by Jeff Olah
“The Cage?” The significance of the name escaped him and as the facility powered back to life, the massive space within Terminal One was flooded with fluorescent light. Squinting through the change in illumination, more than twenty residents now stood by, each watching for his reaction. Rath’s first thought was to release Vera’s hand and move to the younger man. He forced himself to remember that these people hadn’t given him any reason for distrust and that he needed to stay calm if any answers were to be had.
As the crowd began to grow around him, Rath focused only on Tyler. “Sarah, where is she? How do I get to her?”
“Samuel says,” Tyler motioned toward the transport drone. “That beast can get you as far as Presidio and you’ll have to traverse the remaining few miles on foot…if you survive.”
“Presidio?” Rath said. “Boothe is hiding out in Presidio? I realize the old man has lost his mind, although building his hideout in that city would be suicide. Rumor has it that Presidio is home to over a thousand Andros…what you’d almost call their home base.”
Tyler moved from the foot of the staircase into the terminal as the remaining residents poured in. “Boothe’s second home lies just outside Presidio. He built it there knowing there would be no one who’d dare make the trip on foot and anything coming by air would be spotted long before they arrived.”
Growing weary of this drawn-out description of events, Rath moved to the center of the terminal and stood atop a short stack of empty pallets. A large majority of the residents followed, including Vera, Tyler, and finally Symon. Rath struggled with how to address the people, many of whom only knew him as the kid who murdered a resident and was thrown out. “Most of you by now know my name—”
A shout from the back of the room ended the monologue. “YEAH, YOU’RE A MURDERER.”
He continued, “I’m here because your former leader has taken my wife. Emerson Boothe is a psychopath who’s only concerned with self-preservation and if what I’m hearing is to be believed, he has forsaken every single person left in this mountain. You will all be dead in a matter of months. He did this to each and every one of you.”
The space broke out in hushed conversations and low murmurs. By the anguished look on Vera’s face, he sensed that for most residents, this was the first time they’d heard this devastating news. Beyond the crowd and into the corridor, he noticed the other half of the technology team move from the stairwell and through the archway. Samuel had left his post and from the sweat patterns along both armpits and his heaving chest, something told him this man rarely made his way out of his office.
Not two paces behind strode the man who only hours earlier tried to end his life followed closely by a young woman. Although he’d yet to be introduced, Rath deduced that the beautiful redhead must be who Vera referred to as Nicole, as she was holding hands with Chloe, who looked as if she was still half asleep.
As the group of four made their way through the crowd, Rath jumped from his perch, and ran to Chloe. Her balled fist rubbing away the effects of a long needed slumber, she pulled away from Nicole and fell into him. “Mr. Rath, where did you go? Miss Nicole said that they are going to look for my mom…are you going too?”
The overweight and out of breath Samuel, along with Archer and Symon, moved to the center of the crowd. Samuel spoke first. “He is correct; Emerson Boothe left us here to die. Vera and a few others have been looking for a way to break the news to you all, although before today there was no escaping our fate. You’ve all been under the impression that the supplies were being moved to another location and that in due time, we’d all be moving. That was the story Boothe had us believing as well…until just recently, when we uncovered what he was really doing.”
Less than two hours before, Archer sought vengeance from the man kneeling ten feet away. His change of heart had less to do with the touching speech he’d just witnessed, than the actual facts finally unveiling themselves in a manner that he could understand. He looked to Vera before addressing the now quieting crowd. She nodded as he began. “Vera has been protecting our home here more than most of you will ever know. Until recently, I was unwilling to accept the details of what Boothe had planned. I always knew what he was capable of, although now he’s trying to bleed this facility of power and in turn, kill everyone here. We will all die from asphyxiation if we don’t take action.”
At his side as he moved back through the crowd, Chloe held Rath’s hand as he stood between Archer and Samuel facing the crowd. She tugged his shirt and whispered through the silence. “I’m still not afraid.”
Rath smiled and said, “I know,” confirming her bravery as the crowd waited for the three men to detail the next steps.
Archer paused for a moment before continuing. He turned back to Vera and began. “I’m sorry to report that Jonah was killed today at the hands of Emerson Boothe. The last transmission out of The Cage only minutes ago was a warning from Boothe himself. He says he’ll allow everyone here to join him in his new home…if we release Benjamin Rath to his men tomorrow morning.”
Gripping Chloe’s hand, Rath asked, “And if not?”
Stepping forward, Samuel said, “He’s going to cut the power permanently.”
At the far reaches of her patience and with time working against them, Vera finally spoke from the center of the crowd. “Emerson Boothe is never going to come back for us. Even if we do as he says, he’s still going to let everyone in this mountain die. We either have to go after him or stay here and freeze to death. We have one chance at this and if we are successful, everyone lives to see another day. Who here has a problem with doing what needs to be done to survive?”
6
The crowd stirred, if only from nervous energy and as their internal thoughts turned to voiced concerns, the atmosphere quickly turned chaotic. Mothers tended to their crying children, husbands and wives disagreed, turning on one another and finally Vera, Archer, and Samuel motioned for Rath to join them at the now fully equipped transport drone. Forming a semi-circle, the group listened as Samuel brought Vera up to speed on their current situation and the possibility of another outage.
She turned to the crowd and asked for their attention. “Samuel has just informed us that the power being cut was a temporary problem and that he was able to hack his way back into the main server to regain control. He’s also indicated that this is only a temporary fix and that each time this happens, Boothe will lock him out. After the fourth attempt, the door will shut for good.”
Asking for the floor, Archer stepped forward and wiped away the thick bead of perspiration forming along his brow. “We are not victims and are no longer going to be treated that way.”
An elderly gentleman with a slight limp moved slowly toward the drone and voiced the concern that apparently permeated the crowd. “Archer, why on earth don’t we just wait for morning and then throw him out? Let’s see what Boothe’s next move is and then decide what to do. I’m sorry, but Benjamin Rath murdered your father and now you’re actually asking us to risk our lives for him?”
Nodding in partial agreement, Archer continued. “You are correct; this man took my father’s life, although Emerson Boothe didn’t exactly give us all the details surrounding the events of that day. Rath was manipulated by Boothe into doing something he couldn’t. And although Rath and I will never see eye to eye, we do now have a common goal and need to put the past aside…at least until we can get you all to safety.”
Not a sound from the floor.
Archer continued, “We move in the next hour and once airborne, all communication with Boothe and his group will cease. I will pilot the drone and Samuel will run interference from here. We aren’t certain whether or not Boothe will have prior knowledge of our functional aircraft, although we aren’t taking any chances.”
Samuel stepped forward, shook Archer’s hand, and then Rath’s. He made no further comments and walked quickly back the way he entered, with Tyler close behind.
Standing between Vera and Rath, Arch
er laid out the remaining twelve hours. “Rath, Symon, and I will need as many able-bodied warriors as possible. We will be moving through the largest population of Andros this world has ever seen and the more soldiers we have, the better. I’ve put together a list of thirty-two men that we’d like to see accompany us into and beyond Presidio, although this is in no way mandatory.”
One by one, the volunteers came forward, their voices confirming the intention to fight for their survival. The list didn’t move from Archer’s hand and at last count, every one of the thirty plus men were standing shoulder to shoulder, ready to strap in and go to battle.
With buy-in from nearly every resident, Archer felt the need to clarify the group’s intentions. “We plan to hit Boothe at or before sunrise and convince him to do the right thing by taking every single resident with him into his new home. If he declines, we’ll show him exactly where he’s wrong. One last thing…although the men standing with Boothe appear to be the enemy, they are not. Last month, they were our friends and family members; today, they still are. Please remember that and save your vengeance for the Andros we are about to face.”
Vera signaled the residents. “Every one of the seventy-eight remaining souls here today will leave this mountain within the next several hours. The first flight out will carry the men into the dark terrain and drop them in Presidio. They’ll move through the night, on foot, to Boothe’s compound as Archer returns with the drone to take the rest of us home.”
The residents once again began speaking to one another in private conversations, with many approaching Vera and the others for more detailed explanations and specific questions. Few were surprised by the revelation that the man they’d begun to see as increasingly erratic over the last several years had made the choice to abandon his own people. What most wanted to know dealt with the safety of the transport drone, which no one had seen leave the facility in more than three years.
As Archer and Symon followed Vera back to the control room, Rath moved to the far corner of the Terminal with Nicole and Chloe. He knelt down and held her hand. “I need you to stay with Nicole. I’m going to help the others find us a safe place to live.”
“And find my mom?” she asked.
“Yes, and find your mom. When I get to her, I’ll bring her right back to you…Okay?”
“Okay Mr. Rath.” She tugged at his shirt and brought him in close. She leaned in and whispered into his ear, “Nicole is a nice lady, I’ll be alright with her…don’t worry.”
He kissed her on the forehead and explained to her and Nicole what he and the others were about to do. He kept the messy details out and assured them both that they’d reunite on the beach before moving on to their new home. He thanked Nicole and not being one for long drawn-out goodbyes, started in the direction of the stairwell.
Not yet ten feet away, Chloe called out to him as a slight grin slid across her face. “Mr. Rath, before you leave, I think you should go get washed up, you know for when you find your wife… because you kinda stink.”
He grabbed the rail, began to chuckle and returned the smile. He knew there’d be no time, although he figured he’d at least humor her. “Thanks for the warning, and I agree.”
. . .
Rath entered the room and wasn’t surprised to see Samuel and Tyler back at work while Vera stood nearby questioning Archer on the probability that the archaic transport drone would survive the two trips. “I realize that fuel is not the problem, although I’m a little nervous about wagering our entire existences on something we haven’t seen in the air in so long.”
Fighting back the urge to articulate his thoughts in a language only another pilot would understand, Archer attempted to explain. “We’ve done all the testing we can at this point and we need to get airborne soon. The weather won’t allow us to make the trip much past tomorrow morning. Everyone has to be off this mountain and to the shore before sunup. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll be fine. If not, it won’t really matter anyway, because none of us will live long enough to regret this conversation.”
Without turning from the monitors, Samuel added, “From our end, we’ll continue to keep up the illusion that Boothe’s request is being honored, although this entire mission is dependent on us getting in there without being noticed. Once he finds out that this place is empty, all bets are off.”
“How long is the trip?” Vera asked.
Tyler chimed in just before Samuel had a chance to swallow the mouthful of food he was working on. “An hour and a half each way, although Samuel and I ran the scenario giving an extra half hour as a buffer.”
Rath stepped around Symon and tore his eyes away from the monitors long enough to explain his part. “Archer will drop us just inside the city limits and we’ll cover him until he’s once again airborne. There will be thirty-four of us moving through the city as quickly as possible.” Turning to Archer he asked, “Weapons?”
“Most here are trained to dispatch an Andro one on one without anything other than their hands and maybe a thick lead pipe. There are only a few who’ve ever even shot a gun, let alone be expected to hit a moving target. Boothe left most of his armory here…he felt that the fewer weapons in his new home, the less chance there was of him being killed by one of them. Take what you need; just remember, these men are better at close range with more basic tools.”
“Somehow I think we may want to make use of all of our options.”
“Agreed,” Symon said.
Making his way back to the door, Archer turned to Vera. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Please make sure the others are ready to board when I return.”
Before Vera responded he was gone and out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Tyler shifted side to side in his chair. “What is it, what’s the problem?”
“I think I found her…”
“Who?” Samuel asked.
Rath turned his attention to the dual monitors directly in front of the younger technician. The blood rushed from his face and as his knees began to weaken, his vision crystalized. It was her. She was being forced into a stairwell by the man he intended to kill. Emerson Boothe had his wife.
“That’s Sarah.”
7
The interior was warm and the familiar concrete block walls leading back through the interior began to close in. Sarah stopped struggling against the men leading her back through the dank facility. Boothe gripped tightly around her right bicep, pulling her one miserable step at a time toward the basement. Although much older, the man seemed to possess the strength of someone twenty years his junior and the current situation appeared to ratchet up his intensity.
Dismissing the guards as they stepped out onto the last landing, Boothe released Sarah and walked ahead to the first door on the right. He looked through the six-inch glass pane. “You’re friend Lauren; she’s been a bit of trouble.” He turned and motioned for Sarah to continue toward him. “But not you. My men tell me you’ve been the model citizen. Hell, it’s not your fault Jonah decided to betray my orders. He was simply loyal to the wrong people.”
He unlocked the door, stepped to the side and pointed to the empty bed across the room from a seemingly comatose Lauren. “This will be your home until tomorrow morning. Get some rest; you’ll need it for what comes next.” He shut the door, locked the deadbolt, and left the area.
He moved quickly through the stairwell and back to ground level. He waved off the guards and marched to the opposite end of the facility. Once in his private office, Boothe stripped off his white button-down shirt and wing tipped oxfords, and moved to the plush recliner next to the window overlooking the cobalt sea.
Leaning forward, he snatched the opaque whiskey bottle from its perch atop the end table and held it to the light. His weakness for the seventy-five-year-old spirit growing, he removed the ceramic stopper, poured himself a double and melted into the fabric. Dropping the empty bottle into his lap, he watched as the horizon faded from orange to purple.
“Benjamin Rath, after twe
nty-two years, we are down to just twelve hours. I await your arrival.”
. . .
He was running. Rath realized there’d be no way to get airborne before the others were prepared and even if he convinced Archer of the enormity of his situation, the drone waiting below in Terminal One wasn’t going anywhere before it was ready.
As he rounded the last set of stairs and made his way across the expansive warehouse, he spotted Archer behind the controls, obviously running through pre-flight. Something occurred to him. How’d this man go from attempting to beat him to death to defending him in front of the seventy plus residents of this mountainous cavern? Rath knew better than to rely on blind faith; he’d give Archer just enough trust to get the job done…nothing more.