The earlier din of gunfire had diminished to the occasional loud splutter, but there were still a decent number of enemies remaining. They were pulling back and regrouping near Erik’s position. Jia sucked in a breath.
Erik was barely moving.
“How are you doing?” she asked. “You hit?”
“No. These guys couldn’t hit a drunk penguin who charged them looking for a fish. I’m keeping their attention, but it’s hard to get a shot off with so many of them, and I’m not behind the best cover,” he replied. “But we should be able to hold them here.”
Jia glanced at the elevators. “I’ve got one last group to evacuate, then I’ll join you. Should I go for a flank?”
“Not unless you see them coming the long way around. We just need to hold their attention and let the cops have the glory.”
After the doors closed on the last set of evacuees, Jia sprinted down a side path that looped around to Erik’s position, keeping her an eye on the map for any sign of terrorists breaking off from the main group.
She had never appreciated how mazelike a commercial level could be until that moment. If Emma hadn’t been providing helpful guidance, she could have easily missed the appropriate turn and ended up staring at lingerie rather than terrorists.
Her lungs burned as she neared Erik.
A narrow path between two shops allowed her to get closer, and a series of carts provided cover until she had him in sight. Her turn toward him would require her to enter the line of fire of the terrorists.
She kept close to the storefronts, carts, benches, and a fountain between the stores before ducking into his current haunt, a jewelry shop, and leaping behind the display cases. Bullets whizzed overhead and pelted the cases with disturbing thuds.
Scratches and small cracks covered the cases, but none of them had broken, despite the small mountains of smashed bullets covering the floor in front of them.
This was obviously not the kind of store someone robbed without an electronic lockpick handy.
One dead terrorist lay only a couple of meters away from the store, with more of his dead comrades between the store and the main force clustered farther back.
Most of them clung to the walls on either side, with a smaller number taking advantage of the cart-and-fountain strategy as Jia had. The commerce level wasn’t designed for a good firefight. If Jia and Erik had any explosives, it would have long been over.
Though the opposite would be true as well.
“Without their comms,” Erik mused, “they don’t know what the hell’s going on.” He inclined his head toward the main exit, which was closer to their side. “Emma’s little trick seems to have worked.”
Jia looked back and forth, then pulled her magazine to make sure she had ammo. “This is the problem with terrorists. They never know when to give up. I hope one thing.”
“What’s that?” Erik asked.
“That this wasn’t the Core,” Jia insisted. “Why waste money on these clowns?”
“Just because you’re evil, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a budget. And even idiots get lucky.”
Jia snapped her head toward the front exit doors at a movement. The doors darkened, turning solid black. It took her a second to realize that’d also happened to all outside windows. Angry murmurs swept through the terrorists. They fired into the jewelry store, but the armored cases held.
“What’s going on?” Jia asked.
“I’ve taken the liberty of blinding our friends to the TPST exoskeletons advancing toward them,” Emma explained, glee in her tone. “I think it’ll be more interesting if they’re surprised.”
“Then let’s distract them more,” Erik suggested.
Without a count, Erik and Jia shot up, loosed a coordinated volley, and dropped back behind the display cases before the off-balance terrorists could think to fire. Two terrorists screamed and pitched forward. Jia rushed toward the end of the case and stuck her rifle barrel around the corner for follow-up shots.
“This is a good time to surrender,” Erik shouted. “Or you can die to the last man, but you’re not going to do anything for your cause but leave a mangled corpse.”
“We will never surrender!” bellowed one of the terrorists. “Our cause is righteous, and our hearts are pure. We will destroy this decadent human—”
An explosion ripped through the outer wall near the Grayheads, tossing several to the ground and burning and disorienting the rest. The loud clanks of a squad of advancing exos followed, shields expanded and guns at the ready.
“NSCPD TPST!” shouted an officer through a loudspeaker. “Surrender immediately, or we will use lethal force.”
“I decided to send the police my camera feeds,” Emma explained. “To save them time since they were trying to access the system. I didn’t expect them to blow through the wall, though.” She paused. “That was a nice touch.”
Erik and Jia kept their rifles trained on the terrorists as they cautiously moved out from behind the display cases. The terrorists who weren’t killed or knocked down by the hard police’s entry dropped their weapons and raised their arms, defeat etched on their faces.
“So much for destroying decadent humanity and pure hearts,” Jia mumbled, rolling her eyes. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and advanced slowly, her arms up. “Don’t shoot! We’re the ones sending the feed.”
Two exoskeletons slowly advanced on them, their heavy rifles raised. The exoskeletons stopped, and one of the pilots let out a loud sigh.
“Blackwell and Lin?” He looked them over. “You do know how this works, right?”
Erik glanced at Jia, a ghost of worry in his eyes. “How what works?”
Bending the rules and the occasional disguise was one thing, opening fire on police was another thing entirely. They might have bought themselves trouble.
The police officer chuckled. “You do know you quit the police force, right? We’re not paying your company for this.”
Jia’s tension flowed out with her laugh. “Consider it a gift.
“Public service,” Erik added. “Just…keep it to yourselves for now.”
Chapter Ten
The cops didn’t keep Erik and Jia long or press them about why they had such thorough access and control of the commerce level’s systems.
The cops could have made trouble, but everyone seemed to tacitly accept that the important thing was that the pair’s efforts had cut down on civilian deaths and helped stop the terrorists with minimal risk to anyone else.
That was about the best result anyone could have hoped for, other than stopping the whole thing before it started.
After only an hour of chatting with the NSCPD and avoiding the press, Erik grabbed his penjing supplies from inside with the blessing of the TPST commander and headed back to his place with Jia for some lunch. She wasn’t in the mood to go anywhere, given their luck that day.
No one wanted to try to drink tea in the middle of a fight.
Jia didn’t talk much as she scarfed down sandwiches and beignets, her almost orgasmic reaction making her intense hunger clear. Erik sat across from her at his dining room table, marveling that he was the one with the smaller appetite in this situation.
He couldn’t say that every time they went somewhere they had trouble, but they certainly had more trouble than the average person or even the not-so-average cop.
“Crap,” Erik muttered. “What about your sister? Weren’t you supposed to meet her?”
The last thing he wanted was to be on the hit list of a Lin woman. They were more relentless than Core assassins.
He was finally in a decent place with Mei and Lan, and he didn’t want his efforts to count for nothing. A future with Jia meant her family had to at least tolerate him.
Jia waved a half-eaten beignet at Erik and swallowed. “I already sent her a message saying something violent had come up. She said she understood.”
Erik laughed. “Something violent? And she said she understood that?”
“I thought that’d be the most efficient way to justify things.” Jia took another bite of her beignet and chewed for a moment before continuing, “We’re known for running into trouble, and she might not know the truth about my job, but even my cover story involves potential danger. Sometimes…”
“What?” Erik asked, looking at her with concern.
Jia set her food down and looked at the tabletop. “My family has their issues, but they’re all intelligent.”
“I’m sure they’d be executed and the family named disgraced if they weren’t,” Erik joked.
“Probably,” Jia replied, and Erik wasn’t sure if she was joking. “The point is, I sometimes wonder if they know the truth. Obviously not about the Core and all that, but that they suspect the company’s a lie and a cover.”
Erik nodded. “If they’re as smart as we both think, then sure, they do.”
Jia looked surprised. “And you don’t think that’s a problem?”
“I think your family is smart enough to know that if you’re keeping a secret like that from them, you have a good reason for it. I also think your mother will blow it up into some big thing in her mind, like you’re personally taking orders from the Prime Minister to put down insurrectionists.”
Jia snickered and picked up her beignet. “We’re not that far off. I could be wrong. My family bugs me about getting a job where I don’t travel as much, and from the way they talk, they don’t sound like they think I’m doing anything but private security.” She shrugged. “No point worrying about something that’s not a problem yet.”
“There is that.” Erik patted his left arm. “More good news. I think it’s finally tuned.” He rotated the arm and flexed it. “It feels better now, less itchy and distracting.”
Jia raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you’re saying you just needed a good, solid fight to train it?”
“Ahhhh. Yes.” Erik shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll have any problem with it going forward, and I got to use it to take down some terrorists. What’s not to like?”
“No problem until the next time it gets blown off. Your so-called lucky arm. I understand why you want to keep it, and I can even see where the hardware is helpful, but I still am having trouble accepting that it’s lucky.” Jia motioned to the arm. “Especially that one since it’s brand new.”
Erik ran his hand down the arm. “It’s got to be lucky. I keep losing it, but I’m not dead. I bet most people who lose their arms in fights end up dead.”
“That is statistically accurate, based on the most easily available data,” Emma offered.
“That’s one perspective on luck.” Jia polished off her beignet and lifted her cup of tea. She took a long sip before smiling. “Working with the NSCPD and having beignets from NSC bakeries. It’s not something I’d call unpleasant.”
“It’s just like old times, including the getting shot at by crazies who don’t understand they’re outgunned.”
Jia set her cup down. “What are you talking about? We get shot at all the time, much more often than the average police officer. At this point, I’m beginning to wonder if we get shot at more than the average soldier.”
“Depends on the war,” Erik replied with a small smile. “The thing is, this was different. I think you’re right about the Grayheads.”
“Of course I am.” Jia bobbed her head and then looked up, uneasy that he might have caught her in a mistake. “What specific aspect am I right about?”
“I think they were below Core standards,” Erik explained, gesturing at the ceiling as if the conspiracy was waiting in the apartment above them with Elites and yaoguai. “It doesn’t mean they didn’t pay them, but they might as well not have. That’s what’s annoying. Can’t even take on bastards in hostage rescue or raids without things being complicated by weird conspiracies and worrying about what some high-ranking idiot in the DD or ID thinks about what we’re doing.”
Emma appeared in a holographic chair at the table. “It’s not as if you particularly care what they think. At least you don’t behave like you do. I say this as a semi-neutral third-party observer.”
“Neutral? Kinda need to know how neutral since we are helping keep the DD off your ass.”
“I said semi-neutral, but that deflects from my central point about you not caring about high-level government officials.”
“No, but I’m supposed to, and more importantly, Alina does.” Erik patted his holster. “Sometimes it’s nice to be able to take somebody down without having to worry about the implications or what’s coming next. I miss that.”
“We chased the conspiracy as detectives,” Jia observed. “And you became a detective to chase the conspiracy. Things aren’t that different now. If anything, they’re easier because we have better equipment and direct links to the ID.”
“Sure. Can’t deny that.” Erik shrugged. “It doesn’t mean I don’t miss something more straightforward.”
Jia stared at him, her look almost accusatory. “Maybe you didn’t worry as much about the higher-ups when we were police, but I did. I’m still surprised we didn’t get fired for half the stunts we pulled.”
Erik snorted. “We didn’t get fired because we weren’t breaking rules to get rich or just because we could. We were breaking rules and not following orders to solve crimes. You worried about the wrong people, especially when I first met you. Standing up to them was good, but you were still following their orders.”
“I suppose that’s true. But we helped clean up the department.” Jia offered him a soft smile. “But I understand what you’re getting at, and it does feel good to do something that doesn’t feel like the entire UTC will collapse if we fail—and something we don’t have to hide from everyone. I’m unsure if those Grayheads were targeting us, but I suppose it doesn’t matter.” Her mouth tugged into a frown. “I was surprised you were so aggressive about telling them to keep our names out of the news.”
“I had my reasons.” Erik gestured at his PNIU. “You know one thing that’s nice about being back on Earth this last month?”
“We’ve had time to relax?” Jia ventured.
“Yes.” Erik nodded. “Reporters aren’t trying to crawl up our asses to lay story eggs.”
Jia wrinkled her nose. “That’s an…interesting yet disgusting image. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get it out of my head.”
He chuckled. “I don’t like always having them on us. I might not enjoy having to run around disguised all the time, but I also don’t enjoy having a reporter calling every three seconds. It was annoying but potentially useful before, but now it’s just a distraction.”
“Fame has its advantages, but it’s overrated, or it is for my personality. I wouldn’t mind disappearing into quiet anonymity once this is all over.” Jia stared at him for a moment, her mouth quirking into a mischievous smile. “I was talking about relaxing and pretending things were quiet, but we just got done taking on a bunch of Grayheads. I suppose by our standards, that is quiet. No buildings blew up this time.”
“Yeah, pretty boring.” Erik nodded. “But there’s a time and a place for boring.”
“It can’t stay quiet for much longer,” Jia insisted. “Buildings blowing up included.”
Emma folded her arms. “Why can’t it stay quiet, particularly with such a low bar? As much as you two like to think of yourselves as the only ones hunting the Core, the entire ID, and to a lesser extent the CID and DD, are doing so as well. Agent Koval uses you in situations where they can’t readily use ID resources or because they require the use of the jumpship, and she understands I only help them because you’re helping them. You’re important to the efforts, but they don’t entirely rest on your shoulders.”
Jia shook her head. “Alina’s also admitted they’ve come into a lot of intel lately, both from us and from their own efforts, and you’re right. They need the jumpship. Something will come through, if only because of that.”
Erik suggested, “We should bet on how long it’ll be before we have a new mi
ssion, all three of us. That’ll prove who knows what’s up.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “What would I bet? You have nothing that interests me.”
“Oh?” He grinned. “You can have the glory of knowing you beat a fleshbag in an analysis. Bragging rights have to be worth something, yes?”
“There is insufficient data to accurately model the chance of you being called up for a mission,” Emma explained. “My analytical advantages are minimized, and being able to beat a fleshbag in analysis is like you beating a small child in a fistfight.”
Erik tapped the side of his head. “Fine. They are more impressive in a different way. Use the intuition you rely on when plotting jumps.”
“I still find this pointless.”
Jia took a sip of her tea, barely hiding her smile behind her cup. “I think we’ll get a call from her within a week.”
“A week?” Erik rubbed his chin. “I could see that. You’re right. The ID’s gotten a lot of new leads lately, and some of them have to be someplace they need a quick response.”
“The ID has agents scattered around the UTC,” Emma replied. Her form wavered, and her normal appearance was replaced by a skintight tactical suit and ponytail reminiscent of Alina’s, though Emma kept her hair red rather than cyan. “They aren’t always going to need something semi-off the books. I think a week is too soon, and I also believe Alina’s trying to give Engineer Quinn more time to finish the upgrades.”
“I thought you said this was pointless?” Erik smirked. “And I’d say two weeks. Lanara doesn’t need much more time at this point. She’s finished the main upgrades. She’s never going to finish tinkering with that ship because she can’t make it perfect.”
Jia shook a finger at Erik. “That’s a way to figure out if it’ll potentially be sooner rather than later.”
His hand drifted to his PNIU. “Go or no-go.”
“Exactly.”
Erik tapped the unit to send a simple message to Lanara.
G/NG this week?
“She might not be allowed to answer that question,” Emma suggested. “At least not directly, but I suppose you can derive…” She frowned.
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