“We go back to the surface, and move through the buildings. We need to get out of here before these guys figure out we may still be alive.” Colt set off down the tunnel toward the next intersection. “I’ve got point.”
In his night-vision goggles light flared in the tunnel ahead. “Oh, sh…!” he heard Hess whisper.
“They’ve already switched to backup power at the command center,” Colt said. “We need to get out of here fast. If the guards are smart, they could be halfway up the next tunnel, looking for us.”
His wrist light picked up an access tunnel a dozen meters ahead. He hurried forward and peered into the tunnel. It stopped at a blank wall. Hess hobbled up. “We could blow our way through that.”
“Yeah, but the guards would notice.” The wall opposite was blank. “Looks like we’ll need to go farther down.”
Hess turned off her wrist light. “Commander, if they haven’t seen our lights already, we’d better turn them off.”
Colt switched his light off. He could see the other tunnel clearly but not anything nearby. “You take the left side. I’ll take the right.” Dragging his right hand along the tunnel wall, he took off at a trot.
The next access tunnel ended in a metal door. Colt switched on his light to examine the lock. “This should have released when the city power shut down.” The handle resisted his efforts.
Hess tapped him on the shoulder, “Let me try.” She unholstered her blaster and set it for low power and full dispersion. Blue fire coruscated off the door around the handle. Using the sleeve of her jacket for insulation, she twisted the handle until the lock clicked. The door moved but didn’t open. Colt began pulling with her.
A voice carried down the tunnel, “This is the cross tunnel. If they weren’t buried, they’re probably in here.”
Colt tensed but kept pulling. The door moved as if stuck in tar. Finally, it was open wide enough to squeeze through. Colt could hear the guards approaching as he followed Hess through the door. “There’s an access tunnel on the left. Be careful, they’re probably armed. Don’t give them a …” The door shut silently. Colt slowly released the handle, praying that the lock wouldn’t make any noise. It clicked.
Colt drew his stunner and pointed it at the door. The handle didn’t move.
Hess switched on her wrist light. She signaled Colt to move out. He nodded and headed toward the nearest stairwell. He opened the door carefully, listening for any telltale sound. He led the way silently up the stairs, with his stunner pointing ahead of them, constantly looking for a target. In a matter of seconds they were on the ground floor.
Colt peered out a window. None of the lights were on, but starlight showed Lodaanii in the street being herded away from downtown. Colt did a quick count. “I make out twenty militiamen trying to prod the Lodaanii out of the area,” he told Hess in a whisper. “That’s half the force, and there were six in the carrier.”
“I’ll bet the rest are down in the tunnels looking for us,” she answered.
“They’re going to be running into the rest of our team. I hope our people are better prepared for them than I was.”
Colt looked out the window for another second. “It looks like it’s time to move. The militia are focused on the Lodaanii for now. If we go right away, we can get across the street before they notice us.”
The side door opened without a sound. Cracking it open, Colt peered into the alley. He nudged the door further open and eased his head out. A voice from behind startled him. He jerked his head back. Guards were coming up the stairs.
Hess whispered, “We can take them out with stunners.”
Colt nodded. “But if one of them gets a shot off, it’s all over. Our backup expects us to be in the headquarters building, not here.” He opened the door and, stunner drawn, stepped out into the alley. Hess followed, silently closing the door behind them.
Hugging the building they approached the corner. The militiamen in the street were still concentrating on the Lodaanii, and the Lodaanii had decided to sit down in the middle of the street. Colt heard someone ask, “Now what do we do?”
Before Colt could pull his head back, one of the Lodaanii saw Colt and smiled. She jumped to her feet, and for a second he was afraid she would point in his direction. Instead, she started another impromptu song and dance. The other Lodaanii quickly stood up and joined in. Their voices drowned out anything the militiamen were saying. Colt realized it was as much of a distraction as they were going to get.
He signaled Hess and dashed into the street, not taking his eyes off the militiamen. Halfway across the street he heard a blaster bolt shriek by uncomfortably close. He jumped to the side, turning and firing in mid-jump. His stunner caught two militiamen coming out of the front door of the building Colt and Hess had just left. They pitched forward, unconscious, and tumbled down the steps onto the sidewalk.
The racket the Lodaanii were making covered up the sound of the blaster, but some of the Lodaanii saw the men fall and stopped dancing. Several militiamen turned to follow their gaze, looking away from Colt and Hess who sprinted the final few meters to the next building.
Once they were out of sight behind it, Colt slowed down, but he knew they had only seconds before someone came to the alley to check it. The only cover was a dumpster at the back door of the headquarters building. He and Hess dropped behind it, pointing their stunners toward the street. “If we let them get far enough into the alley, the others won’t know right away that we took them out,” Colt advised. “We might have time to get into the building.”
“Or they might see us and start firing something more lethal than a stunner.”
“So we take them out as soon as they come in sight?”
“No, I think you’re right, but it is risky,” she answered.
The first militiaman came around the corner within seconds. He scanned the alley with a blast rifle, moving forward slowly, watching for any sign of movement. A second militia man followed a few meters behind. Colt realized that if they were too spread out, the first would be almost on them before they could fire. He focused his stunner for long range and signaled Hess to take the closer targets. The third man rounded the corner with a fourth on his heels. Colt whispered, “Fire!”
All four men were down. Colt signaled for Hess to cover him and dove down the stairs to the alley door into the basement of the headquarters building. As he swung the door open, he found himself looking into the business end of a blaster. “Ah, Commander Colt, we’ve been waiting for you. Won’t you and your companion come in?”
Chapter 37
Colt barely caught the flicker of the stun grenade as it flew past him into the open door. He heard Hess yell, “Duck, Commander!” Using the door handle he swung himself out of the way and slammed the door on the extended blaster. The partially closed door absorbed some of the blast from the grenade, but his ears still rang as Hess threw open the door and dragged him inside. A blaster bolt slammed into the outside of the building as the door closed.
“That was close!” Hess shouted.
“Thanks. I owe you another one,” Colt responded. The lights were on inside the building, so he pulled his night-vision goggles down and surveyed the damage. Five militiamen lay on the floor. They would be unconscious for at least a half hour. Looking up he saw that the video camera had been ripped off its mount and was hanging by its transmission line. “Let’s get out of here.”
Halfway down the hall to the command center Hess looked back suddenly. Another squad of guards was emerging from a cross corridor behind them. She shouted, “In here,” and dived into a doorway, pulling Colt with her. Blaster bolts filled the air where they had been. Chunks of dust and flaming debris filled the air in the corridor.
“Cease fire, you idiots. Are you trying to burn down the building?” Colt heard the squad leader shout, despite the continued ringing in his ears. “The brigadier wants them alive.”
Colt signaled Hess, and they dove out the door to land facing opposite directions with
their stunners aimed down the hallway. A blaster shot grazed Colt’s arm as he rolled to a stop. He fired his stunner, dropping the entire squad.
“Clear!” Hess announced.
Colt scrambled to his feet. He looked at his arm and commented, “Just singed.”
Leaving the squad and their weapons, they dashed the final few meters down the hall to the command center. The door had an electronic keypad lock. “We could blast the door down,” Hess suggested.
Colt shook his head. “It’s probably backed up by a force field.” He spotted a fire bottle attached to the wall nearby. “Let’s try something.”
With Hess on one side of the door and him on the other, he swung the fire bottle down on the keypad, knocking it loose from the wall. He yanked the wires out of the unit, but before he could touch them together, a voice from behind said, “Hold it right there. Get your hands up.”
Colt and Hess raised their hands and turned around slowly. The guard was out of reach and pointing a blaster at them. Colt recognized him as one of the guards they had stunned. He showed signs of being unsteady but not enough to justify an attack.
The guard pulled out his communicator with his spare hand. “Ops, this is Sergeant McAllister. I have Commander Colt and his companion at gunpoint outside the COC door. Colt just broke the access pad so someone will have to open the door from inside.”
A moment later the door eased open. Two guards with handguns drawn stood just inside. As soon as they confirmed McAllister, they stepped aside. McAllister maintained his distance and said, “Go on in, both of you.”
Inside was chaos. Monitor images were blacking out as Colt and Hess watched. At the communication desk two radio operators were frantically calling different squads but getting no answers. Colt smiled to himself. His team was isolating the command center.
A man wearing a star on each shoulder was bent over a monitor console, stabbing at the keyboard without effect. When he straightened up, Colt recognized Radcliff Dixon III. Ignoring the guns trained on him, Colt stepped forward and extended his hand. “Well, well, well. Dix, fancy meeting you here.” He grabbed Dixon’s hand before Dixon thought to jerk it away. “I’d like you to meet Master Gunnery Sergeant Hess, my assistant for this operation.”
Looking bewildered, Dixon shook Hess’ hand.
Colt started working his way around the room, introducing himself and Hess. After his third introduction, Dixon shouted, “Enough! This isn’t a social occasion. You’re both our prisoners, not our guests. We finally got you. You have been a tough bastard to nail down.”
Dixon turned to the guard who brought them in. “Toss them in the holding cell down the hall. I’ll get to them when we get this mess straightened up.”
The guard stepped forward, reaching for Colt with his empty hand. Hess chopped down on the guard’s neck, sending him sprawling to the floor unconscious. “Not nice,” she said as she kicked his blaster out of the way without trying to retrieve it.
“Really, Dix. Is this any way to treat someone you haven’t seen in over a month?” Colt asked. “But I suppose we ought to get down to business. We’re here to find out who’s giving orders. We figured you’d know. I mean, we know it couldn’t be you. Who gives you orders to pass on?”
Dixon’s face was rapidly turning purple. “What?” he sputtered. “I’m in charge here.”
“It’s okay, Dix. Your men know you’re just an intermediary.”
“I’m not an intermediary!” Dixon raged. “This is my command!”
“Oh, come on, Dix. You can be up front. It won’t affect your command. We just need to know who you’re getting your orders from.”
Dixon exploded. Waving at the other two guards, he screamed, “Get them out of here!”
The guards hesitated. One of the technicians on the tactical board said, “Why not just shoot him and get it over with?”
Dixon started to speak and froze with his mouth open. Colt waited knowing Dixon had orders to deliver him alive. Finally Dixon said, “That won’t be necessary.” He glared at Colt. “Just lock them up.”
A noise came from the corridor, and the door disintegrated in a brief flash. Orsini looked into the command center. “We’re mopping up now, Commander,” he said. “Any orders?”
Enraged, Dixon pulled his blaster. As it cleared the holster, Colt kicked it out of his hand. Dixon charged at Colt, swinging wildly. A few of the militiamen tentatively reached for weapons, but Orsini raised his left hand and held up his index finger. All the hands reaching toward weapons halted.
Holding off Dixon who was now swearing incoherently, Colt said between parries, “Tony, let Harry know to turn the power back on and have these men and women collect all the weapons in here and take them over to the armory for storage. Then you can go over to the Coventry Inn – it’s on the other side of the square – and buy them a beer on me. I have some serious questions to ask Dix.”
“Aye, sir.” Orsini glanced at Hess. “Sergeant, can you handle this?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good.” He looked at the command center staff. “Ladies and gentlemen, start collecting weapons. I haven’t had a cold beer in a long time.”
As soon as Orsini and the staff walked out the door, Colt turned serious. Dixon had him in an ineffective choke hold. “Dix, I have to admit, you’re an interesting fighter, but this has gone on long enough.” He swung his right arm down, moving aside so it went between Dixon’s legs and struck him solidly in the groin. Spinning around he drove his left fist into Dixon’s solar plexus. Dixon doubled over, and Colt slammed his right knee into Dixon’s chin. Dixon collapsed to the floor, moaning.
Colt rolled Dixon onto his back, took a glass of water from a nearby console, and threw it in his face. He woke up swinging, but everyone had moved out of range. He staggered to his feet, looked around the room, and stood there slumped.
“Are you ready to answer questions now, Dix?” Colt asked.
“Perhaps we can make a deal,” Dixon said.
“What do you have in mind?” Colt managed not to frown.
“I know where Princess Jana is.” Dixon let a faint smile flicker across his face.
Colt froze. “That Jana is missing is not general knowledge. How did you find out about it?”
“I have contacts.” The smile lingered a little longer this time.
Colt grabbed Dixon’s shirt in both hands, lifting him off the floor and bringing Dixon’s face within centimeters of his own. “Where is she?” he demanded.
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Not very nice,” Dixon smirked. The smirk faded and his face turned white as he saw the rage on Colt’s face and felt Colt’s grip tighten on his shirt. His voice shook when he responded, “I’ll tell you, but I have to get something in return.”
Colt put him down, but his reply was a growl, “What do you want?”
“Let me go.”
“That’s not going to happen, and you know it. Up until now you were an enemy combatant. I could have released you if I thought it was reasonable. Now, you’re a co-conspirator in kidnapping a Royal. I don’t have a whole lot of latitude.”
“Now wait a minute,” Dixon protested. “I didn’t kidnap her. I simply found out about it.”
“But you didn’t report it to the governor general.”
“How was I supposed to do that? As you just said, I’m an enemy combatant.”
Interlude
Both the outer office and McKillip’s personal office were completely empty. Even the carpets had been pulled up and removed. Quan suspected that every trace of DNA had been scrubbed out of the rooms. Cringing, he pulled out his communicator. With an unsteady voice he said, “She’s gone. Vanished.”
A voice exploded from the communicator, “What?”
Chapter 38
Colt and Hess walked into the Coventry Inn with Dixon in tow. Orsini saw them as soon as they entered and hurried over. “Commander, we weren’t expecting you here until later. Has something changed?”
“I need an armed esc
ort. Brigadier Dixon has agreed to lead us to Princess Jana, and I want to be prepared for contingencies.” Colt looked around the room. “I need two armed marines to go with Sergeant Hess and me, and at least four more armed personnel to follow in the van.”
While Orsini rounded up the escort, Colt took the time to settle up with the barkeep and to call Lindsay’s van with instructions to land out front. Then he made a quick call to Fitzhugh and left a message about Jana. Orsini returned with the full contingent of marines from the Clermont and two navy petty officers.
“I also got volunteer offers from several of the mercenaries,” Orsini reported. “And I’d like to go along as well.”
Colt spoke to the mercenaries. “Thanks for your offer, ladies and gentlemen. I believe we have enough for this job.”
He turned to Orsini. “You’ll be in charge of the van contingent. We don’t want to come in like a strike force. The people holding Jana might panic and do something stupid, so you’ll stand off a kilometer or so and observe from the air. If something looks like it’s going seriously wrong, use your discretion. Otherwise, come down when I call you.”
Colt looked at Dixon. “Now, call your bloody flyer.”
###
Colt walked to the command side of Dixon’s flyer. Before he got in, he growled at Dixon, “Tell your AI that you are relinquishing all command to me.”
“What? I can’t do that.”
Colt glared at him. “Yes you can. I don’t want any funny business. Do it.”
Dixon frowned. “But …”
“No buts, and make it clear that you are doing so without duress.”
Dixon grumbled, but said, “Sergeant York, I am voluntarily relinquishing all control of you and this flyer to Commander Colt. This is Commander Colt standing beside me. Confirm your orders.”
The AI responded, “Commander Colt now has all control. What are your orders, Commander?”
“First, do you understand that Brigadier Dixon is giving up control of his own free will?”
Peacemaker: The Corona Rebellion 2564 AD Page 31
