Patriots & Tyrants (Rebels & Lies Trilogy Book 2)

by Cotton, Brian

  “Look,” Reed began. “He wants out, okay? That drug in the water supply killed his wife and he wants answers.”

  “Why us?”

  “Because, the USR has done such a damn fine job of weeding out the resistance. That Agent seems to think we’re the only ones left in town.”

  “I don’t buy it. It’s a trap.”

  “It could be, I agree. But, if it’s not, think of the advantage we could have with someone on the inside feeding us information.”

  X pondered that for a moment. “I don’t like it. You need to stop talking to him right now.”

  Reed reached into his jacket pocket for the phone. “He gave me this. He told me that he would call me on this phone if he sensed any trouble.”

  “Give me that.”

  X snatched the phone from his hands. He held it up close and began to inspect it. Reed simply gasped for breath again.

  “Is it bugged?” X demanded.

  “I don’t know, okay? We can run a tracer on it to see.”

  “What all have you told him?”

  “Nothing. He has no clue what we do in the factory. It’s forbidden even for him to know by his superiors. I think he’s telling the truth.”

  X slid the phone into his vest pocket and put the knife away as well. He then reached over and patted Reed on the back. The leader grew confused as to what would happen next. Was it really over after X threatened his life with that knife?

  “Pick yourself up, homes.” X said. “Just had to make sure.”

  “Make sure what?”

  “That you weren’t switching sides. We’ll take a look at that phone to see if it’s bugged. Just, don’t trust that Agent, okay?”

  “Not sure who I can trust at the moment, actually.” Reed replied.

  “Well, you can trust us.”

  “How’s our little mission going?” Reed asked with a sense of relief in his tone.

  “We’ve got the shipment ready. Statue is going to export our goods within the next couple of nights with that truck. Just gotta make sure he’s all clear. After that, we disappear.” X replied.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to fight with the resistance. What about you, homes?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve got my family to look after. We’ll probably go on the run. Maybe I can find a job somewhere after that.”

  “Unlikely. The USR’s going to be looking for you. You’ll have to go underground.”

  “Thanks for the reassurance.”

  “I’m not here to comfort your patty ass. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

  .31

  The combat vehicle came to complete stop. Under Sanders’s direction, the rebels were able to avoid detection, just as he planned. They sat now on the mountain some thirteen miles away from their target. Kaspar felt the vehicle stop and his nerves were starting to get the better of him. His body was shaking, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold air outside, or if it was from those nerves. He still struggled with pre-fight jitters.

  Krys’s head rested on his lap. Somehow, she managed to get some sleep during the trek up the mountain. When the vehicle stopped, she started to move her head as her mind left the dream world and reentered the real one. She moved her hand up to her burning forehead and wiped at the sweat. Then, her eyes made contact with Kaspar’s and her mouth revealed a smile. Kaspar smiled back down at her.

  “Hey, you.” Krys said with a weak voice.

  “Hey, yourself. How are you feeling?” Kaspar replied.

  “I feel like I’m burning up.”

  Krys reached for the zipper on her jacket, but Kaspar moved her hand aside. He unzipped the jacket for her. She needed help rising up from her lying position and then she slid her arms out. The fact that she was burning up was not a good thing. The combat vehicles they rode in did not have heating on the inside, and the temperature outside was frigid.

  “See you outside, Kas.” Dexter said as he stood and moved for the back of the vehicle.

  When the door was opened, the cold air blasted its way through. Dexter was quick to shut it, but the damage had already been done. Krys’s demeanor immediately changed. Now, she felt a sharp chill run down her spine. A curse from under her breath could be heard as Kaspar maneuvered himself down the bench.

  “Might need that jacket after all,” Krys said through her chattering teeth.

  Kaspar handed over the jacket and helped her put it on. Once on, Kaspar then helped her try to get comfortable on the bench. There were blankets in the back and two were placed overtop her. She rested her head on a white pillow and struggled to take a deep breath. Kaspar moved off the bench, got down on one knee, and rubbed at Krys’s forehead.

  “You be careful out there.” Krys said.

  “I will. You going to be okay back here?” Kaspar wondered.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Robbie’s going to be here to look over me.”

  “Not sure he’s the best person for that.”

  Krys smiled. “He’ll do fine. We should be able to avoid detection all the way out here, anyway.”

  “I don’t want to leave you here.”

  “I know, but they need you and your gun. Trust me, I’ll be fine. You just need to focus on the task at hand.”

  Kaspar could feel a lump in his throat as he swallowed hard. “I’m going to save you.”

  Krys smiled again. “I know.”

  Kaspar was about to move in for a kiss when he heard a loud banging noise on the back door. He shouted to hold on a moment then focused his attention back on Krys. It was always obvious to him, but the woman in front of him had never looked more beautiful. The greatest privilege of his life was being the one that Krys loved. That love was returned ten-fold on his end. Besides Mother, no other person loved him just for being exactly who he was. The thought of not having her around any longer caused him to feel a great, vast darkness inside. He moved his face close and embraced Krys with a kiss.

  “You better get moving.” Krys said.

  Kaspar pulled away. “Yeah, I guess so. You just hold tight. Try to stay warm.”

  There was that damn banging on the door again, only louder this time. Kaspar looked to the door then back at Krys. With a wink, Kaspar turned and moved to the door. Once there, he turned and gave one last look to Krys before he opened it. He was met by the ice cold stare of Sanders once it was opened. Sanders helped with the shutting of the door.

  “About fucking time,” Sanders scowled.

  “Just had to make sure she was okay.”

  “You need to focus on the mission.”

  Kaspar bit his tongue. This old bastard was the wrong person to get in a shouting match with and Kaspar knew it. The rebel moved over to the others who were dressed in the same white camouflaged fatigues as him. The new uniforms, different from the black ones they wore on every other mission, were provided by Sanders and his crew. Kaspar wiggled around in his as the closest one to his size was bit snug. It brought back memories of the first time he suited up for one of these missions. He reasoned that the tighter fit would help him to stay warm, which would be essential. They had a long hike on their hands, feet, and everything else.

  Dexter moved over and patted Kaspar on the back. There was a halfhearted smile on Dexter’s face. He was a man who was not good with emotion. Still, Kaspar appreciated the gesture. All around them were men from Sanders’s unit. During their travels to this spot there was little time to get to know any of them. They all looked tough as hell, though. Sanders simply didn’t allow them to be “weak” with any kind of emotion other than a gung ho, let’s fuck some Agents up, attitude.

  In the middle of the make shift arc that they all made, Sanders was having words with Harvey. It didn’t seem like a confrontation so much as the two old war veterans making sure the plan was in place. Over to his right, Kaspar noticed Buck standing by himself, his arms folded across his chest. The kid was leaning against the trunk of a pine tree. The snow underneath Kaspar’s boots made a cr
unching sound which gave away his approach. Buck looked to the sound, saw his comrade, and then looked back into the distance again.

  “How are you feeling, Buck?” Kaspar wondered.

  “I’m doing fine,” Buck replied without looking over. “Just ready to get this over with, you know?”

  “I hear you.”

  “I hope it’s in there and that we can find it.”

  “You’re telling me. Your lover isn’t sitting in the back of a vehicle dying.”

  Buck smirked. “Just because I don’t love someone who’s infected doesn’t mean you’ve got more reason than me to get it.”

  “Why do you want it so bad, then?”

  “Well,” Buck said with a shake of the head. “I just want to make my old man proud, I guess.”

  “I’m telling you, kid, you already have.”

  The conversation was cut short with a loud whistle from Sanders. Kaspar made a gesture with his head to follow him over. When they arrived at the huddle, the bitter cold was already getting to Kaspar. He reached into his flak jacket and grabbed the white Balaclava. It fit snug on the top of his head and he didn’t fold it all the way down to cover his face just yet.

  “Okay, girls,” Sanders said. “We’ve got a long hike in front of us. Just suck it up. If you don’t think you can make it, you can stay behind with the woman and Robert.”

  Kaspar bit his tongue again.

  “Now, we want to make it there in as short a time as possible, you get me? So, go the equipment truck, get your shit, and get back here. Double time it!”

  .32

  There was nothing but the cold. That was all that Kaspar could think about as he forced his way up trying to keep pace with everyone else. His attempts at guessing how many miles they had gone to this point stopped long ago. Every time he thought they might be close, there were more miles of snow covered ground. There was no feeling in his toes any more. His face, despite being covered by the white Balaclava, felt like someone was stabbing all areas of his cheeks with a sharp razor blade.

  The afternoon sun glistened off of the metallic silver lenses which covered his eyes. When he looked up, he thought he saw something blink in the sky. With all the mental and physical exhaustion, he felt that it must have been an illusion, so he just ignored it. He pressed on and felt a temptation to fire the PSD, which was slung across his chest, into the air so he could place his hands on the hot barrel. All the others, they seemed to be pros at this, especially Sanders’s crew. None of them seemed to struggle and, even if they were, they were skilled at not showing any signs of it. He just didn’t know, with the way his body ached, how he could even attempt to get into a firefight with the USR. Not when he couldn’t feel his hands.

  As he continued to follow the others up the endless mountain his thoughts started to drift away from him. Of course, the only person he was thinking about at this point was Krys. Was she okay? Did she finally succumb to the poison inside of her and die? There would be no way of knowing until they got back. Sanders was very clear that he wanted radio silence from all members of the team and there would be no exceptions. Sanders didn’t want this mission to go south, but then again, nobody else did, either. What made Sanders so high and mighty?

  The climb went on. Somehow, even though he felt as if his entire body was numb, Kaspar could feel the burn in his hamstrings and upper legs. So tired, he just needed to sit down somewhere and build a fire, then continue on. But the others, they just kept at it with their steady pace. When would it end?

  Kaspar saw Krys in his mind lying in a casket. They didn’t make it in time to cure her. All he wanted right now was to see her smile again. Was that too much to ask? He imagined them when they first got together. She made him feel like the best person on the face of the earth, and Kaspar knew that he wasn’t, but she still loved him all the same. There was never a time when Krys made him doubt their relationship. Just like with everyone else, they had their spats every now and then, but she always told him how much she loved him even when they fought. He just didn’t know what he was going to do if he couldn’t save her.

  More snow, more steps, more sharp stabs to the face. Kaspar didn’t even know how he was still standing at this point, when he couldn’t feel his feet. How had he managed to keep pressing on? The more he tried to ignore the pain, the more intense it grew to the point that it was all he thought about. There was another temptation in his mind to run to the front and ask Sanders how close they were. He knew what the response would have been, though, so he just kept moving.

  Harvey was right next to him. Just like Sanders, despite his age, he moved like he was thirty years younger. Kaspar peered over at him and tried to catch a glimpse at even the slightest bit of fatigue but there was none to be found. Harvey, who wasn’t even wearing his mask, looked to Kaspar and nodded his head.

  “Just got to keep moving,” Harvey said through the sharp, howling wind. “We’ll be there soon.”

  Kaspar couldn’t bring himself to talk with his chattering teeth. He simply nodded his head back. How soon was soon, though? Another hour of this shit? Maybe more? Kaspar’s thoughts drifted from Krys to Mother now. If there was an afterlife, he wondered what she was up to at this moment. Was she looking down at him, urging him on, even though he couldn’t hear it? Instead of that, he pictured her sitting down on a rocker, knitting away at her latest masterpiece. She was completely at peace, which was what she deserved after all she went through on earth.

  That anger over her murder burned inside once again, even in these bitter conditions. With all these missions they ran trying to stop the USR’s experiments in population control, he almost forgot why he was in this in the first place. It was because of her. To avenge her death. Even though he let one of them go, he knew that with every success, he was in turn, succeeding in that revenge. He would take down as much of the USR he could before he joined her, but then, what would anything he had done to that point matter?

  Up front, Sanders held his left fist straight up in the air. The hand signal ordered everyone to stop. With a wave of his left arm up and down, that meant to get down. Kaspar obeyed the order along with everyone else. Down on one knee, he shouldered his PSD and aimed it forward, ready to gun down the poor Agent who showed his face.

  The longer they remained down, the more focus was lost. He tried with everything not to think about the cold, but it clouded his mind to the point where he didn’t feel as if he could pull the trigger in time if they were ambushed. After what seemed like an eternity, Sanders finally gave the all clear. They were up and at it again. Kaspar struggled to get back up. With the fatigue and the cold, his legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each.

  They kept pressing on and they arrived at the top of a hill. When Kaspar reached the top, he looked down and a wave of relief swept through him. They had made it. The compound sat there, downhill a ways, and it still looked fairly small from here. It had a hexagonal shape to it. Little bits of the black roof could be seen, but it was mostly covered in white powder. Battle stations and watch towers were also set up around the perimeter. Off in the distance, Kaspar could see several black Humvees speeding away from the building. Where the hell were they going in such a hurry?

  “Huddle up, men.” Sanders ordered.

  The team moved in towards Sanders and huddled around him as ordered. He gave each person a look before he talked. When he got to Kaspar, he made a motion with his hands for him to take off the mask. Kaspar did so, but with reluctance. When the Balaclava left his face, the bitter cold wind stabbed at it with even more fury. What the hell did it matter if he was wearing the thing, anyway?

  Once Sanders was satisfied, he continued. “Listen up, ladies, there’s our target right down there. We’ve got to…”

  Just then, off in the distance, the loud sound of a set of jet engines echoed through the cold air. They all looked up to see three fighter jets, flying low, to the point where they could all see the USR insignia on the tails. They continued to fly in low to
wards the compound. Kaspar watched in horror, unsure of what was about to happen. He soon found out.

  A wave of missiles from the fighters headed straight for the compound.

  .33

  The explosion was deafening. Even from the distance at which the compound went up in flames, Kaspar could feel the heat of the fires on his face. He cursed aloud and got to his knees. The tears flowed free. As he stood, he caught a glimpse of an Agent pointing his weapon at him. Before the Agent could fire, Sanders took him out with an automatic burst.

  “Goddamn it!” Sanders cried out. “I thought I fucking heard something!”

  Sanders ordered his men to retreat. There was an assault vehicle full of Agents and they all came pouring out of it, M4 Carbines drawn and firing. Bullets tore through the snow covered ground all around Kaspar. He was in shock, staring down at the compound which was gone, and along with it, the cure was gone. This was Krys’s last shot and it was going up in flames.

  The bullets continued to fly in his direction. Harvey reached over and grabbed Kaspar by the shoulders and forced him to the ground.

  “The hell is the matter with you?” Harvey demanded.

  “The cure…Krys…”

  “Forget about that right now, we’ve got to get the hell out of here!”

  Harvey shouldered his PSD and fired away at the Agents who were making their way down the hill. Kaspar gathered himself and started to run down. He ran so fast that he lost his balance and went tumbling down the snow covered ground. When his momentum finally stopped, he collected himself and turned. The other squad members were moving their way down. A few would stop every so often to fire at the Agents in pursuit.