Audacious (34 page)

“There’s two more on the ground floor. Hook a left at the bottom of the stairs.”

Kris shed most of her escort and it was just Jack and a Marine couple that took the stairs down.

And Kris hooked a right.

“You should have gone left,” Jack said.

“No, it’s right,” Kris said.

And they ran into a guard.

“May I help you?” It didn’t sound like he wanted to.

“I’m looking for the ladies’ room,” Kris said.

“It’s that away. You should have turned left off the stairs.”

“That’s what I told her,” Jack said.

“I hear that a lot,” the guard said.

Kris retreated with ill grace.

“What did you see?” Jack asked when they were out of the guard’s earshot.

“That the offices are not locked off or all that well guarded,” Kris said. “Also, did you see that guard?”

“No body armor and I doubt if he’s carrying more than a revolver or automatic.”

“Exactly. If he’s what Inspector Johnson is counting on to handle a serious assault with the weapons we found in the warehouse, there’s going to be lots of blood and guts on the floor but not an ounce of brain.”

Kris actually did make use of the ladies’ room.

She was just coming out when Nelly said, “Kris, you have a call coming in from Abby.”

“What’s happening?” Kris said.

“Cara’s gone.”

“Where’d she go?”

“That’s the problem, we don’t know. She got a call, which she took outside the Tac Center. When she came back in she said it was not from Bronc, but that she needed to go to the bathroom. That was fifteen minutes ago. She’s not in the bathroom and she’s nowhere in the embassy.”

“Have you tried to trace her phone?” Kris asked.

“Yep. She’s got it throttled. Twelve and already breaking the law. I suspect it’s the company she keeps.”

“She’s got good teachers,” Kris said. “Where do you think she headed?”

“I bet either her mom or grandmom told her to go home,” Abby said.

“Where she’ll be safe?” Kris asked.

That brought a long pause. “I wouldn’t bet an Earth penny on that,” Abby said.

“You think Cara’s included in the ‘kill them all,’ coverage,” Kris said, not really believing her own words.

“I’m thinking that tonight is supposed to be bigger than any of us can get our minds around.”

Kris let that hang in the air for a long moment. Apparently long enough for Abby to make up her mind.

“Kris, I’m headed down to Five Corners to pick up Cara.”

“Abby, I figured you to keep an eye on the place there, maybe lead some last desperate reaction team.”

“Gramma Ruth is doing a fine job of eyeballing this place. She’s enjoying using her commander’s commission.”

“What’s your reserve commission?” Kris asked. The last thing she expected was an answer. But now that things were getting interesting and deadly, any sort of answer from Abby would be enlightening.

“I hold a reserve first lieutenant’s commission in Wardhaven Army Intelligence.”

“Admiral Crossenshield made you a first lieutenant!”

“I started as a second louie,” Abby said. “Having survived chasing you around space, I got a promotion awhile back.”

Kris didn’t know which shocked her more. That Abby held a reserve commission… or that she’d admitted it. She was very worried about her niece. “You really want to get Cara back.”

“I haven’t been much use to her, my own flesh and blood. I will not let her down now.”

“Then you better go get her,” Kris said. Only after the order was given did she glance at Jack. He was smiling proudly, like maybe a papa does when his little hellion is showing signs of becoming a civilized human being.

“Gramma Ruth, here” came over the line. “I’m looking at a Marine sergeant that sure looks in need of going with Abby. Sergeant Bruce, isn’t it?” A “yes, ma’am” came in the background.

“Can you cover the center without him?” Kris asked, not at all happy asking the old woman to take on that responsibility.

“I don’t see a problem, Kris. And if things go south, I can always call them back. You do understand, Abby, I call and you come running no matter where you are.”

“Understood, Commander.”

Kris rang off and found a bench to sit down on.

“Abby holds a reserve commission,” she marveled. Jack was busy looking up and down the lower halls, the north a duplicate of the one above. The south offices. He nodded agreement.

“And our forces are getting scattered all to hell in a hand basket,” Kris growled.

“Somehow I don’t think that is by accident,” Jack said.

“These folks haven’t been dumb since that first shoot-out. Why should they start dumbing down now?” Kris sighed.

Chimes sounded upstairs.

“I suspect that either means dinner is served or the cattle are being lined up. Want to bet which?”

Jack offered Kris his arm and, with the Marine couple trailing them, they headed back the way they’d come.

Through the east-facing rear doors of the ground floor, Kris got a gorgeous view of a river reflecting back bloodred clouds on fire with the sunset.

Kris hoped that wasn’t a harbinger of things to come as she turned to ascend the stairs and do her part in what would happen next.

45

For
once, the order of presentation put Kris nowhere near the head of the line.

Three visiting dignitaries from Geneva had the honor of first place, followed by several representatives of the Mandate from Heaven. After that, the pecking order seemed to fall by corporate wealth. Even there, several corporations ranked ahead of Nuu Enterprises on Eden.

It didn’t bother Kris a bit.

She spent the time getting to know the killing zone better.

Two floors above the main one had wide balconies looking down on the halls. And men in dark glasses who regularly talked into their sleeves standing watch beside marble columns.

They didn’t look any more heavily armed than the fellow on the ground floor.

Clearly, Eden was making a try, but was totally out of their league.

Penny leaned close to Kris’s ear. “You think on Wardhaven your old man would have this many guards?”

Which was a good point. Kris mulled it over for a full second, then answered. “He’d have more if he knew a coup was in the works. And if I had any say-so in the matter.”

Jack chuckled dryly.

Commander Malhoney listened stoically through the entire exchange. He didn’t so much as twitch.

However, unless very pale was his normal skin coloring, he was more scared than he let on.

Kris reached the beginning of the reception line and began shaking hands with this senator or that senator’s spouse.

Kris smiled and shook hands or exchanged gentle hugs. Formal introductions went quickly. Nelly offered to back up the brief name and main political office with something more, but Kris declined.

The line was clearly paced to move fast. If there was to be any serious talking, it would be after the formal meet and greet.

Assuming the hostile assault team gave them a few spare moments.

N
ELLY, ARE YOU GETTING ANY JAMMING?

N
O,
K
RIS.
I
WILL TELL YOU AS SOON AS
I
DO
.

And Kris moved on to shake another hand.

“We
don’t want to get a speeding ticket,” Abby pointed out. “Or wrap this car around a light post.”

Beside her, Sergeant Bruce didn’t noticeably slow down. He’d picked one of the rentals. Not the hottest, but a middling type that had a surprising amount under the hood.

And he was using all of it.

“You sure you know where the kid is headed?” he asked Abby.

“I’m pretty sure she’s headed home,” Abby said. Still, she activated a subroutine on her computer that she’d paid very good money for.

Everyone knew a phone could be located at any time by the authorities using the correct remote command. Many people paid good money for the illegal option that allowed them to eliminate that function. Abby had paid very good money for a bit of software that was supposed to get around that option.

It would be interesting to see if Bronc was better than all the money Abby had paid.

Surprise, surprise, the kid had a bit to learn. A map was projected onto the car’s front screen. A green dot moved along the trolley line toward Five Corners.

“She’s on her way home. Please tell me why.”

The sergeant offered no explanation. After a bit of silence he did change the subject.

“So you’re a first lieutenant?” he said, not taking his eyes off the road.

“I guess so.” Abby sniffed. “It’s not like I own a uniform or would know how to put one on. Someone… who shall remain unnamed… suggested that my job of looking after a certain princess might be easier if I had the protection of the Geneva Convention to fall back on.

“Possibly I made a mistake,” Abby shrugged, then did a longer review of the last few minutes, trying to get to the bottom of the strange reaction she was getting from this, until now, friendly man who was driving like a maniac.

“I thought you and yours would be less embarrassed about being out-shot by a Longknife maid if she had a commission.”

“Being out-shot by an Army puck, and an intel weenie to boot. Nope, sorry, sister. Color me embarrassed. Just who did teach you to shoot?”

“One of my former employers on Earth. Nicest little old lady. Who would have thought she had so many enemies gunning for her? Anyway, she sent me to a range to learn. Two old sergeants, one Army, one Gunny, did their best to show me how.”

“And you didn’t learn?”

“Not at first. Kept closing my eyes against the noise. Then my lady’s security guards went down and my gun and the pistol she had hid in her long johns were all that stood between us and a future as a widening pool of blood.

“I kept my eyes open. Plugged two of them. The sergeants said my shooting was much improved after that.”

“I would imagine,” Sergeant Bruce said as the car took a corner on two wheels.

Captain
DeVar was in the forefront of his two platoons as he waved them to a pause on their way downriver. On both sides of him, the troops halted and braced against the current.

Captain DeVar had realized very quickly that every approach to the Gallery was a dead giveaway, with dead being the operative word.

The river looked to be the only way in that might not be fully covered.

Actually, the river was very well covered. He had to wonder if the couples paddling canoes and sailing small boats up river on lazy weekends knew the amount of heavy weapons sighted in on them. Some might if their personal electronics were designed to isolate the radars that tracked them.

But that likely wasn’t very many.

A Marine couple outfitted with a picnic basket and full electronic countermeasures suite had verified expectations this morning.

So, DeVar was walking his Marines downriver.

The difference between full combat gear for a submerged entry and the same for space or worse wasn’t all that different. His Marines were breathing canned air and lugging enough weights to settle them onto the bottom of the Patowmack River.

Of course, just because the boaters this morning hadn’t found any evidence of underwater defenses didn’t mean there weren’t any.

And if this looked like the best approach for the Marines, the other side just might be using it for their own approach. Now wouldn’t that be an interesting coincidence.

Captain DeVar looked at the heads-up display on the face of his helmet, found it acceptable, and blinked his right eye once.

The display changed to what Gabby was getting on her sensor display. He eyed it for a long minute and found it also good.

He rose to his feet and motioned the platoons to advance.

Bronc
huddled among the other young men. They had assault rifles. He had his computer.

He kept it going up and down the electromagnetic spectrum, doing searches. It kept coming back with nothing.

Actually, it was coming back with a lot of stuff, but none of it was in the area the sensor sergeant had told him was not supposed to be there.

So long as there was nothing there, he was supposed to keep quiet.

Around him, some of the riflemen would start to whisper among themselves. A moment later, one of the gun-toting sergeants would scowl at the talkers, and they’d shut up.

Bronc kept his silence.

If he could manage it, he’d keep his silence as long as he could even after his fabulous computer started to report something these people were interested in.

Cara’s life might depend on it.

46

Kris
didn’t like being tied to this reception line. She kept thinking about how a sitting duck must feel in a shooting gallery. But just because handcuffs were golden didn’t make them any easier to break.

She’d met the leader of the opposition, Shirley Chisel, early in the line. A short woman in a conservative suit, she’d given Kris’s hand a firm shake. “I understand you and I almost met a few days ago.”

Kris raised an eyebrow.

“On the mall,” the woman continued. “Was that one aimed at you or me?”

“I shouldn’t have been there,” Kris pointed out. “Just luck. What about you?”

The woman scowled. “It was on my schedule for two days.”

Kris left it at that.

“I hope we get a chance to talk again,” the woman said as she passed Kris to the next senator.

There’d been a lot of handshaking since then, but nothing of interest. Kris hoped that was about to change, she was finally reaching the government.

The Americans on Eden had adopted a parliamentary government with a strong executive. Kris could never figure out why anyone would have an elected president from one party and then risk having the prime minister and his majority in parliament be from the other party.

Just another thing she didn’t much care for on Eden.

The last couple of senators had been members of the government. She was now shaking hands with the defense minister, a cordial woman who actually seemed to recognize Kris. But she said little before handing Kris off to the prime minister. He was a jolly short man. With his snow-white beard Kris had to fight thoughts of Father Christmas.