Page 26 of Vapor
Command: “Heat signals show seven to the right. You got a large signal a door away, like in giant.” Eight is easy.
Me: I don’t answer and follow my tracking. The Blackhawk is firing onboards atsomeones’that would warrant multiple shots but it isn’t compromising our position in any way. Alder being here worried me but Nash assured me he can shield them both. They have better gear than I do so he’s probably right. He laughs softly but I ignore it and point to the door with the giant heat signature with a hand signal for my one. I don’t wait for Shep to move and say, “One.” Shooting through the wooden door that has seen better days. Every shape drops. I turn and see the giant down behind the door to the right. “Clear.”
Command: “Holy shit. How do you know it’s not a friendly?” And “Next is a floor away, Commander. Drones show you’re clear right now.” Sound off at the same time in different voices.
Me: “Roger. Someone explain how the visor works before I’m shooting my way out of insurgents because my voice is drawing them closer.” My whisper isn’t needed. The heat signals next are all small and the only metal I see are small bits and pieces on the heat or hardware around the room. Nash opens the door and bends for Alder. I step by. “Thanks.” The kids look terrified or their eyes do. They’re not moving - at all.”
Alder: “Badass Rescue you go home. You hurt?” A boy moves closer with a major limp and we see his bruised leg.
Me: “Who else needs medical help?” The kids move and we see a young teen girl on the floor trying to hide. Fuck. I breathe deep and nod. “Shep, get the ones that can be moved out to the chopper.” The big Stalker moves, taking four kids to the Chinook. Alder rubs a cream on the boy and I bend for the girl. “We’re getting you back to the US.” She doesn’t look thrilled with that idea. “Badass has a safe place for you to grow up in, that’s if we can’t find your parents.”
Girl: she cries but I understand her. “They’re in a jail but no one knew where.”
Me: “We found you; we won’t give up looking but until we locate them, we can keep you safe.” She stands with my hand and I see bruises but she’s moving. “You okay to walk?”
Nash: “Mucimi said you’re clear to the next room. Downstairs to the left. I’ll get them to the chopper.”
Me: I nod and they're all gone. I look at Alder shaking his head. “That’s not a good way to establish trust.”
He laughs, then runs, so I follow with Forest and Marayna following us.
~*~*~
SOAR Rising
Julius
“Alder is Badass.” Mase has my shocked eyes on his.
“He shot the sword guy.”
His eyes don’t leave the virtual fight right in front of us. I have to say, the boards in Veritable Ops aren’t even close to this real. They’re in Libya, but with virtual it’s like I can reach out and touch them.
“I want virtual Ops.” Mase is crazy.
I shake my head. “This isn’t like the Ops room. I want an office with boards.”
He laughs at me and the little giggle has me turning toward Sarah. “I’m a lawyer.” I’m not a control for Ops.
She stops fast. “It takes some getting used to. We saw the Ops room but you do a lot more than we do. When it’s one to four a month, this works. We have drones deployed for every Op and need what’s happening as it’s happening to help from here. With so few of us on Specter, we used the support we had wherever we could. There wasn’t anyone to call for backup. We were it.”
I nod, understanding why they have the in your face, space and head Ops room now.
Mase laughs. “It is in your face and space but offers options we don’t have in the Ops room. Christian used to amaze everyone helping from Ops with his abilities. A room like this and we can coordinate, control and be eyes on the ground, whether we have ability or not. It’s like the flight suits, just another layer of security we can open up.”
It is like the suits. I learned to fly but Bishop mastered the suit to help in places he’d never be able to get to without it. They use the Law Club teams to do Ops that FBI and PD need an okay on every step. Those okays may lose them their arrest or the Brothers waiting on the answer.
Mase turns from the chopper rising. “You get it. Every tool has a purpose. We need to use every advantage we find because we remember what the fight is like without them.”
I nod really getting it. “The lessons of our fathers aren’t always from our fathers.”
He smiles watching the little bird chopper rise under the Blackhawk. “I’ve been doing Ops since I was fourteen and abilities weren’t shown. It’s been a long road littered with what’s next. Prez was crazy with what’s next. Sometimes it was new daily. Now the new is fun and there’s so much of it, nothing is surprising anymore.”
I laugh at him this time. “I think the Protectors with ability will surprise us for life. You catch on fire regularly.”
He smiles like it’s a good thing. “I do. You should see Ayakuhsak. The boy just appears now. He’s so small, most people don’t realize he’s there.”
I shake my head. “Don’t, I need to log this.” That one scares me. He talks like he’s thirty. I watch the tracking and mark when they cross the line for Libyan air space. “Sarah, they got the twenty-three?” I should have kept the count.
