Codename: Night Witch (5 page)

"Stop! I don't need the contract terms. It's the lessee you've got wrong." The screen went abruptly blank and Sigrid wondered if she'd upset the machine. "No, wait! Computer, display leasing contract. Bring it back up!"

The screen came alive again and the contract flashed on the monitor. It was a standard contract, full of pages of bland legalese obviously designed to lull the lessor into a stupor. It was a proposal mostly. But there, right on the first page, was everything she needed to see.

TO: CHEUNG-YOSHIDA MULTI-PLANETARY

FROM: KIMURA CORPORATION

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR TRANSFER OF LIFE CONTRACT OF ONE SIGRID NOVAK. TERMS ACCEPTABLE. CONTRACT APPROVED. SIGNED, LADY KIMURA HITOMI. WITNESSED, KALI SATI, SPECIAL COUNCIL ENVOY, FEDERATION OF INCORPORATED ENTERPRISES.

Sigrid stared at it with her mouth hanging open. This—it had to be a mistake. Her mistress would never abandon her. She could never sell her. She wouldn't!

Slowly, Sigrid sat back.

Or would she?

Sigrid was never one to believe in coincidences. One, perhaps. Two, rarely, but three? Never. And she was staring at three big ones right now.

No Council.
That was what the orderly had said to her. He'd said they were dead. Assassinated. And now Sigrid found herself waking in some strange place and with a fresh set of battle scars, though she had no idea how she'd come to acquire them or how she'd even come to be here.

And now this. Her life contract—sold to rival interests. None of it made sense. But there was Hitomi's signature signed on
that
contract, staring her right in the face.

Sigrid sat motionless. There had to be an explanation.
Some reason!
There was something she was missing, and she had to know what that was.

Her eyes and nose had become wet, and she wiped them dry with the back of her fist.

"Computer, identify: Project Andraste."

PROJECT ANDRASTE: ACCELERATED HUMAN EVOLUTION THROUGH TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION: A PROPOSAL FROM THE KIMURA CORPORATION TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE AND FINANCE, 2298.

"Identify: Purpose of Project Andraste."

PROJECT ANDRASTE: CIRCUMVENTION OF REGIME CHANGE.

"Explain."

IN 2294, CTF COMMISSIONS STUDY OF LONG-TERM VIABILITY OF FEDERATION OF INCORPORATED ENTERPRISES. DATA ANALYTICS FORECAST INEVITABLE OVERTHROW OF COUNCIL AND CORPORATOCRACY BY 2380. ANALYTICS INDICATE ONLY ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION: GENOCIDE OF INDENTURED POPULATION.

Genocide?

SEEKING TO AVOID A MASS SLAUGHTER, THE KIMURA CORPORATION PROPOSES A RADICAL NEW APPROACH TO GENETIC REENGINEERING WITH THE SOLE PURPOSE OF—

The screen went instantly dark.

"No!"

Sigrid leapt up and grabbed the terminal, nearly wrenching it free of its housing. "Computer, recall information. Bring that back. Computer!"

Her only answer came in the form of the yellow lights that flashed above her head and the alarm klaxons that sounded, ringing through the corridor.

SEARCH STRING FORBIDDEN. QUERY FORBIDDEN. SEARCH REQUEST FORWARDED TO SECURITY CENTRAL. PLEASE REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE. DEPARTURE FROM SECURITY STATION FORBIDDEN. ASSISTANCE IS ON ITS WAY.

Remain where I…? Blast that!

With the alarms blaring about her, the security door began to swing quickly shut. Sigrid slipped through before it could close. The corridor beyond ended at a stairwell leading up. She ran up the steps, leaping four and five at a time. She reached the outer door, crashing through it with enough force to tear the steel door from its hinges.

Staggering through the opening, she found herself in a small clearing surrounded by tall stands of snow-covered pines. A single light sat atop a tall metal post, casting a pale yellow glow around her. Snow fell heavily around her in thick white flakes that fell on her hair and arms and shoulders.

The building behind her was much smaller than she expected, not much more than a plasteel shack, and already half buried in the snow. It looked as though someone had simply dropped it here, deep within these woods, and forgotten about it. Of course, that was by design. The shack was only camouflage for the bulk of the much larger research facility underground.

Someone had gone to tremendous trouble to hide it—and her. More troubling was the realization that they had gone to greater lengths to lie to her.

That contract was a fake. It had to be. Her mistress would never betray her like this. Hitomi would never leave her to die here. She wouldn't.

Standing there with her bare feet planted deep in the snow, it wasn't the winter chill that gripped her spine. Her life contract wasn't the only thing she'd spied on that security monitor. Before the alarms, before the monitor switched itself off, Sigrid had seen one very important thing. Today's date: June 18, 2354.

2354…

Shaking uncontrollably, trembling, Sigrid fell to her knees. Balling her hands into fists, she screamed. She didn't care who heard. Let them hear. Let them all hear! And let them come. She'd kill them all.

2354!
Six full years after Bellatrix. Six years…

And she didn't remember any of it. They hadn't just stolen her memories—they'd stolen her life!

With her face held in her hands, Sigrid wept, but only for a moment. Her tears were an indulgence she could ill afford. She was in danger here. She sensed them coming for her even now.

Doubled over on her hands and knees, she fought to control her breathing. She had to regain her focus. If she didn't, she would never escape this place alive. It was only her training that saved her then, reminding her of her duty to herself and spurring her into action. There would be time for tears later. Now, she had to act. She had to survive.

Doing the only thing she could, Sigrid rose from her knees and ran.

CHAPTER THREE
Escape

A road led out and away from the shack, winding its way through the trees. It looked freshly plowed and well traveled. Too well traveled. Sigrid ignored it, throwing herself headlong into the snow-covered woods. Brambles and branches lashed at her bare legs and arms. For each branch she pushed out of her way, three more snapped back at her face and chest.

Sigrid had been trained since childhood for moments exactly like this. She was made to survive. But all her training, all the shouted words of her instructors, abandoned her. She couldn't focus on anything, she couldn't concentrate, and it was going to get her killed.

Six years.

It was all she could think about. She couldn't get it out of her head. Where were her friends? And where was Suko?

Too many questions swirled in her mind. Her breathing came in short gulps and her world threatened to tilt hard over. She didn't even see the gully until she tripped and fell into it, rolling down the embankment. But it was enough to shake away the fog. That, and the sound of alarms blaring behind her.

Scores of men were emerging from the facility's entrance behind her. Soldiers. A hunting party. Then she heard something else: barking.

Dogs. They have bloody dogs.

Glancing back, she saw the search beams and heard their shouts. From somewhere behind her, hidden amongst the trees, an air vehicle was sent aloft. Sigrid glanced skyward. Thunderhawks
.
She counted three of the heavy gunships rising above the canopy of pines. Two of them rumbled toward her and then past, close enough for her to feel the heat of their thruster wash blast over her.

She hadn't even remembered cloaking. It was perhaps the only thing that saved her.

The third Thunderhawk stayed back. It hovered above the soldiers, moving with them. Belly-mounted floodlights illuminated the woods, lighting their way. They'd be scanning for her. She could only hide so long. She had to move; she had to stay ahead.

Alone and armed only with the stolen knife, Sigrid ran.

It was a brutal pace. The ice was cold against her feet and the bare flesh of her legs, yet Sigrid felt no sense of chill; she never would, not at these near-freezing temperatures. She was designed to withstand far greater cold than this. Still, the deep snow made every step a plodding chore. Twice she sank up to her chest, and she was forced to scramble on her hands and knees. The only saving grace was knowing the soldiers behind her were having just as much trouble.

The woods ended abruptly. Stumbling to her knees, she broke through the brush into the clearing on the other side. There was a lake ahead of her, frozen and gleaming, with more woods on the far shore. Beyond that… She heard it: the sound of vehicles moving. Scanning ahead, she saw the strings of bright lights moving in the distance. It was a road, maybe a highway. At least it sounded like a highway. If she could get there, she might be able to flag someone down, maybe get help.

If
she could get there. That road was still six-point-two-seven kilometers distant and across that frozen lake. That would mean running nearly a kilometer out in the open. Sigrid glanced back over her shoulder; they were sure to see her.

But there was nothing for it. She had to risk it.

Running as fast as she could, she sprinted for the lake—not nearly as frozen as she thought. The ice flexed beneath her feet, dipping with each of her long strides. Every step threatened to shatter the ice and send her plummeting into the cold depths below. Not once did she look back. When she reached the far bank, she dived headlong into the cover of the brush. Her foot caught on a root and sent her sprawling. She landed hard, face first, knocking her chin on a rock, hard enough to leave her dazed. Rising to her hands and knees, she did her best to shake it off, but the ringing in her ears was being drowned out by something louder.

Engines. Thrusters.

That Thunderhawk had seen her. It was moving her way.

Scrambling to her feet, Sigrid plowed onward. Three more kilometers—that was all she needed. Get to the road.
Move!

She'd barely covered half the distance when another road intersected her path. Not much of a road, just a path bulldozed through the trees. A single truck sat idling. Soldiers stood huddled together in the cold with their rifles slung over their shoulders. Sigrid saw their uniforms, the same ones worn by the guards at the facility: Cheung-Yoshida Multi-Planetary. They
should
have been patrolling for her. Instead they were busy warming their hands over a fire burning in what looked like a spent fuel bin.

Don't they know who I am?

Sigrid shrouded and became invisible once more.

The snow was falling heavily now. Thick flakes were landing on her arms and legs and catching in her hair. She might be all but invisible, but the snow that fell on her certainly wasn't. Even her breath was betraying her. It misted in front of her face, and there was no hiding the deep tracks she made with each step in the waist-high snow.

Sigrid halted her steps. Too late. One of the uniformed soldiers turned towards her. She froze and held her breath, but the soldier kept walking toward her. He paused not more than a meter from her. His eyes followed the path of her tracks, then slowly moved up the snowy curves of her silhouette. Dammit if he wasn't looking right at her. It was obvious he saw her—
he must!
But it was equally obvious his limited brain couldn't compute what it was he was looking at: this icy, translucent figure of a woman.

Four trembling fingers reached out to touch her. They never made it.

Sigrid grabbed those fingers, pulling his arm around and twisting as hard as she could. He cried out in alarm, drawing the attention of the others, but it was too late for him. She drove him to the ground hard, kneeling on his back, though not before she relieved him of his rifle. She kicked it up with her foot, flipping it over in midair to catch it one-handed.

Unable to hold the cloak any longer, she appeared before the group of startled soldiers—which actually served to confuse them all the more. They froze in their tracks, not sure what they were seeing—this pale, naked girl waist-deep in the snow, the hulking auto-rifle tucked in her arms.

That moment was all she needed. Her finger grazed the trigger. Four rounds barked out in less than a heartbeat. Four shots fired. Four soldiers dropped in quick succession. Four more deaths.

But she was hardly out of the woods. Hurtling toward her at treetop level, the Thunderhawk screamed into view, its four thrusters rattling the ground and blowing up pillars of ice in its wake. Fast and maneuverable, the Thunderhawk brimmed with weapons—forward-firing missiles sat in side-mounted pods, while a hulking chain gun extended from its blunt nose—and it was coming her way.

The truck sat waiting.

She ran for it, climbing the steps and hauling herself into the driver's seat. Jamming her foot to the floor, the fuel cells fed power to the drive engines instantly and the truck shot forward. It was a heavy, lumbering machine, and its tall studded tires chewed up the terrain as it fought for traction.

The narrow road slashed through the trees as it wound its way toward the lights of the main road ahead. Sigrid skidded wildly around one bend, glancing off a tree trunk before bouncing over a cluster of rocks. Somehow she kept the machine on the path, if just barely. But she daren't slow. Her foot was heavy on the throttle, threatening to push the pedal all the way through the flooring. The road straightened ahead, and the trees thinned, making the going easier, but she was also losing her cover. There was a bridge ahead, a narrow causeway built over a frozen riverbed, and the highway was less than a kilometer beyond that. She was going to make it.

Pushing the truck to its maximum speed, a spine-jarring 144 kph, the truck bounced as she hit the bridge, and the front wheels lifted from the road before crashing back down. The truck skidded wildly, glancing off both barriers. Sigrid cursed as she gripped the wheel, fighting for control on the ice-covered causeway.

Her pursuers were not about to let her go either. The Thunderhawk swept by overhead, not more than a meter above her. It reached the far end of the bridge, where it performed a high pirouette and swung sharply about to face her. Sigrid saw the missile pods swing out into firing position.