Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier-ARC (pdf conv.) (12 page)

The sky was dark with summoned clouds and drifting smoke, but Bookbinder knew that an A–10 Warthog had gotten airborne and begun its strafing run.

The withering fire added to the mounting defense, raining bullets on the attacking horde. At last, they began to buckle.

First in ones and twos, the goblins sprinted back into the fields, falling under carpets of Aeromantic lightning. Bookbinder could practically feel the fear sweeping over the attackers. In moments, the trickle became a flood as the enemy fell back to the cheers of the defenders, fleeing.

Bookbinder watched them run. He lightly patted his hands over his body. His gear and clothing were melted and smoldering, but apart from what felt like a bad sunburn, he didn’t feel too badly hurt. He turned back to the barricade chunk. What the hell happened?

You stole that goblin’s magic. You siphoned it away from him
and funneled it into this concrete and rebar. You’re not a Latent
Grenade.

What sort of parasite Latency stole the magic of others? Did Bookbinder truly have a school?

You have a school. It’s just one nobody has ever seen before.

The scuff of boots in the dirt in front of him brought him back into focus. He looked up at a battered Marine staff sergeant, his gear streaked with dust and blood.

“You all right, sir?” The man asked.

“Um, I think so. How do I look?”

The man smiled. “Like a steely-eyed dealer of death, sir. Oorah.” He saluted, then headed off.

Bookbinder stared at his back. A
real
Marine, the kind that ate nails for breakfast, had just complimented him. After a battle.

Bookbinder’s mind swirled, the smoke, the terror, the goblin standing over him, all threatened to overwhelm him.
Later.

But a notion was leaping in his gut. Colonel Alan Bookbinder, fit only for processing spreadsheets and pay statements, just fought in a battle and held his own.

Taylor’s voice cut through his thoughts. The colonel held an army private by the collar and shook him vigorously. “Full auto!” Taylor screamed. “You’re firing on full fucking auto! Did I not expressly order you to conserve rounds? Is that how you treat government property? Is that what you do with the taxpayer-funded ammunition entrusted to you?”

The scream was not the low growl of rage Taylor had confronted Bookbinder with before. It was high, bordering on hysteria.

Bookbinder was amazed at Taylor’s lack of control, amazed at his revelation about his ability, amazed he had survived a real battle. Another amazement overshadowed them all.

Bookbinder was amazed that he no longer feared this man who was big but thick around the middle. Who was angry, but screaming with the whining hysteria of a man succumbing to panic.

Before he knew it, Bookbinder had crossed the intervening distance. “Colonel Taylor, I think this young man has had quite enough.”

Taylor turned to face Bookbinder, hysteria yielding to surprise.

His eyes widened as he let go of the private, who immediately saluted, grabbed his weapon, and jogged away.

It took a moment for Taylor to put on an authoritative expression.

“Just what in the hell are you doing here?”

“Same as you, rallying to the defense of this base.”

“I thought I told you . . .”

“You told me a lot of things. And now I need you to tell me something else. What the hell is going on here? There’s some kind of supply issue, and all I know is that it’s sudden and severe. We’ve got sundries issues at the DFAC, and you’re shaking down a private, a fucking
private
, instead of leaving it to his first sergeant.

And for firing on the enemy? Now quit fucking around and tell me what’s up.”

“I fucking warned you . . .”

“Then do it!” Bookbinder screamed, mashing his forehead against Taylor’s, driving the bigger man back a step. “Go ahead and kick me in the blood piss, or whatever stupid shit you were going on about before. But you better fucking
kill
me, because if you don’t, I will keep coming back until you won’t be able to get a lick of work done because you’ll spend every hour of every day fighting me.”

Taylor gaped. Some predatory instinct deep within Bookbinder surged, carrying the magic with it. He struggled as he fought it down. Taylor stood in shocked silence.

“Now, there’s two ways we can do this,” Bookbinder began again, anger yielding to fatigue. “You can bring me into your confidence, and we can try to solve this problem together. Or I can order a complete inventory of all ammunition reserves, which is well within my authority as the J1 here. This will tie up all ammunition distribution. Nobody will get a single round without my say–so. That won’t be a problem if new stores are inbound, but they’re not, are they, Colonel Taylor?”

Taylor’s shoulders sagged, the fight totally gone out of him.

I can’t believe it. I was so certain he would crush me. Is this all
he is?

“Are they?” Bookbinder asked again through gritted teeth.

Taylor looked at the ground. When he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. “No, Alan. They’re not.”

The predatory sense of victory melted away at the sound of that voice. Bookbinder the alpha male was gone, replaced by Bookbinder the father and husband. He put his hand on Taylor’s shoulder.

“Why?” Bookbinder asked. “What’s going on?”

“We lost contact three days ago,” Taylor said. “I’m not sure if it has to do with Oscar Britton’s escape or not. All I know is that Billy’s not opening the portals anymore. We’ve got no comms with the Home Plane. Nothing is coming through—no food, no ammo.

“We’re cut off.”

Taking Home

When you took Chatto, you thought you’d finished us, cut off the snake’s head. I won’t lie, it hurt. Chatto was a great leader, a great man. But he was just a man. The Reawakening has brought our gods back to us. The
Gahe
of the mountains, the gods of the four directions. They remember their children and they will lead us to victory.

—“Jimmy” Dahana

Tribal Council, White Mountain Apache

Britton stood in the goblin village. He’d fled here, and defeated the SOC team that pursued him, but the center of the village was a smoldering ruin. Corpses lay tangled together in the helicopter wreckage, goblin, human, and wolf, butchered so badly that Britton couldn’t tell if they were from the assaulting force or the fleeing refugees. Of the original group he’d led here from the SASS, only Therese, Swift, Peapod and Tsunami remained.

Pyre lay dead where Fitzy’s bullet had punched through him.

Downer and Truelove, Britton’s former colleagues in Shadow Coven and now technically their captives, stood nervously apart.

The goblin villagers ringed the ruined ground. They were one of the Embracer tribes, friendly to humans, but many of them were clearly furious at Britton and his friends, blaming them for bringing destruction to their home. Britton and his companions would never have escaped the SOC without Marty’s help, and the little goblin continued to protect them, hastily assembling a cordon of guards to keep the crowd back. The goblin villagers hiss-whispered in their own language, pointing with long fingers and staring with wide, yellow eyes. Britton saw shock in some of those eyes, confusion in others, rage and hatred in far too many. The scorched ground was a testament to what the goblins had suffered from the battle Britton had unwittingly brought to their village.

Britton assessed the situation. They’d won the battle but were unprepared for the aftermath. They were cut off in a village of creatures they didn’t know or understand. Marty was the only goblin any of them had ever truly met, and only Britton, Downer, Truelove, and Therese knew him at all. Dead soldiers sprawled all around them, but there were many more where they came from.

This was his fault. Britton had freed the Witch Scylla, duped by her in his desperation to save Marty. Instead of helping him, she had slaughtered hundreds and set off the chain of events that had put them all here. Everyone knew that, most of all Therese.

Every time he tried to meet her eyes, she looked away.

It wrenched his heart, but there was no time. The SOC would even now be learning of the defeat of their team and plotting another attempt. Many of the goblins around them were hostile.

He had to make sure his people were safe.

Your people? How can you call them that?

The SOC had robbed him of his of his career, friends, and family. These were the only people he had left.

And he would take care of them.

Therese hadn’t had time to use her Physiomancy to heal everyone. She’d done a cursory healing of Swift before moving on to Downer, still cradled in Truelove’s arms, her chest smoking where Swift’s lightning bolt had struck her. Downer was beginning to revive under Therese’s ministrations, the second time the Physiomancer had saved her young life.

“Not her!” Swift shouted. “Don’t you help her!”

Britton could feel his current gathering and moved to intercept him.

Therese whirled on Swift. Her beautiful hair had been frozen off in clumps by the spy Wavesign’s magic. She’d killed him, using her healing magic to Rend though she’d sworn she never would. “What?” She said, “You expect me to let her die?”

“Why the hell not?” Swift shouted. “She and her little boyfriend there tried to kill us. Did you miss the whole part where they gated in here with the attacking force? They’re our prisoners!”

“Then they’re protected by the Geneva Convention,” Britton said, “and that means we give them proper medical attention.”

“Fuck that,” Tsunami said. “They tried to kill us. Turnabout’s fair play.”

“And now you’re suddenly in the fight?” Britton asked her.

“Because during the battle you seemed content to not do a whole lot.” Tsunami turned red to the roots of her ginger hair, then looked at her feet.

Swift’s color rose, his current Drawing hard. The muscles of his lean body corded beneath his pale skin. Truelove gently set Downer down and stood. “I won’t let you.” The Necromancer sounded terrified. “There are corpses enough here to make an army.” Britton felt Truelove’s tide rise.

“No, bring it on,” Downer said, rising up on her elbows.

“Make your move, Swift. I could use the fuel.” Swift hesitated.

Downer could turn any magical energy into an elemental bound to her will.

“We just went through this, Swift,” Britton said. “Let it go.”

Swift pointed at Downer, still boiling with rage from having to let his hated enemy, Harlequin, go free. Therese and Britton had convinced him not to kill the helpless Aeromancer, and instead, Britton had gated him onto the White House lawn along with the survivors of the assault force. “You watch your fucking back.”

Marty turned and shot them a concerned look. Britton caught his meaning. The infighting wasn’t winning them any friends among a crowd of goblins that was already half-surly and growing worse by the minute.

He had to deal with this now.

“Lock it up, Swift,” Britton said. “That’s not how it’s going to be.” He pointed to Downer and Truelove. “I’ve run missions with these two. They’re good people. They were following orders.”

“Unlike you,” Downer said. “Why the hell did you run? You had a place with us.”

Britton opened his mouth to answer, but Truelove spoke over him. “No, he didn’t. Fitzy was going to kill Marty. You did right, Oscar. I wish I’d had the guts to do that.”

Downer whirled on him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“She’s still loyal to the army,” Swift said. “You can’t keep her alive.”

Truelove looked up. He was painfully thin, his eyes enlarged behind his thick glasses, but his magic thrummed potently. The normally timid Necromancer had found his feet when he’d confronted Fitzy, and it seemed to have stuck. “You’re not going to hurt her.”

Britton stepped between them. “Nobody’s hurting anybody.”

“Who the hell put you in charge?” Tsunami asked.

“I did,” Britton said. “Because, rightly or wrongly, I got us off that FOB. The only reason you’re not still watching propaganda videos in the SASS is because of what I did. I saw you in the fight, Tsunami. If you were running things, we’d be sitting around shivering right now. Swift would busy trying to kill more people and who knows what . . .” His eyes fell on Peapod, mannish face framed by her close-cropped hair, standing with arms folded.

“I’d go home,” the Terramancer said.

“Home?” Britton asked.

“The Home Plane,” Therese supplied. “Peapod, that’s crazy.”

“No,” Britton sighed. “It’s not.”

“Oscar,” Therese replied, “you think there’s a safe place anywhere in the whole United States for us now? What do you think the SOC will do to us if they find us? We’re Selfers on the run. And Scylla. I can’t even begin to think about what you just let loose on the world. Even without her, we just killed . . . I don’t know how many soldiers. Our very existence is illegal!”

Peapod snorted. “Fuck that. I’ve been running from the law since before I came up Latent. That’s the real reason they threw me in the SASS anyway. For selling weed.”

“What?” Britton asked. “I thought you were some kind of rugby champion.”

“That doesn’t exactly pay the bills,” Peapod said. “I was running a six-figure business by the time I graduated college. The SOC doesn’t take kindly to that.”