Delete: Volume 3 (Shifter Series) (8 page)

As I turned, there was a grunt and a gunshot. The man I’d shot had used the last of his breath to try to complete his duty. Hedges looked down and patted his body, trying to find the wound. But there was none.

On the floor, in front of us, lay a body. Cooper had instinctively leapt in front of the bullet.

I crouched down and pulled his helmet off. His eyes were wide and staring, looking desperately for a way out. Turner knelt down on the other side and took his hand.

“You’ll be OK, Coops.” She was lying. The boy was dying. But any minute now, the hypnic would kick in and Cooper would find a way to Shift himself back to life. Maybe he’d have pushed Hedges out of the way or have been on the other side of the room when the gun was fired. He sure as hell wouldn’t have sacrificed his life for some mission.

I couldn’t allow that. We had a job to do. I held Cooper’s face in my hands and stared into his eyes.

“It’s OK,” I said, Fixing him – stopping him from undoing any of his decisions. “It will all be OK. You did good.”

He smiled up at me, grateful I was there at his last moment. Not knowing that I was the one killing him.

He jerked, his limbs twitching, and then went still. I laid him on the floor and closed his eyes.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Turner bent over Cooper’s body, rocking.

“On your feet, Private,” I said. We didn’t have time for this. “On your feet.” I yanked her to standing. When I saw the look of pain on her face, something in me softened. “Come on,” I said, patting her on the shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

She sniffed back the tears, repositioned her gun strap and followed me out the door.

I helped Hedges down the stairs, as he was struggling to stand. There were raw, red marks on his arms and legs and bloodstains on his shirt. How much had the Red Hand put him through? How close had he been to breaking?

When we got to the third floor, Zac fell back into position without saying a word. And without explaining the three new bodies lying dead in the corridor. He’d clearly had some action of his own.

We slipped out of the window; Zac and Turner helping Hedges make the leap down to the ground.

It was silent outside now. Not a single gunshot. We crept around to the front of the building as Unwin staggered around the corner, groaning and swearing. Williamson came after him, a steady stream of blood pouring down the side of his face. Between them they were carrying the limp body of Ward. Her grey eyes stared straight up at the sky.

They laid her on the floor, and Unwin let out a steady stream of angry swears.

“They had a rocket launcher,” Williamson said, using the cuff of his sleeve to wipe away some of the blood.

This had not been the in-and-out extraction we had planned. I checked my watch: less than fifteen minutes to get out before the air strike. “Where’s Ladoux?”

“Speak of the devil,” Unwin said, nodding behind me.

I turned to see Ladoux jogging across a patch of grass. She ran straight past us and stopped in front of Hedges. She pulled him into a quick hug.

Hedges winced. Embarrassed at this public show of affection or because her embrace had caused him pain, I wasn’t sure.

Ladoux let him go and then smoothed down the front of her shirt. “They didn’t hurt you too much?”

Hedges shook his head.

“Unwin and I are fine too, by the way,” Williamson said. “Just in case you were wondering. Ward and Cooper not so much.”

Ladoux looked down at Ward’s body, her smile vanishing in an instant. “Where’s Coops? What happened?”

“We almost got our arses handed to us is what happened. They knew we were coming,” Unwin said, throwing a fresh piece of gum into his mouth.

“How is that possible?” Zac said.

“I don’t know. But they were ready,” Williamson said.

“Well, you got what we came for,” Ladoux said, looking back at Hedges.

“Oh, sure. Mission accomplished. Whoopy-freaking-do!” Unwin said.

“Not yet,” I said. “We still need to get Hedges back for–” I didn’t have a chance to finish. Zac shoved me hard in the chest, there was a loud snap, and I felt white searing pain cut across my arm. Zac and I both hit the ground. We were under fire.

We rolled behind the smoking car to get some kind of cover.

“Get back!” I yelled at the team. They herded Hedges around the side of the building. We weren’t in the clear yet.

“Up there,” Zac said, pointing to the top of the building.

I flipped my visor into place and zoomed in on the figure. They were slim – a woman or child, maybe – holding a small pistol and pulling the trigger over and over, while they screamed in rage. The gun had stopped firing, the cartridge clearly empty, and yet they kept pulling the trigger. My visor flipped through filters till the person came into focus. It was a teenager. I couldn’t tell which gender, thanks to the red hoodie they wore pulled up over a baseball cap. But I could see the tears pouring down their face.

I stood up, took aim, and fired. A single shot to the head and the figure crumpled to the ground. We waited to see if we were in the clear. Everything was silent apart from the crackle of fire coming from the burning building. Slowly, we stood up and stepped forward. It was over.

“Ten minutes,” Zac said, meaning how long we had till the air force would get to work. Not that the strike was needed any more. The Red Hand had cleared out long ago, leaving only a small defence team behind. But I would be happy to see this block go up in flames anyway.

I nodded. “Let’s get back to the bird.”

Ladoux led us to where she’d landed the copter. Unwin and Williamson carried Ward’s body and laid it in the cockpit. Turner dug out a blanket from her pack and covered the woman with it.

We stood for a while before getting back on board, looking towards the tower block. The strike would be coming any minute. I wondered if there were still some of the Red Hand in there and was surprised at how completely OK I would be if there were. They deserved to burn, I thought. Someone tugged on my arm. I yanked it away, irritated at whoever was there.

It was Turner. She held a white gauze bandage in her hand. “Your arm, sir.”

The scrape was deep. Blood oozed steadily out of it, soaking into my uniform. I nodded at her to continue.

She worked quickly, cutting away my sleeve so she could get access to the wound. She mopped at it, throwing each soaked swab to the floor, then pulled out a tube.

“This may sting,” she said, as she poured a line of glistening liquid into the cut.

She wasn’t kidding. I had to bite down on my lip to stop myself from whimpering in pain. It was worse than the cut itself. She wrapped a bandage around my arm, tying it off in a neat bow.

“Thank you,” I said.

“No problem,” she said, packing up her equipment. She was about to walk away when she paused. “Cooper’s body.”

The strike was due any moment. “I’m sorry.”

She nodded and forced a smile.

I felt Cooper’s loss harder than made sense. As far as I was aware, I’d only met him yesterday. And yet there was a part of me that counted him as a friend, that had fought alongside him. The death of Ward hurt, too. I knew nothing about her. Had she been a mother? A wife? I would never know now. All I knew was that she was a good solider.

I looked at the rest of my squad. Unwin, the gunner – who even now was trying to make a joke, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes – passed Turner a cigarette. She took it with a shaking hand and chugged on it, sending a cloud of blue smoke into the sky. Next to them, Williamson saw to the cut on his forehead, trying to hide how much pain he was in. Ladoux stared ahead, flicking the lid of a lighter open and closed.
Flick
. Open.
Flack.
Closed. Over and over, and yet she didn’t smoke. And Hedges, frail and haunted, sat on the floor, unable to stay standing any more.

I looked from squad member to squad member, taking in as much as I could about them. Noticing how Williamson bit his nails and how the thin tan mark around Ladoux’s fourth finger meant she used to wear a wedding ring. Had she lost her husband to the war? Tiny little details that made up the person.

I felt a wave of pride for my squad swell in my chest. “You did good,” I said. “You all did good.”

I was glad to hear the sound of the planes arriving to hide the choke in my throat.

We flew home into glorious mid-morning sunshine, as if the weather itself mocked us. The atmosphere in the copter on the return trip was heavy and numb. The rush of excitement was gone, leaving the cold reality of what had happened. We had won. The bad guys were dead or defeated. The good guys saved.

But at what cost?

Zac stared out of the window at the streets below, his angular features illuminated by the sunlight. I guess I could see what girls saw in Zac. What Aubrey probably saw in Zac, with his square jaw and Roman nose. It didn’t make it any easier knowing he’d saved my life. Was that my blood flecked over his face or an enemy’s?

I squeezed the bandage around my arm, feeling the sticky wetness of the blood seeping through, but I couldn’t feel anything. Either the anaesthetic was doing its job or the adrenaline was. It wouldn’t be long before they both wore off and the pain came back.

It’s only pain,
that voice in my head said again.

The copter banked hard and I had to hold on to a strap to stop myself from sliding.

“Set down in three,” Ladoux said.

We dropped altitude fast, making my stomach flip so hard I thought someone had Shifted. I even looked around, hopeful that the world had changed. Everything was as it had been.

Whatever had taken over me back there in the battle was starting to fade, too. What was I doing? Leading men on missions when I should be working out a way to get the hell out of this reality. And yet I felt like I owed them all something. Felt responsible for them all.

Ladoux set the helicopter down and we piled out, the blades already slowing. Zac helped Hedges out, and walked him back into the Hub. Hedges really needed to go to the infirmary, but Cain told us he needed to be debriefed on whatever the hell X73 might mean first.

I let Zac and the rest walk ahead of me, grateful for this moment of peace. If the turmoil in my mind could ever be called peace.

My hands shook so hard, my fingers were a blur. I needed to keep it together for a little longer. Enough to get me through the next hour. The next day. Enough for me to find Aubrey and get us all out of here.

We rode the lift down in silence. Turner was fighting to hold back her sobs. Zac wrapped an arm around her, and she buried herself in his chest. Unwin too was trying hard to hide his tears. Williamson just let them flow. Ladoux, however, looked straight ahead, her expression as cold as my own. I swallowed a couple more of Frankie’s painkillers.

The lights had returned to pale green and the alarm had been silenced. In its place was a stir of excited voices. As I stepped into the Hub, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Everyone was smiling and laughing, as if I’d walked into a cocktail party rather than a military headquarters. A group of people were gathered in the middle, peering over each other’s shoulders. A hand reached up to be high-fived by members of the group.

“What the hell is going on here?” I shouted, my voice cutting through the laughter. “What kind of animals are you people?”

The group parted as I walked forward, revealing Aubrey standing in the middle of the group, a smile frozen on her face.

CHAPTER NINE

The buzz of excitement silenced like a scratched record. The group who had all been gazing at Aubrey in delight turned to me, cowed and nervous. Eyes darted between the two of us like spectators at a tennis match.

“Captain Jones brought in the Red Hand’s second in command,” CP said, stepping forward. Her face was flushed and her fringe plastered to her face with sweat. “We were in and out before they knew what was happening. Nobody got as much as a scratch. You should have seen it, sir. She was incredible.” CP’s smile was spread so wide, it looked as if her head might flip in two. Aubrey had been smiling, but under the force of my stare, it faded into a complete blank.

“He’s in the cells, Commandant,” she said quietly. “Awaiting interrogation.”

The group, sensing my anger, all suddenly found something more important to be doing, leaving me standing in front of Aubrey, CP at her side, and my squad behind me.

“Tyler,” Zac said, a subtle warning in his voice.

I couldn’t remember having ever felt anger like this. Hot and indignant and all directed at the girl I knew I loved.

“Nice work, Tyler.” The slap on my back was so hard, I spun around, fists instinctively raised, ready to fight.

To his credit, Cain didn’t even flinch. He merely looked me up and down.

“Two successes in a single day. Good work.”

“Success,” I said, the word hissing between my teeth. “You call the death of two people a success?”

“Extraction complete. I’d call that a success. The losses were…”

“Don’t you dare,” I shouted. “Don’t you dare say collateral damage or wrap this up in military speak. They were my team and they’re dead because of me.”

Cain grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the corner, away from Aubrey and the people watching. “Because of the enemy, Tyler. The enemy. They’re the ones who killed our people. Not you.”

“I led them in there. I let them die and for what? To recover one spy, who probably doesn’t even know anything?”

The pain in my leg and head was back, and with it, the cold, sickening realisation of what I’d done. Of who I’d become. I hadn’t recognised myself back at the tower, giving orders, making life-and-death decisions as easily as choosing what to have for breakfast. I’d killed a boy for the sake of the mission. It might not have been my bullet in his chest, but it might as well have been my finger on the trigger.

“You did your duty, Tyler. As you’ve done time and time before and as you’ll do again.”

I shook Cain off me, still quaking with anger. I couldn’t look at him. Because he was right: I had done this before. I sensed it, like a guilty memory surfacing after you’ve tried to hide it. The
me
I was here, he was ruthless and focused. He was a killer. And all because he believed in doing his duty.