The Storm Maker

by Sid K

  * * *

  Corporal Montex stood outside the front gate of the tower, assembling a search team. The maze was too big for a half dozen men to comb through it for just one escapee even in daylight. Most of his gunmen had been sleeping in the underground barracks built under the tower and maze. When he woke them, most came out yawning and scratching their heads, some in their nightdress and some without their rifles. Montex yelled at them to go back, get dressed and get armed.

  Meanwhile Boss Hantex Rut had received a phone call. He was already mad that the scientist had gotten away. As the scientist had run down one staircase, the gunmen from the floor below had run up the other staircase; they completely missed each other and that gave the scientist an empty first floor for him to rush out of through a window and into the maze. Now the Boss was even more alarmed by what the caller had told him. He rushed to the balcony of the second floor and yelled down below. “Montex! Corporal Montex!”

  “Assembling a search team,” Montex looked up and said.

  “Come up here. It is very important,” the Boss said.

  Montex seemed puzzled and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Just come up here,” the Boss yelled. “Let those men wait there for a few.”

  Montex was angry and he rushed up the stairs to confront Hantex.

  “What is so important, Boss?” he asked annoyed. “That rat is getting away.”

  “Fuck that rat,” Boss Hantex said. “He will get lost in the maze and he sure isn’t climbing that wall and the electrified barbwire.”

  Then the Boss told him what the caller had said over the phone and Montex looked at him seriously.

  “That is definitely a more significant threat than this pencilhead,” Montex said.

  “Radio the guards to shoot this scientist on sight,” Hantex said. “There are only four openings to the maze on the outside. Have them watch all four.”

  “Will do, and I am glad we have Capitan Suka out there dealing with these bigger problems,” Montex said and headed back down.

  The news delivered by the caller had disturbed Boss a lot more than this small mishap with the scientist. He took out a cigar, lit it up and stared at all the three moons, the red, the green and the blue. Hantex thought that somewhere out there was a much bigger danger than a pencilhead scientist.

  chapter 14 – the ambush

  09/07/958

  Sayett, Slyntya and four SPASI guards caught an early morning plane to Southstar. They flew from the SPASI’s own airport in the Capital on a SPASI plane. Normally the SPASI detectives flew commercial, but having a Constellar along justified the expense of flying their own plane. It was a medium-sized plane that could carry around a hundred passengers but had been customized for the SPASI requirements. The four guards were dressed in their regular uniform, King’s Red full-sleeve shirts and side caps with gray pants, boots, and belts. They had their Rontvyk Sub-Machine Guns with them. That gun, particular to SPASI only, was light and maneuverable, and used pistol ammunition in twenty round magazines. Sayett, for his part, was dressed in a King’s Red suit with gray pants. The detectives did not wear any kind of hats, only the guards did. Slyntya was dressed in a purple sweater, with black trousers and wore her hair loose and flowing below her shoulders.

  “Sayett, we are going far southwest aren’t we?” she asked.

  “We are flying to Southstar—one of the twelve big cities,” Sayett said, “From there we will drive to Coldwoods.”

  “Is there no airport in that town?”

  “Actually there is, but it is not a big town, I suspect that these people may be watching the Coldwoods airport. That is why I decided against flying there directly.”

  “You know what a coincidence it is,” she said, smiling. “Sthykar was going to fly down to the far southwest region to buy hunting land.”

  “Well, if we stumble into him, maybe the colonel can give us a hand on the raid,” Sayett chuckled. “But seriously, that region is huge. Do you know what town he went to?”

  “We didn’t talk about that, but he gave me his friend’s phone number who bought land there. He was the one who told Sthykar about it. I am going to call him from the police station.”

  Sayett nodded. He had never wanted to bring her along but did not want to disappoint her either. He would have felt a lot better once Sthykar knew.

  They did not speak much rest of the way. They had all gotten up early and took a nap in the plane. The plane was modified with large, comfortable seats where a passenger could recline and sleep. Their flight was five hours and they reached Southstar where the SPASI pilots landed the plane on a remote runaway reserved for government flights at an otherwise large and bustling airport.

  From a large car a young man, a junior detective of the regional SPASI office, walked over to them as they disembarked.

  “Chief Detective Sayett?” he asked.

  “That’s me,” Sayett said walking down the stairs. “Our car?”

  “Yes, and I have filled up the tank.” He handed the key to Sayett who handed it over to one of the guards.

  “Who else knows about it?” Sayett asked.

  “Just the chief detective of our office and me,” he said. “He told me only an hour ago to deliver this car to you. I came straight from the office.”

  “Great. Let’s not have anybody else hear of this,” Sayett said, opening the trunk of the car. “So how are you getting back?”

  “Don’t worry,” the junior detective said. “I am taking a taxi.”

  They loaded their luggage in the trunk and got in the large car. It was a three seat car, larger than the far more common two seat ones. Two guards got in the front seat and two in the back with Sayett and Slyntya in the middle seat. They drove away from airport and onto the national road that would eventually lead to Coldwoods. It was nearing afternoon but they decided to drive at least a couple of hours before stopping at some inn for lunch.

  “This road looks so empty,” Slyntya said. “Nothing but fields and woods, no homes, we barely pass a car.”

  “This is as remote as it gets,” Sayett said. “From Coldwoods, we could hike into the South Polar Region. That’s how far south we have come.” Then Sayett asked the driver, “Hey, did you bring the road map along with you?”

  “No worries, Colonel Sayett,” the driver said, “I do have it. But it’s just this road we have to follow; it will lead us right into Coldwoods.”

  “Great,” Sayett said. Then he took out and examined the Letter of Search he had gotten from the judge in the Capital Court. He wanted to reach the town before sundown; otherwise the town police chief might drag his feet on a night time raid. He, too, would have preferred to raid in the daytime, but he wasn’t going to waste any time. It could get chaotic at night, though. He knew the small town police did not have flood lights or night raid training.

  They had driven more than an hour now. The surroundings had become even sparser than before. Slyntya sitting on the right side was staring out the window lost in thoughts. Sayett sitting to her left looked out his window at a car that was trying to overtake them.

  “Bastard!” the driver muttered loudly.

  “What is going on?” Sayett asked.

  “Sorry, madam,” the guard quickly said to Slyntya and then pointed at the windshield with his finger. “This car overtook me a minute ago and now he is slowing down. And the car to our side won’t speed up either.”

  Sayett looked front and out of his left window. The driver was right. Then he noticed the rearview mirror and he turned around as did the guards sitting behind him. There was a third car almost tailgating them.

  “Boys,” Sayett said, “this doesn’t look right. Be ready for anything.”

  The three guards clenched their sub-machine guns and started looking out the windows. Sayett had rolled down his window, studying the car driving parallel to them in the left lane, while he slid his right arm under his suit to his pistol. Slyntya appeared confused but not yet concerned.

  Then
the window of the car rolled down and a rifle barrel protruded.

  “Break! Break NOW!” Sayett yelled and simultaneously pulled out his pistol, aimed out the window and fired two shots at the man behind the rifle. The man was hit in the face and his rifle fell out. That very moment the SPASI driver braked hard and they were all thrown forward. The driver behind was surprised and hit their bumper giving them another shock. The car to the side braked as well and managed to stop parallel to them, the car in the front realized a second too late and its driver turned around the car, but stopped three car lengths from them.

  “Everyone get out from the right,” Sayett ordered. “Take cover behind the doors.”

  The guards in the front and back exited quickly with their submachine guns and took cover behind the front and the back doors respectively. Slyntya was scared and slowly got out; Sayett followed right behind her with his pistol drawn. Then he closed the middle door. The car behind them had reversed for a slight distance and armed men had poured out of it as well as from the car in front. The SPASI Guards opened up and let loose repeat fire into those two cars as those gunmen took cover behind their own open car doors. Then they returned fire, their bullets splattering on the SPASI car.

  “Automatic fire,” one SPASI guard said.

  “Ranx rifles,” Sayett replied. He turned to Slyntya, who was sitting down on the road with her back to the middle door and her hands covering her ears.

  “Don’t get up, Slyntya,” Sayett said. She did not say anything so he repeated himself loudly. This time she just nodded while still covering her ears with her hands.

  As the guards were shooting it out with the gunmen, Sayett took stock of their situation. There were four men each in those three cars, one of whom he had already killed, leaving a still formidable eleven with automatic rifles. They were surrounded from three sides and on their right was open grassland for about two hundred meters before the woods began. Sayett knew there was no way they could run all the way to the trees without getting mowed down by the bullets.

  “I got one,” the SPASI driver said excitedly as he pointed his finger to the car in the front., “Their driver no less.”

  Sayett patted him on the back and joined in the fight. The gunmen in the car on the left had been firing away but to no avail as SPASI car’s windows were bulletproof. However their car had tilted over to that side indicating both the left tires had been shot out. Sayett clutched his pistol, looked through the middle window at the three gunmen in that car. One of them was revealing himself, almost standing up fully. Sayett indicated for Slyntya to move forward and then quickly opened the middle door and fired seven rounds in quick succession. The middle window on the other side was already open and the first couple bullets shattered the other car’s windows; the rest hit the standing gunman in the torso and he fell backwards. Immediately the two remaining gunmen ducked while Sayett closed the middle door again.

  Sayett changed his pistol magazine and his mind raced to analyze the battle. He realized it was futile to shoot it out with the car to their left. They could never reach it anyhow. They had to reach one of the cars to have a chance at getaway. Their own tires were shot out and its position left no way out. The car behind them was closer, however the space in between was in the crossfire of gunmen in the car to their left. That left only the car in front. It was somewhat far, but the distance meant if they made it, they could speed away.

  As Sayett was mulling these thoughts, one of the guards in the back tumbled over and fell at him. Slyntya shrieked on seeing the blood splatter from the dead guard’s face. Sayett crawled to the back door and fired two shots at the car behind.

  “What happened?” he asked the remaining guard.

  “One of those men is a real crack shot,” the guard replied, firing his own submachine gun, “I got lucky a few seconds back when he hit my gun.”

  “Narrow save,” Sayett said. “Alright, now you just fire couple of bullets every now and then to keep them from moving.”

  Sayett crawled back to the front door where the two SPASI guards were engaged in a pitched battle with the three gunmen.

  “We have to try to take that car,” Sayett told them. “We can’t possibly kill all of them and our bulletproof glass won’t hold for long against rifle ammo.”

  “What should we do?” one guard asked.

  “Time to take some risks,” Sayett said. He grabbed his pistol in both hands and then rolled to the very edge of the road out of the door’s protection. He fired as many rounds as fast as he could hitting one of the gunmen and then rolled back.

  “Two down, two to go,” Sayett said.

  He had used up his backup pistol magazine, but more were in the car. He opened the middle door and crawled in to get more magazines.

  Meanwhile the two front SPASI guards were now aggressively shooting it out, revealing their faces, getting better shots at the enemy, but giving better targets to the enemy as well.

  Sayett crawled out with three more magazines and inserted one in his pistol and put the remaining two in his inner coat pocket. As he closed the middle door the lone guard holding the back door yelled, “Alright!”

  “Did you get that crackshot?” Sayett asked. “He is probably their team leader.”

  “No, but I got one, definitely dead,” the guard said.

  “You just hold that position, no risks,” Sayett replied and crawled to the front door.

  The two guards had ducked down and were waiting for him.

  “Fresh magazine, boys,” Sayett said. “This is it. This round we nail those two bastards for good.”

  Both of them changed their magazines inserting fresh ones of twenty rounds. Sayett moved to the center of them.

  “When we get up, we don’t stop firing and duck down again till we are out,” Sayett said. Both of them determinedly nodded.

  “Now!” Sayett said after a few seconds. All three of them got on a knee, looked over the door and fired away with their pistols and submachine guns. For a second the two gunmen were taken aback, but they stood their ground and fired back. Tens of bullets flew within the next few seconds and when the firing stopped only Sayett was still breathing. Both of the SPASI guards had taken hits to their faces; the two remaining gunmen in the front car were knocked out cold. Sayett sighed for a couple of seconds, but he had no time to waste. He had emptied his pistol; as he inserted the second magazine, he turned to Slyntya who was still sitting with her back to the car, still in shock, but her hands clutching one of the dead SPASI guards.

  “I am going to get that car,” he said to her, “be ready to get in it.”

  She nodded, fighting away her tears.

  Sayett crawled to the front of their car and fired a few shots over the front bumper at the car to their left. Those two gunmen ducked down. Sayett saw the opportunity and made a mad dash to the front car. He reached the car, got inside and luckily the car engine was still running.

  Then looking out of the broken glass of the windshield he saw last of the SPASI guards suddenly get shot and fall back. He had to save Slyntya now. Sayett changed the gear to drive, slammed the accelerator, but the next second slammed his brakes.

  A man with a rifle had walked up to Slyntya from the car in the back. Sayett reached for his pistol as the man grabbed Slyntya’s arm and effortlessly pulled her to her feet.

  Sayett could not fire now. He could not be sure of hitting his target, not from an awkward sitting position and not when his mind and body were simultaneously in a state of panic and excitement as he felt the juices race up and down his body.

  That man, however, had no such obstacle and he lowered his rifle, aimed it at Sayett’s car and let loose a barrage. Sayett ducked under the dashboard and most of the bullets hit the top of the car or the seats. Sayett had his right hand on the steering wheel and a bullet nicked him on his wrist, but he did not even notice. He turned the steering wheel while still down, hit the gas pedal and put the car into the grass off the side of the road. He looked up and saw th
e man standing there, his rifle in one hand while still holding onto Slyntya with his other. The other gunmen rushed to join him.

  “Don’t tell them about the colonel!” Sayett yelled at Slyntya in Karaln language, her mother tongue that he had picked up bits and pieces of when dealing with their spy department. He wasn’t sure she had heard him, but there was no time. The rest of the gunmen had opened fire and bullets were hitting the back of his car. He hit the accelerator; he had to reach the trees before they shot out his tires. He drove the car towards the woods at full speed.

  Sayett braked hard and narrowly avoided hitting a tree, but the right side mirror—or whatever had remained of it after taking bullets—smashed against the side of the tree and shattered into tens of pieces. Sayett had been watching his back through half the rear view mirror that was still left, and now realized that he had made it to the woods. The trees here were widely separated and there was room enough to maneuver a car through, but not at high speeds. Sayett drove through the forest as far as he could, but the tree density kept increasing and he soon had to ditch the car. He looked around to see if any of the gunmen’s’ rifles had fallen in the car, but he was not so lucky. All he had now was half a magazine in his pistol and one to spare.

  When he had looked back earlier the gunmen had not chased him. They had gathered around the ambush site and stood there watching. Perhaps they were afraid of a police patrol car showing up and radioing in the sight and were preparing to cut out of there as soon as possible. But he could not be sure and he had to reach a phone. He began walking through the dense forest, trying to figure out where he was. After walking for some time he stumbled out of the woods into an opening. There was a house in front of him at some distance . The house was surrounded by brush, but cleared of any trees. He could smell the stench of a pig sty and looked around and sure enough, there were a large number of hogs running around in a fenced compound some distance to the right of the house. Sayett chuckled and felt relieved for doing so. Raising hogs was once one of the most common occupations of Starfirians, now it had been taken over by the big companies, but a few independent hog ranchers remained.