THE RED MIST TRILOGY: The Box Set

by R T Green

  Coop ran a finger across his throat, telling me to kill the call.

  ‘Sorry, Tiri. That’s the deal. You can only have one of us. You decide which one.’ I ended the call, turned to him with frightened eyes. ‘She’ll know my location now. She might come here anyway.’

  ‘Good point. But we know she won’t risk harming you. If she’s not got back to us in ten, switch the disc off.’ He looked at the others. ‘Folks, time to grab what we need in case we have to get out of here quick. Ten minutes.’

  Tami leapt to her feet. ‘I will get my med kit. I pray it won’t be needed, but just in case...’

  David was walking to the front door. ‘There are a couple of bits in the workshop that may be useful.’

  Coop smiled reassuringly to me. ‘You did good. Shew her you ain’t taking this lying down.’

  ‘Wish I felt as confident as I tried to sound.’ The pendant pinged again. ‘Oh, that was quick.’

  ‘It’s a good sign. Do it...’

  I accepted the call.

  ‘Where?’

  Coop gave me another thumbs-up.

  ‘The north side of the island. There is a clearing big enough for your shuttle. I will send you the coordinates. And I have hurt my foot, so I need to rest it for a few hours. Eight this evening, when it is dark. The location is remote, away from prying eyes. I don’t want anyone seeing us.’

  You make a fair point.’

  ‘I wish to speak to Zana, please.’

  She let out a sarcastic laugh. ‘I have bowed to your request, Madeline, for the sake of our future together. I will give no more concessions. Don’t push me further. And bring the pendant too. We would like it back.’

  She was gone.

  Chapter 120

  It was a squeeze, five of us and a crutch in the old Nissan. ‘Settle back, folks,’ Coop said grimly. ‘It’s a pretty long drive.’

  He spun the car, and we headed off to meet my mistress. The sun was sinking towards the horizon as we drove through Scarborough, found Windward Road and headed east. A decent main road, it followed the coast on the southern side of the island, passing through a few villages and small towns, and then turning north into the rainforest.

  We would get as close to Zana’s shuttle as we could. Then a short walk through the trees would take us to where it was hidden. Tami had strapped up my ankle, but it was still going to be a painful trek. And very likely bring back all-too vivid memories of not so long ago

  But at least this time I had loved ones and friends to watch my back.

  ‘You ready, jungle boy?’

  ‘You going all Rudyard Kipling on me now, Baloo?’

  ‘Wouldn’t dream of it, Mowgli. Just watch out for the snakes.’

  ‘Snakes?’ Miles visibly jumped.

  ‘You gonna tell me you’ve got a snake phobia now?’

  ‘And then some.’

  ‘Oh my.’

  We’d parked the car in a small public country park, the closest we could get on four wheels. No one was there; it was the day after Christmas day, and darkness had fallen. In front of us, the forest sloped down to the rendezvous clearing a half-mile away, and the sea a little way beyond that.

  The view was spectacular, even in the dark. Out over the sea, grey clouds were gathering in the distance, bringing with them the threat of rain. Yeah, that figured; a little more drama added to an already too-dramatic night.

  Coop and Miles switched on the powerful torches in their hands, flashed them across the first of the trees. ‘Come on guys, time’s getting on.’ We began to walk, my dad with an arm around me to help keep the weight off my foot for as long as possible. I had to smile as I heard his Miles’s grumbling words close behind me.

  ‘Bloody great way to spend Christmas, trekking through the jungle in the bloody dark, about to get bitten by a flippin’ great bloody Cobra.’

  I knew he wasn’t being serious. Trying to lighten the mood, he was just as determined as the rest of us to see this through to a happy ending.

  The walk wasn’t so bad. Downhill all the way, the trees and vegetation grew denser the further we went, but didn’t really hamper our progress. Even Miles had stopped complaining, but that was probably because he was too breathless to find words.

  Coop had the pendant locked onto Zana’s shuttle, a perfect beacon to guide us. And thirty minutes after we started walking, the clearing came into view. It was empty, but we knew it would seem that way, the shuttle invisible. He handed the pendant to his partner. ‘Ok Miles, show us where the door is.’

  He pressed a button, and in the middle of the clearing, out of nowhere, a tiny square of the inside of the shuttle slowly appeared, as the hatch lifted up and a set of steps dropped down.

  ‘Oh my,’ Coop breathed. His lifelong dream of stepping aboard an alien spacecraft was about to become a reality.

  We climbed aboard, and as we entered the small bridge, his wide eyes were everywhere. I could almost see his heart thumping like a piston engine as he drank in his alien surroundings.

  ‘Wow. Pretty cool, hey Miles?’ He glanced to his partner, who hadn’t even heard him. ‘Miles! Shut your mouth, not a good look, bud. What do you reckon?’

  He shut his mouth, but then opened it again to say a single word. ‘Amazing...’ he breathed.

  There wasn’t a lot of time. The clock had just clicked past seven, and we would soon have to make the short walk to the second clearing. Coop wanted us to be there before the alien shuttle. We checked everything, over and over; the tin with the cocktail, the two hand guns he and Miles had brought with them, the one remaining alien weapon left on the shuttle.

  It wasn’t a lot if it came to a gun battle. But it was all we had. We ran through the plan one more time, even though it wasn’t that much of a plan, and then he fixed a stare into me.

  ‘You know exactly what you gotta do, kid?’

  ‘Of course. I’m not a fool, Coop.’

  ‘Neither am I, Madeline.’

  We made the four-hundred metre walk through the dense forest. It had started to rain, warm drops of water dripping onto our heads from the tops of the trees. We found the clearing, flashed the torches around the space, and I saw Coop’s eyes sink to the floor.

  ‘Fuck.’

  I knew as well as he that the task had just got harder. But it was Miles who put it into words. ‘Am I just far too English to understand the jungle, or is this clearing a lot bigger than it looked?’

  ‘Yeah Miles, it’s bigger.’

  Around the edges of the clearing, the trunks of felled trees lay in neat stacks, next to heaps of rotting undergrowth that had clearly been piled there recently. Someone had made this clearing for a reason, and they’d obviously been making it for a while.

  It was twice as big as it was when the aerial photo had been taken.

  ‘Bloody hell, Coop.’

  He shook his head. ‘It’s all we got to work with guys, so nothing’s changed. We’d better get in position. Miles, turn that disc off now. We don’t want them knowing exactly where we are until they land, just in case they try anything.’

  He slipped the pendant around my neck. ‘Ok, time for Miles and me to go get into position.’ He gave me a narrow-eyed stare, said deliberately, ‘You’re on your own now, Maddie. Don’t you go letting me down, ok?’

  I held the stare, somehow. ‘Do my best, Coop. And don’t call me Maddie.’

  He and Miles took the cocktail tin from my dad’s backpack, began to skirt around the edge of the undergrowth to reach the far side of the clearing. They weren’t going to walk right across it, just in case they were being watched from above.

  Chapter 121

  As they found their spot a quarter of the way around the clearing from the others, Coop couldn’t stop his eyes glancing at the open space to his right, now much bigger than he was comfortable with. The enemy shuttle would easily fit into it, and if they did what he expected and parked right in the middle, there would be an awful lot of open space to cover so they could plant
the putty on the hull.

  But what was worrying him just as much was that he would now be a lot further away from Madeline.

  ‘I ain’t happy about this, Miles.’

  ‘It’s all we’ve got, mate.’

  ‘Don’t mean I gotta like it.’

  Hidden in the undergrowth on the edge of the clearing, Coop fixed his eyes into the dark sky above them. Heavy rain was falling, big drops of water hitting the black cap covering his head, sounding like thunder in his ears.

  He couldn’t see the others. They’d moved back a few yards into the trees, so they wouldn’t be spotted by anyone in the shuttle when it first landed. He spoke into his phone, now the only link to them.

  ‘You folks all set?’

  ‘All set, Coop.’

  David sounded terrified. He wasn’t the only one.

  ‘Come on, you alien fuckers...’ Coop whispered.

  It was like his words had flicked a switch. The clearing filled with light. In the air above them, four big round landing lights turned the night into day. Slowly they sank lower, the beams picking out the big raindrops, columns of sparkling light getting ever shorter as the alien craft dropped into the clearing.

  The hum of the engines drowned out the sound of the rain, the invisible craft just discs of light, ominous and more threatening because that was all there was to be seen, closer and closer to the ground, finally coming to a stop with a slight tremor Coop could feel beneath his feet.

  The discs of light died away, and for a minute he was blind, a feeling of desperate panic welling up inside him. He could see nothing, hear nothing except a faint hum mingling with the sound of the rain.

  But then he could see everything once more. Powerful lights on the sides of the hull made the clearing like day again. And there, in all its menacing beauty, was the ship. Uncloaked, completely visible.

  He heard Miles cry out next to him, his eyes wide with awe-inspired shock. A hundred feet long, the shuttle was sleek and jet black, glistening in the rain, a shiny alien version of a Stealth bomber. A sharp-pointed nose drooped down slightly, widened out to a long round body that curved up at the back like a duck’s tail.

  Tiny wings swept back into points, curling upwards, and ending with a vicious-looking probe. Four other probes were set at the front edge of each wing, like huge black needles waiting to pierce the skin of the unwary.

  At the back, a beautifully-curved tail-fin supported a large, oval-shaped disc sitting about ten feet above the rear of the main fuselage, like the roof of a penthouse. That had three needle-like probes at the front too.

  It was totally, threateningly beautiful.

  I dragged myself out of the trance the sight of the shuttle had sent me into, as Coop’s voice seemed to boom out of my dad’s phone. ‘Switch your disc on now, Madeline. Time to communicate with your mistress.’

  It wasn’t me who spoke first. An amplified voice filled the clearing with sound, coming through a speaker set into the hull.

  ‘Show yourself, Madeline.’

  I’d got the alien gun, but having it in my possession wasn’t part of my plan. ‘Take the weapon, dad. Here, just like any other gun, press the trigger and it will fire. If you need to...’

  Coop must have heard me through the phone. ‘Maddie, that’s not a wise move...’

  I ignored him. We stepped out to the edge of the clearing. The voice boomed out again. ‘Who are those people with you?’

  And then everyone could hear my voice as I spoke into the pendant, as clear as day. Tiri was routing the whole thing through the ship’s speakers. ‘It is my father, and his partner. They are here for me, they mean you no harm.’

  ‘I see. They go no further.’

  The hatch began to lift. She was there, standing just inside the airlock, a gag over her mouth, Paleface Peroni right behind her. ‘Zana...’ She was shaking her head from side to side, violently, telling me no...

  I took a few hesitant steps forward. ‘I’m coming, Zana...’

  The voice boomed out again. ‘Wait!’ I stopped. ‘Take off your shorts.’

  ‘I’m not stripping for you, Tiri.’ My voice was shaky, but defiant.

  ‘You are, if you want this to happen. I am all too aware what you are capable of, Madeline. Take off your shorts please, so I can see you have no hidden weapon.’

  I did as she asked. ‘Time to exchange, Tiri.’

  I began to walk again. I could feel the tears welling up, fought them back. Zana was struggling, but it looked like Peroni had her in a vice. She was as strong as hell, I already knew that.

  I reached the halfway point, stopped, held out an arm. ‘I’m here Zana. Come out, it’s ok...’

  ‘You are too far away, Madeline. Come closer.’

  ‘Stop stalling, Tiri. Bring Zana out. We exchange in the open, you know the deal.’

  Silence. Zana... still telling me no, her muffled screams ripping into my soul. Tiri wasn’t going to budge, I knew. But if I could reach the steps, somehow wrench Zana out of Paleface’s grip, shove her into the clearing...

  At least then the exchange would be made... and one of us would be saved. I’m so sorry, dad...

  I started to walk, the final few steps to my life sentence.

  Coop and Miles were at a steep angle to the fuselage, they could only see a tiny wedge of the inside of the shuttle through the open hatch. And the heavy rain wasn’t helping. ‘Fuck it, Miles. I can’t see a damn thing.’

  ‘Look at Madeline’s face, mate.’

  He did, and realised Zana must be in her view. Just inside the hatchway, out of his sight. He glanced to his partner, the putty in his hand. ‘Get ready, bud.’

  ‘Bloody long way to run, mate.’

  He grimaced. A good fifty feet, a little further to where Miles could reach up far enough to slap the putty onto the hull.

  What was happening, inside the shuttle? He cursed, angry he could see nothing. The steps were lowered, but no one had appeared. Madeline was at the halfway point, nobody was moving.

  But then she began to walk again, closer and closer to the shuttle. He watched as she lifted her face to the sky, the raindrops beating into her desolate face. He could feel her despair. And he knew then his fears were well-founded. No... please Madeline... don’t...

  He leapt to his feet, the sudden realisation she was giving herself up galvanising him into action. She was at the steps, a foot on the first one. He had to stop this suicide.

  ‘Shoot, Miles... anywhere on the shuttle. Just make some noise... He fired, a second before his partner, their bullets ricocheting off the hull, echoing around the clearing.

  He began to run. Madeline hesitated, stepped back involuntarily, the shock of the gunfire confusing her. He fired again, crashed into her and threw her to the ground beneath him...

  Coop slammed into me, knocking us both onto the sodden ground. Gunshots, everywhere... my father, firing blue streaks of light from the alien weapon. Fuck you, Coop, why couldn’t you just leave it alone..?

  No... the hatch was closing, the shuttle lifting off the ground, the landing lights switching off. Then blackness, blinding me after the brightness of the lights... the hum of the engine, fading into the falling rain.

  Silence.

  Tami, helping me to my feet... Miles, running over. ‘I tried to reach her, Coop... just not enough time.’

  The putty... in his hand, the rain making it glisten in the torchlight.

  ‘Quick...’ Coop screamed. ‘Into the trees. They might fire on us.’

  My dad wrapped an arm roughly around my waist, and we staggered into the shelter of the forest. ‘Fast as you can, folks. These trees ain’t gonna give us much shelter. Need the safety of the shuttle.’

  Everything was a blur as we ran through the trees in the darkness. Except for my heart, its feelings as clear as day. Thanks to Coop’s unwanted intervention, far from saving Zana, I’d made everything a whole lot worse.

  Chapter 122

  I was helped onto a berth in one of the
cabins, everyone fussing around me like mother hens again. Leave me alone. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I just wanted to save Zana. Let her get on with her life, leave me to enjoy my life sentence with my mistress.

  But then the others left, and it was just Tami, helping me out of my sodden clothes, checking me over. Then holding my hand, looking into my eyes in that knowing way she has. ‘Are you alright, Madeline?’

  ‘No, I’m not alright, Tami. I need time, to come to terms with... things.’ Why can I never keep anything from this woman?

  She smiled, stood up. ‘When you are ready, we will talk.’ She gave me a tearful hug, and left me alone.

  It didn’t last long. Ten minutes later the door knocked, wrenching me from my misery. ‘It’s Coop.’

  ‘Come in, it’s ok.’

  He walked in, looked away. ‘Shit, sorry.’

  I hadn’t even realised I was still in my underwear. ‘Forget it. It doesn’t matter.’

  He looked at me curiously. ‘You gonna tell me what that was all about?’

  ‘Do I need to?’

  ‘No. I just want to hear it coming out of your gob.’

  My eyes sank to the floor. ‘It’s over, Coop. It’s all over, no thanks to you.’

  He ran a hand across his mouth, looked like he was about to burst into tears. Then he sat down beside me, a little heavily. ‘Ok... I need your verbal report, agent. All the pertinent facts, now.’

  I told him exactly what I thought about him and his intervention, in no uncertain terms. Told him I believed the only way to end everything was to give Tiri what she wanted. Me. And told him he was the one who messed up... yet again.

  He stood up, glared at me with shocked, sad eyes. ‘You listen to me, agent. You quit with this talk, you hear? You’s had one traumatic experience after another, more than a body can handle, and you ain’t thinking straight. You think I came all this way just to watch you give it all up? Think again, agent.’