The Debt Collectors War

Chapter 68

Ellie took out her tablet, and glanced at the map, and decided they were close enough to being halfway around the fence-line from the gate. She put the tablet away, and moved forward again, then turned at a right angle at the next building, going inwards, towards the middle of the compound.

She moved forwards cautiously, carefully, making sure to check doorways and windows by eye, and not just rely on the sensor net.

She checked, but she didn’t see any militia.

She was starting to wonder where they were.

She heard a dull explosion in the distance, the noise muted by her comm earpiece. She was noticing the explosions now that she’d begun listening for them. She heard one, and then another quite soon afterwards. She glanced around, watching the display inside her glasses, trying to work out what the drone had just shot at.

She couldn’t tell. She couldn’t remember clearly enough to know which data-markers had just disappeared from her display, and she wasn’t confident enough with the glasses’ controls to try replaying a map view over time to see it properly.

She looked around, unsure what the drone was shooting at, and suddenly noticed there were a lot less militia than there had been.

As she watched, another disappeared. It had been a faint marker, one far across the compound, a long way away from Ellie, but it had definitely disappeared as she watched.

Ellie began thinking.

She was beginning to wonder just how effective Sameh’s drone was. She actually wanted to know. The drone might be useful. It might change her plans.

It might be able to win this for them.

“I’m running out of targets,” Ellie said to Sameh.

“Yeah,” Sameh said, sounding slightly confused. “Me too.”

“I’ll cover us,” Ellie said. “Can you check on the militia. On how many of them are still moving around?”

Sameh nodded, and looked at her tablet. Ellie kept watch around them as she did.

“Twelve,” Sameh said. “And the four outside the bunker.”

Ellie was surprised. The drone was doing a lot better than she had expected. She had been thinking of it as a distraction rather than a weapon, but it had actually been killing militia, a lot of militia.

There was another thud, as Ellie thought that, and Sameh said, “Eleven now. And a couple just ran out the front gate.”

“Fuck,” Ellie said, still a little surprised. “That’s good.”

“Yeah it is.”

“Really good.”

“I know.”

Ellie knew Sameh. She knew Sameh so well she didn’t need to look. “What?” she said, without turning around.

“You can say sorry whenever you want,” Sameh said.

“Sorry for what?”

“Telling me we didn’t need grenades.”

Sameh was teasing. Ellie was almost sure she was teasing, but Ellie said, “Sorry,” all the same.

“No problem,” Sameh said.

Ellie grinned. She glanced back at Sameh, tenderly, then made herself pay proper attention to the firefight. She thought for a moment, thought about the drone, then said, “We should probably go and ask the four by the bunker if they’d like us to stop now.”

“We probably should,” Sameh said.

Ellie looked in that direction. She thought about those four people, and how they had the tactical sense to stay put where they were, and that they were probably in command for a reason. She thought about Joe, too, and his combat experience, and how there were people wandering around Měi-guó, even here, who had fought in actual wars.

“Can you get the drone to go and hover above those four?” Ellie said.

“Of course.”

“Not to shoot them or anything, just to hover, and make them calm down.”

Sameh nodded.

“Really not to shoot,” Ellie said, wanting to be clear.

“Yep,” Sameh said. “It won’t.”

“You’re sure you can do that?”

Sameh nodded. She was tapping her tablet. “I am right now,” she said.

Ellie waited for a moment. Sameh kept tapping. “Are you ready?” she said.

“Almost,” Sameh said, and then nodded. “Yep.”

“I can go?” Ellie said.

“Yep,” Sameh said, sounding slightly impatient. “I told you. Go.”

Ellie grinned, and did.