Birth of Heavy Metal Boxed Set

by Michael Todd

  Even so, neither man complained. Conversation between them was considerably less than there would have been had the temperatures been more pleasant. As Bill’s head lolled back and eyes closed as obvious evidence that he needed a nap, Jim drew his phone from his pocket. It wasn’t the latest model, but it was still absolutely serviceable, even in this day and age, and surprisingly, he still had damned good cell service out there in the middle of nowhere. He could remember that his dad regularly complained about the lack of service out in the countryside, but those days were firmly in the past. Nobody could live without a constant lifeline to the Internet these days, and that was provided in abundance.

  Bill snapped his head up with a loud snort when he heard the roar that issued from the phone’s speakers. He leaned across in his seat to see what his friend was watching, and Jim mirrored the movement to accommodate him.

  “What’s that?” Bill asked.

  “It’s a new app I got my hands on,” Jim replied and looked a little smug. “Called Zootube. It has all the latest footage that people pick up from that crazy place in the middle of the Sahara. You know, where the—”

  “Oh yeah,” Bill interjected and his voice rasped faintly as the after-effect of his short snooze. The footage they currently watched was fairly dark but it provided its fair share of action and movement. Men in heavy armor called orders on a radio as a massive reptile stepped into view.

  “Oh…that’s an ugly sumbitch,” Jim said with a deep chuckle. “That there is a face only a mother could love.”

  “Hell, if I was mother to a critter like that, I’d wash it down the crapper.” Bill laughed. “Is any of this stuff real? I mean, CGI’s getting reasonably good. Look at that. There must be five inches on those teeth. No way that’s real.”

  “Well, the site owners say it’s all very real,” Jim responded and tapped the screen to start the next video. “These are selected off the science databases of the places they use to study the critters in there.”

  “Nah, that’s bullshit,” Bill protested and drew back to settle comfortably in his seat. “Ain’t nothing getting that big and they only studying them.”

  “These guys are shooting back, sonny,” he said and turned the screen for his friend to have another look. “Them’s bringing back the videos when they survive the encounter. I suppose it could still be CGI, but come on, you have to admit that it would be cool to have rifles and take shots at a couple of those bugs.”

  “Oh, yeah,” his companion agreed. “Killing critters that aren’t covered by some environmental law or other? You know I’m there.”

  Jim chuckled. “You know, I think maybe the fish ain’t biting today. I blame you for getting me into this. If we don’t catch anything, you buy the beers. And dinner. I told Stacey we’d get dinner for tonight, and damned if I’ll pay for this debacle out of my pocket.”

  “Fair ʼnuff,” Billy growled and fiddled with his fishing rod. “The day’s young, though. You might want to hold off on your declarations of doom for another couple of hours. Fishes are lazy this time of day.”

  Brandon looked up from the piece of metal he toyed with when he heard some of the mechanics shout greetings to someone. He’d told them that he was looking for scrap to work with, but the truth was that he’d waited for someone to arrive.

  Someone who was a new addition to Salinger Jacobs and Madigan Kennedy’s little company. She was new enough that she might lack loyalty to the brand while she’d still been around long enough to know the goings and comings of the place. Word around the Staging Area was that Jacobs, Kennedy, and Monroe were all on leave of absence to take care of the death of a relative, which meant that the whole operation was currently under the watchful eye of the one and only Amanda Gutierrez.

  And guess who now stepped through the door of the shop where she used to work? It truly was weird how things worked out in his favor.

  “Hey—Gutierrez, right?” Brandon called breezily and turned away from the useless scrap he’d looked at to jog over to where she stood at the front desk.

  She looked at him like he had just spilled strawberry jam all over himself and tilted her head in query. “Yeah, that’s me. Who’s asking?”

  “Corporal Brandon.” The look of recognition was all he needed to see to know that she knew precisely who he was.

  “Right,” she said with a smirk. “Aren’t you the guy who—”

  “Yep, that was me—both times,” Brandon said and tried to fake a smile, although he failed miserably. Just because he had to play nice to get his big payout didn’t mean that he needed to take the kind of abuse that he’d suffered over the past couple of days from someone he barely knew.

  At a push, he was even willing to say that he’d deserved what he’d received on both occasions but he hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. He really wanted to be able to walk away from this with his dignity somewhat intact.

  “How can I help you, Corporal?” Gutierrez asked and cocked her head to the side with obvious impatience.

  “I heard from these guys that they’d let one of their best mechanics walk away,” Brandon said, determined to play the brown-nosing card as hard as he could. “After having my ass handed to me by the Heavy Metal guys twice now, I wondered if I might not have something to learn from them. When I heard that they were hiring, I thought I might try to get in on their action, as it were.”

  The woman didn’t look entirely convinced by his story, but she shrugged in an off-hand way. “Look, I haven’t been around long enough for Jacobs or Kennedy to trust me when it comes to hiring decisions, but if you’d like, I could put in a good word for you. Although, from the way that they’ve laid it out, I don’t think they need another gunner on their crew.”

  “Yeah?” he asked and leaned casually against the front desk. “What kind of skills might they be looking for?”

  “I’m not sure,” Gutierrez said and shrugged once more. “Being only a gunner doesn’t cut it for them and I see the logic of it. They like them some multi-taskers. I heard Jacobs was looking for a geologist or metallurgy expert to inspect some piece of armor or something that they pulled out on salvage on a trip that got him all banged up. Other than that, I’m not really sure.”

  “Well, I failed chemistry in high school, so I don’t think I would be what they needed there,” Brandon said and had to work hard not to show his excitement.

  “Shocker,” Gutierrez said with a chuckle. “But yeah, if you like, I can give you a heads’ up if they need another gunner to join the crew.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that.” He took Gutierrez’ offered hand, shook it firmly, and made his way out of the shop. Once he was far enough away to not be overheard, he retrieved an ancient flip phone from his pocket and hit the only number that had been saved into the registry. It rang a couple of times before someone picked up.

  “What can I do for you?” said the odd, accented voice.

  “Nice to hear from you, too,” Brandon responded cheerfully. “My weekend was great, thanks for asking. How about yours?”

  “Corporal Brandon,” the suit said and definitely sounded irritated, “if I wanted to hear you go on about your day, I would have called you myself. Since you called me, I can only assume that it was for a reason. What might that be?” After a long pause, he sighed and continued. “I spent my weekend in the French Base of operations. It’s not as relaxing as it sounds.”

  “See?” Brandon asked with a grin. “Who says that we can’t be civil?”

  “Indeed,” the man said. “Now, how can I help you?”

  “I discovered something interesting,” the corporal said. “Have you heard of a small startup around here called Heavy Metal?”

  “I certainly have.”

  “Well, I had a chat with their chief engineer.” He embellished his story only slightly. “She tells me that they’ve looked around for someone to inspect a nifty piece of armor they brought out of the Zoo in their last run. It’s apparently something they would need a geologist or m
etallurgist to examine. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like exactly the kind of thing that you wanted to know about.”

  A long moment of silence on the other end of the line finally ended with a long sigh. “Yes, it could be. Or it could be a wild goose chase. Either way, if it’s the best lead you have, you might as well dig deeper.”

  “Oh no,” he responded. “I don’t work for free, my friend. You said you’d pay for my information and I expect to get paid before I take on any more work for you.”

  “I’ve already wired money to your account, Corporal. You have no need for anxiety about that.” The suit sounded annoyed again. “If you were to find something that proves to be what we are looking for, I’d like you to handle it in as final a way as you can and bring back evidence to support your action. That includes dealing with any potential witnesses. I assume that won’t be a problem?”

  “Pay me enough, and you’ll find that there’s not much I won’t do,” Brandon assured him. “Until then, you know my safe word, right?”

  “I don’t know you well enough for that kind of joke to be appreciated,” his contact said coldly. “Have a nice day, Corporal, and good luck.”

  “How else would you be able to get passage back to the Zoo so easily and on such short notice?” Sal asked over the rumble of the massive plane’s engines.

  “So, your assumption is that the guy must have a crush on me?” Madigan asked, her head inclined in a definite challenge.

  “I mean, it would make sense,” Sal said as he thought out loud. “You are very crush-on-able. There are five, maybe six guys in charge of getting personnel in and out of the Zoo on these delivery flights. You talked to the same guy who got us to the States in the first place, and he was waiting and eager to get you on the first flight over.”

  “That, or simply because it’s summer and all the trades are finished, so these planes are really empty and they can use the fare?” she pointed out.

  “And that explains why the guy said that the Zoo missed you?” Sal said.

  “Yeah, that was a little weird,” Madigan admitted with a laugh. “And you’re right, I am very crush-on-able.”

  He shrugged. “You have to give me the brains on this one.”

  “Yeah, you’re a regular Casanova,” she retorted and her sarcastic streak showed its colors.

  Sal grinned in response, but when the silence continued, she pulled her phone from her pocket. The satellite connection they’d paid for when they moved to the compound kept them connected no matter where they were.

  They paid a damned fortune for it, but one of the upsides was that the connection would be with them anywhere they went in the world. He still wasn’t sure if it was worth it, but he would have to wait and see. They’d signed on for the three-year contract that the previous owners had reneged on, and while it had cost a fortune, it was only about half of what they would have paid otherwise. Madigan had laid out the details of what a deal they would get out of it, but he hadn’t really paid attention. His loss, in the end, but he acknowledged that she had a better business sense in certain things than he did.

  “It looks like our hacker friend got back to us,” she said softly.

  He unbuckled his belt and leaned in closer.

  “Clearly, the guy decided to go above and beyond,” she continued. “He’s sent us proof of his skills by hacking into the Staging Area’s database and sending me our files. There’s one on each of us, including Gutierrez— Huh, how did they know about that mole on my ass?”

  “It might be something in your medical file,” Sal mused. “Something that your doctors might have checked up on in case it was a melanoma or something like that?”

  “Oh, right, I remember now,” Madigan snorted. “Who gets a melanoma on their ass, anyway?”

  “Chronic sunbathers,” Sal said quickly, “and…maybe nudists?”

  “Enough about me, let’s talk about you,” she said and her face lit up as she opened Sal’s file. “So…hmmm, not much here except for the background check the dudes who did research on potential candidates ran… Your credit score was terrible.”

  “Why do you think I chose to stick it out in the Zoo?” he asked with a grin. “To have animals that constantly try to kill you is all well and good, but having to manage on an almost unpaid internship was truly terrifying. And I had it fairly easy compared to others. My student loans were essentially laughable since I got my bachelor’s and my master’s on scholarships. Even so, things were pretty miserable.”

  “How in the hell did you go to school for only seven years?” Madigan asked and leaned back in her seat to regard him with an expression close to disbelief. “And how did you not get a single grade below A minus?”

  “Hello?” He made a face. “Hi, I’m Salinger Jacobs, certified prodigy and genius. Nice to meet you.”

  “It’s amazing you want me to suck your dick considering that you do it so often yourself,” she retorted with a grin.

  “Enough about us,” Sal said. “Although you might want to keep those files on Courtney and Gutierrez for later study.”

  She looked at the empty seat to her left. “It’s still sad that she couldn’t join us. But I suppose it’s a good thing that she’ll be able to figure things out with her family without having to deal with massive, flesh-eating monsters at the same time, right?”

  He smirked and looked pensive. “Yeah. I hope she does okay, though. And maybe she’ll be able to stick it out there and open a Heavy Metal branch in Los Angeles.”

  Madigan smiled but had already moved on from the personal files they had been sent to the data the hacker had collected. This was what she’d actually asked the guy to look into for them.

  “Holy shit,” she muttered and handed him the phone. He took it quickly and studied the information.

  “That’s a damn thorough investigation,” Sal said. “There’s nothing here about who paid for the research, though. Everything is signed off by the State Department and the Pentagon like it’s all supposed to be military research.”

  “Well, if it were military research, we wouldn’t see it on a private company’s display floor, right?” she asked.

  “Well, you would if they were contracted by the government themselves,” he reasoned. “They would be involved with any number of different government activities, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t have been able to get all sorts of stuff. Considering that they currently fund a lot of the activity in the Zoo, I’d be surprised if they weren’t the ones to conduct the test that ended with our friend losing his leg.”

  “Which means they already run covert operations in the Zoo area,” Madigan sighed. “If that isn’t just fucking fantastic.”

  The moment in which they wondered how fucked they were passed after a couple of seconds and Sal continued his study of the data that had been sent their way.

  “Well, the fact remains that this hacker is really good at his job,” he said finally as he handed her phone back.

  “Agreed.” She nodded and tapped a message to Gregor that they were good to proceed with the man as soon as possible before she slid the device into her pocket.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It wasn’t usually the Pentagon’s problem to deal with environmental disasters. That kind of issue was generally relegated to the people who would protest in front of the Pentagon when they were themselves the ones who usually caused the disasters. Well, them, and the politicians who wanted their votes while on a campaign trail.

  That said, this was probably the first time that this much money had been both put into and made on an environmental disaster, and it was certainly the largest and most public disaster of all time. This paradoxical truth necessitated a think-tank and a whole task force dedicated to figuring out exactly how they could finally put a stop to all of it.

  The first idea that had emerged came about even before there was a think-tank. To put a wall around the massive jungle that had sprouted so virulently in the Sahara had been one of the most blunt-
force ideas in history and—surprise, surprise—it simply didn’t meet expectations. The Zoo grew relentlessly and spread out of control. This completely baffled the scientists who had studied the goop before it had been sent out there, and more walls were subsequently erected. Unfortunately, even these were outstripped in terms of speed and evolution by the jungle they sought to contain.

  New ideas were needed. Nobody was certain what would happen should the goop reach a major population center, but the general consensus was that it wouldn’t be good. Considering how the Zoo treated the people who headed into it more or less prepared, it was unthinkable to even consider the carnage that would result if it assimilated locations with women and children who had absolutely no training or equipment to handle it.

  The US government wasn’t ready to admit how colossal their fuck-up had been. To order evacuations in the cities in the affected areas would, in effect, be a tacit confession. Besides, there were also many problems with that, mostly diplomatic.

  The idea had always been to consolidate the environmental problems and resolve them in a way that wouldn’t absolutely ruin the country’s standing with the rest of the world. That certainly hadn’t changed.

  “Have we completely disregarded the use of force here?” one of the men in a lab coat asked the others gathered around a conference table. All available data on the Zoo was laid out in a number of charts hung on the walls.

  “Yeah, let’s charge into a place that has resisted all attempts at attack and invasion. And which adapts and evolves so that anything larger than small salvage teams is immediately swarmed by thousands of mutated creatures,” another responded sarcastically and shook his head. “I’m sure that won’t backfire in a spectacular way. Come on, man. We’ve already tried the brute-force tactics. It’s time for a little subtlety.”