Return to Haven (Empire Rising Book 3)

by D. J. Holmes

  Right across the avenue the Indians had erected an eight-foot fence. In front of the fence there were four light tanks menacingly moving their turrets back and forth along the width of the avenue. Around the tanks there were more than fifty Indian soldiers and poking up from behind the fence Johnston could see two shuttles. They were probably loaded with more soldiers ready to take off and respond to any threat along the perimeter.

  “I guess you are not going to see very much,” Clare said, eyeing up the fence. Whatever defenses the Indians had in closer to the Council Chambers were obscured by the fence.

  “A wasted trip I’m afraid,” Johnston said. “Not your fault,” he added when Clare looked momentarily hurt. “Let’s just get out of here,” he finished.

  “That I won’t complain about,” Clare said.

  As at the other checkpoints, they kept walking towards an alley that led away from Liberty Avenue to make it look like they were just going about their daily business. Out of the corner of his eye Johnston saw two Indian soldiers leave the group they were standing in and make their way towards Clare and him.

  “Pick up the pace,” Johnston whispered.

  They got another ten meters towards safety when one of the soldiers got fed up chasing them and called out, “Halt you two. You have come up on our facial scanners a few too many times today. I’m taking you into custody for questioning.”

  Damn, Johnston thought. I should have thought about facial scanners. The Indians had probably picked them up at several of the checkpoints they had walked past. Someone walking the perimeter of the Council Chambers would immediately draw attention.

  “Hands in the air,” the other soldier called out, raising his plasma rifle when Johnston and Clare kept on walking. “My friend said halt.”

  “Do as he says,” Johnston whispered as he came to a stop and raised his hands, his back still to the Indian soldiers. “Get ready to run.”

  “Turn around,” one of the soldiers ordered.

  Beginning a slow turn, Johnston then whipped around as fast as his enhanced reflexes would allow. He ducked onto his knees as his right hand pulled his plasma pistol from where it was concealed under his baggy clothes. In the blink of an eye he fired two bolts into the nearest soldier. The second soldier fired as soon as he saw Johnston moving aggressively but Johnston had ducked even before the soldier pulled the trigger. Momentarily astonished at the speed of his opponent the soldier didn’t get a chance to fire again as two more plasma bolts burnt their way through his facial armor, killing him instantly.

  Without looking at the other soldiers Johnston was already on his feet turning back to Clare. “Run,” he shouted as he passed her and grabbed her by the hand. Clare didn’t have time to take in what had just happened before she found herself almost pulled off her feet. Before they rounded the alley in front of them she felt an intense wave of heat pass her head as a plasma bolt narrowly missed her and burnt a large hole in the side of the building in front of her.

  When they did round the alleyway, Johnston paused for a second. As Clare fought to catch her breathe he ducked back out into Liberty Avenue. He fired off a quick burst of plasma bolts, taking out the nearest Indian soldier charging after them. Then he lobed two explosive devices into the middle of the remaining soldiers. Set on a quick timer they exploded before the Indian soldiers knew what had been thrown at them, five more soldiers went down, large holes blown in their combat armor.

  Before Clare could take in what he was doing he was back at her side and pulling her up the alleyway again. “We’ll never be able to out run them,” Johnston said. “We need to hide.”

  Even as he spoke he was detaching things from his combat suit and dropping them at strategic locations along the alleyway. “That might slow them down for a few seconds.”

  Thirty seconds after they turned another corner several loud explosions erupted from where they had just been. “Contact mines,” Johnston explained. “They were charging too fast to even watch out for them. They will be more careful now.”

  For another two minutes, they ran flat out away from the Council Chambers. Johnston had them randomly twisting and turning down small alleyways linking the main streets that ran through Liberty.

  “Stop,” Clare shouted when they passed a building she recognized. “I know this place. This is one of the buildings I hid in when I was trying to avoid the security forces. We can hide here.”

  “Are you sure?” Johnston asked. “They are right behind us.”

  “I’m sure,” Clare said, already making her way up the steps to the door into the building. With a kick, she opened the door and stepped inside. “Come on,” she said.

  Johnston dived into the building behind her. Clare pulled a flashlight from her utility belt and made her way deeper into the dark building. Johnston didn’t even bother looking for a light switch. It would only draw attention to the building from anyone outside.

  Walking with a purpose, Clare made her way through the maze of corridors until she found a set of stairs. “We need to get to the basement,” she said as she went down them.

  “If they find us, we will be trapped down there,” Johnston said with concern.

  “No we won’t, you’ll just have to trust me Major,” Clare replied without turning around.

  Left with little choice, Johnston continued to follow her down. After several flights of stairs, they came to the bottom of the building. It opened into a large room that seemed to cover the entire width and length of the building.

  “This was a storage area,” Clare explained. “When the first and second generation of settlers were building the city, space was at a premium. All the buildings were built with large storage floors to hold many of the foodstuffs and other things the residents in the buildings would need. It saved on the need to build dedicated warehouses.

  “It just so happens,” she continued as she walked to one end of the room, “that whoever lived in this building was into a few illicit activities.” With a heave, she lifted a large piece of metal which looked like it had been abandoned where it was sitting. Underneath there were steps down into what looked like a tunnel that led away from the building. “There are more than a few buildings in Liberty with old tunnels connecting them. More than a few have been forgotten about. I found this one when I was hiding from the security forces here. It saved my neck.”

  “I have seen one of these before,” Johnston said as he peered down the steps. “There was one in the building where Haven Intelligence were holding Chang. He tried to escape down it.”

  “Did he get away?” Clare asked. “We always assumed you got him; no one has seen sight nor sign of him since.”

  “We didn’t get his body,” Johnston answered. “But he didn’t survive.”

  “Well let’s hope this tunnel works out better for us,” Clare said.

  “Indeed,” Johnston agreed.

  Once they were both down the steps and in the tunnel Johnston pulled a far more powerful torch out of his combat suit and shone it down the tunnel. He wanted to see as far down as it was possible, to limit the chance of anything taking them by surprise.

  “How far does it go?” he asked when he couldn’t see the end.

  “Almost a kilometer,” Clare answered. “It comes up under another apartment complex closer to the edge of the city.

  “Perfect,” Johnston said. Turning around he reached up and lifted the large piece of metal back over, covering the steps down into the tunnel. Then he stepped past Clare and proceeded down the tunnel with his powerful torch lighting the way.

  “Can I ask you something?” Clare said as she walked along behind him.

  “Go ahead,” Johnston said.

  “Back at the Indian checkpoint you moved faster than I could even see. You out fought Indian soldiers in combat armor. And just now you lifted that piece of metal like it was nothing. Who exactly are you?”

  “Who am I?” Johnston repeated, chuckling. “You know who I am, Major Samuel Johnston. I think maybe
the question you mean to ask is, what am I?”

  “Ok then, what are you?” Clare pushed.

  “A special forces marine. I was recruited out of the marines to undergo what we call enhancement. I really can’t say anything more than that, its classified.”

  “Are you still human?” Clare asked.

  “Of course,” Johnston chuckling. “Or at least, I never heard my wife complaining that I wasn’t.”

  “You have a wife,” Clare said.

  “Yes, or at least I did,” Johnston answered in an almost whisper Clare had to strain her ears to hear. “She died in the war with the Chinese. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  “I understand,” Clare said. “But l want you to know I am sorry to hear that. I have never lost someone close to me. But since the Indians came, I have seen many others who have. No one should have to go through something like that.”

  “Thank you,” Johnston said.

  The rest of their trip along the tunnel descended into silence as Johnston relived the memories of the day he returned to his wife after going through the enhancement process. It had taken the marine medics over a month to complete the process. Then it had taken another couple of months for him to get used to his new strength and speed. Initially, his wife had had been full of wonder and fear at what he had been able to do. It had taken him a couple of days to convince her he was the same man.

  Sensing that Johnston was lost in his own thoughts, Clare remained silent, not wanting to intrude on his feelings.

  “We’re here,” she said fifteen minutes later as she peered around Johnston’s body to see the steps that were coming up. “The last time I was in this building it was inhabited, so we will have to be careful. If there are rebel fighters up there we don’t want to startle them.”

  Climbing the stairs first, Johnston placed a hand on the metal sheet that was covering the top of the stairs. He gave it a gentle push to move it out of the way. When it wouldn’t budge he raised both hands to the metal and lifted with all his strength. As it budged slightly a mound of dust and rubble streamed down on top of Johnston. He barely noticed for he was momentarily blinded by the sunlight that came streaming in.

  “I think your building is gone,” he said after his eyes adjusted to the light and he was able to make out what was around him. There was nothing but rubble for as far as he could see.

  With a final effort, he tossed the metal sheet and the rubble that had piled up on top of it to one side. “Let’s hope no one is nearby, we’re going to stand out like a sore thumb,” he said as he climbed the last few steps and stepped out into the middle of the rubble. Turning around, he helped Clare out of the tunnel.

  “Which way?” he asked once she was out.

  “This way I think,” Clare said, taking several seconds to look around. “I recognize that building.”

  They picked their way through the rubble until they managed to get back onto one of the many alleyways that ran between Liberty’s buildings. “Yes, it’s this way,” Clare said more confidently once they had travelled a few hundred meters.

  A familiar buzzing noise caused Johnston to act quickly. Without even thinking he picked Clare up and dove behind a set of steps that jutted out into the alley way. “Shuttle,” he whispered when he saw the look of bewilderment on Clare’s face. “The soldiers will have recognized what I am once they analyzed our little skirmish. They will be doing everything they can to find me. I think they just called in their shuttles.”

  The whining from the shuttle’s impulse engines grew louder and louder. Chancing a glimpse, Johnston saw that it was no more than five hundred meters in the air above them, moving in the general direction they had been traveling. Johnston could see at least three more moving back and forth over the city. One of the shuttles released a drone which hovered beside it for a second before shooting off on whatever flight path its operator had given it.

  “They definitely know I am here,” Johnston said. “We need to find somewhere to hide. We’ll have more of a chance to get out of the city under the cover of darkness.”

  “Ok,” Clare said. “But where are we going to hide?”

  “Right here,” Johnston said, picking Clare up again just as the shuttle went out of sight. He climbed the steps they had been taking cover beside and kicked the door open at the top of them. “We can’t risk moving in the open anymore while all those shuttles are monitoring every square inch of the city,” he said as he put her down inside the building.

  “But what if someone lives here?” she asked.

  “Then they will just have to put us up for a few hours,” Johnston said, closing the door behind them.

  Almost before he had finished speaking a small explosion erupted from up further up the hallway. Johnston felt the displaced air hit his face from the slug that zipped past his face, barely missing him.

  Johnston pushed Clare to the wall and dropped to his knees, his plasma pistol already out.

  “We’re not Indians,” he called out when he saw the weapon that was pointed at them. It was not Indian military issue. “We just need a place to hide for a few hours.”

  “Go away,” a woman’s voice called out. “This is my home. I will defend it.”

  “We are not here to take your home,” Clare said, emphasizing her Haven accent. “I am a Havenite like you. We are trying to escape from the Indians, we need somewhere to hide for a few hours. Then we will leave you alone.”

  “How can I trust you?” the voice said. “You could be Indian sympathizers looking to trap me.”

  “Here,” Johnston said, tossing his plasma pistol down the corridor. “I am unarmed now.”

  “You don’t sound like you are from Haven,” the female voice said as a leg stretched out from where she was hiding and pulled the plasma pistol towards her.

  “He is not,” Clare said. “He is British. He is part of a team that has come to Haven to help fight the Indians. That is why it is vital we escape the patrols out there and stay alive. We have vital information that will help the British invasion force when they come to kick the Indians out of Haven.

  “The British are coming to help us?” the young woman said, stepping out from her hiding place and into view. Johnston guessed that she couldn’t be more than twenty.

  “We are,” he said, standing and raising his hands so that she could clearly see them. “We don’t plan to leave your people to the mercy of the Indians. But if we are going to win, we need somewhere to hide for a few hours. Do you think you can help us with that?”

  “I suppose,” the woman said, but the weapon she had trained on Johnston didn’t lower.

  “My name is Major Samuel Johnston,” Johnston said. “And this is Clare, ah, em, well…”

  “Clare Edwards,” Clare said. “I am fighting the Indians with the rebels.”

  “The rebels,” the young woman said, finally lowering her weapon. “Maybe you have heard of my father or my brother. My name is Patricia Kimber, my father John and brother David left to fight with the rebels after my mother was killed by an Indian shell. That was four days ago. I haven’t heard anything from them since,” she said as she broke into a series of small sobs.

  Rushing to her side, Clare took her into her arms. “I’m sorry Patricia. I haven’t met a John or David Kimber, but don’t worry. It is standard operational procedure to stay out of contact with loved ones. If they contacted you, the Indians could pick it up. I’m sure they are fine. They are just trying to keep you safe.”

  “Are you sure?” Patricia asked as she wiped her eyes.

  “Yes, until you hear something for sure, there is no need for you to be so worried,” Clare answered.

  “I have been beside myself with fear,” Patricia said. “I wish they had never left.”

  “They are fighting for your future,” Clare said. “As are we. But that doesn’t mean it is going to be easy.”

  “No, you are right,” Patricia said. “And I should be doing my bit as well. You can both stay. I was
actually about to make some stew. Would you like to have some with me?”

  Just then Johnston’s stomach chose to let out a loud grumble. Clare laughed, “There’s your answer Patricia. Neither of us have eaten since breakfast. We would love to join you. Maybe you can tell us more about your father and brother. If we run into them then we will be able to tell them that you are ok.”

  “I’d love to,” Patricia said as she handed Johnston back his plasma pistol. “And Major, you could tell me about Earth. I have always wanted to visit Earth.”