Overthrown II: The Resurrected (Overthrown Trilogy Book 2)

by Judd Vowell

  Twenty minutes later, as he was toweling himself dry, the message alert beeped again. He wrapped the towel around his waist and went to his laptop, frustrated by the distraction.

  “Never a moment’s peace,” he said aloud as he lifted open the laptop. “What’s the expression? Heavy lies the crown?” He laughed to himself as he said it.

  The laptop’s screen showed two messages from the same sender in its top right section, both flagged with a flashing icon meaning “urgent.” Salvador looked at the time: 6:48. Then he moved the cursor to the message inbox and opened it. The first message read:

  TO: S.S., Philadelphia, PA

  FROM: Control, Fort Riley, KS

  SUBJECT: Drone Patrols – Never Returned

  Sir,

  At time of this message, the drone patrol teams have not returned from the city. Please advise.

  FtSoH

  Kansas

  Salvador felt a curiosity at first, but nothing more. He had never known panic. He didn’t understand it, and even found it to be a sign of weakness in others. But the curiosity did change to something else as he read the second message. It wasn’t panic, but it was something very close. The message read:

  TO: S.S., Philadelphia, PA

  FROM: Control, Fort Riley, KS

  Subject: Drone Patrols – No Contact

  Sir,

  In regards to the previous message, let it be known that we have had NO contact with the patrols since the drone attack. We have no explanation. Please advise.

  FtSoH

  Kansas

  He looked at the time on his laptop again: 6:52. He knew the base was an hour or more from the city. And that meant there wasn’t enough time before dark to send out a search party. His other option, a surveillance drone, wouldn’t do much good that late in the day either. The hunt for the vanished soldiers would have to wait until morning. Salvador didn’t like it, but that was the only choice he had.

  He typed a message back to the base’s control room instructing them to send out both a search team and a drone at daybreak, then he closed his laptop and got dressed. He had dinner plans at one of the nicest restaurants in the Philadelphia grid in less than an hour.

  9.

  L az moved the driveable humvee behind its burning twin and parked it across the middle of the highway so that no one could pass. Then he stood in front of it with the other three Leftys who were dressed like Omega XT soldiers. They could see the headlights of the approaching ANTs’ humvee coming from the base in the distance. It was moving fast.

  “Here we go, boys,” Archer said. “Houser, you ready down there?”

  A voice came from ahead of them to their left. A fifth Lefty soldier had hidden himself in the ditch beside the highway there, across from the burning vehicle. “Yessir, ready as I’ll ever be.”

  The ANTs were close by then. Jacob was nervous underneath his mask and military fatigues. He was not a trained soldier like Archer and Laz. He knew the next hour of his life would test his will and composure like never before.

  The Omega XT’s humvee slowed as it neared the massive fire. It came to a stop fifty feet away in the middle of the highway, its headlights beaming onto the costumed figures of Archer, Laz, Jacob, and Simpson. The Omega XT got out and trotted quickly toward who they thought were their missing comrades. They stopped when they reached the fiery wreckage, their weapons holstered because their worry was gone.

  “Where the hell have you guys been?” one of them asked.

  “Long story,” Archer said loudly.

  “What about this?” The same Omega XT pointed to the burning humvee. “Anybody trapped?”

  “Trapped?” Archer asked. “Yeah, you could say that.” He took a step forward and banged on his helmet twice with a closed fist.

  Houser, the Lefty in hiding, saw the signal and rose from his position in the ditch. He was almost beside the Omega XT, but just enough behind them that they didn’t see him when he stood. He held an assault rifle in his hands, and he began to fire without pause as soon as he was on his feet. The four Omega XT soldiers, shot dead within seconds, never knew he was there.

  Laz and Simpson moved to the fallen Omega XT bodies quickly, checking each one for a pulse. “We’re good,” Laz announced when they were done.

  “Nice work, Houser,” Archer said as the secret Lefty soldier came back to the group. “Now that was the easy part. Everybody take a deep breath. This is where the real fun begins.”

  ΔΔΔ

  Laz and the others used the ANTI- humvee they had taken from the city for the rest of the mission. It looked just like the one that the Omega XT unit had just driven from the base, which was key to the plan. He slowed it down when they reached the perpendicular access road that led to the base’s back entrance. Archer held a long road flare out the passenger window and struck the end against its cap, igniting it in a bright red glow. Then he dropped it right where the road met the highway, and Laz pressed the gas pedal hard, squealing the humvee’s tires.

  “Signal’s there,” Archer yelled over the vehicle’s roaring engine. “We can’t let ‘em down now.”

  Jacob and Simpson rode in the backseat, with a handcuffed Houser between them. Archer turned his body around to face them.

  “Now remember,” he yelled. “Let Laz do all the talking. If someone asks you a question, keep the answer simple. One word, that’s all.”

  Archer turned back around and pulled a map out of his front pocket. This one was different from the road map he had used earlier. This one showed the interior layout of the former army base. He had found it on the same dead Omega XT who had been carrying the other map. He clicked on a small pen-light and looked closely at the labeled structures on the detailed diagram.

  “What’re you doing?” Laz asked from the driver seat. “I’ve got that thing memorized.”

  “Can’t be too careful,” Archer said. “Just making sure we didn’t miss anything. We’ve come this far...don’t want a small detail to trip us up.”

  “Well, finish your detailin’,” Laz said. He nodded toward the windshield. “It’s almost showtime.”

  Archer clicked off the pen-light. He could feel his heart beating a pulse quicker as the base’s eastern perimeter loomed in front of him. The entire mission hinged on the success or failure of the next few minutes. If they couldn’t get inside the base, they were all as good as dead.

  10.

  J essica and Anna had watched the humvee from the army base speed by on the highway. They turned their eyes to the vehicle fire in the distance, where it was still burning bright and wild. They couldn’t see past the fire, so they didn’t know if Archer and Laz’s plan had worked, if the surprise attack had taken out the Omega XT. Then they saw the humvee coming back toward the access road, where it slowed to almost a stop. Jessica held her breath. The bright red light of Archer’s road flare suddenly lit up the vehicle and fell to the ground. Then the humvee was gone.

  “That’s it, everybody,” Anna announced. “Let’s load up and get ready to roll.”

  One of the Lefty soldiers jumped behind the converted van’s steering wheel. Jessica, Anna, and three of the Leftys piled into the van’s cargo area and closed the door behind them. The other two loaded themselves onto the pickup, one in the driver seat, the other behind the .50-cal machine gun in the truck’s bed.

  “Let’s go,” Anna said to the van’s driver.

  He turned the key, and the engine came to life. Then he put on a pair of night-vision goggles he had confiscated from the dead Omega XT back in the city earlier that day. His eyes adjusted to the strange green hue that veiled the landscape through the windshield. He shifted the van into drive and pressed the gas pedal gently. The pickup truck followed.

  Their next stop was behind the base, where Laz would be waiting if everything went as planned.

  ΔΔΔ

  The Omega XT guards at the base’s main gate had watched the excursion unit closely as it made its way to the fire on the highway, but what they c
ould see was limited by distance. And even with night-vision binoculars, the gigantic fire had obstructed their view of what had happened a mile away. They knew the unit had stopped at the fire for approximately five minutes. Then they had turned around and started making their way back to the base. Past that, it was anybody’s guess.

  The unit’s humvee was approaching with speed, so much so that the guards became alarmed. One of the guards nervously opened the gate, but the rest stood in the opening so that the vehicle would have to stop.

  Laz had wanted to create an air of urgency in the way he was driving. The less time they had to spend at the gate, the better. He slammed on the brakes as they got to the opening, stopping the humvee just feet from the Omega XT standing there.

  One of the guards came to Laz’s window. “What the hell is this?” he asked.

  “Need to get inside the base, ASAP,” Laz said. “We have a prisoner.”

  “A prisoner?!?” the guard said. He leaned over and looked through the humvee’s rear window. He saw Houser in handcuffs. He leaned back up to Laz. “What happened out there?”

  “No time to explain,” Laz said. “Need to get this guy locked down. NOW!”

  “Ok, ok,” the guard said. He put his hand on his uniform’s intercom. “Control, unit is back. They have a prisoner. Please advise, over.”

  The control response was delayed, just like before. Finally, a voice came over the intercom. “Gate 1, advise unit to proceed to North Infirmary. There will be soldiers there to assist, over.”

  “North Infirmary, yessir, over and out,” the guard said. He motioned to Laz. “Ok, you heard the man, proceed to the North Infirmary.”

  Laz shifted the humvee into gear. Before he hit the gas, he said one last thing to the guard. “Don’t worry about anybody else out there. We took care of the rest.”

  With that, he took off, turning the humvee north once they were past the gate. They had made it inside the base without incident.

  “‘There will be soldiers there to assist,’“ Laz yelled to Archer, repeating what the voice over the intercom had said.

  “Yeah, I heard,” Archer replied. “Let’s just hope it’s not more than we can handle.”

  They had known they would be dealing with Omega XT at the faked prisoner drop-off, but they were banking on a small number that they could quietly overpower with ease. If that wasn’t the case, the plan would have to be scrapped, and the silent sabotage they had prepared would be lost.

  11.

  A s the humvee sped away from the gate toward the infirmary, the Omega XT guard who had been corresponding with the base’s main control room clicked on his intercom. His interaction with the humvee’s driver had been strange, made all the more unusual by the prisoner they had captured.

  “Control, the unit we sent to the fire reports no one left alive at the scene. Don’t know what or who they were dealing with. Intel limited here at the gate, over.”

  The control room responded much quicker this time. “Gate 1, be advised, send another unit out to investigate the scene at the fire and confirm the eliminated threat, over.”

  “Will do, Control. Over and out.”

  ΔΔΔ

  Just like he had told Archer earlier, Laz had the interior layout of the former army base memorized. When the guard instructed him to proceed to the North Infirmary, he knew exactly where he was going.

  Their humvee’s headlights shone on the infirmary’s large entrance doors as they pulled into the parking area in front of it. Laz cut off the engine. Immediately, the infirmary doors swung open. Archer and Laz focused from the front seat, ready to calculate a strategy based on how many Omega XT came out of the building. More than four, and they would have to adjust. More than eight, and all bets were off. Only two came out at first. They were walking hurriedly toward the humvee. A few seconds later, two more exited the infirmary and took up guard positions outside its doors. More seconds passed, and no one else appeared.

  “Four,” Archer said loud enough that everyone in the vehicle could hear him. That was the number they had predicted, and so everyone knew what they had to do. They each opened their doors and got out. Jacob pulled the handcuffed Houser out with him.

  “Well, this is a strange occurrence,” one of the approaching Omega XT said. “Can’t recall ever having a prisoner in here.” His tone held a hint of curiosity. He didn’t understand why they had taken anyone alive. It wasn’t something that they did at the secluded base.

  “Now we do,” Archer said calmly. There was no need for urgency with these Omega XT soldiers. If anything, the Leftys wanted them at ease and off their guard.

  “Alright then,” the same Omega XT said. “Right this way.”

  He turned with his fellow soldier and started walking to the infirmary. The Leftys followed, Archer and Laz first, Jacob and Simpson guiding Houser behind. When they reached the doors, the two Omega XT guards opened them, then waited for everyone to enter. Then they followed them in, locking the doors behind them.

  The infirmary was a giant open space, a fluorescently lit bright white throughout. There were three rows of beds, enough for a hundred wounded men, each separated by the medical equipment needed to monitor a patient. The American military was known for its worst-case scenario preparation. This infirmary, one of three on the base, was a prime example.

  “There’s a separate area on the other side of the building, designed for critical care patients,” the Omega XT said. “It’s small, has a deadbolt on the door. That’s where we’ll put him.”

  “Sounds good,” Archer said, knowing that the path between the rows of beds would tighten the group together and leave little room for the ANTs’ defense or escape. He’d take every advantage he could get.

  When the group reached a halfway point in the room, Archer spoke. “Boy, that fire was a helluva thing to see.” That was the first signal to the others. They each put their hands on the handles of the knives on their belts.

  “Really?” the Omega XT asked from in front. “What in the world...”

  Archer didn’t let him finish his question. He yelled, “Now!” as the Omega XT was asking it. The four Leftys acted in unison, just as they had practiced. They pulled their knives and drove them into the Omega XT’s bodies, stabbing them through the vulnerable midsection of their uniform.

  Jacob had been more concerned about this part of the plan than anything else. He wondered if he could do it, and what might happen if he couldn’t. But when Archer’s signal came, his worries vanished. He drew his knife and turned to the Omega XT behind him in one movement, pushing the long blade into the soldier’s belly. Then he twisted it clockwise, just as Archer had taught him earlier that afternoon. The Omega XT instinctively grabbed for the knife’s blade, but Jacob rotated the handle further. The soldier’s legs gave beneath him, and he fell to the floor, with Jacob following him down. Once on the ground, Jacob pulled the knife out and pushed it into the soldier’s side, just above his pelvis. He twisted it again, and the Omega XT writhed violently underneath him. Jacob pulled the blade out and pushed it into a different spot at the Omega XT’s beltline. Finally, the soldier lay still in a pool of blood beneath him.

  Everything was quiet after that. Jacob got to his knees, straddling the man he had just killed. His heart pumped rapidly in his ears and brain. He looked around and saw Archer and Laz and Simpson, all in the same position he was, all on top of their defeated and dead ANTs. Houser, still handcuffed, stood in the center of the carnage. He had a wry smile on his face.

  “Now that’s the kind of entertainment you just can’t find anymore,” he said jokingly.

  Jacob stood, his knees shaking. He found a bed close to him and fell onto it, suddenly exhausted from relief and pride and the adrenaline that had run its course and left him.

  12.

  T he Leftys in the infirmary had to act quickly. They knew that the prisoner transfer shouldn’t take more than ten minutes, and then another five or so before an ANTI- unit could get to the infi
rmary to investigate anything suspicious. That gave them fifteen minutes to get Jacob to a computer, where he could disable the base’s network communications and electricity. Once that was done, they could become invisible.

  Archer pulled the map of the base’s interior from his pocket and found their position at the North Infirmary. Barracks lined the base’s western perimeter, starting just a few hundred feet from where they were. That would be where most of the Omega XT could be found at that time of the night. The Leftys would deal with them after the lights were out. What Archer was searching for was the main control room, where the voice on the guard’s intercom had originated.

  “It’s there,” Laz said from over his shoulder, pointing to a structure further north of the infirmary. It was close. It would take only two or three minutes to get there running on a straight path, but that would lead them over open ground. Archer figured a seven-minute trek using the cover of other buildings to reach it.

  “C’mon, Jacob,” he said as he folded up the map. “No time for layin’ around. Follow me – and stay right on my ass. Got it?”

  Jacob stood and shook his body, like he was shaking off the dust of the death he had caused. He understood his importance to the mission, and he forced his mind to focus on what he had to do next.

  “Ready?” Archer asked impatiently.

  Jacob nodded once.

  “Lock the doors behind us,” Archer said to Laz. “Wait here until the lights go down. You know what to do after that.”

  Archer jogged to the infirmary’s door with Jacob right behind him, then he hesitated and listened. The night outside was still quiet. He opened one of the doors slowly and crept through. Jacob did the same. Laz locked the door after they left, then went back to wait for the darkness to come with Simpson and Houser.