Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3) (27 page)

“You aren’t seriously…”

“Look, all I’m saying is that I don’t have the soldiers available to play escort. If she’s so concerned about getting this proof, then she can get it herself.”

“Even if it means the lives of every man, woman, and child in this colony?” Danica gave a smug smile, hoping it gave him the impression she was toying with him. His face made it apparent that he did not approve.

He waited for a brief moment. When he spoke again, his voice was smooth and controlled. “Anna is doing nothing more than trying to scare us back to Earth. We ain’t going. End of discussion.”

Walking briskly across the square in front of the main hall, Anna rehearsed in her mind how she would breach the subject of Catherine’s suspicions of infidelity
with Jason. Her eyes gazed at the ground before her as she moved alongside the newly-created fountain in the middle of the clearing. The bubbling from the top of the concrete tower caressed her ears, while misty droplets of water splashed over the half-meter high outer wall onto the tanned skin of her leg as she passed.

Her eye caught a reflection in the dirt just ahead. She paused, considering what looked like a silver coin. As she crouched down to pick it up and examine it, something whistled past her and impacted hard in the ground between her and the main hall’s front steps, kicking up a cloud of dust when it hit. Whipping her head toward the disturbance, she wondered what could have caused it. She turned her head around to look in the direction from which it came, when she spotted a glint of light from the roof of the nearest house, a glint that seemed out of place with the rest of the structure. Did it move?

Instincts kicked in, and she dropped prone to the ground an instant before something flew past again. She reckoned it must have passed through the space her head had occupied a split second earlier. Somebody was shooting at her!

Using the fountain as cover, she wormed her way through the dirt and braced herself against the warm concrete, her heart racing as she moved. She tore her pistol from her tool belt and gripped it. Glancing at the new dust cloud, which quickly dissipated, she was glad she stooped when she had, else she would probably have been dead by now.

A couple of seconds passed in silence. Anna’s mind raced, trying to determine what to do. She had been attacked before, but she had always known who was doing it and why. Having so many unknowns scared her. She did not instantly know what to do. She risked being shot if she raised her head to assess the situation. She had no real cover to sneak away to, either. She could try to call for help. Nobody was outside, so yelling wouldn’t do any good. She could try the communicator.

As she reached for the communicator button on her wristcomp, a strong, steady thumping drummed loudly on the other side of the wall of the fountain, accompanied by water splashing over the side onto her and the ground around her. It wasn’t until a few more of the mysterious shots zipped over the edge of the fountain and into the dirt a few meters away that she realized what was going on. Her unknown assailant was firing with his weapon on full-auto. Her breath came in quick pants, timed with her speeding heart. She was pinned down, trapped against the fountain. And, it was her sole protection.

As quickly as it began, the rapid drumming stopped. Another second passed in silence. Maybe she had a chance to save herself. Did she dare lift her head?

Anna peeked over the fountain wall. Her breath caught in her throat when she noticed that a fair portion of the stone wall had been blasted away. Squinting from the unrelenting glare reflected off the buildings in her peripheral vision, she located a man with a long rifle in hand
crouched near the apex of the closest house. Through the blinding light in her eyes, he appeared to be reloading a long clip into the weapon. She hastily raised her pistol over the crumbling wall, fired two shots at him, and dropped back to the ground without confirming if her shots were true. Her answer came seconds later when the pounding started again.

Not wasting any time, Anna toggled her communicator. “This is Anna Foster! I’m being attacked in the courtyard outside the main hall! Send help!”

A disinterested male voice replied through the channel. “Anna, Haven Control. Please repeat your request.”

Disbelief descended upon Anna. “
Look out your fucking window!
”

A brief moment passed, with the only sound reaching her ears being the continual blasts chipping away at her only form of protection.

Suddenly, her communicator exploded with chatter.

“All military units, Haven Control. Code Sierra November One in the town square. Repeat. Code Sierra November One in the town square.”

“Haven Control, Team Charlie. ETA: two minutes.”

“Haven Control, Team Alpha. ETA: five minutes.”

“Haven Control, McClaskey. Confirm Sierra November One.”

“Haven Control, Team Echo. ETA: three minutes.”

“McClaskey, Haven Control. Sierra November One confirmed. Location: approximately fifty meters east of HQ on top of building Alpha Eight. Subject is armed and dangerous.”

“Haven Control, Team Foxtrot. ETA: seven minutes.”

“Haven Control, McClaskey. Any civilians present?”

“McClaskey, Haven Control. One civilian present, Anna Foster.”

“Foster? God, damn it!”

The rapid firing ceased. Thinking the sniper may be reloading again, Anna rose up while holding her breath, her firearm at the ready. As soon as her vision passed over the top of the wall, another shot hit the stone just centimeters from her head, spraying dust and rock in her face. “Shit!” She dropped to the ground again, her breathing rapid. “Where are those troops?”

As if on cue, she heard shots being fired from the far corner of the administration building. Daring a quick glance, she could not see who was firing, but the attack was directed at the sniper on the roof, who dropped back to the opposite side of the rooftop. She joined in, releasing two blasts from her pistol at the stranger before maneuvering to use more of the fountain’s central spire for cover.

A sharp crack ripped through the air. Anna saw a tiny cloud erupt from the corner of the building out of the corner of her eye. She fired again, but her shot impacted the metal roof plating. As she searched for him, she caught movement and ducked behind the wall just as another shot cut through the air near her former position.

On hitting the dirt, her communicator broadcast another message, reminding her that she had left the channel open. “Haven Control, Team Bravo. Moving into position.”

“Foster, McClaskey. Get off this channel! I can hear your communicator from here.” She shut off the communicator half a second later, grumbling under her breath as she did.

Two more shots slammed into the fountain, showering her with debris. Anna pressed as close to the stone wall as possible while covering her head. She hoped the soldiers would hurry up and put the sniper down. Three more shots from the corner of the main hall penetrated the silence, followed by a few shots from further away.

Several seconds passed in silence, with only the gentle breeze playing by her ears. Footsteps close by sent a chill up her spine. Had the sniper got away and was now coming for her? If she was going to go down, she would not do it without a fight. Mustering every scrap of courage, she rolled onto her back and aimed her pistol at the approaching man.

Colonel McClaskey, carrying a heavy pistol, stopped and stared at her for a brief second. With a face demonstrating impatience, one side of his mouth frowned. “Go take a shower, Foster. Lying in the dust isn’t very ladylike.”

Anna gave him a withering look before rising to her feet and dusting herself off. The colonel hustled toward the sniper’s location, holstering his sidearm as he moved. Returning her pistol to its place on her belt, she followed, making sure she stayed several paces behind him.

Turning the corner of Alpha Eight, she found McClaskey and four other troopers surrounding a body lying prone in the grass. Dressed in an unmarked gray coverall, his close-cropped, black hair and sharp Asian features implied that he was a native of either the Far East of Earth or the southern continent of New Avalon. A long rifle lay not more than a meter from the man’s head.

Kicking the sniper’s lifeless foot, the colonel frowned at the corpse. “Who was this asshole?”

One of the soldiers answered, his words clipped. “Identity scan indicates his name is Feng Cheung, sir. He came in on the recent flight from Earth. Currently lives at Epsilon Fourteen.”

“Is he still alive?”

“No, sir.”

“Who took him out?”

“None of us, sir. He took his own life.”

“He took…” The colonel’s words were heavily laced with disbelief. “Okay, return to your patrols.”

The soldiers left the area after retrieving the weapon, picking up the pace after reaching the main path. As McClaskey turned and spotted Anna, he narrowed his eyes while activating his earpiece communicator. “Haven Control, McClaskey. Stand down Code Sierra November One. Situation resolved.” He paused while he listened. “Armstrong, McClaskey. She’s standing in front of me, dirtier than a hog in a mudbath… Yes, she’s fine… I understand. McClaskey, out.”

The leader pressed the button on his earpiece again and stared at Anna. She watched his face harden as his attention focused solely on her. “Let’s get one thing straight. You are not a member of this colony. I only tolerate your presence because of the intel you are providing about this moon. Until such time when you’re done with that, I have to protect you. After that, you’re on your own.”

Fuming from his words, Anna snorted and straightened her back. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear with you, colonel. I have spent the last ten years of my life trapped on this moon. I’ve handled wild beasts driven by hunger, bloodthirsty birds, and pirates, all by myself. I can certainly handle the likes of you. You’d better hope you don’t get on my bad side.”

A look of mild curiosity and a hint of a smile formed on McClaskey’s face. “Is that a threat, Foster? I’d like to see you try.”

“Name the time and place.”

He chuckled through his mouth, sporting a full smile, as two troops arrived with a stretcher and loaded the body onto it. “Not now. I have important things to do.” He walked past her, forcefully bumping his shoulder into hers as he did so. She glared at his back while he retreated to the main hall, envisioning a well-placed shot through his heart. After the medical team left with the body, she decided to conduct some research on her own.

Several minutes later, she reached the dwelling in the colony’s residential area labeled Epsilon Fourteen. Sneaking along the side of the prefabricated house, she stopped on reaching the front and peeked around the corner. With nobody present, she moved to the front door, pulled out her hand scanner and the silver bullet-shaped tool she had found while on the mining station. Dialing the tool to the desired setting, she watched the results as she projected an invisible beam of energy at the keypad embedded in the wall next to the door. While the scan commenced, she looked around her to make sure the coast was still clear. A code appeared on the small screen. Smiling, she put her tools away, typed in the code, and entered the house.

Anna was surprised at how clean her would-be killer kept his home. The place appeared to be virtually spotless, with everything neatly arranged in their proper places. Even the bed was perfectly made.

The one object that appeared out of place from the other dwellings was a statuette on the metal dresser in the one-person bedroom. The dark-blue artwork looked like an abstract piece with a broad, fringed base that tapered to its apex pointing skyward. Upon closer examination, Anna found two indentations next to each other near the base. Part of Anna’s mind screamed at her to not touch them, saying that she would regret it. But, another encouraged her to do so, indicating that she would not find any answers unless she followed through. Considering she had found nothing else in the house to indicate who Feng Cheung was or why he had attacked her, she touched the notches.

A light deep within the statuette glowed near the base of the spire, casting the desk and the wall behind it in a bright shade of blue. A couple of seconds later, a holographic keyboard projected between her and the spire, and a monitor appeared directly above the spire’s peak. Several icons and smaller windows materialized. The first one she noticed was a green and white logo floating inside a black cube. “NR Suppliers.” Her whisper was barely audible, even to her ears. “They’ve finally found me.”

Tapping another window, Anna searched through Cheung’s message archive, surprised to find that several messages were sent over the last week. “Wouldn’t he have been in mid-jump during that time? How did he communicate with Earth?” Further examination of the messages’ metadata revealed that they were sent within the local network. “The local network? Then, that means…oh, shit.”

Cheung had a partner somewhere in the colony. Anna deactivated the hidden computer and took one hasty step toward the door. She froze when she heard somebody standing outside muttering something unintelligible. Panic set in, and she frantically searched for a way out of the house. All of the windows and vents were too small. She had no choice but to hide. But, where? As her search continued, the beeps from somebody entering the door’s passcode reached her ears.

* * * * *

Seconds later, the front door opened. A middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a burgundy leather jacket, a white dress shirt, and khaki pants entered the house and softly closed the door behind him. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, black cube that easily rested in the palm of his hand. Taking a quick look at it before grasping it firmly, the man casually walked into the bedroom and to the secret computer system. He set the cube on the desk next to it and reached for the twin indentations. He paused, feeling the heat from the base of the spire, and retracted his hand a few centimeters as he weighed the situation. After a few seconds, he activated the spire and, when the monitor appeared, touched the top of the cube. As the monitor indicated the data transfer had begun, the man reached into his jacket and drew a small pistol. He turned to begin his search but met the wrong end of Anna’s pistol aimed right at his nose.