The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) (29 page)

“No need, I’m here.” He had a slightly dismissive tone that instantly
annoyed Jack. “We gonna talk tactics or what?”

Tiny gave Jack a look that spoke volumes. “Yeah, we’ve been
ready for a while.” If Red caught the menacing tone in Tiny’s deep voice, he
ignored it.

“You guys can take a break, I got this.” Red said to the two
men from engineering. They looked at Tiny to confirm that they were finished for
now. Jack tried not to smile.

“Thanks for your help, gentlemen. I will contact you later
after we have a training ground set up. We can do some test runs to make sure
our time estimates are good enough.” The men nodded and left, not even looking
at Red on their way out. Jack knew that he had a situation that needed to be
dealt with right away.

When the door closed, Jack turned to Red, and in his officer
voice said, “Red, I want to make it clear that Tiny is in charge of this part
of my operation. If there is a problem with that I need to know about it right
now.”

Red practically scoffed. The men he came in with tensed,
expecting a confrontation. “Listen, Jack , these here boys are my men, and they
ain gonna take they orders from any damned Freezer burnt reborn. I preciate
that you finely got Marcus to agree to a big operation like this, but we been
the one’s tryin to save humanity since long before you guys evah showed up.” The
men around him smiled.

Jack glanced at Tiny, who got up from the table and stood
behind him. “I can appreciate that you’ve been fighting for your survival for a
long time. I spent a few years getting shot at and watching my friends and
fellow soldiers die by the dozens, and I can’t imagine what it is like to live
your whole life like that.” This drew another smirk from him. Jack put his
datapad down and stepped closer to Red, who of course didn’t back up. “Before
we all bow down to your superior expertise, let’s make some things perfectly
clear. This man behind me was trained by a military that had two hundred years
of experience in being the most superior armed force on the earth. His entire
career of eighteen years was spent infiltrating enemy ground and either taking
out a force of superior numbers, or holding a defensive position against
superior numbers while waiting for the regular troops to arrive. He
specifically trained for weeks on a project nearly identical to this one, but
far more dangerous. Furthermore, I myself spent twenty years in the military,
training both as an infantry fighter and as an officer. I spent the last ten
years dealing with pricks like you who thought that because I was an officer, I
didn’t know what it was like to be the one holding the gun and shooting at the
enemy. Now, if you really want to find out who has the bigger dick here, I
think Tiny and I can accommodate you and your buddies. Just say the word. I
haven’t had the opportunity to beat some people senseless in a long time, and I
think maybe the time has come. Whatever you want to do, let’s get it over with
so we can get back to planning MY Goddamn operation!” Jack’s voice had steadily
risen from his first word to his last, and at the end he was nearly shouting. He
had to suppress a smile as he watched the blood drain from Red’s face.

“Whoa, now slow yo role, Jack. No need to get vielent with
each otheh. We all after the same thing here. Let’s say we just work this
out...”

“There is nothing to work out here! You take orders from me,
and if that is a problem, I will have you reassigned to patrolling the family
level for the duration of this mission. Do you understand me?!” Jack was
practically foaming at the mouth now, and his face was red.

Red just nodded, not really knowing what to say.

“Answer me, soldier!” Jack snapped it out and Red flinched.

“Yes, sah! I understand!”

His voice instantly returned to normal. “Good. Now, you are
going to work with Tiny on the defense of the site from the time you land until
the time the transport has safely taken off. Once you have a plan worked out, I
want you to assist in putting together a team that can pull it off. I want only
people with combat experience. You will then put together a training program so
you can make some dry runs. You can use the flight bay for this. Once your men
have everything down and we have a bulldozer to practice with, I want you to
bring in the engineers to do some time tests. I need to know exactly how long
this will take barring any problems. Is there anything I have said that you do
not understand?”

“No, Sah. I got most of my men assembled now and I’ll have
the rest by this aftanoon.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Red.” He turned around to
face Tiny, trying to hide his smile. “Tiny can I see you in the hall for a
moment?”

When they left the room and closed the door, they both burst
out in laughter. “I think that will keep him in check, at least until this
mission is over.”

“Don’t worry, Mad Dawg, I will keep a firm grip on him. He
is a good fighter from what I have heard, but some of the natives are worse
than any hillbilly we ever had in our day. He just needs a little military
discipline. You do realize though that if that had escalated to a brawl you
would have been facing all of them, not just Red.”

“We, Tiny, not just me. I could have taken two of them, but
I was counting on you to take the other four.” Jack said it with a straight
face but Tiny saw through it and busted out laughing again.

“It would have been fun to find out. I haven’t had a good
tussle in quite a long time.”

* * *

Jack stopped at the kitchen on this level, which was just a
small break room with a table that would seat four, a sink, and refrigerator. He
poured himself a cold glass of water and took a long drink. His adrenaline had
been going pretty strong there when he challenged Red. He half expected the man
to call his bluff, but truth be told, with the emotional roller coaster he had
been on for the last few days, combined with his new youthful body, part of him
was hoping for a little fight. It was just as well that he didn’t have to go
that far however, just because it was counterproductive. He finished the water
and headed down the hall to the room where Teague and Thomas were planning the
incursion into the city.

There were five men and a woman in the room. Teague and
Thomas he knew. The woman and one of the men were from the group of salvagers,
and the rest he guessed were fighting men. The room was similar to the one Tiny
was in, and they were all sitting around the table looking at a layout of a
city. Teague turned to him when he entered and said, “Was that you shouting
earlier? We heard it through the walls.”

Jack grinned and nodded. “I had to put Red back in line. He thought
he was leading that part of the mission. I think he understands where I’m
coming from now.” The two men whom Jack had assumed were soldiers laughed at
this. Obviously they knew Red and didn’t like him much.

“So how are things coming here? Think you can pull this
off?”

Thomas sighed and said, “It’s going to be tough, but we can
do it. We will have to send in a ground team to disable the old air defenses
and then we can fly in a transport to pick up the equipment. The best path to
where we need to go is right through the middle of a neighborhood of Mutes who
have taken up residence. From the limited intelligence we have, there are upwards
of a hundred of them. Although they don’t have the technology or weapons that
we have, they will put up a good fight.” Thomas lowered his voice, “The chances
of a casualty are fairly high.”

Jack nodded solemnly. He had hoped there would be an easy
way to get what they needed without too much risk of life. Unfortunately, this
whole operation hinged on them getting the heavy equipment they needed.

“How soon before you can go in?” The sooner they had the
dozer, the sooner they could launch the whole operation.

“I think we can be ready to go tomorrow afternoon. We were
just discussing the pros and cons of doing it at night. We might have a slight
advantage at night, with our thermal and night vision capabilities. However, if
we get trapped and the Mutes mass up to attack us all at once, that advantage
is lost. They can see pretty well in the dark without any technology to help.”

“Okay, that sounds good. If you need anything, just beep me
on the datapad. Any equipment you find is going to be in rough shape from
sitting for nearly two centuries, who are you bringing to get it moving? And
have you thought about how you will get it loaded? I can’t imagine it will
start right up, and I doubt you will be able to push it on board the transport.”

Teague spoke up. “Yeah, we were thinking Wendy would be good
for it. She can fix anything, and it would give us a backup pilot if anything
happened there.”

Jack didn’t like the thought of her going on the most
dangerous mission. “Is there anyone else? Someone with more combat experience
maybe?” He made it sound like he wanted someone better suited to fight, but the
truth was she probably was the best person for the job. He just didn’t want her
to go.

Thomas didn’t know their history, and didn’t pick up on it. “Most
of the men have seen combat, and there are a couple good mechanics in that
crew. We can find someone that can both fight and turn a wrench.” Jack was
pleased to hear that.

Before he could ask any more questions, his datapad beeped. A
quick glance told him Chin was calling. He pressed the button to answer. “Jack,
I think you need to come out to the flight deck. We have a problem.”

Jack nodded and clicked the disconnect button. There were
always problems in an operation of this size, so he wasn’t that worried,
despite the urgency in Chin’s voice. He told them to keep working and headed up
to level one.

* * *

Jack stepped off the rail car and casually headed over to a
group of people standing around a makeshift operations center. It was very
common to see something small get blown out of proportion, so he was trying to
make an effort to keep calm and collected, setting an example of how to react
in what was most likely a minor snag.

As he approached, he saw there were eight displays in front
of them – the largest displaying a map of Idaho. A flashing dot about in the
middle of the map caught his attention.

“What’s up Chin?” Over by the flyers, three men in full
combat armor were checking their gear, and a pilot was going over the aircraft
in a hasty manner. A little tickle of fear fluttered in his belly. Something
was definitely wrong.

“Jack, we lost communications with the crew in Idaho. I’m
sorry.”

There were a few moments in every person’s life they never
wanted to repeat. Finding out he had cancer and learning of his wife and
daughter’s death were two of those moments for Jack. He felt like he was
experiencing another one right now. His heart beat in his chest with the sudden
rush of adrenaline. “Shit! Cali?”

“We don’t know. They had already landed and reported they
had found what they were looking for. About ten minutes after that, we got
this.” He pushed a button on his pad and the large display showed an image of
Wendy. Jack’s heart seemed to stop as he tensed in anticipation of what the
video would reveal.

Wendy looked bored as she spoke into the PDP. “New Hope,
this is Salvage Crew three. Nothing new to report.” Something off camera caught
her attention. She continued talking as she studied whatever it was that had
her attention, confusion slowing her words. “We should be ready to dust off in
about thirty min – Oh Shit!” A flash of light was followed by chaos as the PDP
tumbled rapidly away showing nothing but a blur of color. A quick jolt of sound
was the last thing to come through before the audio and video went dead.

If Jack had not braced himself on the edge of Chin’s chair,
he would probably be sitting on the ground, his legs unable to support him. As
quickly as the wave of nausea and fear washed over him, his emotions were shut
down by instinct and training, tucked away to be processed later. He didn’t
have time to worry about Wendy right now – he had to act. “Is the rescue team
ready to go?”

Chin nodded, “Pretty much, a few more minutes and they will
be able to take off as soon as you give the word.”

“Can someone go grab my gear? I’m going with.” One of the
men jumped in the rail car and it took off.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea Jack? Maybe you shouldn’t
put yourself at risk like this.”

He was right but Jack couldn’t bear the thought of standing
around for hours waiting to hear any news. He didn’t have to say anything,
however. The look of determination on his face was enough. Chin just nodded.

Less than five minutes later, the rail car was returned and
as Jack ran to get his gear, Chin made one last feeble attempt to convince him
to stay. “You know, it could be that they were attacked and the laser radio on
the transport was hit. It’s very unlikely the transport itself was damaged. For
all we know, they could be on their way back already.” Jack wasn’t listening –
his mind was already on the rescue mission.

Before he boarded the flyer, he turned back to Chin and
shouted, “Wait ten minutes then call Teague and brief him on the situation.” He
jumped in, signaling the pilot to get going.

Once they were in the air he stripped down and started
putting his armor on. He asked the pilot their ETA. One hour and five minutes. It
didn’t take long to get dressed and check all his gear, leaving him with over
fifty minutes to sit and wait. The adrenaline was now wearing off and he was getting
jumpy.

He took the time to get familiar with the rescue team. There
were five men and one woman, plus the pilot who was also a man. Two of the men
had been on the team that rescued him. The woman held out her hand and said,
“Hi, Jack, I’m Heather.”

Jack recognized the name from the conversation with Emmet
the day before. She was somewhat attractive, more because of youth than
anything else. It was difficult to judge anything other than her face because
of the body armor, but she was about five feet eight inches tall and seemed to
be in good shape. Her hair was black and cut short, like most of the women he
had met so far. He took her hand and was surprised that she had a very firm
grip. “Nice to meet you Heather.” He suddenly realized that he had stripped
down to his boxers to change into his combat gear right in front of this woman.
If she was uncomfortable with it, it hadn’t shown on her face. Having female
soldiers was something he would have to get used to.

The rest of the men introduced themselves, and he shook each
man’s hand, except the pilot, who was busy flying the aircraft. There was a bit
of tension in the cabin, but for the most part everyone remained calm making
small talk. Jack tried to relax and not think about Wendy, but in the back of
his mind he was saying, “Oh shit oh shit oh shit.”

* * *

Wendy woke around 6:30 a.m. and milled around her apartment
for about half an hour before going down to check on Jack. He was still asleep,
and she didn’t want to wake him. She figured he would be out until around lunch
while his body finished the healing process, so she went to find something to
do to keep her mind off the coming confrontation. Sleep had dulled her anger,
but every time she pictured that bitch walking out of Jack’s room emotions
raged and she couldn’t think clearly.

She made her way to the flight bay, thinking she could spend
some time working on the new flyer they had acquired the day before. There were
three crews in the bay getting geared up for scavenging. Chin was working with
some techs, setting up a control center where he could oversee the scavenging
missions, as well as the main operation once it started. He looked up from his
work when she walked over and said, “Good morning, Wendy. Got any plans today?”

She shrugged. “Nothing pressing. I was going to hang with
Jack today but he is still sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him.” If everyone
didn’t already know she had been with Jack, they would know soon enough. Chin
didn’t register surprise, confirming her suspicion that even her private life
was well known around here. The blanket of depression got a little heavier. “Why,
got anything for me to do?”

“As a matter of fact, I would love it if you would fly one
of the salvaging crews. I have Jerry lined up for it, but last time he flew one
of the medium haulers he almost landed on a tree. I would prefer someone with
more experience.”

She knew all about Jerry. That idiot had nearly torn the
left rear prop clean off. Wendy had to fix the damage, and she let him know in
no uncertain terms that the next time he didn’t look where he was landing she
would shove the bent prop up his ass. “Yeah, I can do it. Where are we heading,
I would like to be back by lunch.”

“Idaho. Heading to that factory where George thinks there might
be some insulation and maybe some copper tubing. Should easily be back by noon,
one at the latest.”

Maybe a little flying would get her mind straight. Plus, if
Jack got up and she wasn’t around, maybe he would think twice about his actions
and really consider their relationship. A couple hours certainly wouldn’t hurt.
Thinking of repairing that propeller again made the decision even easier. “Okay,
when do I leave?”

“Your crew is over there by transport three. They should be
about ready to go. Do you need to get your gear?”

“Nope. I have a set of gear that I keep up here in my
toolbox, just in case I get the chance to go out. I can be ready in about five
minutes.” Chin nodded, wished her luck, and turned back to what he had been
doing.

She got dressed and headed to the transport. There were
three scavengers and one soldier, all dressed in full armor. Normally they
would just wear their under suits and a set of coveralls or fatigues, but Jack
had insisted everyone be prepared, just in case.

The crew was familiar to her, and they all visibly relaxed
when they realized she was going to be the pilot. Nobody had flown the aircraft
since she last worked on it, so the inspection was quick. Climbing into the
pilots seat was all the announcement she needed and the men all loaded in
without a word.

* * *

The flight took a little over an hour, and was uneventful. There
was a little chatter amongst the crew, mostly about the upcoming events. This
was perhaps the biggest single operation New Hope had been involved in since
before anyone could remember. Despite the danger ahead, people were excited. Daily
life in an underground bunker could be quite dull.

Each mention of Jack grated on her nerves. She tried to
relax and worry about him later, but it was as if he had already told her he
was going to play the field before settling down. The crew seemed aware she had
something going with Jack. The way they looked at her each time his name came
up only irritated her more. The sad thing was, nobody noticed her emotional
struggle, the façade of ice was back and as far as they were concerned it was
normal.

Wendy was impressed with her own landing. It was her best to
date, and Anton, the soldier, patted her on the shoulder and complimented it. “It
sure beats landing in a tree.” They all laughed.

She put down in a clearing, in the foothills of a
mountainous region. There was a heavy tree line about a hundred yards away in
the north and northwest, and a river to the south. The building they were after
was about forty feet north of them, built next to a railroad that headed
northeast to southwest around the mountains. The tracks were heavily pitted
with rust and many of the railroad ties had rotted completely away. Oddly
enough, the thick vegetation around just about everything seemed to avoid the
old railroad tracks, highlighting them instead of obscuring them as she would
have expected. The weather was decent, but they were high enough in elevation
that it was still a bit chilly. Wendy imagined it would drop below freezing
when the sun went down, and the snow covered peaks to the north seemed to
confirm it. She wouldn’t want to spend the night out here.

There were two small hills to the east and west, and Anton
humped up to the higher of the two hills to keep a lookout. The scavengers got
to work right away, heading into the building in search of insulation.

Wendy kept herself busy for about ten minutes giving the
aircraft a complete inspection, but was quickly bored after that. A few minutes
later, Stanley, one of the scavengers, came back hauling an armload of heavy
insulation. She wasn’t very fond of Stanley; he was always trying to hit on her
and never took the hint that she wasn’t interested. He dropped the load in the
ship’s cargo hold and smiled at her like she should be impressed. “We can
easily fill up the hold with what we found in there. There is a bunch of copper
tubing that’s in pretty good shape too. You want to give us a hand hauling this
stuff out?” She had nothing better to do, so she followed him back in, making
sure to walk behind him so he wouldn’t be looking at her butt the whole way.

After four trips they called in to base to check in and give
them an update. They were at about six thousand feet of elevation, and hauling
the heavy loads back and forth had winded her. She sat down to catch her
breath. The other scavengers spent more time outdoors and were to hauling heavy
objects in the lighter air. After a little rest, she checked the status of the
cargo bay. It was nearly full and they had not even taken a fifth of what was
here. When the next man showed up with an armload of booty, she told him to
stop bringing insulation and get some copper and they could head out. Then she
called in again to tell Chin that it wouldn’t be much longer. “New Hope, this
is Salvage Crew three. Nothing new to report.” Out of the corner of her eye she
saw Anton running back down the hill, waving frantically. She continued talking
while she tried to make sense of what he was doing. “We should be ready to dust
off in about thirty min-” An object came over the hill the soldier was running
down, trailing a line of smoke. When she realized it was headed straight for
her, she dove out of the way, only managing to say “Oh shit!”.

She had not hit the ground from her dive when the rocket hit
the transport. The explosion threw her like a ragdoll for another ten feet
before driving her into the ground. The impact nearly knocked her unconscious,
and if she hadn’t been wearing the earplugs, her eardrums would have been
shattered.

She struggled to get to her feet, but nothing wanted to work
quite right. There was shouting coming from her left and in front of her. She
became aware of a pain in her left leg, and right hand. Rolling over on her
back, she held her hand in front of her face to see why it hurt. Two fingers
were grossly swollen and some blood was dripping from one of them. Using her
good arm she tried to get to her feet, but as soon as she got her left leg
positioned to stand up, pain shot from her knee. The body armor had absorbed
most of the impact, but her knee hit a rock when she landed and her hand took
all her weight when she pitched forward. She hadn’t bothered to don her gloves
or keep her weapon out, and she was paying the price.

Sitting up, she became aware of the gunfire. Anton had taken
cover about twenty yards from her and was firing toward the hill in front of
him. To her left, two of the three scavengers were heading toward her, one
turning and firing bursts of rifle fire every dozen or so steps. She was having
trouble focusing and could not see what they were shooting at. Her helmet lay
about ten feet away but it might as well have been a mile.

The first of the scavengers reached her and the second took
a knee and started firing back toward where he had been. “Are you okay? Can you
walk?” She looked into his face and tried to comprehend what he said. It took a
moment to understand.

“No, I smashed my knee. I can’t get up. What’s going on?” Her
head was spinning and now she felt tired. Her eyes started drooping shut and
she struggled to keep them open.

“Mutes. About twenty of them stormed the building. Stanley
is dead. Looks like they hit us from two sides. What the hell happened to the
transport?” The other scavenger was shouting something now, and Anton had
stopped shooting and was heading toward them.

“Uh. I think an RPG...” Her vision was going dark and she
lost control of her eyelids, which decided to close on their own.

The last few words she heard were, “We gotta get to the trees
to get some cover... concussion... carry her...”

* * *

Jack’s leg bounced up and down. By the time they started
their descent, he was ready to pick a fight with someone in the cabin, just to
release the nervous energy. When they cleared the clouds, the plume of black
smoke was the first thing he noticed. His heart sank when he saw the huge
debris field at the source of the smoke.

The remains of the aircraft were about forty feet from a large
building. As they got closer, he could see bodies all over the place. There
were at least a dozen between the wreckage and the building, and another six or
seven on the hillside to the east.

“Oh Christ. This doesn’t look good.” The pilot’s words
reflected exactly what Jack was feeling. So far he had not spotted any bodies
clothed in combat armor. That was a good sign, he hoped.

“Salvage Crew three, this is Rescue Team one, do you read?” Jonathan,
the man next to the pilot, had been trying to call any of the salvage crew for
the last ten minutes. Nobody answered.

Jack pointed at a body to the west of the wreckage, just
south of the tree line. “Fly over there and let’s take a closer look.” If he
were being chased with nowhere to go, he would have headed toward the trees.

The pilot circled around toward the trees while Jonathan
called New Hope. “New Hope, this is Rescue one. We have reached the site. There
is sign of a recent battle and what appears to be the remains of the transport.
There are also a lot of bodies. Except for the transport, it looks like Mutes. No
sign of the salvage team. We’re going to head over to the west and scan for any
power sources.” The technology level of the Mutes was low enough that any power
source they detected was most likely from one of the salvage crew’s
possessions. That is, of course, unless it had been taken from their dead body.

Suddenly, the pilot hit the throttle and shoved the stick to
the left, banking the aircraft hard in a left hand power dive. Jack rose up off
his seat, his seatbelt the only thing keeping him from bouncing off the roof. He
looked out the window in time to see an object hurtle past them, missing by
inches, trailing a column of white smoke. He followed the smoke back to the
woods below. “Holy shit! They shot a rocket at us!” Jonathan was already
calling it in to New Hope.

The aircraft pulled out of the dive and lined up on the
source of the attack. “I’m gonna cook those bastards!” He was flipping switches
on the control panel, and Jack figured he was arming a missile.

“NO!” he exclaimed, “They could have our people captive down
there. If you bomb them you could hurt Wen – one of our own!” He was not about
to let the pilot start blindly dropping ordinance out there. “Put us down at
the tree line and then go back up and watch for trouble from above. Stay out of
range of those rockets!” He checked the safety on his rifle and chambered a
round, then powered up his helmet and put on a thermal overlay. Scanning the
forest as they came down, he saw a definite source of heat about two hundred
yards in. It was close to where the rocket came from, and there was more than
one object.