Second Activation (The Activation Series Book 2)

by Darren Wearmouth

  “What excuse did you use to get away?” I asked.

  I still had a gnawing doubt at how easy this seemed to be. The potential prize helped to quell it—and the fact that we had someone on the inside helping us.

  “I told Martina that I needed some sleep. Anthony and Jerry didn’t question it. Martina backed me up.”

  “Where did the others go? We didn’t see any big patrols go out,” Jack said.

  “Twenty left from the other side of the island an hour ago.”

  “Do you know when they’re coming back?” I asked.

  “Not until tomorrow morning.” She flashed me a wicked smile. “You’ll love this: they’re actually scouting Elmhurst, looking for you.”

  “That’s sweet,” Jack said. “While they’re looking for us we’ll be taking out their base.”

  “There’s something else I need to clear with you guys before we go over.”

  “Clear with us?” I said and stepped closer to her. “Why don’t I like the sound of this?”

  She sighed and looked away. “Martina started getting cold feet this afternoon.”

  “Spit it out,” Jack said.

  “You know there’s nothing any of us can do against Genesis Alliance, and the world’s fucked, right?”

  “Go on,” I said.

  She bowed her head. “What if we ran the U.S. operation of GA with Martina?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” Jack said.

  “Just think about it for a minute. We could make a difference. People wouldn’t have to be processed. We’d give them a chance to build a community together. We need to make sure what’s left of the population can try to rebuild.”

  “Jesus, Lea,” I said, barely believing her suggestion, especially at this last stage. “Listen to yourself. You sound like Ron.”

  “I don’t sound anything like Ron. I’m being serious,” she snapped.

  “You sound exactly like him,” Jack said.

  “This is her, isn’t it?” I said. “She doesn’t want to let go of power, with those launch codes. Has she even considered what is going to happen for not following HQ’s orders?”

  Lea paused for a moment and looked to the sky. “I told her it was a stupid idea, but she wanted to back out.”

  “You really surprise me sometimes,” I said. “You had the guts to go back to GA, knowing you could be killed, and found a window of opportunity to take them out. Now you’re asking us to replace them? What did you think we’d say?”

  “I told her you wouldn’t go along with it.”

  “We’re destroying that control unit, whether she likes it or not.”

  “We could pretend to go along with their plans while neutralizing as many people as possible,” she said.

  “Bollocks to that,” Jack said, his voice rising, probably along with his blood pressure. “I’m going over there to kill Anthony and Jerry. This isn’t a negotiation. Bigger boys are coming our way, and we need to move.”

  “There’s no arguments over Anthony and Jerry. It’s what happens after that.”

  “There’s no arguments from our side,” I said. “Do you expect us to leave that thing intact so GA can carry on terrorizing? Do I need to remind you about Bernie? Or everyone out there?”

  “I can’t believe you’ve come out with this shit,” Jack said.

  Both Jack and I knew how poor leadership and muddled planning without clearly defined objectives could lead to disastrous consequences. Any other lover of military history would know the same things. The centuries were stuffed with examples.

  Lea paced around the yard with her hands on her head. Jack and I leaned against a boat and glared at her. Once we were taken to Hart Island, nothing would stop us from smashing up the control unit if we had the opportunity. If she didn’t take us, I decided, we were going anyway. This was too good an opportunity to miss.

  Genesis Alliance was a large, powerful organization. Did she seriously think they’d let a large section of their operation free to do as they pleased, helping out survivors that they tried to kill? The Lea I knew would see straight through her partner’s cyanide-tipped olive branch.

  When dictators in rogue states are deposed or die, it’s very rare that something better takes their place. We were all supposed to fall into line and salute the Arab Spring, but I knew deep down that armed men in pickup trucks rarely formed a cohesive democracy, especially when it was won with blood.

  Lea finally stopped in front of us. “How about a compromise? We make the place safe, and the four of us discuss our options?”

  Jack looked at me and shook his head.

  “No,” I said. “I’m not standing around debating the impossible. You said HQ is on the way. We’re going now, with or without you.”

  She took a step back and raised her eyebrows. “Without me?”

  “You don’t have to take part,” Jack said, “but I’m not missing this opportunity.”

  “We’re sticking with the original plan,” I said. “Do you seriously expect us to back out?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t believe I even asked you. I had to try for Martina. She’s gonna be pissed.”

  “I don’t give a fuck what she thinks,” I said, no longer able to mask my irritation.

  “Leave it. I’m sorry, okay?”

  “Are we good to go?” Jack asked. “She won’t be causing us any problems?”

  “None of us have too many choices anymore. I’ll deal with Martina.”

  Lea’s boat slapped over the waves toward distant Hart Island. Jack and I crouched in the back and covered ourselves with a tarpaulin. We needed speed and direct force to overwhelm Anthony and Jerry before they could form any defensive positions. My heart thumped against my chest when Lea decreased the speed and steered to the left side of the island.

  I pulled the tarpaulin to one side and looked out at it.

  “That’s the light on the dock,” she shouted over the spray pounding the side of the hull. “We’ll be there in two minutes.”

  I instinctively checked my rifle again and patted the magazines in my thigh pocket. A dim light on the center of the island illuminated a square brick building around three hundred yards to the left of the dock.

  “Is that the control room?” I asked.

  “It’s just a short walk through a field. We’ll be there in no time.”

  Lea cut the engine, and we bumped into the side of the pontoon. Jack grabbed a support with both hands and held the boat steady against the wooden structure. Lea secured the rope, and we thumped onto the planks.

  She motioned us forward with her gun. “Martina’s gonna stay out of view of the window, to give you clear shots.”

  I wondered if it might be best to shoot Martina. Lea’s feelings were the only thing stopping me from putting a bullet in her partner’s head.

  She strode off the pontoon onto a grass field. A well-trodden path cut directly through it to the gloomy building; the rest of the overgrown field swayed gently in the sea breeze. Dark shadows of trees surrounded most of the shore.

  She turned back and whispered, “They’re still here. Can you—”

  Bright light flooded the area, and people screamed from all directions.

  I immediately dropped to the prone position and raised my head.

  Two large halogen lights shone straight down the path, lighting up the area all around us. I crawled into the long grass. Jack did the same in my peripheral vision. Lea froze and raised her arms in surrender. The screaming voices closed in on my position.

  I squinted against the lights but couldn’t see a thing.

  “Drop your weapons and stand up.”

  “Put your hands in the air, now.”

  “You’ve got five seconds.”

  “You’re surrounded! You’re not getting out of here alive unless you do what we
say.”

  The last shout sent a shockwave through my body. I thought about spraying the immediate vicinity, and I’m sure Jack did too, but it would be a death mission. We’d been caught in a professional ambush. They knew our exact location and we’d be taking potshots at muzzle flashes, all zeroed in on our position.

  I looked at Lea. Her shocked expression was clearly visible in the artificial lighting. “I didn’t know, I . . . I . . .”

  A man shouted, “Five . . . four . . . three . . .”

  I stood up with my hands in the air. Jack followed and glanced across at me. “We’re dead meat—should have gone out in a blaze of glory.”

  “We’d have been cut to ribbons in two seconds—”

  Before I could finish my sentence, I felt a heavy blow slam into my back, and I staggered forward onto my knees. Strong arms forced me down. Multiple hands pinned me to the ground. My pack straps were sliced, and it was ripped off my back; my arms were pulled behind me, and my wrists were secured with a zipping noise, crushing them together. Hands searched every one of my pockets and emptied the contents.

  “He’s clean,” the knife-wielding man said.

  “This one too,” another voice said.

  Somebody grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me to my feet. Jack stood close by with his hands tied. A guard led Lea at gunpoint toward the building. Two men grabbed my arms and frog-marched me behind her.

  They stopped ten yards short of the building. One of the guards kicked me in the calf.

  “On your fucking knees, now,” he said.

  Saliva sprayed against my ear, and he kicked me in the back of the knee. I dropped to my knees.

  A goon punched Jack in the stomach, and he crumpled to the grass. I couldn’t believe our hope had been ripped away in seconds, and I was under no illusion what they had in store for us. A quick death.

  A tall, slim woman appeared in the doorway. Thin lips with peroxided blonde hair. I recognized her as Martina from the picture we’d recovered at Anthony’s house. She gave me a look of contempt.

  “Why?” Lea said. “How could you do this to me?”

  “I did this for your own good,” she replied in a chillingly calm voice. “HQ is coming, and we had to stamp out any threat. I’m choosing the right side for us.”

  “You said you wanted out, and—” Lea said.

  “Listen to her, Lea,” I said. “You’ve got a chance to get out of this.”

  Jack and I didn’t, but at least she had a chance. I didn’t want her to waste it by falling on her sword.

  A guard slapped me over the head. “Be quiet, asshole.”

  Martina smiled. “Oh, how sweet. Look, he’s defending you.”

  “You’ve betrayed me. We had plans,” Lea said.

  I looked across to Jack. The guard twisted my head forward.

  Martina walked past Lea and glowered at us. “I couldn’t let them get away with killing Ron. Which one of them was it?”

  “Sorry, guys, I didn’t know, sorry . . .” Lea said. A tear rolled down her cheek as she turned to face Martina. “You said you’d have done the same in their position.”

  “I would, but he was my uncle, your boss. You’ll come to realize that I’m right.”

  Martina jabbed her fingernail into my forehead and twisted it. “Was it this one?”

  “It was me, and he deserved it,” Jack said.

  She spun toward him and slapped him across the face. “Kill this one. They can have fun with the other one.”

  “No—no you can’t!” Lea shouted.

  “She’s right, not yet,” a familiar voice said.

  Anthony stood by the building’s door, holding a cardboard box. He looked even more like Larry David in this light. “I’ve got business with these two, and it’s going to be a long, long night.”

  Jerry pushed past him. “Well, look what we’ve got here. You’re gonna regret the day our paths crossed.”

  Anthony dropped the cardboard box. He didn’t have the same jocularly spiteful demeanor as Jerry. He narrowed his eyes and stared at me with a stone-faced expression.

  “Just get it over with. We need to finish the presentation,” Martina said.

  “I’ve invested a lot of time in getting my hands on these two,” Anthony said. “There’s gonna be no rushing.”

  “Martina,” Lea pleaded, “tell them you won’t give them launch codes. You can’t let them do this!”

  Martina looked indifferent and shrugged. “Sorry, it’s out of my hands. Come inside and we can talk.”

  “I’m staying out here. With Harry and Jack.”

  Anthony nodded at a guard. He shoved Lea forward with his rifle muzzle. She staggered into the building, and the door closed behind them. Muffled shouts and screams came from behind the door.

  Jerry knelt in front of me, grabbed my sweater with both hands, and head-butted me on the bridge of my nose. Stars flashed in front of my eyes, and sharp, searing pain shot through my head.

  He stood and cracked his knuckles. “That’s just the start of it.”

  Anthony gestured to a guard. “Put them against the wall while we get prepared.”

  Two goons grabbed me under each armpit and threw me against the side of the structure, near the end of its wall, away from the entrance. Jack bounced down next to me. Two guards stood in front of us, pointing AR-15s at our heads.

  Anthony crouched in front of Jack. “Remember what you did to me in my garage?”

  Jack spat in his face.

  He fished a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped his cheek, before thrusting his rifle butt into the side of Jack’s face.

  “And you . . .” He turned to me. “In the Second World War, the Japanese would use a torture technique involving the forced ingestion of water. Let’s see how you like that.”

  “How’s your house, Anthony?” I said.

  He shook his head. “You really are a piece of work.”

  I refused to beg for mercy from either of these two; it wouldn’t change their minds.

  Jerry nudged in front of Anthony. “Did you go back to Montgomery?”

  “We did. You need to start looking for a new home,” I said.

  He advanced toward me, but Anthony held him back. “Take it easy. They need to feel everything . . .”

  They both walked out of sight. I tried to make eye contact with the guard. He looked away.

  “Look, mate, let me go—you can’t agree with this,” I said.

  “You’re not getting out of here. Your brother isn’t either. These two have made us walk through walls to get hold of you. I’ll be glad when it’s all over.”

  “What kind of bloke are you?” Jack said.

  “I’m just a guy trying to survive. Now do me a favor and shut the fuck up.”

  The shouting continued between Lea and Martina inside the building. Our chances of help from anywhere seemed nonexistent. Two men carried a large wooden table from around the side of the building and positioned it in front of us. Then they placed on it a drum of rope, bolt cutters, and a roll of masking tape.

  Jerry returned, slipped a knife out of his belt, and cut lengths of rope from the drum. “You’re first, Jack. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you.”

  “You’ll never forget me after you see the state of your house,” Jack said.

  Jerry shook his head. “You stupid fuck. I can choose a better place.”

  The building door creaked open, and Martina leaned out. “Anthony, get over here.”

  “He’s getting ready in the pump room,” Jerry said.

  “Jerry said he’s going to slit your throat after he gets the launch codes from HQ,” I said to Martina.

  Anything was worth a shot at this stage. Although they’d probably see straight through my weak attempt to drive a wedge between them.

 
“You’re pathetic,” she said. “Come on, Lea; let’s talk to Anthony.”

  Lea’s face looked puffy and white as she followed Martina. It surprised me that she didn’t even look at us.

  “What are you going to talk about?” Jerry called after her. “You’re not letting these two go—that’s not part of our agreement.”

  “You’ll get your fun,” she said. “Come with us if you want.”

  He pointed his knife at me. “I’m not letting them out of my sight.”

  Jerry walked over to two guards who stood by the halogen lights. I could hear parts of his conversation. Something about being ready for when HQ arrived, and no more fuck-ups from here.

  “This is it then,” Jack said. “Got any last minute brainwaves?”

  “Our only hope is Lea, but what chance does she have persuading Anthony out of this? We should have backed out when she started coming out with that nonsense at the boatyard.”

  “It was worth a shot. She didn’t know—” he replied.

  Jerry stomped over to Jack and kicked him in the chest. “Who gave you permission to talk?”

  Jack rolled onto his side and coughed. Jerry returned to the other two goons.

  Raised voices came from the back of the building. Maybe Lea making a final plea for our lives. I would even settle for a severe beating, although that was probably already part of Anthony’s plan.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  Jack hauled himself up and looked at Jerry, who repeatedly glanced in our direction.

  Jack leaned toward me. “There are a couple of lights in the sky. Have a look over my shoulder when you get a chance.”

  A low buzzing noise drifted across the breeze. The GA guys all looked upward.

  “Over there,” one shouted and pointed high to his left.

  Two separate lights grew brighter in the dark sky, and the buzzing gradually increased to a recognizable sound of helicopters.

  Jerry ran past us and called down the side of the building, “There are a couple of choppers approaching. It might be Headquarters.”

  I detected both panic and excitement in his voice.

  “It might be hostile. How do we know?” one of the goons asked.