The Deaths of Tao Read online

  There is no shame in losing a battle. All the great leaders in history had to lose before they became great.

  “I had the numbers! The higher ground! The advantage! What could I have possibly done different?”

  You were outmaneuvered. By the leader of the entire Prophus military, no less. Stephen has a brilliant tactical mind. His Quasing, Camr, was one of the first to bring us together. He is one the Genjix still respect, even if he is a betrayer.

  An unclear and washed-out image of a cave popped into Enzo’s mind. There were strange and primitive trees just outside the cave entrance. Trees that Enzo had never seen before and knew no longer existed. Then, slowly, a shadow appeared to block out the sun, and in stepped the largest primate he had ever seen. It was three meters tall and seemed to take up the entire entrance. Enzo reared back, but the primate grabbed his foot. And then he felt a shock of recognition. Enzo snapped back to reality and found himself in the infirmary again with a slight headache. That had been a long memory. He touched the bottom of his nose and felt blood.

  Camr was the will that built the Umayyad Caliphate and kept it together for centuries. His tactics with the Rashidun Cavalry changed the way war was waged during that time period. He later revolutionized desert warfare in a way that was relevant until the twentieth century.

  Enzo flinched as the doctor closed a small wound with stitches. He bit back the urge to strike the doctor for his carelessness. “Zoras, telling me Camr’s greatness is not making me feel that my failure is any less than it is.”

  The intent is not to spare your emotions. You were bested by the better human today. Tomorrow, you will not make that same mistake.

  A messenger ran into the infirmary and bowed. “Father, there is an urgent communique from the States.”

  Growling and grunting in pain at the same time, Enzo swatted the doctor aside and limped toward the war room. It was the longest forty-meter walk of his life. Still, Enzo knew that everyone he passed was watching him, their failed leader barely able to put one foot in front of the other. He seethed even more. It didn’t matter that Stephen was their Field Marshal or that Camr was one of the greatest Quasing. When Enzo got his hands around his neck, he would squeeze the life out of him. He reached the war room not a moment too soon and collapsed onto the chair.

  “What is it?” he demanded.

  “Message from operations in DC,” the communications officer said. He pushed a button on the comm.

  “Father,” Simon’s voice came over the speaker. “I have grave news. The Prophus have successfully upheld the sanctions. I’m working on an alternative. The political process here is encumbered and once legislation is approved, it will take time to unravel it.”

  “That is unacceptable.” Enzo slammed his fist so hard onto the table that he cracked it. “What are your options to speed up the process?”

  “None, Father,” Simon apologized. “The Prophus opposing this has been skillful. Please be patient. I can defeat–”

  “I am out of patience,” Enzo snapped. “ProGenesis is near completion. I will not allow delays to Phase III. Execute Operation Eagle Purity. Call in additional support to the eastern seaboard and take out all the Prophus at the capital!”

  Enzo! You are being rash! The Council has not approved this.

  “I am being a decisive leader. Victory is worth the risk, Zoras. The price of America and the Phase III are worth the risk.”

  Hear me now. If the battle here at this camp falters and we lose our test subjects before ProGenesis is completed, your standing on the Council will be lost. However, if Operation Eagle Purity fails, I will have no choice but to order a forceful transition and your life is forfeit. It will be the only way to appease the Council for your failure. Do I make myself clear?

  It took a few seconds for Zoras’ words to sink in. Finally, Enzo’s lips curled into a smile and he chuckled. “Your will, Zoras. So be it. I accept the risk.”

  “Simon,” he said aloud. “Proceed with Operation Eagle Purity. How long will it take to completely resuscitate the operation?”

  “A day, maybe two, but Father,” Simon stammered. “The fallout–”

  “Deal with the fallout later. That’s what our PR teams are for.” Enzo snapped. “No more games with these damn Prophus. We are the ones in power. We do not need to play by their rules. We play by ours! Handle it, Simon. Don’t fail me again. If you do, Simon, Biall’s standing will fall and your life will be sacrificed for a worthier vessel.”

  Enzo cut Simon off before he could respond. The entire room was quiet. What Enzo had commanded was the most brazen attack in the history of their war. If it was successful, America would be theirs and it would be Enzo who would have handed one of the superpowers to the Council on a silver platter. They would have no choice then but to elevate him to the Council. If it failed, well, he was well aware of what lay in store for him.

  The choice is made. Now live with the consequences.

  “Gladly, Holy One, The die has been cast. Greatness cannot be achieved without risk. I have been studying this war all my life. The time has long been ripe to land the killing blow, but the Council is too full of tired old men. I will show them what true leadership means and will either take the Genjix to new heights or die. This I accept.”

  THIRTY-FIVE

  LOSING OPTIONS

  After the Second World War, I moved from host to host until I inhabited a young Prophus agent named Dania Hunter. She operated in the central and eastern portions of the United States, which were hotly contested regions of our war. During those years, the Prophus were hard-pressed. We suffered grave defeats and lost many friends.

  She met an agent named Jordan Lyte while working on the General Dozier kidnapping task force and the two fell in love. They married the next year, and a few years later, had a daughter named Sonya. Then, during the crisis known as the Iran-Contra Affair, Jordan was killed trying to extract six Prophus agents from newly Genjix-controlled Iran.

  Baji

  It had taken her all night to convince Wilks not to have her arrested, but she finally got her point across to him about the Quasing without naming them. As far as he was concerned, she was part of the Templars or some secret foreign government agency. With Baji’s help and a mountain of historical data, she was able to draw the bigger picture for him. Wilks wasn’t completely sold, but for now, he was content to let her put all her cards on the table and see what happened. Then he’d decide if he needed to haul her in for treason.

  You would definitely have to kill him then.

  “I prefer to not kill United States senators if I don’t have to.”

  Wilks had thrown his weight behind the sanctions, and they flew straight through committee. Tomorrow was the day all of Jill’s wheeling and dealing would go on the Senate floor, and she had been working non-stop to keep her complex plan in place. While Tammy and the other aides had long since called it a day, she had no intention of sleeping until all the votes were counted. She rubbed her eyes and tried to focus on the forty-page briefing she was compiling for him.

  Now she just had to wait until the morning session to see if the Genjix political arm could respond. Who knew how the landscape might change tomorrow. The Genjix had the money and influence to override the Prophus if they had time to unravel her secret deals, but Jill had cleverly set up this vote to be right before the holiday break, giving the Genjix too little time to get all their ducks in a row.

  And even if they did somehow scrounge up the votes to bring the sanction down, she now knew enough about their operations to single out Punai Corporation and what they were refining and exporting. In every scenario, the Prophus had won, or so she hoped. Simon had left her a particularly vile voicemail threatening everything from her bodily person to the grandchildren she didn’t have.

  Jill had been up for nearly twenty hours, and she was fighting a losing battle against her drooping eyelids. She stood up and stretched, poured two cups of coffee, and walked into Wilks’ office. There wer
e a lot to work out still. Simon could come at them from several angles, so they had to be ready to fend him off.

  “Cite the limited refinement tonnage and their recent import of heavy water,” she stressed.

  Wilks furrowed his brow. “You’re not implying there’s any nuclear refining going on, are you?”

  “Please don’t say that on the floor, Senator. We want to inject doubt, but we can’t make that sort of accusation without proof.”

  “That’s because we have none,” he snapped. Jill checked the time. Wilks was getting more and more irritable the later it got. He wasn’t a young buck anymore.

  “Maybe we should continue this in the morning,” she sighed. “There’s just a few main–”

  There was a knock on his office door. Jill froze. Looking puzzled, Wilks was going to call out to whoever it was when she signaled him to be quiet. She distinctly remembered hearing Tammy locking the front door when she left. Motioning for him to remain quiet, Jill picked up one of Wilks’ heavy lifetime achievement awards and crept to the side of the door. Then she gave Wilks a nod.

  Looking more confused than worried, Wilks said in a loud voice, “Come in.”

  Simon, wearing a trench coat and a very unfashionable set of sunglasses, walked in. “Senator Wilks.”

  “Simon?” Wilks began. “Why are you wearing sunglasses at night?”

  Night vision goggles! An attack!

  Before Jill could act, Simon drew a pistol and shot Wilks, knocking him off his chair. She leaped from the corner and blindsided Simon, slamming the large metal award against his face, followed by a knee to the groin.

  Get Wilks out of here!

  Simon groaned as she walked over him to check on Wilks. She eyed his smug face and brought her fist down on it, feeling a satisfying crunch as the bridge of his nose suddenly made a sharp detour on the way up to his forehead. He passed out.

  “That’s for threatening my kid.” She kicked him in the gut for good measure and ran behind the desk. She found Wilks lying on the ground, clutching his left shoulder. He had ducked just enough for the bullet to miss his heart.

  This was a bold attack. Simon must have backup.

  “Can you stand?” she asked. He grimaced as she helped him up. “We need to get out of here,” she said.

  Wilks picked up the phone and punched a few buttons. A second later, he dropped the receiver. “Phone’s dead,” he said, gritting his teeth. “Is this the other team you’ve been telling me about?”

  She nodded.

  There is bound to be a secondary unit.

  “Baji, what are they doing here? We’re in the Senate building for God’s sakes.”

  Attempting to assassinate a sitting senator basically implies they couldn’t care less about that. The front door and back will be watched. Exit through the side of the building.

  “There aren’t any doors at the side.”

  Her bangle beeped and Marco’s voice came on. “Jill, is everything alright?”

  She raised it to her mouth. “We just had an assassination attempt on the senator. He’s alive but injured. We need to get out of here.”

  “It’s worse than you think,” Marco replied. “I just received reports of this occurring all over the capital. All our agents are under attack. We’ve lost forty so far.”

  She gasped. Forty operatives in the government. Dead in an instant. How could this be?

  It is a cleansing. The last occurred during the Spanish Inquisition. The Genjix have decided that removing us from power is worth the fallout.

  “I’m coming for you, but it’s chaos on the streets. There are Penetra vans everywhere.” Marco said. “For now, get out of the beltway or get underground. I’ll find you.”

  She turned to the fallen senator. “Listen carefully, James,” she whispered. “There’s a coup going on. The enemy is trying to wipe us out in order to control the government. We need to get you to safety. Keep quiet and follow closely.”

  He nodded and grimaced as they left his office. She picked up Simon’s pistol and checked the clip. Wilks’ eyes widened in surprise when he saw her handling the pistol like a trained expert.

  “This is crazy,” he whispered.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” she muttered.

  Get the night vision goggles.

  Jill picked up the pair of night vision goggles and turned them over in her hand. From afar, a person wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from regular sunglasses, but that seemed kind of silly. Wouldn’t a person attract more attention for wearing sunglasses at night? Someone didn’t think this through very well.

  Worry about fashion later. Move!

  Jill put the goggles on and led Wilks out the door. Together, they left his office and sped down the hallway, passed the elevator banks on their way toward the center of the building. She risked a glance through the atrium window and saw half a dozen dark figures on the ground level wearing the same goggles.

  She grabbed Wilks by his good shoulder and dragged him around the corner to the stairwell leading to the lower levels. She motioned for him to hide in a cubicle while she scouted the stairs. She found two Genjix guarding the exit on the ground floor.

  Kevlar. One with a combat shotgun. The other with an assault rifle.

  “Take them out?”

  Too risky. Taking out two fully armed agents in armor will be difficult. It will also draw attention. Not to mention you are wearing a pencil skirt.

  Jill swore under her breath. “Second floor plunge it is. Sometimes, I hate this job.”

  I thought you hated being an attorney.

  “I hate that too.”

  The problem is not the job. You just need a better attitude.

  “Shut up.”

  See.

  Jill went back to the second floor and led Wilks toward the southwest end of the building where it joined with the Dickson Senate Building. They moved slowly, hiding behind cover and in cubicles wherever possible. There was a small garden with several large trees on Constitution Avenue nestled between the two buildings where Wilks liked to smoke when he didn’t want anyone to see. With luck, they could climb down a tree or at the very least jump onto a nice bed of flowers to soften the fall. As luck would have it, there was another guard near the entrance to that section of the building. Wilks was about to call out to the guard when she covered his mouth with her hand.

  “We’re not sure if he’s compromised,” she whispered. Then she motioned for him to stay still. She stayed low to the ground and crept forward toward the guard.

  “He’s wearing a federal uniform. Maybe he’s a good guy.”

  I am sure the Genjix have several federal uniforms for Halloween. You cannot risk it.

  “I don’t see a rifle or Kevlar. I think he’s a regular.”

  Do not risk it. If he is a regular guard, the best thing you can do is put him down non-lethally. He would not stand a chance against Genjix squads.

  Jill cursed under her breath as she inched closer. The closer she got, the more she was sure he wasn’t the enemy. For one thing, he looked relaxed and was completely oblivious to his surroundings. If he were a Genjix agent masquerading as a bored guard, he should be nominated for an Emmy.

  She crept up to the cubicle adjacent him and waited. And waited. And waited some more. The guy was so lazy he kept staring straight ahead, at one point yawning and leaning against the wall. Finally, feeling a sense of urgency, she picked up a stapler on the desk, stood up, and chucked it at him. It clipped him on the ear. Jill leaped out of the cubicle, swept his legs, and choked him out.

  Well, that was not elegant.

  “No style points there, but it did the trick.”

  Jill went back to retrieve Wilks, and they continued to the next room. By now, his shoulder was pouring blood, leaving a trail for anyone to find. They had to get out of there fast. They reached the corner of the building with the small garden. She looked out the window. It was a decent drop, but not more than what she had trained for with Marco. Sh
e took aim and put three slugs into the window, shattering the glass. She dragged Wilks to the ledge, apologized quickly, and pushed him out. Then she leaped out of the second floor window and landed on a bed of tulips, rolling as she was trained into a kneeling position with pistol drawn.

  I see the training is paying off.

  “Didn’t stick the landing, but I give that a six.”

  Hearing the clatter of footsteps approaching from the east, she grabbed Wilks by the collar and dragged him westward between the building and a row of bushes. He was in sorry shape by this time. The fall might have broken his leg. She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and dragged him down Constitution Avenue. There was a flash and the pop of gunfire. Jill threw herself to the ground and returned fire. A squad of Genjix appeared across the street and closed in. There must be a Penetra van nearby. She was a sitting duck. Then she saw one of the Genjix agents approach with a small round object in his hand.

  Flash incendiary. Hold until range. Open fire during throwing motion.

  She opened fire right when he was about to toss it at her, taking him out at the leg. A moment later, there was a blinding flash and then another hail of bullets ripped through the air right above them.

  “You alright, James?” she whispered.

  “Ain’t the first time I’ve been shot at,” he replied.

  The Genjix closed in. By her count, there must have been seven or so. Far too many to deal with. At best, she could take out two before they pinpointed her location. Still, two was better than none. Jill tensed and waited for them to get in range. Thirty meters. Twenty-five. Just as they were within twenty meters, two of the Genjix suddenly dropped. The squad turned to engage the new threat. Jill got up and fired as well. The five remaining Genjix agents didn’t stand a chance in the crossfire. A new figure sprinted toward her from her left. She dropped to one knee and aimed.

  Marco held out his hands. “Whoa, whoa, it’s me. We have to move. Bogies converging on our position. The entire beltway is under Penetra surveillance.” He looked down at Wilks. “Hello, James, need a hand?”