Chapter 15: The Entry
They had been working slowly all morning. No one except Lamile, Mitch, and her adult chaperons knew what was going to happen. She didn’t want any of the kids to know that they were close to rescuing her Aunt. She didn’t want her kids to know that Hozenbur was so close. She had set things up so she would do the house that they thought Hozenbur was in. She had rearranged her team so that she had only older kids with her. She had wanted Rhonda to be her back up so she didn’t have to bring Mitch in. She couldn’t as Rhonda was needed as one of the team captains as did the other cadet officers that were with them. Then as she thought about it; she wanted Mitch. She had learned to trust the sometimes shy and soft spoken Mitch. Mitch was like a rock at times. Rhonda on the other hand sometimes seemed to let her emotions get the better of her. She had requested that Mitch be released from her duties to be her back up. When Mitch got in Lamile had taken her aside and told her what the deal was, and had sworn her to silence. She was finding that Mitch knew how to keep her mouth shut and she was very loyal to her and Jill. The last thing she asked Mitch, “Can you do this?”
Mitch had thought for a moment flexed her back, it was almost pain free. The fatigue the injury had caused was almost nonexistent. But even if there was pain, even if her injury tried to prevent her from accomplishing her duties, there was nothing in the world that would stop her from helping to find her friend’s mother. She looked in Lamile’s eye and said, “Try to stop me! I owe that much to Jill!”
“Let’s get this done,” Lamile had said. With that the two young women went and joined their team.
The entire morning had been tense. She had just wanted to go directly to the house and knock on the door. But she knew better. So she watched her kids work the other side of the street between doing her own assessments and walking between the houses. Finally they were ready. Mitch had a hand on her belt as she approached the door. As she was about to knock on the door she looked down and saw Lieutenant Jones cat at their feet. He had been with them all morning as if he was keeping an eye on them. He was almost underfoot at times. As she observed the cat, she thought she saw the cat blend in with its surroundings.
The Black Guardsmen who was her driver and chaperon had pulled the hover jeep up to just easy eyesight of the door. He even had his sidearm out laying it beside him on the seat, ready to go. Just out of Lamile’s eyesight was an APC containing the Trojack HRT. Should she get in trouble they would make an entry to get her to safety. As she approached the door she tapped her ear twice and heard Alice say, “Connectivity is good Major. We’re ready!”
Hozenbur had been watching the kids check the houses across the street. She had heard that cadets from the Queen’s Own Royal Corps of Cadets were checking abandoned buildings to be sure that they were abandoned. She hadn’t been out of the house in a day or so and hadn’t seen what they were doing until this morning. The Evacuation Command always posted whattheir been posted streets they were going to work each day on the Evac net. But on nnot just the Evac net; but only on the law enforcement network; butand also on the news nets schedule so people would know what was going on. For some reason she hadn’t heard they were going to work her neighborhood. She had thought about offering the kids some drinks,; but changed her mind; she didn’t want to have eyes seeing too much of her. She knew her face had been posted not onlyto the law enforcement nets; but also the general news nets. She thought of not opening the door; but saw they were opening doors and going into the abandoned home when no one came to open the door. She had no choice but to answer the door when they knocked. She opened the door and saw kids.
“Oh hello,” The young Thonian said, “We didn’t think this house was occupied.”
“For a little while yet.” the sixty year old slender woman replied, “I go at the end. I am on one of the last lift. So I just stayed in my home.”
“Okay then,” Lamile took out a data pad and began to write on it. “Who are you? I need to enter this into my notes so that you won’t be bothered again.”
“Martha Livermore. I am a widow.” Martha said. “I live alone.”
“I see,” Lamile said as he ear bug came alive. “Lamile I am in the back of the house. I am behind a force field that I can’t disable. There appears to be no self-destruct. It is a prison style containment field. What is Sergeant Jones cat doing in here?”
“Okay, Mrs. Livermore,” Lamile heard her aunt, trying not to let on she had hear her, she said, “I think we got everything. I am required to tell you that should you not be here for transportation to your departure point, or miss your evacuation date the Crown will not try to find you. That you are on your own after that date!”
She handed the paper she had been told to give anyone they found in the houses.
“I understand,” Martha said taking the paper from Lamile’s hand. The kids left going to the next house.
The kids did the whole street. It was maddening, Lamile wanted to clear off to get her people out of danger. Especially as her aunt was keeping a steady narrative while they were in range. She asked when she was out of ear shot of Hozenbur, “Okay got it all Aunt LisaLisa,. are you okay?”
“Yes,” Lisa answered, “It’s good to hear you.”
“It is good to hear you too!” Lamile responded, “I may be out of range in a bit so I’ll make this short we’ll be getting you out. Hang on it won’t be long!”
Lisa couldn’t believe her luck that she had been found. But hearing Lamile also frightened her, as she didn’t know what was going on. As she lost connectively with the Thonian teenager she hoped that they wouldn’t be long in getting her out.
Lamile was tense. She was afraid that her conversation with her aunt had been over heard by Hozenbur. She knew that her aunt had an implant that allowed her access to computer and communications systems, but wasn’t certain that her aunt’s captor could monitor it.
Mitch heard only Lamile’s side of the conversation as they searched the rest of the street. As the cadets searched the rest of vacant houses on the street Mitch stayed with Lamile outside sending the cadets in. She knew that her friend was greatly distracted and she had to run the team for Major Atomi. Thankfully they found no one else in any of the houses.
When they finally got to the end of the street, Lamile found her mother waiting for her, with Lady Hawthorne.
“You did good,” Lamile was fiercely hugged by her mother. “Mitch, thank you.”
“You’re welcomed,” Mitch replied, she had come a long way from the time she had been assaulted in the Trenaport Children’s Shelter. Lamile had been one of the reasons she had made so much progress.
“Major Hawthorne, get them out of here!” Mylea commanded
“Aye-aye,” Lady Hawthorne said. “Come on Lamile. We’ll go to the fire house. I am sure Mr. Kellogg will want to talk with you.”
Lamile nodded. She looked around for the Lieutenant’s cat and didn’t see it. “Mitch do you see Bugs?”
“No. I haven’t seen him since before we did the house where Lady Wilson is being kept.” Mitch said looking for the cat also, “He must be in there!”
“Lieutenant Jones will kill us!” Lamile said.
“It is okay Lamile,” Lamile heard the Lieutenant’s voice in here ear bug, “Bugs is doing his job. He’ll be okay.”
“Okay then,” Lamile touched her ear bug. “Did you hear Aunt Lisa?”
“Yes,” The lieutenant answered, “We’ll see you in a bit.”
She followed the commandant to the jeep and soon they were at the fire house. When she got to the fire house she found the Trojack team mounting up. They had drawn the entry and extraction. They had wanted to be the ones to rescue Lady Wilson. They didn’t think they would get to do it; but the house was in their sector, and the other teams had been deployed for the over watch of the cadets. If they had moved out of their spots, they might be seen. They had the house bottled up. The Mounties had the back of the house, the Black Guard had the left sid
e and the Companions had the right side. One squad of the Mounties and one squad of the Companions were the backup team.
Crandle was ready.
“Major Atomi,” Crandall called as he saw the cadet, “We saw the images from your camera. Is there anything they didn’t tell us?”
“I don’t know! Did you hear Aunt Lisa talking to me?” Lamile asked, “She told me she was in there.”
“We not only heard her Lamile,” Alice Jones came up to where Trojack entry team was prepping. “She gave us this.” Alice had been monitoring Lamile very carefully. She wanted to be able to tell the over watch team to get her out if things went crazy. As she was listening and watching Lamile, she noticed that there was a second data signal over laid on the audio. When she took it apart she had found pictures of what Lady Wilson had seen of the house. She had also sent a Ccomplete set of images photos of the containment system that kept her locked upLady Wilson in. AliceShe shared them with the team.
“Bugs has managed to roam the house a bit,” Alice said. Unknown to Lamile and Mitch, Bugs was a robot. She had ordered Bugs to infiltrate the house when Hozenbur answered the door. “We now have a direct link with Lady Wilson’s implant. We’ll be able to tell her to duck and cover as you go in. Bugs has found a couple of hand guns, one assault riffle. He hasn’t found any heavy weapons, and Lady Wilson confirms there are no others in the house. Lady Wilson hasn’t seen any heavy weapons in the house either.”
“Can Bugs create a distraction,” Crandle asked.
“Bugs has dropped off a ‘bot on the electrical panel,” Alice replied, “When you knock, the lights will go off. Bugs is trying to infiltrate the force field panel. There he’s in.” Alice appeared to be working the robot from a remote terminal, "I’ll have Bugs make a pest of himself a few seconds before you enter. I can have him to try to get Hozenbur to go to the door right before you hit it. Then as you hit the door, he’ll get in between her legs and trip her. You can go in anytime you want. I have the back and front doors.”
“We need to go in fast and furious!” Crandall said, “Randy, you have the key.”
“Yes sir,” an Alpha clone patted a three inch diameter, three feet long pipe with four handles. Capped with a solid looking plate. Someone had written ‘Universal Key!’ on it. He commented, “Me and baby will get that door open!”
“Lieutenant, I know you can defeat locks; but I think just for effect and disorientation, when you defeat the lock, Randy will open the door as violently as possible. And then we go in as practiced. I’ll be last in the stick with the medic behind me. While you guys take Hozie down, we get Lady Wilson out.”
“Crandall,” Mylea having come in with the last of the cadets spoke up, “I want Hozenbur alive. She has killed several people on this world and she will be tried for the criminal she is. She gets the Queen’s Justice.”
“Chief,” Crandall said returning the ice cold stare of the Chief, “That lady has murdered thousands of clones, and has been responsible for the repression of hundreds of thousands of others. I want that bitch. But I want her to be brought up on charges to show biopeople all over the Eempire, that some of us who worked for the company are moral, ethical people and don’t support animals like Hozenbur. She is going before the Queen’s Bench. Where if the Crown Attorney does his job right, the woman will be found guilty and executed. My team hasn’t lost a suspect yet. I don’t intend to now. But we both know that Hozenbur may have other ideas.”
“I know you know your business Mr. Crandall.” Mylea said formally, “I’ve seen you work. I know what you can do. I am not questioning your abilities. I have a duty to the People of Trena to make sure we are all on the same page.”
“Chief Atomi,” Crandall as he stood to his full six foot two inches, “I understand. Mount up people!”
As they walked out to the truck they found the Queen and Francine, Lady Wilson’s personal assistant, walking into the fire station.
“Your majesty, please tell me that Mike isn’t with you!” Mylea asked.
“No, General Langtree picked him up a while ago,” The Queen answered, “The General wanted to go over some paper work with him, and General Langtree suggested that they catch a meal at the Fletcher O club while they discuss it.”
“Okay.” Mylea said. “Black Guard to me!”
“Yes ma’am,” A lieutenant came up to where the XO was standing. He was the secondary team leader for the guard. The primary team had the over watch on the street where Hozenbur’s safe house was.
“Your mission has been changed! You are to stay with the Queen, at least one team.” Mylea said sharply turning to the young queen, “Later I will discuss with the Queen how her presence here is not the brightest thing I have ever seen her do.”
“I know Mylea,” the Qqueen replied, “I know. But shouldn’t you be back at the Evac command post not here also.”
Princess Carroll wearing fatigues and weapons came up at that time. She was about to say something to both women, about that none of them should be there, (Maybe even herself), when she heard a chuckle behind her. She turned with the two others to see Lamile smiling at them, “Mom, Your majesty, Princess. I will remember the example you are have setting, when I become in charge.”
“Let’s get out of the shooters way,” The Mylea said shaking her head. She hoped her daughter would never be faced with this situation.
They went and stood with the medics waiting for the word that Lisa was safe. As they were standing there Francine, who had come in with the Queen, giaven the medics a small overnight bag. “This is for Lady Wilson when you get her out. It’s her own clothing. Maggie sent them over.”
The medic made sure it was on the armored ambulance that had been stagedpotted at the fire house. It was only seconds away from They thought it made more sense to have it nearby incase. Hozenbur’s safe house.
Every Last Mother's Child Page 219
