Crimson Worlds Collection III Read online

  The icons on the display were heavier on the left side of the line. Paine and White were on the extreme right, and Lucas was betting the enemy would come hard on the left. They’d taken out both auto-cannon teams on that flank and shot up the squads there pretty badly. But they’d have a surprise waiting. Tyler had sent up two new heavy auto-cannons from the reserve, and Lucas had deployed them together on the left. One thing he knew for sure…if the enemy came at that end of the line they’d run into one hell of a shitstorm. And if they came on the other flank they’d have to deal with Reg White.

  Chapter 14

  Warehouse 27 – Tang-Tze Imports

  Shanghai Industrial Zone

  Central Asian Combine

  Earth, Sol III

  “I want to thank you for coming, Mr. Vance.” Li An’s voice was frail.

  Vance had been shocked to see how much weaker she was than the last time they met. That was only a few years ago, he thought, surprised to find himself feeling a touch of sadness. Li An had been an adversary more than a friend, but he couldn’t help but have an odd sort of respect for her. “It’s the least I could do, Minister Li.” Vance offered her a smile. “After all, you did come to me last time.”

  She led him around a large stack of shipping boxes. There was a small portable table set up, with two folding chairs and a single lamp. The warehouse was immense, but it was dark and completely silent. Vance had told Li they needed to meet in complete privacy and secrecy. Looking around, he was confident she’d taken his requests seriously.

  “Yes, Mr. Vance. It was a pleasure visiting Mars again. I was there several times in my youth, and the development that has occurred since that time is nothing short of remarkable.” She paused for a few seconds. “While our nations have their philosophical differences, I must confess that the Confederation has become something of an economic powerhouse. Your people are to be commended for their industry.”

  “You are welcome anytime, Minister. Perhaps next time there will be less need for secrecy, and you can enjoy our amenities.”

  A fragile smile crept onto her thin lips. “I’m afraid I have seen my last of your fascinating world, Mr. Vance. Time marches on for all of us, and for me it has gone most of its way.” Li An’s age was one of the great mysteries of the intelligence community. There were a dozen commonly circulated guesses…all of them wrong…and all lower than the actual figure.

  “That would be tragic, if true.” Vance pulled out one of the chairs, looking over at Li An. “Please, Minister. I’m afraid I cannot stay long, and what I have to tell you is of extreme importance.

  She nodded and walked toward Vance, taking the seat he offered. “By all means, Mr. Vance. I am at your disposal.” She was extremely curious about whatever problem had brought the head of Martian security – and one of the richest men in the Confederation – to the CAC in total secrecy.

  The Confederation and the CAC had typically been suspicious neutrals toward each other in the ongoing rivalries between the Powers, but Vance and Li An were both aware that, despite the stated neutrality, the Martians would side with the Alliance rather than allow the CAC-Caliphate bloc to attain hegemony. That made the two of them, if not enemies, at least something close to that. Yet once before, Li An had provided Vance with vital information. Her discovery that Gavin Stark was holding Augustus Garret hostage, and Vance’s subsequent use of that knowledge, had probably saved the rebellions on the Alliance colonies from being crushed. Her interference, subtle as it was, had also destroyed Stark’s plans to take total control over the colonial worlds, repaying the hated Alliance spymaster for many past grievances.

  “I’m going to come straight to the point, but first, I must have your word that nothing we discuss will leave this room. I am hoping you will assist me in investigating this situation, but no one…” – he stared hard into her eyes – “…no one…can know what I am about to tell you.”

  “You have my word, Mr. Vance.”

  Vance sat in the other chair. Li An met most people’s definition of a monster, and he couldn’t begin to guess how many people she’d killed and tortured in her long career. But as far as he knew, she’d always kept her word once she’d expressly given it. There was a form of honor, even among spies.

  “My people have discovered several…how shall I put it? Anomalies? Discrepancies? All regarding Alliance governmental spending.” He pulled a miniature ’pad from his breast pocket and slid it across the table. “I must ask that you review this with me here, as it is highly sensitive, and I am reluctant to see copies made.” He knew he was trusting her…if she really wanted to, he was sure she could have a hundred agents descend on the warehouse in an instant and take whatever she wanted. “As of now there is just this copy and one other I have hidden in a secure location. This data is not stored on any network or computer system subject to any conceivable security breach.”

  Li An nodded. “Very well, Mr. Vance. I take your concerns to heart.” She’d never seen the cold, analytical Martian spy so nervous about anything.

  “You may confirm all of this with your own analysis of the data, but I will summarize it for you now.” He was glancing at the ’pad as he spoke. “Quite by accident, my staff and I have discovered a series of inconsistencies in Alliance economic benchmarks.” He looked up at Li. “Simply put, it appears that for a number of years…at least 5, and perhaps as many as 8-10, an enormous percentage of Alliance government funds have been diverted…somewhere.”

  “Somewhere?”

  He sighed softly. “My people have been unable to ascertain exactly where this funding has been utilized. The entire process is shrouded in a massive web of dummy agencies and false documents.”

  “How much money are we talking about?” Li An was a little surprised that Vance would come all the way to Earth to meet with her over some Alliance financial irregularities. All the political masters on Earth stole as much as they could, and if the Alliance had produced someone more gifted at graft than the others, what did it matter?

  “This is a rough estimate.” He hesitated, looking at her, making sure she was paying close attention. “Our best guess is a cumulative total equal to 350-600% of annual Alliance GDP.”

  The room was silent. Li An was just staring across the table, looking very much like she thought Vance had gone mad.

  “You heard me correctly, Minister Li.” Vance spoke slowly, forcefully. “Over the last decade, approximately three and a half to six times the annual GDP of the Alliance has been siphoned off to some unknown purpose.”

  She sat a few more seconds before she was able to force words from her mouth. “How is that even possible? Such a thing couldn’t go unnoticed.”

  Vance nodded slowly. “That is exactly what I thought when I first came to this conclusion. I would ask you to review the summarized data on the ’pad before you discount what I am telling you.” He pushed the small tablet the rest of the way across the table. “This has been an ongoing fraud, one that was brilliantly and meticulously constructed. Secrecy has been maintained through an ingenious series of falsified documents, phony government agencies, and phantom revenues.”

  Li An would have walked out if she had been sitting opposite anyone else. But Roderick Vance was no fool, nor was he a time waster. If he was sitting in this warehouse, there was something to what he was saying, however insane it sounded. She reached out and slowly picked up the ’pad. She stared at the screen, reading silently.

  Vance sat quietly, watching Li An page through the document. After a few minutes she stopped reading and looked up.

  “You have confirmed that all of this is accurate?” Her voice was deadly serious, all trace of her earlier frailty gone.

  “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.”

  “This is difficult to believe.” She hadn’t read much of the data, but even the few pages she’d scanned had been enough. Virtually the entire economy of the Alliance was one massive fiction…and it had been so for at least six years. She stared across the
table at Vance. “The implications of this are staggering. It is astonishing that this secret has held so long…but time is quickly running out.”

  “My projections vary from three weeks to six months, but in half a year max…and probably much sooner…the entire scheme will collapse, taking the Alliance economy with it.”

  Li An was trying, with very limited success, to keep the shocked expression off her face. “And it will bring down the rest of the world economy with it in a matter of minutes.”

  “Seconds.” Vance’s tone was grim. “I suspect the chain reaction will be almost instantaneous.” He looked over at Li An. He’d known this for a few days, and he understood how shocking it was to her.

  “This will be the worst economic disaster in history.” She glanced back at the ’pad, swiping through another few pages, skimming the contents. “I can’t even begin to speculate on where this could lead.”

  “It will almost certainly cause widespread revolt in every Superpower. When the economic infrastructure breaks down entirely, there will be widespread starvation. Even your well-controlled and carefully monitored lower classes will riot and rebel when there is no food.”

  Vance knew the economic disruption would hit Mars hard too, but his world wouldn’t suffer the same level of social disruption as the terrestrial Powers. The Martian Confederation didn’t have a significant underclass, and its population was tiny compared to its wealth and economic output. It had strictly controlled immigration for a century, allowing entry only to skilled professionals, while the Superpowers all had vast legions of oppressed and uneducated workers.

  “It will go farther than that.” Li An’s voice was flat, emotionless. She was imagining the nightmare that would unfold. “It will lead to war, and that will hasten the decline.” She paused, looking down at the table. “This could finish the destruction of civilization the Unification Wars failed to complete.”

  “So you will help me unravel this mystery?”

  Li An looked up at Vance. Whatever she had seen fit to do in her career, Li was a patriot. She’d certainly done all she could to build her own power base, but most of her efforts were focused on insuring the CAC remained a strong and viable power…and she shuddered at the thought of all that being in vain. She imagined all she knew, Hong Kong, Shanghai…all the great cities rebuilt since the Unification Wars…lying in ashes again.

  “Of course, Mr. Vance.” The soft light from the lamp made her moist eyes glisten. “I will do everything humanly possible.”

  Vance nodded gratefully. “I came to you because I have exhausted all my available resources. I am hopeful that your people have come upon useful information in their day to day duties…data they didn’t realize was important because they lacked the knowledge you now possess.” He took a deep breath. “We don’t have time for a lot of new intelligence gathering, so I would start by tearing apart your existing files. It’s hard to believe something of this scale didn’t leave any ripples that were picked up by your surveillance activities. Your people just had no context to recognize them as important.” He paused. “We both know the CAC spies on the Alliance much more aggressively than my people do.”

  “I will devote all of C1’s resources to this at once.”

  “I am very grateful.” He hesitated, then decided to continue. “I would also point out that the impending economic disaster may well be the least of our concerns.” Li An stared at him quizzically, but she didn’t say anything. “A sum of money approaching a year’s total output of the entire planet is missing.” He stared at her, and he knew his mask of calm was slipping away. “That is more than petty corruption. It went somewhere, for some purpose we don’t yet understand…and that can’t be good.”

  The room was utterly silent, Vance and Li An just staring at each other. Finally, she opened her mouth, and a single word escaped. “Stark.”

  Chapter 15

  Saw Tooth Gorge

  Red Mountains

  Northern Territories, Far Concordia

  Arcadia – Wolf 359 III

  “Cease firing!” Kara’s voice was raw and shrill as she screamed into the comlink. Her people were going through way too much ammunition, blazing away at full auto all across the line. The enemy was already running, and she didn’t have anywhere near enough supplies to sustain this level of fire.

  The enemy attack had been unexpected. The opposing forces had been fixed on their respective sides of the canyon for three weeks, just staring across at each other. She had a pretty good idea the enemy’s logistics were fairly strained, but her own supply situation was downright dire. She was going to have to put her soldiers on half-rations very soon…and the ammunition stockpile was even worse.

  The enemy’s move had been a feint, a spoiling attack to see if her army’s morale had crumbled enough that they’d run at the first sign of an assault. Well, she thought, they got their answer. Their forces had barely started down the ragged paths leading from the canyon’s edge when her entire line opened up with withering fire. She didn’t figure the invaders had given her ragtag army much respect, but they got a lesson they wouldn’t soon forget. They turned tail and headed back almost immediately, and by the time they got back to cover, they’d suffered 200 casualties.

  Her people kept up their fire after the pullback started, gunning down the retreating enemy soldiers. She didn’t have any problem with that – she’d have shot every one of them herself if she had the chance – but they just didn’t have that kind of ammo to waste. She’d told them over and over again to fire the minimum amount necessary to turn back an enemy attack. But their blood got up in the battle, and it took her shrieking into the comlink three times to get them to stop.

  “I know the troops used too much ammo, Kara, but those bastards won’t soon forget what they got today.” Ed Calvin came hobbling up behind her, the elation in his voice obvious. “If they think that force over there is enough to finish us off, they are very much mistaken.”

  Kara turned to face her number two. Calvin knows better, she thought. But she realized that he, like her – like many of her troops, the ones who’d battled their way through the rebellion – fought with the ghost of William Thompson looking over their shoulders. Defeat was as unthinkable to them as it was to her. They had all loved Thompson intensely, and their loyalty was absolute. He had almost single-handedly held them together during the worst days of the revolution. Losing the republic he’d given his life to create, a mere seven years after its founding, was unthinkable to them.

  Calvin was grinding his teeth as he spoke. He wouldn’t admit he was in significant pain, stubbornly insisting he could barely feel it. The “nothing” in his foot turned out to be two broken bones and a sizable section of torn ligaments, and he’d flatly refused to use up any of the army’s limited supply of painkillers.

  A tiny smile crossed Kara’s lips. Calvin reminded her of Thompson in a number of ways…certainly he was nearly as pigheaded as her lost love. “I know, Ed. We all want to gun down every last one of them.” Her voice was mildly scolding. “But if we run out of ammo, we hand them the army, the war, and Arcadia.” She motioned around her, toward the army’s positions. “Is that what they want? What you want?”

  He sighed. “No, of course not, Kara.” His voice was sullen, apologetic. “You’re right. We may have to ration ammunition allotments after all.” They’d discussed that before…reducing the supplies to the troops on the line and keeping a larger central reserve. But that strategy had risks too. If the enemy launched a full scale attack and the troops on the line were caught without enough ammunition, it could be catastrophic.

  She stood silently for a moment. “No, not yet.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s put this on the small unit commanders…make them responsible for controlling ammunition usage.” She looked up at Calvin. “We’ve got good people, Ed. We just need to figure out how to really get through to them.”

  He was nodding. “I agree, Kara.” He hesitated. “And I think you should do it.” He f
elt odd, pushing the responsibility off on her. Officially, he was the army’s commander and Kara was just some civilian tagging along. But he knew she was the heart and soul of the army, the inspiration for all the men and women under arms…including himself. No one could get through to the soldiers better than she could.

  She smiled, though it took considerable effort. This wasn’t what she wanted…the responsibility, the adoration. She wasn’t a soldier, and she certainly never expected to find herself in de facto command of an army. She accepted it because she owed it to Will…because she loved Arcadia and wouldn’t see it fall while there was breath in her body. She accepted it so her son had a chance at a future free of constant war and suffering. “Set it up, Ed. On the com in 30 minutes. All officers and sergeants commanding platoons.”

  Calvin stood straight up, not exactly at attention, but something very close. “Yes, Kara. In 30 minutes.”

  She nodded and turned slowly. He stood and watched her walk away. She does what she has to do, he thought, but she doesn’t really understand…she thinks she’s here by accident, trying to protect Will’s army or her father’s republic. “It was Will’s army, but not anymore.” Calvin whispered softly, sadness and hope mingling in his voice. “It’s your army now, Kara…and it will follow you anywhere. This is your destiny.”

  The rough, rocky plain was littered with armored corpses. Three times the invaders had launched themselves at Teller’s troops dug into the mountains…and three times they’d been repulsed with heavy casualties. The Marines had their backs against the wall, but they were fighting like devils. They were trapped and low on supplies, but they didn’t falter, not for an instant.

  Teller’s command post was deep in the abandoned mine complex. It wasn’t a very cozy spot, without significant ventilation and highly contaminated by radioactive ores and toxic residues of the mining operation. His people had done their best to turn the place into a fortress, but they’d had no time to make it comfortable. Teller would have loved to have a place he could let his Marines pop their suits, even for a few hours, but it was out of the question. The rad levels in the deep corridors would give an unprotected man a lethal dose in less than ten minutes.