Jytte's eyes glazed for a moment, then cleared. "Incredible," she said in a low voice. "If that doesn't get us through the gates, nothing will."
Roche knew what the woman was seeing: an Enforcer in full uniform where the young Surin had once sat. Only an illusion — with the detail that Maii's knowledge lacked filled in by Jytte's own imagination — but a convincing one nonetheless.
"Enough," said Roche. "Don't wear her out."
Roche shook her head uneasily. She didn't like it. Even though it had been her idea, she wasn't comfortable with using epsense on the battlefield. The talent was too ephemeral, too contingent on Maii's state of mind to depend upon absolutely. She would much rather have a squadron of Intelligence agents behind her than one young girl, talented or not. Relying so heavily on one person unnerved her.
Cane's voice cut across her thoughts. "Not far now."
Leaning forward and peering past Haid's and Emmerik's heads, Roche could see the main gates in the distance — wide open, as she had hoped; more laxity. Once through the gates and past the guardhouse, they could accelerate across the front lawns and parking lot, through the MiCom building's front windows and to the base of the target stairwell within thirty seconds. Haid and the others would have the MiCom doors blown and be inside the first level within a further ten seconds. Cane and his single companion would have penetrated the admin building within the same period.
The main problem would be getting through the gate and past the guardhouse without arousing suspicion. If a firefight broke out in that area, they were likely to lose.
And, in this instance, losing meant that they were dead.
She silently reaffirmed her vow: whatever it took to reach Intelligence HQ, she would do it. Her mission was the most important thing on this world. If she could help others along the way, then that was just an added bonus.
"Traffic," said Emmerik suddenly, breaking the silence. The Mbatan was watching the road behind them via an external mirror on his side of the van. "One groundcar. Not sure where it came from. Didn't spot it until a few seconds ago."
Roche clambered to the van's rear window. Sure enough, a wide-nosed vehicle cruised steadily behind them.
She felt a surge of alarm when she saw how close the car actually was — and how quickly it was closing the gap between them.
Haid began to accelerate, trying to maintain a constant distance between the two vehicles.
"Do you think it could be a problem?" she asked.
"I'm not sure." Haid's eyes flicked from the mirror to the road and back again. "Maii?"
Maii's invisible gaze drifted out to infinity as Haid continued to accelerate. Roche watched her, acutely conscious of the main gates drawing closer with every second.
the reave said.
"Damn." Haid's foot went down all the way on the accelerator. The van's ancient automatic transmission kicked into a lower gear as their acceleration became more urgent. Roche felt the first trickle of sweat begin to edge down her spine.
She leaned over to touch Maii's shoulder. "Anything else?" she asked.
said the girl to all of them, not just Roche.
Roche's hand gripped tighter. "What?"
And as she said it, a large blue truck emerged from cover on the far side of the security fence. It turned ponderously onto the road and jerked to halt in full view. Several armed figures leapt from it and scurried for position.
Haid cursed loudly, urging the van faster with his words.
"They're on the other side of the gates," Roche said. "We can still go in."
"But they'll be ready for us by the time we get there," Haid retorted. "Someone must have tipped them off."
The van had almost reached the gates, but there was still no movement from Enforcement. Before Roche could respond to Haid's comment, a single uniformed figure ambled slowly from the gatehouse to see what was going on.
"No ... " Relief parted her lips into a wide grin. "Enforcement doesn't know we're coming! The Dato have tried to do this alone."
The rebel leader studied the movements of the Enforcer for the briefest of moments before saying: "Agreed. That gives us an edge. Maii, keep tabs on that Enforcer. Don't let her sound the alarm. If we can make it past the Dato, our plan still holds."
The reave nodded once.
Behind the van, the groundcar continued to close, but not quickly enough to reach them short of the gates. The group blocking the road on the far side of the fence had spread out. It was going to be tight.
The Enforcer from the gatehouse stood transfixed, watching their approach. She was unarmoured and didn't seem overly concerned at what was occurring around her.
"Good," Roche encouraged. "Keep it up just a little longer, Maii."
"Push her harder," suggested Cane. "Make her worry about the Dato presence, why they are threatening an official vehicle."
Maii nodded again.
Roche watched the lone Enforcer at the gate more closely. Within seconds, the woman turned to shout to other Enforcers inside the gatehouse. Two joined her, and a hurried conversation ensued between Enforcement and the Dato landing party. As the van approached, Roche could make out both anger and confusion on the faces of the Enforcers.
Maii said.
"Just a few seconds more," shot back Haid. "That's all we need."
Roche gripped the metal base of the bench as the gate loomed ahead of them. Too late, the Enforcers on the other side realised that they had been tricked — that what they had thought to be an official vehicle was actually nothing more than a worn-out solar van. Two dived for cover, the third stood stunned, and behind her the Dato finally raised their weapons.
Haid spun the steering wheel. Roche heard him manipulate the rear brakes, felt the back of the van slew around to the left, saw the gates swing into view through the front window. The van lurched forward as Haid's foot crashed down once again on the accelerator. With barely a moment to spare, the third Enforcer leapt out of the way.
In a barely controlled slide, the van sideswiped the front of the gatehouse, peeling off the armoured paneling and sending it flying ahead of them as they screamed through the gates. Roche lifted a pistol and used the butt to punch through the side window, then quickly fired at the one Enforcer who had the presence of mind to take a shot at them. She hit him square in the chest, saw him topple and fall, then swung her gaze back to the front. Fifty metres ahead she saw Enforcers pour from the main guardhouse.
Roche exchanged the pistol for a percussion rifle and set it to scatter. She saw Emmerik toss something out of the passenger window and also grab a percussion rifle. In unison, they began pumping charge after charge at the emerging Enforcers.
She had a brief view of figures scattering and snapped off a few more shots. Then they were past, crashing through a low perimeter fence and bouncing over the edge of the parking area. As they careened directly toward the front of the main complex, Roche made out the few people visible through the wide windows already running for cover.
She glanced behind the van and saw the pursuing groundcar swing through the gates, narrowly avoiding a collision with the rest of the Dato squad.
Then a brilliant explosion blossomed under the front of the leading vehicle: a pressure mine, dropped by Emmerik as they drove through. Through the flash and sudden roiling smoke, the groundcar climbed up and sideways, rising metres into the air, twisting as it went,
to come crashing down on its side against the electrified fence. Energy pulsed and crackled, engulfing the stricken vehicle. The blue truck swerved wildly to miss it and slammed into the corner of the gatehouse, bringing part of the already weakened structure down in front of it.
Someone shouted in triumph. Both pursuers were suddenly out of the chase, temporarily if not permanently. It was more than Roche could have hoped for.
"Get your heads down!" Haid shouted. "We're going through!"
Roche whipped her head around to see the vast windows leap toward her. She ducked instinctively, felt Jytte hunch over beside her, heard the crash and clatter of shattering glass. She heard someone call out in alarm as fragments suddenly flew into the cabin through the broken side windows.
By the time she regained her balance, Haid had the brakes locked. The van swerved sideways again, skidding across the main terminal floor like a snowplow, tearing a ragged path through chairs, tables, partition boards, and other assorted furniture.
The van careened to a rough halt, causing Neva and Veden to tumble from their seats. Roche heard Haid shout orders as he rolled through the buckled driver's door. Emmerik slid across the seat to follow him. Already the rear doors of the van had opened; Jytte and her companion jumped into the foyer with a clatter of boots and weapons.
Roche waited until Neva and Maii had climbed free before stepping down herself. Cane had already disembarked. Sending a hail of energy to clear the air for a moment, she returned to help Veden. Presenting her back to him, she gestured for him to slip his arms through the leather straps Maii had tied around the suit's neck. He resisted for a moment, then did as he was told.
Just in time. Percussion fire from the parking lot forced her behind the van. Sparkling ricochets danced off the marble floor and mirrored walls. The air stank of ozone and scorched synthetics. Beyond the shattered windows Roche could see Enforcement and the Dato landing party dodging the return fire from within the building.
She oriented herself, long hours of Armada combat training falling into place. A map of the complex appeared in her left eye: the MiCom building, three stories high, which they had already entered; administration, only one level to the rear. The foyer occupied a corner of the MiCom building's ground floor: elevator and stairwell were at the bottom of the L; a corridor leading to the admin building opened out the back.
Roche caught sight of Cane racing away, crashing through the entrance to Admin. The sound of rapid gunfire went with him as he wielded a rifle in each hand, aiming at anyone or anything that threatened to get in his way.
"Leave him!" Haid's voice pierced the racket, directed at the rebel who was supposed to have accompanied Cane on his mission. Roche edged around the van, conscious of the Eckandi gripping her back, his weight subtly disturbing the suit's ponderous equilibrium. Haid and the rebel vanished up the MiCom stairwell, carrying grenades and mortars retrieved from Roche's suit before the attack. Maii waited at the base of the stairwell with Neva.
Roche passed Veden to the older woman. "Get him upstairs. I'll cover the rear!"
The rifle was still set to scatter, and she moved at once to find a more sheltered position. At the back of the van, she kicked an upturned table into position and swung the rifle onto it so that the barrel rested easily. Already some twenty or thirty Enforcers had sprinted from the guardhouse toward the complex. Roche cranked the rifle setting to its widest beam and held the trigger down. The weapon bucked and kicked against her shoulder, spraying its lethal dosage through the windows, shattering what few panes had remained unbroken. The outer charge halted at once as the Enforcers hit the tarmac. There were a few seconds of quiet; then answering fire began to whistle in.
Roche flattened herself against the side of the van as projectile fire and particle beams lanced about her, but she kept her hand on the rifle, its barrel still resting on the upturned table. She fired in very short bursts, minimising the recoil that would otherwise have wrenched the weapon from her grip. It wasn't enough to do serious damage to their attackers, but would make them think twice about a quick sprint forward.
Behind her, the muffled thump of an explosion told her that MiCom had been breached. A second blast, and she knew that the elevator had been crippled. She heard the clatter of feet on the stairwell, distant shouts and confusion as one of the rebels returned to help her. Together they did their best to hold Enforcement at bay.
Risking a closer look, Roche edged around the far side of the van. She counted twenty-three Enforcers, only three of them armoured similarly to her. Four Dato ground troopers hugged the wall on the far side of the foyer, clad in the latest powered combat suits. Roche risked a precision shot and was gratified to see the bolt of energy hit home.
The Dato armour, however, absorbed most of the energy. The trooper was flung to the ground, but stood up again a moment later.
She cursed. Not good.
Then Maii was in her mind:
Roche squeezed off a few more rounds, then began to edge back along the side of the van. When she could go no farther, she stopped to look around. The van's solid metal body covered most of the gap between her and the stairwell, at least from the Enforcers' positions. The Dato troopers, on the other hand, had almost a clear line of fire. She looked over her shoulder at the rebel in the stairwell and selected a grenade from one of the suit's thigh pockets.
When the air was relatively clear, she tossed the explosive to the rebel, who primed it. Counting down from three, she tensed, braced to make the short dash for safety.
On zero, the rebel rolled the grenade toward the Dato troopers and vanished up the stairwell. Roche burst from cover and tucked her unprotected head as low as she could into the suit's shoulders. She cried out involuntarily as a furious bolt of energy sheared a centimetre off her left hip, making her stumble — then the grenade exploded, sending smoke and flame through the entire foyer, covering her escape.
Movement at the periphery of her vision as she entered the stairwell made her swing the rifle to bear. Cane appeared out of the cloud of smoke, firing behind him in ragged spurts.
"Close," he said, grinning down the barrel of her rifle. He grabbed her arm, and together they double-stepped up the stairwell.
"Admin?" said Roche.
Cane nodded. "Secure. Any problems this end?"
"None."
"Good." Cane's smile widened. "Then let's see what this Box of yours can do."
Roche paused briefly at the top of the stairs to set off another grenade. The explosion brought down part of the wall, which she hoped would delay pursuit for long enough.
"Where are you, Maii?"
"What about the ones you've knocked out? How long until they wake up?"
As they ran, Roche took stock of her surroundings. The second floor was undamaged, secured by Maii rather than by force. Vast networks of complex processing systems lay as idle as their unconscious operators, awaiting input. The wealth of hardware was hardly extravagant, however, given the task it was required to perform. These three floors controlled every electronic exchange in the city, as well as much of that which took place in near orbit.
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Roche and Cane climbed the last stairwell to the third floor and were greeted by Haid at its summit. Roche felt a wave of nausea sweep through her as they joined him: the edge of a psychic wave from Maii, she presumed, the epsense equivalent of scattershot but nonlethal, forcing the employees of MiCom into a deeper state of unconsciousness. She was thankful she had only caught the edge of it.
"This way." The rebel leader led them through a maze of offices to the centre of MiCom: a wide, high-ceilinged room containing three overhead screens, a dozen data-control stations, and a large central processor. The screens displayed constantly shifting views of the landing field, trajectories of satellites, and major moonlets through the Soul, as well as Armada deployment. Jytte and the other rebel, bleeding heavily from his right ear, guarded the entrance. Maii sat cross-legged in one corner, her placid expression belying the concentration she required to achieve what she was doing.
As Roche entered, a small window opened in the central screen, revealing the face of a man with a neatly trimmed grey beard.
"Tepko!" the face bellowed. "What the devil's going on down there? Clear the lines or I'll have you — "
"Hello, Warden," Emmerik said into a microphone, smiling from his position behind the central processor. "Chief Supervisor Tepko's not available to speak with you at the moment, I'm afraid. Perhaps I can help."
Warden Delcasalle opened his mouth, shut it, then opened it again. "Who the hell are you?"
"Your landlord," the Mbatan replied, beaming toothily. "And I've come to collect the rent."
Roche stepped up behind the Mbatan and put her gloved hand on the datalink.
"We haven't got time for this," she said.
The window to the warden closed as the Box interfaced with the central processor. Raw data surged down Roche's arm, through the suit, and out the palm of her power glove. More than a trickle, this felt like a river of fire, a thread-thin, white-hot wire inserted where her ulnar nerve had once been. She bit her lip as the torrent intensified. Phantom motes of light danced in her vision; her heart tripped, then steadied.
Sean Williams & Shane Dix - Evergence 1 - The Prodigal Sun Page 28
