Chapter 16
Viktor Garris sat in his office. To anyone who entered, it looked like he was staring off at nothing… except his amp had his pupils alight with fireworks as it replayed the video footage from Donista’s amp.
“You’re a lousy shot,” Viktor grumbled even though Donista couldn’t hear him—the enforcer was still in Solace Station with orders to retrieve that stolen amp.
But based on how long it’d been since Donista had eyes on the target, Bennett had slipped through their hands yet again—clearly thanks to the resistance getting in the way like they seemed prone to do.
Bennett was aligned with the resistance, which meant the resistance essentially had possession of the amp now.
His job had become exponentially harder. He didn’t have to grab just one man; now, he’d have to take down the entire resistance… something none of his predecessors had had success with.
Without the asset, Viktor was left deaf and blind in the moon faction.
Stealth was no longer an option. He slammed his fist onto the desk.
This entire situation would’ve been avoided if the board had approved Viktor’s budget request to eliminate the resistance a year ago.
But no, the board had decided the cost to take down the resistance was higher than the cost of their existence.
If the board knew the resistance now had the prototype…
yes, they’d approve his budget request without a second’s hesitation.
He'd envisioned this situation—this opportunity —a thousand times. He was ready, and he could have his people in place by the time the board approved. He tapped the screen again. “Enforcer Mallon to enter.”
Barely a second later, Viktor’s door opened, and Mallon stepped inside. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes.” Viktor motioned him forward. “Within the week, we’re going to be approved to exterminate the resistance once and for all.
All enforcers will receive full operation details through their amps the minute the operation is approved by the board, and I will manage the overall operation from here.
You will lead the underground assault. It’s well past time we cleared out the tunnels. ”
“Clear out the resistance, sir?” Mallon asked.
Viktor shook his head. “Clear it all out. Anyone in the tunnels will be considered a member of the resistance. They are to be arrested and brought to the main Holding. For anyone who resists, you have authority to use lethal force.”
A smile crept at the edges of Mallon’s mouth. “It’ll be my pleasure, sir.”
“I will send you an op briefing. It’ll be broken out in phases to minimize risk to our squads. Read up on it, and be ready to go within the week.”
When Mallon left, Viktor prepped his files before placing a call to Roman Voss.
Taking a hammer to the Crawl was far more cost-effective than taking a scalpel to flush out resistance members one by one, and the board had been looking for an excuse to scrub all those subhumans not contributing to the bottom line.
Doing this would make the board happy… which would get Viktor off this damned rock and back to TerraSoft Premier where he belonged.
There were over a thousand occupants in the tunnels under no corporate contract.
A striking number considering all of Dreswick only had eleven thousand.
Viktor didn’t have nearly enough holding cells.
But the council would see them all with new contracts within the month.
Those without new contracts… well, fortunately for him, Roman Voss was always begging for more volunteers.