Shadows of Golstar (68 page)

Hours
after meeting with the Guardian of the Way, Captain Collin sat with his men
around an ancient, scarred wooden table in a dusty room off a long-deserted
wing of the palace. He had been going over the plan for the fifth time when the
communicator on his belt chimed. He waited and it sounded twice more before
going silent. He stood up. “That is the signal. The Grand Patriarch’s bedroom
lights have been extinguished for over an hour. The Patriarch’s guards were
removed from their posts hours ago. Now is the time.”

The
other four men stood and without a word, followed the Captain out of the room.
The Captain set a brisk pace as he led them down the safe corridors that were
marked on the map. Twice, they had to slow their pace to allow a palace
official to cross their path. It was only then the Captain truly appreciated
the Guardian’s wisdom in directing him to limit the number of men he would use
and to wear uniforms. It was not unusual to see small groups of military
walking the palace hallways, even at this late hour. The officials did not give
them a second glance as they passed.

It
took a short while for Collins and his men to travel along the route
highlighted on the map. Finally, when they were a few doors down from the
prisoner’s quarters, the Captain signaled his men to stop. “Nice and easy now,”
he told them in a hushed voice. “The prisoner’s guards were called away a
little while ago. I am sure they secured the door. I have the mag-key. We go
quietly to the door and I will disable the magnetic lock. The old mechanical
latch will also be locked. I don’t have that key, but it should be easy to
break. Remember, once the latch is broken, move in as fast as you can. We need
to take full advantage of our element of surprise. We will take no chances; use
the shockers as soon as you see him.”

He
then looked pointedly at two of his men, “You two know what to do.” The two burliest
of his men nodded. They would lead. Under their combined weight, the ancient
metal mechanism should shatter easily. “Very well, let us proceed.”

At a
much slower and stealthy pace, they approached the door. Collin quickly
disabled the mag-lock and verified that the old manual latch was locked. He
stood aside and motioned to the big men while other two drew their shockers.
The two heavily muscled men immediately charged the door. The massive door
hesitated only briefly as the brittle door lock gave way with a quiet snap.

The
two door-busters speedily moved aside as the two armed men rushed inside,
followed closely by the Captain with his weapon drawn. They entered the sitting
room and quickly saw that no one seemed present. The door to the bedroom was
open and the distinct sound of running water could be heard. The Captain
silently motioned for his men to go forward.

Owens
was standing barefooted on a wide ledge that was part of the thick decorative
molding above the door entrance. At first, he hadn’t been sure that it would
hold his weight. Happily, he found that it was solid and well-anchored to the
door frame. He was thankful that the high ceilings afforded him ample room to
stand almost upright. From his vantage point, Owens could see that they expected
to take him by surprise. They had no inkling he had been forewarned. The
surprise would instead be his.

He
silently watched as two of the uniformed men, with hand weapons drawn, started
forward towards the bedroom’s open door. The apparent leader of the group
followed while the two larger men held back and remained in the bedroom. The
only weapons they seemed to have were webs of dangling cables clutched in their
hands.

He
went up on the balls of his feet while bending his knees. He prayed that he had
done enough limbering exercises to keep his joints from popping. He then
allowed himself to fall forward, his upper body arcing down, his toes still on
the ledge, acting as a pivot. Like a diver, he straightened his legs and
launched himself, his arms outstretched, aiming for the backs of the two large
men.

His
aim was true. He struck the backs of their necks with his forearms, the sudden
weight knocking them both to the floor. One hit the floor with his chin and
immediately went limp. The other had managed roll with the fall and was
scrambling to get up. Owens was faster in getting to his feet and attempted
punch the man in the face. However, he was off-balance and instead of the blow
landing squarely, his fist only grazed the other man’s jaw.

The
other man had dropped the cables that he was holding when he fell. He rolled
with Owens’ punch and countered with a punch of his own, hitting Owens squarely
in the chest. Owens was staggered by the unexpected impact. He had
underestimated the man’s strength and knew he couldn’t afford the time to
grapple with the man. The men called from the other room; they heard the
commotion. As the man began to close in, Owens dropped to his knees and with as
much leverage as he could muster, hit the man square in the solar plexus.

It
had the desired effect. The man gasped for air; his face grimaced in pain from
the unanticipated force of the punch.
 
As
he started to double over, Owens thrust forward, hitting the man solidly under
the jaw with the top of his head. The man’s head snapped back, his eyes
closing. Reflexively, Owens grabbed him before he reached the floor. He
straightened, still holding the unconscious man.

Owens
was about to drop him when he heard a loud buzz that sounded like a bunch of
angry hornets and the body he was holding immediately began to jerk with
galvanic spasms. He saw that one of the other kidnappers was standing in the
bedroom, near the doorway, firing a weapon at him. The body he was holding
continued to jerk, shielding him from most of the weapon’s discharge. Still,
his arms tingled from the contact with the unconscious man.

He
shoved the body forward into the other man. The unconscious man was large, well
muscled and coupled with the force provided by Owens’ Loder-powered muscle, the
unexpected mass of the inert body easily knocked the weapon away, toppling the
man in the doorway. The heavy man’s body effectively covered the smaller man,
momentarily pinning him to the floor.

The
gun had fallen into the sitting room, a little over a meter from the bedroom
entrance. Owens leapt for the weapon as another buzzing sound came from deeper
within the bedroom's interior. Owen felt a fiery pain in his left leg as the
shocker’s discharge, fired from one of the men in the bedroom, struck its target.
He hit the floor and rolled, grabbing and barely holding on to the shocker with
sweat-slippery hands. He struggled to his feet and pressed himself against the
wall to the right-side of the doorway.

A
voice called from the bedroom, “Give up. You have nowhere to go. Give yourself
into our custody and no harm will befall you.”

Owens
remained silent, stalling for time. The pain in his leg was already starting to
subside. He knew from their angle in the bedroom, they couldn’t know exactly
where he was, only that he stood somewhere to the side of the door. The man,
who was pinned on the floor, blocking the doorway, was still fighting to throw
off his henchman’s inert body. Owens fired the shocker at the struggling man’s
head. The man gasped in pain and fell back, immediately losing consciousness.

He
heard a sound, as if someone was moving and had accidentally brushed against
some object within the bedroom. The sound was closely followed by a hushed
admonition. The stalemate had lasted less than ten seconds. They were getting
ready to attack. He figured they would both rush into the room, hoping that he
would only have time to take one of them out before the other’s weapon took
him.

He
backed up along the wall until he was abreast of a nearby, oversized upholstered
chair. He pulled it close to the wall and crouched behind it. No sooner than he
had completed the action, then there was a blur of motion, and two men burst
from the bedroom, leaping over the low obstacle created by the bodies lying
across the threshold. They were firing their buzzing weapons in the general
direction of Owens’ protected position.

He
had to act fast. Once they stopped their headlong rush, they would separate,
pinning him down. He gripped the bottom of the heavy chair and heaved it toward
the two men with all the power he could muster. He was pleased to see that aim
was dead on.

There
was a muffled scream as the chair smacked solidly into the man closest to his
position. There was a crunching sound as the man fell to the floor, the weight
of the chair pressing him down. The other attacker had avoided the full brunt
of the flying chair and had only received a glancing blow. He stumbled backward
fumbling with his weapon.

As
the man concentrated on regaining control, his feet became tangled in the
webbing that had been dropped by one of the first men whom Owens had brought
down. He cursed loudly, bringing his weapon up, but before he could fire, Owens
quickly shot him. With his feet still hobbled by the cables, the man fell with
a satisfying thud.

Owens
looked at the five men on the floor. The big man who had first struck his chin
on the floor earlier was moaning, beginning to regain consciousness. Owens used
the shocker, and the moaning stopped. He slipped the weapon inside his tunic
and limped out into the hallway. Although the pain was mostly gone from his
leg, there was still a lot of numbness. He rubbed it vigorously as he looked
down the hallway in either direction. As he expected, it was deserted.

He
looked back into the room at the five motionless lumps sprawled haphazardly on
the floor. It probably wouldn’t be wise just to wait around for someone in
command to show up. He didn’t know how long his kidnappers would remain
unconscious, nor how many times he could keep stunning them without causing
permanent damage. Kidnappers or not, in his position he still didn’t think it
wise to maim or kill anyone from Golstar.

He
shook his head in disgust. Once again, he was operating with minimal
information. He had no idea how long the area he was in would remain isolated.
For all he knew, there could be a backup group of henchmen ready to follow-up
if the first group didn’t report in as scheduled. He really needed to find
someone from the Grand Patriarch’s staff or even the big boss himself and dump
it in their laps. But in this situation he didn’t have a clue as to what
direction to take. Fortunately, he remembered the directions to a certain
high-ranking member of the government that Hec had provided him earlier.

He
gave his thigh one last hard slap and then proceeded to limp down the hall,
heading for what he hoped were Sharné’s quarters. An unexpected idea came to
him as he approached her door.

● ● ●

The
Guardian of the Way strode into the minister’s rooms. After checking that the
rooms remained clear of any surveillance devices, he sat down in a chair facing
Lauren and without preamble, said, “As we speak, the man from Confederated
planets is being taken into my custody. I will receive confirmation within the
hour.”

“What
of our plan for the Patriarch?”

“I
have done as you suggested. Ministers who have proven most resistant to the
mental conditioning and sympathetic to our cause have been contacted. Each was
provided with a signed copy of your letter and it pleases me to report the
great majority have already confirmed their support.”

She
clapped her hands. “Excellent.”

He
nodded, “Yes, the number of ministers who will openly support the Patriarch’s
removal from office was surprising.” He smiled, “It appears the Grand Patriarch
was justified in fearing you and your influence in the Assembly.”

“It
is not me that he should fear, but rather the people that he has misled toward
the path to ruin.” There was sadness in her voice.
 
“However well-intentioned his motives were,
he will now have to answer for his misuse of power.”

“As
to the Grand Patriarch himself,” Talin began. “He is being monitored around the
clock. Currently, he is in his residence in the south wing. I expect him to remain
in seclusion until the morning. He ordered a dinner to be brought to the
residence earlier this evening.  I arranged to have a mild sedative added
to his meal. He should sleep soundly into late morning.”

“What
of his personal guards?”

“Since
I confirmed he has retired for the night, the west and south wing barracks have
been sealed and sleep gas was introduced into the ventilation airways,” he
replied grimly. “The remaining on-duty guards and the two posted at his door
were removed.”

“I am
truly astonished at what you have accomplished in so short a time.”

“The
Grand Patriarch’s rash actions have forced me to act quickly. It is essential
we first have control over the outsider. With him in hand and the code, we can reacquire
access to the alien technologies and assert our control once more. We can then
place the Grand Patriarch in protective custody and issue a declaration of
abdication under his seal. In effect, the Patriarch will abdicate and quietly
retire under our close supervision.”

“You
have found the code?”

“Not
as of yet, but I believe it will soon be in our hands. Based on the clues the
Grand Patriarch dropped during his discussion with the Outsider, a trusted aide
is now conducting the search within the Patriarch’s offices, and I am confident
of our ultimate success.”