“Shouldn’t we find out as much about ‘em as possible?”
“Somebody else will have to do that. Right now we need to know where the Copperhead mock-ups are.” He turned to the alien, a gaunt, copper-skinned creature with red eyes. Fault wondered if it had been a soldier before, or how else it knew the human Common Tongue, and if it was in as bad a shape as it appeared to him.
“If I answer your questions, will you release me?”
“If we let you go,” Fault said, “what’s to stop you from rattin’ us out?”
“I want only my freedom. The Overlords have not been kind to me; I owe them nothing.”
Fault and An exchanged glances. Fault wanted to dispose of the alien once it had answered their questions, but An signalled they should let it go, so Fault decided they could tie it to a tree to at least give themselves a head start in case it did squeal. “Okay. Where are our ships?”
“The Copperheads we saw falling from the sky? They would have been taken to the Phryxx Compound, a few miles southeast of here.”
Fault scowled. “Southeast? Not due east?”
“Due east lies the B’rell Hangar. The compound is southeast.”
“Damn,” Fault said. “Garner an’ Jaden are goin’ the wrong way.”
An considered this for a moment. “Is there any way we can get a ride to the compound?”
“If you can sneak into the back of a supply truck, you can get there.”
“When do the supply trucks come by?”
“Every morning after breakfast.”
“When’s that?” Fault asked.
“Dawn. From here, the supply trucks move deeper into the desert, to the compound. The hangar you’re looking for is inside the compound next to the small prison cell block that the Overlords use to torture prisoners.”
Fault watched the Snapper as it spoke, searching for signs it was lying, but he couldn’t tell. Its features, its expressions, differed too much from a human’s to be sure—and while the thing didn’t have particular reason to lie to them, it didn’t exactly have cause to tell them the truth, either.
“Hold onto it for a second,” An told Fault, and Fault gripped the alien’s arm tighter, brought the knife closer to its throat. An opened his pack and brought out a tablet and stylus, passed both to the Snapper. “Draw us a map.”
The Turtle complied, sketching out a crude but detailed map from the farms to the compound, marking where the hangar was in red. “The prison cell block is here.” It pointed with the stylus. “The hangar is next to it. That is where you’ll find your ships.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
On the alien planet
Morning sunlight shone on Jaden’s hair and created soft shadows beneath her chin and under her cheekbones. Her lovely skin had turned various colors from the beatings she had taken, and it made Garner hurt to look at her.
The patrols that had scoured the area the night before had slackened come daylight; the humans thought the Snappers might be starting to give up the chase, but they didn’t let their guard down, in case. Jaden, who had commandeered a set of binoculars from An, kept an eye out for trouble, and they walked on rocks rather than sand whenever they could.
The day had heated up by the time they came close to the hangar Garner had seen on the way to the slave farm. It was in this direction that the vehicle towing the Copperheads had come.
Garner and Jaden paused, sinking down to a crouch to assess the hangar before going any nearer. Four guards patrolled the hangar and its grounds, slowly walking around the perimeter, counter clockwise. The guards had rifles, but no other weapons the humans could see. The front door to the hangar stood open, and from here the humans could make out the black shapes of Copperheads sitting inside.
“There are at least two Snappers inside the building,” Jaden said, looking through the binoculars. “I can see a pair of grease monkeys tinkering with one of the ships.”
“Weapons?”
“I don’t see anything except the tools of the trade.”
“Okay. The guards take about fifteen minutes to complete going around the perimeter. They stay pretty much the same distance apart the entire time, which gives us a good window in which to slip inside the hangar. The main thing will be getting past the mechanics.”
“Our advantage is that they’re caught up in what they’re doing,” Jaden said. “Right now they’re not even looking in the direction of the main door.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way. Ready?”
She nodded. They kept low, dropping down any time they thought a guard might look their way. Cautiously, the humans drew closer, and when they had the chance, they darted the last few meters to the door, flattening themselves on either side of it. They had their Berettas out, a knife in their leg sheaths, and a grenade or two on their belts.
Garner risked a glance in the door. He counted eight Copperheads and two gearheads. He raised two fingers to tell Jaden he saw only the two Turtles, then nodded: the grease monkeys had their hands full, and Garner and Jaden could slip in undetected.
They went in low, Garner going left and Jaden heading right. They had trained to walk silently even on pavement, and in this manner they hid behind the Copperheads, waiting to make sure the Snappers hadn’t detected them. Garner glanced back at the open door; they had to stay aware of the outside guards, one of whom would eventually pass this way and possibly look inside.
A door at the back of the hangar swung open, and another Snapper came in, this one dressed in silver. From its strut and the way it walked right up to one of the Copperheads as if it owned it, Garner suspected this was a pilot. Not all human pilots had that kind of arrogance, but enough of them, including Ness, did, and he found he could easily recognize it in another species. The pilot began looking over its chosen Copperhead, touching it and checking the ship’s details up close. Garner supposed it was making sure the mechanics had repaired the Copperhead to the pilot’s specifications.
As the pilot moved around the fighter, it came within view of Garner, and he slipped around the other side of the Copperhead he was hiding behind. He lost sight of Jaden as he did so, but he didn’t hear any commotion, so he figured she had kept concealed, as well.
He peered into the glass of the Copperhead’s canopy, trying to assess the cockpit, but the glass was so dark that he could barely make anything out. Then he saw the yoke: a circle rather than the Banshees’ U-shape. An enemy craft, then. He took note of it and moved on to the next fighter, having to dash a short distance out in the open to do so. He glanced in the direction of the open front door: no guards. But he still couldn’t see Jaden.
Without warning, the alien pilot came within view, and Garner had to duck down beneath the Copperhead in order to avoid being seen. His heart hammered rapidly, almost painfully, in his chest.
The pilot went past, unaware of him. Garner lowered his head and began to breathe again. When he could safely do so, he came out from underneath the fighter and checked its cockpit: a circle-shaped yoke.
Damn. He hoped Jaden had more luck. There stood only two more Copperheads on this side of the hangar, and one of those was under the supervision of the mechanics, and now the pilot. The canopy of that ship lay open, and he could see the controls were alien.
He went quietly to the last fighter. Alien. So either all the mock-ups sat on Jaden’s side of the hangar, or—
“Intruder!”
Garner turned to see a guard had entered the hangar while he’d been checking out the last Copperhead. The guard had its weapon drawn and aimed at Garner, and now the other Snappers came around the side of their fighter. The pilot had a gun, too.
“Drop your weapon.” The guard gestured to Garner’s pistol in case he misunderstood. The pilot stood to Garner’s left, slightly behind him, but although its hand rested on its weapon, it hadn’t drawn yet.
A shot from the guard’s right struck it in the shoulder. It shouted in pain and clutched at its arm, giving Garner the chance to run. He went for
the nearest exit: the door the pilot had come in from.
“Jaden!” He looked for her, panicked at not finding her straight away. She caught up with him just as he reached the door, but they were dodging fire from the pilot now, using the Copperheads as shields and returning fire when they could. The guard had recovered its senses and also shot at them, shouting what sounded like curses in its blurry language.
They ran through the door. Garner slammed it shut and shot the electronic lock, hoping that would keep the aliens busy for a bit. Shouts came from the other side, and the pounding of fists against the door.
“Did you find any of the mock-ups?” Garner asked.
Jaden shook her head. “You?”
“No. Damn, I thought for sure they were here.”
The door shook. “We’ll have more time to think about it later,” said Jaden. “Right now, let’s bug out.”
They started running again, down the strange, curving corridor. There were a couple of other doors along the way, but they wouldn’t open. Garner and Jaden rounded the bend and collided with a pair of Snappers coming from the opposite direction. Garner recovered from the impact, but not soon enough; the Turtle in front of him seized his wrist in a bruising grip and banged his hand against the wall until he let go of his gun. Garner hit the alien in the face, but the thing’s beak-like mouth was open and cut his knuckles. The Snapper didn’t even blink.
Jaden hit her opponent with the butt of her pistol; shooting at this range would run the risk of hitting a friendly target. The alien reeled but refused to fall. She tried again to knock it in the head with her gun, but this time the Snapper ducked woozily, evading her attack. It punched her in the mouth—her poor, wounded mouth—and she went down.
By this time Garner had hit his adversary a few times in the face, all to no effect. The aliens’ hides were tough; moreover, that beak kept getting in the way. The Turtle took a swing at him; he dodged, feeling the air rush past his head as the alien’s fist narrowly missed him.
The Snapper fighting Jaden made a grab for her; she kicked it, and hard. It stumbled into its companion, and both Turtles went to the floor. Garner grabbed Jaden’s arm and got her to her feet, and they both stepped over the aliens. There was only one way to go: forward. Behind them they could still hear muffled shouts, and in front of them lay a door: hopefully the exit.
One of the Turtles snagged Garner’s ankle, dragging him down. It pulled him towards itself, getting him within reach; Garner kicked, and dark blue blood smeared the alien’s face. The Snapper kept pulling.
Close enough now to use his fists, Garner hit the alien in the eye. It gave a restrained Glrr—Garner had heard it before and thought it a curse—and smacked him in the groin. Whether it knew where his vulnerable spot was or whether it had chosen that particular area to attack by chance, he didn’t know. He doubled over in agony.
Jaden, kicking away at the other alien, now jumped on the Snapper that had just disabled Garner and punched it in the eye, the same eye Garner had hit. The alien gave a wounded cry and backed off.
Jaden tried to get Garner up, but he could do nothing but lie there. It hurt all the way into his abdomen. The other Snapper had gotten to a sitting position and now took Jaden by the hair and yanked her down. She winced as she hit the floor.
Garner managed to draw his knife. The alien with the wounded eye grabbed his hand and vied for the blade; they struggled for a minute, but Garner proved no match, injured as he was, for the stronger being. The Turtle stabbed at him; he got out of the way—barely—setting off fresh pain in his wounded testicles.
Instinct and desperation made his next move: he struck the alien right in the throat. It dropped the knife and clutched at its throat, gasping. Garner snatched up the knife and drove it into the Snapper’s head.
Jaden had somehow managed to get her hands on a gun. She kicked her assailant in the face, driving it back, and then shot it. Smoke rose from the corpse. Jaden got up and took Garner’s hand.
“Can you make it?”
“I’ll have to.” Tears had filled his eyes. She retrieved his Beretta, then circled his shoulders with her arm and helped him up and to the door. Bright sunlight assaulted their eyes.
“There,” Jaden said. She began moving towards a truck, urging Garner to put on speed. The vehicle was unlocked, and they climbed in, Jaden in the driver’s seat. “Shit,” she said. “How the hell do you start this thing?”
“Try that.” Garner pointed to a green button. He remembered the orb had started when a green light had come on. Jaden tried it; amazingly, the motor started. Figuring out the gas was something else, because the truck didn’t have pedals; it was operated solely by hand. They stopped and started in ragged spurts. It reminded Garner of when he had first tried to drive Ness’ car, when he was fourteen and hadn’t yet gone through driver’s training.
Fits and starts aside, they managed to drive away from the hangar; they had taken the only vehicle and were not followed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
On the alien planet
Garner lay on his back in the semi-dark of the cave while he and Jaden waited for Fault and An to return. Once when Ilana had kicked him in the balls, Doctor Jain had told him that lying on your back helped. He found that it did, although he still wished for an ice pack. Jaden gave him some ibuprofen and the last of their water, then put on An’s night vision goggles and went deeper into the cave in search of more. They had opted to stay closer to the mouth of the cave for now, to take advantage of the daylight, but they would remain out of sight of patrols unless the Snappers got right up to the cave opening.
The truck had run out of fuel before they’d reached the cave, which on the one hand was just as well; the truck’s tracks would have led the Snappers right to them. But Garner had had to walk in his currently delicate condition, and that had taken over an hour to accomplish. And that in the hot sun. Garner was pretty sure he never wanted to see sunlight or sand ever again. He was just glad the alien hadn’t hit him as hard as it could have, or he was sure it would have ruptured something.
Jaden found a small stream in the depths of the cave, and when she came back, she handed the canteen to Garner. It felt cool, so he gently rested it against his private parts.
“I’m never drinking out of that canteen again,” Jaden said. It made him laugh, which hurt, but he was grateful to feel like laughing again.
After a while, they heard the signal: the sound of a dove calling.
“An and Fault,” Jaden said, and returned the call. The two men came into the cave, dusty and haggard. They flopped down near Jaden and Garner.
“I’m starving,” An said.
“We ate the last of the MRE’s this morning,” Jaden said. And the meal hadn’t gone far; now that the pain in Garner’s groin had started to subside, his stomach growled, too.
“Where’s the water?” Fault asked.
Jaden gestured to Garner.
“I, for one, am never drinking out of that canteen again,” said An, which got both Jaden and Garner laughing.
“Well, I am,” said Fault, and reached out a hand. “Gimme.”
The chlorine dioxide had done its job by now, so Garner reluctantly relinquished the canteen. Fault took a long drink, after which An did the same, albeit with a grimace.
“Well,” he said, “at least we know Ilana wasn’t the one who kicked you this time.” He got a funny expression on his face as he realized he’d spoken out of turn. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Guess you found out the hangar you went to was a bust,” Fault said, breaking the silence.
“How did you know?” asked Jaden.
“The Snapper slave told us. Our mission was a success.” He withdrew a square of paper from his jacket pocket and unfolded it, then laid it flat on the cave floor. They all drew closer. It was a map, crudely drawn. “Here’s where we are.” Fault jabbed a finger at a spot on the map marked with a circle.
“What’s this?” asked Jaden, traci
ng an area with her forefinger.
“That’s the compound where they’re keeping the Copperhead mock-ups. It’s called Phryxx or some shit like that.”
“Phryxx?”
He shrugged.
“Whatever the hell it’s called,” Garner said, “that’s where we have to go next.”
“There’s one other thing. There’s a prison cell block there where they keep human captives. Word is, they’re holding some Galapagos survivors in there. It’s where they interrogate prisoners.”
Hope rose in Garner’s chest, a feeling so deep and bright that it physically hurt. He wanted to find Ilana there, wanted it more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. At the same time, he hated himself for wanting it, because if she were there, she was being tortured. Tears of hope, fury, and desperation stung his eyes. He moved away from the others, working to compose himself. He sat there for a minute, his hand over his eyes, and thought about Ilana and what she would want.
In a bit, he heard booted feet approaching. He hastily wiped his eyes and looked up to see Jaden settling beside him. She mimicked his position: legs up and bent, arms crooked around the knees. They sat in silence for a moment.
“How you doin’?”
“I’m falling in a hole with no way out, Jaden. I want her to be there, I want to see her again, but I’m afraid. I don’t want her to be hurt.”
“If we find her, you can stop them hurting her.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve fucked us up real good. If the mock-ups aren’t there, then what? Or what if they’ve taken them apart?”
“The Colonists still have the original orb. They’ll come for us. We just have to hold out until then.”
They fell silent again. After a moment, Garner said, “You didn’t have to follow me in.”
“Yeah, I did.”
He thought he heard something, some clue in her voice, saw some glint in her eyes; and for a minute he seriously thought about kissing her. For a second, just a second, he believed she wouldn’t mind. But Fault and An were in sight, and there was Ilana.
Suicide Mission: Unity War Book 2 Page 12