Surviving the Dead (Book 7): The Killing Line (34 page)
Read Surviving the Dead (Book 7): The Killing Line Online
Authors: James N. Cook
Tags: #Zombie Apocalypse
Hicks took a deep breath and tapped his fingers on the arms of his chair. “What does any of this have to do with my new assignment, sir?”
Redirection. Smooth. Kid was well taught
. “Everything,” Jacobs said.
He opened a drawer in his desk, put away Hicks’ file, and removed another one. He laid it on his desk and put a hand on top of it. Hicks glanced at it briefly.
“You’re familiar with the problems we’ve been having with the Republic of California?” Jacobs said.
“Yes sir. Everyone is.”
“No, they’re not. They know what they’ve been told. They don’t know the whole story.”
Jacobs paused a moment to let that sink in. There was a flicker behind Hicks’ expression. To Jacobs, it looked like curiosity.
“So what’s the whole story?” Hicks asked.
“Ever wonder why the ROC hasn’t mounted an offensive?”
“Sure. Wonder about it every day.”
“Why?”
“Because it doesn’t make any sense. When the Alliance fell, it seemed obvious they had only one course of action—attack. Only they haven’t. No one seems to know why.”
Jacobs smiled. “Seems like that should beg an obvious question, doesn’t it?”
“Yes sir.”
“And that would be?”
“Why hasn’t the Union attacked the ROC?”
Jacobs nodded. “Any theories?”
Hicks looked down, brow knitting thoughtfully. His fingers tapped on the arms of his chair. Jacobs noted the action. When the kid was thinking, he tapped his fingers. The clock on the wall counted fifteen seconds before Hicks spoke.
“There are only a few reasons I can think of.”
“Such as?”
“The Union wants to preserve resources, seek a diplomatic solution. But that doesn’t seem likely.”
“Why not?”
“The ROC is not a bloc of anti-Union Americans like the Alliance was. The American citizens in the ROC have all been subjugated. The government there is a bunch of puppets under the control of North Koreans and whoever else they brought over with them. And North Koreans are not known for their diplomatic proficiency. If they were the only obstacle, we’d have invaded months ago.”
Jacobs held in is reaction, but it wasn’t easy. The kid had cut straight to the heart of the matter. “What else?”
“Another possibility is they’re stronger than what the government’s been letting on. Maybe the ROC can’t launch an invasion, but they’re dug in deep enough we’d be crazy to try and root them out. Kind of like what happened in Vietnam. But again, I doubt that’s the case.”
Jacobs rolled an index finger in a ‘go on’ gesture.
“Well,” Hicks continued, “for starters, they’re on unfamiliar ground. The Viet Cong was on land they knew like the back of their hand. They had sympathizers everywhere. Places they could hide, people they could rely on to help them. I doubt too many Americans in ROC territory are happy with being under the rule of foreign invaders. On the other hand, the Union knows ROC territory better than its occupiers and would be welcomed as liberators by the locals. So that really only leaves two possibilities. The first is mutually assured destruction, but I don’t think that’s the case either. If the ROC had any nukes, they’d have used them by now, consequences be damned. We don’t use ours because we’d be blowing up our own country, and Union citizens would probably revolt. So that narrows it down to one.”
“I’m listening,” Jacobs said. He did his best not to smile, but was not entirely successful.
“Same reason anyone would hesitate to go after an enemy,” Hicks said. “It’s ages old, been around forever. Same way a lot of kingdoms used to keep other kingdoms from invading them, how nations mutually assured each other they were serious about peace. Took the consent of the royal families involved, but it worked.”
Jacobs knew the answer, but he asked anyway. “And that is?”
“Hostages,” Hicks said flatly. “Way it worked was one kingdom’s royal family would give a few key hostages to a rival nation, and the rival would do the same. The other country invaded, the hostages died. And vice versa. Shitty way to do things, but it kept the peace. I think that’s what’s going on here, only one sided. The ROC is holding the Americans in its territory hostage. We invade, the hostages die.”
General Jacobs sat up, pulled his chair closer to his desk, and leaned forward on his elbows. “You know, there’s a lot of folks in our intelligence community who would like it very much if you kept those assessments to yourself.”
“Then they’d better figure out something quick,” Hicks said. “I’m not the first person to come up with the idea. People aren’t as dumb as the government thinks.”
“No, they’re not.” Jacobs removed his hand from the file on his desk and opened it. “And you’re right about the hostages. Tens of thousands of American citizens are being kept in internment camps in deplorable conditions. We intend to free them, not get them killed. However, there are other reasons why we haven’t attacked the ROC. Reasons you haven’t thought of because you don’t have all the facts.”
Hicks tilted his head like a curious dog.
“First, there’s dissention in the ranks among the ROC’s leadership. We have agents close to them who’ve given us solid evidence of a forthcoming coup. And at the center of that coup is someone you know very well. He, more than anything, is the reason I want you for this mission. You are in a unique position to help him, and by proxy, help the Union.”
Jacobs spun the file around and moved it closer to Hicks. The young man stared in confusion for a moment, then his expression cleared and understanding dawned in his eyes.
“The man you’re looking at,” Jacobs said, “is the leader of a large contingent of resistance fighters in California and Oregon that have been making life a living hell for the ROC. I believe you know him.”
Jacobs waited. Hicks stared at the photo and did not speak, so the general spoke for him.
“He’s an old friend of yours. Your father-in-law, once upon a time.”
Hicks leaned back in his chair and looked Jacobs in the eye.
“It’s Mike,” he said. “The leader of the resistance is Mike Holden.”
Jacobs took the file and closed it.
“Any questions?” he asked.
“Two,” Hicks said.
“Go ahead.”
“I can leave my unit behind. It’ll hurt, but I can do it. But…” Hicks struggled to speak.
“There’s a woman.” Jacobs said knowingly.
Hicks nodded.
“Will she relocate?”
“I don’t know, sir. I’d ask her, but she’s in Hollow Rock.”
Jacobs sat up. “That’s not a problem. I’ll help you get a message to her. If she says yes, we’ll have her airlifted out here and set the two of you up on base.”
“Thank you sir.”
“However, Sergeant, you have to account for all possibilities.”
Hicks ran a hand over his mouth and let out a breath. “I know, General. If she says no…I don’t know. I’ll just have to figure something out. That said, I want the assignment.”
Jacobs gave a grunt of approval. “Glad to hear it. What was your other question?”
Hicks’ eyes grew cold and sharp, and General Jacobs, despite his long experience, felt a small tremor of fear when he looked into them.
“How soon do I leave?” Hicks asked.
Despite his involuntary trepidation, Jacobs had to struggle to keep a triumphant smile to himself.
“Soon, Sergeant. Very soon.”
The saga will continue in Surviving The Dead Volume 8
Coming soon …
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About the Author:
James N. Cook (who prefers to be called Jim, even though his wife insists on calling him James) is a martial arts enthusiast, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, a former cubicle dweller, and the author of the Surviving the Dead series. He hikes, he goes camping, he travels a lot, and he has trouble staying in one place for very long. He lives in North Carolina with his wife, children, a vicious attack dog, and a cat that is scarcely aware of his existence.
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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE KILLING LINE: SURVIVING THE DEAD VOLUME 7 Copyright © 2016 By James N. Cook. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the author and Amazon.com.
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Epub Edition © JUNE 2016
