A Higher Law
Cameras were an endangered species in ArcoShanti. The smart streetlights boasted embedded sensors, private homes and businesses operated their own security systems, but the New Gods had little insight into the narrow streets and winding alleys of the neighborhood.
Best of all, it was close to home.
Yuri knew the district like the back of his hand. He knew the shortcuts, the shops, the public transport routes, the many methods of ingress and egress. He knew who in the community supported him and who would sell him out for a piece of silver. And he knew the best place for a clandestine meeting.
The Claremont was the best-kept secret of ArcoShanti. Every night, the lounge brought in up-and-coming musicians on the brink of breaking out. The live performances always drew a full house. Soft candles and welcoming shadows lent the interior a warm ambiance. The staff waited discreetly in the wings, ever ready to be of service. An imaginative drinks menu and attractive bartenders kept the customers coming back.
And in the private booth around the back, people could speak freely without fear of being disturbed or overheard.
Yuri made sure of that. An hour ago, he had drawn the curtains and swept the booth with his bug detector. He had stowed his electronics in an RFID-blocking bag. And when his guests arrived, he switched on a white noise generator.
It wouldn’t defeat everything the New Gods could throw at him. But the New Gods had more important things to do than to hunt him here. He hoped.
Three men sat with him around the table. Detective John Gilbert, BPD Homicide, his bald pate and lined face revealing every one of his fifty-three hard years. Nico Hernandez, detective at the night desk of the 75th Precinct, and also a fellow student of the classical samurai arts. Sergeant Sage Lee, short and stocky, leader of the A-Team of BPD SWAT.
Before speaking a word, Yuri gathered the men’s electronics in his RFID-blocking bag, then swept them for bugs. Only when he was satisfied that the place was secure did he finally speak.
“Thanks for coming,” Yuri said.
The white noise generator drowned out his words in digitized hash. His guests had to lean in to hear him.
“Paranoid, are we?” Gilbert asked.
“Can’t be too careful,” Yuri replied.
“I have a feeling the New Gods are involved,” Hernandez said.
“You got that right,” Yuri said.
“Should I even be here?” Lee asked.
“You’re the most important man in the room.”
Lee crossed his arms. “How come?”
“I need your help. Your team’s help.”
“Are you hunting another monster?”
Yuri shook his head.
“Worse. We need to take a few monsters alive.”
Lee’s bushy eyebrows drifted to his hairline.
“How about you tell us what this is all about.”
The waitress chose this moment to poke her head into the booth. Yuri turned off the white noise generator, allowing everyone to place their orders. Coffee for Hernandez and Gilbert, tea for Yuri, banana smoothie for Lee.
“Smoothie? Really?” Gilbert asked.
“Fountain of potassium. That’s how I remain in shape,” Lee replied, flexing his impressive biceps. “I really oughta ask why you two are drinking coffee so late at night.”
“I just started my tour,” Hernandez said.
“Can’t think without my coffee,” Gilbert replied.
Yuri chuckled, shaking his head. One more reason why he refused the siren song of coffee. Addiction was a weakness, even—especially—if society approved of it.
“So, what’s this about?” Lee prodded.
Yuri switched the white noise generator back on. Over a babble of synthesized voices, he said, “The Singularity Network and the Void Collective are holding alliance talks at the Langston Hotel. We need to stop it.”
“Stop it?” Hernandez repeated. “How?”
“More importantly, why?” Lee asked.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard about it yet, but the New Gods are forming alliances. The Sinners and the VC fear an alliance between the Seekers and the other gods. Word on the street is, they’ve come to blows recently.”
“Like at the Hex?” Gilbert asked.
“Like that.”
“I was assigned to that case. Know anything about that?”
Yuri shrugged broadly. “I don’t recall anything that may or may not have happened, Detective.”
“Har-har.”
“Anyway, the Sinners and the VC are planning to ally against the rest of the New Gods. The alliance talks are slated to run from Friday through the weekend. We can’t let them close the deal. It will spell disaster for everyone.”
“The VC have been keeping to themselves lately. The Sinners haven’t exactly been all that aggressive either, by the standards of the New Gods,” Lee said. “Why will there be a ‘disaster’?”
“Should they form an alliance, two things will happen. One, every other New God will scramble to form an alliance to counter their alliance. Two, the VC and the SN will try to destroy their rivals before their enemies do the same unto them—and vice versa.
“We’ve seen what happened three years ago, when the New Gods all turned against each other. That was just one night. This? It’ll last until there’s only one god left standing. You know as well as I do that any alliance will only last until they destroy their mutual enemies, and then whoever’s left will turn on each other. The city will burn. The world will burn. We have to stop this from happening.”
The cops took a moment to ponder his words. Hernandez’s face hardened. Gilbert went grim. Lee held on to a neutral expression, but Yuri sensed fragility behind the facade.
“That bad, huh?” Lee said.
“Worse. Once the New Gods go to war, the lesser gods will come out to play. It’ll be a free-for-all. Total chaos. Humanity will be caught in the crossfire. The only chance we’ve got at stopping this is to prevent the alliance from forming.”
“How does hitting this conference help?”
“The VC and the Sinners are working on a joint project. Our intel suggests it is the cornerstone of their alliance. We want to gather as much intelligence as we can on the project from the principals at the conference.”
“And you called us in because you need backup.”
Yuri nodded. “We can’t do this alone.”
Lee exhaled sharply. “Look, we’re not operators like you. You’re fighting the VC and the Sinners this time. That means teleporting ninjas and cyborgs. We’re not trained for this. That was what the STS is for.”
“We don’t have an STS now.”
“What about PSB ESWAT?” Hernandez asked.
“The Sinners and the VC aren’t doing anything wrong,” Yuri replied. “The PSB can’t do anything.”
“If the PSB can’t do anything, why should we?” Lee asked.
“Because it’s the right thing to do. Because we swore an oath to protect and serve. Because no one else is going to keep the New Gods from destroying the world.”
“What you’re proposing is off the clock, isn’t it?” Gilbert asked.
Yuri nodded. “It has to be. Not one word of this op must leak out to the New Gods.”
“You and your team are the rock stars of the tactical world. Why do you even need our help?” Lee asked.
“Yeah, I was wondering that too. I had the impression you’d tear right through Husks and cyborgs without breaking a sweat,” Hernandez added.
“We need to capture a number of high-value targets. We need help with detainee management,” Yuri said.
Lee chuckled. “Wasn’t the STS all kill, no capture?”
“Only when we don’t have a choice. And here, we have to capture those HVTs. It’s a no-fail mission.”
“How many targets we’re talking about?”
“At least two. Up to six. And they have twenty bodyguards. At least.”
Lee shook his head. “There’s gonna be a lot of killing, no matter which way you cut it.”
“My team and I will take care of the assault. We need your help with prisoner management and rear security.”
“You’re not just asking me for help, are you,” Lee said.
“We need the A-Team. Your team. We need everyone who can chip in.”
“What about the kid and me?” Gilbert asked.
Hernandez frowned deeply at that. Still, he was nearly half Gilbert’s age.
“We’re not operators,” Hernandez said. “We don’t have your level of tactical training. I’m not sure what we can do.”
“You two know how to operate a gravity vehicle?” Yuri asked.
“Of course,” Hernandez replied.
“Count on it,” Gilbert said.
“We’ll need drivers to extract us from the AO,” Yuri said.
“Sounds easy enough,” Hernandez said.
“Easier than kicking doors and taking names,” Gilbert added. “I’m way too old for this high-speed shit.”
The drinks arrived. Lee stared into the creamy depths of his glass, not saying a word. Yuri maintained presence, sipping at his tea, saying nothing, allowing Lee’s thoughts to surface in his own time.
“A bit over a year ago, you helped us take down Zakir,” Lee said at last.
“Yup,” Yuri said.
“Without your help, we’d all have bought it inside the apartments. Way I see it… I owe you one.”
Yuri nodded, silently inviting Lee to carry on.
“Then came the Leviathan. When the Sinners flooded the storm drain, we blew the cover off the silo. Kept them from drowning you. I figured that evened things out.”
Yuri said nothing.
“Now with this… this isn’t personal. It’s bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than the whole damn city.”
Yuri nodded.
Lee glared into his smoothie. His lips twitched, his fingers clenched. Yuri sensed the competing ideas warring in his brain.
“We… I can’t do this for you. I have to do this for Babylon. For the world. I can’t promise that the rest of the team will be on board with the idea.”
“Every additional operator will be an asset.”
“I can tell you now, I can’t bring in Robin Tomlinson. He’s a TBC with the Singularity Network.”
“Shit,” Yuri said.
Too late he remembered that. Lee had mentioned it years ago, but Yuri hadn’t retained it. He knew Lee was a secular, but the others on the team…
“Half the team worships the New Gods in one way or another. We can’t bring them in either,” Lee said.
“I surprised they didn’t just leave us to die in the MADC,” Yuri said.
“When I ordered the team to open the silo door, only the seculars helped. The others hung back and did nothing. Robbie said we hadn’t received any word from you. When I ordered them to blow the door, Robbie argued against it. He said it was destruction of city property and some such bullshit. Said you might not even be still alive. I had to attach the breaching charge myself.”
“You never told me that,” Yuri said.
“They were still hanging around,” Lee said.
“Shit…”
Lee exhaled. “I’m not going to lie to you. We all paid the price for disobeying the will of the New Gods. Ever since that day, we were saddled with the bullshit jobs. Either the most pointless or the most dangerous missions. The brass can’t afford to get rid of us, but they can try to drive us to quit, or to have us killed in the line of duty. And they stopped paying us overtime.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“We’re still alive, at least. But they’ve gone and driven a wedge between everyone in the team. Previously, I could keep everyone focused on the job, keep their factional rivalries from exploding. Now, though? It’s like herding cats. It’s us seculars against the New Gods, and every New God against every other god. The team is fragile. One wrong move and the team will collapse.”
“That’s a tough place to be in.”
“No shit. You understand that this job could tear the team apart.”
“Don’t get caught,” Hernandez said.
“Don’t get suspected,” Gilbert corrected.
“But if we do? We’ll be on the run. Forever.”
“We’ve been building a support network. If anything happens to you or your team, we can get you and your families underground,” Yuri said.
“Who is this ‘we’?”
“There are elements within the federal government that are sick of the game of gods. They’ve been quietly supporting us over the past few years. It’s how my team and I managed to stay ahead of the New Gods. We can help you if you need it.”
“You sound like an insurgency.”
“When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.”
“Duty isn’t going to protect me and my team.”
“Duty is why we do what we do. Duty is why we have to stop the New Gods. And duty is why we will help you should they come for you.”
Lee exhaled sharply into his drink.
“Never thought I’d have to fight the New Gods.”
“Either we pick a side, or have one chosen for us.”
“There’s no way we can stay above it all.”
Lee tried to make it sound like a question. Halfway through his breath it morphed into resignation.
“When gods go to war, there will be no neutral ground,” Yuri said.
“You’re proposing to murder everyone at the conference and kidnap whoever’s left.”
“We’re at war. War obeys its own laws.”
“What are you going to do with the detainees?”
“Hand them over to the support network I mentioned above. They’ll handle interrogation and detention.”
“You mean torture and execution.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You know they’ll do that. They can’t place the prisoners in the system. The second they show up there, the New Gods will bust them out. They’ll be placed in a black site. Once they’ve gotten everything they need, it’s either lifetime imprisonment or execution.”
“We’re not dealing with criminals. We’re dealing with enemies of humanity.”
“You don’t treat soldiers this way.”
“We don’t treat lawful combatants this way. The soldiers of the New Gods aren’t. They’ve subverted the system so thoroughly, society isn’t able to deal with them the right way. There is no right way anymore.”
“Where does that leave us?”
“It’s up to good men willing to do the hard things to set things right. Men like us.”
“And how do you know you’re doing the right thing?”
“I don’t,” Yuri admitted. “Not all the time. But I follow a higher law, the Law of God.”
“Which God?”
“Yahweh.”
“Never heard of him.”
“Few have. The New Gods thought they buried him, along with the rest of the old faiths. But they’re wrong. So long as I and others stay true to the Way, the Truth and the Light, the New Gods cannot erase us.”
“I don’t worship your God.”
“I’m not asking you to. I am saying that there is a higher law, handed down by a divine power greater than all the New Gods combined. So long as I obey that law, I am confident I am doing the right thing.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Even better. I have faith.”
“Faith? What good does that do?”
“You’ve seen him neutralize magic,” Hernandez said. “That’s the power of faith.”
Lee grunted.
“I can’t speak for others, but I will say this,” Yuri said. “The New Gods seek the ruin of souls. Yahweh rejoices in the purification of souls, and protects those who serve as an instrument of good. Who would you rather have on your side?”
Lee sighed, and gulped down his smoothie the way a barfly would slam down a drink.
“I can’t bring in the whole team. Only the seculars. Only six shooters, at most,” Lee said.
“We can work with that.”
“We can’t use personally owned equipment. Nothing we use can be traced back to us.”
“I know a guy who can supply us with hardware.”
“We can’t afford any blowback.”
“Do this right and we won’t.”
Lee sighed again.
“Well, then. Let’s do this.”
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