Second Chances (62 page)

Mitch nodded thoughtfully looking at the two men. He was fairly sure he was going to lose at least one of them, possibly both. Tina too, the Mountain Village would need a medic. “I'll talk to Paul. Sam is itching to get his road crews out but if we're going to expand, I want it done now.”

“How are you going to manage that?” Mike asked.

Mitch shrugged. “Very carefully. But I'd rather our people do it now and minimize predator exposure for the construction crews. Once the herds return, all bets are off. It'll get a lot more dangerous to do it.”

“Gotcha,” the chief said, nodding in understanding. “Didn't I hear you've got some construction projects going on? Something about a balloon and rocket?”

Mitch nodded. “Among other things. Again, delegation. Those are long term so are on the horizon but don't need the resources the immediate priority projects do.”

“Like the fuel for the chain saws. And more cutting equipment. More vehicles too,” Mike said. “If you can get me a timber harvester. Or a back hoe. Or a skip loader. Hell, I'll take the skip loader, I can use that to work on the base, the timber, and the mine. If I have parts and fuel,” he said.

“Yeah. And the Mountain Village. I've got a few people after me for that,” the SEAL admitted. He shrugged as Mitch cocked his head. “No offense Mitch, but not everyone is cut out to be in a cave. And after the insects...” he waved a hand.

Mitch nodded, keeping his annoyance and automatic defensive urge firmly in check. “Are you going?” he asked warily.

“To scout it, yes. I'm not sure about staying on. Gunny might. He's not thrilled about it, but it's got to be one of us,” Chief Roberts said, shaking his head. “Akira's staying put; he's into the aircraft.”

Mitch nodded. Akira was doing a bang-up job servicing the aircraft with Jim and the others. Angie had also given him some flying lessons. Apparently the two of them were hitting it off.

“Okay, let me know. You spent the winter planning the expedition. I'll see if Jacklynn's flying circus can move the long range drone to Copper and run it from there. They'll get better range to the mountains you have in mind,” Mitch said. The chief nodded.

Mitch turned to the radio. “Mike, I can't get you a harvester or other equipment until I have enough material to make one,” he said patiently. “You of course know that. What I can do is get you some more fuel for your existing equipment. We've got ethanol. We've also got some biodiesel. I'm not sure if the saws can use it, but you can try it. In the meantime we'll try to figure something else out, even if it is getting Sam up there to improve the road a bit then do a bit of chores before he heads back.”

“Sounds good,” Mike agreed. “Look, I've got to go. Burning daylight and all that,” he said.

“And he has to pee,” Jill called out from Mike's end.

“Hey Jill,” Mitch said.

“Hey. Luke said to tell you he's low on power. Something about the panels leaked? And he's got power issues.”

“Got it,” Mitch said, making a note with his tablet. “Tell him to work up a list. I don't have any spare panels on hand. See if he can diagnose the bad ones and disconnect them and send them back the next time Paul or Sam is there. We'll replace them.”

“Understood. He said to tell you he needs another rectifier and some wiring,” she said.

“Rectifier and wiring. I need copper for both,” Mitch said, making another note. “Anything else?”

“That's about it. Oh, did Mike tell you we lost Sasha and Vanessa?”

“You what?” Mitch asked, sitting up wide-eyed. “Repeat that last?”

“We lost them. They went out hunting and didn't come back yesterday. We're not sure what happened. We found some blood,” Jill said, now sounding uncomfortable.

“I'll...I'll get Angie to put a drone up. Do a search of the area. Maybe one of them was injured...”

Jill sighed. “From the sound of it, Bill said there was no way one of them could be alive, probably both. No one could survive that much blood and live he said.”

“Oh.”

The gunny frowned. He remembered both women vaguely. “We should still search. They could have made a kill then got chased away,” he said. “Send out a search party,” he said firmly.

“I'll go,” the chief said.

“No,” Jill said firmly. “Bill said he's got it. But send the drone anyway. If they hear it, maybe they will come out and show themselves. If they are alive,” she said darkly.

“Will do,” Mitch said, now sobered. Somehow he had to tell Phyllis and the others. He didn't like that job but knew it was necessary.

“Well, we need to sign off. Work to do,” Jill said with a sigh.

“Understood,” Mitch said quietly. “Take care,” he said.

“You too,” she said quietly, cutting the channel. Mitch frowned thoughtfully.

“If we can find them, I want to go after them,” the chief said. “We don't just write people off.”

“No,” the gunny said in agreement.

Mitch scrubbed at his face, aware he needed to shave. He rubbed his chin and then nodded. “No, no we don't,” he agreed. “I'll get Paul turned around as soon as possible. Today if possible. If one or both of you want to hitch a ride, there is nothing wrong with sightseeing along the way back to them. And taking some side trips along the way,” he said. “If Paul doesn't want to go, I'll do it,” he said, making a quick decision. He was fairly certain Sandra would agree he thought as he got to his feet.

“Good,” the chief said, taking off at a trot.

“Every moment we wait means the chances of survival drop,” the gunny said. “If they are even still alive. I'll get Angie to get the drone up,” he said.

Mitch nodded and then headed off to find Paul.

------*------

Paul's wife and kids were a bit put out over losing their dad after only getting him back a few hours prior. But Paul was ready to go once he heard that the two huntresses were missing. Mitch, however, waved him off. “I've got it,” he said, coming to a decision.

“You sure?” Paul asked, concerned. “I mean...”

“I still know how to drive. I can prove it,” Mitch said gruffly. Paul nodded, looking a bit guilty. He felt his wife hug him from behind and his daughter hug his leg.

“Enjoy,” Mitch said, smiling as he turned and left.

Mitch took Sam's road crew and the three military men. Akira rode along with the helicopter drone on a flatbed. They bumped along on the rough road in the late afternoon. Sam looked out the window.

“What happened? I get that they were out hunting in the morning but...” The gunny frowned. “We all know that the predators hunt most during the early morning. That's why our people don't go out of the perimeter until the sun is well up and they've had a look around.”

“I'm not sure,” Mitch said carefully. “They may have gotten overconfident. Assumed that with the herds still gone they could go out with impunity. If they did it often enough, they may have lowered their guard.”

“True,” the gunny said thoughtfully. They speculated over what happened, tossing theories back and forth for a few minutes.

“I do know they were hunting, so they were armed. They might have been chased off a kill and then cut off from returning to the base,” Mitch said. “Or separated and searching for each other,” he said.

“True. Why hunt at that time though? I get the overconfident thing but...”

Mitch sighed, steering around a boulder half embedded in the ground. He made a note to see if they could chisel the damn thing flat someday. “I think Mike's group is doing okay, but they are close to hand to mouth. Hunting during the winter was probably a bitch with the herds gone...” He shook his head. “We're supplementing them with trade, but they may have decided to try to get more meat. Or just been scouting the area. I don't know.”

“Think they are alive?” The gunny asked. He'd decided to ride along with Mitch on point.

Mitch didn't reply for a long time until the gunny cleared his throat impatiently. Finally he searched his feelings and grimaced. “I'm not sure.”

“Your gut? What about your sixth sense?” the gunny asked, looking at him persistently.

“I told you, I'm better with numbers there. Sure sometimes I get feelings, but it's usually me. Danger related,” he said. He'd tried to listen to those feelings more but they had been maddeningly vague if there. He had a lot of doubt creeping into his abilities.

“Still...anything?”

“No,” Mitch said grimly, shaking his head, driving and staring forward. “I think you know that too,” he said quietly. He looked at the Marine briefly then back to the road.

“Yeah,” the gunny sighed. “Yeah, I suppose I do.” He reached down and turned on the radio. “I know we need to keep some situational awareness but I'm curious if anyone found out anything.” He hit the number one select button and Jolie's voice came on. Jolie's voice was rough. Apparently she'd gotten word about the huntresses' absence, and it was bothering her. She finally turned it over to April to finish her report.

“Kid's taking it rough,” the gunny said quietly.

“Vanessa and Sasha were with her in the Amazon Village. They went through a lot. Survived a lot,” Mitch said, equally quiet.

“Is there any music?”

“Some. I think Paul or whoever was driving this last time programmed the memory,” Mitch said. He hit the controls, then flipped through the selection.

“Shouldn't you be paying attention to the road?” The gunny asked.

Mitch looked up with a snort. “You forget; I went with smart trucks. Technically, we don't need drivers in the convoys. Maybe one or two in case something goes wrong, but the computers in the trucks can drive them on their own.” He held his hands off the wheel as it turned on its own. “See?” he asked.

“Oh.” The gunny snorted after a long moment. “Cheater.”

“You say that now. But if we ever get into a running fire fight having your hands free can be a blessing,” Mitch said. The gunny nodded.

“I could have used that a few times in the sandbox,” he admitted.

Angie radioed in. Mitch looked up to the CB and then took the mike down. “Reading you Angie.”

“We're up. I've gotten the drone over the area. We're seeing signs of a struggle but no life signs in the immediate area,” she said, voice rough. “I'm not getting a visible trail in or out; the winds have whipped up the grass too much.”

“Roger that Ang; push it out in a spiral pattern with the attack site as the center. See what you can find,” he said.

“The drone is a bit too fast to do that. I've got a lot of winds higher up,” Angie reported. “And some clouds coming in.”

“Do what you can. Focus on the area between Iron Village and the attack site if you have to. We've got Akira and the chopper drone with us. With that we can take a closer look,” Mitch replied. There were two clicks in response. He nodded and hung the microphone back up.

The gunny looked out through the windshield to see the drone flying by. “No sign of them in the area. That's not good. You'd think there would be a body...”

“Not if the predator carried it off. If they hear the drone and see it and are under cover or in a tree, they'll try to signal it,” Mitch said, also watching the plane. He redirected the truck to the center of the plane's circular flight path once he had a rough estimate.

They trundled off the beaten path and stopped near the area. They climbed out of the truck to find Bill nearby perched on a rock.

“I thought you'd come,” Bill said simply, cradling his rifle. He pointed to the site. “It's down there. Bucky's looking about,” he said. They could hear and see the younger man beating at the grass around the area swearing. They checked the site out as Akira set up his chopper behind them. Mitch noted the blood soaked ground, signs of a struggle...the mud was all churned up. Bucky pulled out pieces of a backpack and swore, tossing them to the side.

They heard the rotors start to spin up. Each of them turned to see the robotic chopper get its blades whirling, then bob slightly on the trailer. Slowly it took off. They turned to watch it wobble in the afternoon wind and then turn into a spiral orbit over the area.

“Damn, that thing is scary. Biggest dragonfly in the air,” Bill said, shaking his head as they walked over to Akira. The Korean had a controller in front of him with a monitor. A black box shaded it so he could view the video image. He was also in the shade of the truck. They went around to see over his shoulder.

“The guns have been disabled,” Akira told them absently. “So don't piss yourselves,” he said. The gunny snorted softly. The Korean had gotten a bit salty lately.

“I hope you unloaded them,” the gunny growled. He watched the chopper warily. He didn't trust the damn thing.

Akira traced a trail Bill and the chief pointed out in the blood soaked grass. From the single footprint they had found, the beast the women had encountered had had a three-toed foot, broad, with a lot of weight. The area around the blood had been too churned up to get much beyond the odd scrap of cloth they'd found.

He used the chopper to follow it through the hills until he found a monstrous six-legged predator walking towards the mountains. It turned to glare balefully at the noisy intruder. The thing was stocky, whitish gray with splashes of mud and blood. It had a body like a gorilla, all muscle but with a long tail. It was covered from the tip of its nose down it's spine to the tail with a hard armor. The tail had some sort of spike on it, probably something to attack with. It turned, Mitch noted the ram horns and spikes sticking out along the chin and on the elbows of the legs. He also noted the long sharp teeth and what looked like a leg it dropped out of its mouth. The leg flopped about at the thing's massive front feet. From the look of it he wasn't certain if it was human or not. Too much of the meat had been gnawed off to be sure.