Chapter Seven
Dark clouds split the sunlight into hundreds of shimmering rays that beat down on a dry African desert, the searing heat was about to be extinguished by an oncoming storm. A blinding crack of thunder and a jagged blade of lightening ushered in another day of severe rainfall, cooling the heat driven lands where the first human steps were trodden in the evolutionary ladder. In stark contrast to the untouched landscape a stealthy helicopter brings its own sound of thunder almost drowning that of the heavens. Troy broke the silence.
‘I’m sure Arrin had a weapons dump of some kind in this area, computer terminals with links to the Grid so I would be surprised if he was holed up there. Don’t waste your time scanning though it won’t be detectable’
‘You’re right the sensors aren’t picking up a thing. Hey wait a minute I’m getting recently upturned Earth just north of here I guess it may be nothing but if Arrin has used the bunker lately he would have disturbed the ground surrounding the entrance don’t you think?’ Kym had a trained eye for this kind of environment; safari was his keenest pastime.
By now the vessel was heavily enshrouded by the might of the African wet season but no force of nature could throw the power of the mighty chopper as it slipped through the storm with elegant grace.
‘I think you could be right 117 I remember this area of bush land to the right of it. Let’s go down and take a closer look’
‘Yeah let’s check it out’
The Mark One was already quite low to the ground so it made little effort of turning and landing, however a warning light began to flash as the chopper eased itself to the ground.
‘She’s nearly out of fuel Daryl nowhere near enough to get us back to base, didn’t you think to fill her up before we left!’
‘Li she runs on matter, any kind of matter, all you need to do is fill the tank with sand, mud or even elephant shit and she’ll run. I thought you were taught all that! Mind you they should have filled her up back at the base’
‘I know I know, all it needs are physical particles to heat to fusion temperature thus initiating nuclear fusion and therefore incalculable amounts of energy result, I just can’t be arsed to fill her up’ Kym started to bore Troy with his time wasting, so much so that Troy had already got out of the chopper without Kym noticing.
‘Fill her up Li’ Troy announced as he poked his head back into the Mark One doorway and glared at his comrade. Kym muttered under his breath in a jovial manner as he opened the panel of the fuel inlet and attached the suction pipe used for powder intake or in this case, sand.
With the Mark One filled with fuel they were ready to investigate Frost’s secret hideaway.
‘This could get messy Li there’s no telling the last time he was here, he may even be in there now so activate your armour’ Troy was the only agent to have encountered Frost for over three months and he knew only too well he was not thinking rationally. They approached the patch of disturbed Earth and tapped their communicators at the same time initiating the blue armour. A clearer view of the surroundings now filled their eyes along with metric information of the terrain and its particulars. Troy looked down at the opening as his head-up display scanned the area he was looking at; the armour worked in perfect harmony with his microcomputer implant. After a matter of seconds the display showed the metallic outlines of a door displayed as a green grid together with its dimensions. Frost had not designed his bunker as well as he could have. Troy scrubbed away the sand covering the door and revealed a metallic panel over three feet long with another, smaller panel in the centre. Troy placed the blue hand of his armour on the front which lit up and scanned his hand.
Suddenly a mounted machine gun sprang from the ground and began to fire ferociously at the armoured agents as they jumped back and evaded the attack. Bullets deflected off his chest and headpiece as Kym lifted his left arm and fired a beam, instantly disintegrating the would-be killer gun. Even though the agents were fully protected from such weapons, it was sometimes easy to forget they were wearing the armour and mild panic was inevitable. With their feathers ruffled they approached once more. Troy tapped on the armour that covered his thigh and suddenly the shape of a blue gun began to emerge from the liquid-like material of his advanced body suit. The gun was nearly the length of his forearm and looked like no Earthly object; he charged his weapon and began to fire at the door. Short sharp pulses of light bolted from the weapon, as Troy’s hand shook violently and the door began to give way. The door shattered and sprayed into the air revealing a dark corridor, they proceeded slowly and cautiously their armour scanning the area for fatal traps of any kind.
Both suspicious agents activated the lights on their armour and four beams of bright white light emanated from the black slit they looked through, guiding the way. The walls were covered in human weapons of every kind and looked untouched for weeks, finally they entered the control room of Frosts bunker.
‘I don’t know about you but my systems are picking up traces of activity from at least the last few days he has been here recently’ Kym told Troy of his findings.
Troy was busy tapping away on the main computer console of the bunker looking for clues as to Frosts whereabouts.
‘Yeah I got the same reading he’s been here alright but there’s some kind of encryption on his database, I thought he’d told me all his passwords!’ he felt hurt that he now knew nothing about his brother anymore.
Suddenly Troy’s terminal flashed to an image of Frosts smirking face. As the assassin began to speak a blanket of shimmering blue light covered the only doorway and they both knew they were trapped.
‘Daryl! I knew you’d come here sooner or later. It’s good to see you my old friend, although I don’t think you share my enthusiasm!’ Frost spoke in a calm and monotonous voice, his eyes looked eerie and they could almost feel his eyes burning through the armour.
‘We need to talk brother you need help! What’s gone wrong? You seemed fine three months ago, why all this death why all the destruction? And why kill Miller, Torres and Takuya?’ Troy had plenty of questions, he hadn’t seen his brother and best friend for quite some time and even though he was clearly not thinking straight, it was Arrin Frost all the same.
‘Dear Daryl if only you knew you would join me I know you would. But I can’t tell you yet there‘s much more to be done although I will tell you everything soon my friend, all in good time. Now I must go I have a great many vengeances to inflict on humanity so... take it easy’
‘Don’t go yet I want some answers, I deserve them, we all do’
‘This is Kym you sick bastard! What the hell are you playing at Frost? You’ve killed more than Hitler ever did! We will find you and when we do you will die in the most painful way you can imagine!’ Kym was clearly both upset and angry with Frost who was now laughing in both their faces.
‘What the fuck do you know Kym? What have you ever known? You have no idea of the grand design none of you have! I was going to let you both go but now I think you have reached the end of your use agent Kym, I’ll see you again soon Daryl and you Li I’ll see you in purgatory, I hope your letter to God is as good as mine!’ Frost ended the transmission and almost instantly a vale of shimmering light enveloped Kym, holding him in place unable to move. Just as the field had covered Kym the one blocking the entrance disappeared and Troy was free to go. A box opened at Kym’s side and revealed an un-diffusible high power explosive that was set to go off after five minutes. Kym’s armour deactivated by itself leaving him completely unprotected. Troy tried frantically with all the means he had access to, trying to deactivate the particle field holding his partner to no avail. It was clearly no use and Troy had one option, leave his friend to die.
The timer on the bomb was now down to the last fifteen seconds but Troy still refused to leave Li’s side, he suddenly had an idea. His wrist scimitars sprang from the armour covering Troy’s wrist. Troy slashed at the control box three times and finally the field disappeared but the bo
mb was seconds from detonating and escape was no option as Kym frantically tried to activate his armour. The stormy sky of Africa was lit up like a Christmas tree as the blast destroyed everything in the nearby area. Debris rained down on the blackened sand of the African Plains as two metallic figures slumped to the ground near the Mark One. They had escaped, narrowly. They deactivated the armour and beads of sweat dripped from their foreheads, they smiled at each other and breathed a sigh of relief after out smarting Frost. Escape had its price however, Kym shook violently in shock from the severe burns that the particle field had left all over his body.
‘Let’s get you back to base Kym you need fixing, besides I think I have a few leads that I need to look into’
‘Well I guess I’ll have more time to write my letter to God. I look forward to that!’ Kym saw the humour in the situation although not forgetting the seriousness of the danger they had just evaded.
Troy lifted his injured comrade and carried him to the Mark One while Kym looked up at his saviour and knew he could trust him more than anyone on the planet.
‘You know anyone else would have left me and even if they didn’t they wouldn’t have thought of using the scimitars’ Kym was now in awe of his comrade, he knew he was looking at the only force left in the world that could stop Arrin Frost.
Most of the next day passed away before Kym was again ready for active service, incredible advances had been made by the SIA thanks to technology retrieved from the Roswell UFO.
‘Well he’s as ready as he’ll ever be Daryl we’ve regenerated the damaged skin but I’m afraid he’s still a pain in the arse, we were unable to treat that!’ announced the Head Nurse of the SIA Medical Wing as she cleaned her hands with a small towel, Troy responded with a cheeky grin and she left them to it.
‘Good to see you 117, how are you feeling? Let’s go grab some rest and relaxation! Wadda ya say?’
‘Where do you have in mind? How about we hit Miami for a few drinks? Give us chance to wind down after our near death experience!’ Kym wanted to go to the place he loved best, he knew the hefty task that was ahead of them all.
The Doctor looked up from his desk disapprovingly as they motioned towards the elevator.
‘He’ll be fine Doc just don’t say a word to the General ok?’ Troy made sure their backs were covered as they entered the lift. They talked constantly as if there were no crisis to speak of but Troy somehow knew it would be some time before Frost would strike again. The Mark One lifted high into the air as it left SIA headquarters and headed for Miami; the sun shimmered for one last time before it set behind the snow filled tundra of Alaska. Both agents had barely stopped talking since they left SIA headquarters and they were rapidly becoming great friends. Their ordeal in the African desert seemed to have brought them closer together.
Troy brought the helicopter down on a secluded part of the beach and the downdraft sent sand blasting in all directions. The sun looked picturesque as it slowly lowered behind the tranquil horizon, light shimmered off the hull of the chopper as they emerged from its side. The sun’s glare was too much at first but it didn’t take long before they were taken in by the deep red sunset of the famous Daytona Beach. It was easy to forget the all the death and destruction thousands of miles away and both agents had firsthand knowledge. The clubs and bars of Daytona strip also seemed unfettered by the devastating death toll across the water; it felt like they had entered another world devoid of worry.
They entered the nearest bar they came to, sat down and took it all in before approaching the bar.
‘And what can I do for you boys?’ the Barmaid asked seductively.
‘Well as you asked so politely we’ll have two shots of synthohol, Grade One’ Kym ordered the new drink of the age. Synthohol was basically a hypo spray of alcohol that one pressed onto the skin, thousands of tiny needles then injected the substance into the bloodstream causing a temporary high from the drug. Grade One was known to be the strongest and longest lasting and was quite a desirable effect. Two hits later they drifted to the next bar, their legs were clearly not functioning the way they ought to. After some hours of drinking they ended up in Kookoo one of Miami’s finest clubs, the synthohol was seriously kicking in and the ladies were looking nicer.
‘So are you from Miami sexy lady?’ Kym let himself go a little too much for a professional agent as he wandered the club making a nuisance of himself with all the females. Troy sat across the bar and collected his thoughts, for some reason he could think more fluently after a few beers and synthohol, he found himself using words he had no idea he knew. He remembered his old comrades and the death and devastation his weary eyes had seen. He felt a sudden feeling of rage and snapped at the barmaid who he felt was pestering him to buy another drink. Almost instantly he realised his mistake and shut out the unwanted feelings as he had been trained to do in his earlier days. As they both relaxed in their own different ways a shadowy figure dressed in black slowly emerged from the darkness of the club. He pulled back the dark overcoat that enshrouded him and a glimmer of silver was now clearly visible in the darkness. He raised his silver gun and carefully aimed for Kym’s head, who was by now surrounded by three women. Frost took aim for Kym’s head and a shot of blue light bolted from his weapon. Kym stood up as he went to talk to Troy and the blast hit his upper back sending him to the ground like a weighted jellyfish, stone dead. Frost had done his deed and now he fled, activating his armour and smashing out through the wall of the club leaving hundreds of panic stricken clubbers screaming in fear.
Troy was now acutely aware of what had happened, he half staggered to where Frost had fled from but realised he would be too far away by now, his chief concern was Kym laying slumped in the middle of a ring of worried onlookers. His heart welled with sadness, he had seen those kinds of wounds before and death was the end result from such a weapon. Troy sobered up quickly as he picked up Kym and ran through the hysterical crowds, he wanted to catch Frost badly but concern for his friend took over. Frost was getting dangerously clever.