Arctic Series (Book 1): Arctic Cold

by Jason Keizer

  She looks up to Inara and says, “It’s ok.”

  Inara pulls on Mercy’s arm once again “Get up Mercy. Get up.” She turns to the General. “How dare you? You can’t…”

  Mercy quickly shouts, “Inara, stop it. I got this.”

  Inara reluctantly let's go of Mercy as the officer grabs Mercy’s hands from her head. He puts them behind her back and tightens the zip cuffs. He helps Mercy to her feet. Mercy stares at the ground as she is escorted towards the door. Before walking out of the room, Mercy stops, as does the officer holding her elbow.

  She lifts her head and turns it towards Inara. “Make sure you water my plants, I don’t want them to die in the couple days I am gone.”

  Inara nods her head and says, “No problem. I will take care of all of this so don’t you worry.”

  Mercy turns her head back forward and walks out of the room. The other officer walks out behind them and grabs on to one of her elbows.

  “You know none of this is going to keep,” Inara says to the General. Her eyes start to water and tear as she stares at him with a grave look on her face.

  With a slightly sly look, the General replies, “I am truly sorry Dr. Stone. This is entirely out of my hands, and I am just here out of respect. There is no doubt that you and your people will be able to get her free of these charges. Whether they are false or not, that is up to a judge and jury to decide.”

  He puts his head down a little bit and lowers his shoulders some. “If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. All of my resources will be at your service for this. I will try to postpone the hearing a little bit for you to gather your evidence. The most I can do is a week. I am sorry.” He turns around and starts to walk out of the door.

  Before he is able to exit, Inara scowls, “We are working on your evidence.” The General quickly looks back at Inara with a small echo of surprise in his eyes.

  He responds with a quick grin, “You better hope you do it soon then.” He turns his head back forward and walks out of the office. As the door closes, Inara grabs her phone, presses on the app she just installed and calls Sam.

  “This is Sam.”

  “Hey, this is Dr. Stone. I mean Inara. We have a problem.”

  “I know. I tried to let Mercy know as soon as I could. I wish I could have told her sooner, but I needed to get the secure lines up before saying anything, or we would all be going with her right now.”

  “I understand, but what are we able to do about this?”

  “I have a plan, but it is going to take a couple of days to get everything together. We need to meet up as soon as you can.”

  “Ok. Just give me a few, and we can meet up at Al’s Diner. He will make sure everything is safe for us there.”

  “Ok. I will let Bob know and we will meet in one hour.”

  “Thank you. I’ll see you soon. Bye.”

  Click

  TWENTY FOUR

  In a dark room, James reaches around for the light switch. After a couple seconds, the lights turn on, showing the room of cots and a couple bags to the right of James. He turns around and yells, “Wake up everyone. It’s bright and early, you all smell like assholes and onions, and we have shit to do today. So, let’s shower up and get to it.”

  Waking up on his cot, Captain Hammer opens his eyes first. Henry and Jessica are sharing a pair of cots they moved next to each other. Oliver sits up, his cot across from Henry. “What time is it?” he asks.

  James pays no attention to him as he walks over to the center of everyone. James slowly passes over everyone in the room with a wide grin and says, “Good morning. In about two hours, we should be breaking ground and entering a new floor and area in this building.”

  Henry opens his eyes, sits up, and says, “Really? You are going to pull this shit, today?”

  He moves his arm and gives Jessica a shake. She turns around towards Henry, and also, to James, and asks, “What is going on?”

  James pays no attention to either of them as he continues, “Today, we will all join together, and make way down a new floor. We will be launching our best opportunity to get out of here.”

  Henry wraps an arm around Jessica and asks, “This shit ass speech? Right now?”

  With no regard to anyone else, James continues, “We will launch the largest floor strike in the history of mankind.” James pauses for a second.

  Oliver, flopping back down onto his cot and pulling the thin blanket over his face, begrudgingly asks, “Can you please be quiet?”

  James continues, “Mankind. That word should have a new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be set in our differences anymore. Today, we will be united in our common interests.” James pauses for a second to think.

  Captain Hammer sits up. “Is this that Bill Pullman speech from…”

  He gets cut off by Oliver, “Yeah. He used to make this same speech but in different words on all our missions back in the day.”

  James continues, “And you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but from annihilation.”

  Henry sits up, looks around his bunk and picks up one of his boots. He says, “It’s way too early for your shit today.” He throws the boot at James, who steps to the left and lets the boot fly to the wall.

  “We’re fighting for our right to live, to exist. And should we win the day, this day will no longer be known as what it is, but as the day we broke the fourth-floor wall and made it out to freedom.”

  Oliver lets out a small laugh as he slides out from under his wool blanket. He says, “Here we go.”

  James continues with a loud and thunderous voice:

  “We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!

  We’re going to live on!

  We’re going to survive!

  Today we celebrate…”

  James thinks for a second.

  “Our breaking out of this place!”

  Henry, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, stands up and says, “That last line was weak. You might be slipping a bit. But, now that that is over, I’m gonna hit the shower before we burn this bitch to the ground.”

  He turns his hips and looks back at Jessica. With a wide grin, he asks, “Care to join?”

  As Jessica sits up, she nods her head and gives a long yawn. She gets up, bringing the blanket with her to stay covered. She grabs a small bag from next to her cot and her boots from under it. Henry grabs his bag and one boot from under the cot.

  As they walk past James, he picks his other boot up from the floor and says, “I wish this would have hit your dumb ass.”

  Henry moves to the door and opens it for Jessica. She walks through it, and Henry follows.

  Captain Hammer sits up and tosses his covered legs off of his cot. He grabs a pair of pants from the floor and slides them on, under the blanket. He stands up and lifts his pants to his waist and buckles them. “Well, I think everyone should shit, shower, and shave before we get everything started. Once we set the charges and blow a hole in that floor, we are hopefully getting out of here. Well, that is if there is a way out down there.”

  James tosses Captain Hammer a shirt and says, “Trust me, there will be. I have been to a couple places like this in my day, there is always another way out. If not, we will make one.”

  As he slides his head through his shirt, Captain Hammer says, “We will see. You guys go on ahead. I have to write the mission progress to relay back to higher when we get back.”

  Oliver sits up in his cot and sarcastically asks, “So, like a diary?”

  The Captain shakes his head and shortly says, “No. It’s a recap of the mission. I would have written it last night, but after drinking a bit, thought not to.” He sits on his cot, grabs a small black book and a pen, opens it up and starts to write.

  As the Captain writes, Oliver lifts his hands up and puts them behind his head. He sinks down a little bit in the cot, looks at James with a big smile and in a deep, shitty so
uthern accent says, “My dearest Virginia. Tis been many fortnights since I’ve had the pleasure to gaze upon thee.”

  Captain Hammer stops writing, looks at Oliver and asks, “What are you doing? Is everything a giant ass joke to you three?”

  James walks over to the Captain and stands above him. As the Captain looks up, James gently touches the Captain’s lips with his index finger.

  “Shhh. Just let it happen,” James quietly says to the Captain.

  The Captain quickly pushes James’ arm to the side, removing the finger from his lips. Confused and angry, Captain Hammer asks, “Did you just touch my lips? What the hell is wrong with you people?”

  James steps back. “Hey man, we all know this shit sucks. Some people wallow and bitch, we joke. That’s just the way we cope.” James turns away and shuffles through his bag. “You may continue.”

  The Captain shakes his head and mumbles a few words under his breath as he starts to write again.

  Oliver, continuing where he left off, narrates as the Captain writes, “Oh Virginia, I have thought of your bosom during my many lonesome nights. Thinking of the soft touch of your skin reminds me of the swift breeze that gathers under the britches that holds my wallet. For papa may not have been a Rollin’ Stone, but I am stoned. Lately, dear, my wallet has been quite empty, for I have less money than the love I feel for you. I yearn for the days I can see your face and feel the inside of that sweet box of love you keep just for me… Sincerely, your beloved Captain Tiberius Hamma tha third.”

  The Captain closes up his little notebook and swings his legs off the cot. As he stands up and walks out he says, “You guys are dicks. But, I guess we should get to the work at hand. 30 min to shit, shower, and shave, then all meet up in the conference room. Does that sound good to everyone?” James and Oliver both nod their heads.

  Before the Captain shuts the door, James quickly says, “Tell everyone to pack up what they need. We aren’t gonna make time for that once we start this off.”

  “Sure thing.” The Captain says as he shuts the door.

  James turns to Oliver and blurts out laughing, “You doing ok? It’s strange to see you so outgoing like this. I love it, but it is odd for you. But that was good. Maybe you should write a collection of fake war memoirs.”

  Oliver stands from his cot and stretches out his arms above his head. “I understand that I can be blunt and at times off-putting to people. I try not to be, but it happens. Just like with Inara, I try my best to be more like the old me as to not make them feel off when around us. Same goes for Jessica, I don’t want her to not like Henry cause me. Figure this just makes people more comfortable.”

  Oliver grabs his bag and pulls it in front of him. He bends down and starts to dig through it. “So, do you really think we can pull all this off? I mean, getting out of here like that.”

  James lets his bag go. “Honestly, I have no idea, but it sounds about right. Besides, those two have been here long enough. Having any doubt about getting out isn’t something they want or need to hear. And when have I ever steered us wrong?”

  Oliver grins, “Well, there was that one time in Iraq.”

  He changes his voice into a mocking tone, “We can take a shortcut and pass by Balad. Will take an hour off our drive.” His voice slows and deepens, “We got back 2 hours late, and Henry got shot in the chest.”

  James nods his head with a blank stare off behind Oliver. He snaps out of it and smiles. With a pat on Oliver’s shoulder, James says, “That was one time. And that only happened because of some bad intel. But yeah, that was pretty shitty. Thankfully, we all came out alive.”

  James pauses for a second. “Henry did get shot though.”

  Oliver laughs a little. “Yeah, but his vest stopped it for the most part. Now he has that scar that looks like a third nipple. I don’t know why, but the chicks seem to dig it.”

  James turns around and walks towards his cot. “I may not always have the best or even the right answer, but at least I try to have one.”

  Oliver bends back down and digs into his bag. “I didn’t mean that. I just want to know what our situation is like. If things don’t work as planned, we will have to figure things out. I just want to make sure we have a backup plan.”

  James nods his head and digs into his bag. “No worries brother. We will figure it all out on the go if need be. Won’t be the first time. No matter what, we have to get that ADS back to the capital.”

  He pulls out some clothes, bundles them in his arms and heads for the door.

  “Well, you heard the Hammer, 30 min conference room.” James walks out as Oliver pulls out socks from his bag.

  TWENTY FIVE

  Henry and Jessica walk into the conference room. Everyone else is already seated at the table and are looking at the screen on the wall showing the train the Baron was on yesterday. The Baron is still standing on one of the train cars, facing the building. His feet are shoulder width apart and both his hands placed on the cane in front of him. Smoke spews from his mouth, showing a small red ember from the tip of his cigar.

  “How the hell does he have so many cigars? Like, was he standing there all night smoking? Does he just keep a never-ending supply of them in his back pocket or something? Like some sort of magical fucking bag with nothing but cigars in it.” Henry says as he and Jessica sit on the right side of the table covered with blueprints.

  Across from them is Oliver. Near the door, to their left, at one head of the table, is Captain Hammer. At the other head, spun around and facing the screen, is James.

  James slowly turns his chair around and faces the table. “Yes Henry, he does have a magical pocket. It goes to a mythical world of elves and fairies. His pocket goes straight to a small farm run by elves, whose sole purpose in life is to make cigars for him. Not because they want to, no, they do it for fear that he will come through the pocket and eat them. But nonetheless, I can’t seem to figure out about his hat. He left us one in that town we were in, and he has left it other places as well. Yet, he always has one on his head. That’s the real mystery.”

  Henry shakes his head at James and mumbles, “I’ll give you something magical.”

  James sarcastically replies, “Don’t you threaten me with a good time.”

  James looks around the room at everyone and continues, “Since everyone is here, maybe we should get this plan straight and set everything up.”

  He stands up and leans forward on the table. He reaches out and grabs the print labeled B4. He points to a spot in the center of the room and says, “Henry, your job is to place enough C4 to cut a nice hole through the floor. Large enough for any of us to fit through. And by that, I mean this giant over here.”

  He circles his finger around the blueprint. “I also need you to mark off the spots for us to place the rest of it to level this building. Don’t forget we need just a bit extra for those silos outside. Hopefully, they are filled with something that will take out some of those dick wads outside.”

  He hands the print over to Henry. Henry looks at it for a moment, grabs a marker, then makes a couple of marks on it. He puts the print down and says, “I’m not completely sure, but these should be decent spots to bring the place down on itself. I will probably have to make a few adjustments when we get down there, but nothing big.”

  James looks around the room. “Good. Everyone make sure you have everything when we get onto that floor. I don’t plan on any of us having to come back up.”

  He points at Captain Hammer. “Hammer, you are in charge of the ADS system. I take that you can handle the extra weight of a pound. Also, you better have your arm ready to toss this C4 to the silos. I’ll come up with you and give a look-see of our surroundings. On our way back down, we can find out how to disable the fire alarm and sprinklers. Can’t have the alarm going off and creating a frenzy outside when we breach the floor.”

  Captain Hammer nods his head and says, “Roger that.”

  “Jessica, you will find any sort of fuel or anything t
hat can easily burn, spread it across the floors. Spread that shit everywhere, on every floor. You said there were radiation suits, which means oxygen tanks. Toss those shits around as well. If this place doesn’t fall down, maybe we can get it to burn up a bit,” orders James.

  He turns to Oliver. “I need you to try and get a message to Serra. To anyone in Serra. Just let them know we are on our way back. We don’t need them thinking we went down with this place.” Oliver nods his head.

  James continues, “Ok. When we prepare, everyone needs to put on their headsets and keep them open so we can freely communicate. We are on channel seven. This way if something changes, we can adjust our sectors. Once everything is set, we will meet back here with our bags, get a quick bite, and let the fun begin.”

  James stands up straight and looks around on the table and on the floor. After a few twists of his searching, he looks back up at the table and reaches for a coffee cup in front of Oliver. “Sorry bro,” he says as he takes it.

  He looks at everyone and yells out, “Meeting adjourned.” He lifts the cup up, takes a small drink, and slams it down on the table, shattering it and letting loose the rest of the coffee inside of it.

  “What was that for?” Oliver yells as he brushes coffee and glass off his shirt.

  James smiles. “I said sorry. I needed a gavel to adjourn the meeting, and I did tell you I would get you back after that armless Arctic.”

  Oliver stands up and heads out the room. “You do know what you just started. So watch yourself.”

  James nods his head as his smile widens. “Yup. No truce until boots on ground at home. I know the deal.”

  He looks over to Henry. “You want in on this?”

  Henry looks back and forth between the two, nods his head up and down excitedly and says, “Aww yeah I am. Gonna get you suckas, so watch out.”