Ajax: Relinquished

by Gavin Magson

  Ajax began to stand and felt something wet splash against his neck. Before Ajax could react Jerry fell forwards and toppled over the crouching man. Ajax tumbled with him and swiftly rolled out from under his limp body. He grabbed the man’s collar and dragged Jerry clear of the room’s entrance whilst his free hand trained his gun on the doorway. Miles was already running over, Rex kept his composure and watched the opposite door he had come through.

  “What the fuck happened? Where did the shot come from?” asked Miles, ripping out a sachet from one of the pockets of his trousers.

  Ajax had not heard the shot, he only knew from the man’s blood drenched shoulder that something must have had hit Jerry. Miles used his knife to cut away the thick jacket to get at the wound. Ajax could not see the extent of the damage as Miles poured a grey powder from the sachet directly into exposed flesh. Miles tore off Jerry's sleeve and began to fashion a sling from it.

  “You need to guard that door whilst I try to keep this fucker alive.” said Miles. Ajax did not hesitate to follow the order.

  Ajax gathered his rifle from the floor, which had spilled out of his hands during the confusion and left unnoticed. His fingers were slick with Jerry's blood, Ajax could not even remember touching the man's wound.

  Ajax wiped the worst of the blood onto his trouser leg. Still it took two attempts to swap his guns magazine for a fresh one. With the gun loaded again he moved away from the rooms centre and dropped down with his back to the floor. With his feet Ajax pushed slowly along the floor until he was close enough to the door to just see out into the corridor. He had his back facing the rooms they had already checked and was sure that the attackers had not managed to move past the doorway during the confusion.

  As his breathing calmed and heartbeat slowed Ajax became aware of the whispers, faint as they were; there was at least two attackers waiting outside. Looking across the room he saw Rex edge his head into the corridor, the muzzle of his guns barrel trained at waist height. A few moments later Rex signalled over that the corridor was empty; the attackers were only on Ajax’s side of the building.

  Ajax could feel his circulation being restricted in this position and shifted his weight to ease the blood flow. Ajax heard a soft crunch come from under his boot and looked down to find he had cracked a large slab of glass. The reflection that stared back at him gave Ajax an idea.

  He used his boot to move the glass shards towards him and picked up the largest, taking care not to make any more sound. He slowly slid it along the floor, until it was positioned to look behind the wall he lay next to. It was difficult to focus on the image but he could see the men waiting outside, a handgun the only weapon in sight. They did not share the healthier appearance of the now dead gang members, both were stick thin, haggard, and erratic in their movements. Fucking junkies.

  Ajax lowered his rifle to the floor and slid out his handgun from its holster. He rested the shard against the wall in order to flip the gun and check which magazine was loaded. Green tape for armour piercing; he could do a lot with these. He picked up the shard again and tried to gauge the junkies distance just as they started to shift forwards. Idiots.

  Ajax pressed the pistol against the wall, he looked down at the shard and lined up his weapon, waiting until the moment was right. He could now hear the two men outside clearly, their whispers and movements no longer faint. Ajax adjusted his gun’s position one last time, ran his thumb over the safety to check it was ready, and pumped two rounds through the wall.

  Both bullets caught the first man and sent him sprawling against the outside wall in a hail of blood and plaster. His companion scrambled to turn and run, no hesitation to check if the downed man was alive. Ajax stood, rounded the corner, and sighted at the fleeing man; the gun bucked once and brains scattered across the walls as his body dropped.

  Grabbing the gunman's ankles Ajax dragged him into the room, leaving a trail of crimson in the bodies wake. He was surprised to find that the man was still alive, laboured breaths shook the skeleton thin chest as he tried to clear the blood that gathered in his mouth. An oozing wound suggested at least one lung was fast filling with blood.

  “Who are you? Who do you work for?” demanded Ajax, trying to focus the man on him. When no answer came he pressed his guns barrel into the chest wound and a thin cry escaped from the wounded man's lips.

  Ajax moved his head to hover his ear over the man's mouth as he finally began to speak. “Malik, we run messages for Malik.” came the junkie’s final words.

  His body began to spasm as he went into shock, limbs flailing helplessly toward Ajax. With an ounce of mercy Ajax drew his blade, no hesitation in his actions as he drove it under the man's ribcage and through his heart. The body ceased to move as the light faded from his eyes and a final breath escaped the blood drenched mouth. He moved over to Miles, who had halted the bleeding and was now dressing Jerry's wound. Ajax was glad to see that Jerry was conscious, if worryingly pale from the blood loss.

  “We have to get him back to base, all I have is basic field dressings here and that won’t stop him bleeding out for long. What did that junkie say?” asked Miles.

  Ajax grabbed Jerry's arm as Miles lifted him carefully from the shoulder his arm was tied around. With effort they got the man to his feet, where he tottered on the spot precariously. Rex moved over from the opposite door and slung Jerry's shotgun around his shoulder.

  “He mentioned someone called Malik, said that they ran messages for the guy. Does the name mean anything to you?”

  The squad stepped around the corpse, giving it a wide berth. One of Ajax's shots had torn through his intestines and already the room was filling with the stench of excrement. Rex had the foresight to not start retching this time. Miles waved Ajax away, confident he could support Jerry, who had started to walk under his own steam.

  “I have heard the name before, a bit of an elusive figure in this game. Malik is supposed to be a big player in the drugs business. Last I heard he had his own factory somewhere in the sector, he's probably one of the last manufacturers left alive. Does make you wonder how he manages that, despite half the slums being torn apart to find him” said Miles.

  Ajax automatically took point, taking care when he approached the second corpse to not breathe in the stench; he had seen enough bodies to know what happened to the dead.

  “If these two were running messages for Malik, does that not mean he might be operating close by?” asked Ajax as they reached the stairs.

  Miles did not answer for some time, eventually Ajax looked back to check nothing had happened. The leader had stopped on the top step of the stairs and was thumbing his way through his tablet. Jerry had been left leant against a wall and was breathing heavily, his face drained of all colour.

  “You could be on to something, Ajax. Any messenger would not be moving far in this situation, not with so many mercs out hunting anything that moved. That would be a huge blow against drug production if we could take him down.” his face seemed to flicker through several thoughts as Miles stood in silence once again. “No, I am not risking Jerry's life for this. We head back to the safe house, if Malik moves his operation overnight then that is tough.”

  His decision made Miles ushered the squad to move onwards down the warehouse steps. Ajax was careful to check every corner, listening out for the slightest movement that could give away a possible attacker. The gunshots would have carried through the district, alerting anyone nearby of the firefight. They moved as fast as Jerry could half walk, half be carried.

  Outside the rain had eased up, turning into a light drizzle that made the streets slick and Jerry's feet slip as Miles began to drag him more. The squad moved out of the area in silence, Jerry’s tortured expression was the only evidence of his pain as he suppressed any sound that could give away their position. They all knew it would be a miracle if the squad made it back to the house unopposed.

  Chapter 8

  The clatter of cutlery filled the room with noise as Angelica swept e
verything from the table’s surface onto the floor. Miles lowered the injured man down carefully onto the kitchen table, his arms straining at the load. Blood mixed with rain water dripped from Jerry to collect on the floor, pooling beneath the table.

  Katherine appeared from the basement steps carrying supplies in her arms, which she quickly put down in order to open the cupboard under the sink. From inside she removed an old, battered bucket, and threw sawdust from within it upon the floor to soak up the treacherously slippery liquid.

  It was certainly an impressive sight, Miles had been told that the women were deft hands at giving medical aid but he had not expected it to be so fluid. He did not know just how often they had done this of late, but his answer was in their fast actions.

  Scissors sliced through Jerry's clothes and fingers removed the rag Miles had stuffed into his wound. Katherine unwrapped a bundle on the work surface and handed her sister metal tools that looked to be only useful as torture implements to Miles.

  “What happened to him?” asked Angelica.

  “We were jumped whilst clearing out a warehouse, pistol shot to his shoulder. I applied some nano's to start the healing process, I think the bullet passed straight through but it might have dragged some fabric with it.” said Miles.

  “Have you got any more of those nano sachets left?” Miles nodded hastily in reply. “Good, go fetch them. Rex, I'm going to need you to hold him down; and where is the other guy?”

  Rex and Miles exchanged a look before the leader headed out of the room, heading straight for his supplies upstairs.

  “Ajax is still out there, we couldn't make it back without being spotted, so he stayed behind to prevent us from being followed.” answered Rex.

  “That man is a fucking idiot, he is going to get himself killed if he is alone out there.” muttered Katherine as she handed over a pair of long nosed pliers to Angelica.

  “Jerry, can you hear me? Jerry?” Angelica’s face was contorted with worry, the man on her table had yet to wake and she could feel the warmth leeching from his skin.

  Time was swiftly running out. Angelica had little choice but to push the pliers into the wound and twist them against bloodied flesh. Jerry finally opened his eyes and let out a grunt that slowly amplified into a guttural scream. He opened an eye and looked up into the smiling face of Angelica, both a haunting and beautiful sight. The pliers pushed deeper, then opened to split the clotted wound and give her access to the bone.

  More instruments were passed over as Rex's knuckles turned white with the effort of restraining his friend. He was almost bucked off as Jerry tried to fight Angelica's painful intrusions, his body thrashing against the table. She gripped the splintered bone, moved it in closer so that the two halves met and held it in place whilst she pulled out the fragments with a set of thick tweezers in her other hand. She cursed Miles; he did not have a clue how to use the nano's properly.

  As if on cue Miles finally showed up, five sachets clutched in his hands. Katherine took them from his grasp as he tried to offer them to the amateur surgeon, his uncertainty plastered across his face. Jerry was now screaming like a man possessed - they had nothing to numb his pain. Katherine stuffed some spare rags into Jerry’s mouth, dampening the noise by a fraction. Miles' last bottle of spirit had been finished by him the previous night and with it Jerry's last chance of relief.

  Katherine tore open some of the sachets, which she combined in a bowl with a liquid that turned the contents from a grey powder to a yellow paste. Angelica did not even look at what the woman was doing, she took the bowl when it was offered and instructed Miles to hold the pliers in place. He did so reluctantly, grimacing in sympathy for Jerry as he continued to writhe and scream. The man's efforts were weakening by the second as his energy and strength were sapped, adding fuel to the flames of concern.

  Angelica poured the mixture directly into the wound, a steady flow of the viscous fluid that coated the shattered bone and torn flesh. From his position Miles watched as the paste appeared to visibly come to life upon contact, the yellow substance moved independently and soon coated all of the wound.

  If he focused Miles imagined that it was possible to see fibres being knitted and joined together before him. New bone was growing on the frayed edges of Jerry's broken one until they too joined. The whole process caused Jerry to scream louder still and fill the basement with his muffled anguish.

  “I don't know why you are being such a baby, your arm will be good as new soon enough; as long as you don't die of blood loss in the meantime.” said Angelica, her tone cold and devoid of compassion as she looked down at the mercenary.

  Katherine disappeared once more to empty cupboards that the untrained eye would not notice without them being pointed out. Within moments she was whisking something in a bowl, combining yet more supplies. The strange mixture had the appearance of a translucent white-grey paste and the familiar metallic odour of blood; Miles realised that was exactly what it was.

  Miles was convinced that all artificial blood packs had long since become obsolete and could not even be purchased anymore; they had been replaced years before his conscription. Since they must be out of their use by date, probably by several decades, he was fearful of what the girls were resorting to.

  An intravenous line was among the many things Katherine had pulled from the cupboard, hidden amongst a collection of medical supplies. Before he could protest Miles was helping hold Jerry down with one hand as the other grasped a large bag of the now red liquid held high. In the meantime Katherine was trying to find a vein to place the needle in, her attempts slowly turning Jerry's arm into a pincushion. Miles and Rex both turned away from the sight; neither were big fans of needles.

  When the needle finally punctured a vein the liquid fast disappeared and Jerry’s complexion slowly returned to the colour of a living being. Jerry's cries of pains subsided swiftly, his muscles relaxed and his breathing began to even out. The expression on his face softened now that his curses and cries had ceased. Miles allowed himself a sigh of relief.

  “There, that wasn't so bad. You aren't all that tough for a mercenary.” chided Angelica, warranting a sharp burst of curses from Jerry. His smile was the only thing that stopped her slapping the man. Exhaustion overtook her patient and Jerry began to snore.

  Jerry was barely conscious, his feet dragged limply along the ground as Miles tried to shoulder the dead weight; he was fast losing the battle. He called out to Rex, breaking the squads silence for the first time since leaving the warehouse. Rex moved up from behind their staggered formation and supported Jerry's left side whilst Miles adjusted so that he could draw his pistol. Ajax stopped ahead of them and stayed close to the nearest building, his eyes scanning the street for signs of would be attackers. When Miles was finished the trio resumed moving through the streets, Miles relishing the relief of pressure on his tired shoulder, and Ajax walked on cautiously again.

  The buildings were finally starting to look familiar, for once the dilapidated shells were a welcoming sight to Ajax. They had been forced to change route twice when roaming gangs had cut across their path, they risked becoming lost in the unfamiliar territory in their haste. Ajax had been relying heavily on his tablets map, with Miles too preoccupied keeping the wounded man alive to direct Ajax. He was forced to trust that the technology could deal with their swift course changes, and he prayed that the device would not lose power before they were back safely.

  They were three streets away from the guest house when he suddenly stopped the squad with a silent hand signal. The two mercenaries dragged Jerry towards a low wall and pressed up against a building as Ajax peered around the corner into the next street. His curse was loud enough for the men to hear and set them on edge, his face soon reappeared with a worried expression.

  “According to my map this is the fastest route back, to track around could take away what little time Jerry has left. There are at least twenty men waiting in the street beyond.” said Ajax.

  “Let me have
a look at that.” said Miles, taking the offered tablet out of Ajax's hands.

  Ajax was not wrong, the street was the fastest route that would get Jerry back before he succumbed to his wounds, even the alley behind them came out onto it; they could not sneak around. Miles cursed their options for being so limited. The long route would add on precious time that he did not have, the shorter was suicide.

  “Shit, if only that alley did not come out onto the street we could be around them unseen.” said Miles.

  Ajax took the offered tablet and studied the map once more. No matter which way he looked at it Ajax saw the only plan that had a chance of returning Jerry back to safety.

  “You three need to go down that alley and cut behind the men. Its a hundred yards, perhaps less to the next street from where you will come out. Send me a message when you are in position and I'll create a distraction. Just don't mess around making your escape, I am not risking my life for you three just to see you get shot needlessly.” said Ajax as he checked his ammunition reserves.

  “Are you sure about this?” asked Rex. “You don't even know Jerry and yet you are willing to risk your life for him?”

  “Just get the fuck out of here before I change my mind. Don't forget that message, Miles.”

  The leader extended a scarred arm and shook Ajax by the hand, then gave him two pistol magazines. One last nod from Miles and the three men ambled off, soon out of sight.

  Ajax inched himself around the corner to check once more; the street was still swarming with activity from the large group of men. They were loading up the back of a motorized vehicle, not the first he had seen in the sector but probably the one in the best condition. All around the vehicle it was a hive of activity, the men were working with haste while loading some form of machinery and supplies. There was even coherent organisation going on, which surprised and amused Ajax; this was the first evidence he had witnessed that such skills existed in this sector.