Reborn, page 7
The old place had been built with glass to stop anything short of a fusion rifle at short range. They hadn’t been here long enough to complete all those upgrades.
He wondered how much, if any of it, would have even slowed Joie Daring down today.
Bandi turned and shooed Hanni into his office with Sora. Behind him, Joie and Ernesta followed.
“Not long,” Joie said as she stepped in. “Genevieve recognized me and triggered the alarm. Carter stunned her.”
“Oh, shit,” Sora gasped. “Mithras, too?”
Bandi moved to his seat and wished that Danorak could drink alcohol like Humans did. A shot of whiskey or something right about now sounded good, from what he’d heard.
“Heecha?” he asked Joie.
“They contacted me in Hanoi,” she nodded. “Extracted me, Ernesta, and Carter. Explained that a lot of other aliens are trying to decide if they should basically destroy Human civilization about now.”
Bandi nodded, grimacing.
Faustian bargains. The devil always came for your soul eventually. Even aliens, apparently.
Well, it had been a good run. And longer than he’d ever imagined possible.
Time to pay the piper?
“Have you come to kill us?” Hanni asked, but he was like that. A little too wound up most of the time. Should have had a vacation before this.
Hell, they all should have taken more vacations. More relaxation time might have let them see the bigger picture.
Especially if the Heecha were here, watching.
“We are trying to save Earth,” Joie said. “They’ve talked about starting with a Carrington Event and then getting mean.”
Sora gasped. Bandi nodded. Hanni was a little too focused on his toys to have read Human history.
“And they want us out of the way,” Bandi completed the thought for her.
“They want you no longer interfering with Humanity, Bandi,” she said, smiling sadly. “That means off-planet and never coming back. It means that Ernesta, Carter, and I have to stop Bouchard and destroy all the things they have that might let them keep building more people like he’s done, even after you’re gone.”
“The thermal signature,” Bandi nodded.
“If you looked at me right now, I’m also running that hot,” Joie said.
Bandi blanched in surprise.
“Yes, Bandi,” she said. “Once we’re done, I’ll be in exile with the rest of you, because it isn’t necessary to kill all of them. The Heecha scientist I’ve been dealing with says the rest will be happy for now if Humans plateau here for a while. Cyberware is okay, but not the really advanced genetic engineering.”
“I don’t understand,” Sora stage-whispered to the room.
“It means we’re done here, Sora,” he said, watching Joie’s face for the nod. “That we’re about to be arrested and deported, like we probably should have been in the first place.”
“Just like that?” Hanni asked.
“We have deliberately interfered with this planet for centuries, Hanni,” Bandi reminded him tartly. “Almost certainly made it worse instead of better, with men like Kehoe and Bouchard calling the shots.”
“Kehoe defected,” Joie said, causing Bandi’s head to snap around.
“Really?” he asked.
“Really,” she nodded.
“And he’s helping you undo it all?” Bandi breathed, shocked almost out of his mind.
“This is bigger than one person, Bandi,” she turned serious. “Billions of Human lives are at stake. Plus however many billions or trillions of aliens more if my kind managed to escape Earth before we were ready to be friendly neighbors. That cannot be allowed. I have one chance to salvage everything before the others unleash exceptional efforts to fix this problem.”
Bandi hung his head in shame. Sora was frozen. Hanni appeared to be weeping, but he’d never been the strongest personality Bandi knew.
At least his executioner was somebody he respected. Bandi could deal with that.
“Okay,” Bandi said simply to Joie. “Now what?”
“Do you have any defensive systems that would prevent a matter transmission beam from working in here?” Joie asked, betraying how much she knew that should never have been a thing for Humans.
Bandi laughed.
“The old place, with the bullet-proof glass, did,” he replied. “We had to move in a hurry because of you, and not everything has been moved here and set up. Another month, and it would have been, but the Heecha could have just grabbed us any time they wanted.”
“You’d have fought them,” Joie said, knowing him probably better than his own mother with that observation.
He would have.
But not Joie. She was right. And doing the right thing. Who was he to resist that?
“I would have,” Bandi agreed. “But that time is done.”
He sighed and looked around.
“Time to go home,” he said.
Joie pulled out a phone and pushed a button.
“Yormevs,” she said immediately. “Three Danorak and four Humans, one of whom is stunned but otherwise fine.”
Four? Ah, Genevieve. Yes, a witness who had identified Joie Daring on sight. The new Joie Daring.
The one who was hunting the rest of his co-conspirators.
Bandi felt justice finally descend on him in a beam of light.
CHAPTER 17
Valmy wanted to slam the phone’s handset down. Except that, as angry as he was, it would disintegrate. The first time had been an unwelcome surprise he didn’t care to repeat.
Instead, he put it carefully into the cradle and looked out over the fading sunset his window revealed.
Then Valmy drew a breath and stood. Again, care was called for, as much as he wanted to throw a chair through that window. Or shatter the wooden desk with his fists.
Even going down to the gym and sparring with some of his Project Carpenter warriors would be a bad thing, as much angry energy as it would burn off while he did.
He simply lacked the time. Somehow, somewhere, an enemy organization had suddenly stepped up their attacks against TRC. They weren’t out in the open yet, but that was likely only a matter of time.
First Daring and most of her team had vanished. That Konicek and Vanlaere had been left behind meant that whoever it was wasn’t ready to confront Valmy over the new Humans he was creating.
Then, six hours ago, somebody had attacked La Plata. This time, it wasn’t a case of bad luck and black humor, either. Both Pakhet and all three of the aliens had vanished, plus the woman receptionist. Jennifer or something.
The facility had been attacked. The shattered door was all the evidence he needed. Similarly, someone had broken into Pakhet’s surveillance post via a window and somehow neutralized the woman.
Who?
Wasn’t the Russians. They didn’t know the truth, and pictures of Faulkener’s head had done wonders for back-room negotiations this last week. The Chinese liked to play long games, but they were happier slowly stealing Siberia.
Valmy moved to the door and stepped outside. Most of his staff were ignorant of what was going on. They transferred through too regularly for him to trust any of them with things that might get them killed for knowing.
They might also get him killed.
Instead, he walked down the hallway to where Konicek and Vanlaere had been installed. Valmy’s entire staff here in DC wasn’t much. Certainly not for a Commanding General. But Technology Research Command had always been small and private.
Better that way.
He entered the office and closed the door behind him, gesturing both of them to remain seated as he took a chair.
“We have a situation developing,” Valmy said carefully. “I need to brief you about things above your pay grade, because the three of us will be heading into the field immediately. Pack for southern hemisphere weather.”
“Sir?” Vanlaere asked.
She’d been sent to infiltrate Daring’s team, but had not been successful before the woman disappeared. Or perhaps had been on the verge, and this new enemy needed to remove Daring and Kehoe first.
“There is a research facility of ours outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina,” Valmy said. “It was attacked this afternoon and the staff has vanished. All of them. The local authorities did not find bodies, either. One of two observer missions in place was also hit simultaneously, and Lieutenant Freya Malik, a cybernaut, is also missing. The other watcher was apparently not discovered, as they were able to report in, but didn’t see anything useful before or after alarms were triggered at the lab.”
“We’re investigating it, General?” Konicek asked.
“No,” he replied. “TRC will send a team of bureaucrats and analysts, once the local police finish their investigations and are paid off to leave everything alone. I need a strike team, and don’t even have time to pull people in from North Carolina or Washington. Most of the people I need are, in fact, still around the Central Asia situation, packing up. Waiting for them is longer than I think we have, but I will be sending orders routing all of us to South America, regardless of their current mission. It is that important.”
He stood up and looked at the ceiling. TRC had fantastic toys to detect and neutralize listening devices. Plus, he was in the middle of a building with security comparable to Cheyenne Mountain or the White House.
However, he also knew how easy it was to build better toys that outdid such defenses.
Valmy Bouchard had not gotten where he was by trusting his electronic security to someone else.
“I will brief you on the plane,” he said. “The flight will be long enough to cover everything. Then we might be fighting for our lives when we get there.”
“Do we know who we’re fighting, General?” Vanlaere asked.
“No,” he said as he exited.
CHAPTER 18
Joie stood next to Yormevs and watched Freya through one of those invisible force field cells that Joie had been in after they grabbed her in Hanoi.
Eerie, from this side. Freya couldn’t see anything, but had touched the wall to confirm that it was there, just like Joie had.
“Are you certain this is the wisest course of action?” Yormevs asked her.
Joie was still in the jeans and shirt she’d been wearing in La Plata. She had Freya’s cyberarm cradled in hers, dangerous fusion disks removed.
“No,” Joie said. “But she deserves this much of the truth. I wouldn’t trust her in the field, but she might be an excellent agent later, after Kehoe and Mitch have a chance to talk to her.”
“Are you at risk?” he pressed.
Joie smiled.
“She’s good, but not that good,” Joie said. “I needed her alive and unharmed before. Hard to do when you have that much skill. If she gets out of hand, you can stun her for me or something. Don’t hurt her unless you absolutely have to.”
“Joie, you continue to surprise me,” Yormevs said, turning to face her fully. “All of your kind are regarded as violent and dangerous at all times. Lethal for little provocation. Prone to excess. And you have gone out of your way, time and again, not to resort to violence. Why is that?”
Joie paused and considered it. Certainly, all of her training since she’d been fourteen had been geared towards being the deadliest person she could achieve. And she had succeeded.
Right up until the moment that Kehoe burned her.
Broke her.
RDR-ed her.
Revoked, Demilitarized, Retired.
Then two years in the wilderness, just trying to make something of the remaining forty or sixty years she had in front of her.
Broken.
At least Amy had given her purpose. Place. Family.
Until Kehoe and this woman showed up at her door one night to ruin everything.
Again.
Except that Freya had been doing what she was told, like a good, little soldier. Like Joie had been once. The Army pounded that into you. Even for a civilian boss.
So she considered the question Yormevs had posed.
“Humans also believe in second chances,” she said. “At least American culture does. Someone can screw up, sure, but that they can learn from it and become a better person. I’ve gone through many such changes over the last few years, so I understand that. Freya had the career she had planned out before the events that cost her an arm, like me. Then the surgeries and rehab to become even more like me. She’s young. She could be so much more, but has to face an entire lifetime of doubt. Especially as she doesn’t know who was right and who was wrong, as she was given orders to do things. I certainly had time to reflect. Some of the shit I did in the old days was flat evil. I’ll never be able to undo that, but I have to try to make things better.”
“And you believe Freya Malik can also make things better?” he asked.
“I have no idea, Yormevs,” she countered. “This isn’t about recruiting her. It’s about me doing right by her. At least as much as I can.”
“As I said, you continue to surprise me, Joie,” he smiled. “In good ways. I shall keep watch.”
Joie nodded and stepped forward. A door appeared in front of her and Freya turned her way, moving to something like a defensive posture, but an uncertain one.
She didn’t have the advantage of Sifu Wěn and the thing that woman had taken to calling Angry Elephant. It showed, but only in that Freya hadn’t figured out how to fight without her dominant arm.
Joie entered and smiled. She held out the arm, shoulder first.
“Sorry I had to take it away from you earlier,” Joie said. “And last time we met in La Plata. My hope is that it will never be necessary again.”
Freya had relaxed a little. She stepped one meter closer and reached out for the arm, like she expected Joie to jerk it back tauntingly.
Instead, Joie handed it to her, then moved around to the woman’s right.
“You’ll need help socketing it again,” Joie said, moving close enough to help guide as Freya watched her with eyes full of wonder and fear.
“Why?” the woman whispered.
“Because I know what it’s like to have it taken away from you,” Joie said, unable to contain some of the rage that came with such memories.
Together, they got it into place. Joie pulled a small handheld from her pocket and pressed the button that triggered the unit to lock in and recalibrate itself. Not that it would be off by much, but it made Freya whole again.
At least as whole as she could be for now.
Joie stepped back as Freya flexed her fingers and fist open and closed. Bent it. Rotated it.
Noted the lack of weight where all the fusion disks were sitting on a shelf in the main part of the ship.
Freya’s grin was wry and twisted.
“Carter lives in terror that someone is going to blowtorch his pretty new face,” Joie said.
Freya laughed.
“Not my type,” she said. “Before or after.”
“Agreed, but that was why I went in the door and he came through your window,” Joie said.
“And you kidnapped the others?” Freya asked, turning her body more this way, but not square on. Not up on her toes.
Not poised to attack.
Her body language spoke of uncertain curiosity.
“That’s as good a word as any,” Joie said. “There is a war among the gods going on, though they are really only aliens, with different goals and methods. I needed to remove these aliens first. Then go after Bouchard and some of the things he’s done.”
“Bad?” Freya asked, obviously wondering what could top Captain Daring going rogue a second time.
Joie held out her hand to the woman. Freya automatically took it in her cyberhand.
“Warm,” Freya said with surprise after a moment.
“My core temperature is about forty degrees,” Joie nodded.
“And you have two arms now,” Freya acknowledged.
“I needed that for the rest,” Joie said. “Bouchard is building genetically-engineered agents like my new form, but doing so in secrecy. My new friends think I am a physical match for what he’s done. But this war must be fought in the shadows still, because there is another group of aliens out there who might decide to just crush us entirely if they learned the honest truth about everything going on.”
“Can I help?” Freya asked.
“Eventually,” Joie replied. “But time is tight right now and that’s one thing too many on my list. Plus, you don’t know enough about everything. Those that do find out what’s going on will be required to leave Earth forever later, assuming we win.”
“Assuming we win?” Freya pressed.
“If we fail, Human civilization is doomed, Freya,” Joie said. “It might be anyway, if one of those other groups decides that we’re simply too big of a threat and goes ahead and pulls the trigger. Too much can go wrong, and Bouchard has no idea what he’s facing.”
“He won’t go down easily,” she nodded. “Will he listen to reason?”
Joie shrugged.
“Even TRC doesn’t know the truth, from what I’ve gathered,” Joie said. “All the secret projects we’ve been part of are fairly public there. Instead, he’s carved out something even more sinister, and nobody seems to know the extent of it.”
“So you can’t just grab him?” Freya asked. “Like you did me?”
“The lab you were watching didn’t have barriers in place, like the former one did,” Joie said. “But they were coming. Apparently, Bandi allowed Bouchard to have those, but only a few. Worse, they are both invisible to scans the aliens have, so they can hide things. Not even my superiors know what’s going on, and they’ve been watching him. The rest of the galaxy, at least the key parts, are starting to panic. Not yet, but soon. That’s how long we have.”
“I’m not your physical match anymore, Daring,” Freya noted. “But I do have a—what did Mithras call it?—a blowtorch I can bring if you need an anti-tank sniper when Armageddon comes.”
“Thank you,” Joie said. “I will keep it in mind, but we’re in a tight spot and I won’t make any promises right now.”
