by Aaron Hubble
“My god, real honest-to-goodness ham,” Bobby said, staring into the skillet and watching the grease sputter. The smell took him back to his childhood in the mountains of West Virginia. Isolated, his family had lasted longer than many others, supporting themselves off the land, but eventually the plague had claimed them all. All except Bobby.
Samantha flipped the ham. “I also have potatoes and beans.”
“I love you,” Bobby said, sweeping her into another hug.
“You’re so easy,” Samantha laughed. “A little food and you’re putty in my hands.”
For the first time in over a month, Bobby sat down at the dinner table with his family and enjoyed a real Appalachian meal in the heart of Sydney, Australia. What would his daddy have said about that?
Bobby reveled in the unrestrained energy that was his son. After dinner, Bobby rolled around on the floor with Luke and then wrestled him into the bathtub. After several stories, Luke finally fell asleep, and Bobby gently kissed his forehead before slipping out of the room.
Samantha was sitting on the couch sipping a cup of tea as he closed Luke’s bedroom door behind him.
“Sleeping?” she asked.
“Yep. Didn’t take much. I wore him out on the floor this evening.”
He sat down next to her, and she entwined her fingers with his. “He missed you.”
“Yeah. I missed him like crazy, too.” He kissed her forehead. “Dinner was great. I’ll have to tell Noni she missed a good one.”
“Did you invite her over?”
Bobby nodded. “I didn’t think you’d mind, but she said no. She wanted to be alone. It’s the anniversary of the day her twins went missing.”
“Oh.” Samantha shook her head, an expression of pity on her face. “Poor woman. I can’t imagine what she goes through every year. She’s stronger than I am.”
“Stronger than all of us.”
Adira had told him the story once. Before starting R3, Adira had actually been a regional magistrate for the Continental Peace Federation in his homeland of southern Africa. The CPF had started out with noble intentions, but soon began to rot from the inside as corruption and power turned a benevolent organization into a monster bent on dominating the world. Adira didn’t agree with what was being preached and what was being required of him. He refused to stop helping those who wouldn’t pledge their allegiance to the CPF, believing all men had the right to choose who to follow. The CPF disagreed and cut off food and medical supplies to those who wouldn’t fall into line.
Adira began smuggling food out to those who needed it most. He was told to stop.
He didn’t.
The CPF began to make life hard for him by delaying shipments and denying his requests. When that didn’t deter him, they got personal. They took his children, twins, Bomani and Shani. The CPF executed them, brutally beheading them on a live broadcast. They were made an example of, to remind all those who thought they could step outside the lines the CPF had drawn that the organization didn’t tolerate free thinking.
Adira and Noni escaped Africa the first chance they had. They disappeared into Central Asia and gathered a group of like-minded individuals. R3 was born out of the hurt and grief of a mother and father.
“Course, you’re pretty tough yourself,” he said to Samantha.
“A mother’s job is pretty grueling,” she said.
“Naw, I’m not talking about that. To survive an ag camp, you’ve got to have a little intestinal fortitude.”
Samantha was quiet. She didn’t like to talk about her time in the camp, and Bobby knew very little about the experience. He knew she’d taken the blame for something her brother had done and had been sent to the camp for that act of bravery. In the camp, she’d been forced to toil in the fields that fed the CPF cities and she’d been brutalized in the most inhumane ways. Her body still bore the scars. Bobby often wondered how she functioned normally. Perhaps the hardest part for Samantha was that she’d been minutes from being reunited with her younger brother on that fateful night five years ago when the heist had gone all wrong. Lucas, Evie, Paul, and Bobby had been tipped off prisoners were being moved and one of them was Samantha. It started off well. They stopped the convoy, but everything went sideways after that.
He remembered Lucas and Evie’s bodies lying in the middle of the road, their blood pooling around their motionless bodies. He’d only gotten out because an R3 strike force led by Charles had been close by. Bobby still blamed himself for their deaths. It had been like losing family. It was like losing family.
However, he was grateful that out of that tragedy, he’d met and fallen in love with Samantha. Despite the fact she was ten years older than him, they’d latched on to each other and not let go since that time.
“When do you go back out?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Noni said she’d call me when she needed me. We should have a couple of days alone.”
“That sounds nice.”
Silence settled between them and Bobby watched the steam rise from Samantha’s mug and drift serenely toward the ceiling until it vanished from existence. Like the steam, his mind had begun to drift as well, only his thoughts didn’t vanish like the steam. He wished they could. The concerns he’d thought he’d left on the doorstep of R3 headquarters must have secretly hitched a ride on the back of his shirt and reinserted themselves into his brain.
Bobby wondered how Fernando was coming along decrypting the rest of the files. From there he thought of a couple of ways the mission in Beijing might have gone smoother and then his mind turned to thoughts of the Continental Peace Federation governors, four men and two women who made up the Unity Council and presided over the affairs of the CPF. Technically, there were only five now that Australia had fallen to R3. Intelligence was working hard to locate the Australian governor, who they were sure hadn’t made it off the continent when the rest of the CPF had retreated from Sydney. Christopher Dumas was out there somewhere, and they would find him. When they did, Bobby wanted to be the one who pulled the trigger to end his worthless life. He wanted to be the one to end all of the governors. He’d made that vow to himself the night Lucas and Evie had died. It didn’t matter where they went; Bobby would find them, hunt them like the animals they were, and watch them bleed out at his feet.
Samantha nudged him. “Hey, where did you go?”
Bobby looked at his wife and smiled. “Sorry, I guess my mind drifted.”
“Mmm-hmm, it does that often. Even when you’re home, your mind stays in the field more than it’s here.”
Bobby tried to deny what Samantha had said. “You know this is where I most want to be.”
“I don’t doubt that. It’s just that your soldier mind won’t let you relax. True?”
There was no use lying to her. She knew him too well. “You’re right.” He ran his hand over his face and sighed. “There’s so much that needs to be done. When I’m here I feel like I should be out there and when I’m out there I just want to be back here.”
“Ah, the tortured mind of a man with a mission,” Samantha chided.
Bobby grunted and smiled at her.
“I have an idea.” Samantha set her tea down and snuggled closer. “Why don’t you just stay here and not answer your phone when Noni calls. We can pack up our stuff and find a quiet spot by the ocean somewhere, build a little house and let the rest of the world fight it out. Just don’t go back. For me, please?”
Bobby thought she was kidding at first, but her eyes were serious. “Really?”
“Really. You know I’ve never liked what you do. Every time you leave, I’m sure you’re not coming back. I can distract myself for awhile, but, at night, when I’m in bed alone, you’re all I think about. Look at my fingernails.”
She held up her slender hands in front of his face. “Look at these nails, or what’s left of them.” The nails were short and ragged in places. “They’re destroyed, and when I’m not chewing on them, I eat. The next time you come back fr
om a mission you won’t recognize me. I’ll weigh three hundred pounds.”
“Just more of you to love.” Bobby grinned.
Samantha smiled and slapped his shoulder. “Stop it.”
She was quiet for a moment and then she laid her head on his shoulder and whispered. “I mean it, Bobby, let’s leave and never look back.”
A long breath escaped Bobby’s lips. Could he actually do that? It sounded good, and maybe in time he would be able to ignore what was going on out in the world and forget his vendetta against the governors. But how much time?
He shook his head. It wasn’t in him to give up in the middle of a fight. He was too stubborn… or too stupid.
“You know I can’t do that, Sam. I’d be miserable. You’d start hating me. While I was tending the garden, I’d be wondering about Charles and the rest of the guys. That man would be dead in three weeks if I wasn’t there to pull him out of the fire.”
Samantha nodded and looked down into her mug.
“The team needs me. The people we’re freeing need me. I can’t abandon them now.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I just hoped we meant more to you.”
He turned to her and looked her in the eyes. “You do mean more. You and Luke are what keeps me alive. What I’m doing, I’m doing for you and for Luke. Can you imagine what the world would be like without the CPF? That’s the world I want for my son. That’s why I fight and leave you here alone. It tears me apart every time I sling that bag over my shoulder and walk out into another mission. I’m sorry I cause you worry, I truly am, but I need you to be strong for me and for Luke. You’re the one who holds this family together. Can you be strong for us?”
She nodded.
“We’re close, Sam, so close. Every time we go out we take more territory. It won’t be long before we strike at the capital and bring down the Unity Council. Then I’ll come home. I’ll walk away from being the leader and we can find a quiet place to spend the rest of our lives.”
“Promise?” she said, lightly touching his face.
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“I’m holding you to that, Robert Hughes.”
Bobby leaned in and kissed his wife long and deep, and knew when this was all over, more time to kiss like this was exactly what he wanted.
CHAPTER SIX
Aereas - Sentinel command hub, Alam
It was late in the evening before Ammaya found her way into Jondon’s office. She found him sitting at his desk poring over reports. His graying head rose when she rapped her knuckles on the doorframe. A wide smile spread across his face as she stepped into the office and took a seat opposite him.
“Captain,” he said, offering his hand to her across the desktop. She took it, his hand dwarfing hers, fully enveloping it.
“Commander,” she said, then released his hand and sank into the overstuffed cushion of the chair. She sighed and gave Jondon a weary smile.
“Long day?” Jondon asked.
Ammaya untied the thong holding her hair in place and ran her hand through it. “Definitely one of the longer ones.”
“How’s Maltoki?”
She waved her hand dismissively. “He’ll live. Mirala said the shrapnel didn’t cause any nerve or vascular damage. Recovery should be quick, but the pain will limit him for a while.” A small smile crept over her lips. “Does the fact that I feel a bit of satisfaction about the pain he’ll feel make me a bad person?”
Jondon chuckled. “He is a precocious one.”
“That doesn’t even begin to describe him. It irritates me that he’s one of the best sentinels I’ve ever worked with.” Ammaya rubbed her forehead. “The very same attributes that make him so good in the field are the ones that make me want to strangle him.”
Jondon nodded knowingly. “What about the men you brought back?”
“The usual. Malnourished and overworked. Nena’s getting them settled.” She paused and looked at the ceiling. “Oh, and did I mention people shot at me today? Yep, that happened too.”
Jondon produced the familiar glass tumblers and the special bottle of blue liquor. “You look like you could use a little drink.”
“I think you’re just looking for an excuse, which I am conveniently providing for you right now.”
The blue liquid splashed into the glasses and circled around the edges. Jondon pushed a tumbler toward her and nodded. “To the rewards that come after a hard day at the office.”
Ammaya lifted her glass and took a sip, letting the liquor burn down her throat. Lowering the glass from her lips, she took a deep breath and felt some of the stress of the day reluctantly release its grip on her mind and body. These were some of her favorite times, here in the office with her mentor. It was understood he would be here, in his office, waiting to talk with her after every mission. It was a comforting ritual, the talks and the drinks. Ammaya found it helped disentangle her thoughts and feelings. There was no one at home to do this with, so Jondon had become her sounding board.
His chair creaked as he leaned backward and looked at her. She pointed to the piece of vinyl electronic paper on the desk in front of him.
“What are you working on?”
Leaning forward, he pushed the paper across the desk. On it she saw a list of numbers. Not understanding, she looked at Jondon and raised an eyebrow.
“That’s my tally sheet of souls,” he said, shrugging. “It’s a running total of those who’ve wandered into Sho’el and have been brought to Alam, or those we’ve rescued on our raids.” He took the e-paper back from her and plucked a stylus from the lumpy clay mug that sat on the corner of his desk. The mug had been there as long as Ammaya could remember. It made her smile to think Jondon still kept a childhood present from his now-grown physician daughter. Using the stylus, he began writing on the e-paper.
“You brought back another thirty-five today, so that makes…,” Jondon added up the column of numbers and then showed it to Ammaya. “Four hundred and twenty-nine souls since the beginning of the invasion.”
“Four hundred and twenty-nine new family members,” Ammaya offered.
“Four hundred and twenty-nine new mouths to feed,” Jondon said, tapping the vinyl with his stylus. His chair squeaked as he leaned back and took another drink. “Alam is a delicate, self-contained ecosystem that lives and breathes and grows, but at a slow, measured pace. What we’re experiencing right now is straining our resources.”
“So, you would rather turn those people loose into the forest?”
“No, no, of course not,” Jondon replied quickly. “We’ll always welcome anyone who seeks shelter because, as you said, we’re all family. However, the simple math of the situation is we only have a limited amount of resources, which is plenty when the population is stable and growing slowly. He rubbed the worried lines on his forehead. “This is like an adolescent going through a growth spurt. All we’re missing are the blemishes and cracking voice.”
Ammaya laughed softly and swirled the blue liquid in the bottom of her glass as she remembered those awkward times as a teen, just wanting to hide in anonymity, but her height made her stand out. It reminded her of something.
“When our family grew, my parents added a third floor to our apartment. What about building another dome?” Ammaya asked.
“A dome project is a massive undertaking that would take years we don’t have. We have the ability, but the manpower has been moved to different, more immediate needs. It’s just not an option.”
Ammaya stared into her glass and looked for answers in the blue liquid. This wasn’t a problem she’d considered. Alam had seemed like a paradise, an oasis in the middle of a hellish desert for all those who’d escaped. That the paradise only had so much bread and so many blankets hadn’t occurred to her. She drained what was left of the liquor and set the glass on the desk.
“I have something to show you,” Jondon said.
Jondon grunted and tapped at the touch interface set into the clear desktop. A holographic ima
ge of a walled city appeared above the desk and rotated slowly. Ammaya recognized Homa, one of the Am’Segid great cities. She tilted her head and shot a quizzical look at Jondon.
“Calier was in here earlier and presented me with a new plan.”
Ammaya grinned. “He is persistent, isn’t he?”
“Very,” Jondon replied. “This may be his best plan yet. Each has centered around rescuing the woman they lost in Sho’el, but this one actually made me stop and take it seriously.”
“What does he want to do?”
“Based on new intel we’ve gathered and what we’ve observed, the professor believes Homa is the place where the humans are taking all of our women. We don’t know why, but Calier informed me today Homa was a center for medical research and would have facilities the humans could use. The infrastructure is already there. He wants to send a team in to gather information on what’s happening in Homa and then use the information to take back the city.”
Ammaya’s chair creaked as she leaned back into it. “Those walls create a bit of an obstacle. How does he propose getting in?”
“There’s a network of forgotten sewer tunnels under the city he surveyed for his universities archaeological study. He says we can come up in a part of the city the humans aren’t occupying and then blend into the crowd. Crazy, right?”
Ammaya was silent, staring at the map that spun in front of her.
“Ammaya,” Jondon said. “Please tell me you’re not taking this plan seriously.”
She straightened up and reached across the desk to tap out a few commands. “Why not?”
“Because it was concocted by a grief stricken man with no idea how hard it might be to take a city like Homa.”
“True.” Ammaya worked quietly for several moments. The excitement of the new plan blew away the day’s exhaustion like clouds before a spring breeze. She looked up at him. “But what’s our ultimate end game?”
Jondon looked at her quizzically. “To…liberate Aereas,” he said slowly.
