[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
dismiss her as a hallucination.
As I pulled on my ANPBS-9 and adjusted the nightvision device so the monocular lens jutted from my
face like a unicorn s horn, Vetha opened her mandibles and shook her head. You are concerned by my
appearances, Coyote? In response to my invitation to talk, she entered my suite and appropriated an
ottoman for her abdomen.
I smiled at her. The nightvision goggles painted her in black with green highlights. While there was no
hiding the light shining periodically from her eyes, the dark clothes did soften her outline and made her
less recognizable. The low-light reflective tabs on her shoulders marked her as one of us, which meant
friendly fire would not take her out.
I only have a 70° arc of vision here, Vetha, so I m not greatly concerned about how I look, but how
what I look at looks. You, in this case, look fine. Just stick with Bat and Natch and you should have no
problems.
I had split my key personnel into three groups.Crowley and I made up one lead element, with Bat,
Natch and Vetha comprising the other. I purposely put the two Dark Lord agents together so they could
watch each other, and I left them with Bat because he generally put out enough in the way of emotion to
blind almost any empathic creature around.
Rajani, Sinclair, Hal Garrett, Mickey, Nero Loring and Jytte made up my operations team. Rajani, in
addition to what she meant in terms of Fiddleback, could help Nero Loring see in Pygmalion s
dimension. That was crucial to the plan, because Nero knew the control device he carried backward and
forward. WhileCrowley , Jytte and Vetha had been briefed on how it worked and what had to be done
to make it work andCrowley and Vetha both carried the refurbished Powerbooks needed to drive
the dimensional gate I wanted Nero there to troubleshoot things on the fly.
Hal and Rajani argued against bringing Mickey on the mission, butCrowley and I pressed for his
inclusion and were able to make a case that brought Jytte and Sinclair over to our side. They had argued
that what we would be doing would be far too violent for a 5-year-old child to take part in, much less
witness.Crowley and I countered that if we kept Mickey out, he could come to regret not having done
anything to avenge his father. We agreed that his role would be only defensive and give him the job of
playing rough with anything that tried to get to the operations team.
We were all outfitted similarly to the mercenaries we had hired, with assault rifles, body armor and
grenades. Those of us who had personal side arms wore them, with the Wildey Wolf taking its place
beneath my left arm and the Kraits riding on my right hip and at the small of my back, respectively. All
totaled, my equipment weighed as much as a small child, but distributed on my combat harness and belt,
it did not seem that heavy and did not restrict my movement.
From the suite in the top of the Lorica tower, my people prepared to head up to the roof and into the
Peregrine designated Kestrel-1. Before we departed, after trying on our nightvision goggles and doing a
radio check, I gave everyone an appreciative nod. Look, we all know better than to think we ll all get
through this unscathed. I hope we will I pray we will but I fear it won t be so. I think all of us have
agreed that stopping Pygmalion and Fiddleback is vital, so we re willing to make the ultimate sacrifice if
we are called upon to do so.
I just want to let you know that your courage and effort over the past months is what has made me
willing to risk life and limb. I was created a minion of a Dark Lord, but Coyote freed me from his service.
In my association with you, I have recaptured my humanity. Without it, I would not be here, and because
of it, I am going to do what must be done to stop the evil of the Dark Lords.
I glanced at my watch and saw both the digital and analog portions reading midnight. The Witching
Hour. It s time.
Bat smiled and brandished his Ml 6A2. Let s go make something bleed.
With Lilith at the controls, Kestrel-1 headed off to the northwest, skirtingCityCenter and cutting between
the Digital Express and Build-more complexes on our shot out toward Mercury. I glanced at the
Build-more citadel and saw lights burning in the offices at the top. I could easily imagine Watson Dodd
there sweating over how he would implement my security selections in time for another test penetration
later in the week.
Kestrel-2 and Joniak s bird, designated Merlin, joined up from the west. While the raid was well within
the range of all three choppers, Lilith had made arrangements for all three aircraft to refuel and, if needed,
recover themselves to a small private airport outside Kingman. If we had pushed it and had not refueled,
we could have made the trip in two hours, but haste was not an issue, so it ended up taking closer to
three-and-a-half hours.
Once we were on our way up fromPhoenix , Lilith radioed instructions to the Rangers, and they began
their infiltration of the building site. Earlier in the day, they had gone up into the Mercury area and used
old DOE access roads to bypass the town itself. With the three-hour lead time, we expected they would
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]