CHAPTER 6 – A RESCUE GOES SOUTH
She moved quickly out of the city keeping her ear finely tuned to the radio that still held an active channel to wherever Lorne was being held. He had not been able to get any suitable verbal clues to her as to where they were headed and she did not want to risk communicating with him direct in case her voice was heard by the men holding them and the radio was confiscated.
She heard mention of the word 'river' and 'Petronia settlement' and scrolled through her mind to bring up a mental map of the planet. She had taken it upon herself to do some basic research from within the ancient database, interested to know the terrain and planet type where they would be going. The database included a detailed topography map and she could visualise where the river was and knew that it was the demarcation line between the two settlements.
There had been no voices from the radio for a few minutes, then Terry heard something that caused her to throw her hand over her mouth quickly to silence her own scream. A gunshot, a scream, then radio silence as it was abruptly clicked off. And she had effectively lost communication with her Major. She attempted to reactivate the radio using his channel, but it was silent and she felt a moment of dread ripple through her and hoped the gunshot she had heard had not been meant for the Major.
She reactivated the radio, this time calling Baron and Sanson and quickly apprising them of the situation. Baron and Masters were both ranking officers after the Major and she told them to go the gate and contact Atlantis for reinforcements. Then told them she would be going after the Major. There was a moment of radio silence then Baron reacted.
"Masters! That goes against protocol. You need to wait for backup. Let us communicate with Atlantis then we will rendevous with you and go in together. Do not engage without backup. You know that better than anyone."
"Damn it Baron, I know the rules. I lived the damn things for the past four years. But our commanding officer is in trouble and I'll not leave him in there without backup of his own."
She passed on her own co-ordinates to the two men. "Meet me at the river. We'll go from there. I think that is the last place I received communication – hopefully there'll be some sort of clue as to where they were taken from there. Masters out."
She moved confidently now, hand held steady on her P90 and headed toward the river. She came to the place where she could see clear signs of a struggle and dropping down into a crouch she ran a hand over the stones and the scattering of sticks there, checking for directional signs that would indicate which way they had gone from there. There were scuff marks on several of the stones further along to the right and Terry found something that Lorne had obviously dropped deliberately in order to leave some sort of trail. A small coin from earth. She picked it up and tossed it lightly from hand to hand, eyes flicking restlessly left to right.
Which way Evan? And what did you just stumble into. Damn, I should have followed you to that meeting. Stayed back far enough so that you didn't know I was there, but at least I could have been of some help when things went south. Should have followed my instincts.
She saw the tips of the buildings of the other settlement across the river and knew instinctively that the men who had been captured had been taken there. She jiggled impatiently, wanting to leave immediately, but knew that she should take her own advice and wait for backup.
She heard sounds behind her and Baron and Sanson ran up slightly out of breath and she blew out a relieved breath of her own.
"Masters! Which direction?" It was Baron who spoke, his own eyes flicking to the other side of the river. "Across there?" He indicated the buildings of the other settlement barely visible.
"I think so. There are two main settlements on this planet and from what I can remember from the topography map, it is a river that separates them. They'll have been taken over by a boat no doubt. From what I could pick up from the conversation off the open channel, a group of men from the other settlement across the river have taken the Major and a group of councilmen hostage. Not sure why though..."
"Do we wait for backup from Atlantis?" This came from Sanson. "I can't see signs of another vessel to be used for crossing."
"Down river – there's another tied up. Passed it before. Leave a sign for the backup team when they arrive. We are three – no need for us to wait when we can just go in. Leave it too long and Major Lorne will be in more danger than he already is. You know he'd do the same for us."
Terry moved back down to where she had seen the boat, and the other two soldiers followed her, casting worried glances behind to the village they had just come from. Terry was right. The Major would be after them immediately, back up or not. They owed him the same courtesy.
Uncoupling the rope that secured it, Baron pushed it out a little while Terry and Sanson jumped in and when it was afloat Baron clambered on board, grabbing an oar quickly to negate the fast flowing current of the river. It took them several attempts to cross. The speed of the current made it difficult to get to the other side and when they managed to get in shallow enough water, it was Terry who leaped out with the rope and pulled the boat up onto the rocky shore.
"Come on guys. We don't have time to spare. Let's go get our Major."
They moved stealthily into the other settlement. It was larger than the one they had just come from and as they received curious glances from the villagers who saw them, they elected to stay close to the walls of the buildings and attempted to stay under the radar. They did not know who was loyal to whom and it was best to simply stay out of sight.
"Masters! Over there. That building with the small window near the top. Look at the doorway down below. An armed guard. Why would they need an armed guard in a village such as this?"
"Unless you had prisoners in there... good spotting Baron. Let's go. C4? I'm thinking one of us takes out the guard, places some C4 on the door and in the confusion get into the building. The smoke should give us a bit of cover."
Baron nodded. "I'm happy with that. Sanson?" They received his nod of approval and Terry pulled out the small grey putty like square of explosive that she carried in her tactical vest and waited until Sanson gave her the nod, creeping forward toward the building. He took shelter in a recessed doorway of an adjacent one, and leaning out briefly he used his handgun to fire one shot at the man guarding the door. He only needed the one.
Once the guard went down, the others moved quickly. Terry placed the ignition fuse in the C4, placed it on the side of the doorframe and running back to where Baron and Sanson had taken cover in the recessed doorway, they waited for the inevitable explosion.
Terry was the first to move. Simulataneously with the explosion, she erupted out of the doorway and was through it in the middle of the swirling smoke, seconds after the doorway shattered. Her weapon was up and she peered through the gloom, seeing a group of men on the other side of the room, in the process of securing their prisoners into cages.
"Captain Masters. Stand down – immediately!" Major Lorne had seen his captain come flying in, battle shining bright in her eyes and he had squelched down that immediate lick of fear at seeing her launch herself so readily into battle with no regard for her own life. His other two men followed and he breathed a quick sigh of relief, knowing that she had at least come with back up and would not need to formally disclipline her.
Terry heard him but did not listen. She was intent on getting to him and freeing all the men currently incarcerated in the cages and did not follow her own ingrained training and discipline. Never go into battle without having worked out where all the players were. She had made a fatal mistake and realised it immediately when she felt the click of a weapon against her waist and a voice hissed in her ear. "Drop you weapon woman or I will shoot you where you stand. Your choice."
Terry's eyes flickered to the Major and she saw the censure there and knew that she had made a serious mistake and it could cost them both their freedom. She felt her captor breathe along her cheek, his face pushed close to hers and she immediately dropped her weapon and executed a basic combat move that should have had him on the ground looking up at her. But she had underestimated her oponent, another error and mentally cursed herself for stuffing up a rescue mission so completely.
Baron. Sanson. I can't hear them. Hopefully they'll have realised that things went south and stay out of here for now. Wait for backup from Atlantis. Damn. What I should have done.
Her captor cuffed her hard around her head in retaliation and she felt the ringing in her ears and suppressed the shout of pain that wanted to erupt from her. She remembered Lorne's words from the previous morning. Do not show your fear in the face of your enemy. And she pushed it down now and did just that. Arrogance and in spades. She pulled up her small body to it's fullest height and let him move his face close to hers again, giving her the opening that she needed. When he got closer she brought her leg up and sideways attempting to connect with his groin, but he appeared to have anticipated that move also and she felt a stinging blow around her head from the butt of the gun he carried. She slipped from his grip and fought for consciousness, but the darkness crept up and the last thing she saw was his face as it loomed over her. And saw by the look on his face that she had failed.