Jagged Edge

by Dennis Young

  “On the way. ETA, five minutes. Three grenades available.”

  Too close for Bird One to come in, and not enough time anyway. And the last thing we need is for our ride home to get shot down. Talice watched the room as Briggs bent over the arc-light of his torch. “Team, we make our stand here. The grenade drone will even the odds.”

  “Captain, recommend a charge.” Junior.

  Talice nodded after a moment. “You mean once the grenades are dropped? Good idea. Briggs, report.”

  “Two minutes. I hear noise in the stairwell.”

  “Cover that window! Everybody down!”

  Gunfire erupted through the stairway door glass. Debris scattered as Briggs dove away. Talice heard HE rounds exploding against the steel door. She ducked as well.

  The door exploded into the room and three figures emerged, firing. Briggs, to one side, cut them down with a full five-second burst.

  Silence, as the smoke cleared.

  “Briggs!”

  “Here. I’m good.”

  Talice breathed a sigh. “Team, report.”

  “Close, but no damage.” Junior.

  “Good here.” Rory, still prone behind the room divider, sounding a bit better.

  “Martin and I are covering the door.” Dosu.

  “Mac, status.”

  “Hostiles are double-timing it. Maybe a minute away, thirty seconds for the drone.”

  “Hit them hard! Team, get ready.”

  “Captain, I am scrambling their comm and setting off a squeal inside their receivers.” Nikolay.

  “Do it!”

  Scrabbling beyond room, and Talice heard muffled shouts. Ten seconds later, the street outside lit with Mac’s grenades. The blast erupted through the doorway, and once more, the team hid behind what cover they had.

  Talice didn’t wait for the smoke to clear this time. “Briggs, Junior, Dosu, go! Finish them off!”

  They burst through the fog, firing. Talice hobbled to the threshold, peeked around as the gunfire stopped, and saw the trio standing among the carnage. It wasn’t pretty. Grenades didn’t leave bodies. Only body parts.

  “Secure.” Briggs, voice rock-hard.

  “Get back inside. Junior, keep an eye out, Dosu, as well. Briggs, check Martin and Rory.”

  “What about you, Captain?” Junior again.

  Darn kid, anyway, thought Talice with a smile.

  “I’m good, but I need my meds. Give me five.” She paused. “Dosu, any movement around?”

  “None, Captain.”

  “Confirmed, you’re clear for six blocks at least.” Mac.

  “Niky, report. What are you hearing upstairs?”

  “Little, Captain. They have retreated to the upper floor during the firefight.”

  “Okay. Junior, come on back in.” Talice chuckled. “I need you to help me get my pants off.”

  A pause all around. “Captain?”

  Briggs laughed.

  * * *

  They took time for a bit of rest as Nikolay monitored comm and Mac’s drone ascended to two kilometers for a wider look.

  “Marines are about a third of the way through the compound. They’re taking their time, being careful of civies and minimizing their own casualties.” Mac, her voice still strong.

  “Still nothing of Aya.” Evans, sounding disheartened.

  Talice really didn’t want to talk about it, but had little choice. “Look… she’s smart. She’s armed. She likely shed her HCS so she wouldn’t get shot at. Also, so no one could track her, not us or Nemesis. She knows Jance and the hostages are close. If she finds them, she’ll negotiate with Jance.” She paused. “You told me this is something she has to do.”

  “That doesn’t make it any easier, Captain.”

  “No, it doesn’t. Just like when you were in the field, there were people worrying about your safety. I’m sure you’re on her mind, but she has a job.”

  “Is there any way we can locate her?”

  Talice considered. “Niky, can you track the pulse rifle? Don’t they have a tracker or a signal of some sort?”

  “Excellent, Captain. I will look.”

  “In the meantime, we’re taking a few minutes. Mac, I have a fresh patch now, and another spare. Still have S-H, too.”

  “Glory be, you remembered. How are your wounds and the others?”

  Talice chuckled. “Still breathing. Still wounded, but we’re here. Somehow, we’ve got to negotiate that damn tunnel.”

  “I can send the ATVs by remote.”

  Talice nodded. “Then set it up, Mac, because we sure as hell can’t walk a couple of kilometers. Abie, you on the line?”

  “Abie’s grabbing a nap, Captain. This is Will.”

  Talice glanced at her chrono. “Wake her in thirty minutes. We’re going to have to dig out the hostages, because Jance is nowhere to be found.”

  “Copy that. She’s got the landing site located and Mac has coordinates.”

  “Mac, send them to Briggs and me. And Junior. Roll the ATVs.”

  “Hua. Mama Mac will get you all out safely.”

  “Aren’t you glad you’re not here?” Talice grinned inside her helmet.

  “I’m right there, Princess. Right beside you.”

  Talice laid her head back against the room divider. Rory snored gently into the receiver. “Yeah… we’re all here. One way or another.”

  * * *

  They waited fifteen minutes. Talice had asked Mac for another pain-med injection and gotten it. Her entire left side was half-numb. She didn’t know if she could even stand.

  Rory was lucid again, and in the back of the lobby, watching the stairwell, aside and hidden behind a jumble of partitions and fake plants. Martin was hurting. He bore it well, propped against a ceiling support to one side of the shattered main doorway, keeping watch.

  Briggs was in a far corner, Junior and Dosu against a wall. If anyone tossed a grenade in, it wouldn’t get them all. Maybe none of them, dispersed as they were, and away from the center. Talice nodded approval as she tried to breathe shallow.

  “Movement outside.” Mac, still at TacOps and watching.

  “Numbers, direction, details.” Talice rose to a crouch behind what appeared to be a lobby counter.

  “Doesn’t appear to be a search party. Total five, moving down the street, far side, coming up to the northwest corner of your building. They’re going very slowly.”

  “Junior, take a look. Dosu, cover him from the doorway. Briggs, take charge.”

  Junior crept around the room silently, and peeked out, then drew back. “Looks like stragglers. Street clothes, no armor, no weapons seen.”

  “Hold. Wait for them to get closer. Briggs, you’re up.”

  “Cover me, guys.” Briggs slid his considerable bulk to the doorway, watching. “Coming up now. Three women, two men.”

  “Is one of them —”

  “No, not Aya. They’re in pretty rough shape.”

  “Challenge them. Hold fire. If they run, let ’em go.” Talice moved slowly toward the door, staying in cover where she could.

  Briggs crouched low and edged beyond the building. Junior took his place, Dosu moved up to where Junior had been.

  Briggs stepped out, his weapon not quite pointed at the advancing figures. “Hold where you are! Show your hands!”

  “Geez, that guy could scare the pants off a confirmed virgin,” said Talice into Mac’s private channel. Mac guffawed in reply.

  The five stragglers stopped. Two started to run, but were held by the others. Talice heard an unintelligible reply, but could nearly feel the fear in it.

  “Who? Say the name again.” Briggs.

  “Calm, everyone.” Evans, listening. “This could be the first of the hostages.”

  “Captain, they’re saying Aya sent them this direction. Said we’d take care of them.” Briggs, relief in his voice. Talice could certainly understand.

  “Bring them forward but not in. Cover them. Junior, check them out. Dosu, move up
.” Talice was standing where Dosu had been only moments ago. “Martin, stay back. Rory, keep that stairwell covered.”

  Junior slung his pulse rifle and scrambled through the doorway. He raised his visor as he approached, showing empty hands. He spoke slow, soothing words Talice couldn’t quite make out.”

  Thirty seconds passed. No one of the team moved. Another thirty seconds went by. And another.

  “No weapons, light injuries, no wounds. They’re scared to death, Captain.” Junior.

  Talice breathed a sigh. “Find cover outside. Don’t bring them in here.” You have the goodie bag, right?”

  “Copy, I’ll give them a protein bar and water. There are a couple of parked groundcars they can get in.”

  “Talk to them, Junior. Gently.” Mac again. Talice could hear the tension in her voice.

  “Mac, give me a report. What’s the drone seeing?”

  Talice waited as Mac gathered her intel. She knew they were likely thinking the same thing; that Jance had run and the hostages were left fending for themselves. If they even could. And Aya had found these five, and possibly more.

  Fucking Jance. Talice was ready to punch a wall. I screwed up. Told her we had someone coming to help her. So she left everyone and took off. Damn coward.

  Mac clicked back on. “Not much action north. Marines are pretty much walking down the streets unopposed.” A pause. “More stragglers it looks like, about three blocks away. Headed toward your building.”

  “Captain, I am picking up comm from a building east, half a kilometer, upper floors. Something is going on there.” Nikolay, still on the job.

  “Hostiles, or otherwise? Mac, what do you see?”

  “Wow… probably fifty to a hundred massing, and they have some pretty heavy stuff.”

  “Abie, you awake? Alert the Marines, give them coordinates. Junior, watch for the other stragglers.

  “Abie, Captain, We’re on it.”

  “Captain… I think I may have found Aya.” Evans, watching the drone feed.

  Talice took a knee. “Where? Close by or out of the area?”

  “There’s a single figure moving building to building quickly. Not in each one long enough to check upper floors, but… I don’t know who else it would be.”

  “Jance,” said Mac. “But she was supposed to have gotten them all together.”

  “Before her inside help ran off.” Talice breathed, trying to push the pain away. “Okay, we can either leave her alone and let her continue, or go find her. We’re secure here. Mac, what do you think?”

  “I hate to split our forces. But yeah, it would be good if we could help her.”

  “I’ll go, Captain.” Junior.

  Damn kid wants to be a hero. Talice sighed. “Verify contact first. Let me know. And dammit, watch for Jance. Or any other hostiles. And do not engage Jance, she’ll fucking kill you on sight. She knows our HCS.”

  “Hua, moving away.”

  “He’s around the corner, moving east.” Briggs.

  “What about the ones in the cars?”

  “Holed up, Captain. Safe as they can be here.”

  Talice stood again, slowly. “Okay, we wait. Stay sharp.” She nearly gasped out the words and leaned against the wall, ready to pass out. Gotta stay awake. Gotta do this.

  She clicked to Mac’s private channel. “Give me a boost. I’m worthless otherwise.”

  “Talice…”

  “Just do it, Mac, or I’m gonna collapse.”

  “… Just this once.”

  “Yeah, you always tease me like that.”

  They chuckled together.

  Talice heard the hiss and felt the burn. She spasmed, but held on. Fuck. Holy fuck!

  “You’re good for two hours, maybe a bit more. Just don’t die.”

  “Hua, Sergeant. On the job. To the end.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Like a Band of Heathen Angels (Part Two)

  Just Get Me Through This Day

  “The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning

  the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.”

  Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”

  A Booster in Time…

  “Junior, hold up!” Talice headed for the doorway, feeling… almost normal. She knew the booster wouldn’t last, but was damn certain somewhere along the line, she would need the energy to face Jance. She was determined to force the issue. Now.

  “Talice, what the hell are you doing?” Mac’s voice was in full Drill Instructor mode.

  “Going with Junior after Aya. Briggs, you’re in command at the bunker building.”

  “If you say so, Captain.” Briggs’s reply was dubious, to say the least.

  Mac’s voice was in Talice’s ear, fortunately on her private channel. “You’re in no shape to go hunting! You’re bleeding internally from what I can figure out from your BP readings, and you’ve likely got broken ribs and maybe a hairline hip fracture. Get your ass back to the bunker!”

  “Mac, I’ve got to do this. Babs is still out here somewhere, and Jance is gonna kill her if I don’t find her.”

  “And you’re gonna kill yourself if you don’t get treatment! Dammit, girl…”

  “I know. Help me, please, so we can do this quickly. Lead me to Aya so we can get the rest of the hostages out. Work with Briggs and Evans to get them on the ATVs as soon as possible. Get Bělinka to move up in the tunnel to provide some cover.”

  “Talice—”

  “Get Bird One prepped and ready to scoop and fly. We’ll work out getting the team picked up once the hostages are safe.”

  “Abie’s ready to go with the ship. I’ll get Bělinka on the way.” Mac paused, and Talice knew she was probably near tears. “Look… don’t run. Don’t put pressure on your left side. If you fire, brace with your right leg. Stand or go prone, don’t crouch unless you have to. Just… be careful. I’ll guide you.”

  The All-Channel clicked on. “Captain, Evans here. You’re about four blocks from where we think Aya is. There are three more groups making their way to the bunker building, total of fifteen. Plus the five Briggs has.”

  Talice eased her way to the side of the street opposite Junior. He waved, and she waved back. “Good news, thanks.”

  “How does Aya know where to look?” Mac again, a bit more composed.

  “Hell, I don’t know. Maybe she’s psychic.” Talice chuckled to herself. Her body buzzed. She wanted to do handsprings, but knew it would be fatal. Damn drugs. Make you feel like you can do stupid shit when you can barely walk. She coughed into the mike, then spoke. “She had to find Jance, or Jance found her.”

  “And gave her the whereabouts, or at least places to look.” Evans again. “I don’t have a better answer.”

  “Captain, Briggs. We’ve got six more stragglers, in from the east, so that makes twenty-one. We’re hiding them in the bunker building. No activity from the top floor.”

  “This is Nikolay. The comm from the top floor is quiet, but I am picking up incoming from another location approximately a kilometer away. There may be reinforcements enroute.”

  “Mac, work with Niky, find those reinforcements and stop them.”

  “Hua, on it.”

  “Evans, Captain, two blocks. Wait… something—”

  Gunfire erupted from the east. Then again.

  “Junior, check it out! I’ll cover you!”

  Junior ran, stopped at a corner, dropped to one knee and fired. Ran again, out of sight.

  Talice limped her way to the corner, paused, and peeked around. Junior was behind a groundcar, weapon at ready, watching the street ahead. She hobbled out and made it to his side without collapsing. “Next time, tell me what you’re doing before you disappear.”

  “Sorry, Captain.”

  Talice looked beyond their cover. Three figures lay in the street, two in civies, one farther down, in what appeared to be older, cobbled-together combat armor.

  Talice clicked to Bird One’s channel. “Abie, I need Ja
nce. Get her on the line.” Back to All-Channel without waiting for a reply. “Where did the shots come from?”

  “Sounded high, so any of the windows around.” Junior paused. “Looking at the bodies, I’d say from behind. They fell face-forward.”

  “Geez, I hope one of them isn’t Aya.” Or Jance. Dammit, that would just be our fucking luck! Talice swallowed hard and hit the comm button. “Mac, talk to me!”

  “Drone in place, I’ve got three grenades. Looks like another search party of Nemesis.”

  “Confirm! We don’t want to hit Marines.”

  Nikolay cut in. “Captain, it is Nemesis. I am following their comm, but it is the same encryption as before.”

  “I’m not gonna take a chance.” Mac again, then a pause, as gunfire sounded through the comm. “Woops! Yeah, it’s Nemesis. Damn near got the drone. Ascending. Okay, here goes.”

  Seconds passed, and two dull explosions were heard. Then auto-gunfire. And another explosion.

  “Got at least a dozen down. The rest are scattered or hiding.” Mac. “And I’m out of grenades.”

  “Good job. Doesn’t the drone at the bunker building have one left?”

  “Yes, and I can have Briggs reload it.”

  Talice and Junior moved quickly from the groundcar to a recessed building doorway. “Mr. Evans, what about the figure you thought was Aya?”

  A pause. “I… lost track in the excitement. But she probably ducked inside a building when the firing started.”

  “How far?”

  “Two blocks or a bit more. I think she’s in one of the west-side buildings.”

  Talice poked her head quickly around the corner, then back. “Junior, use your 10X mag and see what you can see in the windows. Let’s draw the sniper out.”

  Junior slid away, back a few steps, took a quick look, then bolted for the groundcar they’d left. Gunfire erupted from a third-story window. Talice popped around the corner again and fired a three-second burst. Masonry and glass exploded in the distance, and she thought she heard a scream. Then silence.

  “Junior, report.”

  “Good here. No damage. Nice shooting.”

  “Hold a minute. Check the other windows.” Talice waited, not only for Junior’s report, but Abie to get Jance on the line. Waited a bit more.