Page 20 of Resolution
“I’ve been tracking your incursions into my area,” she said with spirit. “I can’t believe someone like you could mess with my systems.” She sat on the bottom step of the bus and pulled out a feelgood stick, igniting it and placing it between her lips.
“I might not have been Special Forces,” he replied, “But us grunts learned a thing or two along the way. We should go—your people are waiting, captain.”
“Oh you have people, do you?” Madrigan raised her pencil thin eyebrows. “I bet Quantike had no idea what he was getting when the three of you were admitted into the camp. Although Dr. Jericho turned out to be exactly what the research facility wanted, didn’t she?”
Jeff had a deep code against harming women but at her flippant words he grabbed her, knocking the feelgood to the ground and pressed her against the side of the bus with his free hand circling her skinny neck. “What do you know about my wife?”
Eyes wide and pulse pounding in her neck, Madrigan tried to push him away but Jeff outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds of muscle. He eased up his grip slightly to allow her to talk. “Not much. The RF has us run those blood tests on every new person, checking for certain blood types, special markers, stuff I don’t understand or care about frankly. I heard Sharpton tell the general your wife had a rare set of submarkers, whatever the fuck those might be. I’m glad I don’t have them. The RF wanted her sent up right away, special truck, no delay. Quantike jumps when the RF barks.”
Behind them in the fairground a siren began to blare.
“Out of time,” Les said urgently. “We’ve got to go.”
Jeff released Madrigan with a shove. “Les, take point, show them the way. Devora, you’re the only one without a bracelet so you and the girl go behind Tamsyn and I’ll bring up the rear.”
Les gave Devora a quick kiss and ducked into his tunnel. Tamsyn followed right behind him. Devora clutched Jenny tight and spoke to her in low tones, telling her she’d have to be brave and crawl through the tunnel her father had made but there’d be friends on the other side to help them.
Madrigan took a step forward and Jeff raised his blaster. Holding up her hands, the force field officer said, “She can have my bracelet. The infected might not go for the kid if all the adults have bracelets. I can get another. I’ll bump someone with lower rank.” She fumbled with the black bracelet on her wrist and got the clasp to open with difficulty. Handing it to Jeff, she backed away as more sirens wailed. “You’d better hurry.” She ran and Jeff decided to let her go. The camp was alerted to his escape now anyway and he was as good as gone.
Quickly he clasped the bracelet on Devora’s wrist and then she and the child crawled into the tunnel. He was on their heels, pulling the piece of groundcar paneling into position to hide the tunnel entrance, as Les had had it originally. With Madrigan to pinpoint the location the camouflage wouldn’t help for long but every second counted. He hoped the sound of the sirens was drawing the infected to the more central areas of the fairground.
Jenny and her mother crawled fast ahead of him and the tunnel was only about six feet long, the width of the jerry-built wall above. Jeff tried not to think about the tons of metal above him as he went. Small, enclosed spaces were one of his personal nightmares but he could cope. When he got to the end of the tunnel the glare from Les’s interrupters was a cherry red glow. He wasn’t sure how much longer the home made devices could hold back the force field and he did the last foot in record time.
He emerged and got to his feet, blaster at the ready. Les was standing by. He saw Cody running at cyborg top speed to the APC, carrying Jenny. Trent and Tamsyn were firing at the infected chasing him, while they slowly retreated to the APC themselves. Devora ran right behind them. Although other infected stood beside the force barrier, within feet of Jeff and Les, moaning and making swiping gestures with their grotesquely clawed hands, the predators didn’t advance on them.
Jeff glanced at the bracelet on his arm, grateful for the protection although the existence of the safeguard raised a galaxy of questions. He and Les backed away, blasters raised but not firing. He was reluctant to engage the infected, in case that might snap the spell the bracelets cast.
“All clear, boss!” Cody yelled. “Doubletime would be good here.”
The two men broke into a sprint, the infected still not moving. Jeff had to leap over the charred husks of the ones who had chased Cody while he was carrying Jenny. As he reached the APC the first of Glastine’s soldiers emerged from the tunnel, opening fire with his blaster.
Jeff pushed Les into the APC, right on his heels, slamming the portal shut. “Take out the tunnel,” he ordered.
The vehicle rocked as the megacannon spit out a concentrated blast. On the vids he saw the force field flare and the spot where the tunnel had been exploded into flames. As if released from stasis the infected in the area converged on the fire but for now couldn’t gain access to the camp. Jeff didn’t know if the predators could crawl—they couldn’t even open a door anymore—but he assumed Quantike would reinforce the fence in short order so his conscience was clear as far as letting the infected into the camp.
APC1 was barreling north, APC2 swinging in behind.
Jeff took a rapid assessment of his new passengers. Devora and Jenny were safe in seats, Tamsyn as well. Les was standing, hanging onto one of the overhead arms lockers. Mike Jericho and his dog were at the rear of the compartment. Zach was driving, Cody had the megacannon operator’s perch and Trent sat in the co-pilot’s seat.
“Ryan’s solo in APC 2?” Jeff asked as the vehicle lurched over obstacles and accelerated.
“Yeah, figured we could stop and redistribute personnel later,” Zach said, not taking his attention away from the forward vids. “No pursuit yet, sir.”
“They may not come after us,” Jeff replied. “Quantike seems to only care about the camp itself. He doesn’t do sorties or scavenging runs. He has no idea who we really are and probably no one who saw the APC’s survived the blast.”
“We can hope you’re right,” Les said. “Thanks for getting us out of there.”
“Thanks for the help in the jailbreak.” Jeff was grateful even though he’d now saddled himself with another set of civilians. Les was a proven fighter and he had a good opinion of Devora as well, based on what he’d seen during their time in the camp. As for Jenny, he was glad to have gotten even one child out of the camp and they’d manage. Having a young child along on a combat mission was far from ideal but he was confident between her parents and his men the adults could keep her safe. And Mike and his dog would probably be doing some babysitting too along the way. Mike was a good kid and the task might help take his mind off his worries about his missing sister.
After they’d gone about ten miles with no pursuit Jeff ordered a quick halt, transferring the McDaniels family to APC2 and sending Trent to the other vehicle as well. Then the convoy proceeded at a high rate of speed along the desolate road north. Jeff kept trying the subaural com to reach Melly but there was nothing. He hoped it merely meant she was out of range. Cody adamantly maintained this was the route the trucks took to the research facility so all Jeff could do was take his turns as driver and try to keep a lid on his fears and anger. Reluctantly he allowed them to camp beside the road on the first night although he wanted to drive straight through. He knew he’d need his men and himself to be fresh when they got to their destination if there was to be any hope of rescuing Melly.
The second day passed uneventfully until mid afternoon when the forward looking sensors reported an oncoming vehicle. Quickly Jeff set up a barricade on the road using the APC’s and a few minutes later a Glastine groundtruck came into view around a curve in the road. Tires screeching, it came to a halt about a hundred yards away.
Jeff activated the exterior coms. “Throw down your weapons and get out of the truck.”
For answer someone in the truck fired a wild blaster shot and the vehicle reversed, got stuck on the soft shoulder for an instant and accelerated back the way it had come.
“Don’t lose him,” Jeff ordered as Zach pulled APC1 out of formation and gave chase. “This has to be the truck that took Melly to the research facility. They can answer a lot of questions for us.”
