Guns And Dogs (22 page)

He summoned what strength he had and kicked Jasper in the crotch. The ballplayer cursed and rolled off him. Bloodboy then lashed his chain at Billy’s face, catching one of Diablo’s tormentors in the right eye. Billy howled and cupped his face. Diablo had risen, a dripping cut over his left eyebrow; Keyshawn turned to face Bloodboy.

A siren exploded, followed by flashing lights from a police car. Bloodboy saw two police officers approach the fight scene. Manny was right behind them inside his security car.
He must’ve tailed us and called the cops when he saw us get jumped,
Bloodboy thought.

As the cops began questioning everyone, Bloodboy felt a stabbing pain in his lower jaw. One of his teeth was missing. Probably dislodged when Jasper slammed his face into the pavement. He saw Diablo nursing his bloody face with his scraped hand. “This doesn’t look good for us Blood,” he said before two more police cruisers arrived on the scene. Soon armed police surrounded them.

“Funny how Billy didn’t get suspended like us,” Bloodboy told Diablo.

Diablo nodded. “Manny tried to put in a good word for us, but Billy’s rich Dad got him off; and his friends are on
probation
.”

“Money talks,” Bloodboy said while Diablo polished his rifle.

“So do bullets,” Diablo replied.

The door slammed open and they both stood up as Grendis rolled into the room, his face mired in an expression of confusion.

“Hey boss,” both boys said. Grendis acknowledged them both with a tired wave. “Something wrong?” Bloodboy asked.

“There’s been a minor setback,” Grendis said, “but nothing I cannot fix.” He eyed the bar and noticed that one of the whiskey bottles was half empty. He looked at Diablo. “Have you been drinking again?”

Diablo looked away.

“Damn your lack of discipline boy.” Grendis stomped over to the bar and locked away the liquor. “This is meant for relaxation, not indulgence. You
appreciate
luxury; you do not
indulge
in it. Haven’t I told you this countless times?” Grendis’ forehead swelled red before abating. “Maybe I was wrong in selecting you two.”

“Don’t talk like that, Grendis,” Bloodboy said, “we’re committed.” He looked at Diablo who nodded profusely.

“I’ll believe it when I see it. You two clean up this living room and go get some target practice in at the range.”

“We’ve got to tell you something Grendis,” Bloodboy said. “Both of us got suspended yesterday.”

Grendis cursed silently. “Why am I not surprised! Didn’t I tell you both not to attract attention to yourselves? But you’ve disobeyed me yet again. Never mind. We can still salvage something from this setback. It will just leave you with more spare time to hone your shooting skills.” Grendis pulled a tablet out of his leather briefcase and brought up the picture of a student on it. “Study this student’s face,” he said, pointing out the sandy-haired boy with a straight nose and good-natured smile, “you’ll both be tasked with killing him on Omega Day.”

Tir Morol’s failure added more woe to Grendis’ situation. Morol came from a powerful family, and upon her precipitated return, had put in a transfer request out of Grendis’ division.
So be it,
he thought.
Let her leave.
I will just have to complete this mission myself
. He was upstairs in his room and heard the boys pulling out of the driveway in the vehicle he had gifted them. He was glad that they only used it when they worked for him, driving it to school would attract too much attention. At least that was one order they were capable of obeying.

Now he would find out who these humans were who were interfering with his plans. He pulled up some files on the Pentagon and studied every government agency reporting to them. Some files were encrypted. He could have the boys hack into it, but there was always the risk that they could be caught. Despite their proficiency, their technology wasn’t Lycarian. He pulled out his scanner and had it decrypt the Pentagon’s security codes. It was risky, but his hand had been forced.

Grendis guffawed. His mercurial eyes scanned the downloading files before his eyes and settled onto one highly sensitive document named: “American Legends Project.”

Pentagon Building

Washington, D.C.

Lieutenant Renata Moeller of the United States Air Force wasn’t happy.

She had two tickets to the baseball game tonight and couldn’t go. Her boss, Brigadier General McDonald, had asked her to work an extra shift to monitor some strange chatter over the internet. Some strange talk about “Omega Day.” It was heavily encrypted and U.S. Cyber Command, USCYBERCOM, had asked the Air Force to investigate it.

Probably just another false alarm,
Renata thought.
Buncha punks making hacker talk.
She was wondering if she could sell her tickets online when her computer terminal unexpectedly switched off. Her heart flipped in her chest once before the system came back online.

“What in the…?” she muttered.

Renata saw that someone had accessed the Pentagon’s main computer and was looking for files. She tried tracking the source of the incursion. Nothing. The advanced encryption technology the hacker was using was alien to her.
What is it? North Korean? Iranian? Russian?

She speed dialed her Boss, General McDonald. When he answered, she exhaled in relief. “Sir, sorry to bother you, but someone is raiding our files.”

AL Command

Inside Mount Baldy

Patrice was half asleep, slumped over her desk with her headset in front of her face when Otis Mitchell woke her. “Miss Waters? Patrice?” She had fallen asleep worrying about Johnny, Argos and the dogs.

“Yes sir,” she replied after slipping the headset back on. Behind her TimeBoss was watching her back like a mechanical sentinel. "I’m sorry I was catching some sleep.”

“Just got a call from the Pentagon. Someone hacked their systems and plundered every file on AL. Use TimeBoss to help plug the leak.”

As soon as she stood up TimeBoss addressed her in its calming voice: “Yes Patrice, I’m already working on a solution.”

“Can you trace it?”

“There’s a 99.2 percent probability that the Lycarians have finally learned of our existence. Right now, I am predicting an 84 percent change in timeline integrity. And it’s getting worse.” TimeBoss said. “We’ve been discovered.”

“It was bound to happen eventually; their technology is vastly superior to ours.” She fought back sleep from her eyes and continued working.

When Gina landed inside Mount Baldy the place was already on lock-down. The hangar lights were dim red. Power had been diverted to another outlet.

“What’s going on?” Argos asked a maintenance technician working on TIV-2, the Mercedes with the metallic gold paintjob.

The technician shook his head. “The Lycarians hacked the Pentagon; they know about us now,” he said before returning to work.

Argos turned towards Johnny while Jessie and Studs looked up at him expectantly. “Considering Lycarian resources and technology, it’s not surprising they eventually found out about AL,” he said. “It’s a testament to Director Mitchell’s countermeasures that we were able to remain clandestine for this long.”

Johnny and Argos left the hangar and walked down a corridor towards the Command Center, dogs in tow. Two security sentries at the main entrance scanned them before allowing them to pass.

Inside the command center was a cacophony of people hunched over keyboards, eyeing monitors, while in the center of the room Mitchell and a group of his senior assistants were studying a holographic 3-D readout of their solar system. As he got closer to the readout, Johnny noticed a clustered group of flashing red triangular icons closing in on Earth.

Argos’ pointed to the icons. “Invasion Fleet.”

Various AL technicians were now uploading Mitchell’s data on to their tablets. When he saw Johnny and Argos, he paused for a moment to acknowledge them with a curt nod. “I’d congratulate you two on your latest mission, but three minutes ago the Lycarians officially declared war on Earth. We received a transmission from their Fleet Marshal. He’s asking for a planetary surrender.”

Patrice broke away from a terminal. “And there was even a personal message for you two.” She handed a tablet to Argos who showed it to Johnny. It read:

Greetings Agents Argos Better and Johnny Veto,

You two humans got lucky in 1861 and 1969. Scoring two victories against my best agents. But your luck has finally run out.

Your Lycarian opponent,

Grendis

P.S. When my people conquer your race, I plan on cooking and eating your two traitorous canine pets.

Argos handed the tablet back to Patrice. “What does TimeBoss say about all this Director Mitchell?” Johnny asked.

“Not good, Son.” Mitchell showed him another tablet readout. “TimeBoss predicts a one-hundred percent change in timeline integrity.”

Johnny’s heart plunged into his stomach and he almost felt like vomiting. “Has all our Time-Healing been a waste of time?” He paused, not wanting to sound like a wussy. “What can we do now?”

“Patrice has plugged the leak, but the damage has already been done. Her TimeBoss team, including two Drayloxians, are working on a virus to attack the Lycarian fleet’s systems.”

Sitting in his scout ship orbiting earth, Grendis was quite pleased with himself.

What the Lycarian Intelligence Division failed to accomplish while scouting Earth’s defenses he’d done with one quick stroke. After Grendis helped Crewt conquer Earth, he’d pay Tir Morol a visit to gloat.

Crewt’s fleet had arrived outside the Sol System two hours ago and were advancing towards Earth at reduced speeds to hide their exact numbers. Things were moving along as planned.

He opened a communication link with Crewt and the decorated Lycarian’s wolfen face stared at him from his throne-like command chair. “Lord Grendis,” Crewt said in his aristocratic drawl, “I received your most recent report on this human organization, AL. You’ve probably saved your career despite the failure of your two best operatives.” He paused a moment and grinned, exposing his thick, sharp teeth. “And maybe even gained a commendation.”

Grendis bowed his head respectfully at Crewt. Yet his blood burned with rage at Crewt’s condescending manner. “That is very generous of you, Marshal Crewt.”
Perhaps one day I shall sit upon your chair and command your fleet
, he thought bemusedly.

Grendis ended the transmission and went about contacting his other converts. Bloodboy and Diablo were his lynchpin players, but he had many more that would also be part of “Omega Day.”

His uplink secured, the monitor screens blinked on and soon hundreds of 3-D images appeared, each representing the face of a teen filled with hidden pain. Faces from England, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and as far east as South Korea and Thailand.

“The moment is finally upon us, friends,” Grendis said. They stared at him, their eyes savoring every word uttered from their master’s lips. “You all know what must be done. Today you rise up for your oppressed kind to seek redemption.”

They all nodded, thousands of obedient faces each with their own mission, before Grendis bid them luck and ended the transmission before running a standard diagnostic on his systems. The computer had logged a discrepancy in the security files. During his cyber-attack on the Pentagon, he’d received an Invasion Trajectory report from one of Crewt’s bridge officers, and forgotten to secure his link with the Pentagon. The computer had detected this and taken action to secure his systems. However, if anyone at the Pentagon had probed his end in the time allotted, it could’ve compromised his database which contained references to Omega Day. No matter. Grendis stretched back in his command chair. “It’ll all be over soon anyway.”

After Patrice had plugged the leak, she stumbled onto another mystery. It was staring at her from her monitor screen.

Whoever had hacked the Pentagon had done an expert job pilfering information linked to AL Command. Yet they’d left themselves open for a counter-attack, and the Pentagon’s cyber defense team had managed to snag some information from Grendis’ end before forwarding it to her.

The doors to the TimeBoss chambers swished open and she saw Argos, Johnny and the dogs enter. Mitchell had finally given Johnny clearance to the TimeBoss chamber. “Welcome back guys,” she said, returning to her work. “How was 1969?”

“It wasn’t a bad trip, if that’s what you meant,” Argos replied.

Patrice rolled her eyes and exhaled. “Bad puns aside, how was it?”

“Better than watching the moon landing on a history cable channel,” Johnny said.

“I’m sure by now you know about the Lycarian invasion fleet.”

Both Johnny and Argos nodded.

“I’ve found a reference; probably a code word for a Lycarian artifice.” She pointed to her monitor where the ‘Omega Day’ term greeted them. “Perhaps you two gentlemen could entertain me with your educated guesses.”

Argos’ eyes narrowed and he looked like he was fighting off pain. Johnny appeared collected.
Fieldwork alongside Argos had done him good,
Patrice thought. “Johnny?”

“I’m thinking, Patrice.”

About Omega Day?
Or me?
She wanted to say. “You want full access to TimeBoss?” She figured if Mitchell didn’t mind him being inside this room, she could allow him interaction with the most advanced piece of Earth technology.

Johnny’s eyes lit up. “Sure.” He inched closer to her and his hand accidentally brushed against hers, sending a chill up her arm. He reached for the keyboard. “It’s touch screen, Johnny,” Patrice added. “Or why not address TimeBoss vocally; he’ll give you a fast answer.”

Johnny smiled. “I guess it’s the writer in me. I’ve always felt at home using an old-fashioned keyboard.” He paused and ran his hand through his hair. “TimeBoss define Omega.”

“Certainly Agent Veto. Omega is the Twenty-Fourth, and last letter of the Greek alphabet.”