The White Fox Chronicles (15 page)

“Wait here.” The guard whispered something to his comrade and opened the gate. He climbed into the back of the jeep. “You may proceed.”

Cody fought to control his feelings as they drove down the dirt road. Everything looked the same as it had the day he and Toni had escaped. He could almost see Luther’s body hanging from the fence. There were no prisoners in sight but he knew that was because they had to be on their bunks before dark or suffer the consequences.

The jeep stopped in front of the camp commander’s office. Jake stepped out and roughly pulled Cody from the passenger side.

Cody’s hands were tied in front of him and the ropes were burning into his wrists. He had insisted that Jake make it look authentic; otherwise, Sidoron wouldn’t be fooled.

The guard ran up the wooden steps and inside the double doors. In moments the doors burst open and Sidoron strode onto the porch.

Cody stared up at him.

The commander took the steps slowly until he finally stood before them. Without warning he struck Cody across the side of the face.

Cody’s knees buckled from the force of the blow but he managed to stay on his feet.

Sidoron circled behind him and grabbed a handful of Cody’s hair. He jerked the youth’s head back and held a long sharp knife to his throat.

“Hold it right there,” Jake demanded. “No damaging the goods until I get my money.”

Sidoron noticed the major for the first time. He reluctantly lowered the knife. “How dare you speak to me like that? Has no one ever taught you how to address your superiors?”

“I don’t know about that. All I know is you offered a reward on this kid and I want it. He wasn’t exactly easy to catch. I don’t want to kill him until I get credit from the proper authorities for his capture.”

“Shoot this man,” Sidoron ordered.

The guard leveled his rifle at Jake’s head.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jake drawled.

“And why is that?” Sidoron’s eyes narrowed to tiny yellow slits.

Jake opened the palm of his hand and revealed a round metal object. “Ever see one of these before, Colonel? It’s a photon detonator. All it takes is one tiny little push on this button and this whole camp will blow sky-high.”

“Disregard that order, Sergeant.” Sidoron moved around Cody and stood on the bottom step studying Jake. “I like you, bounty hunter. You have a good head on your shoulders.”

“Do we have a deal, then?” Jake asked.

Sidoron smiled. A quick flash of teeth; then the smile was gone. “Of course we do. Unfortunately it may take some time to collect your money. I’ll have to wire headquarters.”

“How long will that take?”

“Three, perhaps four days. These things must go through channels. In the meantime, may we offer you some of the comforts of our humble camp?”

“What comforts would they be?”

“What is your name?”

“Christmas. Jake Christmas. Remember that name, Colonel. You’ll be hearing it again.”

“Guard, take Mr. Christmas to the VIP guest quarters and see to it that he is made comfortable. And under no circumstance is he to be left alone.”

Jake hesitated. “What are you going to do with the kid?”

Sidoron licked his puffy lips. “Don’t worry about him, Mr. Christmas. The White Fox and I are old friends. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

T
he bright light in the interrogation room attracted a variety of insects. Cody sat with his hands still tied, watching them, wondering if he’d been like the moths that persisted in flying too close to the bulb until finally they touched the hot glass and killed themselves.

Footsteps sounded in the hall. When the door opened, Cody knew who it was without looking.

Sidoron was carrying a black swagger stick.
He moved his large frame behind the small desk and sat down.

“How have you been, White Fox?”

Cody was silent.

“Come now. We’re not going to get anywhere like this. If I remember correctly, you escaped before I had a chance to show you how easily I am able to convince people of their need to talk.” He reached over the desk and slapped Cody across the cheek with the stick, leaving an ugly red welt. “You made me a laughingstock. I lost an important promotion because of you.”

Cody studied the colonel through cold gray eyes. Sidoron had grown flabby eating the best foods and sitting behind a desk all day. With the martial arts Rico had taught Cody at the warehouse, he knew he could take him even with his hands tied.

But it wasn’t time.

“What are you thinking, White Fox? I can tell you’ve changed considerably since you were here. You have a different look about you and you don’t seem afraid of me anymore. What kinds of things have you been doing?
We’ve heard stories, of course, but why don’t you tell us which ones are true?”

Silence.

“When you escaped with your friend Major McLaughlin, where did she take you? Did you go to the rebel base?” Sidoron paused. “I need to know the location of that base. It would restore the confidence my superior officers once had in me.”

He walked around the desk. “Still don’t want to talk to me? What a pity, seeing that we are such old friends. No matter.”

Sidoron took his combat knife out of its scabbard and started cleaning his fingernails. “Before I’m through with you, White Fox, you’ll beg to speak to me.”

He moved to the door and yelled for the guards.

Two husky soldiers marched in and pulled him off the chair. They dragged him to a corner of the room where a long rope was hanging from the ceiling. Then they tied it to the cord around his hands and hoisted him off the floor.

One of the guards took a rubber hose off a
shelf and swung, striking Cody viciously across the ribs.

Instinctively Cody drew both feet up and kicked. His boots took the man full in the face and he fell back, holding his broken nose.

Sidoron laughed. “See, I was right. You have changed, White Fox. Too bad you chose not to become one of us. We could have used you. As it is …” He motioned to the second guard. “Show him we’re serious. Extremely serious.”

The guard picked up a coiled whip and shook it out.

I
t was midnight. Jake opened the door of his room and peered out. The guard Sidoron had stationed outside the guest quarters was snoring.

Jake tiptoed past him and out the side door. The searchlight from the tower was sweeping the grounds. He flattened himself against the wall until the light moved away.

The instant it was gone he darted across to the main building and slipped inside. Cody had told him that Sidoron would be holding
him either in one of the cages or in the interrogation room.

Jake crept down the long corridor and pushed the door open. Cody was still hanging from the ceiling. His back was raw and bloody and he was either unconscious … or dead.

The major grabbed the nearest chair and stood on it to cut the rope. Cody fell into his arms.

“I knew this was a bad idea. Why did I ever listen to you?” He helped Cody sit up. “Wake up, kid. You gotta be okay.”

One eye opened and then the other. Cody’s voice was low, strained. “What makes you think I’m not okay, Major?”

“You’re all right?”

Cody flexed his sore shoulders and rubbed his aching wrists. “It’s a trick I learned from Toni. Let them beat on you a while. Then make them think you’re a lot worse off than you are and they’ll leave you alone. They thought I was so bad off they didn’t even leave a guard.”

“Your back looks pretty rough. Are you
going to be able to pull off your part of the mission?”

“I didn’t come this far to quit now.”

Jake handed Cody his laser gun. “Let’s do it.”

Cody led the way down the hall to the back of the building. “The cages are back here,” he whispered. “The moon’s out. We should be able to see fairly well.”

They quietly made their way down the steps to the group of cells buried in the ground. Cody checked the first one. It was empty. A low moan came from the cell on the end.

“Trisha,” Jake called softly. “Are you here?”

Cody took his piece of wire from inside his boot, scooted to the other side and picked the lock on the cage door.

At the bottom of the filthy hole huddled in the corner was a mass of tangled red hair.

“Trisha.” Jake jumped down. “We’ve come to take you out of here.”

The hair moved and Trisha looked up. She was barely recognizable. Her face was swollen
and purple and some of her teeth were missing. “Is it … really you or am I dreaming?”

“It’s me. We have to hurry. Give Cody your hand.”

Trisha tried to stand and fell back against the cell wall.

“They’ve beat her up bad, Cody. I’m going to lift her out.”

Jake sat her on the edge of the hole and pulled himself out beside her. “I’ve got some explosives to set. You go with Cody and he’ll get you to safety. Can you do it?”

Trisha nodded, her voice hardly audible. “I guess I have to.”

Jake disappeared into the darkness and Cody helped Trisha to her feet. They hobbled to the bushes near the next building and waited for the searchlight to sweep across.

“We’re going to have to move fast now, Trisha. Ready?”

“I’m ready.”

Cody put his arm around her waist and half pulled her across the open compound to the back of the children’s barracks. He was breathing hard. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

Sliding under the barracks, he made his way to the opening in the floor he’d made when he was an inmate. He pushed up on it, laid it aside and wriggled through, surprised no one had ever found the hole.

In the dim light he walked down the row of beds to one special cot and sat down. Gently he shook the sleepy-eyed five-year-old girl awake.

“Cody!” She wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, Cody. You said you’d come back for me. It’s been so long I thought you forgot me.”

There was a stir among the other kids. Soon everyone was awake. When they saw Cody they rushed to his side.

He held his finger to his lips. “Everybody listen. We’re getting out of here. I want you to stay together and do what I tell you. No questions.”

Cody took them to the opening and dropped through. One by one they followed him. He edged out from under the barracks and sat next to Trisha. “Keep an eye on these guys, will you? If the shooting starts before I
get back, head for the fence. Matt and Nick should have it cut by now.”

The next barracks would be harder. Cody wasn’t sure if any of the adults would remember him. He waited for the light to fade away and then slipped through the door. At the first cot he came to, he put his hand on the sleeping man’s shoulder and shook him.

“What?” The man sat up. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m … the White Fox. I’ve come to help you escape. Wake up the rest of the men and hide under the building. Send someone to spread the word to the other barracks. When the shooting starts, everybody head for the east fence as fast as you can. There’ll be someone waiting there to meet you and help get you out.”

“Cody.” An older man who used to peel potatoes when Cody worked in the kitchen sat up on his cot. “It’s good to see you, son. You’re quite a hero around here.”

“Good to see you too, Herman. Now get everybody up and hurry. Time’s running out.”

Cody cracked the door to check the location of the searchlight and then quickly dove underneath the barracks.

What he intended to do next he had deliberately withheld from Jake. Their plan had been for Jake to set the necessary explosives and meet Cody along with the inmates at the east fence, where Nick and Matt would be waiting and watching.

Cody had known all along that it couldn’t end like that. He still had one piece of unfinished business—Sidoron.

The open compound was the most dangerous place to be and Cody had to time his move perfectly. The instant the light moved in a different direction he ran full blast toward the main building and slid to a stop, hiding in the shadows.

Sidoron’s private quarters were next to his office. Cody knew them well because he had delivered the colonel’s meals there every day for more than a year.

He opened the door and silently crept in. The guard was asleep in a chair outside the office.
Cody stole up beside him and landed a brutal karate chop on the side of his neck. The guard slumped over and fell to the floor.

The office door was locked. Cody had known it would be. He took his piece of wire, jiggled it inside the keyhole and turned the knob.

It was dark in the office and Cody stumbled over a chair, sending it crashing across the room.

“Behren, is that you?”

Cody leaped to his feet and burst into Sidoron’s bedroom with his laser gun leveled in front of him.

“Surprise, Colonel.”

Sidoron hastily pulled the black sleeping mask off his face. “White Fox! How did you—”

“Keep your voice down, Colonel. We don’t want to wake anybody.”

“You’ll never get away with this.”

“Away with what, Colonel? What do you think I should do with you? Maybe you’d like to try a little of the rubber hose treatment, or
we could go get the whip your goons used on me. I know, maybe I’ll take my knife and skin you alive.”

“Don’t be too hasty, White Fox. I’m a powerful man. I have the ability to make you rich.”

“Really? How much is your murdering scumbag life worth these days, Sidoron? A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?”

“Whatever you want. Just name it.”

“I want my friend Luther Swift back from the dead and all the others you tortured and killed.” Cody gestured with the laser gun. “Get out of bed.”

Sidoron threw back the covers and stood on the wooden floor in a long white nightshirt, his feet bare.

Cody backed up and set his gun on the floor. “How tough are you when you have to do your own fighting, Sidoron?”

“You will find I am tough enough. You are a fool, White Fox.” Sidoron lunged at him. Cody ducked, brought his right leg up and landed a solid kick to the man’s jaw. The
colonel staggered backward, regained his balance and swung, hitting Cody in the shoulder.