Target: Earth (Extinction Wars Book 5)

by Vaughn Heppner

  I swiveled around at the comm, facing the two. We were in my piloting chamber, with Saul in back with folded arms towering over Ifness watching me carefully. He’d put away the shotgun-like weapon. They both wore their phase suits, although each of them had taken off his helmet, hanging it from the back of his suit.

  I’d cast sly glances now and again at Saul. He did not seem like Abaddon or Orcus. I do not mean that he didn’t look like the original First One. Saul most certainly did in feature, if not in form.

  Think about yourself. If you had a perfect clone, but he was a drooling idiot, would he look like you? Yes and no.

  Saul didn’t drool nor did he seem like an idiot. He simply did not have the devilish cast to his eyes. He did not seem satanically cunning. He seemed like a big strong brute that would listen to Ifness and do exactly as he was told. You’ve seen the old cartoon with the two thugs, one little and smart and the other big and dumb. In a way, that was these two. Since Saul was massive, Ifness, only a little bigger than normal, still seemed small beside him.

  “Are you confused?” Ifness asked me. “You look confused.”

  “I’m waiting, if that’s what you mean.”

  “You’re confused. I can see it in your bearing. That’s fine, though. You should be confused, as this is a confusing situation. By the way, I know what you’re thinking. No. This isn’t an elaborate setup. I’m not here to kidnap you or lull you into a trusting state so I can screw you later at just the right time.”

  “You mean like Baron Visconti tried to do to us earlier?”

  “The baron,” Ifness sneered. “He was Orcus’s dupe. I thought you knew that. Oh. I see you already do.”

  I frowned. I hadn’t changed expression or altered my position in any way. So what was Ifness talking about that he could tell I already knew that?

  He smirked. “You don’t like the shoe on the other foot, do you?”

  I said nothing.

  “I’m a hitman and you’re an effectuator. We’re practically in the same line of work, but I do it for profit and—why do you do it, Creed? Why did you consent to becoming the First Guardian’s errand boy?”

  “You’ve used that name before,” I said. “I know him as the Curator.”

  “That’s a nickname. I thought you knew that.”

  “There’s a lot you think I know that I don’t.”

  He said nothing, but the smirk evaporated, so that was something. The smirk had started to annoy me.

  “Saul’s different from Orcus,” I said.

  Ifness waved that aside. “Never mind about Saul. It’s sanctuary I’m after. I haven’t decided yet if you can provide it.”

  “I said I’d give you sanctuary.”

  “You said. You said. What has that to do with it? Can you provide it? That’s the question.”

  “Oh. You mean can I keep you safe from…” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Let’s see,” Ifness said. “Saul and I stowed away in the largest raid force so far. A team of soldiers tried to track me down but you killed them. That was neatly done by the way and gave me my first glimmer of hope. Then you chased me. ‘Good, good,’ I told myself. ‘The boy has brains and balls.’ But the Plutonians detonated their ships before you could storm one. I found that disappointing, as I’d been counting on your side capturing one. Now…now I’ve had to move openly. The only reason I did was because the alternative was worse.”

  “You’re afraid of Jennifer?” I asked.

  Ifness laughed, shaking his head. “I’m petrified. She’s a monster with delusions of out-performing the worst fiend in our galaxy’s history.”

  “You’re referring to Abaddon?” I asked.

  “That I am.”

  “Did Jennifer hire you?”

  “Listen to me, son. Don’t get personal. Don’t pry into my history. I’ve been doing this a long time, a lot longer than you’ve been breathing. I bet you think you’re something special. Well, you’re not. The First Guardian always thought he could get by with second-rate talent. I know you’re better than the common ruck, but that don’t mean you’re shit compared to the real professionals like me.”

  “You’re that good?”

  “I’m the best,” Ifness said.

  “That’s why you’re running scared?”

  He stared at me. It was a flat study and showed me the man was a stone cold killer. He could turn his charm on and off at will, depending on what he wanted. He had a phase suit, and he’d dodged the tracker. He’d been doing something to my AI—

  I threw up my hands.

  That made him smile. “You give up?”

  “Decide, Ifness. Accept our sanctuary and work with us or do what you have to.”

  “That might mean killing you,” he said.

  “I know. You probably can, too.”

  “Do you doubt it?” he asked.

  I said nothing.

  “Listen, son, it was my plan that freed Jennifer from the Fortress of Light and made sure she grabbed some first-rate effectuator tools on the way out.”

  “That means you’re from the galactic core.”

  “My goodness,” he said sarcastically, “you’re a freaking genius.”

  My jaw dropped as it hit me. I closed my mouth quickly enough, but he stared frowning again.

  “Spit it out,” he said. “What are you thinking?”

  “You were trapped on the Fortress of Light,” I said. “You wanted off just as much as she did. How come I never heard of you?”

  He shrugged querulously

  “Were you a Galactic Effectuator?” I asked.

  He stared at me again, and then a grin broke out. “I worked for that old fart so long in the past it would take your breath away if you knew the timeline. I did some side work, though. I slipped up once, and that was all it took. The First Guardian might seem like a tolerant duffer. That just ain’t so.”

  “You’re human,” I said. “You’re a little killer.”

  “‘Little killer’ is an insult, not a term of respect or endearment. So don’t call me that.”

  “How long ago did you—?”

  “No!” he said, interrupting. “I’m not going to tell you when I did the old fart’s dirty work. The point is he woke me up for a spell to keep your little girl company. Then, he would put us both down again. Well, I started whispering to Jennifer and she started getting ideas of her own. She’s a smart girl. And she’s learned how to delve into her hatred. With most people, hatred weakens them in all sorts of ways, particularly health wise. Not so with Jennifer. She thrives on her hate.”

  “Did you two have a falling out? Is that why you tried to escape the pocket universe?”

  “She’s crazy, Creed. Worse, she’s started shooting people when she doesn’t like something. If an aide reports about a loss, she’s as likely to whip out a gun and shoot him as to nod and go back to her planning. She’s becoming unpredictable in a bad way.”

  Ifness shook his head. “I’m not hanging around that kind of ruler. One day, she’ll aim a gun at me. Her hatred has driven her mad for vengeance against the universe and against you.”

  “Why not bring me in and win her permanent favor?”

  “I’ve thought about it, but decided against it for the reasons I just stated. With Jennifer, nothing is permanent.”

  “Uh-huh,” I said. “So, you’re going to help us capture her?”

  “No.”

  I gave him a look.

  “I’m going to help you kill her,” Ifness said.

  -62-

  I hid my consternation with a grin.

  “You don’t believe me?” Ifness asked.

  “It’s more of a question of how we’re going to do it.”

  “I’ll tell you when the time is right,” he said with a wink.

  “You must realize how unconvincing that is.”

  Ifness gave me that flat stare again, finally saying, “You don’t trust me?”

  It was my turn to snap my fingers and then point at him. �
�There you go, Ifness. You hit the nail on the head.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “That you are.”

  “Creed, Creed, you’re a suspicious bastard. I can see why Jennifer hates you so much.”

  I waited, tiring of his act, wondering what his game really was.

  Ifness glanced at Saul before regarding me more closely. “I know how you think, Creed. That’s the problem for you and me. You think I’m here to trap you in some slick way. I could, if that was my idea. But this is a straightforward proposition. You let me hole-up with you for a time, telling no one, and I’ll give you the key to killing her.”

  “And if I say no?”

  “Oh. Well. Then Saul will kill you here and now.”

  I glanced at Saul. The clone’s expression never changed. He was the dumb brute, ready to obey whatever order Ifness gave him.

  What did I really think about this? Did I buy Ifness’s story? I considered it from several angles until I realized the hitman was a first-rate liar. He would feed me whatever story he thought I’d buy. But he had an ulterior motive. Heck. He probably had seven ulterior motives. That way, he could produce the one that succeeded and call it a win.

  Sometimes, the best lie was the truth, for a time. The switch-up, the misinformation, would come later. It would be like a tiny movement on a track-switcher that would still derail the train and kill thousands.

  “What if I told you I had a T-suit?” Ifness asked me.

  The idea was intoxicating. Not stealing one out of the Fortress of Light before I’d left had been my greatest regret so far.

  “The T-suit is here?” I asked.

  “Hell, no,” Ifness said. “But’s it’s where I can get it when I need it.”

  That made sense.

  I jerked a thumb at Saul. “Can he do the regular teleportation of his kind?”

  “Show him,” Ifness said.

  Saul blinked out—and reappeared on the other side of the piloting chamber.

  “He’s a—?”

  “Don’t say it,” Ifness warned me.

  I nodded, and I grew curious. “Have him blink outside in the corridor a moment.”

  “You heard the man,” Ifness told the clone.

  Saul teleported away, leaving just Ifness and me in the piloting chamber.

  “He’s the clone of a First One?”

  “Correct,” Ifness said.

  “Is he…dumber than the others like Orcus?”

  “Correct again,” Ifness said.

  “Did you cause his…stupidity in order to make him more malleable?”

  “Three for three,” Ifness said. “You’re on a roll.”

  “Did you—or your expedition, anyway—find an accelerator on Acheron in order to grow the clones fast?”

  “Boy, you’re starting to impress me. You’ve been paying attention to what’s been happening.”

  “Where did you accelerate the clones?”

  Ifness shook his head. “That’s not a statement. That’s a question. Can’t you guess?”

  “You’d need something to turn the DNA strands into fetuses.”

  “That’s not the guess I wanted, but I like it. Keep going.”

  “Was that right?”

  “You’re five for five,” Ifness said.

  I scratched my cheek. “You’d want adult clones before you reached the pocket universe. So, you cloned and grew them in our space-time continuum.”

  “I’m not going to count that one, as it’s too obvious and easy. But now it’s my turn, hot shot. How do you propose to get into the pocket universe without a dimensional portal?”

  “With your help,” I said.

  “Oh,” he said. “And I’m just going to give you such priceless information?”

  “I don’t know, are you?”

  “Creed. Let me explain something. I don’t work for free. It goes against my ethics, my principles as a mercenary. I have to get paid or I can’t take an action.”

  I merely nodded, as something had just struck me. Ifness the Hitman had told me he had a T-suit. I remembered hearing someone teleport while I’d crept to Jennifer’s stasis quarters inside the Fortress of Light. That must have been him. And if that was true…his entire story seemed suspect. The timing was wrong for one thing. Why had he been teleporting there?

  I almost gave away my thoughts. Back then, had the hitman done that for my benefit, noticeably teleporting while I’d been headed for Jennifer’s stasis chamber? If that was true, this had to be a setup, right?

  I didn’t trust Ifness. How could I? He was slippery, double-dealing and maybe too clever for a straight shooter like me. Maybe the best thing would be to kill him and Saul after I got the needed information from them and then get on with the primary task.

  “What were you doing in my AI?” I asked.

  “Strengthening my hand,” Ifness said. “You almost pulled it off, Creed. That was a slick move using a universal chip. You might have gotten the dimensional portal out of it. But right now, you don’t have jack.”

  I’d gotten the formulas Ella read. Didn’t Ifness know that? It would seem not. And if he didn’t know something so basic—

  “You’ve been making mistakes, Ifness, one right after the other. The Abaddon clones with the phase tracker weren’t hunting for me, but for you and Saul. I just happened to stumble onto them. No… they stumbled onto me, thinking it was you. When they saw two blips—when my thruster pack dropped back in phase, they must have figured it was Saul. That’s why they were so busy firing and not realizing right away that it was just a piece of equipment.”

  “Is that what happened?” he asked. “I’ve wondered how you took them out. Those two—” Ifness shook his head “—were bad mojo, Creed. But I don’t get it. You saw Orcus, right?”

  “Saw him? I talked to him.”

  “What did you—?” But Ifness didn’t finish the question. Saul popped back in. The clone looked disturbed.

  “What is it?” Ifness asked the clone.

  “People are coming in the flitter,” Saul said.

  Ifness looked at me.

  I shrugged. “That’s not my doing,” I said.

  “Hmm…”

  “Look,” I said, realizing N7 must have known something was off. Ella or Rollo might be with him. I wasn’t going to sacrifice them to this scoundrel, or sacrifice them to his whims. “I’m not hiding you, Ifness. Either you come out in the open and help us or it’s off.”

  “You that eager to die, boy?” asked Ifness.

  “No,” I said. “I just know that you’re desperate for help, and I’m your best bet.”

  He looked away and seemed to be calculating. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. Finally, he regarded me again.

  “Smart boy,” he said. “We’ll try it your way for a time and see where it gets us. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

  I didn’t tell him the real reason I thought he wouldn’t kill me. He was here to get me to the pocket universe. The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t believe he’d run out on Jennifer. This was a setup, a trap. They’d tried it once with Baron Visconti and Orcus, and failed. This was the second try…right?

  That was the problem with this: I thought I was right about Ifness, but I didn’t know for sure.

  -63-

  Rollo, Ella and N7 climbed out of my flitter in the small hangar bay inside the GEV. The two humans wore their second skins. They all had weapons and tried to look everywhere at once as I greeted them.

  “N7 said there’s trouble,” Rollo told me.

  “I didn’t give you any code words,” I told the android.

  ‘I have become an expert in body language,” N7 said. “You did not have to.”

  “Well, you’re right,” I said.

  “I know,” N7 said.

  I gave them a quick rundown on Ifness and Saul.

  “And you let them lose in your GEV?” Ella asked.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” I said. “
They got the drop on me.”

  “But you just sent N7 away,” Ella said.

  “He did it for you,” Ifness said.

  I hadn’t heard him, but he’d phased in on my left. Saul must have materialized to my right, because Rollo’s Bahnkouv came up and I saw he’d covered the giant humanoid.

  “Tsk, tsk,” Ifness said, “this isn’t very friendly.”

  Ella glanced at me. I minutely shook my head. She lowered her rifle. A second later, N7 did likewise. Rollo kept his laser rifle centered on Saul’s chest.

  “We have to come to an agreement that will work for both of us,” I said. “After Baron Visconti, we’re finding it harder to trust you.”

  “Do you believe Orcus or Jennifer has altered my mind?” Ifness asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “But you’re wondering about my real motives?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said, knowing that any other answer would make him suspicious.

  “Let’s make it simple,” Ifness said. “Saul and I will stay aboard the GEV. While we’re here, we’ll store our phase suits in whatever locker you like.”

  “On the Thistle Down,” I said.

  “Negative,” Ifness said. “On the GEV.”

  “Saul can teleport to the locker and get the suits at any time,” I said. “How does that help me trust you?”

  “Keep your robot here with us,” Ifness said.

  “I am an android, not a robot,” N7 told him.

  “I believe you,” Ifness said. “A robot wouldn’t be so touchy about it. What do you say?” he asked me.

  “Saul can teleport,” I said. “That’s going to be a problem. If you’re roaming around in your phase suits…I can’t trust you.”

  “Take our phase suits,” Ifness said. “I’ll take the GEV.”

  “Forget it,” I said.

  “Then we’re leaving,” Ifness said.

  “So leave,” I said.

  “After we kill you and your friends,” Ifness said. “I was just waiting for them to get here so I could off them with you.”

  “Jericho,” I said.

  “What was that?” Ifness asked.

  A sonic blast hit us. It was loud and long, and incredibly debilitating. Ella dropped first, unconscious. Rollo went second and I succumbed third.