A few seconds later the screen of his MARC shows her logged-in to the unit. Shortly after that Chris says, “Okay, I’ve got the signal from the mother’s helper.”
“Good,” Lincoln says. “Now tell Khalid to get that tracking device off our truck. And give me a route back to him. I want to dump this vehicle as soon as I can.”
“On it. Keep going for now… okay, sending you a route.”
A route map pops up on Lincoln’s AR display. He follows it onto an avenue with heavy traffic, but at least the traffic is moving. “All right,” he tells True. “Give us a sitrep. What are we facing?”
She takes her visor off, rubs her eyes, then starts her report by asking, “Tamara, are you listening?”
Chris answers this question from their command post on the other side of the world. “Tamara is here. She can hear you.”
True’s gaze is fixed on the traffic ahead as she says, “The dismembered woman in the street. That was Li Guiying.”
Lincoln grimaces while from the backseat Felice asks, “Who’s that?”
Lincoln knows who it is. His prosthetic fingers tap the wheel. He knows enough about Li Guiying’s history, her associations, that he’s incredulous when he asks, “Was she working with Shaw?”
“No. But she used to work for Kai Yun and they followed her here. That’s what we think happened. There’s no other explanation.”
Kai Yun.
The hairs on Lincoln’s arms and on the back of his neck stand on end. Kai Yun is no trivial enemy. “She came to see you?”
“Yes. She came to confess.” In spare words True relates what happened in the Burmese forest, describing the swarm, and the surviving mech that followed along as Diego and Shaw were taken to the village of Nungsan.
Lincoln is stunned by this story. Horrified. A fucked-up travesty begun because there was no human in the kill chain… not at first.
“So what happened to her?” Felice asks from the backseat. “Because that was a weird fucking mess in the street.”
True falls silent, long enough that Lincoln glances at her. She’s staring straight ahead, but he doesn’t think she sees the traffic when she says, “Guiying didn’t want anyone else to die. She thought she could stand in the way, persuade Kai Yun’s soldiers to stand down. Shaw knew better. He tried to stop her, get her back under cover.” She shakes her head. “They hit her with a laser. The beam clipped him. He’s in bad shape.”
A laser? That’s what took out all the surveillance drones.
It shocks him, the idea of a laser-armed UAV prowling over a peaceful city. He wonders how many there are around the world, masquerading as harmless surveillance platforms—and how often they’ve been used. A laser is clean and precise, a modern weapon, capable of eliminating a specific target with little to no collateral damage. When True goes on to describe the Arkinson stitching the street, it’s a picture of primitive destruction by comparison.
Miles says, “How does it make sense that Kai Yun went after him like that? Their reputation is for subtlety. If they want you dead, you’re gone, with no evidence to track it back to them. So why a bolt out of the bright blue sky? It doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s like they panicked,” Rohan says.
Lincoln has to agree. The essential problem with a cover up is that over the years the original offense can become an ever-expanding complex of crimes. As each potential witness is removed, there’s more reason to remove the next. As more evidence is erased, the incentive grows to suppress questions for fear it might all unravel.
True says, “I think Kai Yun hired local talent for their ground troops. You saw what happened to them. The field’s been cleared and that gives us a window of opportunity to go after Rihab and recover Shaw.”
Lincoln eases forward into traffic. “Convince me I don’t need to worry about Variant Forces stepping in.”
“Shaw is Variant Forces. The company is vaporware without him. His men knew that. They resented it. They wanted to be on the inside. He said no. That’s why they turned.”
Rohan says, “Yeah, but he’s got to have more people than those two soldiers you left back at the house.”
True half turns to look at him. “Sure. But Rabat is not his base of operations.” She shifts her focus to Lincoln. “There’s no reason to think his crew is here. You got to understand. This mission was personal for him. He told me he didn’t want to bring his people in.”
“He was quick to bring in that Arkinson,” Felice points out. “That something we need to worry about?”
True turns one hand palm up as if to suggest that nothing is certain. “He called it up himself. Ran it fully autonomous, from what I could tell. He said it’s subcontracted through a local PMC, but there’s no reason to think they know we’re here, or what happened. So the field is clear for us to finish this.” She checks her tablet, its map displaying the location of the mother’s helper. “Rihab is on the belt highway. Moving fast.”
“We’ll be on the highway soon,” Lincoln assures her.
They stop to swap vehicles, rejoining Khalid. “I’m going to drive for now,” Lincoln tells him. He puts True into the front seat. The other four squeeze into the back and they get underway, following a route Tamara has plotted. With traffic in the city easing, they make steady progress.
“What’s Rihab’s game?” Lincoln asks True. “Is he just driving Shaw out into the desert to shoot him?”
To his surprise, it’s Khalid who answers. “Rihab’s supposed to be an artist, a filmmaker.”
True hunches over, hugging the Triple-Y. “Yes. If Rihab was just going to shoot him, he would have done it back at the riad. They’ve got something else in mind. But they aren’t going to be able to take him far, because he won’t last.”
Chris speaks over comms. “In other words, he could be dead before you get there.”
“He could be,” True says fiercely. “He’s dying, if that’s what you want to know. I’d say he’s as bad off as Diego was when they put him on the cross.”
Lincoln glances at her. “Don’t go there, True. This is not about Diego.”
“It is to me. It’s starting to feel like Nungsan all over again. We make the assumption he’s already dead and we wash our hands.”
“Come on,” Miles says. “It’s a fair question. Is it worth risking your lives to go after him?”
True turns around to look at him. Lincoln takes his good hand off the wheel, reaching out to restrain her. But when she addresses Miles, it’s in a surprisingly gentle voice. “You hate him. I don’t blame you. You have every right. But he’s still one of ours. And you know what they’re going to do to him. You know it better than anyone. You’ve seen it done before. No one deserves to die like that.”
A glance in the rearview shows Miles looking askance and uncomfortable. Time to put an end to this debate. “True is right. Shaw’s one of ours… one of mine. If there’s any chance he’s still alive, we need to get to him. But none of you need to go if you don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Rohan?”
“I’m in,” he says like he thinks it’s a stupid question.
“Felice?”
“Yes, sir. We already discussed this. I haven’t changed my mind.”
“I’m in too,” Khalid says.
Rohan tells him, “You should sit this one out, partner. Translator duties are over. We’re not going to be talking to these guys. And you’re not armed, you’re not allowed to carry a weapon.”
“Terms of the warrant,” Khalid says. “I know that. I don’t need to be on point, but I can take over the driving, be the unit medic, deploy the robotics, whatever’s needed, whatever I can. I’m part of this outfit now and I’m going.”