Legacy of a Mad Scientist (44 page)

Croswell drew his handgun.

Conway stumbled backwards.

Croswell turned to face Phillips.

The humbled Chief of Staff glared back.

Croswell offered Phillips the gun. “Do the honorable
thing, for once in your fat, filthy, disgusting worm’s-eye-view of
a life.”

Ross smiled, despite his best efforts not to.

Conway stared in dumb-founded shock, as his Chief of
Staff seemed to engage in a struggle against himself.

Phillips’s hand shook, his arm and face twitched, but
he reached out and took the pistol from Secretary Croswell.

“John, no,” President Conway said.

The weapon gradually came up, pressing against
Phillips’s temple. He screamed and struggled to pull the pistol
away.

The Secret Service guards, posted at the closed
doors, burst into the room and witnessed the President’s Chief of
Staff ‘Big John’ Phillips, blow his brains all over the back
wall.

Croswell turned to President Conway. “I’m very sorry
for your loss sir. I’ll continue to do my best for your office and
the Republic of the United States. As for myself, I’d like your
permission to collect the ID packet I requested and return to the
west coast. I assure you, I will wrap this up as quietly as
possible.”

Conway said nothing but lifted the diplomatic pouch
from his desk and handed it to Croswell.

“Good evening sir,” Ross said, following Croswell out
of the office and past the stunned Secret Service guards.

In the transport, Croswell held the diplomatic
pouch.

“What the hell was that?” Ross asked.

“I actually don’t want to give you this,” Croswell
said, looking at the republic seal stamped onto the leather
document pack.

“Don’t you think you could have gotten Ids in some
easier way? I mean, why would you go through Conway, of all people?
That seems like the definition of stupid,” Ross asked.

Croswell looked at him. “Thanks for the vote of
confidence. Let me ask you, why did you ask me to do this for
you?”

“Because I knew, whoever I went to, it was going to
set off some alarm bells and that you’d end up hearing about it
sooner or later anyhow. There was no point going behind your
back.”

“Well, it goes a thousand times more for me and
Conway. However I did this, even if it wasn’t until you guys were
long gone, sooner or later he was going to have to come to me and
ask why I went behind his back. It’s much easier to speak to him
like a man and give him the chance to do the right thing. This way
his conscience is clear.”

“That’s why you don’t want to give it to me?” Ross
asked.

“No. I don’t want to give it to you because I don’t
think those kids should have to be made to run for their lives.
They deserve better than that. There has to be a better way.”

Wednesday Late Night, Early Morning, July 29-30,
2308

Out on the far western edge of the Republic’s border,
the derelict hotel, bearing darkened signs reading St. Vincent’s,
drifted over the Pacific Ocean. Before Ross left, he’d set the
building’s autopilot to a drifting loop out over the ocean. It
would mess up the children’s escape routes, but at least they
wouldn’t be there when the enemy arrived in the first place.

Further inland, the 405 freeway cable ran from the
far south, up past the city, until it was bisected by the 101,
running from the east side of downtown, up the coast through
Ventura county and on to Santa Barbara.

St. Vincent’s hugged the pocket caused by this
freeway intersection, not too far from the canyon neighborhood
where Ashley had grown up.

Ana had convinced Reid to put the battle tank on
remote and hang a few thousand feet overhead, scanning the
slow-drift traffic with their scopes. Ana reasoned that if Cedric
had an old-school radar style unit; the battle tanks at the same
coordinates would hide their individual silhouettes. All they had
to do was stay anchored in tandem, synching their personal harness
with the tanks.

What Captain Snow did not predict was the military
convoy that had cued up behind the two remaining wolves.

“Are you sure this is a good idea,” Reid asked,
feeling his heartbeat rise as he spotted the wolves and convoy
approaching below. They were still a dozen miles out. “What about
Ashley and Geoff?” he asked.

Ana sighed. “Let’s worry about that if we survive.
Ross wires a good safe house, from what I remember.”

Below them, the Maxwell Armored Fighting Vehicles
slowed and moved into a flying-v formation, drifting in step as the
wolves prepped weapons and accelerated toward their targets.

“Let her rip,” Captain Snow said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Reid answered. Below them, his battle
tank launched missiles in series, three, then two, three, two, five
and three.

The Wolves proved surprisingly agile, kicking out
chaff and rolling past the warheads. Their independent tracking
mini-guns chased the missiles and triggered them at a safe distance
from the tank’s armored hide.

Ana’s Black Willow tank opened fire with its machine
guns, ripping into the nearest wolf as it launched a handful of its
own missiles.

“Look,” Reid said, pointing to the five Maxwells that
had begun creeping forward again.

Their weapons were adjusting, aiming for the
invisible origins of the fire hurled against the encroaching
wolves. Reid’s battle tank opened fire on the armored vehicles.

One of the wolves, fleeing the line of fire, turned
upward and climbed directly toward Ana and Reid.

Ana and the Chief Warrant Officer smiled at each
other and aimed in with their long barreled rifles. Together, they
opened fire on the armored wolf as he accelerated up through the
atmosphere.

Ana’s first shot hit the wolf in the shoulder,
screaming wildly off the armor plate, but slowing his ascent
significantly.

Reid had aimed at he second one and struck him at a
gap in the plate, his round ripping into the wolf’s mechanical
aorta.

The first wolf opened fire and as the rounds of his
min-guns reached them, Ana released the gravity-synch with her
tank, executing an aerial cartwheel, her body no longer in the line
of fire, but her shot lined up. She fired but only hit him in the
thigh, spinning him from her line of fire.

The second wolf, venting pressurized fluids and
incapable of maneuvering, after being plugged by Reid, found
himself with a shot on Ana. He opened up with everything,
blindsiding her, but sacrificing himself.

Reid, still in control of his gun tree, fired with
four rifles and five missiles; scoring enough direct hits to
separate the wolf in loaf-sized pieces, but the damage was
done.

The tumbling wolf had righted himself and retreated,
as Reid’s battle tank, though wounded, ascended toward their
elevation. Reid put the wounded Captain Snow in the tank and
programmed it for a safe house across town.

The Maxwells had not missed either aerial engagement
and moved in to continue the assault. Their fifty caliber guns
chased Reid and the severely wounded Captain from the sky, scoring
several more hits before the pair of them escaped to a safe
distance.

Thursday, July 30, 2308

Geoff shook his sister and whispered, "Ash, wake up,
they're here."

Ashley woke with a start. "What?" She rubbed her
face. "Where's Ross?"

"He’s not back yet." Geoff looked up, “Listen.”

Ashley heard it, booms that sounded like thunder and
an underlying rat-a-tat-a-tat sound she recognized as the sound of
machine guns.

“What’s going on out there?” she asked.

“Some kind of fire fight,” Geoff said.

"You should get in the car," urged Ashley.

"Not yet,” Geoff answered.

Ashley glared at him.

“They don't have a heat signature on us, the building
is shielded somehow,” Geoff explained. “I'm tapped into their
frequencies, I can hear everything they're saying. They’ve been
attacked by Black Willow units and lost the Wolves, but were
expecting more resistance. Sounds like the fight is over.”

Overhead the booms became more sporadic and then
ceased all together.

“They’re regrouping,” Geoff said. “They have orders
to take us alive. And somehow they know Ross is gone. They're
ordered a room by room search."

Geoff pointed to the security monitors.

On three of the seven balconies, dark forms descended
on ropes. They huddled in front of the sliding doors and went to
work, cutting circles in the glass. Once they cracked the circles
of glass free from the doors, they simply reached in and unlocked
the sliding panels.

Ashley appreciated the old-school nature of the
situation. The balcony doors at this hotel weren't voice operated,
or even digitally wired. The attacking soldiers had prepared
appropriately.

The first tripwire was hit. The explosion rocked the
hotel; much louder than the aerial combat, this blast rocked the
cement floor under the children’s feet.

The three soldiers in unit four were blown out
through the balcony doors. Two lay crumpled and bleeding, while the
third was blown from the balcony all together. If the shrapnel and
concussive blast wave injuries didn't kill him, his impact with the
ocean below surely would.

Ashley and Geoff watched the remaining the soldiers
in rooms two and six. They didn't move. Using a flashlight, the
lead man in two identified one of the monofilament tripwires. He
crept toward the charges attached the to the line, brushing away a
piece of newspaper.

Ashley took the open wire and touched it to the
appropriate peg, shredding the room with steel and glass.

Geoff tugged at Ashley's elbow as a wall of the
garage was blown out. On the monitors, a small group of soldiers
entered, detaching their fast-drop lines before moving deeper into
the garage.

Ashley waited until they were aligned with the wired
trashcan before blowing it. The blast separated the soldiers,
slashing into the soft spots between their armor plates, lacerating
vital organs and arteries.

The soldiers in room six had not moved since the
first blast. Ashley held the live wire close to the peg for 6LR. It
was largest of the suites and subsequently contained more
explosives.

After some time, one soldier straightened up a bit
and took one step backward, toward the balcony.

Another soldier shook his head and pressed deeper
into the unit.

The third man stood his ground, neither advancing nor
retreating.

The inward soldier spotted a tripwire and pointed it
out to his comrades, slipping toward the charges to defuse
them.

Ashley's hovering hand went to the nail and the
charges detonated. The soldier attempting to defuse the charge came
apart, while his comrades were knocked flat.

"More coming," Geoff said.

On the monitors, the sliding glass doors of units one
and five were shot out by the heavy machine guns of the circling
transports.

Three more soldiers came in through the hole in the
garage.

Ashley triggered another trashcan, knocking them from
their feet.

A dozen soldiers landed on the balconies of the blown
out units.

"You have to run the board," Ashley said. She took
the Micronix out of her pocket and set it on the table. "How good
are you with this thing?"

"I'm getting better," Geoff said.

Ashley pulled out the phone Ross gave her. "Do you
think you could call me on this?” she asked.

Geoff nodded. "Why?"

"Because I'm going upstairs," she said.

"You're what?" Geoff said, shocked.

"I'm going up there. They're not all dead yet."

"Yeah Ash, they're not dead yet! And there's going to
be more of them coming!"

She plugged her earphones into the phone. "Can you do
it or not?"

A moment later, the phone rang. "Can you hear me?"
Geoff asked.

Ashley nodded, smiling.

She disconnected the shotgun and pulled it from the
brace. "Put this back."

"I can do it," Geoff answered.

Ashley hugged her little brother and slipped out the
door.

"Why don't you take it with you?" Geoff asked.

"There's plenty up there. Now, lock the door." Ashley
grinned.

Geoff locked the door behind her and put the shotgun
in the brace.

"You're clear to the kitchen," Geoff said, returning
to his place in front of the detonation board. Not that he needed
to see the monitors, the Micronix provided more surveillance
options than the few cameras they'd set up. Geoff could see through
the soldier’s helmet cams.

“Ash, the Micronix is feeding me their radio
communications. Sounds like there are two of them deploying troops
and three on standby. They’re big enough to carry thirty men and a
ten-man crew.”

Ashley whispered, “get in the car, geoff,”

Geoff scanned the monitors. “No way, this just
started.”

Upstairs, Ashley crept into the kitchen, pulling a
few extra explosive pies from the fridge. There were three exits
from the administration offices: into the main lobby, the garage,
or the maintenance hallway. In the main hall, the offset doors were
all wired to their own sets of charges.

Ashley peeked out through the lobby into the
hall.

Everything was quiet.

None of the charges in the hall had been detonated,
and the lobby doors leading to the garage were closed and
quiet.

“Coming in from the garage, four this time. No wait,
six. Oh God, six more! They're heading to you, to the lobby," Geoff
said over the earphones.

Ashley ducked behind the main counter as the soldiers
opened the doors to the garage. The blasts shook the floor
underneath her.

Somehow, over the ringing in her head, Ashley heard
Geoff say, "They're down. The guys in one and five are holding
still."