Read Patriots & Tyrants (Rebels & Lies Trilogy Book 2) Online
Authors: Brian Cotton
Patriots & Tyrants (Rebels & Lies Trilogy Book 2)
Patriots
& Tyrants
By
Brian Cotton
© 2013 by
Brian Cotton
Cover Art ©
2013 by Greg Dejaynes
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing by the author.
This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of
the author’s imagination or used fictitiously and are not to be construed as
real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons
living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Books by Brian Cotton:
Rebels & Lies
Patriots & Tyrants
For Randy,
Keep up the good fight, brother
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood
of patriots and tyrants…”
-Thomas Jefferson
01
Her bike wouldn’t
start. What a hell of a place for the once great piece of machinery to just
die. She slammed her black booted right foot down on the kick starter again and
all she got for her effort was the same sound of the engine trying to come back
to life. Any minute—no second—now and the Agents would file out of the
government complex, ready for the kill. She moved her black helmet covered head
to get a look behind her. Sure enough, out of the corner of her eye, she saw
the Agents running through the automatic sliding doors, guns drawn. She tried
one last desperate attempt to get the bike to start. Finally, after she heard
the sound of automatic gunfire, the bike decided it was okay to leave. She
pulled back on the throttle and the bike rocketed forward. As the bullets
whizzed all around her, she said a silent prayer that none of them would hit
her.
She still had too many
things to do before her eventual death.
***
“What do you mean
there’s a problem?” Kaspar demanded after he took out another Agent with a
three round burst to the chest.
“The explosives…” a
young voice said into Kaspar’s ear. “The timer isn’t starting.”
Kaspar moved back down
behind the cover of a metal desk. The sound of bullets flying all around no
longer scared him. He had been around this type of work for far too long now.
The only thing that frightened Kaspar, at this point, were neophyte kids who
couldn’t do under pressure what they could do in a silent room. All this
planning, plotting out every move and action, and the twenty year old kid
called Buck was tanking under the pressure.
The rebel moved up
from cover again and fired away another short burst, taking out another one.
Just one more left. His partner beside him, Jeremy Steinner, ended the gun
battle with a perfect head shot. Kaspar stood up fully. He still had his PSD
shouldered, the barrel pointed in front of him. Through the sight of the
weapon, he saw the dim lit laboratory, their objective was inside. He checked
behind each metal desk as they slowly moved forward. Steinner kept his
attention on both doors, sweeping from front to back while they moved.
“Buck,” Kaspar said,
as calmly as he could when all he really wanted to do was throw every profanity
in the English language at the kid. “Take your time. Breathe. Are there any
Agents close by?”
Static and a brief
moment of silence. “No, I think your girlfriend did a good job creating a
diversion.”
“Was she hit or
anything when you last saw her?”
“No, sir.”
“Okay, focus on that
bomb. We’ve got ours.”
The white door in
front of them opened automatically upon approach. There was only the laboratory
inside, no Agents, just the computers and devices meant to destroy women’s
fertility. In the very back corner they saw the box where the “new drug” was
being made. Clarke had come across Intel that the USR had made a new kind of
drug that stopped women from getting pregnant. Only this one had gotten, what
that bastard Danny had called, “all the little bugs” worked out. There were now
no deadly side effects. But, like Krys always told him, it still wasn’t right
what they were trying to do.
Steinner moved in
quick. He got down on one knee and started to pull wires and explosives out of
his bag. Kaspar moved to one of the computers and stuck a flash drive into one
of the ports. His focus then moved towards the door in front of the lab. He
kept a close eye, and a trained gun, on it. He was ready for anyone to come
through and, as soon as an Agent did, that enemy would be dropped like so many
others.
He heard Steinner move
around the explosives behind him. He took a peek backward through his tinted
lenses to see his partner was nearly done. Steinner placed the plastic
explosives against the black boxes where the drug was being manufactured. He
was about to set the timer when Kaspar heard something in his ear.
“I don’t know if I can
do this,” Buck said in between quick gasps. “My mind is going blank.”
“Now, you listen to
me,” Kaspar said, eyes trained on the door again. “You’re only function in life
right now is to set those charges, you get me? You’ve done this a hundred times
before. This time it’s for real. Do what you do or we’ll leave you here.”
A short pause, “Okay,
I’ve got this.”
He’s also got an ass
whooping his way when we get back to camp, Kaspar thought. He heard Steinner
behind him get up and move to his side. Kaspar reached towards the flash drive
in the port and yanked it out. He placed it into a pocket in his flak jacket;
right next to the yellow fabric which had slowly begun to tear apart and fade
away.
“Charges set, we’re
ready to go.” Steinner said.
“Good work. We’ve got
to move to Buck’s position right now.”
The two started to
move forward with a quick, steady pace. Their guns were shouldered as they
moved. Steinner said, “That damn kid is gonna get us killed.”
“It was your job to
train him.”
“He’s done fine in
training.”
“Which means,” Kaspar
said as they swept from left to right once out of the hallway. “You didn’t do
your job in preparing the kid for the real thing.”
The two quit talking
as they approached the lobby. They moved down to a low crouch and continued
their forward momentum to Buck. Kaspar moved his eyes over to the front
windows. He saw Agents fire away with their automatics at something or someone.
It had to have been Krys. The fact that they were still firing meant that she
wasn’t dead, yet. He couldn’t worry about her right now, though. She could take
care of herself.
They moved down the
narrow hallway and took the first left. Inside the lab, they saw Buck fiddling
around with his explosives. Though the mask over his face covered up his
emotions, Kaspar knew what the kid was feeling. That feeling of overwhelming
hopelessness that he felt the first time he pointed a gun at a paper target.
But, Buck knew the stakes and he guaranteed the others that he could do the job
when it mattered. So far, he was failing.
“Steinner,” Kaspar whispered.
“Go help him out, I’ll cover the door.”
“Roger.”
Steinner moved in
quick and startled Buck when he touched him on the back. Not a good thing when
the person he scared was nervously putting together explosives. Kaspar kept a
watchful eye on the door. He couldn’t help but to think of Krys, even though at
this point in the mission, his focus needed to be that door. She was good on
the bike, he knew, but the sheer amount of Agents firing automatics in her
direction put her odds of survival at critical levels. He just hoped she was
long gone by now.
“What’s the problem,
buddy?” Steinner asked as he took out some tools from his flak jacket.
“My mind’s all
scrambled. I just know that I’m going to screw this up or that Agents are going
to storm through here and take me out.”
“Calm down. Me and Kas
took out the ones that were left. Coast was clear when we moved in.”
“I know, but shit,
this is nerve wracking.”
“Let me help you out.”
Kaspar turned his
attention to them. “You two better…”
Out of the corner of
his eye, Kaspar saw a squad of Agents move in. His turn was quick and precise.
His aim was true as he took out the first Agent. He turned his gun to another
who tried to move in and delivered him the same fate. Kaspar then began to back
pedal towards the metal desks. He took cover behind one of them and started to
fire away at the door.
“You go help Kas, I’ll
finish this!” Steinner yelled. “Let’s hope you remember how to shoot.”
“Yes..sir.” Buck
replied.
Buck aimed his gun and
fired at the door. Any moment now and the squad of Agents would converge on
them. Kaspar heard Steinner’s order. He really was going to kick Buck’s ass in
this life or the next. Kaspar aimed his weapon and fired at the Agents who
moved into the room. The diversion had run its course and they should have been
long gone by now. He took two of them out and saw that Buck took out a third,
though less precise than Kaspar. He injured the Agent enough to take him out of
the fight. Kaspar moved back down and fought back the terrible thoughts of
Krys’s fate.
In the back of the
office, Steinner worked a feverous pace. He was careful to not be in such a
hurry that he screwed something up with the configuration of the bomb. Gunfire
now filled the room. The Agents began to move in faster than the two rebels
could handle. Steinner needed to get back in the game. He finished putting
together the explosive then started the timer. He set it for ten minutes then
put together a little boobie trap for any poor son of a bitch that tried to
dismantle it.
Steinner dropped his
tools then raised his PSD and fired away from a crouched position. He took out
an Agent then moved forward with his body low. He found an empty desk to take
cover behind.
The scene that began
to unfold was way too similar to the last time Kaspar fought with his old
partners. He wanted to make sure that Steinner and Buck got out of this alive.
There was a determination inside that helped him to aim his weapon and take out
as many enemies as possible. He summoned that scrappiness that made him such a
great fighter in the ring and had turned him into a pretty damn good soldier.
When his mag was dry, Kaspar dropped back behind the desk to reload.
More Agents from the
outside started to pour in. There was no way the three of them would survive
this alone. Kaspar rose up and before he could aim, he caught an Agent who
fired at his position. The rounds clanked all around the metal surface which
provided a shield for the ex-prize fighter.
As the Agents began to
move in, there was a loud spitting of gunfire coming from the left side of the
hallway. The Agents inside turned their attention to it. Buck was able to pick
one off just as he turned.
“Now!” Kaspar yelled.
Steinner and Buck
joined Kaspar in moving from cover to take out the enemies in the room. The
Agents had been flanked from their backside which gave the rebels the edge.
Moments later, all the Agents were taken down. A figure standing around five
foot six walked into the room, sweeping a P90 around. A much taller figure, who
wielded an M16 assault rifle moved in, as well.
“Figured you fellas
could use some help.” a familiar female voice said.
“Krys,” Kaspar said,
feeling a sense of relief.
“Saving your ass never
gets old.” Krys replied.
“We need to move out!”
the deep voiced, taller figure cried.
The rebels moved out
of the room, maneuvering their way through the scattered USR corpses on the
crimson stained tile floor. Through the lobby windows, Kaspar could see a
stolen USR mounted vehicle which had an American flag painted over the USR
insignia. The rebels moved forward and filed themselves into the vehicle
through the back. The driver went into reverse, turned the delivery vehicle
around, and then floored it.
Just as the large
vehicle struggled to gain forward momentum, the explosions from inside the
complex could be heard and felt. The force of the blast caused the back of the
vehicle to shake. Kaspar tore off his mask at the same time as Buck. Kaspar
stood and moved in with a fury. Buck’s eyes went wide as he tried to move
backward. The kid had bronzed skin and jet black hair. Though he was barely
twenty, his physique was one of a body builder in training. Buck could handle
himself in a fight with Kaspar, but he just lacked the courage to do so.
“I outta kick your ass
you dumb mother…” Kaspar started to say.
He felt a hand grab at
his shoulder. Kaspar didn’t turn to see who it was, but he stopped. With the
tension of the mission still flowing through his veins, and an angry comrade
about to kick his ass, Buck went on the verge of tears. Kaspar knew how Buck
must have felt about freezing on the mission, but that was all moot to him. The
kid nearly got the entire team killed with his sudden forgetfulness. Kaspar
finally turned to see who had stopped him. It was Krys.
“Ryan,” she said with
a look of concern in her eyes. “Let it go. We made it out, that’s all that
matters now.”
“Yeah,” Kaspar said.
He moved past her and took a seat at the far end.
“We’ll talk about this
later,” the tall figure from before said in Buck’s direction. The figure turned
to Kaspar as he took off his mask. Sam Harvey’s bronzed skin gave away his
Native American ancestry. Despite approaching his mid-sixties, the man had not
shade of gray in his jet black hair. His face had a scar underneath his left
eye, but there were no signs of age there, either. “Kaspar, these kinds of
things happen in war. Just remember that you were once a greenhorn.”
“I know, sir, but…”
“No buts. You need to
learn to control that anger and empathize with your squad mates. Taking out
your anger on him solves nothing.”
“Yes, sir.” Kaspar
replied. He crossed his arms over his chest as Krys moved in to console him.
“Buck,” the tall
figure said.
