. They’d just landed back at Humbolt Base when Jonathan touched Micah’s mind.
Welcome back, brother. Come by the hangar in a few? Need to show you something.
He didn’t elaborate, but Micah could tell there was something more going on.
Be right there, soon as I drop off the animals.
He let the connection lapse as he parted ways with the team, Sneaky Pete in his arms and Pascal at his heels.
“You did good today,” he murmured as he rubbed the ferret’s head.
{No more bad-sweet?}
He laughed. “Nope, you got ’em all.”
Harper was waiting in the bullpen to take the ferret off his hands.
“Director’s on his way down in half an hour,” Hyer called out from the situation room. “I got pizza. Oh, hey, boss! Welcome back.”
“Did someone say pizza?” Gabe groaned as he settled into a chair.
Hyer grabbed a few slices and slapped the plate down in front of him.
“Thanks,” he said around a huge bite.
She shrugged it off. “Just don’t let the colonel see you eating it.”
“Why’s that?” Micah asked, grabbing a slice off Gabe’s plate.
The agent scowled and moved it out of Micah’s reach.
“Because a certain crew chief pulled double duty last time, and I found tomato sauce smeared all over the comm console the next morning,” Valenti said as she entered.
Gabe sat up, but Valenti waved him back down.
“Eat your pizza.” She dropped a set of plas sheets on the bullpen’s center table. Tapping them with one finger, she nodded toward the SCIF. “Half an hour. Grab food, a shower, a nap. Just don’t be late.”
Heads nodded as the colonel exited the way she came.
Micah moved toward the lift. “I’m going down to the hangar. See you in a few.”
Gabe, mouth full, made a shooing gesture with his free hand.
Down in the hangar bay, Micah stared up in frustration at Wraith’s lowered ramp.
What do you mean, I can’t come up? She doesn’t want to see me?
Inside was the one person he’d come down to see. The woman he’d been quietly worrying about for the past several days. If he hadn’t been literally the only human in existence who could disarm those bioweapons without risk to himself, nothing would have kept him off the Proxima mission.
Jonathan’s mental tone was sober. She doesn’t want to see anyone. She’s blaming herself for the deaths on that yacht, bro.
Micah dragged a frustrated hand through his hair. It’s not her damn fault. No one blames her.
There was a pause.
Just give her a few minutes. Thad’s with her. Let him work some of his Cajun magic on her.
Micah blew out a breath. Yeah, okay. He looked at his chrono. We’re due in the SCIF in twenty minutes.
We’ll be there.
Micah started to walk away, but couldn’t bring himself to go far. He braced himself against Wraith’s hull and dropped his head as he let the events of the past several days wash over him.
Jonathan came out and tapped him twice on the shoulder with his fist. Heads up, brother.
Micah turned and met Thad’s stare as he walked Sam down the ramp. His gaze dropped to the petite physicist who’d saved his life back on deGrasse. The utter defeat he saw in the eyes that stared dully out at the hangar tore at his heart.
He started toward her, but stumbled to a stop when Thad silently shook his head.
A connection sprang up from TF Blue’s leader, and Micah accepted it.
{Don’t think she can take much more right now, ami.}
{She’s not responsible—}
{She doesn’t see it that way. She made a deliberate choice to allow the Akkadian scientist to alter the virus in order to save the lives of three Alliance prisoners. In doing so, she killed everyone on that yacht.}
Thad’s choice of words caused hot anger to flare in Micah.
{That’s a pile of shit and you know it. She had no idea that vial had been compromised.}
Thad shook his head. {You know it, and I know it. That’s not how she sees it.}
{Well, did you tell her she’s wrong?}
Thad snorted mentally. {Hoss, what you think I’ve been doing for the past half hour?}
More than anything, Micah wanted to wrap Sam in his arms, erase the pain he saw etched on her face.
He approached as they waited in front of the lift. He didn’t say a word as he came to a stop beside them, just reached over and grasped her hand.
Thad released her as they stepped inside, and Micah enveloped her in a hug. It was then that Sam began to cry.
{I’ll update the colonel,} Thad
said. {I’d say take your time, but try not to take too long. Join us in the SCIF when she’s ready.}
Micah nodded and when the lift doors opened, he maneuvered Sam into one of the breakrooms, shutting the door behind them.
* * *
The SCIF doors opened to admit Micah and a subdued Sam. Micah caught Cutter studying his niece covertly as they entered, and knew the man would note her lowered head and red eyes.
His gaze shifted to Micah, who gave him a subtle nod.
Cutter relaxed slightly, understanding the unspoken message behind the nod. Sam was far from all right, but she was strong and she would recover.
Admiral Toland and Addy were the last to slip in, the doctor sparing Sam a quick glance before taking her seat.
The room was the same one Micah had entered just four days earlier, but it seemed as if a lifetime had passed since he had first heard the chiral material had been stolen.
Cutter nodded at Ell as the NCIC agent glanced curiously around. “Thank you for joining us, Agent Cyr.”
She gave him a wry look. “I’d say it’s a pleasure, but I have a feeling the reason you invited me here is to ask me questions I don’t have answers to.”
“Fair enough, but it’s as good a place as any to begin. Not everyone can claim to have been visited by an Akkadian assassin—and survived to tell the tale,” Cutter quipped. He straightened and looked around the table.
Micah knew it was a signal that the briefing was about to begin; he was proven correct when the director continued.
“Our analysts have pieced together a bit more information based on what Josza and our mysterious assassin provided. Apparently, the entire operation was indeed a rogue attempt by Rin Zhou Enlai to rid herself of a long-time adversary.”
Cutter nodded to Harper, and the analyst took up the tale.
“Enlai is currently missing, presumed dead,” she told them. “Asher Dent has been recalled home, and the premier has installed him as the new minister of state security.”
The Chiral Protocol – A Military Science Fiction Thriller: Biogenesis War Book 2 (The Biogenesis War) Page 32