The Black Guard: Book II: Evolution (Black Guard Series 2) (28 page)

"I don't like your people watching mine. My people
know their job," Kesslar said as he approached me while I waited for an
elevator.

"What better way for them to learn their duties
than to watch people work who know what they are doing," I said,
if we could find some who did
, I mused
but tried to look serious. "You've worked here for years and know the
facility and potential trouble spots. We don't."

"Damn right, girly. So why the hell are you
replacing us!" he said, ejecting spittle with every few words.

"Don't ask me, Colonel. Ask the Draco Games
Committee, or the Jax Contract Committee. Those kinds of decisions are way
above my pay grade," I said, actually feeling sorry for Kesslar. He was
angry and looking for someone to fight—and I wasn't cooperating. While I
might understand his frustration, I didn't like him. But I had no reason to
want him dead—and a confrontation would mean guns and death.

I think he showed admirable restraint in not taking out
his Mfw and shooting the building for lack of a live opponent. Instead, he
turned and stalked off, mumbling.

* * *

The first round of sixty-four contestants was interesting.
Even after studying the rules, the game was difficult to follow. After watching
the competition for six days, I concluded the losers were geniuses, and only
the space gods knew what the winners were.

The procedure for clearing the facility of the first
round's losing contestants appeared adequate but less rigorous than I would
have liked. Although we verified everyone had left that should have, I thought
a clever person—which included everyone who had been asked to
leave—could have found ways to circumvent the procedure.
And maybe had
, I mused.

The winning contestants were given two days to rest
before the second round, although from what I could see no one rested. The contestants
and their consultants spent every waking hour reviewing the games of their
potential opponents. On the morning of the third day, the pairings would be
announced. It would be a three-day event, with four matches active at any one
time and a total of twelve each day.

Late in the afternoon of the second rest day, the fire
alarm sounded and people scurried out of their rooms, heading for the lobby as
required by the procedures and emphasized in the orientation briefing.

It felt wrong … I hit the lock-down icon I had set up.
That would notify every Black Guard that their contestant should stay in their
room or proceed immediately to their room if they weren't there. Then I began
checking with each Guard.

"Lieutenant Elijah, where are you and have you
detected any indication of a fire?" I asked as I proceeded toward the lobby.
By the time I reached it, none of the Guards on duty had reported seeing,
hearing, or smelling anything that would indicate a fire.

"Where in hell are the people you're guarding?"
Kesslar hollered as soon as he saw me approaching.

"Where is the fire, Colonel?" I asked while
scanning the crowd. "I've forty-two Guard scattered around the facility
and no one has seen any indication of a fire."

"Doesn't matter. Procedure says they must report to
the lobby if an alarm goes off. The firemen need the hallways free of people,
and they need access to the rooms," he shouted, although I was only a couple
of steps away from him.

I noticed the access door into the facility was open,
and I could see at least ten men in fireman's uniforms inside the lobby.

"Have you scanned each of the firemen?" I
asked, ignoring his rant.

Kesslar's face twisted in rage and he reached for his
Mfw.

I stepped forward and shoved my laser under his chin
before his Mfw cleared the holster. Then I drew my Mfw and shot twice into the
ceiling, where I thought it would do the least amount of damage. "STOP OR
DIE!" I shouted as my weapon scanned the firemen so as to leave no doubt I
meant them. "Elijah … Ceder," I said, seeing them entering the lobby,
"scan the firefighters for identification before you let them leave the
lobby."

"I'll kill—" Kesslar began.

My laser jammed harder under his chin, close to the
neck.

His face seized with pain and he was forced to rise on
his toes to ease the pressure the laser barrel was causing.

A broad shouldered man with a rugged face strode toward
me, his face flushed with anger.

"Who do you think—"

"Where is the fire, Chief?" I interrupted,
guessing by the writing on his helmet and his actions that he was in charge.

"You are wasting valuable time—"

"You're the one wasting time, Chief. The faster
your men are scanned, the faster you can get to this fire, wherever it
is." My Mfw rested only centimeters away from his chest.

"The kitchen," he said, conflicting emotions
tearing at him as he fought with the desire to get to the fire or to argue with
me. The fire won, and he ran off to help expedite the process.

Within minutes, five of the ten were running toward the
entrance to the staff area and a minute later the other five.

I removed my laser from Kesslar's neck.

"Colonel Kesslar, there is only one thing you need
to remember about the Black Guard: we always shoot for the kill zone, and if we
missed—even now and then—we wouldn't be qualified to be in the
Black Guard." I turned and walked away, knowing Elijah and Ceder were
watching the colonel.

I intercepted the fire chief as he came out of the staff
area. "Much damage, Chief?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, I don't know why it set off
the fire alarm … how did you know?"

"There was no panic; therefore, no one had seen,
heard, nor smelled any indication of fire. That could mean a convenient excuse
to sneak someone into the facility or for someone inside the facility to cause
trouble."

"Gutsy call."

"Better to look foolish than to get someone killed
trying not to." I shrugged.

He walked away muttering.

I noticed Kesslar glaring in my direction as he
intercepted the chief.

"A distraction?" Elijah asked as Ceder joined
us.

"I think so, either for someone in the lobby to
kill one of the people we are guarding when they joined the group, or to sneak
one or more potential assassins into the facility, or to set something up for
later."

"Kesslar?" Ceder asked.

"I don't think so. He's not a strategic thinker,
judging by the way he allowed the firemen into the facility. He saw what he
expected to see—firemen responding to a fire alarm."

"And you saw?" Ceder asked.

"I heard the alarm but saw no fire, nor did the
Guards on duty, indicating a need for caution."

"The colonel is going to be trouble," Elijah
said, looking in his direction. "You embarrassed him."

"No doubt. Put everyone on alert to watch the
security people. For now, I think Kesslar will just up the tension with rumors
of how we think we're better than them."

"But we are," Ceder said, smiling.

Just then my Mfi buzzed with the code I had given
Goebel.

"Sapir," I said after opening the channel.

"I hear you interfered with the firemen putting out
a fire … and stopped the contestants you are supposed to be safeguarding from
leaving the building," he said, rather calmly considering what he must
have heard from Kesslar and or the fire chief.

"I know the Black Guard isn't responsible for
building security until after the second round; however, considering the minor
kitchen fire didn't set off the fire alarm, it's highly probable keeping the
contestants in their area avoided a major incident. But if you feel Colonel
Kesslar's security is better, I'm sure the JCC would agree to cancel the
contract." I knew that was more wishful thinking, but moments like this
provided some much needed amusement.

 
"I was
told it was a potentially dangerous fire."

"Not by the fire chief, I'd wager. The fire was in
the kitchen, and the chief told me it shouldn't have set off the alarm, which I
suspect it didn't."

"You didn't know that at the time," he said,
hesitantly.

"Sir, you are paying the Black Guard for our
experience and demonstrated performance. We do not blindly follow rules and
procedures. If you are uncomfortable with that …"

"Colonel Kesslar is very mad …"

"True, and allowing him to continue to provide
facility security will make for a volatile situation, but I don't' have
sufficient Guard to take on that responsibility."

"Then we have no choice."

"The decision is yours, and you are electing to let
Kesslar continue. Given that, I must warn you there could be a shooting war
between the current security and the Black Guard."

"That is unacceptable."

"Then release the Jax from the contract."

"I can't without annoying some very rich and
influential people and potentially damaging the Draco War Games. Do the best
you can," he said and clicked off.

Great
, I
mentally screamed. How is a war between the Black Guard and the current
security going to help protect the contestants? Struggling with finding a
solution, I decided to visit the rooms of our eight clients, hoping for some
inspiration.

I checked on each suite and found the contestants busy
preparing for the upcoming matches. Finally, I reached room 220. Inside, I
found Zenaida dressed in a loose fitting sports workout outfit.

"Ms. Zenaida has decided she needs to work out,"
Sergeant Peller said when I looked to her.

"The exercise will help to clear my thoughts. I
need a break from the War Games," Zenaida said.

I decided to tag along, wondering what kind of exercises
she chose to clear her mind. I could certainly benefit from some exercises to
clear mine. The workout area had only three people active, none of which were
contestants. To my surprise, Zenaida had a body length bathing suit on underneath
her workout clothing and proceeded to enter the Olympic-sized pool. Her strokes
appeared effortless and she seemed to glide across the water. Halfway back on
her fourth lap a man dove into the pool and didn't surface.

I took off running—with Peller following and
Corporal Rong at the other end of the pool running to meet us. Ten meters from
Zenaida, I made a running dive, which carried me over her lane. I crashed into
the man, stopping his forward progress. He dropped something and made for the
surface. As we both broke the surface, he shouted between gasping breaths.

"You clumsy Amazon. I need a doctor, I think you
broke a rib—"

"Rong, shoot him if he attempts to leave. Peller,
keep an eye on Zenaida."

I took a deep breath and dove for the bottom. It took
three tries, but eventually I located the clear-glass syringe. When I clambered
out of the pool, I walked over to Rong and his prisoner. "Corporal Rong, I
wonder what will happen to our friend if I inject him with this and throw him
back in the water," I said, watching the man's face. He said nothing but
his eyes opened wide and darted from side to side, looking for someplace to
run. Then it hit me. I clicked on my Mfi. "Elijah, Ceder, and senior
sergeants, to me in the workout area."

"What happened?" Zenaida said, standing close
to Peller with a towel around her shoulders, looking at the man crouched under
Rong's watchful stare.

"He was attempting to interrupt your meditative
swim," I said, trying to downplay the incident. "The pool is now
available for your exclusive use if you wish to continue."

She looked at each of us and surprised me when she
removed the towel and got back into the pool and continued swimming.

"Shoot anyone looking to enter the pool," I
said as Ceder and Elijah came running into the pool area, followed almost
immediately by the four senior sergeants. "I want you to search our
clients' rooms. I believe they are being bugged. The attack on Ms. Zenaida is
too much of a coincidence," I said. "She decides to go for a swim and
someone is here to intercept her. Find out how they are doing it."

* * *

I selected two rooms: 205, Ms. Lacroix, the first room
assigned and 220, Ms. Zenaida, the last assigned. For eight hours the rooms
were searched in silence except for prompted small conversation for the benefit
of the listening devices. Every knickknack was carefully examined, then the
furniture, then the walls and ceiling, and finally pieces so ubiquitous that they
appeared an integral part of the facility—the monitors.

"Sir, Corporal Volpe was engaged in a shooting with
three security guards," Senior Catz said, looking at her Mfi screen.

"His condition?"

"Wounded but functional. He killed the three."

"Elijah, Ceder, withdraw all Guard to this floor. I
want it sealed off from Room 205 to 220." I said. "You are authorized
to kill anyone that appears threatening." My mind raced with the
ramifications of our discovery. The rooms were being monitored for the
contestants' strategies, movements, and other useful information. That meant
either the information or the link was being sold. But who had it installed and
who was selling it and to whom? Kesslar or someone on his team or Goebel or
someone working for him, or some third party neither knew about?

The answers to those questions would be critical in
determining whom I could trust. Draco had everything to lose and little to gain,
so I clicked my Mfi onto Goebel's number. He answered immediately.

"I was just going to call you. Kesslar claims you
and your Guard have been acting aggressive since the fire and today killed
three of his security men when they refused to be searched." The words
came out in a rush.

"We have a serious problem, sir. I've just
discovered that the monitors in two of the clients' rooms we are guarding
contain listening and in a few cases visual devises. This could end the Draco War
Games."