Swan Song (Book Three of the Icarus Trilogy) (21 page)

Charles attached the poster board to a wooden stake and then set it along with the others.  They would bring a few extra signs to the protest tomorrow, hoping that others would take up the cause.  Charles knew that it was the best idea.  They didn’t have to resort to violence.  That officer had deserved it; but overall Charles wanted to believe that most of the EOSF were just men trying to look out for their fellow men.

“You think we have enough, Chuck?” a new friend asked.  Charles looked over to the man and smiled.  His clothes were tattered and there was a scraggly beard all over the man’s face, but Charles knew that there was more to the dissident by his side.

“Hah, who knows, Louie?  Could be just us out there at the base.  I hope more will come with us, but you can’t really know,” he said as he pondered the operation tomorrow.  Charles and his friends would go to the EOSF base over in District Eight and make a scene.  Hopefully some unbiased reporters would find their way to see the commotion.

“Chuck, I’ve been meaning to ask.  What’s the point of it?  We can’t really do much just shouting and waving signs,” Louie said as he scratched the side of his neck.  Charles smiled and set his hand on the man’s dusty shoulder.

“It’s not about what we can really do, Louie.  The statement is the point.  We’re trying to show Montgomery and the EOSF that it’s not just the insurgents who are against this little stalemate.  It’s making it difficult for us normal people to get around and really live.  I think we all need to get back to the days when it wasn’t so difficult to look to the EOSF for help,” Charles said, but Louie just sighed at that.

“I don’t really remember those days, Chuck.  You look like you had a nice life before Jenkins came down with all those soldiers, but I don’t think I ever trusted those black-armored people.  You can’t trust people who think black is a nice way to go,” Louie said, which confused Charles slightly.  He wondered what the unkempt man was actually thinking.

“I got another question I’ve been meaning to ask,” Louie started before crossing his arms and shuffling from one foot to the other.  Mr. Kane stood up and then put his hands into the pockets of his slacks.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked, not knowing if Louie would launch into something inappropriate.

“Why are you doing this with us?  I mean, we’ve all got pretty much nothing.  We all got nowhere to go but up.  But Chuck, you got money, I can tell from the lack of shit on your clothes.  I’m sure you got a family.  Why are you risking anything for us?” Louie asked, sniffing loudly at the end of the statement.

Charles pondered it for a minute, wondering why he was actually doing this.  He felt better about himself than he had in years, but when Louie mentioned the nature of the situation, Charles had a difficult time justifying it.  The accountant was definitely putting himself at risk.

Then he remembered why he was doing this and why it meant so much to him.  His thoughts fell to his beautiful wife and his two daughters.  They had always been his reason for living.  Now they were something much more.

“Louie, it’s
because
I have a family that I’m doing this.  My daughter,” he started, hesitating on the word, “she’s supposed to be in college right now, but the university is pretty much closed.  My wife can’t work.  I want them to have normal lives again,” he said, but his thoughts were on the other member of his family; the one person he wished he could see again.  He wanted to fight against the system because it was the very thing that took that person away.  He loved his wife and his daughter, but he would never be able to move past what Jasper Montgomery had done to his family.

“I.... need to help in any way I can,” Charles said, tears starting to well up in his eyes.  He remembered leaving Charlotte at the spaceport going off to Midgard.  It was supposed to be the first of many goodbyes; she was going off to college and would be back with her degree.  That last day had been heartbreaking for Charles Kane.  She would visit from time to time, and every goodbye had been a little easier to deal with.  She always gave him the same, sad smile that promised that she would return.  When Charles Kane had left her at the spaceport the last time she was supposed to return with stories about Eris.

“I understand, Chuck.  I think I get it.  We all look up to you for it, though.  Wanted to let you know that.  You don’t have to be here and we appreciate it,” Louie said before smiling, patting Charles on the shoulder and then heading back to the table to make another poster.  Charles watched the man go, but in his mind all he saw was Charlotte’s last, sad smile.  After wiping away the tears that had fallen down his face, Mr. Kane looked at his fellow protestors.  It felt right; it felt like Charles Kane was doing what he was meant to do.

He wanted his daughter back, but since Montgomery couldn’t give him that, Charles would fight for the family he had left.

-

Jenkins looked out on his soldiers hiding in the nearby buildings.  It was unclear when they had become his property, Atlas’ decree was more formal than anything, but Ryan knew what it was like to command men.  He knew what it was like to send men to die for his cause and his beliefs.

Ryan just hoped there would not be too many.

“Not much longer,” Carver said in his usual gruff voice.  The old veteran was right by his side, one of the provisions that Atlas had made in order for Jenkins to make his way into the operation.  Thomas had done everything he could to discourage Jenkins from attending the assault, but Ryan was unwilling to listen to reason.  These men could die for him today, the least he could do was be there to see it; be there to feel the weight of their loss.

“Shouldn’t be, Oliver and Quayle just checked in, said that some fiscal documents just happened to burst into flames,” Ryan said with a wry smile.  The messiah figure wasn’t worried about his soldiers across the city.  The Lions and the Eagles had been near the top of the rankings during the games, and during Ryan’s insurgency they had proven themselves again and again.

Jenkins looked out from under his hood and down the alleyway.  This was as close as he could get for now.  Atlas had made a point of it that he could help tactically, but the actual operation would only be the expendable soldiers.  Ryan hated that term; he didn’t want any of his men to be expendable.  But this was war, no matter what Montgomery and the news outlets said; people were going to die.  Jenkins remembered Gerrig’s statement during the briefing and felt guilty all over again.  The giant man had lost just as many people, but because he wasn’t a hero his unit wasn't allowed to sit on the sidelines.  Ryan hoped that Gerrig wouldn’t have to lose anymore friends.

 And just like that, the Sparrows made their entrance.  It became obvious that the EOSF were going to support the units over in District Twenty-Three, or at least that’s what Ryan hoped, because Ikari and his Sparrows took out the patrolling officers quickly before destroying the outdoor cameras.  Jenkins watched from the alleyway as the Mastodons’ heavy assault team broke open the front door with a few rockets.

As the soldiers advanced, Jenkins kept his eye on the walls.  He looked around for men in the battlements, people who could potentially harm his soldiers, but as soon as he was about to point out the threats he could hear the echoes of sniper rifles.  He smiled, knowing that Norris and his fellow killers were doing their jobs.  It seemed like the operation was going to go smoothly.

Jenkins hoped that everything would go to plan, but he also knew that it wouldn’t.

-

“Alright, Jimmy, my friend, we gots to go,” Urlov shouted from the other side of the room.  Kaspar looked over at his giant friend and nodded before tossing a match into the file cabinet.  It really was quite useless what they were doing, but that was the point.  It was just a distraction.

Unfortunately, Kaspar was the one distracted.

As he made his way through the office building, James could only think about the young woman he was going to meet in three hours.  He knew he should be focusing on the task at hand, but as he stalked through the hallways of the Perrel Financial building all he could see was the shiny, black hair and those emerald green eyes.  Urlov had to hit him on the shoulder a number of times just so that he could pay attention to what he was doing.

“What is up with you today, Jim?  Usually I’m the one who needs the cajoling and poking,” Demetri said as they made their way towards the stairwell.  The police chatter had been passed down the line and it seemed like the EOSF were about to swarm all about the building.  The two Lions needed to get out of there as fast as possible.

“I.... well, I’m just distracted,” Kaspar said as they started to jump down the stairs.  The suits could take the impact, so they weren’t worried about jumping too far.

“Well, stop it.  That’s how you end up dead.  And trust me, I like you too much for you to end up being a friendly ghost,” Demetri said with a chuckle.

“What?” James asked, but the bigger man merely sighed at the question.

“God, didn’t you ever watch cartoons?  Deprived, you are,” Urlov said as they reached the ground floor and started to rush over to the entrance.  “Wait,” he said, suddenly stopping in the lobby.

“What’s up?” Kaspar asked, anxious at the soldier’s statement.  He fully expected to see a group of EOSF in their way.

“Is this about a girl, young Kaspar?” Urlov asked with a high-pitched voice.  The smaller Lion slowly turned his neck to his compatriot and made a disgusted sound.

“Really, Demetri?  You ask this now?” Kaspar said, hurrying towards the entrance, unwilling to waste more time.

“You’re the distracted one.  And from your reaction I’m totally right.  You’re gonna have to tell me more about her when we get out of here,” Urlov said, but James merely shook his head at the boneheaded soldier next to him.  It didn’t stop the smile that was hiding underneath his helmet.  Only a few hours and he would be awkwardly making conversation.

“Aw, crap,” Demetri said from his left.  Kaspar didn’t have to ask what he meant, however, as he could see the three EOSF in front of them.  James didn’t bother to stop and threw a grenade before diving behind the receptionist’s desk to his right.  The former slave soldier looked to his left to see what happened to his compatriot and was relieved to see the big man was hiding behind the corner.

“On three,” Kaspar stated, watching his partner nod at the command.  After silently counting to three, the two soldiers peeked out behind cover just after the grenade exploded at the other end of the hallway.  It only took a moment for the pair of soldiers to scan the entire room.  The three EOSF officers had dived out of the way, but there was relatively little cover at the other end of the once-immaculate lobby.  It almost looked like one was trying to hide behind a fern. 

Kaspar didn’t smile at the image, as he might have done back on Eris, but instead fired three times into the soldier behind the plant.  He switched his aim once the man was sinking to the floor and fired again into one of the other soldiers.  It ended up being overkill, however, as Urlov had already sent a number of rounds into the two officers.

“You are slow sometimes, Jimmy,” Urlov said as he lowered his rifle and started to walk through the lobby.  Kaspar joined the bigger man and kicked open the front door, seeing their getaway car screaming around the corner of Wisteria and 6
^th
. 

“You’re one to talk, Demetri.  You only got them because I threw a grenade,” Kaspar said as the armored transport screeched to a halt and the door slid open.  The two men jumped into the car and looked behind them to see the other Lions starting to pour out of the stairwell.  James looked out the doorway and could see a trio of EOSF officers coming around the corner, raising his rifle to meet them, but almost immediately the three were struck down by sniper rounds.  He was glad that Jenkins had given the Eagles over to this operation.

“Pfft, I coulda taken them.  But since we have some time now, you have to tell me more about her, buddy,” Demetri said as he hunkered down beside James.  The smaller man laughed at the comment before grinning underneath his helmet.

“I’ll tell you when I know.”

-

Carver watched the young messiah figure and knew that Ryan wanted to be right out there with the rest of them.  When this little resistance had first started, Jenkins and Carver had been out there with the rest of the troops.  They were fighting for what they believed in.

Unfortunately, as time went on it became more and more obvious that it was imperative for the two of them to survive.  Ryan had always been meant for propaganda, but after the destruction of Eris, there just weren’t enough soldiers to go around.  He had been allowed to fight in that desperation, but the more and more they fought, the more sympathetic civilians came to offer their support.  Most of the fighting force was replaced by people with little military training, but they could hold a gun.  Carver hated that they needed to use these people as cannon fodder; it didn’t feel right.