The Peacekeepers. Books 4 - 6.

by Ricky Sides

  Sergeant Thompson paused near the large barn door that stood slightly ajar. He felt that this was careless of the cult unless perhaps it was a trap. Moving to the door, he peered inside. The contrast in the bright sunlight outside the barn, and the dark interior made it difficult for him to see what was inside. However, as best he could tell there was no one inside.

  Taking a deep breath, the sergeant flung open the door and darted inside the barn. Moments later the rest of the team entered. They spread out and searched the barn. Three men scaled the ladder that led up to the loft and quickly determined that it was devoid of any enemies. They returned to the ground floor and motioned the all clear signal.

  The entire team searched the ground floor thoroughly finally coming to a door that led to a small room. That door was locked. It was the only locked door inside the barn and the door seemed out of place, as it was considerably newer than the rest of the old structure. One of the men picked that lock. That took longer than the sergeant wanted, but shooting the lock at this point was out of the question. It was possible that the children had been locked in that small room by the cult and were situated just behind the door.

  Once the door was unlocked, the sergeant slowly opened it and looked inside the room. He pointed to his eyes and then to the wooden box. He noted that the box smelled of damp earth. Walking inside the room, he opened the large wooden box sitting on the floor. Inside that box, he saw a deep hole and a ladder that disappeared into the darkness below. Sergeant Thompson motioned for one of the men to step beside him and whispered for the man to cover him as he descended the ladder. That man held a flashlight in one hand and his silenced pistol in the other. He watched diligently, as the sergeant descended the twenty-foot ladder to the floor of the tunnel below.

  The sergeant found himself alone in the tunnel, which appeared to have been man made. It was six feet tall, so he had to stand slightly stooped over. The passageway was four feet wide. He stepped away from the ladder to make room for the team to join him, and reported to the Peacekeeper that they were inside the tunnel complex. The Peacekeeper confirmed receipt of the message, and informed the strike team leader that they were proceeding with the next phase of the mission.

  Twice before, the peacekeepers had entered the underground nests of the vampire cult. On both occasions, they had located and entered both entrances and the two teams had fought their way through the tunnels until they linked up inside the cavern complex. This attack strategy would utilize that same method. Pete, Jim, and seven of the extra men from the base would enter the nest from the other entrance. Tim would remain aboard the Peacekeeper with the remaining three men so that he could fly to the entrance where the children were to be extracted. Since they had no idea where the children were located inside the cavern, there was no way to know where the ship would be needed.

  Chapter 11

  Inside the Peacekeeper, Maggie went into the infirmary where a dejected Lieutenant Wilcox lay. He was on medical restriction for the next twelve hours. “Lieutenant, we just dropped off the second group at the other entrance. The control room is a little short handed. Do you feel up to manning a post in the control room?” Maggie asked.

  The lieutenant was out of bed in a flash and heading for the door. “Lieutenant,” Maggie said stopping the man.

  “You said I could go,” he said plaintively.

  “You can go to the control room to man a station, Lieutenant, but don’t you think you should dress first?” she asked and laughed as the lieutenant realized that he was standing in his boxer shorts.

  “Thanks, Doc. I’d have felt the fool going into the control room in my skivvies,” the lieutenant said with a grin as he began to get dressed.

  When the lieutenant entered the control room, Tim said, “Lieutenant, I’d like you to assist Patricia. You are familiar with her system aren’t you?” Tim asked.

  “Yes, sir. I’ll do what I can, but Patricia is ten times better at communications and computers than I’ll ever be,” the lieutenant said sounding dubious.

  “I want you to monitor your unit’s helmet cam. I trust Sergeant Thompson. He’s a good man and he needs this experience, so I don’t want you to interfere unless you see him making a serious mistake. Consider this advanced training for your second in command,” Tim explained.

  The lieutenant nodded his head in understanding, and then he stepped over to the communications console. Patricia swiveled the monitor around so that he could see the screen as the cameraman followed behind several other team members.

  Tim added, “It’s also very good command training for you. I intend to submit your name again for a captaincy someday.”

  “Someday I may be ready for that job, sir. But for now, I prefer the strike team duty,” the lieutenant explained. Tim just smiled and looked at his flight instruments to ensure that everything was ready should the ship need to fly at a moment’s notice.

  ***

  Sergeant Thompson received word from the Peacekeeper that the other team was now inside the entrance to the cavern. He understood that most likely this meant the cult members were now trapped between two heavily armed peacekeeper forces. He acknowledged the message and moved deeper through the passageway. They had quickly left the manmade section of the cavern, which had made one sharp turn and connected to this passageway. He was immediately presented with a problem because the passage went both to the left, and to the right.

  In the Peacekeeper, the lieutenant observed as the sergeant was confronted with the problem. He listened closely as the cameraman picked up Sergeant Thompson’s brief instructions to the men as he said, “Team two, take the left tunnel. I’ll take the right with team one. We proceed down the passageways three hundred feet, and return here to decide which way to go.” The men nodded their understanding and the cameraman followed team one.

  The lieutenant nodded his head. It was a good compromise. He wasn’t certain that he’d have divided his team, but they needed to know something of both passageways to make a good decision based on the facts. It was a tough call, and he was well aware of that fact. He watched as team one followed the curvature of the wall around and to the left. The passageway was semi circular, and the lieutenant was not surprised when soon he saw one of the team two men down the passageway staring down another tunnel. Both the left and the right passageways had led the teams to the same place. That happened sometimes in caves. Underground waterways sometimes split, and diverged around a harder slab of stone and met on the other side.

  The sergeant entered the new tunnel and proceeded down it cautiously. The floor of this tunnel was a smooth stone surface and the lieutenant noticed that the men were walking quieter and placing their feet down more carefully on that louder walking surface. Soon a light appeared to the left. The light was emanating from a hole in the wall and the lieutenant knew that in all probability that chamber or corridor would contain people. The passageway that the team was currently traversing continued past that opening for about twenty yards, and then it turned to the left. The sergeant killed his light, as did the next two men behind him. The video feed darkened momentarily, and then the lieutenant saw the sergeant briefly illuminated by the light coming from that area. He stepped through the entrance but immediately backpedaled out followed by a menacing Doberman.

  “Why don’t they just shoot the dog? Obviously it is a threat,” Patricia stated.

  “A shot could give away their presence, and endanger the children they are trying to rescue,” the lieutenant explained. Then he added, “Watch David.”

  “But the men have silencers,” Patricia countered.

  “Yes, but the dog doesn’t,” pointed out Wilcox. “Odds are the dog could be killed with a single shot, but would it yelp, howl, or bark? It’s the same with men.”

  Tim got up, hurried over to stand behind the lieutenant, and watched as well. David waited for the dog to lunge at him. When the animal did so, David whipped the stock of his rifle around slamming it hard into the side of the dog’s head. T
he dog went down but tried to get back up. David stepped in and smashed the butt of his rifle into the dog’s neck just behind the head. The dog fell limply to the floor of the tunnel and did not move.

  “I feel sorry for David. He loves dogs. Killing them is hard on him. But these animals have been trained to kill people. Some say you can break that training. I’m not sure I buy that, and David certainly doesn’t. He knows it has to be done, but after the first mission in the nest we raided, I saw him staring at the body of a dog in grief that it had been necessary to put the animal down,” the lieutenant explained.

  “He’s a good man. He does what he has to do, despite his personal feelings. That’s the mark of a good leader,” Tim observed.

  David sighed and moved back into the illuminated passageway. As the cameraman stepped inside, the observers in the Peacekeeper noted that the passageway was lit by two torches that couldn’t burn too long. That meant someone would be along to replace them. They also noted that the passageway was short. At the end of that passageway was a door.

  “Now that’s odd. That’s the first door I’ve seen in one of their nests,” the lieutenant said and leaned forward with interest.

  Tim went back to his pilot’s seat and began to prepare for flight. He had a hunch that the team had just found a group of prisoners. That meant he’d have to fly back to their location.

  The sergeant approached the door. There was no way to know what was on the other side of that solid wooden door. He tried the doorknob but found that the door was locked. He stepped out of the way and their lock pick man stepped up to open the door. It took him a full minute to get the lock picked but he managed. The man stepped back and aimed his pistol at the door. He nodded that he was ready and the sergeant opened the door.

  Inside the room, a child began to cry and then another joined in. Patricia informed Tim that they had found the children, and Tim turned the ship on its axis where they hovered before beginning the journey to that site. “Pol, I need your drone at site two to cover the retrieval,” he said.

  “On my way,” Pol stated and concentrated on his controls.

  The sergeant stepped inside the small room where he found several children, ranging in age from what the sergeant suspected was four to eight. Most of the children seemed to be girls. He thought that two were boys. The children were filthy from the earthen floor of their prison, so it was hard to determine their gender in some cases. The sergeant quietly spoke to the children, telling them that he had come with his men to take them home to their families. One sobbing little girl reached out for him and the sergeant picked her up. He told the children that they needed to play a game. They had to be very quiet. If they were quiet enough, then he would take them for a ride in a magic chariot. The children’s eyes grew large in surprise, and two little girls made shushing noises to some of the children who were still sobbing.

  Patricia marveled at the sergeant’s ingenuity, and said, “You know, that just might work.”

  The sergeant left that chamber, and one by one his men went inside to get the other children. The lieutenant frowned. His men would find it difficult to fight if the need arose but under the circumstances there was little alternative.

  They made it to the ladder without incident. The team members struggled up the twenty-foot ladder encumbered by the children. Tim landed and lowered the cargo bay door in front of the barn. Getting to his feet he said, “Lieutenant, you’re with me. Just don’t be doing anything strenuous, or Maggie will kill us both.”

  “I sure will,” the doctor said grinning. Then she said, “Get them to my infirmary. Lacey and I will look them over. I asked the cook to fix them some food too,” she said and hurried out to get to her infirmary.

  “How does she do that?” Tim asked grinning. Explaining, he said, “Maggie always seems to be at that spot near the control room when something is going down.”

  “She’s just lucky that way,” said Patricia smiling. Then turning serious, she said, “Be careful out there, and get those kids to safety.”

  “We will. I promise,” Tim said, and he left with the lieutenant a step behind him.

  Tim and the lieutenant along with two of the guards arrived at the barn as the men of the rescue party began to make it to the top of the ladder. The men were glad to see them. Getting the children to the top had been difficult, and getting out of that box with one of their hands tied up holding a child was really going to be a challenge. But the extra guards took the children and helped the strike force men out of that fix. As they delivered the children, the men rapidly went back down the ladder and went to guard the fork in the passageway. Soon all of the children were topside. The lieutenant congratulated the sergeant on a job well done before the sergeant returned to the tunnels. Tim dutifully counted the children as they brought them aboard the ship via the ramp and all eight were accounted for. The children were taken to Maggie’s infirmary. Once more Tim took a head count to make certain that one of the children hadn’t slipped away as little ones are so apt to do, but all were present. He left them with Maggie and Lacey and returned to the control room.

  Pol asked, “Tim, are you certain we have all of the children aboard?”

  “Yes my friend. The team brought out eight and we loaded eight. I even double-checked at the infirmary when we dropped them off with Maggie and Lacey. Why do you ask?” Tim inquired.

  “I thought I saw a little girl beside the forest a moment ago,” Pol said sounding concerned. “But she was gone by the time I tried to sharpen the focus of the camera.”

  “You filmed them all coming out of the barn didn’t you?” asked Tim.

  “Yes I did,” Pol said. He stopped filming and pushed play on the tape. He wound the tape back and watched it in reverse until the men began to bring the children out of the barn.

  Tim watched with him and grew very pale when one of the little girls ran out of the barn and scampered away toward the forest. “Oh hell,” Tim said and reached for his rifle in its rack.

  “I’ll go, sir,” the lieutenant said quietly. He added, “You may have to fly the ship, and frankly, sir, I am better trained at this sort of thing. I stand a better chance of finding her.”

  Tim took the lieutenant his armored chest piece, and rifle and asked him if he wanted some of the men to go with him. “No, sir. No disrespect meant to them, but they aren’t really trained for woods work. It is best if they remain onboard to guard the ship. Your knife, sir?” the lieutenant asked. When Tim handed him the knife, the lieutenant said, “I’ll return it to you along with your gear when this is over.”

  “You just get that baby back in here safely, Lieutenant. And get yourself back in one piece,” Tim said.

  The lieutenant grabbed a flashlight from a small storage compartment where spares were kept, and he exited the control room door. A guard closed the door behind him.

  In the control room, Maggie called in that some of the children were saying that a little girl was missing. Patricia informed the doctor that one of the children had wandered away as they were taken from the barn, and that the Lieutenant had gone into the woods to locate the little girl. “God, I hope he finds her before she runs into one of those cultists,” Maggie said fervently and signed off.

  “So do I,” Tim said, feeling responsible. “Patricia, get Namid on the line. Tell her she is urgently needed here to help in a search for the little girl. Pol, get your drone to the other side of the woods near the vehicles. The child may be heading there thinking she was going home the way that she arrived or something.” Tim knew that was a stretch but he was desperate to try something, anything, to help locate the missing child.

  In her fighter, Namid heard the message about the missing child as she was leading the five fighters that would help in guarding the exit from the barn, and the convoy of vehicles. She remembered Jeff’s warning, and almost mentioned it to Patricia. But there was nothing that could be done about it at this point. Patricia also informed her that there would be a peacekeeper in the woods
trying to find the little girl. She explained that Lieutenant Wilcox had volunteered.

  “Roger, Peacekeeper. I’ll be there in two minutes.” She responded. She spoke to the other fighters telling them that there was an emergency as she accelerated to full speed. They accelerated smoothly with her moving over to her right in case she had to slow down unexpectedly. When flying at top speeds they tried to avoid flying directly behind each other to prevent such mishaps.

  True to her word, Namid arrived on the scene just as it was getting dark. She saw the little girl emerging from the woods as she hovered there, and she saw a dark figure watching the girl from the edge of the forest. “Lieutenant Wilcox, is that you near the corner in the edge of the woods watching the little girl run toward the bus?” she radioed her question.

  The lieutenant radioed back that it was not him. He was still in the middle of the woods moving in that direction. Namid saw the dark figure move out of the woods and run up the edge of the field on an intercept course for the little girl. “Peacekeeper I have a possible hostile trying to intercept the girl,” Namid said. She quickly added, “It’s not the lieutenant, I asked him already.”

  “It could be anyone, Phoenix. Maybe it’s a farmer that sees the child, and is trying to help. Ask him his intentions,” Tim said.

  Namid dropped down to intercept the man. “What are your intentions, sir?” Namid asked and the man stopped in his tracks. He calmly pulled a pistol and fired it at Namid’s face. She flinched as the shots hit her cockpit window. One of the other fighters shot the man with his laser. She reported that the man had attacked her, and that one of the fighters had killed him.

  “Very well, Phoenix. You are authorized to land and secure the child,” Tim said, and Namid felt a cold knot in the pit of her stomach.

  “Pilots, watch Namid’s back while she attempts to secure the child, and if anyone besides a peacekeeper gets to her fighter destroy it immediately,” Tim ordered.