Chapter 4
Max ran down the darkened hallway in the opposite
direction Jeff had just run. Behind her, the four members of her Black Ninja
elite guard raced to keep up. Behind them Jeff ran with everything he had,
desperate to keep up. Who on Earth was this guy who could send a message like
that to General Max Guevara of the Washington Resistance, and make her smile
and come running? He must be another Manticore. He looked kind of old.
Jeff could barely see Max in the distance now... Even
her Ninjas were falling behind. She reached the ladder that had impeded his
progress earlier. Someone was climbing down and Jeff thought for a moment that
he might be able to catch up while she stopped and waited for him. But Max
didn't even slow down. Instead when she reached the ladder she leaped straight
over it and the startled climber, who lost his footing and ended up falling the
rest of the way.
At this point, her Ninja's gave up any hope of catching
her. They were the best the resistance had to offer, but they were only human.
The leader grabbed his walkie-talkie and spoke to
someone.
"She dusted us again."
As he was arranging protection for her and Door C, Jeff,
who would not be denied, shoved past the Ninjas, running full speed. He hit the
ladder and scrambled up it as fast as he could.
"Kid's gonna make us look bad", one of them,
said.
"Nah, We'll make him look good.", the other
answered.
Max reached the door and slowed to a stop. The off duty
dogs were being cared for, and a small crowd of hardened soldiers had cleared
away the lurkers and trolls who might get hurt if things went bad. They all
saluted as Max approached. Phil greeted her.
"General Guevara, the dogs were none to happy
about..."
Max wasn't even looking at him when she cut him off.
"Did they bark?"
"No Ma'am." Phil answered, and then he
sneezed.
Then Max looked at him with disapproval. If she didn't
have more important things on her mind she would have lectured him about
staying healthy or working the door while sick. A sneeze on the Hot Door could give
away the team's position enough to bring the Terminators running. Phil
already knew this, too, and he quickly moved to the door.
"Open it up." Max said.
Before Phil could respond, Jeff appeared running down
the hallway full speed. He skidded to a stop at the edge of the crowd. His eyes
were tearing and he was covered in sweat. He took the deepest breath his lungs
could hold, leaned over braced on his knees, and coughed for almost a minute
straight. In the middle of all this he managed to cough out the words.
"(kaff KAFF kaff) Did (Kaf) I (wheezeKAFF) miss it?
(KAFFAKAFFFFKAFKAF)"
He felt one hand grab his shoulder balancing him and the
other start to hit him on the back. As he caught his breath and straightened
himself up a little, he cleared the moisture from his blurry eyes and glanced
over the crowd that was staring at him.
"What?"
He looked at the person who was now making small circles
with an open palm on his back. His eyes popped wide open. Max was smiling at
HIM this time.
"Easy soldier. You're no good to me if you kill
yourself. Right?"
He snapped to the attention.
"No Ma'am! Uhh…Yes Ma'am! Thank you Ma'am!
Ughhhnnn."
His face turned BRIGHT red with embarrassment.
"Sorry General." His voice was little more
than a whisper. A smiling Phil handed him a 12 Gauge Auto loader.
Two more guys (guards?) showed up. Both carried
phase plasma rifles. One wore the Black Ninja Uniform, although he was
disheveled, the other had the pants but wore a just a black T-Shirt. They both
looked like they had just gotten out of bed.
Max turned back to Phil.
"I said open it up!"
she commanded.
"Yes Ma'am!", Phil
replied.
The Hot Door slid open.
The cloaked figure stood staring out into the night
through a view port in the Cold Room door. Three guns where trained on him.
Max stepped into the area between the hot door and cold
room.
"So if I don't sign, you don't get paid
right?"
That gravely voice answered
back…
"Paid? They pay people for this?" He turned
and lowered the hood on his cloak. He was very scarred up and looked a lot more
weathered, but he turned and smiled at Max. (Note: "be he"
doesn't make sense, but I didn't know what you wanted
here…before he?)
"You got a lot nerve
showing that ugly face around here." Max quipped.
"Ok. Lando." He
answered back.
Max almost jumped at him and
gave him a big hard hug.
"Tread, you crazy old
bastard! It's good to see you again"
Jeff and others crowded the door as the name 'Tread'
drifted though the crowd. He wasn't nearly as tall the legend made him sound.
He was one of the Leaders of the Revolution. He had helped restore Democracy to
reunite America after the Pulse, then disappeared. He reappeared after Judgment
Day, and as East Coast Commander he and his troops had broken the machine ring
in the North East. The safe zone in the East had held for over a year now.
All Jeff's running was worth it. This was better than
another Manticore. This meant something REALLY BIG was going to happen.