The Battle for Terra Two by Stephen Ames Berry Read Free Book Online Page B

course.
    "The Gray Admiral? The former Abwehr head?"
    "The same," she said, nodding. "Called in by Alliance Intelligence—Kassel's crew. Something to do with Maximus. Nothing firm—just something Ian heard from an old CIB buddy on the last weapons run."
    "No one knows what he looks like, do they?"
    "No. He's the man without a face. The last photo of him was taken in the forties. The day after Wolfsschanze, he somehow got past a brigade of Waffen SS and calmly put a bullet through Himmler's head."
    "Thus ending effective resistance to the Putsch," he nodded. "He must be in his sixties."
    "Easily. God!" She jumped up. "I almost forgot, and it sounds like you'll need it." Going to the big Governor Winthrop, she pulled open a drawer. Extracting an oblong black plastic case, she handed it to John. "Nixdorf-IBM 7000 series authenticator. Insert it into the authorizer port of UC's computer, and the machine will answer its own challenge."
    "You're sure?" he asked dubiously, turning the small device over in his hands.
    "No." She smiled for the first time. Thin, but still a smile. "Don't worry, though. They'll give the next poor bastard something better."
    "Comforting." He pocketed the device. "OK, if you'll have someone lead me back to St. Mark's from here . . . Where, by the way, is here?"
    "Can't do any harm now. This is the Barcroft Estate in Brookline, abandoned in '68, carefully unbooby-trapped and restored by the Vipers. You arrived via the old Green Line subway tunnel, which in turn accesses part of the Underground Railroad, circa 1855. We built the entrances and connectors."
    "One more thing." He related the story of Cinzano Bay. "One of yours?"
    She nodded, grim-faced. "Lotte. She was to meet someone with information on Maximus. Maybe she was set up, maybe she was just unlucky. We'll probably never know."
    "But why the grenade?" John asked. "A lot of innocent people died." Neither saw the bookcase swing wide.
    "Innocent?" she snapped, eyes blazing. "The technos get tax-free income, hazard pay, cheap servants and subsidized housing to live here as colonialists. They know the risks. The grenade's our answer to Aldridge's summary justice." Their eyes locked. "We don't go gentle into that good night, Major Harrison."
    "But go you shall," came a low voice from behind. "Don't even think of it, Major," zur Linde said as Harrison's eyes went to the distant sofa and his weapon. Stepping into the library, minimac leveled, the German spoke into his starhelm. "Septime to Crispin.
    "I couldn't, Colonel," he said to the voice complaining in his ear. "I was in a tunnel. Please respond the alert company on this vector, sir. I'm in a nest of Vipers."
    Not for the first time, it struck Harrison how dehumanizing UC battledress was: black uniform, black gloves, black boots, black starhelm. Even the machinepistol was black. Hard to believe anything human existed within that darkness—certainly not a man with a weakness for Oriental women who'd invited him sailing. "May we put our hands down, Herr Hauptmann?" he asked.
    "Red scum. Keep them up."
    "Is that what you think we are, Erich?" John lowered his hands. "How can I convince you ..."
    "Hands back up, Major," said the German coldly, "or you lose a kneecap." John complied.
    "Don't be a silly bitch," said zur Linde, centering the muzzle on Heather. Her hands went back up, away from the magnum.
    "Put the cannon on the sofa, please. Thumb and forefinger." The big pistol bounced onto a cushion. "Thank you."
    He turned his back to John. "We're of an age, Harrison, you and I. Your biography says your father died at Second Stalingrad. True?"
    Captain Tristram Malory Harrison had been killed at Chosen Reservoir. "Not Stalingrad," said John. "A different battle."
    "My father died at Second Stalingrad," said zur Linde, "when Das Reich's Division saved your Third Armored. How could you betray what both died for?" It bothered him, you could tell from his voice.
    "I'm here to save, not to betray, Erich.