Vengeance (The Kurgan War Book 4) (25 page)

“Anne, the scanner is reading something,” explained Ng, showing her the screen. The case containing the virus was less than two hundred meters away.

“Okay, stay close behind me and don’t make a sound,” whispered Elba.

Ng nodded. The look on his face told her that he wished he was anyplace but where he was right now.

Elba checked the bearing to the case, brought up her pistol, and using the shadows as best as she could, she crept forward.

They had barely gone fifty meters when an alarm blared through every speaker on the station. “Attention, all hands, this is an emergency evacuation order. All personnel are to proceed to the nearest lifepod and immediately evacuate the station. I say again, this is an emergency evacuation order.”

“Jesus,” muttered Ng. “Something really bad must have happened for them to give that order.”

Throughout the base, people panicked to reach the nearest pod. Those who were too slow were pushed aside or trampled by the mass of people rushing to escape before it was too late. Valens’ team had just reached the inner airlock when the alarm sounded. The instant the door opened, a sea of terrified people surged headlong into the passageway leading to the ships waiting to evacuate the ten thousand people Williams had agreed to let go. Valens’ specialists were swept up in the rush and pushed back the way they came.

No one would be coming to help find the virus. Sheridan and his small band were on their own.

On the Earth, Miguel sat in a chair and stared up at a screen showing Tranquility Station’s orbit. In minutes, its power plant would alter its orbit and begin a deathward plunge through the atmosphere. In the back of the room, one of his men kept a close eye on Angela and the two young technicians: Lucy and Kyle. The station commander had been dispatched the second Dorset Station had assumed control of Tranquility’s computers. The only reason the two techs were alive was in case something went wrong and they were needed to fix it. Both knew their lives were now measured in minutes.

Angela couldn’t sit by, not when a quarter of a million lives were at stake. Some were soldiers and therefore her enemy, but the majority of them were civilians like her who did not need to die. She stood up and glared at the man guarding them. He was not sure what to do. She was a Kurgan citizen and had rights. He hesitated for a few seconds before allowing her to pass. She strode to Miguel’s side.

“You have to stop what you are doing,” said Angela.

Miguel looked up with an amused look on his face. “Why would I do that?”

“Because what you are doing is wrong, that is why.”

“I am doing my duty as a citizen of the empire. You should be proud of what we are about to achieve.”

Angela frowned. “Murder is not something to be proud of.”

“For a Kurgan, your words are most troubling.”

Angela took a seat and looked into Miguel’s dark brown eyes. “Have you read the
Holy Book
?”

“Yes, as a child. Why?”

“Do you remember the passage, ‘Defeat your enemy in battle and then welcome him into your home’?”

“Vaguely. What does it have to do with what is happening here?”

“Not all of the people in the space station are your enemy. Their soldiers are, but the civilians trapped up there are not. The teachings of the Prophet entreat us to welcome all people into the Kurgan religion. You cannot embrace people you have murdered. This senseless act will only harden the humans’ resolve to continue to resist and this war will drag on.”

Miguel shook his head. “In the last war both sides used nuclear weapons to slaughter tens of millions of innocent people. How is this any different?”

“After the war, aHoly Council of religious elders met on the Kurgan homeworld and debated our actions during the war and found them to be lacking in compassion. The words of the Prophet had been ignored. We had erred. That is why this time, our side has forbidden the use of nuclear weapon against civilian targets.”

Miguel was having none of it. “Woman, I’m tired of listening to you blather on. Since you care about them so much, go sit with the two humans.”
 

“Stand up,” ordered the assassin, Pavel.

Angela stood. “If you do this, the humans will retaliate. I’m a mother with two small children. I don’t want them targeted because of something we could have prevented.”

Pavel grabbed ahold of Angela’s arm. “Who cares about your children? Collateral damage happens in every war.”

She yanked her arm free and shot Pavel an evil look. “You people aren’t Kurgans, you’re monsters.” She turned on her heel, strode back to the two young technicians, and took her seat.

Lucy reached over and took Angela’s hand in hers. She fought back the fear in her voice. “Are we going to die?”

“Unless a miracle happens in the next few minutes, yes. I’m sorry.”

Tears welled up in the young woman’s eyes. “It’s not your fault.”

Angela let out a weary sigh. “I just wish my murdered friends were here, they’d know what to do.”

Chapter 36

Sheridan had lost count of how long he had been falling. He looked down and saw only darkness. Doubt gnawed at his mind. What if the altimeter was broken? What if the safety ball was defective? He didn’t have time to dwell on either question when a split second later, the world went pitch-black as gas from a canister inside his pack shot into the fabric of the ball, inflating it. His body felt as if he had just been kicked by an enraged donkey. Cocooned inside the safety ball, Sheridan felt his descent slow and then come to a complete halt as it hit the bottom of the elevator shaft. The ball bounced back up into the air before falling back. This time, the device rapidly deflated and deposited Sheridan in one piece onto the remains of several crushed elevators. Although stunned, he was surprised at how well the ball had worked. He switched on the light at the bottom of his carbine and shone it all around. Tangled wreckage from the destroyed elevator was everywhere. He shone the light onto the wall and swore when he saw that he was not where he expected to be.

Sheridan swung his weapon on his back and rushed to the nearest ladder. After a few seconds climbing, he came to a closed set of doors and placed his hand across the laser beam, causing the doors to slide open. He hauled himself up onto the floor and looked about for the stairs. The second he spotted the exit sign he was on his feet, running. With only one thought on his mind, he took the stairs two at a time as he raced to catch his friend before he got away.

Harry Williams stepped out of the elevator and ran to join his men waiting for him. There had been five people assigned to guard the virus, three of whom were among Williams’ most loyal followers. When he saw two of his people standing beside a small one-man shuttlecraft, he slowed down and began to walk. The men were dressed in high-orbit jump gear. They were going to drop from the station as soon as Williams departed.

He pumped a fist triumphantly in the air. “Our families have been released and are on the way to Kurgan space.”

“I knew you could do it,” said a man with a smooth-shaven head.

“Now you must bring about change, real change on our terms,” said the other man with the olive-colored skin.

“I will, you have my word on it,” said Williams as he took the case from the hands of the olive-skinned man.

“Not so fast,” said a black woman as she stepped out of the shadows. In her hands was a pistol aimed at Williams. “Place the briefcase down and step aside.”

“What if I don’t?” asked Williams.

“Then you’re a dead man,” replied Elba as she walked toward the three men.

“In that case, here it is.” Williams placed the case on the floor, raised his hands, and took a step back.

“All of you!” ordered Elba.

From behind her, a voice boomed. “Drop the gun or I’ll kill your friend.”

Elba froze in her tracks and peered over her shoulder. She swore when she saw Ng being forced out into the open. Behind him stood a mountain of a man with a rifle in his hands.

“Drop the gun, lady, or your friend is a dead man.”

With great reluctance, Elba lowered her gun to the floor and dropped it. She had just begun to raise her hands when the insurgent pulled the trigger on his weapon, blasting a hole through Ng’s midsection. The hapless guard staggered on his feet for a second before tumbling to the ground.
 

Elba dove for her gun. She scooped it up in her hand and rolled over on her shoulder, coming up on one knee. The big man fired but missed. The bullets flew right over her head. Elba was a crack shot and fired off one round straight between the man’s eyes. She pivoted on her feet and turned her attention back toward Williams. She was fast, just not fast enough. A bullet struck her in her right shoulder knocking her to the ground. Her pistol clattered away and disappeared from sight under a forklift. Elba had never been shot before. Her shoulder felt as if it were on fire.

“Foolish woman, you should have checked behind you before trying to stop me,” said Williams.

“What do you want to do with her?” asked the baldheaded man.

“Leave her, she’s going to die with everyone else when this place burns up.”

“Sir, I’ve checked and double-checked the coordinates in the nav-computer,” said the olive-skinned man, “and they are as good as they will ever be. You’ll jump from here to just beyond Orcus where a transport ship is waiting to rendezvous with you.”

Williams patted the man on the back. “Thanks, I couldn’t have done this without you, Kaisar.”

The operative smiled at the compliment.

“How long until the jump engine is fully warmed up and ready to go?”

Kaisar glanced down at his watch. “You can depart in precisely five minutes and ten seconds from now.”

“I guess I had best go and change into a survival suit then.” Williams picked up the case containing the virus and walked toward the shuttle.
 

The sound of a rifle firing echoed through the maintenance hangar. Sheridan stopped running for a second trying to discern where the shot came from. He turned on his feet toward the back of the massive room and continued running. When he passed the bodies of the two murdered Chosen agents, he knew he was on the right track. Within seconds, he was in sight of the shuttlecraft and the two insurgents standing next to in jump gear. He knew Williams had to be nearby. Sheridan never slowed or wavered, he ran straight at the men, firing his carbine as he ran. He dropped the baldheaded man with his first burst. The man’s partner saw Sheridan and tried to bring up his own weapon to fire, but was hit by a hail of bullets that sent him crashing back to the floor. He came to a sliding halt next to the dead insurgents. With his carbine tight in his shoulder, Sheridan scanned the area for any sign of Williams and the virus.

“I take it you’re here to stop me, Mike,” said Williams as he walked out of the shuttle. His demeanor was as calm as if he were about to go for an afternoon stroll.

Sheridan took in a couple of deep breaths to fill his aching lungs. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Well, here I am, Captain. Aren’t you going to arrest me?”

“Step away from the shuttle,” said Sheridan, motioning with the barrel of his weapon for his old friend to move to one side.

Williams shrugged and did as he was told.

“Where’s the virus, Harry?”

“In the shuttle. You needn’t worry. It’s safe and secure in a hardened case; there’s no danger of it getting free.”

“What’s your game, Harry? It’s obvious you’re not acting on the authority of the Kurgan government, are you?”

Williams shook his head. “Solari was their point man, so to speak. The operation to embarrass the president and force public opinion against the war was thought up by her and approved by the High Council. It was a foolish plan that only resulted in the deaths of thousands of good operatives. I, on the other hand, have a different vision of the future. I learned about the top secret installation on Eris and convinced her to raid the station so we could obtain the Alpha Virus. I told her that it was the reason why I had been brought back from the dead and smuggled across the border into Terran space. Can you believe the woman actually thought I was telling her the truth? It was my also idea to free my family and all of the other hostages held in your gulag on Mars. That was how I was able to recruit all of those people to my side. Quite ingenious of me, wouldn’t you say?”

“Why do you want the virus?”

“That’s my little secret. Now if you hadn’t noticed, Mike, the station is in distress. In a matter of minutes, her orbit will be destabilized and she will fall back to Earth. I suggest you try and locate a pod before they’re all gone.”

Sheridan’s patience was wearing thin. “If all you were after was the virus, why kill a quarter of a million people?”

“I need a distraction while I get away.”

“You’re going nowhere.”

“Poor old Mike, always playing the hero,” said Williams.

Sheridan thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when Williams moved faster than any man he had ever seen in his life. His friend ran toward him, covering the ten meters between them in the blink of an eye. Before he could swing his weapon around to fire, Williams grabbed hold of the carbine’s barrel and bent it in his hand as if it were made of rubber.