Gulch was working hard next to him, continuously talking to either Gothra’s roving units or their own gang and in-between blocking radio calls for help and answering calls to units that were even now unconscious in a warehouse. He took the time to marvel and appreciate what Gulch did for him, for them. He was skilled and calm under a huge amount of pressure. One wrong move and those in the field could die and yet no stress wrinkled his brow. How many times had he saved Grant’s life by doing this and never told? He always said everything had been fine and insisted that the three of them in the field had done all the hard and dangerous work. But it wasn’t true. When all this was over he should probably give Gulch a nice long holiday.
He himself was working from a map that Gulch had set up on a larger monitor, giving directions to the numerous groups of Shen Mi, telling them which ways to turn to follow the corridor and helping them avoid any of Gothra’s units that strayed into it.
He’d never met, nor heard of this Koey V, but he’d done a good job in convincing the Shen Mi to come. Especially as not only had the last time been a trap, but Koey had been involved in it. According to Regrette this was a good chance to convince the Shen Mi that Koey had nothing to do with it and shouldn’t be murdered by them. So he had and a Cantorvial by the name of Darckin had gotten in touch with Grant. He was still suspicious, but Grant could do Koey’s job better than Koey could. He knew what to say to make the deal, how to act and Darckin had agreed to it.
The Shen Mi were well connected, they knew that Gothra was well guarded and knew she would be until such time as this gang war had ended and she felt that she had shown enough strength for the Shen Mi to leave her alone. It was the way of such things, if you couldn’t end a gang within a certain time the war would eventually fizzle out and everyone would go back to normal, accepting that neither could get the upper hand. Knowing that to try again would be to spark another conflict. Gothra’s downfall would be that she thought of the Shen Mi as just another gang; no, they would not stop until she was in a very public grave.
Well not very public. It was a curse for the Shen Mi, the need to be secretive. It worked for them for the most part, but it meant that they couldn’t always do things they wanted to as it could draw attention to their existence. It was why they couldn’t launch a flagrant attack on Gothra’s skyscraper, send a Missile ship in to blow it up. As much as they’d like to. Still, they would kill Gothra and make sure the people who needed to know got the message.
When contact had been made it had gone to the top (considering how the last meet went for them) and Darckin had been with the Organisation for long enough to know that those at the top were wondering how someone as relatively low level as Gothra had gotten the drop on them. He knew that there were others like him looking into who might be pulling Gothra’s strings. For him to be tasked with this, for the Gang Leaders to risk another alliance, meant that they were worried and wanted to shut Gothra down as quickly as possible.
All of which meant that Grant was directing a number of small groups across the city, telling each one where to turn left or right; when to stop; when to go. It was exhausting, especially as they were staggered to surround the skyscraper and because the groups continued to split down smaller as they got closer.
Another dot representing a unit of Gothra’s henchmen disappeared and Grant commanded a group to proceed before splitting up at the next intersection.
***
Ahead of the Shen Mi the last marauding unit was picked up and taken to the warehouse. It was now brimming with Gothra’s gang and Tsyrker had left a gas bomb in there, slowly letting out its contents and keeping the gangers in a contented sleep. It was up to poor Gulch to play the right pre-recorded message for the right unit every time they were asked to check in and do his best impression if the recordings wouldn’t cut it. So far though, so good.
Hendricks stood in the shadows and watched the front doors. It was hard to see anything through them due to the angle and the tinting on the glass. For all intents and purposes it looked like any of the other skyscrapers that he had passed and had seen throughout the Universe. There was no obvious sign of guards or protection, but he supposed that would give away the true nature of the building.
They’d been briefed on what to expect by the lovely Rainsford. Such a nice girl for such a hard line of work. Rorckshift had spoken about her, he seemed to know more about her than she was letting on. Not that he was letting on too much either as it seemed to have a lot to do with his own shady past. It was all very enjoyable, all the mystery and adventure, Hendricks smiled to himself.
“Having fun?”
“Oh, Rainsford, how did you get here?”
He was in a service doorway and there was only enough room to fit two people snugly in the shadow. And yet she had joined him without him noticing.
“You’re smiling.”
“I was thinking about you,” he replied.
She glared at him.
“Oh, not like that. Just about how nice you seem for someone doing this type of thing.”
“I come across nice?” she asked gruffly.
“Underneath.”
“Is that your talent? Reading people ‘underneath’?”
“No need to be mean, dear.”
“I’m a very secretive person.”
“So I’ve noticed, it’s tremendous fun,” he smiled warmly.
She just stared into his eyes and then her face softened.
“You’d get on well with Regrette.”
“He’s a nice fellow, isn’t he?”
“You’re a strange one, Doc. What’s it look like?” she pointed to the building with her chin.
“All quiet. No one in or out. No one even walking past.”
“You remember what I said?”
“Yes. They use skyscrapers so they can use the lower, and sometimes upper floors as protection. Set up with traps or blinds for people to fire from.”
“Right. Hard to know what kind of tech she’ll have in there. It won’t be the most elaborate set up, but we’re banking on a lot of henchmen.”
“Indeed. A good old fashioned gunfight,” Hendricks said before putting his, unlit, pipe in his mouth.
“Are you this chirpy about everything?”
“You’ve got to look on the bright side, haven’t you, dear?”
“If you say so. Look, here are the Shen Mi.”
***
Regrette sat on yet another roof and looked down at the view he had of the front doors to Gothra’s tower. He could also see the other entrance that Tsyrker and the rest would be using. He methodically put his sniper rifle back together and laid out the two types of rounds he would be using. No more tranquilizing, now he was euthanizing. He looked at the other rounds he had and smiled. And vaporising.
He watched his comrades gather and skitter around buildings to the second entrance that they knew about thanks to Koleermeer. Around the skyscraper he could see pockets of Shen Mi gathering as well. Finally they were taking a big step towards the Desards and his reckoning with Hewy.
***
It was the moment of truth as they stood in front of the door. It was hidden in a separate building and entered the skyscraper through a shaft that came out in the fifth floor atrium. It was a secret entrance for those that might be seen entering and raise suspicion as to what the building held. And the question was, had Koleermeer given them real information? Were they about to trip a very loud, very insistent alarm?
Tsyrker looked at the others, waggled an eyebrow and then punched in the code. The door whirred, clicked and then slid open.
“No alarms triggered,” Gulch said. “Making a scan now.”
They waited for Gulch to scan for other alarms or trips using a device Tsyrker was carrying.
When he told her to, she moved forwards slowly and the rest followed tensely. The corridor sloped gently down and it was nicely appointed, meant for guests; meant to show them that Gothra had money, class and taste.
“Is t
hat a Homiere?” Hendricks asked stopping at one of the paintings.
“Not one I recognise,” Rorckshift said.
“Exactly,” the good Doctor nodded.
“The piece stolen from The Saadlemaaj?” Rorckshift incredulised.
“I jolly well think so,” Hendricks nodded.
“Is this the time?” Kaskey asked over their shoulders.
“Yes. Yes, it is,” Rorckshift said sternly.
“You taking it with us?” Kaskey asked. “He is, he’s taking it with us.”
Tsyrker looked at him, but merely shook her head to herself and continued on.
They didn’t come across anyone and eventually arrived at the shaft with a lift that was on the upper floor. There was an emergency ladder however, and after Tsyrker had accessed it with a code, they took that. Rorckshift with a painting under one arm.
They reached the floor and Rorckshift checked that the coast was clear as Tsyrker got in touch with the Shen Mi. The plan was simple; the Shen Mi would go through the front doors (they had the codes) and as henchmen amassed there to stop them, Tsyrker, Kaskey, Hendricks and Rorckshift would attack from behind. That initial entry was going to be the toughest part but pretty much everyone got freaked when they realised they were being attacked on both sides. Most people got freaked when attacked by a bee. Or simply passed by one.
There was an explosion below them because, of course, the Shen Mi had to make an entrance, but it worked in their favour as henchmen poured down the stairways to meet the threat. So many went by that Kaskey thought they could probably just stroll up the rest of the way. Tsyrker counted to twenty after the last henchmen went past and then motioned the others to follow her as they crossed the corridor and went down the stairs, guns up and down.
CHAPTER 43
“OK, light them up on the tenth,” Tsyrker said.
“About time,” Regrette replied.
He fitted a rocket round onto the end of his barrel and slammed in the propellant clip. He took aim through the scope, finding the best window on the tenth floor and fired. Quick as lightning he ejected the clip and slammed in another and fired a laser blast at the armoured window. It cracked but didn’t break, but it was enough and the rocket round smashed through the window and exploded inside.
***
Fighting was fierce and hampered by the smoke and debris from Regrette’s hits, but they were making better progress that Tsyrker had thought. Regrette’s hits were as accurate as ever and taking out a number of henchmen before they even reached that floor.
The lower floors were set up as offices and though they seemed to be actually used, they had been empty at this time of the night. The floors were open plan and the two gangs had rushed into hand-to-hand combat on the first floor. Even their small group shooting into the fray was enough to panic the guards and once the tide had turned they headed back up the stairs ahead of any Shen Mi. They didn’t hit trouble until the sixth floor.
Now Tsyrker was in a room, hiding behind a blind (just a small concrete wall with a fancy name) shooting at henchmen behind similar blinds. Rorckshift and Kaskey were behind one to her right and suddenly the shooting stopped and Hendricks waved his pipe above the blinds.
They ran forward.
“How’d you get there?” Tsyrker asked.
“Sneakily,” he replied, clamping the pipe between his teeth.
“Don’t doubt the Doc, Tsyrker, he could have been one of us,” Rorckshift said seriously.
“One of us?” Kaskey asked all eyebrows raised.
“I’ll kill you myself, son,” Rorckshift said affably.
“Not asking no questions, me. No questions.”
They ran on through a door.
***
Things were not going as well as expected for Gothra and henchmen were pouring back through the streets to protect the skyscraper. Things went less well for them when they fell to Regrette’s sniping. He wouldn’t be able to do it for much longer though, the piles of bodies made it obvious that there was a sniper about and surely even now they were combing the nearest buildings for him. Good job he was a crack shot that didn’t need to be in one of the nearest buildings. Mssh, nearest buildings were for amateurs. Though, looking at the bodies, he was probably still pushing his luck being here. Maybe one last rocket round into the skyscraper? Well, why not, Stephen, why not?
***
Inside and they were currently stuck in a maze. The whole floor was just a tangle of corridors, some leading nowhere, some booby-trapped. Said traps seemed to mostly be set off by invisible trip lasers and Hendricks was leading them slowly through, using the smoke from his pipe to show up the lasers. Once they came across one they doubled back on the assumption that the path through was unbooby-trapped.
“Y’know there must be another way around,” Kaskey said.
“Indeed,” Hendricks agreed. “We haven’t seen anyone come through.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” Tsyrker irked.
***
Another two floors up and they were once again in actual usable office space and were once again caught up in a firefight.
“That door there, I would think,” Hendricks mused to Kaskey as he fired his machinegun over a desk.
“Right you are, Doc,” Kaskey agreed.
“Go check it out, get those Shen Mi up past the maze,” Rorckshift commanded.
“Hold on,” Tsyrker shouted shooting two henchmen. “We want space between us and them, they can’t get to Gothra’s office before we do.”
“Perhaps we could radio and tell them to hold. I feel terrible about letting them die in that maze,” Hendricks said.
“They’re just as bad as the one’s you’re shooting,” Tsyrker pointed out.
“But they are currently on our side,” he retorted.
“Alright, Kas, get on it.”
“Wilco.”
***
They’d been forced to let the Shen Mi through the maze as they had encountered heavy resistance on what they were told was the floor below Gothra’s office. There wasn’t a lot of protection for them and Gothra’s henchmen had been well embedded.
With the Shen Mi they had managed to smash the first line of defence, to heavy casualty and now they were spreading out through the floor. Tsyrker pushed them through to the stairs, only reaching there because of Tsyrker and Rorckshift’s battle skills against so many foes (Rorckshift doing it all while still holding the painting). The stairs were ornate and led up to an almost entirely open floor. A large, well decorated reception room seemed to be the largest and as they went through (there were no henchmen, really if you got this far then what was the point?) they found a deserted control hub filled with maps and monitors.
Kaskey tried one, but nothing happened.
“Wiped?” he asked.
“Wouldn’t you?” Rorckshift asked him, fiddling with another computer.
“I guess,” Kaskey shrugged.
“It’s thorough,” Tsyrker said from another computer.
“Agreed,” Rorckshift agreed.
They moved on to Gothra’s office to find it empty.
“It’s empty,” a Shen Mi decried and Tsyrker shot him.
“Hide that body and don’t let anymore get up here.”
“We’ve got her,” Rorckshift said into the radio. “Make sure we’ve got a safe exit.”
While he spoke, Tsyrker got on the computer and it looked as if the wipe had somehow been stopped or malfunctioned. All that was left was some information on Gothra’s lower level dealings and all the information on the Desards’ involvement with the Bangkok hit. So she was selling the Desards out.
She hit a few buttons and the computer wiped itself clean. She put a laser blast into it to make sure.
“Gulch? Come and pick us up.”
“Inbound in five.”
“So?” Hendricks asked as they moved up to the roof.
“So she’d left information about the Desards. The Shen Mi were supposed to find it when they
attacked the skyscraper.”
“Just enough protection to make the fight feel hard won,” Rorckshift said.
“Here we are.”
“You left the gift, Kas?”
“All wrapped up in a bow.”
“Do it.”
“Bomb, I say again bomb, get out, get out now,” Rorckshift said urgently into the radio. “Gothra’s office is rigged, evacuate now.”
They ran up to the roof and piled into the waiting Lark before it dusted off.
“Hit it.”
“I’m not sure I like this,” Hendricks said.
“The fewer Shen Mi in the Universe the better,” Tsyrker replied.
“I’m not sure Grant would like it either.”
“I agree, man,” Kaskey said.
“Grant’s not here. We hide our tracks if we want to go after the Desards.”
Hendricks frowned to himself, but said nothing. He’d agreed to tag along, but he wasn’t a part of this and he was reminded to be thankful for that.
Rorckshift frowned at him as if to say ‘sorry’ before he hit the button and the skyscraper exploded.
“Grant won’t like that,” Gulch said over the intercom.
“Just fly.”
“Ooh, Grant’s going to be having words with someone,” Regrette sang gleefully. “Stern words.”
Kaskey wasn’t sure, but he thought a look of worry and perhaps regret came over Rainsford’s face.
CHAPTER 44
While they were searching her office, Gothra was comfortably landing at her little known private hideout. Nothing big nor fancy, nothing that would make you think a Universal gangster was there. Just enough tech to keep running her business.
She hoped that Koleermeer would be there; she hadn’t heard from him since the hit, but that wasn’t surprising since he was supposed to be lying low. She wasn’t worried as the hit had gone off just as she had hoped and if he’d been caught the Shen Mi would have let her know by now, or one of her spies would have. No, everything was going to plan; well, the Shen Mi had attacked somewhat sooner than she had thought they would. Hoped they would, but it would just decimate their numbers further and it was what she, they, wanted anyway.
So she hoped Koleermeer would be hiding out here as she wanted to hear about it from him, having been there. She would have loved to see the look on the Shen Mi’s faces when they realised they’d been had. She walked into her comfortable control room to find that he was indeed waiting for her there.
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