Chapter 27
Jack, Blake, Cindy and Ping were all sitting at the now familiar table in the dining room. They had gone over the routes at least a dozen times, and run through as many scenarios as they could. There was no doubt this Tyrol was a slimy character, but they didn’t know enough to know if he was insane, or just crazy.
“So Ping, you sure you got the Beast fully operational?”
“Bloody hell Blake, yes. Relax!”
“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one walking into the lion’s den covered in meat sauce. Sin, you got the Sat and signals gear sorted?”
“Nah, thought we’d wing it. What the hell is wrong with you man?”
“I’m just not used to this style of op, you know, rip snot and bust. Especially when we’re going to the middle of nowhere.”
“Forgive him guys,” said Jack about to break into a laugh, “soldier boy is used to a drill sergeant riding his arse all day.”
“Get bent, Jack!”
“Listen mate, these guys aren’t trained by the military or the Agency, they’re much better than that.” Ping stood and gave a bow. “Let’s just get our game face on and do what we do. If I come screaming back down that highway at three-fifty with a dozen arseholes shooting at me, you need to crash and crunch them. Easy.”
“Yeah, easy,” said Blake, a little weary.
They all got up from the table and walked down to the workshop. Jack and Blake were heading up to an RDV just down from the meeting place with Tyrol. Cindy was heading south in the Coffin, so she could ramp up the signals and grab additional resources without giving away the location of the house. Ping was staying at the house, controlling municipal and highway systems to get them all in and out as quick as they could.
As they rolled out, Blake wasn’t sure of the plan. All of his previous dealings with the Alphas showed they had more resources than your average country, and if this guy had sent a hit on them before, there was nothing saying there wouldn’t be a dozen snipers at the RDV waiting for Jack. Cindy was good with her surveillance, but money buys tech, and Tyrol had a lot of money.
In the end he resigned himself to their fate, and only hoped Tyrol suffered from the one failing all Alphas were doomed to, his ego. If he felt he really was the next ruler of the free world, he wouldn’t show weakness by taking an entourage to the meeting. Jack, after all, was just a dropkick runner who kept falling on bad luck.
The afternoon was strangely calm. Driving through the country road the heavy tree cover eventually gave way to loose scrub, and eventually the all too common sub-desert plains. So much of the vegetation had disappeared from the land now, the erosion from the frequent flash flooding created large gorges in the area. It was a fairly common site for Blake now, the central East Coast was getting more like the Outback every year.
There was only a scattering of vehicles, and no activity on the scanners, so Blake took the opportunity to get hold of Ox and see if he couldn’t forge that alliance a little stronger. As he was about to send out, an incoming line popped up.
Blake tapped his comm, it was Ox. “Afternoon Jules, how nice to hear from you.”
“Was that sarcasm, or do you actually want me to put my foot in your arse?”
“Charming. Ping has been digging into the Peiter Solice man of yours. He did a bit of trading with an Alpha here on the coast a few years back.”
“Tyrol?”
“Yeah, ten points for you. It was only a few items, but they were bulky, and he made weird routing of the deliveries. Obviously not standard legal goods.”
“When is anything the Alphas do legal?”
“Oh, Ox, you’re talking about upstanding members of our society here!”
“I know that one was sarcasm. So what else do you know?”
“Not a lot, but we’ll know more soon, we’re heading up the coast to meet Tyrol. He requested a meeting.”
“Whereabouts? I can have resources there to lift him if crap goes down.”
“Sorry, Ox, we don’t have that kind of relationship yet. Besides, we’re covered for protection.”
“Like an Agency issue GTX?”
“You wouldn’t recognise her now Captain. Still drives pretty bad though.”
“They always did. Contact me when you have something solid. We want to nail these guys, if it’s them, before their plan kicks off. I have a feeling if you leave it to their timetable and setting, you’ll get reamed hard.”
“Thanks for that image. I’m out.” Blake cut his comm, and got onto Jack, “Yo, where are you?”
“I’m about fifty k’s ahead of you. I’ll wait at the RDV.”
“OK, I was just talking to Ox.”
“And?”
“And I think he’s coming around. He didn’t seem too surprised about the info on Peiter, but thanked us nonetheless. He is softening Jack. If we can sort this crap out, make him a hero, and not kill too many people in the process, he just may be able to clear your name.”
“I ain’t holding out hope, he’s a Fed.”
“And what am I?” Blake asked with a little tension in his voice.
“A fugitive!” Jack laughed, and then cut his comm. He was riding through the glades now, and didn’t know how bad the road was going to be. The last thing he needed was to wind up arse over kite while making jokes about Blake’s work history.
As he slowed Betty to a reasonable speed, he saw a group of bikers on the side of the road about fifteen k’s from the RDV. It was the only real group he’d seen on the trip up, so got Ping to tag them in case they made a move. He saw the turn-off he wanted and swung the bike hard, moving it with minimal fuss. Betty’s systems had learned his riding style now, and anticipated a lot of his moves, shifting weight to allow him to rotate faster.
The sun was just approaching the horizon as Blake pulled into the RDV. The sun shone on Betty and gave her an eerie glow. He still found it hard to believe how all this Biotronics business worked. On the drive up the coast he hit two roos and an ostrich, and they just bounced off like they were mozzies. The reactive armour sensing the impact milliseconds prior to the impact and reinforcing the areas they hit.
The Wildebeest was also sensing his bio patterns and stress levels the whole way. At one stage he was a little drowsy, and the vehicle systems accommodated for his slightly delayed actions by increasing the rate of response in its own systems. It was things like that he couldn’t fully grasp. It wasn’t programmed; Ping told him it was the Biotronics he stitched together getting to know him.
Blake raised the door and got out. Jack was standing with his back to the ocean, waves were crashing against the sea wall. “You know Blake, that thing looks way too cool for you.”
“I’d say the same thing about your bike. And that suit now you mention it.”
Jack shrugged his shoulders. “Half an hour to the meeting; you see anything dodgy on the way up?”
“Nope, all clear. As a matter of fact there was bugger-all traffic. That in itself is a bit odd!”
“I was thinking the exact same thing. I’ve got a funny feeling we won’t be alone.”
“So let’s just blow the mission. There’ll be other times.”
“No, we need to do it now. The longer we’re running around like idiots, the more time Tyrol and his mates have to nail us. Cindy, you got anything on the scanners?”
“Negative Jack. Ping is bringing the Sat around for direct eyes, but there is no increased chatter from Feds in the area.”
“What about on the black-band frequencies?”
“Still running through, but it’s all pretty mundane. There’s a vehicle packed with tech coming down the coast towards your RDV, must be your man. He’s got jammers going into overdrive, but I’m keeping them in check. I’d say he’ll get a heads up if he has a half decent system.”
“He’s an Alpha, Sin, he’ll have a fully decent system. Keep on his arse, the last thing we need is a comms black-out.?
??
“Leave the tech talk to the adults Jack, you two go and play, just don’t get yourself killed; I put a lot of time into those vehicles.”
“You’re all heart, Sin.”
Jack and Blake got back on the road. Blake pulled into some loose scrub about two k’s down the road. He was out of sight, but also had his full signal cloak active, and only minimal other systems. The Beast only took a few milliseconds to fire up anyway, the Biotronics were always live.
Jack pulled into the car park, empty except for a big shiny 2120 model Bugatti Veyron in the corner. TLM hadn’t picked up any dangerous vehicles in the area, and there were no other human life forms within three k’s. He set its proximity sensors to go nuts if anything did turn up. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Sin or Ping, it was just the more of his arse he could cover with these bastards, the better.
He got off the bike and put the helmet on the seat, facing the Veyron. Tyrol got out, dressed in a black suit and strange looking wig that made him look like a dickhead. From Jack’s point of view, that is.
“Jack, so nice to see you.”
“Tyrol, wish I could say the same.”
“Come now Jack, is that any way to talk to a business partner?”
“The only business we have, is clearing my name, and I ain’t seen a lot of that happening lately.”
“For good reason, Jack. Did you know that the prime minster herself is now involved in the closure of the assassination? You, my friend, are Public Enemy number one, by a long shot.”
“I’ve been there before.”
“Not like this you haven’t. Believe me when I tell you, I am the only person with any influence that believes you Jack. You have the Feds trying to track down your past, they’re going in deep. The longer you muck about, the more chance they will find people to squeeze to get information about you.” Tyrol closed his eyes briefly and nodded his head, as if to show his displeasure with the situation.
“Well don’t worry about that, I’ve got people scrambling my history faster than any Fed could catch.”
“Ah, your friends, being Ping and Cindy, I take it?”
“Who’s Cindy?”
“The person sending my jammers on a merry-go-round at the moment. Pretty basic process of deduction really, I’ve seen her work before, she is known to live in the region, and that suit of yours is similar to something a client of hers once wore. I pay attention, Jack.”
“Good, well pay attention to this. If you want me to do anything else for you from now on, my team and I better stay clean and unharmed. Got it?” He was tensing through his teeth at the arrogance of Tyrol, but calmed himself, knowing Tyrol was enjoying probing him.
“Right, to business then. The man I want is Peiter Solice, as I mentioned. I don’t want him dead, I want him in my possession. He’s causing me a little pain, and it also transpires that he will be able to help with your exoneration. Through my careful interrogation of course.” Tyrol grinned as though he could already feel the man’s pain.
Jack stood staring at Tyrol for a minute. He had thought of killing him right here. Or taking him hostage and getting the other Alphas to clear Jack’s record as a trade for Tyrol. In the end both options offered more issues than results. But he wasn’t letting Tyrol go with the last laugh.
“So Tyrol, one last thing. That Viper bird, you know her? She looked like she’d be a great lay.” Jack wanted to know once and for all if it was him that ordered the hit.
Tyrol was furious. “I’d put a bullet in you right now, but I can see you’re wearing Asanthias fabric on that suit, so it would be pointless. Unless I shot you in the head, perhaps?”
“Believe me arsehole, you’d be dead before you touched that gun in your left shoulder hardness.” Jack nodded his head in the direction of Tyrol’s chest. When Tyrol looked back Jack was standing a few steps closer holding a pistol at his waist.
The two stood paused for a moment, before Tyrol spoke. “So you know I put a hit on you. I didn’t trust you, you have a Fed with you.”
“He’s not a Fed any more. And if you want me to do anything else for you from here on in, you better give me a big stack of good reasons.”
“I’ll give you six million reasons, and the actual assassin of John Mac. Get this Peiter Solice for me. I don’t care if you deliver him to my door, or set him up at a mutual location, but I want him alive”
“You can have him, but I want three mill now. I have bills to pay.”
“One mill, and Jack, if you don’t follow through I will find you. And when I do, I will have someone slice one million strips off your body to repay.”
Jack handed him a credit-chip. “Here’s my details. Credit in by the morning, and I’ll call you with a time and place for your man.”
Jack turned and walked back to Betty; he put on his helmet and sprayed Tyrol with stones as he spun and left the car park. As soon as he was out of sight, Tyrol went to his car and took a sip of the flask he had obtained earlier. His eyes immediately dilated and he sunk into his seat, before raising off it and levitating just above his car. He put on the auto-pilot and dozed off.
Jack headed past the coast turn-off and headed inland. They had decided that the inland roads were a better option, providing more routes through blocked roads, and away from built-up areas if things went loud.
“So you get what you need Jack?” Blake seemed to have lost his anxiety. Well, if his voice was anything to go by.
“Yeah. He doesn’t want Solice dead, get this, he wants us to somehow capture him and deliver him to a location designated by us.”
“Who the hell does he think we are, the Secret Service. I hope you have a plan.”
“Hell no. That’s what I have you guys for. I do, however, have a million credits in the morning. I have a feeling we’ll need every penny if we’re going to get out of this. Bribery and weaponry will be the order of the day.”
Ping got on the comm. “Hey, on the weaponry thing, we should go and see Jay at Fitzroy Falls. I’m sure he’ll put up something for the cause. I’d like to see him again myself.”
“Good call Ping; we’ll head over there tomorrow.”
“Ah, Jack.” Cindy cut in. “You boys have at least a dozen vehicles coming up from the south. All doing well over the speed limit and packing some tech”
“Can you EMP them?”
“Negative, Sat doesn’t have direct sun, needs it to charge a burst.”
“Well that’s a bit of a design flaw isn’t it?”
“Hey bud, I don’t design them, I just steal them”
Jack got a game plan into his head, they had to make sure they got out clean. “OK, Blake, time to get messy. No matter what happens, we don’t leave anyone in a state to follow. I don’t want to run from any engagement with runners, they’re like rodents and will spread the word of our location faster than we can move.”
“Don’t worry, these cannons have been talking to me all afternoon.” As Blake thought about arming them, they rolled up and over the side of the Beast. He envisaged the frontal attack, watching the front of the car move around as the armour was shifting forward for reinforcement and deflection.
“I got eyes on them Blake, slowing back for you. There are a dozen, TLM says electro, pulse and mechanical weapons. Stop there, I’m dropping EMP mines and turning back. They’ll think I’m running and hopefully run right into the trap.”
Jack flicked the bike sideways and power-slid to a stop, scattering a handful of the EMP mines on the road as he did. Turning back he kept his speed down, he wanted to turn back as soon as the vehicles passed over the EMP’s. Looking ahead he saw a glow on the horizon, his concentration was broken by Cindy on the comm.
“You got company coming from the north boys.”
“Tyrol?”
“No, he’s going down the coast. I’m picking up at least half a dozen vehicles.”
“You got that Sat in range yet?”
> “Getting signals, but no charge for an EMP burst. You’re gonna have to duke it out. I’m going to block all signals for the next five minutes so they can’t call reinforcement. You boys are going black.”
“Ping, any chatter from the Feds?”
“Nope, they have no idea about your location or the other vehicles. It’s just you lot.”
Jack was running through the options and decided to keep on the offensive. “Right, Blake, you go for the group I just dropped EMP’s for, I’m going past you to intercept the other lot.”
“Got it. Good luck.”
“Thanks sweetheart.”
Jack accelerated as hard as he could to gain some momentum and make a bigger gap from Blake so they don’t get cross-over from enemy fire. He could see the lights of the other vehicles clearly now. When he was about twenty seconds away, he decelerated and tried to pick up the targets with TLM. It showed six ground-based vehicles and two aircraft.
The aircraft were designated as MkIV Prions, low speed, but they carried pulse weapons. He targeted both of them and fired darts. They rolled in opposite directions, but a dart must have clipped one of them as it spiralled out of his vision.
The cars were almost glowing blue, he was coming in way too hot. He saw a bike and decided to take it head-on. The rider had a hand weapon, but they were traveling too fast for the rider to have any accuracy. The cars either side couldn’t move in for a collision, as the bike rider was in the way, just how Jack wanted it. He fired darts at the last second and imagined Betty stopping immediately. The deceleration was so hard he almost completely lost control and partly dropped the bike. By chance, part of the fairing clipped the ground and brought him back up as he saw the other bike going over his head.
The other three vehicles were braking hard and spinning around to engage. Jack accelerated across the road to the clay berm and threw an EMP mine at a modified open-top, it hit the bonnet and released its charge and with a slight squeal the car went dead. Jack pulled his pistol and fired what felt like a hundred rounds in a second through the windshield. It shattered, and he fired another high speed burst through the cabin.
The other two vehicles were now coming back and were only a hundred metres away. Jack turned away from them and accelerated, lights off. He didn’t get too far ahead; he let the odd round or pulse burst get fired his way, he wanted to draw them away from Blake, who no doubt had his hands full.
Blake’s strategy after passing Jack was simple, just hit them. He figured in the next five seconds the EMP’s would detonate and they would be sitting ducks. But he looked ahead and saw them pull into single file and distance themselves. “Clever little buggers,” he said to no one in particular.
The first vehicle passed the EMP’s and skidded to a halt as the charges disabled its systems. The other vehicles passed through the exact same line a few seconds later, not affected by the long-gone blast. Blake had the same targeting system the coffin had; he brought it up, but by the time the targets were acquired, they were right on top of him. He swerved to the right to side-swipe one of the vehicles, but the heavy armoured vehicle from the other side rammed him, pushing him into a spin.
The Beast self-corrected and Blake was heading in their direction faster than they had obviously anticipated. One of them went into a slide to change direction for attack, while the other kept going. “Wrong move assholes.” He tapped the screen twice while the armoured vehicle was still in its slide. The cannons glowed for a split second and then fired a massive pulse of high-charged plasma. Blake watched it move, almost mesmerised by the glow until it hit the target. The rear quarter of the vehicle melted on impact, before exploding into a green fireball.
“Holy crap!” Blake shouted. “That was awesome!” Cindy had obviously done some pretty trick mods with Ping using the Biotronics to supercharge the cannons, he assumed.
The other vehicle had made some ground. Blake couldn’t see any lights ahead from the vehicles Jack was engaged with, but still had his other target in his sight. He tapped the screen, but it was too far out of range. Gripping the wheel, he accelerated as hard as he could. The engine on the Beast went silent, and he heard a faint whine like a motor spooling up. He didn’t know Cindy had retro-fitted the Beast with high-voltage inertia drivers on each hub, giving it a five minute burst of power.
The acceleration made him feel nauseous, moving to over 240 in less than six seconds. This was way above the GTX’s original attack speed, but the biotronics systems were realigning the body guards and splitter to add down force. It was surprisingly responsive and he made ground within fifteen seconds. He was about to load the auto-targeting, but had a better idea. He was wearing his nano-tac suit, he just hoped his head didn’t pop off.
Keeping the accelerating going, he focussed on the open-top in front of him. As it weaved across the road, the Beast moved with it, Blake was hardly doing anything. It knew what his target was. Projectile shots were ricocheting off the bonnet and screen, causing no harm. A few seconds later he rammed the back of the vehicle hard. He felt his chest heaving into the front of his suit.
Blake could see the undercarriage mount the Beast, and then the steep front screen caught the chassis and shunted it forward. Blake slammed the brakes and they came apart. He let it get fifty metres down the road, rolling and tumbling, and then double tapped his screen again. The cannons charged and fired, catching the underside of the vehicle mid-spin. The explosion was instant, and glowed the entire sky around him. Whatever they had loaded on board packed a punch, unfortunately for them.
Well, Blake thought to himself, if no one knew where they were before, they would now. He stopped completely and turned to go back for the first vehicle he disabled. When he got there, his scanners showed no life on board. He waited a few seconds for any attack, but it didn’t come. Exiting the Beast, he drew his pistol and kept behind the door. Still nothing, he slowly walked over to the vehicle, but it was empty.
Blake heard a sound behind him and spun around, it was Jack arriving. Jack stopped next to the Beast and got off. Blake walked over. “Cindy and Ping back online yet?”
“Yup.”
“Get them to run a scan in the area, I think there is at least one missing person.”
“Hang on.” Jack relayed the message. Cindy confirmed there were two people a half-mile inland, off the road heading into the desert at a fast pace.
“You want to chase them Jack?”
“Nah, they’re already too far away, and we need to get out of here before the Feds come to check out the fireworks display you put on. Let’s move.”
As they left the scene, Blake was pissed he never got to interrogate anyone about who ordered the hit. If it was Tyrol, he could get stuffed, regardless of what Jack said. It was possible it was others though, they seemed to be making enemies faster than he could keep track of.
Peiter’s comm lit up. “Solice here.”
“We have bad news. They got away, we lost all vehicles, and almost our lives.”
“You left them? Don’t ever let me see you again or you will wish you were dead.” He stopped his comm and threw the device at the wall. What a hell of a week.