Prime (Chess Team Adventure, #0.5)

Before Zelda could respond, the distorted voice of the mysterious Deep Blue broke in. “That’s affirmative. I’m now monitoring their army radio net. Rainer must have tipped them off. They’ve dispatched a company of infantry soldiers to investigate.”


Christ. It never rains… In her mind’s eye, she saw the trucks with their big wheels rolling effortlessly over obstacles that had slowed the van to a near crawl. There were no other roads, no places to turn off and let them pass. If they stayed on the road, they would run headlong into the army trucks. She’d dealt with the Burmese military a few times in the course of her posting here, and she knew that if they were caught, the best they could hope for would be a swift death. The alternative was an indefinite stay in Myanmar’s infamous Insein prison—the name said it all—where they would be subjected to brutal tortures, or worse, turned into propaganda puppets.

She turned to King. “More trouble! The Burmese army is headed our way!”

He shook his head and spread his hands helplessly.

Wonderful. For a moment, she wondered how she was going to make him understand the situation; should she try writing it down for him? Did she even have paper to write on?

“Oh, screw this.” She stomped on the brake and threw the van into a three-point turn.

She heard the immediate protests from the others, but since there was no way to explain herself to them, she ignored their shouts. There were more important things to do.

“Nighteyes, this is Legend, do you read me?”

Shin’s voice came back, sounding both concerned and relieved. “Loud and clear, Legend. Are you turning back?”

“You know it. There’s no way out of here except on foot. If we ditch the van in the compound, the army might not even know we were here.”

A new voice cut in. “Negative, Legend. The place is crawling with hostiles.” It was Irish—the guy leading the sniper teams and King’s acting First Sergeant.

Zelda felt the hairs on the back of her neck bristling. Was he actually trying to give her orders? She swallowed down her rising anger and with all the coolness she could muster, replied: “I guess it’s a good thing you guys are looking out for us, because unless someone can find me an exit, we’re doing this my way.”

To her surprise, Deep Blue cut in. “Irish, Nighteyes… The road is closed. You need to provide cover for the rest of the team. Rendezvous in the woods and proceed to the second vehicle as Legend recommends.”

The vindication was cold comfort. The truth of it was that they were now caught between a rock and a hard place. Somers had successfully beat the frankensteins off twice now, but this time there wouldn’t be a moving vehicle to come to the team’s rescue.

In seemingly no time at all, she found herself at the hilltop, staring down into the compound.

“Stop here,” King said.

His comment surprised her, and when she looked over, she saw him nodding his head. “I caught some of what you said,” he confessed. “My hearing’s coming back a little bit. You made the right call. But I have an idea.”

She glanced down into the compound where the massed frankensteins had noticed their return and were starting to move toward the gate. “I’m listening, but make it quick.”

“Everybody out!” This time, King’s shout was intentional. He leaned toward Zelda, and in a less strident tone, he added: “Leave it in neutral.”

At last, Zelda understood. She straightened the wheel, shifted the gear selector to ‘N’ and then applied the parking brake before sliding out of the driver’s seat. When everyone was out, she released the brake, whereupon Somers gave the van a hearty push and sent it careening down the hill.

Many of the monstrosities leapt out of the way, but nearly a dozen of them decided to meet the charge head-on—wild dogs facing down a charging elephant. Broken bodies went flying in every direction. The multiple impacts caused the vehicle to veer slightly to the right, and as it reached the compound, the front bumper crashed into one of the gateposts with a crunch that reached their ears a moment later.

“I guess we’re not getting our deposit back,” Tremblay said.





TWENTY-NINE


Shin watched the van crash into the gateposts, and then he lowered his eye once more to the rifle’s scope. Human forms flitted across his field of view, moving past the crosshairs, but they never lingered in one place long enough for him to take a shot.