Blood of Patriots (Book 4 of The Humanity Unlimited Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  His troops swarmed in behind him, seeing his urgency. Everyone was strapped down, and the lander was lifting off less than sixty seconds later.

  Harry dialed the number to Brenda’s quantum phone. She answered a few moments later.

  “This is Harry,” he said somewhat needlessly. It wasn’t as if everyone on the planet had her number. “Can I use your gate to get to New Zealand? Molly said they can hear someone digging into the tunnels with picks and shovels. Odds are good that’s the Asharim slaves. I’m going to need to find Commander Krueger and get his people on standby so we can go defend the gate.”

  “Hang on a second,” she said.

  Moments later, Krueger’s voice came out of his handset. “I caught a little bit of that. I’ll put the call in to my folks and have them standing by in New Zealand. I figure we can have the full team ready in maybe forty-five minutes.”

  “What are you doing with Brenda, Karl? That’s just about the last place I expected to find you.”

  There was a long hesitation and suddenly Harry knew exactly why Karl was with Brenda. He almost laughed out loud, but he stopped himself. The man’s love life was none of his concern. Neither was Brenda’s.

  What they were doing might be a somewhat dangerous game to play if Queen found out, but Harry wasn’t going to raise any kind of stink.

  “Never mind,” he said. “Get your folks together, and I’ll meet you at Brenda’s place. We’ll go to New Zealand together.”

  “Thanks for giving me a little space,” the Navy officer said. “I promise this isn’t going to complicate what we’re doing.”

  Harry did laugh that time. “Of course it’s going to complicate things, but that’s okay with me. I suggest you don’t tell Queen, though. I don’t think he’d take it very well.”

  “Probably not. Let me hand you back to Brenda.”

  “How are you going to get here?” she asked a moment later. “I was watching the news and saw you land at the United Nations. You can’t bring that thing to my place without telling everybody where I am.”

  That was certainly true. While Queen had agreed to leave Brenda and the Families alone, that didn’t mean he wouldn't necessarily take action against them if he knew where they were located. Best not to tempt him.

  “I’m going to have them drop me a few miles away from where you’re located. I’ll find my own way there without giving them anything to follow.”

  “You can’t take any cabs,” she said. “They keep records, and so do the ridesharing companies. All of them cooperate with the government, too. Tell me where you’re setting down and I’ll send one of my people to pick you up. You can circle overhead and make the dive down at the last minute so that they can’t track you. Make sure you’re at least twenty miles away from my place.”

  “That works. It’ll give me time to ditch the helicopters and jets I’ve got following me now. If I take off at maximum speed, I’ll lose everyone. Once they don’t have eyes on me, I can circle back around and have Black Jack drop me off with no one the wiser.”

  “Excellent idea,” she said. “And Rogers? Don’t give me any crap about my love life. I’m the one that gets to make the decisions about what I do, and Karl gets to make the decisions about what he does. I’m not going to take any judgment from the likes of you.”

  Even though it had been said in a stern tone, Harry picked out the humor buried in her tone and smiled. She was both being serious and letting him know not to make an issue of it.

  “You got it,” he agreed. “I look forward to hearing what you two have been up to—outside of the bedroom—when we next meet. I suspect you both have other things to tell me about.”

  “Other things?” she asked slyly. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “You can’t pull the wool over my eyes,” he said with his own version of mock sternness. “You invited Karl down there to look for the Virginia base, didn’t you? Did you find it?”

  “We haven’t looked for it all,” she said with a slight sniff. “In fact, we haven’t left this building.”

  “But we were going out to look for it in just a few minutes,” Karl said from a short distance away, obviously overhearing what they were discussing. “Let’s not hide this from him. He needs to know that we intend to find that base. Once we’ve dealt with this intrusion on Volunteer World, we’re still going to do it.”

  “Screw that,” Brenda said. “You two go deal with the troublesome aliens, and I’ll go find this hidden base. I promise I won’t do anything disastrous until you get back, and I’ll take lots of pictures.”

  Harry shrugged. They were going to do what they were going to do, no matter what he said, so he might as well get on board with the program.

  “That sounds fine to me. Be careful. Now let me look at the map and find out which park looks good for a rendezvous. See you shortly.”

  19

  Jess walked through the ruins of the Asharim city with Vera Vidar by her side. The place was an ancient ruin, but the buildings still stood. It was amazing. She could only imagine how badly Michael Crockett and his family, as well as the restorationists, Doctors Rachel Powel and Paulette Young, would love to get into these buildings to see what they could find.

  That would have to wait. Rather than daydreaming, she needed to find out what kind of situation she was walking into. The outcome of this meeting spelled either war or peace. There was no room for error.

  “Without putting yourself in the middle, could you tell me a little bit about the priests that were left after the battle?” she asked the warrior woman.

  Vera raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop walking. “I shall betray no confidences. Unless I am told differently, you are an enemy of the People. My father led a war band to attack you. Unless the priests say differently, that still holds.”

  “I’m just looking to get what kind of personality I’m going to deal with. Are they going to be difficult, or will they at least listen to what I have to say before they lose their minds?”

  That made the woman smile. “They are priests. Of course they will be difficult. I will tell you that all of the senior priests went on the incursion into your world. Those left behind are junior priests. They may perhaps be less difficult than you would otherwise have had to deal with, but all things are relative. I shall say no more.”

  They traveled in silence until they finally arrived at a small settlement constructed in the valley between the monstrously tall buildings. These structures were not of the same caliber as the Asharim edifices and showed every indication of being much more recently built.

  They’d begun encountering individuals and small groups as they approached the settlement, but word had obviously spread before them, as no one approached, though they did give them a thorough looking over. Warriors assessing warriors, looking to see the kind of people that had captured their war leader, she wagered.

  The temple was different than the general structures. Where the other buildings were at most two stories, it was four. It was also covered with what she recognized as bas-relief religious carvings of the tall and willowy Asharim set into pale stone.

  Standing on the steps leading into the building were three heavy-worlder males. Each wore long robes that seemed as if they’d hamper any attempts to move at more than a slow pace. The one in the center wore a tall hat that was obviously ceremonial and somewhat similar to what the Pope wore. She’d seen men dressed like that before and killed them.

  If she had to make a guess, none of the men in front of her was more than perhaps twenty-five years old. Of course, if they had access to a sarcophagus, their appearances could be deceptive.

  Vera approached the priests and bowed. Just based on the relative depth of the bow and its speed, Jess didn’t think that it showed a lot of respect. From the central priest’s expression, he agreed with her assessment, though he showed less anger and more resignation than she’d expected.

  “What have you brought us, daughter?” the man asked.

 
The woman’s lips twitched upward into the ghost of a smile. “Daughter? Gavin, I’m two years older than you.” The latter was said in a low tone that Jess only barely picked up.

  The man sighed and whispered back. “You know as well as I that the way you refer to me and the way I refer to you is based on tradition. Work with me, Vera.”

  He focused his attention on Jess and raised his voice. “Who is this that you have brought to us? Is this a woman like Kathleen Bennett?”

  “First, she can understand what you’re saying,” Vera said. “Second, I don’t believe so. She leads this war band though. None of the rest appears to understand our language.”

  The man’s eyes rolled slightly. “Perhaps you should have mentioned that to me first. We should not be familiar in front of outsiders.”

  Not waiting for her response, the man stepped forward and looked down his nose at Jess. “You have come to this place under parley and with our war leader your prisoner. What are your demands? Where are the priests of my order? What have you done with our warriors?”

  If she hadn’t heard the man speaking softly with Vera, she’d have formed the initial opinion that he was going to be a real hard case. Her hearing was excellent, so he probably wasn’t aware that she’d caught those low words that he’d exchanged with someone that Jess suspected was probably a childhood friend or perhaps even a lover.

  That actually put her at ease. She’d have been much more defensive if she hadn’t known that there was a real human being somewhere inside this officious-looking fellow.

  “My name is Jessica Cook,” she said levelly. “I prefer Jess with my friends. I’m one of the leaders of the people your war band attacked. Many of your warriors were wounded or captured. Unfortunately, a number of them died in the fighting, as did a number of my own warriors. As for your priests, none of them survived the encounter.”

  Rather than looking angry, she thought she saw just a flash of interest in his eyes before his expression became sterner. “These are grave words you bring me. What do you seek?”

  “Peace. We didn’t attack you, and we believe that you were tricked into attacking us. I want us to have a second chance to discuss the matters at hand before we are drawn into a war that need not happen.

  “You seek word of the Masters. I know something of their fate. I’m willing to discuss them and other matters with you, so long as we are working towards coming to an understanding that will leave us a more peaceful path forward.”

  The young man slowly nodded. “Your words have weight, and we shall speak. You may have two of your warriors escort you into the temple. Rest assured that the rules of parley will be observed. You are safe here until our talks have completed, and then you will be allowed to depart without harassment or harm.”

  Jess made a gesture toward Sandra. The other woman selected one of her men, and they bracketed Jess as she followed the priests into the temple. Vera and two additional heavy-worlder guards followed them inside, along with Kerrick Vidar.

  This was it. Either she would be able to negotiate peace between their peoples, or there was a larger war on the horizon. There was a lot at stake, and everyone at home was counting on her. She was an engineer, but now it was time for her to be a diplomat. God save them all.

  Brenda met Harry when the van that had picked them up arrived at the loading dock at the back of the building. They didn’t have a lot of time to exchange information, but she confirmed what he knew about the incursion on Volunteer World. She also told him that she would be taking a group out as soon as they left to look for the hidden base in Virginia.

  All of that took place in the three minutes before he and Karl made their way to New Zealand through the portable gate in her base. She really needed to see about finding him something to use for his own needs, because it was awkward having people show up just to use her gate. She’d prefer her secret base to remain… well, secret.

  Once the boys were safely through the gate, she called Victor Holyfield and Todd Granger in to see her. She didn’t offer them seats because they weren’t going to be there that long.

  “Get dressed for a hike,” she said, gesturing at her hiking boots and jeans. “We’re making a trip to Virginia to look for that hidden base that the Volunteers used.”

  Todd frowned slightly. “I thought you were taking Karl to go look for it. What happened?”

  “Trouble on Volunteer World. Karl went with Harry, and they’re going to take care of it. That leaves this to us. While we’re no longer officially on the police watch lists, I’d prefer that the government doesn’t figure out what we’re doing. We need this base.”

  Victor nodded, smiling a little. “I see you’ve come to an agreement with Commander Krueger. That’s good news. Are you sure he’s not going to tell anyone?”

  “No, but I’m relatively certain that he’s going to hold his tongue until we have our hands on the base. Possession is nine tenths of the law, as they say.

  “We’ll take a few other people along with us, but I want you two to herd them in different directions. Working together, I think we can find the cave entrance based on the description of the rocks that General Norris gave us. We’ll be looking for an outcropping that resembles the rising sun.”

  Norbert Norris, the commanding general of the Volunteer militia, bore a striking resemblance to one of his ancestors: George Washington. It was spooky how much the man looked like their first president.

  They’d be leaving him here this time rather than trying to shepherd him along on the search. While he had more experience in rough terrain than they did, he stood out when traveling through the streets of a modern-day city.

  Even dressed in regular clothing, something was off about him. The way he moved, the way he spoke, and the way he gawked at everything. He just stood out, and they didn’t have time to deal with that right now.

  Twenty minutes later, she was in the passenger seat of a van full of her people headed toward rural Virginia. Specifically, federally owned land that had been set aside as wilderness.

  Once they arrived in the area, they parked the van on a small side road and left a note under the windshield that they were hiking and not to tow the vehicle. Better safe than sorry.

  She and Harry had searched a fairly significant area the last time they were there and come up empty. In the intervening time, she’d researched more carefully using modern maps as well as some historical maps of the area to try to see if she could locate a more productive area.

  While she had no idea whether or not the new locations would prove more fruitful than the last, at least they were still looking. If they didn’t find anything here, it very well might mean having to bring in equipment to scan through the ground. That would draw undue attention, so she’d prefer to avoid it.

  Hefting her pack as soon as they were ready, she set off into the wilderness. Five hot, grueling hours later, Victor called for her on the short-ranged radio, and she saw him waving at her from a rocky hill off to her left. She used her bandanna to wipe the sweat from her face and headed over to meet him.

  “Did you find something?” she asked when she’d finally climbed up to meet him.

  He pointed off toward the south. “Does that kind of look like a rising sun to you?”

  She shielded her eyes and squinted. There was a large rock protruding from the side of a rocky crag that, if one used enough poetic license, might possibly resemble a rising sun.

  “It beats what I’ve been looking at all day,” she said with a shrug. “Let’s go check it out.”

  Using the radio, she gathered up the rest of the searchers. They wouldn’t be leaving anyone behind while they wandered off to look at something cool and shiny.

  Getting down to the area below where they were searching and making their way to the new target took them another hour and a half. If they didn’t find something relatively quickly, they were going to have to break off and retreat to the van, or they might get lost in the approaching darkness.

  Sh
e made a mental note that if they came out again, she needed to bring along more camping gear. They had enough food and water to last them a couple of days, but other than a fairly thin sleeping mat, she had nothing to rest on if they stayed overnight. It would get pretty cold out here, she suspected.

  When they arrived on the ground underneath the suspicious outcropping, it only took a few moments to find something interesting. The rock face had a rather large crack that was big enough for two people to enter side by side. That might very well be the cave that the Volunteers had spoken of in their legends.

  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” she said as she turned her flashlight on and climbed up about five feet so that she could get into the crack. Luckily there were plenty of handholds, and it wasn’t a difficult climb.

  She knew the moment that she shone the light inside that they’d hit pay dirt. The rock inside quickly grew into a tube moving deeper into the hillside in a smooth, perfectly circular tube.

  Brenda turned and looked down at her people with a grin on her face. “Somebody get me the geolocation on this and pass it back to our people. Have them bring another van out with camping supplies. I think we’re going to be here a while.”

  20

  Once Harry had everyone gathered in the New Zealand base, he dialed the address for Volunteer World on the sole functional gate. Kevin’s people were disassembling the other two gates, as they might be useful elsewhere.

  The other side of the wormhole was just as dark and gloomy as he’d remembered. Not surprising, considering that it was inside a cave that had been sealed off by a deliberate collapse of the only exterior entrance.

  Being underground, it was cool, but not as much as the lowest level of the New Zealand base. The latter had much more rock piled above it to keep the heat away and maintain a constant temperature.