Vengeance (The Kurgan War Book 4) (7 page)

“If their docs are as good as ours, Mister Williams is running around with at least an artificial heart in his chest.”

“Makes sense.”

“Sir—”

Sheridan cut Cole off. “From here on out we’d best force ourselves not to use rank when we talk to one another.”

“Okay, Mark,” said Cole, trying not to laugh, “I’ve also been thinking about what we need to do when we get to Rome.”

“I’m all ears.”

“As Mister Williams wants us to go there, or he wouldn’t have allowed his face to be recorded, I say we use you as bait to lure him out into the open.”
 

“Why me?”

“He’s your mate! He knows you far better than he does me. I doubt he remembers what I even look like. It’s you he wants.”

“Okay, we’ll go with your plan, until I can think of something smarter and less hazardous to my health to do.

“Good luck with that.”

Their train pulled into the Moscow underground station on time at five minutes after eleven in the morning. They grabbed their gear, exited the train, walked across the busy platform to a ticket kiosk, and purchased tickets for their trip to Rome.
 

Until now, Sheridan had never noticed the omnipresent surveillance apparatus in the bustling centers of all of the world’s major cities. Cameras suspended from the roof of the station watched everyone while retinal scanners at the kiosks checked your identity before you purchased your tickets. Several well-armed police officers patrolled the area with sniffer droids by their sides. One of the men walked past Sheridan. For a few seconds, the machine lifted up its camera, like an eye, to look up at him before moving along.
 

“I wonder if his name is Spot?” said Cole, looking over at the sniffer robot.

“Pardon?”

“You know . . . as in a random spot check.”

Sheridan moaned at the awful pun.

At a ticket booth, a young blonde-haired woman said, “Please stand behind the red line at your feet while I scan your retinas.”

Sheridan smiled and held his breath. If the contact lenses failed, they would have to make a run for it.

A couple of seconds later, the woman looked up from her computer screen. “Thank you, Mister Scott.”

Sheridan exhaled and moved aside to allow the camera to scan Cole’s eyes.

“Thank you, gentlemen,” said the young woman as she handed them their tickets. “Enjoy your trip to Rome. Your expected time of arrival is six-thirty p.m. local time.”

“Thanks,” replied Cole with a wink at the woman. He took the tickets, read where their room was, and pointed to the second carriage behind the locomotive.

They made their way onboard and went straight to their room.
 

Sheridan glanced at his wrist phone and saw that they wouldn’t be leaving the station for another fifteen minutes. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten in some time. He pressed a button on a monitor on the wall and a menu came up.

“I’m going to have some lunch. I was thinking of something really unhealthy like a burger and fries. Want anything?”

“Same thing,” replied Cole as he locked the door to their cabin.

While they waited for their food to arrive, Sheridan dug out one of his credit cards to pay for their meal. He sat back and looked at Cole “You know, until today, I’d never really paid much attention to the amount of surveillance gear there is here on Earth. I can see why centuries ago people left the planet for the colonies. There is far more freedom out there.”

“When I retire from the service, I’m not going to settle down on Earth. A cottage on a lake somewhere far from here is my idea of living. I’ll miss my kids, but they’re growing up in a house without me in it. They have a new dad. In a couple of years, they’ll probably not even remember my face.”

Sheridan felt sorry for his friend. The uncomfortable look on Cole’s face told him that he missed his children.
 

“The only positive thing I can think of is that their mum’s not a bad person. It was me that drove her away. My drinking and my time away from home were too much for her to deal with.”

Sheridan tried to change the topic. “At least in a few hours you’re not going to be used as bait for a group of murderous Chosen agents.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that too much if I were you.”

“Why’s that?”

“If they’re any good at what they do you’ll never know you’re in trouble until it’s too late, and you’ll be dead.”
 

“Wonderful. You really know how to make me feel good about things.”

Cole grinned. “Just doing my job.”

Chapter 8

Commander Carmen Roy ran her hands over the creases in her dress uniform pants for the fifth time in the last minute. To say that she was nervous would be an understatement. Although she was comfortable around her boss, Admiral Sheridan, the thought of speaking on his behalf with the commander of the fleet filled her stomach with butterflies. She stood up and checked herself in the mirror one last time. Her dark blue uniform fit her lithe body as it had when she’d graduated from the Academy. She had foregone any makeup on her slender face. It always stood out too much on her pale skin. Her black hair was cut short around her ears.
 

“Well, girl you’re about as good as you’re ever gonna be,” she said to herself.

The polished wooden doors to Admiral Oshiro’s aide’s office opened. Rear Admiral Parker said, “The C-in-C will see you now, Commander Roy.”

“Thank you, sir,” replied Roy. She stood up as straight as she could, and with her heart racing in her chest, she strode into Oshiro’s office, stopped, and saluted the admiral.

“Please take a seat, Commander,” said Oshiro, after returning the salute.

Roy sat down in a high-backed wooden chair that had once been in the captain’s quarters onboard the
U.S.S. Constitution
during the first Kurgan War.

“Before we begin, would you like a glass of water?” asked Oshiro.

“No, thank you, sir.”

Oshiro sat forward and placed his hands on top of the desk. “So, Commander, what message do you have for me from Admiral Sheridan?”

Roy cleared her throat and began.

Less than two minutes later, Oshiro opened the door to his office. “Admiral Parker, have they started to disembark the freed POWs from their transport ships yet?”

Parker looked over at his computer. “No, sir. The first ship is scheduled to dock at Tranquility Station in the next fifteen minutes.”

“Stop it from docking and order the rest of the ships to remain one hundred kilometers from the space station until I give the order for them to dock and transfer their people down to the surface.”

Parker nodded and reached for a phone to pass the order.

Oshiro stepped back inside his office and looked over at Roy. “Okay, Commander, I’ll see which ship your people are on and have you transferred up there immediately.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The expression on Oshiro’s face turned solemn. “It may be a bit premature to thank me, Commander. I haven’t made up my mind to agree or disagree with Admiral Sheridan’s proposal. Until I do, you and the three women on this list will be placed in quarantine until I say otherwise.”

“I understand, sir.”

Oshiro shook his head. “I hope you do because I have no idea how I can send a Kurgan citizen back across the border without the staff at ADF Headquarters finding out. She may have helped free some of our people, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is an enemy civilian. There are a lot of very fearful folks back here on Earth who, if they knew about this woman, would begin to wonder if there are any more Kurgans hidden among our POWs. This was supposed to have been a big PR coup for the president. If the press gets a whiff of what is going on, it could blow up in his face. And all of the men and women who lost their lives freeing our people will have died for nothing.”

“Sir, I know if Admiral Sheridan were here he’d say sending this woman home is the right thing to do regardless of the consequences.”

Oshiro smiled. “Robert always was an idealist. You are dismissed, Commander Roy. Admiral Parker will locate your people and have a shuttle made available to you.”

Roy came to attention, saluted, and turned about smartly. She walked out the room feeling as if she had just stepped off a cliff and fallen into the abyss. She had no idea where this assignment was going or how it would end. The only thing she knew was that Admiral Sheridan was right. Angela had helped save countless people and returning her to her family was the ethical thing to do. She hoped that when push came to shove that Oshiro would as well.

“What’s going on?” Angela asked Wendy when she saw an officer she didn’t recognize moving through a crowd of curious passengers.

The ship had come out of its jump nearly an hour ago, yet it hadn’t docked, leaving many people to speculate what the holdup could be. Rumors had already begun to circulate. Most were rubbish. However, the one that got most people’s attention was that because of the recent attempt on the president’s life they were going to be rerouted to Mars instead of Earth. Once there, they would be held in a detention center until things calmed down back home.

Tarina waved at Wendy, pushed her way past a couple of broad-shouldered men, and slid over beside her colleagues.

“Did you find out what the delay is all about?” Wendy asked.

Tarina nodded. “Yeah, you two are to come with me.”

Angela hesitated. “Why?”

“It’s okay,” said Tarina, placing a hand on Angela’s shoulder. “A friend has arrived to take us off this ship.”

Wendy tried to see if there was anyone they knew in uniform. “Who’s here?”

“I just met her. Her name is Commander Carmen Roy, Admiral Sheridan’s aide.” Tarina took Angela’s hand and led her scared friend to the other side of the hangar where Roy was waiting.

When they arrived, Roy lifted up her tablet as if she were reading it. “Captains Pheto, Sullivan, and First Lieutenant Dorset?”

“Yes,” answered Tarina, with a wink at Angela to calm her troubled nerves.

“Please follow me. There is a shuttle waiting to take you down to the surface.”

Angela tapped Roy on the shoulder and whispered, “Am I being arrested?”

Roy shook her head. “No. But we are all being placed in quarantine until a decision is made whether or not to send you home.”

“I don’t understand . . . what is meant by quarantine?”

Wendy said, “It’s kind of like being back in prison, but no one there will beat us or try to rape us. Look at it this way, we’ll be well fed and taken care of. The only downside is that we won’t be able to speak to anyone in the outside world.”

Angela didn’t know what to say. Instead, she smiled at her friends and fell into line behind Roy.

Tarina asked, “Ma’am, do you know where we’re going?”

“Yes, I do and the irony of the whole thing is not lost on me,” responded Roy. “We’re going to an out-of-the-way communications station on Dorset Island in the Canadian north.”

Wendy giggled and nudged Angela in the ribs with her elbow. “You can look at life this way, at least you’re going to a place named after your namesake’s long-distant ancestors.”

Angela didn’t see the humor. She pursed her lips and said, “I’d rather be going home.”

“You will soon enough,” replied Tarina. “You have my word on it.”

Chapter 9

The sun was beginning to set when Sheridan and Cole finally reached ADF Headquarters. Long shadows crept over the ground like the dark hands of an unseen trespasser. They stood a few hundred meters back under the awning of a shop that had just closed for the evening. Built to the west of the Italian capital, the headquarters was a ten-story building that overlooked the Tyrrhenian Sea. A tall, electrified fence surrounded the sprawling complex. In the tall towers, automatic sentry guns kept a silent watch. Minutes after the attack on the president, road blocks and checkpoints had been established on all the roads leading to the base. As an added security measure, two drones, armed to the teeth, flew in tight circles above the headquarters to deter any possibility of further attacks.

“It’s a bit late to go poking our noses around,” observed Cole. “People might think we’re acting a bit too suspicious and try to detain us. Why don’t we find ourselves a nearby hotel and grab a bite to eat.”

Sheridan would have preferred to get right to work, but he knew that his friend was right. Things would have to wait for first light. He was about to turn around when he spotted an armored personnel carrier with a forty-millimeter cannon on it drive up to the front gate and stop. A squad of soldiers in full-body armor got out and moved over to the tall, steel front gate and took up defensive positions. A couple of seconds later, a staff car surrounded by two more wheeled APCs drove up and waited to be let out. When it was determined that it was safe to proceed, the thick metal arm barring the way lifted up and the small convoy drove off into the night. Overhead a smaller drone flew, looking for any potential threats to engage.

“I guess some high-ranking general is going home for the night,” said Cole with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.