Nemesis: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 6)

by Jonathan Yanez

  Twenty-Five

  It seemed Cassie’s gentler approach was working better. What the heck, I thought. I’d give it a shot as well.

  I lowered my weapon, taking a knee along with the drunk.

  “Then tell us so we can understand,” I reassured him, extending a hand. “I’m Daniel Hunt. I’ve done some pretty messed-up things in my past as well. You may not believe what I’ve seen.”

  “Daniel Hunt?” the man asked, taking my hand in his own. “The Daniel Hunt from Immortal Corp?”

  His nails were cracked and bleeding and his palm shook when I pressed it.

  “That’s right,” I answered. “I heard you worked for them for a time. You are?”

  “Ramil, Ramil Dunbar.” The drunk bit his cracked lower lip as he tried to make sense of our meeting. “I never worked on the Pack Protocol program, but I heard of it. The advances you and your unit made were remarkable. Tell me, was there really a woman who could mask herself turn invisible?”

  For the briefest of moments, I caught a glimpse of who this man used to be. Bright eyed, full of wonder, and questions about what was possible.

  “There is,” I said, releasing his hand. “Her name’s Angel. She’s not with us now, but I’m sure I could arrange a meeting if you’d like.”

  “Amazing,” Ramil breathed. As if he forgot himself, he turned his head back to the ground, shaking in the negative. “No, no, I swore I would never go back to that world. I’m not going back.”

  “So then don’t,” I answered. “All I need is information about an AI you worked on for Immortal Corp. I hear you implanted a location in her. I need the code to allow her to remember where that location is. There’s a group of nasty individuals coming your way who will be asking the same questions, just not as nicely as we are.”

  “Intel Disc X1097854107890?” Ramil rattled off the number as if he had it lasered into his brain. “Is she here? Is she still operational?”

  Ramil jumped to his feet, teetering a bit and grabbing his head as if it were going to explode.

  “Easy,” Cassie warned.

  “Yes, we just call her X, but she’s working just fine,” I told the unstable man. “We don’t have her now. But the men who are coming do. When they get her, we’re going to take her back. I was told you created her and implanted a location for Immortal Corp. The Location tells of a Relic called the Fountain of Youth. I don’t want it for myself, but the men who are coming do. They’re going to create an Immortal army.”

  Ramil blinked a few dozen times as if his addled mind was trying to process and digest the information I gave him. He winced again and held his head, trying to follow along.

  “I just don’t want to get involved anymore,” Ramil said as if he were trying to justify a promise he made to himself so many years before. “That’s why I’m here. Don’t you get that? I’ve worked for Immortal Corp, Genius Industries, and even the Order. My work has been responsible for killing thousands, maybe more. I’ve been kidnapped, tortured, and hunted. I pay for my sins now every night, every waking moment. You think I like the taste of this swamp water booze? I hate it, but it helps me forget. It’s the only reprieve I have of the past.”

  “I won’t ask you if there was any other way,” I pressed. “I don’t want to drag you back into a world you got out of any more than you do. There are times I wish I could get out myself. But we need to know.”

  “I believe you want out. I believe you’re paying for your sins in this waking death,” Cassie said, removing her helmet so Ramil could see her. “If you tell us how to unlock the information X has inside, then you’ll be doing what you can to save future lives. We can’t go back and change the past, but right here, right now, you can make the decision for a better future.”

  Ramil breathed a heavy sigh. Before he opened his mouth I already knew he decided to help. Cassie was very convincing.

  “It’s not a code,” Ramil said slowly. “I mean, not in the sense where it’s data or numbers that need to be entered into her program. It’s a phrase that will unlock the location of the Relic.”

  “What is it?” I pressed. “What phrase?”

  Weapon fire shattered the moment from somewhere close.

  A creature roared so violently, the ground beneath our feet shuddered and spasmed.

  The comm line inside my helmet was going crazy.

  “Contact, contact south!” a voice I didn’t recognize shouted.

  More rounds permeated what had been still silence moments before.

  For the first time, I saw fear rip across Ramil’s face. “How many are with you? Tell them to stop firing!”

  A human scream so brutal and primal tore across the comm line and silenced just as quickly.

  More information and orders were being shouted across the channel. I ignored that for the time being, looking at Ramil for answers.

  “Why?” I asked. “What is it? What’s in the mist to the north?”

  “Genetically engineered serpents,” Ramil blurted without a second thought. “You’re not going to kill them with small arms weapons. Unless you have enough fire power to take out a dropship, you need to stop firing and giving away your position.”

  All signs of any kind of drunkenness vanished from Ramil’s terrified eyes. He sprinted to the window we entered. I was surprised he didn’t faceplant into the stone wall; his strides were unsteady at best.

  Whatever was in the mist terrified this man. He hadn’t blinked when I pointed the business end of my Hyperion Mark Seven at him.

  Another roar from some animal I was sure I had no desire to meet made the bones in my sternum quake. The sound was followed by more weapons fire and yet another scream cut short from the lungs of a Titan.

  “Where is it!”

  “Keep shooting!”

  “Die, you son of a crip!”

  These and more yells from the Titans drew me back into the moment and forced me to take action.

  “Tell them to stop firing,” Ramil said over and over again under his breath. “Tell them to stop firing.”

  “Stay with him,” I told Cassie, climbing on the window sill and jumping out, making sure to avoid the trip beam.

  I landed on my feet, already barking orders through my helmet.

  “Sergeant Toy, Zoe,” I said, forgetting to address her by her official rank and title. “Stop firing and fall back on my location. We have shelter. I repeat, stop firing and run. Whatever this thing is, we won’t be able to take it out without the help of a mech or three.”

  “That thing just grabbed two of my men!” Sergeant Toy shouted over the sounds of weapon fire. “No way in crip I’m letting it get away alive.”

  I looked to my right, where I saw weapon muzzles flashing into the sky.

  Something like a concussive force of wind hit me from above, making me stumble where I stood. I looked up to see the mist part for the briefest of moments. Leather wings buffeted the air as something as large as a dropship passed.

  I had never seen anything living that large. Not in the museums on the moon, not in even in the battle for Mars. As soon as the green leathery wing was there, it was gone, and the mist covered the dark night sky once more.

  I knew everything Ramil said was right. Something of that size was not going to bow to any kind of blaster.

  “You have to trust me!” I shouted into my comm, running for the nearest muzzle flash in the mist. “It’s tracking you by the flash of your weapons and the sounds you’re making. If you want to live, stop firing!”

  “Hold your fire,” Major Valentine ordered. “Do you understand me? Hold your fire or I’ll have you stripped from the Shadow Praetorians and placed on permanent inventory detail back on the moon.”

  I skidded to a halt next to the Shadow Praetorian I had seen in the mist. It was Dion, the man who sat beside Rival on the dropship. The large Shadow Praetorian was trying not to shake, but still I saw tremors run through his shoulders and arms.

  “Did—did you see it?” he asked without
looking at me. “Did you see the size of that—of that monster?”

  “I did,” I said, telling him a partial lie. Gently, I placed a hand on the barrel of his weapon and slowly lowered it to the ground. “We have to get inside shelter with the others. Come on, follow me.”

  “Collapse on my location,” Cassie said over the comms. “Hurry. Ramil says it’ll make another pass before it gives up completely.”

  “What in the Lord of the Way’s holy name is that thing?” Sergeant Toy asked. “What are we dealing with here?”

  No one answered. No one had an answer.

  I trotted back to the shelter with Dion in tow. We met back on the corner building as Sergeant Toy and the rest of his party arrived as well as Major Valentine, Laine, and Rival. Rival still wore his helmet. Ironically, he was probably the only one that wasn’t terrified at the moment, although he had every reason to be.

  “Through the window, here,” I said, noticing Cassie and Ramil had removed the trap. “Hurry, hurry, go.”

  One at a time, our party jumped through the window. Like the good leaders they were, both Sergeant Toy and Major Valentine went last.

  “What are we dealing with here, Daniel?” Major Valentine asked me.

  “Don’t know for sure,” I answered truthfully. “We made contact with Ramil the technician and then all hell broke loose. It appears to be an animal, and a massive one at that.”

  “I lost two Titans out there,” Sergeant Toy said, horrified. “I’d like permission to go and get them back. The Shadow Praetorians don’t leave our own behind.”

  “And we won’t,” Major Valentine reassured him. “But we’ll all be dead if we don’t get a better idea of what we’re up against.”

  Another throaty animalistic roar echoed through the stone streets. Something large passed overhead but was higher up now, offering us no glimpse at its true identity.

  We hopped through the window, following a clumsy Rival Mercer, who was more pushed through then helped over the obstacle.

  What had before been a spacious room was now cramped with our party.

  I went over to Ramil, who stood shaking in the corner. Cassie had him drinking water trying to further sober the man. Before I could get to him, Sergeant Toy grabbed him.

  “No games,” the sergeant growled. “What’s out there? What was that thing?”

  “A—a giant reptile, a serpent with—with wings,” Ramil told him. “When the earth died, it put life on reset. There were corporations interested in speeding up that process.”

  “Does it bleed?” Sergeant Toy asked.

  Ramil nodded fiercely.

  “Then we can kill it,” Sergeant Toy answered.

  “Sergeant, that’s not our mission,” Major Valentine answered. “We’ll search to see if your two Titans are still alive, but we aren’t on a hunting excursion. I understand you’re angry and rightfully so. Be angry. But don’t put the rest of your unit at unneeded risk.”

  Major Valentine lowered her voice for this last part, stepping toward the sergeant. In this way, she would be able to save him face in front of his other team members.

  For a moment, I thought the heated sergeant would argue. I think he did too.

  “Who—who is that!?” Ramil asked, pointing a filthy finger at Rival. “Did you bring him here!? What have you done!?”

  Twenty-Six

  I couldn’t tell if Ramil was shaking from fear or anger; probably a bit of both. I thought he might pass out. He was ready to burst.

  Rival, for his part, did absolutely nothing. Still wearing his sensory dampening helmet, he was oblivious as to who stood in front of him or where he was. The convict still wore the magnetic cuffs over his wrists as well as the red blinking collar around his throat.

  “Rival is here only to get us to you,” I answered. “He’s bound and that helmet keeps him from hearing or seeing anything. As soon as we’re done here, he’s going back into the Hole.”

  “He gave me this.” Rival pulled down his ragged shirt, showing a series of scars across his chest. Next he threw up his hands so I could take a look at his fingers. The pinky on his right hand was gone. “He took that finger from me too when he tortured me.”

  Stomach acid roiled in my gut. I knew Rival was a murderer, however, seeing his work in front of me was a brutal reminder as to what he was capable of.

  “How did he know where I was anyway?” Ramil asked, gritting his teeth. “Was he tracking me this entire time?”

  “He was,” Cassie answered.

  Ramil drunkenly stalked over to Rival, slamming his right foot into the inmate’s testicles. Rival fell without a squeal, at least one that we could hear. Ramil jumped on top of him, raining down sloppy blows onto his torso and midsection.

  “I hate you! I hate you for everything you did to me!” Ramil raved like a madman, all the while throwing wild punches at Rival. “I hate you!”

  Part of me was content to stand there and let Ramil extract his long awaited revenge. I’d be pissed too if someone tortured and broke me to the point I became a reclusive alcoholic.

  We needed them both, though. As much as I didn’t like him, Rival had kept his word up to this point. And Ramil still hadn’t given up the phrase to unlock X’s hidden location.

  Cassie was the first to move. The soldiers from the Galactic Government seemed content to let the beating take place.

  “All right, all right,” Cassie said, lifting a crying Ramil off Rival with one firm but gentle hand. “You got him, you got him. That’s enough.”

  Ramil was past any words. He spit on Rival as Cassie forced him back.

  Ramil sobbed like a child.

  I went over to help Cassie, although I was there more to show my support of her actions than to do anything. Cassie was more than capable of pulling the drunk off Rival.

  We pushed Ramil to the far wall, where he fell down in a heap, crying without shame. The smell that came off him was nearly unbearable. I threw up in my mouth a little, concentrating to keep my last meal down.

  “Hey, we need that phrase. After that, we’ll take him away back to the Hole. He’ll rot and die in there, paying for what he’s done,” I said to Ramil. “You can come too or not; that’s up to you. Right now, we just need you to pull it together.”

  “Have you ever been tortured?” Ramil looked at me with crazed eyes. I could practically see the brokenness in his soul. “Do you know what it’s like?”

  “I do,” I said, remembering my time with the Voy. I remembered how helpless and angry I felt. “I know more than you think.”

  Ramil looked up at me, studying my face. “I need a drink.”

  “No you don’t,” I told him, shoving him back down as he tried to get to his feet. “Right now, you need more water or caf to keep sobering up. Right now, we need that phrase to unlock X.”

  “You have bigger problems to deal with right now,” Ramil warned me. “Whenever the flying serpents make a kill, scavengers aren’t far behind. The scavengers will use their sense of smell to find us. We’re all dead already.”

  “What scavengers?” Cassie asked, her eyes immediately darting to the only entrance or exit to the room, the window we had come in.

  “They were once crocodiles that mutated to walk on land,” Ramil answered, looking wistfully at his ruined distillery. “They don’t have a name. I just call them Crocs. With the noise you made and the blood that was spilled, you should have drawn quite a few.”

  It wasn’t like I had to repeat his words. Sergeant Toy and Major Valentine were within earshot.

  “Let’s establish another perime—”

  Sergeant Toy couldn’t even finish his order.

  A sound like nothing I had ever heard wafted through the mist-laden window. It was a low, deep, guttural growl. Maybe not even a growl, but a rumbling.

  The ten Titans that remained lifted their weapons toward the window.

  “No rifles,” Ramil warned. “You’ll only bring the serpent back.”

  “What are we
supposed to fight this thing with?” Sergeant Toy asked.

  I handed my rifle to Laine and drew the axe and knife from my belt. Cassie was a step behind. Out of her right arm came a pair of deadly blades that made a wet sound when they were drawn. On her left arm, a shield fanned out from her forearm.

  “Oh, you got to be kidding me,” one of the Titans said, shouldering her blaster and reaching for a long knife in her right boot. “We’re going medieval on these Croc things?”

  Through my heads-up display, I could see her name pop up over her. It was Creeves, one of the Titan scouts and the woman sitting opposite Rival in the dropship.

  “They hunt in packs,” Ramil warned us. “They’ll come quickly.”

  As if they were waiting for him to finish, a scaled monstrosity appeared from the mist. I’d never seen a crocodile in real life, but I’d seen plenty of pictures. They were supposed to travel on four short legs with an impressive maw and powerful tail. The thing coming at us now wasn’t that at all.

  A muscular body more akin to the images I had seen of what gorillas used to be like lumbered toward us. Dark green scales covered its muscular body. A head with a long snout and menacing teeth were the only similarity this thing had with crocodiles besides the long tail and scales.

  The Croc saw us inside the building. It gave off that deep rumbling almost ticking sound and charged.

  “Stay behind us as much as you can,” I warned the others.

  The Croc leapt the last few feet, hammering into the window sill. Its bulk sent stones flying from the wall. I met it head on, driving the blade of my axe in my right hand into its chest.

  My blade sank deep through muscle and tissue.

  The Croc roared in pain, swiping down at me with a human-like hand tipped with black talons.

  Cassie intercepted the strike meant for me with her shield, also driving her blades into the stomach of the Croc, who teetered on the sill.

  The Croc screamed again, falling into the room. Massive jaws snapped for me as I pulled my weapon from its chest, twisting as I did so to take a section of flesh with me.

  The Croc lashed out with a powerful tail that Cassie caught with her shield. The strike was so strong, it threw Cassie backward into the room. Dark blood spilled from the creature’s open gut and chest. Still, it rose to its feet.