Athena Lee Chronicles 8: Infiltration (3 page)

All around him his Marines were dropping, falling over at their posts. He quickly ducked behind a large decorative planter. The two Embassy rooftop snipers began returning fire, giving Sam a chance to run for it. The Marine was feeling his age as he ran for the front doors. A lot slower than most of the younger Marines, the old Chief zig-zagged his way to the front doors. He burst through the doors and sealed them behind him. The two guards behind the desk gaped at him as he gasped for breath.

“Bar the doors!…. Attack… We are under attack!… Sound the alarm.” Sam leaned against the desk still gasping for breath as the general alarm began sounding throughout the darkened building.

Outside, Dar’s men were cleaning up the area. “Team leader, all subjects secure, targets have been neutralized.”

Dar and Team Three glided down and took stock of the situation. She was proud of her men. They had accomplished the first part of the mission without her.

“Is everyone ready? You have your assignments. Let’s go!” She approached the door and entered a code into the system.

Inside the embassy the Master Chief looked on in horror as the leader of the Assault force was revealed. So much for not being prepared.

“Sir, with the power out the doors will stay locked. They can’t get in easily.”

“I hope you’re right Corporal Hicks. Alert the rest of our men, have them lock down the embassy. We need to prevent any incursion.”

The three Marines watched as the special operations team all approached the now locked front doors.

“Corporal? What is she doing?” The door vids showed that Dar punching in a code.

“Sir, she seems to be entering a code into the system. With power out she should be as stuck as we are.” The code the Lieutenant used seemed to work as the doors powered up and began to open. “Sir, I don’t understand it. There isn’t any power!”

Wilson was having the time of his life. Cutting power then restoring it in places was really screwing with these guys. They really deserved it for arresting his big sister!

Chapter 5

When the cell door clanged open Athena was expecting to see either Dar or that Marine Chief Kirkland. The man staring at her had beady little eyes that took in the whole room with a glance. He a skinny with red hair, something that was unusual for our home planet, and not wearing a uniform. This must be one of the civilian workers here. “By your expression I can tell that you have no idea who I am. Good. That will make things a bit easier.” Another two men came through the door, they were armed with stunners and tranq guns.

“My boys here are going to take you on a small trip.” The red headed stranger motioned to the armed men who approached me.

“Keep away from me!” They grabbed at me trying to take my arms. I used every trick that the military had taught me. The man on the left reached for me trying to grab my arm. Without getting closer to him I kicked him in his knee as hard as I could. Screaming in pain the big man went down to floor as his knee gave out on him. As he bowed his head in pain, I kicked again catching him across the face breaking his nose. The other man raised his stunner and fired. I dodged to the left almost escaping. The beam him my leg rendering it useless. I collapsed to the floor.

Still trying to escape I dragged my now useless leg behind me. The man with the stunner ran forward and grabbed me by the hair trying to pull me up. I grimaced in pain as my head was jerked back the nerves in my scalp screaming in pain. I felt my head being jerked backwards and remembered something that Dar had always stressed. Aim for the weak spots. With all my might I threw punch forward into the man’s groin area. As he doubled over in pain, he dropped his hold on my hair. I punched again this time hitting his head. As I tried to stand I heard the red-headed man speak.

“Enough of this.” He pointed a tranq gun at me and fired. My last conscious thought was for Dar to hurry.

All I could feel was pain as I woke up. I opened my eyes, my arms were bound behind me and I was hanging from the ceiling by my feet. Directly below me was a vat of water. Waterboarding it was then.

“Commander Lee? Are you awake?” I began swaying back and forth as I struggled to get free. “Oh, good. You are awake. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself. I am Major Shirō Ishii. Disregard the red hair. My father’s family came from New Belfast this was the entirety of my inheritance from the man. Here in the Embassy I am in charge of Intelligence and political reliability. You Ms. Lee have failed in that aspect of your job. A closeness with Mars is not something that can be allowed. It is my job to find out everything that you know or suspect about us. You and your little friends have intruded upon our plans a bit too much lately.”

“Your plans?… The Cabal! Is that who truly employs you?”

“Oh, very good Commander Lee. Excellent. This will make my job easier. Secrets really are no fun.” He held up a remote control. “This controls the winch above you. This is an upgrade to the procedure that most commonly use.”

Suddenly the winch above me engaged, and I fell into the vat of water head first. I was down no more than twenty seconds before I was drawn out. Spitting and sputtering I could feel the water in my nose and throat. “That was just a sample Ms. Lee. Now, what does the Primus know of the Cabal? What exactly have you told her?”

My mind was all a-whirl. My senses were still clogged with water and everything I saw was inverted. “The Cabal? Is that what this whole ordeal was about?”

“Let’s try another dunking to clear your head.” Down into the water I went again. This time was much longer, at least thirty seconds. I coughed and gagged as the winch brought me to the surface. Water was streaming down my face as I gasped for a breath. This crazy man I going to kill me for worthless information.

“I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Ah, you can speak. How about you tell me what I want to know? How much have you told them? We know that you spoke to Sam 0256. He tells a good story. Tell me, did he describe his role in the conquest of Earth? He was one of our very best commanders. His skill is what got him the position of flight commander in the colony program. What did he tell you?”

Sam? He is Cabal? I remembered that sweet old man as a junk dealer and friend. I couldn’t imagine one of my friends being a monster. “Sam told me a story of a colony world gone bad.”

“Did he really? Interesting. What else did he say?”

I shook my head no. As a result I went down into the water again. I was down for even longer this time. When you are drowning time seems to stop. As if in slow motion I could see the lights of the room flashing through the water as I stared upward. The winch pulled me out again. This time to the sound of loud voices.

“You can’t do this! She is an officer in our service, we don’t torture our own people!”

“Master Chief, this is my duty now. Ms. Lee is under the auspices of intelligence now. Please leave or my men will toss you out.”

“You didn’t hear the alarm did you? Her special forces Marines are attacking the Embassy as I speak. I barely survived to reach the doors. She needs to survive or they will kill us all!?”

The redheaded man smiled at the Marine. It was a rather sickly smile. “That may be, but she must answer my questions first. The fate of the galaxy is at stake.” He looked back in my direction. “Ready to talk Commander Lee?”

“Screw you!” I have had about enough of this man.

“Last chance Commander Lee.” Down into the water I went again. I would answer his questions but it would mean the lives of innocent people. I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen.

“Sir, I protest this.”

“Chief I have had enough of you today.” The intel commander pulled a pistol from behind his back and shot the Marine point blank in the chest.

As Dar punched the code into the door, she could see the guard inside scrambling around. The code activated the outer doors, and he rushed forward to the inner doors. These were not as armoured as the outer if the code did not work they could blow them if need be. As she reached for the keypad it lit up. Wilson must be having too much fun playing with the electricity. He was like a little demon that way. Dar readied her guns as the door opened.

“Halt, or we will fire!” The Embassy door guards did not have the experience when dealing with an invasion such as this. The doors opened and four heavily armed and armored Marines burst in. They ducked behind the desk as the black-clad Marines began firing on them. The lightweight desk could not hold up to the weight of fire and began to break apart. One of the guards cried out in pain as a foot long shard of desk pierced his arm. Clutching his arm he fell to the ground. The other guard grabbed his companions gun and began firing with both weapons over the top of the disintegrating desk.

“This is taking too long. Sergeant Carter, we need to get past them to the stairs.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Private Everley, can you toss a flasher over that desk from here?” Dar’s men were crouching behind the reception area couches and tables.

“Yes, sir. I will most certainly try.” The man was new to the unit but was very capable.

“Everley, what is it we say in Spec ops? There is no try! Do it!”

As Dar watched, the defenders fired a burst at them and ducked behind the desk. Everley tossed a couple of flashers over the desk from across the room. There was a cry of surprise then a bright flash. Her men rushed the desk to find one man trying to rub his eyes out, his clothing still smoking from the flash. The other was on his back bleeding out from shrapnel wounds, he too was smoking.

“Everley check the charges on those flashers they may be set too high. The idea is to blind them not set them on fire.” Dar just shook her head at the newbie.

Everley looked at Sergeant Carter questioningly. “They can be adjusted?”

The Sergeant shook his head and told him they would talk after the mission.

“Sergeant, get those men out to Martian EMS. Do not allow them onto the grounds without supervision. Understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am. I understand.” He glanced around him for a moment. “Everley, Boyle? Grab these guys and get them outside like the Lieutenant wants.” The two spec Ops men carried the wounded Marines outside and passed them off to the waiting EMS crew. Checking to make sure the two men were in good hands with Martian security they ran back to the main building.

“Okay, boys by my count there are only about a half dozen Embassy Marines left to worry about. Keep your eyes peeled. Watch for Embassy personnel that may be civilians but they may be armed. Carter, you and Everley stay here and guard the lobby. Stop anyone that tries to sneak out. The snipers will watch the back and assist where needed.” Ignoring the powerless lift, she led her man through the door and down the stairwell.

According to the plans that Wilson provided, there was only one level underneath her feet. This was where she would find her best friend and lover.

Dar and her remaining soldier braced themselves when they heard a shouting followed by a loud shot. A doorway at the end of the hall was open just a bit.

“Marcus! Drag this idiot out of my sight. Use Greg is you have to.” The two large door guards approached the Marine chief. Marcus was still limping. His knee was causing him a great deal of pain. The older man was lying on the floor gasping for breath as he bled out. They grabbed his arms and dragged him over by the wall. They were out of position when Dar and her fighter burst in.

Peeking through the crack in the door, Dar could see Athena hanging from the ceiling over a vat of water. A red-headed man was standing in front of her saying something. Off to the right, two large men were dragging the visibly bleeding Master Chief.

Dar motioned to Boyle, they would burst in together. She would take the two on the right if he got the lone man in the middle. Boyle nodded his confirmation. They checked their weapons and charged!

Chapter 6

“Dad! What do you make of this message from Mars?” Minerva had received an emergency message from the Mars Consulate addressed to both her and her father.

The Colonel had read the message and changed several colors in front of her. His eyes grew wider the more he read. “Minerva… “

“What does that say? Is it Athena? Is she hurt? What is going on?” She loved her father but he could be really frustrating.

Alexander Lee took a deep breath. “When the message arrived Ambassador Phillips arrested Athena and charged her with collusion and forgery. He has her locked in a cell beneath the Embassy.”