Nemesis: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 6)

by Jonathan Yanez

  “Uh, thanks,” I said, accepting the collar from his open palm. “It’s um—I’m not sure it’s my size, but—”

  “No not for you,” Bapz said, rolling his eyes. “It’s for Butch.”

  “Oh good.” I let out a low whistle, lowering it from around my neck. “I didn’t want to make you feel bad. I’m not really into wearing collars these days.”

  I looked over to where the big wolf sat intently watching Preacher and Cryx practice with their wooden swords. Preacher stepped deftly around Cryx attacks deflecting her weapon where he had to, avoiding them where he could.

  I had to admit, Cryx was far from the legend Preacher had become, but she was good. With her two swords, she moved quickly and efficiently. The stemmed-out drug addict I had met at the Way settlement on Mars was gone. In front of me now was a fierce young woman.

  “Well, are you going to put it on her or what?” Bapz asked me. “Come on, I worked hard on this.”

  “Oh, right,” I said, turning my eyes to Butch.

  I whistled for the wolf.

  Butch’s ears perked up and she trotted over.

  “So what does this collar do?” I asked. I placed the collar around Butch’s neck and clicked it in place.

  “Here, watch,” Bapz said, producing a small blaster from his lower back. He aimed the weapon at Butch’s head. “Move out of the way.”

  My mouth dropped.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, standing in front of Butch to provide a barrier between her and the weapon. “Bapz, are you feeling okay?”

  “The collar.” Bapz lowered the weapon with a huff. “It’s her own force field. When something like a high projectile strikes it her force field is set to intercept the round. It won’t save her from things like swords or knives, but I can create some lightweight Kevlar for her she’ll be able to wear.”

  I turned to look over at Butch.

  She looked up at me with her bright eyes and wagged her tail.

  “I’ve tested and retested it,” Bapz continued. “Trust me.”

  “I do,” I answered, unclipping the collar from Butch and putting it on my own neck. “That’s why we’re going to test it on me first.”

  I turned to look at Bapz, still securing the collar around my neck.

  “Shoot me on the count of—”

  Bapz lifted the weapon and sent a round to my face. True to his word, a yellow shield materialized, intercepting the round then disappearing once again.

  “Son of a Voy!” I shouted, taking a step back and blinking. “I was going to give us a count down. I wasn’t ready for that.”

  “Well, I told you I tested and retested.” Bapz shrugged. “My tech is solid.”

  “Need a change of pants?” Preacher called out with a grin.

  “Pants and new underwear, I think,” I said good-naturedly.

  Butch barked as I took off the collar and placed it around her neck.

  “Now she’ll be safer if the Grimm Reapers come around or Nemesis, or anyone else for that matter,” Bapz said, placing the weapon back into its holster at his lower back. “I’ll get more made for her entire pack along with the lightweight armor.”

  “A pack of extinct wolves in armor and with their own force fields,” I said, scrubbing my hands across my eyes. “What has my life become?”

  “Crazy,” Bapz said with a nod. “Your life has become crazy.”

  “Thanks, Bapz,” I said, not meaning it at all.

  “You’re welcome, sir.” Bapz smiled back as he fixed the bowtie on his suit. Even though he was a robot with silver skin, hair, eyes, and teeth, he dressed as nicely as anyone I had ever met. Even outside, he wore his black suit and dress shoes.

  “Do you have any idea where Cassie is?” I asked. “I think I need to have a talk with her.”

  “She’s out the front gates working with a task force to place Dragon Hold in the Earth.” Bapz gave me a look with eyes wide. “She’s got a lot on her mind. I might give her some time. I mean, she was just visited by someone who told her he was her son from the future. A son from a man she’s only been on a single date with.”

  “Thanks for reminding me,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “What are friends for?” Bapz beamed.

  I left him there walking around the side of Dragon Hold toward the front gates. The weather here on Earth was a heck of a lot warmer than anything we got on Mars.

  Mars felt as though there was a perpetual chill in the air, especially in the morning and at night. Here on Earth, the sun shone hot and bright. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and I for one could live with that. I’d much rather have it hot than cold and wet.

  My boots crunched over the sand decorating the inside of Dragon Hold’s grounds. The mansion sat on a massive chunk of land before being barricaded off by a heavy gate that ran the perimeter.

  It still boggled my mind that the entire grounds were capable of flight. Dragon Hold and the area around it were built on a platform of thrusters capable of space travel. Right now, the estate sat a few meters off the ground with the thrusters resting between us and Earth.

  I approached the open front gates were Cassie worked with a group of Way settlers and previous Immortal Corp employees. They were discussing the best way to dig into the ground to get Dragon Hold level with the rest of the Earth around us.

  “The schematics Bapz gave me shows an option for the thrusters to be put into the ground. Something called a trencher can open from under the estate and dig a resting spot for the grounds,” Wesley said, standing with the data pad at arm’s length. “A least that’s what I think I’m seeing. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.”

  Wesley stood peering at the schematic through squinted eyes. Despite the heat, he wore his normal trench coat, a smoking cigar in his teeth.

  When he saw me, he looked at me with a nod.

  I nodded back.

  “Let me take a look,” Cassie said. With her back to me, she had yet to see me approach. Cassie wore black pants and boots with a tank top. Her long, dark hair was pulled back by a ponytail. A pair of goggle-like glasses rested across her eyes.

  Her tank top gave everyone a clear view of what set her apart as a Cyber Hunter. From just above her elbow to her wrist on both arms were metal-like vambraces mounted not on her arms, but in them.

  From these, she could produce things like shields, blades, and blasters.

  I joined the three with Cassie still not looking up from the data pad. She knew I was there. I was sure of that.

  “Good to see you up and walking around.” Wesley took his cigar from his mouth. He exhaled a long puff of smoke. “I knew you’d heal. Now the question is what to do with that liar from the GG?”

  That got Cassie’s attention.

  Instead of looking at me, she jerked her head up toward Wesley, “You think he’s lying?”

  “I think the first time we ran into him, he was controlled by the GG. Who knows what program they had him in or what they did to his brain.” Wesley shrugged. “All I know is that he has issues, and I believe a lot, but that he’s a time traveler from the future? I’m not so sure.”

  We stood there in silence for a moment.

  Wesley sensed the tension in the air. Maybe it was the fact that Cassie couldn’t even look at me that tipped him off.

  “Well, I’m going to take this info and see if we can’t get Dragon Hold resting in the ground like it was on Mars,” Wesley said, taking the data pad back from Cassie. “It should dig in itself. Anyway, I’m going to go over here and look busy while you two talk out your issues.”

  True to his word, Wesley moved over to address the gathered workers.

  Cassie looked at the ground, shaking her head. “I don’t mean to be dramatic, but I just don’t know what to say.”

  “Look,” I said, starting the conversation that had to happen. “I don’t want things to get weird between us because of what Nemesis said. I don’t want to lose whatever it was we were beginning to have. If we need to t
ake a break until we figure all of this out, I’m good with that. Just don’t throw something away because—”

  “You’re such an idiot,” Cassie said, taking the glasses from her eyes and placing them on the top of her head to look me in the eyes. “I don’t want to take a break. Last night was the best night of my life. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. Maybe a little too reckless, headstrong, and naive when it comes to these situations, but mostly everything I wanted. It’s just scary. If what Nemesis said is true, then we belong together. I never thought I’d have that. I never thought I deserved it.”

  “Oh,” I said, scratching at the hair on my head that didn’t itch at all. I just felt like I should do something to avoid her piercing stare. “Well, we don’t have to rush into anything or feel a certain way just because we think we should. I had a great time last night as well. Maybe if—”

  “Sorry to interrupt the two of you, but we have incoming from the east,” X said, speaking for the first time since that morning when I woke. “One vehicle coming fast!”

  My neck jerked up to my left. Sure enough, I could see a sand plume kicking up behind a vehicle that moved fast across the desert terrain.

  “Wesley, get everyone inside,” I said. “X, call Preacher out here. Tell him to bring my weapons.”

  “On it,” X answered.

  “Come on, you heard him,” Wesley shouted to the group of workers outside the wall. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.”

  “Grimm Reapers?” Cassie asked, rolling her head around her shoulders. “Good. I could use a fight right about now.”

  “More vehicles coming in behind the first one,” X said. “I think they’re chasing it.”

  I strained to see anything past the plumes of dust coming and the tiny vehicles in front of it. It was impossible, they were still too far away for me to get a good look, even with my enhanced vision.

  “Incoming transmission,” X said. “I think it’s from the lead vehicle.”

  “Dan—can you—me?”

  A familiar female voice crackled over the comm line.

  It was Doctor Monica Warden. She and her father worked for Phoenix Corporation and were the ones that discovered the super seed tasked with bringing life back to Earth. She was a brilliant mind and good friend. Right now, she sounded like she was in trouble.

  “Monica, Monica, can you hear me?” I shouted, feeling helpless. “What’s going on?”

  “Radio shot u—Reapers—chasing,” Monica answered.

  “She’s not going to make it,” Cassie said, taking off at a sprint back toward Dragon Hold. “I’ll get us a ride.”

  “Hold on,” I said into the comm line X opened. “We’re coming. Hold on!”

  “She has a few minutes before the Grimm Reapers overtake her,” X warned. “Hurry, Daniel. If they get her, she’s dead.”

  Five

  “I know, I know,” I said, half wanting to run forward to try and get to Monica before the Grimm Reapers, and half wanting to follow Cassie back inside the grounds to grab a vehicle from the stocked garage the Cripps family owned.

  “What’s going on?” Preacher asked. Out of breath, he skidded to a halt, handing me my belt. “Trouble?”

  “Always,” I said, accepting the belt and buckling it to my waist. The belt carried both my MK II with a full drum as well as the axe, knife, and their respective recallers. “Thanks for this.”

  Preacher unsheathed the sword he carried on his back. “Grimm Reapers?”

  “Chasing Doctor Warden from Phoenix Corp,” I finished. “We’ve got to go.”

  “I’m coming too!” Cryx said, panting as she reached the front gates and then jumped down to us on the ground. She held her pair of wooden swords as if they were the genuine article themselves. It might have been funny if she wasn’t dead serious. I saw the gleam of rage in her eyes.

  Cassie burst out of the front gates at that moment, followed by Butch. The former rode a hover bike. Two more of the vehicles followed close behind her in line as if they were operated by invisible riders.

  Cassie came to a stop, answering my question by pressing a screen on her left forearm that controlled the two other hover bikes. Both bikes came to a stop beside her.

  “Let’s go,” Cassie said, reaching behind her on the side of the seat. She disconnected the black helmet from the holder and placed it on her head. “We’ve got no time.”

  “They’ll overtake Doctor Warden in less than a minute,” X informed us all. “Hurry.”

  “No time to argue, Cryx,” I said, hopping on my hover bike and reaching for my own helmet.

  She opened her mouth as if she were going to do just that.

  “Remember our agreement,” I told her before she could form an argument. “You promised to go along with whatever I said. You’re not ready. One day, but not today.”

  Cryx huffed then looked over to Preacher.

  The older man shrugged, giving her a sad look. “I know it seems unfair. I know you think you’re ready, but we trained for years. Give it time. You’ll be ready in time.”

  It was obvious Cryx hated me at the moment, but I couldn’t help that now. Better she hated me now than she was dead in a few minutes.

  Like X said, there was no time left. I revved the engine. The hover bikes were exactly what they sounded like. A sleek flat black body lifted inches off the ground beneath me.

  The helmet I wore sprang to life, superimposing an augmented reality screen over the landscape behind me. On it were readout of speed, a trajectory to our target and more.

  X had already marked Doctor Warden’s vehicle and the distance between us and her.

  There was no go command or countdown. Cassie, Preacher, and I, with Butch sprinting beside us, took off in a hurry. We made our own sand trails as we sped to intercept the doctor and provide safe passage.

  What were you thinking? I thought to myself. Why would you come without an escort?

  The doctor was no dummy. She knew how dangerous the area was now, especially with Aleron’s escape from the Galactic Government’s high security prison in New Vegas.

  These questions would have to wait as we closed the gap between us and the escaping doctor. As we got closer, a few more pieces of the puzzle were filled in.

  The doctor drove a heavy Phoenix Corp jeep across the desert. While the vehicle was made for desert travel, it wasn’t built for speed. The antenna on top of the vehicle was already torn and twisted. The outside of the jeep bore scorch marks from the group of vehicles in pursuit.

  The occasional blaster bolt flew from one of the Grimm Reaper’s buggies or dune bikes bearing down on the doctor.

  They were already on her.

  We didn’t make it in time.

  I hunched low against my hover bike creating as small of a drag target as I could. The wind whipped around me, threatening to push me off as I poured every ounce of speed into the bike possible.

  I was going over a hundred miles per hour. The slightest head turn could expose enough flat surface on my helmet for the wind to push my head back.

  I knew Cassie and Preacher were somewhere close, but right now, I was a missile, half machine half man, bearing down on my target at breakneck speed.

  I was still a good block away when what I feared the worst became a reality.

  One of the Grimm Reapers riding on a rusted old-school dirt bike beside Monica threw an explosive at the right front tire of the jeep.

  An explosion echoed over the open terrain as Monica’s jeep went end over end into the air and came crashing upside down.

  I traveled so fast, I could barely take in the accident before I was among the Grimm Reapers. What I counted probably wasn’t accurate, but I saw half a dozen dirt bikes and at least as many four-wheeled vehicles giving chase.

  “Daniel, you’re going too fast to engage,” X warned. “Daniel, Daniel!?”

  I gritted my teeth, so pissed I had come a second too late. All I could think of was making these animals pay. I would heal quickly. M
onica, if she was still alive, would not.

  Whoops and hollers came from the Grimm Reapers as they witnessed Monica’s jeep go end over end. Their cries of victory died in their throats when they saw me bearing down on them.

  I left off the accelerator ever so slightly before bailing from the hover bike. I hit the sand, rolling on my side. A concussive blast rocked the air as my hover bike slammed headfirst into a dune buggy and exploded on impact.

  The sounds of wrenching metal and the screams of those inside the buggy did nothing to bring me joy. I didn’t relish the demise of my enemies. Right now, I was a trained machine. I needed to track target to target, making the most efficient use of every movement.

  The momentum from my jump ended with a final roll, where I came up in a single move, my MK II in hand. I used my traditional steel rounds and went to work.

  Sand spray kicked up all around me as the Grimm Reapers tried to make sense of the chaos in front of them. Their shouts of victory turned to ash in their mouths as they witnessed one of their own vehicles erupt in an explosion.

  As the seconds ticked by, I killed them with stone cold malice in my heart.

  Each trigger stroke signaled another death of my enemy. The Pack Protocol turned me into a weapon and I put those skills to use. I didn’t see men or even enemies. Right now, all I saw were targets. All my mind worked on was the quickest and most efficient way to deal with said targets.

  Cassie and Preacher skidded their hover bikes to a stop right by the upturned jeep. Their appearance on the field wasn’t as reckless as my own, but they dealt death in their own way.

  Cassie brought her left arm up with a steel shield in place that was large enough to cover most of her body if she hunched behind it. Her right forearm peeked over her shield with her blaster, firing bolts at the enemy that ripped them from their bikes or erupted in flames in their vehicles.

  Preacher pulled the katana from the sheath on his back. The unlikely weapon would have seemed misplaced to the untrained eye. Anyone who didn’t know him might have laughed.

  I didn’t. I felt sorry for anyone who got in the way of that blade. His steel hummed red with whatever spirit lived inside.