Tsar Wars: Agents of ISIS, Book 1 (18 page)

“See that big red huvverbus just outside the
door there? When I give the word, run like hell to it. Don’t look
back, don’t look at me, don’t pay attention to any shouts or
noises. Don’t let anything stop you. If you can’t get around
something, go through it, and push anybody out of your way if you
need to. Can you do that?”

Natalia nodded.

“Great,” Eva said. “Let’s see how much fun we
can make this.” But in her heart of hearts, she knew this was going
to be anything but fun.

They finally came to the head of the line.
Eva made sure to stand in front of Natalia. As the militsioner
called, “Next,” and reached out to motion Eva forward, she reached
out and grabbed his hand. Pulling it toward her, she pressed it
against her right breast and held it there, meanwhile yelling at
the top of her lungs, “Hey, watch where you’re putting your
drapping hands! Let go, you oprichnik! Let go of me!”

The militsioner, who’d had no intention of
grabbing her breast, would have loved to comply—but Eva held his
hand in place, and made it look like she was the one struggling to
push him away. “Help, someone! Save me from this sex maniac!”

While everyone, including the other militsia,
were distracted by the struggle, Eva reached quickly down with her
left hand and pulled the militsioner’s stinger from its holster.
She shot the man before he could realize what was happening, and
shot the two nearest militsia as well.

Now she changed her yell. “Bomb! There’s a
bomb here. Everybody run!”

Some people just stood frozen in place,
paralyzed by the sudden confusion. Other people, however, reacted
instinctively to the bomb threat and began to scatter in all
directions. Eva was pleased to see that Natalia had taken the cue
to run for the door. Eva yelled “Bomb!” a couple more times, then
took off after the girl.

The concourse was in chaos. People were
running every which way, and the militsia were undecided whether to
shoot at the escapees or react to the bomb threat. They were
paralyzed by indecision, and Eva took advantage of this to shoot
another few militsia as she passed by them.

Natalia’s escape had been largely unimpeded,
but her stunted right leg made her “run” more of an awkward
lope—and a slow one at that. Now Eva could see a militsioner
closing in on the girl. From this angle, she wasn’t sure she could
shoot the man without hitting Natalia by mistake, so instead she
used her forward momentum to leap with Zionian strength. Her arc
carried her over Natalia to come down right beside the man trying
to apprehend her. Eva spun on one foot while raising the other to
kick the man in the breastbone. He went down hard.

She ran to the bus, leading the way for
Natalia. She actually had to slow down quite a bit, making
allowances for the girl’s twisted leg. She was fretting because the
pace seemed so slow to her Zionian senses, but things were
happening at a reasonably fast pace as far as normal people were
concerned.

It was night outside the terminal as she
scrambled through the huvverbus’s open door. She didn’t have time
to argue with the driver over who was in control, so she just stung
him on general principles. He’d wake up in a few hours with a
headache, but otherwise none the worse for wear. She pulled him out
of his seat and took his place just as Natalia, panting heavily,
scrambled in behind her. Eva closed the door and starter the
engine.

Not until then did she look around and
discover that she and Natalia weren’t alone. Along with the
unconscious driver, there were seven other passengers seated
throughout the bus. “Hi everyone,” she said cheerily. “No reason
for anyone to get hurt. We’re just going on a little unscheduled
excursion, something exciting to tell your grandkids about. Just
sit back and enjoy the ride.”

She gunned the accelerator and the lift
simultaneously, and the huvverbus lifted off into the night, barely
missing a couple of huvvers slowly descending to the ground. Her
Zionian reflexes stood her in good stead as she steered frantically
to avoid the collisions, and then she was in open air. She gained
altitude so she could get her bearings. Through the front window
she could see city lights off to her left. She turned the bus in
that direction and headed that way at top speed.

For obvious safety reasons, spaceports were
not built within city limits, but several kilometers away. It would
now be a race to see whether Eva could get the bus somewhere inside
the city before the local constabulary could organize to stop
her.

It was a couple of minutes before she saw a
group of lights behind her, giving chase. At almost the same time
she spotted lights in front of her as the city politsia rose to
intercept her.

She cut her headlights, even though she knew
their radar would show her position, and she dropped altitude in
almost a crash dive, leveling out again just before she hit the
street. There wasn’t a lot of traffic at this hour, so it was easy
to find a break in the flow to insert herself. The bus rolled to a
stop near an alley and Eva opened all the doors. “Everybody out!”
she called. “Thank you for choosing Desperation Bus Lines, and we
hope you’ll tell your friends about us.”

As the unwilling passengers scrambled for the
exits, Eva turned to Natalia. “You too, kid.”

“Aren’t you coming with me?”

“Not immediately. First I’ve got to throw
some people off our trail.”

“What should I do?”

“Hide. Don’t worry, I’ll find you. Now
go.”

Natalia stepped out of the bus and the
vehicle immediately took off again, forward and up. The young girl
had a sudden cold, sinking feeling inside her. She was alone in the
dark in a strange city on an unfamiliar world. She was being chased
by people who would stop at nothing to find and kill her. To top
the whole thing off, her protector had vanished, and she had no way
of knowing when—or if—she’d ever see Eva, or Earth, again.

She stood motionless on the sidewalk for
several seconds, then belatedly turned and walked toward the
alley.

Following the close call with the stone-cats,
Judah was more determined than ever to get off the palace grounds
so he could call Nkosi Wettig and warn him of Kuznyetz’s identity.
He looked down at himself and realized what a mess his uniform was
in; he’d attract too much attention like this. Just a quick trip to
the B.O.Q. to change, and then he could escape unnoticed.

The B.O.Q. was buzzing as he came in. He went
to the small room he shared with another officer to get a fresh
uniform. His roommate was there and looked at him excitedly. “Did
you hear the news?”

“Yeah,” Judah said absently as he stripped
off his dirty outfit. “Tsar Vasiliy’s dead.”

“That’s the old news,” his roommate said with
a dismissive wave. “Now the Velikaya Knyaghinya’s dead, too.”

Judah’s blood ran cold. “What?”

“Riots broke out all over the Empire when
people heard the news. The Velikaya Knyaghinya was on Languor. She
tried to get home, but some rioters blew up her ship before she
could take off.”

Judah sat down hard on a chair. His eyes
suddenly couldn’t focus. “Are they sure?” he asked hoarsely.

“No survivors. That’s what the newscasts
say.”

Judah’s head was spinning and his mouth went
dry. The Velikaya Knyaghinya dead? That almost certainly meant Eva
was dead, too; she would never have let herself get separated from
the girl she was protecting.

No survivors.

Judah didn’t breathe for several seconds. His
cousin, his partner, dead. She didn’t even want to take that
assignment. She did it mainly for him, so he could go out and play
spy like Ilya Uzi. And what had it all come to? The Velikaya
Knyaghinya was dead anyway, along with Eva. He hadn’t been able to
stop Kuznyetz’s plans, either. The best he could expect was to warn
Wettig about who Kuznyetz really was. The rebellion had started
anyway; whether or not Kuznyetz got the throne, the chaos would
still continue. Millions of people, probably billions, would die.
Bombings from space could well make some planets totally
uninhabitable. Despite his and Eva’s best efforts, they’d failed to
avert the catastrophe. What was the use of continuing?

He saw Eva in his mind, her lovely face
smiling, her agile, athletic body moving in perfect sync with his.
He saw Vida’s beautiful face, too, and knew he’d been blessed to
have two such phenomenal ladies in his life. And he’d failed them
both. The Empire was being ripped apart, destroyed by forces he’d
been powerless to stop. Why should he even bother to go on?

Then Eva spoke to him. “Quit your
kvetching
,
boychik
. We’re a team, and a damn good
one. Have a little faith in your partner. I’ve never missed a cue,
and I don’t intend to start now.”

Have faith in Eva. Trust in Eva. She’s never
let you down, no matter how close to the wire she cuts it. She
drives you crazy with her close calls, but she always makes it,
doesn’t she? She won’t let you down now.

Eva’s imaginary presence leaned down and
pinched his cheeks. “The show must go on, remember?” she said as
she faded away.

Judah stood up and put on a clean tunic, new
resolve in his face. One thing was for damn sure—
this
show
was going on.

Just as he finished dressing, Cdr. Aab
entered the B.O.Q.. Everyone snapped to attention. The commander
looked them over for a moment with a small smile of pride. “Damy i
gospoda, we have been given a new assignment. Knyaz Yevgheniy has
been summoned to Earth to serve on the Sovyet Knyazey that’s been
called to deal with the current succession crisis. He has chosen
his loyal kavalergardy to serve as his honor guard. This may be the
most important assignment of your careers, and I expect you all to
live up to the highest standards of the kavalergard.”

“Sir,” asked a woman, “what about our posts
here in the palace?”

“The local militsia will take up those duties
temporarily. Pack up your kits, on the double, and report to the
drill yard in fifteen minutes for transport to the knyaz’s personal
yacht. Dismissed!”

Most of the kavalergardy immediately jumped
up and began packing their kits like mad. There was surprisingly
little talking at first; people were too busy deciding what to take
and how to cram it into their small personal bags. The buzz of
gossip would come later, when they were on the truck headed for the
spaceport.

Judah moved slowly at first, uncertain what
to do. He had important information to give to Wettig, and he might
not have a chance if he was trapped in the confined quarters of
Kuznyetz’s yacht. He’d already postponed one chance to get the
information out, and it nearly killed him. Could he afford to take
that risk again?

On the other hand … This was a way to stay
right at the center of the plot and get transported to Earth at the
same time. If he left now, he’d miss out on even more
up-to-the-minute information. He’d have to stay hidden aboard the
yacht so Kuznyetz and Marya wouldn’t spot him, but that might not
be too hard. The yacht was large, and the owners weren’t likely to
stray very often into the crew’s quarters where the kavalergardy
would be housed.

A timid spy isn’t worth his pay, Ilya Uzi
said. Good information always comes with risks.

He hadn’t been here long, so he didn’t have
much to pack. He was ready along with the others when the order
came to move out to the assembly point. The kavalergardy were
loaded into three trucks to take them to Kuznyetz’s private space
field. As they drove along, there was plenty of time for gossip and
speculation.

“I heard there’s been a military coup,” one
man said. “Admiral Lu has always been an ambitious man, everybody
says so. With the tsar and Velikaya Knyaghinya dead, he can grab
power for himself without opposition.”

“Don’t be silly,” a woman replied. “They
wouldn’t call the Sovyet for that.”

“Maybe the tsar had an illegitimate son,”
another man spoke up.

That brought a general laugh. “How?
Immaculate conception?”

The man, embarrassed, muttered something
about artificial insemination, but that only brought more
laughter.

“Draco sector’s always been unruly,” someone
else said. “I bet they’ll try to secede.”

“If anyone secedes, it’ll be the Librans. You
know what
they’re
like.”

The conversation meandered on. Clearly
everyone had an opinion on what no one knew anything about. Judah
barely bothered to listen. People were talking just to hear their
own voices, as though that would drown out the fear and uncertainty
roiling through everyone’s mind at this critical juncture of
imperial history. What was really happening? Would the Empire
they’d all grown up with, so steady and secure, suddenly collapse
like a house made of soggy cardboard? As part of Kuznyetz’s honor
guard, they’d be directly at the center of one important piece of
the puzzle. But, of necessity, that meant they couldn’t see the
other pieces very well.

Would they reach Earth in time to make a
difference? Would their side be victorious? And, perhaps the
hardest questions of all, did they even know what their side
represented, and did they
want
it to be victorious?

* * *

Over his decades of careful planning,
Yevgheniy Kuznyetz had put together a formidable coalition. It had
been a painstaking process, but he’d managed to bully, subvert or
outright buy the loyalties of almost every graf within the Scorpio
sector of space. Furthermore, he knew he could count on thirteen
other knyazya and all the resources available in
their
sectors. Another six wouldn’t actively support him, but neither
would they oppose his actions.