The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) (31 page)

The larger of the two was speaking. “Goddammit Tanner, it
isn’t worth losing more soldiers. These smoothies were far better prepared than
we expected, and we paid for it with over a dozen dead! I say we cut our losses
and go back to the factory. Whatever they were looking for, they will come for
again. Maybe this time we can capture their aircraft instead of blowing it to
hell!”

“Don’t patronize me Ungo! I am well aware of what this has
cost us so far, and Gratch will pay dearly for destroying that flier. If we can
capture the four who got away, we can use them as bait to lure their rescue
team in then sell them all. The last runner told me the tracking team was not
far behind them. We should have them by nightfall.”

“I heard the runner too, and those smoothies had already
killed three of your damned trackers! The traps they are setting are slowing your
men down too much! They could be two miles ahead by now!”

Tanner looked as if he were about strike the larger Mute,
but instead just snorted and began to pace. “I doubt that! They had an injured
one with them – a female! You know these smoothies as well as I do, they would
never leave behind an injured mate! My men will catch them, and this time they
won’t make the mistake of attacking them out in the open.” He paused, a look of
contemplation on his ugly face. “I think you are correct about one thing,
however. They found something they needed back at that factory. Perhaps the
aircraft we fired on earlier has landed back there. Send a scout ahead of us
and prepare to break camp.”

Jack’s attention was focused on overhearing the
conversation, but in the back of his mind he was trying to process the
information:
There are survivors – that’s good. Wendy is injured – that’s
bad. There is a group of unknown size chasing them through the forest – that’s
bad.

It looked like Ungo wasn’t about to just take his orders
without more argument. “Tell me we are going to just take the aircraft. With
one of those aircraft, we will have greater offensive capability than we have
ever had. Maybe we could even make a run at one of the smoothie communities for
ourselves. We don’t need –”

“You heard what Farnak said! We’re already in bed with the
Cali, whether we like it or not! They didn’t tell us these smoothies would be
here today just so we could use the information for our own benefit. We
need
the supplies and weapons they will trade for living members of New Hope. I don’t
like working with the smoothies any more than you, but our leader has spoken – we
have no choice. Do your job, Ungo, or you will be put out of the clan.”

He watched Ungo stomp off toward the group of three who were
sitting down. Tanner looked up and shouted, “See any sign of the flier?”

Jack pointed the rifle up in the direction Ungo had looked
and a drop of sweat ran down the back of his neck. There were three more Mutes
at the top of the fifty foot tall trees, looking around for the transport. If
they had ambushed this group, the ones up top could have torn them to shreds
despite their superior armor. He carefully pulled back behind the tree and looked
back into the forest catching the eye of Heather, the soldier closest to him. He
made a sign for three and pointed up, then signaled ten and pointed at the
clearing. Heather nodded and spoke quietly into her PDP, telling the others how
many there were, and to prepare for a fight.

He waited another minute for everyone to get into place, keeping
an eye on the activity in the clearing. They were starting to pack up their
gear, and Ungo was talking to one of the soldiers, presumably sending him ahead
as a scout. Jack steeled himself for the fight. If the scout headed into the
forest he would surely spot one of the soldiers, so he had to act now if he
wanted to keep the element of surprise. He looked over at Heather, who was now
behind another large tree, much closer to the clearing.

She nodded. Jack leaned around the tree to get position on everyone
in the clearing and thumbed the safety. He carefully took aim at Tanner, the
obvious leader of the group. Just as his finger rested on the trigger, there
was a shout, followed by another Mute materializing from the tree line on the
opposite end of the clearing. Ungo and Tanner both went to see why he was
there. Jack strained to listen, and heard something about them losing three
more scouts to explosive traps. Tanner didn’t take the news well, and shouted
orders to move out, back to the factory.

Jack took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. The left
half of Tanners head exploded, spraying Ungo with blood and brains. In one
smooth movement he swung his aim up to one of the Mutes up in the tree. The new
target had been climbing down the tree, and didn’t have his rifle ready. Jack
fired three quick shots and the Mute fell the last twenty feet, landing with a ‘thunk’.
In the next three seconds, four more Mutes went down, and Jack had already targeted
another one climbing down the tree. Before he could fire, an explosion to his
right nearly knocked him to the ground. Something tugged at his midsection and
he quickly stepped around to the other side of the tree to take cover.

The hideously ugly and bloody face of Ungo popped into his
line of sight just as he rounded the tree. The Mute was lunging at him and he
only had time to squeeze the trigger one time before the nearly three hundred
pound brute plowed into him. He lost his rifle when he hit the ground, and the
weight of the massive Mute knocked the wind out of him. Jack prepared for the
blow that would kill him, but it never came. Through a haze of pain, he
realized the weight on top of him was not moving. Struggling to take a breath,
a task made even more difficult with the weight of the body lying on him, he
rolled the dead body to the side. His lucky shot had taken the back of Ungo’s
head off, and the Mute was dead before they landed. Another explosion went off
somewhere in the direction of the other soldiers, pulling his attention back to
the fight.

He looked around for his rifle, spotting it half buried in
pine needles about ten feet away. Getting to his feet, he limped over to the
weapon, and winced when he bent down to pick it up. His body felt like he had
been tenderized by a giant hammer.

There was a scream in the direction of the fight. He ran
toward the scream and got there just in time to see a Mute holding Heather over
his head. The Mute shouted, “Die, smoothie!” and hurled the woman at the tree
five feet away. Her scream ended in a wet sounding thump and Jack winced. He
shouldered his rifle and put two rounds in the Mute’s head. Sudden silence
overwhelmed his senses.

Jack scanned the area, looking to see who was left standing.
There were dead Mutes everywhere. He ran to Heather, and found her unconscious
but alive. There was little doubt she had some serious internal injuries. Knowing
there was nothing he could do for her at the moment, he made his way back to
the clearing.

All four of the soldiers had come into the clearing now and three
of them were checking the Mutes’ bodies, hoping for survivors. They had never
captured a Mute before and it would be nice to could get one now. Unfortunately,
all fourteen were dead.
At least none had escaped.
The thought went
through Jack’s mind as he surveyed the carnage around him.

The fourth soldier was injured, leaning up against a tree in
obvious pain. A couple quick questions revealed how the Mute Jack had targeted
just before the grenade went off next to him had jumped out of the tree and
tried to gut the man with a wicked looking knife. The man’s under suit had
prevented the blade from penetrating, but he would be shitting blood for a week
and his shoulder was either broken or badly dislocated.

He turned to the rest of the men. “We need to get Heather back
to base ASAP. She’s hurt bad, and Jones here could use some attention too.” Jack
was aware they had lost communication with the transport, and asked what they
could do to signal it.

“If we fired off our emergency beacon, the transport should
pick it up. That might get him to fly closer to reach us on the radio.”

Jack knew it was risky. The Cali were involved in this whole
debacle and could have people in the area just in case someone tried to signal
for help. Furthermore, it would call attention to the area, making further
rescue efforts even more difficult. He weighed the options carefully, and
finally decided to take the risk. Heather may not even survive the trip back,
but she surely wouldn’t have a chance if they didn’t do what they could to get
her to a doctor now. “Do it. Get the pilot to land right here in this clearing
and let’s get these injuries taken care of.”

The soldier nodded and fiddled with some buttons on his PDP.
Five minutes later a distorted voice came across the PDP. It was the pilot. Jack
breathed a sigh of relief as the soldier guided the pilot to the clearing. Minutes
later they were loading Heather on board.

As soon as they put some distance between them and the radiation,
Jack called New Hope.

“New Hope, this is Rescue One, are you there?”

“I read you, Rescue One. Jack is that you?” It was Chin.

“Yeah, Chin, it’s me. We’re heading back. We have one
severely injured soldier here and a couple with minor injuries. Get some
medical help ready.”

“We’ll be ready, Jack.” There was a pause, followed by, “Teague
is pissed that you went with the rescue team, and ordered that you come back
the moment I hear from you. Did you find anything more regarding the salvage
crew?”

Jack knew felt guilty for his actions. Not only was it
impetuous to jump in with the rescue crew, it had almost gotten him killed. “Not
really. I think there are four survivors, and I think Wendy is hurt. There’s a group
of Mutes chasing them to the north of the factory. Can you send another team
out to look for them?”

“A salvage team just returned. As soon as we have the goods
offloaded we will have a team in the air. You can relay directions and intel to
them when you get back here.”

“Okay, thanks. Oh, tell the crew to be on the lookout for
Calis. We had to use our emergency beacon to get the pilot’s attention, and it’s
possible they are sending someone to investigate.” Jack ended the conversation
and sat back in his seat. The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off and
exhaustion was setting in. Wendy was still out there, injured, and he couldn’t
do anything about it now. This was not a good day, and the next few days didn’t
show much promise of getting better.

“We need to talk. Can the council meet me right now?” Jack
was talking to Marcus on his datapad. Marcus considered it for a moment then
nodded.

“Meet us in my chambers. Sixth floor, I will leave the door
unlocked for you.”

Teague was busy helping the surgeon with Heather, and he
didn’t want to interrupt. It was unclear whether she would survive yet, and
unlike Chuck, he didn’t think she would up and moving for at least a few days
if she did. The sound of her body hitting the tree echoed in his mind and sent
a shiver down his back.

He put it out of his mind and headed to the elevator. The
information he had overheard was important and he wanted to get it to the
council immediately.

On the way down, he removed his body armor. When the chest
piece came off, something clanged to the floor. He looked down and there was a
three inch long piece of shrapnel. It had been wedged between his armor and his
under suit, and he recalled the grenade that went off not more than ten feet
from him during the battle. The gravity of the recent fight hit home again,
like a weight on his shoulders. He put the piece of shrapnel in his pack, a
reminder of how dangerous it was out there.

The council was already waiting for him, with the exception
of Teague of course. Marcus gestured toward a seat at the table. It felt good
to sit, and he took a deep breath, clearing away the exhaustion for a little
longer. There was a pitcher of water on the table and he helped himself to a
glass.

“Thanks for meeting on such short notice. We had a run in
with some Mutes today, and I overheard some things I think you need to know.”

Marcus gave him an incredulous look. “Are you telling me you
went out in the field today? I thought you were running this operation?”

Jack nodded. He explained the events of the past few hours,
and finished with, “I should not have gone out there myself, it won’t happen
again.”

“So we have lost five, maybe six members of our community
already, as well as a medium transport? Jack, the cost of your operation is
already very high. Are you sure you know what you are doing?” It was Theodore
who had spoken, and there was no doubt in Jack’s mind that he disapproved of
the either the operation, or of Jack running it.

In a cold voice, Jack said, “We’ve lost two, and are
currently missing four more. If Heather doesn’t make it the death toll will be
three, but you can hardly blame Emmet’s death on my operation. Yes, the stakes
are high, so the risk is high as well, and nobody here understands that more
than I do.” He didn’t like the veiled accusation of him taking lives for
granted.

Theodore snorted at that and said, “I highly doubt that you
have half the regard for the lives of New Hope’s citizens that we do. Now what
is it you came down here to tell us?” Jack struggled to keep his temper under
control.

Marcus intervened and said, “Please Theodore, let’s let Jack
speak his piece. The way I see it, today’s events were not his fault. We have
been attacked by Mutes many times in the past, usually when scavenging for
resources.” He signaled for Jack to go on.

“As I was saying, there was a group of Mutes in the forest
firing rockets at us, so we had the pilot drop us off and fly up to a higher
altitude to keep an eye on us and to keep the aircraft safe. We-” Theodore
interrupted again.

“That aircraft was perfectly capable of taking care of a
single target on the ground, why did you risk those soldiers by engaging the
Mutes on the ground? This is exactly the reason that we can’t trust someone
from before the war to lead our men in battle. They think like people with no
regard for human life! Marcus, I think we need to put an end to this before
more of our people are killed.” Jack stood up, but before he could say
anything, Marcus intervened again.

“Theodore! You are out of line! Jack is not here to be
judged for his actions, he is here to tell us something! Now, I suggest you quit
interrupting him so that he can finish. We can discuss your discontent at a
later time!” Theodore leaned back in his seat, nodded once to Marcus, and
proceeded to stare daggers at Jack.

Jack suspected Theodore had an ulterior motive for his
outbursts, but what that might be, he hadn’t the foggiest clue. He was on his
guard now though, and chose his words very carefully. “Theodore, I understand
your reluctance to allow someone new to your community to lead an operation of
this magnitude, but I can assure you that I am the right man for this job. In
answer to your, uh, question, the reason we didn’t fire blindly on the source
of the attack was because we had no way of knowing whether they had captured
any or all members of the salvage crew. The last thing I wanted was for them to
die from friendly fire.”

He glanced at Marcus to see his reaction, and observed a
hint of a smile directed at Theodore. The picture was becoming more and more
clear. Marcus and Theodore were in some sort of power struggle, and Jack was
the current tool of choice. Exactly whose tool, he had yet to figure out, but
it was clear that Marcus would benefit from his success and Theodore from his
failures.

Jack waited to see if Theodore would comment. After a moment
of silence, Jack continued, “We managed to sneak up on the Mutes that attacked
us, and I overheard an argument between two of them. It seems they have allied
themselves with the Cali, at least on a limited basis, and are hunting for
people from New Hope to capture and trade to Cali in exchange for supplies and
weapons.” Before he could form his next sentence, a sudden realization hit him,
and he took a long drink of water to buy a few moments to think. Tanner had
said something about being told where to expect the New Hope scavengers.
How
could Cali possibly know where the New Hope scavengers would be working?
He
frantically ran the possibilities through his head.
They could track the
aircraft with their satellite, but could the Mutes have had time to set up an
ambush on that short of notice?
Doubtful.
Cali had to have known
where the scavengers would be before they left New Hope, and Jack was very much
aware that it could have come from this room just as easily as from someone
else in the community.

He decided it was best not to mention that part of the
conversation. He had to figure out who he could trust first. Putting down the
water and clearing his throat, he continued, “The two Mutes were arguing about
working with the Cali, and it seemed neither wanted anything to do with them. They
were about to head back to the factory site to set up another ambush when we
attacked. Unfortunately once the battle started, their aggression made it
impossible to take a live captive.”

There was silence in the room for at least a minute, then
Marcus said, “Thank you, Jack. Once again you have proven very valuable to New
Hope. This information will save lives. I think you are doing a fantastic job. Now
if you will excuse us, it seems we have some decisions to make regarding Cali.”

Jack would have liked to stay, but it was obvious these men
didn’t think he should be privy to the inner politics of New Hope, or to the
diplomatic relationships with the other communities.

On the way out, his mind was working at a breakneck pace. Was
the whole council responsible for the attack on the scavenging group, or just
one member? Was it even a member of the council? From what Jack had seen so
far, the people of New Hope were pretty much allowed to do their jobs without
much oversight from the council. This new development made his job much more
difficult. If the Calis had inside information on the upcoming operation... Jack
didn’t want to think about it. He needed to talk to someone he could trust. Two
people came to mind, one was in a forest somewhere in Idaho being chased by
Mutes, and the other was probably still in bed.

* * *

On his way to Chuck’s apartment, Jack mentally reviewed the
time he had spent with the man. He realized he didn’t really know him that
well. Aside from the battle in Montana, they had not spent any real time
together. It was difficult to truly judge the character of someone with whom
you have shared a life and death experience. Your inclination is to trust them,
but that can cloud your judgment.

By the time he reached the front door of the apartment, Jack
had to make a decision.
Fuck it, I trust him.
He knocked on the door.

After a few moments, the door slid open, and Chuck was
standing there in a robe, a bottle of beer in his hand. “Afternoon, Mad Dawg. Come
on in.” He turned without waiting to see if Jack was following and walked to
the kitchen. Pulling another bottle from the refrigerator, he said, “Have a
seat, you want a beer?” Once again, without waiting for a response, he put the
bottle on the table in front of Jack and sat down opposite him.

“How’re you feeling, Chuck?” Jack wanted to ease his way
into the conversation.

“Jack, you didn’t come here to find out about my condition. I
heard about your little adventure today. By the way, good job. Those Mutes are
some tough bastards to fight. It’s impressive that you took out fourteen of
them without a casualty.”

Jack just nodded to acknowledge the compliment. “If Heather
makes it, then I will pat myself on the back, not before. Besides, there are
still four people out there fighting for their lives.”

Chuck grinned, “Actually, I just got word Heather will pull
through. Gonna take at least a week for her to heal though. She had twenty
three broken bones and was bleeding internally in seven places. It’s a miracle
she survived the trip back. That’s one more person here who owes their life to
you.” Jack studied his eyes, not detecting anything but honesty. He was
convinced that Chuck could indeed be trusted.

“That’s good to hear, thank you. You are right though, I
didn’t come here to ask about your health. Uh, not that I’m not concerned, of
course.” They both smiled. “Look, I have to ask you some questions, and I need
real answers, answers that people like Teague or Marcus can’t give me.”

Chuck leaned back in his chair. He held Jack’s eyes for a
few moments then, as if deciding something, he leaned forward and said, “Let’s
take a walk. I’ve been cooped up here all day and I need some exercise.” He got
up and went to the bedroom.

Jack picked up the beer and cracked it open. He took a long
pull, and felt the alcohol burn its way down his throat. Chuck was back in less
than a minute, now dressed in the same scrubs that Jack usually wore when he
was here at New Hope. Of course, that was because he didn’t have any other
clothes.

Chuck picked up his half-finished beer and headed to the
door. Jack followed, a little confused. As soon as the door closed, Chuck said
softly, “You never know who might be listening in. I don’t have any reason to
suspect that anyone watches my room, but I do know for fact that there are
cameras installed everywhere. I get the impression that you want to ask
questions that are for my ears only.” It was a statement, not a question, and
Jack didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure exactly where Chuck was leading him, but
when they exited the elevator on the first floor, he thought he might know.

* * *

The two man flyer gracefully left the flight deck and Chuck
expertly piloted it in a steep ascent until they were above the clouds. He hadn’t
spoken since they walked out of his room, and Jack was content to wait. After
almost ten minutes of flight, Chuck pushed the aircraft to a steep nosedive and
when they were about a thousand feet off the ground, he smoothly arced their
trajectory to be parallel with the ground. They decelerated until almost at a
standstill, and finally Chuck set the flier down, barely kicking up any dust. It
was late in the afternoon, and the sun was beginning to cast long shadows
across the rocky landscape. The air was warm, around seventy degrees, and there
was a slight breeze blowing. They left their datapads in the flier and walked
about a hundred feet away. Finally, Chuck sat down on a large boulder.

“It’s beautiful out here, isn’t it?”

Jack looked around and took in the surroundings. He
registered that it was indeed an incredible landscape, but with all the things
on his mind, he just didn’t have room to appreciate it. He simply nodded.

Chuck smiled and said, “I can pretty well guarantee that
anything you have to say will not be overheard out here.”

Jack had been turning the questions over in his head for the
last twenty minutes, and decided exactly what he wanted to ask. “Do you trust
Marcus?”

It was a simple question, but Chuck pondered it before
answering. “When it comes to the future of New Hope and the safety of the
people, I do.” He didn’t elaborate.

Jack nodded. “How about Theodore?” Chuck smiled. Jack
figured that Chuck would have seen the power struggle going on between the two
men.

“Theodore is ambitious. I don’t really know his story, but I
get the impression from him that he figures he should be the leader here. Not
only that, he seems to be very much in favor of joining with other communities.
I have only met with the man a half dozen times, and he always seemed to be
looking out for the community. The thing is, all the members of the council
came from a different time than me or you. Back then, human life wasn’t worth
what it was in our time, or even today for that matter. I would like to believe
that the entire council values each and every life above all, but frankly I
think they simply don’t view life the same way we do.”

“What do you mean by that exactly?”

“Take the cloning for example. To them, cloning a person and
transferring their memories is truly resurrecting the person. But I suspect you
and I both look at it a little differently.” This was true, but right now wasn’t
the time to ponder the philosophical, moral, or religious side of cloning. Chuck
didn’t wait for an answer, “Bottom line, they all think they value life the way
we do, but when it comes down to it, they have assigned a value to each and
every life in New Hope, and they have a long list of things that hold more
value.”