Secret War: Warhammer 40,000 by Ben Agar (reading eggs books TXT) 📖

straight-faced, so boldly and so convincingly, I couldn't help but admire the Thing's skill all over again.

"And what about you, kid?" asked Garrakson suddenly, which made me involuntarily jump in fright.

Before I could contend a response, Torris grinned and leaned near Garrakson. "We all know there's no point in asking him about her, Jeu. We all know with what he's thinking with, and it isn't his brain."

I felt my face flush, and they bellowed out laughter, the sound almost deafening in the confined compartment, and even the Mimic joined in heartily.

"Will you all shut just the hell up!" roared Karmen over her shoulder. "I'm trying to frigging talk here!"

They did as told immediately, and another chuckle caused us all to turn to Karkin.

"Well, I'd say she truly is in charge now, ain't she?" he echoed mockingly.

Garrakson grimaced about to reply when Karmen approached.

"Alright! It's confirmed; there are Hammers in the building," she stated. "The hammers are on high alert and are well fortified, although they couldn't get a good visual on how many there are, their auspex also confirms forty to fifty lifeforms."

That made Karkin grin, place his palms behind his head and lean back on his chair. "See? What'd I tell ya?"

I briefly looked at him with complete contempt before turning back to Karmen. Choosing not to point out that if his auspex had been interfered with, so could've Hayden's.

Karmen treated Karkin with a withering glare before continuing, "they are in a good position on the north side of the building, ready to breach and back us up if anything goes wrong."

"Speaking of which..." said Karkin as he sat back up, swivelled in his chair to face his cogitator and brought up on the screen for us the schematic of a large building that I guessed to be Brutis Bones' complex. "Here you go, but if we're only going in to 'negotiate', you really shouldn't need them."

I shrugged as I leaned forward to look closer. "Even so, it doesn't hurt to know. Just in case."

"It's as they say; 'Knowledge is power'," added Karmen.

For some reason, both Torris and Garrakson behind us let out derivative snorts, and I swear I heard Torris mutter, "see? they're frigging perfect for each other." Or something along those lines.

I furrowed my brow, turned back to the schematic and quickly began to memorise it.

We stood, studied, and discussed the schematic for another good fifteen minutes; the place was of simple design, a complete contrast to the twilight bar. Just a large, two-story manufactorum/warehouse with areas partitioned for the supervisors and eatery offices. It was exactly as I remembered, but what changes Brutis Bones and his hammers had wrought since their arrival, I couldn't say.

All the while, Arlathan sat at his chair, tapping his fingers against the cogitator case impatiently, which made me clench my jaw.

Once we'd done, Arlathan got up from his chair and asked, "So, what now?"

Karmen pouted and shrugged. "Well, we go through with the plan. Now we know the schematics, it's as they say: 'Knowing is half the battle.'"

"Am I the only one who has really a bad feeling about this?" said Torris, which caused my attention to snap at him suddenly. It made me recall Glaitis' earlier words; 'It is pretty obvious, child, and explains why he let you live; this, quite simply, is a trap.'

A shiver clutched my spine: I couldn't help but believe her; this was way too easy. But what would this trap be exactly? And should I tell my allies that it was? Glaitis had said that she wanted us to fall for it, so maybe she wouldn't want me to.

Arlathan shook his head contemptuously. "Oh, no. Oh, frigging hell no, your not. How do you think I feel? I've gotta face down those hammers, unarmed. Of frigging course, I have a bad feeling about this."

Torris sat on the steel seat and shook his head. "No, not just about that, but, everything, something's wrong about this, all of this, I can feel it."

Arlathan sniffed, and his seemingly eternal smile somehow disappeared into an expression of genuine worry. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Hey, you aren't from law enforcement?"

Torris nodded a slow, deliberate movement. "Yeah, I was in the Adeptus Arbites, fifteen years, back on Malfi."

Arlathan let out a long whistle. "Thought so. Why'd you quit?"

"Alright, I think that's enough, prattle," said Karmen. "We've wasted enough time already; let's get on with this, shall we?"

Arlathan sighed heavily. "Yeah, yeah."

He pushed through us with a sour expression and slid open the back door. "Alright! Everyone out!" He exclaimed.

We did; as Arlathan held the door for us, we filed out into the thin alleyway outside.

Karmen and I were the last ones out, but as we stepped onto the beaten, broken alley, Karmen suddenly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me aside. Her hooded blue eyes were intense with concern.

"Are you okay?" she asked, once checking we were out of earshot from everyone else as they stood waiting for us. "Because you have seemed to have taken No One of Consequences words extraordinarily well."

A lump immediately appeared in my throat, tears welled in my eyes, and with my shaking hands, I reached down into my pocket to get out more Lhos. It'd been years since my hands shook like this, not since the war. During that time, I'd developed a habit of hiding the shaking by slipping my hands into their pockets. I'd been fighting against the shaking ever since the throne agent had given us his revelation, but now I felt I really didn't need to hide it; I knew Estella would understand.

"No," I told her bluntly as I clumsily lit my Lho. "No, I'm not alright. Estella. Why do you think I'm smoking so much? We both know Edracian's agenda, and if my actions are going to aid that agenda as much as that man said it would, well then...I don't know. I'm really frigging close to breaking point here, Estella, but..."

I sniffed and exhaled smoke, blinking back the tears.

"But?"

"But, as much as I'd like to break down and really, who could frigging blame me? Now would be the worst time, as you said; I need to deal with the consequences of my actions, and if I allow myself to break down, well, then I wouldn't be able to deal with them, would I?"

Estella smiled, then suddenly leaned forward and kissed me.

"W-what was that for?" I asked with wide-eyed surprise and blushing like hell.

"It seems you are finally becoming a man, Attelus," she said. "It has taken you a while, though."

"Gee, thanks."

"No problem!" She said, obviously ignoring my sarcasm as she turned and began to walk away. "Enough dilly dally, let's get this show on the road."

 

 

The four of us slowly approached the old manufactorum; we walked right down the middle of the street, making sure to keep out in plain sight with our hands raised the entire time. I was a little annoyed; for this negotiation, I'd given over all my weapons; my autopistol, throwing knives, power sword, even my frigging boot knife. Luckily they had another pair of shoes, so I didn't have to walk around with one shoe on. But that wasn't what annoyed me; what did was that I'd just got this new, sweet, high quality, power sword, and just as I frigging get it, straight away, it gets taken away from me. Someone should make a law about this kind of thing.

We effectively used No One of Consequence as a human shield; he walked a metre or so in front of us, so the first person the Hammers saw would be him. Arlathan was right behind him, using the Throne agent as a literal 'human shield.' The Magistratum detective's hand clenched tightly on the Throne Agent's shoulder to prevent the Throne Agent from trying to drop to the ground, allowing the hammers a clear shot at us, so it wasn't all because of Karkin's cowardice.

My nervousness was almost overwhelming, and I had to fight against the constant urge to put my hands in my pockets. The walk must've taken two or three minutes, but it felt like a frigging lifetime; every single second, I expected them to open fire, to cut us all down in a withering hail of shots.

I glanced at Karmen as she walked alongside me; she was as calm as calm could be, her brow furrowed in set determination.

I frowned deeply, not at all comforted by her confidence, then a thought struck me, like a fist to the face.

"Karmen!" I hissed through clenched teeth. "Karmen!"

But she seemed to ignore me completely.

"Karmen! Karmen!"

"What?" she snapped suddenly, her attention-catching to me.

"C-can I ask a quick question?"

"Well, you did just then, but sure. Fire away."

I swallowed. "W-when I met with Taryst that night. He asked me to spy on Glaitis for him, but if you could read my mind so easily, he really didn't need to, so why? Why did he ask me to spy on Glaitis for him?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Good question, Attelus; maybe he saw potential in you or something."

I grinned widely. "Or perhaps he did it because you asked him to, didn't you?"

Karmen sighed. "Alright, alright, no point in denying it, I guess."

"Well, thanks," I said. "I appreciate it, and I can't help wonder if anything would've gone differently if I'd accepted the offer."

She pouted and shrugged again. "Another good question; they say it's our choices that shape us. It could have."

I grimaced, truly doubting it would've made any difference at all. Perhaps I wouldn't have hurt Vex, but Glaitis' plan would've gone through no matter what.

"But, Attelus," she said. "I may have asked him to do it, but he only did it because he did see potential in you, believe it or not."

Immediately, I believed her and couldn't help but beam at the compliment, but also, I couldn't help wonder; I had the potential for what exactly? Potential to become yet another sycophant toady in Taryst's organisation, maybe? I frigging hoped not.

I let out a slight sigh at my cynicism and suddenly really wanted a smoke of Lho.

But they'd even taken them off me too. Bastards.

We walked the rest of the way in silence; during that time, I'd expected someone would exit to greet us or something, but even when we came close, the door stayed firmly shut.

"Uhh," said Arlathan as he scratched the back of his head. "So, what's the plan now, princess?"

Karmen just rolled her eyes and turned to the Throne Agent. "They haven't run they?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe."

Karmen clenched her at No One of Consequence's incompetence, then turned and smashed the palm of her hand repeatedly against the door, much to all our bemusement.

"Let us the frig in!" She roared at the top of her lungs. "We need to talk!"

She did this for a good six seconds before finally giving up, clutching at her red, hurt hand.

"That's the plan?" said Arlathan. "How...Inventive."

"Shut up!" she snarled. "Why don't you, you know, actually try to contribute instead of just standing around snarking and being generally useless."

"Hey, sister-"

Arlathan was cut off mid-sentence as the door suddenly opened, and just inside stood two huge hammers with autoguns held in our faces.

"Shut it!" yelled one. "Stop ya friggin' yellin' and poundin' before we make you stop!"

"Please," said Karmen. "We need to talk to your boss."

The Hammers ignored her, turning their attention to No One of Consequence.

"You okay, Jeksen?" said the other Hammer.

"Seen better days," answered 'Jeksen.'

The Hammer smiled.

"I said-!" started Karmen.

"We heard you!" The Hammer interrupted. "We're not deaf! And you're friggin' lucky the boss wants to talk to you too. Or we would've just shot you on sight, even with Jeksen with you. No offence, Jeksen."

"None taken."

"Get in!" said the other Hammer, beckoning us inside with his autogun. "And no frigging funny business!"

 

 

We walked into what would've once been the building's reception area with our hands raised over our heads and found over two dozen more hammers with a large assortment of different guns aimed squarely at us.

They