“Jalloh,” Dario said to acknowledge the leader while Raz, the hacker, and their sniper, Cascina, also appeared. “Good to see you.” He released a group of nanos that immediately formed into an explosive orb. Jalloh dodged it easily and Raz simply stepped forward and grabbed it. The amber light within faded while Lycan and Cascina watched the assassin warily. She made her caution far more obvious, however, when she drew her rifle and aimed it at him.
“I like your enthusiasm,” Dario mused when he noted Raz tapping the air with a gloved hand—obviously a way to hack into his nanos—and the sniper ready to fire. Casually, he waved an arm and the orb activated in Raz’s hand, who quickly released it and jumped back. He chuckled as he brought the orb back to him and disassembled it to return the nanos to their containers. “Forgive me. I’m a little excitable right now.”
“I know the feeling.” Lycan chuckled and pounded a fist into his other hand.
The assassin looked at Jalloh. “How can I help you?”
The man leaned against a nearby tree. “I’m sorry to bother you, but we have a complaint about the man you left us with.”
“Nolan?” Dario asked with a hasty glance at Merrick and Jiro before he gave them a reassuring wave. “Is he working you too hard?”
“Oh, that’s certainly not the problem,” Lycan muttered. “It’s more like he isn’t working us at all. We’ve sat in three different factories simply twiddling our thumbs.”
“As much as it seems we may be shooting ourselves in the foot,” Raz stated, his voice modulated in his mask, “given that we’re essentially being paid to kick around, we’re rather bored.”
“I’m sure you can relate as a fellow assassin,” Jalloh added.
Dario ran a hand through his hair. “Nolan is something of a worrywart, I must admit. He’s readying for a war, which makes one a little scattershot.”
“That’s why we wanted to talk,” the merc leader stated. “We’re all good going to war and even took part in a couple on the stations. But if we won’t do anything until then, we’d prefer to come back to your employ. You are still the one paying us, after all.”
“I suppose that’s right, although I guess I should have had the organization pay the expenses. But as it stands, I’m having problems with that myself.” Dario glanced at Merrick and gestured to the group. “Would you care to step in, capo?”
Jiro wanted to throttle the man for his disrespect, but Merrick merely sighed and approached to address the mercenary team. “My apologies that you haven’t found your current work satisfying.” He glanced meaningfully at Dario as he said that. “As of right now, I will take over your orders. Don’t worry about the general.”
“No complaints here, boss!” Lycan yelled as he shook the leader’s hand enthusiastically and almost caused Jiro’s skull to erupt with outrage and indignation. “What do you have for us?”
“One last trip,” he answered. “I need you to observe one of our strongholds. You’ll be outfitted with experimental equipment while there.”
“More babysitting?” Lycan muttered and his head tilted in disapproval and suspicion.
“Oh no, I need your expertise for practical purposes,” he assured them. “This is a very important facility. It can’t be as easily hidden as the others, however. We’ve noticed people snooping around and we need you to take care of them.”
“At least that’s something,” Raz muttered and Cascina nodded silently.
“I would prefer you do it discreetly, but I know how demanding that kind of order can be.” He cast another glance at Dario, who merely chuckled. “So, if it does get rough, please dispose of the evidence.”
“Not a problem,” Lycan declared.
“Is there anything else we should know or look for?” Jalloh asked.
“I have people there who can fill you in and keep you busy, if nothing else, to test the latest droids.” Merrick noticed a small frown on Lycan’s face. “Don’t worry. They will easily satiate any residual bloodlust you may have.”
“Is that right?” The large man stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Well, I’ll hold you to that. When can we leave?”
“Immediately.” The AO leader clapped Dario on the back. “Assuming my friend here can get everything in order.”
“So I’m a secretary now, capo?” the man snarked and threw his hands up. “Fine. I’ll get it done, but I hope you’ll have something for me when I get back.”
“I have a few ideas, do not worry,” he promised and tapped the top of his cane. “I would prefer you to do good for the organization rather than the alternative.”
“You wound me,” Dario said melodramatically and rested his hand over his heart before he spun and placed a hand on Jalloh’s shoulder. “Very well, let’s get you doing something fun for a while, shall we?”
They walked away and Merrick watched them for a moment before he spoke to Jiro. “I’m sorry you had to deal with all that, Jiro,” he stated and smiled benignly. “But I hope you took something from it, even a little. You’re free to go. Please take care of your orders.”
“Yes, sir, of course.” He nodded. The leader did the same and walked away into the forest. Jiro looked at his trembling hands, grasped one with the other, and gritted his teeth. He would possibly have to enter battle? He balled one fist and tried to stop the shaking as he looked around the forest. It appeared desolate but filled with color and beauty. Oddly enough, he recalled, he’d had the same feeling when he first met Merrick.
Battle. If his leader called him to do it, he would.
Chapter Nine
Genos looked a little dubiously at the colorful liquid in his cup, which contained very little alcohol overall but a considerable amount of the sweet syrup. He felt a little nauseous and recalled the last time he imbibed too much.
“You don’t have to drink it, you know,” Kaiden pointed out and finished his beer. “I simply thought you would want something while we waited.”
“No, no, thank you, friend Kaiden.” He took the glass and swirled the contents for a moment before he took a small sip and set it down again. “It’s quite good.”
“You know, I’ve seen you charge into a horde of killer droids with less hesitation,” the ace stated with amusement and leaned back in his chair. “And yet your weakness is sugar water.”
“Maybe it would be better if I introduced it into my infuser,” Genos muttered. He moved a hand to a small port on the side of the machine around his neck but hesitated. “No. I’d better not.”
“Yeah. I still don’t really know how your biology works, but you might not want to introduce alcohol and dye into the thing that helps you breathe.” He chuckled.
“Do you need a refill, Kaiden?” Julio asked and sidled over with another glass.
“Would you kindly?” He looked at the door while the proprietor removed his empty glass. “He should be here soon, yeah?”
“He should be, but I haven’t seen him except for one other time since the Ramses gig,” he stated and followed the ace’s gaze to the entrance. “I’m honestly not sure what to make of him. Guys like that are usually timely as a rule. They are technically the first impression of any company they work for.”
“Gang, in this case,” Genos noted.
Kaiden nodded, sipped his beer, and caught Julio’s arm before he left. “I’ll pay for his drinks, so give him whatever.”
“No problem. I’ll give you fair warning, though. He doesn’t usually order the expensive stuff, but he orders a good few rounds of the mid-tier.”
“It should be fine. Hopefully, I won’t have too many expenditures if everything goes right.” He grinned at the barkeep. “Other than the rental fee on your baby.”
“You’re paying for quality, you know,” Julio stated and smiled at Genos. “It was a smart move to bring him along. You took care of that ship beautifully. There was hardly any dust after the explosion.”
“You knew about that?” the Tsuna asked.
“Of course. I watched the cameras af
ter you came back.” He laughed as he returned to the main bar.
“He was probably making sure I didn’t secretly screw something up,” Kaiden muttered and checked his tablet. “He trusts me to take care of a gang leader or for recon on rival businesses but doesn’t trust me with his toys.”
“His ship is a toy?” Genos questioned. “He seems to have expensive hobbies.”
Kaiden chuckled but it faded when he saw no messages from Sasha. He sighed as he placed his tablet in his backpack. Both he and Genos looked up in surprise when a man with tanned skin and disheveled hair slouched into the seat opposite them.
“Uh, can I help you?” the ace asked.
The man smiled. “I hope so since I was told you were looking for me.”
He studied him curiously and finally, recognition dawned. “Rok? Holy hell, you look different.”
“Yeah. I’ve been running my happy ass back and forth from California to here so haven’t had much time for personal grooming.” The Fire Rider recruiter caught a passing waitress by the hand and asked for a scotch before he turned back to them. “So, what do ya need, my friend?”
“Straight to business, then?” Kaiden leaned back. The man looked far more haggard than he had at their first meeting, but he seemed calmer as well. Granted, the fact that he wasn’t looking for help for a situation that was going tits-up at that moment was probably helpful. Or maybe he was simply better at hiding it now.
“Like I said, I’ve been on the trail. The Riders have had consistent work in Cali so need more bodies. I’m one of the best they have, and unfortunately, they seem to know that.” He chuckled, retrieved an opened pack of Sinner’s Blend cigarettes, and lit one. “I can’t complain too much, though. The commission adds up to a rather pretty cred.”
“Hello again, Rok.” Julio greeted him, handed him his scotch, and sat quickly. “I don’t see you around here too often—not the greatest recruiting place?”
“Hey, it’s the big man himself.” Rok chuckled, picked the glass up, and toasted him. “Julio, right? Nah, you have nice clientele, but that’s kind of the problem when you’re looking for guys who are willing to take on the gang life.” He turned and toasted Kaiden. “I guess I got lucky with you and your friends, huh?”
“I guess so.” He shrugged. “Hopefully, a little of that luck rubs off on me.”
“Is that so?” The gang recruiter took a sip and smiled at the taste. “I guess I’ll go back to my first question, then. What do ya need? It’s been a while since we talked. I assumed it must be something interesting for you to drop a line out of the blue.”
“Interesting? I guess so, but that’s something of a long story,” Kaiden admitted and lifted his glass. “The long and short of it is that I need men—which you seem to have in good supply.”
“Oh, the Riders have plenty now.” He nodded. “There’s even of talk of turning into a proper merc company. But you know that won’t come without incentive for them.” He leaned forward and looked directly into the ace’s eyes. “I’m not really the guy you talk to for that, but it shouldn’t be too much trouble to get you in talks. Before I stick my neck out, though, I have to know what you plan to do with all these guys you’re looking for.”
“We intend to destroy a stronghold owned and operated by a group that is trying to take over the world,” Kaiden stated flatly. Rok raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You may or may not believe that, but it’ll be a raid, either way. I’m sure I don’t have the credits to hire a large force, but what I do have—or rather they have—is a huge amount of new and shiny tech that these men are more than welcome to take for themselves.”
“Are you okay with that?” the man inquired. “Or, rather, whoever you’re working for is?”
“I’m not working for anyone. This is my mission,” he stated flatly. “In fact, this may push even the grey boundaries of merc work.”
“Getting truly dirty, huh? That’s not really gonna be an issue for the Fire Riders,” Rok admitted. “That promise of tech will probably be enough for you to muster a small army out of interest, but I imagine this won’t be an easy raid.”
“Personally, I don’t think easy is ever an option in a raid,” Julio pointed out.
“You’d be surprised what a lot of hollering and a few gunshots can accomplish.” The other man chuckled and took another sip. “So, this super-villain group—who are they exactly?”
“I can’t give you all the details, mostly because we’re still finding out ourselves,” Kaiden said. “But we do know, thanks to some info we recovered, that they were the ones who hired the EX-10 to attack Ramses.”
“Really now?” Rok leaned back, set his drink down, and tilted his head in thought. “That would be a group the Riders would want to take on, and maybe even the Kings. I can’t really speak for them, though.”
“That’s my hope as well,” the ace replied. “And something else you might want to know is that they are probably the ones that brought Gin Sonny to Earth.”
The man sucked in a breath and the hand holding the glass tightened. “Gin…the one who killed Lazar?”
“Yeah, his friends as well,” he confirmed.
Rok was silent. The jovial atmosphere he had brought seemed to cool and he looked at the table for a moment before he stood. “I’ll be back,” he said and moved quickly away to a quiet side of the bar.
“That seemed to shake him,” Julio commented.
“It did something.” Kaiden agreed. “When I spoke to him about Lazar last time, he seemed to have made some kind of peace with it already, but I guess he was a heavier loss than I thought.”
“You should know that certain guys will always leave an impression, especially in a gang,” the man reminded him. “You can make peace with a death but never really move on.”
“At least not until you have a chance to avenge them.”
The proprietor nodded and pushed his chair back. “It’s a dangerous line of thinking but certainly true.”
“Are you heading back?” Kaiden asked as he finished his second beer.
“Yeah. I’m too busy to idle around,” he admitted. “I came to act as a middleman if necessary, but it looks like you’ve got this.”
“This is only the first part. I still have to talk to someone in charge, and I don’t know when that will be.”
“Can you leave tonight?” Rok asked and appeared at the table.
“Tonight?”
“I have someone—two people, actually. They do have a mission prepared but still have time to pull out if you can make a better offer,” the man stated. “But you have to meet tonight.”
“Where?”
“San Diego. You’ll meet Zena and Desmond again.” The recruiter entered something into his tablet. “I’m sending you the location. Be there around eight if you can.”
Kaiden nodded, stood quickly, and looked at Genos. “It’s after four now. Can you go with me?”
“Of course, friend Kaiden.” The Tsuna nodded and pushed his not even half-finished drink aside.
“Julio!” the ace called. “Can we get the—”
“I already sent Genos the codes,” the man responded. “It’s yours, kid. Come back before the big day. I’ll have something else ready for ya.”
He nodded and shouted his thanks as he and Genos hurried out. Rok and Julio watched them leave. The recruiter thought of the opportunity for the Riders to get their vengeance, and Julio thought of the man who had set up the gig in the Amazon that almost left Kaiden dead.
Both hoped that this would end with payback.
Chapter Ten
Kaiden stood and peered out of the cockpit as Genos piloted the dropship over the location Rok had given them. Only one building with functioning lights was visible, surrounded by dark streets and ramshackle huts and shelters that dotted the area.
“Is this one of their main bases?” he questioned, more thinking aloud than asking his companion. “Rok said they wanted to possibly turn into a mercenary company, right? I know mo
st people who need a group of mercs won’t exactly look for hot towels and glacial water at reception, but I don’t think this will impress very many.”
“It is likely that this is some kind of safe haven or relatively secret location,” Genos suggested as he circled the vessel in search of a landing area. “I may not be familiar with this group, but with how hastily this was put together, they probably feel safer discussing terms with us here rather than in a more open and busy area.”
He frowned and sat again. “That’s a good point. Rok said I was talking to Zena and Desmond. Unless something has changed in the months since Ramses, they are only captains of their local chapters. This might be a private matter—one they don’t want to bring up to the gangs as a whole.”
“Can you think of a reason?” his companion asked. “That recruiter seemed to be rather despondent when you mentioned Lazar’s death. I would imagine that the incident affected others. These Fire Riders extend all the way to the Midwest, correct? I would think many more wish for their own piece of justice.”
“You have the right idea, but as Julio hinted, guys like that can make a strong impact on gangs. For guys who are taken into the fold early, they can be like family,” he explained and his eyes closed for a moment. “But it’s like a family and a company in one, and some only want to move their way up the ladder. I remember Lazar saying something about trying to bring change to the Riders and not everyone was happy about that. It makes me wonder where Zena falls on the map.”
“What about the other leader?” Genos asked. He finally found a place to set the ship down and began to descend slowly. “He’s not part of the Riders, correct?”
Kaiden shook his head. “No, he leads a chapter of the Skyway Kings. Those guys were unique for the fact that they were one of the few gangs that used aerial tactics with gliders, Zepps, jetpacks, and the like. It kind of came back to bite them after a while since their ground forces weren’t as competent for a time. From what I saw at Ramses, it seems they righted that, for the most part.” He looked at Genos as the vessel finally set down. “I honestly don’t know much about them. That was the only time I really interacted with them. I should probably let you know that I don’t know how this will turn out.”
Raid (Animus Book 9) Page 5
