Leaving the lights in the room dim, she walked to the door of her suite and tore it open. The guard—a man who usually spent the evening sitting in a chair propped back on two legs against the wall—was on his feet with his right hand holding an earphone tight into his ear. "Quickly, I've seen a scorpion in here. It's under the couch. You have to kill it."
The guard looked none too pleased with the report. "I'm sorry, my lady, but I have my orders."
"You must! It could kill my son!" Deirdre put as much hysterical power into her voice as she could. "You have the gun, you can't be afraid."
The man listened intently to his radio, then smiled and chuckled lightly as he walked into the suite. "In or out, it won't matter." Hitching his rifle over his shoulder by the sling, he looked around the living area at the three different couches, the scratched his head. He turned to face her, the obvious question on his face, but words never made it past his lips.
Deirdre drove her knee deep into his groin. Grabbing double handfuls of his hair, she brought his face down to meet her knee's second strike. Without releasing his hair, she twisted her hands and yanked down, accelerating him toward the ground. His head hit with a satisfying smack and his body went limp.
She pressed her fingers to his carotid artery and found the pulse slightly elevated but strong. She stripped off his gun and web belt. The guard was big enough that the only way she could wear the belt was to sling it over her left shoulder like a bandolier. Using curtain cord she had pulled from the shades in the bedroom, she bound the man and gagged him with a ball made from a rolled-up pair of David's socks.
Slinging the gun over her right shoulder, she turned and saw David standing in the doorway to the bedroom. "David?"
The boy rubbed sleep from his eyes. "Did you do that, Mommy?" She nodded. "Cool."
Deirdre reached out for David's hand and the little boy came to her. "You have to be quiet. Come on." She led him out the door and down the short corridor to a pair of doors that led out onto the grounds. Crouched beside it, she looked out into the darkness and saw no one. She opened the door and slipped through to the outside. She pulled David after her.
"David, we have to run to that bush over there. Can you do that? Quietly?" The boy nodded solemnly. "Go."
He sprinted off, running with a bouncy, wild-legged gait that marked a youthful lack of coordination. Despite his awkward strides, he reached the bush quickly. She followed him closely, then pointed out a stand of iron elms. They made it and crouched in the shadow of the trees to catch their breaths.
"Are we doing good, Mommy?"
She kissed him on the forehead. "We are, David. I love you."
"I love you too, Mommy." He kissed her on the lips with a big smacking sound that she loved despite the way noises carried at night.
"David, see the funny-looking tree there?"
"Uh-huh."
"Go."
As he ran, Deirdre watched the whole area for movement, but saw no one. She pulled the rifle from her shoulder and curled the sling around her left forearm. Checking the selector lever she flipped it from safe to the setting for a three-shot burst, then she worked the charging lever and eased a bullet into the chamber. Keeping low, she moved as quietly as she could and reached David's side.
The stand of trees in which they had taken cover widened ahead. In shape the whole forest swath resembled a lollipop, with the slender handle being the section closest to the house. They had made it halfway up to the bulbous head, with another two hundred meters to the top round part. From there they could reach the compound with a short sprint across some open territory.
They pushed on in short bursts of movement. Deirdre quietly praised her son at each stopping point and urged him again to be quiet. She couldn't tell if he thought it was all a game or not, but she suspected that some of her nervousness was getting through to him. He smiled brightly when she hugged and kissed him, but the smiles quickly faded into the expression he wore when he concentrated on something. His eyes searched the area around them and, having watched her advances, he began to move from shadow to shadow as he went forward.
Suddenly the floodlights mounted around the manor house blazed to life and a siren's keening sliced through the night. The lights illuminated the vast lawns, but made the forest into a zebra-pattern of brightly lit patches and black shadows. Deirdre froze where she huddled in the shadows and glanced over at David hunkered down behind a fallen tree trunk. If I can't see him, neither can they.
Men shouted from behind her, running out from the house. She shifted around so she could cover them, but under the siren's undulating shriek she heard something else. Turning back toward David, she saw two black quadruped shadows galloping across the lawn. Sharp barks were accompanied by the flash of even sharper fangs as the dogs zeroed in on her son.
Without thinking, Deirdre broke and raced toward him, stopping only as the dogs closed on her boy. Leaning heavily against a tree, she steadied herself. The rifle came to her shoulder and she tracked as the dogs cut from right to left across her field of vision. She pulled her left hand back until the sling tightened painfully on her arm, then she hit the trigger.
The gun's muzzle flash momentarily blinded her and the report started her ears ringing. The first burst hit the lead dog in the chest and flank as it leaped up over a fallen branch. The animal squealed as it tumbled through the air, then yelped as it slammed into a tree and fell to the ground.
Where's the second one? She didn't so much see it as she saw movement. Swinging left she triggered one burst, wrestled the gun's barrel down and triggered a second. She heard an agonized bark, then she dove forward and pulled David down with her as the world exploded.
The men coming up from the house, and the two handlers who had released the dogs, opened fire on the woods. Deirdre jammed her face into the moldy leaves on the forest floor as bullets crisscrossed just over her head. Wood exploded, branches fell, and the ground shuddered as bullets traced lines of fire through the leaves. She felt David trembling and crying, but she couldn't hear him and dared not pull him to her for comfort. Her right hand kept him pressed against the ground like a mouse beneath the paw of a cruel cat.
As suddenly as it had begun, the gunfire ended. Deirdre heard words shouted, then heard the order repeated in English. "Throw down your gun!"
Deirdre rolled on her right side, pressing her back against David and disentangling the weapon from her arm. She tossed it aside, then screamed, "It's down, it's down. We give up." She fervently wished she was actually wearing something white that she could use to signal her surrender.
She heard the heavy tramp of men running through the woods. Rolling back on to her face and then the other side, she pulled David to her. "We have to be brave, baby, very brave."
He nodded, but his lower lip trembled. She could see tears welling up in his eyes.
"It's okay to cry, David." She stroked his hair, then cautiously came up in a sitting position. She shifted David to her lap and held him close as Tormano's guards advanced with their weapons out and ready to be used. Striding boldly through the center of them, his hands empty, was the captain.
He stepped over the fallen log, the other men following in his wake as if the captain's courage would shield them. He kicked Deirdre's gun further away, then nodded a salute to her. "I congratulate you, Doctor, on almost making your escape. You, of course, made only one mistake."
"And what was that?" Deirdre's eyes narrowed. "Or don't you want to tell me for fear I might avoid it next time."
The man smiled in a fashion Deirdre found almost reptilian. "When you introduced the virus into the computer that controls our perimeter security system, you assumed you had neutralized our ability to track you. Technology, as wonderful as it is, can fail." The man tapped the earpiece in his ear. "That is why we have radios and keep dogs for use. A quick radio check showed us that you had dealt with Li, so we came after you."
Deirdre's mind reeled. Computer virus? What the hell is he talking about?
"The Mandrinn is holding us prisoner. I know Prince Victor Davion. Tormano will have much to answer for."
The captain reached down and pulled David away from her. She started to contest him for the possession of her son, but a half-dozen rifles immediately pointed in her direction, most of them still smoking from the muzzles. "If you hurt him ... Holding him won't keep me here, you know."
"I know that very well, Doctor." The captain shrugged almost apologetically. "You see, the Mandrinn has been keeping you alive as a courtesy. Ultimately your son is the only person who is important here because he gives the Mandrinn leverage over his nephew Kai. You, Doctor, are merely a nuisance."
He looked up at one of the guards. "She was on the grounds without authorization and did not stop when you called to her to do so. Fearing she was a terrorist, you shot her."
"Mommy! Mommy!" David squirmed in the man's arms and the captain cuffed him sharply over the ear.
"Good bye, Doctor Lear. Don't worry about David." The man laughed aloud, drowning out David's crying. "The Mandrinn will take care of your son and make him into a model heir for the Celestial Throne of the Capellan Confederation."
DropShip Zarevo, Inbound
Shiloh Free Worlds League
A booming thump brought Peter awake. He thought at first that they were under attack, but that couldn't be it because Khorsakov would have awakened him, long before any fighters had gotten close. As his mind became clear enough for him to reason that far, other echoes in the ship confirmed what the noise had been.
A shuttle has docked with us. Peter glanced at the viewport in his cabin and saw a distant orb trailing flame. Overlord Class DropShip. Reinforcements? Peter frowned because he did not think Tormano could have afforded more mercenaries, yet the reception of a shuttle from that ship clearly indicated that the forces were friendly. Or at least not hostile.
He dressed quickly, pulling on a jumpsuit and combing a hand quickly through his red hair, then headed out the companionway. He saw no one, which was not surprising, for most of the warriors were catching whatever sleep they could in preparation for the battle. Still, the fact that Khorsakov or his son had not come for him made Peter uneasy.
When he reached the ready room he saw two men with their backs to him wearing black and gold uniforms. A pale Colonel Khorsakov looked up as Peter entered the room. The man began to mouth an apology, but Peter never gave him a chance. "I'm disappointed in you, Colonel, and will deal with you later."
He grabbed the interloper nearest him and spun him around. "Who the hell are you? Where are you from? Why are you here?"
The man slipped his shoulder free of Peter's grasp in one smooth motion. "You know who I am, Peter Davion, and you know I'm from Solaris. It's time for you to turn around and leave before you destroy the Inner Sphere."
35
DropShip Zarevo, Inbound
Shiloh Free Worlds League
27 April 3056
Peter's face went from shock to naked fury. "So, my brother thinks you can stop me?" Peter began to laugh and shake his head. "You?"
A chill puckered Kai's flesh at the strained, abnormal sound of the laughter. "Your brother didn't send me, Peter. He doesn't know anything about this."
"You acted without his approval?" The scorn in Peter's voice lashed Kai. "Be careful, Kai, you could find yourself the object of my brother's lethal jealousy, as was Cox and as am I."
"Peter, get hold of yourself. There's more going on here than you imagine. Have you asked yourself how I knew you would be here?" Kai did his best to force compassion into his voice. "Have you?"
Peter folded his arms, a superior sneer on his face. "You're dying to tell me, so go ahead."
"My uncle duped you."
"Ha! I forced him to let me join up with this mission. He refused, but I insisted."
"Just as he assumed you would." Kai felt his stomach clench. "He wanted you here, he needed you here. Without you here, his whole plan would fall through. Can't you see that?"
"What I see before me is a man who hasn't the same courage as his uncle to do what's necessary to guarantee the safety of the Federated Commonwealth. You play at games on Solaris when you should be here with me, leading men on this mission."
"I am here, and I am leading men on a very important mission. I've got a full battalion of warriors on the Taizai waiting to see what you're going to do." Kai fought to rein in his frustration. "Use your head, Peter. You still don't see it, do you? How did I happen to be here? Why have the Raiders gone to ground? It's obvious! Your mission is blown. The forces on Shiloh knew you were coming, and they're under orders not to fight you."
'They're afraid!" Peter walked around to Kai's left until the commanders of the Cossacks backed him. "We're going to prove the Harloc Raiders are here by bringing back pieces of their 'Mechs."
"If you try to do that, Peter, you'll go down in history as the man who started the war that destroyed the Inner Sphere. Sun-Tzu has issued orders to the Raiders to avoid an engagement. They're leaving the defense of the world to the Third Sirian Lancers. If you go after the Raiders, the Lancers will go after you."
Colonel Khorsakov shook his head remorselessly. "Then we will destroy the Lancers."
"Oh, very good." Kai channeled his anger into sarcasm, hoping he could make someone think clearly. "If you fight with the Lancers, the Free Worlds League will declare war against the Federated Commonwealth, which was exactly what Sun-Tzu had in mind when he gave the Raiders their orders."
"You're speculating about the Raiders' orders."
"No I'm not. The man who commands the Raiders supplied me the information that told me where I'd find you."
Peter's laugh had a sinister ring. "Consorting with the enemy, are you, Kai?"
"That's unworthy of you, Peter. Wu Kang Kuo felt he owed me a debt because I prevented my uncle from hurting his unborn grandson and because I honored his son in our duel. He repaid me, even though doing so could put his career and his life in jeopardy." Kai shook his head. "Damn you, Peter, use your brain, How do you think Wu knew you were coming here with the Cossacks? I'll tell you—my uncle leaked the information to the Maskirovka so you would be trapped and killed. And if that happened, Victor would have to declare war on Sun-Tzu and support Tormano's private war."
Kai stepped forward. "You're being used Peter. You're a pawn and you're being played by masters at politics. Tormano uses you, pitting you against your brother, so he can pit your brother against Sun-Tzu. Sun-Tzu deflects you toward Thomas Marik so he can use Thomas against Victor."
"And you, Kai Allard-Liao, how are you using me?"
"I'm not, Peter, I'm trying to save your life."
"You're trying to stop me from uncovering a threat to the Federated Commonwealth." Peter's tone grew more strident as his temper surged out of control. "You're trying to preserve my brother's power, when we both know his rule will destroy the Federated Commonwealth!"
"Listen to yourself, Peter, you've lost it. Give the order, turn this ship around. Recharge and jump back out to Solaris!"
"Never! You're the one who's lost it. You've abrogated your responsibilities to your family by playing on Solaris. I'm willing to accept my duties and execute them faithfully for the good of the Federated Commonwealth!" Peter poked Kai in the chest with a finger. "You've been on the run since Alyina, Kai, and perhaps even before that. Everyone has seen your actions and labeled them modesty, but I call them cowardice. This isn't Solaris, Kai, this isn't a game and we're not in 'Mechs. There's only one way you can stop me."
Kai shook his head. "I don't want to fight you, Peter."
"Then the stories about you fighting against Elementals are untrue, eh, Kai Allard-Liao?" Peter raised his fists in a challenge. "I am the future of the Federated Commonwealth. Stop me if you dare."
Mandrinn's Estate, Solaris VII
Tamarind March, Federated Commonwealth
Though she knew it could mean her death, Deirdre Lear acted the moment the captain turned away from her. Still
seated on her left hip, she pushed off the ground with her hands and scooted forward. She swept her right foot forward, catching the captain behind his left knee. As he began to fall, the sound of gunfire erupted all around her, but barely impinged on her consciousness as she moved to save her son.
Rolling up onto her left knee, Deirdre ignored the bullets flying and the flashes of light and explosions. She focused on the captain, and when he landed on his broad back, her upraised right hand struck. She brought it down, fingers flattened, and smashed the fleshy edge of it into his throat.
The martial artist in her knew the blow would crush his windpipe like a soggy cardboard tube.
The doctor knew the man would suffocate.
The mother who had watched him strike her child did not care.
David extricated himself from the man's arms and ran to her. Deirdre hugged and kissed him, waiting for the bullet that would claim her life. She didn't want to die, but if it had to be now, she exulted in these last moments with David.
"Doctor Lear." The voice, all metallic and distant, made her realize she was no longer hearing gunfire. She opened her eyes and saw the men who had captured her all scattered across the ground. The shadows hid most of them, but she could have sworn she saw parts disassociated with the bodies to which they had once belonged.
Clutching David's face to her chest so he couldn't see the carnage, she rose and turned. What she saw sent ice running through her veins, and made her breath catch in her throat. Her knees buckled, but she steeled herself and refused to go down.
Approaching her through the shadows she saw a dozen oversized humanoid figures. The bright light stained the right halves of their bodies with darkness, but it fully brought out the jade green plumage and burning amber eye painted on the helmets of the exoskeleton armor. The lead figure extended his left arm to her in a gesture of friendship whose tenderness contrasted the three-fingered claw of a hand and the smoking machine gun slung under the forearm.