Vendetta: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 4)

by Jonathan Yanez

“No, that doesn’t make a difference at all,” Cassie said with an eye roll. “That’s a horrible name. Stick with Butch or Lady Butch.”

  Commander Shaw and Madam Eternal stepped into the room together. The former wore a sharp white uniform with the Phoenix sigil of a red bird on the left shoulder. The latter wore a black dress with a large medallion hanging from her neck. The medallion carried the head of a dragon on it, the emblem of her own corporation.

  Jax and Angel walked in a few minutes later, followed by Bapz.

  “So what’s the good word, Daniel?” Wesley asked as he and Julian finished their conversation. “You look like you didn’t sleep so well.”

  Everyone turned to me. Most were in various stages of eating their noonday meal.

  There was no doubt in my mind that Wesley knew I had been out. He probably even knew what I was up to.

  That was fine with me. I wasn’t trying to hide anything. Instead of pulling on that string, I dived right into my conversation with Captain Zoe Valentine.

  “I received a call from Captain Zoe Valentine not even an hour ago,” I informed them all. “She gave us the time, location, and a heads up that the GG isn’t going to play into the Voy hands. They’re coming with their Shadow Praetorians as well as a secret weapon code named Nemesis.”

  “Nemesis?” Madam Eternal repeated the word as if it meant something to her.

  “Yes,” I answered. “Do you know what that is?”

  “Know is a strong word.” Madam Eternal stared at the middle of the wood table as she sifted through her memory banks. “Rumors and whispers are closer to the truth. Immortal Corp has their Pack Protocol, the Order their Cyber Hunters. The Galactic Government has their Shadow Praetorians, of course, but they have not stopped there.”

  The room went quiet. Everyone stared at the Madam, willing her to continue. It was so quiet, I could hear Butch licking herself by my feet.

  “The Galactic Government has a division tasked to enhance humans with—with forces outside of science,” Madam Eternal explained, choosing her words carefully. “At least that is what my resources tell me The Project is code-named Nemesis.”

  “Forces outside of science?” Commander Shaw asked. “Are we talking about magic here?”

  “Please, let’s stay on topic.” Julian rolled his eyes.

  “There are things that cannot be answered by science.” Madam Eternal looked at Julian with the same expression a teacher would give a problem child in her class. “To assume something cannot exist means you assume you know all there is to know of this universe.”

  “Okay, so the Galactic Government is experimenting with dark magic,” Angel said with a shrug. “That’s a hard pill to swallow, but I can handle that. What does that mean for us? They’re going to show up with these individuals pumped full of the stuff? What can we expect? What would they be able to do?”

  “I cannot say, and anything I do should be taken as only speculation.” Madam Eternal pursed her lips. “All I know is what I’ve said.”

  “So on top of the Voy fighting the Galactic Government, we’ll have a third party to try and deal with,” I recapped, running various scenarios through my mind. “I don’t see how that changes anything. We still have to go. Hopefully, the GG can keep their new dogs on a leash.”

  I looked down at Butch. She stared me straight in the eye.

  “No offense, Butch,” I said.

  She panted back at me.

  “I agree with, Daniel,” Cassie said from her seat beside Julian. “This changes nothing. When we go in to fight alongside the GG, they’ll realize we’re there to help them get out of this mess. They should be fighting alongside us not against us.”

  “In a perfect scenario, that would be true.” Wesley ran a hand through his hair. “But you know nothing ever goes exactly to plan.”

  “All we can do is the best we can do,” I said, rising from the table. “But I do think we should reassess the firepower we bring to the fight. A four-man team might be enough to extract the GG on the ground, but what if we need to buy some time against the Voy? They’re not going to make the same mistake as last time. They’ll hit that Way settlement hard.”

  “We can take in some extra armor,” Commander Shaw volunteered. “The first wave of mech units should arrive within the hour. A few of those can give you cover while you extract the GG team.”

  “The Order can provide air support as well as make the initial incursion drops,” Julian volunteered.

  “The trick will be going in right when they need us,” Jax mused. “Too soon and they’ll see us as an enemy. Too late and they’ll be dead.”

  “We’ll have to hover right outside of their scanners until the time is right and then sprint in,” I agreed with Jax. “It’s the only way this is going to work.”

  “For all of our sakes, I hope you’re right,” Angel said. “Because if you’re wrong, the GG along with the rest of us are all dead.”

  Twenty-Three

  It was deemed too much of a risk to fly in Order dropships and Phoenix mech units inside of Athens. We were already wanted by the GG; trying to smuggle large ships and mechanized units into the city wasn’t going to go unnoticed.

  Instead, a staging area was set up a few hundred kilometers outside the city of Athens.

  We snuck out in an unmarked vehicle. Julian and Commander Shaw went in front of us to make sure their teams knew what was going on.

  The ride gave my consciousness more time to haunt the decision I had made regarding Amber. I had to push her and the events of the previous night out of my mind over and over again. The most helpful tool I found was throwing myself into whatever had to be done next. I had to be present in the here and now.

  The sun was nearly nonexistent past the horizon when we arrived at the location, with less than an hour until we had to be in the air.

  We pulled up to the staging area in a clod of red sand. What I saw took my breath away. Sure I’d seen the mech units inside the Phoenix base, but they were at a distance and my life didn’t depend on them then.

  Right now up close and personal, I felt a sense of gratitude at the walking tanks. Both units towered a good ten feet. Crimson-red armor covered the power unit with white highlights and of course the white bird representing the Phoenix sigil.

  Two mechs looked impressive enough. I couldn’t imagine what daunting feelings of dread an entire company would do to the enemy.

  “Son of a warhammer,” Jax breathed beside me. “How do I get hold of one of those?”

  “You are one of those when you go beast mode on us.” Angel wiggled her brows.

  Jax gave her a hard stare.

  “What?” She feigned indignation. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not judging you, just saying I bet you could give one of those things a run for their money if you went all Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on it.”

  “Not going to happen this time around,” Jax promised. “I’m going to hold it together. We’re in, we’re out, no fuss no muss.”

  “I sure hope so,” Angel said as the pair wandered over to a structure of tents where Julian and Wesley stood.

  “Things of beauty, aren’t they?” Commander Shaw came over to me and looked at my feet. “No Butch?”

  “Didn’t think this was a situation for a wolf,” I answered. “I don’t know how she’d do with the whole halo jump and all.”

  “Fair enough.” Commander Shaw motioned with an open hand at the mech units. “So what do you think?”

  “I think the Voy are in trouble.” I grinned. “They’re going to get more of a fight than they anticipated.”

  “That’s for sure,” Commander Shaw motioned to a man and woman I didn’t recognize. Both wore blood-red skintight suits, a white bird with flames coming off its wings boldly emblazoned on their chests. “I want you to meet our two best pilots, Jeff Windtalker and Mandy Evans.”

  The pilots walked over to me and we took turns shaking hands.

  “Mandy, Jeff, this is Daniel Hunt; he’s r
esponsible for bringing both Doctor Wardens back to us as well as the super seed,” Commander Shaw continued. “Phoenix owes this man a great debt.”

  “Which you’re more than repaying as we speak,” I replied. “I feel like I’m indebted to you now.”

  “This is the man who went toe to toe with that Pack Protocol member we have in the brig?” Jeff asked. “And the Cyber Hunter who broke in?”

  “I heard he took on an entire army in the badlands.” Mandy looked me up and down. “Is that true?”

  “Don’t believe everything you hear, Mandy,” I told her with a wink. I looked back at the mech units. A crew of Phoenix mechanics were going over last-minute checks. “I’m glad to have both of you with us.”

  “Glad to be here,” Jeff said, looking between me and the commander. “So aliens, huh?”

  “Aliens,” Commander Shaw and I both agreed.

  Mandy held an open hand towards Jeff.

  “What?” Jeff asked. “I don’t have your money now. Where would I keep a wallet in this thing anyway?”

  “Hey, where you store your goods isn’t my business.” Mandy smirked. “All I know is that I have one hundred sweet credits coming from you for winning our bet. Aliens do exist.”

  I left the two Phoenix pilots to hash out details on the bet with Commander Shaw. Cassie, Jax, and Angel were already gearing up for the jump.

  “That high up, it’s going to be beyond cold,” Madam Eternal said, falling in step with me from who knows where.

  I was usually pretty good about being aware of my surroundings. To my knowledge, she wasn’t part of the convoy who just arrived at the site. She had to have come sooner. That was the only explanation that made sense.

  “Uh, right,” I answered. To be honest, the woman set me on edge. Maybe it was uncalled for, but Alerna warned me about her for good reason.

  “You’ll need a helmet feeding you oxygen,” Madam Eternal continued. “When you come face to face with who or whatever has become of Project Nemesis, the best thing you can do is try not to engage them. Do you understand?”

  “I’m not going to try to fight anyone with the GG,” I remarked. “That’s the plan at least, get them out alive.”

  “Of course, but even the best laid plans go amiss,” Madam Eternal pushed. “Just remember all magic comes with a cost. Usually, there is more to a situation like this than meets the eye.”

  “Got it,” I said, more to try and end the uncomfortable conversation than me really believing in something like magic.

  That seemed enough for Madam Eternal. She walked over to where a group of Order pilots stood in a small circle.

  I joined Cassie, Jax, and Angel in a black tent as they changed for the mission. We wore all black gear from our boots to the long-sleeve jackets. On top of this went our armor and harnesses for the chute.

  The three members of the Pack Protocol wore the same emblem of the snarling wolf on our left shoulder. Likewise, Cassie wore the red cross on her own shoulder.

  “You guys really wear all of this stuff for a halo jump?” I asked, strapping on the heavy oxygen tank to my lower back before clipping the helmet to my waist along with my weapons. “How do you move?”

  “You’ll be grateful for all of it when we jump, trust me,” Jax said with a grin over to Angel. “Hey, remember that little village on Earth? What was the name of the city? It used to be Chicago, right?”

  “Don’t remind me,” Angel hissed, shooting a look at Jax so intense, I thought he might turn into stone. “We never speak of the Chicago jump.”

  Jax went back to work, choosing a large rifle from the weapons in the tent.

  “I feel like I want to know, but I also don’t want Angel to kill me if I ask more questions,” I admitted, looking between the two.

  “Let’s just say it was one of our first jumps and Angel slammed into the side of a cliff face then slid all the way down.” Jax ignored the glare from Angel. “It looked like a cartoon.”

  “It took me days to heal from that one.” Angel cracked the smallest of smiles as she tried to feign anger. “Man, that sucked.”

  “Dropship’s up in ten,” Wesley said, poking his head into the tent. “We good here?”

  “Ready,” Cassie answered. Despite the offered weaponry in the room, she had decided to take nothing with her as far as I could tell. I guess she trusted those robotic forearms of hers to do the job when it came to fighting.

  The four of us moved outside of the tent. Everywhere, the impromptu staging area was alive with mechanics, support teams, and logistical team members making last-minute checks and corrections.

  On the far side of the tent structures, three dropships sat in a neat row. Their engines hummed to life.

  I didn’t see Jeff and Mandy enter their mechs, but I knew they must be in them as the colossal units walked over to the waiting dropships. Seeing the giant armored tanks move was a thing of beauty.

  I imagined the suits would maneuver with jerks, slowly, even robotically. Instead, they walked like humans, one foot in front of the other with their arms swinging by their sides.

  “I’m glad we have them on our side,” Cassie shouted as we jogged over to our waiting dropship. “I’ve heard they pack enough artillery to take down a dozen dropships.”

  I wanted to know more about the mechanized units, but there was no time. Jeff’s and Mandy’s units were locked into place by heavy steel cables coming down from the other two dropships. We entered the third dropship.

  The dropship was like all the others I had been in with one notable exception. The Order sigil was painted on the side of the ships. Flat black, the red symbol popped out at you like a sore thumb.

  Wesley appeared at the cargo bay entrance as we took our seats.

  “You’re coming with us?” I asked, finding myself somewhat relieved. I wasn’t going to show worry, but this was my first halo jump I could remember. I was going to do it and ignore my fear, but it felt good to have someone else I trusted behind the wheel.

  “Someone’s gotta fly this thing,” Wesley said with a hard nod. “Julian has one of his pilots at the wheel, but I’ll copilot and coordinate our moves.”

  Wesley made his way through the dropship interior to the front of the craft.

  I sat with Jax on my left and Angel on my right. Cassie took a seat across from us. She looked calm, relaxed even, in a way that I envied.

  The dropship’s doors closed and the craft lifted off the ground.

  I didn’t need an earpiece, I had X. The other three members of our group wore tiny communication devices nearly hidden inside their ear.

  “We have confirmation from Captain Valentine that the mission is a go,” Julian said from his tent somewhere on the ground. “I’ll relay news as we get it from her. God speed. I coordinated an escort for you. Three bulky dropships, two of them carrying mechs, aren’t going to put up much of a fight if you’re caught out in the open.”

  As the comm units went quiet, I noticed Cassie smile and point out the windows behind us.

  I craned my neck to the side to get a look through the line of square windows behind me. In the last rays of the dying sun, my eyes zeroed in on eight fighter jets, the likes of which I had never seen.

  The crafts were black with the Order sigil on them. They were sleek, and although I didn’t know anything about fighter jets, I knew by the weaponry on each wing they carried some serious firepower.

  “They’ll watch our back,” Cassie reassured us. “Kill Team is the best pilots we have. If anything comes for our ship—Alien or the GG, we’re in good hands.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” I said, inhaling a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

  “They can take our bodies,” Angel started.

  “But they can’t kill our spirit,” Jax and I finished in unison.

  “That’s cute,” Cassie yelled over the thrum of the engines. “But let’s just kill them all.”

  Twenty-Four

  We continued to gain altitude to
the extent that Mars looked less like the ground and more like a planet below us.

  Julian kept us updated over the comm unit.

  “I have word that the Voy are approaching the Way settlement where the GG are waiting,” Julian relayed. “The GG also have dropships and their own fighters just out of range from the meeting. When you jump, you should be clear, but for how long I’m not sure.”

  “We’ve reached our drop altitude,” Wesley transmitted. “The ground team will go in first. Once they’ve made contact and the GG know not to fire on us, we’ll bring the mechs in low and slow.”

  “Understood,” Julian confirmed. “No reports that the GG know you’re there. You’re too high up and out of their range. Stand by, the Voy are making contact with the GG now.”

  My right foot tapped on the floor beside me. I couldn’t help it. I was nervous, excited, and determined all at once. I had so much adrenaline running through my body, I felt as if I had just drank a gallon of high octane caf.

  I wasn’t the only one. Jax nodded his head beside me as if he were running a song through his mind.

  Angel’s left knee jumped up and down.

  Cassie was the only one that remained completely calm. Her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping. Meditating was more like it. I didn’t think anyone could sleep at a time like this.

  A tiny voice in my head asked what would happen if we were wrong? What if by some miracle the Voy did strike an agreement with the Galactic Government? What if our plan fell apart even before it started? In that case, we would remain wanted criminals.

  “Your heart rate is through the roof,” X warned me. “Easy, breathe, calm your mind.”

  “Right,” I answered her. “Thanks.”

  “You’ll be fine,” X said. “We’ll be fine.”

  “I know,” I murmured low enough for only X to hear under the sound of the dropship engines. “We can do this.”

  “Let’s get ready,” Wesley said over our comms. “Check each other’s chutes and secure helmets. Double check the oxygen levels. Weapons check after that.”