Earth Shout: Book 3 in the Earth Song Series

by Nick Cook

‘It also tells us something else,’ Ruby said. ‘Alvarez and the Overseers can’t have located the Grey either. They must be desperate if they’re throwing money around so publicly like this.’

  ‘But surely Jerry would have just revealed the actual whereabouts of the Grey to them and claimed the reward?’ I said.

  ‘Not if he had a bigger game plan,’ Lucy said in my ear.

  ‘Why, what are you thinking?’

  ‘That Jerry might think that if he managed to capture this Grey himself, he might be able to get a lot more than ten million dollars from Alvarez.’

  ‘If the guy thinks he can put the squeeze on Alvarez, he has no idea just how ruthless the man is. Even if Jerry does manage to track the Grey down again and capture it, I can guarantee it won’t be long before he’s in a body bag.’

  Ruby nodded. ‘If I know anything about the Overseers’ playbook, they’ll then spread a rumour that Jerry was abducted or some similar crap.’

  Mike sighed. ‘Then it sounds as if we have to save this guy from his own greed.’

  ‘Great in theory, especially if it also leads us to the Grey, but how are we going to do that when we don’t where Jerry is?’ I replied.

  ‘Actually, I might have an idea about that too,’ Lucy said. ‘I was nosing through that computer and it turns out it has Jerry’s calendar on it. I checked the day he was meant to have spotted the Grey, and it turns out he wasn’t anywhere near the camping area.’

  ‘So where was he then?’ I asked.

  ‘At his cabin up in the woods – near a place called Timpson Lake.’

  ‘You mean that’s where he was the night he saw the Grey?’

  ‘I’m guessing so. I’ve already grabbed the address from his contacts and updated the Sky Wires with the GPS coordinates. It’s about a twenty-minute drive away on your Zeros, faster if we fly there.’

  ‘Has anyone told you that you’re completely brilliant?’ Mike said.

  Lucy chuckled. ‘Nothing like enough, gorgeous.’

  I pocketed my Sky Wire. I had a good feeling about this. If Jerry really had held back, there was a real chance we could get to the Grey before Alvarez did. A tangible sense of relief started to fill me. Our decision to break out of Eden might be about to be fully justified – if we pulled this off.

  ‘OK, we need to get those food orders cancelled,’ I said.

  Jack cast an eye towards the kitchen. ‘Do you suppose they would make us up an order to go?’

  I rolled my eyes at him as I beckoned Olivia over.

  Chapter Fourteen

  We rode our Zero motorbikes in a procession along a dirt track through the woods. The early-evening sunlight had taken on an orange hue that was tingeing the tops of the trees golden, shafts of light catching the dance of small flies in the air around us.

  I peered at the HUD map being projected on to my helmet’s visor. ‘According to Lucy’s marker, Jerry’s log cabin is just a few hundred metres round the next bend.’

  ‘Then I think we should dismount here and approach on foot,’ Ruby said over the helmets’ intercom system.

  ‘Why, what are you thinking?’ Jack asked over the open channel.

  ‘For all we know Alvarez may have also realised that Jerry was holding back on the real location of the Grey. They may already be here to get the truth out of him.’

  ‘That’s a good point,’ I said. ‘In which case, maybe you should scout ahead, Ruby, and let us know if the cost is clear?’

  She chuckled. ‘I was about to suggest the same thing, boss.’

  We pulled up and parked our motorbikes a short way off the track among some bushes. Ruby took a rucksack from one of the Zero’s panniers and slipped it over her shoulders.

  ‘What have you got there?’ Jack asked.

  ‘An Accuracy International sniper rifle with a Nikon Monarch 5 scope. It’s a great weapon. I mean, I’d prefer to bring my trusty Barrett M82 for stopping power, accuracy and range, but that cannon is massive to lug around, and might raise a bit too much attention for a group who are meant to be UFO hunters.’

  ‘Yeah, but the Accuracy International is a fantastic alternative when you’re not trying to stop a tank,’ Jack said.

  ‘It is indeed,’ Ruby replied, winking at him.

  ‘Oh, great, Jack,’ I said. ‘Now you have a weapon buddy you can go all weak at the knees with over Guns Monthly magazine.’

  ‘Says the woman who is almost married to her LRS,’ Jack retorted, which made Ruby snort.

  Mike just eye-rolled the rest of us as he checked the ammo for his dart gun.

  Ruby hoisted the backpack on to her shoulders and headed out into the woods. ‘I’m going to circle round the target. Just wait for my all-clear before you try approaching.’

  ‘Understood,’ I replied, realising that yet again she was the one issuing the orders. But maybe in this situation that was actually the right call.

  I checked the time on my smart watch: 8.45 p.m. According to its display, sunset was in about thirty-five minutes. We needed to get a move on.

  Jack slipped his Glock into his shoulder holster and I did the same with my LRS, although I hoped I wouldn’t have any reason to use it. Yes, I’d had to kill people during missions, but I would never want to unless absolutely necessary. It was the one way I was able to navigate myself through such an emotional minefield.

  I pressed my fingertip to my earbud. ‘Lucy, are you still reading us?’

  ‘Loud and clear, my little sunflower.’

  I grimaced as Mike and Jack grinned at me. ‘Just how quickly can you get here if we need backup?’

  ‘A minute tops if I travel over Mach 5.’

  ‘Good to know. Be on standby in case we need you in a hurry.’

  ‘And there was me thinking of doing my nails.’

  I shook my head at the others.

  ‘Just how dangerous do you think this is going to be, Lauren?’ Mike asked.

  ‘I didn’t think it would be at all – until Ruby put the idea of Alvarez already being up here into my head.’

  ‘It certainly doesn’t hurt to be careful,’ Jack said. ‘But it would be nice if we managed to complete a mission without one of us getting shot for a change.’

  ‘Amen to that,’ Mike said.

  Right on cue the old wound in my left arm ached. I’d received that little memento courtesy of one of Alvarez’s bullets. Its presence was a reminder of just how high the stakes could run in an operation like this. And I’d seen too many good people killed to take any unnecessary chances.

  ‘How are you getting on out there, Ruby?’ I asked.

  ‘I’m in position now – I can see the cabin,’ Ruby’s voice said over the earbud link. ‘There doesn’t seem to be anyone inside. But, just to make sure, I’m going to launch Hawk and do a quick sweep of the area using its thermal-vision camera.’

  ‘Hawk?’ I asked.

  ‘It’s a micro-drone – the thing Jodie gave you to give to me. She’s had the labs working on it for a while. The US Marines have something similar called a Black Hornet, but Hawk has three times the range at six clicks. It also has a hover mode, which means it can sustain surveillance for up to three hours. Very useful when you’re a sniper and need an extra pair of eyes in the sky.’

  ‘We could have done with that little toy back in Peru,’ Mike said.

  ‘Well, we have it now,’ Ruby replied. ‘So let’s see how good it actually is.’

  I heard a faint whining not much louder than a wasp coming from the woods on the hillside above us. It faded away and I caught a glimpse of a small dark shape darting up into the sky and circling back.

  ‘OK, I’m just doing a circuit of the surrounding area,’ Ruby said. ‘Yep, no sign of anyone apart from you guys. But if Jerry is inside the cabin, the thermal camera on the Hawk isn’t sensitive enough to pick him up through thick log walls.’

  ‘Then I think we need to take the risk and head in,’ I said over the radio.

  ‘Roger that,’ Ruby replied.
>
  Using the trees as cover, we made our way up the gentle rising slope. We crested the top and a squat wooden cabin with a veranda came into view. Moss grew over most of the roof together with a few missing shingles. It looked as if it needed some serious TLC. A large Ford F40 pickup truck was parked next to the cabin. What was on its back immediately caught my attention: a large metal cage. It was exactly the sort of thing that someone might transport an animal in…or an alien.

  Mike gestured towards the vehicle. ‘If that truck belongs to Jerry, it seems highly likely he’s been hunting for the Grey around here somewhere.’

  ‘And going by the fact that the cage is still empty, he can’t have had any luck yet,’ I said.

  ‘If you hold up one of your Sky Wires to the truck, I can check the registration plate,’ Lucy said through my earpiece. ‘Then I’ll be able to confirm whether it belongs to Jerry or not.’

  ‘You can do that?’ Ruby asked over the comm channel.

  ‘Let’s just say that Eden’s systems have opened up all sorts of useful databases for me. I assimilated them into my memory banks.’

  ‘Nice move,’ Mike said.

  ‘Oh, I have the best moves,’ Lucy replied.

  I could almost hear her grinning at the other end of the line.

  I held up my Sky Wire, pointing the rear-facing camera towards the vehicle. A moment later a cropped-in view of the truck’s number plate had appeared on the phone’s screen.

  ‘Right, I’ve just checked the database and that truck definitely belongs to Jerry,’ Lucy said.

  ‘OK then – let’s find out if he’s inside.’ As I stepped up on to the veranda my boot caught something and pinged it away. I glanced to see a bullet casing just ahead of my toe. Then my eyes took in all the other shiny brass casings scattered over the veranda.

  ‘Bloody hell, it looks as if there’s been some sort of firefight here,’ I said.

  Jack squatted down and picked up one. ‘Nought point four, four rounds by the look of it – I’m guessing from a hunting rifle. But these are cold, so this wasn’t recent.’ He stood up and ran his hands over the walls of the cabin. ‘OK, I’m not even sure it was a firefight – I’d expect to see a few incoming rounds that would have impacted the walls.’

  A trickle of ice ran down my spine. ‘So what was he shooting at here?’

  Our eyes travelled to the empty cage.

  I walked to the door and rapped my knuckles on it. ‘Jerry, are you in there?’

  There was no reply.

  ‘He could just be asleep?’ Jack said as he joined me, although his expression told me he thought nothing of the sort.

  I withdrew my LRS and put my hand to the door handle.

  Jack unholstered his Glock and took a position to the side of the door, ready for the room-clearing technique we’d been taught. We knew to never just stand there and open the door, as that would present an easy target.

  ‘Guys, do you really think that’s necessary?’ Mike asked as he hopped up on to the tailgate of the truck to examine the cage.

  ‘I really hope not,’ I replied. I turned the handle and it started to swing open. ‘It’s unlocked.’

  ‘Not unusual for a cabin in the back end of nowhere,’ Jack said.

  ‘Look, before you go storming in there, let me first check it out with Hawk from the perimeter where I’ve taken up a sniper position,’ Ruby’s voice said over the comm link.

  I licked my lips that had suddenly become very dry. ‘That sounds like a plan.’

  Soft whining came from the sky and a small drone half the size of my Sky Wire phone descended rapidly towards us. The grey craft had two propellers mounted on stubby wings either side of a teardrop-shaped body. The wings pivoted into an upright position, much like our X101s could for vertical landings and the tiny drone came to hover just a metre off the ground behind us. Then, like a dog following a trail, the drone tipped its nose and sped into the cabin. The three of us watched from outside as it rotated slowly on the spot in the hallway. A moment later it buzzed back out of the doorway, heading up into the sky.

  ‘You’re all clear,’ Ruby’s voice said over the link. ‘No sign of anyone…nor a corpse, before you ask.’

  My heart rate decelerated as I holstered my LRS and headed through the doorway with Jack.

  Inside, a small unlit potbelly stove stood in one corner. Motes of dust swirled through the air. A distinct whiff of stale cigarette smoke caught in my nose. On a table in the middle sat a bag of fresh groceries. Next to it were several boxes of bullets, some open. A bed in the corner with rumpled bedding suggested that someone had recently slept in it. But it was what was on the walls that really drew my attention.

  Photos of Grey aliens were everywhere, from sketches to blurry photos, most of which I’d seen on UFO sites. There was another copy of the newspaper article featuring Jerry on the wall. Beneath that was a large map, with several areas that had big Xs scrawled across them.

  ‘That looks like a search grid to me,’ Jack said.

  ‘Looking for our alien friend?’ I wondered.

  ‘Could be. The question is whether or not Jerry found it – and if that has anything to do with all those bullets out there.’

  ‘Oh, bloody hell, I hope not.’

  ‘Hey, guys, you’re going to want to come and see this,’ Mike called out.

  We headed back outside to see him crouched by the rear of the truck, examining the ground.

  As we walked over to join him, I saw droplets of a black viscous substance on the ground.

  ‘Oil?’ I asked.

  ‘I’m not sure, but there also several bullet holes in the tailgate.’

  ‘You’re saying he shot up his own vehicle?’

  ‘Hang on, it doesn’t look quite right for oil,’ Jack said. He dipped his finger in it, sniffed it and cautiously tasted it with the tip of his tongue. He pulled a face and spat it out immediately. ‘That’s not oil. It has the metallic taste of blood. I guess it could be alien.’

  ‘Oh, Jesus, you’re saying Jerry winged the Grey?’ Mike asked.

  ‘It would fit with what we can see here, but if so, where’s Jerry?’ I said.

  ‘Remember what those hunters told us,’ Jack replied. ‘The reward for the Grey was alive or dead.’

  I wrinkled my nose at him. ‘So you think that Jerry injured the Grey and then went after it?’ I asked.

  ‘Actually, I think I might have an idea,’ Ruby said over the comm link. ‘I just flew Hawk down the track that leads to the cabin. There’s a muddy section with two sets of fresh tyre tracks in it. I think there’s a good chance that Alvarez and his people caught up with Jerry.’

  ‘So they took him and the alien?’ I asked.

  ‘I don’t think so, because look at this,’ Jack said. He was standing a short distance away, studying a bush at the edge of the clearing.

  We joined him and I spotted more of the black blood on its leaves.

  My gaze fell to the ground. There were footprints that appeared to be similar in size to a small child’s, but with four toes.

  I pointed them out to the others. ‘If that’s our Grey, then it’s definitely been wounded.’

  Jack examined them and nodded. ‘Going by the scrape marks from the right foot, you can see it was dragging its leg slightly.’

  I was about to reply when I felt static wash over my skin.

  ‘Crap, I’m losing control of Hawk,’ Ruby said. ‘Some sort of—’ Her voice was drowned out by a burst of noise.

  A moment later a blue flash came from the horizon.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Mike asked.

  ‘There was some sort of magnetic pulse in the local area,’ Lucy’s voice said in our earbuds. ‘Thankfully not strong, but still powerful enough to take out Hawk.’

  ‘Any idea what caused it, Lucy?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, it does bear all the hallmarks of an antigravity drive system failing, so…’

  Jack stared at Mike and me. ‘The crashed Tic Tac – i
t has to be.’

  My pulse quickened. ‘Lucy, any idea where the pulse might have come from?’

  ‘From triangulating my sensors and your Sky Wires’ inbuilt compasses, which all went haywire, it seems whatever caused it is centred over another small lake five miles north-east of your current position.’

  I pressed my finger to my earbud. ‘Ruby, that’s within range of your Hawk, isn’t it?’

  ‘No can do, boss,’ Ruby said as she emerged from the forest. In her hand was the mangled remains of her drone. ‘That pulse knocked out its flight control systems and it came down hard. Unfortunately, Jodie didn’t give me a spare.’

  ‘The magnetic disturbance is ongoing, so I could make a fly-past if you need me to do a bit of reconnaissance?’ Lucy said.

  ‘That’s too risky if the Overseers are investigating too,’ I said. ‘Better that we head over on our Zeros and scout out the situation from the ground.’

  ‘So let me get this right. You’re worried about Lucy running into the Overseers, but not us?’ Mike asked.

  ‘Relax, I’m not suggesting we engage them if it does turn out to be Alvarez. But this way we see for ourselves what’s going on and we can form a strategy to deal with the situation. And that may include bringing Lucy in if we need her.’

  ‘And what about our alien buddy, who might be out there somewhere?’ Ruby asked.

  Jack’s gaze lifted from the tracks. ‘Well, as the Grey seems to have been heading in the same direction as the magnetic pulse, it suggests that the alien is trying to get back to his ship.’

  ‘All roads lead to Rome in other words,’ Mike said.

  I nodded. ‘So let’s head out and discover exactly what we’re dealing with here.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  The sun had long set and a weather front had moved in, blotting out the stars. Mike was at the head of our convoy of Zeros as he was by far the most experienced on motorbikes out of all of us. We had our lights completely off to avoid drawing any attention to ourselves and were heading along an isolated back road through the forest. We were closing in on the lake being displayed on our HUD screens.