Chaos Tactics (The Reckless Chronicles Book 1)

by Trent Falls

  John got out of his vehicle and went to the boat. He picked up the entire lightweight boat and set it on the rack atop his CUV. The roof frame on the Subaru was designed specifically for the boat and surfboards. John had never had the chance to take up surfing, but he was glad he had picked up kayaking as a hobby. He looked around. It was bright and extremely hot and humid. No agents could be found. With the final tie-down lashed, John stepped away from the roof of his car and moved to get back in the driver seat.

  It was then that he noticed ESF Agent James Mulinax. The former Marine was getting out of his car and walking towards John.

  “Hey.” John greeted him warmly, squinting in the sunlight.

  “How’s it going?” Mulinax asked in kind. He looked at the yellow Subaru and the red boat tied to its roof. “Where ya going?”

  “Oh… off to the beach.” John replied plainly. “I need to get some fresh air. Staying in the house is driving me mad. I can’t just, you know… sit around and wait.”

  “I hear that.” Mulinax replied.

  Of all Troy’s stooges John was glad it was Mulinax that had run into him. Being that they were both Marines, there was an underlying familiarity and respect both men had for each other.

  “How long you think you’ll be?” Mulinax asked.

  “Gee, you guys really like to keep tabs.” John grinned.

  He could see Mulinax was being serious.

  “I don’t know.” John finally answered. “A couple of hours.”

  “Have you been contacted at all today by the kidnappers?” Mulinax asked seriously.

  “No.” John breathed. “Not yet.”

  “Who’s going to answer your phone if you’re not here?” Mulinax pressed, clearly becoming more intrusive.

  “I have my phone on me.” John explained. “Besides, you guys are tapped into the line. Maybe your operator can pick up the message.”

  Mulinax smirked.

  “Look, man. I just …. need to get out for a bit.” John said, adding a hint of despair in his tone. “If I stay in this house I’ll go crazy.”

  Mulinax looked over John’s car, then John himself. “Okay.” The ESF agent replied plainly.

  “Thanks.” John replied sincerely. “Listen, you know the combination to the house lock. Why don’t you make yourself at home.”

  “Much obliged.” Mulinax replied.

  John made his way back to his car and got in the driver seat. He turned the near-silent engine of the car back on and pulled forward.

  Mulinax kept his eyes fixed on John’s yellow car as he drove off. As John pulled off into an access road, Mulinax lifted his wrist com to his mouth.

  “Follow him.” Mulinax spoke into the com in his wristwatch.

  John drove up to Congress Avenue and made a right. As he got on the major roadway he immediately noticed the red sedan pulling out about five car lengths behind him. The car sped up very briefly but fell back into a good pace behind John’s car.

  Typical! He wouldn’t be surprised if the ESF used a simple rotating triangle as well. Good intelligence operators, it seemed were getting hard to come by.

  He didn’t have far to go. John proceeded down Congress and turned right on Gateway Boulevard. Traffic was moderate at that time of the morning – closing in on nine o’clock. At Federal, John took another right. The red sedan remained behind him, still about four or five car lengths from his back. Taking a left on Boynton Beach Boulevard he crossed over the intercoastal bridge. The main parking lot for the public beach was ahead.

  John pulled into a spot across the street from the main beach. He got out of his car and looked around, acting as normally as his acting skill would allow. He thought of what the ESF reactions might be once they figured out what was happening. The inside joke, of sorts, made him grin genuinely.

  The red sedan pulled to a stop on the access road along the beach. There were two men inside. John could see them clearly, even though he gave no visible sign that he had spotted them.

  Play dumb. Play ignorant. Easy!

  John unlashed the kayak from the roof of his car, setting it next to him for a moment to pause and make sure his car was locked. With the Subaru locked John picked up the kayak and walked briskly towards the beach.

  No one made any effort to stop him.

  The sand was loose beneath his boots as he trudged across the sand. The open ocean was ahead, with short waves crashing into the light tan shoreline. The air was crisp and salty. There were a few people on the beach. Two high school aged boys were throwing a football around. A beautiful bronze skinned girl in a green and white Hawaiian print bikini was lying out in the sun not far from John’s path. John took an obvious look at the girl, enjoying the image for a moment while continuing to walk. His eyes then reverted back to the surf ahead. A line of seaweed had crept up on the shore. The water was inviting, sea-foam green and a cool deep blue further out.

  John paused and set the boat down just near the shore. He pulled out his towel and bag from the seating compartment of the kayak and set it under the deck bungee lines. He ran a line through the handle of the duffle to further secure the bag. This was done in seconds. With the bag and the towel secure, John picked up the kayak again and headed out quickly to the surf. His boots sloshed in the oncoming wave. John dove on the kayak as though it were a surfboard, getting out from the breaking waves at the shore and paddling out. Once out a few feet, John dragged his feet into the compartment of the kayak. He pulled the paddle and began rowing out to sea.

  It was an invigorating experience. If it weren’t for the circumstances of having his niece kidnapped, the day would be perfect. John rowed strongly. He was a man on a mission. His kayak bobbed up and down in the tall waves ahead. The craft settled down as he got further out from the shore.

  It was as though John were paddling from the edge of the world. Behind him, the rows of tall condo towers on the beach were getting smaller. The girl in the bikini was but an obscure dot on the beach. Below him, the water was becoming an increasingly darker green. Soon it would be blue black. It was a liberating experience but also a bit intimidating. It had been so long since John was out in the middle of nowhere on his own. The slight hint of fear left his mind. He was a Marine.

  The kayak bobbed gently on the waves. The heat of the bright sun bit his skin. The droplets of water flying off his paddle were refreshing as they fell on him.

  He continued paddling… out to the middle of nowhere.

  David Troy left his meeting with ESF and local law enforcement. It was held in the Kennedy Space Center, a thriving port for intergalactic travel. KSC had evolved to some degree to resemble many of the major spaceports around the world. They still sent up old fashioned rockets to deliver heavy payload to space very cheaply. Rockets, however, were no longer used for manned spaceflight. Standard wheels-to-orbit shuttles were ubiquitous throughout the planet.

  The building he exited was a large dark bronze glass structure. The meeting had been about the Julie Stevens abduction. ESF and FBI agents had teleconferenced via subspace radio with law enforcement officers on Mars as well as the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Proxima Centauri was also supposed to be included but com problems prevented them from linking in. Proxima was always problematic to talk to from Earth and, even with subspace coms, there was still lag of a few seconds. Proxima had been updated via signal burst of a recording of the meeting.

  There was still no sign of Julie Stevens. Intel from within the Xen Republic was thin and unreliable. There were rumbling about odd Xen activity at the border and near The Breach, but nothing significant. Even com chatter was light. None of the typical underworld sources had turned up anything either.

  Scott Euler had done well to cover his tracks. He had last been seen in Earth Alliance territory six months earlier. He had, apparently, done a significant bit of hiring, allegedly for the same expedition that Rochette had tried to recruit John for. Those that had rejected Euler’s offer noted the same story, that he was going on some odd sur
vey or archaeology expedition in and around The Breach and, possibly, into Xen space. The people that Euler had managed to hire had significant backgrounds, many with experience in the war. The reject candidates were apparently fringe players. Those who refused, wisely, expressed aversion to venturing into Xen space.

  Troy got to his white Dodge Fury. He set his briefcase into the passenger seat and then flopped into the leather driver seat. Realizing he should check on his men, he pulled his PDA phone out from the inner pocket of his blazer. Troy pushed the PDA phone into a receiver slot on his dash. The device interfaced with his car, allowing his phone screen to show up on the head’s up display and dashboard monitor of his car.

  “Curtis Long.” Troy called out the agent’s name.

  The phone’s security software recognized Troy’s voice then processed the name. The phone dialed Curtis Long’s IP number.

  “Good morning, sir.” Long’s voice answered.

  “Hey, Curtis.” Troy greeted his subordinate in a light manner. “What’s going on? How’s Carn?”

  “We’re watching him now. He went to the beach.” Long’s voice answered.

  “The beach?” Troy perked up, curious. “What the hell is he doing at the beach?”

  “He went kayaking sir.” Long answered.

  “Kayaking?!?” Troy raised his voice sharply.

  “Mulinax approached him as he was leaving. Carn said he needed to clear his head.” Long replied with a hint of worry. “Why? What’s wrong?”

  “Have you been following him?” Troy asked intently.

  “Yeah.” Long replied with greater uncertainty.

  “Do you have eyes on him?” Troy demanded.

  “We have video.” Long answered.

  “No! Do you, PHYSICALLY, have eyes on him?” Troy shouted with clarity. “Can you see him now?”

  “Uh, no sir.” Long responded. “He’s out in the water.”

  “Shit!” Troy breathed. He took a breath to collect his thoughts. “You said you had video?”

  “Yes sir.” Long replied nervously.

  “Let me link up with your computer and see.” Troy ordered.

  In a few moments, the small monitor on Troy’s dashboard appeared. It showed traffic on Congress from a camera that had been mounted in Long’s red sedan. It was footage of him following John’s yellow Subaru CUV. The red kayak was visible on the top of the car.

  “Damn it.” Troy breathed.

  “I’m sorry, sir. What’s happening?’ Long’s voice asked.

  Troy watched on for a few moments longer. It was more footage of Long tailing John’s car. “I’m taking control of your PDA.”

  “Yes sir.” Long responded.

  Troy tapped the touch-sensitive screen of his car. A progress bar appeared at the bottom of the screen, showing the length of the video segment with a pointer on the bar showing the recording’s progress. Troy tapped the slider on the screen and fast-forwarded. More shots of traffic. John’s car left the frame for a few moments as they got close to the beach. Then, the red sedan parked on the access road along side of the beach itself. A few pretty girls walked by. A mom and her two kids crossed the street back to their car.

  John Carn appeared in the frame at the right side of the screen. He was crossing the street, carrying the red kayak on his right shoulder towards the tan sand of the beach on the left.

  “Shit!” Troy blurted. He tapped the screen to freeze the frame. He then tapped the slider and moved it back so that John was in the middle of the screen. He tapped the ‘zoom in’ icon and then tapped John’s feet.

  “Sir?” Long asked nervously.

  John’s feet were in the middle of the screen, showing his tan low-cut combat boots.

  “Agent Long, who the hell wears combat boots to go kayaking?!?” Troy demanded.

  “Sir? I’m sorry? I don’t…” Long’s voice wavered slightly.

  “Damn.” Troy breathed as he stared at the screen showing John’s boots. “I hope I’m just paranoid…”

  Troy tapped in a series of numbers into his own PDA phone screen.

  “How long has John Carn been out in the ocean kayaking, Agent Long?” Troy demanded.

  “About a half hour sir.” Long answered.

  “I’m making the call and raising a security alert.” Troy noted aloud. “If I’m right, and I hope I’m not, there may still be time to stop him.”

  “I don’t understand sir.” Long’s voice asked.

  “Agent Long.” Troy tried to not sound too perturbed. “I have a sneaky feeling John Carn is leaving the planet.”

  John was well out into the ocean. The shore line was a memory behind him. There were no surface ships nearby. A cargo ship traveled along the horizon far in the distance. In terms of anything nearby, it was only him, the ocean, the sky, and God. The sky was a rich clear blue. The clouds a divine white. The light waves of the ocean smacked against the composite plastic hull of his kayak. The summer heat was brutal. John dipped a hand into the cool water on the side of his kayak. Being near the Florida coast, the water was a bit warm but cool enough to satisfy his skin.

  He had been at that spot for about fifteen minutes. He had pulsed his locator beacon four times so far. He wondered how long he’d have to wait.

  About five minutes later a speck appeared low on the horizon to his left. At first it looked like a plane. The speck grew into the shape of an elongated blended wing wedge, swooping down low over the water. The sound of its engines grew only as it got really close to John’s position. It was a large cargo shuttle, painted white and black with a trim line of light blue on its sides.

  It was the Tequesta.

  Alex Scoffield’s transport shuttle turned its VTOL thrusters down as it slowed over John’s position. Repulse emitters helped to keep the ship aloft. The jets, however, kicked up the wind and surf in much the same fashion as a helicopter would. The large shuttle took up position over John, blocking out the sun. John could barely make out the movement of a hand through the cockpit glass above him. Alex had, more than likely, reached overhead to hit the release switch to lower the rear cargo ramp.

  The large wedge-shaped vessel rotated in the air above John. Its thrusters screamed with the same sound of a jet engine; as they were extensions of the jet system. The hum of the motor for the boarding ramp was barely audible over the roar of the jets and the turbulent wind. John extended his paddle to the side of his kayak. He pulled his body up to try and pull his legs out of the boat. His left arm went up above his head as he tried to block the turbulent wind for a moment.

  The boarding ramp lowered fully, the white robotic arm swung out from the back, lowering a line and a steel frame bed held to the line by nylon mesh.

  John had gotten out of the kayak and dropped his legs into the ocean. The kayak was more of a flotation device that John was grasping on to. He opened the forward cargo hatch to get his duffle. He wrapped its long strap around his arm twice to be sure it was secure. John then kicked with his legs to maneuver with the kayak to the rescue harness.

  The old training was kicking in. John felt alive again swimming in the ocean with the kayak. He reached the rescue harness and pulled himself up into the steel basket. Once inside he gave the kayak a final kick to set it free. The boat twisted away quickly over the water in the driving wind once free of his weight. There was a green button encased in thick clear vinyl fixed into the webbing of the rescue basket. John depressed the button through the thick clear plastic, signaling Alex that he was in the basket. The winch motor high up in the cargo area of the shuttle powered up, pulling John up from the water in the rescue harness. The wind whipped around John as he was raised from the surface. The wind frothed the sea water in angry short waves. In a few moments, the harness was raised up to the steel deck of the Tequesta’s cargo ramp. Black grip textured plates covered the deck in squares, allowing easier footing.

  John got out of the lift basket quickly but cautiously. He wasn’t far from the edge of the boarding ramp and he wasn’
t tied off with a lanyard. He gripped the basket’s nylon webbing for security until he was sure he was free. Once up the ramp he smacked the large green button on the side of the cargo bay to raise the ramp. The sunlight and wind faded as the ramp hummed upward on its hydraulic arms. The diminished sound resembled silence for a few seconds once the ramp was sealed completely.

  A com box next to the ramp controls allowed access with the flight deck. John set down his duffel bag and keyed the call button for the flight deck.

  “Alright, I’m in. Let’s get outta here.” John spoke loudly into the call box.

  “Alright, strap yourself in.” Alex’s smoky voice called back.

  John hurried to one of the bench seats along the side of the cargo bay. He could feel the deck shift beneath his feet as he moved. Alex was accelerating forward and climbing. John set his black duffle down next to him. He pulled the seat restraints down over his shoulders just in time as the cargo shuttle was really picking up speed.

  In a few moments, the Tequesta surged forward, turning its nose up to the blue and white cloudy sky above. The jet engines roared as they throttled up, pushing shock diamonds out behind them with the surge of power. At about 60,000 feet, the transatmospheric engines opened up, shooting the shuttle forward at incredible speed. The shuttles inertial dampeners made the ride tolerable, but not entirely without discomfort, for John as he sat on the hard cargo bay bench.

  In less than a minute, the Tequesta was past the 100 kilometer high Karman Line, shooting out into open space.

  Captain Quan Shin sat behind the desk in his study on the Ao Shun. It was dark except for a lamp shining down on his desk from a moveable support arm. The endless star field of space stood before him beyond the wide viewport beyond his desk. Shin sat back in his chair, his head supported on the fist of his right arm. One of the many stars in the middle of his field of vision caught his eye. It was a single twinkling point among the millions of stars around it.