Desperate Measures Chapter 14

Chapter Twelve

July 15, 2230, France, Provence

The MX 60 sped low over the dense treetops, guided both by Emma’s navigation and direct control. They’d changed the color to a forest green that helped them blend in with the canopy below.

To Erik’s and Jia’s surprise, when they unloaded from the transport, a soldier approached them and gave them a set of coordinates before ushering them off-base with an appropriate security pass.

The pair had expected they’d get their briefing at the base, but it made more sense that they wouldn’t. Colonel Adeyemi was running an off-the-books operation, and no matter how much goodwill or respect he’d accumulated in the Army and how many strings people pulled on his behalf, there was only so much they could tolerate.

It was a dark irony that the whole thing was for the protection of the UTC, and they only had to play so many ghosts games because the tentacles of the conspiracy stretched into so many parts of the government.

Erik often wondered what it’d be like to sit in a meeting of the leaders of the conspiracy, if they had such a thing. There were so many questions he wanted clear answers to. Sophia Vand’s death had wounded them, but Alina couldn’t say how much. Other than collecting alien artifacts, no one knew the ultimate goal of their enemy.

He used to worry that he wouldn’t know when he’d finally won, that there might always be one more bastard out there. Those concerns had vanished after the fight with the Hunter ship. His allies had momentum now, and they could continue chipping away at the enemy, with each victory bringing more targets.

No one could control as much as the conspiracy did without leaving a trail, and now the bloodhounds were sniffing out their awful scent.

“It’s beautiful,” Jia murmured.

“Huh?” Erik looked her way. “What is?”

She gestured out the window at the passing trees and rolling hills in the distance. A curtain of blooming lavender covered a field to their right.

“It’s okay,” Erik admitted.

Jia laughed. “It’s something I let myself forget. Neo SoCal is the ultimate city, and we mainly travel to cities or domes. Sometimes pure nature is nice.”

“You don’t seem like much of a country girl to me.”

“I didn’t say I was, but I can appreciate beauty.” Jia smiled and rested her head against the window. “All that technology and the conspiracy isn’t concentrating on making more beauty, just more monstrous ways to kill and destroy.”

“Weapons always come first,” Erik uttered. “That’s the way things go for humans.”

“It’s not that it bothers me.” Jia lifted her head and laughed. “It’s absurd if you think about it.”

“What is?”

“We’re in the beautiful French countryside, but we’re here not on vacation. We’re here to blow things up.” She mimed an explosion with both hands.

Erik grinned. “It’s not like we have to blow things up, but yeah, that’s probably how things will turn out.”

“It’s humorous.” Jia shook her head. “I’ve traveled more in these last couple of years than in my entire life, and all over. I’m seeing the world and the Solar System.”

“See, I take you nice places,” Erik joked.

“Places to blow up.” Jia tapped her PNIU, and a data window appeared with a city outline that looked familiar.

“Where’s that?” Erik asked.

“Bogota,” Jia replied. “I’d wanted to visit there before we went, but what did we do? We went there in the middle of the night to blow up a Tin Man factory on New Year’s.”

Erik laughed. “Hey, it made for some nice fireworks. We probably saw more of the city than a lot of tourists, and it’s not like we never get to see cool things in the places we visit.”

“The Sky Garden.” Jia smiled warmly. “I have to say, that trip to Lagos does go to show that seeing something up close and in person is different than seeing a hologram, even in VR.”

“And we didn’t blow it up,” Erik insisted. “Rather, we stopped someone from blowing it up.”

“We blew

them

up,” she counter-argued.

“We shot them for the most part. That’s not the same thing.” Erik shrugged.

“Chang’e City,” Jia commented. “Parvati. Unity City. Lots of explosions along the way.”

“A lot of people might travel in their lifetime, but most barely leave their area,” Erik replied with an amused look. “If I hadn’t joined the Army, I bet I would never have left Detroit.”

“And I’d be the person who spent her entire life in Neo SoCal, not convinced I needed to leave the great metroplex either.” Jia let out a quiet chuckle. “We’ve seen a lot of nice things there, too, some I never bothered to go see until my job took me there or Alina chose them for a meeting.”

“Just goes to show that it’s easy to not appreciate what you have, let alone everything else you might have.”

Jia returned to staring at the trees and colorful fields. “We’re a well-traveled couple. Our vacations just tend to involve explosions and bullets, and the occasional laser.”

“For now,” he admitted.

Was that hope?

Jia turned to face him. “Somehow, I think you’d get bored if there wasn’t at least the chance of an explosion.”

“Maybe.” Erik grinned playfully. “Is that so bad?”

“No.” Jia patted his arm. “It’s not.”

The MX 60 slowed and they descended. Erik wouldn’t recommend flying through such a dense forest normally, but Emma wasn’t about to do anything she couldn’t handle. If the MX 60 was smashed to pieces, she’d not only risk destruction, but she would also lose her preferred body.

“We’re about five minutes from the target location,” Emma announced. “I’ve established communications with the colonel’s team.”

Erik rubbed his hands together. “Time to add another location to our explosions and bullets tour list.”