by Jan Domagala
“Talk about timing,” Kurt said as she pulled away from him, a look of excitement on her face.
“Tell me about it,” she added as she grabbed the bed sheet and pulled it up self-consciously to cover her nakedness.
“Good morning Kurt and Zara, I am sorry to break into your vacation but something has come up and I need you back at Headquarters. A Silver Dart will be at Jacksonville Space Port within the hour to transport you here,” General Sinclair said. His voice came through so clear it was as if he was standing in the room with them.
“Copy that sir,” Kurt replied.
“Finally something to do,” Zara said.
Kurt looked at her and said, “You do know he can’t see you, don’t you?”
Her cheeks reddened slightly as she said, “I wouldn’t put anything past that man.”
II
New York
Matt Hawk had followed the man to his apartment. It was in a building close to where the man worked. He had suspicions that this man was working for a terrorist organisation that had threatened Col Sec on two separate occasions with an escalating death toll each time. This was something that he was determined to stop once and for all. Matt was an operative for Col Sec Intelligence Division and worked closely with General Sinclair. Recently he had been seconded into the new Wildfire Initiative. This was an idea Sinclair had put into motion that incorporated members of Recon Delta and utilised a serum to enhance both physical and mental performance, garnered from the results of an experiment that changed Kurt Stryder forever into what he was today, virtually indestructible.
Matt had no need for any enhancements for he was born and raised on a planet that had a slightly higher gravity than Earth and therefore he was naturally slightly stronger and faster than most normal humans. Standing at six feet six tall with a broad chest and muscular physique it was hard for him to blend in even in a crowd. His ice blue eyes watched as the man he had followed entered the building. Perhaps ‘man’ was the wrong term to use, for if his assumption was correct this person was not a man, not in the strictest sense but a clone, one of the agents that Jonas Wilde had initiated before his disappearance. He belonged to a series of clones that had infiltrated every major business around the galaxy. It was his way of keeping track of what was happening with the competition and therefore keeping one step ahead.
Col Sec had survived each attack, although barely, the loss of life was something they all were forced to face and reconcile themselves with. Those in Col Sec, and especially those in Recon Delta, knew the risks involved. They were aware that any day could be their last and consequently they came to terms with it. However, the loss of civilian life always weighed heavy on them, especially if they believed it could have been avoided. Invariably the inevitability of collateral damage was something they had come to terms with, but that didn’t prevent them mourning those lives lost.
One of those lost lives had hit Matt particularly hard as he had promised her, her life and her future. Yet she had been killed in a cold, calculating way right before his eyes and he had been powerless to prevent it from happening. The death of Tanya Wilde, daughter of Jonas Wilde, the leader of OMEGA, had scarred his soul as deep as any physical wound ever could. Then, a few weeks later, he saw her again, Tanya, alive. He had followed her and spoken to her only to realise she too was a clone, another trick by her father to eat away at Col Sec. This sighting was as devastating to him as anything he had ever faced before. He had been unable to perform his duties adequately as he spiralled into a slump he believed he could never climb free of again. That was until he had a conversation with his friend Kurt Stryder. He had known everything that Kurt had told him but it was almost as if he needed to hear it from someone else to make it real. After that he was filled with a determination to crush Jonas Wilde and his insidious organisation OMEGA once and for all, and if that meant facing and confronting Tanya Wilde then so be it. Tanya, the real Tanya was dead, he knew as he had watched her die so this new thing, this abomination, was nothing to him. If it got in his way then he would crush that too.
Following this clone was the first step towards finding the headquarters of OMEGA.
The apartment block was over sixty storeys high with ten apartments to each floor. Matt followed his quarry to the penultimate top floor where he got out of the elevator and walked towards his apartment. Matt had followed in the adjacent elevator so as not to draw attention to himself.
The apartments on this floor were second only in luxury to those on the top floor. The Penthouse homes were expensive and luxurious and usually made available only to top executives from Mega Corps as they were probably the only people who could afford them.
As Matt exited the elevator he caught a glimpse of his quarry entering the apartment at the end of the corridor. It appeared to be one of the corner units, which would give an impressive unobstructed view of the city from two sides of the building. Part of him envied the clone his choice of living space, while another wondered what he had done to earn such a privileged location.
The locking code on the door to the entryway was easily hacked using his NI. He accessed the buildings computer and found what he needed, a file containing all the access codes to every apartment. Using a back door algorithm he quickly circumnavigated his way around the security features and had the door open.
Confidently he entered the apartment but the sight that greeted him was not what he had expected.
The door opened out onto a short corridor with another door facing him and another to the side that he presumed was simply closet space. Through the door facing him was the expansive lounge area that encompassed the entire corner of the building, giving the apartment its stunning panoramic view. Standing at the large window was the man he had followed. As he entered quietly the man said, “What took you so long?”
Matt was stunned both by the sumptuous surroundings, the view overlooking the city, but mostly by what had been said. He walked towards him slowly and said, “I got caught up in traffic.”
“Oh, good one, she said you were a cool customer,” the man said as he turned around to face him. His opaline green eyes sparkled in the light from the window as he turned. He wore an expensive suit that probably cost more than Matt earned in a month, along with a smug expression, which he yearned to wipe off his face.
“What do I call you, Rover, or Maguire? You’re certainly not a Rover5, you’re not big enough,” Matt said referring to the warrior class clones that Jonas Wilde had made. All the clones looked like they belonged together as a family unit, brothers definitely, twins almost. The Rover5s were as big as he was and built for combat, whereas the clone standing before him was of average build and made to blend in with normal folk.
“Maguire, oh that name has gone by the wayside now. She dislikes her father’s predilection for old world themes. You know where the name came from don’t you, from the Molly Maguire’s who were a supposed terrorist organisation back in the late eighteen hundreds in the mining communities in Philadelphia? I say, supposed, because there was never any documented evidence to support they ever existed. That was what Jonas Wilde wanted the Rovers to be, a secret that no one could either prove or deny. So I suppose you could say I’m a Rover but you may call me Michael.”
“You talk about Jonas in the past tense; does that mean he’s no longer with us?” Matt asked picking up on what Michael had said.
“I suppose you could say the family business has been passed on,” Michael said with another smug smile.
“You expected me, why is that?” Matt asked stepping forward slightly.
“She knew you would come, maybe not here but somewhere so she told us all to be ready,” Michael replied the smug smile still in place. He sauntered across the large room, his feet sinking into the deep pile carpet covering the floor, to flop onto a white leather sofa that could seat four, which was situated across from the window.
“Ready, to do what?” Matt asked, his hackles immediately rising as he realised that he might have walked into a
trap.
“This,” Michael said and with a wave of his hand three other figures entered the room from a door just off to the side of the entrance, probably one of the bedrooms. All three were large individuals, each as tall as Matt and as muscular. They all had the same opaline green eyes and facial characteristics; they were probably brothers from the same batch, Rover5s, warrior clones.
Matt glanced casually over his shoulder; he’d heard their approach even though the carpet dulled any sounds of footfalls. He knew how many there were and how they positioned themselves behind him. If this turned out like he expected it to, he was in for a rough few minutes; if he survived at all that is.
“So what happens now then?” he asked as he returned his gaze to the smaller man lounging on the comfortable sofa.
“It depends on you,” Michael said confidently. He was so sure of himself, almost too confident.
Matt felt anger rising within him, anger at himself for falling into this trap, anger at the complacency Michael was showing towards him believing that he had the upper hand, and anger at these three guys thinking they could handle him.
Matt spun around to face the three of them. He caught them off guard, as they obviously had not considered that he would be foolish enough to take on three of them. He struck the nearest to him with an elbow, smashing the point of it into the cheek of the Rover5 to his right. The other two jumped in to attack Matt as the first Rover5 was sent sprawling into the wall.
A Rover5 reached for Matt but he swatted the arm away and punched him in the face. The other didn’t have time to attack as Matt moved out of the way and into the centre of the room. The three warrior clones looked at him with renewed respect, they had taken him for granted thinking he would be intimidated by their size and number, but now knew how wrong that assumption had been.
“Let’s do this,” Matt said with a wolfish grin. He had wanted to get back into action but the General had kept him leashed as he was not sure of his mindset. It had worried him as he thought Sinclair had lost confidence in him, but now realised he had been holding him back until he was certain he was ready to go. Now he was more than ready.
The three Rover5s circled him and even the clone sitting on the sofa seemed to have lost some of his confidence.
Matt made a move on the one on his left first. He fired a quick series of blows at the clone’s head as the other two went to attack him. As the clone covered up using his forearms as a shield to guard his face, Matt grabbed one of the arms and twisted it forcing the clone into the path of his brothers. This halted their advance and gave Matt the time to push his advantage. He kicked the clone’s knee he had hold of with a downward thrust kick, dislocating the joint.
The Rover5 screamed in agony as his leg was rendered useless and he collapsed to the floor. Matt then struck the closest Rover5 in the throat with a ridge hand strike as he moved past him. The blow was delivered with enough force to crush the windpipe stopping the Rover5 in his tracks. His hands went to his disabled throat as his opaline eyes opened wide with the shock and realisation that he’d just been killed. He went to his knees as he vainly tried to force air into his lungs past the crushed windpipe.
That left just one Rover5 to deal with. Matt elbowed the side of his head as he spun past him knocking him forwards then, as he came up behind him, he grabbed both sides of the clone’s head and savagely twisted it so fast that it broke his neck. The sound of the vertebrae snapping was audible in the quiet of the apartment; the only other sound was the injured clone on the floor screaming in pain.
As Matt released the dead Rover5’s head allowing the body to fall to the floor he walked over to the clone holding his broken leg. He took out a pistol, a Sig P999, jacked the slide then calmly shot him in the head. Blood splattered the lush carpet beneath him as the dead body collapsed onto it.
Matt brought the Sig around to point straight at the remaining clone still sitting on the sofa, this time appearing a little less relaxed.
“You see, although these Rover5s are built for combat, they’re not trained for it. One of your father’s many failings I’m afraid,” Matt said calmly as he looked the clone straight in the eye. He saw the clone swallow hard and then nod his head slightly to acknowledge what he’d been told.
“Where is she?” Matt asked now that he knew he had the clone’s attention.
“If I tell you, you’ll just kill me anyway so go ahead,” replied the clone sitting erect as he prepared for what he knew was coming.
“On the contrary,” Matt said which elicited a look of confusion from the clone. “I’m taking a leaf from the Jonas Wilde playbook here and delivering a message. You tell me where Tanya Wilde is and you get to live and you get to explain just how it was that one ordinary man could beat three of your warrior class clones so effortlessly,” he explained and was pleased at the expression that this brought to his listener’s face.
“Yes, I’d be interested to see what kind of spin you put on that one,” Matt said. He walked up to the sitting man and placed the muzzle of the Sig against his forehead and said, “Now where is she, I won’t ask again?”
Facing certain death and weighing that against possible death Michael came to a decision.
2
Col Sec HQ, Nellis Base
Kurt and Zara arrived at Nellis Base leaving the Silver Dart on one of the new landing strips that had been added to the base after Col Sec had been relocated there. The base had been upgraded since the OMEGA attack on Area 15 devastated the former headquarters. Work was ongoing at the previous site to recover whatever was possible from the underground base. Nellis also had a continuing refit where the security was undergoing upgrades in every department. It was now possibly the best defended area in the Confederation and once all the upgrades had been completed it would be virtually impregnable.
Kurt and Zara brought admiring glances from most of the personnel at the base as they walked across the plascrete towards the main Command and Control sector. They were dressed casually, he in a light blue shirt with tan cargo pants while she had chosen a lemon blouse and tight-fitting leggings that showed off her curves as she strode alongside her man. They each carried their go bag, a prerequisite of the job, a pre-packed bag with essentials for any journey so they could leave at a moment’s notice for any destination. When they reached the perimeter of the landing strip an armed guard greeted them with a salute as they stopped by him.
“Good afternoon Sir and Miss,” the guard said. He was dressed in the uniform of a Recon Delta Marine. As they reached him he placed the Remm assault pulse rifle by his right leg, butt on the floor as he held onto the muzzle.
“Good afternoon Marine,” Kurt replied returning the salute.
“If you would be so good, sir?” the Marine said as he indicated the metal arch adorned with a sensor array around its edges by which he stood.
Kurt walked through the arch followed by Zara as the sensors in the gate array checked their bio signs to identify who they were. Once they had been security checked they carried on towards the main portion of the base and the C and C where no doubt General Sinclair would be waiting for them.
They walked through the warren of corridors and offices that made up the main building until they arrived at a huge cavern-sized room that had a series of wall-mounted monitor screens arranged around one gigantic monitor that took precedence over them all. General Sinclair was standing in front of the main screen, his hands clasped firmly behind his ramrod stiff back as he stared at what was being displayed there.
When he turned, his deep brown eyes bored into them with his usual laser-like intensity. Then his expression altered as he recognised them and a hint of a smile crossed his saturnine features.
As usual his hair was immaculate and receded from a high forehead into a widow’s peak. It was still brown in colour with no hint of grey encroaching even though he was in his late fifties, which considering the constant stress his job subjected him to, was a miracle.
“Was that a smile I sa
w creep across the old guy’s face there?” Zara whispered as they approached the centre of the room.
“There are legends that tell of the time the Great One smiled but it was way before my time,” joked Kurt who then added, “It was probably just wind.”
“Good afternoon you two, did you have a pleasant flight?” Sinclair asked uncharacteristically.
Kurt looked around the room and with a serious expression said, “Okay people, no one move, who is this and what have you done with the real General Sinclair?”
Sinclair looked at them both and with a raised eyebrow said, “Quite.”
“Ah, there he is,” Kurt said to which Zara playfully dug an elbow into his ribs to tell him to stop.
“Shall we get down to business?” Sinclair asked.
“Certainly sir,” Zara said before Kurt had time to make another lame joke.
“I must say though sir, you look well, the best I’ve seen you,” she said which surprised Sinclair somewhat; he was not used to receiving compliments from his staff. For a moment he didn’t know what to say, but then finally replied, “Thank you, I had the best night’s sleep I have had in years, thanks in part to the successful mission Captain Storm and his new Red Team took part in.” This surprised both them and the General as he was not used to divulging anything personal about himself.
“How is Tony? I’ve not seen him since we all came back from Toldax?” Kurt asked, his face brightening a little at the mention of his friend’s name.
“He is a part of the Wildfire Initiative the same as you and Zara and, at the moment, is away on a mission,” explained the General without giving too much away.
“What did you recall us for, sir?” Kurt asked knowing he would get nothing further from Sinclair on the subject if he thought it was not relevant.
Sinclair looked at them both, his normal stoic expression once more firmly back in place. He had his game face on.
“Follow me please,” he said and turned and walked towards a door on the far side of the room. Kurt and Zara followed him across the busy C and C and into the Ready Room, the General’s private briefing room where all missions had their final briefing before going live.
