Terminal Society: The Mackenzie (Mac) Steele Series, #5

By Frank DeCaire

Sergeant Swift stumbles onto a dark secret that President Santillo and the Arcnals have kept from the U.A.S. population.

Can Mac reverse the downward spiral of a society that used to be free and prosperous?

The U.A.S. planetary worlds and Arcnals cannot exist together.

One society will come to an end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank DeCaire
• Release date: Nov 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798223823650

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

The knock had the expected cadence. Three knocks, pause, two knocks. Sergeant Swift pointed his rifle at the door. He cracked it open, recognized Private Baker, and opened the door wide. Private Baker ducked in as Sergeant Swift secured the door behind him.

Report, said Sergeant Swift in a hushed voice.

All cameras in a two-mile radius are completely disabled, private Baker smiled. He opened his backpack and removed a bundle of wires and tiny cameras. Not sure if these are all the cameras or if the government forces installed a few secret ones.

The local network we tapped into shows fifty-seven cameras on this block. If they have any secret ones, then they are connected to a different network.

Roger that. Private Baker counted the cameras in the bundle he dropped on the floor. That’s fifteen, plus the ones we removed yesterday... is fifty-seven.

Now we just sit back and wait for gray goons to investigate, said Sergeant Swift. He removed a wood block covering a rough hole in the boarded-up window. Then he lifted his binoculars and scanned the street in front of the abandoned house they moved into several weeks ago. The overcast sky made the streets appear dark. Sergeant Swift checked his timepiece. Almost nineteen hundred local time.

Private Baker unwrapped an energy bar and took a bite as he sat against the wall.

Sergeant Swift heard the wrapper, lowered his binoculars, and glared at Private Baker. Is that new?

I stopped by the store on the way back, said Private Baker. He grabbed another bar from his backpack and flung it at Sergeant Swift, who quickly snatched it from the air.

Did anyone see you?

Of course not. I jimmied the lock of their storage room. I still can’t believe they have the old style mechanical lock on their back door. They’ll probably figure it out some day, when they’re trying to reconcile their inventory.

Sergeant Swift stared at Private Baker for a long moment. Then he used his teeth to tear the wrapper of the bar while holding with one hand. He held onto the binoculars with the other hand. He chewed on the sugary concoction while scanning the street with the binoculars.

A bright flare from rocket engines of a transport illuminated the buildings across the street. Sergeant Swift couldn’t see it yet, but he knew it was descending from somewhere in the haze above. The sound of the engines grew louder as the craft set down in a parking lot of an abandoned store on the corner. Sergeant Swift hit the zoom button, then switched to infrared to see in the vehicle. The side door opened. Several men in dark uniforms were huddled inside.

Heads up, said Sergeant Swift.

Private Baker got to his knees and extended his data monocle. He removed a brick, blocking another hole in an adjacent side window. He positioned his head so he could see with his monocle covered eye. Sergeant Swift continued to watch with his binoculars.

The dark uniformed men inside the vehicle received information from a soldier in charge as they sat in the vehicle. Then they filed out one at a time in rapid succession. Sergeant Swift noticed the lead gray uniformed solider held a data device and was rotating to zero in on the location he would be heading. The soldier used his free hand to point the direction for his men to move. The soldiers formed into two columns and moved toward their house.

They crossed their front yard diagonally and approached a house next to theirs. When they reached the front door, they split up. Several men went to the back door, while one remained on each side of the house. The remaining soldiers leaned against the front of the house.

Wake the others, said Sergeant Swift. It looks like something is going down.

Private Baker folded his monocle above his head and walked to a back room. When he returned, Private Schmitz and Lance Corporal Sadek followed.

Sergeant Swift zoomed in on the front of the vehicle parked across the street. The front windshields were clear and only the pilot and co-pilot seats could be seen, with no soldiers occupying them.

Baker, Schmitz, said Sergeant Swift. Tag their vehicle with a tracker. It looks empty, but keep your eyes peeled. Sergeant Swift pointed in the transport's direction, parked across the street.

Baker and Schmitz quietly opened the back door and crouched low to stay behind the tall brush that had grown up around their abandoned house over the past year. Sergeant Swift kept a keen eye on their progress as they made their way up the road and behind the vehicle. A booming sound came from the soldiers next door.

Flash-bang.

Sergeant Swift watched the soldiers rush into their neighbor’s house. The interior was dark, but the soldiers activated flashlights on their rifles to illuminate their targets. Dusk was turning to nighttime.

Sergeant Swift rotated his head to observe his men at the transport. They continued to crouch low as they quietly returned to the back door. Sergeant Swift lowered his binoculars, then flipped his monocle down over his left eye. He hit a button to synchronize the signal with the tracker. The device communicated through the wireless satellite network overhead. The signal would remain strong anywhere on Earth. If the transport left Earth's orbit, then all bets would be off.

Sergeant Swift selected purple for the dot color. That should make it distinct from the dots representing threats, painted in red and his men painted in green.

Sergeant Swift felt a cool breeze as the back door opened and his men re-entered the house. A woman screamed. Sergeant Swift stowed his monocle and pointed his binoculars toward the sound. A woman in bindings struggled against the soldiers that had captured her. I wonder what she’s guilty of. Sergeant Swift knew it was all a sham. Too many arrests, mostly made after dark and always with overwhelming numbers. Something didn’t add up. The news channels used to blame the arrests on Arcnal sympathizers. Now that the peace agreement was signed, the entire story changed. Now the Arcnal race was integrated with human worlds and several groups of people were accused of trying to bring down the government.

Sergeant Swift knew little about the woman they arrested. Only that she worked at the local diner and kept to herself. Going to bed around twenty-two hundred every evening and awakening around oh six hundred. She didn’t own a vehicle, and she never had visitors. If she was organizing a revolution, she was much better at secret ops than Sergeant Swift and his men.

Baker, said Sergeant Swift.

What’s on your mind, sarge?

When their transport leaves, I want you and Schmitz to go over to the neighbor’s house and see if you can dig up some Intel on the woman they grabbed. I want to know what they’re arresting her for.

The roar of the engines increased as the transport lifted from the parking lot. Sergeant Swift felt the breeze as the rear door opened again. Private Baker and Schmitz quietly left the house, closing the door behind them.

Over an hour passed before the back door opened again. Sergeant Swift lowered his binoculars. The neighborhood seemed like a ghost town after the soldiers left. Sergeant Swift handed the binoculars to Lance Corporal Sadek, who resumed scanning the street for movement.

What’d you guys find? said Sergeant Swift.

Not much, said Private Baker. She left her PDD. Probably dropped it when they arrested her. It was under a recliner in the living room. He tossed the device to Sergeant Swift.

Sergeant Swift touched the screen, and the device lit up. Not even a pass-code to lock out unwanted eyes. He swished through the applications until he arrived at a text sending application. Sergeant Swift scrolled up through the messages and read them backward in time. Boring conversation with her friend at the diner. They don’t like the president, but who does? Sergeant Swift grinned.

Did you find out where the transport went? said Private Baker.

Sergeant Swift folded down his monocle. Looks like it landed someplace a few blocks away. You guys up for a ten-kilometer hike?

Private Schmitz yawned as he put his hand up.

Looks like I have a volunteer, said Sergeant Swift. Any more takers? No? All right. You two hold the fort while Schmitz and I check out the location where they’re taking the prisoners. Grab the stun guns.

CHAPTER 2

The jungle was hot and stifling. Admiral Ebsworth was tiring of the diet of lizards and snakes. She leaned against the door frame and watched General Soplak work at the console. Fiber optic cables draped down the front where General Soplak had carefully sorted and identified each one and its purpose. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead. She wiped it with her forearm, pushing her hair back out of her eyes.

How goes the hot wiring? she said.

Your technology is difficult to work with. Much of this equipment is unnecessary for space travel.

You’re digging into a luxury ride. The whole point is to add as many luxury items as possible. That’s what brings in the buyers.

General Soplak huffed, then continued to examine each cable behind the communication console. He ignored Admiral Ebsworth as he focused on his task. Admiral Ebsworth turned and left the shuttle. She stood just outside the doorway and looked around. Sunlight formed beams through tiny holes between leaves in the thick canopy overhead.

She took a step and the sound of leaves rustling made her stop. A small lizard scurried up a nearby tree. Admiral Ebsworth breathed a sigh of relief. She suspected nobody from the U.A.S. would return and check on them. Captain Steele and his merry band were probably more than happy to leave her, and General Soplak marooned on this godforsaken planet.

General Soplak poked his head out of the craft. I have successfully connected the inter-dimensional communications unit.

Admiral Ebsworth turned and smiled. Who shall we call?

What about our friend, the president?

Do you have the coordinates of Atarus?

General Soplak returned to the cockpit. Admiral Ebsworth followed and sat in the co-pilot seat. General Soplak typed coordinates into a number pad haphazardly suspended by fiber optic cables over the front of the console. Admiral Ebsworth was surprised he knew the coordinates off the top of his head. She wondered if that gigantic head contained a super-sized brain. Then she remembered a military intelligence report provided by an autopsy of a captured Arcnal body. The report stated that most of the cranium was occupied by an organ similar, but more powerful than that inside an electric eel. The actual brain was slightly smaller than the human brain and less capable.

General Soplak typed a lengthy message on a keyboard still mounted on the console. He seemed slow and awkward with the keys, grunting as he hit the wrong key, then backed up and re-typed.

Admiral Ebsworth smiled. Sorry we don’t have Arcnal keyboards.

General Soplak continued to type his message as he ignored her. He stopped, then hit the send button and sat back in his seat. Your seats leave a lot to be desired.

Admiral Ebsworth rolled her eyes. They’re luxurious for a human. Humans don’t find Arcnal slides, or whatever you call them, to be very comfortable.

She leaned over to look at the status messages scrolling on the screen. The first message said the micro-portal was open. The second message said transmitted. She saw it scroll up a line and show that a receipt was returned and the portal closed. Someone received the message. She could only hope the routing header would send the message down the network on Atarus to President Santillo. The transmission complete message appeared.

Now all we have to do is wait, said Admiral Ebsworth. Do Arcnals play cards?

General Soplak gave her a side eye with a look of disgust.

No? Well, then. I guess it’s another exciting day of staring at each other.

CHAPTER 3

Sergeant Swift strolled down the sidewalk with Private Schmitz. They dressed in civilian clothes to blend in with their surroundings.

This stun rifle is chafing my back, said Private Schmitz.

Could be worst.

How so?

We could be stuck in a firefight with no weapons.

Private Schmitz shook his head as Sergeant Swift chuckled. Sergeant Swift knew where the private was coming from. If not properly padded, the exterior of the Arcnal stun gun’s sharp mechanism would dig into skin. Private Schmitz wore a jacket over his shirt to hide the fact that he was carrying a weapon. Sergeant Swift wore a long coat and hung his rifle along his side, using a sling over his shoulder. He spent many nights practicing a move where he could push his hand under the coat and swing the rifle up into a deadly position. He practiced constantly to make sure the movement was thoughtless and smooth.

Private Schmitz mounted his rifle with the butt facing up so he could drop his coat, then reach behind his shoulder and pivot the weapon over, then forward. Sergeant Swift witnessed the fast and efficient nature of the private whipping out his stun gun. It was an impressive sight, though Sergeant Swift didn’t want to lead on that he thought the private was faster than him.

Sergeant Swift turned his head to the right to face Private Schmitz. He used his peripheral vision to verify nobody was following the duo. He checked to the left and noticed there were no streetlights on this part of the street. Sergeant Swift slipped his headband on and adjusted the monocle. He glanced at the purple dot, then slipped the contraption off his head and jammed it back into his front pocket.

One more click, dead ahead, then a block to the right.

Roger that, sarge.

Careful with the shop talk. We’re supposed to be civvies.

Civvies. Private Schmitz chuckled. Yeah, you blend right in.

Shit. Sergeant Swift realized his mistake. The military slang was beaten into their heads from the first day of boot.

They continued walking down the sidewalk. Sergeant Swift was amazed at how empty the streets were. The situation was becoming more acute by the day. People didn’t know the details of what was going on, but one could get the sense that everyone understood something bad was occurring under their nose.

When they reached the road they were looking for, Private Schmitz almost continued straight down the sidewalk. Sergeant Swift tapped his arm and pointed down the side street. At the end of the block was a large red concrete building that was well lit. Everything else on the block was dark.

Sergeant Swift picked up the pace while Private Schmitz dropped back a bit. When they were close to the twenty story building, Sergeant Swift stopped and leaned against a pole. The red building was diagonally across the intersection from where he stood.

That building brings back memories, said Sergeant Swift.

Private Schmitz nodded. Reminds me of that city we checked out on the Arcnal home world.

Let’s work our way around the back and see if we can make entry.

Sergeant Swift crossed the street and continued past the building as if he were heading for a different destination. Private Schmitz watched the rear as he followed from a distance. When they arrived at a spot in the street where it was dark again, they cross to the side with the Arcnal building and doubled-back. Sergeant Swift watched for obvious cameras. He suspected they might have tiny hidden cameras that are difficult to detect. If the goons show up, then they could use their fake IDs and pretend they were lost.

Sergeant Swift ducked behind the building and looked for an entry point. A large delivery door looked like a good point. He checked the mechanism and noticed that it had no access device on the outside. The door was opened only from the inside. He reached into his left pocket and retrieved his code breaker. He smiled as a flashback of when he bought the device on-line came to mind. Best purchase he ever made on Earth.

The lights on the front of the device scanned back and forth. Sergeant Swift placed his palm over the lights so it didn’t attract attention. The device scanned for several minutes. Sergeant Swift looked at the lights on the front of the device, then put his hand back over it.

Sergeant Swift paced back and forth. Come on, come on.

The lights on the device flashed, then went out.

Damn it, said Sergeant Swift. Might be an Arcnal mechanism. He bent down and looked at the slot between the door and the frame. It was precisely aligned with too little space for a pry bar.

Private Schmitz gave Sergeant Swift a slight push to the side. He extracted a thin tape and slipped it into the slot. He connected a device to it, then pressed the button and backed away. Sergeant Swift turned and put his fingers in his ears. The thin explosive fizzed, but did not make a loud bang. The intensity of the light put out was like an arc welder.

Private Schmitz grabbed the door with his fingers, but couldn’t get a grip on the tight seal. Sergeant Swift pulled out a multi-tool he normally used for disassembling his M-300 rifle. The screwdriver blade fit in the slot between the door and the frame. When he pried the door, it opened enough for Private Schmitz to get his fingers around the edge.

Ready? said Private Schmitz as he braced to pull hard.

Ready.

Private Schmitz pulled the door open as Sergeant Swift swung his rifle up. The interior was dark. Sergeant Swift fumbled for his headband. He put it on his head and adjusted the monocle for infrared. The interior was empty.

Private Schmitz shrugged off his coat and draped it over his left arm. Then he reached over his shoulder and extracted his Arcnal stun rifle. Sergeant Swift swung his rifle side to side as he entered the space and watched for movement. A doorway led to an open area. Large plastic containers were stacked throughout.

Sergeant Swift turned to face Private Schmitz. Storage room.

Roger that.

They continued through the storage room. Sergeant Swift looked inside a container. It was filled with an assortment of parts he couldn’t identify. Each part was bagged and labeled. He continued down the rows of containers stacked to the ceiling. Sergeant Swift saw a door at the end of the passageway. He smiled when he saw the design of the handle.

Just as I thought, he said. Arcnal design. Sergeant Swift grabbed the odd shaped handle then paused. Why are they bringing civvies to this building?

Private Schmitz smiled. I guess we’ll find out.

Sergeant Swift cracked the door and looked inside. A darkened hallway. He opened the door enough to slide through. Private Schmitz held the door open with his foot as they both entered the hallway. A sound from the end of the hall made them both freeze in place. Sergeant Swift pointed to the other side of the hallway. Private Schmitz stepped to the other side of the hallway while Sergeant Swift stayed, ensuring that both sides were covered.

Sergeant Swift tried to identify the sound he was hearing. It sounded like several dozen pairs of boots stomping on the floor some place far ahead. He worked his way to the other end of the hallway, where an open staircase glowed from a dim light.

Sergeant Swift ducked his head into the doorway for a split second before pulling back. The light was from a lower level and the staircase was empty. The boot steps were louder. He waved at Private Schmitz to close up the gap. After Private Schmitz moved up, Sergeant Swift quietly descended the stairs.

When he arrived at the bottom, the boot steps stopped at once. Sergeant Swift froze against the wall. He moved his head to peek around the corner while exposing as little of his face as possible. After he took a quick glance, he pulled his head back.

There are more than a dozen Arcnal soldier drones lined up in front of a large round opening, he whispered to Private Schmitz.

Private Schmitz lowered his rifle and leaned out enough to look for himself. Then he pulled his head back.