Turncoat: Turncoat Trilogy Book 1

Chapter 7.2

“We’re here, shut up,” Vicki said.

An audible sigh of relief came from either Nick or Addison over the comms. “Engine is secure, moving into crew quarters,” Nick said.

“We copy, what the hell was that horrible squealing?” Vicki asked.

“Feedback loop,” I said.

“Huh?”

“The frequency we use was doubled back into the receiver and amplified to the point where we could hear it,” I rasped as I dug the kit I had been given out of my pack. Inside it contained a rolled up keypad, a variety of cables and then the various trinkets that came with being a hacker.

“What happened to you?” Vicki asked suddenly concerned.

“Gas,” I said.

“Bad?”

“She’ll survive,” Nick said. “Tawny, get this train stopped, we’ll keep people from getting to you.”

“Yes, sir,” I nodded and drew the tablet out of the pack. I used the tip of a knife to unscrew the nails holding a panel over a circuit board.

“Don’t call me sir,” Nick said as they left me alone in the gas filled engine. The canister sputtered to a stop as some point as I connected my tablet into the trains controls. I placed the wire from the keyboard into the tablet and began to send a variety of hacks at the train’s firewall. As I worked, I heard the woman retch and then moan. I glanced over at her to see her eyes squeezed shut and tears streaming down her cheeks. Mucus followed from her nose, mixing with the blood on her upper lip.

“I was just doing my job,” she whimpered. “Don’t kill me, please.”

"Not my job,” I said.

I heard her retch again and I went back to my work. “Chemical warfare is against the convention,” she wheezed.

“So are death camps,” I snarled.

"Tawny, ignore her,” Nick snapped.

I went back to typing, squinting as I tried to make out the screen. The woman continued to ramble, her voice slowly getting worse as she exposed herself to the gas fumes. She vomited a third time. After a few brute force attacks to attempt to get through the firewall, I turned my attention to the log in screen and looked at the two prompts: one for an access code and one for a password. I looked to the woman restrained a few feet away.

“Access code,” I demanded.

She shook her head lethargically.

“If I can get into the system, I can air out the car,” I said. “Access code.”

“Three, six, four, seven, five, eight,” she said.

I keyed in the access code and set a software to figure out her password. Within a minute, the software spat out an answer and fed it directly into the system, giving me full access to the entire train.

“I’m in,” I said.

“Plug these coordinates into the train’s navigation and input an emergency stop,” Addison said. She ran off a set of coordinates that I followed with my figures on the monitor. A point on the train tracks illuminated and I confirmed the stop.

“Done,” I said.

“Good, hold position and monitor for any reinforcements,” Nick instructed.

“Copy,” I said. I turned my attention back to the screen and flipped around a few times before finding the vent controls. With a few taps, the white smoke began to clear out, replaced by clean, breathable air.

“Thank you,” the woman wheezed. She sobbed silently, or as silently as she could. To be truthful, it was beginning to get annoying. She was blubbering something about never truly hating the Ferals, just playing along with everyone else so she didn’t end up in a camp. I could hear Nick and Addison in my ear squabbling back and forth as they moved through the train. Apparently, they had some running bet on who would take more prisoners and someone miscounted. Vicki, Kai and Nigel moved more silently, only the occasional quip coming through on their channel.

“I don’t wanna die,” the woman whimpered.

“You don’t want to die, take my advice, accept their offer,” I said.

I looked over to her. She looked absolutely miserable as she sat there. Bruises were blossoming on her cheek and jaw. Her nose looked crooked and blood and mucus covered her upper lip.

I sighed and grabbed a rag from my kit. Mostly used for drying the waterproof equipment, it had other uses. I walked over to the woman and knelt down. I lifted her chin before dabbing at the blood on her face. She sat still as I cleaned off her lips and jaw before returning to the console. If I hadn’t had my accident, that could have been me. A hacker attending the transport of prisoners or cataloging prisoners at a work camp or something along those lines. Our roles could have been reversed and I would have been the one tied to the console covered in my own blood and vomit.

I knelt and picked up her pistol from the floor of the car. “ETA to stop, two minutes,” I alerted everyone. Once the train hit the brakes, it would check its navigation to ensure the stop was scheduled and then it might double check with the initial plans. My stop wouldn’t survive the double check, but there was no telling what it would do from there. All of the checks, it would go through would ruin my thin stop. Reinforcements would be hailed but the double checking took time, I could definitely slow it down considerably. As I got to work, I felt rather than heard the brakes kick in.

The train came to a gentle stop, well as gentle as a bullet train could be when decelerating rapidly. It wasn’t enough to throw me off my feet but if there were any soldiers doubting that the train had been boarded, they knew now. The doors to each compartment, baring the last six cars opened allowing the gas to billow out. The door opened behind me and I looked back to see the team unmasked, each leading a captive in front of them. I removed my mask and hung it from my belt. The prisoners were sat next to the woman, none had been roughed up like her.

“Why is she cleaned up?” Nigel demanded pointing to the woman.

I balled the bloody rag up and tried to stow it in my pocket before he could see it but I wasn’t quick enough. His hand closed around my wrist and jerked it up, the rag still clutched in my fingers.

“She’s a prisoner!” he snapped. “She is not to be shown kindness.”

"If we treat our prisoners by smothering them with chemicals, we are no better than the Dead Heads you just killed!” I snapped.

Pain flashed through my face as he brought the back of his hand across my cheek. My hand went to my face and I looked up to see Kai with his arms wrapped around Vicki as she strained against him. Addison had her hand on Nick’s chest and another resting on her hip.

“You’re only here because Kai said you were coming,” Nigel snarled. “These people deserve worse than they are getting. Remember something, you’re only here because he—” he pointed to Kai “—said you were worth bringing. If I had a say in it, you’d still be sitting in the city blissfully unaware of these raids. If you’ve screwed this up, I’ll make sure you never see the city again. Got it?”

I nodded and Kai released Vicki, who instantly crossed to me and began to inspect my cheek, gently prodding the bones with her finger. I brushed her off and turned to the prisoners. Six in total.

“You just killed thirty-six people,” I breathed.

“We did,” Nick said. “Do you want to see why?”

I nodded and he motioned from me to follow him.