Anhur

by Wayne Marinovich

  ‘Clear,’ Fingers shouted from the other van.

  ‘Gibbs,’ Stuart called.

  Gibbs turned to see his son standing behind the open door, M4 lowered to his waist, staring at a protruding arm with a large hunting knife pointing at him. Gibbs gasped for breath and was about to shoot the hand when he realised it had a slender feminine structure to it. Almost childlike. The heavy knife was shaking.

  ‘Drop the knife. You cannot get away,’ Stuart said, stepping to the right to let Gibbs move around the back.

  Gibbs felt his adrenaline levels drop. Lowering the SA80, he smiled.

  ‘Who is it?’ Smithy said.

  ‘What’s your name, lady?’ Gibbs asked. A slim blonde woman with a black bandana looked up at him. Blue eyes flicked from him to Stuart and back.

  ‘Stay the fuck away from me. I’ll stick you with this.’

  ‘I’m sure you will,’ Gibbs said, swinging the SA80 to the back of him on its strap. ‘You’re safe here with us. I take it you are not one of the 38s.’

  She shook her head. ‘Who are you? Where are we?’

  ‘We’re the men who are going to kill Rebus Maze,’ Stuart said. ‘This is the Hooded Man.’

  Gibbs frowned as he looked at his son. ‘You’re safe. Why don’t you get out of there and we can talk?’

  ‘I’m not handing this knife over.’

  ‘That’s fine. You keep a good hold of it until you feel you can trust us. Okay?’

  Cat-like, she slipped out the back of the van and stood in front of Gibbs. She wore a white band of cloth around her breasts with old blue denims and hiking boots.

  ‘Are you really him?’ she said.

  Gibbs nodded and turned slightly to reveal the hood from the jacket underneath his body armour, a big smile on his face. ‘You must be cold. Stuart, go and get one of the old jackets from the truck. Check on Grace too.’

  ‘You are a wanted man. You know that? I heard them all talking. There’s a lot of money on your head.’

  ‘I‘ve heard the rumour. Are you a prisoner or one of the gang whores?’

  ‘I was in Rebus’s harem for a while, but got too old, so he passed me off to these men. I didn’t choose to be here.’

  ‘My name is Gibbs. The man on the roof of the truck is Smithy. You met young Stuart already, and the men standing to your right with their tongues hanging out are Fingers and Blondie.’

  She glanced at the men and back at Gibbs. ‘You people not big on names, or did your mothers not like you?’

  Gibbs laughed and took a step to the left. ‘Come with me so we can continue talking.’ He walked over to an old workbench at the side of the warehouse and dragged two crates out from under the wooden top.

  ‘Ahem,’ Smithy said.

  ‘Smithy, take Fingers and Blondie in one of the vans and have a scout about. Make sure it’s safe to stay here for the night. Oh, and you’d better cook a little more as we have another guest,’ Gibbs said, sitting on a crate.

  The woman sat down. In the bright light from the glassless windows, he could see that she was in her twenties, well-tanned but with a haggardness from a life of strife.

  ‘How about we start with your name?’ he said.

  ‘Karen Schofield from San Francisco.’

  ‘Not much left of that after the flood.’

  ‘Yeah, but there’s still a lot happening on the higher ground. Loads of islands were formed around the old bay during the flood surge, and the Floodlanders are making it work, I hear. No gang has been able to take hold since you destroyed the Hawks.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear that. We hope to do the same here with Rebus.’

  ‘You saved thousands back there.’

  Gibbs nodded and looked at his hands.

  ‘How long have you been a prisoner of these bastards?’

  ‘Five years now. They got me when I was eighteen in a slave trade-off.’

  ‘Must have been hell.’

  She looked at the knife in her hands and shrugged.

  ‘We’re scouting for an enclave to drop off a wounded man and a young girl who we managed to save from other gang members. We can leave you there if you want.’

  ‘Thanks. That would be great,’ she said, tucking a strand of hair that had escaped from beneath her bandana behind her ear. ‘You know that Rebus wants you dead.’

  ‘He’ll have his chance soon enough. Do you know where he is hiding?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’ve been with these scout vehicles for a few weeks. They check in occasionally via radio. Rebus was in Maryville when those dead idiots last made contact but he has moved since then, I think.’

  ‘Could you point it out on a map?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Never mind. That’s okay,’ Gibbs said. ‘Who is the tall black woman he has with him?’

  ‘That’s Enyo. She’s been with him for a while too and is like the mother for his harem. Also the only woman Rebus fucks. I got on well with her because she seems to have a hold over him. Now that Luka is dead, she’ll be ruling the roost.’

  The van returned and parked across the entrance. Smithy got out and walked over. ‘I’ve left Fingers to the north and Blondie to the west. They’ll keep watch for an hour or so to make sure that our attack didn’t draw too much attention.’

  ‘How is Warren doing?’ Gibbs said.

  Smithy shrugged his shoulders. ‘We’ve done all we can. His temperature has stayed level, so no infection has hit yet, but it’s early days. We need to get to a place with a doctor and antibiotics.’

  Karen jumped up to both men’s surprise and walked back to the van. Reaching in, she pulled out a small brown parcel, wrapped in a leather cord. ‘There is a general antibiotic in there. I got it from Enyo. All the working girls got one when she could get her hands on them.’

  ‘That’s fantastic, Karen,’ Gibbs said, getting up and taking it from her. ‘Smithy, get it over to Warren and start him on it.’

  Karen handed it to Smithy, the knife in her other hand raised towards him.

  ‘Love, if we were a danger to you, you’d have known about it by now.’

  She watched him walk away, then stuck the knife into her leather belt. ‘What happens next?’

  ‘Find a place to drop you all off and then we go after Rebus.’

  ‘I could help you.’

  Gibbs grinned and stood up to walk toward the truck. A feeling he’d not felt in a long time churned within his gut. ‘Let’s make dinner and talk about that later,’ he said, looking up to see Stuart leaning out of the door of the truck. The youngster stepped down and walked towards them, grinning at Karen as he passed.

  ‘It’s time, you know, Gibbs.’

  Gibbs frowned and stopped walking. ‘Time for what? Dinner?’

  ‘Time for you to move on from Mom and get a wife.’

  ‘Not this again, and definitely not from you.’

  ‘Yes, this again. After we’re done with Rebus, we can salvage what we need from him and head south to Mexico. Karen is pretty, and she looks like she can handle herself, which is what we need. Mom would have wanted you to get married again.’

  ‘I’m getting hungry. Let’s see what Smithy is destroying on the stove,’ Gibbs said, putting his arm around Stuart’s shoulders. He was nearly as tall as Gibbs now.

  ‘I noticed that you didn’t argue the point as much as the last time we spoke about this. Does that mean you are coming around to the idea?’

  ‘Focus on you and Gracie. I see how you’re hovering around her,’ he said, slapping Stuart on the back as they walked.

  Chapter 25

  Powell, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA – 2043

  The fly tickled his temple as it walked down to his cheek to the corner of his mouth. Rolling the cigarette in his teeth, Andrei lifted the Zippo and flicked the top open with a clink. The fly moved off into the blue evening sky. A large fire flicked shadows up onto the nearby wall of the abandoned, roofless church. Embers twisted upwards as Andrei leaned back on the con
crete steps that led up to what was left of the marble altar. Taking a long draw on the cigarette, he felt his chest constricting as he fought off the urge to cough. Enough blood had been spilt that way. Sitting forward, he looked around the church floor at the soldiers, settling onto their constructed army cots.

  ‘I’m still waiting for an answer, warlord,’ Captain Alonso said, standing on one of the steps below Andrei’s feet.

  ‘Captain, I told you to stop calling me that. Andrei will do fine out here in the field.’

  ‘So you’ve been out in the field before then?’

  ‘You could say that, captain.’

  ‘Bloody hell, Alonso. I told you the man worked for the Russian FSB. That means he’s more than qualified to be here with us. Admittedly, his age means that we will have to go a little slower,’ Elijah said.

  Andrei removed the cigarette from his mouth with his thumb and forefinger, staring at Elijah. He blew the smoke out through his nose, and a little smile appeared.

  ‘No disrespect, of course,’ Elijah said, with a nod of his head. ‘While I don’t believe we need you here, the people who pay me have made it clear. If I want my money, I have to take you along with me.’

  ‘More haste, less speed, Bounty Hunter,’ Andrei said. ‘Now that I’m here, we can take our time. Gibbs will come to me. I have a contact who will pass him messages from me every few days on a satphone I know he possesses.’

  ‘How can you possibly know that?’ Captain Alonso said. ‘And why haven’t we brought this contact in for questioning?’

  ‘You had his daughter in custody. I helped her escape from your NAG silly base. I earned her trust, and she put me in touch with her father who speaks to Gibbs. He will tell me what I need to know.’

  ‘I will have you arrested for interfering and assisting a criminal to escape,’ the captain said, his face darkening as he folded his arms.

  ‘Shut up, Alonso,’ Elijah said. ‘We have another great lead handed to us, and you want to mess it all up.’

  ‘Don’t tell me to shut up. You mind your place here. I represent the NAG.’

  Elijah waved him away with a flick of his hand. ‘Andrei, do you trust the contact?’

  ‘I have no reason not to.’

  ‘When was the last time you spoke to this man?’

  ‘I spoke to him yesterday morning. He’s a man who’s been tracking Gibbs’s movements around the country, mostly from people’s accounts of the Hooded Man. He spoke to Gibbs only a month ago. When Gibbs turns that phone on again, he will get the messages to contact me.’

  ‘I happen to know that we are now only two days away from your friend,’ Elijah said. ‘So, you’ll forgive me if I don’t wait for him to contact you. When we get close, I am going in. If he’s alive after that, you two can have a good old catch-up.’ Andrei nodded, a big smile on his face. He liked the big American because he had his mission and was focused on the prize.

  A satphone rang, echoing around the graffiti-littered walls of the church. Captain Alonso grabbed it from a pouch on his webbing that had been placed on the floor near his cot. ‘I have to take this,’ he said, picking up an M4 and walking down to where the men were sleeping around the fire. He turned left and walked out of one of the arched doorways.

  ‘That man sure takes a lot of calls in private,’ Andrei said. ‘Do you trust him?’

  ‘I don’t trust anyone from the NAG, or your NEG for that matter,’ Elijah said.

  ‘Very wise. Have you confronted him about it?’

  ‘Says it’s all personal business.’

  ‘That many personal calls on a NAG phone? I don’t think so.’

  Elijah stood up from his position to the left of Andrei and walked over to his army stretcher positioned away from the other men. He reached into a bag and pulled out an electronic tablet. Turning it on, he tapped a few times and walked back.

  ‘Got a piece of GPS spyware here. I’ve been tracking his signal and trying to get a listen to the conversation, but I cannot hack into it. It shows that he is speaking to another satphone in NewYork. That’s all I can get with my limited knowledge of this spyware.’

  ‘NAG headquarters?’

  ‘Yes, every time,’ Elijah said. ‘He’s hung up now.’

  Captain Alonso walked back in and threw the phone on his bedding.

  ‘Taking personal calls again, I see,’ Andrei said, watching the man’s eyes narrow into a squint as he looked at the Bounty Hunter.

  ‘That would be none of your business, warlord.’

  ‘But I think it is. If you’re focused on personal issues that need you to take a call every three hours, then you might not be focussed on the mission we’re on,’ Andrei said.

  The captain ground his teeth, the muscles of his jawbone dancing in his cheeks.

  Andrei took another long draw on the dwindling cigarette. ‘I have a good gut instinct and know people. It comes from being old. I doubt you are telling the truth and believe the Bounty Hunter agrees with me.’

  ‘I don’t care what either of you believes. It’s personal.’

  ‘Sure, it is. I can set my watch by the three-hour regularity. Seems strange that a friend or family member would be having such a regimented crisis as that,’ Andrei said.

  Captain Alonso stared at him.

  ‘I bet you one hundred NAG vouchers that it’s the NAG operational centre or command post.’

  ‘You’re wrong. It’s my commanding officer,’ Captain Alonso said, turning his back on them as he started setting up his army cot.

  ‘He’s not very bright, is he?’ Andrei said, taking a last draw of the cigarette.

  ‘I’m starting to like you a lot, my Russian friend,’ Elijah said. ‘While I still don’t think your plan will work before mine does, you being here is more entertainment than I’ve had in the past few weeks.’ Andrei touched his forehead in a salute.

  • • •

  ‘That’s a hell of a lot of circling buzzards, boss,’ Fingers said.

  Gibbs climbed down from the cab of the battle truck and joined Fingers in the middle of the four-way stop. Ducking his head through the SA80 strap, he let the machine gun settle across his chest. ‘Seen any movement in the town?’

  ‘We’ve been here for an hour, and there’s nothing happening. I dropped Blondie down one of the side streets, and he says other than coyotes and feral dogs, no gang members to report.’

  ‘Okay. Go and collect him, then meet up with us. Be on the lookout for a water source. We need drinking and fusion water.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Gibbs stared down the street, lined with burnt shells of old cars. A few of the houses had also been set alight, black walls and twisted steel roofing frames showing up against the blue sky. A dog ran across the road, turning towards him for a few seconds before retreating back between the cars. A hundred meters down the road, set back from the road, behind a large barren tree, was an old petrol station. Walking backwards, he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling. He looked back. They were being watched.

  ‘What’s up, mate?’ Smithy shouted, leaning out of the passenger window.

  Gibbs jumped into the cab. ‘Fingers and Blondie haven’t seen anyone in the town.’

  ‘Okay then. Let’s go through it then.’

  Gibbs sat back in the driver seat, tapping his forefinger on the top of the steering wheel.

  ‘You think there are people hiding here?’ Smithy asked.

  ‘Just a feeling.’

  ‘I trust your feelings more than anyone else’s.’

  Gibbs looked around at Stuart who was already moving to one of the side portals. He flipped the reinforced glass down, opening up a shooting slit. Karen walked forward and looked at Gibbs. ‘Let me have a rifle or something. I’m sure I can help.’

  ‘Have you ever shot with something like the M4 Stuart is using?’

  ‘Aim and fire, isn’t it?’

  Smithy laughed. ‘If you’re being attacked by a horde of zombies. This needs a little more control.�
��

  ‘No time to learn like the present,’ Karen said.

  Gibbs reached down to a hidden panel beneath his seat and pulled out a Sig226. ‘Smithy, show Karen the delocking mechanism on this, it’ll be easier for her to use.’

  Smithy climbed to the back and started showing her the weapon. Directly behind them was Grace, sitting and watching everyone, eyes darting from Stuart to Smithy. She didn’t speak much, but then again, after what she had been through, who would. Toby bounced up to her, his tail wagging, and he placed his head on her lap. She stroked his head and nose, a small grin appearing. Gibbs smiled and shook his head. The bloody feral dog was as picky as an upper-class working girl but seemed to know when people needed a distraction.

  Gibbs felt nausea in his stomach getting stronger. It wasn’t a wise decision to head into blind situations. He adjusted the Glock velcroed to his chest webbing and started the truck. Pushing the first gear forward he engaged the fusion cycle.

  Smithy jumped back into his seat. ‘She’ll be fine with the pistol,’ he said, raising the bulletproof side window to halfway. An M4 in his hand, he chambered a round and leant back. ‘Think she fancies you.’

  Gibbs looked at him as he changed up a gear. ‘Don’t start that crap again. Watch for a bloody ambush.’

  The truck moved slowly down the middle of the road towards what had been the shopping area of the town. They travelled through a block of empty houses, some boarded up, others set alight by their owners as they fled. The trees that had once lined the leafy suburban street had been hacked back for firewood. The next block was flanked by the concrete carcasses of shops and restaurants. The frontage of all the buildings had been ripped out by Scavengers or the gangs. No town or street names were visible. This was a tactic employed by the gang members to confuse the NAG, who were using old GPSs based on street and town names. Many of the satellites were not functioning properly so they could delay the NAG soldiers calling for back up troops.

  ‘Fingers? Gibbs over,’ he said into the handset. ‘Everything still clear?’

  ‘All clear. Picked up Blondie and heading your way.’