The Last Flag, page 14
part #2 of EMP Survivor Series
“Danny has chosen to stay,” Copeland said, addressing the others. “And to accept him into our community, we will bathe him in the cove's waters, help him wash away his past, and walk with him into a new future.”
Daisy grabbed Danny by the hand and led him down onto a deck near the water. She dipped into the water and it was so cold it stole her breath. But she smiled up at Danny and then extended her hand. Danny took it once more and then slipped into the water with her.
The water was freezing, and Danny started to shake when he entered. But Daisy swam closer to him and grabbed his hands.
“We must go under together,” Daisy said. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Danny answered, teeth chattering.
Daisy took a breath, and Danny mirrored her motions. They submerged beneath the water, and for some reason, Danny opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to, but he did it, and he saw Daisy had done the same.
Both of them were suspended underwater, and when Danny locked eyes with Daisy, he felt there was something here to look forward to, a path that didn’t require him to be afraid anymore. And when they broke the water's surface and Danny took a deep breath, the icy air filling his lungs, he smiled. Because he believed his life could finally become better.
21
Charlie’s lungs burned from the steady pace as he and Blue Eyes continued escaping from the facility, but they could still hear the fighting at the facility.
The good news was that the enemy most likely hadn’t discovered the device had been taken from the location. The bad news was that Stephen and his men were trapped. They must have waited too long to get out. Or they tried and had failed.
“Hey,” Blue Eyes said, panting. “I need a break.”
Charlie didn’t want to stop, but if he abandoned Blue Eyes, the man would take it as a sign of betrayal. And Charlie didn’t want a target on his back. The pair slowed, and Blue Eyes shrugged off his pack and leaned against a tree to catch his breath.
“Shit,” Blue Eyes said, coughing between breaths. “How the hell are you still going?”
“I’m tired,” Charlie answered, which was the truth, but he could have gone longer. He’d always remained in fighting shape even after he had departed The Bunker. Because deep down, a part of him always knew he’d be forced to return, so he wanted to be prepared.
While Charlie kept glancing behind him, Blue Eyes didn’t seem concerned. He looked annoyed.
“What are you doing?” Blue Eyes asked.
“Checking to see if we’re being followed,” Charlie answered.
Blue Eyes glanced behind him, studying the woods. “They’re not following.”
“How can you be sure?” Charlie asked.
“Because why the fuck would they follow us?” Blue Eyes asked. “As far as they were concerned, we were a pair of deserters.”
“You saw how they killed everyone at the ambush,” Charlie said. “Who’s to say they wouldn’t want to track and kill anyone who was a part of that facility?”
“Because people are lazy,” Blue Eyes answered. “Even killers.”
While Charlie didn’t share Blue Eyes's enthusiasm, he didn’t push the subject any further. The pair took the break to rehydrate and refuel. They had covered over twenty miles between the trip to the ambush point and the hike to the facility. They needed to replenish their energy reserves.
“So, what now?” Blue Eyes asked.
“Now, we use the device to leverage Sir to tell The Bunker the truth,” Charlie answered. “If he wants this thing as bad as I think he does, he’ll listen. After that, we just let The Bunker tear him apart. He won’t be a threat once Sir’s authority has been stripped.”
“Just like that, huh?” Blue Eyes asked, gesturing to Charlie’s pack, which was strapped securely to his back. “And what happens to the device?”
“We use it to rebuild,” Charlie answered.
“And who is ‘we?’” Blue Eyes asked.
Charlie didn’t like how Blue Eyes talked or how he kept eying Charlie’s pack. He had never been so disillusioned that the men would be best friends, but he had believed an understanding could be reached. But the look of greed in Blue Eyes worried Charlie because desire made men do stupid things to one another.
“There are other people we can get this to,” Charlie said. “I know of a few contacts. We just need to get it to them.”
“Or we could keep it to ourselves,” Blue Eyes said.
Charlie picked his following words carefully. Now wasn’t the time for either of them to lose their cool. They still had a long journey ahead, and until Charlie returned to The Bunker to confront Sir about his betrayal, the device in his bag was the most critical asset in his arsenal to protect his family.
“That’s not a good idea,” Charlie said. “People will be looking for this thing. We don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we have multiple enemies chasing us down.”
“You said it yourself,” Blue Eyes said. “Those people didn’t know who we were; they don’t know where we’re going. We have anonymity on our side.”
“And what happens when Sir realizes his plan didn’t come to fruition?” Charlie asked. “He’s going to know not all of the contractors were killed. He’s going to know we’re still alive. He’ll send people to find us.”
“And who would he send?” Charlie asked. “He killed anyone who could have stopped us. He’ll know someone is still alive, but he’ll never know it was us. Jesus, he’s not fucking God. He’s not omnipresent. He’s just a man.”
“A man who happened to be in charge of one of the government's most highly specialized intelligence agencies,” Charlie said. “Which is why we need to make sure he is no longer in charge of that agency.”
The pair were at a stand-off, neither willing to concede their perspectives. And if they couldn’t agree, there was only one way this would be settled. But before either of them could draw their weapons, another gunshot rang out in the woods. The pair ducked for cover and then regrouped.
“Southwest!” Charlie shouted. “Maybe fifty yards.”
Charlie knew it was too good to be true to escape the wrath of the enemy forces who attacked the facility. Their mission was clear: leave no survivors.
Charlie counted no more than two combatants. The enemy likely didn’t want to send too many resources after them lest they not return. But they would have sent more if they had known what Charlie was carrying.
After the single gunshot, the forest fell silent, both parties waiting for the other to make their first move. But while the tracker might have had unlimited time, Charlie did not. He peered around the side, trying to goad another shot so he could get a bead on the shooter’s location, and when another shot rang out, Charlie found the second shooter’s position.
“Second shooter is south-south-east, forty yards, near a cluster of trees with a red moss growing on it,” Charlie said. “You see it?”
Blue Eyes peered around the side of his tree. “Yeah, I got it.”
“We’ll need to take them out separately,” Charlie said. “Can you handle it?”
“Just don’t run on me,” Blue Eyes answered. “We need to finish our conversation.”
The pair emerged from their cover, moving low and fast. There was enough tree cover between Charlie and his shooter, making for a hard shot for even the most skilled sniper. Charlie made a serpentine path through the woods, keeping behind cover for most of the journey.
After a few close calls, Charlie was finally in a position to take his shot. The sniper was perched at the crest of a nearby hill, protected by massive rocks. It would be a hard shot, but Charlie had always had good aim. Charlie crouched low and crawled behind a log to move to another position where the sniper couldn’t see him.
Gunshots from the other sniper and Blue Eyes were the only sounds that broke the silence of the woods.
When Charlie reached the cover of another cropping of bushes, he set himself in position. He moved slowly but deliberately, setting up his shot. With the rifle’s stock pinned against his shoulder, Charlie tilted his head to the side and pressed his eye to the scope of his rifle. The target was less than fifty yards away. Close enough for Charlie to be confident he could hit a bullseye.
The world narrowed through the scope, and Charlie searched for the whites of eyeballs amongst the rocks. It took a few seconds to find him, but when he did, Charlie took a breath and steadied his nerves. Charlie was only going to get one shot at this before the sniper zeroed in on Charlie’s location. He needed to make it count.
Charlie lined up the crosshairs over the sniper’s left eye. There was no wind and low moisture in the air, and Charlie was confident the bullet would stay true. He steadied himself, placed his finger on the trigger, and squeezed. The gunshot rang loudly in Charlie’s ear, but the view through his scope confirmed the kill. The sniper slumped on the rocks, a bloody wound replacing his left eye.
Charlie rested his forehead on the ground, the earth frozen against his skin. He lay there for a moment, considering what to do next. If Blue Eyes had taken the device for himself, he could no longer be trusted. But hunting another contractor out here in the woods, with the enemy still so close, wasn’t an ideal situation.
Charlie glanced to the north, where Blue Eyes had gone to engage the other shooter. He studied the woods but saw or heard nothing. Charlie wondered if Blue Eyes had already killed his target and perhaps now he was searching for Charlie. But that ended with an explosion.
Charlie resumed a defensive position, aiming for the explosion to the north, but when the smoke cleared, it was Blue Eyes who was still standing.
“All clear!” Blue Eyes shouted and then emerged from the smoke.
“What the hell was that?” Charlie asked.
“That was getting results,” Blue Eyes answered. “We would have been out here playing cat and mouse for hours, and by then, he’d have called for backup. This needed to end quickly. Explosives are more effective than you think.” Blue Eyes remained concealed behind cover on his approach. It appeared Blue Eyes hadn’t changed his mind about what he wanted to do with the device.
“We don’t have to do this,” Charlie said.
“You’re right,” Blue Eyes replied. “So, why don’t you give me the device, and we’ll all move on?”
“You know I can’t do that,” Charlie said.
“I suppose I do,” Blue Eyes replied.
Blue Eyes inched closer, and Charlie raised his rifle to line up a shot, but Blue Eyes was too clever to be caught out in the open. As Blue Eyes jumped between two trees, he fired at Charlie, the bullet striking the log Charlie hid behind for cover.
“You still alive over there?” Blue Eyes asked.
“Yup,” Charlie answered.
“You must be a hell of a shot if you took out that sniper from fifty yards,” Blue Eyes said. “I imagine you were a force to be reckoned with in your prime.”
“Who says I’m still not in my prime?” Charlie asked.
Blue Eyes laughed, and Charlie followed the sound of his voice. “You and I know we’re not the same young men we once were. But that device you have could make us invincible. Imagine being able to control the future of technology? We could decide who becomes powerful and who remains weak. We could build whatever kind of future we wanted.”
“This device was meant to make everyone’s futures better, not just the select few,” Charlie said.
“You are the good little soldier, aren’t you?” Blue Eyes asked. “Well, I’ll be sure to give your family your regards after you’re gone.”
Charlie knew Blue Eyes had positioned himself closer; if he was right, the man was nearby on the left. Charlie had the opportunity to get the jump on him, so he took it. But when Charlie emerged from behind the woods, there was nothing there.
“Wrong move, buddy boy,” Blue Eyes said, gun to the back of Charlie’s head. “Now, drop the weapon.”
Charlie obeyed, dropping his pistol and rifle into the shrubs at their feet.
“Now, slip off that pack, nice and slow,” Blue Eyes said.
Charlie again followed the directions, slipping the back off one strap at a time. “Why not pull the trigger now?”
“Call it professional courtesy,” Blue Eyes answered. “Think of it as a chance to see your family, be with them, and forget about this.”
“This isn’t the right move,” Charlie said. “That device is too dangerous to hold onto.”
“I’ll worry about the danger,” Blue Eyes said.
Charlie knew the moment that device was gone, Sir would send the entire Bunker to retrieve it, and once Sir learned Charlie was alive, his family was dead. It wouldn’t matter if he did or didn’t have the device. He was a loose end. But at least with the device, Charlie had leverage.
“Don’t do something stupid,” Blue Eyes said.
“Okay,” Charlie said.
Quick as a blur, Charlie dodged to his left, reaching up in the same motion for Blue Eye’s arm. The gunshot deafened Charlie, the left side of his face numb. And while he had avoided the gunshot, he lost his footing, spiraling down a hill.
Bullets chased Charlie down the hill as he tumbled endlessly, smashing against rocks and tree trunks. The world was a spinning blur, and when it finally stopped, he blacked out.
22
When Charlie finally woke up, he was sore and tired. He had no idea how long he’d been out or how badly he was injured. But he was alive. And he didn’t have the device.
Charlie slowly stood, taking stock of his injuries. He was sore and bruised, with a few bad cuts along his arms and legs, but nothing was broken as far as he could tell. He glanced up the steep hill he’d rolled down and saw the trail his body had left behind.
Charlie waited, unsure if Blue Eyes was still hanging around, but he doubted it. If the man had wanted Charlie dead, it would have happened already.
Charlie ascended the hilltop, returning to the spot from where he had fallen. His bag was gone, along with his weapons. But Charlie still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Charlie had been on enough missions to always keep a weapon on his person. Because if there was one thing to expect on a mission, it was the unexpected.
Tucked beneath the fabric of his pants was a thin blade. Even with a pat-down, it was practically untraceable because of the positioning of the blade against a zipper. Anyone feeling the area would have assumed it was only the zipper.
The blade was titanium strength, sharp as a razor. It was the length of Charlie’s index finger, and while it didn’t look like much, it was all he needed to slice someone’s throat. Because as deadly as bullets were, the human body was fragile, and it didn’t take more than a thin piece of metal to kill someone.
While Charlie had no idea where Blue Eyes would go or what he planned to do, Charlie was confident he could track the man. Part of his training involved reconnaissance work, and while it had never been the primary focus of his career, he understood the basics. He’d also developed a good eye for tracking from years of hunting as a child with his family. His father would take him out into the woods, looking for deer, pigs, and anything else they could eat for dinner.
The ground was soft from recent rainfall, and it was easy to locate Blue Eye’s tracks. Charlie trod carefully, knowing Blue Eyes was just as skilled a killer as he was. Because while Charlie might have been hunting Blue Eyes, the tables could turn quickly.
Based on the distance between the boot prints, Blue Eyes was hurrying to high ground, which made sense if the man planned on keeping to the woods for a while. The thought of Chinese forces hunting him must have spooked him a little. He wanted to get somewhere remote, a place easily defendable. But if Blue Eyes wanted to throw anyone off his trail, he’d look for water.
Crossing into a river and through the rocks would make tracking Blue Eyes impossible, even with the help of a dog. The water would wash away whatever scent was left behind, and when Charlie saw a shift in the tracks heading west, parallel to the mountaintops, Charlie knew that was what Blue Eyes was hoping to find.
Charlie double-timed his efforts. If Blue Eyes made it to the water before Charlie caught him, his hopes of recovering the device dropped to zero. And without the machine, his family was vulnerable.
Winded from the several fights of the day, Charlie was running on empty. But thoughts of his family, keeping them safe, and knowing what happened if he failed pushed Charlie beyond his limits.
But Charlie treaded carefully because even though he was still alert when the final fight came, he would still be tired. There was no telling how much energy he still had left in the tank, and he wouldn’t know the answer until it finally happened.
After a mile of tracking Blue Eyes through the woods, Charlie’s senses on high alert, a noise was blown to him in the breeze. It was the sound of rushing water. A river was nearby. Charlie had been correct about his assumptions of Blue Eyes’s motives. Charlie double-timed his efforts to catch Blue Eyes before he was gone forever.
Sprinting over the rocky terrain, Charlie risked breaking his ankle in favor of speed, but he didn’t have any time to spare. Quick on his feet, Charlie’s heart beat fast as the river’s rushing water grew louder. He was moving so quickly he’d lost the element of surprise, his footfalls thundering over the terrain, rustling branches, and crunching leaves. And Blue Eyes noticed.
The gunshot came from across the river. The bullet missed, allowing Charlie to find Blue Eyes moving quickly toward the high ground. Charlie made several more attempts to press forward, but there was no cover near the river, and he was forced to wait until Blue Eyes was far enough away not to shoot him with any accuracy.
When the time came, Charlie sprinted across the river, quickly finding cover again as Blue Eyes resumed his assault. It was literally and metaphorically an uphill battle for Charlie as he chased Blue Eyes up the hillside. Between his disadvantages of not having a gun and Blue Eyes still having one and the high ground, Charlie wasn’t sure if he’d be able to win this fight.
