Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) (16 page)

Ivan did so but closed his eyes straight after Jasmin’s arm wrapped over.

“So why did the boss call off the attack?” she asked. Sex always enlivened Jasmin and her words carried real enthusiasm. Ivan didn’t respond. So she hugged him tighter. “Come on honey, why?”

Ivan just wanted to go to sleep. He moved his upper hand under hers and patted her ample rump. “Sleep darling…sleep.”

She withdrew her upper hand and pinched Ivan’s bottom. He ignored it. She pinched again but a lot harder. “What is this?” asked Ivan “I’ll have you know interrogation by torture is an offence.” But by this time Ivan knew she would not rest and hence he would not be able to either. He grabbed her menacing hand and pulled it into his chest. He felt her breasts against the small of his back and a smile of contentment appeared on his face. While he looked into the wall and she looked at the back of his neck he told her his account of what happened.

“He’s a bit … umm…different. You know… not your usual sort of commander” she said in response.

Ivan smiled. “Yeah he’s a little unconventional. But he’s so called intuition has saved us more than once. So I’m prepared to cut him some slack.”

“I’m not complaining. I’m just trying to figure him out. He gave Chase an earful.”

“And he apologised to him after. Tell me how many commanders have you seen do that?”

“True. Chase deserved it though. Could have got us all killed.”

“Yeah he looked like he took it pretty hard” said Ivan. He paused for a moment and then added “at least he won’t be his insufferable self for a while.”

“Don’t count on it. I reckon he’ll be just as insufferable tomorrow.”

“Nah I reckon he’s had his wings clipped.”

“Want a bet?” said Jasmin with playfulness in her voice.

“What have you got to wager?”

“What would you like?”

“You know!” said Ivan grinning.

“Wipe that grin off your face. You’re not going to collect. It will be me extracting the reward and this is what I want.” She came up onto her elbow and bent over and whispered in his ear.

“Really?”

“Mmm!”

“OK you win. Do you want your reward now.”

She smacked him on the bum. “You’re incorrigible.”

In the Captain’s cabin Dave finally retired for the evening. He turned out the lights. He was tired but his mind was still active. He began chanting his mantra to still his mind. The thoughts kept coming but the mantra helped. Thoughts related to the mission dropped away only to be substituted by thoughts of Rihan.

How he longed for her touch. This was the tenth night without her. He recalled their last night together. He could almost smell her. He recalled the sensation in his hands as he caressed her body. ‘Oh Rihan I want you’ he said to himself. He could feel himself being aroused. ‘This is pointless.’ He rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes.

Chapter 11. Slidwon, Istridium 2330, 13 August

Raitah Pratin was still at her desk in the Foreign Intelligence Agency HQ. Well technically it still belonged to Charak Tumbisit, but Raitah knew that he would never be back. She was weary and would have left for her home were it not for a scheduled call.

She supported her large head with her hand as she pondered how things could have unravelled so. Operation KASAM was turning into a fiasco. ‘Those dammed broadcasts’ she said to herself.

The green light flashed on her communicator. She picked it up in haste. “Pratin” she announced.

“It’s me” said Mida Konklas in his deep gravelly voice. He knew the acting Director would have no trouble recognizing him.

“Well?”

“It’s confirmed.”

“Fuck it Mida. You promised me this would not happen.”

Mida did not respond. It was pointless to argue. He could hear Raitah’s breathing. He knew all too well how she would breathe heavily when annoyed. He also knew that she would suck the anger in and somehow transform it into a plan of action. It was a formidable capability -one that he admired. But he also knew that if completely stymied she could lash out with real venom and he did not want to be the recipient of that. So he waited patiently.

“How long?” Raitah asked. She clipped her question as if her willpower was struggling to control her inner emotion.

“This time tomorrow” said Mida matter of factly. “It was across the full spectrum. Once Margvon has it, it will propagate everywhere.”

“I want Chamstel to shut it down.”

“That won’t be possible. The best we can expect is that it won’t be carried on the official media but that’s not going to impact much. No one listens to the official media anymore.”

“Yeah, yeah!” said a frustrated Raitah. “Is the spaceport secured yet?”

“Mostly.”

“Mostly is not good enough. Tell that commander to secure that spaceport of I’ll secure his family.”

“Of course.”

“Any more bad news?”

“No.”

“Good” and she hung up.

Chapter 12. Whiskey 7 to Lewista 0200, 14 August

Sgt Sarah Libisek kept staring at the passive radar screen. She looked up temporarily, ensured all was well visually and then refocussed on the screen. “Shit” she said out loud. “We’ve company” she hailed.

Felis Draag leaned forward from his seat behind the pilot. “Fighters?” he queried.

“I think so but I doubt if they have already detected us. Not at this range.”

Felis could see that the current range was 550kms and closing. It did look like they were heading straight for them.

“Changing route” announced Sarah. She set a waypoint 200kms eastward of their southerly direction and hit commit. The display redrew the new route and the craft’s AI made the necessary adjustments to follow it.

“Reducing Altitude” she then announced and the craft descended in a gradual dive. There would be no sudden moves.

Felis looked back towards Evie who had an enquiring expression but otherwise said nothing. “It’s probably just coincidence. We’ll know in a couple of minutes.

Sarah scanned the dark skies ahead. There were no lights other than heavenly bodies. She flicked back to the screen, noted the time ticking over. When it passed the two minute mark and the bogeys held their track she announced “We’re good. Revised ETA 0415.”

Chapter 13. Dyritka 0530, 14 August

The new Meeka Sallusam, Aras Leptude, woke to the alarm agitated. He turned off the infernal noise and by force of will rose to his feet. His dreams had not left him refreshed. Far from it. His shoulder shuddered as he recalled the last one. But years of discipline helped the former Imperial Admiral to suppress such mental gyrations.

He returned from his ablutions and shower with a fresh physical form if not a mental one. He dressed quickly. The pilot’s jacket covered the holster with the Mukton pulse pistol. ‘I shouldn’t need it’ he thought. He patted the holster and added ‘but it’s best to be prepared.’

Outside of his apartment complex it was still dark. The recessed strip lighting along the walkway came on as he approached the company car he had been provided with. It was a nice enough vehicle, appropriate for his rank.

Aras got in and ordered “Driver take me to the spaceport Bay 213”

“Of course Sir” said the synthetic response.

Aras was grateful he had already turned off the ‘chat’ option for the auto-pilot. ‘Why that has become a must have feature I’ll never know’ he thought to himself.

The autopilot delivered Aras to Bay 213 in less than 12 minutes. One of the ground crew met him and with a wave of his hand-held console transferred all the flight details he would need. Not that he would need any of it. ‘But it covers my tracks nicely’ thought Aras as he climbed aboard.

Twenty minutes later Aras stepped back down onto terra firma. He had already done a thorough reconnaissance of the area. On all spectrums the area was clean, save for the other small craft that had touched down opposite.

Aras was surprised to see two figures step out from the craft. The first was Barak Slaag, the lean intelligence controller but he wasn’t sure of the second much larger figure.

As he approached slowly, Aras struggled in the dawn haze to make him out. His hand rested on his pistol. Then as they got closer he recognised the other figure. It was his old room mate Julsian Dovorst. This was a surprise. It could only mean one thing.

While they had both graduated from the same institution they had since taken markedly different paths. Julsian had never reached the dizzying heights of Imperial Admiral, commanding hundreds of ships. No he had focussed on ground operations and was the current commander of the 11
^th
Endosian Division. Now though he was the third member of a conspiracy.

As Julsian and Barak walked towards Aras, Julsian stopped and strained to identify the character approaching. His hand went to his sidearm.

“It’s all right Julsian. It really is me” said Aras.

Julsian nodded partly in disbelief. “Meeka?”

“It’s Aras now, my old friend. Call me Aras.” Aras opened out his arms and they hugged. “Just like old times.”

As they parted Julsian replied “Not really Meeka. Everything is going to shit. I have new orders to deploy to Fritwa mid October.”

“But…”

“Don’t believe those broadcasts. We will lose Fritwa. Just ask Barak here.” Barak nodded like he needed to apologise for confirming it. “I don’t want to die in that god forsaken sector” continued Julsian. “If you are still serious then we need to act now.”

“It’s too soon Julsian. I need time to make the arrangements. Can you delay your departure?”

Julsian shook his head. He reached out and took Aras’s hand. “We can make this work Meeka.”

Aras turned to Barak “And you?”

“Things are falling apart Meeka” said Barak. “No one has the balls anymore to do what is needed. You won’t hear of it in the media but every second system within the extended territories has some form of active Resistance. The edifice is crumbling. I agree with Julsian.”

“All right. There’s no turning back from this?”

“I know” said Julsian.

“I’m in” said Barak.

Aras addressed Julsian “You will have to commandeer the transports at your location.” Julsian nodded. “I will handle the rest.”

“What about the ships?” asked Barak.

“Well now we will see if Letnus can be counted on. Don’t worry. I’m sure she will be. Give me two weeks.”

Julsian nodded. “Same arrangements?”

“Yes the same” responded Aras. “I must go. Be careful my friends.”

“And you” said Julsian. Barak nodded and they turned back to their craft.

Chapter 14. Lewista 0600, 14 August

Felis took his cue from the cresting light of the Sturum sun. It would be broad daylight in twenty minutes. They had made good time since disembarking from Whiskey 7. It and the marines should be well hidden by now in amongst the forests north east of Lewista.

The path they had been following through the crop fields looked like it still had plenty of distance to run. But there was a small knot of building set on the rise to their west.

Felis knew that odds on they would be occupied, which meant they would have to deal with the occupants. But he saw no other way. He pointed towards the buildings and changed direction to them.

Evie turned her head to ensure that Judy Fisher was following. Judy nodded. This was the first extended period she had worn the full disguise and she was finding it a little uncomfortable. They hadn’t been pushing the pace that much but she was sweating profusely and she had this annoying itch on her left cheek.

Madge brought up the rear of their little group. Like Judy she too was only now discovering that the worst aspect of the disguise was the sweating it caused. But otherwise Madge felt good. Now that dawn was upon them she was fascinated by her surroundings.

The crop field on their left was a good two metres tall. It looked like a series of densely packed poles…’like sugar cane’ she said to herself. She peered at the large yellow balls hanging down and around each pole. ‘They must be the fruit.’

She realised she was day dreaming. She reminded herself she was not hear as a tourist and searched up the line for Felis. She could see him, now about 50m from what looked like a dome structure with a wave shaped panel offset at an angle on the top.

Felis propped and they all followed suit. “Madge, you and I will enter and disarm whoever is inside. Judy you stay with Evie and cover us from out here.” Felis did not invite approval of his plan let lone discussion. Evie was content to let him run this part of the show.

Madge came forward, saw Felis pistol in hand and so did likewise.

“We don’t need to kill them” hailed Evie.

Felis nodded but otherwise remained focussed on the task at hand. He could see no animals about and that was a good sign. As he came to the edge of the crop field he could see a vehicle port some twenty metres from the building. There was a truck parked alongside an empty space where he expected to see a passenger vehicle. He entertained the thought that maybe the place is unoccupied but then reminded himself not to expect such luck.

He made his way to the truck. It looked like it had been used recently. That was a good sign. He skirted around the building till he could see the other side of it. It was in shadow but appeared all clear. He spied a rear door and beckoned Madge to come with him.

It was locked. The tell-tale red light over the hand pad told him not to bother trying to access it. The high window which wrapped around the building about a metre above the ground looked the obvious point of entry. He tried to peer in but realised its control was set to opaque.

“What are we waiting for?” whispered Madge.

“Locked” explained Felis.

Madge reached into the satchel she carried and pulled out a hand held device. She held it next to the access pad, hit two of the controls and the light went to blue and the door popped open.

Felis looked impressed because he was. But more than that he was grateful. He smiled and raised his pistol. Madge brought hers up to the ready. Felis moved in and saw no one in the open area that filled the centre of the building. He motioned to a corridor which Madge assumed would lead to the bedrooms.