Falcon Guard

Jared Mahoney strode over to the corpse and turned it over with his foot so that it faced upward. Beneath the blood there was no clue to the kind of face that had been there.

"Does that make you feel anything, Pryde?"

"It makes me feel that you have committed a stupid error, Mahoney."

Jared Mahoney rammed the rifle into Aidan's stomach. "Perhaps you are next, Clan-scum."

"No. I am your chief hostage, your best hope for negotiation. You would not kill me until your cause is hopeless."

Jared Mahoney removed the rifle barrel from Aidan's stomach and took a few steps backward. He looked down at Demi-Precentor Truit's corpse and clucked his tongue.

"You two seemed so very chummy. Do you feel no regret at her death, Star Colonel?"

Aidan could barely hide his contempt for this fool. "I wish you had not been so stupid as to kill the chief ComStar official at Quarell. Now you have ComStar as well as Clan against you."

"I know that. It is a calculated risk, actually. I had intended all along to kill Truit so there would be no doubt about the seriousness of our intentions, but I had not pla

"No sadness," Aidan said. "It should not have happened, but it did. What more is there?"

"Your indifference appalls me."

What a strange thing for a murderer to say, Aidan thought, as he watched Jared Mahoney swagger away.

13

Ru

Reaching the helicopter, she went up to the hatch and knocked lightly. It opened immediately to reveal the face of the Comstar adept within. "I saw you coming," he said.

"One bad mark for me. I hope those vermin in the city did not spot me as well."

"Why didn't you radio ahead?"

"We were not sure if the rebels were monitoring transmissions. I plan to enter Vreeport, and I do not want to run into any welcoming committees."

She explained to the adept that Aidan Pryde and Melanie Truit had been taken hostage inside Vreeport. The man immediately volunteered to do anything to help rescue the Demi-Precentor, impressing Diana with his loyalty.

"What do you need?" he asked. "A weapon heavier than this pistol. What have you got?"

Without another word, the adept went to a storage bin at the rear of the craft. He pulled out a submachine gun and handed it to Diana. "You can have this," he said.

Diana sneered at the weapon. "Is that the best you have?"

"I'm a ComStar helicopter pilot, not a member of the Com Guards. Besides, that submachine gun could be very useful. It has great range for a small-bore weapon. If your aim is good, what difference does it make whether a weapon is low caliber, right?"

"Aff."

Rummaging further into the locker, he pulled out a sheathed knife.

He held it up triumphantly. "And here's a survival knife. Never been used. Should also be useful in there. You going in by yourself?"

"By myself."

"You have my admiration, beauty."

"Do not call me that."

Her voice was low and menacing, and the tech got the point. She hated the man for his impertinent I

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to scorch your armor. But you're quite a looker, you know."

"My looks are of no importance," Diana said irritably. "I am going to enter Vreeport by that hole in the city wall. Can you create a diversion for me?"

"Glad to. I'll make a flyby, then come back here. That should grab their attention. You can hide in that small clump of bushes just outside until I've passed over the city walls."

"Right." She moved toward the spot he indicated, then settled down among the shrubs while the helicopter revved up, rose, and then soared low over the city wall.

She was up and ru

* * *

Aidan wanted to wave the helicopter away. Who had authorized such a foolhardy maneuver? These rebels were already so wound up that they might commit any kind of violence, including blowing up the AgroMech in a mass suicide. Indeed, Jared Mahoney was ru

Finally, the rebel leader grabbed a pulse laser rifle from one of his supporters and aimed it skyward, firing wildly. His reckless act inspired others, and soon many of them were shooting at the aircraft.

What fools they were, thought Aidan. Did they not see how easily their fire could hit the wrong target and create a chain reaction that would destroy all of Vreeport?

Most of the shots went wild, until one hit the side of the helicopter, loosing tongues of flame from the side of the aircraft. As the copter began to go out of control, spi

Aidan held his breath as he watched the pilot regain control of the helicopter, which now hovered shakily in the sky over Vreeport. The pilot's attempts to control his craft were only partially successful, however. The next moment it began to slide downward toward the square.

Aidan braced for the expected crash, but somehow the pilot lifted just enough to clear a building on one side of the square. The helicopter continued onward, dipping a bit, then rose and leveled off. The pilot must have used up the last of either his luck or his skill, however, for the craft crashed to the ground just after clearing the city walls. The explosion sent up a flame that rose above the treetops of the forest, then disappeared.

Aidan stared at the wall, then at the bodies of Astech Trion and Melanie Truit, lying nearby but covered now with blankets. He wondered how many more would die.

Perhaps all, he thought, perhaps all.

* * *

Diana did not see the crash, but she heard it and the gunfire that preceded it. She did not have time to speculate on the crash or the death of the ComStar adept who had helped her, because she saw, in a building across the way, one of the rebels. The man was so amazed at her presence that he forgot to raise the automatic weapon held casually at his side. That moment of hesitation let

Diana draw her own submachine gun and burn a scorching hole between the man's eyes.

When she was sure he was dead, she stripped him of his tunic and loose trousers, slipping them over her shorts and vest. Then she went searching for the mob itself, the man's automatic weapon replacing the submachine gun in her arsenal.