UNSCDF2 Chapter 20- A Web of Lies

Kandahar Air Base, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Fire Team Kilo’s Camp

April 19, 2001

0930 Local Time

            “So I heard you are Sarah’s husband…” Reid walked into an officer and greeted Cookson as he was reading some papers.

            “What can I do for you Lieutenant?” Cookson asked.

            “Oh, I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to meet Sarah’s husband in person.” Reid grinned.

            “Okay…what do you mean?” Cookson eyed Reid suspiciously.

            “Well, while I was at the San Francisco Outpost, Sarah and her police friends really helped me and my team work on obtaining Intel about the Russians. Their police work was very helpful.” Reid smiled warmly.

            “Ah…that’s Sarah.” Cookson smiled.

            “I must say Cookson, you have quite a catch on this on.” Reid joked.

            “Yeah, she’s something isn’t she?” Cookson laughed.

            “Oh yes she is. Quite something…” Reid forced a smile as he began to feel enraged about what Sarah had done to him.

            “Oh Lieutenant Reid, you are not the first person to talk about my wife since my arrival here.” Cookson spoke his mind.

            “What do you mean?” Reid looked a bit nervous.

            “Well, Captain Zyrok seems to know about my wife too. It’s funny how small the world is and how Sarah’s connected to everything.” Cookson reflected.

            “It’s almost as if fate is playing its cards.” Reid thought about the chances of actually finding Sarah’s husband.

            “You can say that.” Cookson jotted some notes on his papers.

            Reid looked at Cookson busily writing and turned his head to the door. There was nobody behind him and now was the chance for him to strike and fulfill his vengeance. Cookson looked so innocent and unaware of what Reid’s real intentions were. Reid reached into his gun holster and pulled out his Lock 17.

            “Woah there Lieutenant, what are you doing?” Cookson nearly jumped as he saw Reid pull out his pistol.

            “It’s not personal.” Reid looked at his gun in hand.

            “Guys!” Green rushed into the room and interrupted Reid.

            “What?” Reid turned around.

            Seeing it as a missed opportunity, Reid decided not to gun down Cookson for his own safety and innocence.

            “What?” Reid turned around.

            “What’s wrong with the gun Lieutenant?” Green pointed.

            “Reid?” Cookson stood up behind him with his hand on his gun holster.

            “Well, I said it’s not personal.” Reid pointed the gun on himself.

            “What’s going on?” Green was confused.

            “Reid, put the gun down and we can talk this out.” Cookson waved his hands in a downward motion.

            “It’s too late. I can’t handle the truth now. For God sakes, it’s too late.” Reid sat down with a depressed face.

            “Truth? Too late?” Green asked.

            “Look Cookson, you are lucky. I am not.” Reid cocked his pistol.

            “Reid, tell me what’s going on.” Cookson spoke with sincerity.

            “Cookson, I’m her ex. I know I made mistakes in the past, but I’ve changed. I’ve changed for her. As time went by, I spent in isolation trying to be a better person. I was too late and she was married. I told myself that once I see her husband, I would be convinced. Convinced that it was over for me. Now that you are here in front of me, I am assured of my fate.” Reid closed his eyes and squeezed out a few tears.

            “Why are you giving up now?” Cookson asked softly.

            “There’s no chance for me now. I can see why Sarah chose you. You are a good man and I have dark pasts.” Reid stuck the barrel of the pistol into his mouth.

            “You may have dark pasts, but look at you now. You are no longer the person you hated being.” Cookson pointed out.

            “Yeah Reid, think this out.” Green supported.

            “It’s not that easy.” Reid frowned.

            “It’s never easy, trust me. Once we get out of here, we’ll get you the help you need Reid.” Cookson offered.

            “Speaking of which, this is why I’m here to inform you.” Green interrupted.

            “What?” Reid replied in annoyance.

            “Echo Squad has made the discovery of the Secronom facility.” Green replied.

            “What? Where?” Cookson’s eyes widened.

            “They accidentally stumbled on it and the rest of our squad is heading there.” Green replied.

            “So that’s what you folks are looking for in the middle of nowhere? Secronom?” Reid looked slightly interested.

            “Yeah, come on Reid. Join us and we can get out of here and find you the help.” Cookson offered his hand.

            Cookson stuck out his hand in front of Reid for a long five minutes. Reid looked at Cookson and then Green. He sighed and removed the gun from his mouth.

            “Alright…” Reid grabbed Cookson’s hand and stood up.

            “Trust me.” Cookson watched Reid slid his pistol back into his holster.

            “Alright then, let’s get going.” Green spoke excitedly.

            “Give me a minute or two to clear my mind.” Reid shook his head.

            “Sure, take it easy.” Cookson nodded.

            “Green, can you contact my men to get ready?” Reid asked.

            “Sure thing LT.” Green replied.

            “I’ll meet you guys at the Mess Hall once I’ve cleared my mind.” Reid sat down.

            “No problem.” Green replied and walked off with Cookson.

Reygi, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Secronom Research Facility

April 19, 2001

1215 Local Time

            “I’d say this looks pretty small for a facility.” Nevarez pointed at an office building enclosed by a chain-linked fence.

            “The fence is electrified…” Casey pointed at a sign on the fence.

            “Let’s test it out.” Taylor pointed at a few zombies a few meters away from them.

            “BBQ, anyone?” Schmidt ran towards the zombies.

            Schmidt ran to the three zombies and began to shout. This attracted the zombies’ attention and aggravated the zombies to chase after him. As Schmidt neared the fence, he quickly spun around and shoved two zombies into the fence. The fence crackled with high voltage electricity and fried the zombies to crisp. The last zombie was easily taken out by a good old fashion hand combat which Schmidt had been trained by the UNSC. A trip and a snap to the neck was all it required to dispatch one zombie.

            “Okay, it’s electrified.” Zyrok concluded as he pointed at the charred zombie corpses stuck on the fence.

            “Now what do we do?” Nevarez asked.

            “No way I’m going to cut it.” Schmidt joked.

            “It’s simple. Grab a Warthog and ram it down.” Zyrok pointed at their troop transport Warthog parked down the dusty streets.

            “I’ll ram it.” Casey volunteered.

            “No, I’ll do it. It’s the responsibility of Fire Team Kilo to do this job. Especially with this kind of risk.” a young bald man stepped forward to Zyrok.

            “Okay Powell.” Zyrok nodded.

            “Here are the keys Corporal.” Casey tossed the keys towards Powell.

            Powell quickly snatched the keys with one hand and ran to the Warthog.

            “Stand back, you don’t want bits and pieces of debris or electricity striking you.” Zyrok pointed for cover behind some rocks.

            “You heard the Captain, hustle!” Casey ordered.

            As the marines took cover, Powell drove the Warthog down the asphalt and rammed the chain-linked fence. The fence crashed to the ground and electric sparks flew everywhere. The high intensity of the electricity seemed to have temporary shorted out the Warthog’s engines. Suddenly an alarm blared and red lights flashed.

            “Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” the alarm sounded.

            The ground next to the building shook and a turret rose up from the dirt. In less than ten seconds, four more turrets surfaced from the ground from the edges of the building.

            “Intruder alert! Sentry guns online.” the alarm blared.

            “Get out of there now Powell!” Zyrok shouted in horror as two turrets turned towards a surprised Powell.

            “I can’t.” Powell turned the Warthog’s ignition, but had no effect.

            “Ditch it!” Casey shouted.

            Powell climbed out of the Warthog and began to run when the two turrets fired. Zyrok and his marines watched in terror as the sentry guns fired short controlled bursts of armor piercing rounds into Powell’s back. Powell collapsed to his knees as the bullets ripped through his body and then slammed into the ground lifeless.

            “Nooo! Man down!” Zyrok shouted.

            “We can’t save him, he’s dead.” Casey grabbed Zyrok’s shoulders.

            “God damn it! It’s my fault!” Zyrok blamed himself and stomped on the ground.

            “It’s nobody’s fault. Who knew about the sentry guns?” Taylor reassured Zyrok.

            “Nobody did…now what?” Nevarez replied as he looked at the turrets scanning the vicinity for targets.