Howl: A World at War Novel (21 page)

Nora laughed. “Oh come on, I'm not that bad.”

“We'll be fine. We're going on this trip so we can relax, right?” Zach said over her speakerphone.

“
Yeah,” Nora opened up her dresser drawer and started to sort through her selection of t-shirts, trying to decide what to pack. They would be gone for three days, and she was probably going to sweat while they were hiking, mild weather or no. She decided to pack six of them.

“
You're still thinking about it, aren't you?” Zach asked.

“
Aren't you at least a little bit nervous?” Nora asked.

“
It's a game,” Zach said. She thought he sounded unconvincing, however.

“
For us it's more like a work project.”

“
OK, that's true,” Zach said. “Now you're starting to make me a little nervous.”

Nora opened up her closet and grabbed a pair of hoodies. “Sorry, but there's just too many things that could go wrong right now, and all of them are going through my head.”

“That's one of the disadvantages of this being our job,” Zach agreed.

“
Well, I'd probably be just as nervous anyhow. Maybe more so. If this doesn't work then we just threw months of our time down the drain.”

“
That really doesn't sound like you,” Zach said. “What happened to the person who thought that if she had to quit playing today, she would remember all the adventures she had?”

“
That's still true,” Nora said. “But I don't want to fail. We put a lot of hard work into it.”

“
Yeah, I don't want to fail either. I've put hard work into it. We all have. But we had a lot of adventures getting to this point as well. That fight against the Valkyries? That was a slaughter, and it might have been the most fun I've had in the game. It was just so thrilling. And I think everyone else had fun with that as well.”

“
Selene didn't.”

Zach laughed. “Selene had plenty of fun. She just hates losing.”

“Does anyone actually like losing?” Nora asked.

“
Yeah, but it's just disappointment for some. For people like here they take it as a personal offense,” Zach said. “You've seen her play basketball. Heck, she's part of the reason I was so good at track in high school.”

“
Yeah, I can see it,” Nora said. She had never liked losing, but if she did lose she tended to move on quickly. She just worried about if beforehand.

“
This is going to be a blast no matter what happens, win or lose. But we'll win.”

“
Ah. Do you have another inspirational speech up your sleeve this time?” Nora asked.

“
What, the one where I make up stuff on the spot? That's Bryce's job this time. I'm getting shot at.”

“
You got shot at last time,” Nora pointed out.

“
That was after everything went wrong. I was supposed to sit in the command post directing traffic, and somehow I managed to get stuck trying to make and blow up a bomb while I had a tank trying to kill me,” Zach said.

“
At least you didn't die,” Nora said.

“
Yeah, that's more than I can say for Selene or Danny.”

Nora continued to pack. “I still feel kind of nervous,” she said.

“Well, maybe this will help you to forget. When your legs are burning you don't think about much else,” Zach said. “Everything will be fine. We've got plenty of other reliable people.”

Nora laughed. “Right.”

The air was mild, pleasant. There was a gentle breeze rustling the canopy above, and a hundred bird calls filled the air. It was so far away from the hustle of the city. So far away from the chaos, from the virtual world, from the questions about the meaning of emerging technology. Everything there came and went so quickly. In this wilderness the trees had been here for years, decades, centuries, and would continue to be here for years to come.

It was kind of sad really. People were so absorbed in fads, grasping for the newest fashion or gadget to come out. They focused on whatever the market was offering them, and they forgot that
this
was out here. Like she had said many times before, people were so focused on moving ahead, running in the rat race that they forgot many of the small things in life.

It was too bad. The night life, the glitz and the glamor, they had their allures, but there was something to be said for just sitting back in a chair, drinking coffee and watching the sun creep up over the trees. Or for taking a walk through the forest.

She heard Zach grunt behind her. “Tired?”

“
Nope, feeling good,” Zach said. “It's just that we're at the worst part of the trail.”

Zach and Nora were climbing the lake trail, which stretched for around eight miles. They were on the fourth mile, where the slope became very steep. It had been hard to do early in the year, when they had been out of shape from being stuck inside during the cold Chicago winter. Now though, they were in good shape after a summer of basketball, swimming and hiking, even with the amount of time they had spent inside World at War.

“This is probably going to be the last time we'll be able to see this before winter sets in,” Nora commented.

“
Yeah, I definitely want to enjoy it while we're here,” Zach said. “I have a feeling that we're going to end up very busy.”

“
Well, the change of season has one thing going for it. I'm not going to feel as guilty about spending so much time inside the game world when it's snowing and freezing outside.”

“
Eh, it's like any other job,” Zach said. “I remember going crazy looking out the window when it was a beautiful day out and wondering what I was doing cooped up inside.”

“
At least you don't have that problem now.” She pushed herself up the hill toward the top. They were getting close now.

“
Take the time to stop and smell the roses. Way too many people forget about that,” Zach said.

“
That's just what I was thinking about.”

They reached the top of the trail and stepped off a bit, to the cliff that overlooked the lake. Zach took a seat on a large rock. Nora joined him.

“Speaking of smelling the roses,” he said.

Nora nodded silently. Even with a whole virtual world to explore, there was so much to discover in the real world as well.

CHAPTER 18

Poker Face

We might have a problem on our hands.

Selene had sent him that message on Sunday, and Zach still had no clue what it meant. He had tried to contact her, but she had responded that they needed to talk inside the game world.

A million possible disasters went through Zach's mind. What was going on? Was Ragnarok on the move? Did something happen in Indianapolis? Would they need to delay the attack?

We might have a problem on our hands.

He wished that Selene had elaborated more. Something, anything. Zach was really starting to worry.

Whatever the case, he was going to find out soon. Zach took his neuro-helmet off the shelf. He sat down, put it on and activated the system.

Zach materialized inside of Black Wolf HQ and immediately headed for the board room in Hydra Headquarters like he had been instructed to. Nora would meet him there, along with a few others.

The bastion wasn't as busy as other days. Many of their forces were out in the field, either training or getting themselves set up for the attack on the city that would take place next weekend. They would field the largest force Hydra had ever assembled at one time, and they would use it to do something no one had done before; to take a city. At least, he hoped they would.

Selene and Nora were waiting for him in the board room, along with Danny, Liz, Gray, Anna, Gina, David, Yusuf and Robbie. That was an interesting mix, Zach noted to himself. It was all of the founding members of Hydra, along with the officers from the ranger company.

“So, we have a problem? Zach asked. “I'm guessing it's a pretty big one, judging by the people here.”

Gina spoke up first, looking visibly annoyed. “The attack on Indianapolis might be compromised.”

“What?” Zach said, trying to keep his voice under control.

Danny moved to settle his fears. “The attack itself isn't compromised. We're on schedule, and everything is running smoothly.”

“Except for one thing, is that it?” Zach said. He wasn't looking forward to finding out what that one thing was.

Liz sighed. “Ronin reached out to us. As expected, people noticed that something was up when we stopped selling ammunition in the markets. So, Sam and Tafari contacted us and asked us a few questions. Everything was fine, but then it ended up spiraling out of control.”

“You're being pretty vague,” Nora said. “Just how bad is it?”

“
Well, Levi ended up getting involved,” Anna said.

“
And?” Zach asked in an annoyed tone.

“
Well, you see, well...”

“
Oh, fine. If you guys aren't going to give him a straight answer then I am,” David said. “Levi thinks we're holding back ammunition because we're preparing for an offensive, which is true. You can't hide the kind of buildup we've been doing. But he thinks that we're preparing for an offensive against Ragnarok.”

“
OK fine, what's the problem with that?” Zach asked. “That might even help us. If they think we're coming after them then Ragnarok is probably going to be cautious.”

“
Because when we launch the offensive that's never going to happen, Levi wants to cooperate with us,” Gina said with scowl. “I don't know why he chose to do it now and not when it would have been useful.”

“
Does he want control like always?”

Anna shrugged. “Surprisingly, no. I'm not sure why.”

“It's because they know how strong we are,” Robbie said. “Levi's smart enough to know that we're stronger than Ronin, and that we have no incentive to follow his lead. He knows that he has to use us as partners, not subordinates.”

“
I'm still not seeing the problem,” Zach said.

“
I'm not either,” Nora added.

David continued. “The problem is that he's enthusiastic about our prospects of dealing a death blow to Ragnarok. Apparently the attacks on Fort Odin and Fort Baldr went so well that he thinks our combined forces can crush Ragnarok.”

“What, 'cause they won two battles after we blasted the place to ruins before they attacked? And we held off a battalion of reinforcements? Is he
crazy
?” Zach asked, his voice rising.

“
Flushed with victory, I'd call it,” Gray said.

“
I think crazy is a pretty accurate term, actually,” Selene said.

Danny nodded. “Even if we get every single troop we can muster, which means leaving ourselves with no guards at our most important strongholds, Ragnarok still outnumbers us by over three to one. And Ronin isn't going to be able to make up the difference.”

“I think he sees our shiny toys and thinks that will win the day for them. Armor, choppers, the like,” Liz said.

“
There's no substitute for veteran infantry, and Ragnarok has plenty,” Nora said.

“
Yeah, I know,” David said. “But Levi thinks it's possible. He has quite the ambition, let me tell you. Has grand battle plans drawn up and everything. He suggested some of them to us.”

“
And how many people had strokes when he made those suggestions?' Zach asked. He could just imagine the fit of rage Cody would have flown into.

“
None, actually. No one else in the alliance knows about this. We kept it within the original five. Plus Raven, obviously,” Yusuf said. “We'll tell them later, but we don't want word of this trickling back to Ragnarok.”

“
I'm still not seeing the problem here,” Nora said.

“
You told him to take a hike, right?” Zach said. No one answered. “Right?”

“
Uh, that's one of the problems,” Anna said. “If we told him that we weren't planning on making an attack on Ragnarok, then they're going to want an explanation. And if they're not satisfied by the one we give them, then Ronin is going to start digging. If they figure it out there's a good chance that rumors might filter back to Ragnarok, and then we run the risk of having a knife shoved in our back.”

“
So what did you do?” Nora asked.

Again, no one answered for a moment. Zach started to have a sinking feeling. He was really starting to get annoyed as well.

Once again, David provided the answer. “OK, when Levi contacted us we told him that we couldn't make any decision about it at the moment. We said that we needed approval from all of the original members to authorize an attack of that scale, and that you were on vacation in a place where there was no internet access. We needed the company commander. Not a replacement. The actual commander.”

“
So he's still waiting for an answer?” Zach asked.

“
Yeah, and we're going to have to give him one soon. They're going to find out that you're back on sooner or later.”

“
Wait, so you told him that you needed approval from the five original members? Despite the fact that  our charter says something completely different?” Nora asked incredulously.

“
Hey, he has no clue how we run our alliance,” Danny said. “He believed it.”

“
Um, our charter isn't exactly a secret. They're going to find out that we duped them sooner or later,” Nora said.

“
Will that be before or after they find out we were using our forces to taken Indianapolis instead of going after Ragnarok?” Robbie asked. “Or are they just going to ignore the fact that we have our hands on a city?”

“
OK, you have a point,” Nora admitted.

Zach tried to keep himself from groaning. They had put him in quite the quandary here. Just how were they going to dig themselves out of this mess?

“Can we contact Levi?” Zach asked.

“
Yeah. Do you have a plan?” David asked.

Zach nodded. “I think so. I'm going to take the lead. Play along with me.”

Anna opened up her menu and pressed some buttons. “Levi, are you there?”

There was silence for a moment. Then Levi's face appeared on the monitor at the far side of the room.

“I am. Are all of you present?” he asked.

“
Yeah, I'm back,” Zach said.

“
Hope your trip was good,” Levi said sincerely.

“
Thanks, it definitely was,” Zach said. Whatever else could be said about Levi, it was hard for Zach to hate him. He was a good person, at the very least. It made what he was about to do much harder. Zach felt slightly guilty.

“
You've heard the details of my proposal?” Levi asked.

“
I have,” Zach said.

“
And are you interested in them?”

Zach made a great show of pausing and sighing. “Well, there's a bit of a problem,” he said. “I'm assuming you made your guess after we stopped selling ammunition in the Old Chicago markets?”

“Yes,” Levi responded. “I assumed that you were building up your stocks for an attack on Ragnarok.”

“
Well, that assumption is incorrect, unfortunately. We have other reasons,” Zach said. “What I'm about to tell you is completely confidential. You
cannot
speak of it under any circumstances.”

He could feel the tension in the room. Several of the others tried to hold in involuntary gasps.
You all think that I'm actually going to spill our secrets
, he thought to himself.

“
Understood,” Levi said, apparently oblivious to the others. Either that, or he had a really good poker face. Zach thought it was the later, because Levi definitely wasn't stupid.

“
We shut down our ammunition production line for the time being and we're going to be using just our stockpile for the time being.” Zach said. “We had to switch production to mortar and artillery shells. Our aid to you completely depleted our stocks.”

“
How long will it take you to restock?” Levi asked.

“
It's going to be a while,” Zach admitted. “Our warehouses are completely bare.” That was true, at least. There were few shells in the bastion right now: they were all in the south, stockpiled for the massive battle that was about to unfold.

Yusuf spoke up from beside him. “I would say at least two to three weeks.”

Levi shifted uncomfortably. “Is there a possibility that you could commit other forces?”

Zach shook his head. “I'm sorry, but we're not going to commit our troops to a fight with Ragnarok without proper fire support. Most of our forces that have been fighting in the north need refitting. They've taken a beating and aren't in top fighting shape.”

“I see,” Levi said, sounding quite disappointed. “Then my offer to you is irrelevant at this point.”

“
Yes, sorry about that,” Zach said. “Maybe in the future?”

“
I'll keep that in mind. Thank you all for your time,” Levi said.

Zach breathed a sigh of relief after Levi had ended the video feed. “OK, let's never do that again, alright?”

The others were grinning at him.

“
I don't know, that was pretty entertaining,” Gray said.

“
Nice bluff you had going there,” Anna said. “It sounded like it was pretty convincing.”

“
No thanks to any of you,” Zach said sarcastically. Yusuf cleared his throat. “OK, you're exempted,” Zach added. “The rest of you, though.”

“
What, you were handling it just fine,” Gina said. “I didn't want to do anything to mess it up.”

Zach frowned. “I'm not sure what everyone is so proud of. I may have just cost us our last friend.”

“Maybe not,” Danny said.

“
What do you mean by that?”

“
There's cooler heads in Ronin's camp. Sam, for instance. Or Tafari.”

“
They're not the type to blab either,” Liz said. “I think if we told them we were planning something, but didn't tell them what, that would go a long way toward minimizing the hurt this causes.”

“
That still carries a risk that they might say something that compromises our plan,” Nora said.

“
Yeah, but on the other hand we might make ourselves another enemy if we don't do anything,” Gina shrugged. “I'm fine with telling them. But what does everyone else think?”

“
I'm for telling them,” Yusuf said.

“
Me too,” Anna said. “From what little I've interacted with them they seem like decent types.”

“
Yeah, they're tight lipped, and they know when not to push boundaries,” Robbie said. “I was really surprised. I was never asked anything about the choppers while we were based up there. We guarded them, and no one even came near the hanger.”