by John Ringo
"If nothing else we'll move them here or to the training base," Herzer said. "After the attack they moved a good part of the Seventh Legion to guarding it. A bit of closing the barn door but it's also to protect the new team. Of which you're a new member. You can't tell Mike, though. We'll have him told when we're starting the mission. At that point there's not much New Destiny can, or will, do."
"What about attacking our families?" Courtney asked, looking up.
"That's why we'll move them to the base," Herzer said. "And keep them under guard. Your children, and Mike, will be as safe as we can make them. It's you that we'll all be worried for."
"Thanks for reminding me," Courtney said. "When do I have to be where?"
"We'll keep you and Mike here until we move up to the training base," Herzer said. "If we move him and the children up there, and they stay, they can be brought in on it. Until then, we'll use the cover of getting the farms organized for you to stay here. Mike can walk Megan and I through the process of application."
"While I sit and fret?" Courtney asked.
"While you start getting reacquainted with ancient computer technology," Herzer said. "As soon as we get the documentation. Which should be tomorrow or the next day."
He led her back to the living room where Mike and Megan were deep in conversation.
"You guys get everything hashed out?" Herzer asked.
"Not even close," Megan admitted, wide-eyed. "I hadn't realized what sort of equipment and people we'd need to set up a really big farm."
"Good," Herzer said. "That's a good reason for Mike and Courtney to stay in town for a week or so."
"I've got things that need doing back at the farm," Mike said.
"And you said you have a good manager," Herzer said with a shrug. "I'd suggest that if whoever is keeping an eye on the kids can get free that they bring them up as well. And over the next few days you can walk Megan and I through the process of applying for our land while Megan smiles at bureaucrats while they find exceptions for you."
"She's in?" Megan asked.
"Yes," Courtney said, shaking her head.
"Do I get a say?" Mike asked, angrily.
"Yes," Courtney said. "You get to say: Whatever you think is right, honey. And then hug me, please," she added, sitting down next to him and leaning into him.
"Herzer..." Mike said, dangerously, uneasily slipping one arm around her.
"She can't tell you what it is," Herzer said, shrugging. "Not now. Maybe soon. So you can't discuss it and work it out. So, sorry, Mike, you've just got to eat it raw."
"Fisk you," Mike snarled.
"Like I said," Herzer repeated. "Not now. Not until we're out of the capitol and its rumor mill."
"Are we done here," Mike asked.
"For now," Herzer nodded. "But I was serious about walking us through the application process..."
"The hell with that," Mike said.
"No, Mike," Courtney interjected. "That's important, too. It's a cover and if you want me to have any chance at all, we need the cover."
"What in God's name for?" Mike said. "Never mind, you can't tell me. Okay, damnit, I'll walk you through the process and all the rest. I'll be a good little boy. But you'd better be able to convince me, at the end, that it was worth it or you can find yourself somebody else to manage your farms. All of them," he added, glaring at Herzer.
"I hope you'll agree it's important," Herzer said. "I think it is. Courtney thinks it is. Megan thinks it is. You'll just have to wait to find out. And in the meantime, you'd better figure out a way to keep from radiating anger or you'll show that something's up. None of this ever happened, tonight. We just discussed farming. Understand?"
"I understand," Mike said. "Cloak and dagger and all that. Fine. Let's get going, Courtney."
"When do we..." Courtney asked.
"We'll get together sometime tomorrow," Herzer said. "About the farming stuff. The rest has to wait until..." He paused and shrugged. "You'll probably be spending a lot of time here."
"Okay," Courtney said. "Later."
"Come on," Mike said, pulling at her hand.
* * *
"Well," Megan said, leaning on the door as they left, "I think that went well, don't you?"
"No," Herzer grunted. "I hadn't thought about how incredibly badly Mike would take it. I should have. I wish it was Mike that was the computer tech. I could imagine him surviving."
"What a sunny thought," Megan said, grimacing.
"Now, I think we had other plans," Herzer replied.
"Frankly, that little scene sort of took it out of me," Megan temporized.
"Well, I think a little brandy would help," Herzer grinned, grabbing her hand. "And then we'll see what comes up."
Chapter Nine
"Oh. My. God." Megan whispered. "Paul was never like...did you get...enhanced before the Fall?"
"Pure genetics," Herzer said, calmly. He'd discovered long ago that reciting multiplication tables helped. "My parents might have had a hand in it, but I never asked them. They'd released me before I really started to...grow."
"That's..." Megan said then stopped, tilting her head to the side. "I'm not sure..."
Herzer just waited as she tilted her head back and forth and then reached out with one finger.
"Does it get any bigger?" she asked humorously, running a single fingernail over the tip.
"Careful, or we'll be starting all over again," Herzer said, trying not to groan.
"I'm not sure about it...fitting," Megan said, huskily, leaning forward, "but I think I might be able to get my mouth around..."
There was a shout from outside and then a scream and Herzer cursed luridly.
"Not NOW Bull God damnit!" he shouted, rolling to his feet and drawing his sword.
"Well, you should be able to beat them to death," Megan said, tightly, trying not to laugh. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Spiders. Two of the sentries are down. More...something. On the street and the roof," she added, looking up at a scrabbling sound.
"Corner," Herzer said, pushing her back and turning to the window.
"The girls!" Megan shouted. "Shanea, Meredith..."
"I'm just hoping to keep you alive!" Herzer replied as the window crashed in.
It was, as Cruz had reported, a giant scorpion, about two meters in length, not counting the tail. That was as long and it whipped back and forth as the thing climbed through the window.
Megan mouthed a syllable and extended her hand but the bolt of lightning stopped half way across the room.
"They're shielded," she snarled.
Herzer darted forward as the thing scrabbled at the sill and swung the sword to bash the left claw out of the way. The right claw snapped at him, the monster pausing in its quest to enter the room, and he jabbed the tip of the sword into the joint of the claw, wrenching it with a hard twist of his wrist. The joint popped open and the claw flopped uselessly to the side.
The other claw was snapping at him by that time so he ducked to the right and jabbed the sword into the space between the creatures eyes, twisting the sword again to prevent it being bound. There was a cracking sound and the scorpion began to spasm, its tail, which it had never gotten into the room, thrashing at the wall outside.
There was a scream from somewhere in the building and Herzer heard Megan dash to the door.
"Shanea!" she shouted.
"Megan, damnit," Herzer shouted in turn, turning away from the beast and following his bride to be.
* * *
Mirta's eyes had flown open at the first shout and she shuddered in her bed at a scrabbling on the roof. She jumped up and went to the window but the guard that was supposed to be on the alley below was no where in sight. She opened the window and leaned out, looking up. There was a noise up there, but whatever was making it wasn't visible, yet.
She looked around the room and shook her head, then hiked up her nightdress and clambered out of the window. Grasping a drainpipe she half slid, half fell to the alle
yway and scuttled across it into the deeper shadows on the far side.
Only when she was in shadow did she look up. Coming over the top of the building was some sort of massive bug, a scorpion by the tail. It carefully climbed over the eaves and then slid down the wall to the open window. It had some trouble fitting through but in a moment it was out of sight. Before it was in, though, another had appeared on the roof and another, each of them heading for the other windows on the floor.
Shanea's window crashed in and then Ashley's and Mirta shuddered at the screams but she didn't move. It wasn't courageous but she'd survived by knowing exactly when to be courageous and when not to be. And there was nothing she could do about those things.
* * *
"Shanea!" Megan shouted at the door, pounding on it. Two of the guards were down the corridor, holding one of the scorpions at bay, while more were apparently fighting on the landing.
Herzer slammed his bare foot into the door and then stepped back, trying to get a view in the room. The lamps in the corridor were turned up and the room was inky black. But he saw a movement by the bed and leapt through the doorway, pausing at the far side to check to the side.
The scorpion was at the bed in the room, scrabbling at something underneath, its tail waving in the air. From the sounds of it, what it was scrabbling at was Shanea, but he couldn't tell if she was hurt or just screaming her bloody head off.
Herzer made another bound and flipped his sword through the air, cutting off the bulging stinger on the tail and removing that threat. Then he stomped down on the rear end of the creature, pinning it to the ground. He flipped his sword up and over, pointing it down and drove the tip into the thing's braincase, all the way through and into the floorboards.
"Damnit," he muttered, wrenching at the sword. "Shanea, are you hurt?"
"No!" she shouted.
"Then quit screaming!" Herzer bellowed, finally getting his sword free. He pulled the thing away then reached under the bed until he made contact with one scrabbling hand and yanked the girl out, roughly.
"It was a...it was a..." Shanea whimpered, flailing her fists in front of her chest wildly.
"I know," Herzer snapped. He went to the door and looked out then ducked back as a black arrow embedded itself in the doorframe. "Fisk!"
He slammed the door and grabbed the bed, sliding it across and blocking the door. Then he looked around.
"Meredith," Megan said, tightly. "Mirta, Ashley."
"Bowmen in black in the corridor," Herzer snapped. "Both guards down but so is the scorpion. But I don't think the bowmen are on our side."
There were crashing sounds coming from the next room over and Herzer shook his head.
"Meredith?" he asked.
"Yes."
He walked over to the wall and looked at the plaster then drove the sword into it, tearing downward. The plaster shattered and he continued cutting until he had a fair sized hole in the wall. There were studs in the wall but there was enough room to fit between. He slammed his foot into the plaster on the other side, getting a small hole, then hammered his shoulder into it, finally breaking through in a shower of plaster dust.
The scorpion in the room was confronted by a mattress in the corner that it had, thus far, been unable to pass. The mattress was slashed and tattered, filling the room with feathers, but it still had enough mass the scorpion couldn't get through. Its stinger was repeatedly jabbing at the mass, but apparently it hadn't hit a target, yet.
At Herzer's entrance, the bug rotated around, waving its claws and stinger menacingly. Herzer wasn't sure if the thing was intelligent or not. It was either defending its intended prey or recognized Herzer as a threat, though, because it scuttled forward, snapping at him, the stinger held in readiness.
Herzer wasn't sure exactly how to fight this one. If he used the trick of striking a claw, the thing would use its stinger to get him before he could retreat. He'd like to take the stinger out, first, but it was unlikely to get into reach unless he was already being held by one of the claws. He suddenly realized that he was still naked and the thought of one of those claws getting a hold of his member was disheartening.
He circled the thing, keeping away from the walls where he could get pinned, expecting a hammering on the door at any moment.
The thing was opening and closing its claws as it circled and that gave him his only opening. He lunged with the point and got it jammed into the interior of the left claw joint but when he twisted the sword barely moved; he remembered, too late, the claw was metal.
He looked up just in time to see the stinger lunge forward, aimed at his abdomen. He'd seen scorpions sting before and they were blindingly fast. Perhaps because this thing was larger, the jab was fast but not the lightning motion of a normal sized specimen.
Desperately, he flung his prosthetic up and more by luck than skill caught the tip of the stinger in its grip. In one continuous motion he spun in place, the sword pulling out of the claw, tapping it to block to the inside, then up to cut off the poison sack, down to cut off the left claw and then flipped up and point down through the braincase.
This time he hadn't got it embedded in the floor and he twisted it out, dropping the poison sack, and went to the mattress.
"Meredith?" he asked in a worried tone.
"What took you so long," she said, pointedly, tossing the mattress off of her. She stopped when she saw him and grinned. "Is that a club you're carrying around or are you just happy to see me?" she asked in a throaty voice.
Herzer's mouth opened and closed and he shook his head at a shout from the corridor.
"I don't have time for this," he said, moving soundlessly to the door. All he could hear was confused shouting so he went to the hole in the wall and gestured for the two women to come into the room.
"This lock still works," he said, shoving the empty bedframe against the door and a bureau over the hole in the wall. There was nothing to do about the window. "Get in the corner with Meredith."
"What about Ashley and Mirta?" Megan said then closed her eyes and muttered. "Oh, God..."
"What?" Meredith asked.
"Never mind about Ashley," Megan said, softly. "Mirta is outside the building, across the street. There's nothing around her. She's alive. Two scorpions alive. One in Ashley's room the other in Mirta's. There's..." she paused and frowned.
"Herzer!" a voice shouted from the corridor.
"Cruz?" Herzer yelled.
"Yeah," Cruz said from outside the door. "Where in the hell is Countess Travante?"
Herzer opened his mouth and then paused. How much did he actually trust Cruz? Finally he decided.
"In here," he said, hefting the sword.
There was a pause from outside the door and then Cruz chuckled.
"Thanks, buddy," he said. "I already had a crack at one Key and gave it up. We've taken down the rest of the assassins. But we haven't entered any of the rooms except yours. Which, by the way, were our standing orders. Protect the Keyholder. Remember?"
Herzer winced at the sarcastic tone and shrugged.
"Two more bugs, one in Ashley's room, one in Mirta's. Ashley appears to be dead."
"Okay, we'll clean 'em up," Cruz said. "Stay there until it's all clear."
* * *
Megan took one look at what had once been her social secretary and then turned and threw up in the corner.
"She shouldn't have had to go that way," she gasped, spitting on the floor.
"Nobody should," Herzer said, pulling a blood stained sheet over the mess on the bed. "But that's what happened to the rest of the team." He'd retrieved his trousers but was still barefoot and shirtless.
"Were they after Megan, because she's a Keyholder?" Meredith asked. "Or do they know you and she are forming the next team?"
"Good question," Herzer replied. "And one I don't think we'll have the answer to any time soon." He noticed that Meredith hadn't been sick. Shanea, surrounded by guards, was well on her way to getting past out drunk in Megan's apartm
ent.
"Why were you outside the apartment?" Herzer asked Mirta.
"Because I couldn't stand the thought of getting trapped inside by whatever was scuttling on the roof," Mirta said. "I was not a part of this. There was one of those things in my room, too!"
"Herzer," Megan said, sharply.
"I'm sorry, Mirta," Herzer said, shaking his head. "I'm seeing assassins in the shadows. I didn't even trust Cruz when he arrived with the reinforcements."
"It's okay," Mirta replied. "Who says I trust you?"
Herzer snorted and shook his head, gesturing at the door.
"Let's get out of here," he said. "There's nothing to be done."
"Except get rip-snorting drunk," Mirta said.
* * *
As it turned out, it didn't take much to get that way for any of the girls.
Herzer was nursing his first drink but Mirta had sat the others down and had them slam a shot of vodka apiece. That had led to the corn liquor and in short order, they were all drunk as loons.
He shouldn't have been surprised. None of them had done much drinking since escaping from the harem and from the little he'd heard there was no hard alcohol allowed there. So they had a low resistance and none of them were exactly heavy.
Shanea was sitting on the floor, shaking her head from time to time and occasionally sobbing.
"It was a..." she kept saying. "All I could think to do was hide under the bed. It kept moving around and I'd move over to the other side and those...those CLAWS..."
"Hell," Mirta slurred. "I thought they were going to chase me down the alley. I was just hoping there were some guards left alive. I was planning on running right past them and if they followed all I had to do was outrun them. They were in armor; it should have been easy..."
"You missed the best part," Meredith said. She'd hardly said a word during the whole drinking, just downing her shots and chasing them with very little water and another shot.
"Wass 'at?" Mirta asked, looking at her blearily.
"Herzer nekkid," Meredith said then giggled, slapping a hand over her mouth.
"Really?" Mirta said, her eyes widening.
"Nekkid," Meredith repeated. "Unclothed."
