Riley didn’t say anything for the longest time, and she found it difficult to read his face. Was the notion that he could have miscalculated even registering? Maybe he really didn’t understand the possibility that one of the forty-seven people he had brought onboard so they could all escape Mercer’s insanity together might not actually want to escape after all.
She felt a little sorry for him for introducing all of these doubts, but she pushed through the guilt (You’re getting really good at that…). She was getting involved in something that could cost more than just Riley and his people, but also the lives of everyone on the Trident, and she’d be damned if she didn’t face it head-on.
“I’m assuming you’re 100% sure about Hart and the other soldiers,” she asked.
He nodded. “I am.”
“That leaves the civilians. What are the chances they’re just going along with you because they know you have the full backing of the guys with guns? Don’t you think in that situation it would be a little intimidating for them to say no? After all, they know you’re the one who came up with this idea.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t pick these names out of a hat, Lara. I looked into the eyes of each and every single one of them when I told them what I was planning. The things Mercer is doing out there in the name of saving humanity…” He shook his head and she could see him growing with confidence. “Trust me, I know every single person on the Ocean Star right now, and they all want to wash their hands of this bloodbath.”
Lara didn’t know if she believed him, but Riley seemed to embrace it as the truth, and she didn’t know any of these people—hell, she barely knew Riley—well enough to question his (absolute?) certainty.
“All right,” she nodded. “They’re your people. I accept that you know them better than me, but I just wanted you to consider the possibility you could be wrong. All it would take is one mistake, Riley, and there’s more at stake here than just your people.”
“I didn’t make any mistakes, Lara. They’re all on board. I would stake my life on it. Hell, I am staking my life on it.”
Famous last words, she thought, but didn’t voice her doubt.
Instead, she followed his gaze back out into the ocean, to the Trident and the busy activity at its aft.
“I like Hart; he’s a good second-in-command,” Riley said, “but he doesn’t always challenge my decisions. It’s nice having someone second-guessing me for once.”
“Glad to be of service,” she said, and they exchanged a slightly awkward smile.
“I don’t know if you’ve already guessed, but this whole war and leadership thing is new to me. I’m flying by the seat of my pants most of the time, doing my best not to get everyone who depends on me killed.”
Join the club.
“How long before Mercer’s men arrive?” she asked.
Riley glanced at his watch. “Soon. We’ll need to send the Trident away so it’s not spotted. Five miles in the opposite direction should do it.”
“I’ll let Blaine know once they finish loading the supplies.”
“Hey, Riley,” a voice called behind them. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“You found me,” Riley said, and started to turn. He hadn’t gotten fully around when there was a bang! and a stream of blood spewed out from behind his back at the same time a bullet pinged! off the railing.
Lara spun around as Riley’s body sagged to the floor next to her. The only reason he didn’t slip right into the water below was because he was clutching the railing with both arms. His face was plastered with a sheen of confusion as he stared at his shooter.
Her mind screamed to Go for your gun, go for your gun, you idiot! while the man who had shot Riley took a step toward him and was about to shoot him again. She knew she would never get her pistol out in time to stop him.
So she screamed “Don’t!” instead.
The sound of her voice startled the man and he looked over at her, as if seeing her for the first time. She didn’t know who he was, but there was nothing strange about that. She hadn’t come close to meeting all of Riley’s people and could count on one hand the number of faces she would recognize.
He had dark brown eyes partially hidden underneath a dirty baseball cap, and they were focusing in on her even as he swung the gun gripped tightly in his right fist in her direction—
Bang!
The second shot exploded in the air like a crack of thunder at almost the exact same time the man’s head, along with the cap perched on top of it, seemed to come apart. He collapsed, gun and body clanging against the steel platform floor. The gunshot’s echo was still fading across the endless ocean when Lara looked up at the crane and saw a dark figure silhouetted against the sun, and Riley’s words rushed back to her:
“His name is Peters. I had to keep him up there, just in case things went sideways. He’s my insurance. My only insurance…and he never misses. Never.”
She turned back to Riley and found him on the floor, his back resting against the railing while blood pumped out of his right shoulder and dripped down the edge of the rig and into the ocean below. He was staring forward at the lifeless body, a large puddle of brains and skeletal fingers reaching toward him from his would-be assassin.
Lara crouched next to Riley, pulled off her jacket, and draped it over his shoulder, then pressed down hard from both sides. He grunted from the pain but never took his eyes off the dead man.
“Who is he?” she asked.
He wiped at his forehead with a bloodied hand before answering. “Andy. Jesus.”
“One of your security guys?”
Riley shook his head. “He’s a mechanic. Kept things running. Jesus. I didn’t think…” Riley blinked as if he had trouble believing what his eyes were showing him. “I was sure of him. I was so sure of him….”
I guess you weren’t sure enough, Lara thought, wondering how many other people were running around the Ocean Star right now that weren’t quite as all-in with Riley’s mutiny as he had proclaimed. Maybe the woman who had served them fish and SPAM in the galley, or the parent of the kid who had waved to her as she walked past their room earlier this morning…
Loud, clanging footsteps as people approached them. She looked up as Terry, the woman from the comm room, and two others—including Hart—raced around the maze of machinery and ran to them.
“Oh God, Riley, oh God,” Terry said.
The third person was an older man wearing wire-rimmed glasses and civilian clothes. He crouched next to them and reached for the bloody jacket she had pressed against Riley’s wound. “What happened?”
“He shot him,” she said, nodding at Andy’s mostly headless corpse.
“Andy?” Terry said.
“Fuck,” Hart said, gritting his teeth.
“You can let go now; I got him,” the man with glasses said.
She stood up and backed away as the man and Hart worked to lessen Riley’s bleeding. The older man seemed to know what he was doing, so he was probably a doctor or had experience with gunshots, because he didn’t look fazed by Riley’s injury. Two more men, both in tactical gear, appeared and hovered over them. The horrified look on their faces told her everything she needed to know: They didn’t think this could happen, and the fact that it had left them questioning everything.
After a while, and with so many bodies crowding around Riley, Lara couldn’t see him anymore. She walked over to where Andy was instead and stood over his remains.
It was a nice shot. Hell, it was a perfect shot, especially from so high up and at such a drastic angle. She remembered telling herself that there was no way someone up there could hit her all the way down here, that all the odds were in her favor, even as Riley told her not to reach for her gun.
Jesus, that was close.
The radio on her hip squawked and she heard Blaine’s anxious voice: “Lara. Lara, come in.”
She unclipped the radio and keyed it. “I’m here, Blaine.”
“What was t
hat shooting?”
“Long story; I’ll explain later.”
“But you’re okay?”
“I’m okay.”
“Thank God.” Then, “There’s something else. I was going to call you before I heard the shots.”
She brushed at a bead of sweat with her hand, forgetting that it was still covered in Riley’s blood. “I could really use some good news right about now.”
“Danny finally radioed in,” Blaine said.
Oh, thank God.
“How is he?” she asked.
“I don’t know; Carly’s talking to him now. I’ve never seen her so happy.”
“Fill me in later.”
“But you’re okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said.
But Riley might be dead, and if he dies, where does that leave us?
She looked off at the Trident sitting where she last saw it.
At least I got him to refuel us first…
“Lara,” Terry said as she emerged out of the crowd and walked on wobbly legs over to her.
“Riley?” Lara asked.
They watched as the wall of bodies came apart and the two commandos picked up Riley and, with the man in glasses at their side, carried him off. Hart looked after them, wiping his blood-covered hands on his pant legs.
“Who’s the civilian?” Lara asked.
“George,” Terry said. “He’s our doctor. Or, well, the closest thing we have to one out here. He’s actually a veterinarian.”
Hart walked over to them. He looked in shock, and she swore he had aged five extra years since she last saw him. “You okay?” he asked her.
She nodded. “What about Riley?”
“George will do the best he can.”
“I have a doctor—a real doctor—on the Trident.”
“Can you bring him over?”
“Her. And yes. Until then, what happens now?”
“What do you mean?” Terry asked.
“I mean,” Lara said, “Mercer’s people will be showing up anytime now. Are they going to ask where Riley is if he’s not here to meet them?”
Hart and Terry exchanged a look.
“Well?” Lara said. “Are they?”
“Maybe,” Hart said.
Lara was annoyed by their uncertainty but managed to temper it down—at least, some of it. “Did the others meet with Riley when they came through here?”
“Yes,” Terry said. “I mean, they didn’t ask or demand it or anything, but he was always there when they showed up. You know, as the CO.”
“What about you?” Lara asked Hart. “Can you take his place?”
Hart was still trying to wipe the blood off his hands when he looked up at her. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
“You’re going to have to do better than that.”
He didn’t answer her.
“Hart,” she pressed.
“Yeah,” he said. “I can do it.”
She wasn’t sure if Hart actually believed his own words, but it wasn’t like she had any other, better choices at the moment. It was either Hart or…who else was there? Terry? The thirty-something woman who was shaking next to her?
“You’re staying, right?” Terry asked her.
The idea that she would leave now—run away, essentially—had never occurred to her until Terry brought it up. She could hear the fear in the older woman’s voice, and it bugged her that people who should be telling her what to do were always deferring to her instead. There was something very wrong with that.
How did you handle it, Will?
God, I never knew how hard you had to work all the time to keep us alive.
“Yes,” Lara said. “We’re not going anywhere. I promised Riley I’d take you and the others away from here, and I’m not going to break my word.”
She saw the instant relief on Terry’s face, and even Hart seemed to stand just a little straighter.
Lara focused on Hart. “What’s your plan?”
He shook his head without even thinking about it. “I don’t have one.”
“None?”
“Riley was the brains of this operation. What about you?”
“Me?”
“I saw you back there on the yacht. Next to Riley, you probably have the most leadership experience. Which, yeah, is sad considering I can probably pass for your dad. But I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m in over my head here, Lara. I could really use your help.”
She took a moment to wipe her hands, still covered in Riley’s blood, on her pant legs.
Then: “We’re going to proceed like everything’s normal. They’re going to show up on schedule and we’re going to resupply them, then watch them leave. If something happens that prevents that, then we’re going to kill them.” She stared at Hart when she added, “You okay with that?”
“Yeah,” Hart said.
“You might know some of them. Riley said he knew the ones that were on the way here now.”
“I do, too, but that won’t keep me from doing what I have to do.”
“Good.”
“What about me?” Terry asked.
“I need you to get people out here and clean up the blood and”—she looked back at Andy’s corpse, left where he had fallen—“the rest of this mess.” She glanced up at the crane and shielded her eyes against the sun. “Is he up there? Peters?”
“Only Peters could have made that shot,” Hart said.
“Tell him to come down,” Lara said. “I want to talk to him before Mercer’s men show up…”
17
Gaby
Despite the sunlight filtering into the lobby through the hole in the wall, she could feel the cold seeping through her jacket and the thermal layers underneath. The weight of the ammo around her waist and Benford’s M4 with the now-useless M203 grenade launcher helped to (mostly) keep her mind off what was coming very, very soon.
Tap-tap.
The sounds came from behind her, but she didn’t react with alarm. There was only one other person moving around in the bank lobby, and that was Danny, who appeared in the corner of her peripheral vision and settled into a crouch on the other side of the hole in the wall.
“How goes it?” he asked.
“Same-o, same-o.”
“That bad, huh?”
She smiled. “How’d it go with you?”
Danny had spent the last ten or so minutes in the back, using Benford’s military ham radio to contact the Trident and letting their friends know that they were still alive but weren’t going to make it for their pickup today. With her attention focused almost entirely on the city outside the bank, she hadn’t been able to hear as much of the conversation as she would have liked.
“As good as can be expected,” Danny said.
“That bad, huh?”
“And a bag of chips.” Danny leaned his carbine on the floor and made sure his jacket’s zipper was all the way up to his neck. “The big news of the day is that they ran across some of Benford’s friends out there in the Gulf and were pulled temporarily off course.”
“Everyone okay?”
“Lara seems to have it all under control. They finally got refueled and could have come and gotten us if we were somewhere gottenable.”
Danny opened a bottle of water that he had scavenged from Benford’s pack while looking for the radio and took a drink. When he was done, he tossed it across the opening to her. She caught it and took a few sips as he talked.
“But none of what’s happening out there’s gonna do us any good in here. Probably a given they have the back alley manned and the whole street locked down. Snipers on the rooftops would also be my guess.” He leaned out slightly and peered up at the rooftop ledge of Gallant’s Best across the street from them. “That’s a pretty big clothing store for such a small town. What do you think they sell in there? Cowboy boots? Belt buckles the size of my head?”
“Why, you looking for a belt buckle the size of your head?”
“Hey, acce
ssories make the man. Besides, it’s not the taste in fashion that matters; it’s how big it is. Or so I’ve been told.”
She finished and tossed the bottle, with still half left, back to him.
“Too bad we couldn’t find the key to that Jeep,” Danny said, eyeing the parked vehicle on the sidewalk outside.
“Maybe it’s in the glove compartment.”
“Don’t you think ol’ Benford would’ve checked?”
“Possibly.”
“Well, finding out for sure would take anywhere from five to ten seconds. Maybe less if I really haul ass and don’t do something stupid like slip when I cross the sidewalk. Alas, that’s more than enough time even for these wannabe soldier boys to take their sweet time shooting me in the ass.”
“They don’t want to kill us, remember?”
“Even if they only tried to wound us, all it’d take is one shitty shot and I’m rolling around on the street, clutching my ass.”
“What’s the preoccupation with getting shot in the ass?”
“It hurts, kid. It really hurts.”
“Are we talking from experience?”
He snorted. “Maybe.” Then, still looking out at the Jeep, “Look at it.”
“What?”
“The Jeep.”
“What about it?”
“It’s just sitting there, mocking me.”
She smiled. “It’s an inanimate object, Danny. It’s not mocking you.”
“It’s definitely mocking me.”
“You’re just imagining things.”
“Hunh.” Then, looking across at her, “We all clear on the backup plan?”
She nodded. “Retreat into the manager’s office with Nate. Seal the door.”
“Nothing quite like a last stand in a podunk town.”
“I could think of better things to do with my time.”
“Well, sure, if you wanna be a Negative Nancy about it.”
The Purge of Babylon Series Box Set, Vol. 3 | Books 7-9 Page 59
