Audacious (48 page)

Authors: Mike Shepherd

Tags: #Science Fiction, #Fiction, #Adventure, #General

BOOK: Audacious

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43 The limo was everything Kris expected, and quite a bit more. It had a bed! When the driver saw that Kris’s entourage included two couples and six hulking Marines in dress red and blues as well as two women marines in ball gowns, he made the bed disappear and jump seats appear. There were sounds of sadness at the change, but Kris was careful not to note where that noise came from. There are some things an officer does not need to know. Especially when the noise comes from her fellow officers. Marine escorts pulled up ahead and behind the limo, adding to Kris’s security. The driver did not seem surprised when one of Kris’s Marines settled in on the seat next to him. The drive to the National Gallery of the Arts took longer than Kris had expected. It was north of town, along the river in a park. The limo driver seemed to think his job included a running commentary on the local scene… or he figured to wreak some revenge on his passengers by boring them with trivia. “Local soccer leagues

44 Security at the top of the steps was stiff… if you didn’t have a weapons permit. Kris presented hers and she and her Marines were ushered around the metal detectors and explosive sniffers. In the few minutes Kris watched, several other groups were similarly treated. A lot of personal heat here. Were some of these in on the plan? Now that was an ugly thought. Kris circulated quickly among the milling crowd. Here she shook a hand, there she accepted a quick kiss on the cheek. Few people waved her down, so she was able to move almost as rapidly as she wanted to. Quickly, she made a recon of what she could only think of as tonight’s battlefield. She didn’t much care for what she saw. The security setup on the west portico guided her through wide doors into a huge rotunda. The place of honor in the center of that was an immense bronze sculpture that portrayed the first settlers setting foot on Eden. Maybe it was accurate for the American Express team. Two expansive halls went north and s

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.

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 co

47 Kris spotted the CEO of Nuu Enterprises on Eden and homed in on him at the hors d’oeuvre bar. “An interesting guy you got as a president here.” “He meets our need,” the CEO said, a man no more presupposing than his planet’s government. “We can’t all be Longknifes, and not every planet in space wants a legend calling the shots. If you don’t mind my saying so.” “I have learned to value diversity,” Kris said. “By the way, I’ve also learned about a fellow who’s something of a player on Eden. A Grant von Schrader?” “Him,” the CEO huffed. “Not exactly what I’d call a good example of our planet, but yes, he’s a player. Oh, and he’s here. You want to meet him?” And before Kris could decide how to answer that, she found herself squired down the table into that meeting. “Grant, have you met Kris Longknife?” was followed by a pause that quickly grew pregnant. The two eyed each other. Kris schooled her face to gentle neutrality and seemed to see the same in the face of the middle-aged man acros

48 Kris listened to the latest report from Gramma Ruth, her gut going cold, her game face sliding into place. “Cara has a flesh wound, but she was definitely targeted for something worse, kidnapping or death,” Commander Tordon finished. “No shots have been fired here, yet,” Kris reported. “It looks like it’s only a matter of time,” Jack said. “But it’s a very important matter,” Kris answered back. “Let’s assume we’re only minutes away, team. Keep a lookout for guns. If you see one, shoot. Take a prisoner we can talk to if you can, but take no risks otherwise.” The net absorbed her orders in total silence. Kris turned to Penny. “You’re in command of this hall. Try to hold casualties to as few as possible, Marines and civilians. If you can, be close to Senator Chisel when all hell breaks loose. It would be nice if she survived the night. Good luck.” The intel woman took the orders and best wishes with a slight roll of her eyes. Now Kris turned to the woman Marine at her elbow. She was ab

49 Gunny Sergeant Brown heard the first shot and shouted, “Down.” His Marines obeyed in record time. Most of the civilian drivers stood up taller to get a better look at whatever was going on. Several drivers in their armored limos actually got out so they could gawk. One saw Gunny on the ground behind the huge limo and sneered. His sneer lasted for about fifteen seconds as the sound of automatic weapons filled the night air. Then the auto-guns on the roof cut loose. Gunny did not look, but from the sound of things, the guns cycled from target to target, sending a short five-round burst into every human in range. At least, that’s what the sneering guy’s body absorbed. Five rounds of 20-mm general purpose. Not much of the sneer survived him taking one round to the head. Gunny remembered why light infantry loved the earth and hugged her well. He checked his own Marines. They were doing their earth-hugging best to stay low. As he expected, Private Haskell managed to take a fragment. In th

50 Captain DeVar had gotten the whispered “Batter up,” signal from Penny, followed by no more information than he could glean from the reflections of explosions and rocket fire as it lit up the soft afterglow of sunset around the Gallery. He’d ordered Gunny to keep his own counsel, unsure if they’d have communications or not. The princess had warned about the possibility of jamming. “Commander Tordon, are you on net?” “Sounds like I’m about the only one on it.” “Are you being jammed?” “Not that I’m aware of, Marine. I suspect if they jam us, they also jam themselves. Just now, they need to talk at least as much as us to find out what’s happening.” “So what is happening?” DeVar asked. “All hell done broke lose, son, and the devil’s out to lunch” came through in an easy drawl that almost made the Marine forget how bad things were. “There’s all sorts of confusion on the main government net about what may or may not be going on at the presidential palace. Some say he’s dead. Some say he es

51 For fifteen seconds, only the light of muzzle flashes lit up the main hall. It was enough for people to die by. Penny tried to trace Von Schrader’s flight by the flashes of the gunners behind him, but he was in full beat-feet mode, and not looking back. Penny did see several gunners go down behind him, so she wasn’t wasting her ammo. “Mind if we grab some grenades, ma’am” came from a Marine. “Let’s don’t and say we do,” Penny said. “We got a lot of civilians lying around” was her answer. “Let’s get them some protection,” Commander Mulhoney shouted. He rolled behind a marble statue in front of Penny, braced his back against the wall, and pushed. What was likely a very expensive bit of art toppled over, crashing into pieces as it hit. But people could huddle behind it. Around the great hall, other statues of bronze and marble went down. Fire from the balcony was getting light. Penny balanced that against the fire from the rotunda and ordered her shooters to concentrate there. She also

52 Penny ordered the sergeant to reorient his axis of attack. The balcony was silent, all the shooters up there either dead or fled. If she wasn’t mistaken, Bronc had been the one that led the final flight from up there but it was hard to tell in the faint light from the emergency lamps. She hoped he lived. They owed the kid for his warning. Then a grenade sailed in from the rotunda, and another. And another. The general slaughter had begun. The first grenade landed among a clump of civilians. They stared at it… and died as it exploded. The second landed in a group that had a Marine. He fell on it and died… but the others lived. Another fell among the group of Marines. One of them tossed it back to explode above the head of the raiders. It was nice hearing screams from them. More grenades flew. More examples of folly and denial leading to death. Or bravery and courage leading to a single death or death to the enemy. Long forgotten virtues quickly were remembered on Eden. The grenade to

53 Kris knew she had to get that auto-gun. “Jack, you still got a grenade?” “Just one frag.” “Aim for the gun. Boys, give him cover.” She and the boys laid down cover fire. Jack lobbed the grenade. The grenade took out the gunner, but another stepped into his place and the auto-gun kept ripping holes in the ranks of the armored Marines. Kris felt inside her bra and pulled out the bomb hidden there. “Cover me,” Kris called. “That can’t be what I think it is,” one of the boys said. “Cover her,” Jack ordered gruffly, and let off a blast of pistol fire. Kris fired three rounds herself, dropped the pistol, rolled right to the other side of her concrete protection, and half stood to lob her bomb. The other side of the antenna support took a pounding. But quickly the fire worked its way toward her. Kris ducked back down before any caught her. And her booby bomb sailed past the auto-gun to explode on the next one in line. Unfortunately, it was not in operation. But it was fully loaded. The bom

54 Gunnery Sergeant Brown stayed under the white dinosaur while the glass settled from the huge explosion in the rotunda. Only when the deadly glass shards finished tinkling off the cars did he risk rolling out and carefully looking around. Darkness was back, though his eyes would hold the memory of that flash of bright light for a while to come. There was sporadic fire for a few moments. Some dude was always late getting the word. But it wasn’t long before even they woke up— or died— and silence broke out in all its glory. And the quiet stretched and grew and Gunny knew that it was good. Anything was better than the unshirted hell they’d been in for… he glanced at his watch. Only the last thirty minutes! That was impossible. He raised his watch to his ear. It was still ticking. A fine old windup watch handed down from father to son for more times than Gunny wanted to think about. It still ticked and insisted his eternity in hell had been little more than half an hour. He shook his hea

55 Who said the only sight more sickening than a battle won is the sight of a battle you lost? At the moment, Kris’s addled brain refused to cough up the answer to that question. And she had better uses for Nelly. “Are you still jammed? Can you get out a call for medical services?” “I am sorry, Kris, but yes, I am still jammed.” Kris shook her head. The jammer had clearly lost, but either was keeping it on for pure evilness or forgetfulness. Or maybe they hadn’t given the battle up for lost. That was not a comforting thought. Marines in battle gear now moved purposefully into the rotunda to disarm and secure the prisoners. “Captain DeVar, what’s your situation?” Kris called from the second-floor balcony. One Marine looked up. “Ah, I’m Lieutenant Troy, ma’am. I think I’m in command, ah, Your Highness.” Told Kris a lot about the company of embassy Marines. “Lieutenant, secure your prisoners, set up a defensive perimeter here for the hall, then send armored detachments to check out the ro

56 The emergency lights in the stairwell had been a casualty of the fight here. Kris found herself searching for a foothold among the dead bodies and failing. Jack brought up his flashlight without being asked. The defenders above had put up quite a fight. Kris made her way carefully, avoiding the bodies, going from one patch of damp blood to the next open bit of gore. Behind her the others followed in her tracks. She reached the ground floor and peeked out over the sights of her rifle. The butcher bill for tonight was going to be huge. These people must have been mowed down early in the attack. Many of them appeared to be security types taking a break, or actual government workers who’d picked a bad night to work late. Grant hadn’t considered these folks important enough to keep alive. “Nelly, where’s that jammer?” Kris bit out “Not on this floor.” “Is there a basement or sub-basement?” Kris asked over her shoulder. “There’s a door here, in the back of the stairwell,” a kid’s voice ca

57 Kris had a command to care for. One that had bled deeply. Gunnery Sergeant Brown announced he was the proud owner of ten prisoners. “Would have been eleven, but dang if the officer that I personally plugged didn’t managed to smash a tooth or something and kill himself.” “I sure wanted to talk to him,” Gunny finished. “So did I, Gunny, but I’m starting to think Greenfeld’s powers that be don’t want to be at war with us any more than our honchos want to be at war with them, official like.” Which seemed to leave Gunny Brown with something to chew on. Kris knew that the first thing she should have done was go hunting for the ambassador. Instead, she trotted for the riverside walk to check on Captain DeVar. No surprise, the zoo collecting around her, trotted right along. Even Johnson. The wounded captain was just being lifted onto a stretcher. “He going to be okay?” Kris asked the nearest medic. The woman looked worried. “He’s lost a lot of blood. We got to get him to Doc fast.” “I’m too

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