The Collapse Trilogy (Book 1): Free Fire Zone

by Rod Carstens

  He had been the pawn for too many years. He had gotten in trouble more than once over the years for bucking the system but this was different. He was tired down to his bones after mission after mission with little rest and no visible positive effects for all of his sacrifice. Tanner didn’t ask for much, just some sign all the years had been worth it. Maybe it was just this mission but something deep down said it wasn’t just the mission—this was something much more powerful. Something that had been building up for years and this was the last straw. He had crossed some line and now could not go back.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  City-State of New York

  Resource Security Headquarters

  Shift Operations

  1710 hours

  Steiger was pleased. Now that Team Sixteen’s patrol zone had been declared a Free Fire Zone he was bound to be rewarded for his work. Steiger was a big man, thick with a shaved head, his expression a permanent scowl. The combination made his appearance formidable to his staff. Now what passed for a smile actually crossed his face. He was finally finished with the Area Bravo project. It hadn’t been easy. He had done a lot of manipulating of the statistics and reports coming out of the zone for months to be able to justify the Free Fire Zone declaration. Not to mention the careful and complex detailing of the right types of incidents or observations from the teams to nail down the location of the primary target. If anyone wanted justification now, it was there. Rand had as much as guaranteed him a promotion with all that meant—regular meals, heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, maybe even a spot in the basement of one of the Mega buildings. His reverie was interrupted by a buzzer from the Communications Center.

  “Yes, what is it,” he said irritably.

  “Sir, I have a team requesting a Field Emergency Patch with you.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “It’s Sixteen, sir. The team leader seems quite upset about the Free Fire Zone declaration.”

  “What!” Steiger exploded. “Who’s the team leader?”

  “Tanner, sir. Vin Tanner.”

  “Damn,” Steiger muttered to himself.

  “Sir?”

  “Nothing. Patch him through.”

  Steiger waited as the connections were made. Tanner could be a real problem. Damn, that had been a stupid oversight. He should have checked to see which team would be in the zone before he sent out the declaration. What he didn’t need was any special attention brought to the Free Fire Zone order. Tanner was just stupid enough to raise enough questions to bring additional scrutiny to the declaration. He had always been a maverick, questioning decisions and fighting orders. Steiger paced as he waited for the patch to come through, trying not to think of the kinds of trouble something like this could cause the project and therefore cause him.

  “Sir, the patch is complete.”

  “Go ahead, Sixteen,” Steiger snapped.

  “I have just been informed that you have declared this area a Free Fire Zone.” There was a pause before Tanner continued. “Sir.”

  “Yes? So?” Steiger replied.

  “Bravo doesn’t come close to meeting any of the criteria for being declared a Free Fire Zone. In fact it only marginally qualifies as a Wild Zone.”

  “Look, Tanner,” Steiger said, “you can’t see the whole picture. You've only been in the area for a single mission. You don’t see all of the stats from the other teams.”

  “Who do you think sends in the reports that make up the stats?”

  “That’s enough!” Steiger bellowed. “You’re out there to carry out orders—not to second-guess administrative decisions.”

  “Administrative decisions! We are talking about people’s lives! Innocent men, women, and children. With a Free Fire Zone declaration you know it becomes hunting season for the teams and choppers. This area’s not overrun with gangs. There are more homesteaders than gangs.”

  “They will be given the usual warning and chance to leave,” Steiger said.

  “To go where? When was the last time anyone turned themselves in to…”

  “That is enough, Tanner. You have your orders. Carry them out.”

  “We’re talking about people’s lives, not numbers on a damn report.”

  Steiger paced behind his desk but didn’t reply.

  “No more, Steiger. No more cleaning up their mistakes. I’m turning in my papers as soon as we get back. Then I am filing an IIRS.”

  An Internal Investigation Reporting System report could set off a firestorm if it got into the wrong hands. Steiger had fought to gain Rand’s attention. There would be others who would not want to see him promoted; they too wanted the rewards that Rand could bestow.

  “Fine, Tanner, you file your investigative report. I’m bringing you up on charges of insubordination and failure to carry out orders as soon as your team lands. Six out.”

  Steiger crashed his fist into the top of his ancient metal desk, then paced the room restlessly. He began to sweat even more heavily than before; the one small fan he had salvaged from a subordinate could not cool his entire office. What was he going to do? He could not let Tanner file that report. He didn’t want to, but he was going to have to call Rand and see how he wanted this handled. He had a pretty good idea what Rand would say, but he had never liked Tanner anyway. Tough shit. He pressed his intercom button.

  “Sir.”

  “Get me Mr. Rand, please.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Resource Security Force

  Team Sixteen

  Patrol Area Bravo

  1715 hours

  Tanner switched his radio back to his team frequency, then said, “Cat, Matos, this is Tanner.”

  “Go ahead,” Cat replied.

  “Waiting,” Matos said.

  “I’ve just been informed that this area has been declared a Free Fire Zone.”

  “What!” Matos replied.

  “What in God’s name are they thinking about?” Cat said. “There has to be some mistake.”

  “I’ve already spoken to the Six on this. It’s no mistake, believe me. We are to extract at 1745 at Reinhardt.”

  “But Vin, we can’t just stand by and let them…” Cat began.

  “Look, Cat, we don’t have much time to make the extraction point. If we don’t get back we can’t do anything, so get a move on.”

  “Check,” Matos said.

  “They forget there are people at the other end of those numbers,” Cat said.

  “Enough, Cat,” Tanner snapped. “Pack it up and get to Reinhardt. We don’t have time to discuss this now.”

  Tanner leaned back against the wall, then slowly slid to a sitting position. He would make sure they returned safely, and then he would turn in his papers. In the beginning it had all made sense. Not enough food, water, fuel, anything. The riots, assassinations, the country tearing itself apart. The Resource Security Administration had formed, with the Resource Security Force as its enforcement arm to monitor and enforce rationing of what little was left. The RCA, using the RCF, slowly brought things under control. Cities, counties, and even states were designated Safe or Wild Zones, to encourage movement from overcrowded areas to less-congested zones. The time was known as the Great Migration. Millions of people were moved to areas where there was supposed to be more resources. The interstates and roads were filled with the displaced as they tried to escape areas designated as Wild Zones.

  As the millions moved, people with enough money began to congregate in larger and larger buildings in the centers of the old metropolises. Siphoning off more and more of the available resources, the old metropolises became clusters of Mega buildings connected by technology and self-interest. Their control of the resources and government with their money left less and less for the rootless masses. Counter to all the predictions of the collapse of society slowly pulled itself apart for a generation. Contact with other countries diminished as the oil-dependent economic engine ground to a halt.

  As the oil became more and more scarce, the envi
ronment seemed to turn against the civilization that had lived off its resources for so long. Water became more and more scarce with growth of the population, simply too many people and not enough water. The West Coast cities’ water sources slowly dried up, and the snowmelt in the Rockies grew less and less each year until there was no more water. The Great Plains that had been the breadbasket for the world became a desert as the groundwater they had used for centuries dried up. No amount of rain could replace the water that had taken millions of years to accumulate. The coastal populations were driven inland by the rising ocean levels. As millions were forced to move by all of these forces, cities and states began to build walls to keep them out. States with resources enough to support their populations refused to let out-of-staters in, and if they were able to cross the state line, they were put in camps. The United States began to fall apart under the forces of drought, rising ocean levels, and diminishing food supplies, until states and cities seceded from the country to form their own city-states and countries. It was not long before state National Guards were being used to protect borders and in some cases go to war against neighboring states over resources. This is when the so-called Water Wars in the West started, as California and her neighbors fought over water.

  The United States was not the only country to suffer the consequences of little oil and a changing environment. Industrialized countries around the world turned inward in an effort to just survive on what dwindling resources they had. It was ironic, but conflict between countries diminished, despite the increased pressures brought about by mass migrations and dwindling supplies of almost everything except people. No one had the resources to go to war over the needed resources. There were rumors that some isolated countries that had taken steps decades earlier were faring much better than the industrialized world, but they were only rumors. Third-world countries with their populations ravaged by droughts and rising sea levels suffered as much as those dependent on oil.

  Only the rich in the Megas at the centers of the still-existing metropolises had lives resembling the old standard of living. There were rumors that they lived with luxuries that could only now be dreamed of by the rest of the population. But even they were being threatened. Here in the New York City-State the government seemed to be fighting a losing battle with the Atlantic. The Great New York Sea Wall was constantly being breached by storms. Work on the Wall had become a profession for many of the poor with no other jobs available. It was back-breaking, dangerous work but it was work and earned you enough to buy what food and water there was available. The scientists said something about the New England coast being more impacted by the sea rise than most other parts of the world, but it really didn’t matter why the water was winning the battle. In New York itself there began a great migration away from the city due to the increased heat of the megalopolis. Heat was absorbed by the concrete during the day and slowly released at night. So it never cooled off. Tens of thousands died over the years simply because without power they could not cool off, and with water scarce they suffered from dehydration. So vast areas of what had been a thriving metropolis turned into the crumbling remnants of a once-great city. Settlers and gangs fought for the few resources left in the rubble, and the Tanners of the world tried to keep order.

  Meanwhile there were more and more of these Free Fire Zone directives and there seemed to be less and less food and water. It just didn’t make sense anymore. He couldn’t enforce one more directive. All he wanted was out, even if it meant an uncertain future in some mindless job in the subbasement of a Mega. He was tired of trying. He was tired of killing. Wearily he stood up and began to pack his meager kit.

  He didn’t know what would be next after he turned in his papers; all he knew was that he had had enough. If he could just sleep one entire night without waking up to a sensor alarm in a bed instead of on a pad. Spend an entire day cool, dry, and well fed. He didn’t need much to make him happy, so in a way this was a chance at a new life. Sure it was rough on the outside. You had to scramble, but no one was trying to kill you. He could work on the Wall or find something else—anything was better than this. He shrugged the straps of his pack onto his shoulders and tightened them down. It was time to move.

  CHAPTER SIX

  City-State of New York

  Resource Security Headquarters

  Shift Operations

  1725 hours

  Steiger continued to pace as he waited for the call to go through numerous secretaries and assistants before it reached Rand. He didn’t know how Rand would react to this complication. His real worry was that Rand would blame him for not foreseeing this and avoiding it. Rand had been the one to approach Steiger with the unofficial orders for the operation, and he had remained his contact throughout the operation.

  “Sir, I have Mr. Rand on the line,” his secretary said.

  “Good.” Steiger strode over to the screen. The familiar image of Rand appeared. As always he was cool, impeccably dressed, with dead eyes staring out from the bland face of a corporate executive. The only time Steiger had seen Rand excited was when he was talking about money. Steiger realized with a start he must have air conditioning, because Rand’s cool, neat appearance was in sharp contrast to that of Steiger’s—whose black uniform was wet with perspiration, and sticking to his back.

  “Good afternoon, Colonel Steiger,” Rand said.

  “Sir.”

  “What is it you want? I am busy.”

  “Sir, there has been some trouble in the area we have been discussing,” Steiger said, almost physically cringing as he spoke.

  “Oh?” Rand said pleasantly, with a slight frown creasing his smooth face.

  “Yes, the team in the area of discussion has…been asking questions about the directive. Uh…protesting the declaration.”

  “What!” Steiger did cringe with Rand’s outburst. With a stroke of his stylus Rand could send Steiger back on the street with the teams. Dodging gangs and sleeping in the filth.

  “Yes, sir. The team leader has said he will file an investigative report when he returns.”

  “What steps have you taken to rectify the situation?”

  “Nothing yet, sir. I wanted to check with you before I did anything.”

  “Who is the person anyway?”

  “Tanner, sir. Vin Tanner. The team leader.”

  “He will do as he says?”

  “Yes, sir, no question.”

  “We cannot afford for him to file that report. Can we?”

  “No, sir.”

  “You have a Special Action Team at your disposal for the primary target. I suggest you send them in instead of the normal extraction team.” The Special Action Team was a corporate asset; only Rand could authorize its use. He had arranged for them for this one given the reason for the whole operation. Corporate Special Action Teams were quasi-military teams that corporations used all over the world for their own purposes. They were well equipped, well trained and well fed. They were merciless when conducting an operation. The operation had only called for them to perform a snatch, but they were more than capable of taking out a Resource Security Team in addition to snatching their primary target.

  “But sir! To send a Special Action after my own…how do I explain it in my reports? Isn’t there some other way?”

  “That is your choice of course. All I can do is make suggestions, but your hesitation is quite disturbing.”

  Steiger was confused. He needed time to think but there was no time. Sweat poured down his back. He thought of that team out there. He had been on one of those teams not so long ago, but he had never liked Tanner. Tanner was a true believer; he never had understood what the job was really about. He was bound to cross the line sometime. So it wasn’t like Steiger was doing anything that wasn’t going to happen eventually anyway. Tanner had been out there for ten years; his luck was bound to run out. If it wasn’t a gang then why not a Spec Act Team? But…

  His stomach growled with hunger. Today had been an Odd day for rations and
he was an Even. Working for the government was good and bad. You got more and better food than those on the street, but they controlled the food. Odd and Even days were declared when resources were low. If he pulled this off, no more Odd and Even. No more cold winters. No more…

  “Yes, sir, I’ll call Lieutenant Muller right up here and give her instructions.”

  “Very good, Steiger.” A knowing smile crossed Rand’s face, the first one Steiger had ever seen there. “This should not interfere with the team’s primary target, should it?”

  “No, sir.” Steiger said quietly. “Our best intelligence still puts him in Sixteen’s patrol area. The sweeps that go along with the declaration will turn him up with no problem. We can bring the Special Actions in at that point so they can go ahead and deal with this problem and still be available for their primary target.”

  “Excellent. The loss of an entire Security Forces team due to ‘gang’ activity will certainly help justify the declaration if there are any questions. So you see, Steiger, complications can be used to one’s own advantage, if one will only think. Just by adding a few lines to a report, all is solved,” Rand said with a cold smile.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “One last thing, Steiger. See that Tanner and his team all receive medals.” Rand paused and laughed. “Posthumously, of course.”

  The screen went blank.