Saint (Gateway Series Book 2) (12 page)

“Thay, Henry, report,” ordered Mori.

“We’re good,” answered Henry.

The tank’s turret turned toward another building and fired. This time the entire two-story structure crumbled into a pile of burning debris. As the building fell, a 20 mm cannon from the tank opened as well, peppering the embankment where Mori and Sandwick had been moments ago.

“This guy’s just shooting at everything,” noted Stone, realizing the crew was acting more like a scared animal swatting at bees than a trained, disciplined team.

“They’re not trying to find a good position or—”

Another round flew from the tank, this time impacting in a clump of trees across the park. The tank then pivoted and drove over one of its own trucks.

“These guys don’t know what they’re doing,” commented Sandwick.

“Thay,” ordered Mori. “Pop some smoke around that beast and we’ll do the same. They’re already scared—now let’s blind ’em.”

“Roger,” acknowledged Thay.

As the smoke covered the tank completely, the beast fired its main gun again. The round impacted hundreds of meters away near the stream. In an attempt to cover itself, all of the smaller weapons on the tank opened fire indiscriminately as Stone saw Thay rush through the wall of fire into the cloud of smoke. A few seconds later, he saw Thay reemerge from the cloud and dive for cover as a giant orange ball of flame engulfed the tank. As the roar of the explosion died down a quiet came over the park. Stone heard Mori’s voice over the comms circuit.

“We’re all clear. Thanks for the cover. Meet us down here.”

“Roger,” replied Stone. “On the way.”

In a few minutes Stone had descended the slope and was making his way across the charred and burning landscape that used to be the park. Although he had seen the battle from his previous vantage point, his other senses were now overwhelmed as he crossed the ground to Mori and the others. The hissing of the fire still raging from the wrecked tank and the crack and pop of small arms exploding from within mixed with the stinging smell of burning fossil fuel and human flesh. At the center of the park Stone stopped to look at the body of the officer he had killed to ignite the firefight. His aim was true; the massive round had destroyed the right half of his chest. Looking to his left, he saw a man with a heavily bruised face and blood streaming from his mouth cradling the limp body of the girl Stone had failed to save. The man looked up toward Stone, tears flowing down his face.

“Why did this happen? Why? We didn’t want any part of this war.”

Stone stared back blankly. A year ago, he would have spat some patriotic, rhetoric-filled drivel but now “I’m sorry” was all he could say. His gaze locked on the sad scene in front of him, and Stone felt a sense of helplessness and frustration. More and more he had come to see warfare—once thought to be an exciting, honorable endeavor—for what it really was: a dirty, base task that had to be done by someone to eventually put things right. In the past, anytime he was away from the field, he longed for the chaos of battle; now he wanted to be any place but here. He knew he had to be there, but he no longer wanted to be.

“Tyler!”

Mori’s voice drew Stone’s attention from the heartbreaking scene in front of him. Turning toward Mori, Stone saw her and Henry standing by three men. He pushed the miserable vision of the dead girl and her father from his conscious thought. They would visit him in his dreams anyway.

“What’s going on?” asked Stone as he reached the group.

“These assholes were Triad,” answered Henry.

Stone had figured as much. Even though the Saint’s troops had invaded Echo 2, it didn’t mean the current leaders of the planet were any better.

“What happened here?” asked Mori.

A tall, thin man with a heavy beard stepped forward from the group to speak. “You—we are in the land controlled by Ya-ling. Ya-ling required that we give half of our harvest and manufactured goods to his vassals and provide a levy of men and he would let us be, other than selecting young women from each territory for his court. This was when he was at war with the Merchant Alliance before our planet was attacked. Once the Western Continent was taken and Ya-ling lost the cities of Gra-lee, Var-Sa, and Var-Par, the Merchant Alliance, Ya-ling, and the Warlord of the East, Barca, formed this Triad. But the Triad has continued to lose battles and has started conscripting men to fight in their armies.”

“How many times have they conscripted?” asked Mori.

“This was the third time in four moons,” replied another of the men.

The bearded man continued. “It was volunteers at first and the units were Ya-ling’s men, drawn from our own levies. Most of the men from our levies have been killed in battle, so other groups from the Triad have started passing through our town.”

“And they don’t ask for volunteers,” added the third townsman.

“Don’t you want to fight for your land?” asked Henry.

The bearded man turned toward Henry. Stone could see a desperate, frustrated look on his face.

“It’s not our land,” he replied. “It hasn’t been since Ya-ling’s grandfather overthrew the rightful leaders and established himself as a tyrant. Since then, we just try to survive.”

“And to protect our families when we can,” added the second man.

“What about the Saint’s army?” asked Stone.

“I don’t know about his supernatural powers,” answered the bearded man. “But they say he promises equality among his followers and shared common property.”

“That’s more than we have now,” stated the third.

“But they’re fanatics,” replied Stone. “We have seen them. They willfully give their lives for him, for what?”

“And what did these people give their lives for today?” interrupted a voice behind Stone.

He turned to see the father of the dead girl, his shirt soaked red and his hands painted with her blood.

“Why is my Serena dead? Can you tell me?”

Stone still had no answer.

“Because it wasn’t for equality or shared property.” The distraught father spat the words toward the group. “When the Saint’s Crucesignatis army arrives, I will join them and kill as many of these Triad bastards as I can before I die so that when I join my daughter in the afterlife I can show her the price they paid for her life.”

Sandwick stepped between Stone and the father.

“No wonder the Saint is getting so many—”

A warm splash of blood hit Stone’s face and neck as Sandwick’s head disintegrated in a bloody cloud.

“Contact forward!” shouted Mori as she dove behind a nearby concrete statue of Ya-ling and brought her assault rifle to her shoulder.

Stone took cover behind a wrecked civilian vehicle and quickly scanned the ground in front of and around him. Thay was behind the cover of one of the Triad trucks and Henry had dove into the open door of the nearest building. The townsmen had all disappeared except the girl’s father, who stood motionless.

The sharp crack from the shot that killed Sandwick echoed across the park.

Five seconds, thought Stone. Almost 2,000 meters.

“Damn it,” yelled Mori. “Did anyone see where that came from?”

***

“One down,” declared Martin from the same sniper pit Stone had used only moments earlier.

“Why didn’t you take out Stone?” asked Tacitus as he prepared his rifle.

“I’m taking him and that bitch up close,” she responded. “They’ll feel my sword slide into their flesh before they die. The rest of them though—”

***

“It came from the same spot I was in,” replied Stone.

“That’s almost 2,000 meters,” shouted Mori.

Another round tore a chunk of concrete from the statue providing cover to Mori, showering her with small fragments.

Only a few people could make that shot. Stone knew he could. Sandwick could have but he was dead. So was Martin. That left only one—Arilius Tacitus.

“It’s the Guard!” shouted Stone.

“Could be mercs or bounty hunters,” suggested Henry over the circuit.

Stone pulled a data screen from his pocket, placed it in video mode, and slowly raised it above the hood of the vehicle. Focusing on his former position, Stone saw a flash. Suddenly the data screen shattered. “Shit!” he declared as some of the fragmented parts cut through his tactical gloves and into his hand. “I don’t think that’s a merc,” declared Stone.

“What’s that guy doing?” said Mori.

Hearing Mori’s voice, Stone scanned the area. To his left stood the dead girl’s father. He was holding a rifle.

“Put that weapon down!” warned Mori.

“You’re gonna make yourself a target to them!” yelled Stone.             

The man turned toward Stone and spoke. “That’s more Triad out there and I’m not going to sit by and—”

A chunk of flesh and bone flew from the man’s back as a round found its mark. He fell to the ground, dead.

“Son of a bitch,” Stone said aloud. Detaching a smoke grenade from his vest, Stone activated his comms circuit. “Pop smoke and everyone make a run for that alley while I provide cover. From there we can use the buildings for cover.”

“What about you?” asked Thay.

“I’ll keep their heads down and be right behind you.” Stone knew he wasn’t going to be able to take a careful aim but maybe he could throw enough lead in the shooter’s direction to distract them for a few seconds.

“Smoke out!” ordered Mori and a series of smoke grenades exploded sending a mist of white smoke over their position.

***

“They’re poppin’ smoke,” shouted Tacitus. “Switching to therma—” Tacitus was cut short by rounds impacting around their position. “Shit!” he replied as regained his composure.

Martin did not flinch. As rounds tore into the ground and bushes around her, she flipped the toggle to turn her sights to thermal. Drawing a bead on a red silhouette of a running body, she fired.

Tacitus joined Martin and sent a round toward the outline of a man behind a car.

***

Stone was thrown backward as his sniper rifle shattered and fragmented. He felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder and saw a sliver of metal that used to be part of the housing embedded in his flesh. Taking a deep breath, he brought his assault rifle to his chest and looked across the field of battle. A hundred meters away were Mori, Thay, and Henry. Thay appeared to be injecting something into Mori’s leg. Stone saw Mori look toward him.

“We made it,” she said over the circuit.

“Are you okay?”

“Took a grazing shot, but I’ll live. What about you?”

“I’m good,” answered Stone as he pulled the sliver from his shoulder. But he wasn’t. He had a long way to make it to the others and whoever was shooting at him was good.

“What’s next?” asked Mori.

“Leave me here,” replied Stone. “They will come down off that hill eventually and I will take them on then and meet up with you.”

“No,” shot back Mori. “You don’t even know how many there are. We’re not leaving you.”

“Don’t put me in front of the mission,” pleaded Stone. “I got this.”

Another round slammed into the car Stone was using for cover.

“No,” declared Mori. “We—”

“Quiet,” interrupted Stone. “There’s something coming.”

Stone could hear a metallic screeching sound from across the park. It steadily grew stronger. Eventually he could feel the vibration of the ground underneath him. “Do you hear it?” asked Stone.

“Armor,” answered Thay. “And a lot of it.”

Stone quickly peered over the hood of the vehicle and caught a glimpse of a column of large tanks rolling over the bridge at the far end of the park. “They’re at the bridge, a full column plus infantry.”

“This battle is getting a little crowded,” said Henry.

“Just go,” pleaded Stone. “I’ll find a way out of this.”

“Shut up,” interrupted Mori. “Stop trying to go all martyr on us.”

“But—”

“Just listen,” she continued. “They’re on thermal so if we make it hot down here you can make a run for it.”

Stone quickly looked over the area. “The gas tank for that truck,” he said.

“That should do it,” replied Mori.

Stone raised his assault rifle and fired a round into the tank. A metallic clang rang out and gas started pouring out of the hole. Stone watched as the stream of fuel flowed outward from the tank. In a few moments the pool had made its way to Stone. “Get ready,” warned Stone.

“Do it,” replied Mori. “Just get here before shit starts blowing up.”

“Here goes,” said Stone as he ignited the fuel with a fire-start.

A wall of flame shot across the ground and in seconds engulfed the field. Stone readied himself but for some reason his body did not react. Looking at the flames, his thoughts went back to devastation on Sierra 7 and Juliet 3; he saw the scorched and wrecked bodies in his mind.

“Tyler, move your ass!” came Mori’s voice over the circuit.

Mori’s voice brought Stone back to reality and he leapt from his position and sprinted across the ground. Wincing against the intense heat, he stayed close to the flames to stay hidden from the thermal sights.