Audacious (47 page)

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Authors: Mike Shepherd

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29 A white-hot rage the likes of which Kris had never felt in her life swept over her. Kris whirled back to face the gang leaders. Had all this been just a ploy to lure her and half the Marines away from the embassy? If they had… The same thought was passing through a lot of Marines’ heads, too. Safeties clicked off weapons. Slaughter was but a word away. Before Kris’s glare, the two gang bosses melted into boneless puddles. One held up his hand, as if he might ward off her wrath with mere flesh. “I swear to God, Blessed Madonna, and Child, I don’t know nothing about this other lift.” “Me, neither,” the other said. “Two of my boys, they brought the kid in. They thought it would be fun. I swear. You want them, they’re yours. Gordo, get them out here.” There was movement along the wall as two fellows were half pushed, half thrown out to fall to their knees between the gangers and the Marines. But Kris had lost her interest in the gangs… for now. Captain DeVar had said the words that held

30 The Marines lay where they fell. Verifying their death had not required moving them. 10-mm grenades in the face don’t leave much chance that even a Marine can survive the initial attack. The Marine techs and Chief Beni joined the local cops trying to scrape some evidence from a scene that offered little. The other Marines joined the cops patrolling the perimeter, keeping out the gawkers. Officially, that was the job of the local police. But the police lieutenant detailed to tell the Marines to stand down took one look at Gunny Brown’s face and quickly offered to share the patrol duty with the Marines. Smart cop. Kris found Inspector Johnson at her elbow within a minute of her arrival. No surprise there. Nelly was taking the raw feed from the Marines and anything else they could capture from the police and passing it along to Kris. It wasn’t much. Rather than wait for the local cop to say something inane, Kris said, “What do you think?” Johnson rubbed his chin. “Hard to say. Could be

31 Five minutes later, Kris was moving in a random pattern away from the university but not toward the embassy. Crammed into what had once seemed a huge rig were most of her usual crew, plus the two kids, Chief Beni, and several Marine techs. Two Marine transports full of armed Marines followed them. “Abby, give the kid, Bronc, right, a safe chit.” A moment later, the kid had found a site on the net that offered the goods they wanted. “That’s strange,” Nelly said. “I just ran those keywords using the best search engines Eden offers and I got no hits.” “You wouldn’t,” the girl answered. “On Eden if you have to search for it, you won’t find it. That’s what I hear from Bronc all the time.” The kid just said, “How good a system do you want to buy?” “How good?” Kris asked. “Micky, Trang, they just buy the basic, and you get only so much for that. They know that some folks pay to stay out of the basic list. You pay more, you get a bigger list, and you get more privacy about what you bought.”

32 Kris held her tongue— and acted like a good little princess— all the way back to the embassy. The Marine transports had picked up all sorts of bugs while parked in front of the office building. Kris refrained from burning them lest the inspector have to peel more of his time away from the hunt for Gramma Ruth to chide her for destroying private property. “Burn those bugs,” was her first order the moment they crossed onto the Embassy driveway. “Ooo-Rah” answered that order. “The ambassador wants to see you” greeted Kris the moment the rig’s door was opened. “I’ll see him later,” Kris snapped. “Captain DeVar, do you have a Tac Center?” “A small one.” He led her to it. It was tiny. The next room down was the huge conference room Kris had whiled away many a negotiating hour. “Take over that room. I’ll clear it with the ambassador.” “Ooh-Rah” was the captain’s reply. Kris quick marched for the ambassador’s office. She found him sitting at a long table in his huge office, holding a budget

33 The kids were right, this neighborhood was Garden City’s high-priced district. The estates were huge and set far apart by well-appointed grounds. Some looked new. Others showed the gradual growth that marked Nuu House. Add-ons… not always according to the best of architectural taste… as it passed from one generation to the next. It hadn’t been at all easy for Kris to find it. The archived phone number said a Mr. Ohi Tristram, VII, lived there. The social database agreed that he still lived there… but gave no further information. All of the data elements on income, social status, and the likes were blank. “I guess you can buy your way out of just about anything on this planet,” Kris muttered. “Should I buy the next database up?” Nelly asked. “Not for that present computer you’re operating. Nelly, buy a new one and start all over again, clean.” While Nelly was doing that, Doc arrived, tossed his car keys to the Marine captain, and went to meditate at the photo wall. “We need to send s

Interlude 3 “You never call me,” Grant von Schrader snapped at O’Heidi’s interruption. “Don’t you want to know what hasn’t hit the news yet?” “And what makes you think I have to wait for the news to know what’s happening on Eden?” “So you already know what Kris Longknife told me just a moment ago.” “I don’t like guessing games, Heidi.” Few used that nomme de party to Ohi’s face. It reminded the playboy just who was boss here. “She’s looking for her great-grandmother. Someone seems to have kidnapped Mrs. Ruth, ah…” “Tordon. If you will excuse me, some of us have work to do,” Grant snapped and quashed the line. A moment later, his computer briefed him on the latest news to come in from his sources in Garden City’s police department. Grant had flagged Kris Longknife. He hadn’t thought to flag Ruth Tordon. A major mistake, it now appeared. “Where is Victoria?” he demanded. “She is just leaving,” his house computer answered. “Tell her I wish to see her.” “I don’t want to see you” came in Vi

34 Kris told Nelly to put off trying to decipher O’Heidi’s phone call when a report came in from the Tac Center. “Our tails have found something interesting.” A new location appeared on Captain DeVar’s tactical board. The target was a large warehouse in a district full of them. It was also under heavy and sophisticated security. “Approach will be tough without all kinds of unshirted hell getting in the way,” the captain muttered. “Nelly, have those new cars arrived?” “Yes, ma’am. Twelve cars ranging from family boxy to sporty to junkers are parked a block from the embassy.” “Way to go, girl.” Thirty minutes later, a major chunk of a Marine company descended from all points of the compass on a nondescript warehouse. Kris was in the backseat of a red sports car. Jack drove; Captain DeVar rode shotgun. Jack gunned the engine and did a very noisy circuit of the warehouse. Kris had her knees up around her ears; the back of the sports car was never intended for six-footers. Likely never inte

35 The kidnappers tried to peek into the hall without exposing themselves. Not a bad approach. They didn’t expect Marines to kick the door in. The sergeant not only kicked the door in, but rolled into the room himself. Behind him, his fire team took the gunners on at full automatic. The two men trying so carefully to open the door were blasted across the room. Their blood splattered the walls behind them. Around them. The two shooters from Kris’s favorite gang dropped to the floor and tossed their pistols as far from themselves as they could. That left two gunners and two suits. The gunners tried to take the Marines on, about a second after the Marines transferred their fire to them. That second’s delay was deadly. Like the first two gunners, they became gory renditions of modern art decorating the dirty gray walls of the room. Both of the suits now had guns in their hands. Both swung around to blow a hole in Gramma Ruth’s head. Gramma Ruth showed why she was still around after going t

36 Kris made it to the embassy with no further delays. They pulled up to a side entrance and Kris hustled Ruth inside… and pointed her at a restroom. While Kris waited, the announcement came over the net that all hands had successfully withdrawn. Two scouts had been left to observe the arrival of the cops. One patrol car had been followed by two, which were reinforced by five that led to the arrival… very quickly… of, well, just about all of them. Kris was glad to hear that. Her one fear was that the first car would relock the place and make it disappear again. If that happened, she might have to rethink her revulsion to blowing it up. But now whoever ran Eden would have to take a good, hard look at those shake-and-bake revolutionary fixings. This time, they might even do something about it. Revolution. Was that the word for this trip? Was a budding regime change the real reason Grampa Ray had sent her here? So, Grampa, am I supposed to help it… or stop it? No way for him to tell her t

37 Kris found herself standing next to Gramma Ruth as the old campaigner studied the pictures on the wall. Ruth reached out and yanked hers down, then turned to Captain DeVar. “I will respect your opinion, but in my book, the scales aren’t balanced. Me free, two Marines dead. Somebody still owes us.” “My mission is to protect the embassy,” the captain said slowly. “And I will not throw good lives after good lives.” He said the words, but his face said something else. “Your Highness, what would you like to do next?” “Captain, as happens so many times, I don’t have a clue… at this specific moment. Let’s look at what we have and see if it tells us anything.” “Be glad to, Your Highness. Where do we start?” “First, I want to add one more person to our group, a police lieutenant by the name of Martinez. I have a right to ask him about my gun permit and there are a few things I’d like to get a straight answer to about things local.” The captain didn’t look sold on bringing in a stranger, but,

38 While the problem of what to do with a limo tomorrow night hung ignored in the air, matters for today continued. Penny reported that the first three warehouses they looked at had only normal security, and apparently just normal contents. They had three more to check. Abby, with Sergeant Bruce tagging along to supervise a Marine tech, was dispatched to see how close they could get to Mr. von Schrader’s apparent residence and examine it as best they could. Nelly sent them off with several of her best experimental probes. Which left Kris with nothing better to do than immerse herself in the Nuu report on this fellow. She didn’t find anything she liked. “Where did this guy come from?” she said, surfacing a half hour later. “Ten years ago he shows up, loaded with money and starts buying up distressed companies, doing some kind of a hack job on them, then selling off the profitable parts and dumping the rest. Or not.” “What do you mean?” Captain DeVar said, looking over her shoulder. “My

39 Jack was out of the tub without a backward glance. Gramma Ruth helped Kris out, dried her off, and got her dressed again in whites. Nelly passed along the call to Captain DeVar; he immediately began assembling the Tac team. “I’ll have the two Marines who took Bronc’s mom to hiding bring Cara in. We need to know what she knows,” he said. Fifteen minutes later the Tac Center was full when Kris marched in, Jack to one side, Gramma Ruth on the other. She was about to take her seat at the head of a full table when Nelly said, “Kris, you have a call from the ambassador’s secretary.” Kris rolled her eyes at the overhead. “I’ll take it.” She paused, and then added, “Can we make this quick?” “Why? You don’t ever seem to be doing much of anything,” the young man answered. Now the whole room rolled their eyes. “It has come to my attention that you have not acknowledged your invitation to the presidential reception tomorrow evening. I assume you are going.” “Tomorrow evening,” Kris answered slo

40 Most of Kris’s team had missed lunch, so they broke for supper early. Kris found herself collecting a tray when Lieutenant Commander Malhoney appeared at her elbow. “I understand there’s a command performance at the Art Gallery tomorrow night,” he said. “So I’m told,” Kris admitted. “You’ll need an escort. Your Marine here may be, ah, busy elsewhere,” he said with a slight cough. “I’d like to offer my arm for your official use.” Kris frowned at the commander; no one would ever mistake him for a line beast. Still, he had been out every morning of late jogging along behind the Marines. His claim to have the biggest belly in the Wardhaven Navy was no longer true. Still. “Tomorrow night might not be the best time,” Kris said. “Yes, I’ve heard that scuttlebutt. I’ve been practicing with my service automatic at the Marine indoor range. The sergeant rates my shooting as ‘not half bad.’” Kris raised an eyebrow. “Not half bad” might not be nearly good enough for tomorrow night. “The ambassad

41 Kris slept amazingly well that night, and was halfway through her morning jog with the Marines when Nelly ruined her day. “Inspector Johnson just took an encrypted call from someone. He is parked in front of the embassy.” Kris considered dropping out of the morning run, then decided that the good inspector could just wait. In the fullness of time, a Marine company in full-battle rattle, trailed by a platoon of very sweaty sailors, double-timed up to the embassy’s front door. Kris fell out when Gunny gave the order. While the Marines trotted off to quarters, Kris and her team, with Captain DeVar at their elbow, turned to face the inspector. “It still looks like you’re ready to invade my planet,” the inspector started off. So much for small talk. “My orders are strictly defensive,” Captain DeVar said, when Kris tossed him the question with a nod of her head. “Though you could hardly do worse with his Marines than you’re doing by yourself,” Penny added. That drew a frown from the local

42 Kris waited until almost seven to call the ambassador. And did it from her tub as Abby poured water over her head. “Mr. Ambassador, I think you’re going to have to leave without me. I’m running late.” Her statement was not quite drowned out by a sprayer working soap suds out of her hair. “How will you get to the reception if I leave you?” He didn’t sound all that worried. Kris had never been told why Sammy wanted to leave a full two hours early, but she suspected this might be the height of his social season. Apparently, even Wardhaven’s ambassador didn’t get to see the real power on Eden all that often. That was something she ought to mention to Father when next they met. “Oh, don’t worry. I rented that love boat that Vicky Peterwald has been riding around in for the last week or more. This time I’m showing up in the biggest limo.” “So long as you’re paying for it” came through the line just before it went dead. “Was that too easy?” Kris asked Abby. “Baby ducks, I hope this don’t c

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