by Ken Lozito
“I wouldn’t worry about Stackhouse,” Sergeant Flint said.
Dash had to agree. He hadn’t gotten the sense that Stackhouse was particularly dangerous, but he was following orders. “There was a real mean one with a big chip on his shoulder, but I can’t remember his name.”
“Can you describe him?” Sergeant Flint asked.
Dash looked away for a moment. He could hear the soldier’s voice in his head, but he couldn’t remember his name.
Sergeant Flint looked over at Shea. “Do you know who’s guarding the prisoners?”
Shea thought about it for a minute. “Lambert was there for sure. Maybe O’Brien and Riggs.”
“Riggs!” Dash cried. “He’s the one Maddox had watching Brad and me at the console.”
Sergeant Flint nodded and shared a look with the other soldiers.
Dash watched the exchange. “That doesn’t look good.”
“It’s not. Riggs has always been an ass,” Sergeant Flint said and sighed. “He’s the one we have to take out first.”
“Great. How are we going to do that?” Dash asked.
Sergeant Flint glanced at the assault rifle Dash was carrying. “I’m going to need you to give up that rifle.”
Dash glanced down at the rifle and then handed it over to Flint.
“The easiest way for us to get into position is if they think you’re our prisoner,” Sergeant Flint said.
Dash sucked in a deep breath and felt his stomach clench. If they went in with their guns blazing, some of his friends would undoubtedly die. He knew that, but it didn’t change how scared he was.
“We’ll protect you, I promise,” Sergeant Flint said.
Dash glanced at the other soldiers and saw the same determination in each of their eyes. “I don’t get it. Weren’t these guys your friends?”
Sergeant Flint pressed his lips together. “Some of them. We serve together, but the CDF is supposed to protect the colony. What Maddox is doing . . . isn’t right and anyone who follows him is just as wrong. They need to be stopped.”
Dash almost couldn’t imagine how difficult a decision like this would be, but the line had been drawn—and crossed—it seemed. “I’m sorry,” he said, not knowing what else to say and feeling like even that wasn’t appropriate.
Sergeant Flint nodded.
“Is there anything you can give me so I’m not in there unarmed?” Dash asked.
Sergeant Flint regarded him for a moment and then pulled out his sidearm pistol. It was small and sleek. “This is only good at short range. Do you know how to shoot one of these?”
“I’ve never used one before. I’ve only used rifles and the sonic blasters,” Dash said.
“Same principles apply,” Flint said and showed him how to arm the pistol. “Just hide it. Chances are good they won’t search you for weapons because they’ll think you’re in our custody, but if they do, they’ll realize something is up if they find the pistol. I’m willing to take that risk. Are you?” Sergeant Flint asked.
Dash’s eyes slid to the pistol and he remembered something Dr. Bishop had told him more than once: Better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it. He took the pistol.
They made their way to the NEIIS Command Center and Dash heard shouting from inside. He quickened his step and felt a firm hand grip his shoulder, slowing him down. Sergeant Flint took the lead and they went inside. Dash saw Merissa and the others with three soldiers standing guard. He quickly looked away, relieved she was still alive and the others looked unharmed. He wanted to tell them he’d brought help but couldn’t.
He recognized Captain Ramsey from Field Ops. One of Ramsey’s eyes was a swollen, red mess, but he glanced over at Dash with his good eye. One of the three soldiers looked over at them with mild surprise, and Dash remembered that his name was Lasky.
Dash saw that Jim was on his knees and Sergeant Riggs was standing over him with his weapon pointed at his head. Dash clamped his mouth shut and kept his eyes to the ground.
“What’s going on here?” Sergeant Flint asked.
Riggs looked at Dash and narrowed his gaze. “It seems you’ve caught our runaway,” he said and stormed over.
Dash saw that Riggs had multiple wounds on his face, and even with the application of medipaste, he could tell they were burns from when the console had exploded.
Sergeant Flint blocked Riggs from getting to Dash. “I asked you a question.”
Dash didn’t know how CDF ranks worked, but he hazarded a guess that Sergeant Flint was the ranking soldier there.
Riggs tore his eyes away from Dash. “Lieutenant Maddox said I should motivate that one over there to translate the NEIIS console,” he said and gestured toward Brad.
Dash met Brad’s terrified gaze and swallowed hard.
Sergeant Flint grinned heartily, grabbed Dash by the scruff of his neck, and shoved him to the ground next to Jim. “This one’s been nothing but trouble. If we’re going to motivate them to cooperate, I’d say we use this one,” Flint said and gestured for Jim to back away. “You go join the others. You’ll get your turn.”
Jim turned toward Dash.
“Just go,” Dash said softly. His neck ached from where Flint had grabbed him, but he knew that Flint had to make it look convincing to the other soldiers.
“You heard him!” Riggs shouted, and Jim hurried away.
Dash watched as Jim went back to the others, Rex and Shea following close behind. It seemed natural that they would pose as escorts, but Dash knew they were moving into position.
Riggs stomped over and stopped. “Mind if I borrow this one?”
Flint nodded and looked toward the console where Brad and Specialist Stackhouse watched. Brad appeared to be drained of all color and Specialist Stackhouse didn’t look much better. Riggs grabbed a clump of Dash’s hair and dragged him toward the console. White-hot pain seemed to scald his head and he struggled to move so Riggs wouldn’t tear a piece of scalp off his head.
“There’s no need to do this,” Brad said. “I already told you we’re ready to upload the command.”
Riggs raised his AR-71 and there was a slight popping sound. Brad cried out and fell backward, clutching his leg. Dash tried to go to him, but Riggs held onto him and pressed the barrel of his AR-71 against Dash’s forehead. The breath caught in his throat as he looked up into the soldier’s murderous gaze. Dash turned his gaze toward Brad. There was a crimson stain forming over his thigh.
“Sir,” Specialist Stackhouse said and glanced down at Brad regretfully. “He’s right. We’re ready to go here. We’ve augmented the purge protocol per the lieutenant’s instructions.”
Riggs kept his eyes on Dash. “I don’t trust them—”
A sensor alarm echoed through the corridors of the NEIIS Command Center. Dash looked at Flint, but the CDF Sergeant looked just as surprised as he was.
“Those are the northern perimeter alarms. There are ryklars near the encampment,” Corporal Lasky said.
Dash watched as Riggs looked away from him. “Send the update, Specialist.”
Dash reached his hand ever so slowly toward the pistol he had hidden at the small of his back, but Riggs swung his gaze toward Dash suspiciously. Dash froze for a moment before glancing toward Brad and Specialist Stackhouse. The specialist was staring at the NEIIS console, frowning.
“What’s the problem?” Riggs said.
Specialist Stackhouse’s looked perplexed. “The command . . .” he said and looked over at them in alarm. “It’s not working.”
Dash snatched the pistol from its hiding place and rolled to the side, extending his arm. Riggs turned toward him, snarling. Dash squeezed the trigger multiple times and one of his shots took Riggs in the arm, but it was someone else who shot him in the chest. Riggs looked confused for a moment, as if he wasn’t quite sure what had happened, and then he slumped to the floor. Dash looked over and saw that Sergeant Flint had shot him.
Flint turned to the remaining soldiers. “Sta
nd down. That’s an order.”
Dex and Shea kept their weapons trained on the soldiers. Corporal Lasky closed his eyes for a long moment and then dropped his weapon. Dash watched as the remaining two soldiers looked at Flint with hatred in their eyes, and Dash thought they were going to take their chances.
“You heard Sergeant Flint. It’s over,” Shea said.
The two soldiers dropped their weapons and then raised their hands.
“Bind their hands,” Flint said and looked around. “Where’s Gibbs?”
Corporal Lasky cleared his throat. “He’s with Lieutenant Maddox, sir.”
Dash heard Brad groan and hastened over to him, pressing his hands onto the wound to the stop the bleeding. As he looked around for something to use as a tourniquet, he noticed that Merissa was across from him.
“I’ll help him. They need you at the console,” she said, giving him a slight smile.
Dash reached out to give her shoulder a gentle squeeze, and Selena replaced him at Brad’s side as Flint called him over to the console.
Dash approached Specialist Stackhouse, who was looking at Riggs’s body and then at Dash. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Flint looked at Stackhouse. “Go with the others,” he said and then turned to Dash. “The ryklars are here. Can you use this console to send them away?”
Dash looked at the console, thinking. “They’re following the instructions of the purge protocol.”
“What does that mean?” Lieutenant Flint asked.
“It means that the ryklars will sweep through this city, killing anyone on the streets as they must have done as they made their way across the continent,” Dash said. He navigated through the NEIIS interface, looking for what he’d found before.
“Can it be stopped or should we evacuate?” Lieutenant Flint asked.
Dash’s eyes darted to where Brad lay on the floor. “I’ll stay here. Take them back to the Hellcat.”
Flint shook his head. “Not a chance. We’ll make sure this gets done first.”
Dash spent the next few minutes going through the NEIIS interface and figured out what Brad had done to stall the soldiers. It wasn’t difficult, and Dash assumed Brad had used that method expressly so Dash could figure out what he’d done. Dash glanced at Stackhouse. The CDF specialist must have known they were stalling and had gone along with it, but he’d also inputted the update to the purge protocol that would send the ryklars to Sierra. How could he have followed those orders? Stackhouse looked away from him.
Dash found the symbols he thought would cancel the purge protocol and activated them, hopefully executing the commands that would send one final NEIIS broadcast. “It’s done,” Dash said. “It should be picked up by any working NEIIS transmitter.”
Captain Ramsey walked over. “I’m assuming you’re here because you met up with Connor. Do you know where he is now?”
Lieutenant Flint glanced at the CDF soldiers they were holding prisoner and Captain Ramsey followed his gaze.
Dash leaned down and picked up the AR-71 Riggs had dropped. “Let’s go help him.”
The NEIIS consoles all went dark at the same time, and the only light in the command center came from the temporary lighting the CDF brought with them.
“What happened?” Lieutenant Flint asked.
Dash went over to the nearest console but it was dead. “I’m not sure,” he said and glanced over at his backpack where a glowing light came from the NEIIS PDA. He went over and pulled out the PDA, but as he read the information on the screen, his stomach sank to his feet. “We have a problem. The last signal broadcast contains Maddox’s update and not the cancellation.”
“We need to fix this, now,” Flint said.
Dash pressed his lips together, his eyes darting to the dead consoles, and then his eyes fell on Brad, who appeared to be only slightly conscious. Dash raced to his side, took hold of his shoulder, and shook him. “I need you to wake up,” Dash said and called out Brad’s name loudly. Brad’s eyes opened and he looked at Dash. “The power here has gone offline. I need to get it back on so we can cancel the purge protocol. How’d you do it back at Sanctuary?”
Brad’s eyes squeezed shut in pain and then he started to speak softly. Dash leaned in so he could hear. Thousands of lives depended on him.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Connor had just left the area where the Hellcat sat nestled a half-kilometer from the central building. One of the bronze monoliths glowed toward the tip, signifying another imminent broadcast. He’d left Ian tucked into a nook where he could lay down suppressing fire. An old special forces adage came to his mind: slow is smooth; smooth is fast; fast is deadly. He had weapons and ammunition aplenty, and he’d even set up a few surprises on the path Maddox would likely take back to camp. Maddox believed Connor’s only weapon was an AR-71, but they had other uses, particularly the power cores. He'd also taken out two more soldiers who hadn’t given him a choice and sent their images to Maddox, knowing it would goad him into coming for Connor. Now Maddox was down to eight men instead of ten. Better, but not good enough. He didn’t know these men and couldn’t guess whether the odds swinging out of favor for Maddox would cause them to surrender or switch sides. This unit was sick at heart, and Connor wondered how many other CDF units were in the same state.
Connor heard Ian whistle, meaning Maddox was closing in on them. Connor hadn’t been able to make it to his own hiding spot so he hastened back toward the Hellcat, then ducked behind a storage crate.
“You know coming here is suicide, right?” Lenora said.
Connor closed his eyes and silently pleaded with Lenora to keep her mouth shut for once. He had no more drones to use, but he was patched into the Hellcat's systems. Sergeant Flint had given him access when they’d sent the emergency broadcast to COMCENT.
Using the Hellcat systems, he saw the CDF soldiers cautiously approaching the camp. The soldiers split up, each going to different sides as they entered, and Connor waited. He couldn’t see Lenora or Maddox yet, so he watched as the soldiers made a sweep of the camp, knowing Maddox wouldn’t enter until the soldiers gave the all clear. Both groups of soldiers were within range of the traps he’d set. Connor detonated the power cores from the AR-71s he’d collected and the blast took out four CDF soldiers. The explosion tossed their bodies into the air and they didn’t rise from their falling place.
Connor left his position behind the storage crate and circled around, staying out of sight.
“I know you’re out there! Come out now or I’ll kill her!” Maddox shouted.
Connor sucked in a deep breath. He had the video feed from the Hellcat systems on his own internal heads-up display. Maddox still had three soldiers with him and was holding Lenora close to him with his sidearm pistol pointed directly at her head. Connor gritted his teeth. Maddox had gagged her. Even if he could take them by surprise, he didn’t have a clear shot at Maddox with Lenora right in front of him.
“You don’t even realize you’ve lost. The ryklars will converge on Sierra,” Maddox said.
“About that,” Connor replied, his voice coming from the Hellcat’s external speaker system so Maddox couldn’t pinpoint his position, “I think you’ll find the purge protocol has been canceled.”
Maddox laughed. “I’ve just received confirmation that the signal has already been sent.”
The glowing tip of the bronze monolith suddenly became dark, and Connor craned his neck around the storage crate, seeing that Maddox and the others were looking up at it. He darted from cover, shooting the closest soldier. Lenora kicked out with her leg, knocking Maddox back and giving Connor an opportunity to knock him off his feet. As Connor became tangled with the CDF soldier, he heard shots being fired but focused on freeing himself from Maddox. He rolled to his feet and glanced at the assault rifle nearby. Maddox lunged for the rifle, but Connor tackled him, and Maddox squirmed forward and grabbed his pistol instead. Connor seized his wrist and then drove his elbow into Maddox’s ear. Maddox growled but somehow
got to his feet.
They both struggled against each other, but Maddox had the pistol in his hand. Connor kicked at his leg while twisting Maddox’s wrist, forcing him to drop the gun. Maddox quickly recovered and hammered a blow into Connor’s face. Connor was momentarily stunned and Maddox kicked him in the stomach, but Connor grabbed Maddox’s leg and delivered a crushing blow to his throat, catching the soldier by surprise. Maddox fell backward, stunned and gasping for a mouthful of air, but he saw the pistol on the ground nearby and managed to lunge for it. Connor dove to the side to avoid being shot and felt something searing his side. As he rolled to his feet, Connor pulled his knife from its sheath and threw it at Maddox. The soldier flinched as the knife bit into his arm. The pistol dropped from Maddox’s grasp and spun away.
“Come on, you don’t need the gun. You hate me, right?” Connor said, stomping toward him. “I’m standing right here.”
Maddox sneered and charged, putting all his momentum into a single crushing blow. Connor stepped aside at the last moment and kicked at Maddox’s knee, causing the big soldier to drop. Maddox spun, catching Connor by surprise, lifting him into the air, and slamming his body to the ground. He punched Connor in his wounded side. Each blow sent waves of pain coursing through him. Maddox picked up Connor’s knife, and Connor grabbed his wrist to prevent himself from being stabbed. Connor gritted his teeth, straining against Maddox, but the knife kept inching closer. As if in slow motion, Connor watched as Lenora stepped behind Maddox and shot him in the back. Connor shoved the soldier off him and Maddox lay on his back, gasping.
Connor pushed himself up to a sitting position breathing hard. He looked at Lenora who had the pistol aimed at Maddox.
"Sierra is still going to fall," Maddox said, his voice becoming weak.
Connor gritted his teeth and glared. "Not today."
Maddox coughed weakly and a crimson wreath ringed his mouth. Even after the soldier had taken his last breath, his lifeless stare was still full of hate.
The pistol thudded to the ground and Lenora helped Connor to his feet. He pulled her into a firm embrace, almost afraid to let her go. He didn’t want to think about how close he’d come to losing her forever. She hugged him tighter and he winced.
