by Russ Watts
He nodded quietly and Phoenix hoped he was on the level. She didn’t like taking strangers, but she was under orders. Apparently, Max had served in the army in his youth before joining NASA and then more recently Space54. She was assured he would not interfere. They just wanted to get their people home, preferably alive, but in body bags if they had to. He looked harmless, and she could tell he was keen to get going. They had met briefly before the meeting and he had approached her with a warm handshake. He was dressed completely inappropriately for what they were doing. When the briefing was over, she would make sure Karl got him in a more suitable attire. They had to have a spare uniform around somewhere. The glasses perched atop his thin nose did nothing to dispel the thought that he was out of his depth. A scientist and a doctor had no place on a rescue operation like this. Still, as long as he did what she said, she would let him get on with helping find the three missing people.
“Anyone else we got to babysit?” asked Karl.
Phoenix felt him glaring at her. He could piss his pants all he liked, but they both knew he would do what he had to. There was no discussion.
“The team is comprised of me and you, of course, Karl. Lucky for us, huh?”
“Yeah, we’re regular buddies.” Karl smirked and looked around the room. “She doesn’t like to go anywhere without me. Ain’t that right, Justin?”
“Bet your last dollar on it.”
Phoenix sighed. “Well, for Max’s sake, we should do introductions. We don’t have much time, so I’ll keep it brief. I see no reason to stand on ceremony on this operation. First names will be fine. Max, this is Karl, my second-in-command. Do what he says and you’ll be just fine.” Tiresome though he was, Phoenix had to admit she could trust him when they had business to do. He was a tough soldier, weather-worn and rough around the edges, but a hard worker. He was on the level and was thinking the same as her; it was a bad idea to take Max along. She had her orders to follow, and so did Karl, so they would both just have to suck it up. Sometimes, she admired Karl and the way he had no filter. He had the freedom of sharing his thoughts openly not being in charge, but all that would change once he was in control of his own unit and answerable to superior powers.
Karl nodded as Phoenix pointed out the others in the room. “Darius Jackson, medic and comms. All round good guy, right, Darius?”
“Oh, I can be bad if you want me to,” he said, grinning.
Phoenix liked Darius. He was a joker, but in the field, he was utterly reliable. He didn’t have a problem with following a woman. It might be because he was black. Perhaps he had more of an understanding of being up against it. His jokes were a way of making light of the situation and were never too harsh, unlike Karl’s. He used humor as a form of attack.
“Max, the young man you’re sat behind is Justin Cartwright.”
Justin saluted Phoenix and turned to shake Max’s hand, smiling. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said as he rifled his hand through a shock of red hair. “I’m too young and pretty to be a soldier. Well, I can shoot the hairs off a nun’s ass from a hundred yards.”
More laughter rippled throughout the room.
“Yeah, he’s a real hotshot,” said Karl.
“You know it, brother.”
Phoenix smiled weakly. Let them get it out of their system. Once they were on the island, the jokes would stop. She knew she could rely on them once she got them out of the locker room and into battle.
“Thanks, Justin, you can sit your ass down now.” Phoenix saw Max smirk. Did the old man really know what he had let himself in for? “Alex Paige, stand up and wave to the crowd.”
The soldier sat behind Karl got up and nodded to Max. “Pleased to meet you, sir. We’ll get your guys back. This here is the best team I’ve ever worked with.”
Phoenix watched Alex sit down. He was young too, like Justin, but they were completely different. He didn’t joke around like the others. His head was always shaved perfectly and his boots spotless. He took the job seriously, and if he kept it up, she could see him working his way up through the ranks. He was in it for a long career. Justin would always be a soldier and a good one too, but he had no ambitions of climbing the ladder.
“So, six of us, that’s it?” asked Karl.
“Seven actually.”
Karl sighed and raised his eyebrows. “Who now? President Trump wants to come along? Britney Spears? You’ve got to be kidding me. We don’t take tourists with us, Phoenix, you know that. You got Peter fucking Pan waiting in the helicopter for us?”
Phoenix smiled and turned around to point at the map. “We’re going to drop in here.” She pointed to a small dot on a vast blue map. Most of it was ocean. “It’s a small atoll about five kilometers from the actual island. It’s as close as we can get. The island itself is covered in thick jungle. The beaches are too small to get in, so the only access is by sea. We’ll be meeting a local guide, Freddy, who will take us over to the island. He can show us where he left the three targets and give us an overview of what the island is like. It’s uncharted and nobody quite knows what it’ll be like. We need him. I understand he has been briefed to give us all the help we require.”
“Phoenix, why don’t we just sail the Reagan right up its ass?” asked Darius. “Why can’t we just drop right onto the island and get this over with?”
“I’m afraid there is some difficulty with access,” said Max. “Do you mind?”
Phoenix let Max take the floor. The old man stood and approached her cautiously, much as if he were approaching a lion. He had been out of the game for a long time, she thought. Karl was right. They were going to have to babysit him the whole time.
“You see, the island in question is off limits.” Max stood next to Phoenix and addressed the room. “It is uninhabited and part of the Yasawa Islands, ruled by the local chief. He does not allow visitors. Many of the islands in this area of the South Pacific are completely untouched by man. He granted Space54 access two days ago to retrieve a lost probe, and it took a lot of pressure to get him to allow us that one window. Unfortunately, that window has closed, and—”
“And that’s where we come in, right?” Karl looked at Phoenix. “This is bullshit,” he muttered.
“We have one day. We will go in at dawn, find the three missing people, and get out. Nobody will know we were there. Officially, we will be on our own. The chief won’t allow anyone to visit the island.”
“You mean this Space54 company won’t dig their hands into their pockets and pay him enough to get back there,” said Karl.
“Trust me, we tried,” said Max. He looked downcast. “Those poor people don’t deserve to be left out there. What if they’re not dead? What if they had an accident or got lost? I knew Ricardo and Tobias quite well. They are astrophysicists and very astute men. I’ve been seeing them for their annual physical the last few years. Jane is relatively new to the organization but from what I know a wonderful woman. Ricardo has two sons. Jane is so young that if anything happened to her—”
He tailed off. Phoenix could see he was upset. She guessed she would be too if she lost someone close to her. That was probably why she didn’t let anyone get too close. A career in the military helped with that. There were plenty of testosterone-filled soldiers around when she needed a quick pick-me-up, but she would rather live her life on her own. Her sisters and parents were all she’d ever needed.
“Space54. What kind of funky name is that for a multi-billion-dollar company?” asked Darius. “Sounds like a kid’s cartoon if you ask me.”
“And what about this probe shit?” Alex looked apologetic when he spoke. “Sorry, I just mean this sounds like it should be a private operation. Some rich-ass company lost a spaceship and three of their own employees. Why are we involved?”
“Good question, Alex,” said Karl, staring at Phoenix. “Why are we involved?”
“It seems that the island might be a little more dangerous than we anticipated,” countered Max. “Something has happened, and
it is beyond our resources to perform a rescue operation. We are scientists, not soldiers. We need your help.”
“So, get Special Forces. Ring Fort Bragg and give them your sob story,” said Karl.
“Sounds odd to me,” said Justin. “Space54 has more money than NASA.”
“And if this is such a delicate operation, why only send the five of us?” asked Darius. “Half the squad is still back in Guam. Why us?”
“Look, this is supposed to be a quick in and out.” Phoenix was feeling exasperated. There were too many questions. She didn’t like it either, but they had a job to do. “It’s a simple extraction. We will locate the two men and one woman that Space54 lost and bring them back. The local chief will not allow Space54 access to the island. Period. We are going in under the radar, both literally and metaphorically. Nobody outside this room and a couple of people higher up the chain knows about this. Understand?”
“I understand that if this goes wrong, we are completely fucked, and Space54 walks away scot-free,” said Karl. “I hope you know what you’re getting us into, Phoenix.”
“I spoke directly to General Greene of the USARPAC earlier. Our orders are clear, Walker.” The tone in Phoenix’s voice was clear. Karl understood when to push it and when to shut it.
“What about the skipper of the boat, this Freddy guy?” asked Darius nervously. “How come he’s helping us?”
“He was the one who called it in.” Max looked at Phoenix for approval to speak and she nodded. He wiped a bead of sweat running down his cheek and went on. “Freddy is just a local guide. When the team from Space54 didn’t return, he went to the island himself. He told our guys that he looked around but couldn’t find any trace of our people. The chief doesn’t know that he’s helping us. Freddy just feels responsible for what happened. He wants to help. He’ll be an asset to us, not a liability. Truly.”
“Yeah, and I bet you found a way to make sure he stays quiet, right?” Karl rubbed his thumb and fingers together, imagining them full of cash.
Max ignored Karl. “Freddy also said that he heard strange noises coming from the island.”
“Noises?”
“Don’t ask. It was just local superstition. The local tribe believes that the island is a resting place for the spirits of their ancestors. That’s why we must tread carefully. Nobody is allowed on the island, and Space54 went to a lot of trouble getting our people on there. The noises and rumors are just that, stories designed to scare children at night and keep people away.”
“And this probe of yours that crashed on the island?” Phoenix turned to Max. “What about that? Any dangerous substances or anything we need to know?”
Max shook his head and looked at the door. He lowered his voice as he answered and Phoenix wondered if he was about to burst into tears. “Ricardo, Tobias, and Jane were going to retrieve our data. There’s nothing dangerous about the probe. Much of it broke up on re-entry. There are some samples that it collected, but our focus is our people.”
“Samples? Like from Mars?”
Max glanced at Phoenix. “Yes. Just some small rocks from the surface, I believe. I was not involved in that side of things, so I couldn’t really speculate.”
“Maybe those noises the local guy heard weren’t his dead ancestors but aliens,” suggested Darius. “The start of a Klingon invasion. Maybe a Martian hitched a ride back to planet Earth on that spacecraft.”
“Come on, Darius, Klingons don’t exist,” said Karl.
“Yeah, it was more likely Stormtroopers,” said Alex. “Getting their ray-guns ready.”
“Idiot.” Justin punched Alex on the shoulder. “Ray-guns are Star Trek, not Star Wars.”
“Look, ladies, I deal with facts. And the facts are this.” Phoenix stood in front of her depleted unit and folded her arms. She looked studiously at each member of her team. None of them were scared. None of them thought this mission was worth a damn. She could see it in their eyes. This was a joke to them. But if they didn’t take it seriously, they were liable to come unstuck. She had to make then focus, not dream of little green men. “We are entering the unknown here. Fact one: the rover crashed somewhere on that island and the terrain may be hostile. It is a hot, tropical jungle that will kick your ass if you’re not focused. Fact two: The only three people who have ever stepped foot on that place didn’t come back. So we have to deal with whatever we might find. Nobody has explored the island. The terrain is going to be difficult. It’s going to beyond hot. Something like fifty degrees. At night, it’ll freeze, which is why we want to be out of there before the sun sets. There is no Wi-Fi or cell reception. There is no Seven Eleven. There is no Starbucks or Holiday Inn, so sure, get your laughing and your jokes done now, but the second we leave this room, the laughing stops. Three people may have already lost their lives, and I’m not going in unprepared or treating this like some kind of school trip. You will follow my orders and come home alive. Anyone who gets themselves dead has got me answer to. Got that?”
“Yes, Staff Sergeant,” snapped her team almost in unison.
Phoenix looked at Karl. He wanted her job, no doubt about it, but until he was prepared to knuckle down and forget screwing around with his buddies, he was a long way short of taking it from her. Tact and diplomacy weren’t exactly her strongest traits, but she knew how to follow orders, how to cope in difficult situations, and how to know when she should keep her mouth shut. Karl would always be her junior until he learnt that.
“Who exactly are these three people we’re looking for?” asked Karl folding his arms.
Phoenix turned to the board behind her, picked up three headshots, and stuck them up. She pointed out each one as she put their photograph up on display. “All science geeks employed by Space54. Tobias Cleaver, Jane Lenovar, and the team leader, Ricardo Mendez. They were supposed to find their lost probe, get whatever data they could from it, and be back home right now watching reruns of Dexter.”
“Nerds,” muttered Darius. “Three lost nerds. That’s all we need.”
“Boy, are they gonna be glad to see us,” said Justin.
“With your IQ, Justin, I can just imagine the conversation now. Them talking about interplanetary travel, you talking about hot dogs.” Darius chuckled. “Dazzling.”
Phoenix ignored them.
“Weapons?” asked Karl seriously.
“We’ll be going in light,” said Phoenix. “This is a search-and-rescue operation, not a seek-and-destroy. There’s no reason to believe we’ll encounter anything more aggressive than sunburn and sandflies. We won’t be there long enough to find out if there’s anything more. We will need a couple of machetes though. Walker, make sure you get them. The island has a lot of vegetation we need to get through. We don’t want to be held up just because there’s no sidewalk. It’s going to be hard work so don’t forget them.”
Phoenix gave them little else about the mission. There wasn’t much else she could tell them. General Greene had been sketchy on details with her. It was clearly a covert operation, and the less she knew, the better. She had a feeling that the CEO of Space54 had pulled some strings to get General Greene involved. People like that had friends in high places. The general had given nothing away and told it to her straight: get the Space54 employees and get out. That about summed up her job. She had no problem following orders, no matter how unusual or secretive they were, but even she had to admit this was highly irregular. It felt like they weren’t being given the whole picture, but the Space54 doctor, Max, seemed to be just as clueless on the situation. For now, all she could do was go along with it and get the men fully prepared. She ordered them all to get their gear ready and for Karl to ensure that Max was suitably prepared. As they began to leave, she heard them talking amongst themselves and turned her back to them. She hoped she had made them realize that no matter how easy the task seemed, they still had to take it, and her, seriously. She had seen too many good people take their eye off the ball and end up fucked up to accept anything less.
&n
bsp; “She good?”
Phoenix heard the doctor mutter it under his breath. Out of her peripheral vision, she noticed he was walking out with Karl.
“Yeah, she’s good.”
She was almost surprised by the secret seal of approval from him. They had served together in Iraq but never made much of a friendship out of it. Rarely did she hear him say anything positive about her command.
“Fifi’s all bark and no bite. Don’t worry, Doc, we’ll find your men. Just stick with me.”
The approval he had just given her was bullshit. She knew Karl had said what he’d said to Max just loud enough for her to hear. He wanted her to know that he was undermining her already. It was a challenge she had faced numerous times before, simply for being a woman. It didn’t matter that she had two tours in Iraq under her belt or ten years’ service. Karl took any opportunity he could to stick the knife in and give it a little twist. In a moment of weakness last year, when she thought they were bonding instead of butting heads, and she had admittedly drunk one too many Singapore Slings, she had confessed her childhood nickname was Fifi. Now, when he was trying to wind her up, he brought it out. Rising to the bait would be too easy.
She heard the footsteps fade and the door close. Turning around to an empty room, she sighed and looked at the clock. Karl could throw his toys, but it didn’t matter. He would follow her just as he did every time they were sent somewhere hot and horrible. They had a job to do. There were three American citizens out there, possibly hurt, who were relying on them to get home. No, not relying on them, on her. She was in charge, and no matter how good a unit she had, the responsibility was on her to get everyone back. It was going to be a long day.
Phoenix slapped the back of her neck and looked at her palm.
“Got you,” she said victoriously.
The dead fly left a tiny trace of blood on her skin, and she smiled with satisfaction as she wiped the dead bug on her thigh. The sweat rolled down her neck and she strode out of the room onto the deck of the ship. The scorching sun was hidden behind her and the sky was a pure blue, with not a hint of cloud anywhere. The jungle they were heading to would be at least ten degrees hotter.
