by James McEwan
Thad was relieved to hear their voices, “It’s okay guys. It’s Thad and company.”
Carl yelled from the back, “Thad is that you?”
“Yeah, I just said it was unless there’s another Thad on this rock. It’s safe to come out. The bastards who did this are long gone.”
Carl came out first, dirty, and covered in bloodstains. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, “Oh am I glad to see you, still alive!”
Jenna followed, she too was dirty and covered in blood, “Oh Thad, they killed so many, Xandra, the girls, and most of your guests all dead. It was awful, but the Sheriff and one of his deputies were able to save some of us. They held them off while the rest of us hid.”
Freya ran to Jenna and gave her a hug. Fiona looked at Carl’s blood stained shirt, “Is that...?”
“Oh, the blood, no it’s not mine, at least not most of it. I did take a little shrapnel from a grenade while trying to carry the Johnsons’ daughter to safety.” Carl answered.
Thad looked at Carl, “How many are still alive?”
Carl walked to the bar and poured himself a drink, “I’m not sure. We hid as many as we could in my basement shelter. I think we have at least two dozen or so, most of them wounded. Doc Burton has been working all night down there, trying to help them.” He took the drink and downed it, then poured himself another.
Thad nodded. Using his communication implant he contacted Eve, “Eve, I need you and Archie to load the limo with all the medical supplies you can fit into it. Get into town as soon as you can.”
“Is it bad?” Eve asked.
“It’s bad Eve, just get here as soon as you can,” Thad said coldly.
“We’re on our way!” Eve replied.
Thad, taking charge, pointed to Freya, “Go get the sand crawler and bring it here.” He turned to Fiona, “You go down with Jenna. Get a list of equipment Doc Burton needs. When Freya gets back, I want you to take her and anyone who isn’t hurt and start searching building to building to see if you can find anyone else is alive. Oh, and place a marker near any bodies you find so they can be collected and put to rest.”
Freya didn’t say anything just turned and ran for the door. Fiona asked, “Jenna, any children down there?”
Jenna nodded, “Yes there are six of them. None wounded, thank God. They are more scared than anything.”
Fiona said to Thad, “I think we should keep them all together for now and have Eve look after them.”
“Good idea, dear. Get to it,” Thad said. She nodded and disappeared into the back. “Carl, do you think anyone else is still alive?”
He was on his third drink, “I don’t know, but a lot of people here in this town had secret access to the mine tunnels. I can only hope they made it down to them.” He started to pour himself another drink.
“Carl, I know you’re really shaken up, but Jenna and the rest are going to need you for the next few hours. How about we lay off the drinking for now?” He took the bottle from Carl’s shaking hand. “There will be plenty of time for that, later.”
Carl steadied himself and looked Thad in the eye, “You’re right! They need me.”
Thad left the bar as Freya pulled up in the crawler. He jumped up on the back and opened it, tossing out two black duffel bags. Freya shut off the crawler motor and came to the back, “What’s in the bags?”
“I was worried there was trouble, so I packed some medical supplies. But it looks like we’re going to need a lot more than this.”
Freya picked up the bags and walked back into Bob’s. Thad jumped down from the crawler and carefully made his way up the street toward the Sheriff’s office. The door was shot to Hell and the windows were all shattered. One Hell of a fight took place here. He entered, stepping over the broken, shattered remains of the door.
Inside was not much better than outside. The floor and counter of the reception area were littered with fragments, blasted from several holes in the concrete wall. On the floor, behind the counter, were two dead men dressed in black uniforms. There was no doubt this was the work of the sanitation team. After examining the dead, Thad walked back towards the Sheriff’s desk.
Thad heard movement. His weapon snapped to the ready to, his finger hovering over the tigger. A faint voice came from behind the overturned desk, “If you fuckers have come back to finish me off, I still have a few rounds left, and I promise you, I’ll take a few more with me.”
Thad smiled, it was the voice of the old Sheriff, “Hey you old bastard, don’t shoot!” Thad yelled back over the desk.
“Thank God son. I’m glad it’s you. I was bluffing. I’m all shot up and out of ammo,” the Sheriff said weakly.
Thad walked around the desk where he found the Sheriff sitting with his back against the brick wall, his uniform in tatters. He was dirty and bloody, his right arm just hanging by his side, covered in burns. On his lap was his youngest deputy. He was dead, but the Sheriff had his left arm wrapped around the boy's head, hugging it. Thad bent down next to him, “It looks like you’ve had better days.”
The Sheriff managed a slight smile, “I have.”
“I’m glad to see you still have some fight left in you!” Thad took the empty laser pistol from his trembling hand.
“I couldn’t save him,” tears welled up in his eyes.
“Michael was his name wasn’t it?” Thad asked looking at the young man.
“Yes, it was. He was a good lad, would have made one Hell of a lawman, given a chance. It’s too bad these bastards showed up and robbed him of that. You know, he fought to the very end, and when he was laying here dying, he didn’t once lament for himself. He kept on saying how sorry he was for not saving more.” The Sheriff paused, “He should be alive, not me.” The tears broke free and ran down his cheeks washing runnels through the blood and grime on his face. “Why do the good ones have to die so young, and worthless washed-up old men like me survive?”
Thad set his weapon down, took a small med kit from his belt, opened it, and began to dress the Sheriff's wounds. “I don’t know, but I do know there is way too much death in this galaxy at the hands of evil men. I promise you I won’t rest until the people responsible for this see justice.”
The Sheriff carefully and lovingly laid Michael’s head down, and with his good arm, grabbed Thad, “Damn it, Thad, don’t you dare! You make them pay! You kill them all! You do it for him, you do it for Michael, do it for all of them!”
Thad took his hand in his, “I will don’t you worry, they will pay. Now let’s get you taken care of.” Before the Sheriff could protest Thad pushed a needle into his arm loaded with a combo of painkillers, antibiotics, and a sedative. The Sheriff was out in a matter of seconds. Thad picked up his limp body and headed for Bob’s, which had become the town refugee center.
On his way back, Thad heard something coming from inside one of the burned out buildings. He set the Sheriff down and made sure he was safe. Weapon at the ready he entered. He listened and it was the sound of white noise, the kind that comes from an open comm. Thad followed the sound to a back room. There he found one of the sanitation team. He was wounded, but still breathing. His comm was softly hissing and he was sound asleep. He must have crawled back here after being wounded, Thad thought. He could see that the man had treated his wounds, so he was going to make it.
Too bad for him! Thad poked him in the ribs with the barrel of his weapon, “wake up!”
The man’s eyes snapped open and he reached for his weapon. Thad swung the butt of his rifle, striking the man in the upper arm. His bone shattered with a nasty sounding crack. The man used his other arm to cradle the damaged one.
Thad squatted down next to him, “So you bastards think you can come and kill everything that means anything to me? Well didn’t go so well for you did it?”
The man tried to answer, but Thad was in no mood to listen. The butt of the rifle struck the man in the mouth. Teeth and blood flew from his mouth as his head recoiled from the blow. Thad stood up, backed u
p a few feet, “You and your people attacked the wrong damn town!” Thad squeezed the trigger and held it until the bolt on the weapon locked back. The man was riddled with bullets, large pieces of flesh torn away. Thad spat on the man’s corpse. His finger punched the magazine release and he left the empty were it fell. Thad slid another into place and slapped the bolt it dropped down and slammed forward.
Carl fired up the grill and was busy preparing food to feed the survivors. Word must have gotten out it was safe again. Survivors were checking in, looking for lost family and friends. Doc Burton, with the help of Fiona and the others who were not wounded, moved all the wounded up to the dining area where they had better light and more room to work. They would have taken them back to Doc’s office, but it was now no more than a pile of burning ashes.
Eve and Archie arrived. Eve walked into Bob’s carrying a small black box with a touch screen. She found Thad behind the bar with a tablet checking off the living, trying to put together a list of the dead and missing. “I’m here dear,” she said.
Thad looked up from the tablet, “Great, have Archie start unloading the supplies. Oh, by the way, how much did you bring?”
Eve smiled, “Well I brought all of it of course,” she held up the DDSD (digital dimensional storage device).
Thad smiled for the first time that day, “The DDSD, oh Eve you are brilliant!”
“I know,” was all she said.
Thad and the others spent what was left of the daylight helping set up the medical gear. After an hour, Bob’s was transformed from a bar into a makeshift hospital. The lightest of the wounded were treated inside and the more heavily wounded were treated in a large medical tent that was set up by Archie, and a small army of fabrication robots. The town’s folk funneled in carrying wounded and their dead. Thad was happy to see as many of them alive as he did.
The twins decided to take charge of the children. Freya looked for the parents, while Fiona and Eve took the kids to one of the last standing buildings in town. There they made sure they were fed, bathed, and given new clothing. Eve had taken one of the fabrication bots for herself. This bot was turning out new toys as fast as it could.
As the night dragged on, most of the children were reunited with at least one parent, or if they were really lucky two. However, there were a few unfortunate children who were now orphans. Carl and Jenna stepped up and took them in, and promised to raise them as their own.
It was sometime in the early morning when Doctor Burton came to Thad, “Thank you for all your help, but there is nothing more you can do tonight. Go home, get some rest.”
Thad wanted to protest, but he remembered he had the enemy team leader under restraints back at the compound and he was the key to Thad’s first move. He bid the Doctor and the others good night, and then directed Archie to stay with the fabrication bots and help start rebuilding. Thad wanted people to have a place for people to go as soon as possible. Before leaving, Thad and the twins made sure no one went to sleep without warm food in their bellies and a soft warm bed to sleep in.
Back at the compound, Eve brought food to their prisoner. She had him locked in the holo-room, in a jail cell she had created for this very purpose. She slid the food tray through the cell door. Because it was a holo-cell, there was no need for a food slot in the door. She just interrupted the force field, which held the photons comprising the door. To the prisoner, it seemed as if the food just appeared on his side of the door. She did this because she was still upset about Rhonda and did not want to see this man for fear of losing control and hurting him.
Thad chose to let the prisoner stew. He was far too tired deal with him, chose to confront him after catching a few hours of rack time. The twins were already in bed, fast asleep, when he climbed into bed next to them. He lay there wondering how he was going to live with the knowledge that all those people died because of him. He had signed their death warrants the minute he set foot on this rock. Sleep only came to him as a result of sheer exhaustion.
After a few hours of restless sleep, Thad woke. He brought the prisoner some food and opened the cell door. Thad walked in and handed the food tray to the man in the cell. “Eve, a chair please,” a chair materialized next to him. He sat, “My name is Thaddeus Hammer, but of course you know that already. You’re a smart guy so I’m sure you have figured out by now that your team is dead, your mission failed and you are in a world of shit.”
“Yeah I kind of figured that,” he pointed to the cell around him.
“Sense you know my name, how about you tell me yours?” Thad asked.
“Well, what the Hell, it can’t do any more harm. Reinke, First Lieutenant Federation Special Forces, Command Group One, but I’m sure you already knew that ” Reinke said.
“I didn’t, but thanks for the information,” Thad said as he watched the expression on the man’s face drop. “So, wondering why I didn’t kill you with the rest of your men?” Thad leaned back in the chair.
“It had crossed my mind,” he said.
“I want to send a message to your employers.” Thad said.
The prisoner smirked, “And I’m to be the messenger?”
“You catch on quick, I see why they made you a lieutenant,” Thad said.
“Look, before you do whatever you are going to do to me can I ask you something?
Thad nodded.
“What happened to you? Why did you leave us and go running off?” Reinke asked.
“I’m not sure you understand, but the man you may have known is dead. He died three years ago. The only thing that is left of him is just bits of broken memories. This is where you come in. I was hoping you could help fill in some of the blanks.” Thad leaned forward watching a bead of sweat form on the team leader's nose.
“What makes you think I will tell you anything?”
Thad grinned, “You already have, but I really don’t expect you to tell me anything of any real value.”
“I don’t follow you. You want answers, but you don’t expect me to tell you,” Reinke said with a puzzled look on his face.
“Like I said, I don’t care if you talk or not. I want you to go back to your boss and tell him that I am coming for him. He fired the first shot in this war and I will fire the last. Tell him that I am going to take him and his organization apart person by person.”
“I got it, tell the brass that you are starting a one man crusade. So what now, torture?”
Thad stood up and walked slowly around the cell, “Torture? No, I have something better in mind.” Thad had positioned himself behind Reinke. “The only thing I need from you now is to hold still.”
Puzzled, Reinke started to turn his head towards Thad, “Hold still?”
“There might be a bit of a prick,” Thad stuck him in the neck with a needle full of sedative. The man slumped over in the chair. “A prick for a prick.”
Chapter 18
The next thing that Reinke knew he was sitting next to a pile of body bags, in a lonely patch of desert. Next to him was his subspace radio. He looked around for Thad, but there was no one in sight for miles. He guessed Thad was being true to his word, letting him go, back to his boss, to deliver the message. Well, he thought, call for pick up, or die out here in the desert. He picked up the radio and keyed the mike, “Tact Team One ready for pick up. Authentication code bravo niner six, niner, four, four, hotel, over.”
A voice came over his radio, “Roger Team One, authentication is good, inbound five minutes to pick up, stand by.”
A stealth ship had been in orbit waiting for the code to retrieve the team. A small shuttle left its bay and headed for the moon’s surface.
Five minutes to the second passed when a black drop ship zoomed out of the sky and set down next to the pile of bodies. The loading ramp extended and two men in black flight suits, and helmets, carrying laser rifles, stepped out. They took a look at the pile of body bags, “Shit, what happened?”
He walked up to them, “Things went bad, very bad. Now shut up and load th
e bodies.”
Thad watched through the scope of his sniper rifle as they loaded the bodies, closed the ramp, and took off, “So far, so good.”
Two weeks later, on Nova Texas:
Thorne was sitting in his office reading the mission report filed by the surviving team member. He was not happy, but he had been a soldier a long, long time and knew that things don’t always go your way, or as the old battlefield saying goes, “Shit happens.” His problem was he had no idea how Counsel Woman Sexton was going to react. The intercom buzzed, “Yes,” he said.
“Lieutenant Reinke is here for debriefing Sir,” the voice of his secretary said.
“Thank you, Major, send him in,” Thorne sat his tablet down on the desk in front of him.
The door opened and Reinke walked in, the man who had just botched the snatch and grab operation. He stood tall at attention, “Sir.”
Thorne said, “At ease. Why don’t you take a seat, you are going to be here for a while.”
He did as he was told. He sat in the only other chair in the room. It was suspiciously placed just in front of Thorne’s desk.
“I have read your mission report. I have to say, it sounds as if he was ready for you. You did the best you could under the conditions?”
“Yes, Sir!” Reinke glanced toward the door.
“Oh, I’m not done. You are not off the hook yet. You cost me six good assets and a whole sanitation team, and that is unacceptable. You should have died with your men. The question is why you didn’t?” Thorne asked as he leaned forward.
“As I stated in my report Sir, I was neutralized and taken prisoner,” Reinke said.
“I understand that. What I fail understand is why he let you go? Why he returned the bodies of the dead?”
“To send a message Sir. He wants you to know he is gunning for you. He is out for blood, yours, mine, everyone in this organization,” Reinke said. “You started a war and he intends to finish it.”
This sent Thorne into a rage, “That son of a bitch! He did tell me once, if we came after him, it would be war. Well if it’s war he wants, war is what he’ll get! However, this could not come at a worse time. We are in the middle of the biggest and most dangerous operation our organization has ever undertaken. I don’t need a rogue operative out there, who thinks he is on some kind of holy quest. No way, for operational security, he has to be brought in or terminated.” He was fuming, “As for you, I understand what happened, however, you still failed and I do not accept failure!”
