DusktoDust_Final3 Read online

  David dropped the launcher from his shoulder. Once again all he could hear was the sound of the wind.

  “Two-three, this is Two-actual,” his radio broke the silence.

  David took a long breath and then responded. “Send it.”

  “Carpenter, was that you?”

  “Yes, sir. We’re clear out here.”

  Gnasher laughed for the whole platoon to hear. “Carpenter, you are one crazy son of a bitch.”

  David cracked a grin. “Yes, sir.”

  David mustered what he now thought of as his squad and moved into the compound. With the help of the medic, whose name was Rusk, they carried Corporal Zeek out of the cold. The man was lucid but in bad shape. The bullet had barely missed his heart, and he had lost a lot of blood.

  Gnasher was there to meet them at the entry way. He looked into the face of his injured squad leader. “How you doing, Corporal?”

  The man forced a smile, his lips slick with blood. “Give me a couple hours, El-tee. I can still lay into those bastards.”

  The platoon commander smiled back. “I don’t doubt it. Get some rest, Death Diver. The Feds will still be here for you when you wake up.” He looked up at Rusk. “We’re putting the wounded in the second, Doc. I want you in there, too.”

  Rusk nodded, and with the assistance of Bailey, carried Zeek off toward a line of vehicles staged within the compound.

  “We’re getting ready to move, sir?” David inquired. There were seven vehicles, all big rock crawlers, designed to move about the dark side. Hovers did not fare well in the extreme cold. These vehicles each had giant treads in the place of where one would expect wheels to be, made to overcome rock and snowdrifts alike.

  “As soon as possible,” Gnasher confirmed. “I want to get as far away from this place before the Feds send out reinforcements.”

  “Agreed,” David said.

  “You saved our asses out there, Carpenter.” The man extended his hand. “I’m glad to have you on our side.”

  David shook it. “Just luck, sir.”

  “There’s no such thing as luck.”

  Before David could respond, Letsego and Nobal walked up.

  “We’re almost ready to go, sir,” Nobal announced. “The men are just grabbing the last of the supplies they could scrounge up.”

  “What’s the final count?”

  Nobal’s face turned overly serious. “Including Zeek, we’ve got five wounded, two KIA.” They may have won the battle, but it had not been without its price.

  “Who?”

  “Pierce took a railgun to the chest and Elliot lost half his face to a chaingun.”

  Gnasher nodded solemnly. David knew what he was feeling. He had brought these men into combat and ultimately it was his orders which had gotten them killed. It was a hard cross for any man to bear.

  But he didn’t dwell on it long. He simply nodded and then raised his head again. “Get the men mounted up. I want to be on the move in five.”

  “Aye, sir,” Nobal said and then hurried off.

  Gnasher turned to Letsego. “You have the route plotted?”

  Letsego held up a tablet. “It keeps us in the valleys and ravines. It’ll be harder for the Feds to spot us there. It’s a hundred and fifty clicks. Six hours in this weather.”

  Gnasher inspected the map. “Once we get to Haverford, what’s the best way to make contact with your guy, Carpenter?”

  “I know where his place is, but I bet the Feds will have the city locked down tight. It’ll probably be easier if the platoon finds a safe place to hide on the outskirts while a couple of others and I sneak in and make contact. He will have a way of smuggling everyone else in.” David could see doubt in the lieutenant’s eyes. “Don’t worry, sir. This guy is reliable.”

  “He better be.” With that, Gnasher handed the tablet back to Letsego and then headed off to inspect the convoy.

  Letsego looked at David. “Your contact, who is he?”

  “Like I said before, he’s a broker of sorts.”

  Letsego looked at him skeptically. Finally, he said, “I want to doubt you, Carpenter. I really do. But up to now you have shown your reliability. I guess all I can do is trust you. But don’t be fooled. If you give me reason, I will chain you up like the dog you once proved you were.”

  27: Old Friends

  They moved with leisured purpose through the streets of Haverford. The streets were not crowded, however traffic was slow, caused by new Federation checkpoints that had been put in place in the past day. Surprisingly, the troopers at the checkpoints merely checked pedestrians and vehicle occupants for weapons, of which there were many, and did not check for identification. The Feds had only just arrived and had not had time to set up fully yet on ID and biometric scanning networks.

  Carpenter had wanted to keep the group as small as possible. Lieutenant Gnasher had insisted on coming. As the man apparently in charge of this operation, appointed by the commodore, Letsego had deemed it necessary for him to come, too. Corporal Bailey from third squad rounded out the team at four.

  The rest of the platoon remained on the outskirts of Haverford. They had found a dense patch of forest where the vehicles were well concealed and they settled in to wait. Field Sergeant Nobal was monitoring the radio for follow on instructions from Gnasher after they made contact with Carpenter’s man.

  On the drive out of the dark side, Carpenter had offered more information on who this man was. His name was Chief Francis Boldack, and the smuggler had worked with him in the United States military. At the time Boldack had been a navy chief, a quartermaster with a certain reputation. If you were stationed on the starcruiser USV Hornet, and you required something difficult to acquire, whether it be a product or service, Chief Boldack could get it for you. Eventually, the man had retired, moved to Prospect, and began offering his creative services on a more public market. Apparently Carpenter had found smuggling work from the man on multiple occasions.

  Letsego did not enjoy the idea of placing his faith in this man. Like Carpenter, he was part of the criminal underworld that undermined the system which Letsego had sworn an oath to defend. However, also like Carpenter, this man had once been in the service of a higher purpose. Carpenter had been reliable up to this point. Maybe this man would be, too.

  Carpenter led the three Peacekeepers through the streets of Haverford. All four of them had traded in their combat armor for dark gray mining jumpsuits, acquired at the supply station. They moved quickly through the streets, as did all the inhabitants of the former British colony. The Feds had definitely put the city on edge. And to the discomfort of everyone in the group, due to the security checkpoints, none of them carried weapons.

  The path that Carpenter led them on was seemingly random. He was navigating from memory, stopping at various intersections to take in his surroundings. Letsego refrained from interrupting the man. He did not want to, but he had to put faith in him. If they were not able to find this Boldack character the entire operation was dead in the water.

  Finally, they turned off the main street into an alley. Abandoned hovers and trash heaps cluttered the chasm between the old brick buildings. Carpenter navigated around the obstacles, leading them out of the rays of crimson twilight.

  “It’s just up here,” he announced, rounding another corner. Fifty meters ahead, there was a lone door.

  Carpenter approached and rang the buzzer on the door’s intercom. Thirty seconds passed.

  “Looks like your friend is not home,” Gnasher observed.

  “Oh, he’s home.”

  Letsego looked up to where Carpenter was pointing. In the corner of the building was an old fashioned surveillance camera. As he watched it, the device panned across the group of visitors, stopping and focusing on each of their faces. When it had inspected all four, the intercom hissed to life.

  “Is that you, Carp?” a gruff voice spat out.

  Carpenter keyed the device. “You damn well kn
ow it’s me, Chief. Now open up.”

  There was a pause. “The Feds have been up to some hinky shit the past twenty four hours. How do I know you aren’t some body double they sliced up to make look like David Carpenter?”

  “Jesus, old man. Fine. You used to stick it to the hot little nurse named Lisa back on the Hornet until she found out you were married three times over.” Carpenter rolled his eyes. “You satisfied now.”

  He wasn’t. “Who are your friends?”

  “You already know who they are, too.”

  “I’ll be more specific. What are you doing hanging around with a bunch of Peaks?”

  “I promise they are friendly. Now, will you let us in before the Feds find us?”

  Five seconds later the door opened. Carpenter looked back at the group. “See, I told you not to worry.”

  Letsego and the others followed the smuggler through the door and up a flight of stairs. At the top they found themselves in a large, empty room. At the far end was a doorway. In that doorway stood a plump gray-haired man cradling a shotgun. It was the shotgun, not the man holding it, that convinced Letsego to stop.

  “Welcome to Chez Boldack,” the man growled. “Please keep your hands where I can see them.” He raised the shotgun ever so slightly.

  “Damnit, Chief!” Carpenter stepped in front of the other three, raising his hand as if it would stop the shotgun pellets. “I told you they’re friends.”

  Boldack shrugged. “You never can be too carefully these days, Carp.” He motioned with his left hand. “Keller, please check our new friends for contraband.” From the far doorway, a large man emerged and walked over to the visitors. He started patting Letsego down. Once he was satisfied that the man didn’t have any weapons he moved to the other two. “They’re clean, boss.”

  Boldack looked back at Carpenter. “Okay, Carp. You want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”

  Carpenter looked back at the shotgun, which was still trained on them. “I expected a little more hospitality than this,” he criticized.

  Boldack did not move. “Pardon me if I’m a little on edge. Just yesterday the Feds dropped in unexpectedly and declared martial law and now I have three Peaks knocking down my door. ‘Never trust a Peak.’ Remember that?”

  “They want the Feds gone just the same as you do. Plus if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be breathing right now.”

  Boldack slowly scanned the faces of Peacekeepers. Finally, he lowered his weapon. “Damnit, Carp. You’re making me break my own rules. Come in, make yourselves at home.” He turned and headed through the doorway.

  Carpenter glanced back at his companions. Letsego gave him a look that spoke volumes. This was not a good way to begin a trusting relationship.

  “Let me get this straight. Windcorp found some crazy alien doohicky buried on Prospectthat sucks the life out of people. They tried to sell it to the Feds, but now the Feds just want to take it and the rest of the planet with it. The big commotion I heard yesterday was the Peaks getting their asses whoopped and surrendering the planet to the Feds, but you think the fleet’s gonna be back some day. Just in case, you and this jolly gang of yours want to go gallivanting into the light side in order to find who knows what about this nasty alien tech and what the Feds want to do with it.”

  “You forgot the part where the Feds have enlisted Black Crescent to help them out with their little plot,” David reminded Chief Boldack.

  Tensions had lowered. All of them now sat around a large coffee table. David could tell that Letsego, Gnasher, and Bailey were still on edge after the not too warm welcoming, but they were coming around. It didn’t help that Chief’s assistant, who was the size of a house, was now sitting across from them. However, after David recounted the events leading up to today, the man was just as bewildered as his boss.

  “That sure is one hell of a tall tale, Carp,” Chief said, processing it all.

  “It’s the truth, Mr. Boldack,” Letsego cut in. “As farfetched as it seems.”

  The man sighed. “I doubt there is any lunatic in the galaxy who could make up a story so off the wall ridiculous without it being true.” He looked at David. “But you still haven’t answered my first question. Why are you here? Now? At my house?”

  David approached this question delicately. He knew his old friend was not the type to get involved in other people’s problems. “We need your help.”

  “No shit,” Chief said simply and walked over to the kitchenette.

  “We need transportation to Windham,” David continued. “Further if you have any ideas.”

  “I might. For a fee.” He opened up the cooler and grabbed a lager. None of his guests were offered one.

  “Also,” David knew this part would be the hard sell. “We need somewhere to lay low for a few hours.”

  Chief took a swig of his beer and looked at David skeptically. “Who is ‘we’?”

  “The four of us and the rest of Lieutenant Gnasher’s platoon.”

  Chief slammed his lager down on the counter. “Why the hell would I want to do that, Carp?! Ignoring the fact that my place isn’t exactly outfitted to quarter thirty-odd Peaks!”

  “There’s twenty six of us,” Gnasher said, not helping the situation.

  “I don’t care if there’s only one of you and he is a midget. I am not going to risk my neck housing Peaks!”

  “The Peacekeepers are a hell of a lot better than the Feds,” David pointed out.

  Chief laughed. “You forget what type of business I’m in, kid. With the Fed lockdown I’ve had more requests for services and deliveries in the past day than I did in a week when the Peaks were in control. Oppressive governments are good for business.”

  “It doesn’t matter that the future of the galaxy could hang in the balance?” David said sarcastically.

  “Carp, you’ve known me a long time. You know I’ve done my share of good deeds. What I’ve learned along the way is that more often than not, you get burned by them.”

  “The Peacekeepers can pay,” Letsego said.

  “Peak notes aren’t worth shit on Prospect anymore, my friend.”

  “They will be if we succeed.”

  “‘If’, and that’s a big if,” Chief countered.

  The man wasn’t budging. He didn’t want anything to do with the Peacekeepers. But without his help David doubted they would ever get to the light side, or even to Windham City. He still had one trump card to play. “Damnit Chief! You owe me one and you know it,” he said with an edge.

  Chief hesitated, knowing exactly what his former shipmate was talking about. “That’s not the same.”

  “Yes it is,” David said with absolution.

  Chief nodded. He picked up his lager again and took a long drink, killing the bottle. “Alright, I’ll do it. But now we’re even.”

  There was a lot to do, and once the group was in consensus on the way ahead they wasted little time getting the wheels turning. Letsego didn’t know what Carpenter had hanging over Boldack’s head, but whatever it was had made him very cooperative.

  Together, they had divided the tasks, first of which was to retrieve the rest of the ICARUs platoon and bring them to Boldack’s place. The man had deemed the solution to that problem simple. There were pre-war steam tunnels that ran underneath Haverford, providing heating and other utilities to the city. The Federation had not yet encroached on that netherworld, which made it ideal for sneaking the Peacekeepers in undetected. Gnasher and Bailey had departed, with Keller as a guide, to lead the men to their new operating base.

  The second task was far more daunting. The Federation lockdown had put a stop to most intercity travel within the Dusk Zone. This posed a problem for the Peacekeepers considering their mission required them to get to Windham and then the light side.

  Boldack informed them that the only vehicles allowed to travel outside of the city limits were those with passes issued by the Feds. Gaining one of these passes was difficu
lt and required the applicant to go through a thorough vetting process. Boldack had mused, though, that once these passes were issued they were much easier to come by. The task of acquiring one of these passes fell to Letsego, Carpenter, and Boldack.

  For this reason, Letsego now found himself crouched in an alley in the slums of Haverford, clutching a pistol, and generally cursing the two criminal men he found himself in the company of.

  “You really think this is gonna work, Chief?” Carpenter asked Boldack again.

  The man was further down the alley, peering out into the street. “I’ve watched how these guys operate, Carp. Shouldn’t have any problem getting the drop on them.” The streets were empty, it being the middle of the Dusk Zone’s night cycle.

  “But a Federation transport? Isn’t that gonna raise red flags?.”

  “The Feds are still getting their act together. They won’t even miss the thing. And when they do we’ll be long gone. Plus this one has a pass for it to go to Windham City. Should make it easier for you on the other end.”

  Carpenter exhaled. “If you say so.” He looked at Letsego. “You ready?”

  “As long as your friend isn’t as bad an actor as he is a host,” the Peacekeeper prodded. He didn’t like the plan. It hinged too much on this man Boldack, whom he did not trust. But he had lost that argument.

  Boldack hushed them. “Shut up. Here it comes.” He was looking down at a tablet with a map of the city on it. The man had hacked into the Fed transponder network and was tracking the transport that was their prey. A few seconds passed and then he stuffed the tablet in his pocket. “Alright, here goes nothing.” He took a deep breath and then sprinted out into the street.

  “Help! Heeelp!” Boldack screamed as he entered the street. His face was smeared with blood and part of his shirt hung in tatters. The “blood” had come from various ingredients they had found in his refrigerator, and his shirt had been ripped by Carpenter’s combat knife. Letsego still didn’t know exactly what the man was going for but he hoped it would distract the Feds.