“The records show the property was sold to a new owner about five years ago,” Garrett told them, “and hasn’t produced any clothing since.”
Jaxon glanced at Reese to see that the timing of the purchase hadn’t escaped her. According to Dani, five years ago was when those who had left Colony 6 had started disappearing. That wasn’t supposed to be connected to the missing scientists, which was why they were here, but the timing was curious.
“Who would have the authority to operate a team of Estlantic Special Forces in Amarillo City?” Reese asked.
Jaxon shook his head, glancing toward Garrett. His partner had put in a lot more time at this division than he had.
“Well, that’s assuming your witness actually saw the right patches and that they were real,” Garrett said. “You guys know as well as I do that most people only see enforcers close up on the Teev shows, and that patch is the most recognizable. But to answer your question, Captain Brogan could request use of Special Forces. Or Chief Kirkpatrick could be running them, since he’s over all the enforcer divisions in Dallastar. But ultimately all Special Forces answer to the Controller in Estlantic.”
Jaxon had once considered joining Special Forces to have the opportunity to work for the Controller, who was second only to the Director in ruling the CORE Territories. Instead, he’d opted to become a detective and return here to be closer to Bobby.
Eagle frowned. “It has to be the captain or the chief. But at the same time, it seems smart for the Controller to keep an eye on Dallastar because it’s so far out here. We’d be the easiest to revolt if—”
“Who said anything about revolting?” Garrett snapped. “It’s just as possible that these guys aren’t real enforcers at all. They could be anyone.”
“Easy,” Jaxon said to his partner. Garrett had no idea yet what they’d discovered in Colony 6, so he couldn’t begin to understand why a revolt might be necessary. “Any of these possibilities could be true, but it seems if they’re not real enforcers, that will be the biggest immediate danger for us.”
“That’s why we take our guns.” Reese’s voice was even and deadly, and for a moment Jaxon realized just how much he didn’t know about the past twenty years of her life.
“Okay then,” Jaxon said. “The question is how to create a diversion that’s believable.”
“One that preferably doesn’t get us sent to a colony,” Garrett added.
“Not a problem,” Eagle said, opening his bag. “Just leave it to me.”
Chapter 22
NOVA WAS BORED. She had been ordered to bring El Cerebro and his crew food to a location near the factory whose address she’d given the enforcers the night before. She didn’t understand why any of the undergrounders had to be there if the whole point was to turn it over to the enforcers.
Her boredom vanished as her uncle received a message on his iTeev. “Keep watch,” El Cerebro told the crew. “Let me know if anything happens while I’m gone.”
“Sure thing, boss,” said Wolf, a tough, dark-skinned boy scarcely out of his teens. He liked to pretend he was second in command, but he was little more than an errand boy. Wolf had tried to get Nova alone more than once, but she knew his interest in her was only because of her relationship to her uncle. All the other girls in the underground lusted after him, but not Nova. She wasn’t interested.
Making sure the sharp-witted Derria, who was the real second-in-command, didn’t see her, Nova followed her uncle. After less than a block, he stopped and waited for her.
“How do you always know?” she grumbled after catching up to him.
“Because I’m El Cerebro. Why are you following me?”
“Who are you going to meet?”
His eyes narrowed, though the mask over his face went a long way to hiding any emotion. Finally, he gave a sharp nod. “Things are about to change. If my plan works, we may be getting control over some very valuable assets unlike any we’ve seen so far.”
“You mean the clippers from Colony 6. Is that why you led them here? Because those are real Special Forces in there and things could get ugly.”
“It’s a necessary step.” He paused before adding, “Unfortunately, you’re correct. They may not make it out alive.”
Despite her ingrained animosity toward all enforcers, Nova was sorry to hear this. She hadn’t disliked Reese, and Jaxon, well, it was too bad Wolf wasn’t more like him. Jaxon was one guy she’d like to be alone with for a little liplocking, even if he was old.
Before she could question him further, El Cerebro started walking again, turning into an alleyway. The big enforcer with the black ponytail from the other night was waiting there.
“Hello, Hammer,” El Cerebro said. “What’s the report?”
Hammer. Probably a last name, and an apt one at that given the size of his arms. His gaze slid past El Cerebro and fell on Nova. “I thought you didn’t want them seeing me.”
“Things are about to change. You know that.”
“Unless they don’t work out the way you think.” The big man folded his arms across his chest. Nova wondered how much El Cerebro had paid him to betray the others.
El Cerebro waved his words aside. “Report?”
Hammer consulted a device in his hand before passing it to her uncle. “They aren’t in the enforcer shuttle or in range of any cameras at the moment, and they’ve activated blocking on their iTeevs, but the tracker inside Detective Parker is working. You’ll be able to follow her anywhere while it lasts, as long as you’re not too far away. Guess you were lucky she was attacked.”
“It was inevitable.”
“Maybe.”
“Not maybe. They are pivotal in this fight.”
“What if she’d been killed?” Hammer’s voice was hard and maybe just a little sorrowful.
“She may still be killed. Come on. We’ll need you. My crew is tough, but they don’t have your experience. I’m hoping things go smoothly and we’ll take them as they leave the building, but I may need your help to prevent any deaths. Of course, it’s your choice. It always has been.” El Cerebro turned and started walking.
Hammer delayed only three seconds before launching his bulk forward with a gentle grace that exuded power.
Nova started to follow, but her uncle held up a hand without looking back at her. “Go home, Nova. Now. I will know if you follow.”
She stopped walking immediately, anger coursing throughout her body. I should have waited longer before following, she thought. Now he would be vigilant and send someone like Wolf to intercept her if she disobeyed. Worse, if she distracted her uncle by pursuing them, his distraction might cause his death, and she would never forgive herself if that happened.
At least her dismissal hadn’t been in front of the others. For all they knew, she could have been sent on an important errand. She hesitated as long as she dared so her uncle would know she was unhappy with his command, then, finally, she turned and made her way through the streets.
She couldn’t help but think of her father, and how he’d refused to let her go with him on his last trip into the Desolation Zone. It had been the last time she’d seen him alive.
Chapter 23
THE PLAN WAS simple. Eagle would set off what was essentially a very smelly, very noisy smoke bomb, similar to what enforcers used to smoke out criminals in juke raids. The key to its success, according to Eagle, was that the smoke smelled like the chemical additive put in the gas lines. For as much as CORE stressed the need for renewable energy and less reliance on the fossil fuels mined in Colony 4, they hadn’t begun to reach pre-Breakdown energy standards.
After Eagle set off his bomb, Jaxon, Reese, and Garrett would enter the building itself and pretend to need access to the interior shutoff valves, which they’d identified by pulling some old schematics. If needed, they’d temporarily take care of any guards so they could search the building. Lyssa would wait in the car and alert dispatch if she heard any shooting.
“I’ve been watching all day,”
Garrett said, “and there’s only been that one shuttle, so I don’t expect many people to be inside. Plus, we have the element of surprise. We’ll overtake any guards they may send to accompany us before fanning out and searching the place. We have the layout here. Commit it to memory.” He gestured to the holo feed sent by his iTeev. “First priority is to see if they have any of the missing people. Second, we’ll need to search for records.”
“What’s the plan for overtaking them?” Reese asked, admiring how Garrett had gone into command mode, appearing to suddenly lose his worry about going against Captain Brogan now that he was committed. She was having a hard time herself, because not telling the captain about this operation felt like a betrayal to the CORE.
“If they’re actual enforcers, they’ll cooperate with shutting off the valves, and then we’ll use Jaxon’s sleeping gas.”
“The gas will be easier if we can get them into an enclosed space,” Jaxon added. “I brought breathers for us.”
“And what if there are more inside that we think?” Reese asked.
“Use stunners to knock ’em out,” Garrett said. “If they’re real enforcers, we’ll take them by surprise. If they’re fakes, they won’t have our training.”
They could have more. Reese thought of growing up in the Coop, and how vicious some of the fights there had been. Nothing had prepared her for being an enforcer like those experiences. Garrett, being born on the outside, could never know. There was also Dani and the fringers, who seemed well trained. How often had Dani’s team attacked and bested enforcers here in Dallastar? She shifted her gaze to Jaxon but, like her, he didn’t seem in any hurry to contradict Garrett.
Eagle popped open his door, and she followed him outside, anticipation rolling through her body. Her side hardly twinged since the nanobot injection, and she felt more than ready. She removed her outer civilian clothes and tossed them onto the back seat.
Garrett turned to Eagle. “After you set it off, take up a defensive position outside, preferably inside their gate where you can back us up if something happens.”
“Yes, sir.” Eagle gave a salute that Reese recognized as mocking, not because of his expression, which remained steady, but because he’d used that exact salute with their teachers back in the Coop.
Jaxon smirked at Eagle, clearly recalling the same memory. “And to be clear, he’s not suggesting you come barreling inside. Just be aware in case we need to have the captain extract us.”
“You’d better hope that doesn’t happen or we’ll all be suspended.” Garrett’s mouth stretched into a tight grin. Reaching into an outer compartment of his car, he removed a laser cutter that would be their way through the gate—and into the factory itself if needed.
Jaxon handed out black, hand-sized devices that always reminded Reese of surgical masks. She pulled the breather over her head and left it hanging on her chest like an oversized necklace. “Okay, let’s do this thing.” With a nod at Lyssa, she started up the alley that sheltered Garrett’s car.
Eagle kept pace with her. “Man, that guy’s intense,” he muttered.
“Guess Garrett feels responsible since he’s the ranking enforcer. It’s probably his job on the line more than all of us.”
“Somehow I doubt that.” Eagle glanced around as they reached the street and waited for the others. “Brogan seemed pretty willing to spread the anger around today.”
“That he did.”
Garrett arrived and stared past the building at the factory. “Okay, we’ll wait for Eagle’s distraction and then we go in. This had better be good.”
“I’ll need five minutes,” Eagle said. “I have to make a few adjustments or my bomb might take out the whole factory.”
“Are you kidding?” barked Garrett.
Jaxon set a hand on Garrett’s shoulder. “Of course, he’s kidding.”
“I am?” Eagle didn’t crack a smile.
Reese felt uneasy. “Please don’t kill us all.”
Eagle gave another mocking salute before emerging onto the street casually, as if walking in this area was something he did every day. In his slacks and side-zip shirt, pack over one shoulder, he might be a factory worker coming to pick up something he’d left at work.
Garrett glared at his back as Eagle walked casually into the street. “You trust him?” he asked Jaxon.
“With my life. Same as you.”
“Can we really hope they’re keeping the scientists here?” Reese asked. “I mean, it’s right under our noses. I don’t understand why nothing led you guys here before.”
Garrett shook his head, his face stretching into a puzzled scowl. “I don’t know. But while we’re talking strange, I’m still wondering what El Cerebro gets for giving us the tip.”
Reese met Jaxon’s eyes. Had Nova set them up, lured them here for some purpose known only to El Cerebro? It was always possible.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Garrett said. “You bring that drone I asked for?”
“Yep.” Jaxon pulled out the small, beelike mechanical insect that had been the latest spy tech from before Breakdown. With a command on his iTeev, he sent the drone off. “Let’s just make sure they don’t have a dozen black shuttles behind that fence.”
Reese watched the progress through her iTeev, making sure it was still in offline mode and blocked from the main Teev feed that could ping their location. They could still pick up the holo emitted by the drone but only as far as it could broadcast on its private signal. As the drone cleared the fence, Garrett murmured, “Good, just the one shuttle.”
Jaxon started to speak, but whatever he’d been going to say was lost as a loud boom! echoed through the streets. It had been less than two minutes.
“Way to go, Eagle,” murmured Jaxon.
They headed out across the street, jogging toward the factory. Ignoring the first building, they went directly to the gate leading to the second. As Garrett sliced through the lock, the drone flew back over the fence and landed in Jaxon’s hand. Reese could see the black shuttle now, parked in front of a solid metal door. It certainly looked like the one she’d seen in the sketch from Nova, but there was no way to be certain.
The entrance was a single, unassuming metal door—nothing like the glass doors of the front building. Jaxon banged on it. Reese had her gun out, holding it down near her side. They were going to try to talk their way in, but she doubted Garrett’s plan would work so easily.
Nothing happened. No one answered and there were no footsteps. The smell of gas was overwhelming, and she pulled her breather over her mouth and nose.
“Cut it open,” Jaxon muttered, his face grim. He didn’t move to pull up his own mask.
Garrett shook his head. “We cut through and there’s no way we can pretend to be friendly.”
“If this was a real emergency and no one answered,” Jaxon responded, “we’d break in.”
Reese left them to argue it out, her attention on a pad next to the door. She placed her hand on it and a deep clang rang out, startling her. The men fell silent, their gazes shifting in her direction.
“I think I got their attention,” she said. “Put on your poker faces.”
They could hear faint footsteps now. At least two sets. Possibly three. As the sound grew louder, Reese stepped behind Jaxon so whoever answered wouldn’t see that she’d drawn her gun.
The door opened, framing a tall, burly man with ruddy skin and shiny, long black hair slicked back from his face. He was dressed in enforcer black and carried only a handgun, but the two enforcers behind him had automatic rifles. Reese recognized the Special Forces patches from her drawing. These men may very well have been the same ones who dumped the body at the Fountain. She wished she could check her iTeev for their CivIDs, but that would mean turning off her blocking to connect to the enforcer database.
“Yeah?” growled the enforcer. “What do you want?” He shook his head as he spoke, wrinkling his nose at the smell of Eagle’s bomb.
Garrett launched into the explanati
on. “There’s been a gas leak and an explosion two buildings over. It’s affecting the entire block. We need to check your gas main. Make sure the whole place doesn’t blow.”
The enforcer glared. “Check it how?”
“We’ll make sure your valves are off. And check for leaks.”
The man started to close the door. “I can do that.”
“Well,” said Eagle, stepping up behind Reese. “I also need to check the built-up gas levels with my meter.” He flashed Reese a smile. “Sorry it took me so long to catch up. The levels at the last building were critical. A few minutes later and it would have exploded. The explosion has caused all kinds of pressure in the lines.”
The tall enforcer paused, his eyes going up and down Eagle’s body. With his white shirt and meter, Reese thought he could pass as some kind of mid-level employee from the gas company, one that didn’t ordinarily do house calls. That he was accompanied by three enforcers made him look more official.
“Check their CivIDs,” suggested one of the enforcers behind the leader.
Nodding, the man pulled out a standard issue iTeev, unfolded it to a rectangle, and swiped a few times across the screen. “Okay,” the enforcer said, apparently convinced by the information he’d gained. “I’ll take you down.”
The four of them filtered inside behind the tall man. His partners took up the rear behind them, loosening their grips on their rifles, but still holding them in front at the ready. The air inside the building was cool compared to the outside, and it felt good to Reese, though she could still smell the pervasive odor of gas.
Reese gave Eagle a sidelong stare. He’d been their backup on the outside, and now they only had Lyssa, who didn’t have any enforcer training. Garrett wasn’t going to be pleased when they got out of this. Still, these men appeared to be real enforcers, if they could access the CivID database, so they shouldn’t be a danger. Too bad they didn’t seem inclined to let them wander the building on their own.
“What brings Estlantic Special Forces to Dallastar?” Jaxon asked their guide.
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