The Vagabonds (The Code of War Book 4)

by Jim Roberts

  A team of Praetorians, some shrouded, some not, were moving toward the edge of the carrier. Attaching magnetic crampons to the surface of the flight deck, they leapt over the side, clutching ropes to help them ascend to the water below. The fleeing Olympus shock troopers were being covered by their comrades, who fired blue bolts of electrical energy from large assault weapons.

  Railguns.

  Orchid began to see what had unfolded. Their attackers had used the electromagnetic projectile weapons to destroy the Hornets on the deck, perhaps to cover their escape or just make it impossible to use the landing strip. They were now attempting to leave the way they came—through the water.

  But where was the General?

  Staying low and out of sight, Orchid rushed across the deck toward a chunk of metal debris lying on the tarmac. Taking cover, she watched the group of soldiers—clutching the Colt Python in her hands.

  Her heart wrenched in her chest as she spotted her quarry.

  General Walsh, his head covered with some sort of breathing mask, was being led to the edge of the ship, hands behind his back.

  And beside him, speaking to a white-haired man with one eye, was Clive Rourke.

  With several Praetorians covering their escape, the two men connected a tether to the General’s waist before lowering him over the side.

  What do I do?

  The Praetorians had leveled the playing field on the flight deck. Their weapons were infinitely more powerful than anything the security forces on the Harbinger could offer. If she attempted to rush them, they would kill her sure as day.

  As the remaining Praetorians leapt off the side of the carrier, only Rourke, and one other shock trooper remained. The former SEAL clapped his own tether on and was preparing to lower himself over the side when Orchid made her move. Lunging up from her position, she took aim with the high-powered .357 Magnum Python and fired.

  Her shot took the Praetorian directly on the side of its head, exploding through the coyote-shaped helmet and mincing his brains. The trooper pitched over the side of the ship.

  “Rourke!”

  The traitorous Peacemaker spun around to see Orchid, standing amidst the fiery destruction of the carrier flight deck, the Colt Python pointed at his own head.

  “Why, Rourke? Why are doing this?” she shouted over the deck toward the man she had thought her comrade.

  Rourke glared back at her, his eyes calm and emotionless.

  “It’s time I make my own destiny, Orchid!”

  Orchid gritted her teeth. Do I kill him?

  Rourke backed himself up to the edge of the deck.

  Orchid clenched the weapon tightly. “Don’t move!”

  “I’m sorry, Kim, but these are my brothers now!”

  With that, Rourke leapt backward into the darkness. Orchid fired a shot but knew it went wide. She rushed forward to the edge of the ship, gun firmly in hand. She carefully peered over, down to the sea below…and saw only darkness.

  Olympus had vanished as quickly as they had come.

  She turned away from the water, the gun held uselessly in her hand as she observed the wholesale destruction on the flight deck. She looked back at the various entrances to the ship’s hold as groups of Harbinger technicians and mechanics swarmed up to begin putting out the fires on the deck.

  A voice shouted across the flight deck toward her.

  “Orchid!”

  It was Headcase, followed by a large team of Peacemaker and Harbinger security forces. They all clutched assault rifles but had arrived too late to do anything but observe the rampant destruction.

  The redhead mission analyst, gripping an M4A1 carbine, joined Orchid in the center of the flight deck.

  “Kim…what…what happened?”

  “We were betrayed,” Orchid replied.

  “What? By who?”

  Orchid ignored the question, asking instead, “What’s the status of the ship’s electronics?”

  “We have partial communications back online. Whatever they hit us with knocked out everything but the engines.”

  Orchid glanced across the dark ocean toward the south, “Get in contact with Brick as soon as possible. We need him back here now.”

  She turned away to head back inside the carrier.

  “Orchid…Kim!” Headcase called after her, “What happened? Where’s the General?”

  “The General’s gone. Olympus just declared war. And we have a traitor to kill.”

  Chapter 23

  The Smoke and Danger of Death

  South of Puerto Cabello, October 7th

  BRICK LOOKED over the shoulder of Specialist ‘Gator’ Johnson as the young man fiddled with his portable radio transceiver.

  “Anything now?” the Lieutenant asked, trying to hide the apprehension in his voice.

  “Nothing sir,” Gator replied, “Thought I had something for a minute, but then it just turned to static.”

  “Look, the Harbinger can’t have just gone dark. Try the escort ships.”

  “I have sir. There’s no answer on any channel.”

  “Cack-handed bloody wankers!” Brick hissed into the darkness of the Venezuelan jungle, “Where the ‘ell are they?”

  Brick Reynolds had felt his blood rise over the past hour. Sitting in the bushes a mere three hundred meters from the Sledge Dynamics facility, the small team had little to do but maintain a lookout on the location. As the sun went down, a large series of floodlights illuminated the paved square outside the complex. They observed various Sledge employees and Olympus personnel begin loading huge crates onto the backs of the parked semi-trucks. The trucks would leave, heading north toward the harbor of Puerto Cabello, then more trucks would arrive to take their place. The loading effort was long and arduous and it appeared the Olympus soldiers were making slow time.

  Well, at least we have that going for us, Brick thought to himself.

  Specialist ‘Buddy’ was on lookout at the treeline, keeping his binoculars on the vehicles in front of the factory. “Two more trucks just headed out, L.T.”

  “Sod a fat dog, I can’t believe this!” Brick was almost foaming at the mouth, “We should have been launching airstrikes by now. Something’s wrong.”

  Teresa ‘Rabbit’ Michaels was adjusting the inputs on her own radio transceiver when she looked over sharply at Brick, “Sir, I’ve got something coming through! Mother Hen, Mother Hen, this is Bravo One, come in, over?”

  Brick trotted over to the young woman and held out his hand. Rabbit passed him the headset, which he held to his ear. There was some wordless jargon coming through.

  “Mother Hen, we are not reading you. Say again, over.”

  “…ger…out…ttack…”

  Brick spoke into the mic, “Say again, Mother Hen, say again, over.”

  “…avo One…have…attacked, repeat, we have been attacked.” It was Headcase’s voice, breaking through the static.

  “I’m reading you, Mother Hen,” Brick said, glad to hear the analyst’s voice, “What is your sitrep, over?”

  “Bravo One, the Harbinger has been attacked, do you copy?”

  “Affirmative, Mother Hen. What’s happened, over?”

  “A team of Olympus Praetorians attacked the carrier group. They knocked out communications with a weapon of some kind, possibly an EMP. We’ve sustained heavy damage, to the ship and multiple aircraft on the flight deck…”

  There was a pause in the transmission. Unsure if the transmission had failed, he said, “Roger so far, Mother Hen, over.”

  “…the…Eagle Commander has been captured, repeat Eagle Commander has been captured.”

  The General…in the hands of Olympus.

  A million questions came to his mind. Knowing he had time to ask none of them, Brick made a quick decision.

  “Copy that, Mother Hen. Are there any active aircraft available for a pickup, over?”

  “Affirmative, Bravo One. I’m sending exfil data to your PDA right now. Electrical systems are almost fully back online,
but…we were hit hard. We need you here now. Packrat is on a bird heading to pick you up, over.”

  Brick saw the worried looks in his young squad members. He pulled out the PDA and checked to see if the coordinates had arrived.

  “Got it, Mother Hen. What’s the ETA on the bird, over?”

  “Twenty minutes, Bravo One, over.”

  “Affirmative. I’m on my way. Mother Hen…keep it together. We’ll find the General. Count on it.”

  “Copy that, Bravo One. Mother Hen out.”

  The world had turned loopy in a matter of minutes.

  Brick turned to his squad and said, “There’s been an attack. I’m heading back to the Harbinger. You three are going to stay here. Keep your eyes on the target.”

  Gator spoke first, “Sir, take us with you. If we have men down out on the carrier, we can help—”

  “I need you lot here in case anything happens. Mark targets and maintain contact with Mother Hen. Whatever Olympus has done, this location still has to be taken offline and as soon as possible. Gator, you’re in command. Keep it tight and stay alert—there’s still drones in the woods here.”

  Gator nodded, his go-lucky attitude turned to steely seriousness. They had mates down—brothers in arms bleeding. This was no time for jokes.

  Brick nodded, hefting his SA58 FAL. “Right then. I’ll contact you as soon as I get a chance.”

  The three Peacemakers gave their acknowledgments.

  “Good luck, Lieutenant,” Rabbit said, her eyes filled with worry.

  Wordlessly, Brick nodded back and took off into the jungle. It was a hard two mile run through the darkness of the jungle. He pulled down his night vision as he moved, weaving through the foliage toward the LZ.

  As second in command of the Unit, the Peacemakers aboard the Harbinger would be looking to him to make the decisions on how to proceed. His stomach was clenched with dread at the sight waiting for him back on the carrier. He prayed to God that his mates were okay.

  But God hadn’t listened much these days…

  * * *

  THROUGH THE Sea Hawk canopy, Brick saw the flaming ruin of the Harbinger’s flight deck amidst the darkened ocean. As Packrat brought the helicopter overtop the wounded aircraft carrier, Brick could make out dozens of Navy personnel fighting to contain the various fires caused by the destroyed Super Hornets. The aft section of the carrier, where the Peacemaker Blitzers were housed, was largely untouched during the attack. Packrat maneuvered the Sea Hawk down to a cleared landing zone, indicated by a Navy signalman. The second the wheels of the aircraft touched the flight deck, Brick threw open the side door and was bolting across the tarmac.

  Standing beside the signalman was Kim Yuanza. Making his way to her, Brick noticed a nasty cut on the tough sniper’s forehead.

  “Fucking ‘ell, Orchid, are you okay?” Brick asked.

  “I’m fine, Lieutenant.” She turned to walk with Brick toward the flight operations island of the carrier. Swarming around them like ants, Harbinger crewmen were trying to save the lives of men injured during the attack. Medics rushed across the deck with gurneys to take the wounded to the sickbay.

  “How did this happen, Kim?” He noticed she held the General’s signature Colt Python in her hand.

  “I don’t know, sir,” Orchid replied, “They must have boarded the carrier by some sort of submersible strike craft. It was a coordinated attack—they knocked out the communications on all three ships in the carrier group.” She touched the wound on her head, “I was attacked right before it all happened.”

  “By who?”

  “Rourke, sir.”

  Brick stopped for a moment, his ears not hearing properly, “Rourke? Clive Rourke?”

  “Yes, sir. He knew I could use the Whisper suit to spoil the attack. He’s made some sort of deal with Olympus.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Brick said, resuming his walk toward the island. Rourke? A traitor? Brick found himself shaking his head in disbelief, “That doesn’t make sense. The man was a SEAL for Chrissakes, how in God’s name could he do this?”

  Orchid filled him in on what they knew so far. As she did, Brick balled his hands into fists as rage pulsed through his blood.

  They’d been attacked. Olympus had ambushed an American aircraft carrier, a blatant act of terrorism. The British Peacemaker swore he would do everything possible to make sure those PMC cunts paid for this with the last fiber of their being.

  IT TOOK five minutes to reach the CDC inside the carrier island. The corridors of the ship were jammed with Navy and Peacemaker personnel scrambling this way and that. Every so often the ship’s intercom would pipe out orders from the Captain to the men on the flight deck.

  Everything was in chaos.

  As Brick and Orchid reached the CDC, they were greeted with utter pandemonium. Navy comm operators were speaking into phones, trying to relay the madness around them. Beyond it all, in the Peacemaker’s dedicated area of the CDC, Brick saw Headcase working at her terminal, trying to remain oblivious to the noise.

  Pushing their way through the crowded area, Brick asked Orchid, “How many dead so far?”

  She shook her head, “No way to know yet for sure. We’ve had estimates of around fifty, but that’s conservative.”

  As they reached the redheaded analyst, Headcase turned and said, “Thank God you’re here, Lieutenant!”

  “What’s the sitrep, Case?” Brick asked.

  “I’ve contacted the Cottage,” Headcase answered, spinning around to face the monitor, “Electrical systems are all on backup, so communication is a bit spotty. I’m waiting to be put through to Jade and Doctor Cairncross right now.”

  Orchid touched her forehead painfully, “Sir, what’s the plan from here?”

  Brick was unsure of the necessary course of action. The attack on the Harbinger changed everything going forward. The brass in Washington were going to have a field day with the political ramifications of this act.

  But that didn’t interest Brick Reynolds in the meantime.

  For now, there were two issues at stake. First was the drone army. No matter what, they had to stop Damien Sledge from completing his transfer of technology to Olympus. That was paramount.

  Secondly, there was General Walsh.

  While the loss of a commander in the grand scheme of priorities could be dealt with after, there was the simple fact that Walsh knew far too much about…everything, really. If Olympus somehow broke the man via torture or interrogation, they could learn not only the whereabouts of the Cottage but also the location of the Code of War disc.

  That absolutely could not happen.

  Headcase pressed her radio mic to her ear. “Sir, I have Specialist Masters on the line at the Cottage.”

  Brick nodded, “Put them on screen.”

  Jade Masters’ face lit up the monitor. Behind her sat Doctor Cairncross, laboring at a computer terminal within what appeared to be the R&D wing of the Cottage.

  “Masters, this is Brick.”

  Jade’s voice sounded garbled on the monitor. “We’re getting a lot of interference on our end, Lieutenant. We’ve been brought up to speed on the attack. What do you need?”

  “Before we left the Cottage, Doctor Cairncross injected the General with a personal transponder device. We need you to track his position.”

  Jade nodded, “The second we heard about the attack, the Doctor activated the transponder.”

  Cairncross joined in on the call, his angular face filling the monitor, “Lieutenant, the power supply of the transponder only held out for a short time after the General was taken.”

  Brick felt a twisting in his guts, “You mean Walsh is dead?”

  “No, it’s more likely Olympus disabled the device. All it would take is an electrical pulse to short it out.”

  “So that’s it? We’ve lost him?” The feeling of defeat was palpable to the Peacemaker Lieutenant.

  “Of course not! It’s me you’re talking to,” Cairncross looked down at the termi
nal offscreen, “The transponder contains a secondary power source. I’ve been tracking it for the last five minutes.”

  Brick met Orchid’s eyes.

  Perhaps there was a chance.

  “Where is he, Doctor?” Headcase asked.

  Cairncross watched the monitor, “The signal is moving over the water, very fast. It’s on a trajectory straight for Caracas. Just a minute…”

  “Come on Doctor—” Brick said, his patience growing strained.

  “He is in the city now…northern district…I have him.”

  Suddenly a loud beeping came from the Doctor’s terminal on the other side of the monitor.

  “What is it Doc?” Brick asked.

  “We lost the signal.”

  Brick struck the table with his fist, “Damn it!”

  “I’m sorry, Lieutenant. They must have shocked the device a second time, perhaps to make certain.”

  Well, that was it then. The General was somewhere in Caracas. He may as well be on Mars for all the good this had been.

  Orchid put a hand on his arm, saying, “Sir, what about the Vagabonds? Lennox has to know something about a probable location in Caracas they could take the General.”

  That made sense.

  Turning back to the screen, Brick said, “Jade, I’m issuing an order to increase security to Critical. We need to get the Code away from the Cottage and into CIA storage.”

  An incredulous look spread across Jade’s face, “Sir, you’re not thinking Olympus will attack us here?”

  “If the General leaks the location of the Cottage, we need to be prepared for anything. Begin the preparations.”

  Cairncross’s face filled the screen, “Sir Brick, I’m afraid that’s impossible. I’m at a critical point in my attempt to bypass the Code firewall. If I give up now, we lose a year’s worth of work and perhaps any chance of ever learning what this disc is.”

  “Those are my orders, Doctor.”

  Cairncross’s voice became pleading, “Sir, I beg you please just give me a few more hours. I know I’m close!”

  Jade spoke, “Brick, I think we can give him some more time. The chances Olympus would ever attack us on American soil are…non-existent.”