Patriots & Tyrants (Rebels & Lies Trilogy Book 2)

by Cotton, Brian

  The father and son’s quiet moment was interrupted by Dexter popping his head in the tent. The two looked up and Harvey could feel the anxiety in Dexter from his facial expressions. The rebel leader put on a slight grin and moved his right hand forward, letting his solider know that it was okay to move in.

  “Clarke wants to see you, boss.” Dexter said.

  “Is it urgent?” Harvey replied.

  “He seems to think so.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  .16

  Kaspar began to circle around Clarke’s desk while he worked on the flash drive. Clarke adjusted his glasses then told the man behind him to stop. He almost felt like he was talking to his old friend, Paxton, when he told Kaspar to calm down and let him work. It was hard enough to concentrate on gathering all the information from the drive without someone in the room making him nervous.

  Kaspar couldn’t help it. How could he? He had Krys to think about. She was asleep in their tent, too exhausted from the physical and mental stress of the last mission. Not to mention the loss of another friend, something that she said was getting more and more of an ugly habit of theirs. She just wanted the resistance to make enough progress to where she could just rest. They both knew, however, that there was a lot of work to be done.

  “Anything, yet?” Kaspar demanded. He walked up behind Clarke and looked over his shoulder.

  “No, now stop looking over my shoulder.” Clarke replied. “Just…try to relax or something.”

  “You know that’s an impossible request.”

  “Well, you circling around me and looking over my shoulder is only going to annoy me and make the wait longer.”

  “Okay, just try to hurry up.”

  Kaspar patted the old hacker on the back then found Clarke’s cot in the corner. He laid his back on it then rested his hands underneath the back of his head. The wait was excruciating. Most likely there would be nothing to find, but there was still hope. Krys needed advanced medical attention at this point. She looked horrible after the mission as she was barely able to hold her head up or keep her eyes open. Kaspar knew that if nothing was found now that the love of his life would be doomed to an early death.

  Clarke continued to pound away at the keys. With the tent now a dead silence, the constant clicking of the keyboard started to crawl under Kaspar’s skin. Kaspar tried to get his mind off of it, but there was little else to occupy it with. Other than Steinner’s death, Krys’s trip to that same destination, and fighting against the USR, there was nothing more to his life. He started to think about Mother for a moment when Clarke rose up from his chair. Kaspar began to stand up when Clarke suddenly ran out of the tent.

  “Get Sam, now!” Clarke’s voice was heard saying.

  Kaspar walked up to the screen and glued his eyes to it. A lot of what was on there was gibberish, technical mumbo jumbo that probably only Clarke could decipher. Clarke ran back into the tent and, without saying anything to Kaspar, sat back down and started to click away at the screen. The fact that he had someone over his shoulder the entire time didn’t seem to faze him any longer. There was something of great interest on there and that could only mean one thing.

  Could it be?

  ***

  After what seemed like an age, Harvey finally made his way into the tent. Clarke was still silent and Kaspar was too afraid of breaking the man’s concentration that he remained silent as well. Harvey seemed disturbed, which was obvious, as a fellow soldier had just gone down. But, it seemed to be more than that. Kaspar didn’t care to ask, he just wanted to know what the hell Clarke had found.

  “What is it, Robert?” Harvey asked, his tired voice shaken.

  “I think we might have found it!” Clarke cried with enthusiasm all over his voice.

  Harvey started to say something, but Kaspar cut him off. “Found what? The cure?”

  “Maybe so.” Clarke replied.

  Harvey’s eyes lit up in unison with Kaspar’s. The leader moved the young rebel to the side by invading the space behind Clarke. The former prize fighter didn’t care about the rude gesture. His heart started to race, the adrenaline in his blood made him light headed, and he forced himself from running out of the tent and waking Krys. Whatever Clarke just found still had to be verified. What a cruel joke it would have been to give her hope too early.

  “You see,” Clarke said, without looking up from the screen. “There is it, right there.”

  Harvey gestured for Clarke to get up. Clarke obeyed and smiled wide at Kaspar who was still in shock at the discovery. This had to be it. Why else would Clarke be so giddy at the moment? Harvey seemed impressed, too. When he stood, he turned to face them, and he smiled, too.

  “This is it.” Harvey said.

  “The cure?” Kaspar asked. He moved his body forward with interest.

  “Yes, this report is saying so, anyway. It’s out in the mountains. Might take a couple of days to drive there, but this is it.”

  “You’re sure? It’s not some misread data or something?” Kaspar demanded.

  “According to this report, this is the only place where the cure is being manufactured.”

  “Why would they only have one spot where they make it?” Kaspar wondered.

  “It’s easy,” Clarke cut in. “They want to keep the supply as low as possible. If they made it everywhere, then guys like us could swoop in and take it. Not to mention, this is perfectly in line with the way the USR thinks.”

  “Regardless,” Harvey said, “we’ll have to play this one close to the vest. We’ve only got one shot at this. That cure could turn the tides of this war in our favor if we play it right.”

  “And, Krys, too. Don’t forget about Krys.”

  Harvey folded his arms. “We’re all worried about Krys, but this is a powerful tool to have if we can get it.”

  “Krys is a human being,” Kaspar shot back.

  “Again, I understand your concern for her. God knows I’m worried about her, too. But, this is something bigger than any of us.”

  Something inside of Kaspar snapped. It was that same feeling when Paxton accused him of being USR, the same feeling when those bikers at the bar taunted him, when Razor said something about his father. That button, it hadn’t been touched in a long time. And, here he found himself, red in the face and having Clarke hold him back. He didn’t want to slug Harvey or anything. He just wanted to get up close and personal to let his superior know that what was said went unappreciated.

  “Calm down, Ryan.” Clarke said from behind.

  “Let him go, Robert.” Harvey shot back. “If he’s got something to prove let him.”

  Clarke let go. Kaspar got right in Harvey’s face. The feeling of hot breath brushed on his face. With his fists clinched, he breathed in heavy breaths, even tried some count to ten BS that Krys taught him. In the end, he simply walked past Harvey and nobody said anything. Kaspar threw the opening of the tent aside as he paced to his own.

  It doesn’t matter what he says, Kaspar thought. In the end, justice would come for Krys, and then they could use that cure as a political tool all they wanted. As long as Krys got the first dose, that was all that mattered to him.

  He held back his enthusiasm as he prepared to tell Krys the good news.

  .17

  He found Krys asleep and curled up in their heavy sleeping bag when he entered. Kaspar tried to be quiet as he moved in and started to take off his clothes. As excited as he was about the news, he knew that she needed her rest. By accident, his foot rubbed against her back, and he looked down to see if he had awoken her. She started to move her head around and then moved her hair away from her eyes. She smiled as she saw Kaspar move in towards the cot.

  “Hey,” she said in a hoarse voice.

  “Hey, yourself.” Kaspar replied. He couldn’t contain the grin on his own face.

  “What’s that look for?” Krys wondered with a raised eyebrow.

  “Oh, nothing, it can wait until morning.”

 
“Okay, keep your secrets.” Krys replied.

  They both laughed for a moment until Krys started to cough violently. She leaned her head over the side of thick blanket and reached for her bucket. When it was in line with her mouth, she started to vomit. A lump started to develop in Kaspar’s throat which forced him to swallow hard. He couldn’t stand to see her like this any longer. Once this episode was over, he reached over to her a gripper her close.

  “I can’t do this anymore,” Krys said in a low screech as she tried to catch her breath. She was crying. “I can’t, Ryan, I can’t…please just let me go.”

  “I can’t do that. Not yet.”

  “Ryan, please, just…”

  “Just wait until morning, baby. Everything will be better.”

  “You don’t know what this is like.”

  “I promise, I swear to you, everything will be better in the morning.”

  Krys gasped for breath several times and calmed down. She began to recite something unclear to Kaspar under her breath. Despite the urge, Kaspar didn’t say anything else to her, he just held her. Her body was hot against his bare chest. Sweat from her hot skin saturated his flesh as well. As he held her, the jerks in her breathing almost forced tears into his eyes.

  She cried for another hour before she finally fell asleep. Every day and night with her outdid the previous as being the darkest moments of his life. It wasn’t fair. Not fair to him, but especially, not fair to Krys. She was the strongest, most head strong, bravest person he ever met and now she was talking about giving in. Her condition was now worse than ever.

  Through it all, he kept his arms wrapped around her, and somehow succumbed to sleep.

  ***

  Harvey waited impatiently for Clarke to patch him through to another resistance leader on the laptop. The computer wiz kept telling him that it would only be a few more moments, which was a few too many moments ago already. No matter how uncomfortable he felt, Clarke didn’t dare ask Harvey to stop. It was one thing to say it to Kaspar, another entirely to tell it to a superior. He simply swallowed hard and got over it.

  “You’re patched through.” Clarke said as he stood from his chair.

  “About time,” Harvey replied.

  Harvey took Clarke’s place on the chair. On the screen in front of him was a live, real time image of Roy Sanders, a former Delta Force operator who was also suckered into the USR’s scheme of setting up rebel squads around the country. His weathered face looked almost tired all the time. His hair was singed off entirely on the left side of his head. The skin that remained there was a crusted red mess that caused Harvey to cringe every time he saw it. The scar was received, from the way Sanders told it, after he got too close to a flame thrower wielding North Korean.

  Sanders became close with Harvey once the scheme’s lid was blown off by Robert Clarke and John Paxton’s old crew. Unlike Harvey, Sanders had never worked with Paxton in the past, as they were in different branches of the military. However, they all saw Paxton’s execution on television, and they all vowed that they would continue on with the fight. Their resolve, especially Sanders’s, only grew stronger when Clarke’s encrypted messages were deciphered.

  “Hey, Sam, what the hell you gettin’ me up from my wet dreams for?” Sanders demanded.

  “I’ve got some information you might find compelling, you old son of a bitch.” Harvey replied, not able to contain the smirk on his face.

  “Well, let’s hear it then, Lacey was starting to do her thing.”

  “You know that thing we’ve been looking for?”

  Sanders looked confused. “What thing? Freedom, liberty, a fucking win in this damned war?”

  Harvey started to look from left to right to make sure nobody else besides Clarke happened to be in the tent. Other than Kaspar, who he hoped would keep his own damn mouth shut, he didn’t want anyone else to know quite yet. It was obviously a delicate situation that needed verification. Nonetheless, they would need some help once they got there, and though he had never met the man, Sanders was someone he knew he could trust.

  “That thing that cures the other thing…”

  “You found something?” Sanders’s demeanor changed completely at the sound of that. His body perked up and he leaned forward almost to the point of head butting his webcam.

  “Maybe,” Harvey replied. “Obviously, we need keep this between us for the moment, until we can verify all the facts. I’ve got Clarke forwarding over a report to you as we speak.”

  “Okay, let me take a look at it.”

  Harvey watched as Sanders looked over to a monitor to the side. The old soldier’s eyes lit up and for a moment the old, tired scowl disappeared. He turned back over to face Harvey through the monitor.

  “You think this is for real?” Sanders demanded.

  “As real as it gets.” Harvey replied.

  “How did you acquire this?”

  “Ripped it straight from a USR hard drive. Right before blowing their little toys to hell.”

  “Yeah, I heard about that, damn good job out there. But…”

  Harvey leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “But, what?”

  “I don’t know, could be a trap.”

  “Maybe so, but if this accurate, this could be the key to all of our efforts. Everything we’ve done since learning of that damn terrible experiment. We can cure the women, and not just the wealthy, good to do ones the USR would use that thing for. We also wouldn’t hold it back and use it for a propaganda tool.”

  “Let’s say we do get that cure, then what? How would we distribute it?” Sanders wondered.

  Harvey unfolded his arms and rested them on his head, holding it up from the desk. There would be no easy way for them to get it out there. Hell, he was even questioning his whole talk about the USR’s propaganda. It would be just as easy for the resistance to use it for their own ends the same way that the USR would.

  But, he knew that there were good men in the resistance, and he couldn’t say the same for the USR. They would do positive things if they could get their hands on it. If they didn’t try, they would be in the same boat they were in now, with nothing. They’d still be losing in a war effort that had little chance of success to begin with. This guerilla warfare they were engaged in would eventually meet its end once the mighty USR tightened its grip on them. They needed something. An ace in the hole…a trick up their sleeve…anything.

  “I don’t know, yet. But, we’ve got smart people working for us. We can sort all that out later.” Harvey replied.

  “You’ve also got to worry about certain soldiers who will get antsy with that in our possession. We would have to play it exactly right.”

  “We will.”

  “Talk is cheap, Sam, you know that.”

  “We’ve got to try, though. Even if everything went to hell once we got it.”

  “I agree. What do you need from me?” Sanders asked.

  “I’m going to need you and your men.”

  “How did I know you were going to ask that?”

  “This is a big one. We’re going to need all the help we can get.” Harvey said.

  “You want me to get anyone else involved?” Sanders asked.

  Harvey pondered the question for a moment. “Better not. We need to be as hush hush about this as possible. We just lost a man and I could use some help, at the very least.”

  “Who’d you lose?”

  “Steinner.”

  Sanders sighed and shook his head slow. “I’m sorry to hear about that. How’s your team holding up?”

  Harvey took a deep breath. “They’re shaken and morale’s kind of low. I’m hoping that we can verify this cure and that’ll boost that. We’re going to give Steinner a proper memorial tomorrow then head for the compound.”

  “I see. Well, I’ll get my men ready and we’ll move out. We’ll meet you about halfway to discuss strategy and what not.”

  “It’ll be a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  Sanders smil
ed. “The pleasure will be all mine.”

  .18

  Sullivan made his way into the precinct’s equipment room right next to the weapons cache. He looked around at the different devices available to him as an Agent. The only problem being that he needed to check them all in and out whenever one was in use. And, he would have to come up with a valid reason for having what he came for. There was no way that even he could justify the use of this experimental device to Fitzpatrick.

  It didn’t take much to persuade himself that borrowing it without permission was worth the risk. Worse came to worse he could always feed some bullshit to his superior. Maybe he would buy it, maybe not, but he needed it. His eyes stared down at the tiny black sphere and he calmed his nerves. His sleight of hand was on an expert level. As smooth as the best pick pockets and jewel thieves, he slid it into his pants pocket, and then turned for the exit.

  After he got what he came for, he moved into the weapons room. Inside, there were rows of weapons from advanced assault rifles to the more conventional side arms and submachine guns. With a firm grip on the handle, he grabbed a replacement Glock 17 then exited the weapons cache.

  Next, he would have to check the gun out at the front desk. He walked up and saw an attractive young brunette in her late twenties. She was messing around with her long smooth hair as she chomped loudly on her chewing gum. When Sullivan walked up to her counter the receptionist quickly stopped. She swallowed her chewing gum, and then wheeled her chair to the counter, putting on a fake smile when they made eye contact. Sullivan could tell the poor woman hated her job. He couldn’t blame her.

  “You trading in your side arm today?” she asked. Sullivan noticed her name tag.