Friday. 14:00 Key West International Airport, Baggage Carousel 4A

“This is literally the most bizarre thing ever.” Kevin and the rest were watching John stew in anger in front of the carousel.

“It is every flight we’re on that this happens.” Thomas shook his head.

“I’m sorry, this is common?” Thomas’ boyfriend Brian Berry asked.

“Oh, that’s right this is the first time you’ve traveled with us.” Jessica said. “Yes, every single time we go anywhere his stuff is amongst the last to be made available for pickup.”

“Every… Single… Time…” Alice was stunned. “I actually owe him an apology for calling him a crazy person for thinking that.”

John was furiously typing another message on his tablet. The veins on his forehead were visibly pulsing. He sent the message to the CEO. And started to swear under his breath. Some noise could be heard, and presumably more bags were being offloaded. The black case, which none of his friends knew what was in or why he brought it and his other checked bag were the last two bags.

“Yeah, let’s not say anything, I’m sure he’s not in the mood.” Andern shook his head.

“Agreed.” Alice shook her head.

John hefted the black case off the carousel and grabbed his other bag. He walked by the group without saying a word and headed to the car rental area. He was still fuming.

“Kevin and Nathan already took care of the vehicles; they are waiting outside.” Kristin told John.

John just nodded and followed the group to their waiting vehicles. The group loaded their gear into the back and then they drove off to the mansion they were staying in for the week. It was a fifteen or so minute drive until they got to the house.

John couldn’t get groceries and booze delivered and stocked up for them. Though ironically, he was able to get a reasonable amount of ammo delivered to the house without issue. After they got situated into the house John gave a pair of credit chits to Theresa and Kevin. Kevin took one vehicle with Nathan, Thomas and Brian and went on a booze run. Theresa went to the grocery store with Alice, Jessica and Kristin.

John was in the master bedroom and getting his stuff put away for the trip. The terminal in the bedroom flashed, there was a call coming in. He walked over and clicked the flashing red button to receive the call.

“Please shut the door and secure the line Cadet Lief.” A slightly robotic and feminine voice said.

John complied. “So, can’t say that I’m surprised there’s another group afoot within the Navy. I bet you contacted me with your sales pitch to sway me over to your side.”

There was a short laugh. “We were told you’d be very perceptive. Yes, many of our values you share. We only seek out the best.”

“Why would I want to be part of any unsanctioned group, you lot all share the same desperate need to grasp onto the power that you have and will lash out if anyone else comes along.” John paused. “And how do I know your group wasn’t involved in the destruction of the Olympus Mons.”

“Your correct in all regards. We have the records, and our determination was that it was an Alliance operation with a sympathizer on the Olympus Mons.”

“Come on, you could at least try and lie better. I’ll make this easy for you. Take no actions against my friends, family or myself and we can find a way to co-exist.”

John ended the call.

“Great, another fucking group. Just what I needed.”

He shook his head and switched into a swimsuit and headed downstairs. Andern was already in the pool relaxing.

“I need a week off to relax and unwind.” John said as he stepped into the pool.

“You and me both brother.” Andern smiled. “So, you guys been doing any wedding planning?”

“Yeah, been doing some. Kinda figured out the size of the wedding party. Still working on small service or big one, and how big the reception would be.”

“So, by the time we get back from winter break it’ll all be planned then.”

“Sure hope so. Turns out wedding planning is actually kind of stressful.” John shrugged.

“Yeah, but once it’s all planned you can start to enjoy the moment more.” Andern was smiling. “Man, I wish I had a beer.”

“Right? Speaking of planning, want to be my best man?”

“Serious?” Andern was extremely happy with the question.

“Yeah.”

“Hell yeah.”

“Thanks. Keep this on the downlow though. We need to do some more planning.”

“No problem.”

The friends relaxed in the pool for another thirty minutes before the first vehicle came back. The girls were back with food. They hopped out of the pool and dried off. They started helping them bring things into the house.

The rest of the day was generally spent relaxing around the pool, playing cornhole and unwinding. Everyone was a bit on edge from the scholastic stress they’ve been under. It was well past time for them to relax.

23:00 Master Bedroom

John walked up to the back case and put his hand over a scanner. “Command Authorization Lief C103-24ZT. Eve, grant access to Alice Robertson to access this case.”

A computerized voice responded. “Access granted.”

Alice walked out of the bathroom. “What are you doing?”

“When I go missing, you’ll want what’s in the black case. Just making sure you can access it is all.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” Alice looked concerned.

“There’s yet another group or clique within the Navy that is trying to pull the strings. This came about as a result of the paper I wrote for one of my classes. They contacted me earlier today.”

“So, you’re basically a moving dartboard finding the poorly hidden things in plain sight.”

John sighed. “Kristin noticed it too. Been trying to make them focus their efforts on me.”

Alice sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t need to shoulder this weight by yourself you know. We can help.”

“I know you want too, but I don’t want you guys to become targets.”

Alice stood up and faced him on bed. “You may not want us to become targets, but our closeness to you will make us targets sooner or later. Plus, I’m marrying you and that alone puts a target on my back. Trust us, we can help.”

John smiled. “I still don’t want to put you guys into a position where you could get hurt or killed.”

Alice responded instantly. “We’re training to be in the Navy, that could happen to any of us. John, we can do more to help one another if you include us.”

John sighed; he conceded the argument to her. He pointed at the case. “Put your hand on the scanner.”

Alice walked over to the caser, and she placed her hand on the case. She heard the locks disengage and the seal to the case broke. She pushed the lid up.

“Ammos on the floor in the box. I will be kidnapped sometime this week. I’ve got a subdermal tracker in my body that broadcasts on an uncommon band that isn’t used by the military. They won’t look for it, so you’ll be able to track me down.”

Alice looked concerned. “We can’t stop it?”

John shook his head. “Better they capture me. If things go our way you may even be able to take the ones running the op into custody.”

“Are you sure about all this?”

“No, but it’s the best way to handle this. Let’s get some rest. We can work out the plan tomorrow.”

Alice didn’t like this conversation one bit, but she got through to John to stop being Atlas and bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders alone. She rested well that night knowing she broke through to John.

Saturday. 09:30 War Room, AKA The Kitchen Table.

“So, they’re going to kidnap you and take you here. Why there?” Kristin asked.

“It allows them to be out effective range for me to dictate the engagement. The guards will be around this building while the ones in charge will largely be here.” John pointed at the two buildings.

“And when is this going down?”

“I can persuade them to move tomorrow by doing something alone. The attack most likely will be induced in the morning when I go on a run by myself.”

“So, are these naval officers or enlisted?” Jessica was looking concerned.

“The ones in charge are likely officers. Don’t worry, they aren’t doing anything legal, so they won’t be able to come after you through a tribunal or general court martial.” John was trying to allay their fears. “If you want no part of this, which is cool, stay here.”

“So, we’re actually going to rescue you. And how are we going to do that?” Kevin laughed.

“Gear’s upstairs.” John looked nonplussed about the whole situation.

They continued to talk about the plan. The mood was dour throughout the day. Drinking was kept to a minimum, but John insisted they relax and enjoy the nice weather. He kept telling the group that tomorrow afternoon he was going to go reef diving for dinner.

They had a hard time understanding how he was as confident as he was. John just shrugged it off. He tried to explain it to them that there was an inevitability about it. Plus, he didn’t agree to join them, so this was their way to more aggressively recruit him into their ranks.

Sunday. 07:15 Rental Mansion

Everyone in the house was up and getting prepared for the day. Everyone except John was hoping he was wrong. John ate a quick breakfast then headed outside for a run. Ten minutes later Alice received a message on her tablet that John had been rendered unconscious and he was currently traveling toward the industrial district near the airport.

“Gear up, the crazy idiot was right about everything.” Alice hollered as she ran upstairs.

Kevin, Andern, Thomas and Nathan were the breaching squad. Kevin and Nathan took rifles, Andern and Thomas took sub machine guns. All four had pistols as backup. Theresa took the DMR, Alice took the remaining rifle. Kristin and Jessica took the remaining sub machine guns. Brian took a pistol and was the getaway driver for them.

The breaching squad was gearing up and putting on armor plates. Twenty minutes later they were ready. Ammo boxes were all over the kitchen floor. All spare magazines were loaded, and suppressors attached to the guns. They went outside and crammed into the van. They headed toward the location where the officers were interrogating John.

07:25 Industrial District

“Jesus, I hate those fucking knock out rounds. You could have just bloody asked, and I would have come with.” John was handcuffed to the chair. “Really, is all this shit necessary?”

There was a hologram projector in front of him, a silhouette of a person was there. A masked voice came on. “Given your talents we had to be careful. We’re painfully aware that your Level three to four telepathic rating is woefully incorrect. By all indications you exceed our grading criteria.”

John just shrugged. “Can we get on with this. I’m on vacation and want to do some scuba diving and other things. Some things with my fiancé that I’d rather not tell you lot too.”

“You’re an impudent one. You aren’t in control here. Now we are going to make an offer that we recommend you take. Failure to do so will result in bodily harm to yourself.”

“Ugh, the same threats. These baseless threats are beneath you lot. So come on, let’s hear your sales pitch.”

John spent the next twenty minutes in a mindless back and forth. They were low on details and high on promises. It wasn’t a good sales pitch, the group obviously had deep connections to the industrialists that supply the Navy, but they were small in numbers and generally didn’t have much influence within the Navy.

“So, the Olympus Mons was an inside job dreamt up by an industrialist to escalate the war and drive-up profits. That’s not cool.”

“Sacrifices need to be made from time to time.”

“I agree, but that wasn’t a sacrifice, that was cold blooded murder. I at least have the decency to look at someone when I kill them. Plus, I only kill those people that actually deserve a good killing. You lot though, that’s colder and more brutal than anything I’ve ever done.”

John continued with the goading. He sensed several familiar presences closing in on his interrogators. There were three guards near him and two by the officers he was talking with. He shared the information for his rescuers.

‘Alice heads up. Two guards where you guys are assaulting. Three in here around me, don’t worry about me, take them into custody.’

07:45 1450 Industrial Way

“Brian, park behind this building. Turn around after we get out and monitor our coms from here.” Alice ordered.

“Roger.” Brian acknowledged the order. When the group left the car, he headed down the street to turn around and park.

“Theresa, you me and Jessica are going up to this building here, we should have visibility.” Alice pointed at the run-down building. “You guys get into position. Heads on swivels.”

Kevin led the assault squad down the alleyway and were waiting for the girls to get into position.

“One guard by the door, other one is likely inside.” Kevin whispered.

Thomas dropped the mag and looked at the round again. “So, he’s not making us killers. Stun rounds.”

“Spray and pray then.” Andern grunted.

Alice spoke. “In position. Guard is looking away. Dash in.”

The boys responded immediately. Kevin and Andern went to the left trailer with Thomas and Nathan going to the right one.

“Taking the shot in three…two…one…” Alice counted down.

Theresa took aim and shot the guard outside. The four boys ran toward to the door. Thomas shot the guard twice more, disarmed him and handcuffed him.

Andern opened the door quietly and moved up the stairs. Kevin and Nathan followed him.

“Thermals show the guard is on the far side of the room.” Jessica said.

“Roger, I got the guard.” Andern switched his gun to full auto. “Entry in three…two…one…”

Andern opened the door and rushed in and took a step the left. Everyone in the room displayed the same amount of shock for a split second. Until Andern pulled the trigger. The expression went from shock to horror and pain. He dropped the guard and one of the officers.

Kevin followed right behind him and was pulling the trigger as he crossed the threshold of the door. The guard took a shot to the leg and another one of the officers took a shot to the chest. Nathan stepped forward into the door and shot the remaining officers.

08:05 Industrial District

John had unlocked the cuffs and stood up. He was talking to the holographic Kevin.

“Nice work. Tell Alice to contact Intelligence. They have a team ready to pick these clowns up.” John walked out of from then back into it. “Oh, if Theresa has shots on the two out fronts tell her to take them out.”

John walked toward the rear of the warehouse and opened the back door. He noticed where the guard was and that he was looking at a couple yachts that were sailing out of the canal. He crept up to the guard and put him into a sleeper hold. When the guard stopped fighting, he took his weapons and handcuffed him.

John dragged the guard back to the rear door then through the whole warehouse. He opened the door to find one downed guard. John dropped the guard he was dragging so he could disarm and handcuff the other downed guard. He then casually walked over to the other guard and did the same to him. Then he dragged him over and created a knocked-out guard pile. John then sat down on a box and watched the guards.

A short while longer Kevin and Nathan had walked over to the warehouse where John was waiting.

“Nice work. No one hurt?” John gave them the thumbs up.

“None of us got hurt. I’d image those stun rounds aren’t a pleasant feeling.”

“They are not, trust me. Don’t feel as bad as actually getting shot though. Less blood amongst other things.”

The friends stayed there chatting for another fifteen minutes or so. Alice was listening in on the whole conversation and was irritated how flippant they were. One of the guards started to wake up.

“Morning sweetheart. I wouldn’t move or put up much of a fuss.” John smiled and pointed the rifle in his direction.

The guard complied and didn’t say anything. Another ten minutes later the Intelligence team showed up and collected the three guards. They didn’t say anything to the group. After collecting the last guard one of them just nodded a head toward the group then their van drove off.

Brian pulled up in the van and most of the group hopped in the side door. John hopped in the back cargo area and laid down.

13:00 Rental Home-Pool Area

John and Alice were sitting at the bar next to the pool.

“Very nice job today.” John toasted Alice’s drink.

“So does this mean you’ll trust us more?” She smirked.

“I always trusted you guys; I just didn’t want you to get mixed up in all this shit.” John looked annoyed. “But I’d also be an idiot if I passed up the help. Someone had to remind me of that. I just hope y’all don’t regret it down the road.”

“I won’t, but then I’m marrying into the mess.” Alice smiled.

“Now do you think I should divorce myself of intelligence?”

“What do you mean?” Alice looked confused.

“How are they any different than this new group or the shadow group of admirals? Same shit just different people.”

“Would that be wise, at least now you have an ally now.”

“Seems a bit too convenient, but you aren’t wrong.” John took a drink. “I’m just wondering when they are going to burn me.”

“May as well use them as much as they use you until you figure that out.”

John nodded at Alice. “Sounds like a plan.”

The couple decided to hop in the pool and relax. It had been an eventful morning. Now it was time to enjoy the rest of the day and their vacation. There was still plenty of time to relax, unwind and not think about all the homework they had in front of them.