Syndicate Wars: Empire Rising (Seppukarian Book 5)

by George S. Mahaffey Jr.

  At one point he came to a body tangled in the wire, the man’s lifeless eyes staring out, almost as if they were looking at the heavens, blaming God for this. No, not God, Giovanni realized as he looked skyward. The floating base, the Syndicate. The Potentate.

  Something glimmered in the dirt ahead, and he realized that what he had mistaken for rubble and logs were body parts strewn around, the glimmer likely from a half-unburied mine.

  How could nobody have come to clean up this mess? He knew the answer was the risk, but it still irked him.

  The dead didn’t deserve to be left like this. If his Luke had been left here, like this, he would’ve gone to any lengths to see him put to rest. A sickness hit him, knotting in his stomach, as he realized that it was very possibly the reason he was here. For all he knew, they had gotten to Luke too.

  But no, he refused to believe it. He proceeded forward, finding a building past the wire and moving along its edge, hoping that would keep him away from the mines.

  He was debating his next move, considering what sort of surveillance might be in this area, if any, when he heard a clicking sound, followed by whirring. The only chance for cover was the building behind him, so he dashed around the corner and in through a broken section of the wall, where a missile seemed to have exploded at one point.

  Now it was just bricks on the ground, an old metal desk on its side, and boxes strewn about.

  The whirring grew louder, then the ticking, as he approached the edge of the opening. The ticking became more of a thud, like something large and metallic coming his way. Risking a glance, he saw the first drone wiz by. He was about to pull back, but stopped, unable to take his eyes from the massive mech that came running along behind the drone. If it wasn’t so terrifying, it might’ve been almost cute—the mech with his pet drone, out for a stroll.

  As is, his thoughts quickly devolved into images of those massive, metal feet stomping on him and his blood and gut spewing forth.

  If his people, Luke included, had to go up against an army of those things? Defeat wouldn’t be so far away.

  In this place, however, it was already past that point. Whatever resistance had been here had long ago been defeated. He couldn’t see how it would be otherwise.

  A light hit him—green, lined, moving along his arm. Oh, FUCK!

  The drone was there, scanning him, and all he could do was stare up at it with a horrified face. Finally, he pulled himself together, mind screaming, RUN! RUN! And so he turned and ran, leaping over an old computer, and moving for the back door, even as the mech’s massive arm acted as a battering ram and took down more of the building’s wall.

  For a second, Giovanni had to wonder how he could’ve been so stupid as to have come here. And then he remembered Luke, the smile, the gentle touch after their first kiss, and he remembered. There was no way he could live life without knowing what had happened.

  The whirring grew louder behind him, so he threw himself through the closest door, realizing now that he was in a stairwell with nowhere to go. Up was the worst idea at a time like this, but he had no other choice.

  Pounding his way up the stairs two and three at a time, he felt like his heart was going to burst and his leg muscles would tear off. The alternative was death, however, so he kept on until he came to a door and threw himself at it. It didn’t budge. He tried again, pushing in on the door handle and shoving with his shoulder, but nothing. The whirring was close now, moving up the stairs right through the middle, and he was ascending the staircase again. Just as it caught up with him, he found a door partially ajar.

  A voice erupted from the drone, but he was through the door, an explosion sounding followed by a flash bang. His eyes weren’t adjusting, his ears ringing, but he ran nonetheless, nearly tripping on a wire at his foot.

  This place was rigged! He was screwed if he didn’t pull himself together, get his bearings. How odd that the mech or the droid hadn’t started shooting at him yet, he thought, and then he noticed a large object moving to his right. No, not inside the building with him as he thought at first, but as his eyes adjusted he saw that it was the mech, outside, gliding with thrusters and moving along with him. Suddenly, with a clunk sound a canister burst through one of the many windows on this floor, nearly hitting Giovanni in the groin but instead slamming into the side of his leg and causing him to trip over himself.

  When he started to come to, his first thought was Damn, that hurt. He tried to stand, but found that his leg was numb, as if it had fallen asleep, and then he realized what was all around him. At first he had thought his eyes were blurry, but now he realized it was a green gas, coming out of the canister and surrounding him.

  Again he tried to stand, but this time his whole body felt numb, and then the room was spinning…and he was out.

  He had no idea how much time had passed, or why his head felt like waves were crashing into it from the inside. Dark, dark waves. A voice was shouting, asking who he was, and then another, yelling at the first, then a punch and someone kneeling in front of Giovanni, hands on his face.

  Lips on his...?

  Giovanni blinked, alertness coming back to him, and the focus in his eyes returning. Kneeling before him, smile wider than perhaps he had ever seen it, was Luke.

  “Get these damn restraints off him,” Luke shouted to the man behind him, smile gone for a split second before he turned back to Giovanni and again held his face in his hands. “How? What…what took so long? Where were you?”

  Giovanni opened his mouth to talk, but it felt like he had cotton balls in his throat.

  “Water!” Luke demanded, and a moment later he had a canteen of water pressed up to Giovanni’s lips. Damn, that tasted good, even if it was warm and had a hint of a dirt flavor to it.

  “I…where are we?” Giovanni finally asked.

  “WE’RE all that remains of the LRR. Last Remaining Resistance. So I guess you could say we’re the LLRR. The last of the last.” Luke took Giovanni’s hands as the restraints were removed. “But your mission, the time travel? It worked, but what took you so long?”

  “Worked?” He frowned, confused. “No, no, we went through these weird loops, then showed up here, six years ahead. We didn’t even get a chance to make a difference, or to save Sam.”

  “Gio,” Luke stated with a hesitant look. “Sam, she was here, with Dan. Until about three years ago, she was a member of the LRR.”

  “Dan?”

  “That’d be me,” Dan replied, standing and massaging his jaw. “You didn’t have to punch me, Luke. Damn.”

  “Next time you tie up Giovanni like this, I’ll do worse,” Luke replied, half laughing, half pissed.

  “I didn’t know it was him.”

  Giovanni glanced at the windows, suddenly remembering how he got here. “Guys, there’s a drone, a mech—”

  “Um,” Dan shrugged and his cheeks reddened. “Again, me. How was I supposed to know who you were?”

  “You have mechs?” Giovanni asked.

  Dan nodded, though he looked sad. “We had so many more. Such a larger force… All of it, gone.”

  “Wait.” Giovanni pulled his hands away, standing, and ran his hands through his hair. He paused there, arms up, and turned to Luke. “What do you mean, Sam was here?”

  “Whatever you guys did, it must’ve worked. Dan found her.”

  Dan nodded. “Said she survived the blast, the one you all thought had killed her. It had taken some of her memory, changed her. At first, she didn’t seem to even want to get back in the fight, especially since you and Quinn and the rest were gone. I mean, her mom running off like that because she thought Sam was dead? Imagine what that would do to you if it was your mom thinking you were dead. Crazy, right?”

  “Don’t tell me how…”

  “How what?” Dan asked.

  “You said until three years ago. Well, I mean, I can’t take it in. We lost that girl once, I don’t want to think about how it happened the second time.”

  “Oh, shit, no
.” Dan held a hand to his mouth. “I mean, I don’t actually know though. She was with us, fighting on the rooftops and shit, and we hacked a mech. The first time I did it, too, and then… There was something, someone saw some man and some explosions, they heard the name Hadrian. And then she was gone. We searched that place over, even used some drones that we had hacked, used them to scan for life, even bodies. Nothing.”

  Giovanni blinked, so caught off-guard by all of this news. “She could’ve been taken, maybe? But why?”

  “We spent the better part of a year trying to answer that question,” Dan said. “We raided Syndicate strongholds, did what we could. And then they attacked. Our destruction, much of our defeat, was at their retaliation for what we had done to them in our search.”

  “So what was the point of it all?” Giovanni asked, slumping back into the chair.

  “She might still be out there,” Luke said, once again at his side. “In the meantime, while we wait for an answer…we have each other.”

  Giovanni glanced at Dan, and raised an eyebrow.

  “What, us?” Dan asked, then laughed. “Lucky for you, lover boy, I don’t dance on the pole, if you know what I mean. Nah, not me. I’m more of an ‘explore the love cave’ kind of man. Get in there, deep and dirty.”

  “We get the picture, Dan.” Luke rolled his eyes. “He’s got this woman, Ashley. Nice lady, but if she knew the way he talked sometimes…”

  “Oh, shut up. You’ve seen the way we talk like this to each other. She loves it.”

  Luke shook his head and mouthed to Giovanni, No, she does not!

  “Well, at least that’s settled. Now that I know…Dan, was it? Now that I know all about Dan’s love life, I can die in peace.”

  Dan laughed. “My point was simply to let you know that Luke always had faith in you. Six years, his eyes never strayed.”

  “Is that true?” Giovanni asked.

  Luke nodded, and again they kissed.

  “Gah, get a room, guys.” Dan turned, hands up to block the view. “Just because I’m down with it, doesn’t mean I want to see it.”

  “His desires don’t concern us,” Luke said with a laugh. But then his expression changed and he turned back to Giovanni. “What about… the others? Did they make it back?”

  Giovanni nodded. “They’re working on a way to get up there, to the fortress in the sky.”

  “The floating castle?” Dan whistled. “You’ve got some really stupid friends, or some really ballsy ones.”

  “You don’t remember Quinn?” Luke asked. “Sam’s mom?”

  “Oh, damn. Ballsy, then.”

  Giovanni chuckled. “That’s right. They’re with Mr. Q now, figuring out a plan to lay siege to the Potentate once and for all. Take him out.”

  “Mr. Q’s a son of a bitch,” Luke said, face contorting into disgust. “They can’t trust him.”

  Dan scratched his chin. “I agree, unless… shit. What if they have him on their side? Quinn, I mean. If he’s secretly been holding a grudge against the Potentate, or who knows for what reason, and I mean, if Quinn’s involved, it just might work.”

  “With our help,” Luke added. “That is, if they can somehow make it past all of the security he has up there. His whole arsenal, as a matter of fact. But still, around Mr. Q… best be cautious.”

  “Right.” Dan folded his arms, glaring at the wall as if the answer were right there and he only had to stare hard enough to see it.

  “They won’t be up there,” Luke finally said.

  “What?” the other two replied in unison.

  “The Syndicate army will be down here, putting down the largest resistance ever seen.”

  “Luke, don’t let your mouth write checks you can’t cash.”

  “I don’t know what the hell a check is,” Luke replied. “I think there were checks like a hundred years ago.”

  “Just… it’s an old saying.” Dan pursed his lips.

  “But listen to me,” Luke said. “If this is our shot, I mean the actual shot, what if we do it? We pull out every mech and drone you’ve managed to hack over to our side over the last several years. We get word out to everyone else, we break down the last of the work camps, we arm everyone we can find. We can do this, trust me.”

  “All for the shot at him? For your friends here to get one chance to kill the Potentate and take down the Syndicate?”

  Luke nodded. “It might be the only chance we get.”

  They all stared at each other, each likely feeling the same sense of dread and excitement taking over Giovanni. He was the first to smile, then Luke, and then Dan.

  “We’re actually doing this,” Giovanni said, then louder, “We’re doing this!”

  “Wooo!” Luke replied, clasping him on the shoulder, hard, and then Dan. “Time to put it all on the line. It’s do or die, ladies and gentlemen.”

  “Fucking A,” Dan said with a proud nod. “Fucking…A…”

  EVERYONE LAID low for the next hour, keeping quiet, terrified that any outburst, any sound would alert the Syndicate to their presence. A vague feeling of paranoia permeated everything, with Locks relating, over the hum of a white noise machine, rumors about the aliens having planting listening devices on the ground above.

  Quinn sat down next to Cody on the couch while Renner regaled the others with stories about what had happened back on the frozen Earth during their time loop.

  “Back on the time ship,” she said to Cody. “What happened to you?”

  His eyes had a faraway look to them. He swallowed hard, but continued to stare, straight ahead. “I went back, Quinn.”

  “Where?”

  “The days before the invasion.”

  Her face brightened. “Jesus, where were you? What did you do?”

  Cody turned to her. “You were there. We were together back in Shiloh.”

  “What happened?”

  “You didn’t remember me.”

  “How could I?”

  “But you trusted me.”

  She reached out and grabbed his hand, and he continued. “And we were able to destroy them. The Syndicate.”

  “Then it’s going to be over. We’re going to win.”

  A faint smile creased his lips. “Does anybody ever really win a war?”

  Before she could respond, footsteps echoed on the staircase. Quinn looked up to see Barrows striding down the steps. He reached the bottom and signaled to everyone, nodding at Quinn. It was on. It was time to go and meet Mr. Q.

  Barrows was able to borrow an old electric, flat-bed truck with a covered cab. Quinn climbed into the shotgun seat, next to Barrows who was driving. Locks rode in the bench behind them and the others crowded in the truck’s bed, hidden from view. Quinn was concerned that nobody had any weapons, but she was assured by Barrows that Quarrels was a business acquaintance who disdained violence.

  “I hope you got a notion of what you’re gonna say when you’re standing tall before the man,” Barrows said to Quinn while gearing the truck and driving off.

  “I’ve dealt with guys like him before,” she replied.

  “Name somebody.”

  “The Potentate.”

  Barrows shot Quinn a look. “You telling me, you’ve met the big boss before?”

  “I was a prisoner in his ship,” Quinn answered, nodding.

  “Bullshit,” Locks said, overhearing the conversation.

  “Totally true.”

  “So what happened?” Barrows asked.

  “He sent a small army to try and stop me and the others from leaving the ship.”

  Barrows looked over. “And?”

  “And here we are,” Quinn replied, smiling darkly.

  Barrows snorted. “You’re that good, huh?”

  Quinn smiled. “I’m even better than you can imagine.”

  Even Barrows laughed at this, toeing the gas pedal, piloting the battered truck out of the favela and onto what was left of the nearby, cratered, Interstate 295.

  24

  THE D
EAL

  Q uinn felt the air whip through her hair, as she rode in the truck, ruminating on what Cody had said. She could see the Potomac River off to her right, just beyond the wreckage of what had once been a water treatment plant. Several children dressed in rags were visible, rooting through what was left of the buildings. They held up their hands, startled to see the truck. They waved and Quinn waved back.

  “Here’s the dealio,” Barrows said. “Mister Q has a shipment of product that’s he going to transfer to us. Same thing happens every four weeks. Me and Locks will go out and give him the lay of the land. We’ll see if he can hook us up with a pass to the Green Zone.”

  “He won’t be expecting guests,” Quinn mused.

  “True that. But I know the dude. I’ve dealt with him ever since he became a honcho. We’re tight. I’ll vouch for you.”

  “And if the vouch isn’t good enough?”

  Barrows smirked. “Keep the truck running.”

  Quinn looked back and up and saw movement off in the distance. A single vehicle was visible, rolling down the other side of I-295. “That him?” Quinn asked. Barrows nodded and slowed the truck. Quinn noticed for the first time that he had a small pistol tucked under his right leg. “Thought you said Quarrels hated violence?”

  Barrows winked. “He does. I don’t.”

  Everyone exited the truck, and Barrows and Locks told them to wait until they’d gone ahead and discussed the situation with Quarrels. Quinn opened the small window on the rear windshield and commencing filling the others in on what Barrows had told her.

  It was hard to tell how long they had waited, sitting back and staring up at that base in the sky. This was it, the moment that could change it all.

  Quinn sat in the truck, supremely on edge. She didn’t like the unknown, particularly when she wasn’t armed. She crawled over the seat and peered through the tiny slot on the back window, staring into the darkened, covered cabin at the rear of the truck. Hayden and Milo were the closest to her.