Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(46)
After he had cleaned out the armory, he checked each of the five bodies on the ground. Smitt and one of the monitors were still unconscious, two were dead, and the last one was coming to. James slammed his head to the ground once more for good measure. He briefly considered using the paint band on one of the monitors to sneak out of Central but decided against it. It would take a paint band too long to accurately scan and duplicate a person’s face, and time was of the essence right now.
James took off from the armory at a brisk walk. Any faster would attract undue attention. Luckily, the melee in the armory had occurred so fast that none of the monitors had a chance to sound a general alarm. Monitors weren’t issued comm or AI bands, for the same reason they weren’t given exo bands. These were high-tech bands that were too resource-prohibitive to allocate to common soldiers. Right now, this worked to James’s advantage and bought him precious minutes. However, an operations handler would probably expect the team to check in shortly.
The first thing he had to figure out was a place to lie low. Chicago and any of the large cities would be dangerous to hide in; ChronoCom had too much influence over the more civilized settlements, which wouldn’t hesitate to hand the fugitives over. That left the wildland settlements or possibly the wastelands.
James headed off toward the hangar. As usual, Earth Central was lively even late into the evening. Planetary salvages occurred at all times, and the exporting of the recovered materials continued around the clock. This made the hangar the busiest place in the entire base. He kept his face neutral and his gait steady as he made his way down the crowded hallways. Most of the personnel steered around him as he walked, paying him no more attention than usual.
He estimated he might have ten minutes before someone sounded the alarm and all of Central went on lockdown. James was sure the hangar was already being watched, but he had to take the chance. If it was unguarded or lightly guarded, he could quickly overpower the monitors and escape in the collie. If not, well, there was always Plan B. James reminded himself to think of a Plan B.
He would also want to rethink what was considered lightly guarded. With an exo, James was confident he could take on ten monitors dug into defensive positions. Maybe even fifteen, though he wouldn’t expect to come out of that unscathed. If there were other chronmen around, his odds decreased dramatically. James was good at what he did, and maybe he could take on a chronman with a team of monitors, possibly even two. Any more was a guaranteed loss. If there was an auditor there, all bets were off.
He reached the south wing hallway leading to the hangar. The traffic was thick as a constant stream of personnel and shipments passed in both directions. It allowed him to blend in with the crowd, but slowed his progress to a crawl. This delay was unusual and seemed like a suspicious coincidence. James didn’t believe in coincidences.
He left the slow-moving line and looked over the crowd still working its way into the hangar. Two monitors manned the doorway, waving people through. On the surface, everything seemed normal. Maybe the alarm hasn’t been raised yet. Maybe James could get past the checkpoint and out on the collie before anyone was the wiser. There was only one way to find out.
Not believing his good luck for a second, he pushed his way to the front of the line, preferring speed over subtlety. No one was going to argue with a chronman about cutting. He was now less than fifty meters from his escape. He could be out of here with no one the wiser. And just when he was starting to believe his good fortune, Central decided to burst his bubble.
His face popped up through the emergency channel of his AI band, and he saw several more images of himself appear across several of the security monitors. At first, he didn’t recognize the man on the screen; it had been a while since he had looked in a mirror. He didn’t look well.
James considered retreating back into the hallway, but he was already halfway to the hangar entrance and had brought too much attention to himself, pushing his way to the front. It would seem conspicuous if he backed out now. Besides, there was nothing behind him except more monitors and auditors. This was his best chance.
James lowered his head and continued walking. The two monitors up ahead wouldn’t pose much of a threat if they tried to stop him, but he’d rather not kill them if he could help it. The rest of the personnel in the hangar shouldn’t be too worrisome. The hangar chief didn’t tolerate monitors and auditors lounging in his domain.
The amount of traffic flowing into the hangar didn’t waver with this new security warning. Most people just glanced at it and continued on their business. The two monitors manning the door hardly seemed to notice either. Maybe he could just keep his head low and sneak through. It was his best shot.
James glanced at the monitor on the right side of the doorway and cursed. It was Beaulieu, whom he had run jobs with in the past when he had needed backup. James didn’t consider him a friend; he didn’t have any friends other than Smitt. Well, Smitt was no longer a friend either, but Beaulieu was one of the few monitors in ChronoCom whom James would greet if he passed him.
He shifted to his left and picked up his pace. Ten meters now. James powered on his exo to a low level, but kept his hands to his sides. He looked through the opening and saw his collie parked on one of the left landings, elevated third row up from the ground level. He quickly formulated a plan. Just as he passed the two monitors and dared to hope he had avoided detection, Beaulieu ruined everything.
“Chronman?” he said uncertainly.