by Ben Brown
He stood in the open doorway as his eyes explored the room. First, he took in the empty restraint chair with the smashed surgical light. Then he looked at Hien’s dead body; a small puddle of thick, dark blood pooled just below the dead man’s nose. A number of flies already buzzed and feasted on the crimson mess.
His eyes then fell on the empty bed. The woman who had been in a coma was gone; all that was left was her discarded hospital gown.
Finally, he noticed the destroyed window. He moved quickly over to it and stared out at the jungle. He could see a clear trail where his fleeing prisoners had broken the undergrowth.
He turned to look at Sinclair and O’Brien, as he looked at the two he let out a gut-wrenching scream of rage and anger. Sinclair backed away as did O’Brien. She knew from experience to keep out of his arms’ reach.
Dominic rushed to a large, red, saucer-shaped button on the wall; he hit it with all his might. As his fist flew clear through the wall, the wail of sirens encompassed the camp.
Suddenly, organized chaos erupted from everywhere. Heavily armed forces poured from huts and into the open. Dominic headed for the door.
Sinclair and O’Brien jumped to one side, allowing him through. Neither said a word.
He stood before the throng; the noise was deafening as people shouted instructions and orders to each other. Dominic held one hand aloft and the crowd fell instantly silent.
“Our guests seem to have escaped,” he shouted over the sirens. “This will be no more than an inconvenience. By my estimate, they have about a twenty-minute head start. They are in the jungle behind me somewhere. I want them found and I want all of them dead — the only exception is my father — I want him brought to me alive. I want the heads of the others.
“Now move!”
The crowd moved as one, as someone finally silenced the shrieking sirens. They poured past him, heading quickly into the jungle.
Apprehensively, Sinclair approached Dominic and said, “I thought we had decided we needed Zac alive.”
“He has become too much of a risk to our plans. He has to die,” he replied as he watched his people pouring into the jungle. He didn’t look at her.
“I realize that, Dominic, but …”
Before Sinclair could finish her sentence, Dominic grabbed her by the hair and pulled her close to his face. “Now listen to me very carefully! Whatever our relationship may or may not be, you will never question my orders. If you question me again, I will deal with you in the same way as I deal with anyone who disobeys me.”
Dominic yanked hard on her hair, causing her to fall to the ground. He looked at her with menace in his eyes.
“Go and put on some more appropriate clothes. Then tell Josh to get the clone ready. I may need a decoy.
“And, Jane, I can see what you’re trying to do. I let my guard slip once and that won’t happen again. I still need you for the moment. However, if I feel that you are no longer of use to me, or that you are scheming against me, I will kill you … and I will take my time.”
He looked at her intensely for a few seconds before he headed to his quarters.
O’Brien offered her his good hand. She took it and scrambled to her feet.
“I think you’re going to need someone watching ya back; I’m good at that — watching people’s backs, I mean. You have such a lovely back, Jane — I could watch it for as long as ya need.”
Sinclair looked him up and down. “Go and get your wrist seen to, and then come and find me, no matter where I am.”
31
As the sound of Dominic’s forces drew closer, the terrain became steeper and harder to negotiate, especially considering Zac had an old man clamped to him like a backpack.
He looked over at Michael, who was helping Lea up a particularly rough outcrop of rock. Zac knew they needed to stop and dig in somewhere.
As the thought raced through his mind, he heard movement from up ahead. He quickly lowered his cargo to the ground and drew his gun.
Michael had heard the noise too, and did the same.
Whoever was approaching was still several hundred feet away. Then, Zac sensed two people whom he hadn’t sensed for some time; he lowered his gun and gestured for Michael to do the same.
“Hey, Zac, it’s us — Jason and Matt.”
“I know, it’s good to see you boys again,” Zac called back.
A second later, the two young soldiers appeared from behind a large clump of foliage. Matt approached first, his hand outstretched. Zac grasped it and shook it enthusiastically, then did the same with Jason.
“Man, you two are a sight for sore eyes. What’s the news?” he asked.
Matt filled him in as Jason went over to Lea and Michael.
“Jason and I have been holding position up here for a while. We’ve found a good spot about half a klick from here. You can see right down the mountain and it provides great cover. We can really hold our own from there.”
“Good work. We need to get there ASAP; we have nearly the whole camp on our tails by the sounds of it.”
“We spotted you a while back,” Matt agreed. “So we told the Captain that you were heading our way. He was real pleased to hear you’re all okay. He’s ordered us to render as much assistance as we can. And yes, I’d say there are at least a hundred and fifty men heading up here after you. I let the Captain know that too.”
“Where are Jacobson and Martinez?”
“I have good news on that too. Both got patched up at a hospital not far from here. They’re heading this way with about four hundred locals. It’s going to be one hell of a shindig when they arrive.”
Zac slapped him on the shoulder and laughed. “That’s the best news I’ve had in days. Matt, you and Jason help Doc and Lea. Michael and I will bring up the rear.”
The young soldier offered the old man his hand as Zac headed for Michael and Lea.
“Did you hear what Matt said?” he asked.
Lea and Michael both nodded.
“Lea, stick close to Jason. We’re right behind you.”
As Zac spoke, he could hear the sound of breaking branches just a few hundred feet away.
Michael drew another gun; he now had one in each hand.
“Let’s slow them down a bit, what do you say?”
Zac nodded and drew his sword. “Let’s see what you got.”
With that, they both charged at the lead pack of Dominic’s forces. They needed to buy enough time for the others to get to cover.
Zac took the lead, and within seconds met Dominic’s first wave. The man at the head of the group looked startled as Zac burst out of the trees in front of him. Zac swung the sword at his neck and relieved his shoulders of their burden. A few feet behind him, a woman raised her gun, but Michael nailed her between the eyes.
A second later, the two men were swarmed by at least fifteen pissed-off subjects. Bullets flew in every direction, but most of the fighting was taking place at close quarters, hand to hand.
A large knife plunged through Zac’s shoulder from behind — he stepped forward, pulling himself off the blade as he spun. Zac raised his gun and fired. The high-powered round tore through the man’s throat, causing his head to droop to one side. A second later he fell to his knees.
Michael was struggling — he had four men to contend with, and they were knocking the living daylights out of him.
Zac grabbed the first of Michael’s attackers from behind and threw him over the edge of a small outcrop of rocks. Two of the remaining three turned on him. He drew the sword just as one began to scream obscenities. Zack lunged forward, pushing the sword through his open, screaming mouth. In the same movement, he raised his gun and nailed the other guy.
As Zac stood there with his arms wide open, the last person, a woman, let rip with a volley of gunfire. Bullets tore into his mid-section.
He moved forward, pulling the sword from her dead comrade; she began to back away as she raised her gun again. Zac lashed out with his foot, catching her square in
the chest. As she flew backward, he fired a single shot, which hit her between the eyes.
Michael grabbed his guns and pointed them in Zac’s direction. “Move!” he screamed. Zac launched himself into the air, cart wheeling over Michael’s head as he opened fire on the advancing horde. As Zac landed behind him, Michael dropped four subjects in quick succession.
Zac began to fire in the direction of the quickly diminishing enemy; around them lay fifteen dead. They held their position for a second longer, just in case more subjects suddenly appeared.
“Let’s move!” Zac shouted as he re-holstered his weapons.
Michael sprang to his feet, and they were off and running. Now that they could move at a good pace, it took only a minute to catch up with Lea and the others.
They found the small group ensconced behind the cover of the rocks, which Matt had just told them about.
They could also see the advancing subjects moving in fast on their position. Just behind the subjects were the mercenaries, who moved much slower.
“Roger that, I’ll let him know.” Matt had his hand on his throat mike; he looked at Zac and said, “That was Captain Jacobson. He’s about one point five klicks from here. He and Martinez have split into two groups. Martinez is going to try to get a flanking position, while the Captain reinforces this position.
“The bad news is it’s going to be at least ten minutes until he gets here. Martinez will be another five minutes after that.
“Sir, we need to hold this position until then.”
“Okay, then that’s what we’re going to do. You two boys start picking off those sons of bitches. You do still have your sniper rifles don’t you?”
“Yes sir! We sure do,” the two said as one. Within seconds the two crack shots were blowing the heads off the advancing forces. However, not fast enough to stop them or even slow them down.
Zac turned to Lea and Doc. “We’re going to need all the firepower we can get. Are you ready?”
Doc nodded solemnly. He had never taken a life before, but Zac could see he knew his life now depended on holding their location.
“I can’t see but I’ll give it my best shot.” Lea pulled her guns and released the safeties. “I might hit a few of them at least.”
Zac kissed her on the cheek. “We’ll get out of this, I promise.”
She smiled as she checked her guns by touch and readied herself for the battle.
Zac worked his way across to the furthest part of the ledge and looked over. The drop was a good fifty feet. At the bottom of the drop was a small path, which led towards the advancing force. The people at the front were now close enough for the rest of his group to open fire.
The deafening sound of gunfire erupted behind him. He turned and grabbed Michael by the shoulder and shouted in his ear, “I’m going to see if I can get closer to the subjects. I’ll try and draw some of them off of this target.”
Michael looked at him, and then peered over the edge of the rock. He shook his head. “You’ll never make it, it’s too far!”
Zac smiled and launched himself over the edge.
One of his ankles snapped as he landed with a thud on the ground beneath. His foot was lying at a right angle to the rest of his leg. Quickly, he straightened his injured leg. He moved the foot with the shattered ankle back into its correct position with his other foot. He waited for the damaged bones to re-join; it was an odd sensation.
He looked up and gave the thumbs up sign. Michael smiled back and returned the sign just as a bullet shot passed his head. He quickly ducked and returned fire.
Zac took a few seconds to check his weapons while his ankle mended some more, then it was time. He stood slowly, checking the strength of his newly healed bones. Everything seemed okay. He stamped his injured foot a few times just to be sure — it held just fine.
He sprinted off in the direction of the advancing subjects. The path ran parallel to their approach — with luck, he could get to the side and rear of their group.
After about thirty seconds of hard sprinting, he came to the rear of their vanguard. The mercenaries held the rear flanks, this would make things easier.
He drew his sword and Doc’s gun and plowed into the troops. He fired single shots in quick succession. One per target, ten men fell before they even knew what had hit them.
It took the soldiers several seconds to realize that the attack was coming from behind, by which time Zac was well and truly in their midst.
He hacked and punched his way through the group. It was like hacking his way through heavy undergrowth.
A bayonet drove through his abdomen. The mercenary laughed as he pushed the blade deeper.
Zac smiled at him as he grabbed the man’s gun and pulled the blade back out. The mercenary stared at Zac in disbelief as he in turn became impaled on Zac’s blade.
The advance of their troops slowed as the subjects at the front realized that something was happening at the rear. Subjects started to push their way towards the rear of their flanks.
Zac allowed them to catch sight of him.
A roar erupted as more subjects poured to the rear. It was clear that he was the most sought-after prize.
He had at least twenty subjects hot on his tail as he headed for the jungle. He crashed through the trees looking behind him as he went. The gap between him and his pursuers was growing.
He turned on the spot, MP5 in one hand and Doc’s gun, which was almost out of ammo, in the other.
The front-runners of the posse ground to a stop as they tried to raise their weapons.
He opened fire and four of the group fell as Doc’s gun ran dry. He threw the empty gun to the ground and drew his sword just as a giant of a man burst from the rear of their ranks.
Vladimir! The memories of his beating flooded back. He holstered the MP5; he was going to take this monster apart bit by bit.
Dominic’s subjects stepped back; they clearly thought Vladimir could handle the job.
Zac swung his blade at the giant’s neck. Vladimir caught the blade in one hand as he drove his other fist into Zac’s face. Zac flew backward, and bounced off a tree.
Vladimir held the sword in his blood-soaked hand; he stared at it for a few seconds then threw it into the undergrowth. He started to laugh as he charged at Zac like a freight train.
Zac had just scrambled to his feet as Vladimir’s shoulder caught his chest. The giant bulldozed him backwards towards the tree he had just bounced off. His entire body was driven deep into its bark.
Zac gasped for air as the tree cracked and began to fall behind him. He brought his knee up hard and fast into Vladimir’s guts. It had no effect. Over and again, his knee pounded the giant’s mid-section.
Vladimir’s laughter became maniacal and disheartening. Zac was clearly having little effect.
Then, as the tree finally toppled, Zac brought his knee up again. The combined movement of the tree and the impact from his blows caused Vladimir to loosen his grip as he struggled to gain a new footing.
Zac whipped his body from side to side as if he were trying to wiggle out of a tight hole. Then he was free!
Vladimir stumbled forward and fell onto the shattered tree. Zac rained blows into his side and ribs as the giant struggled to find his balance. Ribs started to crack from his relentless attack.
The monster swung wildly with the back of his fist; it caught Zac on the bridge of his nose, causing it to shatter like glass. Once again, he was flying backwards.
Vladimir got back on his feet and turned to face his tiny attacker. Again, he started to laugh.
Zac slid across the ground on his ass as once again Vladimir charged. He watched, powerless to stop him.
He just managed to get to his feet as the immense power of Vladimir’s attack tore into the side of his chest. This time he felt his ribs crack. He crumpled to the ground as the spectators of this death-match started to laugh and throw abuse.
Vladimir straightened up and looked in their direction. He smiled, stupidly,
which gave Zac the opening he needed.
He punched upwards from his kneeling position, straight into the monsters groin.
Vladimir roared like an injured animal.
Zac moved quickly and scrambled out of arms’ reach.
Vladimir grabbed, blindly, in his direction, his eyes still tightly shut in reaction to the pain.
Zac was on his feet and bouncing around like an eager boxer who wanted to knock out his opponent. The giant turned slowly in his direction, pure hatred on his face.
Zac swung with all his strength in an attempt to knock the fool’s head clean off. It was like hitting stone.
Zac felt his knuckles shatter as Vladimir grabbed him by the throat. His giant hand yanked him towards his head, as it flew forward to meet its target. His forehead drove into Zac’s face.
Everything went black for a split second as Vladimir dropped his foe like a rag doll on the ground. Zac blinked his eyes, but all he could see was stars. He looked in the direction of the giant Russian just as Vladimir’s foot slammed into his abdomen.
Vladimir kicked him like a place-kicker trying for that final goal. He flew a good twenty feet, landing hard in some bushes. He was beat; he couldn’t take much more of this.
Vladimir roared as he waved his hands in the air. His companions cheered him on as Zac slumped onto his elbows and fought to regain his breath.
Zac looked franticly around — he needed a way out; and then he spotted it — his sword! He grabbed it quickly, keeping it low and out of sight.
“Hey dickhead, aren’t you forgetting something?” he shouted at the jubilant monster.
Vladimir instantly stopped and looked at him. Zac, in return, flicked him the bird. Once again he charged, roaring with rage.
Zac readied himself, then — when Vladimir was right on top of him, he lunged upwards with his sword. It drove deep into the giant’s guts.
His roar turned from rage to agony.
Zac pushed again and the blade passed right through him.
Once again, he grabbed Zac and threw him to one side.
This time he kept a firm hold on the sword.