The boy held the salute, and Michael saluted before leaving. Walking down the passage, he eyed the staring man. He was thin and bald and had a scar on his chin. Ton and Victor moved past the guy, eyes alert, clearly anxious about raised tensions since the storm.
Steve was talking with Charmer in the passage outside the community shelter. Oliver and another big man, holding a baton, were standing guard.
“We’ve shut off the pipe and can clean up the mess, but we don’t have the spares yet to install a new one to get the system back up and running,” Steve was saying.
“Ah, Chief, I was hoping you’d come,” he said. “I want to apologize for yesterday. It was a rough day. Started off with a theft at the kitchen, and then a sewage pipe burst—hence that noxious smell—and we are just now learning the extent of the damage.”
Charmer seemed about to put a hand around Michael’s shoulder, but Michael stepped back.
“You spoke of fairness,” Charmer said, “but we are both sky people, and it just seems that since you fought for this place, you should be able to pick and choose who gets what. So perhaps you should consider helping your own before those . . .”
“Barbarians,” Oliver said.
“Not how things work under King Xavier,” Michael said. “I thought you’d have figured that out after a year.”
Charmer’s grin faded. “The past year, we didn’t have shortages of food, and we had power.”
“And you will again, but for now we’re rationing,” Michael said. “That said, we’ll get your plumbing fixed one way or another.”
“But, sir,” Steve said. “We don’t have the spare—”
“We’ll find them.”
Charmer bowed slightly. “Gratitude, Chief, and I’ll return the favor with something. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, as they used to say.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“How about this: Lieutenant Wynn can have back the militia assigned to this rig. Fair?”
Oliver folded his arms over his chest, and the other big man tapped a baton against his palm. It occurred to Michael this wasn’t bartering—more of a demand disguised as a gift.
“We’ll take full charge of security here,” Charmer said. “We take care of our own, including our thief.”
Wynn could use the extra manpower, but Michael didn’t like the idea of not having at least one soldier on this rig, and he wasn’t falling for this “gift.”
“I’ll run it by Lieutenant Wynn,” Michael said. “In the meantime, we’ll start the hunt for spare pipes.”
“Good man.”
Michael left with Steve to survey the pipes that still needed to be fixed. Finally making their way back, they halted at what sounded like screaming kids.
“What the heck is that?” Steve asked.
Michael rushed toward the community shelter, where onlookers stood around two people wrestling on the deck.
Oliver was there, cheering on one of the fighters.
Moving for a better look, Michael finally saw that it was two kids on the ground. And one of them was Alton. He was on his back while a bigger boy was hitting him in the chest and stomach.
“Hey!” Michael shouted. “Stop!”
He pushed through the crowd and grabbed the boy, pulling him off Alton—and got a punch to the jaw for his efforts.
Alton then tackled the larger boy.
Oliver intervened, smacking Alton with a paw.
“Hey!” Michael shouted.
He grabbed Oliver by the wrist with his robotic hand. The veins extended in Oliver’s neck as he struggled vainly to free his arm.
“Don’t you ever hit a kid again, or I will end you,” Michael said.
Oliver glared at him. “Try it, kid.”
Michael tightened his grip and pushed down, prompting a yelp from Oliver.
Ton and Victor both approached with their spears as Charmer ran over.
“What in blazes is going on?” Charmer asked.
“Alton hit my kid,” Oliver said, wincing in pain.
Steve explained what had happened, and Charmer stormed over to Oliver and Michael.
“Let him go,” Charmer said. “I’ll deal with this.”
Michael held on for a defiant moment before pushing Oliver away. They locked eyes, and for a second it seemed that Oliver might do something foolish.
“Oliver!” Charmer shouted. “Take a step back. Now!”
He finally moved over to his son. “Get up, Nez,” he said.
Michael rushed over to Alton, who was curled up on his side.
“You okay?” he asked.
The boy tried to hide the tears streaming down his cheeks.
Michael reached down and helped Alton up. “What happened?” he asked.
“He hit me,” said Nez.
Michael looked over his shoulder.
“Aye, it’s true,” Alton said softly.
“Why did you do that?” Michael asked.
“Nez said my mom is going to die.”
Oliver was already walking away with his son, and Charmer was with Steve, getting the crowd to disperse. Ton and Victor remained in defensive mode but lowered their spears.
Alton lowered his head. “The doctor said she has cancer.”
Michael understood then. He had lost his mom when he was around Alton’s age, and dealt with the same emotions.
“There’s hope for your mom,” he said.
Alton looked unsure.
“I’ll talk to Dr. Huff and Dr. Stamos,” Michael said.
“Really?”
“Yeah, but you can’t go around hitting people anymore, okay?”
Alton nodded.
“Promise me,” Michael said.
“I promise.”
“Good.”
Michael got him up to his feet and walked with him over to his quarters.
The woman across the way nodded at Michael. “I’ll look after him,” she said.
“Thanks,” Michael replied.
He helped Alton into his bed and pulled a blanket over him.
“Are you okay?”
“Aye,” Alton said.
“I’ll talk to the doctors and come see you soon.”
Alton reached out, and Michael gave him a hug.
“It’s okay, bud, don’t worry.” Michael left in a funk. Not just from the altercation, but because he wasn’t sure how they could fix much before X came back with supplies. And that could be weeks, if not longer.
Power, like water and food, was life. Without it, critical systems used for medical care, food storage, and agriculture would fail.
Steve must have sensed his anxiety. “We will get things up and running again,” he said. “Don’t worry, Chief, we’re partners. I’ve been here a long time, and we always figure out ways to keep on poundin’.”
Michael looked at Steve, hoping he was right to trust him. He needed someone with engineering experience and knowledge of the islands.
When they got back on the boat, he reached in his pocket and pulled out the first key X had left him.
“Do you know what this is for?”
Steve took it and held it up. “Yeah, it’s for the . . .”
He put the key down and looked up as Victor backed the boat away from the dock. Charmer walked out on the pier. A group of men and some women surrounded him, all of them armed with swords, batons, or pipes.
They didn’t look like a security force. They looked like a posse.
* * * * *
“Almost there, Jo-Jo,” Ada said.
She waited in the launch bay of the Vanguard. The airship was once again moored on the deck of the supercarrier, with one fewer turbofan and a hundred new scrapes and dents in her hull from the barbed limbs of the sea creatures. Remarkably, they had lost onl
y the Ocean Bull in the attack, along with two soldiers and five drowned sailors. Tia was also okay—just a nasty bump to the noggin.
The remainder of the fleet sailed into Lincoln Bay at the northern entrance to the Panama Canal, with Raven’s Claw and Octopus not far behind. To the east, a crater was all that remained of the city of Colón. General Forge had been here not long ago, but only one Cazador ship, the Sea Sprite, had ventured farther than that into the fifty-five miles of canal, never to return.
Leading the way, the Immortal cruised through Lincoln Bay and the widened canal to Gatun Lake. An hour into the slow journey, they passed Barro Colorado Island, coming within view of the strangely mutated jungle growing on the shore.
Electrical storms burned across the skyline, backlighting the ruined high-rises that still stood along the canal. The drones were already on their way, buzzing through the sky with their scanners to search for life and send back environmental readings.
Bustling and clanking pulled Ada away from her reconnoitering.
“All right, we’re about to pass Gamboa and will be at our drop point soon,” Magnolia said. “Check your gear, check your buddy’s gear, and stand by for briefing.”
The divers spread out to finish last-minute preps.
“You ready for this?” said a voice.
Kade’s helmet bore the new logo of Team Wrangler.
“I’ve been ready,” she said. “I just hope we’re not too late.”
The launch-bay doors hissed open, and the heavy clomp of boots echoed through the space. Captain Rolo strode inside wearing a white uniform, hands cupped behind his back, eyes roving over the divers.
He wasn’t alone.
Joining the captain was King Xavier, dressed in his Hell Diver armor. Beside him walked Miles in a protective suit, a gas mask hanging from his collar.
“There’s been a slight modification of plans due to the storm,” Rolo said. “We will be sending Team Raptor to the canal but holding Team Wrangler back.”
“What?” Ada said. “But, King Xavier, you said—”
“That we would find your friend, and we will,” he replied. “I made a promise, and I’m keeping it.”
He handed her a small electronic device.
“Chief Engineer Everhart gave this to me, but you’ll need it more than I will,” X explained. “Cricket 2.0 is linked to the drones we’re sending out. Among their other transmissions, it will be searching for Jo-Jo’s beacon.”
“Thank you,” Ada said graciously. In that moment, she resisted the urge to hug X, who had been kinder to her than she deserved. Most leaders would have killed her for her crime of dropping the Cazador container into the water. He had given her a second chance, and he truly cared about Jo-Jo as he did Miles.
“As soon as we beach, we’re sending up flares to draw the monsters out of their lairs. As soon as we know the tunnels are clear, you will have a window to go search for Jo-Jo if we find her beacon.” X turned to the other divers. “Meanwhile, Team Raptor will be diving to the Cocoli Locks with Yejun to find that map on his ship. Comms will likely be offline once you go underground, but we’ll keep an eye on your beacons for trouble.”
“And if we locate Jo-Jo’s beacon?” Kade asked.
“Then Ada has permission to dive, but the mission will be voluntary,” X said.
“I’ll go with her,” said Tia. “I’m fine, Kade. My head’s all better.”
Kade cursed under his breath, but Ada could hear him.
“I’ll lead the mission,” he said. “Gran Jefe, you in?”
The big Cazador shrugged a shoulder plate. “Why not?”
“Okay,” X said.
“We dive so humanity survives, sir,” Magnolia yelled.
The divers responded in unison.
X stepped up to Ada. “I hope you find her, kid. I know what it means to have an animal for a best friend.”
Bending down, Ada patted Miles.
“I’ll find your friend, buddy,” she said.
The dog licked at her glove.
He left the room, and the divers finished packing gear and checking weapons. Kade loaded his six-shooter and holstered it.
“Thank you,” Ada said. “I appreciate this more than you know.”
X nodded and walked over to the hull doors with Magnolia. She opened them to the ramp that extended down to the deck of the Immortal.
“Godspeed, Hell Divers,” X said. Miles wagged his tail and bounded down the ramp faster than Ada had seen him move in quite some time.
Gathered outside on the supercarrier’s weather deck were 250 warriors in full body armor and gas masks. The gray-and-black warriors were divided up into squads with laser rifles, assault rifles, and flamethrowers. Each fighter was also equipped with a cutlass or a spear.
All eye slots were on the king and his dog as they walked toward the six APCs and two lightly armored tanks.
Technicians made final checks and gave the all clear to proceed.
X helped Miles up onto the front of the tank, right next to the cannon pointing at the shoreline.
“To the warriors who followed me, hear me now!” X yelled. “Today we have come to the wastes to fight for our home. By seizing this canal, we will open a supply chain to the western shore of South America. Failing is not an option. Failure means our families and friends will starve. Failing means the Vanguard Islands will decay and die like the rest of the world.”
Lightning flashed, illuminating a terrain littered with partially buried boats and equipment washed away by tsunamis during the war.
“In an hour, we will send up the flares, drawing the shelled beasts from their lairs,” X said. “When they emerge, give them no quarter. Kill them all.”
The pounding of chest plates and the thump of spear shafts on the deck became the drumbeat to war as X raised his metal prosthetic arm in the air.
“For the Vanguard Islands!” he shouted.
Magnolia pushed the button on the hull, closing the doors as the airship’s engines fired. The ship rose off the deck of the Immortal to hover at five hundred feet above the army.
Ada pulled out Cricket 2.0 and turned the device on. They were too far out to detect Jo-Jo’s beacon yet, but when the drones deployed, she would know the truth.
The hum of the airship’s turbofans reverberated through the hull. Ada stayed at the windows, looking down at the canal and then the terrain below.
She checked the coordinates of their last dive and spotted the field of overturned containers and the hill near the canal’s west bank. But this couldn’t be right . . .
Where were the holes?
The voice of XO Eevi Corey came over the PA system. “Stand by for phase one in ten, nine, eight . . .”
At the end of the countdown, the airship launched a series of flares over the horizon. Ada turned off her night-vision optics to look with her own eyes.
Now she saw mounds of dirt where the tunnel openings had been. So finding an entry point for a drone was going to be difficult.
For the next few minutes, Ada’s eyes flitted from Cricket to the surface.
The PA system clicked on with an announcement for phase 2. At the end of the countdown, a pod of drones took off from the deck of the Immortal. They fanned out over the canal.
Ada watched the drones recede in the distance, their scanners pulsating and sending back data to the command center on the Immortal. Cricket remained blank. No sign of her best friend.
The other Hell Divers broke into side conversations around her.
“The flares aren’t working,” Arlo said.
“We might have to knock harder,” Edgar said. “Bust out some artillery.”
For the next half hour, Ada held Cricket up until her hand shook. The flares weren’t drawing out the monsters, and she still didn’t have a location for her friend.
&nb
sp; “Where are you, Jo-Jo?” she whispered.
Magnolia stepped up next to her.
“See anything yet?”
Ada shook her helmet, trying to keep it together.
“Jo-Jo must be farther out from the scans,” Magnolia said.
Ada hesitated, unsure how to respond at first, looking out over the radioactive surface below. In her heart, she suspected that her companion was already dead.
Anger boiled through Ada. You left her down there to die.
A message fired over the PA system. “Team Raptor, launch has been delayed,” said Captain Rolo. “King Xavier has decided to use bombs to draw out the beasts. Until we know where they are, we can’t risk sending you.”
Ada looked over at Magnolia, who seemed to agree with the announcement.
“What?” Ada cried. “We still haven’t found Jo-Jo, and we’re going to start bombing?”
The airship began to pull away from the canal.
A private channel connected to Ada. “Ada, this is X. I’m sorry, we haven’t found Jo-Jo’s beacon yet, so she must be out of range. I’m going to start bombing the DZ to draw out the creatures.”
She didn’t reply at first.
“Ada,” X said.
“Yes, I’m here, and I understand.”
It wasn’t a lie. She understood the decision, but her heart was too broken to say anything more.
“We will find her,” X said.
The line severed, and Kade put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
He backed away from the launch-bay doors with the other divers, but Tia remained with Ada.
She remained glued to the portholes. Moving from window to window for a look at the canal. Raven’s Claw and Immortal had continued down the canal, moving toward Panama Bay.
They would fire from the canal into the industrial zone, drawing out the beasts. Meanwhile, four landing craft would take the army and vehicles into Panama Bay, where they would beach on the southern shore of Panama City.
Pinpricks of light came from the canal as the ships moved into position and began to fire. Several seconds later, the first explosions puffed on the ground. More seconds later, she heard the distant thuds.
“Hey, your thing is chirping,” Tia said.
“Huh?” Ada said.
Hell Divers Series | Book 8 | King of the Wastes Page 35