Chapter 13
Above a warehouse, Undisclosed location in Spire
Paige turned to Maya as they sat against a wall in the dusty loft of the warehouse. “I don’t understand. How is he getting them to come in?” she asked quietly.
Maya smiled. “Ah, a trick my father used once. He basically led them each to believe that someone was plotting against them, and let their paranoia and mistrust of each other fuel their actions. Pieter’s been working on the setup of the ruse since we got the green light a few days ago.”
Paige frowned, her blue skin catching in the low light of Estarian twilight. “So how do you get them to show at a specific time?”
Maya shrugged casually. “Different stories for each…” she said, keeping her voice super low so as not to draw attention from Joel, “but with vague enough messages that they fill in their own blanks. That way, if they talk to each other, their suspicions just get compounded. They might think there is a meeting going down that they’re gatecrashing, or that someone is plotting to take them out, or that they’re there to take someone else out.”
Maya grinned. “It’s basically a clusterfuck waiting to happen once they all get here.”
Paige’s eyes widened in a strange mixture of horror and delight; she knew what these men had done.
Jack, Joel, and Sean stood in one corner, talking in hushed voices. Their full protective gear weighed on them as they waited patiently for the go signal from Pieter.
Joel glanced over at the young guy intensely focused on his holo. “Looks like it’s working,” he remarked.
Sean cracked his knuckles. “Yeah. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on these pieces of shit.”
Joel glanced up at him. “Just remember that we’re here to do a job.”
Sean glared at him intensely. “I know,” he retorted. “I’ve been doing this since before you were even-”
Joel waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah. Before I was born. You’re the big bad.” Joel motioned with his hands, pretending to bow to his superior experience. Then he stopped. “So how much before I was born?” he asked, flipping the conversation around.
Jack smiled. “I heard that he served with General Reynolds way back in the day,” she said, watching Sean’s agitation grow.
Sean found his composure. “Yeah, I heard that rumor… just after I heard the one about how I married a Noel-ni, and got promoted to Chief of the Meredith Reynolds.”
For a second, Joel thought that they were about to get real insight into the past of Sean Royale; but then he realized that Sean was just toying with them.
“Guys…” Pieter called quietly across the loft space.
Joel headed straight over to where Pieter was sitting on the floor with his array of holoscreens. “Yeah. What’s up?”
Pieter pointed at one of the screens. “Your sixth guy is just arriving, through the side entrance. It’s locked, so my guess is he’s going to head around the back to the next one. The others are all in there, but they’re confused. A few of them have found each other.”
Joel peered more closely. “That’s the tango that was never here, right?” he confirmed, recognizing him from his mug shot.
Pieter nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been double-checking facial for each of them. He’s your guy.”
Joel scanned the other screens, giving them eyes on each of the other five. “Okay, great. And I guess this one,” he pointed, “is the big boss of the network?” he checked.
Pieter checked another screen, pulling up the facial recognition profile. “Yep. The suit might give it away, too, once you see him in person.”
Joel watched as two Estarians in one of the rooms started talking with each other. “Okay, we’d better get in there,” he said.
Joel turned to the others. “Okay. We’re good to go. Let’s move out.” He made his hand gesture to reinforce his words, and Sean and Jack started making their way down into the main warehouse.
Joel turned back to Pieter’s screens. “Looks like the handoff recipients are here, too?”
Pieter enlarged the screen to show Chaakwa and her late father’s police colleagues. “Yep. They’re here. They know to wait for the signal, but if anything changes, I have a line to her holo. And I’ll keep you in the loop.”
“Okay, great,” Joel muttered. He turned and left, leaving Pieter monitoring his screens as if nothing else in the world existed.
* * *
Three space cars showed up in the small warehouse parking lot, and four Estarians stepped out. One of them was a female wearing a suit and a protective vest. She immediately drew her firearm, and walked purposefully over to the main entrance.
The light was fading. It was time.
She strained her ears to hear inside, keeping her awareness on high alert. She took a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed.
The other Estarians also wore vests marked with the official precinct emblems on the collar. But these weren’t current police; they were veterans. Veterans from a time when you stuck with your own, no matter what; serving with someone made them as close to you as family. You had their back, and they had yours. No matter what.
And that was why they were here.
For family.
Bob caught up to Chaakwa, his firearm also drawn and ready. He whispered in her ear. “You sure it’s time?” he checked.
She shrugged. “We have to be close enough to hear the signal,” she told him.
He had a look of concern in his eyes. Concern for her. For what this whole experience might do for her. Or not, as the case may be.
He knew how he’d felt when he finally caught the guy who took his partner out twenty years ago. He had thought that it would make the pain go away, that it would put it right. But in the end, the bad guy ended up locked up, and his partner was still dead. That was just the way it was. Then the real battle began - the battle to deal with his feelings.
He looked at the young woman; a career, a life, still ahead of her. He hoped that for her it would be different.
Chaakwa turned, catching the eye of the other two vets behind them. She signaled for them to hang on before they took up their positions, acutely aware they didn’t want to thwart the getaway of the team delivering this victory.
Chaakwa kept her weapon quarter raised, checking the safety was still on as she started to move forward.
Inside the warehouse
Sean and Jack crept down the stairs along the back wall of the warehouse. Sean came gracefully to a halt mid-step, giving Jack the signal to hold. He pointed directly ahead of them at the target that had just walked in through the back door. Then he pointed to himself. Jack nodded.
They continued their descent silently, as if the volume had been turned off in a bubble around them. When they reached the ground, Sean kept moving forward, without looking back. Jack turned and headed into the main warehouse.
She swept her weapon left and right, scanning the area in front of her as she advanced, on alert for any signs of movement.
“Door on your right,” Pieter told her through her implant. She cautiously approached, keeping close to the near wall. “Two tangos. One has his back to the door,” he informed her.
Jack took another two paces and paused, listening intently. She could hear their muffled voices through the makeshift construction of the office divider. She breathed deeper and then moved, swinging effortlessly around the doorframe, and, in one movement, taking out the nearest target with a single round.
The guy dropped, and she waited until he was out of her firing line before popping off another round into the heart of the second guy. His eyes were wide as he collapsed like a sack of potatoes in a heap on top of his comrade.
Jack clicked her holo twice to let them know she’d taken down the two. A moment later, she heard another click. That was three. Probably Sean and his guy. She swung her attention around to advance into the main area.
She heard a cli
ck in her ear. She kept moving forward. That left two more. Just two more tangos, and they were on to phase two.
She emerged from the narrow area into the wide-open space in the middle of the warehouse. There were boxes and crates all over the place. Spotting a heavy-duty forklift truck, she stole away behind it, keeping herself from view.
There was a scuffling, and then a pause. Then another click.
One more, she counted.
She turned back, and could see Sean emerging from the corridor, following her through. They made eye contact, but there was nothing further to communicate. She didn’t have eyes on either Joel or the last bogie.
And then there was another click.
Sean’s gait changed from one of extreme stealth, to that of a casual surfer dude heading home from the beach. He flicked the safety on his weapon, and lowered the muzzle.
* * *
Joel headed down the second set of stairs by the front of the building. He knew he had to move faster or else the front of the building would be unsecured. He moved as rapidly as he dared without drawing attention. Every step, he risked the sound of his boots on the metal grid resonating in the air and alerting their targets to his location.
He calmed himself.
Come on, Dunham. You’ve done this a million times before. Stay cool…
He made it halfway down the stairs, and spotted movement just underneath him. One of the perps had hidden behind a stack of crates, to watch another one, who was oblivious to the presence of anyone else. He stood around like a duck waiting to be shot.
It would be easy to just pick him off right now, Joel mused. But that would alert at least this one guy to the fact that they were being taken out.
He lowered his weapon and continued down the stairs. Save playtime for the holo games, he chided himself. This is work time.
He found his way to the ground level, and followed the path he had traced from his higher position; through the aisle of boxed goods, in the direction of the hiding tango. Quietly, he approached.
Shit, this guy is just oblivious, he thought to himself.
Five paces out, he could see he was still distracted by the other guy. He was crouched, in a vulnerable position. Joel smiled to himself and pulled out the rag he had laced with chloral hydrate and shoved in his pocket, just in case.
Three paces out.
Joel held his breath, now praying the guy didn’t hear him. Didn’t sense him. Didn’t turn around.
Two paces out.
Joel’s heart was in his mouth. At this range, he didn’t have time to take off the safety and trank the guy; he’d have to smack him, and proceed with the chloral.
One pace.
Just one more step, he told himself. One. More.
Joel wound his hand around to the target’s face, and clamped the rag over his mouth and nose, while putting his gun hand against the back of his head. He pressed the rag tighter.
One monkey, two monkey, three-
The Estarian’s eyes rolled in his head, and all resistance melted. He went down, and Joel effortlessly released his grip.
Well, that worked. Now for tango number two.
He tapped his holo, sending a click to the others, and then crept back in the direction he had come, listening intently for any signs of life. He paused and stood straight, giving Pieter the signal that he could do with some guidance.
A moment later, Pieter’s voice was in his ear. “You’ve got one hovering just inside the entrance way. He’s on his holo. Distracted. Take a right behind those boxes in front of you, and you’ll see him.”
Joel nodded his thanks to the camera in the far corner and started moving again.
He carefully swung around to the right, and moved between the boxes. Then he saw the guy. It was an easy shot. He took it, and the guy collapsed. He clicked his holo again.
One more. The guy who is just standing in plain view.
Joel moved right again, heading into the main floor of the warehouse. He spotted his target, but then the Estarian turned and spotted him right back. His expression was one of shock, but before he could make a sound, Joel popped him twice in the chest.
The tango dropped to the deck, his legs folding underneath him as he was put under the trank’s sleeping spell.
* * *
Jack flicked her safety on and lowered her weapon before venturing out from behind the truck. Leading the way, with Sean coming up along the corridor behind her, she continued her path through the array of boxes and crates to find Joel standing over the last guy he had just hit with a tranquilizer.
He looked up at them. “I think I recognize this motherfucker,” he said thoughtfully. A hint of anger seemed to jar his jawline.
Sean came up next to Jack. “Where from?” he asked.
Joel bent down and poked the body with his foot. “Not sure,” he said, shaking his head. “You meet so many people in this game… Might have just seen him on the system when we were searching for jobs, or checking out our competition. But for some reason, he has me pissed.”
Sean shrugged. “Hmm. Well he’s going to be going away for a very long time, so you’ll have plenty of time to place him.”
Joel straightened up.
Jack interrupted their navel-gazing. “Where are the other two?” she asked.
Joel thumbed backwards. “Back there. Got one with some chloral.”
Jack frowned. “Why?” she asked confused. “Why not just stun him like we did the others?”
Joel shrugged. “Cuz I could. And I kinda wanted to see if it would drop him as fast. I think it was quieter than firing a shot.”
Sean nodded. “Riskier, though.”
Joel looked nonplussed. “Well, you know. Just experimenting. Need to keep evolving our game.”
Jack grinned. “Okay, ladies. Let’s get this wrapped up.”
They all turned to retrieve their sleeping beauties, and execute phase two of the plan.
Rooftop across the street from the warehouse
I should be there with them.
You’re meant to be dead, remember?
Yeah, but you took care of that.
Five of those guys are going into the system. Last thing we want are rumors, even in the prison system, of a phantom vigilante.
I think my exclusion has more to do with Joel trying to keep me out of harm’s way.
So what if it does?
I’m the leader. I’m meant to be leading from the front.
No. You’re the leader, and they need you alive. You die, and this whole team falls to pieces.
…
You’re feeling guilty about Giles?
Yes, I am. He’s rotting in some cell, maybe already dead, because I was a shit leader and I let him risk his life so that we could take out Shaa.
You made a command decision. And besides, he wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. Even the General ended up letting him go.
The General has to think of the good of the Federation.
And now, so do you.
Not above my team. These guys come first.
Interesting how you’re thinking of Giles as your team…
Whatever, Oz. Let’s stay focused. Is that Chaakwa moving in?
Molly raised her holo to her eyes, and took a view through the telescope app.
Tell her to move back from those doors. They’re not done yet… it’s not safe.
* * *
Chaakwa headed up the steps, toward the front doors to the reception area. She approached slowly, knowing full well what she might be walking into.
Bob followed closely behind her, peering in through the windows as best he could from his vantage point.
She stopped dead. She could see a group of people through the doors, and there were a number of Estarians on the floor.
They looked dead.
Or at least unconscious.
She felt her chest tighten as reality dawned on her. This is actually happ
ening, she thought, as her feet automatically moved her closer. She stood, mesmerized; the whole scene feeling surreal, like a dream. Or an alternate reality.
She couldn’t make out the faces of the three figures that stood around those that had been captured, but she had a flash of recognition of some of the Estarians on the floor.
Suddenly her holo buzzed, pulling her back to the here and now. She glanced down.
STEP BACK FROM THE DOORS AND AWAIT THE SIGNAL. UNSAFE TO PROCEED AS YET.
It was from an unknown sender.
But knowing who she was involved with, she immediately knew it was someone on the team. Maybe even Molly herself.
Chaakwa gathered her wits and moved back, indicating for Bob to follow her. He did without question. They backed up about fifty yards before they stopped.
Bob glanced over at her. “Too soon?” he asked.
“Too soon,” she confirmed.
Inside the warehouse
Joel looked down at the six stuppered tangos. “Sean, want to take out the trash?” he offered.
Sean grinned. “It would be my pleasure,” he responded, grabbing the infamous tango number six by the scruff of his neck, and hauling him away from the group easily.
Joel looked satisfied that they were going to make a difference today. “Well then, I suppose it’s-” His attention was pulled from the group. They were gathered just inside the building where they had their prisoners bound, but he sensed movement at the door, and spun around to see two figures through the window.
He recognized one as Chaakwa, and there was a second person behind her.
“Shit,” he said. “Pieter?” he called into his audio feed.
“Already on it. Oz is telling her to fall back,” Pieter responded over the shared channel.
Joel waited, watching them move away from the door. “Hope they didn’t see anything,” he said. When he was satisfied they were gone, he looked down again at their captives, noticing one of them was coming to.
“Okay, looks like a win for the chloral hydrate,” he said, looking pleased that his impulsive action was actually paying off. “We need someone to scream,” he explained for the benefit of the waking low-life. “That’s the signal.” He grinned and chivalrously opened his hand to Jack. “Would you like to do the honors?” he offered.
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 124
