Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (23 page)

It was identical to the previous one, but this time Deni didn’t set up the rifle immediately.  It would take Hammer a while to get down to ground level, they did have forty flights of stairs to descend after all.  It might have saved time to drop them off in the street on the other side of the block.  They could then come in through the alleyways.  It made the chances of someone spotting the aircar more likely and Deni agreed with Hanna’s decision.

The rifles scope disconnected easily and Deni peeked over the top of the wall.  Both of the guards were still in the Workshop’s yard.  They were wandering about quite aimlessly on either side.  Their heads still moved about quite a bit and they looked alert.  Taking them by surprise would not have been easy.

Deni watched them carefully and decided the one on the right would be her first target.  He looked like he was built more for speed.  If his partner went down, he’d probably run, making it a harder shot.  The other guy was much bigger.  Hopefully he would duck down behind one of the wheelies.  Deni hoped it wasn’t the green one.  They’d only finished repairing the bodywork and re-spraying it a couple of days ago.  The customer was meant to pick it up in the morning.  Deni really didn’t want to put a massive hole in it.

Neither of her targets did anything of interest while she watched.  They walked about seemingly at random, but their heads were constantly looking towards the street.

“That’s not where the threat is, you bastards.  I’m up here.”  The anguish she felt at her earlier killers was buried deep inside her now.  She kept the image of Cortez in her mind taking rounds meant for her, his body falling back through the doorway.  It helped her to focus and see the two men down there as targets, not human beings.

“Angel, Hammer is in position.”  Hayley’s breathless voice reported over the com.

“Do you need a minute, Hammer?” Hanna asked.

“You’re too used to Valerie,” Deni said to herself.

“We’re fine, Angel,” from Hayley’s tone, Deni guessed she wasn’t happy and Deni didn’t blame her.  “Take the shot when you’re ready, Checkmate.”

“Lining up now,” Deni responded and laid her rifle on the wall, clicking the scope back into place.  With the rifle’s stock firmly in her shoulder, she positioned the crosshair over the smaller man’s chest.  He stood near the front of the yard, looking out onto the street, his Mag rifle held loosely in his hands.  He wasn’t going anywhere and she took a moment to check the other guy’s location.

He was over near the right hand Workshop Bay door, as far as he could get from the entrance.  He’d turn towards his buddy when she took the first shot.  Deni tried to work out where his approximate position would be.  It was only a guess, but it would give her a place to start.

She swung the scope back to the first, who hadn’t moved yet and aimed carefully.

“Taking the shot,” she breathed into her com and squeezed the trigger.  The man’s chest disappeared in a spray of blood when the bullet hit him.  She was already moving for the second man and he wasn’t where she assumed he would be, nor where he started.  Flipping the scope to wide angle, she saw him running at full sprint towards the door.

Damn he had quick reactions.  Deni tracked the scope on his running back and when he paused to push the door open, she fired.  The shot blew him straight through the now open door.  If Hanna wanted them looking this way, they sure would be now.

Switching back to wide angle, she watched Hayley, Layman and Calcutta run across the street.  Their battle cries drifted up through the night, to even her high perch.  A woman burst out of the Workshop.  Her Mag rifle fired towards Hammer, but she was too slow, they’d already reached the low wall.  The woman darted forward and took refuge behind a wheelie.  Fortunately it wasn’t green.

Deni caught a fleeting glimpse of the aircar landing on the Workshop roof and Anvil jumping out, before she narrowed her focus.  Taking careful aim, she sent a bullet through the car’s roof, the side panel and into the woman.  The car didn’t even slow it down.  Deni doubted the woman had time to scream.

Three down, four to go, she switched the scope to deep scan.  The walls of the Workshop became transparent and she could see the last four as blue skeletons.  An explosion reverberated across the rooftops and all four turned towards the skylight.  Deni took her opening and shot one clean through the permacrete wall.

A second fell backwards, probably shot by someone from Anvil.  Two blue skeletons descended fast from the skylight, Barber and Leigh.  There was nothing to tell them from the two remaining targets.  Without solid shapes, depth perception was difficult, particularly from this angle and distance.  All four were darting around and pointing at one another.  She’d lost them.  She couldn’t tell friend from enemy.

“Lightning blast it,” she cursed over the com.  “I can’t make out who’s who down there.”

“Alright, keep your cool,” Hayley replied.  “Are any covering the door?”

“No, that’s all clear.”

“We’re going in.  Anvil, this Hammer, we’re coming in through the door.”

“Do it, Hammer,” Flint replied.  “It’s dark as space down there.  I can’t see a bloody thing.”

“Cover us, Checkmate,” Hayley said.

“I’ve got your back, Hammer,” Deni replied.

The three of them covered the distance across the yard quickly.  Calcutta led the way as they burst inside.  No one was looking in their direction.  One of the four skeletons inside spun towards them and flew backwards.  Deni could now see five people on their feet moving around.

“Where’s the last one, Checkmate?” Hayley asked.  “Calcutta and Layman are with me and I can see Barber and Leigh.  There’s meant to be seven of them,” frustration was evident in her voice.

Three skeletons where obviously lying on the ground inside.  Five we’re walking around, where was the last one?”

“Got her,” Deni reported excitedly.  “Rear corner furthest from the door.  She’s at the back of the storage area.”

“Thanks, Checkmate,” Hayley said.  “Everyone, she’s over there.  Don’t give her a way out.  You in the corner!” she shouted.  “Slide your gun over to me and come out with your hands up.  Don’t make us come in and get you.”

Deni sighed as the crouching skeleton stood and raised her hands.  Two more ran over and grabbed her, tying her hands behind her back.

“Angel, Hammer.  All clear.”

“On my way, Hammer.” Deni swung her sight to the Workshops roof and she could see Hanna already running over to join Flint.  “Magpie, go get Checkmate.  We don’t have much time.”

“On it,” Hopwood replied and the aircar rose up in the air, turning towards Deni.

Deni stood and switched out the magazine on the rifle.  It still had five shots left, but she could well need more than that next time.  Rapaport had a lot more people round her than there were here and with Orrick.

Hopwood landed the aircar and Deni got in.  He dropped her in the yard before flying back to one of the surrounding rooftops, where no one could see it.  Calcutta was dragging one of Deni’s kills out of the way and she went over to her.

“Do you need a hand?”

“Nah,” the woman answered.  “You already did your bit, five shots, five kills.  Pretty impressive.”

Deni shrugged.  “It’s not difficult really, a child could shoot this thing without missing.”  The look she got back showed Calcutta was thinking a similar thing.  “Erm, are you sure you don’t need a hand.”

Calcutta let go of the man’s legs and straightened up.  “Aren’t you supposed to be getting the power back for Angel’s main system?”

“Yeah, but I...”

“But nothing.  That’s more important.  Go.”

Deni nodded and turned away.  She was right.  Hanna needed her Rig up and running if they were going to be able to keep up this pace.  Deni knew the Workshop’s wiring better than anyone.  She’d already spent some time working out how they would have shut down the power.  Simplest was normally the best place to start.

A round metal cover was embedded in the permacrete yard.  It was too heavy for her to move unaided and she didn’t have a grav-harness.  The tool belt around her waist contained an extendable crow bar.  It allowed her to lever the cover up enough to drag it to one side.  Underneath was a short drop down to the utilities pipe.  The single thirty centimetre conduit contained all the water, power and datanet pipes and cables.  This access area had a single lever on each one so they could easily be turned on and off.  Both the datanet and power were switched to off.  It took her less than five seconds to put them back into the on position.

The lights still weren’t on when she climbed back up.  Calcutta wandered over.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” she said.

“Everyone else was busy and you said this needed to be done.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t realise no one else was about.  I’ll stay with you.  I take it that didn’t work?”

“It worked as far as that connection is back up, but they must have cut it off further in as well.  Help me with this.”  Deni started to push the cover back and Calcutta shook her head.

“Leave it.  We can send someone else out in a minute.  Where next?”

“Inside, I need to check the power relay.”

The backup lights Deni installed when they refitted the place were on, giving them all light to work to.  Calcutta asked Leigh to put the cover in the yard back and Deni went to the back of the workshop, where the last of Rapaport’s people had been hiding.  A heavy metal cabinet sat in the corner, it’s door lock forcibly removed.

“Eh, don’t let Hanna see this,” she told Calcutta.  “She’ll give us all a lecture on how lazy and destructive people can be.”

“She doesn’t seem the type.”

Deni open the door and looked inside.  “She’s not normally, but when someone uses brute force on something she can Hack in seconds, it messes with her view of the universe.  They knew what they were doing here.  They found our tap on next door.  Made a mess of it as well.  Fortunately the main one was just switched off.”  The main lights came on all across the Workshop.

“Looks like we’re back in business.” Calcutta said.

“Hopefully, I’m going up to see Hanna.  Thanks for keeping an eye on me and I’m sure I’ll be safe up there.”

“No problem, I owe you one.”

“Eh?  What for?”

“The guy hiding behind the car in the street you popped.  He was about to shoot me when you got him.”

“Oh, I didn’t realise.”

“I did, so know you’ve only got to ask and I’ll be there.”

Deni knew better than to make light of a debt like that.  Favours and debts were the life blood of the gangs and Crews.  “You got it.”

Leaving Calcutta on the shop floor, Deni jogged up the stairs and whistled softly.  The first security door to the rear was hanging off its hinges, blown open by a powerful explosive charge.  She had to squeeze past it’s mangled shape to get inside.  The second door was open but intact.  Hopefully it was Hanna who opened it on her way through.

Her friend was exactly where Deni thought she would be, sitting at her console, tapping away on the virtual keyboard.

“How’s it looking?” Deni asked.  “I take it you opened the second door?”

“Yeah,” Hanna answered without turning around.  “I think we got here just in time.  There’s quite a bit of unused explosives out there.”

“We knew we needed to move quickly.”

“Yeah, we did.”

“Anything new?” Deni asked.

“Nothing yet, I don’t think they’ve realised we’ve started hitting back yet.  Rapaport is still at Ripper’s place and Anja’s moving around.  She’s at Rendezvous nightclub right now.  I’m sure Eckhardt will love Rapaport’s new rates.”

“Yeah, that’ll go down real well with the old man.”

“That’s his problem for now.  We need to take Rapaport out as quickly as we can.”

“I don’t like it.  Every minute Anja is running around is like a knife in the gut, but you’re right, Rapaport’s the bigger threat.”

“Why’s she down at the Beautiful Mind though?”

“It’s a lot bigger and more comfortable than her place or here,” Deni pointed out with a laugh.  “What would you prefer, junkies or strippers?”

Hanna shrugged.  “The half-naked men would be a bonus.  We should have done something about that place after Valerie took Ripper out.”

“Why?  The new owner let’s a lot of the dancers stay there.  It’s a lot better than most of them have.”

“Had.”

“And will have,” Deni said encouragingly.  It worried her how much Hanna was taking on, but someone needed to be in charge and she was better at it.  All she could do was keep encouraging Hanna.  “We’ll have this all done one way or another before dawn, now what’s the plan?  Are we leaving anyone here?”

Hanna shook her head.  “I don’t think we can.  We’re facing more guns than the last two times.  The odds of losing surprise are dropping by the minute.  The Electron cell is recharging from the mains and we’ll take any explosives with us.  This place held out for us before, it’ll have to do it again.”

“OK, I’ll go and seal the relay and utilities access in the yard.  That’ll give you a chance to come up with a plan,” she turned to go.

“Hey, who says I don’t have one already?”