Plugging the end of the cord into the laptop, Skull began cranking with one hand while holding the device with the other. After about two minutes, he figured he had enough stored energy in the spring to generate juice to call Spooky. Emails wouldn’t do this time. He needed to talk to the man himself.
Entering the contact address string, he was half surprised when it picked up.
“Skull. I never expected you to actually call me on this line,” said Spooky. “It’s been a while since I saw your face.”
“Not since you guys loaded the plane in Arizona. A lot has happened since then, and I’d love to catch up and all, but we need to talk about the situation here.”
“Please do,” said Spooky.
“Please do?” Skull, mimicked in a similar, faux accent. “Okay then, I’ll go first. My guide and I are finally here, no thanks to you or the Israelis. These folks are holding their own for now and the Ethiopian army appears to have its own problems, but we both know a shitstorm is coming our way.”
“One of my teams has made it to Kenya,” said Spooky. “The original plan was to provide support while you moved the Edens south across the border to a refugee camp established there. Now, imagery shows the Kenyans have closed the border at the main road. I presume we have Mossad to thank for that. The extraction team will follow your direction if you can link up with them. When you make a break for the border, they will create a distraction and hold open a hole in the southern side of the Ethiopian perimeter, if they can. At least, that’s the plan.”
Skull didn’t say anything for a long while, his mouth slightly open.
“I’m sorry,” said Spooky. “Did we lose sound?”
“I sure as hell hope so, because the plan I just heard is sheer lunacy. We have ten thousand near-starving Edens, many of them women and children, with few weapons and little ammo, and they’re supposed to fight their way through a brigade? Because that’s what we’re facing here.”
“You have another idea?”
“Helicopters and gunships and paratroopers and Ride of the Valkyries blasting across the battlefield,” Skull said. “You know what I’m talking about. The big show. All of it.”
“That’s not going to happen. This is strictly a covert mission.”
“Bullshit. There’s not a damn thing covert about this mission. Not anymore.”
“Deniable, then. We don’t want to start a war between Ethiopia and Kenya,” said Spooky. “That would play into the Caliphate’s hands and give them an excuse to annex another country.”
“Then help. Showing us which way is south and telling us to run like hell is not enough.”
Spooky looked at his watch.
“Am I keeping you from something?” asked Skull. “Your tee time, maybe? By all means, go play eighteen and then get back to me. I’ll wait here with the starving, besieged and pissed off Edens. Hope you make par.”
“I do have to go,” said Spooky. “It’s something important. I’ll see what I can do to help you, but don’t count on it.”
“What’s new, you slant-eyed prick?”
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” deadpanned Spooky with a lift of his eyebrow. “I’m working on something, but don’t depend on it.”
“I never do.” Skull ended the call. Packing up his gear, he returned to sit beside Zinabu.
“How did it go?” asked Husnia.
“About as well as I expected,” said Skull. “By which I mean, not well.”
“That doesn’t sound promising,” said Misgana.
Skull looked at him. “You mentioned earlier that the FC sent you imagery.”
Misgana nodded.
“I need to see it.”
“It’s in Beelsha’s shack,” answered Misgana. “It’s days old, though. The Ethiopians may have adjusted their positions since then.”
“I’m not necessarily looking at the enemy positions.”
“What, then?” asked Husnia.
“I think we’d better find a way out,” said Skull. “No one is coming to save us. For better or worse, we’re on our own and this is the end game. It may be time for drastic measures, but you’re not going to like them.”
“If it gets us and our families out of here,” said Misgana. “Then we’re listening.”
Skull told them. He was right. They weren’t happy.
* * *
Husnia shook her head at Skull. “No. I won’t allow that to happen.”
“Just think about it. Have an open mind.”
“I have an open mind about many things. Slaughtering the people I love is not one of them.”
“But they won’t be slaughtered,” said Skull. “Didn’t you hear me explain my plan?”
“Yes,” answered Husnia testily. “These people rush down the hill and throw themselves on the weapons of our enemies and hopefully they’ll be so tired or overwhelmed they will run away.”
“And the Edens will heal,” said Skull.
“Unless they get a catastrophic injury,” said Misgana through Zinabu.
“Most combat injuries are not immediate kills.”
“These people are not soldiers,” said Husnia, crossing her arms.
Skull sighed. He wished he didn’t respect this woman. Then it would be so much easier to crush her objections. “Let me lay it out for you plain. Your people are slowly starving to death. The food we brought gave you a reprieve, but it’s already gone. The Ethiopians are likely massing for an all-out offensive to destroy you once they have assembled overwhelming force. There is little chance we will be able to stand against such an assault. You have few weapons or people with military training. Yet you possess two advantages over your enemy. You can heal, and you have numbers. Things that would kill or cripple ordinary people won’t stop you for long.”
“What about you?” she asked. “Will you be in this wave?”
“I’ll be part of the assault,” Skull said.
“But you won’t be running to throw yourself on the guns and knives of our enemy like my people will. Why is that?”
Skull stared at her angrily. “You know why.”
“I do. Because you are not like us. Why is that? Why did the FC send a couple of non-Edens to help Edens?”
“If we were Edens we would never have made it here. Much of the world outside is scared of Edens. In order for the FC to help them, they have to use people like me who can blend in and avoid scrutiny.”
“I will join in the attack,” said Zinabu.
“What?” asked Skull and Husnia simultaneously.
Zinabu nodded and smiled. “I have decided that I will become an Eden as I have longed to do. I will join my people in this assault.”
“You don’t have to do that,” said Skull. “Your family isn’t even here; you said they escaped to South Africa months ago.”
“They did. I still have to do this. I am not a soldier like you, Alan. This is how I can help.”
There was silence among them until Misgana spoke and Zinabu translated. “We will need to punch a hole through the southern perimeter and keep it open long enough for everyone to get through.”
“Exactly,” said Skull. “We push hard and fast. Everyone needs to be ready to go.”
“What about Kenya?” asked Husnia.
“We can’t wait for people to figure that out. Kenya originally agreed to take you and that’s still our best option. Hopefully my people will have worked something out before we get there. If they haven’t, then maybe having ten thousand refugees fleeing from slaughter show up on their northern border will change their minds.”
“And if it doesn’t?” asked Husnia.
Skull said, “Then you use these same tactics against the Kenyans. You charge them in a human wave, and when we get into close contact, bite them. I heard you used this tactic before and it was your idea.”
She nodded. “It is better to give someone the blessing of the Eden virus than to kill them.”
“Yes,” said Skull looking at them all. “So we are
in agreement?”
No one spoke.
“Okay then. Get them ready.”
“When are we doing this?” asked Zinabu.
“As soon as possible. Before the people get any weaker or the Ethiopians attack,” said Skull.
Zinabu translated for Misgana. “We would have a better chance if we do it at night.”
Skull smiled at him. “I like the way you think, my friend. Why don’t we say, just before dawn tomorrow morning?”
“Tomorrow?” asked Husnia. “Will that give us enough time to prepare?”
“That’s one of the benefits of the human wave solution,” Skull answered. “How much do people really need to prepare themselves to run downhill?”
Misgana spoke in Amharic and then departed.
“What did he say?”
“He said he would go to tell the people,” said Husnia wiping tears from her eyes. “God help us.”
Chapter 30
Reaper led the team down out of the mountain range that marked the border between Kenya and Ethiopia. The narrow pass she had found was only wide enough for one and was dangerous to navigate, especially after dark. Even with night vision devices, they had to move extremely slowly.
Mega Mountain, sheltering the Edens, loomed nearby. Reaper gathered the team together in a small depression. They covered themselves with a tarp and she pulled out the GPS and a red-lens flashlight.
“Here’s where we are,” she told them, pointing at the map. “And here is where we need to reach. Right between is where we can expect the Ethiopian perimeter. Our job is to get through them as stealthily as possible and link up with the Edens. With any luck, Spooky’s man Skull is there and has worked out where to go and what to do now that Kenya seems to be uncooperative. If we can’t get through, we’ll have to wait for an opportunity to assist from the outside.”
“We might have to inflict some casualties,” said Crash. “Sam rounds might be nonlethal, but even with our suppressors, they aren’t quiet.”
“Knives first, then,” said Reaper. “Gunfire would only draw attention.”
“Like in the contingency brief, we can coat the blades in body fluids to pass the virus,” Bunny said.
“You and me can generate some body fluids if you want,” Flyboy said, leering.
“Call me when we get back,” Bunny replied with a wink.
“Dude!” Tarzan protested.
“Yeah, Bunny, why are you even considering him?” Shortfuse asked. “He hasn’t flown a damn thing on this mission.”
“Yeah, but I look sooo good not doing it,” Flyboy replied.
“Shut up, all of you. Coating the blades is a good plan,” said Reaper. “Blood is probably the best. It’s sticky.” She folded the map. “Fan out and follow me. Again, stealth is key, but we have to move fast. Try to incapacitate anyone you come across with your knives and avoid shooting. If they raise the alarm, run for the mountain as fast as you can and link up with the Edens. We’ll rally there. Any questions?”
All shook their heads and stood up, some checking their knives, some taking them in hand.
“Let’s go,” she said, and began creeping north toward the mountain that loomed over them. Hawkeye fanned out to her left and Shortfuse to her right. They walked in silence for a quarter of an hour before Livewire cursed and fell noisily to the ground.
Reaper walked over to help him and saw a dark, bare-chested black man throw off a blanket and struggle to his knees. She leapt forward and clapped her hand on his open mouth while stabbing him several times in the lower torso with her blood-smeared knife. His eyes rolled up and he fainted from the pain.
He’ll be all right, she told herself as she wiped off the man’s blood from her blade before cutting her forearm to obtain some of her own. Then, she carefully smeared more fluid onto the metal.
Livewire came over to her. “Sorry. He was sleeping on the ground. Didn’t even see him in the dark,” he whispered.
“There may be more of them,” she hissed. “Pass the word to be on the lookout.”
They continued moving forward more slowly, watching the ground in front of them and knocking out two other sleeping soldiers, and then stabbing them in non-vital areas.
After another quarter of an hour of moving slowly forward, Reaper crouched and held up her hand for the others to stop. Like most Edens, her nose was superb, and now she smelled burning tobacco. Holding still, she heard faint voices.
Carefully stepping forward on the rocky and brush-covered ground toward the source, she peered from between two small trees and saw five soldiers huddled together talking and smoking. Scanning the area, she saw no one else. She crept back to the others and gave them her report.
“The sentries have grouped up to hang out together,” said Hawkeye, disgust in his voice. “They probably each have a long sector to patrol, but they’re bored and think there’s no threat. I bet their officers are sleeping like babies at this hour. Worthless troops.”
“Be glad they are. We might be able to circle around them,” said Livewire. “We can avoid them altogether.”
“But we run the risk of stepping on another sleeping soldier,” Shortfuse said. “The longer we delay crossing, the greater the chances something could go wrong.”
“Maybe we should just rush them,” Hound Dog said. “Take them while they’re all together.”
This was the first time Hound Dog had spoken up in a while. Reaper still didn’t trust him, though he hadn’t given her any trouble yet either. “That actually might be the best idea. By doing so, we open up a wide swath of the perimeter. Chances of anyone seeing or reporting us would be fairly slim.”
“Sounds good, dude,” said Tarzan. “Five should charge forward and take them out, one each. The rest come in right behind us and concentrate on securing the weapons or knocking out any that don’t go down right away.”
“A good plan,” said Reaper. “Let’s do it. Hound Dog, you’re point.”
They crept in as silently as possible. It helped that the five soldiers were not being terribly quiet themselves. They talked loudly over each other and laughed. They might even have been drunk.
Reaper, C3PO, Crash, Flyboy, and Livewire followed the others as they rushed the soldiers. Each tried to knock out one man, but a couple of them yelled anyway in alarm. The second team used rifle butts to club the men to silence. If they were as far from other sentries as Reaper hoped, no one would have heard. Then the first team jammed a blood-coated knife into each soldier.
Only then did she wonder what the five new Edens would do when they healed enough to regain consciousness. Would they raise the alarm, defect, or run away? What about the ones they had already taken out?
Too late to think about that now, she thought. The back door is wide open; time to go on in.
A strange sound made her freeze in her tracks, alien, yet oddly familiar: a faint high-pitched screech, echoed many times over. It made the hair stand up on the back of her neck.
Growing up, Jill’s father had been a Civil War history buff. Although he had never participated in reenactments, he often took her with him to see them. She’d been scared and excited whenever the Confederate soldiers screamed the rebel yell as they charged the enemy lines with fixed bayonets.
Even though she knew it was only acting, the surreal shriek of many voices had made her stomach quiver. The sound of it had stuck with her. Now she heard the same sound coming from the side of the mountain, growing louder and stronger, though multiplied more than she had ever heard on those old battlefields.
And then she heard scattered gunfire.
“Oh, shit,” she said with a flash of intuition. “They’re charging the lines.”
“What?” asked Shortfuse.
“The Edens,” said Reaper. “It has to be them. They’re coming this way, trying to break out in a human wave.”
“Aren’t we in a really bad spot?” asked Crash. “They don’t know who we are and the fact we’re here will likely be a surprise to them. If
they run into us, they’ll attack us too.”
Reaper raised her voice. “Fall back to the hill behind us. Quickly.”
As the team ran southward, they saw Ethiopian soldiers waking from the ground to look curiously toward the growing ruckus coming from the mountain. Several of them noticed the intruders sprinting past and grabbed their rifles to shoot, but the team left them behind in the darkness.
Reaper stopped at the top of the hill she’d chosen and squatted, motioning for a halt. Looking back, it was difficult to see in the dark overcast night, but lights were beginning to appear along the Ethiopian line. The high-pitched shrieking rose and carried on the thin air, answered by confused voices from the other side, and more shots began to ring out.
Then the clouds parted and a full moon illuminated the scene before them. Reaper and the rest gasped.
Waves upon waves of skeletal men and women were racing down the mountain toward the Ethiopian soldiers. The horrific sound was coming from their open mouths.
“Freaking banzai attack,” said Flyboy. “How desperate do you have to be for that?”
“Pretty desperate,” answered Bunny. “But most of them will probably get through. The Ethiopians are too thin on the ground.”
“Duh. You ever seen a fat Ethiopian?” Flyboy retorted.
“Shut up, you two.” All Reaper could think about were those fields she had visited as a girl, where the boys in gray had rushed, screaming, at the shaky sea of blue.
“What do we do?” Crash asked Reaper.
“Spread out and give them cover fire,” she said. “Single shots. Harass them.”
Her team quickly formed a firing line and began banging away with their carbines. The range varied from one to four hundred yards, making for difficult shots in the darkness, but the bullets impacting near the soldiers quickly caused them to take cover.
Impacts began to strike the rocks near her team. “They’re shooting at our muzzle flashes,” she said. “Fall back and relocate. Spread out!”
The moonlight allowed the westerners to withdraw and take up new positions, putting more distance between the shooters, reducing their vulnerability. Then they resumed harassing the soldiers.
Eden's Exodus (Plague Wars Series Book 3) Page 21