DusktoDust_Final3 (8 page)

Seconds later Conway was at Letsego
’
s side.
“
Calm down, Ski. You
’
re gonna be okay.
”

“
I can
’
t see!
”
the man cried as he tried to wipe the blood out of his eyes to no avail.

Letsego held his hands down, stopping Ski from making things worse.
“
Get me a med kit!
”

Yang rushed over, tearing open a medical kit. He was the team
’
s designated medic. As his hands fumbled through the supplies in the kit, he evaluated Ski
’
s wounds.
“
Looks like multiple lacerations to the face and chest. That flash bang must have gone off right in front of him.
”

“
No shit!
”
Letsego
’
s concern was turning to rage. He leaned over Ski, wanting to help but not knowing what to do. Conway pushed him back.

“
Lets, we
’
ve got it covered.
”
He could see his friend was losing control. He was going to get in the way.
“
He
’
s gonna be okay.
”

Letsego stepped back as Yang leaned in to treat Ski. He started applying fusing gel to the dozens of cuts the man had sustained in the blast. Letsego just watched, knowing there was nothing else he could do. Dominquez had gotten the best of him, again. And now one of his team had paid a high price. He guessed that Ski would never see again. His eyes were a nasty pulp of flesh and tissue. He continued to writhe and flail, begging for someone to ease the pain. They would be lucky if they got him out of this hell hole alive.

Yang and Conway continued to work on Ski while Letsego looked on helplessly. His rage continued to build. His mind raced. There must be something he could do. His eyes wander from Ski to the submachine gun that lay on the tunnel floor. Without knowing what he was doing, Letsego stood up. He walked over to the weapon and picked it up.

“
Conway, Yang. Take care of Ski.
”
He racked the slide back.
“
Smith, you
’
re with me. Try and keep up.
”

The others looked around confused, but before they could do anything Letsego took off down the tunnel.

“
Lets, wait!
”
Conway screamed after him. But it was no use. Letsego was going after Dominguez, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him.He lengthened his stride. Behind him he could hear the footsteps of Smith. The young corporal may have been confused, but he had been given an order and he was going to follow it.

The two of them kept running.And running.

It was dark and all that lit their way was the purple glow of trivisium. Letsego didn
’
t care. He knew Dominguez had gone this way, and there was no way that man was faster than him.

And then, mid stride, Letsego felt a slight tug on his foot, and then heard a click. He knew what it was but he didn
’
t stop. He sped up.

“
Grenade!
”

Three seconds later it went off. The explosion reverberated through the passageway, knocking Letsego to the ground. Rock and debris rained down on him.

He was dazed, but not out of it. What mattered was that he was alive. That hadn
’
t been a flash bang, that had been a real grenade, meant to kill. Letsego picked himself up off the floor. Smith. Where was Smith?

“
Smith, you okay?
”
he yelled, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Letsego couldn
’
t see a thing, the dust was so thick. Then he heard coughing.

“
I
’
m okay,
”
Letsego heard through the dust.
“
Bastard dropped a mountain on me. I think my leg is broken.
”

Letsego finally found him. Smith was half buried in the cave-in that had been caused by the grenade. Letsego grabbed his hand and tried to pull him out.

“
Ahhhh!
”
Smith screamed in agony.
“
It
’
s no use. I
’
m not getting out of here any time soon.
”

Letsego considered his options, but Smith made his decision for him.
“
I
’
ll be fine. Don
’
t lose that son of a bitch, Staff Sergeant. He can
’
t get away with this.
”

Letsego nodded, the rage still brewing in his chest.
“
I
’
ll be back for you.
”
With that, he took off down the tunnel.

There was light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. David could see it. It was the crimson glow that could only come from the sky above the Dusk Zone.

It had been over five minutes since they had heard the explosion. David and Alana had stopped running. They were walking briskly, too tired to keep up the fast pace. They clung to the hope that the cave-in had stopped the PKs in their tracks.

The crimson sunlight was getting closer. At first it had been blinding but now David
’
s eyes had adjusted. He kept moving towards it.

Finally, they were there, out of the tunnels of the Skull Pit and into the open again. David breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the humid wind blow across his face. It was so much better than the dry stagnant atmosphere of the Pit. He looked around. They weren
’
t on the ground. They were high up, on top of some type of metal structure.

“
Where the hell are we?
”
Alana said from beside him.

“
It
’
s the old mining facility,
”
he said.
“
We
’
re on top of it.
”
He looked behind them. There, towering above them, were the cliffs that marked the western edge of the Skull Pit. They were standing on a landing pad on top of the mining facility. It was about the size of a football field, with metal railings running all the way around it. David went to the closest railing and looked down. It was a far drop, too far to jump. The next level was at least four stories down. The bottom of the cliff was twice that.

“
We need to find a way down.
”
They started looking. There was green forest at the base of the facility, with a few over grown roads running through it. If they could just get to the forest floor they might be able to find an old mining vehicle and make their escape.

But it wasn
’
t going to be easy. They found the staircase off of the landing pad But it was rusted through and lay on the forest floor far below them.

“
What now,?
”
Alana said, still looking around for another route.

David pulled the paracord from his pocket. He had used some of it for the trip wire in the tunnel but had at least a hundred feet left. It would have to be enough. He started tying it to the closest railing. It looked sturdy.

“
You go down first,
”
he said to Alana as he tied the knot.
“
I
’
ll follow when you
’
re down.
”

Alana nodded, taking a pair of gloves out of her pockets. The paracord was thin. Going down was going to hurt like hell but it was the only choice they had. Once David had finished tying the knot, she hopped over the rail and began climbing down.

David had been so preoccupied with climbing down that he hadn
’
t heard the footsteps behind him. The man came from out of nowhere.

David
’
s body thudded against the metal platform, his assailant on top of him.

“
Got you, you son of a bitch!
”
David managed to turn his head enough to catch a glimpse of the other man. It was the PK team leader. And he was furious

“
You think you can nearly kill two of my men and walk away?!
”
the PK continued.
“
I
’
ve had enough of this. I
’
m taking you and you
’
re little girlfriend in.
”

Suddenly, David felt the sensation of cold metal against his right wrist.
C
uffs
! They locked closed. It was now or never. If the PK got him fully subdued this job would be over before it even began.

“
D! Come on! Your turn!
”
It was Alana from four stories below. She clearly didn
’
t know what was going on yet, but she had provided David with the opening he needed.

The South African took his eyes off of David for a split second. With all his strength, David lifted himself up, throwing the other man off of him. David reached around his back his pistol. He brought it around and aimed but was too slow. With amazing speed, the PK whipped his leg up and kicked the weapon from David
’
s hand. It went flying over the railing.

The PK tried to bring his submachine gun to bear on David but the smuggler leaped on top of him, grabbed the arm holding the gun. The gun went off, spraying bullets harmlessly into the air. Then David finally managed to break the man
’
s grip on the weapon. It slid out of reach.

There was an all out brawl now. David took a right hook across his brow. The hit was so hard that it broke the skin, and he retreated backwards toward the railing. He felt warm blood ooze down his face, impairing his vision in his left eye. The other man got up and bull rushed him. David back peddled until he crashed into the railing. He nearly lost his balance. The two of them were lucky that they didn
’
t tumble over the edge.

David reached behind him, grabbed the railing, and tried to steady himself. As he did he felt the paracord under his palm. With one last effort he shoved his assailant back, grabbed the length of paracord, and wrapped it around the man
’
s neck.

The man was caught off guard. He stepped back, trying to escape, but the makeshift garrote just got tighter. David watched as the man
’
s black face started to turn white. The man dropped to his knees, hands reaching for his throat, clawing at the rope. But there was nothing he could do. David wasn
’
t letting go.

And then, at the last second, David released the paracord. The PK dropped down, hands on the deck, gasping for air. David was breathing hard. Along with his forehead, his hands were bleeding now from his grip on the slender cord. He didn
’
t know why he had stopped. He had killed people before, even a couple PKs. But this man was different. David couldn
’
t tell how, but he didn
’
t want to kill him. And it wasn
’
t necessary.

Down below, Alana was screaming. She had heard the gunshots and was now frantic. David dropped the paracord. It was time to go.

“
Stop following us,
”
he said as he knelt down next to the incapacitated PK.
“
It
’
s not worth it. We
’
re nothing special. Just another pair of smugglers. And we won
’
t be as nice next time.
”

The man coughed again, spitting up blood. There were red lines on his neck from the paracord.
“
You work for Windcorp,
”
he blurted out between coughing fits.
“
You believe in nothing
…
and I will do everything in my power to make sure you
…
and it
…
rot in hell.
”

David stood up, mentally taken aback by the accusation, but he didn
’
t let it show.
“
Well, clearly I
’
m not going to change your mind.
”
With that, David kicked the man hard in the forehead. The PK dropped to the deck, his body limp.

The rest of their getaway went cleanly. At the base of the deserted mining facility David and Alana found an old hover car. It was overgrown with vines and weeds, and the windshield was thoroughly shattered, but after a lot of tinkering with the engine and a little luck the electric engine was running. In little time, they were cruising west away from the Skull Pit and away from the PKs.

Their destination was Kentai, a small suburb outside of Windham City. David didn
’
t have a locator to navigate, but the drive couldn
’
t be more than three hundred kilometers. They would be there in a couple hours, even on the back roads that they were taking. They would be able to make their rendezvous with the Windcorp contact with plenty of time to spare.

Alana drove while David tended to his wounds. There had been a first aid kit in the glove compartment of the hover. He cleaned up his forehead and sealed the cut with some surgical glue. There wasn
’
t much he could do for his hands other than grit through the pain.

When he was done bandaging himself, he filled Alana in on what had happened with the South African PK on the landing platform. Her reaction was less than ecstatic.

“
Are you kidding me?
”

David tried to defend himself.
“
What would you have had me do? Kill him?
”

“
No, but threatening him outright definitely wasn
’
t the answer either. Why couldn
’
t you just knock him out and be done with it?
”
She was mad, more than he thought she would be.
“
You really thought that would deter him?
”

David threw up his hands in mock surrender.
“
Well I
’
m sorry. I was a little pissed after he split my head open. I couldn
’
t help myself.
”

“
Well, you should have.
”
Alana gripped the wheel tightly.
“
If you humiliated me the way you did him, I would stop at nothing to catch you and throw you in a cruiser
’
s brig.
”

“
Good thing he
’
s not following us.
”

Alana laughed.
“
You really think that
’
s gonna stop him? I
’
ve talked to this guy. He
’
s not dumb. He has a good idea of what we are doing here and I don
’
t think a simple threat is going to dissuade him from continuing to track us down, interrogate us, and then lock us in a box on the Belt and throw away the key.
”

“
I don
’
t care if he knows my whole life history. I left him out cold with the rest of his team trapped in the Pit. There
’
s no way he
’
s following us.
”

Alana didn
’
t look convinced, but she kept her mouth shut. There was something wrong with her demeanor, something David had never sensed in her before. She had never questioned his decisions so openly and so vehemently. Something was eating at her, and he thought he knew what it was.

“
Are you still hung up on this Windcorp business? I told you we don
’
t have a choice now.
”

“
I know but I don
’
t have to like it,
”
she snapped back.
“
We
’
ve never had this many problems on a run. And we haven
’
t even picked up the merchandise yet.
”

She was right. This job was going anything but smoothly.
“
We
’
ve put too much work in to stop now.
”
He didn
’
t dare mention the money to her at this point.

“
D, dying for our country is one thing, but I am not going to die for a shipment of contraband.
”

“
No one
’
s going to die, and like we agreed we can
’
t back out of the job now. We are going to stroll into the bar in Kentai, meet the Windcorp contact, go pick up the shipment, and then get the hell off this rock.
”

Alana sighed.
“
Okay, what are the specifics on the meet anyway?
”

“
We
’
re meeting a woman in Kentai at 1630 today. I think the place is called Twilight
’
s End. Let me check.
”
He reached back and grabbed his duffle out of the back seat. His tablet had all the info in it.

“
So this woman is going to give us all the info on the pickup?
”
Alana asked.

“
Yeah.
”
David started sifting through his bag. The chaos in the pit had shuffled everything around.

“
How will we know it
’
s her?
”

David didn
’
t respond. He couldn
’
t find the tablet.
“
It
’
s got to be here,
”
he muttered under his breath.

“
What are you looking for?
”
Alana asked.

“
My tablet,
”
he said as he frantically dumbed the contents of the duffle onto the floor of the hover.
“
It
’
s not here.
”
He sifted through the pile of clothes and gear.
It has to be here
. He kept checking. He looked in every pocket, every place it could be.

“
What do you mean it
’
s not there?
”

Finally, David looked up in defeat.
“
It
’
s not here,
”
he repeated. Seconds ticked by as David realized the weight of this discovery.
“
It had everything on it.
”

Alana tried to keep calm.
“
If it
’
s not here where is it?
”

David tried to think. He had had the tablet the night before at the hotel. He remembered putting it in the duffle. And the duffle had stayed on him the whole time they had traveled through the Pit. Then it hit him.
“
It must be back there, on the mining platform.
”

“
What!?
”

“
I dropped the duffle when I was scuffling with the Peak. The tablet must have fallen out.
”

“
So you
’
re telling me we don
’
t know anything about this meet?
”

“
No, I know it. I have it memorized. But now
…
well, the Peaks might know it, too.
”
David paused and thought about the possibility of this.
“
Even if they have the tablet, it will take them time to get the information. It
’
s buried among thousands of other files, and it
’
s encrypted. We
’
ll be okay.
”

Alana hesitated.
“
David, this is bad. If the Peaks get that info before the meet we are sunk. And Windcorp will be sunk too. Do you know what they will do to us if they know it was our mistake that exposed them?
”
He could hear where she was going with this.

“
Well, what would you have us do!?
”
David exploded.
“
I know what you
’
re thinking, but we can
’
t pull out now. Do you know what Windcorp will do to us if we go back on our contract? They
’
ve already paid us half.
”
David tried to calm himself.
“
Alana, if we continue to the meet we
may
expose Windcorp, which will lead to them hunting us down and killing us in a very unpleasant way. But if we bail on the contract now, even if we try and return the money, Windcorp
will
hunt us, find us, and make the rest of our short lives excruciatingly painful.
”
He waited until this had sunk in.
“
There is no choice here, Alana. We have to play this all the way out. I
’
m sorry.
”

Alana looked him in the eyes. He knew she knew he was right. She just had to realize it. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place now, thanks to his mistake. But there was a way out. They just needed a little bit of luck.

After a few seconds, Alana turned her attention back to the road.
“
OK, D. We keep going. But for the record, this is your fault.
”

Letsego was furious. He thought he had known the definition of rage, but today
’
s events had given rage a brand new meaning. He had gotten to the top of the mining facility an hour before and had quickly realized three things. First, the smugglers he had been chasing were long gone. Second, in his pursuit of them he had abandoned his team in a collapsed tunnel and was not even sure if they were all alive anymore. And third, in his rage he had neglected to contact Gio upon exiting the Pit so they had no chance now of tracking the smugglers down using the drones.

The intelligence operative wasn
’
t sure whether he was angrier at the smugglers for their crafty escape plan, or at himself for succumbing to rage and failing his team. As a medic treated a large laceration on his arm, Letsego sat on the tailgate of the ambulance looking utterly defeated. When he had come to, he had immediately radioed in to base and they had dispatched units to his position. Along with the medical team, there was also a search and rescue squad who was in the tunnel extracting the rest of his team. Smith had been badly hurt in the cave in. Jankowski hadn
’
t been so lucky.

Letsego had never lost a man before. The intelligence field could be dangerous, but rarely was it that dangerous. The medics had said that Jankowski
’
s wounds had been too severe, that he had lost too much blood. He
’
d gone into cardiac arrest. Letsego couldn
’
t describe the feelings he was having now. The reality hadn
’
t totally sunk in.

“
Lets.
”

The Peacekeeper staff sergeant looked up. In front of him stood a trooper in green body armor. Letsego recognized him immediately as Staff Sergeant Holliday, the man in charge of Skylift Station
’
s quick reaction team.
Great,
Letsego thought,
all I need now is this hot shot here to confirm that I royally screwed up.
“
What do you want, Holliday?
”

The staff sergeant tried to keep it professional.
“
My team is searching the area, but it looks like you
’
re guys are long gone.
”

Letsego laughed.
“
I could have told you that.
”

Holliday looked uncomfortable. He knew there was little he could do here to correct the mistakes that the intelligence operative had made.
“
We did find something, though.
”
He reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a tablet.
“
I don
’
t know if it
’
s yours but it was laying on the far edge of the landing pad.
”

Letsego took the tablet and looked it over. It wasn
’
t his. He powered it on and it requested a passcode. If it was the Dominguez
’
s it was encrypted.
“
Thanks,
”
he replied as he pocketed the device. Maybe there was something useful in it.

“
Lets, I also have Captain Burleigh on the hook for you.
”

Letsego winced. He had been dreading this conversation. He put his hand out.
“
Might as well get this over with.
”

Holliday handed him a mobile. Letsego took it and raised it to his ear.
“
This is Staff Sergeant Letsego.
”

Captain Burleigh
’
s voice blared through the ear piece.
“
What the hell happened?!
”

Letsego took a deep breath and composed himself.
“
Sir, they were smarter than we thought. They led us through the Skull Pit and were unable to-
”

“
Staff sergeant, don
’
t give me excuses. You lost them. That
’
s what happened.
”

“
Yes, sir.
”
This looked like it was going to be a very one way conversation.

“
I gave you everything you needed to follow these assholes straight into Windcorp
’
s lair and you let them slip through your fingers.
”
The captain was angrier than Letsego had ever heard him before.
“
What
’
s the status of your team?
”

“
Sir, Smith is being treated for a broken leg.
”
Letsego took a deep breath.
“
Corporal Jankowski is dead, sir. A flash bang went off in his face. He didn
’
t have a chance.

“
As of right now, my team is incapable of continuing the mission.
”

This set Captain Burleigh off.
“
You
’
re damn right you are incapable of continuing the mission. As far as I
’
m concerned, you all are incapable of getting me coffee. You failed, staff sergeant. Miserably. This was a golden opportunity to gain a leg up on Windcorp and you blew it. You are off of this op completely.
”