He looked at his watch. Spiteri’s trial was going to begin shortly, but there seemed little point, as he was going to face the full sentence for his crimes. He pulled on his uniform that had been cleaned by the hotel staff overnight and headed out the door to be met by armed escorts. It made him uncomfortable. He’d been escorted like this before, and it was right to a prison cell.
“Lead the way,” he ordered.
The court was right opposite the hotel with a pedestrianized area between them. On entering, he was met by a guard who expected him to give up his firearm. He knew he had no choice. Jafar tried to follow him through the foyer but was quickly stopped.
“Authorised personnel only,” said a guard.
Taylor nodded in response. He could fully understand their position, considering the topic at hand. He was led into the courthouse to join the audience. Just five minutes later, Spiteri stood before them all. Taylor had only ever seen a few court cases in his life, and they never moved this quickly and with such single focus.
Spiteri looked utterly unashamed of his actions and stood tall in his dress uniform. Taylor still wasn’t sure from which nation he came, but his query was soon answered as the judge introduced him as Maltese. Mitch had been one of the key witnesses at the scene, and one of the few who had no agenda towards the Colonel. He’d expected to be called up before the court quickly, but instead was surprised to see a recording of Armand recounting the tale and him agreeing with it.
“Is that enough to condemn the man?” he muttered to himself.
In three hours, they’d heard all there was to hear, including first-hand accounts from protestors who had been wounded at the scene. On the one hand, Taylor knew the man was guilty, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him as he wondered how it could have been handled differently. He was also beginning to wonder why he was even required to be there, seeing as they had all the evidence they needed.
“The court is adjourned until sentencing at 0900 hours tomorrow.”
Thank God for that. Another minute of hearing the condemnation of Spiteri would be enough to put me to sleep.
He got back to his room at the hotel and found a message waiting for him. It simply said, ‘Contact General White immediately’.
Great.
He put the call through, and once again the General was ready and waiting to accept it.
“Colonel Taylor, was I not absolutely clear that you were to stay put in Paris, keep your head down, and wait for everything to blow over?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Was I not absolutely clear that you had to stay out of the news?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Then please explain to me why you not only went to North Africa, but ended up in a fight with protestors, and a key witness in an UEN tribunal of a senior officer?”
“Sir, I was only trying to do what’s best for everyone.”
“What’s best!” he screamed, “You are an officer in the United States Marine Corps, and therefore you belong to me!”
“Maybe I used to be, Sir, but I’m not the combat officer I signed up to be. I’m a puppet being flown around the World for entertainment.”
“You’re whatever the Corps wants you to be, Taylor. Now, I’ve let a lot slide because of the great things you’ve done for us all, but this has to stop. You’re running around like a cowboy out there raising all kinds of hell. I’m told you are needed in court tomorrow for the sentencing of Lieutenant Colonel Spiteri. After that, you are to return immediately and report here, where you will be dealt with accordingly!”
“Yes, Sir.”
The General shook his head, “What happened to you, Taylor? In war, you were one of the greatest assets the World had, and now you’re nothing but a troublemaker. I don’t want to hear your name on any channel, whether it’s civilian or military, for some time. Do not screw up again!”
The transmission stopped, and Taylor was left feeling nothing but pissed off. He turned to see Jafar had watched the whole thing from the other side of the room.
“What does he want of you?”
“Who knows? All I know is life was a lot simpler when we were at war.”
“But you said you didn’t like war.”
“Maybe I was wrong. Anyway, we’re stuck here till tomorrow now. I hate to say it, but let’s keep our heads down. Wherever we go, we seem to attract trouble. We can’t find trouble if we stay here. I’ll order up room service, and we’ll have a few drinks.”
Taylor spent the rest of the afternoon flicking through channels on the TV, the thing most guaranteed to bore Jafar to death. At 2000 he ordered up food and was surprised to see it arrive within ten minutes. A staff member pushed a trolley through into their room. It was the best thing he’d seen all day, and the only thing he’d been looking forward to. As the man lifted off the covers from their meal, the lights went out.
“Ah, hell.”
It was a complete blackout.
“Don’t worry, Monsieur, the secondary power will start shortly.”
Nothing happened. As Taylor’s eyes adjusted to the dark, he stepped out into the corridor. The whole building was out. He went back to the room and hit the switch for the window shutters to open, but the power outage meant they wouldn’t move. He pulled the manual cord override, and they slid aside.
The city before them was still lit up as before.
“I don’t understand it,” said the concierge.
“You’ve not had this kind of power outage before?”
“Oh, yes, but the whole block, not just this hotel, and it recovers within fifteen seconds.”
Taylor strode back to the wardrobe and pulled on his Reitech suit.
“What do you think is happening?” Jafar asked, who seemed surprised at his response.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t like it.”
He could see Jafar had no concept of the scenario they might be facing, but he was automatically suspicious. He heard footsteps in the corridor and quickly grabbed his pistol, heading to the door to look out. The shadow of a man with a gun was approaching. Taylor leaned out just far enough not to be noticed by the figure until he was right on him.
He grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him inside the room. He was in utter shock, but Taylor’s firm grasp had him pinned and with a pistol to his head. It was one of the UEN Military policemen who had escorted him to the court that morning. Taylor relaxed his grip and took a step back.
“What’s going on here?”
“No idea, Sir. The power is out. Communications are being jammed. I really must continue, Sir.”
Taylor took his hand off him, and the man instantly leapt out the door. He turned back to see the concierge was terrified. Before any of them could say a word, they heard something tumble to the ground in the corridor in the direction the soldier had gone. Mitch leaned out the doorway to look and saw the soldier collapsed and lifeless. He turned to see several armed figures moving towards him. They had already noticed his head, despite the near darkness.
As he ducked back, a dart struck the doorframe. He spun back against the wall and threw the concierge aside to get him out of the way. Jafar also had his pistol drawn. They were the only weapons they had. Seconds later, the first gunman rushed through the doorway with his rifle held high. Taylor let him pass and went at the second man through the door. He smashed his fist into the man’s face. As the punch connected, he noticed a night vision visor hanging down from a compact helmet.
As the man tumbled back into the next gunman, he saw they all wore Reitech suits. Jafar launched out from the bathroom area to tackle the first man who had come through the door, shoving him across the room so that he smashed through one of the interior walls and landed in the bedroom. The third gunman got a shot off, and the dart hit Taylor in the chest, embedding in his armour. Jafar responded by firing two shots at his attacker, but the thick armour he wore absorbed both.