by Robert Brumm
Hank switched on every light in the room and felt a little better as he got to work draining the pod. His nerves calmed and his confidence grew as he went through the sequence now committed to memory. He was used to having Seamus by his side, but really it was a job that could easily be handled by one man. If anything, the company of another live person helped maintain the sanity in an otherwise insane job.
He’d learned a lot from Seamus over the last few months. Not just how to do the job, but how to put it all into perspective as well. If sticking people into test tubes could help save the rest of the world then who was he to question it? People had been dying when they hit sixty years old since long before Hank was even born. It was just a part of life. The fact their bodies were being used afterward was a big shock at first, but he’d gotten used to that as well.
With the pod empty and cleaned out, it was time to head to the warehouse for a fresh body and Hank started to get nervous again. The warehouse gave him the creeps even in the middle of the day. With no attendant on duty he’d be in there alone. Just him and thirty bodies in a morgue for the half-living. Ever since the incident with the woman waking up, he half expected every retiree to become conscious and scare the hell out of him.
He entered the room, a little relieved to find it amply lit until he noticed movement in the corner. Two of his fellow workers had their back to him, standing over one of the tables. He took a few steps forward and was about to clear his throat and call out hello when one of them turned and spotted him.
Hank didn’t recognize the man. He tapped his friend on the shoulder before quickly zipping up his pants. His buddy did the same and stepped aside to reveal the female retiree they were so interested in. She lay unconscious and naked on the table with her legs spread wide.
One of the guys quickly covered the woman up and they glanced at each other before glaring at Hank. “What are you doing in here?” the first guy growled. He had a few years on Hank but looked like he was in pretty good shape. The other worker was no slouch either. He had to outweigh Hank by at least twenty pounds.
“Uh,” Hank jabbed his thumb at the door behind him. “I just came in for a swap. One of my pods went bad.”
They crossed the room and approached him. “What did you see?” the second guy asked.
Hank glanced at their name tags as they got closer. Baker and Simmons. Baker noticed and scowled as he realized Hank now knew their names. “What are we going to do about him?” he asked his partner.
“Hey, fellas.” Hank held up his hand. “I’m just in here doing my job. What you guys do with your time off is none of my business.” He tried to smile. “How ‘bout I just grab my body so I can finish up and get back to bed?”
Simmons took a step forward. “And what makes you think we can trust you?”
“What are we gonna do with him?” Baker asked again. “He saw everything. You know what’ll happen if this gets out?”
Simmons grabbed Hank by the shirt and looked at his name tag. “Oh, it ain’t getting out. I think our friend Reed here is about to have an accident. Turns out one of these IV bags sprung a leak and he didn’t see it. Had a nasty slip and bashed his head on the corner of one of these tables.”
Simmons turned to sneer at Baker and Hank grabbed the opportunity. He broke free and spun on his heels for the door. If he could just make it out to the hallway he could scream or pull the fire alarm. Anything to get away from the two perverts. He knew they were capable of anything to hide their little secret. It wasn’t an official rule, but any idiot could guess having sex with unconscious retirees would result in severe punishment.
Just as Hank was about to reach the door, it opened and he practically ran over Lieutenant Hendricks standing on the other side. Hank skidded to a halt and Baker and Simmons did the same just inches behind him. He could feel their breath on the back of his neck.
Hank never imagined he’d be happy to see Hendricks, but there he was, wearing an olive colored t-shirt, sweatpants, and a look of confusion on his face. Hank was so relieved he could’ve kissed the bastard.
Hank would have to tell the lieutenant what happened. It would be his word against the others, but he had the only excuse for being in the warehouse during that time of the night. He was doing the swap, not them. Not to mention there would be evidence of the rape. Even if he didn’t squeal, Hank had no reason to think Baker and Simmons wouldn’t take care of him later anyway. It was too big of a risk.
Hendricks studied the three men and finally spoke up. “What in the hell is going on here?”
“One of our pods failed, Sir,” Hank gasped. “I came in here to get a replacement.”
The Lieutenant frowned and looked at the other two, but didn’t address them. “I didn’t hear about that. So you were doing an emergency swap and walked in on these two, huh?”
“That’s right, I…” Hank looked at Baker and Simmons and noticed they didn’t look nervous at all. Simmons was actually smiling. Hendricks turned around and locked the door behind him. Hank noticed the service pistol tucked behind the waistband of his sweatpants. “I guess maybe next time they should do as they’re told and wait for me before they get started.”
Simmon’s grin finally faltered and he nodded at Hank. “What are we gonna do with him, Sir? He saw everything.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it, gentlemen.”
Baker jabbed his finger in Hank’s direction. “If he starts blabbing it’ll be trouble. Even for you.”
Hendricks put his arm around Hank’s shoulder. “You guys don’t give Reed here enough credit. You see, he knows I have full access to his files. I know everything about him. Medical history, work history. Next of kin.”
He let go of Hank’s shoulder and stood directly in front of him. “In fact, I was just looking at his file the other day. Seems Hank has a wife on the outside who is due to retire real soon. Isn’t that right, Hank?”
Hank clenched his jaw shut. Hendricks started pacing in front of him.
“As commanding officer of this installation, I have certain strings that can be pulled from time to time. As a matter of fact, there’s nothing stopping me from making sure your wife ends up right here.” He tapped an empty table next to him with his finger. “How ‘bout it Reed? What do you think of these two guys going to town on your wife while you watch? You don’t mind sloppy seconds, do you?”
Hank’s rage took over. All he wanted, all that mattered in the universe at that precise moment in time, involved hurting Lieutenant Hendricks as much as possible. The consequences meant nothing to him; he wanted him dead. Hank swung his clenched fist as hard as he could. The lieutenant easily dodged out of the way.
Hendricks grabbed Hank by the neck and threw him to the floor. He put his knee on Hank’s chest and pulled out his Beretta, pushing the muzzle into his cheek. “I guess that means you would mind,” he said.
“Go to hell. You touch my wife and I’ll kill you, you miserable son of a bitch!”
Hendricks started to laugh. He pulled the gun away and squatted next to Hank. “You’ve got some gonads. I’ll give you that much. You know what else I saw in your file? You’ve got a daughter too. Sara, right? You know, she’s just about my age. Real pretty, I’ll bet.”
Once again he leaned in close to Hank.
“Let me tell you about what goes on here in this room. Sure, I’ll admit it. I like to watch old people go at it. Call it a fetish of mine, a dirty little secret. But I like to screw women my own age. Whether they want to or not. You mess with me, and I pay your daughter a little visit. Am I clear?”
Hendricks stood up and gave Hank a hefty kick in the ribs to top things off. Baker and Simmons laughed. “Like I said, boys, I wouldn’t worry about Reed. He’s going to forget all about this. Fun is over for tonight. Get back your rooms.”
He pointed his gun at Hank. “Get your body, finish the swap, and forget this ever happened. Am I clear?”
Hank sat up, holding his sore ribs, and looked up at the three men glari
ng at him. He finally forced the words from his mouth. “Yes, Sir.”
Chapter 13
“You’re so quiet today,” Seamus said. “Something on your mind?”
Hank absently pushed the whipped yellow protein paste the cafeteria tried to pass off as scrambled eggs around his plate with a fork. “Just trying to remember the last time I saw a real egg. It’s got to be close to ten years.”
Seamus put down his mug of coffee. His stomach was a little off from the night before so he was sticking to a liquid only breakfast. “Don’t give me that crap. I can tell something is hanging over your head, so you gonna let me know what it is or keep talking about eggs?”
Hank put down his fork and leaned forward over the table. “Do you think there’s a way out of here?”
Seamus laughed. “Shit, you serious?”
Hank nodded. “I need to find a way out of here. Peg is due to retire soon and I have to stop it.”
Seamus glanced around the room. “What the hell are you going on about? You know there’s no way outta here.”
“No easy way, but escape can’t be impossible.”
“And then what? You’re just gonna go home and don’t answer the door when the cops come calling? Listen to yourself, man. You’re stuck in here. Any thoughts of escaping, you better squash ‘em. Right now.”
“I know it sounds crazy,” Hank continued. “But I can’t let Peg end up in one of those pods. How can I just stand by after everything I’ve seen?”
“How? ‘Cuz you in here and she’s out there and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it, that’s how. Even if you could escape, you wouldn’t last one day on the outside. Every lawman in the world would know your face.”
Hank glanced at a nearby table and lowered his voice more. “Something happened last night when I had to make that swap without you.”
“What?”
“Let’s just say as long as I’m in here, my family is in danger. I saw something last night that could incriminate somebody. Somebody that has influence on the outside and is capable of hurting my wife and daughter.”
Seamus sighed and crossed his arms. “I don’t even wanna know.”
“Good. The less you know the better off it is for you, I guess. If you’re not going to help me I’ll figure it out myself.” Hank started to rise but Seamus grabbed his wrist.
“Let me get this straight. You’re gonna be the first guy ever to bust outta here. You’re gonna go home, give your wife a heart attack when you walk your dead ass through the front door, nab your daughter, and then what? Move to the South Pole? Shit, we could be at the South Pole already.”
Hank rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Okay. I get it. I didn’t say I had it all figured out.”
“You damn right you don’t have it figured out. You, my friend, are a dead man. The sooner you get that through your head the better off you’ll be. Your wife and daughter? There ain’t a goddamned thing you can do for them now.”
Hank clenched his jaw and shook his head.
“This place ain’t paradise, but it’s a hell of a lot better than what I had on the outside,” Seamus said. “When my sixtieth came ‘round I was sharing a bed with three other motherfuckers in a boarding house without a penny to my name. Had to wait in line for hours to maybe get something to eat once a day. So forgive me if I don’t have an overwhelming urge to help your dumb ass escape.”
“I just don’t know if I can let it go.”
Seamus’s frown faded. “Look, Hank. You’re a good friend and I’ve seen way too many guys lose it in here. I don’t want to see it happen to you. You better get your head right and dig in for the long haul or you’re no better off than those sorry fools in them pods. You have a second chance.”
Hank pushed his plate away and finally looked his friend in the eye. “You’re right. I’m driving myself crazy worrying about Peg and Sara but there isn’t a thing in the world I can do to help them, is there?”
“Sorry. I mean it, too. Trust me, you’ll get past this and your family is gonna be just fine.” Seamus checked his watch. “Come on then, we better get to work. You’ll feel better once we get busy.”
Chapter 14
The private leaned forward and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey man, are you a secret agent or something?”
John Sanderson just frowned and looked out the door. They both wore headphones but Sanderson and the private were on different com channels and he wasn’t in the mood to shout over the deafening noise from the rotors. The crew chief seated next to Sanderson shook his head at the private. He kept his mouth shut for the rest of the flight as the UH-60 Blackhawk screamed above the treetops toward the Windigo power plant.
After a few quiet days at home, he was relieved to be in the chopper and out of the house. Out of the city. He hated to admit it, but the incident with Kodiak had left him feeling shaken as if it just happened yesterday. He’d been having trouble sleeping and just not feeling like himself since. He was glad to be out of the office, away from judging eyes, and away from Sara. Pretending everything was fine was turning out to be a task he just didn’t have the strength for anymore.
The Blackhawk pitched and the view through the door filled entirely with the lush forest just a few hundred feet below. Sanderson considered his inspections of the power plant one of his shit jobs beneath his pay grade. Ever since his own incident months ago, he was assigned to Windigo to keep him out of the field and off any actual missions while under probation. Despite having come out of the investigation in good standing and getting his mission status back, the Windigo assignment stuck. Some excuse about budget cuts, as usual.
He didn’t complain too loudly because he enjoyed the helicopter ride. The Windigo plant resided in one of the last remaining wooded areas in northern Wisconsin. The air was actually clean enough to breathe without a mask, and on a good day you might get lucky and see a patch or two of blue sky.
Since the land below him was under heavy restriction for hundreds of square miles, few citizens were even aware the vast woods in the north existed. The State worked very hard at restricting travel and making it as difficult as possible. As a result, most people rarely left the crowded city and suburbs to the south.
Sanderson took a deep breath of the air rushing into the cabin and let himself smile. The trip to the plant and back again ate up most of the day, but the view from the helicopter was always worth it. The contrast from the bleak and dreary city back home always lifted his spirits.
He wasn’t sure why the State bothered to build the power plants in such remote locations. It must’ve cost a fortune and they could easily hide them in plain sight in the city. After all, there isn’t anything all that mysterious about a power plant by nature to begin with. John shook his head at the thought. One could make a full time job out of questioning the motives and decisions made by the government. That kind of thinking would lead to nothing but trouble.
The Blackhawk circled above a clearing in the trees and the landing pad below. Windigo wasn’t much to look at from the air and even less so from the ground. A good majority of the installation was built underground. The structure above was painted in earth tones and blended in with the dense forest surrounding it.
The helicopter landed on the small square of tarmac and powered down. Sanderson got out behind the private and a couple of other young soldiers, probably new recruits assigned to the plant. Lieutenant Hendricks’s personal aide, Staff Sergeant Grant was waiting for him.
“Afternoon, Razorback,” he nodded.
“Sergeant.”
“How was the ride out?”
“Scenic as usual.”
As they walked to the security doors, Sanderson thought of his conversation with Victor Young on the day he learned Hank would be working at Windigo. Running into Hank would be unlikely. It was the middle of the day, Hank would be working, and he had no reason to visit any of the boiler rooms. Still, if by some rare chance he did run into Hank, he had no idea what to expect. The whole
notion left Sanderson feeling anxious and that was one emotion operators trained very hard at overcoming. Still, what was the worst thing that could happen? Hank wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.
Grant led him into the building and they completed the visitor routine without conversation, having done it many times in the past. Sanderson was subjected to a full body scan, surrendered his sidearm, and pinned a large visitor tag to the breast of his suit.
His first stop was to pay a visit to the commanding officer who ran the plant, the least pleasant aspect of the entire day. Like most people who met him, Sanderson found Lieutenant Hendricks to be an arrogant jackass. He understood Hendricks resented the fact the State needed to send somebody in on a monthly basis to check up on him, but he didn’t have to be such a prick.
They arrived at the lieutenant’s office and Grant knocked on the door frame. Hendricks looked up from his desk and grinned. “Well, Razorback. Is it time for another one of your visits already?”
“I’m afraid so, Brother.” Sanderson sat down without waiting for an invitation.
“Sure, have a seat.” Hendricks handed him a tablet across the desk. “Here’s the log.”
Sanderson flipped through the pages. “Incoming calls on here this time?”
“Incoming and outgoing along with all email transactions. I already checked them before your arrival.” Hendricks sat back and crossed his arms. “Everything looked shipshape to me, but I don’t have your extensive training and experience.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Sanderson scrolled though the last few pages of the log. “Everything else been quiet around here, Lieutenant?”
“Same as last time, Brother. No escape attempts, no perimeter breaches, and no info leaks.” He cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. “Sorry to bring you out here for nothing.”