Breathing heavily and listening to the silence of the building, Rechs waited for a response.
Nothing. No one had heard. Just the muffled sound of the rioters chanting out there in the hot streets toward the end of the day. A few distant explosions and their ever-present drums. And the marines in their SLICs. And one more sound that shouldn’t have been among the cacophony… the rhythmic pounding of HK-PP legs striking the streets. Coming this way.
That would have everyone’s attention.
Rechs stripped the dead man of his comm and listened in once he had it synced into his own bucket.
The first thing he heard was exactly what he’d hoped. They were reacting. Departing from their plan. Making it easier to run his.
They were shifting the prisoners.
50
“Rechs, Gabi here. I’m leaving this message to let you know I’ve uncovered something really big that links to Syl Hamachi-Roi, who I still think gave the message to the Soshies to go ahead with… their little guillotine act.
“Years ago, the Guild did business with a financier known as Zauro. We ran an extraction mission to get him away from a Nether Ops hit squad that was out to get him. All of this went down a long time ago near the end of the Savage Wars. Anyway, this Zauro was acting as an arms dealer for the Savages who were then having trouble putting together weapons and equipment after the debacle at Cassandra’s Folly. Word was he was selling next-gen tech direct to them. Stuff the Republic had used to destroy the last of their cruisers during the Legion boarding surge that marked the end of it all.
“So here’s where it gets murky, and it’s not one of the Guild’s proudest moments. But we took a lot of credits to get him off Ankalor with no less than three Nether Ops hit teams closing in. Big op, bad day. Lost six Guild members in less than a cycle. Before your time. Way before mine. Anyway, the Guild hid Zauro for years in safe houses. Guy’s a longevity mummy. You know, always paying for the latest upgrades in life extension. Years in cryo coffins doing business with his mind only. About twenty-five years ago he let the protection contract run out. Frankly, the Guild hierarchy at the time was glad to be rid of him. Lotta weird Savage voodoo stuff involved. Was a big collector of their artifacts.
“One of Archangel’s associates… let’s call him the Reader. Well… it’s Reader’s job to know everything for the Guild committee’s private consumption. He keeps the decision-makers informed. Anyway, Reader kept an active file open for years and concluded Zauro had been silently laying the groundwork for something political. Something big.
“Reader didn’t have any hard evidence, but he knew Zauro was financing a lot of campaigns for House of Reason seats. He was using front groups to finance groundswell campaigns made to look like grassroots initiatives by the locals. Look close enough, you find the organizations are always slick and ready to go, professionally run from the get-go.
“I’m telling you all this because, one… Reader tagged Zauro as a very bad guy, felt he wanted to destabilize the galaxy. And two… and I have no direct evidence of this… but Zauro is still a wanted war criminal because of his dealings with the Savages. Which still carries an automatic death penalty via Legion tribunal. Which is to say, a visit from a kill team.
“So, Syl Hamachi-Roi’s campaign is straight out of the Zauro playbook. Linking her to Zauro would shut that little slut down overnight.
“I’m sorry. I know that sounds harsh. It’s just that… anyway, never mind. I hope you’re okay. I’m leaving this message because maybe you can find something that makes the case. Do that and we can get a little payback for…”
Gabriella paused.
Rechs would listen to the message later. But she paused as though whatever she was about to say got caught in her throat.
“…for the… sergeant… and the kid who didn’t make it back. Okay. I’m here, Rechs, when you need me. I’ll be standing by at all hours. I’m in a coffee shop. It’s late where I’m at. But… I can help. If you need me. We can get this girl… I have her flagged as Madame Guillotine in the Guild archives. That’s how much I believe she’s the one who made Detron all happen. We can pin a connection to Zauro on her. We can prove it.”
Then nothing. Just the end of a long message Rechs would have to listen to later.
51
“Lyra,” whispered Rechs over the comm as he moved through the halls of the building, trying to avoid the clusters of pros. The sensor-sweep readings indicated they were starting to group up in order to evac the building. Their comm traffic he was listening in on confirmed as much.
“Yes, Tyrus,” replied the Obsidian Crow’s AI.
“Gears up. Fly evasive to my loc. LZ to be designated upon arrival. Most likely going to be hot.” Then Rechs cut the comm before her insecurity could rise up and she talked herself out of flying… herself.
The booms of the incoming mech’s legs striking the ground were now seriously shaking the building. The little Nubarian had done the trick and freaked out the pros. Over comm they were bleating rather unprofessionally about getting out of there before they got stomped. Once or twice Rechs heard the voice of someone in charge giving terse orders to “stand by” and “hold your position until we get the prisoners out.”
The voice was clipped, cruel, and efficient.
And Rechs was pretty sure it belonged to Loth. He’d been around the man, briefly. Just one of those times where more than one bounty hunter is looking to do the same job. Rechs had gotten it done, and they’d exchanged what passed for pleasantries.
The powerful mauler cannon mounted atop the inbound HK-PP shrieked out a powerful whine, rattling hiss, and
