Chapter 11
I'm back in the Command Centre 15 minutes later and the Commander sits me at one of the computers with a USB drive, a list of files to copy and the instruction to wipe the hard drive clean afterward. The Crimson Twins are grumpily doing much the same thing on two other computers, along with several higher ranking troopers.
"I really don't think any potential mole…" Tomax starts, letting his sentence hang in the air for his brother to finish.
They do this ALL the time, and to make it worst, they still haven't got it down quite pat: there is always a bit of a delay before the second brother finishes a sentence.
You'd think their desire to be perfect twins would be satisfied with the fact that thanks to a bit of masochistic genetic engineering, they can actually feel it when the other one gets hurt, but no. They have to show off that they think alike each and every time they talk. Why they so enjoy demonstrating that they share a single brain between the two of them is beyond me.
"…would have found a routine backup suspicious," Xamot eventually finishes.
The Commander snorts.
"And that would be why I'm in charge," he says, putting extra emphasis on the 'I'. "I know better."
About one hour after the satellite weapon was fired, we're on our way – there are planes approaching, but we're all using advanced stealth vehicles, several of them currently in underwater mode, and although we pass right under some of the approaching invading forces, we're not detected.
On the way, the Commander briefs me on our new base.
Now I must admit that when I first joined Cobra, I was rather impressed that the Commander had managed to procure an island and to build a fortress on it without anyone stopping him. Granted, the location was discovered almost as soon as Cobra became somewhat active, but by then, it was too late – the fortress could resist almost any attack. It would have taken thousands of troops to actually invade us successfully, and it would have been a blood bath – no nation has been willing to go that route yet.
Yet the logistical, planning and covert operations marvel that was Cobra Island doesn't even compare to our new base: Springfield, New York. It has a town's name because to the rest of the world, it is just that: an ordinary town. The actual fortress is underground, accessible only from five entry points, three of which are buried in the sewers and meant as emergency exits only.
The rest of the town was bought one house at a time over the past ten years, ever since the Commander created Cobra. He currently owns, through various dummy companies, nearly 75% of the land and property and rents most of the houses on relatively short leases, that he will now stop renewing in order to move his troops in said houses and out of the fortress proper. Some of the houses he owns are left abandoned, as well as some of the business and industrial property, because they sit on top of missile launchers. Finally, he has a puppet mayor in place, who has the police in his pocket.
In short, Springfield is Cobra Ville. However, as far as the rest of the World knows, it's an innocent town filled with innocent civilians. Even if the fortress is somehow discovered, big scale assaults will remain fairly unlikely because the civilians, both the real ones and our civilian looking troops, will act as human shields.
After a few hours of travel, we dock at the local marina. Needless to say, the marina is run by Cobra and therefore only accepts enrolled members. One of the entrances to the fortress is in the basement 'custodial closet' of the main building.
From there, the Commander goes straight to his new Command Centre. All the computers are already running, and a phone is ringing off the hook. The Commander picks it up with one hand and with the other, grabs a mouse and starts clicking away at his various status screens.
"The Joes are attacking the satellite." Destro says through the phone as soon as the Commander picks it up, without waiting for a greeting. He doesn't sound particularly worried.
"Is the satellite firing back yet?"
"With the defence system that you refused to buy, you mean?" Destro says. He now sounds distinctly amused.
"No!" the Commander snips. "With the defence system that was included with it."
"The one I told you was only good against space debris because any human threat could easily shut it down?"
"Are you telling me the Joes have disabled the weapon's defences?" the Commander hisses.
"They have," Destro confirms.
"Where did they launch from?"
I blink at him, amazed once again by the deviousness of the man. Whether his weapon is destroyed or not, he will at least have managed to make the Joes take off for orbit, and even for the best equipped military unit in the World, it's simply not possible to launch for space discreetly. Our spy satellites will be able to detect the launch, and in all likelihood, we're about to find out where the Pit is.
"From an innocent looking military base that we can assume is actually the Pit," Destro confirms. "I've already sent you the coordinates."
The Commander opens his email and true enough, there is a message from Destro with coordinates and even a satellite view of a benign looking military base, under which we now know we will find the Joe's secret base of operation. The Commander pastes the coordinates into what is obviously a user interface for his weapon and gives the command to fire.
"They're within range of the weapon," Destro says. "Firing at it."
"I'm firing the weapon at the Pit," the Commander says. "It should be charging up… if they destroy it before it actually fires, it should at least blow up nicely and take them with it." He sounds extremely pleased with himself.
"Oh, puh-lease," Destro says. "Do you really think they're THAT stupid? They've deactivated the defences by shutting the thing down. Nothing is going to work."
"Are you telling me my multi-billion dollar satellite laser is a sitting duck?" the Commander screams.
"Was a sitting duck," Destro sniggers. "It is now ground duck meat. I did warn you about not upgrading the security system, Commander. Several times."
"We'll talk about a refund later, Destro," the Commander hisses before hanging up.
It takes all my self control not to burst out laughing from their general childishness and silliness and from the relief of knowing that the Commander won't be using a satellite laser again for at least a little while. I suspect I find the whole thing more amusing than I would if I weren't so keen on keeping my mind away from the events of the past few hours.
Perhaps because he was not happy about his weapon being destroyed after only one use, it takes weeks before the Commander allows Destro to borrow me again. Even now that he has finally agreed to lend me to his weapon dealer for a night, he came along to Destro's castle, pretending he didn't feel safe in Springfield without me. I'm guessing he actually intends to poke around in the hopes of finding some valuable information.
After waiting this long for my services, I'm expecting Destro to bring me to a very long catch-up meeting with the people he usually doesn't see without having me as backup.
I try not to show my disappointment as I listen to my instructions, but Destro's smile shatters any illusion I might have had on succeeding to deceive him.
"You thought I'd just get you to come with me to a business meeting again, didn't you?" he asks.
There is no point denying it, but at the same time, I can't openly acknowledge reluctance, especially when it comes to doing something against the Joes.
"The Commander has ordered me to do whatever you asked. I will get the girl for you."
Destro barks a laugh.
"Scarlett is hardly a girl," he says. "She's a Joe, and a skilled fighter. Expect resistance."
I bow to acknowledge that I understand and turn to leave.
"Storm Shadow," Destro calls back.
I turn around and do my best to hide my irritation. He's already given me his orders, I've already agreed to carry them out, why must he impose his presence on me any longer?
"In the kidnapping business, the kidnapper is often instructed not to take liberties with the victim by the person who ordered the kidnapping. This is not the case here. I couldn't care less what you do with her."
I feel at once embarrassed, disgusted and furious; I'm guessing even what little skin my mask shows around my eyes is beet red.
"If you keep insulting me like this, I'm bound to lose my self control eventually," I snarl.
"Insult you? I'm being nice! And for your information, I don't intend to put her in a comfy cell and just keep her there for a while with three healthy meals a day. By delivering her to me, you are allowing much worse to happen to her than whatever liberties you may take."
I briefly narrow my eyes at him for the reminder, then clench my jaw and remind myself that she's the enemy and that I simply can't afford to feel any pity for the enemy.
"Is that all?" I ask.
He nods. I hurry out of there and go get a jetpack: they're fast, small thus difficult to detect for the Joe's radars, and most important of all, I can't operate one without being fully concentrated on it, which means that for as long as I'm flying, my mind won't be able to wander.
The funny thing about the Pit is that the Joes sincerely believe it to be safe. In the weeks since we've found its location, I've been able to discover 10 access points that aren't sufficiently guarded. Five of them don't even require dislocating any of my limbs to squeeze through. I pick the one closest to where Scarlett's quarters are, according to the map Destro provided me with.
Because it's the middle of the night and because the Joes seem unable to admit their precious base is not exactly leak proof, I hear only one patrol. They don't notice me, and after a quick stop by the floor's laundry room, I make it to Scarlett's quarters without problem.
I can hear a sleeping person in the room, whom I assume is her.
If she is as good as Destro claims, she's bound to wake up when she hears me picking the lock, and to be ready to pounce on me or shoot me. It's hardly the ideal scenario: the racket would wake the whole base and I'd probably have to kill or maim several people before I could finally get away with the girl.
Therefore, I take off my mask, position myself so my face is all she'll be able to see from the peephole and knock. I hear her get up and walk to the door.
"What is it?" She says. "Who are you?"
"Sir," I say. "I need you to follow me. The General sent me to get you, sir."
I have no idea whether she's an officer or not, but if she isn't, mistakenly calling her 'sir' will only make me look silly and mildly annoy her. If she is an officer, on the other hand, failing to call her sir could make her suspicious.
"Obviously, you're a rookie. You have three seconds to give me the safe word before I slam this door in your face and proceed to kick your ass."
I position my foot and arm to catch the door.
"Sir? I'm sorry, sir, I wasn't given any safe word. The General asked that you come right away, sir. They think the base has been infiltrated."
The door slams open, only to be blocked by my foot and my arm. I swing it open the rest of the way and before she can scream, I've used her sleep points to knock her out.
I put my mask back on and hand carry her to the laundry room, keeping my ears peeled for any incoming patrol. I can hear two, but one is a floor above and the other one is already not in sight and walking away from us, so no problem likely there.
I dump Scarlet in the laundry cart I readied on my way to her room, bundle her up in some sheets and tie up the whole package. I then cover her with some more sheets, after pressing her sleep points again, just in case. Hiding her won't make me look like I belong here if I run into someone – especially not while I'm wearing a Cobra Uniform – but it's easier than carrying her and it does decrease the chances that someone spotting me will shoot on sight. More than likely, they will instead just point at me with their guns and demand I surrender, which will give me time to disarm them or knock them out without much risk to myself. I much prefer that scenario to having to dodge bullets while carrying an unconscious adult and then having to eliminate the shooters.
I wheel the cart to the nearest elevator and take it, pushing the button to the highest floor. According to my map, there are windows along the passageway I'm going to end up in, so from there, I'll basically just need to break out and fly away.
While the elevator makes its way up, I put on my jet pack and carrying harness and attach Scarlett to the latter. Assuming the windows will be made of unbreakable glass, I get ready to throw a bomb and keep my free hand close to my katana, just in case the elevator is monitored and a squad is waiting for me on the top floor. I push the cart to the back of the elevator – I could hide behind it, but at this point, playing hide and seek any longer would just delay me and make it more likely that someone notice Scarlett's room is empty.
The door opens, and there's no squad. However, a patrol spots me immediately from halfway down the hall. They sound the alarm and take out their guns, but Scarlett's sleeping form acts as a human shield and they hesitate long enough for me to bomb the closest window and fly out into the night without even having to bother dodging bullets.
Author's notes:
Gasp! What will Destro do to poor Scarlett? Will Storm Shadow really be a gentleman? Will the damsel in distress be rescued? By whom?
…
It's not easy to build suspense when most of you know roughly what will happen next. :D