A cold chill of premonition crawled up Rys’s spine at the inflection in Gremlin’s voice. Specify.
“Dorian was conducting the meeting, and was at the podium when Nova grabbed the building.”
Rys forgot how to breathe for a moment. Anne’s father was in the middle of this mess, hostage. Any chance that Rys would now step aside and allow someone else to handle this situation evaporated instantly. Gremlin, scramble the Team. We will assemble at the designated point in five minutes. Notify all of the Team Leaders, it is time to make our presence felt.
“Yes, sir.”
Ending the call, he looked around to find Sara watching him with eyes that seemed impossibly wide in her suddenly pasty white complexion. “Nova has taken the Capitol Building by force,” he told her bluntly. “It is a hostage situation, I have to go.”
“Be safe,” she whispered to him.
He managed a reassuring smile and a nod for her, then spun on his heel, attacking the stairs two at a time. His gear was ready and waiting in front of his closet door as he snatched it up cleanly with a practiced stroke of his arm.
Another call, not on his emergency frequency but on his civilian channel, came in. Rys swore at a new level when he realized it was Anne. Surely she hadn’t heard about what was happening already? He entered the accept code with an anticipatory wince. Anne.
“Rys,” there was a strained quality to Anne’s voice, as if she was on the verge of falling apart completely, “do you know what’s going on at the Capitol right now?”
Affirmative, he answered simply. I’m gearing up to go and attend to it.
“…gearing up. You mean you’re planning to break into that building?”
Affirmative. Rys strapped on his ablative armor, running an automatic mental check as he surveyed his quarters to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. Anne, your father is in there. Do you really think I’d sit on the sidelines and just watch this play out? Besides, Bijordan forces have very limited experience on exactly how Nova operates. It is safer if we handle it.
There was a quick, relieved sigh. “So you’re not planning to do this alone.”
Guardians, no! This is not a one man mission. No, my Team and Miles’s Team are tasked with the coverage of that building. Everyone else is in reserve, and standing by in case we need them.
“I’m very relieved to hear it. Rys, I know that you are capable of getting my father and the rest of those people out. Just don’t trade your life for theirs, alright?”
I won’t, he promised her softly. Anne, don’t worry. Grabbing up his pack, he slung it on his back, striding with a single purpose of mind for the door.
“That’s easier said than done. I’ll be praying for your safety, and everyone else on the Teams. Go.”
He couldn’t just hang up. He felt like he needed to say one more thing, in case anything happened. He didn’t want it left unsaid. I love you.
There was a smile in her voice as she answered, “I love you, too.”
***
It took an average of approximately one hour and fifteen minutes to get from the Bloch house to the Capitol Building. Rys and his Team arrived in a little under thirty minutes. Their use of outrageous speed, professional skill in maneuvering through heavy traffic, coupled with judicious and timely coordination with the police made it possible.
The scene around the Capitol Building was total chaos; nothing like this had ever happened in the history of the planet. The elite Capitol Guard and the Military Police were blanketing the entire area, swarming like agitated insects. Rys observed a myriad of tactical assault vehicles lining the edge of the street, ready to go, with insertion teams awaiting orders to deploy. The majority of the structures surrounding the Capitol Building were an eclectic group of small restaurants and cafes, novelty shops, and hotels. The close confines of the businesses and narrow streets made it more difficult to negotiate the crowded scene.
The Capitol Guard had assumed the responsibility of securing the immediate area and weeding out anyone that didn’t belong there. Unauthorized personnel were not allowed closer than four blocks; the restricted perimeter was as tight as a drum head. Rys nodded in approval as he took this all in, making it part of his initial assessment. Good. The civilians in the vicinity couldn’t inadvertently wander into harm’s way if something went wrong.
He climbed out of the vehicle and headed straight for a pre-agreed staging point, his team falling in rapidly behind him. Miles, come in.
“This is Miles, acknowledged, five by five. I have your position, head straight up the street due east to the Sweet Aroma Café; we have a temporary command post established here.”
Rys spotted the sign for the café and altered his direction, making a direct line for their location, in spite of the crush of humanity all around them. He caught glimpses of their setup as he moved closer. Capson, Miles’s computer expert, had already commandeered one of the larger outside tables, and had set up shop. It was covered in laptops, communications devices and an assortment of other cutting edge paraphernalia. He didn’t bother wasting any time trying to hack directly into the building’s security, exploring less obvious ingresses. When Rys was close enough, he lifted one hand off his keyboard briefly in greeting.
“Miles,” Rys hailed, spotting his comrade, grateful he was already here and on top of things.
“Rys.” Miles waved him forward eagerly, with a look of relief on his face. “I need to borrow your Gremlin, ASAP.”
Rys gave a questioning glance at Capson, who looked up with a grimace. “The fire wall is just too tight, sir, not their usual fare. I’ve tried every trick I can think of and can’t seem to breach it. I’m afraid that if I probe it any further I’m going start triggering some sentry alarms, and then we’ll really be in it up to our necks.”
Gremlin didn’t wait for his Captain’s order, just moved forward and leaned over the back of Capson’s chair to get a better look at the screen. If he had been any closer he would have looked like a parrot sitting on his counterpart’s shoulder.
“Show me what you’ve tried,” Gremlin murmured, his hands drawn to the keyboard like they were magnetic.
Capson started reciting his protocol attempts in high-speed computerese, which dumped Rys after the third word. Trusting that the two geeks would interface, figure it out, and dial it in, he turned his full attention back to Miles.
“Status?”
“Not much has changed since I gave you a sitrep five minutes ago.” Miles shrugged. “Right now Nova is just tucked in tight, with their heads down, waiting for their demands to be met. They sounded supremely confident that the government will cave under their aggressive tactics without a serious challenge. Teams Three and Four are standing by for the word to breach the Novan Embassy. They will be ready to neutralize their entire staff at the same moment, severing both their command and control with their operatives in the Capitol Building, and their Command Center on the Novan home world simultaneously. That new offensive tactic that Doc came up with is tailor made for this type of operation. Nova won’t suspect a thing until it is all over. They won’t move until they get the word from you to go, synchronizing our strikes. Team Five is standing by in reserve to move wherever they are needed when the fur starts to fly. I am having trouble with the Capitol Guard. They don’t want to allow us any closer than this.”
“And have they managed to tie into the building’s security net yet?” Rys inquired dryly, glancing back out into the street.
Miles couldn’t quite hide a superior smirk. “Forget building security, they haven’t even been able to breach the outer perimeter, and they have been at it since this all went down.”
At some point in the near future, they needed to give Bijordan Forces a crash-course in the finer points of the art of hacking. Rys made a mental note to vigorously promote that idea with Jeremy at the earliest opportunity. “I think we’ll have an easier time getting in there, once we demonstrate how effective we are.”
“They also might just try to jump in
and take over once Gremlin finesses his way inside,” Miles pointed out.
“Valid point,” Rys acknowledged with a thoughtful frown. “Alright, let me talk to Admiral Bloch and see what he can do to cut through this red tape and get us some main line cooperation.” Mentally, he called up the Admiral’s mobile. Sir?
“Arystair?”
Yes, sir. I urgently require your help with something.
“Certainly, what?”
We are currently staged up here at the Capitol—
“You’re what?!”
We are currently staged up here at the Capitol, Rys patiently repeated, and we’re in the process of compromising the building’s internal security system, to get an idea of what the situation is inside.
“Arystair, you should not be there at all,” Jeremy protested.
Sir, Anne’s father is in there with the rest of the hostages, this is no time to play it safe in high school.
There was a long moment of silence. “I understand. Did she ask you to help rescue him?”
It wasn’t necessary; we have been geared up and ready to go for well over a week now. We have both plans and teams in place and are standing by, we just need the nod to resolve this problem and show Nova the door. Sir, respectfully, your forces have very little idea of how treacherous Nova can be, when they have an objective they desperately want. We are the ones best equipped to deal with them. With our cover stories still intact, they won’t be expecting us.
“You’re seriously asking me to get your Teams the clearance to go in there?” Jeremy asked, holding his voice as neutrally even as he could manage.
Affirmative.
“Arystair—”
Sir, the forces in charge here can’t even make it past the outer perimeter’s security defenses. We are the best chance for a positive resolution of the hostage situation. Without the hostages as a bargaining chip, Nova will have failed. They will have revealed their true intentions on a global scale, and have nothing to show for it.
There was a long silence, followed by a groan that sounded like a wall collapsing and tumbling to the ground. “I swore I would never allow a situation to arise that would necessitate your Teams going active again.”
Rys was decidedly amused by this. What, and let us get rusty? We are too young for retirement.
“Alright, Arystair, I don’t like this, but if you believe you are in a better position to deal with this situation, that is good enough for me. I’ll fight to get you the clearance and cooperation you need. Don’t take a break, this won’t take long.”
Thank you, sir.
“But are you sure you can get in—”
Gremlin let out a whoop of victory, as if on cue. “Got them!”
It was hard not to laugh as Rys responded. We’re already in.
“Perfect. Let me go run a very large laser beam through the center of the bureaucracy; I guarantee this is going to roll downhill and pick up speed. Get ready to move at a moment’s notice.”
Taking up position in the starting blocks, sir. Rys ended the call and gave Miles a nod with a clear thumbs up. “The Admiral is on board, and shredding the red tape as we speak. Gremlin, status?”
“We’re in, sir, but I don’t have complete control of the entire system yet. Whoever set this up was pretty shrewd,” Gremlin acknowledged with all the same appreciation that an art critic would give a particularly stunning new piece. “They divided each of the main systems into segments independent from the others so that if someone did successfully hack in, they wouldn’t automatically gain access to everything all in one stroke. They are going to make me work for it.”
That sounded problematic to Rys, but he had every confidence in Gremlin’s tenacity and sheer grit to achieve his goal. “So can you get control?”
“Not a doubt in my mind, sir!” Gremlin responded in surprise, as if that possibility was never in question.
“Of course,” Rys responded wryly. “What was I thinking? Keep on them, then. I want full access by the time we have official clearance to go in.”
“Roger that, sir. Come to Daddy, my little security net!” Gremlin and Capson grinned at each other; it was clearly a private joke, as they turned their attention back to the array of screens with renewed determination and vigor.
“Hey!” an unknown, deep voiced male called out over the din of the crowd. Both teams automatically looked up as a man in the dark grey uniform of the National Guard elbowed his way to their table. He was impressively large of stature, and had a rugged look to him that spoke of years of training and experience. His dark eyes swept their group, landing on Miles and Rys by default, as his focus caught their insignia and stopped. “Which one of you is in charge?”
Miles looked at Rys thoughtfully. “Probably you, you’re about a month senior to me, aren’t you?”
Rys shrugged. “Affirmative. It would be right at a month’s time in grade. I’ll take lead this time, if it’s okay by you. You can have the saddle on our next ride to glory.”
“Hey, it’s your girlfriend’s dad in there, after all,” Miles shot him a flash message.
Don’t remind me, Rys sent back with a nod. “I’m Captain Arystair Savar,” he informed the hulking Sergeant.
“Sergeant Jack Stevens,” the man responded, looking at him through thoughtful eyes, obviously taking his measure. “One of my tech guys told me that someone just broke through building security. He said it was a signature he didn’t recognize. It’s you, isn’t it?”
“Members of my Team, that would be an affirmative,” Rys acknowledged with a nod to the two still working at the table.
Sergeant Stevens looked a little irritated at having this theory positively confirmed. “How in Guardian’s name did you get in? We’ve been throwing everything we have at it for hours!”
Rys shook his head, and dodged that bullet. “They’ll explain it to you, but I promise it probably won’t make a syllable of sense. At least, when they try to explain techno speak to me, it never makes sense.”
Blowing out a breath, the Sergeant shelved that line of inquiry and kept going. “Look, we really appreciate the assistance getting in —”
“Assistance?” Rys interjected mildly, with a neutral expression locked down on his face. “Who said we were assisting you?”
Stevens paused, eyes narrowing. “What are you planning on, then?”
“We are going in.”
“Going in —” Stevens cut himself off in mid-exclamation. He took in a breath, obviously struggling to maintain his composure. “Look, no matter how good your training or schooling is —”
“You think we’re cadets?” Rys interrupted, amused by this unfounded assumption. “Sergeant Stevens, I’m afraid you’re jumping to conclusions and facts not in evidence. We are from Fourth Colony’s Special Forces.”
For the first time, Stevens really took a long hard look at them, lingering over their uniforms, equipment, and general appearance. This time, he resembled a man that had just found an unexpected treasure lying in plain sight, almost completely blocking his path. “You’re…Special Force 01?”
“Affirmative,” Rys confirmed simply.
Stevens swallowed hard. “Sir, respectfully, you don’t have the clearance to go in there.”
“It’s in the works, I would be willing to bet my next pay check it will be here in less than five minutes,” Rys assured him. The Sergeant’s abrupt about-face in attitude was more than flattering. “Once we have that clearance, we’d appreciate your full cooperation and support. Even at optimum strength, our forces are still relatively small in numbers. It would be nice to know you have our backs in case we need you.”
“Yes, sir.” Stevens gave a nervous glance over his shoulder, as if he was expecting to see someone at any moment. “If you’d accompany me and talk to Major Ray directly and explain the situation, sir?”
So the Sergeant wasn’t the one in charge of this part of their operation? Rys nodded in agreement. “Lead the way.”
Following the
Sergeant through the crowd was challenging, but Rys managed to keep from tripping over anyone, or knocking them over. This area was especially congested, nearly wall to wall people. Most of them appeared to be professionals of some sort, but others were definitely press that had managed to sneak through somehow. Rys was relieved that he didn’t have to go far; time was in short supply and getting shorter by the second. Actually, the Guard had a similar setup at another café on the opposite side of the street, nearly obscured because of the crowd. Once Stevens had passed through the low, decorative iron fence around the café’s tables, he immediately barked out, “Major Ray!”
A somewhat thin, unassuming man with short gray hair turned at this hail. He had a compact comm unit up to his mouth but lowered it when he got a look at Rys trailing in Steven’s wake.
“Sergeant Stevens, who is this man, and why is he in my Comm Center?”
“Captain Arystair Savar, sir, from Special Force 01.” The Sergeant was clearly relieved not to have to say anything more than that. From the look on the Major’s face, that was all the introduction that would be necessary.
Rys took the initiative and stepped forward, extending his hand. “Major Ray?”
“David Ray,” the Major introduced himself, stepping forward and taking Rys’s offered hand in a firm grip. “Might I ask what brings you here at this particular time, Captain Savar?”
“We are here to retrieve the hostages in that building,” Rys answered concisely, pointing directly at the Capitol Building. “Major, I apologize if I’m stepping on any toes with my abrupt arrival, but I assure you I will get the necessary clearance to go in there shortly.”
The Major just studied him for a long moment. “It’s your unit that successfully hacked into the security net.”
Rys wasn’t quite sure how to interpret the blank expression on the Major’s face. Was it a good thing or a bad thing? “Affirmative.”
There was another long pause, and the weight of the silence between them grew. The Major’s intent, thoughtful stare was making Rys decidedly uneasy. What was this man’s angle, what was he really thinking?
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