Chess Players: Atlantis and the Mockingbird

by DeVaughn, A. P.

  “Now this is my kind of place,” Ron says, rubbing his hands together with a mischievous grin.

  “Do you like my women?” the drunken man asks Ron. “They are very talented.” He moves his fingers like he’s gracing an imaginary piano.

  “We did not come here to party,” Rotiart says. “Is this what you do with the resources that we give you? Where are the documents? And cut this damned music off!”

  “Sure,” Neiala says, grabbing her sidearm and putting a bullet into the stereo.

  “You’re no fun,” the drunken man says. “Look at these women. That’s money well spent. Well, I have to stay undercover, you know. No one suspects a drunken lecher to be a spy. Fine, fine, come with me. Always spoiling my fun.” He backpedals and beckons us with his fingers.

  Looking over toward one of the couches, I have to go and grab Ron from the pile of women he’s talking to.

  We follow the drunken man up the stairs and into a room. “Now the papers were somewhere around here,” the drunken man says. “Ah, here it is.” He hands them to Rotiart.

  “Are you sure that she’s here?” Rotiart asks the drunken man.

  “Yes, I’ve got great sources in this region. She’s here.”

  “Ndjunda,” Rotiart says, “do you know the area?”

  “Yes, I do. It’s a road that leads there, but you must go on foot the last few kilometers.”

  “All right, let’s move out,” Rotiart commands.

  We head back and load up into a cargo truck, courtesy of our drunken friend, and start off to the town that the Spider is in.

  Darkness falls on us quickly as we approach the end of the trail.

  “We must stop here,” Ndjunda says. “The bush is too thick to navigate by vehicle.”

  “Ndjunda, what are you doing?” Rotiart asks.

  “This is as far as I go,” Ndjunda says, stopping the vehicle. “There are said to be demons in this part of Sudan, and I cannot follow you in. I’m staying here.”

  “Coward,” Rotiart says. “Steve, Ron, stay with him and make sure he doesn’t try to leave. Rokie, take point. Dwight, you’re in the rear.” He hands me a night-vision headset.

  We move off in the direction of the camp, treading through thick bush, sloshy ground, insects, and the threat of poisonous snakes that fail to slow us down. Rokie stops on a hill well hidden with dense vegetation a few hundred yards shy of the target area.

  “I see movement,” Rokie whispers. We all collect to where Rokie has stopped. Ahead is a collection of shanty structures, tents, and a few roughly built brick-and-mortar buildings. Crudely made guard towers encompass the camp.

  “Ndjunda was afraid of demons?” Neiala says, bringing her goggles to her face. “More like Chimera. The locals in this region must have been telling fables.”

  “How can you tell the difference between humans and Chimera?” I ask.

  “Switch your goggles to thermal,” she says. “Do you see the brighter signature? Those are Chimera. They run five degrees hotter than humans. The high temperatures are a side effect from the boost in metabolism that is needed for their physical attributes. This place is crawling with them. This has to be the location where she is. I see a few humans, but no signs of the Spider.”

  “She’s here. Keep looking,” Rotiart says.

  “She’s in the building next to the large tent northeast of our position,” I say.

  “How do you know?” Neiala asks.

  “That’s the area with the largest concentration of Chimera. They must be protecting something, right?”

  “Well, I guess Shundai was right. He is a big help, and cute, too,” Neiala says with a smile, followed by a scowl from Rotiart.

  Rotiart commands us to move on the town. Kim stays on the hill in his sniper position and to give us eyes, while the rest of us move in two-man teams. Neiala and I go along with Rotiart and Rokie. Kim is to take out the leading Chimera and cause a distraction to draw off some of the Chimera guarding the area where we suspect the Spider to be. We descend onto the target building.

  Kim takes out two Chimera, and four of the eight who were guarding the building dash to where the other two were taken down on the other side of the camp. Rotiart signals to take out the other four guards, holding up his open hand and then closing it quickly to let us know to synchronize our rifle fire. We pick off the other four guards with our suppressed rifles, drag their bodies along with the Chimera bodies into the shrubbery and move on the building, taking up positions around a window and the closest corner of the building. Prying open the door with a heavy crowbar, I signal to the others that we are clear for entry. We gently push the door open, seeing nothing but darkness and a door on the other side of the building with light squeezing through the jamb. Rokie takes point as we creep to the door, stepping over broken glass and puddles of water on the warehouse floor. We reach the door and Rokie slowly turns the knob. We see a woman with a scarf over her head, screaming into a walkie-talkie. “What in the hell is going on out there? Respond, dammit!”

  “Well, we finally meet again,” Rotiart says, looking down the sights of his assault rifle tightly perched against his shoulder. “Featalia, or should I call you Orb. I shall avenge my mother’s death.”

  “Well, you have done a fine job,” she says, lowering the walkie-talkie with her back to us, laughing. “But you’ve come all of this way, and you’ve still failed. Still a step too slow as always, son of Shundai.”

  “What do you mean?” Rotiart barks.

  “Long live Atlantis!” Orb shouts as she quickly turns around. A rifle goes off and silences her next word as Orb’s head violently snaps back, painting the wall behind her with blood and chunks of brain and skull.

  Rotiart runs to the dead body. “Neiala!” he shouts, looking at us and standing over the dead body.

  “It’s not her,” she says.

  “What?” I say.

  “It’s a doppelganger. If you don’t believe me, then use this, but we must leave. I feel that this was nothing but a trap.”

  She throws me a needle gun.

  “Stick it in her. It will take her DNA, and the computer will confirm it,” she says. I stick the body with the device, and the tiny screen on the computer reads, No Match.

  “Kim,” I say on the earpiece. “What is it looking like out there, buddy?”

  “They are headed your way,” he whispers, “and they have reinforcements.”

  “I’ll run ahead and draw them off,” Rokie bravely says.

  “Carve us a path for us to the east. Leave your post in two minutes and go back to the truck. I’ll meet you there, buddy,” I say to Kim. To the others I say, “Kim says there is heavy activity outside coming our way. Neiala was right, this was a trap.”

  Walking out slowly, leaving through the back of the building, Neiala takes point while I take the rear. The dapple light of the crescent moon cascades down on the trees and roofs of the shantytown surrounding us. The bugs, frogs, and wildlife of the night drown out our footsteps. Then, suddenly, the night falls silent. The frogs, crickets, and night creatures all pan out like a symphony when a conductor drops his hands. Neiala throws up her fist. “Kim, I have two bogies east of our position.” We halt behind Neiala and watch the two bodies drop, one after the other. “Bingo, threat neutralized,” Neiala says.

  “Guys, run east-northeast, now. I have twelve bogies and counting converging on your position. They are moving fast. All Hot Heads too,” says Kim in our earpieces.

  We all double-time it through the narrow trail leading to the hill where our team is located, two kilometers away. “I’ll do my best to keep them off you,” Kim says.

  Through my night-vision goggles I can see flashes of humanoid figures in front of us through the foliage. Firing my rifle, I pick two of them off and three more appear. Neiala and Rotiart start to unload in small bursts. Then a Chimera jumps from the foliage, tackling Neiala. She wrestles with it. “Neiala!” I shout.

  “Get off of me, you lab rat!” sh
e says, pulling out her sidearm and firing into the creature. She then stands and shoots until her gun clicks.

  “Are you all right?” Rotiart asks.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she replies, kicking the corpse of the creature repetitively.

  “There are too many of them. We’ll run out of ammo soon.”

  Getting a satellite feed on my arm radar, I plot a course. “Here, follow me,” I say, leading them through the trail with the Chimera right on our asses. I can hear the deep groans and screeches coming from the creatures as they pursue us. We soon come to a small clearing in the forest.

  “We won’t make it,” she says. “Here they come.”

  “Quickly, everyone kneel down,” I say. We squat in the muddy ground next to a large fallen tree. Reaching into my pack, I pull out one of Keebo’s devices and I hold it up over our heads and turn it on. “Quiet,” I say to my two comrades as five Chimera run through the clearing, passing just a few feet from us. Suddenly, one of them stops and walks over to the fallen tree we are pressed up against. It approaches, scanning the area and crawling around on all fours, dragging its nose along the ground like a bloodhound, getting closer and closer until it is merely inches from us, sniffing around, hissing, and groaning. I can taste its rancid breath coming from its nose as the puffs from its nostrils push against my forehead, clearing the sweat from my brow. Fear pins my eyelids open, thinking that if I blinked it would give us away. Looking the creature directly in its glowing catlike iris, it seems that it is looking directly back into my mine as it pauses, pulsing its nostrils as it sniffs the air. I slow my breathing, holding each breath in my throat, then letting the air seep through my nose, trying not to make the slightest bit of sound so that we are not discovered. My arms tremble and my stomach pinches right under my ribs. A sound from one of the other Chimera in the distance alerts the beast. It then rises to its feet and runs off in the direction of the other four.

  “That was close,” I say, exhaling and turning off the device as the energy field dissipates from around us. “I guess Keebo’s Sleight of Hand device has all of the kinks worked out after all.”

  “Dwight!” Neiala shouts. “Your three!”

  I duck just as the Chimera swipes at me, knocking my gun away from my hand. Swinging at me viscously with its claws, I dodge the creature’s attacks, delivering counterblows to its jaw and body, which feels like concrete to my fists, yet I feel no pain. Knocking the creature off of its feet with a crippling blow to the head, it roles and crashes against a tree and then turns its attention toward my two comrades. As it runs at them, they fire upon it, missing as the creature dodges the bullets in the darkness. Two other Chimera leap from the trees and land behind Neiala and Rotiart. I run toward my weapon, scooping it from the ground. I start firing at one of the Chimera until it drops. Out of ammunition, I reach toward my hip and grab my blade. “Guys, duck!” I shout. Running full tilt toward the creatures, I jump into the air, coming down upon one of the two Chimera. I plunge my knife deep into its chest and hear the ribs crack like dried twigs. The last of the creatures runs for me. With all of my strength, I lift my knife with the Chimera still attached to it and hurl the body at the Chimera running at me. It jumps over the dead body, and I meet it in the air. We slam together with great force and fall to the ground. I take it by the throat while I begin to stand and lift it off of its feet. It kicks and squeals as I squeeze its throat, but my grasp holds as I clench my hands together so hard that my nails run red as they dig into its cow-like hide. Throwing it to the ground, I grab it by its feet as it claws the ground, trying to get away. Spinning and twirling, I swing the Chimera and toss it into the air, scoop up Neiala’s rifle with the toe of my boot, flip it into the air and catch it, then I unload on the flailing Chimera until it hits the ground and stops moving.

  I turn my attention to my comrades. “Neiala, are you all right?” I say walking over to her, helping her to her feet.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she says getting up, looking at me with disbelief. “How? How did you do that? I’ve never seen anyone take on a Chimera hand to hand, let alone three. You were amazing. Just who in the hell are you, really?”

  “I’m just an orphaned boy, is all. Rotiart, are you okay?” I say, trying to help him up.

  Knocking my hand away and clambering to his feet, he pats himself off. “I’m fine. Come, there will be more.”

  Heading back east with Chimera not too far behind us, we push through the bush, losing them in the jungle. After a kilometer of sprinting, we make it back to the truck in one piece.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here. The helicopter will pick us up back at the town,” Rotiart says. “Where’s Ndjunda?” he asks.

  “Chimeys ambushed us and got him,” says Ron.

  “He’s dead,” says Rotiart.

  “No, they actually took him. Ran off with him kicking and screaming,” says Ron.

  “Let’s go after him,” I say.

  “No,” Rotiart commands. “Rokie says our helicopter is on the way to the LZ. If we don’t make it there just in time, our transport could be under fire as well.”

  “But, that’s your friend!” I say angrily. “Where I’m from, you don’t leave friends behind.”

  “Well, this isn’t where you’re from, now, is it?” he says, speaking to me like a child. “He knew the risk, and he took it. A small sacrifice for the greater good. Now, let’s go. That’s an order. And don’t ever undermine my authority again.”

  After flying back to Siberia, we are called into the bridge for debriefing. The door flies open. “This was all a waste!” Rotiart says, walking fast as he paces the room, tight-lipped and red-eyed. “Everything we worked for was lost, and we lost an important asset to boot. He may be giving our every secret as we speak.”

  “We may have lost one of our assets, but we did gain a valuable piece of information,” Neiala says, trying to calm Rotiart’s rant as Shundai looks at him in discontent. “Besides, Njunda knows nothing, and the intel that I pulled off of the laptop that Orb’s doppelganger was holding has been decrypted by Pairon. It’s something called Cerberus, and it appears to be the ultimate weapon,” she says, pulling up the plan on the overhead projector inside of the bridge. “It involves a satellite in synchronized orbit over New York and a strong signal being broadcasted from Manhattan, which may be an operating location for the satellite. There’s one more thing. It appears that the real Orb is there as well. We also traced coded messages from the doppelganger to this location via video and audio. It seems that there is a countdown, as well, and we’ve calculated that it is in hours. T-minus 61,272 hours, which is precisely seven years from this day. Gentleman, I think we’ve found our target. Good work, Pairon.” Pairon nods with a coy face.

  “Thank you, Neiala, Pairon,” says Rotiart. “That gives us time to plan a strike. It seems that this Cerberus is what we’ve been looking for to stop the Trident. You all will go into suspension in four months and then awaken one year before our mark date. We’ll awaken every eighteen months in pairs and then go back into suspension after two weeks of atrophy recovery. Neiala and Dwight will awaken first, followed by Ron and Steve, then Rokie, Lara, and me. Keebo and Pairon will be in twenty-five percent suspension and will keep tabs on our condition throughout our hibernation sequences. They will adjust the duration of suspension periods as they see fit. Father?” he says, asking for approval.

  “Good plan,” Shundai says, unimpressed, and leaves the room.

  Four months later, it’s time to go under.

  These hibernation cells look like caskets, and I have so many IVs in my body that I look like a computer server.

  Sitting inside the suspension cell, I settle into the warm, bluish fluid as I scan the room, watching my comrades follow suit.

  “Well, looks like we’ll be spending a bit of time together,” Neiala says, standing in front of me stark naked, like nothing is wrong. “Sleep well, Dwight.” She graces me with a kiss on the cheek before she heads to her cell, and I
can feel heat on the back of my neck as Lara stares me down.

  “Well, how about you and I sleep in the same cell?” Ron says to Neiala. He’s also stark naked instead of wearing a bathing suit, like everyone else. “I can try and set a record for an eighteen-month hard-on. It will be the best wet dream ever.”

  “Sorry,” she says as she flicks open a large blade. “I already got a hard-on.”

  Pairon begins to close the cells as he and Steve share a conversation that I can’t hear, yet Pairon gingerly touches Steve’s hand before Steve sinks into the cell.

  “What will it be like to be asleep for eighteen months?” I ask Pairon as he walks over to me.

  “Well,” he says in his soft fluttery voice, “try and think happy thoughts before I close the cell. It will be a more pleasurable experience. You’ll never know you’re asleep. As soon as I close this lid, you won’t remember a thing when you wake up.”

  I lie down and think about Lara, yet the images of Neiala’s naked body also invade my mind. Looks like I’m going to sleep well.

  Chapter 29: To Kill a Mockingbird

  “Dear god,” says Ron, holding his back and rubbing his head as we enter the bridge from our six-year slumber. “Feels like I was hit with a hammer on me head and punched in the balls at the same time. I haven’t taken a solid shit in two days.”

  “The side effects will subside in a few days,” says Rotiart. “But now, we must train.”

  Day in and day out we drill: schematics of the building, multiple contingency plans, entrance points, exit points, people who we’ll interact with, vehicle detail, and escape routes.

  Within a year, we are all sharpened to execute this plan blindfolded, and now the day is finally here. We go through checks of equipment and load up the elevators with our gear.

  Lara stays close to me on the plane ride to the US as Neiala looks on with envy. She sharpens her blade with care, spitting on the whetstone as she glides the metal across like she’s buttering toast.