That caught Gabe’s attention. “Platoon mates. How many? Can we count on them to help?” he asked.
Boone’s expression turned wry. “Ramirez, yes. Davila, probably. If we can reach them, that is.” He shrugged, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. “I tried earlier. Both their wires are set to do not disturb.”
Thad blew out a breath and looked around. “Okay, then. This couyon drew a lot of attention with the mess he made while I ran him down. I’m surprised security’s not all up in our chili, wanting to know what’s going on.”
Asha’s brow rose at the colorful phrase. “Since we don’t know if they’ve been infiltrated, I vote we move out.”
“Agreed,” Gabe said. “We need to split up, see if we can run these guys down.” He looked at Boone. “You got any idea where they might be?”
“Yeah.” The corporal pointed. “Last I saw, they were sorting their shipment down in the lower level of the Employees Only section. I’m not sure when the shuttle that’s supposed to pick them up is scheduled to arrive, but they could be already on the move.”
Asha looked thoughtful. “How do we handle this once we locate them? Since the pubnet’s down, we can’t call in reinforcements.”
Thad ran a hand through his short-cropped hair. “No, not without sending a shuttle far enough downrange to get past the swamper’s influence.”
“Well, we’re not armed for a takedown. Plus, there are civilians to consider,” Asha said.
Boone turned serious eyes on the medic. “We’re up against considerable firepower. They’re all carrying.”
“P-SCARs?” Thad asked.
The young man’s jaw tightened. “Yessir. The crates have P-SCARs, CUSPs, frag grenades and stickies. Hell, I even saw a RAU-19 railgun in one of them.”
Asha gave a low whistle. CUSPs weren’t lethal, but the ultra-short pulses of plasma they fired could paralyze, flash-blind, or debilitate, depending on the weapons’ setting. As for the grenades and railguns…
Thad’s gaze landed on Gabe, expression unreadable. He inclined his head a fraction in Boone’s direction. {He a liability or an asset?}
Gabe sent him a subtle nod. {Kid’s got good instincts. You should see him fight.}
Thad lifted his chin. {Good. I’ll take him.} He turned to Boone. “We break into teams. One scouts the park, the other tries to get inside. First one to spot them sings out.”
Gabe motioned to Asha. “We’ll find a way inside and leave the public space to you two.”
Thad gave an easy shrug. “That’s cool.” He clapped Boone on the shoulder. “Boone Brady, looks like you’re with me.”
15:CONTACT
Sky Park Interior
Gabe and Asha slowed as they came to the cluster of buildings at the platform’s core that was arranged to look like a quaint, small-town square.
Asha turned to Gabe. “You go left, I’ll go right?” she suggested, then nodded to the other side of the square. “We can meet up on the other side.”
He gave her a quick nod, and the two parted to scout the area. He pushed his way into the crowd, eyes seeking the landscaped pockets between buildings for potential access points. It took a while and involved negotiating his way around various obstacles, like kiosks offering funnel cakes and kids licking dripping cones.
Twenty minutes later, they met up on the other side to compare notes. Gabe had counted six different entrance points. Asha’s count matched his.
“So what’s our best candidate?” he asked.
The medic tilted her head. “I think the one by the lavs offers the most cover, but with all the drinks being served on this platform, that’s a busy place.” Amusement lit her eyes at that last comment.
Gabe’s mouth quirked and he nodded toward a mother swiping a napkin across her protesting child’s face. “And kids with sticky fingers.”
She laughed. “Copy that.”
They timed their approach to the employee door during a brief lull in foot traffic. Asha was right; once they were in position, the faux boulders shielded them from being seen by passing pedestrians.
She studied the door’s access panel and then shot him a questioning look. “You have anything that’ll get us inside?”
He shrugged. “I could try my NCIC credentials. Some manufacturers include us in with other federal organizations in their law enforcement override codes.”
Asha stepped aside. “It’s all yours.”
Gabe pressed a hand against the door’s sensor. There was a momentary pause, followed by a click, and then the door slid open.
“Nice,” Asha commented as they slipped through and began traversing the long hallway. “It never would have occurred to me to try my military ID on one of those things.”
Gabe shot her a wry look. “When the NCIC is called in to investigate a crime, sometimes it’s done on Navy premises but often, it’s not.” He shrugged. “Let’s just say flashing a warrant doesn’t always open doors for us. Sometimes, we need a little backup. You have your everyday carry; we have ours.”
Asha nodded her understanding. Her head came up as somewhere down the hallway a lift chimed. Over the low murmur of voices inside closed offices, they could hear the tread of several feet coming toward them.
Gabe touched her elbow and motioned toward the nearest door. Asha reached it first. It slid open to reveal a storage closet, filled with plenty of things to block them from view. They ducked inside.
Grabbing the nearest object that would work as a wedge, Gabe used it to prop the door open while Asha shut off the lights. The medic crouched in the shadows behind a stack of boxes. Gabe joined her, and they waited to see who approached.
{Could be employees,} Asha murmured.
Gabe shook his head. {Too many, and too quiet.}
Four figures strode past, each one pushing a dolly piled high with boxes.
{Dammit.} Asha’s voice held a frustration that matched his own. She, too, had spied the bulge of weapons in their clothes. The weapons were concealed, but all four were carrying.
{Even with the element of surprise, there’s no guarantee we can take all four in this narrow space without one of them getting off a shot,} she said.
{Agreed. It’ll be easier to pick them off, one by one, out in the park,} he responded. {I’ll update Thad.}
16: ON THE MOVE
Sky Park Grounds
After Gabe and Asha left, Thad turned on his heel and motioned for Boone to follow. He kept pace with the dark-skinned operator and tried to observe the man without being obvious about it.
After a moment, curiosity won out. “You’re Special Recon, right?”
Thad slid a sidelong look his way. “Where’d you get that idea?”
Boone returned to his visual sweep of the park. “The bartender pointed you out last night at the Thirsty Whale. All three of you were there.”
He looked back over at Thad when he heard a low chuckle. “That’s Connor,” the man explained. “Retired from the Unit a few years back. Owns the place. Let me guess; you’d just come off deployment and looked a bit lost. He has a soft spot for greenies.”
Boone tried not to bristle at the man’s tone, but some of his reaction must have telegraphed itself to the older man. “No shame in that, Corporal. Everyone starts out green. It’s what you do from that point on that counts. Only person you’re competing with is yourself.” Abruptly, he changed the subject. “You said they’ll head for where the shuttles land, out front?”
Boone blinked, and then his brain caught up. He began to nod, but then considered the question. “I… don’t know. I don’t recall seeing a loading dock anywhere topside when we arrived. There must be a belowdecks shuttle pad we should be looking for instead.”
The big man tapped the side of his head and gave him an approving look. “Now you’re thinking.”
They spent the next fifteen minutes striding quietly through the park, navigating through thatched kiosks that sold everything from stick candy to hats bearing the Searcy Sky Park logo to
a bungee-jumping stuffed bear, wearing its own tiny, replica high-altitude suit.
Up ahead, there were more of the same—various service kiosks, some renting canoes and floats, others renting time with remote-controlled drones. These last, visitors could use to capture vids of friends and family as they rode the Sudden Death, plunging toward the ocean, twenty-five kilometers below.
They’d just come to an open area at the center that offered seating for the evening light show when the special agent’s voice sounded on the combat net.
{Four traffickers just exited the employee area, pushing maglev dollies. Looks like they’ve got the goods parceled out and they’re transporting them. We’re following at a distance.} What came next were succinct descriptions of the four, plus what Gabe had seen of their payload.
{Copy. We’ll be on the lookout.}
* * *
Petra pulled her three compatriots over to the side where the walkway widened to accommodate a park bench that sat unused. They came to a stop in the shadow of a tall, spreading tree. She glanced around; they were alone.
“Okay, then,” she said in a low voice. “You know the drill. Nice and easy does it. No one working for a sky park vendor’s going to be on fire to get his delivery back to his ship. Blend in. Smile at the brats in the stupid hats with cotton candy smeared all over their faces. Got it?”
“What about Ike?” There was a slight tremor to Bobby’s voice, and fear lurked in the back of his eyes as he asked the question.
Bobby had done a hell of a job during the past hour, breaking past the trapped key interlocks so the team could launder the weapons. Now, they were operating outside Bobby’s wheelhouse. Worse, this next leg of the journey required he step out on his own.
“He’ll be fine,” Petra said, ignoring the dark look Delia shot her way. “He won’t ping us until he’s taken care of the guy who was sniffing around.”
Behind Bobby, Delia’s brows rose disbelievingly. Petra ignored the woman. Now was not the time to get into what might have happened to Ike.
“You did a great job on all the stuff in these boxes.” She patted him on the shoulder. “This last part is a breeze. Just a nice stroll through an amusement park. Act like you belong here and no one’s going to stop you. Okay?”
The man jerked his head in a nervous nod. Petra smothered her frustration. It was obvious that no amount of encouragement would assuage his fear, so she reverted to her brisk, no-nonsense tone.
“All right, then. Bobby, you take the most direct route back to the shuttle. Head on out; we’ll be a few minutes behind you.”
She waited, looking at him expectantly. With a start, the man moved, his pace a bit too quick to be called leisurely
Beggars can’t be choosers, she reminded herself. This is the best he can give. Deal with it.
She swallowed a sigh and waited until he was far enough away so he couldn’t overhear.
“Yes, we have to assume someone got the best of Ike.” She addressed the comment to Delia. “Look, whoever he is, he can’t call for help with the swamper in place. Plus, we have Jay on the inside. He’d warn us if anything went south.”
“So, we’re just going to let Ike hang?” Delia’s arms were crossed.
Petra shot her a quelling look. “It won’t do Ike any good for us to be caught with the merchandise. Let’s get this to the dock and then we’ll look for Ike. Okay?”
Both Kele and Delia nodded in reluctant agreement.
“Okay, then. We split up in case security is looking for us. Sing out if you think you’ve been spotted. Kele, take the lazy river path. Delia, head for the town center shops. I’ll take the walkway that swings around back, by the beach and the saltwater pool. Questions?”
They shook their heads. Without another word, the three broke apart.
None of the three noticed the two figures crouching behind the dense row of shrubbery behind a park bench, a few meters away.
* * *
{Be advised; they’ve split up. Repeat, targets have split up.}
When Gabe’s report came through, Thad shot Boone a questioning look. The Marine gave a slight nod.
{Copy,} Thad responded.
He and Boone stepped out of the flow of traffic when the sidewalk widened up ahead, spilling out into the large town square. Thad did a slow visual sweep, stopping at the tall building that sat in the center of the square. It was made to look like an Old Earth tower, from a continent named Europa…
Or was that Europe? The thought flitted idly through the back of his mind as he studied it.
Boone must have followed his eyeline. {That might come in handy if we need an overwatch,} the young man offered.
{If it’s not one hundred percent façade, it might,} Thad allowed.
Dismissing the building, he focused on the throngs of people passing by. Everywhere he looked there were kids. Some had balloons bouncing along in their wakes, others wore whimsical hats, crafted by ActiveFiber carnival artists.
Maglev strollers floated past, with toddlers in various stages of activity or exhaustion; some chatted animatedly while others cried for treats their haggard parents refused to give them.
And then a man in a black shirt, walking slightly faster than was strictly warranted for his occupation strode into view, pushing a dolly stacked high with boxes labeled ‘Adventure Sports.’
Half a dozen meters behind, and on a parallel path, another man followed in his wake.
17: CONTACT
Sky Park Grounds
Boone saw them at the same time Thad’s hand snaked out and snagged his arm. The special operator gave a discreet jerk of his head, indicating Boone should follow, and then ghosted behind a cluster of people.
{Two in park shirts, one pushing a maglev dolly, three o’clock.}
{Yeah, I saw.} Boone followed behind, risking a fast glance over his shoulder right before Thad ducked around the corner of a tiki hut.
{Looks like they’re headed toward the front entrance,} Boone sent. {Wherever that loading dock is, there must be access somewhere nearby.}
The two men they tracked were on separate but parallel foot paths, though the one who trailed the man with the dolly kept pace at a distance. It was almost as if the one was shadowing the other. Why, Boone couldn’t begin to guess.
Thad motioned to the one on the left. {That one’s mine. You get the other one. Swift and silent if possible, but do not let him leave this platform with those boxes. Copy?}
The operator slipped away without waiting for a reply.
Boone turned to follow his mark, keeping as many people as he could between himself and his target. It wasn’t too difficult. Park entertainers were everywhere.
He dodged a woman selling holographic pets. The area around her booth exploded with butterflies and faeries, miniature unicorns and griffins, all cavorting in the air and scattering ephemeral pixie dust as they went.
A caricature artist crafting instant holos of park-goers appeared in front of him, offering to craft his portrait. Boone sidestepped without comment, his eyes not leaving the box-laden dolly.
The only time he broke eye contact was to spare an occasional look around him for something, anything, he could use as a weapon. Passing a canoe rental stand at the entrance to the lazy river, he paused when he caught sight of the sturdy paddles that were tucked inside.
That’ll do. He paused to lift one from the canoe on the end. His action caused the SI monitoring the stand to squawk a warning at him. Impatiently, he pushed his ID at the rental token that popped up on his overlay, quickly paying for half an hour’s rental.
A glance over at the thief told Boone that the SI’s protests had caught the man’s attention. They made brief eye contact before Boone’s gaze swept on past. He turned sideways and let his hand rest on the canoe he’d just rented, a bland expression on his face. He bent his head, tossing a quick look at his target. Though the man was no longer looking at him, he’d sped up and was now glancing nervously around.
Boone let out
a soft dammit, pushed away from the canoe, and then sent a quick, {I think I might have been made} to Thad.
{Best make your move, then, hoss.}
Boone’s gaze landed on his target once more and then tracked ahead of him, plotting the man’s most likely path to the sky park’s entrance. He noticed almost absently that the mental line he’d drawn mimicked a cable that flew overhead.
A crazy idea began to form. He continued to follow the man at a distance, but now he split his attention between the man with the dolly and the cable above him. Far away, he could see the cable affixed to the crenellated wall fronting the sky park. Closer in, it was attached to a support beam. It was this that held his interest.
That could work, he mused as he thought it through. He jogged over to where the support beam thrust skyward from the platform’s base, artfully hidden behind a patch of landscaping. His eyes tracked up the beam, stopping where a small platform jutted out, a dozen meters in the air.
The average person habitually defaulted to the two horizontal axes of motion they were used to navigating, and often forgot to look up. From what he’d seen of this crew, they weren’t especially well-trained; he’d be willing to bet this guy wouldn’t be looking for trouble from above, either.
Before Boone began his ascent, he ran his hands over the beam until they landed on what he’d been hoping to find: a pair of carabiners, conveniently clipped around one of the beam’s handholds, left behind by the park’s maintenance crews. Helping himself to the small metal loops, Boone hoisted himself aloft, using hand- and footholds molded into its sides. Climbing with the canoe paddle was a bit of a challenge, but Boone had plans for the thing, so he powered through.
Stepping out onto the small metal-grated surface, Boone crouched to test the cable, where it looped through a sturdy ring just level with his knees. Then his gaze swept the park, fixing on his target once more.
Sudden Death (A Military Sci Fi Thriller) (The Biogenesis War Files) Page 9
