Rayne

  “Ready for the foam.” Mike set the forceps aside and grabbed the container of medical foam. Once administered, it would form a sealed and sterilized layer to protect the wound until they could get the man to the right medical facilities.

  “Time to call for evac.” The team leader said as he monitored Mike’s work.

  Having finished, Mike looked up.

  “You know that’s not possible, right?”

  The team leader smirked.

  “Everything is possible when you have the kind of clearance we got.”

  Mike shook his head.

  “You need to do your homework, my friend. This is more than just a restricted wilderness area. It’s a dead zone. No communication in or out.” The team leader’s smirk melted from his face. Mike turned to Jackson, “Start rigging a stretcher while I collect our gear. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us.”

  ***

  Rayne woke from her nightmare. She preferred this one over some of the others. In this dream, she got to kill the things that killed her father and didn’t have to suffer through the fear and loss of being the hapless victim. She could give herself over completely to the predator inside and thrill in the joy of the killing. The echo of battle still reverberated in her head and left her exhausted and she lay staring at the ceiling. Her heart still raced, yet she felt oddly calm and satisfied. Maybe she couldn’t call it a nightmare anymore since she enjoyed it so much.

  She looked over to see Abena still slept. She noticed the ear plugs she and the rest of the marines normally wore were absent. Either everyone had gotten used to the sound of her nightly screaming or she’d stopped. That was a relief. She felt bad about sharing her nightly terrors with the group and the haggard expressions the following day. Rayne felt more in control over herself than she had for some time and it was a good feeling. It had been four days they’d been here and she was falling into a comfortable routine. She’d wake early in the morning, meditate, clean-up and have breakfast, then meditate some more, continuing the process off and on throughout the day.

  She pinged the house and found nothing was moving yet except for the few humming bird like creatures racing through the garden. She walked quietly to the bathroom, filled the tub with water and turned the heater on. It would take about a half hour for it to heat up and while it did, she’d take the time to clear her head in the morning air. The sun had not yet risen and there was only a pink hint of its coming on the horizon. Rayne walked barefoot along the stone path and took her seat in the garden structure. She still felt calm and satisfied, and enjoyed the feeling of it for a long while until she judged the water in the tub would have heated. She returned quietly to her room, washed and soaked in the hot water until the sun began to shine through the window and she heard movement from the next room. Rayne got out and grabbed a towel, meeting Abena as she stumbled sleepy-eyed into the bathroom.

  “Morning,” Abena mumbled as she passed; stripping her own clothes as she went and throwing them to the ground.

  Rayne nodded and stepped past into the next room. She pulled a fresh change of clothes from the closet. Taft had done some additional ‘acquisitioning’ the day before at Abena’s insistence and had come back with a selection of clothes that Abena had been much happier with than those he’d gotten on his first trip. She pulled on the undergarments and then the loose- fitting cargo pants and tank top.

  She stepped out the front door into the sunlight and scanned the courtyard to make sure no threats were present. She then walked to the dining area to have breakfast with Taft and Mr. Yoshimura. Unlike Abena, Taft was an early riser and was always way happier than he had any right to be. She still wasn’t sure what to think about him. He was always nice and had never been threatening, but there was something she didn’t quite trust. Maybe it was the unpredictability. She could never be sure from one moment to the next whether he was being serious or making a joke at someone else’s expense.

  “Good morning, Rayne.” He smiled cheerfully and sipped his hot drink.

  She nodded back in greeting and took her seat by Mr. Yoshimura. He nodded and greeted her in what she assumed was ‘good morning’ in Japanese. She nodded in reply, but didn’t say anything in return. She wasn’t trying to be rude, she’d just become so accustomed to being alone that the concept of conversation had escaped her.

  Breakfast that morning was some kind of porridge. She had no idea what it was, but brought the spoon to her mouth experimentally. It tasted okay and she ate the rest slowly as she continued to scan the courtyard and surrounding properties for movement. She didn’t care for the drink they served and had opted for a small glass of juice. Whatever it was, Mr. Yoshimura and Taft drank it every morning, but it tasted like dirty water and she refused to drink it.

  Mr. Yoshimura, she had learned, was actually Mrs. Yoshimura’s father. Now in his nineties, he had been retired for some twenty years and had given himself over to a life of quiet contemplation, meditation and a return to traditional living. He hadn’t told Rayne this himself, but she’d gleaned it from conversations between Taft and Mrs. Yoshimura.

  Abena, somewhat more refreshed than she’d been earlier, sat at the table with barely a nod or murmur of greeting and started eating. She wasn’t terribly fond of the food, but dug in like the marine she was until she was full.

  Taft didn’t talk to her until she’d finally finished, knowing from experience that it was easier to talk to her when she’d eaten.

  “How’d you sleep, sunshine?”

  “Shut up, Taft.”

  Rayne didn’t want to listen to their morning banter and moved off to the garden house to meditate with the Mr. Yoshimura.

  “It’s time for us to move.”

  “You think they’ll have tracked us already? I thought you said we’d be safe for a week before we needed to move.”

  “I did, but I’m starting to get that feeling.” He looked around, nervously rubbing his hands on his thighs.

  “Feeling?” She grimaced at the taste of her hot drink; whatever it was.

  “Like when I’m trying to ask a girl out and I know she’s going to say ‘no’ before I even ask.”

  Abena smirked.

  “You don’t need a ‘feeling’ for that, Taft. You should just make that assumption from the start.”

  “You know what I mean. I just have this feeling they’ll be on us faster than I thought. I bought us a little time messing up the video feeds on the station, but all’s they gotta do is tap into the planet-side feeds and they’ll have us.”

  “You think they’ll be able to track us that quick?”

  “It’ll take them a while to get through the data, but yes, they can track us that quick if they put enough resources on it.”

  Abena looked at the remains of her breakfast.

  “I could use a good burger.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Lex terminated the call from the team leader assigned to track Weber and Jackson. He was disappointed that particular lead hadn’t yielded results. The fact that members of the team had been injured annoyed him, but not necessarily because he was concerned about their well-being. They were an asset. And like any asset, it cost money to fix when broken, and couldn’t be used until repaired.

  Still, he had Weber and Jackson, so that was some consolation he supposed. So far they had claimed not to have any information on the girl’s whereabouts. Based on Lcpl. Ramirez’ actions he somehow doubted that. While they could claim ignorance all they wanted, when they were finally subjected to what everyone affectionately referred to as ‘The Box’, they wouldn’t have much of a choice.

  You could make the argument that ‘The Box’ had its beginnings in the lie detector machines developed in the early 1900s on Earth. Quite a bit of time and energy had been devoted to lie detection technology which was widely used for several hundred years until science learned that the brain recorded and stored everything it saw. Those images could be retri
eved like files off a database. The human capacity to rationalize just about any behavior or given answer had always been a limiting factor in the lie detector’s accuracy, but it was hard to dispute the data retrieved from your own brain and you needed no special expertise to interpret the results. ‘The Box’ tapped the brain via the optic nerve and its software pulled the images in chronological order from any particular date specified. If you were accused of a particular crime on a certain date, ‘The Box’ would pull it up and show everything you saw on that date. It had a variety of civilian and military applications, but was a fairly painful process not without its limitations and restrictions. No audio came with the video, and the video that came back was nowhere near the original quality. However, for his particular purposes, it should prove sufficient to track who the girl had gone with, if any.

  As far as restrictions, the use of ‘The Box’ was limited to civilian courts or the JAG office for military inquiries, and not without a court order. Lex had been given a fair amount of lee-way regarding his search, but use of ‘The Box’ without sufficient justification would lose him contracts and money. Its use was an extremely sensitive issue in the civilian world, and only a little less so in the military. People never changed. They all felt it their given right to lie to authority without worrying the truth could be sucked from their heads.

  So far; however, ‘The Box’ had not proven its usefulness. Cpl. Davis had yielded nothing more than what they’d gotten from traditional means. From all available data, he really did not appear to have any information about the girl. Furthermore, the data they obtained showed quite clearly that the girl had not been with them when they’d left the station. Lex had been extremely annoyed and felt strongly he’d been played. They’d spent several days looking for Lcpl. Ramirez and the girl along the coast without success. Finally, frustrated with the lack of results, he’d finally used ‘The Box’ on Davis to make sure he was barking up the right tree and not wasting his time. Realizing the girl wasn’t with them, he’d pulled most of his resources from her search. He reassigned what was left of the injured team that had brought in Weber and Jackson to continue surveillance on Davis, who’d been released in the hopes Ramirez would show back up. He’d told them to blend in this time, so they could enjoy the beach, girls, and cold drinks while they kept one eye out. From their report, it sounded like they deserved the light assignment. The hike out of the wilderness area with two injured men and a makeshift litter had to have been tough. He wasn’t sure what to make of Weber and Jackson’s actions, though. If they were involved with this, why would they help? His team leader’s reports had said they’d both been instrumental in saving the one team member’s life and then helping them all to safety. Why hadn’t they run when they had the chance? Something wasn’t right here. Maybe they really weren’t involved and the information he’d been given had been bad. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  He turned his chair to face the window and contemplated the best course of action as he gazed over the city in the dying light. He’d tracked most of the marines with the exception of the last two, and his techs were back to sifting through the mountain of data from the planet-side shuttle stations. He had a team on their way to make contact now, but he seriously doubted they would find anything. The only reason he was doing it was so that he could say that he’d left no stone unturned. They’d scanned for the girl’s face for over a week on the video feeds, but she wasn’t popping up anywhere. That wasn’t particularly surprising on a planet boasting this many people, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

  A low tone sounded in his ear, signaling an incoming call. His retinal imager showed it was from his tech lab. Maybe they had some good news. He tapped his dot phone.

  “This is Lex. What do you have?”

  “We think we might have the girl.”

  He sat up in his chair.

  “Where?”

  “Looks like she hit planet-side with the last two marines…” There was a pause, “Nairobi Abena and John Taft.”

  “What city?”

  “Right here. Capital City.”

  He cursed. They’d been right under his nose.

  “Push what you have to me.” He retrieved the file to his dot phone, but instead of looking at it on his retinal viewer, pushed it to his desk screen. It had better resolution and the ability to zoom and manipulate images the retinal viewer just didn’t have. He pulled up the image and expanded it to fill the screen. It was a partial shot, but enough for the software to confirm identity to ninety percent on the girl. The one marine, probably Taft, had his head turned from the camera, but the other was obviously Abena.

  “Is this the best shot you have?”

  “Yeah, Lex. With the crowds, camera angles and lighting, that’s the best one.”

  This was a huge break for him. He’d been catching quite a bit of heat from his employer about the delay in retrieval and it would be nice to end the daily phone calls.

  “Move your focus to support Bravo Team. Make sure you get all the feeds for the surrounding area. I don’t want to lose her.”

  “We’re on it.”

  Lex terminated the call and moved to the door. This was a very lucrative contract and he didn’t want anything to go wrong. Bravo team would likely be enough to get the job done, but he hadn’t been successful in the business by leaving things to chance. He tapped his dot phone, calling his Alpha Team leader.

  “Grab your gear and meet me at the car. We got a line on the girl.” He terminated the call without waiting for a response. He moved quickly down the hall toward the lifts, heading to the roof and its top-side parking lot. His team was waiting when he arrived and he stepped quickly into the waiting air car.

  “Tech give you the location?”

  “Got it. Should be there in fifteen.” The car lifted and smoothly entered the traffic lanes.

  Lex tapped his dot phone and spoke with Bravo Team’s leader.

  “Are you there?”

  “Yes. Do you want us to hold or make contact?”

  “Hold. I’m en route to you now. Let’s link comms. I want to hear real time of any changes.” He left the call open and signaled the rest of the team to link in. He pulled up the aerial photos and scanned through them. It looked like a residential suburb on the edge of the city. If they were trying to hide, they weren’t working very hard at it.

  ***

  Taft, Abena and Rayne did not say goodbye. They packed what little possessions they had and walked out the front door, saying they were headed toward the festival and would return later. Mrs. Yoshimura was clearing the morning’s dishes, but Mr. Yoshimura met them at the door. He shuffled forward with a small package in his arms. He spoke something in Japanese and handed the package to Rayne. Mrs. Yoshimura stopped what she was doing and walked over to translate.

  “He said it is a gift for you. For the festival.”

  “Thank you,” Rayne said quietly with a small smile. He bobbed up and down several times and then shuffled away toward the garden.

  They walked down the street toward the nearest station that would take them toward the festival. The day was warm and the sun shone brightly overhead. Taft appeared to be deep in thought as they walked, on the verge of saying something several times before finally coming out with it.

  “I think we need to tell her.”

  “You think that’s wise?” Abena said with concern. She looked to Rayne to see if she was paying attention to their conversation. Unlike before, Rayne wasn’t clinging to her arm in near panic, but her head moved constantly as she searched their surroundings. She didn’t appear to be listening.

  “I don’t know about being wise, but if we get separated by accident or necessity…” He let the sentence trail off and let Abena figure the rest out for herself.

  “And you think telling her now is going to make a difference?”

  “At least she’ll know to run before they sc
oop her up.”

  “How is she going to survive, Taft? As far as I know, she has no experience navigating this or any other city, and she doesn’t have a chip for credit. She’d starve in a week.”

  He slung his pack around and reached inside.

  “Actually, I have a plan for that.”

  “What exactly?” She looked over as he rummaged through the pack. Taft pulled out a small metallic bracelet. “You’re going to give her a piece of jewelry?”

  He turned it over in his hand.

  “Looks like it, but no. It’s imbedded with a credit chip.”

  “And you have one of those why?”

  Taft smiled.

  “You just never know when you’ll need a spare or don’t want someone peeking into what you’ve been buying.”

  Abena was incredulous. The kind of tech he held in his hand was strictly black market.

  “How did you ever make it into the military?”

  “I know, right?” He chuckled. “It’s got enough credit to last several months depending on how much she spends and it’s not traceable.

  Abena looked skeptical.

  He continued quickly, to reinforce his point. Abena was senior and would have the final say.

  “It would just be a back-up. You know, just in case. I figured we’d give her a location to meet up at if we get separated and she could use this until then.”

  “It had better be somewhere easy, or she’ll never find it.”

  Taft smiled and turned to Rayne to tell her what was going on and give her the bracelet. He stopped short, thought better of what he was about to do and then handed it to Abena.

  “Maybe you’d better do it.”

  ***

  “They’re on the move.” Bravo team broken from the designated traffic lanes to turn in slow orbit over the house where the three had been staying. They were careful not to get too close and give away their position. If the three they were tracking looked their way, all they would see would be one speck among thousands in the sky.

  “On foot?” asked Lex.

  “Affirmative.”

  “Hold your position for now. We’re a couple of minutes out.” Tech was on the same link as the rest of them and he addressed them now. “Tech, what’s the closest transportation hub?”