Counterattack, Part 16
Sedeh
The gunfire outside was slowing down. Gertrude worked up the courage to approach the door leading onto the field. Looking through a window, she saw no living Crusaders. They had all apparently been killed.
But what about Elias? Her attention was drawn to the side, where she saw metal glinting in the grass in the middle of a group of Persian soldiers. Looking closer, she saw the outlines of a man within the metal.
What happened to you, Elias?
On the other side of the field, she saw medics carrying two women out of a tank and into a waiting ambulance. No such help came for Elias. She waited for another minute. The ambulance left the stadium, along with many of the troops, but nobody came for Elias. Her mind urged her to leave the hallway and run up to him, but she refused, knowing what would happen. But it didn’t feel right to stay where she was. She had to do something. She hated not being in control of her circumstances. It was the worst possible feeling.
Fortunately, at that moment, she heard the door behind her swing open. Gertrude spun around, half expecting to be immediately shot by Persian reinforcements. She was surprised to see a Crusader squad running up to her.
“Oh, thank the Lord,” she said, “My prayers have been answered.”
“Ma’am, we heard about your situation.” She recognized the Crusader commander as the one who greeted her when her helicopter touched down. “We’re here to get you out.”
“Finally,” Gertrude said, “What took you so long?”
“There was an issue with the Panopticons. Someone hacked into the network and issued some bad orders which really frakked us up. All of the rank and file soldiers were forced to withdraw from the city and are currently being slaughtered by the enemy. We’re locked out of the system and can’t fix it.”
“But you’re not affected?” Gertrude said.
“We get bad reception here, so that gave me enough time to issue a shutdown order for my troops,” the commander said, “We can’t use our P’s, but at least we’re still in control. Still, we have to withdraw from Sedeh now that our line’s compromised. Thank the Lord you’re okay. Now let’s go.”
“But what about my husband?”
The commander looked confused. “Regent Anhorn? What about him?”
Gertrude opened the door to the field by an inch, allowing the commander to see Elias surrounded. “My husband is about to be tortured and humiliated by these pagan barbarians, like how Saint Peter was crucified, and you’re just going to leave him there?”
“Ma’am, my orders were to evacuate you—”
“And not my husband?”
It’s great to hear them prioritizing me over Elias for once, but this is the worst possible time! “He’s a regent! We can’t let him fall into enemy hands!”
“But we’re not equipped to—”
“As the wife of the regent, I am giving you new orders.”
I hope I can still pull rank with these guys. “You are to recover Elias Anhorn, whatever it takes. Am I clear?”
The commander hesitated for a few seconds, but eventually he relented. “Yes, ma’am.” He motioned to his men. “Men, you heard your orders! Commence the attack!”
They charged onto the field and attacked the Persians guarding Elias, easily overwhelming their surprised opponent. Three Crusaders were killed in the attack, but the entire Persian squad lay dead or critically wounded on the ground. The commander returned to Gertrude, lifting Elias by his shoulder. This gave Gertrude a clear view of his gaping chest wound—hastily patched up with gauze by the Persian medic—through his torn fatigues.
“What the hell did you do, Elias?” she muttered.
Elias was almost delirious now. “Ess-phreanseahse…chaeyahtaed…maesht…haehve…raehfeanch…”
That crazy sword-swinging princess must’ve done this to him. There was no use responding. Elias probably wouldn’t understand what she said anyways.
“Your orders, ma’am?” the commander asked.
“Let’s withdraw to the parking lot,” Gertrude said, “You got in here, so you can at least get us out, right?”
“Yes, through the western block. But our front line’s completely collapsed, so we won’t be able to hold it for much longer.”
“That’ll do.” They started walking.
“Is there a helicopter or something we can use to evacuate the city?” Gertrude asked.
The commander shook his head. “We don’t have air support.”
“So…ground vehicles?” Gertrude said. “Like trucks and APCs?”
“We still have a few, but we don’t have enough for everyone who got the shutdown order and regrouped here. So we…” he hesitated.
“We
what?” Gertrude asked.
“Uh…” the commander said.
“Out with it!”
“We…commandeered whatever civilian vehicles we could find from around the city.”
Gertrude rolled her eyes.
Now they’re taking random cars? “Frak, can this day get any worse?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find something for you two,” the commander said.
“That’s not assuring me.”
They reached the parking lot. To Gertrude’s left, she saw Crusaders crouching behind boxes, cars, and barricades, shooting at Persian lines two rows away. Her Crusader escort formed a protective line around her, Elias, and the commander. The gunfire was sporadic and subdued, not as intense as it was in the stadium. Were the Crusaders winning? She didn’t want to know.
“Over here.” The commander led Gertrude to a group of regular cars. At first, nothing stood out about them. She saw the usual pickup trucks, sedans, station wagons, vans, and even a few low-end sports cars. Looking through their windows, she saw each was already packed with at least five Crusaders, each bloody and weary. “I’m sorry, we had to prioritize our wounded for evacuation and weren’t expecting you.”
“What do you mean not expecting us?!” Gertrude said.
The commander immediately backtracked. “Well, ma’am, Regent Anhorn here was adamant that was going to win the battle in the stadium earlier, so we weren’t worried about him. You arrived here unannounced, so our plans didn’t have you in mind. And since we were expecting victory, we didn’t have contingency plans for a retreat.”
Or maybe you just don’t care about me anymore. Nobody has today. “So do you have a car for me?”
The commander nodded. “Over here.” He pointed at a beaten up boxy black vintage sedan. Getrude had seen this model a couple times before, particularly when Anders Humboldt decided to crash her speaking events. That particular car was probably long gone by now. She didn’t think other people still drove seventy-year-old Impalas around. And what was with that weird glowing blue engine sticking out from the hood? “You might notice this car was modified a little. We haven’t been able to figure out how the engine works, but it’s incredibly powerful. Theodor and his team personally marked it down as something to take back to Jerusalem for further study. Oh, and if you’re worried about comfort, the seats are decent.”
Two Crusaders opened the doors and laid Elias on a seat. The commander opened the front door for Gertrude. Puzzled, Gertrude looked back at him. “You expect me to drive my own evacuation?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But on the bright side, everyone else is doing it!”
Gertrude facepalmed. “Frak my life…”
Or not, because it’s already been frakked for the last nine years. She reluctantly got behind the wheel, feeling the soft leather of the seat against her back. She noticed a familiar bottle of vintage wine in the cupholder. “Did you…put that there?”
“After the Persians took the stadium kitchen, we could no longer use the freezers there, and I was pressed for time.”
So you prioritized a wine bottle over me and Elias. “You guys are hopeless.” Gertrude rolled her eyes and started the engine.
How nice of the previous owner to leave their keys in the ignition. I don’t want to ask someone to hot wire this old car. No coughing or wheezing came from the engine as she would have expected. All of the systems lit up like usual, but the engine only hummed and glowed. Next, she noticed a peculiar switch underneath the wheel. Curious, she flipped it. The engine immediately let out a high pitched whine, and the blue glow deepened to an overwhelming cyan. She felt a gentle but ominous vibration ripple through the frame of the car, slowly intensifying.
“Ma’am!” the commander shouted.
Is that what I think it is? Gertrude immediately flipped the switch again. The glow returned to normal, and the nervewracking rattling subsided. She and the commander let out a sigh of relief. Elias said nothing. Gertrude doubted he even noticed. A thought sprung to her mind.
Is God answering my prayers?
“We should get you to another car,” the commander said.
“No, I think I’m good,” Gertrude said, “Should be easy not to flip that switch again.”
This is a sign.
“Should we at least remove it?” the commander asked.
“You said Theodor wanted the engine? Well, he’d be disappointed if the whole thing blew up because
some random Crusader decided to mess with it.”
The commander looked down. “Of course, ma’am. But I really think we should get you another car.”
“No.” Gertrude was much firmer with the denial. “That’s an order.”
The commander took a moment to relent. “Fine. We will begin the evacuation shortly with a signal.” He handed a paper map to her, with a route drawn in marker. “Follow that route to the rendezvous outside the city.”
“Got it,” Gertrude said, “Thank you.”
“God willing, we will all make it out of here—” At that moment, a bullet struck the commander in the shoulder, and he fell.
Looks like God didn’t will it.
The Persians were making a run for the convoy. Gertrude spotted soldiers weaving between barricades and abandoned cars scattered across the parking lot. Bullets zipped over her car, some scraping the roof and spurring her to duck. Elias muttered something in his thick accent, but Gertrude didn’t understand him.
The injured commander banged on the door. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear his voice. “Go! We’ll hold them off!”
Gertrude looked at the rest of the squad, but all of them had dropped their guns and fled. Running across the parking lot without hiding behind cover allowed the Persians to easily pick them off.
“What are you all playing at?!” the commander shouted. “Get back here before I charge you for desertion!”
But without their Panopticons to enforce compliance, none of the Crusaders listened to him. Two made it out of the parking lot and disappeared behind a street corner, but the rest were shot down.
“Get in the car!” Gertrude said.
The commander grunted. “Don’t worry about me, just save yourself!”
“I’m not going to abandon you.”
“Just leave me and get to safety! Jerusalem needs its regent alive. God will look after me—” A bullet tore through his head.
Looks like God wasn’t looking. In that case, I should look out for myself. Her foot hovered over the gas pedal, but her resolve suddenly wavered. The car remained where it was as the Persians closed in.
“Hey, in the back!” A soldier checked a photo in his hand. “That’s…that’s Elias Anhorn! The Mad Regent!”
“Which means the lady there is…Gertrude Anhorn. His wife.”
Gertrude’s face paled when she heard her name.
“What’s she doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not complaining!”
“Cease fire!” the Persian commander said. “Repeat, cease fire! We need them alive!”
The Persian troops surrounded the car. “Anhorns, we have you surrounded! Come out of the car, right now!” Everywhere Gertrude turned, she saw the muzzle of an assault rifle aimed at her head.
Why aren’t you driving? Why? Her foot remained over the pedal, but it did not move. She didn’t know why. Or perhaps she did.
“What’s…going on?” Elias said.
“The enemy’s here.”
Yes, I know why I hesitated now. Her eye wandered to the peculiar switch again.
I know what I must do.
“They…want us to surrender?”
Gertrude nodded. “But I won’t give it to them.”
“Oh, praise God!” Elias smiled. “I’ve been blessed.”
“Blessed?”
“He saved my life twice in the last hour,” Elias said, “He knows I still have work to do. Our dream can still be fulfilled. All that matters is overcoming this last trial from Him.”
There’s no denying it. Elias is too far gone. He’s taken everything we’ve done and run it into the ground. It’s all over. Ellie’s dream is dead, and we killed it. I killed it. Gertrude forced a smile. “Yes, we’ll overcome this test. God’s will be done.”
“The two of us are together, as we’ve always been. Once we return to Jerusalem, we’ll devise a new plan to overcome it, as we’ve always done.”
“GET OUT OF THE CAR!” the Persians ordered.
Gertrude didn’t respond to either Elias or the Persians shouting outside the window. She picked up wine bottle and saw her own reflection against the glass. She focused on her empty and resigned eyes, now flaring back to life with a determination she hadn’t seen in years.
This is the only way.
“There’s nothing we can’t accomplish together.” She finally put her foot down, but not on the pedal.
There was a time when that was true. But that time has long since passed.
Elias’ tone grew more maniacal. “We will be unstoppable! We’ve taken down greater enemies before. X-Division, the party cartel, Russia, the traitorous Kaiser and his ilk…the ex-princess is no different. We’ll bring her to justice, as Ellie intended.”
I remember something I once wrote in my books. In books no longer in print, put on a blacklist, that I am legally barred from reading. What was it again?
“Yes…just as Ellie intended.”
“Never mistake a woman’s meekness for weakness.”
“We’re going to make her so proud,” Elias said.
After everything I’ve done, this is the least I can do for you, Ellie. I’m sorry. You told me to look after him. Please forgive me. “Yes. We’ll make her proud.”
The late Kaiser had already opened the bottle before he died. She remembered the last time they had met. He poured glasses for everyone there, but Gertrude was the only one who refused. Now there wasn’t much left in the bottle. She pulled the cork out and chugged what was left straight out of the bottle. The soldiers momentarily stopped their yapping to watch her do so, baffled by her action. She didn’t care. After so long, she could savor Maximilian’s vintage.
I finally deserve this. Gertrude now saw Ellie’s face in the bottle’s reflection.
I’ll see you soon.
“It’ll be just like the good old days.” She flipped the switch.
Enough is enough.
The last thing Gertrude Anhorn saw, even with her eyes shut, was a deep azure flash.
---
My original plan was to kill off Elias right after the Yavdian bunker assault, which was why I had Gertrude pull him out of the bunker. I decided I wasn’t done with Elias yet, so I moved that scene here and reworked it. A bit of a stretch with how I used the Impala here, but the alternative was having Gertrude lock herself in a car with Elias and detonate a grenade, or the original idea of her putting herself and Elias on a plane, making the pilot bail out or die, and then blowing it up. I put the Impala there as I wanted to follow up on my setup with Alexandra wanting to sacrifice herself and the instability of the original reactor design.
And no, this is not Gertrude’s redemption, despite what she thinks. If anything, she just messed things up
even more.
