There were more twists and turns now, and every few miles, small sideroads branched off at ninety-degree angles. Some of them were little more than double tire tracks leading into the woods; others were more substantial graded dirt arteries. Kettle fretted that their quarry had turned off on one of these lanes, but without evidence, there was nothing for it but to continue racing along the main road.
Time ticked by with cruelty. Every corner promised new hope, and each time that hope was extinguished when the view out the windshield turned up nothing of consequence. Other than two deer that bounded away at the sound of the oncoming truck, this region of Yenshian land was surprisingly barren.
A few minutes later, a car headed toward them travelling in the opposite direction. It was a small yellow jalopy, and Soup slowed down enough to make sure the occupants didn’t include a tied-up Korean girl. Convinced, Soup sped forward again.
Minute after minute went by, and Kettle’s fears amplified. What if they ran out of gas? He leaned forward in his seat to peek around Soup and check the fuel gauge. There wasn’t one. At least, he couldn’t see one. He wondered how they checked fuel levels on Okin. He wondered if they even used the same type of fuel that trucks on Earth did.
“Whoa!” Dallas yelled.
“I see it,” Soup said.
Kettle tore his eyes away from the dash panel and looked out the window with the desperate hope that he’d see the rear end of a truck driving slowly in front of them. Instead, he saw a wreck.
In a small field surrounded by forest on the right side of the road, the green military truck was lying upside down with three of its four wheels pointing skyward. The fourth wheel had broken off and couldn’t be seen. A small amount of black acrid smoke was snaking upward out of the truck’s underbelly. Next to the wreck, a small river took a wide turn and snaked under a bridge.
Soup lifted off the accelerator and let the truck coast as they approached. “Do you see anyone?”
“Not yet,” Dallas replied. He located a switch on the passenger side of the dashboard that lowered his window and was sticking his head out to get a better look as they closed in on the scene.
“Take off your belt,” Kettle told Saeliko. “Get ready.”
They were a few hundred yards away when they saw the skid marks on the road and the impact marks where the truck had hit the soft dirt curb and flipped. It looked like the truck had almost rolled right into the river; its front end was almost hanging over the bank. Soup brought their vehicle to a skidding stop right where the tracks ended, and all four of them opened their doors and jumped out.
“Haley!” Soup yelled out as he ran toward the wrecked pickup.
The grass was tall; most of it was knee-height, but clumps here and there came up to their hips. As they got closer, they saw broken glass and metal components littering the crash path. “Haley!” Soup called out again. He was almost at the busted tailgate.
And then, there she was.
“Haley!” Dallas and Kettle called out at the same time.
The Korean stood up in the tall grass about thirty feet from the wreck and looked at her four rescuers with an expression of utter confusion. Her arms were held out in front of her, and in her right hand, she was holding something that glinted in the sun. As he got closer, Kettle registered the object as a long, curved knife. Even from a distance, Kettle could see blood on her face and clothes. No! his mind screamed, and he ran forward, hoping against hope that her injuries were superficial.
Saeliko outraced them all and reached Haley first but pulled up a few feet short to look at something in the grass. Soup and Dallas got there next, and Soup immediately wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug, causing the knife to tumble out of Haley’s hands and disappear in the grass. Kettle, whose various injuries were proving to be very good speed inhibitors, limped up last and took stock of the scene.
Holy shit. The Yenshian major was lying on his back in the grass with dark blood stains in a half-dozen spots on his torso. Part of his face was slashed open, and so was the side of his neck. The man had met a violent end.
“Kettle,” Haley said quietly, her vocalization cracking with emotion. He looked up at his friend. She was still in Soup’s arms, but she was looking at him with tears in her eyes. “Come here,” she said.
He stepped toward her and noticed that her hands were bound together with rope, which was preventing her from hugging Soup back, but more importantly, she didn’t seem to be hurt; the blood splattered around her body wasn’t hers.
“I’m here,” Kettle told her as he wrapped his left arm around her and right arm around Soup.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she told him.
Dallas came in from behind and completed the four-person hug. Only Saeliko refrained from joining in. Dallas asked, “Was he the only one?” and nodded toward the corpse in the grass.
Haley shook her head and sniffed. “The driver died in the crash. They both didn’t have seatbelts on, and we . . .” She paused to sniff again and wipe the stray tears away on Soup’s shoulder. “We were going pretty fast. I . . . uh . . . started fighting with them, just biting and kicking and doing anything to make them stop. I kicked the steering wheel and made us flip.” She looked stunned.
“Jesus,” Dallas said. “You okay? I mean, no injuries or anything?”
“Some bruises. I think I have some cuts on my leg, but those guys got it way worse. The major was pretty messed up before I stabbed him. Wait, how did you guys even get here? I thought you were at ARCOB?”
“Ahem,” Saeliko said. Everyone turned to see the Saffisheen holding up her decoder-killer doohickey.
“Oh, Christ!” Dallas exclaimed. “Haley, we need to kill your decoder signal right bloody now. There’s a Zodo Kye-shiv coming straight for us.”
“Huh? What?”
“Zodo sent a kill squad. I’ll explain everything later. Saeliko, do it.”
Saeliko held down the red button and watched the lights flash. She nodded her confirmation once the process was complete.
“Congrats,” the Saffisheen told the Korean with a smile. “You just died.”
“Huh?”
“You hear that?” Soup asked. His hands motioned for quiet.
Everyone froze and looked to various spots across the horizon. Kettle strained his ears and heard nothing other than the movement of the water, a slight breeze rustling the grass and two or three birds twittering somewhere. He was about to mention the absence of perceived danger when his ears picked out something else. Something manmade. It was barely audible over nature’s subdued symphony, but it was there. He couldn’t see it yet, but there was a Kye-shiv circling their position.
“There.” Saeliko pointed to the low, heavily forested hilltops to the northwest. Kettle saw the tell-tale shape bolting over the treetops.
“Back to the truck!” Soup blurted and grabbed Haley by the arm.
Dallas used both hands to stop Soup’s progress. “There’s no time. They’ll be on us too quickly.”
“And we’d be sitting ducks,” Soup agreed. Both Marines turned to the closest edge of forest at the far end of the short field. They simultaneously said, “Run!”
The five of them sprinted for the trees with the sound of the Kye-shiv growing ever louder.
3.4 ELISKA
“There it is,” Mr. Toad said. His index finger pointed to a red blip that had only just appeared on the holographic contour map. “That’s the Kye-shiv.”
“You’re back in Zodo’s systems?”
“Nope. That’s not going to happen, but the Kye-shiv is close enough for our onboard radar to detect.”
“It’s turning.”
“Huh, you’re right.” They watched with the intensity of hawks eyeing a field mouse as the dot continued to bank right. “That’s a tight turn.”
“That’s not just a turn. It’s circling.” She looked up at her counterpart in confusion. “What does that mean? Why are they circling?”
“Could be a number of
things.”
“Like they found Haley?”
“That’s one possibility,” he admitted. “Hold on, I’ll try to raise Dallas.”
Eliska watched Mr. Toad briefly close his eyes and then stare blankly at nothing in particular. The Sage man undoubtedly had a bounty of cutting-edge tech installed in his unremarkable-looking head, all thought-activated, and probably more than a few gadgets surgically tucked away in other body parts to boot. She wouldn’t want that for herself, but she recognized the convenience of being able to make a long-distance call without moving a finger or having to carry a physical device.
“Not answering.”
Eliska wondered the significance of that. “I think they’re in trouble.”
“Maybe not. Could be Dallas is still angry with me.”
“This is frustrating. I don’t like waiting around like this. It makes me feel so useless. Can’t we fly closer to the Kye-shiv. If we need to lend assistance, we should be as close as possible.”
“You know the rules I have to play by.”
Eliska did know, but she was blurry on the boundaries, and she wanted to press the matter. “What if they’re in mortal danger and we could save them? You know what’s at stake here. They’re Zero Stock.” She watched him in an attempt to measure his reaction but found it woefully lacking, which sent a small, sharp wave of dismay through her thoughts. While Mr. Toad was most assuredly a far cry from QM Brennov on a scale of evil intent, certain parallels could still be drawn. He was a company man who prioritized company interests. And as much as he wasn’t actively carrying out heinous acts or commanding others to carry them out on his behalf, it seemed he was open to the idea of letting good people die without even trying to intervene.
“Zero Stock,” Eliska repeated. “Zero bloody Stock! I know I don’t have to explain to you the potential implications if they’re killed or captured.”
He glanced at her for a moment and subsequently lowered his eyes with a sigh. “I have orders. My bosses have given me a fair degree of latitude, but there are strict lines that I am not permitted to cross.”
“Billions could die. That’s billions with a B. Haley and Kettle could be our only chance to ever get in that Zero site.”
Mr. Toad brought his eyes back up and shook his head. “More Zero Stock will come. This isn’t our last chance.”
“You don’t know that. You can’t possibly know that.”
“Actually, I can possibly know that.”
“I’m a scientist. Don’t get me started on probabilities. It doesn’t matter how many Zero Stock have come before, you can’t guarantee that . . . Wait. What did you say? What do you mean, you can know?” She leaned forward and glared at him, willing him to respond.
For a good long minute, Mr. Toad stared back at her. There was a reserved anger in his disposition, as if he resented her questions, or that he resented the very fact that people refused to follow his direction without question. She met his scrutiny and fired it back at him. Eliska felt courage blossoming within her chest and recognized it as the courage that comes from unearthing malfeasance.
“What do you know?” she asked in a calm but assertive tone. He leaned back in his chair and lifted a thumb to his mouth, where he proceeded to bite down on the nail. “Oh, come on!” Eliska cried out. On the floor, Vasper stirred at the sudden noise, but his eyes remained closed. She wouldn’t have cared if the sergeant did wake up; she wanted answers, and she wanted them now. “You recruited me on the basis of trust. Do you remember any of that? You told me I could trust you, that I could rest assured you were doing the right thing. Do those words ring a bell?”
“I am doing the right thing!” he blurted. “Do you know how difficult it was to organize all this? Do you realize that through my actions, and through the actions of Sage Systems, we’ve already saved Kettle twice and Haley at least once. They’re alive right now because of me and because of all the technology I’ve brought to bear. But I’m not God, Eliska Tannishoy. I can’t reach down and pluck them out of harm’s way just because you don’t like the way the mission is going.”
“Don’t talk to me like a stupid little girl! You can’t shunt me off topic by preaching about all the good things you’ve done. We were talking about trust, you sneaky little rat. How the hell can I trust you when you’re clearly hiding things from me? Why won’t you tell me what you know?”
“Fine. I won’t talk to you like a little girl. Here’s the truth, doctor. You know very well that someone in my position is entrusted with confidential information. I can’t blabber company secrets to anyone and everyone. I wouldn’t be very good at my job if . . .”
“Oh, bullshit. We’re way beyond company secrets, you and I. In the past twenty-four hours, we’ve violated at least a half dozen common practice laws. Off the top of my head, I can think of kidnapping, hijacking, corporate espionage and tampering with privately owned decoder signals. We are partners in crime, and if our relationship is going to work, you better start telling me all the pertinent information you have.”
“Has it occurred to you that I might keep things from you because it might cloud your judgment? You’re out of your depth. You weren’t trained for any of this.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Eliska said. “How about I wake up Sergeant Vasper and see how he feels about your decision to keep secrets? I wonder what he would think about your decision to leave Kettle and Haley out to dry?”
“You’re going to start a mutiny against me?”
“The more you talk, the more mutiny sounds like a viable option.”
“I’m in,” Vasper grunted. The sergeant’s interjection startled both of them. Eliska jumped in her seat, and Mr. Toad whipped his head around in surprise.
Vasper’s eyes were open now. Eliska had no idea how much he had heard or how long he had been awake. For that matter, she didn’t even know how he was awake. She had expected him to be asleep for hours and hours.
Vasper hoisted himself off the floor and approached Mr. Toad, who stood up and faced the new threat to his authority.
“Stop right there,” Mr. Toad said, his hands raised in defense. “Don’t make me do anything we’d both regret.”
Vasper stopped a few feet from Mr. Toad but didn’t appear intimidated in the least. “I think you better tell this lady what she wants to know.”
“You don’t . . .”
“Right now, or I’ll rip you to pieces.”
A silence descended on the A90 Cloudrunner. Eliska found herself taken aback at how sinister the threat sounded despite the sergeant’s composure, until she realized that it was sinister in part because he was so composed. For his part, Mr. Toad visibly recoiled. He looked around for possible help, but the weapons compartment was too far away and the pilot either hadn’t heard or was ignoring the confrontation.
Eliska ended the stillness by saying, “He’s serious.”
“I know he’s serious!”
“So sit down and tell us what you know.”
He stood still for another moment, but all resistance ceased when Vasper closed the gap by another boot length. Mr. Toad plunged himself backward into the nearest chair and held up a single hand to indicate he would acquiesce.
“I received an update about two hours ago,” he told them. “Zodo has another Zero Stock at ARCOB.”
“What?”
“She arrived after you left on the Kye-shiv.”
“A she? Another female?”
“Fifteen years old.”
“So young.”
“And she renders your earlier statement invalid,” Mr. Toad commented. “Merrick and Haley do not in fact represent humanity’s last shot at entering Zero Site 1607.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. This girl doesn’t make our team expendable. For goodness sake, there are five people down there who could die if we don’t help them. They aren’t products or statistics on a piece of paper. They’re living, breathing people, who, by the way, didn’t ask for any of this.”
; “We’re going,” Vasper said. “Order the pilot to change course.”
“And what are we going to do when we get there? This is a commercial aircraft; it has no military capabilities.”
“No, but I do.”
“What are you going to . . . Hold on.”
Eliska heard it to – the tiny, almost imperceptible clicking sound in her ear as the communication line to the ground crew was reactivated. This was followed by two or three seconds of static-laden interference before Dallas’ voice came through.
“Toady? Doctor? You there?”
“We’re here,” Eliska replied while at the same time motioning for Mr. Toad to shut up. If this was a mutiny, she might as well take it the whole way.
“Oh, good. I don’t want to sound too alarmist or anyhing, but, well . . .”
“What’s going on? Do you have Haley?”
“That’s sort of a good news bad news situation.”
“Dallas, tell me!”
“We’ve got her. She’s alive and kicking, but we might be kind of FUBAR down here.”
“Sorry, what’s FUBAR?”
“Military term, doctor. It means that the situation is less than ideal, if you catch my drift. Any chance you and the tech wizard have more tricks up your sleeves for us? We’ve got a Kye-shiv and fifteen or sixteen pissed off Zodo creeps boxing us into a corner.”
“Oh.”
“I was hoping for a little more than ‘Oh,’ ma’am.”
“Yeah, okay. Can you hold them off for a while?”
“Well, I mean, I guess so. You gave us all these bullets and stuff. Might as well put ‘em to good use.”
“We’re going to change course and come get you. Just hold them off, okay.”
“Got an ETA?”
“Umm, hold on.” Eliska snapped her fingers at Mr. Toad and pointed to the cockpit. “Find out,” she demanded.
Mr. Toad went forward to talk to the pilot with Vasper right beside him. In the meantime, Eliska heard gunshots in her ear. The nanotech was well programmed; it muffled the auditory output to a tolerable level, but the sounds were unmistakable.
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