Vengeance (The Kurgan War Book 4) (13 page)

Sheridan put a hand on Cole’s arm. He leaned forward and whispered, “I’m not sure we can trust either of these guys’ stories. They’d implicate their own mothers if they thought they could get something for her.”

“That makes two of us. But the nosy neighbor’s story about this Bill character is the only lead we have.”
 

Sheridan looked at the janitor. “Does the hotel keep records of all of its guests?”

“No one gets a room without being scanned.”

Sheridan doubted that. By the looks of the upkeep on the lowest levels of the city, anyone, for a few credits, could move about in the bowels of the city without an electronic signature following them.

“It’s probably a long shot, but I think we need to see the station manager and check those files ourselves,” said Cole.

“Agreed,” said Sheridan, just as the unthinkable happened. Hidden in the air vents of both rooms were charges set to go off five minutes after someone had entered the room. With a deafening boom, the explosives detonated, tearing large holes in the side of the structure. In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of liters of water rushed inside.

Sheridan saw the wall of water surging toward him and turned to run. He was too slow. The water hit the men standing in the hallway like a solid wall and sent them all tumbling to the floor. Sheridan felt himself being tossed around in the torrent of water as it raced down the long corridor. He fought to get his head above the water. A second later, he felt a hand grab ahold of his jacket collar and pull him up. Sheridan spat out a mouthful of salt water and took in a deep breath of air. He turned his head and saw Cole swimming as best as he could beside him. In seconds, they were at the end of the corridor. Up ahead the hallway split left and right. In front of them was an elevator and beside that was an open door leading to the stairway.

“Forget the elevator!” yelled Cole as he steered Sheridan toward the stairs.
 

Both men fought hard against the raging water, trying not to be pulled further down the corridor to a certain death. For a brief moment, the surge lessened as the water changed direction. Cole hauled Sheridan with him inside the stairwell. They scrambled up the first flight of stairs before stopping for a second to catch their breath. Sheridan knelt down and looked back where they had been standing. The water was already almost level with the roof of the corridor. The fat man and the janitor were nowhere to be seen.

Cole patted Sheridan on the back. “Come on, Captain, let’s get a move on before they close all of the watertight doors above us and trap us down here.”

Sheridan nodded. Together they sprinted up the stairs taking two at a time. After a few floors they stopped and tried to open a closed door but found it locked.
 

“They must automatically seal during an emergency,” said Sheridan.

Cole looked up at a camera on the wall and screamed. “Open the bloody door!”

The door remained closed. Behind them, they could hear the gurgling sound of the water coming up the stairwell. “Time to go,” said Sheridan. Again they raced up the stairs trying to outrun the rising tide.
 

An odd grinding sound coming from the floor above them made them both look up. A black metal plate was slowly moving to block off the water before it got any higher. In an instant, they both knew that if they weren’t quick enough they were going to drown.

“Run!” yelled Cole, pushing Sheridan in front of him.
 

Both men’s legs and lungs ached from the strain, but that did not slow them. The horrible thought of dying with their lungs filled with sea water drove them both on. In seconds, they were just below the moving steel plate. Sheridan got there first. He jumped up and hauled himself to safety. Right away, he flipped himself around and reached down for Cole. With less than a meter to go before the water-tight door slid home, Cole grabbed ahold of his friend’s outstretched arms and scrambled to get out of the water. Sheridan hauled back with all of his strength. Like a jack in the box, Cole shot up and landed beside Sheridan just as the barrier slid into place.

“That was too close for comfort,” uttered Cole in between labored breaths.

Sheridan sat up and looked down at his soaked clothes. “I wonder how many poor souls never made it to safety?”

“Probably hundreds. It all happened way too fast for most of them to have gotten away.”

Sheridan was tired and angry. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on Harry when he saw him next. He got to his feet and tried the nearest door. It was locked.

Cole moaned, shook his head, and stood up as well. “I’m not running anymore. I’ve had my fill of it for today.”

“After you,” said Sheridan, indicating to the stairs with a hand.

Ten minutes later, they came out on a maintenance floor and were met by a couple of emergency technicians who were surprised to see that someone had made it up from the lower levels alive.

Cole took a seat and rested his sore feet for a minute. One of the workers walked over and handed them a bottle of water each.
 

Sheridan pulled up a chair and sat beside his friend. He swallowed down a long swig of cool water before saying, “Come on, let’s find us a working elevator and get topside. We have to let Admiral Oshiro know what has happened and book ourselves onto the next shuttle leaving for Tranquility Station.”

Cole nodded and stood. They made their way to a service elevator. Sheridan was about to press the up button when he saw that an elevator was already on its way down.

“That’s handy,” remarked Cole. He regretted his words when the doors slid open and four police officers pointed their pistols at them.

Chapter 17

Sheridan glanced over at a clock and saw that twelve precious hours had been lost while he and Cole languished in a prison cell on Atlantis. Earlier, while one of the emergency techs had handed them bottles of water, the other had rushed to call the police.

A guard walked over to the cell and gave the Marines each a plastic tray with some warmed-up food on it. It looked like three-day-old fish and smelt just as bad. Sheridan placed his food down on the floor and shook his head while Cole poked at it with his fork before also giving in.

“You know for the life of me I can’t figure out why they left behind a booby trap,” said Sheridan. “The room was spotless. No one would have ever found out who they were, so why leave behind a bomb?”

“I’d have to say that it was intended for the police if they had been the ones to trace them back to Atlantis.”

“So they intended to kill two birds with one stone?”

“Precisely. They get to kill some humans while further covering their tracks. Quite clever of them if you ask me.”

A tired-looking guard rapped on the cell’s bars with his truncheon. “Someone’s here to see you.”

Sheridan turned his head to see who it was and smiled. It was the young West African girl from the bar. She waited until the guard was gone, reached into her purse, and held up her ID for them to read.
 

Cole chuckled. “ADF intelligence. You sure had me fooled.”

“I’m sorry we had to meet like this. I thought you were both dead. It was only a few minutes ago that I learned that you were being held here. My name is Staff Sergeant Anne Elba. I was asked by my boss, Major Pollock, to keep an eye out for you two.”

It took a second for Sheridan to recall the name. “Oh yeah, we met him yesterday in Rome. Him I get, what’s your story?”

“There had been rumors circulating headquarters of Chosen sympathizers hidden among the workers on Atlantis. My job was to root them out if they existed. Unfortunately, they were good at keeping to themselves and hid their tracks all too well. If only I’d been able to find them before all of this happened, three hundred people would still be alive.”

Cole looked her in the eyes. “Anne, never think like that. You did your job as good as anyone could have. None of this is your fault. The captain and me, we’ve been fighting these people since the war began and should have known better. We’re the ones who walked in and set off the bombs.”

“Thanks for that, but I still wish I could have done something to prevent this tragedy.”

“There’s no point in worrying about what happened here,” said Sheridan. “Perhaps you can help us prevent another disaster from happening. Anne, there’s a Chosen agent still on the loose.”

The sergeant’s eyes lit up at the news. “How can I help?”

“Is there a room around here with a secure computer that we can use to speak with Admiral Oshiro?”

“Yes. I have one in my room that you are welcome to use.”

“Can you spring us?” Cole asked.
 

Elba smiled, turned, and flashed her ID at the closest guard. “Get me your boss . . . now!”

Ten minutes later onboard a ship moored in one of the city’s marina’s, Elba opened her computer and typed in a request for a secure line to the Federal Expeditionary Navy Headquarters.

“Nice ship,” said Cole as he admired the brass and wooden interior.

“It’s not mine,” replied Elba. “There’s another agent here. He spends most of his time around the more high-end clientele. From what I’ve learned, treason doesn’t recognize class.”

“You’re not wrong there.”

Elba typed in her secure password. Thirty seconds later, an image of Admiral Oshiro came up on the screen. “Gentlemen, I am pleased to see both of you alive. After I had heard what had happened, I feared the worst.”

“It was a close call, Admiral,” said Sheridan. For the next fifteen minutes, he described what they had learned about the fourth Chosen operative and his suspected whereabouts.

“It should be simple enough to track him on Tranquility Station,” said Oshiro. “Have Atlantis send a picture of the man to the station and they can have him detained.”

Sheridan shook his head. “Sir, it won’t be that easy. The hotel he was staying at is now under water. Also, I doubt his image was recorded anywhere along his trip. These people are well-organized and are experts at hiding their tracks.”

“Captain, do you have any suspicions as to what they may be up to?”

“No yet, sir, but whatever it is, I think that it’s going to be big.”

Oshiro’s eyes hardened. “What makes you say that?”

“Sir, the botched attempt to kill the president wasn’t just an exercise in terror, I believe it was done to test our ability to respond to an attack on or near a major defense installation. My gut tells me that the enemy is planning to conduct a series of guerrilla-style raids in the very near future. Where? I have no idea, but the attacks are coming, I’m sure of it. The thought that one of the insurgents may be loose on Tranquility Station is disturbing to say the least.”

Oshiro sat back in his seat. “You may be right, Captain. The presidential debates are going to be shown all around the world and the outer colonies tomorrow evening. The media will be covering the event. I can’t think of a better time to raise some hell back here on Earth. Can you?”

“No, sir,” responded Sheridan and Cole in unison.

“I’ll speak with General Sadir and see if he can’t convince the president to hold off the debates. If we had a few days’ grace it might give us the time we need to discover what the enemy has planned for us.”

“Admiral, what are the chances of the debates being postponed?” asked Sheridan.

“Slim and nil, but I’ll still try to see what can be done.”

“Sir, can you send a shuttle to Atlantis to pick us up? The sooner we get up to Tranquility Station, the sooner we can get to work tracking down this fourth agent.”

“I’ll give the order. It should be there within the hour.”

“Thanks, sir.”

“Gents, before you go, there is one last thing you should be made aware. However, before I say a word, I need to know that what I’m about to tell you will be kept a secret for the rest of your natural lives.”

“You’ve got it, sir,” said Sheridan. “That includes Staff Sergeant Elba, who is in the room with us.”

“I’m cleared to top secret,” called out Elba.

Oshiro said, “People, this is information is well above any security classification you have ever heard of.”

“Sir, you have my word that I will not say a word,” replied Elba.

“If any of you do, you will be locked up in a prison on Io and left there to rot. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir,” said Sheridan, wondering what the admiral was about to tell them.
 

“A few days ago, a biological agent was taken from a secret lab on Eris. I believe that it was your ship that initially responded to the distress call.”

“Yes, sir, it was.”

“The agent that was stolen is known as the Alpha Virus.”

“I’ve never heard of it, sir.”

“Very few people have. It was created at the end of the last war when it looked like the Kurgans were about to win. It was a plan born of desperation. The agent would have been left behind on planets the Kurgans were going to occupy. It is a deadly strain of hemorrhagic fever that lays dormant for a week to ten days before exploding and spreading like wildfire. Although Kurgan physiology isn’t the same as ours, the virus is so powerful that it would have wiped out any Kurgan invasion force that came into contact with it.”