The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1)

by David Kersten

  “You guys can take a break, I got this.” Red said to the two men from engineering. They looked at Tiny to confirm that they were finished for now. Jack tried not to smile.

  “Thanks for your help, gentlemen. I will contact you later after we have a training ground set up. We can do some test runs to make sure our time estimates are good enough.” The men nodded and left, not even looking at Red on their way out. Jack knew that he had a situation that needed to be dealt with right away.

  When the door closed, Jack turned to Red, and in his officer voice said, “Red, I want to make it clear that Tiny is in charge of this part of my operation. If there is a problem with that I need to know about it right now.”

  Red practically scoffed. The men he came in with tensed, expecting a confrontation. “Listen, Jack , these here boys are my men, and they ain gonna take they orders from any damned Freezer burnt reborn. I preciate that you finely got Marcus to agree to a big operation like this, but we been the one’s tryin to save humanity since long before you guys evah showed up.” The men around him smiled.

  Jack glanced at Tiny, who got up from the table and stood behind him. “I can appreciate that you’ve been fighting for your survival for a long time. I spent a few years getting shot at and watching my friends and fellow soldiers die by the dozens, and I can’t imagine what it is like to live your whole life like that.” This drew another smirk from him. Jack put his datapad down and stepped closer to Red, who of course didn’t back up. “Before we all bow down to your superior expertise, let’s make some things perfectly clear. This man behind me was trained by a military that had two hundred years of experience in being the most superior armed force on the earth. His entire career of eighteen years was spent infiltrating enemy ground and either taking out a force of superior numbers, or holding a defensive position against superior numbers while waiting for the regular troops to arrive. He specifically trained for weeks on a project nearly identical to this one, but far more dangerous. Furthermore, I myself spent twenty years in the military, training both as an infantry fighter and as an officer. I spent the last ten years dealing with pricks like you who thought that because I was an officer, I didn’t know what it was like to be the one holding the gun and shooting at the enemy. Now, if you really want to find out who has the bigger dick here, I think Tiny and I can accommodate you and your buddies. Just say the word. I haven’t had the opportunity to beat some people senseless in a long time, and I think maybe the time has come. Whatever you want to do, let’s get it over with so we can get back to planning MY Goddamn operation!” Jack’s voice had steadily risen from his first word to his last, and at the end he was nearly shouting. He had to suppress a smile as he watched the blood drain from Red’s face.

  “Whoa, now slow yo role, Jack. No need to get vielent with each otheh. We all after the same thing here. Let’s say we just work this out...”

  “There is nothing to work out here! You take orders from me, and if that is a problem, I will have you reassigned to patrolling the family level for the duration of this mission. Do you understand me?!” Jack was practically foaming at the mouth now, and his face was red.

  Red just nodded, not really knowing what to say.

  “Answer me, soldier!” Jack snapped it out and Red flinched.

  “Yes, sah! I understand!”

  His voice instantly returned to normal. “Good. Now, you are going to work with Tiny on the defense of the site from the time you land until the time the transport has safely taken off. Once you have a plan worked out, I want you to assist in putting together a team that can pull it off. I want only people with combat experience. You will then put together a training program so you can make some dry runs. You can use the flight bay for this. Once your men have everything down and we have a bulldozer to practice with, I want you to bring in the engineers to do some time tests. I need to know exactly how long this will take barring any problems. Is there anything I have said that you do not understand?”

  “No, Sah. I got most of my men assembled now and I’ll have the rest by this aftanoon.”

  “Thank you for your understanding, Red.” He turned around to face Tiny, trying to hide his smile. “Tiny can I see you in the hall for a moment?”

  When they left the room and closed the door, they both burst out in laughter. “I think that will keep him in check, at least until this mission is over.”

  “Don’t worry, Mad Dawg, I will keep a firm grip on him. He is a good fighter from what I have heard, but some of the natives are worse than any hillbilly we ever had in our day. He just needs a little military discipline. You do realize though that if that had escalated to a brawl you would have been facing all of them, not just Red.”

  “We, Tiny, not just me. I could have taken two of them, but I was counting on you to take the other four.” Jack said it with a straight face but Tiny saw through it and busted out laughing again.

  “It would have been fun to find out. I haven’t had a good tussle in quite a long time.”

  * * *

  Jack stopped at the kitchen on this level, which was just a small break room with a table that would seat four, a sink, and refrigerator. He poured himself a cold glass of water and took a long drink. His adrenaline had been going pretty strong there when he challenged Red. He half expected the man to call his bluff, but truth be told, with the emotional roller coaster he had been on for the last few days, combined with his new youthful body, part of him was hoping for a little fight. It was just as well that he didn’t have to go that far however, just because it was counterproductive. He finished the water and headed down the hall to the room where Teague and Thomas were planning the incursion into the city.

  There were five men and a woman in the room. Teague and Thomas he knew. The woman and one of the men were from the group of salvagers, and the rest he guessed were fighting men. The room was similar to the one Tiny was in, and they were all sitting around the table looking at a layout of a city. Teague turned to him when he entered and said, “Was that you shouting earlier? We heard it through the walls.”

  Jack grinned and nodded. “I had to put Red back in line. He thought he was leading that part of the mission. I think he understands where I’m coming from now.” The two men whom Jack had assumed were soldiers laughed at this. Obviously they knew Red and didn’t like him much.

  “So how are things coming here? Think you can pull this off?”

  Thomas sighed and said, “It’s going to be tough, but we can do it. We will have to send in a ground team to disable the old air defenses and then we can fly in a transport to pick up the equipment. The best path to where we need to go is right through the middle of a neighborhood of Mutes who have taken up residence. From the limited intelligence we have, there are upwards of a hundred of them. Although they don’t have the technology or weapons that we have, they will put up a good fight.” Thomas lowered his voice, “The chances of a casualty are fairly high.”

  Jack nodded solemnly. He had hoped there would be an easy way to get what they needed without too much risk of life. Unfortunately, this whole operation hinged on them getting the heavy equipment they needed.

  “How soon before you can go in?” The sooner they had the dozer, the sooner they could launch the whole operation.

  “I think we can be ready to go tomorrow afternoon. We were just discussing the pros and cons of doing it at night. We might have a slight advantage at night, with our thermal and night vision capabilities. However, if we get trapped and the Mutes mass up to attack us all at once, that advantage is lost. They can see pretty well in the dark without any technology to help.”

  “Okay, that sounds good. If you need anything, just beep me on the datapad. Any equipment you find is going to be in rough shape from sitting for nearly two centuries, who are you bringing to get it moving? And have you thought about how you will get it loaded? I can’t imagine it will start right up, and I doubt you will be able to push it on board the transport.”

  Teague spoke up.
“Yeah, we were thinking Wendy would be good for it. She can fix anything, and it would give us a backup pilot if anything happened there.”

  Jack didn’t like the thought of her going on the most dangerous mission. “Is there anyone else? Someone with more combat experience maybe?” He made it sound like he wanted someone better suited to fight, but the truth was she probably was the best person for the job. He just didn’t want her to go.

  Thomas didn’t know their history, and didn’t pick up on it. “Most of the men have seen combat, and there are a couple good mechanics in that crew. We can find someone that can both fight and turn a wrench.” Jack was pleased to hear that.

  Before he could ask any more questions, his datapad beeped. A quick glance told him Chin was calling. He pressed the button to answer. “Jack, I think you need to come out to the flight deck. We have a problem.”

  Jack nodded and clicked the disconnect button. There were always problems in an operation of this size, so he wasn’t that worried, despite the urgency in Chin’s voice. He told them to keep working and headed up to level one.

  * * *

  Jack stepped off the rail car and casually headed over to a group of people standing around a makeshift operations center. It was very common to see something small get blown out of proportion, so he was trying to make an effort to keep calm and collected, setting an example of how to react in what was most likely a minor snag.

  As he approached, he saw there were eight displays in front of them – the largest displaying a map of Idaho. A flashing dot about in the middle of the map caught his attention.

  “What’s up Chin?” Over by the flyers, three men in full combat armor were checking their gear, and a pilot was going over the aircraft in a hasty manner. A little tickle of fear fluttered in his belly. Something was definitely wrong.

  “Jack, we lost communications with the crew in Idaho. I’m sorry.”

  There were a few moments in every person’s life they never wanted to repeat. Finding out he had cancer and learning of his wife and daughter’s death were two of those moments for Jack. He felt like he was experiencing another one right now. His heart beat in his chest with the sudden rush of adrenaline. “Shit! Cali?”

  “We don’t know. They had already landed and reported they had found what they were looking for. About ten minutes after that, we got this.” He pushed a button on his pad and the large display showed an image of Wendy. Jack’s heart seemed to stop as he tensed in anticipation of what the video would reveal.

  Wendy looked bored as she spoke into the PDP. “New Hope, this is Salvage Crew three. Nothing new to report.” Something off camera caught her attention. She continued talking as she studied whatever it was that had her attention, confusion slowing her words. “We should be ready to dust off in about thirty min – Oh Shit!” A flash of light was followed by chaos as the PDP tumbled rapidly away showing nothing but a blur of color. A quick jolt of sound was the last thing to come through before the audio and video went dead.

  If Jack had not braced himself on the edge of Chin’s chair, he would probably be sitting on the ground, his legs unable to support him. As quickly as the wave of nausea and fear washed over him, his emotions were shut down by instinct and training, tucked away to be processed later. He didn’t have time to worry about Wendy right now – he had to act. “Is the rescue team ready to go?”

  Chin nodded, “Pretty much, a few more minutes and they will be able to take off as soon as you give the word.”

  “Can someone go grab my gear? I’m going with.” One of the men jumped in the rail car and it took off.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea Jack? Maybe you shouldn’t put yourself at risk like this.”

  He was right but Jack couldn’t bear the thought of standing around for hours waiting to hear any news. He didn’t have to say anything, however. The look of determination on his face was enough. Chin just nodded.

  Less than five minutes later, the rail car was returned and as Jack ran to get his gear, Chin made one last feeble attempt to convince him to stay. “You know, it could be that they were attacked and the laser radio on the transport was hit. It’s very unlikely the transport itself was damaged. For all we know, they could be on their way back already.” Jack wasn’t listening – his mind was already on the rescue mission.

  Before he boarded the flyer, he turned back to Chin and shouted, “Wait ten minutes then call Teague and brief him on the situation.” He jumped in, signaling the pilot to get going.

  Chapter 28

  Once they were in the air he stripped down and started putting his armor on. He asked the pilot their ETA. One hour and five minutes. It didn’t take long to get dressed and check all his gear, leaving him with over fifty minutes to sit and wait. The adrenaline was now wearing off and he was getting jumpy.

  He took the time to get familiar with the rescue team. There were five men and one woman, plus the pilot who was also a man. Two of the men had been on the team that rescued him. The woman held out her hand and said, “Hi, Jack, I’m Heather.”

  Jack recognized the name from the conversation with Emmet the day before. She was somewhat attractive, more because of youth than anything else. It was difficult to judge anything other than her face because of the body armor, but she was about five feet eight inches tall and seemed to be in good shape. Her hair was black and cut short, like most of the women he had met so far. He took her hand and was surprised that she had a very firm grip. “Nice to meet you Heather.” He suddenly realized that he had stripped down to his boxers to change into his combat gear right in front of this woman. If she was uncomfortable with it, it hadn’t shown on her face. Having female soldiers was something he would have to get used to.

  The rest of the men introduced themselves, and he shook each man’s hand, except the pilot, who was busy flying the aircraft. There was a bit of tension in the cabin, but for the most part everyone remained calm making small talk. Jack tried to relax and not think about Wendy, but in the back of his mind he was saying, “Oh shit oh shit oh shit.”

  * * *

  Wendy woke around 6:30 a.m. and milled around her apartment for about half an hour before going down to check on Jack. He was still asleep, and she didn’t want to wake him. She figured he would be out until around lunch while his body finished the healing process, so she went to find something to do to keep her mind off the coming confrontation. Sleep had dulled her anger, but every time she pictured that bitch walking out of Jack’s room emotions raged and she couldn’t think clearly.

  She made her way to the flight bay, thinking she could spend some time working on the new flyer they had acquired the day before. There were three crews in the bay getting geared up for scavenging. Chin was working with some techs, setting up a control center where he could oversee the scavenging missions, as well as the main operation once it started. He looked up from his work when she walked over and said, “Good morning, Wendy. Got any plans today?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing pressing. I was going to hang with Jack today but he is still sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him.” If everyone didn’t already know she had been with Jack, they would know soon enough. Chin didn’t register surprise, confirming her suspicion that even her private life was well known around here. The blanket of depression got a little heavier. “Why, got anything for me to do?”

  “As a matter of fact, I would love it if you would fly one of the salvaging crews. I have Jerry lined up for it, but last time he flew one of the medium haulers he almost landed on a tree. I would prefer someone with more experience.”

  She knew all about Jerry. That idiot had nearly torn the left rear prop clean off. Wendy had to fix the damage, and she let him know in no uncertain terms that the next time he didn’t look where he was landing she would shove the bent prop up his ass. “Yeah, I can do it. Where are we heading, I would like to be back by lunch.”

  “Idaho. Heading to that factory where George thinks there might be some insulation and maybe some copper t
ubing. Should easily be back by noon, one at the latest.”

  Maybe a little flying would get her mind straight. Plus, if Jack got up and she wasn’t around, maybe he would think twice about his actions and really consider their relationship. A couple hours certainly wouldn’t hurt. Thinking of repairing that propeller again made the decision even easier. “Okay, when do I leave?”

  “Your crew is over there by transport three. They should be about ready to go. Do you need to get your gear?”

  “Nope. I have a set of gear that I keep up here in my toolbox, just in case I get the chance to go out. I can be ready in about five minutes.” Chin nodded, wished her luck, and turned back to what he had been doing.

  She got dressed and headed to the transport. There were three scavengers and one soldier, all dressed in full armor. Normally they would just wear their under suits and a set of coveralls or fatigues, but Jack had insisted everyone be prepared, just in case.

  The crew was familiar to her, and they all visibly relaxed when they realized she was going to be the pilot. Nobody had flown the aircraft since she last worked on it, so the inspection was quick. Climbing into the pilots seat was all the announcement she needed and the men all loaded in without a word.

  * * *

  The flight took a little over an hour, and was uneventful. There was a little chatter amongst the crew, mostly about the upcoming events. This was perhaps the biggest single operation New Hope had been involved in since before anyone could remember. Despite the danger ahead, people were excited. Daily life in an underground bunker could be quite dull.

  Each mention of Jack grated on her nerves. She tried to relax and worry about him later, but it was as if he had already told her he was going to play the field before settling down. The crew seemed aware she had something going with Jack. The way they looked at her each time his name came up only irritated her more. The sad thing was, nobody noticed her emotional struggle, the façade of ice was back and as far as they were concerned it was normal.