Martian Legacy Chapter 6

 The man behind the desk looked up from his reading to ask the pale man, “How bad is the injury? Can he continue?” The pale man replied, “A torn ligament near the knee. Painful, but not debilitating. We can control the pain, so he should be fine for the mission.” The man behind the desk stared into nothing for a minute before speaking. “I don't like having only one infiltrator on this, our most important mission. Both of the alternates are ours, now find a way to get one or both of them on this mission.” The pale man considered this and said, “Getting both of them on the mission could end up raising suspicion. I'm sure that we can get one of them on board without too much difficulty. In fact, I have an idea for an operation that should get Captain Moore to step down voluntarily.” The man behind the desk replied, “Voluntarily or by force, as long as get our man on that ship.” The pale man smiled and said, “I shall call on our special forces unit and put my plan into action immediately.”

 

Richard Wilson looked up from his paper as his daughter Erika burst through the front door in her usual hurly-burly fashion. It seemed she was always in a hurry, as if any single moment wasted on idleness was a cardinal sin. Mr. Wilson said “Hey there sweetie. You plannin' to settle down any this evening?” Erika replied, “Sorry Dad, but I lost track of time while I was out riding Bullet, and now I'm late for the girl's night out. I promise we'll have a nice peaceful breakfast in the morning.” She practically ran to her room upstairs, and was back in less than 15 minutes all cleaned up and ready for a night out with her three best friends. As she headed for the door she called out to her father in his study, “I should be home around midnight, and yes I'll be careful. Tell mom I said goodbye. Don't wait up.”

 

As Erika made her way down the ranch's long driveway in her Lexus, the observer in the ultra-light plane circling nearby radioed his co-workers in the white van below. “Her car is in the driveway. I'll let you know which way she heads.” A minute later he made another transmission, “Heading west. I have positive visual I.D. Operation is a go. Good luck because I'm out of here.” The plain white van pulled onto the main road and headed west, soon coming up behind the dark Lexus with Erika at the wheel. The passenger opened the glove box door and pushed a button. A robotic looking armature came out from under the front of the van protruding several feet in front, and just inches above the road flying beneath it. The driver gunned the engine and the van burst forward closing the distance between it and Erika's car almost instantly. The driver consulted an LCD screen in the dash which showed the view from a camera mounted on the armature. When he saw that the armature was sufficiently beneath the Lexus he said “Now!” and the passenger pushed another button lifting the armature and the back of Erika's car with it.

 

Erika was startled by the sudden change in attitude of her car and the screaming of the engine as her drive wheels lost contact with road. She knew something sinister was up as she looked in the mirror and saw the van so close behind her. She knew her car had been rendered useless, so she let off the gas and let the engine idle as she set her considerable wits toward formulating a plan. She said to herself “These guys have no idea what they've gotten themselves into” as she eased the Glock 9mm and it's spare clips from the pocket in her door. She stowed the gun in her waistband and the clips in her pockets as she readied herself to act as soon as the vehicles came to a stop.

 

The van driver called over his shoulder to two guys in the back, “Get ready. I'll have us stopped in fifteen seconds.” The two guys in the back stood at the side door ready to throw it open and pounce on the girl before she had time to react. As the connected vehicles slowed the van driver yelled suddenly yelled “ She bailed out the passenger door into that field! Get on her now!” The two guys jumped from the moving van and ran back toward the field where she was last seen. Suddenly shots rang out and both men went down. The passenger got up and headed into the back of the van as he said, “Looks like we're gonna have to do it the hard way.” He came out of the van wearing a thickly padded suit and carrying a gun resembling a bazooka. As he passed the two men just getting up he asked, “You guys all right?” “Yeah, the vest stopped them, but it still feels like getting kicked by a mule.”

 

The guy in the padded suit stopped near the field and looked around with the heat sensitive camera mounted in his helmet. He saw Erika's heat signature where she lay hidden behind some bushes ahead. He aimed his bazooka-like gun upward and fired. A surprisingly quiet thump sent a projectile arcing upward from the end of the tube. As it flew the projectile opened up into a round metallic net. The net landed exactly on top of Erika and made a loud snapping as the built in taser sent 50,000 volts coursing through her. The padded suit guy plodded into the field and bound Erika's hands and feet with plasticuffs before removing his helmet. “Now that's how it's supposed to be done”, he said gleefully as the two guys came over to carry Erika back to the van. When they got back the driver had already disengaged the armature from the Lexus and left it parked unscathed on the side of the road. They tossed Erika into the van and took off, the whole operation having lasted only three minutes.