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  “So you think I’m in some sort of wicked dealings with these men, and I’m going to incriminate myself? Or worse?”

  Talice ignored the question. “Nemesis is threatening to release information to the net news about these guys regarding their Fourth Sector business interests. Legal or not, it will put them in a bad light. Like you said, elections are coming up, and they’re both on the ballot.”

  Scarbach was silent, looking first to Talice, then Mac.

  Talice continued. “And if something illegal comes up about their activities, don’t you think you just might get pulled in, too?”

  “We need to know what you know,” said Mac, not waiting for Scarbach to answer. “So we can proceed with a mission. A mission sanctioned by our official contacts, by the way. So we’ll have some insurance against… reprisal.”

  “You mean so you can hold them by the balls, is what you mean.”

  Talice and Mac exchanged glances. Talice nodded.

  Scarbach shook his head and stood, then walked away. “Geez, you’re no better than fucking Nemesis!”

  “Sure we are.” Talice rose and prodded him back to his desk. “We’re still partners. And believe me, if we’ve thought this out, you’re in as much danger as these councilmen are.”

  “Because… because I’m known to have other shady dealings?” Scarbach sat, his hands shaking.

  Mac moved her hoverchair to his desk. “And you become the guilty party. Right. These councilmen would throw you to the netnews reporters. Those people can smell blood in the water a kilometer away.”

  Scarbach rose, paced, then sat again at the table. Talice edged closer. “Look… we’re in this, too. We’ve been asked to do some dirty work, which we’re not gonna do unless there’s a lot more to this than legal bordellos. And we don’t have time or any leads to dig around ourselves, so we’re talking to you, because you’ve got the inside information we need.”

  Scarbach was silent for a time as Talice and Mac waited. “Some of the women… maybe a handful, I don’t know for sure… disappeared from the bordellos about the time that big mission on Crius took place. Last year.”

  “The sex traffic operation?” Talice sat back. “Do you think these councilmen were involved?”

  “Well, I wasn’t. All I did for those places was provide the licenses and medical requirements and bookkeeping.”

  “Keeping their names off the records,” said Mac, nodding.

  “Exactly. I noticed during the year a few of the girls weren’t around. I asked about it…”

  “You were told not to. Right?” Talice’s face grew flushed. Mac gave her a quick look.

  Scarbach shrugged.

  “And did these councilmen suddenly come into a windfall of creditmarks, by any chance?” Talice’s fists were clenched, and she willed her hands to open.

  “No idea. We didn’t socialize. I have no idea what they spent their money on. Or where it came from.” Scarbach blew a breath. “Look… the only reason these guys were in this in the first place was to make a little money and have some fun. With the girls, I mean.”

  “They frequented these bordellos?” Talice raised her chin. “So city councilmen were fucking the hired help?”

  Both Mac and Scarbach winced. “No need to get nasty,” Scarbach said.

  “What about the women who disappeared? Can you give us names?” Mac pushed Talice’s notebook to Scarbach and handed him the pen. “Just write them down. We can check it out later.”

  “How?” Scarbach shook his head. “Never mind. Yeah, I can do that.” He scrawled words on the page, stopped to think, then wrote again. He closed the notebook and slid it to Talice.

  “Good. This gives us something to look into.” Talice pocketed the notebook.

  “You’ll keep my name out of it, right?” Scarbach dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief.

  Mac nodded. “Our sources won’t require your involvement at all. This is info we would have access to in other ways.”

  Scarbach started to speak, then closed his mouth. “If I get murdered horribly, it’s your fault.”

  “Won’t happen,” said Talice. She rose. “Thank you. This is honestly helpful.”

  Scarbach looked at her for a long moment. “Then I have a favor to ask. Tooley was just discharged.”

  “Your nephew we rescued?” Talice started. “Discharged from what?”

  “Not prison, I hope,” said Mac.

  Scarbach gave her a look. “The Marines. He spent four years in the Corps, two in special ops.”

  Talice sat again. “You’re kidding. Damn, has it been that long?”

  Scarbach laughed. “You’re getting old, Talice. Yes, it’s been four years since you brought him home. And you made an impression on him.”

  “Good for him,” said Mac softly. “What’s the favor?”

  Scarbach paused for a minute, thinking. “He needs a job. And he talked about your team.”

  Talice studied him. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  Scarbach shook his head. “It would mean a lot if you have an opening and would take him in. Otherwise, he might join a… lesser team, and end up like that kid, Cowley. Since Tooley enlisted, I’ve thought about that. And it would mean a lot to me.”

  Talice looked at Mac. Mac looked at Scarbach. “You’re serious.”

  Scarbach nodded. “Yes. Do we have a deal?”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  All Work and No Play (Part One)

  Back to The Basics

  “If words of command are not clear and distinct,

  if orders are not thoroughly understood,

  then the general is to blame.”

  Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”

  Anchor Prime…

  Conversation over Thai lunch was basically nil. Neither Talice nor Mac wanted to spoil the mood with talk about Scarbach, the mission, or bringing in a green member into the team. So they sipped Tom Yum Goong, ate shredded beef with chilies, onions, and basil, and munched on other assorted delicacies in relative quiet. Much drinking of water accompanied the hot-as-hades spices and flavors. Then they grinned through their tears and kept eating.

  At last, they sat back with tea and mango rice. Talice picked at hers. “We’ve got our marching orders now. Time to go back to work. This sitting around eating delicious food and window shopping sucks.”

  Mac guffawed. “Tough life, yeah. Look… taking Tooley in is a small price to pay for Scarbach’s information.”

  “Two years in special-ops. And the kid had a good head on his shoulders. Kept the hostages safe as he could.”

  Mac shuddered. “Is this really possible? Anchor Prime councilmembers selling sex slaves to Nemesis? How deep does this go? How do we find out?”

  “And as soon as we tell Colonel Fawkes, he’ll know exactly where it came from.” Talice pushed away her half-eaten dessert and drained her tea cup.

  “Why tell him? As long as we know the whole story, there’s no reason to let him know our findings.”

  “The Marines may already know.” Talice sat up. “Damn! That’s where Gorg Evans is!”

  “Where? In Fourth Sector?”

  Talice shook her head. “Back in Nemesis, running down the leads. How the hell…”

  “No, not possible.” Mac raised her hoverchair seat a bit and leaned forward. “Too many narrow escapes to be real. Nemesis can’t be that dumb.”

  “Evans is pretty convincing. He’s charmed his way in more than once.”

  Mac thought for a long moment. “Okay, so our plan is what? Capture and turn them over to the Marines, like we talked about? And keep this sex traffic intel until after the job is done?”

  “If Evans is undercover again, you can bet that’s what he’s checking out.”

  “Then how do we keep it from Fawkes? Or better, how do we prove we already had the intel, or do we? Are we better off keeping our mouths shut and just doing the capture?”

  Now Talice considered. “Fucking politics. Yeah, capture and turn them over to the Mar
ines. Otherwise, we know nothing. Still…”

  Mac raised an eyebrow.

  “We could do the old ‘send a letter to myself’ trick.”

  “I have no idea… wait…”

  Talice nodded. “Put all this in a letter… a real, hand-written and signed letter. Send it to ourselves, have it stamped and dated. Hell, send it by certified courier, so there’s an independent record. In case we’re ever asked about it.”

  “Okay. That would work.”

  “So training becomes hostage taking instead of hostage rescuing, right?” Talice nearly grimaced. “Better than killing them for the fucking politicians, though.”

  Mac took another bite of her mango rice, still ruminating. “Let’s think about it a bit before we spring it on the team. Or Fawkes.”

  “I don’t think Fawkes really likes the idea of his favorite merc team doing bad stuff.”

  “Maybe not, Princess, but he still has his orders. It will be interesting to see how the top brass reacts when we say we’ve got a better idea.”

  * * *

  Northland Base, and the Office of Lt. Colonel Harlan Fawkes…

  They waited in the common room once again, this time with trepidation they hadn’t felt in a long time. Once again, the orderly escorted them to Fawkes’s office. Once again, they entered, and he offered tea or coffee. Once again, they faced each other with questions and concerns.

  Talice put it all aside and spoke. “We have a better offer.”

  Fawkes simply watched her for a moment. Then his eyes went to Mac, who nodded. “Okay… let’s hear it.”

  Quickly Talice outlined the “capture the brutes and turn them over to the Marines” plan. Fawkes listened without comment, but Talice could hear the gears turning in his mind. She knew he wasn’t convinced, and would list his reasons when she finished.

  Talice concluded with, “We don’t have any details yet, because we have no real intel. It’s a lot more dangerous for the team, yet gives the Marines options in the end. One of which is to get the politicians off your backs.”

  Fawkes nodded. “As you say, a lot more dangerous. I was on a similar mission, years ago. The orders were to capture two very specific people. We did the job, but at a cost.”

  “We know there are additional risks, Colonel, but as we said before, we’re not assassins,” replied Mac. “This also puts the Marines in a better political light. You can hold them as prisoners of conflict, if not war, or turn them over to the local authorities for prosecution.”

  “The names we’ve discussed would likely be drawn into any criminal proceedings.”

  “Tough,” said Talice. “Maybe they’ll think twice before they ask the Marines to do dirty stuff again. They’re not above the law, Colonel.”

  “Sometimes—”

  “Sometimes they need to be reminded of that!” Talice nearly stood. Again.

  “As I was about to say,” replied Fawkes quietly. “But that’s not our job. The voters will let them know.”

  The office was quiet for a few moments. Fawkes refilled his coffee cup at the sideboard and returned to his desk. He studied Talice’s face as she calmed. “I don’t think we’re in a position to bargain.”

  Talice and Mac exchanged a glance. “Very well. Then I guess we have nothing more to discuss.” Talice started to rise.

  Fawkes held a hand. “What if… we proceed as discussed previously. Things can happen in a mission that are not necessarily planned for. Opportunities arise.”

  “The first casualty of battle is the plan.” Talice grimaced. “How many times have I heard that?”

  “In the meantime, you proceed as you think best regarding training. My suggestion is to prepare for all contingencies.”

  “We always do,” said Mac.

  “Meanwhile, I’ll get as much information as possible on the targets and have it to you in thirty days. Thirty days beyond that and we need to move.”

  Talice considered, then nodded. “We need everything. And we’ve talked it over about Gorg. We assume he’s where the intel is coming from.”

  “If that’s the case,” replied Fawkes, giving nothing away, “we’ll have to decide how to handle his… disappearance.”

  “You mean he won’t be coming out with the others.” Talice’s face was a mask. “So we have to fake his death.”

  “The man needs to retire,” said Mac. “Let him find his peace.”

  Fawkes nodded, as did Talice. “I’ll get to work on this immediately. You get your team in shape. Sixty days. That’s our mark.”

  Talice rose. “I’m glad we had this talk, Colonel. Thank you.”

  * * *

  Bergan-Okafor Training Facility…

  “Reboot Camp”, as Mac called it, resumed. The team was in the gym two days, then on the firing line a day, then off, then in the trenches three days. Then repeat.

  They trained for typical “kill-shot” missions. They trained for infiltration, as they had done on Crius before, this time without Gorg Evans or Aya Yubari. Sometimes Talice led, sometimes Briggs, with Talice and Mac at TacOps. But without Talice in the field, there was a hole in the team. A missing piece. Martin was gone, and if Talice was sitting all comfy and secure with Mac, it wasn’t the same. So she reentered the field.

  They got shot at. Sometimes they got shot, taking rounds of heavy composite, not real AP or HE. Still, they hurt, and sometimes caused real wounds. When the scenario was over, they limped or crawled or strode back to their barracks, or carried their teammates if needed. They’d be damned if they couldn’t do it together. And that, Talice knew, was the key; that they were doing it as a team again. Nothing else mattered. They were coming together again as a team, whole or wounded, or cursing the circumstance. It didn’t matter.

  Hua. Heard. Understood. Acknowledged.

  Nothing else mattered. At all.

  * * *

  It was late. Talice and Mac sat with Briggs and Rory, going over details about contingencies, counter-ops, and what to do when it all fell apart. They considered who might die and what to do in each case.

  They sat at the briefing room table, just the four of them, talking it through. “How many do we plan to take out?” asked Briggs.

  “Or capture?” Rory’s chair was leaned against the wall, his feet on another. “Ten sounds about right.”

  “And that’s basically what we’ve been working with, yes,” said Mac. “Intel should be here soon, and we can adjust the training accordingly.”

  Talice looked around the table. “We plan for capture. Elimination is simpler, so why do anything else?”

  Briggs shrugged. “Either way, once we’re in, we better know.”

  “Agreed,” said Talice.

  “So we capture.” Rory straightened his chair and moved up to the table. “What if the Marines don’t want them?”

  “Then it all gets very interesting,” replied Mac. “We’d better plan for that as well.”

  They kept it up for thirty-five days, then Talice gave them all a three-day pass. Only she and Mac stayed at the training center. And Tooley, who reported late in the cycle.

  Fawkes had not returned, but Babs and her medtech crew were in twice. They gave the team the once-over, then the twice-over. Especially Mac. And Talice. Babs was fairly impressed with Mac’s progress, and relieved that Talice’s system had taken well to the C-12Ultra. And she said so to each of them.

  Talice, Mac, and Tooley sat together in the mess hall, empty except for the kitchen staff doing cleanup, simply talking with the young man, finding out his story.

  “So you served under Captain Adams?” Talice poured tea around, then sat again. “He was my CO. Good guy.”

  “Major now,” replied Tooley. “Promoted a year or so before my discharge. About the time I got my sergeant’s stripes.”

  “You were a squad leader? Good for you. How much of an ass was your lieutenant?” Mac gave Talice a look. Talice stuck out her tongue.

  Tooley shook his head. “No issues with the lieutenant
. He just gave orders and we carried them out.”

  “Why did you leave?” Talice tried to keep her voice even. Here was a kid who’d had all the opportunities she’d had, sans bugs. And left the Corps. She wanted to understand why, knowing in reality, she never would.

  Tooley shrugged. “Uncle offered me a job in the family business. I was a bit bored, to tell you the truth. So I didn’t reup.”

  Talice and Mac exchanged glances at the “family business” comment, saying nothing.

  “You know… this isn’t the Corps. But we try to keep it as close as we can,” said Talice. “And don’t be so anxious to be ‘not bored’. AP rounds hurt like hell, and HE will make a mess of that pretty face.”

  Tooley nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’ve been on four Trooper missions. That’s one reason I wanted to join your team. And honestly, I feel I still owe you a life or two.”

  “We’ve… been through that situation,” said Mac, gently shaking her head at Talice. “Let’s just say between your uncle’s information and our getting shot at regularly, it’s all pretty square now.”

  “The team is out for a couple of days. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the facility and watch the vids from our course work.” Talice chuckled. “Try not to laugh at us old folks as we attempt to get back in shape.”

  Tooley smiled. “Actually, I talked a bit with Jian before he left. He said this might be the team’s last mission. If so, we might put together one of our own. And we can always use advisors.”

  “Before you decide, let’s see how you like this mission,” said Mac. “I know you were in special-ops, and that’s a requirement for our team. But there’s no backup here. It’s just us.”

  “Besides,” added Talice. “you said Scarbach offered you a job. Why are you here, then?”

  Tooley chuckled. “This is the job. He said you might need another good Marine. Anyway, why would I want to sit behind a desk? I could have gone into officers’ training and done that. I like the dirt.”

  “Good man,” said Talice with a grin.

  * * *