Wasteland Rules: Born to Fight (The World After Book 2) (27 page)

   The project was rumored to have been shut down
because the U.S. government was afraid they could be used to replace anyone,
including government officials, even the President. Nobody wanted to be
constantly afraid that the person they were dealing with wasn’t actually that
person. Lack of government approval had never stopped the CIA from pursuing
their own agendas, and it looked like they had continued the project. What
surprised him were that there were so many of them.

   “The good doctor suggested that the part was
actually delivered where it supposed to be sent to, Langley Air Force Base. I’m
going to have the pilot take us there on the way back.” Derek answered after a
pause.

   “Keep me updated on your progress.” The Voice
said before disconnecting.

June 25, 2029

The Society HQ Cape Canaveral, FL

   Neither the guards nor the secretary tried to
stop Derek as he stormed into General Kilgore’s office. The look on his face
was so terrifying they just pretended to be busy with something else. Unlike
them, Augie seemed unperturbed as Derek slammed his palms down on the massive
oak desk and confronted him.

   “Something I can help you with, Major?” He asked
calmly.

   “Get your house in order!” Derek screamed at him,
spit flying from his mouth. “I’m tired of being betrayed at every turn.”

   “We are working on that.” The general informed
him coolly. “In the meantime, don’t you have a mission to prep for?”

   “Seriously? This is how you are going to play
it?” Derek asked in amazement. “By pretending it’s not a big deal?”

   “You retrieved the part and the mission is a go.
It is all good.” Augie said soothingly.

   “You have a traitor in your midst, maybe more
than one, and you aren’t worried?” Derek replied incredulously. “I’m starting
to wonder how good you are as head of security.”

   “Look, Major.” Augie replied with his hands
clasped calmly in front of him. “Your mission is the most important thing right
now. If you succeed it won’t matter if we have a traitor. The shuttle is under
twenty four hour guard by multiple soldiers, and the shuttle crew has been
isolated and is under guard as well. All communication out of the base is
blocked and no one is allowed outside the perimeter. We have it locked down in
advance of the launch. Go get ready for the launch. Nothing is going to stop
the mission now. I am working on unmasking the traitor as we speak. Trust me.”

   “I don’t trust you.” Derek told him, shaking his
head. “When this mission is over we are done. You and your Society can shove
it. I’m tired of almost getting killed on your behalf.”

  “Understood Major. Just get the mission done and
then we can have another chat.” The general replied calmly.

  Derek made a sound of disgust and stormed back
out. He heard the general give a small sigh of relief as he exited the room.
The man had been scared even though he hadn’t shown it. That actually impressed
him. But the fact remained that the Society had shown an alarming inability to
maintain operational security. He didn’t count them as friends and rule #2 was
that there are only friends or enemies. Their aims aligned currently, but that
might end when they finished the mission. That left a quandary with what to do
about them since rule #3 was never leave an enemy at your back.

   That would have to wait. The shuttle would be
launching in hours and he had to get ready. It was actually kind of exciting.
Derek was pretty jaded in his experiences. He had been all over the world and
seen and done many wild and exotic things. Years in the wasteland had left him
almost numb to new experiences. But he had never been into space and the concept
intrigued him. Very few people got to go and now he was being afforded that
opportunity. It could be fun.

   Several hours later when the shuttle left the
launch pad, he was having a very different opinion on how much fun it would be.
The launch was intense. From the incredible strain of the G forces created by
the rapid ascent to the shaking and rattling of the shuttle as it blasted free
on top of massive rockets. Rockets that were full of highly explosive fuel and
essentially a giant bomb. He hoped no one had sabotaged the launch and it
didn’t blow up underneath them.

   Derek glanced over and saw Rora gripping her seat
tightly, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated. She saw him looking and gave him
a weak smile. He gave her a thumbs up and tried to look encouraging. He looked
at the other crew, but could only see the backs of their helmets from where he
was sitting. But by their posture he could see they were pretty relaxed except
for Johnson. That was a surprise; he was supposed to be an experienced
astronaut.

    They eventually exited the atmosphere and Derek
breathed a small sigh of relief. The shuttle detached from the boosters and
they soared free into space. He could feel the effects of zero G as soon as
they pulled free of the Earth’s gravity field. Colonel Brandt took control of
the shuttle and they changed heading towards the space station. It was still a
good distance off, but it already appeared huge indicating how large it really
was. Commander Khodorov waited for a few minutes as they checked the shuttle’s
status and then gave the all clear to remove their helmets and release from
their restraints.

   Rora moved to a window to look back at the Earth
and Derek followed. They both gaped like little kids at the awesome view of the
entire Earth beneath them. The other crew stifled laughs at the touristy
behavior of their two “mission specialists”, but neither Derek nor Rora cared.
This wasn’t a sight you got to see every day, so they were going to take
advantage of it.

  Derek finished looking and floated forward to
check on the mission with the commander. As he moved forwards he got a look at
the back of Johnson’s helmetless head for the first time. Derek suddenly lunged
forward reaching for the blond specialist’s neck. Johnson must have seen a
reflection of him coming and sprang out of his seat, flipping backwards over
Derek’s outstretched hands. Derek tried to arrest his momentum and tried to
reverse course to catch the vaulting specialist, but only succeeded in
colliding with the specialist’s empty chair.

   “What are you doing?” Anna shrieked.

   “He’s the traitor!” Derek yelled back. “He’s a
Faceless!”

   “Are you insane?” The commander screamed at him.
“Stop screwing around, you are going to damage something.”

   “He has the mole on his neck!” Derek called to
Rora. “Grab him!”

   Her eyes widened in recognition and she moved to
block the fleeing specialist’s path. He thrust her aside, but that changed his
momentum and slowed him enough for Derek to catch him. Despite the other crew’s
screams to stop, Derek knew who the enemy was now and nothing would stop him.
The two collided in midair in the middle of the crew cabin. The traitor snarled
at the impact and head-butted Derek in the face. Having stunned Derek, the
traitorous specialist pushed off a chair and thrust them into the shuttle
frame. Derek was slammed backwards into the frame and momentarily blacked out.

   In that brief moment the treacherous specialist
pulled a ceramic blade from somewhere in his suit and stabbed Derek in the
stomach. The suit absorbed most of the blow but droplets of blood flew into the
cabin and hung suspended in midair as he pulled back the blade for another
strike. Then he was knocked sideways as Rora barreled into him.  He grappled
with her as they flew across the cabin. She tried to knee him in the groin but
was unsuccessful.

   Far more used to the effects of zero-G, the
traitor quickly got the upper hand and prepared to stab Rora in the throat. He
smiled as he drove the blade forward, but his strike was stopped as the
commander grabbed his arm. Johnson spun and planted a foot in the midsection of
the mission commander and pushed. The action sent both of them flying in
opposite directions. The specialist released Rora as he soared backwards.

   He did a back flip and kicked off the wall of the
shuttle, launching himself knife first like a spear at the mission commander.
Mikhail had caught himself on a chair and was able to maneuver to the side as
the traitor struck at him, but he still took a swipe to the midsection. Blood
sprayed free and more droplets joined the blood already hanging in space. Anna
screamed as the blood flew.

  The treacherous specialist spring boarded off of a
console and flew towards the pilot. If his goal was to sabotage the mission,
then killing or disabling the pilot would be a good start. He had almost
reached the pilot’s chair when Derek struck him from behind. Derek had
recovered enough at this point to join the fray and had used all of his
strength to launch himself like a missile to intercept the striking specialist.
They rocketed sideways and crashed off of the interior of the windshield of the
shuttle.

  They wrestled for control of the blade as they
bounced around the interior of the shuttle. Now prepared for the sudden shifts
of direction and lack of leverage, Derek was able to utilize his superior
physique and body control to subdue the fake specialist. He finally managed to
get behind the struggling man and choke him unconscious with a rear naked
choke. Using duct tape he secured the traitor to one of the chairs.

   “What is going on?” Commander Khodorov demanded
as he clutched at his wounded stomach.

   “Are you crazy?” Colonel Brandt chimed in.

   “Johnson isn’t Johnson.” Derek tried to explain.

   “What are you talking about?” Anna interrupted
angrily. “We have been together for years. I think I know who he is.”

   “I don’t know whether he switched with Johnson or
Johnson is a fake identity, but this man is not Johnson Thomas. He is a clone
of another man with this face surgically implanted on him and his other
features altered.” Derek explained calmly.

   “How could he have passed our extensive testing
to get into the Society?” Anna demanded.

   “I don’t know, but that would imply he was
switched with Johnson at some point after the testing was done.” Derek replied.

   “This is crazy. What proof do you have?” Anna
demanded.

   “I agree, this is crazy.” The commander agreed.
“You better have something solid Major.”

   “Other than the fact he pulled a knife and tried
to kill us?” Derek responded. He pulled the still unconscious man’s head
forward and pointing to the small mole on his neck. “Did Johnson have this mole
Anna?”

   “How would I know?” She replied nervously. “I
never examined his neck before.”

   “Really?” Derek asked sarcastically. “Not even
when you were sleeping together?”

   She blushed a deep shade of red and the pilot
choked back a laugh. “We never slept together.” She stammered.

   “We all knew.” The commander stated quietly. “We
just didn’t want to embarrass you so we never mentioned it.”

   “Ahh….” She groaned.

   “It’s okay. No one is judging.” Rora added. “Just
tell us if he had the mole or not.”

   “Not that I remember.” Anna grudgingly
acknowledged.

   “The gunmen that attacked us in D.C. all had this
mole.” Derek informed them. “It seems to be their only identifying feature, but
it is so small it is almost unnoticeable.”

   “That’s true.” Rora agreed. “They also had no
face, which would make it easy to graft another face on.”

   “Come on. This is ridiculous. You cannot be
serious.” Commander Khodorov said doubtfully.

   “With all of the amazing technology you have in
your complex, you find this hard to believe?” Derek asked incredulously.
“Whoever is behind this has access to advanced technology and resources and has
gone to great lengths to prevent us from getting to the station. Johnson, or
whoever he is, didn’t just happen to have a knife and suddenly decide to attack
us.”

   “That makes sense I guess.” The commander agreed.
“But who is behind this?”

   “That is what I intend to find out.” Derek
replied. “That’s why I didn’t kill him.”

   While Rora bandaged the commander’s wound, Derek
woke the traitor up. A few slaps and some smelling salts did the trick. The
fake specialist snapped awake with a snarl and thrashed wildly, trying to break
his bonds. He didn’t say anything but merely stared at Derek with hate filled
eyes.

   “Who do you work for?” Derek demanded.

   “I’m not going to tell you anything.” The traitor
sneered.

   “How could you do this?” Anna interrupted, moving
towards him.

   Derek held her back and told her. “Let me handle
this. This is what I do.”

   The man laughed. “Nothing you do is going to make
me talk.”

   “We’ll see about that.” Derek told him. “I’m very
experienced in getting information from a subject, and there is no line I am
unwilling to cross. I have no problem torturing you.”

   “Major, you cannot do that. I won’t allow it.”
The commander insisted.

   “Stay out of this Commander.” Derek ordered. “We
need to know what he knows and we don’t have a lot of time to do it.”

   “Don’t waste your time.” The fake Johnson said
and shifted his jaw.

   Derek reacted a moment too late to stop the man
from biting down on what was obviously a suicide capsule. Foam erupted from the
restrained man’s mouth and he went into convulsions. Within seconds the fake
specialist was dead and any hope of gaining intelligence from him was gone.
Derek cursed as he quickly searched the body for any other clues. Finding none,
he stepped back before the body liquefied inside the suit.

   “What did you do?” An angry Anna demanded.

   “Nothing.” Derek told her coldly. “He had a
suicide pill. Whatever these guys are they turn into goo when they die. It
destroys any evidence of their existence.”