by Alex Siegel
He allowed himself to relax a little, but he was still suspicious. It was possible the enemy had let him get away because they were following him. He checked the rearview mirror again. He didn't see anybody else on the road, but that didn't mean he was safe. He had to be absolutely certain before he could return to Mr. Burch or even call him. The billionaire had absolutely no patience or forgiveness for those who brought trouble to his doorstep.
Rat-man pursed his lips. He had an idea.
* * *
Marina was flying over the Santa Cruz Mountains. They were a dark mass at night, and to a low flying helicopter, they were a real hazard. It was hard to tell where the black sky ended and the black mountains began.
She had pursued the Mustangs across San Jose, and now the cars were headed towards Santa Cruz on Highway 17. The busy highway snaked across the mountains which separated the San Francisco Bay Area from the Pacific Ocean. She had driven the route a few times, and the tight, blind turns were nerve wracking. She was glad to be in the air even at night.
"Call Ipo, please," Marina told Aaron.
Aaron put his phone in speaker mode and held it up so both of them could hear over the engine noise. He dialed Ipo while she kept both hands on the helicopter's controls.
"Ma'am?" Ipo said.
"Where are you?" Marina said.
"Still trying to catch up to you."
"We're about four miles south of the intersection with 85."
"We're not far from your position," Ipo said. "I'd drive faster, but I'm worried about skidding off the road. This van wasn't designed for high-speed chases over mountains."
"Don't press too hard. I'm happy to follow these assholes for a while longer. I want to know where they're going. Eventually, fuel will be a problem though."
The black Mustang was in the lead. It abruptly turned onto a side road and vanished into the thick forest. The driver of the white Mustang clearly hadn't expected to get off the highway. The car swerved and skidded to a stop on the shoulder. It backed up to reach the side road and also disappeared into the forest.
"Ipo," Marina said, "they turned off the highway. Watch for an exit on your right. Pay close attention or you'll miss it."
"Yes, ma'am," Ipo said. "Can you see where they are now?"
She stared into the blackness below. "No. Trees are in the way. Wait, I see the headlights of one car."
A pair of headlights was following a very narrow road. They were moving slowly, particularly on the hairpin turns.
"Which car?" Ipo said.
"I can't tell," Marina said.
"It's the wrong one," Aaron said with complete certainty in his voice.
She looked at him. "How do you know?"
"It's obvious. Ipo, be very careful after you turn off. You'll be driving into an ambush."
"Yes, sir," Ipo said.
* * *
Rat-man watched the white car drive past and continue on into the night. He had intentionally driven off the road shortly after making the turn. He had killed the headlights, and in the complete darkness, the black car was invisible. The men in the white car had simply driven on without realizing they had lost their leader. They were a decoy.
"Everybody out," Rat-man said. "Have your guns ready. If anybody else comes up this road, we're going to kill them."
He and the other three men in the car got out. It was so dark, Rat-man could barely see his hand in front of his face. The thick forest and steep hills blocked what little light came from a low moon. He desperately wished he had night vision goggles.
"What about the other guys?" one of his companions said. "Are you going to call them and tell them to turn around?"
"No," Rat-man said.
"Will they get paid?"
"No. The deal was they had to stay with me, and they didn't. Too bad for them."
Rat-man tried to find a good position in the trees where his back was protected. His eyes were starting to adjust, and he could now see vague silhouettes instead of nothing at all. Stars in the sky helped keep him oriented.
He slowed his breathing so he could listen better. He wondered what his rats were doing right now. They stayed in cages in Mr. Burch's laboratory most of the time. The control implants were sufficiently expensive that he couldn't let Rat-man take them home as pets.
He heard the crunch of tires rolling slowly on the dirt road. He had been followed after all even though he hadn't seen anybody tailing him. The good news was he now had a chance to capture his enemies and find out who they were.
The approaching vehicle had its headlights off, so clearly, the enemy was expecting trouble. The timing of this ambush had to be just right. Wait for it, he thought.
One of his men started firing an assault rifle. The muzzle flashes wiped out what little night vision Rat-man had gained.
"No!" he yelled.
* * *
Hanley instantly put the van in "park" and jumped out on the side away from the gunfire. He was wearing his advanced body armor and helmet, but a bullet hadn't hit him anyway. The shooter had been a lousy shot.
He was wearing night vision goggles which allowed him to see fairly well. The world was a ghostly but sharp green. Using the slope of the hill as cover, he ran back to join the rest of his team. The other three legionnaires were following on foot. Only Hanley had enjoyed the honor of risking his life.
He found Ipo, Katie, and Liam jogging up the road in a crouched position. Everybody was dressed for battle and had night vision gear.
"They're about a hundred yards up on the right side," Hanley said.
"OK," Ipo said. "You and Katie will hit them from above while Liam and I keep them pinned down."
"Just don't shoot us by accident."
Ipo managed to convey a look of disdain even with goggles over his eyes. "Of course."
Hanley tapped Katie on the shoulder. "Follow me."
He ran into the woods. The land was steep and rocky, forcing him to go slower than he liked. She struggled to stay with him even at that pace.
"It's a good thing Aaron warned us about the ambush," Katie said between gasps.
"Yeah," Hanley said. "He's a smart guy. Now be quiet. A legionnaire is silent in battle."
He soon heard exchanges of gunfire. Ipo and Liam were keeping the enemy occupied while Hanley and Katie moved into position. If the bad guys didn't have night vision goggles, they were shooting at shadows, and this would be a short fight. Hanley almost felt sorry for them.
* * *
Rat-man could only see muzzle flashes, and he didn't know which ones were friendly. The night was full of deadly gunfire. It was a nightmare.
In retrospect, it hadn't been such a great plan. He had assumed his eyes would adjust, and the night wouldn't matter much. The enemy would drive into the ambush like fools and get creamed. None of that had happened.
Rat-man realized it was time to tuck his tail between his legs and run. His three escorts would distract the enemy while he escaped. It was bad luck for them. They wouldn't get paid and might die besides.
Rat-man turned away from the battle and started moving forward with his hands outstretched. He couldn't see the trees, but he knew they were there. He had to grope like a blind man until his eyes readjusted.
He heard a gun being cocked.
"Drop the weapon," a man said. "Hands up." It was the familiar voice of "Oscar," the intruder from the junkyard.
When Rat-man had received his implants, he had endured very extensive psychological conditioning. The process had included many hours of hypnosis while under the influence of strong drugs. He had received instructions about what to do if he were captured or in danger of being captured. The command was so deeply ingrained in his mind, he couldn't possibly refuse it.
He reached up, grabbed a specific brain implant, and twisted it in a specific way. All the high-density power cells in the complex circuitry released their charge. Twenty amps surged through his delicate brain tissue.
Rat-man died.
* *
*
Hanley watched "Rat" twitch like he was having a massive seizure. He fell to the ground with his mouth and eyes open. Hanley quickly checked the man's pulse.
"He's dead," Hanley said grimly.
"How?" Katie said.
"I don't know. Something to do with all the crap on his head."
Hanley touched the web of circuitry that covered Rat's bare skull. Hanley expected some components penetrated into the brain.
"Let's finish the fight," Katie said.
He nodded. Three other men were still alive and had guns.
Hanley decided not to use proper arrest technique this time. He simply came up behind them, kicked them in the head, grabbed the assault rifles, and threw the weapons away. Between the noise and the darkness, the enemy had no idea he was there. Within a couple of minutes, the battle was over.
"We won!" Hanley yelled loud enough for Ipo and Liam to hear.
All four legionnaires regrouped. The captives were searched and handcuffed. They were already complaining that they were innocent victims who had been led astray.
Ipo called Marina. Hanley, Liam, and Katie crowded around so they could hear.
"Report," Marina said.
"The fight is over," Ipo said. "No injuries on our side. Unfortunately, the guy we really wanted to catch is dead. Some kind of suicide. We do have three live henchmen though."
She made a growling noise. "Interrogate the henchmen there, and then bring all the bodies back to headquarters. I want to look at them. I can't land the helicopter in the mountains, so Aaron and I are going home now."
"But they might not know anything. Do you want us to torture and kill them anyway?"
"They shot at you, didn't they? They're combatants."
"Yes, ma'am. Bye." Ipo hung up.
He listened closely and heard the helicopter directly overhead. The sound faded into the distance.
"You heard the boss," he told the other legionnaires. "Let's get to work."
* * *
A ringing phone woke Bill Burch. A woman was sharing his bed, and he had to crawl over her to reach the handset. She wasn't his wife or his girlfriend. He had neither of those. She was just one of the girls from his private harem, and he barely knew her name. She complained a little about the rough treatment.
Finally, Burch put the phone to his ear. "What is it?"
"This is Hooker, sir. There was trouble at the junkyard. Some men were killed. Others are missing."
"Junkyard?" Burch rubbed his eyes. The clock showed 1:35 AM.
"Rat-man's junkyard."
"Oh. Where is Rat-man?"
"Among the missing," Hooker said, "That's all the information we have at the moment, but we will continue to investigate."
"I know we've been careful, but triple-check that all the records have been purged. Make sure there is no way to trace him back to us."
"Yes, sir."
"That's all. Bye." Burch hung up.
He stared into the darkness of his bedroom. He had to believe this complication was linked to the trouble Dr. Shipman had run into.
"Are you going back to sleep, darling?" the girl said in a soft, whiny voice.
"Get out of here!" He gave her a rude shove. "Sleep in your own bed."
She turned on the light and got out of bed. Her black lingerie looked great on her perfect body. She grabbed a bathrobe from a hook and hurried out of the bedroom, but she didn't have far to go. The harem lived on the next floor down.
The bedroom was so huge, it made his king-size bed look inadequate. Classical Greek and Roman artifacts filled shelves which covered all the walls. There were enough relics in the room to stock a decent museum. Silver and gold artifacts were the most common, but he had a few bronze swords which might've been used on ancient battlefields.
Burch let out a sigh of anxiety. He had never encountered the Gray Spear Society directly, but he had certainly heard the stories. The Pythagoreans told many tales of slaughter and destruction. Burch had hoped his activities would go unnoticed, but sending Rat-man into the mountains to kill had clearly been a mistake. From now on, the brain control research would remain locked up in the secret laboratory.
Burch wasn't worried about Rat-man talking. The walking science experiment was programmed to self-destruct. Otherwise, Burch would've never allowed him to leave the laboratory. Even so, clues might be found on Rat-man's body which could put other projects at risk.
Burch grabbed the phone and dialed a number.
His personal secretary answered in a sleepy voice, "Sir?"
"Put me through to Alpert right now," Burch said.
"One moment, sir. Let me get to my desk."
Burch heard rustling and movement. Eventually, the phone clicked as his secretary routed the call. It began to ring again.
A man with a raspy voice answered rudely, "Yes?"
"This is Burch."
"Oh." Alpert cleared his throat and spoke in a more pleasant tone. "What can I do for you, sir?"
"The Rat is missing, presumed dead."
"What happened?"
"Not clear," Burch said, "but I may have a powerful enemy sniffing around."
"You always have powerful enemies, sir."
"Not like this one. I need you to move up the schedule. I want the job done tomorrow night."
"That's impossible," Alpert said. "The bomb is incomplete, the guidance system is flaky, and the Iranians are hiding in Mexico. You told us we had another week."
"Do whatever it takes. Every extra hour puts the project at greater risk. What happened to Rat-man might happen to you."
"Rushing things will cost extra."
"I don't care," Burch said. "Just get it done."
"Yes, sir."
Burch hung up the phone.
He was too anxious to go back to sleep, and he wasn't in the mood for more sex. He wanted to call the other Pythagoreans for advice, but that would be dangerous. If they believed his operation was at risk, they would kill him to make sure he never talked. The Pythagoreans continued to exist only because they tolerated no weak links.
He took the long walk across his bedroom and sat at a desk with a computer. He would calm himself by buying things online. He loved collecting.
Chapter Sixteen
Marina yawned. The worst part of missions was the lack of sleep. Exhaustion was an anchor on her mind and body which was impossible to cast off. Stimulants like caffeine were a short-term solution at best. They just made her think she wasn't tired, and that fallacy could lead to fatal errors in judgment.
She gave Aaron a pat on the knee. Having him at her side made the tiredness a little less awful.
"I'm starting to feel very guilty about not going home," he said.
"The mission isn't over," she replied quickly. "We need you."
"At some point, that becomes a poor excuse. Commanders are supposed to solve their own problems. They shouldn't depend on boyfriends."
"Did you call Smythe? Is everything OK in Chicago?"
"Yes," he said. "They're settling into the new headquarters, and there's no sign of trouble."
She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips. "Then what's the problem?"
He stared at her. "You're not cute when you play dumb."
The two commanders were waiting in the security booth for the legionnaires to arrive. Marina had sent all the assistants home. She had decided to pull the night shift in the booth as long as she was awake.
A huge security console was in front of her. There were several surveillance monitors, and computer controls allowed her to dial up any of fifty cameras mounted inside and outside the building. The system would automatically switch to the right camera if it detected suspicious activity using artificial intelligence software written by the twins in Chicago.
"How are the twins doing?" Marina said. "Are they still having trouble with their universal firewall project?"
"A lot of trouble," Aaron said. "They claim the math could be too hard for them."
"
That's hard to believe. They're the smartest people I've ever met, maybe the smartest in the world."
"Divine mathematics was never meant for mortal minds to comprehend, and they're trying to reengineer the universe. Being smartest in the world may not be good enough. Wesley had a few things to say about it, but there's no point in repeating his prophesies. They would just make you anxious."
Marina frowned. Wesley's prophesies had to be really scary if Aaron wasn't willing to speak them.
She refocused her attention on the security console. Lack of weaponry was a major deficiency in the system. Imelda had installed some automatic guns on the roof, and landmines were placed at key locations on the road, but it wasn't enough to stop a major attack. The current headquarters was temporary anyway. The team would be a lot safer when it moved into a permanent facility.
The surveillance monitors showed a blue van coming up the driveway. Automatic image intensification allowed her to see the driver's face, and it was Ipo.
The van parked in front of headquarters. All four legionnaires got out, and they were still wearing their advanced body armor. The black and gray stripes gave them an inhuman appearance.
They opened the back of the van and began to pull out bodies stacked inside. Ipo, Hanley, and Liam did the lifting while Katie held the door. They walked into the entry chamber.
"Just put them on the floor," Marina ordered. She was inside the booth, but a speaker in the security chamber carried her voice. "Let's keep the blood contained here."
Four male corpses were placed on the white, concrete floor of the chamber, and it was easy to tell who the boss was. He had copper probes sticking out of his skull, connected by a nest of electronic circuitry. His black, leather jacket looked expensive. The other three bodies just wore black T-shirts and jeans.
"Do you mind waiting in the booth, dear?" Marina said.
"No problem," Aaron said.
She left the booth and worked her way around to the entry chamber. Her legionnaires stood back while she crouched over the bodies.
"These were the live captives?" She pointed at the men in T-shirts.
"Yes, ma'am," Ipo said. "We interrogated them, but they didn't have much to offer. They were just goons hired as security for the dog fights. They only knew their boss by reputation."
