Chapter 37

The helicopter was totally unexpected.

We were deep in the forest, just north of the compound, when the big bird flew overhead. Naturally, it caused a hell of a lot of panic.

“Fuck,” I cried out angrily as my horse kicked up a fuss, attempting to bolt, while at the same time trying to keep Ohba’s horse from taking off as well.

“Merdé!” Clara exclaimed in French, also trying to keep her seat, “What the hell was that?”

“A helicopter,” I shouted back to her, just before swinging off my horse to dismount. “It’s was a fucking huge helicopter.”

By then everyone was off their horses and fighting to calm them down. Thankfully, the helicopter didn’t come back around for a second pass. Thankfully, as well, we were still deep in the forest and the canopy of tall pines had shielded us from observation. Whoever was in that copter, and I had a good idea who it was, hadn’t spotted us.

My people were in a panic and there was not much I could do to reassure them, at the moment. I put Clara in charge of the bulk of them, while I grabbed Dunbar, Burton, and my fighting team. We headed up the slope towards the ridge overlooking the compound.

“Stay here,” I told Clara bluntly, “and keep these people under control and safe. If everything is okay, I’ll send Gort back to let you know. Then you and the others can move up and join us at the compound. If it isn’t, and you hear gunfire, I want you to turn this group around and make a run for it, and I don’t want any arguments about it.”

Clara didn’t give me any arguments. She wasn’t happy about it, but she realized that shit had just hit the fan, and it was time to duck instead of standing up and debating what I intended to do next and perhaps wear a little of that shit. She did tell me to keep my head down and not to get myself shot again. I smiled at that. Then I leaned down and I gave her a kiss.

Dunbar, Burton, and the men in our fighting force had already moved out. Dunbar had formed them up while I had ‘chatted’ with Clara. They were up the hillside and headed for the ridge. By the time I had grabbed my weapons, the group was completely out of sight.

“Report,” I snapped when I finally caught up to them at the lip of the ridge, right near the spot where I’d been standing the night I stormed the compound. Dunbar was waiting for me there.

“I’ve sent Burton down the trail towards the tree-line to take up firing positions with the rest of the guys,” Dunbar reported in a crisp military fashion. “We’ve got one bird on the ground roughly two hundred yards from the compound gate and facing us. Whoever it is, they’ve just dropped eight men, fully armed and equipped for this weather.”

As Dunbar spoke, he pointed down the hillside and through the gap in the trees towards where the compound stood. I could clearly see the helicopter. It was a big, twin turbine, twin rotor transport. It looked to me like a Chinook. The bird’s engines had been cut and the rotors were slowly winding down. The pilot had put the copter down in a wide-open space, with the nose of the craft facing the tree-line and the ass end facing the compound. At the moment eight men in winter gear, webbing, and fully armed were standing about the rear ramp of the helicopter, looking about as if they were trying to decide on what to do next.

Even as we stood watching, the men fanned out and moved towards the enclosure, we knew that we were about to see trouble explode. From the ridge I could see into the compound and I knew that there were people inside the complex as there were a number of skin tents standing in the courtyard. There was also a single fire burning roughly in the centre, where the cage had once stood. Around that fire people were standing, although I used that word figuratively. A few of the people in the courtyard standing around the fire, were stooping about waving their hands in the air as if they were locked in an argument; a couple others were kneeling by the fire looking lost, and one person ran away and hid in a tent. Whoever they were, and I had a feeling that they were Osgar and his people, they were agitated by the arrival of the helicopter. They were probably at a loss as to what to do about it.

“This is going to turn bad any minute now,” I sighed aloud, catching Dunbar’s attention.

“Yeah, I know,” Dunbar muttered back at me. “Those poor sods are going to get their asses kicked, unless we do something about it.”

“I know,” I sighed heavily, “but we can’t do anything until we see what those people do when they spot the locals. They’re probably Quantum, but then again, they might be someone else. Max didn’t say anything about Quantum having any helicopters.”

“Fuck Max,” Dunbar shot back with disgust in his voice. “He probably didn’t tell us because he was hoping by being cooperative we’d let him live, and then he’d whistle up that copter and send it after us loaded up with the rest of Winslow’s private army. I say we take these bastards down now before any of the locals get hurt.”

I was about to tell Dunbar to wait when our conversation got interrupted by someone down below deciding to be stupid. Someone from within the compound came out toting a spear and looking threatening. He was backed up by two other men.

The party of eight were roughly one hundred yards from the three locals, slowly working their way towards the compound gate in three feet deep snow. The moment the locals made their presence known, the lead trooper in the fighting force put up his hand and signalled the rest of the force to stop.

“Shit,” Dunbar cursed aloud. “It looks like it’s too late.”

I agreed. I brought up my sniper rifle. I used the trunk of the tree that I was standing next to it to help support the weapon. Even as I did, the lead man down in the valley brought up his carbine and he fired. He cut loose with a stream of automatic fire, cutting down the lead hunter and then the man to the right of him. As he switched back towards the last man standing, I took my shot.

My shot took the lead man right between the shoulder blades. The round went through his back and out his chest, splattering blood and gore everywhere. The poor bastard never saw it coming. The impact threw him forward and he collapsed face first into the snow.

My shot rang out loud in the valley. The cold, crisp air carried it to the ears of the men who were spread out behind the man I killed. They all dropped into a crouch, spinning about as they did, looking about frantically to see where the hell I was. As they did, Dunbar took his shot.

Dunbar nailed the man at the rear of the fighting force. The man had his carbine up, and he was using the scope in an effort to spot me. Dunbar’s round slammed into the man’s chest and then it tore right through him. A second later the man was sprawled out on his back with his carbine thrown one way and his eyes staring blankly up at the sky.

Someone from the group opened fire. He sprayed a couple of bursts of ammunition into the air, aiming at nothing in particular, and then he leapt to his feet. I dropped him with my next shot. The round slammed into him, knocking him off his feet, and sending his body tumbling towards the ground.

At that point things got interesting. The rest of my people opened fire. Someone, and I’d put money on it that it was Burton put a three round burst into the man nearest the compound from the tree-line. The burst slapped the man in the chest, knocking him down for a second, but only that. A moment later the man leapt to his feet and he started to run. Obviously the man was wearing body armour.

By that point the men out between the helicopter and the compound had decided it was time to get their asses out of there. They struggled to their feet and headed back towards the helicopter. The flight crew who’d been doing a walk around of the copter were already onboard and the rear ramp was lifting without waiting for the men to get there. Above the sound of small arm fire I could hear the whine of the helicopter’s engines turning over as the pilot prepared to take off.

“Don’t let that bird off the ground,” I shouted at Dunbar, while moving my firing position so I had a better line of fire towards the copter. “If you have to, put a round in the engines.”

Dunbar grunted his acknowledgement, and then he too shifted his firing position, moving up beside me to join me staring down the hillside and into the cockpit of the copter. As he got there I put a round through the windscreen of the copter, blowing the glass away and killing the pilot where he sat. Amazingly, the co-pilot bailed out, throwing himself into the snow next to the copter. I had to smile at that.

“I think you just made someone shit their pants,” Dunbar chuckled as he took aim on the co-pilot who was floundering in the snow, trying to get away from the aircraft. “Do you want me to drop him, or shall we let him go.”

“Don’t kill him,” I shouted back, sweeping the cockpit of the helicopter with my scope to make certain no one else was trying to take the aircraft off. “We just might have a job for the man.”

Dunbar nodded his head, but still kept his aim on the lone figure who was trying to get across the snow covered valley floor and to the tree-line that stood less than a quarter mile away. I just took a look and shook my head at that.

“Do you think whoever that is down there intends to walk home?” Dunbar asked a second later.

“Maybe,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders, while turning my attention back towards the battle occurring out behind the copter. “If so, he’ll have a long, hard walk. Just keep an eye on him. If we have to, I’ll go after him later and bring him back. Like I told you, I might have a job for him; if he cooperates, of course.”

By that time the battle at the rear of the copter was over. There were men lying on the ground just within reach of the now closed rear ramp of the helicopter. A couple were still moving, although they weren’t trying to get on the helicopter any more. They were instead rolling about in the snow, clutching a wounded limb.

“Well, well,” I muttered thoughtfully, “it looks like the battle is over. Shall we go down and see.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Dunbar agreed as he lowered his rifle and he stepped away from where we’d been firing, stepping back over onto the trail. “Let’s go.”

When I got down to the valley I found Burton standing just inside the tree-line looking very happy. He greeted me with a smile.

“Your boys did well, Jake,” Burton told me in a cheerful voice. “They worked well together and when we realized those bastards had body armour, they adapted quickly, followed orders, and cut the fuckers down at the knees. You should be proud of them.”

I smiled on hearing that. It pleased me to hear Burton praise my hunters. They were all good men and they’d worked hard over the years that we’d been together to pick up the bits and pieces of squad tactics that I’d tried to pass on to them. I’d speak to them myself later on, to praise them for their fine job, and to make certain they were all right, given this was the first time that any of them had shot at another person; however for the moment I had to let that go and turn my mind back to what was still happening out there on the valley floor. There was work that still needed to be done.

“Thanks,” I told Burton as I glanced about taking in the scene about me. Gort was standing close to Burton; available if needed, but with his focus directed out across the snow-covered field in the direction of the helicopter. As for the rest of the fighting force, they were doing the same. I could spot them to the left and right of where Burton was standing, all just within the tree-line, still with their weapons pointed down range just in case they were needed.

I grabbed Gort and sent him back to tell Clara that everything was all right. I’d told her to turn our people about and head for home if there had been any gunfire, and I hoped she had, but I doubted it. Regardless I sent the youth after her with new orders, telling her to bring everyone down to the compound. They were to meet us there, and she needed to be prepared to play doctor. I made certain that Gort understood to tell Clara that we were all okay. I definitely didn’t want to worry the woman.

With Gort gone I turned my attention towards the field of bodies and the helicopter. The helicopter was our biggest issue at the moment. The pilot had gotten the engines turned over and the rotors were spinning. The wash from the blades was kicking up snow and making life in the area a bit of a pain. More importantly, the engines of the helicopter were burning fuel with every revolution the copter’s blades made. That was something I needed to stop.

“Tell me something,” I said to Dunbar and Burton, glancing at them in an enquiring manner. “What’s the chance that one of you is certified on choppers? We need to shut that baby down.”

It turned out that I was actually out of luck. Neither man was checked out on helicopters. That left me with only two options at that moment. One was for me to walk over to the helicopter, climb in through the co-pilot side of the bird and try and turn the engines off myself. I figured that with a minute or two to look over the controls I’d probably figure it out. The only problem with that scenario was the fact that the loadmaster was holed up in the back. He could make life miserable for me, if he so chose to, while I was trying to shut down the engines. That fact brought me to option number two, which was to try and convince the loadmaster to shut down the engines. I didn’t expect the guy to be a pilot or anything like that, but I figured he’d know enough about the helicopter to get the job done right without breaking anything.

I went with option two. My only other choice was to send Dunbar and Burton after the co-pilot and to drag that bastard back so he could shut the helicopter down, but I knew that would take time and was something I didn’t really have. I had no idea of how much fuel was left in the helicopter, but I did know that every second wasted burnt up a little more of it ... and we had nothing to replace it.

I moved out on my own, knowing full well that I was putting myself into danger. Clara would be pissed off when she found out about it, but I really didn’t have much of a choice. It wasn’t as if we could all surge into the troop area of the copter and overpower the guy hiding in there. All the hatches were probably ‘dogged’ down and the back ramp was up and secured. The only point of access was the narrow opening between the pilot and co-pilot’s seats, and that opening would only let one person through at a time. Hopefully, the joker inside the copter was frightened enough that they’d be willing to talk.

I worked my way around the nose of the copter, keeping low and well away from the arc of the blades until I was lined up with the open door of the co-pilot’s side of the copter. Then I crouched down as I moved in. The wash of the blades kicked snow into my face, but that was it. Within seconds I was under the blades and up to the helicopter. A second later I was scrambling up and into it, with my service pistol drawn and at the ready.

The pilot was definitely dead. My shot had hit him off centre and to his left, blowing a hole through his upper chest and severing his left arm. Arterial blood must have sprayed the co-pilot when it happened. The co-pilot’s seat was coated in it. That must have been what had sent him scurrying from the aircraft. Seeing what remained of the pilot and the damage I’d done actually made me feel sorry for the poor bastard. It must have been quite a surprise.

The pilot had pitched over to the rightt, kept in his seat by the chair’s safety harness. That was a good thing. I had no desire for him to pitch forward onto the controls while I was there, fucking things up any more than they already were.

I did pause for a moment and glance about. The first place I looked towards was the passageway back into the troop area of the big copter. I didn’t see anything, although I hadn’t expected to, given where I was standing in the doorway to the cockpit and the angle my body was at. The firewall behind the cockpit blocked most of my view.

Once I was reasonably certain that there wasn’t anyone waiting to ambush me as I got into the cockpit, I finished climbing in, moving in a manner that kept me facing the passageway to the rear of the aircraft. I ended up actually kneeling on the co-pilot’s seat, facing in that direction.

I did spot two other things on getting into the aircraft. I spotted the engine shut down switch on the central console and I spotted the intercom switch. I hit the engine shut down first, hoping for the best.

The engines coughed a couple of times in response to my action and then fell silent. I smiled at that and silently thanked the fates for providing me with an easy out. I still needed to deal with the loadmaster, but at least I didn’t have to worry about the engines and the fuel anymore. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the headset that was dangling from the overhead panel above the co-pilot’s station and I put it on. I then plugged the cable running from the headset into a nearby jack. Once I was hooked up, I flicked the intercom on.

“Hello,” I muttered into the mic that stretched from the headset across my lower face. “Can you hear me? Please respond.”

I heard my voice booming a short distance away, broadcasted by the craft’s interior address system in the troop area of the helicopter. I didn’t get an immediate response. I waited and watched, keeping my pistol trained on the passageway, wondering what to expect. Finally, a voice spoke up.

“I can hear you,” a woman’s voice declared a minute later. “Switch to channel two.”

I did what I was told. Obviously the woman in the rear had her headset on and by switching channels we’d be able to speak directly without me booming my words through the address system.

“Can you hear me?” I asked once I’d done it.

“I can,” the woman replied, her voice sounding strained. “Who are you?”

“My name is Jake Ryerson,” I told the woman without hesitation. “Do you know of me?”

There was a pause and a gasp before the woman replied.

“Yeah,” the woman admitted, her voice now sounding concerned. “Quantum said that you were dead.”

“Quantum says a lot of things about a lot of stuff,” I stated coldly. “It doesn’t mean that Quantum is telling the truth. I’m alive and well, and I’m in charge of the strike force that just wiped out your bunch of trained killers, and your flight crew. At the moment, you’re the only one around, still left alive. My question to you is whether you want to stay alive? If you do, then you’re going to have to cooperate with me. If not, I’ll toss a grenade or two back in there with you, and we’ll see just how long you stay alive.”

“I’ll cooperate,” the woman told me, spitting it out in desperation in response to my threat. “Just don’t hurt me.”

“I don’t intend to hurt you, if you cooperate, and if you behave yourself,” I informed the woman. “However, I am going to be keeping you as my prisoner and if you try anything stupid, I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

“I won’t do anything stupid,” the woman declared in a frightened voice. “I just don’t want to die. Please don’t kill me.”

I told the woman I wouldn’t. I ordered her to drop her weapons and to lower the back ramp once again. I told her to march on out with her hands up once it was down. The woman said she would.

It took a few minutes, but eventually I heard the sound of the ramp lowering. The moment I heard it, I dropped out of the cockpit and to the ground once more. I then skirted about the nose of the copter, waving my people in as I moved.

The woman did as I had told her. She’d dropped the ramp and she’d disposed of any weapon she had been carrying before coming out with her hands in the air. Burton put her down in the snow while my people covered him. He quickly searched the woman finding nothing on her. When he was done, I asked Tonko for a rawhide thong. He gave it to me out of his pack and I gave it to Burton to tie the woman’s hands behind her back. He had her tied up and she was secure in a matter of seconds.

“So what am I going to call you?” I asked the woman as Burton pulled her up and to her feet again.

“Sarah Mitchell,” the woman told me, looking me in the eyes as she did, looking incredibly frightened. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“I won’t hurt you,” I told Sarah truthfully. “No one else will hurt you so long as you’re a good girl and you do what you’re told. For now, you’re just going to put your ass down on that ramp and sit there without getting into any trouble. Once I’m done sorting out what’s going on here, and I’m assured my people don’t have to worry about anything else, I’ll have a little more to say to you. Do you understand?”

Sarah understood. She said yes and she nodded her head as she did. I had Burton plop her ass down on the ramp and then I had Durt stand watch over her. Once that task was done, I turned my attention to the litter of bodies strewn out across the once pristine landscape. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

I checked Quantum’s people first. The men that Dunbar and I had hit were definitely dead. The big .50-cal round wasn’t forgiving when it hit flesh and bone. The other men, those shot by Burton and my men, I had to check one by one, just to make sure. As it turned out, they were all dead as well; many from multiple hits that if they’d been treated by a medic, they could have survived. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t have a medic to treat them, and in the passage of time from when they were hit and when I finally checked on them, the couple who hadn’t died straight away, had bled to death. To me it really didn’t matter. If I’d had found them alive, I would have probably finished them off; after making them answer a few questions.

I left Tonko to pick the bodies clean of any weapons he found on them or lying by their bodies, while I moved on to see who exactly had these bastards shot. Burton followed me as did Bogdi. It didn’t take us long to trek across the snow towards where the two locals lay. Once there I just shook my head in disgust.

The lead man turned out to be Osgar, just as I’d expected. He’d been hit by a burst in the chest and he’d probably been killed instantly. His companion was one of the hunters that I’d seen the day I’d spoken to Osgar. He too had taken a burst in the chest. Both men were definitely dead.

“This sucks,” I sighed to Burton once I’d looked at the two dead locals. “I really hate it when this happens. Boy, I’m really getting pissed off at Quantum!”

Burton just nodded his head and said nothing in reply. There really wasn’t much to say. I knew I was probably overreacting seeing as Osgar and his people weren’t really my responsibility, but I still felt it, particularly since we’d actually come here to help Osgar and his people, not to bury them. In frustration, I glanced around once again, taking in what I could see.

My people had arrived. I spotted them standing just inside the tree-line, watching me hesitantly from the distance. On seeing them, I waved them over. Clara led the way, riding her horse.

“Is everything all right?” Clara asked in our common tongue, once she’d reined in her mount. As she spoke her eyes flicked about taking in all of the carnage. “Was anyone hurt?”

“No,” I told the woman, stepping over and placing a reassuring hand on her as I did. “All our people are fine. Unfortunately, Osgar and one of his hunters were killed before I could do anything to stop it.”

“That’s not good,” Clara declared with a heavy sigh, glancing towards the closed door of the compound. “Do you know if anyone else was hurt?”

I really didn’t have to answer that. There was a blood trail where the third man, wounded in the exchange, had crawled back to the compound while my people and I had dealt with Quantum’s party of thugs. Still I answered her.

“Yeah,” I told her solemnly, glancing towards the closed gate as I did. “There was a third man here when the firing started. I think he was clipped, but he wasn’t killed; at least not outright. He obviously made it back inside the compound. Beyond that I don’t know. He could still be alive, or more than likely, he could have bled out. We won’t know until we get inside.”

“Well what are we waiting for,” Clara asked bluntly.

We were waiting on Ohba and the men from her village. I had no desire to just kick down the door to the compound and to start throwing my weight about, whether I could actually do it or not. I’d come looking for Osgar and his people with a humanitarian objective. Yes, I wanted these people living and working with my people, but I wasn’t going to twist arms. I would make the offer of hospitality as I’d originally planned and if necessary I would let the men of Ohba’s village speak for me. I would even offer them the food we’d brought with us as an incentive to come and join us at the settlement. I just wouldn’t bully them.

When Ohba got there, I told her what had happened. She was saddened on seeing Osgar’s body, but like many of the locals I’d dealt with over the last three years, she bounced back quickly, especially once I told her that we needed to parlay with the occupants of the compound. She immediately promised to help me as best she could. I thanked her by giving her a hug and a peck on the lips. Then I turned to the compound and I got to work.

“Hello,” I called out in the River People’s dialect. “I am Jake of the Bear Tribe. I am here as a friend to the River People. I wish to parlay with you, and to offer you the help and hospitality of my tribe. The bad people who slew Osgar and his fellow hunter are dead. Please speak to me and let me know how we can help.”

I’d expected something much the same as how Osgar had confronted me before, or like I had been confronted at the northern compound. I was in fact prepared to stand there and wait while the people inside the compound debated on what to do next. It didn’t happen that way. I had barely finished speaking when the gate to the compound opened and a youth of maybe fourteen years stepped out holding a spear. Once he was clear of the door, a woman darted out, running past him, making for the second fallen man. When she got to him, she threw herself down into the snow and she started to wail.

I looked at the woman for a moment and then I looked back towards the gate. The youth was still standing there next to the opening holding his spear and trying to look tough. It wasn’t working for him. I also noted that there were a couple of other people standing in the door. They too were women. There wasn’t another man in sight.

“I am Jake of the Bear Tribe,” I said to the youth, still speaking the River People’s dialect, and addressing him formally. “I am a friend and I have come to parlay with the men of the River People. Where are your hunters?”

“I speak for the tribe,” the youth declared in a defiant, but trembling voice. “I am Ozmat.”

The youth’s declaration took me by surprise. I looked at him for a moment and then I glanced towards the two dead men lying on the ground between us. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that life in Osgar’s group had gotten worse since I’d spoken to him last. I sighed at the thought of what that meant and then I looked back at the young man.

“Greetings, Ozmat of the River People,” I responded keeping my voice calm and my manner formal. “I come before you with open hands. How am I received?”

Ohba had explained to me some of the more important customs of the River People. It was true that they were a gregarious people and they welcomed traders, travellers, and visitors to their communities with little forewarning and plenty of hospitality on their part; however, there were customs that needed to be respected, especially when a visitor arrived representing another tribe. In a way it was a manner of declaring your intent to your host and finding out whether he would welcome you to his hearth. The Horse People had a similar practice, although theirs was even more formal, and in a fashion, less hospitable.

Ozmat lowered his spear and then laid it aside, placing it up against the steel walls of the enclosure. He then turned back to me, an anxious look upon his face, and he spoke.

“I am Ozmat of the River People,” the youth declared as firmly and confidently as he could, even though he was trembling as he spoke. “You are welcome at my hearth.”

With that the youth stepped forward until he came to where the woman knelt beside the body of the man who’d died with Osgar. He dropped to his knees in the snow and started to cry as well. I just sighed and shook my head.

It turned out that Ozmat was technically the last surviving man in the community held up in the compound. It took some talking with the youth later, but I learned that disaster had hit the group the day after I’d ridden away from the compound, headed home with Sygor.

Ozmat told me that one of the hunters had been mauled by wolves while out hunting on his own, while another had fallen through ice crossing a stream and he’d been pulled under by the weight of his furs. The death of those two men, and an old woman the day before in the tribe, had motivated Osgar to change his mind and to head after me in an effort to catch up with me and to plead that we take his people back to our community. Unfortunately the River People didn’t get far. They only made it to the compound, where they’d stopped to shelter against the cold and to regain their strength before pushing on. That point never happened. The River People were on the verge of exhaustion, starvation, and many were sick with a winter fever. Since their arrival at the compound, another hunter had died, brought down by fever, as had another woman and two children. Today’s attack had resulted in the death of the last three hunters. The man who’d crawled back into the compound had bled out shortly after getting there. That left Ozmat as the leader of the band.