Crow's Gambit, page 26
part #1 of Sylphan Revelations Series
Instead of pressing their attack though, the soldiers laid down suppressing fire. They started pulling their stunned comrades back down the hallway. Through Dale’s camera she watched as they broke in office doors and took up sheltered positions on both sides of the hall.
“Amateurs,” Dale observed. “Someone needs to update their training.”
“I’m not sure I’d complain too much about that.” Cassie considered the hallway. “Do you have any more of those foam bombs?”
“Damn. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Grabbing his bag, he searched desperately for another one.
Before he could find and launch it, several of the grates for the air vents dropped from the ceiling. Creeper drones in the ductwork? Cassie wondered.
“Fuck. I’m getting sloppy too.” Dale chided himself.
A small dark object dropped from each hole. Dale turned to cover his eyes against the anticipated flash. Instead, each canister exploded with a low noise. An inky fog rolled across the hallway turning Cassie’s view momentarily black.
As the fog cleared, Cassie watched red laser lines crisscross the hallway from all directions. Everything became confusion and mayhem after that.
Several rounds embedded themselves in the wall just to the right of Dale’s head. He tried to raise his own weapon to return fire, but before he could several rounds struck him in the chest.
The momentum they carried hit him hard. He landed on his back. Cassie heard the air forced from his lungs.
“Dale!” Cassie hesitated between staying put like Dale had told her to and rushing out to help him.
Two dark figures appeared in front of his camera. He struggled as they grabbed him under his arms. Ignoring his efforts, they dragged him back from the barricade and unceremoniously dropped him near the wall.
Cassie was already reaching to take off the VR helmet, her panic rising. Then she realized the two figures were ignoring Dale.
In fact, they’d turned their backs on him. Their weapons were pointed at Dale’s attackers.
“The cavalry’s arrived,” Dale gasped in obvious pain.
Chapter 43
INSIDE THE CONTROL room, Cassie frantically swiped at virtual controls. Nothing was responding. The override indicator continued to flash in the corner. On the plus side, it didn’t matter. At this point, there was nothing she could do to stop the XS-9 from either running into the Sylph or falling out of the sky. Just when she was ready to rip the helmet off her head and toss it across the room, a new window popped open in her view.
“There’s nothing to worry about Cassie. We have control of the XS-9.” Neil’s face was framed in the window. “We activated the override.”
“We?”
The screen zoomed out to show Walt sitting next to Neil.
“Where’s Darrow?”
“Under arrest, but not officially charged with anything yet.” Walt’s tone was calm. “His attorneys and public relations people are proving to be an annoyance to the FBI.”
“So, what are the two of you doing? Stealing Darrow’s drone while he’s gone? Or should I say, borrowing?”
“No,” Walt chuckled. “There was always a good possibility we would run out of time. Turning himself in as a distraction was always one of Darrow’s contingency plans.”
“What can we say?” Neil spun his hand with a flourish. “The man has a hidden martyrdom complex.”
“You’ve done beautifully, Cassie. Really, your grandfather would be so proud of you.” Walt beamed at her. “And now, thanks to you, Neil and I can finish what we started twenty years ago.”
“I still don’t understand. Why did you override the—” Cassie stopped mid-sentence as the interface view changed to a direct video feed from the XS-9. She was viewing the top of the drone looking toward its nose. A line appeared down the back and a brief puff of gas was released. The two sides of the drone separated exposing a small storage bay. Inside were three small cylindrical objects.
“Before Net-Day, NASA and some early space delivery companies promoted the use of cube-sats or small-sats. Very small short-lived satellites that even student teams could design and build. My young protégé here has designed a special set of small-sats.” Walt motioned to Neil.
“We’ve gone back to the dawn of the space age here,” Neil began. “When the Soviets put up Sputnik, all it did was emit a beeping signal everyone could pick up. People would go out at night and watch for it to pass in the sky. This is our version of Sputnik. They’re highly reflective to make it easier to spot in the night sky and there is a small transmitter designed to send out a repeating message. We even included a small tank of compressed thruster gas so we can keep it away from the Sylph just a little longer.”
“Now that you’ve gotten us to a deployable altitude, we can launch them.” Walt made a sweeping hand gesture. “For several days, maybe two weeks even, people will be able to go out at night and see something pass through the night sky that is man-made.”
Cassie watched as the first object slowly rose and separated from the XS-9. Small puffs from the thrusters moved it farther away and repositioned it. A jet of white flame shot from the cylinder’s rear as a small rocket engine ignited. The object moved silently away and climbed. At once the second object started the same process.
“The boosters will push them to a higher orbit,” Neil explained. “We intended to launch from a greater altitude though. Starting lower they won’t stay in orbit as long, but it will have to do.”
“Your flight is the fulfillment of your grandfather’s dream. This,” Walt motioned to his own control screen. “Is the fulfillment of Darrow’s dream. Of giving people hope. Everyone in the world will see these. Everyone will understand there’s potential to enter the skies again.”
“And you couldn’t tell me about any of this? About the new drone? The cube-sats?” Anger began to build within Cassie.
Neil motioned for her to calm down. “There was a chance none of this would matter. And if it all went wrong, well we just didn’t want you to feel guilty afterwards.”
“Guilty?”
“What Neil is trying to say,” Walt leaned toward the camera, “is that this entire plan was devised before we knew about the Sylph exclusion zones or the safe orbital layers. There was a, not inconsequential, probability the satellite launch would cause a Sylph retaliation.”
The room spun slowly for Cassie as she processed Walt’s words. “You thought, you all thought, that by flying the XS-9 it could cause a second Sylph attack? And you didn’t want me to feel guilty because I would be the one flying the thing that caused it?”
“Well the probability wasn’t really that high,” Neil mumbled, “but basically, yes. That’s it in a nutshell.”
“And that’s it? All the secrets are out now?” Cassie’s voice was tight with frustration. “All of them?”
“Well...” Neil began.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. What else...”
A shrill alarm tone sounded, and a new warning light activated in Cassie’s interface. The trajectory plot for the XS-9 showed it was already starting to decay. With or without the Sylph, the XS-9 was coming down.
Quickly Cassie tried to project where the drone would crash on the planet. Since it was in free fall now the Sylph would likely ignore it. With such a low altitude it wouldn’t burn up on reentry and without any fuel there was no way to steer where it crashed.
“This is the part I hate,” Neil mumbled.
She could see him tapping controls just out of her view.
A timer appeared across most of her vision. It started at fifteen seconds and counted down.
“This was always a one-way trip for the XS-9,” Neil replied. “We have no way to land it safely and we can’t risk it harming anyone. We did mention it had a self-destruct.”
Without comment, Cassie watched the last few seconds tick off the timer. There was a momentary flash on the display and a flood of warnings flashed. The display then went completely blank except for a singular message.
Connection lost.
Before Cassie could react, loud voices from outside distracted her.
Dale.
Chapter 44
CASSIE HAD BEEN SO preoccupied she had completely forgotten Dale was still fighting a war outside her door. The feed from his camera had gone dead. However, since armed figures hadn’t burst into the room yet, she had to conclude he was at least still alive.
Without bothering to say goodbye to Walt or Neil, she whipped her helmet off and shoved her gear back in her backpack. Heading across the room, she leaned against the door and listened for sounds outside. But everything she heard was muffled.
That was until a loud voice broke through.
“Cease fire!” A new male voice commanded.
Pushing the door open, Cassie peered into the hallway. She could see Dale crouching on the floor near the door. Two figures in combat gear squatted close to him on both sides. They both had weapons. The space was now lit by several spotlights at both ends. Down the hall, she could just make out several other figures huddled in doorways and behind furniture. Based on uniforms and the direction they were aiming, there appeared to be two separate groups.
A tall figure stepped calmly out of the stairwell door. Even in the semi-dark, Cassie recognized the profile of General Belle. “Who’s in command here? Identify yourself!” He yelled down the hall.
One of the figures at the other end of the hallway stepped partially out of the shadows. “Lieutenant Cray, sir.”
“You know who I am lieutenant?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then why don’t you pack up your stuff and go home, lieutenant? End this before someone really gets hurt.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir. I’m under orders to stop a terrorist threat.”
The general turned to look directly at Cassie through the cracked door. With a curt nod of his head, he motioned she should come out. Cautiously she pulled the door open and stepped into the hallway. Belle moved to stand protectively in front of her.
“You’re attacking a U.S. citizen on American soil, lieutenant. We both know what this is about, so let’s cut the crap.” His voice had taken on a decidedly unfriendly tone. “If you took the time to get a sit-rep from your command, you’d realize she already flew the XS-9. Successfully, I might add.”
The lieutenant pressed a hand to his ear and Cassie could hear him talking in a muffled voice. His body language grew tenser and more fidgety the longer the call went on.
“Your mission is over, son. Pull your unit out before this gets out of hand and someone’s feelings get hurt.”
After a moment of silence on both sides, the Lieutenant’s shoulders slumped, and he made a hand gesture. The members of his team started pulling back, never turning or taking their eyes off Belle and his men. Once all of them had slipped back down the rear stairwell, the Lieutenant gave a curt nod, turned, and walked slowly away.
Belle’s men began securing the floor and checking each other for injuries. The general reached down and pulled Dale to his feet. “You never could stay out of trouble, could you?”
“You know me,” Dale winced as he probed his ribs. “Always on the front line.”
“Maybe you should reevaluate that strategy,” he said dryly. “You seem to keep getting shot. By the way, we found the two on the roof you hit with the sonic reverberator. They were still puking their guts out when we left them. My advice would be to avoid meeting them in the future. I think they may want a word with you about that.”
“Are you going to take any flak for this?” Dale asked.
“I doubt anyone will ever admit any of this ever happened. Of course, that means everyone will know about it. Should make the Army-Navy game interesting next year.” He turned to Cassie with a frown. “I see you completely ignored my advice, Ms. McIntyre.”
“No, general. I actually gave it a great deal of consideration. I just ... made a different call.”
Belle grunted but Cassie thought she saw a hint of a smile on his face.
“Are you going to arrest us now?”
“No, but if I were you, I’d get out of here before someone else with another idea arrives.”
“I don’t know why you helped us but thank you.” Impulsively, she leaned forward and quickly hugged him before he could react.
“Well, let’s just say I owed someone.”
Cassie glanced at Dale, but the general shook his head. “As fond as I am of this idiot, I wouldn’t risk my career and charges of treason to help him.”
“I don’t understand.”
He looked at the floor for a moment reflecting. “On Net-Day, I was operating with a unit in the desert. We were tracking this band of rebels who were going village to village killing everyone in their path. We got pinned down. Greatly outnumbered. No way out. Then this crazy Air Force pilot flies in, against orders mind you, and heads straight into the Sylph line of fire to attack the rebels.”
“What happened?”
“Plane got vaporized by the Sylph but not before it deployed its drones and missiles. The pilot was able to eject. She saved my unit. Saved everyone in that village. Actually, I think you’ve met her.”
It took Cassie a moment before it came to her.
The senator.
As he started walking away, the general said, “So let’s just say I owed the Air Force.”
“But general,” Cassie said in confusion. “We’re not the Air Force.”
Without stopping, he looked back over his shoulder at her. “No, but you, Ms. McIntyre, are the closest thing we’ve got now.”
Chapter 45
CASSIE OPENED HER EYES reluctantly. The last week had taken a toll on her body and every part of it ached. After they left the Fidelity World Insurance building, Dale had taken her back to the cabin. The call for her arrest had been postponed after the successful XS-9 flight but what would happen next was still uncertain.
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Dale stood at the top of the stairs watching her. There were several cuts on his face and one eye seemed bruised.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Almost twelve hours. I thought it was best to let you sleep.”
“Everyone else is all right?”
Dale smiled. “They are. Wang is fine, just some bruising. Gloria, who’s back on her feet against doctors’ orders, and Harvey, are with him. No serious injuries, although there are some interesting discussions going on with child protective services about Darrow’s guardianship.”
“At least everyone is alive.”
He sat down on the bed next to her with a frown.
“What?”
“There is something else. Neil is in the hospital. The cancer has spread. He’s in and out of consciousness. They’re running tests but...” Dale let the sentence die off. “Also, Darrow has fled the country. Apparently, his attorneys weren’t that good, and he didn’t like the prospects. Joe has vanished, too, but no surprise there. Things have been a little tense.”
“Darrow’s little satellites?”
“Two managed to stay in orbit almost seven hours until they finally got too close to a Sylph sphere. The third is still up there but they don’t think it will be much longer before it runs astray of the Sylph. Of course, by now everyone has seen them or heard their signal. The reaction has been ... mixed.”
“Mixed?”
“A lot of people expect retribution by the Sylph. They’re scared. It’s led to some riots. Civil unrest. So far there haven’t been many injuries, except in some places where this is all just an excuse to misbehave. There have been a few deaths.”
Cassie sank her head into her hands. “Let me guess, they blame us?”
Dale raised his eyebrows. “If by us you mean you and Darrow, then sure. Us.”
“Wonderful.” Cassie looked up at him. “Any other good news?”
“Most of the world’s militaries are on alert. Half of them are expecting an attack from the Sylph and the other half an attack from the United States.”
“I don’t understand. Did they find out about the stealth network?”
“Not yet—that we know of—but it’s probably only a matter of time now. Some are suggesting Darrow’s satellites were prototypes for a new American first strike capability.” Dale stood again and moved over to the window. Pulling back the blinds slightly, he scanned the exterior. “As the only nation now with access to space, the U.S. has a serious strategic advantage. Some nations expect we’re going to use that to settle some scores or regain some power.”
“But the U.S. government doesn’t even know how we did it!”
“You don’t think they’re actually going out and telling everyone that do you?” Dale chuckled. “Of course, that will just make it more important for them to get their hands on you.”
“Ah.” Cassie slumped back against the pillows. “So, what do we do now?”
“First we need to stop by Crow Research. Walt has something he needs to show you. Something about one last secret.”
“Now? What could be that important?”
Dale just stared back at her silently.
Of course, this was the way her life worked now.
“Fine! Let’s go. Assuming you can get me there safely?”
Dale merely raised an eyebrow at her and descended the stairs.
An hour later, they were walking back through the Crow Research hallways. Workers were busy cleaning up debris from the attack and repairs were already underway. Dale led her to a black elevator she hadn’t seen before. After scanning both of their badges and putting in a security code, the doors shut, and the elevator started to descend.
The doors opened on a small hallway with a second set of doors at its end. There was a security station built into the end of the hallway before the doors. The guard sat behind thick glass and appeared to be armed. They each ran their security badge over a scanner while the guard double checked their faces and IDs against the information on his screen.
