The Storm Maker (25 page)

Sthykar,
Jontvyk and company picked up Felptar, Muftar, Kartar and Nyk from the second
ridge and headed back to the cabin. They radioed ahead telling Relkyett to
expect their arrival and about the firefight that they just had. Once at the
cabin, Relkyett opened the door with his ATR in his hand.

       “Everybody
alright from our side?” he asked.

       “All
eight of us are back without any injuries,” Colonel Jontvyk said as he entered.

       “Eight?
You forgot Sthykar,” Relkyett said.

       “You
can ask him how he is doing,” Jontvyk said putting his rifle on the big table
in the room.

       “I
am alright,” Sthykar said getting inside, “but those men are not. They are big
time villains.”

       “I
think it’s about time that you explain in detail what you stumbled upon in that
compound,” Dentar said.

       “Right,”
Sthykar said, “Relkyett, assemble everyone around the table. Don’t worry about
the lookout for now; they are too far behind us.”

       Relkyett
went to collect everyone in the house. Sthykar took a seat near the table, put
his rifle on it and sat back with his eyes closed. Within a couple of minutes
all fifteen of them had assembled, a few pulled up chairs for themselves, as
the rest stood in silence with everyone looking at Sthykar.

       “Friends,
I don’t know if you have heard of the Storm Maker Weapon,” Sthykar said. “Have
you?”

       The
rest of them shook their heads in a negative.

       “Our
Secret Arms Workshop was working on making a machine that could possibly create
storms, hurricanes and tornadoes,” Sthykar said. “It was called the Storm
Maker. The Narducat Empire was working on a similar idea; they called theirs
the Winds of Wrath. But when we had the treaty with them, these artificial
storm-making weapons was one category whose further development was banned with
a mutual agreement.”

       “A
Storm Maker? They can do that?” Jontvyk asked.

       “It
never happened,” Sthykar said. “They were just experimenting when the treaty
went into effect. But I stumbled onto a scientist in that compound who said
that was what these villains were working on: creating the storm maker weapon.”

       “That
is impossible,” Relkyett said.

       “I
don’t believe it,” Pelyett said.

       “That
scientist could be lying,” Kartar said.

       “I
would be delighted if he was,” Sthykar said. “But let me tell you, there was no
lumber mill there. They had a maze and a big tower inside that compound. And
they have tens of men armed with automatic rifles. Does that sound like just
another criminal syndicate or a far more devious organization?”

       “What
are we going to do?” Felptar asked.

       “Can
we storm them?” Symptar asked. “I mean we have  army officers here and the rest
of us are competent marksmen as well.”

       “We
don’t have the authority for that,” Muftar said.

       “No,
but the town police does,” Nyk said, “Why don’t we call them.”

       “They
are hardly going to believe such a fabulous story on the phone,” Jontvyk said.
“Right colonel? They will think we are school boys playing practical joke on
them.”

       “You
are right, Colonel,” Sthykar said to him. “Worse would be if the town police
showed up at that compound by themselves. Those are Ranx Rangers; they would
easily defeat the police. No, we will all have to show up at the police station
to make them believe us.”

       “What
are we waiting for?” Tulkar said. “Let’s go to the town right now.”

       Some
of them moved around, perhaps with the idea of leaving. Sthykar stood up from
his chair and loudly said, “No!” Everyone turned abruptly towards him.

       “They
sent one team after me,” Sthykar said, “We dispatched those men at the ridge,
but they could have more lurking in the woods. If we leave here in the night,
we risk getting ambushed. We won’t have the advantage of hearing them coming,
either.”

       “We
could get attacked here as well,” Evyk said.

       “And
they could cut the phone line to this house,” Hayett said.

       “We
are well fortified here,” Sthykar said. “We could hold them here till our food
runs out, and I am not worried about the phone line, I have my radio, I could
transmit directly to the House of War if I wanted. No, we shall stay for the
night and leave at the first light of morning.”

       “I
believe we should take Sthykar’s judgment,” Relkyett said. “He is top in the
chain of command here, but more importantly who here thinks they know more
about battle tactics than Sthykar?”

       “Now
that you put it that way,” Jontvyk laughed, “none of us even comes close. I
second his judgment.”

       Rest
of them nodded in agreement.

       “Alright
then,” Sthykar said, “There are fifteen of us with four ATRs amongst us. We
will have four shifts with the first one having three members: myself, colonel
Jontvyk and Relkyett. The watch crew takes the ATRs and hands them over to the
next shift. The rest of us will sleep with our hunting rifles loaded right next
to us. Relkyett, you tell them about placing the sleeping bags.”

       “Yes,”
Relkyett said, “I will show them free spots then I will join you and Jontvyk on
the first shift.”

       Sthykar
and Jontvyk picked up their ATR rifles and walked around to find windows to set
themselves up while the rest of them dispersed to get their sleeping bags. Relkyett
showed them various places in his house where they could put down their bags.

* * *

       Corporal
Montex walked in the room where the Boss Hantex was relaxing on a sofa and
musing aloud over a drink of whiskey.

       “Come
on in, Corporal Montex,” the Boss said, raising him his glass. “Pour yourself a
glass and take a seat. Tell me that you have the dead scientist.”

       Montex
did not say anything. He wanted to get the whiskey before he delivered the news
he had come here to convey, because he knew that the Boss was going to lose his
temper over it. He poured himself a glass of whiskey, sat down on the sofa,
took a couple sips of whiskey and then let out a big sigh.

       “He
is dead but, he got away first,” Montex said.

       “WHAT?”
The Boss slammed his half full glass on the table.

       “A
damned pencilhead with one bullet escaped you? How did it happen?” Boss Hantex
demanded to know.

       “Wait,
before you get on my back,” Montex said raising his palm. “He had help—armed
help.” He took the bloody ATR bullet from his pocket, handed it to Hantex and
asked, “What is this?”

       “You
should know it’s a Starfirian ATR rifle round,” Hantex said.

       “I
do know,” Montex said. “I cut it out from the body of one of our dead soldiers.
Starfirians are here.”

       “What
is going on here?” Hantex asked. “What do you mean by the Starfirians? Police?
Army?”

       “Their
police don’t have automatic rifles and their army doesn’t do civil
investigations. It is those hunters our gate guards told us about,” Montex
said. “What I haven’t told you is that I sent dogs and eight soldiers after the
scientist and whoever was with him. One of them just radioed me; they were
ambushed and the dogs and trackers, and five others are dead, only three are
making their way back here.”

       “That’s
it,” Hantex got up. “Take some soldiers and hunt these hunters down.”

       “Are
you serious, Boss?” Montex said. “Finding those hunters, in hundreds of acres
of woods will require hundreds of soldiers. Not easy to find anyone in
daylight, definitely not experienced hunters in night.”

               “We
can’t just sit here,” Hantex said. “That scientist must definitely have told
why he was here to those hunters for them to get involved in saving him.”

       “Well,
they couldn’t save him,” Montex said. “The scientist is also dead; he died in
an earlier gunfight.”

       “Now
that’s some good news, nevertheless that bastard pencilhead must have told the
hunters of our plans,” Hantex said. “You have to track them down.”

       “I
am thinking something,” Montex said. “What are those hunters going to do? Call
the police? That is exactly what they would do. Who else would they go to? They
will tell the police, then they will go back to where they came from, letting
the police worry about us.”

       “I
get it,” Hantex said. “If we deal with the police, we don’t have to worry about
the hunters.”

       “Exactly,”
Montex said. “the police station is at a fixed location in the town, much
easier to take it over than running around the woods at night trying to find
some ghosts.”

       “I
will have Suka take some Rangers and take care of the town police,” Hantex
said.     “My machine is almost ready, but I need a bit more time. I can’t have
the SPASI suddenly showing up at our door like those hunters did.”

       “Don’t
worry about them,” Montex said. “I will prepare for the SPASI raid.”

       “Good,”
Hantex said.

       “Now
let me go wake up some soldiers,” Montex said. He finished his whiskey with one
large gulp and walked out of the room.

The
Boss sat back and poured himself more whiskey. The plan was coming together
nicely, he thought to himself, except for these annoying glitches here and
there. But he was ready and it wasn’t long before the final step of the plan
would be implemented. He smiled to himself dreaming about the future he was
going to create.

* * *

       The
hunters on the last shift woke everyone in the house as soon as they saw the
sunlight come in through the windows. Relkyett brought eggs, milk, cheese and
sausages from his pantry for breakfast, while the rest prepared for the day
ahead. They checked, cleaned and loaded their rifles while eating and then put
together their bags and luggage.

       “We
aren’t leaving for good, are we?” Karyett asked. “I would hate for our hunting
vacation to be cut short just after a day or two.”

       “No,
keep your bags here but bring the ammo along,” Sthykar said. “Unfortunately the
hunting vacation is over. Do you want to be out hunting in the woods where
armed men will be waiting in ambush?”

       “The
colonel is right,” Jontvyk said, “we have a battle on our hands.”

       “The
town police can fix this,” Carvyk said.

       “I
doubt a small town like Coldwoods has more than twenty policemen,” Sthykar
said. “We just need the police chief with us for his authority over the town
lands. But we are going to have to deal with these villains when the shooting
starts.”

       “Everybody
ready?” Relkyett asked. They were all there. “Let’s go. I will lock the doors.”

       They
went out and to their cars.

       “No
cars,” Sthykar said. “We go through the forest”

       “We
will be safer in the cars,” Tulkar said.

       “Said
like a mechanic,” Felptar said. Everyone chuckled. Tulkar scoffed and looked at
Sthykar for an explanation.

       “There
is only one road,” Sthykar said. “They could have prepared a roadside ambush.
We would give them clear targets and they would trap us between their firing
positions.”

       “Alright
then, follow me,” Relkyett said. “I know the way through the forest.”

       Relkyett
put his rifle on his shoulder and walked eastward to the trees; the rest of his
friends followed him with their rifles in their hands, their eyes and ears
alert to any sounds.

* * *

       Coldwoods
Town Police Department was located slightly off the main district of the town.
The central town road did not go to it; instead one had to take a side road
towards the woods heading southeast to reach it. The police station was
surrounded by trees on all sides along with two roads which the police building
bifurcated. The police building was a large, one story rectangular room with
the main door facing westward and a small side door on the southern side. There
were two parking lots, one in the south and other in the north side of the
station, around ten spaces in each of them for the police cars as well as for
those of the visitors.

       The
morning was just dawning and the first sunlight was coming through the station
windows, however the activities inside had already begun. The police chief, a
man in his forty’s, was sitting behind his desk in the center of the station
facing the main door. He was leaning over some papers with a pen and was making
the next week’s patrol schedules. His pistol lay on the table besides the papers.

       There
were three desks on each side in front of the chief’s desk. An elderly
policeman just to his right was leaning back in the chair and reading a
newspaper and had a shotgun on his table. A young man was making coffee next to
the wall on his left standing just behind the rifle racks. There were eight
other policemen sitting and standing around the desks, talking, drinking
coffee; four of them were playing cards and one was sleeping on his desk with
his head over his hands. He was one of the two who had been on the night shift;
all the rest had arrived about an hour ago.