The Vagabonds (The Code of War Book 4)

by Jim Roberts

Letting go of the tether, Orchid put her arms out and grasped both sides of the door, preparing to make the leap.

  Packrat’s voice spoke over the comm,“Okay, Orchid. Jump in five, four, three, two…”

  Kim Yuanza shut her eyes.

  Go time.

  “ONE! Jumper away!”

  Orchid released her grip from the aircraft. She became a later day Felix Baumgartner, plummeting down through the dark sky like a bottle rocket. Keying in the controls for the patagium, she felt the membrane uncoil around her sides. Holding her arms and legs out, she felt the wind grab hold of her.

  She sailed through the air, gliding toward Corvo Tower.

  The comm unit inside the helmet beeped an incoming message.

  “Orchid, this is Mother Hen.”

  Headcase. Orchid replied, “Go Mother Hen.”

  “We just received confirmation from the Vagabonds that the attack on Damien Sledge’s drone facility will begin within a half an hour. Just keeping you informed, over.”

  “Copy that, Case.”

  “Good luck Kim. Find the General. Mother Hen out.”

  Orchid signed off, focusing her attention on the drop. At her rate of decent, she’d reach Corvo Tower in less than five minutes.

  Olympus had attacked them in cold blood, murdered her comrades, and kidnapped General Walsh.

  Now it’s my turn…

  THE TWO Centurions stationed on guard duty on the rooftop of Corvo Tower had no inkling what was heading toward them. If they had, they would have looked into the sky using their own IR imaging within their obsidian helmets. But they had no reason to. Instead, the Centurions were completely blindsided when an armored Peacemaker landed full bore on top of one with a bone crushing thud. Seeing his mate taken down by an unknown assailant, the other Centurion attempted to bring his FN F2000 assault rifle to bear against it.

  Orchid stopped him cold with a thrown kunai dagger directly through its visor. The blade struck bone and brain, dropping the trooper like a broken toy.

  She’d made it.

  Now came the hard part.

  Scanning the rooftop, Orchid noted no other hostiles or anything else of importance. Facing her on the opposite edge of the tower was the elevator. Not ready to announce her presence just yet, she would need to find a better way inside.

  But first things first.

  Orchid jogged to the center of the roof and knelt down, placing her palm against the surface.

  “Activate Sonic Driver,” she said to the suit’s internal interface.

  With no knowledge of what lay beneath her, Orchid needed some idea of what she would be facing. To do so, she would use a device Doctor Cairncross personally designed for the suit. The Sonic Driver sent an active sonar pulse from the palm of the Whisper suit, directly down through the Tower. The resulting pulse would echo throughout the building, bouncing off surfaces and picking up any ambient movement. Cairncross was able to refine the technology to such a point that the Sonic Driver could locate individual life forms within a remarkable degree of precision.

  Activating the pulse, she felt a burst of energy radiate from the gauntlet of her armor. In the heads-up-display, she saw a graphic of the information the suit’s CPU fed back to her from the Sonic Driver. Each floor of the building was laid out to her as the sonar travelled down. The internal computer calculated a total of sixty-five individual movement sources throughout the top six floors.

  “Break down targets, floor by floor,” Orchid ordered the onboard computer.

  Within a few seconds, she received back a layout of each level, with a tally of all the active individuals they contained. Orchid was puzzled by the results. The floor below her showed only one, as did the floor below that. The third floor from the top had twenty-seven.

  “Must be a late night meeting,” Orchid sarcastically said to herself as she stood up.

  Whatever the case was, she needed to start somewhere. Logic said that wherever the General was, he would be guarded. Her best approach would be to start on the floor below her. From there, she could descend by the stairway and sweep each level.

  Before she left the rooftop, Orchid felt an odd sensation of being watched. Taking a quick glance around the roof to scan with her sensors, she neither saw nor heard anything that could prove her feeling.

  Weird.

  Not one to imagine things that weren’t there, Orchid nevertheless kept her eyes and ears out as she bolted across the rooftop toward the structure marked with the stairway sign. Checking it, she found it was unlocked. Perhaps the Centurions forgot to lock it after their last shift change?

  Doubtful, she thought. From what she could see, it was the only safe way into the building. Removing one of her MP7s from its clasp on her side, Orchid moved into the stairwell.

  UPON DESCENDING to the penthouse floor, Orchid found herself in a long, lavishly decorated corridor that stretched down to the other end of the tower. Beautifully drawn murals were spread across the wall, adding to its opulence. The corridor was sporadically lit by fluorescents, kept at minimal strength at night.

  MP7 in hand, Orchid proceeded through the penthouse. Her IR display showed no signs of laser alarms or other traps set for nosy infiltrators. Heeding the Sonar map on her HUD screen, Orchid padded down the hallway like a moving shadow. The Whisper armor soaked up the patches of darkness, rendering her all but invisible while she remained out of the light.

  At the middle of the hallway were two doors on either side. According to the sonar, each led to a single penthouse suite. The sole life form came from the door on her right. Clutching the MP7, Orchid eased the entrance to the suite open and peered in. The room was in complete disarray. Furniture was overturned everywhere, with broken glass covering much of the floor. Beyond, the dazzling lights of Caracas illuminated the suite.

  Hmm, Orchid thought to herself as she looked at the mess, Someone didn’t pay the cleaning bill.

  She entered the suite—weapon raised—searching for the sign of life. Orchid swept room by room, her senses on overdrive. After a moment, she found herself back in the living area.

  Nothing.

  No sign of anyone at all.

  Strange, she thought, lowering the gun. For all intents, she was alone here.

  Orchid was about to click the radio to contact Headcase when the door she’d came through slammed shut behind her. Spinning around, she brought the MP7 up to cover herself. The suit’s internal motion sensors were picking up nothing in the short range.

  But Orchid felt something was indeed here.

  She wasn’t alone.

  On edge, she kept the MP7 raised, scanning the room.

  Orchid felt suddenly tired—as if her eyes could no longer bear the weight to remain open. She shook her head, but the feeling remained. She slammed the side of her helmet with her palm, forcing her brain to focus.

  All she wanted was to go to sleep.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  Her first thought was that this was a result of her head injury, but that couldn’t be it. What was happening was unnatural in the extreme. Her limbs became like lead—her body’s muscles atrophied all at once. She became aware of a thumping noise nearby. Her head felt like it was inside a speaker box turned to full volume.

  A wave of concussive energy struck her over and over again and she felt as if her brain would explode.

  The room around her broke apart, shattering into pieces that fell away into an eternal darkness. She stood upon a single shard of the world, watching the city past the window crumble and cascade into oblivion. Howls of screams from countless dying souls met her aching ears as Orchid tried to make sense of her situation.

  In horrible pain, she was forced to her knees. The submachine gun dropped from her nerveless hand.

  Her mind was on fire!

  Orchid clasped her hands to the helmet, trying to block out the thumping noise, all the while watching the world around her fall into an endless void.

  Amidst the waves of pain blasting thro
ugh her mind, Orchid became aware of a voice—a small, almost childlike voice—speaking to her in the back of her mind.

  You do not belong here!

  The Whisper suit felt like a thousand pounds to Orchid. She tried to regain her footing, but the dizziness kept her on her knees. Wave upon wave of pain bombarded her mind, threatening to render her immobile.

  The voice spoke again, but this time it sounded different—deeper, guttural and filled with malice.

  Kim Yuanza, you are no soldier.

  “No…” Orchid said aloud, her voice a weak murmur. She tasted sour bile at the back of her throat.

  You came seeking pain…so shall you receive…

  “Who…are you?” Orchid asked to the void. She was met with more waves of punishment, causing her to scream out loud in excruciating pain.

  I am Claudia. I am a Siren…

  The voice was like a sledgehammer smashing into the base of her brain stem.

  …and I will be your death, Kim Yuanza.

  A vague shape stepped through the void. Floating like some deranged apparition, it faded in and out of sight, one moment corporeal and the next immaterial. The shape danced about—as if mocking her with its power.

  Accept the end. Embrace your death!

  Orchid felt her body slipping away as her mind was pulled further from consciousness.

  ‘The voice is right,’ Orchid’s own mind tried to trick her, ‘You are a failure. Danny Callbeck would be ashamed of you. Give in!’

  It felt so easy right then, just to let go and fold herself in the arms of this spectral enemy—let it rob her of life and limb.

  The pain would end and so would she.

  Orchid clenched her teeth.

  “No…no! I am a soldier…a Peacemaker. My honor is to my comrades.”

  Fighting through the pain, she reached behind her and withdrew the Electrolysis blade.

  Orchid’s resistance was met with renewed torture.

  You will give in…

  Pulling herself to her feet, Orchid called to mind the teachings of her father, a master of the martial form of Pencak silat.

  ‘To practice this form is to be one who upholds truth and justice. To be always resilient in facing temptations. To root out evil from within to become one with your world.’

  He had made her speak the phrase over and over in her training. As she grew as a fighter, the words had become a mantra of stability in times of desperation.

  She focused the remnants of her mind and spoke the phrase to herself, ignoring the intense pain. As she spoke, the words breathed renewed life into her limbs.

  “…be one who upholds truth and justice…”

  She readied the sword in her hands. Closing her eyes, she felt her mind begin to focus amid the psionic assault.

  “…be always resilient in facing temptations…”

  Her hands gripped the blade as she summoned her remaining strength.

  “…root out evil…”

  Her senses were alive, searching the void for her enemy. It continued to dance about, sending waves of pain toward her. Orchid fought through it, feeling her inner calm push back the onslaught.

  “…become one with your world.”

  And then, she saw it—as clear as day itself.

  In a moment of pure clarity, unbroken by the pain forced on her by the attacker, Orchid lunged to her left with the blade—

  —and felt it pierce flesh and bone.

  Opening her eyes, Orchid found herself back in the darkened penthouse suite, as it was before her loss of perception. The room was intact—the city beyond the panel windows as bright as ever.

  It had all been some sort of illusion.

  Orchid looked toward the end of her blade.

  The sword had driven straight through the chest of a young girl. Swaddled in a black cloak, her face was a cluster of grisly scars and her eyes were blood red from burst vessels. The girl stared at the sword in her chest with a look of utter bewilderment. Her mouth attempted to form words, but blood poured out instead.

  Orchid yanked the sword clear of the girl and watched her fall to the ground. Taking a breath, feeling her body’s faculties return to her, Orchid knelt down beside the Siren.

  “Who…or what are you?”

  Bloody red tears poured from the girl’s eyes as she lay dying.

  “You…found me.”

  “What?” Orchid didn’t understand.

  “You saw me in your mind…no one has ever done that.”

  “A true warrior learns to fight with more than their body.”

  As Orchid spoke to the girl, she realized she was unafraid. The girl was no more than a child in a young woman’s body—a lost, tormented creature twisted by Olympus somehow. She was dying and she knew it.

  Orchid asked, “Your name is…Claudia?” The voice in her mind had spoken the name. The girl nodded. Orchid clenched the sword tight in her hand and asked, “Where is General Walsh?”

  Claudia shook her head. Doing so caused streams of blood to pour from her sightless eyes, “You…are too late. They’ll…soon know you are here. I…I am sorry…”

  “What do you mean?” Orchid asked.

  “Olympus did this to me…tortured me…warped my body. My…memory is…lost. I don’t even remember who I was before this torment...” She gagged violently. “I served them in life. That life…is over now. I owe them nothing anymore.”

  Orchid placed an armored hand on the girl’s arm. “Tell me, Claudia…where is the General?”

  The girl let out a choking sound as she tried to speak, “Bel…below us, corner…office. He…doesn’t have…much time.”

  The cryptic words sent a cold chill through Orchid’s body.

  Claudia murmured, “I saw your mind, Kim Yuanza—the secrets you hold deep inside. You will find the man you lost…the man you hold closely in your heart, soon enough.”

  The Siren’s words cut Orchid to the bone.

  “Danny? You know where Danny is?”

  Claudia shook her head, “It…hurts…too much. Please…end it.”

  Letting out a deep breath, Orchid stood up, holding the electrolysis blade in her hand. In all her life, Kim Yuanza had never seen such a poor creature. Olympus had reaped horrific pain on this girl and the incredible abilities she gained were causing her indescribable suffering.

  Allowing her the dignity of a release was the least Orchid could do.

  Reversing the blade in her hands, she held it aloft.

  “I’m sorry,” Orchid said, sadness thick in her voice.

  “Don’t be.”

  Orchid plunged the sword through Claudia’s heart. The girl’s face went wide in shock, then eased into a mask of peace.

  “Thank…you…”

  Her eyes closed.

  The Siren was dead.

  Pulling the blade free, Orchid said a brief prayer for the dead.

  Another life lost in a war of no meaning.

  Then, realizing time was against her, she took off from the room and headed back to the stairwell, a renewed vigor in her step.

  She was close now.

  Just hang on a little longer, General!

  * * *

  ORCHID RUSHED down the stairway and burst into the second floor from the top of Corvo Tower. Both MP7s were clutched in her hands as she ran—fully prepared to kill anything in her path. She exploded out from the stairwell, breaking the door off from its hinges. If what the Siren had told her was true, stealth wouldn’t help now. Her presence was known and she had to hurry.

  Weapons out, Orchid found herself in a much different location than the penthouse. This floor was designed as an open office, with swathes of monitors and computer terminals set up in narrow lanes. Behind her, a good thirty feet away, against the side of the tower, was the elevator.

  Activating the thermal IR sensor within the helmet, she detected a single sign of life—a faint glow coming from a corner office across from her. The sign was immobile and faint, but it was there.

&
nbsp; Thinking ahead, Orchid pulled a laser activated trembler mine from her belt and rushed to the elevator. Clamping the explosive against one side of the door and the receiver to the other, it would go off the moment someone stepped through the elevator. If she was to be expecting guests, this would give her some notice—and give them an ugly wake up call.

  That done, Orchid charged across the darkened sea of cubicles toward the office. Reaching it, she threw all of her weight into making herself a running battering ram and with almost no difficulty, smashed the door open.

  The room beyond was a bizarre sight, with padded walls and audio-visual equipment attached to the walls.

  And in the center, strapped to a chair right out of a chamber of horrors, was Jackson Walsh. Orchid gasped at the sight of the poor General. Walsh’s skin was a sickly gray, his face bruised and bloody. A grisly cut in his abdomen leaked blood that had collected in a thick pool on the floor.

  Thinking him already dead, she was amazed to see Walsh take a stuttering breath.

  The old soldier was tough to kill, for sure.

  Orchid put her hand on the helmet and keyed the faceplate release. The Whisper helmet retracted, allowing the General to see a friendly face. She placed a hand on Walsh’s naked shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.

  “General…can you hear me? General!”

  Walsh’s good eye flickered open, “Wha…Yuanza?”

  Orchid was overjoyed. “Yes, sir! I’m getting you out of here!” Orchid set about removing the restraints.

  Walsh shook his head, weakly. “No time…get out…you have to…warn the others.”

  “About what?” Orchid asked as she broke the last restraint with her powered gauntlets.

  “Olympus knows the location of the Code…they’re going to attack the Cottage. You…have to warn them.”

  Orchid nodded. She activated the comm system as she continued to work, “Mother Hen, come in.”

  No reply.

  “Mother Hen…Lieutenant Reynolds, come in!” A torrent of static was the only response. Orchid shook her head, “I can’t raise them, sir!”

  “They must have locked down the building with electromagnetic shielding,” Walsh said, shakily stepping off the torture chair with Orchid’s help. His legs immediately gave out and he almost fell to the floor before the armored Peacemaker caught him.