by Terry Mixon
If things went badly, she knew she’d never see it again. She’d have to use her very best negotiating skills to make certain that didn’t happen.
* * * * *
Harry followed the somewhat bemused Gunnery Sergeant Danvers out of the cave and onto the side of a tall hill. It was night out, but that didn’t stop him from seeing or hearing the fighting.
The small flickers of muzzle flash were like little lightning bolts off in the distance. Basing his guess on the distant rumble of the shots, he suspected the fighting was at least a kilometer away. Perhaps a bit more. Most of the shots had an odd timbre.
“Do we have a better idea of the situation?” he asked Danvers. “What are the weapons in play down there?”
“The natives use low technology weapons. Black powder. Though I suppose ‘native’ might not be the right word. There are apparently Asharim on this planet. At least that’s what your father called the aliens. This might be their world.”
Harry shook his head. “The Asharim favor low gravity, maybe sixty percent of what we have on Earth. Of course, if they lost their technology they might not have much of a choice.
“That’s actually a lucky break for us. Reloading black powder is a lot slower than our modern firearms. Once they come into range, we should be able to force them back without too much trouble.”
“It depends on how fanatical they are. A dozen men with clubs can take down a man with a gun. We’re low on ammunition, so if they want to take this hill, they’re going to be able to do it. They just have to be willing to pay the price.”
“I assume you’re using standard NATO ammunition. My guys brought as much of it as we could carry. That’ll help.”
“Your numbers are going to help more. Trying to fight off an army with less than a dozen men was a losing proposition. Particularly if we’re covering the retreat for thousands of others.”
Harry stared out into the darkness. It looked as if the fighting was coming closer. At this rate, they might have visitors inside half an hour. Sooner, if they’d send out scouts to secure the way, which is what he’d have done.
“I want you to pair one of your people with each of my teams,” he told the Marine. “You know who the friendlies are, we don’t. We absolutely don’t need any blue on blue casualties.”
“Roger that,” the man said with feeling.
Harry watched as the Marine spoke softly into his microphone. It was hard for him to accept that he had to be careful of the man beside him and his comrades. He’d fought beside many people just like them for a third of his life.
Yet these folks had come to take his father into custody and drag him back to the United States for what was probably going to be a secret trial and incarceration at Guantánamo Bay.
Clayton Rogers didn’t seem perturbed, but Harry wasn’t going to allow Queen to get his hands on any of them. He hoped that didn’t mean he had to fight these men, but he’d do it if he had to.
“I’ve got men assigned to each of your teams,” Danvers said. “We’re spreading out around the side of the hill to get good fields of fire to cover the retreat.
“We’ll be able to shoot at the enemy before they start climbing, if they’re packed together tightly enough. One of my snipers might be able to cause a little chaos at longer range, but this is going to be a brutal, ugly affair.”
Unfortunately, Harry agreed with that assessment. A team of snipers might be able to make a difference fighting during the daylight. At night, there just wasn’t sufficient time to locate and eliminate the right kinds of target.
Danvers reached up and touched his ear. “Copy that.”
He glanced over at Harry. “The lead elements of the Volunteer forces have arrived at the base of the hill. There’s a path up. I had one of my folks mark it with luminescent sticks so they could find their way without being escorted.
“We’ve got thousands of people headed our way. There’s no way we can fit them all into the cave, so they’ll have to go up to the crown of the hill. Once we start spreading our forces thin trying to cover every approach, the enemy is going to be able to breach our lines.”
Harry smiled. “Then we have to make sure that’s not a possibility. Send them back to the gate. The base might be a dead pile of shit, but that beats getting shot. Once we have everybody on the other side, we can figure out how and where we’re going to relocate them.”
“Thank God that’s above my pay grade,” the Marine noncom said. “I suppose you have a way of using that gate to go other places.”
“Indeed we do. We’ll let my partner handle the relocation while we take care of slowing down the enemy. Once we’re certain we’ve gotten as many people through as possible, we’ll retreat into the cave and bring down the entrance with explosives. I’d like to deny them the gate.”
“Considering the fact that they might come after us, I think that’s an excellent idea.”
When he finally saw some of the humans from this planet, it was hard for him not to shake his head in amazement. They looked as if they’d just come from a Revolutionary War reenactment.
The trickle quickly became a flood. Even as their numbers increased, Harry heard his men opening fire. The enemy must be in range.
That’s when he spotted several men in the flow of people dressed in modern combat gear. He recognized the man in the lead.
He smiled at Karl Krueger and extended a hand. “It’s been a while, Commander.”
“Let’s not stand on ceremony, Harry,” the officer said as he took it. “I’m damn glad to see you.”
The man gestured toward a woman standing beside him dressed in what appeared to be pirate garb. “Harry Rogers, meet Susanna Adorno. She’s the leader of our allies. Susanna, Harry is Clayton’s son and a very skilled warrior. He leads the people that have come to rescue us.”
Considering the timeframe that these people had come from, Harry had to fight to keep the surprise off his face. While he expected to see women in leadership positions in the modern day, that didn’t hold true several hundred years in the past.
He wasn’t sure whether he should extend his hand to shake hers or attempt to kiss it.
She solved his conundrum by reaching out and taking his firmly. “I am most pleased to make your acquaintance, Harry. Your timing is excellent.
“Without your help, we would never have been able to hold the enemy at bay until dawn. I am still uncertain as to how long we can hold out against them, but your assistance is greatly appreciated.”
Harry cleared his throat. “Actually, I’ve decided that the simplest way to solve our mutual problem is to send everyone through the gate inside this cave. It will take us all back to Earth. We’ll use explosives to bring down the entrance.
“I realize that might seem to be a major setback, but I didn’t bring enough force to take on an army, even with my superiority in weapons. We can come back at a future point in time, but if we want to live we’re going to have to go.”
The woman’s expression was similar to what one might expect of someone who’d bitten into something sour. “I cannot say that your assessment surprises me. I greatly dislike being forced to retreat, much less abandoning our world. We all have family and friends here. I must insist that steps be taken to see we are able to regain our footing here quickly.”
Thankfully, those kind of negotiations were outside his realm of authority. “I’ll leave the details of that between my father and you. In the short term, if we want to survive, we have no choice.”
Susanna sighed. “No, I don’t suppose we do. Well, I’ve always dreamed of seeing Earth. The stories told by those who saw it with their own eyes have been passed down from generation to generation.”
The ruined base in New Zealand was going to be a terrible disappointment, Harry was sure. He hoped he could make it up to her later.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Brenda knew every trip into the city was a risk, but she was going stir crazy. She was one of those people that had to be o
ut doing things. She couldn’t just sit on her butt and let other people do all the work.
Not that she was working at the moment. She was off to the deli getting food for those who were.
Which was an adventure in and of itself. She’d never been to this particular place before and there were a number of dishes that caught her eye. Trying new food was always a high point in her week.
It also gave her an opportunity to people watch. Her normal behavior when getting food for others was to have a meal herself and then take theirs to go. She loved to eat hers hot and fresh.
Today was shaping up to be a decent day. The sun was out and the temperature was actually bearable. Some low clouds on the horizon threatened rain, but it was still a ways off.
The neighborhood they’d picked for their hiding place was a little south of middle class. It wasn’t a poor area by any means, but it was dedicated to working class folk.
That kind of homogenization was useful in spotting people that didn’t belong. The men and women they had watching the cameras were looking for people that didn’t fit in, either in dress or action.
As a trained FBI agent, she noticed anything that was out of place. It was almost a subconscious process at this point. She was even better at it when she focused on a particular subject.
For example, she’d been watching the crowds as they made their way along the street in front of the deli. To one degree or another, most people fit into the area in which they lived or worked.
Oh, there was the occasional person that stood out. The woman in the high-class outfit stalking along on stiletto heels was a good example.
Brenda considered the woman as she walked by and wondered what her story was. She didn’t think the woman was suspicious. Just being dressed differently wasn’t enough to set off her Spidey sense.
The woman could be anything from a business owner coming down to check on something to a highly paid escort on the way to work. Hell, in Washington she might be a diplomat. There was no telling.
What Brenda could see of her as she waved down a cab was that the woman had no interest in anyone around her. Not even the guy who was angling to take her purse.
Part of Brenda wanted to get involved and stop the crime that was about to occur right in front of her, but that would draw undue attention. The woman was about to learn a painful lesson in situational awareness.
Better a snatch and grab than something darker. Perhaps this would save her from walking blithely into a much worse assault some night.
The thief timed his attack perfectly. He waited until the woman was reaching for the handle on the cab door to make his move. His hand lashed out and snagged the woman’s expensive looking handbag as he sprinted away down the street toward Brenda.
The woman screamed at him to stop and took off after him. She was surprisingly quick on those tall heels. She’d never catch the man, but she was making a credible effort.
Brenda watched the thief run with interest. Was he going to duck into another vehicle or run down an alley? There was always the possibility that one of the bystanders would attempt to stop him, but the odds of that were actually much lower than most people thought.
It was all in the reaction time. It took seconds for people to realize what was going on and even more to decide if they should act or steer clear. By then the thief would be past them.
Unless of course someone in front of the thief figured it out and decided to intervene.
Such as the large Asian man in the dark coat that stepped from a business just as the thief reached it. The man extended one bulky arm directly in front of the sprinting criminal and clotheslined him.
The runner somersaulted into the air and slammed face down into the concrete. Brenda winced. That was going to leave a mark.
The Good Samaritan planted one large foot in the center of the man’s back, pinning him to the ground just as effectively as a pin held an insect for study.
She watched the large man and felt a warning run down her spine. Something wasn’t right about him.
The woman ran up and retrieved her purse, kicking the thief in the ribs and profusely thanking the man. Brenda couldn’t hear his response, but it seemed low key.
By now, other bystanders had gathered around and were restraining the thief. Someone had undoubtedly called the police, so it was time for Brenda to exit stage left.
Still, she couldn’t dismiss the large man. She considered what it was about him that made her feel he was different while she waved down the waiter and asked for her to-go order and a box for her excellent food.
The answer occurred to her as the waiter returned with everything. It was the man’s build. He looked just like Victor Holyfield. The proportions were exactly right.
That man was a descendant of heavy-worlders.
The realization set her to looking for any possible companions. If he was an operative, he probably wasn’t working alone.
While it was conceivable that the man had absolutely nothing to do with her and perhaps didn’t even realize his own heritage, there weren’t that many people with heavy-worlder genes on Earth.
Her ancestors had rescued four heavy-worlders after the fighting a thousand years ago. They’d kept excellent records of their genealogy since.
They’d had to. Victor might look like a bodybuilder, but his strength exceeded anyone’s wildest expectation. He was designed to live on a world with three times the gravity anyone here faced.
The young man declared himself out of shape every chance he got, but there were limits on his lower end body strength. He could reliably flip a car, she was sure. That kind of physical prowess stood out.
The Families had decided long ago that they couldn’t allow those genes into the wild. They would raise all the wrong kinds of questions. So who was this fellow?
Brenda pulled her phone out and made a show of taking pictures of the ruckus. That brought her no extra attention because everyone was doing it. Social media consumed everything these days. Videos of this scene would be all over the Internet by now.
The man had finally disentangled himself from the grateful woman and was looking for a way out of the spotlight. That gave Brenda the perfect opportunity to snap a close-up of his face.
He turned and went back into the business he’d come from moments later.
Following a hunch, Brenda picked up the bag with her take-out and made her way around the block to the alley behind the row of buildings. Without seeming overly curious, she walked briskly past the alley and glanced down it.
As she’d suspected, the man had exited the rear of the business and was getting into a car. Three additional men with similar builds were joining him.
So much for coincidence. While she didn’t know every person in the Families, there wouldn’t be four people with heavy-worlder genes in one place like this accidentally. The fact that all four men were of Asian descent also struck her as odd.
She paused as soon as she passed the alley and stuck her phone out just enough to snap a few more pictures. At the very least, she’d get a license plate to run.
Moments later, the car came out and sped past her. She’d resumed walking and turned her head down to stare at her phone like many others around her. The car never even slowed down.
The events at Area Fifty-One, the call to someone at the Chinese embassy, and these men had to be connected in some way. The good news was that she now knew about the threat.
The bad news was they suspected she was in the area. That was the only answer that made any sense. Someone was onto them.
* * * * *
Once the Volunteer soldiers had begun making their way into the cave, Clayton made the decision to return to Earth with them. Someone had to be there to decide their eventual settlement.
He made sure Mick Bird and Penny Cash were right there with him. They were his responsibility and he’d see them safely home.
Clayton had to admit that even the destroyed base looked good after the situation they’d found
themselves in. Part of him hadn’t expected to make it home.
Jess followed him to a handy corner of the large room. “This isn’t going to hold everyone, is it?”
He shook his head. “No. We’re going to have to see them taken to other floors while the gate is open. Once everyone is here, we can make a connection to another gate and get them back out again. This is only temporary.”
“That sounds like a plan. Maybe the base in France?”
“That has the benefit of being isolated, but still on Earth where we have plenty of air. Still, I’m not sure that’s the best choice in the long run. France is a very unstable country. If anyone discovers the base, there will be a lot of awkward questions or hostile actors making moves to seize it.”
Jess seemed to consider that for a long moment. “Perhaps using France as a staging base while we prepare Freedom Express for housing more people? Hell, the station in orbit around the frozen planet has more than enough space to hold everyone.”
He raised an eyebrow. “The what? What frozen planet? Which station?”
She smiled. “That’s right. You missed out on that. It’s a long story, but we found something big out past the orbit of Pluto. Maybe even the reason the Asharim came here.
“But we don’t have time to get into that yet. There’s also the base on Mars. We have life support working there. It’s probably big enough for this kind of influx, too.”
Her expression took on a hint of unease. “We’ll need to get them out of here as soon as possible, though. I made the decision to notify New Zealand’s government that this place existed.”
He frowned. “Why in the world would you do any such fool thing? That’s going to greatly complicate our lives.”
“Because it needed to be done,” she said firmly. “It’s only a matter of time before someone other than the United States learns we have this kind of technology. We need allies with clout in the international community.”
