The Black Guard: Book II: Evolution (Black Guard Series 2) (32 page)

"Be thankful that fanatics believe they are pre-destined
to succeed, so they see what they want to see. In this case, an arrogant and
greedy Black Guard falling into their cleverly laid trap."

"They aren't stupid," Doyle said, looking at
Marshall with obvious concern.

"I didn't mean to imply they weren't dangerous,
only that they have closed minds, which makes them vulnerable."

"What now?" Doyle asked.

"You have your normal responsibility for security
except for inside this building and traveling arrangements," I said.

Doyle nodded understanding.

Over the next hour, rooms were assigned for the troops,
staff and regular visitors identified and registered in our database, and
assignments made for guarding entrances. Also, the shuttles appeared to leave.

"Elaine, I'd like you to meet Captain Sapir.
Captain Sapir, my wife and First Lady of the UF, Elaine Marshall."
Marshall had arranged for us to meet in the living room in their family wing.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Captain Sapir. I've
heard many things about you over the past year. I hope they're all true and you
can keep my husband alive," she said with steel in her voice, although her
eyes were a bit misty. "Why guard me? Why not use those troops to
supplement my husband's guard?"

"First Lady." I gave a small bow. "The
people threatening your husband not only don't believe in a democratic
government but have no honor. If the opportunity arose, they would readily use
you as a leverage to get to your husband. I imagine he would risk his life to
save yours." I didn't really know that, but it was probably true in most
marriages. If nothing else, her capture would cause irrational behavior.
"Besides, it permits me to have more Guard in the building." I gave
her a conspiratorial grin.

She produced a small smile.@

"This is Senior Sergeant Judt," I said. "He
will be in charge of your detail."

Judt went on to introduce Sergeant Peller and the rest
of her nine-person team and to explain they would be on duty twenty-four seven
and that two would accompany her everywhere.

I then introduced Senior Sergeant Cerff to Marshall, who
introduced his team. Afterward, I introduced Ceder, Elijah, and Walsh and
explained the marines would be controlling entrances while the Guard would be
maintaining building security.

I had too many Guard and marines for building security,
but was it enough for a full-fledged coup by the military?

Marshall interrupted my musing.

"It's time for my daily staff meeting," he
said, unsure of the procedure now that the Guard was providing his security.

"Your Guard would like to know where you are going,
but unless they or I feel it exposes you to too much danger, you are free to go
wherever you need or want."

He nodded and took off down the hall about fifty meters to
the next corridor and proceeded to the second room on the right. Sergeant Glick
opened the door and entered first, then Corporal Paler. Afterward I gestured to
Marshall and he entered with me following. The oblong wooden table had ten
people sitting around it and a vacant seat at the head, which Marshall took.

"Well, Marshall, the palace looks like an armed
fortress … or an invasion," said a well-dressed woman in her mid-thirties,
who I recognized as Miss Haeckel with the negotiating team on Suryah. She sneered
in my direction. "Are you back to carry out your threat, Captain
Sapir?"

"The Black Guard don't threaten, Miss Haeckel. I do
remember pointing out to you that sending a thousand troops to murder twenty
Black Guard could be perceived as an act of war against the Jax. Fortunately,
wisdom prevailed and the matter was settled through civilized
negotiations."

"As you are well aware, Marie, there have been two
attempts on my life, and the Action Committee, which you chair, recommended
calling the Black Guard and specifically Captain Sapir."

"My mistake. I didn't realize Captain Sapir was the
… officer in charge at Suryah. I guess I was too upset over the murder of our
soldiers." She glared in my direction.

I chose to ignore her remark. She was laying the groundwork
for a coup, and nothing I could say would change the opinions of those at the
table or their plans.
Actually, I should
thank her for advertising their strategy,
I mused with a smile.

She smiled back. We were obviously both pleased if for
different reasons—her looking forward to killing me, and I for an insight
into her plans.

Marshall took charge by prompting a report from each director.

When it came to Haeckel's turn, she stressed her concern
about trusting me. She was a good actress who I'm sure introduced enough doubt
into everyone's minds to later justify her actions. Of course, I doubted anyone
noticed the flaw in her concern—she never suggested they cancel the
contract.

"What do you think, Captain?" Marshall asked
after the meeting, when we were alone.

"We will have to see if she's as good as she thinks,"
I said, unable to do more than anticipate her actions and hope she didn't
surprise me.

"You two seem to be playing a game of sorts."
Marshall poured himself a glass of wine while watching me.

"War games, but unlike those at Draco, real people
will die."
Black Guard and marines will
die.
How many would depend upon my decisions—the thought made me
sick.

All day and night, I obsessed over when the attack would
come. If I could anticipate when, I could reduce the effectiveness of the
attack and reduce the carnage that would surely follow. Would she want an
audience for the coup, or would it be enough to rewrite the history of the
events afterward with no one alive to contest her version?

I decided she wouldn't like an audience, since they
might not see what she wanted. Better to tell everyone afterward what happened.
Therefore, the attack would happen after the staff vacated the
building—overwhelming force in the early hours of the morning. She knew
better than to expect to catch the Guard sleeping and would want a good body
count on her side to justify stopping a coup by the Black Guard. And if she
staged it in the early hours of the morning, she could count on a small
audience of people getting ready to go to work.

Having made my decision, I called the War Horse.

"It's very early, Sapir, what's up?" Hwang's
face appeared, then Wolfson's. Both men had obviously been sleeping.

"I've concluded the opposition group is headed by
the Chairperson of the Action Committee, a Miss Haeckel. An attempted coup will
occur sometime in the early hours of the morning—beginning around three
or four hundred hours. Can you have all four combat shuttles with ten marines
in each from around two hundred hours until eight each day and two the rest of
the day—in case I'm wrong?"

"Beginning today?" Hwang asked.

"No, I don't think she's ready yet, based on her
previous actions on Suryah. But tomorrow, to be safe."

"We will start tomorrow. Good night, Sapir."
Hwang yawned just before my screen went blank.

I wasn't ready for sleep. I had solved one problem,
marine support, but not the other, where to position the Black Guard. There
were four entrances into the building. Overwhelming force would indicate an
attack on all four entrances, and I doubted they thought a surprise attack would
work, so the Guard would have some notice via the outside cameras.

Doyle should
notify his troops not to resist. It would be senseless suicide
.

They would come pouring into each entrance, checking the
rooms as they advanced on the President's office and residential areas. I had
to assume they knew the specific rooms the Black Guard and the marines occupied
and their numbers.

I spent the next several hours meditating and then rose,
washed, and dressed as the general staff were reporting for work. I called a
meeting of the three lieutenants and four senior sergeants.

They braced to attention when I entered the room and
bowed, even the marine.

"At ease. I've called you here to discuss the coup,
which will be taking place any morning now, and our preparation. Here is the
problem as I see it …" I went on to explain what I thought would happen
and why. Then I asked for their ideas.

"It's simple, sir. We kick ass and go home,"
Sergeant Catz said to smiles and clapping.

"Would you care to elaborate for those of us who
weren't paying attention?" I said, enjoying the closeness I felt which
these people and the amusement they could elicit during the worst of times.

The next two hours generated many suggestions, some
good, some unworkable, and some clever. The session didn't produce a specific
solution, but it did help me to see a possible strategy.

I phoned the War Horse for supplies.

* * *

Marshall's fourth staff meeting proved exciting. Haeckel
had continued picking on me and questioning me about things she had heard,
which pointed to the Black Guard's evil intentions. It was the opening I had
been looking for.

"Miss Haeckel, do you really believe all those
tales you are spinning?"

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"If you believe what you are saying, the solution
is simple. End the contract with the Black Guard, and we will be gone within
the hour," I said to stunned faces.

Even Haeckel looked shocked and ready to panic. She had planned
a coup, but I was critical to her plan, not to mention sweet revenge for the
embarrassment I had caused her on Suryah. She recovered quickly as all eyes
turned to her.

"You're right, Captain Sapir. I don't trust you,
but to be fair I need to verify the rumors I've heard."

"You have until tomorrow to apologize for spreading
malicious rumors. If I haven't heard from you by noon, I will terminate the contract
so you can sleep easier at night." I left the room, which caused it to
erupt into chaos.

"Did you mean what you said?" Marshall asked,
looking ashen.

"As you've said before, Miss Haeckel and I are
engaged in a game. She is planning a coup and wants to set the stage for why
she had to attack the Black Guard and how we murdered you and your wife. I just
let her know it was tonight or never. You noticed how fast she backtracked."

He nodded.

"The attack will be tomorrow in the early hours, so
we have all day to prepare. I'm hoping I've forced her to move up her operation
a few days and that consequently she won't be fully prepared."

* * *

"Lieutenant Walsh?" I was in the process of a
final check. It was midnight and the attack would come soon or Haeckel would
win—I would leave and she would eventually kill Marshall and come to
power.

"You have four combat shuttles, each with ten
marines, presently within five minutes of this building." He smiled.
"The marines are on the second level at the stairs prepared to cover the
retreating Black Guard. They are a bit disappointed they won't be more directly
involved."

"Anything could go wrong. They could get more than
their share of fighting. Lieutenant Ceder?"

"I have two Guard on each entrance. They know to
retreat. Their objective is to slow down the invaders, killing only as
necessary to protect themselves and to slow them down from advancing too fast
to the second floor."

"They are not to risk their lives but no
unnecessary killing. Lieutenant Elijah?"

"I have Guard assigned to the President and First
Lady and Guard in every room on the third floor along with marines. The gas
cylinders have been placed in all the air vents along with detonators. All
Guard have stars. This should be an interesting night, sir."

"I hope never to repeat Blackwood, but I would see
no Jax die to save the life of someone trying to kill him. Let's hope the space
gods are also tired of the killing."

* * *

No one slept as we waited, but it wasn't a nervous
waiting. In fact, I felt a certain amount of amusement from the Black Guard at
the coming confrontation, even though the odds would not be in our favor.

Just after two hundred hours, the cameras showed a
mechanized unit of tanks, armored troop carriers, and a heavy vehicle with an
air defense turret mounted in the back. Units were deployed on all four sides
of the building.

Doyle's security guards manning the entrances wisely put
down their weapons and walked away.

Several minutes later, the troop carriers began
disgorging their personnel in full combat gear—at least fifty on each
side with another hundred staying with the vehicles.

I notified the marines and Guard stationed at each
entrance with a prearranged signal, which sent them moving back to positions
with at least partial cover. The two entrances on the ground floor that gave
access to the servants' area sent each marine and Guard pair to the stairways
leading to the first and second floors at each end of the building. The Guard
stationed there covered their retreat. All had orders to slow the UF troops'
access into the area but not to kill unless in eminent danger. They killed
three and wounded ten with shots to exposed areas like elbows, ankles, and
hands.

The marine and Guard pairs stationed at the three
entrances on the first floor—the front and two side doors—used the
same technique, taking advantage of the partial cover of the four stairs
leading to the second floor to slow the UF troops, who were attempting to blitz
the first floor area. In the twenty minutes it took the UF troops to force the
marines and Guard to retreat up to the second floor along with the Guard from
the ground floor, we killed seven and wounded twenty of the assault troops.

"Lieutenant Walsh, it's time. Notify the combat
shuttles to attack," I said now that the UF controlled the ground and
first floors, which had been empty of everyone except the marines and Guard
which now were defending access to the second floor and the president's wing.
Of course, the weakness with my strategy was that the entire Jax contingent was
now on the second floor, and whoever was in charge of the assault could decide
to torch the building, since they had us trapped. So I had to give them a
reason not to.