The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) (36 page)

Suddenly there was no air in the hallway and his knees had
turned to rubber. He tried to maintain his composure, but the news shattered
the emotional barriers he had constructed in his mind when he realized there
was a good possibility that Wendy was not coming back. He knew if he tried to
speak, he would choke on his words, so instead he simply nodded and clicked
off.

The wall kept him from falling to the ground, and he hugged
it as if he were on a narrow ledge of a cliff, afraid to fall off. He struggled
to take a breath, but like his legs, he had no control over his lungs. A tear
slid down his cheek, the first drop just before the dam broke. The last of his
barriers broke and he slumped to the ground, convulsions wracking through his
torso, a low moan escaping his throat.

For the next several minutes, he released suppressed
feelings that, until this moment, he had no idea were bottled up. Even at his
wife and daughter’s funeral, he had held his emotions in check, shedding only a
few tears that day. Now with the emotional barriers down, all the pain he had
suffered in his life – from losing friends in Korea, to losing his family, to
learning he had cancer, and finally from the events of the past few days – all
came out at once. Never in his life had he let it out like this, and the tears
and gasps coming out were like a cleansing.

When the emotional waterfall finally began to subside, the
first thing to return was control of his lungs. Several long breaths helped to
regain control of his body. Dinner forgotten, he got to his feet and made his
way back to his room, locked the door, and sat heavily in his chair.

Of all the things that had happened to him or around him in
the last week, this was perhaps the most confusing. He had never been one to
get emotional, and never had he felt as if he was swallowing his emotions. He
had not cried like that since he was a child, and even then he didn’t really
remember a specific instance.

He supposed it had to do with the same biological processes
that caused his hormones to rage the first night. Whatever the cause, he
actually felt really good. He had been under some stress the past few days,
more from the revelation of a traitor in the community than from the operation
he was running, or even from Wendy being in danger. This emotional break was
like a cleansing, and he felt more relaxed than he had since waking up the
first morning after his rebirth.

There was more to it than that, however, but he didn’t
really have time to ponder it in depth. It would be an hour before the rescue
team was back, and he had a lot to do. With a clear head and a new resolve, he
got out of the chair and went to get some food.

Part Four

The flight bay was bustling with activity when the huge
doors opened and the transport eased in and gently landed on the yellow square
painted on the concrete floor. The Saber Cusp team, including Thomas, Red, and Teague,
was geared up and hovered over a table, studying a map of the old city. Two
mechanics were sifting through the wreckage of the transport, which had been
brought back this morning and was now sitting in the corner of the immense
chamber that housed all their aircraft. Chin was sitting at the makeshift
control center, still keeping an eye on the progress of the one salvage crew
that was still out for the day.

Jack walked over and stood next to Teague, waiting for the
transport to land. Jack had been observing the team in their final preparations
today, but Teague had not been with the team the whole time, instead spending
time with Bruce, the new reborn. When he had been around, Jack hadn’t said much
to him, still wary of who was in on the ambush of the salvaging team. Teague
turned toward him and said, “Thank God they are all okay. Marcus would have
lost a lot of favor with the other council members if we hadn’t found them
alive.”

The comment annoyed Jack, mostly because he didn’t give a
single shit about Marcus’s reputation. A crew he had ordered into harm’s way
had come back. Regrettably, one man had lost his life. Right now Jack had only
a few things on his mind. The first was seeing these people safely home after
what must have been a long and harrowing journey. The second had to do with the
mission to S.C. which was about to commence. Obviously the third thing was
Wendy.

Before Jack could speak his mind, Teague continued, “Of
course, it’s a good thing that they are all safe too.” Jack relaxed. Despite
his differences with Teague, he had to give the man some slack, they had not
lived the same lives. Life was indeed precious here, but with so few people and
so few resources, everything, including politics, played an important role in
their lives. He wondered if Teague knew they had a traitor in their midst, or
worse, if he was involved in it.

The transport touched down and Jack stopped thinking about
traitors and politics. He hesitated to run over to the transport, fearing
another attack of his renegade emotions, but when the door opened and he saw
Wendy, he started sprinting before he realized it.

She climbed out of the aircraft, looking a little haggard
but not really injured. When she spotted him, her eyes lit up and she smiled. He
practically tackled her back into the transport, grabbing her in a big hug,
then gently setting her down, suddenly afraid that she might have injuries he
didn’t notice. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? They said you were carried off by
the other crew. What happened?” It all came out so fast that he had to stop
himself and allow her to talk.

“Slow down, Jack. I’m okay, just a little banged up. I took
a nasty blow from that explosion and was knocked unconscious. I messed up my
leg a little, but one of Teague’s magic potions healed me right up. My hand
might take a couple days to mend, but I can already move my fingers.” She
wiggled her fingers in his face.

He smiled at her and said, “Look, we need to debrief you
guys, and then we have another mission starting in a short while, but I really
want to talk to you about the other night.” Before she could say anything, he
continued, “Why don’t you have Teague get you checked out real quick and meet
us down in the briefing room. Have you eaten anything recently?”

Wendy blinked a couple times at all the questions. “I’m
fine, Jack. I’ll have Teague give me a once over after the debriefing. I ate
some food on the way back, so I’m not hungry. Chuck said something about you
going after us yesterday? What was that all about?”

Jack frowned. He wasn’t particularly proud of his actions
the day before. It was impetuous to go out with the rescue team and put his
life at risk like he did, and he knew it as much as anyone else. “I, uh – well,
I just couldn’t sit here knowing that you were in trouble out there. I know it
was stupid to leave everything hanging and go out there, but...”
But what?
He cared greatly for her, but surely he couldn’t say he loved her, could he? He
took the idea of love very seriously. The whirlwind that they had been through
the last week had been full of passion and emotions, but was this really like
what he had with Jennifer? Could he devote the rest of his life to this woman? He
wasn’t sure of that answer at this moment.

Wendy kissed him on the lips, interrupting his train of
thought. “It was sweet that you charged out after me, and I appreciate it.” Jack
felt warm and fuzzy inside when she said that. “It was pretty stupid though,
all things considered. Like it or not, you have responsibilities here that are
more important than me. Don’t do it again, Mad Dawg.” She punched him lightly
on the arm, then kissed him again and gave him a hug. “I missed you. I was
worried that I would never see you again.” Her voice cracked and she hung on to
the hug a few moments longer.

Jack feared he might start gushing again, so after returning
the hug, he said, “We can continue this tonight, maybe.” He let go of her and
looked at the other men, who were all out of the transport now. “Debriefing
downstairs in ten minutes.” He turned to walk away but Chuck caught his eye,
and he veered toward the man.

“Chuck, thank you for finding them. I owe you one.”

“Nonsense, it’s like you said the other day, I did what I
had to do. Besides, I just flew an aircraft, it wasn’t like I put my life at
serious risk to save them. I still owe you. Listen, we have to talk for a
second.” Chuck looked around and motioned to an unoccupied corner. Jack
followed him.

Chuck looked around to make sure nobody was paying
attention. In a low voice he said, “I talked to the survivors on the way back. Some
stuff happened that they will tell you about in a few minutes. The big thing
is, they learned that the ambush was set up, and that there is a traitor here in
New Hope.”

“Shit, how do you think we should handle this? If someone is
listening in on the debriefing it will come out and we could lose our edge.” The
traitor didn’t know that they knew yet, which gave them an advantage. It was
pretty much the only advantage they had and Jack didn’t want to lose it.

“We spoke about it before heading back here, and everyone is
in agreement that we don’t want to bring it up where it can be overheard. We
need to find a chance to talk about it with them, and with their source. Perhaps
we can learn enough to figure out who it is.”

“Who’s the source?”

Chuck grinned. “You won’t believe it, Jack. You really won’t.”

* * *

Jack thanked each of the rescue team personally then turned
to Chin, “You really went above and beyond here. I can’t tell you how much it
means to me, both personally and professionally. Why don’t you go get some
sleep?”

Chin shook his head. “Are you kidding me, Jack? We’re
launching your next operation in less than an hour. I’m not gonna miss this one
for anything. I am, however, going to go clean up and get some food.” They took
the rail car back and got on the elevator. At level two, the door opened, and
Chin exited. “See you back at the flight deck in an hour.”

Jack continued down to level four for the debriefing. When
he walked into the room, Chuck, Wendy, and the other three men were there
waiting. Wendy introduced the men.

“Thanks for coming here first. I know you’re all looking
forward to a hot shower and a change of clothes, but I want to know what all
happened while it’s fresh in your minds.”

Over the next thirty minutes he heard the whole story,
starting with leaving New Hope and ending with Chuck picking them up. Living up
to Chuck’s prediction, he was dumbfounded when they told him about Bartholomew.

“Give me your honest opinion, can we trust him?” Jack was
skeptical of the Mute, and not even a little bit sure of Wendy’s choice to
leave him with a valuable laser transmitter and a datapad with an entire
encyclopedia of information. His first impression was that this Mute had conned
them into giving him something that would be of great value to him and his
“former” clan. It might also be a real risk to the security of New Hope.

Wendy was the first to speak. “I trust him, or I wouldn’t
have offered him the equipment. He helped us, and might very well have saved
our lives. He killed three of his own to help us.” Jack considered this and
turned to Anton.

“I still see a possibility for his actions being a ruse to
get information and resources from us, but he struck me as too intelligent for
anything he got out of us to be a tool for him to get back into the grace of
the clan. I would think that if his intention was getting back into the clan,
he would be best served to capture us and turn us in. If all he wanted was a
datapad, he could have killed us and had three. I’m inclined to believe his
story and trust him as far as we would trust any new member of New Hope.”

Jack was impressed with Anton. The man had proven to be an
excellent soldier, and showed signs of being quite intelligent. He made a
mental note and continued on, next looking at Wayne.

“After seeing what that big sonofabitch did to the Mutes
that were following us, I think we can trust him. The fact that he didn’t kill
us when he obviously could have goes a long way in my book.” Jack nodded. It
wasn’t the most eloquent explanation, but it was reasonable.

He turned to the last man, Gregory. “Greg, what about you? Do
you think we can trust Bartholomew?”

Gregory shrugged. “I honestly can’t say. I agree with what
Wayne said, about him not killing us, but that dude scared the shit outta me. Not
only is he a Mute, but he is the biggest and scariest Mute I have ever seen. I
am not even ashamed to admit that I am going to be having nightmares about this
for a while. I’m just thankful we didn’t bring him back here. I wouldn’t have
been able to sleep at night thinking that a monster like that is roaming our
halls.” Wendy and Anton shot him a look of annoyance, and he frowned. “Hey, the
Capn’ was asking my opinion. You had your say, and I’m entitled to mine. I wasn’t
privy to all your conversations, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to strike up a
personal chat with him! I say he’s a Mute, and I wouldn’t trust him with
anything that could compromise our security. If he turns out to be okay, I will
be the first to admit I was wrong, but until then, I stand by my opinion.”

The man was right, and even if nobody liked what he
believed, he was still entitled to believe it. Although the other members of
the crew had downplayed it, the fact was that Gregory had abandoned them when
Bart showed himself. If something had scared Jack like that, he would have a
hard time with trust all the same. Aside from running in the face of fear,
Gregory had earned everyone’s respect through his actions over the past two
days. Jack would not have a problem putting him in battle alongside anyone
else.

He dismissed everyone, after thanking them for their time. To
his dismay, Wendy told him she would catch up with him later and left with the
other three men. Chuck hung back to talk to Jack.

“If we can trust him, Bart would be a great asset to New
Hope. He can give us insight into the Mutes culture that could be valuable down
the road. How do you feel about getting in touch with him and getting the
location of those small communities he said were in the area?”

Chuck needed something to do until the big operation took
place, and this would be the perfect thing to keep him occupied. Plus it might
give him an opportunity to meet with Bart and learn more about their little
problem. “I can do that. I’ll get a crew together in the morning and go
investigate. It would be good to find these people before Farnak’s people
capture them. I’ll keep you informed on what I find.” The statement had a
double meaning, and Jack understood perfectly.