Forever Until Tomorrow (War Eternal Book 5) (32 page)

Mitchell pointed at the light. "Something's coming."

"Pull over," Mitchell said. "Get the car off the road."

Michael nodded, slowing the car and moving it off to the side. There wasn't much cover here. A few trees and a lot of grass. The light was getting closer. If they hadn't been seen already, they would be any second.

"Kill the lights and head for the trees," Mitchell said. "Lyle, get us some cover fire."

"Yes, sir," Lyle said, picking up the rifle resting between his legs.
 

The car bounced gently on its repulsors, covering the grass and scooting toward the minimal cover. It was better than nothing. Lyle positioned himself to get the rifle out of the window and aimed toward the light.

It shifted then, going vertical at least a thousand feet, getting out of range of the gun. They reached the trees, and Michael stopped the car.

Mitchell climbed out beside Max, scanning the sky. The light was gone, but he could still hear the sound of the craft's engines. It was high-pitched and powerful. Too strong to be a drone.
 

"Do you see it?" Michael asked.

"No. Stay under cover."

"How do you think they found us?"

"How many cars have we passed out here?"

"I don't know. Three?"

"There's your answer."

The whining began to fade, growing softer as the seconds passed, until it vanished into silence.

"False alarm?" Daisy said. She had produced a pistol from somewhere, not that it would have done a thing against whatever had been approaching.

"I don't like it," Lyle said. "It saw us and then left? Why?"

"Calling for reinforcements?" Max said.

"I think we should get out of here," Michael said.

"Yeah, I'm with you," Mitchell agreed. "Back in the-"

The sound was more of a low rumble. If there were anything else around them, they wouldn't have even noticed it. A moment later, the branches on the trees began bending to a sudden, forceful wind.

The VTOL dropped out of nowhere, its belly cloaked by a high-resolution screen that projected the stars above it, the only trace of its existence coming from the light whooshing noise and the wind. Mitchell joined the others in raising his weapon toward it.
 

He heard a soft thump behind him, and then the muzzle of a rifle was pressed against the back of his head.

"Shh... Stay soft. Take it slow and easy," the woman at his back said.

Mitchell glanced over out of the corner of his eye. Two others had gotten behind Max and Lyle.
 

The VTOL came to rest in front of them, lighting up as it touched down. The U.S. Army markings were obvious emblazoned on its angled sides.

"I should have known," Daisy said, turning to face their attackers. "Colonel, meet Sergeant Linda Damon, callsign Demon."

The gun vanished from his head. He turned around. The woman behind him was stiff and straight, greeting him with a tight salute.

"Sir," she snapped.
 

Mitchell started to bow in response. Then he smiled and mimicked her salute. "Sergeant."

"Over there is Major Koos, we call her Kook, and Corporal Dawes, or Dreck."

"My name is mud," Dawes said. He was the largest of the three, and even then was barely Mitchell's height and at least thirty pounds lighter.

The hatch on the VTOL opened, and two more soldiers stepped out.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hans Stoker, callsign Dracula," the first said. He was the oldest, with a white flat top and a bit of stubble around his chin. He hopped off the short wing of the craft and approached Mitchell, saluting when he reached him. "Our pilot is Captain Verma. We call him Mazerat. Corporal Cooper is still inside, prepping your gear."

"A pleasure," Mitchell said, making eye contact with each of them. "You certainly know how to make an entrance."

"That's how we do it, Colonel. Quiet and quick, every time. Sorry for the spook, but we had to be sure you were safe."

"Understood. How much do you know?"

"Next to nothing. All Daisy here told me was that she had a situation with an ex and to keep the details on mute."

"What?" Max said.
 

"An emergency," Stoker said. "A big one that we shouldn't tell home base about. We don't have a true command on location. We get mission parameters delivered from all over the world, usually hush-hush orders signed by the President. It's not unusual for our outfit to take off in the middle of the night without a word to anybody. In fact, I think the other way around would be out of character for us, wouldn't you say, Kook?"

"Yes, sir," Koos replied.
 

"So I understand this mission is critical to national security?" Stoker said.

"That's right," Daisy replied. "You aren't going to believe how big this thing is."

"I can think pretty big," Stoker said. "I imagine you'll debrief us on the way, Colonel?"

"Yes," Mitchell said. "Trust me, Lieutenant Colonel, I don't think you're thinking this big."

Stoker smiled. "Sounds like a party. Of course, I'm not entirely sure about teaming up with a bunch of jarheads."

"We're real excited about hopping into that thing with a squad of dog faces," Max said. "Real excited. Oorah!"

"Be careful, we bite," Damon said, laughing as she passed Max.

The others headed for the VTOL, leaving Mitchell standing next to the car with Michael. He was the only civilian in the group, and he looked terrified of the aircraft.

"Are you okay?" Mitchell said.

"I'm not a big fan of flying. I can do the cushy seats and free peanuts. This isn't that."

"You don't have to stay with us. You aren't a soldier. There's no shame in bowing out."

Michael looked back at the car. Then he shook his head. "You might find yourself in need of someone with my skills. Anyway, as scared as I am of flying in that thing, I'm more scared of feeling like I let Kathy down."

Mitchell felt a chill, his mind turning to the silent explosions that marked the deaths of everyone and everything he cared about.
 

"That's what keeps me going," he said.

It took a little more subterfuge to get out of Nova Taurus without drawing attention, forcing Katherine and Trevor to sneak through the loading docks, ditching their original clothing for two pairs of scrubs they found in a huge dumpster of outgoing laundry. The navy blue outfits smelled awful, but also allowed them to take a secondary exit out onto the street behind the massive tower.

Of course, they had made it out because Watson wanted them to get out. Their path had been void of any of the security details that wandered the halls, and passing beyond the cameras hadn't led to interception. They had stepped out of the building along with another pair of men in scrubs who pulled out vaporizers the moment the door closed behind them.

They took a roundabout route back to the hotel, not speaking to one another the entire way. Trevor was shaken, and she understood why. He had downplayed his relationship with the tech, making it seem more like the relationship he had shared with her. A little bit of fun, a little bit of romance, but nothing that either one of them believed would last. Coates had been more than that, and she was dismayed by his loss and the effect it was having on the man beside her. She was still feeling Michael's absence herself.

Her mind was also still consumed by her desire to outthink Watson. She didn't believe it were possible, but she felt like she at least needed to try. She went over the possibilities again and again, trying to work out all of the combinations. In one scenario, Origin had done everything intentionally, setting the pieces in motion like a chess master. In another, everything had gone completely wrong from the start. Most of the rest were somewhere in between, and it was there that Katherine believed the truth was sitting.

It was also where the branches split, one after another, after another, too far down to ever make sense of.
 

The only choice they had was to go completely from their gut.
 

The entered their suite, remaining quiet as they went in separate directions. Katherine grabbed a change of clothes and jumped in the master shower. She assumed Trevor did the same. She emerged thirty minutes later, still struggling to find her center, but getting closer. Trevor was already waiting for her, dressed all in black, ready for war.

"What's our next move?" he asked. The pain he had been exhibiting before had hardened into resolve.
 

"We need a ride to Antarctica."

"Antarctica?" he said. "XENO-1?"

"Yes. Pretty obvious, I guess."

"The where. Not the why."

"Watson wants something that is still on the ship. I don't know what. Origin said that Mitchell was already on his way there."

"How did she know?"

"I don't know. She must have been in contact with him." If that were true, why hadn't the intelligence let her at least talk to the Colonel? They were supposed to have some kind of eternal chemistry already, and she at least wanted a chance to see if it would ever make itself known.

"Do you have any ideas on how we can get there?" Trevor asked.

"You were in special forces. You have a lot of connections."

"Not that kind of connection."

"We'll figure something out," Katherine said. "Origin wouldn't have told me to go if she didn't think I could get there."

"I'm not convinced. For as old and experienced as this Tetron claimed to be, we've been getting beaten pretty soundly so far. How do we know she wasn't the inferior intelligence? How do we know she didn't get Jason killed for nothing? She said it herself. Humans have never won this war."

"I know you're hurting, Trev. What happened to the resolve I saw a minute ago?"

"I'm resolved to fight. That doesn't mean I believe we can win. I've been through a lot, Kate. I've been places, seen things you wouldn't believe. Your war was in the air, mine was in cities around the globe. What happens out of sight is much worse than what happens in the skies. Jason was the first person I've met who helped me stay focused, and now he's gone. I'll be happy to take a few of those AIT assholes with me when I die."

"You aren't going to die."

"Do you believe that?"
 

Katherine shrugged. They both knew the odds were against them. "Colonel Williams is going to be there. Origin made him sound like some kind of super-soldier. He got the war this far."

"Or he lost the war in his recursion and ran to this one."

"Damn it, Trevor," Katherine said, getting angry. "Pull your shit together. Whatever Coates did for you, you're still a frigging soldier. Start acting like one."

Trevor stared at her, jaw tight. Then he nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Someone knocked on the door to the emergency stairwell.

Katherine and Trevor looked at one another. Trevor stood, drew his gun, and moved to the side of the room, in position to shoot whoever was there. No guests would be sent up that way.

Katherine approached it, her nerves trying to get the best of her. Whoever the visitor was, they were unexpected, uninvited, and more likely than not had been sent by Watson.

She reached the door right as the person knocked on it again. The emergency door opened outward toward the stairs, and she pulled up the lever and pushed slowly. Origin had disabled everything coming from the room, so it didn't set off an alarm.

"Katherine," Yousefi said. He was dressed in a pair of fatigues, his expression concerned.

"Admiral?" Katherine said, confused. "What are you doing here?"

He held up his AR glasses. "I received a secured transmission an hour and a half ago, encrypted to my identifier and using a secondary military encryption that nobody outside of UEA command is supposed to know. The sender id was yours."

"What? I didn't send you anything."

"I'm not surprised to hear you say that. The transmission carried a schematic unlike anything I've ever seen before, along with a short message in your voice from someone calling themselves Origin."