“Tell her it will be all right,” Skull told Husnia. “It won’t be, but tell her anyway. We have to get going.” Husnia translated and the girl didn’t stop crying, but she looked toward him and said a few words.
The woman turned to him, fighting back tears. “She says she’s sorry about your face.”
Skull shrugged. “One more scar. Come on, get your people moving.” At this, Husnia began calling to them in a loud voice.
Reaper watched closely, realizing that Skull wasn’t completely cold. He seemed to have a soft spot for children, which encouraged her. Every warrior had emotional armor and calluses, but as long as something human flourished underneath…
She saw the rest of her team walking forward and was about to introduce them to Skull when she heard a rumbling sound to the north and turned. The sun was rising, painting the mountain in a beautiful orange and yellow glow while the valley remained in shadow. The sky had turned a clear and brilliant deep blue…except for the handful of specks approaching.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Shortfuse.
“Air strike,” Skull said as bombs dropped from the planes and descended toward the mountain the Edens had recently escaped.
“Run!” screamed Reaper as the rumble of explosions washed over them.
Chapter 33
“Run!” Reaper yelled again as she led her team southward, gesturing emphatically, but the people ignored her, instead turning to stare at the explosions on the mountain. After the bombs dropped, the planes flew over them before turning back the way they had come.
“MiG-23s. Crap birds, but good enough to bomb unarmed civilians,” yelled Flyboy above the roar of the jets. “We have about one minute before they come back around and hit us. We have to get moving!”
Husnia apparently heard. She began waving her hands and yelling. Finally, the people’s paralysis broke and they started moving south, following the team.
“Tell them to run south as fast as they can, and don’t bunch up,” Skull yelled to Husnia.
She passed the word and the Edens ran.
“Here they come again,” said Flyboy.
Skull ran up beside Reaper and her team, accompanied by an Ethiopian man in western clothing. “We have to draw their attention,” said the sniper. “Otherwise they’ll focus on the largest clumps of people.”
“Right,” said Shortfuse, “but it’s going to be hard to get their attention with this.” He held up his carbine.”
“But that would,” said Skull pointing at an old ZSU Russian quad air defense gun standing thirty yards to the north.
“I’m on it,” yelled Bunny, running and jumping into the armored gun carrier, Flyboy right behind her. They began cranking the gun around in the direction of the approaching planes.
“Anything else we can do would help,” said Skull. “It doesn’t even have to be effective, just rattle them.”
Reaper had an idea. “Shortfuse, we have any explosives? That might draw the attention of the pilots.”
“Ten kilos,” Shortfuse answered.
“Blow something up, then. Maybe it’ll distract them.”
Shortfuse smiled and took off running.
“Good,” said Skull. “Everyone else try to find crew-served weapons and fire them into the air toward the plane.” He turned to the Ethiopian man beside him. “Zinabu, you keep the people moving down the road. Tell them that when the planes come over, dive into the ditches off to the sides. Otherwise, don’t stop until they’re safe. You understand?”
The man nodded and held out his hand. Skull shook it and then the Ethiopian was running south.
“Maybe they used all their bombs on the first pass,” said Hound Dog.
“We wouldn’t be that lucky,” answered Skull. “Not the way this mission has gone.”
“Here they come,” said Reaper. She screamed at her team, “Take cover and fire whatever you got!”
The deafening sound of the ZSU’s four parallel cannon silenced Reaper. Bunny seemed to be laughing as she fired the heavy antiaircraft gun. Amazingly, a trail of smoke appeared from the lead bomber.
“Holy shit,” said Skull. “I think she actually got one.” He raised his Barrett to sight on the next airplane, which had its variable geometry wings extended to the slow-flight position, the better to target the supposedly helpless people on the ground.
An explosion erupted forward of them, throwing debris into the air and sending a dust cloud rising in front of the bombers: Shortfuse’s distraction effort.
The damaged plane peeled off and headed back the way it had come, but three kept coming.
“It’s working!” yelled Livewire prematurely.
Bombs released from the underside of the remaining planes’ wings.
“Great,” hollered back Reaper. “Now get down! Incoming!” She crawled into the lee of a nearby boulder just as the earth shook and rumbled. The air was sucked out of her lungs and her eardrums popped. The world became silent and hazy. Rocks and dust rained down on top of her as pain shot up her arm. Something large had come down and crushed it.
It took her half a minute to realize that the bombing was over. Someone stood over her talking, but she couldn’t hear them. A few more people arrived and, after several tries, succeeded in pushing a rock weighing at least a hundred pounds off of her forearm.
Crash pounced on her and began expertly putting her bones back into their proper place before they knit together wrong. Pain washed over her and she greyed out. “All done,” he said, and she looked down to see he’d already splinted and wrapped the arm. She must have lost a couple of minutes.
“Let’s get moving,” she said, barely able to hear her own voice. Looking up, she saw C3PO leaning on Hound Dog’s shoulder, his leg dangling. Crash went to work on him.
“They unloaded on us and skedaddled,” said Flyboy. “Don’t have enough fuel to circle around here all day, so they dropped everything on the last pass so they can RTB. That ZSU probably scared them off.”
“We should still get out of here, before their reinforcements show up” said Hawkeye.
“Where’s Skull?” asked Bunny.
They all looked around but didn’t see him. Finally Tarzan pointed south. “There he is.”
Reaper turned and saw Skull more than a hundred yards away. He was waving his arms and motioning for them to come. They walked and hobbled across the blasted field until they reached him.
“Where did you go?” asked Hawkeye.
Skull pointed at a foxhole some enterprising soldier had dug. “I’m not dumb. I found cover. You’re Edens, I’m not.” He looked up into the sky, and then back to Bunny. “Good work with the ZSU.”
Bunny actually blushed, which surprised Reaper. Usually the woman was unflappable when she flirted.
“Glad we could be of service,” said Crash.
“We should get out of here,” said Flyboy.
“Where are the Edens?” asked Hawkeye, looking around.
“Running south, if Zinabu is doing his job.” Skull looked around at the trucks and armored carriers scattered across the battlefield. “Now that the bombers are gone, we should salvage some vehicles before the Ethiopians do.”
“You heard the man,” said Reaper. “Get moving. And grab all the gas cans you can.”
They managed to get five trucks and the armored ZSU carrier moving. Bunny sprayed a few bursts toward some soldiers several hundred yards away, and they hurriedly retreated.
Fifteen minutes later, the convoy caught up with the Edens in a grassy area where they’d paused to rest. Men and women lay panting while children played listlessly or clung to their parents.
Zinabu jogged toward Skull as he hopped out of a truck, worry on his face. “Alan, they are at their limits. They cannot go on.”
“It’s only about ten more miles, all on the road,” said Skull.
“They were already starving before this. The attack and the running have exhausted them. They have nothing left.”
“There�
��s always something left,” said Skull. “Believe me.”
“Why not use the trucks to shuttle them?” asked Flyboy.
“If we have to force the border crossing,” said Skull, “doing that will lose any element of surprise.”
Reaper looked at Skull. “That was never a viable option to begin with, just a last resort measure to get people moving. We need to get them to the border and take it from there. One step at a time.”
Skull thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Children first, and a few women to watch them. They’ll be less likely to fire on them.”
Reaper nodded. “Bunny, Flyboy, you’re rearguard in the ZSU.” Her team helped children pack into the trucks. They crowded in more than she’d believe possible. She hopped into the passenger seat of the lead vehicle and had Hound Dog drive, the better to keep an eye on him. He’d been a good boy so far, but she still didn’t trust him. And, ironically, they hadn’t needed a tracker and woodsman at all.
She thought about Skull’s words as they drove, how he said Spooky would leave them out to dry if it suited him. That wasn’t the man she knew; Spooky had always seemed trustworthy to her, or at least reliable, if a hardass. But she was used to hardasses. Maybe it was just some kind of interpersonal thing between the two men.
On the other hand, for the first time since she’d begin working for Spooky, he’d seemed less than fully committed to the mission.
Maybe Spooky really did want to get rid of Skull, seeing him as a threat, given the tall man’s attitude. Sometimes these things became self-fulfilling prophecies; go off the reservation once, and the powers-that-be considered you a loose cannon thereafter…and the best thing you can do with a loose cannon is send it rolling in the direction of the enemy and hope it did some damage before it blew up.
Would Spooky risk Reaper and the rest of the team merely in hopes that Skull would get killed from lack of support? That seemed excessively indirect for Spooky. He could be subtle, but when the time came to finish a job, he wanted confirmation and certainty.
No, something else was going on…but now wasn’t the time to worry about it further.
When the trucks neared the border ten miles later, Reaper had them stop a hundred yards back. The Ethiopian guard shack was unmanned and the Kenyan soldiers watched impassively from their side, alert but not hostile. Behind them Reaper could see the line of trucks, and wondered if Hanif was still there somewhere.
“Turn around in this space and unload,” she instructed Hound Dog. The man made a wide circle and pulled up facing the opposite direction alongside the road. The other five trucks followed suit, and as soon as they stopped, the children piled out and raced for a nearby stream to drink, followed by the handful of women that had come along.
Almost, Reaper went to stop them, and then remembered that, as Edens, waterborne illnesses were no worry anymore. Even the worst infections were mild with the virus supercharging their immune systems.
“Let’s go,” she said, looking at the half-full fuel gauge. “We should be able to make eight or ten more trips.”
The trucks moved back and forth all morning.
* * *
“What’s it like up there, amigo?” Skull asked Hawkeye. The short sniper sat behind the wheel of one of the trucks.
“You speak Spanish?” Hawkeye said.
“Un poco.”
“Nada. Nothing’s happening. The border’s closed and the Kenyans just watch us. The Ethiopian border guards ran off, I guess.”
“Probably afraid of getting bitten. How many more loads do we have?”
“I figure two more trips,” said Hawkeye. “The people are already setting up camp as if they’ll have to spend the night there, but they need food.”
Skull looked around, and then at Tarzan in the passenger seat. “Swap with me, will you? I want to go up.”
Tarzan nodded and hopped out. Skull rode in the cab with Hawkeye. It took twenty minutes to make the ten-mile journey, though it seemed longer somehow.
When they reached the border, Skull walked the perimeter of the camp. He found Zinabu trying to get the men with weapons to take positions to the sides and rear in order to guard against any stray Ethiopian soldiers that might wander into the area.
After spending almost an hour trying to motivate the starving Eden pickets, a boy ran up to him and tugged on his arm, speaking rapidly.
“He wants you to come with him,” Zinabu said. “He says a white woman wishes to see you.”
Skull grunted and allowed himself to be led toward the crossing and the Kenyans. He wasn’t sure what he expected to happen; certainly not for the gates to open, but they did. Soldiers motioned him forward. They didn’t seem hostile, but he didn’t approach until he saw the flash of dirty blonde hair framing a familiar face.
Cassandra Johnstone.
She hadn’t noticed him yet and was walking toward the gate between a man in a suit and a Kenyan general. She appeared to be giving the officer an ass chewing, and by the look on his face he was unused to such treatment.
Skull grinned.
Cassandra noticed him and stopped. Slowly, she smiled, and then started forward again. Skull stuck out his hand but she engulfed him in an embrace.
Whispering upward toward his face, she said, “I knew if there was anyone who could get them here, it was you.” She then stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek before stepping back.
“Glad to see you didn’t leave me hanging,” said Skull. “Spooky had me worried.”
“Me, too,” Cassandra frowned. “I’m going to have words with him when I get back.” She glanced at the man in the suit, but didn’t introduce him. Presumably, that was deliberate. She did look at Repeth, who came forward to join them. “I see you’ve met Reaper.”
“Reaper?” Skull asked.
“Yes,” Reaper answered. “You’ve got your handle. Why shouldn’t I?”
“I didn’t pick it,” said Skull. “In truth, I don’t care for it.”
“Nobody chooses their own,” she shrugged. “You oughta know that.”
“Do you have someone who can translate for me?” Cassandra asked.
In response, Skull saw Zinabu and led Cassandra across the border to him.
The Kenyan general and the civilian stayed behind, watching. Soon, the soldiers were signaling the truckers to start up and cross into Ethiopia if they wished. Some appeared to refuse, but others, braver or more desperate to make their deliveries, began to roll.
In the clearing, Zinabu relayed Cassandra’s words to those Edens gathering around them like dark skeletons.
“Welcome, my friends,” she said. “We know you’ve been through a lot, and the journey is almost over. The Kenyan government has graciously offered you all temporary asylum. There’s a camp ahead where you will receive shelter, clothing, warm beds, and plenty of food.”
Many of the Edens began crying and embracing each other.
“Who’s the leader here?” Cassandra asked Skull.
“That would be Husnia,” said Skull turning to Zinabu. “Would you mind taking Cassandra over to her?”
“Sure, boss.”
Cassandra paused and leaned in close. “We need to talk, Skull.”
Skull grinned. “No problem. Meet me in the camp once everyone is safely across.”
Several hours later, when Cassandra looked for Skull, he was nowhere to be found. Several Edens said they had seen him walk into the bush as soon as he crossed into Kenya.
Chapter 34
Chairman of the Free Communities Council Daniel Markis was happy to be home. It had been an eventful month. Not only had he finalized the agreement to bring both Australia and New Zealand fully into the Free Communities, the Eden rescue mission in Ethiopia had been successful.
Although the operation had been secret, once the Edens crossed the Kenyan border word had gotten out, and Daniel wasn’t unhappy about that. It was important that the world knew of FC resolve to protect Edens. Of course, the Ethiopians were spinning it as ag
gression against their soldiers, but a vigorous media campaign using interviews with witnesses seemed to have convinced people of the truth.
Elise was sitting on his office sofa when he walked in. She leaped up with a smile and gave him a long lingering kiss.
“Good to see you too, Doctor Markis” said Daniel. “I thought you were stuck in the laboratory with that new Brit. Didn’t expect to see you.”
“I wanted to share the good news with you first,” said Elise.
“Good news?” he asked sitting down on the couch.
“Yes,” Elise answered, sitting beside him and holding his hand. “We’ve had a breakthrough. A major one.”
“Involving the Eden Plague, I presume?” asked Daniel.
“Yes,” she said almost vibrating with excitement. “We know how to fix it.”
“What?”
“To remove the problem of caloric overconsumption. It will take a few months to engineer and test the new strain, but on paper, in the simulations, it looks perfect.
Daniel opened his mouth and closed it before speaking. “How did you do it?”
“I love you, Daniel, but I’m not sure you could follow the science.”
“I guess I really wanted to know about the people involved. Was it serendipity, or did some young wiz kid in your labs have a brainstorm, or…?”
“There’s a British researcher who’s contributed some good insights.”
Daniel sniffed. “Nothing more than that?”
Elise furrowed her brow. “Well, funny you should ask, but we’ve been receiving a lot of stuff over the internet from researchers ever since Infection Day. Some of it has dried up because of the crackdowns by those opposed to it, so most of the independents now either work in Eden-friendly countries or they’ve gone underground and use anonymizers and other hacker methods to communicate.” She leaned back to look at her husband. “But you knew something already, didn’t you?”
Daniel shifted uncomfortably. “I’m not spying on you, if that’s what you mean, but I read Shawna’s reports, some of which are confidential. I am the chairman, after all.”
Eden's Exodus (Plague Wars Series Book 3) Page 23
