by Dennis Young
Junior smiled and blushed. “Thank you as well.” He clipped her armor back on after wrapping the wound. “What now?”
Talice thought. “Check every room for Babs. Find her. Then get the hell out of here.”
Junior nodded. “Wait one second. I have a surprise.” He rose and walked out. Talice heard the door open, scraping against the floor. The sentry-bot’s lasers had warped it that much.
The door opened again, and Junior stepped back in. “Here. You might need this.”
He handed Talice her helmet. She could only look at it, then back at him. Then she kissed him again.
* * *
They checked the floor, finding empty offices, rooms obviously used as sleeping quarters, and even a safe or two that had been cleaned out. Many of the rooms had left-behind personal effects, all things women might own. Brushes and combs, some clean, others with hair clogging them. Bins of makeup, jewelry, and scarves. Cast-off nightwear, and closets filled with clothes, some for daily wear, others obviously for… other things. Most rooms had four beds each, all neatly-kept.
Easing past the wreckage of the sentry-bot in the hallway, Talice found a panel, and a room beyond.
“Safe room.” She pressed the light switch, but nothing happened. They used their pulse rifle lights to search, and on a bed shoved into a corner, Talice found strands of wavy blonde hair and a fingernail with blood on the inner rim. “She was here. They took her from here to somewhere else.”
Junior’s eyes surveyed the room. “Different building?”
“No, Jance led me here. She’s in this building, gotta be below.” Unless she fucking lied. Again. Damn you, Jance.
“Two more floors. Probably more sentries as well, Captain.”
Talice nodded. “AP rounds it is, then. Where is your HCS?”
“Back at the other building. I’ll pick it up on the way out. And I’ll put Babs in it.”
Talice turned. “Hopefully that won’t be necessary. Let’s go. I’ll lead.”
“Armor isn’t much good against lasers.”
Talice laughed. “At least I’ve got a second or two. In that amount of time, it would cut you to ribbons.”
Junior motioned to the helmet, still in her hand. “Aren’t you going to check in with Mac?”
Talice paused, thinking. “Not yet. I’m not certain Jance can’t tap into our comm. Besides, I want to be able to yell at you when I need to.” She chuckled, then her voice hardened again. “Mac can’t help us find Babs. Right now, anything is a distraction. So let’s get this done.”
“Hua, Captain. Lead on, I’ll watch our backs.”
* * *
They took the next stair down, Talice in the lead, favoring her hip, Junior watching the way they’d come. She took care not to slip. That’s all I need. Get hurt even more, then what? Damn booster is just about gone. My whole left side is getting numb again.
“Why haven’t I heard from Jance?” Talice wondered out loud.
“No comm this deep, Captain. We’re probably fifteen meters down by now.”
Talice checked the wristcom. The screen was blank. “She’s probably laughing her ass off about the sentry.”
Junior didn’t answer as he checked the landing window while Talice guarded. “No sentry-bot I can see. Dark corridor, and dim lights both sides.”
“Rooms. Check ’em all.”
Junior gently opened the door. The hall was tomblike, the air still and musty. He eased his way in. He watched left. Talice watched right. The first two rooms were unoccupied, but set up as small entertainment rooms with music, lights, and beds. Autochefs were in the corners, and small, full-service bars, well stocked.
Talice snarled. “Hid their pleasure palace in the damned hospital! Their own little bordello. The floor above was for the crèche, I’ll bet.”
“Captain, she’s got to be below. Either that, or we missed her somehow.”
“Check the rooms anyway. We’ve got to be sure.”
They moved through the floor quickly, Talice leading, Junior covering, watching everywhere. They found nothing not seen before, and paused at the doorway before reentering the corridor.
“Jian, wait. Let’s think this through.” Talice set her back against the wall, resting her hip. “This is a game to Jance. Even when we find Babs, she’ll have a surprise for us.”
Junior nodded. “I thought the same thing, Captain. We’ll just have to be ready.”
Talice continued. “However she did it, Jance really got the hostages out of here. Cleanly. There’s not a drop of blood anywhere, no sign of a firefight, no… nothing.”
She paused again, marveling. Fucking Jance. You really did it. But you’re still not forgiven. And you’re still gonna try to kill me before this is over, I just know it.
Talice looked at Junior again. “Babs. Likely, we can get her free from whatever bonds she’s in, but getting out will be the challenge. When that time comes, you take Babs and I’ll lead. Your job is to get her to safety.” She handed him her helmet. “Get in touch with Mac, have her send an ATV. Whatever you do, Babs has to get out of here. I owe you one.” And Aya. Definitely Aya.
“Captain—”
Talice held a hand. “Look… I’m busted up pretty badly. I can’t move well. Hell, it’s all I can do to breathe. Find a way back to your HCS, get an ATV in here with cover, and get the hell out. That’s an order, Jian. And a request.” Talice shrugged. “Besides, I’ve still got a date with Jance.”
Junior paused, looking away, then back. “Let’s find her first, then we can argue.”
* * *
They descended. The door into the corridor below was locked.
Talice nearly laughed. “First test. Damn, I wish Bělinka was here. Probably booby-trapped.”
Junior glanced through the window, seeing only darkness. “Bypass. Go through the wall?”
Talice nodded after a moment. “Good idea. HE should do it, right?”
They backed away, up the stairs. Junior crouched behind Talice in her HCS as she drew a bead. Fired. The wall exploded left of the door. It was masonry, and load-bearing, so it took a full five-second burst. Her rounds dinged the iron supports but didn’t do real damage. The masonry, however, simply disintegrated. Dust and grit and smoke filled the stairway hall. They covered their faces, coughing as the air settled.
The hole was large enough for Talice in her armor, and Junior slid through it quickly after her. Emergency lights clicked on as they entered the corridor. Talice quickly shot them out.
“Even the odds a bit, in case she’s watching,” she said.
Junior nodded and headed for the first room.
“Wait. Let’s do this backwards. Last room first. Just in case she’s set up traps in all of them.”
Junior paused. “Makes sense.” He pointed to the dark globe in the ceiling, barely visible in the dimness. “Camera? Laser?”
“Both.” Talice moved slowly down the hall, her weapon pointed at the globe. Junior watched behind them, the wall still smoldering. “Yeah, just like Jance. This thing won’t activate until we’re headed out.”
“Take it out now?”
Talice shook her head. “Let’s see if we can outsmart it. Babs first, then whatever else.”
They reached the final doorway. Talice saw nothing beyond the window but more darkness. But there were lights in a far corner. Red and yellow and green.
“Damn, they’ve got her hooked up to a monitor.” She looked again. “A couple red, but everything else is yellow or green. Not much green, though.”
“Why would they leave the monitor on?”
“That’s how Jance will know we’ve arrived.” Talice thought for a moment. “Okay, once we’re in, no lights. The monitor should give off enough that we can see.”
“Hua, Captain.”
“Let’s go.” Talice eased through the door and Junior followed. Beside the monitor was a bed. Occupied.
“Babs!” Talice nearly ran, then remembered she could barely walk. She hob
bled to the bed, studying the frail, pale woman before her.
Babs was unconscious. Drugged. Fuck you, Jance, a thousand times.
The lines on the monitor were ragged. Babs was cuffed to the bed rails, wrists and ankles. An empty IV dangled above her.
“Captain, if Jance is as smart as you say, my guess is these restraints are bugged. Or trapped.”
Talice frowned, then nodded. “Good point. Okay, let’s do something unexpected.”
“Don’t break the shackles?”
“I knew you were clever.” Talice grinned. “We need to cut these rails and slip the cuffs off them. Once we get back, Bělinka can disarm them.”
“Piece of cake. Your bayonet, please?”
Talice passed the heavy knife to Junior, then watched around as he went to work. The serrations on the blade were diamond-tipped and more than a match for the mild steel railings. In moments, Babs was freed, and Talice blew a heavy breath in relief.
A vid screen in the corner lit. They turned at the sudden light.
“Hello Talice.”
Talice gaped. Jance!
“Since you’ve made it this far, which really wasn’t all that difficult, here’s the deal. Now you have to get out. You and your little friend, and whatever help you might have brought. But my guess is, you’re alone. You wanted to do this all by yourself. Prove you had the balls to do it, I guess. Okay. Let’s see if you’re really clever as you think.
“The building is rigged with explosives. At least, part of it is. Enough to bring the whole thing down, anyway. And since you’re on the bottom floor, you probably should have been moving about… five minutes ago. So goodbye, Talice. It’s been fun.”
The screen went dark. Neither Talice or Junior moved.
“Go…”
Talice turned, gasping. “Babs? Holy fuck, what? What did you say?”
“Go…” Babs eyes were dull, her voice barely audible. She raised a wavering hand. “Go… get out.”
Talice glanced to Junior. “Can you carry her? I’ll lead and cover.”
Junior slung his pulse rifle over his shoulder and picked up the pale, emaciated figure with all the gentleness he could muster. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Talice poked her head around the doorway corner. The globe on the ceiling lit with the camera light, then a red laser. She ducked back inside as it sizzled against the jam and tried to follow her. She crouched, nearly screaming at the pain in her hip. Stuck the gun barrel around the corner again and fired a three-second burst of AP into the globe. It exploded, sending shrapnel and fire everywhere.
“Go!” Talice ran, leading them down the corridor now strewn with hot junk, shoved aside the remaining half of the globe that had dropped intact, and halted them at the hole in the wall.
“Back!” She stuck the gun barrel through. Fire erupted around it, knocking the pulse rifle from her hands.
“Junior, gun!”
Jian unslung his weapon and passed it to Talice. “Full magazine of AP locked and loaded! The biometric seal is off!”
Talice hazarded a glance down the corridor. Two red lights at the end told her all she needed to know.
“Sentry-bot! How the hell…”
“Probably behind a security panel.” Junior shifted Babs in his arms and stood back, out of the way.
Talice plucked a grenade from her belt, hit the timer, and rolled it down the corridor floor.
“Fire in the Hole!”
They backed against the wall. The explosion roared, nearly deafening them, debris and smoke blasting through the opening.
Talice waited ten seconds, then snuck a look. “Done! Go!” She crawled through, barely able to stand afterward. Junior passed Babs to Talice’s waiting arms, folded himself through the hole, then took Babs’s limp form again. “Stairs!”
Talice hobbled up the steps, her weapon moving side to side. They made it to the next landing. Then the next. One more. Just one more.
They paused. Talice glanced at the wristcom; the screen was lit. They had comm. She snapped on her helmet and hit Mac’s private channel. “Mac, Trouble in Paradise! Mac!”
“Talice? Talice?! What the… where are you? What’s going on??”
“Just listen. We’re in the hospital building, you can locate it on the map. We’ve got Babs. We need an ATV and cover! Hurry, this building is going up any moment!”
“Hua, on it! Get out now! Get as far away as you can from the building! Go to…” Mac paused. “Coordinates sent, check your visor!”
Talice punched the Headup display button. “The…park? That’s—”
“Just do it! We need you where we can find you! Cover on the way, five minutes!”
“Copy, moving!” She turned, raised her visor. “Junior, we’re headed for the park. Stay with me!”
They ran, across the street, now filled with a constant stream of people.
Gunfire caught her from behind, as the explosion rocked the hospital and knocked her down. Junior fell rolling, protecting Babs as he could. Talice rose to a crouch, sighted, and fired a three-second burst into an oncoming ATV. It veered, hit a parked groundcar, then a wall. Two figures jumped out and ran toward her, shouting obscenities. She cut them both down.
No one else challenged her.
“Go! Now, go! Stay close!”
Talice kept a hopping jog, but every step was harder than the last. She knew pretty quickly she’d be crawling… if that.
The park lay dead ahead. They made it to the entrance without further attacks.
A roar overhead, and Bird One appeared. The wash of the verti-jets nearly knocked them down. Abie put the assault craft into a steep turn, swung about, and dropped the ramp as the ship hovered, flattening trees and kicking up dust in the growing darkness.
Junior nearly dragged Talice toward the ramp, carrying Babs, and limping himself from a graze Talice hadn’t noticed.
Briggs was there, extending a hand. And Dosu. And Niky. And Bělinka. Talice caught a glimpse of Mac in her hoverchair behind them, shouting orders she couldn’t hear over the engines’ roar.
Gunfire peppered the ramp as it closed. They ducked instinctively, a round glancing from Talice’s shoulder armor. Briggs tossed a grenade, laughing as the explosion lit the trees. The ramp came up.
Briggs shouted, “Hold on!”
Bird One went nose-up, nearly vertical. Talice held Babs and clung to Junior, who clung to Dosu, who clung to Briggs. The ship shuddered, climbing, climbing, climbing…
The G-forces eased off. The roar of engines settled to a steady thrum. Everyone breathed. And then again.
Talice held Babs close and still breathing, with Junior’s arms wrapped around them both. She didn’t have the strength to even speak. She could barely breathe without wincing in pain. She shoved it all aside, nestling into his embrace, and he held her even closer.
* * *
Homeward Bound…
Talice woke. She was in her bunk, her midsection wrapped, and a brace on her left hip. And a boot on her left foot. I’ve got damn near as much armor on now as before. She chuckled.
She played back the events in her mind, but for the most part, they were little more than a scramble of frantic snapshots. She knew Babs was safe. Mac had ordered her into medical stasis for the trip home. Babs was in no shape to argue. Safer for her, less trouble for the ship. They’d been chased by a couple of Nemesis fighters, but Jamal’s miniguns had brushed them off like insects.
The ship. Abie had put Bird One in the only place she could; the park. Mac said Abie had come up with the plan when Talice went off-comm. They were in the process, in fact, of readying the search for her when she called.
Talk about timing…
Talice raised herself to a sitting position and swung her legs over the edge of the bunk. Carefully. She touched the intercom button. “Mac, you awake?”
“Right here. Feeling better?”
Talice nodded to herself. “Yeah, but we’ve got a lot to discuss.”
&nbs
p; “I know. Ready room in ten minutes?”
“See you then.” Talice clicked off. Pulled her camis down and checked her patch. Downed another bottle of S-H. She’d had four since being picked up.
She rose and hobbled to the door, then around the corner to the ready room. Mac was already there, as were Niky and Bělinka. And Briggs. After a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries, Evans entered.
Looks terrible, Talice thought. His whole world has changed this trip. I wondered how he’d take this, and now I know.
“Everybody good?” Talice drank tea, waiting.
Briggs nodded. “Alive, banged up, nothing worse. Martin will need a couple of new fingers and some reconstructive surgery on his arm. All Nemesis did to Rory was make him meaner.”
Talice looked to Evans, who didn’t respond with the answer she expected.
“Here.” Mac passed Talice her SLATE.
Talice read the message aloud. “Colonel Fawkes sends an unofficial ‘well-done’. All former hostages are being treated for various physical ailments and will receive whatever psychological assistance and reintegration help is necessary, once they’re back on Theia.” Talice looked around the table. “Marine losses were light, Nemesis resistance broken within forty-eight hours of OpCom. The complex will be searched for survivors and then the decision will be made what to do with it.”
“Set up a Marine base,” said Briggs. “That way, we won’t have to come back. Again.”
“Possibility,” replied Mac. “These long trips are boring.”
A light laugh went around the table.
Talice toyed with her cup, then looked at Nikolay. “Mac said you had some intel for me regarding Jance.”
Niky nodded. Bělinka’s arm entwined his. “Yes, Captain. I tracked her messages as you ordered…”
Talice waited. “And?”
“I could not locate her again. But I did find the message led to a relay. Not a comm.”
“Relay.” Talice’s face fell. “So she might not have even been in the compound all the time.”
“Or even on Crius, Captain. She may have been in orbit, stealthed.”
“The Marines didn’t find evidence of any launches during the operation,” said Mac.