Gates of Hell by William S. Frisbee Jr

Author:William S. Frisbee Jr
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2022-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Forty-One: Escape

Lojtnant Skadi – VRAEC

The trip back to the apartment had involving dodging badges but now they were safely off the street.

“Who the hell was that?” the protectee asked as Vili peered out the window. His MT issued carbine was now assembled and ready. Skadi was pulling on her battle dress. It didn’t have nearly as much protection or advantages as her regular Aesir armor, but at a quick glance it wouldn’t be noticeable.

“A US Marine,” Skadi said, still trying to make sense of what had happened.

“What?” he asked.

Niels explained while Skadi finished putting on her suit.

“Why did he shoot at you?” the protectee asked.

“I have no idea,” Skadi said. “Maybe he’s met the Vanir recently.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” the protectee asked.

“What is your name?” Skadi asked.

“Call me Vince,” the man said.

“Well, Vince, if your handlers haven’t told you what is going on, then I’m not going to.”

Vince glared at her.

“We have our orders,” Niels said. “We’re to make our way to the spaceport at sunrise. They’ll have extraction available.”

Skadi looked at Vince.

“Did you accomplish your mission?” Skadi asked.

“No,” Vince said. “It was going well until your friend showed up and started shooting. It’s your fault my mission went to hell. Now we’ll probably have the entire planet hunting us.”

“Won’t sunrise be too late?” Bern asked. “I don’t think that will work well for us if the SOG wants to cordon off the city and go door to door.”

“Control Otto says they have a plan,” Niels said.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Vili said.

“I agree,” Bern said.

“They have canceled the alert,” Vili reported, sounding confused. He was listening to several SOG police bands.

“Canceled?” Skadi asked.

“They are saying ‘test complete,’” Vili said.

“MT has that much pull?” Skadi asked, looking at Vince.

Vince also looked surprised, but just shrugged.

“Is evac still a go?” Skadi asked Niels.

A few seconds later, Niels replied, “Affirmative. Control Otto says they don’t know why the alert was canceled.”

Skadi didn’t like it. MT sounded incompetent and uncoordinated. Too compartmentalized with the different groups not telling each other what they were up to. How did they function?

“What about our mission?” Skadi asked, wondering if the Marines SCBIs were involved.

Vince winced. “Not going to happen now. Any hint of Republic involvement in the system would compromise it.”

“What was it?” Skadi asked.

“I can’t tell you,” Vince said.

Skadi scowled then shrugged. She couldn’t make him tell her, but she was willing to bet it had to do with the upcoming Vanir attack. How many lives would the failed mission cost the Republic?

“Can we get it back on track?” Skadi asked. Vince frowned and shook his head. Mission failure bothered her.

“You don’t understand how much of disaster that was,” Vince said, but Skadi had conducted enough covert operations to know exactly how it could be a major disaster. Of course, everyone seemed to think their mission was most important.

“Any word on the Marines from Control Otto?” Skadi asked.

“Nothing,” Niels said. “If I had to guess, they were as surprised as we were.

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