“The team sent to take over the control room are down, and the Custodian reinforcements have arrived. We’re under heavy attack in reception,” Madison shouted against a backdrop of machine gun fire.
“Reinforcements – how many?”
“Looks like all of them.”
“Any Bushmasters?”
“No.”
“Understood. Try to hold them off until I can join you – we have to get the civvies out of here first.”
“Don’t take long.”
I slipped my assault rifle off my shoulder and held it at the ready, but remained mindful of my parents trudging along beside me. I tried to look relaxed despite of being more nervous than I had ever been before. If the two-hundred-plus Custodians who were conducting house-to-house searches had returned to retake the HQ, things were about to get really messy, really quickly.
Chapter Sixteen
~ Ethan Jones ~
I led the way to the HQ’s back entrance with Nanako covering my back. My senses were on full alert in case any hostile Custodians were still in the building. I risked a quick glance to check on my parents and younger sister, following quietly behind. Meredith caught my eye and smiled warmly, her eyes sparkling. For a moment, it seemed as though a brilliant sunbeam had found its way into the corridor, illuminating everyone and everything. She had grown since I last saw her – she was almost as tall as Mother now. Her long brown hair hung down her back in a neat braid, and though she was slim, she was a picture of health compared to what she was like when she was younger. Her skin was a good hue, too – the sores at the corners of her mouth caused by anaemia were long gone.
I returned her dazzling smile, catching a glimpse of my father’s scowling face in the process. Giving my attention back to where we were going, I recalled the icy reception I received from him just moments. While Meredith had bounded into my arms with joy, and Mother welcomed me with a mixture of delight and concern, Father had taken one look at me and the assault rifle I carried and went instantly on the attack.
“Spying for the Japanese and fleeing the town like a coward wasn’t enough for you, Son?” he had said. “Now you’re back and part of an armed rebellion rising up against the town’s legitimate government? Think you can justify your traitorous actions? How can you turn your back on all I taught you and go down a path of rebellion? I thought I was doing the right thing when I took out that fifteen-year loan to pay for your operation after you were shot in Hamamachi, but I was wrong. I should have left you in that state – disoriented, confused, suffering from amnesia, and having constant seizures. At least you wouldn’t have turned out like this, a man without conscience who turns upon the very people who provided for him his whole life!”
“Pull your head out of the sand, Father!” I had snapped. I thought I was prepared for this encounter, but his words lanced right through me, especially when he said he wished he’d left me in that terrible state after I was shot. “In less than twenty-four hours, your precious chancellor will abandon Newhome, taking only his people and the sub with him. Do you know what will happen to the rest of us without electricity? Worse, he’s also–”
“Enough with your lies! Not another word!”
It was like talking to a wall. The same wall I had butted my head against my entire life. We had never seen eye to eye, always arguing black-and-blue over just about everything. Often because we had opposite viewpoints, but sometimes simply because it was a bad habit into which we had fallen. If he said the pot was black, I’d say it was dark blue. If I wanted to do something, he said I was making the wrong choice and insisting on another course of action.
However, this was not the time or place to try to resolve our differences. Only when the chancellor’s crimes and deceit became common knowledge would he acknowledge I was right.
Forsaking further attempts at conversation, I had bundled him, my mother, and my sister out of the cell to join the others. Slipping my phone’s earpiece into my ear, I shouted out to everyone that we had to move out. Then came the call from Madison that the Custodian reinforcements had arrived.
I got another call as we approached the back entrance, which consisted of a solitary steel door at the end of the corridor guarded by David and several Armbands.
“Sizeable Custodian force approaching the backdoor.” Aika’s voice sounded loud and clear in the earpiece.
“Hostiles?”
“Not sure.”
“Come on, Aika, I need to know.”
“Hey, you try to spot uniform insignia with a night scope at nearly a kilometre.”
“Aika…”
“Okay, okay – it’s Alpha Company.”
“They using night vision goggles?”
“Not that I can see.”
I motioned for everyone to stop.
“Hey Jones, what’s up?” David said from beside the door.
“We’ve got company. You mine the path outside?” I asked.
“Claymores with tripwires.”
“Shooters upstairs?”
“Yep. Two squads of friendly Custodians.”
Satisfied, I motioned for Private Jindal to join me. “Can you get Alpha Company on the radio?”
The dark-skinned, well-built private set his radio to the appropriate channel and handed it to me.
“Alpha Company, call off your attack or we will defend with lethal force,” I said.
“Identify yourself,” answered a Custodian with a gruff voice.
“Ethan Jones.”
“Huh! Listen up, traitor. This is Captain Heath of Alpha Company. Tell your people to lay down their weapons and lie face down on the floor with their hands on their heads.”
“You’re not facing frightened civilians here, Captain. You will comply with my instructions.”
The line went dead.
“They’re approaching the back door,” Aika said.
There was an almighty bang followed by screams and panicked shouting as one of the Claymore mines David planted outside went off. Machine gun fire broke out a moment later as the Armband Custodians started shooting from the windows on the upper floors.
“Sitrep, Aika?”
“Seven – no eight – hostiles down, others wounded. They’re drawing back, seeking cover. That Claymore scared the daylights out of them,” Aika said.
“Give ’em heaps, Aika, but don’t shoot anyone with an armband, they’re friendlies,” I said.
“On it.”
“Do you think you and the friendly Custodians can deny them access to the backdoor?”
“I reckon so, unless they bring in something heavier, like a Bushmaster.”
“Okay, stay on it.”
I broke the connection and turned to two accompanying Armbands. “Privates Jindal and Thorn, escort the civvies back to the multiple-occupants cellblock processing station. Build a barricade with desks and filing cabinets in case the hostiles manage to force their way in through the back door. Hong, Badger and Dylan, go with them. Keep those civvies safe.”
“Don’t stick us on babysitting duties!” Hong complained. “We want to fight!”
“There’ll be plenty of opportunities to fight later. For now, protect our families. That’s an order.”
“Who are you to–”
“You will follow Jones’ orders, Hong. He’s in charge,” Mal Li said, stepped forward. I looked at him in surprise, recalling his little speech about being afraid of me trying to take over.
The balding, short Underground member opened his mouth to protest further, but Badger shook his head and he backed down. Perhaps they realised they had a better chance of survival if they didn’t come with us.
“All remaining Custodians are to guard the back door. Nanako, David, Chelsea, and Bhagya, you’re with me. We have to take that control room.” I glanced at Mal Li, who was watching me closely. “Please stay with the civvies, Mal. I’ll send for you once the fighting is over – we can’t risk you getting hurt. You’ll need to take charge once the fighting’s over.”
�
��Understood.” He would have come with us had I asked, but he was clearly relieved he could stay away from the fighting.
“What about me?” Ryan asked.
I looked at the tall, muscular Custodian carefully. It was obvious he wanted to come with us, but the others’ accusations of him being a traitor echoed at the back of my mind. I glanced at Chelsea and saw the way she was looking at him. She trusted him completely.
“You’re coming with us,” I said.
We soon reached the door that led into the back of the HQ’s reception area. Seeing the top half of the wooden door riddled with bullets, we crouched down with guns at the ready and then opened it.
The scene that met us was utter chaos. The large floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of reception that over looked the car park and street outside were shattered. Bullet holes riddled the room’s desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and walls.
In front of us, near the back of the room, a number of desks and metal cabinets had been pushed together in a crescent shape. Madison, Leigh, and several Armbands knelt behind these, using them for cover as they popped up to fire quick bursts at hostile Custodians in the darkened street outside and at targets to their left that I couldn’t see from here.
More Custodians were slumped over desks or on the floor, some with armbands, some without. Other friendlies sat with their backs to the desks, nursing fearsome bullet wounds. A medic was on his knees beside one of the wounded, working frantically to prevent the private bleeding out from a messy wound to his upper arm. The man was as pale as a sheet from blood loss.
Going by the sheer volume of gunfire pouring into reception from the street, there had to be several dozen Custodians out there who had returned after doing house-to-house searches. Gunfire from Armbands on the floors above was taking its toll on their number, but they sent a hail of bullets back at them too, sending shards of glass raining down every time they hit the windows.
Sticking my head briefly into the room to get a better appraisal of the situation, I saw that the Custodian HQ’s control room was on my left, its bullet riddled double-doors hanging wide open. Inside, several Custodians were using the room’s desks, chairs, and computers as cover as they engaged Madison’s group. They had suffered several casualties too – I spotted at least four bodies on the floor in there, uniforms soaked red. I saw Cho there too, his face a mask of grim determination as he popped up at irregular intervals to fire his pistol. I also noticed a flash of black hair tied back in a ponytail, but didn’t get a glimpse of the person’s face. Still, that hair looked strangely familiar.
This was a dark day for Newhome, when brothers, cousins, friends, and erstwhile comrades fought each other for the right to survive.
Looking back at Madison’s group, I watched in horror as one of her Custodians jumped up to shoot at hostiles outside, only to fall back with a cry when a flurry of bullets hit him in the neck, shoulder, and torso. He collapsed with a scream. Madison popped up, returned fire, and dropped back down just as quickly. A Custodian outside bellowed in pain.
Madison must have seen us in the corridor behind her from the corner of her eye, because she suddenly spun around on her knees with her gun pointed in our direction. Concern ran through me when I saw she’d been wounded again. One side of her face, right down to her jaw line, was coated with dried blood from where a bullet had grazed her forehead.
“We can’t hold any longer – we need to withdraw!” she shouted over the sounds of gunfire.
As if to accentuate her words, a spate of bullets thudded heavily into the desk she was using as cover, sending wooden chips and shards of plastic flying in all directions. She held her gun up over her head and fired a burst back at them.
“We’ll cover you, get your people ready!” I yelled back.
“Roger!”
I watched as Madison passed the command to her unit. Healthy men shouldered their guns and helped wounded comrades to their knees, telling them to get ready to run.
Leigh, on the other hand, appeared glued to the floor. He was clutching his assault rifle like a life raft in heavy seas, eyes wide from terror. He always did fine in our skirmishes with small groups of Skel, but this battle was on a bigger scale than he could handle. I watched Madison slap him on the face to get his attention. Finally comprehending her words, he got ready to run too.
Madison gave me a thumbs-up, indicating they were ready. I turned to my three companions. “On the count of three, we lay down covering fire so they can get their butts out of there. Ryan, Chelsea, Bhagya, shoot out into the street. Nanako, Shorty, we target Cho’s group in the control room. Right. One, two – three!”
In one accord, we went into action, the girls rising up and firing their assault rifles on full auto over the top of the desks and cabinets, sending a hail of lead into the street. The enemy outside crouched down instinctively.
Using the corridor’s doorjamb as cover, Nanako, Shorty, and I stepped partially into reception and opened fire on Cho and his cronies in the control room. Although I normally used the assault rifle in single-shot mode and picked my targets, this time I set the gun on automatic and fired quick burst after burst at the Custodians holed up there.
As soon as the four of us laid down covering fire, Madison’s group sprang into action. Crouching low, they shuffled across the narrow, exposed space between the barricade and the doorway as fast as they could. Madison propelled Leigh before her while the rest of her able-bodied men dragged a wounded comrade along with them. Three Armbands that were either dead or unconscious were left behind.
Realising we were withdrawing and therefore exposing ourselves in the process, Cho ordered his men to rise and shoot. All six of them popped up and opened fire, trying to mow down Madison’s group as they scooted towards us. An Armband collapsed along with the wounded comrade he was assisting.
Slapping another magazine into my gun, I shot down three of Cho’s group in quick succession. I only just missed the general himself because I had to duck back thanks to a stream of bullets hitting the doorjamb beside my head. Wooden splinters peppered the side of my face.
Not perturbed by the hail of bullets hitting the desks and cabinets around him, Cho took careful aim at Leigh. He would have put him down too, except Shorty also noticed what he was up to and let loose. One of his rounds hit the general in the upper torso. As Cho collapsed without a sound, another Custodian popped up to take his place and trained his gun at Shorty. Except this person wasn’t a Custodian – or even a man, for that matter. It was a young woman with bronzed skin and black hair worn in a ponytail.
I’d found the mole who ratted us out.
It was Anna Georgiou – specialist, echolocator, my biologically enhanced ‘sister.’
Ignoring the pain lancing through my face from the splinters, I dropped down, shouldered Shorty aside, and snapped off a shot in her direction, causing her to jerk back. Both of our shots missed. Mine by a millimetre while hers passed through the space Shorty’s head had occupied a moment ago.
“Pull back!” I shouted, seeing that Madison and her remaining men were now in the corridor. My team and I quickly withdrew.
A moment later, I heard the heavily booted feet of Custodians crunching shards of shattered glass underfoot as they ran into reception, intent on catching us before we could get away.
With my team continuing to provide covering fire, our combined group hurried quickly back down the corridor, only pausing to regain our breath when we turned the corner at the far end.
“Orders, Jones?” Madison said.
“We hold this position until it becomes untenable. We can’t let them get to our families,” I replied before turning to the medic. “Take the wounded and any men needed to assist them to the infirmary.”
The Custodian nodded and led away the wounded and their helpers. A moment later, Madison, Shorty, Leigh, Chelsea, Ryan, Bhagya, three Armbands, Nanako and I, were the only ones left.
I reached out and turned Madison’s head slightly so I could be
tter examine the wound on her forehead. It looked ugly, but wasn’t deep. But so much blood! She looked like a tribal warrior who had painted the side of her face red.
“Hey Maddie, I think you missed with the lipstick,” Shorty said, looking up at her.
She poked him in the forehead with a finger. “Funny.”
“Hurt much?” I asked.
“Stings a little,” she said.
“Wonder what she’d say if she was mortally wounded?” Shorty whispered loud enough for all to hear. “‘It’s just a scratch, really.’”
“You want me to get those out?” Leigh asked, pointing at my splinters.
“Let’s wait until you stop shaking, eh?” I patted him gently on the shoulder.
“Don’t take ’em out – we can call him Echidna Jones,” Shorty said, admiring my face.
Bullets starting slamming into the corridor wall beside us. Ducking, I moved partly around the corner and sent a hail of lead down into reception. I smiled grimly when I was rewarded with a scream. Following my lead, the other members of my team took turns doing the same.
“Looks like they’re preparing to rush up the corridor,” Nanako said, ducking back as more and more bullets hit the wall or ricocheted off the linoleum floor.
The hail of bullets ceased suddenly, followed by a whole chorus of panicked male voices.
Chelsea stuck her head around the corner again. “They’re retreating back to reception. Sounds like there’s a major gun battle going on outside.”
Joining her at the corner, I strained my eyes to look down the corridor, past reception, and into the street. And was surprised to see dozens of muzzle flashes from automatic weapons coming from the far side of the road. The Custodians who chased us out of reception were shooting at these newcomers, but were exhausted and outnumbered. I saw man after man go down.
I rang Aika. “What’s going on at the HQ’s front door?”
“A large group of Custodians with white armbands are attacking the ones assaulting the HQ,” she replied.
“Finally! Captain Smithson and Delta Company are here!” I breathed out a sigh of relief.
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