The squad continued trudging beneath the crystals, some of which glowed in the light. The navigation marker began to drift, suggesting their final target was close and on the other side of the hill forming the natural wall. It was too steep to walk up directly, and without special gear, using the crystals was too dangerous. They had plenty of time, but if the Zitarks had fortified the area, they would end up bleeding precious minutes.
Erik continued looking for movement when he spotted a Zitark with a long, thin rifle crouched on an angled crystal formation about thirty meters above them.
“Above at ten o’clock.” He punctuated his sentence by firing a burst at the alien.
Jia spun toward the Zitark and opened fire. Its forcefield flashed at the impact of the humans’ rounds before it returned fire. This time there was no white-hot plasma blast, but an invisible beam that cut through one of their AI squadmates. He disappeared, and his backpack landed on the ground.
Erik and Jia kept up their fire. The Zitark scampered along the crystal branches and leapt several meters to one on the opposite side. The detectives’ fire clipped the alien’s shield again, producing another flash. Another beam rifle blast went wide, sending a small cloud of dust into the air near another squad member. A final volley from Jia and Erik knocked the Zitark off its perch, and it flailed its arms and legs as it fell to the ground. A bright flash followed, and it sprang to its feet just in time for Erik to put a round between its eyes.
“Down to four,” Jia muttered.
Twenty minutes. Where was Emma going to attack them from next?
Erik retrieved the dead squad member’s backpack. “But we’ve still got all the explosives.”
They trudged forward, slower and even more cautious now, burning off precious minutes. One of the hills fell away, and they spotted a dark, angular ship in the distance.
The bottom half was concealed behind another dense outcrop of the massive crystals, and there were enough freestanding formations dotting the area that getting to the vessel without being spotted wouldn’t be impossible. Whether it would happen was a different question.
Jia narrowed her eyes. “We’re down to eighteen minutes. Time for point-to-point movement.”
The squad broke into quick runs between formations, two of the surviving demolitions troops with Jia, and the other pair with Erik. Distant, quiet voices echoed among the crystals—a familiar, human cadence, not hisses and growls.
“Is there supposed to be another AI team?” Jia asked.
Erik frowned. “No. And the dome they’re bombing is supposed to be a hundred klicks away.”
“I’ve adjusted certain parameters of the simulation to make it more dynamic,” Emma explained. “I won’t say more than that.”
“Damn.” Erik sprinted to a new formation. “They might have hostages, or there could be some local idiots we need to protect.”
“We better hurry,” Jia suggested. “The more time we spend figuring out the situation, the fewer options we’ll have later.”
Erik nodded, and they both continued the quick, precise movement bringing them steadily closer to the Zitark ship. It wasn’t a massive vessel, but given what the aliens could do with personal energy weapons, there was no reason to doubt the power of their ship-based equipment against an undefended dome.
The human voices grew louder. He couldn’t make out the words, but he heard a high, feminine laugh. The echoes made it difficult to determine where the sounds were coming from, but Erik was confident the source lay in the direction of the Zitark ship.
“Something annoying’s about to happen,” he muttered. “Hostages, probably. Why are they laughing?”
Something about the laugh pricked the back of his mind, but he couldn’t figure out what he was missing.
“Hysterical laughter?” Jia suggested.
The squad continued closing on the ship until they all stood with their backs flattened against a wide crystal formation that towered over them. Jia and Erik stayed near the edge and peeked around the corner.
They had a decent view of the small Zitark ship, including the odd, intricate whorls covering its hull and the thin, long tubes on either side, likely some sort of cannons. A few large crystal formations concealed a portion of the aft section, but they could make out a ramp extended to the surface.
“I don’t see any raptors,” Jia murmured.
Erik grunted. “I don’t either. What were— What the hell?”
A half-dozen tall, voluptuous women emerged from behind the crystals, laughing and giggling. That was an odd sight in and of itself, but the skimpy bikinis running a gamut of different colors they all wore pushed it into the surreal.
The bikini babes continued toward them, occasionally gesturing back toward the ship. Erik blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t misinterpreting what he was seeing.
Low growls filled the air and the women screamed, then ran, screeching at the tops of their lungs. A Zitark stepped into view from behind the formation where they’d been moments before, holding a plasma pistol.
He fired in their direction, narrowly missing but blasting dust and rock chunks over the fleeing women.
Erik sprinted forward as he opened fire. The Zitark’s forcefield flashed, causing him to jerk back. The two demolitions squad members followed Erik while he kept up suppression fire, his bullets cracking and chipping the massive crystals protecting the Zitark.
The bikini babes stopped running and headed toward Erik. He grinned and continued to fire at the other Zitark. One of the babes ran up to one of the demolitions troops and thrust her hand toward him.
A rifle cracked, and she jerked back, swaying, blood running down her chest. Her form shimmered to reveal a Zitark, who fell to the ground.
Another shot rang out and down went a second bikini babe, mist spreading as the brain escaped the skull.
Erik recovered his wits enough to realize Jia was mowing down the bikini babes. His previous target took the opportunity to emerge from hiding, but Erik nailed it with several quick bursts. The Zitark’s forcefield collapsed, and Erik’s final shots sent it spiraling to the ground in a shower of green blood.
Jia finished her bikini babe massacre and reloaded with a snort. She jogged over to Erik and slapped him upside the head.
Erik grimaced, rubbing his head. “What was that for?”
“Really?” Jia’s eyes bulged. “If I hadn’t shot that Zitark, we would have lost another of our guys, or maybe more than one.”
Erik rubbed his head. “First male directive: protect females. It’s in our genes.”
“Does anything about what we just saw make sense?” Jia rolled her eyes. “A bunch of bikini babes is going to show up without breathers in an area with very low oxygen? Next to a Zitark ship?”
“The Zitarks aren’t wearing breathers.”
Jia stared at him, a hand on her hip.
Erik grimaced. “That’s right. I remember the briefing we got on our way out. They can use the implants rather than a full mask.” He offered her a sheepish grin. “Guess we need to be ready for anything.”
“I’ll admit I wanted to play a little joke on you, based on previous conversations,” Emma interrupted, “but to be clear, I have no intel suggesting Zitarks could disguise themselves as attractive women to confuse human male soldiers.”
“Apparently, they should,” Jia mumbled. “It’d be effective.” She pointed her rifle at the ship. “We have a job to do. Let’s blow up an alien ship.”
Jia, Erik, and their squadmates hid behind a large crystal formation as the explosives went off.
The massive blast consumed the ship, launching huge chunks of debris all over the area that sheared off crystals. After half a minute, the debris froze in the air and the demolitions troops disappeared.
Emma appeared with a smirk. “I learned something about you today, Detective Blackwell.”
Erik grunted. If anything, all it meant was that it’d been far too long since he had gotten any.
He slung his rifle over his shoulder. “I’m glad you put them in there.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you, now?”
“It’s good to be reminded about unpredictability—something we experience a lot on the job.” Erik chuckled and shook his head at the Zitark corpses in the distance. “And you know what? I don’t know if I would be surprised if that actually happened to us.”
“You better have me around, or you’ll end up food for a hungry space raptor,” Jia muttered.
“How about this for a plan?” Erik grinned. “If there are any bikini babes at Alicia’s when I go in a few days, I’ll deck them to see if they turned into reptiles.”
“Alicia’s?” Jia frowned. “Is something wrong?”
Erik shook her head. “Just my normal weekly check-in. Things are quieter down there, so I might switch to monthly. She’s into a lot less criminal stuff these days. You should come along.”
“I sincerely hope this training, as a prediction of the future, only applied to our trip to the moon.”
Chapter Eighteen
Alina shook out her hands and smiled at the closed hotel door. It felt like every time she came to Neo SoCal, she didn’t see much other than hotel rooms and apartments.
To her, the shining jewel of the UTC was just another place to meet informants and operatives, or a place to kill the occasional terrorist or yaoguai.
The next minute would determine what today’s meeting would be.
She reached inside her jacket to check for her flechette pistol. Her blonde hair, blue contacts, and facial adhesives were sufficient to fool facial recognition. She always preferred a simpler solution when it came to field missions.
Creative hacking had its place in hiding her tracks, but there were so many details a woman could overlook, leading to evidence that could point to her and disrupt ID operations. If she entered the room and was forced to kill the occupant, she wanted as few clues possible, especially in a place like Neo SoCal. Too many eyes watched the metroplex.
A ghost like her appreciated that more than most.
Alina reached up and knocked lightly on the door, hoping for a peaceful resolution, but ready if the Fates had other ideas. Si vis pacem, para bellum.
The door slid open and she entered, her hand drifting to her gun, her eyes darting back and forth. The door slid closed.
She yanked out her gun and spun to her left in one fluid motion.
Camila raised her hands and rolled her eyes. “If you kill me, you’ll have wasted a lot of taxpayer money. Think of the poor taxpayer. Plus, I’ll make sure to haunt you. It’ll be funny, a ghost haunting a ghost.”
Alina narrowed her eyes on the pale woman. “Initiate confirmation. Use your left hand, and keep it slow.”
“You’re touchy today, Koval.” Camila lowered her hand and reached toward her PNIU. She pressed her thumb against it and tapped in a code, never breaking eye contact with Alina. Her faint smirk lingered.
A confirmation code appeared in the corner of Alina’s smart lenses. She lowered her gun and tapped in her own confirmation code.
“This is why I hate meeting in person,” complained Camila, with a nod toward a small privacy device on the nightstand. She lowered her other hand and moved to take a seat on the edge of the twin bed next to the wall. “Everyone’s always much tenser when they have to meet in person.”
“It’s harder to kill someone over a call or the net, and these are dangerous times,” Alina replied, holstering her weapon. “And we both know a lot of things can go wrong with remote communication. At the end of the day, there’s no such thing as a secure call. With Talos on the move and who knows who else, this isn’t the time to get sloppy. A lot of things have been in motion the last few years, and even more since the Molino incident. This is a chance to take out some of the groups that have been slithering out of sight for far too long.”
Camila’s smirk grew. She tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “You know what your problem is, Koval?”
“I’m Cassandra? I’m forever cursed to be ignored, to the doom of the people and groups around me?”
“You wish. You’d probably love being the ignored prophetess.” Camila shook her head. “If anything, it’s the opposite. You’ve got the Intelligence Directorate running around following up on your conspiracy theory of the day all the damn time.”
Alina arched a brow. “’Conspiracy theory of the day?’ Are you saying I’m wasting Directorate resources?”
“Okay, okay.” Camila waved her hands. “My point is, you tend to be right about most of the conspiracies of the day, but other than them yelling at you for doing your own thing, it’s not like you’re getting punished or they refuse to listen to you most of the time. If they could clone you and fill the ID with an army of Koval ghosts, I’m sure they would.” She snickered. “Besides, that’s not what I was talking about.”
“What, then?”
Camila gestured toward Alina’s hair and then her face. “You love your disguises, but you only use them for situations like this. When is the last time you worked a long-term undercover op for the ID? It’s stressful in its own way, but everything settles in after a while. You live on the razor’s edge, but you can almost live a normal life.”
Alina wondered if Camila was taking her assignment a little too lightly, but the woman got results, and it’d been a fortunate confluence of circumstances that had allowed the ID to insert a doctor on their payroll into a position in the NSCPD without raising any suspicion during a time of intense police self-examination.
“It’s been a while since I’ve worked true undercover,” Alina admitted. “But that’s not where my greatest talents lie, so it’s not surprising.”
“Sure. It’s not like you earn a nickname such as ‘the Goddess of Death’ if you’re not good at killing people.” There was a hint of accusation in Camila’s voice.
Alina wasn’t offended. Everything she did was to protect the innocent citizens of the UTC from the corrupting forces lurking in the shadows.
There were far too many people who would sacrifice millions of lives, if not billions, as long as they benefited. Despite the threat of aliens, humanity remained divided, and people were far too selfish. It didn’t matter.
She’d kill far fewer to save far more, and not for her personal benefit.
“We’re not here to discuss me.” Alina folded her arms. “We’re here to discuss your mission at the 1-2-2. It’s not like we want you there forever if it’s not necessary.”
“This is something I could have just sent you a report on. Now I wonder if you like the whole cloak-and-dagger thing far too much.” Camila chuckled. “And given that your two favorite cops are there, it’s not like anyone has the balls to risk anything and bring down the Twin Hammers of Justice on them. Between Internal Affairs and the CID, whoever’s corrupt has quietly left or is suddenly learning the joy of supporting the law.” She lay back on the bed, her hands underneath her head. “You should be happy. Detectives Big Guy and Uptight are remarkably good at keeping their mouths shut around me, even when I’m doing my best to listen without being seen.”
She sat back up with a frown. “But I’m still not sure they’re willing to bail to become your little freelance dogs, or if that’s even a good idea. Not saying they wouldn’t make good recruits, but I think you’d have trouble controlling them if you do convince them to leave.”
“Erik and Jia aren’t like a lot of people. They’ve stared into the dark heart of the UTC, and they know there is a lot of cancer there that needs to be ripped out. It’s hard to go back to worrying only about local problems once you know that. I can provide them the tools they need to fight back, and it doesn’t matter if I can control them as long as I can point them in the right direction.” Alina looked down for a moment in thought. “What about your secondary objective?”
“Looking for other possible support candidates for them should they decide to take you up?”
“Of course.” Alina nodded. �
��Did you think it was something else?”
“Precision is important. That’s what I learned in medical school.” Camila gave her a thin smile. “And I wanted to make sure we’re on the same page. But, yes, I’ve got a candidate. Malcolm Constantine.”
“The tech in Digital Forensics?” Doubt filled Alina’s voice as she tapped her lip. “Why him?”
“He’s obviously worked with Erik and Jia on special projects outside the normal scope of their cop duties. He’s good at what he does. If you do manage to strip them away from the police, they’re going to need support personnel they trust. If you shove some ID tech at them, it’ll be a while before they’re comfortable.”
“They have the AI,” Alina replied. “They trust her, even if that’s not a great idea.”
“They trust her for now. There’s only so much you or anyone else can do if the DD decides it’s taking her back using force. And we both know relying too much on a machine is a bad idea.” Camila grinned. “And the guy’s good. Like I told you, he’s doing side jobs for them, but he’s covering his tracks well. Other than finding one or two records indicating he’s done some analyses that don’t seem linked to any police cases, I wasn’t able to find much. Even then, there was nothing overwhelmingly suspicious about them on the surface. He’s also obviously good at keeping his mouth shut.”
Alina nodded. “Erik, Jia, and Technician Constantine. Any other possible candidates?”
Camila shook her head. “There are a lot of good cops and support personnel in the 1-2-2, but I don’t think spending much more time there will help me find anyone you could use.”
“That makes sense. If there were others like Erik and Jia, they wouldn’t have needed those two to pair up to get the ball rolling in Neo SoCal.” Alina scratched her cheek. “Good. Having it only be three people who already work together will make the next steps easier. I’ve already thoroughly vetted Erik and Jia, but we need a follow-up on Constantine.”
“What did you have in mind?”
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