T. Harris - The Tactics of Revenge

Adam sat down next to Kaylor on one of the cots. The tall alien didn’t seem to be sharing in his quiet resignation.

“We are to be executed, and soon,” the Belsonian said, stating verbally what was on the minds of all the other prisoners. “And for what good?”

“Rejoice in the knowledge that the Klin have had their plans all covered in shit, Kaylor,” Adam said through a wry smirk. “That’s what’s going to get the rest of us through this.”

“Uh-rah!” John Tindal said.

“Uh-rah!” said all the rest of the Humans.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Kaylor asked, anger growing in his voice. “You have always had a plan. I have never seen you give up.”

“In battle Kaylor, not all the warriors survive. However, just knowing that your side is winning can bring you a lot of comfort.”

“ Your side is the Human side. We — Jym and I — are not Human. We do not have a winning side in this conflict.”

“You have a point there, my friend-”

Just then, the door unlatched noisily and flew open, and several more Humans were shoved into the cell — including Nigel McCarthy and Carter Thomas.

Adam sprung to his feet and instantly took up a defensive stance — legs spread, left hand forward, right hand back in a fist.

McCarthy instantly recognized Adam and held up his hands, palms open, facing Adam. “No need, Mr. Cain. We are all in the same boat now.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” Adam yelled, taking a step forward.

Carter Thomas stepped between them. “Chill out, man,” the large black man said. “This is not the time or the place. We have to work together now.”

“What’s the use? The fucking Klin aren’t going to keep a lot of troublemakers like us around for very long. I’d just as soon spend what time I have left kicking the shit out this asshole.”

Tobias and Riyad flanked Adam and lightly placed their hands on his shoulders. The last thing the two of them wanted was a full-scale melee to erupt in the cell between Adam’s men and McCarthy’s.

McCarthy stepped around his hulking mediator and up to Adam. “Carter’s right. We have to work together now, as unit — if we’re to get out of here alive. ”

Adam was stunned by McCarthy’s brazen statement. “You’re crazy. Why do you think we have a chance to get out of here?”

McCarthy leaned in closer to Adam; Riyad and Tobias leaned in, too. “It’s because I’ve never trusted these silver-skinned bastards in the first place,” said the big Brit in his sharp, sing-song accent. “You see, I’ve made contingency plans, like any good Special Forces operative would.” He looked Adam hard in the eyes, only inches from his face. “You with me, mate — or not?”

Adam hesitated for a moment, trying to determine the truth in McCarthy’s words. Finally he leaned in even closer and grunted, “Uh-rah, you son-of-a bitch. Let’s do this!”

McCarthy walked over to the wall near the door to the cell. “I’ve had free reign of this place for almost seven years now, and I always wondered why the Klin would have a jail cell constructed on the estate,” he said turning his back on everyone in the room. “The Klin never commit any crime against each other, so I figured it had to be for us — just in case we caused them any trouble.”

He ran his fingers along the concrete block of the wall until he felt something, and then he pushed. One of the blocks spun outward. He reached inside what was a small cavity in the block and pulled out a long tube, about the length of a pencil with tiny notches placed within it. He held it up for all in the cell to see. “I give you … a key.”

Adam rushed forward, flanked by Tobias and Rutledge. “That’s great, McCarthy,” Adam said. “But what do we do once we get outside?”

“I have that covered, too.” The big Brit nodded to Carter Thomas and the other five men who had been placed in the cell with him. They all moved quickly to the cots and flipped them over. Pulling the long side supports apart, they revealed metal tubes with something hidden inside each one. Thomas lifted up one of the tubes and let its contents slide out into this hand. It was a sword, about a meter long. Adam could tell it was one of the fancy biometric blades which utilized nanotechnology for constant sharpening at the molecular level, just like the ones he and Sherri had used on Hyben. These blades never went dull and provided an almost laser-like cut through just about any material.

“Why not flash rifles or something like that?” Sherri asked.

“These are much more subtle, missy,” McCarthy answered; Sherri bristled at being called missy .

“This doesn’t answer the question about what do we do when we get out of here,” Chief Rutledge said. “We’re up to our assholes in hostiles and no way off this rock.”

“Have faith, mate. Like I said, I’ve got it covered. I’ve seen the Klin operate in the past, with other races they’ve used and discarded. Even though they always said they needed me and my men, I never felt they gave us the respect we were due. I figured it was just a matter of time before they’d throw us all away, too, just like the others. Once we’re out of here, there’s a car park behind the building where we can get some transports out of here. Just stick with me and my men, and we’ll be out of here in a jiffy.”

Besides the eight members in Adam’s team — including Kaylor and Jym — McCarthy had Thomas plus five other extremely fit-looking men with him, all looking to be ex-Special Forces as well. All of McCarthy’s men were now armed with the blades, plus three extras which he passed to Adam, Tobias and Rutledge. Tindal, Riyad and Sherri armed themselves each with a length of pipe from the cots.

McCarthy and Thomas took up positions on each side of the door, and then the Brit inserted the key into a round hole in the door and turned it.

Thomas flung the door open while McCarthy bolted into the room outside. Two guards were there, natives of the planet Marishal. Before either could react, McCarthy had slashed down on one of them with the sword, severing the alien’s right arm. The cut was so quick and clean that the stunned creature had time to look down at its fallen limb lying on the floor and then over at its shoulder — a blank look on its face — before collapsing to the ground. Thomas had swung his blade low at the other guard, slicing through both its legs. The creature tumbled forward, and before it could reach the ground, the hulking black man had brought the blade back down from behind, severing the creature’s head from its body. Neither guard had made a sound as they died.

All the prisoners spilled out into the area outside the cell. The jailhouse was a small building, separated from the rest of the more elaborate structures that made up the Klin estate. In consisted of basically two rooms; the room they now found themselves in and the cell itself. Even though the jail had been built as a contingency by the Klin, they obviously had not been expecting to use it much.

McCarthy and Adam moved to the exit and cracked open the door, just enough to look outside. They were about a hundred meters from the main building, with the jailhouse sitting far off in a secluded corner of the grounds. There were a few trees placed aesthetically between them and the main building, and Adam could now see a large number alien cars parked behind the building between the structure and the wide lake.

“We need to get to the car park without drawing attention to ourselves,” McCarthy said. “Go out in twos and threes and walk casually toward the park. Nothing will draw more attention than fifteen people all sprinting across the lawn.”

“Roger that,” Adam said. He turned to his people and they all paired off, making sure that a Human was assigned to walk with Kaylor and Jym each — just in case they panicked halfway to the parking lot.