The Hallowed Cure, page 2
Lincoln and I wore the stolen security guard uniforms. We now wore dark tactical vests and loose armored pants. Like the others, I also now wore a gas mask under my helmet, concealed atop my mouth and nose, to protect me from AP gas.
Prescott had taken the pilot’s uniform, a blue and gray jumpsuit.
She had her gas mask hidden in one pocket, ready to pop on at a moment’s notice. Mia and Reese hid in the hold, watching our captive crewmembers. They’d only come out once we’d secured the roof.
As for armor, we’d simply armor up Mia, Reese, and Prescott once we got inside the building, by stealing armor of whatever guards were on the roof, after we knocked them out. Or murdering
them. I really didn’t want to murder them, but I recognized there was more at stake today than my morals.
Prescott stood in the pilot box, even though the quadcopter was largely automated. I stood on the deck beside the box, next to the open door, so I could hear, with Lincoln on the other side of the deck.
In the pilot box, the radio crackled to life.
“Transport Oh-Four-Nine, this is Traffic Control. Confirm your destination and cargo, over.”
Prescott replied calmly, “TC, this is Oh-Four-Nine, confirming a shipment of eight barrels of panacea.” She had just the right amount of bored indifference. “We’ll take whatever pad is clear, over.”
Prescott had never actually done deliveries to Cloud Nine, but she’d spent a lot of time on the roof and even ridden with the supply convoys once or twice. She was confident she knew the procedure. I had the security guard’s ear-comm in my left ear, and I listened closely for alerts.
No one on Cloud Nine’s security channel called us out as a threat. I had my body armor unzipped so I could draw Dismay and fire, if needed, and a Voltage round already in Dismay’s chamber.
Yet I still wasn’t close enough to reliably knock out the entire building’s security measures.
Cloud Nine’s traffic controller didn’t immediately respond, and my heart beat faster. Had we missed some new important piece of radio protocol? Had Lindsay updated the radio protocol due to heightened security? Were they targeting us, right now, with a missile launcher?
“Pad four’s clear,” the bored traffic controller said. “It’s all yours, Oh-Four-Nine, over.”
“Thanks, TC,” Prescott said calmly. “Confirming pad four, over and out.”
I breathed out, then tapped the ear-comm in my right ear, the one set to my private encrypted channel with Tony. “First hurdle cleared.
We’re landing in two, over.”
“Good to hear,” Tony replied quietly, over our encrypted channel.
“Bishop just got here with an army. Let us know when you’re about to set down, and we’ll light the place up.”
I grimaced at the thought. Tony and Saul would start by sniping whatever soldiers were in visual range, and continue killing until it came time for Tony to pull out Massacre and carve a bloody path through whatever security was unfortunate enough to be sent after him. Tony, Saul, and Torrent would murder dozens of people today, men and women with families who were just doing their jobs.
Worse, Torrent’s people had families too. A lot of people were going to die today to help us save two people, though really, the stakes weren’t that small. If we let Lindsay Griffyn keep Skye Taylor, she might use a Mute army to take over Dios. Or she might fuck up that attempt, and then we’d end up with another Hallowed War. If that happened, a lot more than a couple of dozen soldiers would die.
I couldn’t ask Tony and Saul to play nice, not when they’d volunteered to take on Cloud Nine’s entire security force alone. I couldn’t let Lindsay Griffyn use Skye to raise a Mute armor or stick Caitlyn in a pod to be tortured, and Lindsay Griffyn would hunt us all until the end now. Everyone fighting today knew what they’d signed up for, and as selfish as it was, at least it wouldn’t be me killing them.
I’d be killing anyone who tried to stop us inside Cloud Nine, instead.
Soldiers just doing their jobs. People with families and orphaned kids. I hated that, but I hated letting Lindsay torture Skye for research more ... and I’d survived killing enough people I doubted more guilt would break me. I still remembered the secretary I shot before Jack made me his deal.
As our quadcopter descended toward Cloud Nine’s roof, it became obvious just how many defenses Lindsay had installed up here. I counted four rectangular missile batteries on this side of the building alone. I didn’t see any guns, but I imagined missiles were really all they needed up here.
If Cloud Nine was luring us in, and one of those launchers fired at this range, we’d be ash and blood before I could do so much as draw Dismay. Flying into battle in a Cloudhopper was the part of the war I’d always hated most. The part where my life was in danger, but I had no control.
Yet we cruised in over the pad and hovered. A slight vibration indicated the quadcopter transitioning to manual control. Prescott brought us down gently, without incident.
I pressed the comm in my right ear. “Landed,” I quietly told Tony.
Two soldiers in dark Cloud Nine body armor, carrying rifles, approached the quadcopter from the deck as the rotors spun down. I couldn’t see if they were bored or alert behind their motorcycle helmet-like headgear, but at least neither had raised his rifle. I was glad to see the woman was about Mia’s height and build. Finally, we’d have some body armor that fit her.
“Contact!” someone shouted in my left-ear comm, panicked.
“Gate one’s down! We’ve got—”
The speaker’s transmission ended in mid-sentence. Tony and Saul had just shot them dead. Two murders in the space of five seconds, murders I’d ordered. I hadn’t killed the soldiers guarding the Cloud Nine gates, but I’d ordered others to do so.
In front of us, both approaching guards stopped and tapped their helmets. I recognized their transition from relaxed to alert and mimicked it, tapping my own helmet in an approximation of their movements. We were all hearing the same alerts.
“Gate One, Gate Two, respond,” Cloud Nine’s security controller asked calmly. “Gates Three and Four, anything, over?”
A noticeable rumble shook the building, followed by the sound of what was absolutely an explosion. The fact that we heard and felt it ninety stories up was all the confirmation I needed that Torrent had launched the custom rocket-propelled grenade Riley rigged up for us. Riley knew her explosives, and I suspected Torrent had just hit the front doors as hard as Dismay.
“All gates down!” someone shouted. “Multiple casualties!”
“How many hostiles?” Cloud Nine’s controller asked.
“Unknown number, but they’re all using rifles and small arms, so it might be Torrent,” the soldier said. “We can handle these assholes.
Just so long as ... wait.”
There was a pause.
“Oh God,” the soldier said. “Oh God!”
“Report, Gate Squad!” the Cloud Nine controller commanded.
“It’s the Armsman,” someone terrified whispered. “We are so dead.”
At that moment, I was absurdly jealous of Tony’s terrifying reputation.
I hopped off the quadcopter, with Lincoln behind me, and jogged toward the two roof security guards. Neither glanced our way. Both were obviously distracted by the drama over the ear-comms.
“What’s going on at the gates?” I shouted. I kept my tinted visor down, so they couldn’t see my glowing eyes.
The woman shook her head. “Just what you’re hearing. Dammit!”
She spun to look at the door off the roof, clutching her rifle tight. “Is it really the Armsman? What is he doing here?”
“Gate, hold position,” Cloud Nine’s security office said calmly. “All squads are mobilizing and will be on your position soon. Barghest squad is also incoming. Do not lose that lobby, over.”
I made myself sound worried. “What should I do?”
The female guard didn’t turn around, which suggested she was in command here. “We hold position until further orders. For now, your boat is grounded.”
“Got it,” I said, and stepped back.
I knew Prescott stood waiting in the pilot box, hopefully far enough away the guards wouldn’t recognize that she wasn’t pale-skinned, like the actual pilot. Lincoln casually sauntered past the captain and took up position closer to the door into Cloud Nine.
Mia and Reese wouldn’t emerge until I gave them the all-clear.
So far, so actually not caught. If we could take out these guards without a fuss, we’d be inside quietly.
“Second squad reporting,” a woman said. “The gate’s a wreck, but I don’t see any sign of the attackers. Are we sure it’s the Armsman? Gate Four? Where are you?”
No one answered. Gate Four was likely long dead, but the commander of the soldiers now filling the front lobby couldn’t know that. I suspected more soldiers were descending from all floors. I just had to buy a few more minute for them to fully commit to stopping the ground assault, and then we could come in from above without encountering anyone.
“Second squad, move up and secure the lobby,” Cloud Nine’s controller ordered. “Use all force necessary to eliminate any hostiles, over. All squads, descend to cover the front lobby. Roof squad, lock down the helo pads and halt all incoming flights until further notice.”
The male guard on the roof stepped closer, staring at me in a way I didn’t like at all. He flipped up his visor to reveal brown skin and suspicious eyes. “Hey, you aren’t Garcia. Where’s Garcia?”
“Called in sick,” I said. I obviously didn’t sound enough like Garcia, especially through the gas mask. I could talk through it, but it muffled my voice.
“But I just talked to him an hour ago,” the male guard said, before he gasped and stepped back. “Captain, wait! I don’t recognize this guy. Could this be—”
I punched the man in body armor hard enough to send him flying, full-bodied, into the metal tower nearby. He hit with a clang and went still. One punch from Lincoln sent the man’s captain flying as well, stopping her instinctive attempt to tap her ear-comm. She landed right in front of me.
“Good punch,” I told Lincoln.
“I’ve been practicing!” he shouted, a little more excited than I was comfortable with.
I ripped off the guard captain’s helmet. A pale-skinned, brown-haired woman who couldn’t be much older than Mia’s mom glared up at me, teeth bared. I wondered if she had kids or grandkids.
I glanced at Lincoln. “Pick up the other one.” I hoped no one else was on the roof.
Lincoln hauled the other guard into his arms, and I snatched the woman. We jogged back to the quadcopter pad and hopped back onto the copter. We’d scarcely hopped on when Prescott feathered the stick, raising the quadcopter off the platform. That put air between us and the roof.
I pulled Dismay, sighted the center tower on the roof, and pulled the trigger.
Lightning crackled from my hand cannon with a thunderous report, and then every light on the entire rooftop roof winked out at once. My bones ached, but I didn’t fall. I didn’t even tremble.
So there it was, another six months of life gone. Or a year. Who knew at this point? I just knew I wasn’t on my ass, which meant I had enough life left for a few more shots. Hopefully, I wouldn’t burn the last few years of my life before we rescued Skye and Caitlyn.
Prescott dropped the copter back onto the pad. The downed captain stared up at me with wide eyes, mouth open. I flipped up my visor so she could see my glowing eyes. “Hallowed.”
She gasped. “Why are you attacking us?”
“Lindsay Griffyn kidnapped a couple of people I’d really like her not to torture to death, and is planning to start another Hallowed War,” I said. “I’m not here for you. I don’t want to hurt anyone I can avoid hurting. I just want to rescue my friends. So tell me, how many more on guard up here?”
Her lips compressed. “Not telling you anything.”
“I understand.” Mia and Reese hopped out of the hold. “Just don’t be a hero, all right? I don’t want to kill you, but I will, if I have to, to save my friends.” I looked at Reese. “Strip their armor.”
Reese expertly stripped the captain’s body armor as Mia did the same with the other guard. That left Prescott with only her pilot’s uniform, but she’d be staying in the back anyway, both with the sniper rifle she had now and Godhammer, if we picked that up.
Prescott strapped on her gas mask.
As Reese and Mia quickly hauled on armor, Lincoln and Prescott pulled out zip ties for the guards. I hopped off the supply helo and sprinted off. “I’ll get the door.”
“We’ll be right behind you!” Mia shouted as I ran off.
I reached the door—locked, of course—and kicked the handle hard enough to knock it clean out of the frame. That didn’t open the door, but it gave me a place where I could slip in my fingers and pull.
I grunted, straining, as the stubborn security door resisted with all it had.
The locking bolt exploded like a bullet as the door came free. I shoved the broken door open and stepped inside to find a woman in a skirt and blouse staring with wide eyes. She trembled and leveled a security pistol at me. Its rounds wouldn’t penetrate my armor, and even if they did, I’d heal.
The woman squealed in fright. “Hold it right there!”
If I punched her, without armor, I’d shatter every bone in her body. I flipped up my visor instead, revealing my glowing eyes.
“Hallowed Squad Zero. Hold your fire.”
The woman stared up at me in slack-jawed awe. “What are you doing here?”
I kept my voice calm. “There’s insurgents on the ground floor, but they may enter the building. I need you to warn the others. Find who you can and go to the employee shelters.”
The gun trembled in the woman hands. “But ... how did...”
I put steel in my voice and glared. “Now, woman! They’ve knocked out power to the anti-aircraft batteries and all power on the upper floors, so you’ll have to open the doors manually. Find every employee you can and get to the shelters, right now! Get out of the halls! Spread the word!”
The woman lowered her pistol. “Y ... yes sir! I’ll get everyone to the shelters! Good luck!” She hurried back down the steps.
I breathed a sigh of relief. One less murder on my conscience.
With luck, that woman would pass the word along, and we’d get all the civilians in Cloud Nine out before the firefights started.
“Captain Larsen, report!” Cloud Nine’s security office said over ear-comms. “We’ve lost cameras and all sensors on the roof. What’s happening up there?”
So Captain Larsen was the brown-eyed woman. Shadows darkened the roof doorway above me. I looked back to find Mia, wearing Captain Larsen’s body armor and helmet, and Reese, wearing the other soldier’s armor. They hurried down the steps with Lincoln right behind them, and Prescott behind us all in her pilot’s uniform. We passed Floor 89.
We were five again, a true Hallowed squad. I realized I hadn’t picked out a number for us. I figured we’d debate that after we all made it out of here alive.
“This is Garcia,” I said, picking the name the soldier above had used for the person who normally came in on this shift. “Just arrived on Oh-Four-Nine from Presea. Who’s attacking us?”
“Where is Captain Larsen?” the controller demanded.
“Is Larsen the captain up here?” We passed Floor 88. “Her comm’s fried. Mine seems to be the only one working, and power’s out. Do you need reinforcements at the front doors?”
I could only imagine the frustrated huff Cloud Nine’s security controller suppressed on the other end of the line. “Pass your comm to Captain Larsen, Garcia, over.”
This security controller wasn’t an idiot, but I didn’t expect Lindsay Griffyn to put an idiot in charge of her building security. I pointed at Prescott and tapped my ear-comm. We passed Floor 87.
Prescott tapped her own comm, voice pitched down. “This is Larsen.” She also had enough experience with Cloud Nine comms to sound convincing.
“Why have you abandoned your position?” the controller asked.
“We’re tracking you in the stairwell with three others. Who ordered you to fall back?”
So Cloud Nine’s body armor had trackers in it. Of course it did.
That meant our only choices were to discard our armor, leaving ourselves completely vulnerable, or keep it on and let Cloud Nine track us everywhere we went. For now, I supposed, we’d keep up the ruse.
Mia tapped me on the shoulder, visor raised and eyes wide. I shrugged and put a finger to my lips. We passed Floor 86. The longer we kept Cloud Nine’s security unsure of what was going on, the more flights we’d be able to clear before they started trying to stop us.
“Gate, this is third squad!” someone desperate shouted over the Cloud Nine ear-comm. “Second squad is down! We have multiple wounded! They’re sniping us though the smoke!”
“Barghest squad is three minutes out,” Cloud Nine said calmly.
“Hold your positions.”
“We can’t hold our positions against the godsdamned Armsman!”
the soldier shouted. “He’s tearing us apart! They’re all dead, control!”
“Head in the game,” the controller said. “Armor is inbound.”
Two-story-tall quadruped mechs were something Tony and Saul needed to know about. I tapped my left ear-comm. “You’ve got at least one Barghest coming. ETA one minute or less.”
No response.
“Tony?” I asked. “Respond.”
Nothing. We must be deep enough in the building now that all the steel, concrete, and armor were blocking our transmissions. I’d just have to hope Tony, Saul, and Torrent were ready to take down a Barghest. We hurried past Floor 85 without being attacked. Two more floors to go to the old weapons research lab, where we’d find our old Hallowed weapons ... hopefully.
“Captain Larsen!” Cloud Nine’s controller said again. “Return to your post at once, over.”
“Understood,” Prescott said. “Returning to the roof, over and out.”
She clicked communications off. “All right, strip.”
