Teague’s shoulders dropped. The heavy transports are well armored but don’t have air to ground capability, so they couldn’t use those either. This is what it felt like to be between a rock and a hard place. How could Jack be so irresponsible? He already knew the answer to that one, so he didn’t have to voice the question. “Fine, but call him and tell him to get back with all possible haste. Remind him that he has responsibilities here.”
Now Chin looked really uncomfortable, and he was scratching at his scar. “Well, there’s another problem.”
He didn’t elaborate right away, so Teague prompted him, “What is it?”
“Well, it turns out there is a small hot spot a few miles from where they entered the forest. It’s affecting the radios, and the transport has lost communications with them. With the possibility of another rocket attack, the pilot is staying at a safe altitude. He can’t fly in low enough to re-establish comms. We just have to wait and see what happens.”
Teague’s mind went blank. He was usually good at thinking under pressure, but this was way out of his scope of capability. “What do you think we should do, Chin?”
Chin didn’t answer right away, and Teague was just about to repeat the question when he finally said, “There is a salvaging crew on the way in right now. We can either send out another team to assist, or wait it out and see what happens. Personally I think they can handle it alone. There is no reason to put another transport at risk.”
Teague nodded. It made sense, and he certainly didn’t have any better suggestions. “What about the flier we have out there now? How long can he stick around?” Teague knew that the flier would be able to hover around for a few weeks before needing a recharge of the batteries, but the question was whether the pilot could hang in there that long, especially if he had to be on constant vigil for ground to air rockets.
“A few more hours, then I think he needs to come back in to be replaced. He’s good for now.”
Teague sighed heavily. “Fine, call me the second you have any more information.” He clicked off and sat down heavily. There was nothing else to do at this point but keep working on the projects at hand. Jack was a seasoned soldier, and should be able to handle himself. At least that was what he kept telling himself.
Something else was nagging at him though, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
* * *
Jack froze and held up a hand. The faint sound of the soldiers behind him stopped and he listened carefully. He heard the sound again, this time maybe fifty feet in front of him, although it was hard to tell for sure with all the trees around. They had been closing in on the source of the missile launch.
He switched his helmet to thermal view again and scanned ahead of him. There were definitely warm bodies ahead. Signaling to the rest of the team to be quiet, he carefully crept ahead, being careful only to step on the soft pad of pine needles that blanketed the ground between the trees.
It didn’t take long before a break in the trees revealed a clearing up ahead. Jack used the thermal camera to get an idea of what they were up against. He tried to count the objects moving about, but it was difficult to keep track as they moved back and forth, crossing paths. His best guess was a dozen. He motioned for the soldier behind him. When the man got close enough to hear his soft whisper, he said, “I want you to circle around to the right with two men. I am going to get closer and see if any of our people are here. If you hear me attack, join in, otherwise wait for ten minutes then come back and join me here.” The man nodded and signaled two men to follow him, quietly making his way around the clearing.
There was a massive pine tree about fifteen feet ahead that would provide good cover yet still be close enough to the clearing to observe the situation. Always aware of the Mutes’ ability to see and hear better than regular humans, he forced himself to take his time, despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins in anticipation of the upcoming engagement. Taking a few careful breaths to steady his nerves, he thumbed the video switch on his rifle and ever so slightly peeked it around the side of the tree. A quick count revealed ten. They were much larger than he had expected, and a shiver went down his spine. The clearing was about thirty feet across and right in the middle was a stack of crates, a medium sized Mute standing next to them, his attention directed toward the sky. The brute was holding an object about six feet long and about a foot on each side. There was a screen like the one on his rifle protruding from one side and a hole about the size of his fist in the end. That must be the rocket launcher. There were three more hairless behemoths sitting off to the side, quietly talking amongst themselves, a pile of what must be weapons on the ground next to them. Four more were holding rifles patrolling the perimeter of the clearing, paying more attention to the sky than the trees around them. The last two were standing maybe ten feet from Jack, arguing just loud enough for him to hear. One of them was huge, and the other was just big.
The larger of the two was speaking. “Goddammit Tanner, it isn’t worth losing more soldiers. These smoothies were far better prepared than we expected, and we paid for it with over a dozen dead! I say we cut our losses and go back to the factory. Whatever they were looking for, they will come for again. Maybe this time we can capture their aircraft instead of blowing it to hell!”
“Don’t patronize me Ungo! I am well aware of what this has cost us so far, and Gratch will pay dearly for destroying that flier. If we can capture the four who got away, we can use them as bait to lure their rescue team in then sell them all. The last runner told me the tracking team was not far behind them. We should have them by nightfall.”
“I heard the runner too, and those smoothies had already killed three of your damned trackers! The traps they are setting are slowing your men down too much! They could be two miles ahead by now!”
Tanner looked as if he were about strike the larger Mute, but instead just snorted and began to pace. “I doubt that! They had an injured one with them – a female! You know these smoothies as well as I do, they would never leave behind an injured mate! My men will catch them, and this time they won’t make the mistake of attacking them out in the open.” He paused, a look of contemplation on his ugly face. “I think you are correct about one thing, however. They found something they needed back at that factory. Perhaps the aircraft we fired on earlier has landed back there. Send a scout ahead of us and prepare to break camp.”
Jack’s attention was focused on overhearing the conversation, but in the back of his mind he was trying to process the information: There are survivors – that’s good. Wendy is injured – that’s bad. There is a group of unknown size chasing them through the forest – that’s bad.
It looked like Ungo wasn’t about to just take his orders without more argument. “Tell me we are going to just take the aircraft. With one of those aircraft, we will have greater offensive capability than we have ever had. Maybe we could even make a run at one of the smoothie communities for ourselves. We don’t need –”
“You heard what Farnak said! We’re already in bed with the Cali, whether we like it or not! They didn’t tell us these smoothies would be here today just so we could use the information for our own benefit. We need the supplies and weapons they will trade for living members of New Hope. I don’t like working with the smoothies any more than you, but our leader has spoken – we have no choice. Do your job, Ungo, or you will be put out of the clan.”
He watched Ungo stomp off toward the group of three who were sitting down. Tanner looked up and shouted, “See any sign of the flier?”
Jack pointed the rifle up in the direction Ungo had looked and a drop of sweat ran down the back of his neck. There were three more Mutes at the top of the fifty foot tall trees, looking around for the transport. If they had ambushed this group, the ones up top could have torn them to shreds despite their superior armor. He carefully pulled back behind the tree and looked back into the forest catching the eye of Heather, the soldier closest to him. He made a sign for three and pointed up,
then signaled ten and pointed at the clearing. Heather nodded and spoke quietly into her PDP, telling the others how many there were, and to prepare for a fight.
He waited another minute for everyone to get into place, keeping an eye on the activity in the clearing. They were starting to pack up their gear, and Ungo was talking to one of the soldiers, presumably sending him ahead as a scout. Jack steeled himself for the fight. If the scout headed into the forest he would surely spot one of the soldiers, so he had to act now if he wanted to keep the element of surprise. He looked over at Heather, who was now behind another large tree, much closer to the clearing.
She nodded. Jack leaned around the tree to get position on everyone in the clearing and thumbed the safety. He carefully took aim at Tanner, the obvious leader of the group. Just as his finger rested on the trigger, there was a shout, followed by another Mute materializing from the tree line on the opposite end of the clearing. Ungo and Tanner both went to see why he was there. Jack strained to listen, and heard something about them losing three more scouts to explosive traps. Tanner didn’t take the news well, and shouted orders to move out, back to the factory.
Jack took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. The left half of Tanners head exploded, spraying Ungo with blood and brains. In one smooth movement he swung his aim up to one of the Mutes up in the tree. The new target had been climbing down the tree, and didn’t have his rifle ready. Jack fired three quick shots and the Mute fell the last twenty feet, landing with a ‘thunk’. In the next three seconds, four more Mutes went down, and Jack had already targeted another one climbing down the tree. Before he could fire, an explosion to his right nearly knocked him to the ground. Something tugged at his midsection and he quickly stepped around to the other side of the tree to take cover.
The hideously ugly and bloody face of Ungo popped into his line of sight just as he rounded the tree. The Mute was lunging at him and he only had time to squeeze the trigger one time before the nearly three hundred pound brute plowed into him. He lost his rifle when he hit the ground, and the weight of the massive Mute knocked the wind out of him. Jack prepared for the blow that would kill him, but it never came. Through a haze of pain, he realized the weight on top of him was not moving. Struggling to take a breath, a task made even more difficult with the weight of the body lying on him, he rolled the dead body to the side. His lucky shot had taken the back of Ungo’s head off, and the Mute was dead before they landed. Another explosion went off somewhere in the direction of the other soldiers, pulling his attention back to the fight.
He looked around for his rifle, spotting it half buried in pine needles about ten feet away. Getting to his feet, he limped over to the weapon, and winced when he bent down to pick it up. His body felt like he had been tenderized by a giant hammer.
There was a scream in the direction of the fight. He ran toward the scream and got there just in time to see a Mute holding Heather over his head. The Mute shouted, “Die, smoothie!” and hurled the woman at the tree five feet away. Her scream ended in a wet sounding thump and Jack winced. He shouldered his rifle and put two rounds in the Mute’s head. Sudden silence overwhelmed his senses.
Jack scanned the area, looking to see who was left standing. There were dead Mutes everywhere. He ran to Heather, and found her unconscious but alive. There was little doubt she had some serious internal injuries. Knowing there was nothing he could do for her at the moment, he made his way back to the clearing.
All four of the soldiers had come into the clearing now and three of them were checking the Mutes’ bodies, hoping for survivors. They had never captured a Mute before and it would be nice to could get one now. Unfortunately, all fourteen were dead. At least none had escaped. The thought went through Jack’s mind as he surveyed the carnage around him.
The fourth soldier was injured, leaning up against a tree in obvious pain. A couple quick questions revealed how the Mute Jack had targeted just before the grenade went off next to him had jumped out of the tree and tried to gut the man with a wicked looking knife. The man’s under suit had prevented the blade from penetrating, but he would be shitting blood for a week and his shoulder was either broken or badly dislocated.
He turned to the rest of the men. “We need to get Heather back to base ASAP. She’s hurt bad, and Jones here could use some attention too.” Jack was aware they had lost communication with the transport, and asked what they could do to signal it.
“If we fired off our emergency beacon, the transport should pick it up. That might get him to fly closer to reach us on the radio.”
Jack knew it was risky. The Cali were involved in this whole debacle and could have people in the area just in case someone tried to signal for help. Furthermore, it would call attention to the area, making further rescue efforts even more difficult. He weighed the options carefully, and finally decided to take the risk. Heather may not even survive the trip back, but she surely wouldn’t have a chance if they didn’t do what they could to get her to a doctor now. “Do it. Get the pilot to land right here in this clearing and let’s get these injuries taken care of.”
The soldier nodded and fiddled with some buttons on his PDP. Five minutes later a distorted voice came across the PDP. It was the pilot. Jack breathed a sigh of relief as the soldier guided the pilot to the clearing. Minutes later they were loading Heather on board.
As soon as they put some distance between them and the radiation, Jack called New Hope.
“New Hope, this is Rescue One, are you there?”
“I read you, Rescue One. Jack is that you?” It was Chin.
“Yeah, Chin, it’s me. We’re heading back. We have one severely injured soldier here and a couple with minor injuries. Get some medical help ready.”
“We’ll be ready, Jack.” There was a pause, followed by, “Teague is pissed that you went with the rescue team, and ordered that you come back the moment I hear from you. Did you find anything more regarding the salvage crew?”
Jack knew felt guilty for his actions. Not only was it impetuous to jump in with the rescue crew, it had almost gotten him killed. “Not really. I think there are four survivors, and I think Wendy is hurt. There’s a group of Mutes chasing them to the north of the factory. Can you send another team out to look for them?”
“A salvage team just returned. As soon as we have the goods offloaded we will have a team in the air. You can relay directions and intel to them when you get back here.”
“Okay, thanks. Oh, tell the crew to be on the lookout for Calis. We had to use our emergency beacon to get the pilot’s attention, and it’s possible they are sending someone to investigate.” Jack ended the conversation and sat back in his seat. The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off and exhaustion was setting in. Wendy was still out there, injured, and he couldn’t do anything about it now. This was not a good day, and the next few days didn’t show much promise of getting better.
Chapter 30
“We need to talk. Can the council meet me right now?” Jack was talking to Marcus on his datapad. Marcus considered it for a moment then nodded.
“Meet us in my chambers. Sixth floor, I will leave the door unlocked for you.”
Teague was busy helping the surgeon with Heather, and he didn’t want to interrupt. It was unclear whether she would survive yet, and unlike Chuck, he didn’t think she would up and moving for at least a few days if she did. The sound of her body hitting the tree echoed in his mind and sent a shiver down his back.
He put it out of his mind and headed to the elevator. The information he had overheard was important and he wanted to get it to the council immediately.
On the way down, he removed his body armor. When the chest piece came off, something clanged to the floor. He looked down and there was a three inch long piece of shrapnel. It had been wedged between his armor and his under suit, and he recalled the grenade that went off not more than ten feet from him during the battle. The gravity of the recent fight hit home again, like a weight on his shoulders. He put the
piece of shrapnel in his pack, a reminder of how dangerous it was out there.
The council was already waiting for him, with the exception of Teague of course. Marcus gestured toward a seat at the table. It felt good to sit, and he took a deep breath, clearing away the exhaustion for a little longer. There was a pitcher of water on the table and he helped himself to a glass.
“Thanks for meeting on such short notice. We had a run in with some Mutes today, and I overheard some things I think you need to know.”
Marcus gave him an incredulous look. “Are you telling me you went out in the field today? I thought you were running this operation?”
Jack nodded. He explained the events of the past few hours, and finished with, “I should not have gone out there myself, it won’t happen again.”
“So we have lost five, maybe six members of our community already, as well as a medium transport? Jack, the cost of your operation is already very high. Are you sure you know what you are doing?” It was Theodore who had spoken, and there was no doubt in Jack’s mind that he disapproved of the either the operation, or of Jack running it.
In a cold voice, Jack said, “We’ve lost two, and are currently missing four more. If Heather doesn’t make it the death toll will be three, but you can hardly blame Emmet’s death on my operation. Yes, the stakes are high, so the risk is high as well, and nobody here understands that more than I do.” He didn’t like the veiled accusation of him taking lives for granted.
The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) Page 31