It was what she ought to do.
It was the sensible, practical, rational thing to do, and she was wondering if she could. She was feeling guilty, trying to talk herself out of it, and into it at the same time, and Terry and his friends nagging her about how death was better than debt-servitude, that really didn’t help.
She should kill everyone here. She knew she should. She should use the leverage she suddenly had, and get Naomi back. She didn’t know why she was hesitating.
Except she did know, really. It was an awful thing to do, to murder all these people.
It was awful, but she might have to do it.
This wasn’t about fairness and kindness any more. This was about family, and what she owed Naomi, and that she ought to try and save Naomi at all costs, no matter the price other people had to pay.
Because if Ellie was the only one who knew where the kid had gone, and who knew what the kid was planning, then she could probably get Naomi back.
So she stood there, trying to decide if she could actually do it.
Sameh could. Sameh would, if Ellie asked her to.
She wasn’t sure she wanted that, though. So she thought, wishing there was another way.
*
Ellie glanced around, glanced backwards at Sameh. Sameh was watching her. She probably understood the situation too. She thought a lot like Ellie did.
“Habibi…” Sameh said.
“Wait,” Ellie said.
“Habibi, we need to…”
“Just wait.”
Terry opened his mouth again. Ellie raised her sidearm and pointed it at his face.
“Wait,” she said. “You too.”
He nodded.
“Everyone just stop talking,” Ellie said. “Please. Everyone just give me a moment. Keep quiet, and let me think.”
Terry did, and behind her, Sameh did too.
Ellie thought again. She thought about just killing everyone. About shooting Terry as he stood there, and then shooting the rest of the militia, one after the other. About using the drone to blow the bunker building open and kill everyone inside. She thought about it to the point of deciding exactly how she’d do it, about having them all turn around and face away from her. About shooting Terry in the back of the head, then taking four steps sideways and shooting the next person. And then the next. Quickly, before very many of them realized what was happening, and before they could do much to stop her.
She thought about it, and pictured doing it, and then, despite herself, she decided not to.
She was sick of killing. Suddenly, she just was.
She usually got that way after combat, and it usually happened quite quickly.
In the middle of a firefight she’d shoot prisoners if she had to, shoot children if they were in the way, or fire erratically in crowds, just like Sameh, and not care very much where her stray rounds went. But that was in combat. Right afterwards, as soon as she felt safe again, as soon as her adrenaline and the battlefield meds in her system stopped spiking, then she calmed down and usually felt quite disgusted at herself, and guilty about the people she’d killed. Usually, then, she wanted just to stop and not kill any more, even when it made sense to.
Even when it was sensible, she didn’t like killing. Not then and not now.
She realized she’d decided.
She couldn’t keep killing. Not even for Naomi.
At least, not without trying a better, gentler way to solve this first.
*
Ellie glanced at Sameh. “Are we recording audio?” she said. “On the black box apps?”
Sameh nodded, but seemed a little puzzled. Probably because they usually just left the apps running, so it was fairly safe to assume they were now.
The apps were a substitute for live monitoring of their comms, software that sat on their tablets and constantly recorded environmental audio, and which the ops centre could access remotely, if she and Sameh died, to capture any last intel about what had happened. Usually, Ellie didn’t mind the apps running, because they were under her control, and could be deactivated when she wished, and were only remotely accessible when the ops centre lost their life-signs, anyway. At least in theory.
Usually she didn’t mind, but sometimes it seemed better to deactivate them. Mostly because of that remote access, and Ellie’s inability to be completely sure that the privacy controls built into company-supplied software couldn’t be overridden from the company headquarters.
“Switch them off,” Ellie said. “Then delete the recording files. Mine too.”
Sameh did, without comment. She probably thought there was about to be a massacre. This was an obvious first step, if they were about to do something truly awful, diverting drones and blanking comms.
That wasn’t why, though, although Ellie didn’t bother explaining. It wasn’t what they were about to do that she didn’t want overheard, it was the recording files that had just been made.
Ellie waited. Sameh tapped at her tablet. She would be switching the app off on hers, and then remotely accessing Ellie’s to do the same.
“Done,” Sameh said.
“Why are your recorders off? Terry asked, nervously.
Ellie looked at him. “Not became of you.”
He opened his mouth.
“Quiet,” she said. She tapped her comm, and said into it, “Could you connect me to whoever’s in charge of this operation. The person in Shanghai at the very top.”
“I can connect you to my supervisor,” the person in the operations centre said.
“That’s fine,” Ellie said. “Explain what I want.”
The operator must have. Another voice came on the line, and said, “You wish to speak to the person in overall command in Shanghai?”
“I do,” Ellie said.
“May I ask why?”
“Because I need to.”
“Ma’am, I need to give some reason…”
“I don’t know. Because I need to negotiate with that person directly.”
“We’ve been monitoring,” the supervisor said. “There’s been no sign of…”
“Just connect me,” Ellie said. “Or explain why you didn’t when this whole situation goes to shit.”
A hesitation, then, “Very well.”
Ellie waited. She looked around at the militia as she did. After a moment, a voice said, in Chinese, “Hello.”
“I think I’m working for you,” Ellie said.
“I think you are.”
“You have my daughter.”
There was no answer. A high-ranking corporate official probably wasn’t going to admit to kidnapping, even on a corporate communications system. Ellie realized as soon as she’d spoken.
“Well, anyway,” she said. “I think your son is still alive. I’m almost sure he still is. That was what I wanted to tell you.”
The person on the line took a breath. Relief, Ellie thought, and wished she could feel it herself.
“Thank you,” the voice said softly.
“No problem,” she said. “I wanted to ask you something, though. To ask you for a favor.”
“Of course. Anything.”
“I know approximately where your kid is, and I want my daughter back. And I hoped me knowing approximately would be enough. That you’d understand how this feels for me, and release my daughter now.”
The voice hesitated. “My understanding is you and your daughter aren’t close.”
“Close enough. Would you?”
There was no answer.
Ellie decided she needed to be clearer.
“What I mean,” she said. “Is that instead of being an asshole about this and trying to blackmail you, I thought I’d just ask. Nicely. Since I’ve almost done as you asked, and your kid will be safe soon, could I have my daughter back now please? Since we’re both missing our kids and everything.”
A silence.
“Are you there?” she said.
“I’m here. What do you mean about blackmail?”
&nbs
p; “Oh, I could kill the people who helped your son disappear, and then refuse to tell you where he went until you give my daughter back.”
“You could.”
“I thought about it,” Ellie said. “But that seems unfair. Especially to the people I’m standing here with, who’d end up getting killed.”
“It does seem unfair. Where’s my son?”
“Will you release my daughter?”
Still no answer.
“I should say too,” she said. “Your son has become sympathetic to the debt-resisters here, and plans to try and help them. I’m assuming that isn’t completely unexpected to hear…”
“Not completely unexpected, no.”
“He plans to help in a way that may be extremely dangerous for him. Do you understand what I mean?”
“I think I do.”
“I’m happy to help stop him. I’m more than happy to. I’ll do my utmost. But I’d like you to release my daughter first, since I’ve done my best to help you, and have actually achieved a lot.”
Another pause. The voice was thinking, Ellie assumed.
“Or what,” the voice asked. “You kill everyone there?”
“If I can bring myself to, yes.”
Sameh raised her hand, and held it over her earpiece. She looked at Ellie and waited. She’d been listening, and was now asking if she could join in the conversation. Ellie nodded.
Sameh tapped her comm earpiece. “I’m the second security operator,” she said.
“Hello.”
“I don’t have Ellie’s kindness. If she tells me to, I’ll kill everyone here.”
“Is she going to tell you to?”
“She hasn’t yet,” Sameh said. “But she might. Or I might act on my own.”
“Would you?”
“Check my personnel file. I would if I thought it was best for her.”
“I understand.”
“You also need to know that we’re hours from anywhere here.”
“I can see that.”
“It’ll be a long time before any backup team can get here. More than enough time for me to do this, and to destroy all the data storage devices I can find here too.”
“I imagine.”
“And I know enough to destroy data properly. My personnel file should show that as well.”
“Yes,” the voice said. “It does.”
“I just wanted you to know all that,” Sameh said.
“Thank you,” the voice said.
“I’m not threatening you,” Ellie said. “She isn’t threatening you either.”
“You are, in a very polite way.”
“I’m not. I’m very carefully not. I’m making clear to you what we could do, and how we could proceed. I haven’t decided that I’m doing that, yet, and I’m asking you to do this for me, and make all the threats unnecessary.”
“I understand,” the voice said. “And you think you can retrieve my son unhurt?”
“I’m reasonably confident I can.”
“Is there anything I can do to help? Operationally?”
“I don’t think so. No more than you have been, authorizing travel and equipment.”
“I can do more. A lot more.”
“Just release my daughter. Please.”
“Very well,” the voice said.
“You will?”
“I will. She’ll be returned to your parents within the hour.”
“She’s still in Australia?”
“Yes. I’ll have a trustlocked video stream sent to you, if you wish. And I assume you can make contact yourself, to verify she’s unhurt?”
Ellie thought. “I’d rather not.”
“Oh. Yes. Your relationship with your parents. We can verify it some other way, if you’d rather?”
“No,” Ellie said. “I’ll trust you.”
A silence.
“Since you’re trusting me, after all,” she said.
“That’s true. Very well. I’ve just given instructions for your daughter to be released. I look forward to seeing my son very soon.”
“Thank you,” Ellie said, surprised this had worked. “I…. Just thank you. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
“Bring my son back to me,” the voice said, and then was gone.
Ellie tapped her ear, breaking the connection. Then she looked around the militia.
“No-one dies,” she said. “And if you give me your word that you’ll stay out of this from now on, then no-one gets arrested either.”
Terry nodded, and the rest of the militia did too.
“Your word,” Ellie said. “You won’t warn anyone.”
“We won’t,” Terry said.
Ellie nodded, and looked around, and decided that was enough. It had worked. Everyone seemed to have got what they wanted. Even Sameh didn’t seem disappointed, she noticed.
She was almost actually surprised.
Chapter 14
Ellie let the militia go. She told them to wait until after she and Sameh had gone to leave themselves, and then to pack up what they needed and leave as well. To run, and hide, and hide sensibly, starting new lives, staying away from old friends, not even speaking to anyone they knew. They had a few hours to get a head-start, before the debt-recovery corporation came after them, but she thought most of them would probably get away.
She hoped they would, anyway, after she’d gone to the trouble of sparing them.
She spoke to them first. She warned them that this was their last and only chance. That she was being generous, and the corporation would not be. She warned them not to double-cross her, because she’d find out, and it would make no real difference to anything and just get them caught. She warned them there would be a lot of surveillance in the sky over this area very soon, and a lot of sigint tracking, and that any phone calls or travel towards Los Angeles would be noticed fairly quickly. She said they could try if they wanted to, of course, but it wasn’t worth it. They’d be caught. So instead, take this second chance, and live. Let everything go. Give up the fight, abandon the cause, and just go somewhere and rest. Otherwise the corporation would track them down, and imprison them, and all of this would be wasted effort.
They listened as she spoke, and she almost thought most of them had paid attention. She would know for sure in a few days.
She made her speech, then told Terry to keep them all inside the compound until she was gone, and then she and Sameh went back outside, and found Joe standing beside his SUV, guarding two militia members who had tried to run away at the very beginning of the firefight.
Ellie was a little surprised, until she realized she’d forgotten to tell Joe what to do if any militia came his way. It was probably something she ought to have thought of. She’d left the gates open so she and Sameh could retreat, but also so the militia could flee, because there wasn’t any point continuing to fight someone who already wanted to run away. But she’d forgotten to tell Joe that, so he had stopped the militia who were leaving. And in hindsight, Ellie thought, it was probably best he had. It meant these two weren’t running off somewhere to make phone calls to Los Angeles.
Joe looked relieved as Ellie and Sameh emerged. He’d been worried for them, Ellie thought, and about how long they’d been inside the compound. She was touched that he’d cared.
“How did it go?” he asked, and Ellie just nodded.
She wasn’t ready to talk very much, or to say anything else.
She was exhausted. She was physically tired, from wearing heavy armor, and mentally worn out from thinking too hard. She opened the back of the SUV, and sat down. In a moment, she would start taking off her armor, and wiping off the sweat that always accumulated underneath. In a moment. But first she just needed to sit down.
She sat, and felt a little better. Joe was still watching her, concerned.
“We’re fine,” she said. “It all went fine. Watch the gate, would you?”
He nodded, and did.
Ellie looked at the militia prisoners. “Go back
inside. Talk to Terry. Don’t do anything stupid until you have.”
They just looked at her.
“Get up,” she said. “Go. Run away. We’re done. Terry will explain.”
The two militia members walked back into the compound.
Ellie sat for a moment longer. The sun was warm on her face. She put her submachine gun down behind her. She took off her gloves, and idly wiped at the blood which had smeared onto one when she’d hit the man earlier. She tugged the comm earpiece away from her head.
“We’re going to Los Angeles,” she said to Joe. “Want to come with us?”
He shrugged. He kept watching the gate, like she’d told him.
“I’m offering you a job,” she said. “Probably one that will pay more than enough to get your parents’ house sorted out. Or more.”
He turned and looked at her.
“The same job as this,” she said. “The same big deal. But in Los Angeles. Want to come?”
He nodded.
“Good,” she said. She looked towards the compound. The two militia members had gone inside, and no-one else had come out. The road was empty. The countryside was deserted.
It was a pleasant, sunny day, and peaceful, except for a hint of smoke in the air.
She unfastened the side of her body armor, so the breeze could work its way inside. She unzipped the front of the inner armor, too, and pulled it loose from herself, enough to let air in. She felt herself start to cool down.
She felt odd. She felt contented. She just wanted to sit in the sun.
She always got a little too relaxed and happy, after combat.
“We should go,” Sameh said, still looking at the compound. “Before you get too comfortable. We did just kill a lot of their friends. Someone might be upset.”
Ellie nodded, and did her armor back up, and said, “Hug me first.”
Sameh did, quickly, still watchful. She hugged Ellie for a moment, then said, “Come on.”
They all got back in the SUV.
“What’s the plan?” Sameh said.
“Back across the wall, back to Vancouver, then down to Los Angeles. Find the kid before he does something stupid.”
The Debt Collectors War Page 25
