The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

to the Solomon quarters. I’m showing a pair outside our net. They’ll slip in before my men can get there. Can’t promise you’ll have cover.”

“I’m there, Captain,” she said in full sprint. “Send your men where they’ll do the most good. Kill everything that moves.”

Sam embraced the moment. She’d been here before. In the first hour after Jamie Sheridan’s countdown to death began in Albion, she and her mother prepared their house for a final defense against the enemy their father saw coming. She took out an assassin that night. Daddy praised her efforts when they reached the lake house.

“You were born for this, Pumpkin,” Walt told her. “The Guard will be your playground.”

Though the Guard was now as much an enemy as the man once named Jamie, she remembered all her training and embraced the cold, ruthless heart her father demanded.

The Solomon quarters represented an entire wing of the house, two levels of suites, most of which were empty since Finnegan vanished overseas. The suites opened into common areas, including a recreational room and an indoor pool. Just before Sam passed the first suites and came upon the pool, she knew she was too late. She heard the smashing of glass and crouched into a defensive position. She heard two distinct sets of footprints rounding the pool, one from each end.

Her body armor would resist laser pulses and flash pegs, but she had no idea what she was facing. If Celia Marsche funded them, wouldn’t they be as well-armored?

Sam was sick of analyzing. She didn’t have time for this crap. Michael needed her.

Sam moved toward the enemy. She amplified the DR29’s sensory scanners and took stock. To her left, the merc was within ten feet. To her right, twelve feet. They were slowing. She understood. They’d coordinate now, use hand signals, then round the corner at the same instant. All she had to do was anticipate.

She remembered Daddy’s training in the Louisiana bayou.

“Don’t wait until you see their eyes. You’ll be dead,” he told her. “Anticipate their commitment. Anticipate the instant when their hearts are settled on their maneuver and their heels are no longer planted. You will have a fraction of a second, but that is when you fire. Before they realize they’ve made a fatal error.”

The instant came, and Sam pressed the trigger button. She dispensed a volley of flash pegs to her left, shaving the corner. A shape emerged to her right, another blast rifle unleashing its complement of pegs. She felt the blunt pangs as their projectiles did no damage. The enemy never had a chance.

Both intruders crumpled, their bodies shredded. Neither wore armor. Sam moved quickly, standing over the bodies to make sure of her work. She recognized their royal blue uniforms and white crest, shaped like the scales of justice.

They weren’t mercenaries or ex-peacekeepers. They were DayWatch: Constables who investigated crime scenes, managed crowd control, and processed civil disputes. Their authority came from the regional Sanctums.

Sam tapped her amp. “Capt. Doltrice, I’ve taken out the threats on the northwest quad. What is your status?”

“Good job, Ms. Pynn. To our surprise, this operation has taken a far easier turn than expected. Our attackers do not know military combat. Just got my first look up close. They appear to be …”

“DayWatch. This is insane. Even if Marsche could make this happen, why would they go along? This mission was suicide.”

“Which is why DayWatch wouldn’t have pulled the trigger unless they believed they had superior forces.”

A thought roiled her. “Or, if they thought they were arresting a few Chancellor civilians trying to stop the Guard invasion.”

The picture made more sense. Marsche had eyes everywhere. Why wouldn’t she have latched on to Sam’s efforts? Her message was clear at the GPM: Celia would deal harshly with opposition.

“If she knows what we’re attempting,” Sam continued, “she’ll move her other people in place, especially at the GPM.” She feared for Finnegan. Had he received David’s warning? “Capt. Doltrice, round up the team and report to the Scramjet. We’re moving to the next phase right away. There’s no more time.”

“Roger that, Ms. Pynn. And the mess we’ve made here?”

“I don’t wanna think about that shitstorm now. Reassemble and prepare to leave.”

“Destination?”

“Give me five minutes.”

She raced back to David’s office. He was in mid-conference with two other chiefs of staff for allied Presidiums.

“Our status?”

“It’s coming together. They’ll be organized by first light.”

“That’s not good enough. Marsche just hit us with DayWatch. She knows we’re fighting back. Tell them all, it’s time to move. We have to take down Grandover before the Guard attacks.”

He looked pale. “DayWatch?”

“And Finnegan?”

“No response.”

“David, you and the staff need to leave, too. We don’t want to be here when DayWatch comes looking for their people.”

He vowed to fly out with the skeleton crew in an uplift. She wished him luck and raced outside, past four DayWatch bodies. Most of her strike team was assembling, others close behind. She dreaded this next bit: Telling Doltrice her plan for the GPM.

But as good luck stopped her short of killing an innocent man earlier, a different twist stopped Sam shy of the Scramjet.

Michael was streaming to her. She saw his coordinates and a message. “I love you, babe.”

Harrisboro Prefecture. He was in trouble. He was surrounded.

“Ms. Pynn,” Capt. Doltrice said. “What’s it going to be?”

Her heart told her what to do, but her mind spoke louder.

 

56

Marsche compound

 

C ELIA MARSCHE RECEIVED SKETCHY reports, the last coming from her people in Boston. The team assigned to arrest and detain Samantha Pynn went silent. Word of “unexpected, high-powered resistance” made its way out before the team went dark. DayWatch was en route, but Celia did not need their rudimentary investigative skills to know what happened. To know