“You comin’ to save people or dust ’em?” I ask.
“Maybe both,” she says with a smile. “Hopefully I won’t have to do any saving.”
She looks to Hopper and then gestures at her athletic stretch pants. “Would have been nice if you’d brought some BDU bottoms. No pockets in this get up.”
Hopper nods at a group of his guys who aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they’re enjoying watching Lana move away in her hybrid warrior-workout attire. “My men would kill me for that.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ve got some in my ruck. I was prepared. For the record. Just need a place to change before we roll.”
“The van will work once all the doors are closed,” Hopper offers.
Lana pulls down her jacket, shoulders her ruck, turns and shouts, “Eyes off the prize unless you want your medic to suddenly remember you’re a creeper. No skinpacks for creepers. Now clear out. I need this van.”
Hopper is shaking his head. “How did you get all the misfits, Carter?”
“No idea,” I say. “I thought all the teams were like this.”
“Haha. Definitely not. My crew is as solid as any SOAR outfit I was ever in. And Tedman Jess is practically leading a Dark Ops kill team.”
“Guess they just see me as the type to keep the misfits out of trouble. They’re good warriors.”
“I believe it. Lashley alone could take down a koob village if you let him loose.”
“Or die trying.”
“Probably. So, hey, how much longer do you think until Surber comes out? They told us to double-time it here and I was kind of thinking we’d be moving now. Gonna be cutting it close if we want this done before daylight once we factor in travel and setup.”
I see over Hopper’s shoulder that Surber just emerged from the chieftain’s lodge, with Winters a step behind.
“Looks like it’s…” I make air quotes with my fingers, “‘go time.’”
“It’s go time, gentlemen!” Surber barks. “We’re moving into an exciting new phase of world building. The Pekk tribe are to be viewed as allies and will be supporting us on this operation.”
That complicates things. No time for mission planning and now we’ve got to coordinate with an indig force on the fly. This is gonna turn out bad. I can feel it.
“Carter, Hopper,” Surber shouts. “You’re riding with me.”
I nod, expecting that this is where we’ll go over whatever planning can be done. In the Legion, we planned meticulously. Here, I feel lucky to get a day’s notice of an op.
“Abers,” I shout, “get the team loaded back into the truck.”
“No,” Surber says. “They can ride in the van. Our Pekk allies will transport the truck.”
“Change of plans,” I call, “you get to ride in style inside that van. But knock before entering or Lana will shoot you.”
The men laugh and begin to queue up as Easy gently knocks on the side panel.
Hopper and I move with Surber to his luxury sled. Errol and Wick are standing by the doors, waiting. I notice that Winters is still with us.
“Link up with the rest of the team, Winters,” I say.
Surber overrides me again. “No, he was part of the planning. You’ll want him with us.”
Part of the planning? What the hell?
“Planning, sir? I assumed that’s what we’d be doing en route to the—”
“Don’t assume.” Surber ducks inside the sled after cutting me off. He waves an annoyed hand. “Inside.”
Hopper and I exchange a look and then file in, with Winters closing the door behind us, looking sheepish and apologetic.
“Sir,” Hopper begins. “From what I’ve been briefed, an op like this requires significantly more planning than what we’re capable of doing tonight.”
“And so it does,” Surber says, pulling a datapad out of a compartment built into the smooth, black leather seats.
He punches a few buttons and a holodisplay pops up in between us. It’s a zhee temple compound.
“This is our target. And this is how the assault will work…”
“You’ve… decided on the assault ahead of time?” I ask, doing my best to hide the frustration I’m feeling.
This is something my team should be doing. So that every man knows every part of the operation. So that we’re redundant and each person can be aware of what our mission is, what our role is, what success looks like, and what needs to be done if one of us fails. I’m not trying to be a big dog here. It doesn’t have to be me specifically who comes up with the plan; I’ve followed lots of good plans devised by other legionnaires in my time. And I’ve made the best out of some terrible plans at the insistence of points back when they were a thing.
Right now, with the vibe I’m getting from Surber, it feels like points are back. And this time, they wear suits.
“That’s right, Mr. Carter,” Surber says as he brings up more schematics. “This operation has been planned for a long time and I assure you that the battle plan devised is as good as anything you may have come up with. Be thankful for one less thing to do.”
“Roger, sir.”
“Our only holdup was securing a firm alliance with Pekk. We now have that and so things are going to begin to move very quickly.
“Your team has wanted action; that doesn’t escape me, Carter. Well, you’ve been critical in getting us to this point. Soon I suspect your team will be wondering when there’ll be an end to all the… action.”
I set my jaw. Hopper does that thing when he’s a little nervous where he pinches the end of his nose and keeps sniffing.
This is what we’re here for. What we’re paid to do.
I lean forward, trying to take in everything that is unfolding on the holodisplay before my eyes. But in the back of my mind, I can’t help but think…
I should have tried calling Mel again.
13
“Two guards, on the wall,” I
