Chapter 52 - The Kraken Gate
Only one thought in my head, but it was rushing about like a demented ferret. If the observatory was destroyed, the Koulomb Gate wouldn’t work. So either the bomb needed to be disarmed, or it had to be removed from the premises far enough that it wouldn’t cause any damage to the building and its precious instruments. Taking the size of the bomb into account, I judged that distance to be at least a hundred paces. A lot of haulage for a heavy object like that. On top of that, I had no idea how long the fuse was set for.
My frantic reckoning was interrupted by one of the two wounded attackers making a rush for the stairs. It was the one who had taken cover behind the wheel mechanism. The crossbow bolt was sticking out of his shoulder-blade. He’d seen the bomb and decided to get out while he could. I squeezed off another shot at him, but he was moving too quickly and made it down the steps.
I peered cautiously over the edge of the relay booth, aware that one more of the attackers was still in here with me. Either he hadn’t seen the bomb and was waiting for me to show myself, or he was too wounded to move. He was nowhere to be seen, but there were great girders arching down from the dome and other machinery that he could be sheltering behind. It was time for desperate measures and some messy closeup work. I discarded the rifle and grabbed Na-Su’s wonder-weapon, the masher carbine. The stock nestled in my palm, feeling like a lover’s promise. Gods, she was right… this thing and I are meant for each other. I slithered over to the ladder.
I reached the floor and briefly poked my head around the corner of the shed. A bullet hit the structure at an angle and whined off, clanging against the sheet metal of the dome behind me, but I’d seen the muzzle flash; now I knew the attacker’s position. He was lying behind a crate not far from the stairs. I could see blood pooling on the floor beside the crate. He wouldn’t last long, but long enough to keep me pinned here until the bomb went off. I poked my head around the other side of the relay booth, hoping he was still sighting on the original corner. Sure enough, his shot went wide as he rushed to realign. Breaking cover, I hobbled for his position as best I could, racing him as he reloaded his weapon. I had to angle my run to avoid being in the line of sight down the stairs where his friends might be able to get a bead on me. The man raised his rifle just as I put too much weight on my wounded leg, which promptly folded up under me. I cried in pain and fell, but tucked my shoulder in and turned the fall it into a roll, so that I still had the carbine when I came to a stop. We were both lying on the floor, fifteen strides apart. I pulled the butt into my shoulder and squeezed the trigger at exactly the same time as my attacker fired. The bullet from his gun plucked at the shoulder of my jacket. His head jerked back, the crate behind suddenly misted with blood. Gods-damn it, Connie, that was too close.
Gunshots sounded outside. I peered cautiously into the ruined stairwell, hoping I’d managed to whittle down the number of attackers a little. There was no one there. Not necessarily a good sign. They might have escaped because the bomb was about to blow. I crawled over to the device and inspected it. Bombs can tell you a lot about their maker, but I didn’t have time to admire the handiwork. A wooden box bound up with iron bands which acted as protection, but were also cross-cut to contribute to the shrapnel. It was of a generic design, but one more typically employed by Nallian saboteurs. The fuse was inaccessible, tamperproof. No way to disarm it. I had no idea how long we had left, maybe a turn, or perhaps a few heartbeats. Ankush appeared suddenly, standing halfway up the stairs, head level with the bomb.
I shouted, ‘RUN! GET AWAY!’
The observatory could be rebuilt. Director Harman’s plans would be delayed, but not indefinitely. He’d terminate Lockhouse Security’s contract and we’d never have such a wealthy client again, but Ankush Malek would live. Draxil’s Fucking Beard! If I could get up and hobble down the stairs, I might even make it far enough away to avoid death.
But Ankush didn’t run. He saw the box and recognised it for what it was. He saw me trying to put weight on my bad leg and worked out that I wouldn’t make it far, so he hauled on the chest pulling it into the stairwell and managed to get both arms under it.
I shouted, ’NO! Get out of here.’ But the Gulreimian ignored me. James met him at the door where they took a handle each and disappeared into the night. Inigo arrived and helped me down the stairs. I was desperate, fighting him to do I don’t know what.
‘Not that way, chief.’ Inigo hauled me in the opposite direction. His skinny frame belied a wiry strength that easily overcame my sudden exhaustion. He had just forced me down against the wall of the observatory when the bomb went off.
The observatory shuddered for the second time that night. The dome clanged as shrapnel and debris bounced off it. It was only then that I noticed a light snow gently falling. Several flakes caught on my eyelashes and made me blink. The observatory was safe, but at what cost? Inigo was already on his feet and was with Ellen who had brought two lanterns with her. The feeble illumination lit a radius of no more than a dozen hands; outside this area, all was black, and my ears were still ringing. I called out.
‘Ankush…James?’
‘They’re fine,’ said Inigo, at last. ‘They dropped the bomb into the ha ha. It’s wall protected them from the blast.’ As he said the words, the two men appeared, looking out of breath and disheveled. James was wearing a coat for once, a navy-blue dockers jacket, and Ankush was wearing a fleece-lined sheepskin coat; both were speckled with earth. They, Inigo and Ellen were similarly well dressed and a light frosting of snow had begun to settle on them. It was still falling, a little heavier now. I was starting to shiver, a combination of the cold and delayed shock. Inigo and Ankush returned to help me up. James held one of the lanterns.
‘How many bodies?’ I asked. ‘There should be three or four inside. I don’t know how many we got with the booby-trap.’
Inigo replied. ’Three outside, so six or seven in total.’
Ellen was by the entrance to the observatory, all three corpses were visible thanks to the light she was carrying. I turned one over and brushed the snow from the faces of the other two.
‘They’re not Nallian, that’s for certain. Two of these were part of the reception committee in Lannerville town last week. They’re mercs for sure.’ The fletchings of a crossbow quarrel were sticking out of the back of one, the one I’d tagged inside the observatory. ‘Who got these other two?’ I asked, expecting James, Inigo or Ankush to claim the kills.
‘My brother,’ said Ankush.
‘What? From the clock tower?’ I was incredulous. ‘That’s over a third of a league away, and it’s night!’
Ankush laughed. He pointed at a hole in the wall where the paint and brickwork had been gouged out. ‘Well, he missed with one, and look, he had help with the light.’ He picked a small brass lantern out of the snow where it had fallen. Mahkran was a famous marksman in his own country, he’d won a national competition two years in a row, but this was the first time any of us had witnessed his skill in such a convincing demonstration.
‘Bloody amateurs!’ growled James. ‘Carrying a light!’
‘Should we search them, Chief?’
‘Please, Inigo, although I’ll be surprised if they’re carrying anything of interest. Do you think any got away?'
Ellen came up to me. She’d found my greatcoat and held it while I eased it on.
‘I’ll go and fetch someone with a cart,’ she said. ‘You shouldn’t be walking back with your leg in that state.’
I thanked her through chattering teeth and went back into the observatory to check the bodies where it was one or two degrees warmer. Two of the attackers had been shredded when I’d set off the booby trap in the stairwell so there wasn’t much to inspect. Of the other two, one had some small change and the other had a receipt from an ironmongers for a crowbar. Warmer now, I collected my cane and limped back outside just as Lieutenant Scott arrived at the head of a party of a dozen marines, Captain Banks among them. They were breathing hard, breaths steaming in the frigid air. Benjamin looked genuinely alarmed.
‘Gods! What happened here?’
I gave him a thirty tick summary, being careful to maintain the lie that our principle work that evening had been the failsafe’s wiring, and that the encounter with the intruders had been incidental. I finished up by saying, ‘It looks as though word got out that tonight would be a good time to shut the whole project down.’
'Sorry, our patrols were too far away to help. It’s as if the attackers knew where we were going to be.’
‘Well, what a surprise!’ I said. The sarcasm was lost on Benjamin, he was gazing at the entranceway to the observatory, door hanging off its hinges. Banks was on his knees in the snow, searching the pockets of the attackers. Either he didn’t know that it had been done, or he thought we’d done a sloppy job. The rest of the marines had spread out, throwing a wide cordon around the observatory. If one of them was a traitor, they were hiding it well.
A cart arrived, driven by one of the groundsman. I had no idea what time it was, but dawn couldn’t be more than a couple of bells away.
‘I’m done here, Lieutenant Scott. Can your people cover until daybreak?’ The observatory was safe for now. Whoever was organising the attacks was using mercenaries because they didn’t control the marines, or not all of them. Maybe they had another clutch of guns for hire, but I didn’t think it was likely.
‘Come on, Ankush, James, Inigo. Let’s get some rest. Tomorrow won’t be any easier.’
The light snow shower stopped as James helped me up onto the back of the cart. The others chose to walk beside it. I looked up as we headed back to the manor. The sky was clearing, revealing a tapestry of twinkling stars. Meniah had risen too, casting her silvery sheen across the Great Lawn and sculptured shrubbery.
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