Chapter 30
Ox and Sophie were jogging at the park, as they had done many times before. But this run wasn’t for fitness, it was for privacy. Ox hadn’t liked the conclusion of his last discussion with Blake, and needed to discuss it candidly with Sophie, away from prying ears.
“So the meeting is going down tonight, and Tyrol will be there?”
“Apparently. He is supposed to have a document clearing Jack’s name, but needs verification with Peiter’s bio-sig.”
“So how does that work, I mean why don’t we just grab Tyrol and take the document and then bring it back for verification with Peiter?”
“I think the under-tone is that it incriminates Peiter, and he won’t participate willingly.” Ox looked at Sophie and watched the sweat bead down her face, over her pronounced cheeks, and down to her neck.
“So Blake wants us to lure Peiter there, to make a confession, probably based on some kind of DNA or other marker left on a document Tyrol stole?”
“Yeah, but he may not have stolen it, he may have forged it. That’s where the whole deal gets weak. I need to know that Peiter Solice is a crook. My gut feels it, I need to know what you think.”
Sophie stopped running, as did Ox a few paces further. He turned to her, and for a moment looked into her eyes and thought he would never come back.
“Jules, you’re the most intuitive man I have ever met. Your interview and interrogation skills are second to none. You know this, as much as I believe it, so stop messing around and make this happen.”
The terse note of her words was quickly followed by a warm smile. Sophie reached out and placed her hand on his face, instantly turning his skin to fire, before she started running again.
“So how do you think we should pitch this to Peiter?”
“C’mon Jules, you know he’s had a hard-on for the Biotronics tech since he got here. He won’t need any convincing if he knows the tech is near.”
“The catch is, we can take Peiter and Tyrol, but not Blake or his crew.”
“How the hell do you swing that one by the Sec, Jules?”
“I’m hoping I won’t have to. They’re pretty geared up, so with a bit of luck they can get in, do their business, and get out without any of our guys nabbing them.”
“And how do you justify one eight man squad for such a high profile bust?”
“I don’t. All I’m saying officially is we’re following a lead that may involve an Alpha and contraband. I’m going to drop the Biotronics presence to Peiter on the side. If I’m right he won’t mention it to anyone, and try to make a move to grab the tech himself.”
“You expecting him to have back-up?”
“Almost definitely, but it won’t be a big crew as they would raise the alarm when they got anywhere near.”
“Will you be using Osiris crew?”
“No, street Feds. Our guys are too good, and they’ll recognise Blake straight away.”
They both stopped near a bench. Jules was puffed and bent over, hands on his knees.
“Hey.” Sophie spoke in a clam voice. He stood up and looked her way. “Be careful.” She pecked him on the cheek, and headed off, jogging towards her apartment.
Ox sat down, his head in a spin, the cause was an equal measure of having his arse run off, being closer to the only woman he ever really cared about than he had before, and thinking about the next eight hours. The first and last issues were easy to reconcile, the middle one was messing with him.
The rain was now teeming down, a small river was forming under the bench. It was time to go back to HQ and get the plan into action. There were a lot of variables here, and Ox didn’t like it. The biggest one right now was probably Solice.
Arriving at the building, Ox had already called for a strike team from the Agency. He only gave a brief request, but ensured that Peiter Solice would confirm the requisition. The squad were in the foyer, with a sergeant present to sign them in. Ox showed them to the lift, palm-signed the required documents, and headed up.
In the main room, he showed the Fed Special Agents to the briefing room before going to the changing room in his en-suite. When he came out, he saw Solice in the foyer. He waved him towards the office, and closed the door behind him.
“Peiter, we have a developing situation. I was made aware a few hours ago that there is a meeting with an Alpha, possibly trading contraband.”
“Happens every day, why are you bringing me in on a miserable evening to discuss this?”
“Because that Alpha is Tyrol.”
“OK, I’m interested.”
“And the contraband is the Biotronics tech.”
As soon as Ox mentioned that Peiter seemed to stiffen a little and look directly towards him.
“Where did you get this intel?”
“Not important. What is important is that we know the deal is going down in about four hours, but we don’t know the exact location. It’s in the twin city area, but the exact location won’t be divulged for a while.”
“Who have you advised?”
“Only the Agency Ops Commander. I have acquired an eight man squad.”
“Why not a larger team?”
“I don’t want to blow the op with fifty men and a bunch of heli’s and AAV’s. Discretion will always be key when dealing with Alphas.”
“I agree.” Peiter was already running through how quick he could get his counter-operative team on site, and how to get the tech from the cities to his carrier.
“I also didn’t mention the Biotronics to the Agency. I want us to make this raid, Peiter, and I want us to be the ones getting the commendation from the PM.”
“We see eye to eye on that, my friend.” Peiter couldn’t believe how easy this was falling together. The Government was handing him the tech on a platter, and he would most certainly accept and receive.
“The team are in the briefing room, I suggest we get to work.”
“Lead the way, Jules.”
As they entered the room, the men were chattering and looking around at the Tactical Maps and other laser imaging scattered around the walls. Not many of them had seen or heard of any of the tech they walked past coming in. Ox knew they would be a bit dumbstruck, so brought them back to reality.
“Gentlemen, take a seat please.” They all sat and looked up at Ox now standing on the podium. “My name is Jules Oricks, some of you will have heard of me, but none of you will have heard what I do. I run Osiris, an elite Agency Operation Centre that monitors and acts on all manner of Government threat.”
There was some mumbling amongst the men, obviously now more confused as to why they were there.
“You have been brought here on the recommendation of your commander. Prove yourself tonight through loyalty and obedience, and you may get an opportunity to screen for a position with Osiris. Your technical skill should already be above reproach, if the Commanders word is anything to go by.”
There was a sense of slight relaxation amongst the group, some nodding and a little chatter.
“What you need to know is I have direct Government authorisation to act in any manner we feel necessary to accomplish our tasks. Remember that is from me. You must all do exactly as I command on an op. Chain of command at Osiris is paramount.”
“Excuse me, sir.” One of the men raised his hand.
“No need to raise your hand, son, speak.”
“What exactly are we doing here? We’ve all heard about Osiris, but this isn’t exactly a standard agency selection process.”
“And we’re not exactly a standard Government Agency. We have a white budget, black budget, and more resources than a small country.”
“Impressive, sir, but you still haven’t answered my question.”
“Observant. What is your name Agent?”
“Sasha Oaks, sir.”
“Well Oaks, you are here to help us detain the man behind the assassination of Senator Mac, and prevent an Alpha from acquir
ing potentially lethal technology from a fugitive. You have been brought in as I suspect there is a leak in our organisation, so my team are unaware of this op at present.”
Solice almost believed the tripe Jules was spilling himself! He certainly was a good salesman, if nothing else. It’s a pity he would have to eliminate him after this op, he could have been useful in the organisation. Never mind, he thought, he would still have Sophie to bolster the ranks.
Ox went on to explain there would be three parties at the meeting place, the suspect and possibly allies, Tyrol who definitely had support, and themselves. The first objective was to detain Tyrol. Solice and five men would be doing that. Ox would take the other three to detain Jack. They were only to use lethal force if their lives were in danger.
They were advised of the tech they needed to also recover, but weren’t given details of its use, except that it was not radioactive, and would not cause them harm handling it. They were also going in comms-silent, they didn’t want to give their arrival away to Tyrol, who would definitely have signal tracing in the area.
Ox handed the briefing to Solice when his comm lit up. He left the room and went to his office, he didn’t want anyone to overhear this discussion.
“Blake, tell me it’s on.”
“The team have agreed for you to take part. As mentioned, we have Tyrol, and the tech together. You bring Solice and this will all be resolved by morning.”
“I’m going so far out on a limb here it ain’t funny. If you are wrong about Solice or Tyrol, I’m taking Jack no matter what. That is a warning to stay out of my way if things turn.”
“That’s your choice. Mine is to protect my crew and bring justice to Tyrol and Solice. If they are detained, you will get the tech.”
“Tell me Blake, how does it feel being a vigilante?”
“A lot better than being a Yes-man, I can tell you that. You should know that this is not how I wanted things to turn out, Jules. But I can’t stand aside and let an innocent man fall for a wrongful conviction, or let a man like Tyrol take something as powerful as Biotronics.”
“I have advised my team not to use lethal force unless provoked. I am leading the team to apprehend Jack. We will lag behind and let Tyrol have his rendezvous with Solice, assuming the muck rises to the surface we will arrest both of them, and you lot can slip away.”
“One more thing.”
“Full of requests lately aren’t you?”
“They have kidnapped Ping’s Uncle to trade for the tech. He has nothing to do with this, he is to be removed from the scene and released.”
“If weapons come out, he’d better get his head down then. I’m not a baby sitter.”
“Got it. We’re meeting at the Third Quadrant. Tyrol is a sicko, so he’s probably going to be at the section where we were attacked and Whip was killed.”
Ox felt a little sick for a moment. He had just realised that in the last few days he hadn’t even thought about Whip. He put it down to the intensity of the current situation, but was annoyed with himself nonetheless. Something for Sophie to add to her list of subjects to shrink his head over.
Sophie. He hoped she had taken his direction and relocated to the West Coast Centre for the week. He had a feeling Solice couldn’t be trusted and although he knew she wasn’t an easy take, he knew how dangerous Solice was turning out to be. Their latest intel suggested he was the current head of the group called ‘Teppop’, translating to ‘terror’ in Russian. If that was right, he was not going to be taking a back seat on this raid. He had words on the side with Solice, and figured he was trying to turn him.
“You there Ox?”
“Ah, yeah. I just remembered something. I assume you have techies on signals.”
“A reasonable assumption.”
“Tell them to monitor Russian satellites, especially any recently moving into orbit over the East Coast.”
“Got it, I’m out.”
Ox sat at his desk for a minute, contemplating the current situation. Even though he was all but encouraged to work outside the square with his division, he was currently colluding with a wanted fugitive. Of course, in black and white that looked bad, but his world has been in the grey for as long as he could remember.
Looking around his office he looked at the various pictures, holos and even a sculpture made for him by the wife of the late President Obama the Third. All of these things were affirmations of the man he was, a soldier, an ambassador, a patriot.
Everything Ox now knew about Solice confirmed his initial concern. He was a man that was so driven by power and ego that he wouldn’t hesitate to put as many under him as necessary to reach the top. The worst part was he was rational, calculated and focussed, which made him more dangerous than a mad man. He had no doubt Solice would show his hand tonight, and he would be ready.
“Gentlemen, we have a location.” Ox entered the room interrupting Solice.
“Good Jules, I was just completing my strategic plan for the raid. The exact location will be helpful for us to finalise the positions.”
“It’s not an exact location yet, my source has stated it is in the Third Quadrant. We suspect it will be the location of a previous engagement with a suspected associated of Tyrol. Where one of our men was murdered.”
“Would this Alpha be so predictable?”
“His ego will be his undoing. This man has been under surveillance for years, knows it, but has never been touched. Tonight will be no different in his mind.”
Ox brought up a holo overlay of the Third Quadrant on the planning table. He pinpointed the location and ran through the choke-points, dead ground and exit routes. They started to discuss lay-up positions and sniping locations.
“The one thing we don’t know is if he has air support. At the attack on the Wing’Tan HQ there were military ion-plasma drones onsite. I have decided they were acquired by Tyrol, and he may use them here. They will be too fast to manoeuvre around buildings effectively, but will be able to pick-off anything on rooftops or open spaces.”
“So use CQB techniques, sir,” one of the Agents added.
“Exactly. We must also be aware of the training of the targets. The Alpha may have men on the ground. If he does, they’re likely to be rough-necks he gets from the street. Not likely to be highly trained, but at the same time disposable if it hits the fan for him. They will also be unpredictable.” The men looked at each other and nodded.
“The suspected assassin is ex-military, and by all accounts an excellent solider. As is Blake, our former agent. These men are to be taken into custody, but not, and I repeat, not killed. Does everyone understand?”
“Yes, sir”, they all replied in chorus. Ox turned to Solice, who gave a subtle nod.
“Let’s get to the armoury and sort out kit. A lot of it you will never have seen some of the weapons. If that’s the case, speak up. The only rule is if you don’t know what the hell it is, leave it alone.”
Ox left the room, with the others following suit. Solice stayed behind, which Ox noticed but ignored as the lift door closed. That was the sign Ox needed. Solice would be contacting his team now. He took the chance to talk to the men alone.
“Remember, gentlemen, I am the Commanding Officer of this Agency. All commands by me are final. If you are given directives that conflict my instruction, you are to ignore them.”
They all looked a little confused. Oaks spoke, “You are referring to Peiter Solice, sir?”
“Correct, Oaks.”
“Very good, sir.” He nodded to the other men, who nodded back.