Starship: Rogue

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ripple shrugged, her white hair glowing in the light. "I'll supervise both of them, for now, and we can hash out a better arrangement once everything's been sorted out."

Captain Falk nodded. "Fair enough. Take the Fox Squad shuttle. Oh, and one more thing: while it would be nice for you to bring every one of these people in, I know that's unrealistic. You may eliminate them, if you think it's the right move. Pick up her knockout guns from Indigo before you go."

They all nodded, and Tess, Cade and Adlai scrambled off to pack the gear they'd need for the next couple of days. Who knew how long they'd be in the field beyond that?

Adlai threw her new Ranger uniform into her battered backpack, then added a couple of changes of civilian clothes, clean underwear, and a warm jacket, then packed her weapons and ammo in a separate bag.

They met on the shuttle, and, once it had disengaged from the ship and taken off for who knows where, Ripple gathered them in the squad room. "Okay, guys," she said, projecting a list of names onto the screen. "Our targets. First up is..."

"Everett Jamison," Jase read out, his brow furrowing as he spoke. "Why do I know that name?"

Tess straightened suddenly. "Wait, the news presenter from Channel 4?" she asked. "That Everett Jamison?"

Ripple nodded, not a flicker of any emotion crossing her face.

"No wonder nobody's heard of the Red Night before," Cade muttered. "If they have people like Jamison in position to control the flow of information, they can pick and choose what stories circulate. I would be impressed, except, well, I'm more disgusted than anything. The Red Night was started to help the people, not keep them in the dark!"

"This isn't that Red Night anymore," Ripple said grimly. "That Red Night only exists in stories and history now."

The decision was unanimous; they would start with Everett Jamison. Their next decision was also unanimous; they wouldn't be bringing him in.

Four hours later, as dark fell over Berlin, Germany, Adlai lay flat on the rooftop of the building opposite Jamison's opulent mansion. It was sickening, how much gold decorated it, outside and in. Did anyone really find that tasteful.

"Everyone in position?" asked Ripple, who was stationed on the roof opposite with a rifle not dissimilar to Adlai's. Her job wasn't to take out Jamison, but to cover Adlai and Slate, who was watching the house from the cafe on the ground floor of the building Adlai was using as her sniper's nest.

Then, from the safety of their shuttle, Cade said, in a warning tone, "Uh, guys? I found Jamison's schedule. He should be on his way home now for... wait, who the fuck designates half an hour for 'sex with boyfriend?' The guy's a bigger ass than we thought!"

Before he could say anything else, Tess announced, "His car just turned onto the street. He should be pulling up now and–"

"He's getting out of the car," Slate said neutrally, as if he was remarking on the weather. "Fletcher, there's too many people around right now. Wait til he's inside to take your shot, yeah?"

"I don't have a clear shot, anyway," Adlai informed him, a bit peeved that he hadn't thought she'd already realized that. "I'd have to shoot through two of his bodyguards' heads, and I won't be able to work up that kind of velocity. I'm not a god."

Tess snorted, and Adlai knew that Ripple would be rolling her eyes. She leaned forward, peering through her rifle's scope, tracking Jamison as he spoke to one of his bodyguards, then walked inside, presumably for "sex with boyfriend," as Cade had informed them.