'How can —'
'You claim that Riser Trent is a news reporter and a technician, and yet, he has shown himself to be a hacker, a criminal, and a terrorist. A terrorist employed by you.'
'I —'
'Believe me, Mr Neech, the Council of Lords agrees with me when I say that you are a liability, an incompetent CEO, and a danger to the security of the Orange Zone. We have already shut down all power to the Mekinet News building. It's now time that the company itself was shut down.'
'You can't do that!'
'As of now, you are relieved of duty. Your successor will be appointed by myself.'
'This is an outrage!' Ario was on his feet in an instant, his face raging with anger. He was a powerful man in his own right, not used to such ill treatment. 'Do you know who I am? You can't treat me like this. You have no right!'
Gail's stony expression did not change. 'Mekinet News will be shut down for six months, pending an investigation into its staff and procedures. On completion of the investigation, the new CEO will be appointed. You will not be permitted access to the Mekinet News building or any of its other offices. Your security authorisation has already been revoked.'
'You bitch!' Ario took two steps towards her, fists balled and ready.
Thompson stood staring at him as though he was no more than a fly that she might swat away.
'I'll fight you all the way on this, Thompson. Maybe you can shut down Mekinet News, maybe you can't. You can't shut down Net3, Ryan News, CX Live. There are over twenty news networks in this city and I know the CEOs of all of them. You can't treat me like this and expect to get away with it. The press has its own powers too you know, the power of free speech being one of them. All the news networks will stand against you.'
Ario's words calmed him. The sound of his own voice brought back a degree of control to his ragged thoughts. He remembered that he did indeed have many powerful friends in the news networks, and some in Central Command too. Some of the commanders might speak on his behalf. The bitch standing in front of him might think she had all the answers, but she certainly did not. He was living proof of that.
'You won't shut me down, Thompson,' he said. 'I promise you that.'
Gail turned and nodded to the guards behind her. Ario had seen them before, during his long interrogation. There names were Brinkman and Walker, and they didn't have a brain cell between them. They wore matching blank expressions. Walker was the taller of the two, with a nose that had been broken more than once. Brinkman had wide shoulders and carried a scar across his left cheek. They reminded Ario of the doormen in some of the Old Quarter's less refined cafes. They gave Thompson a look and she nodded again.
Ario watched with concern, wondering what they intended. He was relieved when they stepped out into the corridor, closing the door behind them. His relief was short lived when Thompson turned and back handed him across the face.
Ario's chair tilted sideways, tipping him onto the floor. His head spun from the force of the blow. By the time his vision cleared, she was on him again, her fists raining down onto his face with wide sweeping arcs. His head rocked back, and his smashed spectacles fell onto the floor. Blood streamed from his broken nose, ruining his expensive shirt. He reached up, trying to cover his face with both hands but her fists were fast and accurate, pounding his face over and over again.
Ario let out a gurgling groan as he tried to breath through his mouth. He had never been a fighter. He was a man of business, more concerned with news, profits and fine clothes. He didn't know how to deal with such personal violence.
+ + +
'Let me make one thing very clear to you,' Gail said. I can shut you down and I just did.' Pulling her impact pistol from its holster, she fired twice into Ario's face. His teeth scattered across the floor as blood gushed from the back of his head.
Opening the office door, Gail was calm and collected once more. 'Bag him up,' she said. 'Take him to the Mekinet News building and dump him on the lower levels. Make sure nobody sees you.'
The guards nodded as they walked back into the interrogation room, a black body bag already hanging between their hands.
'What about his daughter?' Brinkman said.
'His daughter?'
'Rachel Henson. She's a major based at Beacon Station. Won't she ask questions?'
'I know Henson,' Gail said. She glared at Neech's dead body as they stuffed it into the bag. 'Even in death, you cause me trouble. I should have known you wouldn't be so easy to get rid of. I hope you rot in hell.'
Walker and Brinkman zipped up the bag and dragged it out into the corridor, closing the door behind them.
Gail balled her fists, 'Rachel, bloody Henson. I will deal with you next.'
Recall
A dozen black-clad soldiers ran back and forth in one of Havers Compound's ruined corridors, playing football with a used gas canister. The makeshift ball skittered across the stone floor with an awful scraping noise.
'Have you really got nothing better to do?' Rachel said.
The men laughed and continued with their game. Rachel let it pass. At least it gave the men a way to release the tension of the recent fighting. They hadn't seen any Kamari soldiers for the last half hour. Some were beginning to think their day's work might be over.
Rachel didn't share their optimism. She continued her inspection of the building, trying to peace together what had happened in her mind.
Taking the compound had been swifter than she had expected, considering their initial level of resistance. The number of Kamari soldiers in the compound had been almost disappointing. There was still some confusion as to whether their main force had already pulled out of the compound or whether it had never been there at all. Had the Kamari set up some kind of elaborate trick to lure the Security Forces into a trap? Rachel had been searching for any signs of such foul play but she hadn't seen anything suspicious so far.
She couldn't feel anything obviously wrong with the place, and her intuition was normally good at sniffing out hidden dangers. Rachel shook her head, deciding to remain vigilant a little longer. The others might be convinced that the fight was over but she couldn't help feeling that this time maybe her intuition could be wrong.
The Bull Rangers were another mystery. All across the compound, they stood motionless, some leaning against walls, others flat on their backs or in crumpled heaps. They were undamaged except for a single mark on the side of their heads. Rachel didn't know of any weapons that worked that way. There were no burn marks on them, and their armour had not been punctured as far as she had been able to see. It made no sense at all.
She wanted to ask Nick what it all meant. He had been the one who had brought them into the compound, keeping his plans secret from them all. He would know more about how they worked than she did. She had also heard some strange reports that one of the Bull Ranger was still patrolling the compound, but instead of targeting the Kamari, it was searching for net-feed droids, destroying them one by one. The reports said it was completely ignoring any people it encountered, which didn't make any sense at all. Something very strange was going on in Havers Compound - that much was clear. Many questions remained unanswered.
Rachel strode through the rubble-strewn corridors, keeping her eyes open for any signs of movement. She reached up and tapped her jacket collar when she received an incoming comms call.
'Major Henson,' she said.
'Rachel, I need to talk to you.'
Rachel recognised the voice at once. 'Commander Harris, I'm on combat duty right now. Can I get back to you later?'
'I need to talk to you now.'
'Okay, go ahead.' Rachel said, checking over her shoulder to make sure no Kamari soldiers were sneaking up on her.
'Rachel, I'm not calling on my own behalf, what I have to say comes from Admiral Thompson.'
Rachel's heart sank. She already knew what it would be about, but she clung onto the small hope that she might be wrong. For now, she would play ignorant until she had more informa
tion. 'What does she want?'
'Those net-feed droids that have been swarming around Havers Compound, they've been broadcasting live news feeds on Mekinet News.'
Rachel held her impact pistol in a tight grip. It was what she had been dreading.
'Thompson wants you out of there.'
'Why? I can't pull out now, I'm already in Havers Compound. I'm in a combat situation and my men need me. I can't just walk out because Gail Thompson has some crazy ideas in her head.'
'It's not a request Rachel. It's an order.'
Rachel stared at the compound's crumbling white walls as she tried to slow her breathing. 'I have nothing to do with this,' she said.
'I know you don't. If it was down to me, I'd leave you out there and deal with it later, but it's not my choice to make. Look at it from her point of view. Ario Neech is your father. You arrive on a combat operation, then your father's news network gets the story right from the start. It looks like the droids travelled all the way from Shinara. They had to have known about this in advance. There's no way they could just be there by coincidence. Somebody told Mekinet News there was going to be a major combat operation at Havers Compound today. It doesn't look good on any of us, however you look at it.'
'I had nothing to do with that. I had no idea those net-feed droids were going to be here.'
'I'm not accusing you of anything, Rachel. I believe you, but this is not about me. Thompson has ordered me to get you back to Central Command at once.'
'Fine. I'll return as soon as we've cleared the building.'
'The order is for you to return immediately.'
'What is wrong with her?'
'You'll have to ask her that yourself. This is just how it is. We both have a job to do. We need to respect the chain of command, even if we don't like it. Do you want me to tell Commander Chambers you've been recalled?'
'Why? I'll tell him myself. He's my commanding officer.'
'Okay. You tell him. I just thought—'
'The past is done. Nick is my commanding officer. That's all there is to it.'
'Okay. I'll tell Thompson you're on your way.'
The comms link disconnected.
Rachel let out a long sigh. Gail Thompson was the bane of her life. Why couldn't the woman leave her alone? Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft shuffling noise to her right. When she turned, she found a Kamari soldier sneaking up behind her with a knife.
Leaping towards him, she threw a high kick at his head. The knife darted towards her torso, but Rachel's kick caught him across the arm as he raised it. The knife flew out of his hand, bouncing off the opposite wall and landing on the floor at his feet. He stumbled backwards, surprised by her quick reactions, but it wasn't long before his eyes flashed with anger, and he lunged towards her once more, trying to grab her neck with both hands. Rachel turned sideways, pulling his head down onto her rising knee. The two collided with a reassuring crack, spraying blood across the floor. She held his head in position as she slammed her knee into his face twice more. It wasn't long before his body went limp and his legs crumpled, tipping him onto the floor.
She stepped over his body and strode down the corridor, muttering curses under her breath. Part of her felt sorry for the soldier. He had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She couldn't get Gail Thompson out of her head.
It took Rachel ten minutes to find Nick. He kept moving from his previous reported location. When she finally tracked him down, she strode towards him, trying to control the anger that stained her thoughts. The sound of laughing soldiers in the adjoining room clashed with her troubled mood.
Nick climbed across an overturned table and approached her across the rubble-strewn floor. He looked apprehensive, though he had no reason to be. She had a strong sense of intuition, and at times, she could almost read Nick's thoughts without looking at him. Right now, she knew he was worried, but underneath, there was a deep sense of despair inside him. She wondered what would happen to him if he didn't straighten himself out.
He nodded in her direction as she approached.
'Any news?' she said.
'Nothing new.' He said, rubbing a hand across the fresh stubble that adorned his chin. His eyes were full of questions, but he didn't ask any of them.
Rachel stood facing him, 'Thompson has sent new orders. I have to return to Central Command.'
'Because of the droids?' Nick said. There was a note of surprise in his voice.
'Yes, because of my father. Thompson thinks I have something to do with how Mekinet News knew we were coming.'
'That's the stupidest thing I've heard for a long time,' Nick said, 'and I've heard a lot of dumb things coming out of her mouth.'
'Thompson has never liked me. I've been a major for seven years, while others have made commander in three. She should know I don't have anything to do with this. My father would never knowingly put my life at risk. You know he wouldn't. She really hasn't thought it through. I don't think she cares too much about the facts anymore. She just wants someone to blame whenever something goes wrong.'
Nick frowned. His head was a thundercloud of thoughts to Rachel. It made her want to pull away from him, to distance herself from the chaos inside him. She didn't like the way her own thoughts resonated when she was around him. It was like standing next to a massive church bell, listening to its tireless toll as it swung back and forth forever, tormented by some unseen rope.
'Did your father know you were on this combat operation?' Nick said.
'No, of course not. That's classified information. He doesn't even know I was transferred to Beacon Station. He thinks I'm still at Central Command. He doesn't like me working on the outlying stations. He's said it many times before. He thinks they're too dangerous for his only daughter. He still doesn't understand that I'm old enough to take care of myself.'
'Every father wants to protect their daughter,' Nick said from behind dark sunken eyes. 'It's only because he loves you. I'm sure he wouldn't hurt you for anything. But if he thinks you are not here, then maybe he wouldn't care so much about the rest of us. Let's face it, I was never on his list of favourites. One less commander might improve your chances of promotion anyway.'
Rachel gave Nick a warning look, 'My father's not a monster. He worked hard to get where he is. There's nothing wrong with being successful. You didn't make much of an effort to know him when you had the chance.'
'He must have known what would happen if he sent net-feed droids into a combat zone. He doesn't care about the consequences, so long as it makes for a good story.'
'I don't think it was him,' Rachel said.
'Who else could it be? Who else has the power to authorise something like that?'
Rachel shook her head, 'I don't know, but I'm going to find out.' She looked Nick in the eyes, and then turned and walked away. She could feel something dark growing inside him. There was nothing she could do about it. He carried his fate in his own hands. 'Be careful, Nick,' she said under her breath.
Nick called after her, 'Rachel, You're not going now are you? Can't you wait until all this is over?'
'I have no choice.'
Nick's face twisted in anguish, deep lines forming on his forehead. The room seemed to dim around him. 'Can't you at least wait until we've cleared the building?'
'Thompson wants me back immediately. She made that perfectly clear.'
'She doesn't fucking care, does she? She doesn't care about any of us. We're all just pawns in some stupid game to her.'
Shots rang out in an adjacent room. Soldiers shouted something, but their words were drowned out by gunfire. The Kamari were back.
Nick glanced towards the noise before turning to face her once more. He looked like a trapped animal. She couldn't bear it when he got like this.
'Go if you must,' he said. 'Edwards is dead. It looks like the Beacon Attack force should be called the Nick Chambers Attack Force.'
'That isn't fair. You know I have no choice. I'm not leaving you alone. Commander Rodnig is h
ere and he brought plenty of reinforcements. I'd be staying too if it wasn't for Thompson's orders. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with her.'
The sounds of fighting grew louder behind them, two short blasts shaking the ground. Smoke drifted down the corridor, forming pools across the ceiling. Nick pulled Rachel away from the doorway but she tugged her arm free, stepping back just as a member of the Security Forces stumbled between them. Flames roared across his padded jacket, and his eyes blistered in the heat of the flames. A broken cry escaped his lips as he collapsed on the floor in front of them. It was too late to do anything for him.
Rachel turned away from the gruesome sight. 'I'm going,' she said. 'Talk to Rodnig. Don't try to do this on your own.'
She turned and walked away, leaving Nick struggling with his endless internal anguish. She quickened her pace as the rooms behind her resonated with increasing gunfire.
Satellite-grid Controller
Nick strode through Havers Compound, carrying anger like a heavy stone around his neck. He had just fought his way out of a three-way gunfight, and was running low on ammunition. It was lucky that more Security Forces had turned up before he had been overpowered. Too often his fate had rested on blind luck. He couldn't shake off the feeling that events were spiralling out of control, that no matter what decisions he made, or what actions he took, some unseen force was pulling him towards an impending disaster. He didn't want to think about it. He already had too many doubts swirling around inside his head.
Edwards was dead, Rachel had been recalled back to Central Command. Out of the three Crocs that made up the Beacon Attack Force, one had been destroyed, and two were damaged beyond any hope of repair. The remaining members of all three crews were spread out across Havers Compound, mixed among the reinforcements. The situation was out of control.
Thompson had failed to warn him that the Kamari had access to a satellite platform. She had recalled his key remaining officer, knowing that Edwards was already dead. She hadn't told him that reinforcements were on their way, and she hadn't ordered the other commanders to coordinate their efforts with his, even though she knew he was leading the Beacon Attack Force. It wasn't only Rachel that Thompson didn't like. She didn't like him either. He didn't know whether she didn't like him because of his connection with Rachel, or if she didn't like Rachel because of her connection with him, but either way, it left them both in an awkward position. Having such a poor working relationship with the head of Central Command meant that neither of them was ever likely to be treated well.
Information Cloud: Science fiction and fantasy series (Tales of Cinnamon City Book 1) Page 17
