Zhukov's Dogs (17 page)

Val seemed willing to let it go, but Jayne stepped toward him, indicating he was far from finished. Val nudged the younger boy in Fritzi’s direction as Jayne raised his voice. “That’s all you care about, isn’t it? You only came out here because you thought you’d be able to bring all that wine back, too. Well here’s news for you, Val. The damn brewery was empty. Bone dry. Another one of your
reliable
tips. We risked our lives, and the only thing you care about is the lost profit!”

“We came out here to find you, with or without the wine,” Val insisted, temper flaring to match Jayne’s. “You think I’d just leave any of you to die?”

“I sure do! Don’t pretend you’re some kind of noble hero, coming here to rescue us. I know you, Val. I know what you care about.”

Val stood his ground even with Jayne stepping closer to him. I had to give him credit for being brave, but there was a point in every fight where it was best to hold one’s tongue. Val didn’t seem to know such a point even existed.

“You don’t know anything,” Val snapped at Jayne.

“I know I could break your neck right now and wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.”

Finn shrank against the wall. Fritzi wrapped her arms around the younger boy’s shoulders, holding him back as he called Jayne all sorts of hateful names. “Guys, don’t fight,” Gemma said in a quiet plea.

It didn’t look like anyone was going to intervene, meaning it was up to me. I stepped forward between Jayne and Val and put my hands out to separate them. “All right, both of you calm down. We’re all stuck here, remember?”

Jayne glowered at me, his eyes narrowing into slits. I hoped he wasn’t thinking about trying to break me in half so he could get to Val. I’d really hate to make a mess out of him in front of his friends. Instead, Jayne said something which did more damage than brute force ever could.

“Screwing this one now, eh, Val?”

Val shoved past me and punched Jayne square in the jaw. I heard bones crunching, but Jayne didn’t seem fazed. He lunged to wrap his hands around Val’s throat. I rushed between them before Jayne could get a good grip and pushed the two apart again. With one hand on Jayne’s chest, I shoved him away, drew a fist back and socked him in the gut. Jayne wheezed but recovered almost instantly. He seized the front of my coat with both hands, and the next thing I knew, I flew across the room. My head struck concrete, and my ears filled with a shrill ringing.

Gemma appeared above me, asking a question I couldn’t hear. With some help from her, I sat upright to see Jayne and Val tumbling on the concrete exchanging loud words and even louder blows. The ringing in my ears faded as I rose to my feet. I was sick of their fighting, so I reached for my gun.

“Jayne!” I shouted to get his attention.

Jayne had Val on his back, one hand on his collar with the other drawn back in mid-swing. There were deep scratches on his cheeks, blood seeping from his nose and mouth. Val didn’t look to be in any better condition, with the blond hair on the side of his head matted by blood, and dark red marks on his neck where Jayne had been choking him. When he saw the gun in my hand, Jayne released Val and raised both of his hands up.

“Now then,” I said. “What do you say we work on getting out of here?”

Gemma was the first to move. She snatched the heat lamp, helped Finn to his feet, and urged the others to follow her back to the cave-in site. I nodded after Gemma, and Jayne took that as his signal to follow. Slowly, he got to his feet, but I didn’t lower my gun until he and the others were several yards off.

When they were on their way, I tucked the gun under the waistband of my jeans, keeping it close enough that I could easily stop Jayne if he tried to pick a fight again. Val had sat up by then. With his knit hat in one hand, he dabbed at the blood on the side of his head, grimacing with every touch.

I walked over to Val and held out a hand. He ignored it and stared at the ground like I wasn’t even there. I tried to imagine what he was feeling, tried to think of what to say to him. A joke? An apology? What did he need to hear to feel better? Before I could figure it out, Val got to his feet. I tried to steady him when he swayed, but Val shoved me away and walked off without a word or so much as a glance in my direction.

Solitary Box 1, Eisenhower Building—Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, November 25th, 2076—4:00 p.m.

hat’s when I knew I was in trouble.”

It was hard to stop the memories from replaying once Dr. Halliburton got them going. Pent up in my own head, not having anyone to regale the details to out loud, made them more difficult to deal with. I lasted two hours before the silence made me crack. Since I was alone anyway, I didn’t see the harm in talking to myself.

“Val was too up and down to get a good read on. Pretty early, I’d accepted that the most I’d get on him was a few background details and some field data,” I mumbled into the darkness. I imagined the part where Dr. Halliburton would say something sarcastic and ask a question about what happened next.

“I don’t know. Since the whole thing on the porch, I’d kind of been waiting for something. Another advance or, I don’t know, something other than the way he pretended like it didn’t happen.”

Why?

“I was… curious, I guess.”

Curious?

“I like getting in people’s heads. Kind of like you do,” I said, now freely addressing my imaginary version of the doctor. “I’d never been hit on by another guy before, so it was all new to me. I wanted to know more. I wanted to feel things out.”

Oh, how perverse.

“Not like that.”

My version of the doctor had a dirty mind, it seemed. She smiled, adjusted her glasses, and asked me what I meant instead. I didn’t answer, so she changed the question. She asked about the moment Val shoved me away. How I knew that was when I was in trouble.

“Because,” I chuckled, “I felt sad.”

Isn’t sad a normal emotion? Don’t normal teenagers feel sad? You’ve never been normal, though, have you? A military dog doesn’t feel anything. At least, a good dog wouldn’t feel anything. You’ve managed to fail both as a dog and as a friend.

I didn’t like my doctor anymore. Pressing my head back to the wall, I forced myself to focus on the silence until she was gone. The ringing had just settled in when the latch outside my solitary block clanked. The door slid aside to reveal Dr. Halliburton, flanked by a Grey Man on either side.

“Welcome. Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable,” I said, waving my bound hands to beckon them inside. The light silhouetting the three of them made my eyes burn as they struggled to readjust. One of the Grey’s stepped into the cell sideways, too large to fit in straight on. He pulled me to my feet and into the hall.

Nobody said a word to me as I was led to the same interrogation room as earlier. The papers had been picked up and the table put back upright. There was a small change to the layout, I noticed. A metal loop had been bolted to the floor beneath my chair, a chain attached. Dr. Halliburton sat herself down in the chair opposite mine as one of the Grey Men shoved me into my seat and affixed the chain to my handcuffs. He gave them a solid tug to make sure they were secure before going to join the other Grey Man in the corner.

Two Grey Men and a short leash
, I thought, tugging at the chain myself. They were finally starting to take me seriously. I looked up at the doctor, smirked, and asked, “Miss me?”

“So, you were
curious
.”

My chest tightened. I was back in my dark solitary cell with my imaginary doctor all over again, only now she was very real. “Anyone ever tell you it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

“Yes. Did anyone ever tell you only crazy people talk to themselves?”

“Crazy is one of the job requirements around here.”

The doctor laughed, almost politely. She reset the table to the way it was earlier. Tablet, profiles of my friends, only this time she kept her cell phone in plain sight, right on top of Val’s profile. “Tell me about this being curious business.”

I said nothing. I still had trouble accepting she’d listened to everything I’d said in solitary. All the private memories I’d replayed which, if she asked about in this setting, I would have skimped over.

“Come, now. After your little outburst earlier, I really don’t think there’s any point in denying you have feelings for him anymore,” Dr. Halliburton said.

“Dirty tricks usually produce the desired result,” I replied, pulling my elbows in close to my sides and sitting up straight.

“That they do,” was all she said before steering us back on topic. “So, this curiosity, it only surfaced when you met Val?”

“Correct.”

“What about with Brigadier McKee?”

I threw my head back and laughed so hard my ribs ached. Dr. Halliburton looked confused, and slightly offended, by my outburst. As I calmed down, I imagined how Aiden was probably watching the feed and laughing at the ridiculousness of the question, too.

“Me and Aiden? Hah! No, no, not even close. I mean, there was this one time when we almost froze to death in the Sahara, but that was just very,
very
resentful cuddling.”

“So, how would you describe your relationship?”

“He’s my best friend. Like a brother, really. The guy’s risked his life for me in and out of the field, which is more than anyone else here can say.”

“Yes, I noticed your track record on partners is…”

“It’s okay. You can say it.”

“Lacking.”

I laughed. She was being kind. I’d had twelve partners since I started, and only one had lived long enough to attend the debriefing. Partner missions were rare, especially for elites, but once or twice a year, one would fall into my lap.

“The Brigadier’s been listed as your primary partner for years,” she said, again grasping at straws, hoping it would produce a confession of long-harbored passion.

“Because I never had to worry about bringing him home in a body bag.”

“Except for that time in New Zealand.”

The fun was over. I did not want to relive New Zealand, not with her. She was infinitely more likely to get the details on my sex life with Val than the details on that mission. Her smile assured me she wouldn’t leave it alone.

“Oh, yes. I read the full report. Almost died, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“And it was your fault.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure that was devastating. Made you realize how important he was.”

I said nothing more about New Zealand. I never would. She might’ve read the report, but she couldn’t comprehend the week of hell Aiden and I had endured during our final mission together. One sleepless, grueling day blending into another, futilely trying to prevent mass genocide on an island that reeked of burnt flesh. We staged a coup, cleared out overflowing prison camps, and blew the brains out of anything wearing the green feathers of a new regime.

On the third day, Aiden disappeared.

“Maori soldiers took him while you ran.”

I thought he was right behind me.

“How ever did you manage to find him after that?”

I tortured sixteen men.

“Oh, and that camp they were keeping him in. Poor boy. Starved, beaten, rented out for slave labor day after day.”