Sullivan Saga 2: Sullivan's Wrath (7 page)

“Good.”

“What’s the target?”

“You don’t need to know. I’ll be there to tell you what to do.”

“That’s not how I work.”

“It is if you want the money.”

Brooks tapped the card on the bench. “All right. What’s the plan?”

“I need to get inside a facility. But the timing has to be perfect, because there’s a man I need to be there, too.”

“So what do I do?”

“You need to infiltrate the facility, incapacitate the guards then help me apprehend the man when I lead him in.”

“How well-guarded is this facility?”

“I’m not sure. It’s a warehouse. They keep a man on the roof, and there are cameras everywhere.”

“A warehouse? In the industrial sector?”

“Yes.”

“If you give me the block, I can arrange to have the power cut when we need to go in.”

Allen pulled up a map of the city on his tablet. “This block.”

Brooks nodded. “What else?”

“That’s it. Cut the power, incapacitate the guards—I’d prefer it if you don’t kill them—and help me apprehend the man I’ll be leading into the warehouse.”

“And how are you going to get this man to follow you in?”

“He’s looking for me. He’ll follow.”

Brooks grunted. “When?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll be in touch.” Allen stood up from the bench. “Arrange to cut the power, but don’t do it until I say so. You can be ready to go at a moment’s notice?”

“Sure. Unless a better job comes along.”

Allen nodded. “If it does, I need you to let me know as soon as possible.”

As he walked away from Brooks, Allen again began to feel doubts. Of course, he’d give Brooks very careful instructions that Sullivan was not to be killed, but planning an ambush felt wrong. Sullivan was his best friend, after all. Hadn’t they been through too much together for a low act like this?

Once again, Liz’s voice filled his mind. “So it’s all set, Frank?”

“Yes. Brooks will be on call for when we need him.”

“Good. I know you have doubts.”

Allen stopped walking.

“Frank, listen to me. This is more important than you realize.”

“You keep saying that, but are you going to tell me why we need Sullivan? First you told me to get the ship so I could go into hyper-hyperspace and cross over to be with you. Now you say Sullivan needs to be on the ship. Tell me why, Liz.”

“Not yet.”

Allen clenched his fists and looked around him. He wanted to hit something, but he stood in the middle of a path running through the park. The nearest object was a cement trash bin. He took a few deep breaths. “Liz, it feels wrong to betray Rick like this.”

“I know. But it must be done. Even he will see the need for it once it is revealed.”

“Will there be any danger in it for him?”

“There’s always danger, Frank.”

Allen resumed walking.

“Remember,” said Liz, “how it felt to touch me when you were in hyperspace, when you were on your way here?”

Allen took another deep breath.

“Remember how it felt to touch my skin, taste my lips? My warm breath on your body? My tongue? Do you remember, Frank?”

Allen swallowed. “I remember, Liz.”

“Just be patient. Do what needs to be done, and you can have that—you can have me—for eternity.”

Allen nodded. He approached a group of men sitting on a bench. They recoiled slightly as he passed; they must have been watching him talk to himself. Allen quickened his pace, making his way out of the park.

SULLIVAN WAS CAREFUL as he walked back to the hotel. The sun had set, and if the gangs were active in the daytime, it would only be worse at night.

The people of Agrona seemed to know the danger: the streets were nearly deserted. Sullivan kept his head down and didn’t make eye contact with any of the few pedestrians he did encounter.

It felt strange to be back in Agrona. He’d grown up here, and the last time he’d been in the city there had been a war. He certainly didn’t think he’d be back so soon. He’d expected to return sometime, but after the instability had passed, after the economy had recovered and the city was once again secure.

When he was a few blocks from the hotel where he and Kate were staying, Sullivan heard a vehicle stop behind him and at least two doors open. He glanced quickly over his shoulder. Three men were starting to move toward him.

Sullivan stopped and turned. In the dim light cast by a handful of lamps along the street, he could see that they weren’t thugs like those he had encountered in the park.

Sullivan surveyed his surroundings. To his left, a narrow alley ran between two buildings. Some rubble blocked the entrance, but he was sure that he’d be able to scramble over it without too much difficulty.

One of the men reached around to the back of his waistband, and Sullivan didn’t wait to see the gun. He dove over the rubble and landed hard on the other side. His hand found a fist-sized chunk of concrete as he landed, and his palm throbbed with pain as it was split open.

Ignoring the pain, Sullivan closed his fingers over the concrete as he heard boots running toward him. As the first head peeked over the rubble, Sullivan launched his projectile toward it. As the concrete bounced off the man’s skull, Sullivan jumped to his feet. He bounded back over the rubble and landed hard on the man with his feet. The sound of cracking ribs told Sullivan that at least one of his attackers was probably out of the fight.

Something hard came down on the back of Sullivan’s skull. He fell forward but kicked his foot out as he did, wrapping the toe of his boot around his assailant’s leg. The man fell on top of him, and Sullivan heard something metal clatter to the ground.

As blows began striking his body, Sullivan reached out blindly, still reeling from the fall, and found the gun by chance. As the man on top of him brought his fists down against Sullivan’s kidneys, he wrapped his fingers around the butt of the gun, half turned and fired into his attacker’s stomach.

Sullivan rolled out from under the wounded man. Two down. A boot met his side, and Sullivan looked up to see the last man brandishing a knife. Another kick sent the gun from Sullivan’s hand. The knife arced downward as Sullivan got up on one knee. He caught the knife hand and twisted the man’s wrist, making him drop the weapon.

The man kicked out, striking Sullivan in his upper thigh. Sullivan punched upward toward the man’s torso but caught him in the groin. The man doubled over and Sullivan, standing, looked down to make sure he wasn’t thinking about getting back up. Sullivan gathered up the gun and the knife and limped back to the vehicle the men had left. He got in and sped off down the street, zigzagging through the city to make sure no one else was able to follow.

RICK SULLIVAN TOOK his earpiece out of his ear and threw it onto the bed. “I’m still not getting anywhere.”

“Hall really doesn’t seem to want to meet with you, does he?” said Kate. She reached over to where he sat on the bed and put her hand on the back of his head. “You sure you don’t need a doctor?”

“I know what a concussion feels like. I’m all right.”

“I hope we get a meeting with Hall soon. It’s not safe for you here.”

“I’m sure he knows that. And I think he suspects why I’m on Edaline. He knows that ship isn’t his property.”

Kate frowned. “And as long as you’re not given an opportunity to ask him about it, he gets to keep it.”

Sullivan got up from the bed and paced the room. “There has to be a way to get to him. I hate to do it and put him in an uncomfortable position, but I may ask General Miller to arrange a meeting with Hall and bring us in on it.”

“He did say to contact him if there was any way he could help.”

“He did.” Sullivan exhaled loudly. “I suppose I’ll give him a call.”

A knock came at the door. Sullivan stepped over to it, peered through the spyhole then opened the door. Dale Hammond stepped in and looked around. “Well, I’m off.”

Kate moved toward him and gave him a quick hug. Sullivan shook his hand.

“Good luck to both of you,” Hammond said. “You sure you don’t want me to take you back, Kate?”

“Yes. I’m staying here with Rick. He might need me.”

Sullivan took her hands. “I always need you.”

Hammond made a show of looking away. “I’ll be gone in two seconds, can’t you guys wait?”

They laughed. “Take care, Dale,” Kate said. “I’ll try to get back to Silvanus within a year.”

Hammond said a final goodbye and closed the door.

Sullivan sat down on the bed. For a few months after the war, he, Kate, Allen and Hammond had been close. The four of them were nearly inseparable. Despite his worries, Sullivan considered those the happiest months he had ever spent. But then Hammond had been given a new job at Kate’s company, and Allen had begun to grow distant. They had still done things together, but less and less frequently.

Now Hammond was gone, going back to Silvanus, a planet Sullivan would probably never return to. Allen seemed just as lost to him. Even if they found him, even if they convinced him to go to Faris with them, Sullivan didn’t see a future in which he and Allen would again share the camaraderie they’d once had. All he had left was Kate.

Sullivan looked up at her. She smiled and went to sit next to him on the bed. He took her in his arms and held her tightly.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yes. I was just thinking about those first few months after we all returned to Silvanus. Those were good times.”

“We’ll have good times again, Rick.”

“Maybe. If I’m lucky, I’ll see Dale maybe once a year from now on. And Frank… who knows if or when I’ll see him again?” He cleared his throat. “But you make me happy, Kate. If I didn’t have you, I don’t know what I’d do. I never want to be away from you again.”

“Then don’t be. No matter what happens with Allen, stay with me. If he gets off of Edaline, let him go.”

Sullivan nodded. “I’ll let him go.”

Kate pulled him closer. “I’m so sorry, Rick. But don’t give up on him just yet. We still might be able to change his mind, if we can find him.”

Kate broke the embrace and got up from the bed. She walked over to a chair where Sullivan’s jacket was hanging and took General Miller’s card from the pocket. “Here,” she said as she handed it to Sullivan. “Call him.”

Sullivan took his earpiece off the bed and put it in. He glanced at the card then tapped the earpiece.

ALLEN OPENED HIS eyes. Liz was lying on the bed next to him. He had felt the cold chill as she arrived, and it had pulled him out of his light doze.

“Hello, Frank,” she said. “Sorry to wake you.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t quite asleep.”

“Things are progressing. Are you prepared?”

“Yes. Should I call Brooks?”

“Not yet. Another day or two.”

“Liz?”

“Yes?”

“Please tell me why you need Sullivan. I don’t know if I can do this not knowing what you want with him.”

Liz appeared to take a deep breath. Allen knew this was an intentional movement. She didn’t really have to breathe. “Frank, Richard Sullivan is a soldier. We have need of a soldier.”

“There are lots of soldiers. Why him?”

“Because he already knows about us. And we already know what he’s capable of.”

“Who are you at war with?”

“Us? No one. The war he is to fight is not on our behalf.”

“Then whose?”

“In due time, Frank.”

“But why make me lure him? Why not just tell him that there’s a threat and ask him to help you?”

“You know Richard Sullivan well enough to know the answer to that question. He doesn’t trust us. He never has. He doesn’t see us the way you do. He has to be convinced.”

“Then let me convince him.”

“He thinks you’re under our control. He wouldn’t trust you right now, either.”

Allen sat up. “And he shouldn’t. I’m betraying him.”

“No, Frank. You’ll be helping him to understand the situation.”

Allen got up from the bed, shaking his head. “Liz, how can I make him understand the situation if I don’t even understand it myself?” He walked over to the window and threw open the curtains. “You say he doesn’t trust you. Should I even trust you?”

Before Allen realized she had moved, Liz was beside him. “Yes.”

He didn’t know how or why, but when she was close to him, his will seemed to evaporate. A part of his mind was still suspicious, still unsure he wasn’t anything more than a puppet, but the rest of it felt only calm, trust and love in her presence.

“You should trust me,” she said. “You know me, Frank. You know me as well as you know yourself.”

The suspicion increased slightly but diminished again when he looked into her eyes. “I still feel like I’m betraying Rick.”

Liz smiled sadly. “Do you remember that Italian restaurant where we had our first date?”

Allen’s face brightened. “Around the corner from your apartment?”

“That’s right.”

“That place closed down, what? Four years ago?”

“About four years, yes.”

“That’s too bad. I mean, the food wasn’t the best, but I have fond memories of it.”

“That was before we became partners at the Bureau.”

Allen nodded. “There’s something I never asked you.”

“What?”

“We went on that date, and it went well enough, but when I called you again you didn’t pick up. The next time I saw you, you were being transferred to my department.”

Liz smiled.

“You acted like it was a big coincidence. But did you request that transfer? Did you do it because of me?”

Liz held her smile, but it seemed to tighten. Allen stepped away. “You don’t know, do you?”

The smile faded. “I don’t remember, Frank. That was a long time ago.”

He shook his head. “No. You don’t know because you’re only what I know about Liz. Everything she never told me about herself… it’s gone.”

“But she told you so much, Frank. You’re right, I exist because of your memories of her. But what memories they are.”

Allen swallowed. He took a few breaths then looked at her again. As he expected, his doubts and fears began to melt away. He closed his eyes and tried to hold on to those feelings. He didn’t know why, but he had to hold on to at least some of them. “There’s just so much about this that….” He paused. That what? Was wrong? No, it wasn’t wrong. Not wrong. Confusing? Yes, that was all right. It was acceptable for him to be confused.