Alliance of Shadows (Dead Six Series Book 3)

by Larry Correia

  “That man killed Hawk!”

  “I know, Val, I know. I’m sorry, buddy. I don’t have a choice.” Another operative, fully kitted up with a slung shotgun, handed Tailor a pair of bolt cutters. The sirens were right on top of us. Tailor spoke to one of his teammates. “Claude! Talk to the police, keep them off our backs. Don’t worry, Val. I’ll get you someplace safe and explain everything.”

  I hung there, head throbbing, as Tailor cut me free.

  Chapter 11: A Force for Good

  VALENTINE

  Ancient secret societies sure know how to keep a guy waiting. It had been hours since Tailor and his team had rescued me from Underhill. I was dragged out of one van and stuffed into another, rushed off as Tailor’s men worked it out with local authorities. It turned out that Tailor’s credentials had a lot more official backing than he’d originally let on, or Romefeller had a lot of officials under his thumb.

  From the back of a windowless van, I had no way of knowing where they’d taken me. When we stopped, I got out in a high-security, underground parking garage. I was whisked inside and brought to what looked like the building’s security office. I wasn’t a prisoner, exactly, but the security guards kept telling me to sit down and wait in broken English. I was looked at by a medic or a doctor—I’m not sure, he didn’t speak English—had bandages applied to my surprisingly minor injuries, took a bunch of Tylenol, and was left to wait.

  So wait I did, for what seemed like forever. I sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair, sipping water from a paper cup, wondering what in the hell was taking Tailor so long. I was getting frustrated. Katarina Montalban had a nuclear weapon, and God only knew what she planned to do with it. I hadn’t been able to contact Ling and let her know I was okay, and she was probably going crazy by now. This was no time to be screwing around. I got up and started to pace around, much to the annoyance of the security guards watching over me, but to hell with them.

  I looked up when an elevator chimed. Tailor and two of his men stepped into the security office. One of Tailor’s men spoke with one of the guards briefly, in French, before I was waved over.

  “Sorry that took so long, Val.” Tailor had removed his armor; his black combat shirt was still damp with sweat. “There is so much bureaucratic bullshit in this organization that I don’t know how they get anything done. Come on, you’re going to talk to the boss man again.”

  I followed Tailor into the elevator, noting quietly that his two men were still wearing armor and still carrying submachine guns. “Are they here to make sure I don’t make a run for it?”

  “Dude, shut up. I’ve had enough of your self-righteous bullshit,” Tailor spat. He hit the button, and the door closed, leaving his men behind. We started going up.

  “None of this would be happening if we’d just shot the psycho and been done with it!”

  “Goddamn it, Val, it doesn’t work like that!”

  I wasn’t in any mood for his excuses. “That guy that had me? That was Underhill. He killed Hawk in cold blood, and you just let him go.”

  Frustrated, Tailor reached over and hit the hold button. We were going to have this out in private. “You think I don’t know that? I can’t just go around killing whoever I want, Val!”

  “When Katarina Montalban blows up a city, I hope it’s Paris, so you, and Romefeller, and all of you Illuminati assholes can die thinking ‘man, I’m so glad I stuck to those rules!’ She’s not following your rules.”

  “No, but Underhill is. And that’s the only reason you’re still alive. You’re welcome, by the way. This whole thing was stupid. I told you it was stupid, and you just wouldn’t listen.”

  “What would you have me do, Tailor? Pass up a chance to put a stop to this? If that woman goes through with Project Blue, a lot of people are going to die!”

  “Would you listen to yourself, Val? Christ, you sound like one of your Exodus buddies. You can’t save the world if you’re fucking dead, alright? That wasn’t just stupid, it was suicidal.”

  “Some things are worth dying for, Tailor.”

  He laughed at me. “Holy shit, Ling has done a number on you. She’s got you wrapped right around her little finger, doesn’t she?”

  “No.” That was crap, and it made me want to punch him in his mouth.

  “All this hero bullshit is going to do is get you killed. It’s not going to change anything, and it’s not going to save anybody.”

  “Hero thing? And what, your way is better? You traded in the dirt and the blood for some civilization, you cleaned up and got a suit, but you’re still doing the same damned thing, pulling triggers for money. I’m not a hero, but I’m not just going to sit by and let a psychopath blow up a city.”

  “Neither am I!” Tailor shouted. “For fuck’s sake, Val, I’m on your side here! I’m trying to help you!”

  “You had the chance to help and you walked away, because you’re more worried about your cushy job and your stupid rules than you are about doing the right thing. I thought you changed, but you haven’t. As long as you’ve got yours, you’ll watch the world burn down.”

  To my surprise, Tailor wheeled around, grabbed me by my shirt, and slammed me against the wall, hard enough to shake the whole elevator. “You don’t know a fucking thing!” I don’t think I’d ever seen him that angry. “I’ve been risking my ass for you, for this pet project of yours. I risked my life, and the lives of my men, saving you back there. Not only could you have gotten yourself killed, but you could have gotten me killed too, but I went along with it anyway because I am trying to help you. What the hell did you think was going to happen?”

  “Let go and back off,” I ordered.

  Reluctantly, he did, but he stuck an angry finger in my face. “I told you this wouldn’t work, but you were so ready to be the hero that you just wouldn’t listen. Tell me straight, man, no bullshit. Did Ling put you up to this? This is the kind of shit Exodus would do.”

  Anger pulsed through me, but I kept it in check. “No. She thought it was stupid and would get me killed too.”

  “Well, you’re just a brain genius then, ain’t you?”

  “I never claimed to be smart, man. I’m just trying to do the right thing. I’m sick and tired of everybody sitting around, wringing their hands, saying there’s nothing they can do. Well, I’m doing something.”

  People say violence never solves anything, but that’s a lie they tell school kids to try to stop them from fighting. Violence solves everything, if applied correctly. Whatever the problem, if you shoot enough people, it will go away. It’s just a question of logistics, time, and maintaining the resolve to keep bringing the violence to bear for as long as necessary.

  “Look,” Tailor said, more quietly this time, “I told you, it frustrates me too. I need you to trust me here, okay? Believe me, I was hoping this scheme of yours would work. If it had, if Underhill had gone in and actually killed Katarina, then I could’ve put him in the dirt for violating détente. We could have killed two birds with one stone. Those are the limitations we have to abide by, whether we like them or not.”

  “You have to abide by,” I corrected.

  “Listen, don’t cop this attitude with Romefeller, okay? Can you be cool?”

  “Yeah. I’m cool.”

  Tailor collected himself, nodded, then pushed the button. The elevator started moving again.

  “Did you tell your boss about Katarina’s plans?”

  “I told him what you told me. I didn’t tell him that I knew you were going in there as bait. I have to cover my ass. So don’t volunteer that shit, please.” The elevator chimed again as we reached our destination level. “Take a deep breath and explain what happened, calmly. He doesn’t respond well to people getting all huffy. You stomping around like a teenage drama queen isn’t going to get this done any sooner. Okay?”

  “Fine,” I said, as the elevator doors opened. “But we are running out of time.”

  I found Romefeller waiting for me in an office that was just as ornate,
if rather smaller, than his one in Zurich. We were on the twelfth floor, and his office afforded a good view of the city. He was leaning on the glass, gazing out across Paris. The Eiffel Tower cut its iconic image in Paris’ skyline. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and a secret society was mad at me.

  “That was a bold, brazen, but foolhardy act, young man,” Alistair Romefeller said as he turned around. Today he was wearing a charcoal gray suit with a red vest, and he did not look happy. He saw Tailor, and dismissed him with a nod, like he was a butler or something. Tailor left without a word. “If I had known that your plan was to go in there and murder her, I would never have sanctioned it.”

  “The plan was to let Majestic do it for me. It didn’t work out.”

  “You’ve made the situation worse. Now you’ve tipped your hand, and she’ll be that much more careful in future. Do you realize what you’ve done?”

  I wasn’t sure if he was actually mad that I’d made the situation worse, or if it was just sour grapes because I had the gall to violate their precious rules. “I improvised.”

  Romefeller groaned, and ran his fingers through his silver hair. “And now Underhill is here, confined to his embassy. He is a relic from another era, when both Majestic and my associates were more willing to engage in, how would you say, direct action. If they dug up that Cold War dinosaur for your sake, you must have really, really gotten on someone’s bad side.”

  “It was a string of unfortunate coincidences.” I shrugged. “Most of the time I was simply along for the ride. That doesn’t matter now though. I know what Blue is.”

  “I heard from Mr. Tailor. How confident are you in your assessment that the Montalbans have such a weapon?”

  He was being mighty goddamned nonchalant about it. “The assessment that psychopath has an atomic bomb? Pretty good. What part of that doesn’t scare the crap out of you?”

  “How did you come by this information, exactly?” he asked, skeptically. “That’s a serious charge.”

  Is he for real right now? “What difference does it make? Hell, even if I’m wrong, don’t you think it’s at least worth looking into? Why in the hell do you think I would go in there, risking my life, trying to kill that woman? If there’s even a chance—”

  Romefeller raised a hand, silencing me. “Mr. Valentine, listen to me. I don’t doubt that you believe that what you say is true, but I can’t very well level such a charge at one of my peers going on just your word. You keep talking about how she is crazy and dangerous, but think of how this looks from the outside. You’re the one who tried to murder her.”

  My eyes narrowed, but I didn’t say anything.

  “I suspect I know where you got that information. I would urge you not to trust Mr. Lorenzo so much. He may be playing the role of your ally now, but his reputation is well known. I assure you it is only an act. The only thing motivating him is a personal vendetta against the Montalban family, and it looks to me like he tried to use you to carry out his revenge fantasy for him.”

  “How did you know?”

  “About Lorenzo? I have my sources. After an event last night at a truck depot, Mr. Anders is not only convinced that Lorenzo is alive, but has put out a bounty on him. Minutes later, you were sent on a this fool’s errand.”

  “Doesn’t it bother you that a guy who was once the sworn enemy of your organization is now advising one of your members? Anders doesn’t raise any red flags up in your little clubhouse or whatever?”

  Romefeller actually chuckled at me, as if I were a child who had just said something adorably naïve. “We operate in a complex world of shifting shadows and temporary alliances. Allegiances change. People aren’t chess pieces. They can change sides, move around as it benefits them. Men such as Mr. Tailor. You can’t see the big picture, from where you sit, but you should be grateful for our liberal attitude concerning the matter. Otherwise, we would have placed a price on your head for having killed one of our members, much like the substantial one that is being offered for Lorenzo.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “How substantial?” Just out of curiosity.

  “Ten million U.S. dollars, and another ten million for you.”

  “What?”

  “You can’t be surprised. Considering what just transpired between you and Katarina it should not come as a shock that she just put out the same offer for your head. You went in there, announced who you are, and then tried to strangle her. That’s rather insulting. The optics are bad, as they say.”

  “I got the same price as a Lorenzo, huh?” That’ll piss him off. I smiled.

  “You needn’t worry about it, though. You’re still under my protection, as I believe you’re still useful to me.” In other words, Romefeller was suggesting that our friendship was the only thing keeping me alive. “It would be ironic if you are in this situation because Lorenzo lied to you.”

  Lorenzo may be wrong, but I trusted Ariel. “I got an independent confirmation of the data.”

  “Interesting. My sources suggest that Exodus has an exceedingly brilliant intelligence analyst. The mind boggles at what someone with my resources could accomplish with such a mind in my employ. She wouldn’t happen to be involved in this confirmation, would she?”

  I didn’t like that somebody like Romefeller knew that Ariel existed, let alone that his sources were good enough that he knew she was female. I could tell he was fishing for information, but I wasn’t going to give him anything. I used a different tactic instead. “You know how I know she’s got a nuke, how I really know?”

  Romefeller didn’t answer.

  “Because I helped her get it.”

  That got his attention. “I’m sorry?” he said. “Did I hear you correctly?”

  “I didn’t have any reason to think about it until last night. One of our missions during Project Heartbreaker, we left Zubara and landed in Yemen, where we intercepted a stolen Russian ICBM warhead that was being delivered to General Al Saba’s forces. Anders led the mission, and after letting one of my teammates bleed to death, took charge of the warhead and took it Christ-only-knows where. Do the math. You think Anders’ involvement in all of this is just a coincidence?”

  I could see the realization in Romefeller’s eyes, but he kept his composure. “I . . . see,” he managed.

  “No kidding. Now you guys need to quit dancing around and commit.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid.”

  “Are you serious right now? You people keep telling me it doesn’t work like this, or it doesn’t work like that. You dither and let innocent people die, because you’re too polite to violate Robert’s Rules of Order? You put on this big show about how you’re trying to guide the world, but you act like a pompous model UN club. Tailor gave me a big spiel about how you all are working so hard to maintain peace and order, but when it gets down to it, you’re too chickenshit to do anything without voting on it first!”

  “Enough!” Romefeller roared. It was strange, hearing a man like him raise his voice. I could tell he was normally too dignified for that sort of thing. “Overt action would lead to family on family violence. If you’re so concerned with innocent lives, tell me, how many people will die in the crossfire when my men have a gun battle with hers in the streets of every city in Europe?”

  “A lot less than if that bomb goes off.”

  “Perhaps, but then what? Do you know for sure that taking her into custody will stop this from happening? Do you know where this hypothetical bomb is?”

  I didn’t.

  “I thought as much,” Romefeller said, smugly. He moved in closer. “I understand your position, and I’m not dismissing you. I can only imagine what it must be like for you, having helped recover that weapon, only to find out that it may be used for some terrible purpose. I can see how weary you are. I understand the impulse to make things right.”

  I rather doubted he understood any of my impulses. “Alert the authorities and tell them there’s a rogue warhead on French soil. That will get their
attention. They’ll listen to someone like you.”

  “Perhaps, perhaps not. She has as many politicians on her payroll as I do on mine. It all comes back to your word and Mr. Lorenzo’s, with no evidence to speak of. Do you know how many false threats of a weapon of mass destruction attack the authorities get every year? I can tell them that the Montalbans have such a weapon. They may even go arrest her. Then what? What evidence do we have? All it would do is strengthen her position in the council and weaken my own. It would amount to nothing, and may serve only to buy her more time.”

  “Then convince them.”

  “I will. I have called for a face-to-face meeting of all the families to discuss matters. We share lofty goals, but we can be a fractious and argumentative lot. You must understand that a grand council is a rare and momentous occasion, reserved only for times of dire crisis. Katarina will have the opportunity to defend her actions there. In the meantime I need you to continue your mission, only tread softly. Investigation, but no overt action. Do not make it easy for Katarina to play the victim. If we can provide them with evidence the other families will have no choice but take her into custody.”

  “And then what?”

  Romefeller nodded toward one of the weapons hung on the wall. “That is an executioner’s ax. It is not just a decoration. My organization takes our traditions very seriously. You will continue to have Mr. Tailor and any of my assets you need at your disposal, but please, before you do anything rash, keep me in the loop. Mr. Lorenzo is welcome to show himself, too, if he cares to. I assure you I won’t turn him over to the Montalbans. I own paintings worth more than the price on his head.”

  Well, la-de-freakin’-da, Richie Rich. “I’m sure. I’ll pass that on.”

  Romefeller came over and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I am on your side, Valentine. I took a solemn oath to use my resources to better the world. I’ve spent my life and my fortune trying to give humanity a better future. I will not allow Katarina to undo all of the good the families have accomplished. You have my word that I will get to the bottom of this.”