Christie watched the video feed as an armored truck pulled off the road, and came to a stop outside the high security checkpoint. Beyond the gate lay the newly constructed VennZech industrial park, which the surveillance of Gaz and his fellow investigators was so far unable to penetrate.
“He does this every Thursday?” she asked as she scribbled notes. She wanted to stretch her legs inside the cramped surveillance van, but there was too much equipment in the way.
“Once he’s met with that Divine lady up in the old town headquarters, he comes straight back down here. Only time he leaves.” Gaz sighed and rubbed his jaw. “This is why I’m convinced he’s got Milani in there, somewhere.”
“I think you’ll find her name is Madam Divine,” Christie said idly. “And you’ve never seen her outside the headquarters building?”
“Never. I’ve got a team watching that building 24/7 now.” He stared at her for a moment. “Why do I get the impression that it’s her you’re really after?”
Christie didn’t reply, but continued to scribble notes. “You’ve never thought of attempting to break in through here?”
Gaz tiled his head. “Hmm. So, you’re a fan of our work?”
“I just happened to see a few articles on the Intaba feeds.”
“Well, there’s too much security at this site. In general, most of the execs that go looking for kids do it far from their workplace. It gets difficult for people to look the other way when it’s taking place right in front of them.”
“Is Mr Cirkiss Tensall something of an odd ball?”
“More likely he’s spooked by recent events. I would guess that his bosses ordered him to stop what he was doing, but he refused, and so they were forced to compromise. I guess they can get away with it here, because Helvetic society is limited to the city of Rackeye.” He caught Christie’s puzzled look. “It’s a very small world,” he explained. “The corporation would be able to squash discontent easily.”
Christie tapped her stylus against her phone. “You’ve become quite the expert on social patterns, after eight years as a marine.”
“You ran my background?” Gaz shrugged. “We were dealing with an insurgency on Solstice. Understanding the culture and politics was a necessity. Translates over to human trafficking pretty well, too.”
Christie nodded. It was probably best not to ask about his sister. “What would you do if you caught Tensall in a dark alley?”
Gaz raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Christie jotted down another note. He would need to be treated with caution. Him and his fellow veterans were certainly capable of taking any action they felt would satisfy their closely guarded rage, and probably without warning.
Gaz’s phone rang, and he listened for a minute. “Okay, take photos and run searches on everyone at the location.”
He hung up and turned to Christie. “That was my Charlie team. They’ve tracked down one of the containers to a warehouse by the river.”
“Thank you. Your efforts in this search are greatly appreciated.”
“You feel like giving me a hint about what we’re getting ourselves into? What’s in those containers?”
Christie returned his gaze with open, honest eyes. “A weapon system, certainly. I have no idea what kind. That’s why it’s so concerning.”
Gaz’s brow furrowed. “One container on its own by the river. Why would they spread them out like that?”
Christie could only shrug helplessly.
They watched the gate for several hours after that, until Gaz drove them back towards his group’s base of operations.
“So…” he said awkwardly as they followed the traffic.
Christie suppressed a smirk.
“Your friend… uh… Kayla?” he continued.
“I’m not going to discuss my friends or my employer with you,” she said.
“No, obviously, I get that.” He paused for a moment. “But I saw you together in the club, so it seems obvious that… well, that you’re friends,” he finished, and looked away in embarrassment.
“Indeed.”
“So, I mean, maybe you could pass her my number the next time you see her… whenever that might be?”
Christie laughed shrilly, then clamped a hand over her mouth. “Gosh, sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just had this vision of you standing on a mountaintop in a thunderstorm, waving a copper rod while you shout blasphemy at the gods.”
Gaz chuckled. “She can’t be that bad.”
Christie shook her head, but her tone cooled. “And did you see how many friends joined us in the club?”
“A fair few.”
“All of whom would be happy to kill you if you set a foot wrong with her.”
Gaz nodded. “Well, sure. That’s fair. Good to see a strong group of people looking out for each other.”
Christie watched him carefully. It was time to warn him. If he did have a mind to take matters into his own hands, he at least deserved some perspective.
“In any case,” she said, “I should rather keep your mind focused on this predicament we have found ourselves in. There is no guarantee that we will all live through it.”
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Gaz glanced at her in puzzlement.
“Carlotta Divine is a fake ident for Allana Rayker.”
He didn’t take his eyes off the road, but his jaw slowly opened and he exhaled deeply. “The terrorist? In Rackeye, with a collection of top secret VennZech weapons?”
“Quite so.”
“Oh, Christ,” Gaz muttered.
The battlefield preparation team consisted of the Raider’s senior NCO Urtiga, her ODT equivalent Masey Laukkenen, Zhang, and Christie. They worked out of an apartment in Rackeye, building a picture of VennZech’s properties around the city and the personnel who moved between them. Soon, advance teams of Raiders and ODT’s showed up to begin street work, following their assigned targets and building up an understanding of their patterns of life. A sniper team managed to get themselves a top floor hotel room near the starport, with sight lines on both the shipping area, and the industrial zone, now dominated by VennZech’s buildings and warehouses.
Their headquarters was a different matter. Placed high on the slopes of the city’s canyons, it was a perfect opportunity for a field team to camp on top of the cliff face. The high stretches of vertical rock, with their easy access, and stunning views, were a popular attraction for climbers from around the local cluster. A team was able to sit in the open with an unrivaled view of the VennZech building, camping in tents, hiking, climbing, and barbequing, while a discreet zoom lens faced the busy office windows.
With surveillance operations in full swing, that left Zhang with only one problem left to solve.
“An undercover agent,” she announced to the apartment’s crowded living room.
The team was taking lunch with the operator’s senior leadership, Captain Nazli and Lieutenant Commander Vukovic, while they discussed plans for the upcoming mission.
“Do you really think a spook will get much out of whatever VennZech desk job she gets stuck in?” Masey asked skeptically.
“Honestly,” Zhang said, “I don’t see us making much progress without one. The container that our asset managed to find is in deep storage. Nobody is going near it. Tails and cell networks aren’t going to help us locate the rest.”
Masey raised an eyebrow. “And you think that they’ll just leave that kind of data on their office servers?”
Zhang shrugged. “If they haven’t, then we have the option of exploiting someone in the security division. They used cartel truckers to move the containers, but there would certainly have been company guards keeping an eye on them.”
“High security types with good discipline.”
Urtiga cackled. “Ain’t no discipline known to man that can stand up to the wide-eyed adoration of a beautiful woman who wants to know exactly how cool your job is.”
“Let’s not get carried away with expectations,” Zhang cautioned, as she gave Urtiga a disapproving look. “Selecting and approaching a target is a delicate business that can go wrong for any number of reasons.”
“Urtiga only plays on our side of the fence,” Masey interjected with a wink at the master sergeant. “So she thinks men are too easy. But anyway, who are you going to insert, Zhang?”
Christie felt her ears burning, as she shifted in her chair. Across from her, the unit’s newest recruit, Effimia Argyris, glanced at her anxiously. She was excited by the daunting assignment, though she hadn’t done much more than support the team with data gathering. She was new, and had a lot to learn.
“Me,” said Christie, avoiding the frustrated eyes of her teammate. “My background and continuing research into the corporation’s culture and structure makes me ideally placed.”
Zhang nodded. “It makes sense, even though it’s a risk. Only Rayker has seen Christie’s face before, and she doesn’t leave the headquarters building. We know what she remembers from the chateau, so we can go for a look that’s very different.”
“And what if Christie gets summoned to HQ?” Urtiga demanded. “However unlikely that might be? Makeup tricks aren’t going to cut it with Rayker.”
“Traffic accident?” Zhang asked, glancing at Masey.
Masey nodded. “Could work. We’ll have a Quick Response Team on standby for any eventualities,” she said as she glanced at her senior officer. The woman nodded.
“And if I do get caught,” Christie added, “my family connections make for a good cover story. Disgraced friends of an Adjudicate Cardinal, out for revenge, etcetera.”
This was met with silence, and the room got a little colder.
Lieutenant Commander Vukovic cleared her throat and leaned forward. “How about we make sure that doesn’t happen?”
They nodded their agreement.
Zhang leaned towards her rookie. “Effy, can you get to work on Christie’s ident files and employment record? Don’t panic, I’ll make the data insertion—it needs to be perfect.”
The unhappy looking Effy nodded, and flashed Christie a jealous smile.
Captain Nazli cleared her throat. “I would like to hear more about a contingency for a hard compromise.”
“Open warfare,” Urtiga said. “Rules of engagement suspended.”
Nazli rolled her eyes while the others blinked in surprise.
“Sorry, cap—did you think I was kidding?” Urtiga continued, while her tone remained playful. “‘Cos I wasn’t.”
Christie felt her pulse quicken. Unfolding before her was the very conversation both she and Zhang were desperate to prevent. But as Kayla had once pointed out, you might as well try and hold back the tide as prevent an operator from speaking her mind.
“You know,” Zhang said quickly, “we don’t have any kind of remit to—”
“I doubt the Banshee can deploy in orbit without more substantial support,” Masey said, ignoring the intelligence leader completely.
Urtiga nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, so we pull in the Sirène, and the Erinys again. Fill their holds with Shrikes.”
“A plan for additional firepower is under consideration,” Nazli said calmly. “Please focus on your own little corner of the trash heap, Urtiga.”
“I’m saying that I ‘ain’t stepping foot near the trash heap unless I have substantial confidence it can be lit on fire on the request of me and my girls.”
“Our girls,” Nazli said sternly.
“That’s what I said.”
“Uh…” Vukovic said, and locked eyes with Nazli. A silent conversation passed between them, following which the ODT commander turned back to the room. “Rest assured that no operation will be initiated without total support for a worst-case scenario. Under no circumstances will two hundred women be hung out to dry down here.”
Christie felt the floor drop out beneath here. What were they about to initiate? What could be the consequences of such a momentous decision?
Her voice shaky, she nevertheless tried to speak up. “Don’t you think—”
“Nope!” Urtiga said with an unyielding grin. “Sorry if you’re keen to disappear into a VennZech torture dungeon, Christie. I’m not personally into that and neither are probably… eighty percent of the taskforce. But you can do that on your own time—no judgement.”
Christie went bright red at the rebuke.
“I dunno,” Masey said thoughtfully. “I’ve got some friends who are into all that chains and whips stuff—tell me it’s a fun time. With super-healing… who knows?”
“Hey, good luck to you,” Urtiga said happily. “I’m open minded, but I have limits.”
“Nothing wrong with personal limits,” Vukovic said with a deadpan expression.
Christie shot a furious glare at Zhang, who shrugged helplessly, then at Nazli, who only returned her look with an infuriatingly placid expression. Not for the first time Christie cursed the adolescent behavior of her co-workers that made them nearly impossible to argue with.
“The bottom line,” Masey said, “is that we are not taking any more chances with the Jotnar sponsored freak. We’ve played with kiddy gloves up until today, because of the sensitivity of command, but it has to end.”
Urtiga nodded. “Amen. Those war machines have to be destroyed, and Rayker has to be put down with extreme prejudice. The longer this goes on, the worse it gets.”
Masey turned to the officers. “With that in mind, we will ask for anti-armor launchers for the tier 1 elements, plus combat controllers to accompany us. If things go so far south they end up heading north, we will assemble the Ranger teams into platoon-sized elements, and neutralize any resistance as we move between objectives.”
“Noted,” Vukovic said calmly.
Christie felt a black cloud settle over her head as the meeting broke up with smiles. There hadn’t even been a discussion.