Interlude - Spying

Jeremy Jackson leaned over the prone form of Jeff and nudged him awake. “Jeff,” he whispered. “It’s your watch.”

The short man grumbled in complaint, then wiped his eyes and sat up from his sleeping roll. “Time?” his deep voice croaked.

“Six in the morning,” Jeremy replied.

Jeff nodded while he yawned and then glanced over to Montgomery’s still sleeping form. He frowned and then backhanded his friend’s chest, hard.

“Ugh!” Montgomery jerked awake, eyes wide, and rubbed his chest. “What the hell?”

That’s my clue to leave.

Jeremy quickly fled the area, eager to avoid the talkative man. While he liked Montgomery, the ex-firefighter was best taken in small doses. Besides, he had a task he needed to accomplish, and wanted to get some sleep before their morning raid.

When he rejoined Lee at his guard post outside their makeshift jail, the Asian man nodded at his return. “Another couple minutes, and we’ll be relieved,” he told his subordinate.

“Finally,” Jimmy huffed. “Then I can get some damn sleep.”

“Let’s take a walk, first,” Jeremy suggested. “I want your opinion on something.”

Jimmy Lee frowned. “And that requires a walk?”

Jeremy nodded.

With a sigh, his subordinate relented. A moment later, Montgomery and Jeff appeared. They seemed to be in a minor argument, and they seemed oblivious to their surroundings.

“... not to wake me up that way. How would you like it if I slapped you upside the head every morning?”

“You did,” Jeff grunted in reply.

Montgomery rolled his eyes. “That was one time!” he insisted with a raised finger. “Ever since then, you’ve been an ass.”

Jeff shrugged. “Consequences.”

“This is way beyond payback,” Montgomery ranted. “At this point, it’s malicious.”

Jeremy shook his head and interrupted the tall, thin man. “The watch is yours.”

Montgomery started, as if surprised he was there. “Oh, uh… okay.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes and strode away, Lee behind him. When they reached the treeline, he glanced backward to ensure they were alone. However, before he could begin a conversation, Jimmy said, “You sure we should trust those two to keep watch? They seem distracted.”

“It’s fine,” Jeremy assured him as they stepped deeper into the dark woods. “Montgomery might stumble around like a chicken with its head cut off, but Jeff’s solid.”

“If you say so,” Jimmy muttered. “So, Cap, why’d we have to head out here? What couldn’t be said over comms?”

“Shh,” he shushed his subordinate. “I told you to stop calling me that.”

Jimmy winced. “Sorry, habit.”

Jeremy sighed. “I don’t like using the AI’s messaging system. I prefer to talk out loud.”

Lee furrowed his brows in confusion but remained silent.

After a moment, Jeremy asked, “What do you think of this whole situation?” He then clarified, “The attack and Blake’s response to it.”

Lee shrugged. “I think it’s a shit-show, but he ain’t wrong to counter-attack.”

Jeremy waved the statement away. “Not that. What did you think about the torture?”

“Oh. Pretty sure he did it wrong. Although, it has been a while since training.”

“Exactly!” Jeremy agreed in a fierce whisper. “He didn’t do any of it by the book. Blake got the man talking, but who knows if he was telling the truth. At that point, he’d say anything to keep from getting burned.” Jeremy let out a deep breath of frustration. “The kid never bothered to re-ask the same question to see if the story changed, and worst of all, didn’t verify anything with another prisoner. I even suggested he grab someone else, but he didn’t seem to think it was necessary.”

By the end of his rant, Jeremy’s voice had risen, and his jaw was clenched.

“Yeah, that was pretty dumb,” Lee agreed. “He seemed pretty cold afterward too, like it didn’t bother him at all.”

“I know!” Jeremy nodded. “What kind of eighteen-year old tortures a man and then goes to sleep right after? A psychopath, that’s who!”

“Or, maybe he really is from the future, and he’s done this before,” Lee disagreed.

Jeremy groaned. “Really? You actually believe that crap? What’s more plausible, some battle-hardened soldier comes back from the future to save man-kind, yet screws up a simple interrogation, or a psychopath of a kid gets recruited by the alien AI, and is in over his head.”

Lee shrugged. “I don’t know, but he’s played it pretty straight so far.”

Jeremy’s jaw dropped. “You were right next to me when we watched that interview! He turned half the country against President Warner overnight! How is that playing it straight?”

“He had a point,” Lee argued. “That was some serious communist bullshit. That ain’t the America I signed up to defend.”

Am I losing Lee, now?

“But, Warner’s lost half his governors and congressmen since then. Now everyone’s unorganized, and no one knows what the hell is going on. Warner may have gone about things the wrong way, but at least we had clear leadership under him. Now, we may have a civil war on our hands.”

Lee shrugged. “All Warner has to do is change his policies, and people will gladly flock back to him. If he can’t do that, maybe he doesn’t deserve to be in charge.”

Jeremy shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Are you siding with Blake now? The alien’s ambassador?”

“He’s our ambassador,” Jimmy corrected. “And, if he actually went back in time, he’s our best hope to survive this shit.”

“If,” Jeremy emphasized. “And that’s a big if, he actually did somehow time travel, then I’d agree with you. But, this shit doesn’t add up.”

“You’re overthinking it, Cap. Let’s just hit the sack. We can talk about it more tomorrow.”

Jeremy shook his head. “I can’t yet, I still need to report to Peters.”

Lee’s jaw dropped. “You’re still playing spy for that asshole? I don’t understand how you can trust him, but you can’t trust Blake. That CIA dude doesn’t give a shit about us, he’s the real psychopath.”

Jeremy scowled. “He may be an asshole, but at least I know he’s working for America. Blake’s loyalties are still suspect. Until I know for sure where the kid stands, I’ll keep passing along info.”

Lee shook his head. “Does he have something on you or something? Got a sister he’s holding hostage or something?”

“I don’t have a sister. Besides, it’s not like I have anything huge to report. And, if Peters is right, you’ll be glad I did whatever I could to stop Blake.”

“Whatever you say, Cap. I’m going to bed.”

After Lee left, Jeremy sighed and attempted to contact Scott Peters through holo-chat. On the East Coast, it was eight in the morning, and he was relatively certain the CIA man would be awake. A few moments later, the call went through.

Scott appeared before him, seated behind a conference table in a suit. A bead of sweat dripped down his face, a testament to the humidity and heat of the District of Columbia.

Damn, if it’s that hot early in the morning, I’d hate to see it mid-afternoon.

“Report,” Mister Peters ordered.

“We’ve reached Prescott, and we’ve started setting up another town here in the woods.”

Scott’s eyes narrowed. “Be specific. Where is it situated in the woods? Are there any natural features nearby? Can it be defended easily? Is the approach hidden or exposed?”

Jeremy scowled. “I told you I’d make a shitty spy. I should be running my team through scenarios so we can get stronger, not babysitting Blake.” He ran a hand through his hair and breathed out a sigh. “It’s set up in the parking lot of Goldwater Lake park. That’s just a few miles south of downtown Prescott, but higher elevation. There are trees everywhere, and you can see maybe two to three hundred feet before your view’s blocked.”

“ETA before a wall is constructed?” Scott pressed.

Jeremy shrugged. “From what I overheard, they want the faction hall to reach level two before they start on it. That way they can wall in a bigger area. It’s not as much of a problem as it was in Eager. There was some kind of directive there that sent constant waves of monsters at us. Here, it seems to be pretty dead. We’ve only had two monsters attack so far.”

After Jeremy paused, Scott asked, “Anything else?”
 He nodded. “Yeah, a squad of men showed up three hours ago in the middle of the night. Blake captured all but two of them and interrogated one. If you can believe what he told us, they were after the trucks and supplies.”

“Is there a reason to doubt the intel?”

Jeremy shook his head. “Not really. If you show up at three in the morning with guns, you’re up to no good. But, the interrogation was a shit show.”

“Did he utilize torture?” Scott leaned forward, interested for the first time.

“Yeah, but just once. After that, the guy talked his head off.”

“Please tell me you recorded the interaction.”

Shit! I didn’t think about that. I told him I make a shitty spy!

“I couldn’t, it was dark, and he was too far away,” Jeremy half-lied.

Mister Peters leaned back in his high backed chair, disappointed. “Pity. We seem to be losing the PR front after that disastrous interview. That could have muddied the waters.”

“Well, Blake plans to retaliate in a few hours after breakfast,” he pointed out. “I can record that and send it over to you.”

Scott wiped beads of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “Yes… that could work. Make sure you catch him doing something compromising this time.”

“What if he doesn’t do anything bad?” Jeremy asked.

Mister Peters narrowed his eyes. “Then get creative. Choose your viewing angles wisely. As long as you catch him fighting, we can edit the clips to spin any narrative we like.”

God, I hate this shit. Maybe Lee’s right, and we should just go AWOL.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Jeremy gave a vague promise.

“See that you do,” Scott nodded curtly and then disappeared.

What an asshole.

Next Chapter