The Soldier: Final Odyssey

by Vaughn Heppner

  Cade stepped aside.

  “You giant oaf,” Halifax said, taking a hand and pumping it. “I can’t believe this. What are you doing here?”

  “Running,” Cade said.

  Halifax looked both ways down the hall. “Did you escape?”

  “Yes.”

  “But…how did you possibly find me, and why isn’t anyone stopping you in here?”

  Cade grabbed the talkative Halifax by an arm and hustled him down the hall. The smaller man had the good sense to quit talking. Finally, Cade shoved him into a break room where several people lay unconscious on the floor.

  Halifax stopped short and started at Cade. “Are you busting everyone you see?”

  “Everyone giving me shit.”

  Halifax laughed, although he clapped his hands over his mouth as one of the unconscious men began to stir.

  Cade stepped up to the man and touched a baton against the exposed neck. A loud zap sounded. The man jerked awake and then immediately collapsed as the shock rendered him unconscious once again.

  “Brutal,” Halifax said.

  Cade shrugged. He did what he had to, nothing more or less.

  Halifax shook his head, went to a break-room table and sat on a chair. He peered at a wall, his eyebrows twitching and then causing a furrowed vertical line between his eyes. He shook his head again.

  “What are you doing?” Cade said.

  “Huh? Oh, thinking, trying to think. We’re in it thick, Cade. I don’t…” Halifax faced him. “Something the Director said to me earlier. It makes me think Quillian is here too. I mean in the Detention Center.”

  “Who’s Quillian?”

  “Remember the woman running Roguskhoi Metals in Garwiy?”

  “The G6 station front in the Octagon Tower?” asked Cade.

  “Yes.”

  “That woman is here?”

  “She was also on Saint Louis Planet. Quillian never left it like the station head said, but watched us—look, none of that matters this instant. I can fill you in later. Right now, we—”

  “Wait,” Cade said, interrupting. “Quillian: I saw her name on the board. You’re right about her being here. She’s in Cell Eight.”

  “We need her. She has more knowledge about Earth and the Director than I possess.”

  “Why is she in Cell Eight?”

  “Haven’t a clue,” Halifax said. “Do we get her or not?”

  “Let’s go,” Cade said.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  The more Halifax told Cade about Leona Quillian, the more Cade realized she might be just what he needed. The woman was dangerous, however, even to an Ultra soldier.

  How to deal with her was the question.

  Cade made up his mind as they hurried down the corridor. Through a two-way mirror, he saw dark-haired Quillian lying on her bunk staring up at the ceiling. He was dealing with possibly the most dangerous people he ever had. There was a more important point, though. Titus held his wife and friends. Director Titus had used and would continue to use Ultras in hideous ways, through cyborg obedience-chip mind control. What would he do to thwart that other than destroy the five chips in his pocket?

  It would be good to get his hands on the rest of the obedience chips, but that might not be possible. One thing he did know. He would kill if he had to. Would he kill a woman? Yes. Would he destroy a world? If that was the only way to rescue his wife and friends, yes, he would. Were his wife and friends worth billions of people?

  They are to me. That meant Cade would do whatever he needed to win.

  “Right,” Cade said.

  “What’s that?” asked Halifax.

  “Wait here.” Cade opened the door and stepped into the small cell.

  Quillian looked up. “Oh, it’s you. Yeah, this is a surprise. If you kill me, do you think that will help you—?”

  “Get up.”

  Quillian raised her eyebrows before she swung around, sitting on the bunk with her feet on the floor.

  “Do you remember when I shot you full of knockout needles in your office in Garwiy?”

  “Of course,” Quillian said, as she watched him closely.

  Cade pulled out a gun, aiming it at her. “This one has bullets.”

  “I get it. You’ll kill me if I don’t cooperate. I can see you’re telling the truth too.” Quillian tilted her head to the left. “What if I tell you it doesn’t matter to me if I die?”

  Cade started to put pressure on the trigger—

  “I’ve changed my mind!” Quillian shot to her feet. “Yes. The Director—” She shook her head as if arguing with herself. “I don’t have a choice in this. Do you trust me?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Well, this is the truth. We have to leave the security area without anyone spotting us. How do you propose to do that?”

  “I don’t,” Cade said. “It’s your call. But know this: if they find us, I’ll make sure to kill you first.”

  “You realize none of this is my fault.”

  “It has nothing to do with anyone’s fault,” Cade said. “It’s to motivate you. I’m going to win, or we’re all going to die trying. Nothing else matters to me.”

  “I’m not sure I believe that. You want to save your wife and—” Quillian scowled.

  “Yeah,” Cade said. “You didn’t want me to know you knew my goal. You let the cat out of the bag… But I’m not sure that’s true. You’re likely worse than Halifax and are already playing games, and that was part of it.”

  “Hey,” Halifax said. He’d been holding the door open a crack, no doubt listening. “Cade, we can’t trust her—”

  “Shut up,” Cade told him before facing Quillian again. “I need plan that will work. Get us out of here. Then we’ll make the final decisions.”

  “What’s in it for me?” Quillian asked.

  “Life and whatever you can extort out of the Director after I get my wife and friends.”

  “If you somehow get your Ultra friends, you’re going to have to leave Earth and go to ground somewhere else.”

  “We’ll worry about that part later,” Cade said. “We need a safe place so we can plan, so we can find where they’re storing my wife.”

  “You do realize the entire planet is honeycombed with tunnels,” Quillian said.

  “No more stalling.”

  Quillian eyed the gun aimed at her midsection. “All right, a plan. I have one, but you’re not going to like it.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “We’re not going to get away how you’re thinking,” Quillian said. “That you’re here shows me what must have happened. You went straight into the thick of it instead of trying to hide. I don’t know how you managed that with cameras and security…unless someone shut down the cameras. Yeah, you have to have an insider for this to be working.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cade said.

  “I know the Director. I know this place, as I worked here in my youth. That you’re here should be impossible. I’ve been trying to understand how you did it.” Quillian pinched her lower lip. “Everyone must be unbalanced, and you’ve had help in security like I said. But Director Titus is going to put a stop to that fast. He’ll start giving orders and figuring out the answer.” Quillian released her lip and began nodding. “Before that happens, you need to have a gun against his head. It’s the only way to negotiate with the Director. I couldn’t do it, because he wouldn’t believe that I’d suicide if he doesn’t give me what I want. With you, though—I think the Director is at least as good a judge of people as I am. He’ll recognize your resolve. That’s the ticket to winning for you—that and reaching Titus before he surrounds himself with enough security that even you couldn’t reach him.”

  “Balls out to the finish, eh?” Cade asked.

  “You have them off balance. How else could you have made it this far? Where did you start?”

  “In a cylinder full of green water.”

  Quillian frowned. “I don’t understand.”
/>   “The techs let me out of the cylinder after I started drowning.”

  Quillian held the frown, staring at him.

  “I pulled off the breathing mask,” Cade said.

  Halifax swore in wonder. He’d seen the setup many years ago and must have realized Cade’s desperation to do what he had.

  Quillian laughed darkly. “I was right. You shocked the techs. They must have pulled you out of the water and revived you, terrified you’d die. Someone must have alerted security, but they did the wrong thing. You exploited that. That must be one of your Ultra powers. You’re a creature of war, of chaos and the battlefield. When everyone else is panicking, you’re thinking clearly and quickly. Yeah. Yeah. We have to reach Titus before the shock wears off.”

  “First off,” Halifax said. “Where is the Director?”

  “How would I know that?” Quillian asked.

  Cade holstered his gun and took out the comm unit and power pack. He opened the unit up and reinserted the pack. Then he powered up the unit. “Catch,” he said.

  Quillian caught the comm device.

  “Listen to them,” Cade said.

  Quillian stared at him again. “You’re not worried I might try to whisper to them.”

  “Sure, I am,” Cade said. “So, I’ll tell you what. You warn them, and I’ll shoot you. Even if they shoot me, I’ll stay alive long enough to pump you full of bullets.”

  Quillian nodded as she stared into his eyes. “You’re a man, a real man. You dominate the situation. That is highly erotic. Did you know that?”

  “Give me a break,” Halifax said. “Cade isn’t going to fall for that.”

  Quillian shook her head. “I know. Yes,” she told Cade. “I’ll do as you ask.” She put the comm unit to her right ear and started listening. “Chaos,” she said a few seconds later. “They’re confused, shouting at each other, wondering how you went to ground like you did. And I was right: the cameras are out, and they don’t know why.” She turned pale and whispered, “the Director is talking. He’s—” Quillian looked up. “You need uniforms for all three of us. Guard uniforms would be best.”

  “There are guards in the detention lobby,” Cade said.

  “Subdue them and take their uniforms. Then we’re going to join the manhunt. It doesn’t really matter where you put the gun to his head, just that you’re able to do it.”

  “Yes, it matters,” Cade said. “I have to have a spot where they can’t get off a shot at me.”

  “Once you have the Director, you mean,” she said.

  “Once we’re bargaining,” Cade agreed.

  “Damn. This is exciting. But the Director won’t ever trust me again.”

  “You were in Cell Eight,” Cade said. “The Director already distrusts you.”

  “True.”

  “Like I said, Quillian, you can keep what you can negotiate from the man. I want my wife and friends, and a place to hide off-Earth. The rest—you can have the rest.”

  “Do you know where we’re at?” Quillian asked.

  “The Detention Center in the Kansas City security area,” Cade said.

  “No,” Quillian said. “We’re up Shit Creek without a paddle. But damn, you’re probably the strongest swimmer in the universe. We need those uniforms.”

  “Don’t trust her, Cade. She’s up to something.”

  Cade nodded. Halifax was right, but so was Quillian. It was time to roll the dice one more time and see if he could finish what he’d started.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Twenty-one minutes later, Cade led Quillian and Halifax down a corridor. They each wore a guard’s uniform complete with holstered guns and batons. They’d been on the prowl for six minutes already and hadn’t seen anyone yet.

  “Is it just me,” Quillian said. “Or does something feel off about this?”

  Cade’s hackles had risen a few seconds earlier. He whirled around to face Quillian. “Is this a trap?”

  “If it is,” she said, “it isn’t my doing.”

  “She’s a liar, Cade.”

  “I do lie sometimes,” Quillian said. “But I’m not lying now. I have no incentive. Cade has already assured me he’ll kill me if anything goes wrong. I have no doubts concerning his ability or resolve to do just that.”

  Cade squinted at her. She hadn’t said that for his or Halifax’s benefit, but for someone else’s. Then it dawned on him. “Game’s over before it began, huh?” He drew his gun, aimed at Quillian—

  “I wish you’d wait a moment,” a voice said from the ceiling, from a hidden speaker.

  Cade studied Quillian. She stared into his eyes as if seeing life for the first time. A hint of fear was in hers and she started blinking and didn’t seem to be able to stop.

  “Please…” Quillian whispered. “I had nothing to do with this.”

  “What is it then?” asked Cade.

  “Director Titus set you up.”

  “How?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Quillian said.

  “She’s wrong,” a man’s voice said from a ceiling speaker. “I set up no one. But once you drowned…I gave you an opportunity to show me what you could do, nothing more.”

  “That’s the Director speaking,” Quillian said, her shoulders slumping.

  “What are you talking about, giving me a chance?” Cade said to the ceiling.

  “When you overpowered the security detail in the cylinder chamber,” Titus said. “I wanted to know what more you could do if given a chance.”

  “You prepped everyone?” asked Cade.

  “On no,” Titus said. “You were on your own. It was a remarkable performance, yes, quite remarkable indeed. In case you’re interested, you hardened my resolve to use Ultras. I never knew you were that good. It was truly amazing and enlightening.”

  Cade stared at Quillian, noted her fear, and realized she didn’t have anything to do with this. He wasn’t sure he fully believed the Director, though, about letting him get away with some of this. Still…he holstered the gun. Forget about Quillian. She doesn’t matter. What did matter was dealing with Director Titus. Before Cade could think it through, he said, “It’s wrong putting obedience chips in us.”

  “You’re saying it’s an ineffective strategy?” Titus asked.

  “No. I’m saying it’s morally repugnant.”

  “Ah,” Titus said. “You have a primitive worldview. That makes sense. You’re a soldier. Honor is critical, is it not?”

  “Ultras are people. We’re not robots and shouldn’t be used as robots.”

  “Should, should, who cares anything about should? I expected more from you, but maybe I’m thinking about this wrong. You’re a fantastic soldier. Yes. You excel in your area of expertise and I in mine. Well…in that case, I have a proposal for you. Surrender and I’ll let you see your wife before you start your next mission.”

  A fiery rage burst into life within Cade. Raina was close, maybe even in the corridors. He could see her again, talk to and touch her, and then Titus and his minions would snatch her from him as they surgically inserted another brain chip into his cranium. He would be a slave for the rest of his existence. No doubt, Raina and the others would follow suit. Cade wanted to bellow his rage, to rave at Titus, and then stick the gun to his own head and end it. But if he did that, he’d never see his wife again. He would leave his friends in captivity to this monster.

  “I have a counter-proposal,” Cade said between clenched teeth.

  “Yes?” Titus asked.

  “Release my wife and friends, and I’ll freely tell you everything I learned out there.” Cade glanced at Quillian before regarding the ceiling speaker. “I’ve found a cloner, which means a cloning machine.”

  “Cloning is a fantasy,” Titus said.

  “Wrong,” Cade said. “It’s reality and I’ve seen it up close and personal.”

  “You can actually prove this?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “And you know where to get this cloning machine?” Titus a
sked.

  “I don’t, but I know who does.”

  “Well, that is interesting if it could be true,” Titus said. “Since I doubt the existence of such a machine, it holds little weight against my having you Ultras. Do you have anything else to offer?”

  “The biggest thing so far,” Cade said. “I’ve learned there’s a Web-Mind in existence. It had a lurker and cyborg crew and was trying to acquire more cyborg weaponry. The secret tech company is one of its fronts, which means it has androids hidden among men.”

  “I already know about the androids and the secret tech company,” Titus said. “This Web-Mind…it’s more of your phantasms that you’re trying to conjure as bargaining levers.”

  “We have to run,” Quillian whispered to Cade.

  “My dear Quillian,” Titus said, “that is a meaningless suggestion. I can gas the corridors at any time. Besides, throngs of security personnel have already maneuvered into position. You’re trapped, all three of you. I must say that I’m displeased with you, Dr. Halifax, as you seemed to have changed allegiance. And you, Quillian, could Cade have been referring to you as the clone expert?”

  “Actually, Quillian is the cloner,” Cade said, drawing his gun again. “But a bullet through her head will end any possibility of you acquiring her cloning machine.”

  “It would make it more difficult to acquire, I grant you,” Titus said. “I don’t know about impossible.”

  “I can put a bullet through my own head as well,” Cade said.

  “For what possible reason?” asked Titus.

  “So I can escape your slavery.”

  “Yes…” Titus said a moment later. “You could do those things. And I don’t doubt you have the resolve. What you threaten will generate a bit of trouble for me, but nothing I can’t surmount. I will have the others we found in the sleeper ship. You will have taught me some useful lessons in dealing with those Ultras.”

  “Director,” Cade said, re-holstering the gun and realizing something else. “You’re missing the greater point. The cyborgs are out there. Oh, they’re in the larva stage, with possibly only a single Web-Mind. But the cyborgs are stirring once more. At the same time, you’re trying to build an interstellar spy network in lieu of having a fleet of starships. The cyborgs will smash your spy rings as they flood the Concord with their vile troopers. Once they learn how to manufacture convertors again, it will be over for humanity, over for Old Earth and over for you and your perverted dream.”