Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) Page 27

  Glancing back, Button could see Major Forlani was seriously considering it. “Major, I don’t think that’s wise.”

  “It’s alright, Chao. Step outside so the Platoon can see you, you can see me and stay in earshot. They’ve got us covered and can be down here quick enough if need be. Brave one, did you copy that?”

  “Yes, Ma’am, but I agree with Button.”

  “Understood, Gil, but I want to hear this, and everything the girl has said adds up so far.” She nodded to Button and he deactivated his com and moved outside.

  “I’ve done as you asked. What did you want to tell me?”

  The story of the Prometheus program unfolded and Button could barely believe his ears. Like all the others in the Company, he knew the Major was special. You couldn’t help notice her superior speed, agility and strength, but only the most fanciful tales came close to the truth. Most thought she was one of those supremely gifted individuals like the top athletes. In a human population of trillions of individuals, spread over almost a billion square light years, nature would churn out at least one extraordinary human.

  When Hanna finished, the Major was silent for a long time before she spoke into her com. “Bravo, this is Lead. I’m back, Gil, and still alive.” Button followed her example and switched his com on as well.

  “...avo. Glad to hear it, Major. Now tell Button to get back under cover. He looks like a lost dog out there.” Button smiled and didn’t wait for the order, stepping back into his previous position.

  “I’m just a guttersnipe from the Inferno Ghettos, but it doesn’t sound like someone they’re happy to just kill off.” Hanna told the Major.

  “I agree,” she answered. “Now it comes to why you called us. I’m guessing you have a plan?”

  “You really don’t open up do you, Major? Alright, I do. Get me onto that island, so I can find out what happened to my friend and your old CO.”

  “You want us to assault a heavily defended island already on alert from a previous attack?”

  “Yep. You are Shadow Company aren’t you?”

  “Sounds like our type of party, Major,” Button interjected.

  “No one asked you, Private,” she admonished. “He’s right though, that is a Shadow Company mission. We’ll get you there.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Tap, tap, tap, tap, went Hanna’s foot. “A little nervous there?” The woman in the seat opposite asked. If Hanna remembered the rushed introductions from an hour ago, her name was Olivia Wester. Like the three other members of Shadow Company, who were tasked with getting Hanna safely onto the island and hopefully back off, she was wearing the most state-of-the-art infiltration equipment.

  Unlike Valerie, who needed to rely on what she brought with her and what the gang could find on the open and black market, Shadow Company had free access to the best the Legion could offer. The four soldiers all wore black, close fitting, sleek, sea infiltration armour. Equipped with forearm mounted Mag guns, rear mounted water engine, passive sensors and secure, short distance coms.

  “Don’t worry. Everyone gets like that on their first mission,” Olivia reassured her.

  Hanna shook her head and smiled. “It’s not that. On my first proper Heist I used an unpowered glide suit to reach the top of a building. The winds at a kilometre up made it pretty scary, I can tell you. Before that, I was stealing from houses since I was ten years old,” she laughed softly. “And you wouldn’t believe the stuff we were doing the day after Valerie disappeared.”

  Olivia raised her eyebrows. “What is it, then?”

  “I, erm, I can’t actually swim.”

  “Oh,” she laughed softly but not nastily. “You’ve got plenty of air in your suit and I’ll be with you the whole way. It’s my job to keep you safe and I know what I’m doing. I’ll get you to the beach. When we’re there, stay close behind me and do what I do.”

  Hanna wore a similar, stripped down version of their armour. Her suit included the sea engine but none of the weaponry. It took Shannon a week to get together the plan and equipment for the raid on the island. The first Hanna knew about it was when Chao turned up unannounced at the Workshop, three hours ago. He’d said it was because the window for the operation only just became available. Hanna suspected it was due to a lack of trust on the Company’s part. That was OK and perfectly understandable. They didn’t know her yet, other than her knowing too much about things she shouldn’t.

  “I can’t believe you managed to get your hands on a submarine.” Hanna said looking around. It was very much like the inside of an aircar, though smaller, with a six person passenger compartment and two seats up front in the cockpit. “Don’t they ask questions when you borrow things like this?”

  “Not really,” Chao answered from beside Olivia. He was sitting slumped in his seat, helmet on his lap and legs stretched out in front of him. He was the only one with an empty seat opposite. “They expect us to be training almost constantly. Sea extractions are rare, but when they come up, it’s always the Devils who get them. Despite the name, Marines haven’t had anything to do with the water in thousands of years, so we’re the ones who have to train. It just so happens, one of our officers got permission for us to use their family’s island, for the assault, and our team wandered a little off course. Personally, I blame the good Captain Benz. Get him out of a Helo and he gets confused.”

  “I heard that, Private,” the Captain answered from the front. Hans, was his name. “It’s not nice to slander an officer.”

  “It’s only slander if it’s not true,” Chao countered and winked at Hanna. “Remember when our Helo got shot down on Llandudno? You wouldn’t listen to the Sarge and led us right into a swamp.”

  “It was thirty years ago and I was a wet-behind-the-ears Lieutenant!”

  “Heh. Excuses, excuses. What was the name of that Sergeant?”

  Hans paused. “Kuboek. He died holding off the local militia on Tau Ceti.”

  “That’s right. If it wasn’t for him and Major Carter, we wouldn’t have gotten back to the Helos on that one.”

  “Coming up on the drop point now.” Lieutenant Jacqui Den Hertog reported from the co-pilots seat.

  “OK, Devils.” Corporal Jessica Richings said. “You heard her. Helmets on and suit check.”

  They had shown her how to put the helmet on when they stuffed her into the suit, but Hanna couldn’t remember it all. She stared inside, trying to figure it out, when it was gently taken from her hands.

  “Here,” Olivia said, “lean forward.” As Hanna did so the woman slotted the helmet over her head and she felt a slight hiss of air at her neck as it sealed itself. Olivia took Hanna’s left arm, where underneath her wrist, was the suits interface. Checking it was all green she nodded. “You’re all good to go.” Then turned to Chao to do the same.

  “At the drop point, Corporal,” Hans said. “You’re free to go when you’re ready.”

  “Yes, sir. Guggenheim,” Jessica said to the final member of their team. “You’re with me. Button, you’re next. Wester, come through last with Hanna.”

  Everyone acknowledged her orders and she stepped into the airlock at the back followed by Private Kozelek Guggenheim. When the door closed the light went from green to red and back to green. As soon as it did so, Chao went through. After cycling through a second time, Olivia waved Hanna forward. It was a tight squeeze inside and rapidly filled with water.

  Hanna tried not to panic and control her breathing. The water rose all around her. It lapped at the helmets visor and completely immersed her. The hatch above opened and Hanna felt herself being pulled up, out of the submarine. Trying to distract herself, Hanna studied the sub as she was towed away, Olivia’s hand locked around her wrist. She could see why Ison Island’s security system couldn’t see it.

  The subs camouflage armour was blending it in with the sea bed. The only way Hanna could tell it was there, was from the open hatch. It slid shut and suddenly she was looking at the sea bed, with no idea where the sub wa
s. Chao assured her it was just as hard to find on the islands sensors as it was to see. She did wonder, as she was pulled through the water, how they would find it on the way back.

  Chao briefed her on the mission during the drive to their rendezvous with the rest of the Company. It was interesting to see how he first smuggled her on to the base using a fake recruits ID, given to him by Shannon, and onto the Helos dressed in someone’s oversized, spare uniform and armour. Most of the Company were now part of the conspiracy, but he explained there were still some he needed to hide her from, hence the deception.

  From what he told her, it would take about ten minutes to reach the beach. She had been out in the water for a minute or so and relaxed a bit more, enjoying the sensations. The helmet gave her perfect vision in the dark water. Around her she could see fish swimming happily about in all sorts of colours. Below were rocks teeming with life. Things swam and scuttled about all over. There were even plants waving in the movements of the water. When Hanna’s leg brushed past, they all disappeared, down into the rocks.

  Hanna wanted to ask questions about what she saw, but she dare not distract the Devils. They moved through the water without talking, only visible to her as green outlines on her visor. The armour hid them from sight almost as well as the sub. On the inside of her helmet were various displays. One was a circle showing a thick band of green. As she watched, the outer edges were slowly changing colour to amber.

  “The sensors around here are pretty intense even for a Family island,” Kozelek commented.

  “We should be OK,” Jessica replied. “The sub didn’t read anything on passives our suits can’t handle.”

  “He’s right, though,” Chao said. “There’s more than there should be. It’s a good indication the kid was telling the truth and the Major was here.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” Jessica said firmly. “In the meantime, can the chatter. Let’s not give away more than we need to.”

  Hanna could see what she meant, every time someone spoke over their com, the amber bit deeper into the green. After the Corporal’s admonishment, it crept back out again and the team continued in silence.

  “One hundred metres out from the beach,” Kozelek reported from his position on point, as Valerie called it.

  “OK, Guggenheim. Check it out,” Jessica ordered. “Alpha, we hang back at fifty metres.”

  The team slowed and came to a stop. The green icon representing Kozelek continued forward. They hung in the water, the suits floatation system keeping them from rising up towards the surface or sinking further down. Hanna patted the sealed pocket holding her Quartz for reassurance as the time seemed to stretch out.

  “All clear,” Kozelek’s voice was a welcome relief, and Hanna released a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.

  “Let’s go,” Jessica ordered, and the team jetted through the water.

  The water began to move all around them, the closer they got. Hanna could see both the ground and the surface above. It felt like everything around her was attacking her all at once. Panic rose up inside and she could hear her breathing echoing harshly inside the helmet.

  “Steady,” Olivia’s voice came over the com. “Almost there, this is always the worst part, but you’ll have your feet on dry land soon enough.” Hanna concentrated on her calm tone and forced her breathing to slow. She imagined she was on a Heist. She needed to be quiet or a guard would spot where she hid in the shadows.

  Olivia brought her legs up and set them on the ground, Hanna went to copy her.

  “Don’t,” Olivia said. “I’ll pull you to the beach.” With the mechanical assistance of the suit, she towed Hanna through the water until she was almost lying on top of the sand.

  “On your feet,” Olivia instructed and Hanna complied. The other woman was in a crouch and Hanna copied her. The sand rose up in front of them to end at a permacrete sea wall. Behind it, a large house stood with only a couple of lights on. Crouched in the shadows, caused by the lee of the sea wall, was Kozelek. He waved them over and the team dashed across the open beach.

  “Right on target, Corp,” Kozelek said. “Harbour is two hundred metres ahead and the security post will be right there.”

  “Good work,” Jessica said, patting him on the shoulder.

  “Hang on,” Hanna interrupted. “Why are we going to a security post, won’t there be guards there?”

  She couldn’t see Jessica’s face through the blacked out visor, but Hanna could tell she was angry from the way she crouched in the dark.

  “You need to get into their security system,” she replied in a clipped voice. “That’s the nearest and softest access point,” she turned away and her hand rose up. It was one Hanna recognised from Valerie’s training. It meant she was about to lead the team forward.

  “Why not use the house right here?” Hanna asked quickly to forestall the move. They all turned to look at her, she felt the blush rising in her cheeks and was glad her visor was just as dark as all of theirs.

  Jessica shook her head. “It won’t have the access to the security system,” she said slowly. “You’ll have to hack their protocols. It’ll take too long.”

  “Only a few minutes, ten at the outside.” Hanna said, trying to sound as confident as she felt. It wasn’t easy when four highly trained killers stared at you with blank visors.

  “It’ll take that long to get through security’s encryption and half an hour for the protocols!” Kozelek said. “We ran sims on the offensive programs and that was our average time.”

  “Not for me. All I need is an outside port.”

  “I’d listen to her, Corp.” Chao interjected. “I don’t know what they’re teaching street kids on Blaze, but she knows what she’s talking about.”

  Crouching there in the dark, Jessica cocked her head as she studied Hanna for a few seconds. “Alright. We’ll do it her way.”

  “Corp-” Kozelek started to say, but was cut off by Jessica.

  “Major Carter trusted her and so should we.” That stopped the discussion and Hanna marvelled at the level of trust they still put into Valerie, despite Furioso and her disappearance for so long. “Guggenheim and Button,” she continued. “Get over that wall and scout it out, find us a nice isolated place Hanna can work and we can defend.”

  “Pool house would be my suggestion,” Chao said. He looked around. “I’ll go west, you go east, Guggenheim. Meet on the other side and see what we’ve got.” The two men easily leapt to the top of the wall and rolled over, out of sight.

  Shifting round, Hanna sat down and extracted her datapad. The pouch did its job and there was not a drop of water on the Quartz. She grimaced to herself, struggling to manipulate the controls with the suits gloves on. The computer governing its systems allowed for the use of a datapad, there was little danger of her accidently crushing it. Her fingers were now much thicker and not nearly so nimble. It slowed her down. A couple of commands on the virtual keyboard increased its size and she wasn’t pressing two or three keys at once.

  The majority of the programs were already in place and primed for immediate deployment. She added a couple more and set them into a maximum attack queue. It wouldn’t be as clean as she normally liked to work, though it would let her get the information faster. If they had time at the end, she could then wipe the system of any trace she was there. Overall it would take longer, but they would be able to leave earlier with what they came for if discovered.

  “Has anyone got a sensor wand I can borrow?”

  “What do you need one of those for?” Jessica asked.

  “If I can scan in all of our dimensions, I can blank us from any recordings once I’m in the system.”

  “If Button was here,” Olivia joked. “He would say something about ‘we’re’ meant to be the elite troops.” To reduce any emissions that would give them away, their short range coms were line of sight only.

  “Give it to her,” Jessica told Olivia. “Keep the scan as low powered as possible, Hanna, and an
eye on the green circle on your HUD. If it goes all amber, shut it down. Understood?” Since they left the water, the threat display had gone all green as the active scans protecting the island reduced to almost zero.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Hanna replied and she took the sensor wand from Olivia.

  “I’m not an officer, just call me Corp.”

  “Yes, Corp,” Hanna said contritely. Plugging the wand in, she swiftly scanned the three of them in and entered the data into the worms dedicated to surveillance.

  A triple tap on the permacrete wall above, warned of Chao and Kozelek’s return. The two men waved for the women to follow them.

  “Wester, you go first and then haul Hanna up.” Jessica ordered and Olivia nodded in reply.

  Not wasting any time, Olivia leapt the three metre distance up to the top of the wall easily, the suits servo’s giving her a much assisted boost. Chao was there ready and grabbed the back of her suit to pull her over. Hanna guessed Olivia was just as capable as the two men were, but with Chao’s help she was over quicker.

  Turning around immediately, Olivia hung her arm down over the wall. While Hanna’s suit included the same servo assistance, with no training she couldn’t get it to work much more than the default settings. All the computer could do, was compensate for its own extra weight and bulk. Crouching all the way down, Hanna leapt up and her years of robbing houses in the dead of night, allowed her to grab Olivia on the first go.

  With one easy pull, Hanna was dragged over onto thick grass. Jessica jumped up right behind. Chao waved them all to head round to the west of the house. Swiftly, Hanna scanned the last two in. With Shadow Company’s stealth suits continuing to blend them into the background, the team moved off quietly.

  Chao led them through landscaped grounds of perfectly flat grass, shaped bushes, bright flowers and overhanging trees. Stepping through an opening, they entered the pool area. The pool itself stretched for fifty metres. At one end was the main building. At the other a low dwelling, and Hanna recognised it as the pool house. Many of the houses she visited in Inferno, while the owners were either away or asleep, had very similar places, if not as large as this one.