* * *
Wendy took a long, hot shower, washing away two days of grime and stress. She examined her body as she showered, noting the large bruises on her legs, shoulder, and ribs. It was truly unbelievable that she had not been killed in the blast. Chalk it up to another miracle of modern science. The armor they wore was so light that she seldom remembered how protective it was. If she had gone through the same situation back in her day, she would have been killed in the explosion or died from her injuries thereafter. Of course, another way to look at it was that in her day, the likelihood of being attacked in Idaho by a group of large, wrinkly, hairless people was somewhere between slim and none.
She melted into the bed, and was just about to drift away into a pleasant sleep when the door chimed. Frustration was her first emotion, followed by curiosity. She knew, given the circumstances, if she ignored it, whoever was at the door would go away, assuming she was fast asleep. On the other hand, if someone was here to see her, knowing her condition, it was probably important. The curiosity won out, so she slipped out of bed, and into a robe.
She ran a mental list of who would be at the door. Jack was busy with the Saber operation, Teague was either with Jack, with the new reborn guy, or maybe meeting with the council to brief them on everything that has happened in the past couple hours. She opened the door and, to her surprise, Anton was standing there.
It took her off guard, and she hesitated before saying, “Uh, hello. What’s up?” They had been through a lot the last two days, and like anyone surviving something like that, they had grown closer. Seeing him in the doorway tonight, she feared he had mistaken that bond for something more.
“Wendy, we need to talk. Can I come in?” She hesitated again, then stepped back and gestured for him to come inside. He walked into the living room, stopped and turned toward her, getting very close. She was just about to push him back and tell him that she didn’t feel that way about him when he said quietly, “We need to talk about the traitor. I think we should tell Marcus.”
Heat flooded her chest and face, and she felt like an idiot. Here she thought he was coming for a booty call, a little reward for saving her life. She needed to stop thinking like every man only wanted one thing from her. If anyone deserved her trust, it was Anton. She took a breath to clear her mind and whispered, “We can’t talk about this here, you know that someone could potentially be listening in.” She looked around, thinking about it.
A thought popped into her head and she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the bathroom. Surely they don’t have cameras and microphones in the bathroom. If they do, there is going to be hell to pay, conspiracy or not. The thought of someone tapping into her apartment cameras was bad enough.
The bathroom was not large. It was maybe six feet wide and four feet deep with the door in the center of the longer wall. A sink and toilet were against the wall to the right, and the shower occupied the wall to the left. That left them an area about four feet by two feet to stand and talk, after the door was closed.
They stood very close together, talking softly.
“I understand what Chuck was saying earlier, but I still think we need to tell Marcus. He is our leader, and it’s our responsibility to let him know what’s going on.”
“What if he’s the one behind it?”
Anton scoffed at that. “What would he have to gain by our failure? If this whole operation fails, New Hope will suffer for it. Marcus would have nothing to gain from failure.”
“I tend to agree, but think about Jack. A lot of people here, particularly the reborn, see Jack as a breath of fresh air. Marcus has been pussyfooting around the Freezer for four years, and Jack comes along and within a week he has the entire population of New Hope working for him to take what we can before Cali gets it. If he succeeds, he would be a threat to Marcus’ leadership. If he fails though, things can go back to how they were. You and I can’t begin to imagine how someone with memories going back two hundred years would feel about change.”
Anton thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “I see what you are saying, but I don’t see Marcus putting us in harm’s way, even if it meant his position on the council.”
Wendy shrugged. “I don’t know if he would or not. I haven’t been here as long as you have, but what if he is behind it? He can’t afford for it to get out. If we confront him with this information and he is the one responsible for the attack, we’re as good as dead. I don’t want to take that risk. I trust Chuck and Jack, I think we should let them handle this.”
Anton was thinking about it when the door suddenly opened. He jumped and spun around, pinning Wendy against the wall and blocking her view. She couldn’t see who was there, but Anton said, “Christ Jack, you scared the hell out of us.”
Oh shit. This probably doesn’t look good. She peeked her head around Anton and saw a confused expression on Jack’s face. She smiled and said, “Uh, Hi Jack.” It was pretty weak, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She nudged Anton and when he looked back at her, she made a motion for him to exit the bathroom. When he moved away from her, the robe opened up, exposing some of her naked body. She quickly closed it and cinched the belt tight. God I hope he didn’t see that.
Anton was blushing as he walked out of the bathroom. He carefully stepped around Jack, stopped once he was past, and turned back to face them both. To Jack he said, “Um, we were just talking. I, uh... I’m gonna go now.” He then looked at Wendy once more and said, “Think about it.”
When he exited the bathroom, Wendy motioned for Jack to come in and close the door. He didn’t move. There was tension in the air, and she was frantically trying to think of what to say to diffuse the situation. Before she could think of anything, he said, “Look, I just brought your datapad. I would have called, but...” He set the datapad in the sink and took a step back again. “If I interrupted something, I can leave.”
“No! I mean, don’t be silly, Jack. Come here.” He hesitated another moment then stepped into the bathroom, the door closing behind him.
She got up close to him and whispered, “We were talking about the traitor. I figured there wouldn’t be any cameras or microphones in my bathroom. I was just getting into bed when he showed up. I’m sorry if it looked like something else, but you have nothing to worry about.”
He seemed to relax a little, but still looked a little wary. “I should have knocked, I’m sorry.”
“No, really, I have nothing to hide from you Jack. You scared the shit out of me when you opened the door like that. All this talk of conspiracy and a traitor, and I thought for sure when the door opened it would be whoever was responsible, holding a rifle, ready to tell us why he did it before emptying the magazine into our bodies.”
Jack laughed. “This sounds like a James Bond novel. I don’t think you have to worry that much about the enemy showing up in your bathroom. Whoever is behind this isn’t going to be so bold as to openly murder someone.”
The adrenaline that had shot into her system when the door opened was making her a little antsy, and being this close to Jack for the first time in a couple days had her body on overdrive. She moved closer to him, pressing her breasts against his chest. “It’s a good thing it wasn’t the enemy at the door, shooting at me. All I have on to protect me is this flimsy robe, and nothing else. I wouldn’t stand a chance.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a long kiss.
When they broke off, Jack looked into her eyes for a long moment, then seeming to find what he was looking for, smiled coyly and said, “If I didn’t know you better, I would say you were trying to seduce me.”
Wendy was shaking just slightly from the adrenaline, the hormones, and the nervousness that stemmed from the unknown, but his comment gave her the confidence to smile, untie the robe, and let it drop to the floor. “I don’t need to seduce you, Jack.”
He took a step back and admired her body, frowning when he spotted the large bruises. “My God, Wendy, you must be in pain. W
as that all from the explosion?”
She silently cursed to herself. She should have waited until they were in the dark to undress. She must not look too attractive with all the bruises. “Mostly, that and some bullets bouncing off my armor. I don’t really feel any pain though, Teague gave me another shot of his potion before I got ready for bed. Speaking of bed...”
But the mood was broken. “I really just came down to talk to you. I only have about a half hour.” He walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. She picked up the robe, put it back on, and followed, once again nervous about what he was going to say. If he was upset with her about her cold exit the other night and had done anything with Cat, finding her in the bathroom with another man just minutes ago was probably going to push him over the edge, whether it was innocent or not.
He sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him. She sat down and rested her head on his shoulder. “Look Wendy, I wanted to make sure you weren’t mad at me from the other night. Chuck and Emmet weren’t going to stop harassing me until they found out who I was with, so I told them. I didn’t say anything more, and I wasn’t spreading it around. It’s been a long time since I had a... girlfriend, and I guess I am out of practice on how to keep it to myself.”
This wasn’t quite what she had steeled herself for, so her response was a little scatterbrained, “Oh shit, no, Jack, I overreacted. When I was in the military, most of the men I dated would brag about it the next day, and I hated it. I know you aren’t the kind of guy to do that, and I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. If it’s any consolation, I went and talked to Chuck that night, and he told me how he came to know about us. And about how much of a cold bitch I have been since I got here. When I got to your room to apologize, I saw Ca… I mean, you were already asleep, and then I went on that stupid mission the next morning and I was supposed to be back before…”
“Wait, back up. You saw Cat leaving my room that night?”
Oh shit, here it comes. “Yeah, and I… I can understand if you…”
“If I what? Want to have sex with her?”
She looked away, wanting to crawl into a hole. A tear started to form. “Yes.”
He didn’t say anything, and she was just about to get up and tell him to leave when he finally said, “When I saw you with Anton a few minutes ago…”
She looked at him, “Dammit, Jack, that was not what it looked like!”
As she turned to look, he put a finger to her lips. “When I saw you with him a few minutes ago, there was a brief moment when I wondered if I was enough for you, if you really cared about me, particularly given the way you left me the other night, then left on this mission without saying anything. But then I saw the way you looked at me, and I realized something really important.”
Meekly she said, “What’s that?”
“That I trust you. And despite that fact that you could have any man in the world, you want me. That means a lot to me, but if you don’t trust me, it is irrelevant.”
Now she looked away because the tears were flowing. “Jesus Christ, Jack, if you’re fucking with me…” She turned back to him, her confidence renewed and a fire in her eyes. “I do, Jack, I trust you completely. You better not fuck this up.”
Jack lay back on the bed. “Well, now I see what you mean by cold bitch…”
“Hey, that isn’t…” Jack’s laughter cut into her protest, and she realized he was pulling her leg again. She looked down at him and punched him in the chest. He grabbed her and pulled her on top of him. “You only have a half hour, huh?”
“About twenty minutes, now.”
“I think that’s enough time.” She got up and turned off the light, shed the robe again, and climbed back onto the bed.
“You know, even bruised you have an incredible body. You didn’t have to turn out the light.” She worked his pants off and climbed on top of him.
“You’ll say anything to get laid won’t you.”
* * *
Jack got back to the flight bay just as the transport was landing outside Saber Cusp. Chin was at the control center, and Teague was sitting in a chair next to him.
“That was quick, Mad Dawg.” Chin was looking at him with a big grin on his face.
He was beginning to regret ever having shared his old nickname with Tiny. He did his best to look serious and innocently said, “I just brought her the datapad.”
Chin didn’t say anything, just went back to the screens in front of him. The speaker squawked, “Fire team one, this is fire team two.” It was Thomas’ voice. “We are just about in position. We will move as soon as your fireworks show begins.”
“Roger that, fire team two, start runnin as soon as you hear shots. We will keep em busy enough that they won’t even notice you.” That was the plan anyway. Jack was anxious to see how well it worked.
* * *
Thomas led the team to the corner of a building. He peeked his rifle around the corner and didn’t spot anyone on the night vision video feed. To the north, all hell was breaking loose. Bursts of gunfire, muffled thumps of grenades, and the battle cries of dying Mutes filled the air. The diversion appeared to be working, the street was clear. He motioned for two men to cross.
They sprinted across the open street while Thomas and two others covered them. They made it to the next building without anyone shooting at them. The two men took up positions and signaled for the rest to cross.
Thomas brought up the rear as his men sprinted across the street. Just before rounding the corner he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Diving to the ground, he brought up his weapon and held his breath as his heart pounded in his chest from a combination of adrenaline and the exertion of the recent sprint. He held for ten seconds, keeping his optics steady to spot the movement again. Just before letting it out, he caught it again. There were two Mutes running alongside a building, heading purposefully toward his team. He let out his breath, whispered “I got the one in front”, and waited for confirmation from one of his men that they were ready. He held his breath again, steadied up, got the Mute in his cross hairs, and gently massaged the trigger. The other soldier fired within a fraction of a second of his own shot, and the two reports echoed down the street, bouncing between buildings. The two bodies had dropped and skidded to a halt.
Thomas took a few measured breaths, waiting to see if more Mutes would follow, but it appeared the shots had been drowned out in the melee to the north. Getting to his feet, he signaled his men to go around the building to the next block and then turned them north.
* * *
It took less than ten minutes to make their way to their destination. They had moved five more blocks to the north, and three to the west, leaving four more dead Mutes in their wake, but so far the other fire team’s diversion was working and they hadn’t drawn the attention of any large group of Mutes. Thomas tapped a few keys on his PDP and an overlay of the city came up on his visor, small red dots signifying the two fire teams location blinked on the map. Red’s men were nearly a mile away, holding steady at the defensive position they had set up. There was also a curved line drawn on the map in yellow, marking the outside boundary of the sensor range for the ground defense system. They were right at the edge of that line.
The map was hardly necessary. In front of them was a line of debris, bones, and even the smell of rotting flesh. Anything living that had attempted to cross this line in the last two hundred odd years had met a quick and gruesome death. If it hadn’t been so dark, they could have looked behind them and seen the concrete sides of the buildings facing toward their next destination covered in bullet holes from years of being hammered by the defensive turrets. The thought of moving any further than this sent a chill up Thomas’ spine. He hoped to God that the code Marcus gave them would work. He motioned for the computer guy, Dave, to come forward and start working his magic.
Thomas had always been the athletic type, a multiple letterman in high school. There weren’t computer geeks back when he was in high school,
but there was still the nerdy, geeky type of kids that he and his friends had bullied and tormented. Dave looked like one of those nerds, and Thomas felt the irony of putting his life in this guy’s hands. The man looked out of place in full combat gear. He envisioned him being more comfortable wearing a lab coat, sporting a pocket protector with an old fashioned slide rule poking out of it, watching a computer as lines of information rolled down the screen. It was difficult not to wonder how the man was handling this situation.
Dave pulled out his datapad and started pushing buttons, the light from the screen illuminating his face through the visor of his helmet. He examined the dark buildings around him and pressed on the screen a few more times. The datapad beeped and Thomas saw a green light on the screen. “It’s disarmed. We can move up to the command center. I don’t think I’ll have much trouble getting us into the building.”
Thomas would have been the first to move in to verify the turrets were off, but as a leader, he couldn’t take the chance. He had thought about this point long and hard, and decided to send Kenny out there first. He motioned for the man to proceed.
Kenny looked at Dave, said with a grin, “You better be right,” and sprinted into the kill zone, heading for some bullet pocked debris about twenty feet away that might provide him some cover if the turrets opened fire. He made it to cover safely, sliding behind it like a baseball player stealing home plate.
Thomas let out a breath he hadn’t realize he had been holding, and patted the computer expert on the shoulder. “Good job, Dave. Okay men, let’s move forward. Our goal is a two story gray building, about a half mile west of here.” The men advanced cautiously, working in pairs, advancing toward their goal. The area was completely void of life, somehow making this part of the mission worse than sneaking through the Mute neighborhood.
The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) Page 37
