by P. R. Adams
The Rimes Trilogy Boxed Set
P R Adams
Promethean Tales
Contents
Also by P R Adams
Momentary Stasis
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Transition of Order
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Awakening to Judgment
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Turning Point
Chapter 1
Author’s Notes
About the Author
Also by P R Adams
For updates on new releases and news on other series, visit my website and sign up for my mailing list at:
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http://www.p-r-adams.com
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Books in the On The Brink Universe
The Stefan Mendoza Trilogy
Into Twilight (2017)
The Rimes Trilogy
Momentary Stasis
Transition of Order
Awakening to Judgment
The ERF Series
Turning Point
Valley of Death
Jungle Dark (2017)
The Burning Sands Trilogy
Beneath Burning Sands
Across Burning Sands (2017)
Beyond Burning Sands
Books in The Chain Series
The Chain: Shattered
The Journey Home
Rock of Salvation
From the Depths
Ever Shining
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from the author.
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MOMENTARY STASIS
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Copyright © 2016 P R Adams
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All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
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Cover Art by Adam Burn.
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Logo Text Design © Tom Edwards.
TomEdwardsDesign.com
Created with Vellum
Dedication
For Tina, who made this possible.
1
20 February 2164. Singapore. Pei Fu Complex, Hougang Industrial Sector.
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Sergeant Jack Rimes jerked awake as his Battlefield Awareness System chimed. The BAS's display showed a string of green text, bright against the evening dark: Mission authorized by United Nations Special Security Council.
Even before the Special Security Council's approval, Rimes had been running on adrenaline. He needed something more now. He popped a stimulant and winced at the bitter aftertaste.
Nearly twenty hours to give the go. So much for the element of surprise.
Rimes looked through the window he’d been leaning against, taking in the shadowy shell of the abandoned house he and the rest of the team had been hiding inside since their arrival. The BAS overlaid what he could see with imagery and data harvested from every security system it could discreetly access. A rusty, wrought-iron gate hung limply from a crumbling brick wall that enclosed a cratered courtyard. Beyond the gate, a cracked asphalt road ran southeast, framing apartment complexes before connecting to Lim Teck Boo Road.
Rimes was tense, a compressed spring waiting to be released. The rest of the team, all in black nano-particle bodysuits, weren’t much better. In particular, the Indian Marine Commando, Tendulkar, was driving them nuts, pulling a boot-knife out and jamming it back into its sheath for hours on end.
Rimes had shared his concerns in private with Major Uber, the German in command of the mission, and his second, Captain Nakata. The three had worked together before. Petty Officer Tendulkar and Senior Sergeant Pachnine, a Russian w
ho towered over even Rimes, had been inserted into the team at the last minute.
“Now we see if this was just politics or if these two are legitimate,” Uber whispered to Rimes over a private BAS channel.
Rimes returned his gaze to the window and softly snorted. “Taking out four LoDu agents? Not the sort of mission I’d like to use as a learning opportunity. I’m already missing the old team.”
The road was still deserted. A line of amber lamps lit a towering wall that sealed off a maze of sagging, scarred apartment buildings to the southwest. To the northeast, the wall transformed into a security tunnel and disappeared under a sickly forest. Inside the complex, a dozen uniformed guards patrolled on foot and in electric cars, their locations marked by the BAS. A light rain had fallen, leaving behind a mist that covered everything, clinging to the walls and twisted vegetation. Rainbow halos formed around the lamps, washing the street in ghost light.
Uber subvocalized the mission’s final details over his BAS, then whispered, “Let’s go.”
Rimes glanced over the data: imagery and incontrovertible evidence connecting the agents to the Indonesian Finance Minister's assassination; criminal records; and most importantly, authorization for elimination.
They slipped out the building’s front door in a loose line with Uber leading. From the courtyard, they ran low onto Lim Teck Boo Road, while the mist hid their boots and enhanced their camouflage systems.
The wall of the Pei Fu Complex rose four meters with pressure sensors and a meter of concertina wire lining the top. Rimes’s BAS showed the closest security guard twenty-eight meters out and moving away.
Rimes looked the other team members over. One mistake, any sudden shift in the situation, and Pachnine or Tendulkar could derail the mission without fear of reprisals. It was the sort of political reality that Rimes hated having to deal with.
Uber turned to look at the team.
Captain Nakata raised his hand; Uber nodded. Rimes raised his hand, then Pachnine, then Tendulkar. After Uber nodded, each settled into place, eyes focused on his BAS display.
Nakata slowly extended a hand until he touched the wall. Then he leapt nearly three meters up, his now-tacky gloves gripping the surface, but stopped short of the top. He then extended his left hand to unleash a data burst that overwhelmed all sensor systems within range.
Rimes climbed after Nakata. As Rimes reached the top, Nakata leapt, easily clearing the concertina wire, twisting and catching the wall’s opposite side with his gloves. Rimes waited as Nakata released his grip and dropped to a crouch on the opposite side, then followed. The others cleared the wall quickly and settled in its shadow.
Pachnine raised his hand, and Uber nodded. Pachnine sprinted east, choosing speed over cover. Inside the complex, time became the enemy.
They approached Building 5, breathing heavily. Before the Third Great Depression of ‘62, Building 5 had been a specialty manufacturing facility, a boutique operation for discriminating customers. Now it housed their targets, four unmoving red squares glowing brightly on their optics, data signatures captured nearly two days prior.
Tendulkar whispered, “Halt.”
They dropped to their knees simultaneously. Rimes scrutinized his image over the BAS’s display. Pachnine was blinking rapidly, his hand over his boot. Something must have changed—they’d been spotted, an alarm had gone off, a guard had modified his patrol …
It only took a second before Rimes saw it on his BAS. Their targets were moving, separating.
The mission had been compromised.
2
20 February 2164. Singapore. Pei Fu Complex, Hougang Industrial Sector.
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They squatted, caught in the misty open space between their ingress point and target. Heads swiveled as the team sought a consensus. Tendulkar shook his head. Pachnine immediately nodded, as did Nakata.
Rimes hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. This far into such a critical mission, he would normally be in favor of proceeding, but normally he would be with his own team, people he could trust with his life. He didn’t know if he could trust Tendulkar or Pachnine yet. There was too much at stake to continue forward with so much unknown.
Everyone turned to Uber. He considered for a moment before nodding.
There was no further discussion, no protest.
Pachnine went into a crouching run, absolutely silent, even for his bearlike size. The others trailed him in a staggered line, carbines out. Pachnine reached the western cement wall surrounding Building 5 and pressed himself tight to the left of the gate. Rimes and Uber took position to his left, with Nakata and Tendulkar opposite. The Pei Fu security teams had showed no deviation from regular patrol patterns, but the four icons inside Building 5 were now dispersed across four floors.
Uber signaled to Tendulkar to open the gate, then waved Pachnine inside. Rimes and Nakata followed, and Uber pulled up the rear.
They crossed the fifteen meters to the front entry of Building 5, at times struggling to keep their footing on the fractured cement. Nakata quickly destroyed the door’s lock with a rapid carbine buttstroke, and they entered the building.
The interior was drywall, dust-covered posters proclaiming the company’s greatness, and a door—dented and scraped from years of use—that opened onto a stairwell. A ten-meter corridor led to another door, and beyond that was the manufacturing floor. The nearest of their targets was in a room on the manufacturing floor, four meters to the left of the door.
Uber assigned Pachnine to the fourth floor, Rimes to the third. Nakata he signaled to go to the manufacturing floor. Then Uber headed into the stairwell, stopping only long enough to spray silicone on the door’s hinges. Pachnine and Rimes followed.
Uber stopped at the second-floor door, once again spraying the hinges. He searched the corridor, then stepped through.
Rimes proceeded to the third floor with Pachnine close behind. At the third-floor door, Rimes stopped and sprayed the hinges, quietly popped the door open, then checked the hallway beyond. According to the BAS, his target was hiding in a room three meters away.
He nodded Pachnine on, watching him until he’d disappeared up the stairs. Rimes stopped just inside the corridor and waited.
The Special Security Council’s intelligence agency had identified the LoDu lead agent as Wen Jintao, a Chinese native with political connections. Wen’s muscle included Dung Trang, a fugitive Vietnamese gunman, and Akkarat Suttikul, a Thai known as much for his knife-work and kickboxing as his connections to what remained of the Tongs. The mystery man of the four was Kwon Myung-bak, a Korean with an impossibly small background file.
All four agents had combat experience. Whatever advantage Rimes had from his gear would be diminished by the building’s tight quarters. He switched out his carbine for his pistol, his eyes never leaving the BAS display, then brought up another overlay that set down a three-dimensional wireframe of the building interior.
Rimes watched his teammates’ icons on the display, then focused on the agents’ icons.
Why separate? Why not create a single ambush point? There are a lot of great places to attack from. Were our systems compromised?
No, I’m being paranoid.
Uber and Nakata waited, motionless, for Pachnine to get into position. Pachnine approached the fourth-floor door. His target was just across the hall. Pachnine hesitated, probably bracing for a quick shot when he opened the door.
Pistol arm straightened to his waist, safety off, left arm extended for the door handle, Rimes moved down the corridor toward his target.
The BAS showed a cubicle to the immediate right of the door. The cubicle made any shot through the wall risky with his pistol, probably ineffective. He toyed with switching back to his carbine.
