Archives of the Frontier Universe: An Assassin's Assignment (11 page)

“What?!” snapped Colonel Lonng of Command. “It’s already been a
few
hours since we last spoke. How could she not have returned?!” Predictably stressing over insufficient news of Posteritor Byruhme, the man threw his hands and eyed Captain Meyer closely.

“The situation presented more of a problem than even
we
anticipated,” lied Meyer. “My agent had to sneak her way through . . . nearly legions of their military. Kyte’s installation was swarmed and—”

“I don’t give a damn about that fool’s piss-poor handling of the situation!” interjected Lonng. “Kyte’s lucky I don’t have him imprisoned for this! Where is your agent now?”

Meyer hesitated, devising the line which would give Byruhme the most lenient deadline. “She’s on her way to the Court Grand Hall,” he revealed. “She’s following a lead to the representatives.”

At this, the colonel seemed to twist with even more anger. “What in space could she possibly be doing there?” he grumbled. “What do the representatives have that she needs? You told me she already secured the device; why take it back into enemy territory?”

“Sir,” pressed Meyer, “they secured the device with a lock. My agent is tracking them to obtain the codes.”

The colonel put a hand on his head. “Why, Captain, wouldn’t she just bring the device back to you for decrypting? If your people couldn’t do it, mine could. What kind of simpleton
is
this agent of yours?”

I’d be careful about calling her that
, Meyer thought, considering the enormous extent of Byruhme’s abilities.
She’s already killed five people who crossed her today, and she’s after three more
. . .”

“Captain, are you listening to me?” Lonng rushed. “Why didn’t she return the device to our forces for analyzing?”

“Colonel, according to her, we wouldn’t be able to decipher the encryption OR decode the security in time. It’d likely take weeks . . . If we
ever
succeeded at all,” he tacked on.

The other man shook his head. “That was not her decision. ‘I’ am in charge of this op! Make sure . . .” He trailed off, seemingly calming himself. He then pointed, speaking normal. “Make sure you remind her of this. And you better get it through
your
head as well, Captain. I’ve been way too tolerant of your diversions.”

Meyer bowed respectfully, his soul burning with anger. More than anything, he wished another would take over Lonng’s position. He would have much preferred answering to Byruhme personally . . . or even Boss R. “I will, sir.”

“See that you do,” the man insisted. “Now, give me the ‘complete’ details on your agent’s status. Where is she? Where’s she going? Who’s she tracking down? And when can I expect that device?”

Meyer nodded. “Yes, sir. Well, she’s on her way to the Grand Hall, as I’ve mentioned. She’s tracking the two Eiltheen representatives and the Forcurrian. They escaped the incident at Kyte’s installation and presumably returned to their quarters. She plans to locate them, grab the codes for the spike, and terminate . . .” he paused dramatically, at once worrying if Lonng would nullify Boss R’s orders. “Terminate these loose ends,” he completed. “They betrayed us, Colonel; both by locking the device and by trying to kill my agent.” Judging by the man’s face, Lonng was not buying it. “Sir, she claims they’ll only betray us again, next time, maybe by selling out our entire operations on Forcurrier. We still have compelling evidence that they influenced the attack in the first place.”

The colonel seemed to pause and think for a moment, in which time Meyer prayed his jealousy over rank would not impede the operation. “No, Captain,” he finally concluded.

Meyer’s heart sank. “S-Sir?” he said.

“Terminating our contacts, Captain. When next you speak with her, tell your agent I am updating the orders: She is to leave them alive. They can still prove useful.”

Mentally panicking, Meyer shook his head as if confused. “W-what? But they could leak our operations! They could destroy us! They’ve betrayed us! We can’t just allow them to make their own rules. There must be consequences for betraying—”

“It’s decided, Captain!” enunciated the man. “You have your orders. Don’t make me send a replacement and revoke your commission. You’ve certainly given me plenty of reason to already.”

With nothing else to throw at the man, Meyer simply went silent and looked to the floor.

“
Don’t worry about that fool!
” hissed Byruhme all of the sudden. Meyer winced, shocked for a moment. Because the conversation with Command had gotten so heated, he had forgotten she was still on comm. with him . . . and could hear Lonng as well. “
He’s just worried that he’s losing his authority. Ha!
,” she hummed sassily. “
That’s exactly what’s happening actually. But remember, I’m in control. The code will be ours before you even speak again. Just satisfy him for now
.”

Happy to take orders from a much more sensible person—not to mention better looking—Meyer calmed his nerves and looked back to Lonng.

“Are we clear, Captain?” asked the colonel, before he could say anything.

“Affirmative, sir. However, she’s gone dark again. I’ll try to make contact with her, but it could be a while before I do.”

“Whatever,” the man sneered, waving him off. “Just make sure she follows my orders. My own superiors aren’t going to appreciate the delays. Just remember,” he pointed again, “if they bring me down because of
your
agent’s failure, you’re going to break my fall!”

“Y-yes, sir,” Meyer mumbled, acting impish. “I’ll see to it that she understands your orders to the letter. The device will be ours soon enough. You can count on it.”

“Good, just make sure you keep me up to date on
any
developments. And contact me the moment she secures the code. I’ll be sending someone there to collect the spike.”

Meyer began to bow, but the colonel disappeared before he could. When he knew the man was entirely gone, he let out an aggravated breath. “I really can’t stand answering to this guy!” he spat in a mumble. “Tell me your nearly there.”

Hoisting herself the final few feet to the next floor, Rose smiled. “Just scaling the rest of the mountain, Captain,” she replied happily. “I’m nearly there. I went back outside. Entering from a window would be less expected, I think.” She reached the floor and recalled the harpoon. Putting her back to a stone support, she looked in the nearby window. Like most of the others, it was dark, being so late at night.

“Well, good,” concluded the Captain with a sigh. “I’m not wanting to wait much longer. As you’ve probably deduced by now, I told him you were on the way, to give you some time. But please don’t
take
your time or anything.”

If she had kept count correctly, the representatives’ rooms were only about five more floors up. She calculated the shot and fired her harpoon, silently hooking the sixth floor. “I don’t plan to, Captain. Honestly, I’m ready to complete the mission and return to my own room.” She retracted the harpoon and shot up to the target floor. Landing on the edge, she noticed a light come on in the adjacent room. Quickly, she scooted out of sight, hiding in the shadows like a common prowler.

“Yeah, well, maybe I can convince you to hit one more objective,” Meyer commented deviously. “There’s a good reference in it for you.”

Only partially listening to him, Rose peered around the corner and into the room. She detected muffled voices drawing near, though they seemed ignorant to her presence. Risking a little more exposure, she leaned to the side . . . and then she saw them! The two Eiltheen representatives from the meeting entered the room, speaking feverishly but lowly.

“Byruhme, are you even listening to me?” asked Meyer abruptly.

Rose cocked her head, partly peeved. “
Yes, Captain
,” she answered satirically. “You were pitching some new target . . . one that I presume is giving you a rough time . . . one Colonel Lonng perhaps?”

The man chuckled. “The very same. What say you take care of him for me?”

“Captain,” she pressed. “As much as I enjoy working with you, I can’t imagine a reference from you would hold up in any sort of committee. Especially being sworn to my master as I am.”

The man laughed again. “Too bad. I could use the peace and quiet.”

“Once these traitors are dead and the spike is ours, Command will back off. And lucky for you, they’ll likely forget about our operations on Forcurrier while Dailunavein is invaded.” She peeked back in. The two men were alone in the room, scrutinizing over some document they were both holding. But then the door behind them opened, and they spun around as if expecting some sort of assassin . . . Leaning again to see, Rose caught the temporary sight of the third man! The Forcurrian! However, the first two moved in her view, and they all started whispering at high speed. “Unbelievable!” she said.

“What is it? Are you there already?”

“Affirmative. It seems that I’ve caught all the eggs in one perfect package.”

“All three are there?”

“I’m looking at them right now,” she affirmed. “All that’s missing is the hen. Or cock, I suppose. This ‘leader’ that Boss R wants taken out,” she specified. “I’ll have to strike at him when he arrives. Pity. I would’ve preferred to make only one trip.” And then her creativity surged gruesomely. “Wouldn’t it be something, Captain, if I could fell them all with a single swing? The heart of four traitors skewered by my elegant blade.”

“ . . . That’s kind of dark, ma’am,” the man put, his voice cryptic.

Rose laughed. “Only joking, Captain. Keep your mind in the game. I’m going to find a way in. Any particular suggestions?” She looked side to side and up and down, scanning for an easy, silent entry.

“Besides all the clichéd methods?” he asked. “Not really.”

Rose pointed her eyebrows in interest. “Clichéd methods?” she parroted. “Like posing as room service or something?”

“‘That’ or using the ventilation. Or pretend you’re selling something or you’re delivering pizza or something. Or an alarm of some kind,” he suggested last.

“Well, I could just go in through the window and put them down like the badass I am,” she insisted smugly. “I can be out before anyone can come to their rescue.” She thought for a second. “Or I can try to get them separated, wait for them to each climb in their beds, and then slip inside. I’ll get all calculated about it, if that makes you feel better. But that’s . . . kind of time-consuming.” She though for another moment and then decided. “Oh, hell, I’ll just bust in there like a badass!” she affirmed. “All I need is one of them alive to give me the . . . Hold on.”

Inside the room, the Forcurrian began moving for the door again. They still seemed to be arguing, but none of them were deciding on anything permanent. Also, the two Eiltheen were following the man to the door.

“The Forcurrian’s leaving,” she reported. “Perhaps they . . .” She paused, seeing them all unexpectedly depart. “Wait, they
all
left. I should be able to get inside . . .” She paused one more time to see if they would return. They did not. Working quickly, she used her telekinesis to unlatch the window. She then opened it without delay, feeling the wind pick up slightly as the pressure normalized. Caught by the brief wind, the drapes lifted and then fell. Rose slipped inside, pulling the window shut and latching it back. “Okay, I’m inside. While they’re out there bickering, I’ll look for the code. It could possibly be inside a device here.”

“Copy that.”

Rose left the window and began searching the room. Like that of her own, the hotel was finely decorated with luxurious colors and fine furniture from corner to corner. Also, luckily for her, a beautiful Eiltheen themed rug covered most of the floor, dampening her steps. The place seemed a tad more stately than necessary, even for Eiltheen. Heading for the first computer terminal, Rose turned her sensitive ears upon the door. The three men were still locked in their argument, oddly having chosen to take it outside.

“
It’s still too likely that they’ll track this back to us!
” hissed one. He sounded like one of the Eiltheen. “
We should’ve just given them the damn code . . . or not locked the spike in the first place. It had already been decided we were making the trade!
”

“
No!
” insisted a man, who sounded like the other Eiltheen. “
Our orders were to secure it in the event they betrayed us. Remember, we’re talking about Pirates here, not men and women of honor.
”

I think I’d keep my affairs private if I were them
, though Rose. It seemed altogether idiotic to discuss such convicting details out in the open. She then listened harder, feeling something she did not expect.
Oh, there’s another room out there.
The faint pressure fluctuations revealed another open space, probably a sort of den or foyer. “This hotel is larger than the one I rented,” she said to Meyer. She then began accessing the computer terminal. “They didn’t walk out, just into another room. But they’re discussing the spike. It sounds like they may have been ordered to lock it right previous to the meeting. One of them mentioned the deal was already settled.”