The Human Chronicles Saga : Boxset #2 (The Human Chronicles Saga Boxsets)

by T. R. Harris

  The last male member of Cain’s team was the former terrorist and galactic pirate Riyad Tarazi. He was an accomplished strategist and urban fighter who could never be underestimated. More than once, Tarazi had help foil the plans of the Klin, and indirectly, of McCarthy’s as well.

  Finally, the lone woman on the team: Sherri Valentine. Sherri was a study in contrasts: A former veterinary student, who after being abducted by Nigel’s forces had managed to escape from Klin custody to become one the most-feared assassins within the Fringe Worlds, working for none other than Kroekus of Silea during his criminal enterprise days.

  All-in-all, Cain’s Crusaders were not to be taken lightly, and hence the twenty-trained Human killers McCarthy brought with him to Pyrum-3.

  However, his greatest asset was the large, silver medallion he now wore around his neck.

  The scientist Kronis Nur had earned his million-credit bonus, having built the primitive control device Nigel now wore. Even though it wasn’t as small, fast or sophisticated as the Formilian device, it still was capable of reading Nigel’s thoughts and hacking into local electronic devices.

  And one of the first tests Nigel had undertaken with his new powers was to see if he could override the micro-processors found in flash weapons. The test had been a success and now Nigel pranced around the staging area on the mainland of Pyrum-3, six miles by sea from Cain’s base, feeling as invulnerable and indestructible as a man could feel.

  Nigel’s force had come in low from the opposite side of the planet until they arrived at the long spit of land that was the closest part of the mainland to Cain’s base. They had set down in a large field about a mile from the beach, where clumps of bright green, canopied trees grew. As McCarthy and his men set about unloading their equipment and inflating the Zodiacs they would use to reach the island, they noticed the dozen or so centaur-like creatures grazing near the trees. The large beasts appeared to be untroubled by the presence of the Humans, although occasionally one would lift it’s very Human-like head and look at them, before returning casually to its grazing.

  An hour after landing, the assault force set off for the beach, carrying three inflatable boats above their heads along with all their gear.

  As soon as they had disappeared over the first large sands dunes leading to the beach, Ka’lo, leader of the Cupin’los of Pyrum-3, set off in at a gallop for his domicile three quarter-mars away. There was a communication device there supplied by the Humans on the island. Even though Ka’lo did not understand who these other Humans were, the simple fact that they had landed on the mainland and not on the island meant they were probably not of Adam Cain’s herd. And they also carried weapons, lot of weapons, and boats in which to make the journey to the island. All-in-all, Ka’lo did not feel comfortable letting this information go unreported.

  And maybe if he could gain the favor of Adam Cain by reporting this to him, he would allow the other Humans to ride him and his fellow Cupin’los more often.

  By the time Ka’lo reached his domicile, McCarthy and his men were already halfway across the channel to the island. According to the charts they had studied, there was a large opening in the barrier reef facing the mainland where most of the access to the island flowed. It was dark when the force passed through the opening and entered the shallow lagoon, their boats silently powered by compact electric motors, ironically designed by Formilian engineers.

  The base was clearly defined on the island, brightly lit structures and a scattering of other perimeter lights around the one concrete dock jutting into the lagoon. McCarthy was in the lead boat, scanning the shoreline with a pair of night-vision binoculars. There was no one to be seen moving around the dock area and shifting to the large shell-shaped living quarters, he could make out two people standing on high balconies appearing to be having a barbeque.

  Nigel smiled. They think they’re back home, without a care in the world. This might actually be a cake-walk—

  Suddenly every light on the island went out! Nigel turned to see all his men also donning night-vision goggles just as he slide his down over his eyes, replacing the binoculars. He motioned for two of the boats on either side of him to spread out and head for the beaches on either side of the dock. He would still proceed to their primary LZ of the dock, but now it was obvious Cain had detected their presence.

  Even in the tense moment prior to engaging in battle, Nigel stretched out a thin smile. He felt with his new device and identified the main electrical cut off to the lights for the base, knowing that with a thought, he could turn them back on. But then Cain would know something was up. Cain knew McCarthy was working on learning the secrets of the Formilians. By overriding the cut off, Cain would know he had succeeded. So unless it was absolutely necessary, Nigel would keep his new powers a secret, at least until he had secured Cain and Valentine.

  All three of the boats made landfall within a few seconds of each other and the commandos poured out onto the shore and took up defensive positions. McCarthy and the eight men with him, including Carter Thomas, scrambled onto the dock and sprinted down the short deck before taking cover behind a series of crates and storage lockers. Each of his men carried Xan-fi flash rifles set on level-one, along with an M4-A1 assault rifle and 45-caliber sidearm. McCarthy knew he could control flash weapons, so he instructed his men to begin the assault with the energy guns, hoping that any countering force would also use the more readily available MK’s or Xan-Fi’s. If they did, then McCarthy would simply send a command to override the weapons of Cain’s defenders, hoping that they also chose to leave their real weapons – their carbines and HK’s – back at the arsenal.

  If not, then his men were ready for that, too.

  The squad to Nigel’s left had left the beach and entered a grouping of low storage sheds just to the left of the Ops Center building. Nigel knew two of the Humans had been three stories up only moments ago in the big shell-shaped building at the center of the three main structures. Another would undoubtedly be in the Ops Center, standing watch. That left only three more scattered around the grounds, and more-than-likely also in the central building. From the time lights went out into now would not have afforded the unsuspecting Humans enough time to form any organized defense. In one way this was good, in another not so much. If Cain’s force had consolidated to single location, then Nigel could have easily overwhelmed it with his vastly superior force. But now he had to contend with five or six individual points of defense. Nigel still had the advantage, but in this scenario he would suffer greater casualties.

  Just then, a sudden burst of staccato automatic weapon fire sounded off to his right. He looked over to see three of his men collapse. Shit! They were using real weapons – Human weapons. These Nigel could not control.

  His men opened up on a location about fifty yards away, near the entrance to the large hangar building. Knowing the layout of the facility as he did – thanks to the construction plans he was able to pull off the Library – he knew there were dozens of places to hide around the hangar building. He pressed the button on his should comm unit. “Proceed to the hangar. The shooter is probably long gone. Secure the area.”

  He watched as the remaining squad on his right – four men – scrambled off toward the hangar. As they neared the point where the original shots had been fired, the lights pointing down at the hangar entrance suddenly flashed to life. The four commandos, now blinded through their night-vision goggles, dove for the tarmac while ripping off their glasses. Three more lines of fire shot out from a point now to the right of the hangar, cutting down Nigel’s men where they lay.

  And then the night went dark again.

  Nigel had just lost seven commandos to a single gunman. He didn’t like how this was starting out.

  “Thomas, and the two of you, move to the right and position yourselves near that tanker, and take off your goggles. Get ready to shoot anything that moves. Go!”

  A moment later, Nigel felt for the light control for the hangar, and with a thought, caused
them to flash on again.

  As he was hoping, he caught the gunman moving to another position closer to the hangar. Stunned by the sudden bath of light, he hesitated, and Thomas and the other commandos opened up. The defender fell and lay there, unmoving.

  I hope that wasn’t Cain. I need him.

  In the meantime, the force to Nigel’s left had reached the Ops building and secured the doors. There were only two into the structure, and so only two commandos were needed to trap whoever might be inside, taking him out of the fight. The other five moved off to the living quarters where the bulk of the defenders should be located. They would deal with anyone in the Ops Center later.

  The thirteen remaining commandos reached the base of the living quarters without incident. There were stairs and an elevator in the building. Six of the apartments were located on the top floor, with three on the second level along with a large cafeteria/lounge area. The bottom floor, which was located just above the heads of the Commandos on the parking-ground level, contained environmental controls, power backups and other utility facilities. Nigel sent his commandos into the stairwell, and soon they emerged on the first floor without meeting any resistance.

  The second and third floors would contain the most people, not counting whoever might be in Ops, if any. By crowding them all into a floor or two, Nigel’s chance of capturing more of them in one place was looking better.

  His men secured the stairwell leading to the second floor and then took up positions guarding the doorway into the common room. Nigel came up near the door. It was locked but done so by an electronic device. The smile returned to Nigel’s lips. He sought out the control box and deactivated it with his mind. He then nodded to one of his men, who grabbed the handle and pulled open the door.

  From inside the room, Nigel could hear the sound of running. His men stormed into the large room, furnished with large couches, reading chairs and a scattering of dining tables. Someone was running for an exit door at the far end of the room. Nigel reached out and found the controls for the door, locking it instantly. He could hear the sounds of frustration erupt from the runner as he cursed the now-locked door.

  Nigel’s men closed in, and found a husky black man sitting at the base of the door, hands above his head. This would be Jamal Dawson. Nigel moved up to him; he was unarmed and more than a little pissed.

  “I thought fire codes said all these doors must remained unlocked at all times,” Nigel said with a sparkle in his eye. He reached past Dawson, who was now guarded by a dozen automatic rifles, and pressed on the handle. It opened effortlessly.

  Dawson’s mouth fell open and his eyes grew wide. “Well fuck me halfway to Nashville! I swear that thing wouldn’t open only a second ago.”

  “It’s all in the wrist, sergeant-major.” Nigel nodded and several of his commandos lifted Dawson from the floor and placed nylon-string handcuffs on his wrists behind his back.

  “Where are the rest of them?” McCarthy asked his prisoner. “We’ve already killed one out by the hangar.”

  Again, Dawson’s mouth fell open. “That would be Schwartz. He was over there working on the Phoenix – you bastard!” He struggled to reach Nigel but was held back by the commandos.

  “Relax Dawson,” Nigel said. “I didn’t come here to kill you, just to have a little talk with your boss. So where is Cain?”

  Dawson’s jaw tightened up. “I’m not telling you shit! You’re that bastard McCarthy, aren’t you?”

  “In the flesh, but again, I didn’t come here to kill anyone. I just want to talk with Cain.”

  “Find him yourself … before he finds you!”

  “Sergeant, if I have to go floor-to-floor and building to building, I will keep running into your people, and more of them will get killed. Just give me Cain and I’ll leave the rest of you alone.”

  Dawson hesitated. He looked around the room and Nigel could see him mentally counting the number of commandos. “There are more outside, too.” Nigel said, helping him out. “Keep this up and you’re all going to die.”

  Nigel saw Dawson’s shoulders slump. “He’s one floor up, along with Henderson and Sherri. Riyad’s over in Ops, or he was the last I heard from him.”

  “Any of them armed?”

  “They may be by now.”

  “Can you call them? It would be better if we could negotiate a truce.”

  Dawson just nodded. The commandos shoved him over to an intercom unit placed on the wall near the door. There was a keypad and a speaker grill.

  “One-one-one will get you building-wide.”

  “Thank you sergeant, you probably just saved the lives of the rest of your team.”

  Nigel punched in the code and then leaned in close to the speaker. “Good evening, Mr. Cain,” he began, hearing his own voice echo throughout the common room. “You probably have already guessed who has dropped by for a chat. I have your Mr. Dawson down here on the second floor, and I’m sad to report that it looks like Commander Schwartz has just resigned from your team, permanently. We can keep picking off the remaining four of you, or we can talk. The choice is yours.”

  Almost immediately the speaker crackled. “Schwartz is dead?”

  “That’s what I meant by his resignation.”

  “Yeah, I got that, you fucking bastard. What do you want to talk about?”

  “I promise you, I do not want to kill any other members of your team. I just want to talk, and then to make you a proposal. After that, I’ll leave.”

  There was a long moment of silence before Adam came back on the intercom. “All right,” Adam said, his voice trembling with anger, even over the speakers. “Riyad is in Ops. Let him come out unharmed and the rest of us will come down to you.”

  “Perfect, mate! Make your call and then will all have a chat.”

  27

  Ten minutes later the remaining five members of Adam’s team were in the common area, hands fastened behind their backs and seated together on two couches. Sherri was sobbing softly over the loss of Lee Schwartz while the men just glared at McCarthy with unadulterated scorn.

  Nigel stepped up in front of them. “I just want to tell you that Commander Schwartz took out seven of my commandos before we could put him down. He died a soldier’s death.”

  If this were meant to make them feel better, it was a catastrophic failure. Adam thought back to all the missed opportunities he had had to kill McCarthy over the years, and how if he’d done so, Lee would still be alive. The guilt was helping to feed his anger. “What do you want, Nigel? You’ve gone through a lot of effort for something. I’m sorry if Arieel is still alive, but there’s nothing you can do about that now. I’ve never pictured you as someone who does anything simply out of revenge.”

  Nigel raised his eyebrows and smiled. “I appreciate that, Mr. Cain. I would hope I wouldn’t.” He motioned for his men to take the other four to one of the apartments on the floor, leaving him alone with Adam.

  Once the room was clear, Nigel pulled a chair from one of the dining tables and turned its backside toward Adam and sat down, resting his arms on the backrest. “Here’s my proposition for you, Adam. I still want my war, and as we both know, the only thing that’s preventing it is that our lovely Arieel Bol still breathes.”

  “Those are the breaks, man,” Adam said. “She’s safely at home and there’s nothing either of us can do about that.”

  “Ah, yes, but there is. You can go see her again. The two of you are apparently very tight, as you are with the bosses of the Order. You could get in to see her, in spite of all the security.”

  “And tell her what? Nigel wants you dead, so please keel over?”

  “No, you don’t have to do that. All you have to do is step up to her and break her lovely neck.”

  Adam threw his head back with a loud laugh. “And why the hell would I want to do that?”

  “Because if you don’t I will kill the equally lovely Miss Sherri Valentine.”

  Adam felt himself go pale and weak. He sat for sever
al moments staring into Nigel’s eyes, eyes now filled with the sinister sparkle of the criminally insane. “You’re serious?” was all Adam managed to say.

  “Deadly serious, Mr. Cain. You see, I want my war and you’re the only one who can get close enough to the Speaker who also has the skills to kill without a weapon. After all, I doubt the Formilian’s would let even you close to their precious demi-god with a weapon. Yet you’re a trained killer, and she is just an alien. It will be a snap – a snap of her neck! And knowing how resourceful you are – as well as bloody lucky – you may even get away once the deed is done.”

  “And if I say no, then you’ll kill Sherri and everyone else here.”

  “Why wouldn’t I? They mean nothing to me. But if you do kill the Speaker, then I will let them all live, including yourself – if you manage to get away.”

  “What guarantee do I have you’ll keep your word?”

  “None … I’ve always wanted to say that!” McCarthy said, the insane look in his eyes growing more intense, more savage by the moment.

  Nigel’s really enjoying himself, Adam thought, probably some throwback to a childhood fantasy of being the arch-villain in a comic book.

  “You don’t have any choice, Adam. If you say no, I’ll kill Ms. Valentine right in front of your eyes, and in the slowest, most-painful way I can imagine – and I have quite the imagination when it comes to things like that. And now that I have even more captives, I’ll kill them, too. Lastly, I’ll set my attention on you. That will be the most fun. You won’t die quickly – hell you may not die at all! But if you do live, then you’ll be more grotesque, more hideous than any of the things we’ve seen out here. Need I go on?”

  Adam knew McCarthy was serious. He also knew he had no choice but to comply – at least for now.

  “So what now, are you going to ship them all off to your super-secret base or are you going to wait here while I go wring Arieel’s neck?” Adam had had his device on since he first got the call from Ka’lo. He could pick out the flash rifles carried by McCarthy’s men, but also knew they carried traditional weapons. And it wouldn’t do to have the flash weapons explode – if he could even do that at this stage in his training – not with his team nearby.