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whip. Much to her surprise he didn't cringe and fall to his knees. Instead, he
took her whip away from her and used it to hang her from one of the many hooks
in the ceiling. She put up quite a struggle but no one noticed since screams
of pain were rather common in Cicero's.
A few hours after Estaben's death, Amad waited impatiently across from Renn's
hotel. It was dark and warm. Too warm. Sweat was dripping off the tip of his
nose again. Amad swore and ran his sleeve along it. Four members of his elite
security force had entered the hotel ten minutes before. They should've
snuffed Renn and left by now. Where the hell were they? Amad forced himself to
give them another five minutes. Shit. Stepping back into a doorway he pumped a
round up the spout and attached the silencer to his handgun. It's always best
to be careful.
He crossed the street with giant strides and entered through the front door of
the hotel.
A guest and the desk clerk lay sprawling where they'd fallen. Good. SOP for
this kind of operation. Ignoring the lift tube he ran up the stairs to the
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third floor. He listened for a moment, opened the fire door, and slid into the
hall. An elderly man stepped out of his room. Amad dropped him with a bullet
between the eyes. Hugging the right hand wall he moved down the corridor while
counting off the numbers. Three-twelve, three-ten, three-oh-eight, and there,
three-oh-six.
The door was open.
Amad went in fast and low, gun up in a two-handed grip. It was a waste of
time. His team was there all right, but they were dead. Three looked like
they'd been ripped apart by some sort of animal, that damned dog probably, and
the third wore a bullet hole between his eyes. A big bullet hole, like a .50,
or maybe even a .75. A quick check of the bathroom confirmed his guess.
No Renn, dead or otherwise. Amad shook his head in amazement. This Renn
character was bad news.
And his pet dog was obviously not a dog. He'd told them to check on that.
Another fuck-up. Well, you win some and you lose some.
A few minutes later Amad was a mile away, ensconced in a public com booth with
the privacy shield on..His wife had a smudge of dirt on one cheek. Probably
out grubbing in the garden again.
He cut her off. "This is it, honey. Here's the code; Alpha, Beta, Alpha. Grab
the kids and the satchel. You know where to go."
The smile faded from her face. She nodded once and cut the connection. She
knew what to do. A few years back she'd been one of his top operatives. Within
ten minutes she'd be out of the house, within twenty it would burn to the
ground, and soon thereafter he'd hold her in his arms. A
few days later they'd lift and start a new life somewhere else. They were
still young, and the satchel full of cash would ease the way. Shinto would be
incredibly pissed when he found out, a thought which made Amad smile. He was
whistling by the time he hopped into an autocab.
Chapter Fourteen
It was raining on and off, a fact which wasn't too surprising in a rain
forest, but did nothing to make Renn more comfortable. He and Marla were
taking a break under the branches of a huge cedar tree. He bit off another
mouthful of protein bar, and winced as cold rain drops hit his face. "Damn.
And we thought Swamp was bad."
Marla looked up from her resting place on the ground beside him and grinned
wolfishly.
"He's been on Terra for only two weeks and he's already getting soft."
Renn made a face and took another bite of protein bar. Much to his surprise it
tasted pretty good. Kind of nutty. Which also described their situation. Two
against hundreds. They'd left the air car in a clearing a few miles back, and
were now just inside the boundaries of
Shinto's land, about fifteen miles from his mountain hideaway. Things should
be easy at first.
Although already on Shinto's land they wouldn't encounter much in the way of
defenses until the last five miles or so. Otherwise, Shinto's private army
would be shooting lost hikers and causing all sorts of problems for the PR
department. Besides, a fifteen-mile-deep defensive perimeter would cost a lot
more money without adding a lot of protection.
But the last five miles would be real tough. Besides the naturally rough
terrain, they'd be up against crack security troops and homicidal genidogs.
They'd learned about the genidogs through Marla's cyborg computer expert.
"Machine" is a somewhat unusual name, but what the heck, to each his own. In
any case, Machine had managed to locate both a blueprint and a security plan
for Shinto's fortress. Two years earlier, Shinto hired a general security
contractor to update his defenses, and afterwards the contractor squirreled
away a copy of the plans in his personal computer. It was a naughty thing to
do, and in clear violation of professional ethics, but the contractor thought
the plans might come in handy someday. After all, a man like Shinto had
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txt enemies, otherwise he wouldn't have a security plan, and they'd pay
handsomely for a way into
Shinto's fortress. Renn grinned. Not that Machine had paid the contractor a
single Imperial! No, he'd stolen the plans right out from under the
contractor's nose while that unfortunate individual sat at his keyboard, and
worked on another file. All of which justified Machine's rather exhor-
bitant fee.
Among other things the security plan specified a force of genidogs. While the
plan didn't include specs for the dogs, it didn't take a lot of smarts to
figure out they'd be formidable opponents, on top of which there'd be human
guards, electronic sensors, and a variety of traps.
So, while getting into Shinto's fortress wouldn't be easy, they had a chance.
Thanks to his own research, and Machine's added input, Renn had enough
information on Shinto to write a book. He knew Shinto liked eastern music,
hated mushrooms, adored children, and was slightly claustrophobic. "Know your
prey, lad," Boater always said, and it was good advice. It gave you an edge.
In this case, however, the edge was somewhat dulled, since the prey knew the
hunter was coming.
It still seemed strange to Renn that Shinto's security was lax enough to hire
him and then efficient enough to identify him a few days later. But Machine's
research revealed lots of strange incidents in Shinto's life so many, in fact,
it almost suggested some sort of precognitive ability. But one thing was for
sure, Shinto knew Renn was back. The four killers were proof of that. He was
alive, and they were dead, but it could have easily gone the other way.
There he was sitting fat dumb and happy in his room, while out in the hall,
killers were preparing to break down the door. Fortunately, Marla chose that
particular moment to return.
Having dismissed Cap at the back door, she entered the hotel and stepped out [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]