Conflict (Cascade Book 4) Read online

  CONFLICT

  CASCADE BOOK 4

  by

  Phil Maxey

  This book is dedicated to my grandfather, Bill Michie.

  Copyright © 2017 by Philip Maxey

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  First Printing, 2017.

  http://digiterium.com/

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Table of Contents

  Conflict

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  CHAPTER 1

  “I see him,” Cal knelt, silently tracking his target with his night-scope across the sandy forecourt, his breath rising as mist into the night. “He’s gone inside. Over.”

  They always run. Zach crouched down behind the remains of a burnt out truck. “We saw him. Keep a look out for any unwelcome guests. Over,” Zach clenched his fist but left a finger pointing, and Bass ran off to the far right of the old brick built building, common to this frontier town near the Mexican border. “He should be close to you Fiona, Over.”

  A click came from Zach’s radio, indicating that Fiona heard the message but couldn’t speak. “Abbey, how’s things looking on the infrared? Over.”

  Abbey adjusted her position against a small crumbling wall, and looked again through her infrared scope. “Just seeing two heat signatures, apart from our target I presume the other is Fiona, she’s a few rooms away from him. He seems to have stopped moving, he’s kneeling. Over.”

  Zach moved out from behind the vehicle and crept forward, keeping low, he then clicked on his radio. “Michael you ready with the Humvee, if things go south. Over.”

  “Yup, Over.”

  Zach waved towards Bass, and they both moved either side of the rotten wooden door, which clattered slightly in the wind against it’s paint chipped frame.

  Abbey looked on from a hundred yards away, Zach’s and Bass’s light signatures fused due to being so close, but she could still see the glow from the man they had been tracking during the day. Sweeping her scope across the landscape she looked for any other bright areas, indicating anything alive nearby, but all appeared dark in the small forgotten town. As she then swept back towards Zach and Bass, two shots rang out from inside the building and the two men quickly moved inside.

  “I ain’t being taken to the capital! You’re going to have to shoot me!” a gruff voice of a middle-aged man, echoed around the paint confused interior walls of the single story former office building.

  Zach crouched down against a broken desk. “We know you are part of the Hell Fire gang, we just want to talk, whether you get hurt while we do that, is up to you!”

  Another shot rang out, this time splintering a doorframe a few feet from Zach and Bass, causing them to cover their faces.

  “I don’t know anything about no gang, I’m Nathan, Nathan Miller, I’m just traveling through on my way south, I got no business with you, and you got none with me, just leave me be!”

  Zach looked around the shadow infested room, with his small flashlight. Computer monitors lay dormant, together with chairs waiting for workers that would never return. There were two other windows, but no other doors, the splintered frame was the only other way further into the building. He looked back to the way they came in, when the click he had heard a few moments before, happened again. He glanced at Bass.

  “Nathan, nobody needs to get hurt, we are not here to take you anywhere, we just need to have a friendly chat.”

  “You don’t look friendly, with your automatics, and body armour, more like a hit squad! Back out of here slowly and I won’t…”

  The shouting man let out a grunt, then something collapsed onto a wooden floor.

  “He’s out cold,” shouted Fiona from the same direction.

  Zach and Bass stood up, and walked through the hallway to another room a few yards further on. Fiona was standing over a bearded dishevelled figure unconscious on the floor.

  Bass leaned down to look at him closer. “You sure he’s just sleeping?”

  “Quite sure, I know how to do a strangle hold,” said Fiona smiling.

  Zach clicked on his radio. “We got him, bringing him out now, how’s everything looking? Over.”

  Cal replied saying how it all looked quiet around the building from his position on the water tower, while Abbey took her scope away from her eyes, taking the chance to rub them. She then placed it back to her face, and swept once again left and right, but this time she hesitated while looking towards the south of the town.

  “Zach, we got a problem, multiple heat signatures approaching from the south. Over.”

  “Human or not? Over,” replied Zach.

  “Too hard to tell from this distance…no…wait…they’re not human. Over.”

  Zach grabbed the forlorn figure on the floor and threw him over his shoulder, wincing while he did.

  Bass reached out. “I can take him.”

  “No, I got him, let’s move out. Fiona, keep a watch on our six,” he then clicked the radio back on. “Micheal bring the Humvee to the front, there’s E.L.F’s approaching from the south. And Abbey get yourself over here. Over.”

  As they scrambled over the grime laden floor, through the doors and out into the chilling night air, Cal had one last look from his elevated position towards the south. In the intense desert blackness, only small puff’s of grey could be seen about a few miles from their position. He then stood and walked towards the metal ladder, when something slammed into the base of the tower, knocking him over the rail, which he just about managed to hold onto with one hand. His rifle spiralled downwards, clanging against the side of the tower, until it hit something near the ground with a thud.

  Grabbing the rail with both hands, he pulled himself onto the metal grating, first with one knee, then rolling against the back wall. Taking a breath he stood up and looked down. Without his night scope it was hard to tell what was below him, but he could hear the sound of sliding, and branches cracking together with rocks tumbling along the ground. He clicked on his radio. “Zach, there’s something large coming your way, can’t see what it is, but it almost knocked me clean off the tower, I’m coming towards you now. Over.”

  Abbey ran across the street, skipping over mounds of rubble, while putting the scope to her eye every now and again to see if the heat signatures were getting closer. They were. Even though she could see the Humvee ahead of her, she clicked on the radio anyway. “I think the…” her hand dropped to her side as she stood mouth agape at what was rising up caught in the Humvee’s headlight beams. “Sna…snake…” she realised nobody could hear her, so she clicked on her radio. “There’s a giant snake thing fifty yards in front of the Humvee, it’s raised up, maybe standing two story’s high. Over.”

  Zach, Bass and Fiona approached the rear of the Humvee, they could clearly see the large creature swaying back and forth in front of the vehicle. Zach lowered his human cargo to the floor. “Michael, how you holding up in there?”

  There was a pause, then Zach’s radio came to life. “Oh, I’m just great, got a real good view of this thirty foot high snake that looks like he wants to eat the Humvee…Over.”

  “Bass, take up a position across the street, if that thing moves within twenty yards of us, start shooting with all you got.
If it doesn’t go down, we’ll have to take shelter in one of these buildings.” Zach then clicked on his radio. “Abbey you close?” there was a noise behind them, and she appeared running out from an alleyway and crouching down with them. Zach sighed in relief. “How far out are the other things?”

  “Maybe a minute, maybe more.”

  “Michael, slowly reverse up to us. Over.”

  The Humvee’s engine picked up slightly, and the heavy vehicle started rolling slowly backwards in the small groups direction. The large snake like creature, which looked like a dragon but without wings slithered forward, keeping it’s head raised above the ground.

  Michael kept creeping the Humvee backwards, but the creature in front was closing the gap slowly. A forked tongue a few feet long, flashed out of it’s mouth and back in. Now the creature was only forty yards away from them. Each time it slid forward the ground shook.

  “Cal, this is not working, if that thing decides to attack we got a problem, can you distract it away? Over.”

  Fiona, lurched forward, grabbing Zach’s arm. “He’s not tried it on anything that big before, He’s going to get himself killed!”

  Before Zach could reply, Cal’s voice came from Zach’s radio. “Fiona, I got this, get everyone in the Humvee.”

  Cal watched momentarily with his scope as Fiona protested once again and then helped Zach with the man they had been tracking. He slung his rifle over his back and slowly walked towards the back of the E.L.F.

  From the moment in the truck-stop diner he knew the animals of the world weren’t the only creatures to have been affected by the Cascade. When Zach informed him of the blood test, it just confirmed what he already knew. But it wasn’t until they ran into a beast which managed to get over the wall at the camp, that they all realized that the affect the Cascade had on Cal could be put to good use.

  “Hey! Over here you big lizard! This way!” Cal stood twenty feet behind the creatures flailing tail which was jumping and waving. It still faced towards the Humvee, it’s head darting left and right as if it was ready to lurch forward.

  Cal steadied himself and took a deep breath. The bitter cold stung his cheeks as he cleared his mind and the outside world fell away. This would be the third time he would try this, and he was now learning how he had to attune his thoughts to be able to link somehow with the E.L.F’s. He took a few steps forward and closed his eyes. He then relaxed and a strange tingling sensation started to rise up from his feet, over his legs, and finally stopping in his eyes. The large creature in front, stopped swaying. And slowly swung it’s large upper body and head around to face him. He kept his eyes closed. He could feel the creature looking at him, but he had no idea how far away it was, only that it was closer than before. In his mind, he could feel the presence just in front of him, and he opened his eyes. The creatures head was ten feet from his. It’s tongue flicked out and struck him on the side of the face, almost knocking him out of the state of mind he was doing his damnedest to stay in. It was hard to see much detail on the creatures scaly head, as it was turned towards him and the Humvee’s lights were lighting the back of it, but he was sure it’s eyes was examining him.

  He then heard the Humvee’s engine get louder, and saw it pull up out of the corner of his eye. Stepping to his side, but keeping his eyes on the creature, he reached out and felt the cold steel of the door, he then quickly jumped in.

  “Go!” shouted Zach.

  CHAPTER 2

  Zach stretched out in the bed, being careful not to wake Abbey who laid peacefully next to him. They had returned to the camp by day break, deposited their prisoner, and then returned to the large double story house that they had been awarded by the council for capturing Tinley.

  A Month had passed since Tinley’s madness was brought to an end, and his trial started in two days.

  The daylight fought for any gap to seep through and thin shafts of light divided up the main bedroom. Zach was hesitant to accept the gift, thinking it could be put to better use for a family with kids, but once he saw the look on Abbey’s face he knew this was going to be where he would be living. He sat up, and rubbed his arms around himself. It may have been a modern building, but the winter winds from Buchanan lake invaded the air around him. Getting up he grabbed his pants, socks and a shirt and left the room, then descended down the stairs into a sparsely furnished hallway. Sitting on the bottom step he pulled his socks on and got dressed, then went into the living room. He stood and looked around at the space which was twice the size of the cell he spent all those years in and sighed. He had lived here almost four weeks with the woman he loved, but he still felt incomplete.

  They had all been treated as hero’s on returning to the camp. Being offered improved accommodation, and Zach and his group were made permanent members of a new rescue squad, for finding survivors and other tasks. Last night though was personal. Zach and Fiona had been gathering evidence on the Hell Fire gang on each mission beyond the walls, until they finally caught wind of someone who was a former member, a man who managed to escape the clutches of the gangs ruthless leader who Zach knew to be called Geneva.

  It took them two days of tracking through south Texas, avoiding run-ins with E.L.F’s best they could. Mostly they needed solid information on the Hell Fire gang’s main base of operations. Zach and Fiona had discussed their plan to bring them to justice many times in the weeks prior, and it all revolved around learning where the gang called home.

  Putting on his boots and a jacket, he exited the rear of the home taking his axe with him, and looked out over the lake. It was a bright day, and the newly built skyscrapers amongst the gun towers glistened in the noon sun across the bay as his boots crunched the morning frost. Whereas before, his current location would have been a sleepy town that people retired too, now it was part of a thriving community of homes that had sprung up around the lake. The water still bothered Zach though. For the first few weeks, he slept in the sun room at the back of the house, facing the ripples lashing against the ice, waiting for something to climb out of the water in the dead of night. He knew that wasn’t possible though. He had seen with his own eyes, how the camp engineers had sealed off both ends of the Colorado river, that flowed into the lake with large meshed gates. They had even managed to get the dam started again, which meant candles were now only used during the infrequent power shortages. Most lights still had to be turned off at night though, to stop the camp becoming an ever greater beacon for whatever was alive outside the walls. But even though a semblance of normality was returning to the millions inside, his mind was still tormented by two issues. One he hoped would be resolved soon after the trial started and the other…the other he wasn’t sure how to resolve.

  Walking over to the log pile he grabbed a foot long log and placed it on the ground. Then taking the axe, he swung and brought it down neatly cleaving the log in two, wincing he held his shoulder but did it once again. He found when he wasn’t on missions and wasn’t helping the prosecution in Tinley’s trail, he would spend time out here by the lake. The sound of the lapping water helped him think, but today it wasn’t working. Seeing what Cal did surprised them all. They had seen him put the whammy on smaller creatures, but nothing as big as that snake E.L.F. He truly had become a charmer of these things, but unbeknown to the others, that wasn’t what was troubling Zach. Ever since Trow told him about the other person that had been affected by whatever the Cascade was, he wondered how he would tell her.

  She has a right. You would want to know. He brought the axe down again, this time a little too hard and the blade stuck in the iced up earth. He struggled pulling it out, and swore as the pain increased in his shoulder. Tinley’s bullet had passed straight through, but not without tearing some muscles that most people took for granted. The cold didn’t help, and he looked forward to when frost wasn’t covering the grass between the back of his house and the lake shore.

  He dropped the axe to the ground, and looked towards the house. What if she’s like Cal? What if she’
s not human anymore? What if…

  “Stop!” he had meant for the words to stay as thoughts, but they escaped out into the midday air as soon as they entered his conflicted mind.

  The curtains for the main bedroom moved slightly, and he sighed, feeling guilty for waking her. Scooping up the splinters he picked up the axe and walked back to the sun lounge, Abbey was already in the kitchen, with the TV on.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” she said while cracking some eggs into a pan.

  “Got a few hours, you?”

  “Had a bad dream…you want some breakfast?“

  Zach sat on a bench, close to the small TV they had on the counter. “Sure.”

  “You okay? You seem…down? Thought you would be Mr happy after last night.”

  Zach forced a smile. “Just lot on my mind,” some graphics and words caught his attention on the TV, he stretched for the remote and turned it up.

  “Today the Council will vote on whether those humans affected by the Cascade will be segregated.”

  Abbey handed Zach some coffee, “Fiona won’t be pleased if that vote goes the wrong way.”

  Zach sipped on his coffee. “Hmm.”

  “There’s no way she’s going to let Cal be taken away from her.”

  “I think Cal might have a problem with that too.”

  “But…”

  “But?”

  “We all saw what he did last night, I don’t think Cal himself knows what he’s capable of.”

  “He’s still a human being, he has the same rights as we all do. Segregation was wrong sixty years ago and it’s wrong now,” Zach tried hiding his frustration with Abbeys tone, anything different might let on more than he was ready to explain.

  The news presenter then started talking about another story. “In other news, Eric Tinley the Colonel who was responsible for thousands of deaths while leading the survivors of Portland back to Camp Bravo, is to go on trial today, for more on this story we now go to our reporter outside the courthouse, Kathy Hildebrand.”