Midnight Zone: a Cade Rearden Thriller

by JK Franks

  “Talk to me,” Cade said, turning toward the exit and motioning to McTee to join him. “Alan, keep scanning, get all of this.”

  “Judah is missing. The drones are not picking up any heat signatures outside the chamber.”

  “The bastard left us,” McTee said, catching up at a slow trot. “If that fuck takes the MARS, we’ll be stranded out here. That’s as good as a death sentence.”

  “Stop talking,” Cade ordered. That was one possibility, but he hadn’t gotten any vibe of a double cross from the man, so why do it now? Still, he hadn’t wanted to come inside. “Dee, scan entrance for explosives or traps.” That would be a reasonable move, just trap them here and hide the evidence.

  “None detected,” she answered almost at once.

  He activated the IR and night vision modes of his goggles to scan for anyone else in the dark cave. Nothing showed up, but he now knew that wasn’t a guarantee. He motioned for McTee to move to the south wall and advance; Cade moved to the opposite. If this was another of the Lebende Schatten, then he could be anywhere. He offered a mic click to signify weapons hot, although both men already had their assault rifles at the high-ready position.

  Cade scanned the remaining space again in nearly every spectrum and saw nothing, then he had an idea. “Dee, do a UV scan.”

  She seemed to know precisely what he was looking for. “I’ll need an external light source for that,” she said quietly. I am guessing you don’t want me to use your goggles, so toss the BallCam you have toward the center.”

  Cade took out the smooth object, which was about the size of a large tennis ball, and gently tossed it up and toward the center of the cave. An incredibly brief flicker of blueish light emanated from the high point of the ball’s arc. It was so fast, he immediately wondered if he’d imagined it. But he hadn’t, nor had he imagined the glimpse of something high and to his right. He stared in that direction as Dee replayed in his goggles what the flash had shown. The image stabilized and zoomed in. What he saw was the top arc of a glowing circle. Almost too late, he realized it for what it was, the black sun tattoo. The KillPoint scope began flashing red as something hit him full force in the face; he felt his nose breaking from the impact. Blood gushed out, and he saw stars around the edges of his vision. He kicked at where the attacker came from and struck nothing. Something hit him on the side of the head, and he realized afterward it had been the blade of a knife. The Battlesuit had saved him again.

  “Boss, you okay?” he heard McTee say.

  “No, I’m getting my ass kicked by a fucking shadow!”

  McTee swung his own gun in that direction, switching to night vision and only saw Cade fighting with what showed up in the scope as a black blob. He fired multiple times, then switched to autofire, but the system couldn’t see the enemy well enough to target either. He lowered the weapon and ran toward the fight.

  Cade was busy fending off blows and more than one vicious slash to his face. The attacker had apparently determined he was wearing some type of protective suit and had opted to go for the only unprotected area—his face. That just pissed him off. At one point, he grabbed the killer, realizing instantly that, like the first, this one was also waifishly small but unbelievably strong and fast. He gave a groin kick that would have put any man down, but instead of a gasp of pain, he heard a tiny laugh, a girl’s laugh. No fucking way, I’m getting my ass handed to me by a girl.

  As quickly as she’d appeared, the fight stopped. McTee was instantly pulling Cade back to his feet. “Where did she go?”

  “I couldn’t tell, Boss.” He turned, sweeping his rifle deeper into the darkness. “You don’t think she is going after….”

  McTee didn’t finish the sentence. In Cade’s night vision, the blood coming out of the bullet hole in his forehead appeared black. McTee’s eyes rolled up, and he dropped to the ground.

  49

  McTee…gone? The thought invaded his mind, threatened to take it over, until he muscled it aside. Glancing to his left, Cade saw another figure approaching stealthily. Another Schatten? It was slim and tall, but the outline of this person was familiar. Stay back, Alan, he begged silently. Once again, Brutus roared to come out. Cade knew this was not a battle the brute could win. This enemy was too good, too sophisticated. He was also certain he’d made solid contact with the attacker. A blow that would have put most soldiers down the count. Yet, he’d not heard the sound of pain or breath being expelled, much less a body hitting the floor. Everything about this fight felt somehow…wrong.

  A silent warning signal came from Dee that she was canceling night vision. It was doing no good anyway. He barely caught glimpses of the night wraith he’d been fighting. He sensed more than saw Alan tossing something toward the middle of the room. Instantly, he realized it was one of the supercharged argon globes, the portable light they’d planned to use deeper in the cave. Instantly, the space illuminated with the intensity of a sports arena holding a night game.

  Cade had instinctively dropped to one knee and raised the assault rifle, believing he would finally be able to see his target. Instead, he saw only rock and Alan, also kneeling, weapon at high-ready, and Tee lying motionless on the floor. Where the fuck is…she? She? The attacker is a woman? Does that change anything? How did I know?

  Gus’s words cut through the haze and pain, Unpack that shit later. Just go kill the bitch.

  Seemed smart, but Cade had no idea where she was. His eyes made a full circuit of the room, and his rifle had been covering the opposite directions. Neither he nor the KillPoint system spotted any targets. Then he saw the weapon, lying on the floor. An odd one, similar to the other kid’s, but not the same. Rising slightly, he moved in its direction, still scanning for threats. Even unarmed, the female Schatten was still lethal.

  Something drew his eye to a section of wall, nothing he could have ever put into words. It looked for all the world to be just like every other section, but his instincts said she was there. With one hand, he picked up the unfamiliar weapon and expelled the magazine, then fired the round in its chamber at the wall. The wall flinched. It was barely noticeable, but now he could begin to pick out lines and maybe a leg or foot. Even knowing she was right there, he had trouble convincing himself it was anything but rock. What if his mind was playing tricks on him, and she was sneaking up behind him at this very moment? No, it was her, he now saw a slight tinge of what could be red on the otherwise bluish gray rock. Cade stood and took aim, walking and limping towards her. His own rage nearly equal to that of his inner barbaric demon. “You have two seconds to talk, woman. Who are you working for and how many more of you are there?”

  The section made no sound. He aimed to fire just as the wall seemed to flutter, then shift sideways. He squeezed the trigger just as he realized she’d moved, not sideways but up. Then a foot came at him from above, catching him squarely in the side of the head. Something hit the back of his neck hard as he heard her landing lightly on her feet. Even injured, she was unbelievably good. A warning sign on his HUD let him know his suit had been breached, ‘Blood loss detected.’

  The Shadow girl had cut him. Now he felt the sting. Simultaneously, he felt his arms getting heavy. ‘Neurotoxin detected.’ Shit, the blade had a poison of some kind on it. The suit had built in analyzers and a type of universal anti-serum Riley and Doctor Ham had created, but they had never put it to a real test. His lips began to feel heavy and walking seemed like it would take a Herculean effort.

  Then Cade felt the blows on his back, well-aimed blows to both kidneys. Thankfully, the suit canceled out most of the energy, but that didn’t stop them from hurting like a motherfucker. Brutus slipped his collar and bellowed in rage. The toxin was taking over his body faster than his own personal monster could. He wanted to yell for Alan to get away, but there was no way to manage it. His mouth could no longer form the words. He dropped to one knee as Brutus swung out blindly with the one functioning arm, contacting something with a sharp crack. Cade’s vision began to contract, he was
slipping down the well into unconsciousness. It was a well he would likely not be climbing out of. Then the air went blue-white in a flash of pain and a sound of crackling electricity.

  Sounds were the first sensation to return. Not all at once, but in jerks and spasms, with the sound being muted, then coming in full volume, but distorted. He wasn’t dead, at least he didn’t think he was. His mouth felt fuzzy, and a distinct aftertaste of something vaguely fruity and kind of metallic. With extreme effort, he pried one eye open and then the other. Cade found himself lying on the ground. He was staring at a boot, someone else, he assumed, but wasn’t 100% sure of that either. The entire room seemed to be spinning. Then the sounds, the voices, came again…someone, maybe Riley, talking.

  “Alan, I think he’s awake. Heart rhythm is restored, and brain waves look…well, heart rhythm looks ok.”

  “Nomad, don’t try to sit up yet. Alan is right there with you.”

  He hadn’t been planning to; he was struggling enough with just lying there without falling off the edge of the earth. “Oh…okay. What happened?” The words felt thick and syrupy as they dripped from his mouth.

  He felt hands on him, Alan and another pair. “Hey, mate, thought you were a goner.”

  “Judah?”

  “Yeah, sorry she got the drop on me. Hit me with something, knocked me out, and drug me back into some crevasse. Took me forever to get back up here. By then, all the fun was over. The lad here saved your life, Rearden.

  “Who… Alan?”

  “Right here, Nomad.” Alan was removing something from around his chest. He could tell by the velcro fasteners it was another of the trauma sleeves. “Drink some of this, your electrolytes are off. Sorry, but the taser round got both of you. I couldn’t see enough of the attacker to make a clean shot.”

  “You got her?” Cade said before taking a long pull on the bottle.

  “Oh, yeah, he got her all right,” Judah said. “Had her drugged and zip tied like sleeping beauty before I even got here.”

  Cade struggled to turn to see where she was, but all he could see was his partner McTiernan’s stiff body. They’d covered him with his sleeping bag, but the booted foot was still exposed.

  “Sorry about your mate there, he was a damn good man.”

  Cade nodded, he couldn’t deal with the loss, not right now.

  “Where’s the Shadow?”

  “Right there, a dozen yards to your right. She’s still damn hard to see. You weren’t lying when you said they were chameleons. Unreal how good her concealment is,” Alan said.

  “You see any more of them?” Cade asked now, finally beginning to sit up. His head was aching from something, the poison or the stunner round, or perhaps the numerous blows to the head, he wasn’t sure which.

  “No, no one else. I expanded the coverage of the sentinels and had some smaller ones recon the crevices Judah mentioned. I’m still not sure we can detect them, the concealment suit blocks her heat signature. Honestly, that suit of hers is something else entirely. Seems to be composed of various fibers including fiber optics that passively bend the light around the body. I took a sample for Riley to analyze.”

  “Good thinking, Alan…and thanks. She had me, I would have been gone as well. That girl is a fucking warrior. Wish she was on our side.” Cade tried to stand but found he was unable.

  “Give it time, Cap. I still have some more scans to do. Judah, can you keep an eye on him?”

  The Aussie nodded, and Alan took his supply bag and went farther into the cavern. Cade could see him illuminating and, no doubt, recording various scenes from the space.

  “Alan did well, mate, smart and tough lad he is. The girl got in a couple of good shots before he got her fully subdued. I could see the marks on him, but he didn’t even mention it.”

  Cade nodded. He reached up and tapped his cheek awkwardly. “Dee, private call to Chaps.”

  “Go for Chaps,” came the instant reply.

  “We need you, pronto.”

  There was a pause. “I know, Nomad, The Cove just filled me in. I am...well, I’m sorry about McTee. And yeah, I know that can wait. I have a bird coming over. We’ve modified it for polar conditions. It’s already in the air and should be there in few hours. Weather isn’t bad, so we should be there about an hour later. Only thing…”

  “What, Chaps?”

  “Well, it’s still an international no-fly zone,” she said apologetically. “Even our Executive Order won’t get us a free pass on that. Roundtable sector is off the grid for us.”

  “I don’t care, Brenda—I’m not waiting here for the next round of assassins, and McTee…well, his family…” he couldn’t finish the thought. “Have Doris work her magic, become Wonder Woman, and make your plane invisible. I don’t care how, just make it happen. I need this.” He looked around, disgusted with how bad this op had become. “We need this.”

  Resigning herself to whatever it took, she agreed hesitantly, “Can you even get to an LZ? Sounded like you’re in pretty bad shape, too.”

  “I’ll be there, don’t worry about that. Sounds like we’ll have a few hours to wrap up here anyway.”

  “I’ll be there with your ride, Boss. Just stay safe.”

  Looking over, he saw the grayish figure begin to stir. He would stay safe, but he also wanted some answers.

  50

  Finally up on his feet, Cade stumbled toward the girl. Seeing his friend again lying dead on the ground, his first instinct was to kick her, but he stopped his foot at the last second. That was not who he was. He might kill her, but he wouldn’t torture her, not even after what she’d done. “Wake up, Shadow.”

  The prisoner didn’t respond, but Dee was monitoring her vitals now and let him know she was most likely conscious. He patted her cheeks, still marveling at the strange geometric patterns in her face paint. Even up close, it was hard to tell where she stopped and the rough floor began. He took out a wet wipe and rubbed at the girl's face until pale pinkish flesh tones began to appear. He did want to see her face, but even more, he just wanted to convince himself she was human.

  “You are going to want to see this, Nomad,” Alan called from some distance away.

  “Wake up!” he shouted after the makeup was removed. “Who are you working for? How many of you are there?” The face of the girl was almost angelic; she was plain but attractive. What could have made her become this killer? He saw the bloody bandage where one of his rounds had creased a path along her left side. They could use the healing wound spray, but he was undecided if he even wanted her healed. Right now, he really wanted her to suffer…he wanted her dead.

  Dee broke into his thoughts, “Captain, one of the mini-drones has found a small kit. It’s most likely the enemy assailant’s. It was hidden about a kilometer up one of the larger crevasses.”

  Cade nodded, then asked Dee to use one of the drones to guide Judah to it. Might offer some clues about her, but he already had his doubts. She was too good. He checked her bindings; they were tight. Grabbing hold of her wrist, he jerked her up to her feet. She immediately went into combat mode and tried to sweep her foot and lash out with her bound hands, but then immediately went limp. “We have you in an automated restraint system,” Cade said. “If you struggle, fight, or run away it will become active, and you will be knocked out…again, and again until your heart gives out from the stress. Now, you have a choice, you can cooperate, or you can die.”

  He could see the girl’s eyes now. They didn’t match the rest of her face; they were dark, wild, angry things. The eyes of a predator. “You are ‘Lebende Schatten,’ aren’t you?” Something flicked across the girl’s face. Perhaps he’d already gotten closer than she expected. “You and your other...the one I killed yesterday up on the mountain.”

  Cade wanted briefly to insult her; tell her she’d failed, but truthfully, she’d beaten him. If it weren’t for the kid, they’d all be dead. “Look, you are a killer, I get it, you are also damn good at it. Good enough to impress the hell out o
f me and…well, let’s just say I don’t impress easily. If your job was to take me out, you succeeded. You apparently killed me, but thanks to my team, it wasn’t quite as final as you would have liked.”

  The girl gave the briefest of grins, then muttered something in German, “Das ist mir furzegal!”

  Cade’s CommDot translated the words nearly in real time, and a text version was superimposed on his goggles just in case. “I realize you probably don’t give a fuck,” saying back what she’d said.

  “Du hurensohn,” she whispered.

  “Oh…wasn’t aware you were acquainted with my mother. Indeed, she was a bitch.” So, now they both knew they spoke each other’s language. “Now, stop screwing around. Name? What do they call you? I don’t care if it’s real.”

  “Steiger,” the girl said with more force this time.

  “Steiger is a good name, it fits. I’m curious, Steiger, do you have any idea what you’re protecting here? Have you been here or seen any of this before?”

  She shook her head, then looked around the room seemingly seeing it for the first time. “Vat is dis place?”

  “Nomad, you coming?” Alan yelled again.

  Cade looked at Steiger. “Shall we? After all, you were willing to kill me, and I assume possibly die, for it. Maybe we should both see what the fuck all that was for. He led her back toward the glowing light; she did not resist.

  Despite the simmering rage and the lingering pain from the fight, Cade was immediately captivated again by the images as he walked down a short rise to where Alan was standing. As he neared the boy, he realized he’d been about here when it all started to go sideways. “This was what Tee was looking at, wasn’t it?”

  Alan nodded. “He wanted us to see this, it’s pretty obvious why.”