Before he could reflect more on the matchless splendor of the moment, a shot shattered the peace and plunged Paulson back into fight mode.
One of the soldiers who’d been helping establish a safety perimeter fell to the ground, blood splattering from his head.
“Everybody down!” one of the commanders yelled out.
Paulson’s body reacted without thought, his training immediately kicking in. He dove into the deep grass, burying himself in wild flowers. He reached out, grabbed Chen’s leg, and pulled him down as well.
Gunshots in 331 BC could mean only one thing: the group that had attacked them in the future were waiting in ambush.
An RPG flew out from a nearby hill and landed in the middle of one of the troop formations. An explosion propelled bodies into the air.
Paulson touched his eye and ear and initiated battle response functions from his implants. They needed to find cover quickly, yet they had no idea what the terrain was like during this time period. Everything was so different.
“Captain Gomez, are you there?” Paulson needed to coordinate with the squadron commander.
“Yes, sir. We’re taking heavy fire over here. There are multiple casualties. We only have small arms to defend ourselves since we left all the heavy munitions behind in the future.”
Boom!
Another explosion hit near Paulson’s position.
“Captain, are you there? Captain!”
No response.
A whooshing behind Paulson indicated that the vortex was opening once again. He turned around in time to see Mattie and Claire come tumbling through.
Thank God. His supersoldier and android were still alive and functioning.
Claire immediately began dragging Mattie off the battlefield.
More shots rang out from positions surrounding them, this time hitting some of the children and noncombatants. The attackers were trying to slaughter them all. There would be no way to get off the field alive without exposing themselves. But they couldn’t just lie there either; they’d be blown to bits as more RPGs exploded around them.
Goddamn it. Fucking goddamn those sons of bitches.
They escape an alien onslaught in the future just to be killed by their fellow humans in the past. How fucking ironic.
The crack team that Paulson had spent so many years putting together was fighting back, but they had no idea where the enemy was. They were being cut to shreds.
Paulson spotted a forest filled with thick palm trees just to their south. That could provide cover, or it could be where the attackers were hiding. If they ran for it and the attackers were there, they’d be slaughtered.
He had to do something.
“Team One, head south to the forest,” he ordered.
A group of five soldiers jumped up and began running across the open field. One man went down from sniper fire before he could get halfway there. Then, when they reached the far edge of the field, the ground exploded and the running soldiers were obliterated in a fiery blast.
Those weren’t RPG explosions. The motherfuckers had the field rigged with mines.
How long had they been here preparing and waiting for him and the others?
All around him women were screaming and children were crying. He had no idea where his own family was. And still gunfire crackled and another RPG rained down on them. There wouldn’t be anybody left if this kept up much longer. This was no fight—it was a pure massacre.
Paulson forced his mind to calm and think, ignoring the slaughter and chaos.
“Everyone spread out,” he said quietly into his com-link. “At least twenty feet between each person, but stay down.”
At least with the troops and civilians scattered, the damage caused by the RPGs would be minimized.
“Team Two, go northeast, Team Three, southeast, and Team Four, southwest. Watch for land mines. Team Five, try to move the civilians northwest.”
This tactic might confuse the enemy; at the very least it would give them more targets to shoot at. Either way, they needed to get out of this field, and any method they chose would bring casualties. Paulson would stay with the civilians and crawl northwest.
Where the hell were Mattie and Claire? If they weren’t injured, he could sure use their help now.
Before he could move more than five feet, Paulson felt strong hands grab him from behind. He was whisked away from the battlefield, moving so fast, the ground became a blur.
When he was set down, minutes later, he found himself in a tiny stone house. A local family, dressed in robes and sandals, sat huddled and shaking in the corner of the room, fear naked on their faces. Paulson looked up at his savior. Mattie.
“Took me a couple minutes to recover from the time jump,” Mattie said. “But I’m almost a hundred percent. I’m going after the attackers, with Claire helping.”
He darted off.
Paulson stood and hurried to a window. A row of plowed fields ready for seed was nearby, and just past that, through a clump of trees, was the grassy field they’d jumped into.
He reached down to his hip. He still had his pistol. He couldn’t help the people on the field right now, but he could sure as hell help Mattie and Claire. He drew his pistol from its holster and nodded to the poor family who had no idea what to make of this whole thing. Then he ran out of their home.
With his optical implant still streaming a limited amount of data, he was able to pick up Mattie’s trail. An imprint of his boot, barely visible to the unenhanced eye, was easily found and registered by his old combat implant. It told him how fast Mattie was moving and in what direction. In the future he would’ve had access to satellite data as well, but here he had to rely more on his own senses.
He ran toward the palm forest just to the west of the battlefield. The underbrush was deep, perfect for men to hide in and attack from. It was amazing how different the landscape was here in the past. In 2038 this entire area was nothing but dry, rocky desert, but in 321 BC, it was as lush and alive as any semi-tropical forest he’d ever seen.
A wild pig barreled through the underbrush, piglets squealing behind her. Paulson was careful to let them pass undisturbed. If a boar was nearby he wanted no part of that large, powerful and dangerous animal.
He continued to follow Mattie’s trail. Moments later he came across two dead men; they’d been shot in the head. Blood was still dripping from the bullet entry points, and they were slumped over rocket launchers.
Two down and who knows how many more to go.
Paulson grabbed one of their automatic machine guns and holstered his own pistol. He glanced at their faces. They looked vaguely familiar, but he didn’t know either of them personally.
Dirty traitors.
The rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire continued around him, and another explosion rocked the ground.
A flash of movement caught his attention, and he immediately fell to the ground under a fern. As he buried himself in the soil, he smelled the robust aroma of life.
Movement again disturbed the trees.
A masked man in a camouflage battle suit crept along, automatic weapon in hand. Paulson aimed his own gun, his optical link automatically lining up the sight. The battle suit the man was wearing had a slight vulnerability at the neck. That was his target.
Bang!
The traitor fell to the ground, and Paulson felt not one iota of remorse. The job wasn’t finished, however, and he jumped out from under the fern and pounced on the downed man. His suit was sparking, and Paulson yanked off his helmet and hit him in the face with the butt of his rifle, knocking him unconscious.
He recognized the man as a colonel under the command of General Craig. So the conspiracy, the treachery, reached deep into the military ranks. He searched the colonel’s standard pack, pulled out his handcuffs, and quickly locked him down.
“Mattie, we may want to take some of these men alive, if at all possible. Claire, that goes for you as well. I have one prisoner already.”
“Understood.” The
message from Claire instantly popped up on his optics.
As much as Paulson would like to kill them all, they needed to find out the full extent of their treachery. Who else was out there waiting for them?
“Roger that, sir,” Mattie responded.
More shots were fired. Paulson pushed forward through the underbrush, ducking behind palm trees so wide at the base that he could hide behind them easily with both arms stretched wide.
The number of shots being fired from the woods slowly ebbed, and the bombardment of the helpless time travelers subsided.
Mattie and Claire were doing their jobs.
Perhaps the traitors knew about Claire’s combat capabilities, but they had no idea about Mattie’s. Both he and Mattie tried to keep that secret. Even if they did know, there was no way to stop Mattie short of a direct hit with an EM pulse rifle followed by multiple heavy weapons or explosive attacks. But to hit him, they had to see him coming, and with all the cover around, that would be nearly impossible.
Something moved behind a fern. It had been just a slight shake of the leaves, but Paulson knew someone was there. He crouched down and drew his knife, edging closer to the hidden attacker. Then he pounced.
He landed on top of a squealing flurry of flying limbs, dirt, and leaves.
“Ahhh, no! Please don’t kill me!” the woman screamed.
No, not a woman. The high-pitched voice belonged to Dr. Howard Nichols. He’d tried to dig a little hiding place for himself behind a rotted log.
“Get up, you fucking traitor!”
Paulson was furious as he pulled Nichols to his feet. He was covered in dirt and had scratches on his face, most likely from running through the forest. This was the man Claire said betrayed them at Chronos One.
“You’re coming with me.”
Paulson put his knife into a sheath at his side, pulled his pistol out, and held it to the man’s bald and shaking head.
“If you move or try to scream out, it’ll be the last thing you ever do. I’ll put this bullet right through your skull. Understand me?”
Howard nodded, too scared to utter another word.
Paulson pushed his prisoner out in front of him, continuing to follow the sounds of gunfire, moving as fast as his old legs could carry him. He emerged from the palm forest into a small clearing, several hundred yards from the landing site. Sitting in a circle, bound and tied, heads down, were a group of a dozen men. Standing over them were Mattie and Claire. Paulson shoved Nichols to the ground beside them. His short, heavy frame landed with a thump.
Mattie had taken a few shots, but Paulson could see his wounds already healing. Claire’s arm dangled by her side, unmoving, likely a casualty of a pulse rifle. She would be able to repair it later.
Mattie approached him while Claire stood guard, weapon ready.
“We got ’em, sir. They put up one hell of a fight.”
“Excellent work, you two. Is this all of them?”
They both nodded.
“Let me see these motherfuckers.”
Paulson studied them one by one.
“My God.”
“Don’t use the Lord’s name that way in front of me, you bastard!”
Senator Samuel Gordon struggled to his feet and spat in Paulson’s face.
Paulson couldn’t control his anger and punched the senator as hard as he could, right in the mouth. Gordon crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from his lip.
“What the fuck have you done, Samuel?”
Gordon spat out a tooth as more blood dripped from his mouth.
“That’s it, punch me while my hands are tied, you fucking coward!” Gordon yelled furiously. “What does it look like I’ve done? I’m saving humanity.”
Paulson almost untied the senator just so he could beat him to a pulp, man to man. It took all his willpower to restrain himself.
“Save humanity? Have you lost your mind? You’ve just killed dozens of the people who are the only hope for saving humanity. Women and children, Samuel!”
“It was all for Christ.” Blood streamed from the corners of his mouth, and he spat onto the ground. “Your time manipulations go against all of creation. You would prevent the birth of the Son of God himself. We could not allow that.”
“You would let humanity die in the future for your religious beliefs? What would God say to that?”
“God would say I’m a man of faith, a true believer worthy of the kingdom of Heaven. But I don’t expect you to understand.”
Paulson had dealt with religious zealots before—there was no reasoning with them. Christian, Muslim or Jew, it didn’t matter. Faith could blind men to the truth.
He looked around at the others in the group. Congressman Lavar Winchell, a Baptist minister from the South, wouldn’t even look at him. He simply kept his head bowed, perhaps in prayer.
Paulson circled the prisoners. Most of the others were soldiers he vaguely recognized. Then he got to General Craig. That explained the military power and tactical prowess of the group.
“You’re with them, Mitchell?”
“I’m sorry, sir. You know I have great respect for you, but I put God before country. And this time jump goes against everything I believe in. Man was not meant to have this kind of power.”
“And the aliens? And the men and women under your command in the future who died fighting them? You dishonor their memories with this treason. What of their lives?”
The old general’s tired eyes looked away. He licked his lips and said, “We’ve all paid a horrible price. I can only place my faith in God and pray that he has led me in the right direction.”
Paulson had nothing else to say to General Craig. He then moved to Congresswoman Lenore Santiago. It didn’t surprise him to see her in this group. She was about as radical a fundamentalist as he’d seen.
“Lenore, don’t you think that Christ will be born no matter what we do?”
She stared up and him, colder and harder than any of the men.
“I think that God is working through us to ensure his son is born on the date and time as written in the Bible. We can accept nothing less.”
Paulson nodded and walked to the next man, Senator Raashid Abdallah.
“Senator, I’m surprised to see you here.”
“Jesus is an important figure in the Muslim world, Mr. Vice President. But your plans with the timeline will surely affect Islam just as much as Christianity. I’m as loyal to my faith as my Christian brothers and sisters are to theirs.”
“So I know the why, now I need the how. How did you pull this off? How did you get past our security and jump to the past?” Paulson circled around to the apparent ringleader, Senator Samuel Gordon.
Gordon averted his face. “I’m not saying anything else. If you want answers, you’re not going to get them from me.”
“Well then, perhaps Dr. Nichols, your partner in crime here, can enlighten us.”
Paulson squatted down over the traitor as he feebly held his bound hands in front of him.
“I had nothing to do with this. You have to believe me,” he blurted out frantically. “I’ve never even seen any of these people before.”
“Yeah right, Doctor. Then why don’t you tell me what that message you received from the future was all about.”
Howard looked confused as he gathered his thoughts. Then he said, “You mean the message I got at Chronos, just before the explosion?”
“Of course. The message your friends with the bomb sent.”
“I have no idea who sent it to me or why. I had nothing to do with the bomb or any of this.” Howard gestured to the other prisoners. “The message just said to get out. The voice on the other end said to leave the base immediately if I wanted to live. So I did. That’s all I know. The rest of the data that came through was encrypted and was on an automatic countdown deletion. I never had time to decipher it before it was gone and I was taken into custody.”
Paulson stepped away.
“Is that true, Claire?”
Paulson considered her words. There was another possibility.
“Claire, is it possible that Nichols is a decoy?”
She stared down at the shaking scientist, as if algorithmically weighing his propensity to commit mass murder.
“You mentioned two transmissions earlier, Claire,” Mattie said, stepping up beside them. “Where did the other go?”
Zzzt!
An EM pulse cannon shot out from the forest, striking Claire in her back. She crumpled to the ground, her circuits temporarily off-line.
Mattie moved to go after the attacker, but before he could get more than ten feet, an EM pulse grenade exploded over their heads. The light blinded Paulson for a moment and scrambled his thoughts. Mattie was still on his feet, moving forward, but swaying as he walked, like a drunk. As he staggered to his target in the woods, a missile shot out.
Paulson instinctively dove to the ground, covering his head as he landed. Mattie tried to dodge, but the missile struck him in the chest. A huge explosion pulsed out through the ancient forest, echoing off the trunks of the giant palms. Paulson tried to cover himself, but could still feel the searing blast shoot fire on his skin.
The fire and smoke slowly cleared to reveal what remained of Mattie’s shattered body burning in the grass. All the prisoners had been knocked on their backs, unconscious from the blast impact. Paulson struggled to hold his head up. His ears were ringing, his thoughts scattered, and his vision blurry.
A shadowed figure emerged from the palm forest. Paulson blinked, but his eyes weren’t yet clear. The attacker held a plasma rifle and wore a black mask. He was dragging someone bound and gagged behind him.
He rubbed his eyes. Gretchen? Oh no! He had Gretchen!
The attacker lowered his rifle and aimed it directly at Paulson’s head, kicking away his machine gun and pistol, which he'd dropped during the explosion.
Then he spoke in a deep, gravelly voice distorted by the mask.
“Vice President Charles Paulson, I declare you guilty of crimes against God. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I sentence you to death.”
NanoSwarm: Extermination Day Book Two Page 36