Scott Cleveland - Pale Boundaries

A thundering roar lifted the roof off the building as they made the trees. Chunks of concrete crashed down, stripping branches as they came. Flames extinguished by the explosion reignited, consuming the lab and offices in a chemically fed conflagration so hot that leaves at the edge of the clearing began to smoke. The vines overhead caught fire and collapsed as secondary reports flung debris skyward; fire licked up in the brush downwind. The doorway where they’d abandoned Derner roared like the mouth of a blowtorch.

The wind shifted, carrying smoke and glowing embers back over them as they raced back to the ORV. Hal leaned against an armored fender gasping for breath and spat a wad of phlegm onto the ground.

“Thought I… was… in shape!”

A sharp pain lanced from his right hip down to his toes as he boarded behind Dayuki and McKeon. He needed both hands to pull the uncooperative limb inside. The ORV roared from its hiding place in the brush, careening back down the steep trail and through the quarry in total darkness. Hal stripped off his night-vision spectacles; he preferred not to see the tree trunk likely to end his life.

Ahead, light cast from the other side of an ascending curve in the trail flickered against the trees. McKeon slammed on the breaks. “I was afraid of this!” He began to back up at almost the same speed.

“Here, here!” Dayuki cried. McKeon backed into an overgrown, steeply descending spur just as the headlights rounded the corner. Three truckloads of Minzoku soldiers rumbled past but none noticed the ORV.

McKeon used a rough secondary pass to reach the Fort. He roared through the town scattering late-night revelers ahead and debris behind, skidding to a halt at the entrance. “Sound recall!” he told the guards. “I want everyone accounted for in thirty minutes!”

Tamara Cirilo arrived at the command post ahead of the rest of the staff lacking her habitual make-up, her ordinarily coiffured hair tied back in a ponytail. She was not pleased when she learned of Hal’s overnight adventure, though he couldn’t decide if her anger at the jeopardy in which he placed himself stemmed from concern for him personally, or for her goal of reaching the Family’s inner circle through him.

“That was exceptionally reckless,” she admonished Hal. And to McKeon: “I can’t believe you went along with this. You should have informed me!”

“With all due respect, ma’am, he is the Chief Administrator. I work for him, not you.”

“Let it go, Tammy,” Hal said tiredly. “He was following orders.”

“Ridiculous, foolish, stupid orders!” his cousin seethed. “You should have left the investigation of that facility to me! It’s my job!”

“It would have taken too long,” Hal said, “and given Den Tun that much more opportunity to cover his tracks. Now we know what he was up to and managed to put a stop to it without him being any the wiser.”

“At the cost of a valuable employee,” Tamara reminded him, “and don’t think for a moment that Den Tun doesn’t have some inkling that we were involved. There are half a dozen confirmed Minzoku intelligence agents living in Sin City on a permanent basis; they know who comes, who goes, and when. They won’t consider it a coincidence that we went on alert the moment you arrived. There’s nothing like barreling through town in the middle of the night to clue the local spooks that you were up to no good!”

“It’s coincidental,” McKeon replied. “ Gaijin outlaws have raided villages even farther inland.”

Dayuki chose that moment to remind them of her presence: “Den Tun places great importance on what others consider coincidence.”

Tamara’s head snapped around, fixing a disdainful gaze on the Minzoku girl as if she were some offensive substance Hal had neglected to scrape off his shoe. “It’s bad enough that you brought one of them into the Fort, but to the command post, of all places? You didn’t give us enough notice to sanitize the facility, there’s sensitive information all over, and did you even manage to search her?”

Hal closed his eyes. He was in no mood to be scolded; the muscles in the small of his back were tight and hard as rocks; pain shot through his leg like jolts of electricity every few seconds. He was tired, he was dirty, he was irritable and he’d reached the limit of his tolerance. “Tammy,” he said quietly, “shut the fuck up.”

McKeon ducked his head, rubbing at his eyebrows with the thumb and forefinger of one hand to shield himself from his employers’ brawl. Tamara wasn’t certain at first that she’d heard correctly. “What did you say?”

“Enough. Lieutenant Dayuki has proven to be a completely reliable informant and I expect to learn considerably more about Den Tun’s activities with her cooperation. Bringing her was my decision and you will respect it as such.”

Tamara’s eyes narrowed and her voice turned dangerously sweet: “I sincerely apologize for criticizing the way you violated half a dozen standing security protocols. I’ll be more circumspect when I bring them to your attention in the future. Did you need me for anything else?”

“Monitor the situation and notify me if anything happens tonight. We’ll do a full debrief in the morning.”

“Of course. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll see that the rest of us contain the fallout while you rest.” She strode out before Hal could chastise her again; McKeon took the opportunity to escape as well, leaving him alone with Dayuki. If she was disturbed by the revered Onjin’s squabble she didn’t show it.

“You believe that Den Tun will act on this?”

“Yes. Den Tun takes nothing for granted. It might have been better not to alert the Onjin , but your absence, and mine, would fuel his suspicions regardless.”

“But suspicions are all he has,” Hal noted. “No evidence. We may be able to keep him guessing a while longer.” He motioned her to accompany him as he stepped out onto the mezzanine overlooking the pit of the Operations Center. Dozens of faces turned upward, startled at the sight of a Minzoku uniform, and followed them as he led Dayuki down the stairs. “Get me a line to the base,” he ordered. “Audio only.”

“Incoming call from Den Tun,” McKeon replied almost before Hal finished speaking, “on visual.”

“Shit! Get me another shirt!” McKeon commandeered the clothing while Hal shrugged off the black tunic. Den Tun exhibited a convincing show of relief when the call connected.

“You are safe!” the old man exclaimed. “I was concerned when we found your quarters empty. Is all well at the Toride?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Hal said gravely. “We’ve taken mortar and small arms fire from the foothills north of the Fort.”

“Most distressing! Have you suffered casualties?”

“One casualty from gunfire,” Hal nodded.

“And Lieutenant Dayuki—she is with you?”

“She is,” Hal said.

“I will dispatch troops immediately,” Den Tun assured him before breaking the connection.

“Get some men up in the hills,” Hal told McKeon. “Give the Minzoku something to chase. Don’t cause them more than light casualties and don’t let them get close enough to cause us any.”

“Yes, sir.” McKeon’s gaze lingered on Dayuki. “I can handle things here,” he said, “if you’d like to arrange quarters for your guest.” The security officer’s meaning was clear: he still did not trust Dayuki and considered her presence in the command post a serious liability.

“I’ll do that,” Hal said. “Thank you.”