The Darkness of God: Book Three of the Shadow Warrior Trilogy (2 page)

• • •

The
Andrea Doria
’s shuttle nosed up to the
Planov
’s stern, and a cargo lock yawned between its twin drive tubes. A mag-probe touched the shuttle’s nose and drew it inside the transport.

“We have your ship,” the com crackled. “Unloading.”

Ten minutes passed.

Hastings looked sideways at the
Andrea Doria
’s captain. “Very slow, even if they are unloading flatlanders. Your boat crew needs drill.”

“They’ll get it, sir,” the officer said, anger touching her voice. “My apologies.”

“This is the
Planov,
“ the com said. “Loading complete. Stand by.”

The armed transport’s lock opened, and the shuttle slid out, tumbling. There was no sign of its drive activating.

Abruptly the
Planov
and her three escorts vanished into N-space.

“Courteous bastards,” the aide murmured, but Hastings’ attention was on the monitor and the slowly revolving shuttle.

“Something’s wrong,” he snapped. “Captain! Send a boarding party to the shuttle!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have them armed!”

The captain’s face flashed surprise for a bare instant. “Sir!”

• • •

Ten suited men floated around the
Andrea Doria
’s shuttle. Two hung near the craft’s nose, two near the drive tube. The other four clustered around the airlock. All had heavy blasters clipped to their suits.

“No external damage to ship,” the team’s leader, Sergeant Sullivan, reported. “No sign of lock damage.”

“Cleared to enter.”

Two men braced on either side of the lock, weapons ready, while the leader touched the lock door sensor.

The outer lock door slid open.

The leader, with one other man, went inside. “Cycling inner lock,” he reported.

Static snarled, then:

“Son of a bitch!”

“Report!”

“Sorry. This is Sergeant Sullivan. Everyone on board’s dead! Unconscious, anyway!”

“What about the prisoner? The man in the stretcher?”

“No stretcher, sir. Wait a minute. One of the women is sitting up, sir. I’ve got my outside pickup on.”

Very faintly the men on the bridge of the
Andrea Doria
heard:

“What happened?”

“Gas … They were waiting for us … gassed us … didn’t give us a …”

Then silence. Sullivan’s voice came:

“She’s passed out, sir.”

• • •

“Well?” said the woman with alabaster features fine enough for a museum.

“Pretty standard, Coordinator Kur,” the medical tech said. “They first hit him with Knok-Down, maybe a more concentrated blast than normal. Then they kept him under, almost to the point of needing a life-support system. Suppressing conscious thought, pain, and so forth.”

“Any damage?”

“I assume you mean mental. Probably none.”

“How long to bring him out of it?”

“Three, perhaps four hours.”

“Summon me when he’s fully conscious.”

• • •

Wolfe opened his eyes slowly. The compartment around him swam, then steadied. He was in a comfortable bed. The air smelled of disinfectant. He felt ship-hum in his bones.

Sitting in a chair beside him was a woman wearing conservative, dark clothes, almost a uniform. She was perhaps five years older than Wolfe, and he found her beautiful, in a chill, forbidding way.
Like a statue,
he thought.

Behind her stood two men, also wearing dark clothes. Their hair was close-cropped, and they might have been brothers. They each held blasters aimed at Wolfe’s chest.

“Welcome, Joshua Wolfe,” the woman said. “I am Authority Coordinator Dina Kur. You are now in the hands of the Chitet.”

Wolfe eyed the two men with guns.

“Honest, I
really
appreciate the rescue,” he said. “So you won’t have to shoot me more than once or twice to make sure I’m beholden.”

“There is no point in facile cleverness,” Kur said. “Let me put it to you clearly. We are aware you seek the stone called the Overlord Stone or Great Lumina, as do we.

“We consider you our most dangerous enemy, since you have circumvented our plans on several occasions, including the destruction of an entire Chitet mission and its ship on the planet of Trinité; then you severely damaged a patrol cruiser of ours in your escape. We are also aware of your hijacking of the patrol vessel
Occam,
and using that ship in an attempt to murder our Master Speaker, Matteos Athelstan. Under normal circumstances, you would be immediately put to death for crimes against the Chitet and, ultimately, the future of humanity. But these are not normal times or circumstances.

“You also, in the company of an Al’ar, purportedly the last Al’ar alive, investigated a certain area where the Great Lumina had been, and where we had set alarms. I was aboard the
Udayana
, and followed you to the abandoned planetary fortress where you held off our forces until the Federation could arrive. Our cause gained many martyrs that day. What happened to the Al’ar who was with you?”

“He is … gone beyond. Dead,” Wolfe said.

“So we assumed, and that made your continued existence, as long as you do not further jeopardize the Chitet, essential, at least for the moment,” Kur said. “He was killed, and you were taken by the Federation. We were informed by reliable sources you were being returned to Earth as a captive, so evidently those you thought to be your friends have changed their positions. Or you have.

“Regardless, you are going to assist us in our quest, Joshua Wolfe.”

Her voice had remained utterly, inhumanly cold. “Our Master Speaker is aboard this vessel to ensure that all goes well, and that we will be successful in recovering the Great Stone the Al’ar called the Overlord Stone.”

“I
am
going to help,” Joshua agreed.

“Don’t play me for a fool, Joshua Wolfe,” Kur replied. “I’m not going to listen to nonsense about a sudden realization of the truth of our beliefs. We are not on the road to Damascus, nor are there many visions in N-space.”

“Oh, but I am going to cooperate,” Wolfe insisted. “For I already know how to find the Chitet — sorry, the former Chitet — who murdered eleven men and women and stole the Great Lumina. But I’ll need your resources to recover it.”

Kur stared at him, without blinking. “This decision is well beyond me,” she said. “I must consult with Master Speaker Athelstan.”

• • •

Wolfe ‘freshed, ate, and slept, feeling the last of the drugs wash out of his system. He asked if he could work out, and his request was denied, without explanation.

His guards were changed every hour, and never varied their routine. They sat, eyes fixed on Joshua, never answering anything he said, nor volunteering anything of their own.

Two ship-days later, Authority Coordinator Kur returned. With her were three Chitet. Two were men, average looking, calm-expressioned. One wore a close-cropped beard. The third was a small woman who, in another setting, might have been considered quite pretty.

“Master Speaker Athelstan wishes to speak with you,” Kur announced. “Now, listen closely, Joshua Wolfe.

“Your life is important to you, I assume. It is also important to us, at least until we have fully exploited you and whatever knowledge you possess.

“You will continue to be watched by gun-guards such as those who have been with you since your capture. It. is known that you’re a master at most forms of combat, armed or otherwise.

“We have also heard stories which appear preposterous about your other abilities, which I assume you acquired from the Al’ar at one time or another.

“We can take no chances, Joshua Wolfe, even if it means sacrificing whatever leads you might provide toward the Overlord Stone.

“These three are an additional safeguard. They are Guide Kristin,” Kur indicated the woman, “and Lucian and Max.” Lucian was the bearded one. “They are among our most highly trained security specialists, and have formerly been assigned to the private bodyguard of Master Speaker Athelstan, so you should respect and be wary of their skills.

“You do not need to know their family names. Kristin speaks for the team. They have orders to kill you if ordered, and if anything, I repeat anything, appears wrong, to destroy you instantly, without waiting for a command from Master Speaker Athelstan or myself. Remove your tunic, please.”

Joshua obeyed. Kur stepped out of the room again, and returned with a small flat black case.

“Put your hands in front of you,” she ordered. “Guards, each of you stand to one side, so you have a clear field of fire. If Joshua Wolfe attempts anything, kill him.”

The guards obeyed. Kur took a flesh-colored pouch with thin straps from the case. “Turn around,” she ordered. She touched the object to the base of Joshua’s spine. It felt cold for an instant but quickly warmed. She ran the straps around his waist, touched them together, and they joined seamlessly.

“Replace your clothing,” Kur said. “That object, as you can probably surmise, is explosive. It is phototropic, and will gradually take on the coloration of your skin, though you should exercise care about disrobing in public, because the camouflage is not perfect.

“The charge is shaped, so someone standing next to you when the device is detonated would be unharmed, and only momentarily deafened.

“You, on the other hand, would have your spinal cord shattered. If you attempt to remove the charge, a signal will be sent to the operator, and he or she will instantly detonate it.”

Joshua sat down, leaned back. It felt as if he had padding against his spine, no more.

“The woman or man controlling the detonator to that device is watching a monitor at all times, a monitor carrying your image,” Kur said. “You do not need to know how far away the operator is, nor even where he or she is, nor where the monitor is. If you are moving, one of these three will have a tiny camera concealed about his or her person. If you are in one place, the camera will be hidden there. It might also be more than one camera, so there’s no point in finding and destroying one single pickup.

“If the operator sees anything amiss on the monitor, or if you vanish from its screen …”

“Quite clever,” Wolfe said. “I see you three are now my closest and best friends.”

“That is an excellent way to think,” Kur said. “Now, Master Speaker Athelstan awaits.”

• • •

“You were once in possession of a Lumina,” Athelstan said, stating a fact, not a question. He appeared in his fifties and could have been a successful merchant banker. Wolfe had seen him once before, on a vid interview. He’d ascribed the glitter in the man’s eyes to camera flare. There was no such excuse now.

There were three others in the compartment, which was soberly but richly paneled: Kur, Max, and a Chitet in his early thirties who was Athelstan’s aide.

“I was,” Wolfe said. “The Lumina was originally purchased by one quote Judge end-quote Malcolm Penruddock of Mandodari III, stolen from him by a spec thief named Innokenty Khodyan. I recovered the gem on a warrant, and Khodyan got dead in the process.

“I interviewed Penruddock about his interest in the Lumina — ”

“At the behest of Federation Intelligence,” Athelstan said.

“It was … and also for my own interests. But your Chitet killed Penruddock and his wife before I found out very much. Almost killed me.”

“He did not deserve the Lumina,” Athelstan said. “He’d been quietly approached to sell it, but refused. That left us no other course.”

“Must be nice to be sure of who deserves what and when. And that’s not quite how it went,” Wolfe said calmly. “Credit me with a bit of intelligence. You first commissioned Innokenty Khodyan to steal the Lumina from Penruddock, using a fence named Edet Sutro as a cutout. You killed him on Trinité. For a group of people who think themselves philosophers, you sure trail a lot of bodies.”

“Nowhere does it say philosophy cannot resort to direct action to accomplish its goals,” Athelstan said. “And our goals are great, encompassing not only the salvation of humanity, but enabling it to reach the next level of evolution as well.”

“There was a Chinese once,” Wolfe said, “who said, ‘Those who would take over the Earth and shape it to their own ends never, I notice, succeed.’ ”

“Lao-tzu lived long before the Chitet,” Athelstan said. “And there were those of his time who came very close. Buddha. Confucius. The group of Jews who created Jesus. Mohamet … But there’s no point in this sparring. I assume the Federation has the Lumina.”

“They do.”

“Does that cripple you? What powers did the stone give? We have one, but none of our savants have been able to do more than the most minor trickeries with the object.”

Wolfe’s eyes flickered.
So they have one now.
“I can still find the Mother Lumina for you,” Wolfe evaded.

“How? We have searched hard for it, for almost seven years without result.”

“Obviously you were looking in the wrong places,” Joshua said. “And you didn’t have a ferret with sharp enough teeth.”

“I agree. The facts dictate the truth.” Athelstan’s head bobbed slightly, as if he’d just recited a prime canon of his faith. “Tell us how to look, and we shall.”

“Not quite that easy,” Wolfe said. “If I just tell you, my continued existence, as your knob-rattler Kur has pointed out, would become a little redundant. So even if I knew, exactly, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“You were our captive once,” Athelstan said. “And the head of the interrogation team reported you had suicide devices installed in your mind against forcible questioning and against any psychotropic drugs we have access to. I assume she was correct.”

“I’d be a fool not to say yes,” Joshua said.

“How do we seek the Overlord Stone?” Athelstan said. “My security coordinator will obey your orders.”

“I await instructions,” Kur said, showing no resentment.

“First, here’s what I know,” Joshua said. “The Al’ar placed the Overlord Stone in a ship, actually a satellite. It was set in space in a certain place of importance to the Al’ar. Sometime after the war, three Federation scout-ships found it. I assume this discovery was not an accident.”