Chapter 28: 27: BREACH

Noor stood waiting for Elias, Hudson, and Davies beside their Silatem armored cruiser as they emerged from the mining tunnel. The hunters were in escort of the terrified students they’d recovered from the mountain passages of Kidish Pass, a route now infested with the rabid undead in numbers far exceeding red flag measures. A scattering of rebels had also appeared as the group neared the exit, figures in black protective gear tasked to guard the way out, and those hostiles fired at the hunters as soon as they appeared on sight.

Elias and the men with him, forced into desperate maneuvers to defend the students in their escort, found their progress to Westmont greatly slowed upon that encounter until the path to the exit was cleared. The interaction also confirmed, although he already knew based on evidence found, that they’d stumbled upon the worst possible scenario for Harvest. Worse than anything they’d encountered thus far, the predicament had only begun.

The men hurried the students to the vessel on standby. Elias tossed Red Lady’s COM to Noor once he was within range, the item crusted with Red Lady’s blood as Noor caught the device and almost dropped it in surprise.

“Captain—?” he said.

“Check that out, Navigator,” replied Elias. “See what’s on it, where it came from, who else it communicates with—everything about it. Break it to pieces if you have to. I don’t give a shit.”

Noor studied the COM and nodded, following Elias to the cruiser.

“Yes, sir.”

“Where’s the response stationed?” called Elias, linking to Noor via the COM. “This tunnel needed to be blocked yesterday—there are infected inside of an unknown quantity, all Stage 7's. I'm surprised you stood in peace here this long with that threat hovering near. We encountered and eliminated rebels armored in swarm protective gear whose dismembered remains need to be collected and ID’d. They must work for Grimley’s benefactors, those mysterious clients of his that he can't reach. Units prepped for crowd control and stealth maneuvers need to infiltrate the tunnels and clear every path manually. Leave no avenue unchecked. Can't afford a missed corner.”

“I’ve inputted the coordinates for the response's base camp into the NAV system and now that you're here, we'll head there right away. CDPD has been notified of the secret route to the party and provided with the map, so they're infiltrating Kidish from all available entrances with Veratec hunters. Progress is slow but thorough. I’ll confirm with mission command that you’ve made it through and the squads will retrace where you've been to institute protective measures. They'll defend the Westmont exit after we leave.”

“Good.”

The men entered the cruiser just as pings struck their COM devices, signaling that there were threats in close proximity—pings that seemed to manifest out of seemingly nowhere, popping up right beside them with no indication of where they’d manifested. The cruiser’s doors were barely shut when the first rabid host rushed them, flinging its mottled body into the aircraft without sense. The noises and visuals of the creature flooded their internal displays and the students with them screamed, filling the bridge with noise until Noor directed them out of the way to the rear of the cruiser.

Hudson and Davies took the helm as quiet resumed while another cluster of pings appeared to the south. Elias held onto a side strap, barking at the commander and lieutenant to act.

“Disable them,” he ordered. “Lower the caliber of the cannons. Leave something behind to ID. It might be those kids and we can’t just…destroy them. Their families will want answers—and confirmations.”

“Copy,” replied Hudson over the team link.

Davies shifted the cruiser to flight as Hudson maintained control of their weapons. Commands passed between the hunters as the cruiser made a sharp turn in the air, circling around as their pulse weapons charged. Once Hudson confirmed a lock on the targets Elias ordered their execution.

“Fire,” he said.

Pulses of destructive light energy burst from the cruiser’s cannons in quick succession, the bombardment of ammunition striking the bodies below as Davies swerved the cruiser back toward their destination. Elias watched through the cruiser’s exterior surveillance cams as the parasites dropped to the ground with bodies burnt and half-obliterated, still simmering with active heat. The corpses grew smaller in his view as the cruiser accelerated distance between them.

“Recap.” Elias turned to Noor, who took station at the communications helm, transmitting updates to their contacts in Capitol City. “Who’s responding? Why is this taking so long? I expected to see ground support and air support in control of Westmont.”

“CDPD,” replied Noor. “Judge Khelot approves major security orders for the district. He authorized an immediate emergency response once he found out his baby girl was missing—but we’re ordered to move with extreme caution. He wants her back alive and won’t risk pissing Jackal off. Khelot’s got full jurisdiction over RedSect Central’s Zone Defense so CDPD’s making up the bulk of the first response. They’re holding back action on his direction and be warned—they don’t follow hunter command. We follow theirs.”

“CDPD is fucking local,” spat Elias. “They deal with civilian criminals—or a wayward rabid whenever one pops up in their precincts. They’re out of their element in a rebel situation armed with advanced swarms. Khelot needs to release control of this response and turn it over to UIA immediately. I'm surprised UIA isn't all over this already. It’s not about his daughter alone—”

“Yes sir. But in the judge’s own words, he wasn’t going to waste a fucking minute waiting for money-grubbing hunters to sign a fucking contract so they’d give a shit about the fucking residents—”

“Fuck him.”

“Regardless, Khelot’s in control until someone with a higher rank cuts him out. He and Heywood are battling it out with competing orders. There are no superior signatures on Khelot's current action so he’s working alone, which is a fact that works in our favor in case we do end up butting heads with him over this response. He’s hopping mad at you for what you did in East Central and thinks you made things worse with your displays.”

“What did I do?”

“Sir.” Noor’s placid gaze studied him. “You…decapitated the bodies of three resident civilians and burnt down their home—”

“I shut down illegal access to Westmont and disabled three active covert threats. Review the details. Send them to the judge. Let him read it over while we take care of this shit. That won't be the end or the worst of what's going to happen tonight.”

“He’s seen the details. Says you were never authorized to pursue rebels in his territory on your own. Armed, no less. He’ll make an issue out of it if we push.”

“We were on a mission,” said Elias sourly.

“The mission was 18. You closed it yourself.”

“Fuckhead. I’ll talk to Heywood. I can shove plenty of emergency orders at Khelot myself and cause issues. Silatem still has that power, even under suspension. We still fucking matter. He can’t just shove us out of the job we generated—we’re the reason he even knows what’s happening right now and has a chance of salvaging anything at all.” Elias frowned. “Enough of that. What’s happening at the temple? Who’s in charge?”

“CDPD Captain Schulz commands the entire response per Defense emergency protocols. Veratec, as I advised, is the on-call hunting service contracted for the zone this term so Captain Hodges is already on the scene with his men.” Noor’s focus followed the rapidly changing streams of data projecting in front of him. “Hodges’ report indicates live fire around the temple perimeter. Hostile responses when attempting to approach on foot. Several officers have been wounded by the rebels. By the stats so far it looks like Westmont’s already swarmed with Stage 7’s. They were released before any of us arrived from unknown sources and we're not sure how many are out there in those city streets.”

“Survivors?” asked Elias.

“Not many returned, so far. Eighty, maybe, with some of them runners that stumbled onto our camp on their own, not counting who you’ve brought along with you. They’re in bad shape—either physically, mentally, or both.”

“Aye. How many are inside?”

“Still determining. NAV bots have been dispersed but no one’s physically entered the temple yet. What they’ve found so far appears to be a mass slaughter of the worst kind.”

“No one’s breached?”

“No, sir.”

“And you—”

“I tried, sir,” said Noor, lowering his gaze for a fraction of a moment. “I tried. We have commanders here and we could have responded—we wanted to, at our own legal liability—but…Schulz indicated that Khelot would eagerly rain so many penalties down over Silatem for acting out of order that we wouldn’t be able to operate a parade float within Union borders when he was finished.”

“Ha.” Elias peered in the distance through the cruiser’s displays as they approached the camp located a kilometer away from the temple in the mining fields. “What, exactly, is Silatem authorized to do here tonight?”

“Each entity is assigned a role. Veratec will secure the exterior of the town and control the swarms. CDPD will pursue the rebels directly, prioritizing negotiation and capture of Jackal alive. Silatem's…ordered to collect survivors with minimal engagement of the rebels.”

“So we can’t go after Jackal ourselves.”

“No. Those aren’t our orders. We have an additional specific task as well, also related.”

Elias smiled without humor. “What’s that, Navigator?”

“Khelot mandated that we locate his youngest daughter, the future Queen of Bhet, alive—and that’s without exception. We’re not allowed to fail that mission. Otherwise…same threat applies about the future of our Union clearances.”

“Fucking hell.” Elias shook his head and spat with disgust. “We can’t control that. She wasn’t placed under our protection. If she’s already gone—”

“Let’s worry about that when we get to it. Now that you’ve arrived we can start.” Noor glanced at his display. “We’re quite a ways from zero hour so the enemy initiated early. Must have gotten wind we were on the way. The hostiles were already patrolling the exterior when our response arrived and fired at patrolling craft.”

Elias cursed, shaking his head. “The rebel back there, in the house we burned down—old woman called Red Lady. Said something about sending a signal when we chased her down and cornered her. She must have warned the others we were coming.”

“I sent repeated urgent alerts to Sesha’s COM,” said Noor. “Civilly, as you requested, but she hasn’t acknowledged yet. Probably traveling for the holiday and deactivated. She should’ve arrived in Altir this evening.”

“Okay,” replied Elias.

They arrived at the camp and debarked fast, unloading the students to the PHS medics before heading off to locate the rest of the crew. Elias scanned the makeshift work area assembled by CDPD forces in the minefields just east of the town and directed Hudson and Davies to regroup with the Silatem hunters present, moving aside to address Noor. He surveyed the collection of his personal men called to duty.

“What the hell?” said Elias, peering at the assembly of elite officers. “Rowan, Hsieh, Agost, Reiser and Jovani—for fuck’s sake, I see twenty ranked seniors waiting around for orders from zone cops. How long have they been here without action on that temple?”

The navigator peered at the fully-suited crew as well, the dark crafted gray of the Silatem armor easy to spot among the uniforms of the CDPD and PHS forces. “Took you just under an hour to arrive from your departure at Cloverland. Your officers were prompt, ready and waiting on scene for forty-five of those. Schulz refused to command them directly because our suspension’s still active so he finds us…useless. Problematic. He’ll only speak to our commanding officer—you—and spoke to me long enough to inform me of that.”

"Problematic. Right." Elias grimaced. “Reiser could have directed both Hodges’ men and CDPD, as we have priority in merchant responses. It’s in our treaty for cases like this. Should’ve infiltrated upon arrival and saved lives. Who knows…what else.”

“I know, sir. But that’s how we currently stand.”

He dismissed anger that sparked before it could affect his temper.

“Where’s Schulz?” he demanded.

“I’ll bring you to him,” said Noor.

The navigator moved briskly toward the center of the camp and Elias kept pace, listening to the hum of more armored vessels taking flight from the perimeter. He and Noor located the main tent where the makeshift command center was stationed, finding technicians rushing about inside and speaking over a reinforced local network. Disembodied voices cut in and out from the field.

Noor directed Elias to a gray haired man in a CDPD officer’s uniform standing beside an array of radars and transmitters. The man soured immediately at the sight of Noor.

“Captain Pendergast reporting—” began Noor.

“You’re not authorized to be here, Navigator,” snapped Schulz without greeting Elias. “This is the third time I’ll recommend that you stay with your squad. Next recommendation will be a direct order carrying legal penalties for disobedience.”

Elias frowned at Schulz. “The navigator’s here under my command,” he said. “I’ll decide where he stays or goes.”

“He doesn’t have clearance,” replied Schulz, looking at Elias at last. “This is a privileged area, Captain.”

“He does have clearance. He has it because I have clearance and I gave him courtesy under my command. You’re the only one without actual proper clearance for this task and yet…you’re in charge today. I’m cooperating with that.”

Schulz chuckled. “Well, that’s right, Captain. I may not be a regular stooge for UIA like you but I’m in charge. What I say goes and that navigator doesn’t have clearance from me in this operation.”

“You said you’d only speak to the commanding officer regarding action for Silatem, right?”

Schulz straightened his back, his thin, professional smile steady. “You receive my orders. You communicate them to Silatem. That’s the pecking order of this chain. Acknowledged?”

“Acknowledged. Sure. But as the commanding officer of my faction I’m entitled to privileged support for counsel. That means I’m ordering the navigator to be present during our conversations. So…please.” Elias gestured at Schulz. “Proceed. What’s our next move to get this completed?”

“For starters—you’re late,” said Schulz. “I’m sure your navigator informed you of the measures we’ve implemented so far. How we’ve been doing your job.” The captain turned back to the large map of Westmont displayed in the projection before him. “Communications are down, likely a system of installed and overlapping jammers. It affected the protective shield around the territory—and that system was antiquated to begin with. We’ve reinforced our network here but there will be issues closer to the temple.”

“No human officers entered yet,” said Elias, peering at the moving indicator lights on the map that illuminated the positions of men on the field. “Right?”

“Not yet. But we obtained detailed surveillance of the damage within the temple using NAV bots. Cleared eight surrounding homes in the immediate area to use as safe houses. PHS is already collecting and treating survivors, prepared for you to begin returning them securely to base. It's all falling into place.”

“You’re still acting defensively.”

“Reasonable offensive measures were taken. We launched a disruptor twenty minutes ago to derail the rabids and we’ve got a second ready to deploy. With hope, repeated hits can short-circuit the jammers they’re using that are limiting COM functions.”

“Disruptor. Fine. That might give any survivors inside a chance to hide, find cover…or even escape the hosts and get to a safe house.” Elias glanced at Schulz. “Have you encountered Jackal directly yet?”

“No,” replied Schulz shortly.

“Because Jackal’s inside. And you’re still outside.”

“Yes. But now he’s cornered. No place to run but into our waiting arms.”

“That you know of. He’s been preparing for this for a while, hasn’t he?” Elias maintained control as he watched the commander. “You’ve also cornered those kids in there with him—the ones we came here to save. He’s already killed too many without hesitation and I’m sure he’ll take hostages to protect himself.”

“We confirmed via NAV bots that the rebel’s taken hostages,” said Schulz.

“Well, then. Let’s hope one of them isn’t Khelot’s little queen.”

“Right. Let’s hope, for Silatem’s sake. But, since you’ve finally arrived to take control of your task, I’ll maneuver the Veratec hunters to support CDPD in neutralizing the radicals.” Schulz glanced at his COM device. “Once we hit ninety minutes of direct engagement I have emergency authorization to pursue an airstrike over Westmont. That will ensure complete control over this outbreak and prevent it from reaching society’s borders.”

“Airstrike?” Elias shook his head, scowling. “You’ll level the area. Terrify every resident in Central and lose any chance of finding or identifying the students inside. The rebels will run underground using whatever hidden routes they’ve created and we might not find them. If they take captives…we may never know that’s happened until it’s too late. Reckless move, Captain.”

“It might be our only option. Currently our last one.” Schulz folded his arms and resumed studying the map. “There’s one ground floor emergency exit on each side of the building, aside from the main doors on the north and south sides. There are no alternate routes to the main floor where the performance stage was established. If Veratec breaches immediately from the north and east while CDPD engages from the south and west, we’ll encircle Jackal and pin him to that main area—keep him in our sights until we engage for negotiations. You can proceed with gathering the survivors in the meantime.”

“Let me speak to Jackal first on that floor, with my men,” said Elias. “The hostages he’s holding are survivors—my territory—and Hodges can direct his men inside during the negotiation to clear the upper floors of wandering hosts. CDPD can remain on standby to support the interaction with Jackal. We’ve got the numbers to pick these fuckers off while Jackal’s distracted.”

“Jackal might retaliate in a grotesque manner if he’s immediately confronted by hunters or deception's discovered.”

“He’s doing it anyway. This attack—tonight, the holiday, what it means, his background as a diplomat…it’s a message. He’ll make sure we get the message with every moment that passes where he's allowed to act. At least with my plan he’ll think he has a way to escape by talking. He won’t. We’ll take him out without giving up a goddamned thing in return. He’s in our territory. Best for him to see that hunters will catch him. Fast.” Elias gestured at the locations of the officers and hunters on the map. “Jackal’s listened to us surround him for close to an hour without confrontation. He must be getting desperate for a confrontation. You can’t suffocate him if you want positive results. Whether you like Silatem or not, Mr. Schulz, this is what we're hired to do all over Ipir without rest. What we’ll continue to do regardless of a suspension.”

Schulz frowned as if he disagreed but assented instead. Somewhat. “Silatem can enter first after we launch the next disruptor. You have fifteen minutes to finish your task as described. After that, CDPD will be ordered to infiltrate as originally intended and disable Jackal using any means or barter necessary.”

“Fifteen minutes to collect survivors, rescue the hostages, and capture Jackal to prevent that airstrike.” Elias glanced at Noor, who nodded. “Fine,” he said. “Notify me of the next launch. My men are ready to move at the word.”

“Don’t wander too far, Captain,” said Schulz. “You’ve lost enough time as it is and you wouldn’t want to be late again. I’m sure Silatem can’t suffer many more penalties these days.”

Elias chuckled. “Thanks for your concern.”

He concealed his disdain until he walked out of the command center with Noor. A ping in his ear signaled an attempt at direct communication, which was possible only with a correct sequence of encrypted keys. Elias answered it immediately, still annoyed.

“What?” he snapped.

A female laughed in response. “Oh. El. Same old same-old.”

“You.”

“Yeah. Me.”

“Well?”

“Hello to you too, Captain. Let’s cut to business then.”

You are reading story Native Blood: The Cursed Planet (Book1) at novel35.com

He darkened further at the familiar voice. Elias gestured at Noor to keep moving without him and folded his arms when he was alone, scanning the CDPD cruisers in his vicinity. “Please do,” he said. “And hurry the fuck up.”

“Gotcha. And to get the mood right—I’ll stress that Silatem’s little suspension’s turning my contact attempts into a real shit-show. Can’t call your office, can’t call you…had to rustle up some archaic sequences from our past agreements to get through to your COM. Luckily not all have been deactivated. Whether you or I like it, this transmission’s logged in our records as a transfer of intelligence. If you don’t fix this mess with a fucking bona-fide contract—”

“I told your father to contact you civilly. Shouldn’t have used UIA signatures until I authorized it.”

“He did contact me civilly. And I tried to contact you civilly but you bounced it right back to me. Like all the others I’ve sent you.”

“How many have you sent? When?”

“A lot! Why are you blocking my contacts? Are we going to be enemies forever? Are you so bitter that you won’t even look at viable intel under my tag? I’m not sending this shit to my dad. I’d lose my fucking clearance and he’ll get flagged. Get ready for suspension number two, big shot.”

“Sesha. I didn’t fucking—I didn’t block you. All right? Get a hold of yourself.” Elias scowled like the woman was in front of him. “I get lots of civilian notes. I must have missed it somewhere if you returned it to me. A lot’s going on at the moment but I’m listening right now. So talk.”

“None of them were civilian notes except for the one you asked for today, asshole. Dad told me you’re looking at that Jackal character and I’ve been sending you alerts about him for the past damn year.”

“The past year?” Elias engaged his COM and filtered through his directory of urgent contacts in his feed, searching for anything containing one or more of the UIA asset’s numerous civilian contact IDs. “Never received a damn thing from you. Not for a while, especially not in the past year. I can’t check in-depth right now but I know there’s nothing there.”

“El—yellow flags every month or two. Suspicious behavior. Frequent travel overseas, including to Vangral. Proceed with caution. You better go back and verify. I thought Jackal was off way before I interviewed him for Trendster and it was why I invited him on the show. I gave up alerting you last quarter since you never acknowledged the tips or my requests to meet with you about him.”

Elias narrowed his gaze and summoned a live projection of Sesha. Her image appeared before him, her deep Porta-Paux complexion, darker even than her father’s after long periods in the island sun, scrubbed clean. She wore a robe like she’d just showered and seemed as if she was on a peaceful vacation. Her gaze met his before moving to the space behind him.

“You’re in action,” she said.

“Aye.” He nodded. “Those yellow flags of yours are now a full-blown red target. People are dead. Minors. Residents, real elite types. Got an unstable outbreak here too, just in time for Harvest. Guess who’s the host of the party where this is happening?”

“Oh…shit.”

“My brother’s in there now.”

“El. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I—”

“Yeah. So. What were you saying about him?”

“Raia M. Malmsey.” Sesha looked aside as she engaged another projection on her end. “That’s Jackal’s civilian name. Check his bio—I sent you C-level details to keep the noise down on this link. Apparently born in Vangral, moved to Asylum as a child, worked in Westmont until that massacre happened and was evacuated with the others when Defense took control of the response. After the Time Of Trouble he was cleared to work for a RedSect charity through the Unifaith ministries. Won a title as a wildland diplomat and did tons of charitable work overseas, including in his homeland. Even partnered with Pender-Pal a number of times for promotional material. You can look it up yourself. I just tied it with a bow.”

“Right. Heartwarming. Great story. Tell it to the wee ones at bedtime.” Elias grunted to himself as he minimized her image to view the packet she’d forwarded to his COM. “What’s he been up to since then—making weird dance music?”

“Pretty much. Got huge doing that in the past couple years. Must be the visage he created that fascinated people, that air of mystery and danger. But…that’s all destroyed. He’s as good as dead.”

“Yep.”

“You know, he performed at your mother’s fundraiser with Judge Khelot’s girl. That hymn for your father. The performance was well-received. Every major feed’s calling it historical.”

“I’m sure it was. Different kind of history now. So, he sang with Khelot’s girl, huh? Jackal’s got a thing for the young ones, I heard. That other one—”

“She was fifteen. Her parents found her hiding bite marks with a scarf. Girl said she did it to herself to look flare. There was a trial but he won the case due to lack of evidence. Even sued for slander and won an undisclosed settlement against a news agency that called him a hidden predator. Diplomatic intervention probably eased that along. The whole record was sealed.”

“Right.” Elias closed the projection of Jackal’s civilian details and Sesha’s image expanded. “Why did you decide to yellow flag him a year ago?”

“He asked me out at an industry party. I knew about his case from my connections, even if it was off-the-record. I said yes to get to know him.” She shrugged, adjusting the robe. “I thought he’d come onto me when we went to dinner but he was more interested in talking. About me…about you. Our engagement in those days. Wanted to know about Silatem, too, and how you were handling John’s death. What you thought of Akil. If the butcher from Vangral ever made you nervous.”

“Ha.”

“I’m good at puzzles, El. Words, too. Raia M. Malmsey spells something else if you try. Don’t even seen a middle name registered. It’s just ‘M’ like an error. Hard to believe no one noticed.”

“Depends whose job it is to notice. If anyone would’ve dared question it once there was a lot of noise around him. Who might have protected him.”

“Spicy. Akil had a civilian name in Vangral too, didn’t he? He was somebody else before he took over the worst of Sinum generations ago.” Sesha’s gaze remained unbroken. “Akil’s just part of his title. ‘B’al’ means ‘Master’. Akil’s bastardized nativespeak, slang, translates to ‘the devourer’ or, depending on the dialect—”

“Jackal.”

“Yep.”

Sesha’s head bowed. She laughed to herself and kept talking but Elias didn’t hear much of what she said anymore. His gaze grew distant as she continued.

“Imram Ylasema. Your old target. Your father’s too—the Master of Sinum, B’al Akil. Almost sounds too stupid to be true, since Akil was confirmed dead by Union—but maybe there’s something more going on?”

“Send me everything,” said Elias quietly. “All your logs, connections, timelines, contacts—everything. Union, overseas—I don’t care. Every last fucking detail down to the color of the fucking shoes he wore to that dinner—”

“El,” interjected Sesha firmly. “The suspension’s an issue. I don’t mind bullshitting speculations with you all night but you want me to make my ideas part of your action against Jackal. Ideas that raise a whole lot of questions about Union’s official story.”

“I’ll remain professional either way.”

“I know you will. But I still can’t transfer S-level intel to anyone without clearance first. That data’s traced now because of the yellow flag. I’d be committing a crime. UIA’s going to ask questions about this communication at this hour during this emergency using this key to your direct line—”

“Do what you have to do.”

He disconnected and returned to the men from Silatem. Noor had already relayed their new direction and Reiser presented Elias with a plan, noting the positions and timing for each phase of the breach. However, Elias now had other matters on his mind.

Mid-sentence, a high scream broke their conversation. Elias looked aside, spotting a red-clothed female charging towards them, her arms and blonde curls flailing in the air.

“Stop her!” bellowed the CDPD officer in pursuit. “She bit me!”

“Bit?” repeated Elias.

His hand rested on the pistol at his side and the rest of the hunters followed suit as the blonde charged into their huddle. Her eyes were wide and she shook with too much energy, circling them and shoving a white box at each man, rattling crazed words. Elias peered at the officer as he snatched her again, holding her by the arms.

“Why is she biting? Is the female infected?”

“Appears to be a survivor,” replied the officer. “In a state of extreme shock. Don’t know how she got back here. I’ll take her over to the PHS tent—keep her separated in case something’s wrong with her.”

“Nothing’s wrong with me, fuckhead! Which one of you is Lion Six?!” she screeched.

Elias stepped forward at the mention of his old Defense call sign, raising a hand to signal the officer holding her to ease up. “I’m L-6,” he said. “Who told you to say that?”

“She told me!”

“She?”

“Here! Take it! It’s yours!” The girl twisted out of the officer’s hold and forced the box toward Elias. “You have it now. Go fucking save my boyfriend!”

Elias caught hold of the box before it slipped out of his grip and Agost snatched it away quickly, running a scan of the interior with his devices.

“What’s going on?” asked Elias as the officer grabbed her again.

“One of your people—” she emphasized ‘your’ with contempt—“picked me up outside the temple and brought me over in one of your vehicles. Told me if I gave this to L-6 standing over here that you’d know what to do. That you’d help me once you saw what was inside.” Her shrill voice raised in pitch again. “You’re supposed to fucking help!”

“Okay,” said Elias. “I can help. Who gave you this box? What’s inside?”

“I don’t know! Some woman. Small. She wore a uniform—like his.” She pointed to the CDPD officer. “Her hair was dark. So were her eyes.”

“Not sure who you spoke to—”

“She said you knew who she was,” said the girl earnestly. “She helps you with off-hour tasks all the time. You met her in the penthouse last time. Just look in the box—okay?”

Dark haired woman. Off-hour tasks. Penthouse.

Elias tightened his mouth and glanced at Agost. “What’s inside?”

“Something with metal parts,” said the commander. “Not reading any dangerous elements. No combustibles. Low density.”

Agost handed the box back to Elias, who examined the exterior and found it wrapped with a bow like a gift. He loosened the ribbon and tossed it away, flipping open the cover and peering inside. A COM band was there, displayed like fine jewelry from Altirian Elite and cushioned with fresh rose petals underneath. Blood stained the band and the flowers. Old blood. Aged.

“Roses,” he said absently, turning the band a few times around before handing it to Noor. “Rose. Desjard.” His time spent with Madsen’s secretary—multiple times, several in the secure privacy of his own home with his guard down—replayed in his mind. “She’s dead. Fucking dead. I’ll find her.”

The blonde twisted away from the officer and rushed him again, swiping at the air to catch his attention. “I did what she told me to do. Go find my boyfriend!”

“Who’s your boyfriend?” asked Elias, still calm.

“Concord Candidate for Ministry of Justice—Adam Elliot Pendergast!”

Breath caught within him.

“Adam?” he repeated.

Hudson clapped Elias on the back. “Golden news, Captain. Word of yer brother. Alive.”

“Brother?” The female hopped again with energy. “You’re—you’re Elias! Elias Pendergast! The captain! And—this is Silatem! You're Adam's brother!” She seized his arm with force. “You’re all hunters!”

“Take her to PHS,” said Elias, glancing at the CDPD officer. “Tell them to give her something. Calm her down.”

“Aye.” The officer took hold of the female again and she looked back at Elias, face twisted with concern.

“Are you going to find Adam?” she yelled. “Are you going to get Jackal?”

“Yes,” replied Elias.

“Fucking go!”

Elias turned back to the men from Silatem as the officer escorted the girl away and pointed in the direction of the temple. “We have disruptors too,” he said. “No waiting. We move now, under stealth. If Veratec or CDPD shows up they’re welcome to assist. Our pings will be made available on their radars once we’re in the vicinity. Copy?”

“Copy,” the hunters replied.

He nodded and directed them to Reiser for positioning. Noor approached Elias with both the COM from the gift box and the COM he’d removed from Red Lady.

“This one’s Havershaw’s,” said Noor, holding out the one from the box. Elias took it in hand as Noor showed him the other. “Blood’s his as well. The other’s registered to Rose Desjard—Madsen’s executive secretary. Havershaw’s device is unlocked and it appears the two knew each other well. Extensive message history.”

“Business or pleasure?”

“Both.”

“Of course.”

“This the last note passed between them. Visible on both devices. Look at his.”

Elias glanced at Havershaw’s COM and engaged the new alert, a resend of a communication first transmitted days before Harvest Eve.

Lover;
I’ll wait for you
In Sector Two
9819

“There it is again,” said Elias. “9819. The digits from the disappearing reading on my COM in Silver Rock and the Dugal’s safe house.” He peered behind him, his mind flashing to Schulz’s map. “Westmont has sector grids. She sent this before we even knew we’d be here.”

“Was the message intended for Havershaw or for you?”

“Don’t think it matters.”

“Hold on.” Noor looked down at Desjard’s device. “I’ll cross reference the digits with the map of Westmont. CDPD’s database too. Let’s see what pops up.”

“All right.”

Elias passed his thumb over the blood stains on Havershaw’s COM. It took Noor only a few moments to find a match before he addressed Elias again.

“Got a hit. Matches a unit number in the residential areas. Belonged to—”

“Raia M. Malmsey,” finished Elias.

“Yes.”

“Gain access to Hodge’s records from tonight. Send our own NAV bots over to unit 9819, surveying the premises both inside and out. Have that ready for me when I ask.”

“Yes, sir.”

Elias separated from Noor, who returned to Silatem’s section of the base camp while Elias stood alone for another moment longer. There were no thoughts in his mind at that moment aside from the task at hand. He surveyed armed officers ready to infiltrate at his order and concluded he had no room for other concerns anyway. They’d only slow him down.

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