Gunfire erupted at the other end of the house. "Drone, Enigma is hit," Sphinx said.
"How bad?" I asked.
"Bad enough," Enigma answered.
"How far out are the locals?"
"SWAT is ten minutes away," Sphinx said. "We've got to find Ralan first. If the locals get ahold of him, it'll be bad."
Yes, if the locals get ahold of him, no questioning, Centurian's people will get to him first, and either let him escape or kill him. We couldn't just summon SWAT and relax. This was our job. He was our problem.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
I wanted to leave my stunner in that kitchen so bad. In front of me was a door leading deeper into the house. To my right, a hallway was kicking out black smoke from the rockets. To my left another passage. I went left. A game room greeted me: pool tables, arcade pods, and first-person shooters. Commercial type units like you'd find in a mall or something. There was a door at the end of the room and a door on the right wall. I ran to the far exit first and cracked it open. Fresh air from outside hit me.
I hit my radio for Nancy. "Aerial cameras show any movement outside the mansion?"
"No, not yet," Nancy replied.
I moved to the other door. It led to stairs down. I hit the button on my helmet for the local team. "Sphinx, where are you?"
"Basement."
I eased my way down those steps. "I'm on my way."
The room I reached at the bottom of the stairs was a fully equipped gym with at least twenty different muscle building machines and six different kinds of cardio machines. Hell, it was nicer equipment than we had in Agency gyms. The lights shut off, and there were no windows. Somebody in the room was breathing other than me.
I hit the light on my pistol. Somebody threw a two-kilo weight disc at me like a shuriken. It hit my pistol, and in my brilliance, I dropped the weapon. I fired a web of electricity in the general direction that the weight came from. A figure danced in the light. He dodged around the web of electrostatic discharge and leaped into the air throwing his foot at my face.
I ducked, and that bastard twisted in mid-flight and aimed his other foot at my head connecting with precision and speed. I lost my footing and fell. The light from my fallen gun was producing enough brightness that I could see a bit. My opponent was Asian with broad shoulders and tightly cropped black hair.
He aimed another foot at my face. I aimed my stunner at him, but the foot connected first, and a flash of pain danced in my skull. I did my best, jump to my feet, while dropping the stunner. My right hand formed into a ball, and I aimed it at my buddy's skull. He grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm in an uncomfortable manner. I did not like being restrained, and thankfully, my body started producing some tasty adrenaline. Twisting and turning, I freed myself from his grip and aimed my left fist at his chin. It connected with a crunch, and he fell backward.
I jumped forward with my right hand targeting his face. It landed with a great splat, and bone and flesh separated. He dropped to the ground. I plowed my fists into his skull over and over. He did not look Asian when I finished.
I picked up both my stunner and pistol. My hands were bloody, and I had nothing to clean them with. At the opposite end of the room, there was another door. I walked to it and examined it. Typical door.
I pulled it open slow like and looked through. Sphinx was in the darkness at the other end of the room with the light on her pistol. I smiled at her. The room was some kind of boiler room. There were two furnaces and six water heaters, plus what looked like water softeners and air cleaning devices. A hardened steel door stood on the left wall. There was no other way out.
Sphinx and I examined the door. The hinges looked like the weakest part.
Sphinx pulled the cubes of Chor'Tan explosives out of her backpack. "How much?"
"Break one of the small cubes in half, one to each hinge."
Sphinx shook her head. "I only have one detonator, and with that small of a cube, there won't be a chain reaction."
"Use a whole cube per hinge then."
"Yes."
She stuck the cubes to the hinges and planted the detonator. We moved out of the room. She clicked, boom!
We went back into the boiler room. The door stood at an angle.
I touched the com button. "Thomas, Enigma, report."
"Stable, and I actually had four brownies," Thomas said. "The last one had sprinkles on it."
"Enigma?"
"I had zero brownies, and all the good painkillers would make me defenseless, hurry," Enigma said.
Sphinx wrenched the busted door to the side. The other end was just a dark tube of some kind. That fucking bitch I was with said, "You go first."
Hell. I liked being in front anyhow. I walked. Sphinx followed. We moved in darkness for maybe two hundred meters. We reached an open door that led into woods.
I hit the radio for Nancy. "Track our location. Playback the recording. Look for people."
Nancy sighed deeply. "The trees around you are too dense. There was motion there a few minutes ago, but no telling how many or where they went."
"Bring in SWAT. Alert the park rangers. We'll search."
"Find him. There are only six park rangers, and he could easily sneak past them."
Chapter Sixty
Sphinx looked at me. "We run."
Pick a direction, any direction. I knew the shortest path out of the woods was east, and I ran east. Sphinx kept up. Fifteen or twenty minutes passed. A glint of light in the distance made me think I was about to get shot at, and sure enough, a rifle opened fire on full auto. The bullets penetrated my leather but not my shirt. I didn't have much of a target, but Sphinx must have seen something because she blasted away like mad.
I ran full steam towards the glint of light. Bullets hit me in the chest again, and my jacket was starting to degrade. I pushed on. Had a target in a tree. Squeezed off a few rounds, aiming high. The bad guy was at least a hundred meters away, and I don't think I hit anything. I ran faster and faster. Bullets started to land at my feet like they were aiming for my legs. It was an AK-47, and those would put a stop to my running.
I got to the explosive rounds in my magazine. The guy in the tree was maybe fifty meters away. I aimed for the tree instead of the man. Sphinx was right beside me. The explosive rounds landed, and the tree fell over. I sprinted the last few meters to the guy, stunned him, and zip tied him.
Sphinx punched me on the arm. "Stay with this one, or go after Ralan?"
Somebody had to stay with this one for sure. I wanted to put my hands on Ralan in the worst way. "Guard this one."
I darted into the woods. These were Earth trees. I radioed Nancy. "Can you scan the area?"
"Bear, our computer network is under attack. Joe is trying to beef up the firewall, but with our CPU resources, it's not happening fast enough."
Shit. I kept moving. I slowed for a moment to catch my breath.
"Drop the gun," sounded from behind me.
The voice was extremely rat-like, and I knew it was Ralan.
I had no interest in being captured alive, so dropping the gun was not an option. I jumped as high up in the air as I could, spinning around, and aimed low, hoping for a leg shot. I fired. Ralan fired. His bullet ripped into my left forearm. My jacket did nothing. If I had ever had that arm dipped in lava, I'd say that's how it felt, but it was more like having bones fractured a hundred times. My bullet caught Ralan in his left ankle.
I landed solidly on my feet. Ralan fell backward. I punched the button on my stunner, and the electrostatic web flashed in flight. It slammed into Ralan, and he twitched. I got the gun out of his hand with a quickness. Zip tied his wrists, which hurt my left arm like Kingdom Come. Searched him for weapons. A knife was hidden in his belt on the small of his back, just in the right spot to free himself from zip ties. I removed his belt and checked his back. I took off my jacket and applied some bandages to my arm.
I touched the radio button for base, "How far out are the ambulances?"
/> "SWAT secured the structure," Nancy said. "Ten minutes for ambulances. Are you injured?"
"Ralan had some kind of pistol that shreds our armor."
"How bad?"
"Tell them to hurry."
"Will do."
Paramedics showed up. Gave me a shot of something. I was out.
I woke up in medical in Phoenix. Sam was curled up against me. My left arm was bandaged. I nudged her awake.
"Did they secure Ralan?" I asked.
She kissed me on the neck. We were not in a private room. Enigma and Thomas were in other beds. I gave Sam a nice squeeze. "Is Ralan secure?"
Nancy stepped into the room. "He's secure. Relax. You've earned some down time."
Thomas stirred. Enigma opened her eyes, too.
I leaned into Sam's ear. "Let's ditch these assholes and head to my room."
"You, sir, are restricted to medical," Nancy said.
Her hearing was amazing for somebody of such advanced age. I must have said that out loud, because Nancy scowled.
A nurse walked up to my bed. "She's lying anyhow. You're not restricted to medical. Let me get the IV out of you."
The nurse pulled the IV out and stuck a bandage on my arm. Sam and I went up to my room. Not so easy with a bum arm, but motivation is paramount in those situations.
Chapter Sixty-One
Sam and I walked through the food line together. My arm hurt, but I wasn't thinking of it. JenSix smiled at us, and we sat with her. Sphinx joined us. The oatmeal was so good, and I was distracted, and Nancy snuck up on us. Damn little old lady ninja.
"I don't think Ralan can hold out much longer," Nancy said.
"It's only been a day or so," I said.
"He's a pussy."
Sphinx pointed at my arm. "We need you."
I ignored her and ate my oatmeal. It had diced up chunks of dates and sliced almonds along with nutmeg and cinnamon.
"We need you now, Bear," Nancy said.
I raised my left eyebrow. "What do you expect me to do?"
"Chor'Tan regeneration chamber. Extend the steel casing on your hands into your forearms."
Oh. Cool. "I'm in."
Nancy and Sphinx walked me down to the steel plating room first. I dipped my arms into the green goop up past my elbows. Little fluffy clouds of gray particles danced into my arms for a while. The chamber came next. I'd never actually been conscious when I climbed in one before.
I stripped down to my red boxers with heart shapes. Sphinx pinched my ass, hard. Bitch.
Enigma was behind a wall with a glass window. She looked paler than usual, but it made me feel better that she was around. A technician said, "Stand in this circle."
Then he ran an IV through a vein on the back of my right hand. He didn't miss, and I'm not prepared to say it was painful. He did one on my left hand. A plexiglass shell dropped out of the ceiling and encased me. A mouthpiece followed, and I stuck it on my face. A liquid nutrient solution filled the chamber. They didn't drug me. My blood flowed out of my left, and a rage of Chor'Tan blood flowed into my right.
I floated. A video started to play on the view screen on my head. Some old 80s sitcom that I should have remembered the name of but couldn't. I snarled. "Change the channel."
Enigma said, "We could drug you."
"No, just put the screen on a better channel."
She flipped it to some wild nature show, and I got to watch lions raise cubs in a retreat in South Africa. Lion cubs are pretty cute, but they didn't follow orders well, it seemed.
I wanted real food so bad. The nutrient solution would keep me alive, but absorbing calories through the skin left a lot to be desired. Somebody changed the channel on the video to some new superhero blockbuster I hadn't seen. After that played through, I wanted peace and quiet to sleep.
"I want to sleep," I said.
"I'll give you something," Enigma said.
"No."
"You won't be able to fall asleep upright." Click. I was out.
For some reason, I dreamed of naked women. Sam. JenSix. Sphinx. When things in my brain switched to a naked Nancy, I pushed myself out of the near coma.
Darkness engulfed me. My eyes were open, but the lights were out. I waited. Stretched my arms out as best I could. The Chor'Tan in me wanted to smash my cage. I was thirsty and hungry no matter what the nutrient solution was feeding me. I shouted, "Hello?"
A light came on my view screen. The control room. Enigma was curled up on the floor. I watched her for the longest time. Another technician came in, careful not to wake Enigma. The new person said, "Good morning."
"Hi," I said.
"I can drug you again, or turn on some video."
"More big cats!"
The technician smiled and seemed to be pulling something up on the computer. A video of a South American panther started playing out. The panther got into a scrap with an alligator and walked away. Well, ran away. It was close for a few minutes. I wanted to pee and poop, but I didn't want to pollute my environment. "How much longer?" I shouted.
Enigma yawned. "Let's take a break. Get breakfast."
The liquid I was floating in drained out, and the plastic encasement lifted away. Enigma handed me a wonderful white cotton towel, and I cleaned myself off. I put on yesterday's clothes.
"If you start feeling out of sorts, we need to get you back in there, clear out the Chor'Tan blood. I figure real food might do better than the solution."
"Thank you," I said.
We went to the cafeteria. The Chor'Tan food looked good. So red and fresh. So much cleaner than the cooked items. I grabbed a piece before Enigma could stop me. Popped it in my mouth and chewed. Tastiest piece of flesh I'd eaten in my life. I reached for more.
Enigma punched me on the arm. "One piece I'll allow, but no more. You'll be puking your guts up."
I didn't think so, and the taste of that bloody raw flesh was something I promised myself I'd have again. The gang was waiting on us. Even Thomas and Archangel.
"I have news," Nancy said.
Thomas was first, but his sentiment was shared by everybody. "Tell us."
"Centurian eats flowers like we eat fruit, grain, and meat."
"That's it? Ralan caved, and he gives us flowers?"
Nancy took a sip of coffee and continued. "He prefers them fresh. Roses. Three times a day, sometimes four."
"We have to have a city to go on, too," I said.
"Phoenix, right here under our noses."
Chapter Sixty-Two
"We need to analyze satellite data," I said. "Look for places with greenhouses or places that get daily delivery."
"If you're done with breakfast, you need to go back in the regeneration chamber," Enigma said.
I ate a final bite of cooked sausage. "First, to the toilets!"
I ended up back in the chamber, floating. Joe, from the computer room, sent me photos of houses with greenhouses. I sent Joe a message, "Send me photos of places with larger than necessary solar panels."
Joe wrote me back, "You're thinking indoor cultivation on a grand scale?"
"It's possible."
I looked at photos. At the end of the day, I said, "Give me silence and darkness, but no drugs!"
Some time passed, and I did acquire a kind of sleep. The next morning lights came on, and the same technician as before suggested breakfast.
The day passed uneventfully. I wanted to have sex with Sam, but that didn't seem to be on the menu. Joe sent me a picture.
Main house, six steel buildings in the back yard. A huge field of solar panels. Daily delivery.
I emailed him, "Trace those deliveries."
"Already did, they're coming in from the airport. Not sure yet from where."
"Tap into the camera systems at the airport. It should be doable."
"The best I can come up with is the package is coming in from Argentina."
"Golden!"
I relaxed for a bit. Asked for darkness and slept.
The next morning
they drained out the Chor'Tan blood and pumped me with human blood. I was in line for food. The Chor'Tan raw nuggets of goodness were right there. I could resist. I would resist. This was how diabetics felt around doughnuts, I mused.
Nancy ordered aerial flybys of the structure Joe found. It was on about fifteen acres of land. Three sides were bordered by roads, and the fourth side was an upscale housing complex. A line of six houses walled in the main structure with more houses in a cul-de-sac.
I pointed at those houses on the map. "Centurian's escape path."
"That's a big gamble, Bear," Nancy said. "We need you on point going into the main structure."
"Send Sphinx and JenSix into the main structure. Sam and I will guard the rear." I rubbed at my chin a bit. "I want to have rockets in our car. The laser isn't enough."
Nancy glared at me. "You've become quite demanding. Starting to remind me of Lobster the dog."
"He's a little spoiled," Enigma said.
"A little?" Nancy asked.
"I meant Bear. Lobster is way spoiled for sure."
I got the conversation back on track. "When do we hit it?"
Nancy looked at her watch. "You have just enough time for sex, then hit it."
I looked for Sam. She was coming through the food line. I looked her in the eyes, and I knew food was her priority right that moment, not me.
I told her about the mission as she ate. "Have you been checked out with rockets?"
Sam let out a little chuckle. "Yes."
I equipped with a 9mm in my left jacket armpit, grenades, and a stunner on my right hip. Sam grabbed all that plus a backpack full of rockets, and a 5.56mm submachine gun. She put the rockets in the back seat of our car, and the submachine gun went on the passenger side on the floorboard.
Jack and MelGreen were in another car stationed nearby as backup.
Sphinx and JenSix drove the third car. They'd hit the main structure, with body cams on, and we'd see everything they saw and did.
Codename: Bear II: Secret Agent (Codename Universe Book 2) Page 19
