She prayed for guidance. She prayed for strength.
If she were to die, she would leave so much undone. She would have liked to have found her father's murderers. Not for vengeance, she told herself, but for Justice and to do his name honour. She would have liked a genuine reconciliation with her mother, to have found in her own prideful heart a way to forgive Isabella her shortfallings. She would have liked to have helped Father O'Shaugnessy find that point where the cybernet and the earthly plane intersect with the Divine. She would have liked to see the church grow under Georgi to the point when it no longer needed to deploy those with her special skills. Then, perhaps, she would seek out an enclosed order and atone for her sins by putting aside computers, martial arts, weapons and learning and devoting herself to tilling the soil.
In her mind, she saw herself as a tough old lady in a nun's penguin suit, working with the sick, wresting crops out of rocky ground, singing in the choir rather than as a soloist, perhaps married, probably not…
"You are an ace, not cannon fodder," Father O'Shaughnessy had told her once, "a gunslinger, not a grunt. And you must live with that for the rest of your rife, always trying to live on a level with the rest of us. It will not be easy."
She prayed wordlessly, inviting God into the void within herself.
She floated back, and found herself cross-legged in the passenger seat, her hands loosely together in her lap.
"There," Stack said, "up ahead. No place like home. Fort Apache."
VIII
"Colonel Rintoon," said Lieutenant Colosanto, "we have a ve-hickle on the approach road."
"One of ours?"
"No, but it's been logged out of the fort. It's the Ferrari that came with the Swiss Op, Juillerat."
"She was a Maniak spy. It must be an attack."
Finney swung round in her seat, and saw the Colonel, wild-haired and red-eyed, bending over Colosanto's console.
"Sir," she said, "Juillerat has diplomatic immunity."
Rintoon stared at her balefully. He hadn't shaved, and his stubble was mostly grey. He had bitten his forefingernails to the bleeding quicks, but curiously left his other fingers alone.
"That's what I said, Finney. She's an agent of a foreign power. She is on a mission to subvert this command. I will not be subverted. I will not be liquidated. I will not be terminated. They'll rue the day they crossed swords with Colonel Vladek W. Rintoon!"
Finney observed that Lieutenant-cum-Major Lauderdale had his holster flap undone. The uniform he had scavved from a dead officer was a size or so too large on him. He looked like a little boy dressed up in his father's domes. His face was impassive, as if Rintoon were running through a list of toiletry items the fort needed to restock on. She wondered which of her superiors was the more cracked.
"Colosanto, are the fort's defensive systems operational?"
"Yes sir."
"Then do your duty. Protect us from this aggressive enemy."
Finney got up. Colosanto looked at her, chewing her lower lip.
"Snap to it, woman," spat Rintoon.
Colosanto brought up the defence menu on her screen. In an inset, the bridge road appeared in an aerial view. A blip was advancing along it, tripping a succession of alarms. It wasn't moving with any particular speed.
The lieutenant looked unhappily at her console, as if selecting a course of action.
A light flashed. Colosanto heaved a sigh of disproportionate relief. "Sir, they're trying to open a channel of communication. It's not an attack. It's not an attack."
Rintoon exploded, spittle flying. "Oldest trick in the book, woman. Attacking under a flag of truce. Typical Maniak strategy. Never appease, never compromise, never surrender. Be a good girl, and get me some weapons systems on line."
Colosanto's face fell.
"Come on, come on you freaking hagwitch. Do I have to do everything here myself?"
The Colonel was drooling. Everyone in the Ops Centre was huddled around Colosanto's console. Finney took a look at Lauderdale, who was observing with a bland lack of interest. Colosanto's fingers hovered in the air above her keyboard. "What is today's attack codeword?" Rintoon asked.
Colosanto was still frozen. Finney saw she was crying. She was sobbing quietly. Her hands shook, and fell to her lap. "The codeword, soldier? Now? Cough up!" Rintoon cuffed the back of Colosanto's head. The lieutenant's hair fell over her free.
"The codeword?"
Colosanto snuffled something.
"What was that? Lauderdale, on the count of three, shoot this officer unless she tells me what I need to know."
"Yes sir."
Lauderdale's put his gun to the back of Colosanto's bead.
"One!"
Her face was in her hands, and her shoulders were heaving. The blip was on the bridge.
"Two!"
Jagged, painful sobs escaped from Colosanto's lungs.
"Three!"
An eternal second passed.
"SWORDFIST!" Finney said.
Lauderdale's gun jerked upwards, bumping the back of Colosanto's skull but not discharging.
Rintoon and Lauderdale looked at Finney.
"I know the codes," she said. "SWORDFIST is the defence systems keyword today."
Lauderdale pulled Colosanto's chair away from her console arid spun her across the room. Then he put his gun down, bent over the board and typed. A dull tone sounded. Lauderdale had scored a MISS.
"She lied," he said, reaching for his gun. "SWORDFISH doesn't load."
"Another Maniak unmasked," crowed Rintoon. "Well, shoot her dead, my boy. No, perhaps we ought to teach her a lesson first. Get me a whip and some rope."
"What did you type?" Finney asked.
"SWORDFISH, ratskag! Like you said. It wasn't acknowledged."
Lauderdale's knuckles went white as he gripped his gun.
"SWORDFIST, Lauderdale. SWORDFIST."
Lauderdale made a gesture of exasperation, and typed in the correct codeword.
The screen changed colour. The HIT beep sounded, playing the first few notes of "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon".
"Attention, attention," cooed the seductive, recorded voice on the tannoy (the US Cav had hired Lola Stechkin for the purpose), "this facility is now under attack. Everyone will report to their battle stations. Thank you for co-operating."
"What do you want to try first?" Lauderdale asked Rintoon. "The rockets, the lases, the napalm or the mortars?"
Rintoon was standing to attention. There must be an incredible band playing inside his head. He raised his hand in a slow salute.
"I think we should all take a moment to talk to God, soldiers," he said. "I think if Jesus Christ were here today, He'd be urging us on to Victory. We should Love our Enemies, soldiers, for without them we have not the chance for Victory."
"Colonel?" said Lauderdale "What about the androids? I have them operational?"
"Everything," Rintoon said, "hit the scum with everything."
Finney helped Colosanto up off the floor. The lieutenant clung desperately to her, shaking with hysteria.
"God forgive me," Finney said to herself. "God forgive me."
Part Eight: Last Stand
I
"We have incoming fire," said Federico, "I suggest we take a course of evasive action."
They were half-way across London Bridge when Fort Apache's lases opened up and burned towards them.
"That's some welcome home," Stack said.
"Don't worry," said Chantal. "The fort isn't feeling itself today."
Stack wrenched the wheel over hard, but Federico didn't respond. The car slipped into reverse and withdrew at 200 miles per…
"What!"
"Federico has a very strong sense of self-preservation. It's just overridden the driving helmet and is taking evasive action of its own. It can react faster than you. Don't feel humiliated."