Vengeance (The Kurgan War Book 4)

by Richard Turner

  “Well, whatever is going on, I doubt it will end in Rome.”

  Chapter 6

  The quarters on the transport ship, Brunswick, were cramped but not so bad that a person had to go outside to change their mind, thought Tarina Pheto as she placed her sandals on her tender feet. Her aching body told her to take it easy. After being rescued from the prison planet, she had been looked after by the medical staff on board the vessel. Her feet had been cleaned and her wounds treated, as had the scars on her back from the time she had been whipped by a Chosen guard. There were numerous smaller medical patches on the rest of her body. Still, she considered herself lucky. She at least was still alive and on her way home to Earth.

  “Where are you going?” asked her friend, Wendy Sullivan. Her voice was tired and groggy.

  “I can’t sleep anymore. I thought I’d go for a walk and stretch out my muscles. All this sitting around is starting to drive me crazy.”

  “Can I join you?” asked Angela, the third person in their tight-knit group. Unlike the two other women, she was a Chosen citizen who had hidden among the human prisoners. Desperate to get home to her children, Angela had latched onto Tarina and Wendy as her only hope of ever seeing them again. She was in a precarious situation and knew it.

  Tarina glanced over at Wendy. “Feel like joining us?”

  Her friend shook her head, pulled her blanket up over her shoulders, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

  Tarina and Angela tiptoed out of the room. The lights outside were dim. To make room for all of the freed prisoners of war, dozens of crewmembers had voluntarily given up their quarters and now slept on cots in the hangar bay. The sound of people snoring filled the air. The two women walked side by side in silence. They waved as they passed a couple of other people who also had been unable to sleep.

  After a couple of minutes, Tarina sat down to rest her sore feet.

  “Tarina, I’m scared,” whispered Angela as she sat down beside her friend. “I don’t know how long I can keep up this charade. When we get to Earth, your people are going to run medical and psychological tests on me and find out that I’m not who I say I am. You and Wendy are going to get in a lot of trouble for helping me conceal my true identity.”

  Tarina patted one of Angela’s hands. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Before we left Illum Prime, I told my boyfriend, Michael, all about you. He’ll speak with his father and the admiral will undoubtedly take it higher.”

  Fear filled Angela’s eyes.

  “Angela, there is no reason to be scared. These are good men who will do the right thing. Of that, I have no doubt. We’re going to be docking at Tranquility Station later today and transferring to a shuttlecraft to take us down to Earth. I expect we’ll know what is going on with you before day’s end.”

  “What if they decide to interrogate and hold me until the war ends? What then? Who will look after my children? Tarina, I have to get home.”

  Tarina’s heart ached for her, but she couldn’t answer a single one of her questions. They would all have to wait until someone made a decision one way or the other concerning Angela’s status. “I wish I could say something to ease your pain, but I can’t. At least not now. I trust Admiral Sheridan and so should you.”

  “You have never lied to me. If my fate is in the hands of this admiral, then so be it. I’d pray to the Lord for guidance and support, but that might arouse more suspicion.”

  “Please don’t! I’m not telling you what you can or can’t believe, just for now, please continue to keep it to yourself until you’re home safe and sound with your children. Remember your name is First Lieutenant Angela Dorset. You’re a logistics officer in the Marine Corps who originally comes from Des Moines, Iowa. If you’re asked for your service number, tell them you can’t recall it and hope for the best.”

  Angela nodded and stood up. “How are your feet?”

  “They’re still a little tender, but a hell of a lot better than they used to be. Come on, let’s do another lap of the hangar and then go wake up old sleepy head for some breakfast.”

  Chapter 7

  As far as Michael Sheridan was concerned, the only drawback to riding the train was, for the most part, that the journey was underground. He and Cole had reserved a private room to themselves for the eight-hour trip to Moscow. Security at the terminal at Irkutsk had been lax. He was surprised when their bags were neither searched nor scanned by the security personnel. He knew that things would be tighter in the Russian capital.

  “How do you turn that bloody thing off?” Cole asked, pointing to a small screen on the wall that was showing a recruiting commercial for the army. On it a young man and woman were enrolling together in the ADF. They were smiling and looked proud to be going off to war. As expected, the harsh realities of interstellar combat weren’t shown on the thirty-second advertisement.

  “I don’t think we can,” replied Sheridan. “It’s controlled by a computer in the engineer’s compartment.”

  “I’ve been counting and that’s the tenth recruiting advert in the past hour. The ADF must really be down on its quotas this month.”

  Sheridan chuckled. He’d nodded off for a couple of hours and had missed the irritating commercials. “If this war drags on much longer, don’t be surprised if the government brings in conscription. They did in the last war and it was far from a popular decision.”

  “Yeah, I think I remember reading about the riots that occurred in several major cities. They had to call in the military to help put them down, didn’t they?

  “They sure did. The conscription crisis cost the president his job.”

  Cole sat up and leaned forward in his seat. “Captain, I’ve been thinking about Mister Williams.”

  Sheridan groaned. “I warned you about thinking too much, Master Sergeant.”

  “It’s gotten us this far. Let’s see how you do when we get to Rome.”

  “I deserved that. What’s bothering you?”

  “I think he’s the real thing. I don’t think the Kurgs cloned Mister Williams after they found his dead body. We restrict cloning to certain kinds of livestock, endangered animals, and spare organs for transplant patients. Cloning of people on Earth was abandoned last century for ethical reasons. Although, I don’t doubt the rich and elite still have their ways of obtaining a new and healthy body.”

  Sheridan shook his head. “Always the conspiracy theorist.”

  “I’ve heard things that would turn your blood cold. Regardless, I doubt the Kurgans with their strict religious doctrine would allow for any of their citizens, even Chosen ones, to be cloned. Therefore, the man we are looking for has to be the original Harry Williams.”

  Sheridan nodded. “I can’t fault your logic. The Kurgans encourage large families to keep the population up, and as far as I have read, they have never dabbled with cloning. Harry was dead when I left him, of that I am positive.” The image of a knife sticking out of Williams’ chest sent a shudder down Sheridan’s back. “There can only be one answer. After we had been rescued, a Kurgan vessel must have arrived, found Harry’s frozen body, and somehow revived him.”

  “If their docs are as good as ours, Mister Williams is running around with at least an artificial heart in his chest.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Sir—”

  Sheridan cut Cole off. “From here on out we’d best force ourselves not to use rank when we talk to one another.”

  “Okay, Mark,” said Cole, trying not to laugh, “I’ve also been thinking about what we need to do when we get to Rome.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “As Mister Williams wants us to go there, or he wouldn’t have allowed his face to be recorded, I say we use you as bait to lure him out into the open.”

  “Why me?”

  “He’s your mate! He knows you far better than he does me. I doubt he remembers what I even look like. It’s you he wants.”

  “Okay, we’ll go with your plan, until I can think of somethin
g smarter and less hazardous to my health to do.

  “Good luck with that.”

  Their train pulled into the Moscow underground station on time at five minutes after eleven in the morning. They grabbed their gear, exited the train, walked across the busy platform to a ticket kiosk, and purchased tickets for their trip to Rome.

  Until now, Sheridan had never noticed the omnipresent surveillance apparatus in the bustling centers of all of the world’s major cities. Cameras suspended from the roof of the station watched everyone while retinal scanners at the kiosks checked your identity before you purchased your tickets. Several well-armed police officers patrolled the area with sniffer droids by their sides. One of the men walked past Sheridan. For a few seconds, the machine lifted up its camera, like an eye, to look up at him before moving along.

  “I wonder if his name is Spot?” said Cole, looking over at the sniffer robot.

  “Pardon?”

  “You know . . . as in a random spot check.”

  Sheridan moaned at the awful pun.

  At a ticket booth, a young blonde-haired woman said, “Please stand behind the red line at your feet while I scan your retinas.”

  Sheridan smiled and held his breath. If the contact lenses failed, they would have to make a run for it.

  A couple of seconds later, the woman looked up from her computer screen. “Thank you, Mister Scott.”

  Sheridan exhaled and moved aside to allow the camera to scan Cole’s eyes.

  “Thank you, gentlemen,” said the young woman as she handed them their tickets. “Enjoy your trip to Rome. Your expected time of arrival is six-thirty p.m. local time.”

  “Thanks,” replied Cole with a wink at the woman. He took the tickets, read where their room was, and pointed to the second carriage behind the locomotive.

  They made their way onboard and went straight to their room.

  Sheridan glanced at his wrist phone and saw that they wouldn’t be leaving the station for another fifteen minutes. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten in some time. He pressed a button on a monitor on the wall and a menu came up.

  “I’m going to have some lunch. I was thinking of something really unhealthy like a burger and fries. Want anything?”

  “Same thing,” replied Cole as he locked the door to their cabin.

  While they waited for their food to arrive, Sheridan dug out one of his credit cards to pay for their meal. He sat back and looked at Cole “You know, until today, I’d never really paid much attention to the amount of surveillance gear there is here on Earth. I can see why centuries ago people left the planet for the colonies. There is far more freedom out there.”

  “When I retire from the service, I’m not going to settle down on Earth. A cottage on a lake somewhere far from here is my idea of living. I’ll miss my kids, but they’re growing up in a house without me in it. They have a new dad. In a couple of years, they’ll probably not even remember my face.”

  Sheridan felt sorry for his friend. The uncomfortable look on Cole’s face told him that he missed his children.

  “The only positive thing I can think of is that their mum’s not a bad person. It was me that drove her away. My drinking and my time away from home were too much for her to deal with.”

  Sheridan tried to change the topic. “At least in a few hours you’re not going to be used as bait for a group of murderous Chosen agents.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that too much if I were you.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “If they’re any good at what they do you’ll never know you’re in trouble until it’s too late, and you’ll be dead.”

  “Wonderful. You really know how to make me feel good about things.”

  Cole grinned. “Just doing my job.”

  Chapter 8

  Commander Carmen Roy ran her hands over the creases in her dress uniform pants for the fifth time in the last minute. To say that she was nervous would be an understatement. Although she was comfortable around her boss, Admiral Sheridan, the thought of speaking on his behalf with the commander of the fleet filled her stomach with butterflies. She stood up and checked herself in the mirror one last time. Her dark blue uniform fit her lithe body as it had when she’d graduated from the Academy. She had foregone any makeup on her slender face. It always stood out too much on her pale skin. Her black hair was cut short around her ears.

  “Well, girl you’re about as good as you’re ever gonna be,” she said to herself.

  The polished wooden doors to Admiral Oshiro’s aide’s office opened. Rear Admiral Parker said, “The C-in-C will see you now, Commander Roy.”

  “Thank you, sir,” replied Roy. She stood up as straight as she could, and with her heart racing in her chest, she strode into Oshiro’s office, stopped, and saluted the admiral.

  “Please take a seat, Commander,” said Oshiro, after returning the salute.

  Roy sat down in a high-backed wooden chair that had once been in the captain’s quarters onboard the U.S.S. Constitution during the first Kurgan War.

  “Before we begin, would you like a glass of water?” asked Oshiro.

  “No, thank you, sir.”

  Oshiro sat forward and placed his hands on top of the desk. “So, Commander, what message do you have for me from Admiral Sheridan?”

  Roy cleared her throat and began.

  Less than two minutes later, Oshiro opened the door to his office. “Admiral Parker, have they started to disembark the freed POWs from their transport ships yet?”

  Parker looked over at his computer. “No, sir. The first ship is scheduled to dock at Tranquility Station in the next fifteen minutes.”

  “Stop it from docking and order the rest of the ships to remain one hundred kilometers from the space station until I give the order for them to dock and transfer their people down to the surface.”

  Parker nodded and reached for a phone to pass the order.

  Oshiro stepped back inside his office and looked over at Roy. “Okay, Commander, I’ll see which ship your people are on and have you transferred up there immediately.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  The expression on Oshiro’s face turned solemn. “It may be a bit premature to thank me, Commander. I haven’t made up my mind to agree or disagree with Admiral Sheridan’s proposal. Until I do, you and the three women on this list will be placed in quarantine until I say otherwise.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  Oshiro shook his head. “I hope you do because I have no idea how I can send a Kurgan citizen back across the border without the staff at ADF Headquarters finding out. She may have helped free some of our people, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is an enemy civilian. There are a lot of very fearful folks back here on Earth who, if they knew about this woman, would begin to wonder if there are any more Kurgans hidden among our POWs. This was supposed to have been a big PR coup for the president. If the press gets a whiff of what is going on, it could blow up in his face. And all of the men and women who lost their lives freeing our people will have died for nothing.”

  “Sir, I know if Admiral Sheridan were here he’d say sending this woman home is the right thing to do regardless of the consequences.”

  Oshiro smiled. “Robert always was an idealist. You are dismissed, Commander Roy. Admiral Parker will locate your people and have a shuttle made available to you.”

  Roy came to attention, saluted, and turned about smartly. She walked out the room feeling as if she had just stepped off a cliff and fallen into the abyss. She had no idea where this assignment was going or how it would end. The only thing she knew was that Admiral Sheridan was right. Angela had helped save countless people and returning her to her family was the ethical thing to do. She hoped that when push came to shove that Oshiro would as well.

  “What’s going on?” Angela asked Wendy when she saw an officer she didn’t recognize moving through a crowd of curious passengers.

  The ship had come out of its jump nearly an h
our ago, yet it hadn’t docked, leaving many people to speculate what the holdup could be. Rumors had already begun to circulate. Most were rubbish. However, the one that got most people’s attention was that because of the recent attempt on the president’s life they were going to be rerouted to Mars instead of Earth. Once there, they would be held in a detention center until things calmed down back home.

  Tarina waved at Wendy, pushed her way past a couple of broad-shouldered men, and slid over beside her colleagues.

  “Did you find out what the delay is all about?” Wendy asked.

  Tarina nodded. “Yeah, you two are to come with me.”

  Angela hesitated. “Why?”

  “It’s okay,” said Tarina, placing a hand on Angela’s shoulder. “A friend has arrived to take us off this ship.”

  Wendy tried to see if there was anyone they knew in uniform. “Who’s here?”

  “I just met her. Her name is Commander Carmen Roy, Admiral Sheridan’s aide.” Tarina took Angela’s hand and led her scared friend to the other side of the hangar where Roy was waiting.

  When they arrived, Roy lifted up her tablet as if she were reading it. “Captains Pheto, Sullivan, and First Lieutenant Dorset?”

  “Yes,” answered Tarina, with a wink at Angela to calm her troubled nerves.

  “Please follow me. There is a shuttle waiting to take you down to the surface.”

  Angela tapped Roy on the shoulder and whispered, “Am I being arrested?”

  Roy shook her head. “No. But we are all being placed in quarantine until a decision is made whether or not to send you home.”

  “I don’t understand . . . what is meant by quarantine?”

  Wendy said, “It’s kind of like being back in prison, but no one there will beat us or try to rape us. Look at it this way, we’ll be well fed and taken care of. The only downside is that we won’t be able to speak to anyone in the outside world.”