"No, it's just dry goods for warehousing. I may be here a week before they bring me a new motor."
"Any idea why they jumped you?"
"Not a one. Are they strangers?"
"No, we've seen them around. Not the first time they've been unruly. Minor stuff, nothing for us, bar Security usually handled them."
"Well, if you find out anything, I'd appreciate knowing. I'd check their digs, they looked trained."
She glanced at her partner and he nodded, so she stood and said, "I'll let you know if we find anything."
Something to look forward to, I thought as she walked away. No, she did not walk, really, just sort of moved. Must be the beer, I thought, as I reached for my sixth, pleasantly numb by now. Broken motors might not be a curse after all.
I ordered two steak and chip dinners to offset the beer. Then I figured I'd better get back to the truck before I needed an escort. Out here I'd be dingo food before sunup if I passed out. I tried to pay my bill, but the barkeeper wouldn't hear of it.
"We usually have better manners. You come back in the morning. You can pay for breakfast. Any time you feel right."
I thanked him and carefully walked out the door. It was about three in the morning and still very lively, made sense. Who the hell wants to be out in 35 plus C when you can enjoy 20 degrees at night? The shadows almost hid her by the fountain. But then I thought she probably was not the kind who would ever hide.
"I'm off duty," she said, though she still wore her duty belt and her uniform. I figured you might like an escort back to your truck."
"That is very thoughtful of you. Do you mind if I hold your hand while we walk?"
Saying that stopped her for a moment, but then she said, "Not at all." And put a hand in mine, which was as callused as mine and maybe harder. She could not hide what that meant and I did not comment on it. Martial artists don't scare me but I wasn't going to tell her that.
We walked slowly out of town toward the truck parking area. The streetlights made it all quite bright in the open and we just walked along hand in hand as natural as you please.
About fifty feet from my parking space, I thumbed the remote and the whole train lit up like a light show. It was easy to see no one was about.
"I have some Manchurian tea, or at least the fellow said it was. Would you care for some?" I asked, as easily as I could.
All she said was, "Yes."
A week later, the new motor installed, I was ready to move on. As I worked I thought about learning in general and about the many things I'd learned personally. But Lin Ti was a new playing field. I'm sure over the years I'd driven longer, but I'm also sure never in low gear only. I try to shift, she turns off the ignition. After two days we got there anyway. Then we did the return trip, after that, on the road again.
Now she'd gone to sign out on leave. Said she had some vacation time she had to use, or lose. Would I mind if she rode the cross with me. That would be over the whole North/South, East/West roadway. She was interested in spending time alone with me. Me, I knew better, but I'd play it out, just to see who else was in the game.
I shut the hood cover after one last check on my new motor and tranny. The warranty people had arrived and installed it sooner than I'd anticipated. I hadn't spared any expense with this over spec replacement. What the hell, spend it on upgraded equipment, or give it to the government. It had three thousand horse power and an unlimited torque transmission. I'd only dreamt about such things in the past. With the avalanche of new tech lately, dreams came true.
While wiping my hands on some paper towels I saw her coming along the road, a huge duffel bag slung over each shoulder. Needs a lot of underwear, or something, I thought.
"How's the motor?" She asked.
"I've triple checked every connection, all tight. You ready to roll?"
"Yes. The Sergeant wasn't happy with the short notice, but I have been on steady here, and elsewhere, for eight months straight."
"Well, in that case, you can use some rest." I said, admiring how smoothly she lied. "Let's move on."
We mounted the steps and when inside she lashed her bags against the left wall behind the passenger seat. I hit the prep button. When the gauge read 300 C, I toggled the water inlet open. The vanes started that whir, which signified Hydrogen Motor. It would never be out of our hearing until I shut it down.
With blinkers on, I moved from the space that had been home for a week. The spring-loaded tongues on the trailers did their job. In three minutes we were on the approach road. It was only 1900. We were among the first ones out. With an open road I didn't have any problem accelerating to the 200 km cruising speed I liked to use.
We talked about our pasts as the kilometers rolled by. The sun set behind us. We had mountains in common. She grew up in the South Chinese Mountains and me in the Australian Alps. She said everybody took up martial arts in her home town. Me, at age ten, when my parents died in a car accident, I'd gone back to Sweden to my grandparents. At eighteen, I enlisted in the Swedish Army paratroopers. After ten years of playing humanitarian with a blue beret and losing cause after cause, I became disillusioned. The grand parents had died so I came back to Australia to drown out the world's shortcomings as efficiently as I could. That effort had gone smoothly over the last fifteen years. A 'tickle' of apprehension, which I'd almost forgotten, warned me that my 'vacation' might be over.
A half hour later, a rocket took the skin off my right front roller. I knew the feeling had been right. Glancing at the rear video screens I saw three sets of headlights closing in. I advanced the speed lever.
"Keep it straight!" Lin Ti commanded, "Maybe they won't get by the tractor."
"Don't worry about this tractor. It'll take more than a rocket to stop us. This thing was built for transporting gold in Siberia. It has more armor than most tanks."
Moments later, I felt a jolt, and verified on the dash gauges, that the rubber skin was gone from the left roller. No matter, I could run on the solid rubber inner rollers themselves, a special feature on this particular rig. Damn good planning, just place gunners along the road. Like ducks in a shooting gallery the drivers couldn't get away. And like the same ducks, we'd be dead.
A half dozen tracer rounds screeched off the bullet proof wind shield directly in front of me. I glanced at the speed, 320 km. The ones behind weren't going to catch us and do anything. But those in front of us could place a few anti tank mines and we'd be done.
"To hell with this. I'm dumping the trailers. I pay insurance for this kind of problem." I said, pulling down on the disconnect lever.
The speed sprung up to 350 before I could throttle back. In the rear view video I could see trailers all over the highway in a tangled mess. In passing, I realized I hadn't seen any traffic on the other side of the concrete medium wall. Good planning on their part, no witnesses, no problems.
Looking upward Lin Ti asked, "Does the cupola swivel?"
"Yeah, sure, it works fine. But we don't have anything like a machine gun to mount on it."
"Don't be too sure about that." She answered, unbelting herself and opening one of her duffle bags. Out came the latest Russian squad weapon, a .54 R long barreled machine gun with double drums and an 'all light' scope. "Kill the tractor lights. This infra-red is good for 1,500 meters. I'll see if there are any snipers in front of us as we go."
I complied, and throttled back to 150 km. Having a moment to think I scanned the emergency bands, all static. I was certain they would have that possibility covered, but sometimes the enemy makes mistakes.
"Stop!" Lin Ti yelled, "There are three of them moving around something on the next hill."
I eased the tractor to a stop in a dip in the road. "Probably a 105 recoilless rifle, sitting, zeroed on that rise in front of us. We go over the top and become a fireball. This thing won't absorb that much velocity from that big a round."
"They've been tracking us a while, but they can't see us here. Let's surprise them." Lin Ti exclaimed.
; "Suits me, Hon, but the first surprise is on you." I touched a decoration on the right wall of the cabin. A door sprang open and I hauled out a .50 caliber Barrett/Honaker. "The night sights on this are better than yours. May I have the honor?"
Her police face froze, but then she said, "Good choice. We go off to the right and find a spot. I'll take out any runners you might miss."
I didn't bother to point out that with only three there wouldn't be any runners. Let her feel useful.
We got into position behind the rise we chose. Then we put on black ski masks and carefully eased our heads over the hillside. They still waited. One stood off to one side talking on a phone. Him first.
I settled myself, anchored the bipod in a slight depression, sighted, and squeezed of three quick shots. With the silencer and suppressor it felt like shooting a BB gun. They collapsed and didn't move.
I began to feel smug when a motor roared to life in a depression off to our right. A skeleton duster angled toward us with an M-60 firing in a sweep.
Before I could turn and take aim that sewing machine sound started from Lin Ti's position. The duster became a cloud of small explosions. High tech ammo, maybe I could have her people reload my fifties, I thought absently, as I sighted on the driver. Before I could pull the trigger white phosphorus rounds hit. A spray of fuel enveloped them. Then the tank blew. Running on nitro, damn, this bunch doesn't miss a trick.
Pieces of duster and pieces of bodies rained to the ground while we waited for the next surprise.
After an hour of silence, during which we scanned the whole landscape, we concluded they'd tried their best, and lost. The bodies next to the 105 were not moving. I decided to investigate them.
“I don't think you'll find anything, but you never know. We might as well take the 105 along. Might come in handy somewhere."
"You're right on both counts. See you back at the tractor. We have some talking to do."
"Too damn right about that." I shouldered my rifle and started to walk away. At last look through my heat seeker sight the bodies were loosing distinction as they cooled. A good sign; their next ambush wouldn't be in this world.
"They're done," I said "I'll put on spare rollers, if you'll check the bodies
I had the tractor up on its built-in jacks and the two punctured rollers off by the time she came back.
She said, "Nothing on the bodies. The 105's on wheels so I drug it over along the roadway. Can I help you?"
"Yes. I have to get the new rollers out from under the cab before I can put these away. We can manhandle them easier together. They weigh over six hundred pounds apiece."
I loosened the retaining nuts and activated the hydraulic slide that ejected them tied to their own cradles. After that it was grunt work. We handled it easily. There was no damage to the under carriage. The new rollers slid on and I torqued the retaining nuts and put in the safety cotter pin. She figured out the air system and brought the hose to me so I could top off the inflation poundage. Then rolled the damaged rollers to their berth but waited for me to put them back in the grooves. We stopped for the 105. A half hour and we were underway. I had visions of mounting the 105 in the cupola, only fleeting ones. We stored it in a tool locker. Somebody had thought up a quick breakdown base, quite efficient.
Once we were rolling along at a two hundred km she turned her seat to me and said, "There are explanations to be given. I'll give them and you can sort out if you believe I have your best interests at heart. It was odds on that you were going to be hijacked. Your load fit the profile of the thirty seven other trains which disappeared."
"I only heard of twelve."
"It was kept quiet for confusions sake. Not my decision. I counseled the opposite."
"To whom?"
"Who, is not what you'd expect. We're an outside group. The funds come from insurance companies, re-insurers, and governments who don't want a bad name. We operate all over the world. There are too many people on bribes to trust anyone in any government with operational details; especially, considering the reach of the Russian Mafia."
"So you people got a lot of truckers killed."
"They may not be dead."
I laughed grimly, "And I'm a fairy God-mother."
"Anyway the picture is bigger than truckers. The hijacked loads are only a cover story to fill up a freighter which has as its primary objective delivering Mafia gold to be laundered. It's a long story."
"I'm sure it is." I said with disbelief. "But if we don't get under cover before daylight a chopper will come and finish us off."
"Too true about that. I have a destination in mind. You---."
Slamming brakes, ours, interrupted her. "There ahead, on the pull off. Do you see a child waving?"
She said, "I see it now. Stop. I'll get down."
Moments later she was back in the cab with a young girl, maybe ten, or twelve in her arms. The girl said, "I'm Merele. We got out to stretch. I walked too far away. The bus driver left without me. My parents were asleep."
I said, "We'll get you to them, but we have to stop for fuel and a rest. Why don't you go back and lay down for safety's sake. It'll be fine."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Why don't you tuck her in, Lin? Grab a handhold, I'm moving out. Make sure the safety web is latched."
"Sure I will. She's probably hungry too, and thirsty. Meanwhile we should go up to 300 minimum."
That voice wasn't a request, so as they walked back into the cabin I slowly increased the speed to 325km. I'd had it up to 400 in a test, ran totally solid, not the least hint of vibration. Regardless, if we ran into anything we'd be dead, kid too. But Lin Ti and I would be dead anyway if we didn't get out of sight. How the kid had survived the wild dogs escaped me. She was on borrowed time. Borrowed time. Juan La Fluce. It had been his favorite saying, French Foreign Legion drill Sergeant. Meanest ever. My Company had trained for six months under him and his men prior to being inserted into French West Africa for protection duty. At the last moment the President's drugged mistress had taken him out, and his whole family, no insertion necessary.
A half hour later Lin Ti returned. "She's sleeping. Not to be understood why she's not food. I'll question her later. Now I'm going to set the dash Sat-Nav. There. That's where we have to be before sunup. Before the no-fly time expires."
"Don't talk to me like a child. You've read my file."
"Sorry, no offence intended."
I took several deep breaths, "Me too; too much tension. I know that place, an old military base, rugged terrain around it, unexploded ordinance."
"I have a map, in my head, of the minefield they put into the access road."
"Your people?"
"Yes. Get me there. I'll make calls. Get info. Then we'll make a plan."
I complained, "I don't like it. But, to be fair, I don't like dead either. Do we still have warm coffee? Hot would be too much to ask for."
"You are a cranky sot. You need a lover. Oh damn, that's me. I'll sort you through as soon as we have a chance."
I had to laugh, "Go on woman, get me some coffee, and cold is right too."
With my cold coffee I said, "Thanks. Now, to get back to your Russian Mafia explanation. What do you think you can do?"
"I can go to Freizton where their freighter docks and blow it out of the water."
"And just how do you do that?"
"I don't exactly know. But I have access to a lot of capability. We'll talk more later on."
We were in the blackest before dawn when I ripped down the exit ramp with fifteen miles to go. Hell, I had more rollers. She called the turns. I didn't turn the rig over. Merele must be a deep sleeper. Finally she said, "Stop. Get out of the seat. Set 5km forward."
I did as told. She steered back and forth counting aloud as she did so. I saw the gate as she braked. She jumped out of the driver's seat, and out the door saying, "Take over. Pick me up on the other side of the fences."
She flipped up a cover on an entry pad and keyed something which
opened two sets of gates. I drove through and stopped. The gates closed behind us. She appeared in the passengers door and said; "Make for the third building from the left."
I drove into the open doors and shut the motor off. She jumped out and shut the wide sliding door. Result we were in total blackness. Somebody had gone to a lot of trouble to make this place a sanctuary. A normal building of this age would be a rusted out hulk.
She came back to the tractor. "Jump out Tom. We're home. I'll get the kid. Merele is her name. Underground tunnels connect the buildings. Just wait."
I waited beside my ready bag I'd snatched up before dismounting. Couldn't see a bloody thing. Lin Ti climbed down with her own bag and the kid who appeared to still be asleep. Life's never simple.
She said, "Hang onto my harness. We'll be in the tunnels soon. They're lighted."
We went through a door and down stairs by feeling our way, through another door, and into the tunnel. It was faintly lit. Seven hundred and twenty nine meters later, (I counted), we came to another door which opened onto a stairwell. Down four floors we stepped through a door into wonderland. A swimming pool fifty meters square, at first glance, occupied the center of the two story expanse. There were doors around a flat space twenty meters back from the pool on both floors, with stairwells at the corners. More of our tax dollars wasted, which I was presently in total agreement with. Lin Ti deposited Merle on a cushioned lounger. She curled up and continued to sleep. Lin Ti's efforts at an electrical wall panel brought more light. I dropped my bag near a table and chairs and plopped into one of the chairs. It held. Good quality. Relaxed, I became aware of a pistol magazine holder digging into my back, stood up and unbuckled. I laid the harness on the table, sat back down, and the sand went out of me.
Lin Ti appeared from somewhere and sat three huge steaming mugs on the table. "Chicken soup, that's what the packet said, fortified and vitaminized with B complex."
"Way too much info. I need it. Sleep too."
She agreed, "Same here. But what do we do with the child?"
"Lock the doors. Put some food on the table with a note saying not to go in the pool. Didn't you want to make calls?"
Greener Green II: The Balls Brigade Page 22