{About that….} Quinn’s tone changed. {Remember when I asked you if her hair was braided or beaded?}
{Yeah?} Ell pulled up short.
{Well, after looking at the hospital feed…I think our suspect’s an Akkadian assassin.}
TWENTY-SIX
En route
Midland to Portsmouth
Rafe’s overlay announced Ell’s incoming ping in the midst of raucous cheers. The radiation levels had begun to drop; the plasma cloud laid by the tugs was working.
{She’s an Akkadian assassin.} Ell’s voice was ragged; her statement had him rocking back on his heels. {I’ve been chasing a grav-sucking Akkadian assassin.}
{What the—? Are you sure?} he asked.
{Quinn is, and I trust him.}
Time slowed, and everything came into sharp clarity, the kind that comes with combat. {Where are you now?} he rapped out.
{In pursuit. She’s headed toward Portsmouth. Best guess: she’s there to intercept Janus. And Rafe…she knows I was SRU.}
That last gave him pause. After a beat, he asked, {You’re sure she’s the one who was after Thompson?}
{Saw her with my own eyes,} Ell said. {Quinn alerted me she was breaching the hospital, and she bolted when I tried to close.}
{Circumstantial,} he warned. {Nothing to tie her to the sabotage at the Institute.}
{No, but I’m sending you my suit’s feed now. Show Travis. See if she can positively identify her as that server from the reception}
Ell paused. By her mental tone, Rafe could tell she was on the move. After a moment, she was back.
{This could place her near two of the three people deGrasse has shown interest in,} she reminded him. {One of whom is missing, and the other recently escaped death by chandelier. I’ll wager my best carbyne blade she’s headed straight for the third.}
The feed from Ell’s suit came across, and Rafe skipped ahead to the flagged part of the timeline. He saw a woman in a grey skinsuit dart behind an aircraft. She turned and slung a projectile at Ell.
A smart grenade, he realized, as the thing tried to latch onto Ell’s leg. His jaw clenched as he saw Ell’s hands frantically shoving the thing from her.
In the distance, he saw the woman pause, a thin smile playing about her lips as she tipped her head in a silent salute. The feed went white as the grenade exploded, and he slid back a few seconds, to where the woman stood watching.
Enlarging the image, he grabbed a freeze of it.
Ell’s right, he thought grimly. That dustsucker knew exactly who Ell was and what that grenade would do to her. It was as much a psychological attack as a physical one. Thank stars Ell had the foresight to break out her SRU-issued Drakeskin.
Straightening, he strode over to Sam Travis. “I need five seconds of your time,” he told her.
She gave the radiation level feeds a swift, comprehensive glance and then stepped away. “What is it?”
“I need you to identify someone,” he told her, passing the image to her personal token.
A swift inhale told him everything he needed to know, but he asked anyway. “It’s her, isn’t it.”
Sam nodded. “Yes, that’s who I saw at the reception.”
He thanked her and stepped away.
{Got confirmation on this end,} he told Ell. {What do you need from me?}
{Are our SRU friends still around?} the NCIC agent asked.
{Last I checked, they were back at base, cooling their heels,} he told her. {They’re scheduled to head back to Ceriba with Wraith, but Case and his co-pilot are helping us with the shield right now, so they’re delayed.}
Ell sent him a nod. {I’ll reach out to Severance, then. Know a good tech witch I can borrow? Something tells me that grey suit she’s wearing is Akkadia’s version of Drakeskin.}
Rafe’s attention sharpened. {You think it’s stealth tech?}
{I’d bet a case of Boulevard’s Star Haze IPA on it.}
{I don’t take sucker bets,} he responded. {How about a tech warlock instead? Will Morris, Wraith’s flight engineer. He’s as good as they come. I’ll give him a ping.}
Ell sent a mental two-click, and was gone.
* * *
Thad Severance was pumping iron alongside Jack while Boone and Asha finished another circuit around the base’s track. He’d been splitting his attention between his team, the update on Micah’s flight, and the news feed on the evac.
It sat poorly with all of them not to be helping out, but his orders from the head of SRU were clear: stay under the radar. Being caught assisting an event sure to hit every major systemwide newsfeed was a bit too high profile for that.
It chafed. He felt it; the team felt it. Which was why, when he saw Ell’s ID pop up on his HUD, he immediately accepted it.
{El-o-die,} he drawled. {How’s my favorite NCIC agent? Ready to kick more Navy ass, cher?}
{Captain.} Ell’s taut mental tone had him dropping his deadweight with a clang. Hands on hips, he began to pace.
{Talk to me, Sergeant.}
{Akkadian assassin, en route to Nimitz. Target, civilian contractor named Janus.} Her words were clipped.
Out of the corner of his eye, he’d seen the team come to a halt when he jerked to his feet. He motioned them over. Jack stepped forward while Boone and Asha approached at a fast jog.
{She knows I was SRU.} Ell’s mental voice was ragged. {Stars, Thad, she must have a dossier on me; she even knows I lost a leg.}
{You sure about that?} he asked sharply. For answer, an icon flashed on his overlay. He recognized the filetype; it had to be from Ell’s Drakeskin suit.
Five seconds later, he inhaled sharply as he saw what she meant.
He initiated the team’s combat net, bringing Ell into it as well.
{All right, Sergeant. Brief us.}
Ell laid out what she knew, finishing with Rafe’s recommendation that they loop Will Morris in on the operation.
Jack nodded. “Good call. I’ve flown with him before. He’s got a talent for sniffing out stealth signatures in the black. I’ll go get him.”
{Your ETA?} Thad asked Ell.
{I’m a little under an hour out. Assassin’s twenty minutes ahead of me, though.}
Thad looked at Boone and Asha. Nodding to the sniper, he said, “Coordinate with security. Do a quick assessment. Tell them Jack and Will are going to need access to the base’s sensor feeds and whatever the hell else they say they need. I’ll comm the CO and smooth your way.”
With a nod, Boone jogged away.
Asha rose. “I’ll track down the LEOs guarding Janus and give them a heads-up.”
Thad leveled a finger at her. “You shadow them all the way back here, you got that, ami? You see any sign of trouble, comm me.”
She nodded and disappeared.
Within minutes, Jack was back, Specialist Will Morris in tow. The sandy-haired, whipcord lean man walked beside the stockier Marine with a deliberate yet graceful stride.
“Captain,” he greeted. “I hear we have an Akkadian on the loose.”
Snagging Will’s token, Thad flipped him into the combat net alongside the rest.
{Ell,} he prompted, with a mental nudge toward Will. He waited while the NCIC agent filled him in.
Minutes later, Will’s calm grey eyes met Thad’s.
“She’s Akkadian, all right,” he said. “That’s a Yinshen she’s wearing, stolen tech. Uses the same transformation optics as a Drakeskin in stealth mode. It bends the EM and incident waves around the wearer. Hard to track, but not impossible.”
“You’ve heard the rumors about Akkadian assassins,” Jack stated, quirking a brow at Thad.
He nodded at the intel operative.
“Well, assume it’s true and then some,” Jack said shortly. “They’re elite, highly trained. Assume they’re the best you’ve gone up against, and then pad that estimate.”
Thad’s expression hardened, his gaze shifting between Will and Jack. “Update the team. She’s not getting Janus, Understood?”<
br />
TWENTY-SEVEN
Gate Sierra-10
Nimitz Base
Portsmouth
Dawn was breaking over the top of nearby buildings as the aircraft carrying Ell taxied up to the gate that separated the civilian aerodrome from Nimitz Base.
She spotted a familiar figure loping toward them. Thanking the pilot, she hopped out just as Jack Campbell reached her side.
“Lieutenant,” she greeted, then startled when she saw the rank on his holopips. “Correction, Captain. Congrats.”
He dipped a head in silent thanks. “Rafe tell you about Will Morris?”
“Only that he cleared him to work with us. I met him briefly, during the exercise. That’s about it.”
He nodded, slapping a hand on her shoulder as he glanced around. “Come on. Let’s get inside.”
His touch triggered a secured peer-to-peer connection.
{Will’s got mad skills. He’s already integrated Wraith’s countersurveillance suite with the base’s security system,} he told her.
{We have stealth microdrones canvassing the most likely infiltration points. There’s a corridor set up for Janus’s escort to funnel him through, too.}
Ell shot him a thoughtful look. {You think our Akkadian is unaware a DAP Helios is camped out in that ‘empty’ hangar?}
Jack grinned down at her. {I know she doesn’t. You’re forgetting who the squadron’s CO is. Rafe has us locked down so tight, his own boss has forgotten we’re here.}
“Hoo-yah,” Ell murmured aloud, eliciting a sidelong look from the man. He cuffed the back of her neck, squeezing it in the friendly camaraderie borne of years serving together.
“Once a Marine,” he reminded her softly as he dropped his hand.
{Be prepared to go stealth the moment we pass the perimeter,} he ordered, with a tap to her Drakeskin-clad sleeve.
{Sir, yes, sir.}
They passed by the sentry, the SI on duty challenging her security token as she approached. Jack detoured them through an empty guard shack, which served to mask their transformation. No one saw them emerge, active camouflage blending the suits seamlessly into their surroundings.
The team’s encrypted combat net snapped into place the moment Ell stepped foot inside the base. Instantly, she was surrounded by the presence of her former team members.
Ell stayed on Jack’s six, the solid weight of a Drakeskin-coated P-SCAR in her hands. The pulsed combat assault rifle’s greater range and heft was a much more effective weapon than her trusty service pistol.
It had been waiting for her in the guard shack, a much-appreciated upgrade.
{They’re two klicks out, coming in hot,} Ell heard Asha say. She took that to mean Janus and his escort were on the move.
{Local PD just found your tango’s aircraft, abandoned in a nearby park,} Will cut in.
{How in stars did she get here without Hawking tracking her?} Ell asked as she followed Jack into the shadowed overhang of a barracks.
{That woman has some skills,} Will admitted. {She backdoored her way into the pubnet and told it to ignore her signature wherever she went. Took me a while, but I’m onto her now.}
{Yeah? Then why aren’t we seeing her, hoss?} Thad drawled, and Ell could feel Will wince.
{GLE,} he said shortly. {The solar particle event’s at its peak right now. It’s reducing the accuracy of the cylinder’s sensors.}
{No worries,} Jack said. {Once she passes through the perimeter, she’s on our turf. The base’s sensors are military-grade and hardened.}
{Wraith’s stealth is even better,} Will agreed. {We’ll get her.}
The combat net fell silent as each focused on their area of expertise. Ell knew Boone was nestled on a catwalk, somewhere above the ship destined to take Janus to deGrasse, sniper rifle in hand.
Will and Thad, like Ell and Jake, had taken up positions most likely to intercept the assassin’s path.
{Got a hit} Will sang out, and a red threat icon appeared on her HUD’s map.
{No joy,} Boone called. {No heat sig at that location.}
{Wait one,} Will’s voice was tight. Ell saw the icon disappear for a few brief seconds before he reacquired it.
Will made a frustrated noise. {This Yinshen’s a newer model. I’m having trouble locking on— Hang on, moving the drones in closer.}
Ell heard the sound of a transport and looked over to see a small four-person vehicle approaching. She could see Asha’s stealthed silhouette outlined in front, with a pair of Marines on either side.
A thin blue glow limned the conveyance, indicating active ES shielding.
Her gaze flicked to the building across from her, where she could see Jack’s outline, and then up ahead, where the ship was docked. If the assassin was going to make her move, it would be now.
{Gotcha!} Will crowed, and an insubstantial, wavy form materialized six meters to Ell’s left, and was gone again in a flash. Sidestepping carefully so that she cleared Boone’s field of fire, she tried to predict where she might move next if she were the killer.
{Check the path ahead of that vehicle,} she called out as she darted around a large storage drum and raced ahead of the transport that held Janus. {A strong enough shaped charge will punch through—}
She oofed as she collided with an invisible body. Instinct had her bringing the stock of her rifle up in a vicious uppercut just as she felt the burn of a carbyne blade slice through her bicep.
She staggered back before her invisible attacker could land another blow, bringing her P-SCAR up as she heard Boone’s voice ordering her clear.
Ell dropped and rolled, grabbing her wounded arm as the sound of sonic snaps told her the sniper had managed to get off several rounds.
She came up into a crouch just in time to catch the vapor trail the last few left behind. The impacts made divots on the ceramacrete pavement, small puffs of dust billowing in their wake.
Return fire came from behind the barracks Ell and Jake had cleared earlier, projectiles pinging against the ES shield of the transport as it crossed in front of her.
She saw Janus cringing on the floor of the vehicle, the Marine riding inside shoving the man’s head down and covering him with her own armored body.
{Will?} she called out, the hand of her uninjured arm wrapped around her wound as she ordered the suit’s triage system to seal it with numbing foam.
{She’s somehow found a way to spoof the drones. I’m getting multiple signatures,} he bit out.
{Drop them on the net,} Thad ordered. {Weapons free, engage at will.}
Explosions began to go off, not of the team’s making, as five wavering red heat signatures suddenly populated her HUD.
Ell dragged her blood-slicked hand through a small patch of grass that grew alongside the stretch of pavement and then rose, gripping her P-SCAR once more.
She studied the five signatures, triangulating each with respect to the transport, the ship, and the best nearby cover. Her gut told her the figure closest was a decoy, and she turned toward the image between Jake and Asha.
Abruptly, she became aware there was an artificial regularity to the weapons fire.
{Attack’s automated,} she warned.
{Agreed,} came from Jack.
{Factor it out.} Thad ordered.
She heard several two-clicks.
She angled toward her target, closing the distance with care. Janus’s transport was meters away from its objective.
Ell stopped just behind the waveform and brought her P-SCAR up, her finger edging toward the trigger. She froze, head cocked, when she felt the displacement of air beside her, a meter behind and to the left of where her HUD indicated the assassin should be.
Spinning, she pulled the trigger, just as the barrel of her weapon was knocked skyward. She stepped back just as a breeze passed by centimeters from her face.
She can see me, but I can’t see her, she realized. Dropping suddenly into a crouch, she swept a leg out and connected with the assassin, sending her rolling back.
Ell chanced a glance at the ship; Janus was being hustled up its ramp. Her momentary inattention earned her a hard clip to the chin. She growled and tried to work her arm around the assassin’s neck, but the woman kept denying her access, her fist grinding into the wound along Ell’s bicep with painful accuracy.
Ell heard the sound of the ship’s hatch cycling closed just as the assassin’s booted feet connected with her abdomen and she found herself airborne.
A low laugh and sibilant whisper came to her just before she went crashing into a stack of crates lined up against a nearby building.
{Sergeant! Status!} Thad’s sharp voice intervened just Asha came running up to kneel beside her. Ell’s HUD showed Jack and Thad in pursuit, but then Asha commanded her attention as the medic ordered Ell to revert her Drakeskin to standby, and ripped off her hood.
“Your arm,” she snapped, rolling Ell to her side.
“I’m fine,” she began, but the medic cut her off.
“Thad, Boone, and Jack are tailing her. You don’t think they can handle one lone assassin?” Asha scoffed. “Look, Janus is safe in the ship. You’ve done your part. Let them handle the rest.”
Ell relented with ill-concealed grace. As Asha tended her wound, she ordered her suit to replay her final encounter with the assassin.
She’d been correct; the assassin had said something, but her wire refused to translate the whispered phrase.
Zhídé de duìshǒu.
Ell’s breath came out in a harsh expletive as she replayed the low laugh and the assassin’s words.
Zhídé de duìshǒu.
She forced her attention back to the combat net as calls began to spill in.
{No joy.}
{Lost contact.}
The Chiral Conspiracy – A Military Science Fiction Thriller: A Biogenesis War Prequel (The Biogenesis War Book 0) Page 13
