Cade 2

by Neil Hunter

  “That’ll have to be it,” he said. “No time for anything too fancy this trip.”

  He produced a tube holding camouflage cosmetic and smeared it on his face and hands. His final move was to pick up a dark baseball cap and pull it on over his white-blond hair.

  “Well?” he asked.

  Kate nodded. “I’d never see you in the dark.”

  “If I do find T. J. in there and get him out,” Janek said, “he’s going to give me hell.”

  “For letting me come along? I’ll handle that,” she said. “Janek, I feel safer out here than I would have in New York.”

  “Okay. Now listen. You know how to use the radio if you have to call for help.. .but only as a last resort. Calling outside help could be risky the way things are shaping up at the moment.”

  “I understand. Don’t worry, I won’t push the panic button.”

  “You have the SMG I gave you?”

  Kate held it up. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll keep anyone away from the helicopter.”

  “We might need to get off in a hurry,” Janek said. “And remember, once I get near, I’ll hit the signal device I’m carrying. It will activate the panel light I showed you.”

  “Soon as I see that, I fire up the motor and boost the power like you explained.”

  Janek glanced at his watch. “It should take me about an hour to reach the base. Allow another thirty minutes to check the place out. If I’m right and they have T. J., I’ll make it short and sharp. I don’t know about return time. We might have company, so that part we play by ear.”

  “It will be getting light by then,” Kate pointed out.

  “Don’t remind me. Nothing we can do about that.”

  “Janek, do you think he’ll be there?”

  The cyborg stared at her, his eyes unblinking, studying her beautiful face. He realized it was an odd time to be experiencing the realization, but he was suddenly aware why T. J. had such strong feelings for this woman. Although she was a wonderful person, her appearance expressed an elusive, compelling inner quality. She was lovely, and for the first time he understood that the human appreciation for beauty was an amazing facility.

  His attention snapped back to the matter at hand, and he gave her an embarrassed grin before answering. “I hope so, Kate. The odds would seem to be in my favor. If they’d only wanted to kill T. J., they could have done it when they captured him. They didn’t, so it must mean they need to talk with him. Probably to try and get information from him. Safer for them to do that in an isolated place, where they’re unlikely to be disturbed. This base has something to do with their scheme, so we have a reasonable chance T. J. is here.”

  “Find him, Janek. And bring both of you back.”

  The cyborg nodded. He opened the side hatch and slipped out into the night. Kate closed the hatch, hearing the electro-bolts snap into place. Janek had already vanished from sight, merging with the darkness. Kate leaned forward and touched the button that blacked out the canopy, then sat back to wait. The first few minutes already seemed like an eternity to her …

  Janek worked his way down the uneven slope, his quick responses enabling him to anticipate the difficult areas ahead of him. He held the combat rifle across his chest, his finger resting on the guard beside the trigger. The cyborg’s night vision allowed him to move faster than any human. A couple of times he was faced by obstacles in the form of wide fissures in the earth, but he was able to leap across them, landing lightly on the far side. He was a powerful specimen who could outperform the best athletes.

  In situations like this, his inbuilt capabilities gave him a distinct advantage. Janek was able to increase the power in his limbs at will, bringing into play the full potential of the hydraulic system in his arms and legs— Janek’s muscles. The compact, high-efficiency pumps were driven by electricity, derived from the plutonium heart protected by an indestructible casing. The plutonium pellet would keep Janek alive for an unlimited period.

  Reaching the base of the slope, Janek pushed into the deep black band of the forested area between him and the base. He found himself striding through tangled, gnarled trees and undergrowth that had developed in odd shapes and sizes. The chemical poisoning had created weird, unpredictable mutated strains of the original plants. The ground underfoot was soft and spongy, thick with rotted vegetation and pools of stagnant water. There was a humid, overripe stench all around. Janek registered the odor but was able to dismiss it. Any human in the middle of the forest would have been overcome by the heavy stench of decay.

  As he moved along, Janek heard strange slithering sounds coming from the depths of the undergrowth. He was aware that mutated strains of rodents and even snakes had developed out here in the Chemlands. As long as they didn’t interfere with his trek, though, he wasn’t going to worry. He had no reason to fear them.

  Janek traversed the forest and the wild tangle of a far-reaching thicket, where the thorny branches grabbed at his clothing. His clear vision allowed him to avoid the marshy ground and the gaseous pools that were scattered throughout the area. He made his journey in less than the hour he’d predicted, and finally broke clear of the thicket and spotted the perimeter fence of the abandoned base less than eight hundred yards ahead. The terrain between the thicket and the fence had been cleared of all vegetation, leaving an exposed stretch of ground to cover.

  Crouching in the shadows, the cyborg scanned the area. To his right, at the point where the western and southern sections of the perimeter fence joined, there was a watchtower, and he could discern the outline of an armed guard in the box. There was a powerful spotlight mounted on a swivel bracket, as well, ready to be turned on any unwelcome guest.

  Looking beyond the fence, Janek caught a glimpse of something vaguely familiar. Resting on a concrete landing pad was a helicopter. Fine-focusing his eyes, Janek was able to pick out details of the chopper’s fuselage, such as the bullet damage on its panels close to the tail rotor. The last time he’d seen that helicopter it had been lifting off with Cade on board, and previous to that it had been hovering over Barney Culver’s boat off Sag Harbor.

  Janek nodded to himself. His assumption had been correct. The base was far from deserted.

  Janek eased the rifle off his shoulder. From one of his pockets in the combat suit he drew a long black suppressor. Swiftly he screwed it onto the threaded tip of the rifle’s barrel. Activating the laser sight, Janek raised the rifle to his shoulder and laid his aim on the distant guard. The moment the red dot centered on the target’s head, Janek eased back on the trigger, sending a silent bullet winging across the open space to embed itself directly between his eyes. The guard stiffened, leaned back under the impact, then slipped to the floor of the box without a sound.

  Up on his feet, Janek sprinted for the watchtower, his legs driving him forward with tremendous speed. He reached the base of the tower, immediately gripped the metal support legs and scaled the fence without a moment’s pause. When he reached the box, he stepped over the dead guard and climbed down the metal ladder. He stayed in the shadows, checking out the compound. The area seemed quiet, though he could see light showing from behind a number of shaded windows.

  He registered the location of the helicopter again. Then he left his lookout post, and once on the ground again, moved from shadow to shadow to approach the silent machine. He crossed the final yards to where it rested on the pad. Cracking the pilot’s hatch, Janek reached inside. He took a grip on the thick mass of wires under the instrument panel and ripped them free. With a satisfied smile on his face, he eased back into the darkness of the closest building.

  Locating Cade was his priority. Janek used his logic to decide where his partner would be held. He was dealing with the military mind here, and whether they were honest or not made little difference. Military personnel always played the game by the rules. It was the way they were trained. From day one, the moment they donned the uniform, they were instructed to think and act in line with the military machine. Going by that, J
anek figured, if they had a prisoner he would have to be held in the correct place. The guardhouse.

  It took Janek no more than five minutes to locate the squat, concrete block that was the base’s guardhouse. Every window had a grille of iron bars across it.

  He eased around the back, flattening against the rough wall as he studied his options.

  In truth they were few. Janek wasn’t going to have more than one chance to get Cade out. There was no time for a fancy plan, or anything smooth and silent. This operation was going to be a simple hit-and-run deal. Once the rest of the base heard any commotion, they were going to come running.

  Janek studied one of the barred windows. He slung the rifle over his shoulder, took hold of the steel grille and tested how well it was bolted into the concrete wall. Bracing himself, he planted his feet apart, pumped up his system and ripped the grille off the wall. Dropping it at his feet, he climbed up on the sill and jumped through the window.

  He landed on his feet in a shower of broken glass. The room he was in held no furniture. The floor was dusty, with a few crumpled sheets of paper lying about. He crossed to the door and paused for a moment. His sensitive ears picked up the scuffle of booted feet and the murmur of voices. He also heard the rattle of weapons being cocked.

  He had made his presence known and he was uninvited. There was no time—or advantage—to waiting until he was jumped on.

  Janek hit the door with his shoulder, ripping it from the frame and sending it crashing into the room. He followed through, the muzzle of the combat rifle preceding him. There were three men in the room.

  One raised his weapon, tracking in on Janek. The cyborg triggered on the run, and the rifle expended its volley with harsh precision. The line of slugs shredded the gunman’s torso, and he went over the desk behind him in a welter of blood and scattered paperwork.

  The second man, his response delayed by the fact he had to duck out of the way of the flying door, leveled his auto-pistol, turning his lean body in the direction of the rampaging cyborg, and triggered two fast shots. One missed completely. The second clipped the top of Janek’s left shoulder, scoring the titanium casing. Janek dropped to one knee, angling the muzzle of the rifle, and touched off a blast that picked the second attacker up and hurled him into a corner of the room bloody and very dead.

  The third one came at Janek from his left. He was almost too close to level his auto-rifle, so he swung it two-handed like a club. Janek reacted swiftly, throwing up his left arm, taking the clubbing blow across his forearm. The impact shattered the stock of the rifle. Janek followed through, the heel of his left palm slamming into the man’s face and crushing his features into a bloody mask. The stunning power of the blow shoved him back across the room, and he smashed against the wall, shattering his skull. He toppled to the floor, his body thrashing in agony.

  Janek stormed from the room and made his way along the starkly illuminated passage. He had a single purpose driving him—to locate and free T. J. Cade, and there wasn’t a thing alive that would stop him carrying out his task.

  Janek picked up the thump of boots hitting the concrete behind him. He threw himself on the ground full length a split second before the rattle of auto-fire filled the passage. The wall above his head exploded as a hail of high-velocity slugs pounded it. Janek felt the rattle of concrete chips bouncing off his back. He rolled over, coming to a sitting position, and his weapon found target acquisition in the shape of a combat droid.

  This one, Janek realized, was a step up from the ones used in the Battery Park attack. The droid facing him now was an advanced, penetrator model, totally humanoid in design, with harsh, hostile features and extreme fighting skills.

  Janek triggered the rifle, laying his volley into the droid’s skull, and specifically the eyes. The projectiles ripped in and through, blowing apart the droid’s electronic brain. The robot staggered, slumping against the wall before it crashed face down on the floor. Gibberish issued from its mouth, and the hand holding the grip of the auto-weapon jammed tight against the trigger, discharging the weapon’s magazine into the wall.

  Already on his feet and moving forward, Janek snapped in a fresh magazine and cocked the rifle. He reached the far end of the passage, but his acute hearing picked up distant voices from behind him. They were arguing, and orders were being passed back and forth. Janek pulled a grenade from his pocket, pulled the pin and tossed the spherical object back along the passage. He slipped through the end door just as the grenade detonated with a hefty explosion.

  As he registered where he was, Janek saw the long, bare passage and the metal cell doors.

  He also came face-to-face with a puzzled guard armed with a rifle he was already swinging into firing position. The cyborg didn’t even break his stride. He backhanded the guard across the mouth, slamming him against the wall, and snatched the rifle from slack hands. Grabbing the man by the front of his fatigues, Janek lifted him off his feet to pin him against the wall. He shook him violently.

  “Where’s Cade? I know he’s here somewhere. Give me the right answer or you’re dead.”

  The guard, gasping for breath, waved his hands at Janek.

  “Okay, okay,” he whispered. “Ease up, huh? I can’t fuckin’ talk if I’m dead.”

  Janek slackened his grip, letting the man’s feet touch the floor again.

  The guard cleared his throat. “No sweat. He’s in the third cell along the passage here.”

  Hauling the protesting guard behind him, Janek headed for the cell. “Unlock it,” he said.

  The guard shook his head. “I can’t. The only guy with the code is Tane.”

  Still gripping the guard, Janek reached out with his right hand and took hold of the cell door’s locking bar. The cyborg’s fingers clamped over the bar tightly. He drew the bar out of its recess, bending it in the process. He pulled the door open and stuck his head inside.

  “Is that you, T. J.?”

  Cade sat up on the cot. “Took your damn time,” he said through his swollen lips.

  “Nag, nag, nag,” Janek said. “Now let’s get the hell out of here. This bunch is really inhospitable.”

  Cade joined him in the passage, taking the rifle Janek handed him. “Who’s your friend?”

  Janek glanced at the silent guard he was still holding. “Oh... I forgot about him.”

  Swinging the man through the air, Janek slammed him headfirst into the wall, then let him slump to the floor.

  Just then, the passage resounded with the crackle of auto-fire. Bullets slammed into the walls and floor around the pair. Janek plucked another grenade from his pouch and lobbed it back along the passage. The explosion silenced the gunfire and filled the air with thick smoke. Janek slapped Cade on the shoulder.

  “Let’s go!” he said.

  They took off at a quick pace, aware that pursuit would not be delayed for long. At the end of the passage a door blocked their way, and Janek used his shoulder to batter it open. It led to the outside.

  “Follow me, T. J. I know how to get us out of here.”

  “You know how to stop those mothers from shooting at us?” Cade asked, falling in behind the cyborg.

  “I may be good, but I’m not perfect.”

  They sprinted across the compound in the direction of the perimeter fence. Dawn had already started to push back the heavy blackness. The sky over the base was graying as streaks of pale light dissipated the denser shadows.

  “You could have timed this better,” Cade muttered.

  “Sure,” Janek said. “Next time I’ll ask for a delay until it gets dark again. Now quit moaning and let’s move.”

  Raised voices reached them, punctuated by gunfire that ripped into the ground around their feet.

  Janek dodged between a couple of outbuildings, giving them temporary cover. The tireless cyborg maintained his pace without pause and reached the far end well ahead of Cade.

  “T. J., you’re out of condition.”

  “Yeah? You try being a punching b
ag for a bunch of trigger-happy mercs, then see if you fancy running a marathon.”

  Cade flattened against the wall of one of the buildings, the rifle trained on the far end. His instinct proved correct. A couple of the pursuing mercs appeared, their weapons probing the way ahead. Cade triggered the combat rifle, catching them before they could respond. His volley ripped into them, blowing them off their feet.

  “This way,” Janek said, pointing ahead. “It’s a straight run for the perimeter fence. Up into the watch-tower and down the other side.”

  He broke from the building, his rifle in his hands. Cade followed. Figures burst from the gloom, weapons up and firing. Cade was certain Janek took some hits, but if he did the cyborg ignored them and just kept going. His rifle swung in the direction of the armed men, spitting fire, the stream of slugs burning through flesh and bone and knocking the mercs to the ground.

  As they neared the fence, Janek planted himself close to the base of the watchtower.

  “Go!” he yelled at Cade, then turned his rifle on the figures converging on the area. He dragged grenades from his pouch and tossed them with unerring accuracy. The subsequent explosions dropped a number of men and drove the others into cover.

  By this time Cade was over the fence and heading for the trees, and Janek lobbed a final grenade, then followed. Together they broke for the trees, hearing the angry buzz and whack of pursuing slugs.

  After they hit the tree line, they pushed directly into the cover of the drooping branches and tangled thicket. Cade gagged as he breathed in the stench of decay.

  “It might be bad,” Janek pointed out, “but it’s preferable to getting shot, I figure.”

  “Jesus,” Cade gasped. “I might argue that point with you if I had the breath to spare.”