"Hurry Emily, run!" Rachel took hold of her hand as they raced toward the safety of the chopper.
She saw at least twenty more were running toward the opened gate to serve as reinforcements - they were 50 yards and closing in. Lockport and Johnson were locked in hand-to-hand combat with several Sovs. They were outnumbered but holding their own - but that wouldn't last long as more Sov soldiers arrived. Daniels and Connor were shooting from the chopper while the Sovs were shooting back. Rachel and Emily were caught at the edge of the trees between the firefight and the safety of the helicopter.
"Emily, get behind me - hold onto my shirt and keep your head tucked down and move with me. Don't let go! When I go fast, you go fast. Got it?" Rachel un-holstered her pistol and cocked it.
"Got it!" Emily assured as she followed Rachel's instructions.
A Sov soldier had broken through the line and was running to cut them off. Rachel shot him twice in the leg, opening their path.
A second Sov closed the distance fast and Rachel slammed him full force with her pistol to the side of his head. Then roundhouse kicked him in the solar plexus. He hit the pavement and she ran hard with Emily clinging to her back. They were only seventy feet from the chopper that was ready to fly, but they were quickly over powered.
Connor knew every second counted. Lockport and Johnson were about to be taken - a Sov specialty; they weren't shooting to kill- they loved getting info from captured soldiers, and now Rachel was blocked off. There was just too many of them.
Noah jumped from the chopper and rocketed like a missile through the Sovs. He grabbed the back of the nearest Sov soldier's head and slammed it forehead-to-forehead in to the soldier closest to Rachel. Both dropped.
There were two sets of attacks - fifteen Sovs were coming out of the closing gate, while another ten scattered fighting between the separated Rebels. Selection prisoners behind the fencing had gathered to watch the melee with gaping mouths.
Noah's mission was to get Rachel and Emily safe. He hit the next Sov in the face with the force of his elbow. Before the soldier had a chance to recover, Noah pounded him with two fast right hooks.
"IT'S CONNOR!" A Sov shouted.
All attention went to Noah - the soldiers advancing toward the helicopter and Rachel changed course. Even the ones fighting Lockport and Johnson altered - all went to contain Connor.
Noah hadn't expected anything less. The glory a Sov soldier received when capturing a defector was lucrative - and they all obviously wanted a piece.
"Take her and go!" Noah yelled to Rachel as he snagged a Sov's head and planted it against his knee.
Rachel grabbed Emily's hand and sprinted pulling her until she got her inside of the chopper.
"Don't even think about it Lawton," Daniels grabbed Rachel's arm.
Lockport and Jameson had retreated at an angle - away from the helicopter and the Sov assault - further into the field. Noah was completely covered with Sovs - so much so you couldn't see him or tell him apart in the swarm of white uniforms.
"I can't leave him!" Rachel tried yanking herself out of Daniels grasp, but he held her roughly and forced her onto the chopper as Andrews lifted off. "NO!" Rachel struggled.
"NOAH!" Emily screamed.
"He wanted to save you! Let him go!" Daniels said into her ear.
The helicopter hovered over the ground and swiftly moved in an arch to pick up Lockport and Johnson and sped away, its shadow racing against itself over the ground.
Rachel held Emily strong as they watched the Sovs hoist Noah up and lead him by gunpoint back through the gates of the Selection.
"Johnson is losing blood fast," It was Daniels' voice. "We need to get him to the nearest Division - he has to have a transfusion now!"
"There is a small Division in Old Atlanta… set a course, they have a med facility." Lockport ordered. "And we've got to hide the chopper - they'll have an air fleet after us in no time."
~ ~ ~
Noah watched the helicopter's shadow glide across the field in his peripheral vision. Rachel and Emily were safe. That was all that mattered to him. He would have died for either of them, now he would die for both of them.
His wrists were cuffed tightly behind his back. Several gun barrels speared into his back and shoulders. It was interesting, he thought. He wasn't afraid to die. The only thing he regretted was not being able to live his life out with Rachel and Emily after he had just found both of them. But at least he would die - almost happy - because they were together and he knew they would love each other.
Noah's escort led him into a guardhouse and sat him down. "You really fucked up, Connor." One of the Sovs jeered. "I would hate to be you."
Someone from behind him stuck a needle into his arm. A moment later everything around him went hazy.
Chapter 12
Friends and Enemies
He woke in a chair. Thick metal shackles and chain bound his wrists and ankles. The room was antiseptic white with the pungent scent of industrial cleaner. The walls were lined with one-way mirrors. He had seen rooms like this enough to know it was one of many Sov interrogation rooms. He had never served in the capacity as interrogator - but in his early days with the Sov - he had cleaned up after them. Their techniques were gruesome and merciless.
Better me than Rachel, he gritted his teeth and straightened his spine. He knew they were watching him behind the glass. And he knew they would come for him soon.
~ ~ ~
"We have to go after him! We have to find him NOW - we can't wait!" Lawton paced in front of Lockport who was seated at a desk and makeshift office set up for him in Old Atlanta. The Southern Division had granted them quarters until the threat had passed.
"Lawton we don't even know where they took him." He said calmly as he wrote in a notepad.
"You know where they took him!"
"Until we receive word from one of our planted operatives…"
"You don't want to, do you?" She interrupted accusingly.
Lockport took a deep breath and set his pencil down. "He is Sov, Lawton. His capture could have even been a ruse."
"What about his sister?" She argued.
"What about her?"
"Why would he want to extract her if he were such a Sov believer?"
"I have no idea how they think or what he's trying to do - but he could easily be reporting back to his superiors, business as usual. Giving them the locations of MRH and our Divisions." He took a deep breath as if formulating his next thought then added. "I evacuated Old Detroit and requested assistance from Southern. You fell for him, Lawton - it's as easy as that."
"He saved our lives," Rachel leaned into him with her hands gripping the sides of his desk. "They figured out he was there… how did they do that?"
"We swept Emily. She had a bug embedded into the button on her sweater." He admitted.
"They heard everything I told her." Rachel stood back up and swept her fingers through her hair. "Noah defected, he changed sides, and his sister was tagged…"
Lockport raised a hand to stop her, "I'm not saying he didn't, Lawton. But be reasonable - he was a Sov for a long time - maybe his capture was Karma biting him in the ass." He stood up behind his desk. "What I don't have are the resources to go up against a highly secured Sov facility to save some guy who may not even want to be saved. Whose lives should I risk for that?"
"Excuse me." Rachel turned and left the office. She walked fast until her pace transformed into an all out run.
She ran to clear her mind and seek the best solution. No way she was going to do nothing! She had already contacted her former Division leader in the Northwest, who assured her he was very sorry, but all of the Divisions were fortifying their positions after the sweep in Old Chicago and what nearly took place in Old Manhattan. They couldn't spare anyone… let alone that it was a suicide mission.
She jogged to the communications room. "I need a secure line."
"This will work for you Ma'am." The soldier handed her a small black phone
.
"This is Lieutenant Lawton. I need to be put through to Colonel Smith."
"Certainly, Ma'am. Please hold."
A moment later she heard, "This is Smithy. Lawton, you alright?"
"I'm good - are you all safe?" She asked.
"Thanks to you. Got the tugs fired up and pulled the big ladies to the coast of Maine. Rich idea, Lawton." He praised.
"Thanks to you. You believed me, you put it all into action. You're incredible, Smithy." Rachel gave back.
"I know all that. Now, I heard you are in Southern."
"I am."
"Got the girl?"
"I do,"
"Connor's back with the Sov?"
"I don't think so, Smithy. I believe he was captured." She confided and held her breath for his reaction.
"Thought you believed he was teamed up with Webb?" Smithy contemplated.
"I was wrong."
There was silence on the other end. She tried not to panic - she had run out of options. Smithy was her last hope.
"What do you want to do?" He asked plaintively.
"Follow my intuition and extract a good soldier."
That statement was met with more silence.
"He saved my life… twice." She added.
"You sure it's not just personal? Sometimes emotions can get in the way of true intuition." Smithy warned.
"Hell yes, Sir. It is completely personal."
"Time is seriously against you," he reminded.
"What's your idea?" Rachel's heart slammed in her chest with daring hope.
"Gnat Bots - they are the smallest Bots available and are as tiny as the name suggests. We can release them and receive immediate intel from their sensors. You'll learn where he is being kept - if he truly is being kept, they will download a blueprint of the building he is in, headcount… they can even freeze the security systems for up to thirty minutes." He explained. "But they're here in Maine, Rachel. Sovs have their eye on the sky…"
"Boat… Sovs have never had the water secured." She jumped in. "You're in Old Maine for God's sake - surely you can locate an old high speed boat!"
"To get there you're going to need enough man power to go around the clock… but it just so happens that I've met three escaped Sov soldiers. Said they served with Connor and that if he was trying to defect, they wanted in."
Rachel laughed, a nervous, relieved, excited laugh that turned to tears in her eyes.
"Yeah I know… I'm incredible." Smithy said. "I'll send them with the Gnat Bots and some Combat Bots - it'll double your numbers."
Rachel became suddenly serious and quiet, her brow creased. "I don't know… where he is."
"Well, don't you worry your pretty little head; I'll get this shipment off to you and in the meantime, I'll work with my sources to locate where he is. We will find him Rachel." He assured her confidently, and she believed him.
Rachel felt the trembling begin in her hands. She couldn't decide if it was caused by fear or adrenaline. "Why are you helping me?"
"You saved my life and thousands of others by following a hunch. I trust your intuition. Get ready… You'll hear from me soon."
~ ~ ~
Kain himself with five armed guards and two other workers in grey jumpsuits entered the room and behind them followed Webb. Noah had never seen Kain in person and worked to hide his surprise that the Preeminence himself was somehow making him a priority. Kain had a medium build and intense green eyes. His hair was black and cut short. He was about sixty years old and fit. Today he wore a full white suit with an expensive looking silk shirt and tie.
"All of you to change the light bulb? Seems pretty extensive." Noah jeered.
Just then another guy in a grey jumpsuit wheeled in a cart with a machine on it. Noah thought it looked like his grandfather's contraband jumper cables. He used to say if he couldn't have his car at least he could hook up the cables and battery and powered his 12 volt light bulb to read his contraband books by.
"So good to see you here, Agent Connor." Webb sneered at the word agent. "Some concussion you gave me saving your girlfriend."
"Sorry you didn't meet your Maker, Webb." Noah said bored.
One of the guys in the grey jumpsuit scurried out of the room and came back with a white, plush, over stuffed chair and set it directly in front of Connor. "Here you are Sir." He scurried away again and Kain sat in the royal chair.
"And here I thought the comfortable chair was for me." Noah threw.
Kain silently contemplated Connor. In the meantime, she cut off Noah's shirt with a pair of shears, and then attached two circular metal disks to both sides of Connor's rib cage.
"How is it that you failed to assassinate Lawton?" Kain finally asked calmly looking directly into Connor's eyes.
Noah didn't bother to answer.
"She is a very beautiful woman, intelligent also. Perhaps she bewitched you?" Kain made it more of a statement than a question.
"Why did you not return to Headquarters with Webb as per your instructions?" He reeked of cigar smoke.
"And… why were you apprehended attempting to remove your sister from her Selection? With wanted Rebel soldiers? One fitting the description of Lawton herself?" He almost hissed.
When Noah stayed quiet he went on, "We are not going to make this a quick execution - I will get the information I want out of you, Agent Connor."
Kain sat back in his chair and lit a cigar. "You have been a dedicated soldier to your Sovereignty for years. I will tell you the variable that occurred - Rachel Lawton. You think you found yourself a woman - maybe even enjoyed sex with her - and now your loyalty feels severed. Connor, women are nothing but storms, they come and they go. That is why your Sovereignty developed Selected Pairing - your perfect mate in personality, temperament, and DNA."
He took another puff from his cigar. "I'm very reasonable," Kain said in a dangerous tone. "I'll agree to relocate you in the Southern Territories and provide you with a beautiful, sterile woman even before your Pairing. She'll keep… house for you." Kain lingered at the word house. You're status will even be raised to Tactical Officer - you will stand behind the scenes, calling the shots. See, I believe you are still worth… redeeming." He puffed smoke and blew it in Connor's face. "Tell me agent Connor, are you worth redemption or is this a waste of my very valuable time?"
It was going to start soon… the torture. His muscles tensed in anticipation. He conjured up Rachel's face in the front of his mind for courage and steadiness.
"What I want from you is very simple… I want the location of the Main Rebels Headquarters."
On cue one of the guards moved to the wall behind Kain and inscrolled a huge wall map of Sov territory.
"I was blindfolded to and from Rebel Headquarters." Noah answered. "And they found your tracking device and dug it out of me."
"I would be able to accept that from any other soldier… but not you Agent Connor - you, are exceptional. Photographic memory, blind directional capabilities - you know exactly where the Rebels are located."
He was right. Noah knew exactly where MRH was located and how to get there even though the drivers had taken extreme measures to throw him off. They had doubled back four times and took random off course turns that reconnected to the main route. Noah was able to connect the map in his mind.
"Why don't you interrogate your boy, Webb here? He's been a Rebel for fifteen years… surely he must know." Noah offered.
"Ahh, the Rebel Headquarters are only shared with a very select few." Kain stood and signaled to the guard to remove his chair. "Have you ever seen a great bird in a heavy wind? Depending on the air current he knows to bend or bow, he knows to climb or descend, and even more importantly, he knows when to rest and when to allow the wind to carry him. You, Agent Connor, are a great bird - a powerful predator who has learned to adjust to the winds but even the strongest birds miscalculate. They are crushed into cars, pushed into power lines, or are caught between the jaws of a greater predator than themselves." Kain sn
apped his fingers and the man in the grey jumpsuit pushed the cart to Noah's side and flipped its red switch. From a shelf on the cart he also produced a bottle and a clear-stemmed glass. "In one hand I have the power to bestow upon you the great treasures of a man - sex, money, power… life. In the other, is your most extreme nightmare." Kain smiled as the grey suit poured a blood red drink into the slender glass.
Connor had been trained to stand against interrogation techniques. The Sov had built up his tolerance to pain. But he knew this would be different - there would be no ascending build, no series of painful steps - they would give it to him all at once to taste the fury of the Sovereignty.
The grey suit removed the cables and touched the conductor pads on Connor's ribs. The electric shock burned Noah to the core of his nervous system. Every organ was seized and held mercilessly in a iron fisted grip of electricity. Noah gritted his teeth but a scream ripped through his throat despite him.
Kain gazed at Connor with mock concern. "I did not expect this tight-lipped disloyalty from one of my best. Oh, Agent Connor… now I have to believe that the rumor is true; that you aided Rebel officials to coordinate an attack here in Southern.
Noah caught his breath and laughed, "You know what, asshole? I haven't got all day."
Kain lifted his hand and Webb walked behind Connor and dumped a gallon of water over his head while grey suit hit him again. There was no holding the blood-curdling scream back. The agony threatened to force his eyes out from their sockets. The metal around his wrists and ankles felt as if they were melting into his flesh.
"You are very strong," Kain said once the round was finished. "But I will wear you down."
Another puff of his cigar ushered in another cue. Kain turned to face the wall, as the grey suits tipped Connor's chair backwards and Webb threw a towel over his face. A steady stream of water poured into his nose and mouth simulating the sensation of drowning.
"You are a Sovereignty soldier Agent Connor. You made a vow to serve your Preeminence!" Webb asserted and another volt surged through him.
Enemy Lines Page 9