Rebuilt: A Jake Dani/Mike Shapeck Novel (Jake Dani / Mike Shapeck)

by Victory Crayne

  Then I picked up her Snap and headed toward the door.

  But when I cracked it up enough to see, Getner still lay quiet on the floor. This time I saw a pool of red spreading out from under his body.

  I recalled my BIS training.

  There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal. That includes people.

  I tapped my nose to open a link to my comm.

  “Vincent.”

  My comm recognized his name and connected him immediately.

  “Where are you?” said Vincent’s voice.

  “I’m in the basement of the federal building. At least I think that’s where I am. Two floors below the lobby. Where are you? Where is everybody?”

  “I’m with the York Army, outside the federal building,” replied Vincent.

  Thinking he might be held against his will, I asked, “Do they have green armbands?”

  “No. Is that significant?”

  “I think members of the coup wear regular York army uniforms but have green armbands on their left arms to identify themselves. Where are the others?”

  “I don’t know,” came the reply. “I see Zetto and Andy.”

  “Gancha is wounded, as am I,” I added. “I shot Getner and he’s on the floor at the end of a tunnel. He’s laying still. But he’s resilient. I don’t trust the son of a bitch.”

  I didn’t get a reply for a few seconds but overhead Vincent as he spoke to someone else.

  “Getner’s down in the tunnel,” said Vincent. “Do you know where that is?”

  “Under the basement,” said a male voice.

  “Can we get there?” asked Vincent.

  “Not with someone still shooting from the building,” said the same male voice.

  Vincent voice came louder in my ear.

  “Mike, can you hold out a little longer?”

  I looked at my fallen partner. Her eyes were still closed. Then I looked at the door to the tunnel. I cracked it open with my left hand and saw that Getner was still lying on the floor at the other end.

  “I’m going in to check on Getner. I’ll leave the tag open.”

  I glanced at the gauge on Gancha’s Snap and saw it was only half full. I pushed the door open and held the Snap in front of me with my left hand as I walked down the tunnel. If the bastard moved at all, I’d lie down on the floor and shoot him again.

  Getner did not move as I approached him. Blood oozed from the left upper side of his head. I switched the Snap to my right hand and used my left hand to pull the .45 from his right hand, but he still didn’t move. I lay his .45 on the floor, ready to grab it in a second, and pulled a set of handcuffs from behind my back with my left hand. While both of us were unarmed, I pulled Getner’s body on its side and moved both his hands behind his back. Not an easy task with only one good arm. But I got the cuffs on his wrists.

  Then I grabbed a StopIt from my chest pocket and pressed it on his scalp. With the fingers of my left hand, I checked his neck for a pulse.

  I told Vincent, “Getner’s still alive. I cuffed him. We’re in the tunnel.”

  A noise from the door opposite Gancha’s end of the tunnel alerted me and I picked up my Snap in my left hand and raised it in that direction.

  But Mother Nature had other plans for me. The pain in my chest returned with a vengeance. It got so bad I couldn’t walk. All I could do was sit on the floor and grab my chest with my face wrinkled in pain.

  Then darkness.

  #

  General Adon strode into the federal building. From the stairwell came several men in civilian clothes with handguns extended. When he got to the shorter Nikki Su, he saluted.

  “Glad to see you are alive and well, ma’am. If you will give me a few minutes, I’ll control your building and you can return to your office.”

  She smiled.

  “General Adon, you may want to send some men to the second level basement. We have Ash Getner in cuffs but he’s wounded. There’s two more. One is outside the door to the tunnel. He may be the man who put the cuffs on Getner. There is a female outside the tunnel. Both the man and woman are wounded and unconscious.

  “And thank you, General Adon. You have your few minutes.”

  “May I suggest you step outside, ma’am? The building may collapse any second.”

  She nodded and turned toward the exit. Overman followed.

  Chapter 67

  General Adon walked to the guard desk. An officer in military clothing there handed him a microphone.

  “Is this connected to every floor in the building?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Adon pressed the side button and spoke into the microphone.

  “This is Brigadier General Adon, commander of the York First Army in Zor.

  “The coup is over. Ash Getner is wounded and in custody. You might as well surrender. Otherwise, I shall order my troops to fire on you until you do surrender. Or die. The choice is up to you.”

  He paused a moment, then added, “If you want to surrender, leave your weapons behind and walk down the stairs. When you get to the lobby floor, place your hands behind your head.”

  A light lit up on the console. Floor Five. The officer leaned over and pressed a button. Adon answered the tag.

  “Can we get any guarantees for our safe passage back to Earth?”

  Adon thought that over. He pressed the button on the microphone.

  “Anyone who surrenders now will have safe passage to Earth. Except your leaders. They will have to stand trial.”

  #

  Jan Olafkowsky looked at the other Russian soldiers. He knew each of them by name by now.

  His own sergeant dropped his gun on the floor and removed the knife from his right leg and placed it on the floor next to his rifle. Jan saw the others follow suit and did the same. When he saw the others place their hands behind their heads, he raised his hands too. He followed his sergeant out the door.

  #

  Five minutes after Adon’s broadcast, a welcome sight came out of the stairwell. A line of soldiers with their hands behind their heads. Each wore a green armband.

  The line of soldiers petered out.

  Then the officers came out. At their rear stood one with a long face and head held down.

  The last soldier walked up to General Adon and saluted.

  “General Leon Petrovsky. I was in command of these troops.”

  Adon did not return the salute as an Army officer went behind Petrovsky and placed handcuffs on his wrists. Petrovsky’s eyebrows pulled down and he bowed his head. A defeated man.

  General Adon turned and marched out of the building. Despite the downpour, he walked up to the black limousine with the flags on it. The window came down.

  Nikki Su stared back at him.

  The general saluted.

  “The building is cleared, ma’am. I don’t recommend it, but you may return to your office.”

  “Thank you, General. I need to broadcast from my office for political reasons.”

  Overman came around from the other side of the limo with an umbrella.

  Su got out of the limo and walked into the building while staying under the umbrella.

  #

  Su walked to the elevators, but when she pressed the button, nothing happened. The overhead light still worked. Someone had turned off the power to the elevators. Or maybe the artillery fire and the tilt of the building did that.

  Overman bent over and said to her, “We’re safer to take the stairs, ma’am.”

  Ten minutes later, the tired looking Su looked at the door. The glass was smashed, as was the lock.

  Had the insurgent military gone this way?

  She walked the short hallway and entered into her outer office. Two dead soldiers still lay on the floor. Su spotted their green arm bands.

  Insurgents!

  Overman rushed ahead of her and opened the double doors leading to her office. He went in ahead of her with his gun drawn.

  Another male Secret Service agent held the
door open for her and she entered her office.

  The bodies of six men lay on the floor. All of them had green bands on their left arms. Three Secret Service men approached all six, guns drawn.

  Nikki Su looked around at the mess and shook her head. She walked over to her large desk and noted the bullet holes.

  “This needs to go on the telly. Let them see how close the coup came.”

  She walked around her desk, pulled out a drawer, removed the remote control, and activated a recording. As she looked in front of her, several of the fallen men were being carried, some by their ankles, by SS men. Terry Overman stood by her side.

  Looking up at the camera mounted from the ceiling, she gave her speech.

  “This is Nikki Su. I’m in my office as prime minister. An attempt was made to kill me and replace me with Ash Getner. That attempt failed. Getner is in custody and will stand trial on the charge of treason.”

  #

  Vincent rested Gancha on a bench in the lobby. At least she wasn’t in a coma. Vincent reached his hand to cover hers.

  “Hang in there, buddy. You’ll make it.”

  “Morphine,” Gancha muttered in a hoarse voice.

  Stupid me.

  Vincent reached in a pocket and pulled out a bag of pills. Selecting one with the morphine, he handed it to her.

  She would need something to wash it down with.

  Vincent asked a nearby soldier, “Could you get her some water?”

  The soldier pulled a bottle out of a small nearby chest and handed it to Gancha.

  After the prime minister and her entourage disappeared in the stairwell, one of the Secret Service man who Vincent had encountered earlier motioned to Curling.

  “They’re YFP.”

  Stan Curling appeared from behind him.

  The SS man said out of the side of his mouth to Curling, “Do you recognize either of these?”

  Curling looked them over.

  “’Fraid not.”

  The SS man spun around and pointed his gun at us.

  “You’ll have to come with me, sir. Both of you.”

  Vincent and Gancha were disarmed and cuffed. They were taken to the city building, where the feds had temporarily set up office. There, they were ushered into two separate interview rooms.

  It took three hours for the debriefing at the hands of the Secret Service people. Then Terry Overman and Stan Curling came into Vincent’s room.

  Overman said, “They can go.”

  Curling stared at Vincent’s eyes.

  As the other officers left, he reached across the table. They shook hands.

  “Care to tell me why you were here?”

  “Just friends of the prime minister,” Vincent answered.

  “Right. You don’t work for the same outfit that Jake Dani belonged to, do you?”

  Vincent grinned and asked, “And who might that be?”

  Curling replied, “The Binger Intelligence Service. BIS.”

  Vincent shook his head.

  “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of them.”

  It was true. He couldn’t say. Or wouldn’t.

  Curling shook his head but added, “You can pick up your guns on the way out.”

  As Vincent exited the interview room, he saw Gancha leaving another room with her head in a white bandage. They walked to the elevator.

  “Say much?” Vincent asked.

  Gancha shook her head slower than she usually did.

  Stupid question. I should never ask a question she could answer with her head. At least until she was better.

  In the lobby of the building, they sat on a bench at Gancha’s request.

  Vincent said, “Let me have a look at that ear.”

  Gancha offered her bandaged ear. Vincent peeled back the cover, examined the ear for ten seconds, and then returned the bandage.

  “I’ll build you a better one.”

  Gancha managed a smile.

  Once they got to the main lobby desk, two guys in suits handed them their Snaps, knives, and shotgun.

  When they got outside, Vincent saw Andy and Zetto.

  “Meet you back at the…office,” Vincent said.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to Gerges first,” said Gancha with sleepy eyes.

  Vincent added, “I’ll drive you.”

  Chapter 68

  The next day, Curling showed Su the vid of them entering the tunnel to the shelter. The prime ministers and her entourage entered.

  Su said, “Is that it?”

  Curling replied, “Be patient. The good part comes next.”

  They watched as Charlotte entered alone.

  “But she was beside me,” said Su.

  “I think she stayed behind to tag someone,” replied Curling.

  Su looked at the vid, frozen with Charlotte walking into the tunnel.

  Su returned to face Curling. “Have you asked her what she was doing?”

  Curling said, “She has a son with both physical and mental disabilities. Must have had enormous medical bills. When we interviewed her, she broke down and admitted to helping Getner. That’s who she was tagging. We examined her comm records. It was him all right.”

  Su shook her head and looked at the floor.

  “I thought I knew her. But she never mentioned her son.”

  #

  When I came to, the room was beige. Everywhere. I heard a beep-beep sound and turned my head. Hospital equipment.

  When I looked down at my body, I saw blankets. My right arm was in a bandage.

  Over my mouth was a cupped mask. I raised my left hand and removed it. Breathing became harder.

  Not a good idea.

  I put the mask back on. Whatever it provided helped. Probably oxygen.

  The door to my room opened and in strode a woman in a nurse’s uniform, complete with a white cap with red stripes around the bottom.

  “I see you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

  My eyelids couldn’t stay open.

  “Drowsy.”

  “That’s the sedative. If you feel like taking a nap, go ahead. That would be a good thing.”

  I followed her instructions and went back into dreamland.

  I woke the second time to a noise. Someone put a tray on the portable table by my bed.

  I heard another noise and turned my head to see Gancha.

  I barely uttered, “A sight for sore eyes.”

  She smiled at that one. Then I noticed her right ear was covered in bandages and she was wearing a hospital gown.

  “How are you feeling?”

  I answered, “Not so well. What happened?”

  “You had a heart attack. Right after you got the cuffs on Ash Getner.”

  I added, “Did they get Getner?”

  “Oh yeah. I woke up just long enough to open the door and see Curling came out of a shelter with Nikki Su. When Su saw you and the cuffed Getner, she ordered a stretcher. They moved you back into the shelter. Later, when the federal troops took the insurgents into custody and got to the shelter, she ordered you taken here.”

  “Where is Getner now?”

  “He’s upstairs. There are four federal policemen outside his door at all hours. And another two inside.”

  #

  Gancha returned to her room downstairs.

  The other bed had a male patient, but from the looks of his wrinkled face, bald head, and pale skin, I figured he had only a few days of life left. His mouth and nose were barely visible underneath the clear plastic breather. I spotted the sign for “Danger! Oxygen in use!” A huge assortment of instruments nested around his bed. Two had blinking lights.

  Hope he doesn’t croak while I’m here.

  A woman wearing a white lab coat with a DetectIt hanging from her neck came into my double room. She extended her right hand.

  I would have shaken her hand but my right arm was covered in bandages. So I pulled my left hand out from under the covers and placed it in hers.

  “I’m Dr. Lynn Setterly
n, your cardiologist. You’re a lucky man, Mike. The good news is the wound on your arm tore through the muscle but didn’t damage your bone. But moving it after you were shot didn’t help.

  “The bad news is you’ve had a heart attack. You need to rest in here for several weeks, I’m afraid.”

  Talking was difficult with the breathing mask.

  “Can’t do that. I can rest in a bed somewhere else.”

  “I can’t recommend that. The first seven days after a heart attack are the most critical. You could have another and die. You need our kind of medical care.”

  “Okay. I have no plans to die. I can stay here for a while. I heal faster than most folks, though.”

  She sat on the right side of my bed and bowed her head.

  I asked, “How bad?”

  “Only one valve in your heart was affected. Not shut down completely or you’d be dead. From the MRI, I’d say part of your aortic valve was damaged. Up to a third.”

  She paused and placed her right hand on my right arm.

  “Mike, you need to take it easy for a few weeks. Let your heart build new arteries around the damaged value. I’ve given you some meds to help that.”

  I couldn’t tell her who I was and certainly not of the Binger Disease. The less she knew of us the better.

  “You can rest easy,” she added. “At least two Secret Servicemen are outside your door at all times.”

  “Do you have a Gancha Morentoss in here?”

  “As a matter of fact,” the doctor replied, “I met her on the way here. Part of her right ear was removed by a bullet. A visitor named Vincent Stone said he’d replace it with a new one. I’ve seen Stone’s work. Damn good stuff. How’d she get him to offer his help?”

  That one I wasn’t going to answer.

  She spent the next ten minutes reading charts and making notes on a digital pad.

  In walked Gancha, the right side of her head covered in white bandages. This time she wore her own clothes. My new doctor spotted her and stood.

  “I see you have company. Someone close?”

  I grinned and the mask moved.

  “You could say that.”

  After Dr. Settlerlyn left, Gancha came close, leaned over, and planted a nice smooch on my cheek.

  “Hey, for one of those, I can hold my breath and take the mask off.”

  She replied, “You focus on healing. I’ll take care of the kissing.” She added a smile.