Desperate Measures

by Michael Anderle

  If this was a trap, it was a good one.

  Erik slung his TR-7 over his back, no longer concerned about an ambush, and quickened his pace. A minute later, he arrived in the next large room.

  Jia looked around as if still expecting an ambush, but no Tin Men dropped from the ceiling. No yaoguai boiled out of the walls. No half-Leem agents cackled in the distance.

  It wasn’t an ambush. It was nothing more than an unusual place to meet. Erik was annoyed by Alina’s lack of clarity, but he wasn’t going to show it.

  “Where’s your posse, Colonel?” Erik asked, looking around. “It’s not like you to travel alone, especially to the Shadow Zone.”

  “It was necessary,” Colonel Adeyemi replied. “They’re handling something else for me, but they’ll be available soon enough, and that’s a good thing since we’re going to need them.”

  Jia frowned. “What’s going on?”

  Alina stepped forward, her ponytail swaying. “We’ve gotten so used to hurting the conspiracy that we might have gotten sloppy. They took advantage of it, and they punched us in the eye. It’s a nice lesson in humility, but we need to pay them back with a kick to the balls.”

  “Or two, and a third for good measure,” Adeyemi added.

  Jia grimaced.

  “How screwed are we?” Erik asked.

  “Not that screwed yet,” Alina offered, though she didn’t sound confident. “But it could get worse in the coming weeks, depending on what the ID and you can do to deal with the conspiracy’s counterattack. I’ll cut to the chase. An important ID informant looking into conspiracy matters has gone missing, and his handler was killed. That’s bad enough, but the potential reason is a lot worse, and that’s what has really got me worried.”

  Erik could only think of one possibility that would get under Alina’s skin. His jaw tightened.

  “You’ve got a mole?”

  “We don’t know yet, and that annoys me more than you know.” Alina gritted her teeth. “At a minimum, we’ve got a serious leak. My people are currently following that up since, depending on who it is, it might mean we have serious and debilitating operational security problems. Compartmentalization helps, but we’ve had to pull back on a lot of operations until we plug the leak. Otherwise, unfortunate consequences might occur.”

  Jia nodded. “That’s an understatement, but what does this have to do with us? You want us to follow up on the leak as an external option? We’re both ready for a mission.”

  “This is one time your position works against you.” Alina shook her head. “You can’t dig efficiently into the ID. We have people who are experts at this sort of thing, but my main issue right now is that without knowing how badly we’re leaking, it’s hard to know who and what we can trust. We also can’t sit around doing absolutely nothing, even with the leak. The conspiracy will take advantage of our lack of operations.” She folded her arms. “I have individual agents I’d trust my life to, but they heavily rely on ID channels that might be compromised. We need someone from outside the ID who can operate independently, who we know has the ability to penetrate conspiracy operations.”

  “Okay,” Erik replied. “And we’re sure it was them? I know they’re powerful, but they can’t be responsible for everything bad in the UTC. I’m willing to do you favors, but I’m mostly interested in kicking conspiracy ass.”

  “We can’t be sure, but the informant was focused on investigations concerning some of the people taking over assets and companies controlled by Sophia Vand. That raises the chance.” Alina tapped her PNIU.

  A data window displayed a bloodied man being shoved into the back of the flitter by two large men with pistols. The man attempted to kick one of them, but a thug knocked him out by slamming the butt of the pistol into his head twice. The video stopped shortly after the flitter flew away. A new window appeared, featuring a smiling image of the man.

  Alina pointed to him. “This is Nazeer Ahmed. The agent responsible for handling him was found in a restaurant bathroom with three bullets in the back of her head. Because of the agent’s foresight, combined with other intel and the arrogance of his captors to fail to disable a tracker he had implanted for a couple of hours, we know where he is, or at least his body. That means we might be able to salvage this part of the debacle.”

  Erik patted his TR-7. “You want us to play fetch?”

  “Yes, since he might still be alive,” Alina replied. “Not only will having two outsiders help with this, but there are also some potential political ramifications where using you will help.”

  “You’re saying you need someone you can throw under the bus if this blows up?” Erik asked in a matter-of-fact tone. “I’m not saying I won’t do it, but I want to know what I’m getting into. I’m not a fan of surprises.”

  “I won’t be done with you, Perseus and Atalante, until you’ve slain all of my monsters.” Alina frowned. “But it helps to have someone less directly connected to the ID when managing the situation. It’s more about making this less of a headache than having sacrificial lambs.”

  “What’s the political situation exactly?” Jia asked.

  Alina summoned an image of a massive mansion surrounded by a dense forest. It was taken from some distance away, emphasizing the size of the home.

  “This is where Nazeer was taken. It is the home of a high-ranking Ceres Galactic corporate officer in France, one who conveniently died in an accident a month ago. He had extensive ties to Sophia Vand before her death. There are too many coincidences for this not to be the conspiracy.”

  “I don’t get it.” Erik nodded at the image. “If the guy’s dead, what’s the political consideration?”

  “There are some in Parliament who are concerned that the ID is out of control,” Alina explained in a weary tone. “Especially on Earth. Some feel the ID should be letting the CID handle this kind of thing, and there are general concerns that we’re overly aggressive. We can’t brief Parliament on the operational details of everything we do, and that makes them question us even more.”

  “You’re saying some bought conspiracy tools are trying to weaken you?” Jia growled.

  Alina shook her head. “Some are, perhaps, and some are not. You know how this goes, Jia. Some people, even members of Parliament, don’t want to know how much darkness there is in the UTC, let alone on Earth, but that doesn’t mean we should destroy everything that makes the UTC good just to take out the bad guys. That would be a Greek tragedy.” She dismissed the image with the flick of her wrist. “It doesn’t matter. Until we have the leak fully plugged in the ID, we need to be careful about who we send on missions. Blind trust gets people killed. At least you two are a known quantity.”

  Emma materialized, this time in an Army uniform. “You want Erik and Jia to assault a mansion that is probably a conspiracy base and heavily defended. Because it’s a recovery mission and political in nature, you can’t simply level it, but at the same time, they have to show restraint until they rescue Mr. Ahmed. Is that it?”

  “That’s an accurate summary,” Alina replied. “Nice and succinct.”

  “It’s also a recipe for suicide.” Emma narrowed her eyes. “I’m well aware of their relative combat ability against the average gun goblin and terrible troll, but they are only two people, and if they can’t soften the target with bombardment beforehand, they run the risk of being overwhelmed. Skill and willpower can only do so much to overcome sheer numbers. If they took the informant there, they have reason to expect they can defend the location.”

  Erik raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t wrong, but he was surprised Emma would show such direct concern about them. He’d gotten used to her begrudgingly showing her concern.

  Virtual mother-in-law strikes again.

  Colonel Adeyemi raised his fist to his mouth and coughed to get their attention. “You’re right, Emma, and that’s where I come in. No one expects Erik and Jia to go in there alone, and there’s no way I’d let anyone send them in there alone.”

  “H
ow are you supposed to do this?” Emma folded her arms with a dismissive sneer on her face. “Aren’t politics involved? Won’t involving the DD cause trouble?”

  “Yes, but this is one time, I’m willing to take the risk,” the colonel replied. “I have enough handpicked men and women who are willing to volunteer for a totally off-the-books black op to put together a decent squad. I can gear them up for a major assault, including exos.”

  Erik frowned. “And if things go badly?”

  “Then a rogue colonel goes to prison or to the frontier, and the ID doesn’t take the hit.” Colonel Adeyemi shrugged, no fear on his face. “We all need to help each other because we all have the same goal.”

  “Do we have to be quiet this time?” Erik asked. “Emma’s got a point. We can’t just blow up half the place without risking killing the informant, but there’s no way we’re going to sneak a squad of exos in without shooting someone. I doubt they’ve got that house filled with stun-only security bots.”

  Eagerness removed the discomfort on Alina’s face. “You can be as noisy as you want, but you’ll need to do it quickly. If you agree, I want you on a transport tomorrow morning, heading to France. I’m only not sending you tonight because I want you rested, and that gives me time to set up one potential feint operation in another part of the country. You should leave Malcolm behind on this operation. It’s not going to be that subtle, and the reality is because he’s dating Camila, he’s tied into the ID even more directly than you two. And yes, I’m also checking into both of them as leaks.”

  Erik nodded, surprised at her suspicion. He decided to opt for levity.

  “Since his girlfriend’s in town, he wouldn’t want to go risk his life anyway.” He looked at his partner. “I’m in, but I can’t speak for Jia.”

  She nodded. “I’m in, too. Let’s go rescue your informant.”

  “Good.” Alina rubbed her hands together. “Let’s talk logistics.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Jia double-checked her seatbelt and harness as Erik finished docking the MX 60 in the Army ballistic transport.

  It was the first time she’d flown in a military transport instead of a civilian craft, but other than a denser series of docking ports for vehicles through most of the body and some heavy docking clamps near the front for larger military vehicles, there wasn’t much difference.

  It didn’t have any obvious armor on the outside, but that made sense. If they were launching ballistic transports and didn’t control the area, it was pointless to expect them to survive. Armor wouldn’t do much against decent surface-to-air missiles or AAA.

  Erik had changed the color to a dull gray to stand out less, but it was pointless. The flight today was empty except for the MX 60. It was eerie.

  “They’re doing final flight checks,” Emma announced. “We’ll lift off in about twenty minutes. Flight time is about an hour and a half.”

  Colonel Adeyemi’s team had taken an earlier transport.

  Erik let go of the control yoke and frowned. “Alina wants us to go do a major assault, but she doesn’t want us to use our advanced exos. That’s kind of annoying.”

  “Politics again. Those are experimental models. It’d point too directly to the ID.” Jia shrugged. “Besides, Adeyemi’s going to provide us exos. Since when were you so picky about things?” She thought for a second. “Other than food?”

  “Nothing wrong with wanting the best tool for the job. And I’ve gotten used to their mobility.” Erik furrowed his brow, a dark expression on his face. “But I wonder about him, too.”

  “The colonel?” Jia stared at Erik. “You don’t trust him? That’s the last thing I expected to hear from you.”

  “Oh, I trust him.” Erik shook his head. “Hell, of all the people we deal with, I trust him the most. Even more than Alina.”

  “Because he’s Army?”

  Erik shook his head. “Nope. The Army’s big. All the training and the esprit de corps in the galaxy can’t erase the fact that some guys are only looking out for themselves. It’s his motivation I trust.”

  “Revenge.” Jia gave a knowing nod. “You can relate.”

  “His motivation is purer than mine. His son was murdered.” Erik shook his head, a distant look in his eyes. “No man should have to bury his child. I think the colonel died the day he found out, and the man we know is just a ghost, continuing on and unable to rest until his son is fully avenged.” He nodded grimly. “He’ll never betray our conspiracy hunt, and he’ll probably get himself killed or arrested for going too far in support of it. That’s what I worry about, but maybe I shouldn’t.”

  “Why is that?”

  “It’s like Lanara told me the other day,” Erik explained. “This is a war, and you don’t win wars without casualties. If Adeyemi gets too focused, he might make mistakes. The conspiracy found the jump drive lab, which means the Defense Directorate doesn’t have everything sealed up.”

  “You’re worried about leaks in the military, including inadvertent?” Jia surmised.

  “Exactly.” Erik nodded at her. “That is why this crap’s only going to get harder. The people at the top of the conspiracy probably barely fill a decent-sized room. They might have their monsters and Tin Men, but the average soldier in the military or the average agent in the CID or the ID wants to protect the UTC. If it was an open fight, we’d destroy them easily.” He chuckled, but there was no mirth in the sound. “We’ve gotten lucky because it’s hard to keep everything secure when you’re trying to hide in the shadows. Conspiracies want to unravel naturally. People can’t keep their mouths shut when they do something important.”

  Jia sighed. “And now we’re in a conspiracy of our own, one dedicated to destroying their conspiracy.”

  “Yep. This ID leak, or the agents who’ve been grabbed—it’s all the same thing. The more we have to play their game, the ultra-secrecy game, the more our advantages are neutralized, and they get hits on us like this.”

  “Alina’s trying her best,” Jia countered. “The Argo, and convincing the military to lend us the Bifröst. We have Emma, too.”

  Jia expected the AI to chime in at that point, but she remained silent. She was grateful for the restraint in the emotional moment.

  “Isn’t that how war unfolds?” Jia murmured, conflicting thoughts swirling in her head. “We haven’t broken the enemy’s morale, so they’re growing desperate and striking back harder, like a cornered animal.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.” Erik shook his head. “First, it was simple corruption, and then terrorism, but they’re starting to get really scary. They tried to sink Parvati, and they activated that ship.”

  “I don’t think they intended for it to get out of control,” Jia suggested.

  “We don’t know that,” Erik spat through gritted teeth. “We’ve been assuming they wanted to harvest the tech for whatever reasons, but for all we know, they’re a bunch of genocidal psychopaths who want to wipe out all life on Earth.”

  Jia locked eyes with him. “It doesn’t matter.”

  He eyed her. “How does it not matter?”

  Her voice was velvet over rock. “Because if we wipe them out, they can’t do anything.”

  Erik’s lips curled into a hungry smile. “Good point.”

  Both fell into their own thoughts for the next half-hour. Jia kept thinking back to her dinner with Mei. Her sister wanted a satisfying life where she could experience new things. It was a simple dream, easily obtainable with the right mindset.

  But what of the conspiracy? Were they really genocidal, or was it about simple control?

  Jia didn’t understand the point of it, regardless of motivation. Given the sheer resources they’d already displayed, the members had to have indirect control of large parts of the UTC. If Sophia Vand was a typical example, the conspiracy was the UTC.

  The conspiracy was waging war not with the UTC, but with decency and freedom. A person didn’t need to be a committed Purist to be disgusted by the cybernetic
and genetic modifications used by the conspiracy’s forces. The half-alien agent they’d fought on Venus might end up being one of the more mundane enemies.

  Jia’s stomach churned. There might be half-Hunter hybrids out there, deadly monsters waiting to be unleashed on innocents. She didn’t care what motivation the conspiracy cited; they’d long ago crossed the line.

  There was no choice left but obliteration for either side.

  She swallowed, and her heart rate kicked up. An image flashed in her mind from the battle against the Hunter ship, Cutter’s death stare.

  “When I became a cop,” she murmured, capturing Erik’s attention, “I believed I was a peace officer. I thought my actions would help save people’s lives.”

  “They did.” Erik looked her way. “We stopped killers, terrorists, and all sorts of bastards at the NSCPD. We saved a lot of lives, and we helped a lot of other people get closure by catching the people who hurt them or their families.”

  “I know, and it’s not like I didn’t see people get hurt when I was a detective, but I now understand the fundamental difference between being a cop and what we are.”

  “What’s that?” Erik sounded curious.

  “It’s like you discussed with Lanara.” Jia lifted her head and stared at the ceiling. “We’re not private security contractors. In a sense, we’re private military contractors fighting a shadow war.”

  “Can’t say I disagree with that assessment. I also can’t say it bothers me. I spent my life as a soldier. It’s the one thing I know I’m good at. That and penjing.”

  “It’s easy to imagine a police department that rarely loses officers, especially on a civilized planet,” Jia continued. “But it’s hard to imagine an army that never loses soldiers. Police help preserve the peace, but when the military’s involved, they have to destroy to bring peace.”

  Erik didn’t respond for a long while. He stared through the front window, although there was nothing exciting there but the cargo bay wall of the transport. Jia looked away, embarrassed.