Echoes of the Storm

Chapter 19

"So we took a beating!" Jack shot back. He'd hoped for an easy sell, especially to Chase who knew the commitment of Torredo's resistance. "Let's hit them again. Now. While it appears we're weak."

"Appears? Look, I understand how you feel." Chase didn't have to be convinced. Empathy filled his eyes. The same look Ben would have.

Colonists... He really had to stop thinking about Ben.

"That victory should have been ours," Chase said. "We were sold out and suffered major losses. It's time to step back and recoup, re-evaluate. I'm sorry, Jack. Command will tell you the same thing."

"Why'd they send you to deliver this message?" It was more than their knowing Chase had been his, and Norse's, primary contact, well aware of the work they'd done on Torredo.

"They thought I could make the news more palatable," Chase said.

Groaning, Jack pushed up from table. "If you've been talking to them then why did they even bother to bring me here? Why have I been answering their questions? You could've told me this news back at my quarters." He paced to the window. "I could be looking for transport home rather than wasting my time talking."

"C'mon Jack," Chase chided. "You've been in this business long enough to know the value of gathering information from people closest to the problem. Command staff needs to debrief you thoroughly."

Jerking around, Jack said, "I already told them what happened."

"You've only told us the end of the story," Chase said. "Command wants every minute detail of Norse's life, of the operation. That brain of yours holds the key to physical and mental weapons we'll need when we do finally return to Torredo."

"My brain? Right." Jack tried to sound patient. "But I'm not really sure what I can tell you about Norse. Obviously, I didn't know him at all." His gut roiled at the memory of Norse's touch. Never get too close. That was the best reason to forget about Ben.

Chase came up beside him. "Don't be so hard on yourself." He rested his hand on Jack's shoulder. "I was there, too. I met the man and was just as blind as you. He's a bastard."

Jack couldn't find any peace in those words. Chase had been on Torredo for all of three weeks prior to the invasion. Jack had worked with Norse for years.

"Let's get this briefing underway," he finally said. "I need to head back to my friends."

"Did you hear me?" Chase shook his head. "What about the current situation on Torredo makes you think you stand a chance of helping them?"

"I can't stay with the Riga," Jack replied through clenched teeth. "Not if they aren't prepared to return to Torredo right away."

"You're crazy. Your friends may be dead. If—and this is a mighty big if—if you can even get back on the planet without being spotted, where are you going to hide? Don't you think Norse has uncovered every single hole your rebel cells maintained?"

Jack studied the trees swaying in the breeze outside. He thought of Torredo's forests and the mountains where natural elements masked heat signatures. "I know there are places left to hide. And my friends will have found them."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and then what?"

"Then we start all over. But at least this time we know the enemy."

* * *

Jack found it hard to believe Riga lacked contacts on Torredo. That TP-2800 comm array he'd spotted on arrival wouldn't do the trick, but there were other ways to sniff out news. Still, he'd never learn anything if he didn't cooperate.

"Bad habits?" He shook his head and eyed the four officers Chase had admitted to the room. A major, two captains and one lieutenant, all members of Riga Security. They meant well, but enough was enough. The day had been long, exaggerated by ceaseless questioning in session after session. As each hour slipped by and the sun dipped behind the mountains, bells tolled for his friends on Torredo.

"The man has no bad habits." Norse might consider the relationship they'd taken to the bedroom a mistake, but Jack wasn't about to tell that to the Riga. It made no difference. Did it?

Norse used me. End of story.

Jack thought for a moment. "I take that back. He works all the time, insists on being in the thick of things. He kept a cot set up in a tiny room in our resistance HQ. He slept there." Jack didn't add that he'd given Norse an earful about working so hard when Norse fucked him on that cot, and then tucked his cock into his fatigues and jumped back to the desk to check the status of some shipment that wasn't due for hours. Jack gritted his teeth. "Now I see it was his way of controlling everything and everyone."

One of the captains asked, "You think he's holed up in Corona HQ now?"

"Absolutely," Jack replied. "It's his best defense. He knows every square centimeter of that building, including every secret passageway. If we stormed the place, we'd be lucky to find him."

"Not even you?" Chase asked.

"Ari Norse designed those underground tunnels." Jack looked at the grim faces around the table. "No one knows them better."

"So the plans he provided us...?"

"Oh, they're accurate all right. Chase and I used them to infiltrate the building with Spec Forces in those first few hours of the invasion." Jack nodded at Chase. "I studied those maps before we went in. A few paths weren't marked, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. We had the information we needed to get our people inside." The tunnels wound maze-like beneath the building, twisting and turning at odd angles, with dozens of passageways spidering off the main ones. "Yep. They are accurate. They're just not complete."

"All right," the captain continued, "Norse works all the time, rarely leaves—"

"Never leaves," Jack interrupted. "Gentlemen, please. Getting to Norse may be impossible unless you plan to drop a rocket or two directly onto HQ. And that's not a good idea. You'd kill dozens of innocent civilians and my people who are locked up in the basement cells. Weakening the links is the key. Contacting the undercover operatives still in place in the HQ. Coordinating with the Council. I'm sure Norse only knew a handful of them. They'll be key to eroding his control."

Another officer nodded, his dark eyes narrowing. "Quite true. We just aren't in any position to help right now."

"But you are," Jack said with exasperated certainty. They do could something.

The major frowned. "Captain Chase has already explained the situation to you, Mr. Gamble." He had bags under his eyes and looked more haggard than Jack felt.

"Fine, then. Can you at least get me transport back to Idris Trace?" Jack asked. "That's all I'm asking. I'll find my own way from there to Torredo. No need for you to worry about happens if I'm captured. I can tell Corona the truth—Riga is weak and has no intention of another offensive."

The major cleared his throat. "You've been warned about the dangers of returning."

"I'm perfectly aware of the risks."

"I think you're a damn fool, but it's your neck."

The major activated the comm panel on the table. A holo of a young soldier wavered in front of them. The major asked for options on departures anywhere in the direction of Idris Trace, and clicked off the comm. "We'll see what's available and let you know," he told Jack.

"Thank you." Jack stood and started to leave.

"Where are you going?" the major asked.

"We're done here." Jack looked from the major to Chase and back again. "Aren't we?"

The major motioned Jack to stay. "I don't believe we're quite ready to let you leave."

Jack clutched the edge of the table and sat down hard. "Next question?"