Mack 'n' Me: The Wolves of Alpha 9

by C. M. Simpson

  The building was nothing like we expected. The plans we’d pulled were precise, but they just weren’t precisely for the building I was standing in. Tens and I swore in unison. Me quietly, because I was in a closet in a building that was nothing it was supposed to be, and Tens more loudly, because he was sitting safely in the command center of a ship thousands of miles above me, safe and sound.

  I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the stench of chemicals all around me, and hooked into the nearest system. Closest I could tell there were three. The one I chose looked like it might be devoted to security, which, theoretically should give me access to the security feeds as well as a fairly accurate floor plan.

  It was a good guess—but I got a bit more than I bargained for.

  The system greeted me with a series of snarls, yips and whines, and I didn’t understand a word. I listened as the system repeated itself, and then I saw the codes beginning to shift.

  “Shit! Get out of there, Cutter!” and Tens sounded way more excitable than was good for me.

  I got, coming back to the real as the light in the closet began to strobe.

  Well, that couldn’t be good.

  I slipped out of the cupboard, and headed out into the hallway.

  “Tell me where to go, Tens.”

  But it wasn’t Tens who answered.

  “The boss is kinda busy,” Rohan said. “I’ll be your guide for today’s ill-fated expedition.”

  “Yeah, thanks, kid.”

  “Your gratitude has been noted and your skepticism acknowledged.”

  “Rohan!”

  “Oh, and Cascade will be with you shortly...” I was looking around the corridor for the tell-tale silver flash of the dog teleporting in, when the kid added, “... in your mind at least.”

  “Rohan!”

  He ignored me.

  “Go left... Now!”

  I went left, snapping open the stairwell door seconds before I ran into it.

  “And down!”

  “Down?”

  The initial plans had all pointed to the cubs being housed upstairs.

  “Nothing’s above board here,” he told me. “Government or not. This has to be one of the most nepotistic and twisted regimes Tens has ever had me study.”

  “Delight should fit right in, then.”

  “Yeah,” Mack interrupted, “and you be sure to tell her that yourself, when she gets here. Right now, though, you need to concentrate, or I’m going to come down there and kick your ass ten ways to stardust.”

  Oh, he was, was he? I could do with a real fight.

  “Be careful what you wish for...” Rohan’s voice took on a teasing lilt, and I lifted my head to see what he might be talking about.

  “Go one more flight and take the next door to your left.”

  What was it with this kid and going left?

  “I don’t make the plans; I just read ’em, and Tens and Mack would kick my ass if I steered you in the wrong direction, so go left... Now!”

  I went left as he said it, through another door and into a short length of corridor.

  “And run!”

  I ran.

  “Left!”

  Another door was in the way, but it opened easily enough, and I bolted through coming to a slow halt as what I’d run into started to make a horrible kind of sense.

  ‘Uh, Mack... It’s not just the cub.”

  I scanned, taking images in the implant as I turned, very slowly, from my left to my right. At the same time, the stench hit me, and I gagged.

  “I’m gonna need a little help down here.”

  “They’re not the mission.”

  “They are, now.”

  “You and I are going to have words about this, Cutter.”

  “Sure. Beat me up, later, and sling me in a tank, but help me get these guys out of here.”

  Silence.

  “Please, Mack.”

  I did a slow pan, making sure I caught the tanglers, whips and various other...implements lined up along the wall of the large, open bay opposite the side of the room where the cages were. I didn’t know the purpose of either the instruments or what went on here, but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving any of the critters in the cages to any more of it.

  “Please.”

  “Well, fuck me, Cutter,” Mack said, materializing out of a shaft of silver light. “You’re just fucking lucky that Tens managed to drop the teleport block on this building, aren’t you?”

  “If it’s any compensation, I reckon that’s an Odyssey operative chained to the wall...” I managed, pointing while trying not to look.

  Mack grabbed me, and spun me to face him. Placing a hand on either of my shoulders, he bent forward until his forehead was touching mine.

  “I’ll take care of things here,” he said. “Go find the cub.”

  “You can’t leave any of them behind...”

  He gave me a gentle shake.

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  And I only hoped it was a Mack promise, a contract promise, and not something that would let me get the job done, but have me discovering, later that he hadn’t done what he’d said he’d do.

  “Go,” he snarled, turning me about, and pushing me in the direction of the door at the other end of the walkway to where I’d come in.

  Around us, several creatures shuffled uncomfortable away, and I heard him sigh.

  “Tens, I’m gonna need Doc and a team. I think Steps left one on stand-by.”

  So, not a medical team, then, although I was pretty sure he’d need one of those, too. I made the door, just as Ten replied.

  “That’s a pretty big job, boss.”

  “We need them ship-side,” was all Mack replied, before I was through the door and out the other side.

  Once it close behind me, I couldn’t hear anything else they might be saying.

  Like maybe Mack changing his mind and rescinding everything he’d just said.

  “Girl, when we get back, you and me are gonna talk about your trust issues...”

  “You gotta have something before you can have issues with it.”

  22—Kids and Cubs

  Instead of the cages and torture bays lining the other corridor, this one was flanked by clean, white walls, even though the floor underfoot was still a hard, tiled surface. I looked for doors, and found some.

  “Te... Rohan?”

  “I’m here. Tens is a bit busy with the teleport team, and Stepyan’s 2IC has some choice words about your heritage.”

  I just bet he did, given he’d have to allocate space and rations for the ten or fifteen or so creatures occupying the cells behind me. Still, it was good to hear that Tens was busy with the teleportation team. Meant maybe they’d really succeed in getting everyone out. Rohan cut through my train of thought, pulling me back on track.

  “Just hurry up, down there, because some of those defenses you pissed off earlier, keep trying to throw me out of the system, so they can reinstate the blocker. If they get it back up, I may not be able to turn it off, again, and then we really won’t be able to help anyone.

  I got it. I left him alone, and leant on the wall. While it would have been nice to ask him to patch me through to the system, I didn’t want to distract him from keeping that teleport blocker down. He was right about the defenses. They really were pissed off.

  I managed to work my way through them and into the building schematics. At first glance, there wasn’t anything that looked a likely place for the wolves to be holding the cub, so I tried to put myself into the Rennet’s World wolves’ shoes, so to speak.

  Why did they want the cub? Was he a good behavior bond? Insurance the father would do as they asked? And, if he was, where would they keep him? Close to hand? Would he serve as an example to other recalcitrant wolf commanders? Or would it cause an uprising if the other commanders caught wind of what they’d done? How quickly did they need to get their hands on him when they were speaking to the father?

  It was hard to tell, but, if
they were going to keep the cub as a trophy or leverage, then it would have to be in the upper floors of the tower where the company executives kept their offices. It sure as shit wasn’t here. If it was, I was going to have to risk taking the elevator and goosing it for the ride to the top.

  “At least you could make it onto the roof from there,” Rohan said. “That way, if they get the teleport blocker back up, you could jump and we could grab you out of the air.’

  Thinking “Oh, Hell to the Hells, no!,” I went through the corridor I was on, opening each of the three doors on either side. Three doors. Three rooms. Storage crates for shipping livestock and what looked like loading dock doors out one side. Fuck.

  “Tell Mack I went upstairs,” I said, then added, “I don’t suppose you could do a security search for small wolves that might be somewhere in the feeds?”

  It was a long shot, but Rohan grabbed it with both hands—and then he passed the idea to Cascade.

  “Sorry, Cutter. I have to hold the system open. Cas will hunt them out for you.”

  I wasn’t happy but I understood.

  “Let him loose.”

  “Already done,” and Rohan dropped out, presumably to battle the code that was still trying to take the system back.

  The boy was good, so I guessed it would only be a matter of time before they wet-wired someone in to go hunt him down. I sure as shit hoped Tens would be on-line to help him out by then. What I hadn’t realized was that the dog was going to use my link to the system as his launch point.

  I was just about to set off on my own hunt, when the Cascade’s digital presence rushed past me. Don’t ask me how he managed to wash my face in pixilated joy, on the way past, but seconds later he was gone—out of my head and into the system inside the tower.

  “Move your ass, Cutter,” Rohan said, bouncing me out of my head. “He’ll let you know when he finds them, and then I’ll get him to clear you a path.”

  Dog could do that?

  “Dog can do a lot of things in the digital,” Rohan said—and he sounded like he’d raised the big menace all by himself. “I pretty much did.”

  Yeah... he had me there. He really had raised the big menace himself. It explained a lot of what was wrong with the dog.

  “Hey!”

  And he shoved me right out of my head again.

  This time, I didn’t waste time chasing things down or thinking smart ass thoughts at Rohan; I just got my ass into gear and started looking for the elevator.

  “Take the next door, then the first elevator to your right. Cas has caught the scent.”

  And wasn’t I relieved to hear that.

  I didn’t wait to be told twice. I hit the door, and then the elevator. I didn’t even have to touch any buttons. The doors opened enough for me to slide on through, and then they closed and the crate was moving before I could register how small a box I’d stepped into.

  “Not gonna matter,” Rohan said, and he sounded strained.

  He explained before I could ask.

  “You’ve got five, maybe ten, minutes. Tops. After that the blocker is back up. I can’t hold it any longer than that.”

  “Gotcha.”

  I stared at the counter above the door, watching the numbers rise. As I did, I wished I could access the security feeds and see what, exactly was waiting for me, but I couldn’t, so I did the next best thing—I went over my weapons and made sure everything was where I needed it to be, accessible and not safetied down.

  “You’ve got half a dozen cubs, Cutter—and a dozen more kids.”

  Rohan’s voice froze my hands, as my fingers flickered over the blaster hanging across my chest, and the Glazer tucked at my belt. I swallowed, and then moved my other hand over the large, broad-bladed weapon hanging on my other hip.

  “How many guards?”

  “Cas will clear the corridor, and open the doors. I need you to take out the assholes with the kids, or keep them busy while Tens locks on and starts teleporting.”

  “Gotcha.”

  I switched the Blazer and Glazer down to non-lethals. Couldn’t risk hitting a cub or kid if I missed. If they’d been adults I might have been tempted, but they weren’t, and their bodies wouldn’t be as forgiving of a stray shot. Best I could do was take as many shots as I could, and then switch to the blades and hoped the “Shady’s” counsellors could cope with the nightmares.

  “Trust me, what they’re facing, now, is a shit-ton worse than anything you’re about to do with those blades. Just make sure none of the little monsters get a hold of your guns.”

  Like they’d ever...

  Well, goes to show just how mistaken you can be—and exactly how fucked the universe is at times.

  Cas got the corridors cleared. At least, I assume he was the one responsible for what sounded like a small riot in the stair well, followed by screams from the reception area further in. I didn’t let either distract me, but took a turn into the corridor branching left, and then down another branching right.

  The door to where they were holding the cubs popped open, and I went right in.

  “Right, two shots, chest height.”

  I followed Mack’s instruction, not stopping to wonder where Rohan was. I just assumed the system was slowly winning, and he needed to concentrate on fighting the code while Tens got the younglings out of there.

  “Keep running forward. Two shots left and forward. One ahead. Drop guns. Block back.”

  I didn’t think. I snapped the three shots out, dropped my weapons, pulled the blade and spun. Doors on either side of me sprang open, their metallic locks snicking open to the accompaniment of a multitude of scampering paws, and shuffling steps. I caught movement passing close to my feet, as I blocked the stun baton descending towards my head, and slid back a step.

  Small flares of silver caught at the edge of my vision as I took on the remaining guard. I didn’t remember Rohan’s words about not letting the little monsters get a hold of my guns until a hail of solids ripped upwards through the torso of the big lupar trying to stove my head in. He fell to another series of rounds, and my eyes cut to where a small and very angry human was trying to keep hold of the blaster’s grip.

  She had both hands stretched around it, but her gaze wasn’t fixed on the fallen guard. She was already tracking for more. I moved towards her, and her gaze and the Blazer turned towards me. I dived for the floor as another set of rounds stitched the air where I’d been standing.

  “Tens!”

  But my cry of alarm wasn’t needed as the child was pulled away in a blur of light. I flipped over onto my back, searching for any more. For a minute, I thought she’d been the last, but then a small movement caught my eye, and I saw there were two more—a cub and a kid, each with an arm wrapped around the other.

  I flipped the blade to my other hand, and waved for them to come on over.

  “Let me get you out of here,” I said, just as Rohan gave a cry of frustrated defeat, and Cas bounced into my head, and back out, again, slamming the way he’d come through shut in his wake.

  “Get to the roof,” Mack said. “You’re gonna have to jump, and you’re gonna have to make sure you bring those two with you. We’re not leaving anyone behind.”

  I didn’t bother wondering what would happen if I jumped without them. If I was Mack I wouldn’t pick me up, either.

  “Wouldn’t do it to you,” he said. “You jump without them, I’ll figure you’ll have a darn good reason.”

  His words eased some of the tension inside me, but I stuffed the blade back into its sheath, and reached for the nearest kid’s hand.

  “We’re gonna have to hit the roof,” I said. “You trust me?”

  The hand that closed around me was all the answer I needed. I heard a metallic scrape and looked down in time to see the cub lift my Glazer from beside the fallen corpse of the wolf guard. I remembered to breathe when he passed it over.

  “Hurry,” he said. “They’re coming.”

  Oh, they were, were they?
/>
  “You know the way to the roof?”

  He dipped his chin in a wolf nod, and let go of his friend’s hand.

  “Follow.”

  That single word was delivered in a swift bark of command, and I had the sudden urgent feeling that I had found the wolf captain’s son. I didn’t bother asking him, who his sire was. I just raced after him. We bolted into the corridor, me following his sharp turn back to the corridor that held the elevators, and then along, into the stairwell and up.

  We were only three flights below the roof, but I was breathing hard by the time we’d reached the top. It didn’t make me appreciate Mack’s training, any better. Not right then, anyway. Maybe when we got out of there...

  The wolf cub skittered out onto the roof, running towards the edge as wolves stirred around the shuttles waiting on the landing pads. I didn’t bother trying to take pot shots at any of them. I figured they’d see two cubs and a female, and decide they could take us. That was pretty much the only advantage we had.

  If I’d been Mack, or Tens, or even the boy, they’d probably have tried to shoot us.

  “Yeah, lucky you.”

  And a merry ‘Fuck you’ to you, too, Tens.

  “Just be ready to catch us,” I told him.

  I used my grip on the kid beside me to pull him against my side, and off his feet, and then I sprinted to catch up to the cub. I didn’t bother stopping to explain, I just scooped him up with my other hand.

  “Hang on!” I screamed, taking a leap towards the low wall surrounding the edge and hoping I could actually get a foot onto its top.

  These kids were a darn sight heavier than they looked.

  “Stop your bitching, Cutter,” resounded in my head, as twin shrieks hit my ears, and two sets of hands curled tight into my combat suit.

  Fuck. I really hoped Tens could do what he’d said he co— Silver light, wrapped around us, and I landed heavily in the teleport center. For a moment, none of us moved, and then two sets of hands and feet started clawing and kicking to get away from me.