BLUEMANTLE by Karen Langston (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud TXT) 📕

“Deaf Squad are ready. Soon, they’ll move closer to the expected zone, minimising response time. Commander Lore and his Allears are in position and active. We’ve several hours until the event is due to start. However, if there is any precursory sound that could lead us to the exact location, we will gain a valuable head start. Other Special Forces units are patrolling the area, looking for potential Users heading to the event. Our intention is to arrest them on sight, bring them back here for questioning. We only need to persuade one of them.”

“Meanwhile, the decryption efforts.”

“Still working to decipher coordinates. Intelligence Division will continue until the moment has passed. If they break it in time, Comms will radio all units immediately.”

“Good. That leaves the matter of your sleeper. His source can negate the need to break the code.”

“Chase is under direct orders to bring her in. He maintains that he doesn’t know where she works or lives but expects her to approach him today in order to take him to the event. He’s under surveillance. Only…”

“Tell me.”

“Currently, we don’t have eyes on him.”

Blix glared, her breath quickening.

Wulfwin noted and ignored her reaction. “Last sighting was three hours ago by a street sweeper in Tempur. A WatcherCam was locked on, but there was a break in connection. Irritating, but nothing more. There are enough eyes on the ground to pick him up. Besides, once his source makes contact, he will Code S the details of where she’s taking him.”

“Your confidence in his loyalty surprises me.”

“My confidence lies in our procedures. I checked his records. He had his implant refreshed last month. His system has enough Chromatofen in it to guarantee conformity. Besides, when I last spoke to him, I elaborated on the consequence of failure. The graphic detail was more for my amusement; he did not look entertained. He is under no illusion about what will happen to him should he fall short of expectation. And besides, his consistent cooperation means I am not unduly concerned. I imagine his initial reluctance to reveal his source was motivated by some foolish fancy for the woman. I know for a fact that his hatred of the Scene is deep-rooted. It will override any superficial desire when the time comes.”

“Reassuring to hear. And you had better be right. Something tells me this event is our last chance. The mention of ‘contest’, whatever that may be, is significant. It has the ring of ‘now or never’. And I will not countenance ‘never’.”

“With the information already at our disposal, we are well placed to succeed. I have every intention of doing exactly that.”

“See that you do.” She glanced around the tent, her cold eyes surveying the hundred or so uniformed officers and troopers carrying out orders. There was an urgency to their movements, a sharp focus in their expressions. The sense of purpose was palpable. Blix nodded slowly, then said, “I am returning to the Complex to take up position in the Comms Control Centre. Any development, make sure I am the first to know.”

Wulfwin watched as Blix turned and walked out of the tent, her torso rigid. He took a moment to relax his strained composure, his face twitching. Then he marched over to the nearest radio operator. “Get me Commander Lore. Now.”

–

A warm breeze skimmed the Nanso Trail, relieving the burden of sultry heat that had made for a gruelling climb. Dent Lore knelt on the ground, straining to detect the unheard. Sweat ran down his bald head. His beard prickled.

He had spent the last two hours darting between whisper dishes, issuing orders to blind, blank faces. Even after all these years, he could not get used to reading the expressions of the adjusted.

The sighted and the more agile of the adjusted Allears were alongside him on the Heights, listening. He had trained and re-educated all of them, knew them by name instead of number. He knew what they’d be feeling, what they’d be thinking. The programme of Chromatofen and indoctrination made that reliably predictable. That was why they were so effective. It was how they would, one day, win.

Will it be today? he thought, struggling to imagine the prospect. A goal, so long sought, had become incomprehensible as a reality. Mission accomplished was synonymous with purpose served. He couldn’t imagine a ‘what next?’ because the concept held no meaning.

More tangible for Dent was the ‘what now?’ A familiar dread. Taken in isolation, his role as an Allear was a peaceable intervention. Actioned in concert with the Deaf Squad, it was the precursor to brutality. This shift in the nature of the part he played jarred in his psyche – a circumstantial contradiction that, he felt, placed him at the mercy of context. As always, he repressed the jabs to his conscience and focused on that which he could control: his responsibility, his duty and his loyalty to the Authority.

His radio crackled to life.

“Alpha-Charlie-One. This is Delta-Charlie-One. Do you read? Over,” came Wulfwin’s voice, charged with static.

“Delta-Charlie-One. Copy that. Over.”

“No confirmation on location. Take up position ‘bravo five’. Repeat, position ‘bravo five’. Over.”

“Wilco. Over.”

“Deaf Squad will mobilise at twenty-hundred hours. Rendezvous at twenty-thirty, south gate, Nanso Trail. Over.”

“Wilco. Over.”

“And Alpha-Charlie-One. Don’t fuck this up. Over and out.”

The radio fell silent. An Allear to Dent’s left turned away, as if to pretend he hadn’t heard.

The orders brought Dent’s mind back to the mission at hand. “Allears, listen up,” he shouted. The fifty-strong unit gathered around him. “The moment is approaching. But detection is possible at any point. Be ready. Orders are in. It’s B-five formation. You know the drill. First row, take up positions 120 metres from this point. Second row, thirty metres back from them. And so on. Hold formation and maintain separation. Keep your ears to the ground. The sound will come. Only we can hear it. I don’t need to tell you what that means. Any questions?”

“No, sir,” came an earnest chorus.

“Good,” he said, then saluted. “Into position.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chase