Crossroads

by Stephen Kenson

  Inside the room, I pushed the door closed. If the intel Trouble and Boom had scanned was right, now was the time to take charge of things.

  “You’re a very bad boy, aren’t you, John?” I said, and Waylan turned toward me with a slack-jawed expression and pure lust in his eyes.

  “Yes.” I said slowly, “a very bad boy. I think you need to be punished.”

  “I. . he began, but I pressed my fingers to his lips.

  “Shhhh, no talking.” I said. “I have this fantasy, and only you can help me make it come true. Do you think you can take Chance?” He nodded vigorously. “Take off your clothes.”

  Waylan wasted no time in shedding his shoes, socks, pants, and shirt. When he was down to his boxer shorts, I reached into my jacket pocket and took out a folded-up set of latex strips.

  “Lie down.” I commanded, and Waylan obeyed like an eager puppy. Trouble had his psyche profile nailed dead on. It short order I had his arms and legs tied firmly to the four corners of the bed and Waylan was practically panting in anticipation. Using my astral sight, I could see the desire and lust in his aura, nearly all other thoughts and feelings smothered beneath his need. I climbed on top of him and straddled his body, dropping my jacket on the floor.

  “So.” I said in a deep and sexy feminine tone. “Are you ready to fulfill my fantasy?” Waylan whimpered slightly and nodded.

  That’s when I dropped the mask spell. Waylan’s eyes bugged out as the willowy, blond, elven bombshell with the breasts and thighs of his wildest dreams became a dark-haired man with a very similar smile and disturbing similarities in voice. I could feel him recoil under me as he struggled against the bonds that held him tight. I leaned in close and looked deep into his eyes, but all he saw in mine was cold, steely control.

  “Then you can start by telling me everything you know about Manadyne’s security protocols, Artie . . .darling.”

  He didn’t resist for long, and soon had babbled out a very clear and detailed picture of what we would have to deal with to get into Manadyne. He also provided all his personal security codes and a few additional details when I pointed out the vidcam concealed in the room and described the pictures it contained of him with me, in both forms. Once I got everything I needed from him, I pressed a tranq patch against his neck. His eyes glazed over and he was out almost immediately.

  “Typical man.” I muttered to myself. “Fell asleep right afterward.”

  I keyed Channel 1 on my headlink. “So.” I subvocalized over the headware, “was it good for you?”

  Trouble’s laugh carried loud and clear over the microspeakers linked to my hearing center.

  “The best, baby, the best.”

  11

  Arthur Waylan “called in sick” the next morning, thanks to some well-placed email from Trouble. After discreetly slipping him out of the hotel, we moved him to a nondescript coffin hotel Boom had arranged for on the outskirts of the Rox. It was a place where no one asked any questions and it was well off the beaten path. We kept him doped up enough to be happy and quiet while we made preparations to get into Manadyne.

  “It’s a research and development facility located in the Route 128 area on the edge of the sprawl.” I said. My audience consisted of Boom, Trouble, Hammer, and two other members of the Hammermen. One of the latter was Sloane, the big, blond bruiser who’d stood in as Hammer’s bodyguard at the meet. He was as stone-faced as ever, listening intently to every word. The other was Val, a woman with short-cropped black hair and a datajack behind her ear linked to a headware system and the hardware for a vehicle control rig. She wore dark clothes under a bulky black leather jacket. Trouble and Hammer both said she was one of the best riggers in the Boston sprawl. She would be the one to get us in and out of the place smoothly and easily.

  I gestured to the modified trideo unit in the room, which showed a holographic model we’d constructed of the facility.

  “The main building is surrounded by a ferrocrete parking lot, with a narrow strip of landscaping between the building and the lot. A wider swath of grass and trees encircles the lot itself, and the whole thing is enclosed in a three-meter-tall chain-link fence topped with three strands of monowire. One false move climbing the fence and you can lose a limb, at worst, a hand or finger, at best. The fence is also equipped with pressure sensors set to detect and alert the main security system if anyone tries to climb the thing.

  “Fortunately.” I said with a smile, “we don’t have to go over the fence. Thanks to the cooperation of Mr. Arthur Waylan, we’ve got the security codes we need to clear the automated systems running the perimeter gate, so we can just drive right on in. After that, things get a little trickier. There are some guards in place, and we’ll have to deal with them without raising an alarm or twigging anyone to the fact we’re there. The codes will get us past most of the electronic security and Trouble can handle the rest, but dealing with Knight Errant is up to us.”

  “I still say I should go with you.” Trouble interjected. “The data will be isolated from the main system.”

  “Which is why we’re going in.” I returned, “so we can link it to the main system and you can access it from the outside.”

  “It would be easier if I did it from the inside.” she said.

  “We’ve been over this before, and we agreed.” I told her, trying to keep the tension from my voice. “You handle the Matrix and the electronics and leave the physical stuff to us.”

  Hammer cracked his knuckles and gave a tusky grin. “Sounds like fun. You got a plan in mind for that, too?”

  “As a matter of fact, I do.” I said, and proceeded to outline the rest of it to the team.

  That night, Boom, Hammer, Sloane, and I sat in a dark van as it cruised up to the entrance of the Manadyne research facility. The three of them sat in the back, while I took the passenger seat. Val was in the driver’s seat, jacked into the van’s controls and driving the van like an extension of her own body. We cruised down the road at a leisurely pace. It was late, so traffic was very light.

  A voice spoke in my head as the gates came into view.

  “Comeback Two to Comeback One, I’m in place.” Trouble said. There was no note of our earlier disagreement in her voice. Everything was cool and professional.

  “Copy that.” I replied. “We’re ready to roll. Keep watch, Comeback Two.”

  The van came to a stop in front of the gates, and an automated camera atop one gate-tower panned slowly across the van. Val sat up a bit, then turned her head and lowered her window. She reached out and entered the security codes Waylan had provided into the small keypad beside the gate. They told the security system we were a maintenance crew, replacing a crew Trouble had canceled earlier in the day. There was a pause as the system juggled the numbers and began cross-checking facts. If the information we got from Waylan wasn’t good for some reason, or security suspected something, we would find out in a matter of seconds.

  No alarm sounded, no lights flooded the area round us. Instead, the gate hummed quietly and slid open to admit us. Val drove the van into the parking lot and parked near the side entrance. Then Hammer opened the side door of the van and we piled out, wearing pale gray coveralls lifted from the maintenance company. Hammer held his Ingram smartgun somewhat uneasily and looked around the empty lot like a trapped creature. “Are you sure this is going to work?” he asked in a low voice. “What about the weapons?”

  I took Arthur Waylan’s security card from a pocket of my coveralls. “It’ll work. The illusion spell includes the guns. They look just like maintenance equipment—buckets and mops and things like that. As long as we’re careful, nobody will notice anything strange about them.”

  “If you can do that.” he said, “why bother with the monkey suits?” He plucked distastefully at the gray coverall he wore over his armored jacket.

  “The less the spell has to work to create the image, the more convincing it’ll be.” I said as I swiped the card through the door’s maglock and punched in a code.
The locked clicked and the light over the keypad switched from red to green.

  I pulled the door open. “After you.” I said to Hammer. He took the point, followed by me, with Boom and Sloane taking up the rear. Val stayed behind in the van to keep watch on the lot and be ready to get us out in a hurry, if need be.

  The corridor beyond was starkly white, lit by overhead fluorescent panels. We moved down the hall at a brisk pace, but no more than a walk. If we encountered anyone in the hall, it wouldn’t do to be running around. There was no one in sight.

  Stepping into the corridor, I willed the shift in my perceptions. The images of the astral plane opened up to me, and I became aware of the shimmering aura surrounding my own body as well as the auras of the rest of the team.

  I could see a nearly opaque wall of pearly light glowing across the door we entered, a ward protecting the facility from astral intrusion. I would also be able to see any astral security present inside the building, giving us a little warning and a chance to deal with it. There was nothing in our immediate area; no spirits on guard or other magical defenses likely to detect the presence of my spell.

  We made our way toward the cold-storage area where the isolated data-storage systems were, following the layout provided by Waylan. After we took a turn into another corridor, Trouble’s voice sounded in my head again.

  “Comeback One, you’re going to have to pass a pair of Knight Errant guards on your way to the vault.”

  “Any way around them?” I subvocalized. There was a momentary pause.

  “Negative.” was the reply.

  “Understood.” I nodded to Hammer and turned to look back at the others. Everyone heard Trouble's message. They readied their weapons and we continued down the hall. Coming around a corner, I saw the two Knight Errant guards, their black uniforms distinct against the white walls. There was a man and a woman, both human. They carried submachine guns on shoulder slings and their hands automatically rested on them as they saw us. Their auras showed caution, but some confusion. My illusion spell was working, giving them pause.

  I took a step forward, careful to keep my empty hands in plain sight. The guards relaxed only slightly.

  “Hoi.” I said slowly. “We’re here to check out a maintenance problem with the air system.” I took a few steps closer. A look of suspicion came across their faces at the same time that concern colored their auras.

  “I haven’t heard anything about that.” the woman said, shifting her hand toward the butt of her weapon. Her aura shifted toward suspicion and threat-response.

  “C’mon.” I said, “we got the call in about an hour ago...” I narrowed my eyes and focused the power of my will against the woman, since she seemed to be in charge. For an instant, her eyes widened in surprise and she tried to struggle against me, then the power of my sleep spell overcame her and she began to crumple to the floor, the colors of her aura fading toward unconsciousness.

  The other KE guard reacted instantly. But even instantly wasn’t fast enough, as Sloane covered the distance between them like a blur and delivered a powerful strike to the man’s neck. Then he too crumpled to the floor in a heap.

  “ComebackTwo, are we still clear?” I said over the link.

  “Confirmed.” Trouble said. “Cameras and other monitors are in the clear. No one has noticed anything yet.”

  We moved the unconscious bodies of the two guards into a maintenance closet and locked it, after relieving them of their weapons and commlinks. Then we headed for the storage vault.

  The vault room was sealed off with a heavy security door and another maglock. I used Arthur Waylan’s key-card on the lock, and it opened. Inside was a row of datastorage systems, the “cold storage” where the lab kept its sensitive data. Closing the door behind him, Boom made his way over to the databanks and looked them over.

  “Should be no problem to get these linked up to the main system.” he said. Boom had apparently picked up a lot of knowhow about computers in the past few years, so I deferred to him.

  “Comeback Two.” I said, “stand by for link-up.”

  “Confirmed.”

  Boom took a coil of optical cable from his belt pouch, terminated with standard jack connectors, and plugged one end into the databank system and the other into the wall outlet connecting to the main computer net for the building. He powered up the data drives for active access.

  “Window’s open.” Trouble reported over the comm-link. “There’s some ice protecting access to the data. I’m going to try to—”

  Suddenly, a burst of hard static washed over her voice, cutting off the comm signal. At the same moment, the door of the room burst open and a voice shouted, “Freeze!” Time seemed to speed up as Boom, Sloane, and Hammer reacted in a blur of motion. Weapons roared and Sloane went stumbling back into a bank of equipment as I dived for cover behind one of the heavy lab benches. Boom and Hammer took similar protective positions as loud cracks sounded all around us.

  Boom slid down near me, his broad back against the side of the bench.

  “What the hell. . .?” I started to whisper.

  “They're not Knight Errant.” Boom said in a low voice. “I’m not even sure they’re any kind of private security.”

  “Then who?”

  “I dunno, term.”

  The gunfire ceased and there was a long moment of silence. Behind the bench across from us, Hammer popped the clip on his weapon and slammed another one home. His aura shimmered with tightly controlled emotion, focused entirely on the situation at hand. There was no malice, only a cool, professional need to survive, whatever the cost.

  Then a shimmering blue-gray mist began to creep across the floor between and through the benches themselves.

  “Oh, frag.” I said.

  “What is it?” Boom said.

  “They’ve unleashed a spirit on us.” I said.

  Hammer began gasping and coughing, followed by Boom as a terrible, choking odor reached my nostrils. The air elemental materialized all around us as a choking, noxious stench, forcing the air from our lungs as it tried to suffocate us.

  Placing my hands on the cool tile floor to ground myself, I reached out to the elemental with the power of my will.

  “Begone.” I gasped. “I banish you from this place. Depart, never to return.” A surge of magical force pushed back, as the spirit fought against me. I focused my intent and pushed harder, feeling the elemental yield slightly.

  “Begone.” I repeated. “I banish you from this place. Depart, never to return.” The elemental began to fight more forcefully, but I kept the pressure of my will on it. My vision was starting to swim and I could hear footsteps cautiously approaching our position. The spirit started to diminish, and the terrible stench with it.

  Begone! I shouted in my mind, striking the spirit with the full force of my power. The air elemental shrank into little more than a hovering cloud that seemed to collapse in on itself until it contracted to a tiny, glowing pinpoint. Then it suddenly winked out like a candle extinguished by a strong wind. The air cleared and I could breathe again.

  Boom and Hammer seemed to be recovering as well. I glanced over at Boom and up toward the top of the bench behind which we huddled. The troll raised his gun and nodded. I gathered mana and began shaping it into a spell. When I was ready, I surged up over the top of the bench along with Boom. Hammer followed our example. Five Japanese men stood on the other side of the lab benches, armed with submachine guns. They wore dark street clothes and looks of surprise on their faces. Clearly, they’d expected the elemental to finish us off and were closing in to see if it had done the job.

  I thrust my hands toward them, fingers spread, and flung my sleep spell. For an instant, I felt their wills struggle against mine. Then they began to drop to the floor, unconscious. One man shook his head and managed to keep his feet. He began to bring up his weapon, but Hammer shot him in the shoulder, sending him spinning to the floor, clutching the wound. His weapon hit the floor with a clatter.

&n
bsp; As I sagged against the edge of the counter, I noticed the alarms going off for the first time.

  “Trouble.” I said into the commlink, forgetting the code we’d established for the moment. “Trouble, are you there? Respond!” Nothing but static came back.

  “We’re clearing out of here.” I said. Hammer was already helping Sloane to his feet. The big man’s armor must have absorbed the impact of the bullets, since he didn’t look too seriously hurt, mostly shaken up.

  We left the computer vault at a run, all pretense of stealth abandoned. As we headed for the side exit, I expected a squad of Knight Errant security to appear at any moment.

  “Comeback Three to Comeback One.” Val’s voice spoke in my head. “We’ve got company, boss.”

  “We’re clearing out.” I said over the link. “Get ready to run.”

  “Roger.” she said.

  A few seconds later, we burst out the side door and climbed quickly into the open van. Val peeled away just as a dark car with tinted windows came squealing around the corner. Gunfire chattered from a side window, sparking off the ferrocrete just behind us. The van accelerated rapidly toward the front gate.

  “Hang on.” Val said. The van hit the gate going at more than eighty kph. The chain-link and metal struts parted with a shrieking sound, and the gate bent around the front of the van. Tire spikes sprang from the pavement beneath us, but the solid tires of the van rolled right over them. The gate flew to one side as Val hit a hard right and I was nearly thrown out the open side door. I held on to one of the roll-bars for dear life as the black car came out of the open gate behind us.

  The car fishtailed before accelerating to give chase. More gunfire chattered off the pavement and sparked along the back of the van. The armored panels kept it from penetrating, and the rear windows cracked in spiderweb patterns from bullet impacts, but did not shatter.

  “If they’re trying to kill us, they’re not doing a very good job.” Hammer yelled. “Those sound like pretty low-caliber rounds.”

  “Maybe you’d prefer they used assault rifles!” Boom shouted back.