Point of Origin (War Eternal Book 4) (18 page)

"The people there?" Mitchell said.

"Agents? Probably about half of them."

"So now what?"

"We stick to the plan and wait for the right person to come out that door."

Mitchell knew "the right person" meant someone with high-level clearance into the facility.
 

"How do we identify them?"

"There are maybe four hundred people in the entire Federation who would even know what that building is, and you are standing with one of them. You'll know the right person when you see them. Or at least, I will."

Mitchell couldn't help but wonder how fortuitous their procurement of the Federation Admiral had been. So many pieces had to fall into the right place to make these things happen. Had they been prearranged somehow? Had dozens, or hundreds, or thousands of recursions helped them put some grand master plan into motion? He thought back to the Construct, and Katherine. The package had been disguised as the book
I, Robot
, which not so coincidentally was Liun Tio's favorite novel. There was no denying the connection there.

"Okay," he said. "We can't just stand here. The operatives are bound to get suspicious."

Calvin nodded. "Agreed. There's a restaurant right inside the building here. We can keep watch from inside."

The three of them headed inside. As Calvin had said, there was an upscale eatery on their left. It was crowded, and the hostess tried to seat them in the back. A quick transfer of money solved that problem, getting them shifted to a table at the window as soon as it was cleared.

"Let's try not to be too obvious about this," Mitchell said, sitting down closest to the window. Despite his years of experience with military special operations, he was still a novice at this kind of espionage.

Aiko picked up her menu, scanning it. "Have you ever had bibimbap, Mitch?"

"No, but after three weeks of eating nothing but nutrition bars, I'll take whatever I can get."

"It is one of the traditional Federation staple foods, going back over a thousand years before the Federation existed. This one was from Korea."

Mitchell found it on the menu. Everything looked good to him right now.
 

"What do you think, Calvin?" Mitchell asked, looking over at him.

Calvin was staring out the window.

"Calvin?"

"Sorry, Mitchell," he said. "You aren't going to have a chance to eat. Aiko, call the car."

Mitchell diverted his attention across the street. A black car like the others he had seen was stopped in front of the building. An older, well-dressed man was approaching it.

"How do you know that's the one?" Mitchell asked.

"The driver."

Mitchell noticed the driver had gotten out of the car and was standing next to the door.
 

"Good fortune for us," Aiko said. "The car is on the way."

They stood up as the waitress approached. Aiko transferred some money to her for her trouble, and they headed out the door. As they exited, Mitchell noticed he was getting a lot of attention in the form of stares and angry looks.

"Frigging Alliance prick," someone said behind him as they moved towards the street. Mitchell started to turn, finding Aiko's hand on his shoulder, steering him ahead.

"Not a good idea, Mitch," she said.

He nodded. He had to keep his reactions in check. Slow. Steady.
 

The well-dressed man was getting into his car. Their driver slowed to a stop in front of them, the doors sliding open.
 

They got in.

"Follow the transport there," Calvin said.

The driver's only response was to pull out and make a u-turn across the traffic.
 

"Keep a decent distance," Calvin added.

They tailed the car through the city, their driver doing an expert job of keeping them a few cars back and at the same time never losing sight of the target. It helped that the Federation tenets on vehicles kept both traffic and traffic control unnecessary.

They rode in tense silence for nearly thirty minutes as the Federation agent made his way to the edge of the city and beyond, gaining a hyperlane at the outskirts. Their driver made a fancy, likely illegal maneuver to remain behind the car, winding up only three lengths back. The automated systems carried the cars one hundred miles in minutes before their target disembarked, and their driver followed.

Another ten minutes passed, their driver dropping further back as traffic became lighter and lighter. They rode through beautiful grass, flower, and tree covered hills dotted with large mansions and smaller, more dense housing developments, their car falling further and further behind until their target had disappeared.

"What are you doing?" Calvin asked. "Your instructions were to follow."

The driver said nothing.

"I requested someone very experienced. I expected someone who could tail a car."

Still, the driver was silent.

"Aiko, please connect me to the HPT office."

The driver growled under her breath.

"Do you have a problem?" Calvin asked.

"I didn't lose him," she said, surprising him by speaking, and speaking in English.

"What?"

"I didn't lose him." She looked angry that he had forced her to talk. "I know where he lives."

"You know who he is?" Mitchell said.

She didn't answer. She didn't want to know what their business was.

"Fine," Calvin said. "Take us to his home, keep out of sight."

She said nothing.
 

Ten minutes later, the car veered off the road, floating over a grass median and into the trees beyond. The driver didn't slow much as she navigated them past trunks and shrubs, coming to a stop after a few minutes.

"Which way is the house?" Calvin asked.

The driver didn't answer.

"It has to be that way," Aiko said. "According to the map, we're in a protected forest."

The driver opened their doors. Mitchell and Aiko climbed out.

"Calvin?" Mitchell asked.

"I told you, Mitchell, if a single person suspects anything, everything we've come here for is lost. Let me handle this part. Make your way to the home, but stay hidden until I signal you."

"Are you sure about this?" Mitchell asked.

"Yes. We're still following the plan."

Mitchell nodded. The doors to the vehicle closed, and a moment later it drove off.

"Come on," Mitchell said.

"I should have picked a different outfit," Aiko said, grabbing at her heeled ankle boots and pulling them off.

"It hasn't been very practical so far, has it?" Mitchell said, looking over at her. "At least you look amazing in it."

Her face reddened at the compliment. "Thank you, but I would prefer not to feel half-naked, half-frozen, and half-hobbled."

The two of them were navigating their way through the wooded area behind the target's home. They had walked nearly half a kilometer already, and they could just barely see the roof of the house through the trees, in the form of a tall, sloped pagoda.

"At least we didn't have to wait too long to get this far."

Aiko picked her way over the terrain, wincing when she stepped down on a rock without her shoes. "I thought this would be the easiest part."

"It probably will be." He watched her struggle for a few more seconds before approaching her. "It'll be faster if I carry you."

"What?" She tried to protest, but he scooped her up before she could complain too much.

"Heels or barefoot, you're too slow like this."

"Aren't you going to get tired?"

"You barely weigh anything," Mitchell said, picking up their pace.

"Are you saying I'm too thin?"

He turned his head to look at her. The maneuver had put her head on his shoulder; their faces only inches apart. "No. I just told you I think you're beautiful."

She started to drop her eyes away from his and then forced herself to stop. Her blush deepened. "Mitchell-"

"We'll have some time when the mission is over," Mitchell said, feeling his heart rate increasing. He wasn't sure what he was doing. Hadn't he decided not to go down this route? And what about Millie? He had said he loved her, but he had moved on so easily. Was he becoming so jaded to loss that he barely felt it anymore? If so, what did that make him?

He didn't know. He wasn't sure what he was doing or what was causing it. Maybe it was adrenaline. Maybe it was his body recovering from the cold. Maybe he had just been denying what he had felt since they had spent so much time together on the Carver. At the moment, he wanted to kiss her.

"We talked about this, Mitch," she said, still looking at him. "I think you're a handsome man, and you have many qualities that many people, both men, and women, should and do admire. I am grateful for the training you have given me."

"But you aren't interested," Mitchell said, the moment slipping away from him.

"I'm sorry."

He turned his head to let out the tension in a burst of air. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. Though I will admit, I haven't been turned down since the Shot."

She smiled. "I suppose that makes you want me even more?"

He laughed quietly, looking ahead through the trees. They were almost there.
 

"No means no. Unless you say otherwise, consider the matter dropped. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"Thank you, Mitch. And I'm flattered. You just aren't my type."

"Out of curiosity, what is your type?"

"More thinker, less doer," she said.

"You mean smarter?" he joked.

"I mean the whole soldier thing. I understand why we need to do this, but that doesn't mean I like war, or fighting, or killing, and I don't want to be any more involved with it than I have to be."

"I understand," he said, and he did. He couldn't change who he was.

He carried her in silence for a few more minutes, until they neared the edge of the wood. Aiko put her boots back on, and he lowered her to the ground.

"How do we get in?" she asked.

Calvin had been right about the man's importance if the home was anything to judge by. It was large and designed in a fusion of classical Japanese and Chinese architecture, with sloped pagoda roofs and intricately designed wood and stone. It was surrounded by an eight-foot tall river stone wall with intricate spiked posts to keep people from trying to climb over.

"I don't think we need to get in. Calvin said he would signal. Let's try to get around to the front."

The house was large enough that it took them nearly ten minutes to creep their way to the corner of the wall from where a large front gate was visible. There was no sign of Calvin or their car.

"Now what?" Aiko asked.

"We stay out of sight and wait."

They moved back into the nearest brush, keeping their eyes on the gate. Mitchell couldn't guess what was happening inside the house. There had been no echo of gunfire, no shouts of alarm. He assumed Calvin was inside. Still alive? There was no way to know.

An hour passed. Then another. They were both getting impatient by the time the third hour had gone by and the planet's sun was beginning to set.

"Do you think we should check on him?" Aiko asked.

Mitchell considered. He didn't want to screw things up by going in when Calvin hadn't asked him to. At the same time, who knew what was happening inside?

"Let's give it another hour. It'll be easier to sneak in when it's dark anyway."

"Okay."

They were crouched in the bushes for another twenty minutes when the gate swung open.

"Something's happening," Mitchell said. "Get ready."

Aiko retrieved her gun from the holster on her jacket. She had never touched a pistol before she had boarded the Carver, and her aim was still pretty bad. She knew the basics, though, and shooting enough quantity could overcome poor quality.

Mitchell did the same, finding his weapon under his armpit and holding it against his chest.

The gate sat open.

Nothing else happened.

"Strange," Aiko said.

"Maybe that's the signal?"

"Could be."

"Come on."

They cautiously stepped out of their hiding place. Mitchell remained alert, his eyes scanning the wall, the upper floors of the house, and the gate. There was no motion anywhere.

They had just reached the open gate when the front door to the house swung open. Mitchell's eyes scanned the area, finding nowhere to hide.
 

"Shit," he said, grabbing Aiko by the shoulder and pulling her to the ground. She began to protest until she realized why he had done it.

He aimed his gun towards the door.

A single person came out. A man in a sharp dark gray suit that was now splattered with blood.

"Aiko," Calvin Hohn said. "Can you please contact the driver?"

They both stood as Calvin approached them. The front of his jacket was soaked in blood.

"Not mine," he said, responding to Mitchell's concern.
 

Aiko took out the handheld to call the car.

"What happened?"

"Plan A," he said. "I tried another way. It didn't work. I wanted to spare her the burden."