Annihilation: Love Conquers All

by Andrew, Saxon;Chiodo, Derek

  Colonel Ortiz was impressed. “You’re absolutely right,” he said.

  “John, please contact defense and ask them to run a check on those serial numbers,” Inspector Connor said.

  “I’ve already done that, Inspector. I used your name and they promised the results within the hour. I also asked them to flash it to the computer on your floater,” Danielle said.

  “Thank you very much, Miss Ash,” Esa told her. This young technician impressed him. He made a mental note to get John to look into her work history to see if she could be transferred into his division. Most technicians her age were too timid to make a decision on their own, much less go out of their way to gather information.

  “I think it’s my turn now,” Major Daniels said. “I’ve had my department download the material to your computer, Inspector. I’ve also brought a display to show the live tape on what happened here.”

  He then opened his display, set it down on the floater, and said to the group, “There were six people involved tonight, and what I would like to do is show you what video we have on each participant. After we look at each one, I’ll combine all the videos into one screen so you can see how all their movements worked together.”

  So they watched the videos and saw the five men moving through the park, the street, and the sidewalk until all five arrived at this point together. As they watched the video they would look out into the park at the routes that the five men used.

  “Now, before I put all these together into one video, is there anything that stands out from what you’ve seen?” Major Daniels asked.

  John Sinclair replied, “It’s clear to me that these five were working together. They were looking at each other as they moved, and I’m willing to wager that they all arrive at this point at the same time. Does anyone see anything different?”

  Danielle said, “I don’t see anything on the man leaning against the wall.”

  “I’ll get to that in a few minutes,” Major Daniels said.

  “No, I agree,” said Inspector Connor. “Other than the points just made, I think we can all agree that they were working together. Let’s continue.”

  “What I’m going to do now is show you the live tape we have. Understand that where this took place was covered with only one camera, so you’ll see ten seconds of video, then the camera will swing away, then swing back for ten seconds. All right, here goes,” Major Daniels said, and he started his display again.

  The camera showed the wall, and no one was there. Then they could see it swing away and show the wall in the opposite direction. Then it swung back, and there were the five men surrounding someone sitting against the wall. As they watched they could see that one of the men was talking to the person sitting against the wall.

  Major Daniels stopped the video at this point and said, “I want you to notice a few things.” He brought the video in close to the man on the right, and brought the view in tight to the man’s right hand, where they could see he had a gun pressed against his leg. As Major Daniels moved the video to a wider view he said, “Notice that this man is scanning the area away from where that man is sitting against the wall. I won’t take the time to look at the man on the left, you can do that on your own, but he’s doing the same thing. It seems their duty was to prevent anyone from interfering with what was about to happen.”

  Colonel Ortiz said, “That is standard military practice. You place your scouts on the perimeter to make sure your main force isn’t surprised. Did everyone notice that they all arrived at the same time and that their victim was right in the center of their group?”

  “So you think the man sitting against the wall was intended to be a victim, Colonel?” asked Inspector Connor.

  “I think that’s obvious, and I think you’ll see why as soon as Major Daniels shows you close-ups of the three center men.”

  “You’re a good observer, Colonel,” Major Daniels said. “I’ll show you what he’s talking about, Inspector.” He then moved the video to a close-up of the three center men. As the men moved in closer on the screen, they could see that there was something in their hands. Major Daniels then showed clear video that each man had a knife pointed at the person sitting against the wall.

  “As you can see,” said Colonel Ortiz, “these three men in the center have their knives out and are moving in on whoever that is against the wall. These three are the attacking force. The big man in the center is the blocker. His job is to prevent the victim from trying to run. The men on each side of him are the strike force that will attack the victim simultaneously. These men have done this before. They moved into position smoothly and every man knew his place.”

  “There’s something else,” said Danielle. “Major Daniels, can you give me a close-up of the knives that are being held by the man to the right and left of the center man?”

  Major Daniels didn’t say anything, but almost immediately the screen split in half. On one side was a hand holding a serrated military knife, and on the other side of the screen was a hand holding a notched throwing knife.

  Danielle walked up to the screen, pointed to the serrated military knife, and said, “This is the knife that severed the tendons in the fourth victim’s arm, and it’s also the knife in the first victim’s eye.” She then pointed to the other knife and said, “This is the knife that punctured the heart of the gunman on the left. One more thing,” she said. “Major Daniels, will you now show the picture of the three men again?” Immediately the picture was back on the screen. “I want you to notice that the man holding the serrated blade, standing right here,” and she pointed to the man on the screen, “had the arm holding the knife broken at the elbow.” She paused for a moment and then said, “And this man holding the notched knife had the tendons severed in his wrist on the arm that he was using to hold his knife.”

  They all looked at each other while the implications of what she said sank in.

  Major Daniels said, “Let’s continue the video.” And immediately on the screen the camera started moving away from the six people arrayed at the wall. They then watched the camera swing back and saw that four of the five men were sprawled on the sidewalk. They also saw the big man in the center still looking at the man sitting against the wall. The camera paused and, before it swung away, they could see the two men on the screen talking. When the camera swung back again the big man and the man against wall were gone and only the four dead bodies remained.

  “Just a little more,” said Major Daniels. “One of my monitors took over manual control of the cameras in this area when one of them picked up the sound of gunshots.” He then started the video again, and they saw the big man running down the street until he came to an entrance into a building and went through it. The view then switched to the corridor that the big man entered. There were hundreds of people moving and they lost sight of him. “We lost him in the crowd.”

  “How far were you able to follow the man sitting against the wall?” Esa asked.

  “I’ll get to that in a minute,” Major Daniels said. “When our system detected two gunshots, one of the monitors on duty immediately took manual control of all the cameras in this area.”

  Inspector Connor said, “Victim number two fired his gun twice. I don’t think he hit anyone, because the four dead men had no bullets in them, and there was no blood where the big man was standing or where the other man was sitting.”

  Colonel Ortiz then said, “I think I can tell you what happened.”

  “John, I want you to record what the colonel says, and also, if you don’t mind, please get a copy of Major Daniels’s videos.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Then Inspector Connor said, “Go ahead, Colonel.”

  Just as Colonel Ortiz started to explain, two men walked up to the group. “Just a moment, Colonel,” Esa said.

  Jack Chin, one of John Sinclair’s assistants, said, “Inspector Connor, you asked me to bring Sergeant Garcia when he arrived.”

  “Thank you, Jack. Good evening, Sergeant.”r />
  “Good evening,” said Sergeant Garcia. “Don’t let me interrupt you.”

  “I’ve invited Sergeant Garcia here because he might have something that relates to the man sitting against the wall,” Major Daniels said. “I was working with him on another issue when the attack took place here.”

  “If it’s all right with everyone, I’d like to stay on task,” Esa said. “We’ll get to Sergeant Garcia after I hear from Colonel Ortiz. Go ahead, Colonel.”

  “Thank you,” said Colonel Ortiz. “The first one to attack was this man to the right of center. He thrust his knife at the person sitting against the wall. Whoever the person against wall was, let’s call him the victim, he stepped inside the thrust, twisted the arm, and broke the elbow with a hand blow that caused the attacker to drop his knife. The victim then caught the knife before it hit the sidewalk, as he was rolling under the man on the left who was slashing at his back. The victim placed his knife in the path of the attacker’s arm to use the attacker’s own slashing motion to sever his tendons and ligaments, which also caused him to drop his knife. The victim came out of his roll holding both knives. He immediately threw the serrated knife into the eye of the gunman on the right, who I am certain was about to begin firing.”

  He paused for a moment and said, “I feel certain about everything so far, and I can see in my mind the moves that the victim made.” Then the colonel walked over to the four bodies and stood facing the gunman on the right with his back to the gunman on the left. “It’s this next move that I’ve never seen before,” he said. “There’s only one thing the victim could have done within the time restraints that Miss Ash has given. The gunman behind the victim fired a shot at him, but the victim anticipated that and had begun a roll. He threw the knife back between his legs, upside down in the middle of his roll, into the gunman’s heart, causing his second shot to go wild. His roll would have brought him in front of the first attacker, probably still holding his broken arm since only a few seconds had passed. The victim grabbed this arm and swung him face-first into the wall, then he rotated and kicked the second attacker with the severed wrist between the legs and then slammed his knee into the attacker’s face as he bent over. The attacker died when he flipped over backwards and hit his head on the concrete. He had a broken nose, which tells me how the victim flipped him backwards. The victim then sat back down against the wall just as the camera returned.”

  “Colonel, what did you mean by the victim using a move you’ve never seen before?” Esa asked.

  Colonel Ortiz looked at Inspector Connor, who could tell he was struggling with how to answer his question. “Inspector, the victim never saw the second gunman when he threw the knife.”

  “What!”

  “Let me demonstrate.” Colonel Ortiz walked over to the street and picked up a small rock. He then walked back to where he was facing the gunman on the right. “Now I want you to imagine that I’ve just rolled under the attacker on the left, cut his wrist, and picked up his knife as I came to my feet. I then throw the serrated knife at the gunman in front of me.” Colonel Ortiz demonstrated the motion of throwing a knife. “This rock in my left hand represents the other knife. I want you to notice at this point that I cannot see the gunman behind me, but I know he’s got to be lining up a shot at me, and remember that according to Miss Ash, whatever I do now must be done within one second, and I have to slam the attacker with a broken arm into the wall within two seconds after that.”

  “Hold that position for a moment, Colonel,” Esa said. “Jack, go down there where the second gunman was about to shoot and take a position like you were going to take a shot.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Okay, Colonel, continue.”

  “As I was saying, notice that I can’t see the gunman behind me. The only thing I can do with the time I have left is to roll forward and throw the knife between my legs in the middle of my roll, then come to my feet in time to grab the first attacker’s broken arm. The problem is that when I have to release the knife I still wouldn’t be able to see the gunman. Let me show you with this rock.”

  The colonel then rolled forward and threw the rock between his legs at Jack. The rock completely missed.

  “Thanks for not hitting me, Colonel,” said Jack.

  “Don’t thank me; I was doing my best to hit you.”

  Esa noticed that when Colonel Ortiz released the rock his vision was blocked by his body making the roll. “Colonel, are you sure that he made the throw the way you’re describing? It looks impossible to hit that gunman anywhere, much less in his heart.”

  “Inspector, there’s nothing else he could have done in the time he had. And yes, that throw is impossible, but there’s one thing that you’re missing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Remember, he threw the serrated knife into the first gunman’s eye socket with his right hand, and he hit a moving target the size of a dime. He was holding in the other knife in his left hand, which means he made that blind throw left-handed.”

  “Holy groad,” said Esa.

  “Exactly,” said Colonel Ortiz.

  “Colonel, do you know anyone that could have done what you’ve seen here tonight?” Major Daniels asked.

  “Major, I have won six planetary hand-to-hand competitions over the last fifteen years, and I know the other nine winners. I am not bragging when I tell you that I am considered the best at hand-to-hand combat on the planet. However, the other nine winners and I could not come close to doing what happened here tonight. We could, perhaps, take out the first two attackers, but catching that first knife before it hit the ground, then finishing a roll holding both knives; that’s impossible. Something else that I should tell you: the victim hit two targets the size of a dime while avoiding knife thrusts and gunshots in less than three seconds. No one, and I do mean absolutely no one, that I’ve ever known or seen could do that. And remember, one of those throws was made with his non-dominant hand.”

  “Colonel, are you saying that this was done by more than one person?” Esa asked.

  “I would really like to believe that if for no other reason than to save my ego, but it’s just not possible.”

  “Why not, Colonel?” Major Daniels asked.

  “The other persons would have to come into the fight, help the victim accomplish this, and then disappear within ten seconds. Remember, all this happened within the ten-second camera sweep. Also keep in mind that these four were killed by someone directly in front of them. Also, the cameras did not see any other people there but these six. No, it had to happen as I described it. If someone were to tell me that someone did what we’ve seen tonight, I would never believe it. Even now there’s a part of me that refuses to accept it, but I think that’s out of jealousy. Whoever did this is much better than I am. I wish I had never seen this because this humbles me.”

  “So we have some kind of hand-to-hand superman,” Danielle stated.

  “Miss Ash, whoever did this has the finest eye, hand, and body control of anyone on the planet. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t want to get within arm’s reach of this person,” Colonel Ortiz said.

  “It’s worse than that,” said Major Daniels. “He also has a way to make himself invisible.”

  Even Colonel Ortiz looked dumbfounded.

  Chapter 8

  Admiral Dorg sat across the table from the Glod ambassador and could sense his hostility. The Glod’s ridge just above his eyes was a light orange color, which indicated anger moving toward rage. If it turned deep orange then the Glod was probably going to attack and he was wearing the long ceremonial swords. Even though it was not easy to see emotion on a Glod’s face due to little or no animation of their features, the crest gave them away. Dorg could easily sense the ambassador’s anger. After the two ships that had set the ambush had been destroyed, the Alliance sent investigators to determine what happened. Their findings were that the two ships had destroyed each other.

  “We agreed to help you and you destroyed our ship,” the am
bassador said. “You will pay a heavy price for this insolence.” The Glod’s face resembled that of a human of Asian descent and everything about this angry Glod official screamed danger. His seven-foot height and five hundred pounds of mass appeared ready for lethal action.

  “Sir, we did not destroy your ship. I assume you saw the investigator’s report.”

  The ambassador said, “Yes, I did.” He had been surprised when the Cainth admiral came into his presence without arms or bodyguards. The ambassador had almost killed the admiral on sight, but seeing he was unarmed, had no bodyguards, and came in with all four arms crossed to show nonaggression caused him to pause. He respected the admiral’s bravery in coming alone. There weren’t many that would confront an angry Glod.

  “Then you know that they concluded that our ship was destroyed first by missiles from your ship. Not by much, but our ship died first.”

  The ambassador looked at Dorg and said, “I thought your ship was going to be hidden and undetectable. How could we have attacked the ship if we couldn’t see it?”