Part 4 (1/2)

They were into Cambridge when the herbal high began to hit them. Even Aqib's brown cybereyes, a real status symbol among them, seemed to s.h.i.+ne a little brighter now.

”I've got cotton mouth,” Imran complained as he ground his teeth. ”We got anything? I'd even take green tea.”

It was a problem Rani had antic.i.p.ated. She opened the seal on a guava drink, an expensive luxury which had set her back plenty because it boasted real fruit and not the usual array of artificial flavorings. Perhaps it did, too, she thought with surprise as she gulped down some of the warm but welcome fluid. The men were complaining for their turns, so she pa.s.sed the bottle over her shoulder to Sachin. Then she resumed her tight grip on what claimed to be a Bond and Carrington pistol in her lap. It was probably as genuine as a tridjock's smile, but the barrel was clean and smooth and the trigger mechanism had seemed fluent when she'd practiced with it. Now, though, it was armed with live ammunition and with that she had not practiced.

This sure better work out, she thought grimly. It seemed a lot of dosh just to throw a scare into somebody by taking a few potshots at him, then legging it back home in a hurry.

She was starting to have a very bad feeling about all this.

Geraint had called Serrin from the rail station, arranging to meet at a pub on the north side of town. Serrin arrived just at half past seven but didn't immediately spot Geraint. The n.o.bleman looked very different dressed in nondescript baggy clothing instead of a designer suit, but he wasn't conspicuous, especially the way he sat quaffing a pint of ale like any local.

”How do you know about a place like this?” the mage asked.

Geraint iooked mildly offended. ”I spent three years as a student in Cambridge, old friend, and I did manage to mis-spend some of my youth in moderately disreputable places. It's a pity the old laserball machine's gone, though. I fancied dumping a few quid into it for old times' sake.”

Geraint laughed softly and his expression changed to one Serrin could not quite identify. ”I had my one and only experience as a boy toy here,” the n.o.bleman said. ”I was twenty, she was thirty-one, and I used to take her home from the fish and chip shop over the road. That's gone, too, of course. Take a guess-it's a burger joint now. I suppose that's because the few fish left in the North Sea are so polluted with chemicals and sewage sludge that the price of decent cod is something wicked these days.”

Serrin looked quizzically at Geraint. ”I can't imagine you with someone from a fish and chip shop.”

”She used to call in here after work on the weekends. There was a serial rapist around at the time and most of us were on escort duty. One time she decided to stay in my rooms, which were just down the road. She was engaged to some fellow in the air force, but really just for the sake of the kids from her first marriage. Security for her declining years, I suppose. He was posted out all over the place, but one day he flew in and they got married there and then. I sometimes wonder what became of her. You know how it goes.”

Geraint sat remembering, hands clasped together under his chin. Serrin allowed him a few moments, then turned the talk back to more pressing matters. ”What did you get?” He'd seen the battered cloth carryall, which did the job of keeping its contents shapeless most effectively.

”Let's go for a ride. I don't imagine the walls have ears, but best not to take any chances.”

They drained their gla.s.ses and signaled to pay the ork barmaid, who didn't look at Serrin any too kindly. The mage guessed that elves of more exalted lineage than his might be none too popular, with their airs and graces, in a pub like this. In her eyes he would probably be tarred with the same brush. Revealing himself as an American could easily make matters worse, so he only nodded when Geraint said, ”Thank you.” Reaching the door, Serrin and Geraint carefully gave way to a bunch of local fenland orks shouldering their way into the bar.

They skirted away from the side road well before coming to the old farms area, careful to give it a wide berth. The land here was too polluted from the outflow of the Stinkfens to be officially considered habitable, but squatters would surely be about. Serrin detoured south and east before circling back to the highway; the sound of a bike engine might well draw some of the squatters out for a look. A road bike was worth a lot of barter to people that poor. It wasn't likely they had much in the way of weapons, perhaps only knives and stones, but an old shotgun was also a possibility. Serrin switched the headlight off, and let the bike coast over the sodden, barren fields. He got as close to the edge of the fens as he dared, then began to loop back westward. After crossing the road, he parked the bike beside a dead tree stump, laying it flat to the ground.

”We'll head for that rise,” the mage said, pointing to a gentle curve in the distance.

”Get the armor vest on. You got your Ingram? I managed to pick up some armor-piercing for it.” Geraint handed Serrin the clip and a small vial.

”Here's something useful from the chemistry set. Crush the vial if you have to start firing. Inhale the stuff. But don't do it if you've got a troll less than ten feet away because it'll blow your brain out your ears and you won't be able to see a thing for a few seconds. Do it while he's two hundred yards away. With this stuff your hands won't tremble if you do have to start shooting. And if you have to run, it'll get you moving faster than a cheetah with a red chili enema. Even with that leg of yours. And when I tell you to run, you d.a.m.n well better. Don't shoot unless we're getting out. Use whatever magic you've got to defend us just before I start shooting. I'll tell you when.

”Got all that?”

Serrin was impressed by the authority in Geraint's voice. This was a very different man from the boy who'd panicked on the streets of San Francisco. The elf slipped the vial into his pocket, deciding this wasn't the moment to challenge Geraint on his use of drugs.

”Good.” The Welshman wasn't waiting for a reply. ”Next item. Take this.” He handed Serrin a lacquered canister topped with a ring-pull. ”Use this when we move out. Three seconds after you pull the ring, you'll get smoke cover, which will scrag IR into the bargain. Just dump the thing on the ground behind us.” Geraint was adding the folding stock to a customized sniper rifle as he spoke. Serrin thought it looked like the MA 2100, but the thing was glinting with add-ons. He'd been on runs with a lot more firepower than this, but this Welshman was beginning to look like the real thing.

Geraint glanced up at him in the moonlight as he completed his work. ”You do realize this is b.l.o.o.d.y madness, don't you? Two people out here against scores of them in there. I must be insane doing this. You'll have to cover us d.a.m.n well with your magic. Hope you've got something that'll keep the corp mages from spotting us too quickly or else we're sitting ducks. If it's a two-minute walk to that hill, it's fifteen seconds running with the drug, twenty if we don't move fast enough. That's too long if we're out in the open. What's your plan?”

Serrin was busy himself, locking together a series of bizarre stone plaques around a leather strap, jiggling them into place, and finally tightening it around his shoulder and hip. ”I thought I'd better put a priority on protection and disguise. I've got to make it as hard for them to see us as possible, and that means everything-magical detection, IR scans, ultrasonics-though I don't think chip-hounds will be a problem. We should be well away before they can get them out of the compound. This little bunch,” he added, gripping the belt around his body, ”adds some power along the line. I won't bore you with the details. Key thing is a chaotic s.h.i.+ft. How much do you know about spellcraft?”

”I thought a chaotic world spell messed up the sensing of the magician who got hit by it.”

”Same principle, different way of going about it. I spent a year researching a version that centers the effect on the casting magician. Screws up most forms of detection in a constantly s.h.i.+fting area centered on me instead of a target. I don't think they're going to have time to run a computing of average transients to figure out the algorithm for the s.h.i.+fting. Besides, it's keyed to magnetic field fluctuations. I always knew that funny little deposit of magnetically sensitive ferric bone above my sinuses was good for something. They won't work that one out. Nice big area, too. The barriers I'm erecting are a bit more limited in scale, but we shouldn't have to worry about anything less than a cascade of automatics or a firework display of multiple grenade launchers.”

Geraint slapped him on the shoulder. ”Don't know much about these things, but it sounds good to me.”

”When you're alone out there, it's a good idea to design something that doesn't force you to depend on anyone else. But it works just as well when you're working with another person, too. Only problem is, the drain is pretty heavy. I'll be a bit groggy for a little while. Make sure you shoot straight.”

They set off for the hill, their boots slos.h.i.+ng in the fouled waters of the field until they reached the incline. They crawled to the top on their bellies, and looked down over the Fuchi site three hundred yards to the west. The headlights of the first convoy began to crawl along the road toward the front gates after a frozen half-hour.

Geraint slipped off the woolen gloves, breathing on his hands to keep them warm. He edged the rifle forward and squinted with his left eye as he lined up the IR sight, ignoring the cars and aiming just inside the gate. As the cars got closer, he drew back and looked away from the glare of their lights.

Serrin was scanning the scene with binox, s.h.i.+fting to IR and low-light. Casting his spell as silently as he could, he made the briefest of checks as the cars spilled their human contents out onto the tarmac inside the gates.

”Geraint, I don't think it's him.” Despite the elf's low whisper, his voice was urgent, stressed. ”Hold your fire.”

”Checked the plates?”

”Yes, it's the right limo, but that's not him. It's a d.a.m.n good double, but not good enough. Something feels weird here. I'm sensing that they're not paying much attention to this side of the place. They're looking south.”

Geraint was still peering down the sight, but with the slightest of movements he could see that the security guards were all looking that way. ”Of course they are. It's where the gates open.”

”No, it's more than that. I don't dare probe, it'll give us away. But I-wait a minute. North, look!” he hissed.

Geraint lifted his eyes away from the rifle sight and gazed out toward the far gate. Two shadowy vehicles were headed that way, gliding silently across the fields. They were going straight for the smaller northern gate, on the far side of the complex from the security compound. ”We were right. The dummy's coming in from the south. Here's the real thing.” He s.h.i.+fted position, drawing the gun around gently to face the far gate, settling to his aim again. ”Two cars, say ten men. I can down four of them before they know what hit them. Let's pray one of them is who we're looking for.”

Geraint never made that shot.

Whatever the noise was, it made them both suddenly duck their heads, utterly bewildered. Then they heard the drone of a helicopter, coming in low from the west. It had to be one of the IWS-licensed super-stealths; the thing was almost over the far wall before they heard it. Serrin began his spellcasting as Geraint desperately tried to revise his plan of action, waiting for the chopper to land, certain that this must be their man. The sudden flare took him completely by surprise, ruining his aim.

Then the gunfire began.

Aqib's improvised launcher worked pretty well the first time. The flareshot landed whack in the middle of the compound, illuminating a large group of black-visored orks and trolls waving down the chopper. The gates were already opening when Sachin's Ceska started chattering. He and Wasim were almost whooping as their guns spat, and Imran had his beloved Predator readied for some carefully aimed fire.

Rani was the first to realize something was very, very wrong. ”Look out! They know!”

The security men were already storming out of the gates, and a couple of real grenade launchers were coughing missiles at them from the security tower. d.a.m.n Chenka's powders, Rani screamed to herself. The men's blood is too hot, they don't see.

It was swift and b.l.o.o.d.y. Aqib's launcher disintegrated as he let fly a second time, the young Sind samurai thrown backward, arms bathed in flame. To her left, another blast exploded Wasim's body into b.l.o.o.d.y shreds of gore. The others had no time to take in the horror of it as a great pillar of flame roared to life behind them, then began to streak across the brilliantly lit terrain at staggering speed.

In the distance, Serrin gasped, appalled. ”Christ, a fragging fire elemental. Those guys are dead meat.”

Geraint wasn't stopping. He'd already torn the top off his vial and was screaming at Serrin to do the same. As he turned, he dropped the rifle and dragged a Bond and Carrington pistol from his padded jacket, loping away across the mud and muck toward the stashed bike.

Serrin wasn't hanging around to argue. Whatever it was they'd strayed into, there wasn't a hope in h.e.l.l of finding Kuranita in this madness. He could only hope his spell would cover their exit, given that security was looking elsewhere.