The Tactics of Revenge (12 page)

Sherri ran up to him with Poul right behind. Her mouth was open in shock, her eyes wide with fear.

Adam looked down at the massive creature he stood upon, and then over at his two companions. “I don’t know what it was –
but it’s dead!”

Poul moved up to the creature and kicked at it with one of his small feet. “It’s a freager cat,” he said. “They’re endangered now on Hyben, but they are the deadliest animals on the planet.”

The alien then looked up at Adam, standing high on the dead beast. “At least they were – until now.”

Sherri efficiently tended to Adam’s wounds, which consisted of a four-inch long gash on his right shoulder and possibly a couple of bruised ribs.

“I can’t guarantee this cut won’t get infected, not out here. We may have to move into the town and find you some medicine.”

“I’ll be fine,” Adam said wearily. After four days of camping out in the heat and humidity of the jungle, suffering from diarrhea – and now this – Adam was thinking he sure could use a vacation.

“I guess we could start making our way toward the spaceport. We wouldn’t want to miss our ride—”

Just then the jungle ground began to shudder and vibrate as a sound louder than any departing jet airliner filled the air.

“Now what?” Adam yelled over the din.

Looking up in the sky, in the direction of the sound, they could see three dark shapes high up above. The objects were growing larger, and Adam immediately recognized them as the underbellies of three large spacecraft. Through the pain in his shoulder and side, he rushed through the jungle, with Sherri and Poul close behind. They broke through the maze of vines and fronds and into the clearing between the forest and the shipyards just in time to see the massive spaceships make gravity landings in an area to the north of them. The ships didn’t seem to care that their landings were tearing apart everything at this end of the complex, including buildings, roads and the graveyard of derelict spacecraft. The surface was being ripped up and sent roaring into the sky; but the moment the ships touched down and dissolved the wells, there came such a rain of dirt and debris back to the surface that an enormous dust cloud rose up and swept over the entire area, reaching as far west as where Adam and his companions stood in shocked disbelief. Stray bolts of static electricity arched between the three metal craft, and even from this distance, Adam could hear the creaking of the hulls as they cooled.

“Let me guess – Juireans,” Sherri said.

“You don’t suppose they’re just dropping in for an oil change, do you?” Adam said, trying to lighten the mood.

“I don’t think so; looks like they’re serious about finding you this time.”

“Juireans you say!” Poul was apoplectic, his three sets of arms flailing widely in front of him. “No, no, I’ve had enough.” And with that, the large shrimp-like creature began to scurry off to the west, squealing as he went.

“Come back, Poul,” Adam called after him. “You can’t go back now.”

“I will take my chances with my own kind. You two are on your own against the Juireans.”

Adam couldn’t blame the big shrimp for being scared, and after a moment’s thought, he decided to let him go. Besides, he and Sherri could travel much faster without him along.

The two Humans retreated back into the cover of the jungle and knelt down next to one another. “What now, Captain Cain?” Sherri asked, serious this time.

“You picked a fine time to start respecting my rank,” he said with a smirk. “It all depends on what the Juireans do next. If they join the Hyben and search for us downriver, we should be fine. Otherwise, we’ll have to take our changes within the city. We’ll stay here until the J’s off load, and then we’ll make a decision.”

Chapter 21

The two Humans returned to their tiny camp, where they recovered Adam’s flash rifle and the extra weapons charges. Then they returned to the buffer zone and began to move within the jungle boundary area toward the entry point through the shipyard fence. The journey took them an hour and by the time they drew close enough to observe the aliens, the Juireans were ready to join the search for Adam Cain.

It wasn’t long before the Juireans revealed the level of determination they had for the hunt. From their ships they had unloaded three massive tracked vehicles, each featuring the largest ground-based flash cannon Adam had ever seen. The Humans couldn’t risk getting too close, but even from this distance they could make out dozens of Primes moving between the ships and the jungle. There were very few Hyben now, replaced mainly with other beings – including some Juireans – but mainly Rigorians and other equally fierce-looking species.

And then the Juireans fired up the vehicles. The loud, rumbling tanks sped off toward the narrow opening in the fence that the Hyben had cut, but rather than bothering with the opening, the vehicles simply crashed through the fence, churning up dirt and dust with their tracks. They crossed the buffer zone in seconds and entered the jungle, firing the cannon to clear the growth from their headlong surge.

Next Adam and Sherri saw half a dozen small flying objects cross over the fence and head for the jungle. They were like small helicopters, with an array of scanners and a prominent flash rifle of their own pointing downward. Almost immediately, the small drones begin firing their weapons into the jungle. They spread out and headed for the river, firing nearly constantly into the jungle below.

“What are they shooting at?” Sherri asked.

“Probably any living thing they pick up on their sensors, more-than-likely using infrared. This doesn’t look good. They’ll be able to pick up our heat signature even through the canopy.”

“Then we’re fucked if they head this way.”

“You’re right. Let’s move back to the river and head west.”

They began moving back the way they had come, keeping an eye – and an ear – out for the prominent buzzing sound the drones made. After an hour, they had passed back through their small clearing and cut deeper into the jungle. Soon they emerged at the river, at the point where it widened out and turned to the south, allowing them a long view downriver.

The Juireans were there; the tracked tanks having ripped most of the jungle away. One of the vehicles had crossed the river and was blasting away at the growth on that side. Several of the drones circled above, periodically sending bright flashes of electricity into the jungle canopy. Fortunately, the Juireans had turned to the south, heading downriver. Adam breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the Juireans spent their time downriver, they should be fine.

But then he noticed two of the drones begin to head upstream, one on each side of the river. Adam grabbed Sherri’s arm and pulled her along the riverbank. A wide beach area had been cleared by the water at this point of the river, so they were able to move fast in the light gravity. But still they couldn’t outrun the drones.

“Follow me!” Adam yelled as he moved toward the water. He stopped at the shallow, muddy bank, grabbed Sherri and threw her into the mud. “I saw this in a movie once,” he said with a wink, as he began to pick up handfuls of mud and slap the smelly, sticky goop onto Sherri body.

“What the fuck, Adam!”

“The mud should mask your heat signature. Deal with it.”

“Yeah, I saw that movie, too, but I ain’t Arnold!”

And then with her brief protest over, Sherri began to help cover herself with mud, and in a minute she looked like a life-size chocolate mannequin, embossed in the bank of the river, with just her bright eyes peering out.

“Now you,” she said.

“I’ll take care of myself. You just stay here and don’t move – no matter what.”

“What are you going to do?”

For an answer, Adam looked back over his shoulder just as the two drones swept over the river from the jungle canopy. He turned toward the water and dove in, kicking hard until he was skimming along the bottom of the river as it deepen near the center. The current was fairly strong, but Adam was able to move through it with little effort. When he was in peak condition, Adam had been an excellent swimming and could hold his breath for nearly four minutes in warm water. Although he had not maintained his physical conditioning as he did back in the SEALs on Earth, he was able to stay submerged until the drones passed over.

But he couldn’t make it all the way across the river without coming up for air.

He broke the surface about twenty yards from the opposite shore and looked into the sky. The drones had passed by; Sherri’s camouflage apparently worked. But then one of them stopped and turned back in
his
direction.

Adam ducked under the water again and kicked for depth. At the bottom of the river, he moved toward the closest shore. When he looked up through the prism of the water he could see the drone pass over his location.

He broke the surface again and took a deep breath, ignoring the pain from the cut on his shoulder. He lay in about three feet of water and looked around trying to locate the drones. He couldn’t see them, but he could hear their distinctive buzzing nearby.

And then one appeared across the river, almost directly over Sherri’s location. From where he lay, Adam could clearly make out Sherri’s uniform brown figure plastered against riverbank, the drone moving slowly above. It had picked up something and the longer it stayed above her, the better the chance that a Human outline would be discerned by either the computers onboard or the creatures manning the screens back at the Juirean ships.

Adam pulled the flash rifle from around his back. He knew it still functioned, even after being submerged in the water. The drone was out of range, and the other one was still lingering nearby. He made a decision.

He lifted out of the water and ran up the bank, disappearing into the jungle. Immediately, the drone on the other side of the river shot out in his direction. As it reached his side of the river, Adam turned and aimed the flash rifle. He fired, striking the drone in a flash of sparks and fire. The craft fell into the river. But then the second drone was upon him, appearing from the jungle side.

Adam fired at the second drone, missing it with his first shot. The craft hovered where it was, making no defensive maneuvers. Adam fired again. This time it was a direct hit, and the drone crashed into the jungle to his right.

On the other side of the river, Adam could see Sherri move and begin to enter the water. Adam waved his arms at her and she stopped. He began to make exaggerated motions with his arms, prompting Sherri to move away, back into the jungle. She hesitated.

Adam yelled at the top of his lungs. “Get to the spaceport! I’ll make my own way there!”

Sherri lowered her arms, a look of defeat in her posture. Adam looked downriver and saw two of the tracked vehicles begin to plow their way upriver in his direction, while two more drones were zipping his way, just above the trees.

“Go!” he cried out again.

Reluctantly, Sherri turned and climbed up the shallow bank. At the tree line, she turned and looked back at him. Adam stood up and waved. Sherri lifted her arm and returned a feeble wave. Then she turned and disappeared into the jungle. Adam let out a sigh, standing for a second looking at the point across the river. He really hoped that wouldn’t be the last he ever saw of Sherri Valentine.

Chapter 22

Firming his resolved, Adam ducked into the vegetation, gripping the flash rifle tighter as he did so. He had to give Sherri enough time to get clear. Once the Juireans picked up his scent, they would concentrate all their efforts in this direction, allowing her time to escape. How
he
would elude the Juireans and their machines long enough for him to make it to the spaceport – of that he had no idea. He also had no false illusions that the drones wouldn’t be able to take him out from the air. Depending on what level the drone’s flash rifles were set at, it may take a shot or two to kill him, but it was perfectly feasible that that could happen.

Hopefully, his heat signature would be programmed into the Juirean computers by now; if the Juireans planned on taking him alive, then they could direct the drones just to track him through the jungle without firing on him. Yet from the Juirean actions so far, they didn’t seem too opposed to simply killing him. With so many forces aligned against him, his only chance at survival may be to let the Juireans capture him; then he might be able to escape at some future date. He had done it before. But to be blasted from the air – that would suck.

Adam moved back toward the river, skirting the shore just inside the tree line, heading for the Juireans. The drones buzzed past, but over the jungle, moving further from the river. The Juireans figured he’d move away from their position, rather than toward them, but this might be the only way he could save his life.

Within a few minutes, the tanks were nearly upon him, and Adam could see there were troops moving along behind them in the path cleared by the tracks. He moved into the jungle, allowing one of the towering and noisy vehicles to pass by. But then a drone appeared above him. He dove to his right, just as a powerful blast struck the ground to his left.

So much for surrendering.
He rolled on his back and fired into the air, striking the drone.

Immediately, he heard shouting, as a dozen armed troops moved in his direction. He fired again, hitting one of the Rigorians in the chest. But then bolts began to splash all around him. He tumbled into the palms and vines – just as he was hit. The bolt struck his right calf, sending him to the ground with a spasm of pain. He groaned loudly, lying on his back, cradling the flash rifle on his chest. He fired again, missing this time. But then another bolt hit his left shoulder, and the pain was unbearable. These were flash rifle bolts, not the lower-intensity shots from the MK’s.

Adam felt himself losing consciousness, barely noticing when several creatures descended upon him, pulling the rifle from his weakened grip. The pain was gone now, replaced with an almost heavenly feeling of peace. His eyes fluttered and then closed, bringing to him such a sense of relief that it left a slight trace of a smile on his blood-splattered face.