Epic: Book 02 - Outlaw Trigger (30 page)

His gaze lingered on it—the Nightman symbol—before he finally rolled his head to the side. His face was as immovable as when he entered, yet for the first time, his emotions verged on something different. Emotions no one had ever seen on his face. Emotions that, for the first time in his life, frightened him.

Reaching over to his nightstand, Dostoevsky flicked off the light. The yellow hue faded from the room. Without a word, the commander rolled over, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

_{* * *}

One hour later

Esther closed her eyes, leaning her head back as her brown hair drifted atop the glistening surface of the water around her. She was alone in the gymnasium-sized swimming pool. The delicate swishing of her body in the water was the only noise in the room. No one was there to hear her or watch her. There was no one to tell her she’d failed. It was exactly the way that she wanted it.

She loved the feeling of water surrounding her body. Since her childhood, she had always felt lured to it. She’d excelled in underwater training at
Philadelphia
; she’d always sought out the pool to find refuge. In the water, she could disappear. She could drop out of sight, where no one could see her. Temporarily, she could cease to exist.

She lifted her head, the weight of her wet hair slicking it down the back of her head. Water streamed down her face.

David had done wonders that day. She understood why the unit looked upon him as a father. He was. When all she had wanted to do was run away, he was there to put his arm around her—as he would have his daughter—and tell her she mattered. He’d given her the confidence to stay. In truth, he reminded her of her own father. But she hadn’t seen her own father since
Philadelphia
.

Closing her eyes, she laid her head back again.

She knew she was better than Khatanga. She knew how to handle a comm. The fact of the matter was that the reality of combat had flustered her, like nothing had flustered her before. It had flustered her into stupidity. She had always heard from her instructors that regardless of training, regardless of time in simulators, there was nothing that compared to a real mission. In simulators, she knew she’d survive. Even if she failed, she knew that when the clock hit zero, it was all just pretend.

In Khatanga, it wasn’t pretend.

The Ceratopians were real. The neutron rays were real. Her failures were real. She wasn’t incompetent—she was just a wide-eyed rookie, seeing the reality of danger for the first time. Feeling true fear for the first time. Experiencing for the first time the price of allowing emotion into the equation of combat.

She opened her mouth, drew a deep breath, and pushed herself beneath the water’s surface, right along the poolside wall. Where no one could see her—completely hidden from the world.

Away from Scott.

He made her nervous. Even before the mission, even before Nicole’s death. There was something about his presence that stirred her emotions—that wrenched her stomach. He made her feel something she hadn’t felt since she was a teenager. She’d been terrified when he’d cornered her in his room. She’d been frightened almost to tears. But deep down inside, in the corner of her heart that she kept tucked away, the tiniest part of her inexplicably enjoyed it. She was disconcerted by his shirtless body—by the experience of the firmness of his form. She liked that when he pushed up from his bed, his arms flexed. She liked the aggression in his voice. She wished he would have thrown her to the floor.

That thought made her nervous the most.

Emerging to the surface again, she once again slicked back her hair. She was alone still. Just how she’d wanted it.

At least for right then.

When she finally did return to Room 14, the unit was waiting. The showers gushed to life with warmth, and for the first time in some time, they were enjoyed by everyone.

Though the tension was far from relieved, there was a hint of forced normality in the air. It was the kind of forced normality that could only come with a unit blindsided by circumstance. It was the kind of forced normality they were getting used to.

If normality, fear, and indefinite uncertainty could ever be reconciled.

16

Wednesday, August 10
^th
, 0011 NE

0700 hours

Novosibirsk, Russia

It was early morning when the Fourteenth was called into operation. Their comms had sounded, and the tail-spun unit once again mustered in the hangar to receive their assignment. There was a very different feel to the call, much different than the one for Khatanga. Prior to Khatanga, there’d been a sensation of dread in the air. Now, there was nothing but numbness.

By the time David arrived in the hangar, the battered but determined Captain Clarke had already arrived. He was the only other man David saw.

“
You’re not supposed to be here,” Clarke said, indicating the older man’s shoulder.

David’s left arm was still cradled. “I’ll be fine once adrenaline kicks in, captain. I’ve been banged up before.”

“
As you wish.”

Several moments of silence passed before David spoke again. “What are we facing?”

“
Bakma,” Clarke answered, his eyes watching the hangar entrance, where the rest of the crew slowly gathered. “A Coneship was shot down between Kachug and Ust’-Ordynski.”

“
Where is that?”

“
East of here. In a region known as the Irkutsk Oblast. By Lake Baikal.”

“
That’s a lot of names.”

Clarke’s face remained placid. “I know.”

David watched as the rest of the crew filtered in. Scott was yet to be seen. David turned to address the captain again. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“
Go ahead.”

“
I’m not sure Scott should be a part of this. I’m not sure he’s ready.”

“
He won’t be,” Clarke answered. “I’d informed Mr. Remington of my decision when the initial call to action came through. He is to remain here, under Varvara’s supervision. His emotions have become a liability.”

“
Wha’?” Becan asked as he approached them. “Remmy’s not comin’?”

“
I’m afraid not, McCrae.”

“
Why the bloody hell not?”

“
Because he’s acting on impulses, and they’re not positive impulses. He’s going to get someone else killed.”

“
The captain’s right,” affirmed David. “He needs to be away from this.”

Becan shot David a strange look. “Now wait just one bleedin’ minute. Weren’t you the one sayin’ Remmy was a volcano with a cork? Tha’ he needed to release everythin’?”

“
Yes, I did. But there’s a right and a wrong place to release it.”

“
Then where’s the righ’ place?”

“
I don’t know, Becan. But I
do
know that this is the wrong one.”

The attention of the unit was diverted as Dostoevsky made his way in. The horns of the fulcrum commander glistened with polish. But that wasn’t what caught everyone’s eyes. Behind him, four other men—all Nightman slayers—marched in tow.

“
Wha’ the hell?” Becan turned his gaze to the captain. “Wha’ are they doin’ here?”

Clarke sighed, cleared his throat, and addressed the now-gathered unit. “For those who are unaware, we will be operating today without two of our own—Mr. Remington and Ms. Yudina. We were undermanned with them, and we’re more undermanned without them.” He motioned with a head tilt toward the Nightmen. “These are our reinforcements.”

Becan’s mouth tumbled open. “Yeh got to be bloody kiddin’ me.”

“
I was informed by the general that we would receive ‘outside assistance’ for this operation. They are it.”

The crew stood paralyzed with shock.

_{* * *}

Scott stood in silence in his private room. His hands gripped the sides of his sink as he stared at his face in the mirror. He hadn’t said a word since Clarke had commed him—commed him to say Scott would remain. Scott didn’t need to say a word. The ferocity in his eyes said everything.

Varvara sat timidly in her chair at the other end of the room. She hadn’t said a word, either.

“
I’m going.”

Her eyes widened as soon as Scott said it. “What?”

“
I’m going.” The two words stung with finality. Scott wasn’t staying behind. He didn’t care if it came down to blows. He marched to his closet.

“
Scott, wait, please…” Varvara’s voice grew frantic as he strode past her. “You cannot go! You heard what Captain Clarke said.”

Scott pulled his armor from his closet and began to gear himself up. “You don’t want to debate with me, Varvara.”

Her hands trembled as she ran them back through her hair. She looked around frantically as if to instinctively see if anyone else would support her. But the two of them were alone. She turned back to Scott. “Please, Scott…listen…”

Scott clamped on his breastplate and arm guards. He didn’t even have a working helmet. He’d broken his last one when he threw it to the ground. But he didn’t care.

She edged up tentatively behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Scott, please, just listen for a moment—”

As soon as she spoke, he snapped around. He thrust her hands away from him; Varvara gasped and stuttered as she stumbled back. “You need to listen to
me
!” he snarled. “You don’t know what it’s like.
Not you, not anyone.”

“
Scott,” Varvara quivered, “I—”

“
Not one of you knows how it feels, to have this place take from you the one thing you want more than anything. To watch this place destroy what you love.” He snatched his e-35 from its holder in the closet and slammed a magazine into place. “You haven’t lost something here. When you find someone who has, you send them to me.
Then
we’ll have this discussion.”

Varvara was almost in tears. “Scott…”

“
I am going on this mission.” He holstered his M-19 handgun and grabbed a cache of ammunition. “I’m going on it for me…and for you. None of you realize it yet.”

There were no more words to be said. Brushing past Varvara, Scott opened the door and stormed out into the hall.

For a moment, Varvara did nothing. Tears dripped down her cheeks, as she stared wide-eyed from the corner.

Not one of you knows how it feels. To watch this place destroy what you love. You haven’t lost something here.

The words echoed clear through the room. Even after Scott left, they remained.

When you find someone who has, you send them to me.

She continued to weep, and sunk to the floor. There were no other sounds in the room—only the sobs of a desperate girl.

There was nothing else.

Suddenly Varvara sprang up. Wiping her tears and hurrying to her feet, she rushed from the room. She had no choice.

_{* * *}

“
Captain,” Dostoevky said as he stepped forward. His gaze drifted to Becan for a moment, but quickly darted away. The other four men held firm behind him. “I give you Viktor Ryvkin, Nicolai Romanov, Auric Broll, and Egor Goronok—on loan to us from the Tenth.”

“
I trust we have their full cooperation?”

“
Affirmative, captain.”

“
Very well.”

From several meters away, the others observed them—observed their new reinforcements. Ryvkin was tall. He was dark haired and slender. He looked like a man who could kill. Romanov was shorter, but not short. He moved with short, jerky motions. Broll was a blue-eyed blond—he was a German, and well built. Like Maksim Frolov, the injured alpha demolitionist.

But Goronok was the worst. The bald-headed Nightman looked strange, almost alien—yet obviously he wasn’t. His eyes were dark and wide apart. His face was long, but his nose was pointed and high. His jaw had the delicacy of an anvil.

“
This looks like a bleedin’ freak show,” whispered Becan.

David said nothing.

At that moment, a new pair of footsteps entered the hangar behind them. The entire crew turned around to face them. It was the last two people they’d expected to see. It was Scott and Varvara. Scott was donned in his helmet-less armor, as Varvara followed nervously behind.

Clarke’s eyes blazed. “Mr. Remington, you were told to remain in your quarters.”

Scott’s expression was too cold to care. His footsteps were purposeful and firm. “That’s not happening.”

“
Excuse
me?”

David interjected between them. “Scott, think about this for a minute. Is this something you should really be doing?”

“
I thought about it, Dave. I thought about it long and hard.” He pushed past them.

Clarke’s face exploded with red. “You will stop
right
where you stand, Mr. Remington!” Scott swung around to face him. “I will not be contravened by you!”

“
This is my job! This is what I’m here to do!”

“
And my job is to
tell
you what to do!”

Galina quickly stepped to Scott’s side. “Scott, please, listen to me for a moment. Will you listen?”