The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Chapter 43 : Anatomy of a Storm Wolf

Mordecai paused thoughtfully as he closed the door to his small apartment behind him. Already throwing their jackets onto his small sofa, Duffy and Dee both looked back at him over their shoulders when they noticed that he stopped just inside the door.

"Problem, old bean?" Duffy asked upon seeing the thoughtful look on the big man's face. "Surely you're not rehashing that little showdown against the Avalonians. Your diplomacy won the day. What else is there?"

The big man favored the old Brit with a look then smiled thinly.

"It's not quite over, Duffy," he said in a quiet voice.

"What?" Dee frowned as she looked from Mordecai, to Duffy then back at the big man in black. "It's not over? I dunno, man. It looked pretty much over from my angle. The independent nations are clearing their people off the street, the Avalonians aren't going to interfere, and Lash and his vampires are ready to rock and ruin. Sounds over to me."

If anything, Mordecai's thin smile broadened slightly at that. Then the smile was gone.

"Paladin, link me to Lash's comm unit," he tightly directed.

"Link established, Mordecai," the A.I. confirmed from its place in an inner pocket.

"Lash, it's Mordecai. Are you reading me?"

"Five by five, my friend," the Qos Viran commander's distinctive voice replied. "How do we stand?"

"The clock has been started with our warning to the independent nations to clear the streets. You have 5 hours, 52 minutes to the initiation of your suppression sweep. I am sending you the coordinates to all munitions being cached throughout the city by Samantha and Lisa in the next hour. Between them and your present munitions levels, you should have sufficient for your hunt."

"Copy that, Mordecai," Lash replied. "I have received the coordinates. We are on the clock. T-minus 5 hours and 51 minutes by my mark. Mark."

"Acknowledged. Good hunting."

"Blood will run in rivers. Lash out."

Nodding in satisfaction that the plan was in motion, Mordecai looked over at Dee and Duffy just as Raven popped into view with an open site-to-site telehop.

"Nice of you to join us, Raven. Is our back trail clean?"

The Native American hardwire nodded.

"Swept and diffused," she added. "No enemy wirehead will be able to track us back to this location." She paused to slip her own A.I. out of a pocket. "Haida, status on Brotherhood jump ins."

"They are remaining consistent at one per every five minute period, Raven," a quiet male voice replied. "I would recommend a suppression field to prevent additional combatants from entering the field."

Raven looked over at Mordecai, who subtly shook his head.

"Noted, Haida. Stand by," she said before slipping the small A.I. back out of sight.

"Um, that suppression field thing sounds like a good idea to me," Dee said with a frown. "Wouldn't that prevent Brotherhood reinforcements from jumping in once Lash and his vamps start cutting them out?"

"While that'll be true once the Qos Viran begin their purge, we want to draw as many Brotherhood assets as possible into the city prior to take out as many as we can," Jeriko answered in Mordecai's place, the newly minted Storm Wolf having already guessed the man in black's intention. "We want to burn them hard enough that they'll think twice about sending in reinforcements before December."