16 - Murdoch

MURDOCH

It took me three days before I found what I was looking for in the tree line. The morning after I'd secured a horse, I rode out, but bad weather turned me back. The next two days, I was busy with evaluation duties, and a part of me hung on to some small hope that Secret Police might be imminently arriving. Each night, however, I was haunted by the image of Lovewell dead on the roof. Each morning, I woke to find that no one had come from the home isle in response to my coded message. I had to assume that it had not been passed on at all.

The horse was a good mount, well-kept, and I made note in my report that the stable men were doing well in their citadel duties. I rode north with her two hours after dawn, after waiting to hear from the operator whether the weather report was clear. I had asked him, during my visit to the radio room, whether we'd heard anything back from my home office. We had not. The air was crisp, and I felt invigorated by it, and it was good to leave the stone citadel labyrinth of secrets behind me.

I rode across the plain, making decent time, and came to a stop again at the place in the trees where I had had to turn back three days prior. I would say it was roughly a mile north of Fort Firclaw. I did not know exactly whether I was north or south of the political border, but it didn't seem to matter. No one was here.

I dismounted, approaching the trees, and began to walk the edge of the grove, looking each trunk up and down. I wished badly that I could have known what I was looking for. I wished badly that I had Lovewell there to explain it to me. I felt almost that his ghost was with me, if he had a ghost, but I did not know how to reach it. My faith did not give any guidance on reaching people who were not Wylder ancestors.

After a bit of this, almost lost in thought, I was shaken by a metal clang against my boot tip. I paused, kneeling, and uncovered a red metal box. I recognized it as an electrical fuse device with an unlit red light on the top. I tried to pick it up and found that it was attached to two thick cables. One continued along the tree line, and another seemed to head across the snow-covered plain toward the fort.

I followed the one that ran through the trees, and about ten feet after the red box I found something else connected to the wiring. Picking it up, I first thought it was a package. Then I realized it was a wrapped explosive charge of Paxanan Army issue. I yanked the cable, which continued on, and saw at least a dozen more of these pop up out of the snow.

I paused. As far as I could tell, these charges were set to be activated from a distance, which meant the control wire presumably ran all the way back to some operating post at the fort. What they were for, I couldn't guess, but as I looked out at the trees to the east I saw that I was exactly on the border with the CCNCU. Only a few signposts here and there marked the line.

That was when I saw the glint of a rifle scope from the citadel wall. I paused, thinking I'd imagined it. Then, looking south, I saw it again. I had done enough training to know what the reflection of a scope would look like in the sun. I had enough sense to know this could only mean ill.

My first thought was to run away, but I knew I could not make it in time. There was only one move, and it was to disconnect the fuse box. I sprinted back toward it, leaping to the ground, and pulled out the cable that connected the red box with the string of explosives. No more than a second later, I saw the red light flash, indicating that someone on the other side had pressed the detonation button. I had literally come within a second or two of being blown into utter non-existence.

I rose, looking down, and saw the red light flash on again and again. It was as if someone was hitting the detonate button in anger, confused as to why it was not working. Someone in the base with a rifle, I realized, had been watching me, and was now trying to kill me.

Sure enough, I heard a whiz of a bullet passing by me. It was far too great a distance for even a skilled marksman to be accurate, but I still didn't want to chance being hit by a stray round. A few seconds later, I heard the rifle crack, long after the bullet had already passed me by.

I scrambled to mount the horse, who thankfully had not been spooked, and with a kick and a crack of the reins I took off, arcing back toward the fort. I don't know if any more shots were taken at me as I returned. I assumed that whoever had been shooting was now scrambling to hide his tracks, lest I discover him.

At high speed, I rode up to an archway that led to the interior courtyard of the base. There was an MP standing guard in a post on the side, and I stopped near him. Urgent, I extended a hand toward him.

"Give me your rifle."

The guard looked flustered, but to my great appreciation he did not question me. He handed the Springbolt over, and I saw it was loaded. I racked a round.

"There's a man on the north wall who just took two shots at me," I said to the guard. "Sniper-scoped Springbolt. Don't sound alarm, I don't want him hiding in the chaos. But warn the other MPs. I'm going after him. Make sure you don't shoot me."

The MP acknowledged all of this. I was fairly confident that he was not part of the conspiracy, although its total size was still completely unknown. I rode forward into the inner yard, dismounting the horse, and sprinted up a stone staircase to try and reach the wall where I had seen the glint of the rifle.

There was no snow falling, and there was no wind. The sky above was clear. I reached the parapets and looked around for any sign of activity. If there had been fresh snow, I might have seen footprints, but nothing had fallen since the night before, and the walkway was all freshly shoveled. Then, kneeling, I saw two spent casings by the rampart. I looked out from where the casings lay and saw where I had just been in the distance.

It had been a bold, almost desperate shot to try and get me all the way out there. I deduced that this meant the conspiracy was falling apart, and that the discovery of the explosives was in some way much to my advantage.

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Then, from farther south, I heard the sound of a heavy aircraft propeller. I shielded my eyes as I looked to the sky and saw a blocky, twin-engined A-1 Dozer medium bomber coming in. It was clearly looking to make a landing on the plain to the south of the base. I had no way to know if it was friend or foe.

Just below me was the communications room, and on my way down the stairs I stopped to go inside. It was the same operator as before, and again he jumped, though this time it was probably because I was holding a rifle.

"Who can we reach?" I asked.

"No one," said the panicked operator.

"What?"

"Everything's down," he said. "Phone, telegraph, like it was cut."

"As of when?"

"Ten, twenty minutes. What's going on?"

"Someone in the base is shooting."

The operator looked more alarmed. "At—"

"Us," I said. "Who's on the plane?"

He didn't understand my meaning. He hadn't heard the engines. "We don't have any planes."

"Well, one just landed," I told him. "Try to get the lines up." Then I exited the room.

When I got back down to the ground level, I found that my horse had wandered off, or perhaps been led away. I did not want to pause to search for it, and I did not want to spend more time inside the fort where the sniper was lurking.

I reached the southern face of the citadel and I saw that there were no MPs posted. It was possible they had gone to search for the sniper, following what I had advised. The Dozer, meanwhile, was coming to a stop perhaps a thousand yards to the south. I could only hope it was friendly.

I jogged a little bit, holding the rifle, but I worried it would make me be both too slow and too hostile in appearance. So, I set the Springbolt down in the snow and ran faster still until I reached the plane. When I got near, I saw Major Blackwell was already there, presumably having walked out to meet it. Disembarking from the bomber's passenger hatch was General Ravenridge.

They both saw me, of course, black-bearded and olive-coated against the white and gray. "Is this the new First Armored captain?" Ravenridge asked Blackwell, referring to the man who would be replacing the late Lovewell.

"No, this is the man from the Integrity Office," said Blackwell.

"Ah," said Ravenridge.

I had an inkling that both of these men were dirty, but I didn't think them bold enough to try anything here. Certainly not in the presence of the pilot and whatever other witnesses might be around. "General, what brings you here?" I asked.

"War, Captain," said Ravenridge, to my confusion. "We are at war with the CCNCU. We are to push north from Firclaw and seize the Vernan oil fields in North Dubhamer."

I knew this was not true, but I couldn't tell whether Ravenridge was lying or fooled. "Sir, there's a sniper targeting men inside the base," I said, putting a hand up. "It's not safe for you there."

Ravenridge looked to Blackwell. It seemed he knew nothing of this. "A Clementic agent, no doubt," said Ravenridge, when Blackwell had no verbal response. "All the more reason to move."

It was just as Jack Sr. had warned. It was a false pretense for war with the CCNCU. I knew I needed to stop this nonsense before it caused any improper action among the armored division officers. "Do you have orders showing the command for the northern attack, sir?" I asked.

"Straight from Army Command," said Ravenridge.

"May I see them?"

Now Ravenridge turned again to Blackwell, scoffing. He scratched the place where his eyepatch pressed against his cheek. "Who is this dog you've got running around off-leash, Claude?" Ravenridge asked.

"He won't be a problem," said Blackwell. "Captain, move aside. We're bringing the division to alert."

Of course, I was still armed, even having dropped the Springbolt. I drew a pistol I'd concealed in my pocket and pointed it at Blackwell.

"Treason!" Ravenridge shouted.

"That's my suspicion," I said. "General, Major, sit on the steps, please."

I pointed to the metal stairs of the open bomber hatch. They looked like they wanted to kill me with a glare, but since I had the gun they obliged and sat down on the steps.

"Sylvester, we don't have time for this," Blackwell hissed at the general. "Let's just get rid of him."

I heard a creak from the cockpit hatch. I had indeed suspected there was a third, but it was a shock to imagine that the third was also caught up in this murderous insanity. Still, I turned with haste and saw the bomber pilot aiming a pistol at me through an open hatch of the cockpit. He fired, hitting the snow, barely missing me. I whipped the pistol in his direction and fired once, killing him.

This was, I must admit, the first man I ever killed. It made no impression and carried no spiritual weight. It was simply an act of duty. Then I pointed the pistol at the general and major again.

From the south, I saw two more bombers approaching, low and fast. If these were Ravenridge's co-conspirators, I was in trouble.

"More of you?" I asked him, trying to get a straight answer.

The men, of course, said nothing. I gritted my teeth and considered what to do next. As practical as it might have been, I couldn't justify shooting them where they sat. I didn't have the evidence I needed to know for a fact they were traitors. I simply stood tall, fulfilling my duty and keeping the gun trained on the furious men as the other bombers landed. If the conspirators got out and killed me, I reasoned, I would have died serving the emperor. I could live with that.

The men in the other two bombers, however, were not co-conspirators at all. They were Secret Police, dressed in khaki, with black armbands on their left biceps. They jogged toward me, the general, the major, and their bomber with their pistols out.

"Raise your hands," the first secret policeman shouted. I saw from his armband he was a lieutenant. "You are all under arrest for sedition, on order of the emperor."

As he shouted it, he saw that I already had the men at gunpoint. "Never thought I'd be glad to hear those words," I said to the lieutenant. "Take the major and the general. Unclear how many in the fort are part of their scheme, but we should be careful. I haven't checked the bomber interior yet. There may be others in there."

The lieutenant took this to heart, keeping his gun drawn. The rest of his fellows were coming up behind him, having jumped from the side hatches of the bombers before they'd even finished taxiing. "Good to see Integrity Office functioning as intended," he said.

"It's what we're paid for," I replied, and I at last felt comfortable to lower my aim from the chests of Ravenridge and Blackwell. The lieutenant in khaki looked relieved, like he'd been panicking all the way here on a race from Paxlight.

"We almost had war with the Vernans again, against the will of the throne," he said, breathless. "Can you believe it?"

I lit a cigarette and thought back to the dossier Jack Sr. had showed me all the way back in Sunmount. "I can."