“Is eating a donut cheating on my diet, or is going on a diet cheating on my donuts?”
I prefer to believe that dieting is cheating on my donuts.
So, dieting is also cheating on my Coca-Cola addiction AND my pizza addiction. I think I need to stop cheating so much w/ the ‘diet’ no matter how sexy it is.
How about THAT for a random thought?
Also, I’ve read the first four chapters of the NEXT Animus book and I have to (personally) admit it was one of the best first chapters I’ve read in a while. That’s totally a personal opinion, but I enjoyed them quite a bit.
Seems Kaiden gets Chiyo involved, and it just gets more fun from there.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
One of the interesting (at least to me) aspects of my life is the ability to work from anywhere and at any time. In the future, I hope to re-read my own Author Notes and remember my life as a diary entry.
Somewhere in the skies above Texas, USA.
Just left Texas (Dallas / Fort Worth airport) and probably close to Oklahoma soon.
Thank god we don’t have to worry about Oklahoma sky pirates. I’ve no idea why THAT thought popped into my head, but now I am starting to think about it as a possible story idea. Would that be a Steampunk type book?
Hmmmm
So, I’m heading to New York for Book Expo, the Audio Publishers get together at the Boat Basin, (our second year) and a batch of meetings with different companies.
Once upon a time, I thought that being important meant having a lot of meetings. Now that I have lots of meetings, I cherish the thought of being important ... without lots of meetings. I don’t know if that means that others in the company will take over the meetings or I just figure out how to skip the meetings myself ;-).
“Where did Mike go?” Judith turned her head, trying to see over the people that were taller than her. “He was right here!”
“That’s the second time he’s ghosted us today,” Steve sighed. “Next time, I say we tranq him.”
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Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Infiltration
Animus Book 8
Chapter One
Hub 103-Vox—better known simply as Vox—was one of the first cloud cities developed, a beautiful if synthetic-looking city floating among the clouds off the coast of Canada. When the sun began to set, there were very few places that could claim to provide a better sight.
However, it was well past sunset, and Kaiden wasn’t concerned with sightseeing. Right now, his focus was on a turret that barred his way and he glanced a little irritably at the infiltrator who should have dealt with it already.
He folded his arms and leaned against the wall. “You know, if this takes you two more minutes, I’ll tell everyone. Think about your reputation.”
Chiyo looked up from the keyboard of her new device, a source-seek gadget that assisted hackers to connect to specific devices and find a path to their connection point. According to her, it would allow her to better aid the mission as she would be able to connect to one device and potentially turn off any others connected to the same node or station. He was well aware that she knew her stuff and had happily bought it for her before they departed to Vox.
But she had used it several times now, and each time, she’d doodled around inside the system—more like a kid with a new toy than a professional with things to do.
“You do know I’m doing this because you didn’t wish to keep crawling,” she reminded him as she returned her attention to the screen and continued to type. “Do you want to go back into the vents?”
“Good Lord, no,” Kaiden protested and glanced at a small opening in the wall about twenty yards away. “Seriously, I’ve had my fill of that between gigs and the Animus. We need to find other ways to travel around.”
“A good soldier is very skilled in stealth. You should be able to walk around without bringing an entire base down on your head.”
“You can’t say I haven’t done better with that when it comes to Animus missions,” he pointed out.
“Why Animus missions specifically? Are you more subtle during your real missions?” she inquired.
“Of course, most of my missions are solo. Give me a few more years, and I might be able to take a battalion on at once, but I know my current limits,” he said jokingly.
“I’m always sure to make sure he doesn’t kill us off and it’s more of a chore than you would think.” Chief chuckled and suddenly appeared in the air.
“Get more jokes, light bulb,” Kaiden retorted.
“Pot and kettle, buddy,” the EI countered and his single eye narrowed.
“Nice of you to make an appearance, Chief,” Chiyo greeted. “I wondered where you dipped off to.”
“I’ve been enjoying the show, although it’s been a slow start so far.” The EI cast a somewhat sarcastic look at the ace.
“I’m trying to make this a quick in and out. We don’t exactly want to bring attention to ourselves or our actions here,” Kaiden pointed out.
“I wouldn’t mind, honestly,” the infiltrator commented.
He cocked his head. “Really? You just chastised me for it, and now you want to go loud?”
“That wasn’t an invitation,” she replied with a sigh. “I’m simply saying that corrupt corporations like these are a particular irritation for me. If our actions could bring attention to their misdeeds, I would prefer it.”
“Misdeeds? Like what?”
She stopped typing again and turned slowly to look at her teammate. “I was under the impression that this company operated using underhanded methods. That’s why we're here for the data, correct?”
Kaiden shook his head. “Nah, not at all. This was a gig Julio handed to me. The contractor is a rival company on this hub. They simply want to see what they are up to.”
“What? This is corporate espionage!” Chiyo hissed and her fists clenched.
“I’m sure I told you that—or hinted, at least,” the ace muttered and lowered a hand to remind her to keep her voice down. “By the way, are you sure you don’t want everyone to know we’re here?”
“You…you didn’t tell me that we’re here to steal, Kaiden.” She growled her annoyance and jabbed a finger into his chest armor.
“Technically, any retrieval mission could be seen as stealing,” he reasoned with a shrug. “Besides, we’re not on land. Cloud cities roll with their own rules, right? This is basically a sport to them. I’m sure someone at the other company will leak that they have the data at some point and these dolts will return the favor. It might not be terribly civil, but it ain’t really bad.”
Chiyo shook her head and sighed. “Your way of looking at things is frustrating and baffling at the same time.”
Kaiden rolled his eyes behind his visor. “You do know my backstory, right? My moral compass is a roulette wheel at this point.”
She returned her attention to the seeker, pressed one button, and the turret around the corner swiveled to face the floor. “We’ll discuss this later. Let us finish up asap,” she said curtly.
“I’m glad, you’re still on board.” He drew his rifle and prepared to advance.
The infiltrator deactivated the seeker and placed the device on her belt. “I’m still not happy.”
“Fair enough, but remember, I took this mission for your sake.” He tossed the comment over his sh
oulder as he walked forward.
“My sake?” she asked and followed quickly.
“You wanted to go on a mission with me, remember? After not being able to help out with the Ramses situation?” he reminded her.
“So? You would take this mission regardless.”
“Are you kidding me? Look at all the security they have in here. Do you think I could have done this without my usual destructive flair? If I did take the gig and didn’t bring you, I would probably need to call you to bail me out.”
“See, he always has you in mind,” Chief quipped.
“Quiet, Chief,” she said flatly and left him where he still floated.
“I miss Kaitō.” The EI snorted and vanished.
They walked unopposed through the hall for several minutes and she surveyed their surroundings. “They don’t seem to have many guards here.”
“They rely on mechs and drones, but they are all tethered to the alarms. As long as those don’t go off, they simply wait on standby in a pod bay,” Kaiden explained.
“You would think they would have a few roaming around for added detection. I could have probably broken in here with the skills I had in first year from what I’ve seen so far.”
“That and the right toys,” he noted and glanced at her over his shoulder. “You don’t know much about cloud cities, do you?”
“Outside of the mechanisms that allow them to hover in the sky for so long, I didn’t think they were any different than a normal metropolis.”
“Oh, the city tech might be similar, but the culture and economy are way different,” Kaiden stated. “Energy is super-expensive, for example, so even major corps like this one have to preserve power when possible. They might be vulnerable like you said, but they have the added security that almost no one arrives on the hub without every official knowing. If something goes down, the new arrivals are the first to get frisked.”
“So what does that mean for us when we’re finished?” she inquired cautiously.
“Don’t worry about it. Julio made sure we’re already registered as departed four hours ago,” he informed her.
“He’s rather skilled in these kinds of things for a bartender,” Chiyo observed.
“Trust me, he has dozens of stories of the time before he settled down.” He chuckled and shook his head. “You can also trust me when I say he also takes his pound of flesh for all the set-up he had to do. I’ll make less than a third of what I usually do for a mission like this. Don’t worry about your cut, though. It’ll all go to you.”
“That’s rather nice of you, but I’m not worried about extra credits,” she stated.
“Hey, I’ll take it if you’re offering, but you deserve your piece.” Kaiden approached the end of the hall, slid up to the wall, and prepared to peek around the corner. “As I said, I couldn’t do a mission like this without you.”
The infiltrator stopped, clasped her hands in front of her, and looked away slightly. “I’m glad I can help, but I wanted you to know that you don’t have to—” He interrupted her when he held a hand up. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re not alone in here, it seems,” he said cryptically.
“Guards or personnel?” she inquired.
“It doesn’t look like either—more like mercs, actually.”
“What?” Kaiden stepped away from the wall so she could take his place. She peered around at six figures in black armor who hacked into a door at the end of the hall. “Any idea who they may be?”
“They don’t display any emblem or colors, those are stealth suits,” he said thoughtfully. “Mercs and gang members usually want to leave a message, but there are mercs who specialize in infiltration and acquisitions and would wear neutral armor for a job.”
“It could also be a hacker cell,” Chiyo suggested.
“It could be, but don’t you guys usually prefer to work from outside your target?” he asked.
“When we can, but tell me, Kaiden, what have I done during the last three years?”
He looked up a little sheepishly. “Fair point.”
The infiltrator smiled and looked around the corner again. “Isn’t that our destination as well?” She looked at the ace. “Do you think the contractor called in backup?”
“They would have let us know if that was the case.” He opened his messages to make sure he hadn’t missed anything from Julio. “There could have been a fallback team, but they would have at least given us a warning and waited twenty-four hours from our starting time.”
“Then that puts them here at the behest of someone else,” Chiyo whispered and frowned as the door opened and the group entered before it closed behind them. “They went in. What should we do?”
Kaiden held his rifle up, powered it down, and opened the chamber to remove the core and replace it. “Change to non-lethal rounds.”
She seemed startled for a moment but recovered quickly, drew her pistol, and changed its power core for an arc generator. “You are learning.”
“This might actually work out for us. They could take the fall for us,” he remarked.
“That’s a good idea,” she agreed.
“You think so? You do have the spirit for this work, I must say.” He closed the chamber and powered his rifle on. “Ready?”
She activated her pistol. “After you.”
Chapter Two
Kaiden ran to the door and held his weapon ready while Chiyo approached the console. “Can you get in fast?”
She studied the screen. “It won’t take any time at all. They used a burst command, which basically forced the electronic lock open temporarily. Kaitō can clean it up in no time and open it.”
“At once, madame.” Her fox EI nodded in the console screen before he disappeared.
“I counted six. You?” the ace asked and adjusted his rifle against his shoulder.
The infiltrator nodded. “If we catch them by surprise, we should be able to disable them before they can return fire.”
“That’s what I think. Chief?”
“What do ya need, partner?”
“Get the battle suite ready,” he ordered.
“Time for a game of New Duck Hunt,” the EI chirped gleefully.
“Heh, haven’t played that since I was a kid. I always did get the high score.” He grinned.
“Ready to go, Kaiden,” Chiyo informed him.
“Go ahead.” He pressed the trigger lightly. “Activate, Chief.”
The door began to slide as Kaiden’s perception heightened and time seemed to slow. As soon as it had opened slightly, he had located one of the mercs and fired a shot. The plan was to fire quickly down the line so six shots delivered six unconscious mercs. Two of the shots found their mark and almost every muscle of the two targets spasmed from the electric bolt. Their legs gave way, but the other four were all able to dodge. Two simply dropped and rolled and the other two activated some kind of metallic shield that absorbed the blast.
The ace’s eyes widened. They shouldn’t have been able to react that quickly, especially with the heightened senses and agility the battle suite granted him. Not only that, the firing rate of his rifle was faster than a kinetic bullet unless it was fully charged.
“What the hell?”
“Kaiden!” Chiyo called a warning. His surprise had rendered him almost oblivious to the mercs’ counter-attack. The two who rolled out of the way had already drawn their weapons and each aimed a sub-machine gun at him. He flung himself to the side, yanked out a shock grenade, and threw it while he ducked to avoid their fire. The ordnance bounced along the floor and erupted on the left side of the room. One of his adversaries was eliminated, but the other still had his metallic shield up and it absorbed the electricity into the center of the protective device. What the hell was that thing?
His adversary pressed a trigger on the device’s handle. It lit up with the absorbed electricity and released it at him. The suite closed quickly as he retrieved his shield and activated it. The barrier didn’t stop the attac
k but dulled it slightly. It still hurt like a bastard, though, and forced him to his knees.
“What the hell, Chief?” Kaiden gasped as he shook off the effects and forced himself up despite the pain.
“If you’d been hit with the suite activated, that would have hurt a hell of a lot worse,” the EI reminded him. “Pros and cons, partner.”
“All right, good call,” he acknowledged. His three adversaries now launched a sustained volley at his shield. “Chiyo, are you…” He glanced over as the infiltrator dashed past the shield and lobbed two grenades of her own. These were flash grenades that blinded the remaining mercs. She lunged at one who continued to fire at her partner and swept his legs out from under him while she charged her pistol. He fell and she thrust her weapon into his chest and fired to shock him and also managed to crack his armor.
“Damn, someone’s been hitting the firefight sims,” Chief said with a whistle.
“No kidding.” The ace frowned at the other two men who had begun to recover. “Well, I shouldn’t waste the opportunity.” He vaulted over his shield, holstered his rifle, and drew Debonair.
“I guess we aren’t going clean anymore, huh?”
“They haven’t given us much choice, have they?” He aimed at the merc who held the reflection device. His target saw his approach and extended his shield.
“It looks like it can reflect lasers. Go for the legs,” the EI shouted.
“Got it.” The ace aimed quickly and fired three shots. The first two shattered the armor and the final one burned through the man’s leg. The injury drew a loud cry of pain, audible despite the helmet, and he toppled. Kaiden pushed forward as he fell to kick him in the head and cracked the visor with the force of the blow.
He looked up into the barrel of a hand cannon aimed by the final merc and immediately raised Debonair. Before either of them could fire, his adversary was struck by an arc of electricity, dropped his weapon, and stumbled while he flailed to regain his balance. Kaiden crossed the few paces between them and powered his armored fist into the chin area of his opponent’s helmet. The man landed hard and shook his head for a moment before he tried to stand. Chiyo stepped forward and kicked him down again. His head lolled to the side and he lay motionless.
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 66
