Profiteer

Shane advanced on Conner. According to the last information on the tac database, he had—predictably—his personal field on full. That would have caused Shane some problems if she wanted to clean him with an energy weapon. Fortunately, this mission had equipped everyone for covert ops. So Shane had a high-energy personal stunner. It was a special military issue that sucked energy like a plasma rifle, but it was designed to interact with standard-issue military defenses. It would turn a defense screen into a momentary stun field.

 

Its only problem was the fact that it only had a five-meter range.

 

Shane was within ten meters of Conner’s position, and she activated her suit’s ECM capability. It was another power drain, but she didn’t want Conner to be able to reach anyone on his radio, or track her on his own threat computer. Hougland might notice a distortion by Conner, but the risk of that was less than the risk of Conner IDing her to the whole compound.

 

Seven meters to Conner and the corporal started panicking. Shane knew he had just noticed the ECM. His radio was jammed, his radar was probably blowing all over his scope, and his display was probably fuzzed and rolling. Remember your training, Conner, she urged him. Don’t shoot until you have a target. If you don’t panic, we’ll both get out of this alive.

 

Six meters. This was her last chance to turn back.

 

Five meters and Conner turned around. Shane could see his eyes widen. He was sweating and hyperventilating in his suit. His weapon bore down on her, and for a moment Shane thought Conner was hyped so much that he would shoot first.

 

Instead, Conner’s face showed recognition, and he was visibly relieved to see her.

 

Shane shot him with the stunner.

 

An electric-blue ripple of static electricity shot across Conner’s suit, and the corporal dropped. Shane killed the ECM. Hougland’s transponder was still off-line, and there were no transmissions back to the ship. Hougland didn’t know Conner had dropped.

 

Conner was draped face-first over the lip of the hole that formed the nest. Shane put her foot on his shoulder and pushed him back in. She turned around and saw, ten meters back, a line of prisoners hovering beyond the fence, watching her. Not knowing what to do, she held up one finger to her visor and hoped that they had enough sense not to fuck up their own rescue.

 

That was it. Shane was committed now. Things would be over for her the second Conner woke up. That could be anywhere between one and three hours.

 

Shane headed east, toward Hougland. To Shane’s right, in the prisoners’ compound, more of the civilians were waking and turning toward her. Shane prayed that it wouldn’t draw Hougland’s attention. If Hougland turned before she got within ten meters, Shane might have to use deadly force.

 

If at all possible, Shane would like to avoid that.

 

So far, Hougland was covering her flank like the professional she was. Hougland was counting on Shane and Conner to cover her back.

 

Shane was fifty meters along the containment database, and there was a blip on the tac database.

 

Shit. Shane almost said it out loud. It was Murphy. He had just turned on the transponder in his suit. One hundred twenty seven meters south-southeast and closing. Damn it, Murphy was supposed to be off-duty at this time of night.

 

She was thirty meters from Hougland and running out of options.

 

She couldn’t have Hougland picking up any radio, so Shane activated the ECM. It was much too soon. If Hougland was in range, it was just barely. Shane started running full tilt toward her.

 

Fifteen meters and Shane cleared the edge of the prisoners’ compound. Hougland was trying to ID the source jamming her electronics. It was only going to be a second before she looked back and saw Shane running toward her like a maniac.

 

Shane looked to her right, and she saw Murphy. He wasn’t moving with any urgency—

 

Maybe she could still pull it off.

 

Hougland turned around and leveled a standard-issue MacMillan-Schmitt wide-aperture plasma rifle at Shane. Without even thinking about it, Shane made the universal gesture to hit the dirt. She hoped that her expression showed all the fear of God to Hougland. The corporal had a split-second decision to make.

 

Hougland took cover in the nest.

 

Shane reached the lip of the nest and dived in, firing the stunner. Even when she woke up, Hougland might not be sure what hit her.

 

Shane landed on top of Hougland’s body armor and killed the ECM. The tac database showed Murphy closing on her position. However, she wasn’t picking up any radio traffic. She was in luck, Murphy hadn’t seen her dive in on Hougland. Or, if he did, he wasn’t sure what he saw.

 

Now what?

 

Murphy was a pro. He might only be out for a walk, but once he closed on the prisoners, he’d turn on his database and notice the absence of all three transponders. He’d radio that kind of regulation breach back to base immediately.