Chapter 589

Dodge This

Jim entered the Skynet related compound with the rubbish truck. He was able to successfully extract Bob and Derek from the target area. The trash truck pulled out onto the street.

As soon as they left the compound, Derek sat up and looked around. Everyone could take a breath again, well, he could anyway. There were a lot of unknowns dealing with everything. He gave John and John Henry as full of a report as he could.

They knew they weren't going to track the big rig with the trash truck. They rumbled down the street and headed back to where the rubbish truck was acquired from. They would need a different set of wheels or a different team to track the big rig.

There was one loose end which bothered Derek. He was in the cab of the garbage truck with Jim. Bob was in the section of the truck for rubbish along with the janitor. It was the janitor he incapacitated and put in the dumpster with Bob.

"Bob, what is the status of the janitor?" Derek asked.

Bob searched and checked over the janitor while they were inside the dumpster. He wanted to look for clues as to the culpability of the custodian. He wanted to know if he was some guy trying to learn a living and was an inadvertent collaborator or not.

"I haven't decided yet." Bob said.

Derek was confused by Bob's answer.

"What do you mean?" Derek asked.

Bob didn't like what he found on one arm of the janitor. It was an indication as to the type of person the individual in their custody actually was.

"He has a Skynet work camp tattoo." Bob said.

Derek felt anger. It meant the janitor was a 'sell out' who became a Gray. It meant he turned on the Resistance to save himself and get a better life, while his Resistance brethren died around him. He lived the good life, while others who trusted him didn't make it. He hoped Bob could provide him with some better information.

"Have you questioned him yet?" Derek asked.

Bob conducted an interrogation under duress with the custodian. His hand was clamped firmly around the man's throat as he sought answers. He was rather talkative under the circumstances. He was sure there was no more to learn from the janitor.

"Affirmative…." Bob said.

Derek wanted a better answer. It didn't appear there was going to be one.

"Well?" Derek said. "Maybe I should go back there myself."

Bob was ready to move out of the trash section of the truck.

"Can I ride in the front now?" Bob asked.

Derek wanted the janitor dead. He hated turncoats and traitors. Once the custodian became a sellout to Skynet, he most likely provided information which led to the death of additional Resistance members. Good people died so someone could have a better life. If he was in the back of the truck right now, he would take matters into his own hands.

"Finish it." Derek said. "He's a sellout and a Gray."

Bob didn't care for the janitor anyway. He was very irritating to deal with during the questioning process inside the dumpster covered by the old painter's tarp.

"Affirmative…." Bob said. "I can wrap things up here real quick."

Jim stopped. Bob climbed out of the back of the trash truck and entered the cab, next to Derek.

Derek looked at Bob. He thought he would give him an update.

"Well?" Derek asked.

Bob kept a straight face.

"He sleeps with the roaches." Bob said.

Derek nodded.

"Let's hear what he had to say." Derek said.

Bob didn't think it was a lot to work with.

"This is what he told me…." Bob said.

Bob gave his report.

Derek didn't feel there was any useful information. If he would have known the custodian was a traitor when he first took him down, he would have terminated him himself.

"It still doesn't tell us much." Derek said.

Jim felt they were always at a disadvantage. It seemed most of the time they needed to play catch up to Skynet. Skynet would usually do something which forced them to respond.

"Does it ever?" Jim asked.

Derek didn't think so.

"No." Derek said. "We usually need to do it the hard way."

The Resistance team needed to find out what was in the big rig. There were wooden crates which were hurriedly loaded onto the truck before it departed. Something was in them which Skynet wanted to move to another area. They were under the impression the need for the quick action, was because of their earlier efforts at several locations where they took Skynet facilities down.

Young Allison wasn't pleased by what was happening at the location where Savannah, Cameron, and Cammy were. Something needed to be done NOW. Cameron's team was in grave danger and there was no one to help them out. She was nothing more than an observer to the operations. As an observer she felt there were certain things which needed to be dealt with. It may not have been her place, but she felt it was her responsibility to do something.

"I want CamNet to notify John Henry of everything happening." Young Allison said. "It needs to be done right now."

Anna wanted to make it clear to Young Allison how things often were for Cameron. She preferred to operate alone or with limited assistance from some of the Metal girls.

"What you are viewing is how Cameron normally operates." Anna said.

It wasn't a good enough answer for Young Allison. She was sure Anna, of all people, could see things differently. There was more than one perspective available to her.

"Is it the 'Cameron' in you talking?" Young Allison asked. "What does the 'Savannah' in you say?"

Anna didn't say anything at first. She knew the 'Savannah' in her didn't approve of the risks Cameron took. It was apparent more needed to be done.

"I've notified CamNet to release all information to John Henry." Anna said.

Young Allison believed it should go to John as well. Cameron's team was involved with a Resistance matter. It wasn't an 'off the books' operation. She wanted to do more to assist.

"Thank You." Young Allison said. "What can we do to help them?"

Anna knew Young Allison wanted to go there herself to help. It was a non-starter for her. It was way too dangerous to send Young Allison out in the field.

"I can't allow you to be involved in any field operations, Allison." Anna said. "You know this."

Young Allison didn't think the Young family needed as much protection as it currently possessed. She knew the issue of her Detail was something important to Cameron to ensure her safety. She thought there were a few other ways around the issue which could be used.

"You can take Hanna and Holly and go help." Young Allison said. "We have the Detail next door to watch us. We could send some of them if the Metal girls want to remain here."

Anna felt a glitch impulse. It wasn't something she could do.

"NO." Anna said. "You're to be protected at all times. It's an order."

Young Allison wondered about where it came from.

"Is it Cameron's order?" Young Allison asked.

Anna knew where the real concern was from.

"NO." Anna said. "It's Savannah's order."

Young Allison smiled to herself. Savannah always watched out for her, Cameron did too. Anna was proof of it. Things weren't good at the location where Cameron's team was at. She decided to personally speak with Savannah about it. A tense fear gripped her, she hoped she would be able to speak with Savannah and she wasn't already injured or terminated.

She wondered if some things would turn into a conflict of interest between Savannah and her. They could both issue an order which all of the machines would need to follow. What happened if Savannah and her gave an opposite order? What were the machines to do then? If they were equal, who was the decider?

Everything weighed on Young Allison until the words just blurted out of her mouth, seemingly on their own.

"I want to join the fight." Young Allison said. "THEY need me."

John Henry received the full update from CamNet. It also included Young Allison's desire for John to know everything as well. He was pretty sure how all this information was about to go over.

"I have some bad news." John Henry said.

John quickly checked his monitors. He wondered if someone 'made' the trash truck. He thought they got away clean.

"What is it now? Is Derek's team OK?" John asked. "I didn't hear anything."

John Henry didn't want John to worry about Derek, Bob, or Jim.

"No, Derek's team is fine." John Henry said. "They've returned the trash truck to where it was 'borrowed' from. I don't think the truck driver will know it was borrowed. It was returned back to the same place. No call was ever made about it 'missing'. He just has a little extra cargo in the back. Jim, Bob, and Derek are currently shadowing the big rig. They've appropriated another vehicle."

John didn't see it as a problem.

"I got all of it." John said. "Everything is going according to plan."

John Henry didn't look forward to the next part.

"It's CamNet." John Henry said. "All information regarding Cameron, Cammy, and Savannah has been released."

John was a little confused by the change in MO.

"OK." John said. "It's unusual. Is anything happening where they went?"

John Henry was a little surprised at the source. Maybe he shouldn't have been. He was contacted twice by her already.

"This information is being released on the request of Young Allison." John Henry said. "She demanded we be contacted and informed of everything."

John was instantly alert. It was a bold move for Young Allison. It must mean Savannah was in danger. It meant Cameron and Cammy would be as well.

"What happened?" John asked. "Spill it."

John Henry didn't have a lot of detailed information.

"The last information we have is Cameron reported contact with HK Tracks at the 'inactive' location." John Henry said. "The HK Tracks weren't inactive."

John was worried about any HK equipment.

"It isn't good." John said. "How many HK Tracks are there?"

Some things were unknown, some were known through their own surveillance equipment.

"It's unknown." John Henry said. "From the surveillance equipment we set up earlier, we've now detected gunfire."

It seemed to be pretty standard to John when Cameron was involved.

"I don't think it's unusual." John said.

John Henry thought it was the type of gunfire which was different.

"It's repeated bursts of minigun fire." John Henry said. "There's a battle taking place inside of the building."

John was on his feet now. He could feel his gut sink with the news.

"This is bad news." John said.

John Henry tilted his head slightly. It was his opening line of the current conversation.

"I've already stated it was." John Henry said.

John needed to know more. He needed to know it now. He wanted to do more to help.

Savannah moved so she could pop up from the trough she was in. She was close to the target. She didn't know if it could detect her movement below it. She didn't see how she could possibly be any closer from her current location. The HK Track was literally right over her. It couldn't engage her unless it tried to run over her.

She wanted to try something new. She touched her Taser. It worked on Terminators so it might work on the HK Track. The trick would be to get the barbs wedged into the metal at a joint so they would stick. If not, she was going to use the Thermite grenade.

What worried her the most was at least one other HK Track fired on right where her position was earlier on. It didn't matter, Cameron and Cammy needed help.

Savannah pulled her Taser and came out of the trough behind the HK Track.

"Dodge this." Savannah said.

She held the Taser and fired twice into a joint in the frame where the gun mount pivoted.

One of the barbs from the first set deflected. Both barbs from the second set wedged as the charge was delivered.

She really hoped it was going to work now since she was totally exposed. She didn't know if either of the other two HK Tracks would engage her. It didn't matter. The HK track she was in back of already fired its minigun several times. The only thing it would shoot at would be Cameron and Cammy. She needed to help them.

Cammy saw Cameron go down and knew the third HK Track was going to light her up. She decided to move to try to draw the gunfire herself. It should give Cameron time to move.

Cameron scrambled to roll and get up. She saw Cammy move away from her and towards the HK Track. Cammy's move made her the bigger threat to the HK Track. Cameron knew one of them was going to get chewed up.

Nothing happened.

Cameron stood and looked back at the HK Track she disabled. It was stalled. Cammy moved and went behind the HK Track she disabled and toward the third HK Track.

"Savannah?" Cameron called out.

Savannah moved out from behind the third HK Track. She could use their assistance right now. She knew what needed to be done, she didn't know if she would have time to do it

"I need one you to disable this thing before it reboots." Savannah said. "I Tasered it, I think it's going to reboot. I may have disabled it, but I want to be sure."

Cameron and Cammy looked at each other. They both knew Savannah saved one of them, if not both of them.

Cammy came over to check the HK Track. Savannah already did enough to prevent it from rebooting.

"It's not going anywhere." Cammy said.

When Cameron came over she saw Savannah's vest was off. She wasn't sure why. She hoped she hadn't been shot with it on and took it off because it was damaged. She started to take hers off to give it to Savannah. She didn't need a vest. Savannah did.

Savannah noticed what Cameron was about to do. She appreciated the gesture.

"No, Cameron, mine's down here." Savannah said and picked it up from inside the trough and put it back on.

Savannah showed them where she tried to take cover and why she needed to slip her vest off. Cammy and Cameron went back and double checked both of the HK Tracks they disabled. All three of them were offline. The power source was disconnected to make sure there wouldn't be any surprises.

Cammy came back and gave Savannah a hug.

"You saved us." Cammy said.

Savannah didn't want them to make a big deal about it. They all did the same thing in reality. It was only the timing which was different. They needed to drop down and engage their targets. Her target came to her. She didn't feel she did anything extraordinary.

"I just did my part." Savannah said. "We all disabled one HK Track."

Savannah looked at the splintered work bench. She was glad she hadn't tried to hide there. It was her first thought before she spotted the trough.

Cammy and Cameron both looked at it as well. Cameron checked the trough for toxins. There were none detected. They knew it was a close call for all of them. She put the metal section of the grate back over the trough. It was quite heavy.

"It must have taken some effort to move this piece of metal." Cameron said.

Savannah looked at it.

"It was already off." Savannah said. "I don't know why."

Cammy looked at the area as well. Someone needed to remove it for some reason.

"I will need to explore where this trough system goes." Cammy said. "I didn't pay attention to it before."

Savannah was a little worried whatever triggered the HK Tracks to respond may have alerted someone else.

"It can be checked another time. I think we need to get out of here." Savannah said. "We don't know what other surprises there are."

Cameron wanted to get Savannah away from there before anything else happened.

"It's a good idea." Cameron said.

Cameron looked around the area. She could always come back later. The building wasn't going to go anywhere.

Savannah could tell what Cameron thought about right now. She sighed slightly. She knew what Cameron would do.

"Look, if you're going to come back later on, let's just do everything now." Savannah said. "We're already here."

Cameron was able to communicate with CamNet. A few things became clear.

"I have all the feeds looped and CamNet hasn't reported any communication going in or out of here." Cameron said. "The HK Tracks jammed our signals. They appear to have operated autonomously."

Cammy was in communication with CamNet as well.

"More help is about to arrive." Cammy said.

Cameron was a little upset. She hoped to keep the situation contained. They all made it so it was no big deal.

"I didn't call for any assistance." Cameron said.

Savannah listened to the reports as well. She was even more pleased because Young Allison ordered CamNet to send help and to notify John and John Henry.

Cameron was pleased to learn Young Allison took it upon herself to act. It was the kind of bold thinking she wanted her to do. She wanted Young Allison, like Savannah, to do the 'right thing'. It was exactly what Young Allison did. She didn't care about the consequences. She did what needed to be done, when it needed to be done.

Cameron, Cammy, and Savannah searched the location for anything else. Nothing was found. Someone left the HK Tracks there to ambush them and probably trigger an alert which would have sent HK drones. Their communications block prevented the later part from happening.

They all knew they were lucky. It was a close one, real close.

They would have a team collect the HK Tracks and add them to their collection. What couldn't be repaired would be cannibalized for parts, and the rest turned into projectiles.

Cameron took one last look around before they left. She looked at where Savannah was and the damage to the area where she was at. She knew Savannah was almost killed. She knew it was Savannah who saved HER again by disabling the last HK Track. It was zeroed in on her and she was down on the ground with nowhere to go but the scrap heap.

She would later receive a full report from Anna about Young Allison and her actions and concerns. She was most pleased Young Allison acted on her own accord, even when Anna indicated they shouldn't become involved. Young Allison chose to anyway. She wasn't afraid to do what needed to be done. She was proud of Young Allison as well as Savannah. She knew they were the 'women' in her future. The females she would share John with. The females she would share with herself.

Anna also made sure Cameron knew Young Allison requested several times to be 'older' so she could join the fight and fulfill her destiny. She was actually ready to join the fight now if it would have been possible for her to do so.

Cameron knew it was going to cause a problem with Claire, especially when she came for Summer. She was aware of the special abilities Summer possessed. She wasn't sure if anyone else knew of them yet. She really wondered where and when Summer was actually from. It wasn't from anything she did, well, not yet anyway.

Sheila and Ally just finished off two thugs and their boss.

Ally snapped the neck of the boss. She figured she should do what he wanted.

"He did thank me in advance." Ally said.

Sheila wanted to 'work' on him longer, but it was finished. They originally came there to extract the girls. The girls were gone. Now they were provided with a location.

"Let's go get the girls and free them." Sheila said.

Ally was all for it. The additional thugs they were able to take out was a bonus.

"Damn, straight." Ally said.

Sheila was more worried about Cameron. She felt the need to deal with certain issues to ensure justice was rendered. Not everyone agreed with her or her actions. Cameron always gave her a hard time.

"I'm taking the car." Sheila said.

Ally wanted to torch the place and go.

"Let's bust the gas lines. I'll toss a Thermite grenade in here as we drive away." Ally said.

They exited the building.

Sheila got into the sports car. She thought they could arrive at the next location unopposed. It would act like a Trojan Horse to get them close to the target.

"We'll stop two blocks out and leave the SUV." Sheila said. "We can drive right up to the front door in this thing."

Ally took out a Thermite grenade when she got behind the wheel of the SUV. She could see Sheila fooling around with the rear view mirror of the sports car as they drove away. She wasn't sure what she did. She tossed the Thermite grenade in through the open front door of the building and they both accelerated away. There was an explosion several seconds later as the natural gas was ignited. CamNet would suppress all emergency response. The building would burn to the ground. The bodies of those inside would be consumed.

Two blocks from the next location Ally pulled over. She locked up the SUV and got into the sports car with Sheila. She noticed something right away.

"Are you serious?" Ally asked.

Sheila looked at what hung from the rear view mirror.

"Just think of it as fuzzy dice." Sheila said. "It sort of is anyway."

Ally shook her head.

"Oh, brother. Just when you think you've seen it all." Ally said. "You really are 'bent'. Let's go."

Sheila headed straight for the next target. She didn't think it was a big deal.

"How do you want to play this?" Ally asked.

Sheila shrugged her shoulders.

"I think like we always do seems to work." Sheila said.

Ally knew what it meant.

"We play it by ear." Ally said.

They went over a few details. Ally would be the lead.

Sheila pulled up right in front of the door.

There was a thug who approached the sports car. He looked at Ally and Sheila. He thought they both looked hot. He tried to decide which one he would 'do' first. He didn't see the big man.

"Where's the boss?" The thug asked. "Who are you two?"

Sheila and Ally got out.

Sheila moved just right and a breast with a nipple ring popped out.

The thug decided he would 'do' the Asian slut first after seeing the nipple ring.

Sheila could see she gained the thug's attention. She decided to take the lead.

"He sent us on ahead. I'm his new squeeze, 'Blondie'. This is my plaything, 'Baby Doll'." Sheila said as she pointed at Ally. "She likes to share."

Ally looked at Sheila. It was supposed to be the other way around in their two block plan as they drove there.

The thug looked them over. He wondered why the Asian chick was called 'Blondie'. She was dark all the way around. It was something new, but somehow it seemed plausible. Why else would they have the boss's car? How else would they know to go there?

Ally wanted to move things along. They were there for a very specific reason.

"We're here to collect some of the newer girls." Ally said.

The thug looked a little worried.

"They all have plenty of experience now." The thug said. "The boss told us to get them acclimated."

Sheila made no effort to tuck her exposed breast back into her top. She could see how much it distracted the thug.

"We have a special client who wants some of the girls." Sheila said.

The thug's eyes were glued to Sheila's exposed breast.

"Who are you two again?" The thug asked. "I'm going to need to check you out."

The thug glanced at the sports car and squinted some as he looked in the front window. He quickly realized it wasn't 'fuzzy dice' which hung from the rear view mirror.

"What the hell?" The thug asked.

He knew something was off. He reached for a weapon.

Sheila rabbit punched him. His head slammed into the fender and dented it.

"The dent isn't going to be good for the resale value." Sheila said.

Ally didn't think it really mattered. If anything, she figured the thug got off easy because of his quick termination. She was sure Sheila was going to take everything to the extreme with the handlers of the females.

"I don't think things started off so great, so much for an easy entry." Ally said.

They reached inside the sports car and both of them grabbed a vest.

They each held their M9 as they headed for the front door.

A shot was fired at them as they entered. They each moved to an opposite side of the opening. Ally returned fire and the thug dodged away from her. He didn't see Sheila.

Sheila was right next to him.

"Dodge this." Sheila said as she shot him in the head.

Ally spotted someone run towards the back.

"Let's go." Ally said.

Sheila and Ally took off in pursuit. They weren't about to let anyone off of the hook.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

A Lot Of Things

How the mighty have fallen
Wake up, look all around
Who was the one suddenly found
Who is the one now blindly bound

No one comes from nowhere
They just showed up here
At the right moment
They suddenly appear

It does not do any good
To tell you something is not right
You will brush me off
We will argue and fight

Now I must watch
As you throw it all away
Nothing will stop you
No matter what I do or say

You are caught in her web
As she pulls your strings
It seems she never told you
A lot of things

Nobody