Taylor turned and waited for the punch line.
“He wanted to cross the English Channel, invade Britain, and defeat Russia. He wanted the whole world to know he was a better man and a better leader than those who had come before him. It’s no different here. Erdogan wants us all to know he can achieve all that his peers failed, and in record time.”
“You think that’s really it? All this because of what, pride?”
“Is it that surprising? Jafar says that Earth for them is some paradise, so maybe they don’t want to use apocalyptic weapons, but I’d bet good money that’s not the case. Erdogan is revelling in the fact he is running circles around us. We know he’s targeting you personally. You are a symbol of the human resistance and the defeat of the Krys armies. I’d bet any money he’ll be looking to fight and kill you in person.”
Taylor couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, you are full of good news. So this ultimate alien badass has come all this way to personally humiliate me until he can finally kill me with his own hands?”
Jones nodded.
It had the ring of truth about it, but Taylor did his utmost to brush it off as a far-fetched theory. A light flashed on one of the comms boxes along the wall, and Parker quickly answered. She was on the line for just a few seconds when she put the receiver down and rushed over to Taylor and Jones.
“Enemy forces are encircling the city fast. We are ordered to get moving now!”
Taylor looked out across the courtyard and quickly yelled at the top of his voice, “Load up. We’re outta here!”
He immediately jumped from the edge and landed down beside the vehicle that had been prepared for him. It was an open top jeep, and with nothing but a roll cage for protection. A door gun from one of their ships had been hastily fitted on the cage. Parker climbed onto the back, and Taylor jumped into the driver’s seat. Jafar hauled himself into the passenger side. He was so tall his head stuck up above the cage. He had the same weapon across his lap as was bolted to the frame above. Taylor fired up the engine.
“We’re not waiting?”
“For what?” Taylor asked.
She was surprised to see him be so eager to leave without checking on those under his command.
“We wait for nobody. We have a duty to get out of here, and to survive to fight another day. We’re hitting the road.”
He put his foot to the floor, and the vehicle raced out through an archway and past a line of vehicles with troops hastily boarding. Small aircraft were taking off through the base, and he wished they could be aboard one, but they had no such luck. He leaned a little towards Jafar.
“Jones has a crazy theory that this Erdogan bastard wants to bring me down. That he wants me to have my whole life torn apart, and then kill me him very self. That sound like something he would do?”
“I have never met the Lord Erdogan. But yes.”
Taylor was shocked and turned to look at Jafar’s face. He looked back to see a vehicle pull across their path and swerved just in time to miss it.
“Whoa, what the hell?” Parker squealed as she held onto the roll cage.
Taylor ignored her and asked Jafar again.
“In all this war, a war of whole worlds, you think he wants to make me personally suffer?”
“Yes.”
Taylor shook his head because Jafar was being far from descriptive, and yet he quickly realised he was saying all he needed to. Taylor suddenly felt very vulnerable and more than a little uncomfortable. It was a grim feeling to know the most powerful being known to them in the universe was coming for him.
“He’s gonna find me, isn’t he? Somehow, somewhere, not so far from now, he’s gonna find me?”
“Yes,” replied Jafar.
Taylor had run into most situations with the utmost confidence, even if it was foolish to do so, but now he doubted himself.
“Make me a promise, Jafar?”
The alien looked surprised and awaited a response.
“Promise me that when the time finally comes, when Erdogan is standing before me and attempting to end my life, you will be beside me trying to finish this.”
“I will,” he quickly replied.
He seemed to show no concern and fear for the request, but it was still difficult to read his expression.
“You think you could beat him in a fight?”
“No.”
Taylor smiled. “Well that’s good news.”
Deep down it was a horrifying concept. Everyone he knew treated him as some unbeatable champion, but he knew he had beaten Karadag and Demiran with help and a lot of luck. He’d never admit it to anyone, only perhaps Eli in his weakest moments, but it weighed more heavily on him now than ever. Erdogan was a new kind of enemy on an entirely different level, and it was quickly becoming clear to them all.
A line of vehicles raced out in front of them, and they were losing a little speed as the choke points started filling up.
“There are gates every hundred metres on every wall, and yet still we’re getting backed up. This isn’t going fast enough!” Parker complained.
It was clear to Taylor she hadn’t heard any of the discussion with Jafar, and he was glad of it. Out of nowhere a pulse smashed into the vehicle ahead of them. It was vaporised and most of the body flattened into the ground. Taylor swerved quickly, and the front wheel hit part of the wreckage, launching one side of the vehicle into the air before smashing back down with a violent impact.
Taylor barely kept a grip on the wheel and was amazed they were still going forward, but before they could appreciate their luck, another few pulses struck the ground around them. Engines roared overhead; it was Mech ships sweeping by.
"This isn't good," muttered Taylor.
They were almost bumper-to-bumper with the vehicles ahead of them and had to simply hope the line kept moving. They passed through another archway without incident, but pulses were smashing into positions a little more than ten metres away.
"Erdogan will be watching and revelling in this," stated Jafar.
Taylor looked at him in surprise. Not by what he said, but the fact he had openly shared information without being pressed for it.
"Go on," Taylor said.
"We're running. Fleeing from his armies. Fleeing from his superior power."
"Yeah, well he can stuff his superiority up his ass because I'll be coming for him before long."
Jafar nodded but did not reply. They could all see it was every man and woman for himself now as vehicles scrambled to get out of the city.
"He could have finished us here. He could have ended it all, but Erdogan's arrogance will be his undoing."
"Unless his arrogance is founded in fact!" Parker joined in the conversation.
Taylor looked around. She was hunkered down in the vehicle and just behind them.
"We aren't going down without a fight," he told her firmly.
Neither of them replied. Taylor looked back. Jones' vehicle was close behind them and nearly identical to his. He looked up at more ships flying past overhead, and Mechs were leaping from them and descending into the city. One of the Mech warriors was heading right for Jones' vehicle. He put the power down to get clear and nudged the back of Taylor's jeep. The creature clipped the back of the cage on Jones' vehicle and bounced off onto the front of a truck behind. Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, but as he looked back to the road ahead, he could see further Mechs dropping down ahead of them.
"Get on that gun, Parker!"
She wearily got up on the back of the vehicle and took aim, but it was Jafar who fired first. He had the gun in his lap and could do little to aim, but started firing and adjusting his angles. The first burst zipped past a Mech, and he simply held down the trigger and tracked with the tracer fire until the shots tore into the creature’s armour.