So be it. If Brickman believed he could pull off a hat-trick there was no point in throwing away highly-trained men who could be used more effectively elsewhere. Far better to give him as much rope as he needed. As long as he delivered the goods what did it matter if he ended up hanging himself? That was why Karlstrom – who flattered himself that his own devious mind was more than a match for Steve’s – had selected The Lady from Louisiana to conduct a search of the area.
Since Brickman and his friends lacked the necessary clothes and equipment to make an overland trek in the depths of winter, he might have second thoughts about going it alone. If the correct signals were received, assistance – in whatever measure required – would be quickly and discreetly provided.
On the other hand, if sacrificial goats were needed, they too would be provided – from amongst the crew of The Lady.
The whole exercise rested on the assumption that the principal players had survived the forced landing and its attendant dangers. Through his daily contacts with Roz Brickman, Steve’s psychic kin-sister, Karlstrom was confident they had. So, barring some unforeseen disaster, it would only be a matter of time before Steve and Jodi Kazan came up against their old bunkmates. Yes … It would be an interesting test of her loyalty and the extent of his duplicity.
Cadillac saw two of the patrolling Skyhawks pass overhead as he and Clearwater jogged northwards with their escort of warriors. For a brief instant, the posse halted and stared open-mouthed at the ‘arrowheads’. Several braves armed their crossbows but Cadillac advised them, through their leader, not to waste their precious bolts. The craft were too high for their skins to be pierced even by a well-aimed shot.
Through their contacts at the trading-post, the Clan Kojak knew of these craft and were aware that their appearance usually signalled the presence of one of the dreaded iron snakes, but up to that moment, no arrowheads had ever appeared east of the Mississippi. That in itself was amazing but what were they doing here during the White Death? The paramount clans of the She-Kargo had claimed that the iron snakes always returned to their burrows by the end of the Yellowing! – crawled back to their lairs beneath the Deserts of the South?
Death Leopard, the leader of the posse, waved the column forward. Clearwater, tight-lipped but uncomplaining, kept pace using the mental powers that Mutes possessed to block off the pain from her badly bruised knees. Beside her, Cadillac was quietly pleased to discover that he was not short of breath despite the lack of practice.
Glancing up from time to time he saw the two aircraft hold the same steady eastward course, becoming tiny specks that were soon swallowed up by the unbroken blue. He believed he knew why they were here but this was not the moment to speak of such things.
On the journey to the search area, Gus White’s patrol spotted a handful of settlements and a number of ground movements. All four pilots would dearly have loved to indulge in some low-level strafing but the plastic muzzle caps of their nose-mounted machine guns had been taped on to catch anyone tempted to violate the order not to fire.
Failing to find any sign of the crashed Sky-Riders within the allotted time, Gus ordered the others to head back to The Lady and continued the search until he had just barely enough fuel to make it home. He had been secretly hoping he might locate one or both of the aircraft and thus take the entire credit himself instead of getting into an argument with the others about who saw what first. In this he was destined to be disappointed but he turned for home content in the knowledge that the extra effort would not go unnoticed by the top brass.
He locked on to The Lady’s radio beam and gradually lost altitude, levelling out at two thousand feet in order to get a closer look at what lay below.
As soon as Kelso had been installed under the close-packed groups of pines, Steve left Jodi in charge and went out with a brace of hand-guns in the hope of felling some fresh meat. In the time they’d been overground, both Jodi and Kelso had overcome the revulsions all Trackers had towards eating the real thing – no easy task for someone raised on a diet of synthesized soya been papo.
Steve had promised to be back in an hour but it was close on two before Jodi sighted him through the ‘scope she’d been using to scan the surrounding landscape. Her relief at his return was tinged with disappointment when she saw he was empty-handed.
She went out to meet him. ‘One of those days, huh?’
‘Yeah.’ He rubbed his wounded thigh. ‘Saw all kinds of stuff out there but it was either too fast on its feet or too far away.’
‘Never mind, we can always open –’ Jodi broke off as Steve’s attention fastened on something in the sky.
Following his gaze, she saw the blue-grey speck and hurriedly focused the ‘scope on it. The blurred image resolved itself into a straight-winged aircraft painted in the standard Federation blue and flying directly towards them.
Jodi gasped as she caught sight of its white wingtip markings. ‘I don’t believe this – Steve! Look! It’s from The Lady!’
Before her involuntary separation from the wagon-train during the battle of the Now and Then River, Jodi had been a member of The Lady’s crew for five years, rising from wingman to section leader. ‘Christo! Talk about luck! D’you realize what this means?’
Steve, who had only served aboard for some three months before being shot down, didn’t share her sudden gush of nostalgia. He took a brief look through the ‘scope. ‘Yeah. I’ll tell you exactly what this means. That plane up there is one of the new model Skyhawks I told you about. We’re looking at the wrong end of a six-barrelled machine gun!’
The information didn’t appear to register. ‘So what? Don’t you understand? This changes everything!’
‘You’re right. We’re in even bigger trouble than we were before.’ Steve pulled her back under cover of the pine trees where they had set up camp.
Kelso’s improvised stretcher lay on the far side of the bivouac area. His face was turned away from them and he appeared to be sleeping. Steve turned back to Jodi and sank to his knees, pulling her down with him. He held up a warning finger as he let go of her wrist. ‘Calm down, okay? I can tell from your face your brain’s working overtime. I don’t know what you’re cooking up but if it’s what I think it is, you can forget it!’
It was Jodi who now grabbed hold of him. She seized his left forearm with both hands and shook it excitedly. ‘Listen! If Hartmann and Big D are still aboard, there won’t be any trouble! If I can make contact with them and get back on board I can explain what happened to me!’
‘And …?’
‘Brickman! I did five operational tours with those two guys! If they testify on my behalf I’d have a better chance of getting a fair shake from a board of Assessors! I could be reinstated!’
‘That’s what they want you to think,’ said Steve. ‘For chrissakes, Jodi! The Federation’s got at least twenty wagon-trains on the overground. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that plane just happens to be from The Lady?’
Jodi’s excitement faltered momentarily. ‘It’s the first time to my knowledge that a wagon-train has ever made an offensive sweep at this time of year. But apart from that, the fact that it’s The Lady who’s prowling around out there doesn’t strike me as being particularly sinister.’
‘Really? What d’you think she’s doing here?’
‘Hunting Mutes, what else? You’ve seen for yourself there’s plenty of’em around.’
‘C’mon, Jodi. You can do better than that. That guy up there was looking for us!’
‘How d’you figure that out?’
‘What’s the matter with you? You got frostbite on the brain? When that ape Side-Winder woke up and found us gone, he knew where we were heading –’
‘How?’
‘Because, like a fool, I told him! And those two pilots knew just how far we could get on the fuel that was left in the tanks! Steve shook his head and cursed under his breath. ‘We should have shot the bastards …’ Steve’s eyes hardened. ‘Kelso was going to and �
�’
‘I know. I stopped him.’
‘Big mistake. But I still take the booby prize. We should have burned those Skyriders instead of just leaving ’em standing there like a couple of signposts.’
‘Without bodies inside that wouldn’t have fooled anybody for long. And although I’ve never flown anything that wasn’t battery powered I would guess that planes with empty fuel tanks don’t catch fire unless someone puts a torch to ’em.’
‘No … you’re right,’ muttered Steve. ‘But with this snow covering what was left of them they’d have been a lot harder to find. Once they pin-point those planes – if they haven’t spotted them already – they’ll know we’re out here. We only saw one today but they must have the whole flight-section patrolling this area.’
‘D’you think he spotted us?’
‘Hard to say. There’s plenty of tracks out there, ours and the ones made by the Kojaks. But it doesn’t matter because unless someone plants a big arrow besides ours there ain’t no way they’re gonna be able to spot the difference.’
‘Do you think they’ll come back? The planes I mean.’
‘Yeah. Bound to. I’m only guessing here, but given the time of day and the fact that he was flying due west, I’d say he was probably heading for home. So where would you say that puts The Lady – on the far side of the Mississippi?’
‘Sounds reasonable …’
They consulted the map together. The Mississippi River wasn’t depicted. The left hand edge ran down through Joliet, Illinois.
‘Terrific …’ Steve shoved his half of the map towards Jodi. ‘I still don’t think Hartmann’s gonna put any line-men across the water. My geography’s a little hazy but I reckon we must be about a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty miles from the river.’
Jodi smoothed out the crumpled map. ‘At least …’
‘Well, you know him better than I do but I can’t see Hartmann sending a combat team that far out on the limb without the proper backup – can you?’
‘No.’ Jodi chewed on her lip. ‘So … what happens now?’
‘For the moment, nothing. We sit tight and stay under cover until we find out what kind of a deal Cadillac and Clearwater have managed to put together.’
‘But suppose there isn’t a deal? What do we do if they don’t come back in a couple of days like they said? How long do we wait here – for ever?’
Steve sighed impatiently. ‘Jodi, if there isn’t a deal, we’ll know soon enough. Those Kojak braves’ll be swarming all over us!’
Jodi considered this unappealing prospect with a thoughtful nod then said: ‘Lemme make you a proposition. You were sent out to bring in those two smart Mutes. Okay. With some help from Dave and me, you got ’em out of Ne-Issan. But now they’ve gone – and they might not be back. So before we find ourselves up shit creek without a paddle, I suggest we cut our losses and try to rejoin The Lady.’
Steve gave her a disbelieving stare. ‘Are you crazy?’
‘Brickman, be realistic. What chance do we have out here?’
‘The same chance as everyone else! You made it through one winter. You can do it again.’
‘Last year I was one of ninety renegades in a highly organized group. Run by Malone, remember?’
‘I’m not likely to forget.’ Steve’s laugh had a bitter edge to it. ‘I also haven’t forgotten he managed to lose over thirty breakers, including you and Dave, to the M’Calls. Some organizer!’
‘Okay, so he makes mistakes too. But he was onto your number in nought seconds flat.’
‘Yeah, that’s right. He was …’
Jodi lowered her voice. ‘The point I’m trying to make is, I was with my own kind. I don’t trust that bunch of Mutes your two smoothies are trying to do business with. Like I said, those lumps are soon gonna find out I’m not regulation issue, but even if there was some way to swing it I’m not prepared to come with you if it means dumping Dave.’
‘Jodi! For chrissakes, be reasonable! We’ve done our best for the guy. Most people would have put a bullet through him and left him in the wreckage!’
‘Yeah? Well, I’m not most people. You promised me no one would kill him – that we’d work something out. Now it sounds like you’re ready to hit the Delete button. Whose side are you on, Brickman?’
‘Yours. At least I’m trying to be – but it’s not easy when you keep changing your fucking mind!’
The accusation riled her. ‘Jeez! You got a nerve! You chew me out for switching tracks but you been rewriting the programme ever since we ran into each other back in Nebraska. First you tell me you’re dressed up like a lump-sucker just to save your hide. It then turns out you’re an undercover Fed out to kidnap some smart Mutes – and you lay that True Blue stuff on me and how helpin’ you will save the day and your kin-sister’s ass.
‘Finally, at first hiccup – when Kelso and I start having second thoughts – you’re ready to dump little sister and kiss goodbye to the Federation! It just doesn’t figure. You’re up to something, Brickman. This ain’t exactly the time and place to fall out but the fact is, I don’t trust you.’
‘Yeah …’ Steve let out a long, weary sigh. ‘You’re right to be suspicious, Jodi, but you’re reading things the wrong way. I was pressured into this operation by threats against Roz. And yes, I did ask for help from the Federation. If it hadn’t been for them we would never have gotten out alive. I promised I’d help you escape from Ne-Issan and I did. But I never intended to go back in.’
‘So why all the talk about me being True Blue and how we were all going to be heroes?’
‘That’s simple. I couldn’t do it without you. But for us to escape I had to work with the Federation and you had to agree. Sooner or later you’d have asked where all the hardware was coming from – so I had to appeal to your loyalty. One Lindbergh Baby to another.
‘When we talked after we’d been captured by the M’Calls you were pretty negative about the Federation so when you agreed to help I couldn’t be sure whether you’d had a permanent change of heart, or whether you were just hitching a ride on the wagon.’
Steve paused and watched the colour flood into Jodi’s cheeks. ‘I didn’t find out you’d been stringing me along until we were in that inflatable on our way to Long Point.’
‘I didn’t lie to you, Brickman. I was ready and willing to go back in. It was just, well … that whole set-up at Bu-faro. And that guy Side-Winder, not just painted up but with lumps stuffed in his face! The discovery that the Family had people working hand-in-glove with those dinks spooked me. It suddenly made me realize we were just a small part of a much bigger deal and I felt …’
‘Expendable …? We’ve never been anything else, Jodi.’
‘Yeah, strange … I don’t know why it came as such a shock.’
‘That’s because until we broke loose and were able to give our brains some elbow room it never occurred to us that there might be an alternative to what was on offer. From the moment we were old enough to understand it’s been drummed into us that the only reason for a Tracker’s existence is to die so that the dream of the First Family can be fulfilled. The conquest of the Blue-Sky World …
‘But no one has ever questioned their right to it – or whether it’s worth the lives that have been lost, the sacrifices that have been made, and the untold numbers that still have to die before they repossess the overground.’
‘It’s not just their dream,’ said Jodi. ‘It’s something we all share. Well, most of us …’
Steve picked up the ‘scope and moved to where he could see the western half of the sky through the branches. The Skyhawk was now a long way away, a tiny dot on the vast, cloudless yellow canvas that hung above the western horizon.
He returned and crouched down facing Jodi. ‘The question is – if that dream becomes reality, what will happen to the Plainfolk?’
Jodi shrugged. ‘If the Federation gets its way, I guess there won’t be any.’
Steve found Roz’s words on his l
ips. ‘Don’t they have a right to exist?’
Jodi responded with a blank stare. ‘I don’t know what you’re getting at.’
‘They’re people Jodi! Human beings, like us! Our ancestors were their ancestors too!’
Jodi was unmoved. ‘So what? If it’s true, which I doubt, that was a long long time ago. And even if you could prove it, who’d wanna believe you? D’you think everyone’s gonna kiss and make up after all the sacrifices that generations of Trackers have made? Stop trying to kid yourself, Brickman. Lump-heads and breakers don’t mix. Whether you’re inside or outside the Federation, they’re the enemy and always will be. If we don’t kill them, they’ll kill us.’
‘The M’Calls didn’t kill you and the other guys.’
‘No. They sold us down the river so the Iron Masters could stick it to us instead!’
‘Haven’t you learned anything since you’ve been out here?!’ hissed Steve. ‘Cadillac and Clearwater helped us escape! If it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t be here!’
‘And we helped them. But it’s different now. In Ne-Issan, we had a common enemy – the Iron Masters. That deal fell apart the moment we reached Plainfolk territory. We’re back in their country. They’re amongst their own kind. Just look at the way Cadillac’s behaving.’
Steve nodded. ‘He has been coming on a little strong …’
‘You can say that again. A couple of weeks ago he was falling apart and you had to glue him back together one day at a time. Now he’s behaving like an arrogant sonofabitch!’ snapped Jodi. ‘That may be okay by you but he’s not walking over me!’
The Amtrak Wars: Blood River Page 11