DJ's Mission (23 page)

Dropping his helmet, DJ rushed to the boxy
android’s side and pulled it into an upright position. Judging from the scorch
marks, he guessed that the babysitter ‘bot had been zapped with a stun baton or
something close to it. Popping open different panels, DJ found the reset button
and toggled it on. UR-L8’s lights blinked on and off as it went through its
standard system diagnostic. After a couple of minutes, which seemed like an
eternity to DJ, the android completed its booting up process.

“How may this unit be of service?”

“UR-L8, where’s Katy?

“This unit does not know. Searching memory banks.
Current time seems to be ten minutes past ten o’clock. The last data entry was
at twenty-five minutes past nine. This unit has no knowledge of what happened
in the forty-five minutes that it was not in service.”

DJ tried to remain calm even though he wanted to
destroy something, anything. Taking a couple deep breaths, he asked, “What’s
the last thing you remember?”

“Mistress Kaitlyn was packing. She received your
message and was having trouble deciding which clothes to take when the door
burst in and three men in uniforms rushed in. One of them hit this unit with
some sort of electronic scrambler which overloaded this unit’s circuits.”

“What did the uniforms look like?”

“This unit can show you.” Turning its head, UR-L8
focused its holo-emiter onto the table and replayed the last thirty seconds
before it was shut down.

Just like the little android said, three men in
SIS uniforms burst in and tried to grab Kaitlyn. She fought like a wildcat,
flipping and rebounding off the walls as she struck them several times before a
dwarf with a stun baton zapped her. As she fell unconscious, the same Jovian
approached UR-L8 and used the baton on it. The problem was that DJ recognized
the dwarf. It was Pridgen, the bouncer from Mocha Delights. But if he was
wearing a SIS uniform then that means he was working undercover for Kassinger
the whole time he was at the casino, probably gathering intel for the corrupt
Sheriff.  Somehow he stumbled on this information and was now using it against
him. The question remained if he or Kassinger had figured out that he was the
Red Falcon.

It was at that moment a crazy question popped into
his head. “Where’s Megan?”

UR-L8’s head moved side to side. “This unit is
unaware of the parental unit’s location.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“This unit needs several minutes to run more
intensive diagnostics but estimates that this unit is operating at less than
forty percent of normal functions.”

“Run your diagnostics. I’m going to find Megan.”
DJ patted the bot’s head like a pet and without another word, the ex-marine
left his daughter’s room. Armed with knowledge that the SIS had been in the
house, DJ pulled out one of his Graver Mk7s and powered it up. Moving through
the house like a ghost, he did curse himself for leaving his armor’s helmet
behind. Although seconds later when he entered the main room, he decided he
didn’t need it.

He’d found his ex-wife.

*   *   *   *   *

Stephanie moved slowly through the Admiral’s
office. She had no need of a light due to the cybernetic implants in her eyes.
They allowed her iris to open wider than normally possible allowing more
ambient light in and permitting her to see in extremely low light situations.
The procedure is commonly referred to as gaining cat’s eyes.

The office was nearly exactly how she imagined it
to be with several monitors sitting on his desk hooked up to all the cameras in
the house and grounds. From here, she could see that the Red Falcon was moving
through the house without his helmet with his gun drawn. There was no sign of
Kaitlyn. Scanning through the cameras, she saw the same thing the Falcon did
and knew that she was running out of time.

Ignoring the drama unfolding downstairs in the
main room, she located the safe and put her skills to work opening it. Pulling
out several specialized tools of her trade, she went to work cracking the safe.
It was state of the art, three years ago, and only slowed her down by about two
minutes. Once it was opened, she emptied the safe. She did make a mental note
of the bundle of cred-stix, three diamond necklaces and the package she had
been sent to liberate. Now according to the plan, she was to set off her bombs
and level the house, thereby hiding her theft. Stephanie paused, gazed at the
monitors and weighed her options. If Megan was holding what Stephanie thought
she was holding, time was against them.

She keyed her mic. “Jax.”

“Go for Jax.”

“We have a developing situation here. Can you get
back to the skimmer without touching the ground outside?”

There was a pause before he answered. “I’m not
sure.”

“Go around to the south side of the roof. There’s
a cable that runs to the neighboring house. Use your belt and slide across.”

“How do you know about that?”

“I told you I’ve been casing this place for weeks.
Now hurry. The Falcon has a situation in here that could turn deadly any
second.”

“Roger that, I’m gone.”

Stephanie took one last look around and headed down
the stairs. Something told her, that the Red Falcon was going to need her
skills very soon.

*   *   *   *   *

When DJ stepped into the room, his ex-wife looked
up from the bomb she was holding and nearly dropped it in her surprise. “Holy
shit! Scott! What are you doing here?”

DJ slowly entered the room and studied the
situation. It wasn’t good.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Get this thing
off of me!”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? I’m your wife.”

“Ex-wife. You left me for the bastard who did this
to you and now has our daughter.”

That stopped her.

Whatever she had been about to say was lost as
that one thought resonated through her alcohol induced haze. He could see the
gears turning. He guessed that up to this point she was under the impression
that it had been agents working against her husband who had been responsible
for the attack but now, she doubted that.

“Are you certain Roger did this?”

DJ shook his head. “Technically, no he didn’t but
it was his men, of that I am certain. And they would not have done this without
his explicit order.” DJ gestured to the trap his ex-wife was in, “Why else
would you be in that situation?”

Megan forced herself to look at the layout of the
trap she was in. She had been made to hold a proton grenade with both hands
after the trigger had been pulled. If she let go, the bomb exploded in three
seconds. To make sure she couldn’t just throw it away, they had tied a line
from the grenade to the large dining room table that they had turned over and
placed on top of her legs. She couldn’t slide out or lift the table without
using both hands. If she tried to throw it away, the line would make sure it
didn’t fly too far. It was actually a rather simple but ingeniously deadly
setup.

“Now don’t move. I’m going to move a bit closer to
get a better look.”

As he started to move in, El Gato entered the
room. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

DJ froze and Megan looked up. “You look familiar?
Do I know you?”

El Gato ignored her and focused her attention on
the Falcon. “Don’t get close to the bomb or you’ll set it off.”

DJ backed up. “How do you know that?”

“I’ve seen this before. This is the handiwork of
Pridgen, Kassinger’s pet dwarf.”

“I’ve met him.”

“Well, he likes to kill people in such a way that
there is lots of collateral damage.” She pointed at the device. “If you look
closer, you will notice that it is not a normal grenade. It is actually a
proton bomb with at least three different triggers; the standard pin, a mercury
switch and a proximity trigger.”

“I understand the first two triggers; the pin,
when released, starts the timer and it blows. The mercury switch would make it
useful for a trap and probably overrides the timer but what would the proximity
trigger be for?”

“Once the timer is engaged, it checks to see if
the handle is still attached. If it is, then the mercury and proximity triggers
activate. If the bomb moves, it blows. If the proximity trigger reads an
increase in body temperature around the device, it detonates.”

“How do you know this?”

“Before Pridgen worked for Kassinger, he was a
terrorist for hire. His specialty is bombs but not just any bombs. He designed
the devious devices to take out the first responders. One of his bombs killed a
good friend of mine on Kepler Twenty-two Bravo a few years back. Since then,
I’ve studied everything about the man. I know his handiwork anywhere.”

Megan screamed. “Will you two talk to me? Stop
ignoring me!”

Stephanie looked down at the trapped woman. “What?
What would you have us say to you? That you have been a stupid bitch? That
instead of standing up to your husband, you let him beat you senseless? Or hit
your daughter? Where’s your bottle? I’m sure you will find your answers there.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Fair? Was it fair to let your eleven year old
daughter fight off the sexual advances of her own step-father?”

“What?” roared DJ.

Stephanie looked up. “Yes. As far as I can tell he
hasn’t done anything…yet. But it is obvious that he wants her. Even Kaitlyn
noticed it.” Stephanie pointed at several cameras visible from where they were
standing. “He watches her every move, here and in the gym…even in the more
private areas.”

DJ clenched his fists. “You don’t mean the
showers...do you?”

Stephanie nodded.

Without warning DJ lashed out with a punch at the
closest wall. The plas-steel was never intended to take such abuse and buckled
under the thunderous strike. He pointed at his ex-wife. “I should leave you
here to die in the makings of your own doom. But I can’t. Katy would never
forgive me if I just left you behind.”

Through her tears and sobs, they could make out,
“I didn’t know. I promise.”

DJ shook his head and faced the thief. “Any
suggestions?”

“We only saved one person from one of these traps.
The only way we discovered to get them out was to stabilize the device somehow
and have the trapped individual free themselves. Of course there are two major
problems with this idea.”

“Which are?”

“One, the person trapped usually has a hard time
getting out solo. And two, once freed the timer restarts if they leave the
proximity radius of the bomb.”

DJ turned back to his ex-wife. “If we figure out a
way to stabilize the grenade, do you think you can wiggle your way free?”

Megan nodded. “Probably…I mean, yes.”

DJ looked around the living room. “Now how do we
stabilize the bomb without setting it off?”

“Perhaps this unit can be of assistance.”

Both DJ and Stephanie turned to face the
babysitting ‘bot. UR-L8 was in bad shape. It was listing to one side and moved
with an unsteady gait. Occasionally a shower of sparks would fly out of some
part of the android. However, it carried the Red Falcon’s helmet in its one
arm.

DJ took the offered helmet. “But you realize you
will be destroyed.”

“Damage to this unit is extensive. Failures are
cascading. Estimate total and complete shutdown of all systems in three point
two-five minutes.”

DJ looked over at El Gato. Stephanie shrugged. “It
might work. I’m not sure.”

“Okay, let’s give it a try.”

UR-L8 limped its way over to Megan and ever so
slowly extended its one arm. The pincer on its arm was padded, so the bomb
shouldn’t slip. At a pace that made a turtle seem fast, UR-L8 closed its claw
onto the bomb. “This unit has the device securely in its grip, however system
shutdown in one minute, twelve seconds.”

Megan let loose of the bomb and struggled and
cursed until she was free. Without a single word of thanks to the android, she
slid out from under the table and stepped up to her ex-husband. “Bastard!” she
yelled and slapped him hard across the face. Turning, she ran out the front
door before anyone could stop her.

Stephanie screamed, “No!”

But it was too late. Megan hadn’t even gotten ten
steps outside the front door when the first of the battle bots attacked. Its
initial attack came in low and severed her leg off at the knee. Even as Megan
fell with a scream, a dozen more battle bots joined in the killing frenzy.

DJ just shook his head and turned back to the pet
android of his daughter. “I’m sorry about this.”

UR-L8 swiveled its head to focus its optical lens
on the bounty hunter. “It has been this unit’s pleasure to serve. System
failure in twenty seconds. Goodbye sir.”

Stephanie tugged on his arm. “Come. We have got to
go, now.” Without waiting to see if he followed, the spy sprinted up the
stairs.

Slipping on his helmet, DJ gave pursuit and took
the stairs three at a time. He had just made the third floor landing when he
felt and heard the grenade’s detonation. However, a split second later there
were a series of explosions that rocked the house to its foundation. With each
explosion, the cascade of destruction came closer and closer. “Holy shit,” was
all DJ managed to mutter before sprinting with everything he had.

He ignored doors, walls, furniture and window
frames. He just ran right through anything and everything. He made the roof
mere seconds in front of the ever expanding fireball, pausing at the eaves just
long enough to locate El Gato. She was desperately trying to reach a nearby
cable but it was still several yards off. They both knew she wouldn’t make it.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the thief around the waist and jumped off the
roof with every ounce of strength at his command.

Two things registered to DJ’s mind at that exact
moment, the entire mansion behind them being consumed in a massive fireball and
that his leap to safety was taking them directly over the garden. A quick
glance downward proved that there were dozens of battle bots just waiting for
them to land in the kill zone. They kind of looked like a gleaming pack of
hyenas.