by Lee French
“You got something to say, come out and say it. It ain’t like Hannah ain’t already said it, I’m sure.”
Tony snorted. “You’re an arrogant brat.”
“Fuck you.” Bobby glared out the window.
“Well,” Tony chuckled wickedly, “at least we know they’re right when they say you aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”
“I can kill you.” For once, when he said that, Bobby actually meant it.
Another scoffing huff came out of Tony. “Yes, a true gentleman and oh so concerned about the rest of us.”
“Stop it,” Lisa snapped. “We’re all in this together. We should act like it.”
“Tell him,” Tony sneered, pointing at Bobby.
“Shut it,” Jayce said cheerfully, “or I’ll shut it for you. Bobby knows he screwed up. He doesn’t need everyone reminding him over and over again. You’d be surly, too. Talk about something else.”
The car went silent and Bobby glowered at the glass beside him until he nodded off. He woke with a start after a nightmare that left him with nothing but a deep sense of unease. The sky glowed with early morning light and Sam was driving. Afraid he’d startle her and cause an accident, he stayed quiet and still.
After a minute or so, she said, “There’s still food in the cooler. It should be in reach.”
The suddenness of her statement made him jump, waking him up better than a splash of cold water. “Thanks.” He rummaged through the cooler and pulled some fruit salad and a regular sandwich out. “Wasn’t sure if I was really awake or not.”
“Sure.” It sounded like she believed him. “I saw Lily before we left.”
“I don’t wanna talk about that.” He grabbed a banana and an unmarked sandwich. Thank God for sandwiches.
“Okay.”
This sandwich had lots of vegetables and some kind of paste in it. It tasted alright, and he had no cause to be picky. He bolted the food, trying to ignore the thoughts Sam’s small statement had dredged up. He’d been an utter dumbass, and he knew it, and anyone she told probably thought worse about him than before. Given where he started, that almost seemed like an accomplishment, of sorts.
He licked his fingers and sighed. Sam had given him an opening to explain, and he needed to take it if he wanted to fix this. “It weren’t like I was just trying to see her naked or nothing. If’n that’s all I wanted, I woulda done it proper-like, with asking and groping and stuff.”
“Why did you do it, then?”
“I didn’t want to wake her up if she weren’t already, and kinda got distracted when she turned out to be up and getting undressed already.” He stared out the window to avoid seeing Sam’s reaction. “It made sense at the time.”
She choked down a laugh. “You’re kind of an idiot, Bobby.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sure if you explain, she’ll forgive you. Eventually.”
He shrugged. “I ain’t.” That hurt had only hit him yesterday, not even a full day ago, yet it already felt distant and faded. Leaving for this had done some good, at least. The hard part would be keeping it from affecting Sebastian. He liked the kid, liked playing with him and teaching him things. Liked his momma, too, but couldn’t have her. Heckbiscuits, maybe that was even for the best. Dating a half-sibling sounded bad. Even if they never had any kids together, it would still always weird. “Don’t matter.”
“Sure it does. We all live in the same place, Bobby, we’re a community whether we want to be or not. All of us feel the friction between people. Tony’s a strident homophobe, which makes Greg stay away from the common spaces, even just to eat. We’re all missing out on talking to him, and he’s a pretty interesting guy. Plus, he’s missing out on talking to everyone else. He now interfaces with the group through Albert instead of in his own right, just because being treated with such blatant, blind hate upsets him. In turn, I don’t want to deal with Tony, either, so we wind up out here together, and maybe I took a risk I shouldn’t have, just because I was annoyed with Tony, even though he hasn’t done anything specifically annoying on this trip.”
Bobby slouched in the seat, unhappy with how complicated everything had to be. “It’s like high school all over again,” he groaned.
“It’s worse than high school.” She grinned. “It’s superhero high school.”
“I don’t wanna deal with that kinda crap.”
“Then why did you come back? You could have just stayed with the Army and kept doing their missions. If you stayed out there, you could probably end the war completely, one way or another. Or you could run off someplace else. With your superpower, you can probably get anything you want, and never need to work another day in your life. But instead, you came back. Even though you knew everyone would be angry, you came back. Why?”
“‘Cause Lily.” The moment he said it, the hurt came crashing right back down. It had been held back by a fragile dam of denial before. Also, though, he realized the truth had more to it. “And Stephen, and Jayce, and having folks what I can trust my back to and understand.”
Sam patted his arm. “Yes, that’s exactly it. The farm is still pretty new. Give it a chance. And talk to Lily. Maybe wait until tomorrow, though, when you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”
Bobby grunted noncommittally. He’d have to think about how to say what needed to be said. Because she was right, and he needed to admit he wasn’t ready to let go of Lily, not even close. “I’ll take a turn driving.”
Aside — Maisie
“What’s important here,” Privek told the group over their headsets, “is that these people are dangerous. No matter how harmless any individual might seem, they all need to be contained. Our methods aren’t foolproof, but should give us enough time with each of them safely under control to at least find out if they can be reasoned with.”
“What about my Will? What if he’s there?” Jasmine’s legs bounced nervously and her empty hands fidgeted.
“Yes, there may be a few innocent bystanders among them, so be careful. Brewer’s husband went missing with her, for one. There may be others we don’t know about. We assume they’ve all been brainwashed, so don’t be surprised if they don’t want to come quietly, just be careful not to hurt them. Use only tasers on anyone who doesn’t have the eyes, and when in doubt. Alpha Leader is in charge on the ground. We’ll be dropping you a mile out from the property to avoid detection.”
“Are we sure they’re really there?” Dianna sat placidly, her dark face smooth and neutral.
“Yes. Camellia is already on site. She arrived when Mitchell and a few others came back earlier today.”
Maisie didn’t want to do this at all. Not even a little. Did anyone care? No. This had to be done. They had no other choice. The footage from Hill and the pictures from that cave horrified her enough to throw up. These people had no decency or empathy. That broken infant haunted her nightmares, and she’d only seen a picture of it. How could anyone live with himself after doing that?
The worst part seemed to be the idea they could stand up to that kind of firepower. Beyond the babies and kids, these monsters had taken out squads of armed men. The second helicopter held ten SWAT guys from Homeland Security. She thought they’d need ten thousand to have a chance. Privek said the element of surprise, combined with tranq guns and tasers, would be enough.
The gun still felt awkward in her hands, even after two weeks of training with it. The barrel held one shot at a time, and used the four darts strapped to her hip, plus the one already loaded. She’d practiced reloading it until she could do it in five seconds. Everyone else here had done the same except Jasmine. She’d be a squirrel the whole time, and seemed flighty enough that a gun in her hands would probably be a bad idea anyway. At least Liam and Paul looked as awkward with it as she did. Everyone else seemed fine with it.
They landed on a two lane road surrounded by miles and miles of farmland. She snapped off the headset and climbed out behind Raymond to look around. A pinprick of light shone in the dist
ance, but someone pointed in the opposite direction. That way lay a dark splotch of doom, the jagged shapes of giant trees hinted at by the starlight.
She’d been given flares, a flashlight, carabiners, zipties, a lighter, and twenty other things that fit into the tac vest she had to wear to mark herself as ‘friendly’. Straightening it gave her something to do with her hands besides awkwardly fondling the gun while waiting for someone to tell her what to do.
Alpha Leader gestured for everyone to gather around while the two helicopters lifted off again. He took a knee in the center and waited for the noise to die away. “Okay, everyone, this is it. We all know what we’re in for. Hopefully, they’ll all be asleep, but if they aren’t, it’s their home base, so they shouldn’t want to blow it up. Moore,” he pointed to Liam, “you stay with Alpha Seven. You’ll hang back, but not so far you can’t do anything. O’Malley,” he pointed to Chelsea, the girl with giant feathery angel wings, “and Jackson,” he pointed to Dianna, who could control the wind, “go in topside, in case anyone is overhead or on the roof. The skies are up to you. The rest of you stay with me, say something if you see something or have any brilliant ideas. Stealth is our friend here, if you can’t hack it, move to the back.”
Like everyone else, Maisie nodded and stepped away. She took a deep breath and gulped. No longer did she have one more day to train, one more day to think about it, one more day to hope someone else would take care of this for her. Air whipped around as Chelsea’s wings beat to get her off the ground and Dianna summoned up the wind to pull her into the sky. Maisie’s hands itched. She wanted to get this over with, and also wanted to stay here forever.
They kicked into an easy jog along the side of the road, gear jangling and her hands finding the gun to keep it from shooting her own foot. “I, um, should be able to get us across anything out in the open,” she said uncertainly. The earpiece didn’t have a microphone stick going to her mouth, and she felt self-conscious talking without knowing for sure she’d be heard.
“Don’t worry,” Liam said, patting her shoulder from behind. “If one of them starts trying to hurt you, just pop away to behind Beller. I’ll certainly be hiding behind him if I need to.”
Raymond chuckled. “Yeah, you can hide behind me and my shield, I don’t mind.” The muscular black man made the metal shape appear on his arm, in its kite shield form. All the times she’d seen it before, it had been a drab gray color. This time, he’d made it so black it almost sucked light in. She knew it could be as big as a ten foot square and as small as a six inch circle.
“You should be trying to herd them towards me.” Brian sounded much more nervous than he looked. His voice quavered, yet his feet moved with rock-solid surety. “Especially Westbrook. I can take what he can dish out.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Paul broke in, “but if any of the rest of them have closed-off minds like Cant or chaotic ones like Mitchell, I won’t be much help. I might be able to distract them, but that’s about it.” From the way he moved, he desperately wanted to holster his gun-thing. The weapons came only with a clip for their vest so they couldn’t fall and be lost. Their trainer had told them to avoid doing that, as the stupid things could accidentally go off. Whoever designed it needed a swift kick in the rear for that one.
Kevin stayed quiet, which made sense. He could turn invisible, and it seemed to extend to his personality. Jasmine made excited chirpy noises as she bounced along, her ponytail bobbing and swishing.
Maisie nodded to all the chatter, not sure how to respond other than to hope they didn’t all die tonight. “Um, Alpha Leader?” Referring to a human being like that made her feel stupid. “Can you run over the goals part again?” She wanted to remind him that until a few weeks ago, dodging flowers when they fell off the costumes had been one of her biggest problems.
“Sure.” He didn’t sound annoyed, but had to be. These guys normally dealt with trained operatives, not random kids with superpowers. “Goal one is to find the house and re-acquire Androvitch. Goal two is to gain stealth entry into the building. Goal three is to acquire all twenty-four targets without harming an unknown number of civilians. Lethal force is not sanctioned without imminent threat.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s normal to be nervous about something like this.” At least Alpha Leader wasn’t a dick. He also didn’t push them too hard, setting a pace they could all keep up with. It took about ten minutes to reach the driveway, and Camellia stood up as they reached it, her camouflage fading away.
She took an earpiece from Alpha Two and tucked her phone away in a pocket. “I haven’t been able to check out the whole property, but I’m pretty sure there are only two buildings. The farmhouse is where most of them spend their time and live. The barn has two guys living in it, one of us and his boyfriend. I get the impression that one is some kind of inventor; he tinkers with stuff a lot. The farmhouse is big, it’s been expanded from its original size. Two doors, one in front, one in the back. Also, plenty of windows. Each bedroom has a window, and the kitchen and their big common room. The basement has casement windows, too.”
One of the other Alphas—Maisie hadn’t managed to learn all their voices yet—asked, “What’re they using the basement for?”
“Storage, so far as I can tell. No one living down there.”
“Sounds like a possible entry point. Alpha Three and Four, you’re on it, take Androvitch. Five, Six, and Astrid, target the barn. Subdue, wrap up, and rejoin. Two and Nine with Beller, check the front door. Ten with me on the back door. Arralt, pick a spot you like not too far from the building, and everyone else work on a funnel to get them to him. ”
Maisie nodded even though no one would see it and tried to think of how she could help with funneling. Nothing came to mind. In fact, she thought she’d be much more useful trying to get inside. “Alpha Leader, it’s Polape. If I can look in through a window, I can throw a portal inside.”
“Hm. Alright, new plan. Five, Six, and Astrid, still on the barn. Three and Four, spike the back door as quietly as you can, then join Arralt with Two. Put yourself in the line of fire for the front door, but try to be out of sight from inside. The rest of us are going in through the basement. Stealth is highest priority. If they wake up and start fighting back, everyone gets out as quick as you can. We have orders not to kill, they don’t.”
“Permission to set annoyance traps?” a different Alpha asked.
“Granted, but keep them away from the door. If we’ve got to run out, we need to not trip them.”
“Understood.”
“It’s Chelsea. Um, O’Malley, I mean. We’ve done a sweep of the whole property. There doesn’t appear to be anyone outside. They’ve got animals, though. We saw some chickens and goats. We’re over the house now, and can’t see anyone.”
“Good work, O’Malley. Keep your eyes open and assist as needed. Jackson, do what you can to pick up anyone who comes out through anything other than the front door, or if Arralt and Pearson look like they’re getting overwhelmed.”
“Yeah, okay,” Dianna said. She sounded annoyed, maybe bored.
Lined by a row of stately trees with a wild tangle of younger trees, shrubs, and grasses beyond it, the driveway kept going and going and going. Isolated and overgrown, this property seemed perfect for this purpose. From the highway, no one would expect to find people living here, other than maybe rural hillbillies best left undisturbed.
The driveway ended at a wide empty space with the ground churned up. Alphas shone flashlights around to reveal a bunch of cars and vans parked in a line in front of the one-story house. It seemed normal from the front, with a small porch and dark windows. Camellia’s description seemed off-base.
Alpha Leader held up an arm before they crossed the open space. Everyone halted. Paul doubled over to catch his breath. Everyone else, including Maisie, seemed fine. “Two, this is a good place to set up. Seven, stay a good thirty feet back or so. Androvitch, where’s the barn?”
Camellia pointed
off to the right. “There’s a lot of tarps. The two men are in a converted horse stall. And probably naked.”
“Let’s all go that way,” Alpha Leader said quietly, using another hand gesture to get everyone moving. “Lights on the ground, people.”
Maisie figured the instruction had been intended for her and pointed her flashlight down. She paid close attention to the ground, avoiding dead leaves and twigs, and small rocks that wanted to trip her.
“If I’m needed, someone will have to tell me,” Liam said. “I won’t see anything in this.”
“Anyone who needs medical, either get yourself there or call ‘Medic’ and give your position. Whoever’s closest goes to pull them out and to Moore. We don’t want to expose him if we can help it.”
“From the bottom of my heart, Alpha Leader, I sincerely appreciate that.”
Alpha Leader snorted. “No more chatter.”
With that, the earpiece in Maisie’s ear went silent and they padded across the way to find a window. The house extended much farther than she expected, and this wall had to be new construction. Big, leafy shrubs grew next to it, which confused her. Plants couldn’t grow that fast and they hadn’t been cut back on the one side. How did they get the shrubs to grow this big this close to what were obviously new outer walls? With flowers.
Someone took the time to get these bushes blooming with pretty flowers. She didn’t expect to see flowers. Maybe creepy weird flowers, or wild ones growing wherever. She mostly only knew Hawaiian flowers, so she couldn’t say what kind these might be, but she liked them. The delicate pink and white ruffly petals reminded her of the wads of jasmine her aunt grew.
Seeing that made her wonder how much of what Privek told them was really true, and how much he finessed to manipulate them. Surely, he couldn’t lie to Paul, though. Paul could poke through people’s minds and see their thoughts. Unless Privek didn’t know the whole story. They could be pawns and never know it.
