As David worked, the launch rail came to life and ground slowly upwards until the missile was lined up with the hole in the roof.
"You turned on the warehouse lights before, didn't you?" I asked.
"Yep," David answered. "I heard them say you were in the building, and as they were all wearing light-amplification goggles..."
"You did well..." I began to say, but was cut off by heavy machine gun fire tearing into the factory from outside, the bullets ripping through everything in their path. The Custodians must have brought up another Bushmaster!
Corporal Reina cried out in pain and I heard her collapse to the concrete floor. I took a few steps in her direction and saw her lying on the ground with blood pouring from two gaping wounds in her stomach. She was a goner – no one could survive wounds like that.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Her face contorted in agony, Reina turned and saw me. "They're launching another assault! Fire the blasted missile and get out of here – I'll hold them off!" she said between gasps for breath.
"David?" I asked urgently.
"It's ready. How long do we need to get out of the building – I presume you found a back entrance? We don’t want to be in here when it launches. The back-blast will fry us."
I looked at Leigh and knew we wouldn't be able to run. "Five minutes."
"Right, I'll set it to launch in five minutes."
"Do it already!" I shouted and then turned to the corporal. "Reina..." I began, hesitant to leave her behind. I felt for her, to some degree. She said we'd been friends once, but she'd almost strangled my wife a few days ago, and she was a Ranger, a partner in crime with the Skel. I didn't know how to relate to her, nor to her noble act of buying us time to escape from the Custodians. If they caught David and Leigh, they’d be in a world of trouble.
"Just go!" she shouted again and then began firing at a fresh wave of Custodians who were charging the factory. She dropped two of them and forced the rest to duck for cover beside the truck at the loading dock.
David and I put our arms around Leigh's waist and with his arms around our shoulders, we half dragged and half carried him through the factory towards the back door. I picked up the Rangers' bag of explosives as we went past it. I didn't want the missile's back-blast igniting them. Besides, they could come in useful.
After what felt like an hour but was less than five minutes, we reached the door and rushed outside into the crisp night air.
And on cue, there was a deafening roar as the cruise missile came to life. A moment later, the nuke soared out of the hole in the factory roof and thundered across the sky in a southerly direction. We watched it until it was out of sight.
"It's done," I sighed with a relief so palpable that I felt I could reach out and touch it. But I was afforded only a moment's distraction. Then reality came crashing back down.
Nanako! I finally knew what happened to her after she'd returned to Hamamachi two years ago. And she was ill again, just like she was then. I had to see her and had to see her now.
I grabbed David's arm. "I'm sorry, David, but I had to tell the Custodians you let the Rangers into the town. And as they think Leigh died in Hamamachi, you two gotta disappear. Go to that abandoned old house in Rourke Lane and hide in its concealed basement. Remember that place?"
"Yep."
"You still got the magnetic key on you?"
"Yep."
"Good, we'll need that to escape. Shorty, Nanako and I will join you at the hideaway as soon as we can." I turned to Leigh. "Great to have you back, mate. How are you feeling?"
"What do you reckon? Like death warmed up," he replied, though without the sarcasm and negativity that usually accompanied everything he said. That was probably only because he was too tired to make the effort.
I gave the bag of explosives to David to take with him, and after they'd disappeared from view, I headed back to the main road to report to Captain Smithson. However, Sergeant Xiao and his squad bumped into me when I got to the rear corner of the factory.
"You’re alive, sir," he said with relief. "We heard shots after you went in, but when the Rangers kept firing at us, we figured you’d bought it."
"The Rangers are all dead, but the missile was on a countdown so I got out as fast as I could. Made it just in time too," I replied.
"Where’s it headed, I wonder?" Xiao said, eyeing me suspiciously.
"I think we can rule out Hamamachi."
The sergeant suddenly looked concerned. "Sir, Captain Smithson sent me here to inform you that Major Harris has issued warrants to arrest you, your wife, and your two forager friends. He thinks you’re all working with the Rangers."
"And you’re letting me go?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"No," Xiao said with a mischievous smile. "We never saw you."
I nodded in understanding, thanked them, and was about to rush off when the sergeant grabbed my arm. "Captain Smithson said something or someone tripped the factory's ultrasonic detectors just now as well," he whispered. "I don't know who was in there with you, but just in case, you'd better doubly watch your step."
I nodded again, amazed I'd found another humane, nonconforming Custodian. I turned and disappeared into the night. I had to get to Nanako before Major Harris’ cronies did.
* * *
There was no sign of Custodians when I got to my apartment block, so I raced up the stairs and slipped into our flat, which was still bathed in darkness. I could hear both Shorty and Nanako breathing, so I quickly made my way over to the bed and switched on the lamp.
They were both asleep. Nanako hadn't moved from when I last saw her. She was still curled up on the bed in a foetal position, and Shorty was sleeping on the floor at the back door.
I shook Nanako gently awake, but when she opened her eyes, she didn’t look at me or even acknowledge my presence.
On the way here I’d been anxious to see her so I could comfort her for her loss – for what she had been through and was going through. But anger suddenly erupted from the depths of my being. "Why didn’t you tell me about the baby?" I demanded.
Her eyes opened wide in alarm, but she didn’t speak.
"Why didn’t you tell me?"
"Because I didn’t want you to hate me," she whispered, still refusing to meet my gaze.
"What are you talking about, why would I hate you?"
She pushed herself up to a kneeling position, but still wouldn’t look at me. Her face was pale and she looked haggard. "Because I lost our baby and it was entirely my fault! I knew I needed to eat and drink but I didn’t even try. When no one would take me back to Newhome, I just lay on my bed all day and all night, not eating, drinking or sleeping! I caused the miscarriage! And I hated and despised and loathed myself for being so weak and pathetic. That’s why I knew you’d hate me for it too."
"When did the miscarriage happen?" I asked, gently this time.
"Two years ago, today."
No wonder she was in such a state. It wasn’t just because of her fear that I didn’t love her like she thought, though that was certainly part of it, but because it was the anniversary of when she lost our baby. And mixed in with that was her belief, no, her fear, that if I found out what had happened, I’d stop loving her now too.
I gripped her firmly by the shoulders, wincing from the pain in my chest. "Nanako, why did you hide these things from me? How was I supposed to…"
"There’s more," she murmured, cutting me off. "After I lost the baby, and because of what had happened to you, I was so depressed I still wouldn’t eat or drink, so they had to hospitalise me. And when I didn’t improve, they put me in a hospital for the mentally ill for three months. You see how weak and pathetic I was, Ethan? Not the picture of me you have in your mind, is it? I knew you’d hate me if I’d told you these things, but not just hate me – but leave me like you tried to when you attempted suicide."
I was about to tell her that I didn't hate her, that I'd been angry because she hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me the truth
, and because she’d leaped to the conclusion that my love was transient and couldn't be depended on. My love for her wouldn't diminish if she was sick, weak, or poor – wasn't that how marriage vows went? But as soon as I was about to explain this to her, I heard the unmistakable sound of Custodian boots tramping on the walkway outside.
Fear exploded within my stomach when I realised I'd waited too long – I should have dragged Nanako out of our flat as soon as I'd gotten back.
I pulled her off the bed and onto her feet. "We gotta go – the Custodians are here to arrest us!"
Shorty woke and sprang to his feet, looking about in confusion. "What's going on, Jones – you back already?"
"Yeah, David's safe and the nuke's been sent off to the middle of the ocean, but the Custodian's think we were working with David in letting the Rangers into town," I explained as I put my arm around Nanako and half dragged her towards the back door.
"Over the balcony, then?" Shorty asked, his eyes wide in fright.
The boots stopped outside the front door and there was an enormous crash as the Custodians hit the door with a portable battering ram. I almost laughed when the door held – testament to the quality of Trajan’s handiwork.
Shorty ripped the balcony door open and we stumbled outside. I looked over the railing and strained my eyes and ears, trying to see if there were any Custodians down there, but it didn't look like it.
Another crash reverberated through the flat, this time accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. Shorty sprang over the railing and began to climb down, moving as surely and nimbly as a monkey.
"You next," I said to Nanako, who was luckily wearing shorts and over-knee black tights. If she'd been in her ankle length black dress, there was no way she'd be able to climb down.
"I can't do it," she said, her legs giving way as she sagged to the floor.
"Yes, you can – I'll join you and guide you all the way down!" I exclaimed as another crash smashed the front door wide open and Custodians came spilling into the flat. I pulled Nanako to her feet and helped her over the railing, and then climbed over too. And that's when I realised my folly, that thanks to my seemingly never ending chest injury, it was extremely painful to use my left arm.
I pointed to the downpipe beside Nanako. "Use it to climb down. Quickly!"
She glanced up at me from beneath her long black fringe, but it was like she wasn't really there.
"Hang on, I'll help you down," I said as I edged over the top of her and then began to descend, using a combination of the railing and the pipe.
And then, at the worst possible moment, my left arm gave way and as though in slow motion, I began to fall towards the unwelcoming ground below.
Chapter Thirty-Five
It wasn't a particularly long drop from the second story to the ground, but I could easily break a limb or my neck if I wasn't lucky. Fortunately, at the last moment, a pair of hands caught me, or at least, tried to catch me, and I landed in an unceremonious heap on top of Shorty.
I sprang back to my feet and looked up just in time to see Custodians grab Nanako and drag her roughly back over the balcony.
"No!" I screamed, about to dash off to the front of the building.
Shorty grabbed me and yanked me roughly back. "Don't be stupid, Jones – we've got to get out of here!"
"But Nanako," I protested.
"You can't help her if they catch you too – now come on, use your brain and get us out of here before those Custodians come charging around that corner!"
Somehow, reason managed to force its way into my panicking, grief stricken mind and I stared into Shorty's youthful, innocent face. "Okay, follow me."
* * *
An hour later, Shorty and I joined David and Leigh in the hidden basement of the derelict house. It was dark, dank, and reeked of mould and rat excrement. David and I found the basement two years ago when out exploring after curfew one night.
"Nice bolt hole you found us, Jones," Leigh scoffed when Shorty and I sat beside them on a rotting wooden cupboard that had fallen on its side.
I heard him, but didn’t answer. I was terrified for Nanako, for what the brutal Custodians could be doing to her in an attempt to get her to confess to crimes she had no knowledge of. But first and foremost, I was afraid of what they’d do to her after they finished interrogating her. Would they imprison her or execute her as a spy?
If they used Consultant Singhe when they questioned her, they’d find out pretty quick that she was innocent of those charges. Yet again, if they found out she was the one who killed Lieutenant King, that'd land her in a boat load of trouble. Moreover, I was especially distraught because we’d been separated before I could reassure her of my love and that I wasn’t angry at her for what happened. She helped me immensely when she showed me how to view myself through her eyes – now it was my turn. But how could I do that when she was held in the middle of Custodian Headquarters?
"I’ll hand myself in and tell them Nanako had nothing to do with the Rangers getting into Newhome," David said, breaking the silence.
With only a modicum of light from the street lamps outside getting into the basement through the air vents near the ceiling, I struggled to get a clear view of David’s face. "You’ll do no such thing. The major is convinced we are all involved, so they’ll prosecute you and Nanako."
"You've got to at least let me try. I can’t help feeling responsible."
I jumped up and stood over him. "That’s because you are responsible! When are you going to learn to talk to us before you act?"
"The Japanese didn’t give me a choice," he shot back. "When they interrogated me in Hamamachi they realised I cared for Leigh because I kept asking about him. Next thing I knew, they blackmailed me into letting the Rangers into Newhome or they’d execute him as a terrorist. What would you have done?"
"I have no problem with you agreeing to do it, but you should have told us before you let them in. We could have set up an ambush!"
"And risk Leigh’s life – no way!"
"Do you know how many Custodians died because you let those blasted Rangers in here?" I pointed out heatedly.
"That's a good thing, right?" Leigh asked.
"Jones is a Custodian now, remember?" David replied.
"Oh, for goodness sake," I moaned, "Only because they threatened to stick Nanako in prison if I didn’t join them."
"So it’s okay for you to be blackmailed but not me?" David asked.
I sat down again, the fight gone out of me. "I just want you to talk to us before you do these things. Okay?"
"Yeah, whatever."
After that I withdrew into a basement corner. I propped myself against the damp bricks, and lamented what had happened to Nanako.
And somehow, inconceivably, I fell asleep. And began to dream.
* * *
As usual, I was on point – the sergeant always put me on point because of my ability to locate our quarry with uncanny accuracy. Neither the sergeant nor the rest of my Ranger comrades knew I could echolocate, so I guess you could say I was cheating.
Creeping silently through a field of chest high wild grass and gum trees that grew beside a dusty, lifeless road, I came upon a rundown wooden farmhouse. A girl in her mid teens stood in the middle of the road, holding a rifle that was almost too big for her. A similarly armed bearded man was hiding inside a corrugated tin shed missing two walls. A third gunman was hiding in the bushes on the far side of the farm. Through the cracked and broken walls of the primary dwelling, I was able to get glimpses of another two dozen or so people by using flash sonar. Some of them were armed, but their number included elderly, women and even children.
"Raiders located, Sergeant," I informed him through my headset. "They're holed up in that rundown farm about half a click from your position."
"Understood Jones, we're on our way," the sergeant replied.
"Gotta say, though, Sergeant," I continued hesitantly, "They don't look like raiders to me."
"Intel s
aid a large raiding party had encroached upon Hamamachi lands in this vicinity – that's got to be them."
"They've brought old folk, women and children with them – that sound like raiders, sir?"
"They ransacked one of the cattle ranches not far from here, Jones. They're raiders."
I waited for the rest of my squad to join me and take up positions around the farm. I pointed out where the two gunmen were hiding.
"Right, we take out the gunmen and round up the rest. Then Itoh can bring up the truck and we'll ship them out. Jones, you take out the girl – you've got the clearest shot at her. Nakada, the guy in the shed is yours. Nitta, take out the guy behind the bushes."
The sergeant's order hit me like a punch in the guts and sent my senses reeling in shock – he wanted me to shoot the girl? I looked through my scope and studied her young, troubled face. She was searching the road for signs of danger, unaware that the very danger she feared was right under her nose.
"I can't shoot her in cold blood, Sergeant. Can't we at least give 'em the chance to surrender first?"
"We shoot the gunmen and the rest won't be able to surrender fast enough. Now, on my mark...."
"Sergeant, seriously, let me put a warning shot over her head and tell 'em to surrender," I argued frantically.
"Jones, I gave you an order."
I looked at the girl again, at the clothes that hung loosely over her sparse frame, at her sallow, sunken cheeks, and I knew these people were not raiders. But an order's an order, right? Soldiers had to do what their commanding officers told them to do. Otherwise utter chaos would reign in the ranks.
Yeah, well, maybe – but that wasn’t why I joined the Rangers. No, I'd been asked to infiltrate the Rangers to find out what criminal activities they were engaging in, and more specifically, to find out what they'd done to stop the Skel raiding Hamamachi lands over a month ago, virtually overnight.
"On my mark..." the sergeant began again.
I sighted down the scope and placed my finger on the trigger.
Forager - the Complete Trilogy (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Trilogy) Page 45