The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Chapter 20: The First Gambit

 "We need to counterattack and we need to do it NOW!" Ravage snarled at the image of Kendrick as it danced on the portable holographic display that had been set up in Mindfire's safe house, somewhere in the heart of the North East section of the sprawling prairie city. "We know that it was Preacher's renegade that instigated the attack on the ESETs at the Sheraton by somehow coercing Malcolm and leFoust before siccing them on us!"

"There's no disputing that fact, Ravage," Kendrick rumbled. "But that doesn't necessitate bringing in a platoon of destroyers. We don't need to level a city to destroy one man."

"NO?! He just walked in, took OVER the brain of one of the Brotherhood's most highly trained and talented hardwires, juiced him with undiscovered talents then wound him up and let him go! Result: the complete annihilation of the Jihad, Brainstorm and Mastermind ESETs, with Quick Poison and the Elementals hit with heavy casualties. Only Mindfire escaped relatively unscathed ..."

"Ah, yes! Now we come to the crux of the matter. Only Mindfire remained unscathed," Kendrick suddenly cut in, leaning forward into the display, his fingers steepled and his broad face implacable. "How fortunate for you! Or, should I say, how curious?"

"Eh? And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ravage growled, frowning at the image wavering in front of him. "Are you trying to suggest something? Like Mindfire being in league with the renegade?"

Kendrick sat back with an inscrutable smile, fingers still steepled.

"The Inner Council seems to be of that opinion, Ravage. I can't say that I disagree with them. It seems horribly convenient that Preacher's renegade's wind-up toy managed to hit everybody except you."

"You thick bastard! We took Malcolm out, for God's sake! It was our training that saved us. Not some covert alliance with the renegade ..."

"But if the renegade can turn one, he can turn others, Ravage," Kendrick answered flatly, the smile gone. "Surely you can see the logic behind that."

Behind the two of them, Agony looked over at Scorpion and mouthed: 'We're fucked!' Nodding in mute agreement, the dark-skinned psionic frowned tightly even as Viper hissed in anger, her eyes like twin lasers cutting into Kendrick's flickering image. Behind her, Hammer stood silently in the shadows, his face carefully blank as Waif trembled beside him, the frail-seeming psionic looked as if he had been hit with a truck. Only Tantalus looked unaffected by the revelation, calmly leafing through the pages of a magazine as the tension mounted all around her.

Ravage's eyes narrowed.

"That translates into what, Kendrick? Are you going to drop an ESET in on us? Or, do we at least rate a destroyer cadre?" he snarled thickly, the bile rising in his throat.

"Worse: you have 24 hours to either report to Toronto for re-programming or burn Avalon, the renegade and any other rebellious elements down to the ground. After that, the cadres come in and Calgary gets leveled. Kendrick out!" With a flicker of light, the image disappeared as Kendrick severed the connection from the other end.

"Re-programming? Fuckin' brain toasting, they mean!" Agony snorted, looking up at Ravage. "Some choice, boss. Either we go against a nation that has us overmatched with just one man, or we turn ourselves in to be systematically burned out and mind wiped! And that, in itself, ain't all that fun. I know, cuz I helped do a couple!"

But, before the lean Mindfire commander could even move, Viper stood, quickly followed by Scorpion.

"Where do you think you two are going?" Ravage asked tiredly, suddenly exhausted as he mentally watched his life and his career vaporize right in front of his eyes.