The Hidden Society

by R. Chauncey

  “I don’t have the slightest idea,” he answered. “I suppose I’ll just be glad we’re still alive. What about you?”

  “I’m going to a five star Las Vegas Hotel and rent a thousand dollar a night suite. Take a long hot bath, shave this fur off my legs, get a massage, have my hair done up real nice, buy some sexy clothes; and gamble. After I’ve eaten the best steak dinner the hotel offers with an excellent bottle of wine.”

  “Got your credit cards with you?”

  “American Express blue card even though I don’t know why I brought it. I’ve never used it, and I certainly wasn’t going to use it getting here.”

  “Wasn’t it risky getting a credit card with you being in hiding?” he asked her.

  “Not having a credit card would have aroused suspicions about me among my coworkers and neighbors,” she said. “Anyway I got the card under the name of Marajo Smith. The Society didn’t know I was Marlene Done until recently.”

  “Until I showed up and acted stupidly,” he added.

  “Forget about that, Larson,” she said. “What are you going to do if we succeed?”

  “I’ve got my blue card, too,” he said. “But I’ll make my plans as to what I’m going to do once we’ve succeeded.” He looked at his watch. “Eight fifty-two. Let’s just rest for the next twelve minutes.”

  *

  8:25 a.m.

  “Where the fuck are they?” Karl grumbled to himself.

  “Its eight twenty-five and they haven’t arrived,” Derrick said over his com-cell.

  “Yes, Leader I know that,” Karl replied.

  “I’ll give them until eleven if they haven’t shown up by then, I’m going back to my camper and then home,” Derrick announced.

  *

  Dorothy heard him and prayed silently Marlene Done and her accomplice arrived before then, because things weren’t going to go good for her if Derrick left. She knew now that

  Derrick had absolute power he’d have no need of her, and he wasn’t the sort of person who’d allow her to return home as a soldier awaiting another assignment. She knew too much. Her death was a guarantee. She looked through her binoculars and saw Lester and Charlie lying on their backs on the ground asleep. Good, she thought.

  *

  8:25 a.m.

  Dodge was tired, thirsty, and hungry in addition to being very dirty. But fortunately he didn’t have to worry about insects bothering him and giving away his position. It was too cold for them to start hatching from wherever the eggs they were in were. He rolled over on his back, making sure not to rising up and looked at the sky.

  No circling buzzards to attract Willow’s and Karl’s attention. They have the ability to detect something’s dead on the desert floor before they start circling. Good for me. He rolled back over on his stomach.

  Dodge had hoped things would start before sunrise when darkness provided him with some cover. Now that the sun was up his position amounted to no more than that of a very big fish in a very small, shallow pond. He knew that once he started shooting Karl and Willow and whoever else might be out there with them would spot him within seconds. And they’d know he’d kill Betty and got that damn tracking chip out of the back of his shoulder. And that would mean his value to the Society was zero, and he was a dead man and his family was dead, too.

  The Society did not forgive a soldier who turned against them, nor did they forgive the soldier’s family.

  Where the hell are you and your friend, Marlene?

  *

  9:27 a.m.

  Larson and Marajo had started for the crest of the mountain at 9 o’clock and reached the crest of the mountain sooner than they expected for two older people who weren’t into mountain climbing. But they were exhausted. They were lying on their stomachs between two large boulders looking down the south side of the mountain catching their breaths and preparing themselves for the battle they knew was coming.

  “What do you think, Larson?” she asked.

  “Thirty foot or more dash and we’re surrounded by boulders. All we have to do is avoid tripping.” He rolled over on his right side, unbuttoned his parka down to his waist, and touched his com-cell in his pants pocket.

  “Any vibrations?” she asked.

  “None. We’re too far away,” he said, buttoning up his parka and rolling over on his stomach. “Okay, are you ready for a run?”

  “Just say go,” she answered.

  “Go,” he said as he jumped up and ran forward heading directly for a large dirty, brown boulder.

  Marajo ran beside him as fast as she could.

  They reached the boulder within seconds.

  *

  9:28 a.m.

  “Karl,” Willow said, looking at his com-cell. “The heat detector just picked up two people running over the top of that mountain.”

  Karl heard him and answered immediately. “Are you sure?”

  “They were identified by the infrared unit as two humans moving in a south-westerly direction down the mountain on our left.”

  “How can that be?” Derrick said over his com-cell with confusion in his voice. “They’re supposed to be coming through the gap.”

  “What they’re supposed to be doing, Leader, and are doing is two different things,” Karl replied.

  “Where are they headed?” Willow asked.

  “To a cave at the base of the mountain,” Derrick told him.

  “Why?” Willow asked watching the two human heat signatures moving down the mountain on his com-cell.

  The heat signatures suddenly disappeared.

  “That’s not your concern just get over there and check it out,” Derrick said. “Make sure it’s them.”

  “Where are they?” Karl asked, looking at his com-cell and seeing nothing.

  “I’ve lost their heat signatures. They’re probably among those boulders on that mountain hiding their heat signatures,” Willow said, looking at his com-cell. “But they’re probably coming

  down the mountain now.”

  “Go!” Derrick yelled. He got up and started moving to his left. He wasn’t running, but walking fast. There was no need for him to become involved in the killings. That was a soldier’s business. All he had to do was make sure they did their jobs then have Dorothy clean up the mess after she’s killed them and Charlie and Lester. He stopped near a large cactus and knelt down and looked back for Charlie and Lester.

  They were nowhere to be seen.

  “Charlie, Lester! Where are you?” he yelled over his com-cell.

  Ten seconds passed before Derrick heard, “Right behind you, Leader.”

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “Charlie, Leader. Lester is coming, too. I see him.”

  Derrick didn’t look for Dorothy. He knew she was right behind them protecting him as she had always done since he selected her as his special soldier. When he saw Charlie and Lester coming up fast behind him, he turned, stood up, and started running slowly toward the mountain.

  Karl and Willow were moving, but separated by five yards, too. But they were walking and making use of all the cover they could find. They were too experienced to go running toward human targets they weren’t sure of. And Marlene and her accomplice had shown they weren’t stupid by killing Betty and seriously wounding or killing Dodge.

  Karl slowed down and looked at his com-cell. The screen was blank. No heat signatures showed. It meant Marlene Done and her accomplice were among the boulders probably moving cautiously down the mountain. For two civilians who weren’t supposed to have any training as killers they were certainly acti
ng like trained soldiers.

  *

  9:30 a.m.

  Dodge was on the verge of going to sleep when he raised his head and saw movement off to his right. He wondered why? Like the others he had assumed the gap would be the place Marlene and her accomplice would use to go through the mountains. He decided to wait and see who was moving and why? He picked up his binoculars lying on the ground in front of him, and looked through them. He saw Karl and Willow walking rapidly in a westerly direction and using all the cover they could see to protect themselves.

  Why the hell are they heading west? Then he knew. Marlene Done and her friend have pulled a fast one on them. They didn’t use the gap, they came over the mountain, he thought as he watched Karl and Willow moving in a westerly direction toward the side of the mountain. Karl and Willow were in the wrong position. They’re trying to catch up to them. He looked beyond them and spotted three other men, Derrick, Charlie, and Lester. Backup, he wondered as he watched them. Why so many soldiers for two civilians? He looked beyond them and saw no one else. It didn’t concern him.

  What did concern him was the direction Karl and Willow were moving. Not toward him, but at a right angle toward the mountain. They were moving in front of him right pass him. It meant they didn’t know he was there. They had bought his death once the tracking chip had been removed from him. He had an edge. All he had to do now was wait until Karl and Willow were well within range then kill both of them.

  *

  Larson and Marajo were moving rapidly down the side of the mountain dodging from one boulder to the next, and keeping close to each other in case they had to start shooting. Combined shooting was a lot more intense and deadly that individual shooting. The mountain’s incline went from forty degrees to thirty degrees making it easier for them to move down, and with little chance of falling. But they watched where they stepped anyway. A fall on the part of either of them was certain death for both of them.

  “I don’t think this mountain was three thousand feet, Larson,” Marajo said, walking rapidly next to him and breathing heavily.

  “Probably no more than twenty-five or twenty-six hundred feet,” he said between breathes. “And so far no one has fired at us.”

  “I wonder why?” Marajo asked him.

  “Maybe they didn’t pick up our heat signatures,” he said. “Maybe they don’t even have a heat detecting device with them.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that, Larson,” she said as she kept close to his right side.

  “If they do have such a device, they should have picked up our body heat when we made that run across the top,” he told her as he moved rapidly toward the flat face of the mountain

  “Let’s not worry about that now. Let’s just get inside that information center alive and in one piece,” she told him.

  “Got your weapon handy?” he asked her as he ran.

  “It’s right in my pocket. All I got to do is pull it out, flip the safety off, and I’m ready to kill.”

  “Let’s hold up at that big boulder in front of us,” he said. “You take the left side. I’ll take the right. And keep down out of sight. If they’ve got a heat detecting unit they probably picked up our body heat when we made that run across the top of the mountain, and they’re moving toward us now.”

  They made it to the boulder, each taking a side, and stopped and looked around.

  “See anybody?” he asked her as he raised his binoculars and looked through them.

  She raised her binoculars to her eyes and said, “No, I don’t -.” She stopped speaking as she looked carefully through her binoculars. “Oh, my God, Larson. I see three men coming toward the mountain.”

  He moved over to her side of the boulder and looked with his binoculars. “That’s odd,” he said.

  “What’s odd?” she asked in a sharp voice.

  “They’re not running, but walking.”

  “Who cares?”

  “It must mean they picked up our body heat, but lost us when we moved among the boulders.”

  “And that’s good?” she asked in a nervous voice.

  “They don’t know exactly where we are.” He dropped his binoculars to his chest and looked down and to his front and said, “Look down there at those three very large boulders.”

  She looked down and saw the three boulders.

  “We should move down among those boulders,” he told her. “They won’t be able to see us.”

  “Then let’s go,” she said.

  They started moving, walking, in that direction. Rapidly but cautiously down the mountain. Both of them ready to draw their weapons from their pockets and start shooting.

  They made it to the boulders and stopped.

  “We’re near the bottom,” Marajo said, looking down.

  “Yes, I can see that. Another few minutes and we’ll be at the -,” he stopped talking and moved behind one of the boulders pulling her by her right arm with him and stopped.

  “What?” she asked.

  “My com-cell is vibrating I can feel it,” he said.

  “We’re close to the center,” she said.

  “Yes, within a hundred yards,” he agreed. “Let’s hope they don’t know. Let’s go.”

  *

  Charlie caught up with Derrick and said, “Leader, the information center is a little over one hundred yards away from here.”

  “Are you sure?” Derrick asked him as he stopped walking.

  “Yes, sir,” he said, stopping next to Derrick and looking ahead. “It’s right over there beyond those bushes and cacti.” He raised his left hand and pointed. “See the flat side of the mountain. Right behind that flat smooth rock is the information center.”

  “Sure is,” Lester agreed, stopping next to them. “There’s a USB port on the left side right under a small slab of rock. Raise that slab and plug your com-cell in there and enter the password and a small door in the rock opens.”

  Derrick looked at where Charlie was pointing and said, “I don’t see any door.”

  “Because it follows the cracks in the face of the mountain,” Lester told him. “That way anyone coming around here would only see the cracks and think they were nothing by cracks caused by rain running down the mountain’s flat side.”

  *

  Dodge saw every move they made through his binoculars and wondered why the three men had stopped? He had seen Karl and Willow moving up on the mountain as if they were heading toward the top. But he couldn’t see them now. But he knew they were moving into firing positions where they could bring maximum fire down on Marlene and her accomplice. He looked back at the three men who were now moving parallel to the mountain. He looked a few hundred yards ahead of them, and saw a flat faced side of the mountain. He looked in front of it and saw a large flat side of the mountain lying in front of it with desert plants growing around it like it had broken off centuries ago and fallen in front of the mountain. He looked up and to the right of flat faced side of the mountain and saw a dirty looking older white woman and a black man who looked just as old and just as dirty as the woman. For a brief second he wondered who they were and suddenly he knew.

  Marlene Done and her friend, he thought. He looked back at Karl and Willow and saw they were still heading up the side of the mountain, moving around boulders and rocks as fast as they could go and watching where they stepped to avoid falling.

  Dodge knew what Karl and Willow were doing. They were moving up the mountain so they could get into a good shooting position. Once they got above Marlene and her friend they’d be perfect targets even if they were moving. All Karl and Willow would have to do once they got into position was fire three shots each
and space them to cover the small area Marlene and her friend would be in. They would hit them and stop both of them. It wouldn’t matter if the hits were kills or not. Marlene and her friend would be down and helpless, and Karl and Willow could finish them easy.

  Why he wondered were Marlene and her friend moving toward the flat face part of the mountain. Whatever their reason was once they reached the right side of the flat face they’d be out in the open and sitting ducks for Karl and Willow. He looked back at Marlene and her friend and couldn’t see them.

  *

  Larson and Marajo had both pulled their weapons out of their parka pockets and prepared themselves to start killing if necessary.

  “Over here,” Larson said to Marajo as he moved to the east side of the flat face of the mountain, making sure to remain among the boulders.

  “Is it safer over there?” she asked, keeping by his right side.

  “If we can make it to the right side, we can move among these short trees and brush growing over there,” he said, pointing with his weapon. “They’ll know where we are but they won’t be able to see us. And if they can’t see us, they can’t shoot us.”

  “Is your com-cell still vibrating?” she asked.

  “A steady vibration like a damn massage machine. If it was on these guys chasing us would hear it humming.”

  “Let’s go,” Marajo said.

  “Follow me and move fast,” he said as he started moving rapidly toward the short trees and brush.

  *

  Karl and Willow stopped and saw Marlene and Larson disappear among the trees and brush. They were still not close enough to shoot at them and hit them.

  “Why the hell are they among those trees?” Willow asked as he followed Karl. “If they had stopped among those boulders, they’d be in a good position to shoot us.”

  “They’re heading for the Society’s information center,” Karl told him. It didn’t matter if Willow knew where the information center was now. All that mattered now was stopping them, and their chances of doing that were declining with every move Marajo and Larson made.