by M. Lorrox
-Clonk, clunk!-
July turns and walks back to Mary. “I’m not sure I trust him, but I figure…Eddy’s hands are worth something to him because they’re valuable to his enemies. I hope he keeps his word and preserves them.”
Mary nods at July, impressed at her logic. “Yes, they are certainly valuable… By the way, did you see how scared they all were?” She smiles.
July nods. “You weren’t scared though.”
She tilts her head. “I think I just hid it well.” She looks at the recently mopped floor. “I am glad they got rid of that mess though, just as I am glad you didn’t puncture Dr. Melgaard’s large intestines.”
July nods. “That would have smelled really bad.”
Hector heads toward the biotechnology lab. When he’s on that level—and far from any possibility of Mary and July hearing him from within their room—he pushes the page button on an intercom in the hall.
“SeCComm.”
Hector pushes the button to transmit. “This is Hector. Send the following message to Command… Preserve set of hands collected from the knights? …End of message.”
“…Sent.”
Hector continues toward the lab, smiling. As soon as the first batch is dried, we can start this war. Then, it’s only a matter of time. He feels his phone vibrate in his pocket, alerting him that he just received a message.
When he reaches the lab, he enters Dr. Melgaard’s old office and sets the container down. He checks his phone.
@Hector, send a message to the knights. Offer to reattach the hands in exchange for their immediate surrender. Let them know that if they decline your offer, you will destroy the hands.
Hector shrugs. “Worth a shot.”
Back on the residential level, Kazumi is enjoying a slow morning until she gets a notification on her phone. She glances at the icon alerting her of a message as she sips her coffee, but she waits to check the message for another minute. It’s from Command.
@Kazumi, @Foundry, divert all activity to complete the whip prototype. Deliver by 06:00 tomorrow.
She smiles, then scowls. All resources! That might not be enough time though... Better get to work. She sends initial instructions to her team, then she rushes to her lab.
On the disabled attack boat, spirits are at the bottom of the softly lapping waters of the sound they’re stuck in. Charlie still has shrapnel in his leg, and he guards the gap in the rear hatch. Ghost has removed the shard of steel from her arm, and she now guards the window they exploded out of the cockpit in the front. Hecate works on the hole shot in Eddy’s side, her hands covered in his blood. Owen’s shoulder bleeds from where it took shrapnel, and the hole in his thigh from yesterday’s drone attack has reopened with the recent exertion. The bandage on his thigh is soaked in saltwater, and it perpetually stings. He bears it while he addresses the new leg wound Balena suffered.
-Brrittttt!- Charlie fires a burst at the drone he watches.
Eddy calls over to him. “Get it?”
He lowers his gun. “No. Freakin’ thing... I hate drones, I just decided.”
Eddy sighs. “Maybe when this is over, we can target practice some. I can...” Ugh. I can’t even hold a gun, let alone fire one.
Charlie is quick to reply, “Sounds like a plan Leo, we’ll rig you up something until you get your arms fixed.”
After a half hour, everyone’s wounds are bandaged, and Hecate and Owen take their turn on guard. Eddy lies next to Balena, both of them on orders to rest and recover from their more serious wounds.
Balena sighs. “I heard you saved our asses out there. Sorry I couldn’t help, and sorry I couldn’t see for myself.”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t really do anything except run around then smash the thing’s camera.”
“Well, it’s a hell of a lot more than I did.” She tilts her head to look at Charlie. “Sir, what’s the damage to the boat? Did that airburst take out our engine control?”
“Sure did. This baby’s dead in the water.”
She shakes her head. “When Gabriel returns with the helicopter and the patrol boat tomorrow, what then?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know... Hey Owen!”
“Yeah?”
“Test your jammer!”
“Bring it to me!”
Oh right, he’s on guard and can’t leave his post. Charlie gets up and delivers it to him. “Maybe it does work but didn’t on the robot because, well, it wasn’t really a robot.”
Owen takes the jammer and hands Charlie the M4 rifle. “Just in case.”
Charlie nods. “Before you use it, what should happen if it works?”
He shrugs. “Well, we’ll know what happens if it doesn’t—nothing.”
Charlie furrows his brow and pulls the corners of his lips in. “Okay, just don’t let it drop on us. They explode, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” He flips a switch and aims the device at the drone in the distance. “This one is farther from their tower, so we’ve got a better shot at disrupting its signal... Here goes.” He holds down the trigger and the green LED lights up.
The drone stops circling, then starts to descend.
Charlie claps him on the shoulder. “I’d say it works. Disengage.”
Owen releases the trigger and the drone returns to its previous height and flight plan. “We could drop them into range and take them out...”
“No. I want a plan before we do anything. Who knows, maybe they don’t know we’ve got this thing.”
Charlie and Ghost organize the team’s remaining weapons, gear, and rations, then they take their turns on guard. Charlie takes the front, Ghost the back, and they settle in as the drones quit their circling and fly back to the tower. Charlie hollers toward Ghost, “Looks like they’re taking a shift change, too!”
After minute, Ghost hollers back, “Sir? Uh, you better come back here!”
He walks across the top of the boat to the back. In the distance, coming from the facility, is a pack of five drones flying in formation. “Why are they all together and moving really slow?”
The group of drones drop low, then follow the shoreline. The drone in the center has a large white flag sticking out above it and something else hanging below it.
Charlie raises his rifle. “Ghost, take aim.” He stomps his foot on the boat and yells, “Anybody in there that can take up a rifle, do it, and get out here!”
Owen and Hecate pile out, and they climb up behind Ghost to the top of the boat, joining Charlie. They take aim at the drones and follow them with their sights.
The drones pause over the small clearing the team used as a base. The drone in the center has what looks like a large white envelope beneath it and four straight legs. It lands on the ground, is held up by the legs, and powers down its motors. Then, the other four drones blast their motors and ascend straight up, gaining hundreds of feet in seconds. They stay in formation and wait.
Charlie lowers his rifle. “Think it’ll blow up if we get close to it?”
Eddy, who has been watching from the partially opened hatch below, steps out and looks up at his dad. “Only one way to find out. I’m the least useful, I’ll check it.”
Charlie shakes his head. “Leo! Hold on—”
-Splash!- Eddy is already in the water and struggling to swim. He doesn’t have a heavy bag of explosives on his back, but he does have a hole through his side that burns from the saltwater. He kicks his legs and is able to keep his grimacing face above the water.
“I order you to get back here!” Charlie squeezes his free hand into a fist and flares his nostrils.
Hecate clears her throat. “Actually sir, I agree with Leo—he’s the best one to check it out.”
Charlie slow-turns his head toward her without blinking.
She doesn’t flee from his gaze. “And they put a wh
ite flag on it. They’d have to be real bold—real desperate—to fuck with us after waving white.”
Charlie groans. “That time in the American Civil War, when I almost got murdered, was after the other guy waved white.” He sighs, then turns back to Eddy, who is almost at the shore. “Leo! Keep your distance at first and try to see if it has a bomb!”
Eddy angles his approach and makes landfall far away from the drone. As he catches his breath, he studies it with his sharp eyes. “I think it’s safe!” He swallows, then slowly approaches the drone.
One red LED still glows on it, and indeed, hanging beneath the drone is an envelope. Eddy bends to collect the envelope, then remembers he has no hands. He drops onto his knees and pinches it between his arm-stubs.
It hurts, but he tugs the envelope away, and he lifts the corner to his mouth. He rips it open and finds nothing more than a piece of paper inside. “Looks like a message!” After a little maneuvering, he situates the paper on the ground so he can read it.
Far away on the boat, Charlie yells to him, “What’s it say?”
Eddy reads it aloud, shouting back, “Dear Knights! In exchange for your immediate surrender, we will…” Eddy’s eyes widen, and his heartrate spikes.
“They’ll what?”
“Hold on!” Eddy reads, then re-reads, the note to himself. He closes his eyes for a moment, then he swallows. He stands and turns back to the boat. “It says that if we surrender, they’ll not kill us! They’ll only keep us locked up until…uh…until they make a deal with the High Council!”
Hecate furrows her brow. “That’s an odd offer…”
Charlie sighs and turns sideways to face her, away from Eddy. He whispers, “That’s because it’s not what they offered.” He clears his throat and yells back to his son, “What do you think we should do?”
Eddy steels his nerve and, with a shiver, yells back. “We should send them to hell!” He spins, steps landside of the drone, and kicks it with all his might toward the water. The drone sits a few inches off the ground, and Eddy’s foot connects with its bottom. The drone’s stiff, carbon-fiber body cracks with the impact, and the control board breaks. As the now useless drone soars like a punted football toward the waters of the sound, the white flag flaps as it trails behind until -splash!-
The drones high above Eddy break formation. Two head back toward the facility, while the other two take curving paths toward the boat. Charlie raises his gun. “Leo! Get your ass back here! We’ll cover you!”
After a few minutes, Eddy is back aboard the attack boat, and he blushes. He stands in the cabin, in his underwear, as Owen and Hecate dry him off. “Okay, uh, thanks guys, that’s good…”
Owen grabs a dry set of ACUs and opens the pants up for Eddy to step in.
Hecate stands at Eddy’s side, and he glances up to her. “Thank you… I think Owen can help me with the rest.”
She’s biting her lip, then she leans down closer to him, whispering, “What did the…” She swallows. “What did it feel like to kick that drone into the water? You sure busted that thing. It’s one less weapon they can use against us.”
Eddy forces a smile and shrugs. And they said they’d destroy my hands… One less weapon to use against us. He clears his suddenly closed-up throat. “It felt good to tell them to F-off.” He swallows. “One less thing they can use against us.”
She nods, then walks away while Owen helps Eddy get dressed.
Eddy sits beside Balena, and Hecate returns with a handful of protein bars. “You guys hungry?”
Balena shakes her head. “No thanks.”
Owen takes one, and he and Hecate sit near Eddy.
Hecate tears open a bar and notices that Eddy just stares. She extends it out to him. “Want a bite?”
He shakes his head. “Oh, no… Thanks though.” He notices a case in a recess of the hull across from him. He motions with his chin. “What’s that? I don’t remember seeing that before.”
Balena glances over. “Oh, that’s a breaching torch. It must have slid from where I stowed it. Damn glad it didn’t take any shrapnel; that case isn’t designed to protect it from impacts.”
“What is it exactly?”
She flops her head onto the other side to see him. “An oxygen and acetylene torch kit. SEALs use them to cut through steel doors when needed, or to weld up something quick.”
He nods, then glances to Hecate and Owen. “We still have HMX explosives, what’s it used for?”
Owen is chewing, so he motions to Hecate. She smiles. “Besides blowing stuff up?”
Eddy frowns. “I mean, how is it ignited?”
“Blasting caps or a small explosion would do it. Impacts—like taking a bullet—aren’t supposed to be able to cause detonation.” She takes a bite from her bar.
Eddy looks at Owen. “What exactly is damaged on this boat?”
Balena smiles while she watches Eddy. What’re you working on?
Owen motions over his shoulder. “Well, we’ve got a hatch that won’t close, a windshield blown into the water, and a shrapnelled engine control interface. Outside, that drone explosion damaged an engine strut, and it also took out the electric cannon’s targeting system.”
Eddy’s eyes gleam. “But the cannon is okay? And the computer that would fire it, uh, the weapons system control?”
He tilts his head. “None of the barrels looked damaged, and the computer systems are supposed to be isolated... I suppose it should still work, but not a ton of good it does us though; we can’t aim the thing.”
Eddy bites his lip, then looks up at the ceiling. Above them is a panel marked “ASuW - AMG-176.” Eddy gestures to it. “What’s that stand for?”
Owen shakes his head. “I dunno.”
Hecate taps Balena with her foot. “Any clue?”
She cranes her neck to look. “Well, I think the first part is Anti-Surface Warfare… If I had to guess, I’d say that must be the pod with the dummy missiles.” She shakes her head. “Again, not helpful.”
Eddy sighs. “Yeah… What else do we have? Guns, the jammer thing, and swords… Am I missing anything?”
Hecate’s eyes dart around while she thinks. “Wounded vampires.”
Eddy bites his lip. Obviously, but y’all will be healed up pretty good by tomorrow...
Balena sets her head down. “We’ll come up with something… We have to.”
Eddy’s eyes glow, and he drops his mouth. Then he scowls. “Hmm. Well, I’ve got…ideas. Maybe they could work into a plan, but, uh, it’d be pretty crazy.”
Hecate swallows her last bite, then uses both arms to help her stand. “I’ll get the Colonel. Owen, if you relieve Ghost too, then we can keep our rotations simple.”
Eddy shakes his head. “No, Owen, you’ll have to hear this.”
Hecate shrugs and limps away. “Alright, no problem.” She relieves Charlie, and he joins the others in the cabin.
Eddy outlines what he’s thinking, and it almost sounds like a plan. While everyone was hopeful at first, the deeper in and the more variables involved, the more skeptical everyone becomes. Eddy himself shakes his head when he finishes. “I mean, there’s a lot that could go wrong.”
Owen scratches his head. “There’s like...a half-dozen ways this plan will fail.”
Balena sighs. “And by fail, you mean kill everyone.”
He nods. “Yeah, that.”
Charlie clears his throat. “Leo, good job. It’s risky, it’s unorthodox, and if everything comes together and works, I think it’ll get us in.” He turns to Owen. “You’re relieved from guard rotations. You’ve got a ton of work to do.”
Owen stares back at him. If I mess up, everyone’s going to die... “’Kay.” He swallows. “I’m going to need some help.” He shakes his head and a drop of nervous sweat rolls down his temple. “Most of the stuff sounds like I can handle...I t
hink. But the explosives? I’m just a programmer in disguise here...”
Balena lifts herself up with her forearms. “Gotcha covered buddy; I can do bombs. If you all set up some crates, I’ll lay on them, and I’ll have my hands free below me to work.”
Charlie stands and locks eyes with his son. He smiles. “We’re going in there and getting our people out, and we’re going to stop whatever they’re doing...or we’ll die trying. I’ll tell the others.”
Ghost drops her head in through the opened cockpit’s windshield. “I’m pretty sure we both heard, right Hecate?”
She calls out from the back of the boat, “Yup!”
Ghost smiles at Eddy. “Nice plan, man. I’m in.”
Hecate drops her green-tipped hair into the gap and looks at Eddy too. “So am I.”
The flight that Qilin, Steve, Li Chen, and John took from Munich to Rome lands and taxis to the terminal. In Europe, air travel hasn’t been affected much by the zombie outbreak in America, and Qilin was able to get an available seat for a reasonable price. It was in first class, and although she enjoyed the luxury and relaxed while she could, she knows that the next few minutes are crucial. While the plane still taxis and the seatbelt sign is lit, she unbelts and holds her bag across her lap.
When the plane stops at the gate, she’s standing and making her way toward the scowling flight attendants in jump seats by the door. One of them unbuckles and stands in her way, waving at her. “Hinsetzen.”
“Nein. Beruhigen.” Qilin flashes her badge to the attendant, but only long enough for them to recognize two things. First, that it’s shiny and legitimate looking—because it is indeed both shiny and legit—and second, that on the gold badge is the word INTERPOL.
The attendant’s mouth drops open, then they nod and step toward the door to be ready to open it. “Entschuldigen sie bitte.”
As soon as the airport connects the walkway, the attendant opens the door and stands to the side.
“Danke.” Qilin walks casually off the plane, but when she’s around the corner of the walkway and out of sight, she runs with all her might. Up the aisle, out the door, past a shocked—and annoyed—airport worker, then into the terminal with one thing on her mind. Need a cell... She finds a store selling earbuds and various electronics, and she buys a prepaid phone and some extra minutes. She runs out of the store and out through the guarded security exit.