Winter's Legacy: Future Days (Winter's Saga Book 6) (21 page)

4
4  Welcome to Texas Y’all

“Company Leader Rhett Hays reporting, Director.”

“Status?”  Williams had to raise his voice into the satellite phone to hear himself over the roar of the plane.

“We have arrived in Texas and are establishing base.”

“Good.  Listen carefully.  We’re going to be working in accord with Senator Donovan Arkdone’s
metamonarchs on this objective.  I will host a video conference in approximately two hours in which both our team and his will be present.  I need to get everyone up to speed on the Winter Clan.  They all need to know the enemy as we go into battle.  Establish internet capabilities immediately and be ready for the conference invite.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How soon will your reconnaissance team be ready?”

“I’m heading
up the recon personally.  We leave in five minutes, sir.”

“You read her dossier?” Williams asked, something inside making him hesitate to speak Meg’s name.

“I’ve committed it to memory, sir.”

“Then let me reiterate before you begin: do not underestimate my daughter.  She is by far the most powerful metahuman I have ever created.  Her psychic powers are—extraordinary.”

“Your orders sir?”

Williams was staring off into space, thoughts of the girl flickering through his mind like firelight painting the darkness.

“Hm?”

“Sir, what are your orders for Meg Winter?”

Williams cleared his throat.  “Tonight just establish visual confirmation of her presence.  You’re only gathering intelligence.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Repeat your orders,” Williams commanded.

“Tonight we are to establish visual confirmation of Meg Winter and gather intelligence.  That is all.”

“Do not engage.  Clear?”

“Do not engage—copy that, sir.”

“Report back when you return to base.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good luck.”

“Yes, sir.”

Click

Nate and Valen had been standing near enough to Rhett to hear both sides of the conversation clearly.  The Director’s commanding voice carried.  The two
soldiers exchanged wary looks as Rhett disconnected the call and pocketed the phone. 

“What are your orders, sir?” Valen asked directly.  She’d heard the Director’s instructions, but Rhett’s orders trumped everyone’s—even Dr. Kenneth Williams’. 

Hays scanned the area with keen eyes, thinking carefully before he spoke. 

“Nate, I’m leaving you in command.  You know what I expect
of the base.  Put one of our techies on establishing internet access asap for that video conference.”  Nate Townsend nodded, biting back his worry at not being there to help protect his leader in the field. 

“Valen, you’re coming with me.  We’ll need a third,” he paused, thinking.  “Get Harley Yu.  He’s excellent at stealth.  Get him up to speed and meet me back here in five minutes.”

“Yes, sir.” Valen turned and sprinted away in search of Harley. 

“Sir, this is going to get complicated now that we’re to be working with Senator Arkdone’s people.”

“Never fear life’s complications; fear mindless compliance.   It’s the difference between truly living and merely existing.”

Nate felt a surge of pride at his leader’s wisdom.  He lifted his chin, clasped his hands behind his back and stood respectfully.  “Sir, yes sir.”

Rhett’s bright brown eyes never left the southern horizon.  Just then, he saw artificial lights burst alive against the darkening Texas sky. 

“She knows we’re here,” he nodded toward the light.

Nate’s eyes followed his leader’s gaze.

“How could she know?”

“She’s Meg Winter—the ultimate metahuman—a mind bender and the Director’s biological daughter.  I have a feeling I’m either going to admire the hell out of her or want to rip her heart out with my bare hands,” he paused.  “Or maybe both.”

45  Choose

She caught them immediately.  A small group was approaching at a fast clip and the standout, violet signature was among them.  She focused on this aura.  He was obviously the leader, though his soldiers ran before him protectively.  She worked to read him, to feel his thoughts and emotions.  The closer he came, the tighter her reading.  By the time they moved into barn’s shadows, she knew enough to decide against compelling them into submission. 

I want to see your true colors.  Actions trump intent so let’s just see how you handle yourself.
 

Meg stayed out of sight and silent until she felt them move toward the massive oak that stood between the barn and the house.  She knew she had one shot at this. 

She unsheathed a six-inch blade from her weapons belt and slipped it between her teeth.   Soundlessly, she stepped out of the crow’s nest and inched toward the zip-line where she reached to grasp the straight bar connected to the well-oiled cable trolley.  One last psychic check of their position and she swung herself down the line. 

The wind whipped her hair loose from her elastic band as she flew silently through the sky. 
She saw them one second before she released and landed on top of Rhett Hays.

Rhett had momentarily let his mind wander back to the dossier and the image of the girl known as Meg when he felt cold, hard boots knock him on the head and shoulders, forcing him to the leaf
-covered ground.  His initial instinct was to fight his attacker, but he stopped himself as he caught a glance of the girl just as she grabbed the blade from her teeth and instantly held it against his throat. 

It’s her,
his mind yelled in both surprise and something else—something that had his heart pounding against the blade at his neck.  

Meg stood behind him as he knelt, controlling the blade expertly with one hand as she yanked the gun from his hip with her other and slipped it into her jeans at the small of her back.  “You won’t be needing that,” she began.

Valen and Harley had their guns aimed at her forehead.

Resisting the urge to compel them into submission, Meg stared defiantly into their red lasers. 

“Tell your soldiers to drop their weapons, Rhett,” Meg growled into his ear. 

Rhett tried to look over his shoulder at the girl, but was yanked back to face forward by her quick jab to the pressure point behind his ear.

“Do it!” she ordered.

Rhett, whose hands had been up, glared at a fuming Valen.  “Drop ’
em.” 

Reluctantly, Valen
moved to lay her weapon on the ground.  Harley followed her lead.

“How do you know my name?” Rhett asked the girl at his back.

“I know a lot about you, but not everything.  What are your intentions?”

“My intentions?”

“You’re 17th Company Leader, Rhett Hays, M499.  You work for Williams and this is your first experience off Facility grounds.  You have three dozen soldiers two clicks north of here, though you’re just the first group to arrive.  More are coming.  What I don’t know—what isn’t clear—are your personal intentions.”

“My intentions are now and will always be to take care of those I lead.”

“How poetic, but you’re going to have to be a lot more specific, Hays.”

Meg sensed Valen’s thoughts before the soldier even made a move.  The edgy female was calculating. 

“Stop and think about how you’d feel, Valen Springer, knowing it was because of you that your leader was dead.” Meg’s eyes never left the blade she held at Rhett’s throat, but she spoke directly to the soldier who had been reaching for the M9 at her back.

“You may want to tell her to stand down.  She’s about to do something monumentally stupid,” Meg whispered into Rhett’s ear.

“Valen, back off!  That’s an order!” Rhett barked.

The girl’s eyes were saucer-wide as she quickly put her hands up and stepped back. 

Harley was floored at what was happening—feeling completely out of the loop—but he mimicked Valen’s moves exactly while keeping a wary eye on the leader of the Originals.

“As I was saying, what are your intentions?”

“My intentions are different from my orders, Miss Winter.”  Rhett kept his eyes forward as he spoke.  “Yes, I am everything you said—right down to the Metanumber inked into my arm, and while we may be very different in our experiences, we’re both leaders determined to do what’s best for our people.”

Meg stayed silent allowing him time to either endear himself or hang himself with his words. 

“I need to determine what kind of leader you are; what kind of
person
you are.  I’ll report my observations to the others and let them make their decisions.”  

“
What decisions, exactly?” Meg prodded.

“Williams has ordere
d me to work with Senator Arkdone’s people.  The objective is to—”  He swallowed hard against the blade that slipped tighter against his throat.  “—terminate the Original Three and the faction known as The Winter Family—no one will be left alive.”

“I cannot tell you how many times those two bloodthirsty monsters have tried to ‘terminate’ us and lost.  What makes this time any different?”

“The alliance between the metamonarchs and the metahumans—the sheer numbers and firepower—are meant to assure victory.”

“So what difference is it to you what kind of person I am?”  Meg redirected the topic as she eased up on the knife
, giving him room to breathe. 

“For years now my Company and I have been watching the Director.  The older we got, the more responsibilities we were given at the Facility, the more access we gained to classified materials.”

“Go on,” Meg urged.

“We uncovered sickening truths—both past and present.  Things we innately knew were wrong.  Williams led the way for his scientists like Dr. Chaunders to perform experiments on orphaned and unwanted children.  Drugs, serums, surgeries—” Rhett’s voice caught in his throat for a moment.  “He didn’t stop with children, Miss. Winter.  He acquires infants, too.  Hell, recently he was toying with embryos
, working on a crossbreed.” 

Meg flinched.  The embryos were hers. Just another reason to despise the m
an who surgically harvested eggs from her ovaries against her will.  She moved the knife away from Rhett’s neck and stepped back from him.  Slowly Rhett stood and turned to face her.

“It’s abundantly clear Williams has no regard for life—not human, not meta, not even for his own daughter.”  Rhett braced himself, realizing his last words may have gone too far.

Meg stood silent, her chin lifted defiantly.

“What I’m saying, Miss Winter, is that I think we’ve been following the wrong leader.”  Rhett paused, realizing
this was the first time he had admitted those thoughts aloud.  “But until now, our options were limited.”

Meg kept her eyes on Rhett, but reached out to sense what the other two soldiers were feeling.  They agreed completely with what he was saying, though they were still wary of her.

Rhett continued, “Listen, I knew of Creed Young.  He’s not just a good soldier, but a good man.  What he did at his Retribution Match against his brother is legendary.”

Meg nodded once, acknowledging the mention of that day.  Creed didn’t like to talk about his life at the Facility, but he had told her about the day he was pitted against Gavil in the “kill or be killed” match. 
His first act of defiance against Williams’ indoctrination was committed in front of nearly the entire adult population of the Facility.

Meg knew each of the adopted metahumans who escaped Williams to join her family had a clear and memorable instant when they turned away from their training and stepped out on faith.  Meg already knew, this was to be Rhett’s moment.  He just hadn’t yet grasped
the profoundness of what was happening.

“V
ery few people at the Facility I could say this about, but Creed Young, yeah—I looked up to him.  A lot of us did.”

“You’re telling the truth,” Meg narrowed her eyes at Hays as he moved to stand protectively between Meg and his soldiers. 

“I have no reason to lie.  I only want to do the right thing.”

“And you’ve taught them to think for themselves?” Meg nodded to the base in the north.

“I’ve tried to.  We’re different from the other Companies at the Facility.”

“How did you manage that?”

“Years of guarded secrecy.”

“So you preach in whispers.  You question the Director’s program in the dark, but when daylight comes, you slip your masks back on and play his game.”

Rhett squared his shoulders.  “We did what we had to do to survive.”

“Until now.”

“This opportunity came and we knew we had to take it.  It’s all been theory before today.”

“What is it now?”

“Judgment Day.”

Meg nodded solemnly, acknowledging his situation.  “Your Company means the world to you, Hays.  They’re your family.”  Meg motioned toward his protective stance.  “You would give your life for them.”

“It’s true,” Rhett agreed, his fists clenched involuntarily.

“My family means the world to me, too.”  Meg stood, her muscular shoulders pulled back, jaw locked defiantly.  The air around
her seemed to shimmer with her courage.  “We’ve been hunted for years by both Williams and Arkdone.  We’ve suffered casualties at their hands.”  Meg swallowed hard at the memories of Paulie and Gavil.  “So, let me ask you: What would you do if you were me?  What would you do if your family was being hunted and killed by a relentless enemy?”

“I’d do everything in my power to permanently stop the threat.”

“Then you’ll understand when I tell you there’s just one last thing I have to do.”