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  No answer was needed, Wilde knew the Rover was ready; he’d been ready for days just waiting for this call.

  Eisenhower was soon at Wilde’s office and let himself in walking straight up to the large, ornate wooden desk where Wilde was waiting.

  “What’s the matter Jonas, what’s so urgent? Has it to do with your investigation into the chamber incident?” asked Eisenhower as he stood in front of his right hand man.

  “There’s someone here I think you should meet Max,” Wilde said and pressed a button on his desk which operated a hidden door in the wall to his right. Eisenhower glanced to his left as the panel slid open to reveal a room beyond. A figure came forward to stand in the doorway. It was shrouded in shadow and Eisenhower couldn’t make out the features clearly.

  “I don’t understand Jonas, what’s going on and who is this?” said Eisenhower beginning to wonder just what was happening and frankly, a little worried by it all.

  “Max, meet Max,” Wilde said and the figure emerged from the gloom of the secret chamber into the light of the office where Maxwell Eisenhower could see him, an exact replica of himself, another clone.

  “I don’t understand... what’s going on here Jonas, who is this?” Eisenhower said, indicating the clone standing at the shoulder of his second in command.

  “I thought it should be obvious, he’s you,” Wilde answered calmly and then from a drawer in his desk he withdrew a Sig P996 and aimed it straight at Eisenhower’s face.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” Eisenhower exploded in anger.

  “I thought that was obvious too, Max, we’re replacing you,” Wilde said with a half smile.

  “But, for that, I’d have to be dead,” Eisenhower said.

  “You are so right,” said Wilde and shot him full in the face. The maximum power plasma bolt struck him right between the eyes and blew his head apart, spraying blood and brain matter across the floor behind him.

  “You can come in now,” Wilde said and two men came through from the hidden room. “Dispose of that, I want nothing to remain, and I do mean nothing, vaporise it so there’s no trace left. Do you understand?” he added to which both men nodded their assent.

  The Rover replica of Eisenhower looked at Wilde and said, “I’d better get to work,” and left the office.

  PHASE TWO WAS COMPLETE, adaptability was indeed the name of the game and the game had changed once more. Now he would implicate himself instead of Eisenhower. He would go straight to the underground base where they’d never find him, which he had secretly built using funds siphoned off from certain mega corp. accounts. He would be safe there and he could organise the attack against Col Sec with impunity. With his clone in place all the wealth and power Maxwell Eisenhower had amassed building up his mega corp. would be at his disposal and he would have an organisation in OMEGA to rival that of the mighty Col Sec itself, now all that remained for him to do was ready the forces.

  13

  The sky-cab dropped Hawk and Tanya Wilde off at the Imperial Hotel as instructed and they entered the foyer as casually as they could. Tanya was still in a state of shock over the incidents that had happened during the past few minutes of her young life, so Hawk covered for her the best way he knew how and that was to keep her away from as many prying eyes as he could.

  The foyer was busy as one would expect in the premier hotel in the city and the carpet was lush beneath their feet as they slowly walked towards the bar.

  “You need a stiff drink to calm your nerves,” Hawk said as he guided her with a gentle hand on her elbow towards the mahogany bar at the end of the long room.

  “Good afternoon and welcome to the Imperial Bar, what can I get you?” said the tall barman as they reached the bar. He had a ready smile and an eager to please attitude. Hawk guided Tanya onto a tall barstool, looked at the barman and said, “Two scotch on the rocks please. Let’s keep it simple shall we dear?” This last comment was said to Tanya who, realising they were in company, returned Hawk’s smile albeit weakly.

  “Two scotch on the rocks coming up, sir,” replied the bartender jovially and he turned to prepare the drinks.

  Accessing a battle com. channel Hawk called De Boer. “We’re in the bar at the Imperial Hotel, we’ll meet you here,” he said as quietly as he could, not wanting to draw any attention to the call. The bartender returned just then with their drinks in tall tumblers, the amber liquid glistening under the lights of the room, the ice clinking musically as he placed them down on coasters before them.

  “Can I get you anything else?” he asked, smiling.

  “Not just yet thanks,” Hawk answered returning the smile cordially.

  He paid for the drinks by linking his NI to the hotel’s account. Once they were alone and out of earshot of the bartender he turned to Tanya, “Our help will be here soon so we can relax for a few minutes. Why don’t you enjoy your drink, we’ll be moving as soon as they get here and I don’t know when we’ll get the chance again,” he said quietly, leaning in close to appear like they were a loving couple, an image he was hoping to cultivate for anyone passing by and watching them.

  She picked up her drink with trembling fingers so that the ice clunked in the glass and she had to steady it by holding it with both hands. Slowly she brought the glass up to her lips and took a sip letting the amber liquid slowly trickle down her throat warming her as it travelled down into her stomach.

  “God I needed that,” she said, acknowledging the stress she was feeling.

  “Don’t worry, we’re almost home free here. Once we get picked up I’ll get you safely to Earth and then you can truly relax,” Hawk said with a reassuring smile. He took his drink and poured it down in one swallow savouring the warmth it brought to his insides. “Hmm, that was quite good,” he commented.

  Suddenly a commotion at the entrance of the hotel grabbed their attention and Hawk turned to see three marines stride into the bar wearing full battle gear and bearing arms.

  “Is this your idea of low profile Colonel?” Hawk asked when De Boer was in front of him.

  “Didn’t have the chance to change into civvies. I thought we should come straight away considering the bind you found yourselves in,” replied De Boer with a deadpan expression.

  “Perhaps we should leave now before someone complains to the hotel manager about the sudden influx of undesirables who seemed to have invaded his hotel,” Hawk added in the same deadpan way.

  Grabbing Tanya’s hand, Hawk led her away from the bar in the company of the three marines. They walked straight for the foyer and out of the front entrance where a shuttle was parked. It was a small, sleek craft built for speed with the capability of holding only a few passengers, whilst its dimensions enabled it to land almost anywhere making it ideal for the task Colonel De Boer intended.

  Once inside the shuttle Hawk and Tanya sat in the middle two seats of a row of six down the centre of the craft. De Boer took the front seat with the two other marines positioning themselves in the seats behind their charges. Straps from hidden recesses inside the seats snaked out and wrapped around those sitting in them to secure them for take off. Within a few seconds of them boarding the shuttle it was airborne, streaking towards the upper atmosphere and the waiting Valkyrie.

  TANIS RYGAR AND WHAT was left of his team were at the spaceport on Cordoba wondering just what to do next when a call came through via his NI.

  “Change of plans Rygar. The agent you failed to kill has once more escaped and this time he has my daughter with him. You will be joined by one of my Rovers and he will instruct you on how to proceed. You will follow his orders implicitly is that understood?” said Jonas Wilde through a secure com. channel.

  “Perfectly, sir,” Rygar replied.

  “Do not fail this time or you will face the consequences,” Wilde said and there was a sense of finality in his voice making the hairs stand up on the back of Rygar’s head.

  “You can count on us, sir,” he replied. As soon as he’d said it he knew he shouldn’t hav
e for he knew that Wilde would not stand for any futile excuses if they failed this time. There was only one thing to do and that was hope and pray that what this Rover expected of them was within the realms of human possibility and they could carry it out otherwise he would have no choice but to run and hope that he wouldn’t be found. That in itself was a lesson in futility, for the resources at Wilde’s disposal made it virtually impossible to hide from him. Rygar felt an overwhelming sense of doom and despair wash over him when the call was terminated. He felt like he’d just signed his own death warrant. This wasn’t far from the truth as Wilde had no further use for him and planned on using him and his team as cannon fodder in the upcoming battle against the Confederation.

  ACCESSING A SUB SPACE com. channel via his NI, Hawk called General Sinclair. “Sir, I think we need to move on Jonas Wilde immediately and with your permission I, Colonel De Boer and some of his team can be at his office within the hour to make the arrest,” he said with some urgency.

  “What about his daughter?” queried Sinclair.

  “We have two ships here in orbit, sir, the Valkyrie and the ship the Colonel arrived on. We can either send her to Earth on one now and bring her father back in the other, or leave her in orbit in case we need the support of both ships. We have no idea of the strength of resistance Wilde will put up but we do know, from what we’ve seen so far, that he has resources and he’s not afraid to call upon them, so my guess is he won’t come willingly.”

  “Okay then Matt, this mission is at your discretion. I’m patching this call through to Colonel De Boer and the captains of both ships. This mission is under your control and you are to make use of the ships and personnel at your discretion. Ensure the safety of Miss Wilde at all costs, capture and arrest her father and bring him to Earth for questioning,” Sinclair replied. During the call De Boer turned in his seat to look at Hawk.

  “Thank you, sir, I’ll keep you posted,” Hawk said then broke the connection.

  “Colonel, I want you to assign a few of your best men to guard Miss Wilde on the Valkyrie while you and the rest of your team accompany me to arrest her father. This time I think it best if you dress in civvies to lessen our impact on the population, plus we’ll blend in with them better should the need arise,” he added when he saw De Boer looking at him.

  “If we want to blend in we’ll have to limit what we take with us, that means no body armour, no pulse rifles...” De Boer started but Hawk cut him off by saying, “We’re not going into battle here Colonel, I don’t expect us to have a fire fight, so I think we can make do with just small arms. A Sig each with a few extra battery clips should suffice don’t you think?”

  “You’re probably right, I don’t think Wilde is crazy enough to risk a running gun battle in his office or the streets,” agreed De Boer.

  “If you’re going after my father then I’m coming with you,” Tanya said adamantly.

  “No chance,” retorted Hawk. “My boss would have me thrown out of an air lock in deep space without an environment suit if I allowed that.”

  “I don’t care; you’re not leaving me here alone.”

  “You won’t be alone, there will be some of the Colonel’s men with you at all times. You’ll be quite safe.”

  “But you might need me down there, to get into my father’s offices, I can help you. Without me you won’t get near my father, but with me you’ll get right to him. I’m known on sight so it’ll be easy to get past security,” Tanya said, trying a different tack.

  “She may have a point there. If we just show up at his door there’s no guarantee we’ll even be allowed inside without a warrant or the physical presence of someone from the local Constabulary,” agreed De Boer.

  Hawk looked at the Colonel as he mulled over what had been said. His ice blue eyes seemed to spark as if the firing of the neurons in his brain lit a fire behind them as they worked on the problem ahead.

  “Okay,” Hawk said finally, coming to a decision. “You come with us, you get us into your father’s building and up to his floor but then you step back and stay behind these men. Colonel, I want you to assign two of your best men to remain by her side at all times and at the first sign of trouble get her to safety, is that understood?”

  “You have my word,” De Boer replied solemnly.

  “Let’s do this then. Colonel, I hope you have a change of clothes with you because I want to head straight back down there now, before I change my mind about Miss Wilde coming with us.”

  “We always carry spare clothes with us, you never know when you might need to blend in with the indigenous population, you should know that Matt from your time with Recon Delta or has it been so long that you’ve forgotten your training?” asked De Boer with a friendly smirk.

  Returning the smile Hawk said, “Once Recon Delta, always Recon Delta, you know that, sir,” reciting the motto of the corp.

  Tanya Wilde listened to the banter between the two men and she found herself wondering what it was she had fallen into. It was a dangerous situation for sure, she had already seen two men killed before her eyes and, judging by how things were progressing and from what these men were hinting at, she didn’t suppose the death toll would remain at that number. Knowing all these things and realising the danger she was about to face, she still felt safe as long as she was close to that man with the ice blue eyes, those fathomless eyes that hinted at disdain for everything they viewed yet showed such warmth when he looked at her.

  She began to hope that once this was all over she would get the opportunity to see him again. There was more to him than just the obvious alpha male exterior and she thought it would be interesting to peel away the layers of his protective veneer, very interesting indeed.

  JONAS WILDE HAD RETURNED to his office to gather the last of the belongings that he’d need to take with him. Accessing the building’s computer network with his NI he asked for the location of his daughter using the tracking chip in her NI. What he learned surprised him somewhat. She had been heading away from Cordoba on her way to Earth and Col Sec HQ no doubt, but now she was on her way back towards the planet’s surface.

  Perhaps all was not lost, she was handing herself to him and he would not allow this opportunity to go to waste. He had his team ready; all that remained was for him to give the order.

  He would give her one last chance to join him, after all she was his daughter and he owed her that much at least, but if she refused then she would meet the same fate as all the others who stood against him, she would die.

  14

  Before he and his team left their seats, Colonel De Boer contacted his transport and Captain Jefferson on the Valkyrie to issue orders for them to stand by in orbit and at full readiness to proceed. They bypassed safety protocols so the straps would release them to go into the rear cargo area to change clothes and stow their gear.

  Tanya used the opportunity to speak to Hawk while they were alone. Leaning towards him so that she wouldn’t have to raise her voice she said, “I’ve never thanked you for what you did back there. You saved my life. Wow! How many people actually get to say that? I mean you read about it and see it in movies but this was real and ... listen to me, I’m babbling.”

  Hawk placed a reassuring hand on top of hers, looked her in the eye and said, “It’s okay, I understand, you’re scared and still in shock, so am I.”

  Suddenly she felt herself begin to relax a little and she knew then that as long as this man was by her side she’d be safe. He didn’t have to say the words she just knew he would die before he allowed any harm to come to her. Even though they were heading back into what could be the most dangerous situation she’d ever faced in her young, sheltered, spoilt life, she felt safe, truly safe, possibly for the first time in years.

  “You’re scared?” she asked incredulously, when she finally found her voice.

  “I’d be a complete idiot if I wasn’t and Momma Hawk didn’t raise any fools,” joked Hawk, hoping to lighten her mood.

  “You need t
o put something on that,” she said gesturing towards his cheek, which had been cut during the fight in the mall with the muscle-bound clone.

  Touching where she had indicated he noticed a trace of blood on his fingertips. “Ah yes, thanks, I will. Can’t have a scar spoiling these good looks,” he joked then added, “even though the opposite sex are supposed to find them interesting.”

  “Personally I’ve never found facial disfigurement appealing,” she replied.

  “Disfigurement? That bad, eh?” he said, consciously placing a hand over the scratch.

  “No, no not at all,” she recanted swiftly reaching up to pull his hand away in an attempt to reassure him. When she saw the mischievous glint in his eye she realised she’d fallen for the joke and was suddenly embarrassed, dropping her eyes from his momentarily. When she looked up again she saw him smiling playfully. “Sorry couldn’t resist,” he explained.

  She took her hand off his and punched him in the shoulder, “You brute,” she chided in the same playful vein and turned her head away from him in mock anger.

  “Aw don’t be like that,” he pleaded and placed his hand on hers again and this time she allowed it to remain and they sat there in companionable silence for a few moments.

  When the marines returned led by De Boer he spotted the hands and said, “Getting on well I see.”

  Nervously she pulled her hand away, instantly regretting the action and missing the closeness the contact brought.

  The Colonel and his men were all dressed in casual clothes – cargo pants and open-necked shirts over which they each wore a short leather jacket. Similar shoes to those worn by Hawk adorned their feet while the ubiquitous Sig P996 was hidden away in a soft leather holster beneath the jacket of each soldier.