by Greg Gotti
The four of them walked in silence as they began to climb a moderately steep hill. They made their way from tree to tree, being careful not to lose their footing and go sliding back down the slope. They slowly made their way to the top and stopped. There was some kind of bright light in the distance, and men were forming into lines in a field about 500 feet in the distance. Maria saw Martinez’s jaw drop in obvious surprise as he took in the scene before him.
“What the…” Martinez wondered aloud as Perez fished a pair of binoculars from his pack and surveyed the activity before them.
“Sir, it’s Special Forces. It looks like Captain Fuentes’s unit,” Perez said as he moved the binoculars slowly from side to side. “I recognize a few of them from that op we ran last year.”
Maria felt her blood turn to ice within her.
Diego Fuentes stood watching as Heredia got his men into formation outside Facility 4. He had been jarred from his sleep by a call from the High General and ordered to get his rapid response team here immediately. They were stationed under an hour away by jeep, and they had arrived to find Facility 4 in an uproar as men hurried here and there.
He watched as Sergeant Heredia came striding across the yard towards him. The young sergeant had greeted him at the gate upon his arrival and spent the last few minutes briefing him and getting his men formed up. Fuentes resented having to act as the RID’s military police force. He and his men were an elite special operation force, not MPs. He watched as Heredia hurried over and stopped beside him.
“Sir, the last of them are coming. We will be ready to move out in another minute or two,” he reported as Fuentes looked on with a bored expression.
“That’s fine, sergeant. Are you familiar with the terrain between here and where we are going?”
“Of course, sir; we train throughout this entire region.”
“Well, this is no training exercise, sergeant. This is the real thing. Whatever mess you have going on here has to be cleaned up, and they sent my boys and I here to do it.”
“I understand your frustration, sir,” Heredia said with a tone careful not to betray his growing dislike of the arrogant young Fuentes. “I am simply following orders, just like you are.”
“Orders that had to be given because you can’t keep your prisoners secured! Don’t you think we have better things to than cleaning up your messes?”
“With all due respect, sir, it isn’t like this is just another prisoner.”
Fuentes scoffed loudly. “He’s a Soona dog, whoever he is. One is no more special than the next. Who is this super-important prisoner anyways?”
Heredia stared dumbly at Fuentes for a moment before gathering himself. “You mean you don’t know?”
“No, sergeant, I didn’t have time to get a full briefing before we left. Who is it?”
Heredia realized they were talking too loud and the men formed in ranks could hear every word. He lowered his voice and turned his back to the men.
“John Wallace, sir.”
Now it was Fuentes’s turn to be surprised. He stood in shocked silence for several seconds with his mouth hanging open as he processed this information.
“Wallace is dead,” he finally replied. “His bones are nothing but fertilizer pushing up daisies in the valley.”
“Respectfully, sir, that is just the cover story used to conceal his presence here; I assure you.”
Fuentes stared at him without saying anything for what seemed like an eternity. Heredia felt his unease growing within him. He saw the fire in the young officer’s eyes and began to wonder if there was any way this could all be pinned on him. He felt his mouth growing dry before Fuentes finally spoke again.
“Do we have any idea where your commander has taken him?”
“There is a bridge over a narrow section of the Arcangel nearby. It is the most likely place to start looking.”
Fuentes’s eyes narrowed as he set his jaw. “Get the trucks up here. We are rolling in hard. Do it.”
Heredia saluted and hurried off as Fuentes stood silently contemplating this new revelation. Having been the man who had taken down John Wallace had made him a hero throughout the Federation. If Wallace were to suddenly appear alive and well, it would be a severe blow to his reputation. People would start to question everything about him. He wasn’t about to allow that to happen. If Wallace really was alive, he wasn’t going to stay that way for long.
Martinez watched as the men outside Facility 4 got into trucks and took off down the road in a hurry. He frowned as he watched them drive away. Something big had happened, and the fact that he had seen Heredia climbing into one of the trucks meant someone important was involved. He had planned for something like this. He kept his calm as he gathered his thoughts.
“What is the plan, Colonel?” Both of the other soldiers looked to him, and Maria stared wide-eyed as the first hints of daybreak began to appear on the horizon.
“The plan remains the same,” Martinez replied. “We simply have to adjust our schedule. We need to get in, get out and get away from here before Fuentes and his men return. We will still reach the rendezvous on time. I don’t know how long we have before Heredia returns to base. They have no idea where we are going or what direction we went. We are within the Soona jamming zone, so they have no radios. By the time they get back, we should be far away from here. You two stay here with Miss Rodriguez. I have to get inside and take care of what we need to take care of before we go. If I don’t return within 20 minutes, take Miss Rodriguez to the rendezvous. It is crucial that she makes it there; more important than me or anyone else getting there. Do you understand?”
Perez and Finkes nodded in agreement. Martinez took a good look at the surrounding land. Seeing no sign of anyone, he took off running for the opposite side of the hill from Facility 4. Maria felt more confused than ever as they sat down and waited for Martinez to return.
John Wallace cradled his son in his arms as he slept. He could not stop staring at him. Little Juan breathed softly with his mouth open just a bit; his head nestled into the crook of his father’s elbow. John lowered his lips to his son’s forehead and gently kissed him. Less than an hour ago, he hadn’t known he had a son. Now, his heart swelled with love for him as he watched him sleep. He thought he had left his heart with Maria on that bridge, only to rediscover it here with his son; their son.
The door opened slowly, and the blonde woman smiled as she entered and saw father and son together in the chair. She looked to be about 40. Her eyes were soft and kind. She closed the door behind her and sat in a chair close by as John continued to rock slowly as Juan slept peacefully.
“Maria said you would be a wonderful father,” she said in a soft voice.
John looked up from Juan with great interest. She smiled again and continued.
“My name is Joanna. I took care of Maria throughout her pregnancy. I got to know her very well. We became friends, even though it goes against every SSS directive to become friends with a Rista. She told me many things about you, John; all good things.”
“If the SSS forbids you to befriend a Rista, why did you do it?” John asked.
“I feel my oath as a doctor supersedes my oath as a soldier. Besides, I could not help but like Maria. I am fluent in her language, so I was also her interpreter. We spent much time together. By the time Juan’s birth drew near, we had become like sisters.”
“What all did she tell you?” John asked.
“She loves you, John. You need to know that first and foremost.”
“I do. I was sure of it well before we left to cross the river.”
“You are the only man she has ever loved, John. She told me so many things. She told me how she found you wounded and passed out on her mountain. She knew immediately you were a Soona soldier from your uniform, but she could not bring herself to shoot you. She had you in her rifle’s scope for some time before you ever saw her. She just couldn’t pull the trigger. She still doesn’t know why. She knew what had happened. She
knew you were fleeing from her people. She knew they would come looking for you. She hid you and nursed you back to health, and she still doesn’t know why. Do you know what she told me just a few days ago? She said she thinks it was because you never gave up. You fought so hard to keep going, despite being in obvious pain. She watched you through her scope as you kept falling and getting up. Each time you fell, it was harder for you to get up… but you always did. She figured you would fall and stay down, but you kept getting up. When you were almost to her and finally lay still, she emerged from her hiding place. She thought you were dead, only to see you slowly force yourself to your hands and knees and look up at her. She saw your face, dirty and lashed with cuts, but your eyes were the most beautiful she had ever seen. You reached out to her just before you fell unconscious, and she knew right then… she could never hurt you.”
“I still don’t know how she managed to get me from there to her house,” John said as he stroked Juan’s cheek with a fingertip.
“She is small, but she’s strong,” Joanna laughed. “And she had a little help, but I’ll let her tell you that story. After watching you fight so hard to live, she didn’t think it right to have someone kill or capture you because you were unconscious. Her original intention was to nurse you back to health and let you try to make your way back to your own territory. Things just… changed.”
John said nothing. He sat quietly rocking Juan gently as he watched him sleep. He was so beautiful to him. He could see Maria’s nose and long eyelashes in his face, and he had a hint of her caramel complexion. The reddish hue of his hair and his blue eyes left no doubt to anyone who his father was, but John thought he still somehow favored Maria. He felt a little squeeze at his heart and looked up at Joanna as she watched him.
“I miss her,” he said quietly.
The door opened and Schwarz entered the room. He stood just inside with his arms folded across his chest, and John’s eyes narrowed.
“Do you love her, John?” Joanna asked. “Do you love her the way a man loves one woman for the rest of his life and no one else?”
“I do,” John said, “with all of my heart.”
Schwarz looked away and stared at the top of his boots. John wondered what his intentions were. He knew very well what the laws were regarding breeding with the Ristas. The baby would not be allowed to live, and he would be executed. He doubted anyone in the Soona Nation would ever know he was still alive. It was too inconvenient for too many people if even half of what Martinez had told him was true. He knew all of this, yet something seemed out of place here. Juan was in good health. They had obviously taken good care of him. Why would they do so only to kill him now? John stared icily at Schwarz as the man began to pace.
“Johnny, you have put me in a tough spot, man. You tore up the entire western third of the borderlands without authorization. You sent the entire Rista population in that area fleeing south in terror, and you caused their entire command structure to go into a panic. Hell, you sent our own High Council into a panic with your unauthorized invasion!”
“It worked, Karl. We could have cut them off from the river and driven to within a stone’s throw of their capital region before they could have mounted any kind of reasonable defense. Their lines were broken, and we both know it. It was you who delayed us at the river and made us wait before crossing over.”
“I had my orders, John. You were a loose cannon, and Command wanted you under control. They were afraid you had gone over the edge after your wife died and were about to get our entire western army wiped out.” Schwarz’s voice never grew angry or sneering; just annoyed. He was pacing steadily back and forth over the same patch of carpet, and John could sense his obvious displeasure.
“Karl, even after being held up for so long, the plan would have worked if you’d done your part. That plan was perfect. They would have been wiped out in the north. They knew we were coming. You knew they knew we were coming; didn’t you? You let me walk in there with 200 of our best soldiers, knowing we were going to certain death. It would have worked! We could have turned the tide of this never-ending war, but you made sure we didn’t. We could have driven to the outskirts of their capital before encountering any more resistance, but you made sure we didn’t. You betrayed me, Karl, and not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about it.”
John’s voice was steady and even, but his coldness was apparent. He kept his stare focused on Schwarz’s eyes as he continued to rock in silence.
Joanna shifted in her chair uneasily as the two men glared at each other. Juan remained asleep in his father’s arms as the silence grew longer. The room was filled with nothing but the subtle creaking of the rocking chair. Schwarz seemed every bit as angry as John had to be, but neither said a word for what seemed like an eternity to Joanna. She worried that the two might start a fight. She began to stand, so she might take the baby before such a thing could happen, when Schwarz suddenly spoke.
“Things aren’t always as simple as they seem, Johnny. You’re pissed because you think I left you there to die. That’s fair. I’d be pissed too, if I were you. What you don’t know is: My mission wasn’t to stand by while you waited for help. My orders were to kill you myself while we were out there and make it look like enemy action.”
John looked at Schwarz skeptically as he continued.
“The SSS doubles up on everything. If I didn’t kill you, there would have been someone else in my unit who would have. They always have other operatives embedded in operations to make sure we are following orders; sometimes two or three others. I never know who they are. Even if I’d brought my group over as planned, someone in my group would have shot you themselves. I know it stinks, but it was the best I could do for you, John. You don’t have to believe me, but I wanted you to hear the truth at least once. You’ve been lied to your whole life, and you deserve the truth. You’ve earned that much.”
John said nothing. His mind was trying to sort out all of this. He’d realized long ago nothing was the way he’d been told it was. It was almost overwhelming; trying to separate fact from fiction in this new world he’d been thrust into. But it really wasn’t new, was it? It had been this way all along; he just hadn’t known. He had no way of being sure if Schwarz was telling him the truth. He hadn’t known if Martinez was being truthful with him. He almost didn’t know which way was up anymore. What he did know was he was unarmed in a secret SSS installation. If Schwarz was lying to him now, there was really nothing he could do about it. He’d thought about handing Juan to Joanna and launching himself at Schwarz, but what would become of his son once they threw him in a cell or worse? His life wasn’t just about him anymore. He took a deep breath and sighed.
“So what do we do now, Karl? We both know they aren’t going to let me just go home; especially not with a baby who is obviously of mixed heritage. And they can’t exactly be happy about me being alive if they wanted me dead. I’m surprised I’m not dead already.”
“You’re right, Johnny. They’d never let you live. You are already a mythical figure among the common people; a martyr for the Soona Nation. If you were to return, you’d be the most popular figure in the land. They’d have to smear you. Make it look like you had been a traitor. What better way to do that than showing everyone your son? You know how everyone feels about the Ristas.”
“Is that what the game is here then, Schwarz? You’re going to use my son to disgrace me, so I can be executed without setting off a firestorm of protest? Well, go ahead. He isn’t a disgrace. I will claim him proudly, and they’ll have to kill me before they can harm him!”
Schwarz and Joanna exchanged a look, and he gave her a nod. She got up and left the room, leaving the three of them alone in the thick tension of the moment. John felt a tsunami of emotion sweeping over him. He wanted to wrap himself around his son to protect him. He wanted to leap out of his chair and strangle Schwarz as he had dreamt of doing so many times over the past year. He wanted to run far from here, far from the zones or whateve
r they were called and keep running until he found a place where they’d leave him alone. He was done with all this. He was done with the war; done with everything. He shook his head at the utter pointlessness of it all.
“They ordered me to kill you once, Johnny. I couldn’t do it then, and I certainly can’t do it now. Yes, turning you over to them would be a death sentence. I’m not going to let them kill you or your child.”
“If you don’t turn me over to them, they’ll come take me themselves and kill you for the trouble,” John said resignedly.
“Johnny,” Schwarz said, “they don’t know you’re here. They don’t even know you’re alive. They don’t know about Juan or Maria or anything about you after they declared you dead. But they will soon if we don’t get you out of here.”
John gave him a look.
“Get me out of here… how?”
Joanna had left the door open, and as though it were on cue, she returned with a dark-skinned companion. John did a double take, and felt his jaw drop.
“Williams?” he asked in disbelief.
“Hello, John. It’s good to see you,” the American pilot said with a broad smile.
John stood up and handed Juan to Joanna. He embraced Williams and felt relief rush through him. He stepped back and shook his head; unable to shed his smile. He was more confused than ever, but he was happy to see his American friend. There was no way the SSS could have faked his falling from the sky into Maria’s lake. He might be the one military man anywhere who John still trusted.
“Ok, I’ll ask the obvious question,” John said. “What are you doing here?”
Williams’s smile matched his own. He clapped John on the arm and shook his head.
“John, the day my plane went down, I was never going to be able to return to my old life. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it’s obvious now. There is so much going on behind the scenes we didn’t know about. Nothing is ever going to be the same.”
