by Jon S. Lewis
“Why didn’t someone assassinate him?” Colt asked.
“It wasn’t for lack of desire,” the sheriff said. “There were several attempts, but they all failed. Koenig isn’t a very trusting man, and if you weren’t in his inner circle you couldn’t get close enough to try. Don’t get me wrong, though. Koenig is charismatic, and those who follow him do so blindly and with great passion . . . like my nephew Heinrich.”
“Heinrich?” Colt asked. The hair on the back of Colt’s neck was standing on end.
“You know him?” Sheriff Sutherland asked.
Colt nodded. “He was crushed in a cave-in in the tunnels under the CHAOS Military Academy.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Sheriff Sutherland said, his voice devoid of emotion. “He was a good kid, but when his mother died, Koenig was there to infuse his brand of hatred and revenge, and my nephew bought into it.”
“Does Koenig fear the Betrayer?”
“He fancies himself a god,” Sheriff Sutherland said. “I’m not sure he fears anything.”
“What about you? Do you think the prophecy is real?”
“I can only hope.” The sheriff coughed, and his breathing grew ragged. “If the salvation of humans and Thule alike comes through a person called the Betrayer, it will be because God wills it. And that’s the truth I hold on to.”
A blast shook the holding cell, and a child screamed for her mother. Her voice was swallowed by a cacophony of bombs and bullets as the holding cell echoed with the sound of metal grinding against metal.
The room dipped to the left. And then they fell.
Metal crunched, and Colt could hear the echo of gunshots from somewhere beyond the walls. People scrambled to sit upright, groaning and choking as they strained against their collars. Colt fought to break free from his bonds, desperate to help the people around him.
There was a sound like keys rattling, and a door fell open like the door of an oven. A silhouette, black against the amber light, ducked through. Something stood in the middle of the prisoners with a pistol in each of its six hands.
More shouting. Gunshots. Fighting. Bodies fell, and someone else stepped through the doorway. Colt’s line of sight was obscured by the Thule, but whoever it was, he didn’t have six arms.
The Thule fired one of the pistols and was about to fire another when a bolt of blue electricity shot across the room, hitting it in the chest. The electricity crackled across its body as it fell, leaving the stench of burning flesh.
Colt fought against the chains until he felt the trickle of warm blood flowing down each wrist. All around him were the sounds of moaning and whimpering. A woman sobbed as she stroked the hair of a little girl who didn’t move. An old man lay against the wall, his neck bent at an odd angle, his mouth slightly open and his eyes staring straight ahead.
There was movement near the doorway as a dozen men entered the room, weapons at the ready. One walked to the fallen Thule and kicked it with his boot. Colt couldn’t see his face, but it sounded like he was speaking Thule.
Colt strained to break free. Tendons popped out of his neck, and as metal tore into his flesh, the trickle of blood turned to a steady flow. He pressed harder. The cut ran deeper. The man stood there watching him like a father might watch his son throw a temper tantrum.
“It’s not worth it,” the man said, this time in perfect English. “The best you’ll do is tear your hands off at the wrist. Then there’s the bacteria, not to mention the smell of your blood, which will no doubt draw the Riek. This is their hunting ground, and nightfall will be here soon.”
He stepped into the light, and Colt recognized the eye patch and the scar that ran down his face and across his lip. “Agent Rhane?”
“That’s Commander Rhane, Soldier of the Grail.”
: :
CHAPTER 43 : :
Colt froze, uncertain if he should be frightened or relieved.
Soldiers of the Grail were supposed to be sworn enemies of Koenig’s Defense Corps. And there was the fact that Rhane had helped Colt train for Project Betrayal back on campus . . . but did Agent O’Keefe and the others know that he was one of them—that he was a Thule? They had to know, Colt told himself. Right?
“Look, you’ve got more questions than I have time to answer,” Rhane said, as though he had been reading Colt’s thoughts. “The way I see it, you have two choices. You can come with us or you can stay here and face Koenig’s Defense Corps when they come looking for you—that is, if the Riek don’t get hold of you first.”
Rhane stood there, expressionless, his good eye lingering on Colt. Probing. Searching. Then, without a word, he turned and walked over to the fallen Thule and fished a set of keys from a pouch that hung from its belt. He unlocked Colt’s bonds and led him out of the transport and into a jungle that looked like one of the training scenarios from the hologram room—but this time it was real.
Trees draped in vines rose high overhead, their canopy of leaves blotting out the sun. The temperature was overwhelming and the air was thick, making it hard to breathe. Much of the ground was covered in standing pools that were dotted with cattails and lily pads, and Colt watched as winged frogs, bright yellow with red spots, flew over the water’s surface.
From what he could see there were at least thirty Soldiers of the Grail, some in their native Thule form while others looked human. They scampered along the fallen transport, scavenging parts and loading them into a cart pulled by a creature the size of an elephant, though with its massive hump, round head, and tusks jutting out from its wide jaw, it looked more like a mutated rhino.
Colt squinted and wiped the moisture from his brow, wondering what to do. Project Betrayal wasn’t supposed to take place for another ten days, and he was supposed to have the rest of Phantom Squad at his side, not to mention support from Jackal, Blizzard, Lightning, and Anvil. Instead, here he was on Gathmara with a renegade army of Thule, and he was fairly certain that the only thing keeping them from splitting him open and eating his liver was the fact that they thought Colt was somehow going to help them destroy Aldrich Koenig and his Defense Corps.
“I wasn’t kidding about the infection,” Rhane said as he snapped off a meaty leaf from what looked like an oversized aloe plant. He ran his thumbnail down the center, squeezed out a clear gelatinous liquid that smelled like lemon, and rubbed it on Colt’s wrists. “It’s called evros, and it does wonders for surface wounds.”
“Thanks,” Colt said. It was cold and at first it stung, but it didn’t take long before soothing relief set in. As he stood there he caught sight of armed soldiers escorting the other prisoners to an armored vehicle with eight oversized tires. It looked a bit like a Stryker, but it was built for cargo, not warfare.
There were at least two dozen prisoners, and each of them silently clambered into the back with their heads down and shoulders slumped. The only one Colt was able to make eye contact with was Sheriff Sutherland, but one of Rhane’s soldiers pushed the sheriff into the back of the vehicle before he could speak.
Colt frowned and took a step forward, but Rhane grabbed him by the arm. “They’re not your concern,” he said. “At least not for now.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
Before Rhane could answer, a roar like an engine spooked a flock of birds, and they took to the sky. Moments later something that looked like a cross between a helicopter and a fighter jet was looming overhead.
“What is that thing?” Colt asked.
“One of Koenig’s hovercraft,” Rhane said. “We took their prize and they want it back.”
“Their prize?”
“You.” Rhane turned to the other soldiers. “We’re heading out. Now!”
“Wait,” Colt said. “You knew I was in that transport?”
Rhane didn’t reply as he led Colt into the trees to where an armored Walker with six mechanical legs instead of four normal tires was parked. There was a flurry of activity as the Soldiers of the Grail gathered their gear and loaded the o
ther vehicles.
A band of Twilek swung from branch to branch, their screams echoing through the jungle as the ground transport with all the prisoners in the back rumbled to life. There was a sound like metal grating on metal as the driver put it into gear. Exhaust spilled from dual smokestacks as the vehicle moved down a path that looked far too narrow.
Trees shook as Koenig’s hovercraft drew near. It was close enough that when Colt looked up through the branches he could see the insignia of the Defense Corps on the underbelly. Guns mounted on the hovercraft started to fire, and flares of orange erupted from the barrels. Colt turned and covered his head as bullets tore through the vegetation.
“Let’s go!” Rhane shouted as he jumped into the driver’s seat of the armored Walker.
Shrapnel bounced off the Walker as Colt slid underneath, scrambling to get to the passenger’s door. There was shouting. Someone screamed, and Colt watched as a Soldier of the Grail fell nearby, his lifeless eyes open and his mouth agape.
“Now!”
Rhane’s voice shocked Colt into motion and he rolled out from under the vehicle, opened the door, and climbed into the passenger’s seat. The Walker jolted forward, pounding through pools of dead water and skittering over moss-covered boulders as the hovercraft tracked them through the branches overhead.
Soon the ground started to shake, and moments later a herd of what looked like six-legged elk thundered across the path up ahead. Each was as big as a draft horse, with a long tail that ended in a set of wicked spikes. Their eyes looked crazed as they fled before the hovercraft overhead.
Rhane broke hard to the left and into a wide clearing. There was a roar like an engine, and the hovercraft dropped down with its nose pointed at the Walker. A spray of bullets erupted from the guns lodged under the wings, ricocheting off the armor. The windshield splintered but didn’t break as Rhane reached over and flipped open a panel. “See those red switches? Flip ’em on.”
Colt did as he was told, and panels opened up on either side of the hood, revealing a set of machine guns. They opened fire, tearing through the leaves and branches. Bullets sprayed the hovercraft, pounding against metal and glass.
“Looks like we’re going to need some extra firepower,” Rhane said. “See the RPG-7 in the back?”
Colt looked over his shoulder to see a rocket-propelled grenade launcher resting on the floorboards.
“It’s loaded with a Thermobaric warhead,” Rhane said. “Think you can handle it?”
“How hard can it be?” Colt unstrapped his seat belt, grabbed the grenade launcher, and leaned out the window, bracing his hip against the door.
The Walker dipped as they went through another pool, and Colt barely managed to keep from falling out. The hovercraft held its ground and bullets continued to fly, but Colt tried to ignore them as he took aim.
The hovercraft was in his sights. Just aim, exhale, and pull the trigger, Colt told himself. The warhead hissed as it left the launcher. Colt watched it streak through the air before it slammed into the hovercraft. There was a flash of light followed by an explosion, and the hovercraft spiraled out of control and slammed into the ground.
: :
CHAPTER 44 : :
I just got word that there’s another transport,” Rhane said, pointing to his comlink as they continued through the jungle in the strange Walker. “They think it has more prisoners from Earth.”
“Where is it?” Colt asked as he looked at the GPS hologram map that floated over the dashboard.
“About three clicks from here, and Koenig has already sent a Tracker to make sure there aren’t any surprises. But if we hurry we should have enough time to get in and out before it finds us.”
Colt noticed another Walker skittering through the jungle beside them, and then he saw two more, plus five or six armored ultralights and a massive machine that looked like a tank on eight mechanical stilts. It resembled the Walkers but was twice as big, with heavy armor casing and topped with a gun turret.
“This seems like as good a spot as any for an ambush,” Rhane said. He parked beneath the cover of something that looked like a red mushroom, though it was nearly as big as a garage. The other vehicles stopped as well, each one with its weapons systems pointed toward the sky.
Colt felt anxious as he sat there, wondering if any of the prisoners inside the Thule transport might be his friends or maybe Jonas’s mom or even the sheriff of Sanctuary. And he wondered how they were going to knock the transport out of the sky without killing everyone inside.
“Steady now,” Rhane said as the air started to buzz with the sound of an engine in flight. “I can see her in the distance.”
Eyes narrowed, Colt looked at the sky and saw the faintest speck of gray approaching. He watched as Rhane again flipped open the panel that controlled the weapons systems.
“Just a few more seconds,” Rhane said. “Hang on, we’re—”
The ground started to shake and the trees swayed back and forth. There was a cracking sound like wood splitting, and Colt turned to see a massive Tracker heading directly toward them.
“Now there’s a twist I didn’t expect,” Rhane said. He accelerated and headed directly for the Tracker, guns blazing as the bullets ricocheted off the giant mechanical monster. The Tracker’s chest opened like a set of elevator doors, revealing a bank of sixteen missiles that all fired at once. Spinning and swirling, they headed straight for Rhane’s Walker.
There was an explosion as something like a lightning bolt shot out from the massive tank-like contraption with the gun turret. The Tracker’s missiles died as they came in contact with the energy field, and the bolt struck the Tracker in the chest. Energy crackled along its surface, and a second later the lights behind its eyes went out.
“What was that?” Colt asked.
“Think of it as an electromagnetic pulse with a kick.”
The Tracker teetered and fell, but there was no time to celebrate. The gun turret took aim at the transport in the sky and unleashed a second blast of energy.
“Nice shot,” Rhane said as he watched it hit. Bolts like lightning danced across the bulk of the transport. The engines sputtered before they failed, and smoke trailed as it started to fall.
“Let’s go find us some prisoners,” Rhane said, taking off at a trajectory that led them toward the path of the falling vehicle. Its hull struck the top of the trees and then crumpled when it struck a trunk. There was a crash of splintering wood and snapping trees, followed by an explosion.
Rhane and Colt were first on the scene, and they watched as the engine spit flames of red, orange, and gold as smoke rose through the canopy of trees. There were sounds like people pounding against the wall, and Rhane didn’t hesitate. He grabbed a blowtorch from the back of his vehicle and lit it midstride as he raced toward the wreckage.
The other Soldiers of the Grail weren’t far behind, and they joined Rhane as he cut open a doorway in the metal husk of the transport. His soldiers entered with weapons raised, but they didn’t need them. There was no resistance from Koenig’s men as the prisoners from Earth were led out.
Colt didn’t recognize anyone at first and was giving up hope when he saw Oz, followed by Danielle and Pierce, who had a massive gash on his forehead.
“That’s my squad!” he cried, just as Oz said, “Look! There he is.”
Before Colt could reach them, a pair of Soldiers of the Grail stepped in front of him with guns drawn.
“Where do you think you’re going?” the first one asked.
