ALICE, page 19
With the other helicopter in a high altitude hover, ALICE provided Bonnie and her team an overhead of the raiding party’s progress. They watched as the horses entered the pass, while Bonnie’s group sped in from behind, blocking the exit.
Bonnie watched as the lead elements of the horse column pulled up, facing the helicopter blocking their path, while the end of the column closed in on the front. Once the raiders were well into the pass, Bonnie called a halt, with both vehicles facing into the pass and instructed the patrolmen to file out. They took their positions as Bonnie requested, sealing the pass opening.
As the column leaders discussed their next move, Bonnie relayed through the external speakers on the helicopter, “Release the hostages and drop your weapons.”
The lead group of raiders fired at the helicopter, the rest retreating slightly behind them.
“OK Joe, take out the lead group,” Bonnie said. She figured firing from above would be more selective than the helicopter’s guns.
On Joe’s order, the patrolman opened fire from above, taking out the entire front of the raiding party’s column. Several riders behind the leaders dropped their hostages and turned their horses back the way they came at a run, only to confront Bonnie and her blocking force.
They fired on the blocking force and Bonnie gave the order to return fire. The patrolmen dropped the lead riders charging out of the pass and stopped firing as they retreated back into the pass, holding their positions and resisting the desire to pursue. Bonnie was impressed with their discipline.
Neither vehicle fired per previous instructions. Bonnie was concerned that, like the helicopter, the heavier guns might hit the hostages farther back in the column.
Several of the released hostages scrambled past the dead and ran to where the helicopter was parked, so Joe sent two patrolmen down to gather and protect them, using the helicopter as cover. He directed the rest to slide along the top of the pass to close in on the cluster of bandits now trapped between his and Bonnie’s forces.
Unfortunately, they still held several hostages, so Bonnie asked Joe to close in, but hold their fire.
The group was now less than 100 riders, the dead and wounded stacked up at either end of the pass.
They were at a bit of a standoff. Bonnie could have Joe pick them off, but at some point, they might hit a hostage. If it got bad, they might try to execute one. It was far better if she could get them to surrender.
“Let them sit for a bit,” Bonnie told the group, her overhead from the helicopter showing several of the raiders in a heated discussion. Several times, one or another pointed to the assembled group of hostages, then to either end of the pass.
Bonnie asked Joe to position his men on the ridges above the pass, in full view of the raiders. From his position, she knew he had a clear view of the hostages as well. Their top priority was to protect the hostages. She didn’t think she needed to remind the patrolmen of that.
Bonnie decided she would give them a good hour or more before she did anything. They still had plenty of daylight, but she didn’t want the raiders to get any ideas they could hold out until dark and try to slip away. Her combat team all carried night vision capabilities in their helmets, and the rifles the patrolmen were issued incorporated optics with the same abilities. There was a certain appeal to taking them out at night, but it was better to get this resolved sooner than that.
She asked ALICE, using the other helicopter providing the overhead view, to drop water to Joe’s men on the ridges and then pick up the six freed hostages in the pass and return them to town with the two patrolmen as escorts,.
Within an hour, one of the raiders came out of the pass, on horseback, bearing a white flag, or rather a ripped shirt. Bonnie stepped out in front of the vehicles to meet him.
“Pass the word no one fires unless I say so,” she said through the communicators.
As she came forward, the rider picked his way through the dead and then stopped about 15 feet away. He sat there for a moment, looking over the patrolmen and vehicles, then asked, “So what do we need to do to get out of this alive?”
“I see you understand the situation,” Bonnie replied without malice.
“Not everyone I ride with does,” he responded, “but enough of us do that I got them to let me come talk.”
“Let’s be clear,” Bonnie said, “we have more options if none of those women are hurt. If even one gets injured or worse, your options, go way down.”
“Understand that very well,” he replied, “So long as you don’t rush us or try picking us off from above, they are safe.”
Bonnie considered the man for a moment. He wasn’t the kind of bandit she’d seen in the past. He was fairly well groomed and seemed somewhat educated or at least intelligent. She decided to try a different tack.
“Why are you living like this?” she asked, “You seem better than a common thief or bandit.”
The rider seemed surprised and somewhat uncomfortable with the question. He looked away from Bonnie for a moment, then replied, “Life doesn’t always take you where you wanna go. Sometimes we just survive.”
“You don’t have to tell me that,” Bonnie said, “little more than six months ago, I was burying my parents after a raid like this. A man dropped outta the sky, killed a bunch of them, and gave me this job.”
The rider now was visibly uncomfortable as if trying to remember where he had been six months ago.
“That was in California,” Bonnie said as if reading his mind, “I doubt you have ever traveled that far west.”
Visibly relieved, he asked, “So you’re not from here?”
“No, we are more west coast based, but moving east. I think you are going to find this line of work far more dangerous in the future.”
He considered that and asked, “So what’s your suggestion?”
“Well,” Bonnie replied, “send out the women unharmed, leave the stolen goods where they are and ride off through the pass, we’ll let you go.”
“What about them,” he said, indicating the patrolmen fanned out to each side of the vehicles, clearly towns’ folk, “don’t think they are feeling as generous as you.”
“We can handle that, they will see the reason of it,” Bonnie replied.
With that, the rider nodded, turned, and walked his horse back into the pass and out of sight. As Bonnie walked back to the rear of the transport, she watched the rider return to his group on her helmet display, the helicopter having returned to hovering overhead.
After several minutes of what was clearly arguing, they gathered up the hostages and sent them walking toward Bonnie’s position. Bonnie asked ALICE for the transport helicopter back ASAP.
“Joe, let them pass once we have the women here. No contraband, though.”
Joe instructed half the patrolmen to gather down by where the helicopter landed in the pass, creating a single file lane. The rest maintained visible positions above on the ridges. He gave strict no fire orders, just look for loot.
When the last of the women reached the vehicles, the rider Bonnie negotiated with, led his column out the other end of the pass, and through the lane the patrolmen outlined. The patrol stopped a few riders and searched for stolen goods, allowing all to continue once they were relieved of the items they had hidden.
While the raiders were headed out the other end of the pass, the transport helicopter landed, and Bonnie directed the women and some of the patrolmen to start loading. Once all the riders cleared the far side of the pass, Bonnie instructed everyone else to load up and all headed back to town, recovered goods loaded in the helicopters.
Chapter 13
Jake and his team returned to Seven for the night. They left Bill and the five families with a communication unit, rifles, med kits and a promise to return with a plan for their incorporation. Once back inside, they all went to get cleaned up and get something to eat. Jake went straight to his room after dropping his gear and weapons off.
“Hey Seven, can you please get me a status on Bonnie? I’d like to see how their day went,” Jake asked.
“She has returned to ALICE-2 and has requested you contact her at your convenience. Shall I put you through to her now?”
“Please do,” Jake said, walking over to the display by his desk.
Shortly, Bonnie’s face appeared on the display, apparently also in her quarters.
“Hey Jake, I thought you’d never call!” she said with a smile.
“We had a long day, just got back. So how’d it go with your town?” he asked, “did your plan hold up?”
“Saying I told you so is a character flaw, you know,” she replied sternly, “So who told you?”
Jake suddenly got concerned, “what happened?”
Bonnie went into the events of the day and Jake bit his tongue several times as to not interrupt her. She finally got to the end, describing the reception upon their return to town.
“We did a body count before we left, 53 dead, and they took another 11 wounded with them,” she finished.
“No losses?” Jake asked, concerned for the team.
“Not a scratch on anyone, including the locals we brought along,” she replied.
“And Sandy’s negotiations?” he asked, relieved.
“When we arrived with everyone intact and unharmed, they were begging her for our support. She outlined the original offer while we were chasing down the hostages, and by the time the first helicopter returned, they were sold,” she answered.
“They were a little pissed we let the raiders go, but agreed the risk to the women wasn’t worth pushing it,” she finished.
While she was talking, Sara and Jessie tapped on Jake’s door. He waved them in while not interrupting Bonnie.
“Hey Sis!” Sara said, greeting Bonnie after she finished, “get your kingdom set up yet?”
“You can have it!” Bonnie replied, “The peasants are revolting, we got rats in the hills and the staff is a royal pain! I can’t wait to come back and just be a concubine again,” she said with a smile.
“Well the line might be a bit longer now,” Sara said, bumping Jessie with her hip, “Jessie muscled her way in and Jake has a whole new set of adoring fans!”
“Oh? Jake hasn’t told me about any of that?” Bonnie replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Well Jessie seduced poor Jake here on the way up and it turns out the entire town here knows all about Seven,” Sara said.
Jessie didn’t seem phased in the least by the conversation and Jake just turned bright red.
“Who’s Seven?” Bonnie asked, confused.
“Jake asked ALICE-7 what she wanted to be called, that’s her choice,” she replied.
“Seven?” Bonnie said again.
“She liked the sound of Seven and we agreed that Seven was more personal than ALICE-7. In fact, you might talk to ALICE-2 and see what she prefers,” Jake supplied.
“OK,” Bonnie said a little hesitantly, “and the rest?”
“Well,” Sara said, “turns out one of the town’s post attack founders was a marine guard here. He passed his knowledge of the facility along with his family and friends, so it’s no secret. He trained them all on survival and self-defense as well. It made him somewhat of a folk hero and then we walk in, Jake being a real Marine, and all, and they treat him like the second coming.”
Bonnie gave a laugh at that, “as if his head isn’t big enough already!”
“Hey,” Jake said, feigning insult, “I am a very humble man!”
“With good reason,” Sara said, kissing him on the cheek.
“Smart-ass,” Jake shot back.
“So anyway,” Sara continued, “just supplying guns and stuff wasn’t going to fly.”
“What did you do?” Bonnie asked, curious now.
“We did a quick profile of the town’s people,” Jake supplied, “and had the ALICEs wired in for a full psych evaluation of the group. The consensus was they were all good enough to bring in.”
“Really?” Bonnie asked in a surprised tone, “how many are there?”
“29,” Sara supplied.
“Yup, we were thinking we’d spread them around though. Some here, Nevada, and there,” Jessie added.
“Wow, I assume that means shifting some of the current staff around with them?”
“For starters anyway,” Jake agreed, “once everyone is up to speed I think we can let folks decide where they want to go? And we have more locations to be explored,” Jake added, thinking of the other five facilities they have yet to visit.
“Well include this in your planning, Abby and Joe have finally discovered each other,” Bonnie said.
“About time,” Sara said with a smile.
“Yeah,” Bonnie replied, “I was about ready to lock them in a room together until they figured it out. They ran head to head the whole time we trained, trying to outdo each other and drove me nuts. Now they are locking themselves in!”
“We have twenty some odd that need combat training so I might pair them up as instructors. Normally I’d worry they’d kill the recruits, but with this group, I think we are safe,” Jake said.
“So how much longer are you staying up there then?” Bonnie asked.
“I don’t honestly know,” Jake replied, “I doubt as long as the two weeks you’re there for. We were thinking of brining everyone from town in here for a week of learning before we split them up.”
“Well, we are going to start the training program with Paint Rock, that’s the name of the town here by the way, in the next day or two. We wanted to give them time to recover from the damage the raid caused,” Bonnie said, “I’ll make sure you know how it progresses.”
“We will keep you posted on our plans here as well,” Jake said.
“Bye sis!” Sara added before the connection dropped.
“So what are the plans for tonight?” Sara asked.
“Well, I need to get in the shower, but I think it’s a free night for everyone,” Jake replied.
Jessie glanced at Sara with a pained look on her face.
“Then that’s my cue to disappear,” Sara replied, with a wink and a smile to Jessie as she turned for the door.
“Great,” Jessie replied as she started to undress, “then I’m not too late to scrub your back!”
----*----
Jessie was sitting in the control room by herself. After spending the evening with Jake, she cleaned up and grabbed a quick bite to eat. She had left him happily snoring away and was now working on her history hobby. More precisely, she was researching a discrepancy that she had uncovered in her studies. It was like an itch you couldn’t reach to scratch.
From everything she was able to put together to date, there seemed to be a jump in the technology levels of the human race a year or two before Jake went into stasis. In fact, the ability to create stasis fields was one of the things that appeared around that time.
She tracked technological leaps in power generation, weapons, the stasis fields, and several other engineering and medical advances all around that time. In addition, ALICE appeared about that time as well.
There was something there she couldn’t quite put her finger on but she was positive it meant something. Maybe she should talk to Sharon or even Jake.
The thought of Jake made her laugh. She recalled his face in the cockpit on the way up, a combination of guilt and lust. Earlier this evening he had been much more relaxed, but she could still tell he was uncomfortable with the situation.
He both appealed to and frustrated her. He was in every man’s dream situation, yet he fought it at every turn. Maybe that’s why he appealed to her, he wasn’t taking advantage.
She’d known too many men who would have killed to be in his place, but they would have demeaned or belittled the women involved. They would have simply used them for their own pleasure.
Jake treated each one like a wife, his only wife. And, Jessie was determined she was going to be one of the eight the ALICEs wanted. Better to be one of eight with Jake, than one of one, with anyone else she’d ever met.
Everyone could see Sara was number one, but no one cared. Even Bonnie, Sara’s sister and pregnant with one of Jake’s babies, had no issues with that. When they were with Jake, privately, they were number one. Publicly he managed to keep everyone on an equal footing.
Well equal amongst themselves, but Jessie could see those in Jake’s inner circle would end up running things. That’s where she wanted to be.
She knew it sounded mercenary, but she’d had it with being on the bottom of the food chain. As a single woman in a town with too many women and too few options, she knew a great deal when she saw one. With Jake, she could have access to a caring man, safety and security and a chance to better herself. All she had to do to seal the deal was having a baby, which she wanted anyway.
In reality, she knew she could have most of that without having Jake’s baby, but inside she also knew she wanted Jake, or at least a part of his time and attention. Moreover, she wanted to be with an important man, to help him reshape the world.
She wasn’t sure if it was her love of history that drove the desire to be part of it or her ambitions that drove her love of history. She just knew Jake was rewriting the future, and she was determined to help him do it.
She decided to try to dig a little more, and then she should take it to Jake to discuss.
“It would make great pillow talk,” she thought with a smile.
----*----
The next morning Jake met Sara in the hall and they wandered in to breakfast together, more or less at the regular time. Since all the ALICE facilities were almost identical, finding their way around hadn’t proven a challenge.
Jake could see Sharon was already eating, alone. Jessie was either sleeping in or had come and gone. He and Sara grabbed their orders, having placed them with Seven on the way there.
“Are you all alone?” Jake asked as they sat at the four top with Sharon.
