“Back inside!” the Captain yelled before the helicopters got within shooting range. The soldiers scrambled through the opening in the cargo dock and back into the prison, slamming the steel door behind them. Three X7 gunships came blasting over the island from the other side. “Crap those things are fast,” he screamed over the noise and the wind. “I kind of wish we hadn’t designed them.” Then the choppers started to turn back towards them.
“Veronica, GO!” The blonde envoy took off back towards the prison, with Eliza and the Captain right behind. The Captain overtook the lead. Then Veronica tripped, her ankle apparently injured. Eliza grabbed her and pulled her along the ground until they were behind a rock. One of the choppers swung in low and tried to navigate around, but there was a grove of trees just behind that rock that made it impossible. So the X7 just hovered there, waiting for someone to poke his or her head out. Then, it exploded.
Materializing from the brush behind them was Thug, who camouflage fell away as he leveled, aimed and fired his single-shot cannon at the low-flying, sitting-duck helicopter. The fire and wreckage was actually quite pretty. As Thug reloaded, Eliza grabbed her headset out of her pocket and put it on.
“Wyrm!” she shouted into the mouthpiece. “How close are the foxes to the hens?”
“So close behind that they’re about to get egg on their faces!” Wyrm was far too impressed with his own joke. “You can thank me later. Do you have any idea how hard it is to pilot ten hydrofoils by remote? Even with these kick-ass algorithms . . .”
“Just blow the damn things!”
“Yes ma’am,” he returned with feigned meekness.
“These poor souls really ARE creatures of habit,” she said to Veronica, whose ankle had “miraculously” healed. The two of them listened to explosions off in the distance as those identical wooden boxes, all of which had a large quantity of explosives, were remotely detonated, taking their pursuers with them.
It had been an expensive trap, but Eliza thought it was worth it. Wyrm had been right. She had needed to put herself out there where she could be seen. She had been so blind. She had been so busy preparing for war that it hadn’t occurred to her to actually lay a trap. She knew that the Purity would rather make a play on the prize while it was on the move. They had fallen prey to the fallacy that just because something worked once that it would work again. This time, the “emergency evacuation” had been a decoy. She had forced the Purity to move before they were ready. She, Veronica and Captain Corbin had to be out in the open to make the enemy believe that they were actually leaving, but she had carefully measured the distance from where they were going to be standing to this rock next to these trees. Then they had to find a way of bringing at least one of whatever air support the Purity had in close. A second gunship was being peppered by sniper fire from Dennis is one tower. Even his rifle was no match for the chopper’s armor, so it was good that he had evacuated by the time the aircraft rained down ammunition and reduced the tower to rubble. While it was distracted, however, Allyson had maneuvered behind it. The chopper had been brought down low enough that she was able to toss a grenade high over the blades. She ducked back behind a protective wall before it exploded, sending the craft crashing to the ground. The last gunship had laid aim at Thug and fired. The troll was quickly riddled with bullets and went crashing to the ground.
“Oh my God!” Veronica screamed. Eliza actually had to restrain her from opening fire with her ineffectual sidearm. Veronica realized that the vampire was surprisingly calm for someone whose best friend had just been killed. As the chopper approached, Thug sat back up and shot it. The chopper blew up nicely.
“Everyone thinks to research vampires,” Eliza said almost tiredly, “but they KEEP forgetting about the troll. If you don’t use fire, you can’t stop them from regenerating. But he’s going to be REALLY cranky for a while as he works the bullets out of his body.”
The island was suddenly covered with smoking debris. The Purity troop transports turned around when the realized that their attack boats and air support was all destroyed. It didn’t matter. A decent amount of the U. S. Pacific Fleet was on their way. Eliza DID want to get the jewel of the island, but she was going to do it under her terms. It would take far too long for the Purity to regroup and try again. She and her compatriots would be long gone by the time they were ready, and next time it would be Eliza choosing the location.
Dennis and Allyson showed up, dragging a soldier along with them. The soldier was bound and had apparently been shot in the leg.
“Just like you said,” Dennis started, “as soon as we said we were leaving, he snuck off.” When Eliza had turned and blinked at the watchtower, Dennis had been watching her. He and Allyson had started counted heads to see who was missing, and Wyrm had been scanning the island. They knew that there had to be a spy amongst the troops and that when he learned that they were leaving, he would somehow contact his people. “He was using a tight-beam transmitter, probably contacting some sort of launch platform for those whirly-birds.”
|| THOSE THINGS HIT LIKE A SON OF A BITCH! || Thug complained bitterly as he approached. Eliza had to translate for Veronica. Captain Corbin also joined them.
“The troops are re-deployed,” he said. “If they had tried to actually land those boats, they would have gotten their asses kicked. I’m impressed Ms. Eliza. Of course, the government is probably less happy about the millions of dollars this operation cost them.”
“They should be thanking me,” the vampire grumbled. “Considering they can take claim for a major blow against an invisible foe that no other nation in the world could even find. Besides,” she said as she turned to Veronica, “we were technically promised that all our expenses would be picked up by our employers. This was an expense.”
“Jesus H. . . . I was talking about transportation, ammunition . . . maybe snacks,” Veronica said with a smile. “But yes, I think things worked out better than we could have hoped for,” she continued, looking directly at Eliza. “We have a live, if wounded, captive and we still have the Dead Man’s World. Are we going to leave that in place for now?” she asked, looking around.
“Yes,” Eliza responded. “It’s not going anywhere until something like . . . oh, say, a battleship arrives.”
The group led the captive up to the prison. Luckily, they had a lot of cells available for him. Thug was complaining the entire walk.
|| ‘Stand in front of whatever they send,’ SHE SAYS. ‘You’ll survive,’ SHE SAYS. ||
“Oh quiet you big baby,” Eliza replied. Allyson and Dennis both laughed, and Veronica and the Captain had no idea what was going on.
——————- —————
An hour later . . .
——————- —————
Eliza, Captain Corbin and Veronica double-checked to make sure the Dead Man’s World was were it was supposed to be. It had been completely unguarded, but the mole within the ranks of the soldiers had bought the diversion hook, line and sinker. The World was right where they left it. Just to be sure, Thug agreed to sit in the cell until it was time to go (camouflaged of course). Their OFFICIAL transport would be there by evening, so Eliza went back to her room to pack up most of her stuff. She had an idea of where to move the jewel too, but she wasn’t saying anything until her feet were back on dry land. She had just thrown the last of her spare clothes into her knapsack when she smelled a familiar scent of organic-based body-wash.
“Can we talk?” Veronica asked from the doorway.
‘She smells SO good,’ Eliza thought before turning around. “I’d like that,” she said out loud. ‘Oh, how stupid did that sound?’ she thought critically of herself.
“Is . . . was that supposed to happen?” Veronica asked. “In the tower? I don’t know about you, but . . . I’ve never actually had my perception altered during . . . while making love before.” Veronica closed the door behind her and leaned on it.
“I really wouldn’t know. That was my first time. I’ve heard that it was supposed to be like this incredible rush, but it was one of those really intimate things that was sort of taboo in regards to public discussion.”
“I didn’t think magic worked in our world anymore,” Veronica said softly . . . almost demurely. “But that’s what it felt like.”
“I don’t even know how to find out. It’s supposed to be a little different for everyone, but I don’t have anyone I could ask . . .” Eliza took a step backward as Veronica stepped forward, but kept up her dialogue. “. . . since the whole woman-on-woman thing is pretty much a social and political no-no in my world and . . .”
Veronica stepped forward again but Eliza had nowhere to go unless she wanted to jump onto the bunk. But she was trembling a bit. “Are you alright?” the golden-locked diva asked. “You seem paler than usual.”
“I’m fine . . . I’m fine . . . It’s just . . .” She reached her hands out and put them on Veronica’s shoulders, keeping the other woman at arm’s length. “I can’t do this,” she said.
Veronica looked confused and almost hurt. “Why? You were able to yesterday.”
“And it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt,” Eliza said, meaning every word. “But in about eight hours, we’re going to be gone from here. And soon, they’ll figure out what the Dead Man’s World is for, and you’ll be back off to Washington D. C. If we were . . . to be with each other like that again, I wouldn’t want you to leave, and I don’t think I can handle standing around wanting something I know I wouldn’t be able to keep. I’ve done that already.”