by Jim Roberts
The two Centurions looked at the beast in front of them, then at each other. Then without a word, they dropped their rifles and turned around—running as fast as they could towards the jungle beyond.
Krieger let out a breath. He felt winded—as if whatever had possessed him at that moment had left him behind. Looking down, he saw his friend. Blood pooled from Graves’ body as the man lay dead, eyes staring blankly into the night sky. Kneeling down, Krieger closed them for him.
“I’m sorry, my friend,” he said, solemnly.
A sound behind him caused Krieger to turn away from Graves’ body. He spotted the Praefectus, attempting to pull himself along the ground toward an assault rifle lying a few feet in front of him. The bullet in his shoulder left a smear of blood in the dirt as he moved.
Clutching the katana tightly, Krieger marched across the courtyard towards the Olympus commandant. “Oh no,” the Peacemaker said, standing over him, “I’m not finished with you, yet.” Krieger reversed the blade and rammed it down through the Praefectus’ wounded shoulder and into the dirt underneath—effectively pinning him to the ground. The bigwig gurgled a yell through his helmet as he tried helplessly to free himself.
Knowing his enemy wasn’t going anywhere, Krieger stood up.
Time to find Joe.
Leaving the Praefectus for the moment to writhe in his own blood, Krieger snatched up an F2000 rifle and rushed towards the barracks. Kicking down the door, he swept the room for tangos.
Empty.
He rushed through the building, checking every corner for his friend.
Nothing.
For the next few minutes he went about checking each of the depot’s prefab buildings, getting more and more desperate as he did. Besides a few pieces of random Olympus intel and dirty magazines, he turned up nothing.
No sign of Joe Braddock.
Angry and confused, he exploded out the front door of the last storage shed and made a beeline for the Praefectus. The commandant was just about to free himself when Krieger stomped his boot hard on the man’s back.
“Alright, fuckface, where is Joe Braddock?”
“What?”
“I am not in mood to be screwed with right now, mudak!” Krieger said, slamming his boot hard into the man’s wound. The Praefectus hollered in pain. “I will not ask again,” Krieger warned, after the man quieted a bit. “Where is Joe Braddock?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s not here!”
“Bullshit!” Krieger grasped the katana and yanked it out. Blood spewed from the wound, causing the Praefectus to scream again. Turning him over, Krieger clutched the man by the collar of his armor and held him roughly as he demanded answers. “He must be here. You are hiding him somewhere!”
The Praefectus’s breaths came haggard as he forced himself to speak. “Go straight to hell you Peacemaker fuck.”
“Wrong answer,” Krieger spat. He jammed his thumb hard into the gaping wound on the Praefectus’ shoulder. The Olympus bigwig screeched from the pain.
The memory of the carnage back in the village caused by this man fueled Krieger’s rage. “I can do this all night, tovarisch.”
“You fucking—arrhhgh...stop!”
“I am dog, remember?” Krieger said, twisting his thumb as blood poured from the wound. “Once I bite, I don’t let go...”
“Alright! Fucking alright. Whatever you want to know...”
His face a mask of contempt, Krieger removed his hand and gripped the Olympus commandant by the neck. “Good. Now where is Joe Braddock?”
The Praefectus’ voice grew weak. “He’s nearby...”
“Is he alive?” Krieger demanded.
The Praefectus nodded, feverishly. “Yes...yes, you can find him at—“
He never finished his words. A loud crack resounded across the courtyard and instantly the Praefectus’s head broke apart as a .338 Lapua Magnum round cored through his brain, killing him instantly.
Krieger blanched in shock. “No!” he shouted, shaking the man’s dead body as if to force life back into it. “You must tell me! Where is Joe?” Anger clouded his mind as he watched the only lead to finding his friend disappear. Everything was for nothing. Graves’ death, all of it. At length, he let the body fall to the ground before turning and looking at the cause of its demise.
At the entrance to the depot, Caedra stood with the smoking sniper rifle in her hands. Lowering it, she slowly moved to stand across the courtyard from Krieger.
“You!” the big warrior shouted, trying and failing to hold back his anger. “Why did you do that?”
Caedra responded, calmly, “That man and his crew killed my people…my comrades. I owed him that.”
“Goddamn, woman, he was about to tell me where Joe was! And you shot him!” Krieger clenched his fists, feeling the rage boiling up.
“No, Krieger,” said Caedra, shaking her head. “Whatever he told you would have been a lie.”
Confusion wracked the big Russian’s addled mind. “How the hell do you know that?”
“Because—” Caedra said, her voice cold and emotionless, “—I watched Joe Braddock die.”
The world seemed to vanish around Krieger. It was almost as if his brain didn’t allow him to hear the news he’d been given. It just couldn’t be real. “You’re…you’re lying! Joe is not dead. He can’t be!”
Caedra spoke calmly, as if to a wild animal. “He’s dead, Krieger. He shot himself three days ago. Suicide.”
Rage blinded the Peacemaker. “You lie!”
He reached down and picked up the katana and stomped toward the Vagabond, heedless of the rifle clutched in her hands. Strangely, Caedra did not attempt to stop him. When he was within an arm’s length, he held the katana aloft, ready to cut the woman in half. “Tell me you are lying,” he demanded, his voice quaking with anger. “Tell me Joe is alright!”
Caedra met his wild gaze, her eyes unflinching. “I’m sorry, Krieger. I tried to stop him. He was just…broken. Jade’s death…his unborn child—it was all too much for him.”
Krieger held the blade steady for a moment, searching for a lie in Caedra’s eyes. But there was none that he could see. “Why then?” he asked. “Why not tell me before?”
“I needed your help, don’t you understand?” Caedra replied. “I couldn’t kill the Praefectus on my own. I needed you to do the heavy lifting…to do what you do best. Kill.”
“You tricked me,” said the Peacemaker. The rage that had gripped him began to ebb away, leaving behind a profound exhaustion. He slowly lowered the sword, dropping it into the dirt. “Like everyone has done since I joined this war—you used me.”
The Vagabond lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry. If there had been another way—”
Krieger weakly waved away the apology. “Spare me. I am done with all of this. I hope it was worth it for you, Vagabond.” He turned to walk back to Graves. As he went, he spoke without looking at Caedra. “If I were you, I would pray never to see me again.”
The Vagabond watched him for a moment then turned her gaze to the remains of a dead Centurion nearby. Walking over to it, she knelt down and retrieved the comm unit attached to his chest armor. Pocketing it, she stood back up and called over to the big Russian, “You have to tell your people about the Hammer of Mars, Krieger. Olympus will stop at nothing to regain the control they almost had on the world.”
The request did not provoke a reaction from the Peacemaker. Trying one last time, Caedra called out to him again, saying, “You know, Joe told me to tell you something before he died. Do you want to know what it was?”
The Russian stopped in his tracks. Around him, the fires of the fuel tank had died to almost nothing. Beyond the shattered depot, the early rays of dawn had begun to peek out over the forest canopy, slowly burning away the last wisps of fog. He turned to look at Caedra. “What did Joe say?”
“He said to tell you that ‘there’s no one I’d rather have in a foxhole than that crazy Russian.’”
&nbs
p; The words went through Krieger like a knife in the gut.
Krieger looked about to say something in reply, but instead turned on his heel and went to pick up the body of his friend.
By the time he looked back, Caedra was gone.
As carefully as he could, he collected the body of his friend. He spotted an undamaged jeep around the side of the cylindrical barracks. Finding it unlocked, he loaded his friend’s body into the back and got into the driver seat. Knowing Olympus would return soon, he had to move swiftly.
He’d wasted enough blood on this hellhole.
Gunning the engine, he tore out of the depot, steering the jeep towards the east.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Somewhere in Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan
April 24th
THE MIDDAY heat of the African sun beat down upon the big Russian as he stood overlooking the resting place of his former comrade. After traveling most of the day, he’d found a quiet grassland with no sign of life, save for some grassing antelope. There, he’d unpacked a folding shovel from the standard Olympus survival kit he’d found in the back of the jeep and dug a resting place for Graves.
Placing a single branch of wood as a marker, he draped Grave’s tribal totems across it before standing up.
“Thank you, friend. I know you are probably waiting to kick my ass in hell. Suppose I will see you there too, someday.”
With little else to say, he walked back to the jeep. He brought out the Olympus-branded holographic communication device he’d found in the jeep’s glove compartment and set it up on the hood. After fiddling with it for a moment, he made sure that the scrambler was activated, otherwise, Olympus would be able to trace his signal.
Typing in the proper signal number, he waited as the device made the connection. While he waited, he looked down at himself. He’d collected a significant share of cuts, abrasions, and burns during the past few days—each one a mark of the hell he’d traveled. Once he was out of this place, he would see to them, but for now Krieger wanted to remember what each wound had cost him.
The static on the holo display eventually morphed into a familiar sight—the faceplate of the Gestalt Suit worn by Danny Callbeck. The Canadian was utilizing the comlink built into his wrist.
“What the—Krieger? Where have you been?” Callbeck asked.
“Busy,” Krieger answered.
“You look like hell.”
“I do.”
“Brick is upset you took off. I don’t know how much longer I can cover for you. Where are you?”
“He’s dead, Danny.”
There was a pause. “Who’s dead?”
“Joe...Joe is dead.”
Another pause.
“He can’t be…how?”
“He shot himself. A few days ago.”
“I don’t believe it.” Danny’s electronically filtered voice was filled with emotion. “Did you find him? Did you see it for yourself?”
“No, but—”
“Then he isn’t dead. I refuse to believe it.”
Krieger shook his head. “Believe what you want. I have no reason to think he’s alive anymore.”
“You need to get back here now. You need to tell us everything.”
“Sorry, can’t do that yet.”
“What’s going on, Krieger? Where have you been?”
“I’ve seen what Olympus has been doing,” Krieger said, coldly. “They are building new weapon, testing it on people here. They call it the Hammer of Mars. Get the boys onto it. Find out everything you can.”
“What’s your location. I’ll send the Spirit Walker to pick you up.”
Krieger shook his head. “Sorry, comrade, not going to happen. I won’t be coming back for a while.”
Danny hesitated before asking, “Do you know what you’re doing, Krieger?”
The Russian took a long, deep breath. “I hope so. Goodbye for now, tin man. Take care of yourself.”
Before Danny could ask anything else, Krieger switched off the holoprojector. Picking up the AA-12 he’d set against the jeep, he smashed the butt end into the device, breaking it to pieces. Finished, he got into the vehicle and steered it back along the side roads he’d been traveling for the past day.
An odd feeling had come over the big Russian in the last few hours. It was a feeling he’d known many times throughout his turbulent life. He knew his world had to change once more. Throughout the past months, he’d been functioning on the assumption that one day he would find his old friend, Joe, and some normalcy would return to his life within the Peacemakers.
But now he could see that had been a fiction.
His time in the Peacemakers was coming to an end and now he needed a new purpose.
The business he had with Olympus was far from over. Now, he would bring a new war against them—his war.
Krieger smiled as he drove on his new road, knowing wherever it would end up leading him, he would one day avenge Joe for the hell Olympus had caused him. He would ignite a war underneath them the likes of which no one had seen. The days of those PMC bastards being able to sleep soundly at night were finished.
It was time for the Dog of War to hunt.
EPILOGUE
Vagabond Encampment, Ethiopia
April 25th
THE VAGABOND encampment was built a few dozen miles from the border between Ethiopia and South Sudan. A sprawling M.A.S.H. had been set up as well as a makeshift airfield to house the Vagabond’s army of anti-PMC soldiers. The leader of the Vagabonds, Leo Lennox had performed many services in the past for the President of the country and was seen as a trusted ally. With that trust, Lennox had managed to create a staging point from where his army could deal with the encroaching Olympus threat within South Sudan.
Surveying the area from the entrance to his command tent, Leo Lennox looked upon his army with pride. The Vagabond himself stood like a proud papa—his well-groomed goatee shining silver in the waning light of the day. His piercing, intelligent eyes gleamed as he watched his men perform their duties in preparation for the next attack on Olympus.
Looking up, he spotted a lone Fenrir coming in low over the marshlands to the west beyond the camp, banking hard as it prepared to land on the airstrip a few dozen meters away. As it set down, the Vagabond leader hobbled out on his single good leg to meet the new arrival. The occupants of the Fenrir began to disembark, including the person he was most looking forward to seeing.
A woman hoped out, shaking her blonde hair before moving away from the ducted-fan aircraft. She walked with a noticeable limp to where Lennox was waiting.
Lennox held his hand up in a salute to his aide-de-camp. “Good of you to return, Caedra.”
The Vagabond soldier returned the gesture. “It’s good to be back, sir.”
“Come with me. I know you’re probably tired, but we need your debriefing. There’s much to be done.”
Caedra nodded and followed her leader towards the command tent.
Once inside and away from the noise of the airfield, Lennox offered Caedra a bottle of water. She declined. “Thank you sir, but I’m alright for now.”
Lennox smiled and placed the bottle on the large holoprojector table that took up most of the space inside the tent. “Straight to business I assume?”
Caedra nodded. “It’s as we thought—the Hammer of Mars is almost fully operational. Olympus destroyed another village.”
Lennox cast his most trusted subordinate a grim look. “Yes, I know. Our intelligence from inside Sledge Aeronautics suggested as much a day ago. We will need to act sooner rather than later.”
“Sir, the Peacemakers—once they discover what Olympus is doing, they’ll make everything more complicated.”
Lennox nodded, grimly. “Of course, that’s what they do, isn’t it? Right now, we need to continue our attacks—make Olympus pay for every village they destroy.” He looked up at Caedra, “The debriefing can wait. Go to the medics and get some food. I’ll be needing you ready and able as soon as possible
.”
“I am always ready, sir.” Caedra seemed to hesitate before saying, “Sir…there’s something else.”
“Yes?”
“The Peacemaker…Krieger. I met up with him out there. I told him about Joe.”
Lennox’s face turned serious. “Ah, yes, the wild man. What exactly did you tell him?”
“That he was dead by suicide.”
“Excellent. I’m sure he’ll relay the message to the Peacemakers.”
Caedra swallowed. “If it wasn’t for Krieger, I’d be dead right now. He killed the Praefectus. I hated telling him that.”
“I know. Still, it’s better they do not know the truth yet—or if ever.” Lennox spoke the last word just as a very familiar figure entered the tent. “Isn’t that right...son?”
Joe Braddock.
The former Peacemaker was clad in his combat gear, clutching his trusted M4A1 assault rifle in his hand. His face bore the pain of a hundred lives and his eyes were cold and aloof.
“Good to have you back, Caedra,” Joe said, as he walked over to join his father. “Tell me…how is Krieger, that old war dog?”
THE END
CONTINUED IN THE FORSAKEN, COMING SUMMER 2020!
Be sure to check out the next full length novel in the Code of War series, The Forsaken, available for pre-order now on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!
Click the image to check it out!