World War IV: Alliances- Book 0 Read online

  “You know I could have you thrown into jail for that comment.” Jason lifted his chin a little higher in the air as they passed a group of tanned, lazily dressed women. “I am the southeast regional governor, after all.”

  The girls giggled as they walked by, but Chris was quick with a retort. “You know what they say—the bigger the office, the smaller the trouser size.” The words threw the women into raucous laughter, and Jason gave Chris a shove. “Don’t worry, Governor. If you’re nice, I’ll buy you one of those toothless girls with the winnings I took from you.”

  The crowds thickened the closer they moved to the president’s palace. Jason had always used the term “president” loosely when it came to Sebastian Ruiz. While the Brazilians held elections, they only happened once every ten years, and President Ruiz just so happened to be starting his third term. While President Ruiz never gave any clout to the allegations of corruption and winning the presidency through deceitful tactics, the faces of the common folks he passed seemed to carry a different story.

  The streets were flooded with poverty and more beggars than Jason had ever seen. But such was the price for life in the bustling city. He imagined it was harder to hunt and forage in the concrete than the wild.

  Jason and his escorts were greeted kindly at the palace gates, and the immaculate landscaping of grass and plants, along with the lavish pools and fountains, offered a very different picture than the one painted in the commonwealth.

  The three of them were taken inside, where Jason tracked mud on the marbled floors, as did Chris and Robert. Chris leaned into Jason’s ear and whispered, “I don’t suppose His Majesty would miss any of these fine gold statues?”

  Truth be told, Ruiz probably wouldn’t, but with the stakes of the negotiations as high as they were, even Jason knew it was best not to jest with the president under such circumstances. “I’d keep your hands to yourself. Wouldn’t want to give His Excellency any reason to take them.”

  The guard that escorted him stopped at the door and requested that both Jason’s shoes and his companions stay behind. The doors were almost closed when Chris called out, “If anything happens, just scream. That should give us enough time to get to the ship.”

  The doors slammed shut, and President Ruiz rose from the table, seemingly ignoring the comments made. “Governor, it’s good of you to join us.”

  “Mr. President, I appreciate the time.” Jason extended his hand, and his own skin felt rough and raw compared to the tender flesh of Ruiz’s palm. He looked over to the table, taking notice of a few faces he didn’t recognize. “I was under the impression that we were meeting alone.”

  Ruiz slapped Jason on the back and pushed him forward to the table. “I have quite a few trade negotiations on the table this week, so I thought it would be more efficient to knock them out at the same time.”

  More like intimidating the odds of the agreement to your favor. “More time to focus on the welfare of your people, Mr. President?” Jason delivered the words with a bite that the rest of the table seemed to notice as they shifted uncomfortably, and Ruiz took his seat slowly.

  “I suppose we should get started.” Ruiz’s expression morphed from an endearing politician to that of a stern mob boss. Ruiz knew the control he had over the trade negotiations with many of the territories. He held all the cards, and he wasn’t afraid to wield that power to enhance his country’s growing prowess. “Ambassador Fung, I understand that you’re looking to export more pig bellies.”

  Fung was thin, to the point where it looked like his health was fading, but his tanned skin and thick head of black hair painted the picture of youth. “Our production has quadrupled over the past five years, and with Australia’s stranglehold on the beef trade, we’re looking to carve our own niche in the market.”

  “Pig bellies can fetch a fine price,” Jason said. “Quadrupling your output is quite the accomplishment. Why the sudden increase in production? Building capital for something?”

  “The trade restrictions and war taxes leveled against my people have strained our nation’s recovery,” Fung answered, keeping his cool. “Or does the governor need another lesson in history?”

  Jason and his brothers, along with the Australian leaders, saw the treaty after the Island Wars as a means of peace; the Chinese saw it as a means of oppression. “I don’t. But you might.” Jason rose from his chair, and Ruiz rose with him. “I think it’s best if you and I continue our talks in private, during your convenience, Mr. President.”

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Ruiz said then instructed his guards to take both Jason and his men to their quarters. They would be guests tonight in Ruiz’s palace and given whatever their hearts desired.

  “He said that?” Chris asked once they were out of earshot of Ruiz’s guards. “Anything our hearts desired? Because I happened to see quite a few beautiful women walking around that I wouldn’t mind spending the night with.”

  “Touch nothing Ruiz gives you,” Jason said. “The Chinese were in the room during the negotiations. Something doesn’t feel right. The ambassador is looking to increase their market share on livestock, and everyone in that room knows what meat is selling for these days, any kind of it. Fung is looking to make money, but for what, I don’t know. If the Chinese are making a move, then our best bet is to stay on the ship. We’ll keep guards on watch, and the crew always stays in twos.”

  Chris raised his eyebrows. “That’ll make it awkward during the trips in the brothel.”

  ***

  The air had a chill to it, even in the summer, but the view of the shoreline and land from the boat made the cold worth the trip. Mountains stretched into the sky, preceded by open fields and the magnificent blue-and-white glaciers that shimmered in the sunlight.

  Dean rubbed his gloved hands together, the stitches in the palm starting to separate, letting some of the cool air inside. He watched the ship pull into dock, maneuvering around the chunks of ice that floated in the bay year round. In just a few short months, the entire port would be inaccessible. While Dean’s men started the unloading of the provisions, he took a moment to savor the sight.

  The harbormaster worked the port alone, seeing as the only ones who used it frequently were the dozen fishermen brave enough to chance the waters and the rough environment that was the Alaskan wilderness. What the terrain held in beauty, it delivered in brutality twice as hard. It wasn’t an easy life for the men and women who chose to live up here, but the fisheries were vital not just to their trade with the clans in the wastelands, but also to their future partnership with Australia and Brazil.

  “Governor, it’s good to see you again, sir.” Thomas’s belly almost poked out from under the front of his shirt. The man’s girth was as wide as his mouth, from which he never had a shortage of words to bend your ear. “I wish you had sent word. We would have brought out the fine china.” He slapped Dean on the back so hard it nearly knocked him over, and his gut jiggled when he laughed.

  “I’m sure the regular silverware will be just fine.” Dean rotated his shoulder where Tom had smacked him, and the two started the walk to his log cabin just off the shore. “When was the last check-in you had with the fisheries up the coast?”

  Tom rubbed the flabby flesh under his neck and tried to catch his breath as they continued their walk. “I believe we had a correspondence from them last week. Usually comes every Thursday. We should be getting this week’s letter any day now. Nate Stone’s boy usually comes down with any news and an empty basket to restock on any supplies they might need.”

  If the Russians had horses, then a week would have given them plenty of time to march down through the wilderness and into his region. “I’ll need to go up and see them immediately. Make sure everything’s running smoothly.”

  “Of course.” Tom stopped at the door, blocking Dean from entering. “Is there something going on, Governor?”

  “I just want to make sure everything’s in order for the new trade agreement
s my brothers are setting up. Our seafood here will play an important role in that.” Dean smiled but then watched Tom’s eyes hover to the unit of soldiers Dean had brought with him.

  “Right,” Tom said, stepping inside.

  It took Dean’s men less than an hour to prepare for the trip north. They would have sailed, but the waters were too dangerous for a captain that didn’t know the area, and he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.

  It was a full day’s ride, and Dean and his forty men saw the outskirts of the village just before sunset. But the closer they moved to the village, the more Dean realized something was wrong. The nets around the fishing nurseries had been destroyed, and what cabins the villagers had managed to construct had their doors kicked in and their belongings flung outside.

  Dean reached for the rifle in his satchel and quickly dismounted the horse, his men following his lead without a single word. They spread out in six-man teams, scouring the small structures, but each unit of men that searched the houses found nothing.

  They couldn’t have just vanished into thin air. For a moment, Dean let himself believe that they were all out on their ships or went out into the forests to search for food or timber. A storm could have done this, but when one of Dean’s lieutenants shouted from the back, he could hear it in the man’s voice that his hopes were off track.

  “I found them, sir.” The lieutenant scrunched his face in an effort to keep his lunch from coming up but ultimately lost the battle as it spilled onto the frosty earth.

  The bodies in the pile were mangled and charred, stacked on top of one another carelessly. The wind had blown the stench of the bodies north, which prevented Dean and his men from smelling the carnage on their travels from the south. Tracks of hooves and boots headed southwest into the woods. Dean pressed his fingers into the imprinted snow; they weren’t older than a day. “Lieutenant!”

  “Yes, Governor.” The man had wiped his mouth and stumbled back over, doing his best to avoid having to look at the bodies once more.

  “I want the dead buried. Identify them if you can and take a unit of six men back to the harbormaster to tell him what’s happened, then I want you to scout farther north to check on the remaining fisheries.” Dean rose, his eyes scanning the tree line in the distance. “It was a small party, no more than twenty men, most likely to scout for a good position to set up a forward operating base.”

  The more Dean thought about it, the more he believed that it truly was the Russians, and the longer that thought lingered, the more he worried about his wife back home and his brothers abroad. If this was war, he’d need all of them safe back home.

  Chapter 6

  The combined strength of Lance’s men and the Australians arrived at Sydney’s port lighter than they’d left. Only one of Danny’s ships had survived the retreat with half of the crew members on board alive. Even the Sani limped into port after the wrath of the Chinese fleet. It’d been a while since she’d seen any warring, and the seas refused to cooperate on the return trip, as they usually did in such moments of danger.

  Lance had studied the maps he’d stolen from the Chinese camp the entire trip back, but something didn’t make sense. After the Island Wars, the sanctions landed against the Chinese required the destruction of their fleet, along with most of their armory. But with the number of ships that the map suggested, and the number of places where they’d kept them hidden, it didn’t match up.

  Even if the Chinese had started rebuilding the day after the treaties were signed, it still wouldn’t have given them enough time to do what the map suggested. And the resources involved in designing iron ships were massive. Which meant the Chinese had help.

  Canice made her way up the stairs and joined Lance at the map. She traced her fingertips over the weathered parchment and shook her head. “I’ve got the wounded ready for transport once we dock. Once they’re clear, I’ll have the rest of the crew start reloading provisions.”

  “We’ll have to negotiate with the Aussies on what they can spare in terms of ammo. Trade the cattle if you have to.” Lance looked to the horizon, where he felt the churn of the warships closing in on them. He smelled the lead and salt water, and the blood that inevitably followed. He smacked the wheel and cursed. “I told my brother we needed to keep a closer eye on them.” Lance never understood or had time for diplomacy; those were Dean’s affairs, and the primary reason he turned down the governorship of the northwest.

  “You need to contact Jason,” Canice said. “If this is as bad as we think, then he could be in trouble. It’s no secret the Chinese have huddled close with Brazil ever since the treaties were signed after the Island Wars.”

  Lance shook his head. “It’ll take at least a week for the fleet to gather, and that’s if Jason is still in the southwest.” While the Australians had a navy of their own, Lance knew their military had softened during the peace after the Island Wars.

  “You know what trading the cattle will do back home?” Canice kept her voice low. “We lose that now, and there’s no guarantee when the Australians will be able to deliver again if the Chinese decide to attack.”

  “The cattle won’t matter if the Chinese decide to turn their sights on us. Those were warships, Canice. We don’t have a lot of options right now.” The two could argue until they were blue in the face, but it was one of the reasons Lance worked with her. He needed someone to challenge him, let him know when he was wrong. But despite her protest, he knew he was right this time.

  Once on the docks, Lance ran his hand across the exposed hull of the ship where the crew was busy repairing some of the damage. He felt the rough metal, the dents and grooves a life at sea had given her. Each of those blemishes was hard earned, and behind them memories of what was possible.

  “Captain Mars?” The voice came from a small messenger boy clustered between the growing crowds at the docks. The boy wiggled his way through and extended a piece of parchment. “The message read Urgent, so I came as soon as I saw your ship in the bay.”

  The seal on the paper was Dean’s, and Lance took it warily, the boy waiting for his reply. He scanned the words, the news of Fred, and Jason’s trip to Brazil. He reread the line of Fred’s death a half dozen times before it finally sank in. He crunched the paper up, his heart rate jacked.

  “Captain Mars?” The messenger boy’s voice had a hint of fear. “Do you have a reply?”

  Lance slammed his fist into the side of the ship, the powerful blow offering nothing more than a dull thud against the thick steel. The hit caused two of his knuckles to bloody. He uncurled his fist and unrumpled the paper inside. When he turned, the boy jolted backward. “Take me to the communication post.”

  The boy nodded with his mouth hanging loosely and quickly turned on his heel, maneuvering through the crowded docks, where Lance ran into Danny. The Aussie’s eyes were weary, and his shoulders sagged. The loss of so many of his men knocked the wind out of him. Lance grabbed his arm and pulled him along. “You need to get the military officials together now and start making preparations. The Chinese may have turned back, but you can bet they’ve already started maneuvering their main fleet. Now that they don’t have the element of surprise, they’ll be looking to strike quickly. We need to be ready.”

  Danny stopped, dragging Lance with him. “Lance, most of our fleet is escorting a shipment of supplies from the Chilean coast. We won’t be able to withstand an attack if the Chinese come.”

  Lance looked dumbfounded. “Why would you have your fleet escorting merchant ships?”

  “We’ve been having a lot of raids happen in the southern Pacific routes. Pirates, marauders. We were losing too much cargo. President Ruiz suggested an armed escort to ensure the deliveries arrived without incident.”

  The dots started to connect. “Ruiz suggested it?” The Brazilians had wealth and the best engineers in the world living within their borders. If the Brazilians shared any of their technology in helping build the Chinese ships, then they
could be in over their heads. And that meant Jason was in the heart of the lion’s den.