The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

Chapter Eight

  After realizing that his supply plane had been compromised by agents of Winston Severov, Admiral Clement decided to evacuate Langley Air Force Base and relocate his operation. He assumed that the murder of Callum Hammond and the attempt on Simone’s life, were just preludes to an all-out attack on the area. From Clement’s point of view, ever since Drellic’s death, Winston had been hiding in the shadows, while slithering like a snake across Europe and killing innocent families in their sleep. But after the fiasco aboard the 747 that morning, it seemed as though Winston wasn’t hiding anymore.

  Clement deduced that the two men who had killed Callum on the plane, must’ve known they were on a one way trip. It was the idea of Winston’s people being willing to die at his command, that frightened the Admiral the most. He couldn’t fathom the amount of psychological control Winston had over his agents, and refused to believe that all those under his command, would one day fall under the same spell.

  Once he talked Simone out of the recon ship and convinced her to remain at his side, Clement loaded the six recon ships at his disposal, with six of his most trusted pilots, and various supplies that did not have top priority. His more vital resources, including the majority of his loyal soldiers, food and weapons, were divided amongst a fleet of twelve, dark green ATX-8 military trucks. They were heavily armored vehicles with ample cargo space, and large cockpit- like driver compartments, extending several feet in front of their front wheels. Once the base had been completely stripped of anything of value, the convoy of troop/cargo carriers, drove out of the area and were escorted by the Drellic Tech recon ships, flying overhead.

  The incredibly fast moving airships were charged with the task of distracting Winston’s forces. Since Winston could use his own Drellic systems to track Clement’s, it was necessary to lead Winston’s people in the wrong direction. Assuming that Clement’s group was in fact being pursued. The Admiral knew that there was an extremely dangerous road ahead, but he also knew that remaining at Langley was suicide.

  Simone was riding with Clement in the leading truck in the convoy. They sat across from one another behind two male drivers, who were dressed in camouflage uniforms and cumbersome camouflage helmets. Simone was still bundled up in her black fur coat, while Clement had removed his coat, in order to showcase his formal military jacket, for the sake of morale. They were strapped into their seats with rough textured, green safety harnesses, and bounced up and down, as the truck plowed through the accumulating snow on the dirt roads ahead. They could see the sun setting outside the front windows of the truck, from behind an ominous gathering of gray wintery clouds.

  Simone watched the sun disappear behind the bitter blowing snow, and felt it was symbolic of the closing of a chapter in her life. Callum was dead. She knew who was responsible, but at that moment, couldn’t do anything to avenge him. Her heart ached with animosity for Winston, as her mind raced with questions surrounding the secrets Severov was so violently protecting. “What have you done? What the hell have you done?” she silently asked herself, referring to the truth of Winston’s operation.

  Clement noticed that her mind was wandering and offered her a cigarette, which she quickly refused by brushing it away with her hand. The Admiral intently stared at Simone’s wandering gaze and said, “You’ve got something brewing in there.” Simone just ignored him and continued to stare out into the sky, with no apparent agenda. “Just do me a favor,” Clement continued, with a sarcastic tone. “Whatever you’re thinking about doing, just make sure it doesn’t involve every single one of us dying tonight.”

  Simone slightly glanced over in Clement’s direction and replied, “No guarantees.” A few moments later, one of Clement’s drivers informed him that there was no enemy contact anywhere, within a one hundred mile radius. He then suggested that the Admiral and Simone get some sleep. Clement seemed relieved by the notion, leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He opened them a moment later to check on Simone. To his complete lack of surprise, Simone had never seemed more awake and alert.

  As the hours passed and night fell, Simone eventually drifted to sleep. As she slept, she dreamt of the day she had first met Callum. She was assigned to conveniently stumble upon him at Langley Air Force Base in the summer of 2020. She remembered the initial awkwardness of their first encounter. He was an arrogant, ambitious young pilot, zipped up in his light blue flight suit, waiting to be called into a briefing room for a flight op. She was posing as a CIA intern, and was forced to appear disorganized, clumsy and unconfident. Her superiors believed that her true, dominating personality would be counterproductive in their mission to test Callum’s character, for the upcoming Drellic missions.

  She forcefully bumped into him, while holding a tall stack of papers and notebooks, and proceeded to drop everything onto the floor. As Callum knelt down to help her, they made eye contact, and Simone did her best to hide the angry, driven workhorse within her. She had always been excellent at reading people, and knew right away that Callum was interested in her. But what she refused to admit to herself until years later, was that the moment they made eye contact that day, she had fallen in love with him, despite her overwhelming sense of urgency and professionalism.

  Her vision of their first meeting was seamlessly followed by a glimpse at their wedding aboard ISS. Alexander Mandrake, Simone’s mentor in Darkside, conducted the ceremony in front of a majestic view of the sun, rising from behind the Earth. It was the first wedding in space ever recorded, and traditional attire was impossible to acquire.

  Callum and Simone exchanged vows and rings in their NASA flight suits, as Mandrake, who was also an ordained minister, officiated the proceedings, in formal military dress attire. The ceremony was witnessed by the Hades crew. Before Simone’s mind dragged her to another set of memories, she caught a foggy glimpse of Richard, Jack and Sophia sitting beside them, as Mandrake concluded the wedding and informed Callum that he could kiss his bride.

  Simone’s dream continued, as she recalled the tears of joy that streamed down her face, as her lips met Callum’s. Her subconscious then abruptly became fixated on the image of Callum’s dead eyes and bleeding throat, on the floor of the 747 bathroom. Inside her dream, she saw herself struggle to wake Callum, by aggressively shaking his body. Callum then violently grabbed her and pulled her close to him. Blood continued to gush from his jugular, as he whispered, “Run. Run.”

  The word “run” kept repeating inside her mind and was getting louder and louder. A moment later, she found that she was regaining consciousness and that someone was actually screaming at her and telling her to run for her life.

  Once fully awake, she saw that Clement was still strapped in across from her. He was telling her to get out of her seat and open the hatch behind her, which she promptly did. The two drivers had stopped the truck and were following Clement and Simone outside, into the blustery winter night. Once she got outside, Simone turned to see that three of the trucks behind Clement’s, were completely engulfed in flames.

  “What the fuck happened?!” she screamed at Clement, who was in complete shock.

  “He found us,” he replied, with a shaky tone. “I don’t know how. But the son of a bitch found us.”

  Seconds later, bright blue laser blasts streaked down from the night sky and destroyed two more armored trucks. Clement followed the blast trails with his gaze and saw that six recon ships of Drellic’s design, were destroying his convoy. From the recently branded serial numbers on the sides of the ships, Clement saw that these were the same ships that he had launched himself from Langley, with his own men. Simone also noticed the identifying marks and screamed, “You said you could trust them! You gave them those ships to keep us safe!”

  “It doesn’t make any sense! They wouldn’t do something like this!” Clement screamed back.

  Clement then received a gargled transmission on his bulky gray radio pack, which was attached to his belt. He detached the radio, held it up to his ear and yelled for h
is men to repeat their message. He then heard one of the recon pilots say, “It’s some kind of computer virus! They hacked our network and took over our ships! We have no control! Repeat! We have no control!” Clement and Simone stared at one another for a moment and upon realizing that the mission was doomed, ran into the snowy hills of West Virginia.

  The convoy had been bound for Little Rock, Arkansas. Clement knew of a massive group of patriot resistance fighters, who had fought against Drellic and had planned to meet there, later that week. He felt it would be a perfect place for him to continue building up his forces against Winston’s terrorist cell. However, it had quickly become apparent to him that his plan would never come to fruition. He got back on his radio and signaled for his men to abandon their vehicles and follow him on foot, into the hills with whatever weapons they could carry.

  The recon ships continued to decimate the military vehicles below, and many of Clement’s soldiers were killed trying to escape. Clement and Simone continued to lead survivors deeper into the snowy hills, until they came to a heavily wooded area. The area was completely silent. It seemed as though the recon ships had abandoned their pursuit. They were almost prepared to let their guard down and rest, when a bright spotlight was shined on them, from the trees ahead.

  The light revealed that Clement and Simone’s group was surrounded by soldiers, dressed in black ski masks and matching overalls; armed to the teeth with Drellic Tech laser rifles. Winston Severov then stepped out from behind the giant spotlight, in his flowing black trench coat, and gave Clement and Simone a sarcastic smile. He mockingly clapped his hands together, applauding their effort to elude him.

  “A valiant effort to be sure, Admiral Clement,” Severov said, though his sadistic grin. “But as you know, I am a man who believes in leading by example. My only regret in finding you sir, is knowing that I have to make you my first example of the night.”

  Winston then quickly pulled a handgun from his left trench coat pocket and shot Clement in the head, killing him instantly. Simone was startled and fell backwards onto the cold icy ground. Severov ordered two of his men to pick her up and drag her over to him, while the rest of his men kept their rifles aimed at Clement’s soldiers.

  Simone was tightly held in place a few feet in front of Severov. He slowly approached her and removed a black leather glove from his right hand, so he could lightly caress Simone’s cheek, with his bare boney fingers. “Tell me, Simone,” Severov said in a sinister tone. “Do I remind you of someone? Does this feel at all…familiar?” He then burst out laughing and continued to lightly run his fingers up and down her face, taking great pleasure in knowing that she was powerless to stop him.