Whiskey Delta – Chapter 5

“Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presumably has a wider extension than reverence.”

- Socrates

The walk was uneventful, but charged with a strange energy. Ross was radiating waves of annoyance and displeasure, but Braun could feel something else coming down the hall. The inevitability of an ass-whooping? Who knew? But everyone knew that if the Mage demanded an audience at 0330 hours, then there had to be a damn good reason for it.

Many a time they passed armed guards along the way and the odd grunt who was on duty, all of whom saluted Doctor Ross and himself as they passed by. Braun was sure to snap out a salute in return to each of them, but Ross just grumbled and waved. Until they reached the end of the second corridor, at any rate. Then he just grumbled.

He had done this walk more than a few times since the Mage pulled him from the wreckage of the APD forensics lab. Somehow, the process had worn thin on him, the site of uniformed men and women with impact guns just not impressive to him anymore. He imagined that would change if any Whiskeys ever managed to sneak onto the base and threatened to bite him.

“What did you say your name was?”

 ”Lieutenant Marshall Braun, sir,” Braun said, surprised. He didn’t expect the Doctor to be addressing him at this point. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m taking names for later,” the Doc replied. “I intend to complain.”

Braun smiled. So he was making a shit list, was he? How quaint, and yet expected.

After the last corner, they came within spitting distance of a set of glass-paned doors at the end of the hallway. Two guards stood watch, flanked by flags that were just slightly taller than they were. One bore their colors, the other the colors of the Union. The two men moved into position and pushed the doors aside as Braun and the Doc approached. No doubt they thought this was an interesting sight. A disheveled looking specialist in his work clothes, followed by a grunt dressed in his fatigues and his flack vest. One carried a briefcase and the other an assault rifle.

Inside, the were surrounded by the command center for the base. Functionaries and assistants were busy attending to their posts, still hard at work for no other reason than because the Mage himself was. They all served at his pleasure…

“This way,” Braun said, indicating the door at the end and to their right.

“I know the way,” Ross said, heading in that direction unescorted. When he got to the door, he blew past the last guard and didn’t even bother to knock. Braun was a few feet behind him and unable to intervene in time. Luckily, the General didn’t appear too disturbed by the intrusion. The man standing next to him, Colonel Vasquez, was another matter.

“What is the meaning of this?” he barked in Ross’ direction. As soon as Braun caught up to him, he felt the question being directed at him as well. Luckily, the Mage jumped in to let them both off the hook.

“General, it’s all right. I was expecting the good Doctor.” He stood and came around to the front of the large mahogany desk that filled an entire corner of the office. He gestured to both men to enter. Ross quickly obliged and took both seats in front of the General’s desk. One he selected for sitting, the other he tossed his briefcase onto. That was just fine, as Braun would not sit unless instructed to.

“Can we get you something, Doctor?” The Mage asked.  “Coffee? Tea? Water?”

“I’ll take a whiskey if you have some,” said Ross. “With ice, please.”

The Mage nodded to Vasquez, who seemed just a little annoyed to be rummaging through the General’s liquor cabinet and mini fridge. Such behavior seemed beneath a man wearing a full bird, even if the recipient was an HVI. As soon as the glass landed in Ross’ hand, the General sat back down and got right to it.

“I imagine you’re wondering why you’re here?”

Ross took a slug from the glass and coughed gingerly. “The thought crossed my mind.”

The Mage smiled. “Well, it’s simple really. You see, doc, a few days ago, this office was approached by an informant. An old hermit who lives in the hills outside Espanola who claimed he kept seeing shadows wandering around by the forest whenever he went out at night to hunt. He was quite specific as to where and when they kept showing up. A country trail that wound its way through several patches of trees, and which happened to correspond perfectly with some sightings that were made closer to town.”

The Doc withdrew his drink and began to look thoughtful. He still wasn’t clear on why he was here, but he could sense the general direction of the conversation and didn’t appear too enthused as to where it was going.

“Based on the belief that this hermit knew what he was talking about, elements of 1st Battalion were dispatched to this wooded area to conduct reconnaissance…” he let that linger for a second before getting to the last of it. “Guess what they found?”

The Doc swallowed hard, but smiled. “I’m going to hazard a guess and say they spotted some ambulans mortuus.”

Braun smiled. Only a man like the Doc would waste time using the Latin designation, mainly just to show off. The General smiled too, but there was a spark in his eye that didn’t quite accord with it. The site of that made Braun a little nervous himself, and he wasn’t even the focus of this meeting. Or perhaps he had more of a role to play than he suspected. He still wasn’t sure why he had been asked to stay…

“Lieutenant Braun?” the Mage said, as if sensing his thoughts. “You led the action against the Whiskey Deltas intrusion. Would you care to tell the Doctor what you saw?”

Braun stepped forward. “Well, sir… There were one hundred plus Whiskeys passing through that region, sir. We laid down heavy fire on them, but their numbers weren’t clear until the second wave hit. We were assisted by air support from the One-hundred and Fiftieth who – “

The Mage raised a hand to interrupt. “Would you care to elaborate on the behavior of those one hundred plus Whiskeys, Lieutenant?”

Braun cleared his throat and regrouped. “Well, sir, they appeared to be moving with a purpose.”

“A purpose,” the Mage echoed. “Care to elaborate?”

“Sir, they… were converging on the dirt road that was leading through the treeline. They seemed… to be following it, sir.”

“Following a dirt road at night,” the Mage said conclusively. He was staring straight at the Doctor know, who looked very much like an animal caught in the headlights. Suddenly, it was all abundantly clear. “Traveling as a group at a time when they would be hardest to detect, and following a geographical marker that would lead them to a population center…” Once again, he let the words hang before dropping the most significant part of it. “An eloquent sign of intelligence, wouldn’t you say Doc?”

The Doc looked ready to reply, but stopped short. The ice cubes in his glass rattled suddenly. The Mage looked down to his desk and opened a manila file folder which Braun hadn’t noticed before. The front cover carried the NMNA emblem and had CLASSIFIED stamped across it in red ink. Inside, a series of papers that looked very official were stacked. The Mage began to read from them.

“As I recall, your latest findings indicated that Whiskeys were incapable of… ah, any and all higher reasoning? I believe that’s how you classified their general lack of intelligence. This conclusion included the faculties of abstract reasoning, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, and so on… Nothing but the basest of animal behavior was to be expected from them. That was you’re conclusion, was it not?”

Ross was dumbfounded. He looked back at Braun, half-accusingly and half-frightened. Caught between wanting to blame the man who had brought him here and looking for a friend. Vasquez put an abrupt stop to that.

“Don’t look at the Lieutenant, Doctor! He’s not going to protect you!”

His head snapped back to the General and words began to dribble from his mouth like a bad case of the field runs. Braun suppressed a smile. he couldn’t help but feel that he was bearing witness to the most fitting act of poetic justice anyone on the base had ever seen. All he could do was watch and try not to enjoy the show too much. The man was on trial, after all…

“Sir… sir, I… all the tests were conclusive at the time… if there was any reason to suspect…”

“What concerns me most, Doctor, is that these latest findings mirror earlier findings too closely. It’s as if someone, in an attempt to avoid their responsibilities, simply cut and paste conclusions from an earlier report and submitted them as new.”

The noise coming from the Doc’s glass grew too loud for even him to bear. Placing it down on the table, he began holding his hands before him in prayer-like fashion. “Sir, I can explain…”

“What’s more,” the General cut him off, flipping to a new page in the folder. “I noticed from the base logs that you are spending less and less time at the facilities which were appointed for your research. One would get the impression that you found more lucrative locales to spend your time as of late”

Ross began to shake his head. A typical response for one in his position. “My-my research assistants… th-they will vouch for everything I’ve done -”

“We spoke to your colleagues already, Doctor,” said Vasquez. “And you are right, they did try to cover for you. But once we made it clear that dereliction of duty was no laughing matter, they told us the truth.”

Ross looked between the General, Vasquez, and Braun again. A man looking for an escape and anyone who might help him. The animal had gone from being frozen in the headlights to trapped in a corner, waiting for the attacker to pounce. Braun could only feel sorry for him. Not too much, given the circumstances, but enough to know he still could.

“Doctor, you are no doubt aware of your importance to this base and our ongoing efforts. You know why I saw fit to risk the lives of my men to pull you out of that where we found you, yes?”

Ross began to nod and whisper a string of affirmatives. “Yes… yes…”

The General came around to the front of his desk again and sat down against it. His feet were now poised next to the Doctor’s, his eyes bearing down on him.

“Our intel indicated that the city was completely overrun, all traces of civil authority lost or missing in action. We were prepared to bomb the entire place to hell, but you and what was left of your staff were begging to be rescued. So instead, I sent in a last minute, desperate mission to secure you and your people. In return, you agreed to become our head researcher and continue your work on the Whiskey virus. That position comes with certain responsibilities… one’s which cannot be taken lightly.”

Ross nodded again. His eyes were downcast now, the look of a man condemned and totally at the mercy of another. The general nodded too and looked over to Vasquez.

“You know the penalty for dereliction, don’t you doctor?” he asked.

That did it. Ross cracked and began to weep uncontrollably. The Mage let him for a few seconds before interrupting again.

“You know the law, Doctor. We don’t waste resources on those who refuse to pull their weight. We don’t extend protection to people who cannot produce results.” The weeping intensified. “Were it not for the fact that you are currently irreplaceable, I might be inclined to exact a sentence of exile.”

The doc sniffed and looked up with a start. “You mean… I’m not being sent out?”

“Not at this time,” the General said. Ross practically fell to his knees and began issuing sobs of thanks. The General rolled his eyes and nodded to Vasquez. He walked briskly past Braun and opened the door, the guard who had been standing outside popped in immediately thereafter. “However, I do feel there is a certain question of motivation, Doctor.”

The Mage snapped his fingers at the guard. The man walked to Ross’ side and pulled him to his feet.

“What – where am I going?”

“To your laboratory, Doctor. I’ve asked that my men prepare a cell for you, directly next to the one occupied by your test subjects.”

Ross’s face contorted into a terrified frown. He began to struggle futilely, forcing the guard to grab his other arm and twist it behind his back. Unable to free himself, he resorted to pleading again.

“Oh, please, sir! They’ll eat me alive!”

“Not likely, Doctor,” replied Vasquez. “Those Whiskeys aren’t strong enough to bend steel. Then again, having a live body so close to them might change that.”

“General, please! You can’t!”

“Consider this a reminder, Doctor. You’ve been behind a secure wall for too long. A little exposure to the threat we face is just the thing to motivate you again.”

Ross’s words degenerated into a series of unintelligible screams. He tried struggling again too, but that just made it worse; pain being added to dismay.

“Get him out of here,” Vasquez waved to the guard. Ross was hauled from the room and more hands landed on him outside, assisting in getting the screaming man from the General’s office and from the building. The noise faded into the background within a few minutes and disappeared entirely a few moments later.

Vasquez shook his head and chuckled. The Mage looked at him and then to Braun. He must have thought some explanation was necessary, even if it wasn’t expected.

“Twenty four hours next to those monsters ought to remind him of the importance of his work. Don’t worry… he’ll be alive when we come for him tomorrow night.”

Braun nodded. If he could have found his voice, he would have said that no explanations were necessary. Everybody understood that the Mage’s justice was firm, but fair. And everybody knew that to take his generosity for granted was to incur the worst of it.

“And by the way, Lieutenant… let me be the first to commend you on your exemplary performance out there tonight. You scored a major victory for our side.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Vasquez came to the General’s side with two fresh whiskeys and handed him one. They both raised their glasses in Braun’s direction.

“Cheers, Lieutenant. Every one of those bastards we kill is one less that will bite us later. That’s a certainty few soldiers have anymore. You should be pleased.”

Braun nodded again. There were no words to add, as what he said was a truth no one would contest, even if they could. He stayed until dismissed, heading for the barracks and hoping that the party was still in full swing over there. Given what he just witnessed, he would surely become the life it!