Chapter Eighteen: Ramifications
Logan sat on a knoll overlooking another section of baked desert, a rifle rested across his knee. His hold on it was relaxed, as he looked for signs of life in the slowly cooling evening. In a few hours it would be freezing in this desolate place. It was late fall now, nearly into winter and it had been punctuated by blistering days and a sharp drop to thirty or below after the sun said its daily farewell to this small patch of the earth.
They were out here on a weeklong exercise honing their newly trained combat skills, pitted against each other to test that training. Logan oddly enough was the leader of the Blue Team, oddly because he never really thought of himself as a leader. Yet all of the people in his unit had begun almost from the start to look up to him, to defer to him for guidance. Even Shawnee had given over what seemed to him to be her coveted position among the younger in the group. He smiled looking at the ground, what would Max think about that?
His team, Blue Team consisted of himself, Hawker, and Mouse. Shawnee was leading the Red Team and she had the personnel advantage with Cage, Thomas, and Cotton. So far the Red Team was in the lead on the scenarios, three to two. Each day they were pitted against each other using a different scenario, it was about the only time that they would see Torri who was their overall supervisor on this exercise. At the end of the day the hits were tallied and the team with the least won the day, if there was a specific objective involved the number of hits was balanced against who had completed their task for the day. That was unless the team was wiped out at any given time during the exercise and then the other team won, period. They had been forced to make up the deficit from the beginning, Red Team getting their three wins in the first three days, and it was thought that they were going to sweep the competition. With two more days to go Logan wanted to catch up and quick.
So here he sat standing sentry duty while the rest set up camp, tried to get something to eat and catch a few z's. They had chosen an outcrop boxed in on three sides by tall buttresses of rock for their nights accommodations. It was a place that was easily defendable, just because it was dark did not mean the games were over. He looked up at the narrow strip of sky outlining the red rock. There was no way they could get up there and get the jump on them. He turned his attention back out into the field of view before him.
He grit his teeth as he thought about the past several months, and how easily he had broken his promise to resist by whatever means possible what they were trying to do with them. Bryn and Torri had used his compassion against him, knowing that he did not care if anything happened to himself. So they had turned to threatening the health and well being of his fellow captives to keep him in line. So it had gone, and now here they were training in war games in preparation for something big. He had that vague uneasy feeling that he got on occasion when something big, something dangerous was looming on the horizon. Just as he had before his capture.
They had been training with weapons now for two months, at first heavily guarded by the Cadre should any of them try to use the weapons against their trainers. That guard had tapered off in recent days, allowing them to prove that they would not revolt in the middle of a mission. He was sure that there were snipers in high and hidden positions to prevent that. They were on their own this time, but that went without saying, the rifles they carried were equipped with training lasers, and their equipment with the sensors. There was no live ordnance on this drill. Just them against their own to see who had the aptitude for combat.
Mouse had surprised him, he had set her in his mind as being the least likely to pick up on this. Yet she had improved drastically during the physical training, and excelled at the obstacle courses and weapons handling. Her small body was lithe and agile, she could scrabble over rocks easily fitting herself into the smallest pockets between the sand and red boulders. He could now see why they had chosen to call her Mouse, aside from being as quiet as one. That had come as some dilemma to him when he had learned that she was on his team. Her abilities were that of a scout, but she had no means by which to communicate long distances what she found. She understood well enough what was said around her, but being unable to speak made her a liability.
Hawker was more reluctant toward the aggressive nature required to do what they were doing now. Several times he had balked on shots at the Red Team Members, and it had cost them at least one round of war games. He had learned after that, after Logan had reprimanded him firmly about the consequences of not taking a shot in a real life situation. They had really come together as a team and it showed. Now just what did they have in mind for them to do when all this training was done?
His eyes refocused instantly the moment he saw the movement, his grip tightening on the butt of his weapon, expecting it to be the Red Team on the prowl. Laughing under his breath Logan relaxed watching the snake slither between the rocks the same shade as its hide. He sat for long moments watching the determined progress of the rattler up the hill toward him. Suddenly the reptile stopped, jerking back as if it had been struck. Logan watched as it flicked its tongue several times, its arrow shaped head moving side to side, then it again tried to move forward and just as quickly reared back again. This time it turned to one side, going around whatever resistance it had felt.
Logan's brows furrowed as he observed the odd behavior of the snake, and then his radar sprang to life, warning him of the approach of one of his group. Slowly Logan turned around seeing Hawker approaching his vantage.
The boy plopped down beside him looking out into the shimmering heat, "He smelled you," Hawker said softly, "I didn't want you to get bit."
Logan's brows knit again wondering just what he was talking about, it just as quickly dawned on him, "Oh," he said inclining his head a fraction, "You mean the snake. I wouldn't have let him get that close to me." The boy just smiled at him, "So is that why they call you Hawker?"
"My real name is John Lightfeather," He replied, even as he nodded to Logan, "See that hawk up there circling?"
Logan followed his gaze seeing the small speck in the sky high over their heads, "Barely."
Hawker did not say another word to him, but as Logan watched the dot stopped its lazy spin around the sky, now it was coming down growing larger as he watched. Logan got to his feet, as it seemed the bird was on a collision course with him. At the last moment the hawk fanned its wings swooping just a feathers breadth from his nose to land at Hawker's feet. It looked about with jerky motions of its head, looking at Hawker then at Logan and then the ground around them. Logan continued to watch incredulously as Hawker reached out then stroking the wild bird's head as it looked up to regard Logan again.
"I did this once for Shawnee when she refused to believe my ability," He looked up smiling, "When I was little I used to call Lynx's to my feet dragging their kills to me in offering. I think my mother near had a heart attack at the sight."
"Impressive," Logan said.
Looking into Hawkers eyes a moment the hawk leapt for the air and was off down the narrow canyon. Logan looked confused, he saw Hawker smile, "I sent him off after the snake, he is hungry." The boy said with a small laugh. Hawker began to frown, "I want out of here." He said suddenly, sharply.
Logan's eyes widened a bit, wondering why the boy had come to him like this? Could Case have spilled something about their still half-formed plan for escape.
"I think we all want to get out of here," Logan replied cautiously.
"Cage says you have a plan," Hawker said.
"Not really, no," Logan replied settling onto his haunches next to the boy, "Just a desire to see my wife again…" He frowned now looking away into the darkening sky, "If she is still alive."
He looked back at Hawker his eyes narrowing, "I would have to know where we are, the closest town or city to here. I for one do not want to wander aimlessly in the desert just waiting to die. We would need more supplies than we have here and we would need transportation. You know how hard that is going to be to come by?"
"Yeah," Hawker said softly.
Logan frowned, hating to have to lie to the boy, but he was still unsure just whom to and not to trust. He did not want to risk exposure. He and Case, as the younger man had been quick to correct him, did have a plan. It was about three-quarters firmed up. In their various jobs sprucing up the base both he and Case had gotten close to nearly everything they would need to make a break. They had even begun stockpiling supplies in a shed near the motor pool for ease of transfer later. They had made contacts with the people in motor pool and now knew where the vehicles were stored which was next due for maintenance, where the keys were kept and how to access fuel.
The part they still had yet to figure out was how to make their break clean with no pursuit through the long open expanse of desert that surrounded the base. That was another problem because the only thing that they had not been allowed near was the aircraft. The Cadre had in their possession an ancient C-130 and two helicopters one for assaults and one for transport, the same one that he had been delivered here in. The C-130 was constantly flying in and out, dropping off and picking up troops to send to their different missions across the western United States. They were not even allowed on that side of the base, for they had been restricted to the barracks area and the training grounds, which was the complete opposite from the airfield.
There was no way for them to disable those means of pursuit and that severely curtailed any attempts to this point. Neither of them could think of a way around that perplexing problem.
Logan stood stretching his body for long moments and then turned as Mouse moved to join them. It was now completely dark and the chill had come back into the air around them. Logan felt his stomach rumble and just noticed the cups in Mouse's hands each with a warmed portion of stew for the three of them. She handed one to Hawker and then one to Logan. Logan signed thank you to her, even as he said it wrapping his hands around the warmth of the cup. She smiled broadly signing single handedly that he was welcome. She looked much more mature now, as if in the past few months she had come into her own. Her long blond hair was neatly braided and looped at the nape of her neck. Her fatigues finally seemed to fit her, which had to be an illusion because she had not grown any that he could ever tell. Her bright eyes were livelier than he had seen them since he had arrived here. It was as if she had finally realized that she could live life on her own terms if she really wanted to.
He glanced from Mouse to Hawker then out at the starlit sky. He looked back again handing Mouse the now empty cup, "You two had better get to bed, I want to be up before Shawnee and her gang. Hawker you have the midnight to four."
Hawker nodded rising from his seat and nodding his head toward the tent. Mouse nodded as well following him back. He watched them as they put out the night's fire and moved into the tent for some sleep. Logan looked back out at the sky watching as the meteorites made brilliant streaks across the sky. His eyes then turned back to the narrow opening to their encampment, again watching for signs of life.
Logan paused a moment behind one of the few bushes large enough to obscure his presence. He listened intently for any sound. He felt the presence of his team, Mouse out ahead of them somewhere and Hawker to the left of him about twenty five yards. It was just barely light and Hawker was hard to pick out of the still dusky surroundings. They were closing on the other teams position quickly, mouse had relayed that on her last double back informing them that Red Team was about a hundred maybe a hundred and fifty yards ahead of their position and they were closing the gap. Logan shot a look over to Hawker signaling him to move forward. Logan then moved off to the right advancing at an angle that would put him nearly on the group without being seen. In a crouching run he moved up the slight incline of a dune flattening as he reached the overlooking ridge. He pulled out his binoculars slowly scanning the territory around them. He found Mouse after a few brief anxious moments. She was tucked up under a bramble looking ahead at a small copse of Joshua trees at the edge of a dried riverbank. Hawker was steadily moving up on her position keeping to her left. The younger man crouched down suddenly, becoming a stone. Logan moved his binoculars to take in the blond haired Cotton slowly pacing in front of the trees.
"So that's where you are," Logan muttered stirring up a bit of dust with his breath. Backing away he made his way down to the floor of the desert, quickly making his way from bush to bush to stay concealed. Mouse looked his direction as he caught up with her hiding place. She quickly signed to him that three of them were in the camp, the fourth she was unsure of. Logan nodded then signaled that she should move to the riverbed and drop into it to approach them without being seen. Hawker was now next to him, "Hawker I want you to see about getting up to that rise over there," He pointed over his shoulder to a large dune that would have a vantage of the whole area. "Be careful, Mouse says Cage is loose, and we both know what that means." Cage was now Case's call sign, as he still caged himself off from the rest of the unit. Logan was the only one that he had confided in. Logan had yet to share what Case had told him about his family, feeling that it was not his place to divulge the details of his life. None of the others would call him by his real and given name and at first it was a name that Case had found highly irritating. Lately he had gotten used to it.
Hawker rolled his eyes, "I know," was his grim reply.
Case was very good a thwarting their plans, showing up in their encampment in the middle of the night wreaking havoc, or swooping in on their advance just when they thought they had a win in the bag. The younger man was learning the ropes of being a Manticore all too easily, and Logan was not sure whether it was inherent in Case's genetics or whether he just had a vested interest in honing his skill for the time when it came to break out. Either way he was a major reason that they were still at a deficit of three to two.
Logan's eyes followed the boy as he quickly moved from scrub to scrub crouching low to avoid detection. Soon he was out of sight and then he nodded at Mouse who immediately scrambled out of her hole and darted the opposite direction toward the dried riverbed. Logan kept to the middle, waiting nearly five minutes before advancing toward the stand of trees where their objective lay in wait. Certain that the others were now in position Logan moved. Darting between the trees so as only to be seen as a blur, even if the sentry was looking his direction he closed the gap between him and the Red Team encampment. He paused to reorient himself about three quarters of the way to his goal watching as Cotton he came to the end of the circuit and turned away to walk the other direction.
He wished sometimes that his built in radar had a greater range than fifty yards. Red Team's camp was still too far out to read where the others might be, and that made him uncomfortable.
Logan darted from cover to cover again until he was very near the screening trees, and then paused checking Cotton's location before sprinting the last bit to a small opening between the Joshua trees. Crouching down Logan looked over the immediate area peering between the spiny leaves seeing the movement of another of the Red Team members just beyond his current cover. He shifted his head slightly one way and then the other making the most of the narrow slit to see what he could. He found that Thomas and Shawnee were conversing just opposite him. His head now showed them as yellow auras and he felt the approach of Cotton from behind him now. He was nervous, because Thomas was in the camp, and it surprised him that the younger man had not yet detected his thought patterns so close to the center of their operations. He turned to look over his shoulder just seeing the motion that was Cotton nearing his scant cover.
Logan took several deep breaths, knowing that this all depended upon how well his team could surprise the numerically superior Red Team. Logan's eyebrows raised hoping that everyone was in their spots for the ambush. That unspoken question was answered as he heard the crack of gunfire far off up one hill. He smiled slyly as Thomas cried out in frustration in the camp beyond where he hid. He heard Cotton cry out as well and the pounding of his feet in the sand as he neared and then passed Logan's small protection. The boy intent on the distant attack had not noticed Logan crouched in the shadows, and Logan automatically reacted, leaping up and latching an arm around Cotton's throat and yanking him back hard. He drew his handgun even as the boy was falling and standing at his head as Cotton landed Logan pulled the trigger once listening with pleasure as the harness started its loud beeping. Cotton lay there a moment tense and then his body relaxed the frustration clear to read on his face.
Logan did not linger long he burst through the low lying Joshua Tree branches ignoring the sting of their needles even as he heard another shot and heard Shawnee cuss, something that was totally out of character for her. Logan was intent on taking Case out before he found a way to ruin this so far perfect rout of Red Team's camp.
Logan landed lightly in the soft sand sweeping the area before his feet had stopped moving in the shifting silica. Shawnee and Thomas were sitting cross-legged where they had been shot, knowing that they could no longer participate in the exercise. He smiled again, then darted to the four-man tent that they were sharing.
He paused sweeping the ridges above the riverbed before poking his head and rifle simultaneously into the tent. It was empty of all but the rumpled sleeping bags that made up their weeklong existence out here. Logan backed out of the tent sweeping the area a third time before lowering his rifle, "Damn it," He muttered glancing over and seeing the sly smile on Shawnee's face. Logan smiled himself as he turned away. Case was definitely getting the hang of this whole soldier thing, and his genetics definitely gave him an advantage even over Logan himself.
Logan's rifle came up again as Mouse trotted into view, she shook her head giving him several simple signs that told him that she had not located any of the party leaving the area from her vantage. Logan nodded saying in a low voice, "Cage is not here…again." He looked down at her a moment, she was shaking her head with a knowing smile, "Sweep that ridge to the North see if you can pick up a trace of where he went."
Mouse nodded once and set off at a quick clip in the direction he had indicated to her. He watched her disappear over the dune and then turned to scanning the area one more time. He turned to face the ridge where Hawker had been sniping from and waved largely with both hands to let him know to come down from his perch. He could hear nothing over the three beeping harnesses and he found that annoying because relying solely on his radar was not going to give him much advantage with someone who moved as swiftly as Case did.
With a sigh Logan moved back into the tent securing their objective in this scenario. It was a case marked Top Secret, and it was to hold the plans of a weapons shipment to a political power not in line with the interests of Manticore. He sighed again taking it to the screen of Joshua trees and burying it at the base where he had been hiding earlier. At least that would prevent Case from retrieving it from Logan's team. As he came out from behind the screen he headed for the opposite ridge intent on seeing what progress Mouse had made, when the urgent whistle broke the silence. Logan looked up fighting the shifting sand to crest the rise and see what Mouse's trouble was.
Just as Logan crested the ridge he caught a glimpse of a body leaping for him, almost simultaneous to his radar pinpointing Case's presence. Logan raised his hands automatically, taking the brunt of the impact as he allowed his body to give to the younger man's charge. He felt Case tear the rifle free from where it was slung across his shoulder.
Logan's stomach went squeamish a moment in panic as he fell past the horizontal to land head down on the slope he had been climbing. His foot came up planting firmly in Case's waist and he pushed his leg out lifting Case's body up and over his own. Gravity was a great assist and he heard Case's pained grunt as he impacted on the sand. Logan continued to slide trying to look back and see where Case had landed even as he maneuvered into a better position to get on his feet once he reached the bed. He leapt to his feet facing Case who was smiling wickedly at the older man's consternation. He moved in as Logan regained his feet swinging left and then right, even as Logan read the move and dodged each easily. Logan moved in himself kicking out into Case's gut and the boy fell quickly back to avoid the full brunt of the blow. They matched each other kick for kick and blow for blow until they were both panting hard from the exertion in the dry desert air.
Case moved in again sending a fist toward Logan's gut, which was blocked, but the upswing of his other hand caught Logan right in the cheek spinning him around and nearly toppling him. He staggered a moment feeling Case in his radar and mule-kicked back catching the boy neatly above his waistline. Case staggered back, then planting a foot to stop his retreat he rushed back in, just as Logan had moved to a position facing him. Case kicked low and then high with his right foot and Logan blocked those then threw a combination of his left foot aimed at Case's right knee, a chop aimed at his neck and another blow aimed at his ribcage. Case was hard put to block them but when Logan stepped back kicking high at Case's head the boy caught it and yanked hard trying to throw Logan off balance. Logan hopped toward him and then shifted his weight backwards and dragging the unsuspecting Case down with him. Out of reaction Case released Logan's ankle in order to catch himself before he ate a face full of sand. Logan used the momentum rolling over one shoulder to his feet reaching into his waist holster and pulling the gun that he had used on Cotton. Case was quick to regain his feet but not quick enough to get out of the line of fire as Logan took the shot that ended the scenario.
Case looked frustrated only momentarily, shortly breaking into a tremendous grin, Logan smiled in return as the boy said, "It's about time you beat me, Old Man."
"Old!" Logan shouted, "I've bested you four times out of six!"
Case looked up a moment at the sky a contemplating look on his face. A moment later he looked back down at Logan, "Yes I guess you have, haven't you?"