Kraken Rising

CHAPTER 49

Aimee let go of Alex and looked up at his face. He hadn’t changed. He had the same brutally handsome features, the same eyes that saw deep inside her. He returned the gaze, his expression suddenly hardening.

“You shouldn’t damn well be here,” he said.

Her mouth momentarily dropped open. “You’re right, I shouldn’t.” She folded her arms, her jaw set. “And neither should you. After all you’re dead, remember?” She pushed him hard in the chest. “Or at least that’s what you wanted me to think.”

“That wasn’t in my control.” Alex rounded on her. “You have bigger priorities than this.” He waved an arm around. “Or me.”

“You dare…” Her teeth clamped. “You have no idea what I have done to be here.”

He leaned towards her, lowering his voice. “You left Joshua unguarded. That’s what you’ve done.”

She felt the anger boil over. “I left Joshua? You goddamn left us both.” She couldn’t help her voice rising, and could feel the stares of the group. “You left us both, when we needed you most.”

“No, I didn’t.” Alex pulled back. “And you had someone.”

He knew, she thought. How? Aimee tilted her head, stepping in closer. “You’ve been watching us… or did that Jack Hammerson run tabs on me and keep you in the loop?”

He began to turn away, but she grabbed his arm and tugged him around. “Peter looked after us when I needed support. He was a father figure to Joshua, but never his true father. Where were you?” She stepped right up to him. “Where were you?”

Alex put a hand out and eased her back a step. “You should have married him. Joshua needs that permanency… so do you.”

That was it. Aimee swung at him. “You son of a bitch.”

The blow caught Alex on the shoulder and bounced off. Aimee felt her hand throb with pain, but her anger wouldn’t subside. She wanted to hit him again, hurt him.

“Yo.” Casey Franks sauntered over, followed by Rhino and Blake. “What kept you, boss?” Her bloodied face was pulled up into its usual sneer. Her eyes went from Aimee to Alex, as she stepped in between them.

Alex shrugged, looking relieved at the distraction. “A mile or so of ice and rock, a sea serpent or two, miles of jungle.” He smiled flatly. “The usual.” Alex held out a fist to her.

“All in a day’s work.” Casey bumped knuckles. “Good to see you.”

Alex did the same to his other HAWCs, who grinned like they’d just been given a reprieve from death row. He looked down again at the HAWC woman’s battered face. “How you doing?”

Casey grinned back. “Me? Fine, I was ugly to start with.”

Rhino put a large hand and on her shoulder. “But it’s what’s inside that counts, right, Franks?”

Alex laughed. “For most people.” He nodded towards the group standing in the dark. “Let’s see what we’ve got.” He took a few paces towards them, but paused to look back at Aimee.

“We’ll finish this later.”

You bet we will, she thought.

“Come forward,” Alex said, his voice echoing in the smaller cavern.

All eyes shifted from Alex to Captain Wu Yang. He and his remaining men stayed in the shadows. Around them the cavern was heavily overgrown with hanging lichen and mosses, things that had grown over many millennia to obscure walls that seemed unnaturally flat. Beneath their feet a layer of dirt couldn’t conceal ancient tiles. Unlike most of the caves leading down, this one smelled damp, earthen, and of something Alex could only just detect — the hint of metal rusting somewhere far away in the dark.

“Now,” Alex said.

Captain Wu Yang was the first to step from the shadows, his gaze unflinching. Alex noticed his gun was still in his holster. He had two remaining soldiers with him. The captain squared his shoulders and folded his arms. There would be no apology from this man, nor would Alex have expected one. As far as he was concerned, he was just doing the job ordered by his country.

Yang made no move for his gun, but his soldiers still had their rifles cradled. Alex’s team now had no armaments, other than knives.

“Lower your weapons.” Alex had his HAWCs spread to either side of him, and he could feel the waves of fury radiating from them. The power imbalance would not be tolerated for long.

Yang didn’t flinch, and his men didn’t move. Alex knew they understood him.

“Hey assholes, you heard the man.” Casey walked forward, eyes blazing. She looked like she wanted to settle a few scores right here, right now.

Alex grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. He turned again to Yang. “Lower them or I’ll take them from you.” He stared from under lowered brows. “And I will hurt you.” Alex looked over his shoulder to the cave entrance. “Then I think I’ll throw you all outside to play with our new friend.”

Yang’s eyes remained fixed on Alex, but he could almost hear his mind ticking over, perhaps remembering what he had seen this new American soldier do to his giant, Mungoi. He turned and spoke a few words. His men didn’t hesitate to comply; they placed their weapons on the ground — rifles, handguns, and knives.

Alex looked each of them in the eyes. “If you want to live, you will take orders from me.” He waited until there came a near imperceptible nod from Wu Yang.

Alex continued to hold the man’s gaze. “Now, I’ll take the grenades.”

The soldiers looked to Yang who frowned and shrugged.

Alex chuckled, but with zero humor. “I know PLA each have a Type-86 grenade. They’re minifrags full of nice ballbearings and with a wide burst radius. Hand them over, now.” Alex curled his fingers. “Quickly.” He tilted his head, seeing the walkie talkies on their belts. “And take those off… I’ll have them as well.”

“Who are you?” Yang asked.

“The Arcadian.” Casey smile-sneered at the Chinese captain. “And unless you want your head ripped off, I’d do as he says.”

“Arcadian? Captain Alex Hunter.” Familiarity momentarily crossed the captain’s features, his eyes going from Alex to Aimee, before closing down.

“You know me.” Alex stepped closer to the man. He could sense that Yang knew both him and Aimee. He was holding something back from them.

Yang smirked, but turned to speak softly to his men, and then they each pulled the rounded explosives from their pouches and walked forward to drop them into Alex’s hand. The same for the walkie talkies. Alex quickly checked the grenades and then slid them all into his own pockets and pouches. He looked at the three walkie talkies.

“Hiyunton Model H280s. They’ll do.” Alex turned to give one to Aimee. He gave one back to Yang, and kept the other himself. “Now, we’re all one big happy connected family.”

Yang took the single device, his expression implacable. Alex stared back hard for a moment. “Good choice.” He turned away. “Everyone, fall in.”

The HAWCs and McMurdo soldiers approached. Alex looked over their heads and pointed at Yang, also to Soong and Shenjung. “You too. This affects us all.”

The group crowded around. There was a sense of relief and optimistic anticipation, probably just because of his arrival. At this point Alex knew it was probably misplaced.

“Equipment and weapons check. What have we got left?”

The soldiers checked pockets and pouches. Yang and his team stood waiting.

Casey spoke first. “Got a flashlight, and one small Ka-bar.” She turned to stab a finger at Yang. “The rest is fucking piled out in the clearing where these guys stripped it from us.” She glared.

“Same,” said Rinofsky, then Blake.

“Nothing left,” said Ben Jackson and Jennifer Hartigan. Aimee also shook her head. Cate had a knife, a small flashlight and some water.

“Worse than I thought.” Alex looked to Yang’s weapon pile. “You’ve got a handgun and two rifles. Keep the handgun, but hand over the rifles.”

Yang’s eyes bulged. “You leave us with nothing.”

“You have a handgun, knives, and your experience. Now, pick up your weapons; we will all need to fight before this day is done.”

Cursing, the Chinese soldiers snatched up their knives. Alex turned away. “Franks, Rinofsky, take the rest.”

His two HAWCs eagerly grabbed the Chinese weapons and then checked them.

“Okay, me, I’ve got knives, a signal locator, and now, grenades.” He tossed one of the grenades to Casey, and the signal locator to Rhino. “We have flashlights, which is good, but we’ll need to conserve battery life. We don’t have food and water, but if need be we can find that in a jungle… if we have to go back outside.” He motioned to the rifles. “But, this is not enough to survive down here for long.”

“Boss.” Rhino shook his head, his face lit by the small screen of the locator. “Just fired this thing up. That signal is right around here.” He looked up. “I mean, it’s here; right in here, somewhere.”

Alex nodded, looking around. “And there’s something else in here. I don’t think we’re alone. That creature was either scared of, or called off by, something or someone.”

Silence stretched as the group looked around in the dark cave-like tunnel. Every crack or corner now took on more menace.

Alex held up a hand, raising his voice only slightly. “Listen, right now, we have some urgent priorities if we’re to survive. Two scouting teams. Jackson, Rhino, Yang are team one. Blake, take the two PLA soldiers. Scout ahead, see what we’ve got coming up. Keep your eyes open.” He turned. “Franks, on rear guard. The rest, gather your strength before we follow them in.”

Alex edged to the corner and looked back to the entrance. The blue glow had returned, and the creature was gone — for now.