by T. C. Edge
Honestly, she had no idea anymore.
“Anyway, that’s something I’ll think about once I’ve cut Mikel’s heart out,” said Tanner. “If that monster has a heart, that is. Once that’s done, then I’ll think about what comes next.” He looked up suddenly, frowning. “Where’s Ragan?”
Again, as they’d done several times already, the girls shared a glance.
“You don’t remember?” asked Nadia.
Tanner stroked his chin, though upon contact with one of his scars, pulled his fingers quickly away. He shook his head.
“It’s hazy.” His eyes cowered behind his eyebrows. “He isn’t…dead, is he?” he asked, voice suddenly small.
“No, nothing like that,” Nadia assured him. He drew a breath of relief.
“He gave himself up,” Chloe said dourly. “Honestly, we don’t know exactly where he is, or what’s going on.”
“What do you mean ‘gave himself up’. To who?”
“The Panthers. They were chasing us down in Cincinnati. He held them off to let us escape. And, well, to try to convince his old commander at the CID to help.”
“He’s still on that…” murmured Tanner. “The man’s like a dog with a bone. Maybe it’s all just inevitable, you know.”
“Well, certainly seems that way now,” Nadia said.
“But no word from him at all?” Tanner looked to Nadia, then Chloe.
Both girls shook their heads.
“And Dax?” asked Tanner. “Have you spoken with him? He might know something.”
“I’ve tried,” said Chloe. “Can’t seem to get through around here.”
“Well, let’s move then,” Tanner said, slipping off the briefing table. He looked back at it, shaking his head. “You haven’t been able to use this either, have you? With my lying on top of it and all.”
“Um…”
“Jeez, I’ve got some making up to do.” He began moving off towards the cockpit.
“What are you doing?” asked Nadia, following. Chloe fell into step behind.
“Er, relocation,” Tanner called back. “It sounds like you’ve been sitting here for days, completely out of the loop. We move, talk to Dax, go from there. Who knows, Ragan might need our help or something. He might be in trouble.”
Chloe’s blood began pumping as she followed, enlivened by Tanner’s sudden energy. The idea of Ragan being in trouble had a similar impact, though with a rather more negative, worrisome, spin.
“Just hold on a second, Cliff,” Nadia said, as the girls reached the passage to the cockpit. “We need to discuss this a bit first…”
They hurried through to find Tanner dropping into the pilot’s seat. He picked up an empty bottle of whisky from the floor.
“You’ve been at my stash,” he said, glaring at them. “Ah, I guess I’ll allow it. You didn’t have much else to do out here, but watch over me.” He shook his head, and turned his eyes to the controls. He began tapping, bringing the falcon to life. “Right, so where do you think we…” He stopped, suddenly, fingers halting in their motion. His eyes swept towards a small screen, glowing with letters, words.
Chloe looked on, but couldn’t make them out.
“What’s…that?” she asked, curious.
Tanner didn’t answer. He read the words through several times, before finally turning to the others.
“It’s a message,” he whispered. “From Colonel Slattery.”
Chloe started.
“Slattery! What does he say?”
Tanner looked back to the screen. He read it again, shaking his head.
“It’s the base in Colorado…it’s been attacked, just this morning. He says… he says the entire thing’s been destroyed. The whole Crimson Corps. Everyone…dead. Just him and another got out. Jason, his chief aid.”
“What the…” whispered Nadia. “Why would he message us?”
Tanner turned around again, eyes shadowed.
“No one left, I guess,” he said.
Chloe recoiled, thinking.
“It’s a trap,” she said. “It’s gotta be a trap.”
Her words weren’t greeted with the nods of agreement she expected. Instead, worried eyes spread around.
“Does he say who attacked them?” asked Nadia, voice dark.
Tanner nodded, hesitating.
“Soldiers in black is all the message says,” he said quietly. “Only a handful, apparently, took out the entire corps.”
“No, no way,” said Nadia, huffing. “That’s impossible.”
“Is it?” Tanner asked.
That question…what a horrible question. Two simple words, that held a horrible meaning.
“There’s just no way,” Nadia went on. “Not unless…”
Tanner nodded.
“No,” said Nadia. “You don’t think…”
Tanner continued to nod.
“Who else could do this?” he asked. “What else could do it?”
“Synthetics,” whispered Chloe, eyes down, haunted by the thought. It was too soon. Surely it was too soon. “Or…it’s just a trap,” she said again, nodding to the others, begging for affirmation. “Just another trick to try to lure us in and take us out.”
Tanner turned back to the message once more.
“They cover that too,” he said. “They say it’s not a trap. They say they have nowhere else to turn.”
“Oh…they say it, do they,” grunted Chloe sarcastically. “Right, so we believe them. These people who have been trying to kill us for the last week.” She huffed loudly, turning away.
“To be fair, they admit here that there’s been some serious miscommunication,” said Tanner. “It’s possible, right?”
“Are you serious, Cliff?” asked Chloe. “You’ve been the most vocal about these guys. Hell, didn’t you want to shoot down that jet, with Quinn’s men inside?”
“Well, yeah. They were trying to kill us. No different from you electrocuting them all in Cincinnati.”
That hurt like a stab to the gut. Were they all dead? Had she really killed them all?
“I thought your memory was hazy,” she muttered, glum.
“It’s coming back,” said Tanner. “My point is, we do what we have to to protect our friends, right? What you did in Cincinnati saved us, Chloe. Just like Ragan giving himself up. But this is different. I don’t know, I think they might be telling the truth.”
“That’s not enough,” grunted Chloe, still looking down. “We need to be sure. If we send a return message, they’ll lock onto our position, right? If this is a ruse to find out where we are, we have to be smart.”
“Completely agree, honey,” said Nadia, laying a hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “But…if we’re airborne, and moving, we’d be gone before anyone got to us. We can mitigate the danger, set up a meeting.”
“Good, that’s good,” nodded Tanner. “We get the falcon airborne, then send a message from here. We tell them to come to our location, then jet off. We’ll be able to watch from a distance and see who arrives.”
Nadia gazed over to the message, still glowing on the dashboard screen.
“Do you know where they sent the message from? Has it got an ID signature?”
“Yeah, the sparrow,” said Tanner.”
“The sparrow?” asked Chloe. “That another bird name for one of the jets?”
“Bingo,” smiled Tanner. Even with those scars, he still did have a lovely, affable smile. “It’s not super quick like this one, or the golden eagle, but it’s a slick enough jet.”
“And it adds to their story a bit, that they sent the message from there, and not from the command centre,” said Nadia. “Doesn’t exactly confirm it, but…”
“You both sound like you want this to be true,” Chloe said, eyeing them one after the other. “You’re quick to forgive. And trust.”
“Or maybe you’re just super slow,” retorted Tanner. “Look, I don’t trust them, but I’m willing to listen. If Project Dawn has been destroyed, and they’re alone, I dunn
o…maybe we owe it to them to help.”
Chloe shook her head, not quite knowing how to feel.
“That’s very…magnanimous of you, Cliff,” she finally admitted. “I could have sworn you’d given up on the Crimson Corps, and Colonel Slattery.”
“Oh, I gave up on old Slattery long ago. But, Jason’s a good man. And anyway, that was when I thought they were out to kill us. We’re all allowed to make mistakes, right. So, what do we think? Shall we do this thing?”
Chloe folded her arms, Remus emerging from her front pocket after a long rest. He hovered out into the open, shaped like an orb, then formed into a skinny bird, hopped onto her shoulder, and looked from one to the next as if asking ‘what have I missed’. Nadia and Tanner both laughed gently. Chloe managed a smile.
“Go on then,” she said. “Can’t hurt to try.”
99
A couple of hours later, with the day passing into afternoon, the falcon hovered a dozen miles away, high up in the air.
The sky was a beautiful blue, the sun far too hot around here to give clouds any chance to form. It made visibility excellent, allowing them to watch the skies from a long way off from their recent perch down on the desert floor.
All three - well, four, including Remus - occupants of the jet watched on from the cockpit, Tanner in the pilot’s seat, Nadia next to him in the co-pilot’s chair, and Chloe standing between them. Remus, excited after his long rest, was zipping about, a clear display of Chloe’s inner agitation and nerves.
All were gazing upon the skies ahead through the window, though they were also keeping an occasional check on the dashboard. Depending on where the sparrow came from - really, they didn’t know exactly which direction that would be, though assumed it to be from the east, given that’s where the base was located - it would either be spotted by the falcon’s scanners, or their eyesight first.
Given the clarity of the day, and the fact that the sparrow had it’s own anti-scanning technology, the latter seemed likely. They were also aware of just where the sparrow would land, given the message they’d sent.
It was a simple one, really, and along the lines of, ‘come to this location. We will meet you there. Any funny business and we’ll take you out.’
They’d sent the message from their position down on the ground, before jetting off southwards and taking up their vigil in the skies, a dozen miles out. They were that far off by design, a safety precaution demanded by Chloe. Though, with their fine eyesight - Nadia’s in particular - and the clarity of the air, they should be able to spot the sparrow landing where they’d instructed.
The return message they’d received had come in almost immediately after they’d sent their own.
‘Copy that,’ it had said. ‘Coming to you now. Roughly two hours out. Watch out for us. No funny business planned.’
The final remark was far too pithy for the likes of Colonel Slattery, so the team assumed that it was Jason relaying the messages.
Chloe hadn’t met the young man yet, though may have seen him in passing. It was hard to know, given how many staff members, soldiers, and officers she’d seen at the base of Project Dawn during her short time there. Apparently, this Jason was Slattery’s chief attendant, a lieutenant in rank. Smart, according to Tanner, and a nice young man.
Still, Chloe wasn’t about to trust him. Not yet.
She checked the time on the dashboard as they sat there, mostly in silence, growing increasingly anxious as the minutes slipped by.
“The message did say two hours, right?” she asked.
Tanner nodded.
“Well, it’s been more than two,” Chloe went on, her voice accusatory.
Tanner arched his eyes up to her from his seat.
“Hardly indicting, gorgeous. Flight times aren’t an exact science, especially for those without much experience. I wasn’t aware that either Slattery or Jason could fly a jet. Actually,” he said, seeming to think of something. “Who flew this jet out here, after what happened in Cincinnati?”
Chloe nodded to Nadia.
“You can fly?” asked Tanner. “How come I never knew?”
“Never came up,” said Nadia. “And I can’t fly well. Chloe will attest to that.”
“I’m not saying anything,” said Chloe, lifting her palms. “Just that it was a…rough ride. Mostly because of the weather, though.”
“Yep, nothing to do with me. Anyway, the autopilot did a lot of the work. I can’t take much credit.”
Away in the skies, the slightest hint of an aircraft appeared in the distance. It was nothing more than a speck on the windshield, and didn’t appear to be growing in size.
“Is that them?” asked Chloe, leaning forward.
“Nah,” said Tanner. “They’re headed west, not coming this way.”
Chloe sighed.
“Then where are they?”
Several more minutes passed until Chloe’s question was answered. Another speck appeared, though this one did loom larger as it drew near. It also began to lose altitude, cutting a diagonal path downwards towards the prescribed meeting point. From more than a dozen miles out, it remained tiny, barely visible, though was clearly heading the right way.
“That’s them,” said Nadia, without any hint of doubt, shifting forward in her seat. “We should wait a few more minutes, see if they have company. Everyone keep an eye on the skies.”
The others nodded their agreement, and narrowed their eyes.
Several more minutes passed as the sparrow came in to land, dropping down upon the desert in the spot they’d recently vacated, nothing but a tiny flying ant landing on a barren rock. A few moments after it did, another message popped up on the dashboard.
‘We’ve arrived. Assuming you’re keeping watch nearby. Take your time…but not too much.’
Chloe frowned.
“This Jason’s got a funny streak in him, hasn’t he? You wouldn’t think he’s just witnessed his entire base wiped out, all his friends killed…”
“Guess he’s just trying to ease any tension between us,” said Tanner sombrely. “That’s fair enough.”
Yes, Tanner would say that, being the king of easing tension with pithy banter.
They waited several more minutes to make sure - again, that was due to Chloe’s insistence - before finally steering the falcon back down towards the barren plains. Nadia typed a message as they went.
‘We’re coming in,’ she wrote. ‘Shut down all anti-scanning tech, and step outside of the jet, hands in the air where we can see them.’
They descended, hastily getting into range for their own scanning technology to run a search through the sparrow. They found two heat signatures, two lifeforms only. It seemed, at least, that there wasn’t a secret force of Crimson Corps soldiers aboard, ready to pounce.
That was something.
Soon, as the falcon swept gracefully down through the vivid blue skies, they were close enough to see the shapes of two men appear from inside the jet, stepping into the blazing sun, hands lifted high above their heads. The falcon slowed, booster spouts rotating to allow for a vertical landing, and came down upon the arid plains a hundred feet or so away.
The group quickly left the cockpit, though kept the jet running, just in case, and gathered up their arms in the back. Thankfully, following the arms deal over in Devil’s Pike a week ago, they had plenty of weaponry to choose from.
Wearing their body armour and with heavy rifles raised to shoulders, they opened the doors and stepped out into the sun, black figures stark against the burnt orange and yellow earth. Chloe commanded Remus to take position above and ahead of them, scanning the two men for any tricks, and keeping an eye on the plains around them. Really, there was little point. They were so open and vast that no one would have a chance to sneak up on them here.
Chloe was, perhaps, being overly cautious, a fact she was quite aware of. Unfortunately, that was a state she had a hard time getting out of, having adopted it for three long years. It had served her well,
and she saw no reason to abandon it.
They ventured forwards until the two men grew in clarity, arms still held aloft under the glaring sun. The grim faces Chloe saw were in stark contrast to the casual nature of the messages they’d shared. Both men, one old and grizzled, the other young and fresh-faced, appeared haunted. Their eyes were dark, their uniforms dusted and worn. Colonel Slattery’s - so pristine the last time Chloe had seen it - was also stained red in places. They were a picture of exhaustion and distress.
Chloe’s ability to feel any distrust fled as she looked upon them.
She found her rifle lowering as they moved forwards, Nadia’s and Tanner’s falling too. These two were no threat at all. They looked like a strong gust of wind would blow them over.
“Colonel Slattery, is that your blood?” It was Nadia, easily the most sympathetic in nature of the three of them, stepping quickly towards him, sounding concerned.
The old colonel shook his head. His rugged visage looked harrowed, skin pallid, eyes heavily cloaked.
“One of my soldiers,” he said. “His…body’s in the jet.”
Chloe glanced to the sparrow, its door open. She could just about see the slumped form of a Crimson Corps soldier hidden in the shadows within. A thick puddle of blood stained the floor at the entrance, meandering red rivulets streaming away and dribbling out through the open door.
Slattery turned to the sight and grimaced.
“One of many, I’m afraid,” he said sorrowfully. He turned back to the group, drawing a breath. “The entire corps has been destroyed. We are all that’s left.”
A brief, deadly silence fell out there in the desert. They all endured a moment of thoughtful despair before Tanner broke the quiet.
“Everyone,” he whispered, as if he needed it repeated. “The…entire base?”
Slattery nodded slowly.
“It was overrun. Some may have survived, I don’t know. We barely made it out ourselves. We got…lucky.”
“The council?” asked Nadia softly, standing closer to the old man.
Slattery shook his head.