The Ties That Bind r5-4

by Cliff Ryder

  He tapped the controls and checked the sonar again for the other sub. He didn't want any more surprises at this point. He could handle it, but the Scorpion wasn't in great shape and Tina surely couldn't handle much more. She wasn't cut out for the life of a supersecret spy. But then again, not many people were.

  "There," she said, pointing to a little inlet not far away.

  "Why there?" he asked.

  "Because there's nothing there," she said. "The ocean has eroded all the soil beneath the grasses, but they still float on the top of the water most of the year, except when it completely freezes. There should be plenty of hiding room beneath them."

  "Good idea," he said, steering the craft toward the coordinates she'd pointed out.

  Maybe she wasn't cut out to be a spy, but she was smart enough to think like one. He decided that no matter what, he did like that in a woman.

  In fact, he liked her more than he wanted to admit. And that, he realized ruefully, made it personal.

  He had to get her out of the way or abort, because once it got personal, almost every mission failed. Denny was right about that much, anyway.

  14

  "I think we lost them," Jason said, alternating his gaze between the view screen, which showed little but dark, muddy water and the hanging roots of the grasses above them, and the various scanners and sonar the computer was running.

  "Good," Tina said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Now what?"

  "We need to find a place to dock," he said, engaging the engines and easing the damaged Scorpion through the water. It lacked much of its normal grace and was running on about half its usual power. The currents that would normally be of little consequences buffeted the craft with disturbing force. Jason looked over the damage report again, and knew he needed time to do some repairs on the craft and to try to get it in a position where he had more power and control.

  "We'll make port in Blue Whale Bay," he said. "I can try to make some repairs there. While I'm doing that, you need to get to the village, pick up your grandfather and get out of here."

  "I think we've had this conversation before," she said.

  "The last time we had this conversation, it was a discussion. This time, it's an order. I need to get you to safety."

  Tina didn't protest any further, which made him automatically suspicious. He knew he was going to have difficulty getting her to comply. His only ace in the hole was that he knew she would want to keep her grandfather safe and unharmed.

  They slowly glided to shallow water, and the Scorpion's legs found land. He guided the machine behind a large rock formation that jutted out into the water. The jostling was made even worse by the damage they had taken in battle. He looked at his maintenance monitor again and realized that he was leaking fluid from one of the legs and it was barely supporting any weight. Jason didn't wait for the shutdown, but ordered the internal repairs that the system could do on its own. All of the damage couldn't be righted with the repair, but he thought it should be enough to stabilize the machine.

  Jason tried to scan the area for life before they left the Scorpion, but was unable to get that sensor array up and running. They'd just have to take their chances. He popped the door and he and Tina slid down to the ground. Cramped legs and freezing temperatures made them both move a little more slowly than normal. Jason scanned the water's edge, but couldn't even detect a small ripple.

  "Looks like we…"

  The words weren't completely out of his mouth before Tina's scream rent the air. Jason turned, poised to shoot, but paused when he saw Sheriff Giles holding a gun under her chin. Tina's struggling stopped when he cocked the pistol.

  "Giles, what the hell are you doing?" she yelled.

  "Let her go, Sheriff," Jason said. "She isn't a threat to you."

  "Oh, I beg to differ," Chris said, stepping out of the shadows, flanked by his friend Troy. "Ever since you showed up, our little Tina has become quite the nuisance." They moved to stand next to the sheriff, both of them with guns drawn and pointed at Jason.

  He didn't blink.

  Jason took each breath carefully, waiting for the opportune moment. He inched forward, pressing his body weight onto the balls of his feet, seeking that minute second when he could strike.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice said from behind him.

  Jason glanced and saw his brother moving closer, aiming a nice new Russian assault rifle at his midsection. He turned more fully to stare past the rifle and into Jesse's eyes. He had already made the decision that he was going to have to kill him, but if they hurt Tina, he mentally promised a slow death. Surprised at the intensity of his own feelings, he pushed them aside.

  "So," Jason sneered, "are you actually going to shoot me with the rifle or just hold it and keep on playing soldier?"

  Jesse shrugged, indifferent. "You or your girlfriend, bro. It makes zero difference to me. I get paid either way."

  "How nice for you," Jason said.

  Chris moved away from the group and walked around the Scorpion, then tried to take a look inside. Jason had already set the vehicle to automatically lock if unoccupied for more than two minutes. Chris pried at the door, but it wouldn't budge. He jogged away then returned with a crowbar. Jason couldn't help but laugh.

  "You think it's funny to have your little toy smashed?" Chris said.

  "No," Jason said. "I think it's funny that you're going to try. The shell is a modified titanium skin, and it's been positively charged."

  "What the hell does that mean?" Chris demanded.

  "It means that the locking mechanisms have been engaged," Jason replied, "and there's no way in hell you're getting in without a key."

  "Yeah, well, I have my skeleton key right here."

  Chris took a swing at the Scorpion. The crowbar connected with the hull, and the ion field immediately reacted to the negatively charged magnetic particles in the crowbar. Twenty-five thousand volts of electricity arced through the metal with the tangy smell of ozone and a buzzing noise, tossing Chris to the ground in a jerking heap.

  "That's a pretty lousy key you've got there, Chris," Jason said. "And as for what a positively charged field does, I think you probably understand it better now than I could ever explain it to you. Am I right?"

  "That's enough!" Giles barked. "Chris, get up, damn it."

  Troy moved to help Chris up, and Jason thought about using that moment to launch an assault, but even as he tensed his muscles, he saw that Jesse's gaze wasn't the least bit distracted. "You're not that fast," he said.

  Jason felt the muscles along his jawline clench in frustration, but he knew that his brother was speaking the truth. No one was that fast.

  "All right," Giles said. "Let's get back to base. Troy, you and Chris in the first truck, with Jesse and Jason in the back. Tina can ride with me. That way, the hero won't get any funny notions about a rescue attempt."

  "Fine," Chris snapped. "Let's do it. I know there are a few questions that I would like some answers to."

  "What about the machine?" Troy asked.

  "Leave it," Chris said. "We don't need it right away and it's not going anywhere. Besides, there are other things that I'd like to focus my attention on right now. There's some information that I need, and Tina and I are way overdue for our heart-to-heart conversation." He turned a leering grin in her direction. "Isn't that right, my dear?"

  He leaned in closer to Tina and ran a finger along her cheek. She tilted her head invitingly and he dropped his head closer to hers. Jason saw her muscles tense and knew what she had planned. She launched forward, slamming her head into his nose with a resounding crunch.

  Chris screamed in agony, and it was enough of a distraction, moving Jesse's eyes just a fraction of an inch. Jason spun and grabbed the barrel of the rifle, yanking it forward and out of Jesse's hands.

  "Wha…" Chris managed to get out before Jason spun the rifle like a baton and drove the stock into his brother's chin with a crack.

  Tina jumped away from Giles and
Chris, moving to his side, and they began to run when Giles shouted, "Don't!" A shot from his pistol ricocheted off the rocks. They slammed to a halt.

  As Jesse grabbed the rifle from Jason's hands, Chris got to his feet, blood pouring from his shattered nose. "Oh, you fucking bitch," he said. "I knew you wouldn't come quietly."

  "She isn't the one that's going to have the information your boss wants," Giles said. "We should kill her and be done with it. We've wasted enough time."

  "No," Chris grated between his teeth. "We'll bring her. We don't know what she knows. And besides, I know exactly how we can get her to cooperate. Send a couple of deputies over to pick up her grandfather in the village," he said.

  "No!" she shouted. "Leave him alone!"

  Chris walked up and grabbed her hair, wrenching her head backward. "You want him left alone? Then I suggest you learn to cooperate, starting right now, or by the time I'm through with you and your pathetic grandfather, they won't be able to identify enough of your remains to even conduct a ceremony to get you into the next world." He shook her roughly and a small cry escaped her lips. "Got me?"

  She nodded, mute, and Jason knew she was finished. There was little she could tell them, though, and it would go easier for her if she broke sooner. He thought of what they might do to her to make her talk.

  Chris turned his cold stare at him. "As for you, hero, I can't wait to see what my boss and I find tucked away in that brain of yours. I bet you know all sorts of things we'll find interesting."

  Jason laughed softly. "You aren't smart enough to figure out that an iron crowbar and a charged field don't mix, and you think you can get me to tell you things I don't want you to know?" He laughed again, the sound mocking. "You're the most ridiculous bad guy I've ever met."

  "Oh, you'll talk, tough guy," Chris said. "After a few hours or days with me and my boss, you'll tell us everything we want to know and more."

  "I don't know anything," Jason said, deadpan. "And my name is Doe. John Doe." He knew talking his way out of this one was impossible, but he also knew that anyone could be broken. He would have to come up with a plan to get both himself and Tina out of this mess and he needed do it fast.

  "Get moving," Giles barked. "Save the talk for when we're back at the base."

  Chris tied Tina's hands in front of her while Giles continued to hold her at gunpoint, then the sheriff shoved her toward his truck.

  The others took far more precautions with Jason. Jesse, his chin dripping blood, held the rifle steadily aimed at his heart and he looked more than ready to pull the trigger. Troy and Chris tied his hands behind him and his feet together, then picked him up and tossed him into the back of the second truck.

  Jesse climbed in, holding the rifle firmly. "I should shoot you now for hitting me like that," he said.

  Jason kept silent, thinking furiously. There had to be a way to escape and salvage the mission, but he was drawing a blank.

  All he could think about was Tina.

  * * *

  The ride was cold and uncomfortable, and the bed of the truck provided little protection from the rough ground they traveled over, so by the time they'd arrived back at the Quonset building, Jason felt bruised from head to toe. Jesse had remained silent the entire way, which suited him fine.

  They might be brothers in name, looks and even blood, but Jason held no illusions about their relationship. He would kill Jesse the moment the opportunity presented itself.

  When the truck came to a halt, Chris and Troy jumped out and yanked him to his feet, tossing him onto the ground with enough force to rattle his teeth. They picked him up again just as Giles got there, angry, red faced and shoving Tina in front of him. "Don't say I didn't try to help you, girl," he snapped. "Take them inside to the holding cells. I've got to get back to the village."

  "What for?" Chris asked. "Don't you want to see them questioned?"

  Giles grunted. "You won't get anything out of her short of torture, and he'll be even worse. Besides, your boss called and wants me to search Siku's cabin."

  "What, no warrant?" Jason quipped. "I'm really beginning to think that due process hasn't come very far up here." His comments earned him another shove and he almost fell again.

  "Shut up," Troy said.

  "Come on," Chris said, grabbing one of Jason's arms and gesturing for Troy to take the other. "Jesse, you cover Tina. Let's get them inside. The boss will be here soon enough."

  "Who's the boss?" Jason asked.

  "You'll find out, and then wish you hadn't," Chris said. He and Troy lifted him and began carrying him to the building.

  "You don't mean Boris, do you?" he asked. "Boris Ambros?"

  They stopped suddenly. "How'd you know…" Troy demanded.

  "He's a spy, you dumb-ass," Chris snarled. "How do you think he knows?"

  "Oh," Troy said, then they kept moving.

  The guards let them pass into the building without saying a word, and they entered the building through the same door that Jason had used before. "Say, this looks familiar," he said.

  "I don't think the problem is going to be getting him to talk," Jesse said. "The problem will be getting him to shut up."

  "This is what family means to you, huh, Jesse?" Tina asked. "You and Giles have a lot in common. He seems to think that his only family is money. That how you feel?"

  "That how you got him so riled, Tina?" he replied. "Talk to him about his family? Do you know his mother has cancer and no insurance? He's doing what he's doing/or his family."

  "You don't hurt other people for your family, you idiot," she said. "Not for money and not for anything else. A real family doesn't expect it from you and wouldn't want blood money, anyway. The ties that bind a real family together are more tightly wound than any packet of cash you'll be earning for your work today."

  "Maybe," he said, shoving her along. "But I don't have a family, remember?"

  "You could have," she whispered. "But you were too selfish to see it."

  "Just shut it, Tina," he said.

  Instead of going down into the cavern below, they went to the far side of the building, an area Jason hadn't explored before. Along the wall, six heavy metal doors were set at even intervals. Each door had a small slot at the bottom where a tray could slide through, but no windows. The lock was electronic and Jason studied it carefully as Chris opened the first door and shoved him into an empty eight-by-eight room. The floors and the walls were made of poured concrete.

  "Enjoy your stay." He laughed. "I'll be seeing you real soon, hero."

  Troy stepped forward and cut the ropes binding his feet together, but left his hands tied. "Don't try to escape…" he said, but Jason cut him off.

  "Wouldn't dream of it," he said. "I wouldn't want to miss the chance to visit with old Boris in person."

  "Yeah, whatever," Troy said. "It's your death."

  They slammed the door, and Jason could hear a series of clicks as the lock was reengaged.

  He listened carefully, worried that Chris might try to force himself on Tina, but from the sounds of it, they put her in the next cell over and locked her in. The lock was the same electronic model as the one on his door, and the tones were the same, too. He heard the three men leaving, but they didn't speak other than to taunt them both with a final call of, "See you soon!"

  Silence descended and Jason studied the room once more. Pounding on the walls would be useless and there were no windows.

  He lay down on the cold floor and pushed open the tiny slot for the tray. "Tina?" he said. "Can you hear me?"

  He heard the squeak of metal and then her reply. "Yes, I can hear you," she said.

  "Are you okay?" he asked. "Giles didn't hurt you, did he?"

  "I'm all right," she said. "Scared witless, but physically okay."

  "Good," he said.

  "Jason?"

  "Yes?" he replied. "What is it?"

  "We're in serious trouble, aren't we?"

  He tried to think of something clever to say, some lie that m
ight soften what was coming, and knew that nothing he could say would make the situation any better. She was strong enough to know the truth, probably knew it already.

  "Jason?" she repeated.

  "Yes," he admitted. "We're in trouble. Big trouble."

  "That's what I thought," she said. "Do you have a plan?"

  "Just one for the moment," he said, sighing. He was bone tired and things weren't going to get any better in that regard anytime soon.

  "Great!" she said. "What is it?"

  "Pray," he replied, his voice grim. "It's pretty much all we've got left."

  15

  Several hours passed in the cold cells and they spoke very little. There wasn't much to say, despite the thoughts racing through Jason's mind. Finally, they heard the sound of boots approaching, and Jason risked one last bit of conversation.

  "Remember what I've told you," he said. "Let them focus on me and answer anything they want to know. Don't make them hurt you. With any luck, they're more interested in what I know than what you know."

  "With any luck," she said. "Since when have we been lucky on this trip?"

  "Well," he said, "just the once."

  They both laughed and it felt good to be able to do so, regardless of their circumstances. Jason got to his feet and stood waiting for them to open the door. The electronic lock was once again keyed and his door opened, revealing Troy, along with two of the uniformed guards he'd seen before.

  "Come on," Troy said. He held Tina's 9 mm Russian pistol in his hand and gestured with it. "It's time to go see Boris."

  Jason shrugged and stepped out of the cell. "They left you in charge?" he asked. "Desperate for help, are they?"

  Troy sighed heavily. "Just please shut up, man." He glanced at the guards and they took up a position on either side of him. Both of them were armed with the Russian assault rifles, as well as handguns. Once he felt that Jason was secure, Troy unlocked Tina's cell and motioned for her to step out.

  She did and he fell in behind her, telling the guards, "We're taking them to see Boris."

  Both guards sniggered under their breath. Boris, Jason thought, must be a real charmer.