by Ryk Brown
“Thanks,” Naralena replied.
“Just don’t stun one of us,” Jessica added as she prepared to move out. “We gotta make this quick. If we don’t escape and disappear within the next few minutes, we’re screwed. Once the shooting starts, there will be ground and air units here in minutes.” She pulled her comm-unit, quickly putting it into encrypted mode, then pulled the tiny, wireless earpiece out of the top of the unit and stuck it in her ear as she placed a call.
Kit’s comm-unit vibrated, and he pulled it out, placing his earpiece in his ear as well.
“You got me?” Jessica asked.
“I’m Two, you’re One?” Kit asked.
“Roger that,” she replied, tapping him on the shoulder.
Kit was the first out the door, immediately tracking his weapon to the left and sweeping across the backyard fence line for targets, coming back across up high to scan the trees and nearby rooftops. “Clear,” he whispered, moving to the right.
“Go,” Jessica told Naralena. “Follow Kit.”
Naralena hesitated at first, but then stepped through the door, immediately going to the right to follow Kit, who was already heading for the side fence.
Kit dropped to one knee, turned, and prepared to boost Naralena over the fence.
Naralena took the cue and put her left foot into Kit’s cupped hands, then jumped up and grabbed the top of the fence, hoisting herself over smoothly.
Kit was next, pulling himself up with his arms and swinging his legs over like a gymnast, landing perfectly in the next yard, his rifle back in ready position.
Jessica sailed over the opposite fence with practiced precision. Although not as gracefully, Nathan followed her over with ease. The two of them headed quickly across the dark yard, making their way to the far side of the neighbor’s house.
Jessica led, hugging the wall of the house until they reached a gate that led to the front yard. “One, ready,” she whispered over her comm-unit.
“Two, ready,” Kit replied.
Jessica slung the rifle over her shoulder, then unlatched the gate, using both hands to support its weight so that its hinges would not creak. She held the gate open as Nathan stepped through, then carefully closed it before she unslung her weapon and moved into firing position.
“I’ve got four, moving toward the target house,” she whispered over comms.
“Two easy, nearest me,” Kit replied.
“I’ve got the other two,” Jessica whispered back. “Take them when they pass the front bushes, so their bodies won’t be visible from the street.”
“Copy that.”
Jessica took aim, being careful not to expose herself any more than necessary. “These guys are idiots,” she whispered.
Four men wearing the uniforms of local law enforcement moved cautiously but surely toward the front of Gerard’s home, confident in their superiority. They fanned out, a pair left and a pair right of the walkway, choosing to stay out of the direct line of fire should someone suddenly open the front door and start shooting.
The four men stepped carefully over the bushes along the front sidewalk, taking great pains not to make any noise. Four tiny blasts of green-colored energy surprised them, and all four men fell to the ground, unconscious.
Kit bolted out from his firing position, running over to the fallen officers and quickly frisking them, removing their rifles and sidearms.
“We don’t need all of their weapons,” Jessica told Kit, searching one of the downed officers for keys.
“No such thing as too many weapons,” Kit insisted, slinging another rifle over his shoulder and then handing one to Naralena.
“All their weapons are trackable,” Jessica explained.
“Even when they’re powered down?”
“Yup.”
“Well that sucks,” Kit replied, tossing the weapons aside.
Jessica put the officer’s comm-set in her other ear, then pulled the control unit from his belt. She then found a set of keys, pointed it toward the nearest parked vehicle, and pressed a button on the key. The lights inside the vehicle turned on, illuminating its interior. “That’s our ride,” she told Nathan.
“They’ll be able to track the vehicles as well,” Kit warned, taking a set of keys from the unconscious officer nearest him.
“I’m counting on it,” Jessica replied. “You remember how to hot-wire an Earth vehicle?”
“Please,” Kit replied, feigning insult. “Come on,” he urged Naralena, heading for the far vehicle.
“See you at the beach,” Jessica said, heading out as well.
“Shouldn’t we stay together?” Nathan questioned as he followed Jessica to their vehicle.
“If we split up, our pursuers have to split up,” Jessica explained as they climbed into the vehicle. She reached down under the center console, then pulled hard, ripping out the wiring harness that connected the data and comms systems to the vehicle’s power and antennas.
“What are you doing?” Nathan wondered.
Jessica popped open the comm-box, pulling out a chip and a battery, completely disabling the unit. “Now they can’t track this vehicle.”
“Does Kit know how to do this?”
“Yes, but he won’t,” Jessica replied, starting the vehicle.
“But that means they’ll follow them,” Nathan said, concerned.
“That’s why he won’t disable it,” she explained as they pulled away. “He and Naralena are expendable; you’re not.”
Nathan was shocked. “No one’s expendable, Jess,” he disagreed.
“Yes they are, and you of all people should know this.”
“You should have asked,” Nathan insisted.
“Security is my job…specifically your security.”
“Bullshit,” Nathan objected angrily.
“If you think I’m going to ask your permission during a high-risk, fluid, covert op, you need to review the responsibilities of my position.”
Nathan didn’t respond. He wasn’t happy, but he knew she was right. More importantly, he trusted her.
Jessica pulled the comm-unit she had stolen from the downed officer and tossed it, along with the paired comm-set in her right ear, out of the window. “Three units just arrived at Gerard’s. No airship has been dispatched yet. We got lucky.”
“How is that possible?” Nathan wondered. “If they’ve got facial recognition on the buses…”
“You kept your head down on the bus, right?”
“I did.”
“Then they probably ID’d me or Naralena. If they’d ID’d you, this place would be crawling.”
“You’re right, that was a lucky break.”
“Yeah, well it won’t last long. Once Gerard tells them it was you, all hell’s going to break loose in this city. You copy all that, Kit?” she added.
“Disabling the vehicle data comms systems now,” he replied over her comm-unit earpiece.
“You had this planned all along,” Nathan realized.
“Ghatazhak never work an op without every possible scenario worked out in advance.”
“You might want to let me in on those scenarios next time,” Nathan suggested.
“And miss the opportunity to tell you to shut up?” Jessica smiled. “Never.”
* * *
Michael Galiardi had always been a man of routine. His day always began and ended with a series of briefings. As the de facto leader of Earth and the entire Sol Alliance, his responsibilities covered every level of human civilization: domestic, foreign, and interstellar. It was a lot of responsibility for one man, but he reveled in it.
After decades of fighting with bureaucrats and politicians to get the funding his forces needed to properly protect the birthplace of humanity and its core worlds, he finally had the keys to the entire kingdom. The question was: Could he ke
ep them?
The Earth’s constitution only granted him emergency powers until the next scheduled election, which was less than a year away. Fortunately, the conflict with the Jung Empire meant that he need not campaign for the position. All he had to do was keep the conflict alive until after the election, and he had a better than average chance of obtaining full control as the elected leader of Earth. Once he became president, he would appoint a successor to his military position, allowing him to take things to the next level: to finally build a human empire that would last an eternity.
His end-of-the-day briefings complete, he headed down the long breezeway connecting the capitol building to his residence. Traversing this long, open-air, covered walkway was often the only time that no one was reporting to him or asking something of him. Today, like most days, he was alone during this final stroll, other than his security team, which maintained a discreet distance.
As was often the case, one of his aides was waiting for him at the residence end of the breezeway. How the man managed to get to the admiral’s residence before him, despite the fact that he usually departed after the admiral himself, was a curious thing.
“Admiral,” his aide greeted.
“How do you do it?” Galiardi asked.
“Do what, sir?”
“Leave after me but arrive before me,” the admiral wondered. “Yet I never see you pass me by.”
“There is an underground tunnel with a moving walkway directly below the breezeway.”
Admiral Galiardi looked at the man. “How is it I didn’t know about this?”
“You always prefer the fresh air.”
“Indeed I do,” the admiral agreed, entering the foyer of his residence.
“I’m afraid we have a development,” his aide began. “We got a match on a bus on the west coast, near the sig-int facility in Monterey.” He handed him a data pad. “Jessica Nash and Naralena Avakian.”
“Those names sound familiar.”
“Nash was an EDF spec-ops who served on the Aurora and was close with Nathan Scott and Cameron Taylor. Miss Avakian was one of the refugees picked up from Haven during the Aurora’s original series of events in the Pentaurus cluster. She served as Captain Scott’s comms officer for nearly two years, before returning to her home world of Volon.”
“Why are they here?” Admiral Galiardi wondered.
“Avakian was reported to be close, perhaps intimate, with Gerard Bowden, after meeting him during an op on Kohara.”
“Didn’t Nash resign to join the Ghatazhak?” the admiral suddenly remembered.
“She did,” his aide confirmed. “Took her entire family with her, although we don’t know where they went.”
“You think this Avakian woman went to see Bowden?”
“We don’t think so, we know. And there were two men with them,” the aide explained, reaching over and advancing the frame to the next pair of images on the data pad. “Facial recognition was unable to identify either one of them, but all four shot their way out of an ambush at Bowden’s residence after beating the crap out of him.”
“Curious,” the admiral commented, looking at the image of the man in the cap, hiding his face from the camera. “Did Bowden ID these other two men?”
“One of them, yes. Nathan Scott.”
Galiardi’s eyes widened. “I want a squadron of Reapers searching for them, with another squadron of Eagles backing them up, and I want them there an hour ago.”
“I’ve already activated an air wing out of San Diego. They should be in position shortly.”
“They had to have come in a jump sub,” Galiardi added.
“I have several of the Reapers searching the waters off Monterey now.”
“Find out what they wanted from Bowden,” Admiral Galiardi instructed. “Kill the rest”
“Yes, sir,” his aide acknowledged. “Is it possible?”
Galiardi looked crossly at his aide. “That Nathan Scott somehow escaped a maximum-security Jung detention facility, and put a doppelganger in his place to avoid execution?”
“I’m only asking what the people will be asking, once word of this gets out.”
Admiral Galiardi looked sternly at the aide. “Then see that it doesn’t.”
* * *
Jessica looked around the parking lot as she stepped out of the stolen vehicle, ensuring that no one was paying them any undue attention.
“Why here?” Nathan wondered, also climbing out of the vehicle. “We’re at least two clicks from the beach.”
“They have to know we used a jump sub to get here, so they’ll be watching every beach, especially the ones closest to Gerard’s place.”
“Then we have to go to a different rendezvous point.”
“That’s the plan,” Jessica agreed, pulling out the remote for the jump sub.
“Two on your left,” Kit announced over Jessica’s comm-unit.
Jessica glanced to her left, spotting Kit and Naralena walking down the row of parked cars toward her and Nathan.
“Did you see them?” Kit asked as they neared.
“The jump flashes? Yeah.”
“I counted eight,” Kit added.
“Air support?” Nathan surmised.
“A lot of them,” Jessica replied. “I’m not getting a link-up from the jump sub.” She tossed the remote to Kit. “See what you can do with it.”
Jessica looked around the parking lot again, thinking. “Eight flashes is a lot of air cover,” she decided. “Galiardi knows we’re here.”
“It’s being jammed,” Kit reported.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Jessica replied. “Any chance we can defeat the jamming?”
“Not without some additional equipment,” Kit told her.
“Such as?”
“More power, to start. Some sort of comm-array would help as well. Basic shit, really.”
“How long?”
“Once I have everything I need, thirty minutes…maybe.”
Jessica sighed. “We need someplace to lie low for a while.” As she spoke, a car pulled up a few spots down the row. “Follow my lead,” she told the others as she headed toward the newly arrived vehicle.
“Where are…” Nathan began. Realizing she wasn’t listening, he fell in behind her, as did Kit and Naralena.
“Excuse me, Miss,” Jessica called toward the woman getting out of the vehicle. “Are you from around here? We’re a bit lost.”
“Actually, no,” the woman apologized. “I’m just visiting.”
“Are you staying nearby?”
“No, I’m staying out in the valley, so I’m afraid I can’t help you. Sorry.”
“That’s perfect,” Jessica replied, moving closer to the woman.
“Excuse me?” the woman said, wondering why Jessica was still moving toward her.
“Pretend like you know us,” Jessica instructed with authority as she stepped up and hugged the surprised woman.
“What are you doing?” the woman asked, instinctively attempting to break free of the unwanted embrace.
“Do what I say, and you won’t be harmed,” Jessica whispered in the woman’s ear. “Don’t, and I’ll kill you where you stand.”
The woman stopped struggling.
“Now hug me like you’ve missed me,” Jessica whispered.
The woman complied, putting her arms around Jessica but with far less enthusiasm in her embrace than in the stranger’s.
“It’s been so long!” Jessica squealed, suddenly switching into a new role. She released the woman from her embrace, holding her at arm’s length. “You look amazing! Did you lose weight or something?”
The woman looked scared but tried not to show it. “Wha…wha…”
“You remember my husband, Connor,” Jessica continued.
“Uh…uh…”
“This is Anna and Jerry, our friends,” Jessica said, continuing her role.
“Wha…what do you want from me?” The woman managed to mumble, scared for her life. “I have a few credits. You’re welcome to them.”
“We just need a ride,” Jessica whispered.
“Take my car,” the woman urged. “It’s all yours; just don’t hurt me, please…I have children.
“Where are they?” Jessica asked.
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” Nathan commented just loud enough for Jessica to hear.
“They’re with my husband. They’re joining me in a few days,” the woman admitted, barely able to hold herself together.
“Perfect again,” Jessica said, smiling. “All aboard,” she told the others. “Get back in the car,” Jessica instructed the woman, switching back into a more threatening tone.
“Jess,” Nathan began to object.
“Get in the car, dear,” Jessica instructed Nathan, switching character again.
The woman nervously sat back down in the driver’s seat as Kit and Naralena slid into the back seat.
Nathan looked around as Jessica circled around the front of the car to enter from the front passenger side. As she opened the door, she looked across the hood at Nathan. “Get in the car,” she told him again.
“I don’t like this,” Nathan muttered as he took his seat behind the woman and closed the door.
“Please,” the woman begged.
“What’s your name?” Jessica asked.
“Lynne,” the woman replied.
“Just stay calm and drive normally, and everything will be fine,” Jessica instructed. “Now start the car.”
“The woman inserted the key and pressed a button, activating the vehicle’s system, but looked confused.
“Something wrong?” Jessica wondered.
“It’s a rental,” Lynne replied. “This is only the second time I’ve driven it.”
“That’s alright,” Jessica assured her, switching to a more calming tone than before. “You said you’re staying in the valley?”
“Yes.”
“How far away is that?”
“About half an hour.”
“Excellent,” Jessica said. “Hotel?”