CHAPTER 98: The Obvious Trap

“There is one possibility,” said a man in a small voice as he hesitantly raised his hand.

“No, Gerald! That place is a trap,” chided one man.

“It would be suicide to send people there!”

“After what they just went through, we don’t want to lose more men.”

Adam was rather surprised and a bit curious by the reactions, though he kept his face stoic. What could they have found to be this certain it was a problem.

“Gerald!” snapped Adam, causing the man to shake. “What’s the target?”

“Sir, it isn’t a place we identified ourselves. While you were away, we received a communication through our radio lines. They claimed to be from outside of Memphis and avoided the invaders, stating they want to be evacuated. He said there are thousands of others with him,” explained Gerald.

“It was obviously a trap,” said one man, who shrank once he realized Adam was glaring at him.

“Why is that obviously a trap?” Adam asked levelly.

The colonel answered, trying to take Adam’s attention away from what Adam considered to be easily frightened men.

“The likelihood of him having a working radio set up and knowing our frequencies is less than slight. The signal strength alone was too powerful considering the distance from us he claimed to be at. Add in how unlikely it is for thousands to have survived the last two months at that location, with no easy access to food and water right in the border where the invaders roam, and it can’t be anything less than a trap.”

“Good,” said Adam.

“Good?” the colonel asked confused.

“Yes. I need to find that mind witch and take her out of play. I’ve broken her traps so far, but I need to go further, and without endangering the rest of our forces,” answered Adam.

“We can’t afford anything to happen to you, Adam. This is very ill advised.”

“You have two choices, colonel. You can tell me what you know about this location and let me go out there to kill some invaders, or you can have a very angry Adam stomping around making this place hell for everyone whether he intends to or not,” said Adam, getting a laugh from a few of his friends. Even his mom stifled a chuckle.

“Props for being self-aware enough to know that, darling,” said Andrea.

“When you put it that way,” the colonel answered wryly, feeling the tension in the room drop. “Gerald, go ahead and tell The General what we know and what we suspect.”

“Yes, sir,” said Gerald. A map appeared on the table and zoomed in to an area called Brunswick. “This is where the man said he was hiding. He described an old shopping mall accurately. However, we have identified one merged rift very close, practically down the street from that mall. There’s a second merged rift not far south as well. From what we know, it would be all but impossible for a group of people to survive there.”

“So based on what you know it’s nearly impossible. As we’ve discussed, we know almost nothing. Now tell me the situation based on feel and instincts.”

“Sir, I feel it’s completely impossible. My instincts tell me only a fool would believe it,” said Gerald with a bit of distaste.

“Good,” nodded Adam. “Now what should we do as barbarians?”

“I would gather smaller dinosaurs and send them to the place to spring whatever trap there is.”

“That’s a good suggestion. However, I don’t have the time or patience to do that this time, but we might want to consider it. Forcing a monster stampedes or even raising our own. Definitely something to think about. Maybe beast taming classes. Research it, Gerald.”

“Yes, sir,” said the diminutive man with a bit of surprise.

“Could the man calling us be an invader?” asked Adam.

“No, sir. We had several lingual analysts review the recording and they said the accent and language use are too good for it to be imitated. The man did speak as if he was distracted though, possibly taking cues from captors,” explained another man.

“That makes sense. It also means that even if it is a trap we might be able to rescue some more humans. I’ll be heading towards the place this afternoon. Gerald, show me exactly where it is.”

After seeing where it was, and addressing a few more city issues, Adam was preparing to leave. The colonel and several of the city reps felt they needed to work with the people who had attended the failed raid to get an idea of how it would mentally affect them, as well as the people who hadn’t gone but were exposed to the rumors of it.

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Adam also grabbed Mr. Fenton before he left.

“Can you and the Demo Men gather the items on this paper?” asked Adam as he handed the paper to Mr. Fenton.

Mr. Fenton frowned at the paper, then looked up confused.

“What do you need this stuff for?”

“Preparing for a different raid. I want to make sure we have what we need this time,” said Adam.

“This list doesn’t make sense,” replied Mr. Fenton. Then realized what he said and tried to apologize to his superior. “Sorry, General! I didn’t mean to question you! I just don’t understand what this could be for.”

“Instead of thinking like the military, I’m just thinking like a barbarian. Can you gather it?”

“Yes, sir! Give us two days,” saluted Mr. Fenton.

“Good. Hopefully we’ll have this trap situation handled by then and can move. I feel the need to pick up our expansion pace, even if the rest of the troops can’t keep up with me. We need to find something to improve our disadvantages.”

Mr. Fenton nodded and then hurried off.

Next, Tom came over to Adam.

“Boss, I’m really sorry for your loss,” he said sincerely. Randall and Joseph nodded behind him. “I know you and Nicky-boy were buddies. Our whole group is less for the loss.”

“Thanks, guys. It’ll take me a while to get over it, but we’ll keep pushing forward. I’ll make the invaders pay for it,” said Adam with passion.

“If I may, boss, can I ask one more question?”

“What’s that, Tom?”

“What did your [System] message say when they died?” Tom asked, knowing it was a delicate question. Adam froze and then stared at him.

“I didn’t kill them. Why would I have gotten a message?” Adam asked quietly.

“You’re the sovereign and they’re in your retinue. I just assumed the [System] would keep you informed. It even gave us a skill to find each other. I barely need to think to know where you are. It triggers all the time since I’m almost always thinking of you. What good is that skill if you aren’t told we’re dead?” Tom muttered.

Adam continued to stare. Even the creepy things Tom said didn’t register after hearing the gist of Tom’s statements. He looked at Tom, then to Randall who squirmed under his glare, and finally to Joseph, who wasn’t paying attention.

“I don’t have that skill because I can’t have [System] skills,” said Adam slowly.

“Oh,” said Tom. “Then…are you sure they’re dead?”

Bringing up his status menu, Adam went to the Loyalty tab. Both Nick and Lamar were still on it. Nick’s loyalty had dropped two points, which wasn’t much, and Lamar’s had gone up by five. Adam wanted to put his own head through a wall for only now thinking of this.

He selected Lamar’s name and then watched as a visual indicator, as well as a pull from inside his mind, told him the direction that Lamar was in. It was far. Much further than the base they had assaulted and quite south of it too. At the moment it wasn’t moving. When he selected Nick from the menu, he felt the same distance and direction.

Adam turned his blank stare back to Tom.

“They’re alive,” Adam said woodenly. His friends that heard came over to him.

“You didn’t think to use that before?” asked Brittney.

“He doesn’t have a skill for it, so it takes more effort,” explained Alissa, who had already experienced Adam not using the appointment locater.

“They. Are. Alive.” Once more Adam stated it. A few hands patted his back encouragingly and smiles bloomed around him.

“…and I left them there! It’s already been three days. I’ve got to go get them!” Adam suddenly became frantic. Tom put a hand on his chest.

“Listen, Boss. Far be it for me to question decisions people make,” Tom started, causing everyone in the room to freeze and stare at him incredulously. “I think this might be a delegation moment. Nicky-boy and Lamar-io should be able to survive, especially if they can get into the open land the invaders have avoided. Nicky-boy is our best stealther, and Lamar-io is a hunter and tracker. I’ll send a group of the General’s Guards to try and find them. Enough to take out any pursuing invaders. They’ll be prepared for air bound enemies too. Leave it to them, you go focus on these trapped people that need your help.”

“Adam, I agree with Tom,” said Lucas. “You go handle the other situation and trust Nick and Lamar to survive. They have so far. We’ll make sure support gets to them, several units to search the area you specify.”

Adam didn’t want to, but he nodded in acceptance. Then he finally left the meeting room to pack. It was time to get some control back in this war.

***

When Adam walked outside the Sentinel Army building, his motorcycle was waiting for him. He had notified the mechanics to make sure it was in order, so there was no surprise that it was ready to go. What did surprise him was that there was another person on it.

“What’re you doing here?” Adam asked Brittney, as she shifted to make room for him to drive.

“Oh Adam, you’re the only one who goes fast enough for me. I’m not going to miss this chance for a fun ride,” she said, talking like they were just going out for a joyride.

“I was planning on going alone for this,” Adam said, a bit unsure how to proceed.

“That’s fine. Just pretend I’m not here,” Brittney smiled brightly at him. The smile was so cute and endearing he knew he wouldn’t be able to kick her off the bike.

“And the rest of you?” Adam asked.

Everyone from his group was there. Lucas was in a powerful pick-up truck that had been outfitted with armor, a strengthened frame, and a more powerful engine built thanks to the base’s enhanced tools. Joseph was in the passenger seat while Randall and Elias were in the back.

Alissa was driving a similar pick-up truck, with Abbey and Andrea in the front. The cargo bed had Brandon and Ed in it, along with a few boxes of supplies and a specially built durable box for Ed’s drones and laptop.

Tom was on a motorcycle similar to Adam’s. It had an embarrassing sticker on the back that said, “I ride with The Boss!”

“I just thought it looked like a nice day for a drive,” said Lucas. “Figured I needed to get these guys out of the house. Maybe take them for a walk later.”

“It’s been a while since we visited Memphis,” said Andrea. “Figured we’d make it an all-girls trip.”

“Ed and Brandon aren’t girls,” Adam pointed out.

“Oh, they just wanted us to drop them off by a mall. Brandon wants to get a gift for Gracie.”

“Uh-huh. And you guys?” Adam asked Tom and Carlos.

“I decided I needed to go somewhere,” said Tom using an edgy voice. “Alone. Without anyone else. By myself. Definitely not to help free captured humans.”

Carlos still had a dark look about him, even though he had heard the good news about Lamar and Nick. Adam was surprised he wasn’t leading a group to go after them.

“I’m the only scout here. You’ll need me,” Carlos said sharply.

“I see,” Adam said slowly. “I guess since we’re all heading the same way we might as well travel together.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and started their vehicles. It was time to get on the road.