“A poison capsule of some kind that he held in his mouth and which
broke when the stunner hit him,” Liam said, while advising the medic to check the woman’s mouth carefully.
His laser burnt a hole through the woman’s chest a few inches above her heart and thoroughly fatal.
“I didn’t know you carried a laser, Liam,” Amada said a little shakily, “It is a good thing you are a Federal Agent or I would have to arrest you.”
Liam took her joke as it was meant, a way to defuse emotions.
“Do you think this attack was meant for you or Captain Santos,” Lt. Cole asked as he walked up to them.
“Not to boast, they were probably after me, Lt. If I was killed, I am willing to bet that the Council would have a change of heart, and not in your favor,” Liam said. “Of course they may very well have been sent to kill both of us. Have those lasers checked out as to origin, though I doubt you will be able to trace them. Captain Santos and I are going to get some sleep now before it gets any later. I hope all of the other Lieutenants are doing the same.”
“I think they all are asleep or at least laying down in our dormitory, at home, or in a hotel,” replied Lt. Cope. “I am going to send four officers I know and trust to escort you home and will remain there till you come back again. I agree with you that someone, probably several someones, are out to do you in and we don’t want that.”
Liam sighed but couldn’t argue. “Ok, there may well be a back-up team out there so your officers need to be sharp. I suggest sending two openly in a patrol aircar and the other two in mufti and in a regular aircar.”
“That is an excellent idea, Sir, we will do it that way,” as the lieutenant moved off to find his officers.
Liam and Amanda continued their walk to Liam’s aircar. “I thank you for that quick shot stunning the second officer,” Liam said to Amanda. “I don’t think I would have been fast enough to get a second shot off.”
“If you hadn’t shot the first officer I would never have had time to stun both of them,” Amanda replied. “I think we make a good working pair, don’t you?”
“We make a good non-working pair too,” Liam laughed. “Let’s just say we make a good pair.”
Amanda threw her arms around Liam’s neck and gave him a deep kiss.
“So we shall.”
Chapter 19
Amanda and Liam did not return to OSI Headquarters until close to 3:00. They already knew the plan for taking the rebel village and they needed the extra sleep. Liam checked with the two officers sitting outside Amanda’s house. They had seen no signs of possible assassins but the undercover team had report a suspicious aircar around midnight to the uniform team but the aircar had not shown up. Both officers escorted Liam and Amanda’s aircar to OSI Headquarters. The building was bursting with activity: select officers signing out lasers; sergeants meeting to make sure of the order each group would take; some last-minute tweaks to the plan from the lieutenants. Amanda was almost overwhelmed by all of the activity while Liam had been present many times when assaults of this size or larger had been planned. Liam made sure that the Sergeants had assigned medics to as many of the first wave of the attack as possible. He was hoping that there would be little if any need for them, but better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
“I would prefer that you stay here at Headquarters and help coordinate activities Amanda,” Liam said, “but I think I would be wasting my breath to ask that.”
“You are damn right about that,” Amanda fired back, “unless you want a real argument right here in the office.”
“As I said, I would be wasting my breath so I am not asking that of you. What I am asking is that you ride with one of the Lieutenants.”
“Why,” asked Amanda, looking a little hurt? “I want to ride with you?”
“Because if one of us gets hurt to the point that they can no long direct operations, the other can take charge and there will be no questions regarding who should give commands. Yes, I would like you to be in my aircar where I can take care of you, but that is not good tactics.” This was said in a quiet voice as to not be overheard. Neither wanted to appear to be arguing right now.
“I will do it, but I am not happy with it and you better not get hurt,” Amanda said with a total lack of enthusiasm.
Liam had earlier selected Sargent Townsead and two officers to make up his team, and now he spent a few minutes talking to her while they wandered over to the armory. Lt. Adams was at a desk with his weapon drawn and a keypad in front of him where serial numbers and names were entered into the armory’s records. Sergeant Abramson stood inside the armory to bring up the lasers as needed.
“How are we doing Lieutenant, Sergeant,” Liam asked?
“We are on time Sir. Only six more lasers to hand out and we are finished. Is there anything you would like,” Sgt. Abramson asked?
“No, I am fine.”
It was approaching time to start and the hundreds of officers were climbing in to their vehicles, with the usual confusion of any large-scale operations. They had a total of over one hundred patrol aircars available.
Seventy-five of them would be in the first wave and actually land in the village. Another forty would form a second wave in a circle approximately five kilometers outside the village. Liam wished he had five times that many to catch runners but he didn’t. They had no idea how many villagers they would be facing or what weapons they had. The remainder would at headquarters to serve both as a reserve and for any other incidents.
“Do you think this will work Agent Smithe?” Sgt. Townsead asked as they plus two officers settled into their patrol aircar.
“Probably not as well as we would like, but hopefully we will catch enough of the leadership to identify the important conspirators. Did you send those extra officers to the spaceport in case we have runners trying to get off planet?”
“Yes, I did. In fact I also got a unit of City Militia to help out there.”
“City Militia,” Liam asked? I hope there are no conspirators in that group.”
“That is why I requested a whole unit of Militia. There are eight in a unit and even if there were one or even two bad guys included, which I doubt, the other six could handle them.”
“That is certainly true,” Liam said, but he still had an uneasy feeling. Oh, well, he said to himself, it is done and we need to concentrate on what we are doing here. About then one of the officers lifted the patrol aircar and headed for the jungle.
*****
The rain had been a light pitter pater on the leaves as Janice and her crew tried to find their way back to civilization and the big city. She had several instruments that had been accepted by the tribesmen as part of their testing equipment while in reality were directional aids. With the only satellites dedicated to communications, GPS was of no use, but Janice had an electronic tracker that should lead them back to the edge of the prairie and the jungle. While not perfect, it had marked their incoming trail and would take them back out with an error rate of ten to fifteen meters.
No one said anything as Janice led them through the light rain that made enough noise to cover most of the sounds of their passage but when it stopped so did she. Huddled together, she asked the other team members their choice of continuing on, possible making too much noise or waiting where they were for a while. None of them were experienced jungle travelers and tended to trip over vines and logs and the noise they made would carry farther when there was no background noise to drown it out. Water still dripped from the leaves but they were totally soaked with rain even threw supposedly waterproof jackets. No one really knew what awaited them ahead, but the damn well knew what was behind them, so they decided to push on. Janice’s instruments indicated they had only a couple of miles to go, so as silent as possible and much slower than previously, they continued on.
*****
George woke when the rain stopped. As long as it had been raining there had been no chance for him
and Ethan to slip into the girls’ hut. Their guard would have been seated just outside the door, under the overhang and out of the rain. Probably asleep, but that wouldn’t help.
“Ethan, the rain stopped,” George said while shaking Ethan awake. “That guard is sure to make a trip to the toilet and that we be our chance to get to the girls.”
A little groggy from sleep, Ethan followed him out of the hut. They both had women’s clothing tucked underneath their own clothes. George was right. Even as they approached the girls hut they could see the guard ambling off toward the toilets. The boys snuck up to the door and Ethan whispered to the girls that they were coming in. When they did so that saw both girls, illuminated by a small lamp, standing at the back wall with their blankets draped around them and a stunner in each girl’s hand.
“Hey, wait...it’s us, don’t shoot,” both boys cried out, but softly.
“We wanted to make sure,” Tamara said. “Do you have some clothes for us to wear?”
George and Ethan pulled pieces of clothing out from under their shirts and slippers they hoped would fit the girls’ feet. Then, without being asked, turned their backs to the girls so they could get dressed.
“I suggest for the time being that you wrap your blankets around yourselves after you are dressed in case someone comes in here before we all have left,” Ethan said.
“You can turn around now, and thank you,” Kristina said, not specifying what the boys were being thanked for. “Do you know how long it is till daybreak?”
” I would guess it is about three hours till daybreak but the clouds are breaking up,” replied George. Alpha will set in about two hours but Beta will still be above the horizon when the sun comes up. I think we could make it at least half-way out to the prairies by then. At least with Ethan and I to guide you.”
Ethan wasn’t as sure as George that he could find their way out but as long as George could…they would be with the girls anyway and what could be better.
George opened the door slightly and peered out but quickly and quietly closed it again. “Too late, the guard is back.”
“What are we going to do,” asked Tamara of no one in particular?
Does that guard ever come inside to check on you,” asked George?
“No,” both girls said.
“Then we are going to sit right here until he leaves again,” answered George. “We will take turns looking out the window while the rest of us get some more rest. I volunteer to take the first watch.”
There was no argument with that, but when Ethan sat down in a corner the girls looked at each other for a minute and then back at Ethan who had no blanket for warmth.
“Come here, Ethan,” Kristina said.
“Uh, what,” asked Ethan?
“Come over here,” Kristina said again while patting the floor beside her. “I will share my blanket with you, but keep your hands to yourself.”
It was a surprised but happy Ethan that sat down next to Kristina who pull her blanket around the both of them with a disgruntled George sitting by the door.
*****
One of her runners came and woke Vera a few hours before dawn. “Sorry to wake you but one of the teams you sent out to kill that Federation Agent has arrived.”
“That is right. I need to see them.” Vera dressed quickly and was sitting at her desk when two of her people walked in.
“I hope you are about to tell me that you have killed that Agent,” Vera said abruptly.
“No, that didn’t happen,” said the boss of the pair. “The other team attempted a kill right in the OSI parking lot but didn’t succeed. Samantha was shot with a laser and died instantly. Gerald was shot with a stunner and broke his safety capsule as he collapsed, so he wouldn’t talk.”
“What about you two,” Vera asked in a cold voice?
“We thought to take his aircar down between OSI Headquarters and home, but there were at least two patrol aircars as escorts and they remained at the house until they returned early this morning. We would have crashed our aircar into his if we could, with explosives in our car they both would be killed.”
And you would be killed too, Vera thought but didn’t say. “All right, do you have any more information for me,” Vera asked, starting to turn back to her desk?
“That earlier report about a lot of OSI officers returning to Headquarters was true. There must be close to a hundred patrol cars and twice that many officers in that soccer field next to the OSI building. They must be up to something.”
“All right, go get some food and sleep. We will probably need you later today,” Vera told them. Inwardly she kicked herself for not following up on the earlier reports of OSI officer movements. Too late to do anything now. She woke her staff and sent runners for her best commanders. She wasn’t sure yet what she was going to do, but something big was in the works. Once everyone was gathered, they would make the best estimates of OSI actions based on all the information they had to date.
Vera wondered, as she rolled her fingers through her necklace of off-world emeralds given to her by her father, whether it was time to comm that bastard Jacob Erickson. At this point Jacob couldn’t help her as she saw it and actually had become a liability. No sense trying to assassinate him now, but after they stave off whatever the law was planning it will be done. I wonder if I could use that research team to buy my way out of trouble? Of course she had the Santos kids if it really came down to it. I think Mama Santos will at least let me go in trade for them
*****
Investigator Yugoslav of the City Militia had been called into Captain Carlos’ office for what, he did not know. His office was large and airy at the very top of the Atlanta City Government building, his desk also large and nearly covered with diagrams and reports.
“Thank you for being so prompt,” Captain Carlos said as he motioned the Investigator to a chair in front of his desk. “What progress have you made towards the murder of those two research team members?” he asked.
“Both of them had been poisoned. A rare poison found in certain plants in the jungle. There seems to be a tie in to the Traders Association, at least in the case of Ja’haal but nothing definite. Apparently the warehouse in which Ja’Haal was killed was leased to a shipping company according to their papers. The shipping company claims they used the warehouse for storage and no one has been inside it since their last off-planet shipment several months ago. No evidence of that one way or another. That is it.”
“Do you know if OSI has done any follow-up on tribal involvement?”
“Investigator Townsead, OSI, was with me during our investigation. So far she hasn’t informed me of any other developments but the whole outfit is getting ready for some major action that she said might give us some insight into the murders. What that means I don’t know.”
“Um, Townsead elaborate on the action they are planning,” asked Captain Carlos?
“No Sir, she didn’t. But it must be big. When I went by there tonight there were hundreds of officers and at least a hundred patrol aircars in those sport fields next to their headquarters. I didn’t know they had that many vehicles in total. They must have stripped officers from all over the continent.”
“Well, they will ask if they need our help. Meantime we have plenty to work on ourselves. That is all, Yugoslav.”
After the he left, Captain Carlos sat looking out over the river for several long minutes. Then he turned and reached for his comm unit.
*****
Liam had tried to assign Amanda to the backup patrol aircars but she would have none of that as he expected. The groups started lifting off right at 3:00 a.m. but the first ones up had to stodge around in the air for a few minutes until everyone had lifted off in the first group. The second group assigned to the outside surround task waited until the first group was out of sight. Each officer with a laser was instructed to land with it in his or her hand. Any villager that held a weapon or refused to drop one when ordered was to be stunned immediately. Sergeants were
not to use their lasers unless they or another officer was in mortal danger.
It had been raining earlier in the night in the jungle regions but in the Atlanta City vicinity it had only been high thin clouds. As they approached the jungle the rain had stopped and patches of moonlight was shining through. Liam couldn’t remember anything about the moons except there were two approximately the same size. Daybreak was beginning as outriders started a search pattern to locate the village closer than what Chief Onn had described. Liam was starting to get antsy as the sun began to show over the horizon and the village still hadn’t been located. From Amanda’s description at least half of the buildings were up in the trees, reached by ladders and catwalks, which made it so much more difficult to spot. Finally one patrol aircar spotted the village and sent instructions to all of the of the rest as to the location.
*****
It was early light but Vera had all of her best warriors gathered round as she assigned directions to flee and locations then to meet later. ”I hate to abandon this village after all the work we put into it,” she said to Ronda. “But I doubt that OSI will destroy it and we can come back here in a few weeks.” Vera was not so sure their village would be spared; with no village to return to many of her villagers would simply leave for a different location. Just then one of the observers yelled out that there was a patrol aircar a few kilometers away. Vera put her hand to her face for a few seconds. Why is this happening to me? And right now. Just two more hours. Vera shook her head. No time for this.
“Ronda, have Shorty start passing out the weapons as fast as he can. Make him grab as many helpers as needed but we have to do that quickly,” ordered Vera. Then you go grab the Santos’ girls and bring them here. Don’t let anyone interfere.”
Edge World Page 31