Invasion (Animus Book 10) Read online

  Invasion

  Animus™ Book Ten

  Joshua Anderle

  Michael Anderle

  This book is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2019 Joshua Anderle & Michael Anderle

  Cover Art by Jake @ J Caleb Design

  http://jcalebdesign.com / [email protected]

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  A Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, December 2019

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-610-8

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64202-611-5

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Author Notes - Michael

  Books by Michael Anderle

  Connect with The Authors

  The Invasion Team

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Diane L. Smith

  Dave Hicks

  John Ashmore

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Peter Manis

  Jeff Eaton

  Jeff Goode

  If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editor

  The Skyhunter Editing Team

  Dedication

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  to Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  to Live the Life We Are

  Called.

  Chapter One

  Terra might have seemed an ironic name to those who didn’t know the backstory to the first cloud city. These projects were created as an eccentric answer to humanity’s expansion at the cost of the natural land. A group of scientists, developers, technicians, and others came together to create the self-sustaining platform. Architects and construction took over to create a magnificent city based on the capitals of culture and modern aesthetics such as London, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, and New York City.

  In the center of this platform, in celebration of the upcoming peace agreements and new potential for world-wide cooperation, a massive tower was built, surrounded by a floating ring to symbolize unity. This structure would become the World Council Headquarters and what was first intended to be merely symbolic was now the actual domain of the new government that came to be. Terra would continue to act as a city of humanity rather than of only one nation.

  On the eleventh floor of this building, Matek Asfour approached a data room with an escort of two guards. When he reached the door, he nodded at one of the cameras and held his badge up, which he then used to activate the locking terminal and open the door. What the cameras saw was him walk inside and to one of the servers while his bodyguards stood at attention at the entrance to the room. He was looking for several documents he would need for his upcoming discussion with delegates from Jordan, Iran, Sinai, and Egypt about the potential for a hyperloop crossing between the western part of the Middle East through the upper side of Africa. However, this was a false feed created by a trio of technicians and finished only the day before.

  In fact, it was the opposite. Matek barely stepped farther than past the initial hallway and instead, immediately turned to the left and faced the wall while his two bodyguards moved deeper and began their actual mission. It was not to guard their councilmember—there was no need to guard an expendable golem—but to extract certain files and entire databases and leave viruses in their wake to be triggered at a later time.

  Tory Harper, three floors above Matek and on the other side of the building, walked up to a guard post. Her intention was for a quick greeting and access to the military wing of the building. She slid her access card and ID into a small cylinder and waited for the green confirmation light. Instead, a red light flashed above the station and she frowned. “What is the meaning of this?” she demanded. “I was given approval two days ago. Check again.”

  The door to the military wing opened and a guard walked out and nodded to her. “My apologies, Councilwoman. Everything is indeed in order but we have new…complications.”

  “Explain,” she instructed.

  The guard looked around. Only a few other personnel and facility crew walked through the main hallway behind her. He nodded and leaned in. “The thing is, ma’am, that there have been some odd occurrences lately.”

  “Such as?” She allowed a trace of impatience to color her tone. “I understand wanting safety to be paramount in the Council, but I don’t think we should be alarmed when someone misplaces their lunch or more than the average number of ID cards get lost.”

  He chuckled. “I wish it was that simple, ma’am, but it appears a few delegates have gone missing.”

  “Missing?” Tory stiffened. “Since when?”

  “It hasn’t been confirmed,” he clarified. “but delegates Ronson and Chan haven’t appeared in two days. Councilwoman Park has gone on vacation, but they haven’t been able to get hold of her to discuss an upcoming agreement between Korea and Vietnam, and she has always been a stickler for being kept in the loop, even on vacation.”

  “I see, and you think something nefarious is going on?” she asked.

  The guard shrugged as he straightened. “We can’t be too careful at the cradle of humanity. We received orders this morning that no one can enter sections with a clearance of level two or higher without proper escort, even in what is probably the safest place in the building.”

  She sighed but nodded. “Very well, if you could take me to see the admiral, I would greatly appreciate it.”

  “At once, ma’am.” The guard raised a hand and the red light turned green before he turned and the two walked into the military wing. They passed hurried men and women, some talking shop while others hastily finished reports to send to their higher-ups. Their route took them along the side of Command and she gazed at the numerous screens and consoles manned by dozens of people who coordinated possibly hundreds of missions at once.

  “If you don’t mind
me asking,” the guard said tentatively, “what are you here to discuss with the admiral? I hope you don’t mind me prying, but when one of the Earth security councilmembers wants to see the admiral personally, well, that gets people talking—” He looked back but the councilwoman was gone. Startled, he turned his head first to the left, then the right and glimpsed a door close. Had she run in there? It was only a supplies room and he couldn’t even imagine what she was doing.

  The guard jogged over, opened the door, and walked in. “Ms Harper, what are you doing?” he asked as the door shut behind him. The glow strips activated automatically but when he tried to turn the main lights on, they wouldn’t activate. Something clunked on the floor and he peered ahead and activated the light on his pistol. Tory had stooped to pick a gun up. “Hey-y!” He coughed and felt a little odd like he had swallowed a bug. “Councilwoman Harper, put that down imme—”

  A sharp pain burned in his throat and he fell to his knees. He coughed into his hand and looked down to see blood. His attempt to breathe gained him no air and he collapsed. He looked up and tried to focus on what he thought was a man clinging to the ceiling and dressed in a silver underlay with glowing gauntlets and a wide smile. The apparition waved at him and snapped his fingers. The guard’s eyes twitched before they rolled into the back of his head and his brain erupted from within his skull.

  Dario dropped from the ceiling and began to strip the guard of his armor. “We’re on a short timetable as it is and they’re catching on,” he muttered and unlatched the chest plate as he motioned for Tory Harper’s golem to fetch him a helmet. “Oh, well, it’s much too late for them to do much of anything, even if they know what our plans are.” He took the helmet the golem presented him with and put it on. “Thank you, dear. You can put the gun away. A different plan is in the works now that I am here.”

  She nodded and went to return the pistol. Dario considered the changes he’d decided on. It was actually mostly the same plan but instead of the golem killing the admiral and replacing him, the assassin would kill him while the golem began to change. That should have been the plan from the beginning as he would be able to take out the admiral and dispose of the body almost simultaneously.

  He wondered how long the advantages they had created would last. The Park golem they had used to replace the general already showed signs of slowing mental function so was probably only viable for another couple of weeks. That would be enough to slow the council down and throw the military into disarray for a while, but the chain of command would correct that quickly enough. His team would have to rely on the terrorist and mercenary leaders they had negotiated with or replaced to keep the heat on while they acquired their other targets.

  Dario donned the last of the guard’s armor and removed the EI chip from the helmet. He stowed it in a compartment on the chest plate and slid his own in.

  “Are you in, Giono?” he asked.

  “Online, sir.”

  “Bene.” He beckoned the golem as he went to open the door. “Let us make sure that all the pieces are in place so the mission—and the fun—can begin.”

  Chapter Two

  “So the jockey gave me his pack and I was able to repair it while he and some of the riders held the droids at bay. He told me to put it on and escape while they pushed out of the building,” Genos recounted and Kaiden listened in rapt attention.

  “And you did? I told you those jetpacks were a nightmare,” he stated.

  “It was actually quite exhilarating,” the Tsuna admitted and his eyes blinked rapidly with remembered excitement. “I’ll admit, though, that if it wasn’t for Viola’s EI direction, I might have been a little out of my depth. But soaring through the skies, being able to find the right position at the right time, or even using quick-burst to leap back or to the side to avoid a shot or blow was a very exciting experience.”

  “I wish I could have been there with ya.” The ace chuckled and took another sip of beer. “For most of the first half of the fight, I tried to find out where everything was. Then, when I got into the building, Chiyo and I took out that big bastard I told you about and—”

  “Then the explosion happened?” Genos finished. “Yes, that was quite a shock but fortunately, I still had the pack when the fortress began to destroy itself. Escape was rather easy for me.”

  “It sounds like you took to it well,” Kaiden mused as he checked his tablet. “You’re an engineer so maybe for your last year you can take a workshop in jet packs?”

  “I doubt there is something that specific, even in our vast curriculum,” the alien responded but took a moment to think about it. “Perhaps I can enquire with the pilots and riggers and see if they have anything to offer.”

  “They would be your best bet, especially the riggers.” He took another look at his tablet and frowned.

  His companion noticed this and peered at the tablet as Kaiden leaned back and took another sip. “Are you waiting for a call from our friends? They still have some time before they have to meet up with us.”

  “Huh? Oh, not specifically, although I guess I’m looking out for them.” He straightened and put his beer bottle to the side. “I’m waiting for a message from the big guys—Wolfson, Sasha, or Laurie. They found a ton of evidence from the files Chiyo was able to take and they are supposed to keep me in the loop on how everything is going.”

  “Has no progress been made?” Genos enquired and tapped his infuser nervously with irregular motions that seemed to try to form a pattern but failed.

  “Actually, they had some progress almost right off the bat from what they told me,” the ace revealed. “They had all the evidence and files compiled into a proper document and, thanks to some maneuvering on Sasha’s part, were able to get it into the hands of some fairly powerful people on the council itself. The problem is that this is the council and even purely beneficial laws and agreements take a long-ass time to make it through. I can only imagine what the delay would be for evidence against an organization most people thought was merely a conspiracy.”

  “But our raid should have at least garnered some interest, yes?” Genos asked. “After all, the building exploded.”

  “Yeah, there was a huge amount of news coverage of that, which kind of complicated the matter when Wolfson revealed that he had a hand in it.” He sighed. “He let slip that was where the info came from and that the base was fully armed and not simply a research outpost as it claimed in the licenses. Even so, more than a few people weren’t happy that he took action instead of informing the government, police, or military. They said it broke several laws, to which Wolfson said that if they had done things the proper way, that building would still be standing while all the cops debated the best way to ask them nicely to go away. And, of course, he peppered his comment with several insults. Sasha had to step in and was able to keep Wolfson from getting detained, but he’s basically under…island arrest, I guess? He’s confined to the Academy for now.”

  “Oh, that is troubling,” the Tsuna muttered and frowned at his purple cocktail.

  “He’s indifferent and says he spent most of his time at Nexus anyway and actually had time to catch up on work over the summer. I think he’s starting to grow bored, though, since all he’s had for practice are dummies and training droids.” Kaiden chuckled. “For now, the evidence is being passed around. Sasha said that a few members and delegates of the council actually approached them of their own accord for more information and that some old military friends are interested. Even if the council doesn’t take action for a while, they might get more done this way. Anyway, I wouldn’t know as the last time I spoke to them was almost a month ago. Laurie finally messaged me yesterday and said they have more developments but disappeared when I responded.”

  “They are all busy, I’m sure. With the new year, even though we have the AO in our sights, we still have our main responsibilities,” his friend pointed out. “Especially the…um, big guys.”

  “True enough,” Kaiden agreed, but as he reached
for his beer, his tablet dinged and his hand changed direction quickly to snatch it up. He looked at the screen with surprise.

  “Have they responded?” Genos asked.

  “No, it’s Chiyo. I wonder what she—”

  “Oi, Kaiden!” an Aussie voice called and the two looked up. Flynn, Amber, and Marlo strolled toward them.

  “Greetings, friends,” Genos announced and waved at the trio. “I began to think you didn’t like us anymore.”

  “You’ve made enough of an impression for us to stick around,” Amber teased.

  “You three are the first to show,” the Tsuna told them. “Do you know when the others will arrive?”

  “They won’t,” Marlo replied and caught their attention. “At least not today. We actually came to get ya.”

  “For what?” Kaiden asked.

  “Induction for fourth years has changed and it’s happening tonight instead of tomorrow,” Flynn answered.

  “What? I didn’t get any message about that.”