Epic: Book 03 - Hero (13 page)

She still considers me righteous.

Dostoevsky turned to Egor. “Come. And Broll, you come, too. We will go to the captain.” The commander turned to Scott. “Remington, you have time to assist Lieutenant Axen. Travis can transport you. Will you go, or will you remain here? Whatever you choose, you will take Romanov and Voronova with you.”

Scott wrestled with his options. The wrestling match was short-lived. “Travis,” he said through the comm, “where you are?”

Svetlana turned away from him.

“
We’re approaching the roof of the warehouse,” Travis answered.

That made Scott remember.
Jayden.
Now the Texan was forefront in his mind; now worry had time to sink in. “Ryvkin, how is Timmons?”

Several moments passed before Viktor replied. “He may have serious back injuries, lieutenant. I will get him on a stretcher.”

“
How critical is time?”

“
Time is always critical, lieutenant.”

Time was always critical. For a moment, memories of Galina flashed in his head. She was sent back to
Novosibirsk
, too. Not even that had saved her. Jayden was worth taking the chance again.

“
Captain,” Scott said, “with your permission, I’d like Travis to take Jayden back to the base. The rest of us can hold our own here.”

“
Granted, lieutenant,” Clarke answered. “Navarro, take Timmons back to base.”

Viktor interrupted the transmission. “I will go with him. Ms. Yudina can come as well if she wishes.”

“
Yes!”
Varvara’s voice cut in.

Clarke’s grew irritated. “Denied. We’re not sending two-thirds of our medical crew home.”

Scott switched to a private connection. “Captain, he’s right. Varvara’s useless right now. Do you think she’ll be able to concentrate here? And do you really trust her with Jayden’s life by herself?” It was a heartless comment, and the hurt look in Svetlana’s eyes showed it. But it was still true.

“
Point made,” Clarke answered. The comm chatter returned to public frequency. “Very well, Ryvkin. You and Yudina may escort Timmons home.”

“
Thank you, captain,” Viktor answered.

Scott looked at the church. There would be no meeting with Max’s team now. Not with the
Pariah
leaving the scene.

“
Lieutenant,” said Nicolai, approaching him, “are we really going to try to fight this fire?”

Behind Scott’s faceplate, he was glaring. “Absolutely not.” He went back on the comm. “Travis, contact every fire department that you can. If any of them have any vehicles to spare, send them to our position.” Entire city blocks were already engulfed. There were probably fire and rescue vehicles everywhere.

“
Boris is already on it.”

Scott turned to Svetlana. “In that first residential building, there are two priests. Go make sure they’re not hypothermic.”

She stared at him for a long moment, then left.

“
What will
we
do, lieutenant?” Nicolai asked.

“
We’re staying here. There could still be Bakma about. Or even canrassis.” Just like soldiers weren’t firefighters, firefighters weren’t soldiers. If a fire truck arrived, its occupants would need protection as well.

“
Goronok, Broll, come,” Dostoevsky said. “We will meet up with the captain.” Egor and Auric acknowledged, and the three men left, too.

Scott and Nicolai were alone.

* * *

The moment the
Pariah
touched the roof, Varvara burst from its doors. She was upon Jayden in seconds. When she saw the Texan’s butchered face, she covered her mouth.

Esther was fast to turn her away. “Varya, don’t look. Jay will be fine, Viktor’s taking care of him.”

Varvara shoved her away, diving to Viktor’s side. “Will he be okay?”

“
Get the spinal board and prepare the high-flow oxygen,” the slayer said. “And get him ready for hypothermic suspension!”

Varvara bolted into the ship.

At that moment, Clarke and David appeared. They emerged from the same stairwell where Viktor had been. They too were beside Jayden in seconds.

“
What happened?” David asked. It was the first time in weeks he sounded concerned about anything. When he actually saw Jayden, his face became pale.

“
He got shot from behind,” Viktor said, shaking his head. “I know nothing more. Esther says she saw him fall. I was in the building.”

Clarke stooped down beside them. “Did you kill those Bakma on the top floor?”

“
Yes, captain. Then I heard the blast on the roof. I ran to him as fast as I could.”

“
Is he going to survive?”

“
I do not know the extent of his injuries,” Viktor answered. “I cannot know until we return him to base. I am taking every precaution. I am assuming this scenario is worst-case.”

Varvara returned, pushing the stretcher. Tears streamed down her face. They moved Jayden onto the bed.

Esther took David aside, where she whispered. “He’s going to be fine. We have to believe that. For Jay
and
for her.”

David said nothing.

The bay doors lifted as soon as Jayden was on board. Varvara whimpered and knelt by his side.

From behind, Viktor fastened his eyes on Varvara, where his gaze lingered faintly on the curves of her body. Then he reached out. Placing his hand on the back of her neck, he gently gave her a squeeze.

“
He is always so careful,” she cried in Russian. “He always knows what is going on all around him.” She began to break down.

“
Varya,” Viktor said softly, “I want you to hear me. He will survive. That is my promise to you. Look at me, Varya.” He placed his hand on her chin and tilted it to him. “I
promise
you—I will not let him die. Do you believe me?”

She stared at him for several moments, then her shimmering eyes settled back on the Texan. “Yes.”

Viktor watched her for a moment, then smiled. “That makes me glad. You stay where you are. Hold his hand. I will do everything else.”

She entwined her fingers around the Texan’s.

The
Pariah
took off.

7

Sunday, November 6
^th
, 0011 NE

2134 hours

At the same time

Max was alone on the second floor of the federal building. Lieutenant Brunner and Maksim had gone ahead to confront the Bakma deeper in the facility, leaving the battered technician to watch the balcony alone. Everything on the first-floor lobby was quiet.

“
Missile!”

It took a moment for Max to recognize that the shout was not a part of radio traffic. It had come from directly beneath him—from one of Brunner’s men in the first floor. By the time he realized it, it was too late.

The outer entrance of the lobby exploded. The blast reached the second floor, where Max was thrown off his feet at the top of the stairs. He howled as his back hit the wall.

Bakma warriors poured into the first floor like rampaging pirates, their plasma rifles bursting with white flashes.

As flakes of ceiling and wall debris drifted down on Max, his senses fought to recalibrate. He scrambled to his feet, wincing as he stood on his wounded leg, and grabbed his assault rifle from the rubble around him. Stumbling to the rail, he looked down on the first floor.

There were too many Bakma to count. They were everywhere. Their plasma blasts engulfed the sparse EDEN operatives below. Max opened fire from above.

Becan and Oleg witnessed the entire episode from the back of the building, where they’d been waiting in the hallway that opened up into the lobby. They saw the blast. They saw the men from the Thirty-ninth get blown through the air. They saw the Bakma storm in.

Oleg swung up his assault rifle and Becan followed suit. Together, they dashed to the lobby.

Max was instantly surrounded by plasma. The white bolts crashed against the ceiling and walls. Chunks of debris flew over his head. As he dove for any cover he could find at the top of the stairs, he pulled out a grenade and flung it below.

Becan watched Max’s grenade as it exploded. It sent several Bakma flying to their deaths, but the Bakma were too spread out for a single grenade to kill them all. Of the half dozen men from the Thirty-ninth who had just been in the lobby, only three scrambled to their feet; the others were motionless heaps. The survivors fled to join Becan and Oleg in the hall, and all five men struggled to return fire.

A plasma bolt struck Becan as he was trying to reload, hitting his chest just inside his shoulder. He flew back and rolled across the floor.

Oleg was fast on the comm. “One operative down.”

“
That better not be you, McCrae!” Max answered from the second floor. In response, Becan screamed in pain.

As Max scrambled to avoid plasma death, Brunner and Maksim appeared from behind.

“
Max, what is happening?” Brunner asked.

“
What the hell’s it look like? What about the second floor?”

“
It is clear!” She and Maksim joined the defense.

As soon as Max had a moment to breathe, he was back on the comm. “Strakhov, who’s down?”

“
McCrae, lieutenant.”

“
Veck.” He turned to Brunner. “Were any of those guys in the lobby medics?”

“
No,” she answered. “Kaligan is up here.”

Moments later, one of the operatives from Shavrin’s team—the team on the opposite balcony of the second floor—toppled backward to the ground as a plasma bolt tore through his armor.

Brunner stared at the fallen operative, then gravely spoke. “That was Kaligan.”

Max snarled viciously under his breath, “Thanks, God.”

Meanwhile, Becan writhed to escape his half-melted chest plate. Finally, he fought his way free. Tugging up his jersey, he looked at his injury. The left side of his chest was still sizzling as the stench of burned flesh bit his nostrils. He growled through clenched teeth.

“
McCrae,” Max shouted through the comm, “please tell me you’re alive.”

“
Yes, I’m bleedin’ alive!”

Suddenly, another of the men from the Thirty-ninth was caught by a plasma bolt. He dropped like a brick.

“
Veck!”
Becan hollered as Oleg and the remaining two men held the hall. The Bakma had taken the lobby completely, leaving the hallway as the only EDEN-held area on the first floor. Becan crawled to the fallen man. The soldier’s chest was blown apart—he hacked violently to breathe. “This guy just got reefed pretty bad!” Becan said through the comm.

Brunner’s voice emerged. “Who is it?”

Becan read the soldier’s nametag. “Jacobsen.”

“
How bad is he hurt?”

Becan stared at the wide-eyed young soldier. He wasn’t unconscious. On the contrary, he contorted with terror. Becan lurched forward to hold him down. “He needs someone
now
.”

* * *

It seems almost
peaceful
, thought Scott for the first time that night. Sounds of explosions still rang in the distance along with the echo of projectile and plasma. There was even the frenzy of fire trucks tending to the church. To anyone else, it’d have been anything but peaceful. But Scott saw it all in different light.

None of it involved him.

He and Nicolai had been guarding the street for some time. There were no signs of Bakma, and aside from the lone canrassi that Egor had destroyed, there’d been nothing at all. Scott found it ironic that amid the chaos of a war and a raging fire, he could find serenity. It put his life in perspective.

Svetlana hadn’t returned from the residence. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. He’d watched her go through the door he’d kicked through. Thankfully, she’d escaped any shotgun blasts.

He knew he’d be bruised from the shot he’d taken to the chest. But it was better than being pounded by plasma bolts. A shotgun wound, he could survive.

For the first time since her arrival, Scott was glad for Svetlana’s presence. He didn’t know anything about the priests’ conditions, but he knew they were in capable hands.

His thoughts stopped right there. How did he know they were in capable hands? He didn’t know if Svetlana was a capable medic—he’d never actually seen her in action. All things considered, he barely knew her at all. It all was so paradoxical. He felt as though he knew her so well.

Nothing ever makes sense.

Turning back to the residence, he watched as the battered front door opened. Svetlana emerged and approached him. His thoughts churned again.

Of course she was capable. She was more than capable. She was a professional. Why else would she have been chief medic? She had even held authority over Galina.

I had just one good conversation with her. Just one, that night in the lounge. Did that really mean so much?

Apparently enough to convince her to return.

“
How are they?” he asked.