True Heroes (81 page)

              “Not formal, no.”

              “Come at me then. I’ll show you how we learn new things in the army.” Caleb fell down below Stanley’s shoulders and attempted to drive through his midsection, only to be embraced from below and thrown to the side. “Creative, but not a good first move. Usually you save that for the unexpected moment.”

              “The beginning excluded?”

              “Everybody can guess when the fight will start. Nobody knows when the fight will end.”

              ‘Don’t even put that into your twisted idea.’

              ‘Too late. It’s true too.’

              “Back up let’s go. Get more creative.”

              “Hold that attack,” Caleb heard within the realm of his half-cocked action. “We’re going to swim right along to strategy. Something tells me the combat training will come naturally to this kid. Lead him in, Rue.”

              Stanley relaxed and smiled. “The brains are after you first.”

              “What’s up with the name ‘Rue’?”

              “Last name’s Rufus.”

              Caleb laughed loudly as they moved outside of the small enclosure. “Your parents had some very nerdy ideas for your future.”

              “What? Caleb Whitmor is a deformed hero wanna-be’s name?”

              His smile refused to wane. “I think I was the pioneer of that category.”

              Stanley quirked his lip upwards as he directed Caleb down a short hallway and into a busy office. Various desks were pushed together with rounded corners creating burst holes along each seam in duplicates. ‘Looks like the army can’t quite afford a pretty new shine on everything. These desks were ancient when I was young.’

              ‘They’re recycled aluminum cans, and did you really think anything would change that drastically?’

              ‘Everything’s changed.’

              ‘And gone back to how it was before.’

              ‘That’d be the end goal. Well, half of it.’

              ‘And the other half?’

              ‘To end up somewhere else all together.’

              ‘No, if that was the goal, you would never have put up a single protest to my end.’

              ‘Then what do you propose is the end goal?’

              ‘If I had a clue, I would’ve exploited it for the weak and pathetic thing it would be.’

              ‘Be quiet for a little. Let the grown-ups talk.’

              “Lights, please.” The Major moved to an emerging trace of three dimensions of figure floating in midair. “Even though we’re dealing with something that spreads through the entire country, this is where we believe the leader is holed up. As you can see, this doesn’t exactly corner the bastard. We’re talking ant hills; massive tunnels underneath big, pointy rocks, both of which stretch on and coil back for endless loops of miles at a time.”

              “You seem to be cheering the boy up, Major.”

              Caleb and the Major smiled at Stanley. “If you want a more intimate idea of the face and the name of the enemy, feel free to ask Rue here.”

              He turned to the side and took another jab at Stanley. “Did he leave you at the altar?”

              Stanley didn’t smile but stood, lifting his shirt to reveal across the broadest part of his chest; the skin across each pectoral razed with grotesque, thin hide that welled with leathery crinkle and crisp browning. “Az Zabhul Ronaldi…I called him ‘Arnold,’ but he didn’t seem to like that very much. White-hot hangers dug into my skin first before they used a cooler one to fill in the ditches with red ink. Six, twenty-four, nineteen-eighty-three. They kept me until my birthday, carved me up, then let me go figuring I’d just wander the desert and die. I found a squad and got back just in time to be shipped home.”

              The large image turned into the three dimensional portrait. “He doesn’t look Middle-Eastern.”

              The Major stepped forward. “Born in Brazil under an original name that became irrelevant after thirteen other name changes. Either way, this is the only important face we need from you over there. We had the idea of dropping you into the mountains and letting you trickle your way down, but the anti-aircraft deterrents stomped that out. The mission now is to get you somewhat close to him without destroying a plane.” The image flipped back to a panned-out version of the mountain range. “There’s a village here about ten miles from the far end of the range. We’ll drop you there and pretty much let you go.”

              Caleb leaned back in the soft chair. “That’s the middle, but the beginning and end are still mysteries.”

              The Major moved his hand and traced as he spoke. “Our end will be on the far end, where Rue will be with a small team to escort any prisoners you do take. The beginning…will be interesting. See, every time we open that hanger door on a plane, it get’s logged in a mission codex that has to be accounted for, and since this is as highly-classified as missions get, there can’t be any doors opening.”

              ‘Looks like you’ll be showing off a lot on this mission.’

              ‘Splendid.’

              “When do we leave?”

              Stanley looked down to the lounging Caleb. “No worry in you, is there?”

              “Nothing to worry about. The right thing will be done, and we’ll be home for dinner.”

              The lights came on again and the floating forms disappeared. “How long will it take your team to be ready, Rue?”

              “They’re in stand-by now and won’t be bothered by a faster timetable. We can be ready in five, but how are we getting there?”

              “We’ve scheduled dropping food packets over a neighboring country, where you will be parachuting out and driving to the designated point.”

              Caleb smiled and stood. “Ah, that’ll throw the timing off. How long’s the journey from where they’ll be to me?”

              “About twelve hours, and they’ll be dropped about two hours after you land.”

              He allowed his eyes to fog. “Fourteen hours plus to make it through all that for me, and the timing has to be right on or we risk losing prisoners. It should work.”

              Stanley stood and began walking towards the door. “Meet at the plane in ten.”

              ‘Looks as though I won’t have time to think after all.’

              ‘You’re the one that wanted to get right on the plane and be back for some dessert.’

              ‘I keep waffling from one end of action to the other of inaction. My mind’s…my heart’s missing that middle ground I always talk about.’

              ‘Because I want one thing and you want another. That’s how it is, and that’s how it will be. We’ve been over this.’

              ‘No, the separation between me and you is different than this. There are three dimensions in both of us and unlike you, I’m trying to reconcile mine. I need to for her. I don’t know how to get there though. How do I forget how to go from one end to the other and remember how to re-center again?’

              ‘When, during our entire chained relationship, have I added to this little conundrum of yours? And yet you keep asking constantly as if I’ll change into a helpful little servant again.’

              ‘You’re helpful.’

              ‘Am I talking to a wall? I will not help.’

              ‘You don’t have a choice, really.’

              ‘A mortal once told me there’s always a choice.’

              ‘Not if you want your goals.’

              ‘Push against the end of the water all you want. Once you push far enough, it will surround and drown you.’

              ‘If that’s what it takes, so be it.’

              Caleb felt a slapped hand against his bent back. “You better mount up, kid. You sure you want to do this so soon?”

              “Being here is a waste of time, and the quicker I get out there, the quicker we can start focusing on other things. Not even as a country just individually.”

              The Major sat against the edge of a desk and looked at him sympathetically. “What are you doing here, Caleb? You seemed completely against it, but now here you are: concerned and gung-ho.”

              Caleb looked hard into the floor again, but kept his voice audible to the Major. “I came up with something recently that changed the way I saw…well, everything. It changed a lot of people’s views. I thought it was complete, but it isn’t. There has to be some application of it. The entire idea of it revolves around doing what’s right, and I mean completely and truly right beyond any shadow of doubt. I have to show…no, I just have to do the right thing. Saving people’s lives, separating our country from a massive stain, and protecting my own loved ones from danger don’t matter as much as the right thing. To answer you directly, I’m here because it’s the right thing to do, and I’m long overdue to start following that way.”

              Major Howard seemed to ponder the entire idea for a moment before answering. “You’re…talking about something I’ve never seen. The military isn’t exactly a breeding ground for morality, but still. I hope you don’t think you’re like Stephen was in any way.”

              Caleb looked up and smiled despite the dry spring of humor in his mind. “I’m half-a-step to the right if anything, but I need to be more. A lot of things need me to be more.”

              “No, no, see he was here for everything he wanted. You might be too, I suppose. I don’t know you very well, so you could be a bold-face liar. I suppose the difference between you now is that he never even entertained the idea of being…beyond selfless I guess you’d call it. Either way, go through with it if it’s what you really want to follow, because there aren’t enough people in the world that believe what you do.”

              They both stood, smiling, and began walking to the plane. ‘You will fail.’

              ‘No, I won’t.’

-
         
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              Against the strongest winds mankind could commercially experience, Caleb counted while methodically tapping his toe against the hull of the massive cargo plane. His power was gently wrapped around the underside of the flying husk and tied around the fin; securing him gently against the armored skin while maintaining most of its aerodynamics. “Five-thousand-seven-forty-eight, five-thousand-seven-forty-nine, five-thousand-seven-fifty—”

              The plane suddenly jerked to the left. “They’re early.”

              “We made good time.” Caleb released his power’s coupling and took a deep breath before retracting it within him. The fall was continuous and remarkably solemn; he didn’t yell or open his mouth to feel that forced-breathlessness of the oncoming Earth, but he did let his suit flap carelessly in the wind while his eyes carefully searched for the safest drop point. Power carelessly shielded his eyes as they reached critical speed and broke through the cloud line. Caleb protruded power through all sides simultaneously; a massive umbrella catching quickly and jerking back into the blue yonder for a much slower descent. His final landing destination was just north, forcing Power to readjust the entire wind-fueled dynamic upon his back to accommodate and create. The umbrella moved to the side and burst with a controlled explosion of blue before gliders appeared atop Caleb’s focused head. The gentle glide became dangerous about twenty feet above the ground. “Where’d my wings go?”

              The question went unanswered as Caleb fell and had to roll to avoid serious injury. “I didn’t do that.”

              He stood up and dusted himself. “Whatever. Get your licks in all you want this is still getting done.”

              “Don’t believe me then.”

              He trotted forward until the muscles and bones within his legs felt normal again, and instantly began sprinting forward towards the village. The distance was covered in earnest, and the grunt of a turned guard sounded Caleb’s arrival. He tore through the guns of the village; women and children not having a chance to applaud or repel as he raced with his power bending, finishing guards and soldiers easily. His feet stopped churning a few feet in front of the final rebel soldier, and watched with disinterest as Power bent the tip of his gun closed. The man noticed and threw the metal into the barrier he could not see. Caleb walked forward slowly as the soldier drew a knife and rushed; Caleb waited for the straight stab from the right hand, ducked under the fully extended arm while striding forward and to the slow guard’s right, and sprang up with an elbow into the side of the head that sent him into a heap.

              “They’re cheering for you.”

              “Good for them. Let’s get to the range.”

              Their collective wills pushed forth. “And then?”

              “You were at the meeting, I believe.”

              “I was asking a more penultimate sort of question. What do you think this will do? Clear the window to the world for you?”