Resurgence

by Peter Hoole

  After the drive – about twenty minutes – Zach had arrived to what was essentially an unsalvageable situation. Haven had indeed imploded as they had suspected.

  He tried to make some headway into the facility, but it was to no avail. The entry way from the convenience store was open. As he made his way through the facility, all the hallways had remained. But as he tried to enter each door, there was no way through. As the implosion was designed, only the rooms themselves were affected. It was designed as a fail-safe, to ensure that no one would be trapped if they made it into the corridors.

  Finding he could not access any of the rooms, Zach had made his way back to the surface. Once he’d done a quick check of the town and the entry point, he phoned John in Berlin.

  “It’s all gone?” John asked.

  “Looks like it. It’s going to be difficult to get any information directly from inside the facility. I’m going to have to see it the back-up can be accessed.”

  James, Zach and John had had years to plan and prepare their journey. They had tried to think of all possible scenarios.

  One of those scenarios – though considered unlikely – was the need to cause the implosion. However, Haven was the first colony, and as such had all the history and information of the Colonials. Such a knowledge base would have been disastrous to lose. To ensure this would not occur, they had made a secondary conduit, another access point to the main computers information.

  While the conduit could not alter or add anything, it did mean that the information stored in the system could be accessed from another location.

  Only three people knew of the conduit, Zach, John and, of course, James.

  “Can you still access the data?” asked John.

  “I’m not sure...” replied Zach, as he turned towards the back of the building, “Leave it with me, and I’ll call you back.”

  “Very well.” John said, and he hung up the phone.

  Haven was not a large town, but it had enough streets and alleyways that it at least gave the image of a village. Most of the buildings were indeed used, and the convenience store, small motel and garage were staffed to give the appearance of a functional place.

  As he made his way through the street, Zach turned a corner into what looked like a cul-de-sac. The two men that had accompanied him on the journey from the airfield followed him, as they had been instructed to do by their new leader.

  But as they took a few steps, Zach turned around and told them to stop.

  Such was the secrecy of where he was going, he did not think he could afford to have them with him.

  Without question, the guards stayed and stood where they were told.

  Zach continued down the street, passing a few houses and other infrastructure. Some of the houses were uninhabited, offering a façade rather than a practical application. Some of the houses were used for barracks though, with colonials and visitors staying when room inside the colony itself became unavailable.

  Zach often would prefer to sleep in the houses on the surface rather than below, but it was more out of the need to feel normal than anything else.

  As he approached the end of the street, Zach took a sharp left turn, and made his way down an access way between two of the houses. After walking only twenty metres or so, Zach found himself at the bottom of a hill.

  As he walked up the embankment, he was reminded of just how nice the Australian countryside could be. It was one of the main reasons he enjoyed visiting Haven – to get back to nature. The smells and sounds were reminiscent of when he had first visited so many years ago. And, apart from the colony and the town, the area had remained largely untouched for the better part of the past two centuries.

  As he stepped up the hill, Zach began counting his steps.

  Twenty-one, Twenty-two...

  After about sixty steps, Zach had reached his destination. Now surrounded by much denser bush, Zach could be sure that no one had followed, and no one could see what he was doing.

  Zach removed the near empty back pack from his shoulders, and dropped it to the ground. He opened it up, revealing only one item – a Colonial tablet.

  He placed the tablet on the ground, and dropped down on his haunches, getting close enough to the ground that he could start wiping away the dirt.

  After a minute or so, Zach had brushed away enough dirt to reveal what he was looking for – a small hatch.

  No bigger that an A5 piece of paper, the hatch had a small touchpad on the side. The pad was only large enough for a thumbprint, which is what Zach pressed against it. After a short whirring noise, the hatch popped open. Reaching under the lip of the hatches lid, Zach opened it up completely.

  Inside was a black wire with a connection point. The point was unlike any other in the outside world, and was specifically designed to connect to the Colonials tablet.

  Zach pulled the cord and tablet towards each other, and it connected.

  Now was the moment of truth. It had been such a long time since the conduit had been used, Zach was unsure if it would even work. And the three of them had been so busy with Phase Two and Three underway; he doubted if any of them had even checked it.

  But Zach’s doubts were short-lived. As soon as he connected the wire to the tablet, the screen came to life, and the information downloaded.

  Zach let out a sigh of relief, loud enough that it must have been heard by the guards some sixty yards down the hill.

  Zach pulled his phone out of his pocket and called John.

  “It’s working. I’ve got the conduit.”

  “Excellent.” John replied, “Now download it all and come home.”

  “I can’t come home John... Not yet.”

  “Are you really going to stay?” asked John, “You don’t even know if the reporter is still in the country, let alone near you.”

  “I can’t leave until I know that for sure.”

  Zach could tell John felt defeated.

  “Fine then.” John replied, not needing a lot of convincing, “At least get it to our contact in Sydney. They can send it all through and we can start on integrating the information here.”

  “Yes John...” Zach said with some frustration, “That’s what I was going to do.”

  “No need to get upset...” John responded.

  “I’ll let you know when I get to Sydney.” Zach said, and hung up the phone. He was in no mood to have his actions dictated at that time. Just the mentioning of the reporter was enough to make him angry.

  Zach turned his attention back to his tablet, and after a few more minutes, the download was complete.

  Satisfied, Zach put the tablet back in his pack, and made his way back towards the bottom of the hill.

  As he moved down the hill, he called out to the guards, “One of you go and fetch the car,” he said.

  But there was no response.

  Figuring they hadn’t heard him, Zach continued his way down the hill.

  After he reached the bottom, Zach moved back through the access way, passed the sun-affected wooden fences.

  He was looking out towards that road, “Didn’t you hear me?” he said to the guards, “One of you go fetch the car.”

  But as he turned the corner, Zach realised why the guard had not responded.

  As he looked, his body froze in fear. On the ground were his two men, both with pools of blood flowing from their necks. This explained why he had not heard the attack.

  He walked towards the men, unsure as to what had really happened. There had been no sign they were followed, and no sign anyone else was in the area when they arrived. When he was about five yards from the fallen men, he saw them.

  There were three of them.

  Three tall, strongly built men to the side of the road. Dressed in combat gear and black t-shirts, the dark-skinned men had their guns pointed at Zach.

  One of them stepped forward, a smile on his face.

  Zach recognised the man.

  “You??” he asked, fear trembling in his words.
<
br />   The man said in a deep, Australian accent.

  “Yes, Zachary... It’s me.”

  A smile appeared on the man’s face.

  “And I’ve waited a long time for this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The time they had together was all too brief. Being together once again, it had not taken long for them to fall to the bed, exhausted.

  Fortunately, they still had had some time to recuperate, not just for the intense love-making they had just experienced. Such was the intensity of the passion that Caleb and Darcy experienced, they had just about fallen into an after sex coma... one that Caleb hoped never to wake from.

  For the brief but intense time they were entwined in each other’s arms, Caleb was able to forget what was going on around them, and what was happening in the world.

  He was able to exclusively be in the moment, with the love of his life.

  It was the kind of moment that Caleb wished would last forever, as though the sum of all his life experiences were building towards it.

  And with the shudder than flowed through Darcy during the peak of her pleasure, it was clearly as intense for her.

  After they were finished, Caleb and Darcy lay in the bed, her head on his chest as he lay on his back. On previous occasions, this position would have irritated Caleb a little, with his mouth so close to her hair that it tickled his lips and nose.

  But, this night was different. He didn’t care how they were positioned. All he could think about was how happy he was that they were just... together.

  After a few moments, the events of the past few days caught up with them both, and they had fallen asleep.

  The slumber had not lasted long, and they were woken within a few hours.

  “Come on, kids” said the Australian accent from the doorway, accompanied by a few short knocks, “Time to move out...”

  Caleb was pleasantly surprised when he awoke.

  Darcy was in exactly the same position on his chest as when they had gone to sleep. Usually one of them would have moved during the night.

  But not this time.

  Caleb also observed that Darcy was still well and truly asleep. Through his training, he had been conditioned to sleep while having some alertness of the outside world. As such, it was easy for him to be raised from his sleep by a knock on the door. It was not such the case with Darcy. She had had no such training. As a result, Caleb would need to wake her.

  With a gentle rock, Caleb put his hand on Darcy’s shoulder and nudged her awake. It did not take much, but it was apparent Darcy was not quite ready to wake up.

  “Just a few more minutes...” Darcy said, her weariness apparent.

  Caleb thought about it, and realised a couple of extra minutes wouldn’t hurt. With that, he moved her off his body, and onto the bed. Allowing his girlfriend some time, Caleb got dressed as quietly as he could.

  Once he had put his pants and t-shirt on, he grabbed his boots and headed out the door.

  He turned to his right, and into the front room of the safe-house.

  The first thing he noticed was the lack of bodies. The dead Colonials corpses were no longer in the room.

  “Where’d they go?” asked Caleb, referring to William and Jane.

  Jace turned to the Captain, and shrugged, “Can’t tell you that mate, but the important thing is they’re not here.”

  Caleb considered insisting that Jace give an answer, but he figured to pursue it was redundant. Jace was right after all. The important thing was that the bodies were gone.

  “Don’t sweat it Jackson,” said Dunleavy, “We can trust him.”

  Caleb turned to Dunleavy, and for a fleeting moment had forgotten about his transformation.

  In the early morning light, Dunleavy’s new look seemed even more remarkable. Not only was he younger and slightly taller... Dunleavy also appeared to have gained much of the strength Caleb assume he must have had in his younger days. It took a moment for Caleb to process.

  “Jeez, Mike...” he said, “How do you feel?”

  “I’ve gotta tell you Jackson” Dunleavy replied, “I’ve never felt better. I’m thinking clearer, I feel stronger. Hell... I carried the nurse out by myself.”

  Caleb was a little confused. The Source had not had the same effect on him as it had apparently had on Dunleavy. Although, the Source had cured him of a bullet wound, there was no discernible difference between pre and post-bullet.

  Before he could ask anything further, they were interrupted.

  Murphy and Casey emerged from their bedroom, dressed and ready to go.

  “Darcy still asleep?” Murphy asked Caleb.

  Caleb nodded, “Yeah... I figure we got a spare few minutes.”

  “Not really, Captain.” Jace interrupted, “We’re kinda on the clock right now.”

  Caleb raised an eyebrow.

  “Why are we on the clock?”

  Jace turned to Dunleavy, as though beckoning him to speak.

  “Nothing to worry about,” began Dunleavy, “I’m sure you realise that we can’t stay here forever. And if my gut is back to where it used to be, then I figure that it won’t be long until someone figures out we’re here.”

  “He’s right, Captain,” said Jace, “But there could be any number of people looking for you now. Right now, only a couple of people know where you are. But once they figure out you’re in Sydney, it’ll only be a matter of time before they start looking here.”

  “Why would they start looking? Who knows we’re here?” Darcy asked, having emerged from the room.

  It had turned out she didn’t need much extra sleep.

  “Anyone really,” Dunleavy said, answering Darcy’s question, “If they can figure out where I am, and to be honest, the Colonials, we can assume, already know I’m in Australia. All they had to do is leak the information, and people will be trying to follow us. And the first place they’ll look is at the people I was in contact with. Jace included.”

  It was then that Caleb realised just how much of a risk Jace was taking. The rest of the world believed Dunleavy was the head of New Light. They believed he was a terrorist. Just by being around them, Jace had potentially made himself a target. Caleb knew that all someone had to do, once they realise Dunleavy was in Sydney, was track his contacts – Jace included – and they would be at risk of being caught.

  Caleb could again see why time was of the essence.

  “Fair enough.” Caleb said.

  “Good.” Jace responded, “Now we need to get moving.”

  “Ok then. What’s the plan?”

  “While you guys were napping, I made a call or two.”

  “Who to?”

  “It’s best you don’t know. For you and for them.”

  Caleb wanted to push Jace once again, but realised that he was right. He motioned for Jace to continue.

  Jace carried on, “I can see you have your doubts Captain… but let me assure you that you and your team can trust me. The people coming around don’t know who you are, and I won’t tell them. And now that Mike has… well… now that Mike can’t be recognised, it makes that easier.”

  “So what’s the plan then?” asked Darcy, some urgency in her voice.

  Jace turned to Darcy, “Alright then. You and Caleb are heading back to the colony right?”

  Caleb and Darcy nodded.

  “Well… its best if you do what Caleb said. Take the car… what did you call it?”

  “A ‘Bat”

  “Right… take the ‘Bat back there.”

  “And what about the others?”

  “I’ve got some people on the way. They’ll transport your team to an airfield I know of. Then they can head back to the states.”

  Caleb agreed with the plan – it hadn’t deviated from his previous recommendation.

  “When are they getting here?” asked Caleb.

  “Won’t be long.” Jace replied.

  Caleb realised there was one aspect of the next move that he was not aware of.

/>   “Only one questions, Jace.” He asked the Australian.

  “What’s that mate?”

  “What about you? What’s your next move?”

  “I figured you’d ask that, Captain.” He replied, “With everything you’ve told me, there’s only one place I’m interested in going. This group – the Colonials – they have been here, in Australia, for years. Right under my nose, and to be honest, I’m a bit pissed off.”

  Caleb could see where he was leading to with his answer, “I guess you’ll want answers then?” he asked.

  “You’re bloody right I do. So that’s why I’m coming with you.”

  ***

  The message Larissa had received was cryptic, but nothing she couldn’t figure out. It was the way she had often been notified. She received a set of numbers, and the numbers related back to a decryption key as indicated in the body of the message.

  As per her instructions, she had been given several sets of coordinates.

  The first was the location of a drop box. The drop boxes had been in place for a long time, always more than twelve months, and sometimes as long as a decade.

  It was the standard operating procedure of the Colonials. And it was a tactic that worked. Even if someone from the outside had suspicions of nefarious activity, they could spend years watching a drop box or zone without anyone ever collecting.

  Often, most outsiders would give up, and chalk the intelligence up to bad information – figuring that there would be no point in dropping off equipment or similar when no one used it.

  But, the Colonials were different. Time was not their enemy, for many of them had been alive for such a long time that they were used to playing the long-game.

  Larissa was not one of these people, but she knew the tactic well enough.

  Along with coordinates to the drop-box, Larissa found the details of her target.

  The coordinates, once put through the decryption, surprised the young woman. She had to double check what she was looking at, but each time she repeated the decryption, the results were identical.