DJ's Mission (22 page)

“How many is that?”

DJ shrugged. “They probably had two hundred plus
ground troops versus our platoon of fifty.”

“Four to one odds? How was that lucky?”

“They could’ve leveled the garrison from orbit and
we would’ve been dust. At least this way, we had a fighting chance.”

“Why didn’t they level the building?”

“They wanted to occupy it. It’s cheaper and easier
to capture a target intact than to have to build one from scratch. Besides,
they knew they would win. We might’ve had the defenses but they had the
manpower and the time. Our only hope was to radio our transport which was
surveying the other planets in the Epsilon system.”

“What happened?”

“Their first attack was devastating. We lost
twenty men in the first five minutes. It was literally the worst firefight I’d
ever been in.” DJ swished his tobacco juice around a few times before he spit
in his cup. “It was too much for the lieutenant, so he dropped his weapon and
ran. Normally I wouldn’t have cared, he was a lousy shot. The trouble was he
had the only transmitter strong enough to reach our transport.”

“So? What happened?”

“I shot him.”

“Good. Sounds like his deserved it.”

DJ shook his head. “Nope, there were two problems
with my solution. The Coalition had sent us to Epsilon as bait. There were
three cruisers and four destroyers hiding on the far side of the planet. Within
five minutes of me killing the LT, the grey-coats were on the run.”

“That sucks. But you said two problems. What
else?”

“Even though nearly every commanding officer I met
shook my hand and congratulated me on my quick thinking, Lt. Jones was the son
of a high ranking councilman with enough pull to bring me up on charges. I
spent five years in New Leavenworth. It was during that time when Megan
divorced me and took away all my parental rights. Then she went off and married
some big shot executive and took Katy off Earth to make it more difficult for
me. When I got out of jail, there was a lawyer from Titan Avionics waiting for
me to ensure that I was aware of the visitation protocols. I’m only allowed to
see her on Christmas and on her birthday, all other contact is forbidden. On
penalty of them revoking my parole and sending my back to Leavenworth.”

“Wow that sucks.” Even as some of DJ’s story began
to fall in place for the ex-pirate, the Falcon’s comm-link chimed. Jax looked
at his chronometer. It was still early but it had to be the thief El Gato.

On the third chime, DJ answered. “Falcon.”

*   *   *   *   *

Stephanie was triple checking her equipment when
the alarm on her SAND went off. Typing in her code for the day and adding her
fingerprint, she waited as it unscrambled the message.

“Plachutta is imminent. Contact the Red Falcon
and affect your extraction immediately. You must retrieve the plans before
Grimshaw happens. - K”

Stephanie hated when her handler used obscure
chess terminology. She read the message again and tried her best to break down
his code.

She had learned over the years that Plachutta
referred to a situation where a white pawn sacrifices itself on a square where
it could be captured by one of two similarly-moving black pieces moving along a
different line but will interfere with the other. Was he referring to Kaitlyn
as the white pawn? The two similarly moving black pieces could mean the Falcon
and Kassinger. She wasn’t sure but it was her best guess until she looked at
the second chess term, Grimshaw. That referred to a problem in which two black
pieces arrive on a particular square mutually interfere with each other.

He had to be referring to the Red Falcon but now
she was unsure if it meant Kassinger. Either way, if he was suggesting that
they move up the timetable, then they needed to act. Grabbing her gear, she
punched in the contact codes the Falcon had given her into her comm-link.

After three rings, he answered. “Falcon.”

“A source of mine suggested that we go immediately
before Thomas reacts to something that might change the dynamics of the
extraction.”

There was a slight pause before Falcon’s deep
voice asked, “Do you trust your source?”

“With my life. Without his help I wouldn’t be
standing here today.”

“Good enough for me. Jax and I can be at the
rendezvous in ten minutes.”

Stephanie punched in the coordinates into the
nav-computer of her skimmer. “I am en route as we speak.”

“See you soon. Falcon out.”

Even as the line went dead, Stephanie pondered the
cryptic messages once more. She had the bad feeling that she was overlooking
something. She was positive about that but what was it?

That one question haunted her the whole ride to the
Cathedral.

*   *   *   *   *

Jennifer was sitting at Ryan’s bedside when the
call came in.

The contact codes were blocked but that wasn’t
unusual in her line of work. Every reporter gets anonymous tips, most are
simple red herrings but some do pan out. It was all part of the package of
being a famous correspondent.

“Is this Jennifer Moody, the reporter from the
Daily News in a Flash?”

She didn’t recognize the voice. It was kind of
husky, yet quiet and held the tone of someone used to authority.

“This is her.”

“You and Ryan need to get off Titan before
midnight.”

“But we haven’t finished our interviews.”

The mysterious voice replied. “Choose; your interviews
or your life.”

“Why? What’s going to happen?”

“One way or the other, after tonight the situation
in the Saturn system will be completely different.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I hope you heed my warning Jennifer. I would hate
not to see your smiling face on the Daily News.”

Click.

Jennifer leaned back to contemplate her situation.
Warning her off a story usually just drove her forward but if she decided to
investigate, she would be doing it solo. Ryan had received a severe concussion
and the doctors had ordered five days of bed rest. As much as she wanted to
follow up on the call, she decided that the voice was right. She needed to
leave Titan. If anything else bad happened to Ryan because she decided to run
off on some wild goose chase, she would never forgive herself. Within five
minutes, she was packed and waiting for a taxi. With the cabbie’s help, they
loaded Ryan in back and soon were on their way to the starport.

*   *   *   *   *

Through the starport cameras, Kālikā
watched as the reporter and her assistant boarded the first outbound transport
off of Titan. He was pleased that she had heeded his warning. They were two
pawns he didn’t want to lose…at least not yet.

He’d learned over the centuries that some pawns
were more valuable than others. Some you forfeit right away for nothing more
than a simple distraction or to see how your opponent will react. However,
certain pawns were best left to be offered for sacrifice at a later time in the
game, where their loss would hinder his opponent’s plans. Personally, Kālikā
had no qualms about sacrificing his pieces. He also realized that he favored
some more than others. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t sacrificed them, he just
had to make sure it was the proper time.

When he spoke to the darkness, his voice was quiet
and slightly husky.

“Your move old friend.”

Chapter 17

Jax pulled the stolen skimmer into the parking area
of a mansion two blocks away from their target. The house had a for sale sign
in the yard and no lights on at the moment. And since the skimmer was a
stretched limo, it didn’t draw any attention from the neighbors or if it did,
it would be the right kind of attention.

Once they were out of the vehicle and out of sight
of the road, Stephanie led the way. She easily vaulted over the fence and made her
way through the backyard. As the two men struggled to follow her, they were
both pleased that Titan had less gravity than Earth since it aided them in
keeping up with the nimble thief. Several minutes later when they caught up to
her, she was perched on the ledge of a wall and studying the layout of the yard
before them.

DJ pulled himself up to the ledge, he noticed that
a junction box nearby had been pried open and the wires spliced. “Alarm?”

Stephanie nodded. “One of three. This one powered
the motion control sensors and cameras in the garden area.”

Jax scrambled up to sit next to them. “How’d you
know about it?”

“Let’s just say that I’ve had my eye on this
mansion for several weeks.” She flashed them both a mischievous grin. “Now
comes the tricky part. We have to cross the garden without alerting the dozen
or so Battle Bots Thomas has roaming around.”

Jax cocked his head to the side. “Battle ‘bots?”

“Think mechanical guard dogs that can’t be bribed
with food,” answered DJ.

“Oh,” was all the Jax could say.

Stephanie pointed at a beautiful birch tree about
ten feet away. “That is our first lily pad.”

“Huh?” the men said in unison as she launched
herself through the air. Landing gracefully in the crotch of the birch tree
where the trunk split into three boughs. However, she didn’t pause. Leaping
like her namesake, El Gato landed on the base of a marble statue then sprang
through the air to land on the eaves of the roof. Both men shook their head in
disbelief. She had made the transition from wall to roof in a matter of
seconds.

“Well, now we know how she got her name.”

DJ nodded. “Something tells me, it won’t be as
easy as she made it look.”

Jax snorted. “No kidding.”

“Here goes nothing.” Taking a deep breath, DJ
launched himself to the tree. However, he’d forgotten about the enhanced
strength his CSA armor gave him and overshot the tree by twenty feet. The AI of
his suit quickly calculated that his current trajectory was even going to take
him past the statue and displayed this fact on his HUD. Reacting out of
instinct, DJ tucked his head and executed a flip in the air. Once he was feet
down, he fired off his jump jets in his boots and boosted himself up to the
roof.

Stephanie nodded. “Not bad, not bad at all.”

DJ decided to play the poor leap and recovery off.
“Thanks. I’m not as nimble as you.”

Stephanie nodded toward the garden. “True, but
that was very effective.”

“Thanks,” DJ said as they turned back to watch
their companion make the first jump without any problems.

It was on the second leap was when Mr. Murphy
decided to show up.

Jax landed on the statue base without a problem
but since he was travelling so fast that he grabbed the statue to stop his
progress. Instead of stopping, the statue broke off from its base and they both
tumbled into the garden. Shaking his head to clear it from the fog of the hard
landing, Jax’s first thought was is anything broken? Not feeling any stabs of
pain when he moved, Jax rolled over and prepared to stand up. That was until he
saw the gleaming metallic body of a battle bot less than three feet from his
nose. Instinctively, he froze.

Battle bots come in a wide variety of shapes and
sizes. The one directly in front of Jax was shaped like a three foot wide crab
with treads on each side and buzz saws in place of one of its pincers. Battle
bots are intensely limited in their programming and are not burdened with the
Three
Laws
or a morality code. They just follow their directives without
variation or exception.

Jax knew nothing of this as he stared at the red
eye of the battle bot which was only a few feet away. It quivered as if it was
in anticipation but failed to move forward. Of course, the image of the buzz
saw ripping through his flesh or the foot long pincer closing on his leg ran
through his mind. Suddenly, a rope wrapped around his waist and yanked him up.
Jax looked up to see the Red Falcon reeling him in with some sort of rope that
had come out of his left gauntlet.

“Thanks,” was all he could manage.

“No problem.”

Stephanie just shook her head and led them around the
rooftop to a window on the third floor. Like the pro she was, El Gato disarmed
the alarm and slid open the window.

DJ nodded. “You have done your part and gotten me
here, thanks.”

Stephanie flashed him a wicked grin and said, “You
aren’t home free yet big boy. Come on,” she crawled through the open window.
“I’ll show you Kaitlyn’s room.”

DJ turned back to his companion and tapped at his
helmet. “Keep watch and let me know if you see anything.”

Jax nodded. Fitting the mic and ear bud in place
he said, “Roger that.”

Turning back to the dark house, DJ’s armor
automatically shifted to night vision which took the ambient light in the area
and enhanced it, allowing him to see. Everything was colored green but after
his years in the Corps, it was nothing new. The low or no light didn’t seem to
bother El Gato and she led him unerringly to the staircase down.

Moving up close she whispered, “Kaitlyn’s room is
at the bottom of the stairs and at the end of the hallway on your left. Good
luck.”

DJ nodded and watched as she faded into the
darkness of the third floor. Using all grace he could muster, DJ crept down the
stairs. He was almost to the bottom when he slipped and struggled to regain his
balance. He had fallen about three steps before he righted himself. It wasn’t
much but he was certain he’d made enough noise to alert the household. But
after several minutes when no one came to investigate, he continued.

Finding Kaitlyn’s room was easy. It was right
where El Gato had directed him. Not wanting to scare his daughter, he took off
his helmet and opened the door. Whatever he was expecting, the mess that
confronted him was not it. Of course he’d expected to find a messy room, what
teenager doesn’t have one but not like this. This was beyond messy. It was
destroyed. Posters had been ripped off the walls, shelves knocked over, books
torn apart and the broken body of UR-L8 but no sign of Kaitlyn.