Enzi left in the waiting jeep, the covered dock was about half a kilometre away, secured from prying eyes, below the seaplane ramp. Briggs went over to the guardhouse on the far side, near the hangers. Private Thorpe was immaculate his uniform pristine and pressed as expected, his comrade Eddie Wragg was shoddy by comparison. He greeted the Colonel, not speaking, waiting to be addressed.
‘At ease Private, grab your gear, I have a job for you.’
‘But Sir, The General put me on guard duty for punishment, one week sir.’
Briggs lied ‘I am aware of that Private but a mission has arisen which requires your talents.’
‘Well sir if you are here, then The General must have approved it.’
‘Get your gear and follow me Private.’
Thorpe dutifully followed, leaving Eddie Wragg to his sandwich, some in him, the rest on his shirt.
Enzi was at the dock watching his weapons being loaded, he was joined by four of The General’s soldiers who silently got aboard and stowed their gear, awaiting the arrival of Colonel Briggs.
Briggs had informed Thorpe of his mission on the journey down, he did not share it with anyone else. The four soldiers aboard were raw recruits, barely out of their training, wanabees having been rejected by the US Army for various reasons; they had been recruited for Unit Zero 3. Briggs did not like this approach, he felt it undermined the true soldiers in his command. The four men were eager, but smart, obeying The General’s instruction not to salute an officer. He nodded his appreciation for their volunteering, ‘Gentlemen, this is Sergeant Thorpe, he will be your commanding officer, follow his lead.’ Thorpe was surprised at his sudden promotion, but did not question it.
‘Mr Enzi, this is all I can spare, Sergeant Thorpe here is a most capable sniper, use him well.’
‘Thank you Colonel Briggs I will see you on my successful return.’
‘Where’s your associates Mr Smith and Mr Jones?’
‘Smith is dead, shot by Archer Mathias, Jones has gone ahead to recruit some additional men, as instructed, we will pick them up later.’
‘Well that is good news, so you will all be on this mission?’
Briggs nodded to Thorpe. They both understood that Mr Enzi and his associates would never return.
TWENTY SEVEN
Jacob and Archer took their gear to the Global Surveyor, placing it between the two sets of wings. Katherine was using a jack to lower the large sensor array from the underside of the body. Archer moved over to assist her.
‘Thanks Archer, this can be a little cumbersome on your own, Debra normally helps me.’
‘Well she’s not here, I am. Where do you want me?’
‘Now there’s an offer, but just steady the jack for now.’
With a smile that had been absent for a while, Archer obliged, within minutes the array was back over in the storage container, locked up.
‘Katherine, where are we going to put our gear, and sit?’
‘Look Archer, it’s simple, you wear all your gear, I load up what I can in the space behind the cockpit, normally I have my kit there.’
‘And this will get us there?’
‘You have no faith in my choice of transportation?’
‘Believe me, compared to what I have travelled on in the past few days, this is sturdy.’
‘Well I will take that as a compliment, I think?’
Archer climbed into the Global Surveyor, Katherine passing his gear to him, Jacob moving the remainder to her. Jacob and Archer suited up, checking oxygen masks, helmets and weapons. As they clambered aboard, they appeared more like plastic faceless robots than people, all their human features obscured. Katherine closed the hatch, and started her engines. The grass runway they had been using was not ideal, but with their light load it was not too much of a strain for the landing gear. The Global Surveyor climbed over the patchy clouds of the coast, heading north-west, Katherine setting all its navigation software to run the entire route autonomously. When the aircraft reached eighteen thousand feet, she unbuckled herself and joined Archer and Jacob sitting in the back. Archer‘s mask was flapping by his neck, the cabin currently pressurised, ‘Katherine who is flying the plane?’
Katherine smirked, ‘No one is Archer, that’s the point?’
‘Sorry did I miss something?’
‘The plane will fly itself to Panama, then loop back and return to base, all as planned.’
As Katherine spoke her headset broadcast the expected enquiry from Ecuador air traffic control, their transponder showing their identity on radar, ‘Global Surveyor, please adjust your course, you are entering restricted airspace.’ Katherine flicked the transmission to speaker for the benefit of her passengers. The response came from Debra, back on the Arcadia, ‘Ecuador air traffic, this is Arcadia, Elements Institute research vessel. The Global Surveyor has a navigational fault, and we are attempting to resolve.’
‘Sorry Arcadia, why is the pilot not responding?’
‘The plane has no pilot, it is a survey aircraft with autonomous control, it has a software fault and took off independently, we are trying to get it to turn around now.’
‘Arcadia, if aircraft is perceived as a threat it will be shot down, is that clear?’
‘Yes sir, it should steer clear of any restricted airspace.’
Right on cue the aircraft executed a fifteen degree left turn, taking it away from the Colombian/Ecuador border area.
‘Well you could not have planned that better Katherine.’
‘Arcadia, aircraft is proceeding towards Panamanian airspace. We will inform them of your issue. Out.’
‘See if you want a job doing properly, ask a woman. Anita always said that.’
The smile that was on Archer’s face disappeared, mentioning his mother in his father’s presence hit a nerve. Katherine was direct, ‘Look you two, Anita is dead, it is no one’s fault, sort out this feud or I will throw both of you out of this plane without your chutes!’
Both men were stunned by the unusual outburst from Katherine, but both knew she was right. Jacob turned to Archer, ‘Son, there is something I’ve not told you, about your mother.’
Archer reluctantly responded, ‘Really, what?’
The excuse that Archer expected was not forthcoming, instead the response left him silent, ‘Well son, she did not die alone, I was there.’
‘But you said, the Institute said, you were in the Arctic?’
‘And if any investigation had occurred, that would have been supported.’
‘Why would there be an investigation Dad?’
Jacob paused, looked directly at his only remaining son, ‘Archer, your mother. Well, your mother did not die from the cancer alone, I helped her.’
Archer did not break the stare, ‘You killed my mother?’
‘No son, it wasn’t like that, she asked me to, you should have seen her.’
Katherine butted in, ‘I found her, I was there, perhaps you have forgotten.’
It had been the previous fall when she has last visited. Katherine landed the helicopter on the outskirts of the ranch; she knew that any closer would worry the horses. The house was about a mile up the road, so she said hello to the ranch hands, and borrowed a quad bike to take the trail to where she used to call home.
It had been a few months since she had last been here, the trees now in full leaf, echoing the wind moving through them. The summer breeze flowed up from the valley below. She turned to look out, over towards the mountains, hardly another soul between the house and the horizon. She liked the isolation, and Anita’s family had owned land here for more than a century.
She walked up the wooden steps on to the porch, a wicker chair, old dog basket next to it. The owner long since buried with the other pets under the beech tree. Even though she had been brought up there, she still knocked, out of respect. The expected holler from Anita did not return her knock, she tried again. Now she was concerned, the horseshoe on the door showed that Anita was in. When she was out riding, she turned it over in a U shape, to catch luck while I am out. Whenever she returned she would turn it over, and tell anyone she was emptying the luck onto my porch.