- Chapter 5

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# CHAPTER 5

"Silcox's building is just around the corner," Reger said, pointing through the windshield at the next intersecting street. "Second from the corner on the right. You can see it over the row of houses here."

"I see it," Skyler said, leaning forward to look past Kanai's shoulder as he adjusted his goggles over his battle-hood. The building was relatively short, four stories tall, with only the top visible above the two-story duplexes lining the street they were driving on.

He shifted his attention back to the street itself, searching for other traffic. But aside from rows of parked cars along both curbs, no other vehicles were in sight. "Hawking?"

"All set," Hawking confirmed, sealing the last fastener at the neck of his borrowed general's uniform. "Did you want us to do a drive-by first?"

"Better not," Skyler said, getting a grip on the door handle. "A Security general shouldn't have to search for his stakeouts. Kanai?"

"Ready," the other blackcollar said.

"Okay, Reger, slow down," Skyler ordered. There were a pair of parked vans coming up that would be ideal. "Kanai ... go."

Together, they wrenched open their doors and jumped from the slowly moving car, hitting the ground jogging. Kanai ducked between the vans, with Skyler right behind him. They waited there until Reger had made a leisurely turn around the corner, then stole across the lawn between the two duplexes, coming to a halt in the shadow of a stubby tree a dozen meters from the side of Anne's building.

Besides being short, the building was also relatively narrow, at least compared to the other apartment houses in the neighborhood. There were only two apartments per floor, Kanai had told them, with Anne's on the third floor east, the opposite side from their current position. The building had interior hallways, a staircase at each end of the building, and a single door front and rear on the first floor. Security's observers would probably be watching both those doors, of course.

Unfortunately for them, there were other ways into a building besides the doors. Especially a building like this one, whose exterior walls were composed of an alternating pattern of brick and rough-cut stone.

It took thirty seconds to fasten their plastic crampons onto their gloves and boots. Through the decorative bushes in the building's front yard Skyler could see Reger's car pulled alongside one of the other parked cars, with the newly minted General Hawking conversing inaudibly with the driver. The Security car's other occupant had gotten out and was standing by the curb, watching the conversation across the car's roof with his back to the building he was supposed to be guarding.

There was a tingling from Skyler's wrist: two men watching front, one in back, west side unwatched.

Skyler nodded to himself. Ideally, Security should have set up a fourth man to watch the west side, to prevent precisely what he and Kanai were about to attempt. Apparently, they'd decided it wasn't worth the extra effort.

Others in Phoenix also under surveillance, Hawking's signal continued.

Skyler grimaced. Or else they simply hadn't had the manpower to spare for a tighter net. They were reacting to Poirot's disappearance faster than he'd expected.

Too late to worry about that now. Kanai had already crossed the lawn, a silent shadow against the dark grass, and had started up the side of the building, his crampons hooking onto the edges of the bricks and stone as he climbed the wall. Keeping his attention on the building's rear, Skyler followed. He made it, apparently unobserved, and started up.

It took just over a minute for them to reach the third floor. Another minute and Kanai had one of the windows open and had slipped inside. Skyler glanced at the street, to see that Reger and Hawking had finished their conversation and were driving away, then climbed in behind him.

He found himself in a large but narrow conversation room packed with mismatched furniture and scattered groups of toys. There were no nightlights, but enough streetlight was seeping in around the curtains for them to find a clear path through the maze. Kanai unlocked the front door and slipped out into the hallway. Skyler paused long enough to tape a flat over the latch bolt so that the door wouldn't lock, then followed.

Anne's lock was a pick proof electronic job, but Kanai obviously had the code. He got it open and the two of them went inside, emerging into a mirror image of the conversation room they'd just left, only without the toys.

"Which way to the bedroom?" Skyler whispered as he closed the door behind him.

"Don't worry about it," Kanai advised, turning to face the rear of the room. "Relax, Anne. It's Kanai and Skyler."

"Skyler?" Anne's voice came. A small accent light flicked on, and Skyler saw the young woman crouched beside an overstuffed couch, a short-barreled pellet scattergun pointed their direction. "Rafe Skyler?"

"The one and only," Skyler confirmed, pulling off his goggles and battle-hood for her inspection. "Nice to see you again, Anne."

"I wish I could say the same," Anne said, lowering the scattergun a few degrees. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting you out," Skyler told her. "Go get dressed. Quickly."

"Don't be insane," she growled. "Security's already seven-eighths convinced I'm part of Phoenix—they check on me at least twice a week. If I disappear, they'll know for sure."

"They're not looking for proof tonight," Skyler said grimly. "Just bodies. Warm or otherwise."

"And not just yours," Kanai added. "Some of your associates are also being watched."

Anne's throat tightened visibly. "What kind of hornets' nest have you stirred up this time?"

"Maybe the last one we'll ever need," Skyler said. "Now go get dressed. And bring all the Whiplash you have."

Her lips compressed briefly. Then, with a curt nod, she turned and disappeared into the rear of the apartment.

"Exit strategy?" Kanai asked.

"Back the way we came," Skyler said, crossing the living room to the front windows. "I blocked the other apartment door open to let us get in." Pressing himself against the wall, he pushed the curtains aside a couple of centimeters. The Security car, he saw, was still parked where it had been when Reger and Hawking drove off.

Only the two passengers were no longer inside.

"Damn," he muttered, slipping his fingers up his sleeve to his tingler. Front Security gone from car; front door exit; stand by for backup.

Acknowledged.

"And there's bound to be backup on the way," Kanai murmured as he headed for the front door.

"Undoubtedly," Skyler agreed. "Any ideas?"

"I'll head back the way we came." Pausing at the door, Kanai put on his gas filter and sealed the battle-hood's flaps against it, covering the last bit of exposed skin. "Maybe I can draw their attention."

Skyler nodded. "Watch yourself."

"I will. You sure you don't want to use the back door instead of the front?"

"No, I figure they'll expect us to go out the back," Skyler told him. "Besides, there's that lovely Security car out front, just waiting to be borrowed or disabled. Anne! Shake a leg in there."

"I'm ready," Anne said, emerging from the bedroom. She was dressed all in black, with a dark kerchief tied around her hair and a small gray backpack slung over one shoulder. Her gloved hands still held the scattergun. "They're coming?"

"Any minute now," Skyler said, stepping to her side and nodding to Kanai. "Go."

Carefully, the other eased the front door open a crack. For a moment he stood motionlessly, then looked back at Skyler and jabbed two fingers toward the stairway at the front end of the hallway.

Skyler nodded acknowledgment and gestured across the corridor. Kanai nodded back and slipped out into the hall. "Wait here," Skyler murmured to Anne as he got his own gas filter in place and stepped to the door.

They were coming, all right: two sets of stealthy footsteps coming up the stairs. Pulling a pair of throwing knives from their forearm sheathes, Skyler stepped into the corridor and moved forward to intercept. By the time the first Security man poked his head into view, he was in position.

The would-be assailant had just enough time to gape before Skyler's knife bounced hilt first off his forehead, sending him toppling backward into his partner two steps farther down. The impact sent the pair rolling and tumbling in a confused mass the rest of the way to the next landing down. Skyler followed, retrieving his knife and giving the second man a quick chop behind the ear to make sure he stayed put. Hoping the rest of the tenants would have the sense to ignore the sudden commotion and stay inside their apartments, he eased an eye over the railing.

And ducked back reflexively as a withering hail of paral-darts shot up from the stairway below, scattering off his flexarmor and goggles and filter.

The backup had arrived.

He snatched out a shuriken and sent it blindly over the railing to give the unseen shooters below something to think about. Attack in progress; front steps, he sent urgently with his tingler. The paral-dart barrage continued without pause; from the angles and rhythm he estimated there were at least three shooters. Minimum of three attackers; pinned on second floor landing.

He had sent two more shuriken through the paral-dart salvos before Hawking's response came: On my way; attackers gathering in rear.

So he'd had been right to pick the front door. Kanai: Can you engage rear forces?

Affirmative, Kanai replied. Pickup in front?

Pickup in front, Hawking confirmed. Ready.

Slipping his knives back into their sheaths, Skyler pulled out his nunchaku. Hawking: Go. Grimacing to himself, he put one hand on the railing and vaulted over the side.

It was a risky stunt, with the downside options about evenly split between breaking his ankle or breaking his neck. But he avoided both potential disasters, swinging his body in just enough to miss the lower railing and managing to land solidly in the center of one of the steps instead of hitting the edge. There were actually four Security men there, as it turned out, all in riot gear, all clearly startled by his unexpected appearance. One of them managed to twist his gun around and get a shot off at point-blank range before Skyler's side kick sent him flying down the steps into the next man. Two double swings with his nunchaku took out the other two.

"Skyler?" Hawking's voice called from below.

"Clear," Skyler called back. "You?"

"Front clear," Hawking confirmed. "But that could change."

"On our way," Skyler said. "See if you can start the car out there. If you can't, disable it."

"Right."

Skyler started back up, but he'd only made it to the next turn when he met Anne coming down. "I told you to wait," he said.

"I did," she said, stepping over one of the unconscious men. "You're making a real mess of my building."

"They can take it out of my deposit," Skyler said, taking her arm as he exchanged his nunchaku for a pair of shuriken. "Stay close."

The front door was clear, as Hawking had promised, with four more armored Security men sprawled across the grass. They headed outside, Skyler pressing Anne close to his side to give her as much protection he could.

They were halfway to the street when there was a motion around the corner of the building to their right. He snapped his arm up into throwing position, targeting the figure with his eyes—

"It's me," Kanai called softly. "Rear is neutralized."

"Good," Skyler called back, lowering the shuriken. Hawking had the car door open now, and he and Anne hurried toward it.

And were nearly knocked to the ground as a flechette slammed hard into Skyler's chest.

"Down!" Kanai shouted, hurling a shuriken in the direction the shot had come from. Wrapping his arms around Anne, Skyler rolled them both onto the grass, turning over to put his back to the concealed gunner. A second shot caromed off his shoulder as they fell, the impact spread out to a tolerable level as the flexarmor went momentarily rigid. Another pair of shots slammed into his back, and he heard a whisper of branches as Kanai sent another shuriken toward the unseen gunner.

From the street came a sudden squealing of tires. Skyler turned his head part way around in time to see the Security car jump the curb and roar across the grass. The sniper got off two more rounds, both aimed at this new and clearly unanticipated threat; and then Hawking rammed the car into a short decorative hedgerow. Even before the vehicle had come to a complete halt he was out the door, nunchaku flailing. He paused and glanced around, shifting his nunchaku to his left hand—

Clear, Skyler's tingler signaled. Reger coming—everyone to street.

"Come on," Skyler grunted to Anne, hauling himself to his feet and pulling her up beside him. "Hurry."

They reached the street just as Reger brought their car to a screeching halt. Skyler opened the rear door and half helped, half threw Anne into the backseat. Kanai was already on the far side of the car, diving in on Anne's left as Skyler climbed in on her right. "Stay down," Skyler ordered, pushing her head toward her lap and resting his arm across her back and head as partial protection. Ahead, Hawking had pulled the Security car back onto the street and was signaling the others to pass him. "Reger—go."

The other needed no encouragement. He peeled away, the engine protesting as he gunned it for all it was worth. They shot past Hawking, and Skyler looked back to see him pull in behind them, accelerating hard to catch up.

"Haven't done anything like this since I was a kid," Reger commented. His voice was a little strained, but Skyler had the odd feeling that he was rather enjoying himself. "Where to?"

"We'll change cars at the first cache point," Skyler told him, taking his arm away from Anne's back. She straightened up, pulling off her bandana and rubbing her shoulder where she'd landed when she and Skyler had hit the ground. "Ditto at the second. If all seems clear, we'll head back to the safe house."

"And then what?" Anne asked.

Skyler smiled grimly. "We have a little surprise for you."

In the intermittent glow of the streetlights he saw her eyes narrow. "I don't like surprises," she warned.

"You'll like this one," he assured her.

She leaned back in her seat and resumed rubbing her shoulder. "Yeah," she muttered. "Maybe."

* * *

The reports coming from the field were confused and incomplete. But the essence came through with painful clarity.

Anne Silcox, the number one person on Security's list of probable Phoenix members, had escaped. And she'd done it with the help of the newly arrived blackcollars.

"Have all other units move in immediately," Bailey ordered the communications officer. "Have them pick up everyone they can and bring them here."

"Yes, sir." Raising his mike, the operator began issuing orders.

Bailey leaned back in his seat, gingerly kneading the swollen area beneath his ear. First Poirot, now Silcox. What the hell were they up to?

"Sir?" Lieutenant Ramirez said tentatively at his side.

Bailey had completely forgotten the man was there. "Yes, Lieutenant, you can return to Boulder if you'd like," he said. "Thank you for your prompt assistance at Reger's house."

"Actually, sir, I was hoping for your permission to stay here and help out," Ramirez said. "My men can certainly handle a mountain search without me being right there with them. If you can use my help, that is."

"Right now, I can use all the help I can get, Lieutenant," Bailey said candidly. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, sir," Ramirez said. "What I was going to say, though, was that it'll be at least an hour before any of the prisoners get here. It might be a good time to go up to the infirmary and have your injuries looked at."

"I suppose you're right," Bailey agreed reluctantly. There was certainly little he could do down here right now. "Fine. You stay here—if there are any updates, feed them to me right away."

"Yes, sir," Ramirez said.

Bailey glowered at the map of the Denver area spread across the wall. "And make damn sure all the prisoners are stripped and searched before they're brought inside the Athena perimeter," he added. "Reger's men as well as the Phoenix people. We're not going to be caught like that again."

* * *

Between the car changes and the carefully circuitous route, it took over an hour for them to reach the safe house. "How's the patient?" Skyler asked as O'Hara opened the door and let them in.

"Still sleeping," O'Hara said. "I gave him another shot half an hour ago, just to be on the safe side. This our girl?"

Anne bristled. "Our girl?"

"He's sixty years old, Anne," Skyler reminded her dryly. "To him, anyone under fifty is a kid. Yes, this is Anne Silcox. Anne, this is Commando Kelly O'Hara, our reigning master of diplomacy."

"Sorry," O'Hara said. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Anne said. She gave O'Hara a pointed once-over, then turned back to Skyler. "All right, we're here. What's this big surprise?"

"Come and see," Skyler said, gesturing her toward the conversation room. Reluctantly, he thought, she let him lead her there, the rest of the group trooping along behind them.

He'd expected to get a good reaction. He wasn't disappointed. "God in heaven," she breathed, her eyes goggling as she stared at the man sprawled on the couch. "That's General Poirot. What's he doing here?"

"He thought you were getting a new shipment and decided it would look good on his record if he was in on the snatch personally," Reger told her. "Got a little more than he bargained for."

"I told you you'd like it," Skyler added.

"You think so?" she demanded. "Do you have any idea the kind of manhunt they must have going out there right now? No wonder they tried to grab me and the others."

"What others?" O'Hara asked.

"The rest of Phoenix," Anne said, glaring at Skyler. "I made a couple of calls while you were clearing the stairs, trying to warn them. Rob—that's my second in command—said they'd already surrounded his house. I wonder now if any of them got out."

"We'll get them back," Skyler promised. "But first things first. Get the Whiplash out and let's get Poirot turned."

Anne sighed. "You really don't understand, do you?"

"Understand what?"

"I can pump all the Whiplash in him that you want," Anne said quietly. "But it won't do any good."

Skyler felt his stomach tighten. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. "We tested the stuff when we were here a year ago. It works."

"I didn't say it didn't work," she retorted, her voice suddenly bitter. "I said it wouldn't do any good. We've quietly kidnapped and treated over a dozen loyalty-conditioned government workers in the past eight months. Not a single one of them is interested in joining us."

Skyler looked over at Kanai, standing silently against the wall. "Kanai?" he invited. "You want to jump into this?"

"She's right, as far as she goes," he conceded. "All those we've tried it on have gone straight back to their jobs."

"We can't get anything from them?" Skyler asked. "If not cooperation, at least some information?"

"There are a couple who occasionally slip us a little something," Anne said. "But only a little, and it's never anything really useful."

"Of course, none of them has access to anything really high up anyway," Kanai added. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying."

"Until when?" Anne countered. "Until we get to someone who'll blow the whistle on us with his superiors instead of cowering in his cubicle trying desperately to pretend nothing's happened to him? If you think Security's interested in us now, just wait till you see what happens then."

"Seems to me that Security's reaction is kind of moot at this point," Hawking offered.

"Yes, thanks to you," Anne said, glaring at Skyler again. "What in the world did you think—?"

"You know," Reger interrupted, "maybe we should sit down, nice and quiet, and take this from the top. Skyler can start it off by telling us where Lathe's lurking and what he's up to this time."

"Actually, Lathe isn't here," Skyler said. "He got invited to Khala to break into a Ryq tac center."

Anne blinked. "He got what?"

"Let's sit down," Reger repeated, more firmly this time. "Discuss this like civilized men and women."

Anne snorted. But she stalked over to a chair beside Poirot's couch and dropped into it. "Fine," she said. "I'm sitting."

"Thank you," Reger said, pulling up a chair to the other side of the couch and sitting down. "You were saying, Skyler?"

"We got word that the Ryqril were building a new tac coordination center on Khala," Skyler said, pulling up a third chair equidistant from Anne and Reger and signaling O'Hara, Hawking, and Kanai to remain standing on guard. "It seemed way too tempting a target to pass up."

"Sounds like a trap," Anne muttered.

"Of course it's a trap," Skyler agreed. "Which just makes the whole thing that much more intriguing. At any rate, Lathe took a team there to see if we can turn it to our advantage."

"Enough of an advantage for a final victory?" Anne countered. "That is what you meant about this being the last hornets' nest we'd ever need, isn't it?"

"What do you mean, victory?" Reger echoed, frowning. "As in throwing the Ryqril out of the TDE?"

Skyler shrugged. "Basically."

Reger shook his head. "That's impossible."

"Lathe doesn't think so," Skyler said. "Between us and the Chryselli, we've got the Ryqril in a pretty tight place right now. A big enough push in the right direction might just do the trick."

"The right direction being this Ryqril tac center, I presume," Reger said, his eyes settled into a sort of distant stare. "So why are you here?"

"Because chaos in one place is less impressive than simultaneous chaos in two widely separated places," Skyler told him. "The idea is—was—for us to help you and Phoenix and your loyalty-conditioned moles turn this city upside down."

Anne shook her head. "It's not going to happen," she said. "The system here is just too set and stable. Nobody wants to rock the boat."

Skyler rubbed his chin, gazing at Poirot's sleeping face as he tried to think. Lathe was the tactical genius of the group, and the plan he'd worked out for the Earth part of the operation was a typically solid piece of work.

Unfortunately, it had assumed a thriving Phoenix and a large number of Whiplash-treated moles. Without that, it wasn't going to work.

Which meant they needed a Plan B. Only at this point, Skyler didn't have one. And he wasn't at all sure he could come up with one.

"For myself, I'm not convinced the moles are as resistant to the idea of rebellion as Anne believes," Kanai put in. "Perhaps each one merely thinks there's nothing he or she personally can do."

"Maybe if they knew they weren't alone but that they had allies," Reger agreed. "Possibly even allies in high places." He gestured at Poirot.

Skyler pursed his lips. That was why he'd brought the general here, after all.

But if Poirot also wasn't willing to cooperate, the secret of Whiplash's existence would be broken the minute he stepped foot inside the Athena government center. Was that a risk they wanted to take right now?

Anne was obviously thinking along the same lines. "I don't think any of you has the slightest idea what Security can do when they're genuinely panicked," she warned. "If they find out about Whiplash, they'll turn this entire district inside out."

Abruptly, Skyler made his decision. "It's a risk," he agreed. "But this is war. Risks are part of the job."

"Then let's quit wasting time," Reger said firmly. "Get the Whiplash out, and let's do it."

* * *

With a start, Caine snapped awake.

He held still in his bunk, maintaining the slow, steady breathing of a sleeping man. The cell was still dark, he could tell through his closed eyelids, and the faint background hum of the base's generator filled the room, its murmur effectively blanketing any sounds there might have been of stealthy footsteps or stealthier breathing.

But Caine had gone through all of Lathe's wearying and sometimes—he'd thought at the time—stupid blindfolded training exercises. As a result, he had sensory resources that had probably never even occurred to his captors. Effectively both blind and deaf, he focused instead on the patterns of moving air brushing across his face and neck and hands.

There was someone standing at the end of his bunk.

Carefully, he opened his eyes to slits. A big man was standing there, little more than a black shadow set against the faint light coming in through the open cell door. For a moment the man just stood there, doing something with the bunk supports. Once, he turned his head slightly, and Caine caught a profile of his face and the misshapen silhouette that showed he was wearing either infrared or light-enhancement goggles.

The man finished whatever he was doing and headed toward the other side of the room. As he moved away from the bunk, unblocking the view of the door, Caine saw that there was a second man standing framed in the doorway. From the lack of visible arms in his silhouette, he was probably holding a paral-dart pistol in a two-handed grip, pointed in Caine's direction.

And though the light out there was too faint for any genuine shadows, there was enough subtle movement against the background light to show there was at least one other backup man somewhere out of sight. Sleeping or not, they weren't taking any chances with their prisoner.

The intruder reached the bathroom area and stopped at the shower enclosure, and Caine suppressed a smile as he finally understood what was going on. The watchers in the monitor room had apparently been annoyed at Caine's earlier blockage of two of their three cameras, and had decided to take advantage of the nighttime hours to remedy the situation.

Perfect.

Because Caine could easily fix things back again in the morning. The only trick would be to wait just the right amount of time before "discovering" the reactivated cameras so that they wouldn't suspect he'd been awake tonight.

And if they thought they'd sneaked in once without waking him, they might be willing to try it again.

Yes, he decided. This had definite possibilities.

The Security man finished his work and left, closing the door soundlessly behind him.

Caine was still considering his options when he again drifted off to sleep.

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