Midnight Zone: a Cade Rearden Thriller

by JK Franks

  “Wow, heavy,” he said. “So, who are we up against?”

  “Well, this particular version seems to be Germanic, and Doris has found only a single reference. It was from the early 1900s. It concerned a group that was associated with protecting a secret project.”

  “Nazis?”

  “No,” Dee said, “this predates them. The report she found was in the archives. The German Sicherheitspolizei, or security police, made a statement. It was to a group or movement calling themselves Lebende Schatten.”

  Thanks to one of Doris’s ReLoads, the translation was instantly in Cade’s mind, living shadows.

  “Hey, Tee, I’m going to need some help, man.” It pained Cade to have to ask, but he’d struggled across the rough terrain as much as he could with an injured leg and dislocated shoulder. After the brief firefight, McTee, Alan, and Judah had crossed into what should be the final valley.

  “Sure, Nomad,” came the immediate response. “I left the other two to set up a campsite. We found a good protected spot under a rocky ledge. I was already heading back to find your dumb ass, anyway.” McTee’s voice went silent for a brief pause. “Okay, I see you on my HUD, just sit tight and rest, be there in ten.”

  “You really did a piss-poor job putting the sleeve on, Rearden,” his subordinate said a short while later. The ‘sleeve’ was part of The Cove’s Trauma Sleeve system, a self-contained medical triage and stabilization system for field use.

  Cade nodded, “Don’t think they were designed to be put on with only one functioning hand.”

  “Point taken, Boss.” McTee examined the angle of the knee. He didn’t want to remove the Battlesuit, as it was too damn cold, but also, the suit had provided much of the rigidity to keep his leg in proper alignment. He tightly rewrapped the leg with the sleeve. “This is going to hurt like a mother-fucker when we activate it, you know.”

  Cade grunted; he did know, but had already declined more pain meds. He had no idea if the dead kid had been working alone or what other dangers lie ahead. He wanted to be sharp. “Go ahead, Dee, activate the…ahgggh, fuck!” He didn’t quite finish the command as the sleeve began to stiffen and compress like a massive blood pressure cuff. Then, the inner mechanics began realigning the bone and strained ligaments.

  “Feels good, huh, Cap?” McTee said with a grin.

  “You know I am still armed, don’t you?” Cade said with a growl. He could feel a few things begin to snap back into place and what was possibly injections going into the deep muscle.

  “These will stimulate the repair,” Dee said, as if reading his mind. “You should be mobile in about ten minutes, but recommend you avoid fighting anyone else for at least an hour.”

  Damn, now even my Dee is developing a sense of humor, Cade thought. “So, what about the shoulder? Can I just pop it back in by slamming it against a rock or something like they do in the movies?”

  Dee’s voice seemed completely baffled when she responded, “You want to slam your badly injured arm against a mountain in the assumption that it will repair the damage? Captain, did you not receive any medical training in Ranger School?”

  “I said like the movies! I know it won’t work…probably. Right?”

  McTee, who had been listening in, just shook his head and laughed.

  “Captain,” Dee said, “most likely the bone is already back in the proper position. Like your knee, its misalignment just caused a lot of pain, which will take some time to go away. The impact may have caused some nerve damage, which we can take care of with supplies from Alan’s kit. I suggest McTee immobilize the arm, and you wait until you get to your base camp before we do anything else.”

  Within the hour, Cade found he could stand and once again put some weight on the damaged leg. The joint had no flex, thanks to the sleeve, which made traversing the uneven terrain a total bitch, but a few hours later, McTee helped him make it to the others, one arm supporting much of the captain’s weight. The looks from Alan and Judah showed their concern. Cade struggled to smile, although he felt sure it came out as more of a grimace. “You should see the other guy.”

  “Please lay him down,” Dee instructed. “Good night, Captain.”

  He felt the injection and nothing else. His body had fulfilled its duties for the day. Gratefully, he rested.

  47

  Undisclosed Location

  Goldman slammed the phone down and uttered words his father would have beat him for when he was young. You should never take the Lord's name in vain, my Aryeh. The memory of his father just as sharp now as it was then. Richard looked out the window to the nearly treeless landscape beyond. One of the Schatten had failed and was now dead. The other was proceeding alone. He’d never heard of one of the Shadows failing. Perhaps Thrall was right, they were not alone in their knowledge. Maybe they had competition in their quest now.

  Standing, he walked around the desk to the row of wooden bookshelves that lined one wall. From floor to ceiling, the shelves were crammed with books, pictures, and objects. Most from his past: athletic awards, a picture of him at bat just before hitting a home run off a minor leaguer who was now in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Business awards of every shape and size. None of that interested him. He ran his hands over the metal ship's bell resting on the middle shelf. He felt the letters forged into its side, worn smooth after all the years, but still recognizable even by touch, U-S-S L-I-B-E-R-T-Y.

  Most of the reminder of these shelves had been dreams he’d fulfilled over the years. This object, though, was from another life, long ago. A man who had forfeited nearly everything, including his very name, his heritage, all for one dream. Saraph.

  Glancing down, Richard checked the time. He’d had to learn to keep up with Thrall’s schedule on Kalypso. Despite all of their technology, they still had no way to communicate directly with the Kalypso station when it was positioned in the Midnight Zone. The water depth and varying layers of salinity and even temperature in the water column forced the lab to rise near the surface where it could release a small connected signal buoy much like submarines used. In order to do this safely and remain hidden, they had to know countless other factors like nearby sea traffic, satellite overflight schedule, and even low-flying aircraft. Thrall was confident no one could really detect, much less identify, the massive facility from any significant distance, but some satellites using LIDAR imaging might pick up the shape if they got lucky and their approach angle was just right.

  It would be several hours before the next communication window. Briefly, he considered telling the others. Pax, in particular, would be irate, but what didn’t set the man off? No, security was his responsibility, and he wasn’t known as ‘The Lion’ for nothing.

  Steiger moved Karl’s body into a sheltered overhang and wrapped it back up tightly. She felt nothing at the man’s death, and her simple actions were not to honor him but simply to conceal the evidence. It was the way of the Schatten to stay hidden. They were assassins, and the first rule of avoiding capture or failure was for your prey to never know you even existed.

  She’d watched the brief firefight through her scope and knew before Karl took the first shot he’d made too many mistakes. He’d misjudged the American, and he’d missed hitting any of the others. Several times, she was sure her partner’s shots had hit home, but the man had kept coming, kept pushing the attack. He was one to watch. There would be no retreat in that man.

  It had pained Steiger to report to The Lion that part of the mission had failed. That, too, was part of the code, though. Total honesty with the clients at all times, even when it might mean your own death as punishment. She was okay with being honest, let the bastards try to kill her without a fight, though…not likely. She wasn’t sure what was so important about this place, the Sanctuary, or ‘hole in the ice,’ and really, she didn’t care. She and Karl were just the latest in a long line of Schatten to be called on to keep the curious from ever reaching places like this or letting anyone else know what they found.

  Certa
in that anything identifying Karl was removed, including the skin with the clear tattoo, she again returned to the hunt. Her path would not be the same as the others had gone. She knew very well where they were going, even if they did not. All she had to do was get there first. Her orders had been very clear, no damage to the artifacts, but none of the people must leave alive. She grinned slightly as she moved down into a rocky crevice. Her maps of this area were detailed and accurate, including hidden approaches that would never show up on any GPS or aerial photos. The American team was dead, they just didn’t know it yet.

  48

  Antarctica

  “Rise and shine, campers!”

  Dee’s overly happy voice cut through the fog of sleep.

  “Who in the fuck programmed her with that level of optimistic joy?” Cade asked before turning over in the sleeping bag and closing his eyes once more.

  “I think that is all just her,” Alan said. “Each of the subminds has a certain level of autonomy on how they grew and expressed themselves. Since you are mission lead, your Dee gets to be the wake-up alarm. Love her accent by the way. Nice touch.”

  “What time is it?” McTee asked, yawning and stretching before retreating back into the warmth of his rocky bed. “And how fucking cold is it today?”

  “It is summer o-clock and a lovely 24 degrees,” Alan said, already fastening his own insulated Battlesuit tightly. “Come on, Rearden, Riley needs to check you out to see how you’re healing. Apparently, the director wants to know if you’re still mission capable.”

  “I’m not, tell her I died in my sleep.”

  “You’re not dead, I can hear you, and your pulse is strong and steady,” Riley’s voice cut through the morning chill. “Get your fat ass moving, you have a lot to do.”

  “Fat?” Cade stood, coverings dropping away to reveal he was not in his Battlesuit….or anything else. Turning his torso to look down at his backside, he exclaimed, “I’m not fat!”

  “Oh, my God, do you always sleep like that?” McTee asked shielding his eyes.

  Cade raised a single eyebrow, then looked down at the other man, “Jealous?”

  “Oh, shit.” Judah laughed, walking up, one of the mini drones in his hands. “Better cover that wee, lil’ fella up before the cold does freeze it off.”

  Cade took care of his morning business before getting a coffee and breakfast sandwich from the food locker. “So, what’s the plan for today? We gonna go find the hole?”

  “Believe we already have, Captain,” Riley chimed in again, obviously speaking to all of them now. “While you guys got your beauty rest, we had doves up most all of your, um, ‘night.’ They managed to cover almost every inch of the lower ice-valley and many rockfaces as well. Lots of little ledges and overhangs like the one ya'll are sheltering in now. Most of these are pretty shallow, and only a few that would be large enough for a plane to fit through, such as Admiral Byrd described. Doris has gone through all the images and scans and believes she’s spotted it.”

  An image appeared in their goggles of a small rocky outcropping on the side of a steeply sloped peak. Cade looked around at the surrounding mountaintops, trying to pick it out. His Dee gave a targeting overlay to highlight it in his goggles. He studied it a moment before flicking the overlay away and focusing on the drone image again. “That opening isn’t large, looks to be maybe a meter or two at most. Why does Doris think this one is it?”

  “They’ve covered the opening up. The way the stones are lying is not natural, and the sensors indicate the depth of that opening and the chamber beyond is very deep and wide,” Riley answered.

  That unimpressive hole in the rocks seemed almost disappointing to Cade. All the work, the injuries, hell, even the Shadow fella dying over...well, over that. It made no sense to him.

  “Sensors show that your injuries are less than fifty percent repaired, Cade. Do you feel up to the remainder of the mission?”

  Cade knew Riley was asking for Director Stansfield. Hell, she was probably standing right behind her as she asked it. Soldiers, and men in general, tended to underestimate how an injury might negatively affect them. Part of his training involved him taking stock of his actual physical and mental condition before each mission. After all, it wasn’t just his ass on the line; if they got into trouble, his weakness could mean others would suffer along with him. He walked around the small ledge testing the knee and the shoulder.

  The leg was still mostly immobile in the trauma sleeve, but hurt much less. He could at least put weight on it again. His dislocated shoulder still throbbed, but his range of movement seemed unrestricted. “Your med and treatment have helped a lot. Shoulder is about eighty percent, and the knee joint a bit less...call it…ow!” He spasmed in pain as he tried to rotate the lower leg. “Call it sixty-five, not optimum, but I’m capable. I won’t slow anybody down, but also probably won’t win any races today either.”

  “Fair enough, Captain. You’ll need to get back here soon to let Doctor Han work on it. His new toys should be able to get it back closer to a hundred in short order,” Riley advised. “Also, remind Brutus that you’re the one who must pay for his actions next time.”

  Cade was thankful that the last part of her message was on a private channel. Not that he disagreed. On the contrary, he whole-heartedly did agree. Still, it was a bit personal to share openly with a team he was supposed to be commanding. They packed up quickly and began moving off along the glowing, green trail Dee was providing. Somewhere up ahead, was a mysterious hole in the ice and who knew what else?

  Arriving at the spot less than an hour later, the small group found the opening was indeed mostly camouflaged. The actual opening was about five feet by two, and that was only because some stones had fallen away. While parts of what covered the opening were actual rock, much more was some sort of lightweight fake stone made to resemble the rest of the mountain. The four of them cleared away just enough to make entering somewhat easier. Cade then tossed the BallCam in and let it do its thing. Using its internal gyro, it managed to wheel around much of the sloping floor and scan the surrounding surfaces; its first priority was identifying dangers.

  Cade monitored the images and data being returned. Damn, it was large and appeared manmade. The cavern looked natural near the opening but was increasingly smooth farther back, with intricately cut details that were beyond his understanding. Judah seemed pretty content to wait outside while the rest of them cautiously made their way inside the massive cavern.

  Just as he was about to cross into the darkness, Cade paused. He felt the now familiar itch running up his spine and straight into his skull. WTF, the shooter was dead. He’d had Dee compare the visuals from the occupant in the helicopter attack to the dead kid up on the ridge, and the match was very likely. So…why did he have the feeling of danger again? “Alan, put up two sentinel drones out here flying low cover over the valley.” He assigned his own Dee to monitor those feeds.

  Once the slightly larger drones were deployed, they ventured into the mouth of the cave. The temperature change was immediately apparent. Outside it was near freezing; inside it was registering almost sixty. Downright balmy for the South Pole.

  McTee took point, Alan in the middle, and Cade dragging up the rear. The boy had released some mini-drones to go through and map out the space and had his Dee submind monitoring the feeds for anything they should go check out first. Cade had no idea what they were even looking for other than answers. What is this place, who built it, and why does someone want to keep it hidden so damn badly?

  This was the place, but it didn’t much resemble what Samuel had described. No mile-wide valley of lush vegetation. This was no base of any kind, it was a cave. Something else occurred to him again, that thing the bastard had said, “The best way to lie was to tell the truth, unconvincingly.” So, he’d been lying about what was here, but he’d told the truth at some point.

  They were in a space roughly seventy meters long by fifty meters wide and maybe half that high. It did l
ook more finished the deeper they went. Cade watched as Alan detoured off to one side and began studying something on one of the smooth walls. He held up a BallCam which began emitting a bluish white light. Nifty trick, Cade thought. He saw as the little ball scanned what was an obvious image. This was no Paleolithic cave painting, though. It was a scene of eerie beauty and rich colors. Much of it was filled with symbols and text in a language that not even Dee could identify. McTee was shining a light on another image nearby. Walking a little farther ahead, Cade realized the entire wall was covered with them. Most seemed to be landscape scenes, although some clearly showed a night sky full of stars and oceans, but no people. Every image had the same type of symbols filling nearly every empty space of rock.

  The deeper they went, the more intricate the designs seemed to become. Cade felt Ace stirring to life. He, too, was immersed in his own curiosity; this is what they were willing to kill to protect. It was an attempt to communicate, he could tell that, but from whom and how long ago?

  “It’s like a massive illustrated manuscript, like the Book of Kells in Dublin,” Alan stated.

  Cade’s mind instantly pulled up the reference from some obscure file drawer where the ReLoad process must have stored it. The colorful, illustrated Codex was in Latin and thought to depict the four Gospels. Maybe more like the Voynich manuscript or even the Rohonic, which were also illustrated codex that were handwritten in an unknown writing system, Ace suggested.

  “What the fuck?” they heard McTee say as he moved to one farther down the passage.

  “Nomad, we have a problem.” Dee’s voice was machine calm, but a menacing quality left no doubt what kind of problem it was.