The Coldest of Hearts - Part Six
They sat quietly for a while and gradually Cassie fell asleep again, her lucidity convinced Jack that it was safe to let her rest. He was almost asleep himself when the door opened with a bang ...
"Up!" snarled Si. He pointed the rifle at Jack and motioned to the door. The other man stood back a little out of the way, waiting.
"Just you!" he yelled as Jack began to help Cassie up.
Jack nodded. He gave Cassie's hand a squeeze before he let go. "Won't be long," he whispered and he gave her a wink before walking stiffly to the door.
Si didn't give him chance to turn back to her; as soon as Jack came within range he grabbed a handful of Jack's coat and threw him from the room. Jack bounced into the wall of the corridor and was gripped in an arm lock, the rifle barrel grinding into the base of his skull, and marched out into the cold ... the other man resuming his guard outside the room that held Cassie.
The dawn was beginning to break, but the sky was a peculiar shade and Jack recognised the signs of a heavy snow storm building, odd flakes already drifting down from the laden sky, the wind cold and gusting.
He realised that they were making their way to the warehouse where they'd left his truck ... and the missile.
He drew a sharp breath when he rationalized that it was a certainty they weren't going to use him for unloading anything!
Sure enough, waiting to greet him was Mayer and two of the others. Si released his arm, keeping behind him. Jack fought the urge to rub the life back into his numb limb, and remained still.
The missile was now unloaded. Its dull steel gray body looked ungainly from where Jack stood. The tail had been built up and attached and it now resided on stands, obviously unpacked from the nearby empty cases, and the small panel on the head of the missile was open ...
Mayer stood over a small metal hinged case. Jack recognised the arming and guiding control and he knew the odds on him making it out of this alive had just fallen considerably.
"Where is it?" demanded Mayer calmly. His eyes were chipped ice.
"Where's what?" asked Jack.
"Where is the translator box?"
"The ... what box? I thought this was a missile not an interpreter," said Jack stalling.
"Do not try my patience, Colonel. The box translates the signals and impulses ... without it this is useless." He waved his hand over the control case. "Now where is it? I know it is not in here, we have searched thoroughly. You had the opportunity to hide it in any considerable number of places last night."
Jack shrugged. "Don't know what you're talking about, wasn't me."
He felt the rifle barrel grind against the base of his skull warningly.
"The missile was intact when we ... acquired it," Mayer said calmly. He moved towards Jack slowly, his lips parting in a grim smile.
"You id shows you are based in Cheyenne Mountain. I know the base was involved in the missile's development. You recognise the missile, Colonel. I know you know exactly what this is capable of."
Jack's face registered the barest flash of surprise, though concealed immediately he knew Mayer had spotted his lapse. "We are involved in deep space telemetry there. I get to do a lot of paperwork, not work with missiles," said Jack calmly.
The rifle ground against his skull, sending a tendril of pain through him. Jack allowed the wince to be visible to Mayer. "Look, I'm telling the truth. I'm just a desk jockey."
"You removed the box. Where did you hide it?"
"I ..." Jack didn't finish speaking. At a nod from Mayer, Si used the rifle butt squarely between Jack's shoulders and downed him.
Jack hit the floor on his knees, winded from the pain.
"I have a great deal of patience and quite a lot of time to spare. Now you can tell me where it is, and I might just let you off with a beating and leave you both tied up here when we leave, or you can do it the hard way. Believe me, Colonel, either way does not matter to me. You will talk in the end."
The temptation to give Mayer the box was strong. He so badly wanted Cassie to be safe. 'Give him the box... take the beating or whatever ... but Cassie would be safe ... yeah she would ... but what about the innocents when that missile is used ... what about the hundreds ... maybe thousands ...' Jack was torn. He wondered how long he could keep them from touching Cassie. He knew rescue was under way, he just prayed the storm wouldn't blow before it arrived.
Jack steeled himself. He could lead them out through the woods. Hopefully rescue would come and Cassie wouldn't be hurt.
He blew out a breath. He allowed himself to visibly sag, trying to show that his resolve had fled.
"Okay," he said quietly, "I'll lead you to it."
"Get the girl," said Mayer to one of the men.
"No!" Jack thought frantically. "You whacked her pretty good. She's hurt. I hid the box up in the woods, you haul her around and she dies and you've lost that box for good, no matter what you do!"
Mayer gazed into his eyes and Jack straightened his back, giving the man the same steady stare.
Mayer nodded once. "You have a deal. I will not harm the girl, but we have radios and should I feel you are not doing your best then I will give instructions to the men here."
Jack swallowed harshly, but nodded his agreement. Exhaustion he certainly wouldn't need to feign and that could work in his favour. He just hoped the rescue would happen soon ... like now would be good!
"I'm warning you, I am not totally sure of exactly where I hid it, but I'll know when we hit the area. We covered a lot of ground last night in the dark and got a bit lost at times. We'll need to retrace our route."
Mayer nodded. "Remember, I have time, but do not try my patience too long!" he warned.
He gave orders to Si and another man he called Cannon to get kitted up for a walk.
He threw open the warehouse door and looked at the snow-laden sky. "Maybe we do not have as much time as we think. You had better remember where you hid it quickly, Colonel."
xoxoxoxoxo
"ETA twenty seven minutes, Major," came the co-pilot's voice over the radio. Sam responded and gave her team their final briefing.
"I hope they're not too trigger happy," said Daniel, motioning with his head in the general direction of where he thought the other helicopter would be.
"They have the Colonel's description and know there is a child in there. Janet, you and your team are to wait at the landing site until we call you in when it's clear." Sam spoke quickly, highlighting the main areas once again.
"Couldn't they give them the chance to surrender?" pushed Daniel.
"Daniel," warned Sam. Daniel had been quite vocal in his objections to the plan the army had and Sam's additions to it. It had never bothered her when Daniel had questioned the Colonel, sometimes it had even amused her, a fact that now made her cringe a little, but somehow now she was in the Colonel's shoes relatively speaking, it seemed to annoy her and she wondered at her CO's patience at times with the man. "These men are killers and will not hesitate to shoot to kill. We're working on the premise that the Colonel and Cassie were re-captured and therefore these men are going to be on their toes. There's another unit working its way up from the road, but it'll be slow going for them."
"Then there's even more reason to suppose that Jack and Cassie might be ..."
"Daniel!" admonished Sam firmly with a quick look at Janet's face. None of them needed to be reminded just how this could play out. "The army team are the best at what they do. Let them do their job and let's make sure we're there to back them up, okay?"
Daniel nodded and had the grace to look apologetic. "I'm sorry I argued with you, Sam. Can we blame it on the fact that I'm missing Jack and have no one to nag?" he sighed. "But if you let on to him I'll disown you!" he added, bringing a smile to them all.
The helicopters went into stealth mode, sounding eerie in the gray light that was beginning to break.
"Major, there's a storm warning, heavy snow and blizzards on their way," called the pilot.
"Will it stop us landing?" asked Sam, keeping outwardly calm.
"Negative," confirmed the Pilot.
xoxoxoxoxo
Jack led the way from the base. He was cold and tired, but continual prodding from Si's rifle kept him moving. He wondered just how long he could stall them before things got heavy.
Mayer kept in close contact with the base, obviously reminding Jack as to just how easy it would be for Cassie to get hurt.
Jack kept moving slowly. The wind was building in strength and the snow falling more heavily, which made the going even more difficult. His pace began waning slightly as his exhaustion started to overtake him, and when he finally fell, he found it a huge struggle to get up again. He spat a mouthful of snow out and the ground seemed to tilt as he was hauled up and his vision swam slightly.
Mayer seemed to sense he wasn't acting and made Si back off a little, giving Jack time to rest a few minutes.
Soon they were back under way. Jack stumbled along. His only plan at the moment was to delay things until a rescue team intervened ... His senses were wandering slightly, cold, fatigue and hunger all vying for the same attention in his body, when they suddenly came upon the area where Cassie had been grabbed by Brinks.
Si spotted the blood and scuffed snow before Jack's dulled senses realised exactly where they were and the man rushed ahead, following the trail ...
Mayer pushed him forwards to follow faster and Jack upped the pace a little, not keen to see the evidence of his actions from the previous night's work.
The bellow of rage from Si, showed that he had spotted Brinks's body and he turned and ran at the exhausted Colonel.
Jack didn't even have time to bring an arm up in defence, he was flung flat onto his back and Si began pounding into him. The blows rained hard and fast on his face and when he managed to raise his arms for some protection, the huge man began pounding on his chest.
"You - bastard!" screamed Si in rage. "You- killed- my- buddy!" Every word was punctuated by a hard fist pounding into Jack.
"He attacked her, the bastard was trying to rape her!" spat Jack.
He fought to dislodge the heavy man, but every blow was counting against his already weakened state. A low cry of pain was forced from him when one of the blows snapped a rib, the next fist hit him in the same place and he cried out in agony. The world seemed to grow distant, the buzzing rose in his head ... the final blow before Si was bodily dragged off sent the Colonel into oblivion.
Mayer used the butt of his gun twice on the enraged man, then Cannon assisted in dragging the heavy man off the Colonel.
"Bring them around," he ordered, throwing his canteen at Cannon.
xoxoxoxoxo
Mayer held the gun in the now conscious Si's face. "I warned you to follow orders. We need him alive until we have the box. When I have the box, he is yours and not before, or I will kill you!"
Si's dull eyes showed no fear at the man's words. Instead he nodded and rolled away from the gun as he got up ... He could wait a while longer to finish him ...
xoxoxoxoxo
Jack groaned and coughed, his body jerking in agony as he jarred his broken rib ... Jack's eyes clenched shut again ... make that ribs!
"Colonel, we do not have much time now, the storm is building and unless you want me to start harming the girl I suggest you get to your feet."
Jack heard the words and knew it was no threat - it was a promise. He forced his eyes to open and although dawn was well under way, the storm made it look much earlier. The snow was falling faster now and to his swimming vision it looked even worse.
A boot prodded his hip none too gently and he groaned and rolled, bringing his knees up, and got unsteadily to his feet. The sharp agony in his chest tilted his world again and he fought to retain a gasped breath. The arms that gripped him and kept him upright gave him a moment to try and clear his head, before pushing him forwards. He almost stumbled and fell again, but found the strong grip keeping him going.
"Which way?" shouted Mayer over the gusting of the wind that blew around them now.
Jack pretended to hesitate. "Not too sure," he panted.
Mayer pulled the radio from his pocket ...
"Towards the road ... I think we head towards the road," said Jack, panting. He knew Mayer's patience had gone and he was treading on very thin ice with Cassie's life now ...
They stumbled on. Jack's disorientation wasn't really an act now. The biting cold and exhaustion combined with his latest injury was doing the job very well for him. The falling snow had already obliterated any tracks they'd made the previous night and only when they reached the shelter of thicker trees did he begin to spot signs of their movements.
"Did you bury the box?" asked Mayer. The trees gave them a little more protection from the wind now.
Jack nodded wearily. "Near the road," he panted.
"We could have driven down!" growled Cannon.
"No matter, we can radio later for a ride back," said Mayer calmly.
Jack knew there was no way he was going to give up the box, but time was running out for them ... for Cassie. He led them beyond where he had travelled with Cassie. The steep drop had become a cliff and when he got to the edge he stopped. He'd been coughing badly for the last couple of kilometres and the taint of copper was in his mouth. He doubled over, giving a hacking cough and didn't need to watch the spittle as it landed to know it was red.
"I buried it somewhere round here," said Jack suddenly, straightening up. He wavered in complete exhaustion ... end of the line for him.
"The side is too steep for her to have gotten down this way."
"I know. We had to double back, but we stopped for a rest, that's when I buried it." Jack lied calmly, thankful that the snowfall had been deep enough to obliterate any lack of evidence.
Mayer stood calmly surveying the area. He obviously wasn't convinced, but also wasn't prepared to totally doubt ... just yet.
"Find it!" he ordered.
Jack nodded wearily but didn't move for a moment.
"I'll make him find it!" snarled Si, stepping closer to him.
Mayer raised a hand. "No need," he smirked and pulled out the radio.
Jack's heart skipped a beat. "No, I'll find it ... just ... it's somewhere around here ..."
He began scrambling on his knees around the snow and rocks. Mayer sat down on a large upright boulder, the gun never wavering from its target. "You have ten minutes to remember Colonel."
Jack coughed and gagged a little before managing to spit the blood out. He pretended to look around more, thinking hard whilst he did. He knew that he couldn't stall much longer now ... he prayed that a rescue team had gotten in ... prayed that Cassie was safe.
xoxoxoxoxo
Jack got up and moved a little way down the trail again, very close to the edge of the cliff. Si's impatient growl followed him.
"He's no intention of finding it," he yelled to Mayer.
Mayer stood calmly. He pulled the radio out once again and Jack fell to his knees coughing ... waiting...
"Your last chance before we start hurting the girl, Colonel ... last chance."
Jack wearily shook his head. 'Forgive me Cassie, please forgive me ...' he prayed silently.
Jack closed his eyes, his heart thumping, praying for the strength to keep quiet ... the strength to do what was right ... just two lives again the possible hundreds, thousands ... just two lives ...
xoxoxoxoxo
Mayer thumbed the switch on the radio. "Palmer, do you copy?"
Jack bowed his head in shame ... there was nothing he could do now ... nothing ...
xoxoxoxoxo