“I’m not alone anymore,” Annalise looked at Brody and Jade.
“So… what do you want?” Brody asked.
Mercy waved her hand in the air, “We need help, up here, in these mountains. Local knowledge, a guide, call it what you want. We’ve used an NSA GPS tracker to follow the alphas and we know they’re somewhere in these mountains. We’ve not switched on the tracker for a while as we don’t want it to lead the NSA to us. The problem is we’re running out of time for my friend Rose, we need to get to her fast, rescue her, get her away from these alpha tropes. We thought… I thought Annalise could give us a steer… after all, this is your back yard—”
Jade gave Brody a look. She turned to Mercy, “There ain’t nothing in this life for free no more, you’ve gotta earn our help—”
Brody raised a hand, “We could help you out, like you say these mountains are treacherous if you don’t know what you’re doing, especially when bad weather comes in. And then there are the bears—”
Tawny flinched and muttered something under her breath.
“But we would expect something in return,” Jade said.
Annalise put her hand on the table, “The NSA militia in Charlottesville are holding some of our people in the prison. They’re using them as slave labour… and worse, if you’re a woman. The militia have tropes chained to the perimeter fence as part of their security. I could deal with one or two of them but if you and your friends here are the same as me, we’d stand a better chance to break through the fence—”
Brody leaned forwards, “So, you see… you have a need and we have a need. We can help each other, it’s a win-win. Would you be prepared to help us out?”
Mercy glanced at Tawny and Flynn, “Sure we would, but we need to rescue my friend first. These alphas… I’ve no idea what they’re going to do with her. Our time is short—”
Brody stood up, “It’s settled then, I’ll get one of my best scouts, he’ll take you away from here so you can use your tracker and see where they’ve taken your friend. That way they won’t get a fix on our camp. Then we can organise a trip to go and get her back. What’s her name again?”
Mercy stood up, “Rose—”
Brodie held out his hand, “Let’s shake on it.”
Shake? That’s so… twentieth century—
Mercy shook his hand, “You’re old school… I mean, with the old customs. I haven’t shaken anyone’s hand in like… forever—”
Brody grinned, “Not everything has died out, at least not yet. The old world did have some redeemable features, despite what happened in the end. I’ll be a few minutes. I’ll go get your guide—”
Brody left the room.
Mercy looked at Annalise and Jade, “So, how many of your people are prisoners in Charlottesville?”
Jade reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a wallet. She opened it and pushed it across the table to Mercy, “They’ve got my mother and my younger brother and sister. Also some other of our families are in there. They ambushed us on a scavenging trip. They shot three of us, two died, we came back here. We’ve been planning a raid for a while but their fence and the tropes tied to it are a big deterrent. We knew about Annalise’s ability, but she’s only one person. With your help it’ll be different—”
Annalise tapped the table, “They’ve got twelve of our people in all. There’s others in there, being held against their will. They’re being forced to do farm work and to scavenge high risk sites with sniper back up. We’ve watched a few of the militia’s operations from a distance. They send prisoners in as bait, drawing the tropes away. Then they go in and take what they can from wherever it is—”
Tawny glanced at Mercy and nodded, “I’ve seen that done before. It sucks. We’ll need to do a recon of this prison and see where the weak spots are. We’ll be able to come up with something—”
The door opened and Brody stepped in, accompanied by an older man. “This is Sledge, he’s a tracker. He’s the closest thing you’ll get to Sasquatch around here. Sledge, these are the people I told you about. We’re going to help them out and in turn they’re gonna help us spring our people from Charlottesville.”
Sledge took in Barnes, Tawny and Flynn. He approached Mercy, “You’re the one Annalise vouched for. Brody filled me in.” He glanced at the window. “I hear you’re up against the clock, so let’s go now. I’ve got a place in mind where you can dial up that thing,” he pointed at the tracker on the table.
Mercy pursed her lips.
Shit, this guy reeks of booze. Don’t say anything though, this is a means to an end—
“Yeah, let’s go—” Mercy stood up.
Sledge made for the door, “It’s quicker if we go on horseback. You people can ride, can’t you?”
Shit, well, we did train on the horse simulator on the aircraft carrier—
“Yeah, it’s been a while, but we’re good,” Flynn piped up, eyeing Mercy.
They went outside. Seven horses were waiting for them.
“A horse each,” Brody said. “Annalise and Jade will go with you. Sledge will lead the way, you’ll switch that thing on and find out where they’re holding your friend. We’ll see you back here when you’re done—”
Tawny pressed up to Mercy, “What could possibly go wrong?”
Mercy grimaced.
Fifty minutes later they were on a subsidiary peak, away from the campground. They tethered the horses and gathered around the NSA GPS tracker. Sledge had brought a map of the area
