by Kai O'Connal
The man turned to face them in the calm, precise way Elijah recognized as the mark of a career military man. The uniform’s perfectly fitted shell jacket bore no medals. The only decoration was the three silver stars on each of its shoulder boards. Hands still behind his back, the man walked across the room to stand before them. He had hard, angular features; clean, if not handsome. A long scar ran down the left side of his face from forehead to chin, crossing the eye socket, and cutting deep into his cheek.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, “those visionary men were outvoted.”
He stood there for a moment, sizing them up. Elijah took the opportunity to do the same, noting the Colt 2066 heavy pistol in a holster at his right side and the knife tucked into a sheath on his right boot.
“I’m sorry,” the man said at last, smiling like an old friend. “Where are my manners? My name is General Dean Rijkard. Welcome to Bridgeview. Come, have some coffee.”
Rijkard moved over to a table and chairs set up under one of the courtroom’s tall windows, where a silver coffeepot and cups were set out. Rijkard sat in one of the chairs and motioned for Elijah and Leung to do the same. “I don’t believe I got your names.”
“My name is Elijah and this is Leung,” Elijah said as he sat down.
As he settled into his seat, Elijah tried to message Leung to check for local networks. In response he received a piercing squeal that tore through his head, making him grimace and put a hand to his ear.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Elijah,” Rijkard said. “Were you trying to contact someone? I’m afraid we have a strict policy about comm use in the courthouse. So much more civilized to just talk the old-fashioned way—it avoids so many unpleasant misunderstandings. We’ve found that scrambling all comm signals is the easiest way to deal with it.” He even sounded fairly earnest about it.
Elijah gave Leung a quick look, but the general saw it. “Your friend here is a hacker, yes? Well, I wouldn’t bother. I doubt our conversation will take long, and the IC we have in our host will probably prove a bit of a challenge. Why not just sit back and enjoy some good old-fashioned, face-to-face conversation?”
Rijkard reached out, poured coffee into each of the cups, and then lifted his own to take a sip. “Ah, now that’s good stuff.” He set his cup back down. “So, what brings you to our little town?”
“We have information that the Aleph Society has established a storage facility inside your territory,” Elijah said.
“You don’t say?” Rijkard raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair. “Well, if that’s true, it sounds like I’ll need to have a little talk with our security teams. Having those corruptors operating inside our borders won’t do at all.” The general leaned forward, staring hard at Elijah. “I assume you have proof? A location, perhaps?”
“Yes,” Elijah said. “We do. And we’re willing to share this information with you, but we’d like something in exchange.”
“Ah,” Rijkard said. “A businessman. Very well. What do you want in return? And do try the coffee. Fresh brewed! Beans shipped up from Aztlán. Who says those southern bastards aren’t good for anything, eh?”
“Yes, well,” Elijah said, not taking the offered coffee. “We need to get into the Society facility and we need a little uninterrupted time inside. Even more importantly, we need someone to distract the security when it’s time to get out.”
“And you want me to send some of my men up there to serve as this ‘distraction’ for you, am I right?”
“That’s right.”
“And I assume you’ll want us to coordinate this strike with the little operation you have planned.”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, we’d like to do this tonight.”
Rijkard leaned back again and rubbed his chin. “I’ve got to be honest, Elijah. It sounds as if you need us more than we need you. I mean, now that I know those Society pigs have a compound somewhere within my borders, it’s just a matter of going building-to-building until I flush them out. No real need to work with you at all, is there?”
Elijah had been afraid of this. He’d hoped that the information would be enough to convince Rijkard. If the Brigade didn’t take the bait, the whole mission might be over before it even began.
Rijkard suddenly flashed that dangerously disarming smile again. “But don’t worry—I believe you and I can come to an agreement. After all, we’re both civilized people, aren’t we?”
Elijah shifted uncomfortably. “Of course. However, I’m not sure what else we can offer you.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem.” Rijkard got up from his chair, walked over to the window and pulled aside the curtain. He peered out into the darkness, and then turned back to face the two men.
“I believe my men reported that you gentlemen are traveling with two … distinct specimens.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kyrie stood alone on the tenth floor balcony of the abandoned apartment building. The only sounds she heard were Leung and Elijah checking over the gear in the apartment behind her. A cool breath of spring air whispered across her skin. It smelled smoky, with acrid, chemical overtones she had grown accustomed to in Seattle. She closed her eyes and breathed deep, the odors pulling memories out of her brain until she could almost smell the burning flesh and hear the screams echoing in the basement of a distant pyramid.
She opened her eyes and shook her head. That was not a memory she wanted to have on her mind right now. She was happy to see Elijah approaching, as it would give her the chance to think of something else.
“You ready?” he asked when he reached her.
“Are Pineapple and Cao in position?” She didn’t look at him, but instead gazed over the darkened grid of streets below. The only light came from the fenced Aleph Society compound. Somewhere out there, their other teammates were sitting in Cao’s van, hidden from Aleph’s security people—she hoped—and waiting to pull them out of the compound when the time came.
“Yes,” Elijah said. “They’re in an alley just over a block from the compound.”
Kyrie just nodded before stepping back into the apartment. The ruined furniture here had collapsed in on itself, and the scattered detritus of daily life that covered the floor was slowly fading into a lumpy mass of plastic, metal, and dust. She looked again at the faded pictures hanging crooked on the wall; smiling faces engaged in weddings, posing for school photos, or just standing with arms around one another.
“Hey, Kyrie.” Leung didn’t look up from making the final adjustments to the grapnel launcher. He’d finally abandoned his rags for a suit of light combat armor. “Hand me that second spool, will you?”
Kyrie shook out her arms and hands, trying to drive away stray thoughts. She bent down, grabbed the spool of microwire, and carried it to Leung.
“Thanks, beautiful.” Leung took the spool and shoved it onto the grapnel launcher’s secondary spindle with a grunt. He leaned back on his heels and slapped his hands together. “That should do it. We’re ready.”
Elijah approached and surveyed the gear. “And you definitely can’t do any more with the Matrix security? You don’t think Cao’s spider drone tapped the wrong line?”
“It’s the right line, but there’s nothing there except basic infrastructure controls,” Leung said. “If there happens to be something else hidden there, I’ll find it.”
Elijah shook his head as he bent down to grab a pair of zipriders. “I don’t like it.”
Leung shrugged. “Hey, I’m not the only one running blind here. It would be awfully nice if you could scope the place out in the astral. Maybe get one of your spirit buddies to check it out before we go?”
Elijah shook his head. “Sorry, but there’s something wrong with the mana here. I don’t think playing in the astral around here would be healthy, and I definitely don’t want to submit one of my spirits to it.”
Kyrie picked up her own ziprider while Leung hefted the grapnel launcher. “Not much we can do now,” she said. “Just run the plan and
be ready for whatever gets thrown at us.”
Leung carried the launcher over to the balcony and unfolded its tripod legs. Kyrie helped him bolt it to the floor, then hooked the backup cables to the anchors they’d set into the wall.
“Want to do the honors?” he asked.
“Why not?” Stepping behind the launcher, she popped the control panel open. She heard the high-pitched whine of the display warming up and saw the soft glow as the targeting reticle appeared on the screen in front of her. Grasping the handles on either side, she lined up the shot, then opened a channel to Cao.
Kyrie squeezed the triggers. With a pop of compressed air, the folded grapnel exploded from its housing and sailed into the night. The cable spools spun furiously, squealing as the line played out. Abruptly, the spinning stopped and the spools wound back, tightening the line. Kyrie gave the control panel a cursory check, hopped up, and slapped her ziprider onto the cable, hearing the comforting snap of the resistors locking.
“See you down there, boys.” Grabbing the ziprider’s handles, she hopped off the balcony. A heartbeat later she was whisking down through the night air. The only sounds were the wind whipping past her and the hiss of the ziprider racing along the line.
The trip took less than five seconds. She flew past the compound’s outer fence and then over the well-lit space surrounding the main building. A second later, she was over the roof of the five-story main building.
The auto-control on the ziprider was already slowing her descent, but Kyrie let go of the grips and arced into a dive. As the roof rushed up, the adept cushioned her fall with outstretched hands and artfully curled into a ball. She rolled across the roof, then pushed off with her feet, flipped through the air, and landed gracefully upright.
Grinning, Kyrie scanned the roof.
A moment later Elijah arrived, but unlike Kyrie, he waited until the ziprider stopped before dropping the couple feet to the roof. Leung followed, and soon they were gathered in the shadows of a huge cooling unit next to a roof access hatch.
Leung stared at the hatch for a moment. “It’s an off-the-shelf lock. No network connection. Give me a second.”
Kyrie had pulled her Ingram Smartgun and held it ready, scanning the roof as Leung’s eyes took on the far-off stare of a person whose attention was focused on something in AR rather than the real world.
Cao sent.
Elijah and Kyrie exchanged concerned glances.
“Hope they don’t get impatient,” Kyrie said. “We don’t want this place going on alert before we reach the vault.”
“Rijkard said he’d wait for my signal,” Elijah said. “That was the deal.”
Leung sat up straight and grinned. “We’re in.” He flipped the latch and pulled the hatch it open. “And I’m not picking up any sec systems in the hall.”
“That doesn’t sound right.” Kyrie leaned over and looked down through the hatch. “There’s no ladder here. That’s screwed up.”
The space below opened onto a long, darkened hallway with doors at regular intervals along the way. At the far end, an exit sign glowed in the darkness.
“Looks clear.” She dropped inside.
The hallway was silent and there was no sign of life—in fact, it didn’t seem like anyone had been here recently. Kyrie reached down and swept her gloved finger along the floor. It came up coated with a layer of dust.
Kyrie took a couple of slow steps down the hall. Approaching the nearest door, she gave it a push and it swung open with a creak. The room behind it was empty except for a few loose papers scattered on the floor. Kyrie picked up one as Elijah, whom she’d heard drop into the hall with Leung a moment earlier, came into the room.
“What is it?” he asked.
She handed him the glossy document. “Aleph Society flyer. At least we know they were here once.”
Elijah turned the flyer over before tossing it back onto the floor.
“You do realize that if they’re not here any more, we’re screwed,” Kyrie said. “Rijkard won’t be too thrilled if we turn over an empty office building.”
“We need to find the vault and see if Marick lied to us,” Elijah said. “Let’s go.”
“Dammit,” Elijah cursed. “They’re moving in too soon. We need to speed this up.”
Leung held up a hand. “Hold up. Power surge down in the loading dock. Doors opening and closing. Lights going on.”
Kyrie glanced at Elijah. “Go there first?”
He shook his head. “No. We stick with the plan.”
Kyrie led the way as they jogged down the hall to the door under the exit sign. After Leung verified that it wasn’t alarmed, Kyrie pushed it open, checked the stairwell, then headed down the stairs, Ingram in front of her with every step. They made it all the way to the basement without encountering a single sign of life. Again, Leung checked the door. Again, there were no alarms. Kyrie reached for it when a message from Pineapple popped up.
“We need to keep moving,” Elijah said.
“Got it,” Kyrie replied. She pushed through the door, gun ready. Another darkened hallway lined with more doors. She moved quickly down the passage, checking the doorways as she passed and finding empty office after empty office. She finally came to another hall with a single door at the end. “This is it. That is, assuming anything Marick told us was true.”
“Only one way to find out,” Leung said.
Kyrie jogged toward the door, Leung and Elijah close behind. When they arrived Leung checked it. “Locked—give me a minute.”
The seconds ticked by until he finally stood back and exhaled with relief. “I got it, but that was a very good lock. Or skill. Point is, it took some tricky little hacks to get in.”
Kyrie grabbed the handle and swung the door open. On the other side was a large room lined with row upon row of shelves. All the shelves were empty except for a few lone boxes.
Elijah approached the nearest box and swatted it to the floor. “Empty. Let’s get to the vault.”
They raced between the shelves to the far end of the room and the enormous steel door set into the wall. A datapad was set into the concrete beside it, the buttons glowing green.
“Think you can handle this?” Elijah asked.
“A Luster 356-A,” Leung said. “It’s a beast, but I can do it. I might need a couple minutes.”
“I’ll let Cao and Pineapple know,” Elijah said.
“Hold on.” Reaching out, Kyrie grabbed the
door and yanked. It swung slowly outward.
“Damn,” Leung said. “That takes all the fun out of it.”
They stepped into the vault and looked around. Elijah said what was on all their minds.
“Empty.”
Leung looked crestfallen. “I’m sorry, Elijah. I swear Marick checked out.”
Elijah kicked a box lying on the floor and sent it rattling off into the corner. “I don’t think it was Marick. They knew someone was coming for it and they moved it again.”
“You think they closed this entire place down because of the map?” Kyrie said.
Elijah stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the bare walls. “Let’s go ask.”
Elijah sprinted out of the vault, with Kyrie and Leung close behind.
CHAPTER TWELVE
General Dean Rijkard sat in the passenger seat of his heavily armored Watcher SUV, tracking his men’s movements. The overlay map hung in the air in front of him, its multitude of little red dots flitting around in the AR display produced by his cybernetic eyes. Next to him, the young girl he’d selected as his personal driver sat quietly, hands on the wheel and ready to do anything he commanded.
Sometimes things just fell into place. He’d already known about the Aleph Society compound, of course. In fact, he marveled that these shadowrunners had assumed he hadn’t known. This was his home, after all. A man knows what is going on under his own roof. But to have these five show up and give him the excuse he’d been needing to mount the operation was truly a gift from God.
And driving that wonderful vehicle, loaded with valuable and hard-to-find electronics. And the guns, oh, those beautiful guns, all delivered right to his doorstep. Yes, truly his was a blessed endeavor.
A murmur rose from the backseat. He turned to glance at the elven woman slumped there, her face lit only by the little green light on the shock collar around her neck. Her eyes were rolled back in her shaved head, her mouth hanging open slightly to reveal her two remaining teeth. Drool dripped from a corner of her thin lips.
