Drew Karpyshyn - Retribution

The almost invisible wound. The strange twang of their ammo. They’re using tranquilizer rounds. They want to take you alive.

He didn’t know if that was better or worse. In either case, the realization did little to change the equation. He still had to warn Kahlee.

He could hear the intruders in the hall, just outside the bedroom door. It had no lock, but they were still being cautious — they knew their target wasn’t using tranq rounds. But he didn’t have long.

Leaving Liselle’s unconscious body on the bed, he raced over to the extranet terminal on the far side of the room. Tapping frantically at the haptic interface screens, he logged on to the extranet and sent Kahlee the files he’d assembled over the past two years.

The second the message was away he activated the purge, deleting every file on his system, including all records of his incoming and outgoing messages.

An instant later the door slid open. Grayson turned and charged his attackers.

He had taken but one step when he felt the sting of two tranq rounds in his chest. By the third step he was already out.

Kai Leng stood motionless for several seconds after Grayson’s body slumped to the floor, the tranq pistol still pointed at the target in case he needed to fire another round. When it became clear that his adversary was unconscious, he lowered the weapon and began barking out orders.

“He was sending a message. Check the terminal — see if he was calling for backup.”

Shella, their tech expert, ran over to inspect the computer in the corner.

“The rest of you search the room. Grab any weapons you can find. We’ll need something more than these pop guns to take out those turians at the guard post.”

“What about her?” Shella asked, nodding in the direction of the unconscious asari on the bed even as her fingers tapped away at the terminal’s interface.

“Leave her to me.”

He went back out into the hall. Darrin’s body lay on the floor in a dark pool of his own blood. Jens was still crouched over him, injecting him with medi-gel, checking his vitals and hoping for a miracle. One glance at the body was enough for Kai Leng to know the medic was wasting his time.

Making his way into the kitchen, he began a quick but thorough search; opening cupboards and pulling out drawers, he found a very large, very sharp carving knife. Picking it up, he hefted the weight. Satisfied, he went back into the bedroom.

“The terminal’s clean,” Shella informed him as he came in. “Must have wiped it before we came in.”

Kai Leng frowned. He had no idea what kind of info had been on Grayson’s system, but it had been important enough for him to spend time getting rid of it even while his apartment was under attack.

“Found this under the bed,” one of the others chimed in, holding up a cellophane-wrapped package about the size of a brick. “Four more here, too. Looks like red sand.”

They’d finally caught a break. He knew Aria was involved in a drug war with a rival gang; with any luck, she’d think they were behind Grayson’s disappearance.

“Take the sand with us. Any weapons?”

“Just the one they used to shoot Darrin.”

“How bad is he …?” Shella asked, her voice trailing off.

Kai Leng simply shook his head as he crossed the room toward the bed. A shadow passed over Shella’s face, but she didn’t show any other emotion.

Standing over the naked asari’s body, he drew the knife quickly across her throat. The cut was clean and deep. A river of blood ran down her neck and soaked into the sheets, the same dark color as the human blood pooling in the hall.

“Two of you grab Grayson, two more grab Darrin,” he said, reaching around to slide the knife into the back of his pants, then untucking his shirt to hide the protruding handle. “Let’s go.”

The attack and search had taken less than ten minutes in total. Kai Leng was impressed with his team’s efficiency, though in this case it wasn’t really necessary.

Residents of the other apartments inside the building had probably heard the sounds of gunfire. But none of them were likely to get involved; people on Omega tended to mind their own business. Even if someone did want to report the incident, there was no one to contact. Omega had no police force, and the guards at the entrance gate a few blocks away wouldn’t leave their post; they were paid to keep unauthorized people out of the district, not maintain order inside. News of the battle would reach Aria’s ears eventually, probably even before morning. He hoped to be long gone by then.

Only one problem remained: getting Grayson’s unconscious form, Darrin’s still warm body, and eight kilos of red sand past the Omega First Security guards at the district gate.

He led the team through the winding streets, back the way they had come. They were fortunate enough not to run into anyone else. As they reached the last corner before the guard station, Kai Leng brought his crew to a halt. He extended his hand and Shella slipped Grayson’s pistol into his palm. He registered with some disgust the fact that it was a turian-designed Elanus model before tucking it away under his shirt beside the knife. He could feel the two handles — blade and gun — pressing against the small of his back.

“Wait here, but be ready to move.”

Taking a moment to focus his mind and body, he rounded the corner alone, moving with an easy but determined pace.

The turians noticed him as he drew near, but they didn’t draw their weapons or seem alarmed in any way.

“What’s the matter?” one of them taunted. “Get kicked out of the party?”

“Forgot something,” he muttered, still moving toward them.

He was ten meters away — easily close enough to deliver an accurate kill shot. But the guards were wearing combat suits; their kinetic barriers would easily deflect a round from this far. He had to get up close and personal for either of his weapons to be effective.

“If you leave the district, it’ll cost you to get back in,” the other warned.

He didn’t bother to answer. Five meters. Just a few more steps and it would all be over. He was close enough to read the expressions on their avian features; he recognized the exact moment they realized he was a threat.

Had either of them taken a few quick steps back while he reached for his weapon, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. Fortunately, they both held their ground.

Moving with blinding speed, Kai Leng lunged toward them, his left hand reaching back to grasp the knife in his belt as he closed the gap. He whipped the blade out and drove the tip into the throat of the nearest guard. Twisting his wrist as it penetrated the leathery skin, he severed both the trachea and the turian equivalent of the carotid artery.

The second turian had his gun drawn, but as he extended his arm to shoot, Kai Leng slapped it down with his free hand, causing the weapon to discharge into the floor at their feet. He let go of the knife and went for his own pistol. In a blur of motion he yanked the gun from his belt, brought his hand back in front of his body, jammed the nozzle against the turian’s temple, and squeezed the trigger.

There was a wet pop as the back of the turian’s head exploded, spewing bits of skull and gray matter out the opposite side. Kai Leng was staring into his enemy’s eyes at the moment of death; he saw the pupils dilate as the synapses from what was left of the brain ceased firing and the turian slumped to the floor.

Kai Leng turned his attention back to the first guard. He was down but still twitching, his hands feebly pawing at the knife jutting out from his larynx. Kai Leng stepped forward and finished him off in the same way as he had his partner: one close-range shot through the head.