Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) (14 page)

Cortes
paused.  “Okay.  Go ahead.  The bigger the stick the less likely
you’ll need to use it, right?  That’s the principle we’re following here,
isn’t it?”

“Of course,
Mr President.  We’ll stop this thing before it’s started.”

“I like
that,” said Cortes.  “The last thing we need right now is another war.”

“Is this a
secure line?” White barked at one of his security team.

“Yes, sir.
 For all practical purposes it’s
undecryptable
.”

“Good,” said
White.  “What about records?  I don’t want this call to have
existed.”

“We have an
AI to wipe all records as soon as the call has ended, Mr Vice President,” the
security woman replied.

“Okay,” said
White.  “Can I have a few minutes privacy?”  He made a gesture
ushering the security woman and some other assistants out of the room. 
When the large oak doors clunked shut he spoke into the phone.

“Sherman, is
that you?”

“It’s me, Mr
Vice President,” came the reply.

“Good,” said
White, “I hate to call you but I can assure you this line is one hundred
percent secure.  All records of this conversation will be wiped the moment
the conversation is over.”

“I
understand, Mr Vice President.”

“Listen,”
said White, “they’re putting together a squad of commanders to send to Mars, if
you can believe that.  The goddamned president has just finished one war
and it looks like he’s hell-bent on starting another.  We can’t let
that happen.  The two carriers, the
Aloadae
, are being fitted to go
off to Mars.  We need one of ours to be going with them.  Is that
something you can do?”

The voice on
the end of the line paused.  “Yes, Mr Vice President, I think that’s
something we can do.”

White didn’t
quite believe him.  Sherman had fingers in many pies but getting an agent
aboard a military ship filled with handpicked commanders seemed way too big of
an ask
, even for him.  He had no choice but to go along
with it.

“That’s
great.  Can you get on to that as a matter of the utmost emergency? 
They’re putting this team together now and we need to be right on top of it.”

“I’ll do what
I can.”

“I’ll meet
you in a few days at the burger joint.  You can fill me in.”

“Can I speak
frankly?”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you
crossing a line here?”

“Crossing a
line?  Hell, I’m trying to pull everything back
over
the
line.  This country is the finest there has ever been on the face of this
planet.  When was the last time we had elections?  Too long
ago.  The war’s over now, at least the last war, and the people have a right
to elections.  That’s the least we owe them.  I’m scared for this
country, Sherman.  I’m scared of what it’s becoming.  We can pull it
back from the brink if we act now, but if we don’t who the hell knows where
we’ll be in six months’ time.”

“I understand,
Mr Vice President.  I’ll get it done.  Maybe in the future they’ll
give us medals for this.”

“In the
future, maybe,” said White.  “For now they could send us to the gallows
for treason.  Don’t forget that.”

“I’ll try not
to, Mr Vice President.”

Steiner was
on his fifth beer of the evening when the call came through on his
comdev.  At first he was going to ignore it.  The bar was rough, just
how he liked it, but it was dull and he decided a call from Captain
Soward
may lend the evening some much-needed
excitement.

Steiner was
at the bar on his own.  The place was a dive, with
servicemembers
and hangers on lolling about the place like underwear strewn around an unkempt
bedroom.  There were sports showing on TV in the corner but Steiner wasn’t
interested.  A couple of people, one of them a reasonably good-looking
woman, had tried to spark up conversations with him earlier, but he wasn’t in
the mood for talking.  His plan for the evening, so far as he had a plan,
was to keep on drinking then go back to the barracks to sleep it off. 
Maybe he’d stop by and pick up some Chinese food.  He wasn’t fussed. 
He was slowly and quietly drinking himself into a stupor when he felt the
comdev buzz in his pocket.  Initially he looked at the screen and, seeing
it was
Soward
, put the device back in his
pocket.  When it rang the second time he gave in and answered.

“Steiner, is
that you?” said the voice at the other end of the line.

“It’s me,
Captain,” said Steiner, laconically.

“Good to hear
you Steiner,” said
Soward
.  “Everything good
with you?”

“I’m good
here,” said Steiner.

“Good, good,
that’s good to know.  Listen, something’s come up, and we need some guys
like you for a special mission.  What do you say Steiner, are you in?”

The four
beers had dulled Steiner’s senses enough that he took a second to process the
information.

“What is it?”
he said.

“I can’t say
at the moment, but it’s classified, it’s big and you’ll want in.”

Steiner took
a swig from his beer.  “Sounds interesting,” he said.  “What is it
again?”

“Well,
Steiner, you understand I can’t go into details here, but I’ve been asked to
put together a team of the best guys I’ve worked with, and your name was at the
top of the list.  I’ll be calling some of the other guys but I want you, Foley
and Johnson.  This has come down from the very top.  Listen, where
are you?”

Steiner
looked around the bar.  “I’m in a very exclusive nightclub,” he
said.  “
It’s
members only, and I’m in the VIP
lounge.”

“That’s
great, Steiner,” said
Soward
, “but where is it?”

“I’m at Joe’s
Bar,” Steiner conceded.

“You
are?  That’s great, I’m at The Ranch,
it’s
only
five minutes away.  Come over.”

Steiner
glanced at the empty seats either side of him.  “I’m kind of in the middle
of something here,” he said.  “It might take me a while to wrap this up.”

“Get over
here Steiner, you bum,” said
Soward
.  “You’re
drinking alone and looking for trouble.  I know you.  That’s why I
want you on my team.  Get your ass in a cab and get over here.”

Stepping out
into the cold night air reinvigorated Steiner somewhat.  The cab was
already waiting for him and he stepped inside.  In the short journey to
The Ranch he thought about the old days with
Soward
. 
They had had many crazy adventures during the war, both on and off the battlefield. 
They had never quite seen eye to eye but Steiner held a grudging respect for
Soward
, as
Soward
did for him.

Steiner
entered The Ranch through a side exit.  He scanned the blue neon-lit
interior looking for
Soward
, but he couldn’t see
him.  He needed to go to the bar first anyway so he headed off in that
direction.  He ordered his drink and turned to look back into the
room.  He scanned again and this time spotted
Soward
. 
He was sat in a booth off to Steiner’s right, alone.  Steiner collected his
drink and walked across to the booth.  He sat down, nodding at
Soward
.  “Captain,” he said.

“Thanks for
coming,” said
Soward
.

“Didn’t feel
like I had much of a choice,” replied Steiner.

“Everyone
always has a choice,” said
Soward
, grinning. 
Steiner grinned too, though he didn’t really get the joke.

Soward
had a medium build with very broad shoulders and
a well-weathered face.  He looked like he had been left outside for
a few years.  He was one of the few men Steiner had ever seen who wore a
moustache. 
Soward
was big on military
history.  He’d seen pictures of soldiers from the past sporting huge
moustaches and decided it was a good look.  It wasn’t, but who was going
to tell him?  He was military through and through and carried with him an
implied threat wherever he went.

“So what’s
the job?” said Steiner.

“Well,” said
Soward
, “like I said already, I can’t really talk about it
in detail.  Now we’re off the com I guess I can tell you a little bit
more.”

Steiner
couldn’t help but look intrigued.  “Go on,” he said.

Soward
had a beer clasped in his hands on the table in
front of him.  He stared intently at the beer as he spoke.  “There’s
some stuff going on at the moment, secret top-level stuff, and the brass
are worried that something is going to go down if we are not there to provide a
show of strength.  You know the
Aloadae
?”

“Of course,”
said Steiner.

“Well, we’ll
be working off them.”

Steiner’s
ears pricked up at that.  The
Aloadae
were the absolute pinnacle of
the military, the most fearsome, most modern military implements in
existence. 
Soward
saw the subtle change in
Steiner’s attitude.  “I thought that might interest you,” he said. 
“We’ll be training for a special mission, very hush-hush and happening
soon.  I have dispensation to pull you out of your current unit.  I
can have you on the bus tomorrow morning if you want in.  What do you
say?”

Steiner
affected to be thinking it over.  In fact, he was sold the moment
Soward
said
Aloadae
. 
“I need some time to think about it,” he said.

“Bullshit,”
replied
Soward
. 

Steiner
grinned.  “That’s why I always liked you as a captain.  That
intuitive bond we have, the way we both know what the other’s thinking, so we
don’t have to waste time talking aloud.  Like players on a great football
team, or something.”

“Screw you,”
said
Soward
.  “I know what you’re thinking
because you’re such a simple-minded, predictable son of a bitch. 
You only wish you knew what I was thinking.”

Steiner
laughed.  “Okay,” he said.  “Sign me up.”

Steiner
didn’t finish the rest of the evening as he had planned.  He didn’t go
back to Joe’s Bar and drink himself into a stupor.  After he finished with
Soward
(just one more drink each, and some catching
up and talking over the old days) he had gone straight back to the
barracks.  He found Johnson and Foley there, both excited and
conspiratorial.  They looked at him suspiciously.  “Did you get a
call from
Soward
?” said Johnson.

“I did not,”
Steiner lied.  “Why, did you?”

Johnson shot
a glance at Foley.  He didn’t quite know what to do.  “Ah,” he said,
“no?”  It was much more of a question than a statement.  Foley’s eyes
narrowed as he scrutinised Steiner’s face.  He figured out what was going
on, as ever one step ahead of the reliable but not so quick-witted
Johnson.

“I didn’t get
one either,” said Foley.  “In the one I didn’t get the captain made me a
really interesting proposition.  How about you, Steiner?”

“Me
too.  In fact, in the one I didn’t get, I wasn’t invited to a personal
audience with the great man, and he didn’t spell out that we might be taking a
trip .
 . .”  He pointed skyward, and
grinned.

“Son of a
bitch,” said Johnson, “you did get a call.  Damn, we all got one too,” he
said, somewhat redundantly.  “He didn’t say nothing about
no .
 . .”  Johnson awkwardly made the
pointing upward gesture.

“Well, that’s
the benefit of being the captain’s favourite,” said Steiner, laughing.  He
hopped up on his bunk.

“So we’re
leaving tomorrow,” said Johnson.  “All of us?”

“Looks that
way,” added Foley.

“Looks that
way,” echoed Steiner.

“Damn,” said
Johnson, mostly to himself.  He scratched his head and wandered off to his
bunk.

Steiner,
Foley, Johnson and a number of others from their company rose early next
morning before reveille and walked across the hard tarmac of the drill square to
the transport depot.  There, as promised, were two coaches.  The men
boarded in silence and were whisked away from the compound before sunrise.

Four hours
later they arrived at another compound.  This one was smaller, but had the
same no-nonsense practicality.  They were herded off the coaches and
led to a large red brick building.  They went down a series of dimly lit
corridors, finally arriving at what appeared to be a large lecture
theatre.  They took their seats and, presently, Captains
Soward
and Connor took to the stage.

“Settle down
people,” Connor said with a quick hand gesture.  He stood to the side
fiddling with his
comdev
while
Soward
took centre stage. 
Soward
cut straight to it.

“People, you
all signed up to serve your country and most of you here have already served it
on the field of battle.  Well, your country has more to ask of you. 
You’ve all been handpicked for this mission as you are highly trained, battle
hardened combat veterans, and for this mission we need the very best. 
Myself
or Captain Connor have spoken to all of you in the
last forty-eight hours, and as part of the high level of security around
this assignment we were unable to give you the full details of what the mission
entails.  Well, now you’re all here we can be a bit more forthcoming about
the task we have at hand.”  He fiddled with his comdev and the screen
behind him lit up with the image of one of the
Aloadae
.