The Prophus took on a new role in the years after what is now known as the Great Betrayal. For more than five hundred years, we had struggled to beat the Genjix. Now, our new directive was to provide safe passage to everyone who was persecuted by either the Genjix or humanity. That was how the Quasing Underground Railroad was born.
A series of safe houses and checkpoints was created to funnel fugitives toward the few countries in the world that had lax security when it came to alien detection. The survival of our species became the Prophus’s new primary objective.
Baji
Jill made a mental note that if she ever got her operation running again, not to spend a nickel on this three-dimensional display Faust was using for the briefing. A notorious early adopter within the commander ranks, Faust always spent a good chunk of his budget on these bleeding-edge toys. Some ended up proving to be extremely useful, but most were crap.
Right now, she was looking at the latter and trying to figure out what it was trying to show. The projection was supposed to be a three-dimensional rendering of the Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, but in its attempt to be detailed, it looked so messy that it reminded her of one of her baking experiments gone wrong.
Faust pointed at the display. “Here’s an image of the center of Great Slave Lake during a routine satellite pass seventy-two days ago.” All she could see was what looked like a large mass of water. “Now, here’s an image of this exact same spot four days ago, when the Keeper gave us clearance to move the satellite over the region,” Faust continued, snapping a picture of the lake and zooming in. It looked exactly the same as the previous image, but now there was a small group of structures rising out of the water. “Based on Tao’s intel and Cameron’s talks with the girl, we’re looking at a Genjix loyalty haven. We left the satellite in place and saw this over the next few days.”
“Is it a giant sub?” she asked. “And if it is, what would it be doing in a lake?”
It is a landing platform. Chinese design. Used on their newest submersibles.
“That’s what we thought at first,” Faust continued. He clicked on a remote in his hand. “However, the structures never move.”
The fast forwarding continued. A few days later, a lone signature flew in from the southwest. There was one heat signature on the structure waiting for it. Then several people departed from the flying signature. Then the group of people on the platform walked into two of the corner columns.
Faust clicked off the display. “That platform hasn’t moved since that incident two days ago. Yesterday, five more transports came by and picked up what looks like a large group, perhaps a hundred heads, and then they all headed southwest. We’re not sure where, but their trajectory seems to have them headed somewhere in the Pacific Northwest territory.”
“The platform hasn’t submerged since?” Jill asked, not quite able to shake off a strange feeling about that. Something didn’t seem right.
Foolish to keep a platform raised if they are trying to hide it. Something must be wrong down there. Best to strike as soon as possible.
Faust shook his head. “Still sticking out like a sore thumb. Maybe they have a lot of traffic coming in and out. Conserving energy by staying above water.”
Jill tapped her finger on her chin. “Would be silly to build a secret underwater lair and then have something like that stick out. Something must be preventing them from lowering it.”
“Regardless,” Faust said. “Here’s our advantage. We’re pretty sure that was Rin they took there. The timestamps are about right. With that large group of people leaving, this might be our only chance to sneak in and get her back.”
Jill nodded. “We infiltrate with a team of nine, find Rin, and sneak out before those five transports return. I wonder where they went.”
“I might be able to answer that,” a familiar voice said from behind her. “And instead of sneaking in, let’s just throw the kitchen sink at it.”
Jill turned around and stared, shocked. In a split second, she launched herself out of her chair and barreled into Roen’s arms. He grunted from the impact as her momentum pushed him back into the wall, but he held onto her just as hard. She kissed his lips, wrapped her arms around his neck, and then kissed him some more. It probably was unprofessional to do so right here in Faust’s command room, but she didn’t care. Neither did Roen, it seemed. The two stood alone in the world for what seemed like hours as they tried to catch up on soothing the pain and fear and worry they had felt for each other. Eventually, someone had to ruin it for them and coughed.
Perhaps it would be wise to adjourn the meeting. First, ask Roen what he meant and why he is here. He is supposed to be assisting the attack on the catalyst facility, which is supposed to commence tonight.
Jill was tempted to just ignore Baji and keep on kissing her husband, but the sooner she got the answers Baji needed, the sooner everyone would leave her and Roen alone. She broke their embrace and pulled back. “You’re supposed to be blowing up a catalyst facility right now. Tell me you did not go AWOL, or by God…”
Roen grinned that beautiful goofy boyish grin. He squeezed her arms. “Change of plans. We suckered someone else into doing the dirty work for us, so we’re all going to join your party instead.”
For the first time, Jill noticed Marco and a group of guys standing at the door. He gave a lazy wave and winked. She went up to him and gave him a hug. “Thanks for bringing the lug back to me in one piece.”
Faust walked to the table and gave Roen what Jill called their bro-hug. The two grown men would throw their arms around each other, but instead of a real hug, they would do this silly chest-bump-single-pat-on-the-back, as if too much physical contact was frowned upon. The two went back a long way and had been scuba diving buddies. Roen was on Faust’s fantasy football league, and Faust came up to the farmhouse for Thanksgiving every year. In fact, it was because of Roen’s prodding that Jill got Faust the promotion to this region.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Faust said. “Jill’s right. If you’ve disobeyed a direct order again, I’m going to have to arrest you this time. I can’t tell the Keeper ‘no’ twice.”
Roen rolled his eyes. “Why does no one believe me when I say I’m on the level?”
“Because you never are,” Faust grinned. “So what’s going on?”
Roen explained the situation with the IXTF, and how right at this very moment, the federal government was pitching an old-fashioned siege of the Genjix. As predicted, the Genjix facility was heavily defended, and the IXTF were getting their butts kicked, but it was only a matter of time before they took it, whether within the next few days or the next few months. At the end of the day, not even the Genjix could match the United States government in a heavyweight fight, especially when the government had home-field advantage.
Jill didn’t quite seem convinced. “Don’t you think the Genjix can buy their way out of this one, like they always do?”
“I know the woman in charge,” Roen said. “She’ll get the job done.”
“What would prevent them from coming after us next?” Faust asked.
“Nothing,” Roen admitted, “but at least it’s not our guys dying trying to break in there. The Keeper is going to reallocate the forces meant for the catalyst facility to busting out Rin. So there you have it, Jill. Use us wisely. Most of the squad commanders won’t get here in time, so we’ll have to relay the plan remotely, but I believe everyone is on board for first thing tomorrow.”
This changes everything. The attack will have to change from a small-team infiltration to a fully-staged assault.
The group in Faust’s tactical command center spent the rest of the evening devising a new plan. They broke for a late dinner and reconvened to coordinate their plans with the commander of the attack force flying in from Greenland.
“At best, the rest of the attack force will rendezvous with us in the air,” Faust said, as they worked through the times.
“Who’s leading the attack?” asked Jill.
Faust looked down at his tablet and blinked in surprise. “Seems our favorite Aussie colonel.” He looked up and grinned. “I thought the bloody bastard retired.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “Who dusted the mothballs off him? Shouldn’t he be on a beach drinking Mai-Tais and failing to hit on local girls?”
“He should be. I attended his retirement party.” Roen frowned, shaking his head. “Old bastard can’t let go. If he’s un-retiring, I want that set of golf clubs I gave him back.”
Marco shook his head. “Seems the old bugger is intent on coming back on his shield.”
Dylan had retired from active operations two years ago, and no one had heard from him since. Supposedly, he was living out his golden years hunting poachers in the outback.
I do not know how wise it is pulling another host into this operation, especially at Dylan’s age.
“Baji, I am not telling Dylan ‘no.’ Besides, he’s probably still spry and strong as a bear.”
On that we agree.
At this point, Roen checked the time and excused himself, pulling her with him as he left the room. Jill led him to the upstairs balcony, where they snuggled on a hammock while looking up at the sky. A stead wind blew in from the ocean, just cool enough to make shared body warmth necessary, but not uncomfortable. The sky looked heavy, filled with large puffy clouds that blocked any sign of the moon or the stars. A breeze swept in from the ocean, and Roen could smell the salt in the air. For a few beautiful moments, they just lay there together, basking in the night. Roen gently put his hand on her face, turned it toward him, and kissed her. He pulled her in closer and she wrapped a hand around the back of his neck. There was a desperation in them, a feeling of relief mixed with a sense of dread.
After all, they had each thought they had lost the other over the past few days. And now that they were together again, they were going off on another dangerous mission. The moment they shared right now was all they had. Tomorrow would be another day when this blasted war would threaten to take everything that meant anything in their world. They’d both lost so much already.
Roen’s looked on the edge of tears.
Jill stroked his chin. “Hey you, what’s going on inside that thick noggin of yours?”
His voice broke as he spoke. “I’m sorry. I failed. Again. I should have been there. For you and Cameron. I let the Prophus lure me away again on an inane mission, and I wasn’t there to protect my family when you were in danger.”
Jill could tell he was being harder on himself than usual. Ever since Tao had left him, he had been trying to overcompensate by being husband, father, and Prophus agent all at the same time. It was an impossible task. She hit him on the chest harder than she meant to. “Nonsense. I sent you away.”
“I should have said no.”
“You did say no. I ordered you to go.”
It is times like this I like your husband. Seems he finally got through puberty after half a century.
“Hush, Baji.”
Roen shifted in hammock, swinging it precariously. Jill was pretty sure this thing wasn’t made to hold both their weights. “Don’t do it again. Please. In fact, after this, I’m done. I quit.” He paused. “Is that okay?”
I love how he asks for permission.
“Oh, Roen. Why don’t you hold off retirement plans until after this mission?” She kissed him again. “We should probably head back. They’re probably looking for us.”
He grunted, which was his way of giving a lukewarm affirmative. “I’m going to skip the rest of the meeting and let you brainiacs figure stuff out.” He paused. “I should have asked earlier. How’s Cameron?”
Jill had hoped to delay his seeing their son as long as possible. She knew it was cruel not to tell him right away that Cameron was here, but she knew how he was going to react once he saw him, and she wanted calm Roen for just a little while. “He’s here, Roen. Sleeping. Look, he got kind of beaten up. It looks much worse than it is. Please don’t blow your top and freak out.”
Roen sat up, almost dumping them both off the hammock. “What! Here? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I know what your priorities are in life. I mean it, though. Don’t freak out when you see him.”
That just made him tenser. “I’ll keep that in mind, but it doesn’t mean I won’t freak out.”
She led him to the other side of the warehouse, to the sleeping quarters. Faust’s cover was an old theater prop warehouse, so there were many nooks and turns. Jill had put Cameron in a small guest room on the top level. She led Roen to the door and opened it slightly.
The light fell on her sleeping son’s face as they crept in. Jill had to prepare her husband for what he was about to see. She put her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Roen gasped when he saw Cameron’s bruised face, and his body stiffened, all his muscles tightening.
“Remember, it looks a lot worse than it is.”
She led him to the edge of the bed. Roen fell to his knees and brushed the hair away from Cameron’s face. She could sense the struggle raging inside him. He balled his hands into fists.
She leaned over him and kissed him on the cheek. “You need some time alone with him?”
He nodded. “Please.”
She caressed his face and kissed him on the lips. “I’ll be back at the meeting. Let him rest if you can. And if it’s Tao, tell him to let Cameron rest as well.”