The Third Rescue

by Jay Mackey

  “Jesus, Chet. Why are you doing this?”

  “I got nothing left down there,” he said, pointing back at the base. “And these people,” he gestured to the back of the truck, “they didn’t do nothing wrong. Been locked up forever, just because they had some engine problem or some such. Don’t seem right.” He paused and shook his head, and then continued, “I don’t know if this is some suicide deal or what, but in the years I been there, they never asked for nothing before, so I said yes this one time.”

  “But it seems like you’re a reasonable guy, smart, not some hothead like most of those that Ernst has working for him.”

  “Like Private Harkness?”

  “Right. Like him. Why have you been there all these years? Has Ernst got something on you, too?”

  Chet turned quickly to look at Jack, squinting. He turned back to the road, and said, “No. It’s just, I’m not a good guy, Doc. I got a problem with the booze, and all. Whenever I get out on my own, I . . . Well, I just don’t do too good. Much better for me to be in a controlled situation like at the base, where I can’t get in too much trouble.”

  The twisting road gave them a view back down toward the base. They could clearly see three sets of headlights now, with one well ahead of the others, and much closer to them than before.

  “They’ll be catching us soon, Chet. It’d be nice to know our plan.”

  “Yup. But I’m just the driver.”

  “You said earlier something about them checking their ammo. They won’t shoot us, surely. These patients are way too valuable to risk hitting them.”

  “Well, Doc. I’ll tell you, what they drill into us back at the base is that yes, these are valuable folks. But the instructions are clear: One, don’t let them out. Two, don’t let them out alive.”

  Jack sat silent, knowing that all was lost. But still, he thought, he’d do it again.

  Chet broke the silence, asking, “How about you, Doc? Why you doin’ this?”

  Jack shook his head. “I guess I’m a lot like you. Not a good guy.” He thought back to his short-lived marriage, back in the years when he’d been away from Groom Lake, and how he’d totally botched that. “And I don’t have much to go back to. Everyone I care about is in the back of this truck.”

  The desert darkness seemed to swallow the headlights; Jack couldn’t see anything, and didn’t understand how Chet could drive so fast. And soon after that thought passed through Jack’s mind, the truck crested a rise, sending the meager illumination from the headlights into the sky. By the time they pointed back at the road in front of them, all Jack could see was a car, looming directly ahead in narrow track that served as the road.

  Chet, apparently startled by the sudden appearance of the car, swerved, jerking the wheel to the right. There was a slight drop-off on that side of the road, just enough to catch the front wheels of the truck and pull it off the road toward the desert. Chet tried to straighten the truck, to steer it back to the road, but his actions only served to make things worse. The truck’s rear slid down toward the desert, coming around, moving faster than the front. The truck tipped, slowly at first, as it slid broadside down the side of the road, out of control. Ever so slowly, Jack could see the desert floor coming up to meet him, and the truck fell onto its side and slid that way for what seemed to him to be forever. Jack was slammed by Chet’s body as it fell on him, crushing him against the door, which lay flat on the desert dirt.

  What followed was confusion, struggling to get out, sounds of people moaning and at least one screaming, nothing making sense. Chet tried to get himself off Jack, get out of the truck, but kicked and then stepped on Jack as he struggled get the door open so he could scramble out. Jack noticed that the windshield was intact, but the headlights were out, so he could see nothing but black sky.

  The sights and sound gradually came back into focus, and Jack was able to scramble up and out of the truck. He immediately saw that the canvas covering was ripped almost completely off the back of the truck, and that there were people all around, some standing, some lying on the ground. Two men, one of them Chet, were leaning over someone lying nearby.

  His immediate thought was to find Aphrodite. Was she all right? Where was she? He called out and went to help the men and whoever was lying there.

  He heard someone yell, “They’ve caught us! They’re here!”

  Jack looked back at the road, and all he could see when he looked up was a set of headlights.

  Aphrodite was lying in the dirt next to the truck. She wasn’t conscious. Chet was trying to pick her up, so Jack grabbed her feet, and they carried her over behind the truck.

  He saw the headlights slow, heard the brakes squeal, saw the Jeep skid to a stop on the road.

  As he huddled behind the truck, he knew the others must be out in the desert somewhere. But he tried to focus on Aphrodite, to listen for breathing, to feel for a pulse.

  Zeus appeared next to him. “How is she?” he said. He was holding his arm pressed against his side, and his face was bloody.

  “I don’t know,” said Jack, wondering what happened to his bag. Did it make it into the truck when he left the facility?

  He heard yelling, maybe from the Jeep. He was aware of someone, Chet, yelling back at the guys in the Jeep.

  And then, Zeus, to Chet. “Don’t let them come down here.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Chet.

  Aphrodite had been so weak when they left the medical wing.

  What has that fucker Blankenship been doing to her?

  “We need to get back to the hospital,” he said, to no one in particular.

  Suddenly a shot rang out, bang, near him. He looked up and saw Chet, aiming his gun toward the headlights, which went out, either because Chet hit something, or because the men up there realized the lights were a convenient target. Then there was another shot, this time from the Jeep.

  “I told you Doc,” said Chet, peering intently around the front of the truck toward the road. “They don’t care. Even if they did, they ain’t takin’ me back. I’m all in.” He aimed his gun carefully, and took another shot.

  He looked over at Jack, and asked, “I don’t suppose you had any weapons in that bag of yours?”

  My bag! It’s in the truck.

  Jack crawled over the top of the cab, looking in the opened door for his bag. It was too dark to see, so he had to crawl inside, where he found the bag wedged between the edge of the seat and the downside door.

  As he crawled out, he heard Chet say, “Zeus, I stashed my rifle in the back of the truck.”

  “I’ve got it,” he answered, from near the rear.

  “Do you know how to use it?”

  “No.”

  As Jack dropped back to the ground next to Aphrodite, Chet went around him.

  “Here,” said Chet, handing his handgun to Zeus and taking the rifle. “Just point and pull the trigger, but not until those fuckers are right in front of you, right?”

  Something seemed to catch Chet’s attention, because he quickly leveled his rifle and shot at something. And then he yelled, “Shit!”

  Jack looked up to see Chet pointing back up the road, where another vehicle, larger than the Jeep, arrived. It drove off the road, into the desert, and stopped.

  “Fuckers are going to surround us,” he growled.

  “Jesus, Chet,” said Jack, “what’s the point? We’re not getting out of here.”

  Chet turned to Zeus, now sitting on the ground near Aphrodite, holding his left arm crossed across his chest, and said, “How about it, Zeus? You got a plan?”

  Zeus grimaced, clearly in pain.

  I’ll have to check him out. As soon as I’m sure Aphrodite is okay.

  Zeus said, “Just hold them off. A little while. Just a little while longer.”

  Chet turned and fired another shot into the desert, as if that was going to keep them all safe.

  Jack turned back to Aphrodite when Zeus slid over next to him.

  “Is she okay?” he a
sked.

  “I don’t know. She got thrown from the truck.”

  “Yeah. We all did.” He pointed out to the desert. “Some are out by that rock.”

  “Are you all right?” Jack asked, noting Zeus’ arm.

  He shrugged. “I don’t think it’s broken.”

  Jack pulled his stethoscope from his bag and listened to Aphrodite’s heart rhythm and breathing. His listening was interrupted by shots ringing out seemingly from all around them, and bullets rang off the truck and thudded into the desert. Dozens of them. Jack hovered over Aphrodite, protecting her as best he could.

  As suddenly as the volley of shots started, it stopped.

  “God damn it, Chet,” said Jack. “If you hadn’t fired at them—”

  “I told you, Doc. They don’t care. They’ll kill us all if we’re shooting at them or not.”

  Then a new voice, from up higher on the hill, where most of the shots seemed to be coming from. “Captain Omdahl, I presume that’s you down there. Let’s end this little game now. You’ve got nowhere to go. No need for anybody to get hurt.”

  “It’s that SOB Ernst,” said Jack.

  “Don’t answer him Doc,” said Chet. “You and me are as good as dead. You know that.”

  Jack didn’t know what to do. Aphrodite needed medical attention, and he couldn’t see any way out. Turning to Zeus, he asked, “What do you think?”

  Zeus pointed back up the hill and seemed about to answer when something distracted him. He turned to stare in the direction he’d been pointing.

  Jack looked, and at first saw nothing but darkness beyond where the shooting had originated. But then he noticed a sound, which got louder by the second. An engine sound. A high-pitched whine, like a jet engine. Moving toward them, but not as fast as a jet. Getting loud.

  A shape appeared above the hill.

  “What is it, a helicopter?” asked Jack, guessing at the thing’s identity by the way it seemed to hover.

  No one responded until the thing got close, hovering less than a hundred feet above them. Lights beamed from under the thing, making it hard to see it, to see what it was.

  “Na,” yelled Chet over the noise of the engines. “Not a helicopter. Don’t know what that is.”

  Jack had seen strange-looking planes flying over the base, but this thing looked different from anything he’d seen. From what he could tell, it was roughly airplane shaped, but the delta wings seemed too small, tucked against the fuselage, and the two engines, one on each wing, glowing red, were pointed down at the ground.

  That’s how it’s able to hover.

  The plane moved closer, hovering almost directly overhead, blinding if he looked directly up at it. Then it dropped suddenly, landing on the desert floor, just seventy-five feet or so from the overturned truck where Jack was crouching. The bright light went out when it landed. A door opened on the underside of the fuselage, and ladder dropped down.

  At this point, Jack had no idea if the plane was friend or foe. He hadn’t even considered it until the ladder appeared, just assuming it was something sent from the base. But he caught a glimpse of a smiling Zeus.

  And then Aphrodite woke, sat up and said, “They’re here.”

  Jack, overjoyed that she was awake, had no idea what she meant, but said, “Yes.”

  There had been no shooting, on either side, while the plane came in, but now Jack heard a flurry of shots from near the first vehicle, the Jeep. He ducked lower, sheltering Aphrodite, but the firing stopped. He peeked over the truck, and saw a man running toward them. Jack yelled for Chet, but before Chet could take a shot at the man, he raised his hands. One of them held something, maybe a shotgun.

  “Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot,” said the approaching figure. “I’m on your side.”

  “What the—” muttered Chet. Turning to Zeus, he said, “Do we have anybody else coming?”

  Zeus looked confused and pointed to the plane. “Only them,” he said.

  “Let’s see who this asshole is,” said Chet. He yelled at the man who was standing near the truck with his hands in the air, “Who are you?”

  “I’m a friend,” said the man. “I just shot those fuckers by the Jeep. Let me come in. Those up the hill still got a clear shot at me if I’m just standing here.”

  Without checking to see if anyone cared, Chet said, “Okay, but keep those hands in the air.”

  The man scurried over behind the truck and grinned.

  “Now, who are you?” asked Chet again, grabbing the shotgun from the man. “And what are you doing here?”

  “Name’s Faccio,” the man said. He was tall, with dark, greasy hair. “I was out in the desert with a buddy, and saw you turn your truck over. Then those fuckers in the Jeep spotted us and started shooting at us. Hit my buddy. But I was able to shoot both of ’em.”

  Jack was skeptical. “You sure that was a buddy you were with?” he asked, and pointed at Faccio’s hands, which were tied together.

  “Well, we was buddies once,” Faccio said. “Can someone untie me?” He held his hands out in front of him.

  Jack looked at Chet, who nodded, so he pulled a knife from his belt and cut the rope from Faccio’s hands.

  “So,” Faccio said, pointing at the plane, “is that thing going to get us out of here?”

  As if on cue, they all looked at Zeus, who shrugged.

  Chet fired a couple more shots at the trucks up the hill. As he did, Jack saw figures arise from behind a big boulder that was between the truck and the plane. The figures quickly climbed up the ladder and into the plane.

  Then Faccio bolted for the plane while Chet fired up the hill. But before he could get to the ladder, he was hit, and fell to the desert. He got up and awkwardly scrambled for the plane.

  Zeus grabbed Jack and pointed to Aphrodite, who was conscious, but barely.

  “Let’s get her to the lander,” Zeus said, motioning his head toward the plane.

  They made their way to the plane, helped by the covering fire from Chet.

  Faccio, who was still struggling to get to the ladder, yelled at them as they reached him. Ignoring him, Jack helped Aphrodite up the ladder and placed her into one of the large seats that lined the space, not unlike the passenger compartment of a commercial airplane, only the space was small and the seats were large.

  Chet was the last to board, pushing Faccio up the ladder before him. Jack took a quick look at Faccio, who had what looked to be a surface wound on his thigh. It’ll wait, he thought, before he got into a seat next to Aphrodite and strapped them both in tight.

  Quickly, the plane lifted off, straight up at first, and then forward, gradually at first, but accelerating, forcing them all back into their seats. Jack felt intense pressure, and had difficulty breathing for several minutes until the plane backed off on its acceleration, and he could lift his head again.

  He looked over at Aphrodite. She appeared to be either unconscious or sleeping; he quickly unstrapped himself so he could check her, but found it difficult to stand with even the slight acceleration they were experiencing. He managed to scramble over and found her with a strong pulse and in no obvious difficulty.

  Around the cabin, he saw the two men who’d helped them get situated moving about, checking on the passengers. Zeus, seated near the front, got up and went through a door into whatever was the next compartment. Jack was amazed at how easily they all seemed to move.

  He heard talking behind him; Faccio was cursing—he wanted to know where they were going. Chet, sitting next to him, said he didn’t know, and he didn’t care.

  Jack hadn’t thought about it. Things had happened so fast he’d just moved from one thing to the next, not thinking about where he’d end up. Now, he had to admit, he was curious.

  The men who’d helped them were very probably not from Earth, probably not human in the technical sense. They looked human enough, but then Aphrodite and Zeus and the rest looked human too.

  These new men were dressed in some kind of black jumpsuit,
plain looking. The men, like Zeus and the other patients, were attractive, well built, light hair and skin, and on the small side. One of them came back to take a look at Aphrodite.

  “She’s very weak,” said Jack. “I don’t know if she’s sustained some injury in the wreck of the truck, or if it’s her previous condition, but I’m worried.”

  The man looked at him but didn’t say anything. Jack wondered if he’d understood what he said. He remembered that when he first met Aphrodite, she couldn’t speak English, so he supposed it was unlikely that this man spoke it either.

  The man turned back to Aphrodite and appeared to be examining her, feeling for her pulse and looking for broken bones or other injuries.

  Jack said, “I’m a doctor. I have a medical bag here somewhere.” He knew he’d brought it on board, but couldn’t see it around his seat. He pantomimed opening a bag and taking out a stethoscope, knowing that it was all probably meaningless to the man. However, the man stared at him for a few seconds, and then opened a compartment under his seat and pointed. It was Jack’s bag.

  “Thank you,” said Jack, pulling his bag out and continuing with his exam.

  Shortly after he’d finished listening to her heart, Aphrodite woke. Groggy, she looked around the cabin.

  “Where’s Venus?” she said.

  42

  Nevada, April 2018

  “Where was she?” asked Oval. He’d actually been listening to this part of the story, unlike the beginning, and leaned forward so he could hear everything that Jack was saying during the long drive.

  “No, the better question is, who was she,” said CJ. “You’ve never mentioned anyone named Venus before.” It wasn’t lost on him that his grandmother, whose name had always been Violet as far as he knew, had been called “Venus” by Donna. Was she Jack’s Venus? Was this the connection to Nini that Jack had promised?

  After a long pause, Jack responded. “Turns out that Aphrodite had a daughter.”

  “A daughter! How old was she?” asked CJ.

  “I thought at the time that she was thirteen or fourteen,” said Jack, rubbing his face again. It had been a long drive, and a long story. “But she was actually sixteen. She was so small, you see. And looked just like her mother. Beautiful girl. Had the same eyes, the same way of looking at you. You always felt like she knew you, knew all about you, cared for you. Like her mother. That’s why they called her Venus. Another goddess of love.”