by Gini Koch
“Dad, love you, but you’re not Tevvik who you said you were giving me back to.”
“Sorry, kitten, you’re right. Go ahead.”
Tevvik chuckled. “Thank you. Plus, Commander Kitty, we’ve been searching for Prince Gustav for two years. Radio waves carry, and in this part of the galaxy, there’s not a lot of interesting things going on. We’ve received all communications from Earth and the Alpha Centauri planets for over a year while we made our way to you.”
“I thought you could travel hella fast.”
“We can. There are a lot of planets to check, Commander Kitty, inhabited and uninhabited. Vata are thorough people.”
“Good to know. Prince Gustav seems . . . less thorough.”
“I resent that.”
“But you can’t deny it, my prince. You’re right, Commander Kitty. The royal family has less need to be thorough—that’s what their retainers are for. At any rate, to answer your question, no, I don’t believe the ship is equipped with ‘beaming’ technology.”
“Bummer. Okay, then we get our people out the hard, yet much more exciting, way.”
“There’s body armor and weapons in the ship, or there should be,” Drax said.
“Ahead of you and speaking to you from one of your armories. Anything we should know about any of the tech we’re about to start using on a raid to rescue our captured people?”
“Not really. I made them for humans and A-Cs to use. I could tell you how to use the small invisibility irradiation chamber that’s on board if you’d like.”
“No. I’m with Thomas Kendrick on that—I’d prefer an easy on and off way to do the Invisibility Mambo. Which, by the way, I think one of our enemies has. Why I’m calling and what I’d like you to do is to contact Serene somehow and tell her that I think that Stephanie has figured out how to use the A-C’s invisibility shielding—which is on all their vehicles and around the Crash Site Dome, for your info—and made it something that a human or android can wear and turn on and off and that no A-C can see through.”
“Tevvik has a direct line to Serene and is contacting her now.” Heard quiet speaking. “Ah. And your father already asked her to come over.”
“Great. Your job, Gustav, is to help her figure out how Stephanie did it and how to combat it. And I’d like that done quickly.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Works for me. Not sure if we’ll be able to contact you again. If we can’t and if they ask, yes, I’m still furious, though trying really hard to see their side of things. If anyone cares, I’m certain the sniper was using this invisibility stuff, and if we discover that Burton Falk and all of that team decided to come after me because they lost Crystal Maurer’s trail—which I assume they did and plan to find out the moment I rescue them—it’s because she’s using that tech, too. The biggest question is who the sniper was. My answer is that I’m going to bet cash money that it was someone Stephanie’s worked with before, and it’s also someone willing to play one side against the other. Ergo, my money is on Casey Jones, she of Club Fifty-One and Cliff’s Crazy Eights and probably more besides.”
“You’re sure?” White asked.
“Not a hundred percent, but to get someone onto the payroll this fast, it had to be someone Stephanie already knows. The other Crazy Eights are mad at her, but Casey was already running a double game. Who’s to say she’s not running a third?”
“Commander Kitty, your father hooked Commander Dwyer into this call via his phone and she says that she got all that,” Tevvik shared. “She’ll be to us momentarily and will take control of this situation and will hunt down any other connections to Stephanie that might have been the sniper.”
“They’ll let her in the Embassy when it’s in full lockdown?”
“They will because I shared that I’m as mad as you are,” Serene said.
“Nice of you to join the party.”
“I’d have been here sooner but I’ve been busy screaming at Jeff, Chuck, James, and Tim.”
“You complete me.”
“Doing my best.”
“Commander Kitty,” Drax said. “I realize this may not help, but the ship can ‘see’ into buildings. Are your pilots wearing the helmets?”
“Guys, I know Chip left this line open ’cause I know how you guys roll. So, are you?”
“What helmets?” Walker asked.
“Push the button that says INT—it’s short for interactive.” Said with a tremendous amount of static.
“I think we’re losing you guys. We’re going to the presumed NSA black site next to the abandoned Forest Haven Insane Asylum. If we don’t come back soon, send an army.”
“Have lost the connection, Commander,” Walker shared a few moments later.
“Figures.”
“Believe they did receive your last comment. Need you back here at command, as well.”
“On my way.” Looked at White. “Well, sorta. Richard, are you equipped?”
He took my hand. “Yes, and I know the way back.” We zipped off and were back at the command center quickly.
All five pilots, which included Lizzie and Keith, were wearing helmets. They looked like what I considered a typical jet pilot’s helmet, but with an amber visor that went over the top half of the face. From what I could see of their faces and from their body language, the flyboys looked intent and relieved. The three of them were doing whatever it was they were doing with a lot more confidence and authority.
Lizzie and Keith, however, had gone from looking worried and nervous to looking like they’d had an infusion of Can-Do Attitude and as if this was now the most exciting thing ever. Clearly the helmets were helpful. “What’s up and I presume the helmets are good?”
“Oh, my God,” Lizzie said. “They’re totes amazing! You wouldn’t believe what you can see with this thing on!”
“They help tell you what to do to fly the ship,” Keith added. He glanced over at me. “Can I request permanent assignment to your security detail, Commander Kitty?”
“Keith, welcome to Team Adrenaline Junkie, and yes, you can.” Went over to where Jerry was, since he was the one beckoning to me.
“We don’t have a totally clear spot to land to pick the team up. I realize you want to equip them, but they’re already in position, just outside of what we think would be the black site’s visual radius. Keith’s been in constant communication with them, and the thinking is that we either bring down equipment for them or they’re the fallback team.”
“Makes sense. So, can we see inside the buildings like Drax said we could?”
“No idea yet, Commander,” Hughes said. “We haven’t tried over any buildings we’ve passed since they were civilian and we’re not the NSA.”
Every station had at least one viewing screen. Jerry had three, and one of them was aimed at the road beneath us. We were high enough that we had a good view of the entire area we were headed for, so I got to see Forest Haven in all its glory. It looked a lot better from above, in part because it was almost fully dark out.
Which meant that I noticed the headlights. Lots and lots of headlights. All heading out of the black site’s parking lot and out to the highway. There were other headlights, too, coming from down the road. “Where are those other cars coming from?”
“School for underprivileged youth,” Keith answered. The helmets were clearly as impressive as the team had said. “Meaning it’s a nice juvenile detention center. That complex shows clearly as what they are, and we’ve crossed-referenced. They’re legit, and while some of the students live there full-time, and therefore so do some administration and security staff, plenty come and go.”
“Interesting. Wish we’d run that far.”
“No, you don’t,” Keith said. “Devon said they checked it out when they went the wrong way to leave. The team decided it was a risk—to us and to them—to ask fo
r help, based on the site we’re going back to now. By the way, Devon’s certain that’s an NSA black site, and half the team with him agree. Whatever we’re going to find there, no one expects it to be good.”
“Gotcha. Well, I’m hoping we find our missing people. Our team on the ground is hidden?”
“Waiting in the trees just down the street,” Hughes said. “Civilians dropped them off as requested. The limo was out of gas, so it’s a good thing they found help.”
“It’s always nice to have friends in all the places, high, low, and otherwise. Right now, I think we have friends in that black site. So, equipped as we are now, I’m going to ask again—how do we approach?”
Jerry looked up at me and grinned. “Well, Commander, we do know this beast lands well onto a roof.”
CHAPTER 77
WHILE THE FLYBOYS were maneuvering the helicarrier into place—with Joe and Randy choosing the wiser course and, helmets or no helmets, talking Keith and Lizzie through what they needed to do—I took a couple of moments to pet the Poofs and Peregrines. It was a fast pat for each, but I could tell the animals appreciated it.
Wanted to tell the animals to stay in the helicarrier and also ask them for help. Decided it was time to let them exercise their free will and let them do what they felt was best.
The rest of the team had arrived with Joe and Randy, and everyone was definitely dressed to raid and armed for bear. They’d also found goggles and brought some for me and White as well. These weren’t like the goggles that allowed you to see invisible people—these were goggles that let you see in the dark.
“Commander,” Hughes said as we moved above the roof of the largest building, which was shaped like a big, thick letter L, “can verify visually that there are only a handful of vehicles left at the site, and they appear to be parked in the back portion of the lot.”
“Ninety-five percent certainty they’re in the lot reserved for security personnel,” Jerry said. “Meaning work’s done for the day.”
“Long hours, really. It’s around seven in the evening, isn’t it?”
“Normal hours if you’re running twelve-hour shifts,” Walker said.
“So they’re not a twenty-four-seven operation? That seems . . . odd.”
Randy shrugged—interesting that I could see it through the body armor. “It keeps your cover better in some ways if you look like everyone else. I think that they leave when the school personnel leave, so that it’s obvious to anyone going to or from the school that it’s just a regular kind of workplace.”
“The other facility we were blocked from at Forest Haven is an adult retraining compound,” Keith shared. “Totally legit, not a detention center, just a place for adults out of a job to go to learn new skills. And they’re letting out now, too.”
“So that means that if there’s another shift at the black site, they won’t be here for a few hours.”
Got the room’s attention, go me. “What do you mean?” Mahin asked.
Heaved a sigh and saw Camilla clearly trying not to laugh. “They’re faking out the normal people nearby. But I’m still betting they have a nighttime crew. Those people just arrive probably around nine in the evening and most likely leave somewhere between four and six in the morning.”
Camilla nodded. “I’d assume so. That gives us what we hope is a two-hour window to do this raid and rescue. I’d suggest we do it faster than that, because there’s no guarantee that the next crew will be here at nine. They could be here at seven-thirty.”
“Ah, Commander?” Keith sounded concerned. “Devon reports that someone’s joined their team.”
“Who?”
“Christopher White.”
“Ah, no worries, we’re not mad at him. Does he want to join us?”
“He wants to lead that team. He brought weapons for them with him.”
“How?”
“In a big bag, apparently.”
“How Santa Claus in the Summer of him. But yes, tell them that they should absolutely follow Christopher’s lead. He’s done this kind of stuff a lot more than they have, and I’m saying that with the assumption that everyone down there has been in this kind of work all of their lives.”
“Roger that, Commander.”
Looked at White. “I guess he didn’t want to wonder how you were doing anymore.”
White chuckled. “I appreciate his concern over my welfare.”
“Yeah, it’s nice to know that someone cares.” Of course, I’d told Jeff and the others to stay put, so it wasn’t fair to compare them to Christopher, who I’d asked to have meet us.
“While we’ll be landing, you can leave the ship earlier,” Walker said. “And I’d recommend it. There are cables at the hatch I’m sending you to—they’ll help you get down safely.”
“Commander,” Hughes said as Walker gave Daniel some quiet instructions, presumably about how to find the right exit hatch. “We are in position over the roof. As soon as we lower, I expect anyone there to be aware of us, so suggest away team preps for departure.”
“Gotcha. Until I’m back, Matt’s in charge. Matt, ensure that you don’t move onto the side of the men I’m angry with.”
“Roger that and no fear, Commander. I know who my ultimate commanding officer is. And it’s you, in case you weren’t sure.”
“That’s the spirit. Lizzie, that means you obey Matt’s orders. Within reason. Same for Abby and Mahin.”
“Got it. If they totes try to leave you guys here or something I’ll handle it.”
Abigail grinned and Mahin nodded.
“Excellent. Daniel, lead us to our exit point.”
The raiding party followed Daniel to a hatch that looked just like the one we’d entered through. The surrounding area was different, though. It resembled the interior of a plane that was being used by paratroopers. As promised, we found the cables—and lots of them. The paratrooper comparison got a lot stronger. Happily, there were gloves here, too. Nice to see that Drax thought of everything.
We all put on gloves and grabbed a cable. Joe showed us all how to hold onto the cables to go down like we’d want to in order to avoid going splat.
“Who’s lead now?” Adriana asked. “Kitty, you’re here, so it should be you.”
“There’s enough room that we can go two at a time,” Randy said.
“Good, but this isn’t my area of expertise, at least not until we’re down. Joe and Randy, you lead, then me and Richard. Camilla and Adriana, you bring up the rear. Everyone else, no shoving, play nicely, go in teams like you’re already used to—Field, princesses, Field.”
Joe grinned. “Sounds good. And before you ask, yes, we’ll catch you, Commander.”
“Thanks, I’m certain that’ll be an issue.”
“Everyone should put on their goggles then hold onto the straps,” Randy indicated straps all around this area. “Make sure your weapons are strapped, too. Check each other to be sure. Even though we’re low, when the hatch opens, there’s going to be some backdraft.”
Did the weapons check with Randy, who was in front of me, and Daniel, who was behind. We were all secure. Checked my purse which, body armor or no body armor, I still had over my neck. My skirt and pumps were gone as if they’d never been with me, but I had something in their place—Harlie and Poofikins. Poofs on Board made me feel a tad better.
As I thought this a third Poof arrived—Murphy, who was Jeff’s special Poof. Harlie was supposedly his, but had bonded with me. But Murphy was definitely Jeff’s Poof now. Interesting. Patted the Poofs. “Kitty’s never mad at any of you.” They all purred at me, which made me feel better and a little less upset with Jeff and the others.
We all got our goggles in place and hooked on just in time, because backdraft there was. Though it wasn’t all that bad, it probably would have knocked me or Adriana down and possibly out. And it wouldn’t have b
een fun on the eyes, either.
We were much more than a few feet over the roof, however. But my Six Million Dollar Men didn’t hesitate. “Go!” Joe said, and he and Randy jumped. They whizzed down their cables just as they’d shown us how to do. But they were easily ten feet above the roof when the cables ran out.
Both guys flipped into somersaults in the air and landed on their feet in lovely cat-like crouches.
They stood up, turned around, and waved.
“We’re up, Missus Martini,” White shouted.
Nodded and we jumped onto our cables.
Couldn’t pay attention to White because I was too focused on myself. I was whizzing down the cable a lot faster than I’d been prepared for—the end came a lot sooner, too. Tried to flip in the air like Joe and Randy had done, but didn’t manage it. Sort of flailed around like I was trying to do the backstroke in the air, which probably looked hilarious.
Managed to tuck my head so when I landed I might not knock myself out. But I didn’t hit hard—I hit White, landing right in his arms.
“Wow, you’re impressing all the girls again, Mister White.”
“It’s what I do. I landed close to where it looked like you were going to hit. I must say, when you make Jeffrey suffer later, do tell him about this. But please make sure I’m far away.”
Laughed as he put me down. “Yeah, this is normally Jeff’s job. Wish I didn’t feel like today he wouldn’t have done it, though.”
“Let’s get through this raid, then we’ll find out what really happened on their end of things. I’d imagine we’ll understand once we know.”
“Hope so. Or I’ll go on a rampage, so, you know, fun times either way.”
All the rest of the teams had absolutely no issue landing and were all on the roof by the time White had put me down and we’d finished bantering. Actively chose not to be bitter.
