Jim pointed at the door of a large building with a massive “2” painted on the walls across from their hiding spot. “Dark.”
“Let’s go,” Roen said. The two moved quickly to Drydock Two. Once inside, Roen gestured to Jim and pointed left, then gestured to himself and pointed right. The two split off and continued down the length of the long rectangular building, always keeping in contact with each other. Halfway down the length of the room, they found Stan’s body sprawled against a drum barrel with two taps, one in his neck and one in his head. Faust appeared out of the shadows.
“Make that seven guards,” he shook his head. We took out five, but the last two got a few shots off. Stan…” He grimaced.
“Get his body to the boat,” Roen ordered.
A moment later, the rest of the team straggled in. Four minutes later, they were on a small tugboat heading out of the harbor. They were a klick out to sea when the entire dock lit up like Vegas during AVN Awards week. It was too late, though. Roen and his team had escaped. Exactly fifteen minutes later, they were standing on Imelda’s Song’s aft deck.
Well done. Could not have gone much smoother.
Roen stared at the dwindling lights in the horizon. “Hardly smooth. We lost Stan. You know, he could have been a pro golfer, but he felt he had a higher calling. And now he’s gone.”
Stop.
“All this death and destruction is starting to mess with my head. With everything that’s happening in the States… I can’t stop thinking about Jill. Damn it, Tao, if I could get on a plane right now…”
Stop it now.
“I’m on this goddamn rusty boat in the middle of the goddamn…”
I mean it. Shut up. Listen.
“You know, all these years, she’s the love of my life, and I took her for granted…”
LISTEN! That sound. Do you hear it?
Roen paused mid-rant and stayed very still. The waves were rolling all around, breaking against the hull of the ship. Below him, he could just make out the low hum and the clicking of the engine. If he listened carefully, he could just make out someone playing Filipino pop music down on the second level of the port deck. Other than that… Then he heard it. It was faint, easily missed, a soft whup whup whup sound. Roen closed his eyes and concentrated. It was coming from behind the ship, somewhere out in the ocean. He turned and scanned the horizon, watching for anything out of the ordinary. On his second pass through the darkness, he saw it, a large black shadow skimming just above the ocean waves, looming larger and larger.
Large. Transport size. Chinooks or Z-8s. Estimated intercept at rate of incoming is less than two minutes. Carrier capacity anywhere up to fifty. Rally the men. We are about to be boarded!
FORTY
DESPERATE MOVE
To this day, Sonya’s fate fills me with regret. It was a needless death, caused by a series of events that were completely avoidable. I cannot simply let go for not only was she my host, she was also my daughter.
My anger is misplaced, I understand and apologize, but in this sense, I have reacted as any human. Quasing are not perfect, nor do our millions of years of existence protect us from emotions. I still blame Tao to this day, and will do so until the Eternal Sea.
Baji
The silo was a hive of activity when Jill and Marco came running in. Paula, standing on the coffee table, was directing troops and lighting fires under asses. An hour ago, the room looked like a refugee camp. Now it reminded Baji, who in turn reminded Jill, of the makeshift barricades erected by citizens in Paris during the French Revolution.
Past the barricade, the rest of the room had changed into the furniture version of trench warfare. The agents had moved every piece of furniture and turned the main room into a bizarre maze of lamps, desks, shelves, and couches that the Genjix would have to wade through. Several men pushed by Jill. She watched as they tossed anything from kettles to books to a pinball machine on top of piles comprising the maze, as if growing some monstrous Ikea barrier reef.
“Stack ’em up, boys,” Paula shouted. “No more than waist level. Make them work for every inch. We need every able body. Anyone who knows how to use a gun is fighting.”
“How many Genjix are out there?” someone called out.
She shrugged. “A dozen? A hundred? Does it matter?”
Two men brought out weapon crates from the ammo locker and handed out rifles. Jill took an old Kalashnikov and examined it. The thing looked older than she was.
“Stack those weapon crates when they’re empty. Not so straight, idiot!” Paula hollered, jumping off the coffee table. “You want to make it easy for them? There’s only one way in and out of this place, so we need to capitalize on the real estate in here.”
Something about that statement didn’t ring true. Then it hit her.
“Baji, there’s a back door to this place!”
Be discreet. Do not cause a panic.
Jill pushed her way through the living room to the back hallway. There, in rear of the third silo, she found a rusty metal door hidden behind a shelf. Scanning the room, she saw a sad-looking ant farm. Add ant genocide to Roen’s list of sins. She reminded herself to not let Cameron bring Eva back to their home if they ever reconciled. She found the key under the ant farm and tested it on the door. It clicked open.
Jill rushed back to the dining room and pulled Paula aside. “We can all sneak out the back with the Genjix being none the wiser,” she told her.
Paula furrowed her eyebrows. “The enemy’s at our doorstep. If we all leave at once, they’ll find us and catch us out in the open. We need to engage the Genjix, lock them into the fight, and then have our people trickle out in twos and threes to avoid detection.” She put a hand on Jill’s shoulder. “I need to manage the fight at the front. I’ll leave the evacuation to you.”
“I’m sending Thompson and Wilks first,” Jill said.
“Wilks isn’t a host. I’d rather Quasing escape.”
“They’re two sitting senators!”
Paula sighed. “It doesn’t matter if they’re in Congress anymore. America’s lost. And with her goes any hope of victory. It’s over.”
Paula’s words stopped Jill dead in her tracks. She knew the situation was grim, and this recent attack on the capital was a serious setback, but she didn’t think it was the Prophus’ death knell. Only now did she realize how critical her role was in the war. Except it was too late. What minor successes she had achieved in the past few weeks were worthless. She had won the battle while the Prophus lost the war. Nothing could prevent the Genjix from assuming control of the United States government.
Suddenly, a dangerous and radical idea occurred to her. “You’re still getting reports in from the outside? How? Through Roen’s system?”
Paula nodded.
“Can we patch through to the Keeper?”
“I already had a call with her about reinforcements. Unfortunately, the bulk of our forces are in Tibet. The rest here are too occupied with the evacuation of the country.”
“I need to speak with her. Meet me in the computer room,” Jill said quickly, running out the door.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Just get me the damn Keeper now!” Jill roared. “And find Senator Thompson!” She high-stepped it to the infirmary and found Wilks lying in bed.
“Jill,” he exclaimed. “What’s that racket outside? You mind if I turn into a grumpy old man and tell them to shut the hell up?”
“No time, Senator. The enemy’s trying to break in.”
She gave him a moment to let those words sink in. He took it surprisingly well. Actually, he took it so well that it shocked her. He looked thoughtful for a second and then tried to sit up. “Well, get me a gun. A rifle, mind you. Can’t hit a chicken in a hen house with a pistol.”