Enemy One (Epic Book 5) (48 page)

Why had she been afraid to ask Ed what he believed about her God—or any God? The question had been there at the precipice of her mind, yet she’d remained silent. In fact, she’d purposefully hidden it. Whether she’d succeeded in that effort was unknown, but whether by choice or unawareness, the Ithini hadn’t answered. Was it because she didn’t
need
his answer? Was her faith strong enough to support its own weight without the need for third-party affirmation? She wished that was the case.

Svetlana hadn’t asked Ed because she was afraid he would have offered the same bluntness he’d offered about Uladek. She was afraid that the Ithini, a creature of vastly superior intellect and logic, would have called her God a justification as well. The truth was, if indeed Ei`dorinthal didn’t believe in the existence of some sort of God, then either he, Tauthinilaas, and Kraash-nagun—all beings of greater universal knowledge and awareness—were ignorant, or…

…or she was wrong.

I am alive. I have hope. God has given me these things, even in the midst of my adversity.

Or the right dice had fallen her way, as they sometimes did in everyday life. Was
everything
evidence of a divine plan? Was her siphoning a result not of God, but of the science of psychology in an unprecedented medium? Was she in her current predicament simply…because she was?

No
, she thought firmly.
Fight this.
Fight the doubt. Fight the possibility that this was not ordained—that she
hadn’t
been put in the place that she, Svetlana, needed to be. Fight the fear.

Bowing her head, Svetlana prayed.

There was nothing emotionally redemptive about eating the calunod; it was not food for the soul. It was, however, nourishment—as slimy and unsavory as it might have been. And so without complaint, Svetlana ate all that was before her, ignoring the gelatinous textures and rotten seaweed flavor that comprised the Bakmas’ customary in-flight meal. She simply ingested.

As she knew they would be, Svetlana and Mishka were eventually retrieved, Svetlana by Gabralthaar and Mishka by Ka`vesh. She gave special care to ignore the canrassi for the sake of maintaining the guise of subservient species. Though Mishka’s aggression toward her was lacking, it was apparently not enough to clue in the two Bakma henchmen. She and the beast were once again led into the bridge and shackled.

No one on the bridge paid Svetlana any mind as they went about their business, occupying the various consoles. But inside Svetlana’s head, the gears of revolution were already turning. The ends were preparing to be justified by the means. Nagogg
would
be removed by her hand. She just needed time.

No connection was attempted between Svetlana and Ei`dorinthal. No attempt to communicate with her was made by anyone at all. That suited Svetlana just fine.

The time for them to hear
her
would come soon enough.

Tuesday, March 20
^th
, 0012 NE

1149 hours

Norilsk, Russia

Two days later

SCOTT WAS RUMMAGING through
Northern Forge
’s weapons cache when Antipov commed him. “Remington, we have a problem!”

Scott went full alert. “What is it?”

“Rally the Fourteenth and get to a transport! I will explain en route.”

Get to a transport?
This is bad.
Heart pounding, Scott bolted out of weapons storage, foregoing his crutches and wincing as his thigh reacted with a painful throb. “I’m en route! What the hell is going on?”

“You are on the verge of being traced.”

Traced? How? Punching the button on the elevator to send it upward, Scott waited with pulsing adrenaline for the elevator light to ding. “How are we about to be traced? We haven’t done anything!”

Antipov answered, “I just found out that Vector has been trying to find a historical log of your comm chatter from Krasnoyarsk. When they do, it will be traced to
Jīngshén-2
, a Chinese satellite that covers Krasnoyarsk Krai!”

Scott blinked in confusion; the elevator door opened.
“What?”

“Pablo Quintana!” The eidola chief sounded frantic. “He is attempting to trace your comm signals from when you were in Krasnoyarsk.”

Who the hell was Pablo Quintana? “And that’s bad, right?”

“If he locks onto your signature, he will use every bounce off
Jīngshén-2
to trace you all the way to Norilsk. They will find
Northern Forge
, if they have not already!”

Tapping the elevator door impatiently from within, Scott asked, “So how do we stop him? Who is this guy?”

“Quintana is a combat technician with Vector. As far as you are concerned, he is the most dangerous man on the planet. If he has set to seek you out, he
will
find you.”

Vector
was all Scott needed to hear. This was bad. The door to Level-3 opened; Scott tore out of it toward the hangar, nearly crashing into a wandering Becan in the process.

“Wha’?” The Irishman said, gaping when he saw Scott run past him toward the hangar. “Remmy?”

“Call everyone—Valentin, too!” Scott shouted, waving back at him. “All hands on deck, in the hangar,
go
!”

Eyes widening, Becan pulled out his comm and queued up the unit.

“Listen to me, Remington,” Antipov said as Scott lowered the
Pariah
’s rear bay door, “this mission is the most important one you have ever been tasked with. You cannot fail, or our cause is lost. We will not survive an attack on
Northern Forge
.”

Flicking switches in the
Pariah
’s cockpit, Scott began the process of bringing the Vulture to life. “What do we have to do?” Outside the cockpit window, he saw bewildered sentries rush toward the transport to investigate.

He could hear the eidola chief draw a breath. “There is a mountain range to the northeast of Hami, in China. Built into the southern slopes of the mountains is a massive satellite array.”

China? They were about to go to
China
? “Whoa, hold on a minute!”

“It is a hub for all of the ground stations that communicate with
Jīngshén-2
. It
must
be destroyed!”

“Wait, wait, wait!
China
?”

Antipov answered with exasperation. “You cannot express a concern I am not already aware of. You are the only chance we have to cut off Quintana before he traces you to
Northern Forge
. Once he finds you there, there will be nothing I can do to stop him.”

“How do you even
know
all this?”

The eidola chief went on. “Upon reaching the station, a ground team needs to infiltrate the facility and plug into their mainframe. The hacking kit I gave to Evteev—make sure he brings it! He must download all of the entry codes for EDEN’s global network of satellite hubs.”

Behind Scott, Becan ran into the troop bay. “Everyone’s on their way, Remmy!”

Snapping his fingers and glancing back, Scott said, “Get the Falcons, too! We’re gonna need ’em.”

Huffing in exhaustion, Becan nodded and ran back out.

“Gaining access to EDEN’s network will allow us to cut off any further attempts at this by Vector or anyone else, as well as give us access to their global tracking map. Once the codes are downloaded, destroy the facility and leave
immediately
. As soon as
Hami Station
reports that they are under attack, EDEN will send forces to intercept you.”

Terrific.

“Relay all of this information to the Fourteenth when they arrive to you. I will contact Valentin myself to ensure you are properly equipped.”

At least they’d have that going for them. “Roger that.”

“We will speak again, soon.”

As the channel closed, Scott looked out of the
Pariah
’s cockpit window. Members of the Fourteenth were running into the hangar. Rising from the cockpit seat, Scott ran back into the troop bay to meet them. Picking Tiffany out of the crowd, he pointed at the Superwolf. “Warm up that fighter—
go
!” Abandoning the rest of the operatives, Tiffany bolted for the Superwolf. “Everyone else,
listen up
! Vector Squad is in the process of tracking our communication from Krasnoyarsk to here. If we don’t stop them, we are found, and we die.” There was no other way to put it. “Boris, do you have that hacking kit of yours?”

The technician pointed to the troop bay. “It is in there!”

“Good. We need to land at a hub station, download a series of satellite codes from its central computer,” or whatever it was, “then destroy the facility as we
quickly
leave!” He was met with a barrage of exhausted looks. “I know,” he said defensively, “but this is critical. Travis, get in the cockpit and get ready to fly.”

As the pilot bolted through the troop bay past Scott, David raised his hand. “Where exactly are we going?”

“Hami, China.”

Skidding to a stop behind Scott, Travis spun around. “Wait, we’re going to
China
?”

“I know, Travis, it’s bad!”

“There are levels of bad,” Travis replied, leaping into his cockpit seat. “This one’s the worst!”

Pointing to the troop bay, Scott said, “Everyone get in and gear up if you can! More armor and equipment are en route.”

Get your head right, Scott. Get your head right!
Scott was putting on his fulcrum armor as quickly as possible. All the while, his hands were shaking. There’d been urgency in Antipov’s voice that Scott had never heard before. The eidola chief was
not
the kind of man to get flustered. If this had
him
trembling, this was as desperate a mission as a mission could be.

As he slid on his right thigh guard, Scott winced. His wound hurt like hell. Adrenaline had gotten him to the
Pariah
quickly, but there was no way he’d be able to function at full capacity with his leg as tender as it still was. This was going to be a rough one.

Around the corner of the ramp and charging up it came Esther. The scout was wide-eyed. “What’s going on? Are we going on a sodding
mission
?”

“You’re not!” Scott answered. “Get out of here, Brooking—you’re no good with that shoulder.”

“And you’re no good with that busted leg!”

Sliding on his helmet, Scott’s field of vision was replaced by his heads-up display. “You’re off this one,” he reiterated, his voice amplified by the helmet. “That’s an order.”

Jaw setting, Esther backed away from the ramp. As she did, Valentin jostled past her, nearly knocking the scout over as he stalked up the troop bay. The moment Scott’s eyes settled on the keeper, he blinked.

Valentin was in his armor.

“What are you doing?” Scott asked.

Clamping on his own helmet, Valentin answered, “Doing as instructed.”

So Antipov had ordered Valentin
on
the mission? This was even worse than Scott thought.

Looking back at a collection of sentries with carts of weapons and armor, the keeper shouted to them in Russian. “Load everything up,
go
!” He turned back to Scott. “There is enough Nightman armor here for your entire unit.”

That worked for Scott. “Everyone, find slayer armor and strap it on!”

Lilan, Donald, Javon, and Tom appeared behind the sentries, dodging past them to move for the ramp. “You boys sure know how to crank things up!” the colonel said.

Lilan had no idea. “Get your team geared up and ready, colonel,” Scott said.

“You heard the man!” Lilan said to his three men. “Grab some of that armor and get ready to roll!”

Pyotr Alkaev was in the middle of strapping on a chest plate when David noticed him. “Hey,” the older man said, “who let the kid in?”

“I will be very helpful!” Pyotr replied. “You will see.”

Outside the transport, Esther pointed accusingly at the young slayer. “Oh really?
That
little twerp gets to go, but I’m staying behind?”

Scott counted a total of fifteen operatives ready for action, counting himself and Tiffany in the Superwolf. The only ones not present were the injured Rashid himself, the wheelchair-bound Auric and Catalina, and Esther.

Looking around in his slayer’s helmet, Tom King moved his arms about to test the suit’s range. “This armor’s crazy, man!”

Next to him and donning the bulky armor of a sentry was Donald Bell. The demolitionist awkwardly hoisted his hand cannon. “Gotta get used to this, that’s for sure.”

“How you supposed to tell who is who?” Tom asked, looking around at the collection of operatives in the troop bay. “You can’t see no one’s faces!”

“Jus’ follow the guys with the spikey horns,” Becan answered from beside them, “an’ shoot anyone who doesn’t look like yeh.”

“How we looking over there, Feathers?” Travis asked over the comm.

The blonde’s voice emerged over his helmet speaker. “Reading the instruction manual as we speak!”

Travis laughed under his breath then closed the channel. “Oi.”

Scott leaned into the cockpit. “We ready to go?”

“Ready as we’ll ever be, sir.”

“What’s the status of the landing gear?”

Travis shook his head. “Still out.”

“How much is that going to affect us?”

“We’ll manage, sir!”

Scott turned back to Valentin. “Lukin, we getting those hangar doors opened, or what?”

“Opening now,” the keeper replied.

Behind the
Pariah
, the massive hangar doors to
Northern Forge
creaked open. As the blasting wind hit Esther, the scout’s mouth dropped open in shock. She dashed for the warmer safety of the Level-3 hallway.

A terrible knot was forming in Scott’s stomach. Everything about this felt rushed—it felt wrong. They needed to be laying low, not flying out to strike at some satellite facility in China. He snatched a guard rail as the
Pariah
lifted from its perch, its rear bay door rising with a tired groan. There was only so much more this transport would be able to take. “All right, ladies and gentlemen, here’s the sixty-second summary!” As the nose of the
Pariah
swung around, the operatives faced Scott to listen. “Vector is in the process of tracking our comm signatures! The only way we can stop them is to destroy the satellite hub facility near Hami, China. But there’s more to it than that.”