by Sam Sisavath
“Ma’am,” Loman said to Lara. Keo and Gaby might as well not have existed to the man. Or to Biden, for that matter.
They walked down a brick hallway lined with lockers. Worn-out school banners hung from the walls, and there was a glass case housing dust-covered trophies inside. Most of the rooms they walked past were empty, but a few had been put to use for other tasks. Black Tiders in BDUs moved around them, almost all of them nodding acknowledgements in Lara’s direction as they passed. Keo thought he saw a few eyes widening at the sight of her, as if they had never seen her in person before.
I guess we know who’s getting the votes for Homecoming Queen this year.
“Who’s Hartford?” Keo asked.
“Danny,” Gaby said.
“His last name’s Hartford?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Um, no.”
Keo checked her name tag. Gaby. Lara’s was just Lara.
“We’re special,” Gaby said, answering his unasked question.
“I can see that,” Keo said.
“You never told us your last name,” Lara said.
“You never asked.”
“I’m asking now.”
“You really wanna know?”
“Why? Is it a big secret?”
He shrugged. “It’s pretty generic.”
“It’s not Smith, is it?” Gaby said. “Because if it is, God, that would just be so lame. And almost cliché.”
“No, it’s not Smith,” Keo said. “What’s yours?”
“Peterson.”
“Like Peters?”
“No. Peterson. Did you miss the ‘son’ at the end?”
“Close enough.”
“Not really.”
“Why isn’t that on your name tag?” Keo asked.
“Because everyone already knows me as Gaby.”
“What if another Gaby shows up?”
“Five hundred more Gabys can show up, but I’m still going to be the only one with Gaby on her name tag.”
“Song Island privileges,” Lara said.
“For real?” Keo said.
“Damn straight,” Gaby said.
Keo chuckled. When they finally reached their destination at the very end of the hallway, Keo didn’t see anyone else around except them.
“Right here, ma’am,” Biden said as he stopped in front of a door and opened it for them. “We moved some of the communications equipment in here to give you more privacy.”
“And no one bothered to tell me this before they did it?” Lara asked.
“Sorry, ma’am. Someone must have forgotten.”
Lara flashed a slightly annoyed look back at Gaby and Keo—and Keo thought, That’s a first—before she stepped inside the room.
Gaby was right behind her, with Biden following—but not before he looked past Keo and back at Loman, standing in the hallway behind Keo. Loman had kept so silent during the entire trip over that Keo had forgotten the second half of their escort was even back there.
Keo followed Biden’s gaze to Loman, even as Biden himself disappeared into the room behind Gaby.
Loman, like his buddy Biden, was in his early thirties, with short dark hair that might have been a buzz cut about a week ago but had grown out since. He had light brown eyes and was a few inches shorter than Keo, and when they stared at each other, the other man smiled.
Except it was forced.
Too forced.
There was no reason for it to be that forced.
What…
There was also no reason for Loman to be sweating, either, because the temperature inside the building was just right at around seventy degrees.
…the…
Keo’s eyes dropped down at the same time Loman’s right hand stabbed toward his holstered sidearm.
…fuck!
“It’s a trap!” Keo shouted, even as he lunged forward and shoved his right forearm into Loman’s throat and used the surprise and leverage to drive the man back, back, back into one of the lockers.
The bam! of Loman crashing against the metal box rang up and down the empty hallway, but it was quickly dwarfed by the gunshots coming from behind him.
There were two shots—bang! bang!—before they were quickly joined by a third and a fourth—bang! bang!
All four shots had come from inside the classroom.
Lara! Keo’s mind screamed, but there was no way he could run into the room to check on her, because Loman’s right hand was lifting the Beretta into firing position.
Keo grabbed the man’s wrist with his own left hand and pinned it against another locker. Loman pulled the trigger, either accidentally or on purpose, and a fifth bang! sent a round into the ceiling above them.
Lara! Keo’s mind screamed again as he pulled back slightly, just enough to disengage his right arm from Loman’s throat. Loman took advantage and started pushing off the locker even as they continued to grapple for control of the gun.
Keo drove his right arm forward, this time driving with everything he had, and he swore he heard the crack! as Loman’s windpipe snapped.
Loman’s right hand became jelly as his body went limp, and Keo wrestled the 9mm out of his suddenly weak grip. He spun around and practically dove into the open door that Lara and Gaby—and Biden, that fuck!—had gone through just seconds ago.
He burst into the classroom and almost slipped on a puddle of wet blood on the floor. He somehow maintained control, and glanced down and back to find Biden sitting against the wall next to the open door gasping for breath as blood poured out of two holes in his chest. His hands were splayed open next to him, a Glock resting inside his open right palm.
Biden couldn’t care less that Keo was there and was staring forward at something else. Keo followed his gaze.
There was nothing in the room that even looked remotely like communications gear. There was a pile of desks in the back and chairs stacked in rows in a corner, but Keo only cared about Gaby, crouched next to Lara, who lay on the floor clutching her left side.
Keo ran over.
“The other one,” Gaby said to him. She had her SIG Sauer in her hand, her other one pressed over Lara’s own hands. There was something that clearly looked like a fresh bullet hole in the wall just over her right shoulder.
Keo shook his head before putting his gun down. He took a quick glance at Lara’s waist, at where her and Gaby’s hands were clutching. There was a thick pool of blood around Lara and a lot more swelling underneath her.
He focused on the wound. “It’s good, it’s good. Looks like a through and through. She’s bleeding out of both sides, but it’s not bad.”
“It’s not bad?” Gaby asked, but Keo couldn’t tell if that was doubt in her voice or hope.
“Yeah, it’s not bad,” he said, hoping it was convincing, because although he was sure it wasn’t bad, it really did look bad. “What happened?”
“She pushed me out of the way. The first shot. He was trying to take me out first.”
Pounding footsteps as people poured into the room behind them. Keo glanced back at a wall of shocked faces, most of them holding weapons.
“Get a medic!” he shouted. “Now!”
A couple of the newcomers hurried away, but some stayed behind. He wasn’t even sure if the ones that didn’t move had even heard him.
“Clear the fucking room!” Gaby shouted, her voice as angry as Keo had ever heard it.
It did the trick, and the room emptied except for the three of them and Biden—
Keo looked over his shoulder to make sure. Biden was dead. His eyes were closed, and his head was lolled to one side.
He refocused on Lara. She was grimacing, her lips quivering. She was hurt—maybe in the worst pain she’d ever felt—but there was nothing like shock to act as a natural anesthesia. He knew a little bit about that.
“What’s taking them so long?” Gaby asked.
Keo pulled off his sweater and looked across at her. “Never mind them. We gotta plug up the holes until t
hey get here. It’s not bad, but we don’t want it getting worse. You’re going to have to move her hands when I give the signal, then turn her slightly so I can get to the other side.”
Gaby nodded and gritted her teeth. “Say the word.”
“Now,” Keo said, and Gaby pried Lara’s hands away. Lara held on instinctively, and it took a lot of effort for Gaby to get them free.
When Gaby finally succeeded, blood bubbled to the surface of Lara’s shirt. But it looked worse than it really was. Another inch to one side, and she would never recover. Then again, another inch to the other side, and the bullet would have missed her completely.
Keo shoved his clothes against the wound, heard Lara grunt with pain, then waited another two seconds for Gaby to lift Lara slightly off the blood-slicked classroom floor so Keo could get at the other bullet hole. His hands were instantly covered in blood, but Keo could barely muster up the energy to care. He was too busy looking at Lara, trying to catch her eyes.
There. Those crystal blues were staring back at him even as the rest of her trembled against his and Gaby’s hands.
He grinned down at her. “You should have seen the other guy.”
She responded with something that might have been a grin of her own, but that was impossible to know for sure with the intense mask of pain on her face.
“Keo,” Gaby said.
“She’ll be fine,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse.”
Gaby looked toward the door. “They’re here. Keo, the medics are here.”
Keo nodded as figures slid to the floor next to him. Someone said something to him, but Keo didn’t take his hands off Lara until two other pairs, both wearing surgical gloves, were fighting for space along her midsection.
He staggered up to his feet and took a couple of steps back to give the medics space before looking across at Gaby. Her lips were quivering, the anger flushing across her face as clear as day. Her hands and clothes were covered in Lara’s blood, and Keo wondered if he looked that bloody or pissed off, too.
Ten
“You sure you know where you’re going?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure, sure?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Just wanted to make sure.”
Claire threw a quick smirk over her shoulder at him. “Relax, Keo.”
Yeah. Relax. Right.
Why shouldn’t I be relaxed? I’m just walking into the teeth of the enemy when I should be running the other way and not stopping until the Gulf of Mexico is underneath me.
But noooooooo.
“I’ve gone back and forth along this area for the last few days while waiting for you guys,” Claire was saying. “I know every inch of it. Trust me.”
She sounded so convincing that Keo found himself convinced. At least, more than he had been a few minutes ago.
You’re right, Gaby, she is all grown up, Keo thought as he followed Claire through the woods, with Rita bringing up the rear of their small three-man group.
It was just the three of them, with Claire up front, because Rudolph and Gholston were back at the abandoned trailer park where they would wait until Keo needed them. The hope was that he wouldn’t, but as someone was fond of telling him, “just in case.” Of course, there was supposed to be a five-man team ready to help him exfiltrate from Fenton when the shit hit the fan, but he guessed two combat-weary guys were better than none.
It wasn’t about Black Tide being limited by available manpower. It was the exact opposite—Black Tide had plenty of men and arms to bring to bear on Fenton. Lara could have flattened the city a thousand times over since Buck drew her back to Texas. It was about intelligence, and a two-person team (three, if he counted Claire) had a better shot at stealth.
They had been moving steadily east for the last ten minutes or so, and Keo spent as much time listening and watching for Buckies as he did glancing up at the fading sunlight above them. Nightfall was coming. Soon. The idea of being caught out here in the woods at night left him slightly chilled.
Keo still remembered its words. Even now, days after being stuck underneath Cordine City with that thing, he couldn’t shake what it had said to him:
“Everything you are, everything you were, everything you wish to be; they’ll be open to me. Your secrets, all your secrets…”
It wasn’t just what it had said, but how it had said them. Its words were dripping with venom, and at the same time, unbridled ecstasy at what it was planning to do to him.
He shivered and glanced back to see if Rita had noticed. She was too busy looking to their right, her rifle cradled in front of her. When she turned back around—maybe sensing his attention—he saw the uneasy look on her face.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “You?”
“I’m walking into Fenton—voluntarily—knowing what I know.” He shook his head. “Nothing about this is even remotely okay.”
Rita smiled. “So what are you doing here, then?”
“What can I say? I’m a sucker for good causes. Also, being a big dumbass probably has something to do with it.”
Claire chuckled in front of him. “And I’m sure being asked by Lara to do this had nothing to do with it, either.”
“Wait. Lara asked you do this?” Rita said.
“I volunteered, just like you did,” Keo said.
“But did Lara ask you to?”
“She might have.”
“You don’t remember?”
Keo ignored her and turned back to Claire. “How much farther?”
The teenager (God, she’s so grown up; can I still call her a “teenager,” really?) flashed him an amused look. “Thirty minutes, give or take. We should be catching them getting ready to head back into the city. Even the Mercerians don’t want to be out here at night.”
“I don’t think they’re as afraid of the dark as you think, kid.”
“What do you mean?”
Keo thought about telling her what he had learned at Axton and beyond. Greengrass’s team working with the blue-eyed ghoul, along with their lengthy and at times extremely revealing talks underneath Cordine City while being held captive.
Instead, he shook his head. “Plenty of time to talk. Let’s just get in there first.”
Claire nodded and picked up speed through the woods.
Jesus, did I just say ‘Let’s just get in there first?’ Into Fenton? Right into Buck’s waiting arms?
Yes, you did. Yes, you just did.
I really am the world’s biggest dumbass.
Keo sighed and turned slightly right, following closely behind Claire. The young girl was wearing civilian clothes—loose cargo pants, T-shirt and jacket, and boots—and it would have been easy for her to claim any excuse if she were caught out here. She didn’t have any weapons on her—at least none that Keo could see—and he tried to imagine her running into the open road as Buck’s men were retreating from Penn Hall.
He grinned to himself. Keo had done a lot of dumb things in his life (This is one of them, you dummy), but that took guts.
Keo and Rita had swapped their dark camo gear for cargo pants, shirts, and jackets that Claire had smuggled out of the city in preparation for their arrival days earlier. Keo’s clothes were a decent fit, but Rita’s were slightly baggy. It wasn’t Claire’s fault, as she had brought as many sized articles of clothing as she could get her hands on, but she hadn’t counted on one of Keo’s team being a short woman.
Both he and Rita could have passed for Fenton civilians in their current state. That is, if their captors could ignore their weapons and all the extra items in their packs and pockets.
“Down!” Claire hissed, even as she dropped to one knee, before scampering behind a large bush. She moved incredibly fast and silent, like she’d been doing it all her life.
Keo mimicked her movements and hurried next to her. He changed up his grip on the MP5SD as Rita appeared next to him. He was
n’t sure if the sniper was breathing louder than usual or if his hearing was just overly sensitive as the two women flanked him.
Rita’s noises were quickly replaced by the purposeful crunch-crunch of boots on soft soil moving about ten meters on the other side of the bush. Claire, so close to Keo that her shoulder rubbed against his, lowered herself further to the ground. Keo did likewise, and Rita, to Keo’s left, followed suit. By the time the crunch-crunch began to noticeably fade, the three of them were almost hugging the dirt.
They didn’t move or get up or even say a word until they couldn’t hear the footsteps any longer. That took about two minutes, though it felt more like five.
Either that, or two hours.
Finally, Claire raised herself up first and peeked over the hedge, before giving him a nod. “They’re gone.”
“Stray patrol?” Keo asked.
“Maybe. They usually don’t cross through here on their way back into town.” She seemed to think about it for a moment, maybe going over everything she thought she knew. Then, “Come on, let’s hurry before we run into more surprises.”
Keo stood up and brushed dirt off his clothes before once again following Claire through the woods. She was moving noticeably faster now, not quite panicking, but the sense of urgency was there even if she didn’t know it. But she probably did by the way she kept checking their surroundings.
He glanced back at Rita and found her already looking at him. They exchanged a quick, wordless nod.
“Be ready for anything.”
It turned out they didn’t have to do anything or shoot anyone. Claire had chosen their path into Fenton wisely.
Keo wasn’t expecting security perimeters in the form of fencing or anything physical anyway. Black Tide’s aerial recons had already told them that there were no such things around the city’s borders. Instead of a wall or a fence—both of which would have taken months and too much manpower to erect—Fenton was relying exclusively on manned patrols.
They crouched near a tree line and looked out at a seemingly endless field of cornstalks moving against the breeze. Keo glimpsed buildings in the background to the right, but there didn’t seem to be anything on the left. But of course he knew better. The left was his real target: the military half of Fenton. The right, where he could see apartment buildings, would be the civilian section.
