The Valhalla Covenant

The faint hues of dawn had not deepened to anything like real colour before the peace of Jos’s household was shattered by the howl of engines and the shriek of rubber. Moments later a delivery van smashed in through the main garage door and flowered into an explosion far too large to be accounted for just by fuel. Half the front wall of the house disintegrated with the force of the blast, despite the heavy concrete structure of the large underground garage.

Suddenly awake and startled into action, Reimas ran into the corridor and saw smoke. In the north wing there was no immediate indication of what might have caused the explosion, but he seemed to recollect the low burble of the punt followed a little later by a roaring engine and the shriek of tyres.

Moments later, and surprisingly soon after the explosion, the hum of boat engines came to him across the water. Maybe it was only his sleepy mind or maybe it was something more significant but, from his window, the flashing blue of police boats converged net-like from several directions in what seemed to be a prearranged formation.

When Reimas reached the appointed emergency gathering point, others were already there.

“Seems we’ve been a little too open in our recruiting, after all,” said Sean, who had returned from the last of many trips to the English Valhalla base only several days earlier.

“We’ll worry about that later,” said Reimas. “There’s some muscle on the way.”

“Right. I saw the lights, too. Everyone out into the flyer then, and we’ll take it from there.”

A quick check of the security cameras revealed figures moving in and around the back of the house — fortunate for the occupants because the flyer was at the front. Moving quickly and with weapons, they looked like they meant business.

On the face of it, the household was lucky. The front door had not been blocked or destroyed, and the bedrooms were mostly high up at the back of the house. Reimas’s was at the front, but on the northern corner, well away from the garage. No one had any injuries, serious or otherwise.

Finn made it to the pilot’s seat first and fired up the systems while others boarded. Jos was last out, following Reimas and Carl, and he swore loudly as a bullet grazed his arm just shy of the flyer’s entry port. Jumping through, he cursed the Unity soldiers, before taking a seat. He was bleeding and Anna jumped up as they lifted off, to tend the wound.

Carl, who had improved considerably in the last few days, sat in one of the back-up crew seats, behind the cockpit. Chenault and Hope still seemed to be in the process of waking up. Sky, who had been staying at Jos’s now for some time, was pale and wide-eyed. Like Reimas, few of them had much in the way of clothes on and within moments they were beset with an array of conflicting emotions.

“We’ve had our cover blown, I take it,” said Jos.

“Stripped to the bare bones,” Reimas laughed. “Car bomb, I’d say. They’ve done a good job, too. Take a look.”

The house was alight, now a hundred or so metres below, and burning at the front.

“Can’t we put it out?” Laurence asked, troubled now that he was more aware of the full extent of the damage. “There’s a hell of a lot of important stuff down there.”

“Don’t worry,” Jos reassured him. “The fire control system will already have kicked in.”

“Perhaps that mightn’t be so good, once those guys get in there.”

“Who?”

“Take a look.”

The view screens showed at least a dozen men on the ground.

“There’s all my equipment in the lab,” said Laurence.

Jos darted a glance at him.

“Right, but can’t you delete all the sensitive information using your phone?”

“Of course, why didn’t I think of that? I’ve got it all backed up, anyway.”

A cell phone rang and there was a general scramble to find it. Erin picked it up and heard Zane’s voice, urgent and cold as he fought to control his fear.

“They’re coming in, Blaze. Police, I suppose. Can you get someone here? Otherwise I’ll have to start shooting and I don’t know where that’ll end.”

“So they’re after you too?” said Reimas. “We can be there in a few minutes.”

“Right. Thanks. So, what’s happening?”

“Someone just blew the front off Jos’s house with a car bomb and I don’t think it’s a simple coincidence that you’re being raided.”

“Okay, but by the sound of it you might want to check on some of the others to see if they’re in the same boat. Everyone in the house okay?”

“We’re all here.”

“The damn tin soldiers are breaking the door. I’ve gotta go.”

As soon as he ended the call, there was another one. It was Zoe. She was only seconds away, now, in the southern suburbs.

“I knew something was strange earlier this evening,” she said with icy calm. “The place was too quiet and I just felt like I was being watched.”

“So you’ve had unwelcome attention too,” said Reimas.

“Didn’t think I’d be the only one.”

“You gave them the slip?”

“Yes, I used a trick some friends and I have up our sleeves. We get ourselves delivered by courier to each other in a large box — in case of emergency. Then we go downtown, hire a van, and come back to watch the action.”

“What on Earth made you think of doing that?”

“I call it women being clever. We developed the strategy for dealing with jilted lovers and violent ex-husbands. Much better to watch them in secret than wait inside for them to break down the door.”

“One strategy out of many, I bet.”

“Sure.”

“Well it paid off this time. We’ll slip over to pick you up.”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Even when Zoe arrived on board and looked around in disbelief at the general want of clothing, both the other phones were ringing. Kyle had managed to give his unwanted visitors the slip also, though with less finesse, and was anxious to be picked up.

“Goddamn thanks for thick bushes,” he said as he entered through the lower port, rubbing the blood away from a deep scratch on his arm. “Zikes, why don’t you get some clothes on?” he added as he looked around.

“Haven’t even thought about it up until now,” said Reimas, wearing only boxer shorts. “We had to get out quick only moments after the explosion.”

“What explosion?”

“Jos’s house.”

Next, they picked up Zane, who had climbed from his rooftop to a nearby tree. Jos and Finn continued to use both the available phones and Reimas pulled a couple of unused ones out of a locker. Laurence grabbed one and called his techno-geek friend Miles but there was no response from him or his partner, Meg.

Sasha set about calling some of the other new contacts. Most were all right but some failed to answer. Growing doubts about their welfare led Reimas to adopting a more systematic approach so they could trace everyone they knew before they disappeared forever.

Some, including Sky and Arabella, wore tracers and were soon located in a tower block in Artarmon on the north side. Yet for the time being it was considered too risky to get them out, as sensors revealed too many unidentified readings close by — presumably their captors.

Other than being government owned, there was no way to identify who or what the tower housed, but thanks to its anonymous nature alone, it generated considerable speculation. While some of the crew kept tabs on the girls, waiting for the right moment to break them out, Laurence concentrated on finding out how to manipulate the viewer to survey the building.

Manual control of the view screen directional adjustment was quite delicate but, before long, he hit upon a good technique for making minute incremental adjustments. Happily, he also found that he could use echo imaging to accurately map the internal layout.

In this way, he soon determined that the building was minimally staffed yet extremely secure — a strange place to house ordinary police.

Several floors from the top, a group of small rooms were being used as holding cells, and in one, there were four prisoners.

Whoever it was, Global Unity was behind it, and their sudden night attack was a wake up call coming so soon after the meeting. Some were stunned, but where Reimas was concerned, it did little more than steel his resolve. Their entry into the public world of politics had not gone unnoticed.

Over the last two weeks, they’d received six more flyers from Valhalla and had them based at secret locations around the country.

Within minutes, on this occasion, the crews were talking to each other. Each reported attacks on local members, new and old in all the states.

“There’ll be more to come, you can be sure,” Reimas told them over a special discreet channel that jumped rapidly between frequencies to a prearranged pattern.

After talking to various state leaders about the responses they should employ, he glanced at Jos, who was busy talking with Sean. Both seemed strangely tense in Reimas’s eyes, as if relatively minor fears that had been worrying them earlier were now looming large before them. In the light of the circumstances, however, he judged it better to make nothing of it.

“We’ll get it all back together as soon as possible,” he said with calm resolution, when Jos turned to him. “It seems likely that these operatives holding our people are not actually police — though they may have had police backup. They’ll be Global Unity agents of some sort and that makes it all the more urgent to release our people before they’re questioned in earnest. We can’t be sure of what such thugs might do at a moment’s notice.”

In the face of his confidence, Jos’s confusion vanished. He was ready for action — less curious about what Reimas had planned than simply pleased to know that he was on the verge of doing something.

Reimas turned to ask Laurence to manage control of the scanning console then called Jos and Sean over.

“We need to get the best out of this situation,” he said. “We could easily tie ourselves up for too long in a petty battle, here, but it’ll be better to get down to the specific job at hand as quickly as possible, without losing any advantage of secrecy we might still have.”

“Right,” said Sean, “because we also need to get our people out of the hands of these thugs as quickly as possible.”

“Should we take prisoners?” Jos asked.

“Not good at the moment. They’ll just get in the way.”

“Stun them, then,” said Sean.

“I had planned to blow this building sky high once we have our people out. Any reason not to?”

“No, come to think of it.”

“Then we’ll get everyone out by firing in smoke bombs and setting off the alarms.”

“If you say so,” said Laurence. “I didn’t know we had them, but just give me a minute. I’ll load the building’s schematics onto the visor arrays, too, and kill the power. Then you can do what you like.”

“Finn and Jos, come with me,” said Reimas. “The flyer’s system will locate us on the visors in real time and our suits have discrete air.”

“Vision?”

“Night vision. Get your suits on.”

Sean fired in the smoke shells and, almost immediately, panic took hold within the building. Figures on the scanner ran from all over the place to the stairs and the elevators.

Without fuss or even much noise, the flyer descended to within a metre of the roof, allowing Reimas and the others an easy jump.

Aboard the flyer, Sean looked a question and Laurence nodded. All were visible on the viewer.

Inside, Reimas and Jos led, while Finn brought up the rear. Several times, men running scared and blind bumped into them, but were no trouble. The detailed visor schematics led them straight to the right area, three levels down, and very quickly after that to the room where their friends were held.

Reimas slammed the door open and it connected heavily with someone behind. It was a guard, pulling a pistol out as he skidded across the floor. Finn took a shot with the stunner and kept him on the ground, but there was another to the left, who fortunately for all, lost moments trying to decide whether to tackle Reimas or shoot him. One of the prisoners jumped on him from behind and slammed his head to the ground.

Arabella sat cowering and naked in the corner while three others were held separate in a barred cell across the room — Aaron, Jill and Tory. All were coughing and their eyes streamed but they were amazed and relieved to be rescued so soon — and with such a confidence boosting show of force.

“What next?” Sean asked over the com.

“Is there anyone left in the building?” Reimas asked.

“Just a few. They’ll be gone soon. Nobody on the upper levels.”

“Okay, we’re on our way up. Then you can pound the place.”

“All right, but see if you can grab their data base before I set off the fireworks. It’s just around the corner from your current location.”

Reimas went for the data while the others shepherded their freed associates up to the top floor. On the way in, he spotted a momentary shadow beneath the door and ran at it hard. Made of steel and quite heavy it slammed hard back against the wall taking one of the security guards with it.

It was reassuring see the guy groaning and stunned. Reimas turned his weapons spotlight on the fellow and saw a handful of data silks slip from his grasp onto the floor. Looking up, he saw all the slots on the console were empty. A minute later and he might never have found them.

“Get out,” he yelled at the guard, kicking him sharply. “This place is going up.”

With the silks in his pocket, and having seen the guard into a lift, he made his way up to the roof and jumped aboard the flyer.

“Give it to them, Sean,” he ordered, handing the silks to Laurence. “It has to be clear by now.”

Below, as the shells and rockets found their mark, the building shook and flashes of orange light came from within. A shudder ran through the flyer as the top floor, beneath them, heaved metres into the air. With a gush of smoke, debris and flames, the sides gave way. The last of the vehicles on the street outside the building raced away before it sagged and cascaded downwards in a pile of smoke and rubble.

A gasp came from all those in the flyer as the twenty-story structure collapsed into a smoking, flame-belching heap on the ground.

“Okay,” said Sean. “We’re out of here. I’ll keep trying to get hold of everyone that we haven’t located.”

Erin shook her head in slow disbelief.

“That’ll certainly give them something to think about,” she said.

“And a good thing, too,” Finn said. “If we can react to something like what they just did to us by sockin’ it to ’em, then ten to one we’ll get some breathing space.”

Reimas turned to the astonished new arrivals. Most had been recently contemplating the worst kind of fate, and could do with a decent pep talk.

“Now that you’re all here,” he said, “instead of facing an interrogation tomorrow, you’ll be able to train in earnest for what’s coming.”

“None too soon,” Arabella replied. She looked strangely fierce in her nakedness but as soon as she spoke and drew attention to herself, Erin threw her a coat.

“Those in control of this world have a long head start,” Reimas mused. “We need to find out who they are. We have the means to start that search and we’ll certainly continue to refine them.”

“You got a moment, Blaze?” Laurence asked. “I’ve just been looking at some of the data from that place.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“It was Covert Ops HQ. There’s some good code breaking stuff in this flyer. I’ve found a list of all the sub-branches, suspect individuals, supply depots, bank accounts and military connections. You name it.”

“Good break,” Reimas laughed. “That’ll save us some trouble.”

Laurence looked up and met his eyes.

“All the capital cities have bases, but I’d say Melbourne and Canberra should be first on our list.”

“Okay. Let’s make it so. Take your seats, everyone.”

Back in the pilot’s seat, he swung the flyer around and slammed forward the throttles. Less than a minute later, they were hovering over the co-ordinates given for Canberra and spying on the base below. Two other flyers joined them.

“Smoke them,” said Reimas, over the radio.

Knowing well that the total destruction of places like this would be crucial to their fight, they replied with ready affirmatives. On Reimas’s part, after being put on the defensive in such a curt fashion, it was pleasantly ironic that they had turned their position around so speedily, and he thought no more than that about the base’s demise.

“Okay, let it rip,” he said, pressing the fire button.

This time the building took a pounding without any immediate results. For some minutes it withstood the barrage, until, just as the government jets and copters began to arrive, mysteriously, it simply blew apart. Chunks of concrete the size of tanks flew up and out so high that for a moment Sean was concerned that they might be in danger.

Five minutes later they were doing the same thing over Melbourne, only to move on and continue the cleansing process in each capital city, with the belated assistance of several more flyers when their ammunition ran out. Each time, the air force arrived too late and couldn’t see them in any case.

“That’ll do us for the time being,” said Reimas when the sun was well up. “I think we should return, now, to pick up the rest of our people and see what comes of it all.”

“There could still be some surprises back home,” Sean agreed. “Meanwhile, this couldn’t have been a better training exercise for the battles to come if we’d planned it from the outset.”