by Terry Mixon
Liberty Station
Book One of Humanity Unlimited
by
Terry Mixon
Liberty Station
Humanity will be free, no matter the cost!
Deep in the Guatemalan jungle, buried beneath a forgotten Mayan pyramid, an earth-shattering secret sits waiting. Its discovery will rip apart the illusion that humanity is alone in the universe.
Engaged in a life and death struggle for the future of mankind, Harry Rogers and Jess Cook are forced to protect this secret from the most despicable foes imaginable. Failure means death for them and subjugation for everyone else.
Together, they must race across the globe to complete Liberty Station, the first true interplanetary ship, disguised as an orbital space hotel for the mega-wealthy. Only then can they search for the shocking truth behind what they've found.
Works by Terry Mixon
The Empire of Bones Saga
Empire of Bones
Veil of Shadows
Command Decisions
Ghosts of Empire (forthcoming)
Humanity Unlimited
Liberty Station
Anthologies Terry Has Appeared In
Dirty Magick: Los Angeles
Dirty Magick: New Orleans
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Liberty Station
Copyright 2015 by Terry Mixon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including information storage and/or retrieval systems, or dissemination of any electronic version, without the prior written consent of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review, and except where permitted by law.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Published by Yowling Cat Press
Cover art - image copyrights as follows:
BigStockPhotos.com - goinyK
DepositPhotos.com - Antartis
DepositPhotos.com - lurii
DepositPhotos.com - steho
DepositPhotos.com - algolonline
Cover design and composition by Donna Mixon
She may be reached at: [email protected]
Logo design by Emily Karnes
She may be reached at: [email protected]
Dedication
This book wouldn’t exist without the support of my wife Donna and daughter Felina. I love you both very much.
Acknowledgements
This book wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my fans. Each and every one of you. The last few months have been tough in a personal sense, so every time one of you sent me a note letting me know how much you enjoyed my books, it made me smile. Thank you.
Contents
Works By Terry Mixon
Copyright Notices
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Preview of Empire of Bones
Chapter One
Harry Rogers watched the target’s house through his night vision scope. A guard patrolled the roof of the Italian villa slowly, with no idea that someone had him dead in his sights. Satisfied the guard wasn’t going anywhere, Harry clicked his transmitter once to let his team know he was ready. A pair of clicks on the encrypted frequency acknowledged his signal.
The other members of his team were already in place. All they needed to move this mission from recon to assault was for him to give the word.
He scanned the rooftop once more and spotted a second guard near the rear of the house. That one was smoking. Didn’t he know that was bad for his health?
Harry clicked his transmitter three times. Then he took a deep breath, lined up on the furthest man, and fired. The target stood just over two hundred feet away from the tree Harry had chosen for his nest. That range was a snap with a sniper rifle, but chancy with a tranquillizer dart. Good thing he’d practiced.
The man made a small cry, scrabbled at the dart embedded in his back, and collapsed. The closer man turned toward the commotion, giving Harry a clear shot at his unprotected rear. He went down just as easily as his friend had.
His people checked in once they’d neutralized the two guards at the back of the property, the two in front, and the man in the gatehouse. Time to move the operation to phase two.
Harry climbed down the Italian stone pine as noiselessly as he’d ascended. Tree climbing spikes made the ascent easy.
The tall trees at the edge of the yard made for dark shadows this early in the morning. He enjoyed their scent as he made his way toward the clearing. A hint of the sea mingled with the trees. He really needed to take some time off to unwind.
He crossed the clearing below the imposing mansion and up to the back of the villa just as his people were securing the unconscious prisoners. The next set of guards would find them just before dawn and the manhunt would be on. The clock was ticking.
Less than a minute later, the rest of his people ghosted in out of the dark. They were almost invisible in their grey on black camouflage. Their night vision goggles made them look like monsters to the uninitiated.
If this had been a hard entry, they’d have blown the doors and come in firing. He and his people had more experience at that than any seven people should have. War did that to people.
Thankfully, this was a snatch and run. They’d only kill if they had to. These guards were only doing their job. They didn’t deserve to die for their master’s poor decisions.
That wasn’t always the case. Some opponents deserved lethal force.
The interior guards on this mission expected their exterior compatriots to warn them of any intrusion. Hopefully, his people would take them out before they realized their error.
Jeremy Gonzales, his security expert, had the doors open in just a few seconds. The target hadn’t activated the electronic alarm. Of course not. He had armed guards. Harry and his team raised their night vision gear as they came into the lighted interior.
The staff lived on site, but in a different building. At three in the morning, they wouldn’t be up for a few more hours. All Harry needed to worry about were the two guards in the building. IR had one of them in the kitchen—probably snacking, another bad habit—while the other was up on the second floor.
The team split without a word. Two of them moved toward the kitchen, two of them went toward the front of the house, and he led the remaining pair up the stairs.
The interior of the villa w
as every bit as lavish as he’d expected. Fine antique furniture filled the side rooms and expensive looking art filled the niches. The thick carpeting deadened even their careful steps as they went up to the next level.
A tiny fiber optic wire around the corner showed the upstairs guard examining one of the paintings near the far end of the hall. The man had a magnifying glass. He must be an art lover.
Harry leaned out into the hall and shot him in the ass with a dart. That was going to be tough for him when his friends teased him later.
That’s where the plan went off script. This guard managed to bring his weapon around and squeeze the trigger before he collapsed.
Harry ducked back as the automatic weapon ripped through the silence and disintegrated the corner beside him. The man only got off one burst, but that was enough to ruin the element of surprise. Hopefully it wouldn’t be loud enough to wake the staff.
“Blow the power and communications,” he said over the team channel as he surged around the corner. He flipped his night vision gear down just as the lights went out. They’d cut the landline and a cell jammer would keep anyone from calling for help.
He raced to the end of the hall and kicked the door open. There were two people in the room, a very fat man digging in the nightstand and a shrieking woman in the bed with the sheet pulled up to her chin.
Harry darted the man and watched him crumple with a sense of satisfaction. A second shot took out the unknown woman. She’d wake up in the morning with a headache and damaged pride.
There hadn’t been any shots from below, so his people had neutralized the man in the kitchen. Clean sweep.
He made a pass through the bedroom and attached office, just to be certain that no one was hiding there. The master bedroom could’ve come from a palace. The NVG didn’t allow him to see color, but the furnishings here looked even more refined than the ones downstairs. They had to be hundreds of years old.
The office wasn’t just for show. It looked as though the man used it extensively. The large desk had a messy spread of papers and data chips. Expensive paintings covered the walls and a few cases held knick-knacks. Mostly Egyptian stuff, Harry thought.
A spread of old looking parchment pages under glass took up one wall. The illustrations of plants and people looked medieval. The flora had to be a monk’s flight of fancy. He was sure some of them weren’t real.
Satisfied that they hadn’t missed anyone, Harry headed back to the hall. It was time to collect the client and withdraw. He stopped outside the door closest to the master bedroom and knocked.
“Emily Schultz, your mother sent us. It’s safe to come out. She said to tell you that she’d take you out with your friends Hannah and Cheryl as soon as you get back to the States. I believe cinnamon swirl ice cream is on the menu.”
The door opened a moment later, revealing a young girl with dark hair dressed in a nightgown. Ten year-old Emily Schultz, the kidnapped girl. Her scumbag father had thought his money and influence could keep her American mother from enforcing the custodial agreement that the U.S. courts had ordered. Not this time.
“Am I really going home?” she asked. Her voice was timid and soft.
“Yes,” Harry said in a serious voice. “Dress fast. We only have a few minutes. Only take the important stuff. One bag.”
One of the two women on his team ducked inside with the client. Two minutes later, they exited the way they’d snuck in. They piled into a plumbing van and left the scene at a sedate pace.
No need to draw attention. If you acted as though you belonged, the man on the street seldom questioned your right to be there. In the case of service people, they rarely even remembered what you looked like.
The trip to the coast went off without a hitch. No word of their invasion had made it out of the house, so no one had raised the alarm. Harry looked at his watch as they hustled the girl from the van to their borrowed boat. They still had maybe an hour before someone found all the unconscious people.
Unless they had completely crappy luck, they’d be back on the ship and into international waters before the search even moved beyond the general area around the villa. The man driving the boat would take them to their ship, return to shore, and get the plumbing van back to his shop before anyone got excited. He’d get a very large bonus for his part in the operation.
Harry didn’t relax until they were several hundred miles in the clear. The news was all over the airwaves by then. Girl from rich family kidnapped, police looking everywhere for the villains. Good luck with that.
Only then did he turn on his satellite phone and call the girl’s mother. She hadn’t known when the snatch would take place, so she had to have been anxious for the last week. It was almost three in the morning on the East Coast.
“Hello?” Harry could hear mixed notes of fear and hope in the woman’s voice.
“Miss Schultz? Harry Rogers. We have Emily and we’re safely away.”
“Oh, thank God!” He could hear the anguished relief in the woman’s voice. “Can I talk to her? Is she okay?”
“She’s perfectly fine. Here you go.” He handed the phone to the little girl and stepped back to let them have their reunion.
Once they finished their long and tearful conversation, he took his phone back. The woman was still crying. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“It’s my pleasure. We’ll have her back to you tomorrow evening. Try to get some rest.”
He hung up with a sense of satisfaction, knowing that the woman wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink. Another family reunited. Those were the best jobs.
That’s when he noticed he had a voicemail from an all-too-familiar number. His father. Great. That man could ruin a wet dream.
Harry stepped onto the deck and looked out over the waves. The smell of the sea calmed him. It reminded him of a less complicated time when his family had taken long trips on the ocean. He must’ve been two or three. They’d hardly been a model family, but at least they’d been together.
He could ignore the message, but his father was resourceful and determined. One didn’t build one of the most powerful companies on the planet by rolling over at the first setback. He’d get more and more irritating if Harry didn’t call him back.
He sighed and listened to the message. His father’s deep voice came out of the speaker.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you while you’re at work, Harry. I hope you’re enjoying the med. It’s wonderful this time of year.”
How had the man known where he was?
“Anyway, something has come up. I know that we don’t have the greatest relationship, but an innocent woman is in grave danger. I’m willing to pay triple your usual rate, and you can attach a substantial surcharge for working for me. Please call me back as soon as you get this message.”
The fees Liberty SOG—Special Operations Group—charged for the simplest operations were substantial. Private military groups took a lot of money to keep in specialized gear and weapons. And Harry paid his people very well indeed. They deserved every penny.
The amount of money his father was talking about was…substantial. Enough to tempt Harry, even against his better judgment.
He sighed. Might as well get this over with. He dialed the number, smiling a little at the time. At least he got to wake the bastard up at an inconsiderate hour.
* * * * *
The phone beside the bed jarred Clayton Rogers from a sound sleep. Only a select few had his private number, or the code to make it ring through, so he knew it was his son before he checked the Caller ID.
He noted the hour with resigned amusement and answered the call. “Harry, it’s good of you to get back to me so promptly. I hope your work bore fruit. Kidnapping children is a nasty business.”
“And you know more than your share about nasty businesses, don’t you?” his son said coolly. “Let’s cut the pleasantries short. I’m not inclined to take your money. I know how you earned it.”
His son’s antipathy was no surprise.
He really couldn’t blame the boy. Clayton was honest enough to see his own failures. The things he’d done to climb to the top of his business were sickening, despicable, and occasionally horrific. And quite necessary. Something his son had never been able to understand.
Business in 2035 had very little in common with what it had been even two decades earlier. The largest international corporations were almost governments in their own right. Cutthroat didn’t begin to describe some of the things they did to one another.
Rainforest—his company—was no exception. He’d like to believe that his behavior was less ugly than most of his compatriots, but that was only rationalizing. He did what he had to. The project was too important to fail.
“I strongly urge you to reconsider. If you walk away, it’s likely that dozens of innocent people will disappear into hidden graves. Most of them are in no way associated with my business interests. These are the kind of people you help every day. On that I give you my word.”
The long silence made him wonder if his word was no longer good enough. That day would eventually come.
“When the bill arrives, you’ll pay it without a peep,” Harry said. “Who are these people, where are they, and what pickle have they gotten themselves into?”
Clayton let out his breath slowly. He’d made it past the most difficult hurdle. Whatever Harry charged would be worth every cent and more. “They are a team of archaeologists excavating a Mayan ruin deep in the jungles of Guatemala. Communications there are quite spotty. For their own safety, they need to be brought out.”
He could hear the surprise in his son’s voice. “Archaeologists? Why in the world would people like that be on your payroll? You own the world’s largest online store. Is Rainforest selling priceless relics now?”
