“Grimm Reapers were chasing Monica Warden from the Phoenix base,” I said, waving medics forward who exited the vehicles.
“Doctor Monica Warden?” Wesley asked surprised. “Why would she come alone? Why wouldn’t she radio us that she was on her way?”
“We’ll have to wait to ask her,” I answered as the medics went to Monica’s side to check her out.
“Whatever the reason, it can’t be good.” Cassie said what we were all thinking. “There’s trouble at Phoenix Corp.”
“Let’s get her back to Dragon Hold and checked out,” Preacher said, sheathing his katana. He walked toward the vehicles with a limp. “We’ll get our answers when she wakes up.”
“You pop a hip?” Wesley asked Preacher.
“I’m getting too old for this crip.” Preacher smiled back.
Although Preacher had at first possessed a healing ability similar to mine, the Voy had experimented on him and taken that away. Since then, Preacher refused any kind of treatment to reactivate his healing ability.
I hadn’t had a heart to heart with him about it, but I felt like I knew why. As much a gift as our healing ability was to us, it was also a curse. We were far from human and we knew that. We weren’t immortal, but with the healing factor, we were close to it. Immortality seemed like a desirable trait to possess until you really spent some time thinking about it.
If one was immortal, they’d have to see everyone they loved die around them. Living held no value if you couldn’t die.
These thoughts ran through my mind as I boarded an SUV back to Dragon Hold. The medic that saw to my wounds on the trip back to Dragon Hold was no other than Enoch.
Enoch’s and my own path crossed at the Way settlement on the far side of Mars. We had the pleasure of fighting back the Voy together.
The older man wore a white robe that set him apart as a member of the Way. He was bald and clean shaven with a series of wrinkles so deep, I wondered where one ended and the next started.
“Seems we have to stop meeting this way.” Enoch gave me friendly smile as he cleaned and dressed the wound on my left arm. “You keep at it and you’ll hold the record for the most wounds dressed by a Way follower.”
I smiled at his joke.
“I’m glad you decided to come with us to Earth,” I answered. “There’s not a lot of allies we can trust now.”
“It would seem so,” Enoch agreed, trying to clean my forearm carefully amidst the jostling of the SUV. We sat in the middle seat with Monica lying in the back with a medic, and Cassie rode in the front passenger side seat with Wesley at the wheel.
Butch lay at our feet, or rather, on top of them, thanks to the small confines of the SUV.
My forearm looked like someone had taken a saw to it and intentionally did a bad job carving me up. The pain was already subsiding thanks to my intense healing factor.
Part of me didn’t even think Enoch should bother with the cleaning and bandaging, but I knew everyone wanted to feel like they were doing their part. I let him work and kept my mouth shut, plus it would stop me from bleeding everywhere.
“You should know that the Voy invasion was blown wide open by the media,” Wesley said over his shoulder. “Every news outlet is covering the case, digging deeper into aliens and the fallout of the Battle of Mars.”
“The Battle of Mars?” Cassie asked incredulously. “That’s a little dramatic.”
“Oh, and I’m toning it down.” Wesley whistled. “You know the media, they’re all over this thing. It’s only a matter of time before our name pops ups and they head to Earth for interviews.”
“No way,” I said as Enoch wrapped a tight gauze bandage around my arm then moved to take a look at Butch’s wounded forearm. The wolf’s injury wasn’t as ugly as my own, but a deep tear on her left front arm showed a path of matted bloody fur.
“Way,” Wesley answered. “We should be prepared for an interview. I think it would be better to address the media when they come than to ignore them and have them camped outside Dragon Hold.”
“Do you really think they’d do that?” Cassie asked for me. “I mean, Earth isn’t much more than a group of crazy outlaw tribes, Phoenix Corp and the Galactic Government in New Vegas.”
“And us,” Brother Enoch added. He carefully took Butch’s paw in his hands and began to treat her wound.
The wolf eyed him and licked her lips as if to warn him one false move and it would be his head.
“And us,” Cassie agreed.
“I wouldn’t put it past a few nut cases to come down here looking for a story,” Wesley answered. With Dragon Hold here now, that’ll only serve to wet their appetites for a story. We’re not exactly subtle.”
“No,” I agreed. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but subtle has never been one of them.”
“What about Aleron and the Grimm Reapers?” Cassie asked. “How do you want to handle that? He’s not going to go down easy. I would imagine that, as the days pass, his number of followers increase as well.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “He’ll have to be dealt with, but not before we figure out what’s going on with Monica, Phoenix Corp, and Nemesis.”
“Speaking of the devil,” X said out loud for all to hear. “I’m receiving a request for an open channel by someone saying they are with Phoenix right now.”
“Who is it?” I asked. “Commander Shaw?”
“No, someone with the name Commander Grace Barnum,” X answered. “Should I put her through?”
“Go ahead,” I answered. Already my imagination was going in a hundred different directions. Commander Shaw was a good man and a leader of Phoenix Corp. He had stood with us at the Battle of Mars, and although he was injured, my understanding was that he would be fine. I had no idea who this Commander Grace Barnum was.
“This is Daniel Hunt,” I answered over the open channel for all to hear. “Who am I speaking with?”
Even though I knew the answer, I wanted to hear it from her.
“My name is Commander Grace Barnum. I oversee the Phoenix Corporation and their interest here on Earth,” Commander Barnum answered. “We have information that one of our vehicles was last headed to your location. Is that correct?”
I looked behind me to the seat where Monica lay unconscious.
What is going on? I asked myself. What did you get yourself into?
“Where is Commander Shaw?” I asked, ignoring the woman’s question. “I’m used to dealing with him.”
“Commander Shaw has been removed from his position,” Commander Barnum answered without a hitch in her voice. It was as if she were expecting this all along. “He has broken numerous Phoenix Corp rules and is awaiting his trial by our process. Now I’ve answered your question, would you please answer mine?”
“What was your question?” I asked, buying myself more time to think. Even a few seconds might help. “You misplaced one of your vehicles or something?”
“The hero of the Battle of Mars must have a better memory than that,” Commander Barnum chided. “But someone of your standing deserves to be indulged. We were tracking a vehicle heading to your manor. We wanted to know if it arrived at your gates.”
“Nope, can’t say that we’ve seen anything or anyone from Phoenix,” I bold-faced lied. “I’m a little busy now, but I’ll be in contact with you shortly to speak about Commander Shaw. He’s a friend. If anything happened to him, it would be unfortunate for our continued relationship.”
“He’ll be dealt with fairly, I assure you,” Commander Barnum answered. “Good bye.”
I had the sneaking suspicion she knew I was lying. However, with no hard proof, it was near impossible for her to come out and accuse me of such.
“Great meeting you,” I responded as X closed the comm channel.
“Was it really great meeting her?” Enoch asked with a wry grin.
“It just seemed like the polite thing to say,” I answered. “I—”
“What did you tell them?” Monica asked,
waking from her unconscious state she sat up grabbing her head with her palms. “We have to go back to Phoenix Corp. We have to go back to the Vault—Commander Shaw—they’re going to kill him.”
Eight
Everyone in the vehicle looked around to see Monica shaking her head gingerly. She winced as if she carried the headache of the century. The medic cleaned the blood coming down off the cut in her scalp. She looked at us, a bit confused, but one hundred percent worried.
“Easy,” Enoch said, turning in his seat to look at her. “You’re safe and among friends now. Tell us what happened.”
Wesley brought the SUV to a halt in front of Dragon Hold.
“Maybe we can get her inside and comfortable before we start story time,” I answered. “I have a feeling this is going to be a long conversation.”
Everyone seemed to agree. As Enoch and the other medic helped Monica inside, I stayed back with Wesley and Cassie.
We stood at the entrance to the Dragon Hold grounds. The other two looked at one another for direction then to me.
“Your face is worth a thousand words right now,” Wesley said, fishing in his long coat for a cigar.
I wasn’t sure how the man wasn’t dripping sweat in that coat. It had to be ninety degrees outside.
I ran a hand through my short beard, scratching at my jaw.
“X, you with us?” I asked. I already knew the answer to my question, but I wanted her to know that I wanted her to be an active part in what I was about to say.
“Always,” X answered.
“We can’t ignore what Nemesis said about X,” I began, choosing my words carefully. “But what do we do with that information? Are we supposed to hunt down Nemesis? Are we supposed to look into any avenue we can that what he said was the truth?”
“I don’t think there’s much we can do,” Cassie answered, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “Keep a close eye on the news to see if Nemesis pops up again. We can look into what he said about X, but that’s not the X I know and love.”
“Thank you, Cassie,” X said quietly.
“With Monica headed our way with this new problem and Aleron out for us, it would be easy to overlook the Nemesis problem, but let me reach out to a few of my contacts,” Wesley said, lighting his cigar. He drew a long breath and blew it skyward. “If X is okay with it, we can always have our tech team look at her coding. I agree with Cassie. I don’t think X would ever do anything that Nemesis has accused her of. However, if there were another outside factor corrupting her data, perhaps we should look into it.”
“I think that would be wise,” X answered just as I was about to open my mouth to shoot down the idea. “I can do my own self diagnostic check, but if there is anything corrupting my system, then perhaps it is hidden from me.”
“X, we don’t have to—”
“No, I want to,” X cut me off. “If there is even a one percent chance that I could be compromised, I want to know.”
“Okay, then.” Wesley puffed on his end of the cigar, making the embers on the opposite side flare with life. “I’ll take her in.”
Wesley put out his free hand palm open.
I knew what he wanted me to do. I trusted this man with my own life. Why was it so hard to trust him with X?
My mouth was dry. I ran an equally dry tongue over the walls of my mouth, just staring at Wesley’s open hand.
“This is the part where you give Wesley X’s neural chip,” Cassie coaxed me like some small child who forgot what he was doing. “Daniel, are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. I lifted my right hand to the spot behind my ear where X sat. We had only been apart once since we met. When I was a prisoner of the Voy, they removed X and took her away.
“It’s going to be okay,” X said in my head to save my face. “Like you said to me, we’ll figure this out together.”
I coughed a few times and nodded. With my right hand, I pulled out the circular data chip connected to a long needle that entered the side of my neck. The pain was manageable.
A metallic tang filled my mouth as I removed the AI.
“Nothing’s going to happen to her,” Wesley promised me. “I’ll get our tech team on it as soon as possible. You can come see her whenever you want. I can’t imagine it would take more than a day or two.”
“Right,” I answered, gently placing X in his open palm.
“I’ll see you soon,” X said.
“See you soon,” I repeated.
With that, we went our separate ways. Wesley and X to the tech wing and Cassie and I to go speak with Monica Warden.
“You going to be all right?” Cassie caught my eye. She wasn’t giving me a hard time. She was genuinely concerned. “I understand the bond you two share. I know it’s not easy to be without your right hand.”
“It’s what she needs.” I nodded. “It makes sense. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Trust me, I haven’t forgotten what Nemesis said either,” Cassie reassured me. “But we can’t do much without answers. He’ll surface sooner or later and we’ll bring him in.”
“We’ll need an army to bring him in,” I said with a sigh. Nemesis wasn’t going to go down without a fight. His abilities, whatever they were; some kind of tech or magic made him a fierce opponent.
We traveled through Dragon Hold to the medical wing, where Monica was being taken to rest and recover. Our boots crossed over the dark wood of the floor in long, quick strides. Workers made up of Way settlers and previously employed Immortal Corp members nodded to us as we passed.
When we entered the house, Butch took leave of us, heading for the back woods to commune with her pack.
Dragon Hold was a lot larger inside than it looked outside. Don’t get me wrong, the four-story stone exterior looked intimidating enough, but inside, the building was truly vast.
I was glad Cassie knew where she was going. One of these days, I’d have to take some time and explore the manor. With a dungeon for prisoners and a command bridge on the fourth floor for flying the estate, I wondered what other rooms of mystery and wonder awaited for me in the old house.
These thoughts would have to wait as we entered a room on the ground floor on the left wing of the manor.
This room was closed off by a pair of thick wooden doors. The doors rose to the ceiling and were twice as wide as any others I had seen. Cassie didn’t hesitate; she reached for one of the dark steel handles and pulled it open.
Inside, a long room with a series of beds on either side of the walls stretched out in front of us. Large windows allowed Earth’s bright sun to stream through without obstruction.
On one of the beds to the left of the wall, Monica lay down with Enoch sitting beside her.
She looked relieved when we approached.
“Oh thank goodness.” Monica looked at me and Cassie. “Will you please tell Enoch this isn’t necessary? I hit my head and got knocked out, that’s it. I’m fine.”
“You are fine and we’re going to make sure you stay that way,” Enoch agreed, shining a light in each of her eyes. “Brain trauma is not a joking matter. We’re going to keep you here overnight for observation and you’ll be free to go tomorrow.”
“There’s no time,” Monica answered, despite allowing Enoch to examine her. “Commander Shaw doesn’t have a day.”
“Tell us what happened,” Cassie said, taking a seat in an empty chair by her bed. “Tell us why you’re on the run from the Phoenix base. Who is this Commander Grace Barnum?”
“When Commander Shaw was injured during the Battle of Mars, another leader was woken from hyper sleep,” Monica answered. “It’s in the Phoenix directives. That was not out of the ordinary. The commander whose rotation it was next to lead happened to be Commander Grace Barnum, who is less of a leader and more of a dictator.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just going to have to stop you there.” Cassie lifted a hand like a kid in a classroom ready to ask a question. “Did you say she was woken from hyper sleep?�
��
Monica bit her lower lip and looked to me as if she were reading my thoughts, uncertain about what to say next.
This was all information I had heard before, disclosed to me by Commander Shaw himself. The way Phoenix Corp did things was vastly different from any other corporation I had come across.
“Go ahead,” I encouraged Monica. “They’re both friends you can trust.”
Absentmindedly, I rubbed at the area behind my right ear where X had sat moments before. She would have remembered all the details about Phoenix Corp and the way they rotated leaders through the centuries.
“Phoenix Corporation has been around since before the fall of Earth,” Monica explained. “We have a selected number of leaders who have been at the helm driving our corporation forward since its inception. Our leaders take turns, each manning the position for a number of years before being put back into hyper sleep to await their next tenure as leader.”
“If that’s the case, then how old are these leaders?” Brother Enoch sat back in his stool, clearly disturbed. “They could be hundreds of years old.”
“I don’t know their exact ages or how many leaders are in the rotation.” Monica shrugged. “All I know was that when Commander Shaw was wounded, an order was put out to wake our next commander immediately.”
“And this Commander Barnum placed Shaw in the brig?” I asked, moving the narrative along. “Why?”
“Phoenix Corporation’s main directive since Earth was killed is bringing life back. When Commander Barnum saw the reports of the time and resources used to defeat the Voy on Mars, she deemed Commander Shaw a traitor to the cause,” Monica explained slowly as if she were reading her words from a script. “She said he was incompetent, leading us away from our primary objective. She’s going to hold a trial for him tomorrow. There’s no doubt she’s going to find him guilty and execute him as such.”
The room sat quiet as we all soaked in Monica’s words.
Phoenix Corp has their own freaking army, I thought to myself. How are we going to deal with this one?
Nemesis: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 6) Page 5
