by C. G. Cooper
He was quick to reply. “No. Your family’s fine.”
Then what could it be? Why was I being recalled without my team?
“Sir, I’d really like to know what quagmire I’m stepping into.”
“They want you for questioning.”
What?
“Who, the council?”
Another pause. For a few moments I thought we’d been cut off. Then his voice came back again, this time sharper, the bitterness raw and palpable.
“No, The Fed. They sent a representative to talk to you.”
Chapter 26
It took longer than I expected for the Viper to arrive, the swarthy pilot waving as he lowered the bird to the ground.
“You guys going to be okay?” I asked my team as I scooped up my belongings.
“We’ll be fine,” Fleck said, popping a food pill. “What about you?”
I hadn’t told them what The General had told me. I just said that I’d been recalled for a follow-on mission.
“Probably just some bureaucratic nonsense,” I said.
“You want me to go with you, slap those hippies around if they give you a hard time?” O’Mack asked, clearly relishing the idea of roughing up some bureaucrats.
“I might take you up on that.” And then I was gone, once again boarding the sleek aircraft that would whisk me back to what was left of civilization. Part of me was glad. At least I’d get to see Jane and the kids. But the way The General had told me about The Fed wanting to talk with me kept me from getting too excited. I hadn’t done anything wrong, or at least I didn’t think I had. Maybe it had something to do with the two guys I’d killed at the cabin, or some kind of investigation into the Camp Cumberland attack.
It might be nice really. While I didn’t like getting interrogated, there might be a chance to get some answers. Whether because of timing, or for some other reason he hadn’t let me in on, The General had been more than a little vague on a lot of things. I trusted him more than most, but even the lowliest soldier needed the truth at some point.
The flight home was peaceful and uneventful, compared to the days spent on the mission in Boulder. For the first couple of hours, the pilot, who introduced himself as Nero, told me about his supply run, and the streams of refugees fleeing back into the wilderness.
“Man, they got it bad. We’re lucky to have a place like The HQ to hole up in.”
“Do we know who did it?”
“That’s way above my pay grade,” he said. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but he had that punch-the-clock mentality that so many government employees had. He cared, but only enough to get by. Curiosity or going above and beyond probably wasn’t something he did.
“What did you do before The Collapse?” I asked.
“I was a crop duster. Used to spend my days spraying fields and doing maneuvers. It was nice being my own boss.” For the first time, he seemed genuine, like he missed those days. It was the same with most of us. It had been a golden age for a while, and life seemed as perfect as it could get. Poverty was rare, and there was a real sense of unity, a shared ideal of community and prosperity. “What about you, Ryker? What did you do before?”
“You know, this and that,” I said. He got the drift. I didn’t want to talk about it, dredge up those memories, however sweet. I saved those moments for my family. I owed them that much for changing my life, especially Jane. The years before I met Jane were memorable, but for a totally different reason. The past was the past, and sometimes it was best to let it stay there.
“Yeah, I did a little this and that too,” he said with a chuckle. “This chick here. That chick there.” He laughed at his own joke, and I gave him a chuckle to play along.
“How much longer until we land?” I asked.
“Mmm, I’d say about thirty minutes.”
Good. Maybe I could sneak in to see the kids and take a shower before I met with the mystery Fed. It would be nice to get some food, too. I’d been so busy that I’d forgotten to eat. I thought about digging out a food pill, but I decided to wait for the cafeteria. It would probably be about dinner time.
“Hey, do you know how long they serve dinner?”
“Oh sure. They don’t stop until…”
His voice was cut off by a loud blaring, and before I had a chance to grab hold of something, the Viper banked left.
“What’s going on?” I asked from inside the helmet. I could hear him muttering something.
“Missile,” he said simply, and then I saw it, far below us at first and then rising with frightening speed. “Shit, shit, shit,” he said, banking in the opposite direction and taking us toward the ground.
I held on now, watching with a sort of detached curiosity as the missile streaked in. It was a strange feeling, watching the cause of your impending death creep nearer. A bullet never gave you that chance. It made me want to laugh. I’d just escaped a bomb-wielding madman only to be targeted by some rogue anti-air nut on the ground. We were supposed to be in friendly territory, but apparently that didn’t mean a thing.
My stomach lurched as we dove, the missile close now. I could hear the intrepid Nero breathing hard. I was just cargo now, watching, listening and waiting for the inevitable boom.
And come it did, but not as loud as I would have thought. I didn’t see where it hit, but the explosion rocked us left and, for a long moment, I thought that we were about to spin to our deaths.
Nero came through my earpiece again, his voice strained, “I think I’ve got her. Losing altitude, but I’ve still got most of my controls.” I didn’t know if he was speaking to me, or thinking out loud.
“Can we make it the rest of the way?”
Another alarm was sounding now, not as loud as the previous warning, but still annoying enough to keep my attention.
“I don’t think so,” he replied. “What I need is a place to put down so I can take a look at the damage.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Now the pilot laughed. “Grab your gun, my friend. There’s no telling what might be waiting for us down there.”
I didn’t know a thing about aircraft other than how to jump out of them or climb into them. Nero, on the other hand, seemed to know what he was doing. After a less than gentle landing in a large clearing, he went quickly to work.
The Viper had been clipped in the starboard wing, and I could smell the wound as soon as I stepped out of the plane and into the setting sun.
“Damn,” he said, holding a fire can in one hand and giving the damaged wing a dousing. The chemical compound did its work, and a second later the smoke was gone. “I’m gonna have to call this in. Maybe they can get some mechanics out, or even give us a tow.”
“How long will that take?”
He gave me a shrug and trudged back into the cockpit.
I did a pass around the bird, scanning the area for anything that could be considered hostile. It was like being naked, and I knew that if a force larger than ten or twelve tried to get to us, they would probably win. Unsettling? Yeah.
“Good news,” Nero said, emerging from the Viper. “They’ll have someone out here in less than an hour.” He was standing there with his hands on his hips, smiling like everything was normal, when his head melted. Not his whole head, just the skin and guts, leaving an open-mouthed skeletal head in its place. An energy emitter, I cursed to myself.
I hit the deck and tried to make myself as small as possible. Whoever had taken the shot had to wait now. Energy emitters could be great weapons, but the ones I’d used took almost a minute to recharge. Deadly when placed in the right hands, an energy emitter was silent and had the ability to literally melt a human body. The only sound had been a kind of sizzle, followed by Nero’s body crumpling to the ground.
I thought about crawling back into the Viper. At least then I’d have cover, and I might even be able to control the weapons systems from the cockpit. But when I looked that way, I knew it was too far. Twenty or thirty feet might not seem very far
, but it’s like a thousand miles when the space offers zilch for cover. Besides, I didn’t know if there were more shooters.
I controlled my breathing, waiting for them to come. How many would there be? Could I take them out one by one? Anything was possible. It was the marksman who concerned me. If I even poked my head up a couple of inches, it could end up as a squashed watermelon like Nero’s.
One minute went by, then another. No one came. The darkness was enveloping the glade now, giving me some hope of survival. Once night fell, maybe I could get away. I gave myself a ten percent chance that the marksman didn’t have night vision tech. Make that twenty percent chance, I thought optimistically.
Then I heard it, loud and clear.
“Ryker!”
Chapter 27
The voice boomed from the tree line.
“Ryker!”
I didn’t want to respond. They were just trying to get me standing. I slipped the Viper’s helmet off my head so I could hear better.
“Ryker!”
The voice. It was familiar somehow, although it was distorted like it was coming through a foghorn. I took a chance.
“Who’s there?!” I yelled, throwing my voice in the opposite direction, hoping that might help.
He didn’t reply for a few seconds, and then to my surprise the voice said, “It’s Gregor. You need to come with me.”
Gregor?
It was a trap. It had to be a trap. What the hell was Gregor doing here? The last thing I’d heard, he was serving his penance rebuilding Camp Cumberland.
Then it hit me. Had he shot down the Viper? Wasn’t he the one who’d saved the day when O’Mack and I were going to be killed by the enemy outside of Camp Cumberland?
It was one of those “Who the hell am I supposed to trust?” moments. If Gregor had shot down the Viper, tracked it to the clearing AND shot the pilot, did I really expect a favorable outcome if I couldn’t trust him? There was always the odd chance, but mine were looking pretty slim.
I rose slowly, raising my weapon over my head.
“Put that thing down,” Gregor called, emerging from the shadows. I could just make out his outline, illumined by a green glow that I realized was the night vision mask he’d probably tilted off of his face. “Come on. We need to go.”
With too many questions swirling in my head, I broke into a trot to join him.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked after we’d ducked into the safety of the woods.
“No time to explain. The General needs to see you.”
He went to leave, but I grabbed his muscled arm.
“You can take a minute and explain,” I said as calmly as I could. You try almost getting blown up, then shot down, and see how at ease you’d be with a verbal grenade dropped on you without explanation.
I thought he was going to brush off my request, the good soldier just following orders. But he nodded and said, “That pilot,” he pointed to the unseen corpse in the clearing. “They paid him off. He was going to kill you.”
“What? Who paid him off?”
I seriously doubted the pilot could’ve gotten the drop on me. Then I gave it a second thought. He had seemed overly relaxed, like he was attempting to get me to do likewise. The only bit of surprise for him had been getting shot down. Well, that and having his head melt off.
Gregor didn’t answer immediately. He shifted his massive weight uncomfortably.
“I’m not supposed to say. Seriously, Ryker, if The General…”
“I don’t give a damn what The General said. I need to know. Who was trying to get me killed and why…?” The words stuck in my throat. All thoughts of my own safety evaporated. “My family. Where is my family?”
Gregor put up a hand as if to signal for me to calm down. “They’re safe; trust me. We’re off to see them now.”
The revelation did very little to settle my unhinged nerves. If there’d been a threat to me and my family, and The General had gone to such lengths to keep us safe, what the hell of a mess had I stepped into?
“Who was it?” I asked.
“Someone in The Fed.”
“Was it the person I was supposed to be meeting?”
“We don’t think so.”
“How do you know?”
“You want the straight scoop?” Gregor asked. I nodded. “I think The General has some friends within The Fed. He didn’t say so, but I think they tipped him off. You’ll have to ask him for specifics.”
I didn’t know anyone at The Fed. How the hell could they be after me? I was just another no-name soldier trying to provide for his family.
And then the truth stepped in and slapped me—twice.
“Do they know who I am?”
“It’s possible,” Gregor said quietly. “As far as The General knows, he and I are the only ones outside of your family that know your true identity. There’s no way of knowing for sure that someone outside of The Zone hasn’t also determined your secret.”
There it was. My past was coming back to haunt me. I’d spent years trying to distance myself from it, but here it was yet again. Would or could I ever outrun it? The weight of the burden dropped on me and left me feeling momentarily helpless.
“So what do we do now?”
“Like I said, first we link up with The General and your family. Then it’s up to what The Boss says.”
There was no use in arguing. I was tired and worried. The answers would come. I wouldn’t lift a finger to endanger myself or my family further if The General didn’t give me what I needed. He owed me that much.
“Okay.” I said, steeling myself for the upcoming conversation. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 28
They ran to me as soon as I opened the door, crushing me in their collective embrace. I felt Sybil’s tears before I saw them. Andrew’s smile shone like a welcoming beacon. Charlie kept laughing while he held my leg in his signature bear hug grip, his light tittering shaking my leg. Jane stood back and waited, watching us, that wary look in her eyes. I knew that look. She wanted to know if I’d changed, if I had digressed and reverted to the “old me.”
I gave her a reassuring smile, a wink to let her know that the “old me” was long gone. Her smile said it all, even if she didn’t completely believe me. She was my rock, my love, my everything. My Jane.
“Let’s take this party inside,” Gregor said behind me.
His home couldn’t have clashed more with his gargantuan image. I’d sensed, rather than seen, the security ringing the wooded perimeter. His place was a fortress. But what had truly surprised me was the actual structure.
Gregor’s home was more a hobbit house than anything else. Built into the side of a bulbous hillock, the door was heavy and massive, more bunker than entryway. Inside it smelled like centuries of cedar firewood. It was strangely welcoming, and much larger than expected, with peaks and hallways rounded with a height of ten feet.
I turned and gave him a look of incredulity, and he grinned. This was his home—his castle. You could read it in his body language. He’d been tense and on edge since leaving the crash site, possibly even more than me. I got the sense that he was treating me like precious cargo. His deference was obvious, and I didn’t like it.
“Mi casa es su casa,” he said as he closed the gigantic door behind us. “The General thought they’d be safer here.”
“What’s a casa?” Andrew asked.
“It’s a house,” Jane explained.
“That’s weird.”
Gregor chuckled as he tousled Andrew’s hair. “You hungry, champ?”
Andrew gave him a look that said, “Are you kidding, dude?”
Call it dinner. Call it in-the-middle-of-the-night breakfast. I called it safety with my family. Entombed in Gregor’s lair, I temporarily forgot the rest of the world. Part of me just wanted to stay there, a new home to hunt from and live out our days. My reintroduction to society had been anything but comforting. In that moment, while I watched Charlie slurp down soup and laugh as
Andrew told us his best knock-knock jokes, all I wanted to do was stay put. The world didn’t need me. I was but one person and just a peon, really.
“It’s time to go,” Gregor said to me. Jane heard his pronouncement, and she tried to pretend that she hadn’t. I couldn’t meet her gaze.
“Where?” I asked.
“You know where.”
The Fed, I thought, a chill running up my spine.
“How long will we be gone?”
“That’s up to The General.”
Everyone was quiet now. Well, all except for Charlie who was making a show of yawning and giggling.
“Okay.” Then I turned to Jane. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I had no business proffering that promise of hope; my life was no longer my own and I knew that. I was immersed in somebody else’s world, and unfortunately it was a world of unknowns.
We met up with a Viper an hour from Gregor’s place. He led the way. I didn’t have a map, but I felt the back and forth. It felt like he was trying to disorient me, or maybe just craftily putting distance between ourselves and his safe haven. I didn’t complain. The last thing I wanted was for some renegade to track us back to his home in the hill.
Once we reached the Viper, there was no greeting like, “Hey, how’re you doing today?” Besides, there was no pilot. The bird was either on autopilot or controlled from somewhere else.
Like a bear going into hibernation, I did not want to expel any unneeded energy. My mind and body quickly leaned into the familiar feelings of waiting and anticipation of the mission. It was better to save and build my energy.
So that’s what I did. I waited and wondered. Where were we going? What or who would be waiting? It had to be something big. I’d been a part of big things before. Where most people had a fear of something as trivial as public speaking, I had a fear of failure and I always had. There were so many ways and opportunities in which to fail—your family, your job, and/or yourself. Suddenly, it was as if an invisible, yet inevitable, weight burdened me then, like a thousand pounds of chains, bearing me to the ground. I couldn’t fail; I wouldn’t fail.
