“Claude!” the hunter said.
Frenchmen or French Canadians, Maddox thought.
“I kill you,” the hunter shouted.
Maddox didn’t think so. Reaching into the closet, he pulled down a heavy rifle, a Khislack .370. A flick of a switch turned on the targeting computer. On silent feet, Maddox backed up, climbing over his bed and moving onto the far side. He aimed at the wall. The computer gave him an image of a man in body armor tiptoeing toward the bedroom door, holding a tangler in one hand and a force blade in the other.
With the barrel aimed at the wall, Maddox fired three times, each shot making the Khislack buck in his hands. The targeting computer told him the story as the heavy bullets blew through the wall. The home invader staggered, made a gurgling sound and slumped onto the tiles. They were both dead now.
What about the driver in his van?
Had Octavian Nerva just sent Maddox a message with this attack?
The panic in Maddox’s brain changed to rage. If he’d been thinking with his normal coolness, he might have reconsidered his actions. The captain sprinted for the living room. A frozen snarl spoke of his resolve. The Khislack felt good in his hands. He’d taken down the hunters with it. Now it was time to finish the job. As he rounded the corner, he remembered the van’s radar.
The driver must know I’m coming.
His momentum was too much for him to stop in time. So Maddox dropped, lying down on the floor. As he did, the air-van’s machine guns blazed. Heavy rounds shattered the walls, breaking plaster, vases, the couch, paintings, a piano and various mementos from past missions.
With his head down, with dust, pieces of plaster and piano splinters striking his hair, Maddox fired blindly at the van. A second later, he realized how seriously outgunned he was. He could only believe he was still alive because the other had forgotten to link the machine guns with the radar.
Maddox slithered backward.
Machine gun bullets now began chewing the floor where he’d been. Spouts of destruction raced at him as the rounds tore synthi-wood flooring and the concrete underneath. He rolled frantically to the left. The flooring splintered beside him where he’d just been, slivers pelting his ribs, sticking in his skin.
Some of his famous cool began to reassert itself. I’m dead if I don’t think.
With deliberation, Maddox lifted the Khislack, using the targeting computer. He fixed on the van and fired three rapid shots. The titanium-jacketed rounds would easily slice through the walls, striking the van’s armored windshield. Likely, the rounds couldn’t penetrate that immediately. He would have to hammer his way in. Maddox knew he didn’t have the luxury of time to do that. Those three shots were only an attempt to rattle the driver. He’d done it once already tonight with the tumbler. Maybe this would give him the margin he needed to escape.
After the third trigger-pull, Maddox was up and running. The machine-gun rounds had already shattered his main door. Lowering a shoulder, Maddox smashed through the remains, cutting his naked skin.
That didn’t matter. Getting deeper into the building did. How badly did the hunter want him? The driver must realize he had broken all kinds of alarms. If he waited around too long, the police would catch him or worse, Star Watch Intelligence.
There’s only one person I can speak to about this.
As Maddox reached the inner stairwell, he knew what he had to do.
-5-
After making a report of the attack to the police and Star Watch Intelligence, Maddox hurried to headquarters. He slept fitfully that night in an extra room, showered in the morning and ate a light meal of nuts, cheese and orange juice.
By 9:10 AM, he stood before Brigadier O’Hara’s desk.
“I just heard about the attack,” the Iron Lady said. “Nerva moved faster than I anticipated.”
Maddox stood at attention, nodding slightly, wearing a spare uniform he kept in his locker here.
“Sit,” O’Hara said. “You’re straining my neck making me look up at you.”
“Ma’am, I prefer to stand telling you this.”
“Tell me what?”
Maddox hesitated. This was harder than he thought. He didn’t care for extended introspection. He saved his logic for solving cases, for beating the competition. As he stood before the brigadier, he realized the Star Watch had become his family. His first family had proven to be a sham. He believed in the Star Watch, in protecting people through his actions. He was good at what he did. It gave him a purpose, something larger than himself. By speaking now, he jeopardized that. Yet, by staying silent, he possibly aided the enemy, keeping needed information to himself instead of passing it along to help the Star Watch defeat the New Men.
“Ma’am, this is… this is difficult for me.”
“Do sit down, Captain, and dispense with the dramatics. If you have something to say, simply say it.”
Maddox hesitated before sitting on the edge of the chair with his back stiff.
“Ma’am, I’m not sure you should trust me.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Well, well, this is a surprise. What have you done now, Captain?”
“I have done nothing. It’s what was done to me.”
“Do you mean this latest attack?”
“No. I mean—” His lips grew numb, and he found it impossible to utter the words.
This is ridiculous. Why can’t I just come out and say it? Because I’m afraid, he realized. That’s funny. I’ve spent my entire life ignoring fear, showing others it is a foreign emotion to me. Yet, now I can’t tell the brigadier the truth because I’m afraid of what she’ll say.
“If you’re quite through…” she said. “We have important matters to discuss.”
“Ma’am, I have been compromised.”
“You have?” she asked. “When?”
He actually felt lightheaded. No. This wasn’t going to happen to him. With a scowl, he concentrated before speaking slowly. “I was compromised at my conception.”
He expected her to make a soft snort of derision, to wave her hand in dismissal. Instead, her eyes seemed to light up. He wasn’t sure, but the corners of her mouth twitched as if she attempted to contain a smile. That didn’t make sense.
“Can you be more precise?” she asked.
“I was adopted, ma’am.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I don’t think you do. My mother barely made it to Earth on a Spacer liner.”
“You’re adopted, you say. I’m assuming you searched for your real mother.”
Maddox told O’Hara about his search, how it led to Brisbane in the Windsor League. There, his mother’s trail had dead-ended.
“I wonder if I should inform you,” the brigadier said, “but you’re not the only person with adopted parents.”
“Right,” he said. “But I am the only one with a New Man for a father.”
All humor, hidden or otherwise, evaporated from the brigadier’s face. The light in her eyes became hardened intensity. She sat forward, studying him.
“Why do you say such a thing?” the brigadier asked.
“Ma’am, you wondered yesterday how I could parry Caius Nerva’s viper stick stokes. I believe the answer lies in my heightened abilities.”
“I see. You’re quite proud of yourself, are you?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You’re not a proud man, Captain Maddox?”
He considered the question. “You are correct. I am proud to a degree. I think a good Star Watch officer should be.”
“Do you believe—?”
“Brigadier, I haven’t come here lightly. I might even say this is painful to me. I have found certain differences in myself. They are not startling, but they have given me an edge at times.”