Dublin walked over to look at the bullet holes and then turned to Imran.
“You travelled all the way down to Prince Rupert?”
Imran’s pride in the success of his Black Market business was unmistakable as he answered Dublin.
“I travel everywhere…wherever a good deal can be found. Wherever the reward outweighs the risk. I’ve been as far south as Vancouver a couple of times. As far east as Edmonton in the Alberta province, and as far north as Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory province, and also to the cabin we just came from of course.”
Bear still appeared amazed Imran could travel so far and so regularly in what he had just recently described as a rust bucket.
“You did all that traveling in this thing? Really?”
Imran’s scowl returned as he dealt with Bear’s criticism of his beloved transport vehicle.
“Yes, every time. You’ll see. She runs and runs and runs. Every time.”
Reese was already loading up the packs into the back of the CMP. Its open truck bed was nearly seven feet long and at least five feet wide – plenty of room for all of the packs and to seat the rest of them comfortably in the back. Cooper placed his own pack into the back as well and then whistled at Brando to jump in. The Doberman gracefully leapt into the truck bed and then looked at the group as if to see if anyone had noticed how well he had followed Cooper’s request.
Cooper in turn pointed out the extra large tread on the truck’s tires to the others in the group.
“These things are what will get us across the glacier fields a few miles from here.”
Imran slapped the side of one of the large tires.
“No problems! Easy going!”
Cooper Wyse grinned back at Imran’s enthusiastic devotion to his truck.
“Easy going sounds just fine by me, Imran.”
Seeing that all of the packs had been placed in the back, Imran opened the driver’s door and stepped into the cabin. He turned the key which resulted in the engine turning over once…and then going silent. Bear rolled his eyes.
“Knew it. This piece of shit ain’t getting us anywhere.”
Imran yelled out the window of the truck.
“Big man needs to be quiet! You’ve offended Princess!”
Bear glanced over to Cooper and whispered out of the side of his mouth.
“Princess?”
Cooper nodded.
“That’s her name.”
“The truck?”
Again Cooper nodded.
“Yeah – the truck. Her name is Princess.”
Imran’s repeated his demand to Bear that he apologize to Princess.
“Big man! I told you to apologize! You need to tell her you’re sorry!”
Mac stepped over to Bear and pointed to the truck.
“Just apologize to the damn truck, Bear so we can get going.”
Bear looked down at Mac and shook his head.
“You think if I apologize this pile of rust will actually start up?”
Brando barked at Bear, causing Reese to laugh.
“Even Brando thinks you need to apologize, Bear!”
“I could give a shit what that dog thinks. He’s still on my list.”
Brando barked again.
Imran stepped out of the truck and stood directly under Bear. The man from Turkey pointed a finger into the face of the former NFL lineman while nodding toward Princess.
“You apologize to her, Bear. Apologize and then we can go. You offended her.”
Brando let out a low, menacing growl, his upper lip pulling back to expose his teeth. He wasn’t smiling though – the Doberman meant business. Then the dog jumped from the back of the truck, leaping over Bear’s right shoulder, causing him to stumble backwards and nearly fall over.
Brando hit the ground and took off toward the tree line some fifty yards from where the group was standing around Imran’s truck. The Doberman stopped just short of the trees and stood still, continuing to growl at whatever was hiding within the darkness of the forest.
Cooper put two fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle.
“Brando! Come!”
The dog ignored Cooper’s command, remaining in his position between the trees and the group.
Cooper whistled again and issued the same command for Brando to return. This time the Doberman complied, turning and quickly running to Cooper’s right side where he sat next to the rancher, though the dog still issued a low growl as his eyes remained looking into the forest.
Cooper slowly drew one of his two six shooters that hung from each of his hips and whispered to the others.
“Something out there is watching us, has to be the same thing that had Brando so upset yesterday. That means we’re being followed.”
Everyone else followed Cooper’s example and drew their own weapons as well.
A loud shriek issued from the trees, sounding equal parts human and beast.
Mac lowered himself onto his right knee, aiming his weapon into the trees.
Another loud shriek came from the tree line, though this time it was answered by a similar sound some hundred yards to the right. This second shriek was answered by a third that sounded no more than a few more hundred yards back from the first two. And then a fourth shriek came from yet another location, followed by several more.
Cooper turned to Imran.
“Might want to get your truck started Imran. Sounds like we have some real bad company making its way toward us.”
Imran’s eyes were wide as he looking toward the tree line.
“Yes, I think you’re right.”
Imran once again attempted to start Princess, but like the first time, the vehicle turned over once and then went silent. The things in the forest continued to shriek. Whatever they were, they sounded excited – and hungry.
Bear reached into the back of the truck bed and removed one of two Mossberg shotguns he had brought with him and then began to slowly walk toward the trees with the shotgun pointed in front of him.
“I ain’t waiting for that pile of shit to start. Whatever wants to come out of those woods I’m killing.”
Imran jumped out of the truck and opened its hood, a small hammer held in his right hand.
“Apologize to Princess big man! If you want to go now, you need to apologize!”
Bear looked back at the others while the sounds of the creatures’ shrieks continued to multiply inside the forest.
Reese implored for the big man to do as Imran requested.
“Can’t hurt anything, Bear. C’mon, apologize to his truck and be done with it.”
Bear took another look toward the tree line and then walked angrily back to where Imran was leaning over into the engine compartment.
“Fine – sorry about what I said. About your truck.”
Imran turned his head to look back at Bear.
“That’s fine, but you have to apologize to her, not me.”
Bear looked like he was about to pick Imran up and throw him into orbit.
“Oh, for god’s sake, you got to be kidding me!”
Imran again turned his head to see Bear.
“No, I’m not kidding, big man. You apologize to Princess. Then she’ll start for us.”
Bear’s face grew red with rage as his hands gripped the shotgun tightly. The shrieking grew even louder and now they could hear the unmistakable sound of movement from the forest.
“There’s at least ten of those things out there, maybe more. Whatever they are, they’re getting ready attack. It’s a pack of something, and they’re hunting…hunting us.”
“I’m sorry about what I said. To the truck. Sorry. Sorry…Princess.”
Bear’s apology, though said through tightly clenched teeth, appeared to satisfy Imran, who was tapping something lightly with his hammer. The small man leaned back from the engine compartment, closed the hood, and began to make his way back to the driver’s seat with a satisfied smile on his dark, rounded face.
“Ok
– let’s go.”
Cooper, Bear and Reese jumped into the back of the former Canadian military vehicle, while Mac and Dublin joined Imran inside the truck’s enclosed cabin. Brando began to bark aggressively, causing Cooper to hold onto the dog to prevent him from jumping from the truck bed.
Imran closed his eyes tightly and then turned the key. The small diesel engine hesitated briefly, turned over once, hesitated again, and then fired up as thick black smoke belched from its exhaust.
Mac looked through the vehicle’s windshield toward the forest just before his eyes caught a metallic glimmer of something in the distant sky above them.
“Oh no…”
XVII.
Both Dublin and Imran followed Mac’s gaze into the sky above the trees. The drone was approaching from the south. Even from this distance they could tell it was one of the larger armed drones, not a smaller surveillance drone. They had no more than a minute, possibly less, before the drone would be in range to strike at them.
Mac opened the truck’s passenger door and hopped outside, making his way to the back of the vehicle. The creatures from the woods continued to shriek excitedly at one another.
Mac uttered one brief comment to Cooper Wyse while pointing into the sky with his right hand.
“Drone gun.”
Without even bothering to confirm the presence of the drone, Cooper shifted his position in the truck bed to locate the laser guided anti drone rifle. Once he found it, he yelled out for Imran to join them outside the truck.
Smoothly hopping from the back of the truck with the drone rifle in his left hand, Cooper Wyse handed the gun to Imran and pointed into the sky where the drone was now less than a mile from their position.
“He know how to use that?”
Cooper nodded in response to Mac’s question.
“He’s the one who gave it to me. He’s the one who showed me how it works. Yeah, of any of us here, Imran’s the one who we want using it.”
Imran moved a small toggle switch toward him and then unlocked what appeared to be some kind of safety device. The small metallic box connected to the bottom of the rifle began to emit a low, steady humming noise.
“Gonna need a few seconds to power up.”
Nobody said anything. Even Brando had grown silent.
Imran raised the rifle’s scope to his right eye and peered through it while aiming at the approaching drone. Mac noted the small man’s hands were shaking slightly.
“Take a deep breath and just focus Imran. You’re doing fine.”
Imran smiled slightly as he the shaking diminished.
“Sight system is tabulating speed of approach. Locked in. Almost ready…”
Imran fired the anti-drone rifle. The low humming noise suddenly changed pitch, becoming both considerably louder and a much higher, piercing tone. The rifle didn’t move back against Imran though as a conventional weapon would have done. There was no repercussive force. No sound of firing ammunition - just a single pinkish-blue line of light that instantly rose upward toward the quickly approaching drone.
Then…nothing.
Imran continued to stare through the site.
“System indicates target hit.”
The drone, near enough to be more clearly seen, appeared unharmed. It was descending toward them no more than a thousand yards away.
“Hope that thing is telling you the right information, Imran.”
Mac’s voice betrayed the strain of the approaching drone, though he remained unmoving.
Imran opened his mouth to respond, but before the words could be formed the sky lit up with a massive explosion. Seconds later, the sound of that explosion travelled over them and into the trees where the shrieking creatures then went silent.
As remnants of the drone slowly fell from the sky, Bear’s face broke out into what was for him, a very rare thing. He was smiling.
“That was awesome.”
Cooper Wyse winked at Imran as he clapped him on the shoulder.
“Thanks, Imran. You done good.”
A single pained howl arose from within the trees where the creatures had gathered, followed by silence.
Peering toward the forest, Mac turned back toward the truck, which Imran had wisely left running.
“Ok, time to go - NOW.”
Brando began to bark again, his eyes focused on whatever things remained hidden just inside the woods. As the truck began to slowly drive down a gently sloping hillside, Reese positioned himself at the back of the truck bed with a rifle pointed at the tree line, ready to shoot anything that might follow them.
Nothing emerged from those trees though, and as minutes passed, and the forest grew smaller, everyone inside Imran’s truck began to relax. Even Brando lay down with his head on his front paws and appeared to go to sleep.
Cooper looked at the resting Doberman and then leaned back, buttoned up his jacket, and pulled his hat down toward his eyes.
“Brando’s got the right idea. Rest up when you get the chance.”
Bear slowly moved his hand to reach out and pet the Doberman. Brando raised his head from his paws and gave Bear a look that seemed to question what the big man’s intentions were. Bear scratched just under the dog’s chin as a kind of peace offering between the two, which Brando appeared to accept with great appreciation, lifting his head to allow Bear full access to the area.
Opening his eyes slightly, Cooper Wyse voiced his approval.
“Well look at that, who says a dog and a bear can’t be the best of friends?”
Inside the truck’s cabin, Imran was talking excitedly to both Mac and Dublin about how amazing Camp Wilfrid was. While Dublin appeared nearly as energetic and engaged in the conversation as Imran, Mac leaned his face against the window of the vehicle and struggled to not drift away into yet more sleep. His breathing was not such a struggle today, thought the burning sensation in his lungs remained and now he felt a throbbing pain from his lower back. He tried to tell himself that sleeping on the cabin floor had simply aggravated something, but he knew that this new pain was more likely related to the cancer.
After nearly two hours of driving, very few trees grew up from the rocky terrain, and the temperature outside had fallen to just below freezing. Areas of ice and snow were becoming more common.
“We will be at the glacial area soon. I must stop and prepare the tires for the crossing. You two can stay in here and rest…won’t be long.”
Imran brought the vehicle to a stop and hopped outside while Mac and Dublin sat inside the cabin with the heater turned on. Dublin was somewhat surprised Mac had not offered to help Imran with the tires as he was normally not one to allow others to work while he rested.
“You feeling ok, Mac?”
Mac kept his eyes closed behind his glasses but managed to give Dublin a small smile.
“Yeah, just a little tired. Nice to rest for a bit.”
Dublin noted Mac had grown more gaunt in recent days. The lines around his mouth were deeper, the cheekbones more pronounced. His short cropped hair had gone from salt and pepper gray to nearly all white since the last days of Dominatus. In the twenty-two years Dublin Meyer had known Mackenzie Walker, she had never thought of him as old. He had always proven himself as tough as the task required, and Dublin recalled her grandfather remarking more than once that Mac was likely the most dangerous and capable human being he had ever known. She realized sitting so close to him in the cabin of Imran’s truck though, that old age had finally arrived for Mac Walker, and Dublin feared the journey that lay ahead of them to reach the priest in Churchill, Manitoba would prove too much for him.
Dublin reached down and took Mac’s left hand into her right hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Mac?”
“Yeah – what?”
“I just want you to know…to know how much I appreciate what you’ve done for me and so many other people. All of those years you helped keep us safe in Dominatus, and the friendship with my grandfather. How you saved so many o
f us when the drones came. Just…just want you to know that I think you’re an amazing man, Mac.”
Mac was silent as Dublin paused.
Tumultus Page 13
