Li vowed to keep her new knowledge to herself, at least, for the time being. One thing was crystal clear, she couldn’t trust Slayne - no one could. She leaned against the rear bulkhead and stared along the midline of the helicopter through the front windscreen. They were tracking southwest at three miles per minute. Where they ended up rested in the hands of someone she didn’t trust.
Li stared at the back of Slayne’s head. As the man had said himself, he didn’t need her trust. Well, she’d watch him like a hawk. She’d work out his plan and if it was going to put the team into danger without gain - she’d put a stop to it.
Li took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
* * *
Arthur plopped himself down in the co-pilot’s chair.
Dwayne nodded in acknowledgment and asked, “All good, Arthur?”
He smiled grimly and answered, “Sure, sure … it’s solid.”
“We’ve got forty-five minutes flight to the ditching site. We’re in full stealth mode flying nap of the Earth. With the Panopticon down, the vampires would have to have a shadowstar drone within line of sight to find us.”
Arthur nodded. “Good, good. I might rest my eyes for a few minutes.”
“Sure,” Dwayne said. “You do that. I’ll wake you if anything happens.”
“Thanks,” Arthur replied, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes.
What was left of his mind spun away. Francis was dead. Only Jon Thunder-Axe and himself had survived from his original force team. Francis, Juliette and Gang were all dead. He took a deep breath and sighed. Sometimes he felt really tired and this was one of those times. He sighed a second time and put his feelings aside. There was nothing that could be done for Francis. He’d been a good soldier, one of the best, and his death in battle was always the likely outcome - no Ramp masters died of old age.
Arthur’s attention returned to current events. There was no way he could leave Armitage and Crane a single breadcrumb. They knew he was careful; a breadcrumb would standout like a neon sign that he was asking them to enter a trap. No, he had to be immaculate. He had to do everything he could to ensure they could escape without leaving a trail. He had to keep the escape believable.
As to the nature of the trap - he had no idea.
A sizeable fraction of his mind had been partitioned away. The part that understood the plan in full, that knew what the end game was. That part of his mind had been cut out and cast away in a process as dreadful as it was agonizing. The process of personal division was not fully understood. It was risky, he may never re-integrate what he’d lost. It was a risk he had to take - there was no one else who could confront Cornelius Crane.
What was left of himself was an instrument of his original whole-self’s will. He would do what was right. He would respond to each situation as he must. But he had no idea what end he was leading the Mirovar force team too. He would always do his best with the circumstances as he found them, he was sure of that much, and the plan he’d devised would assume his behavior.
Arthur hoped his hidden plan was a good one. He hoped the Mirovar force team would survive. He hoped that Anton would live long enough to overcome the addictive power of the berserker version of the wild Ramp and find a good future for himself with a family of his own.
He hoped for many things, but he feared that none would come to pass because in his heart of hearts he knew that he was an utterly ruthless bastard with a genius for strategic and tactical planning. What he’d planned could be anything and he’d only discover what it was as it played out.
Arthur summoned silence. The voices were coming back. They always seemed to be worse after a fight. He’d chosen this path. He’d chosen to suffer insanity in his quest to deflect Crane’s precognitive power. How else could you defeat someone who could see the future? Deliberate madness was the only answer he’d been able to come up with.
He spent the rest of the flight suppressing the whispering voices of his other discarded selves.
* * *
The abandoned nightfalcon sank into the sandpit and the body of Francis Mirovar disappeared with it.
Jay snapped at Slayne, “That P-Case had better be worth it.”
Slayne stated with deadly certainty, “This is a strategic game changer for us. The vampires have been blinded, and soon we will be able to see everything they’ve been hiding from us. This changes everything and shifts the strategic balance to our favor.”
Jay’s gaze slipped back to the sinking helicopter. It held an awful fascination for him. Slayne’s ‘kinetic’ sand slurry crawled pale fingers over the top of the rotor blades, returning the dry lake bed to its natural pristine state. Francis and the nightfalcon vanished from the surface of the Earth. Entombed forever in a secret grave beneath the dusty surface of Lake Sevier.
An unmarked grave - the natural legacy of a vampire hunter. One day, he’d own an unmarked grave too. His tears had dried in the fifty-minute flight to the dusty lake bed. Francis was gone. His mentor was dead. His best friend was consigned to the Earth with only a handful of survivors as witnesses to his passing. Francis had deserved better.
Slayne spoke quietly behind him, “You were the second in command of the Mirovar force team. You’re Francis’ designated successor. You have to take command of the team.”
Jay whirled to face Slayne a cold sliver piercing his heart.
“They are your responsibility now.” Slayne paused for a moment. “Can we work together to finish this mission?”
Jay’s chest heaved, a bolt of nausea shooting through him. He gritted his teeth and answered, “Yes. To the end of this mission. Once we have completed our escape we go our separate ways.”
Slayne nodded. “Fair enough.”
Jay glanced back at the dry lake bed hiding the nightfalcon and Francis’ body. It had taken fifteen minutes to sink the nightfalcon and remove all evidence of their presence. He looked around at Peter, Li, Anton and Chiara. They were looking at him with studied acceptance, wondering what he would say and do. He would honor Francis’ memory and give them the best he had to give. He looked back at Francis. He had to know more about what was going on. How else could he do his duty to the team?
Jay flicked his head back toward Francis’ grave and asked, “So, you must have prepared this site for today?”
Arthur nodded. “Over the last few years we developed a variation of ‘kinetic sand,’” he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s little more than a modification of a child’s toy, but in large quantities and colored to match the environment, it’s a superb solution to hiding a nightfalcon. We have also laced the sand with additional ingredients to suppress any metal or mass signatures. To all intents and purposes, anyone scanning this site will assume it’s just more dry lake bed. Someone would have to step on it to realize it’s not natural.”
“We?” Jay asked.
“One of my corporate fronts.”
Jay gestured to Peter and Chiara and asked, “Why didn’t we fly to the safe house, drop off our wounded, and then have a minimal team ditch the chopper?”
“Operational security,” Slayne replied. “We will be hunted. Flying the chopper to the roadhouse and back here only increases the risk of being discovered. We have a fully equipped medical team, food, water, clothing, weapons and transport at the safe house.”
“This safe house, how long has it been in operation?”
“Years.”
Jay’s eyes widened and he addressed the team. “Armitage had half a day to question Ramin Kain in Whitby. We have to assume she knows about this safe house.”
Li exclaimed, “He’s right! With everything that’s been going on we’ve forgotten that Armitage had almost a day to question Kain. We have to assume she drained him of all useful information.”
Peter lifted an eyebrow. “As well as all of his blood.”
“Look,” Slayne offered. “I’m not up on what exactly happened with Kain, but even if Armitage knows about the safe house. She’s not here. She�
�s inbound with Crane and heading for what remains of the fortress and we’re ahead of them. We can use the resources at the safe house and then move on. We have a window for action. The Panopticon is down, and it will take time for the Vampire Dominion to adapt to its absence. We can break contact and disappear with the Panopticon. We’ll be in and out before Armitage, Crane, or any other vampire can react.”
“Clearly,” Jay stated. “Okay, let’s move.” He glanced at Slayne and stated. “You know the way, take us to the safe house.”
Slayne called out, “Follow me to Black Rock.” Then broke into a run the lean and rangy Dwayne Washington would be hard pressed to keep up with.
Jay glanced up at the sun. It was halfway down from its peak. They had less than four hours of sunlight left. They needed to be far from here by then and back under the vampire’s radar. They had to break contact with the inevitable vampire pursuit before daylight failed, or else they would be fighting the vampires on their terms.
And that was something Jay wanted to avoid with all of his heart.
Chapter Eleven
“The immortal ruler must keep their immortality hidden from the great mass of humanity, lest they rise up against him in a fit of envious fury.” - From the unpublished chapter, ‘On Immortality,’ from ‘The Prince,’ by Niccolo Machiavelli
- An unpublished document from within Cornelius Crane’s secret library
* * *
Utah, The Panopticon Fortress (Ruins), September 11th, 16:10
A bubbling lava pit spread for two miles across the floor of the valley.
Chloe sat next to Crane in the cockpit of his command shadowstar drone. They were dressed for war in their personal body armor, their weapons and tactical helmets stowed with them in the drone’s cabin. Unlike a standard shadowstar drone, the command version could only carry two crew. The space that would have been taken by another two praetorians was filled with additional computing, communications, and weapons arrays.
The command drone hovered on pale jets of blue fire two miles above the floor of the valley. Crane had pulled to a halt three miles back from the plume of smoke and flame rising from what had been the Panopticon fortress. Three additional shadowstar drones filled with the remaining twelve praetorians from the citadel flanked the command drone.
Crane stared at the lake of fire and uttered a single word with a strong French accent, “Catastrophe.”
Chloe coughed, her right hand flying to her mouth, shielding a sudden smile from view. The loss of the Panopticon would throw Crane’s world into disarray and allow her to seek the Tanaka sisters without fear of discovery. She regained her composure a moment later, raised an eyebrow and declared, “Despite his sacrifice, General Maze was unable to thwart Arthur Slayne’s plan.”
Crane turned to face her. If he was disturbed by the loss of one of his generals, he hid it well. His eyes narrowed with a calculating look. “And what do you think Slayne’s plan is?”
“Let’s start with what we know,” Chloe said. “Shadowstone are already de-briefing the staff who escaped the inferno and reached Salt Lake City. A single nightfalcon evacuated the site with the Mirovar force team, Slayne, and the Panopticon P-Case. It’s feasible, he has an unknown source of quantum processors and an appropriate power supply. Once on a suitable network, he could restore the Panopticon. The first thing it will do is requalify the root user account. That would be Slayne, all else will follow from that. Everything the Panopticon knew - Slayne will have access to, including all our current systems.”
“We have to get it back, or destroy it,” Crane stated emphatically. “The necessary hardware at the East Coast Hub is already operational. If we re-acquire the Panopticon, we could restore it in less than twelve hours.”
Crane left unsaid that he needed the Panopticon to help find the rogue ‘vampire of a new type,’ heading west across China. Chloe watched him closely. The next few hours offered a once in a century opportunity to deliver Crane into a world of chaos, allowing her to seize the initiative against him. She chose her next words carefully. “The staff from the fortress know about vampires. They saw you bare your fangs on the screens in the command and control center, and by all reports they watched Maze burn in sunlight.” Her eyes widened and she spread her hands wide. “The secret of our existence is disintegrating before our eyes.” She pursed her lips. “Perhaps a new strategy is called for?”
“We’ll have to sanitize those who survived,” Crane paused for a heartbeat, “and those they have spoken with.”
Crane was doubling down on secrecy. Chloe decided to be politically expedient and conceded, “Agreed. But, in the next few hours we need to act without constraints to reacquire the Panopticon or see it destroyed. We have a small window for action. If Slayne gets away, he could disappear with the P-Case, and without the Panopticon - finding him will be more than difficult.”
“Finding Slayne when we had the Panopticon was next to impossible.”
“We found him in Rio.”
Crane snorted dismissively. “And lost contact with him almost immediately with all our assets butchered.”
Chloe stared at Crane, portraying concern and attentiveness. A believable posture given the loss of the Panopticon struck at the heart of the foundation of the Vampire Dominion and was therefore a strike against Crane, and via Crane’s implant, a strike against her own interests. She could back Crane’s desire to retrieve the Panopticon in full while covering her own agenda to free herself from his rule.
It took all her will power to avoid screaming in triumph. The Mirovar force team and Arthur Slayne had surprised her. An unusual outcome she was pleased to wear this time. She’d overestimated the defensive systems of the fortress and underestimated the resourcefulness of Slayne allied with the Mirovar force team. She would have to be wary of what Slayne and the Mirovar force team could achieve together. Underestimating them a second time could prove fatal. After all, what had just happened to Clayton Maze. The five generals had been in place for nearly two centuries, and now there were four. How long before more fell? She arched an eyebrow in silence. It was only a matter of time before Crane’s rule resembled the remains of the Panopticon fortress.
Crane snapped. “What are you so amused with?”
“I’m considering the effectiveness of Slayne with the Mirovar force team. They are a foe to be reckoned with.” Chloe smiled broadly, revealing her fangs. “I’m looking forward to collecting their heads.”
“Indeed, it goes without saying,” Crane stated, “Now let us focus on the problem at hand. It’s been seventy-five minutes since Slayne left the site. He could be anywhere within a two-hundred-and-thirty-mile radius by now. He could be past Idaho Falls to the north, nearing Denver in the east, approaching Las Vegas in the south, or heading toward nowhere important in Nevada to the west. It’s a big territory and growing in all directions at three miles per minute.”
“Are they still flying, or have they already abandoned the nightfalcon for a different form of transport? A nightfalcon flying nap of the Earth in full stealth mode will defeat our satellites, and without the Panopticon we can’t integrate other sources of information. However, they won’t be able to evade line-of-sight detection by this drone’s sensor array.”
Crane shook his head. “Slayne will expect our shadowstar drones. He will abandon the nightfalcon and go to ground. If only we’d been able to fully penetrate their organization and discover the whereabouts of their safe houses. They are most likely going to one now. They will proceed from there on something that will blend in,” he shrugged his shoulders, “cars, trucks, motorcycles. They could resupply at a safe house, move quickly to a final exfiltration point and leave the country from there.”
“Clearly,” Chloe agreed. It would be stupid to underestimate Crane’s mind or his ability to work out what was really going on. Chloe had to work with the utmost care to avoid discovery as she maneuvered for advantage. She knew all about the Order of Thoth network of safe houses. She’d known ever si
nce she extracted the information from Ramin Kain in the dungeon beneath her family manor. Crane was right. Slayne and the Mirovar force team would not stay with the helicopter longer than they had too. Even without the Panopticon, a nightfalcon was too obvious, too visible, too easy to find with the sensor arrays on their shadowstar drones.
The nearest safe house was a roadhouse in Black Rock. The location was well within the perimeter of territory a nightfalcon could reach in seventy-five minutes. They could be there now, but could they hide a helicopter near there? It had to be possible, Slayne would have planned for the disappearance of the nightfalcon as a necessary part of the exfiltration of the Mirovar force team.
She looked at Crane and offered, “I agree. Slayne will run for a short time to break contact with the fortress site. He will either know or correctly assume our shadowstar drones can detect a nightfalcon if it’s within line of sight. To mitigate risk of discovery, he will abandon the nightfalcon at a location where he can make it disappear. He will proceed to another nearby site where the team can resupply and rearm. They will then proceed from there to an exfiltration site with fast international transport,” she shrugged, “such as a private jet. Within a matter of hours, he’ll be out of the country with the Panopticon.”
Crane shook his head ruefully, “A straight piece of road could be used by a typical private jet; they just have to have one hidden. Not to mention the fact they could ignore filing a flight plan and simply hug the Earth to a foreign destination. This problem grows apace.” Crane paused for a moment. “Can we identify the P-Case beacon?”
Chloe glanced at the displays in the cockpit. “Nothing is showing on our scopes or satellite feeds. The P-Case beacon has been conspicuous in its absence. There are suppression technologies. Faraday tape comes to mind.”
“We should assume Slayne has used such a technique to hide the beacon. He’s not going to leave us a trail.”
The Crane War Page 27
