The Fight for Peace (18 page)

The distraction began with a Guard rush of the FLF positions in the hall. Smoke bombs dimmed visibility toward the dactyls, which meant they screened the three delegates and their escort as they raced down the hallway toward the church and the stairs to the second floor that were at the dormitory’s end.

There was no guarantee that the FLF hadn’t tried to surround the Guard position by sneaking through the upstairs hallway. But as it hadn’t happened yet, it offered a viable second route to reach the dactyls where they waited in the scant open space of the mountain top.

Bullets ricocheted down the hall through dense smoke as Byran made the run to the stairway. Shouts of pain and surprise echoed upwards as he took the steps two at a time. A quick glance out the doorway on the second floor revealed the stretch of hallway eerily quiet considering the yelling and gunfire audible from below.

Five minutes remained. Byran sweated from a mixture of exertion and worry. It wouldn’t take much of a problem to keep him from reaching the dactyl. The small group slipped along the hallway at a fast trot, Guard swiftly checking open doors for immediate threats. Somehow they reached halfway without a problem, which is when the door they’d left a minute before banged open.

“Run,” a soldier ordered Byran as he turned and fired at the FLF soldier who’d charged through the doorway.

Panic spurred Byran forward faster than he’d run in years. Natalia and Robert fell back as a gunfight erupted behind him. But the door downstairs loomed ahead. Even though FLF reaching the back stairway was a bad sign for the Guard downstairs, it might indicate that the main force was on that side of the hallway as well. With three minutes remaining to reach the dactyl, he had to believe that was true.

He’d almost reached the door when the floor collapsed under him. The sound of the explosion that ripped open the building knocked hearing from Byran so that he fell in silence amid an avalanche of stone and dust. Heat washed over him and he choked on a breath filled with more debris than air. Then nothing.

“Byran?”

He felt his fingers twitch at the woman’s voice. Memory flooded back with sight. He had to tell Arinna it was a trap and to leave, but when he opened his eyes it wasn’t Arinna who was pushing loose brick away from him.

“Natalia?” he whispered.

“Thank God,” Robert answered. “I thought you were dead.”

Byran moved bones with joints that felt they’d hurt less if broken. “You are both alive?”

“Along with a few Guard,” Natalia said. “We were on the edge of the explosion. It looked like it was right under you.”

Byran crawled out of dusty rubble, uncertain how he’d survived other than due to the thickness of the old walls which had contained the worst of the blast and cushioned his fall to only a few feet with fallen timbers buttressed by blocks of stone creating an artificial floor beneath him. A few feet away the floor lay as an open gash with a drop to the rubble-choked first floor. The Guard soldiers looked at him like he’d risen from the dead.

“The dactyls?” he asked without hope.

“Gone, sir.”

“I think there is another one coming in. That is why it’s gone quiet all of a sudden,” another soldier added.

Because a quiet trap was the best sort. “We have to stop them from leaving their dactyl,” Byran said. Robert and Natalia glanced at him as if they thought he’d hit his head too hard. “No more Guard can die because of this. We can’t risk the Captain or Lady Grey being taken prisoner as well.” They hadn’t been part of the discussion he’d had with Gabriella and her orders to the soldiers had been to see him out. Only Byran knew the threat that waited.

“We can’t go that way. We’ll have to go down the back stairwell and hope the FLF won’t have it blocked,” a soldier said in a tone as if Byran had suggested they jump through the collapsed floor.

They didn’t see anything other than bodies on the stairwell, both Guard and FLF. The hallway lay empty even of those. Except for the fallen ceiling toward the far end and lingering smoke, it looked no different than any day of the negotiations. Byran stood at the end feeling like bait, wishing he didn’t want to see his children and wife quite so much. The sight of him dead in the courtyard would warn Arinna away without the need for a comm.

Outside the window of the first room, the new dactyl landed and spilled soldiers, who ran for the monastery. The window had been reinforced for safety, now it kept Byran from warning the Guard. He hit it as he cursed, frustrated by too many problems. As if to add to his desperation, new gunfire spat in quick succession.

“It’s Lieutenant Assad,” a soldier said, eye on the window. “They’ve made the dorm. Come on!”

The soldier was out the door before Byran could argue. As crazy as it was, everyone chased after him. The strewn rubble provided cover as they dodged down the hallway, the Guard yelling for their fellow soldiers. That they actually met up was both a relief and worry to Byran.

“Glad to see you are alive, sir,” Lieutenant Assad said, although his face remained stiff after hearing of Lieutenant Faronelli’s death. “We need a place we can hold out until we can either make a run for the dactyl or figure out what is wrong with the comms and that isn’t here. Captain Vries is only a few minutes out, so we’ll have help soon.”

“No, they can’t lan
d—
,” Byran began.

“The church has the fewest number of entrances,” a soldier interrupted.

“Do you know how many died trying to get us
out
of there?” Robert asked.

Both Byran and Farrak opened their mouths to argue as an explosion blasted through the lower end of the dorm - the one closest to the dactyl.

Farrak grabbed Byran by the elbow and pushed him down the hall. “We can’t stay here. Move.”

They started running as a second blast erupted and the walls of the dormitory shuddered.

Chapter 21

CAPTAIN JARED VRIES

BAITED TRAP

The alarm came while Jared and Arinna were testing the shield over water. When his dactyl’s warning system flashed, Jared thought it was because he’d short-circuited it.

“Get in here,” Jared yelled, cutting the shield to accept the incoming call.

“Problems?” Arinna asked, trotting in the back hatch from where she’d been watching outside the shield. “It didn’t look to have grounded o
u—
” Her gaze rested on the now silent alarms as Kehm came on the monitor. She took the second pilot’s chair.

“Lieutenant Assad will be on the way with reinforcements in five minutes,” Kehm said, finishing his brief report of the violence at the peace negotiations. “I’ll have a platoon waiting for you, but Farrak will have an hour lead time.”

Arinna sat in frozen tension, enough that Jared was surprised when she answered. “Negative. We’ll leave from here. We should arrive fifteen minutes after Assad.”

For the first time in the years of fighting alongside Arinna guided by Kehm’s insight, Jared nearly snapped off the video link to talk to Arinna in private. But despite her rigid composure Kehm’s surprised expression and Jared’s hesitation induced her to continue.

“How many Guard do we need? This just became a rescue mission, not an invasion.”

The first thing Jared felt was relief. “Yeah, we’ll be doing that next. Kehm, send the order to recall Lieutenant Eldridge to Europe.” The line hissed static over Kehm’s confirmation. Jared ignored it as he hit the controls for the back hatch, Arinna tossing him a startled glance as she dropped into the chair she’d just risen from. “You’re riding with me.”

“Two for one targeting again?” Arinna asked, pulling up the programming on her monitor to relay orders to her dactyl.

“They gotta pick the right one,” Jared replied. “Maybe I just miss you.” Arinna snorted in response.

Jared raced after the blip of Farrak’s dactyl closing the ground as fast as he could. But no matter how much he pushed his plane, Farrak would arrive first. Jared debated telling Farrak to hang back but knew the reality. Whatever was happening at the monastery, a few minutes could be the difference to saving lives, including the Prime Minister’s. A flicker of nerves tensed his back. The Ural Mountains loomed ahead. At the sight of them, Jared pushed aside his anxiety. It was too late to second guess now. But at least a few unknowns were about to be answered as they closed in on the mountaintop location.

They took the first pass over the old stone complex at speed. Fires blazed in parts. Most of the roof had collapsed over one of the long buildings containing the dormitories. The destruction to the main part of the monastery was all the more lurid for the dark fallout and rubble strewn across the snow-filled yard.

“
Field Command 1, this is Mobile 1. Come in
,”
Jared called into the comm. Only static answered back. Jared glanced to make sure he’d switched the line on. The light was green. He toggled it again just to be sure. This time when he called, the line hissed with life. But there was still no answer.

Farrak’s dactyl sat in the snow next to the cemetery. Arinna sent her plane in first, using it as a decoy. No shots were fired toward it. Except for smoke and flames spitting against the snow, the scene looked quiet.

“Where are the three dactyls from the Guard?”

“In a field about ten miles north,” Arinna answered, checking the monitor. “Farrak must have sent them out of the way. There isn’t much space on the hill.”

“There is a bit more than I expected. Some of the FLF vehicles are gone. Don’t suppose they left?”

“I doubt we’d be that lucky ... or like what we find if they have.”

That sent a chill through him as well as a new rush of warning. Jared glanced at Arinna from the corner of his eye. She looked tense, like it was any other battle. But he didn’t trust what was running through her mind.

Coming back around to land, the severity of destruction to the dormitory closest to the cemetery became clear. The roof was partially collapsed and still smoked. The western wing, the one housing the FLF delegation, was scorched with windows smashed, but otherwise standing. As Jared dropped the dactyl to earth, Farrak finally answered. The line hissed, garbling Farrak’s voice. Gunfire snapped in the background.

“
Mobile Command 1, this is Field Command ... seven soldiers ... back edge of European dorm ..
.”
The line dropped silent.

“I don’t like this,” Jared hissed.

“Good. It will keep you on edge.” Arinna headed to the back to gear up. “It’s a trap. You know it is. Just like the one in India. They turned the bloody peace negotiations into a trap to lure us in.”

“Why do you think they waited so long?” Jared asked as he double checked his ammo.

“I’m not looking forward to finding out.” Arinna hesitated at the back hatch. “You ready for this?”

“Are you?” His tone was enough to make her glance his way. “You going to hold yourself together this time? I can’t afford to worry about you if we are going in there.”

“Dammit, Jared. It wasn’t just Byran in his house when it exploded, but Isabella and his kids too. I care about all of them.” Arinna held his gaze. “I’ve got this.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.”

Despite the sound of gunfire over the comm line, all was quiet outside. Which only further confirmed to Jared that they were watched and targeted. With a nod from Arinna, Jared dropped the back hatch and they raced to the meager cover of a mausoleum in the cemetery. Bullets sprayed the ground around them.

Arinna returned fire, covering Jared as he made the last few feet. Two seconds later, his dactyl swiveled, engines humming as they fed power to the lasers. A corner of the main entrance hall crumbled. Arinna’s plane followed suit. Jared doubted the FLF expected that. Using the distraction, Jared and Arinna hopped through the snow, making the corner of the European dorm.

Jared rolled inside through a blown out window, quick to clear the room as Arinna dropped beside him. The air was full of dust and smoke. Which would screen their movements and the FLF. But every breath felt like the airborne debris coated his tongue, sliding down to encase his lungs.

“Which do you think is the back edge?” Arinna asked with a gasping cough.

“Damn if I know.” Jared pulled out his comm unit. It showed no signal. He swore. “We got no connection with Command or maps of this place.”

“Great. You were here once? And I spent two days before the FLF decided to rearrange everything.” Arinna slipped to the hallway, ducking her head out both ways. “Call came mid-day, so the delegates should have been in session. That means the chapel. I say we go left.”

Arinna led the way, barely making a sound as they advanced. This dormitory had been ripped apart. Stones and old wooden beams cluttered their path. Gaping holes offered glimpses to the second story above and brief snatches of sky. When the smoke cleared enough to allow any view.

Most of the fire was contained to the floor above. Jared could feel the heat in the heavy air. The stones of the wall he pressed his back against were warm. Occasional sparks drifted down ahead of them through the rents in the walls and ceiling. Otherwise, all was quiet again.

Leaning forward, Arinna checked around the next collapse in the hallway. Clear, she indicated to Jared to move ahead. 

Jared heard the noise to his left just before the burst of gunfire. It was enough to give him a warning. He was beyond the bullets when they came. In perfect placement to shoot back. As soon as he did, the walls erupted around them.

Throwing himself through a door, he was followed a second later by Arinna. Falling hard, Jared wondered how much of the monastery was rigged to explode. The tumbling rubble formed by timbers and large stones of the walls contained itself. The monastery collapsed by small degrees with each explosion, slowly falling inwards.

Arinna and Jare
d’
s dive through the door ended against the far wall in a narrow room. Dark smoke, ash, and small stones rained down on them, but the ceiling held. Choking, they found it easier to exit the dorm again through a chasm in the stone wall. The air a little clearer, they found themselves on the opposite side of the building from the dactyls. The second wing of the old monastery lay in front of them across the open courtyard.

“
Great, this is much better
.”
Jared hacked. The smoke and haze from the most recent explosion covered their location for the moment.

Arinna eyed the distance across the courtyard. The other building was more intact. It also wasn’t on fire. Both Arinna and Jared watched it for movement as the comm line hissed. No words came with the static.

“Want to change buildings?” Arinna asked as she tossed him a half smile. “We have to cross open ground to get to the chapel no matter what.”

Jared spat a mouthful of dust to the ground. “Yeah, I remember that much.”

A voice yelled orders in the hallway behind them. The language wasn’t English. Jared hoped that if the FLF was on this side, they wouldn’t be on the other. He took a deep breath and lunged through the last of the broken wall and across the open expanse. Arinna raced on his heels.

Gunfire opened up around them, but it was mostly falling behind. Little impacts like demonic rain chased them across the courtyard. It made Jared more nervous. They were being driven ahead, away from the dactyls. Jared reached the far wall and checked the first window. He jumped in, Arinna behind.

“
This is
n’
t good
,”
Arinna hissed.

Jared didn’t argue that point as he checked his ammo
.“
Think the
y’
ll detonate the place under us
?
”

Arinna shook her head, but said
,“
Perhaps
.
”

Jared eyed her. He trusted her instincts. They were the only reason he was still alive. She didn’t look nervous, but she looked worried. He swore under his breath and glanced down the hallway. You think they want one of us alive?” Arinna didn’t answer, which turned his stomach. “We shouldn’t have come,” he hissed.

“Some traps are only sprung if the right prey enters.” Her eyes flashed with anger. “I think we need to find whoever is left and get out of here. And if the FLF wants to shoot at our heels to get us over to this wing, we are going the wrong way.”

“Now you tell me,” Jared drawled, earning an amused glance that did far more for his sense of success than optimistic words ever could. “Well I don’t think backtracking is an option, so let’s see which way they don’t want us to go from here.”

This wing had no covering smoke. Closed wooden doors mirrored each other for at least three hundred feet before damage caved in part of the wall. Some of the gunshots escorting them across the courtyard had come from this wing. But everything was silent ahead as far as he could see.

Stepping out, Jared moved slowly down the narrow hallway. Every door felt like it concealed a threat. He slowed his breathing, forcing himself to take slow sips of air. Beside him, Arinna leaned forward, moving silently on the balls of her feet. The tension built up inside of him radiated back from her.

Gunfire erupted ahead and above them. Immediately, it mixed with shouting. Arinna darted down the corridor, Jared covering her back. The door at the end of the hallway swung open, Arinna aiming and holding fire by the barest of margins. The soldier in the door wore a Guard uniform.

They followed him out the side door, making a mad dash through a melee of bullets across the short open expanse to the chapel. Even being careful, Jared was nearly out of ammo before reaching the church. A bullet grazed his thigh as he ran through the open entryway. It burst into the old stone and plaster on the wall in front of him. He launched himself through the halo of debris and peeled off immediately to the west side without pausing to think.

“Bar the doors,” Farrak ordered.

A glance told Jared that Byran was there along with two others that he didn’t recognize dressed in civilian clothes. Arinna stood catching her breath, her gaze on Byran who looked far more calm than Jared expected. Dead soldiers lay in blood along the walls on both sides. Near the altar, a table set with bodies slumped around it.

“Lieutenant Faronelli?” Jared asked.

Farrak shook his head, the motion showing a cut along his neck that wept blood and had soaked the collar of his shirt. “This is all we have left.” It wasn’t much. Maybe twenty Guard.

“Because of me,” Byran said. Jared realized he’d misread Byran’s agitation for calm. The man was wide eyed and Jared swore he looked unhappy to see Arinna.

“What happened?” Arinna asked. “The report to Command was sketchy on details.”

Byran shook his head. A glance toward the bared doors sent him pacing forward. The tight quarters and scattered bodies stopped him after a step. “We were in the chapel discussing some bloody timeline, and Sergi pulled out a handgun and shot Sophia. Guard soldiers aimed at the FLF delegates and the FLF soldiers shot at them. It happened so fast we barely had time to duck. We’ve been in a running battle with the remaining FLF ever since.” Byran took a deep breath, having said everything in one rush.