Chapter 15
Blake spent the next hour detailing the history of Wing’Tan, as far as the Feds knew anyway. The Clan had started out as a loose group of runners that set up teams on different quadrants of the Twin Cities and two neighbouring cities. They started pooling their resources and funds, and a few entrepreneurs in the group found that some of the higher priced clients had other deals they might want done.
The Clan soon became the dominant organised crime unit in the state. They kept their low level runners still carrying out the courier business, occasionally dragged one or two into the messier end of the business, and so it continued for a few years. But more recently they seemed to have gotten deals with more influential people in the cities. Known clan members were now attending mayoral dinners, fundraisers, and all of the other shoulder rubbing activities that gave access to people that made policy, sold property, and changed futures.
The problem was, and still is, that no one has any idea who the Leadership of the Clan is. It was rumoured that there was a group of original members that controlled all of the Clan subsidiaries and groups, and this Leadership was the key to taking them down.
“So Jack, what we have now, with you, is a unique access point to the Clan. One which will help us to open them wide, and end them for good.”
“And how am I supposed to do that? Just ride in? They tried to hit me twice, frame me for killing a senator, and god knows what else. Who says I’ll last more than thirty seconds in there?”
“No one. But they will be confused by your appearance. They won’t want to kill you straight away, they will want to know where you were, how you got out, and what you know. They’re also going to want to know who you’ve contacted so they can tidy up loose ends.”
“And what say they just tie me to a chair and start peeling shreds of flesh until I talk?”
“They know you’re ex Mil, and it’s more trouble dealing with your corpse than they’ll gain. They are also arrogant and will think they can get your information, and probably twist you around to use again. You’re a valuable tool to them Jack.”
“So valuable they tried to kill me.”
“True, but you gave them what they wanted at the time. They will see this as an opportunity to get a little more cream on the pudding. One more run with their pawn.” Blake smirked at that one. He liked the idea of Jack feeling like a pawn. It was where he deserved to be.
“Interesting theory, pity it’s only a theory, and easy to say when it’s not your arse on the line.”
“My arse was on the line the minute I didn’t shoot you on the spot, so don’t talk to me about risks. And I’ll be in that facility right behind you, assuming Cindy has the tech she claims to have.” The pulsing veins in his head, appeared from nowhere upon hearing Jack’s comments, and went almost as fast as he turned to Cindy. Both men looked at her, and she began to explain her Ghost analyser.
The unit was designed as a signal sniffer that would search for signals emitted by machines, whether they be electromagnetic, radio or infrared. The scanner needed to be inside the facility, as the quality of the signal picked up improved greatly in close proximity. The unit was easy enough to graft under Jack’s skin, and it didn’t emit any signal that had been read as anything but background static, by even the best hackers and analysts.
The catch was, it’s repeater signal that was needed to build the signal field in Cindy’s computer was weak. If she boosted it too much it would create an anomaly in the fields within the facility that may be detected, so they needed another repeater close enough to pick up the original signal and flick it to a storage device outside the property. The second repeater couldn’t be left alone, as the risk was too great that it might fail, or be discovered. That was where Blake came in.
Blake was going to enter the property with fairly untested tech from Cindy, being an Energy Cloak. The device detected the light, heat, magnetic and electromagnetic energy both being absorbed and reflected from Blake’s body, it then project the exact same energy or frequency from the adjacent side of his body, effectively making him invisible. It wasn’t perfected yet, so did give him an infrared and radar signature of a small animal such as a bird or cat. He would also be faintly visible to anyone closer than ten metres, making all in all, for a handy help, but not enough for him to stroll into the room with Jack.
They weren’t trying to retrieve any serious information at this stage, it was a recon mission only. Once Cindy had the information she needed, she would be able to generate a virtual environment to mimic the Clan HQ, and overlay their systems with her own. Although she could take control of their systems, she wouldn’t; the plan was to gather intel on who the players were, what they were doing, and identify who to grab. Once the Leadership were taken, the Clan would be fatally wounded.
They all decided it would not be wise for Jack to stay. Although Blake’s theory of Wing’Tan’s motives and actions towards the return of Blake were well reasoned, they could just as easily slit his throat as he entered, or any other time after that. Jack needed to be in there for five minutes, then get out. In order to achieve this, Cindy would overlay the hack she made on the Biotronics system with a fake emission signature to imitate an untampered system. Jack didn’t know what the hell she was on about, but he trusted her, so went with it.
“We need to move now Jack; the longer we wait, the less plausible your alibi will become.”
Cindy stood and started walking from the room. Jack and Blake got up and followed.
“What am I going to do with Betty?”
“Betty?” Cindy replied, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Yeah. My bike.”
“You named it? Cute. Well you will likely have the techs there crawling all over it as soon as you get off, so don’t expect to be able to use it to get out.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be getting out.”
“This is strictly voluntary Jack. If you don’t have the balls for it—” Blake paused, then pointed to the front door as they passed it.
“Hey, don’t start that up, I’m just stating a fact.”
Cindy chimed in as the emotions started to rise again. “Don’t worry Jack, I’ll get you out.”
“Me too right?” Blake quickly interjected.
“Both of you, don’t worry Blake, I know what you’ve done for me.” She gave him a slight smile. Jack was trying to figure out if it was gratitude or something more.
“OK, so let’s get this done. The sooner we’re out of there, the sooner I get my promotion to the Capital, and Jack gets his record cleared.”
Jack looked at Blake surprised. ”You mean that dishonourable discharge removed and all?”
“Hey, if you help bring these buggers down, you’ll be the toast of the city. Besides, I’ve gotta give you something to make sure you get me out of there!”
Blake followed it up with a laugh that was honest and a little on the loud side. Jack could see Cindy smiling too. Maybe this wasn’t such a disaster after all, he gets his name cleared, and possibly another chance at a new start.
“You OK there slugger?” Cindy was talking to him, but it took a few seconds for it to register.
“Ahhh, yeah, just a bit off after my knock earlier I guess,” he said as he nodded his head towards Blake and rolled his eyes.
Betty was in the garage downstairs, covered in wires and boxes, looking more like a trauma patient than a bike. Cindy walked over, tapped on a few devices, and unplugged the equipment.
Jack pulled on his helmet, the bike started as he began straddling the seat. The ramp to the ground level was a harsh transition, but the inertial dampers on the bike took the small transitions without concern.
As he pulled out onto the main road, Jack went through the task at hand again. He needed to stop back outside the superette and put the bike in the same location. Cindy would release the jamming on the area, giving Wing’Tan a view of what was happening again. She had
already tapped into the National Atmospheric Weather System database and planted data that correlated with a solar storm hitting at the time of the initial jam.
The bodies would no longer be there. Whoever sent in the team for Jack would have dispatched another one as soon as their communication lines were broken. Any witnesses in the area would have either been bribed or “removed.”
As Jack walked into the shop again, he saw a small TV behind the counter. The news was on, with an article about an acute atmospheric interference that seemed to have originated from a solar storm. No crap, thought Jack, the storm hasn’t even arrived for the Clan.
He walked to the counter and tossed a pack of nuts over, paid his twenty credit, and left. Getting back on the bike, Jack pulled his helmet on, instantly getting an incoming message from Ping. He didn’t understand it at first, it read “Fuel may be bad on bike, may pay to stop at Fitzroy Falls, see Jay at Hyper Auto.”
Jack thought about reading the message. It was encrypted; TLM had requested an authorisation from Jack before it was opened. Then the message was erased as soon as he read it. It was time stamped at around the exact time Jack was arriving in town. There was nothing wrong with the fuel, the bike would have recognised issues on board and advised Jack. Ping would have known this.
Then it struck him. Ping wanted him to get the message before he arrived. Maybe he knew something was wrong, and was trying to give him a heads up. He was obviously too late, but perhaps he could still find out what was going on.
Jack pulled onto the road and got onto the comm. “Ping, you hear me?”
“Jack! What are you doing! I mean, aren’t you supposed to be at the safe house? Did you go there?”
“Yeah, I went there, but there was a huge raid on the house next door, dozens of cops and Feds, I figured it wasn’t a good move to go there. Didn’t you track all this?”
“There was some kind of solar flare that took out one of our Sats. It seems to be back online now. Wait, Trina is here.”
“Jack, thank God you’re OK; when we lost contact we thought you may have been taken, or worse.”
Jack thought of the endless stream of obscenities he wanted to fire at Trina, then got his game face on. “Nothing like that, but I did nearly get nabbed. I went to the road as you instructed, but as I went around the corner I saw squad with unmarked cars everywhere. I thought the safe house was blown, but there was a big bust going on next door.”
“Did they I.D. you Jack?”
“No, there was such a commotion, they weren’t interested in me. I walked straight past trying not to be interested, then hid out in an empty house around the corner for a few hours until they all left.”
“Good thinking. I think you should be back here with us, Jack. We have a few contacts that should be able to clear you a path to get back without being stopped.”
“Isn’t that a bit risky?”
“Don’t worry about that Jack, we’ll look after you, get back now.”
“Roger that … One last thing, the senator, he OK? I haven’t seen the news since it all went down.”
“Everything is smooth as silk Jack. Good work by the way.”
So that was it. Not only did Wing’Tan nearly kill him, double cross him, then try and kill him again, they wanted him back for another round. One thing was for sure, he wasn’t going back there without being prepared. He rode another fifty kilometres down the road, at the legal limit, then got back on the comm.
“Ping, you there?”
“Got ya, Jack.”
“Hey I’ve got a reading of contamination in the fuel system, you got a tech nearby?”
“Sure do, Hyper Auto in Fitzroy Falls, ask for Jay, he’s with us.”
“Roger that, can he sort me out to make sure I get through in one piece?”
“Yup, he’s the best hardware man I know, killer on tech.”
Jack read between the lines and took it that the “hardware” would be sufficient for him to shoot his way out if necessary.
“Jack, you hear me?” Cindy’s voice came through the comm loud and clear.
“Yeah Sin. Where else would I be?”
“Blake, you online?”
“Roger.”
“Right boys, this is an encrypted link, anytime you hear from me, it’s only me. I stole a few Mil Sats a few years back and have been moving them around ever since to keep out of the way of prying eyes and ears. Chewing through the fuel like nobody’s business, they’ll be stuffed in a few months, but do the trick right now.”
“Holy crap Cindy, that was you?” Blake had a high level of surprise in his voice. “You know that we all thought it was the Asians, we nearly went to war over that!”
“Yeah, sorry for winding you boys up Blake, but I needed them.”
“Bugger me, you’re one piece of work, that’s for sure!”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Jack said, knowing her anti-establishment roots went far deeper than most people’s knowledge of political history.
Ever since Cindy’s grandparents were taken in the early 00’s for allegedly helping the North Koreans mount nukes to their missiles, she had made it her goal to wreck the government at any chance she could. She never saw her grandparents after that event, and it was unlikely she would ever get over it. Which begged the question, why did she seem to trust Blake?
“So Sin, tell me, why trust this G-man? It seems to go against pretty much any principal you’ve held for more than five minutes.”
“There is a bit of history there Jack. Blake, care to fill him in?”
“After Cindy got kicked out of M.I.T. for sabotaging the entire Defence Research wing, she became a ‘person of interest’ to the Agency. I wasn’t part of the team then, still a snotty nosed rookie on the beat, but I heard the stories. After I got into the Agency, keeping the tab on her was one of my charges.”
“Ahhh, and you fell for her charm and inner beauty?”
“Hardly. I met her once, but she had such a fierce loathing in her eyes, I couldn’t see past the daggers she shot from them!”
“That’s my Sin!”
“So anyway, after a while I started looking through the archives. I could see her family had a chequered history with the government, but not all of it stacked up. The more I found out, the more questions I had. I started digging and found the government was covering up a conspiracy they set up her family nearly fifty years ago. Ever since then, I’ve been helping her level the playing field.”
“So you’re an anarchist at heart too then?”
“No, I just hate seeing good people get done over.”
“Then you’re in the wrong job, with the wrong organisation.”
“I’m beginning to get that idea.”
There was a moment of silence over the comm, then Jack’s Sat Nav noted he was coming into Fitzroy Falls, reminding him of Jay.
“Right you guys, I have reason to believe that I have an ally in Wing’Tan.”
“And how did you come to this revelation after one day?”
“One of the techs tried to warn me about the hit on the safe house but was too late.”
“Or that’s what he wanted you to think. Jack, what’s going on?” Cindy never trusted the Clans, or anyone who worked with them.
“Look, it may be a set up, but it may not, I need to find out. If this guy is the nuts, he could help us bust the Clan wide open. He put me in touch with a contact in Fitzroy Falls, I’m going there now.”
“I’m keeping eyes and ears on you Jack. Blake, shadow him, but stay out of the way. We don’t need any more Feds sighting you and arousing suspicion.”
“Roger. I need to check in anyway. There’s a post at Fitzroy Falls. I’ll keep my comm on receive only.”
As Jack pulled into Hyper Auto, he couldn’t see anything that screamed ‘super high tech, screw the government’ anywhere. It was just another repair shop. A few mag-lev hoists, a few diagnostic scanners hovering ne
arby, and a wall full of tools and gadgets that looked like something out of an old alien abduction movie.
There was a short, skinny man in white overalls sitting in the corner looking Jack’s way, no one else around. He had the look of a man that was stuffed into a town three sizes too small for him and couldn’t stretch his legs for want of trying.
“You Jay?”
“That’s me. I hear you know Ping.”
“Sure do, not that well.”
“Well I do. I’d give my life for that kid. Or take one, feel me?”
“Yeah, I’m on the fence, but you’ve both got my attention.”
Jack was looking down towards the man’s hip. There was an old fashioned, but no less deadly, Phantom Strike concussion lance. They were only thirty centimetres long, but a hit from them would liquefy your internal organs from any closer than ten metres. Jack was five metres away.
“Well, if I don’t feel like you’re on the right side of the fence by the end of this, you’ll be leaving here through the sewer.”
“So what side is that?”
“Wing’Tan killed my wife and took my nephew. You figure it out.”
“I’m guessing Ping is your nephew, and we both want those buggers gone.”
“Well, you may live just long enough to get killed by them at the end of the day.” Jay stood up and moved over to Jack, extended his hand, which Jack shook.
“They’ve tried twice, I won’t give them a third chance.”
“Well let’s see if we can even the playing field a little then, huh?”
Jay walked through the door that said ‘amenities’. Jack followed, but stopped as soon as he closed the door. There was a short corridor, with glass lined walls that seemed to shimmer as he looked at them.
“Security system Jack, don’t try and load a gun or fart in the wrong direction.” Jay waved him forward. “This way.”
Jay took a few more steps, then walked into what seemed like a glass panel. It was an optical illusion, and turned into an entrance way that went back on itself. As Jack went through the UV irradiator he entered a sterile looking room with military hardware and chemist’s instruments.
“Welcome to the Toy Store, Jack. If you want to get out of the HQ alive, you’ll need some weapons that they can’t scan. Even with Ping inside, he can’t let on that he’s helping you. By the way, you’re bringing him back with you, or I’ll find you and skin you.” Jay had a friendly smile, but his eyes had a solemn resonance of determination.
“We’ll find a way Jay, if you find the firepower.”
“Well then, let’s get started. I’ve laid out a selection for you and your Fed friend.”
“Who?”
“Don’t mess with me Jack. Your friend, wherever the hell he is, may have all of your frequencies jammed.” Jack realised he was talked about Sin, and obviously didn’t know who she was. “But I have eyes in the town. How often does a wanted fugitive arrive in town minutes before a Fed, who is not chasing him?”
“Fair enough. He’s legit, you don’t need to worry about him.”
“Oh, I’m not, I already know where he lives, who his family are, where his kids go to school, and his financial details. For a Fed, he’s pretty easy to crack.”
“Maybe.” Jack figured that Sin probably had a cover over Blake’s records and details, and anything a hacker could find was bogus, but he wasn’t going to get into that now.
“So, as I was saying, you’ve got Kevlar shanks and throwing knives, take what you want of those. These bad boys here are limited edition.” Jay was holding two large pistols. They were unlike anything Jack had seen before. “The frames are made entirely from a stabilised ionic compound. They took six months each to fabricate and are effectively as strong as diamond. They emit a pulsed charged of plasma ions that expand as they leave the chamber. Kind of like a Pulse weapon, but almost a hundred times the energy, near zero recharge time, and impossible to read on any scanner or sensor developed.” He looked exhausted after his little speech, but satisfied at the same time.
“Nice, I have a few people I need to introduce to the pointy end of these.”
“Yeah, well I want them back. When you press this icon on the side, it will read your DNA, and only you can shoot it, it’s dead to anyone else. Only I can disable the security feature, so don’t try and hock it off.”
“Somehow I don’t think the local pawn shop could afford one.”
“Jeez, the US government can’t afford one, that’s why they’re still trying to find me. Anyway, they’re called Intimidators, or Timmys for short. I developed them with a scientist from Macdev Global.”
“OK, you got anything else?”
“Yeah, these.” He held out a packet of what looked like candy. “Don’t eat them. When they leave this packet, each one will form a micro black hole for about two thousandths of a second. Doesn’t sound like much, but it will make a car disappear before you blink. They’re inert in the box, it has an electromagnetic field woven into the fibres of the packet which keep the balls stable.”
“Won’t that be picked up by the scanners?”
“Nope. Although the balls are inert, they still emit radiation, non-harmful to humans for weeks I might add, that counters the field. Just don’t let anyone take them out of your sight. If they do, just daned run. A bullet may not kill you, these will, without fail.”
Jay threw over a duffle bag and Jack began to fill it with the weapons. He looked over to the side of the table and saw what looked like an old fashioned rocket launcher on the wall.
“What the hell is that beauty?”
“That my friend, is a genuine Stinger rocket launcher. Straight from the 1980s; I even have about twenty rockets for it. But it’s never leaving this place. That is my pride and joy; the very first weapon I ever bought.” He walked over and patted it.
“You’re kidding me, most people start with hand guns!”
“I said bought, not shot. Every other twenty-year-old was saving for a bike or heli; I always wanted weapons. Not to use, originally that is, but I loved the combination of mechanics and chemistry, the fact that they are quiet and almost inert when not used, but when fired have the roar of the gods, a fiery hell unleashed on anyone in its sights. A moment of pure destruction!”
“Whoooooa, hold up there ponder. You’re one scary mother, you know that?”
“Yeah, people keep telling me that. Anyway, this thing weighs a ton, and takes two people to use. Take this instead.” He tossed Jack a light weight tube about forty centimetres long that had a handle under it, and what looked like a holo display on top. When Jack picked it up by the handle the holo display lit up in red with a grid overlay contoured out in front and a small targeting dot in the centre. There was a menu on the right side.
“You access that menu with your other hand, there is a scroll and click dial. Just don’t tap the button in front of it twice, or we’ll both be paste.”
“So what does it do?”
“I worked on the delivery technology when I was at Macdev. Flick down the menu and you will have ‘concussion’, which emits a sonic charge enough to knock someone over, but won’t kill them, zero recharge time. Next is ‘pulse’, which emits a target EMP, not strong enough to neutralise an entire building, but will wreck a room, vehicle, etcetera, takes twenty seconds to recharge. The last one is ‘energy’, this is the nuts, it shoots an electrical charge at 200,000 volts with enough current to half melt an elephant at ten metres.” Jay paused to make a huge explosion with his hands, then continued. “It expands as it leaves the chamber, so make sure there is nothing in about a forty-five degree arc. When you load this one, there will be a blue zone on the contour overlay that shows the effective range. Up to thirty metres will kill a person, fifty metres will knock them out. This will incapacitate the device for ten minutes, so make sure you get your target.”
“Hopefully I don’t come across many elephants.”
r /> Jay laughed with the enthusiasm and depth of a man twice his height and three times his weight. “You’re all right Jack, all right.”
The two looked at each other for a second. Then Jack zipped the duffle and swung it over his shoulder.
“Jack, make sure you bring him back. I mean it, don’t cross me, and don’t kill him, he ain’t collateral damage.”
“Yeah, OK Jay, it’s the least we owe for the hardware you’ve given us. You’ll see him again soon.”
Jack left the shop and put his helmet on. Blake and Cindy were both on the comm straight away checking his status. Jack told them he was OK, outlined the hardware he acquired, and also the complication of extracting Ping.
They argued about whether he would, or should, be taken, but Jack overruled both of them and said it was a done deal, they would just have to tweak the plan. It was looking more and more like this would become a full-on assault and not a simple recon.