The Between (Earth Exiles Book 3)

by Mark Harritt

  Mike could hear yelling from inside the tower. “So much for the stealthy approach,” he thought. Somebody inside the tower grabbed the body to pull it out of the way. From what Mike knew of the Turinzoni, he didn’t think it was because they were concerned with the welfare of their fallen comrade.

  “Hey Murph, we might need some help here,” Mike radioed.

  “No prob, Mike, we got’cha covered.”

  “Okay, you’re free to engage if they stick their heads out.

  Tom’s voice cut in, “Mike, you got more problems. You got six guys walking in your direction. Looks like the guy that left decided to come back with friends.”

  Ken spoke next, “Mike, you need us to come to you?”

  Mike grinned. Ken was a warrior, and it was killing him to stay with the aircraft. Ken was itching to get into the fight. “No Ken, you stay with the transport. We need to have a clear exfil. If they come to you, kill them, but otherwise, stay in place.”

  Mike watched as a head peaked around the door jamb. Mike put a single round into his forehead.

  Tom relayed the next round of bad news, “Well, that did it. They saw the muzzle flashes. The Turinzoni on the ground are moving aggressively toward your position.”

  The door at the top flew open and Turinzoni started piling out. Mike shot, and he saw muzzle flashes over his shoulder as Everett engaged the hostiles. Then the twin SAWs in the third tower opened up. The Turinzoni in the tower didn’t know what hit them. The bullets buzz-sawed their way through the tower. Glass shattered, falling to the concrete below. Mike watched as tracers flew through the air past towers five and six.

  Mickey’s voice rang out in a grim chuckle, “Well, I think they know we’re here now.”

  Mike spoke nonchalantly, “Well, I guess all good things have to come to an end. Let’s finish what we have here.”

  Tom spoke again, “Mike, you have those six moving back to the main building.”

  “Roger, Tom. Murph, Yee, shift fire onto those six. Make sure they don’t make it back.”

  The SAWs stopped shooting as they shifted fire. Luckily, from tower three, they had a straight look down the path to the main building. The six men running back to the main building never had a chance. Mike took the opportunity to pull out one of three remaining fragmentation grenades, “Everett, Mickey, I’m moving up to engage hostiles. I’m going to use a frag.”

  He felt Everett pat his back. Mike moved up the steps, and Everett stayed close, his left hand on Mike’s shoulder. Everett’s weapon was trained over Mike’s shoulder as Mike walked up the steps, allowing Mike to prep the grenade. Three steps below the top, Mike stopped and squatted down.

  “Hey Mike.”

  Mickey spoke, “Tom, Mike’s busy.”

  “Okay, just want you to know the six are down, but you have hostiles coming out of towers five and six.”

  As Mike prepared to throw the grenade, Mickey issued orders, “Roger Tom, see if you can pick them off. Murph, Yee, if you have a good line of sight, engage. If not, hold your fire. We’re getting ready to assault tower four.”

  Mike pulled the pin. Once he threw the grenade, he’d have to move down quickly. The floor of the towers was made of heavy gauge metal, but Mike wasn’t willing to test the thickness of the tower sides, which looked pretty flimsy. Hopefully, the heavy gauge metal would deflect the shrapnel up. He didn’t want to be a victim of his own grenade, and he sure didn’t want to damage the force field.

  Quickly he pulled the door open and tossed the grenade in. He heard the spoon of the grenade come loose as he pushed back down the stairs. He heard someone scrambling around inside the tower. Everett danced back down, and Mike slid down to keep his body low. The grenade went off, and Mike was back on his feet quickly. The door had blown off its hinges. Mike went in but there was no one left alive to shoot. Still, they made sure by putting a round in any head that was still intact.

  “Mike, you gotta see this.”

  “What is it Murph?”

  “Tom’s a master sniper.”

  “I know that Murph, what’s up?”

  “Tom let all of the Turinzoni from tower five go down the stairs.”

  Mike didn’t like the sound of that, “And.”

  “And then, when they got to the bottom, he shot the first one, and then shot the rest as they tried to get back into the tower. He left a trail of bodies all the way up. They didn’t even get a shot off.”

  “How could they? They didn’t know where I was.”

  “Alright guys, we still have two towers to clear. Murph, Yee, move forward to tower four, then we go to tower five.”

  Mike had been so focused on clearing the objectives that he hadn’t been looking at the overhead from the drone. Now he looked at it. There was a possibility that there was one more hostile in tower five, with the rest of them still in tower six.

  Murph and his team came over to tower four. Mike’s team had to maneuver around the dead bodies from tower five. Mike got to the top, and used another flash bang. When he went in through the door, there wasn’t anybody else in there. All of the Turinzoni from tower five were dead on the steps outside.

  Mike turned and was about to exit the tower when glass shattered. Mike hit the floor, “Anybody know where that shot came from?”

  Tom spoke, “Yeah, I got him. The guy was in tower six.”

  “See any more of them?”

  “No Mike, I think they’re hiding now.”

  “Okay, Murph, come on over. We’re going to need you guys to take care of the last tower for us. They know we’re coming for them, so finesse is out of the question.”

  “Roger Mike, we’re headed your way.”

  With Murph and Yee in place, they made short work of tower six. They put hundreds of rounds through the tower, making sure that the bullets didn’t go lower than floor level. Mike’s team ran to tower six and up the stair case. The building was riddled with holes. Mike didn’t think anything could have lived through that, but he threw in a flash bang just in case. He was right. There wasn’t a grey man breathing.

  Mike felt pretty good about the mission. Once again, they’d had surprise on their side.

  “Now what?” Everett asked.

  “Now we take the main building,” Mike replied. “Murph, Yee, you need to move back to the transport. Daughtry and Stein will stay with us. Ken, I need you and the rest of the team to come with us.”

  The sounds of “Movin’!” and “Roger!” filled the radio channel. Mike and the team quickly moved back to the central path that led to the main building.

  Shar spoke, “Mike, you need to get the other pilots first. They’re in an outbuilding close to the landing pad.”

  “Shar, how many people are in the building?”

  “Should just be four, two pilots, two mechanics.”

  “How many are hostile?”

  “One pilot, Daijj, won’t be any trouble. The two mechanics will do what they’re told. We might have a problem with Sjon.”

  “If you talk to him, will he listen?”

  There was a brief pause, “Possibly.”

  “Okay, you’re coming with us then. Maybe you can talk some sense into them. Change of plans people. Murph, Yee, cover the main building entrance. Anybody comes out with bad intent, take them down. Daughtry, you stay with them to cover their six.”

  Murph grunted, “Movin’.”

  “My team will move to you, Ken.”

  “Roger, we’re waiting.”

  Mike and the team hustled over to the transport, “We’re coming in.”

  “Got you Mike, come ahead.”

  Mike walked up to the transport, the team fanned out behind him. Stein was still tagging along behind Tom. Mike held out his fist, and Ken bumped it.

  Shar was standing on the ramp of the transport.

  “You ready for this, Shar?”

  Shar was looking at the ruined towers. He jerked when Mike spoke. Shar had seen the aftermath of what the team could do, but he’d never s
een them in action. When he looked at Mike, it seemed like there was a new respect in his eyes. Mike could tell that Shar was trying to assimilate what he had just witnessed.

  Shar nodded, “Yes, I’m ready.”

  “Okay, you come with me then. You’re going to guide us to the pilots’ building.”

  Shar moved to Mike, and Mike motioned for Shar to stay behind him. The team stayed on Mike’s six, and Ken’s team fell in behind them. As Mike walked Shar guided him into an alley between two buildings. Mike stopped and Shar started to step out on a path that ran in front of them. Mike put his hand on Shar’s shoulder and held him back. Mike stepped forward with Everett. Mike cleared one direction while Everett cleared the other.

  Mike motioned for Shar to move forward. He walked diagonally from the alley opening directly to the door of a small building. Mike and his team set up in a small semi-circle around him facing in toward the door.

  Ken spoke, “All right, Sec, security positions facing out.”

  Ken’s team moved to maintain a small security perimeter facing out away from the building. Mike was proud of Ken. He’d made the right decision without any prompting.

  Mike pulled Shar to the side of the door, and put him against the concrete. Mike checked to make sure that nobody was across from the door. He didn’t want to take any chances on somebody shooting through. When he was satisfied, he motioned for Shar to knock.

  Light from two holes suddenly speared out from the wood of the door. Mike grinned. Somebody was nervous in there.

  Shar yelled out in a language that Mike hadn’t heard before. There was a hesitant reply from the other side. Somebody else started yelling. Another shot, and a bullet created another hole. Shar’s body tensed. He started yelling back. There was more yelling on the other side of the door. One more hole appeared in the door.

  Mike grabbed Shar’s shoulder, “Look, tell whoever is shooting, that if they shoot one more time, we’re coming in hard, and I’m going to personally put down whoever it is that’s shooting. And, if any of my guys get hit, I’m killing everybody in the building.

  Shar nodded, and relayed Mike’s threat. There was more yelling, but there were four voices that sounded like they were arguing. Then it sounded like there was some kind of struggle going on. Another shot rang out. It wasn’t aimed at the door though. No more holes appeared.

  A voice called out. Shar looked at Mike, “Sjon is dead. Daijj shot him.”

  Mickey’s voice rumbled, “Sounds like it sucks to be Sjon.”

  A wry smile crossed Mike’s face, “Shar, will Daijj give us any more trouble?”

  Shar shook his head, “No Mike, he wants to surrender the building to you.”

  “Okay, tell him to clear the weapons, put them down on the ground, and to slide them toward the door. Then I want them all face down on the ground.”

  Shar relayed Mike’s instructions. Mike pushed him away from the door, “Stack on me.”

  “We going in like they’re hostile?” Everett asked.

  Mike nodded, “Better safe than sorry.”

  The team set up in position behind Mike. Everett squeezed him on the shoulder to let him know the team was ready. Mike tried the door handle, and felt the lock click open. Mike pulled out a flash bang, pulled the pin, opened the door, and tossed it in. He heard somebody cry out, and then the grenade went off. He was through the door, checking for hostiles. There was a corpse leaking blood onto the floor. Mike quickly moved to the dead man to ensure that he was actually dead. Two pistols had tracked a trail through the blood where they slid across the floor to the door. He moved past the corpse to clear the rest of the building. Tom leaped forward to cover the three on the floor.

  Mike, Everett, and Mickey continued to clear the building while Tom screamed at the three on the ground to stay still. Outside, Shar was yelling Tom’s instructions. Between the flash bang and Tom screaming at them, the three were frozen in their prone positions, afraid to move.

  Mickey was done first, then Everett and Mike. They all yelled clear and moved back to the three men on the ground. While Tom covered them, Mike, Everett, and Mickey searched the men for hidden weapons. Once again, three clears sounded, indicating there were no weapons.

  Mike heard Murph talking, “Mike, we got a situation over here.”

  “What’s that, Murph?”

  “A guy came out of the building. He’s got his hands chest high, palms facing out.”

  “Ask him what he wants.”

  There was a pause, then Murph asked, “How am I gonna do that? I don’t speak his language.”

  Mike chuckled, “You don’t, but your A.I. can translate for you.”

  “It does that?”

  Mike smiled, “Yeah, Murph it does.” Mike talked Murph through the menu.

  “Okay, got it. I’ll find out.”

  “We have about five more minutes here, then we’ll move to your location. Shar, come on in here.”

  Shar moved into the room. Mike pointed down at the three on the floor, “Tell them that they can get up, but that they’re to move slowly.” Mike pointed at a table with chairs around it, “Then tell them to move to that table and have a seat.”

  Shar told the three to get up and move to the table. As they stood up, Mike could see that they were the same race of human that Shar was. Their air sacs moved rapidly from stress. The three moved to the table and sat down. Shar tried to sit with them, but Mike called Shar back, “Not yet. Wait a little bit, then you can sit with them. Tell them to put their hands on the table and to keep them there. Ken, you there?”

  “Yeah Mike, what do you need?”

  “Two guards to keep an eye on the pilots.”

  “You got it. Boyd, Stein, you guys go on in.”

  Boyd and Stein came in. Mike pointed at the table, “If their hands move, shoot them.”

  “You got it.”

  Mike looked at Shar, “Make sure that they understand.”

  “I will.”

  “Alright guys, let’s go.”

  “Waiting on you, boss man,” Tom’s drawl announced.

  Grinning under the helmet, Mike walked out the door. He slapped Ken on the back as he walked past, “Alright, you guys with me.”

  The Sec team followed the Spec team. Mike walked over to Murph’s position, “Well, what have you got?”

  Murph grunted a greeting to Mike, “Well, looks like that guy is the director here. He wants to surrender. He asks that you spare the workers inside.”

  “Got it. I’ll take it from here.”

  “You can have it. Negotiation ain’t my style.”

  “Alright Murph, you and Yee, fall back to the transport.”

  “Movin’.”

  Mike turned to the person at the front of the building. The person was short and stocky, but it was hard to figure out if the person was a man or a woman. Medium height and stocky, it had a mane of red hair around his face. It looked like an Amish Golden Lion monkey.

  “Who are you? What do you want?” Mike asked. The person put his hands to his ears, “I can’t hear you.”

  The dragons were still trying to kill each other, though they weren’t as loud as previous. Still, Mike had to do some fancy work with the filters to block the sound. He turned up the volume and repeated the question.

  “I’m the director of this facility. Please. We aren’t soldiers. You’ve killed all of the Turinzoni. Please don’t hurt my people. We’re scientists, engineers.”

  “Do you have any weapons in the building?”

  The director hesitated.

  Mike didn’t like that short silence, “If you have any weapons, and you don’t tell me now, I’ll kill everybody in the building.”

  Mike’s threats made up the director’s mind, “Yes, yes, we do. But they aren’t our weapons. They belong to the Turinzoni.”

  Mike nodded. He knew there were weapons inside from his conversations with Shar. If the director had lied to him, Mike wouldn’t have spared any of them.

  “Okay
, director, this is what your people are going to do. They’re going to come out one at a time, then we’re going to search them. If I find one weapon, one pistol, one knife, I’m going to kill every one of you. If you comply, you and your people stand a very good chance on surviving the night. Do you understand?”

  Everett spoke, “Uh, Mike?”

  Mike turned off the external speaker, “No, Everett, I don’t plan on killing everybody. But they don’t know that.”

  He could almost feel the relief in Everett’s voice, “Thank God.”

  The director nodded, “Yes, I understand your terms. It will be as you ask.”

  “First though, how many people do you have?”

  “I have forty-three people in the facility.”

  “Are there anymore out here on the outside?”

  “The pilots have their own building. None of my people are out there though. I brought them in when the dragons came.”

  “Alright, I’m moving forward to you. You’re going to be the first one I search.”

  He switched off the external speaker again. “Ken, I need a few of your guys to watch the ones that we search. Send another team out to search the other buildings and make sure we don’t have any other threats.”

  “Roger. Wilco.”

  After the director told his people what they had to do, things moved quickly. They searched everybody, and then moved them to an empty storage building. Mike was amazed by the differences in the people. Out of the forty-three, there were about fifteen different species. Tall ones, short ones, skinny, thick. Different types of skin, hair. Some had the same amount of fingers, others had fewer. One of them had an extra thumb on the outside of the hand. But Mike understood what Mickey had been talking about. They had more in common than there were differences.

  “Okay, let’s clear the main building.”

  Everett led the way into the building. It went easy as they moved through the building. The bottom floor was comprised of offices and had a cafeteria. They cleared the ground floor, then found stairs leading up, and stairs leading down.