She Bleeds for Us: The Galactic Consortium 3

Chapter 63

The president's compound was set on a high hill just outside of town, but luckily not far from the mosque where Gabby and the revolutionaries had holed up. Tamba and Binti had "cased the place" before, or so they said. At any rate they led the way, leading the small group up a dirt path towards the back of the compound.

"This is as close as we've been able to get," Binti said at last. They were still a distance from the walls that separated the grounds. A back gate for supplies was visible with a small guard station and two guards. "There are cameras, there and there." She pointed.

Gabby nodded. "I got them." He had a holoprojector that Devaki had taught him to use to create a distraction. But he had a different idea now. "Just give me a second." He made a quick photo of the surroundings and then set up the projector to show those images directly in front of the cameras. It wasn't perfect but hopefully whoever was watching the cameras wouldn't notice that the image was frozen until they were already inside. "Okay, got it." He said.

Daniel swallowed. "Alright, my turn."

"Are you sure about this?" Luther asked.

"No," Daniel admitted, "But it's the best shot we got at getting inside without bloodshed." He took a deep breath, straightened his back and headed up the hill.

Their plan was simple, as it had to be with the short time they had. Daniel would approach the gate and hopefully the guards would assume since he was a police in uniform that he was on their side. They were also counting on Gabby's ruse, if the control center wasn't sounding any alarms they would assume Daniel must be authorised.

If they captured Daniel, the others would attempt a more forceful entry. Gabby hoped Daniel's plan worked.

Daniel reached the gate without trouble. He leaned in and spoke with the guard. They froze in that position for some time. Gabby's anxiety peaked. They couldn't see what was going on. The Daniel began waving one hand wildly.

They rushed forward.

They found Daniel and the guard locked in a grappling match in-between the bars of the gate. Daniel had a firm grip on the man, who was trying to pull away and yelling for back up.

Luther rushed over the get his arms through the bar and get ahold of the man as well. Binti squeezed between the two men and came out with a small security card on a long lanyard.

"He didn't buy the ruse," Daniel cried, "but his walkie talkie is in the station."

"Don't matter, I got the key," Binti said rushing over to activate the gate.

The gate beeped and started to open. Daniel and Luther had no choice but to let go of the man, who rushed for the gate house. Two of the revolutionaries dashed inside the now opening gate and chased after the man but they were too late. He got inside the guard house and slammed the door behind him.

Daniel watched him pick up the walkie talkie and start speaking. They couldn't hear him but they could see him gesturing wildly, like a tv set on silent. Daniel shrugged. "Well we got in, but they know we're here. I guess that's what we wanted." He pulled out his pistol and turned to the man with the shotgun. "Remember we want to shoot wildly, make them think it's a real invasion. The rest of you, make noise, break a few things, but mostly stay as safe as possible. Okay?"

That was all the time they had. They rushed inside, into a large open garden behind the main compound. They could already see guards coming out of the main building and heading for the back gate.

There was a loud crack of the shotgun, fired into the air, followed by yelling and then return shots from the guards. The scene grew chaotic around Gabby. He felt afraid for and proud of these revolutionaries, he had a forcefield but his current shipment hadn't include any others and they were vulnerable to the bullets that were increasingly buzzing in the air around them.

Gabby ran alongside a hedgerow, thanks to his small stature, the hedge mostly covered him but Binti had to crouch low to stay hidden. She dropped to the ground and for a moment Gabby feared she had been hit, but she sat up and pulled out her phone.

It was an earth mobile phone and nothing fancy even before the Consortium had arrived. But it had a camera and that was enough. She started recording a live video for Twitter. It wasn't enough for their small troop to create a disturbance up here, the world had to know about it, think that it was bigger than it was.

Gabby ran on, sticking his head up now and then, hoping to draw the guards away from her. He stopped suddenly as something blotted out the sun. Wind rushed over him as an orbital hopper dropped out of the sky overhead. Its doors were open on both sides and Kuragari were rappelling down on long ropes, dropping the last few meters, hitting the ground and then bouncing into action.

Then he recognised one of them, Devaki, running towards him and shouting his name. He dashed towards hir.