Justice Keepers Saga--Books 10-12, page 96
Harry rolled his eyes. “You can’t be serious,” he muttered. “You want to take the refugees to Alios?”
“And I want you to give the rousing speech that will convince them.”
“What?”
Whirling around, Jack put himself in front of Harry and walked backwards. “Hey, you’re the preacher man,” he said. “If you can convince people that you’re a religious icon, this should be a snap.”
“Damnation!”
“What?”
Grinding his teeth, Harry felt a sudden warmth in his face. He had to resist the urge to utter a lengthy string of expletives. “You know I hate that role!” he said. “I did it to save my daughter. Not to position myself as the next messiah.”
Jack tossed his hands up, his sly smile making it clear that he thought this ridiculous scheme was a brilliant idea. “But you’re good at it,” he insisted. “Look, Harry, the refugees can’t stay here long term. I wouldn’t ask if there were any other way. If you don’t want to give the speech, I’ll do it myself, but if you asked me which one of us does a better job persuading people, I wouldn’t bet on me.”
Harry declined to point out that they wouldn’t be here if Jack hadn’t convinced them all to abandon the lives they knew and join his revolution. Besides, the kid had a point. Project Resilient wasn’t designed to house this many people. The food reserves would only last so long. “All right,” he muttered. “I’ll do it.”
Jack slapped him on the shoulder.
Before Harry could say one word, the kid turned his back and hurried through the corridor. “Come on,” he said. “Helana will want to hear about this.”
Stopping dead with the tablet tucked under his arm, Harry watched him go. He gave his head a shake, muttering under his breath. “Why do I keep letting myself get involved in these crusades?”
They went past the mess hall, to the main control room. Jack pressed his hand against a palm scanner, and the door slid open with a hiss. Inside, a set of stairs led up to an open area where a round table stood surrounded by computer consoles along the gray walls. Bright bulbs in the ceiling simulated the warmth of sunlight.
Harry had expected to find Helana Shinak here, but Larani Tal was another matter. In black pants and a matching jacket, the head of the Leyrian Intelligence Service stood before one of the monitors with fists on her hips.
Larani was leaning against the table, and her frown was enough to tell Harry that something big had happened. He probably didn’t want to know what.
Twisting around at the sound of their entrance, Helana gestured to Jack. “Excellent,” she said. “You should see this. You as well, Mr. Carlson.”
She spared him the trouble of asking by waving her hand and summoning a huge hologram that appeared in the middle of the room. It was another news report – Harry had seen too many of those lately – but he didn’t recognize the young man who spoke into the camera. This guy couldn’t be much older than twenty-five: slim with tanned skin and blonde hair that was too light to be natural.
Harry was less interested in the man himself than in the background behind him. A narrow street with small, domed houses on either side ran on for at least a mile. That had to be a suburb of Denabria. It almost looked like his neighbourhood.
“Right now,” the newsman said, “I’m as close as I can get to the scene without putting myself or the crew in danger. Events continue to unfold here as the terrorist group calling themselves the Sons of Savard have surrounded South Denabrian Elementary, trapping the students and teachers inside.”
“Claire’s school,” Harry gasped.
That couldn’t be a coincidence. Eleven months ago, Melissa had thwarted the Sons of Savard. Was this revenge? No, that didn’t make sense. The only way the Sons could have learned where Claire went to school would be hacking into the school board records, and if they had done that, they would have discovered that she was no longer enrolled there. So, if Claire wasn’t the target, then…
“Sora!”
Standing between Harry and the hologram, Jack looked back over his shoulder with such anguish on his face. “We won’t let anything happen to her,” he promised.
Harry said nothing.
The young news correspondent stared directly into the camera as he spoke in a solemn voice. “Earlier this morning, Denabria PD received a recorded message from the Sons. An ultimatum, of sorts.”
Suddenly, Harry was looking at a yellow-walled classroom with round worktables instead of desks. He knew it all too well. That was Sora’s classroom. Any doubts he had about their intentions vanished.
As expected, they had Sora zip-tied to a chair that they had placed in front of the large sheet of SmartGlass she used as a teaching tool. She was slumped over, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed. Did she even know that she was being recorded? Rage flared hot within Harry. Rage and guilt. He was responsible for this. He had consigned Sora to this fate when he resisted arrest.
Without warning, a man stuck his face in front of the camera. He was pale and pasty with a big nose and thick eyebrows. “The police, the army and the government are unable to resolve this situation,” he said. “So, we’ll do it ourselves. Jack Hunter and Harry Carlson have three hours to surrender to us. Or…”
He walked backwards until he was standing next to Sora’s chair. Then he grabbed a handful of her long, brown hair and yanked her head back. She moaned. “Those who consort with traitors will get what they deserve.”
Before he even realized it, Harry was running down the stairs, the double doors parting to let him out. He stumbled across the hallway, slammed his hands against the wall and stood there, gulping air into his lungs.
A moment later, the door opened behind him.
“Harry?” Jack said.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Harry made no effort to stop the flood of tears. “There’s always a consequence,” he grated. “Do you understand that now? Revolutions sound grand until you think about the innocent people who get caught in the crossfire.”
“We’ll get her out, Harry.”
Rounding on the other man, Harry stepped forward so that they were toe-to-toe. His nostrils flared as he trembled with fury. “No,” he spat. “You won’t do anything. I’ll get her out.”
Jack held his gaze for a very long while, blue eyes as cold as ice. “You’re too angry right now,” he said. “You go in there like this, and you’ll get yourself killed.”
“I’m not going in there to fight, Jack,” he muttered. “I’m giving the Sons what they want. Hopefully, that will be enough to satisfy them.”
“You can’t do that,” Jack insisted. “You know as well as I do that they won’t let her go even if we meet their demands. She’s their only bargaining chip.”
Harry turned away, stalking off down the corridor. He halted after a moment, shuddering. “I never should have listened to you,” he said. “I never should have let you drag me into this little crusade.”
“Okay, Harry, dial back the pity party,” Jack barked. “You came to me, remember? You asked me to get you to safety when you were on the run. And I put myself and my friends at risk to protect you, turned myself into a fugitive to protect you. So, I’ve been expecting a visit from the Gratitude Fairy, and I’m most perturbed by her absence.”
Whirling around, Harry shoved a finger in his face, and Jack retreated a step. “I asked you to hide me!” he snarled. “Maybe smuggle me off-world, back to Earth. Not to make me part of your revolution!”
“Oh, I see,” Jack said. “I’m supposed to put myself at risk to help you, but helping strangers is mui no bueno.”
“Do what you want,” Harry said. “But don’t drag me into it. Have you thought about how this little rebellion of yours will affect Melissa?”
Bitter laughter erupted from Jack as he braced his hand against the wall. He shook his head with a mocking grin. “Nice job, Alanis,” he said. “Excellent use of irony.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You think I’m the one who doesn’t think about Melissa?” Jack exclaimed. “Do you even know your daughter, old man? Because I was there on Alios. I saw the way she threw herself into harm’s way to protect people. Over and over again. You say I don’t think about what Melissa would want. Well, I’m telling you that if she were here with us, she would be the first one through the SlipGate every time we raid one of those detention centres.”
Corovin and Keli chose that moment to come around the corner, stopping short when they realized that they had walked into the middle of an argument. Cassi and Arin were right behind them.
The small crowd parted, and Cassi stepped forward, frowning at Jack’s back. “Larani called us and told us what happened,” she explained. “I assume you want us to suit up and meet you in the Gate Room.”
“You assume wrong,” Jack said. “I’m going in alone.”
“Jack, this is almost certainly a trap.”
“I know that,” he said, twisting around to look over his shoulder. “That’s why none of you are coming with me.”
Cassi’s face was as hard as stone. Harry would not want to be the person who pissed her off. “If you think we’re gonna sit here while our leader gets himself captured, you’ve got another think coming.”
“Haven’t you guys figured it out yet?” Jack shot back. “You don’t need a leader. You don’t need me. Cass, you’re more than capable of planning these missions. You’ve been with me in the prep room since day one. Or Larani could do it. Or maybe you guys could do the breathtakingly rational thing of making decisions by consensus.”
Stepping up to him, Cassi peered into his eyes. “No, you don’t get it,” she said. “We have made a decision by consensus. And we’re choosing as a group not to let you go on this mission alone. So, either we all go together, or we all stay here.”
“Bloody hell…”
The control room doors slid open, and Larani stepped, nodding with approval at the sight of them. “Ah,” she chimed in. “I assume that Jack tried to convince you that he will be charging into danger alone and you all just talked him out of it. Excellent. Then I’m right on schedule.”
“I’m guessing you wanna come too,” Jack inquired.
“This is…How did you put it? ‘An all-hands-on-deck’ situation.”
Pressing his back to the wall, Jack groaned as he looked up to the ceiling. “Okay,” he said. “But battle is no time for democracy. So, I assume you want me to take charge on this mission.”
“You do have a knack for strategy,” Corovin put in.
“Excellent,” Jack said. “Larani, get upstairs. Tell Helana we’re going to Slip to the LIS Denabrian office. I want someone she trusts to meet us and guide us to their fleet of automated cars. Clear the halls. Tell them it’s a drill or a safety procedure or whatever. I don’t care. Just get us some privacy.
“Cass, grab Novol, Vaden and Sarese. Pedro and his backup team can come too if he thinks they’re ready. We meet in the Gate Room in ten.”
With a heavy sigh, Jack paced across the corridor, then turned around. He let his gaze linger on each of them for a moment. “There’s an athali field just behind the school,” he said. “We go in that way. This is quick, quiet and low-pro. So, if anyone here is fantasizing about going all John Wick on these guys...”
Jack looked directly at Harry.
“The mission comes first,” Harry agreed. “I promise to keep the anger in check.”
“Good stuff,” Jack replied. “Grab your gear.”
Sora couldn’t stop crying.
It was undignified; she knew that, but she didn’t care. Who wouldn’t be distraught when confronted by violent men such as these? She knew nothing about them. Only that one was tall and the other shorter.
They stood on opposite ends of her classroom, one lurking by the door, the other remaining by the windows that looked out on the field. The latter was by far the more dangerous of the two. She had suffered a few bruises at his hands.
To her eyes, the tall man was a silhouette in the daylight that came through the window. They had shut off the lights when they came in here. Sora was just glad they let the children go.
Setting his gun down on the counter, the man leaned forward to look through the glass. “They’re still out there,” he grumbled. “I can smell ‘em.”
His companion, the one who lingered by the door, ventured a glance into the hallway. “What if Hunter doesn’t come?”
“He’ll come.”
“How do you know?”
Twisting around, the tall man sneered at his partner. “Hunter thinks he’s a hero.” He kicked one of the cupboards with the back of his heel. “And Carlson thinks he’s the Companion’s champion. They won’t leave poor Ms. Gaieles to suffer.”
Sora said nothing.
Deep down, she hoped that Harry wouldn’t come. She had nearly had a panic attack when she first heard that Harry was wanted for arrest. And the relief that followed when she learned that he had escaped…She had nearly collapsed to her knees in her mothers’ living room. She didn’t care what the school board said; Harry was a good man. Maybe she should have told him that more often.
“Yes,” the short one conceded. “But what if he doesn’t come?”
“Then we take her and go.”
A loud smack, made Sora flinch.
The short man was stumbling backward into her classroom with a hand over his nose, blood dripping onto the floor. A tiny woman in black pants and a sweater stood out in the hallway. Slim with olive skin and long, brown hair, she had an almost regal air about her. As if she could command your obedience simply by looking at you.
The short man tried to lift his pistol.
By the time he got the gun up, the woman was already crouching, a throwing knife flying from her outstretched fingers. It landed hilt-deep in the man’s forehead in the very instant that his weapon went off with a soft buzz.
With a few sputtering sounds, he keeled over to land sprawled out on the floor. His leg twitched once and then went still.
The other one turned away from the window, raising his gun in both hands, trying to take aim.
The tiny woman was a ribbon on the wind, flowing into the classroom on feet that barely touched the floor. She grabbed the back of a plastic chair and threw it with a casual ease that could only indicate the strength of a Justice Keeper.
The chair hit the tall man half a second before he could train his gun on her, knocking the firearm out of his hand. He stumbled, falling back against the cupboards under the windows.
In the few seconds that he needed to regain his balance, the tiny woman was on him, leaping with swan-like grace and kicking him in the face. His fat head snapped backward, blood flying from his mouth.
The woman landed right in front of him.
Grabbing a handful of his shirt, she pulled him away from the counter and then slipped into the space behind him. Two hands seized the man’s head, and with a quick wrenching motion, she snapped his neck.
His body landed at her feet.
Standing over him, the woman nudged him with the toe of her shoe. “Isara had a fondness for you,” she mumbled. “But I always found you to be a nuisance.”
“Who are you?” Sora whispered.
The woman’s eyes settled onto her, and she immediately regretted the question. “Good,” the stranger said. “You’re still alive. And relatively unharmed.”
Without explanation, she bent to grab the tall man’s wrist and then dragged him by the arm out of the classroom. She was gone for maybe two minutes before she returned for the other one. Sora didn’t know where she was taking them. The school’s library was just around the corner, but she couldn’t imagine leaving two corpses there for anyone to find. Maybe in one of the alcoves where the maintenance bots went to recharge when they weren’t in use?
The woman returned, pausing for a moment to examine Sora. She must have been searching for signs that Sora had been mistreated. “Remain still,” she said. “And stay silent. When this is over, I will let you leave.”
“When what is over?”
“But,” the woman cautioned. “If you make too much noise, I will kill you. I can always tell Carlson that one of those two louts did it.”
Tears welled up as Sora shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she said. “What do you want with Harry?”
A tiny hand slapped her across the face with more strength than she would have thought possible from someone so small. Her head rang, and silver stars filled her vision. “You don’t need to understand,” the woman said. “Just sit still and don’t make any noise. I won’t warn you again.”
A black van pulled up to the curb of a quiet street in a residential neighbourhood, its side door sliding open. Jack was the first one out, loping across the front lawn of a dome-shaped house, moving around the small dwelling to the backyard.
He didn’t have to look to know that the others were following him. Cassi was right on his heels and Arin behind her. Corovin struggled to get through the opening. That big, bulky armour could be a real pain in the ass. When he finally managed it, Harry leaped out behind him. Jack had a brief glimpse of a second van pulling up and unloading its passengers, and then he ducked behind the house.
Except for Corovin, they all wore light vests under civilian clothing. Jack was doing this mission in blue jeans and a black button-up shirt that he left untucked. He had no idea what he would find inside the school, but it was a good bet that the Sons would shoot at anyone who showed up in tactical gear. Granted, most people on Leyria already knew his face, but those few seconds of hesitation when the bad guys tried to classify him as friend or foe could make all the difference.
Racing across the backyard with arms pumping, Jack leaped for the small thicket that separated this house from the one behind it. He scrambled up a shallow slope and down the other side, darting around the trees.
Five seconds later, he burst out into another yard with another house very much like the one he had just seen a moment ago.
Staying low, Jack made his way around the building with one hand on his holstered pistol. He scanned every window he passed, looking for signs that someone inside might be wondering who these strangers were. So far, he had seen nothing.
