by Jan Domagala
“And besides, I’ll only have to wait for a minute or so and you’ll tell me anyway. Your sort can’t resist letting others know how clever they are,” she added, hoping to sink another barb into his bloated ego.
“And what sort would that be, my dear?” Norsky asked, amused at her change of tack.
“You know the sort, the power hungry, the self-obsessed and the deluded. But if you’re still in any doubt, just take a glance in the mirror,” she replied calmly.
When he spoke, his voice was tight and clipped. Her words had stung, had pierced his veneer and embedded in his ego, bruising it. He responded by saying, “You are wrong Miss Hardy. I am but a simple soldier fighting for what I believe in, much the same as you or Stryder. Would that our roles were reversed I dare say neither of you would do things any differently.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. If I were in your shoes then this whole thing would be over by now. Mission accomplished, and I wouldn’t need to brag about it either. Just get the job done and move on to the next mission.”
“If you are successful and Stryder does manage to rescue you and kill the bad guy – me – will you truthfully be able to move on to your next mission? Is this a job, nothing more to you than that? I think not, I’ve seen the way you look at him, and him you. There’s more there than just the job and I’m banking on that to make him play along and not endanger you. Now let’s go. Don’t worry, it’ll soon be all over, one way or another.”
“You got that part right at least,” Hardy replied, with a smile full of scorn. As they exited the hotel she couldn’t help wonder how much truth there was to his theory? Would Stryder sacrifice himself to secure her safety? Whether he had feelings for her or not, she was sure that he would do his utmost to secure her freedom and if that meant offering his own life as forfeit, she was sure he would pay that price. To her though that was too high a price to pay, so she vowed to do anything to make sure that didn’t happen.
17
“So you have a positive ID on whoever’s behind this?” Sinclair said after he’d been brought up to speed on the situation.
“Yes, sir, but I don’t see what good it’ll do, not in time to get Hardy back anyway,” Stryder replied. When he spoke there was steel in his voice, an icy, iron resolve and without asking, Sinclair knew what he intended to do. He would do whatever it took to get Hardy back safe and sound.
“You intend to wait until he contacts you, don’t you?” Sinclair said.
“I don’t see that I have any other choice, sir.”
“I’ll accompany you sir, my squad and I can be your back up,” Storm said, offering before Sinclair could add anything.
“Thanks, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary or practical. Something tells me he’ll choose somewhere that he’ll have complete control over. Somewhere that we can’t gain access to or place any back up units. That also means somewhere remote and isolated. Now you know as well as I do there are maybe hundreds of locations that could fit that bill. Now we don’t have the time or resources to check them all out, so the only alternative is to wait for the call and play along.”
“That is the most insane thing that I’ve heard in a long time,” Sinclair said in exasperation.
“Yet it’s true, sir, every word of it,” Storm agreed, bringing Sinclair’s laser-like stare fully onto him.
“I can’t allow you to go through with this alone, there must be something that we can do,” Sinclair said.
“Frustrating isn’t it, having all the power Col Sec wields at your disposal and yet it means nothing? Well unfortunately, that’s the truth of the matter. In the end its gonna come down to him and me, whoever wins that, wins the day,” Stryder said reading Sinclair’s expression expertly.
“My money’s on you Kurt and I know it’s safe,” Storm said.
NORSKY FORCED HARDY to drive to the spaceport where they boarded his shuttle. It was pre-programmed to return to the small starship he had placed in long-range geo stationary orbit above Jacksonville. It was equipped with stealth and whilst Norsky was down on the surface, all the equipment was powered down to a bare minimum to further reduce any threat of detection, however small.
Once the shuttle had docked they boarded the starship and Norsky spoke for the first time since boarding the shuttle.
“Welcome to my humble abode,” he said.
“You live here?” she asked, incredulously.
“I move around a lot from mission to mission. I actually live on a planet not unlike Celeron but I hardly ever get to spend much time there so, yes, I suppose this is the closest thing to home I’ve got,” he replied, a little surprised at allowing her that small insight into who he really was. Was he weakening, was he warming to this lovely woman and more importantly could he do what was required of him should the need arise?
Questions like those would only be answered when the time was right, so he chose not to dwell on them for fear of clouding his judgement.
“Come on, let me show you to your quarters, but first contact Stryder, like before on an open channel, so he knows it’s you. I want them all to hear, okay?” he said injecting his voice with steel once more. This was business, time to get to work.
Hardy used her NI to access communication channels and was connected almost immediately.
“Kurt, are you there?” she said.
“I’m here, are you okay?” Stryder replied.
“She is fine Captain, I gave you my word,” Norsky said before she could speak. “Now let’s get down to business. You have one hour to reach the quarry north east of Jacksonville, I will meet you there. You will arrive there alone. If you bring anyone with you I will know and the woman will die. When I’m certain you are alone, I will release her,” he added.
“How can I trust you?” Stryder asked, concerned for Hardy’s safety.
“I have given you my word, as one soldier to another. That is all you need surely. Are you saying that if the roles were reversed and you gave me your word that I would have reason to doubt it?” countered Norsky.
“Touché Pavel, but just let me say one thing, if you don’t keep your word, if you harm her in any way, I will kill you. You have no reason to doubt I’m telling the truth because I give you my word.”
“You have one hour Captain, don’t be late,” Norsky said finally. Then drawing a thumb across his throat he signalled Hardy to break the connection.
“You don’t have to worry, he’ll come, and alone. What you have to worry about is what he’ll do once he gets here,” Hardy said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.
“That, my dear, is why you will remain here on board.”
“I should’ve known you wouldn’t keep your word.”
“My dear, you are my insurance policy, nothing more, nothing less. Your continued presence here ensures your boyfriend’s good behaviour.”
“Oh, I’ve no doubt you’ll find some excuse to keep me here,” she said with a sneer.
“This way my dear, I’ll show you to your quarters,” he said ignoring the look she gave him.
He led her down the corridor until they came to a door and he placed his left thumb to a panel next to the door, which then opened with a soft whoosh.
“Your quarters my dear,” he said ushering her inside. As she came close to him he smiled then shot her with his pistol. The shot was on a stun setting but nevertheless, at such close range the force of the blast propelled her into the room. She was unconscious before she hit the floor.
“I’m sorry my dear, but I cannot allow you to contact Stryder through a combat channel to warn him,” he said, although he knew she could not hear him. It was more for his benefit than hers.
STRYDER HAD CHECKED out the rendezvous point on the computer screen.
“There’s no way you can go there alone. If he’s already there he’ll see you coming from miles away, you’ll be a sitting duck.” Sinclair said.
“So what do you suggest, sir, you’ve already tried to locate her via her tra
cker and failed. Wherever he has her is shielded and blocking the signal. Are you suggesting that I don’t turn up and allow him to kill Hardy? If that happens, her death will be on your hands because you placed her here. Then what happens? Who does he kill next to get to me? No, this ends now, this ends here,” Stryder argued.
“I take it you have something in mind? Please tell me you didn’t buy into that one soldier to another soldier, you have my word crap? And please tell me you don’t just plan on going there on your own.”
“Okay then, I won’t tell you,” Stryder said and Sinclair, knowing it was useless to argue, quickly tried to think of another way to approach the problem. Just when he thought he had an idea Stryder added, “He said not to bring anyone along; he never said anything about having a starship monitor the rendezvous from orbit with a crack team from Recon Delta on standby ready to move at a moment’s notice. An attack craft could reach any location within minutes. You can monitor my movements via the tracker in my implant.”
Sinclair looked at him; the suggestion was identical to the one forming in his mind.
“I suppose that’s a compromise that I can work with,” he said with a smile.
“That’s all we have, sir. Whether good or bad it’ll have to do,” Stryder said.
“I’ll get the team prepped and ready to go. Scanners will be locked on to your tracker from the moment you are ready to leave. You already have transport. It might arouse suspicion if you arrive in a shuttle,” Sinclair said.
“Sir, my team and I are ready to move on your command,” Storm said eagerly.
“Good, that’s settled then. We’ll return to the ship and contact you when we’re ready,” Sinclair said.
“I’ll be ready,” Stryder said as he watched the General and Storm leave the room.
“Do you think you can pull this off?” Bane asked, amused by the whole situation.
“I have to,” Stryder said, then he too walked out of the office.
Bane said, “Good luck.”
“He’ll need it,” Tony said.
18
Stryder knew where the quarry was and what it was like. Growing up in Jacksonville the quarry was one of those places that parents forbade their children to go near and so, obviously, it became their playground.
Stryder was no different; he and his friends had used the quarry for their childhood games. He knew it quite well and once he’d left the club he drove straight there.
“There you are,” he said as he sat in the driver’s seat of his ATV looking up at the quarry that opened out before him. There was not a lot to see, the only illumination coming from the stars overhead.
Having no portable scanner with him he was unable to tell if Norsky was already there, but one question arose in his mind, if he wasn’t already there then where was he? The area was barren, long since abandoned and impossible to approach without being seen. It was a large hole cut from the side of a long, slow incline and was two hundred feet from top to bottom. Where he sat in his ATV was the only road into or out of it. The headlights of his vehicle illuminated the small portion in front, the rest remaining in almost total darkness.
“Okay Pavel, I’m here, where the hell are you?” he said out loud.
He checked his Sig for a full load then, tucking it into the waistband at the small of his back, slowly got out of his vehicle.
HIGH ABOVE THE QUARRY sitting in the pilot’s seat of his shuttle, Norsky scanned Stryder. He’d seen him arrive and knew he was alone.
His scans showed he had one weapon with him as he got out of the ATV and that he’d made no calls on any of the open frequencies. If he’d used the combat channel to receive any messages it wouldn’t do him any good because if his back-up was waiting outside of scanner range, ready to move in once Hardy was released, then they were in for a disappointment and were too far away to lend any assistance anyway.
He still held all the cards.
SINCLAIR WAS PARADING up and down the width of the bridge of the starship in orbit around Celeron, occasionally stopping behind the Op’s station where the officer was keeping a constant lock on Stryder.
“Any change?” he asked on his latest flyby.
“None, sir, lock still holding. Captain Stryder is at the rendezvous point,” replied the officer.
“Is there still no sign of anyone approaching, from any direction, in any form of transport?” Sinclair asked, frustration giving his voice a certain edge.
“None, sir,” came the reply. “Nothing on the ground for a radius of at least ten clicks and the skies above are clear also, except for authorised traffic in the commercial lanes,” he replied.
“Okay, you let me know the moment anything alters,” Sinclair said. Then turning to Captain Reynolds in the command chair in the centre of the bridge he added, “There’s almost half an hour before the deadline, I’ll be in my quarters. Keep me informed of any new developments Captain. My presence here seems to be adding to the tension, so I’ll allow your men to get on with their jobs.”
“Aye, sir, we’ll inform you the moment Norsky makes an appearance,” Reynolds replied. Sinclair gave a nod of his head then marched off the bridge.
This had always been the worst part of any mission for him, the waiting before the balloon went up. Remaining detached had never been a problem. Sending men to their deaths was just part of the job, something he had had to learn to deal with in order to survive in the military. That didn’t mean that he liked it, or that he forgot about those who had died, quite the contrary in fact. The faces of the soldiers who had lost their lives were engraved on his memory and he, personally, contacted the relatives to inform them. It might not have helped the relatives who received the news, but he felt that it was the least he could do. To be able to do that meant he had to learn as much about them as he could and although the men under his command were unaware, he actually knew more about them than they realised.
It was because of this that his agitation levels had gone through the roof. He knew the project on Research Station Five had altered Stryder. He also knew it was his decision to go ahead with the project which cost the lives of four of his best men and changed the fifth forever. In spite of Stryder’s protestations to the contrary he suspected the changes in him were as projected, perhaps even more so. Unfortunately he had to wait for Stryder to come to terms with those changes, accept them for what they were before he would be of any use to him.
He would be an incredible asset to the Confederation but conversely, if the Alliance got hold of him, he could also be a weapon to be feared.
As he returned to his quarters to await further updates on the present situation he said a silent prayer that Stryder would make the right decision.
NORSKY WATCHED AS STRYDER sat in his vehicle and waited. He’d had him on his scope since he’d arrived and was just waiting to see if he’d kept his word. If his actions so far had been any indication of the man’s true personality, then he would keep to his word and come alone.
When Stryder got out of the ATV he knew it was time to make his move. There was nothing within a radius of three hundred clicks of them and anyone outside that limit, who wanted to help, would not reach them in time anyway.
He still had the winning hand because his ace in the hole, Hardy, was held in reserve.
Activating his NI he called Stryder through a combat channel. The frequencies were slightly different from Alliance to Confederation but he was sure he would make contact.
“Nice to see you kept your word Captain,” he said.
Stryder looked around and could see no one even with his improved vision. He could see as well, if not better, than if he was using the latest generation of night vision lenses, a fact he’d only just begun to appreciate.
“Oh there’s no need to look around for me, you won’t be able to see me,” Norsky said with a hint of glee in his voice. He was enjoying himself immensely, especially at how silly Stryder looked trying to see where he was.
“Okay Pavel, I’m her
e, what now? Where’s Hardy?” Stryder asked not hiding his frustration very well. Then a thought struck him, if Norsky was in a position to approach him in order to pick him up but was out of sight, then it left only one possible location. He looked straight up and said, “Have you got enough landing room, I mean, I don’t want you landing your shuttle on my head now, do I? It would sort of defeat the object of this whole exercise now, wouldn’t it?”
There was a pause before Norsky could compose himself once more. When he’d watched Stryder look straight up it was almost like he was looking directly at him, as if he knew he was there, but that wasn’t possible, was it?
“Very good Captain, it seems there is no limit to your talents. You have no need to worry though; you’ll be quite safe, that I can assure you.”
“That’s nice to know,” Stryder said, and he meant it because he knew it gave him some leeway. He was sure that the Alliance wanted him alive so that meant Norsky would have to ensure his safety. If it came down to a straight confrontation between the two of them, which he was sure it would, he knew he would have an edge over the other man because of his extra abilities. Norsky wanted him alive and that could make him hesitate, just enough to give Stryder an extra edge.
Norsky broke the connection and took the shuttle into a tight nosedive. The small, yet sleek, craft was equally at home flying either within an atmosphere or in deep space. It came soaring through the still night air at a hair-raising speed, until the very last minute when Norsky pulled it out of the dive, activating the landing thrusters to cushion the impact.
