Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5)

by Scott Rhine

  The living room wall exploded inward. During the chaos, she kicked the etched rectangle of closet drywall into the hall.

  Leaning through the hole, she aimed her launcher at the back of the rifleman closest to her. All six were dressed in identical black assault armor. She would save the officer with the pistol for last, in case she could capture him for questioning. As a grenade clattered onto the living room floor, she pulled the trigger on her own launcher. Her helmet filtered out most of the flash-bang, but her chameleon armor flickered white for an instant.

  Five opponents left.

  Leaning into the hall, she watched as four men stormed the breach into the embassy. Puzzled, the last man turned to look in her direction. She shot him in the ammo belt before he could raise the alarm. Fragments went everywhere.

  Dropping the visible launcher, she backed into the corner of the bedroom atop the dresser and held perfectly still. With her Empathy and Collective awareness, she sensed the agent creeping into the bedroom through the smoke-filled living area. He found the hole in the closet almost immediately. In Chinese the soldier reported, “They escaped out the back. Quick.”

  Misdirection achieved, Laura kicked him in the throat to silence him. He didn’t die immediately. She couldn’t use his gun because it was smart, keyed to the owner’s handprint. Instead, she had to draw his dagger to help the process along.

  Laura felt a pang as the intruder twitched in her arms. Shooting someone with a gun could have been laser tag. This close, there was no avoiding the guilt. For this to work, her moves had to be as flawless as a finesse in a Bridge tournament. If I fail, Stu dies and Monty rots in prison. I’m only halfway through. I’ll have to hurry if I want to take the next one from behind. She dropped the knife and wiped the blood from her gloves on the bedspread.

  She sprinted through the fog of the living room. The carpeting and drapes blazed with fire, but no smoke alarm sounded. She catapulted off the sofa and onto the back of target number four, just like gymnastics class.

  The man squeezed off a burst of automatic fire as she snapped his neck. Spiderwebs appeared in the acrylic picture window to the left of the door, and the downward arc of bullets hit the shin of one of his companions.

  She dove behind a palette of wall panels.

  The injured number five sprayed the room in retaliation while number six ducked into the kitchen. When five stopped to reload, she threw him to the floor and beat the crap out of him hand-to-hand. She could afford to do this because the smoke hid her from six.

  Then she couldn’t find number six anymore. He’s wearing mushield so I can’t sense him. Thanks Nana, you bitch.

  With no choice, she finished five off with a stomp to the neck. When she tried to run back to the bedroom, she discovered that the man’s shattered microphone had imbedded itself in the arch of her bare foot. The pain was out of proportion to the severity of the wound, causing her to cry out as she crumpled to the floor. Because the heat in the room was oppressive now, she decided to crawl toward the bedroom. Her sneak suit struggled to mimic the swirling smoke patterns. On the bright side, she found a copper pipe on the floor long enough to use as a cane.

  Movement near the bedroom door caught her attention. She saw Stu’s blue aura climbing out of the hiding space and creeping toward the door. That idiot is going to get himself killed! I’m more bulletproof.

  Laura shouted to draw the final gunman’s fire. Then a gas-powered generator exploded, causing her armor to flare white again. The officer strode up to her, point blank, and slipped the pistol against her kidney. “Koku says sayonara.”

  That’s when Stu cut the man’s gun hand off with the katana.

  You can’t hide from gravity. While six was distracted, she swept his legs out from under him and shoved the pipe under his jaw, up into his skull. Coughing hard from her exertion, she wasn’t able to retrieve the pipe.

  Stu swept her up in his arms and jogged for the hallway, flipping off her invisibility to conserve power.

  “Trash chute,” she gasped, lifting the faceplate of her helmet. Her mind reeled. Now the AI Koku was actively defending itself. Did her grandparents know or had they delegated kill squads to its control?

  As they approached the exit, Stu whispered, “You were awesome. We just took out a six-man team together.”

  She raised an unseen eyebrow. Yeah, we. Instead of crushing his ego, she said, “Unravel fire hose.” The chute was too steep and bumpy to slide down unaided.

  He understood instinctively and knotted the fabric hose around her waist. “I’ll lower you first, and then I’ll climb down afterward.”

  She nodded, not trusting her lungs.

  “What about Kaguya?”

  Laura smiled and patted his face in the universal “Isn’t he sweet” gesture. “No worries.”

  Four stories, being lowered by a man who treated you like glass, took forever. She stopped a meter above the dumpster. Untying the knot took longer than expected, as it had tightened with her weight. Her landing was cushioned by fragments of drywall, but climbing to the edge was a minefield with all the screws, nails, and drywall scattered about. Outside the shaft, she could see by the light of the fire pouring out of the melted windows. “Hurry!”

  The hose sounded like a zip line as Stu slid rapidly down. When he struck bottom, the air filled with gypsum dust from the drywall, ruining any future camouflage ability from her armor. Grinning, he showed her the padding on his hands and legs. “Kneepads from the dead guys.” Then he picked her up and strode across the grass past the nearest school building.

  He likes being the knight. Maybe I can thank him in the hospital bed.

  A tearing sound plowed a furrow of death through the courtyard, cutting down at least one tree in their path and blowing out windows near them. Stu dove through one such window to put a layer of brick between them and the machine gun. “A military helo?”

  Laura scanned the sky. “A second one with another ten shooters.”

  “How the hell are we going to fight that?” Stu asked.

  Suddenly, Joan stood beside her, transparent, traveling Out-of-body like Kaguya did. “Away from the windows, now.”

  “Hallway!” Laura’s arm around Stu, they hobbled in a three-legged race.

  She hugged Stu tight. Thunder crashed. Glass blew into the hall from every room along the quad.

  As the sprinklers hissed water on them, Stu asked, “What the hell was that?”

  Laura smiled. With the jamming gone, her mother checked in. She relayed the message to Stu. “Mom commandeered the helo on the roof.”

  “How?”

  “She trained as a space pilot.”

  When Stu carried her back into the wide, grass-covered quad, they saw the bodies. “They must have been right behind us. The second ship was firing at them, not us.”

  Stu’s uncle Kieran had been running when the helo guns had stitched his back like a sewing machine. Laura checked his aura, but he was gone.

  Freya and Maurier were both huddled around CEO Hollis near a corner of the brick façade. “They’re alive!” Laura exclaimed.

  On the outermost layer, Freya’s midsection was hamburger. Her mind was fading but oddly peaceful. There’s no way she can be saved.

  Laura had difficulty breathing. She couldn’t force herself to triage any more casualties. Sirens sounded in the distance, but the sounds were overpowered by the rush of the helo landing across the quad.

  Stu set Laura to the side, ordering medical assistance on his comm. As Stu muttered soothing words to their friend Freya, the light in her eyes faded.

  Luca Maurier groaned. His armor had been heavier, but there had been no coverage in the butt and upper thigh. When he tried to sit up, he collapsed again.

  “Help’s on the way,” Stu said. “You did it. You saved her. We’ll get you on the helo and take you to the hospital.” He used the straps from the borrowed kneepads and Maurier’s own armor to put pressure on the many wounds.

  His calm wavered w
hen he saw the blood on Mira Hollis’ neck. A single bullet had penetrated the pile of defenses, and that had ricocheted off the brick wall. “Aunt Mary, don’t move. Let me check for spinal damage.”

  Aunt Mary?

  “The evac is here,” he told her. “We just need to—”

  In Laura’s earbud, Kaguya shouted the words, “Eject, eject.”

  A beam pulsed down from the sky, leaving pink afterimages on Laura’s retinas. The helo vanished.

  Chapter 37 – On the Lam

  When Laura came to, she was lying in an arched foyer. “Mom?”

  “Everything’s okay, dear,” Kaguya whispered from nearby. “You just had the wind knocked out of you. Stu carried you to shelter while Mo pulled me out of a tree.” She flapped the cloth sling over her left shoulder. Her face was scuffed, and she smelled of burnt hair.

  “What happened?”

  “Orbital laser.”

  “Those are illegal!” Laura protested.

  “But still surprisingly common,” said Eowyn, tweezing something black and twisted out of Laura’s injured foot. “The big five voted themselves a limited number of exceptions from the rules. The oligarchy will allow weapons if they each receive the same number and type.”

  “Who let you out of the brig?” The splash of antiseptic stung enough that Laura gasped.

  Stu was there in a heartbeat. “Are you okay?”

  Kaguya frowned. “I told you I’d handle Laura. You need to stop that bombardment.”

  He nodded. “Mom took care of that.”

  “The killer satellite?” asked Kaguya.

  “My mom can be a bad ass, too,” Stu said.

  “You can talk to her by radio?”

  “I can send messages whenever I want. She can reply to Joan, who travels to Sanctuary Out-of-body.”

  “Her range must be incredible.”

  “Oleander helps boost her, but, yeah, Joan is special. The ship swings close enough periodically. They can’t stay in one place long because the enemy sees everything our main lens does,” he said. “Mom wanted us to know she’s clearing a path now, pulling all the teeth and eyes from here to the prison.”

  As Eowyn wrapped Laura’s foot in gauze, she said, “The UN will call it an act of war.”

  “And assaulting our embassy wasn’t?” Stu snapped.

  “With the chaos here, no one will be able to track you for twelve hours,” Kaguya said. “If you slip out before we let the fire engines in, you can be anywhere in the world by the time they realize you aren’t dead.”

  “I’m going to be locating Monty,” Stu insisted. “The bad weather there will improve our cover. As soon as all the injuries are treated, we can head for the airport.”

  “We’ll need someone with an armored vehicle and some decent weapons,” Kaguya said.

  “That won’t be corporate security,” Stu explained. “Luca is on his way to surgery, and someone told the rest to go home at midnight.”

  Kaguya sighed. “My father.”

  “In what world do the Moris have that kind of access to our company?” Stu demanded.

  “Ms. Hollis placed Tetsuo on the board to end the war. The companies themselves merged several years ago.”

  Stu sat next to Laura, horrified. “We’re doomed. Nobody’s insane enough to drive us to the runway with a price on our heads and no guards.”

  Laura looked at Eowyn as she moved to the next person in need of first aid, a female student with burns. “I may know someone. Mater Nyx has a strike team ready to infiltrate.”

  “How many kill teams are there?” Stu asked. “And why is everyone so eager to attack now? Are they upset about the cure I broadcast or the items on my list?”

  “Too recent,” answered Eowyn, surprising them all.

  Stu addressed her directly with the next question. “To avoid my UN speech?”

  “Perhaps, they like to avoid choices that lead to unconstrained outcomes.”

  “Are these the same people who destroyed Ascension?”

  “I have no way to know who participated. Only three weapons were involved,” Eowyn replied.

  “Only,” echoed Stu. “Which means there was a possibility of more.”

  Laura repeated Eowyn’s earlier statement. “The big five vote themselves a limited number of exceptions from the rules. Three conspirators who don’t want Sanctuary to return, or want to loot the gutted husk of your ship—probably Mori and two others.”

  Putting down the burn ointment, Eowyn said, “I need more bandages.”

  Stu grabbed her hand before she could leave the foyer. “We need more information. If we showed you a captured telescope, could you tell us who owned it?”

  “Anyone can find that using the serial number and the AEC website.” Eowyn refused to meet his eyes.

  Stu borrowed a computer pad from one of the injured students and handed the device to the UN investigator. “Show us.”

  Eowyn logged in and tapped a few times. Once Stu recited the serial number, she shook her head. “You must have made a mistake. Lockwell International is registered to that number, but that radio telescope is still in orbit near the UN moon base.”

  Using the popup display inside the sneak suit’s helmet, Stu showed her the photograph of the evidence from Sanctuary, allowing her to double-check each digit.

  “That can’t be.”

  “Unless someone is stamping the same ID number on multiple weapons,” Stu replied.

  Eowyn glanced up at the sky in panic. “We should leave this area while we can.”

  “Right,” Stu said. “I’ll tell Oleander to put my blood bag into a cooler and start the evacuation.”

  ****

  The ten-woman Nyx team arrived in a school bus. Aunt Mary rode in the seat behind Stu and Laura. She spent her time frantically sending legal orders and press releases to contain the disaster. Dr. Maurier and her medical staff stayed behind with her husband. Stu asked the civilian invitees, like the school girls, to stay close to the doctor until he returned.

  While the fire brigades and police poured in the front, the Sacred Heart athletics bus carried the extended crew of Ballbusters to their plane in the Fortune Enterprises hangar. As owner, Aunt Mary badged them through the gate.

  When they parked, Aunt Mary gestured to a sleek aircraft beside the Ballbusters plane. “That’s my jet. I should be going.”

  “We’ve barely spent any time together.”

  She sighed. “I have a dozen things to do, the first of which is finding my friend Gabriela. She was supposed to meet us here. If I run away with you, Mori wins. I have to uproot this weed now or things will get worse. I’ve put my trust in several of the wrong people.”

  Stu hugged her tight. “I’ll save a spot on the roster for you just in case.”

  Then the CEO kissed a confused Laura on the cheek. “I wish I could be there when you meet her, but I made promises. We’re big on those in my family.”

  “What roster?” asked Eowyn.

  Stu turned to face her. “Sometime after the vote, if I live that long, I’m taking about seventy people on a tour of our ship. Mo and Kelly are already on the list. You’re welcome to come too if you’ve a mind to look after them.”

  “What about my girls from Nyx? Their covers are probably burned.”

  Stu knew the Ballbusters plane could carry about seventy passengers plus cargo. Most of the Mater Nyx members were even Active. “They’re welcome if they ride shotgun through Antarctica. We have a lot of people to free, and the governments might not keep their word.”

  “Try to keep us away,” Eowyn said. “How long do we have before departure? A few of us still have day jobs to call in sick to.”

  Aunt Mary said, “Assume you’ll be gone until the UN vote. Ask each person, just to make sure. Anyone who goes, I’ll cover financially.”

  Two of the Nyx women elected to stay behind to guard Mary.

  “You know these vigilantes?” Stu asked.

  “Most of them were rescues and strays,”
Mary replied.

  “From the Canary Islands Academy,” Laura guessed. “You financed the recovery efforts after the UN quit.”

  “And the therapy. Sometimes recovering one of your own is the best kind of therapy imaginable,” Mary said with a wink.

  After the door closed on the Ballbusters plane, Laura asked Eowyn, “Were you at that academy?”

  “No, but Kelly was.”

  “Ah,” Laura said, gaining insight into how an ethics officer could help a known terrorist organization.

  Oleander asked for her sneak suit back, so Laura found a suitable cold-weather outfit in her luggage and limped to the bathroom to change. “Would you like to come, too?” she asked Stu, waggling her eyebrows.

  “No. I peed before we left. I’ll save your seat for you.” Then he shouted, “Hey, Mo.”

  “Hey, what?”

  “Thanks for not being a stinking traitor.”

  “About that. I was ordered back to base before the hit. I’m kind of AWOL.”

  “I guess I could put you on the embassy staff in the mail room,” Stu said with mock reluctance.

  “Not bodyguard?”

  “Nah, man. My wife and Kaguya kicked more butt last night than you have since I met you. You’ve been replaced.” People had to trade places so Stu could tell the story to his friend. He completely skipped the belly dancing, but described his escape in great detail. At some point, Laura fell asleep next to him.

  Oleander mentioned the story of one of Stu’s scars, and he had to recount another adventure. In spite of all the horrible events that night, Stu felt at peace. He was surrounded by a family he had assembled a piece at a time. Everyone shared their favorite war story. While Oleander described the final battle of Labyrinth to the huntresses and Mo, Stu decided to catch a nap. He had heard the tale dozens of times.

  By the time their plane reached the refueling station on Tierra del Fuego, someone had covered him and his wife with a prototype Gravity Boy blanket.

  Chapter 38 – Cold Comfort

  Stu worried that the airstrip on the ice flow was too short and slick for the Ballbusters plane. To make matters worse, visibility was low in the perpetual night. Conditions were building for a full blizzard. The prison had to plow the landing strip again before the Ballbusters could approach. “Whatever happened to Global Warming?” asked Artemis.