Time Siege (49 page)

Levin gritted his teeth. This was not how he wanted to initiate contact with his former assistant. He hurried inside to defuse the situation. Cole had Vaneek pressed against one wall. The woman, half naked, was cringing on the opposite wall.

“Stand down,” Levin barked, pulling his nephew back. “Damn it, Cole. This isn't necessary.”

The woman tried to make a break for it. Clutching a blanket to her naked chest, she scampered toward the door. Cole, almost casually, caught her by the neck and flung her onto the bed.

“Leave her alone!” Vaneek cried and attacked Cole, clawing and scratching at his face. Cole head-butted him and knocked him to the ground. The woman began to sob loudly. Cole touched a scratch on his face and looked at the blood smeared on his fingers. “The little shit cut me.” He raised his foot and was about to stomp down on Vaneek's head when Levin barreled into him, knocking him over. He pried the pistol out of Cole's hand and threw it to the side.

“Stand down, all of you!” Levin growled.

Cole scrambled to his feet and stuck his face close to Levin's. “Don't ever touch me again.”

Levin pointed at the door. “Get out of here. Guard the damn hallway. Out! Now!” The two men stared each other down, and Levin didn't discount the possibility of coming to blows with his nephew. Finally, reluctantly, the lad held his hands to his sides and backed out the door. “Close it behind you.” Shaking his head, Levin turned back to Vaneek and came face-to-face with the pistol. Vaneek must have picked it up while Levin wasn't looking. He raised his hands. “Hello, Vaneek. Please put that down.”

“Aud … Auditor Levin? Is that you?” Vaneek whispered in a soft voice. “Are you with that brute?”

Levin had always considered Vaneek something of a ward, a little brother he had never had, and the stunned look on his face broke his heart. The pistol in his hand quivered, but he kept it leveled at Levin's face. The poor administrator never stood a chance. In one smooth motion, Levin clasped his hands together and wrested the pistol out of Vaneek's hands.

The boy didn't even acknowledge that he had just been disarmed. Tears streamed down Vaneek's face as he stared at Levin. “All those charges they leveled at you. I didn't believe any of it. When they brought me in to question, I didn't say a damn word. I called them liars and cheats, said you were framed.” He shook his head.

Levin pulled out the pistol's energy source and placed each piece on opposite sides of the table. He looked at the girl who was huddled on the bed with her arms crossed over her chest. “Sit down. Please. I'll explain everything.”

Vaneek dutifully complied, moving to the bed and putting his arm around the girl's shoulder. He checked a bruise on her cheek and then whispered something into her ear, pulling her protectively close. The anger in his eyes burned brighter than Levin had ever seen on young Vaneek's face.

Levin sat in front of both of them and took a deep breath. This was going to take a lot of explaining. Damn that boy Cole. “First of all, I am so sorry for what happened. This was never my intention. It was wrong and I assume full responsibility for Cole's actions.”

Vaneek frowned. “That was Chronman Cole? I did not recognize him.”

“A lot has changed.”

“It's treason to even speak with you,” Vaneek said. “You're putting my Katya and me in jeopardy just by being here.”

Levin looked at the woman and smiled. She didn't return the favor. “You two are a lovely couple.”

“What are you doing here, Auditor Levin?” Vaneek pressed.

“I want you to know I'm innocent.”

“We all knew that already, Auditor. Are you trying to prove it now? If you are, you're wasting your time.”

“I agree, son. However, there's more important things at stake.” Levin took a deep breath. There was no easy way to explain this. “Vaneek, I need to ask a favor from you. I need your help retrieving an encrypted file from the quarantine archives.”

Vaneek frowned. “It's possible, but why, if you're not trying to prove your innocence?”

Levin took a deep breath. “The agency has been compromised. I have the evidence in my personal stores, which should be archived. I need a direct access link to un-encrypt and retrieve my files. I intend to expose the corruption within the agency, and then I intend to put ChronoCom back to its original noble purpose.”

“And you want me to help you do it?” Vaneek looked at his girlfriend and then at the mess within the room. “After what just happened?”

“This is important, son.”

The young administrator shook his head. “You're asking me to commit treason without so much as an explanation. You have to tell me what's going on and then leave. I will contact you through a comm sub-channel within a day if I decide to help.”

“Vaneek, I'm running out of—”

“That's my offer, Auditor. Think of the position you're putting me in. If you really are the man I admire, then you'll accept my terms. You owe me that much.”

That was true. Levin was basically asking Vaneek to make himself a possible fugitive and betray all that he believed in. That idiot Cole hadn't made things any easier by coming in like that. Levin walked to the shelf and pulled down a bottle of synthetic wine. He picked out three tins, placed them on the table in front of them, and poured drinks. He raised the tin and took a sip. “Let me start from the beginning.”

 

FORTY-EIGHT

A T
RAITOR

Senior Securitate Kuo looked out the port window of the Valkyrie as it descended through the smog clouds hanging over Chicago. Her irritation grew as Earth Central came into sight. The director had the audacity to order her to personally oversee and “discuss” her latest reinforcement and supply acquisition. This must mean he was finally giving her the monitors she had repeatedly asked for. Why else would he summon her here, just to talk?

Her ship made a narrow circle around the building until it hovered fifty meters above the facility's landing pad. Kuo opened the doors and jumped out, plummeting fifty meters and landing on the hard concrete with a crash. Best to get this charade over with. Things were falling apart on the Mist Isle, and she had to get back as soon as possible.

She noticed the hundreds of eyes on her as all activity around the hangar stopped. This was the exact place she had fought Auditor Levin almost a year back. The taste of that defeat was still fresh in her mind. She looked around. Chances were, several of these lowly workers had been there then. Probably some of them had even shot at her. That memory burned. The fact that Levin had twisted the justice system so that they had all escaped still rankled her.

There was a Hephaestus transport in one of the docking bays being loaded with supplies. Lead Moyer was standing near the cargo bay overseeing the transfer. He saw Kuo approach and hurried to meet her.

Moyer bowed. “Greetings, Securitate, it's an honor and pleasure to see you, as always.” She knew what the monitor ranks thought of her. The lead monitor must want a job at Valta.

“My supplies,” she said briskly. “Any issues?”

He looked over his manifest. “Everything as requested, except for ration counts, of which we were only able to requisition ninety percent, rad shields at eighty-six percent, and blaster recharges at seventy-nine. Nothing we can't fulfill next week.”

Kuo admit to being a little surprised. That was actually good, all things considered. “And the five hundred Valta troopers?”

“They arrived last night and are ready to depart with you.”

“Excellent, Lead Moyer. What about my request for the five hundred additional monitors?”

Moyer hesitated. “Apologies, Securitate, but—”

“Cut to the chase, Lead. How many am I actually getting?”

“None. Again, director's orders.”

“What?”

Moyer bowed. “I'm sorry, Securitate, but the director has put a hold on your request.”

“We'll see about that,” she spat. “Make sure everything is ready to depart when I am.”

She left Moyer standing on the hangar deck while she went to find the old cripple. The nonprofits in the building scurried out of her way as she stormed through the administrator wing. The old man had been fighting her every step of the way. Now, at such a crucial moment, Young had summoned her just to hamstring her. How dare he!

Kuo reached the entrance to his office, created a large white kinetic trunk, and punched in the double doors. She split the trunk into two smaller ones—not an easy feat for space combat exos—and held the larger splintered fragments hovering in the air. She walked through the entrance, past the floating pieces, into Director Young's office.

Young was sitting at his desk reading a leather-bound book. He barely glanced up at her display of force. She had to give the old man credit; he wasn't easily intimidated. She stormed in front of his desk and waited. And then waited some more. She realized her tactical error when he licked his finger and turned the page.

“Did you recall me from the front just to deny—”

He held up a finger and shushed her. To her surprise, she stopped. Then, with a furious scowl, she placed her hand on his desk and powered her exo. The desk cracked down the middle and collapsed into two pieces.

Young lowered the book and stared at her handiwork. He closed the book with a slap and sighed. “That was wood. Real fucking wood. Do you know how hard it is to find an honest-to-abyss wooden desk these days? At least one that isn't moldy, full of termites, or covered in that fake plasti-wood shit they try to pass off as the real thing?”

“You call me back to Earth Central just to refuse my order for additional monitors,” she growled. “Let me make myself clear, Director. My request is not a request.”

“I denied it just like I denied your psychopathic request to grayon-gas all of the Mist Isle. There's a million people living there. Just because you're losing doesn't mean you get to kill everyone.” Young rubbed his chin. “How are you losing to a bunch of wastelanders, anyway?”

Kuo balled her hands into fists. She shouldn't have to answer to him. However, he had what she needed. “The primitives got organized. They've risen up and are working together. My forces are outnumbered twenty to one. There are savages actually flocking to the Mist Isle in droves to volunteer to fight us. I need additional resources!”

“So it's true,” Young mused. “The mining operations east of Neo-Pittsburgh have been reporting large migrations of wastelander tribes.” He chuckled. “Congratulations, Securitate. You've managed to unite tribes that have been at war for two hundred years. Within the span of a few months. That's no small feat.”

“All the more reason to get out of my way. A new organized nation of savages will be dangerous to ChronoCom's control of this planet.”

Young put his book aside and got out of his chair. He made a slow circle around his broken desk and faced her, his mangled shoulder drooping badly as he stood in front of her. “What did you think was going to fucking happen when you begin wholesale murdering and enslaving them? Did you think just because you're in your goddamn white shiny suits that they were going to roll over and huddle in the mud while you blew up their homes?”

“How dare you? ChronoCom's contract with Valta—”

“—is being honored,” he snapped. “That doesn't mean we'll allow you to misuse our resources, and it sure as hell doesn't mean I'm going to allow you to gas the damn island! Whatever happened to taking that scientist, anyway? I thought she was a desired asset. How are grayon gas and genocide going to get you any closer to acquiring her?”

“That is only as a last resort,” she said stiffly. “If Valta is unable to acquire the resource, it sets a poor precedent for others.”

“By killing the hundreds of thousands of people who live there,” he mused. “You're setting some sort of precedent, all right. In either case, ChronoCom is denying your request for another five hundred monitors at this time and we sure as abyss deny you the use of weapons of mass destruction on Earth. Make do with what you have or get the fuck off the planet.”

Kuo's exo flared and surrounded the old man. For a second, she considered ending the old short-sighted cripple's life. Life for the megacorporation employees near the gas giants was harsh. Survival and success were all about aggression and respect. An employee of Valta must wield both in order not only to climb the corporate ladder, but to survive, because there were always people beneath you who wanted your position. Sometimes, in interoffice politics, it was considered acceptable, even approved by leadership, to kill someone.

She could even argue that it was justified. Young was actively and purposely impeding a critical Valta project. There would be problems, however. Young wasn't without rank and stature not only within his agency but with all the major corporations. The director of Earth's time-salvaging operation carried weight and influence.

Interestingly, Young seemed undeterred. “Give it your best shot,” he said, resigned. “I've bent over backward for you enough. I draw the line at mass murder.”

“You fool,” she spat. “Protecting those who do not contribute to humanity's survival is betraying your oath to your agency. I'll see you hanged for this.”

There was a knock on the door.

“What!” both of them growled, turning to look at the terrified administrator standing at the door.

“Apologies, Director. Securitate.” The administrator bowed several times. “Interrogation room three is ready, Director.”

“Come with me, Kuo.” Young said, limping out the door and not bothering to look if she was following.

Kuo was not used to following orders outside of headquarters and for a moment considered refusing. Valta was the superior partner in this relationship. To allow a ChronoCom entity the lead lowered her position. However, her curiosity was piqued.