27

I allowed Briggs and his team to clear the area without my help. X-37 kept track of their movements and how long it took them to secure the zone around the entrance to the assassins' guild headquarters.

“Fifteen minutes, twenty-seven seconds,” X-37 said.

“Not bad for an entire city block,” I said, keeping my eye on Briggs and Crank, who had a position slightly offset from my own.

“Agreed,” X-37 said. “However, he did not clear the interior of many of the buildings.”

“Shouldn't be a problem,” I said. “The issue is going to be getting inside, then finding Elise.”

“Commander Briggs has an excellent team of commandos. I find their records disturbingly hard to penetrate, but direct observational data suggests they know what they're doing. Your real problem, in addition to those you've listed, will be Reaper Thane.”

“You're not wrong,” I muttered, my eyes focused on the narrow building between two larger buildings.

“When have I ever been wrong?” X-37 asked.

“We're going to play that game?” I was distracted with an idea that seemed almost too obvious.

“It is not a game,” X-37 said. “I have, in fact, never been wrong, only misinformed. Had sufficient data been supplied during the rare instances I made a mistake, I would have functioned adequately.”

“That's basically the same excuse I use,” I told him.

“Truthfully?” X-37 asked. “I will add that to my data collection for future analysis.”

“It wasn't actually a compliment,” I said. “How thick are the walls between our target building and its neighbors?”

“Excellent question, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “Your perception of the exterior of our target is false. The two neighboring buildings are part of the assassins’ guild fortress. The narrow ‘building front’ is merely a façade.”

“Well, things just got a lot easier,” I said, motioning Briggs to approach for a conference.

“Not necessarily,” X-37 said. “While they may be accessed through one of the neighboring buildings, there will be heavy resistance. Those buildings have large open spaces with mechanical stairways and deep balconies. The effect is aesthetically pleasing; however, it is also purpose built as a battlefield.”

“Keep talking,” I said to X-37 while holding up a hand for Briggs to hold on a moment.

He waited on the knife edge of patience and annoyance.

“Much of what I am sending you on your HUD is an extrapolation of what I believe the interior to look like. I was able, for example, to locate work receipts from the original construction site. The manifest suggests there is a series of mechanical stairways, or escalators, and also some fountains. But I cannot tell you their exact position,” X-37 said.

“What do you think about the neighboring buildings?” I asked Briggs.

He looked across the wide boulevard at our target. “I think there's a decent chance they're owned by the assassins' guild. Can your Reaper AI determine how thick the walls are between the structures?”

“Limited AI,” I corrected.

“Of course. I stand corrected,” Briggs said sarcastically.

“That entire city block is owned or controlled by the assassins’ guild. The foyers of the neighboring buildings seem to have been designed with aesthetics and defense in mind.” I studied the outcroppings and street-facing sections of the larger buildings. “From what X tells me, the flanking buildings have overlapping fields of fire on the front door I was taken through initially. It's not a public entrance, but anyone seeking a contract will eventually learn where it is and approach this way. Which means it has to be defensible.”

Briggs waited, not interrupting me. I saw this as a mark of a good leader. He was still an asshole in my book, but it could be worse.

“If we try to go in the same way I went the first time, we will probably be mowed down by gun turrets,” I said.

“I don't see anything like that,” Briggs said.

I pointed toward glass walls angled toward the smaller building between them. The owners of the smaller, older building had refused to be redeveloped, forcing the new structures to grow around them.

“They’re behind those walls, probably disguised as some sort of decorative feature. When they open fire, the blown-out glass will cut anybody making an assault on the guild to pieces,” I said.

Briggs nodded. “It's obvious once you look at it the right way.”

“There isn't a good alternative, given our time limitations. You can still use our plan with a few small adjustments. Order your team to advance on the east building, enter as though they are regular citizens, but stay ready to fight because there won't be much finesse in this assault.”

“I'll make some adjustments to the plan,” Briggs agreed, then rejoined Crank near their observation post. They stood near a park bench pretending to smoke, which I thought was the first amateur thing they’d done. It was clear neither of them knew one end of a cigarette from the other.

Some time passed.

“I would really like to hear their communications,” I said to X-37.

“It's not my fault that Commander Briggs refused this option. Given sufficient time, and with the right systems, we could break their encryption.”

“Looks like the mission is a go,” I said, watching Briggs nod at his team members converging on the east building front door.

They wore trench coats and other types of civilian clothes designed to conceal their weapons and armor. It wasn't a ruse that would hold for a long time, but we only needed a minute to begin the assault.

I stepped off the curb and walked toward the east building.

The Union spec ops team slowly converged, not walking together exactly, but close enough they could transform into a fighting unit in seconds.

Crank went through the front door, followed by the others. He immediately veered off. Much of this foyer was glass, allowing a partial view from the street. The morning sun turned much of the building into an orange mirror, but when I got close, I could see what was happening.

The interior walls, I guessed, were concrete-reinforced steel made to look like cheap office building walls.

I saw three escalators twisting up to the second level, where there was a balcony type concourse. I also spotted an elevator bank with two well-armed guards. They wore tactical armor and carried short rifles, which was apparently acceptable to the patrons of the complex.

“I wonder how many of the bystanders know they are working in the hub of the Zag City criminal underground,” I said, suddenly curious.

“I would guess less than ten percent,” X-37 said.

“This is going to be messy as fuck,” I predicted, walking in after Briggs's team, but before the snipers who had come in from their posts with close-quarters weapons instead of long rifles. I still didn't know their names, but they looked serious and experienced.

X-37 realized where I was looking and explained, “Commander Briggs left junior members of the team on the perimeter. The sniper's primary mission is long-range target acquisition and neutralization, but I suspect their long experience with this unit has also given them substantial room-clearing skills. I think Briggs made a good decision by including them in the assault.”

I agreed but didn't say anything. I'd only taken one glance at the men but marked them as people I didn't want to tangle with unless necessary.

We spread out into a wedge formation, moving through the lobby without much subtlety. The heavily armed guards at the elevator immediately perked up, stepping back inside bunkers and opening gun ports. Several doors opened on the second level and security teams filed out much faster than I had expected.

“Here goes nothing,” I said.

Crank led the charge up the leftmost escalator, eliminating the need to protect that flank. He swept his weapon up, brushing back his long coat. For a coldhearted brute, he showed surprising restraint.

An alarm sounded, warning everyone there was a terrorist incident in progress. Many of the bystanders threw themselves to the ground and covered their heads. Others stood confused. Some ran for the front doors.

The rest of the team charged up the escalator behind Crank. Orlando and Jonji assembled the squad automatic weapon near a fountain and started laying down suppressive fire on the balcony.

I sprinted up the rightmost escalator, gaining the second-floor concourse long before the Union soldiers finished the first part of this assault.

Doors slammed shut. Warnings announced that the escalators and elevators were shutting down for security reasons. A voice declared that this was not a drill. It then went on to explain that police teams were on the way.

A pair of guards in business suits tried to stop me. I pulled my .45 and dropped them with head shots from thirty meters, which was at least five meters outside normal combat effectiveness of a handgun.

Another man stepped out of a door closer to my position. I kicked him hard enough that he flew back into the room he'd come out of. I hesitated a second too long and the door closed, the lock snapping shut loudly on some sort of magnetic switch.

“I didn't want to go that way anyway,” I muttered.

Glass exploded. Alarms blared. Security doors slammed shut. The elevator guards opened fire to their gun ports, but they'd already lost the angle when Briggs took his team to the second level. It was the only good thing that had happened in our favor.

I'd expected this to be one hell of a fight, but this was like going up against seasoned ship Marines defending against boarders.

“I wish I'd made Briggs give me some body armor and an HDK,” I said as I moved along the wall, seeking a better position of cover. The only thing that was keeping me alive was that most of the fire was directed at the spec ops team, who appeared to be the main threat in the situation.

They didn't really know me.

“He would've refused,” X-37 said.

His voice always sounded off when I was in the middle of a fight. He didn't get winded or change his rate of speech when things got complicated. It helped me stay calm and detached, but could be distracting.

Briggs and his team assaulted the elevator nexus on the second level. I watched, slightly annoyed with their choice. We were trying to get into the elevator or go to a different level. The entire reason for being in this building was to get to the center building and gain access to the interior of the assassins’ guild complex.

I made my way to Crank and snatched one of his breaching charges from his vest. He looked at me strangely while he was reloading, probably suspecting he'd been robbed but not having time to check his inventory.

“Just stay behind me, Reaper. I'm wearing armor. You're not,” he said.

I didn't want to link up with him, but he headed into a room and it was bad form to leave a teammate hanging. Following close behind him, I immediately turned right and cleared everything in my sector. We met in the middle.

“Clear,” he said.

“Nothing seen,” I answered, feeling nostalgia for my time before Dark Ops in the Reaper Corps.

We moved on, encountering some resistance, but driving most of the guards back rather than killing them. There was bloodshed, but less than I expected after the initial assault.

Briggs pulled the teams back together when he could and abandoned his attempt to take control of the elevator and stairways.

“That was a feint, in case you were wondering,” he told me as we fell in beside each other.

“Sure,” I said. “It got us this far.”

We made our way to several hallways before I realized we had moved from one building to the next. “We are inside their headquarters.”

Briggs looked at me, simultaneously signaling Crank and one of the other soldiers forward to deal with the next intersection. “How do you know? More Reaper AI stuff?”

“Limited AI,” I corrected again. “And it's the emergency lighting. I remember that from my visit.”

He nodded and adjusted his team’s movements, still refusing to allow me into the radio comms.

“You realize they are keeping their comms away from you because they plan to betray you in the future,” X-37 said.

“Thanks for the pep talk. I couldn't figure that out myself. But maybe it's just standard operating procedure not to let an enemy agent on your secured network,” I said, keeping my voice low to avoid drawing attention from my temporary teammates.

The next section was clearly defensive. I thought we were underground now, with several stairways and ladders required to get to their current location.

The hallway we had to traverse was wide and inclined to a broad double door that looked blast-proof. There were several landings on the incline without much in the way of decoration. I counted three escalators going up and three escalators going down, but they were all turned off.

“Team, move,” Briggs said. “Let's double-time. I don't like this. Spread out into fire teams. Bounding overwatch.”

Crank bounded first, not taking a partner. Up until now, he'd been attached to Briggs. They'd been searching for me while the rest of the team remained hidden. I assumed this was because the two men could identify me more easily than the others. Our time together on the Dreadmax mission had been memorable to say the least.

The team was halfway to the double doors when the gun ports snapped open.

“Orlando, suppressive fire!” Briggs ordered.

Orlando and Jonji set up the squad automatic weapon on one of the escalator railings and opened fire, spraying the gun ports with bullets. Jonji fed the ammunition belt into the weapon, reaching back for the next belt without having to look for it. His backpack seemed to be growing lighter with each encounter.

The spec ops team rushed the big center doors, bounding over each other and shooting at the gun ports, hoping for a lucky shot, but knowing this was a bad spot to be in.

David went down. Holmes helped him up. They staggered to a wall that put them at a better angle to avoid being shot but kept them from proceeding forward.

Gunny Bane and Corporal Galen moved to the other side of the multiple staircases. Ricocheting bullets screamed in random directions, proving the walls were reinforced and bulletproof. Shell casings spilled down the stairs like a miniature brass avalanche.

“They’re concentrating fire on the SAW!” Crank warned from his higher vantage point. He was pinned down but had a good view of the action.

Jonji took a bullet through his left arm, his armor absorbing some of the force but failing to stop it from penetrating. The impact flipped him sideways and he tumbled into the open. The stairwells around the escalators were surprisingly good cover, but once he was out on one of the landings, his chance of survival evaporated.

I dove at him, grabbing his armor with my Reaper hand and dragging myself toward cover with my natural right hand.

X-37 suggested I move to cover with no change in his voice. It was times like these when I thought my only friend was a computer program with no soul.

Like I had one after all the things I'd done.

Working quickly, I pulled a tourniquet from his med pack. Seconds later, I tightened the strap and clamped the lever down to hold the life-saving device in place.

Gunny Bane stared at me from her own position, unable to cross the open area to reach us.

“He’ll be okay but will need some attention soon. The tourniquet can’t stay on forever,” I shouted.

She nodded as though she understood. A moment of silence came after an intensive exchange of gunfire.

“That was risky,” she said. “You didn't have to take that kind of risk. You’re not even part of our unit.”

I didn't answer.

Another exchange of gunfire provided an opportunity to move and I took it, noticing that Bane replaced me at Jonji’s side.

“Good news,” X-37 said. “I have hacked into their comms.”

I reached one of the access doors and knelt beside it, pressing my body as flat as I could to avoid exposing myself to further attacks. Meanwhile, I listened in.

“I don't care if he saved Jonji; we still can't trust him,” Briggs said to no one I could hear.

Whoever he was talking to either chose not to answer or was unable to answer.

“We can't keep this up,” Gunny Bane said, her voice hard. From what I could see of her, she was sheltering Jonji with her body armor while she adjusted the tourniquet and spoke on her radio. “We only have so much ammunition.”

“I'm at the main blast doors,” Crank said. He didn't sound tired or concerned about the violence around him. It was a side of the man I didn't know well. “I don't have the breaching charges needed to force the door. I'm missing one somehow. But I can blow the control panel and that may get us in.”

“Do you see Cain?” Briggs asked.

“No,” Crank said. “I'm telling you we can trust him for now.”

That surprised me. I wouldn’t have guessed Crank would support me even for a second. Maybe he'd seen my desperate rescue of Jonji. Or maybe he just understood I wasn't about to sneak off during a fight.

“Thanks for hacking their comms, X,” I said. “Can I also communicate with them?”

“Yes, but I would advise caution. Being able to listen in covertly may provide a tactical advantage for you in the future,” X-37 advised.

“Understood. I think it's worth the risk.” I moved to the next access door without drawing fire. It was a good sign. The Union spec ops team was low on ammunition, but maybe the guards were as well. They were exceedingly well prepared but probably never thought they'd actually have to do their jobs.

“Cain for Briggs, how copy?” I said.

A few seconds of silence followed.

“You're not authorized to use this channel,” Briggs said.

“Technically, I'm not authorized to be alive, but I'm a glass is half full kind of guy,” I said. “I have Crank’s missing breaching charge. If you can cover me, I can make it to his position and help him blow the door.”

“You stole explosives from a Union soldier?” Briggs demanded.

“I was looking for cigars,” I said, imagining that he suddenly realized who had taken his stash during our first meeting. “Don't worry about it. Crank and I can get through and continue the mission. That should be enough of a distraction that you and the rest of the team could follow afterward.“

Briggs growled something I didn't understand. “I'm not crazy about it, but I agree with your assessment. I'll direct the team to lay down heavy suppressive fire. That will be your cue to move.”

“Thanks,” I snapped, preparing myself to sprint for the main doors.

“You're a real son-of-a-bitch, Cain,” he said. “Did you rob Jonji when you saved him? I told you to keep your hands off my team.”

“I had to do something to keep you honest,” I said. “If I hadn't taken those breaching charges, you would've left me here without a second thought.”

“We'll talk about this later,” he said. “Let's get this done. I'm sick of this place.”

Moments later, Briggs and the rest of the team created a massive diversion. I rushed across the remaining distance to Crank’s location.

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