The Peacekeepers. Books 4 - 6.

by Ricky Sides

  Jim stopped and informed Pete and then he replied to the message. He then contacted the lieutenant and said, “We are about to flash three dots.” Turning to the sergeant he said, “Flash three dots down the corridor.” The man did so and immediately the lieutenant’s party answered the dots.

  Chapter 13

  Namid awoke with a splitting headache. She tried to sit up to look around but found that she was tied down to stakes driven into the ground. Her head was free, so she raised it to look around at her surroundings. A hissing sound to her left told her that she was not alone. Turning her head in that direction, she saw Clarissa sitting in a chair facing her. The young girl was sitting on Clarissa’s lap. “If you harm her, I swear I will kill you,” Namid vowed.

  Another hiss greeted her threat and Namid realized that a male who stood beside Clarissa was making the hissing sound. “You’ve definitely seen one too many horror films,” she said addressing the man.

  “For a woman in your situation, you have a lot of courage,” Clarissa stated in a cold voice.

  “Actually I’ve been in worse positions,” Namid admitted, hoping to stall for time. She knew the peacekeepers wouldn’t rest until they’d found her.

  “I find that hard to believe, peacekeeper,” Clarissa stated coldly.

  “Believe what you will, woman,” Namid said just as coldly.

  “Your people took my food, so now you will take the place of the children we lost. The other elders will arrive soon and when they do, we will feed first upon this snack and then upon you,” the woman stated with assurance.

  “You’ve really set yourself up here haven’t you? You’ve got these fools eating out of the palm of your hand. Do they know that two nests have already been destroyed? Do they know that the corpses of your members from those two nests have already been incinerated? Have you told them just how severely the peacekeepers are punishing your cult for their attacks?” Namid asked. She saw that this had an effect on the cultists present who stared at one another in shock. She realized then that Clarissa had not informed them of the reprisals.

  Turning to her top cult member in the nest, Clarissa said, “Check with Claudius and Thanatos to see when they expect to arrive. I am getting hungry.” She said this next and caressed the child’s head lovingly.

  Namid felt a flare of hatred the likes of which she had not experienced since her captivity in Texas. “You’d best heed my warning. Harm her and you’ll die hard. Leave her be and I’ll make it quick and easy.”

  “You are insane,” stated Clarissa. Namid’s seemingly irrational confidence should have made her laugh, but for some reason, Clarissa knew that the captured pilot believed what she was saying.

  “I see I’ve managed to crack that cool veneer you hide behind. Beneath that outward façade of extreme confidence, you are just another psychopath with delusions of grandeur. We peacekeepers kill lunatics like you all the time. You’re not so special. You’re not even the most dangerous such fool we’ve defeated in the past. We’ve fought real armies and won. Do you really believe a few hundred loons like your people can present a lasting problem for us?” Namid asked taunting the woman in her efforts to get her to forget the child and take her anger out on a peacekeeper that she had in her power. She knew the peacekeepers would arrive soon and she just needed to buy the child a little more time.

  The aide returned to Clarissa’s side and whispered in her ear. Clarissa turned to face Namid and bared her fangs. She hissed at Namid. “Let me guess,” Namid said smiling beatifically. “Claudius and Thanatos won’t be coming. Both of their nests are under attack by large forces of peacekeepers,” Namid said, and then she began to laugh.

  “Kill the peacekeeper,” Clarissa said rising to her feet. “I must see to our withdrawal from this nest,” she added and turned to leave.

  Namid laughed harder, and then she said, “She is abandoning you fools to your fate. Note that she is taking the child with her. Would she do that if she were simply seeing to your defenses?”

  “She would if she were hungry,” her aide said defensively, but Namid noticed that many of the other cult members looked at Clarissa with obvious doubt.

  “Do you know what the peacekeepers will do to you if they catch you with a dead child?” asked Namid sweetly? “They will tie you to a stake and burn you alive,” she lied and laughed. That wasn’t the way peacekeepers operated but the scenario played to their particular brand of mentality.

  “I said kill the peacekeeper,” Clarissa said. She was angry that none of the cult members had moved to carry out her orders.

  “Why don’t you do it yourself, Clarissa? Are you afraid that my friends will catch you in the act? Have you ever seen what we do to people who kill peacekeepers? A good leader doesn’t demand of the people who follow them that which they lack the guts to do themselves,” Namid taunted.

  Clarissa’s aide stepped close to Namid with her right index finger extended. Squatting on her haunches the woman brought her finger close to Namid’s face. A male voice shouted, “Touch her, and you die!”

  The aide turned her head in the direction of the voice and Namid darted her face toward the extended index finger and snapped her teeth together on the woman’s finger. The woman squealed in shock and pain as Namid bit down as hard as she could on the finger. The woman snatched her hand and Namid let go. She spit out blood and said, “It’s not polite to point. The woman drew a dagger, and a shot rang out. She fell to the ground beside Namid.

  The room exploded into a chaos of fleeing bodies and gunshots. Namid desperately struggled to get free of the ropes that held her to the stakes and then Lieutenant Wilcox was beside her. He cut her free and handed her his pistol. Standing up and bringing his rifle into firing position the lieutenant shot three male cultists charging in their direction.

  Namid got to her feet just as two of the strike force members reached them. They escorted the pair back to the main body of peacekeepers. “Thanks guys,” Namid said as she joined them in relative safety behind a rock formation. Bullets were flying in both directions. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clarissa carrying the little girl into another tunnel entrance on the far side of the chamber. “She has the girl,” Namid shouted and leapt to her feet. She charged the tunnel that Clarissa had used to exit the chamber. Near her, two men tried to bar her path but two black forms hurtled into view and knocked the men off their feet.

  David arrived and shot the two men. “Good dogs!” he said shouting encouragement as the dogs jumped up and charged two more of the cult members who’d so often tormented them in the past.

  Namid sprinted down the tunnel. She had no flashlight, but the light from the main chamber illuminated the passageway. This passageway led upward on an angle. Soon Namid had to slow down, as the light dimmed and visibility became worse. Behind her, she heard Lieutenant Wilcox shout her name, but she continued the pursuit. She could see Clarissa ahead and she was determined to rescue the child. If she stopped now she’d have to wait for someone with a flashlight to arrive before she could see to continue the pursuit. As it was, she could barely see the path by the little light reaching her from Clarissa’s position. Namid redoubled her efforts and ran even faster. Ahead of her, Clarissa turned and hissed. She stood the child on the passageway floor and released her. Clarissa then turned to run knowing that the child would at least slow Namid down and most likely cause her to stop. She fled up the passageway and disappeared around a corner.

  The passageway was plunged into darkness and Namid had to stop running. She moved to the right and her hand touched the wall. She used the wall as her guide as the little girl ahead began to cry in fear. Soon Namid was beside the child. She spoke to her and told her that a friend would soon be there, and then she left the child there alone. But the child wailed in fear saying, “Don’t leave me!” Namid stopped. She was almost certain that the child would be safe, but there was that little nagging doubt that seemed to taunt her with a “but what if…”

  Sighing Namid tur
ned around, and reached out for the little girl. “Come to me dear,” she said as she knelt on the cold stone floor of the tunnel causing her bad knee to ache abominably. Namid stoically ignored the pain.

  The girl reached her and wrapped her arms around Namid’s neck crying in fear. She felt the child’s body trembling and consoled the girl saying, “It’s alright sweetheart. I have you now. You are safe. I won’t leave you. I promise.”

  Using the wall as her only guide, Namid walked back toward the rest of the peacekeepers with the child in her arms. She didn’t get far before she met Lieutenant Wilcox and his men. “Clarissa fled down the passageway,” Namid said.

  The lieutenant handed her his light. “The rest of the men are back down the passageway finishing off a couple of holdouts. Stick to this passageway till the shooting stops, then yell before you enter the chamber,” Lieutenant Wilcox instructed, and then he turned to race down the passageway right behind Sergeant Thompson. They were followed by the rest of strike force one.

  ***

  Namid walked down the corridor with the little girl in her arms. When she got to the point that she could see the light from inside the chamber, she noted the absence of gunshots and yelled to let the peacekeepers know she was there with the little girl. Pete advised her to wait where she was until they could finish up in the chamber. She sat down in the corridor with the little girl in her lap. The child hugged her and said, “I’m hungry.”

  Reaching inside a cargo pocket Namid pulled out one of the sandwiches the cook had prepared for the pilots. It was pretty mashed up from her ordeal but Namid opened the plastic bag and removed the sandwich. She tore off a small piece and fed it to the little girl who smiled at her. Taking the child’s chin in her hand Namid tilted her face toward her and brushed a smudge off her cheek. The child’s eyes blossomed in delight and she reached up to brush a smudge off Namid’s face. The little girl ate the piece of sandwich, though she offered Namid a bite several times. When it was finished, she asked for more. Namid fed her that sandwich a piece at a time, while she waited for the men to come for them. She knew the grim duty they’d be performing now, and didn’t want the child to see it. An occasional shot would startle the girl and she would cling to Namid in fear, but Namid assured the child that she was safe.

  Soon the lieutenant and his men returned. He paused beside Namid and shook his head. “She got away. There was a car hidden nearby. We trailed her to the location but didn’t get a look at the vehicle.”

  “The fighters didn’t see her?” Namid asked frowning.

  “We couldn’t see the fighters. We’ll have to exit here and have Patricia lead the ship to us,” he explained. Then he looked at the little girl and said, “That’s a much more apt picture than the others.”

  Namid knew that he was referring to the four-picture set of Clarissa with the child, and she shuddered at the memory. “You’re cold,” the lieutenant said and he stood to remove his uniform shirt. He gently wrapped it around Namid and the little girl. “I’ll see what’s holding up the evacuation. If it’s going to be much longer, then I’ll get permission to escort the two of you out. Maggie’s in a tizzy wanting to examine you both,” he said. Facing his men he pointed to his eyes and then to Namid and the little girl and his men nodded. They’d been ordered to ensure their safety. The lieutenant walked into the next chamber and Namid wondered if that look in his eyes had been simple admiration or something more complicated.

  Inside the main chamber, the lieutenant delivered the bad news regarding Clarissa’s escape to Jim and Pete. Pete nodded his acceptance and said, “We’ll need to get her picture to all bases so they know to watch for her.

  “David wanted to know if he can transport the two dogs to the base. He says he thinks he can work with the animals,” the strike leader said.

  “I’m afraid they didn’t survive the fighting. The cult killed the dogs when they turned on them,” Pete said.

  “I’ll let him know, sir,” the strike team leader stated. He asked if it was going to be much longer before they were ready to leave, explaining that Maggie wanted to examine the little girl and Namid.

  Smiling Pete said, “I know. She’s been asking me how much longer I’m going to keep that poor child in this environment. Escort them outside, Lieutenant. Have Tim pick them up. Oh, and I’m supposed to tell you to get your butt back in the ship. You’re still on restricted duty you know,” Pete said and laughed.

  The lieutenant grunted in resignation and returned to Namid and his men. They walked out of the tunnel complex, and into the fresh air of the star filled sky where David radioed the ship. Namid thought the sky had never looked so beautiful.

  Staring at the expression on Namid’s face, the lieutenant thought that she had never looked quite as lovely as she did at that particular moment. Then he remembered her hat and he pulled it from a cargo pocket and returned it to her. “I found it on the ground inside the cave,” he explained.

  The little girl pointed to the Peacekeeper, the fighters, and the drones as they approached and landed near the small group. The cargo bay door opened and they walked up the ramp. The strike force members stood guard by the ramp in the company of the two drones, while several fighters hovered nearby.

  Chapter 14

  Captain Braden Murphy stood in the control room of his ship, the Alabama, and stared down at the roof of the dormitory. In just a moment, he would land and a sergeant would lead a hand picked team of ten men on the diversion. That team would enter the building by way of a rooftop portico that had been designed to permit students to relax on the roof, even on less than ideal days. That team was to make a lot of noise in their attack. The goal was to draw cult members from the lower floor toward their position to defend the place. This should permit the first floor entry team to attempt to extract the children with considerably less firepower being directed at them.

  “Pilot, are you sure you can hover us close enough for the men to disembark, and later evacuate from the roof or a side window if they need to do so?” he asked.

  “Yes, Captain. That I can do, as long as I have a spotter in the cargo bay directing me,” the pilot explained.

  “Make certain your spotter is someone you’ve drilled with on this procedure in the past. I don’t want any men trapped because we can’t get into position in time,” the captain said.

  “Yes, sir,” the pilot replied.

  “I’ll be in the cargo bay. Begin the disembarkation maneuver in five minutes unless you hear otherwise from me,” Braden said.

  The captain turned and walked briskly down the hallway that led to his cargo bay. There he saw ten men making last minute equipment checks as they prepared to launch their diversionary mission. “Gentlemen, you all know what to do. I assume that you’re all wearing your armor,” he said and paused. When no one said otherwise he said, “Good luck to you all. Remember this is just a diversion. You don’t have to try to take the entire building all alone. However if you can get to good entrenched positions so that you don’t need extraction, that will give us the option to get the enemy between two forces. In this way we may be able to take the place floor by floor and adequately search the building for additional prisoners.”

  Pausing again the captain grew very stern as he said, “You men haven’t seen all of the intelligence concerning what you are up against. I have seen things that you have not seen. I’ll tell you now that these people are brutal. Give their women no special treatment, and remember those finger razors the women favor,” he ordered. Then he said, “This is the reason I just gave that order.” The captain held up eleven by fourteen enlargements of the four photographs depicting Clarissa and the child one by one permitting the images to sink into the minds of the men about to leave on the mission. They’d seen them before, but the captain wanted the images fresh in the minds of the entry teams. Someone in that group let slip an angry curse. The captain handed the four pictures to his strike force team leader who was standing nearby. “See that your men all view these p
hotographs again before they enter this building, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, Captain,” responded the officer.

  “Gentlemen, this is what we are fighting today. We know they are supposed to have nine to thirty-one children at this location. Good luck to you all,” the captain said as the cargo bay door began to open and the eleven men who would enter from the rooftop moved closer to the exit. A spotter working to assist the pilot was observing from just inside the door. He radioed the pilot a steady stream of feedback and the ship stopped with the ramp just inches above the rooftop. The squad of peacekeepers darted out the exit with their weapons at the ready and trained on the rooftop entrance to the building.

  The ship hovered there and the captain watched as the team disappeared inside the building. Moments later three explosions sounded inside. That would be the stun grenades that the team was using to draw attention to their presence and lure the cult members from the lower floors.

  “Spotter, close the door and tell the pilot to commence phase two of the mission,” Braden said.

  “Aye, sir,” the spotter replied.

  ***

  The pilot of the Alabama feathered the ship to the ground so gently that the captain had to ask if they had landed. “Aye, Captain, we’re down and the cargo bay door is opening.”

  “Excellent landing, Pilot,” the captain complimented.

  “Communications, ask the flight leader above to be prepared to give the men air support should they need it, and inform him that I would appreciate it if he could have one of his team watch the roof just in case there is a communications issue and the men have to retreat,” the captain said.

  The communication man soon said, “Done, sir. Flight leader Jeff Brown says that one of his men reports seeing smoke emerging from the rooftop doorway.”