by Peter Hoole
“Where’s the best place to start, babe?” Caleb asked Darcy, who was so close behind him he could sense it.
“We need to try get back inside, so we should head for the store?” replied Darcy.
As they walked down the road, Caleb and Jace had their weapons drawn. Caleb panned the area with his Carbine, his left hand on the hand guard. His weapon was steadied as he looked down through the front-sight, knowing exactly where the 0.22 bullets would go.
While the Carbine was an older style weapon, it had served Caleb well, and he had no intention of changing his weapon of choice.
They edged their way towards the store, and approach with caution.
Making their way to the front, Caleb turned and told Darcy and Jace to wait.
“Just while I clear it.” Caleb said, pre-empting Darcy’s protest.
Darcy and Jace stopped near the doorway, and Caleb made his way inside.
Caleb made his way quickly through the store. As he expected, the store was virtually untouched. There was plenty of stock on the shelves, and the refrigerators were still operating, causing a low buzz to flow through the otherwise silent room.
As the store was a basic design, the clearing only took a matter of seconds, probably less than a minute.
“All clear,” Caleb said, loud enough that Darcy and Jace could hear on the other side of the doorway.
They came through quickly.
“Are you guys sure we’re in the right place. I mean, the place is a bit of a ghost town... but everywhere feels like that in the middle-of-fucking-nowhere-Australia.” Jace asked.
Darcy and Caleb did not provide a response, but merely continued on their way.
This seemed to annoy Jace. Caleb was sure he was not a man that was used to being ignored.
“Where to now?” Caleb asked Darcy.
Darcy, finding some confidence, led the way through the aisles of food, towards the clerk’s desk. As they approached, Darcy veered to the side, and around to the left. Caleb, still with his weapon drawn, moved briskly to be right on her tail.
She moved through the door, which Caleb presumed lead to the store’s office.
As they breached the precipice of the door, Caleb saw what Darcy was bringing them to – a trap-door on the office floor.
The room had not been touched since the night before.
While the room itself seemed fine, it was the carpet that had been flung to the side that was a giveaway. Caleb guessed it was used to cover up the trap-door when required. Being that it had not been replaced, it showed the Colonials had not been back to cover their tracks.
That did not mean they had not been back at all though. As such, Caleb again took the lead. He ushered Darcy to get behind him.
“Jace,” Caleb said, “Come here and cover me.”
Jace did as requested, and stood adjacent to the trap door. He raised his weapon towards Caleb, and nodded. He was ready in case there were Colonials waiting on the other side.
When Caleb was sure Jace was in position, he opened the door.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Much to their combined relief, all they saw on the other side of the door was a ladder. Both Caleb a Darcy let out a short sigh.
“Starting to believe?” Darcy asked Jace.
Jace shook his head. Darcy as unsure if that meant he was, or if he still had his doubts.
But they could not let their momentum be halted by doubt, so Caleb made his way down the ladder. When he reached the bottom, he swung his gun into position, and did a quick scan of the area.
The long corridor was dark, but he was still reminded of the colony structure. The design itself was sleek and precise.
Caleb slowly moved down the corridor. As he moved, he heard Darcy descend the ladder behind him.
After a few more moments, he heard Jace’s steps hit the floor. As he waited for Jace to gather himself, Caleb continued to survey the corridor. There was no visible presence of other people, and Caleb felt it safe to proceed.
Though he moved with caution, there was also some purpose in his steps. He moved down the corridor, with Darcy and Jace behind. Caleb stopped moving down the hall and turned to the Australian.
“Need you to focus back there, Jace.” Said Caleb, “Keep an eye on our six.”
“Jesus, Captain. I kinda believed what you said, but this... this is…”
“Yeah, I know.” Caleb replied, “But we’ve got a job to do.”
Jace nodded, and composed himself, raising his weapon and turning to walk backwards.
Caleb again moved. There were doors approximately every ten feet or so. As they approached each door, Caleb tried to open it. Unfortunately, each door was sealed shut, just as Murphy had indicated.
As they made their way forward, Darcy confirmed what Caleb was thinking.
“Caleb,” she began, “Just wait.”
“What is it, Darc?” he asked.
“Looks like Murphy was right.” Darcy said, “we should head back up to the surface. I don’t think we’re gonna have much hope here.”
Caleb agreed. And as he had no real idea how long they had, it was a decision that needed to be made with relative haste.
“But,” Darcy began, “I don’t think we’re without hope.”
“What makes you say that?” Caleb asked.
“These Colonials seem well prepared. Enough that they wouldn’t have let everything be destroyed.”
“Go on…”
“I think they must have had a back-up plan. Some way to ensure the data and information from this site was still accessible.”
Caleb understood what she was getting at, but he saw a flaw.
“That’s if they kept it all here. As we know, they have places all over the globe. Why would they keep it here?”
Darcy pondered the question.
“You’re probably right. But at least here is where we know information was stored. And we have access to here and now. We can’t leave without at least trying to find something.”
Caleb knew she was right. While the Colonials would have sent information to the other bases, the size of the mainframe room – the one Caleb was shot it – was huge. It must have been storing something.
“Ok… where do you suppose we start looking? All the rooms are caved in.”
“We need to get back to the surface.”
They had walked only about fifty yards down the corridor, so the journey back to the trap door was a short one. As they approached, Jace put his hand up, urging the others to stop.
“What’s going on?” asked Caleb from the rear.
Jace did not immediately reply.
“What is it, Jace?” asked Darcy.
After a moment, Jace responded, “I think I can hear someone.”
Darcy and Caleb remained quiet, as did Jace. They waited for several seconds, hoping to catch anything that may help them figure out what Jace had heard.
But there was only silence.
After several more seconds, Caleb spoke softly.
“Time to move, Jace.”
With that, Jace tentatively moved towards the ladder. He looked up, and pointed his weapon.
“We can’t stay here forever.”
Jace tucked his gun into the back of his pants, and climbed the ladder.
After he had scaled the ladder, Caleb heard a light shuffling.
“Everything ok, Jace?” he called up the ladder.
After a few seconds, Jace responded.
“All clear, Captain.” Jace said from the store office.
Caleb nodded to Darcy, and she then ascended the ladder. After she had cleared enough rungs, Caleb followed her. As Darcy approached the top, Caleb looked up.
Darcy stepped through the opening, and moved quickly to the side.
Caleb was only a few steps behind her.
He approached the opening, and popped his head through. What he saw made his heart sink.
As he looked up, there was Darcy, with Jace to her left.
But they were not alone.
Both Darcy and Jace were being restrained by others.
Caleb suspected the worst – the Colonials had arrived.
Caleb had little choice, seeing the precarious position Darcy was in. He exited through the trapdoor opening and stood in front of Darcy and Jace.
After raising his hands, Caleb said, “Please let her go.”
The words came out more feebly than Caleb had anticipated, but the emotion of seeing his love in such a position overcame him. And, to add further pressure, he noticed a gun pointed towards her. Not at her head, but towards he chest.
There was a man and woman in the office. The woman had control of Darcy, and the man had Jace.
They showed little emotion as the one holding on to Darcy pointed her weapon at Caleb.
“Move.” The woman said, her Australian accent evident. As she spoke, she waved her gun, indicating for Caleb to move to the office door, away from the opening to the colony.
Caleb, not wanting to jeopardise Darcy’s position, obliged without hesitation.
“I’ll do what you say,” Caleb said, “You just keep that gun pointed at me ok?”
She did as she was asked, and kept the gun pointed towards Caleb as he moved.
Caleb took a few tentative steps towards the door. As he walked, the options were running through his head.
He could attack them, or he could submit to their requests. Both the options had risks, but there was only one that guaranteed Darcy would not be hurt.
As he pondered the options, he decided to submit to their demands – at least for now.
Caleb figured that the longer he could keep them all alive, the more time would allow for another solution to present itself.
“Put your hands behind your head,” said the woman, clearly wanting to control the situation.
Caleb interlocked his fingers behind his head, and moved towards the exit of the office.
As he walked past Jace and Darcy, he turned to ensure they were following him out. And though they took a few moments, Darcy and Jace were also led out by their captors, following Caleb.
The five people walked through the store. Caleb tried to make sense of his surroundings, but he found his thoughts occupied by Darcy’s welfare.
As he tried to focus, he looked out the front of Haven’s general store.
It then became apparent there were more threats outside. As he made his way through the entry door of the store, Caleb looked around again. Sure enough, Darcy, Jace and their captors were still a few feet behind him.
Caleb stepped out, into the daylight.
In front of him were three other men. All wore similar combat gear to what Caleb and Darcy were wearing. Simple black t-shirts, black combat pants and boots.
They also had multiple holsters for weapons, and radios strapped to their belts. The radios were obviously transmitting to the ear pieces sitting on the sides of their heads.
Two of the men had their rifles drawn. From the ten or so feet away, Caleb could not make out the models of the weapons, as it was usually a good indication of where the combatants were from.
He stepped a little closer to get a better look.
“Stay right there, mate.” said the man in the middle.
He did not have his weapon drawn and seemed to be the leader of the attackers. The man was dark-sinned, and stood about the same height as Caleb. In fact, he was also a similar size and physique to the marine. He had an imposing figure, and Caleb knew, just from his stature and posture, that he would be challenging to defeat in a hand to hand fight.
But, with the weapons pointing towards them, Caleb knew there were bigger issues.
The man scanned the trio, seeming to sum up his opposition. He briefly looked at Caleb, then Jace.
And then he looked at Darcy.
His observation of her seemed to linger. Caleb became tense, wondering why the man had begun to focus on her.
“Bring her closer…” said the man, pointing at Darcy.
Caleb objected, but as soon as he spoke, the man on the man’s left moved closer, pointing his weapon with more purpose. It was a clear instruction for Caleb to stop objecting.
It took every fibre of Caleb’s instincts to stop.
The leader turned to the man on his left, “Relax, Leroy.” He then turned to Caleb, “Mate, if we wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.”
Caleb was confused. It appeared that the men in front of him were not as he expected.
And he knew he was right. They had had the element of surprise, and the three of them were still alive. There were several chances for them to strike, and they had taken none of them.
“Just bring her closer…” the leader again said.
As he spoke, the woman holding Darcy moved towards the one giving orders.
As she approached, the leader’s expression changed.
He then did something Caleb did not expect. He turned to the men on his sides and said, “Lower your weapons.”
The men looked at him, seemingly confused.
“Adam…” said the one on the left, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Leroy… just do it. These people are not our enemy.”
Chapter Thirty
Caleb looked at the man, trying to understand what he had said.
His words were a complete surprise. Though they did prove one thing – these people were not Colonials.
Before he could ask who they were, the one called Leroy spoke, “How can we know that, Adam?”
Adam turned to his colleague, but spoke as though he was addressing the group.
“Last night, don’t you remember? This woman...” Adam said, pointing to Darcy, “She was at the garage, fighting the others.”
And then Darcy spoke, realising just who the men were.
“You were the ones that shot the two others... the ones running away?”
Adam simply nodded.
“I knew we weren’t alone, Caleb.” Darcy said, “I knew it. The way they fell. They fell towards me when I fired. They were running away, and they fell back towards me. I knew my shot couldn’t have done that.”
Adam again nodded.
“Yeah... pretty good shooting from us, I reckon.” He said with a smile.
He pointed towards the hilly bushland that ran parallel to the main street.
“We saw the whole thing...”
Caleb was unsure how to deal with the new information. If they had indeed helped Darcy, then they may have found another ally.
But there was one thing that was bugging him. He wondered why they hadn’t tried to stop the Colonials before.
Apparently, Adam could sense his confusion.
“I’m sure you guys have got some questions, and I think we need to have a chat.”
“I think you’re right.” Caleb responded.
“But not ‘ere.” Adam began, “No telling when those pricks’ll be back.”
“Do you have somewhere?” Caleb asked, agreeing with Adam that they needed to find another location to get acquainted.
“Sure do, mate.” Adam replied.
Caleb ushered Darcy and Jace towards him. Adam and his team did not interfere, and allowed the trio to discuss the situation.
“What do you think?” Caleb asked Darcy and Jace when they were far enough away.
Darcy and Jace looked at each other.
“I’m not sure we have a lot of choice here, Captain.” Jace said.
“I agree, Caleb,” Darcy said, “If they were going to hurt us they have.”
Caleb also agreed. And he knew that, yet again, he was going to have to trust someone. Besides, they needed allies. The three of them, plus the three on the plane to the states, were the only people in the world that Caleb knew were working on their side.
A few more couldn’t help.
“Look, mate,” said Adam, clearly becoming impatient, “You can come with us, or you can stay. I reckon you’ve got a better chance if you tag along with us though.”
> Caleb nodded towards Adam.
“Ok then.” Caleb began, “We’ll come with you.”
“Good,” said Adam, “Because I reckon we’ve got someone back home that you’d love to meet.”
***
Nervous didn’t quite cut it.
Deanna had been awake for several hours.
Or at least it had seemed that way. The lack of stimuli in the room made the passage of time somewhat hard to keep a track of.
During that time, all she had to look at were four blank, steel-like walls. They were so pristine that she could make out her reflection. The only other feature of the small, six-by-six-yard space was the vague outline of a door. As it was her only point-of-reference in the room, Deanna positioned herself so she was facing towards it.
In her work as a paralegal, she had spent many hours in holding areas. None of them ever looked like this.
As she waited, she thought about what had happened outside of Jamestown. She dwelled on her naivety, and loathed how quickly she had trusted Dan. After all, he was a man she barely knew.
Obviously he was involved in whatever had happened to Matthew, and anything associated with the incidents around the world.
Deanna cursed herself for not seeing it, for trusting him.
And it was those thoughts she remained locked in the room. She had called out numerous times, but there was no one there.
Or at least there was no reply.
She had tried everything, from complaining she was hungry, to demanding her phone call. Nothing seemed to generate any kind of response from whoever was on the other side of the door.
After time, she concluded that there was nothing she could do, and that patience would be her ally.
After some time – how much, she could not be sure - Deanna heard something on the other side of the door. The noise was a soft beeping. Deanna figured it was someone typing numbers or a code onto a keypad. After a few beeps, and one double-beep, the door swung open.
Due to the clash between the light and the dark, Deanna was unable to see who had opened the door.
Two men entered the room.
They were dressed in distinctive clothing – what Deanna thought were army fatigues, but with dashes of red, white and black patterned throughout like a fashionable camouflage. Deanna could not understand exactly what they were trying to camouflage into.
