Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (39 page)

“Darling this is their biggest bed” said Rihan. She promptly lay down on the bed and stretched out. She fitted OK though her feet were at the very bottom. “See!” she exclaimed.

“Hmm…” said Dave. He did the same knowing full well his feet would extend over the edge.

Rihan grabbed his legs and pulled them toward her own. At the angle he was now, he could just fit. “See!” said Rihan.

“It’s as well I like rubbing my legs over you” said Dave as he rubbed his top leg over hers.

She held his leg in place and said “I certainly don’t mind but I reckon you need some food in your belly first. Lunch?”

Dave nodded. “Hopefully I’ll put in a better performance tonight.”

“I’m hopeful. But I can be patient.”

Dave’s eyes were a pool of appreciation. “I love you” he said and pecked Rihan on the lips. He got up and extended a helping hand to Rihan. “We’ve got a fair bit of catching up to do, haven’t we?”

“Sure have!”

Chapter 24. Karabaltus, Istridium 1940, 30 September

Angina was starting to get nervous. Torine was late for their meeting. She checked with her two bodyguards that she had brought with her from Checklin. They shook their heads to indicate no sign of any movement and no passive detections. Angina resolved to wait another five minutes.

Her hopper was at the edge of the clearing. The purple beacon that emitted a weak light was next to it. She was 50 metres away in the tree line in the shadow cast by the full moon with one of her bodyguards. The other was near the beacon. They were scanning for the arrival of a hopper with their thermals.

A minute later a figure walked out of the tree line towards the beacon. It was tall and slender.

The bodyguard near Angina called out “Halt.” He kept his pulse rifle trained on her while the other bodyguard ran over to them.

The figure raised its arms and responded “It’s all right. It’s just me, Torine.”

Angina knew that she had probably been there for some time, checking them out before she came forward. She recognised Torine was wearing one of the new disperser body suits. It disperses the heat signature emanating from the body so that it blends into the surrounding heat signatures, effectively neutralising thermal visioning.

While one guard kept his rifle on her the other ran a scanner over and removed her pistol. Angina knew that Torine would not need a pistol to kill her. But she was relying on self-interest here and so she came forward to meet her. There was no attempt at a handshake or any salutations for that matter.

“So you liked my demonstration?” asked Torine.

“I am here” replied Angina.

“Best to cut to the chase.”

“Proceed.”

“I can eliminate the First Consul for you in exchange for amnesty and the following funds to be transferred to a nominated account.” She tapped the glove on her hand and the amount was displayed on it.

Angina noted the amount, giving no reaction to its quantum. “When can you do this?” she asked matter of factly.

Torine smiled, tapped the glove to turn off the display and asked “When would you like?”

“We need a little time to coordinate arrangements.”

Torine knew that was code for lining up the other hits on his supporters. “Naturally. Are you talking next week, the week after? I will need two days’ notice.”

“OK you have yourself a deal. I need a number to call you and advise the date.”

Torine tapped the glove again and the number appeared. Angina entered it into her communicator and called it straight away to determine if it was a valid number. The signal indicated it was. Angina nodded.

“Good” said Torine “I will wait for your call. Best not to undertake any other terminations in the meantime” counselled Torine. “But of course you knew that anyway.” Angina didn’t bother to respond. Instead she just waved for her bodyguard, who handed Torine’s pistol back to her.

Torine walked back the way she came, disappearing into the woods.

Chapter 25. Pesminitar (Q2) 0710, 1 October

Dave woke early and found himself lying almost diagonally on the rogan bed. Rihan had adjusted her angle to accommodate him, so she too was almost on the diagonal. She was still asleep. He remembered how he had fallen asleep feeling guilty about his inability to perform sexually.

But he would not feed that guilt. So he rose and after washing his face sat down on the cushion he had removed from the lounge. He crossed his legs and was soon repeating his mantra. A thought flittered across his mind that it was only in meditation that he was feeling relaxed these days. He came to the realisation that during the day when he was awake his body was tense. He consciously took a deep breath in and rolled his shoulders and tried to relax his spine and neck.

He dropped into what he referred to as the higher meditative state, where his inner vision was dominated by the dark greys and brown hues of the void. He yearned for the deeper state where the deep velvety colours of what he referred to as the blue garden supported and caressed his spirit. But he was not to attain that state this morning. He didn’t fight it. He accepted it and was soon unaware of anything other than the void.

A good fifteen minutes passed. The image of the Casement entrance deep below Lewista seemed to be heading towards him, first at a very slow pace. But now it was rushing towards him and he could see Ginty’s stocky form jogging out from the entrance. Her rifle was carried in one hand and she was hailing Bel Rickets as she turned into the tunnel.

Dave was witnessing this and like a director on a film he zoomed the camera lens in to focus on the back of her head. But he recoiled when he saw her turn her head around to look straight into his eyes. Her big brown eyes looked as though they were asking him ‘Why?’ But the sounds of the battle beckoned her attention and a steely determined look came across her face just before she turned her head back around and pumped her legs towards the source of the firing.

“Don’t Ginty….don’t” yelled Dave at the top of his lungs. But now the camera lens was pulling back and Ginty’s image was getting smaller and smaller. “No Ginty…no!” he yelled again. He felt this wave of panic tear at him from his inside. His heart was racing and a feeling of helplessness and then guilt overwhelmed him. The tears turned into sobbing.

But then he felt being embraced. Rihan was saying something to him. He couldn’t make it out but the tone was soothing and the touch of her hand on his head was tender.

Chapter 26. Orina 1000, 1 October

They had let Angina sleep in, something she rarely did. But when she heard some movement in the corridor outside her room at 0730, she rolled back over and closed her eyes and said ‘I think I need to.’

When she next woke it was after nine. Evie’s bed on the other side of the room was empty and she said out loud “Oh no!” and swung her body up into a sitting positon with her feet on the floor. She gathered her thoughts and then said “There’s so much to do.”

After showering and dressing she stepped out into the corridor of what she realised must once have been student accommodation. But she was disoriented. In the daylight it looked nothing like what she remembered when she came here in the middle of the night.

There was no-one around, so she headed off in one direction before encountering someone who directed her to the HQs. It was in an adjacent building. As she exited she saw the first armed ISS troopers. That reassured her.

She finally found Milus, whose first words were “Have you eaten?” to whit she shook her head. He led her up several levels to a dining hall. Ten minutes later she took her first mouthful and realised just how hungry she was. She was not normally a hot breakfast person but the stew smelt and tasted delicious. While she ate, Milus briefed her on the overall situation.

“So at the moment we have this sort of standoff. We were not the only ones to suffer heavily in the fighting in Slidwon. The 1
^st
Imperial Guards are still in Slidwon, rebuilding we believe. The 11
^th
Div split. Their 33
^rd
Bde as you know fought with us. The 31
^st
and the Divisional assets stayed loyal to the Imperialists but the 32
^nd
finally came over to our side.”

“It’s the 31
^st
Bde who currently have a screen between Orina and Slidwon. They are not pushing things and we are not either. We are still in contact with their commander, Brigadier Pemsle Riltonium, and we may be able to convince him to swap sides.”

“We are getting a steady stream of volunteers coming in each day. The noise you’ll probably hear today won’t be real fighting but a training exercise. Miokin (Brigadier Fabil Miokin, commander of 33
^rd
Bde) reckons he’ll soon be back to full strength though many will be poorly trained recruits.”

“Orina’s the normal base for the 33
^rd
. So they have access to a fair stock of supplies, though Miokin says that if the fighting intensity increases to anything like what it was in Slidwon then it won’t last more than ten days.”

“Gee that’s not much” muttered Angina between mouthfuls. “What’s he doing about it?”

“He has his staff trying to secure more supplies. So far they have secured additional food, fuel and energy packs for small arms weapons but no missiles or heavy stuff. It’s not good.”

Angina nodded while still chewing. She swallowed and then asked “And our troops?” Milus remained silent long enough to cause Angina to add “Well?”

“We were savaged in Slidwon. Right now we have just over 1400 left.”

“Damm” said Angina. She knew that meant they had lost over 1600. “What about Ursoola?”

“She made it, she’s in charge of them here.”

“Thank the gods for that.”

“So who have we got in the way of agents?”

“We’ve still got quite a few. Some have gone over to the Imperialists.”

“Understood. OK let me have a chat with Ursoola and then Miokin. After that we need to go through your list of agents. I have some work for them.”

An hour later Angina caught up with Evie at lunch. Evie explained how she had called her mother and had arranged to meet her parents tomorrow.

“Not at you parents’ home. That’s too risky” warned Angina. “And not alone. I’ll have one of my agents accompany you. Better still I’ll get two.”

“I won’t need them” countered Evie.

“Oh yes you most certainly will. You’re a public figure now. Your image will be on a watch list. Show yourself in a public place in Slidwon and you will be detected. Trust me I should know.”

“All right. So if my parent’s home and a public place are out of the question where do you suggest.”

“We have various safe locations within the city.”

“My father will be immediately suspicious if I suggest some random location.”

“You’re probably right” and Angina went deep in thought. “Is there a relative or common friend who you can trust?”

Evie thought for a moment then replied “My aunty is probably the best. She’s in the Mektonad.”

‘Of course she is’ thought Angina. The Mektonad was probably the most salubrious apartment complex in downtown Slidwon. Built around the Hesbona gardens it boasted the very best in prestigious accommodation. Almost all its tenants were first or second tier aristocrats. As such it warranted its own security team from the ISS, though now these were most likely provided by the FIA.

“I should be able to get you in undetected.” She immediately hailed Milus and a couple of minutes later turned to Evie and said “Go and see Milus in an hour. He’ll introduce you to the agents that will accompany you and brief you on the arrangements.”

Chapter 27. Mt Pesminitar 1600, 1 October

Dave had used his rank to secure the services of one of the Enterprise warthogs. He justified its use on the grounds that it was two days’ trek to the summit plus another two days back and he couldn’t afford the time. But really the main reason for him was he didn’t know if his injured foot could handle the walk.

The warthog had dropped them off at a spur about 40 minutes’ walk from the summit. That was forty minutes ago and Art was leading the gang of four up the last steep incline.

Art knew the summit was just ahead because the signage put there for the tourists told him so. But the canopy was still thick all this way up and it wasn’t for another twenty paces before he came out onto a relatively clear patch at the summit. A little further the track began to descend to a viewing platform.

“We’re here” announced Art.

Sue, Rihan and Dave were still a good 50 paces behind. Dave had found his foot throbbing over the last bit and was concerned how he would go for the return trip. But Art’s promise spurred him on. He came up to Art on the viewing platform and took in the panorama view.

Dave had seen some spectacular sights before but he had to admit that this one was special. In the west behind them lay the mountain plateau, from which they had just climbed. You could not see much in that direction because the platform was on the far side of the convex summit. But for 160 degrees eastward you could see perhaps forty kilometres from their vantage point. Below them were the cave entrances that carried the huge volume of water spilling over the falls.

The caves were a good kilometre below them and the lake a further two kilometres down and most of that was a vertical drop. A striking rainbow ran across the vapour cloud below. The sun was getting lower in the sky and would be setting behind them in a couple of hours. Part of the view below was in partial shadow. But the sun did highlight the tops of the ridge that ran in an arc along the northern side of the lake before tapering off into a V-shaped valley cut deep by the waters that flowed eastward out of the lake.

On the southern side of the lake Dave could see that their resort was in fact nestled into a natural amphitheatre which tapered down from the south into the lake. A flock of what must be large birds was gliding above the amphitheatre. Dave, who loved birds, watched them on their journey till they disappeared into the tree tops, dispersing like a cloud of dots.