The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) (37 page)

Jack stepped off the rail car once again, and as before the
flight deck was a hive of activity. Thomas and Red had their teams together,
and everyone was fully geared up and ready to go. The two fire teams were
standing at attention when he approached, and both Thomas and Red gave him a
quick salute. He returned the gesture and asked, “You boys ready to go?”

Both men said in unison, “Yes, Sir!” Jack grinned. This wasn’t
the military, but it was nice to have everyone thinking like it was. Things
just ran better that way.

Jack consulted the time on his datapad. It was close enough.
He turned to the group of soldiers. “Men, thank you for doing this. This
mission will determine the course of the future of New Hope. I have every
confidence you will succeed, and I pray that you all come back to tell me how
well it went. Just remember, our goal is to get some heavy machinery, not to
destroy the Mutes or take over the city. Stay sharp, stay focused, and don’t
lose sight of the objective. Good luck and God speed.” He saluted the men and
they saluted back. “Go kick some ass, gentlemen!”

There were some shouts of excitement and bravado as they
loaded up on the large transport. Jack watched them get on board, stopping
Thomas to wish him good luck. He backed up as the transport wound up its four
massive propellers. The aircraft was huge, easily fifty feet long and twenty
feet wide. It was basically a giant box with a short wing on each corner, an
eight foot diameter hole in each wing with a three bladed propeller centered in
each hole. Unlike the small and medium flyers, this one had a cockpit up front
that was separate from the cargo area, and looked like it was tacked on to the
front as an afterthought. It was hardly a graceful looking machine, kind of
looked like a giant square turtle, but it got the job done.

The pilot lifted the aircraft off the ground and carefully
maneuvered it out of the flight bay. Jack heard the props wind up to a very
loud hum as the transport gained altitude and disappeared into the night sky.

The flight would last about forty minutes, and he had a
sudden overwhelming need to go spend it with Wendy. He grabbed his datapad and
punched the icon to call her. He heard the datapad beep behind him and turned,
half expecting her to be standing there. It took him a moment to realize the
source of the sound was the small table where they had brought all the items
found at the landing site the previous day. She had not retrieved her datapad
yet. It was the perfect excuse to go see her. He grabbed it and headed to her
apartment.

* * *

Wendy took a long, hot shower, washing away two days of
grime and stress. She examined her body as she showered, noting the large
bruises on her legs, shoulder, and ribs. It was truly unbelievable that she had
not been killed in the blast. Chalk it up to another miracle of modern science.
The armor they wore was so light that she seldom remembered how protective it
was. If she had gone through the same situation back in her day, she would have
been killed in the explosion or died from her injuries thereafter. Of course,
another way to look at it was that in her day, the likelihood of being attacked
in Idaho by a group of large, wrinkly, hairless people was somewhere between
slim and none.

She melted into the bed, and was just about to drift away
into a pleasant sleep when the door chimed. Frustration was her first emotion,
followed by curiosity. She knew, given the circumstances, if she ignored it,
whoever was at the door would go away, assuming she was fast asleep. On the
other hand, if someone was here to see her, knowing her condition, it was
probably important. The curiosity won out, so she slipped out of bed, and into
a robe.

She ran a mental list of who would be at the door. Jack was
busy with the Saber operation, Teague was either with Jack, with the new reborn
guy, or maybe meeting with the council to brief them on everything that has
happened in the past couple hours. She opened the door and, to her surprise, Anton
was standing there.

It took her off guard, and she hesitated before saying, “Uh,
hello. What’s up?” They had been through a lot the last two days, and like
anyone surviving something like that, they had grown closer. Seeing him in the
doorway tonight, she feared he had mistaken that bond for something more.

“Wendy, we need to talk. Can I come in?” She hesitated
again, then stepped back and gestured for him to come inside. He walked into
the living room, stopped and turned toward her, getting very close. She was
just about to push him back and tell him that she didn’t feel that way about
him when he said quietly, “We need to talk about the traitor. I think we should
tell Marcus.”

Heat flooded her chest and face, and she felt like an idiot.
Here she thought he was coming for a booty call, a little reward for saving her
life. She needed to stop thinking like every man only wanted one thing from
her. If anyone deserved her trust, it was Anton. She took a breath to clear her
mind and whispered, “We can’t talk about this here, you know that someone could
potentially be listening in.” She looked around, thinking about it.

A thought popped into her head and she grabbed his arm and
pulled him toward the bathroom. Surely they don’t have cameras and microphones
in the bathroom. If they do, there is going to be hell to pay, conspiracy or
not. The thought of someone tapping into her apartment cameras was bad enough.

The bathroom was not large. It was maybe six feet wide and
four feet deep with the door in the center of the longer wall. A sink and
toilet were against the wall to the right, and the shower occupied the wall to
the left. That left them an area about four feet by two feet to stand and talk,
after the door was closed.

They stood very close together, talking softly.

“I understand what Chuck was saying earlier, but I still
think we need to tell Marcus. He is our leader, and it’s our responsibility to
let him know what’s going on.”

“What if he’s the one behind it?”

Anton scoffed at that. “What would he have to gain by our
failure? If this whole operation fails, New Hope will suffer for it. Marcus
would have nothing to gain from failure.”

“I tend to agree, but think about Jack. A lot of people
here, particularly the reborn, see Jack as a breath of fresh air. Marcus has
been pussyfooting around the Freezer for four years, and Jack comes along and
within a week he has the entire population of New Hope working for him to take
what we can before Cali gets it. If he succeeds, he would be a threat to Marcus’
leadership. If he fails though, things can go back to how they were. You and I
can’t begin to imagine how someone with memories going back two hundred years
would feel about change.”

Anton thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “I
see what you are saying, but I don’t see Marcus putting us in harm’s way, even
if it meant his position on the council.”

Wendy shrugged. “I don’t know if he would or not. I haven’t
been here as long as you have, but what if he
is
behind it? He can’t
afford for it to get out. If we confront him with this information and he is
the one responsible for the attack, we’re as good as dead. I don’t want to take
that risk. I trust Chuck and Jack, I think we should let them handle this.”

Anton was thinking about it when the door suddenly opened. He
jumped and spun around, pinning Wendy against the wall and blocking her view. She
couldn’t see who was there, but Anton said, “Christ Jack, you scared the hell
out of us.”

Oh shit. This probably doesn’t look good.
She peeked
her head around Anton and saw a confused expression on Jack’s face. She smiled
and said, “Uh, Hi Jack.” It was pretty weak, but she couldn’t think of anything
else to say. She nudged Anton and when he looked back at her, she made a motion
for him to exit the bathroom. When he moved away from her, the robe opened up,
exposing some of her naked body. She quickly closed it and cinched the belt
tight.
God I hope he didn’t see that
.

Anton was blushing as he walked out of the bathroom. He
carefully stepped around Jack, stopped once he was past, and turned back to
face them both. To Jack he said, “Um, we were just talking. I, uh... I’m gonna
go now.” He then looked at Wendy once more and said, “Think about it.”

When he exited the bathroom, Wendy motioned for Jack to come
in and close the door. He didn’t move. There was tension in the air, and she
was frantically trying to think of what to say to diffuse the situation. Before
she could think of anything, he said, “Look, I just brought your datapad. I
would have called, but...” He set the datapad in the sink and took a step back
again. “If I interrupted something, I can leave.”

“No! I mean, don’t be silly, Jack. Come here.” He hesitated
another moment then stepped into the bathroom, the door closing behind him.

She got up close to him and whispered, “We were talking
about the traitor. I figured there wouldn’t be any cameras or microphones in my
bathroom. I was just getting into bed when he showed up. I’m sorry if it looked
like something else, but you have nothing to worry about.”

He seemed to relax a little, but still looked a little wary.
“I should have knocked, I’m sorry.”

“No, really, I have nothing to hide from you Jack. You
scared the shit out of me when you opened the door like that. All this talk of
conspiracy and a traitor, and I thought for sure when the door opened it would
be whoever was responsible, holding a rifle, ready to tell us why he did it
before emptying the magazine into our bodies.”

Jack laughed. “This sounds like a James Bond novel. I don’t
think you have to worry that much about the enemy showing up in your bathroom. Whoever
is behind this isn’t going to be so bold as to openly murder someone.”

The adrenaline that had shot into her system when the door
opened was making her a little antsy, and being this close to Jack for the
first time in a couple days had her body on overdrive. She moved closer to him,
pressing her breasts against his chest. “It’s a good thing it wasn’t the enemy
at the door, shooting at me. All I have on to protect me is this flimsy robe,
and nothing else. I wouldn’t stand a chance.” She wrapped her arms around his
neck and pulled him down for a long kiss.

When they broke off, Jack looked into her eyes for a long
moment, then seeming to find what he was looking for, smiled coyly and said, “If
I didn’t know you better, I would say you were trying to seduce me.”

Wendy was shaking just slightly from the adrenaline, the
hormones, and the nervousness that stemmed from the unknown, but his comment
gave her the confidence to smile, untie the robe, and let it drop to the floor.
“I don’t need to seduce you, Jack.”

He took a step back and admired her body, frowning when he
spotted the large bruises. “My God, Wendy, you must be in pain. Was that all
from the explosion?”

She silently cursed to herself. She should have waited until
they were in the dark to undress. She must not look too attractive with all the
bruises. “Mostly, that and some bullets bouncing off my armor. I don’t really
feel any pain though, Teague gave me another shot of his potion before I got ready
for bed. Speaking of bed...”

But the mood was broken. “I really just came down to talk to
you. I only have about a half hour.” He walked out of the bathroom and into the
bedroom. She picked up the robe, put it back on, and followed, once again
nervous about what he was going to say. If he was upset with her about her cold
exit the other night and had done anything with Cat, finding her in the
bathroom with another man just minutes ago was probably going to push him over
the edge, whether it was innocent or not.

He sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him. She sat
down and rested her head on his shoulder. “Look Wendy, I wanted to make sure
you weren’t mad at me from the other night. Chuck and Emmet weren’t going to
stop harassing me until they found out who I was with, so I told them. I didn’t
say anything more, and I wasn’t spreading it around. It’s been a long time
since I had a... girlfriend, and I guess I am out of practice on how to keep it
to myself.”

This wasn’t quite what she had steeled herself for, so her
response was a little scatterbrained, “Oh shit, no, Jack, I overreacted. When I
was in the military, most of the men I dated would brag about it the next day,
and I hated it. I know you aren’t the kind of guy to do that, and I’m sorry I
reacted the way I did. If it’s any consolation, I went and talked to Chuck that
night, and he told me how he came to know about us. And about how much of a
cold bitch I have been since I got here. When I got to your room to apologize, I
saw Ca… I mean, you were already asleep, and then I went on that stupid mission
the next morning and I was supposed to be back before…”

“Wait, back up. You saw Cat leaving my room that night?”

Oh shit, here it comes.
“Yeah, and I… I can
understand if you…”

“If I what? Want to have sex with her?”

She looked away, wanting to crawl into a hole. A tear
started to form. “Yes.”

He didn’t say anything, and she was just about to get up and
tell him to leave when he finally said, “When I saw you with Anton a few
minutes ago…”

She looked at him, “Dammit, Jack, that was not what it
looked like!”

As she turned to look, he put a finger to her lips. “When I
saw you with him a few minutes ago, there was a brief moment when I wondered if
I was enough for you, if you really cared about me, particularly given the way
you left me the other night, then left on this mission without saying anything.
But then I saw the way you looked at me, and I realized something really
important.”

Meekly she said, “What’s that?”