Retired

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I thumbed the com plate in the wall to life and switched it to camera mode. The tunnel on the other side was clear. I opened the hidden panel and went in. Once I was a hundred feet into the tunnel, I flipped the switch to set off the grenades that would collapse the tunnel behind me.

I headed towards the end of the tunnel which would let me out in the yard. I had to be as quiet as possible for as long as possible. I needed to kill without thought and avoid being killed in return.

When I got to the end of the tunnel, I checked the com plate. There was no one on this side of the house. I slid the tunnel cover out of the way and climbed up. Then I closed the cover behind me. The longer I could keep them from learning about the tunnels, the better off I would be. I moved to the side of the house and peeked around the edge. There were two men standing by the car. Damn it! They were too far away for throwing spikes. I cursed Robert in my mind again. He just had to make this damn house so big. I slid down the wall, trying to creep past the window next to me. When I was in a squatting position, the wall above me suddenly exploded outward as rail rounds ripped through it. If I had remained standing I would be dead.

I rolled fast past the window, and rail rounds ripped through behind me. I made it to the back corner of the house and stepped around. I drew both rail pistols, then I spun to face the wall and fell back and out. As I was falling, the two men from the car came running around the far corner. I pumped rounds out as fast as I could. Both men were ripped apart as the heavy rail slugs tore through their bodies.

I rolled back around the corner just as rail slugs exploded out of the wall I had been near. My count left two of them inside the house. I was up and running the length of this fucking massive house. I had to get to the far end and in the kitchen door before the two men reached it.

I burst in the kitchen door just as one of the men came in from the hallway. We both opened fire. I felt the slug as it numbed my left shoulder. I am sure he felt my slugs as they ripped into his face and chest.

I dropped behind the counter to check my wound. It was just a scratch. I had gotten lucky and I knew it.

Somewhere in the house was an armed man. I moved to the control panel and turned off all the inside lights. Then I darkened the windows. We were now on equal footing. Dim light conditions and neither of us knew where the other was.

I started to move silently through the house. I listened for any noise that might tell me where he was. We stalked each other for a long time. Then I heard a pounding sound. It was coming from the hidden door to the gun room. Damn that woman! Did she not have any mind at all!

I moved quietly towards the door and waited. There was nothing. No movement -- just the noise of her occasional pounding at the door. I waited and waited. Then I started to move towards the door. When I got in front of the door, I checked the identity plate. It had not been accessed. I turned away from the door and, as I did, the floorboard gave an ever so slight creak.

The rail rounds ripped through the closet door across the hall. I felt the one slam through my left shoulder and into the wall behind me. The second one went through my leg. I fell to the floor and tried to keep from making a noise as I reached for the identity plate. As it clicked, the door to the closet was kicked open and the man walked out with his weapons pointed at my head.

Then the door behind me slid aside and I fell backwards down the stairs. Rail rounds went past me and I heard the scream from the top of the stairs. Lizell had done what I asked. She had fired without hesitating. She kept firing though she emptied the clip and still kept pulling the trigger.

I looked up calmly. "If you are going to keep pulling the trigger, at least change the magazine."

"Drake, are they dead?"

"You just took care of the last one. Now, could you hand me the med kit on the wall, please?

Lizell moved over and grabbed the kit. When she brought it to me I opened it and used the wound seal to plug the holes in my shoulder and leg. Then I gave myself a pain blocker and a shot of antibiotics. As the medication started to work I heard the computer. "Property line alert! Five craft have crossed the property line on a direct path for the house."

"We have to get out of here now. Grab those two bags and follow me."

When we got to the garage door I asked her, "Can you drive a hoverbike?"

"No," she said, as she shook her head.

"Throw the bags in the back of the sport flyer. Get in, sit down, hang on, and shut up."

As she climbed into the car I touched the com panel at the garage door, "Computer?"

"Yes, sir," the computer replied.

"Code, 'Burning blanket'! Set detonation on motion detection inside the house."

"Affirmative."

I opened the rear garage door and climbed into the sport flyer. I moved the power control forward and the car retracted its landing legs. Then it started crawling forward at a walking pace. I carefully manipulated the controls until I was three feet off the ground. Then I accelerated to nine hundred kilometers per hour. I did not want to break the sound barrier yet.

It was only two minutes later when my new mansion exploded in a thunderous fireball. Once that was done, I lifted to about six hundred meters and accelerated to mach three.

"We will be outside the starport in a little over an hour. Try to get some sleep."

"I can't sleep! I killed that man!"

"He would have killed you. You did what you had to do."

My com unit came to life. "Car CVS1457, you are exceeding the low level speed limit. Slow to two hundred kilometers per hour."

I reached under the dashboard and yanked out the identity beacon.

"You can go to prison for that!", Lizell said in a panic.

"If we live, I will get Robert to give me a permission slip."

"Who is Robert?"

"Davinal Robert Stavio-Noir the fifth"

"That is the emperor!"

"I told you I was a Praetorian Guard."

"Oh, God! What have I stumbled into?"

"You stumbled onto a big sign that told any one of a huge number of enemies where I am."

"Who would want to kill you?"

"It could be any one of a number of counts, earls, or dukes, maybe Spinners or even a mob lord."

"Why would you have that many enemies? All you ever did was protect the emperor."

"Think about how many people want him dead, for various reasons. I stopped them from killing him."

The com unit came to life again at that point. "News bulletin: Starjump City is under the control of unknown hostile forces. Avoid entrance into the city."

"Well, that limits who is trying to kill me. It now has to be someone capable of having private army. That drops all the counts and earls out."

"Where are we going to go now?"

"Starjump."

"Why are we going there? The people trying to kill you are in control."

"That makes them easy to find. Now try and get some rest. You are going to have a busy afternoon.

She leaned back and lay her head against the cool glass of the window. As she tried to relax my mind drifted back.