by JM Guillen
For the jellyfish, perhaps? It didn’t make sense that this would be used against actual trespassers as they hadn’t activated any such weapon against us.
Other parts of the mechanism were not so obvious. They bore labels, but I had no context for what Magnetic Channels might be or why a watchtower would have dials to control them.
Then, just as I turned to head back down, I saw the one thing that truly mattered.
“Just wonderful.” I stared for a moment and counted the trails slicing their way through the mist, headed straight for us.
I took an extra moment to gauge their distance. This proved difficult. Not only did the landscape slope into a stony valley in the direction we intended to go, but the distance had stretched and distorted in the shifting aberrant vectors.
“Seven of them.” I couldn’t see what they drove, but it hardly mattered. Seven trails cut through the mist, going far faster than men on foot.
In one quick leap, I reached the trap door. I shimmied halfway down the ladder, then moved my feet to the outside edges and slid the rest of the way.
“We’ve got friends.” I pointed in the general direction of Sadhana’s reinforcements. “There’s seven of them. And they’re moving fast.”
“We need to go wide.” Delacruz quickly gestured in the direction that I deemed functional east. “There’s more forest in that direction, you can see it if you check your map. There aren’t any roads there, just wide trails. We need to go slow and hope they don’t hear our engines.”
“I see it.” I checked out the topography in her packet. “Let’s go.”
Moments later, we charged into the dense growth of the forest.
With fewer of the faux-Banyan trees, the jungle landscape changed, becoming populated with the wicked not-willows. The stony ground fell away sharply, and Delacruz seemed correct, the vegetation grew more densely. Still, the paths gaped more than wide enough for our FAVs.
Michael, I would like an update. Stone’s link surprised me, coming as I splashed through a shallow creek bed that smelled of sulfur.
I’m kind of on the run right now. I did my best to not come across as short with him. He had no idea we had pursuers, after all. I can send you a patch of the most relevant bits if you would like.
That would be splendid. I felt the man’s generous grin. Also, Michael, I forgot to bring it up before, but have you had the opportunity to ask Delacruz about the case that I had? The one that contained the rest of the... actionables?
What? No. Stone’s interest in the contents of his case felt almost perverse in my mind. It reminded me more of an addict’s interest in his next fix than an Asset’s concern for sensitive materials.
The case cumulates a year-long mission for me, Michael. I’m certain you understand.
I didn’t, actually. I had never been out of torpor for longer than a week or so.
That put the subject in perspective.
I haven’t asked her nor have I seen it. I have to admit, I assumed the material didn’t make it through the backlash from the event.
That’s my concern as well. The grasping feeling, like a man desperate for answers, had vanished. It made me wonder if I’d imagined the sensation to begin with. I’d just like you to keep a lookout for it, if you’d do me the service.
Absolutely. I found myself strongly agreeable and couldn’t say why. If the case ranked such importance, why hadn’t Stone brought it up earlier?
I’ll share your packet with our cadre if you don’t mind, Stone went on, smoothly changing the subject. We are completely green on our end, just so you know. Anya’s telemetry and Wyatt’s axiomatic geometry have solidified the aperture. Our situation is stable; we’re simply waiting on you and Delacruz.
Stable is good. If I figure out what to do regarding our little problem, you’ll be the first to know. As I went around a bend in the path, I realized that the packet should also tell him our backup plan.
Oh, I continued, when I send the packet, you will find that we have discussed an alternative, just in the event that we cannot remove the device from her wrist. I paused. It’s not ideal, but I wanted you to be aware that there’s a backup plan.
Always have a secret plan. I felt his chuckle. That’s my primary rule.
Things are running hot here. I’ll be in touch when I can.
Understood, Michael. He paused. You’ve done some truly astounding work on this dossier. I want you to know I appreciate it.
I sent Stone the packet as the path took another sharp downward turn, passing directly between two steaming pools of boiling liquid. The air positively dripped with humidity and rippled with the stench of sulfur.
The bubbling ponds grew close, forcing me to slow.
“Not a place to get reckless, Bishop!” Delacruz called her approval from behind me.
“Bitch-op!” Sil echoed my name, and I heard the smile in the woman’s voice.
“I can see that.” I eased around the edge of one of the ponds. “Bad place to take a spill.”
“You can cook meat in this water.” She paused. “Not that you should eat it afterward, of course.”
“Of course.”
After that we had another fork followed by a straightaway, and my mood began to brighten slowly. It had been perhaps fifteen minutes since we took to the trees, and so far we hadn’t seen any sign of pursuers. The entire point of Delacruz’s plan depended upon stealth, and things seemed to be going our way. It seemed possible that we might make Locale Four while remaining unseen the rest of the way.
Then a loudly warbling siren echoed across the misty valley.
Fuck.
I pulled to a dusty stop, squarely in the middle of the rocky path and looked back. Those weirdly fungal willow knockoffs hemmed us in on several sides, and a small clearing had opened to my left.
Delacruz and Sil pulled up just behind me.
“[Now we’re dicked.]” Delacruz turned to me, her eyes wide. “That siren can be heard all the way across the valley. Every Sadhana operative for kilometers will be looking for us.”
“Do we have a place that we can hole up?” I scanned through her packet, trying to find somewhere safe.
“We’re right up against some sheer cliffs over there.” Delacruz gestured at the sharp wall of stone. “They go on for about another four kilometers in this direction and then begin to scatter. Gets pretty mazy ahead.”
“And that way?” I hooked a thumb back the way we’d come.
“If we go back, we’re hiding in this branch of willow jungle. That’s not much area to get lost in.”
“So we go forward, then?” My gaze met hers. “I mean, if we go back, we’re just going to run into the riders that are hunting us near the watchtower.”
“That’s true,” Delacruz nodded thoughtfully. She winced and looked down at her arm. “Maybe things are easier ahead because they are hunting for us back—”
Her face went white and her eyes widened. She grasped her right wrist with her left hand and peered at it, puzzled. The green light still flashed, but the blue one had turned a furious orange.
“Delacruz?”
“What?” She spoke the word quietly, almost to herself, as she shifted the Sadhana mechanism on her arm. Then Sofia faced me, eyes distant. “It’s… OW!”
Sil leapt off her FAV.
Delacruz panted, blood draining from her face. “Bishop—!” Her voice cut off with a sudden, sharp, gasp of pain.
“[ɸʌʜ. ɳɣʮʩ! ǷΥΧΏΞ!]” Sil turned from Delacruz to me with dark, desperate eyes.
Sofia Delacruz clenched her arm, sank against her steering wheel, and screamed in agony, her eyes squeezed tight as tears ran down her cheeks.
In the distance, the sirens cried with her.
48
In an instant, I vaulted off my vehicle to her side.
“It feels like fire slicing through the center of my arm.” Sofia’s voice trembled, racked with pain. Her breath came ragged and worn. “It just started for no reason at all.”<
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“I doubt that.” I peered into the jungle, listening for the sound of FAV engines getting closer. The distant sound of the siren made the task difficult.
“You doubt it hurts?” Both her eyes and her tone conveyed vast incredulity.
“No. I mean, there’s a reason. Maybe someone flipped a switch, maybe this thing activates if you leave a certain area…”
“Whatever the reason, I can’t drive like this.” She swore in a long string of Spanish. “It’s like molten thorns all up my arm, going straight into my chest.”
Shit.
Already hopelessly outnumbered, outmatched, and outgunned in enemy territory, this just happened to be the frosting.
Delacruz hung her head as she writhed in pain. I seriously doubted her capacity for combat in this condition. And that only left me and an Irrat named Sil who spoke an alien tongue.
“Fuck!” Delacruz gasped again as the pain wrung racking sobs from her body.
“Okay, we can think this through.” I tossed my automatic weapon into the small bed of the FAV. “Let me get you into my vehicle. I’ll drive you back a little way toward the watchtower. If this device has a range, then the pain should stop once we get back within parameters.”
“Even if that’s true,” she managed, then hissed between her teeth, “you don’t know how far back you have to go. You don’t even know if that’s the trigger. What if it’s a time delay? What if this would have happened no matter what, as soon as some countdown ended?”
Fuck.
“That’s entirely possible.” I spoke calmly, trying not to become frustrated. “Which is why we need to try different things. The only way we can figure this out—”
I stopped in midsentence as our heads whipped around.
The growl of FAV engines roared behind us.
“[We’re fucked.]” She turned to me, expression hopeless. “We can’t go back.”
I simply gazed at her, weighing our options. Sighing, I nodded. “Okay, new plan.” I stepped close to her. “I’m afraid you’re still going to have to ride with me.”
“So…” She gave me a small smile. “You know how to drive?”
“I think I can manage.” I helped her stand up.
The motion made her gasp.
“Shit!” Delacruz trembled with pain and broke out in a cold sweat.
Moments later, with the help of Sil, Delacruz sat strapped into the passenger seat of my FAV, ready to haul ass through the nightmare jungle.
“What about the other FAV?” Delacruz winced as she spoke, but the moment she did, I realized she was right.
We might as well leave a giant sign saying ‘We Were Here’ along the path.
“On it.”
I eyed the vegetation as I walked to the vehicle, searching for cover. I ended pushing it off the side of the path. We honestly didn’t have time to do a thorough job of hiding it. I considered chopping some of the not-willow strands to cover it, but a pile of vegetation would just be more obvious.
Finally, Sil and I abandoned the vehicle behind a stand of the fungal willows in an attempt to conceal it behind the growths.
“I hate leaving it behind.” I sighed as I climbed onto my FAV. “We need all the resources we can get.”
“Wish I could drive it.” Delacruz shrugged. “Can’t be helped.”
Soon thick, glowing mist rolled past us as we bounced over errant stone and through clearings of alien vegetation. We passed a deep crevasse fouled with the off-pink, undulating mass of the symbiont, dripping and trembling with uncanny awareness.
The sight made my stomach pitch.
Perhaps the symbiont might be some odd after-effect of whatever devilry Sadhana happened to be brewing, but I couldn’t concern myself with Sadhana just this instant. The symbiont itself still posed a significant danger.
And it disgusted me.
The path ahead took several sharp turns, but the FAV cornered through them easily and then zipped through a small grove of fungal blossoms. Twice as tall as I, the brilliant blue tops smelled of sweetness and rot, and I heard the buzz of giant insects swarming over them.
A split loomed in the path there, and based upon the patch in my Crown, I chose the left one.
“Here!” I pointed for Sil, just so she’d know. Unerringly, the bald woman followed, her large eyes intent.
I didn’t take the time to ask Delacruz’s opinion on what direction we should take, instead allowing her some peace. She clutched her arm as she writhed in her the seat, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
I could scarcely stand it.
I knew how to deal with armed foes and gore-drenched monsters: simply shoot them. But when a woman I had just met, whose strength I already respected, lay next to me and moaned in agony…
My training didn’t really give me the tools to deal with that.
As I slowed to maneuver through a tricky patch, she gasped. “I might have to let you cut it off after all.” Her tone remained bright, teasing.
“I know a Caduceus who might be able to axio-graph a replacement hand.” We bounced past a small creek, yellow with sulfur. “It wouldn’t be entirely organic, but if we could get that thing off you…”
“I’m not there yet.” She winced.
“[ʮȺȵɕɗɘɞɨɧɂ.]” Sil had pulled up next to me, as we went around a curve. She gestured back behind us, and even though her words made absolutely no sense, I understood:
They came ever closer.
“I hear them too.” I nodded to her, hoping that she understood. Soon, I feared, we would have to stop trying to escape and instead find a place to make our stand.
That might turn messy.
As we careened past increasingly numerous, large, night-black boulders, I began to watch for a bottleneck. Forcing our pursuers through it would be the best way to pick them off one at a time.
Not the best plan in the world, but with the odds against us, it seemed like it might be our best option.
The path opened up abruptly, widening our field of view. The willow-funguses pulled away from our trail, and the ground became firmer and rocky. Several large, stone outcroppings jutted out of the ground, obvious and easy to see. The ground itself ran riot with an off-blue vine gone fuzzy with tiny bursts of leaves all along its stem.
Pushing down the throttle, I gave my vehicle every drop of gas it would drink. I appreciated being able to open it up and hammer my way across the field, but at the same time I didn’t like feeling so exposed.
“Michael.” Delacruz’s too-pale skin shone with sweat.
“Yeah?” Slowing, I steered around a large black boulder pitted with tiny craters. More crowded the way ahead.
“I think you should let me off.”
“You’re not going to hork on my upholstery, are you?” I glanced at her and gave a wry grin.
“They wanted me alive when they caught me.” She hissed with pain, her fingers clenched the edge of her seat. “That’s what this is. This thing is designed to incapacitate me if I get away. If they capture me, it will stop.”
“You don’t know that.” The FAV lurched as I hit a particularly large puddle. “I’m sure you know the kinds of things they did to Sil. They’re not above torture.”
“Maybe they will stop chasing you if you let me out.” I didn’t like the quiet sorrow in her voice. “One of us needs to get back to the Facility. They don’t even know Ar’Ghosa exists, much less everything Sadhana is doing here.”
“How’s this? I’m not doing it.” I gave her a defiant glance, probably a bit longer than I should have while driving. “Let’s cut to the chase. I don’t fucking care how logical you are. I don’t care if it makes sense.”
“I’ve noticed you don’t care much for logic.” She barked a laugh that cut off with a gasp of pain.
“They can fucking try to catch us,” I growled. “But I’m not dropping you off like a sack of garbage so I can get away.”
“God, you’re an asshole.” She chuckled.
From behind us, au
tomatic weapons barked through the mist.
I glanced back, cursing at the thugs barreling along after us through the field. Wondering about our odds, I tried counting our pursuers but then realized I needed to watch the road.
“How many?” I glanced to Delacruz, making certain her eyes still opened.
“Seven.” She blew out a sigh. “Like you said, it’s probably the same men who came after us at the watchtower.”
“Dammit.” I didn’t like the sound of that. We’d taken several twisting turns through the forest, sometimes across stark and trackless stone.
“What now? God, you’re a whiner.” She tried for a grin but managed only a grimace.
“I can’t imagine that Sadhana has Navajo scouts on the payroll or that they stopped at every fork in the road to figure out which way we’d gone.”
“Right.” She looked down at her arm. That devilish little machine had to act as a tracking device. It made sense, no matter how I hated the idea.
“[Ɉɚɗɘ ɞʮ Ώɮɨɸ ɥɕɔɓɣ!]” Sil pulled up behind us and yelled in her cracked and broken tongue.
When I met her eyes, she gestured wildly behind us, as if I had somehow missed soldiers firing at us as we barreled through the field.
“Tell her I know.” I looked to Delacruz, who groaned quietly as she bit her lip. “Tell her I know we’re being followed.”
She nodded but didn’t respond.
Ahead, the stones scattered across the field began to close in. The black rocks began to form elongated walls roughly one to four meters high. The pitted, rough stones draped across the landscape forming odd bits of cover that I appreciated.
As we drove lower into the valley, the stones quickly became labyrinthine and pressed in around us. I wove through the wending paths, taking hard turns whenever I heard the bark of automatic weapons.
Yet they followed—all too easily.
“[ɧɥɨʈ!]” Sil frantically pointed.
“Thanks for the update!” I waved at her.
I dodged down a rude corridor of stone only to double back through a low opening that I thought myself quite clever for finding.
However, the men tracked my direction and speed unerringly, almost as if sitting next to me, surveying my dash.
