Probe

by Douglas E Roff

  The tech activated cameras that were well hidden along the path on the North Rim and printed out the pictures of the targets. The video captured the faces of six of the intruders, and partials of six more. Four were wearing helmets and weren’t bird watching. The individuals captured on tape were dressed in camos and were clearly attempting to avoid detection. Darius didn’t recognize any of the personnel, although he noted that one of their company was a woman.

  “Run them through facial recognition and see what comes up. Might be a test by our own. Call me when you’re done.””

  Darius departed the communications room and headed straight for the Great Room to confer with his lead Captain, Titus Vitellus.

  “How many teams do you have ready to go?”

  “Five plus mine. Trouble?”

  “Maybe. Can’t be sure.” His tablet buzzed, and shots of twelve individuals and brief video clips appeared.

  “Anything?”

  “I think so; it looks like two teams of six. Most look like ex-military but the two wearing helmets on the inside look like they may be civilians. Hard to tell. Could be the people that Paulo is looking for. Call Enzo and let him know. Get your teams ready to go within the hour. When they come back for their afternoon readings, let’s intercept and detain.”

  Titus grunted in the affirmative, then left. Darius returned to the communications center to review more tape.

  The tech said, “Just got word from Enzo Fortizi. His orders are to intercept and kill the subjects. No prisoners.”

  “Email Paulo and double check that order.” Darius trusted Enzo to a point, but Darius had just been in briefings in which he had been told not to hunt and kill humans without Paulo’s specific authority. Enzo was Paulo’s brother and Darius was taking a chance confirming his orders. But he was under specific orders not to act unless given direct authority to do so.

  ***

  When Enzo first received word of activity at the Canyon, he was sure he knew who these intruders were. He was also aware of the compact reached between the man they were hunting and the Collective. No killing. That could precipitate possible exposure and war. Regular negotiations were in process between the groups and, so far, the Human had kept his word. The Human had warned that Paulo and his cronies would be watched; any attempt on the Human would be met with swift retaliation and possible exposure. Paulo wanted to stretch out the negotiations in preparation for action, but he needed more time. Neither the Serum Project nor the E-5 Virus Project were anywhere near ready for launch.

  Enzo knew that Darius was a Paulo loyalist and his orders would likely be confirmed by Darius. But Paulo was wheels up in the air and out of communication with Princeton. Enzo had a short window of opportunity in which to act and he took the opportunity to do so. Enzo called Titus directly and gave him new instructions.

  Titus was to track the humans, hunt them down and kill them all. Nobody was to leave the vicinity of the Great Library alive who wasn’t Gens. Enzo would then have Titus take care of Darius as the final act of betrayal. No sense leaving the evidence of his insubordination around.

  Titus gathered five teams of Gens Trackers plus his own and departed for the small trolley that stretched across the Canyon at a narrow point a hundred or so feet below the surface of the Rim, about a mile west. The six teams would re-assemble on the North Rim and be deployed. Four teams would track each of the two human teams, while the other two Gens teams would approach from the rear cutting off any means of escape. The humans would be surrounded and boxed in on the North Rim of the Canyon.

  There would be no escape.

  Enzo had seen the photos of the humans. He instructed Titus personally to track and kill the male human on the inside position with the helmet. Enzo couldn’t be sure but guessed he was important. Maybe even the guy they had been hunting without success. The girl had to go too; the four helmets were the highest priority targets. Titus was to focus on the helmeted targets first and capture their tech. The others were to be killed , but not at the expense of the four priority targets.

  If their companions got away, too bad. But Enzo wanted the data they had, even if it had already been transmitted.

  Titus then ordered all remaining Gens personnel to withdraw from the surface above the Library and shelter in place in the cavernous facility below. Within minutes there were no Gens on the surface.

  ***

  Misti, Adam and the teams had just gotten to their coordinates and set up for the afternoon surveillance. Minutes into recording, Misti broke radio silence.

  “Time to go boys, we’ve been made. No movement on the surface on the other side and they’ve all gone to ground. Can only mean they know we’re here. Move, move, move!”

  The teams had just started to get up when the first shots were fired. Bitters and Misti withdrew into the brush, taking cover. They ran to their meet point and took stock. The other members of Team Two likewise took the most direct route to the meet point.

  Misti looked at Jacobs. “Any idea where they are?”

  “Pretty sure they came in from the west through the brush. Avoided us and came straight for you. I’m guessing they did the same from the east. Probably targeting Adam and Octavio.”

  Misti said, “Bitters, you’re with me. The rest of you form up and head over to support Team One. Tell them you’re coming and the path you’re taking. No friendly fire.”

  They did.

  Misti said, “Bitters, you come with me. We need to head north then west and come up behind these guys. Helmet on thermal. Follow me.”

  Team Two headed north and east, radioing ahead that they’re coming in hot and quickly in support of Team One. By the time they got there, Team One was already formed up and was ready to return to their campsite, then to the extraction point. Octavio was quickly on the radio to the chopper and they would be extracted within thirty minutes. They would’ve to get to the extraction site from Base Camp 1, possibly under fire.

  Misti was now positioned behind six stealthy figures moving adeptly through the underbrush in two teams. All were transformed Gens. She attacked the team closest to her while Bitters provided her cover and kept an eye on the second Gens team.

  Misti moved in total silence and picked off the team, spaced ten yards or so apart, one by one. She used her knife and a silenced 9 mm pistol. All three were dead within minutes. She then moved on to the second team and they too were quickly eliminated.

  “Call Team One and let them know we’re secure and will be joining up. Then we get to the extraction site.”

  Bitters said, “Team One has taken casualties. Right after Jacobs got there, there was a firefight. Jacobs is down. So is Adam. They’re pinned down and taking fire from two directions. They know where they are, but they can’t get them into the open. They can’t move.”

  Misti said nothing but motioned to Bitters to follow her. They would go along the Rim path and come up from behind where Teams One was in the firefight. With luck, they would surprise and take out the Gens personnel that had Team One pinned down.

  Misti instructed Bitters to keep his helmet on thermal, looking for a specific heat signature and taking a position behind the team of three due northeast of Team One. Misti would go after the team to the southwest, then swing around and join him.

  Bitters got into position and took out two of the three Gens with short bursts from his semi-automatic rifle. The third dropped to the ground, taking cover behind a fallen log. Bitters kept him pinned down, and his quarry didn’t move. He could “see” him thermally. This guy wasn’t going anywhere.

  When Misti arrived at the firefight, she located two Gens immediately and shot them. The third, Titus, was nowhere to be seen. One other Gens team was unaccounted for, but she soon located them laying in wait to ambush Team One if it tried to move away and back to the rear. Misti quickly eliminate them with a short burst from her semi-automatic rifle.

  She moved cautiously through the brush looking for Titus, th
e third member of one of the Gens teams, thermally. Titus was moving quickly into a position due east of Teams One and Two with a scoped semi-automatic in hand. They had been too busy returning fire against the now deceased Gens in two directions to spot Titus as he crept closer to their position. He scaled a tree to the lower branches for a better line of fire and was scoping in on the targets when Misti arrived. He was moving his finger to the trigger, having spotted his quarry, Adam St. James. Adam was lying flat on the ground with two men working on what looked to be wounds to his right side and shoulder. Adam’s right hand was also heavily bandage.

  One shot from Misti brought him to the ground, alive. Misti wanted him alive and giving her intel about who else was out there and where.

  When she moved in on him, he tried to reach for his weapon, which he had dropped when he fell.

  “Not so fast, buddy,” Misti said. “We need to chat first.”

  Chapter 8

  The men of Teams One and Two came out from behind the logs and boulders behind which they had taken cover. The Paz brothers quickly came around to support Bitters and disarm the remaining Gens Tracker, approaching carefully and quietly from behind. That left two teams blocking their escape to the north, though their positions were at present unknown. They would probably be hidden behind boulders along the main paths leading to Base Camps 1 and 2, or perhaps farther away on their escape route to the helicopter rendezvous point.

  The men of Team One produced plastic ties to bind the two Gens prisoners. Misti immediately went to Adam.

  “What happened to you, bud?”

  “Got in the way of speeding bullets. So, did Jacobs. It fucking hurts like hell too.”

  Misti could see that Jacobs had taken a bullet in his upper right thigh, but it had gone “through and through” cleanly and not hit a main artery. If it had, Jacobs would now be dead, having bled out in minutes.

  Misti barked orders, “Octavio, clean up Adam’s wounds while I sew our friend Jacobs up. Wash it with the stuff in the blue bottle then give him a local in the affected areas; then apply that white powder in the packet marked D-1. Should stop the bleeding and retard infection. I’ll be with him in a sec.”

  She turned to Jacobs. “This is gonna hurt. But you’ll be OK once we get you out of here and in the hands of a proper doctor. Walking is going to be a bitch but walk you will.”

  Misti washed and cleaned his wound, then sprinkled D-1 powder on the wound after first giving him a shot to dull the pain. The bleeding had stopped and the D-1 would clean and cauterize the wound. He would need surgery later, but for now, he was fine. She sewed him up, a few stitches at the entrance and exit points, then told two of his team to start him slowly toward Base Camp 1 with the third out in front looking for trouble.

  She then turned her attention to Adam who wasn’t yet in shock but, still in a fair amount of pain. He had gunshot wounds to his right shoulder, side and hand. Misti probed his side to see if a rib was broken, cracked or shattered. The bullet had shattered his rib and the pain was roaring.

  “I’m going to give you a shot, but I need you to stay awake. We need to move and fast. I’m going to sew you up and then we’re going to get moving.”

  “I didn’t know you were a seamstress. If I had, I’d have married you sooner.”

  “Whatever.”

  Misti went about her business saying nothing. When she was done, she instructed the Paz brothers to help Adam along. He was moving well for having three gunshot wounds, but none were critical. He and Jacobs had been lucky; an inch or two in any direction and it might’ve been all she wrote.

  “Get him up and get moving. Right straight to the Base Camp. Then on to the rendezvous point when it’s clear. The copter should be there and waiting. I’ll catch up. I need to speak to both our guests. Do not, I repeat do not go past Base Camp 1. I’ll wager they have a surprise waiting for us. I’d like to know what. Now go.”

  The men departed, moving as quickly as they could with their seriously wounded colleague. Adam moved better than expected and whether he wasn’t in a lot of pain, or just tolerating it well, he didn’t say. Minutes later, they caught up with the slower moving Jacobs whose wound was deeper and possibly still bleeding internally.

  That left Misti alone with the two Gens captives.

  “I don’t have a lot of time here gents. I need to know who else is out there and where. I assume you have teams behind us to cut off our escape. How many and where? First to speak lives.”

  Neither captive said a word.

  “You,” Misti said, pointing to Titus. “Looks like you were targeting the guy who was all shot up. Were you?”

  Nothing.

  “This is a knife. It can quickly and cleanly slice into the fleshy parts surrounding the artery in your thigh. This is a packet of D-1. It can stop the bleeding. You will tell me what I want to know, or I’ll cut each of you, one at a time.”

  “Fuck off, bitch,” said Titus. He was the leader, Misti thought. She would kill him first and then see what the other guy had to say.

  “OK, tough guy.” She pulled her 9mm and put a bullet in his brain.

  “Now, that just leaves you. I can set you free or you can join your friend in whatever your conception of the afterlife is. I don’t have time to chat, or we could make an afternoon of this. You understand me.”

  He nodded and said, “Yes. Two teams, one on either side of the two main paths leading to the Rim from the north.”

  “How many?”

  “Each is a team of three. Each member has a semi-automatic rifle, scoped and a handgun. They’ll be up in the boulders waiting for you on the far north end of the field where the paths join. It’s flat and you’ll be seen from a distance. They’ll take you at the midway point. No place to hide.”

  “OK. Thanks for the intel. Now, how about the targeting of the guy you shot up. What’s the story there?”

  “Don’t know why, just that one of the higher ups saw photos of you … people. Our orders were to whack you and one of the men as our priority, then get the rest of your teams if possible. Figured you two were important and the other guys were the muscle. That’s all I know.”

  “You sure? What’s your intel on us?”

  “Sure, I’m sure. And, that’s all I know. I’m a foot soldier, not a Captain. The guy who might’ve known is dead right there. Now I gave you what you wanted; let me go.”

  “Sure. But one more thing.”

  “What?”

  Misti turned from the Gens Tracker.

  “You’re probably lying. So, the deal is off. Besides I only said I’d set you free.” She shot him twice in the head, then ran and quickly caught up to the Teams now nearing Base Camp 1.

  Bitters asked, “What happened to the prisoners.”

  “They had an accident. Looked fatal.”

  Misti told the men her plan. There were two Gens teams unaccounted for, assuming the late Gens Tracker was telling the truth. A better fabrication would’ve been that no teams were out there, which wouldn’t have seemed very likely anyway.

  She and Bitters would once again circle around to the west and attempt to outflank the team nearest BCB. She told the Paz brothers to do the same to the east.

  “Go through the thickets all the way to the edge of the field east, then north along the tree line to see where these dudes are. Keep your radios on and give me two clicks when you spot them and get in position. No chatter in case they’re listening.”

  She turned to the men.

  “I want two of you from each team to go along the path north to the southern end of the field. Just show yourselves and see what happens. Don’t go out, but make your presence known. Fire some shots in the air and make it sound like you’re still engaged in a firefight, then back to the Base camp and get our guys ready to go. When the shooting starts from the north edge of the field, get moving north toward the rendezvous point along the path.

  She looked at the Paz brothers. “Do yo
ur job. No survivors.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  She told Bitters she wanted two of the three left alive. However, one of three would also suffice. She needed to take them home and there was only room for two prisoners in the Huey.

  “Why?”

  “Intel. Pets. Who cares? I just need ‘em.”

  They moved out and along the west edge of the field, just out of sight within the tree line. Twenty minutes later, she heard two clicks on the radio.

  “Go!”

  Short bursts of gunfire could be heard, just as Bitters and Misti came into view of the second team from behind.

  “Drop your weapons,” was all she said. One of the Gens turned to fire and was dropped where he stood. The other two dropped their rifles, hands in the air. Bitters moved in and tied their hands behind their backs with plastic ties.

  She asked Bitters and the Paz brothers to recon the rest of the field and look for strays. There were none.

  They met up at the confluence of the two trails then headed directly for the rendezvous site. They saw the copter in the distance, an old UH-1N Twin Huey, which had arrived within minutes. The copter was right at capacity so only one trip was required. They were airborne quickly, heading north, then veering to the west and south again to the Farmhouse, their meeting point.

  Misti was in direct communication with Edward.

  “I don’t think Paulo kept his word. I think Adam is planning something for him once we get home. Or it might just be the drugs and the pain talking. No matter, you may wish to have a word with your son. But send the doc from Flag first. We’ll catch a charter to Seattle and stay at my place. You can come down.”

  “Did you get them?”

  “Yes. Two. Where do you want them?”

  “Take them to Casky. I’ll have people waiting for them. Ask the Paz brothers to accompany them. The rest can disburse. I’ll get Jacobs a proper doctor from Flag. Should be there in an hour or so. And you? You OK?”

  “Peachy. Can’t say the same for the dozen or so Gens who didn’t make it.”

  “Feel better now.”