Sniper Squad

by Meg Buchanan

  The rest of the squad looked stunned.

  Leach looked bemused. “You made your move earlier than I predicted, Fraser. How are you going to keep us all here? Ten to one isn’t good odds.”

  “I don’t think any of you want to get hurt and I’m a great shot.” He saw a movement behind Leach and moved the laser slightly to cover Dante. “Stand down, Dante. I can take you both out before either of you get near me.”

  He watched Dante hesitate and then back off.

  “What are you doing, Jack?” Jeron sounded puzzled. “Is this a joke?”

  “No joke,” said Jack. “See those four points of light. One of them is Nobody, one is my mother and the other two are just trying to do the right thing, and we’re being sent to kill them.”

  He moved the laser to cover Gregor. “Do you want to kill a couple of kids again?”

  Then he it pointed at Jeron. “Nobody is Elite, and she’s a Natural. That’s why the Administration want to kill her. They’ve got a Register of all Naturals born to Elites. There’s a kill order out on them all.” Jack knew he was exaggerating, but he needed Jeron to come with him. He could see Jeron wavering. He just needed a prod. “So, if you want to change sides. Now’s the time to do it.”

  Jeron didn’t move. Jack moved the laser to Levi. Levi had already covered for him once, maybe he’d feel he still owed him and would follow him now.

  “And what about you, Levi? You like a bit of fun. You break the rules all the time. How long before you’re in Re-Education. I can tell you; you won’t like it.” Jack waited and prayed no one would come into the building.

  He wasn’t going to be able to keep the squad like this for much longer. Any second now, someone would make a move. He was surprised it hadn’t happened yet.

  Then Jeron stepped away from the group. “I’m with you, Jack.” He picked up a laser from the crate.

  “Me too,” said Levi.

  The odds had improved, but not by much. They didn’t have surprise on their side. If Leach ordered the others to take them, would they? Would he, Levi or Jeron defend themselves against their friends? He still wasn’t sure.

  “Anyone else want to save lives, instead of taking them?” he asked.

  “You won’t get far, Fraser,” said Leach.

  “I’ll get as far as I can,” said Jack. “Now I want you all face down on the floor. Hands linked behind your heads.

  Nobody obeyed.

  That wasn’t going to work. He could wing one of them to make his point, but he didn’t think he could do it.

  “Keep them covered,” he said to Jeron and Levi, “And follow me. He started backing towards the hangar door. Jeron and Levi went with him. The squad stood and watched. No one moved still. Then he saw Gregor move towards the crate of lasers.

  “Not yet, Ruski.” He altered his aim to cover Gregor. “Wait until we’re out the door.”

  “This is suicide, Jack,” said Dante.

  “Maybe.” Jack stood in the doorway, still covering the squad. Jeron and Levi were outside now, pushing the doors together.

  At the last moment Jack stepped back, the doors clanged shut and Jeron hit the sensor pad to lock them, then used the butt of the laser to smash the pad.

  “To the Viper,” said Jack.

  They took off at a fast run.

  “Fuck, Jack. You’d better know what you’re doing,” Levi puffed out.

  “Can either of you fly one of these?” Jack asked. He should have talked O’Hara into coming too, he was the pilot amongst them.

  “Won’t need to,” said Jeron as they got up the ramp. He nodded at the pilot, sitting waiting in the front.

  “Good.” He could hear the sound of lasers firing at the doors of the hangar to get them open. If they could just get off the ground before the squad made it out of the hangar this might work.

  He swung his laser at the pilot. “Haze first, then take us to…,” he gave the coordinates of Jacob’s farm. “If you don’t move fast, one of us will do it.”

  “Jesus,” said the young pilot. But she did as she was told. Her hands moved over the screens in front of her, and Jack saw the Haze start as the doors closed and then the screen in the middle of the control panel showed the tarmac receding and getting smaller and smaller as they ascended.

  They’d done it. They’d got away. Unbelievable.

  Levi collapsed onto the nearest bench seat and took his helmet off. “Now, tell us what the hell is going on.”

  Jack put his helmet on the seat. Then in the ten minutes it took them to get to Jacobs he filled them in as much as he could about Genus6, what Jacob was trying to do and why the Administration wanted Jacob dead. He figured it would take Leach maybe ten minutes to regroup, organise transport and come after them. They didn’t have time on their side.

  “What are we going to do with her? Jeron nodded at the pilot once they’d landed.

  “What should we do with you?” Jack asked the girl.

  She shrugged. “I don’t have weapons on this thing, it’s just a troop carrier. Let me go and I’ll head back to Base.”

  Jack looked at the other two. They shrugged too.

  “Let her go,” said Jeron. “What do we gain by killing her?”

  “Yeah,” said Jack. Considering their training, none of them were particularly bloodthirsty. That was probably true of the rest of the squad too, and the only reason they’d got out of the hangar alive.

  The doors of the Viper rose, and the ramp slid out.

  Jack slipped his wrist shield over the Locate in his wrist. Now he was invisible to Vectors surveillance. “Leave your helmet’s here. They can go back to the Base.” He’d need to get a couple more shields for Jeron and Levi. Jacob would have some. Jack covered the pilot while the other two went down the ramp. To his relief he watched the Viper take off just the way the pilot had said it would.

  Step one accomplished. He’d made it to Jacob’s, and it looked like everything was fine. He could see the blue light of a computer screen coming through the window of one of the bedrooms.

  He needed to get inside without Jacob or Fitzgerald shooting him.

  “Come on, this way.” Jeron and Levi followed him up onto the veranda to the front door. He tried the handle and it turned. Looked like Jacob had given up on being security conscious. His shotgun was still leaning against the doorframe.

  As he stepped inside he called out, “It’s me, Jack.” Now the flickering blue light came from one of the doorways.

  “Jack?” It was Patsy’s voice.

  Then he saw Ela come out of the bedroom.

  “You’re meant to be in the Vault,” he said.

  “I know, but we’re waiting for Jacob. Something has gone wrong with the message. He can’t get it out. Curly can’t get through the shields.” Ela came near him.

  He stepped back. “We’ve all got to go. We’re only just ahead of Vector. We have to leave now.”

  Ela looked puzzled and then frightened when she glanced behind him. “Who are they?”

  “Friendlies,” said Jack. “Levi, Jeron, meet Ela.”

  “So that’s her name,” said Jeron.

  Fitzgerald and Patsy came out.

  “We’ve got to leave now,” said Jack. “There’s no time.”

  “Curly said it’ll only be minutes.”

  “No time to wait, Mum.” Jack pushed past her and went into the room. “You have to stop Jacob. We’ve got to go. Send the message from the Vault.”

  Jacob shook his head. “No, can’t afford to waste the time getting there and then wait for Curly to reroute everything. I’ll stay here until it’s done then come after you. Take Ela. Go. Use the motorbikes. I’ll come in the ute once I’ve got through.”

  Jacob was always stubborn. He’d never get him to move if he didn’t want to and keeping Ela safe was the priority.

  Jacob and went back to watching the screen. There was a stream of messages on it from Curly. All promising he’d have the problem sorted any minute.

  Ja
ck just hoped Curly made it in time for Jacob’s sake.

  He went back out into the passageway. Ela was putting on a jacket. It looked like Fitzgerald and Patsy were ready to go.

  “We’ll go in the patrol car,” said Fitzgerald.

  “It won’t get across the farm.”

  “No,” said Fitzgerald. “We’ll head for the Safehouse. We don’t want heat signatures heading straight for the Vault. That will lead Vector there, and we’ve managed to keep it a secret for twenty years. We’ll keep it a secret a bit longer.”

  Jack nodded. That made sense. Jacob said he sent Tom and Jake’s families to a safe house; it’d be the same one. “Can you take Mon?” he asked. He couldn’t leave the dog here to die, but the last thing he needed was him following them to the Vault.

  And he needed to get those wrist shields. Vector didn’t need a trail of service numbers to follow either. “Okay,” he said.

  Patsy hugged him. “Keep safe.” That would look weird to Jeron and Levi.

  “You too, Mum,” he said. They’d probably never been hugged by their parents.

  Patsy and Fitzgerald left in the police car with Mon.

  Chapter 22

  HE FOUND A COUPLE of wrist shields in the dining room and handed them to Jeron and Levi.

  “Where are we going?” asked Jeron securing the shield over the Locate in his wrist.

  “Somewhere safe. Just keep moving. We’ll use the bikes.” Jack went down the passageway to the back door. The others followed him.

  “There are only three bikes,” said Ela.

  He’d already thought of that. He knew Ela could ride pillion with him, but he couldn’t do it, the idea of being that close to her made his skin crawl.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll go on the four-wheeler.”

  “But it’s so much slower.” Ela looked puzzled the way she had when he’d arrived and stepped away from her. He scrambled to come up with a good reason for the decision and came up with the obvious one.

  “I’ll wait for Jacob and then we’ll come on the four-wheeler and meet you at the Vault.”

  He shrugged out of his coat and handed it to Ela. “Put this on. It will mask your heat signature.”

  Ela hesitated, then took the coat. “What about you?”

  “The compression suit works the same way.” But there was nothing he’d be able to do about Jacob’s heat signature. “We’ll all head in different directions and meet up at the boundary.” The uniforms would stop the heat sensors tracking them but there might be a small amount of residual heat since they weren’t wearing helmets, so it made no sense to move as a group.

  Ela shrugged into the coat. She was tall but slight so it was too big for her, but it would do the job. Then she nodded at Levi and Jeron. “They don’t know the way.”

  Jack opened the back door. She could never just go with the flow, always talked things to death. “See that huge shape in the distance. It’s a mountain. Head that way. Keep going until you hit the boundary fence. There’s bush on the other side of the fence. Hide the bikes in the bush and wait for me. I’ll come and get you.”

  Jeron peered out into the dark. “How long will it take to get there?”

  Jack thought about that. They didn’t have forever. It wouldn’t have taken Leach long to get organised. But they couldn’t just race straight to the Vault either.

  “I’m not sure.” As he talked, they all jogged to the barn. “If you go at a steady pace in amongst the cattle it shouldn’t look suspicious. Take it easy. Maybe half an hour?”

  “We’re on motorbikes and supposed to look like cattle?” Levi didn’t seem convinced.

  Jack shrugged. He didn’t have any better idea, and it might fool Vector.

  Ela pushed open the barn doors. “The bikes better start. I’m not sure when Jacob last used them.”

  “We went out in the weekend. They go fine.”

  “Good.” She swung her leg over the seat. The coat got in the way, and she hitched the leather up so she could move more easily. “Make Jacob leave now,” she said, “This is taking too long.”

  Jack nodded. “We’ll follow you.”

  Ela, Jeron and Levi took off for the mountain in different directions.

  He ran back to the house while keeping a watch on the black sky. If he saw the shimmer of the Haze he and Jacob wouldn’t be able to fight off the whole squad. At least Levi, Jeron and Ela would be safe.

  Inside Jacob was still waiting by the computer.

  “Has Curly done it?” Jack asked.

  “Any moment now,’ said Jacob.

  “You don’t have time; Leach says they know what you’re doing. That’s why there are extra shields. Come with me. It can be done next week or the week after.”

  “No.” Jacob turned back to the screen. “This is our only chance. Everyone is waiting for the signal. All the Locals have been rounded up. Ela says they’ve got the kids locked down in the University and now they’re eliminating any Naturals born to the Elite. That could be happening all around the world. The Administration has stopped pretending they’re protecting us. If we don’t get the message out, we’re finished. Go to the Vault. Keep Ela safe. I’ll make it happen and then head for the safe house where Patsy and Fitzgerald are.”

  Jack stood there undecided. Did Jacob mean to leave? But he was right. It was Ela who was important now.

  “Okay,” he said.

  Jacob put his hand on Jack’s arm. “Good luck, Jack,” And then turned back to the screen.

  Jack considered hugging the old man. He’d been good to him most of the time. Lying to him to get him to join Vector didn’t suddenly seem such a terrible thing to do, he’d done it for a good reason.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “There’s a copy of the Vid in the Vault,” Jacob said.

  “Vid?”

  “The one with the message on.”

  Jack nodded sure Jacob wasn’t planning on leaving now. “Okay. See you in a few days.”

  Jacob nodded.

  Jack took off back to the four-wheeler. Would he go to the safe house? Or was Jacob willing to die trying to get the message out to the world so, within five years, the infertility problem would be solved. Maybe, this would work, but he had his doubts.

  He fired up the four-wheeler and took off across the house paddock. He hoped Curly could work a miracle in the next few seconds. Leach had to be on his way by now. They had to have been here for a good ten minutes. It seemed longer, but that’s all it probably was.

  As he drove through the paddocks trying to keep his speed down and move through the stock as much as possible, he worked back through his mind how long it would have been since the Viper landed.

  Yeah, ten minutes seemed about right. Then he tried to work through what Leach would have done. The hangar door was open before the Viper left the pad. They’d have to wait for another Hover to be flight ready, but that would only be five minutes. Boarding, taking off. They had to be close.

  He looked behind him, checking for a shimmer in the darkness. Nothing yet.

  And then just before he reached the boundary, the sky lit up with an explosion.

  He stopped and looked back at Jacob’s house and saw a StealthHover UnHaze in a ball of light as it landed. They’d brought a gunship.

  He’d thought the squad would be sent. But they’d sent a gunship. With that explosion, Jacobs house and all the buildings around it would have been blown to smithereens. Would Jacob have got clear in time? Did he get the message out?

  Jack stayed there undecided again. He could go back and try to help Jacob.

  No, that would be impossible. Either Jacob succeeded and got away, or he didn’t and now he was dead. There was nothing he could do on his own to change either thing.

  He watched two more Hovers materialise and descend. They’d brought an army. In minutes hundreds of VTroopers would disembark and do whatever they’d been ordered to do. Search the remains? Jog march steadily across the farm in a relentless search for anyo
ne who’d escaped the attack.

  The best thing he could do was find Ela, Jeron and Levi and get to the Vault so they were all safe. The Vid was there if Jacob never got the message out, and Ela and maybe Jeron were still the proof. If he made sure they lived it might still be possible to beat Genus6 and the Administration, Transgene, Eugenics Corp and all the others.

  He breathed in and straightened up. It would be the only way he could avenge the death of Jacob, and he suspected maybe his mother and Fitzgerald, and anyone else who’d got caught in this takeover of his country.

  At the boundary fence Jack worked his way to the left, keeping a lookout for Jeron or Levi. Hopefully, they made it and had managed to hide the bikes.

  Taking them to the Vault was a risk. They were Elite and could turn on him and reveal where it was, but he didn’t think they would.

  Then he came across all three bikes leaning against the fence. Nobody was around, but Jeron, Levi and Ela would have hidden when they heard him coming. Maybe they hadn’t had time to get the bikes over the fence. He had no idea how they all came to be in the same place, but it made life a hell of a lot easier.

  “Ela,” he said quietly. He heard a rustle in the bush and then she appeared with Levi and Jeron behind her.

  “We were worried you’d left it too late,” whispered Ela.

  “No,” he said, then looked behind him. In the distance, he could see the fire that had to be Jacob’s place burning to the ground and could just make out a different glow. StealthHovers. VTroopers would start searching for them now.

  “Where’s Jacob?” Ela pulled the coat tighter around herself.

  “He’ll come soon.” Right now, he didn’t want to talk about having to leave Jacob there. He looked at the three bikes leaning on the fence. They needed to get those and the four-wheeler into the bush and then move.

  He lifted the seat off the four-wheeler and found the fencing pliers Jacob kept with him to repair any fences he found damaged around the farm. They could have lifted the bikes over the fence, but the four-wheeler was another story. Better to drive it through a gap.

  He snipped the five wires, and the batten with the wires stapled to it bounced back.