Midnight Squad: The Grim (12 page)

           
Alhambra was jogging to the tower. Katy looked to the
tower and then to her teammates that were pinned down. A little help from the
witch would have freed them up, and they could wrap this exercise up quickly.
If they had just paid attention to one another and avoided wedging themselves
between the enemy combatants then it would probably have been well under
control. A little teamwork goes a long way. So far, the only teamwork I’d seen
had come from Janine, but I held my breath as I waited on the young witch to
make a decision.

           
Katy started to run towards the tower. I could feel my
anger bubbling up through me until the blood pounded in my head and neck. Once
again, Janine came to save the day. She appeared behind the three clones
farthest from me. She was able to distract them with a few illusions and some
noise. They wheeled around and opened fire. The bullets passed through her and
ricocheted against the rocks. They seemed to realize their weapons were useless
and turned back to Penny and
Danika
.

           
That brief break bought
Danika
and Penny just enough time to start their counter attack. Penny brought one
down with a quick slash, red sprayed into the air.
Danika
took the other two down, mauling them both beyond recognition. The werewolf
stood and turned on the last three clones. She was still chewing on a leg, and
it dangled from her mouth like a toothpick.

           
Penny took down another clone. She left a broken corpse.
It was twisted and mangled like a child‘s doll that had just been thrown to the
floor.
Danika
wasn’t far behind. She pounded down on
top of another man. When she stood up, the man’s face froze in a horrible
scream, and it was facing the wrong way on his body. Penny and
Danika
faced one another and began a slow circling around
the only clone left. The clone stood between them spraying his weapon into both
of them in a desperate attempt at avoiding his fate. It was just delaying the
inevitable. Finally, Janine appeared again to distract him, and he screamed
while emptying the entire clip on her. The vampire and the werewolf both saw an
opening, and lunged at the man while he attempted to reload. They hit him from
both sides. Penny went high,
Danika
low, and the last
clone tore in half like paper. It was horrible, but amazing. The man was dead
before the spare clip struck the ground. It was like two lions taking down a
zebra.

           
Another horn signaled that either Katy or Alhambra had
reached the target.
Dr
Nowitski
pressed a button and said, “Exercise concluded…total duration fifteen minutes
thirty seven seconds. Please exit the training grounds and change.” As soon as
she took her finger off the button, I mashed the button down and growled, “Stay
on the field. We’ll be coming to you.” I let go of the button and looked at the
three women surrounding me, “Let’s go.” I barked. The doctor looked surprised,
“Excuse me Sergeant, but we usually get changed and go to the briefing room
when we’ve finished.” I tried to keep a calm expression, but apparently I
failed because both the doctor and Ms. Mann lost all their color. DD was
already halfway down to the training room. “They aren’t leaving that field. We
have things to discuss.” I stared them both down. The doctor scowled and
started making her way down. Ms. Mann stared at me for a moment longer, and
then followed the doctor. I got the distinct impression she was actually
smiling.

           
When I got down there I could hear Alhambra taunting
Janine. “Don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault you’re useless. I mean what good
is a ghost anyway.” Apparently, the others agreed because not one of them took
up for her. Janine’s head hung down in embarrassment. She’d been the only one
trying to help her teammates. A cold rage ran over me.

           
“Fifteen minutes and thirty seven seconds.” I glared at
them. Alhambra proudly stated, “Well when they tested this course with former
special forces they took over thirty minutes.” She said it like the time itself
was something impressive. In fact, all the women seemed very pleased. I guess
nobody had explained priorities to these people.

           
“I admit it. What you ladies can do is impressive. The
sheer horsepower you all possess is astonishing. It’s shocking how easily you just
rolled over those men as if they were nothing. Mostly I was impressed that you
were able defeat your enemies despite your gross incompetence. Your abilities
are the only reason any of you are still alive. As fast as you all were, that
was the most piss poor display of teamwork I’ve ever seen. The only one of you
that showed any real team skills was Janine. If she hadn’t been looking out for
all of you then who knows how long Penny and
Danika
would have been pinned down and Katy…you’d be dead right now.” The little
witch’s head stared up at me in confusion.

           
“Those two clones had you dead to rights. Penny you just
let them shoot you, and
Danika
, just because you heal
fast doesn’t excuse you running headlong into gunfire. I’ve read all of your
files, and unless someone here besides Alhambra has developed the ability to
grow a head back from a bloody stump, then none of you will survive your first
real mission. What happens when a sniper puts a round into one of your
foreheads
?“
Penny and
Danika
stared at the ground. Katy looked to DD, and when DD nodded that it was true
our little witch looked ready to pass out. “That’s what makes it worse when you
ran off with Alhambra instead of helping Penny and
Danika
.
You left them pinned down. If Janine had followed your lead we wouldn’t be
having this conversation.”

           
Alhambra held her head up high. She stared me right in
the eyes, as if challenging me to say something. I roared, “Don’t think I don’t
know what you tried to do. You baited Katy. I don’t know if you were trying to
kill her, to hurt her, or if you just like pulling her chain. I personally
think it’s a combination of the three depending on your mood, but it stops now.
When you are out here you will be the model teammate, or I’ll lock you away
down on level nine until you decide to behave yourself. The same goes for
you
Doctor!”

           
Nowitski’s
head turned up to
me, her mouth wide open. “You were willing to let a member of this squad die.
DD, from now on you’ll control the training session. I trust you to care enough
to protect my people. Doctor you’re welcome to observe, but you will no longer
be handling the tests. DD, can you handle it?” She nodded nervously. I was
going to have to rely on DD a lot. I just hope she’s ready. The Doctor on the
other hand had turned a deep red, except for her lips, which pressed together
until they were completely white. I’ll give her credit for being smart enough
to keep her mouth shut.

           
“From now on you will all be taking weapons training.
Penny, I know when you fire a gun it interferes with your ability to see using
sound. I have some ideas for DD to make sure you’re equipped with something
more vampire friendly.
Danika
, I’m hoping to get with
DD in order to come up with something that will adapt as you change so that you
won’t necessarily be helpless if they get you pinned down.
Maybe
something with Velcro?
Regardless, as good as you two are in close
quarters, you are both at a serious disadvantage in a ranged battle.” Neither
Danika
or Penny seemed pleased, but right now I just didn’t
care.

           
“Also from now on we operate as a team. Katy, you and I
will operate together as the first team. Penny, you will work with
Danika
as team two. Alhambra, you will operate from a
distance. Your responsibility will be to work as something similar to long
range artillery, and backup as necessary. If nothing else it‘ll
keep
you away from Katy, and maybe she‘ll quit getting
tripped up because of your powers.” The Jinn smiled. I guess she enjoyed being
given what she felt was a position of honor. In reality, I just didn’t feel
safe using her in any other way. From the position I gave her, anything we got
from her would be a benefit, and best of all…I wouldn‘t have to count on her to
guard my back.

           
I continued, “Team one and two will coordinate their
movements so that we can attack the targets most effectively.” Janine
whispered, “What about me?” I turned my attention to her. I wanted to discuss
her role in private, but Alhambra burst out, “You! You’re useless! What are you
going to do?” Janine hung her head in shame. The bile rose into my throat,
“Shut your hole! Janine, I have a special assignment for you. Because of your
abilities, you are about to become irreplaceable to this team. You’ll be
responsible for reconnaissance, and you’ll work as an extra communication link
between team one and team two when we need radio silence. Intelligence and
communication will define how we attack, and when we attack. Now I understand
you won’t kill anyone, but do you have any issue with possessing us while we are
killing?” Janine shook her head, “No, as long as I don’t have to kill, then
I’ll respect that you sometimes do.
Afterall
, we all
have to make those
type
of decisions for ourselves.”

           
I smiled, “I was hoping you’d say something like that. I
have a lot of plans for you. You’re already my best teammate here.” The other
women looked as though they’d just sucked a lemon. I don’t think Janine ever
considered I’d place so much of the
teams
welfare into
her hands, and she was visibly shaken by it. “I’ll try not to disappoint you.”
She responded, but her voice was shaky and uncertain. Penny stared a hole into
me before hissing, “We beat it didn’t we. The men they tested this place with
had a hard time just getting near thirty minutes.”

           
“Were they a team prior to coming here?” I questioned Ms.
Mann. “No, but they were very professional and” I was already irritated with
her response, and cut her off to save myself a couple points on my blood
pressure. “If they weren’t a team coming in then you wasted your money. It
takes time to learn one another; you might as well have hired an intramural
paintball team from some nearby college.” Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. I was just
making friends all over.

           
Penny asked, “Ok, but why do
Danika
and I have to be a team. It’s nothing personal but it seems that Katy would be
a better compliment to either of us since her powers actually have some range
to them while
Danika
and myself are much more suited
to dealing with things up close.”

           
All my years of military service weren’t helping me
maintain my temper. I’d spent the last ten years in an environment where you
they tell you to do something, and you just do it. Now I was here, surrounded
by strong willed women that are not accustomed to orders, what could I do? If
we were going to function, either they would have to change, or I would.

           
I didn’t like it, but it was best for the squad if I was
the one to bend. I took myself another steadying breath to edge my blood
pressure away from the red zone. “Penny, I appreciate your opinion. In fact,
under normal circumstances I’d agree with you. I think Katy would be a perfect
compliment
for either of you. Originally, I’d planned on
you and Katy being a team, and I’d be working with
Danika
.
Watching you and
Danika
moving around changed my mind
on that. You are both just too fast. It isn’t safe to do anything but pair you
and
Danika
together. Any other combination would
involve one of you having to wait around for Katy or myself. What if we ever
retreat? Will either of you really do a slow jog so that Katy and I can keep
up? If we attack, you’ll have to pull back and wait until we catch up. The
teams may not
compliment
one another as well as they
could, but it’s the only way I see for it to work. It’s why you’ll both have to
learn ranged weapons.” Penny seemed to accept my words, or maybe she was busy
trying to find another argument.

           
“You certainly want to make a lot of changes for someone
whose track record has had such miserable results recently.” Alhambra taunted.
It was probably for the best that I was unarmed. I turned my attention to the
doctor. “Can we run this again?” She nodded, “Yes, we always keep a surplus of
synthetic combatants.” I looked to Janine, “I could use a good teammate. Are
you up for it?” She was scared, but she nodded.

           
“Okay, everyone up in the observation tower except for me
and Janine, same parameters. Move it! Oh and DD, you’re in charge of the
equipment up there.” They moved on leaving Janine with me. “
Grimmy
don’t you want to go get some equipment? I mean are you sure this is a good
idea. I don‘t really see how I can help you.” I looked down. I was wearing a
green polo shirt, black shorts, and tennis shoes, hardly fatigues and body
armor. “I’ll make do. Besides, if I’m going to get them to buy into this then
I’ll need you to help me impress them. I want you to possess me, but I’ll still
need control of everything. Is that a problem?”