Chapter 314

Bad News

Bob and Jim needed to join up with John later on. John Henry came up with a lead about the drone which intercepted them the other day.

They were dissatisfied with having their SUV blown up after they dumped it. They planned to deal with Eagle Mountain later on. Right now all their cameras were in place and they would see if anything bore fruit. So far there wasn't much. The 'wildlife cameras' did pick up several coyotes and one cougar. It was an indication there was more than one type of predator out there. The four legged ones didn't bother them. It was the two-legged ones which did.

Right now they were after another target.

With the information they gained with the onsite inspection of the abandoned mine, they laid out a route for John Henry to check into. They wanted his server to go through all the traffic cams and surveillance cameras along the route and look for a repeat pattern of the same vehicles. It turned out a lot of vehicles made the same journey on a regular basis. There were a few of them which made it into the area where they operated.

"It probably won't pan out." Jim said.

Bob didn't see it as a problem. They didn't sleep. Terminators were known for their persistence to accomplish a task.

"We'll do like we do with all leads and run them down one at a time." Bob said. "Many lead nowhere."

There were several box trucks they wanted to track down and see what was at the places they visited. They were still on the lookout for Coltan.

Jim thought they should include the General. Most of the footwork would prove to be mundane and unfruitful. It would also most likely be low risk.

"Maybe we should let John come along on one of the recons." Jim said.

Bob wasn't sure it was a good idea.

"He seems to want to come on all of them he knows about." Bob said. "You know Cameron wants us to keep as much of this under wraps as possible."

Jim still believed the recons were low risk and gave John some satisfaction.

"The outing later on will be more dangerous for him." Jim said.

Bob didn't know what the real danger factor was for anything.

"Anything can go hot or stay cold." Bob said.

They drove to the first location. There were a few red flags right from the beginning.

"What's this place?" Jim asked.

Bob didn't like the look of it. He went on enough side operations with Cameron to know it was trouble, and probably not Skynet related.

"John Henry identified it as a produce outlet." Bob said.

Jim thought he knew what the 'produce' was. It was drugs.

"This looks like it's connected to a cartel." Jim said. "Look at the security around it."

There were two security guards visible.

"This looks drug related." Bob said. "They're probably funneled up through the Imperial Valley from south of the border."

Jim didn't like dealing with anything from south of the border. Everything they needed to deal with there, they always ran into trouble.

"At least we know why the trucks which come here pass by the turnoff for Eagle Mountain." Jim said. "We should go."

Bob looked over at Jim. He already knew how events would play out.

"You know as well as I do Cameron will come here after we make the report." Bob said. "We should deal with it now."

Jim thought if they did, they should wait until darkness.

"Do you mean later on?" Jim asked. "We need to go with John."

Bob didn't see why they couldn't deal with it now. The punks associated with drug operations didn't have a clue what a Terminator was. If they moved fast it would be an easy take down. They might even be able to grab some cash or other valuables for Cameron out of it. He wanted to act.

"Let's just take this place down now." Bob said. "We should be in and out in a few minutes."

Jim thought it was a bad idea, but it would be a worse idea if Cameron needed to come and do it by herself later on.

"Let's get it done then." Jim said.

They went to the back of the SUV and gathered what they thought was necessary.

Bob picked up a LAW rocket. He looked at it for a moment and then put it behind the driver's seat on the floor of the SUV. He didn't think he would need it now, but he might later on.

The two thug security guards neared each other.

"Are they going to bring any 'fresh meat' with the next shipment?" The first thug asked.

"I don't know." The second thug said. "You know they try to round up female undocumenteds from the desert crossing."

"The last batch was used up before they got here." The first thug said. "I picked up a rash from one of them."

The other thug laughed.

"You're new." The second thug said. "You'll pick up everything from them at some point. I have. We just pass it on and so will they. It's just the way things are."

They spotted a large man on the sidewalk.

"Who's that guy?" The first thug asked.

"He looks like a body builder." The second thug said. "Are they running steroids now too?"

"I don't know." The first thug said.

The big man got closer.

"Should we challenge him?" The second thug asked.

The big man was almost to them but still on the sidewalk.

"Nice day for a walk." The first thug said.

"Nice day for a walk…." Bob said.

Jim moved around off to the side of the building. Both of the security guards were over with Bob. He made his way to a side door after going over the fence. It was locked. He looked around and forced it open. He made his way inside.

Right away he could hear females crying. It wasn't what he expected to hear or find. It was fairly common with operations like this. It was why Cameron liked to deal with the operations herself, or with the Metal girls.

He moved through the building and found pallets full of packages of drugs. He took out some Thermite grenades. He armed them and set them off.

Bob moved closer to the two men. As soon as he was close enough, he grabbed both of them by the neck and snapped them. He tossed their rag doll bodies behind a parked car.

He headed straight for the building. Jim communicated he was inside. There were female detainees in the southwest corner.

Bob made his way to the rear loading dock and forced open the back door.

A man looked surprised. He went to cry out when Bob slammed into him and snapped his spine.

Bob heard two Thermite grenades go off.

Two men looked out of a room. He shot both of them with his M9. He shot one more as he passed the room. They were playing cards. There was a pile of cash and cards on the table.

There were two more shots from where Jim was. Bob left two Thermite grenades behind him.

Three armed men emerged from the front office area. Jim was on the other side. They took all three down in a crossfire.

They both opened fire on two more men in the room. They were in the counting room. They tried to put cash in a large safe. They both fell.

There were several boxes there. They placed the cash in two of them and exited the room.

Bob wanted to make sure the detainees got out.

"Where are the females?" Bob asked.

They were quiet now. It was probably because of the explosions and shooting. They didn't want to attract any attention to themselves. They probably didn't know the building was on fire and would burn down.

"They're over here." Jim said.

The two Terminators quickly moved over to the holding pen.

Bob ripped the door off of its hinges and tossed it aside.

There were three females in the room

Bob reached his hand out.

"Come with me if you want to leave." Bob said.

The three females warily came forward.

Jim looked at them for a moment.

"Are there any other females or men?"

The three females looked at him with a blank look on their faces.

"They don't speak English." Jim said.

Bob smiled.

"No problemo." Bob said.

Bob conversed with the females in Spanish. There were no other detainees they were aware of. He took them up to the office area. He gave each one of them a stack of cash. He led them to the front door. They disappeared down the street.

The building behind them was fully engulfed.

They made their way back to their SUV and drove off.

Jim was a little concerned about their 'off the books' activity.

"What do we tell John?" Jim asked.

Bob didn't see it as a Resistance matter. There was nothing to tell John.

"We tell him the truth." Bob said. "We didn't find any Skynet activity yet and we have more leads to follow up on. None of them are concrete."

Jim thought they should try to check on something else before they went back. There were other leads for them to follow.

"Maybe we should look in on a future Gray." Jim said.

Bob didn't think it was a bad idea. There were a number of them they weren't able to track down yet.

"I don't think it would be a problem." Bob said.

Jim looked back in the direction of the burning building. He could see a cloud of smoke in the air. He knew there wouldn't be an emergency response. When he turned around, he spotted a box truck on the cross street.

"I think I saw another truck headed towards the location we just torched." Jim said.

Bob quickly checked his rear view mirror.

"I see it." Bob said. "It just made the turn towards the building. I'm going to turn around."

Jim wasn't sure it was a good idea.

"We already took care of the location." Jim said. "We should stick with Resistance matters."

Bob wasn't so sure.

"They could have a load of drugs or females." Bob said. "If there's no building to go to, they might terminate the females and leave them there."

Jim wasn't so sure.

"The drugs and females are currency to them." Jim said. "They won't give up their cash crop easily."

Bob didn't think they would give up what was valuable to them without a fight. He was ready to give them one.

"It's even the more reason for us to take it from them." Bob said. "I hope it's narcotics. The drugs are their real cash cow. It's more poison which doesn't need to end up on the street and ruin more lives. Every life ruined is one more chance for someone to end up as a Scavenger after Judgment Day."

Bob made a U-Turn and went in pursuit of the box truck.

Jim frowned slightly. He thought they did enough 'off the books' activity for the day. He checked around further to see if there's any type of 'chase vehicle' associated with the box truck.

"I haven't spotted any other vehicles associated with them." Jim said. "Do you want to wait until they arrive at the location, or take them on the street?"

Bob wanted to follow them and see where they went after they determined the other location was destroyed. There was probably an alternate facility where drugs were stored and females were held.

"We can see where they go." Bob said. "It will give us additional targets. If we don't do this, Cameron will need to do it herself. You know it as well as I do. We all said we wanted to do more to help her. It's what we should do now."

Jim was just about to protest when he spotted something.

"There are two cars rapidly approaching from the direction we're headed." Jim said.

Bob spotted them too.

"Do you think they're reinforcements or an attack force?" Bob asked.

Before Jim could answer, the lead vehicle cut across the street into the path of the box truck forcing it to stop. The other vehicle pulled up to the rear of the box truck.

"It looks like an attack force to me." Jim said. "Let's let them terminate each other."

Bob was aware it was a tactic Cameron often used. He pulled over to the side of the road and waited. They were approximately three blocks behind the box truck as the incident unfolded. They were close enough to join the fight if it became necessary.

They watched as a shootout occurred on the street. There were two attackers in each vehicle. It appeared both of the men in the truck were terminated along with the two from the vehicle which stopped in front of them. Two men exited from vehicle which was stopped in back of the truck. One of them opened the rear of the truck while the other one went up towards the front to see what happened to the rest of their team. There was a shootout at the back of the truck from someone riding in the rear of it. From what they could spot, the truck only contained pallets of drugs. There didn't appear to be any human cargo.

Bob reached back and retrieved a LAW rocket from the rear seat. He quickly armed it and fired it at the box truck. He immediately made a right hand turn between two buildings and into an alley. He made another right hand turn and went back the way they came.

Jim watched the LAW rocket hit the truck. It appeared to him all three surviving men were terminated when the truck exploded. It would look like another drug deal gone bad. It was doubtful the police would even investigate. The DA didn't see any need to prosecute criminals.

They headed back to the base.

John went out on a recon with Bob and Jim. Steve and Tom acted as the backup. Cameron leaned hard on John about any combat. It meant he wasn't supposed to be in combat.

Bob was unsure what they were up against.

"I've reviewed the information from John Henry." Bob said. "I don't see the connection with the HK drone."

It seemed like a stretch to John as well.

"I don't either." John said. "John Henry was sure it came from this location, or at least was kept here for a time. It's possible it was fabricated or assembled here."

Jim would rather act from the air. He didn't like unnecessary danger to John.

"We should just hit it with a drone missile strike and be done with it." Jim said. "I don't like the looks of this."

John wanted a simple 'in and out'.

"It's why we're here. We need to determine what this place is, or was used for." John said. "We don't take any chances. I need everyone to get the surveillance set up and then we pull out."

Bob wanted a little more decisive action.

"You know it isn't how we operate." Bob said. "If Cameron were here…."

John felt it was the whole point. He wanted some type of order and command.

"I do know it isn't how you operate." John said. "It's why you're here with me instead of Cameron. You'll listen and follow orders. Cameron is reluctant to do so most of the time."

John often wondered if the real reason Cameron married him wasn't simply another way to 'control him'. As his wife, he had less control over Cameron instead of more. As a trooper in the Resistance, she NEEDED to follow orders. As his wife, she didn't. Things would quickly escalate into a domestic situation. She would also 'hold out' on him to make him more agreeable to her decisions and choices. He knew it was all part of her infiltrator programming. She was doing what she was constructed to do. He wondered if Cameron 'made' him love her. He watched her do it with each of the girls, and even 'Metal Haters' like Jesse and Derek.

He knew his mother thought highly of Cameron at this point. Just how high he wasn't sure. It was a turnaround from what it originally was. There was no doubt about it.

Jim would have liked Cameron to go on the mission with them.

"Where is Cameron?" Jim asked.

John wasn't really sure. She just said something came up.

"Cameron has other matters to attend to tonight." John said.

John waited as the surveillance was hooked up. He wanted to get out of there.

Bob hurried back to John.

"There's someone coming." Bob said.

John looked around. He didn't see anyone.

Both Jim and Bob moved closer to shield John.

"It's a Terminator." Jim whispered. "There are two of them."

Things were probably about to go hot. Cameron would be all over him once she found out about it.

'Nice.' John thought.

It appeared the location was some Skynet offshoot for sure.

John didn't want to take any chances. They needed to find out more about what they were dealing with. The presence of Terminators indicated there was probably more going on than met the eye.

"Everyone needs to fall back." John said.

The team immediately did so. The surveillance was in place. It's what they went there to accomplish.

"I have two drones ready to move in to attack or cover you." John Henry said over their coms.

John didn't want to tip their hand this early. The whole point of why they were there was to gather intel. He wanted to make sure they remained out of earshot of a Terminator to avoid detection.

"Hold them out a little way unless we're attacked. We need to gather more information first." John said. "I don't want the drones to be detected."

John Henry noted one of the two Terminators was female from the surveillance feed. He notified Cameron so she could try to apprehend her. Cameron informed John Henry to keep the information 'off the books'.

Cameron previously asked not to be bothered for a few hours.

John Henry noted Holly and Allison arrived at the Resistance base. It was someone unusual. No one looked happy.

Allison was in tears.

John was still unaware of what Cameron 'did', and to what extent.

Cameron was unsure of what would happen and didn't want to 'hear' any more than she would need to. She knew John and her argued a lot over little things. Sarah told her it is what couples do. It was married or otherwise. Cameron didn't like to fight with John and it was easier for her to be out or busy. It was less painful to avoid him, than fight.

Vanna came into her room. She expected to see Cam.

Cameron was there with Allison.

Vanna felt a sudden 'sick' feeling. She knew it was going to be bad news. A stab of pain shot across her mind. She KNEW what was coming….

Allison walked up and held Vanna for the longest time. It caused both of them to cry. Words were unnecessary.

Cameron didn't know what to say. She needed to say something.

"Vanna, I'm sorry…." Cameron said. "Maybe we can try again in a few months. Let me leave you two alone."

Cameron moved up and kissed Vanna on the cheek.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Cameron said softly.

Cameron left Vanna and Allison alone. The long time lovers would find comfort in each other's company. They shared plenty of heartache over the years together. What they dealt with now would just add to it.

Cam and Sheila waited outside as well as Holly. Hanna stayed with Young Allison and Summer.

"I want you two to do whatever you can to help her." Cameron said to Cam and Sheila.

She was aware how possessive Holly was of Allison. This was a different situation.

"I need you to understand Vanna NEEDS Allison right now." Cameron said to Holly.

Holly felt she'd grown and expanded a little. She understood human interaction better now.

"I do understand. I know their bond is strong, even if it's fractured." Holly said as she looked at Cameron. "Allison may need to stay here for a while. I know 'comfort' is needed in times like these."

Since Vanna's body terminated her pregnancy, Cameron wondered how long it would be until Jesse and Allison suffered a similar fate.

"What about Allison?" Cameron asked. "I'm worried about her and Jesse as well."

Holly was worried about it herself. Vanna's problem caused her great worry for Allison."

"Everything seems stable and 'normal'." Holly said. "I've checked all the records and my scans from Sarah when she was pregnant. Allison seems to be functioning within normal parameters."

Cameron frowned a little at Holly's use of words. She did understand everyone was on edge.

"Work on your terminology a little bit for next time." Cameron said. "I understand this is a stressful time for ALL of us."

Holly nodded but said nothing further. She didn't like the rebuff, but the circumstances seemed to dictate her 'feelings' more so than usual.

Cameron turned her attention to Cam. She wanted to offer hope to Vanna with 'herself'.

"Cam, if Vanna has a 'melt down', or does anything 'foolish', I have my spare chip with me.…" Cameron said. "I will update it and let you hang on to it…."

Cam felt she prepared for an eventuality like this.

"I understand. Sheila can help me switch them out if I need to be 'you' for Vanna." Cam said. "I'll be your clone if needed. I can also revert back to being 'you' before Ally was added. I'll be 'Cameron', but out of date."

Cameron wondered if maybe it wasn't a better option for Cam and Vanna at this point. She didn't want Vanna to suffer from emotional distress. She was well aware of what it was like.

Holly wanted to support the girls but her worry over Allison increased.

"I'll wait for Allison however long it takes." Holly said. "Allison is very upset and hurting as well. I will increase my monitoring of her."

Cameron noted the small glitch in Holly's hand. She wanted to give her some reassuring words. She knew uncertainty tended to create its own problems, even if there actually weren't any.

"Holly, you haven't been replaced or 'sent away' by the one you love. Deal with it. You don't know how bad it can get. She will still love you no matter what. Vanna is her true mate. You know this. It's the 'Natural Order' as in my future. We may alter or change it for a time, but the 'Natural Order' will always restore itself."

Holly was aware of it. It was just different when it happened to her.

"I'm sorry, Cameron." Holly said. "I understand."

Cameron thought the scene there was bad enough. There was still another potential problem to deal with. It didn't look like it would end well either.

"I need to go check on Jesse." Cameron said and left.

Savannah watched and saw what was happening. She knew what happened. She would go to Vanna when things calmed down some. She realized her importance just went up. Cameron was unwilling to let her help yet. Vanna would be more inclined now to let her help her. Vanna would understand her body could do what hers couldn't. She knew her body was ready. It finally caught up to her mind. She was ready for what the future offered for a long time, even before her body was. She was ready to step up. Vanna WAS her. She could help 'herself'. She could see others needed help too right now.

Holly felt surprised as Savannah took her hand, the one glitching. It stopped glitching instantly. Savannah led her away from Vanna's room.

Savannah knew how to calm Terminators down and help them. She wasn't sure how she knew but when any of them seemed distressed, she could make them 'feel' better. She wanted Holly to scan her and know she increased her 'value' in their operation now.

"Tell me all the new things about Young Allison and Summer…." Savannah said.

Holly smiled at the thought of Young Allison and Summer.

As Holly scanned Savannah and interacted with her, she soon realized Young Allison would never 'belong' to her. Young Allison already 'belonged' to Savannah. It was a few years away, but clearly written in stone. The 'Natural Order' was yet again asserting itself. Cameron was right. Cameron was always right….

Holly felt calmer and relaxed around Savannah. Even Allison couldn't calm her like this. It was clear why Cameron cherished Savannah. There was do doubt about it. Savannah was the 'Chosen One'.

Savannah and Young Allison were the 'Chosen Ones'.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Bad News

Often through life
People try to cruise
They take many shortcuts
Without paying their fair dues

Without much thought
They can often abuse
As long as it isn't them
They don't care who will lose

Some are left behind
To feel and cry the blues
When it's right from wrong
Which path will they choose

One may end up with a bruise
When they miss their warnings cues
Good from evil is easy to confuse
Going forward one may refuse

Many will another often use
Greed will cause them to accuse
Life offers many changing views
Most of them are all bad news

Nobody